Heard from Peter Mayer

[pegkerr]

I've mentioned the Minnesota singer Peter Mayer's music before on this LiveJournal; I love his music and have all of his CDs and have heard him in concert several times. I mentioned that a number of his songs made it onto my Winter playlist. I especially recommend his album Midwinter for anyone who has seasonal affective disorder. There is one song in particular on that album, "The Longest Night" that has been an especial comfort. (You can hear a lovely clip from the beginning of "The Longest Night" from the page for this album at CD Baby.)

So I contacted him by e-mail through his website to let him know how much his music has meant to me. I just got a lovely acknowledgment e-mail back from him.

I've gotten some notes by e-mail over the year from people responding to my books, and so I know how much it can mean to an artist/creator to hear from people who have enjoyed their work. I have a friend who is a well-known YA author, who has remarked rather wryly about letters she gets from kids at times. "Clearly school assignments," she says. "Their teacher thinks it would be a marvelous idea to have the kids write to a favorite author and get an answer back--never thinking to include an SASE or to consider the financial and time burden it would be to reply when I can sometimes get hundreds of the things a month. Funny how they dry up during the summer when school is out."

True. So I approached him by e-mail, not expecting a reply, but was very pleased to hear back from him.

Have you ever written to an artist, an author or a musician, just to tell him or her how much you've enjoyed their work? Tell me about it, why you felt the urge to write. Did you get any kind of response? I've sent a number of them myself over the years. Not all of them have responded.

Comments

[aranel.livejournal.com]

I wrote an email to John M. Ford a few days after September 11 this year, telling him that I'd followed a link to "110 Stories" and read it once, silently, sobbing, and again, aloud, sobbing. I don't remember what else I said, probably that it was a poem written for particular moment, but also so perfect that I expect people to be reading it hundreds of years from now when it needs footnotes to explain the historical context. My email went to a defunct address and bounced back. I didn't take the time to track down a working email address.

About a week letter, he was gone. Send your appreciations to artists who have moved you and changed your life, now, while there's still time.