Refugees on the move

Hello Friends! Cindy Bullens, here. This is the very first Refugees blog! I am excited about keeping you up to date on all our doings--the road, the writing, the folks along the way, the new album, any and all developments as we go merrily along. If you are just tuning in-the Refugees are: Cindy Bullens, Deborah Holland and Wendy Waldman. You have to know, first of all, that we all are having a blast being The Refugees! We have been together now, for a year and a half--and we are really starting to roll. Our first CD "Unbound" --only available online and at our concerts--is getting some good airplay on Folk Radio around the country (and Europe, Canada and Australia) and we have sold over 1000 CDs since our "soft" release in July. We have been getting some wonderful support from our peers and from others around the music scene--including Bob Lefsetz (of the Lefsetz Letter blog), who came to see us a couple of weeks ago at the Renee Bodie sponsored concert series at Thousand Oaks Library near Los Angeles. We performed our first international show last week in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, at the Calgary Folk Club. Packed house and a great audience! And wonderful folks who brought us there. And those Canadian Rockies ain't bad either! We are thrilled to be going back in August 2009 for the Canmore Folk Festival. Of course that was just our latest adventure! In our year and a half together The Refugees have performed in eighteen states across the country (many of them 2 or 3 times)--with more added before the end of the year. We've performed for 7 people in Cleveland to 8,000 at the Wheatland Music Festival in Michigan. We opened two dates for our friend Bonnie Raitt in Maine and New Hampshire--wow! that was so exciting! So from small house concerts to the main stage --since May 2007, we've done it all. And we appreciate every single venue and audience-large and small! By the end of 2008, we will have performed 70 concerts! We are booking now into the fall of 2009 and it's looks like next year is going to be even busier!
Of course, the three Refugees have their very seperate lives when "off the field" (ok, I am a sports nut--very unlike my co-horts)--and when I have permission (ha!)--I will share some of those adventures too. Just a taste--Wendy, our dear Wendy--went from Calgary (with us) to Brisbane, Australia (for a four day songwriters retreat) to Tel Aviv, Israel (where she is meeting the folks for whom she is scoring an animated film-and Mietek, the Polish artist she's producing)--in one fell swoop!
She's in Israel now-hopefully alive. Deborah, meantime--went home from Calgary, as she always does, to her family of husband Ken (thank God for Ken) and two sons, 14 and 7 and her full time professorship at Cal State University-Los Angeles. Me, I come home to Maine--yes friends--the "great state" of Maine to the changing colors, my dog Jack, my little red 1805 schoolhouse, and my daughter, son-in-law, and 18 month old granddaughter across the street. Next week we are all headed to Phoenix (another state crossed off) for the Far-West Folk Alliance conference and a house concert (Wendy arrives back in LA from Tel Aviv the day before we head to Phoenix)--then all back to LA for new publicity photos. Things are definitely heating up for The Refugees--and we are loving it!
Check out our website www.therefugeesmusic.com--we will be adding a few features soon: The Refugees Recommends-our recommendations of restaurants etc from our travels, and The Refugees Radio Hour (maybe 10 minutes)-our little live broadcasts from around the country with one special guest per show. Our "Unbound" CD is available on our website, and on CDBaby. We thank you all for your enthusiasm and support! We hope to meet you along the road!