Hello friends! Jamie and I have begun our third week of isolation — we are still safe and well, and I hope this letter finds you safe and well, too.

What a mind-bending time! Every single one of us on planet earth is figuring out — on the fly — how to cope with a situation that literally none of us has experienced before. For us, it’s been a daily exercise in paying careful attention … to our emotions, our needs, and our responsibilities to ourselves and to each other and to our community.

I have more I want to share about that below, one thing in particular that I hope might feel like a light to you today. ✨

But first … how are we gonna CONNECT?

You might remember from my love letter last week, that we came to the realization a couple weeks ago that because of this world-historic time in which we’re all living, we will not be able to do our annual summer house concert tour this year. (Big tears!)

The other day I looked at my (now obsolete) to-do list for planning our summer tour, and I realized that this is the week that we would have — in more normal times — started looking for hosts for our summer house concerts. (More big tears!)

But … like I also mentioned last week: we’ve got a plan! ☝🏼

– One part of that plan is that we’ll be transforming our annual album fundraiser into what we’re calling a “sustainability fundraiser,” in which we can hopefully replace the income we typically earn during our summer tour — which, in our agrarian-style business model, is when we earn about 75% of our annual income — with ongoing monthly contributions of support from our community.

We’ll be rolling that out in the coming months, so keep your eyes peeled. (But if you want to get an early jump on it … you can visit misfitstars.com to learn how you can help. Thank you!)

— The other part of the plan is that we’re going to do … (insert drum roll) … an Online House Concert Tour! We’re still working out the specifics, but our aim is to — as much as is possible — create online gatherings of friends and family that approximate the intimacy and connection that define our in-person house concerts.

One of the ways in which we’ll achieve this will be that — just like our in-person concerts — each online house concert will be hosted by a member of our community (like you!), who will invite their friends, family, and community to join them for an exclusive, face-to-face experience of sharing music and stories together for an evening.

We’re actually really excited about how this is challenging us to create connection with you in new ways — and we have some fun ideas we’re putting to use in designing an experience for you that’ll meet the unique needs for connection and community that we all have in this time.

We’re going to start scheduling the online tour late next month, but if you already know you’d like to host an online house concert, you can let me know now, and I’ll make sure you’re one of the first to get the info and application when we have them ready to go in a few weeks. Message me at skc@shannoncurtis.net.

As with everything we do, the way in which we’ll weather this time — and the ways in which we’ll be able to bring you new avenues to connect, heal, thrive through it — will be because of our community. That’s you. You are amazing, and we are so grateful you are there for us.

Thank you.

We couldn’t do any of this without you.

And now … how about A HUG?

“Hooray For Love” is a song & video that Jamie and I made back in 2014. It came to mind today, and I hadn’t seen it in a while — so I pulled it up to watch it.

Oof! I felt an unexpected reaction in my body to all the hugs and kisses and physical expressions of love between friends, families, and partners shown in it.

In this time of virus spread, when we’ve been asked to be physically separate from other humans for the sake of the common good, it reminds me how important physical touch is for our bodies, hearts, and minds.

And HOW GOOD is it going to feel when we get to hug each other again?!? 💛

So for today … consider this video to be a hug from us to you.

And let the song be a reminder that …

— the ONE THING that’s going to get us through all of this,
— and the ONE THING that’ll for sure be left standing when it’s over …

… is our LOVE for each other. ❤️ Hooray.

Love and virtual hugs (for now) — shannon