I've been getting a stack of questions recently, so here's a bit of an FAQ style news break!

I'm delighted to receive email from interested parties but the reality is I simply cannot answer it all. I spend 2-4 hours a day answering email and conducting business online, but even so I fall very behind with my answers. I've also been warned by the doc that I must spend even less time on the keyboard, so let me just say 'sorry' now for any email that slips through the net.

Please note, if you are on my mailing list and want off, it is no problem. Simply let me know and I will remove you. I am not a corporate giant, just an independent artist trying to reach people who are interested in what I do!

Yes, Jimi Hocking CD’s can be purchased online. If you were at the Blue Mandolin gig at Y&J’s recently, you would have seen my pal Gordon on the guitar. ‘Gordo’ is the force behind Somersault Music (and the Jimi Hocking website) and is also an independent. We only just found out that due to an error at the banking end, our online sales have been down. That's been rectified now, plus Direct Deposit sales can be made at Somersault and we're hoping to have the Pay Pal system up and running for 2008.

Yes, Jimi Hocking CD’s can be purchased in stores. The good folks at Black Market Music distribute my Blues CDs - they are in many stores, such as Basement Discs in the block arcade, and now in most JB HiFi stores - look in the ‘Blues’ section. ‘Blue Mandolin’, ‘Give Jimi Some Love’ and ‘Blue Guitar’ can all be found or ordered in (for other titles, folk or rock albums, see Somersault).

Yes, it has been amazing to see a little swag of Jimi Hocking gigs/clips appear on YouTube. There is an actual film clip that was shot for the tune ‘Skinny White Boy’ but a number of live versions have appeared that make it confusing. The official clip is still on there, look for the author ‘colza’ for the clip. And yes, that is really me skateboarding in the clip, and yes, the old photo’s of ‘Jimi’ on the ‘History of Vic/Australian skateboarding’ website are also (the young) me!

Well, that's it for now, but I am working on a new electric recording and also some extra's for the web site ... yes, maybe even the mandolin version of Voodoo Chile that is causing such a stir! As always, thanks for all your support, cheers, Jimi Hocking

Blue Mandolin is a bit of a surprise package. After all, I'm a guitarist, right? Well, it turns out I've been doing some moonlighting!

Just as 1999's Blue Guitar was my first blues outing on guitar, so Blue Mandolin is my first foray on this pint-sized instrument, so don't feel bad if you had no idea I even played mandolin!

The album has been brewing for some years now and, in a way, it charts my entire history with the mandolin. It's acoustic instruments and a stomp box, on an album full of unreleased songs that the mandolin inspired me to write, plus a couple of bonus tracks. To paraphrase Spinal Tap, "I hope you like my new direction!"

Check out DISCOGRAPHY for info on my CD releases. My blues CDs are available in stores through Black Market Music and my whole catalog of acoustic, blues and rock is online at Somersault Music.