Magic Starts with Smoothadelic Arts

Musician, writer, artist and double lung transplant survivor assembled a team to launch a business to distribute his physical and digital art and music

Steve "Smooth" Summers and Paul Dexter

The Extraordinary Smoothadelic Arts Story

My name is Paul Dexter - I have worked with touring rock & roll bands and live/recorded broadcast events since 1973. I can claim a colorful history of worldwide concert touring as a lighting and stage set designer for (to name a few) Rick James, Motley Crue, DIO, Ozzy Osbourne, Triumph, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith and Elton John.

Elton John, 1989

Stage and Lighting Design, Paul Dexter

But this GoFundMe campaign isn’t about me…

I met Steve “Smooth” Summers in February of 2005. As background, Smooth has extensive roots in the music industry since the early ’70’s as a singer-songwriter, producing nine albums of original works and global touring as a performer as well as a guitar technician for groups Tracy Chapman, The Bangles and, most recently, REO Speedwagon.

REO Speedwagon In Concert, 2019

Smooth’s Journey - We were on a perpetual tour together since ’05 with REO and became best friends. But in 2019, a rare, incurable disease, Pulmonary Fibrosis, was discovered. Smooth battled an uncontrollable cough and endured countless trips to medical specialists and agonizing tests. A double lung transplant was the only way he could be saved. Many months of rapidly declining health passed, as he was metaphorically hanging on the cliff of life or death by his fingernails. After three unsuccessful tries, the surgery was performed, notably during the height of the pandemic.

Smooth wakes up with new lungs,

April 19, 2020 - Smiling!

Reoccurring pain and a relentless series of complicated medical issues continue. Still, he has sustained a remarkable positive view of life and a pervasive natural inspiration for all his family, friends and associates. Smooth is on the road to recovery, but his touring days are unfortunately over, as well as his ability to earn income from his life’s work.

Here’s the story. On a flight one day, before he learned of his diagnosis, Smooth accidentally spilled ink on his journal book. The accident led to a doodle - the catalyst to a wide-ranging catalog of over 100 distinctive artworks. The artworks were sought after by his inner circle of musicians, friends and family members. Below are a few examples.

Smooth's 1st Discovery With His Ink Spill

"The Walkin’ Man"

The Business: The prospect of distributing valuable physical and digital assets has become a burgeoning two-fold business opportunity. To that end, we are developing a targeted social media reach, a marketing campaign and a business plan with a third-party company, Stadium Pass, to bring Smooth's artwork and music to the world via WEB3.

Stadium Pass NFT Proposed Plan Example 1

Stadium Pass NFT Proposed Plan Example 2

In addition, we've discovered that the physical distribution of artworks has several branches of potential income streams. We have financially detailed the initial 10-month period from launch through seasonal releases of prints, limited and exclusive editions, calendars, greeting cards, a children's illustrated book and casual apparel.

Smooth's endearing children's story

Original Smooth Design, "Worry"

What will the funding be used for? Estimates for the Smoothadelic Arts start-up are $87,000: Developing company marketing and promotion strategy; press and advertisements to increase social media exposure; Stadium Pass consulting, developing and implementing a continuous NFT release program; fulfillment and shipping design and planning; shipping materials and initial paper stock; creative and project management, office expenses and casual labor; legal fees and accounting associated with registering as an LLC company; requisite taxes and fees; allow 10% contingency.

The Market: The art market facts conclude that there has been an increased demand for art since 2021, with a global value of $65.1 billion; the volume of art transactions worldwide was 36.7 million and; the U.S. is leading with the highest share of global art market value. Online art and NFT in 2021 - $13.3 billion, and the sales value of art and collectibles NFT’s worldwide were worth $11.6 billion.

Paintings, prints, sculptures, drawings, collages and other works on paper remain the most in demand. As for the future, art and design is a rapidly growing sector that significantly impacts the economy and has played a critical role in innovation and start-up culture.

Musicians in Support: A wide-ranging global village of professional musicians and crew stand beside Steve “Smooth” Summers. This man has given his heart and soul to creating music juxtaposed with kindness and grace toward everyone that comes across his path.

Smooth’s debilitating disease and subsequent decreasing health was startling news for his inner circle of friends and family. Still, during a rough 2.5 years, Smooth was the one soothing our fears instead of the other way around!

Since the double lung transplant surgery, many of us felt he would be okay but didn’t know how we could help to ensure that he would. We decided on a GoFundMe campaign. To create a viable project that could potentially be the impetus for a new career whereby the world could also enjoy and share his fantastic art and music.

We reached out to tell our musical village. It yielded an outpouring of love through video endorsements. Among those artists are:

REO Speedwagon, Susanna Hoffs, Styx, Loverboy, Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Edwin McCain, Bun E Carlos, and master guitar maker Jol Dantzig.

Risks and Challenges: Physical fulfillment is an area we need to research to feel more confident. However, we are confident in our management capabilities. Prints will be on quality stock, packaged with protective care and quickly sent. Smoothadelic Arts is presently a one-person operation because it is in a nascent stage. We naturally planned for more orders by ramping up marketing, social media and press. Fortunately, fulfillment has ample precedent, and we can accommodate packaging and shipment locally before recruiting experienced companies, Shopify or Ship Station. For apparel, our rock & roll roots' associations are established in merchandise fulfillment that has committed to aiding in forming Smoothadelic clothing. We have started an account with Printful for on-demand print on apparel fulfillment.

NFT’s marketing, promotion and WEB3 distribution is a relatively new medium. We feel like these are uncharted waters but with exhilarating potential. We do not expect to hit a home run immediately, but we are confident of hitting several singles. Our plan will be - cautiously and gradually ramp up this side of the business. In addition, we are learning from our partner, Stadium Pass, ways to expand the NFT’s business. They are experienced in this area and dedicated to developing and evolving Smoothadelic Arts' brand into WEB3 technology.