Monday, September 8, 2014

SONGWRITERS NOTES DSA E-NEWS #157 SEPTEMBER 2014

Hello Songwriter,
Hope you had a great summer vacation. I was lucky to spend time with friends in New York and New Mexico. Now I'm back on campus with over 60 students this fall. Interested in any or all of my lectures? You can take a class online here.

Our song contest deadline is approaching fast. Deadline is Sept 16th. ACT NOW - Enter online or by mail. Details on the website: http://www.dsasongcontest.blogspot.com  We now have fewer entries than we've ever had, so there's a big chance to win some of that cash, recording time, or the grand prize Privia keyboard. I've played this beautiful sounding and feeling instrument on the Wildflower stage last year. THIS YEAR IS YOUR CHANCE TO WIN.

As a voting member of the Recording Academy I was invited last week to the FREE private preview of the documentary, Take Me To The River, a wonderful film about Memphis and the Stax recording family. It was so good, my students are still talking about it. Yes, the academy allowed me to ask my students - all 60 of them - and members of the Dallas Songwriters Association. Good vibes were had by all, by the film and what transpired at the panel discussion afterwards. Yes, the guys from the film came up from Memphis to answer our questions.
DSA Member and Collin Songwriting student,
Matt Cord with Stax recording artist, William Bell
Here is the trailer:  Take Me To The River New film (Trailer) – Go see it when it comes to theaters in a couple of weeks. Here is a list of other documentary trailers of films about the 60's music industry.
Brill Building (Montage) (NYC) 

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown (Trailer) (Detroit) 

The Wrecking Crew (Trailer) (L.A.) 



Our Second Tuesday Workshop will present Dru Richmond presenting Band In A Box uses for songwriters - see #2 below for details.

The SongSwap at Half Price Books will not meet on Labor Day. The 3rd Monday will be in Plano at Tino's Too.  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.

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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 - September 9

Keyboardist, Dru Richmond to Speak at 2nd Tuesday Meeting Sept 9th

Dru Richman (Keyboard Technologist) - is a veteran with over 45 years of keyboard experience. Dru started playing in rock and roll bands in the mid-sixties and during the early 80s Dru was lead keyboardist for the country/rock band Glen Bailey & Showdown. Since 1991, Dru has arranged all the music for LoveSong as well as handling all keyboard parts.
Dru uses the software program, Band In A Box, and will demonstrate how songwriters can use it to record and perform their songs.
http://www.lovesongband.com

Future Programs:
Oct: Dorinda Duncan and Robert Smith
Nov: Annual Membership meeting and Elections - Rachel Wilheim
Dec: Christmas Party

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 2014
Your Love Is Killing Me by Harry Hewlett
Critique panel: Buck Morgan and Joe Milton  (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

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 

SPRING LYRIC CONTEST SEMIFINALIST ANNOUNCED 



One Night Stands by Bill Kapac, Williamstown, NJ

Peace Is Not So Far Away by Bill Kapac, Williamstown, NJ

Turtle Bait by Rio King, Plano, TX
The Old Wrecked Vet by Rio King, Plano, TX
Forever Free by John Mason, Grand Prairie, TX
Letters In The Moonlight by John Mason, Grand Prairie, TX
This Backyard's Rockin' by Sarah Ashley, Maryville, TN
End to End by Mark Paterson, Plano, TX
Workin' For You Ain't Working For Me by John Thomas Lane, Monument, CO

Winners to be announced soon on the website.

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: Stephanie Stewart, Don Wall, John Knobbuach, Gene Snow

THANK YOU FOR RENEWING YOUR MEMBERSHIP:  Allen Larson, Matt Cords
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, Wyler Delray, Renee Safier, Cole Dillow, Frank Precure, Mike Myers, Deanna Washington
EXPIRED IN JULY: Lynn Adler
EXPIRED IN AUG: Donna Lisa, Sandra Foster Brown, Alex Gordiscas, Kevin Reardon, Macy Medford
TIME TO RENEW THIS MONTH: Bill Honker, Ted Alvarez, Ken Golden, Bobby Montgomery, Mary Matthews, Marcus Belmore, Patrick Beck, Marcy Carter, Rio King, Harry Hewlett, Rachel Wilhelm

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.

SEPT
7-8 West Coast Songwriters Conference, Los Altos Hills, CA
11-13  Big Sound, Brisbane, Australia
17  AMF, Media Center Grand Opening, Austin, TX
17-18  AX3, NYC
19  Dewey Beach Music Conference, Dewey Beach, DE
23 Art House Feed Back on Songwriting, Dallas, TX
25-28  SWRFA Folk Alliance Regional Conference, Austin, Tx
27 Flaco Jemenez concert, Latino Cultural Center, Dallas, Tx

OCT

2 - 4  Durango Songwriters Expo, Denver, CO
16-18  Harvest Music Festival, Ozark, AR
16-19  Far-West Folk Alliance Regional Conference, Oakland, CA,
23 -26  FARM, Folk Alliance Regional Conference, Sheraton Westport Tower, St. Louis, MO
15-19 CMJ, NYC
18-19 Arlington Guitar Show, Arlington, Tx

NOV
NERFA Folk Alliance Regional Conference, Hudson Valley Resort, Kerhonkson, NY,

 DEC
9 DSA Christmas Party - Save the date
Moses Avalon's List of Top Ranked Music Conferences.
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:

"We Write The Songs That Make The Whole World Sing"
Music Licensing From A Songwriter's Perspective

By Paul Williams – "[F]ederal regulations that govern how music is licensed — and thus, how songwriters like me are compensated for our work — don't reflect the way people listen to music today."

A Brief History of US Copyright Term

By Terry Hart -- [B]efore we can have a useful discussion on the length of copyright protection, it's necessary to look at how the current term of copyright protection evolved in the US and how that compares to copyright protection in other countries.

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

MUSIC BUSINESS - more articles posted on  DSA Music Biz News
What They Really Mean: The Musician's Guide To Industry Speak

By Sari Delmar

Turning 'Likes' Into a Career

By Sheila Marikar -- Social media stars use Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr to build their career

16 Point Band Website Assessment Checklist

By Dave Cool

10 Things I Learned From Releasing an Independent Record...

By Ellery Bonham

Why Songwriters (and Indie Publishers) Need the PROs

By Phil Galdston, Maria Schneider & David Wolfert -- Council of Music Creators [artists] explain the dangers of withdrawing from the PROs.

How To Reach The Best Music Business Contacts. Period.

By Laura Schneider
For Taylor Swift, the Future of Music Is a Love Story

By Taylor Swift – [Y]ou should know that you're reading the opinion of an enthusiastic optimist: one of the few living souls in the music industry who still believes that the music industry is not dying...it's just coming alive.

10 Reasons Why Your Band Is Failing At Social Media

By Ari Herstand


IN MEMORANDUM
Tommy Ramone, Last Of The Ramones, Dies

By Kristen de Groot

LISTEN 
The Great War At 100: Music Of Conflict And Remembrance

By Tom Huizenga -- Among the dead and the survivors [of World War I] were musicians. We've been listening to some of their creations.
VIDEO


[Check out this video done with tiny Sureshot sized cameras.]
VIDEO: Working For TheWeeknd: GoPro Filmmakers Capture Major Musical Moment
By Doug Levy
VIDEO: Word Crimes
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Stars & Stripes Forever
Guitarist Doug Smith masterfully covers Guy Van Duser's arrangement of our nation's proud anthem. [Thanks Willa Hubert for the link. Also, thanks to Willa, who, as the world best assistant, made me appear competent for years.]
CRAFT OF SONGWRITING

[Cole Porter need not apply.]
20 Most Forced Rhymes In Pop Music History
By Andrew Unterberger
[Without B movies and drive-ins why is this needed?]
Moog Theremini Melds Analog & Digital
By R. Colin Johnson -- Redesigning the Theremin -- Moog style
What is Parody?
By David Newhoff – [T]he word parody itself is frequently used as a catch-all description for a variety of works that are not, in fact, parody.
Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love' voted Greatest Guitar Riff
By Liam Martin -- Fans have been voting for the top 100 riffs since July, choosing from a selection put together by a panel of music critics, record producers, and BBC Radio DJs.
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.
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