Well it's been a long hard road, which is something I'm pretty familiar with, but the new disc has finally arrived!
    This project has not gone without it's share of minor disasters along the way, but these things build character. I actually received the discs several weeks ago, but upon inspection we noticed the bar code had been left off of the back cover. You might not think this would matter much, since we have no plans to sell these at Wal-Mart, but the online retailers won't handle the disc without the magic bar code! After freaking out for a spell, I contacted the folks at Discmakers. Once we determined that it wasn't my screw up, they bent over backwards to make things right. Yes, they made a mistake, but they went above and beyond the call of duty to make it right. So I shipped all the discs back to them, they reprinted the jackets and repackaged all the guts, and shipped them back! I"m sure I'll be using them again for any future projects. I believe this would be considered labor pains!
    You might notice a new page on the site titled "Gibtown".  If you dare to click on that tab, it will sweep you away to an alternate universe, where you can get a glimpse of the finished product. You can also order a disc or download from there. If you order the disc, you'll get the awesome art work, as well as a twelve page booklet with all the lyrics and musician credits for each song. 
   So here's to hoping everyone enjoys the new disc, and we still have a few friend left after the elections!
​  See ya soon, Al
   

​  So, here we are on the 8th day of April, and I'm finally getting to my March blog update. My homework assignments were usually late too! 
   Anywhoo, March was full of wonderful events and plenty of musical madness to go around.  We made the annual pilgrimage to The Sertoma Youth Ranch for the Will McLean Festival on the 11&12, a family reunion of sorts for the Florida songsmith community.  A great time was had by all, at least everyone I came into contact with.  There's always a grump or two in attendance, fortunately, I didn't run into any of them!
    I had the extreme pleasure of working with the Shining Star youth program this year. They asked if I'd do a songwriting workshop with the young folks, and in my usual style I accepted before fully realizing what it would entail. A better group of young folk I have never encountered, very talented and bright.  Our mission was  to craft a song during our time together, two one hour workshops, and if all went well, perform it on the main stage Sunday before the festival's closing activities. No pressure! Thanks to Laura Julian for setting me up with this project, it was a wonderful experience. The song turned out to be a real hit with the crowd and I'm sure this program will continue into the future.  I'm quite willing to pass the mentor torch onto some other songwriting mastermind for next year! Here's a link to the video performance.
    The following week I had two sound gigs for the Indian River House Concert series here in Sebastian. Our featured performer was John Flynn from Delaware.
A Great singer songwriter, if you ever have the opportunity to see him, don't blow it! Wednesday the 16th was a private event, then he played again on Saturday at Shirtstock. An annual event, we like to think of as Sebastian's version of Woodstock! A little smaller but just as groovy! Thanks to T-Shirt Kathy for putting on this great series, and allowing me stalk my way into this groups of folkies. 
   I've also been hanging in there with the Blue Lion Open Mic series every Tuesday night. It's kind of grueling to do it every week, but on the nights when something really special happens, it's all worth it.  
    Oh yeah, the recording.  It's so close I can almost smell the discs burning!
I think I've enlisted some of Florida finest folkies to help me out with this project. I'm not going to drop any names, that would be uncool, plus it would take an entire page of credits.  You'll have to wait.  Yes, it's marketing ploy!
 Thanks for continuing to follow my ramblings, and check back often to see where I'll be making some noise!
​    Stay safe and healthy!  Al
     

Due to popular demand, actually it was just one request, I have decided to continue with my somewhat witty and informative blog posts.  Thanks Bob Thompson for reading these.  
   Another year has dissolved into the rear view mirror, and we've been given  the opportunity to start anew. Now if we can just keep on track and manage to avoid the disasters that lurk around every corner.
  My main goal for the year is to finish the CD I've been crafting for way to long.  I may make it into the Guinness record book for longest recording project of the digital age, apparently my strength lies in my ability to procrastinate.  I can see some real progress now and have lined up some great musicians to flesh out the arrangements. My sincere hope is that I have this project completed by the spring and available for the Florida Folk Festival in May.
  In other news, I have once again been selected as a finalist in The South Florida Folk Festival Songwriting Competition. I'm really not one for competing in things, the stress of it pushes me way out of my comfort zone. I'm always amazed when I see other performers get on stage for these type things and revel in the glory of the moment. Meanwhile, I'm off stage trying to figure out how I'm going to get through it without losing my mind.  My ego gene was not fully developed in the womb, and the space was filled in with an insecurity gene.  I'm hoping someday that gene therapy will alleviate this condition, it will be to late for me, but I'm sure future generations will benefit from my sacfrifice. So Jan. 16 & 17, send me some good vibes.  Maybe next month I'll give a blow by blow account of the event.
  In closing the inaugural 2016 blog post, I'd just like to wish everyone a very happy new year, and hope that everything goes better than you expect.   Thanks for hanging out with me!