Robert Small: Enjoying 'All The Young Dudes' by Campbell Devine immensely. Read we played with ELP - what were they like? Not too keen on ELP actually, although I get on great with Greg Lake. Great acoustic player, bassist, singer and writer.

Barry Hammond: Saw a video of MTH doing lip-synced appearance on the Disco 2 show doing 'Roll Away the Stone'. On drums was Simon Fox (Be Bop Deluxe). Must have been the prune juice again ...

Phil Taylor: Do 'Every Step Of The Way'. No.

Bobby Balloch says his company in Scotland is ROWEBB and their logo is the pink head off the 'Mott' album. It's on all their lorries.

Rege Kraus: Do I walk while touring? Dah - the show takes care of that.

Hoser: 'Joe's Pub was great.' Says I can sing the blues. That's all I wanted to hear!

Mary Shefferman: Joe's Pub fantastic! Says I was totally on for 'Nightingale'. Overall - I was in excellent form. 'Picasso' was incredibly touching. More blush stuff and a lovely little poem to boot. Thank you.

Terry Coles: And we might just bump into Ian McLagan if he's in town. I.M. has a great book out.

Kent Engstrom asks if I collaborated on a Blue Oyster Cult track called, 'Let's Go'. Sounds familiar.

Herb Chapman hears that M.C. (Mark) Bosch is a great player - is he? Well, he wouldn't be playing with me if he wasn't, now would he?

Peejay: No beer for me.

Joe: My opinion on 'medleys.' Well, they come in handy if you're putting a lot of longish songs together and there's only so much time you have on stage. At least you get a bit of the song. I'm all for them, but they have to work. Graham Maby loves the 'Dead Man Walkin'' medley - he says it really works. I'm easy. Some people like 'em - some don't.

Kimberly Hagenbush absolutely loves the music. 'Please come to Raleigh.'

Kenny Mac: The first bits OK with me if it's OK in itself.

Gary M: Re: Sony DVD - this would be with Ralpher AND Bender.

Peter Lewis: Ah they'll find out eventually, Pete.

Jon White knows Lindisfarne's manager. He told him that Alan Hull's three favourite writers were Lennon, Dylan and ta da - moi! How lovely. This makes me feel good. They were a great band and it was sad Alan died so young.

Dave (Albany, NY): Play for another five years as my daughter can't get into a club yet.' Who knows...

Rachael (Dave's daughter): Hi Rachael! Don't be a pain to your Mum and Dad!

Steve O: Asks if I ever run into Viv Stanshall and Neil Innes? Ran into both of them at different times. Both lovely chaps. I thought Neil Innes never got the credit he deserves and Viv was the quintessential English gent.

Phil Monaghan says why not go back and see Caxton Avenue? I didn't ever live there, but my Mum, Dad and brother Bob did and Trudi and I would often go up for a visit. Seems so long ago.

Stephen Kerr: 'Strings Attached is excellent. What was it like working with Ringo and Co. on his tour?' Well, you spend a lot of time hanging about because you are on your own plane. You get to the gig around 4 and then you just hang around until show time. After the gig you have to beat the crowd out (motor cycle escort) because local airports close at midnight - so you take off pretty soon after the gig. The crew were fantastic. The band were great. We all came from different necks of the musical woods, but we helped each other out. Sheila E. would tell me off because I get a little silly when I'm bored and then there's the boss himself and his wife and his daughter who were all totally terrific. Got paid, got my watch and that was it!

Chris: Who supports on UK gigs? Am I not enough?! It's still being worked on (by Emma and Helter Skelter).

Jim Meade writes a beautiful letter, which I won't print. Anyway, Jim and me's 'getting up there' and I'm glad he wrote when he did. Hopefully, we'll all be fine (just put my fag out). Thanks!

Stephen Goodwin: How long will we play outside in the park in Austin? Well first they said 40 minutes. Now they're saying 90 minutes. I'll know for sure when we get there. Should be a sound check around three - anything for C.B.S.!

Jeffrey is giving me all the meteorological reasons I may be missing planes. Gee thanks!

Tommyrocker just saw the Vegas production of 'We Will Rock You' Apparently there's a little bit of 'All The Way From Memphis' in it! Come to Minneapolis!

Rick Douglas: See - now I'm only seeing your email today. Sorry we never met.

Tom McGarrry: 'Who did you play 'Michael' to first when it was finished?' Can't remember. Says I'm the official rock star of Moray College, Elgin (between Aberdeen and Inverness). Well, what can I say Tom. Humbled!

Nick Allsopp says there's a four-page spread in 'Shropshire Home + Gardens' re: 23A Swan Hill and Alison Bhurkari (who lives there now). Is it true I played chopsticks on her piano? Yup.

Mike Channon: Any memories of Screamin' Lord Sutch? Dave Sutch was actually a rather good-looking chap who couldn't really sing at all. His bands were always brilliant and he worked constantly because he was a great showman. There's a timing that goes on, on stage, and his was perfect. I learned a lot from him in stagecraft. He was larger than life and is sadly missed.

Matt Nojonen: A MTH fitness DVD! Guaranteed to keep old dudes in shape!

Reenee: 'Thank you - thank you - thank you! The Galaxy show was effin' fantastic! James an unbelievable talent and Steve - one of a kind. Trousers had an appalling well-worn look.' Actually, they are my new stage trousers. Not quite as tight and more up to date. The other ones got jealous but hey - what can you do? Bring Tracie out west. I would, but she's expensive!

Keith Thompson: Listened for 30 years, never saw us live Great show (Galaxy); great band.' Says he hasn't seen Graham Maby since 1982 with Joe Jackson.

Merwyn Thompson: Hasn't written since H.M. 37 (tut, tut). Says local classic rock DJ (Boston) promoted 'Strings' on his show.

Pete: 'Not a question-just a statement - I just bought 'A Special Evening With Ian Hunter (Strings) - Christ! What a fantastic set. Wish I'd been there.'

Charlie Saber: College Radio DJ in the Cleveland area. Says 'Strings' out this week and wants to play it to his listeners next Tuesday morning. Play it to death, Charlie! We need you!

Rick Goward: Opening night fantastic. James always good, M.C. Bosch great addition. Says I keep it fresh by doing different versions.

Andrew Paciocco: 'Great show in LA; couldn't stop smiling. Voice in top form - top notch band all around.' Am I still married to Trudi? Yup. She's in the office playing Tim Hardin too loud.

Sandy: Excellent show at Key club. It was 'Lounge Lizard'. The medley was, 'The Journey', 'No Wheels to Ride', 'You Nearly Did Me In', 'I Can Feel' into 'Dead Man Walkin' (from RANT).

Daphne: 'You seem cat like at times; do you like cats?' The one we've got I don't like. She's nasty - but good with mice.

Don: Great show in Santa Ana.

Tom Ross: Vegas enjoyable.

Victor Martinez: 'Fantastic show at Key Club in Hollywood. 'RANT' and 'Artful Dodger' material excellent.' Why no T-shirts? They went the first night in Santa Ana and we didn't bring enough. 'The band was fantastic - where do you find these guys? 'Truth' a killer.' I don't really find them - it's more Andy York, James Mastro and Steve Holley.' I wait until they all say the same guy is great - he's the one.

Craig: 'Great show at the Key Club. Did it bring back memories of the Roxy?' Yep.

Michael Marchelos: 'Downtown show in December truly awesome.' Will 'Artful Dodger' ever be released? Well, Bjorn Nessjo (who owns the record) won't let it go until it's given the proper treatment, so who knows.

Barry S. Sends a lovely, long letter about the LA gigs. He does mention, however, the support bands were somewhat lacking. This was the promoter's idea as he was convinced I was a weak draw. I'm assuming he knows better now. If he doesn't - then there's no hope.

Bob Sharpe: 'Does Motley Crew share royalties for 'Green Apples'?

Russ Lattime: 'We tried to give you the welcome you deserved in California.' Hey - you guys were amazing. Had a great time.

Kate Fletcher: Hey Roger, you have a thoughtful daughter. Happy 50th and tons more of them!

Frank Wheeler: Loved Vegas.

Lars Soderburg: Excellent Santa Ana performance.

Owen Kelly: 'Vegas - awesome. Band amazing. M.C. Bosch close to originals.' Wants a banner off the building. So do I, mate.

Hope Campbell: I'd have kicked you back. A bit.

Brian: 'You really need to show a little more concern for all LA tax accountants who are huge IH fans (we call ourselves the latawahihf's for short). Our group has waited 20 years for you to come to LA only to have you schedule your shows in the heart of the tax season. Even last year's performance at Ameoba was again between March 1 ad April 15. Do you realize the hours we work this time of year? Do you realize we have small kids at home? How do I tell my five year old who has been patiently waiting to see his Daddy after his 80 hours a week workload that I'm going to spend my only three free hours at an Ian Hunter show instead of playing baseball with him in the backyard? Also - if you need a good tax accountant, I'm your man!' No if I remember correctly, you guys get a great hourly rate, right? Don't knock it!

Hope (again): 'According to Daniel Rochman, M.D. you can keep yourself from losing consciousness during a heart attack by coughing deeply and repeatedly every two seconds until help is reached. Deep breaths should be taken before each cough and the coughs must be as deep and prolonged as possible. The purpose of deep breathing is to get oxygen to the heart and the coughing is done to cause heart contractions which increase blood flow and help the heart regain rhythm.' Hey - you never know!

Chris Homer: Says Robin Hood II very spiffy these days. Good stuff!

Barry Kilkelly: I think it is true. I know Phally (Verden Allen) played with him.

Again, sorry I had to miss a fair few but time seems to be something I haven't got much of at the moment. Glad you enjoyed Joe's Pub and the West Coast shows. Everything seems quite upwardly at the moment. The biggest problem seems to be the gear situation in England as we are all coming from the U.S. Anybody got an amp shop?

And the barn doors shut.

P.S. Trudi doesn't seem to know when she can finish typing this as we are leaving for Austin tomorrow. Hope it's not too late!

IH