Sometime back in 1979, Linda Lou Kestin gave to Kenny Smith an envelope that contained over twenty-five lyrics she had written over the years and that she was also going to submit them to several songwriter’s contests. Linda Lou Kestin’s first record was with the legendary LEE ROGERS, when he recorded “Love And Life” and Linda co-produced the single for CKS Productions. CKS found distribution with Claridge Records, and released it’s only single entitled “Train Of Desire” with Total Force and Demene E. Hall, then Paul McCartney’s MPL Communications took over the company and dropped the little label. Rogers “It Must Be Love” in 1980 followed with Kestin as the songwriter. In 1986, Smith got the chance to record and produce another one of Linda’s first lyrics entitled “You Make My Life So Beautiful” performed by the group “Better Half.” The vocals were to light for the artist, and the track appeared on this group’s album with the same name. Kestin forged ahead with her writing career, as she was also busy as a single mother raising two beautiful then teenage daughters in Santa Ana. And was the vice-principal of one of the lead magnet schools, and a teacher. Her Hobby of singing and writing song lyrics was a great stress releaser from the job. The year 1987, when Kenny Smith released his first of four albums entitled “Raw And Nasty”, definitely influenced by his moved to Las Vegas. Three Songs from that album included “Love Thang” and “Sweet Gypsy Woman” and “Heartbreaker” with lyrical support from Kestin’s work. Again, sometime in 1988, Smith settled down in Colorado, and finally found a place to create all the music he wanted. And he did. Five Volumes of works by Linda Lou Kestin. For some reason, he never bothered to disrupt her life. Smith remembers sending a letter to Broadcast Music, Inc., and asking them to please forward it to her and that was sometime in 1994. Smith remembers, “I just lost out keeping in touch with her, but not out of my mind she was always there writing songs.” Smith lived with Linda’s lyrics for over twenty five years. The letter came back from BMI stating that they could not forward any mail to another member. At that point, Smith’s search was pretty much ended. “It was not like, I was not going to see her ever again. But I wanted to show her something had been done.” Smith said. Over the years, the songs were lost within Smith’s personal effects and didn’t re-surface until sometime in 1993. This was the beginning of working with Jamie Zikowitz as his co-writer and demo vocalist. “I Just Want To Think You” and “Never Deny Love”. That year Smith started working on his next album. He didn’t call it complete until July 1997, when “Kenny Baby” was released. This album contained the lead track of Kestin’s Lyric in “I Got Your Love”, “Just To Be With You”, “Run To The River”, “Run To Kiss You” and “Love Thang”. In February 2004, Smith started matching his musical database of song tracks, and marrying them together. Like magic, one right after the other begins to interweave and the magic — that gives “One Time Love” —the juice; just starts to come out of each track. It was to real to be true. But all along, Smith had been writing music for these lyrics in his head. Linda was really living there in the songs. Then the book disappears again. This time for almost one year. Smith have been writing these tracks, that some of his friends call, “movie music”, you know between the actions of the film. Anyway, in 2005, Linda’s songbook shows up again in Smith’s belongings, falling out of the bottom of the box, with the lyric sheets and CD masters being spread across the room. “The biggest smile in the room was mine. They had been gone from my hands for almost one year.” said Smith. “Roadrunners” and “What About Love” from the Rosamond High School’s 30th class reunion CD that Smith entitled 2001 RHS Reunion CD released to the members of the reunion. These two songs were remixed and placed on two different albums; LLK Songbook Volume Four contains “Roadrunners”. While the other Kestin lyrics are released in LLK Songbook Redeux Volume Two. “What About Love” is unique and asks the question, when you have it all, what about love? Dropping everything, Smith started back to matching the lyrics with the music, and like magic again, the songs marry into the frames of the songs like butter on hot popcorn. Sometime in late October 2005, Smith mailed Kestin the first CD album in the series entitled THE LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK (VOLUME ONE) with 14 songs on this release. Smith recalls just placing a card in the package, didn’t say or write one word. Smith was just hoping it was the right Linda, and the right address. Not wanting to know if the package arrived, Smith immediately was on the road to Memphis and had the chance to “hang around and observe” Al Green and Willie Mitchell recording their first album in over 25 years using the same equipment that made the magic all those years ago. Mitchell did produced Lee Rogers’ Billboard smash pick “Love For A Love” in 1967 at this very same studio. This experience that has began to wash over “Come On Honey” from the LLK Songbook Volume One CD. Platinum Sound’s THE LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK VOLUME ONE iPod Station is open at http://kennysmithco.tripod.com and ITunes.com and Garageband.com for downloading into your iPod or MP3 machine. Linda’s work is by far the biggest challenge of Smith’s life and very close to that of Michelangelo’s painting of the 16th Chapel. “I just looked up and then it was twenty-five years later. “ Smith recants in joy. Kestin has won numerous awards over the years and that includes the national and international songwriters contest twice in her career as a lyric writer. The MP3 player is the most recent in an evolution of music formats that have helped consumers enjoy their tunes. Records, eight-track tapes, cassette tapes and CDs-none of these earlier music formats provided the convenience and control that MP3 players give music lovers. With an MP3 in hand or pocket, a consumer can create personalized music lists and carry thousands of songs wherever they go. The tiny Apple iPod Mini measures just 3.6 by 2.0 by 0.5 inches (9.1 x 5 x 1.3 cm). All of that stored music and the MP3 player itself fit into a device about the size of a deck of cards. That's a big difference in size -- as opposed to carrying a CD player and CD storage case. These advantages propel the popularity of MP3 players. This popularity is also related to the wide variety of players available to consumers. MP3 players come in many different shapes and sizes as manufacturers try to appeal to wide audiences. You can even find players that are integrated with other devices and consumer products. CDs and DVDs are everywhere these days. Whether they are used to hold music, data or computer software, they have become the standard medium for distributing large quantities of information in a reliable package. Compact discs are so easy and cheap to prduce that America Online sends out millions of them every year to entice new users. And if you have a computer and CD-R drive, you can create your own CDs, including any information you want. Have you ever dreamed of having your own radio show? Are you a recording artist hoping to have your songs heard by the masses? Decades ago, you would have had to have a lot of connections -- or a fortune -- to get heard. But now, thanks to the Internet and its instantaneous connection to millions of people, your dreams can become reality. Just as blogging has enabled almost anyone with a computer to become a bona fide reporter, a new technology called podcasting is allowing virtually anyone with a computer to become a radio disc jockey, talk show host or recording artist. If you post it, they will come. Although podcasting is still primarily used by the techie set, it's beginning to catch on with the general public. Log onto one of several podcast sites on the Web, and you can download content ranging from music to philosophy to alternative lifestyles. Podcasting combines the freedom of blogging with the technology of MP3 to create an almost endless supply of content. Some say this new technology is democratizing the once corporate-run world of radio. At the end of the 1990s, a phenomenon swept the Internet that will forever change the way we collect, listen to and distribute music: Music lovers began to download music from the Internet using the MP3 format. Unlike previous music media, MP3 music files were developed by the listener instead of the recording labels or electronics companies, effectively turning the music industry on its head. Today, tens of millions of listeners are using their personal computers to download their favorite music onto MP3 players. MP3s also give musicians a way to bypass the large recording companies in getting their music to the consumers. The first portable MP3 players were released in 1997. According to Cahners In-Stat Group, MP3 player sales are expected to jump from $126 million in 1999 to $1.25 billion by the end of 2002, and ETC Music hopes to cash in on this proliferation of MP3 players with its newly developed MusicTeller, an ATM-like machine that dispenses music files instead of money. MP3 files are probably the most well-known digital music format, but ETC's Musicteller will also include Windows Media (WMA) and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) music files, all of which are compatible on MP3 players. On Linda Lou Kestin’s renown songwriter ship, it is with great pleasure that this editor announces with great fanfare the complete 6 CD music set of Kestin’s. We have also taken the time to create a lyric book from the original manuscripts by Kestin. So In order, we start off with the LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK: REDUEX VOLUME ONE; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK: REDUEX VOLUME TWO; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK: VOLUME THREE; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK: VOLUME FOUR; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK: VOLUME FIVE; LINDA LOU KESTIN SONGBOOK: VOLUME SIX and possibly volume seven. Over twenty five years of recording, there are still countless tapes and masters and are still being gone thought each and everyday to recover these lost tracks. On meeting Ms. Kestin in early 1976, when Kenny Smith, Lee Rogers and Russ Ingersoll were first signed to Motown Records. It was a welcome home party thrown by the Motown staff. Linda was with Jeffrey Osborne and members of the group LTD. Linda was writing for the group and other new artists at the time. A chance meeting between Kestin and Smith took place near the fireplace, where Smith was playing a game of backgammon and talking to other guests. Looking up to greet others, Ms. Kestin presented her hand to Smith and gave her name. Soon, it was just a couple of months later that Smith and Kestin would be working on future projects together. It didn’t take long before the group was joined by Horace Coleman, Jr., who at the time was writing for Barry White. Coleman gave the group a new and positive look into the songwriting business. As months would pass, Smith always was at the recording studios, and occasionally would take Kestin into the studio and just visit with local artists that were recording new songs. One such recording starts with Harry Nilsson and Perry Botkins, Jr., working with Kestin and Smith on several of their new tracks from Lee Rogers and Total Force.