Thrilled to Announce

i am thrilled to announce the release of " Wounded: Healing the Emotional and Spiritual wounds underlying shame and addiction" It is something that Dr. Paul Fleischer and i have collaborated on and it is truly an honor to see his vision come to fruition. Dr. Paul will be interviewed in the next newsletter and to read more about it...its on our links page under Healingworks...at least go read more about it..cuz i believe its something special. As one who has addressed healing in much of my work and as one who works on healing through much of my life...i think this can be an amazing tool for anyone with such, anxiety, self- doubt.. hurt...I am just honored to be associated with this project. Thats all i have to write right now....peace to you all
....m

Sunrise, Sundance, Sunrise, Sundance

greeting to everybody....my sunday blog...well it was a wirlwind week...we had a great rehearsal on wednesday and i noticed that if you rehearse a band they sound a whole lot better when you play a gig...
the band made me proud this week....really great...we did a bunch of new stuff...was hard to get all the stuff in there and still play some old stuff....also i hate giving away a bunch of new stuff...way before its released...
I really want to thank EVERYBODY for coming...braving the elements...it was humbling and touching...i got some great gifts from you guys too....which is always so kind of you...nice to see some old faces( you ain't that old!) and meet some new ones....Thanks to XRT for coming out to the show on thursday and for promoting both of them....i'm going to sundance on wednesday and coming back friday to do a show for...

CHERISE CLIMBS FOR A CAUSE
Michael McDermott will perform on January 28 at the Newberry Library in Chicago, as a fundraiser for "Cherise Climbs for a Cause" benefiting the American Brain Tumor Association and the Evanston Northwestern Hospital Neuro-Oncology Program. Cherise has been battling a brain tumor for 12 yrs. Tickets to this event are $100, and include food, cocktails, a silent auction, and, of course, Michael's performance. For more information, or to purchase advance tickets, call 708.784.1162.

so that will be friday and hope that some of you can come out and support a wonderful cause....again my most sincere thanks to all of those of you who helped make this past week so special...God bless you all....Peace be with all of you....
Slainte,
m

monastic madness

so two days away from the abbey... i appreciate all your suggestions for older songs to resurrect and have been considering all the possibilities...trust me, that you will be hearing some of them on one of the two nights...perhaps both on some. Thursdays show is supposed to be shorter and doing a full length on friday but once i get up there...they may both end up being lengthy.
Saw " the aviator " this week...thought it was really good....haven't been a big Leo fan but thought he did a great job....compared to " gangs of Ny" anything would have been better.
This will be the last band gig for a while and perhaps the last for this lineup...so i promise if not a technically great show...it will be an inspired one to say the least....I do hope to see many of you there...bring all your friends, your family, co workers, lothario's, enemies, ghost writers, teamates, traitors, strangers, cabana boys, drug pushers, politicians, reporters, parents, pets, punching bags, explorers, tv anchormen/women, garbagemen, the kid that shovels your driveway/walkway, chauffeur, dj, house painter, interior designer, insurance salesman, or anybody else i couldn't think of....thanks everybody...see you soon.
m

so as the day goes...

happy sunday....always a good blog day for me....i'm sorry to say nothing has been really happening...haven't been writing or playing....i think its good to do that from time to time...to recharge the batteries...
starting to talk about another record already...there's about 25 songs in contention....that i'm seriously considering...and our inner circle is presently spending time with those and we will pick, well, i'd guess 15 of which 11 would make the record....its a interesting process....trying to see where the record should go...what songs make sense together....not to scare anybody off but i'm thinkin this record might be a bit of a departure from my previous albums....not sure how exactly...a few different ways i could see it going...i would like to hear from you guys and gals out there...what of the new songs you have heard over the last few years that you would love to hear on a record...not to be a pretentious braggart but there are so many songs that sometimes i just plumb forget about them...not cuz they aren't worthy or good enough....it could be something as simple as it didn't fit my mood one night...i forget the words and forget to relearn them...next thing you know...i've completetly forgotten about the existence of the tune as a whole....
so tell me what new tunes you like...and what unreleased stuff you have heard that you think i should consider for putting on an album....cuz hell...you guys are the ones that buy them.,..so who better to ask....so bring it on...if you start a thing on pauper...i will read it....

looking forward to the abbey shows....the first night is a freebee so i'm trying to think of things to do the second night to encourage people to come to that one as well...the first show will only be an hour tops...and doing probably a greatest hits show....second one...we will be doing...new tunes and some of the oldies....also./..would love to hear from you about songs you would want us to play on the second show( friday the 21st) ...if there are a bunch and we don't have time to learn as a band....i could do them solo...in fact if you have a band song you've never heard acoustically and want to hear that....specify that...

hope everybody is doing good and fighting off the doldrums of winter,...cuz they are seeping in over here..
God Bless ,
m

Upscale Dive, 2005

Happy new year everybody....hope you had a good one...i had alot of fun....any of y'all see us on the tele? My mom taped it...so i saw it...its always so weird to see yourself on tv...never have gotten used to it...is that what i really look like??? anyway the band stepped up in star fashion...everybody played great and i think they all had a good time...we ended up going to the Horseshoe afterwards and rang in there new year there...the band had a flight at 6:30am so we just stayed up and drank from the minibar ...in my room of course!! to the tune of 83 bucks....yikes! But what the hell...new years right??

we got the abbey coming up and we plan on doing a bunch of new tunes for that...i know i keep promising and not delivering but its a new year....as dylan said " forget the dead you left they will not follow you"...so onward we go...hope you all come along...its been a good 2004...cant' say great...but i'm glad and humbled by your support and i want to thank you for giving me the opportunity and the honor of playing for you my songs...i thank you with all humility....May God bless us all this year....everybody deserves at least one really good one...maybe this will be it huh? you gotta believe....sometimes faith is all you got left....and love...here's a great quote about love....talk to y'all soon enough....

" True Love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about but few have seen "
Francois, Duc de La Rouchefoucauld.....1613