Last night, for me, was a night to remember. Friends of a lifetime gathered together in New York City’s Pearl Studios to give a little listen to my newly released album, Remnants. The place was packed with so many joyful faces coming to hear selections from the last 40 years of my musical imaginings.

I had wondered, tremulously, if we could expect to put that many people in a room together and expect them to really sit and listen together to song after song without talking during the music, getting up and rushing back to the scrumptious food table for seconds, checking their cell phones, etc., etc. Would they really just sit and listen to the music without a live band or a stage show to watch?

Well, I needn’t have wondered. The entire audience sat in rapt attention throughout and stood to cheer me once the last song had played. As I stood there facing the throng of all those faces—friends of a lifetime and also many people that I did not know, but had known my music for years, I thought to myself, “Well, remember this moment, Pete. This is one of those times of full acceptance that many often dream about.” It is a moment I shall cherish always.

As we all know, our friends are often our best critics—and sometimes our most honest critics. But last night they came to support, to party, to celebrate, and to love. I got enough love to last a lifetime last night, and that was a lift that sent me home buoyant and grateful.

I was also grateful that so many people came up to me afterwards and spoke of life-changing revelations in the course of the evening. The Remnants CD isn’t just about rehashing some old songs and fixing up some tired warhorses, but rather it’s about the fact that we always have in our lives the opportunity to make things better—to take the missed moments of our lives and make them work, to bring our past up to date and to be born again.

One friend just wrote and said, “A profoundly moving evening. Made one reflect on one’s life and accomplishments!” These are the moments when one can sit back and smile and know that all the hours and energy put into a project was totally worth it. The audience got the point, and the point created a change of thought in their lives. After all, isn’t that ultimately what being an artist is all about?