I’m about to leave for the airport to pick up my friend, Shane Kelly. She’s going to stay with me for about 5 days…and we’re going to have a blast!

Shane lives in North Carolina via Tennessee via California via Chicago via Georgia. I think that’s the order. She’s lived a lot of places, that girl. Her dreams take her all over the place. But now, she’s a North Carolina girl. She lives there with her amazingly sweet husband Alex and their dog…who’s name I can’t remember right now. Forgive me, puppy.

Shane is partially responsible for getting me out and singing throughout Northern California. Many years ago, she started something called “Song of the Month Club” at Martuni’s in San Francisco. It was a singer’s open mic where a slew of singers would come and sign up to sing 2 tunes accompanied by a piano player who could play almost anything. Tucked in the dark back room of this piano bar we would all sing for each other.

That’s where I met Shane. And a lot of other singers with whom I am now friends. Like Lua Hadar and Linda Kosut. Shaynee Rainbolt. Barry Lloyd. This fun, once a month open mic was my gateway into the San Francisco Cabaret community.

Shane doesn’t sing anymore. Not professionally. She sings in church and maybe in the car. I think she got her heart broken by music. It happens. I’ve been there. You give your heart and life energy to music, to singing, and you have these dreams, these expectations, and when they don’t manifest… you feel betrayed. Or maybe she just felt complete after creating her truly magnificent CD.

Instead of singing, she’s cooking! She’s a crazy whole foods chef, the original Whole Foods Snob! She loves cooking and teaching others about how to eat well.

Okay, gotta run. Delta Airlines is running on time and I got to be there when Shane touches down!