April 2012
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Looks Like It's Gonna Be A busy Summer...
I’ll be on the road with Sy Smith and The Foreign Exchange… Hopefully I’ll see you in one of these cities.
For ALL future show information click here
April 21 – With The Foreign Exchange @ Triad College Music Festival – Greensboro, NC BUY TICKETS
May 3 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ DROM – New York City, NY BUY TICKETS
May 5 – Zo! + Sy Smith @ Apache Café – Atlanta, GA BUY TICKETS
...
March 2012
3 posts
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Unveiling of the "Zotif" Keyboard...
Well folks, after you have played a few shows here and there, done some touring with the same brand of equipment and gotten no love from the endorsement side of things after trying repeatedly to contact a Yamaha company that shall remain nameless (oops)… There comes a time for a little something that I like to call “SELF endorsement”…
Endorsing one’s self...
February 2012
8 posts
Video link of NBC performance →
kokayi:
Cheers to NBC Washington and First Heard Editor Teneille Gibson! Double Cheers to some of the greatest musicians out chere aka ZO, Jon Laine, DP and Kush.
Songs featured in the video are “Only” and “44”. “Only can be found on Robots & Dinosaurs. “44” has yet to be released. Stay tuned…
Big shouts to my brovah Kokayi…
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Ablyss..." ...(just...
When I look back on 2001, the first thing that comes to mind is, “DAMN! That was eleven years ago?!” But when I really dig into it and all that occurred that year, I can summarize it by simply stating that it was a year of transition and adjustment. I had just graduated in December of 2000 with a degree in Studio Art (Graphic Design) from Western Kentucky University and was on the...
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On August 27, 2006, I recorded an instrumental... →
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Zo!'s Albums →
If anyone wants to know how to pick up some of my material online… Here is a link to my albums…
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January 2012
4 posts
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Touching Lives via Music NEVER Gets Old…
I was just sent this picture from a young lady in Rio de Janeiro of a brand new tattoo that she got that reads “Don’t ever underestimate the power of your mind…” - a quote inspired by “Greatest Weapon Of All Time” from the SunStorm album. The lyrics were written and sung by my a great friend of mine, “tourmate” and sister, Sy Smith… I’m...
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Zo!’s Top Five Moments of 2011 – #1 Going Home and...
May 8, 2011, Mother’s Day…
The +FE crew and I were set to take the short 2-hour and some change drive to Detroit from Cleveland to play our 4th show of the scheduled seven-show tour of Midwest cities. I was up and ready to go this particular morning as we were creeping up on the show date that I was most anticipating. Going back home to perform is always motivational to me because...
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Zo!’s Top Five Moments of 2011 – #2 My First Trips...
Performing in Amsterdam • Photo by Sarah Jane Van Beek
I quickly went from having never traveled to Europe… to traveling to Europe three times in the first three months of the year. In January, I went overseas with The Foreign Exchange for our first European Tour as a collective, which covered London, Amsterdam, Paris, Köln, and back to London for a second show. While the tour was...
December 2011
5 posts
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Zo!’s Top Five Moments of 2011 – #3 Rock Creek...
Friday, August 5th began early for me as I was picked up from my hotel room in Houston at about 4:45am to catch an early flight back home after wrapping up another successful listening party for my then new release, …just visiting three. For those of you who know me personally, along with others who happen to follow me on Twitter or Facebook know that I taught Music at a Special Education...
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Upcoming Shows with Sy Smith... Portland (12/22),...
I’ll be traveling west to perform with my sister in music… the wonderfully talented, Sy Smith to perform our intimate, acoustic set in Portland and Seattle at the end of this week and LA in January…
Zo! + Sy Smith @ The Crown Room - Portland, OR
December 22, 2011
9:30p
Zo! + Sy Smith @ Nectar Lounge - Seattle, WA
December 23, 2011
9:00p
Zo! + Sy Smith @ Little Temple -...
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Zo!'s Top Five Moments of 2011 - #5 The Co-Signing...
Whenever I do a cover of a song, or in this case an original piece that serves as dedication track paying homage a favorite group (The Blackbyrds) and favorite production team (The Mizell Brothers), the way that I judge the finished product is by asking myself, “Do you think that this piece can be presented to the original artist… WITH confidence?” If the answer to that...
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November 2011
1 post
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October 2011
4 posts
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Playing Your Game, Baby"...
Music is pretty funny….. Scratch that. Music is hilarious - Particularly when it comes to its creation. I’d like to consider myself a free thinker when it comes to making music mostly because it eliminates any boundaries, but also because music can be so unpredictable… ALL the time. Being that this is the last SCS for …just visiting three, it’s only right that this...
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September 2011
8 posts
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Same Ole Love" (feat....
Some of you may remember the good ole days when I taught music to Special Ed. High School kids (up until the school shut down completely at the top of August). Well, the most difficult part about maintaining a “9 to 5” and being a working musician is being able to keep some crazy late night hours. There were times that I would be getting off of a red eye flight from the west coast or...
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September 11th... We Have History.
My first birthday cake (9/11/79)… I was probably analyzing the best method of attack at that point.
At approximately 10:50am in 1978, September 11th and I began to form a bond that would go on to last a lifetime to say the absolute least. This would become the day that as a kid I would get so hyped up that I would establish countdowns to simply because the date would involve...
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Everything She Wants"...
“Everything She Wants” was actually the LAST song recorded for the album. The reason why Phonte is on the joint is because…. well…. we both knew that he and I could complete a song super quickly and efficiently. At the time I was looking to get just ONE more joint on the album to being the total to seven and nothing was showing any promise. I was debating on whether or...
August 2011
9 posts
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Marzipan" (feat. Eric...
There are two key characteristics that are common when Phonte and I get into very involved music conversations… 1. They are never planned. It’s never formally announced, “Ayo man, we’ve gotta get up and talk about some music.” …Nope. It just happens. 2. The conversation usually lasts for a few hours. Kats are usually sitting at our computers going through...
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My FB Status on Aug 17th, 2009 read...
“For this school year, I’m organizing an “I’ma Beat Yo Parent’s Ass” night. Should serve as a great icebreaker.”
Knowing how FEW parents would show up to “Parents’ Night”… well, that is until the school started feeding folks chicken and candied yams and shit…
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Videos & Pics from 1st Hit Listening Lounge...
Zo! and Jodine During the Meet & Greet Source: Grown Folks MusicBy: Kimberly Kennedy Charles Zo! was in the building at Moods Music on August 7 for the Music Addikts and Harmony In Life’s 1st Hit Listening Lounge. Host Jodine Dorce of Jodine’s Corner and Zo! chop it up in an intimate, “Inside the Actors Studio” fashion about his background and passion before music, how some of his hottest...
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Ok, so I lied... Here's ANOTHER "Student...
I had a student a couple of years ago who came into my classroom super late one day, I’m talking 5-10 minutes left of class late. So naturally, when he came through the door, I looked at him crazy and asked him, “Where were YOU?!” He responded by letting me know that he was caught by DC’s Truancy Police earlier that morning… He proceeded to explain to me how he...
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Driving" (feat. Sy Smith...
It seems as though all of the stories for …just visiting three begin with a phone conversation between Phonte and I. Welp, I guess with that being said………..
I was having a conversation with Phonte one day…… and he was telling me about a recent connection he made with a certain well-known female vocalist who essentially made it known that she was down to be...
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Village Voice shows love to '...just visiting...
This Wham! Cover By Zo! And Phonte is Pretty Fantastic! Source: The Village Voice By: Maura Johnston Right off the bat I should tell you that “Everything She Wants” by Wham! has been one of my favorite songs since I first heard it as an impressionable nine-year-old, even though its themes of love being washed away by consumerism and economic pressures were far beyond my years; its...
July 2011
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Zo! - '...just visiting three' FREE DOWNLOAD +...
ZO! - …JUST VISITING THREE (2011) (FREE DOWNLOAD)
01 BLACK COW FEAT. PHONTE AND SY SMITH
LEAD VOCAL: PHONTE
BACKGROUND VOCALS: SY SMITH AND PHONTE
GUITAR: CHRIS BOERNER
TRUMPET: STAN GRAHAM
TROMBONE: ANDREW KLEINDIENST
SAXOPHONE: MATT DOUGLAS
02 LET IT GO FEAT. NICHOLAS RYAN GANT
LEAD VOCAL: NICHOLAS RYAN GANT
BACKGROUND VOCALS: NICHOLAS RYAN GANT AND PHONTE
03...
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Let It Go" (feat....
I can remember being reintroduced to the original song by Pages back in the summer of 2009 when Questlove tweeted it one day saying that he currently had the joint on repeat. From there, hell… I had it on repeat. The joint is yet ANOTHER reason why I could give a damn about a “genre.” Because if you look at a picture of Pages, there’s no way you would think that they...
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Studio Campfire Stories: "Black Cow" (feat. Phonte...
Production work on …just visiting three began on December 22nd, 2010 following a phone conversation I had with Phonte discussing songs that I wanted to recreate for the new album. One of the songs that had my full attention at that particular time was Steely Dan’s “Black Cow.” I was already familiar with the song and the legendary Aja album that it comes from, but for...
