Happy new year everyone! Before I get started on 2006, I just wanted to do a little year-end wrap up of 2005. Last year was a year of many new experiences and travel for me. I went farther and performed in more places than ever before. Here are a few highlights:

January: Christchurch, New Zealand festival and South Island sightseeing
February: Waterloo, Ontario Variety Shows
March: Local gigs; much shoveling, Vermont Tour
April: Local gigs, NYC visit, street performing begins
May: Shows all around New England, much gardening!
June: More gardening, local gigs, summer finally arrives
July: Surprisingly few street shows, many N.E. gigs, much driving
August: Ontario tour, Windsor, Waterloo, Toronto
September: Firsts: Performing in Iowa, Michigan; dinner in Nebraska!
October: Enjoying the weather, bunch of college gigs
November: Vacation in Ireland, LOTS of sightseeing
December: Local corporate shows, First Night in State College, PA!

I had a bunch of really, really memorable experiences on stage last year and several standing ovations (which are not as common as you think!) I’d like to thank everyone who came to my performances, had a laugh and said hello. The shows are always fun, but those moments after the show are what really makes my day. Your handshakes and smiles are what keep me going.

I’d also like to send a sincere thanks to everyone who hired me last year!! Without you, I can’t keep doing what I do… so thanks. I really mean it.

Best wishes to everyone in 2006. Have a happy, healthy year!

OK, so now I officially have a blog. And now you will never hear me use that word again. I never thought I would have one, but here it is. This is kind of a test post. For the past 4 years I’ve periodically updated this news page and when I did, I did it manually… (like, with HTML and everything. And there was no database or php involved.) The thing is, since I had to do everything manually, I wouldn’t update the page very often and that frustrated me.

So now that the software to handle this type of thing is so prevalent and easy to use, I thought I’d give in and try it out. It’s taken a couple weeks to get everything installed and working correctly, but now I kinda like it. I can’t promise that I’ll update this page every day or anything, but I certainly intend to do it a lot more often than I did before. So grab the RSS feed or just check back when you can. Thanks for coming by… And welcome to The Official Jim Show News Bl… Bl… Blahg.