Kev-Productions Blog

Our Father’s Heart

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:47:53 -0600

“The best MSU Cru album, by far” - Bryan Walthall

It is finally here: A place to listen to the MSU Cru Band’s album “Our Father’s Heart” online!

If you like what you hear, please support the band! Since these songs are covers of existing artists, we understand we do not have the right to sell this CD, so we simply offer you to donate a suggested amount of $10. If you’re at all interested, please email me at kevinbutler2000@gmail.com and request more info. If you choose to donate, we can send you a link to download the album, as well as give/mail you a copy of the actual CD. As always, thank you for listening, and thank you for your support!

Keynote ’09 - Raising Support!

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 22:06:28 -0600

This summer I have an AMAZING opportunity to make an impact on the lives of youth for the Kingdom of God. I will be joining approximately 30 other university students from all over the country and heading towards Australia. I hope to grow in my relationship with Christ, be equipped to share the news of Jesus confidently and competently and develop my musical talents.
Who or what is Keynote you may be asking? Keynote is the creative arts and music ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. They bring the message of Christ through creative arts, innovative resources and training. Keynote has traveled around the world sharing the love of God with military personnel, college students, high school students, prisoners, professionals, and many others.
You and I both know that art and music captures hearts and can create safe environments for honest conversations about God. This is exactly what I get to do this summer! I will have the incredible opportunity to run sound for Young Isaac, an acoustic-rock band. My team and I will receive communication skills training, Bible teaching, personal accountability, discipleship and many hours of musical development and rehearsal time. After four weeks of training our team will be sent to Australia for a three week tour.
The staff with Keynote will have already planned our tour. We will have about 12-14 outreach concerts within that time period. Each outreach event is a mix of today’s popular songs and the story of God and how it relevantly intersects with our lives. Many of our concerts will be in Australian high schools. The cool thing about Australia is that the school officials welcome us in to do a concert and to share the message of Jesus. We will then give audience members an opportunity to respond to God’s invitation to know Him personally.
As I said before, I KNOW this opportunity will help not only my relationship with God grow, but also my knowledge and experience with mixing and music in general. I can’t begin to describe how excited I am to learn and grow. The reason I introduce all of you to this exciting adventure is two fold. First, I would like you to know what I am going to be doing for the first summer after graduating from college, and that this blog will be the avenue through which I transmit all my exciting steps in this adventure. The second is because in order to make this trip possible, I need to raise a total of $4,800 by May 15. This covers housing, transportation, facility cost and additional expenses related to training and touring. To raise this total, I need to develop a team of financial ministry partners…a group of people like you who would contribute in order to make my mission trip possible. Would you consider joining me in sharing the good news of Jesus? If interested, would you prayerfully consider joining my team by giving a gift of $100, $200, $300 or whatever you can? If interested, please mail me a check to:

Kevin Butler
4916 County Road G
Oshkosh, WI 54904

PLEASE feel free to call or email me at [(920) 279-8276, kevinbutler2000@gmail.com] if you have ANY questions. Any and all support is welcome. Your prayers in the funding and the experience are, as always, greatly appreciated. I would appreciate receiving your check by May 14th, but if you cannot make that date, I will still accept checks after that date (I don’t need all the support up front).

Thank you for considering this request to help reach people for Christ through music!
Sincerely,
Kevin Butler
NOTE: Please make your checks payable to Campus Crusade for Christ. All gifts given are tax deductible. I have enclosed a self addressed envelop for your convenience.

~PS: Please regularly tune into this site for future updates. I hope to have either a blog entry or video podcast each week. If you feel like sending info or encouragement, PLEASE email me! Thank you so very, very much for your support in this adventure!!!

Expressions

Sun, 1 Feb 2009 16:43:39 -0700

In all of our hearts there is something that want’s to be expressed. The “Expressions” album is from the MSU Cru Band’s 2007-2008 school year. This is the first CD I [Kevin Butler] ever recorded and mixed. All of the songs were multi-track recorded live during the spring semester of 2008 at the weekly Campus Crusade for Christ meetings. The mixing on this album was definitely a learning experience, and this is evident if you listen to my more recent work. Overall, I would say that this album was a learning adventure, and a spring-board that launched my desire to pursue a career in audio production.

Artist Highlight: Micah Swanson

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 13:39:18 -0700

Back in the day . . . .

"I started off as the lame boy, but two years they asked me to be Jesus. So, it was quite a promotion... I guess..."

Yes, Micah Swanson is Jesus (ok, really in his home church's play). But really, who is this Micah guy anyway? It's kind of a funny story really, how I came to know Micah. I am friends with this youth director named Jon. He met Micah at Lifest two years ago and invited his band and him to come and play for their youth service at church. Micah and Jon became good friends, and then when I interned with Jon, I met Micah. Micah also turned out to be my best friend Joe's roommate. Small world, no? Since Meeting Micah, I've become his music-tech advisor, recorder, mixer, live-sound dude, and close friend.

Micah's goal is to bring something new to the table in contemporary worship music. If anyone can do it, he can. He's extremely imaginary, and those close to him may occasionally say his reach exceeds his grasp. Whatever endeavor Micah pursues he pursues it with all he has, and makes the best of what comes out of it. Last winter, a friend of his was asking him why he wasn't playing music anymore (after his last band, Shalom, disbanded). Micah said the he'd like to, and, in fact, was wanting to do an acoustic worship record. The friend asked him what was stopping him. Micah, needing to pick one of the many reasons, said money. The friend asked how much an endeavor like that would take, and Micah estimated about $2,000. Right then, the friend took out a check and wrote it for $2k and said, "What's stopping you now?" With that push out the door, Micah recorded his acoustic album "I Am His".

Since then, Micah has been playing around the Fox Valley as he finishes his degree in Religious Studies at UW Oshkosh. During the summer of '08 Micah and friends went on a mini tour to the gulf coast to seek adventure, play music, and help people in the name of Christ. When Micah plays around the area, he is usually accompanied by his friends Seth Holiday (playing the keys) and Daniel West (playing Vibraphone and other hand percussion). Occasionally you'll also see A.J. Bosko (playing bass), Josh and Taylor Russel (playing guitars), and Amber Alley (singing backup).

Please check out the Micah Swanson tracks in the K-P audio podcast, as well the video of Micah at Reach Out Books to hear what this up-in-coming worship leader has to offer. Also, keep in tune because we'll be uploading more videos to come. We recorded video at a recording session we had over Thanksgiving, and we'll be uploading it as soon as it is compiled. Keep an eye out for Micah as he plays around the area. Please also feel free to search "Micah Swanson" on Facebook and become a fan of his Artist Page!!! He has several "Micah In The Morning" videos on his page that will let you see what Micah has been up to!

Enjoy! and as always, if you like Micah, let him know! He has his CD for sale for a "suggested" donation price. Contact either him or me and we'll get you hooked up!

Also, find Micah through these avenues:
http://www.micahswanson.com
http://www.myspace.com/micahswansonmusic

Thanks for tuning into this Artist Highlight!!!