March 22, 2026
Breakfast in North Carolina, lunch in CNY. Breeze Airways is great. The flight took 1 hour and 22 minutes. I arrived at the airport two hours before my flight. The lines were long, but the TSA folks and all personnel were professional and efficient. (Amazing, considering they are working without pay.) My guitar had a seat too. We were both happy.
Travels and a crushing workload have prevented me from writing or posting lately. Joann let me know this morning that it only takes a few minutes to let everyone know at least some of what I’m doing. So, here goes.
So much has happened in the last few weeks that I am having a hard time recalling it all. Important life events. I lost a couple of dear friends. All too often, we are reminded that this will keep on happening as we ourselves approach the end of our shelflife. I will write in depth about both of these great men in the coming days. They deserve so much more than a brief mention in my blog.
Dan DeMars built my treasured Viridis guitar. I still can’t wrap my head around his passing. He wrote to us. Us, being his close friends, brothers of the road, fellow musicians. We were all shocked to hear that he was in the final stages of his battle. He sounded calm and upbeat. Surreal. We wrote back and forth a few times - and then the emails stopped - and I knew he was gone. The announcement came soon after. I am still in shock. I will write a proper story about him for you. You must learn about the wonderful gift of his precious invention, this Viridis guitar that travels with me everywhere. It is THE guitar that you see me play live. But, you need to hear about the man. He was a man among men.
John Hammond lived a long, very full life. He is a legend. The son of a legend. He lead us on the dusty trail back to the origin of the blues. He was the consummate Blues Man. Him and a guitar, along with the occasional harmonica - and his stories. What a storyteller, what a show. He deserves his story to be told. Those who know, know. Those who don’t know, should know. So, soon, I will tell you what I know. I miss him.
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I am being inducted into the Baldwinsville Community Hall of Fame for the Visual and Performing Arts. That’s a long title for something really important in today’s world. First, I love B’ville. It’s my adopted hometown. Second, with all this AI crap out there, it’s nice to celebrate art by artists that actually do the art. Here’s a link to the details. It’s free and it’s going to be fun, with real musicians playing real music. And cookies! https://www.toddhobin.com/news/2026/3/22/arts-hall-of-fame-induction
Coming up even sooner than that event is a screening of the Artist and the Astronaut at the Manilius Cinema. Bill Muench and I will be there to celebrate with you, and answer your questions. Here’s the info on that extravaganza:
https://www.toddhobin.com/news/2026/3/22/manlius-cinema-screening
Now let me tell you something that keeps slipping to the bottom of the page. The band is coming out this summer to play a whole lotta shows around Central New York. I will keep you posted. Start here:
https://www.toddhobin.com/news/2026/3/22/the-band
I have so much more to talk about, but I have to get ready for a busy week of rehearsals, school, and some write sessions with some really talented folks. The fun part is, you know their names. I’m old, so I create the old fashioned way. Bloody fingers and ink on the page.