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learn learn learn

hello!!

i hope you can handle today’s incredibly long tutorial! if you are pretty proficient at either guitar or piano, i can save you 13 and a half minutes and tell you this: C, G, F.

but that’s not very fun now, is it?? i got a few complaints that my tutorials didn’t cater to really experienced musicians. the way i see it is, i refuse to exclude anyone. i will not be brief and leave things unexplained just so that the experienced player doesn’t have to wait around. my goal is to bring music into as many people’s lives as possible. i want to make it so easy that people that thought they’d never play an instrument in their life stop for a moment and think… why not? i really think anyone that has a strong desire to play music, can.

for those of you who are simply appreciators of music, that is wonderful too :) in your case, you can disregard all the teaching parts and count all the parts where i sound awkward!

album update:
in the next few days i will be selecting a designer for my album art. it’s been a really crazy process. i spent many weeks trying to decide the feel i wanted… trying to find the right words to describe it and the right images/colors/textures to get it across. then we spent some time looking for designers. then we asked for spec work. now we have to choose one, and i hate choosing things! they are all very talented. as many of you know, emi (my younger sister) was originally going to do the job, but she’s now off being a super star at art school (i am so proud and excited for her) and she hardly has time to do the work she needs to. (then there’s misa, the older sister, who hardly has time to sleep. correction: she DOESN’T have time to sleep. she’s getting a masters in architecture and she is a stud) so anyway, shortly after we get started on the designing, we’ll start building the new website, which i’ve already put a bunch of planning into and i’m very excited about :)

yesterday i had a long thorough meeting with my management regarding all the things we need to accomplish before we can release. WOW. there is a lot to be done. it’s tough being your own record label… no one is going to MAKE things happen but you… or in my case… me. (no one is going to pay for things to happen but me either… ouch) luckily my team is made up of some of the best around, and my family, well you know, they’re kind of the best, and then there’s all of you, and you know how i feel about kinerds :) so i know i’m in a great place, i just gotta keep positive and focused on the task ahead of me.

but wow.

an apology

i know i promised an east coast tour this fall…. *cries a little* but i don’t think it’s going to work out :( i’m pretty much on lockdown until this album is out into the world and in your lovely little (or not so little) hands. it really really makes me sad and i feel like i’ve let you east coasters down, but i promise as soon as i can tour again, i’m going to get myself over to that coast SO fast.

ok, now it’s late… and i’m still typing… and i’m pretty sure i’m sounding weirder by the second, so i’m going to put an end to this.

fin.

<3
kina

oovret: Week 67

Have you made any celebratory plans for your upcoming album release?

not plans as in in-the-calendar plans, but i can guarantee there will be sushi involved. also, definitely planning to have a cd release show in LA, and if i’m lucky, maybe i can make one happen on the east coast too…

How will you be distributing your new album?
i had a long chat about this with my management today. should i go into it? hmm… here’s the thing, if you want to put cds in retail stores it equals tons of money, because you have to make enough cds to put in every major store… in every city… and how many of those cds will actually be purchased there anyway? plus the distribution company will then take a percentage of all digital sales as well (itunes, rhapsody, napster, etc)… but i don’t really NEED them for that stuff. i think the smartest move for me since i don’t have a ton of money laying around, will be to start off selling physicals from my website and at shows, and digitals everywhere they’d usually be, and if there becomes a demand, we’ll look into putting it in stores as well. also, by the time the album releases, i’ll be passing off the job of shipping my merch to a company, that way everyone can get their things in a timely manner :) i will miss writing everyone thank yous though…

What was the last book you finished reading? How was it?
it was called “honey bee” :) it was fascinating and kind of made me wish i had the time and backyard to be a beekeeper and have my own honey!

Do you enjoy listening to “Bela Fleck and the Flecktones”?
haven’t heard enough of them… i’ll do my hw!

What toppings do you like on your frozen yogurt?
strawberries and mochi
OR
coconut, chocolate shavings, and strawberries
OR
strawberries, blueberries, and bananas
OR
tons of everything.

use somebody

i’m about to write the lamest blog ever! this is because it’s 1 am and i’m super cold and my stomach feels unhappy :(

in short:
kajsd;kdjslkj! i can’t believe the album is actually getting mastered on wednesday. happinesssss!

also– thank you all SO much for all of the feedback regarding the website. i wrote down all of your notes, so hopefully we can make most of it happen :)

in conclusion: you make me happy.

xoxo
kina

oovret: Week 66

Now that you have gained another year’s worth of fans: approximately, how many e-mail/messages do you receive each week? (real e-mail)+(facebook)+(myspace)+(youtube)+(others)=(all)
hmm… i’d say anywhere from 800-1200?
How much time do you spend reading and replying to them?
a lot, but it’s kind of interspersed through the entire day, so it doesn’t seem too crazy.
What is your favorite fair food?
corn dogs :)
Do you enjoy listening to “The Replacements”?
not very familiar with them, i’ll check it out.
Does Mama G interrogate your new friends like she does with new ShoutBox users?
she always knew everything about everyone :) friends would come over and hang out with her instead of my sisters and me… haha.

our future home…

i’ve been doing a lot of thinking about our future home– the new kinagrannis.com website. the current website has been around for 4 years now… it released my first 3 cds, announced some of my first shows (to which about 10 people showed up), stood by during two weeks for kina, gotta digg, and the super bowl, and became the home to many an awesome bla(h)gger, kinerd, street teamer, etc. i love this website! however, with the release of my new album coming up, it’s time for something new. not just for me, for you too!

that’s why i want to ask all of YOU what we can do to make our home even more awesome.

so what do you think??

a few thoughts i’ve had…

- front page: what do you think should be on the front page? news? the latest video/bla(h)g? should it scroll down or be fixed?

- what about the shout box? where should that go? and does anyone know any alternatives that we could use for chatting with each other that won’t freak out if there are more than 8 people in it?

- the street team page will be TOTALLY redone in time… not sure how yet … but we’re trying to see if we can automate it so that misa (our lovely webmistress) doesn’t have to manually enable everyone’s usernames for the street team login. i also want to make it easier for us to share and talk about future missions and awesome solo projects that people have done.

- what else do you want? what would make it easiest to use? nicest to look at? have you seen cool ideas in other websites that you think we could try too? comment and let me know any and all thoughts :)

thanks for being super.
kina

Kina
kina@kinagrannis.com
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inquiries@kinagrannis.com
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webmaster@kinagrannis.com
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PO Box 4921
Mission Viejo, CA 92690