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 :)

Just a quick note to let you know that I’m on a few social networking sites…in case you didn’t know. :)

Here they are:

Fan me on Facebook

Friend me on MySpace

Sub me on YouTube

Tweet me on Twitter

Looking forward to connecting with you further…see you there!

Giving Thanks to Friends:


Fall Contest from KevOz

This fall, I want to give thanks to all of my Facebook friends with a special contest. Here’s how it will work:

1. Become my fan on Facebook. It’s pretty easy. Just go here, or click on “Become a Fan” in the little display box below. (Note - if you’re not already, you need to become my friend on Facebook, too - you can do that here. You’ll see why in a minute.)

KevOz on Facebook

2. Shoot me an email, either on Facebook or to KevOz AT KevOz DOT com to let me know that you’re participating.

3. Once you’re on my fan page at Facebook, scroll down and look under my picture (Yes, there is a rather large penguin there!). You’ll then see a link that says “Suggest to Friends”.

4. Click on “Suggest to Friends”, and the following will appear:

5. Select as many friends of yours as you wish (the more you select, the better chance you have of winning!), and click “Send Invitations” when you’re ready to invite your friends.

Um…that’s it! The rest is my job. :)

I will then total up how many friends of yours become my fans, between now through Thanksgiving, November 26, 2009. (It will be easy to count because you will show up as a mutual friend when I click on that fan to view his/her page. This is why you probably should be my friend on Facebook, too - so that I can count your totals accurately!)

The Top 15 contest entrants with the highest total of referred friends who become my fans will win their own copy of my CD “Into Orbit”.

The contest entrant with the most referred friends who become my fans will also receive 2 more copies of “Into Orbit”, and 1 copy of my latest CD, “Ticket To Antarctica”. If this is you, you’ll have music for yourself, plus a couple stocking stuffers for Christmas!

Again, this contest is ongoing through Thanksgiving, November 26, 2009. I’ll contact you via Facebook shortly after Thanksgving if you’re a winner. If that’s the case, you’ll need to email me your address so that I can mail you a CD! Free Shipping! :)

This contest is open to everyone.

I want to give you my music as a thank you for being my friend! I hope you enjoy participating in the contest. :)

Thanks!

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. ;-)

Back in the day - meaning, before internet (when was that now, about 1994?) - we all probably had a few to several really good/best friends whom we saw on a regular basis. And then, perhaps another ten to a dozen acquaintances whom we knew fairly well - be it friends of friends, a relative of a friend, co-workers, etc. But, that was probably about it. There really wasn’t a way to keep track of more than that. You knew who you actually knew, and that was that.

So…how is it now that some of have several hundred - or even thousand - friends or fans on Facebook…or thousands of followers on Twitter (Ummm, I’ve only got a couple hundred on Twitter, is that a bad thing?)? (And let’s not forget MySpace, which still has hundreds or thousands of friends for a lot of us.) It’s obviously impossible to keep in touch with everyone out here, as the numbers are just a little insane to handle. I guess if being on Facebook, or online in general, was your full-time gig, you could do it…maybe. I still doubt it.

For me, I know that it’s hard to keep in touch with everyone whom I’ve “met” out here. And specifically speaking about my music presence on Facebook, where I currently have 264 263 fans, it’s very tough. I try to keep things interesting with updates or adding some new content - be it sharing some new photos, or one of my songs. But, every now and then, a “fan” will disappear. I wonder why this happens…

You’d think that if someone actually decided to be a fan, they’d stay a fan. Or they’d even tell someone else whom they know “Hey, there’s this guy who makes some cool music, check it out.” But, I’m finding that my fan count seems to bounce around - people disappear (and to be truthful, at times reappear). Or, they just give up being a fan altogether. I’m guessing it’s because it is just too easy to friend someone in the online world, or be their fan - and just too easy to turn the other way, too. It’s all just a click away, now.

Back in the day, you got to know people in person, and over several months/years of time…in this online environment, a click takes seconds to execute. Is this quick-clicking making some of us fickle about our friendships out here? I guess it’s easy to get caught up the online world, clicking your way to hundreds/thousands of friendships, adding on hundreds of fans…and then forgetting that there are actual PEOPLE behind those clicks.

I think we all need to remember - and I’m going to try my best to do so as well - that there are real humans behind these online profiles. It’s time to make these clicks count - stand behind your clicks. :)

Just a few years ago, who would’ve thought that typing in 140 words or less could be of any interest to the world? I sure didn’t. But, here we are - it’s mid-2009 and social media is rampant. Everyone is joining in on the fun. Whether it’s sending each other those goofy quizzes or gifts on Facebook (”You just received a Happy Flower Pot!”), receiving friend requests on MySpace (”Someone you’ve never heard of before wants to be friends on MySpace!”), or tweeting tweets on Twitter(”RT @KevOz Twitter rules!”), social media is here to stay, with no signing of slowing.

I’m not a huge social media guru, but I do like that I can now find others with like interests around the globe in just seconds, make a few friends, and even spread the word on my music. It’s all good! And here are those whom I’m following on Twitter:

Get your twitter mosaic here.

Great stuff! Social media, keep on keeping on.