Posted on September 23, 2025 at 7:34 pm

It seems unlikely, I know, but I lived in Los Angeles for almost a decade and I really loved it, and one of the things I loved was my relationship with some of the local theater companies. In 2005, right after I got to town, the Rubicon Theater Company in Ventura did a really thrilling environmental production of Songs for a New World (directed masterfully by Jon Lawrence Rivera), and the theater’s producer, Karyl Lynn Burns, invited me to come work with the cast and do a concert after the closing night show. I’ve been able to maintain a loose relationship with Rubicon over the years, and I’m always amazed to see how they’re growing and thriving, so I was delighted when Karyl Lynn asked if I could be part of the Rubicon’s summer festival, Ventura Live ’25, twenty years after I first stepped on to the Rubicon stage.

We decided on a fun format – I did an hour of solo performance, and then my friend and collaborator Kenneth Lin joined me on stage for an interview and Q & A with the audience. Also, during the first hour, I sneakily called my friend Amy Ryder to come up so that she could sing the song that she introduced to the world back in 1991, “Stars and the Moon.” (Lotsa folks sing it. No one sings it betta.)

I loved being back at Rubicon, sharing some of my newest songs and a couple of old favorites. We had a wonderful crowd, and I can’t wait to see what Karyl Lynn and her amazing team come up with next.

Hope from How We React and How We Recover (2018)
I Love Betsy from Honeymoon In Vegas (2014)
It All Fades Away from The Bridges of Madison County (2013)
Get Closer from The Bridges of Madison County (2013)
AMY RYDER: Stars and the Moon from Songs for a New World (1995)
It’s Hard to Speak My Heart from Parade (1998)
Zohra’s Philosophy from Less (2025)
Fifty Years Long from How We React and How We Recover (2018)
Wait Til You See What’s Next from How We React and How We Recover (2018)
All Things In Time from How We React and How We Recover (2018)

JRB: vocals, piano
AMY RYDER: guest vocalist
KENNETH LIN: special guest interlocutor