News for DubbHeads

12/23/2006 – POPA WOODY'S "BEST SENSE OF HUMOR IN A PHD CANDIDIATE" AWARD One lesson Popa Woody has learned from our favorite bluesman is "You gotta have a sense of humor!" It seems to your correspondent that, if you're going to dedicate the incredible amount of time and energy necessary to get a PhD, a sense of humor is especially critical. Yet how often do you hear about a PhD candidate being a really "funny guy"? As 2006 draws to a close, Popa Woody would like to put forward a chap named Jimmy Or, at Waseda University in Tokyo, for critical recognition on the humor front. You may wonder what it takes to get on PW's humor radar. Why nothing less than a real "Belly Dancing Robot", of course. According to news reports, "She can shimmy, she can roll, she can backbend. She even sports a teasing, low-slung skirt around her waist." You go, Jimmy! More details here and here .

12/22/2006 – A NEW LUCILLE'S! Our favorite bluesman christens a brand new Lucille's Smoke House tomorrow (12/23). The new location is in Lake Forest, California (on El Toro, just east of the 5 freeway). We encourage fans of good blues and good barbeque to stop by for some holiday cheer.

12/17/2006 – FIND A STORY, WIN $100! We mentioned here a few weeks back that there's some SECRET content on the new Captured Alive DVD. If you find it, you could win $100. Check out the contest information and rules here.

12/16/2006 – NEW SONGS If you've seen Doug perform recently, you know he's been writing a lot of late. It's great fun to hear great new blues in the making from our favorite bluesman. Also fun is watching Denny, Debra and Dave playing the new stuff live without rehearsal (or charts). Just happens... like magic. You guys are pretty durned amazing, if you ask us.

12/15/2006 – THE WINTER HOLIDAY GIFT GIVING SEASON ! As we're getting well into the middle of this holiday season, we'd like to pass on this sweet little Flash movie sent along to us by one the the founding DubbHeads, Teddy. Thanks Teddy! May all of you DubbHeads have the very best of holiday seasons.

12/11/2006 – YEP, THAT WAS DEBRA ! Popa Woody would like to extend his heartfelt apology to Debra Dobkin for gettin' his wires crossed on the "Who the heck is drummin' with Dubb tonight?" question. It seems our favorite bluesman did send ol' Popa an email, but I expect his spectacles were dirty. Debra turned in a knockout performance at Cafe Boogaloo last night. Here's an inside tip: Debra will be joining Dubb and Denny at Boogaloo this Sunday (12/18) too! Also... Popa Woody would like to extend his heartfelt apology to Debra Dobkin for attempting to kill her with 800 pounds of cake. Doug and the Doola Devils made it one heck of a party and yes, we had plenty of cake and a very mean Single Malt called Imperial!

12/1/2006 – DENNY IS IN DA HOUSE! A reminder - Denny is joining his sweetie Lawrence (Don't call her Larry) Lebo opening for Dirk Hamilton at McCabes Guitar Shop tomorrow evening 12/2 at 8PM. Tickets are a bargain at $13.50. Call McCabes at (310) 828-4497. Should be a fun show!

11/29/2006 – A NOTE FROM DUBB Our favorite bluesman has passed along this message from the Austrian hinterlands:

To all The Dubbheads,
I just want to extend my thanks to you all concerning the passing of my mother. I thank you for all the good thoughts I felt, and the personal condolences that many of you extended to me during the concerts. Your positive thoughts went a long long way to making it easier while on tour. I was thinking on the train from Arhnem to Vienna that the Dubbheads are a pretty darn good bunch of folks.
Now that can put you on to some good wonderment.
Here´s to more wonderment.
Dubb

11/27/2006 – LET'S PARTY!!! The Dubb-drought is almost over for us here in the States. Doug has left Holland on his way to Austria and, any minute now, The U.S. of A! It occurs to us that, by the time Doug and gang first appear at Cafe Boogaloo on the 10th, it will have been two weeks since Thanksgiving and two weeks to go until Christmas. That sounds like the perfect excuse for a PARTY to us!! Join us at Cafe Boogaloo on Sunday December 10th for a "Welcome Home Dubb" party. RSVP to popawoody (at) dubbheads.com by 12/5 if you'd like to reserve space at a table.

11/21/2006 – EASTER EGG FOR THANKSGIVING Now that the Captured Alive DVD is actually available for sale on Amazon.com (a grueling experience, by the way), it's time to let you DubbHeads in on a little secret. The DVD contains some "secret" content. This is called an "Easter Egg" in the business. Hunt around for it. More clues here over the next few weeks.

11/19/2006 – SAD NEWS We got word today that Doug's mom passed away this past Friday. Doug has asked that we refrain from sending cards and email and concentrate instead on sending good thoughts. You have those, plus our love my friend.

11/19/2006 – BLUES CRUISE NEWS Doug has been booked on the October 2007 Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise. The cruise leaves San Diego on October 13th and returns on the 20th. If it seems like we're announcing this rather early, then you haven't tried to book a cabin on one of these things. They sell out FAST. More details are available here. We're looking into the possibility of doing a DubbHeads event on this one. More here as we know more.

11/10/2006 – SAD NEWS Doug is in Holland, having taken Finland and the Czech Republic by storm. That's the good news. The sad news is that Doug's mom is gravely ill. Our thoughts and prayers are with her and with Doug, Patti Joy and the entire family MacLeod.

11/10/2006 – DAVE AT BOOGALOO TONIGHT Popa Woody received a note from Dave Kida today. He's at the Boogaloo tonight with The Mighty Flyers. Sounds like the place to be. 9:30 'til it ends.

11/03/2006 – FINISHED WITH FINNISH In an urgent comminuqué from Finland, Dubb passes along the following – "Perrti tells me your Finnish stinks like fresh you know what and he thinks you should be finished with Finnish." Sounds like good advise. The MacLeod tour moves on to the Czech Republic on Monday. Stay tuned right here for Prague weather highlights. We're sure it will be sweltering. Think "the Miami of Eastern Europe." The forecast calls for a high of 83F in Lomita on Monday, by the way.

11/03/2006 – DELTA BLUES... FROM SWEDEN Honest! While we were posting some of Doug's video on YouTube, we ran across a fan of Doug's named Johan Eliasson. It turns out Johan (aka "Bottleneck John") is quite a bottleneck player in his own right. Give him a listen at JohanElliasson.com.

11/02/2006 – DOUG ON ICE Dubbheads received a note from Pertti Numri in Finland today. Pertti is Managing Editor of (and photographer for) Blues News Magazine, published by the Finnish Blues Society. Pertti explains for us in a brief photo essay, just how much fun our favorite bluesman is having in the Frigid North. Click on the image on the right to share in the fun. Warning, put on a parka first!

For us DubbHeads living in Southern California, we offer this guide to understanding cold weather.

Click to zoom

10/29/2006 – SE ON JÄÄHTYNYT KUIN KUMMUTA KAIVUKONE ELIITTI As Popa Woody's grand-pappy used to say, "It's colder than a well digger's pick" over there in Finland right now. (Our apologies to our Finlandish friends for what is surely a laughable translation). We got a note from Doug this morning. As he tells it, "it's f&&%&Â€%#%%Â€ cold over here!" The Helsinki forecast for the coming week: Monday Hi 35F, Lo 26F, 90% chance of freezing rain; Tuesday Hi 37F, Lo 32F, 60% chance of near-freezing rain; Wednesday Hi 37F, Lo 24F, 50% chance of freezing rain; Thursday Hi 26F, Lo 17F, 70% chance of snow. We hope our favorite bluesman brought his long undies. Doug, remember you can always check the weather in Lomita by clicking here.

10/28/2006 – XM-4 – "BLUES" AND THE BLUES Rocket science being the complicated endeavor that it is, the folks at Sea Launch ran into some "blues" of their own on Tuesday. The XM Radio XM-4 satellite launch was scrubbed due to "off-nominal data from some automated launch support equipment". We suspect one of their Windows computers tossed up a "blue screen of death" at an inappropriate moment. This American-Russian team is determined however. They'll be giving it another go on Monday October 30th at 3:49 PM Pacific time. Good luck (and udachi), guys. You can watch the fun here.

10/27/2006 – CARDINALS WIN WORLD SERIES!!! Those of you who know our favorite bluesman know that he's a die-hard St. Louis Cardinals fan. He'd probably tell you that it has been a tough road to hoe, considering the tile has eluded the Red Birds since 1982. Pitcher Jeff Weaver led the Cards to a 4 - 2 victory over Detroit, giving St. Louis their fourth game of a five game series. Congrats Dubb!!!

10/24/2006 – XM-4 – "BLUES" DubbHeads co-founder and resident rocket scientist Dr. Groove brings to our attention the fact that our friends at XM Radio are about to toss another bird into space. XM-4, the fourth satellite for XM, is named, appropriately enough, "Blues". It will be launched on Thursday October 26th (4PM Pacific) by Boeing partnership Sea Launch Company, LLC. You can read all about it and even watch live video of the launch on the Sea Launch website. Hey, it's something to do to keep from thinking about the fact that Dubb will be in Europe for SIX WEEKS!.

And while we're on the topic of XM Radio, remember you can request Doug MacLeod songs on XM-74 Bluesville by clicking on this link. You can request other artists too, but only after you've already requested one from Doug. That's the rule. Honest.