CONTENTS
Hi, everyone! Hope the school year is off to a great start for you!
3) Calendar of Events/Featured Event We are almost to the last quarter of the year. Unbelievable! There are some great opportunities for Songsalive! PRO Members listed on our Songshop and Opportunities forums. Read more about them in 4) Forums & Community this issue of Songnotes on page 4. We have a couple Songsalive! Sponsored Events coming up in October: the Independent Music 5) Chapter News Conference (IMC) and the Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference. Find more information about them on 6) Chapter News pages 10 & 11. Congratulations to Shane Carther for being chosen to be our Songsalive! PRO Member Spotlight! You can read more 7) PRO Member Spotlight about this 15-year old songwriter on page 7. Our Partner of the Month is jamLink from MusicianLink. Find out about their amazing 8) Get Involved Internet music rehearsal & collaborative songwriting tool on page 9. Please check out all of our chapter events on page 3, as well as our 9) Featured Partner chapters’ news on pages 5 & 6. On the cover this month is a our Long Island Songsalive! chapter coordinator, Steve Archdeacon. 10) Sponsored Event 11) Sponsored Event
Have a Great Autumn!
12) Back Page
Mary Lemanski Director of Operations
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CALENDAR OF EVENTS Sunday, September 15 12:00pm Los Angeles Songsalive! Songwriters Workshop
FEATURED UPCOMING SONGSALIVE! EVENT
Tuesday, September 17 8:30pm New York Songsalive! Showcase & Open Mic Thursday, September 19 7:30pm Orange County Songsalive! Showcase Tuesday, September 24 8:30pm New York Songsalive! Showcase & Open Mic Sunday, September 29 7:00pm Orange County Songsalive! Songwriters Workshop Tuesday, October 1 8:30pm New York Songsalive! Showcase & Open Mic Tuesday, October 8 8:30pm New York Songsalive! Showcase & Open Mic Saturday, October 12 11:30am Chicago Songsalive! Songwriters Workshop Tuesday, October 15 8:30pm New York Songsalive! Showcase & Open Mic Thursday, October 17 7:30pm Orange County Songsalive! Showcase
SONGSALIVE! ORANGE COUNTY SONGWRITERS SHOWCASE WHEN: THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013 TIME: 7:30 PM WHERE: SAM ASH MUSIC STORE 14200 Beach Blvd. Westminster, CA 92683 www.myspace.com/37samash
COST: FREE and open to the public. Join us for an hour of free music, free coffee, and free snacks! ARTISTS PERFORMING: The Original Sideshow Band Sherif Guirguis
www.songsalive.org/events.htm for Calendar and Upcoming Events www.songsalive.org/chapters.htm for details on our Chapters.
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Forums & Community SONGSALIVE! OPPORTUNITIES
Participate and find opportunities in our Forums as a Songsalive! Pro Opportunities Forum - Gigs, Jobs, and Music forum Member. SONGSHOP - Get song leads where music business professionals (record labels, publishers, film producers and music supervisors) hunt songs from the Songsalive! song pool. GIGS, JOBS & MUSIC OPPORTUNITIES - Listings of cool gigs, jobs and music opportunities posted by Songsalive! staff as well as members themselves.
LATEST POSTS: Songsalive! Songshop - get song leads and pitch your songs forum Composers Needed Immediately for Children's Book - Deadline October 7th
Community SONGCHAT - Members, have your say. Speak out, shout out. Tell it like it is! Find collaborators, other members, talk about songwriting, the biz, and speak your mind! Including: Songchat Songwriter Discussions Song Critique Discussion Lyrics-Only Critique Discussion
SONG CRITIQUE - Critique other members songs and add yours for critique.
Fall Internship At NJ Label Hip-Hop Radio Show Seeks Artists & More And last week...
International Music Awards Open To All Independent Acoustic Artist New Program Seeking Artists, Authors, & Actors Music Company Specializing in Dance & Pop Are Looking For Producers & Writers Music From All Genres Needed For TV/Film Placement Music From All Genres Wanted For Production Projects Bad Boy Entertainment Seeks A&R Interns In NY Country, Blues, Soul & More Sought For Radio Shows August & September Performance Dates Available at The Elbo Room in Chicago Art Director for Epitaph Records - Los Angeles, CA Detroit Radio Station Seeks Producer Warner Music Group Seeks Burbank, CA Interns AND MANY MORE!!! PRO MEMBERS ACCESS - GO TO: Log on to Songsalive.org and click on BACKSTAGE / then FORUMS / then Songshop or Opportunities. Visit our Songsalive! Forums for more information on these opportunities: www.songsalive.org/forums/
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CHAPTER NEWS REVIEWS OF RECENT EVENTS
OUR CHAPTER NEWS
Songsalive! Orange County July Workshop - A good crowd of Songsalive! Los Angeles July Workshop – The Los Angeles talented musicians, singers, and songwriters at the Spires Restaurant in Westminster, California, taking part in the monthly Songsalive! Songsalive! Workshop series continued Sunday, July 21st at Orange County songwriting workshop. No less than eight songs The Cahuenga General Store with guest speaker Alan Roy Scott. Alan’s topic, “Craft Still Matters”, went beyond discussing presented for critique, which made for a lot of good music and intense discussion. Sherif Guirguis started things off with a classic 12-bar blue the basic elements of songwriting. He made every critique personal to the songwriter, but brought a general thought/point song — blasted by his powerful voice, of course. Gil Mosard followed with a Kristofferson-style county-rock piece he wrote in the 1970’s. for everyone to understand. Newcomer Liz Yacoubian brought back the blues with a classic-style -Rik Lawrence complaint (including some fine sax-playing) about the traffic in SoCal. Songsalive! Springfield July Workshop – The Springfield, IL RD Girard presented a brand-spanking new song (finished that day!) about family life and relations. Jeff Dahl had a rockin’ theatrical Chapter of Songsalive! hosted another songwriters’ workshop number about people who’re in love — and people who are not. Kip on Saturday, July 27th at The Pharmacy. Songsalive! PRO Corley had another brand new song about restless men who just can’t member, Julie Hulvey, shared a song she had just completed settle down. Tom Sullivan presented one of his great, simple, straightand a new song that she just started. She received good forward honkey-tonk songs. And Lucius Austin finished things up with feedback and suggestions for how to improve her work-inprogress. The topic of the second half was “Songwriting 101.” a “modern urban doo-wop” song, to use his words. After the critiques were done, everyone joined in a fun little exercise about thinking up Mary Lemanski reviewed some music theory terms as they applied to songwriting. She discussed the components of what ideas for new songs. It worked like this: Look through a newspaper, and find a headline with an interesting turn of phrase — there are makes a good hit song. She also talked about various always plenty. Then, let that interesting phrase be the seed of a song techniques to overcoming writers’ block. A fun & informative lyric. Now, we’ll see what people came up with when we meet next workshop! month! -Rod O’Riley www.songsalive.org/chapters.htm
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CHAPTER NEWS REVIEWS OF RECENT EVENTS
OUR CHAPTER NEWS
Songsalive! Chicago August Workshop - Songsalive! Chicago hosted another fantastic workshop on August 10th at the Beat Kitchen. Four people brought songs for critique. Some of the songs were outstanding. Lots of good advice was given on how to make the other songs better. In the second half, we did a songwriting exercise called “Lyrical Pass the Mic…or Paper.” We picked a songwriting prompt, and each person had a minute to write a line for the chorus, and then later, a line for the verse. We went through the exercise three different times with various songwriting prompts. It was a lot of fun trying to come with something under a minute and listening to what others came up with! Mary Lemanski Songsalive! Orange County August Showcase – Two talented veteran acts returned to the stage at Sam Ash Music in Westminster, California for the monthly Songsalive! Orange County Showcase. Michael Vanags brought along his family up on stage with him, backing him up during his heart-felt story-songs. Michael recently inked a record deal, and he’s been trying out various songs in his repertoire to see which ones bring enough audience appreciation to go on his EP. Next up were local power-houses The Fallen Stars, with a more acoustic (but no less energetic!) version of their rockin’ Americana. Turns out they just got back from a triumphant tour of Europe — their suitcase still announced their CD’s as “Available for 10 Euro”. After their high-energy set, the crowd left for the evening severely jazzed. -Rod O’Riley
Songsalive! Los Angeles August Workshop - The Los Angeles Songsalive! Workshop series continued Sunday, August 18 at The Cahuenga General Store with guest speaker attorney/artist Christiane Cargill Kinney. Chris’ topic of “The Music Industry Is Not Dying, It’s Changing – Rapidly”, was a comprehensive overview of how technology is impacting music and the challenges it presents to the artist/songwriter. Subjects touched on were social media, a website of your own, performance rights organizations, the importance of live performance (for the performer), pay to play and the licensing of material. -Rik Lawrence Songsalive! Orange County August Workshop - Our crowd of current regulars showed up once again for an evening of fine music and discussion at the Spires Restaurant in Westminster, California. Chapter coordinator Rod O’Riley got things going with his very first “heavy metal” lyric, the story of a lonely astronaut on the breaking point. The song grew out of last month’s assignment to write a song based on an interesting newspaper headline (other folk said they’re still working on theirs). Kip Corley came up next, presenting a country style boogie-woogie song with a sly sense of humor. Next up was Rick Willingham, giving us a second-time presentation of a slow but hard-rocking number. Everyone said the new arrangement sounded precisely like Neil Young — and everyone loved it! Gil Mosard gave us an absolutely beautiful man-and-woman dialogue song with a terrific melody. More sly humor, from Liz Yacoubian this time, again showing us the diversity of musical styles she works in. Sherif Guirguis (one of our Showcase artists for September) presented a bluesy, hard-driving spiritual song. And Lucius Austin presented a funky smooth-jazz-style love song with his textbook dense lyrics. After the song presentations, the group gathered together for an exercise about writing good lines in a verse. Since that involves creating pictures in the mind (of people, places, or things), the assignment this time was to write lines or phrases that invoke all of the five senses — not just like “a red table”, but metaphors like “… her hair was golden” or similes such as “… he was bitter like a chocolate bar”. Some of the things people came up with were poignant, some were downright hilarious — and some are definitely going to be worked into songs! -Rod O’Riley
www.songsalive.org/chapters.htm
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PRO MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Congratulations Shane Carther on being featured as our Songsalive! Pro Member Spotlight Artist!
We are all excited about Shane Carther being chosen for the Songsalive! Pro Member Spotlight!!! You too could be featured by Songsalive! ... to 16,000+ subscribers on our mailing list, social networks and members. Join as a PRO MEMBER and find out more under Backstage.
SHANE CARTHER Interview excerpt "I want to share my music with as many people I can and hopefully have my music help them in anyway throughout their lives."
Read the CD Review by Songsalive! and Interview with Songsalive! in the Songsalive! Pro Member Spotlight blog Also featured on our HOME PAGE and Members Page: www.songsalive.org/members.htm
Shane Carther Album Review “Singer/songwriter, Shane Carther's self-titled release showcases the musical and lyrical skills of a 15-year old boy, who is mature beyond his years. The album begins a mellow, folk-rock tune with acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, and vocals called, "In the Daylight." It is about breaking free from this world of illusion.“
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Join The Songsalive! Team
GET INVOLVED "Volunteering is an act of heroism on a grand scale. And it matters profoundly. It does more than help people beat the odds; it changes the odds." - President William Jefferson Clinton
Advertise your services Songnotes
Sponsor us or become a partner
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Volunteer Positions Open: 1. Austin Chapter Coordinator 2. Europe Chapter Coordinator 3. Las Vegas Chapter Coordinator Austin Chapter Coordinator As the Songsalive! Austin Chapter Coordinator you will manage the monthly Workshop event (1) and showcase event (1) . You will be the visible ambassador for Songsalive! You will heighten our presence in the community and will be charged with maintaining and growing a vibrant membership. You will also manage a team of volunteers that carry out specific roles. Europe Chapter Coordinator As the Songsalive! Europe Chapter Coordinator you will manage the monthly Workshop event (1) and showcase event (1) . You will be the visible ambassador for Songsalive! You will heighten our presence in the community and will be charged with maintaining and growing a vibrant membership. You will also manage a team of volunteers that carry out specific roles. Las Vegas Chapter Coordinator As the Songsalive! Las Vegas Chapter Coordinator you will be at forefront, managing the monthly Workshop event (1) and showcase event (1) .You will enhance and accelerate our presence in the community and be charged with maintaining and growing a vibrant membership. You will also manage a team of volunteers that carry out specific roles.
Apply for these and other Songsalive! positions at www.songsalive.org/getinvolved.htm
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FEATURED PARTNER Songsalive! Featured Partner: jamLink from MusicianLink Discount for Songsalive Members - 10 percent off your entire purchase! The jamLink lets you practice online with minimal latency up to 500 miles over the Internet, with studio quality, 48 KHz audio. Ever tried collaborating over Skype or Google Hangouts? The latency involved with these services makes rehearsing a big mess. Furthermore, the sound on these services has been optimized for speech, not for music. With the jamLink from MusicianLink and a high speed internet connection, you can practice with musicians over long distances. Standard 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch inputs let you connect a mic, guitar, mixer, or other instruments directly. Songsalive! PRO Members: For more information on jamLink from MusicianLink, click on Partner Directory in Backstage. About the Songsalive! Partner Directory: Discounts to our friends’ products, promotions, resources, services and events to help you with your songwriting career. Music resources, books and directories / Online websites and services for marketing, promotion and social networking / Artist development, production and training / Music Licensing (Film, TV, Ads, Games and A&R contacts / Music creation, sales and distribution / Songwriting learning and writing tools / Legal Services / Sponsored Events Behind the Songsalive! Backstage, you can access 100 exclusive discounts, only for our Songsalive! Pro members. www.songsalive.org/backstage.htm for all Pro Member exclusives, or access the Partner Directory here: www.songsalive.org/linkdirectory.htm
Go Pro today! Join Songsalive! on our website at www.songsalive.org/join.htm.
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SPONSORED EVENT Independent Music Conference (IMC) October 19 - 23, 2013 Los Angeles, CA Songsalive! members can save even more with a special discounted early-bird registration rate for the Independent Music Conference. Visit the link to take advantage of this great offer, and pay only $55 per person! The Independent Music Conference is a highly effective learning and networking environment which has been presented nationwide in Philly, Dallas, Charleston, Los Angeles and Northampton to date. Now in its eleventh year, and planning the 14th event, the IMC is still the only music conference in the nation specifically for independent musicians. The IMC focuses on empowering musicians to achieve indie success, helping them achieve their goals as entrepreneurial business owners through the presentation of educational seminars, workshops, panel discussions, mentor sessions networking opportunities, performance instruction, evaluation and critique, and live performances.
For more information on this conference and other Songsalive! Sponsored Events, visit www.songsalive.org/sponsoredevents.htm 10
SPONSORED EVENT Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter Film & TV Music Conference Los Angeles, CA October 29-30, 2013 The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard join forces to deliver a cutting-edge, two-day seminar on the role of music in film and television. Now in its 14th year, this Conference offers attendees the unique opportunity to learn from, network and expose their music directly to the best music supervisors, composers, directors, music editors, songwriters and producers in the business. The event also provides a dynamic forum for the exchange of ideas - featuring roundtable discussions, and other networking cocktail parties and sessions.
For more information on these and other Songsalive! Sponsored Events, visit www.songsalive.org/sponsoredevents.htm 11
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eNotes - free weekly discussion list where the art and business of songwriting meet online. eNotes is all about opportunities: songwriting, songwriting & music business and all that pertains to the Update your profile song and the songwriter. We post relevant opportunities as well as There are hundreds and hundreds of other songwriters, artists and music business articles, resources and special events that will help our members professionals waiting to meet you! Update your profile on the website with some info about maximize their songwriting careers. Plus up to the minute posts from you, some pics, and even use our integrated music player, where you can show off up to 10 of your own songs! Pro members can also create their own blogs, groups and add videos. our program SONGSHOP (looking for songs). We also encourage Woo hoo! posts from our subscribers of the above, as well as tasteful selfSongsalive! exists because of the songwriters and composers community at large. We feed it, promotions including upcoming music and songwriting events, and and we feed off it. We are all about community. Get involved today! JOIN A CHAPTER songwriting discussions. GROUP - READ AND CREATE BLOGS - COMMENT ON BLOGS - ADD PHOTOS AND VIDEOS - FIND OTHER MEMBERS.... Have FUN!
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