NEWS

	NEWS from 2008
December 20, 2008	The B104 Christmas with Tom and Becky was held at Great Northern Mall, Clay, NY. Doug Moncrief was a featured performer. His Nashville connection was dully recognized by the hometown crowd. He accompanied Doug Brushell on a set of music from his newly released CD. Jason Teska came home for the holidays and showed off some of his Nashville stylings, as did Lauren Barrigar. Todd then accompanied Doug on a couple of his songs. After Doug's monstrous rendition of Bring Him Home from Les Mis, the boys were asked to play an encore. Sweet.
December 19, 2008	Big Mike's 27th Annual Old Fashioned Live Christmas Broadcast from the Fayetteville, NY P&C. Todd and Brett performed two of Todd's Christmas songs from years past, The Gift and Emmanuel. Snow started falling in huge amounts halfway through the broadcast causing many of the school performance organizations to cancel. No problem. Artie Lenin and Gary Frenay took up the slack with an extended set of Christmas classics, followed by some sweet R&B from Joe Whiting and Lauren Barrigar. They were joined on stage by Todd to finish out the show with an impromptu and very soulful rendition of Silent Night.
November 29,2008	The Original Todd Hobin Band plays a fantastical, magical concert in Norwich, Vermont to celebrate Dan DeMars' 50th birthday. Dan is the founder and President of DeMars Guitars. http://www.demarsguitars.com/ This was an amazing gig that turned into an all out jam. We have to apologize for not sharing information on this gig beforehand. It was a surprise. And Dan was WAY surprised. Here are a few photos from that evening.
		Guitar Army- Original members of the Todd Hobin Band (Bruce Fowler, Todd Hobin, Shawn Hobin and Doug Moncrief) are joined on stage by (from left) Gino Scialdone, Bruce (in back), Bryan Cirelli, Todd, Shawn on drums, Dan DeMars, Dave Tisci and Doug.
		Todd and Dan Demars rip it up. All of Dan's band mates made the trip to Vermont to join in on the festivities. All the guys are from Herkimer, New York originally.
		Doug leads the "choir" through some choice classics. At times there was six part harmony.
		"It's all her fault." Leslie DeMars is absolutely the coolest wife ever. She arranged for the whole surprise event, celebrating Dan's half century mark.
		It was an unforgettable night. Dan DeMars and friends.
	Dan DeMars has gathered around himself some of the finest friends anyone could ever have. He also makes some of the neatest guitars available anywhere. Check them out at http://www.demarsguitars.com/ On top of all that, he exemplifies what family is all about. He's raising some wonderful kids with the coolest wife on the planet. Happy Birthday Dan.
November 19, 2008	"Big Mike's Christmastime in Syracuse" CD Release Tonight there will be a get together for all the musicians involved with the annual Christmas project. Sponsored by P&C. The album is available at all CNY P&C grocery stores for $6. All the proceeds will go to the Elmwood Children's Center this year. Todd on "Food For Thought" Todd will be joining Big Mike and the legendary blues singer Joe Whiting for a special holiday edition of WCNY's food and views television show. http://www.wcny.org/ They will be cooking in the kitchen and cooking up some music too. Todd & Joe have never performed together. (Joe did play some horn on the Keepin' the Dream Alive album.) They will play songs from the Christmas album and jam out on some old standards. It should be a blast. Joe and Mike are both accomplished chefs. They will be sharing their recipes for some unique holiday pizza. Todd will be cooking up his favorite Rochester pie, the Garbage Pizza. Tune in for the fun... and probably some unintentional humor.
November 18, 2008	Heather's Passing. For more information go to http://www.hopeforheather.com/
November 17, 2008	Heather Weeks passes. We just received the tragic news of Heather's passing. Here is a note from her parents, Gary and Frieda. They need our prayers and support. Good evening everyone, Please feel free to pass this information to anyone who may be interested. Thank you all for your support. This is a very difficult time for us. A celebration of the life of Heather Weeks, age 24, will be held on Saturday, November 22 at Christ Community United Methodist Church, 3474 Stiles Road, Syracuse New York 13209. There is a website : www.christcommunityumc.com where you can find directions. We will have a time for visiting the family and friends at the church from 11:00 to 1:00. At 1:00, we will have a service dedicated to Heather. This will be followed by a joyous celebration of a vibrant young woman who was taken from us too soon. We will have food at the celebration that will feature some of her favorite things and much of her favorite music. Heather's favorite color was red and she also loved blue and pink. Please feel free to wear something that she would enjoy seeing you in. Please do not send flowers. If you wish to do something in Heather's honor, please make a donation to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation in her name at www.ocrf.org. Heather was working as an executive assistant there and believed passionately in the cause. Donations are also being accepted for a dance scholarship in her name at Tawn Marie's Dance Center, 1216 Morgan Road, Liverpool, NY 13088. Dance and medical research were two causes she believed in. Heather is survived by her beloved fiancé, Jesse Irwin; her parents, Gary and Frieda; her brother, Nate. She is also survived by her paternal grandparents John and Esther Weeks and her Aunts Denise Bush (Dick), Brenda Weeks, Joni Weeks and her Uncle, Donald Weeks and many cousins. Heather is also survived by her extended family members Dr. Marc and Cathy Maller, and Suzan Kaiser, Kate and Brit Kaiser, the Lydon family, her Access Broadway family, and all of the dancers at Tawn Marie's and their families. Heather graduated from SUNY at Buffalo Summa Cum Laude with a degree in dance. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Eta Sigma, and the Golden Key Honor Society. She performed internationally with Sesame Street Live!. She also performed from the time she could fit her foot into a ballet shoe at age 3; growing up in Syracuse area theater productions, most remembered for her amazing portrayal as Helen Keller in the Miracle Worker. We are so grateful for our friends who have given us so much during this time. Words cannot express our gratitude. Gary and Frieda
November 5, 2008	DIGITAL DOWNLOADS are now available from our website. Able Al's Sound Shop is offering VERY High Quality MP3 downloads of all of our vinyl albums at special rates. If you have technical questions contact Al at the Sound Shop website or write to todd@toddhobin.com. Todd is featured in an article in this month's Booklist magazine. The article discussed music in audio books and talked about his ground breaking directorial debut of Gail Carson Levine's Fairest, which featured his musical score and songs. NEXT MONTH: Big Mike's Christmastime in Syracuse will be released. It features some of Central New York's finest local (and not so local) talent. Some of the recording artist's who contributed some very unique renditions of your favorite Christmas classics include: Nancy Kelly, Ronnie Leigh, Grupo Pagan, Dave Hanlon's Cookbook, Frenay & Lenin, and Joe Whiting. The Hobin family contributed three songs too. Brett's band Simplelife kicks it up a notch with "Up on the Roof Top", Todd gets mellow on "O Christmas Tree", and Corey & Erika will surprise you with one of the classiest, jazziest versions of "Joy to the World" you've ever heard. It will be sold at area P&C stores. It's a fundraiser for the Elmcrest Children's Center.
October 1, 2008	Update on Heather. Many of you have asked about how Heather Weeks is doing. First of all, let me thank you all for helping to make her benefit a big success. The money raised will help her carry on this battle she's fighting. She has a website that you can visit http://www.hopeforheather.com/ She's quite an extraordinary young lady. The site has her personal blog on it. Unbelievable stuff.
September 26, 2008	Todd emcee's the Eldercare Foundation Cabaret at the Hotel Syracuse Grand Ballroom. This first annual event paid tribute to some outstanding people in the Central New York community. Karen Oberlin came in from New York City to headline the event. She was awesome. Doug Moncrief brought down the house with his rendition of Bring Him Home from Les Mis, with Todd accompanying on the piano. Jeff Sawyer and Brett Hobin provided musical support for the show, with Bob Sherwood on upright bass. Some photos by Jerry Klineberg Photography:
		Todd, Doug and Brett with Jeff Sawyer on Piano open the show.
		Todd sings. Then talks his way through the 2 hour show.
		Todd sings the finale with Karen.
		Bob Sherwood, Doug Moncrief, Jeff Sawyer, Todd & Brett Hobin.
September 7, 2008	Todd played a solo concert at Believer's Chapel, and accompanied Pastor Doug Brushell on a few tunes from his upcoming CD Legacy. Watch for it. The album was produced by Doug Moncrief. It's a beautiful and inspirational album that I think you'll really enjoy. It's great to hear Moncrief do some shredding on Pastor Brushell's catchy tunes.
August 5, 2008	Hey folks, we could use a little help. We just found out that one of the sweetest kids we know is in for the fight of her life. Heather Weeks is the daughter of our longtime friend and fellow musician Gary Weeks. (Some of you will remember the Whizz Kids from back in the day.) She graduated from Liverpool High School with our kids, and studied voice with Doug's wife Kathy. Doug and I will be performing at 2 PM on the benefit show at Meghan MacMurphy's, Rt. 57, Liverpool, NY. I believe the tickets are $15.00. As I get more information I'll pass it on. In other news: We're going to leave the Christmas in July FREE download up for the rest of the summer. Enjoy. Also, some of you may have heard that Doug, Brett & I were going to open for the Outlaws at the NYS Fair. Joann's grandmother is celebrating her 100th birthday on that day, so we won't be performing. I'm sorry, but I've just got to be there for this sweet lady. She's a gem.
July 22, 2008	CHRISTMAS IN JULY - FREE STUFF - Download Todd's Christmas classic "Emmanuel". Scroll down to the bottom of the home page. Click and save on the "Emmanuel" link. Have a great summer. And remember to bring out "Emmanuel" this Christmas. Peace & Love.
July 1, 2008	GREAT freaking gig at Clay Park Central. Heartfelt thanks to cast and crew AND especially to the many wonderful friends and fans who enjoyed the spectacular CNY weather.
June 29, 2008	Todd & Doug LIVE concert at Clay Park Central (Wetzel Road) TUESDAY NIGHT, July 1, 2008. Brett Hobin will join the duo for an evening of songs from their careers. Special Guest Doug Brushell will open.
March 18, 2008	The website is getting some much needed upgrading. Everything appears to be working just fine, but there will be occasional little bumps as features and information are being added. Be sure to check back. More content is being added every day.
March 4, 2008	Todd is returning as a celebrity judge for this year's edition of "Rockin' for the Red Cross - Battle of the Corporate Bands" at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse, NY on April 18th, 2008.
January 1, 2008	A new feature is being added to the website. Todd's personal JOURNAL. It's a mix of thoughts, reflections, and comments on day to day events. There are even some lifts right out of his notebook. It's mostly for family and friends, but feel free to check it out.