Please send out your best Medicine, Prayers and JuJu for my dear friends Eric Lowen and Don Richmond. Eric is losing ground in his struggle with ALS and  Don R just had an emergency colon operation...they found cancer. You can get updates at their web sites by clicking the links (their names). There is a benefit for Don richmond at the Elks Lodge in Alamosa. Colorado September 22nd from 10am until late into the evening. There is a Taos Benefit percolating and that date will be announced later.

Woody Fest celebrated it's tenth straight year...and it was wet and wild. Unfortunately the rains kept us from using the outdoor main stage until the final night, but the music was magical and the parking lot jams were the most raucous I can ever recall. Benito Concha (Taos Pueblo) and Charles Red Corn (Osage Nation) joined me onstage and raised the roof.

I'm thinking that Ellis Paul and I may have had more fun than was allowed and may have to send some back to a few folks. We wrote a song together in our motel room late one night called Calendar Man...really Ellis wrote it and I held on as best I could while rolling on the floor laughing. Sam Baker gave it his enthusiastic approval and that was enough for us. The Burns Sisters also added a nice touch with "monthly" backing parts. We played it for every poor soul we came across in the parking lot afterwards. The annual Chouse Concert on Sunday night after the fest (in Norman) was also a stellar experience and many thanks to Dan Duggan, Dean Brown and Terry Buffalo Ware for being the band that night. Ellis Paul couldn;t make it this year and he was missed.

August 10th I'll be back in Tulsa with Jimmy LaFave and his band and the following night (11th) I'm playing in Oklahoma City at the legendary Blue Door. Please spread the word and come by if you're in the hood. Terry Buffalo Ware will join me at the Blue Door on electric guitar and I'm hoping Dean Brown will make it out to play percussion.

Wish you all peace and joy. DonCon