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Michael Tomlinson

Springtime 2024

Howdy my friends, 

It’s a wild and blustery day in the Pacific Northwest. An excellent day to stay inside and watch the sideways rain spatter the windows. You can tell spring is in the air by the way the weather changes dramatically 20 times a day. If the sun comes out, don’t get too comfy. You may need a winter coat and scarf in ten minutes. 

 

I’ve been working on probably half a dozen new songs, but now I’m about to pause in that and start working on some of my earliest songs. I’ve just put tickets on sale for a concert completely devoted to the songs of my first album, Run This Way Forever. Many of you remember those magical times in the mid-80s and how Asphalt Dream and Raining Away, No Bad Dreams, Blue Eyes, Yellow Windows, Waves, By A Friend, I Will Not Pass You By and Run Like the River Runs became a sound track for our lives. Wherever I went to perform, the audiences almost all knew the lyrics to every song. 

 

At first only one station in the world had it, KEZX, the Seattle Station which first played me when I only had a song on cassette, no album at all. But then in the months after Run This Way Forever was released in 1985, a dozen or so stations were playing it. That seemed like a lot to me. But what was wonderful was how excited those stations were to have my record. By the end of the year every one of those stations, from Baltimore and DC to Orlando, San Antonio and Santa Fe, Boulder, Minneapolis, LA, San Francisco, Fairbanks and back to Seattle — reported that I had the most requested song of the year. Every one of them. What was even more astonishing was that it was a different song at almost every station. 

 

Over the years as I’ve put out many albums, of course I add new songs to my concert list. And yet, almost always there are two or three songs from Run This Way Forever that I still play. About three years ago when I had only been performing concerts on Zoom for six months or so, I had the idea to do what I’m about to do now — play every song on that album and tell lots of stories of those days. It remains my highest attendance of any Online Concert I’ve done.

 

This Saturday, April 27, I’ll perform every song from the album — and perhaps a handful of others. I could tell stories about those songs and those years of my life and never run out of them. My friendships, the concerts, the letters! The incredibly close connection I got to have with listeners and audiences around the country has truly been the river I still float with all the songs and albums, concerts, retreats, workshops, and meditation classes I do now. They all flowed from that same river of those early songs. 

 

So as I keep writing new ones, I’ll be putting a lot of energy into not only getting refamiliarized with my early songs, but with interpreting and performing them in dynamic and soulful ways that bring them all alive again. I hope you’ll join us that evening. While I recognize that some people are burned out on Zoom events — mostly because we did so many of them during Covid — I hope you’ll give me a chance to show you how deep the connection can be when you see the artist up close, expressions and laughter, when you hear the stories as if we are all sitting in my living room. And when you are immersed in the visual, colorful atmosphere I create, you will feel you’ve really been somewhere. I make that happen.

 

The last thing I’ll mention is that I’m about to launch an online publication on Substack, filled with stories and writings, songs and videos. If you’ve not heard of it, Substack is a wildly successful writer’s website which allows us to accept paid subscribers of our writing and various sharings. I’ll be writing stories, memoirs, humorous pieces, essays, fiction, and sharing them with you every month. I’ll also be doing a video/audio release once a month. Reading aloud some of my stories, maybe meditations, making videos for you and sharing new and old songs. I’ll send you something soon. My intention in hoping people want to subscribe, is to give you something that makes your life better. That feels empowering and inspiring. That gives you hope and reminds you of wonder. I look forward to showing you what it will be. If you’re not on my email list, be sure and sign up here on this website and I’ll send you a version of the first few issues for free.

 

In the meantime, I wish you love and kindness, I wish for you harmony in your life so that as each jagged edge of the world’s chaotic events come rushing past, the harmony within your own spirit will soften the hard edges and quiet the noise and bring to you the revelation that you still can live a beautiful life. ~ Michael Tomlinson

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Email me any ol' time at mt@michaeltomlinson.com

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