The Simmons family made a visit to the set during the recent filming of “The Pirates Of The Caribbean - At World’s End“. This came at the invitation of their old friend, Lee Arenburg, who has a feature roll as Pintel in the pirate saga. Lee and his lovely girlfriend Katie gave us the royal treatment. We were introduced to Lee’s partner in the film Mackenzie Crook, who plays Ragetti, and Marty Klebba another unforgettable character. Such nice guys and so much talent. It was an amazing experience we will never forget. We’ve already seen the movie twice and loved it! Thanks Lee. Thanks to Cris Simmons (my wife) for taking the snapshot. Oh yeah, I just found out, Lee and Katie are expecting their first child. What a wonderful surprise! Congratulations to the Arenberg family from all your Doobie Uncles!

Left to right in the photo: Mackenzie Crook, Pat Simmons Jr., Marty Klebba, Lee Arenberg, and the other Pat

The Doobies appeared on the May 23rd edition of Rockline. Check your local participating radio stations or Rockline for more information.

Doobies drummer Ed Toth, also known for his stellar drumming with multi-platinum group Vertical Horizon, and his numerous production and studio credits, has launched a new website, EdToth.com.

Ed’s awesomely designed website includes a comprehensive bio, discography, and is up-to-date with his latest projects.

Check it out!

Anybody who listens to music that features acoustic guitar playing has heard lots of wonderful sounds coming out of a particular brand of guitar - Martin Guitars, that is. For well over a century and a half C.F. Martin, or Martin Guitar Company, has been producing fine acoustic guitars, and their instruments have been used by many, if not most, of the artists you’ve ever heard using acoustic guitars.

Well, now they’re unveiling a new Doobie Brothers Tom Johnston Signature model guitar at the January 2007 NAMM show in Los Angeles. Other “signature series” artists through the years would include such diverse names as Gene Autry, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, and Johnny Cash, to name a few.

This guitar - the one you see Tom holding in the accompanying photo - is a Doobie-42 Martin, Tom Johnston Model, and features an inlaid “Cycles” logo on the headstock, and “Doobies’ Choice” style “OK” hands on the tailpiece. Pretty darned nice…

Oh, yeah, and each guitar is actually signed by TJ himself, and they are being produced in lots of seven. This is obviously a truly unique and special instrument - congratulations to Tommy and to Martin Guitars on this very, very cool guitar.

Several Doobie Brothers members, past and present, have contributed their efforts as part of a very special recording project with musical legend Willie Nelson.

Willie has written a song called “Whatever Happened To Peace On Earth”, and is donating all the proceeds of the song to a long time favorite Doobie Brothers charitable organization, the National Veterans Foundation. This project is a labor of love, with Willie inviting various friends and family members to join in.

Doobie Brothers Pat Simmons and Michael McDonald participated in the recording, playing and singing on the track. David Choy, who has played saxophone for the Doobies at various times, is also part of the project.

Willie debuted the song on the popular syndicated radio show Imus In The Morning on November 2, and the recording is available through Lost Highway Records to purchase at online digital stores as of November 21, 2006. For more information, and to check it out just go to Lost Highway Records’ web site. To purchase the song from iTunes, just click on this link , and if you have iTunes installed, it should launch your iTunes application and take you directly to the song at the iTunes Store.

Incidentally, Willie and the Doobie Brothers (special edition Doobies, with not only the always spectacular Marc Russo on saxophone but an absolutely on fire Doobie alumnus and Maui local David Choy) had a wonderful night together recently at the benefit show in Hawaii at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center on November 12, performing with family and friends. The amount of aloha spirit in the air was fantastic - many thanks to Willie for being the incredible soul that he is …

Do you ever wonder what musicians whose work you’ve come to know were doing before you ever heard of them? Well, here’s a chance to find out something about the Doobies’ own John McFee, and his former band mate Huey Lewis.

Sonic Past Music, a company that specializes in releasing just such products - for example, Richie Sambora’s pre-Bon Jovi work, or Randy Meisner’s non-Eagles material - has unearthed some “lost” recordings by the group Clover. As some of you may know, John and Huey, as well as “News” keyboard player Sean Hopper, were members of this group. On this set of recordings, you will also hear a young, pre-Toto Jeff Porcaro playing drums on several tracks. Additionally, the group features one Alex Call, who has written songs recorded by Pat Benatar, Huey, and others, including a huge hit for Tommy Tutone - “Jenny/867-5309″.

The recordings represented here were recorded at the famous Sound City Studios back in the early to mid seventies, with a number of the tracks produced by Keith Olsen - right around the time he produced Fleetwood Mac’s huge self-titled breakout album - the one with “Rhiannon”, “Over My Head”, “Say You Love Me”, and so forth.

Subsequent to these recordings, Clover went on to release two albums of their own that they recorded in Britain with producer Robert John “Mutt” Lange, and were Elvis Costello’s band for his award winning debut album My Aim Is True.

Some of us around here may be slightly prejudiced, but there is some cool stuff here - check it out.

It took place once again - this time around it was the 20th Annual B.R. Cohn Charity Fall Music Festival & Celebrity Golf Classic. Anybody who has attended one of these events knows what a wonderful time there was to be had, and all for worthy causes as well.

This year’s event, in particular the Music Festival, was perhaps even more special than ever, if we may say so without seeming immodest. First of all, the music festival covered two days, and second of all, check out what went down:

On October 7, the lineup included the Rowan Brothers, Pablo Cruise, Michael McDonald, Little Feat, and finally the Doobie Brothers WITH Michael McDonald. Wow.

On October 8, among the performers was none other than living legend, icon, singer/songwriter to end all singer/songwriters, and all around guru Willie Nelson. Not only that, guess who Willie’s band for this special show was … here’s a hint - the initials would be D.B.

So, as the title of this article suggests, this event was the place to be, for sure.

This year’s event was truly an unforgettably cool event - many thanks to all the great artists involved.

What an honor it was for several of the Doobie Brothers to get the opportunity to attend a performance by one of the greatest artists of all time, the one and only B.B. King.

Not only did the lucky Doobs get to hear this legendary blues man’s wonderful show, but Mr. King was incredibly gracious in extending an invitation to the boys to get together with him after the show for a visit.

If you’ve ever seen Mr. King perform or do an interview you have seen how intelligent, well spoken, and at the same time down to earth this man can be, and getting the chance to speak with him personally was illuminated by these very characteristics. This musical legend is a true gentleman, and for someone whose influence on popular music in general is practically boundless, his humble, honest, and friendly manner were truly refreshing in an era where hype powered egos abound.

Thank you B.B. King for everything you’ve given us through the years - your music, your wisdom, that amazing soul of yours - and thanks for the visit. You are the King!

XM Satellite Radio, America’s no. 1 satellite radio service (featuring 68 commercial free music channels), assembled a small audience of friends and fans of DOOBIE BROTHERS for a taping session with the artist on the afternoon of May 7, 2006 at XM’s Washington, DC broadcast studios. Thanks to everyone who attended the taping session!

UPDATE: The episode of “Artist Confidential” will be airing as follows:

• Mon. 7/3 @ 6PM ET- 70s (7)
• Wed. 7/5 @ 9AM ET- Top Tracks (46)
• Fri. 7/7 @ 2PM ET- Deep Tracks (40)
• Sat. 7/8 @ 3PM ET- The Loft (50)
• Sat. 7/8 @ 6PM ET- The Blend (25)
• Sun. 7/9 @ 3AM ET- Deep Tracks (40)

Every now and then the guys in the Doobies actually have a chance to get out and hear some musical performances by artists that they admire. On a rare night off on the road just such an opportunity presented itself, in Dallas, Texas, when some of the members got a chance to attend the Joe Satriani / Eric Johnson concert at Grand Prairie’s Nokia Theatre.

It was a great night out, and we’d like to thank all of Joe’s and Eric’s people for being so gracious to the Doobies. There was no shortage of fine guitar playing and good music all ’round. These guys put on a great show, and the audience certainly enjoyed it - Doobies included.

Check out the picture accompanying this article, of Doobie Brother John McFee happily standing alongside one of his favorite guitarists in this or any other universe, Eric Johnson - Eric is truly a gifted player (and an excellent singer and composer as well, talents sometimes overlooked via “guitar hero” syndrome, as deserved as that accolade may be).

Speaking of guitar heroes - as for Mr. Satriani, keep your eyes and ears on the lookout for his outstanding appearance with the Doobies from last year’s Katrina Relief benefit (see other articles on the news page) - the DVD is still in the works, and we’ll be keeping you posted here as release details become available.