May 2006 My apologies to all – new music that should have been out by now has been pushed back, over and over again. The main excuse is that these damn novels I am writing eat up so much time. The first novel Bequest, which I have only now stopped tweaking, is coming out in the fall of 2006. It’s being published by Manor House and I am told it will be available in bookstores by October 15. I am in rehearsals now and recording a new album with Lunch At Allen’s alumni Murray McLauchlan, Marc Jordan and Cindy Church starting June 5. There are two new songs from each of us and one old one. The old song from me will either be “Pilot” or “The Runner” and the new ones are “Walkin’” and “Whole Lot of Grateful.” We hope to have the CD finished by the fall and released no later than the New Year. I am beginning to slowly amass new songs for myself (some tunes appear to be getting a little jazzy… yikes!), and I hope to have a new solo CD underway soon if I can just get some time to myself. Apart from the new Lunch At Allen’s CD, and writing new songs, I am trying to get my second novel finished while looking at quite a few solo and Lunch At Allen’s shows well into 2007. OK, so here’s a reasonably exciting news flash that necessitated a conference call earlier this week. My brother Dave and I are looking at serious inquiries into the two of us doing a cross Canada theatre tour. There appears to be solid interest out there for “The Thomas Brothers.” It would be so much fun for us to do comedy together and sing a few songs… yes Dave sings (you might recall The Five Neat Guys on SCTV). We used to harmonize when we were kids. Dave has a wonderful ear for music and he sure knows how to make me laugh. Man life just keeps coughing up surprises. Looks like I’ll be heading down to L.A. to write this show with my brother ASAP in order to get it into theatre schedules for 2007. Hmm... so when am I going to get back to new songs for the solo CD? I can only say I will do my best. By the way, the ‘cookie sheet’ was used on The Runner tour in 1981. We did a mock up of the Flying Lizards’ version of “Money” before rocking out in a manner more akin to the Beatles’ version. Sax player, John Panchyshen played the ‘cookie sheet.’ That Flying Lizards version of “Money” always made me laugh, in particular the background vocals that sounded like the Python village idiots, hankies on heads et al.

January 2005 The last few years have been interesting ones. The loss of my father was a much greater struggle than I had imagined – and I had often imagined the territory of such loss both in thought and song. But the education of learning to love in absence after the luxury of loving in presence has been a worthwhile one and ultimately for me one of the most useful life lessons. My father was a wonderful mentor in life and the residue of his existence in my soul continues to warm and inspire me. The year he died I wrote a comedy screenplay as an escape into uncharted territory and damned if I didn't sell it to Polygram Filmed Entertainment! Of course, in the merger madness of the nineties, Universal bought Polygram and I got the rights back, but wonder of wonders, my screenplay has found new interest. It is in a fairly promising financial stage of development. When I finished writing that screenplay I felt that, as a creative experience, screenwriting wasn't as satisfying as songwriting. A screenplay is like a lyric in need of the performance of actors and cinematography to provide the music. However the screenplay did present me with a creative curiosity/challenge. What could more words do? Could I find the music in prose? So, I wrote a damn novel. It was short listed at a major publisher this past year but was bumped when their year end was not as financially in the black as they had hoped. So my first novel is now at another publisher and may have found a home. Meanwhile I am writing a second novel that deals with the spiritual nature of music. I have scored 15 or 16 movies as a film composer over the years and this year I scored the new Care Bears animated feature. Yeah it's pretty goody-goody stuff, but having little grandchildren now I found it entertaining to enter their world and create a musical backdrop. I recorded the orchestra at the Glenn Gould Theater in Toronto and I even wrote a couple of songs for the project that reminded me how much I like songwriting. Midway, the most recent Boomers album feels good to me as a collection of songs reflective of this point in my life. All of the Boomers albums are now available on ALMA distributed by Universal Music. Of course in the middle of all of this activity I find myself doing more and more concerts with my friends Marc Jordan, Murray McLauchlan and Cindy Church. These folks are family to me. I love them dearly and I also admire them all as singer-songwriters. This fall's concert tour from Victoria to St. Johns was great fun and for the first time in years I have felt comfortable in my own skin performing music. I have met so many kindred spirits on tour who have an affection for my music that it not only warmed my heart but inspired and encouraged me to write more. Like many singer-songwriters my age, radio and retail is immensely discouraging. You can't get arrested on radio with the exception of oldies formats if you're over forty. As radio, record companies and retail have all continued on their own selfish, unintegrated paths, many artists and listeners are left feeling irrelevant or disenfranchised. The narrow focus of marketing research has been an interesting example of commerce trying to make a science out of art. The end run will be positive though, as new models evolve and dinosaurs, with appetites bigger than their brains, sink into their own mud. Well, here I am 54 years old and feeling inspired. I am working on a new album that I hope to finish by March or April 2005 and don't give a damn if anyone wants it, I'm doing it! I owe so much to many friends and fans over the years who have found something of merit in what I do. It seems inadvertently I have the honour of being a part of the soundtrack of their lives. Some have told me I have become family to them while some fools even want to hear more. For this I am both humbled and truly grateful. When a friend told me about Ian Thomas Band.com I was thrilled that anyone would organize such a thing. So my sincerest thanks to Gary et al for kicking off this New Year on such a positive note for this old fool. Cheers and my best to all of you in the New Year!