diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/misc/KobaltLogger.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/misc/KobaltLogger.kt
index 5c8899dc..e4874172 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/misc/KobaltLogger.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/misc/KobaltLogger.kt
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ fun Any.warn(text: String) {
     KobaltLogger.logger.warn(javaClass.simpleName, text)
 }
 
+fun Any.error(text: String, e: Throwable? = null) {
+    KobaltLogger.logger.error(javaClass.simpleName, text, e)
+}
+
 class Logger(val dev: Boolean) {
     val FORMAT = SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss.SSS")
 
@@ -78,7 +82,7 @@ class Logger(val dev: Boolean) {
         println(getPattern("D", tag, message))
 
     final fun error(tag: String, message: String, e: Throwable? = null) =
-        println(getPattern("E", tag, message))
+        println(getPattern("***** E", tag, message) + " Exception: " + e?.getMessage())
 
     final fun warn(tag: String, message: String, e: Throwable? = null) =
         println(getPattern("W", tag, message))
diff --git a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/publish/JCenterApi.kt b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/publish/JCenterApi.kt
index 6a26f8b0..43e2cc9b 100644
--- a/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/publish/JCenterApi.kt
+++ b/src/main/kotlin/com/beust/kobalt/plugin/publish/JCenterApi.kt
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import com.beust.kobalt.maven.Gpg
 import com.beust.kobalt.maven.Http
 import com.beust.kobalt.maven.KobaltException
 import com.beust.kobalt.maven.Md5
-import com.beust.kobalt.misc.log
+import com.beust.kobalt.misc.*
 import com.google.inject.assistedinject.Assisted
 import com.squareup.okhttp.Response
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable