1. Craig and three other great blues and boogie woogie piano players - Bob Seeley, Michael Kaeshammer, and Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues - play at the annual Boogie Woogie - Blues Piano Stomp, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, at the Palladium at St. Petersburg College, St. Pete, FL. Tickets are available at 727-822-3590 - $22 advance, $26 day of show.

2. The Crawdads headlined the 7th annual Uptown Jazz & Blues Festivalon August 27, 2011! Check it out at http://www.jazz-blues.org/

3. Craig was awarded a fiscal year 2012 Individual Artist Program grant from the Indiana Arts Commission! Craig will arrange his "Homage to New Orleans" for performance by the Bloomington High School South jazz band, and make an audio and video recording of the performance for viewing on YouTube, using equipment and software purchased with the IAP grant. The music will also be available for use by other high school band programs.

4. Craig & The Crawdads are enjoyed the 2011 summer concert season with outdoor performances in Nashville, Terre Haute, Indianapolis, Lafayette, Peoria, and Evanston! The Indianapolis show took place at 7:30 p.m. on the 4th of July in the Indiana History Center's Concert on the Canal series! Other performances included festivals the Uptown Jazz & Blues Festival and First Fridays in Goshen, IN. For a complete list, click on "Shows" below.

5. Craig, Bob Seeley and Stephanie Trick performed and presented a workshop called "Piano Playing Is Fun!" at Childs Elementary in Bloomington during ArtsWeek 2011. Visit www.artsweek.indiana.edu for information.

6. Craig returns to the Jazz National Park in the French Quarter on April 28, 2012, for his 8th appearance. Previous performances included Craig & The Crawdads with Alfred Uganda Roberts, Bunchy Johnson, Lori and Andrea, and solo.

7. "The Bloomington Breakdown" is on the CD "Music for Memory," Mark Butterfield's project for the Alzheimer's Association. Purchase the CD and help the Alzheimer's Association at http://www.music4alzheimers.org/

8. The CD release party for "Live to Love" by Craig & The Crawdads was a benefit for Mental Health America of Monroe County. The CD was recorded and mixed by Jacob Belser at Farm Fresh Studios.

"Live to Love" has received excellent reviews in Juke Blues Magazine, Illinois Blues, the Herald-Times, and elsewhere! Read what the great pianist Bob Seeley and others wrote about "Live to Love" by clicking on "Reviews" below. Listen by clicking on "Albums" below - or listen at Pandora.com or CDBaby.com. "Live to Love" is available in Bloomington at Landlocked Music and the Indiana University Art Museum Gift Shop, and at the Louisiana Music Factory in New Orleans and on Amazon and CDBaby! The CD consists of all original music, with some tunes inspired by or sounding like the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Louis Prima and other great swing, jazz and blues artists.

9. Craig, Gordon Bonham, Jim Bracken, Brian Lappin & Tim Brookshire - also known as the Ragin' Texans - are available for special occasions! The band returned to the Bluebird in Bloomington for one night, July 31, 2010! Watch them play "High School Confidential" by clicking "Videos" below.

10. In NUVO weekly's top Blues Bands in Indiana, Craig & The Crawdads and the Gordon Bonham Blues Band - Gordon often plays guitar with Craig & The Crawdads - are the top bands listed!

11. Listen to Craig free at Pandora.com - created by the Music Genome Project - which streams music to your computer! When prompted to create a station, enter Craig Brenner Radio or the name of one of Craig's songs, and Pandora will stream music FREE. Try this technology that is changing how we listen to and share music. You can also listen to "Window on the Soul" and "Live to Love" at CD Baby.

12. Craig received a grant from the Indiana Arts Commission to study with Bob Seeley and Big Joe Duskin, two giants of boogie woogie and blues. Craig, Bob and Mark Braun then performed in concert on June 2, 2007 in Bryan Park, Bloomington, IN. Support was also provided Canine Companions, Bloomington Parks and Rec., the Bloomington Community Arts Commission, City of Bloomington Office of the Mayor, and Hilton Garden Inn of Bloomington.

13. Craig returns to the Cincinnati Blues Fest annually and often plays on the Arches Piano Stage. His most recent performance there was with Lori, Andrea and Johnny Vidacovich. Other pianists typically include Bob Seeley, Henry Butler, David Maxwell, Carl Sonney Leyland and others from around the world. Craig's 1997 performance was recorded by the Blues Foundation and broadcast on the world's most widely distributed blues radio show, "Beale Street Caravan."

14. Craig and drummer Dan Hostetler's 12-song recording "Backstage Boogie," showcasing Craig's barrelhouse style, is now on CD! It is only available directly from CraigBrenner.com. Two CD release parties helped benefit the Hoosier Hills Food Bank and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard.

15. "Window On the Soul" has 10 original tunes recorded at Echo Park Studios. It includes Craig's sons Eli and Nate on percussion and bass, Jeff Chapin on drums, guitarists Gordon Bonham and Mark Robinson, clarinetist James Campbell, trumpeter Pat Harbison, trombonist Dave Pavolka, French horn player Jerry Morris, saxist Joe Donnelly, violinist Andrea Fiedler, Stuart Norton on blues harp, vocalists Janiece Jaffe, Sue Swaney, Sonja Rasmussen, and Jane McLeod, and percussionists Robert Dubinski and Tim Brookshire. Mark Hood engineered and mixed. Mike Leonard of the Herald-Times calls the CD "a stunning achievement." Read more about the CD by clicking on "Reviews" below.

16. Alfred Uganda Roberts, conga drummer on Craig's CDs and on Craig & The Crawdads' performances south of the Mason-Dixon line, received the Sidney Bechet Award for Innovation at a recent New Orleans International Music Colloquium. Congratulations, Alfred!

17. Check out Nate Brenner's jazz trio Beep at beeptrio.com and his indie rock bands on My Space. Beep's new CD is now available! Contact Nate at the Beep Trio web site for information.

For world-class entertainment - for concerts, weddings and receptions, festivals, bar mitzvahs, and private parties - by Craig & The Crawdads, Craig & Lori, or the Ragin' Texans, call 812-334-0415 or e-mail brennerc@bloomington.in.us. Click "Reviews" below for comments from recent events.