A few days ago I returned home from a trip to Egypt. It was the best trip I’ve ever been on. My mom brought me with her in honor of my 50th birthday and her forthcoming 80th. What made the experience so special, beyond the opportunity to be somewhere I’d never been and to share it with my mom was how much there was to learn.
Our guide was an Egyptologist named Mohammed Rehim. If you ever have a chance to go on a guided tour of Egypt, do everything you can to get this man to be your guide. The depth and breadth of his knowledge of ancient Egypt seemed absolutely endless. He never tired of our questions and his passion for the wonders of the ancient world was infectious.
I haven’t technically been to ‘school’ in 29 years. I’m not sure even when I was that I ever experienced anything like the excitement I felt trying to absorb all the information Mohammed shared with us.
WINSTON-SALEM! Join me Saturday Feb 3rd at Gas Hill Drinking Room at the Ramkat. I’ll be joined by Russell Kelly on guitar and special guest Sarah Sophia will open the show.
What really knocked me out was the sheer sense of awe I felt at the size of the pyramids, the temples. The colors painted on the walls of the tombs, dating back 3000 years and still as vibrant as if they’d been painted last week. The thousands of stories carved into the pillars and walls of every temple and tomb to appease the gods as a king or queen made their journey to the Second World. The precision of every cut made into stone on the tombs of non-royals showing what their daily lives and jobs were. It made me think about faith - how committed the ancients were to making things work out for the people passing on. I admire that kind of commitment to a belief system. I’ve never been able to completely commit to one way of thinking - the curse of a brain that never stops questioning.
I tried frantically to write down everything Mohammed shared with us at every site. I couldn’t capture it all. But it left me with a hunger to learn more, and to share as much as I can with anyone I can teach anything valuable to. The older I get, the more I just want to learn and share it, learn and share it, learn and share it.
AUSTIN! Join me and my friend Jenny Reynolds Sunday Feb 18th at KD House Concerts. Suggested donation is $30, less for fellow artists. For info/reservations email KD House Concerts.
I don’t know yet what I’ll do with this reignited passion for learning. Live part-time in Egypt? Learn Arabic? Get a degree in something new? I don’t know. I do know that I don’t want to forget this feeling and just get sucked back into the grind of daily life. That’s why I’m sharing this with you as a sort of accountability plea. Being immersed in intentional learning and teaching suddenly feel like the best ways to feel totally present and alive and to make the most of my time here.
While I’m working out the answer to this question, I hope you’ll join me at these upcoming shows.
TLDR - Upcoming Shows
2/3 Gas Hill Drinking Room, Winston-Salem, NC
2/18 KD House Concert, Austin, TX w/Jenny Reynolds - email for reservations
3/6 On the Tracks, Chelsea, MI
3/8. Molly’s House Concerts, Lincolnwood, IL - email for reservations
3/9. Henry House Concert, Pacific, MO - email for reservations
3/10. Compass Listening Room, Columbia, MO
3/23 Live at Ted’s, Wilmington, NC
4/4. Club Passim, Boston, MA - On Sale Now!
4/7. Rosie’s Cafe, Brick, NJ - email for reservations
4/9. The Bitter End, New York City
xo
Jess
Ancient Egypt