"Get a Dog" - My Dog Toby and a Sprinkle Cupcake

My dog's absolute favorite treat in the entire world is a Sprinkles Cupcake. Don't worry, they're made special for dogs. (Oh, and I don't mind them myself, the ones for people that is. =)

Thanks to John Jones for letting me use this song. He's never released it, but he should.

Click below video to play.



Below is a photo of the line I had to wait in for 30 minutes to get my Sprinkles!


But Toby seems to think it was well worth the wait. =)


Kevin

Song "Get a Dog" (C) by John Jones.

Photos of Lake Powell, Jayson Haws, John Jones & Friends

Just got back from a week at Lake Powell so thought I'd share the link to a few photos (and one video) I took while there.

Click for Lake Powell Photos

Thought I'd also share the photos of the pool party, BBQ and concert (with Jayson Haws and John Jones) I held at my home on August 30th. Thanks to Cliff Beshers for the great shots he got of Jayson and John.

Click for Pool Party & Concert Photos

It was an incredible weekend with Spring Awakening on Friday night, the party and concert on Saturday and then a private box at the Del Mar races on Sunday. Thanks for a great weekend everyone!

Kevin

My 4th of July Project--Jayson Haws Web Site

Last year when I left Linspire, I decided it was time to get involved with independent music again. One of the most talented recording artists I ever had the pleasure of managing and working with was the singer/songwriter Jayson Haws, lead singer for the popular Salt Lake City band The Given.

Jayson was only about 20 years old at the time, and anyone who worked with him knew he was a musical prodigy and the classic "triple threat," being a solid song writer, with an amazing voice, and a powerful on-stage presence. I watched, time and time again, Jayson blow people away as they watched him perform, be it in the living room of my house with just his acoustic guitar, or on stage in front of hundreds at popular clubs in LA.

Of all the thousands of musicians I was exposed to during the MP3.com days, Jayson was the one I always knew just HAD to break out.

So, what happened?

Like me, Jayson, also took a detour away from music for a few years. Fortunately, these were very good years for Jayson. He made a tremendous amount of progress in his life, got married, had a son, and successfully snubbed out most of the demons of his youth, emerging out the other side better than ever.

Jayson and I had stayed in touch over these past years, and when I left Linspire, I knew I had to get together with him and catch up. I was pleased to discover how Jayson had been spending his time, not only becoming a better man and father, but musically, he was better than ever! I knew this was the time for us both to finish what we had started all those years ago.

Jayson and I started planning his return to the studio, only this time on his own, without The Given. We both instantly agreed who the perfect producer would be for Jayson's first solo CD, our friend and Grammy-winning producer John Jones (Duran-Duran, Fleetwood Mac, Celine Deon, Alan Frew).

I remember that first time John and Jayson met. I'll never forget the look on John's face all those years ago, when Jayson and I drove over to John's house in the Hollywood hills, and Jayson sat on John's couch with just his guitar and sang. John, as I expected, was blown away. (A bit of trivia for any "Lindows" fans, John was my musical cohort for all those silly Linspire parody videos.)

It didn't take any convincing at all. John too knows what a phenomenal talent Jayson is. With just one phone call, John was in his car driving from LA to San Diego for a weekend meeting with Jayson and I. And, so it began. A new year, new songs, and new attitudes.

These past months, we've been working together on the new record. The CD is about 80% done, and we're all giddy with excitement to soon be sharing it with everyone. We're all very happy with how the songs are turning out.

Because we were getting close to finishing, it was time to start thinking about a website for Jayson and his first solo CD project. So, yesterday, for the 4th of July, I decided to get creative and play around with Flash and put together some rough ideas for a website for Jayson. In less than a day, and with the help of a cool new Flash tool (wix.com), here's what I came up with...

http://jaysonhaws.com

There's not a lot of content there yet, but it was a lot of fun just being creative and playing around with ideas for the site. I'll be getting with Jayson in the days ahead and filling in the content and adjusting things to his liking, or scrapping this one all together and doing something different.

I hope you'll all take a look at the new site, and let me know what you think, and PLEASE sign up for Jayson's mailing list, so we can notify you when the CD is finished. You won't regret it!

Kevin

PS: Emily, the "star bursts" are for you. =)

When Linspire Was Fab

When John Jones was here this past week, we got to thinking about the silly videos we did for Linspire over the years. I thought it would be fun to let others see them again, as just a bit of Lindows/Linspire history, when it was still a fun, interesting and growing company. I wrote the words and did some of the graphics, and John did all the vocals and pretty much all of the music.

Click on the video to preview it, or right-click on the download links to download the videos and/or songs by themselves.

Lindows Rock - June 2003

Before the name change to Linspire.

Download Video (.swf)
Download Song (.mp3)

Run Linspire - January 2004

This was my favorite video of the three, a parody on the Door's "Light My Fire."

Download Video (.swf)
Download Song (.mp3)

Linspire Five-0 - March 2005

Was made for the release of Linspire "Five-0."

Download Video (.swf)
Download Song (.mp3)

Kevin

Photos: US Open, John Jones, Alex Jackson & Linspire Ex-Employees

This week, I've had the good pleasure of having John Jones as my house guest. John lives in LA but is in town this week for the US Open, which is being held this year at Torrey Pines in La Jolla. We've know each other for years and have worked on several music projects together, so it's always a treat for us both when we get to spend some time together. John is a very colorful guy...a Grammy-winning producer (Celine Dion, Duran Duran, Fleetwood Mac, Alan Frew, etc.), the biggest history buff I know, and loves golf (not just playing it, but its history, courses and traditions).

Here are some photos from this week...

Last night John and I met up with several ex-Linspire employees for a fun get together at Stone Brewery in Escondido. (Thanks for putting this together T!) John took the photo. (Apparently, Linspire only has about eight employees left. My concern remains that Michael Robertson and Larry Kettler are destroying what's left of the company. They have yet to report anything to me or the other 100 shareholders.)


Here are some more photos that Cliff took. The next get-together of ex-Linspirites is a family pool party at my house next month. For those of you who missed the get together last night, hopefully we'll see you then. (Email Theresa if you're not already on her mailing list.)

Wednesday evening, John and I had dinner with Alex Jackson, a photographer and sports history buff from the UK who has covered the last 15 US Opens and has the monumental task of having to photograph every single player (150+) during the four days of the open. A really nice gent.


John prefers to be behind the camera, but we did catch him here...


I put together this quick montage of photos John took on Wednesday (the only day cameras are allowed without a press pass). Click on image to view.


Kevin