July 13, 2007

See the newly posted review from Rootstime, the Belgian webzine for Roots Music on the Reviews page. Also note that I’ve been getting airplay in Germany. Ginger & Fred and The Thin Line are being played by DJ Ottic on Alooga Media.

April 16, 2007

The New CD is out. Check the Lyrics page and the Ordering page.

November 27, 2006

I was reviewing my digital sales log yesterday from CD Baby – the report that monitors digital downloads and song plays on sites like ITunes, Yahoo, Comcast Rhapsody. Though the sales and downloads haven’t hit Springsteen levels yet, they are most gratifying. It was also interesting to find out that I had made digital sales in Australia, Europe, and Canada. The runaway leader in downloads and plays is Money, Money, Money. Great Wall of China and I Want to Live Forever also had a lot of activity. If you subscribe to any download/music streaming service, check out my tunes and spin them a few times. I get about a penny every time something is played. Thanks to all of you who have found and played the music.

I’m thinking about making the cassette only releases from the 80’s and 90’s available digitally to get as much of the catalog out there as possible. I’m also trying to get a new release under way.

May 3, 2006

I just got back from a long weekend in Austin. We were mostly hanging out, enjoying the warm weather, friends, Tex-Mex, BBQ, and Shiner Bock. I got to play a set at a private party with good friend Jay Williams sitting in on electric guitar (he’s been playing a lot recently with an Austin R&B, Jazz singer, actor named Tim Curry – not Rocky Horror Tim Curry). Jay really blew me away on old songs and new songs. Every curve I threw at him went out of the park. It was really the most fun I’d had playing in a while. Made me want to move back to Austin…

We also managed to hear some great music, catching the Sunday evening show at the Saxon Pub with the Resentments (Jon Dee Graham, Stephen Bruton, Jud Newcomb – can’t remember the name of the drummer, not sure it was their regular guy). Here are these guys (very well known in Austin, if not beyond) playing at this tiny, hole in the wall place for a $5 cover playing their roots rock, punk country, whatever and really smoking. They were passing the bass guitar around and taking their turns on guitar, mandolin, vocals, JDG on lap steel. Only in Austin could you go to a show like that for $5.

Then on Monday, we ate barbeque in South Austin and listened to some fine old country with Sarah Elizabeth Campbell and her acoustic ensemble.

April 22, 2006

I performed last night at St. Elmo’s Coffeehouse in Alexandria. Miserable rainy night for the most part, but there was a decent crowd, especially for the second set. I managed to debut a few songs that I’ve written recently and pulled them off pretty well. I also pulled out a few songs that had lain on the shelf for a few years. I’ve been doing some recording recently and hopefully these tunes will see the light of day soon.

Dec 30, 2005

Greetings to you after the Winter Solstice:

In keeping with the increasing multi-cultural sensitivity towards winter seasonal celebratory activities and using non-offensive, generic greetings to promote a truly inclusive message of hope and goodwill, we have refrained from sending this missive to coincide with an un-named Christian system of belief special day (note that Ho@#day has been deemed offensive to some groups by the ACLU and is no longer an acceptable euphemism for a seasonal greeting, given it’s obvious derivation – if unsure of the etymology, please consult with your system of belief handbook). We had initially thought that we would send a simple Happy New Year letter, but the Chinese do not celebrate the New Year until somewhat later, and we would not want to offend more than one billion Chinese. Given the lack of alternatives, we settled on belatedly acknowledging the Winter Solstice. Most scientifically literate cultures will accept the categorization of the solstice as a meaningful phenomenon and would recognize it on the calendar. For Americans, it is the astronomical moment when the earth’s northern hemisphere is most inclined away from the Sun. Or, in other words, the postulated preternatural being ritually honored by an un-named System of Belief, through his Intelligent Design, made it the shortest day of the year. I should emphasize that we do not personally endow the Solstice with the trappings of any particular system of belief and do not here acknowledge that we may or may not have celebrated or enjoyed it.

Please note that not naming un-named system of belief special days is not universally accepted in America as it is in France. Fox News is a major center of this resistance, as inconsequential as it is, as is the White House, Paul Harvey and most of Congress. More system of belief places of gathering were closed on their unnamed special day than were retail stores trying to capitalize on a proliferation of unnamed system of belief special days lumped together using culturally inoffensive generic sales appeals which still manage to be loud and obnoxious, and apparently less and less successful at generating real revenue, despite deep discounts. In any event, these subversives, fighting their desperate rear-guard action, seem to think that more plastic babies on display in fake stables draped in red and green with big signs naming un-named system of belief special days will keep the cash registers ringing and prevent the moral and economic collapse of the Republic.

In any event, further note that if you are reading this, your name has been added to the very select (though increasing less select) list of folks that the White House is keeping tabs on in perpetuity through painless remote sensing procedures performed by the NSA (“No Such Agency”) with the help of your local phone company. You might say that they are trying to sort out who’s naughty or nice, but that would suggest that they were usurping the authority from the secularized patron saint of an un-named Christian system of belief special day. If you turn out to be less naughty than either the Quakers or PETA, you may be turned over to DOD or the CIA for ongoing oversight. If two or three large men in black suits with dark sunglasses come to your door asking questions or are seen going through your garbage, please cooperate. It will do no good to claim that you voted for George Bush or that you actually do celebrate unnamed Christian system of belief special days by name. You are reading this and they will presume that you are trying to pull a fast one. They don’t realize that my advertising techniques are probably more fallible than Walmart, so it might have been possible, though not very likely, for a few Bush-voters or Bill O’Reilly fans to find their way to this site. Sorry. It really wasn’t my fault. If it’s any consolation, I’ve heard that you may be eligible for an all expenses paid vacation to a very exclusive, and until recently, very secret chain of resorts in exotic locations that do not celebrate unnamed Christian system of belief special days or the Geneva Conventions. The food is an unusual and indescribable cornucopia of delicacies and you can participate in a wide variety of water sports and other challenging and stimulating activities. No expense is spared in providing the experience of a lifetime.

That being said, and since our story is now an open book (at least to those with a top secret security clearance), we had a fairly eventful year, though perhaps less eventful than the average resident of New Orleans, Banda Aceh, or the mountains of Pakistan. In any event, disclosing the details would be redundant and might lead to conflicting testimony.

Best wishes for 2006.

Dec 29, 2005

I’ve been playing with some new toys for digital recording in the days after Christmas. Look for some new songs in 2006.