There’s Nothing I Wouldn’t Do…

Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler

Today’s song was written by the very gifted team of Marcy Heisler (lyrics) and Zina Goldrich (music).

They are a well-known songwriting team based in New York City, and they have crafted a bunch of stand-alone songs — along with entire musicals — which are beloved by performers.

A few of their NYC-area hits include “I Like Them (Bald),” “Alto’s Lament,” and “Taylor, The Latte Boy.”

Jinny Sagorin and I recorded their song “There’s Nothing I Wouldn’t Do” with pianist Doug Hammer a few years ago.

Originally from South Africa, Jinny has lived in the Boston area for the past two decades.

You can check out her website by clicking here if you are curious.

In recent years Jinny has expanded beyond musical theater and cabaret to becoming a cantor.

We both share a sense that music can be very sacred (as well as silly, sexy, heartfelt, and open-minded).

Will (with broken elbow), Jinny and Doug — Photo by Jeremy Schmahmann

And performing in a synagogue, library, church or retirement community can be just as satisfying as performing in a bar or club — although we have both done plenty of that, too!

I first met Jinny when I was co-hosting an open mic at The Cambridge Center For Adult Education in Harvard Square (where I also was employed as an events manager and PR person).

Eventually we put together an entire program of songs called LIFE MATTERS.

Jinny also invited me to perform as a special guest when she debuted her solo CD, IT’S FOR YOU, to a sold-out crowd at Scullers Jazz Club in Boston.

And she has performed many of my original songs when I have done showcases of my own work.

In addition to being a performing artist, Jinny is also a visual artist.

Here’s an example of a work of art she created for an annual show called ART/Word in which she is a regular participant.

Thank you to Marcy and Zina for writing this song.

Thank you to Jinny and Doug for recording it with me.

Painting by Jinny Sagorin

Thank you to Stephen C. Fischer a.k.a DigitalFisch for designing the graphic to accompany it.

Thank you to Dr. Jeremy Schmahmann for taking the photo of me, Jinny and Doug.

And thank YOU for reading this blog post!

PS: If you feel like streaming this song on your favorite digital music platform, please click here for links.

PPS: I haven’t mentioned the current challenges here on planet earth (wars, heat waves, forest fires, floods, spreading diseases, rising costs, lack of food/fertilizer/fuel, political upheaval, etc.) in recent blog posts.

But I remain vividly aware of them.

And I continue to find inspiration and hope from the courageous candidates and hard-working GOTV (get out the vote) organizations at work around the USA.

As you are probably well aware, there are a bunch of very inspiring human beings stepping up at the local, state and national levels these days.

Let’s support them — with tiny donations of time and/or money— as much as we are able.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

The Starry Night

What is it about Vincent Van Gogh’s painting “The Starry Night” that touches so many of our human hearts?

At the end of December I was wandering through the Museum of Modern Art in New York City when I happened upon his masterpiece.

First I noticed the scrum of people who were jockeying for position in front of it.

Then I noticed the guard who had the extraordinary responsibility of making sure that none of the members of the scrum got close enough to damage the painting.

And then I saw it…The Starry Night.

StarryStarryNight

And tears immediately appeared in my eyes.

Even with a crowd of people taking photos of it, taking photos of themselves in front of it, and tweeting and texting their friends about it, “The Starry Night” was serenely, astoundingly beautiful.

I don’t know if I cried partly because I, too, love to gaze at the night sky — amazed at the beauty of the stars and the vastness of the universe — and Van Gogh captures it so well in this painting?

Or if I was reminded of Don McLean’s song “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night),” which speaks so poignantly about how little respect or success Van Gogh earned in his lifetime — as well as his eventual suicide?

The juxtaposition of the clamoring crowd of art-lovers in the 21st century and Van Gogh’s downwardly mobile existence in the 19th century was odd.

Van-Gogh-Self-Portrait

And yet we all still share the same huge questions — about how our finite lives relate to the unimaginably vast realms of space, about what happens to us when our bodies die, about how our wonderful blue-green planet fits into the swirling patterns of the universe, about time…and space…and love…and loss.

Ahh, art.

Ahh, music.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

If you are curious to learn more, here is a link to MOMA’s web page for “The Starry Night.”

Special thanks to pianist Doug Hammer, at whose Dream World studio we recorded the version of “Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)” you can hear by clicking at the top of this blog entry.