State of Don Juan and Miguel

On this, the evening of the State of the Union address I thought it fitting to update the citizens of Don Juan's realm as to the state of our state.

First off we are thrilled to announce that The Lost Princess has been picked up for distribution by Echelon Entertainment!! (www.echelonent.com) We want to thank all of you for your support of The Lost Princess - reviewers, fans, festivals, all - you've really helped us let our baby grow up and go into the world.

Some of the story: We were approached by Echelon this past fall. On Hallowe'en they let us know that they wanted to distribute the film for us. After "taking care of business" we have finally and joyfully signed with them. They are a fairly new distribution company and seem like good folks. They love "The Lost Princess" and wish to help us to get as many people (around the world) to see it as possible. In fact, they will be presenting Princess at the European Film Market (EFM) in February! (It is so cool) They've spoken of approaching Wal-mart and Target and help us get some domestic distribution as well. Jose laughingly says you'll soon find our movie in the $3.00 bin! (THIS IS A JOKE). Echelon seems to understand our community and our relationship with everyone who supports us - we still maintain the right to sell Princess at festivals and live performances ourselves! Plus, in the process of preparing Princess for distribution we've learned oodles of stuff (so technical!) which I assure you will positively impact the quality of future productions.

We've also been working on Martha Gay's CD. Jose and I have known Martha for over 20 years. We first met at King Richards Faire (now Bristol). She and Malcom Smith (Cantiga's violinist who passed away a few years ago) were playing for the Shakespeare play As You Like It. I played Amiens - which meant I sang a few tunes. They accompanied me. Malcom and Martha were the first to treat me like more than a vocalist - a real musician. And they both became fast friends. One of the purposes of "Blind Dog" is to document our community. We are pleased as punch to present Martha, along with Max Dyer (celloist) on their new duet CD "Heartstrings". For those of you who do not know Martha - she is the harpist for the premier RenFest circuit early music ensemble - "Cantiga". Max Dyer is the celloist for Cantiga and plays for the Houston Ballet and Opera orchestras. We just finished mastering the CD and, let me tell you, it is just lovely. A gift. It truly sounds like Martha and Max are sitting in your own room playing just for you. I trust you'll all like it.

As far as my own (Doug/Miguel) CD....Well, I haven't had a moment to work on it. I think I'll have to wait now until after Arizona begins..

Speaking of Arizona we begin preparations for the '07 season. Arizona starts in a few weekends and then the year rolls.

Hopefully we'll have "The Adventures of Don Juan and Miguel" (Bernard) finished in a few months. I'll keep you posted on that.

Well, that's about all. Be well everyone.

And be in touch.