March, 2005

Hello Fellow Bulbashee (potato heads),

It has been a whirlwind of music the past few months, but I've finally got a few days of down time. As advertised in the past, the film "Minnesota: A History of the Land" was completed in January and broadcast on Minnesota Public TV in late February. It is a stunning show, and I'm quite happy with how my music fit in the 4 hour documentary. It will be re-broadcast here in Minnesota sometime in March. As of now I don't know if they are planning to do a national broadcast of the film. I certainly hope they do. I know that you can purchase the DVD of the show, I do not have the info in front of me, but if anyone is interested in purchasing the DVD send me an e-mail and I'll get that information to you. You can however get a CD of some of the music from the show from my new Recording, "Minnesota: A History of the Land" on Redhouse Records (click to order the CD). There are about 20 cuts on the CD which seems like a lot, but considering that there was about 200 different musical cues for the film, it was difficult getting it down to the 20 that I used for the CD. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

Also, the musical I've been working on for the past 5 years opened this past weekend at "The Great American History Theatre" in St. Paul, Minnesota. The play is called "Fire Ball" and is about the Great Hinckley Fire that happened here in Minnesota in 1894. This project was a collaboration with playwright, Roger Niebor, Choreographer/Director, Joe Chvala, and myself with Spiritual Guidance by Actress Linda Kelsey (Whose Grandfather was a survivor of the Hinckley Fire). It is a stunning work of Theatre and I'm very happy with how the music turned out. If you live in Minnesota or are planning a visit here this month do yourself a favor and get tickets for this show. You wont be disappointed. It runs through the month of March, and closes on Easter Sunday.

By the way, I play in the pit band for the show so if you want to complain about the show I'll be there for immediate gratification. In other news, I was on the 30th Anniversary broadcast of a PHC back in September, which was made into a DVD & a CD. For fans of a PHC it is a must have item. I have been asked several times over the past few months touring around the country if I will be on the PHC Cruise in August. I will not be on the Cruise, but I hope to be somewhere with my family on a beach getting some well earned R&R.

Last but not least, We did a very nice recording of last December's Heart of the Heartland Holiday Concert, and I'm talking with Redhouse Records about putting out a CD of the concert for this fall. There is some great music that was done that night, and it features the singing of not 1, not 2, but 3 Ukrainian women (Built Low to the Ground for Picking Potatoes) plus the great voice of Ruth Mackenzie. So I'm very happy that this will be put out on CD form for everyone to hear what the Heartland Holiday Show is all about.

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