The folks at the Great American Song Contest presented their 2008 results, and there was some nice news for me and a collaborator.
Ron Tintner and I received Outstanding Achivement (that's the top five in a category) for Rock/Alt, for our nostalgic, upbeat rumination "Vinyl" This is the first time we have gotten recognition for this song. (Eduard Glumov and I won this category last year).
And I also got Outstanding Achivement for the Lyrics Only category, for "Four Widows"
Also in the top five for Rock/Alt is artist Jen Foster. Jen has come out swinging in 2009 with a hot new single called "I Didn't Just Kiss Her" (you know Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl?" -- this is Jen's response). Jen and I have teamed up on a version of my lyric "Parentheses" but you can't hear it yet. We'll be releasing that later this year, we hope.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Different Strokes
There are ample opportunities to enter songs in competitions and/or get evaluations of them. But everyone is looking for different things. While songwriting competitions want to focus on a "great song," there is some discrepancy in what that means from judge to judge. There is almost always an unspoken and unacknowledged bias towards what the judge would find commercial. Everyone tries to avoid this, but evaluations almost always come with some judgement on whether someone would buy the song or not.
And that's probably fair Most of the people who enter competitions are in some measure looking for "success." Many are hobbyists, amateurs, but they are hobbyists with a dream.
But it's still interesting to see what comments come back, from those competitions that offer evaluations. There are two sets of comments, from two different contests, on the same unusual song.
"Vancouver" is not a commercial song, at least it wasn't meant to be. It was an interesting, circuitous series of thoughts and images, an exercise in collage writing, creating an emotional world without spelling out or definitively stating What It Was About. I enjoyed writing the lyric, and "Wolf" gave it an indie setting.
One judge wrote the following:
I like that you tried to use major and minor chords in mix during your verse -- but the changes don't really reflect your lyric.
Some parts really likeable, other parts contain changes of melody and support chords that could be stronger. Some of the changes stop the flow of the song and interfere with our getting in a consistent "groove." Again, as with the melody, you start us in one direction, but expect us to jump to too many things, thereby losing the flow of the story and emotion. Some of your lyrics are wonderful pictures and feelings; some are more forced and need work. The last line of V-1 is an example of this (the secrets really don't have to do with any of the preceeding verses). There are too many mixes of pronouns and images with no base for them locked. You sometimes use "you" for a visitor to Vancouver, then other times, it seems you are using "you" to mean Vancouver. More clarity is needed here.
In another contest, this is what we got:
Extremely cool changes … don’t know why, but we heard this in a 20-
something soundtrack. Very REM-like, but updated and less obtuse, if you know what we
mean. EXCELLENT bridge. Commercial as heck, hope you’re pitching it. Good job!!
(Along with many "8" (out of 10) scores for various questions)
See what you think
And that's probably fair Most of the people who enter competitions are in some measure looking for "success." Many are hobbyists, amateurs, but they are hobbyists with a dream.
But it's still interesting to see what comments come back, from those competitions that offer evaluations. There are two sets of comments, from two different contests, on the same unusual song.
"Vancouver" is not a commercial song, at least it wasn't meant to be. It was an interesting, circuitous series of thoughts and images, an exercise in collage writing, creating an emotional world without spelling out or definitively stating What It Was About. I enjoyed writing the lyric, and "Wolf" gave it an indie setting.
One judge wrote the following:
I like that you tried to use major and minor chords in mix during your verse -- but the changes don't really reflect your lyric.
Some parts really likeable, other parts contain changes of melody and support chords that could be stronger. Some of the changes stop the flow of the song and interfere with our getting in a consistent "groove." Again, as with the melody, you start us in one direction, but expect us to jump to too many things, thereby losing the flow of the story and emotion. Some of your lyrics are wonderful pictures and feelings; some are more forced and need work. The last line of V-1 is an example of this (the secrets really don't have to do with any of the preceeding verses). There are too many mixes of pronouns and images with no base for them locked. You sometimes use "you" for a visitor to Vancouver, then other times, it seems you are using "you" to mean Vancouver. More clarity is needed here.
In another contest, this is what we got:
Extremely cool changes … don’t know why, but we heard this in a 20-
something soundtrack. Very REM-like, but updated and less obtuse, if you know what we
mean. EXCELLENT bridge. Commercial as heck, hope you’re pitching it. Good job!!
(Along with many "8" (out of 10) scores for various questions)
See what you think
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Unusable
Everything goes in roundabout ways. Several months ago I blogged about Dave Frishberg, a songwriting idol of mine. I got an e-mail out of the blue from Nancy Frishberg (his niece) who was guest editing a publication devoted to "Usability" for Usability Professionals.
It looks very interesting, but the online version is only for members. This particular issue is dedicated to aging, and Nancy wanted to reprint my lyrics to "Rumplestiltzkin: Dead at 95" -- this is appropriate as the theme of the song is getting older, and looking back.
Nancy let me know that they had lost some advertising pages, and had to cut some content, and my lyric was removed. However, they had accidentally left in a mention about the lyric in the editor's page, and so had to print a correction. So, in a roundabout way, the site now points to the lyric.
Welcome Usability professionals!
It looks very interesting, but the online version is only for members. This particular issue is dedicated to aging, and Nancy wanted to reprint my lyrics to "Rumplestiltzkin: Dead at 95" -- this is appropriate as the theme of the song is getting older, and looking back.
Nancy let me know that they had lost some advertising pages, and had to cut some content, and my lyric was removed. However, they had accidentally left in a mention about the lyric in the editor's page, and so had to print a correction. So, in a roundabout way, the site now points to the lyric.
Welcome Usability professionals!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Somebody's Son
Not everything can be autobiographical. It's always a balance between fiction and feeling. I always say that writing is the process of telling the truth by lying about it. Every so often though there is a good solid personal experience that makes a compelling story.
My elder son had been hospitalized with pancreatitis. Not sure how he got it, but it was painful and disconcerting, and he had to be in the hospital for four days. At first he was fed with an IV drip and couldn't eat food. After a couple of days his spirit came back, and there was never any real danger -- just that feeling of not being able to control what was happening.
A few months later, my two sons and I were in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and they were too young to really appreciate of the smaller or unflashy elements of the exhibits. While going through we found the mummified body of a boy who had been killed in a volcanic eruption, his body preserved. I had that flash of inspiration, on the one hand I was so worried about my boys getting hurt, and here was an example of what we will all be in a few thousand years time -- if we're lucky. This boy we were staring at, he was somebody's son when he was alive, with parents who worried about him as well.
From the above came a lyric, and since I was listening to Paul Simon's "Surprise" at the time, it was written in that style. Recently a musician named Billy Playle found it on Musicians Collaboration and wanted to work on it. He got the "Paul Simon" feel right away, but it took several tries to get the verses right, and more work to get the bridge feeling "different" --- the bridge being the flashback to the hospital.
It's a very personal lyric and one that I've wanted to hear for some time, and I'm grateful to Billy for making it happen. I hope you enjoy listening to "Somebody's Son"
My elder son had been hospitalized with pancreatitis. Not sure how he got it, but it was painful and disconcerting, and he had to be in the hospital for four days. At first he was fed with an IV drip and couldn't eat food. After a couple of days his spirit came back, and there was never any real danger -- just that feeling of not being able to control what was happening.
A few months later, my two sons and I were in the University of Pennsylvania Museum, and they were too young to really appreciate of the smaller or unflashy elements of the exhibits. While going through we found the mummified body of a boy who had been killed in a volcanic eruption, his body preserved. I had that flash of inspiration, on the one hand I was so worried about my boys getting hurt, and here was an example of what we will all be in a few thousand years time -- if we're lucky. This boy we were staring at, he was somebody's son when he was alive, with parents who worried about him as well.
From the above came a lyric, and since I was listening to Paul Simon's "Surprise" at the time, it was written in that style. Recently a musician named Billy Playle found it on Musicians Collaboration and wanted to work on it. He got the "Paul Simon" feel right away, but it took several tries to get the verses right, and more work to get the bridge feeling "different" --- the bridge being the flashback to the hospital.
It's a very personal lyric and one that I've wanted to hear for some time, and I'm grateful to Billy for making it happen. I hope you enjoy listening to "Somebody's Son"
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Hummingbird
It's been a while since I could post a new song, and I'm as excited about this one as I can be.
Hopefully you've heard "Atlantic City" by Jordan Peterson (with my lyrics). Of all the songs on my website, I think it's one of the strongest. Jordan wrote while he was still in high school. After putting out a CD, he became a senior, graduated, went to college.....but stopped composing for a long time. We never quite got that second song done.
I had to get a quick piano demo recorded recently and asked Jordan to help out, and he enjoyed doing it. Got his juices flowing, and he found the lyric "Hummingbird" I had tried to get him to compose a few years ago. And he nailed it.
This song was based on a friend of mine who was at a point in her life where she couldn't quite settle down -- and I think there was a dissatisfaction with who she was and what she was about. An anxiety the manifested itself in activity. I might have been dead wrong, of course, but the song is about my impressions, of course (and it's written in the second person).
Jordan plays fluttery high notes to represent the girl in the song, and the upper notes don't stop moving. You absolutely have to listen to the very end of the song, just to hear Jordan on the keys.
Oh, and the person in the song? She's married with kids and extremely happy now. But the song plays on.
Hopefully you've heard "Atlantic City" by Jordan Peterson (with my lyrics). Of all the songs on my website, I think it's one of the strongest. Jordan wrote while he was still in high school. After putting out a CD, he became a senior, graduated, went to college.....but stopped composing for a long time. We never quite got that second song done.
I had to get a quick piano demo recorded recently and asked Jordan to help out, and he enjoyed doing it. Got his juices flowing, and he found the lyric "Hummingbird" I had tried to get him to compose a few years ago. And he nailed it.
This song was based on a friend of mine who was at a point in her life where she couldn't quite settle down -- and I think there was a dissatisfaction with who she was and what she was about. An anxiety the manifested itself in activity. I might have been dead wrong, of course, but the song is about my impressions, of course (and it's written in the second person).
Jordan plays fluttery high notes to represent the girl in the song, and the upper notes don't stop moving. You absolutely have to listen to the very end of the song, just to hear Jordan on the keys.
Oh, and the person in the song? She's married with kids and extremely happy now. But the song plays on.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The Sound of a City
I just did a 2.5-day touchdown in LA, my first visit to what Bertolucci called "The Big Nipple." I'm an East Coaster from way back and I don't know that I could ever quite settle in to the lifestyle there. It's several cities in one, and each mini-city has its own secrets; I can't imagine ever really feeling that I was home enough there to learn what the city is *really* about.
What struck me most is that there are hidden worlds in LA, things aren't marked by signs. The best parties are behind unmarked doors, the hottest clubs are discreetly located, the best houses are in the enclaves on the hills. You can't go looking for things, you need to know someone who knows where to look. There's as much, if not more, going on in LA as there is in a city like New York, but you can't see it driving up and down the miles-long avenues. LA, in it's street-to-street driving experience, does not offer terribly interesting scenery, it's a lot of shopping strips and storefronts. Yes, you can see the La Brea tar pits, the exceptional Disney performance hall and some vestiges of old Hollywood, or stumble into the manicured streets of Beverly Hills.
But you will spend most of your time in a car. It's like being in a province of Spain, not a walking city.
When I am in a city for a couple of days I find a station on the radio and leave it there. In Nashville, I hit a country station and let it play, getting the sound of the town. In LA, I surprised myself by hitting a "soft rap" station, and enjoying it. Not my style and not music I'd be listening to otherwise, but it felt like the right place to be, on my long, long drives.
The sound was friendly, a perpetual party. Songs about drinking, flirting, bars, getting busy and getting funky. It didn't have a 'hard' sound, as I might expect, but an inviting sound with a good beat. At one point, I heard "Da Butt" --- which is a song I was surprised to recognize. It's from Spike Lee's early film SCHOOL DAZE, and I had a cassette tape of the music. This was over 20 years ago (it might very well have been a cover).
It will probably wind up as my default station if and when I need to go back in future years. Part of "My LA".....
What struck me most is that there are hidden worlds in LA, things aren't marked by signs. The best parties are behind unmarked doors, the hottest clubs are discreetly located, the best houses are in the enclaves on the hills. You can't go looking for things, you need to know someone who knows where to look. There's as much, if not more, going on in LA as there is in a city like New York, but you can't see it driving up and down the miles-long avenues. LA, in it's street-to-street driving experience, does not offer terribly interesting scenery, it's a lot of shopping strips and storefronts. Yes, you can see the La Brea tar pits, the exceptional Disney performance hall and some vestiges of old Hollywood, or stumble into the manicured streets of Beverly Hills.
But you will spend most of your time in a car. It's like being in a province of Spain, not a walking city.
When I am in a city for a couple of days I find a station on the radio and leave it there. In Nashville, I hit a country station and let it play, getting the sound of the town. In LA, I surprised myself by hitting a "soft rap" station, and enjoying it. Not my style and not music I'd be listening to otherwise, but it felt like the right place to be, on my long, long drives.
The sound was friendly, a perpetual party. Songs about drinking, flirting, bars, getting busy and getting funky. It didn't have a 'hard' sound, as I might expect, but an inviting sound with a good beat. At one point, I heard "Da Butt" --- which is a song I was surprised to recognize. It's from Spike Lee's early film SCHOOL DAZE, and I had a cassette tape of the music. This was over 20 years ago (it might very well have been a cover).
It will probably wind up as my default station if and when I need to go back in future years. Part of "My LA".....
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The SongDoor is Closed
Another contest heard from.
Songdoor.com has posted Finalists and while I didn’t make the top five in any category, I did rate three Honorable Mentions.
In Pop, Jordan Peterson and I were recognized for “Atlantic City”
In Alt, Jim Chapman and I got noted for “Alice’s Locket” (which really pleases me as it was the first song I collaborated on at the Muses’ Muse)
And in Singer/Songwriter, Ian Ferrin and I were tapped for “Vespers”
I was told that “Vespers” came within a whisker of making the finals, but the judging was blind and we just missed.
Congratulations are due, I think, to Anthony Snape, who has a number of songs in the Finals and more as Honorable Mentions. I sent him a note on MySpace and good luck to him when they announce the winners later this month.
Songdoor.com has posted Finalists and while I didn’t make the top five in any category, I did rate three Honorable Mentions.
In Pop, Jordan Peterson and I were recognized for “Atlantic City”
In Alt, Jim Chapman and I got noted for “Alice’s Locket” (which really pleases me as it was the first song I collaborated on at the Muses’ Muse)
And in Singer/Songwriter, Ian Ferrin and I were tapped for “Vespers”
I was told that “Vespers” came within a whisker of making the finals, but the judging was blind and we just missed.
Congratulations are due, I think, to Anthony Snape, who has a number of songs in the Finals and more as Honorable Mentions. I sent him a note on MySpace and good luck to him when they announce the winners later this month.
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