Thanks! I'll Be Quiet Now.

A few months back, I had a meeting with a program manager for the City about funding for the Zubatto Syndicate recording project. She pointed to a line in my budget where I had projected income of $3000 from micro-patronage through the Kickstarter website.

"Is that confirmed?" she asked.

"No, I'm going to start the campaign in July," I replied.

"Because that's a healthy chunk of change," she stated.

It was a healthy prediction, to be sure, and it accounted for a full quarter of my projected income for the project. I explained that for my last CD, I raised $2000 on my own and was basing the number on the notion that I would do slightly better this time. I didn't really have any reason to expect people to sign up again this time around or even more people, but I was optimistic.

Fast forward a few weeks to July, and the beginning of the Zubatto Syndicate Kickstarter campaign. Looking at all of the info, I decided to double down and go for $4000. Twice what I raised for "Four-Color Heroes!" If the Zubatto record was going to happen, it was probably going to cost twice as much to make. So everything needed to double. It would be a good early indicator of support and interest, in any case. Raise $4000, this makes sense. Come up short, maybe this isn't such a good idea after all.

This morning, the Kickstarter campaign successfully concluded with a grand total of $5240 raised through 92 backers. We hit that $4000 goal after less than 2 weeks. I have been completely floored by the response from friends, family, casual internet acquaintances and maybe even a fan or two. it's been an amazing 45 days and I am grateful to everyone who has signed up to support the project.

Thanks to Twitter and Facebook, many of the contributors are friends from former jobs, from college, from first college, from latest college, even a bunch from High School. That people who have known me for 30-something years are willing to throw in their hard-earned money to support my music is unbelievable and I am thankful and humbled. Same goes with the people who have known me for only a few months thanks to my Twitter ramblings, and everyone in between.

To say this was a success would be an understatement. I still need to figure out where the rest of the money is going to come from, but after the positive response to the Kickstarter campaign, I know that this project is going to work (knock wood) and that we're going to make a record that you will really enjoy.

If you weren't able to jump on for the Kickstarter campaign or you are waiting for a future opportunity to support the band, never fear! There will be a chance to pre-order the record and other good stuff early next year. I know that the micro-funding thing isn't everyone's bag and some folks just want to purchase these things the old-fashioned way. You'll have a chance!

So onward and upward. There will be updates from the studio, progress reports, previews and the like along the way, but things will a little quieter for the time being. We are off and running!

Thanks everyone!