look, i’m exhausted. i’m spent both physically and emotionally. even though i have given myself the luxury of an entire tuesday to conceive, write, and record this episode of Fax Of Life, as i usually do, i just cant seem to do it.
i have put my laundry away. i have tidied the studio after a weekend house guest. i took carl for two walks. i took a nap. i contemplated punting this episode to a later date, though i realized almost immediately that would create a cascade of problems for future me.
in the last few weeks, i hosted my OUT HERE musical colleague at my house for a multi-day writing session. i’ve driven down and back to my beloved virginia for a visit to my childhood summer camp, a gig at a historic women’s festival, and a hiking concert with a truly special audience in richmond. and just this weekend, i hosted the tribute concert i organized for my beloved friend, jill sobule. she was so dear to so many, and our bill easily sold out the iron horse here in western mass, as tributes across the country, in boston, los angeles, chicago, and philadelphia will do shortly.
but yall. it’s all been too deep: committing to the everest of writing a musical and working inch by inch up the slope. excavating layers of self in the cabins and dining hall of summer camp, being both adult and youth there. long hours in the car are no longer easy on my body. finding the right tone for a memorial tribute concert to a funny, filthy friend who died too soon.
i feel like i am drowning in the profound - every moment, every motion heavy with meaning and implication. i’d love to have a light, shallow experience - a cotton candy wisp of chat or a breezy visit to someplace untethered to complication.
so today, the best i can do is sit on my porch, with the river burbling below me and the birds chat chattering around me, impervious to the song i am singing.
when i think of my longing for a brief, easy experience or two, for a break from the profound, i think of today’s audio’s title. but as i opened my laptop and nosed my way through it, just once (you’re listening to a first and only take) ``i am struck by the impossibility of the shallow. it’s just not going to happen. life is too rich, i am too open to it, my daily rhythm is constructed to consistently steer me away from the shallow, the mundane, the repetitive. oh well. here we are today.
what do you need today? whatever it is, deep or shallow, i hope you get it.
x erin
ps - here are some pics from my too profound last few weeks.
hiking concert in richmond. what a GREAT group of listeners!!
playing old time at my summer camp reunion
um, who brought the pony to the Virginia Women’s Music Festival???
carl living his best life at Table Rock, Vesuvius VA
jealous of MACK’s tattoo
namesake!!!! carl at carl’s, Fredericksburg VA.
setlist and MC plan for the jill tribute, Northampton MA
my dear pal gretchen phillips and i supporting icon june millington on “cinnamon park”
delight with nerissa and katryna nields
its too much, even for carl.
¡ME GUSTA! : SOME OF MY FAVORITE THINGS!
this amazing book (and audio book!!) got me through my long drives. mid-century london true-crime read by the legendary nicola walker
finally, one of my favorite new yorker articles, explained, plus a delightful tribute to charles strouse, the composer of “annie”`
UPCOMING SHOWS
2025
now - June 2026 - Fredericksburg VA
Fredericksburg Area Museum
Out And About: The Walk-in Closet
VISIT
June 27, 2025 - Bryn Mawr PA
The Point, 20th Anniv
TICKETS
FAMILY GAME NIGHT TOUR
July 9, 2025 - Boston MA
with Matt The Electrician, Natalia Zukerman, Kris Delmhorst
TICKETS
July 10, 2025 - Exeter NH
with Matt The Electrician, Natalia Zukerman, Kris Delmhorst
TICKETS
July 11, 2025 - Beacon NY
with Matt The Electrician, Natalia Zukerman, Stephen Claire
TICKETS
July 13, 2025 - Windsor MA
Hiking Concert with Matt The Electrician, Natalia Zukerman
TICKETS
July 12, 2025 - Austerlitz NY
Hiking Concert at Edna St. Vincent Millay Estate
TICKETS
October 22, 2025 - Austin TX
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 23, 2025 - Dallas TX
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 24, 2025 - Oklahoma City OK
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 25, 2025 - Lawrence KS
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 27, 2025 - St Louis MA
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 28, 2025 - Indianapolis
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 30, 2025 - Toronto ON
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
October 31, 2025 - Detroit MI
As The Weather with Welcome To Night Vale
TICKETS
2026
April 10-May 10, 2026 - Chicago IL
World Premiere of OUT HERE @ Court Theatre
TICKETS & INFO
Aug 17-27 - Scotland
10 Day Tour of the Scottish Borderlands
TICKETS & INFO
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