Here's the previous news pages from our other trips to Ukraine in 2004 and 2005.

July 20
We made it back from Ukraine - tired, a little sick, but all in one piece and with all our luggage. It was a great trip and like last year, I was able to use the guitar everywhere we went. Music is always a part of the kids programs at the orphanages. One Sunday, I played a solo at two different churches. The picture to the right is of Vitalik translating my song introduction at the first church. That afternoon I played at a different church, one that occupies what was formerly one of Stalin's "Palaces Of Culture". It was a theater, built in the 1950's Stalin architecture of meter-thick walls, high ceilings, Roman-style columns and scrolls, and nearly everywhere you look, the Soviet star. There were about 137,000 of these culture centers built in the Soviet Union, meant to inhance "cultural leisure" of Soviet citizens. Activities such as music, dance, theater, lectures, etc were hosted here. 70 years of Communism strove to suppress, if not eliminate free excercise of religion. It was quite an experience to play in front of a free, evangelical Christian church in this former Palace of Culture.

June 28
My family and I will again be returing to Ukraine this summer for two weeks. We will be staying at an orphanage in Kerch, Crimea, working with The Least Of These. Last year was a life-changing experience and we can't wait to go back. In short, we will be staying at an orphanage in Kerch, working with about 350 kids. If you are familiar with it, the programs are similar to what we know here as Vacation Bible School. We are also able to bring some basic humanitarain provisions to these kids. This year we are hauling as much toothpaste and toothbrushes as can be crammed into our luggage!

June 24
Since the last update, I have added three new tunes to my playlist. They are:
- "The Man With The Green Thumb", by Tommy Emmanuel (see the sample page for an early attempt)
-"U2 Medley", by Doyle Dykes, and
-"Soul Cleansing Fountain", a medley of hymns I have arranged and hope to include on the upcoming CD project. I'll be giving it a test run as an offeratory at church this Sunday.

Due to some technical difficulties, the recording project has been delayed for a few weeks. It's all good though. More practice time for the songs next up in the queue! Hopefully we will be able to resume work after the Ukraine trip in July.

April 6
The Longmont Downtown Development Authority presents "Second Fridays" (the second Friday of each month) where several businesses and galleries are open and exhibiting art or hosting live entertainment. I've been asked to play at Gizi's Coffee Bar for the evening, so be sure to stop by for a tune or two. For more information, visit http://www.dolo.org.

Feb 11
I really enjoyed being on the KOCR radio show last night. Special thanks to Paul Andrews who let us operate out of his recording studio. This provided two benefits: First, we were able to set the sound up nicely on three different guitars and second, Paul has a much more solid broadband internet connection than mine, which is critical when streaming sound up to the station. Also thanks to my wife Linda for running the keyboard during my set. For obvious reasons I couldn't respond to the many kind words (and even a few requests!) that were going on in the chat room while I played. In fact, I was in a different sound room from the computer. The Wabash Cannoball would have derailed for sure if I had tried to play and watch the computer screen at the same time!

Feb 1
I am honored to be scheduled as one of the players for the Thursday Night Thumbpickers Show on February 10th. This show is broadcast on KOCR, an internet country radio station. It has been common for more than six million people to be tuned in around the world. I'm told that many of the regular listeners are US Troops stationed overseas, including in Iraq and Afghanistan.

How does this work?

The Texas Fingerstyle Guitar Association operates an "audio chat room", at http://www.sweetsouthernsounds.com. This allows several people to play for each other live, exhange (or steal!) ideas, or just talk about guitars and the weather. If you are a guitar player, you really ought to check this out. On Thursday nights, KOCR (http://www.originalcountryradio.com) broadcasts selected players from the chat room live over the radio station. This is truly a worldwide show for a worldwide audience. Where else can a guy picking guitar in his Alaska cabin be heard in over 40 countries of the world? This really happens - one of the best pickers in the room is Ron Wise from Willow, Alaska.

Tune in this week. The exact schedule is not set yet, depending on how many others will be playing. I am tentatively scheduled to play 20-30 minutes of the show. When I get more information, I'll post it here. Meantime, bookmark the station or register to join the chatroom and have a listen. It's a lot of fun.

Now Recording
I have officially begun work on what we'll call a "CD Project". With the help of Paul Andrews, I am learning to appreciate the effort that goes into recording. It's hard work, but fun as well. No doubt a finished product is several months out, but it is coming. Really.