Juno 2012 Songwriter's Circle Part 2

From the Juno Awards site:

And here's part 2 of the Juno Songwriters' Circle courtesy of the CBC with Terri Clark, Max Kergan and Dan Mangan as host... May the Muse be with you as you listen and enjoy great Canadian (unsung) songsters!

 

Juno 2012 Songwriter's Circle

From the Juno Awards site:

JUNO Songwriters’ Circle brings together some of today’s most talented Canadian singer/songwriters, sharing songs and stories on stage. Host Dan Mangan hosted the discussion, perform some of his hit songs and got up-close with audiences in this truly unique setting and not-to-be-missed event.

Participating Artists: Host Dan Mangan will be joined on stage by fellow 2012 JUNO Award nominees David Francey, Kiran Ahluwalia, Lindi Ortega, Max Kerman (Arkells) and Terri Clark.

CBC has a great podcast of the circle and here's part 1... May the Muse be with you as you listen and enjoy great Canadian (unsung) songsters!

Tunited - Social Network for Songsmiths?

Caught this interview of Midge Ure on the Daily Record’s website that deals with his establishment of an online social network for songwriters, music creators…

The site is called… you guessed it… Tunited… (Tunes+United I presume)…  Here’s some of the interview:

A teenage Midge Ure sat - guitar in hand - in his bedroom at his family home in Cambuslang and decided the time had come to write his first pop song.

As he nervously strummed the chords of new composition The Bowie Trilogy, a tribute to his music idol David, he thought, 'This is what I want to do for the rest of my life'. His ambition far outweighed his early ability.

More than 40 years on Midge, 57, laughed: "The song was rubbish. Trouble was, I only had one part. I never got round to writing the other two sections of the track so it didn't turn out to be much of a trilogy.

"I was so passionate about music. I firmly believed I'd be walking home from school and The Beatles would be waiting at my door saying. 'We've sacked John, you're the guy we really want'. I lived in total fantasy land. That was my reality but it was exciting to me."

Midge has been looking back at the origins of his incredible 35-year pop career to coincide with the launch of Tunited, a new online social music network he's developed to help aspiring artists get their first step on the ladder to rock stardom and introduce fans to new music.

Midge spent four years building Tunited from scratch. Its aim is to encourage people to make music and get paid for it - an alien concept in an age of online piracy and free downloading.

Midge said: "Tunited is a DIY onestop shop for aspiring musicians. I've compresssed all the elements you need to make a living as an artist into this site.

"I've opened the door to everybody who wants to have a crack at making music or listen to new music.  The cost implications of going into a studio and making a record just aren't there any more. We give you software good enough to make an album in your bedroom and a business pack showing you how to sell it.

"You can press up 1000 singles or just 25 copies to give to your mates. We also arrange gig swaps where a band in Newcastle can invite a band in Glasgow to support them and vice versa.

"You also get 100 per cent profits from songs which are downloaded. The artists all get paid - it might not be an awful lot but on other sites you don't see a penny for your music. The quality of the work by new acts on Tunited has blown me away."

He said: "Today, if The Beatles were a new band and knocked on the door of a major record company or radio station with the Sergeant Pepper album the response would be, 'Thanks but no thanks'. They wouldn't fit the bill of what the industry deems hip and trendy.

"It doesn't take a genius to work out that if 100,000 people turn up for an X Factor audition and only two are chosen that's an awful lot of other people who'd like to have a crack at making music.

"It all comes down to whether you fit the demographic. If you don't look right - if you're too old, too thin or too fat, whatever - you're going to be excluded, not given the opportunity to show what you can do.

"Tunited is saying, if you've got a skill - whether it's singing, songwriting or as a musician - barter that skill. There is talent out there and we'll give it a platform.

"Tunited is saying it's time we did the job ourselves. If you've got the desire to do it have a crack at it, the tools are there."

Wow!  Very interesting concept… Best of luck Midge and may the Muse be with all Tunited users…  Look for me there…

Related articles

• Behind the music: Will Tunited bring artists and fans together? (guardian.co.uk)

Gordon and Gord – Easter Day Broadcast

Earlier this month in Toronto, a master class in songwriting was offered up by two of the greatest Gords in Canada - folk icon Gordon Lightfoot and Tragically Hip rocker Gord Downie in the inaugural concert of a new six-part series, If You Could Read My Mind, named for Lightfoot's 1970 breakthrough song.

Sponsored by the Canadian Songwriters' Hall of Fame, the two Gords perform stripped-down versions of some of their work and discuss their craft in an intimate setting that was perfect for the animated, funny, revelatory and - at times - touching discussion between the two men and host Laurie Brown.

It was hard not to notice Downie's admiration of the 71-year-old Lightfoot - whose "austerity and economy of words" he praised - as The Hip's lead singer got downright emotional early in the show which was being taped for later broadcast on CBC Radio 2 on Easter Sunday.

From a Canoe article on the concert, here are some quotes about songwriting provided by the Gords at their concert earlier this month:

[T]he Orillia, Ont-born Lightfoot said he first began writing songs in Grade 12 - his first ever was a novelty tune called The Hula Hoop Song which was inspired by a Life magazine cover - and was inspired more seriously later by Dylan but admitted that "recording was like going to the dentist."

He said he still has a technical rehearsal with his band every Friday to keep his guitar skills up.

When Downie asked Lightfoot about dealing with writer's block, the onetime drinker didn't miss a beat: "Alcohol."

Downie, who hails from Kingston, Ont., couldn't remember the first tune he wrote but said he first sang at a house party - The Doors' opus The End of all things - "trying to infuse it with 15-year-old angst."

Later, he recalled, he and his Hip bandmates hung out at The Prince George Hotel catching travelling blues legends like John Lee Hooker in concert but Downie admitted he didn't learn to play the acoustic guitar until he was twenty.

Both men agreed their songwriting had been hugely inspired by nature over the years, helping to forge the Canadian identity, with Lightfoot revealing he went on massive canoe trips in Northern Ontario and Quebec, sometimes a month at a time.

The only problem - and it's a good one to have - the CSHF now faces is how to make the next five concerts as entertaining as Thursday night's premiere deluxe edition.

Lightfoot and Downie's natural chemistry set the bar high.

May the Muse stay with you Gords…

Springsteen to Guest on Spectacle

The Boss will be a guest on Elvis Costello’s Spectacle program this coming season on CTV in Canada (and on January 27 on Sundance in the U.S.).

From a New Jersey Star-Ledger article by Jay Lustig about the 2-hour season finale with Bruce and members of his E-Street Band:

Songs performed by the entire ensemble include urgent versions of Springsteen’s "The Rising" and "Seeds," as well as a soul-shouting duet on the Sam and Dave hit "I Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down" and a well-conceived medley of Springsteen’s "Radio Nowhere" and Costello’s "Radio Radio."

Costello opens the first episode by singing Springsteen’s "She’s the One" and introducing him as the "past, present, future of rock ’n’ roll." The artists’ respect and admiration for each other is obvious as they discuss Springsteen’s development as a musician and a person, and their musical philosophies.

"The greatest rock ’n’ roll musicians are desperate men," Springsteen muses. "You’ve got to have something bothering you all the time."

"You can’t always be a nice guy in the song, is what it is," Costello responds.

The pair also zeros in on specific topics, such as Springsteen’s early years performing in Asbury Park (he calls it a "low-rent Fort Lauderdale" and says the town’s isolation from the recording industry meant "you were left in a bit of your own wilderness"), fatherhood, the influence of Bob Dylan and President Obama’s inauguration.

The most amusing segment comes when they talk about the way Springsteen’s songwriting changed between 1975’s "Born to Run" and 1978’s "Darkness on the Edge of Town," becoming ... well, darker.

"One reason it was different is there was some young English songwriter at the time who said the songs on ‘Born To Run’ were too romantic," says Springsteen. "I can’t remember his name right now, but ..."

Costello looks genuinely surprised. "Was it me?" he asks. "It wasn’t me."

"I’ve been waiting 30 years for this moment," says Springsteen, with delight. "What do you think? Of course it was."

I’m looking forward to catching this episode for sure… The Muse is with these two and here’s a clip from the episode:

Singer-songwriter contest kicks off, every Tuesday night in Guelph

The Guelph Mercury recently reported on a weekly singer-songwriter contest taking place in Guelph at Frank and Steins every Tuesday night.

Kudos to Malachi Greenidge, a Guelph singer-songwriter, for putting the contest together.  As related in the article:

The singer/songwriter competition will allow local musicians to not only expose their music to the crowd, but get judged on their song. Every night, five judges will judge the talent on lyrics, song composition, melody, vocals and originality. The winner will walk away with $1,500 and all participants will receive a T-shirt and a CD of their performance.

“It’s not a singer contest,” Greenidge said. “It’s not who can come out and belt out songs like Whitney Houston.”

The judges have been asked to only judge vocals in relation to the songs and songwriting, Greenidge said, adding he didn’t want to mimic a Canadian Idol contest.

May the Muse be with Guelph… check it out if you’re in Guelph on a Tuesday night…

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
Del.icio.us : Seminars, Songwriters

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

Musicshake... and Musicshare!

The Musicshake website declares "Music for Everyone, Created by YOU". TechCrunch featured the site in an article published earlier today.

The free Musicshake mixing program (Windows platform only, see interface screenshot below) "lets users create personalized, professional sounding music using a variety of modules and pattern-combination methods, which is quite addictive once you get the hang of it (takes about 10 minutes and there are templates to help get you started). You can convert music you make to mp3 and download them to your computer, or convert them into a personalized ringtone. You can also show off music you create to your friends and place it in charts to promote your work to others."

Musicshake then lets you monetize that creation on its website and share the proceeds with you 50/50. So budding composers, why not check it out. Here's a video of the proggie in action:

May the Muse-icshake be with you... now go create...

Technorati : Songwriting Technology

Elvis Costello and Nick Jonas Discuss Songwriting and Crazy Fans

From the recent edition of Rolling Stone:

In the current issue of Rolling Stone, Elvis Costello superfan Nick Jonas sits down with his idol to talk about writing habits and handling fame. "As far as fans go: The only difficult thing is when they go in our house," says Jonas. "That's kind of odd for anybody, I think." Costello sympathizes, as he spent his early days as a pop sensation. "Around 1978, every single we released in England was a hit," he says. "It was hard to take seriously when it was happening, because I just thought it was so absurd. I was suspicious of the success." Check out the new issue for more on Costello and Jonas, including what pop records they've loved in the last ten years.

Maybe one day I can meet Costello... till then...

Technorati : Songwriting

The League of Rock

Caught this article in the local Metro News freebie paper today... some items are worth more than you pay for them... Good on the League of Rock founder, Terry Moshenberg, for having the vision to give us middle-age wannabes a stab at minor glory...

From the article:

While a few 20-somethings proudly count themselves among the League’s ranks, most members tend to be older. With an average member’s age hovering around 45 there are certainly no illusions about participants starting a stadium-busting career in rock, but the League is no joke either.

On the contrary, the emphasis is on making real music, playing in a real band and sounding really good. The League offers professional mentors for every instrument, counting stars like drummer Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds, Rod Stewart guitarist Robin Le Mesurier and lead singer Dan Clancy, a four-time Juno Award winner with his band Lighthouse. Moshenberg suggests the authenticity of the program is what keeps members coming back.

“Everything is real, really authentic and very honest. It’s not karaoke,” Moshenberg said.

Maybe... you have to live in Toronto or the GTA right now, but I think this is an idea that could take off in any major urban area... may the Muse be with you...

Jam-Write with Adriel

I had a productive evening last night with a co-writer that I met at the Songwriting class I took last fall. Adriel is a multi-talented guitar player, singer, songwriter and production wiz. We laid down the basic tracks to a song we wrote in class (Love Is Just A Breath Away). As soon as we finish the track, I'll post it up here... Check out Adriel's link and let him know that I sent you... some great tunes there...

Keep the faith!

A Beat Away From My Heart (Reach Out)

A Beat Away From My Heart (Reach Out) is a new (old) song that I recorded at JL Studios in downtown Toronto in October 2007 (thanks to my lovely wife for that Christmas present in 2006) . Jeffrey at JL Studios mixed it up nice and in spite of my singing, I think it's a catchy tune.

Many thanks to Jeff Russo for picking a lead and laying some backing vocals... Now, can I get it published? Check it out in my ReverbNation player above...

Managing time, when music isn’t your “day job”

This is a nice article contained in the always-helpful songwriting resource at the Muses Muse website. One of the suggestions/tips is to:

Schedule time with yourself for your songwriting, collaborating and rehearsing. Keep these dates with yourself and others as sacred appointments!

That's really the crux of the matter. When Jeff and I had scheduled jamming/collaborating sessions, the music was flowing a lot easier than now when I'm looking at my home recording and NOT setting aside the time for it that I should...

Here's the link to the whole article: Managing time, when music isn’t your “day job”

May the Muse be with you...

Karaoke on Demand

Rogers Cable here in Canada has introduced Karaoke on Demand for those who like to sing at home... There's quite a large selection (from Achy Breaky Heart to You're The One That I Want) so hook up your mic and sing to your heart's content...

If you don't have a digital cable receiver, and you get one (soon I would think), you'd also be eligible for a mic from Rogers (500 are available)...

The shower isn’t the only place you can sing like a rock star. PersonalTV from Rogers introduces The Karaoke Channel On Demand. Get free, unlimited access to hundreds of your favourite sing-along tracks anytime you want, with new songs added each month. Whether you want a solo practice session or you’re having a party, centre stage is now in your living room with The Karaoke Channel On Demand.

If you have a digital box, you have The Karaoke Channel On Demand for FREE. Go to Channel 100 and become a rock star!

You’ll find The Karaoke Channel On Demand in the ‘Music’ section on Channel 100. Use your remote control to scroll through songs and find your favourite tunes. Sing as many songs as you like, as many times as you want. And best of all, new songs are added each month, so you always have a fresh selection of tunes to sing.

Sing your Heart Out with The Karaoke Chnnale On Demand on Channel 100.

You’ll find songs to suit your every mood, including: Oldies Pop Standards Country R&B Hip Hop Classic Rock Modern Rock and more!

Jeff's Second Pro Gig!

Well we had some fun at Boston Pizza last night! The place was packed (all of Jeffie's friends and family attending, along with a rather large and inebriated group of golfers coming from a company tournament). Jeff sure knows how to work the crowd as you can see above (that's him being Elvis by the way).

He had a lot of fun in the earlier sets with his kids and their friends there. The little ones danced around the stage. Afterward (read, after dark when all the kids were gone) there was no shortage of drunken requests coming from the patio patrons and Jeff quickly obliged.

I came with my guitar, as you can see below, and we did play my Butterfly and Scotch song, but in the end, it was Jeffie's night and I sat down and listened... And now that he's got another notch for a paid gig, and now that he played his original tune last night (Cultural Genocide), I hope he joins SOCAN with me...

Great show man! But while I may not have been needed much on stage, let's just say it was a good thing I came though (certain amp issues and broken strings, stuff like that).

It was great to see Petie and Rico too (and Dave) and to scarf some free food (thank you golfers!). Ci vedimes...

Jam Session #7

Well, Jeff and I got together on Tuesday night for an "off" night... we were both tired and had both finished working late, and that came out in our playing. On top of it all, the computer wasn't agreeing with us either... BUT at least we were able to lay down a cool riff that Jeff came up with, that I'm hoping to add lyrics too and co-write a song...

A TIP for those of you with home recording software (I have Sonar 6 on my laptop): If Windows XP wants to reboot after it's downloaded and installed some updates, LET IT! Everything came out distorted and off-time as the little message kept popping up telling me that XP needed to reboot and I kept ignoring it... I guess with Sonar already opened, something that XP's update service installed starting sharing some resources or memory that Sonar was already using... anyway, I've filed this away as "Lesson learned..."

Ci vedimes...

Jam Session #6

Well, it's been a while... but I have an acoustic door in my basement now and Jeffie came by to lay down some tracks... felt really good to get back into the recording/playing thing... Now, I'm going to work on setting some songs up to be recorded the way I hear them...

Thanks to Jeff again...

Jam Session #5

Well, Jeffie and I got together last night for a jam session. Jeff picked some very cool leads and alternating rhythm guitar parts to my simple layout for one song we worked on (She's My Favourite Place). I'll loop some of the leads and lay down some vocals and bass to complete it...

I also had worked on Jeff's song "Hanging On". I added a cello part that I think Jeff really liked. He said I should post it for some feedback, and I'll think I'll do just that on Mues Muse (with Jeff's permission, of course).

Jam Session #4

Jeff and I got together last night for another jam session... Instead of fixing up Feel Like A.... (which I've been neglecting to do), I played him my WIP - She's My Favourite Place... and we laid down a couple of tracks for a song Jeffie penned (Hanging On). I'm going to add a bass line to his song and he's going to add a lead to mine and hopefully we can wrap those up next week...


Ci vedimes...