(updated again October 18, 2025)

My name is John Smithson, I was born and raised in Chugiak, Alaska 21 miles north of Anchorage. I've been writing songs for over 25 years now but have been broken my own life apart to be the glue of my family saving one family member after the next since 2014 and have not been able to properly finish my lifes work. I've lost tens of thousands of dollars supporting my family. And it's over now everyone is safe and im left working 100 hours a week doing Uber delivery these last 2 years. I'm currently out of Alaska in Los Angeles but plan to go back home because I can save up money faster there to eventually buy land build a home workshop and recording studio focus on YouTube and finally reach stability and sustained constant creative output.

I can reach my goals slowly concerning my personal life but to keep my sanity while im working 100 hours a week and at least keep chipping away at all my songs I really need a few things to continue recording music basically off grid in the wild/ empty Parking garages late at night and hopefully eventually on the beach by the ocean with your help.

The fundraiser was originally for a excellent professional acoustic guitar but with the momentum and support that has been building up online i decided to try to make record videos and songs in empty Parking garages and with your help eventually and hopefully by the ocean.

So thanks to this fundraiser I picked up a great acoustic guitar for a cheap price and since the piano songs get so much attention I picked up a korg sv1 88 key Hammer weighted professional keyboard. But I cant play it where I live I have too many neighbors close by.

overworked and picked up a portable silent battery powered generator to power an electric guitar amp/keyboard amp and power the keyboard and recharge every device I need to record music.

And the cheapest drum kit and cymbals i can find used on fb market place ended up costing me 400 for Ludwig breakbeat kit and 1970s zildjian cymbals I had to repair but sound excellent

so here’s what’s left after the last 2 donations:

amp repair/possibly new speakers? I am going to try resoldering the entire amp to ensure connections and make sure there isn’t anything disconnected or anything physically in the nooks of the speakers but if that still doesn’t solve the buzzing crackling and occasional total cutting out I will need to take this to a professional or I might even have to replace the speakers as well. Without speakers possibly 200 with speakers 350

and I need to pick up a pair of used sm57 microphones to get rid of a lot of the background highway white noise in the videos. The recordings would be much better with 2 of those bout 115 ebay

also a cheap but excellent audio interface a topping e2x2 2 channel mic interface to connect the mics, that’s 170, to my upgraded 2012 MacBook Pro I already own. But will need to replace the battery so add another 75.

so the total Im aiming for with or without this fundraiser help is roughly 550 with speakers 400 without speakers remaining after the last 2 donations

and that’s the update..

I've never asked for help like this before. Please consider Investing in me even what you would spend on coffee or boba. or esentially the cost of an album im working on now to slowly make reality.

If you are interested in learning more about me tiktok gets the most interactions but im also on Instagram facebook and youtube

Here's my tiktok

https://www.tiktok.com/@alaskanjohnsmithson?_t=ZP-8zsXrWkFpwV&_r=1

www.instagram.com/alaskanjohnsmithson

Thank you for your time