THE BLACKBIRDS PROJECT

Mike and Matt Scharpf hosted another fun and profitable evening at the Friendly Tap in Berwyn on Saturday, May 19. The beneficiaries of the evening were, once again, the men and women serving in Afghanistan and being ministered to by our own Major John Barkemeyer. I was a great time in a new venue, and we hope to do it again in the fall. Laura Butler was again gracious enough to join us, along with bassist James Jaffe. All four took the stage (amazingly enough) for the encore group of songs which included…

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I received a wonderful e-mail from a soldier stationed in Afghanistan and thought I'd like to share it with you all:

Your song soldier has become sort of a anthem with myself and others soldiers in my infantry platoon who are deployed in Afghanistan. I love the true message it brings and I hope that you would let the next group you play it for know much it means to us soldiers of the Oklahoma Army National Guard. I instantly fell in love with your music, I am a huge Townes Van Zandt fan as well as many… Read more

We've scheduled a new show at Doc Ryan's on August 26; please refer to the events page for details.

There will be new music appearing in the near future. Many of you already know about my wife's cancer and her death on June 21. This has kept me out of the studio for a long time, ad I'm nearly ready to get back in.

A huge THANK YOU to all the folks who packed Doc Ryan's on July 22; we raised about $2,000 to help Fr. Barkmeyer in his ministry to our returning troops. We also had a hell of a good time. Thanks to Matt, as usual, and to all who helped with the nuts and bolts, especially Brian Sullivan and his staff.

Radioindy has awarded Blackbirds with their Grindie Award for excellence by an independent musician/band for 2010. http://www.radioindy.com/Blackbirds/

Mike Slajchert and Matt Scharpf will be performing at Doc Ryan's in Forest Park on July 22 from 6:30=10:30. This will be an all-ages show benefiting the work of U.S. Army chaplain Father John Barkmeyer, a fellow South-Sider, as he works with returning vets or those between tours. Father John spent 4 years in Iraq and is in a unique position to help in the difficult adjustment period faced by those coming back from Iraq or Afghanistan. Admission is $20; Doc Ryan's full menu will be available, if you want to…

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All songs on the new CD are now available as individual downloads at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/blackbirdsmusic4 Eventually, they'll be picked up by all the usual download suspects - iTunes, Napster, etc.

"Endlines and Punchrhymes" has been released on CD Baby - http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/blackbirdsmusic4 The digital version will be following shortly, and then move to iTunes, Amazon, Napster, etc.

The new CD, "Endlines and Punchrhymes" has been shipped to the distributor, CD Baby, and should be available for purchase online within the next couple of weeks.

The new CD "Breaking and Entering" and the previous CD "Stop-Time" can now be ordered directly online, avoiding the hassle of writing a check and mailing it. If you have a PayPal account, you may order both by visiting the products page and clicking the PayPal buttons for each CD. I hope this makes things easier for everyone.