The Keys, and Beyond…

This is my first blog post in quite some time. And even before my prior blog post, they were very few and far between. Some people seem to have a knack for blogging - they can type out stories every single day, or at least one per week. I am not one of those people! Besides, does anyone really want to hear about my trips to Costco or the cool home improvement show I saw on HGTV? I don’t think so (then again, maybe you do?). So, I’m going to be taking an extra step back here and see where I want to go with this blog. It may stick around, reinvent itself in a slightly different format, or it may disappear altogether. It might also change along with a website reinvention. We’ll see…

I’m also taking a bit of break from the online social scene for a while. As many of you know, I’ve been quite active on Facebook (and a bit on Twitter) as of late, and I’ve given away many free songs to all of those who were interested. Now it’s time for me to create something new. I always have at least some musical ideas moving around in my brain, and it’s time get back to the synth for a while and put together some music.

My first goal is to finish my Christmas CD for this upcoming holiday season (I know, I know - it’s only May! But, you gotta get this stuff done early to have it released at the proper time.). It’s going to have 25 songs on it - my past holiday hits (traditional and original) and a few new tracks. It will be called “25 Greatest Christmas Hits”. I’m really excited about putting this together, as Christmas has always been my favorite holiday.

My next project - only after getting the holiday CD in the hopper - will be to make a CD based on my travels around the world. Later on this year, my wife and I will be visiting Australia (and New Zealand and Fiji to boot). This will be my last continent! I am very psyched about this - and always inspired about any travelling/vacations/road trips/etc. So, I’ll be making a CD based on many of the places I’ve been to in our great world. The tentative title for this CD is “Traveler”, though that may change. It may be somewhat similar to how “Ticket To Antarctica” turned out…or it may be totally different. I’m going to go wherever the music takes me.

I’m not sure about how long my hiatus from the social scene will be…a couple weeks, a few months, longer? We’ll see. In the meantime, my music and travel photos are always at KevOz.com, and you can join my Official Fan List right here.

Until next time…

KevOz :)

If you know me at least a little bit, you know that I’m a big fan of sharing my music. But, it’s not always easy to do. Sometimes, you have to click a link to go here, and then there, and then fill in the box to get your song, etc., etc. :) So, I’ve decided on a new approach.

From now through the end of January, you can download the following 3 new songs from Ticket To Antarctica for FREE. Yep, free!! Just go here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kevoz11

You’ll then see that the following 3 songs are priced at $0.00:

~ Blue Ice
~ Penguin Dance
~ Antarctic Lullaby

These 3 tracks are the middle of my new album, and the diverse nature of them kinda gives you an idea of the variety of music on my latest creation. Antarctica is not just a quiet “chilled-out” place; it’s also filled with wonder and excitement. And I tried my best to capture that with Ticket To Antarctica.

Is giving my music away for free the best marketing strategy? Maybe not. :) But, I don’t make my music to market it - I make it to express my feelings and emotions…if by chance it rings true to you, then I’m sure you’ll make up your own mind to listen to more.

Feel free to pass this link on, by the way: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/kevoz11 - I’d like to give some free music to your friends, too. ;-)

Thanks for reading and listening!

KevOz

As some of you already know, I love to travel just about as much as I love making music - which is a lot! And I also enjoy taking lots of pictures during my travels. This year, I decided to branch out a little and put together some merchandise at http://www.zazzle.com/kevozdotcom based on my travels. I’ve been to Antarctica, China, Scandinavia, and Egypt over the past couple years…just to name a few places. They’ve all been awesome experiences, and I’d like to think I’ve captured at least a little of that feeling in the pictures I’ve taken.

While I’ve got several items available at Zazzle, by far my biggest seller is my 2010 Egypt calendar. It’s definitely got pictures of wonders of the world that many of you probably haven’t seen (in person) before. And I think my calendar does a great job of bringing you up close and personal to the BC days of Egypt. You can go here to have a look for yourself: http://www.zazzle.com/egypt_2010_calendar-158529072909135407

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

KevOz

Have you ever noticed that when logging into Facebook, that Antarctica isn’t on the map? What’s up with that? It is a continent, after all. And while they’re aren’t necessarily people living there full-time, there are several bases (scientific research and such) and thousands of tourists who visit each year. And I’m sure that someone over there is on the internet…and on Facebook, too.

Well, I’m happy to say that I’ve been to Antarctica…and I’ve got your “ticket”, too. My album “Ticket To Antarctica” was just released. It’s currently at CD Baby and iTunes (Amazon and others soon to follow). I could go on and on about the album, but I’ll let you read about it and listen for yourself.

While listening to my tunes may not exactly bring Antarctica into view on Facebook’s map, at least you can feel like you were there. ;-)

Yes, indeed - I’ll be leaving soon for a fun weekend trip to Disneyland®. :) Part of it (on Sunday) will be spent participating in their Half Marathon. My wife and I actually walk these, and we go at a pretty good clip to stay ahead of the 16-minute per mile minimum pace. But, we’re ready for it - we just finished up a training program outlined in Marathoning for Mortals. It’s a great book if you’re new to walking - or running - half or full marathons.

Even though we’ll spend about 3 1/2 hours walking those 13.1 miles, it goes by fairly fast. Disney doesn’t mess around when putting together something, and their marathons are no exception. Along the way, there are always fun mile markers and several characters throughout the course to keep you entertained. Why not get your picture taken with Mr. and Mrs. Incredible?! Or high five Goofy along the way! :) It’s all good fun.

Stepping back a day…on Saturday, we’ll be enjoying California Adventure (and Disneyland® Park after the race on Sunday). So, it won’t all be marathoning…but it will be a bit more walking. ;)

So…have a great Labor Day weekend, everyone! I’ll tell Mickey you said hi.

Well, I’m working on the final track for the new CD. I know, I know - it has been a long time coming. But hey, I’ve had a busy year. :) I got married, honeymooned in Belize, went to Egypt earlier in the year, completed a half marathon (and am currently training for another), and did lots of other great stuff. But I digress…

The final song’s title is The Last Continent. And it looks like there will be 11 tracks on Ticket To Antarctica, and here they are (song order not official, yet):

1. Ticket To Antarctica
2. Crossing The Drake Passage
3. Deception Island
4. Zodiac Cruise
5. Blue Ice
6. Penguin Dance
7. Antarctic Lullaby
8. The Last Continent
9. 20 Hours Of Sunshine
10. Iceberg Maker
11. Return Voyage

Anyone who has been to Antarctica, or has some knowledge of it, will recognize a couple of the song titles, as I’ve opted to name a couple of the tracks after actual locations. But each and every track is inspired by actual experiences. This is the first album I’ve done this way. Sure, there’s usually a theme or at least a method to my song-making madness, but I’m truly inspired about how this project has taken shape, from start to (almost) finish. It has been really fun putting songs together based on actual events that I’ve experienced during my time on and around Antarctica.

And, I’ve even got most of the artwork ready. Here’s the cover. I took this picture just outside the Lemaire Channel. And I didn’t do anything to the photo - that’s really how it looked there! Just an amazing place…there’s an eerie beauty about it, if that makes any sense.

I plan on putting as many photos as I can within the CD packaging, and I’ll have those - and many more - on my Ticket To Antarctica webpage once it’s all set. And a few other fun things, too.

Well, back to work. Even though I’ve got just this last in-progress song left to go, there’s much still to do before I unleash Ticket To Antarctica on the musical world.

This weekend, I’m putting some finishing touches on Ticket To Antarctica. And, I’m eager to have as many people as possible listen to it once it’s all done. So, I’m giving it away for free (for a limited time). I just set up a contest on Facebook, and here’s what you need to do to enter and win. As you’ll see below, both entering - and winning - are amazingly easy!

Here’s what you need to do:

1. Become my “Fan” on Facebook - if you’re not already. :)

2. Take a picture of yourself (or have a friend help) holding a sign, CD - or maybe even wear one of my T-shirts - that has something to do with KevOz.com. For example, you can just take a marker and write on a piece of paper “I love KevOz.com!”, or “KevOz.com Rules!”, or even just “Go to KevOz.com”… and then snap a picture of yourself holding that sign. Of course, the more creative you are here, the better - as you will soon see.

3. Post that creative “KevOz.com” photo/picture/artwork as your main profile pic on Facebook.

4. Also, you need to add it to my fan photo section on my wall, at http://www.facebook.com/kevozmusic.

5. Your “KevOz.com” image needs to remain as your main profile pic (and on my fan page) through 8/31/09.

6. Please note that any pics that are deemed too crazy, crude, obnoxious, or offensive to the general populace will not be condoned or considered as valid entries, and will be deleted ASAP. Let’s keep it clean, people. :)

7. The contest starts NOW - if you’re reading this, you can enter.

8. The contest ends on 8/31/09, so the sooner you post your “KevOz.com” pic, the better (and remember, your “KevOz.com” picture needs to still be posted as your main profile pic through the end of August, 8/31/09)!

9. Only one entry per Facebook account. And please don’t make multiple accounts so that you can enter multiple times. We’re talkin’ good karma, man.

10. Winners will be announced on 9/9/09.

11. Oh, what can you win? Here are the prizes:

*** To all who submit a qualifying entry according to the above guidelines = the link to download my new album, “Ticket To Antarctica”.

*** To the top three most creative “KevOz.com” submissions = the “Ticket To Antarctica” free album download link, and two physical copies of my CD “Into Orbit” (give one to a friend!).

*** And to the very most creative “KevOz.com” submission = one lucky winner will receive the “Ticket To Antarctica” free album download link, and one physical copy each of every CD I’ve released - that is, the entire KevOz collection!

So, there you have it - simple, right? And everyone who submits a valid entry according to the guidelines listed above will be a winner…so you’ve got nothing to lose, and a lot of wonderful new music to gain!

If you’ve got questions or comments, please drop me a line and let me know. Sound good?

Thanks in advance for entering!

Well, it has been just over a week since I came back from Belize - a honeymoon trip! And, it was truly relaxing and wonderful to get away from it all, even if it was just a week. My wife and I had a great time at St. George’s Caye Resort - and luckily for us, it turned out that we were the only 2 guests there for the whole week! Very cool.

The resort is on an island in the Caribbean Sea, about a 25-minute boat ride from Belize City. Very secluded, though there are several summer cottages on the island as well, so we did see a few other people every now and then aside from the resort staff. And the staff was great - we enjoyed custom-made smoothies, wonderful (and I really mean WONDERFUL) meals - we told the cook that he needs to open up a place in Chicago - and other fun resort amenities. And the resort looked just beautiful - great landscaping throughout the grounds.

Just a few things we enjoyed - a Howler Monkey Nature Walk, a Hobie-Cat ride on the Caribbean, Body Scrub massages, and a trip to the Sandbar. We basically made sure to just kick back and relax as often as possible - this wasn’t meant to be the most adventurous trip, just a relaxing one while still being fun. And it really was.

I’ll eventually put up some photos from the trip online, but I’ll add just a small teaser photo for you to enjoy here. This shot was taken at the pool area, looking out at the Caribbean Sea.