Well, another year has come and gone. I’m writing this update on New Year’s Day 2008. I spent the last evening of 2007 performing at the Kingswood Regional High School in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. This was yet another warm and wonderful evening onstage swapping 45 minute sets with my old pal David Mallet. If you aren’t aware of Dave’s music you should be. We had a very large enthusiastic audience and I was grateful to hear once again David’s “ Inches and Miles” and “ The Ballad of St. Anne’s Reel” a couple of personal favorites from way back when. I met Dave almost 30 years ago when we were both young and full of dreams. I was working as a cartoonist in Noel Paul Stookey’s Neworld Animation Studio in South Blue Hill. Maine. Dave was recording his first album upstairs in the room just above our row of Oxbury tables and we artists got to hear the whole album coming together through the weathered board walls of “The Henhouse”.

   My greatest challenge this year has been to overcome my basic distaste for the internet and all the digital gadgetry internet access requires. I’m still amazingly cranky ( ask my kids ) about complicated, expensive answers to questions nobody asked. I have, however come a long way in one year. Much of the credit must go to my assistant Pamela Bird who recognizes the junk that dominates cyberspace but also sees it’s more positive aspects and tremendous potential. Likewise, thanks go out to my video engineer Ben Keller, a hard working talented young filmmaker who knows a good edit from a lousy one and cares about the difference. The folks at Down East have been consistently encouraging and patient as well. After much foot dragging on my end I finally supplied them with a few video clips from my DVDs. My products are now being distributed and sold via Down East and they thought posting some “samples” would be an incentive for folks to purchase those products.

   I won’t know about the actual sales numbers until the post holiday royalty checks are sent out. What I do know is this. The video clips were posted on the Down East home page on or bout December 6th, 2007. When I checked this afternoon more than 70,000 “views” had been logged in! That’s real progress! We have lots of new products and projects in the pipeline for 2008 and that kind of response is very gratifying indeed.

  That’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by.     

All my best wishes,
 

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