A busy time here in Pittsburgh as I try to ready my house for sale and get rid of an astonishing assortment of STUFF that I’ve accumulated over the years. Downsizing, living on less, paying off debt, it’s the order of the day in the so-called economic recovery that has yet to reach my neighborhood.

I’m leaving right after Memorial Day weekend for a month-long cross-country tour that will take me to Tennessee, California, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Oklahoma. Hope to see some old friends and make some new ones along the way.

Tomorrow I’m leaving on the first leg of a car trip down to Austin for South By Southwest — once a small indie/alternative music festival showcasing Austin talent, now a corporate mega-market for all types of media that has spawned its own counter-festivals.

I’ll be screening Troubadour Blues on Thursday, March 15, in a small city-owned recreation center within easy walk of the Texas State Capitol and most of the “official” SXSW events. It’s free, though you’re encouraged to donate generously and help keep my little carnival on the road through the summer.

Looking at the date on that last post, I really need to catch this blog up to date. I’ll be screening Troubadour Blues Thursday, Feb. 23, at the Folk Alliance International Conference in Memphis, and Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Winter Roots and Blues Roundup in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada — and then sticking around to talk to music and filmmaking students on Monday and Tuesday.

Here’s an ad that’s running next month in Video Librarian, a magazine for media buyers at library systems and university libraries.

Two great articles this weekend in the Boston Herald and the Boston Globe by two writers with nearly identical names. They’re different people; I talked to both of them.

Before the holidays hit full stride, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the many people who made Troubadour Blues a reality in 2011: people who sat through the many early screenings and gave their feedback; friends who talked me through the year-and-a-half-long editing process; Kickstarter supporters; the couple of fans who ordered 10-packs of DVDs and gave them as Christmas gifts; writers who critiqued the film and publications that ran ads and reviews.