I’ve been in Indonesia for about three weeks now, and the trip has been incredible. For the first couple of weeks, I got to hang out with some of my dearest Boston friends Tamsin, Rhianna, and Davis & Mitch of Friendly People – whom I hadn’t seen since I left for Greece in August, so it was a wonderful reuinion. we went to Thailand to celebrate New Year’s, then came back to Indo and hung out in Jakarta, Bali, and Yogyakarta. We saw Borobudur at sunrise, Prambanan in a thunderstorm, and drove motorbikes through rural Balinese villages and farmland with the sheer purpose of following the wind and losing ourselves a bit. We did manage to get completely lost, which was actually pretty wonderful, and along the way had some pretty magical experiences. At one point, the guys and I pulled our bikes over on the side of the road to walk down a footpath leading through the rice terraces. It was clearly about to rain, but the setting was so beautiful that we wanted to check it out. When we got off our bikes, we saw a bamboo shack on the trail, with a bunch of guys out front shouting, “Halooo! Where you from?! Come here, come here!!” . Of course, we headed over to meet them, and right when we walked up it started pouring. They quickly invited us inside, and as entered we realized that this was their home – about six of them slept on the cardboard floor inside – so we took off our shoes, expressed our gratitude, and took a seat while everyone piled in. We were all curious and excited to find out more about each other, trying to communicate with the few words we knew in each other’s languages – it was a lot of fun. And they had a guitar. Its owner was a guy who was probably about 17 or so, and we asked him if he could play us a song. He bashfully obliged, and sang us a really sweet Indonesian love song. Then he offered it over to me. Playing there, in their home, was such a moving experience. It didn’t matter that we didn’t speak the same language, or that we had really no idea about each other’s lives – we could share music together, and as I played they clapped along, and tapped the ground to the beat, with more of their friends coming up and smiling as they peeked through the slits in the walls. We went back and forth sharing a few songs, and then once the storm let up everyone wanted to take photos. We were all buddying up, so stoked about our new friends. After a while, we finally had to say our goodbyes and hit the road, to try and make it to the beach before dark – but even though we’ll probably never see each other again, I’ll never forget those guys. . It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever experienced.

Three of my favorite new youtube videos…

First, the gorgeous Indian-Canadian singer Kiran Ahluwalia, featuring one of my favorite bands, Tinariwen! In this new recording, they cut a version of the classic Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan piece “Mustt Mustt.” Love the energy of the video, too. If you’re trying to learn how to levitate, listening to this song would be a good starting point.

Second, from another side of the world, the superduo of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings sing an original in the NPR studios. Listening to this guitar solo, I’m not quite sure whether to jump for joy or weep from sheer emotional abundance.

And finally, a great TED talk from India.Arie, with Idan Raichel. I loved her thoughts here on songwriting as a spiritual practice. “Honor where the creativity comes from,” she shares. Uplifting. Amen.

In the snowy Northeast, there’s a lot to fall in love with. Barren trees and buildings lined with white, the still of the morning before the plows come out, the relief of coming inside to a hot cup of tea. Of course, it’s not all so picturesque: I’ve also slipped and fallen on black ice a grand total of three times already in the past two weeks, but the bruises don’t make me love this time of year any less. It just gives me a good reason to go play somewhere warm.

The past few months have been filled with exciting things, and many in a friendlier climate too – I played some great gigs in Texas in November, toured from San Francisco down to Anaheim in December and January, played at the NAMM music convention, and opened for one of my favorite songwriters, Jorge Drexler, last week. This weekend’s journey involves Boston, New York, and Philly.

I really loved getting to spend time in California this month. It was only my second time playing in the Bay Area, and since I had good friends to crash with, I booked myself a few extra days to take in the scenery. Got in some good runs and hikes, spent a few hours in great museums, saw a some buddies play a killer funk show, and met a lot of wonderful people. Two major highlights for me, though, were found in the Mission district: breathtaking street art, and great vegan food.

The great culinary paradox in my life is that I’m both an 8-year vegetarian and a serious fan of Mexican food. Leave it to San Francisco to make my dreams come true: they’ve got Gracias Madre, an all-vegan, largely-raw, super-conscious Mexican restaurant. With a good book and 70 degree weather, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. But just when I thought nothing could top my hot-sauce-high, I came across the MaestraPeace Mural.

The MaestraPeace Mural (see first photo in top gallery) at the Women’s Building of San Francisco was painted in 1994 by a multi-cultural, multi-generational group of seven women. Created as a visual testament to courageous women around the world, the only thing more striking than its massive size and vibrant color is its message. The mural pays tribute to real-life women like Georgia O’Keefe, Maya Angelou, and Audre Lorde, and also takes on a spiritual side by incorporating figures that symbolize the healing power of womens’ wisdom over the years. The importance of strong women has been on my mind a lot recently, triggered in part by reading the riveting book Half the Sky, which is a non-fiction call-to-action focused on the importance of women’s empowerment in developing countries. It’s often hard to read, because it depicts some of mankind’s most cruel behavior, but it’s incredibly inspiring and eye-opening. It made seeing the Maestra Peace resonate even more powerfully with me. I wholeheartedly recommend both works.

I also played some great shows in the Bay Area: one with one of my best friends, Megan Lui, who’s just released a wonderful debut EP. Made a video in her brother’s backyard, which you can check out here, and also got to play some great duo gigs with my friend Josh Hari on bass. We’ve got a lot more collaboration coming up in the new year, including some recording, and also a three week Texas tour with the Boston Boys which I’m off-the-wall excited about. Tons of new stuff coming up – working on booking my first European tour now, too, and writing bunch of new music! I’ll post some videos and recordings here as time progresses. Looking forward to sharing it with you – thanks for listening!

Here’s a video from the NAMM convention, courtesy of Avid and the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus:

If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be featured in the October issue of Glamour magazine, I probably would have thought they were crazy.  However, that’s the case this month, and I feel so honored and humbled to be amongst such an amazing group as the “Top 10 College Women.”  Each of the other girls is so inspiring, so passionate and driven – it was an amazing experience getting to spend time with each of them last week in NYC for the awards.  You can read each of the 10 features here on Glamour’s site, or in the magazine that’s on newsstands now.  Our trip to New York was pretty jam-packed: between the awards luncheon, several panels with other incredible women, tours of the Glamour office and the UN, a Broadway show, and the Top of the Rock, it was pretty surreal, and very moving.  Here’s a few photos from the trip:

Blessed with the opportunity to spend a week playing shows in the french west indies island of saint-barth this month…the day that we finished the new cd!  craziness.  after a month of 10 hour days spent in a basement listening to my voice over and over, it was one of the most beautiful places i’ve ever experienced. haha! the people on the island were beautiful and kind, and the landscape was like nothing i’d ever seen.   the gigs were at a restaurant called  la plage at the tom beach hotel…here’s a few photos from the trip: