Hello:

I hope you are having a good 2009 thus far!

First of all, the show a couple of weekends ago at The Asgard was great. There was a terrific crowd who came out despite the freezing temperature outside, so thanks to those who were there! We'll be back at The Asgard again on Saturday, February 21st. If you have not been to a show at The Asgard, then you should definitely try to make it. They have a wonderful menu and drink list, it's right in the heart of Central Square, Cambridge, making it quite easy to get to, and the best part of it all is that there is NEVER a cover charge at the door. That's right, it is ABSOLUTELY FREE! We start at 10 PM sharp, so get there early and make a night of it. This is our only show this month. My group and I have been tightening up our repertoire a bit...concentrating solely on these Boston dates for a couple of months, but we'll be hitting the road this spring and summer so hopefully you can see us somewhere out there, if you are not within driving distance  of Boston. Please continue to check the TOUR page on my site for the most current performance dates.

In the meantime, I am working hard to get nominated for a few 2009 Worcester Music Awards! If you have a chance, would you please visit their website and nominate me? The link to the website is: http://www.thepulsemag.com and when you arrive at the home page, click on the link to the right that says "2009 Worcester Music Awards - Ready? Set... Nominate!" Once you get to the nomination page, please nominate me (if you think that I am worthy, of course) for Best CD (put "Ben Willmott - Rich With Love"), Best Male Vocalist, Best Pop Act, and Best Live Act. I do not believe that you need to fill in all of the nomination fields (there are a lot of them), but if you know of any other performers in the area who would be good nominations, then go ahead and put them in too! I am not sure what will happen with this, but it's worth a shot, right??!! Thanks so much for taking the time to do this. I would really appreciate it.

Some of you might remember that over the holidays, I took all of the proceeds from the sale of my song "Here & Now" and donated them to three great causes: New Orleans Habitat for Humanity, The Humane Society of Louisiana, and National Resource Defense Council. I called the project the "Here & Now Fund." Well, it turned out great! The amounts that I donated in the end were not HUGE, but every little bit helps. The organizations wrote me letters thanking me and everyone who bought the song, saying that our assistance would be felt far and wide. SO, thank YOU all for buying "Here & Now" and contributing to these great causes. I hope to continue with the "Here & Now Fund" one way or another in 2009. If you have any suggestions on how we can develop this project further, then please let me know!

I read an article in Rolling Stone last week about how 2008 CD sales were WAY down and digital sales were WAY up. Not too surprising actually, but it was interesting. Things are changing rapidly in the music business and I have also noticed that people are not purchasing physical CDs as much as they are downloading songs from digital outlets like Apple iTunes. If you have not already purchased one of my two physical CDs or digital versions of the CDs, then please check them out at Apple iTunes. The music is also available from CD Baby for those of you who still like to have the physical product (I am included in that group!). The links for the discs are as follows:

RICH WITH LOVE

Apple iTunes
CD Baby

NOWHERE TO GO BUT UP

Apple i Tunes
CD Baby

If you purchase a copy of either CD by the end of March, then I will gladly mail you a signed promotional poster (WAHOO!) and a copy of my new-ish DVD "Live On Valley Homegrown" for FREE! The DVD contains eight songs that my group performed on a TV show in Greenfield, MA last April. Once you purchase either album, shoot me back an email at this address and let me know. I will mail the poster and DVD separately.

Finally, I want to tell you a little about what I am now calling the "Ben Willmott 5 or More Deal." If you either bring 5 or more NEW people to one of my performances or introduce 5 or more NEW people to my mailing list, then I will send you FREE stuff! For now, if you do either of these wonderful things for me, then I will mail you a signed promotional poster and a copy of the DVD mentioned above. Just email me the names and email addresses of the people who you are introducing to my mailing list or come up to me at a show and say "Hey Ben, I brought five new friends with me!" Then, I'll simply give you the free stuff! It's as easy as that.

That's all for now. Thanks so much for your continued time and attention. I  hope to see you at The Asgard in a couple of weeks.

Be Well,

Ben Willmott

http://www.benwillmottmusic.com