So many thanks to Sam, Jordan, and everyone at Michael's on the Lake, as well as Terry, Donna, and everyone in Moses Lake for yet another fun ride. If you have had an All Fruits Ripe drink, or you can get one for yourself, post a comment and let me know what you think!

Last year I got to vacation in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was a wonderfully fun and relaxing experience, and I could feel a reggae tune brewing. One day, while looking through the books and magazines in the gift shop, I found a book of Jamaican phrases. I picked it up, opened it to a random page, and my eyes went straight to the phrase "All fruits ripe" which means "Everything is just great. All is good." I immediately knew I had discovered the title of my yet to be written song. The phrase summed up exactly how I felt, and I spent the next few nights out on the balcony drinking Red Stripe and writing this song.

Interesting side note - the cover of my CD "Rescue Me" is a picture I took while in Jamaica.

Download "All Fruits Ripe"
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Lyrics and Info

I'm long overdue to post some information about the experiences I had performing at two different Relay for Life events, one in Port St. Joe, Florida, and the other in Moses Lake, Washington. Being on opposite ends of the country led to the catch phrase "Coast to Coast". More on this later...

It all started when my good friend Scott Baker invited me to perform at the Relay for Life in Port St. Joe. He helped arrange for me to stay at a townhouse on the beach in Cape San Blas, and together we helped to raise money in honor of our classmate, Jeanne Bailey, who had recently lost her battle with breast cancer. Scott posted some videos of my performance on YouTube. My whole family had a terrific time, and the Relay was powerful and fun. Many thanks to Scott and his family for being such terrific hosts and to Thom Baird for allowing us to stay in his lovely beach home. A special thank you to all of our classmates who gave so generously in honor of Jeanne. Jeanne, we miss you.

After I mentioned that Relay here in my blog, Terry Moore from Moses Lake contacted me. She had gotten a copy of my song Celebrate a while back, but when she realized I performed at the Relay in Florida, she asked if I would do so in Moses Lake as well. It was the 20th anniversary of the Relay for Life in Moses Lake. I gladly accepted, and soon found myself on a plane to Spokane followed by a drive to Moses Lake. I performed both that night during the Luminaria ceremony as well as the next morning. Terry and Donna Anderson, pictured here, have become terrific friends and fans. In fact, Terry has now earned the title of "President" of my newly formed "Northwest Fan Club." Be sure to check out Terry's MySpace page and the Official Tom Willner Northwest Fan Club MySpace page also known as Tom Willner Coast to Coast (told you I would get to the birth of that phrase later). She has also posted a custom video on sharinghope.tv about the event using the song Celebrate.

It is an honor for me to perform at the Relay for Life, which raises money to help those battling cancer. I am grateful to my new friends in Florida and Washington, and welcome the opportunity to perform at any of these events across the country.

So once again, through the Taxi service, I had two songs forwarded, this time to Waymo Music for use in a Feature Documentary. The cool news is, the music supervisor for the documentary screened the material himself, so I'm guessing the chance of placement in this one is better than normal. In the listing they said this:

"Lyrically, he is primarily looking for songs that have positive messages and songs about change. He is really wanting to find poignant, emotional material for this film."

The two songs they picked were No Time Like Now, and Sing It Out. Wish me luck!

Once again, thanks to my song (and video) called "Celebrate" which I wrote for The American Cancer Society, I'll be performing and speaking at another Relay for Life fundraising event. The last one was in Port St. Joe, Florida; and now I'm headed to the opposite corner of the continental U.S. to Moses Lake, Washington. I'll be there on Friday and Saturday, May 30-31. I wonder if it's too early to start putting pins on a map... By the way, my good friend Scott posted some videos from my performance in Florida on YouTube.

After I return, on June 2nd at 9 PM, I will be a guest on The Stupid Cancer Show, an interactive talk radio broadcast by Matthew Zachary from "I'm Too Young For This," an organization for young adults affected by cancer. Mark you calendar and come check it out online that night. Of course, in case you miss the live broadcast, you can always go back and listen later.