Hello, The may course at Westminster College that is based on the works of Bruce "Utah" Phillips begins Tuesday, May 3rd. The college has set up a blog for the class so folks can follow postings over the next four weeks. weekshttp://maylongmemory.blogspot.com/.

We should finish up transcribing the songs and stories for the new song book by the end of the month. We are still on schedule to have the book out for Christmas 2011.
We have three concerts coming up. The first is on Saturday, April 30th at Ken Sanders Rare Books here in Salt Lake City.Performing will be Doug Wintch, Anke Summerhill and Duncan Phillips. The other two are on the campus of Westminster College, also here in SLC. Mark Ross, Larry Hanks and Deborah Robins will perform a free show in the Atrium, 1840 S. 1300 E. on Thursday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. The other show is on Tuesday, May 17th at 7:30 p.m. in the Auditorium, also at 1840 S. 130 E. Performing will be - Rosalie Sorrels, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch, Anke Summerhill, Paul Rasmussen, Ken Shaw, Hal Cannon, Carla and Dave Eskelsen and Duncan Phillips. we are still working on booking some gigs for December and January, mainly back east and the west coast. We will try to book some house concerts along the way. Any ideas?

Updates

Hello,here is an update on some of the projects that I'm knee deep in. In May Westminster College, here in Salt Lake, is holding a summer course on the songs and stories of "Utah Phillips." The course will run four weeks with classes every Tuesday and Thursday. In conjunction with the class there will also be a concert in the Westminster auditorium. Performing will be some of the folks from our last tribute CD and a very special guest, Rosalie Sorrels. The concert will be on Tuesday, May 17th.

The other big project is the republication of the "Starlight on the Rails" song book. We are going to be adding about forty songs to the original book, so it's a big task. I'm struggling with how to get the songs into simple sheet music. I can convert the songs to MIDI but the editing programs that I've tried don't like finger picking, I mean, they convert it but not in away that most folks, including myself could figure out let alone play. Any suggestions?

Lastly I'm working on booking some CD release gigs for next winter. Thus far I've booked Caffe' Lena and the Peoples Choice Cafe in New York for December and San Luis Obispo with Kate MacLeod and Maybe Rosalie in February. Coast to Coast, thats me.

Lets see, what else, oh ya, after my normal winter off I go back to work next week.

Other highlights, Little sister Morrigan graduates from Boston College this may and little brother Brendan is going to play the Kate Wolf festival this June with his band Fast Rattler.

That's it for now, take care.

Long Gone CD release tour

Tomorrow morning we are off to California. Our first CD release is at the Freight and Salvage in Berkeley, CA. The tour will rap up on February the 8th in Spokane, Wa.
Faith Petric and Larry Hanks along with Deborah Robins will join us for the show in Berkeley.

Wednesday January 26, - Berkeley, CA.
CD release at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Gigi Love, Anke Summerhill,
Doug Wintch and Paul Rasmussen. With special guests
Faith Petric, Larry Hanks and Deborah Robins.

Saturday January 29, - Morro Bay, CA.
CD release sponsored by SLOFolks
7:00 p.m. at the Coalesce Bookstore 845 Main Street, Morro Bay, Ca.
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Gigi Love, Anke Summerhill,
Doug Wintch and Paul Rasmussen.


Sunday January 30, - Felton, CA.
CD release at Don Quixtoe's
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Gigi Love, Anke Summerhill,
Doug Wintch and Paul Rasmussen.

Wednesday February 2, - Ashland, OR.
7:00 p.m. - Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Rogue Valley
87 4th St, Ashland, OR 97520-2149 - Tickets $15.00 or $10.00 at the door with
a non-perishable food donation for the food pantry.
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch, Gigi Love.

Thursday February 3, - Eugene, OR.
CD release 7:00 p.m.at the Wandering Goat Coffeee Company
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch, Gigi Love.

Saturday February 5, - Portland, OR.
Winterfolk at the Alladin Theater a benefit for Sister of the Road
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch, Gigi Love

Sunday February 6, - Seattle, Wa.
Empty Sea Studios 6300 Phinney Ave.
8:00 p.m. - Tickets, $12. advanced $16. at the door.

Tuesday February 8, - Spokane, WA.
Rick Singer Photography West 415-1/2 Main Avenue Spokane, WA. 99201
Doors open at 7:00 p.m. show starts at 7:30 p.m.Tickets $15.00 - Limited seating www.ricksingerphotograhpy.com/concerts.php
Performing: Duncan Phillips, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch, Gigi Love.

Performing: Duncan Phillips, Kate MacLeod, Doug Wintch, Gigi Love

Eureka CD release

Last Friday we had a Long Gone CD release at The Eureka Opera House in, oddly enough, Eureka Nevada. The weather was as perfect as a January day can be in the heart of Nevada. That is to say it was about fifteen degree's warmer than Salt Lake was when we left in the mid afternoon soup (what other folks call air.) The turn out for the show was good considering we had to compete with a the Vandals (Eureka County High School) home basketball game. All in all there were about fifty folks. Performing in the round, Myself, Gigi Love, Paul Ramussen and Doug Wintch shared the stage told stories and sang a mixture of original material and songs of Utah, both the man and the state.Some of the songs we sang were "The Goodnight Loving Trail", "Ragged Old Man", "Starlight on the Rails" and "I Think of You." Wally Cuchine is the perfect producer and host. He put us up in the motel across the street from the opera house and paid us before the performance! Only in Eureka. I'm so grateful that we got to do a show in the opera house before Wally retires in February. Folks in Eureka are friendly the crowd at the show was great and the Owl has plenty of PBR's, what else can you ask for.

Next gig January 26th at the Freight and salvage in Berkeley, CA.

CD Release

We had a fantastic CD release last Thursday night here in Salt Lake. About 400 folks filled the Jeanne' Wagner Theatre. The night started off with a video from my friends at gasslamp productions about the making of our tribute CD. Then fourteen musicians over the course of two hours played song from our new tribute CD.....Long Gone. Our next CD release pary will be in Eureka, NV. This Friday, January the 14th at the Eureka Opera House.

We start an eight show West coast CD release tour later in January. I will keep folks up to date as we make our way from San Luis Obispo, CA. to Spokane, WA.

Duncan

We have spent the last couple of weeks in the Roto Sonic Sound studio working on the first few tracks of our new tribute CD. Thus far we have the rough mixes for
" Going Away","Pig Hollow",
" Miner's Lullaby " and
" Scofeild Mine Disaster ". Our plan is to finish the rough mixes by the end of April, take a deep breath, listen to it all and start making plans for overdubs and such. We hope to begin work on the final mix in the fall.
In the meantime we have been doing house concerts and small gigs in the coffee shops around town to raise dough for our little project. It's all very exciting and the studio work has been amazing. I am glad we made the decision to comprise the CD of fresh studio work. And did I mention that all of the artists that are playing guitar on their tracks are using dad's old road worn Guild guitar, it sounds fantastic. To have the opportunity to sit in the studios control room and listen to folks perform dad's songs and playing dad's guitar is very touching. Check out the CD project page for some pictures, song list and a few sound bites.

Howdy

Just a quick note to let you know that The Long Memory website is down for a day or so while we change over to a new locally owned web hosting service. We be able to offer more audio,photos and stuff in general. If anybody is interested this Wed. at 11:00 am mountain time zone on utahfm.org I am going to introduce the first episode of Loafer's Glory and talk a little bit about the Long Memory project.
Duncan

Hello,I hope all of you have been able to check out the new, The Long Memory website. One of the projects that I have been working on is the task of converting dad's recordings to a digital archive. I have come across all sorts of gems. Everything from live shows, storytelling and labor workshops to audio letters. Kate Macleod gave me an old Teac reel to reel so I could dive into the tape pile, what a find. The first tape I loaded up was dad's first show at Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs NY. I have special plans for this show. I will keep you posted.

We have begun the paper work to incorporate The Long Memory int a non profit. It will be a bit of process to acquire a 501c3 status, maybe a year or so but the first step of incorporation should make fundraising a bit easier. I came up with the name The Long Memory for what I hope will be the Utah Phillips foundation because I could not bring myself to incorporate "Utah Phillips". As it is I think I'm pushing the envelope but I feel making Utah's work available to as many people, easily as possible, whats important.

I will make more audio, photographs and memorabilia ( letters and documents ) available as we roll along. If any of you have photos or the like to contribute drop me line.
I have also heard from several radio stations in regards to airing dad's old radio show Loafer's Glory. I will add links to the stations on the loafer's Glory web site a I receive air dates and times.

Thanks
Duncan

Loafer's Glory

Check out the new Loafer's Glory - website http://loafersglory.org

New web page

One of the projects from The Long memory is a tribute CD from the folks here in Utah.
here is the letter from the CD's producer Kate MacLeod.

Duncan Phillips, son of the legendary folksinger, social activist, storyteller and all-around lovable character, Utah Phillips, is creating a tribute recording in honor of his father and his father's musical contributions.
Duncan accompanied his father on many tours, and grew well-acquainted with his father's thoughts, wishes and opinions. Duncan has developed a vision of a tribute CD that reflects Utah Phillips, in a personal and authentic manner.
Though the recording has not been titled yet, this project is called The Long Memory Project. Since Utah took his name from and was influenced by the state of Utah, this recording will feature Utah-based musicians who have been influenced and inspired by Utah Phillips' music. They will perform some of Utah's Phillips' songs, there may also be some spoken word and possibly some recording of Utah's own speaking. Duncan has invited songwriter/fiddler/producer Kate MacLeod to produce this recording. We invite the public to donate funds to support this recording project in honor of Utah Phillips' memory. The donated funds will be used for recording studio time and manufacturing costs. The musicians will be donating their time and talent to the project. Sale income from the project will be used for preservation and further development of Utah Phillips' archives and legacy. By request, you can be added to an email mailing list in order to receive updates about the project from the production team. Recording on this project will begin in the latter half of March into the month of April, 2010. The mixing and mastering will follow accordingly, with a projected release for January of 2011.

Donations Made Payable To: Duncan Phillips
Mail Donations To: The Long Memory, P.O. Box 711668, Salt Lake City, UT, 84171
Mailing List for Updates: Request Through - kmacleod@xmission.com

For Information About Utah Phillips' Career: www.utahphillips.com
Blog link for Utah Phillips blog: http://utahphillips.blogspot.com/
The Long Memory Site for Updates About this Project: http://www.thelongmemory.com/


Thank You,
Duncan Phillips: dandbphillips@yahoo.com
Producer: Kate MacLeod: www.katemacleod.com, kmacleod@xmission.com

Good Evening. Please do check out our new project The Long Memory. We hope it will be the foundation for developing a non-profit to house the Utah Phillips archives.

Howdy

I just got back from Portland via Spokane, I know it sounds a little odd but I had a lot of folks to see and still didn't have enough time yo visit Brackney in Victoria. I went to Portland Genny's retirement get together at Sister's. Any of you not familiar with Sister's Of The Road please do check out the link to their site. It was a wonderful affair. People filed in all afternoon to spend time with Genny. A few folks sang a tune or two and others spoke about what Genny and Sister's has meant to them over the years.
A couple of days I drove to Spokane to see Sheila. Sheila is Brendan and Morrigan's mother. Sheila found an old journal of dad's from the early seventies that she has been holding onto for me. It has twenty or so songs in it some has went onto record and others not yet finished. My plan is to finish them up and contribute to the journal as time rambles on but leave a few pages blank for my son Brendan not to be confused with my brother Brendan and yes I did name my son after my brother. It was great to see Sheila, I haven't seen her since dad and I road tripped to Spokane in 2001. Back in the late seventies she flew me up to Spokane for a week to visit dad and her before I joined the Marine Core. It was a short week but one I always carry with me. It was probably ten or twelve years before I saw dad again at gig in Dallas. Even though dad and I spent many, many years apart that trip to Spokane burnished us together.
Oh ya did I mention that the last tribute CD "Singing Through The Hard Times" has been nominated for a Grammy. It will be two years in a row that a tribute CD for dad has ha been nominated. My little brother Brendan is going to go to the awards along with the producers, Dan Schatz, Kendall and Jackie Morse. I think you can watch that portion of the awards show on the internet.

I have gathered together a group of folks her in Utah that are going to do a Utah tribute to Utah produced by our good friend Kate Macleod. Kate just finished her own CD " Blooming" that Tim O'Brien in Nashville.
I think we will call it "The Long Memory" I will keep you posted

Check this out

Howdy folks. I got this pic today and thought you might like it. Nice piece of hobo graffiti wouldn't you say. I am happy to announce that my little brother Brendan and I will be traveling to Washington D.C. for a tribute show for dad. The show will be on Oct. 30, I'm not sure where yet but I will keep you posted as details roll in.
I drove down to see Joanna last weekend she's hanging in there. It's always nice to spend time with her. She has a new dog named Zimmerman. He looks like a pint sized Bo (her last dog). I brought home a lot of pictures of dad and have begun the delightful task of scanning them into my computer. There's a lot of good stuff, I will post some as I go them. I think we are going to use some of them for the song book that we are currently working on. I met with the book designer on Saturday so things are moving along. If any of you know any of the folks that helped put the original "Starlight on the Rails" song book together please do send their info along.

Howdy,
I apologize for not posting more often. During the summer months my toil is fairly intense. Most nights blogging is the last thing on my mind, hang in there until winter and i will post more often. There are a few things that I am working on. First of I am working on getting Rosalie a gig here in SLC sometime this fall. If it works out Ben, Gigi and I will open for here. How cool will that be? We are also working on a gig at the U of U on Nov. 19, This one will be a labor show with some folks here in SLC Nov. 19, is the day Joe Hill was executed or more accurately, murdered by the State of Utah after he was convicted of shooting a shop keeper and his son. I also plan to make it up to Spokane some time in December to visit Sheila, Brendan and Morrigan's mom. I haven't had the chance to see her since dad's death. We might do a house concert or something, we'll see. If any of you have ideas on places to visit and folks willing to put together a house concert or two along the way please do let me know as I plan to travel a bit in my off months and visit some of dad's old friends and favorite towns. We are still working on re releasing dad's old song book. I haven't talked to Ken about it lately, I think the slow economy has slowed the project down a bit. But not to worry we will get it done sooner than later.
Thanks again for the posts. I may not update the blog that often but I do think about it and all of the wonderfull folks that send comments.
Thanks
Duncan

Howdy,
I hope that everyone is enjoying a lazy Saturday afternoon. The Kate Wolf festival went well. It felt a little rough but I've been told folks enjoyed it. We performed Sat. on the Utahpia stage with dad's old friends Mark Ross And Kuddie. It was a good place to start, besides being named after dad it is a small stage with friendly folks. Come to think of it the festival is full of friendly folks. Everyone camps out and you get a nice community vibe. Sunday Gigi, Ben and I played the Revival tent. The Revival tent is one of the last places that dad played. It was a fitting spot to carry on.
Even though I had gone over the stories and songs hundreds of times over the last six months or so it was far more emotional than I though it would be. Know matter how much you prepare and go over things in your mind some things you never have control of. Sure I could have played and sang better but honesty I wouldn't have had the show go any other way. I will always remember the smile on Rosalie's face as she sat in the audience and sang along, it was amazing. a week later I am left with a mixture of emotions. I have the constant urge to play and sing mixed with the back beat of, what am I thinking can I really do this? But what the hell dad always took pride in the fact that all of his children live somewhere on the outskirts of reality. It must be genetic. I do have plans to get out and about some this winter and I hope to get the chance to see some of you along the way.

Howdy

Hello everyone. It's been awhile I know. Since the last update I have been to Nevada City for the one year deal and traveled to Moab Ut. to rehearse with Ben and Gigi for the Kate Wolf Festival next week. Going back to Nevada City was far more difficult than I thought it would be. Folks say it takes a year after a death to start moving on. That sounds nice but it's really a load of crap. The first place I went upon my arrival was the cemetary to see dad. I just stood there shaking.

A whole year can you belive it, I can't. Joanna is doing well and it was nice to see Brendan and Morrigan. We are scatterd about so,so we don't get a chance to see each other that often. We sat around with a few close friends , told stories and stuffed our faces with barbecued chicken.

I am now focused on Next weekend and the Kate Wolf festival. Bobette and I will drive down on Thursday to see Joanna before heading to Laytonville. Rehearsal went well. It was the first time we had all played together in fact it was the first time Ben had met Gigi. A good friend of ours bought a place in Moab that is void of furniture so it was a great place to jam. All weekend we jammed, hiked around and jammed. It's a bummer that none of us live in the same city let alone the same state.
But things are coming along.
Her is the line up of songs that we are going to do

Daddy What's a Train
Eddie's Song
Going Away
Aces,Straight and Flushes
Carolina Pines - Kate's song
Green Rolling Hills of West Virgina
I Think of You
Long Gone - A song that I wrote for dad
Trumpet Vine _ Kate's song
If I Could Be The Rain - Maybe
and assorted stories and memories

If any of you come please do stop by and say hi.
If there is internet at the site I will post next weekend
Thanks.
Duncan

Howdy

Hello, I trust that everybody had a good May Day. Our local May Day event had to postponed due to rain. We worked all week on building a boss pinata for the little ones to take a whack at so we were a little bummed when the rain settled in. We'll give it a go next weekend.

Gigi Love and I did a house concert last night here in Salt Lake. Actually it was mostly Gigi. She did here thing and then we did a few songs together. We sang Aces Straights and Flushes, Daddy What's a Train, The Green Rolling Hills of West Virgina and she closed with Going Away. She of course was perfect, for me it was the first time to play and sing in front of folks. Needles to say I was a little shaky but I got through it and folks were very encouraging. It was a small gathering of thirty or so at our friends John and Tamrika's house. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and Gigi made enough cash to cover her coming up from Durango to rehearse with me for a couple of days and go over things for the Kate wolf Festival in June. Gigi, Ben and I are going to do our Bums on the Plush thing on Sunday at the festival and Dad's old friends Mark Ross, Kuddie and my little brother Brendan are going to do a tribute for dad on Saturday. As far as the music I think it's coming along and with the help of good friends I'm starting to get the hang of it. I will post some pics of the May Day event next week.
Take care.
Duncan

Hello,
Here are some pics from the Portland show from my brother Nick.
Ben Pearl in on my right, Mark Ross is on my left and my little brother Brendan is next to Mark on the banjo.

I have been busy working and helping with plans for the May Day rally on May 2ND. I am going to build a bosses pinata for the little kids to take a whack at.

Things are going well. My friend Gigi is going to come into town from Durango next weekend to rehearse for the Kate wolf festival in June. I hope to see some of you there.

Ken Sanders and I are still working on republishing the original Starlight on the Rails song book. Hopefully it will be out this summer. I think we are going to print some special edition leather bound copies complete with photos inside. I will keep you posted.

Howdy Folks,
Check out this link Matt sent me from the Examiner.com
My friend Gigi Love came into town for a couple of days to jam and hang out. Gigi is one of the Bums on the Plush on the run to the Kate wolf festival in June. That brings up another subject. I have had a few e-mails about using the name Bums on the Plush. The name comes from a poem dad would recite from time to time, I will post it on the side of the blog page. II gave this name a great deal of thought and kept coming back to the time dad and I were traveling up to the North West.
several years back. We stayed over night at the Ashland Springs Hotel in of course Ashland OR. The hotel is a nice piece of work. It was built in 1925 and has been beautifully restored and much more upscale than most places we would stay. After dinner we sat in the lobby next to the fireplace, cocktail in hand, soaking it all in. Dad went on and on about how nice the hotel was and how he was going to go to High Tea the next day at which point I turned to him and asked "so how does it feel to be a bum on the plush" he smiled and laughed.

Please understand I mean no disrespect. In fact I feel the name is quite the opposite. Please do feel free to post your thoughts I am sincerely interested in the opinion of other folks.