Spring has sprung, and so I announce the sprouting of a tiny bud of an idea I have been thinking about and planning for years.  But first, a quick note about a great show tomorrow…

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Oh my it’s been a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter.  So much exciting stuff has been going on that I haven’t had a chance.  I'm thrilled to give you an update now!

I had a very busy summer full of rewarding performances throughout the Puget sound area and beyond.  This fall I had a great tour of schools in Washington, Montana, and Idaho.  I am terribly excited about the creative…

Oh my it’s been a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter.  So much exciting stuff has been going on that I haven’t had a chance.  I'm thrilled to give you an update now!

I had a very busy summer full of rewarding performances throughout the Puget sound area and beyond.  This fall I had a great tour of schools in Washington, Montana, and Idaho.  I am terribly excited about the creative…

Oh my it’s been a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter.  So much exciting stuff has been going on that I haven’t had a chance.  I'm thrilled to give you an update now!

I had a very busy summer full of rewarding performances throughout the Puget sound area and beyond.  This fall I had a great tour of schools in Washington, Montana, and Idaho.  I am terribly excited about the creative…

Oh my it’s been a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter.  So much exciting stuff has been going on that I haven’t had a chance.  I'm thrilled to give you an update now!

I had a very busy summer full of rewarding performances throughout the Puget sound area and beyond.  This fall I had a great tour of schools in Washington, Montana, and Idaho.  I am terribly excited about the creative…

I think making music out of recycled oil barrels is really cool. I also think this is really cool! https://youtu.be/B8AYZaKBsoQ

This represents one complete show (video from two different performances) and includes two of the optional activities: the cup song and inventing musical instruments out of recycled materials.  Ian Dobson's Steel Drum Party is one of the summer reading programs that I am offering to libraries for summer 2016.  The optional activities can be done by library patrons at home before the show or the librarian can organize them as activities at the library prior to the…

Affro Reggae does great work in Brazil and elsewhere, particularly in the slums ("favelas") of Brazil.  This is a great video just in time for the climate summit in Paris.  They are going around their community and collecting plastic materials and creating music with those materials.

During my two gigs today I noticed a particular awesome new resonance to my belly during the body percussion portion of my show. Much like a concert bass drum. In COMPLETELY unrelated news I have been super busy performing so have stopped going to the gym... and am eating ice cream every night.

I've got another bunch of great kid-friendly shows this week, a number of teen-friendly workshops, family-friendly concerts at various locations, and one over 21 show. Starting with the family-friendly....

what are you doing for the 4th of July? You don't know you say? Why not head up to Suncadia resort with the family and enjoy Splash Fest!?

Or, if you are in the Issaquah area on Saturday, July 11th, you can catch me performing at Grand Ridge Plaza. Here are details about…

I had a blast performing at the Experience Woodinville event yesterday! It was a very successful, sold out event and, as previously when I have worked with the awesome people at the Barking Frog, there was a wonderful improvisational element to the evening. I got to interact with and musically enhance the proceedings, lead by Chef Bobby Moore, as they held a very entertaining cook off between Chef Brett Teegardin from Purple Café and Wine Bar, Chef Bobby Moore from Barking …

Hello Steel Drum Fans!

I wanted to let you all know about a slew of fun upcoming public shows.  In fact there are so many that I’ll just give you one weeks worth.  Lot’s more the week of June 22nd.  And these don’t even include all the private events!

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It’s been so long since I sent out my last newsletter.  Even though it is off season for me a lot has been going on.



Summer 2015 is shaping up to be a busy one!  I already have over 50 gigs booked and more coming in all the time.  I will be performing many family-oriented programs all over Western Washington.  Some are workshops, some are more straight up performances, some are focused on a tween age group, others…

As I mentioned, my drive to my first gig in Nebraska was a bit of a haze. I remember stopping somewhere in the mountains in Montana late at night and finding a hotel to sleep in. Turned out it was next to the train tracks, crude oil trains running back and forth all night... I slept for maybe 4 or 5 hours then got on my way again. Things got a little dicey later on Sunday with my wakefulness so I had to stop and take a nap in my car. By Sunday night I really wasn’t sure if I would make it…

I hope everyone is having a happy, PANtastic holiday season!  I am back in town after a wonderful and rewarding 7.5-week, 76-show solo tour around the Midwest.  After driving 10 or 11 thousand miles and so many wonderful experiences I am excited to share my tour tales with everyone and very much looking forward to bringing more of my musical ideas to life in 2015.

In fact, if you have kids in your life, or even if you don’t, I would love for you to join our steel drum…

I got a random call around August of 2013 asking if I wanted to do a solo tour of schools all over the Midwest during the 2014/2015 school year.  If you are making a living as a musician you should be somewhat used to booking out a year or more in advance.  Nevertheless, this offer made me nervous.  Not only was it far in the future but the schedule and transportation elements sounded… basically they sounded impossible.  If I were to do this tour I would need to drive alone to the Midwest…

Ian Dobson’s Steel Drum Party was the featured act at Tuesday’s Edmonds Summer Concert in the Park at the Hazel Miller Plaza in downtown Edmonds. (Photos by Larry Vogel)…