Dear Friends,
Thanks for your unbridled support! I can feel it flowing in from Florida to Vancouver. Finally the song "Wind beneath my Wings” makes sense to me. Please God, don't make me sing it. I don't like it THAT much.
I had the time of my life last night, as you may have noticed. Stella finally got her groove back! (Me Stella.)
Kenny Loggins is one of the most generous people in the world and with his support and friendship I managed to pull out all the stops. He spent time with me helping me find “my voice.” Truly a great guy. I actually had an epiphany yesterday two or three hours before the show. I remembered that the main prize of this show is to give $100,000 to charity. The charity aspect sent my ego flying out the window and freed me up to go out there and shake my groove thing. (I'm doin' it for the children y'all!)
That ego is a horrible, controlling little monster. It makes you afraid to fail, to the point that you become fixated on protecting yourself and sabotage the whole experience. Then Wynonna told me her pal Bono said, "Just show up and wait for God to walk in the room." That made all the sense in the world to me. It meant I didn't have to DO anything. That I was enough just as I am. And it let me just go out on stage without any anxiety. It all felt so effortless. So much so that I went out right after to the Aretha Franklin tribute at the Kodak theatre afterwards. The night before, after the Thursday show, I would not have had the energy. I went home and blubbed uncontrollably over the Diane Sawyer story about babies born to widows of 9/11 victims. I think it was a combination of poignant story and frayed nerves from trying too hard. I felt I had peaked too soon in the day and had wasted all my performance energy by the dress rehearsal. I now realise how important it is to pace yourself. In any case, when they showed the little babies faces next to their Dads', and I saw how alike they were and knew how much those men wanted to raise and love those kids, I fell to pieces.
This week I am singing with another veritable legend. How did I get here? This is too amazing. Can't wait to find out who everybody else got.
Wynonna and Clint Black are hysterically funny people. Clint is highly intelligent, witty and wry. Marissa had an enormous crush on him. His wife Lisa Hartman Black was there and she looks like a great gal, which doesn't surprise me in the least. And that Wynonna is truly Xena with a guitar! I just wanted to hang out in the tent where she was, to breathe the same air, despite the shrieks of protestation from Mama Rose to get back to my darn dressing room.
You don't get any time to rest on your laurels, though. Just when you think you've earned a weekend, they tell you your call time for the next day is bright and early. This juggernaut doesn't stop rolling. Gotta get fit for it.
Lots of love and thanks,
Lucy