Happy New Year!!! I want to thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit my new online home here at www.zakarifrantz.com. It took quite some time & energy to build, but the foundation is strong, the walls are wired, the roof is raised, and it's finally time to start moving in the furniture & hanging some pictures. House plants, we need house plants.
First things first...I'd like to sincerely thank web designer Brent Colby for guiding me through this daunting task. He truly is a "Wix Wizard" and I appreciate him taking the extra time to listen to my creative ideas, help translate them into this platform, and especially teach me how to alter every parameter in order to continue developing this portal for years to come. Thanks Brent, and best of luck with your future endeavours!
So, what's new? Basically everything. I'll start with the series of background photos, taken in early 2018 by my dear friend (and favourite Ottawa DJ) Zattar. We had a nice early-afternoon session at his studio, which had to be rescheduled three times due to heavy snowfall. Although I know it is now January 2019, my beard is longer, and my head is balder, I still have fond memories of this session and the spark that led to the completion of these pages. Zattar has taken many photos for Souljazz Orchestra over the years, and I love working with him no matter the medium. Don't know TimeKode? Shame...
If I was directing a tour of your first visit here to my new spot, I would walk you first to my new Bio page. This information was kindly compiled and beautifully written by my friend & OrKidstra comrade Rebecca Russell. We met for coffee one afternoon last fall at the Art House Cafe on Sommerset, where I basically handed her every horrible historical record & CV I ever tried to write about myself and said "Help, please?" She smiled and said "No problem" and, without her skills and detailed approach to research, I wouldn't be half as confident in sharing my journey as Zattar's badass photo would lead you to believe. Thank you both so much!
From there, feel free to browse around and check out the rest of the rooms. I have a few January performances listed, now with a cool new format which will allow you to expand each concert poster if you so desire. I also have loads of information on my various Music & Education projects. Finally, one home for all the websites & social links. Anything to save my mom & dad that extra trip to the Google tab.
Over the coming weeks, I'll be continuing to update in many places including my Media page. Here, I'll regularly be featuring some choice live photos by some of my favourite local & international photographers. There is also plenty of audio & video on the way by all your favourite projects, and hopefully some you've never heard of. For now, if you happen to know (or be) a photographer with a few choice live shots you'd like to share here on my site, be sure to get in touch with me via my Contact page!
Still, at the heart of this entire portal, lies this new Blog. Finally, I have a home where I can begin to collect my thoughts and writings, as well as all the Vive Le Frantz road stories and FunkyLeaks video clips you've come to know (& hopefully love) if you've been following me the past few years on Facebook. Honestly, this entire website (and blog) is an attempt to spend LESS time online...I've grown tired and weary of many of the social networks I've used for years, and at this stage I'd much rather have full control over my content rather than just dumping it on to another site for 10% of my readers to actually see.
Finally, please hit up any of the boxes at the bottom of various pages to subscribe to my upcoming mailing list so you can receive updates and blog posts directly from me. For those of you still more comfortable with the standard social networking platforms, you'll find plenty of FB page links and Twitter feeds scattered throughout the page as well, simply click away.
Well I think that's all for now. Stay warm & positive, and stop by anytime. My house is open to you!