This is the first time I've posted in almost a year. Holy crap.

In the past, I've promised a great deal and delivered hardly any of it: to post more often, to post passionately about (insert whatever I'm preoccupied with at the moment), to save the world, to post about others saving the world, etc. etc. etc. If I haven't learned by now that making promises on a blog is a bad idea I never will, but in this post I'm only gonna make one: to try to do better.

I'm only 46 years old, but still... when I was a kid, only James Bond had a portable phone, and even as recently as when I was in college the only computers on campus were gigantic mainframes that took up entire rooms of the science building. Needless to say, things have changed. Whether I like it or not, social media via computer is one of - if not THE - dominant forms of communication in our world, and I'd better get used to it. That means staying in touch in ways that might not be as natural for ME but are old hat - even passe - for others. I hereby grudgingly accept the premise that I blog, therefore I am.

It's not as if I've been asleep for the last year: I've played lots of gigs, I've taught lots of music students, I've made lots of art, and I've written a few words even if they (so far) haven't amounted to anything. I also had a great Christmas with family, took my first trip to Hawaii, re-connected with a lot of old friends (via the same computer social media that I seem to be disparaging at the moment), read a lot of books, started taking kendo again after many years and started yoga classes for the first time ever, bought a few flowers for my girl, etc. etc. etc.

I have no demonstrable reason to complain, but I've also been fairly deeply depressed. I won't go into it... it would ultimately bore you and it isn't really anybody's business but mine. I mention it because its lost me lots of time that I could have either been having fun or being productive (or both!) and I'm gonna take steps to snap the hell out of it. This will be hard, and sometimes halting. Still, rust never sleeps. There is no try, only do. Do or die.

So here's what's up:

In my day-to-day life, I teach music lessons. Guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, bass, hand percussion. I've offered songwriting too, even though nobody's taken me up on it. I'm available, my rates are fair, and I need more students. Email me though the link on my contact page or call me up and we'll talk about it! 575.758.7840 is the number where I can be reached most times. I'm delighted to take on kids, but adult beginners are my specialty. No piano or banjo or fiddle, sorry.

I'm gigging. Kim and the Caballeros are up and running, despite the fact that we haven't booked as much this year as we usually do. We'll see what happens over the summer... fall might be a jam-up. Also, twenty years after moving to Taos to start a band and play rock-n-roll I finally did it: my very own power-trio Chipper Thompson and Stray Ravens are tearing it up and our next show is Santa Fe's famous Thirsty Ear Festival, Sunday June 10, 2012. YOU WILL BE THERE, AND IT WILL BE AWESOME. I'm playing some solo shows, playing with Miz Kim and Mark Dudrow as Les Nouveau Antiquarians, very active with Bone Orchard, and even getting calls occasionally to sit in on songwriter's circles and the like. Check out my "Gigs and Events" page for details. (And even though it's a LONG way in the future - and I've promised not to make promises on this blog - there's spurious talk of some performances this summer with bouzouki master Roger Landes, and even.... wait for it.... whispered rumors of another recording next year with Mason Brown! Shhhhhh! Don't tell anybody!)

And I'm doing other projects of a non-musical nature: I've been working with Taos Edge to design some awesome T-shirts and other stuff, and you should immediately check it all out. Click now! Order stuff! It's really great quality stuff, and I think you'll like the designs that me and my baddest sombrero-wearing homie Dan Enger have come up with... and you'll be supporting a homegrown local business that keeps us all in the green! Yeah!

And something that I'm really excited about: Friday, August 17, 2012... my first one-man show at the illustrious Gerald Peters Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There'll be a whole room of my "Documents" fine art pieces, and after we all schmooze one another for a while I'm gonna play a short solo acoustic show in one of the most beautiful rooms you can imagine. Been wanting to take that vacation to the Great American Southwest? That'd be the time, my friends... but book your room now, because my opening is happening during Indian Market Week, and the town'll be packed!

Typically, I'm spread pretty thin, or at least it seems that way when you read about it here or when I get up in the morning and have to face the day... and it ain't like I'm known for being the cheeriest guy in the world anyway! But like I said, I've been struggling with a bit of depression, and hell... it's hard for everybody these days. But I'm keepin' on keepin' on and hope you will too, friends. And don't forget my one promise... I'm gonna try to do better. So keep on checking in here to see what's happening - or at least what I'm ranting and railing about lately! (And for Godess' sake... I've even updated my "Gigs and Events" page for the first time in who-knows-when! Can you believe it??? So, check and see! It's true!)

Thanks for all your years of support, mi amigos, and here's hoping we have many more ahead of us! Adios,

Chipper