Thursday, September 5, 2013

Songwriters Notes E-News #146 September 2013

Hello Songwriter,

It is still really hot now in Dallas. Over 100 degrees. I'm looking forward to some cooler days. Hurry cool front, you're already late.

Our 2ND TUESDAY MEETING will feature guest speaker Michael Brown speaking on music in the advertising business.

We've already had our Songswap at Half Price Books on 1st Monday. Our other regular DSA monthly events remain the same 1st and 3rd Monday SongSwaps and 3rd Thursday Open Mic. For details, see #2 and #4 below. Also another event that's become regular is our showcase at House of Blues.

The Dallas Songwriters Song Contest winners will be announced in a couple of weeks. Check on the website middle of the month.

Will Brown is chairing a committee producing a Veterans Day event at Tarrant County College, South Campus, in Fort Worth Texas. It will be a mid-day live music event on November 11 featuring performers who are current or former members of the military. Some veterans from the Psychology and Music departments are working on putting together a backing band that will also cover some of the songs from "Songs From the Soul of Service." If you are a performer who is a veteran or current member of the military and you would like to perform during this event please contact Will.

Former DSA guest speaker and friend, John Bryant, informs me that his group is funding a documentary film on Kickstarter about his group, Stewart Copeland and the creation of a composition for the Dallas Symphony. Check out the complete story, which is very interesting here and maybe you can help them reach their goal of $95,000.

I'm teaching a songwriting class at Collin College this fall. We have lots of fun in the class and explore the craft of popular songwriting. Here are the details. Classes online.

STAY COOL!

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Help DSA today at no cost to you.

DSA has enrolled in a new program at BBVA Compass Bank. You can help DSA earn money by opening a Compass account and give Dallas Songwriters as your reason or if you already have a Compass account, go to your bank and connect to our program and use your check card.

COMPASS FOR YOUR CAUSE
No checks to write. No direct mail. No telemarketing. In other words, no hassles. The Compass For Your Cause Program allows your members to support your organization, by doing something many of them do virtually every day—use their check card for everyday purchases. And it's easy for them to get started. They simply:
  • Open a BBVA Compass Checking Account*
  • Open a Compass Visa® Check Card*
  • Sign for purchases using the Check Card
That's all there is to it. When they open an account, you earn a royalty of $50. Every time they use their Check Card for qualifying purchases††, you earn additional royalties. So start earning money the easy way with the Compass For Your Cause program. Contact us today to get started.


Check out our pictures on the Dallas Songwriters Facebook. Go on Facebook and LIKE us. New, tell your firends about Dallas Songwriters on Meetup.

QUICK LOOK CALENDAR OF DSA MONTHLY EVENTS - put this in your bookmark.



1. ANNUAL SONG CONTEST -   Category Semifinalists Announced.


                 2013 Dallas Songwriters Song Contest
Now in its 23rd year, The DSA 2013 Song Contest is one of the longest running international song contests for amateur songwriters. Over $5,000 in cash and prizes.

Grand Prize is a Casio Privia Piano
and a Nashville recording session at Bieard Music Group. Many more prizes and cash prizes in each category.


Eight Song Categories
1. Christian/Inspirational
2. Country
3. Americana/Folk/Bluegrass
4. Pop/Rock/RnB/Alternative
5. Love Songs/Easy Listening
6. Children's/Novelty
7. Singer/Songwriter (songwriter is the performer)
8. Instrumental

Multiple Winners In Each Category
Entry Fee $25
Deadline: Monday, June 17th, 2013
Submissions Close at Midnight. 

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2012 GRAND PRIZE WINNER
Just Me and You by Macy Medford, Jonathan George, Houston, TX

Here the song on ReverbNation

Check out her website:

READ INTERVIEW with Macy by Roger Russell

1ST RUNNER UP
That Old Shirt by Steve Chizmadia, Peekskill, NY

2ND RUNNER UP
You'll Be Back by Debra M. Gussin, Jonathan Bluth, LA, CA
Macy with Grand Prize Taylor Guitar signed by Beth Nielsen Chapman, donated by our Prez, Roger Russell.

 You will find Semifinalist  here:


Click here for more info about this contest, and for more information about joining DSA (membership not required to enter contest). Click here to view a list of frequently asked questions. 
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2001 - 2007 Winners Compilation CDs available at the DSA store

All winning songs are on a CD Compilation that was given out at the Awards Ceremony. To get any 3 double CD's simply make a quarter note donation to DSA through our online store and send us an email to request which 3 years of Cd's you want us to mail you.

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2. DSA MEETINGS - http://dsameetings.blogspot.com/

2nd TUESDAY WORKSHOP - 

Michael Brown to talk about jingle writing on Sept. 10th

Guest speaker, Michael Brown
     Michael is currently the Executive Producer and resident voice talent at The McCarthy Agency in Dallas

and is professionally represented by The William Morris Agency in Beverly Hills, Ca. and The Kim Dawson Agency in Dallas, Tx. who keep him busy voicing commercials, narrations, film trailers, and live events. 

His voice is currently featured on several commercials running across the USA as well as narrator for the Discovery Channel program Naked & Afraid, and trailers for Thomas The Tank Engine. 


Nov: Membership Meeting and Elections
        Capt. Steve Wilson - winner of Songs From Soul of Service Contest. http://www.ourstage.com/profile/stevewilsontheblackdoves
Dec: DSA Christmas Party

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DSA T-SHIRTS 
NEW shirts: $15 at the meeting (you must ask me for the special) or online by mail $20
OLD shirts: $10 at the meeting (you must ask me for the special) or online by mail $15
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MONDAY SONG SWAPS for peer critique
Song Swap Workshops
Monthly 7:30-10 PM
Free, Visitors Welcome
Where songwriters perform their songs for peer review. Bring your guitar and a few lyric sheets. This is like an old fashioned guitar pull with comments between songs.

FIRST MONDAY in East Dallas
Half Price Books, 5803 E Northwest Hwy Dallas, TX 75231-6519 (214) 379-8000
Roger Russell, Jame Pappas coordinating.
We'll be in the Community Room at the back left in the building.

THIRD MONDAY in PLANO - 
Tino's - Steve Sullivan, coordinator.
Tino's Too Mexican Restaurant 2205 Ave K, Plano, Tx  972 881-9226

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3. BEST SONGS of the 2nd Tuesday Meeting

JULY
Wish You Were Here by Lisa Byrn

Critique Panel: Kathy Baldwin of DaCat Music and Buck Morgan


Song of the Year 2012 Winner
5th place to Nancy Rynders, Kiss Me and Make Me Better
4th place to Mary Guthrie, Braver Than We Want to Be
3rd place to James and Roger, Carribean Moon
2nd place to Casey, The Good War
and 1st place, DSA Song of the Year, to Brooke Malouf for Thank God He Broke Your Heart.

2012 DSA Vern Dailey Songwriter of the Year winner is James Pappas

To view past winners go to the Best Songs blog. http://bestsongsofthemeeting.blogspot.com/
To hear the winners go to our myspace page.
Did you know that A and R reps from labels and music publishers are listening to our Myspace page each month?

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4. SHOWCASES AND OPEN MICS -


OPEN MICS
DUNN BROTHERS COFFEE HOUSE -
EVERY 3RD THURSDAY - 7:00pm to 9:00pm

HALF PRICE BOOKS - NORTHWEST HIGHWAY - Rotating guest host featured artist
EVERY 1ST THURSDAY - 7:00pm to 9:00pm
Sign up begins at 6:30
Featured Artist at 8PM

SHOWCASES

HOUSE OF BLUES
Every last Wednesday
You must be a member to showcase. 
Email Buck Morgan to get on the roster for this month.

SONGWRITERS CONNECTING TO SENIORS


SHOWCASE AND OPEN MIC - 

TEXAS SONGWRITERS IN THE ROUND at Sandstone Cellars Winery Showcase & Open Mic in Mason Texas.  
HOURS 6-9PM 211 San Antonio Street, Mason, TX 76856
Shows will be on the 3rd Thursday of each month .

Guidelines for our stars @ Texas Songwriters in the Round shows:
* All original set of 45 minutes
* A professional commercially released CD with some airplay and press.

We allow any songwriter to come be part of the TSR in the Round, with one star per month! If you'd like to come out and join in as a rounder I can make sure you have a place for the night! To Showcase contact: Jeri Alice
Other area open mics OPEN MICS

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5. DSA LYRIC CONTEST - Next deadline postmarked SEPT 30th - SUMMER CONTEST


2013 SUMMER CONTEST WINNERS

2013 SUMMER WINNER

(drumroll!) See website for our winner!

2013 SUMMER SEMIFINALISTS (deadline was June 30)


She's All Texas by Tom Ruffen, Burnaby, BC, Canada 
Cowboys And Redskins Are In Town by Mary Hughes, Springtown, TX 
Three Hearts And One Diamond by Dana Young, Anthony, KS
Flower Mound by John Thomas Lane, Monument, CO 
Silver Cadillac by Bill Kapac, Williamstown, NJ
Two O'Clock In The Morning by Bill Kapac, Williamstown, NJ
Force of Nature by John Walsh, Sydney, NSW, Australia 
Morning Star by John Thomas Lane, Monument, CO
Weep For The Innocent by Dana Young, Anthony, KS

CURRENT WINNERS and PAST WINNERS and LYRICS POSTED ON THE WEBSITE

LYRICISTS GAIN RECOGNITION THROUGH COMPETITION
Next Lyric Contest Deadline is June 30th for Spring Lyric Contest
Entry fee is $10
Please see lyric contest webpage for details.

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6. MEMBER NEWS -

Wanna get involved? Become a committee member. It's fun! Be apart of the inner workings or the DSA. We have a board position open. We're looking for a Treasurer.

To view a list of the 2013 elected Directors go to this link:

If you are not a DSA Member, you missed these tips sent out through our yahoo group:

* Publisher looking for Childrens songs
* Artists/Producers looking for original material for recording artists
* Major Brand X (To be disclosed at a later time) Seeks Independent artist for music campaign.
* Where to get your cd reviewed
* Music related job listing
* Film Licensing Co. seeking instrumental music
* Cheap and free tickets - Free tickets to selected Winspear Opera House events.

Lyricists are invited to co-write with music writers by submitting your lyric through the member yahoo group.

THANK YOU PATRON L3: TREVOR DAHLEN
                   PATRON SAINTS: PAUL ZANDER, ROGER RUSSELL
Thanks to our president, Roger Russell for providing the PA at the Wildflower Festival and donating the Wildflower check to DSA.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS: Marcus Belmore, Patrick BeckSandra Foster, Mary Matthews, Deanna Washington, Wyler DelRay, Aaron Shook, Matt Cord, Richard Braund, Dickey Johnson, Dan Roark, George AlbertJana Zettl, Andy Schrumpf, Tom Jordan, Michael Shane Andrews, Phillip Wildman, Kerry McCall

THANK YOU FOR RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP:  Mary Guthrie, Robin Wilis, Allen Larson, Terry Bloss, JoAnna Endsley, Annie Cornelius, Joe Milton, Ryan Galloway, Julie Jean White, Suzi Morse, Trevor DahlenTommy Thomas, Stephen Johnson

TIME TO RENEW: The following members owe dues:
YOU HAVE A TWO MONTH GRACE PERIOD TO RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP OR YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM THE MEMBER GROUP


EXPIRED IN FEB: Mark Glasmire, Melinda Starnes
EXPIRED IN MARCH: Ryan Eichenwald, Alexandra Brooks, Corey Anderson, Brian Coker, Tom Biles, Madilne Shaw, Holly Doubet, Jim Baker, George Pucini
EXPIRED IN APRIL: Joanna Endsley, Daniel Anchondo, Margaret CuddiheeMolly Bush, Buz Craft Jeremy Ellis, Casey Graham, Dewey Stark, Mofor Otang, Robert Harper, David Spence, Lanny Sherwin, 
EXPIRED IN MAY: Bob Paterno, Ginny Lane, Mathew Johnson
EXPIRED IN JUNE: Renee Safier, Noel Cohen, Andre Kerek
EXPIRED IN JULY: John Nitzinger
EXPIRED IN AUG: Alexandre Gorodiscas, Wendy Jill Cohen Tobias, Becky Wright, Robert Graham, Daniel Sumber, Chris Alvarado, Philip Creamer, Steve Chizmadia, Glen Naylor, Gordon Lustig, Kevin Reardon, Susie McLean, Eric Colville, Diane Lekven, Nestor Cora, Chris O'Neill, Gavin Potter, Vanessa Padla, Andy Taylor, Keeton Coffman, Chase Thompson, Belle Schneiderman, Spencer Clark
PLEASE RENEW THIS MONTH: Bill Honker, Ken Golden, Bobby Montgomery, Devin Hill


Member News : 
Read performance reviews here: http://dsareviews.blogspot.com/


SEE OUR NEW MEMBER NEWS PAGE HERE.

Renew your membership online,
You'll find the link to the store on the panel to the right

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7. WORKSHOPS - DSA WORKSHOPS 

(Each month DSA hosts 3 workshops at our monthly meetings on the 1st Monday, 3rd Monday and 2nd Tuesday these are ongoing. see item 2 above.)


FREE Webcast
September 10, 2013 at 11 a.m. Pacific Time
In this free hour-long Webcast, produced by Mix magazine and presented by Millennia Media and Royer Labs, Mix technical editor Kevin Becka leads a discussion with a panel of renowned recording engineers/producers, who will walk through their audio chains and techniques for recording guitar, instruments and vocals—from setup and mic choices through preamp and conversion into the DAW, or straight to tape. A live 20-minute question and answer session will follow the presentation.
Want to study songwriting but don't want to get out of your PJ's? Take a class online through a songwriting workshop yahoo group.

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8. EVENTS - Featuring local and worldwide events of the songwriting community including, seminars, conferences, and showcases.


SEPT
26 - 28 Cutting Edge Music Conference, NOLA
    http://cuttingedgenola.com/music/
26 - 29 SWRFA, Austin Tx,
     http://www.swfolkalliance.org

OCT
5   Octoberfest at Sons of Hermann Hall
2 - 6 AC3 Music Conference, Atlanta, GA
3- 5 Durango Expo, Boulder, CO
    http://www.durango-songwriters-expo.com/
19 -20 Arlington Guitar Show - DSA booth
    http://www.texasguitarshows.com/

NOV
12  DSA Annual Membership Meeting & Elections

DEC
10  DSA Christmas Party


2013 Folk Alliance  REGIONAL CONFERENCE
SERFA, May 16-19, 2013, Montreat Conference Center, Montreat, NC,
http://www.serfa.org/ <http://www.serfa.org/>
SWRFA, September 26-29, 2013, Holiday Inn Mid-Town, Austin, TX,
http://www.swfolkalliance.org <http://www.swfolkalliance.org>
FAR-West, October 10 - 13, 2013, Hyatt Regency Irvine, Irvine, CA,
http://www.far-west.org/ <http://www.far-west.org/>
FARM, October 24 - 27, 2013, Sheraton Westport Tower, St. Louis, MO,
http://farmfolk.org/ <http://farmfolk.org/>
NERFA, November 7-10, 2013, Hudson Valley Resort, Kerhonkson, NY,
http://www.nerfa.org/ <http://www.nerfa.org/>


South By Southwest Conferences & Festivals Now Open
South By Southwest (SXSW) Conferences and Festivals are now open for business at http://sxsw.com. Conference registrations, hotel requests, Film Festival submissions, Interactive Awards and SXSW Accelerator applications and Music Festival showcase applications are now being accepted. SXSW Music, SXSW Film and SXSW Interactive take place Friday, March 7 through Sunday, March 16, 2014 in Austin, TX.
Go to the events page to view links to local and Texas venues. There's a list of holiday music for this month.  http://songwriterevents.blogspot.com/

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9. Featured Articles:


Protect Your Music! Seeds of Music Interview with Ian Gibson, Esq.

http://iangibson.com/protect-your-music-seeds-of-music-interview-with-ian-gibson-esq/


Music Therapy for Alzheimer's Patients
By Jim Miller -- Music has amazing power, especially for people with Alzheimer's disease.


PREZ SEZ: Tune in to DSA President, Roger Russell's, musings and DSA goings on.
Rough version of "In Your Eyes" from the musical, Give Me A Break.
MUSIC BUSINESS - more articles posted on the new blog DSA Music Biz News

3 Approaches To Creating A Viral Music Video
By Clyde Smith -- Pretty much everybody wants their music video to go viral and almost nobody can guarantee such an outcome. Recently a trio of approaches for helping make that happen came to my attention ... All three approaches require hard work rather than trickery and that might be the biggest secret of all to going viral.
IN MEMORANDUM

Jazz, R&B and Funk Composer and ASCAP Board Member George Duke Dies at 67
By ASCAP -- Veteran jazz, R&B, funk and fusion keyboardist and composer George Duke, who served on ASCAP's Board of Directors since June 2011, died on August 5th at the age of 67. Duke had just released a new album last month, Dreamweaver, which he had dedicated to his late wife Corine.
[One of the last from the days when “Nashville was fun, but got it done.” “Cowboy” was one of the few who really deserved to be called a "legend."]
Country Music Legend 'Cowboy' Jack Clement Dies at 82
By Tim Ghianni -- "Cowboy" Jack Clement, who inspired pioneering rock 'n' rollers and classic country musicians, sometimes while prancing around the music studio in his bathrobe and playing the ukulele, died on Thursday at his home in Nashville. He was 82. [I bought a music publishing company from Jack. At the closing I asked him what he was going to do with the money, he replied, "I'm going to build an underground swimming pool so I can swim to work." He was the kind of guy that just might have done that. DK]
PERFORMANCE


Confidence, Authority, and Charisma Are Three Ingredients to a Memorable Music Performance
By Tom Jackson -- What does the audience really pay attention to when you're standing onstage? Is it how great your music, your playing, your singing is? No, it's not those things...it's who you are.

LISTEN 
Jenni Peal will be speaking at our Oct meeting.
http://jennifermansfieldpeal.com/music/everyonemp3.mp3

RECORDING
Mix Guides: Audio Interfaces
It’s hard to determine just what constitutes an audio interface these days. There has been a boom in feature-laden desktop models in recent years, and there have been high-end units introduced from the likes of RME (Fireface UFX) and SSL (the MX-4 family). The criteria for what any one individual needs can be met by any number of manufacturers; preference generally resides in how the preamps sound. With that in mind, Mix surveyed the field and presents here some of the most popular models released in the past couple of years.

CRAFT OF SONGWRITING

Breaking Down The Pop Ballad
By Keith Hatschek and Jeff Crawford -- We study four key elements in three hit ballads to see what sets them apart and binds them together.

Barbe McMillen's blog, The Craft of Songwriting

Online Thesaurus and Rhyming Dictionary



Great web tool for lyric writing
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10. Song and Talent Contests

DSA Quarterly Lyric Contest http://dsalyriccontest.blogspot.com/


Cover the Allman Brothers
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Brothers and Sisters, the Allman Brothers Band, in partnership with Relix Magazine and Epiphone, are inviting aspiring singers and/or musicians to submit their best video covers of "Ramblin' Man." Submissions can be a solo performance, with a band, or an entire marching band performing the song. Be creative! One winner will receive an Epiphone G-400 electric guitar, courtesy of Epiphone. Here is a link to the opportunity: http://www.talenthouse.com/cover-the-allman-brothers-band.
See contest details at:
Song, Lyric and Fiddle Contests


A comprehensive list of Song Contests compliments of MusesMuse.com