Living between Boston and NYC while I was in graduate school, I played with a group we called the Green St. Band (because we played every Sunday afternoon in my friend John's house, next door to Ben's, on Green St. in Marblehead).

We did mostly originals and some covers. This recording is from miking the band room on a Green St. Sunday (obviously not the best mix and live scratch vocals).

I wrote "Crystal Blue" in my mid-20s when I knew I needed to shift career gears. The song was essentially a note to self: time to make a change.

Fortunately, I worked in a place with a grand piano that I could go play when inspiration (or stress) hit. I wrote the tune as I walked across the street for Thai food at Boston's best Thai restaurant and then came back and figured out the chords I'd been singing.

In short order, I quit my job and moved to NYC for grad school.

The pic is from last summer on our private beach in Montauk.