Holland-Dozier-Holland Honoured

From a recent American Songwriter Blog post by Evan Schlansky, here is an article about one of my favourite songwriting teams and the award they'll be receiving in June:

Legendary Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland will receive the coveted Johnny Mercer Award at the 2009 Songwriters Hall of Fame Awards dinner on June 18th at the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel.

The trio, who wrote indelible hits for the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Four Tops and Marvin Gaye are considered key architects in the Motown sound. Together they penned Where Did Our Love Go?, Baby, I Need Your Loving, You Can't Hurry Love, Stop In The Name Of Love, Baby Love, Can't Hurry Love, You Keep Me Hanging On, Nowhere To Run, Same Old Song, and Can't Help Myself, to name just a few. In total, the team wrote 70 Top 10 songs from 1962 to 1967, including 50 #1 hits.

"Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland's massive stream of classic songs changed the face of popular music in a way that has endured, creating a style that is highly influential and relevant today," said Songwriters Hall of Fame chairman/CEO Hal David in a statement. "The Songwriters Hall of Fame is proud to bestow our prestigious Johnny Mercer Award upon this groundbreaking team."

The Johnny Mercer Award is exclusively reserved for a songwriter who has already been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in a prior year, and whose body of work is of such high quality and impact, that it upholds the gold standard set by the legendary Johnny Mercer (who's songs include "Stardust" and "Moon River"). Past recipients of the award include Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Jimmy Webb, and Paul Simon.

Holland-Dozier-Holland... May the Muse stay with you...

Technorati : Songwriters, Songwriting, Songwriting Awards

Songwriting - Pay It Forward

I enjoyed reading this article from a Nova Scotia local newspaper about songwriting as an art that can be passed along. Kudos to songwriter Steven Bowers (pictured) who is working with youth and passing along the craft/art of songwriting:

Equipped with good information and persistence, young musicians can forge a path as a songwriter - even if it's not the career that a guidance counsellor would typically suggest.
Singer/songwriter Steven Bowers has been at the trade for about a decade, and still he says it's a continual learning process. But at this point, he's comfortable imparting some of the experience he's earned at a songwriter's workshop for several high school students this Saturday at Glasgow Square.

"We want to teach them about the business of songwriting. It's not really something that's focused on around here - basically how to connect with other songwriters, how to get your stuff heard," he says.

He remembers back at the very beginning - writing music but not really having any idea of how to get people to listen to it. In high school he had an outlet through school programs, but without knowing anywhere else to look for performing, there was little opportunity.

"When you're in high school, you can't play a lot of the pubs. So, with the exception of local groups that put on coffee houses, you don't really know many avenues to get your stuff out there," he said. "The open-mic circuit was really big for me in Halifax. A lot of kids, if they are going off to university or to college, most will have open-mics at the local campus bars they can take advantage of."

But even with the local notoriety that comes with frequenting an open-mic - or hosting one, as Bowers did - there's still a distance to travel between pub staple and marketable songwriter. That involves networking with other musicians and knowing organizations which exist to put people in the music business in touch with funding opportunities and information. And it's those angles Bowers, along with fellow musician Christina Martin are hoping to impart.
"Now that you've established yourself as a performer, you have to have some kind of product. If you want to sell your music - and if you want to be a professional songwriter versus someone who's a hobbyist, you might not be interested in recording your stuff," he said.

"But, from there, you need a venue to sell your music, people aren't going to buy it sight unseen. And even if you want to go the radio route and not perform in your life, you still need to connect with the organization."

The Muse is with you Steven... Inspirational! Keep the faith!

Technorati : Songwriters, Songwriting, Songwriting Seminars

Toronto is 175!

From the Contest website:

Have you got the music in you? Have you got a song in your heart?

In honour of the City's 175th anniversary, the City of Toronto is hosting the Toronto SongContest. We're looking for an original song that is evocative of our wonderful city, a song that will pay homage to Toronto's amazing spirit and its unparalleled diversity.

How to enter

The contest officially opens on Monday, March 30, 2009 and submissions will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 10, 2009.The contest is open to any Canadian resident 13 years of age or older.

Compose your song using any lyrical music genre, e.g., pop, rock, folk, roots, hip hop, rap, jazz, world. Songs must be less than four minutes in length. You must submit your song in MP3 format, the lyrics to your song and a short biography (200 words or less) to Sonicbids - the official website of the Toronto Song Contest.

Winners and prizes

Judges selected by the City will evaluate all of the song submissions and will select up to 10 finalists and the winner of the contest from among those finalists. The process for announcing and promoting both the finalists and the contest winner will be determined at a later date. Judges will base their evaluation of the songs on the following criteria

* Creativity
* Originality
* Lyrics
* Melody
* Arrangement

The winner will receive a prize of $5,000 Canadian, payable by cheque, and will retain all rights to any SOCAN royalties payable for the use of the song.

May the Muse be with you and best of luck if you enter!

Technorati : Contests, Prizes, Songwriting
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SongStudio '09

Kudos to Blair Packham et al (which "al" includes Rik Emmett, Ember Swift, Steven Page, Zack Werner and more!) for setting up SongStudio '09, described as a "week-long adventure in songwriting at Toronto's Ryerson University" and scheduled to take place this summer: July 18 - 24, 2009.

Just a bit from the website (which you should visit for yourself):

The week will focus on learning how to write your best songs ever. Best of all, you will get many chances to perform your songs, for supportive, attentive audiences in a warm, nurturing environment.

SongStudio's format is designed to help you acquire strategies and tools to help turn your ideas into real, finished songs. Good songs that speak to your audience. If you have something to express through song, we can help. Maybe you only write lyrics. At SongStudio, chances are you'll meet someone who needs help with their words, or who only writes music. And in the meantime, we can help you make your lyrics communicate more effectively, and help you learn how to write effective, compelling melodies and chord changes.

Something else happens at our workshops. Some might call it networking. We prefer to think of it as making friends, and if the last four years are any indication, many of the friendships made at our past workshops will be for life. This is a beautiful thing. So often, songwriting is a solitary art. When the experience can be shared, a community builds.

At SongStudio you will sing, you will laugh, you will listen, you'll "talk shop", but most of all, you will grow as a writer and as an artist.

Sounds like a wonderful, creative environment... May the Muse be with them all!

Technorati : Seminars, Songwriters
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Back with Elvis Costello

It's been too long since I've posted... just busy work-wise and sad personal-wise to deal with my blogs but I'm excited about Elvis Costello's Spectacle show finally being shown in Canada on CTV!

I first posted about this a while back and more recently here...

I won't repeat what was said in my past posts, only to add that the National Post carried this article today on the show.

I enjoyed the article and am really looking forward to the show. I hope you'll watch it too... Some quotes from the article follow:

"They try to compare it to a talk show, but [David] Letterman goes on five times a week with three people every night," Costello, 54, says. "I could never go on that often -- there aren't that many witty people in the world."

"Any host, really, just has to set the scene," says Costello, who writes every show and draws upon his huge musical knowledge in talking with guests such as Herbie Hancock and Elton John. "I steer the conversation toward a subject I'm interested in -- that's really all I'm suited to do."

Costello's onstage familiarity with jamming gives his show an improvised feel. What began with a dependence on a teleprompter gave way to playing with his guests by ear.

"The show really changed with Bill Clinton," says Costello, explaining how the former U. S. president's people informed him he'd only have 45 minutes to shoot. However, the famed raconteur and, according to Costello, quite able saxophonist made it clear he was in no hurry to leave.

"I'd only written about 20 minutes of questions, but found the last part of our program was the best bit," he says. "I still spend loads of time researching, but perhaps I'm not the weak conversationalist I thought I was."

May the Muse be with you... this Friday at 10:00 p.m. on CTV (and for 13 shows in total!)

Technorati : Promotion, Songwriters