JANUARY 2007
Happy New Year to you all.

In December, I partied with friends and performed at some private holiday gatherings. I had an enjoyable time everywhere. It’s great when the line between work and fun disappears.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear my CD, Six String Christmas on The Weather Channel. This is the 5^th year in a row. I thought they’d drop it by now, but apparently they got requests for it. I found a few web sites not connected with The Weather Channel that keeps track of all the songs aired on the network. Some folks are really into Weather Channel music. They contact The Weather Channel and make song requests. Thanks for keeping Six String Christmas on the airwaves.

I’ll be doing a house concert on Sunday, January 14^th in Tampa. This is a fundraiser for The Life center. Check out their web site. www.lifecenteroftampa.org.  I’ll be performing at 3:00 PM at 3701 River Grove Drive, Tampa 33610. Phone number is 813 932-1415. The door donation is $7.00. Do map quest for directions.

On Sunday, January 28^th, I’ll be performing in Eustis at the Lake Eustis Museum Of Arts Fine Art Festival. Over 80 artists will be displaying their art. My performance will be 12:30 to 2:30 PM in the Central Gazebo in Ferran Park.

Peace,
Bob

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FEBRUARY 2007
Hi. Welcome back to the News & Events page. I hope you all are well and happy.  I want to mention a few things.  I’ve posted some of my CD tracks on www.indiehighway.com.  Indie Highway is a site that makes available and promotes MP3 song tracks from independent record companies to independent radio stations. In case you didn’t know, the “corporate, commercial” radio stations do not generally play music from the small, independent record labels. Nor do those radio stations play the style of music known as “Americana”.  As an Americana artist, most of the airplay I receive is on PBS stations and college radio. Americana is shut out of the big money, payola grabbing, creatively disadvantaged, corporate owned, radio stations.                                                                                           

I must though give thanks to one exception. Jerry Steffen is a DJ here in Orlando on WMMO FM radio. Jerry has been playing my CDs on his Sunday Morning Acoustic show for the past few years. He has helped me gain recognition here in Orlando. Also, as a result of the airplay, listeners have bought my CDs through CD Baby. CD Baby is a web site that sells CDs of independent labels. Check them out at www.cdbaby.com

This month, I’ll be performing at the Attic Door in Winter Garden www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor on February 15^th, 7:00 to 10:00pm.

Bye for now,
Bob  

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MARCH 2007
In the last few News & Events postings, I mentioned web sites stores I’ve hooked up with that are in the digital download business. These sites provide music for TV, films, theatrical, motion pictures, commercials, radio stations, video games, Ipods and more. As an independent artist on an independent label, I’m always open to ways to get my music out there through the Internet. The “format” of recorded music is constantly changing, moved on by the advancement of technology. It won’t be long before the CD format becomes a thing of the past.

I’ve released seven “albums” of music on CD. By the end of the year, I hope to complete a new instrumental project. At that time, I’ll decide whether to release it as a CD or make it available only for digital download. I’m in the process of placing my music with a web company called A&R Select www.arselect.com, one of the services they will provide is a digital download store on my web site. So, this means I’ll be able to sell digital downloads of my music through my web site. This is very cool.

This month I’ll be performing at The Orlando Folk Festival on Saturday, March 3^rd from 5:45 to 6:45pm. Check the web site for details.  www.mennellomuseum.org/folkfestivalart.html

On Saturday, March 17th, I’ll be at A Third Place in Eustis, from 8:00 to 11:00pm. www.athirdplacepubcafe.com

On Thursday, March 22^nd, I’ll be performing at The Attic Door in Winter Garden, 7:00 to 10:00pm. www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

I’ll be performing Saturday, March 31^st in Winter Garden at The Spring Fever In The Garden Festival from 4:00 to 4:45pm. www.wintergarden-fl.gov

Peace
Bob

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APRIL 2007
I mentioned last month that I’d been working on a new instrumental CD. This project began quite a while ago. It started with the archiving (recording) of a few instrumentals I composed. Didn’t want to forget them. I had no intentions of releasing another CD. Well, now I have about 10 songs recorded. It seems that I’m headed in the direction of releasing a new instrumental collection but am not sure if it will be on a CD format. I think I mentioned in a recent News & Events that I believe CDs will soon be a thing of the past. Still, I will do the artwork for the project, should I decide to release a CD, but will have it available only as a digital download, at least for now. What’s cool about the digital download format is I can make individual songs available for download and so can add songs to the project at any time, or release a recording that isn’t part of a collection. As for this particular instrumental project, I want to have a total of 12 songs before I make it available, and I still need to mix and master all 12. I’m not in a rush to get this done, so maybe I’ll be done by the end of the year.

Below, are the “open to the public” gigs I have this month.

On April 15^th, I’ll be performing at The Barberville Spring Frolic. It’s a great outdoor festival. All the details can be found at www.folkfiddle.com/barber.htm

I’ll be back at the wonderful Attic Door on April 20^th from 8:00 to 11:00pm. Check it out at www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor 

I’ll be doing a concert in Melbourne at “The Listening Room” at J Michael Instruments on April 21^st. I haven’t been to their concert room but I’m sure it’s great concert hall. They also sell high quality guitars there. I bought my Augustino flamenco guitar there a few years ago. For info go to www.jmichael.com

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MAY 2007
Our house sits on about half an acre of land. All kinds, sizes and shapes of grass, weeds, trees and bushes cover it. For the most part, we let the jungle grow happily, wild, something that displeases our neighbors. I don’t think we’re very popular on our street of manicured lawns.

When we moved here 2 years ago, we did have to take a few trees down. The large grape fruit tree was attracting rats and one of the palms was hanging over the sidewalk, tilted more than the Tower of Pisa. We had an oak tree in the front near the sidewalk that partially concealed our house from the street and shaded the driveway from the Florida morning sun. Strangely, that tree died. Within a few weeks the leaves turned brown and fell. We kept our hopes up that the tree would “revive” by spring, but it didn’t. We still didn’t want to take it down but had to after a few large limbs came crashing to the street and sidewalk.

We have a large tree next to the house, a beautiful tree called a golden rain tree. In the summer the tree drops a mountain of these golden things….seeds, leaves. I’m not sure what they are. When they’re done dropping, they’re swept off the roof and driveway into 6 or 7 large trash bags. The tree is about a foot and a half from the house. We’ve been told the tree should come down, as it could damage the house foundation. I can’t do that.  I’m thinking that the tree has been there for quite a while and is full-grown. Any damage to the foundation would have already happened.  So the tree in all its beauty still stands.

Well this year I became concerned because after winter, my beautiful tree remained barren, no leaves. I was concerned that I was going to loose a second tree to an early death. “Shouldn’t it have leaves by now?”, I thought. Because we lost a tree last year, I worried and lost confidence in the natural cycle of the tree. Within a few weeks though, the leaves appeared and now it’s a happy green tree. I was relieved and realized how easily I was swayed by the loss of the oak tree. I lost confidence in the workings of the universe. Buddhism says, “winter never fails to turn into spring”. I guess I forgot that. It won’t be long before the sun shines.

On May 11^th,  7:00 to 9:00, I’ll be in Sanford at Eberweins’ Arthouse Coffeegallery. Nice atmosphere, great coffee. For info   www.eberweinbydesign.com 

May 12^th, I’ll be back at A Third Place in Eustis, 8:00 to 11:00. Check out  www.athirdplacepubcafe.com 

I’ll be back in Eustis on May 20^th at The State Theater, doing a fundraiser for the Lake County Folk Festival. For info www.baystreetplayers.org

On May 24^th, 7:00 to 9:00, I’ll be back at the wonderful Attic Door. Check out  www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

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JUNE 2007
Goodbye to May. I’ll miss you. The temperature was perfect. Windows opened. Breezy. No air conditioning. The downside was the lack of rain. Florida had a number of brush and forest fires. One fire was near the location of The Florida Folk Festival. The festival normally held Memorial Day weekend, was cancelled, so Orlando had it’s own folk festival. All the credit for putting this last minute festival together goes to Stuart Hall. GREAT job Stuart! The festival named The Florida Faux Festival, literally came together in four days. It was a great success. The attendance was low, but considering how quickly the festival was organized, I think the turnout was quite impressive.

Yesterday, I received an Email from  www.songvault.fm.  SONGVAULT.fm is one of the Internet radio stations that play my music. They tell me that one of my songs, “Georgia Blues”, has received a lot of positive “votes” as they call them. Apparently, the song is close to being placed on a permanent play list. The main reason for the Email from them was to have me ask my Internet friends to vote for the song. So, I will put this out to you for you to consider doing. If you do vote, please vote for all three songs of mine that are airing; “Georgia Blues”, “Wish I Had A Boat” and “The Old Dog Barkin’ Is You”.

The process takes just a few minutes to do.

• Start by clicking on www.songvault.fm

• You will need to set up a free account, user name, password.

• Once logged in you will be on a page that lists all the genres of music.  If you’re not on the genre page, click on Browse Genres to get there.

• On the genre page, select Folk. That page opens. (TRUST ME. THIS GOES QUICKLY).

• In that page is a box titled “Folk Indie Hit Radio”.

• At the bottom right of that box, click on the yellow Play and Vote.

• A new page opens. On the right center is a “Play List”. Scroll to each of my songs and click on the song.  Below the CD cover, click on “I Like It”.

Below are the public gigs I have in June.

On June 15th, 8:00 to 11:00pm, I'll be at the wonderful Attic Door in Winter Garden. For info check out  www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

I'll be in Sanford on June 29th, 7:00 to 10:00pm at Eberweins' Arthouse Coffeegallery. It's a very cool coffee house. Great art on the walls. For info www.eberweinbydesign.com

Peace
Bob

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JULY 2007
A few months ago, I mentioned to you all that I was working on a new instrumental project. At that time, 10 compositions had been recorded. Well, I just finished recording number 12, and so unless any get voted off this album project, that phase of this instrumental collection is done.

The next step is mixing and mastering. No hurry on that. When I spoke of this project in May, I said it all began as “archiving” a few instrumentals so I wouldn’t forget them, no plans of releasing them. I think the thing that gave this life as a possible released album, was discovering DADGAD tuning. (DADGAD, as the name suggests, in an alternate tuning for the guitar, the 6^th string tuned to D, the 5^th string tuned to A, the 4th string tuned to D, and so on.) I composed 5 pieces in DADGAD, and so saw the collection taking shape as something to release.

A side note here…. I’m not referring to this “project” as a CD. The reason is this. I think terminology has gotten confused. Back when, a collection of songs released on a vinyl disc, was known as an album. To my way of thinking, the “vinyl disc” is a format. A CD (compact disc) is a format. So to me, being on a vinyl disc, cassette tape, MP3 or CD, the collection of music is an “album”.                                                                                    

Anyway, that being said, this album might not be available on a CD. It will though be available as individual digital downloads on the same sites that sell digital downloads of my 7 released CD’s. It will also be available through a “player” on www.myspace.com/bobrafkin and through a “player” on this site located on the biography page.                                                            

I still intend on doing the graphics, should I release a CD. I think the title for this instrumental collection will be “Eclectic Tree House”. My Music Room is on the second floor of my home, known as the Tree House. 

I’ll be returning to The Attic Door in Winter Garden, 28 W. Plant Street on Saturday, July 7^th ,  8 to 11pm. Phone number is (407) 877-0266   www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

On July 28^th, I’ll be at Eberwein’s Arthouse Coffeegallery in Sanford, 417 Sanford Ave from 7 to 10pm. The phone number is (407) 463-6177  www.eberweinbydesign.com

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AUGUST 2007
I’m sitting here at the computer, surrounded by dogs… our two Pugs, Pepsi and Jewels, and a third dog Cassidy, a house guest. Don’t know what kind of dog she is. Who knows? Low to the ground like the Pugs, longer, thin, long white fur.  A mixture of two dogs, or more?  So, Cassidy is spending a few weeks with us while her family is on vacation. I had dogs while I was growing up, but only one at a time. Two took getting use to. Three is something else.

I started mixing the new instrumentals with my friend and great engineer, Roger Lopez.   I’m calling the collection, “Eclectic Tree House”. The songs will be available soon for digital download. I’ll preview them on my Myspace site soon.  www.myspace.com/bobrafkin

I’ll be returning to The Attic Door in Winter Garden, 28 W. Plant Street. on Saturday, August 4th,  8 to 11pm. Phone number is 407 877-0266   www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

On Thursday, August 23rd, I’ll be back at The Attic Door.

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OCTOBER 2007
I’m back from a wonderful time in the UK.  Played 14 gigs in a three week period. Most of the gigs were in London. That city has become a second home. Still glad to be back home with my family.

Here are my gigs for this month:

On Friday, October 5^th, I’ll be performing at the Winter Garden Music Fest, 7:00pm to 7:45pm on the Fountain Stage. Details at www.wintergardenmusicfest.com

I’ll be back in Winter Garden on Saturday, October 6^th at The Attic Door from 8:00pm to 11:00pm, 28 W. Plant Street. Check www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

On Thursday, October 11^th, I’ll be playing at the grand opening of Lola’s Boutique, 505 Main street in Windermere from 6:00pm to 8:30pm.

On Sunday, October 14^th, I’ll be in Eustis at the Lake County Folk Festival. Check the web site for set times. www.lakecountyfolkfest.com

I’ll be back at The Attic Door on Wednesday, October 17^th, 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

On Saturday, October 20^th, I’ll be at A Third Place in Eustis 8:00pm to 11:00pm. Check www.athirdplacepubcafe.com

On Thursday, October 23^rd, I’ll be playing at an event for the Central Florida Women’s League Foundation Inc. The event will take place at the Fresh Market, 5000 Dr. Phillips Blvd from 7:00pm to 9:00pm. Advance tickets are $30.00. Check the web site for more info.  www.cfwl.org  

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NOVEMBER 2007 - The new instrumental CD “Eclectic Treehouse” will be released in about a month. Today I received the completed watercolor painting for the cover. Love it. The artist is Gina Levit. She does beautiful work. Check out her web site www.ginalevitgallery.com

The next step is the graphics for the booklet and the CD. Then it’s off to the manufacturer.

I’ll be performing at The Attic Door on Saturday, November 3^rd   and November 10th from 8:00 to 11:00pm. Check www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor

On Sunday, November 11th, I’ll be performing 2:00pm in concert in Cocoa Village, 602 Brevard Ave at Nature’s Haven. Call for details 321 632-1221.

I’ll be hosting the Central Florida Folk “Songwriters In The Round” on Wednesday, November 21^st, 7:00 to 9:00pm at The Plaza Theater, 425 Bumby Ave. Donation is $7.00. Joining me will be Ken Skeens & Leigh Goldsmith and Cyd Ward.  www.cffolk.org

On Saturday, November 24^th, I’ll be performing at The Yalaha Bakery, 10:00 to 12:00pm. Check www.yalahabakery.com  

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DECEMBER 2007 - The new instrumental CD, “Eclectic Treehouse” has been released. Yeah!!! To start, the CD will only be available as a 150 limited edition series. Each CD will be numbered and signed, and so “Eclectic Treehouse" will not be sold on the CD Baby site. It will be available only at my performances and soon through the bobrafkin.com web site. “Eclectic Treehouse” is my second CD of original guitar instrumentals. My deepest thanks go to Roger Lopez, Bob Desmond, Gina Levit and T McComas. Hope you enjoy it.

If you’re looking for great Christmas music, check out “Six String Christmas” on the bobrafkin.com web site. “Six String Christmas” has aired on the Weather Channel the last six years.

On Friday, December 14^th, 8:00 to 11:00, I’ll be performing at The Attic Door in Winter Garden. Checkout www.myspace.com/jrsatticdoor.

On Friday, December 21^st, 6:00 to 9:00, I’ll be at A Third Place in Eustis. Info at  www.athirdplacepubcafe.com

Be back at The Attic Door on Thursday, December 27^th.  I’ll have all my CDs with me.

Bob  

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