BUZZIN’ FROM THE HIVE    SPRING, 2008 

2007 had me jetting off to France, up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and driving around the Delta (with a dip to New Orleans) in a tiny rental car.  2008 began up in Woodstock at Levon Helm's Ramble and, as January rolled on, the road took me to Atlanta, GA, home of James Brown. Phoenix, Tuscon, St. Thomas, Baltimore, Virginia, and NYC are on the agenda in the next few months.

January found Michael Colbath, Larry Donahue, Cliff Goodwin and I in the studio (with special guest Mitch Chakour of the Mohegan Sun All-Stars on keyboards) for a special blues project, and the beginnings of plans to cut the tracks for the upcoming The Deep End later this year. I am writing for the CD right now, so look for these tunes to be debuted at the spring and summer performances.

I joined my great friend Syd Straw on stage at NYC's Highline Ballroom on Valentine's Eve for her annual Heartwreck Show, where Mark Ribot, Issa (Jane Siberry) and I helped Syd treat the audience to a string of tearjerkin' classics.

The mighty, mighty men of Rebel Montez and I will land at a brand-new shoreline hang over Memorial Day weekend as the Hip-Shakin' Summer of 2008 finds its new home--The Beachhead on Cosey Beach in East Haven, CT. It's like a Texas roadhouse plunked down right on the Connecticut shoreline, complete with Christmas lights, great food, and outdoor patios and decks upstairs and down.  During April and May we'll also visit our two favorite Connecticut clubs, Cafe Nine and Black-Eyed Sally's, and torch the main stage at the Meriden Daffodil Festival's 30th Anniversary celebration. 

Both MySpace and YouTube are rockin' the Beehive! By logging on to www.youtube.com/user/ChristineOhlman, you can dig 2007 video highlights including multiple Rebel Montez songs from September's Cafe Nine appearance by Michael Colbath, Larry Donahue, Cliff Goodwin, and me; the August Shaboo reunion concert where I guested with David Foster & The Mohegan Sun All-Stars; and December's duet with Joe Hurley at Glen Burtnik's X-mas X-travaganza down at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank, NJ, where tons of cash was raised by an All-Star roster including Debby Harry and Ian Hunter.   And over at www.myspace.com/christineohlmanmusic, there are fab new photos, song postings, and links to more friends than ever.

Ian Hunter's deep & beautiful CD, Shrunken Heads (YepRoc), on which I guest (and which was co-produced by our friend Andy York) was named as one of 2007's Top 20 by the New York Daily News.  Congratulations, Ian.  I also appear on Big Al Anderson's Pawn Shop Guitars, where, you'll be glad to know, the Big Man kills on every track and the guitar playing is without peer. It's available over at www.BigAlAnderson.com. 

I will return to New Orleans in the early summer for a reunion with Skip Henderson, whose Mt. Zion Memorial Fund has lain so many headstones for the giants of the blues throughout the Delta. He's an inspiration. 

New friends and new memories await us just around the corner. I hope you all plan to vote in November, and remember to keep on doin' the hip-shake in your daily life, whatever that means to you....

We'll see you on stage this summer......

       Christine