Spring salutations all of you friends and fans of Peter Mayer!

We're delighted to provide you with this collection of stories, tour updates and great things to come! We hope you will enjoy reading this issue of The Morning Star, and share it with your friends who might enjoy the same.

Pass it on,
Tamara LaTorre, Newsletter Publisher
Terry Lederer, Little Flock Music Artist Services
The Peter Mayer Fan Club

Welcome
by Peter Mayer

Hello one and all, I hope your spring has sprung and you’re enjoying the blooms and wild weather that seem to go with this seasonal territory.

I’m in Dallas Texas with Jimmy and the Coral Reefers. After a good day off yesterday visiting friends, we are ready for a good show tonight. We started this leg of the New Year with a couple weeks of rehearsal in Austin. What a great city! From the river walk, the bats, to the great music and restaurants (Magnolia Café was among the fine ones), it was our place to camp while honing the Buffett tour songs for this year. On a day off, I took a short trip over to TLU, Texas Lutheran University, in Seguin,TX,to play a few songs, hang out with students, and have dinner with Greg Ronning, campus pastor there.

This year’s Buffett tour features a fresh batch of songs, and a middle section, replacing an intermission, that features a special guest, either Jake Shimabukuro, Sonny Landreth, or the fellow band members, vocalist Nadirah Shakoor, Robert Greenidge, or a combination of the above. It’s been a thrill to get to know Sonny and Jake, both incredible musicians. For those of you who aren’t familiar with these artists, take some time and check out their music. Sonny is a slide guitarist that can pull magic out of a guitar, and Jake plays what can sound like a symphony on a ukulele. They’re not only great players, but great people to hang with; laid back, humble, and in love with what they do. We’ll then head off to the Carolinas for the Charlotte show, finally ending up this leg in the Crescent City, New Orleans for Jazz fest.

Then it’s home for a few (too few) days to start the PMG May tour. Scott Bryan, Marc Torlina, Maggie Estes and I will be taking a suitcase full of music on the road, from the new CD, “Still In One Peace,” and some of the tried and true selections from other CDs along the way. For those of you who have their own idea about how the set list should read, we will have a request section where you get to pick a few, and you might see us scratch our heads trying to remember some of those seldom played ditties. And, as always, we look forward to connecting up with all of you along the way.

We’ve got some exciting plans for the coming months as well. From June 16 to the 22nd,I go out to be “village musician” for a week at Holden Village (http://www.holdenvillage.org),a camp in the mountain town of Chelan WA close to Seattle. I will be playing each day, and also leading a guitar/songwriting workshop. Check out the website for more details.

In late June, I’m heading on a European trek with my family, where we hope to hit England, France, and Ireland. While we’re in London, expect to hear something from Abbey Road. I’ll be paying my respects to John, Paul, George and Ringo, hopefully in song, if I can do so without getting arrested.

Speaking of the Beatles, we have set up another Beatles concert for spring of 2009. For those of you who have not caught one of these, it is a show of all Beatles music, taking some of the greatest music ever written, and doing our own arrangements with a band and a string quartet. This is not a Beatles tribute band; dressing up like the fab four, but a night to celebrate the indelible mark this music has made on all of us. From “Strawberry Fields” to “Across the Universe,” to “Hello Goodbye,” to “Drive My Car,” we will be playing songs from every era. The good news is that we’ll be looking to finish the Beatles CD that’s been in the works now for several years, this year. As for a release date, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Note: Photos from our March 2005 show can be seen at the Crossings Concerts site.

Also, during the last Stars and Promises tour, we played in Denver in a charity concert for an agency called CETAV. (Cameron Ebel Teens Against Violence Foundation) http://www.cetav.org/

A friend out in Denver lost his son, he died by gunshot wound, a victim of teen violence. His parents have turned this tragedy into a gift to the community and the world by forming an action group to educate teens in how to deal with violence, and how to deal more constructively with conflict. A ukulele that was played on Jimmy Buffett’s “Christmas Island” CD,was contributed to the celebrity auction.

As always, I send you a heartfelt thanks for being part of this band, and this music, in that without your listening, without your making it a part of your days, for whatever that’s worth, it simply wouldn’t be the same, and wouldn’t happen on a level that brings some vitality, joy, or Spirit to all of us.

So from Dallas to you………Rock on!
All my best,
PM

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