News / Concerts . . .
April 2008
good morning/afternoon/evening
here in virginia, spring is bustin' out all over and it's about time if you're asking me. winter is the season that i put up with because of christmas. if it wasn't for christmas i would do everything in my power to delete winter from the list of seasons. if i had the time and money to move south where winter doesn't really matter i would do it in a heartbeat. maybe that's why i'm looking forward to heading to cambodia again. winter in cambodia gets down to around 80 degrees or so. the perfect temperature as far as i'm concerned. the problem with the places that i would want to be during the winter months is they're just too far away! my fear is that once i get there i will find a way to stay.... permanently. i've heard that happens alot in the asian nations. they call it "going bamboo." remember that phrase. it might come up in a song soon.
i was never a great skier or lover of the winter sports. if you were on the nl list you read my story of trying to learn to snowboard. not a pretty picture. give me the ocean, a surfboard, a kayak and a sailboat and i'm good to go. no fleece, no long johns, no gloves, no down filled jackets, no wetsuits. no clothing that sez ll bean, columbia or northface. just think of all the money we'd save if we all lived in a world with no winter. wow...what a concept. and fuel costs? faggetaboudit. i think we should re-think the global warming situation. isn't there a way to "control" global warming? let it ride for a certain amount of time and then put the brakes on? can someone out there work on that?
now it's april and i'm coming out of the dark and seeing the light at the end of the snowcave. i hope you're as happy about it as i am.
the last couple of concerts i've done were extremely nice. the show in south boston virginia at the prizery was quite the surprise. what a wonderful performing arts venue in the middle of va. i also discovered a wonderful small retreat that i'd never heard of before. if you're ever in that area of virginia check out the berry hill plantation. a gem of a small hotel.
my concert at east beach in oceanview was also nice and it was good to get back there to play again. winter was kind of light on the performing side of things so it was really nice to start playing again.
y'all know that i'm involved with an organization called jaminc. we put on concerts with gifted people that we think don't get the respect they deserve in the area and probably would never come through here if we didn't bring them. so was the case with the last one. i first heard dirk hamilton's music back when i was recording my 1st album in 1976. he was the talk of los angeles at the time and i was using his bassplayer on my sessions. i even covered a song of his live called "classic sweat pose". many thought it was my song. i got to thinkin about him for one reason or another and set out to find him through the internet and did...in italy. we traded a few e-mails and i convinced him to come here to play. we had a great time together during his stay and i think we're now good friends. i encourage you to check out his music at his name dot com.
for the last couple of months my old pal steve bassett and me have been doing some writing together to see if we could come up with some stuff worth recording. it was 30 years ago when we co-wrote sweet virginia breeze and released the together lp. we figured another release on it's anniversary year might be appropriate so one or 2 days a week i have driven out to the country where steve lives and we've holed up in his little buddy trailer/recording studio and written a few songs. enough actually to do a cd. recording of the currently untitled release will start in a couple of weeks. i think both of us are pretty excited about it. we've always sounded great together and the idea of playing in the studio with a bunch of old friends is starting to get me kind of giddy. the most exciting thing is that afterwards we are going to have to do some concerts with a full band to promote it and it's been a while since i've had a band behind me. i gotta tell you that there is nothing like having a bunch of great musicians, all together performing music that you wrote...live. i'm looking forward to those concerts and you'll be the 1st to know when and where they will be happening. more on it as time goes by.
the project that i was involved in in cambodia is in full swing there now and i will be going back to phnom penh in early may to see how it is doing as well as to receive some kind of honor from the cambodian government. seeing the faces of the kids that i worked with, in a studio for the 1st time, hearing their voices played back through speakers...the look on their faces was truly an unexpainable delight... their feelings must have been the same feelings i had when i recorded and heard myself on the radio for the first time. it's unforgettable,life-changing...and rewarding to say the least. i can't wait to get back.
meanwhile...back at the ranch...i'm recouporating from shoulder surgery. yes, i have to admit i've done a percoset or 2 writing this newsletter. it's painful but i've been assured that in a week or so i'll be back to normal if i follow the dr's orders. luckily i don't have any gigs until cambodia. i watched the video of the shoulder operation the other night. i think i'm going to put music to it and give it to the surgeon for a gift. it kind of looks like a tour of carlsbad caverns. i was told all of this was caused by..."longterm use and abuse". hmmm... now i'm thinking...what's next?
please tell your friends who might be interested in my newsletter how to sign up and also about my music and website.
here's the schedule.
may 7-18-cambodia
june 7-yates gallery-deltaville va. 7pm
june 8-17-sailing the chesapeake
see you at a concert somewhere.
robbin
March 2, 2008
hey everyone
i know...i know...i'm supposed to be in cambodia right about now but things change and time marches on. that's what makes life so damned exciting. rumor has it that i'll be going back to phnom penh sometime this summer. i guess they want me to experience cambodia in summer. cool! the campaign that i'm involved in there to fight the trafficking of humans kicks-off in a few days. may it be an incredible success. it's a grassroots campaign and by the time i get there i suppose it will be in full swing. wish it well.
shortly after that i'll be going somewhere completely different.... scandinavia!! cambodia to denmark and norway. normally that would sound like i pissed off a booking agent but it's ok with me. scratch another couple of countries of my "bucket list."
scandinavia is another place i wouldn't have thought about going but now that it's on the agenda, i can't wait. they sail alot there...it might not be sailing in shorts and a t-shirt but i'm gonna find a way to get on a boat while i'm there you can count on that. i get more airplay in scandinavia than in the usa! the venues that i'm playing there are all theater type venues called "kulturhus's and from the photos look wonderful. they drive on the same side of the road which is good since i'll be driving. now..that should be interesting.
between now and then i've got a few performances here in the states. mostly around virginia. spring and summer concerts are slowly filling in. there would have probably been a few more but i wasn't sure when i was going where so i'm workin on it.
last weekend i went down to my old home town in florida to celebrate the birthday of a good friend of mine, dick catri. dick was one of the guys down there that was kind of the father of surfing for florida. he's just turned 70 and is the chairman of the east coast surfing hall of fame. it was a reunion of surfing royalty of sorts and it was an honor to have been invited. i wouldn't have missed it for anything.
we drove down there which was an experience to say the least. the speed limits on i-95 are 70mph again and i've gotta tell you i felt like i was going 100. years ago i got a lot of speeding tickets and i've since changed my ways but apparently no one else has. i had old ladies with handicapped stickers on their car passing me like i was...an old handicapped lady!! i kept it at around 76 or so just to be on the safe side and everybody was passing me. i realized later that they all had radar detectors. illegal here in the commonwealth. i gotta get me another one of those.
here's a newsflash...me and my pal steve bassett are talking about doing an album together. it's the 30th anniversary of our last album together and we thought it would be cool to do another. so we're getting together once a week to try to write one and select some older songs we both like. hopefully by summer we'll have completed it. i'm getting pretty excited about it and who knows...maybe we'll put a band together and go play some? we've decided to use a certain bunch of guys to be the band that might surprise you....or maybe just "humor" you to some degree. that's all i'm gonna give up. more on that in months to come.
here's the schedule if you can call it that...
march 29th-the prizery-south boston, virginia
april 4th-national anthem- braves stadium-richmond, va-7p
april 5th-east beach community concert series-va. bch, va.
may 17th-festival-kilmarnock, va downtown-3p
june 5th-gates gallery-deltaville va-7p
that's it from here.
robbin
February 2008
hello everybody!
i know it's a day or so early but i figured nobody would mind if i sent a newsletter out a little early so i could include an early february concert. more on that later.
a couple of days ago i was thinking about what i was going to write for a february newsletter because nothing was really happening with me to write about. january was kind of a slow and lazy month until this week and then things started poppin' a little with some news. a good thing because until a couple of days ago i thought i'd need to get arrested or something so i'd have some news to write about. i mean it seems to work for everybody else right? rehab, custody battles, dui arrests? i haven't been wearing underwear for a month but nobody's picked up on it..oh well...those crazy youngsters get all the press!
i mean december and january were so packed with life altering news that it would take something pretty damned interesting to top what went down in those months. i can't say that this stuff will top a trip to cambodia, a family christmas and my daughter's wedding but there are a couple of things to talk about.
1st of all my partner carlos chafin and i are writing some new music for sesame street and the electric company. that's pretty cool. nothin' like writing for bert, ernie, elmo, grover and bigbird.
talk about professionals! man these guys have been in the business for a long time. what a privilege to work with them again. the funny thing is that we did some stuff for them about 6 or 7 years ago and they haven't changed a bit! a nice way to start the new year to say the least.
as i think i mentioned in my january newsletter my song, "movin on down the line" won the best song in the gospel category for the INDEPENDENT MUSIC AWARDS. a pretty big surprise that will mean being on a couple of compilation cd's and some national publicity. well..i found out a couple of days ago that "movin on down the line" is also a semi-finalist in the gospel category for THE INTERNATIONAL SONGWRITING CONTEST as well. also, "where you've never been" (the zhong song) is a semi-finalist in the blues category too. i'll let you know next month if i made the finals or not.
i go back to cambodia in march to kick off the campaign that will help fight human trafficking there. i can't wait to get back to this gem of a country. i spotted a strange but cool musical instrument there i have to bring back and use in all the wrong ways. besides, my zhongruan needs a friend. this will also be some interesting news for the march newsletter. speaking of travel.... a tour of scandinavia is being put together for this summer!! this is something i've wanted to do for a longtime. i get a bunch of airplay in those countries and send a lot of cd's over there. it's about time i see those who've been buying them and listening to my music. it might even include a stop in....greenland!! didn't know i was big in the arctic circle did ya?
my september newsletter will tell all. for those of you in the richmond,va area i'm at ASHLAND COFFEE AND TEA -SATURDAY FEBRUARY 2ND. please spread the word about this and come see me. it's a great listening room and always a fun time. i was told that their on-line ticket allottment is sold out but there are still plenty of tickets to be had at the door so don't let that stop you from coming! for those of you in the norfolk/tidewater area of virginia i will be at THE CIRCLE RESTAURANT IN PORTSMOUTH ON FEBRUARY 20TH.
you can always check the news section of my site for my meager schedule as well as my myspace site: www.myspace.com/robbinthompsoncom (no dot between thompson and com).
that's about all i can think of right now. hope everyone has a funtime this superbowl weekend but don't let sunday stop you from seeing some live music on saturday.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2ND-ASHLAND COFFEE AND TEA-8PM
www.ashlandcoffeeandtea.com
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH- THE CIRCLE RESTUARANT-PORTSMOUTH, VA.
that's it from here folks,
robbin
January 2008
Two songs from Just a Blur in the Rearview getting major attention:
International Songwriting Competition
We are very pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a semi-finalist in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) for the song "Where You've Never Been," in the Blues category. Congratulations on this achievement.
We are very pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a semi-finalist in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) for the song "Move On Down The Line," in the Gospel/Christian category. Congratulations on this achievement!
January 2008
whew!
ok...the holidays are over and now it's supposed to be cold and miserable for a couple months so when spring finally arrives we will appreciate it. but...but... here in richmond it's 70 degrees outside!! a little freaky since all i asked for at christmas was warm weather and a bigger sailboat. maybe i'd better check the boatyard?
actually christmas was great!! i had my entire family at my place for the 1st time in 27 yrs for the holidays and my daughter's wedding. a wonderful time as well. 2 weddings in 6 months is not something i would recommend for everyone but for the thompson family it was a beautiful thing and both daughters are now happily married to great guys that i'm proud to call my sons.
it was a busy year for us with the holidays, the weddings and a trip to cambodia thrown in there as well. for those of you not from the richmond area you can read about my cambodia trip on my website. just click on the "cambodia journal" on the 1st page. the richmond times-dispatch also did a great article in last sunday's newspaper and it can also be viewed online. here's the link: http://www.inrich.com/cva/ric/entertainment.apx.-content-articles-RTD-2008-01-06-0018.html
it's got the songs i produced to fight human trafficking as well as a nice video thanks to melissa ruggieri of the richmond t-d. the song i produced, "movin' on down the line" also won the independent music award for the "best gospel song." a nice way to start the new year.
by last weekend, all the family had departed and i had a private concert at the homestead, one of my favorite places to play...and relax. it was the 1st time i had been up there in winter so i decided to take a snowboard lesson. i figured since i was a surfer that i could handle snowboarding ...no problem. wrong! after about 45 minutes i told "cody" the 20 something instructor that the lesson was over. "cody, i just don't have enough time left in my life to get good at this". i think that's what i said to him and i know he understood. so cody and i talked about music for a bit, he was into '80's punk. i told him that my music wasn't that but he did say that his parents had turned him on to groups like the eagles and jackson browne so as a tip i left him with one of my cd's and told him that if he didn't like it he could always give it to his parents. as i walked to my car i heard my cd blasting up the entire mountain!! he had put it on the p.a. system so it would come out of the speakers all the way up the mountain!! so, i ordered a drink and sat on the deck for a while to listen to myself echo through the blueridge mountains....then.. i went to get a massage. a much better idea.
i hope everyone on my newsletter list downloaded my christmas gift of "christmas with my baby." i was told by my webmaster that it had been downloaded well over a 1000 times. a small gift that i hope y'all enjoyed.
2008 is getting interesting. i'm gong back to cambodia in march to kick of the campaign i worked on and there's talk about a scandinavian tour in late summer. all of this sounds great and i guess i'll just fill the time in between with writing, performing and sailing. before ya know it it'll be 2009.
the way things are going, by the time i get around to making out my "bucket list" it will be really short!! snowboarding won't be on it.
here's the schedule so far.
january 18th-the jewish mother-virginia beach, va-9pm
february 2nd- ashland coffee and tea-ashland va. 8pm
mid-march-cambodia
march 29th-the prizery-south boston virginia.
PLEASE CHECK MY MYSPACE SITE FOR UPDATES.
www.myspace.com/robbinthompsoncom (no dot between thompson and com)
thanks, and happy new year!!
robbin
December 2007
ho ho ho!!
man, it seems like i just sent y'all a newsletter the other day. ok, it was a couple of weeks ago but time is flyin' like it wants to be 2008. i just want to try to slow things down a little but it ain't workin'.
i'm really still thinking about the time i had in cambodia. i don't think i'll ever get over the wonderful time i had there working with those marvelous kids and doing the good work that will hopefully help fight human trafficking. again, i would like to thank all of those involved for seeking me out and allowing me to be apart of something so special and important that it made me feel like the music i created truly mattered. all my best to Marielle Sander Linstrom, The Asia Foundation, and USAID/Cambodia. i can't wait to go back there in february to help kick off the campaign.
ok, on to the holidays. 1st of all it's the ANNUAL 2FER SALE!. ANY 2 OF MY CD'S FOR $25 (add $5 for outside usa) DIRECT FROM ME, SIGNED AND DELIVERED. IF YOU GET IT TO ME BY DECEMBER 15TH I'LL GET THEM TO YOU AS FAST AS POSSIBLE FOR PRESENTS OR ORNAMENTS OR WHATEVER YOU WANNA DO WITH THEM. checks made out to me and sent to:
robbin thompson
in your ear
1813 east broad st.
richmond, va 23223
ok, that's enough of the shameless self-promotion/marketing ploy.
december is a big month for the thompsons this year. there's christmas of course and then there's....the wedding. on december 29th, my daughter rikki lynne thompson will marry ben rogers. the parents of both are extreeeemly happy and looking forward to this wonderful ocassion. the locations are being kept a secret due to all the famous people that will be flying in from all parts of the world. in case you haven't been on this mailing list since before june of this year this will be the 2nd wedding in the thompson family. my daughter wrenn was married on june 23rd of this yr. as well. that's right folks...2 weddings in 6 months. another good reason for....THE ANNUAL ROBBIN THOMPSON CD 2FER SALE!!!
ok, ok....that's enough.
in the past 27 yrs we've always gone to california to my mom's place to celebrate the christmas holidays. all my family lives out there. this year...they will all be here for christmas and to celebrate rikki and ben's wedding. yikes. i haven't had to put up a tree, decorate the yard, and do all the things one does to elevate the holiday spirit in all that time. so...my task has been to properly outfit our home for christmas. at first i was thinking that i would do the complete tacky(yet incredible)all out electrical sucking ornamental light display to end all displays. then, i realized that would be just too expensive(and energy consuming) so i'm going the more tasteful route. a nice wreath on the door, maybe one of those wire reindeers with the bobbing heads and white lights in the yard...you know the deal. however....one or two more cups of coffee and i might just snap and head to lowes with the checkbook and buy the entire contents of isle 15, have it delivered to my front yard and just plug it in tonight!! so, if you see your lights do the little flicker thing this evening you'll know which way it went. cambodian and vietnamese coffee should never be brewed in the same pot...unless you truly want to get some things done. like write a newsletter or design a neighborhood illumination extravaganza.
so...december is pretty much being reserved for family matters as opposed to performing any concerts
however i will be on DAVE MARSH'S KICK OUT THE JAMS SIRIUS RADIO SHOW LIVE FROM NYC ON DECEMBER 9TH AT AROUND 10 OR 11AM. so if you have sirius radio, tune in.
JUST IN-SPECIAL ALERT!
ON JANUARY 6TH THERE WILL BE A PARTY AND A CONCERT FOR MY GOOD FRIEND, PAGE WILSON. IT WILL BE AT THE CANAL CLUB AND THERE WILL BE MOST ALL THE BANDS IN THE RICHMOND AREA PERFORMING. THIS IS AN EVENT TO KEEP PAGE UP AND RUNNING AND PROMOTING THE MUSIC THAT WE ALL LOVE TO HEAR. For further information or to donate goods or services for raffles, contact Joanne Garland at terrygblues@verizon.net
last but certainly not least i want to wish all of you a very merry holiday season and a better new year than you've ever had before.
that's it from here. here's the schedule for january and february.
1/5- the norva-norfolk, va. with me opening and also performing a few with steel mill.
1/18- the jewish mother-virginia beach, va. 9p
2/2- ashland coffeee and tea- ashland, va-8p
merry christmas and happy new year everyone!
robbin
November 2007
happy thanksgiving everyone
well, i made it back from cambodia and i think we're over the jetlag as of ...now? 27 hours in an airplane is just plain tough but worth every minute considering where i had been, what i had done and seen.
i promised a detailed report about my trip to cambodia so i wrote a journal of sorts. it's pretty long so if you're interested(please say you are) go to my website, www.robbinthompson.com and on the 1st page there is a link called THE CAMBODIA JOURNAL. just click it and you can read all about our trip and see a few photos. it's down the left hand side of the 1st page.
i hope i did justice to how much fun and how much i learned on this marvelous trip. i would also like to say that i feel proud and honored that i was able to be a part of helping to fight human trafficking in s.e. asia, a cause that is basically modern day slavery. now that we are back home in the good old u.s. of a. it's only appropriate that it's time for thanksgiving. here in the usa we have so much to be thankful for. most of it is stuff we take for granted ever single day. there is a line in don henley song "my thanksgiving" that i wish i had written. it goes like this. "the trouble with you and me my friend is the trouble with this nation... too many blessings... too little appreciation"...
that just kinda sums it up for me. hopefully it doesn't rub anyone the wrong way. if it does...go to a 3rd world country and look around for a couple of weeks. cambodia was awesome but i'm really , REALLY glad to be back in the united states of america. i can't wait to go back there again though. i'll be going back in january for a shorter visit to help kick-off the campaign that i worked on.
PLEASE, GO TO MY WEBSITE AND CHECK OUT "THE CAMBODIA JOURNAL". also there are new photos on my myspace site as well.
that url is: www.myspace.com/robbinthompsoncom (no dot between thompson and com).
that's about it for now. i'm really not performing until january due to the holidays and my daughter's wedding in december.
in january my schedule is:
1/05-THE NORVA with steel mill-norfolk, va
1/18- THE JEWISH MOTHER-VIRGINIA BCH, VA (this date was on the 26th and has been changed to the 18th).
i hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving and i'll write you again in december.
peace,
robbin
October 2007
it's gettin scary huh?
i had to write ya'll before i leave for cambodia this tuesday about a couple of things.
1. happy halloween!! i don't know what the weather is like for any of you but here in virginia it was summer one day with drought conditions and the next day it got kinda cold and hasn't stopped raining in 3 days. we need the rain but i'm not crazy about havin' to pull out the polartec.
2. it's the beginning of the annual "2fer" sale for the holidays!! i know it's about a month early on this but since i won't be writing until probably the end of november i gotta announce it now. if you want any of my cd's for xmas presents you can buy them directly from me signed and delivered. 2 for $25 postage paid(add $5 for outside the usa). i'll remind you again in a month. checks made out to me and sent to me at:
robbin thompson
in your ear
1813 east broad st.
richmond, va 23225
3. my song "movin' on down the line" is a finalist in the independent music awards (in the "gospel" category). check it out at:
you can listen to it by going to the "jukebox" and rate it as well. spread the word on this!! it all helps.
interestingly enough that song is the reason i'm going to cambodia. it's the song i will be using and producing there in a campaign to fight human trafficking.
that's about it for now. wish me luck on this trip that takes about 20+ hrs. i'll have some interesting stuff to talk about in my next newsletter.
robbin