My favorite singer and songwriter has tragically passed at 56
This morning in Dublin in a motorcycle crash.
Since I was a teenager living in Ireland his music has been
My favorite I’ve seen him or his band
The Frames live dozens of times

I’ve had the honor and pleasure of meeting him in person
Multiple occasions he’s always been incredibly kind,
Warm, open, down to earth…anyone who’s
Encountered him seems to say the same. 

My boyfriend in Ireland was a video editor

Working on editing Glen’s band The Frames’ clips when we met
We went and heard them in a divey club in Dublin
The first time I met Glen was when we were both
Showcasing at a radio conference in Colorado
He was promoting the film “Once” as the duo The Swell Season

He was chatty and open and patient with everyone
Their set mesmerized a room of cynical industry folks
Like I’ve never seen before or since. Other times we met -
At SXSW, where he complimented me and said (yep)
I had “a great nose” and actually meant it

Then at Think Coffee in the East Village we sat and chatted
A bit over coffee about us both duetting with Judy Collins
He approached me said “I know you!
We’ve met before - you sang a duet with Judy!”
Which he’s just done himself (that morning NPR had premiered)

He then proceeded to invite me on the spot to be on the VIP list
For a benefit show around the corner at Housing Works,
Which was packed so intimately I was about 3 feet from his
Heart’s outpouring song after song all my favorite tunes…
I’m remembering his face and neck taut with soulful tension

His incredible band including a guest trombonist he’d recently met
From Harlem (my trumpet player happened to know) wailing “Her Mercy”
Every morning since that song has been my alarm - imagine that?
Waking up to his voice to begin my day for many years now
Every gig they ask “what music do you want us to play?”

Before my set I don’t ever hesitate to say Glen Hansard
I can’t count the number of instances I’ve asked mix engineers
To reference his vibe, his sonics, his analog, down to earth,
Rootsy energy sent links to my favorite timeless songs of his
Entire albums and said “check this out this is what we want”

His soul his writing his spirit his generosity his honesty
His kindness an extraordinary ability to
Tell a story and make everyone feel part of it
I honestly can’t stop crying I don’t think I can full grasp
He was a new Dad a new husband always renewed

Always revived by the worlds’ complexities
Rising to the occasion with a rare humane understanding
Of virtually any emotional dynamic and an
Incomparable ability to merge power with possibility and fear
With assurance that voice the dynamics

The whisper to scream orgasmic jaw dropping commitment
What a loss I am numb how will those of us who truly love-revered
What he created go on knowing how much more
He had to make and share, experience and understand
To help us to comprehend there is no world in which

This news makes sense he was a seeming expression-angel
The kind we could touch he gave so so so so so fucking much
Thank you Universe for letting him move us and now
I’m picturing him at Carnegie Hall he always brought up friends
Sometimes even a busker he’d met outside before the show

He made that sacred hallowed hall feel like our living room
He gave us room to live our lives meaningfully
Inches from us his luminousness would always shine
What he seemed to love doing most was to share
Passionate musical voracity with everyone and anybody

Never demanding always intentional
In lockdown he streamed the most stunningly beautiful
Performance his was a circular talent always widening
To embrace I’m bracing myself for the outpouring
It should be so vast he’d long passed the “if you know you know” status

I took such pride In for decades he was our rugged Prince
Of Irish musical grace and grit a busker’s spirit
In everything he created my cries offer no comfort
Bloody hell I’m devastated now I’m remembering
When Bowie died he gathered with fans outside near his home

Played covers of his music I was there
I couldn’t believe that could happen in NYC
Spontaneity was in everything he created
It was always about the vibe on top of having
A composer’s brilliance he had a genius for summoning revelation

Imbued with the sacred, the uplifted, the divine
As much as bound to tradition and history’s arduous ride
So young to be taken so young to be departing
A world desperately needing his honesty’s musical ferocity
His gentleness now more than ever why is it always

The good ones it’s hard not to feel anger but instead
I will go to the piano and pray through my hands
For a way to make sense of the senseless
To bring his holy, inclusive, soulful enchantment
Into each and every remaining day!