April Recap/May Meeting and other news
Hey songwriters,
As Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle grows and the opportunities it offers expands, this newsletter is evolving. With the help of new webmaster Dennis Malley (denmalley@gmail.com), you’ll now get an email prompt alerting you whenever the newsletter or other notices have been posted on our growing website. Cruise around the site and see what’s here. All members can have their gigs posted under Events; any member who has ever placed a song on our album project can get an Artist Page including bio, photos, videos, contact information, etc. Use it as your website or link to your site. For website stuff contact Dennis (address above).
For Facebook users, Sue Gartland (suegartland@juno.com) has opened a new Songwriters Circle page at www.facebook.com/
Meetings
Lots of interesting songs, articulate critiques and a good featured set — in English — from Italian Circle member Luca Zan (luca.zan@unibo.it) at a well-attended meeting of Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle April 1.
At the next meeting, 7 p.m. Tue., May 6 at Bloomfield Bridge Tavern (4412 Liberty Ave., 412-682-8611), David Michael King (kingsomma@igc.org) will be the featured performer. The optional assignment is to co-write a song. Collaborating writers might team up on music and lyrics, or one or more could write the music and the other or others could write the words. Partnering could strengthen your songwriting — make this more than an academic exercise. Identify the aspect of songwriting at which you’re weakest and find someone who’s better at that to work with you. If you’re worried about ownership, copyright law says all contributors, no matter how much they contributed, share equally in ownership of a co-written song.
Album project
The deadline to secure your spot on the 2015 Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle compilation album is May 2. Send your $100 duping/participation fee to John Hayes, 101 Daggette Dr., Buena Vista, PA 15018. Questions: jhayes@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1991.
10-year Retrospective
To celebrate a decade of our album project and the 79 individual participating songwriters and 178 songs (on the first nine CDs), we’re releasing a second album this year including one song from each of the 10 albums. Calliope will pick the songs. Our GoFundMe crowd sourcing campaign has already reached about a third of our goal. Support the project and encourage your fans to chip in at www.gofundme.com/PSC-Retro-CD (please send that link and an explanation to your fan base). New reward levels have been added, including a performance by a Circle member at your party — check it out.
More cool stuff
Photos: If you performed at our 2013 CD release event at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, high-resolution professional quality photographs of you are available for free at www.flickr.com/photos/davgram. If published by the media, or you use an image for your own PR, please credit Dave Graham (DavidBGraham@comcast.net).
May 4: Join a group of Songwriters Circle members as they perform along the route of the Pittsburgh Marathon. It’ll be a blast. Details: jhayes@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1991.
May 9: Pittsburgh Songwriter Showcase 7:30 p.m. at The Barn, Penn Hills, featuring Circle members Ben Shannon, Sue Gartland, Mike Strasser, Howard Davidson, John Hayes, Donna O, Jessica Klein, Steve Gallo and Laurie Shea. It’s a fundraiser for the Retrospective project — $10 at the door, or get your tickets for $5 from John Hayes. We’re looking for volunteers to staff the concessions and merch booth, work the door and bake cookies or something to sell at the event. Again: jhayes@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1991.
June-August: The following Circle members have been invited to perform a half-hour pre-show set at the SummerSounds music festival at St. Clair Park, Greensburg. Learn more about the free outdoor concert series at www.summersounds.com.
6/6 Gerard Rohlf 6:10-6:40 p.m., Nicole Atkins 7-9:30 p.m.
6/13 Laurie Shea 6:10-6:40 p.m., Gedeon Luke & the People 7-9:30 p.m.
6/20 Steve Gallo 6:10-6:40 p.m., Cello Fury 7-9:30 p.m.
6/27 Mo Nelson 6:10-6:40 p.m., Leroy Justice 7-9:30 p.m.
7/4 Frankie Lee 6:10-6:40 p.m., Idol Kings 7-9:30 p.m.
7/11 Sue Gartland 6:10-6:40 p.m., Hollis Brown 7-9:30 p.m.
7/18 Greg Wojo 6:10-6:40 p.m., Beau Soliel 7-9:30 p.m.
7/25 Alex Meleshenko 6:10-6:40 p.m., Glenn Miller Orchestra 7-9:30 p.m.
8/1 Bruce Hoffman 6:10-6:40 p.m., The Duhks 7-9:30 p.m.
8/8 Haley Rohlf 6:10-6:40 p.m., Horse Flies 7-9:30 p.m.
8/15 John Hayes 6:10-6:40 p.m., Chris Smither 7-9:30 p.m.
8/22 Marty Zundel 6:10-6:40 p.m., Birds of Chicago 7-9:30 p.m.
8/29 Dennis Malley 6:10-6:40 p.m., Alternate Routes 7-9:30 p.m.
See you soon,
John
