Check out the Blog link in the top Navigation bar. I added a first post about my first experience as a rock keyboardist. And you thought that this page was the only blog I would give you...

I considered a few options for hosting my new blog, including blogger.com (too mainstream/commercial, not customizable enough), and a separate Hostbaby News page (actually not a bad option in terms of pure content updating capabilities, but it's not really built for all the fun blog features like categories, image hosting, etc.). So, I decided to upload and install a blog script provided by www.b2evolution.net onto Hostbaby (complicated stuff, took me 4-5 hours to get up and running), and now I have a blog with all the important features and no sacrifice of control/customization. Since all the admin files are only on my computer and Hostbaby, not on some random blog server, I get to do whatever I want with them. My favorite part setting the blog up was the tutorial on how to integrate my blog into my pre-existing layout. It worked!! Well, after I deleted the old layout template that wouldn't go away...

I'm excited to have a place to talk about life as a musician. and not just business stuff. The "News" page seems so self-important; the Blog is much more lighthearted. Now this website feels like home.

- Jake

Hello friends and fans,

Welcome to Jake Smolowe's Official Website, version 2.0. I've spent the past few weeks redesigning nearly my entire site structure and layout. If you've been here before, this will be immediately apparent in the new logo image and the new navigation bar at the top. In addition to those cosmetic alterations, I've updated the content on many of the pages. New additions include:

• A functional, dynamic gig calendar that I am keeping up to date, courtesy of HostBaby.com (my web host)
• Dynamic HostBaby-provided Guestbook and News pages that I can update on the fly--this translates into practical benefits for you, because it means you will get more frequent updates from me on this site. The previous Guestbook was non-functional.
• A playlist gadget on my Audio page; more to come in that department.
• On my Album pages, Play buttons for streaming audio for each track, and a link to iTunes for the album.
• A nifty image viewer on my Images page, plus 2 whole new image galleries (one is expanded from the original gallery on jakesmolowe.com version 1.0)
• Updated Bio and Projects information.

Coming soon (I hope):

• A video page! I recently posted my Senior Recital videos on YouTube and Google video, but I want to embed those videos on my site as well. I'll see if I can figure it out in the near future. For now, those links are here:

  YouTube (first 6 songs)
  Google Video (main project)

Check it out, and drop me a Guestbook post if you like what you see (or hear)! Also, please let me know if anything seems broken, or just messy; I still have to do some cross-browser testing (or find someone to help me with it).

- Jake