April 2018
Guild Tidings
The official publication of
The International Songwriters Guild
Volume 23, No. 4
Next Meeting Sunday April 1st 5:00pm.
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/
Happy Accidents
By Jeff Mason
This month, I continue writing about the gifted composer and pianist Steve Dorff.
These writings are a review of the Keynote Interview at the 2017 TAXI Road Rally.
You may read the earlier article on Steve in last month’s news letter, “Write, Submit,
Forget Repeat #2.”
You may find the full interview in the 2018, January, February, March editions of
Recording Magazine. Steve had just been nominated to the Song Writers Hall of Fame
and had received the Lifetime Achievement Award from TAXI president Michael Laskow.
Steve told us about having a medical condition called synesthesia. A cross-wiring of the
senses where the person sees music in his head as lights or colors. Steve recalled being
inspired, at age seven, watching Leonard Bernstein conduct the New York Phil.
Michael Laskow asked Steve about his lack of musical training and how that “translated”
into his own conducting. Always self effacing, Steve told us he was a “horrible conductor.”
He recalled conducting the London Symphony and having a sense of wonder, ”How did I
get here? Manifest destiny has been a big part of my life, and I do believe in it. I’ve manifested
in my mind things that I’ve wanted to accomplish and wanted to do, and somehow, miraculously,
a lot of those things have happened for me.”
I wanted to share this with you as I see it as another positive approach to songwriting.
This interview, for me, was the perfect opening to the Road Rally. It came two days after the
publication of Steve’s first book, “I Wrote That One, Too” “From Willie To Whitney.”
He described the genesis of the book. He had been doing “evenings with Steve Dorff”
with Steve sitting at the piano, playing his songs and telling stories. A woman told him that
he didn’t sing good but she loved his stories and he should write a book. So six months later
he had a book deal and was “knee deep in trying to remember half of these crazy stories that
I’ve had the experience of living.” Steve describes the book, “It’s a music business story about
a guy who came to California knowing nobody and somehow got to work with some of the
greatest artists of any generation.”
Steve has worked with the best of the best musicians. The story of how he came to score
his first movie for Clint Eastwood’s “Every Which Way But Loose” would be worth my buying the
book. I will not spoil it by trying to tell you. There are stories about television host Merv Griffin
which will make you laugh.
Here is some more advice from Steve. It doesn’t matter what skill you have “you have to
make your own luck.” “It takes a lot of skill and a lot of luck and it takes a lot of being at the right
place at the right time, and what I call happy accidents.” “And sometimes a happy accident can
be that my hand goes to the wrong note” and “sometimes I’ve based a whole song around a
happy accident.” He talks about rejection. “Handling rejection is up to the individual. Some people
just can’t handle it. And I always tell people if you’re not prepared to pick yourself up about a 150
times a week, it’s probably not the right business” “ Some people just let it slide off the back.” I
think every performer can relate to this next statement. “After every job I do I think it’s the last one
I’ll ever do.”
Still on Steve’s “music bucket list” is to score a James Bond movie. I will conclude this article
by offering you a piece of advice given to Steve by Paul Williams. “You are your own best publisher.
You’ll always be your own best publisher. You are the only one who is going to go back in your catalog
and find a song you wrote 10 years ago. So I’ve picked songs that have fell through the cracks and
didn’t find a home but I believe in them, and years later I’ve had success with some of them.” As an
example, he recently he had a top ten hit with a a 16 year old song. “Baby, Lets Lay Down And Dance”
by Garth Brooks.
I hope you enjoyed this article and I will 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 playing at Tijuana Flats this Wednesday
Event: Greater Orlando Council of the Blind (GOCB) Dine and Donate
Date: Wednesday, March 21
Time: 5PM to 8PM
Place: Tijuana Flats
(corner of University Blvd. and Goldenrod Road)
7608 University Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32792
407-673-2456
For this show the Jane Gang will be represented by Asli, SusieCool, and Stevey Z,
with a guest performance by our good friend, Dave Hillebrandt! Those of you that
have joined us in the past for this event know how much fun our fiesta can be, so don’t miss out!
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 the last Wednesday of each month
from 6 to 8:30/9pm. The BBB has many delicious items on their menu, and also some
vegetarian stuff. They also serve beer and wine. They have a Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Central-Florida-Folk-Song-Circle-139385302761066/
On April 18th 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 is the organizer of a Meetup.com group called
"Orlando Creative Music Network"
We have a Facebook page for this group if you want info.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/274152179716552/
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
No Critique scores for March
New members and guests always welcome!
© 2018 ISG