So first off, I am going to commit to writing in this blog weekly, more so for my records and journal keeping.  If any of you enjoy these posts then thats awesome, but for me its getting my real thoughts out about this journey I am on.

STUDIO

So last Saturday, the Krew and I were in recording at Art City Sound with Jason Jones.  www.artcitysound.com.  First off, I love Jason.  I decided to work with Jason on doing my next musical album called, "Long Way Home"  So we were slamming down track after track and got the foundation built for 6 songs in 8 hours. Drums, bass, guitars, keys.  It sounds amazing and cannot wait to release it.  It will be finished later this month and I will have a release party next month sometime. Looking forward to things ahead.

UPROAR ROCK FESTIVAL

So while we were at the studio, a guy name Adam wrote to me on my facebook page and said, "Hey saw your stuff on the UPROAR battle of the bands, (we were #2 in line to win the contest) and we love it! We would love to have you open for the UPROAR Rock festival as the sponsored band for ColdCock Herbal Whiskey company."  

First off, I do not drink so i was not sure what to do with this, but I talked it over with the band and we decided to take the opportunity with less then 36 hours to prepare and be ready for a performance on Labor Day.  

I am sad to say that the only person who could not join us was my lead guitarist Aaron Lee, was not the same without him. However, I am glad to say that we made it work with the addition of Lee Sebel on Keys.  We sounded tight and did a 20 minute set up front.  One of the owners of Uproar texted our sponsors later and said, "Where did find these guys? They kicked A$$"  Yes mom, he swore.. sorry I am quoting... :)

SLC COMIC CON 

So a good friend of mine hooked me up to play at the first SLC Comic Con.  It was a freakin mad house... We played Fri night after William Shatner and Adam West spoke.  Crazy night.  I am very grateful for the opportunity, however was disappointed in how disorganized it was and also how much support I did not receive.  We were pushed back to 9 pm and as we were setting up, all the guards outside in the hall were telling people to go home and that it was all done.  Even some of my friends were turned away from coming because they were told that the event was over.  So I had a smaller crowd full of my friends which I am so grateful for, but I was hoping for a larger attendance which was the original reason of playing at Comic COn.  Overall, great opportunity and was fun to play with the band, and always helps to put on the resume.  The good part was we got killer passes to the event and the band and I enjoyed going and enjoying the festivities... so that was very nice...  I just hoped it would have turned out better for our actual performance.

ARISE CONCERTS

ARISE is moving forward.  My friend who works at Adobe designed me a killer brand for it and I have all my artists in line to work with us.  If you do not know about ARISE it is a multi genre suicide prevention concerts for high schools that I am putting together.  My musical artist team consists of Mallory Ownbey for my pop singer, Jodi Lee Nicholes for my country singer, Andrew Kemp for my hip hop guy, and myself for the rock genre. 

Jodi's brother is 1 of 41 superintendents in the state of Utah and was chosen to help bring suicide prevention programs into high schools state wide.  His boss is a lady who is already excited about working with us and will open massive doors to move forward.

The struggle has been waiting for the 501c3 to get finalized.  My booking agent has been so kind to help me with this part, but its been 2 months and things are moving way slower then I expected  Because of lack of funds it has been hard to get stuff done in the time frame that I would like.  All things hinge on this one activity, then I can move forward and pursue grants, private donations, sponsors and so on.  We just have to wait til then...

It has been a long hard road, but one I am most willing to walk down to pursue and make sure we get into schools to help kids.  I feel like this calls to me to get done.

MOMENTUM

I have realized that there are ups and downs regardless of where you are in life.  Overall, I feel this sense of momentum moving forward in my favor.  I am very grateful for that.  UPROAR was way fun, Comic Con was fun just need to adjust some things, and the studio is a blast.  Things are moving forward and I have held the #1 spot on Reverbnation for rock groups in SLC and I am #5 overall in my area.  Pretty darn good if I may say so.  

I am grateful for everyone and anyone who comes out to my shows.  For those who have booked me and believed in me this last year.  I have accomplished a lot and in other areas have not gotten as far as I hoped.  The key to me is to be grateful regardless and adjust things so that they can be better next time.

So I just had the pleasure of playing with my newly formed Krew.... very talented group of people who are going to be amazing to play with as I develop my new sound...

In the past i was more of a blues rock pop acoustic sound... but since been to Nashville and back and being a rocker at heart... I am moving into a more inspirational southern rock feel.

So on March 2nd.. I will be headlining a Charity gig along with a group that I like a lot... Parlor Hawk

Its for the "Excuse Me While I Change the World" Festival... You can go here to see details about the event itself... it will be going Thursday, Friday, and Saturday with fashion shows, food, and of course on Saturday... rocking out...

Here is the Facebook invite... come! https://www.facebook.com/events/154264108059858/

Or their website... http://excusemewhileichangetheworld.com/tickets/

ARISE Suicide Prevention Concerts are coming along very nicely... The team is put together and now I am in the process of just getting the foundation built, creating the necessary relationships and getting everything cleared so we can go into schools on all levels.

Its been a humbling thing to see all the help that has come from people wanting to be involved... suicide is such a taboo subject... its time to talk openly about it and help those who need the help.

In support of making sure we have funds... I created the 2 songs for $1 Monthly Music Club... which you can go to the main page to find... www.jknation.com

I send you 2 songs a month, both covers and originals and you only pay $1 for a month or $9.95 for the year.

The funds go towards supporting me getting the ARISE organization created and moving a long...

One last thing... Aaron my guitarist and I are doing what we call "Bedside Sessions" Where we are randomly recording covers by a bedside somewhere... if you wanna join go to my youtube... www.youtube.com/jhonnykmusic

And if you want to know about my Krew... go here 
http://www.jknation.com/bio-jhonny-k-and-krew.html


Thank you to all who have helped... I appreciate you all so much! Love you

2013

I just wanted to post real fast about some things coming up in 2013.  I have been working on the song, "Goodbye My Love" with producer Tyler Monks, who worked with OneRepublic and Colbie Callait.  Excited for this and will be expecting a finished product by the end of January 2013.  

I also am going to be releasing my acoustic albums that I am working on with Priddis Recording Company.  www.priddis.com  I am arranging songs for their karaoke albums via acoustic and having a blast doing it.  Excited for that!

I also am going to be offering a 2 for 1 subscription music deal that I will talk about in a post coming up shortly.

Thank you for all your support on the Christmas Album.  Everything went well and I learned a lot, especially humility with all the support that came together so fast in support of this.  

Love you all!