I've got to make this quick. First, hello to Shelia Kidd in Austin, Texas. Shelia is the sister to one of my dearest friends, the late Quinton Grace. She is a very talented singer and song writer now living in Austin, TX. It was a thrill to see your note. Call me the next time you come to Shreveport. Wow, how exciting...only on the internet. Shelia, please check out my podcast, zip71101 found at www.zip71101.com. It's about the music you love.
There have been lots of things happening over the past 2 months. In September, as you know by now, the Gulf Coast had a visit from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I interviewed several of the refugee's from the New Orleans area on my podcast. I sent a note to Adam Curry, the Pod Father, and a link to my podcast. He used a portion of it on his show which is out of Gilford, England. It was picked up by podcasters in Amsterdam, Los Angles, London, NYC and lots of other podcasters talked about my reporting and played a portion of my interviews. My audience suddenly grew and I estimate that several hundred thousand listeners heard my interview and comments all over the world. I had 676 hits to my site last month which was more then anytime since I've been podcasting. I hope I'll gain some listeners from it. My orginal idea for the podcast was to interview some of the orginal performers that were on the Louisiana Hayride during the 50's and 60's. Then my idea changed to feature all the musicians in the Ark-La-Tex area as well. Now it changing even more to music, talk and news. Please visit my site, even though it needs to be updated, and listen to a few podcasts and read the infomation there.
For Darrell Evans Fans
Darrell's new podcast called, WorshipPodcasting in now linked in iTunes. He and my son, Shawn Stroope ( bass player ) are preparing to launch it very soon. There's lot's of interesting things happening with Darrell but I'll let him tell you about it, so keep an eye out for it in the very near future. By the way, today is the one year wedding anniversary for Shawn and Sarah. They were married in NYC on year ago today. The day after a 3 month tour with Darrell. They wed in Central Park and Darrell sang. Daniel Nelson, drummer and youth pastor performed the ceremony and the rest of the band and family members looked on.
Parker, Peyton and Caitlyn
Parker, my new grandson is now 3 months old, growing, laughing, smiling, eating and doing the things new babied do....pooping. Peyton (7) and Caitlyn (5) love their new little baby brother. Caitlyn just turned 5 years old on October 5th. I told here she was still our baby girl...or durel as she says. She was featured on podcast # 10, so if you get some spare time, it's worth a listen.
Peyton's getting interested in playing the guitar and music suddenly...thanks to Uncle Shawn who bought him a little guitar not too long ago.
Shreveport Sound Syndicate
Back to the music for a moment. I was asked to speak to the Shreveport Sound Syndicate group last week about podcasting and podsafe music. I recorded my talk and might feature some of it on a future podcast. I met several muscians, producers, songwriters and artists and got some possible interviews from some of them. The latest podcast, made today, is about Jason Ashley and features some of his music from his new CD called Coming Up Clean. I think this young man just might be a new bright country star in the future.
Books I've Read Recently
I just read the book, Chronicles, volume one, by Bob Dylan. I found the book to be more then what I expected. Dylan turns out to be quite a good writer. It's an autobiography that will leave you asking for more. If you have an interest in Bob Dylan, I recommend it. You'll find the "real Bob Dylan" in these pages. I also saw most of the new Martin Scorsese picture about Bob Dylan, NO DIRECTION HOME. I also, picked up the soundtrack a few days later. It's got some early home recordings and live recordings that are interesting. It's called No Direction Home: The Soundtrack....The Boodleg Series Vol. 7.
I'm also a big Wynonna Judd fan so I bought her new book, Coming Home to Myself. I haven't started reading it yet but I did see her on Larry King Live. ( I also just read Larry's book, How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere..The Secrets of Good Communication.)
Now, ask me, " What have you been doing for the past 2 months?"
Answer: Podcasting, reading, speaking, working and helping out some friends and family.
Well, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to making more podcast in the future with some great interviews. Check out my podcast, ZIP71101 at www.zip71101.com and if you feel inclined to vote, please follow the directions it the right top corner of the webpage. I'd appreciate it. Also, you can listen to the show in streaming audio by going to the top left side of the page and clink on the Listen Now button.
No time to check spelling or grammar so you'll have to figure it out on your own.
Later...
