Saturday night off

Tonight was cancelled due to cold, windy, and possibly rainy weather. It didn't rain but it was cool. So... I found myself at the lakehouse with some time on my hands and I decided to call Fritz Davis, the editor of the "Red River Miner". He told me they had just had several inches of snow and the precipitation is badly needed in such a dry year.
Also Fritz and Jeff Fagan have had two songs accepted into the New Mexico song writing competition. One, called "Take it as far as it will go" is an awesome song, and the other is about the presidential race and really funny. Good luck to both of you in Albuquerque next month.
I keep working away on songs for the next album and it is not easy. The stuff I've been writing is so different from what I've done before that I'm not sure if it will fit with what I do. Does every profession have these problems? Probably not... More at a later time.

The weekend

This friday we all gathered at the lakehouse. Philip, Nora, John and Wendy spent the weekend with Linda and me. On saturday night at Sugarmill, we were joined by Mary, Lou, Robert, Linda, Les, the guys from Baldwin,two former boy scouts from my Cornelia troop, plus some campers and locals. A really nice night even though it cooled off around 10:00pm.
On Sunday we took the boat out for a couple of hours. Quite choppy because of the wind but still refreshing. M.T.C.L.

John took these photographs at Sugarmill last night. It was busy and we even had folks from Seneca, S.C. Thank you Bob and Linda for really going out of your way. Yesterday was hot, around 90 degrees in Atlanta and not much cooler than that up here. This guitar is my Washburn. It is not an expensive guitar but very hardy and almost impervious to the temperature and humidity changes I put it through.

I really enjoy this place and all the people I meet here. M.T.C.

Working on a new CD.

Today I started to learn (for the second time) how to use the Roland VS-2480CD. It's a very steep learning curve. I have quite a few songs almost completed and decided to get busy and at the very least end up with a demo.
If all goes well and the quality is good, I'll have to invest in a Neuman U87 microphone to do the vocals with. I just bought a "Radial J48" active direct box for enabling me to plug an acoustic guitar into the Bose "Stick". It should also be fantastic for recording directly into the Roland. If you look in the picture you may notice that the monitors are a pair of JBL100's. I bought those in 1974 and still think they are superior to the new stuff.
The summer tour is coming together nicely and I'll add more dates as they become available.Songs from "A different place" were recently featured on K-tao Solar Radio in Taos, New Mexico. M.T.C.

Back in Georgia.

I didn't go straight home from Red River but went back to Santa Fe, arriving back in Georgia late thursday night. The booking at the Lodge was a wedding reception and everything went really well. Congratulations to the happy couple. I joined John and Wendy at the lake afterwards and Sunday morning we went for breakfast at the Batesville General Store. After they left, I spent the afternoon cleaning the boat. Probably it will be launched this coming weekend. The temperatures are supposed to be in the 80's.
M.T.C.

Sunday

I had a great time in Santa Fe. Thank you Paige and Leslie. Thursday we went to the La Fonda to see Bill Hearne. I met some of Santa Fe's more colourful characters, including the Camel Cigarette man. As I was returning to Red River it was snowing at the 7500ft mark. It was light and there was no accumulation.
This is my last day in Red River and tomorrow morning I'm heading back to Georgia and work on Friday. It's been a good, fruitful trip. I will be back here in June.
Happy 24th, Birthday Philip.