Keith Everette Smith Featured on Fox Christmas Special
(pictured above: Saddleback Church instrumental director/arranger Keith Everette Smith with his custom NeKo)
Lake Forest, CA -- Open Labs®, the leader in computer enhanced musical instruments will be featured on the Fox Network 2008 Christmas Eve Special, broadcasting from the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. Operated by American author and celebrity preacher Rick Warren, the church founding pastor penned the best selling novel, "The Purpose Driven Life" in 1995. The Saddleback Church is the 4th largest church in the U.S. with over 20,000 members, and has featured many notable politicians such as president-elect Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain since opening its doors in 1980. Warren (who will be delivering Obama's inaugural invocation) and his wife, Kay, have been praised by politicians and the media for their efforts to combat the HIV virus, and their outreach efforts to the victims of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The music portion of the event will be headed by instrumental director/arranger Keith Everette Smith, who will be using an Open Labs NeKo Special Edition to direct the arrangements.
"I’m very open to new technology," said Smith. "I started to get excited when I realized that at the NeKo’s core was software that I already understood. I use Ableton Live and I have a lot of software instruments. The thought of using NeKo seemed like an extension of my studio. I could learn the depths of the board as fast or as slow as I wanted to."
"We're very honored to work with the Saddleback Church, on account of the many great things that they have done for humanity," said Open Labs C.E.O. Hank Coleman. "We also know that operating a large, live media show can be difficult, so we are glad to assist them in any way we can."
The Fox Christmas Eve Special will air three times throughout the holidays, check local listings or www.foxnews.com for details.
About Rick Warren:
Pastor Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest in 1980 with one other family. Today, it is one of America’s most influential churches, with approximately 20,000 people attending the weekend services. Saddleback offers more than 200 community ministries and support groups for parents, families, children, couples, prisoners, addicts, people living with HIV/AIDS, depression, MS, Parkinson’s, autism, and many others. He is the author of the bestselling hardback in American history, The Purpose Driven Life, with over 30 million copies sold worldwide.
About Open Labs:
Headquartered in the heart of "the live music capital of the world," Open Labs™ develops customized, computer music instruments suited to fit every studio and stage need imaginable. Open Labs instruments combine studio and computer technology with keyboard hardware to create a multi-functional studio, a multi-faceted keyboard, and a complete PC setup all in one machine. With a single piece of Open Labs gear, musicians can play any organ, piano, synthesizer or virtual instrument on the planet, create any beat, tone or sound imaginable, manipulate every parameter, record it in a multi-track system and burn it to a CD/DVD. That's just the beginning of what Open Labs products can do.