Wednesday, July 9, 2014

SONGWRITERS NOTES DSA E-NEWS #156 JULY 2014


Hello Songwriter,

I hope everyone had a cracking good Fourth of July, ate a lot of hot dogs and watched the fireworks. There were firework celebrations all over our metroplex. Our Addison's Boomtown is rated number 8 in the US.  Check out the list: http://www.ratestogo.com/blog/best-4th-july-fireworks/ . Check out the picture used on the site. Definitely not Addison, Tx. I love fireworks and I've seen 3 of the ten; Addison, New Orleans, and NYC.  Maybe the other 7 should be on my bucket list.

Our song contest is underway. Deadline is Sept 16th. Details on the website: http://www.dsasongcontest.blogspot.com

Our Second Tuesday Workshop will present DSA Director and Producer, Joe Milton  - see #2 below for details. There will be no Second Tuesday Workshop in August. It's traditional. All others regular events will still occur.

The SongSwap at Half Price Books was Monday but if you missed that one, the 3rd Monday will be in Plano.  Our regular DSA monthly events remain the same 1st and 3rd Monday SongSwaps and 1st and 3rd Thursday Open Mic. For details, see #2 and #4 below. Also we have a regular showcase at House of Blues every last Wednesday of the month and an open mic Christian fellowship in an historic building in Waxahachie, see #4 below. Food is served at 6PM and it goes for a couple of hours.

DSA has announced the date of it's summer picnic pool party and Jam to be the first Saturday in August. Mark your calendar for August 2nd.
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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.
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1. ANNUAL SONG CONTEST OPEN - http://dsasongcontest.blogspot.com/

Submission Deadline: Sept 16, 2014
Drawing For Free Ipod: Oct 14, 2014
Semi-Finalists Announced: Nov 11, 2014
Finalists and Grand Prize Winners Announced: Dec 9, 2014

                 2014 Dallas Songwriters Song Contest
Now in its 24th year, The DSA 2014 Song Contest is one of the longest running international song contests for amateur songwriters. Over $5,000 in cash and prizes.

GRAND PRIZE

A Casio Privia Piano
and a Nashville recording session at Bieard Music Group. 
Beaird Music Group


1st Runner Up
 wins studio time at
River Sounds Recording Resort







2nd Runner up
wins recording time at 
Jo-Musik


Grand Prize winners receive:
($199.95 Value) 
Includes Artist Website, 1 Yr. Hosting
1 Yr. Sonicbids Membership

Category winners get cash prizes


Hear last years winners on Soundcloud at:

HARDCOPY OF NEWSLETTER ANNOUNCEMENT of 2013 WINNERS HANDED OUT AT THE ARLINGTON GUITAR SHOW

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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 - July 8

Dove Nominated Producer, Joe Milton to Speak at 2nd Tuesday Meeting July 8th

Joe Milton is well-known for his independent recording studio, Jo-Musik, where he writes and records his own material and produces new talent. Joe's songs have been featured in film and television, including the NBC mini-series, Hunt For the Unicorn about fugitive Ira Einhorn.http://joemilton.com/mus.htm

Future Programs:
No August Meeting
Sept: Dru Richman on Band In A Box Songwriting Tool
Oct: Dorinda Duncan and Robert Smith

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

June 2014
Hide N Watch by Rio King
Critique panel: Buck Morgan and Jay Johnson  (4 songs)

To view past winners go to the Best Songs blog. http://bestsongsofthemeeting.blogspot.com/
To hear the winners go to our Soundcloud page https://soundcloud.com/dsa-best-songs
Did you know that A and R reps from labels and music publishers are listening to our Myspace page each month?
HARDCOPY OF SONGWRITERS NOTES 2014 SPRING
includes 2013 critiques winners

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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

SING or bring an instrument
MGB Ministeries Presents:
Supporting Artists in the Body of Christ
A cultural exchange fellowship @ Getzendaner Park, Chautauqua Building
the Last Thursday of every month
CREATING A PLATFORM FOR WORSHIP
It’s an informal gathering of artists to celebrate every tribe, tongue, and nation within
the Body of Christ through worship arts. We encourage ALL artists to participate in the worship including worship painters, worship dancing, banners, shofars, etc. Bring your gifts for the King! 
We especially want to support songwriters to come with their songs and musicians to come with chord charts ready to jam with others. Please call in advance so we can fit everybody in.
For more info contact: Michael Barton  972.935.2552

SHOWCASES

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

SONGWRITERS CONNECTING TO SENIORS - on hold


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 September 30th 

WINTER LYRIC CONTEST WINNERS ANNOUNCED 

Semifinalists - see website for winners


UNSUNG HEROES by Karla Hester, Plano, TX 
LAST CHANCE TO DANCE IN TEXAS by Rio King, Plano, Tx
WHERE ARE MY KEYS by Mike Hyden, Ralston, NE
COUNTRY CHRISTMAS EVE by George Pucini, Las Vegas
DRAW THE LINE by James DeBorde, Bluefield, VA
A GIRL NEEDS HER MAMA THEN by Andrew Moore, Lansing, MI
THE OLD COWBOY by Charlie Scudder, Holt MO
LITTLE BOY IN CHURCH by Harry Hewlett, Dallas, Tx
PIECES OF MIRROR by Doug Spears, Orlando FL
THE REAR VIEW MIRROR by Carmen Logan, Lancaster, KY
THE BRIDGE by Eva Stoneroad, Fellsmire, FL

Enter onine

SUMMER 2014 IS IN THE JUDGING PROCESS

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.

To view a list of the 2014 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 NOTEWORTHY SPONSOR: TREVOR DAHLEN
                   PATRON SAINTS: PAUL ZANDER, ROGER RUSSELL
Thanks to our past president, Roger Russell for providing the PA at the Wildflower Festival and donating the Wildflower check to DSA. Also, for several matching donations from Hewlett Packard and Network For Good.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS: Dorinda Weaver, Latoya Cooper, Jay Gerwertz

THANK YOU FOR RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP:  Harry Hewlett, Kerry McCall, Aaron Shook 
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 JAN: Steve Erickson, Kelly Aldous,Tim Malloly, Mikah Young, Carlos Savetman
EXPIRED IN FEB: Emmitt Fennessey
EXPIRED IN MARCH: Jana Zettl, Kayla Elloit, Kimberly Elliot, Kelsey Grogan, Robin Willis, Cary Cooper, David Byboth
EXPIRED IN APRIL: Keith Thompson, Claire Ulanoff, Steve Johnson, Michael Andrews, Phillip Wildmon, Andy Schrumpf, Tom Jorden, Loretta Dunnaway, Suzi Morse, Tom Thomas
EXPIRED IN MAY:Richard Braund, George Albert, Dan Roark
EXPIRED IN JUNE: Michael Roth, Allen Larsen, Wyler Delray, Renee Safier, Cole Dillow, Frank Precure, Mike Myers, Matt Cords, Deanna Washington
TIME TO RENEW THIS MONTH: Lynn Adler, Carol Shaw

A Members Page off the Dallas Songwriters homepage has a list of members and a url link. Please check the page and email me your link if it is not included.

Member News : 

DSA MEMBER AND LONGTIME FRIEND, STEVE WEISBERG, PASSED AWAY
See this personal article by Barbe and Buck of thoughts about Steve.

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.)

• SoundEmerge Master Series - Ralph Murphy hosts award winning songwriters.
Register and view online. http://soundemerge.com/

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.


JULY
AUG 
2  DSA Picnic at the home of our Prez
SEPT
7-8 West Coast Songwriters Conference, Los Altos Hills, CA
11-13  Big Sound, Brisbane, Australia
19  Dewey Beach Music Conference, Dewey Beach, DE
25-28  SWRFA Folk Alliance Regional Conference, Austin, Tx

OCT
16-19  Far-West Folk Alliance Regional Conference, OaklandCA,
23 -26  FARMFolk Alliance Regional Conference, Sheraton Westport TowerStLouisMO
15-19 CMJ, NYC
18-19 Arlington Guitar Show, Arlington, Tx

NOV
NERFA Folk Alliance Regional Conference, Hudson Valley ResortKerhonksonNY,

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:


[Powering Dolly Parton's incredible record sales are songs written by one of the world's greatest songwriters: Dolly Parton.]
Dolly Parton Receives Award For 100 Million Albums Sold
By Markos Papadato

PREZ SEZ: Tune in to DSA President's musings and DSA goings on.

MUSIC BUSINESS - more articles posted on  DSA Music Biz News
IN MEMORANDUM


Good Night Gerry Goffin.
Amazing (AMAZING) catalogue. This is just the tip.... HFA's Michael Simon offers his Gerry Goffin playlist on Spotify.
Gerry Goffin

Bobby Womack, Royalty of the Soul Era, Dies at 70
By Paul Virello -- Bobby Womack, who spanned the American soul music era, touring as a gospel singer in the 1950s, playing guitar in Sam Cooke's backup band in the early '60s, writing hit songs recorded by Wilson Pickett and the Rolling Stones and composing music that broke onto the pop charts, has died. He was 70.
casey kasem

LISTEN 

Jim Jones The 2012 release of “Borrowed Time,” won the 2013 Western Writers of America  Spur Award for Western Song of the Year for “Texas is Burnin’.”  


VIDEO

Some groups along the protest route sang a Cantonese version of "Can you hear the people sing?" from the musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel "Les Miserables." The song has become an anthem for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

3 Videos: Essential Viewing for Those Who Love, Create or Profit from Music
VIDEO 1: Why We Create Music
VIDEO 2: UNSOUND: How Musicians and Creators Survive in the Age Of Free
VIDEO 3: More Than The Stars

PERFORMANCE

You Need These 6 Qualities To Be A Successful Musician - hypebot http://ow.ly/yNMsY
RECORDING

Can LANDR Replace Your Mastering Engineer?
By Brian Hazard -- Drag-and-drop online mastering is here, and it's free to try. LANDR provides unlimited 192 kbps mp3 masters of your tracks in seconds.
CRAFT OF SONGWRITING

[Making Relevant Art with New Tools]
Digital Is Not Optional: Creating Music From the Cutting Edge
By Mark MacNamara -- [A]s a "serious" musician — or composer — how digitally savvy must you be these days?

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/

DSA Annual Song Contest Deadline Sept 16th.
Song, Lyric and Fiddle Contests

A comprehensive list of Song Contests compliments of MusesMuse.com
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11. Songwriting Resources -  Now accepting book reviews

Links to websites about songwriting, performance, music industry.

DSA Book Store - reviews, links, lists of recommended reading, and what's in the DSA Library.
12. Archives of Past Programs and Activities

SONGS FROM THE SOUL OF SERVICE
Did you know???  DSA held two song contests for active military and the Cds of the winning songs, Songs From the Soul of Service Vols. 1 and 2 are available online at:http://store.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi?storeID=7TE_LIVE&page=SSS4
Tribute to our fallen soldiers from DFW at our Podomatic site:
You Know Me Tribute to Fallen
Read the latest story about this years winners

CROSSROADS SHOWCASES

View past showcase performances and workshops on Crossroads Youtube.
                       
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DSA depends on your support.

Giving Rocks! While it never hurts to remind you that DSA is a non-profit organization (and so your contributions are tax-deductible) -  this year it means so much more. We're proud to be celebrating our 21th Anniversary as a non-profit. DSA has been an organized songwriter group since 1985 and became a non-profit in 1990.

Your gift
 enables us to meet our mission.

Our programs created to meet our mission goals are: a monthly newsletter, workshops, critique sessions, showcases, contests, networking opportunities and community service.
If you like what we do, and want to help us keep doing it, please make a contribution today. Gifts of all sizes are meaningful and appreciated.
Donations are welcome year round. 
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Thanks for reading this far. If you have any suggestions for the newsletter, please let me know. Follow me on Twitter @barbemcmillen. Give me a tweet.
  Songcerely,
  Barbara McMillen, Editor
  Songwriter Notes
  Founding President Emeritus, DSADSA Online Store
  Online Songwriting Workshops and Classeshttp://www.songwritingcompetition.com.