September Meeting recap

Hey songwriters,
Rewriting other people’s songs proved to be an interesting exercise with several noteworthy rewrites performed at the September meeting of Pittsburgh Songwriters Circle. With one new member and a couple returning newbies present, Alyssa Turkowski (alyssa951@aol.com) showed off a set of introspective folk-rockers.
At the 7 p.m. Oct. 7 meeting at Bloomfield Bridge Tavern, the optional songwriting assignment is to write a song including a diminished chord. See chord diagrams for guitar and much more by clicking here. Bob Cook (Rob.L.Cook@icloud.com) will play the featured set.
2015 album
Thirty-three Circle members completed their projects, mastering is compete and graphic design is underway. We should get our shipment of CDs around the end of October. Our release event will be held Fri., Nov. 14 at the Roots Cellar at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts.
Retrospective album
It’s no stretch to refer to our 10-year self-financed amateur-artist album series as a “remarkable” achievement. There’s nothing else like it — anywhere.
This year, in addition to producing our tenth CD, Songwriters Circle is putting together a retrospective album including one song, juried by Calliope, from each collection in the series. Through donations from Circle members and supporters, and a benefit performance in May, the group raised $1,032 to pay for the project. That’s pretty close to the $1,280 (plus shipping) we’ll pay for printing/pressing and postage on 1,000 CDs, most of which will be distributed to Calliope members as premiums. We’ll make up the cost difference drawing from money made during last year’s CD release raffle and other sources. Good work, everybody.
Holiday songs
Got an original song about Christmas, Hanukkah or New Year’s Eve? Or maybe you’ve considered writing one?
In 2012 and 2013, Circle members played original holiday songs and traditional favorites for residents at the City Mission in Washington, Pa. The Christmas parties were so successful we’re taking the show on the road, adding performances at another homeless shelter and a holiday event at Bloomfield Bridge Tavern Sat., Dec. 13. Details pending, but now’s a good time to start working on that holiday song.
See you soon,
John