A visit from Uncle Al, Almost Movie time and it's Spring and controversy is in bloom

Hey it's been a while since the last update, but things have been BUCK WILD round here, and I've been getting my drink on. But I digress.

Hey, Uncle Al

I was walking down the hallway in “The REALLY BIG HOUSE” and ran into of all people, Uncle Al (whom for the record isn't really my Uncle, and is not sleeping with my mom, I just call him Uncle Al because he's been very helpful to us and I don't know his last name). Al asked how Lexie was doing, and I told him, “She is doing well, as a matter of fact, she's right in there why don't you say hello”. Al had to talk to Uncle Henry (Once again, only LIKE an Uncle) and he would be right back.

Al is a mover and shaker in the Philadelphia music scene, and he's the one that hooked us up with our new base of operation here in The REALLY BIG HOUSE.

Al has a fascination with what Lexie and I do online in Second Life. I find this interesting because people outside of Second Life can view it as something progressive and not Lame. It is after all just another way to get live music in front of listeners so it's rather then blow it off, he's curious about how it all works.

Al came in the studio just as we were about to start, found a seat and started to listen. Al has never heard us play live before, so it could have been uncomfortable if he thought we were not that great. Lucky for us, we are great... and humble too.

After three songs Al walked out the door. I figured he's a busy man and probably can't stay (I never take anything personally because we are so great... and humble). But Al didn't leave. He just went to his car to grab his video camera to capture the wonderful new experience to share with his friends.

Al was blown away by our show, and the whole Second Life scene. After the show he talked about how he was going to show his videos to some friends of his, then offered us a few shows offline.

When a very busy man takes the time to check something out he must see some value in it. And I have to confess I see the value in Playing in Second Life. Not only does it pay the bills and feed me, it's probably the most cost effective way of getting life music out. Keep in mind, I'm not saying it has a great profit margin, but it is cost effective.

In other words, I'm not getting rich, but I'm not going broke either.

Almost movie time

I've mentioned in the past that a big shot director was going to shoot some scenes here in The REALLY BIG HOUSE. Seems it's going to happen this month. Oddly the area they'll be shooting in is the same big dark room we ended the “Elvis Hunter” video. I imagine they'll use lights and stuff.

When it all goes down, I'll probably be lurking around with my video camera. It's kind of exciting really.

Call me Mr. Controversy

At today's show (the one Uncle Al attended) I commented about the act following us, “I wouldn't want to follow us because we are two people and the person following us will have to work twice as hard”.

Now I think that is a joke even if it's not a very funny one. There was no malicious intent, nor was I making any comment about the act following us. When Lexie can't make it to the studio on time and I have to play the show alone I always say in the notice I'll have to work twice as hard.

Somebody other then the act following us told me they were very offended by my comment, said I was an ass, and had no sense of shame.

I bring this up only to comment, it's a pity what passes for controversy these days.

Yeah, I'm an ass, I have no shame, now get up, you aren't hurt.

By the by

if Uncle Al shows up with a cord we can plug his video camera into the computer with, I'll probably grab the footage and whip up and amusing video.

Professional begging vs. Amateur begging, Do it yourself vs. Do it ourselves,and Re-cycling for the arts part 2

I had ideas in my head as I woke up this morning. They really got on me until I had to share them with you. Please note the following disclaimer.

The article you are about to read contains opinions. These opinions are not presented as facts, and you are quite welcome to disagree with them and post your opinions to the comments section. The comment section is moderated, and the focus of this moderation is to insure the integrity of the content of this blog. You are welcome to tell my you see everything I say as wrong and tell me why. You however are not permitted to call me a retard, and tell me to die and burn in hell.

As a matter of fact, if you are still reading, please commit yourself to posting a comment, or a suggestion. I'm kind of getting out in a sensitive area here, and I have to tread lightly. But the only reason I'm treading at all is because I want to go somewhere and do something. To progress, one must take a step.

Professional begging vs. Amateur begging

A while back it came to my attention that a Second Life musician was funding the cost of their recording by soliciting donations via some web site. I don't have a problem with this at all, and I wish them all the best.

As a matter of fact I thought it was such a good idea I went and checked out the site myself. Thinking back, people have recommended such sites to me in the past.

Thinking, thinking, then I start reading.

Seems it cost money to set up a page on this site, and they take a percentage of the money donated.

I'm sure some people see this as reasonable and there is the implication that because your donation project is placed in a searchable data base, that people just looking for interesting project to donate to, will type in the magic combination of search words and arrive at your page, and then, CH-CHING (minus a small percentage).

I hate to sound cynical, but I don't think there are people looking for random art project to donate to, and if such people did exist they would probably ride unicorns and have Santa Clause on speed dial.

However, there are people interested in funding an art project. These are the people that already have an interest in it before it was placed in a data base. Supporters, friends, and yes... fans.

I understand the Second Life artist is getting close to their goal on the donation site, and I'm relatively sure this is due to the fact people that already know and love this artist's work were willing to dig deep.

So I ask the following. What did the donation site provide that a Pay Pal Donation button could not provide? A Pay Pal donation button cost nothing to set up, and does not take a percentage of the money donated via Pay Pal. (footnote, Pay Pal will take a percentage of money donated via credit card payments, but I don't think that is the same)

Since it's the people already emotionally invested in the artist work that are most likely to underwrite their project, why get the middle man involved?

Yes the professional begging site is slick and does have a date base. Perhaps there are a few people that randomly donate to strangers, but I have to wonder if such people do exist, if the amount they might donated would be greater then the amount taken out as a percentage donated by the real live supporters.

In my opinion (see the disclaimer above) it's a valid idea with a flawed execution. At least flawed when it comes to the person seeking donations and the people seeking to support the arts. The people running the site are making a butt load of money. Remember, there is a set up fee so even if you get no donations at all, they still make money.

I'm all for artist having the means to do the work they love and sacrifice so much for, and I'm all for those that love the artist's work having a means to support that work.

Simply stated, do you think the guy that signed Justin Bibber to his recording contract actually listens to his music for enjoyment?

Give an independent artist 100$ and they will get more done then the average major label gets done with a 1,000 $ investment.

I also suspect, a supporter that donates 100 $ to the artist of their choice will get more enjoyment out of the resulting work, then they would get from a 1$ download from a major recording artist.

Of course, that is just an opinion (see disclaimer above).

The Myth of “Do it yourself”

I often hear media types crowing about those bold few that “Do it yourself”. They've been babbling about it since the Punk Movement in the late 70's. Of course the Punk Movement was only Movement because there were a community of people behind it. It's the same way with every bold new evolution. And community only last until the suits figure out how how to co-opt the fruits of the community. Does anybody remember grunge? Seems about the time the world became aware of it, and embraced it, it became a parody of itself.

The simple fact is, music is never do it yourself. There is a community that breaths life and meaning into every type of music. Even if it's the very small community that supports an act like Kinagree-Smith. We always “Do it ourselves”.

In the short history of Kinagree-Smith, we've climbed the charts with all due haste due to the efforts of our supporters. We've created videos due to the generosity of one of friends whom sent us a video camera they didn't need any more. We have even secured our new studio space with the very generous help of a few of our very dear friends.

I feel we've been good steward of your support. I'm sure if you had all the details, you would be amazed at how hard we work, and the insane hours we keep, just trying to move things forward. We are inspired by our friends. The people that attend our shows, read this blog, buy our music, book us, and even “Like” everything I post of my Facebook page.

If I may get kind of mushy here, we feel we are loved. We feel we are putting out our heart and soul in every show, and there are people really getting the vision. They are feeling the energy and yes, they are expecting great things.

However (yes, there is almost always a however) our efforts and goals are greater then our resources. We do seem to make enough money to keep body and soul together, but making any more seems unlikely with our current mode of operation.

We were hoping to have the funds to underwrite the “2 BIG 4THE INTERNET” show in Atlanta by now. But our set back last month really put a crimp in those plans. We are also trying to record a new collection of songs, but are running into constant hardware limitations. Some of the equipment I used for the recording of previous collections is broken and we don't have the resources to replace it.

This blog is an attempt to start a dialog about a solutions. Feel free (please) to comment about any ideas you might have, and if you wish, you can contact me personally at zorchboomhauer@gmail.com

Re-cycle for the arts part 2

Hey it worked last time. We do need a few items, and if you happen to have these items, and no futher need of them, perhaps we could give them a new useful life.

For videos

We need a Tripod, some shop lights, and a king size solid color sheet, either green or blue.

For recording

We are in desperate need of new Closed back headphones. We are using the kind of headphones that you might use to listen to your MP3 player with and being open backed, they leak into what we are recording.

We also need some studio monitors. I had a pair, but they died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. If you are a musician I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. And if you aren't a musician, but know one, ask them if they have any extras laying around.

We could also use a couple of dynamic microphones.

Never hurts to ask. Once again, if you can re-cycle for the arts, contact me at zorchboomhauer@gmail.com

Rocking, Recording and gaining perspective

Lexie and I have been playing some Killer shows online and I've gotta tell you, our collective mojo is working. We've been working diligently on the recording of our first Kinagree-Smith project and suffice it to say that is a story in and of itself.

We are dealing with a world where musicians can collaborate in the same room, or hundreds of miles apart. We've go so much talent going into the music, all I really have to do is not screw it up somehow.

We've got the Songs, the music, the talent, and yes... the energy that breaths life into a project. These are exciting times for Kinagree-Smith.

Today I got kind of a wake up call. Today was the first day our numbers dipped on the charts, and frankly I spazed a bit about that. But we are currently back at #22, even though our band equity rating slipped -3 points. This is the first downward trend so far.

BUT....

I did look at the charts page just to see where we sit in the grand scheme of things. The pages are parsed out 25 positions at a time, so while a very new act, Kinagree-Smith is on the same page as the #1 Philadelphia folk artist. I also learned that the artist in the #1 slot has over 20,000 fans.

Okay, we've got some work to do before we make it to #1. I reckon about 20,000 fans worth of work, and I'm okay with that. We probably won't get there this week... but in time, we'll have the #1 slot.

I've decided not to lose sleep over the number anymore. I really am proud of the support our friends have given us to get us this far (we are on the first page you know), and feel high fives are in order.
Everybody sing, we are the champions WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS!!!!

Hey success is all in how you define it. We are on the front page and I'm pretty sure it's all due to the devoted effort of a hand full of supporters.

I'm in not quitting, or relenting or being reasonable. I'm just coming to grips with the fact it's a long fun filled trip, and we all might as well enjoy the ride.

Happy Rez Day Zorch, Outside the Box collection available,The REALLY BIG HOUSE might be sinking, and #22 on the charts

I feel a bit ill this morning. I was going to sleep in, but.... well more on that later.

Happy Rez day Zorch

Three years ago today, one Zorch Boomhauer (AKA Jack Kinagree) took his first virtual steps in the wacky world of Second Life, and started down the path to greatness. At my very first Rez day party, I had a big blow out of a concert featuring some of the best talent on the grid. One of the more established artist booked to play the show, had a hissy fit and stormed off about three days before the big show and I replaced him with a new comer to the Second Life Music Scene. Ms, Lexie Luan (AKA Lexie Smith). That event was Lexie's big coming out party.

Two years after the fact, Lexie is a well established Performer on the grid, and now half of the musical Juggernaut known as Kinagree-Smith.

As for Zorch.... well suffice it to say, 2/3rds of those in the Music community consider him a rather opinionated jack ass, and 1/3rd considers him to be one of the greatest songwriters to stumble upon the grid.

It's possible both could be right.

Good, bad, or lagged out. Happy Rez day Zorch the grid is a more interesting place with you in it.

Zorch: Outside the box collection available today!!!

It's been three years in the making, but you can snag a copy today. The Complete recorded works of Zorch Boomhauer in one hefty download.

This is 12 full collections.
117 MP3 files.
488 Megabytes of a download and HOURS of musical fun.

While many Supporters have a goodly number of these collections, this is a great way to get your fill and then some. If you are a new Supporter... we'll I'm sure you are downloading already.

Speaking of downloading, there is a PayPal button so you can start now. Note, when you pay the download begins so please only pay when you are ready to download.

Pay Pal button.

Included are

Get Zorched
Black and White
White and Black
Songs in the Key of Green
The Sound of Red
Mantled in a deeper Shade of Blue
Show 507 LIVE
Story and Songs Volume One
Shadow and Light
Ashes and Dreams
Me and My Monkey
Emotion and Reason

There are two bonus downloads you can choose to pick up or not.

Zorch Boomhauer and Dangerous Fun:Love songs, Hate songs, In between.

And

Zorch Boomhauer and The Disposable Art Project: Retrospective

When you purchase a copy of “Outside the box”, you helping us undertake other projects. If we were rich, we would be doing all sorts of crazy stuff. But the lack of funds keeps us rather tethered to reality.
No, we don't expect to get rich from this, but we do hope to make enough to underwrite at least some portion of our musical adventures.

So get the full measure of the Zorch experience and support the arts.

The REALLY BIG HOUSE is leaking

I have to wonder if a building can sink. It is raining like a cow pissing on a flat rock and while the roof always seems to leak here, now the water is leaking in the studio. Hey got some LIVE footage of the drips. I feel like Anderson Cooper.

Hey, wake me up and give me a video camera... I go crazy.



#22 on the Philadelphia Folk Artist charts, the obsession continues

Once again, thanks for all the support, only 21 positions from #1.

I'm going to try and NOT prattle on too much about this, but remember when I told you the Philadelphia Folk charts were competitive? Well, we've managed to slip up into the top 1,000 Nation wide (# 949 Folk Artist Nation wide) and still linger outside the top 20 in Philadelphia.

Once again, we can do nothing to further our climb up the charts, so I thank you all for your support.

Tales from the Recording studio

A Post from Lexie

Ive decided to give Jack the night off from blogging although for some reason I am sure he will add some kind of foot note as he is will definitely have something to add. Its just the way he rolls. But tonight, I would like to tell you about the newest projects that we are forging forward with

We had a team meeting this afternoon with the developers of the Kinagree Smith website, who also happen to be our managers desi and sally. Boy did we luck out… not only are they organizing everything on SL but their creative efforts and talents are creating the most banging web site ! Soon you will able to listen to our live internet performances directly from the new website every time there is a live show. Also, if you join the website by mobile phone or email, you will automatically get a text updating you about current information up and coming events and hopefully you will also know when we are about to start a show and if your not in world you can listen to us online from our site.

Next, we had this little dilemma as to product. What that means is , though jack and I have both recorded much music, ( me not as much as Jack but seriously I don’t personally know anyone that has released as much music as he has) we still don’t have a kinagree smith release so…. Tonight we began. After serious song choosing over the last week , we decided to put together a six song ep first as our mega cd will take much longer to produce. We pondered over which songs to release on this Cd and decided on these….
Mo annam kara
Letting go
So into you
Find love
Stay in the moment
Trust
Sweet taste of home

Now three of these songs have been released in previous cds and mp3 collection but there are also three songs which are brand spanking new and though we have performed two of them , we have yet to record them. Trust, Stay in the moment and Find Love (which some of you know as Ocar) are being recorded for this collection. It will be a full band with the help of Vallery Barbin from Atlanta Ga , on bass and Chris Gately from Philadelphia, pa on drums.

Now while we were recording tonight Jack decided he would whip out his video cam and record me recording. It was 4 am and need I say any trace of make up had vanished by then and being videod while recording adds absolutely no pressure…. NOT !!!! A Boy and his toy…. It’s a dangerous combo.We finished the take and decided to go on a tour ghost hunt for Elvis. This is part of the reason as to why I am blogging tonight , cause Jacj is in complete edit mode. I don’t know if this is going to make it on youtube by tomorrow but you can be sure it will be up way sooner than later.

Tomorrow is a working day on second life for Kinagree Smith , so if your going to be on line , please check out the event listings.
As always, thanks so much, each and everyone of you for you amazing continued support. You have no idea how much it means to us both, its truly motivating and we love each and everyone one of you.

Pink kisses ….Lex

The Wacky Weekend edition

I remember a while back thinking I would take a break on the weekends. But I think at this point I'm addicted to blogging. Or maybe, I'm ambitious.

You know, it's said I am a tireless self promoter.

Still #25

Yeah, while we did have significant activity yesterday (Band Equity went up 11 points which is the second largest jump in the history of our stats), We didn't move a bit in the Philadelphia Folk artist charts. We did go up 59 spots Nationally, and 99 spots in the Global rankings, but I did mention the Philadelphia Folk charts were competitive.

You know the other day two different people who's opinion I respect suggested I might be a bit obsessed with this charts thing.

Well... maybe I am.

But somebody has to be #1 on the charts, and while I wish no harm to the current holder of this position, I have to say... whom ever it is... your going down.

Stop laughing... it could happen.

Lend me your ears

Simply stated Kinagree-Smith needs your ears. We need them on the web giving our songs posted at Reverb Nation a listen.

We have a lot of plays and not a lot of people listening. This puts the metric out of whack. It looks like a few people are listing over and over again. And while that is not a bad thing, it's not as good as a lot of people listening once or twice.

You don't have to listen to every song on the play list, that will just push the plays/listener ratio further out of whack. Just pick one song and give it a listen.

Little actions have great effect, and I dream on getting to #20 by Monday.

Hey here is the link, please if you have a moment, help an obsessive old bastard to have his moment of glory. give a listen.

http://www.reverbnation.com/kinagreesmith


It's up and ready to Launch

March 16th is my third rez day and to celebrate, I'm releasing “Zorch:Outside the box”, which is the entire recorded output from my prolific career on Second Life.

It consist of 12 collections of MP3s.

A grand total of 117 individual recordings

488 Meg download

But wait there is more. A download card for two additional collections, Zorch with Dangerous Fun:Love songs, Hate songs, In between, and the Disposable Art Project Retrospect.

And the price?

Well it would be a bargain at one bazillion dollars, but I'll sell it for less.

What do you think the price should be??? Comments below.

Just a reminder, we still need your stories

I don't know if you caught yesterdays blog, but I'm looking for web cam/video cam footage of your story with Kinagree-Smith or Lexie/Zorch. If you can't give us a story, just give us a shout out on video. Thanks for your support.

Cold hard numbers and heart warming stories

Once again a slow news day for us, but you always wanna know what's shaking, what's baking with the wacky wold of Kinagree-Smith.

We are # 25... no wait... #26... oh... now #25 again

The charts were a bit goofy the other day. Somehow our position dropped in the middle of the day and that is not suppose to happen. The charts should change only at the beginning of the day.

Suffice it to say, we are BACK at #25.

Yesterday was a big day for our metric. The aggregate score for all activity is called “Band Equity”. This is the basic value of the promotional campaign. Ours went up 27 points (the average increase is about 2 or 3 points, this is our biggest jump ever), and this is due primarily to a massive increase in plays, 187 song plays in one day (once again the most song plays in a single day).

I do know the story behind this increase in song plays.

I got an Email this morning from an “Unnamed supporter”, telling me she had posted the song widget on her face book page and asked her friends to take a listen. She said she didn't know if it would work or not.

It worked... really well.

Small actions often have great effects, and we are only 24 positions away from #1.

It's all about a story

We have a very small promotional budget. Our budget is basically hard work, keeping at it, and the support of our friends. So far things are moving forward in spite of our financial shortcomings.

I'm of the opinion, our greatest promotional tool is our story. I find myself telling it time and time again. People seem interested in the story and want to know more.

One of the most interesting part of our story is the relationship we share with our listeners. The Other day I was playing a show and Teara Roux showed up. I meet Teara my second day on the grid and she's been coming to shows for over three years.

She is not alone in long standing support. There is a view in the world that online relationship are transitory and a lot of them are. But the listener/artist relationship online seems quite profound and in it's own way, quite intimate.

Kinagree-Smith, or Lexie and Zorch's story is inexorably linked to the story of people that support us.

We are currently imagining creating an online movie that tells our story, but without your participation we won't have the full story.

So once again I have a favor to ask.

If you have a web cam, or a video cam you can video files with. Please take a moment to share part of your story about Lexie and Zorch/Kinagree-Smith. Please keep it relatively short. If you want you can just give us a shout out.

I know of one fan that has our music on his MP3 player and has a habit of forcing his friends to listen to it.

I know of one woman that drives to work everyday listening to my music.

I know of one woman that spent her vacation following me around Second Life catching every show she could.

I know of one mother who shares our shows with her autistic son.

I know of a couple that had Lexie and Zorch in their hand-fastening ceremony, and inspired the song, “Mo Anam Kara”.

What is your story?

I know it's a personal thing, but if you feel comfortable sharing it, please do so. Make a video and send it to zorchboomhauer@gmail.com

We would like to get between 10 and 50 stories.

Wide awake and moving toward the top

Most of the time there is a blog when you get up in the morning. I make a point to write about the days events at the “End of business”. Yesterday business ended very abruptly. I think you've noticed how busy Lexie and I have been, and after the last show of the day, I took a nap. A really long nap. I think some people call it sleeping... not sure.

Only 24 more positions until we are #1

Today's charts show we have ascended to the #25 position on the Philadelphia Folk Artist chart. Once again the support of our small but active fan-base has moved us closer to the top. I feel I should comment, I don't see this as some profound comment on the abilities of Kinagree-Smith, but rather a reflection of the kind of support we get from our friends.

This support is inspiring, and is the main reason we work so hard in the back ground. You have placed us in a position that affords us opportunities and we are doing our best to make the most of them.

Thank you all so very much. You all RAWK.

The Listener of the week is.....

Pause for dramatic effect........... Nyx Lafever.

Not only is she the listener of the day, and the listener of the week. She has the most listens of anybody (187 plays according to Reverb Nation). Who is in second place? Kinagree-Smith. She actually makes a point to listen everyday.

Thanks Nyx.

March 16 2011, Zorch's Rez day

On the above mentioned date, I will have been performing in Second Life for three years. During that time, I've released a good deal of material. Most of you have at least one of my MP3 collections, and some of you have darn near all of them.

But I do have something special planned. It's not a big secret but on March 16th I'm going to make available the full Zorch Catalog as one download. This will include even collections that have been officially deleted from the catalog.

Now I feel I should mention, I've always had a problem managing my full catalog as a marketing venture. Just carrying vendors to shows to make this stuff available would have been a logistical nightmare, and frankly it would overwhelm anybody even considering a purchase. Let me list all the releases that have come out in the last two years and some odd months.

Get Zorched
Black and White
White and Black
Songs in the Key of Green
The Sound of Red
Mantled in a deeper shade of Blue
Show 507 LIVE
Story and Song Volume One
Shadow and Light
Ashes and Dreams
Me and My Monkey
Emotion and Reason

that is 12 releases in less then 36 months.

I'm taking a moment to wrap my mind around that. Wow.

But wait... there may be more. Somebody asked in the comments section, “What about “Love Songs, Hate Songs, In Between”. I feel I should comment only a hardcore fan would know about that collection.

The Story behind “Love Songs, Hate Songs, In Between”, is I use to be in a band called “Dangerous fun” and we released a CD “Love Songs, Hate Songs, In Between”, Shortly after the release the drummer quit, so I had a bunch of songs I couldn't really market. I did post it for sale in world as “Zorch Boomhauer with Dangerous fun” And it really didn't connect. We referred to the sound of the band as “Roots Rock country fried Soul”, and when you are playing in South Carolina, it doesn't hurt to Twang a bit.

I don't think people interested in the Zorch Catalog would want to invest the time to add this to their downloading burden. But... I'm considering placing a link in the notes for the release that people could download it from for free. I'm also considering adding a “Disposable Art Project” retrospective as an optional link.

Today is the 10th of March, only six days to release date. I'm not planning a release party, or a rez party. I better get cracking.

The one commenter on this also mentioned they didn't care for the name. “The full Magilla”. So the new working title is, “Zorch:Outside the box (A box collection without a box)”.

Single collections will still be available for download at the web site, and I frankly don't know how many people would be interested in such a collection. But it needs to be available, this is the final chapter of the Zorch Recording Legacy.

Kind of a slow news day

Only 26 slots away from #1 on the charts, Widget-Palooza is unleashed, The great Cherry Hill mining disaster and Icon magazine is out

Well this is what passes for a slow news day around here.

Still # 27 on the Philadelphia Folk artist charts !!!!

Yes we are hanging tough thanks to your amazing support. While some might see this as a stall, I see it as a dramatic pause. I'm sure we'll be top 10 tomorrow morning.

Kinagree-Smith street team activate... form... WIDGET-PALOOZA

Reverb Nation does have a “Street team” feature and we've had people already volunteer to be part of our guerrilla marketing team. Street teams get Mission, and the person that is most successful carrying out this mission wins a prize.

The Mission: Widget-Palooza

Simply copy and past the code for one of our widgets on any web page, blog, forum post signature, or any of the many Social networks that support one click sharing.

It's simple and with a little creativity you can really shine.

For those of you computer savvy, any place you can put HTML code, you can embed a widget. Hell even on your emails to friends... and people you don't even like.

The prize: The T-shirt of your choice from the Kinagree-Smith Reverb Nation online store.

It's easy, fun and somebody has to win. It could be you.

I've been to Cherry Hill New Jersey and lived to tell the tale

A good friend of Lexie's, Chuck Darrow invited us to come play a few songs at a show he was doing. It was at a bar called “Dublin Square” and the place was MOBBED. It was not only crowded but noisy as heck. I don't mean the band, I mean the crowd. Ear splitting noisy. You really could not hear the musicians unless you were standing less then ten feet away.

Chuck was playing bass in two different acts. One was a pop cover band, and the other was his long standing duo called Nitrous (well actually Nytrous, with the Kewl spelling). The pop band was very poppy, and while Lexie's been exposed to Nytrous for years, this was my first time. They had cool energy... and I say that because I could not really hear them... but I could indeed feel them.

When Lexie and I got up to play I said “Okay everybody shut up we are going to play now”. Hey, sometimes you just gotta ask. We played two songs and blew the slightly less noisy crowd away.

We didn't get any video of the show. We did bring the camera, but it was as dark as the inside of a cat in there, so not very conducive to shooting videos.

Icon Magazine is out with a story about our Cartoon Alter egos

Yeah it's buried way in the back, and they don't even mention the story on the cover (gotta be an oversight). But our interview in Icon Magazine is out.

We've sent copies to all our respective groups, and if you don't belong to one of them.... what is wrong with you? I'm sure you can find Icon Magazine somewhere in world, so grab a copy and learn all about Lexie and Zorch.

Learn my children. Learn like the wind.

All and all a fun night, and a good end to a slow news day.

Slow for us at least.

Goodness, do we ever have a slow news day???

So much going on it's hard to keep track of it. This is why it's so important to stay in “Da Loop”

Still #27 on the Philadelphia Folk Artist Charts

This might not seem like much, but the fact is we are battling the insidious forces of Entropy. Our fan base is not growing and while extremely active it has reached a point where it's hard to move forward.

However, reaching up to #27 is a massive accomplishment for the few, the loyal, and the active friends that support our efforts.

I'm mentioning this so if we start to slip you don't feel all is lost. Please continue to do as you have in the past, and if you can place a widget, or a banner, or get a friend to join our fan roster that would be great too.

If I may put this in RPG terms, it's simple to get from Level 1 to Level 2. Getting from Level 15- 16 is much harder, and up at the epic levels it becomes a real grind.

You have brought Kinagree-Smith into the epic level of an aggressively contested chart. So don't lose heart if we slip. Time is on our side and someday, we'll all be #1 on the charts.

Thank you again for your amazing support. You are the best.

Strum, Lexie, Zorch and 47 other unnamed voices

Lexie got a Email from our good buddy Strum Diesel and he's got an EPIC project in the works. It's a recording of his song, “It All Belongs” and while a new Strum recording is EPIC in itself, this has a bit of a twist to it.

Strum is planning to have a virtual choir of 50 voices singing along during the course of the song. No, this is not the product of some massive face to face meeting, or even multiple streaming voodoo. Strum is sending a template mix to those involved and having those involved overdub their voice and export just their singing parts, and email them back to him.

I don't know if he'll get 50 voices, but that was the plan. Hell if he gets just 10 that would be impressive. This is a fun, cool project and I can't wait till it is finished. Lexie and I are both pleased to be part of it.

Have you ever noticed that Strum and fun kind of rhyme?

Here's a 30 second sample with Lexie and Zorch singing along.

*Strumtastic foot note. When I contacted Strum for permission he informed me there are already 10 people involved and he's going for the full 50 voices.

Let's all chant, "GO 50,GO 50, GO 50"


Party across the void

Okay, sometimes people get fixated on the whole “In world/Real life” thing. Personally, I don't see such a gap. Tonight we had a visit from Uncle Al (not a real Uncle and I'm not sure how he would feel about me calling him Uncle Al... but he is like an Uncle to Lexie and I) and he brought his friend, Drummer, Sound man, Engineer, Chris along to check out the “Really Big House”.

We started talking about our Musical adventures on Second Life, and then logged in world to show them how it all works. Al and Chris were both fascinated by what they saw.

So... we start talking. Start thinking way outside the box, and here is what we are planning to do. We are going to collect some of our musical friends from Philly, and invite some of our supporters from the area, and have a jam/party at the REALLY BIG HOUSE, in our Little room. We are going to cram as many people inside as we can, and then add our online friends in the mix to create.....(Drum-roll please)...

The Party Across the void.

We'll be partying both in Real life, and online with our friends in Second Life. There will be Live music at some yet unnamed venue, a live stream on the zorchboom web site for non-Second Life people that want to listen in, and a Live video feed of the party in action.

This is still in the planning stage, but all involved seem really stoked about it. If you are anywhere near the Philadelphia area and wish to attend, but send me an Email (zorchboomhauer@gmail.com) and I'll keep you in the party Loop. If you aren't in the Philadelphia area, but are interested in attending the part online, just keep up with the blog and all relevant links will be posted.


Is the REALLY BIG HOUSE ready for it's close up???

Other news from Uncle Al, seem a big wig Hollywood director is going to use the Warehouse Lexie and I stream from as a setting in a movie. What is the movie about? I don't know. But maybe it's about two mature, and gifted musicians that refused to quit. I think that would make an amazingly wicked cool movie. I wonder who Lexie will be wearing at the Oscar awards?

Pre-production starts on the Kinagree-Smith debut CD

Lexie and I are both as busy as one legged folk dancers, but we are finally getting ourselves mentally ready to record again. A bit of sad news, it seem Ira Norman Segall will not be involved with the project, but that is cool and okay. The good news is, whomever is involved will no doubt be part of the VH1 Classic Album TV show featuring our upcoming mega hit. I predict it will be the first really independent recording to sell one bazillion copies.

Keep in mind, my Mother is dead, and in Heaven with Jesus, so that is going to make it a little tricky to sell one bazillion copies. But what I lack in.... well... almost everything, I make up for with confidence.

Womyn, guitars and Rotunda... Oh my!!!!

It are really really really late. So late it's early. Suffice it to say the show went off well, we got a decent one camera video out of the effort. I spent most the night editing it, then compiling it, and then uploading it.

It's 3:39 in the am as I write this, and Kinagree-Smith is #27 on the Philadelphia Folk Artist charts.

I feel I should say... I really enjoyed playing a show in a theater. People come to hear the music. Wow.

Okay, I'm going to post the video here and go to bed. See you tomorrow.

And before I head off to the land of Nod, once again, thank you all for your support.

Wild weekend ahead and #28 in the charts

Well I'm writing this blog end of business on Friday, it's 5:56 in the AM meaning it's already Saturday.

With so much ahead and I'll be back Monday with a report on the who,where,what, where, and how of this weekends events.

Friday morning, #28 on the Philadelphia Folk artist charts

Once again our supporters have pushed us up into another level of the prestigious Philadelphia Folk Artist charts. Support RAWKS, and our dear friends RAWK as well. Much thank to you all.

Saturday, radio show production of the Kinagree Smith show

While we did have lots of plans for what our first show would be like, getting people to actually line up and do things in a timely fashion doesn't always go as you hope. But we do have an obligation to do a show so lets see what we come up with. There should be some interesting features in the future, we have talked to a guy that builds guitar amps out of cigar boxes (very cool) and we may get an in studio demo featuring... wait that is a secret.

Can't tell you. Actually I forget who is doing the demo but he plays pretty freaking good.

We may also have an impromptu interview with Progressive Metal band DRX. They practice next door to us so we'll probably just grab them, push them in front of a mic and start asking questions. “WHAT'S YOUR FAVORTIE COLOR BITCH!!!!”

Hey you never know what to expect and I'll be the first to admit we are making it up as we go along. So far that is an apt description of everything we do, and it seems to work for us. If you cut us, Jazz comes out.


Womyn fest at the majestic Rotunda Theater

This is a big deal... perhaps. I'm having kind of a hard time figuring out how this is going to break. It's a good venue, all age and free admission, so it's reasonable to expect some kind of a crowd. I'm sure we'll play as we always do, somewhere between great and quasi religious experience.

We have our donated video camera to document the event, so there should be a some new videos next week.

Thanks again Pretz

We might also have a second video camera at the event so it could be a two camera shoot. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Could be a cool show with perhaps a cool video and that would be.... umm.. cool.

Monday pre-production meeting for the upcoming Kinagree-Smith debut recording

Lexie and I will be meeting with our producer Ira Norman Segall Monday to do some pre-production recording. I'll let you know how that goes and we might get some video of that as well.

Seems things are going to be hopping this weekend, and unless something major breaks I don't plan to update the blog until the dust settles. See you all Monday. Have an amazing weekend.

March up the charts continues, cool swag, and...

What a crazy busy day. Lexie and I could probably use a break, but we'll sleep when we die I guess. Or maybe after rigor mortice makes working untenable.

Charts, cold hard unfeeling number mixed with LOVE

Your support has once again carried us further up the Philadelphia folk artist charts. As of this morning we are # 34. Up four positions from yesterday.

I've not mentioned this before, but the charts do scale up to both a National and Global level. I thought I might share them with you to illustrate just how competitive the Philadelphia Folk artist chart are.

In the Philadelphia area we are # 34 (+4 from yesterday)

Our National rank is #1972 (+ 276 from yesterday), and for the record we are top 2,000 in a country of over 300 million people. Not too shabby.

On the global scale our rank is #3142 (+ up 427 from yesterday). Being in the top 4,000 for the big blue marble (As a folk artist) is pretty good. And so far Reverb Nation only tracks earth bound musical acts.

Now part of the reason I'm bringing this up is because it's cool to be trending upward. But keep in mind, if I lived in “Turkey Leg North Dakota”, it would not be hard to be a Local #1, while trending downward (as in thousands of positions lower) in the national and global ratings.

Philadelphia is a hard market to scam. We are moving forward because of the support of our friends. I thank you all and I'm anxious to see how far up we can go before we run out of steam.

Kinagree-Smith Swag (or Merchandise)

Now I don't know if you are the kind of person that is into MERCH... but I dig it. If I had the money to blow I would have all kinds of Kinagree-Smith paraphernalia. With this in mind, I mention in passing the availability of T shirts at both our Reverb Nation store and our Zazzle Store.

Now you may wonder why we have two online MERCH shops.

Well the shirts at Reverb Nation are relatively cheap. And as a potential purchaser of such stuff, I would like to save a few bucks. However, the sizes only range up to XL and I'm a more then XL kind of guy. Many people are, I'm not saying they are fat... just big. The shirts at Zazzle are considerably more costly. But they offer a HUGE amount of customization and sizes. Say you need an XXL shirt with Long sleeves and want it blue... robins egg blue. You can get that at Zazzle. You can also get MERCH for your toddler, your Grandma and your Dog. Yes is cost more... but you have more choices. I'm told freedom isn't free, and Zazzle might be one of the things the terrorist hate about our freedom.


make custom gifts at Zazzle

But I digress. Suffice to say... we have plenty of Merchandise for you to demonstrate your good taste in music with.

Some of it cost more.

I need your opinion about something

Please feel free to leave a comment about the following.

I've come to the realization there will be no further Zorch Boomhauer MP3 collections released. It's not because I'm retiring or anything like that. But rather, I'm no longer going to be using the Avatar Name on my recorded efforts.

With this in mind, I could release a comprehensive retrospective of the Zorch Legacy. Or more to the point. “Zorch: The Full Magilla”.

The questions being, do you think anybody would want EVERYTHING from the Zorch Catalog?

I do intend to post all collections as available from the web site for purchase.

Allow me to list the full list (Minus the two previous retrospective which would be redundant)

Get Zorched
Black & White
White & Black
Songs in the Key of Green
The Sound of Red
Mantled in a deeper shade of blue (says “shades of blue” on the cover art, but the MP3 List the other name)
Story and Song volume one (the story behind some of the songs and of course the songs)
Shadow and Light
Ashes and Dreams
Me and My Monkey
Emotion and Reason

If I were to make all this material available, it would be out on 3/16/2011.... my third rez day in Second Life.

What do you think good idea or bad idea? And why?


Welcome New Fans

I would like to Welcome Elura to our Reverb Nation family of supporters. There were two bands that also added us as fans, Thanks Del Rio Band and Ignite Violet.

Nyx also posted a comment to our comment section so I think it's actually catching on now. Lexie and I both thank you for all your support.

Our supporters crash the top 40, comments and attentive listeners

Top 40.... oh yeah

Yesterday we surged into the top 50 in the Philadelphia folk charts, and today, much to my chagrin we've managed to find a spot in the top 40. For those of you keeping score at home, we are #38 in the Philadelphia Folk charts and we owe it all to the support of our dear friends. Thank you much, support still RAWKS.

Hey, look a comment section. I didn't notice until somebody used it

Today we received our first comment in the comment section of our Reverb Nation page. Thanks much Starl1ght for breaking the seal on the comment section, making sure it's fully functional, operational and OSHA approved.

(Drum roll please) The Listener of the week

Of course we do appreciate every interaction you have with our Reverb Nation page, and I do tend to obsess over the numbers. But this is not some OCD issue. Reverb Nation is kind of the boiler room to our online presence. It give venue operator in the real world a way to find out if we are effectively working the promotion of our musical adventure.

Simply stated, it's not just bulk numbers, but rather the amount of interaction you have with your fan base. You might have 10,000 friend on MySpace, but the level of interaction with them is minimal at best.

On Reverb Nation, it's a matter of trending. So if you have a small but active fan base it does better then a HUGE motionless mass of friends on MySpace. You good readers are our small but active fan base and that is why we keep trending upward.

I'm not saying you can make us famous, because you can't. But you do open doors for us, and get people to take a listen.

Speaking of Listening. The Listener of the week is Nyx Lafevre with 34 plays. Thanks for the Support Nyx.

Speaking of opening doors

Today we booked at show at the “Legendary Dobbs”, a venue that is actually quite legendary in the Philadelphia Area, all the would be rock stars play there on their way to “Making it”.... or not. While we aren't trying to “Make it” as such, we are very excited to be playing such a prestigious venue. So at this point we are playing the Rotunda theater Sunday, and Legendary Dobbs in May. Not bad for a duo that is only 4 months old.

Your support matters

I can't thank you all enough because we would not be doing as well if we seemed to be a fallow field. You give us the impression of running a tight promotional campaign and that causes venue operators to stop and give us a listen.

We do book each show because the talent is there, but you give us the chance to shine. Thank you all so very much.

And Speaking of Support

Welcome new Reverb Nation fans Refici222 and Maia Chrome. Good to have you on the team.

We are here to Kick butt and chew gum... and we've got plenty of gum let me tell ya

I could say Lexie and I have been busy today, but that would not be accurate, we have been Biz-Zay. That equates to a full legion of mutant busy beavers busy. If we were bees, we would be buzzy biz-zay, and suffice it to say, it's late, I'm tired and a bit punchy. If I were hungry I would have the punchy munchies, but perhaps I digress.

We're #47... we're # 47....

Yeah I know it's not quite as chant-able as “We're #1”, but it is wicked cool to be listed among the Top 50 Philadelphia Folk artist. Of course we owe every bit of our meteoric rise to the efforts and support of our friends. Thank you all, your support really does inspire us, and that is why we were so very busy today.

Welcome new Reverb Nation Fans

We've had a few new additions to are Reverb Nation family. Welcome Pretz Coleslaw, Aprille Twine and The Bluff's Center for the Arts (I'm pretty sure this is PreSoul). Thank you for the support.

New Bio... well... we didn't really have a bio until today, so it's our only Bio

One item lacking on our Reverb Nation page was a bio. I can never really get behind writing one. If you think it's easy, try writing a summery of your life in under 2000 characters. Be sure you get all the important information in there and keep it readable.

My dear old friend E.J. Swain, former columnist for Slyers and nails whipped this one up. And when I say “Whipped” I mean wiki wiki fast. I think it's pretty good, but then... I didn't want to write one myself. You might want to drop by the Kinagree Smith Reverb Nation page and check it out.


Lexie and I are now the proud parents of a bouncing baby Domain name

Our dear friend Sally offered to help us with a web site, so the least we could do is secure the domain name. The Domain kinagreesmith.com is now live, and if you go there you'll see our “Under construction” Page. While that seems kind of pointless to visit... remember you can bookmark it now and come back later when Sally has something cool for you to check out.

Just another Mom and Pop store... on the internet

We've just posted a new t-shirt in our Reverb Nation shop which I feel is pretty swanky and elegant. It features the Kinagree-Smith logo, the tag line and URL for our future web site. It could well be the best Kinagree Smith shirt ever posted for sale on the interweb.

Not like I'm hung up on the whole completion thing... but...

There is a check list of things you should fill out for your Reverb Nation page to be “Complete”. The list of things are now 100% done. We are ready to take over the music world and with your support... we just might do it.

Anybody need some live music???

After our forced hiatus from performing on Second Life, our March calendar is a little sparse. If anybody knows of any venues needing a little live music assistance, please tell them to look us up. Or tell us who they are and we'll look them up. Thanks.

After I post this and send a notice to my Facebook friends I'm going to fall over in a heap.

Support and Serendipity

Project "Recycle for the arts" a smashing success

Yesterday, I asked that anyone having a video camera they didn't use, considering sending it to us. A scant few hours later I received an Email from Pretz, one of the our reader, offering us a Kodak Zi6 HD pocket camcorder. Stuff like this blows me away. The support of our friends keeps us moving forward. When we ask for the tools to do the job, they help as best as they can.

One more fan

It might seem like a small thing, especially after gaining over 8,000 fans in one day. But it's not at all a small thing. Yesterday I mentioned that we were trying to break the top 50 on the Philadelphia Folk charts and any visits to our Reverb Nation site would help us improve our position. Yet another one of our readers answered the call. Nyx became a fan, and as far as charts go, fans are a very big deal indeed.

It's official, support RAWKS

Much thanks to Pretz and Nyx. Not only have you aided us in a journey of a 1,000 miles, but your interesting names drove my Spellchecker nuts.

Also much thanks to the readers of this blog, the people that book us for shows, the people that attend those shows, and everybody else that helps us keep on keeping on. You really do inspire us and when the going gets tough, we know you have our backs.

This is exciting, we should make a video of this

Tonight Lexie and I had a meeting with Ira Norman Segall

Ira is the president of Unipheye Music, a record producer/Engineer as well as a master percussionist. Ira heard our songs posted on “Reverb Nation” and was intrigued by the energy they had. We've been meaning to have a meet for a while but today finally got our face the face time.

Lexie and I brought our guitars over to Ira's house and let him hear us live. While he was intrigued by the recordings, the live performance pushed him over the edge. He was blown away and we are discussing making a recording with him.

However this recording will be very different from our past efforts. This would be an Audiophile live recording. Meaning if you have a great sound system it will be like you are in the same room with us. If you have a decent system it will sound amazing, and if you have a I-Pod it will sound... better then most the stuff you listen to on an I-Pod.

Because it is a LIVE recording in a studio environment, the energy becomes very important indeed. Nobody needs a crystal clear recording of a stiff lifeless performance. It's gotta breath, it's gotta live and you gotta FEEL it.

Now keep in mind, Audiophile recording is NOT what most pop recordings are. The most popular genre for Audiophile recordings is Classical music. Ira has a few string quartets in his catalog and the leads us to the next intriguing aspect of this recording.

Some of the songs may be recorded with a live string quartet. Or maybe some world style percussion. The vibe is going to be very live and very artistic. Who knows what kind of guest artist we may have joining in on the fun. And just between you and I, this would be a great project to make a video record of.

Frankly this project is in the imagination stage, but the possibilities to do something wicked cool are overwhelming. Both the interest and excitement are there right now. Lets see what comes of it. We've got the songs, we've got the talent, and Ira has the chops to make us sound like... well... how we really sound. And frankly, that has always been what I've been shooting for.

Permit me to take a moment to thank you all again for your support, and encourage you to expect great things.