Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all and welcome to my brand new web site! It was designed by Roseann Flickenger. She was so great to work with and did a fantastic job. Thank you Zan!

Also thanks to Jeanette Lundgren for all of her help. Jeanette started the Yahoo Group and continues to help in any way she can to get me out in public and performing.

Now that 2006 is here, I am anxious to get back on the road and spread the word about “ALL Wood and Stones”. Last year after our new label Aezra/EMI rereleased the CD on September, 13, James Lee Stanley and myself started the AWAS invasion of the United States. Everywhere we have traveled, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Altadena, Culver City, Salt Lake City or Charleston we have left several thousand fans in our wake. This whole AWAS thing started when Mike Marrone at XM Radio went on the CD the day after he received it way back in November of 2004. That airplay eventually led us to Aezra/EMI.

Thank you so much to Mike, Kate Bradley, George Taylor Morris and Earl Bailey for their continued support of AWAS as well as Batdorf and Rodney. Mike also promised to add my new solo EP, “Side One” to The Loft playlist and I am really excited about that! In case you missed our live concert which included our friend and bass player/singer, Bill Batstone at XM in November of 2005, you can access it on my site by going to the “Listen” link and click on the “XM Radio Loft Session”.

Special thanks to Sam Kopper who is the program director at “The Bridge 105.5” Classic Rock station in Charleston, S.C. His station was the first “Classic Rock” station to put us into full rotation. We went to Charleston and played live on the radio, did a few clubs, played at a record store and finished our trip with a house concert that was a prize for a contest “The Bridge” had arranged with it’s listeners.

The week before we came to town, The Bridge gave away AWAS CDs to call in listeners and the the grand prize/booby prize was a private house concert for a lucky listener. It was so much fun and we hope to do more of those.

The first time we did that was in Detroit with Pam Rossi at 94.7 WCSX’s and it also was very successful. We hope to do more of those up close and personal concerts!

While James and I were in Pittsburgh, we filmed a concert in high definition and will be made into a DVD and released in January sometime. An electronic press kit will also be made containing concert clips, interviews and footage of our XM show which I am also anxious to see.

Aezra is doing a nice strategic job promoting AWAS and we want to thank everyone at Aezra we have met so far including Mike, Paul, Jeff, DeAnne, Juanita and everyone else who continues to try and break AWAS.

Also thanks to our manager, Derek Sutton for making sure that everyone, including James and myself, is doing all they can to spread the word about All Wood And Stones.

Here’s to the health of all our friends and families and may 2006 be a great year for all to remember.
John Batdorf