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Hi everyone, and thanks for logging on to the Little Misty
Music website.
Activity on the site has been building up over the past months,
and it's been really encouraging to receive so many e-mails
from you .
Well, we're well into the new year now, and I've had a busy
January, with some Scottish concerts, and a trip to Houston
in Texas, and a few days in Nashville. It was my third visit
the Trinity Lutheran Church in Houston, and it was great to
be back with friends there again. I also played in Salem Lutheran,
and in a place called Encourager Church. It was fabulous!
Again, 'We're going to Win this Thing' seemed to be the song
of the day!
The Nashville visit this time was one of mixed emotions.
The direction EMI Christian Music seems to be taking is towards
the very young end of the music spectrum, and my material
is just not fitting with their plans, so it's unlikely I will
have any more success there. However, as one door closes,
another opens. I was introduced to people at the Provident
Music Group, and to a writer called David Edwards. We just
seemed to hit it off, and in the space of three hours, we
had written a song together, and made a basic recording of
it, and I've just heard that the song looks like being included
on a new album by the singer Margaret Becker.
Provident seems to be taking a wide view of contemporary church
music, and I think the future is bright there for me to be
able to contribute material. They are also very interested
in my children's material, which so far has never had widespread
exposure in the States. I'll keep you posted as to developments!
You'll see by the diary page that I'm spending February
entirely in Scotland,which I love, providing the weather lets
me travel. We've had terrible gales in the last few days.
We had part of a large tree come down in the garden-- luckily
it didn't hit anybody, and I've been out with my power saw
clearing it away!
I had another near miss yesterday. I drove down to Greenock
prison to visit my friend Garry, and found myself in driving
rain in the middle laneon the motorway, with traffic either
side, and a big piece of clay drainage pipe bouncing along
the road towards me! It must have fallen off a lorry. I couldn't
avoid it, and it bent the van's bonnet and destroyed my off-side
headlight. Thankfully the windscreen was ok, and I was still
able to complete the journey. Nasty feeling, though!
On March 1st, I fly back to America, this time to the West
Coast, to visit friends in Churches in California, then up
to Seattle, and possibly a short visit to Vancouver across
in Canada. In April I visit my friend Major Tom Wild, who
was last serving as US Army chaplain in Germany, but is now
serving in West Point college in New York State, then travel
down to re-visit Church of the Saviour in Philadelphia, plus
another church where I haven't sung before. I also hope to
fit in another meeting with Dave Edwards in Nashville.
In May I have my annual tour of churches in Northern Ireland,
a little earlier than usual, then in June, a new venture in
conjunction with United Christian Broadcasters. It's a nationwide
tour, with me performing in my usual way, but UCB will also
give a short talk on the work of Christian radio, and seek
to raise UCB's profile generally. For those of
you reading this outside the UK, we have very, very tight
legislation here which makes it extremely difficult for a
Christian radio station to operate. Come to one of the concerts
and find out more! Although it's 20 dates, I will get home
in between the first two weeks, and then be at home for a
lot of the second half, so we're all quite comfortable about
it.
You will see with all my travels now, that the trips are short.
I'm trying to take my family responibilities seriously, and
we do have really good extended times together when I'm home.
I'm more aware than ever that these things are so important.
On the Little Misty Music front, I'm planning to release
a compilation CD to be called NON-STOP, at the end of March.
I've had many requests for a collection that just doesn't
slow down-- all the faster tracks from the albums over the
years, so you can just put it on in the car or the kitchen
and know that it will all be upbeat! It will include a new
mix
of We're going to Win this thing, plus a brand new track called
'This Time' that I think you'll love.
Another venture that I want to tell you about is our new
LMM agent's scheme. It's an attempt to promote the online
store on the website, and works like this. The agent must
be 14 or over , and have e-mail access. The job is to encourage
friends, family, contacts, etc, to have a look at the LMM
website, and hopefully order a CD. The agent is allocated
a number, and asks their contact to quote that number when
ordering. [ If you look
at the ordering page on the store you'll see the box ]
At the end of the month, we add up how many units have been
credited to each agent, and send out commission cheques.
Basically, instead of giving a shop the discount, we are passing
on that margin to the individual agent.
The scheme is in its infancy, but already we have agents in
four or five different countries around the world. We are
set up to be able to handle the scheme with many hundreds
of agents, so if it's something that might interest you, drop
us an e-mail, and we'll sign you up! Because of the nature
of the scheme, it wouldn't matter if you sold a couple of
CDs ,
and then did nothing for several months, your agency number
would just lie dormant, for whenever you wanted to use it.
We feel this might work very well for high school or college
kids, who are always looking for holiday money, but couldn't
spare the time during term. You don't have to hold any stock,
or handle any money, or customer problems. You're just encouraging
people to use the LMM site.
India Ministries Fellowship
We continue to be involved with raising money for this great
work among poor children in India. On the website , please
have a read under the IMF section, and we've made donating
a small amount very, very easy, by including an IMF donation
box in the Online Store. Please consider using it !
Family News
Carol just had another forty-something birthday, and we can
hardly believe that Taylor will be 9 on February 17th. He's
campaigning for a dog, but we're holding off for now. He's
taken to keyboard lessons like a duck to water which we're
thrilled about.
Harrison continues to progress with his drum lessons, and
football !
Best Wishes to all of you, from Ian.
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