January 1999 Journal...

The more I do what I do, the luckier I feel. I honestly love my job. I'm blown away every night when I go on stage to sing. There's this energy and support that buoys me up even when I'm feeling dark. These cool new opportunities keep coming my way. I got a gig in Rome right around Christmas, so I went to hang with the Pope, find a gelato at the coliseum, and maybe try to meet my favorite Italian Pop Star Fabio Concato.

Espresso at the Trevi Fountain Bar, Rome

Rome was unbelievable. It's so humbling to see these layers and layers of time and the world, the former center the universe. And the faith that thought up these monuments, and the limitless cruelty that actually forced the impossible works up. I didn't see the pope, but I did get to see a concert my last night there of Renzo Arbore and his twenty piece band. Everybody sang, everybody played, and you could hear the influences from Africa, France, Spain. Really beautiful middle eastern twists and turns.

Top of the Duomo, Florence, Italy

Jonatha w/ Bad Dog Staffers Lisa and Marney

I went to Florence too. What an exquisite city. You can walk everywhere, and the colors, the light, the people are just enchanting. The Duomo is unbelievable, and you can climb to the top of it - only 500 steps or so, and look out over the whole city. And someone thought of how to engineer the weight of that dome in 1400 something. It's insane.

Meanwhile back in Gotham City... The sales are booming. The record will be in stores February 16th. The February 18th issue of Rolling Stone has a really nice review in it, and I'll be in People, Jane Magazine and GQ soon. I guess when you take things into your own hands, good things happen.

Two sailors I "met" at the forum.

What else? I'll be doing a Borders tour in March and combine that with some radio visits. And then I'm working up a new kind of idea for touring in April and May.

It's nice in LA right about now. No ice storms, no digging out my car. I'm starting to plow through my latest twenty notebooks of ideas for the new record. That'll be the next wave to catch.

So, that's the scoop for now, see you on the road.

Jonatha