February Meeting Recap

Hey songwriters,

All of the seats were occupied at the Feb. 7 Songwriters Circle meeting, lots of good songs were shared, quality critiques and discussions were exchanged and we finished in time for Calliope Songwriters Open Stage to start at 9 p.m. with an outstanding featured set by Jon Eric (trickyhipster@gmail.com). Good work, people.

Rohlf siblings Christopher & Kimberly (thesoupmidget@gmail.com) will play the featured set following the March 7 meeting.  Optional songwriting assignment can be found here.

Gigs

A couple of bad news announcements about gigs provided by the Songwriters Circle:

– Venture Outdoors has cancelled its Venture Outdoors Festival. Last May the Circle’s perseverance under torrential rains impressed organizers and earned the group an invitation to play again this year. I was told the event was cancelled for budgetary reasons.

– For about 10 years, Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle has enjoyed the privilege of having its members exclusively play the preshow sets at the annual Greensburg SummerSounds music festival, a 13-week amphitheater series that has given dozens of Circle members well-paid gigs playing for crowds that have numbered in the thousands. I was told last week by the promoter that the Songwriters Circle will not be invited to play the preshow events in 2017. Part of the reason is that Greensburg musicians who have been denied access to the preshow have been increasing pressure on the promoter to let them into the schedule. Also, he said, he’s still getting complaints about the unprofessional way some Songwriters Circle members pulled out of a secondary paid post-show gig on short notice because they refused to play in a smoking room. It’s perfectly legitimate for performers to turn down gig offers, he said, but not days — in one case an hour — before the gig. The long-term exclusivity to the preshow that our group of amateur and semi-pro songwriters have enjoyed had been based on our ability to professionally recruit new artists, organize the schedule, arrive for soundcheck and get off stage on time, and perform like professionals. For all of our members who have done what was asked of them over the years, thank you.

See you soon,

– John