Hi everyone,

Thanks so much again to those who donated to fund the production of CDs and vinyl for my new album! We had a wonderful album release party at Arlington's Galaxy Hut two weeks ago with Quadruplestop cello quartet, with my brother Stephen joining us on drums.

Unfortunately, the vinyl is not quite ready yet. It should be finished by next week. I can assure you that the extra time is worth it - we are making sure it is perfect. The test pressings sound amazing. If you pre-ordered the vinyl but would like a CD instead, please let me know.

A few more housekeeping items:

• Everyone who pledged $5 or more should have received a code to download the album from BandCamp. I can see that about 25 people still haven't used their code - if there was a problem with it, or you didn't receive one, please let me know.


• Everyone who ordered a CD should have received it by now - please let me know if you haven't.


• Cover artist Dave Gonzalez has finished all of the original pieces for those of you who pledged at that reward level. He is shipping the last batch of them this week. He is also launching a new web site from which to sell his original art - I will link to it when it is ready.


• For those of you who ordered a cello-ized song, I am working on them now. If you have not chosen a song for me to try, please let me know your choice as soon as possible.


• I am still waiting on mailing addresses for 2-3 people - I'll send you a separate message if I don't have yours.

And finally, a big congratulations to fellow Kickstarter Nick Disbato, whose book project was successfully funded this past week! Nick was our first backer, and I am happy to see his project succeed too.

Best,

Gordon

We did it!

Thanks to each of you, vinyl and CDs are a go for my new album! I can't properly express my gratitude in words - just know that I am extremely humbled and thrilled. It is truly an honor to be putting out an album that is effectively produced by the fan base. Call it whatever you want - crowdsourcing, Music 2.0, fundraising - the album is now basically yours. Gotta Groove Records is already setting up the presses for the vinyl production as you read this! (CDs, which take less time, will start being produced in a couple of weeks)

For those of you who ordered physical items, I will be in touch with you directly once I receive your email addresses (after the Kickstarter deadline ends). I will be out of email range 10/19-10/25, but I will try to reach each of you before then for your mailing addresses, song requests, etc. For those of you receiving custom art from Dave Gonzalez, I will forward your mailing addresses to him.

It looks like the album will come out mid-November, with a release party tentatively planned for 11/22 at the Galaxy Hut in Arlington, VA. More details soon!

Thank you again!! If you know anyone who was planning on pre-ordering, but hasn't done it yet, please let them know that they can still do so before noon on Wednesday. Once the Kickstarter project ends, I won't be taking orders again until November.

Rock on,

Gordon

PS. Attached is a version of the WTOP interview that ran every hour last Friday and Saturday. Enjoy!

For the next week, my entire new album will be available for streaming at BandCamp. This will end coinciding with the Kickstarter deadline - noon ET next Wednesday (10/14). Check it out and let me know what you think!

It's the home stretch now - thank you all for your contributions so far, and if you feel comfortable doing so, please share this project with your friends. I know we can hit the goal of $2,500 by next Wednesday, but it will take more than what I can do alone.

Also, I wrote a piece for my blog with more thoughts on Kickstarter and the new music economy. Check it out.

Best,
Gordon

Hi everyone,

Thanks to all of you who have pledged to this project so far. We're at the 50% mark in terms of time, and about to break the $1,000 barrier. But we're not quite halfway there in terms of funding - we need about $1,500 more to get fully funded. I went ahead and put the mastering on a credit card - so I'm counting on the goal being met by October 14! :) The mastered versions sound awesome, by the way - I'll put some up on BandCamp shortly. I also picked a pressing plant for the vinyl, so we're just about ready to go on that too. [The winner is GottaGroove Records out of Cleveland!].

Again, if you feel comfortable doing so, please use the sharing tools on the main project page to send a message to friends on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Amusing update - on Monday night, I was interviewed for a story on Kickstarter that will air next week on DC's "most listened to" talk radio station - WTOP. If all goes well I'll be broadcast to a half-million people each time, during next Friday's morning and evening commutes (with a longer version to air on the weekend). I'll be absolutely sure to update this page the second the interview mp3's hit TOP's web site.

NickD, I tried to give you a subtle shoutout on TOP - we'll see if it makes the final cut, heh.

Thanks again to all of you for your support and belief in this album - it means more than you could imagine.

Yours in Rock,

Gordon

Hey everyone,

Thanks again to all of you who have pledged so far! I owe several of you personal thank-you notes, and I apologize for not sending them as promptly as I'd like. I'm excited to say that the project is 33% funded, with 36% of the project time elapsed. That's pretty good, and I am confident it's going to succeed. In fact, I'm already setting up the logistics for the initial vinyl run!

To help keep the excitement going, I'm adding a new reward level. Pledge $500, and you get ALL of the items from the other reward levels (vinyl, cd, downloads, a cello-ized song, a custom piece from Dave), plus I will come to your house and play a 90-minute solo cello concert for you & your friends. I'll even throw in a cello lesson if you want. Travel is free within a 50-mile radius of Alexandria, VA - otherwise you'll need to pay for me to get to you.

What do you guys think? Is this a cool idea? Even if only one person pledges it, the project will be a lot closer to succeeding.

Again, thank you guys so much for pledging. I can't wait to send you all your albums and various other rewards. Please remember to share this project with your friends & anyone you know who loves music - even the $1 and $5 pledges add up! (Don't forget, $5 still gets you a digital copy of the album).

Thanks,
Gordon

Good evening,

My good friend Nick D and I both launched Kickstarter fundraising projects at about the same time - his is to publish an awesome book he is writing on interaction design, and of course mine is for producing the vinyl & cd versions of my new album. Nick posted tonight about an interesting statistic with Kickstarter projects - those that reach the 25%-funded threshold have a 94% success rate.

[Incidentally, if you work in design, product development, or technology, you will need NickD's book when it is finished - go make sure it gets published now! I don't get a kickback, by the way.]

If you're interested, the folks at Kickstarter posted a long blog about why they think the 25% threshold exists. It's a good read if you have time. But the point is - tonight I noticed that both Nick's project and mine are tantalizingly close to that 25%-funded mark - right now I'm just over 20%.

I want to thank those of you who have pre-ordered the album so far, or just donated for the cause. It is my firm belief that in 2009, a musician or band needs to do more than just release an album on CD and mp3. The disposability of both formats goes against what the album format - that vaunted Long-Player, always represented. I believe that people are craving the real experience, with real thought, care, and love put into the entire package - great music, great artwork, and special offerings. But even if you only ordered the CD, you'll still get as nice of a package as we can manage with that format. Cover artist Dave Gonzalez just sent over the final cover art yesterday, and it is amazing. If this fundraising fails, that cover art may never see the surface of an LP sleeve, let alone a smaller CD cover - it will only exist on that Bandcamp page and as a thumbnail in a little corner in your iTunes. And then there's the music - thanks especially to my brother Stephen's drumming and J Robbins's amazing production job, I am absolutely convinced that this album deserves LP and CD treatment. I would have never undertaken a pre-ordering fundraiser project if I thought otherwise.

So, about that 25% threshold. The way this project will surpass it - and eventually succeed - is through your help. Share it with your friends. Convince them that they need to order an all-cello recording of their significant other's favorite song for Christmas/Hanukkah/their birthday/next Flag Day. When else will you ever have the chance to hear cello versions of Mission of Burma, Chavez, and Burning Airlines on vinyl (not to mention the originals)? This may also be the only time ever that you can get an original piece of Dave's for so little money. Grab the sharing widget on the project's homepage, or just click one of the sharing links. Sign up for my email list and tell others to as well.

Thanks again and let's make this happen for real!

Best,

Gordon Withers

PS. I may have some exciting radio-interview news later this week. I'll update again as soon as it happens!