DEAR FRIENDS -- My music and lyrics emerge from the passion of a spiritual warrior whose struggle is to open his heart and set himself free. Each of the songs on my debut disc SUPERNOVA SOUL springs from that well of passion. The lyrics tell the story of my turning points -- moments where i saw more than I did before, opened my heart wider, and came more ALIVE. Songs and stories about "turning points" have a special power to inspire hope and inspiration, and where do we need hope and inspiration more than for the places where our hearts have been broken ! I haven't met anyone yet who, in some way, hasn't had their heart broken -- shattered by a parent , by a lover, by life itself. i believe that healing our broken hearts is the key to the future -- for our own individual lives and for the world we share. We must redeem our love and our joy, which sleep beneath the anger and the pain. And when our grief and anger have come alive, and we've given them their voice, the healing heart starts to yearn for forgiveness. The more deeply you've been wounded, the harder it is to forgive. I must confess that forgiveness came very hard for me. Because I was hurt so badly early in life ( a family history of alcoholism, violence, divorce), I had a lot of anger and sorrow to express before i could finally let it all go. Forgiveness is a long road but the power to forgive lay waiting in my soul ..... These are the words I wrote beneath a perfect starry sky four years ago, when my heart cracked open and forgiveness rose up, changing me forever. In an ecstasy of compassion and sorrow , love and release , I reached out to the spirit of my mother (who had died a few years earlier). So many of us are prisoners of the pain we carry, of apologies we've never offered or ever receive . I believe it's important that those who have found forgiveness share their stories, to make it easier for others to find it for themselves. My wish for each of you is that you find the healing road to inner peace. May all souls be free ! FROM MY DIARY: 8-25-05 "Tonite , beneath these pure and awesome stars, the thoughts of my soul return to my mom. To a little girl's sorrow, born from her own mother's angry eyes and the weeping wound of her sexual abuse. To her desperate dream that our family's love could defy the past and heal her pain. But this was not to be. The ancient grief, unspoken and denied, froze a daughter's arms, a mother's hands that longed to reach for love. The anger barred the breasts that longed to give and her heart wept on the inside. Unable to face her pain and set it free, my mother could not be the one whose love and warmth knits a family a haven and a home. The pain we have not healed creates our fate. My mother's dream was by fate denied -- my childhood home by that fate destroyed. Five souls -- her own, my father's, my sister's, my brother's and mine -- buried beneath the stone of the past. But tonite, beneath the grace of God's starry skies, I release the past. Soul unchained i weep healing tears for my mother's pain. With heart cracked wide to the beauty of the night, i bless my mother with love and grief. My old rage, the child of isolation, fades inside these sobs of sympathy. My heart so strong and fragile breaks open at last. Oh mom, I want you to know how completely I forgive you. For the anger and despair you passed to me. For the way you couldn't hold me, your breasts beyond reach, your eyes blind to all i needed. Now all is forgiven. All ! Because our pain was the same, demon of your compulsion, not the will of your soul. These tears are the balm of the angel of grace. You were my mother. In faith i know you wished me the love you never had. Please know that I forgive you a thousand time. The stone is rolled away, and our hearts are free! Rest now. Rest beyond guilt and sorrow, and know that i see your blameless soul. Both of us hoped for every child's dream -- a circle of arms, a sanctuary. How cruelly we were denied. But the grace of love has healed me in the end. Rest now, mother. Go to god's loving arms. Forgive yourself, as I forgive you, and know that I am very well."