Been sick with a sore throat all week. This morning I woke up and my voice was gone. Today my throat feels like it’s been stabbed. I had been looking forward to the Gospel Echoes banquet tonight, but the way I’m feeling I ain’t goin’ nowhere. (Here is a little bit on the banquet tour they’ve been on recently.)

Over the course of my occasionally long and briefly lustrous singing career, there have been many times that sickness has overtaken me when I was committed to sing. One of my most consistent fears/concerns has always been, what if I get sick when I have to sing?!

And it certainly happens. You just deal with it, there isn’t much choice in the matter. Last year I hadn’t been singing much at all, then I got a gig filling in for my buddy Norrell on baritone with my now current quartet, Vocal Witness. What do you know, I got sick right before the gig. Hadn’t sang in ages, but the old viri and flu vermin knew just when to kick in.

So now I’m actually in the quartet. My first official gig is, yes, this Sunday night. Figures. I’m planning on being much better by then. But if I’m not, I’ll do what I’ve done the rest of my career and just deal with it.

I’ve tried all manner and sundry of home-brewed concoctions and quackery, but alas, I never did find a miracle cure. However, there are a couple things I’ve found that are soothing and I like. Steam is one, and I’m drinking the other right now. I think I got it from my Mom.

Dissolve some honey and lemon juice in a cup of hot water. Tastes good, feels good too.