April 2017
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 22, No. 4
Next Meeting Sunday April 2nd 5:00pm.
We'd like to welcome new members Dean Carter and Lindsay Stroh who joined in March.
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 St., Orlando, FL 32803
(at the extreme east end of Robinson, near Orlando Executive Airport)
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. If you wish to join, there is an annual fee of only $5. For more information, visit our
website at www.tinyurl.com/isgsongs or myspace page at https://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:
If you wish to join our Facebook group, please check us out at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/831814850193553/
We had a great talk from Ben Gardner at the March meeting where he provided some great insight
as to where the Music Business is going, and he gave us info about the company that he is CEO of
orlandobands.com he has joined our group, and has also offered us publicity through his site and
Facebook. Thanks Ben.
March Malaise
By Jeff Mason
I crawled over the FAWM finish line with a little over two hours to spare. For
convenience sake, I used the voice memo on my Iphone to record my fourteen songs. High
quality recordings are not an imperative for the FAWM challenge. This is my third FAWM and
one would think I know what I am doing. I do and yet I don’t. As I write this article, I
may be looking at back surgery in the not too distant future. That won’t be my first rodeo
if it happens. I had a disc scraped in 1987. So in the background of this year’s FAWM was
the painful specter of illness and doubts about the future. I know this crept into the
writing. The subjects ranged from aphrodisiacs, complicated love affairs, a dark gloomy
venture into the political landscape, a slow, bluesy trip south to Costa Rica, two half
remembered autobiographical love affairs, a song ultimately about workplace sexual
harassment, a plea for more love in our troubled world, a song about the dark side of
rumors, a cheap shot at a well known political operative, a love affair in a
psychotherapist’s office, a torrid summer romance, an assassin’s dark trip and a Monty
Python like lecture on the formation of the universe combined with a poke at patriotism.
You could say I kicked the editor out the room. I fell back on my tried and true
inspirations, television series. I used Robin Frederick’s “365 Song Starters” book, a
couple of ideas I had laying around and I fooled around with some other songs. Finally
finding new songs from those templates. The weakest song, in my opinion, came from a song
title generator. I don’t believe I ever had a firm grasp on what the song was about.
I made sure I knew how to post the songs to SoundCloud and FAWM. An important
skill and not to be overlooked. Anything can go wrong. FAWM has a Facebook page and reading
the posts reinforced my article from last month. Life goes on and the artist is not spared
life’s treacherous ill winds. People catching colds, money issues, vehicles breaking down
are just some of the obstacles faced by FAWMERS. Even mysterious back ailments! The art
continues.
After FAWM ends, the constructive, friendly comments on your songs start coming
in. I have met several musicians whom I would like to collaborate with. I have written
fifteen songs this year. I am aware of the massive letdown after FAWM ends. My situation is
complicated because St Patrick’s Day arrives on March 17th and I have two weeks rehearsal.
I have a plan for how to deal with the March Malaise This entails using dropped D tunings,
open tunings and continuing to explore my Irish repertoire. I have song ideas that I have
stumbled over during these rehearsals.
Another place, which I have discovered through FAWM, is the Get Your Arse
Writing Songs club.Other wise known as GYAWS. Yet another peculiar acronym for you to
remember. This requires you to write a song every week. They provide a weekly subject. The
song is posted via SoundCloud to their page.
http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/gyaws-podcast
Hopefully that will get me writing songs again. It has to happen next week or I
am very likely to step into the sinking sands of procrastination and sink to the bottom.
There I will shake hands with an old nemesis. Mr Writer’s Block!
Finally, I am listening to Chuck Berry. He passed away yesterday. Perhaps the
best compliment I could pay to him is that the musicians playing rock and roll in bars are
all Chuck’s children. A fantastic guitar player, singer, songwriter and performer who lived
a tragic life in some ways. Part of the American quilt. 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 SusieCool with your appearance schedule! 407-760-2153
The Jane Gang will be the featured guests at Chris Baranyi's houseparty
on April 15th around 7pm, 2080 Vine St., Orlando 32806
(SusieCool, Asli Goncer Stephanie Barker and Dell Smith)
Jeff Mason and some of the Jane Gang will be playing at Lake Lotus Park on April 22nd for
Earth Day 10:00am to 2:00pm. 1153 Lake Lotus Park Rd. Altamonte Springs FL 32714
Details will be posted on Facebook soon.
If you want to join us at the Central Florida Folk song circle, please show up at Bikes,
Beans and Bordeaux at 3022 Corrine Drive on March 29th from 6 to 8:30pm. The BBB has many
delicious items on their menu, and also have some vegetarian stuff. They also serve beer
and wine.
On April 19th we have a playing circle with the Fingerstyle Guitar Group in the Community
room of the winter Park Library. 460 E. New England Ave.-- Winter Park, FL 32789. 6 to
8:30pm. Songwriters are welcome, but we do try to play our fingerstyle songs and not use
picks. There is more info on the facebook group page.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/228147620559285/?fref=nf
SusieCool has become the organizer of a Meetup.com group called
"Orlando Creative Music Network". Please check out the webpage
for all sorts of upcoming events (including ISG meetings). It is free to join.
https://www.meetup.com/Orlando-Creative-Music-Network/
Current members please send us your website info if you would like your site to be listed
in the ISG members page.
https://sites.google.com/site/isgsusiecool/home/links-and-recommended-reading/member-websites
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
March 2017 Critique Results
1. Run out the Clock BJ Orbase
2. The Boring Song Lindsay Stroh
3. The Hour is Here Mark E. Smith
New members always welcome!
© 2017 ISG