NEWS
Hello, and welcome to the Xaltar news page.  We'll try to keep this as non-boring
as possible, and only write entries when we have something to say!

March 6, 2008:  Work continues on the 3rd Xaltar release.  Scott and Fr Scott
have 7 songs in production now, with more to come.  Joey Cordova, a special
guest on Blood of the Martyr, has been adding some dynamite background vocals.
Stay Tuned!!

March 1, 2008:  Blood of the Martyr was reviewed in the national Catholic Music
Magazine, Grapevine.  Go to www.gvonline.net to download a copy of the magazine,
or  CLICK HERE to read the review.

July 30, 2007:  Xaltar was featured in this past weekend's Albuquerque Journal.
Click here to read the article

June 15, 2007:  We are happy to announce we have inked a deal with Spirit Wing
Records
, and our song "Pride Can Be Dangerous" will be featured on the Spirit
Wing "Catholic Music 2008" release due out this fall.  "Catholic Music 2007"
continues to be the best selling Catholic CD of the year, and we are excited
about the possibilities for the new release.

May 21, 2007:  The New Mexico Music Awards were held on Sunday May 20th
in Albuquerque, and we are happy  to announce that Xaltar's "Pray a Prayer"
was voted best Worship/Christian/Gospel song for 2007!  The song, from  our
debut  CD "Xaltar" was voted best by a panel of music industry insiders from
across the country.  Father Scott was at the awards banquet,  and gave thanks
to God and His Son.  Xaltar's debut CD may be purchased through this website
by clicking here

May 5, 2007:  In April, Scott Chapin's boyhood church in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin,
St Lous,  burned to the ground.  The church was no longer in service to parishioners,
and was set to become a sporting goods store.  However, before the fire, Scott
and his father were able to purchase the crucifix for St John Vianney.  This
beautiful life size corpus of Our Lord will live on in Fr Scott's new church.
The local paper in Wisconsin, the Fond du Lac Reporter, did a special section
recently on St Louis, and included an article on the Crucifix.  CLICK HERE
to read the article.

April 18, 2007:  "Resurrection" from the new CD is featured on this week's
Catholic Rocker's Podcast.  To hear it, click here.  The host of the show, George
Leite, hails from the Boston area, and is at the forefront of promoting original
Catholic  music.  We know Our Lord appreciates, your work George, God
bless you!  George also runs the website www.catholicjukebox.com.  If
you need a fix of some great Catholic music, check it out by clicking here.
Xaltar has several songs in rotation on the site.

April 16, 2007.  The finalists were announced today in the 25th annual New Mexico
Music Awards, and we are flattered to announce that Xaltar received THREE finalist
nominations.  "Pray a Prayer" and "Resurrection" were nominated in the Worship/
Christian category, and "The Answer" received a nomination in the World Beat
category.  Winners will be announced at the award ceremony on May 20th, but
win or lose, we are honored to have been chosen!  Stay tuned for results!
For a list of all finalists, click here.

April 13, 2007.  Father Scott held a contest among the grade school students at
St Thomas Aquinas school to come up with the cover art for the new CD.  Judging
was done by the band, and let's just say it was a hard decision.  So many wonderful
ideas from the kids!  We finally made the decision(the art layout people forced us!)
and the winner is....(drumroll)
VINCENT WING!
Vincent will have his work displayed on the cover of the new CD, will be listed
on the CD credits, and will get a free copy!!  Great work, everyone!

April 12, 2007  Stick a fork in it!  Xaltar's second CD, "Blood of the Martyr" is finished!
The CD master and artwork shipped for manufacture today, and we should have
the CDs back by the third week in May.  "Blood of the Martyr" will be available
for sale both online as a digital download, and in brick and  mortar stores.  Stay tuned!
 

February 5, 2007:  Work continues on the followup release to our first CD.  The
working title is "Blood of the Martyr", an idea Fr Scott had about the color scheme
for the new CD, which kind of morphed into the CD title.  Recording and mixing
will be finished by mid-March, and you can look for the CD release in early May.
There will be a surprise special guest or two, and some new musical direction.
Father is beginning to raise funds in earnest for the new St John Vianney Church
in Rio Rancho, NM, and the CD will be made available statewide with with all
proceeds from the first run going to the SJV building fund.  Check back for places
to buy the new release, and support the building of a much needed church in
Rio Rancho!!

Rob Martinez' new website www.robsong.com is up and running with lots
of info on our favorite composer/bassplayer/vocalist!  Check it out and make sure
and give Rob your feedback!



inChrist!