The 7th annual PFFFF, and OMG it's Ed Feldman!!!

No... it's not how you type the sound of a raspberry. Well maybe it is, but that is NOT what I'm talking about.

This Saturday, Kinagree Smith played the legendary “Post folk fest festers fest”. Seems Chris Degangie has been hosting this shindig for the last eight years and in my humble (snicker) opinion it's gotta be one of the coolest events in all of live music.

Frankly I've never seen any one person do so much to make a musical event based soley on... well music. While there was massive talent on the bill, it was not a “Book a bunch of big names and make some money” sort of affair. The inclusion of “Kinagree Smith” would support that fact. As a matter of fact there were no tickets for sale at all. The event run on a suggested donation of 20$ and to deposit that money you walked up on the balcony and dropped it in a toilet. How funky is that?

While the vibe was quite funky, the production values were top notch. Chris built a HUGE stage and hired an amazing sound system. This was the kind of event musicians love to play. There was food and drink for all, and when I say drink... I mean the “Good stuff”. A coffin sized cooler full of Guinness made this an event I would LOVE to play again.

Okay I'm about to be very self indulgent for a moment so bear with me. I'm standing there minding my own business, and this guy walks up to me and asks “Pardon me, where are the drinks” and I pointed him in the right direction. And then I say to myself, “Self... that guy looks familiar”. He kind of looks like Ed Feldman from the vintage PBS/TLC show “Furniture on the mend/ Furniture to go” fame”. Now I feel I should point out, there aren't many “FAMOUS” people I would recognize, But 20 some odd years ago, I use to watch Ed and his partner Joe an hour a day five days a week. I don't really care about furniture at all, But Ed and Joe were hysterically funny.

So rather then wonder if this was in fact Ed Feldman I walked up and introduced myself. It was indeed Ed and I went to starstruck mode. Told him how I use to watch his show everyday, and he was very nice indeed. After a few moments of blathering, he asked me if I was playing and if I had a CD. Well I do have a CD and it seems Ed has a web based radio show, so I gave him a copy of “Wartzinall”, and out contact card and perhaps he'll play it on his show, “The Morning feed” on gtown.com.

Ed stuck around for our set, and stood up on one of the balconies so I could see him. After the set he said, “You guys were great” and I said “Thanks for saying that because if you told me we sucked I would have been crushed”. Hey a lot of people told us we did great... but it Ed Feldman for pity sake.

Wow... I came to Philadelphia and dreams really do come true.

Now I know my readers are a cynical bunch, and it's very possible they are saying, “Hey Jack, of course Ed “SAID” he liked your little band. He's a famous guy (at least to you) and famous people learn very quickly it cost nothing to be kind and reaps them great benefits”.

Well maybe you didn't say that, but I must confess the thought did cross my mind. But come Monday night all doubts were laid to rest. Lexie had made a point to contact Ed via facebook ( I would have never been so bold, of course I don't think Ed is quite as famous to Lexie). She mentioned we tend to wonder out to the “Nuclear Hootenanny” on Monday nights and perhaps Ed would like to Join us.

Well come Monday night we are indeed at the Hootenanny, and we just happen to be outside talking, and the topic of Lexie inviting Ed to come out to the show comes up. I suggested Ed would be too busy doing TV star things, and almost as on cue, Lexie looks up and says, “Hey Ed we were just talking about you”. I really thought for a moment she was just messing with me. I hated the fact that I turned around to look because that would be a “Ahhhhh I can't believe you fell for that” moment. But Low and behold... Ed Feldman was in fact coming to see us at the Nuclear Hootenanny.

I did make sure that Ira got a picture of Ed and I on his wonder phone and I'm sure I posted it with this entry. If only mom could see me now. In the big city rubbing elbows with TV stars.

We got to talk with Ed for quite a while, and he did invite us to come play Live on his radio show. As a matter of fact, he suggested doing a full week with him (I don't think Lexie would want to do that, but I sure would), suffice it to say tentative plans to play next week are in the works.

Ed's music director Jim (who might be more actually famous then Ed, I'm not sure) also mentioned a Wednesday night Live show he runs in Germantown and asked us if we could play that as well. Once again I find myself wondering if this is all a dream.

Things seem to be moving forward again. We've made some very good new friends, seem to be getting our music out there and life is good. Of course, I'm one step away from starving or Living on the street, but you have to risk a bit of security to chase your dreams.

Things seem to be looking up, and after a long period of situational distractions we seem to be progressing again.

Sorry that it's been so long since my last update, but things have been complicated. We are back on track, our oars are in the water and we move towards our destiny. Once again I encourage you to expect great things.

Release the releases, Super Secret Mega Release on Kinagree Smith website

Well it's been a busy day at the old website. We are making so much content available it will make your brain pop.

Well... maybe not so much pop as think. Both are rather rear occurrences these days.

We've instituted a new flash based catalog system, just click on the cover art and go to a page that features the release........


Whoa... News Flash... we just had a earthquake in Philadelphia. That was weird.

Anyway...

You are directed to a page giving you all the info on the release and can listen to song samples from the release. In most cases, you get the full song list. It's cool, it's handy and I hope it works well for our visitors.

In the catalog currently are....

Wartzinall, Kinagree Smith's debut recording.

Zorch Boomhauer: “Outside the box”, A box set without a box featuring the entire recorded Catalog of Zorch Boomhauer (Jack Kinagree's Second Life Alter Ego). This is a HUGE collection of songs and is one case in which the play list is not complete. Weighing in at 117 MP3 files... it's a lot of listen for the bucks.

Lexie Luan: “Lexie's Pink Box” The complete recorded catalog of Lexie Luan (Lexie Smith's Second Life Alter Ego). You'll find a full play list for this one. So listen up, and get your PayPal account set to “Spend”.

Disposable Art Project: Re-Psycyled. This is a “Best of” collection from the Disposable Art Project. If you are looking for a Kinagree Smith connection, Disposable Art Project was a Art Rock studio adventure conceived and performed by Jack Kinagree. It's some pretty weird stuff, but if you are an adventurous listener it might be right up your bailiwick.

This is a rather major update and I hope you'll take a moment to poke around. We do intend to release as much music as we can, simply because I think it serves both the music and Listener well.

Please take a moment to check it out

Thanks again for all your support. As always, Expect great things.

Zany out-take

Welcome to the new improved Kinagree Smith (now with a fresh lemony scent)

Okay, this is a big entry, gotta take a deep breath and try to fit it all in. Hope I don't forget anything.

Video MADNESS!!!!!

The new video for “Your Words” has been doing well. Keep in mind, it's not quite the unstoppable juggernaut we were hoping for, but for one of our productions it's doing very well indeed. 203 view in 3 days public, three comments and 7 likes. While those are not “Setting the world on fire” numbers, it is considerably better then we normally do. We've also picked up a few new subscribers, so.... Woohoo!

In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the handy link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoVcAHQAqQs

Okay, now for the big news.

Introducing the new, KINAGREE SMITH WEB SITE

This may well be the coolest web site ever put up on the net. At least when it comes to the topic of Kinagree Smith.

It's pretty feature rich and let me give you a walk around.

First at the top of the page is the “Info flasher” giving you a quick grasp for the epic scope of what we have planned. While all things might not be clear at first, in time all things will be revealed. Consider it an “early warning” for what we have in store for you.

To the top right of the page is our, “Wonder Widget”. Now the “Wonder Widget” has every feature most music based web sites have in one handy widget. You've got songs, picture, videos, tour dates and even a handy link to join our mailing list (it even mentions there is a free download available). If this were an average site, we could have just placed the widget and gone out for beers. But it's not the relative complete and compact nature of the widget that makes it a wonder. The Wonder Widget is.... (wait for it)..... embeddable. This means you can share the LOVE of Kinagree Smith with anybody the web.

Just post it, and leave a message saying, “You can thank me later”.

Did I mention this is not an average web site?

We have a “Meet Kinagree Smith” section that forgoes the average “Band bio Bullshit” and feature short video interviews with the band members. I don't really know how informative they are, but they are at least more interesting then blah blah blah....

It's more about personalities rather then dry information. Ira comes off as a well spoken introspective man of the world with a bit of a wild streak. Lexie comes off as a sweet optimistic darling, and Jack comes off as a charming ego maniac.

Pretty accurate I think.

Now I have mentioned this web site is different, and if I had to point to one feature that sets it apart, it would be it's major thrust. We do have an agenda beyond,”Our band is wicked cool”. We are set to push our music into the world by any means possible.

Our band feel the Kinagree Smith live show is the apex of our labors. So as many people should be enjoying those shows as possible. The includes people that are a bit behind the technology curve. At least as far as attending shows in Second Life is concerned.

We have had a “Streaming device” on the old web site for a while, and we've had several local listeners share with us they enjoy the shows. But we've taken steps to make the out of world experience more interesting.

First off, we changed the calendar to reflect East Coast Time rather then the Second Life Time we use to use. If nothing else, this pleases Ira... who is not yet use to adding three hours to every show time.

And then we've added a chat box at the bottom of the page so people listening can share there comments with the band, and anybody else hanging out in the chat room. Making things a bit more sociable.

Keep in mind, if you are listening in Second Life, you can still log on to our web chat and meet some new people.

The next new feature is our “Recorded Live” section. Once again, the live show is the thing, so if you log on when no show is going on, you can still catch a Kinagree Smith show. We currently have four shows available, and one of them is two hours long. I plan to keep adding new shows daily if I have time.

I could go on and on about how much we've packed into this web site, but instead I'll suggest you go over and check it out yourself. When you get there, bookmark it, you'll want to come back.

http://kinagreesmith.com/

Thanks again for all the support. And as always, expect Great things.

The Video is LIVE

Here it is.... Tada

World Premiere of Kinagree Smith's “Your Words” Saturday Night

Hey, I know it's TONIGHT, but this is the inter web so so that is plenty of time to get ready.

We are having this event on August 6th, 2011 at 10 PM SLT (or 1 AM east coast time), at the Lovely “Show off” venue.

We did give a sneak peek to a few close associates and so far the responses has been very positive.

We did send a top secret link to Beth Odets while we were talking to her on Skype with her cam on. It was really great to see her reaction to our labors. She was all smile and laughing herself silly.

Kind of wish we could watch everybody's reaction, but that ain't going to happen.

Anyway, only 12 hours to get everything ready to roll. Hope to see you at the Premiere, and if you can't make it, the video will be live immediately after the Premiere on You Tube, and of course on this Blog.

Thanks for all your support and expect great things.

Ready for my Close up

The Production Video is finish..... ummm... where is it?

After 6 grinding weeks of hard work, it's done. And frankly, just between you and I, I think it's pretty cool. I showed the finished video to my band-mates and they are pretty impressed as well. Of course we are biased, but soon you'll be able to judge for yourself.

I think such an effort deserves a bit more then to be callously slapped up on YouTube and Embedded and Linked to Facebook. Of course in time it will be Slapped, Embedded and Linked, but a little ceremony should come first.

Time for a Grand Premiere.

You might be wondering, when, and where this grand premiere will happen. I'm honestly wondering that myself. But the plan is to have a Premiere in Second Life, and then do the whole slapping, embedding and linking ritual for the rest of the web.

The story here is not a when or where story. Just giving you a heads up it's done and expect it to be available shortly.

While it's probably not the BEST VIDEO EVAR, I'm pretty sure that was POL's last video,but it's safe to say it's in the top ten videos created with a 0.00 $ budget.

And while I'm speaking about budget, I should take a moment out to thank our good friend Pretz Coleslaw. She donated the video camera we use to make all our videos, and if not for her, our YouTube page would be kind of sparse.

The Incarnation of Swami Gitesh

For a while now, we've been saying hello to our most consistent off the grid-on the web site listener Swami Gitesh. We've even said hello to him when it was highly unlikely he was listening (say 4 am).

Well guess who showed up on Second Life last Saturday at our NAG show? No other then Swami Gitesh in Second Life. I bring this up only because I think it's wicked cool. Who'da Thunk somebody would come to Second Life just because they were a fan of a musical act and wanted to see what the heck was going on at the other end of the Interweb.

So if you see Swami Gitesh, say, “Hello Swami Gitesh”.

We need your suggestions

I've mentioned something I've called, “the party across the void”. This would be a simultaneous concert in real life and Second Life. Our vision at this point is to have people at both ends perform. A real life performance streamed in-world, and then a Second Life performance streamed to the event.

While I, and the rest of Kinagree-Smith think this is a great Idea, the other band members are not comfortable with the name, “The Party Across the Void”. So I'm asking you, what do you think would be a great name for this event?

We are trying to get the media involved, so we do need a catchy and compelling title for this event. Your help is this matter would be appreciated.

And so we go on, shaking things up and doing all we can to make things somewhat interesting. We thank you for your support. As always, I encourage you to expect great things.