December 2014
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 19, No. 12
NEXT MEETING is the Christmas Party - 5:00pm Sunday, December 7th, 2014
There will be a sound system graciously provided by Matthew Campbell, so
please bring your instrument to perform. Please bring a dish to share and
friends and family are welcome.
The International Songwriter’s Guild meets at 5 PM on the first Sunday of every month at the Central Florida Musician’s Union building, 3020 East Robinson (at the extreme east end of Robinson, near Orlando Executive Airport) in Orlando.
Songwriters, composers, performers, publishers, and the curious are encouraged to join us. Non-members are invited to attend a meeting or two to get a feel for our group and what we do. For more information, visit our website at www.tinyurl.com/isgsongs or myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/21075001
The meetings will be structured as follows: 5:00 to 5:30, business and introductions. 5:30 to 6:00, presentation by a guest speaker (when scheduled), 5:30 or 6:00 to 8:00, song critiques. Please bring a CD or I-phone or mp3 player or perform your song live, and bring 10 or more lyric sheets. If we have at least 5 songs by members who wish to be scored, and 6 members scoring, then we will have them entered in the Monthly competition. Everyone is encouraged to write constructive comments on the lyric sheets.
Any Details not in this newsletter are at:
www.tinyurl.com/isgsongs
Watching The Detectives
By Jeff Mason
I have been a fan of the detective genre since I was a teenager. I don’t know why but there’s something about a police procedural novel that trips my imagination. The best novelists in the genre are masters of observation. They are particularly skilled at describing the human condition. A songwriter can learn from novelists like John D MacDonald and Elmore Leonard. Both writers have passed away but still have web sites devoted to them.
http://www.elmoreleonard.com/ http://jdmhomepage.org/chronology.html
They both wrote about Florida and that would be another reason for Florida based songwriters to examine them. Jimmy Buffett was so influenced by MacDonald that he dedicated a verse to the author in his song “Incommunicado.” I see MacDonald’s influence in more of Buffett’s work. “Havana Daydreaming” reminds me of MacDonald’s beach bum, “detective” character Travis McGee.
Other songwriters have been similarly inspired. Mark Knopfler, the innovative guitar player from the UK rock band Dire Straits, said his song “Private Investigations” was sparked by something he’d read about Philip Marlowe. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=10431 For those of you unfamiliar with the genre Philip Marlowe was the private investigator created by novelist Raymond Chandler. The Marlowe novels translated well to film and inspired a new film style called “film noir.” Cheap crime movies which were filmed in black and white and depicted the underbelly of post Second World War America. Knopfler’s piece starts with a long slow guitar and piano introduction. When the vocal finally comes in it’s more a whisper as he growls out the lyrics. The middle part of the song is a tense interplay between Knopfler’s guitar and the other instruments in the mix. I think the song will continue to be featured in movies as it was in the 1984 film “Comfort and Joy.”
Elvis Costello makes no claims of literary inspiration for his 1977 classic “Watching the Detectives.” Rather he says he stayed up 36 hours drinking instant coffee and listening to The Clash’s first album, “The Clash.”
“Why do you think that song is so jerky? I drank a lot of coffee,” he told Q magazine in 2013. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=17487
Almost forty years later the song still sounds cutting edge, at least to my ears! The song has been covered by Toto and Duran Duran.
Swedish author Henning Mankel is a Swedish author who has seen his detective creation Kurt Wallender become a television series in two countries. The Swedish series has featured a beautiful song called “Quiet Night” written and sung by Anna Ternheim. I haven’t seen this series yet but I’ve watched the English, BBC version. Kenneth Branagh stars as the world weary and rumpled Swedish detective. The plots are good, well acted and the direction is exquisite. The series, also, features a haunting theme song titled “Nostalgia.” The song is written and performed by Emily Barker. The Australian native was fundraising with her band Red Clay Halo to release their new album “Despite The Snow”, by doing house gigs. At a London garden party she was approached by Martin Phipps. Composer Phipps was a guest at the party and told her that he’d enjoyed the show, and in particular the last song of their set “Nostalgia.” Emily got a call a couple of days later from Martin who told her he’d like to use the song in a BBC drama series called “Wallender.” They re-recorded the song, changing some of the lyrics because it had references to Australia and wouldn’t fit into a story about a Swedish detective. Phipps composed the soundtrack to the series which aired in 2008. It earned a 2009 BAFTA award for Best Original Television Music. The show’s success has been a considerable boost to Emily Barker’s career. The original recording of “Nostalgia” was made in a cold 16th century barn in England. You may read more about Emily Barker in this PBS interview http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/wallander/barker.html I think the moral of this story is that you never know who’s listening to you.
I am approaching the last week of Berklee College of Music’s recording class. It’s a free six week course titled “Introduction to Music Production” and I would recommend it to anyone who is trying to record and produce music in their home. However, be prepared to work hard if you do decide to take the course! See you next month.
ISG Bulletin Board
Meeting space graciously provided by Central Florida Musicians Association, Local 389. You are invited to join the largest union in the world, representing the interests of the professional musician. Visit their website at afm389.org for more information. You may reach them by phone at: 407-894-8666.
Why isn't your gig announced here? Members in good standing
call us with your appearance schedule! 407-760-2153
Current members please send us your website info if you would like your site to be listed in the ISG members page. Also if you have any songs that have placed first in the monthly critiques, please send the mp3's to isgorlando@gmail.com if you would like to have them featured in the ISG MySpace page. https://myspace.com/21075001
November 2014 song critique results
1 Three Little Words Bill Frank
2 Lucky Eleven Susan Foster-Trewick/Asli Goncer
3 Stepping Stone Will Campbell
4 Dread Rastafari Kent Trewick/Susan Foster-Trewick
5 Good Enough Pamela Belitch
New members always welcome!
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