What a great trip to Louisiana! I spent a couple days walking around the Quarter and the Garden District. New Orleans is such a beautiful city. Then I had my two shows. They went over great, introducing some new songs and arrangements. The CD release at the Saltwater Grill even pulled in couple media people as well as Celts and cat lovers. A few verses of “Jasper Tabby Kitty Cat-y”, and we raised some good money for the LASPCA. Then Saturday evening, a group of us went out and saw The Figs play at Tipitina's. Great fun!

UPCOMING SHOWS
— I have two more CD Release Parties coming for Whiskers in the Jar: Irish Songs for Cat Lovers. So please mark your calendar with these dates below:

• Weds, July 30, Cactus Cafe, Austin, Texas. The event benefits Thundering Paws, a Central Texas animal shelter. Cedric of the Bedlam Bards will be there, and I think I'll have Michelle Hedden playing bodhran as well. This is gonna be fantastic show. Who's going?
• Sat, Aug 2, DFW House Concert, in Watauga, TX. Straight up mix of Cat songs and Celtic favorites.

— Playing For Keeps. A podiobook by Mur Lafferty. I finally got around to listening to this book. It is AWESOME! You can download and listen to it for free as a podcast. The print version goes on sale at Amazon.com on August 25th. BUY IT on that day!

— Quote of the Week: “Most beds sleep up to six cats. Ten cats without the owner.” Stephen Baker.

— CD of the Week: Emerald Fire by Maidens IV. I love these gals. They have some of the best contemporary Celtic trad music around. Each album is better than the last.

— Does anybody read this? If so, do you have any thoughts, comments or suggestions on how I can make these weekly updates better? Please post a comment and let me know.

— Autoharp Sold. But I may have another one coming soon to the net near you.

— Irish & Celtic Music Podcast is one of the Top 5 music podcasts on iTunes thanks to the recent separation between audio and video podcasts. New show coming very soon!

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