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June 21st, 2005... I recently performed with the wonderful singer/songwriter Claudia Russell at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, California. She has just released her 2nd CD -- "Ready to Receive." This performance was the official unwrapping of her latest work, which she produced along with her husband, Bruce Kaplan. These two are a riot in concert! I had a great time on stage, listening to and laughing at, their clever banter. Oh, and the fiddly bits I got to play were a ton of fun as well. I'll be doing more work with them in the future ... so stay tuned. May 21st, 2005... West Coast Songwriters 2005 International Song Contest winners announced! "Family Tree" wins 1st place folk & 3rd place overall An actual prize will be awarded -- a Shure KSM27 condenser microphone. To my non-technical readers, this is a very high quality piece of recording studio gear. Yippee! November 7th, 2004... Just Plain Folks 2004 International Song Contest winners announced! "Family Tree" wins 2nd place Americana I just returned from the JPF awards ceremony in Santa Ana California, and let me tell you, it was an unforgettable experience! My song, "Family Tree" was nominated for Americana Song-of-the-year, alongside the work of some very big-time songwriters. To illustrate my point, excuse me while I do a double name-drop: Susan Gibson & Keith Sykes. Susan wrote the #1 song "Wide Open Spaces" for the Dixie Chicks and Keith wrote "Volcano" for Jimmy Buffet. Wow! That's some company you keep! The eventual winner turned out to be Eve Selis -- enormously talented and extremely gracious. I was quite happy to be her runner-up! Her live performance was the highlight of the evening for me. She was positively incendiary. For a grass roots organization, JPF sure knows how to throw one heck of a party. It was truly a musical gala, with every corner of the globe represented on stage. I was duly impressed by the world-class performances and had a great time listening to independent artists from just about every genre under the sun. The best part of the JPF awards was meeting so many like-minded musicians & songwriters. I'd like to mention them by name, as a way of saying thanks for making this first-timer feel so welcome: Brian Austin Whitney, Eve Selis, Erika Luckett, Tampa Stan, Jim Vilandre, Kate Moody, Zak Morgan, Juliette Riedl, Kerry Getz, Jill Sissel, Laurie McClain and all the rest (you know who you are!).