Thanks!

Hello to everyone. While meeting some folks out near the bus at numerous concerts this summer I kept running into fans that had never heard of the Hoy Hoy Digest, or Feat Prints, but were on the internet and were our biggest fans. Sometimes I'm not that quick to spot the obvious, but given time.... The pattern is, and has been, rather consistent, and that is Little Feat is one of the best kept secrets in music. It is not because of our fans either.

Word of mouth has propelled this band for twenty-eight years now. Even during our six or seven year hiatus the word was still out as was more than evident when we took the stage again in 1988 on the riverboat, The President, in New Orleans for our first concert in ten years. The number of young people in the audience singing all the lyrics to the songs-new or old- was what gave us the most surprise. Someone had turned them on to the music. That is not to say that our fans don't relish the idea of knowing a band that not everyone has heard of. Again, the consistency over the years has been the tenacity and selectiveness of our fans to pass Little Feat's music along to those they felt worthy of the experience.

It has been a odd marriage of isolation and reaching out. What do I mean? Little Feat falls into a special and frustrating area because of our isolation to the "musical scene". We don't fit into the music industry's idea of what a nice presentable package should be: we play too many styles of music, we have too many lead vocalists, we don't present a flashy show...it goes on and on. The reaching out part is strictly through feed back from fans over the years and the mutual desire to get together for an experience of music in it's purest form. We play because you want to hear it and we want to play it for you.

Over the years we have relied on our counter-part (the record company) to make available and promote our music. Sounds easy. Their job is to make sure the people that already care about our music know it is in the stores, ready to be bought and brought home, while trying to bring in more new fans through promotion of the c.d. and radio air play.

In recent years, all good intentions aside, we have been hurt and hurt badly by our counter-part not doing their job. This has extended into our concerts as well. It got to the point in some cities that people were asking if it were the "real" Little Feat playing some venues. The integrity of the band was at stake and we made the appropriate moves to put us back on track.

Happily, the latter concern (concerts) are turning around for the better. The former (record company) is being worked on as I type. This brings me to the heart of why we have decided to take the following course of action. We need your help.

Some of you that have seen the band in the last month or so are aware that we have been signing people up to a mailing list, the Hoy Hoy Digest, and Feat Prints magazine. Volunteers have helped pass out fliers to people at our concerts. A lot of this has taken place as a result of conversations with Cat Bauer and Skin Doc. Our conversations have also touched on ideas on how to involve people that might want to help spread the word.

Specifically, I have put Cat Bauer and Skin Doc in charge of the following plan, within the USA. We would like to organize volunteer regional reps throughout the country and around the world to pass out information on Little Feat. This would include signing people up to aforementioned mailing list, the Hoy Hoy Digest, and Feat Prints magazine. In addition, these regional reps would help us in letting people, whether they are on the internet or not, know when a new c.d. is being released or when we will be in their area to play a concert. There could also be contests, parties, and other activities organized by the reps or Cat and Doc. Each regional rep will be responsible for their area and will be in communication with Cat and Doc. They are there to help facilitate and create a data base of all involved. Any ideas, suggestions, questions, or action should be copied to both of them.

Each regional rep can have volunteers within their own system that they are responsible for. If you have any interest in any voIunteering I would like you to e-mail Cat and Doc at the following address:  In addition to your e-mail specs, under the heading ,Subject, please type in the state and city you live in. This will make it easier to identify you and your area.

I would also like any of our younger fans to identify themselves. We would like fliers to be handed out on campus or any areas that would do the most good. Ryan Fitzsimmons is well known on the Hoy Hoy Digest and will be at the helm.  I realize simply handing out fliers to a lot of younger folks not that familiar with the band might need some reinforcement. One idea would be to point them in the direction of one of the web sites that have our concerts. I believe there is a House Of Blues concert from Chicago on the web, for example. Ryan, Cat , and Doc can be very helpful in finding this information.

In Australia, we have Tony Stott who has been making some very good progress on our behalf. Tony, you might remember, flew all the way from Sydney to Texas to hear the band play for a few days. He is another reason we are going in this direction of empowering our fans. Again, anybody in Canada, or Europe should identify themselves (to Cat Bauer and Skin Doc) if they have any interest to set up a Little Feat push in their part of the world.

I have also spoken to Red Miller about making the Little Feat Web site the Official Web site. Red & Amy have done a truly great job over the last few years with the site have expanded it just recently. We also hope to combine an online representation of Feat Prints. This will all be in connection with our web site. Our goal is to align as many of our efforts through the fans and our web site as we can and make Little Feat more interactive.

I would like to give a special thanks to Latigogull for his suggestions and support. Also, many thanks to Billy MacDonald and John Dooley up in Boston. We love you guys. You are the greatest fans anyone could asked for. We look forward to this new relationship. It can be as much as we put into it. I thank each and everyone of you in advance for your help.

Region Map | FAQ | Resources | Checklist | POC Search | Forum | Home | Edit

All photos © Randall Photography

Last updated on:
May 02, 2010