Shortly after my last weekly update, I lost my voice entirely. It was then I decided to break down and take antibiotics for my sore throat and laryngitis. I was feeling better by the end of the week. That got me back to Yoga and exercising on a daily basis. Plus, I'm finally feeling productive again. So the past few days were extremely busy.

Marc Gunn' Weekly Update:

— Mark Your Calendar – Cat CD Release Party in Austin and New Orleans. One of the first things I did upon feeling better was to secure some CD release parties for Whiskers in the Jar: Irish Songs for Cat Lovers. The CD is now on CD Baby and iTunes. Please consider posting a review if you own the album.

• Austin CD Release. Right now, I have an Austin release at the Cactus Cafe on Weds, July 30th. Please note, that this was not the original date reported. But it is the correct date! I really need a LOT of help getting the word out about this gig. It's a benefit for Thundering Paws. So please tell your friends and make sure you head out there for this gig.
• New Orleans CD Release. No sooner had I solidified the Cactus, when my friend Jamie helped me score a CD release in New Orleans at the Saltwater Grill on Sat, July 26 in the afternoon. It benefits the LSPCA. There's also a house concert up in Robert, LA for those who want a more intimate show.

— Quote of the Week: “The brain said to the mouth, ‘I'm gonna kill us both.' The mouth replied, ‘Speak for yourself.'” B. Gunn. My dad said this not too long ago. It amused me too much not to share.

— I finally recorded the Irish show for the Irish & Celtic Music Podcast. Kristen and I recorded the 3-year anniversary feature on of the Renaissance Festival Podcast today. Hope to have it up tomorrow. Wow! Three years of podcasting. Can you believe it? And still going strong now that my laryngitis is gone. 😉

— FuMP War! My friend Shoebox of Worm Quartet decided to get personal about my cat songs. In general, I'm against war, but when he presented his song to me, I couldn't help but laugh and respond with my own assault-“Dear Worm Quartet”. I get a little explicit. But it's all in good fun. The song was written and recorded the night before I flew to Ireland.

— CD of the Week: Whatever Tickles Your Fancy by Christy Moore.
This compilation of two early albums by Christy Moore is where I learned “Lanigan's Ball” and “Johnny Jump Up”. I love his arrangements of those songs.

— Working on Celtic MP3s Music Magazine. I love this magazine. It has over 20,000 subscribers. I publish it once a month and it features a bunch of free Celtic music downloads and CD reviews. Good stuff, right? Well, the website doesn't seem to get much traffic. So I making updates once again to make it easier to read the magazine articles and get the downloads. Hope to have an easy link for you next week.

— MarcSongs Podcast – Song of Assisi. I wrote this song last weekend while watching Rick Steve's talk about Assisi. I love the city. This is the name that was voted by you.

— Check me out on Myspace, SoundClick, Demand a Show on Eventful, Wikipedia, Facebook, Livejournal, Sonicbids, and DeviantArt. And if you'd like a CD…