2nd Tuesday Meeting Location moved to Tino's for Open Mic Christmas Party

Christmas Party - Open Mic - Food - Door Prizes

DEC. 11, 6:30 - Location moved for party

Come out and celebrate the season with fellow members. There will be an open Mic at Tino's Mexican Cafe inside Collin Creek Mall. We'll do a round of carols, round of covers and a round of original christmas songs. Buck Morgan will be the host and he says, 

        "We are starting off with cover tunes, a real change of pace from us songwriters.  I'm hoping we'll have folks with songs that represent all the decades from the 40s to present. Hope you'll bring your cover. It might be fun if it's a familiar one that we can all sing along to."

DSA will provide appetizers. Cash bar. FREE Bring a friend.

DALLAS SONGWRITERS ASSOCIATION WISHES YOU A ROCKIN' HOLIDAY SEASON

Tuesday November 13, Annual Membership Meeting, Elections and Guest Speaker, Helene Cronin

DSA will hold it's annual membership meeting and elections on November 13, at the Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak, at 7PM. Please plan to submit your nominations for your governing Board of Directors.

Following elections our guest speaker will be Helene Cronin, who has a song called LUCKY ME that has been played on YouTube over 120,000 times! 

LUCKY ME--SOLDIER SONG BRINGS ADMIRATION, AND MAYBE A HIT?

Suggested story for week surrounding Veterans’ Day Nov. 11.  Story idea is two-fold: 1) The creation of a song that movingly portrays the relationship between civilians and soldiers, and 2) Its journey and struggle, along with countless other great songs, to become a hit. Will it happen for “Lucky Me?”

News element: Helene Cronin will speak to the Dallas Songwriters Assoc. Nov. 13 to discuss “Lucky Me—I Might Have A Hit.” Doors open at 6:30 pm, program starts at 7 at the Center for Community Cooperation, 2900 Live Oak, Dallas.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It happens this way sometimes to songwriters. A chance meeting at an airport counter in Nashville. A soldier in desert camo and a woman in line strike up a conversation. He tells her he's returning to active duty “somewhere in the Middle East.” As the conversation winds down, he asks, “Where are you headed?” Tired from her trip, she shrugs, “Home.” He smiles back and quietly says, “Lucky you.”

Helene Cronin was living a moment in a song, and she knew it. She had no idea that the gestation period would take more than a year before she sat down with a yellow pad and told the story. When she did, “It just came out,” she says.

I thought lucky me, he’s right

I sleep in my own bed at night

I lie there safe and warm

When he’s wide awake in a uniform

Lucky me, while he fights a war

I live the life he’s fighting for

He is the brave, I am the free

…lucky me

Copyright Helene K. Cronin

Helene’s sister liked the song. She made a video and put it up on YouTube. So far, on YouTube, CNN iReports and on Facebook, “Lucky Me” has been viewed more than 150,000 times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t0mJAUGESQ

The YouTube community responded:

“My boyfriend of a year and a half is halfway around the world :(   I miss him very much, but I’m proud of him for choosing to fight for our country. I love my Marine. Thank you for this song, it gets me by when I’m feeling lonely. It makes me realize how lucky I really am, not only to be one of the millions of people he dedicates his life to save, but also to be honored to be the one who he falls back on when he needs the saving :) ”

ElevenThirteenNine

“i have spent 42 months deployed... and this song SAYS it all... the pain and regret i feel... reflect in this song... all my ‘peers’ that didnt serve, that met the girl of their dreams while attending college, and i was over there... lucky you”

thrillmill4

YouTube popularity of “Lucky Me” led to a performance on the Mike Huckabee show on Fox. (Huckabee, “a great man, immediately put me at ease,” played bass.) Helene has played the song at veterans’ events that included actor Gary Sinise (who gave “Lucky Me” a standing ovation), country star Darryl Worley and pop star Tony Orlando. She’s played it at Nashville’s Bluebird Café.

Where is the bridge from YouTube to a Nashville hit? The song is still great, still timeless, but what’s next? “I try to stay optimistic,” Helene says. “Someone will stop to tell me how the song has affected him, and how he’s shared it, and those people love it, too, and that is what matters most. It could still happen. ‘Bless the Broken Road’ became Song of the Year 10 years after it was first cut. You can’t quit on a good song. That’s quitting on a gift.”

So, she drives, every month to Nashville, to touch base with her publisher, to stay active in this mysterious, hit-making community, this unfathomable industry that consumes thousands of songs, and sometimes spits out a good one to share with America.

Lucky us.

EXTREME CO-WRITES ARE BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

Extreme Co-writes will be our program for Tuesday, Oct. 9th.

Bring lyrics, remnants of lyrics, ideas, titles, instruments, or garageband. Whatever is the weapon of your choice. We'll break up into groups of lyricists and musicians. This is a lot of fun and we usually have a number of good songs created by the end of the session. No song critiques this month. We want to use the entire time for songwriting.

Future Programs:

November: Helene Cronin

December: Christmas Party

Mike Hall is guest speaker on September 11th

Mike Hall wears so many hats these days that he's going to have to grow a bigger head.  With Uncle Calvin's Coffeehouse, over the course of 13 years of volunteering there, he's literally gone from washing dishes to co-managing the place, moving progressively down the ladder.  He oversees the booking process and is there essentially every Friday hosting the shows, signing the checks, and keeping the other volunteers in line (an impossible task, which is the reason for the grey, thinning hair).   He's grateful for the able assistance of since-the-beginning-of-time co-Manager Ed Gunsalus, who's primary job is to keep him in line (and have you seen Ed's hair lately?).  If that's not enough, he's also the Calvin's webmaster and website designer (with the quality that you'd expect when an engineer designs a website).

Mike, needing to cut back on the hours that he sleeps, also for the past six months has assumed the role of booking agent for a friend and young Dallas-native, Nashville-based singer/songwriter, Allie Farris.  He now gets to experience the throngs of rejection that an artist undoubtedly feels when they try to contact Uncle Calvin's for a gig and get a reply back - well, possibly never.  Luckly Allie is extremely talented (shameless plug), so he still manages to get gigs for her despite the laws of Karma.

Then there's the "real" job, working 8-5 as a software developer for a big huge massively-polluting electric utility company (no shame whatsoever, cough-cough, wheeze-wheeze).  He's very proud that he still gets paid despite spending much of his time from 8-5 working those other jobs (shh, don't tell).

---

About Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse

Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse is a non-profit, volunteer-run music venue, featuring weekly concerts by some of the most talented singer/songwriters and groups in the country.  Located in the fellowship hall of Northpark Presbyterian Church, Uncle Calvin’s donates its net revenues from concert performances to a variety of local charities.  Known as one of the best possible environment for listening to music in the Dallas/Ft Worth area, Calvin’s prides itself on clear, pristine sound, in a room free of smoke, alcohol and conversation.  Over the past thirty years, Calvin’s has featured artists such as David Wilcox, John Gorka, Janis Ian, Tom Paxton, Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Patty Larkin, Slaid Cleaves, and the original Dixie Chicks, just to name a few.  For more information, please visit www.unclecalvins.org.

Mike Hall to speak at September 11th Meeting

No Meeting 2nd Tuesday Meeting In August.

 All other monthly events are still happening, see workshops and open mics for details.

2nd Tuesday Meeting, September 11th, 

MIKE HALL, manager and booking coordinator of Uncle Calvin’s Coffee House. Set inside the fellowship hall of Northpark Presbyterian Church, this area landmark of acoustic music has become a haven for musicians and audiences looking for a laid back but engaging concert experience for a quarter century.

2nd Tuesday Meeting, July 10

2nd Tuesday Meeting, July 10, 

Steve Weisberg, former member of John Denver's band

http://www.steveweisberg.net/music/bio/

Steve played lead guitar, dobro, and pedal steel on all the Denver concert tours, TV shows and records from '73 - 77. He also sang the low harmony. His 1st studio album with Denver was the Greatest Hits Vol. 1 and continued thru 6 albums. 

Top Cat Records owner, Richard Chalk to Speak at June 12th Meeting

2nd Tuesday Meeting, June 12, 

Guest Speaker: Richard Chalk, Top Cat Records

Back by Demand - Extreme Co-writes

Want to find out what it is like to go into a co-write with and established artist? We are going to put together a program that does just that. In this case, the artist has the melody and he or she want to add a lyric.

The melody is ......... Let It Be by the Beatles

Also, this artist has an idea of what they want the song to be about.

We will divide into small groups and pull a topic out of the hat for each group. No prewritten lyrics are allowed. You must remain on topic, and the chorus should reflect your topic in the hook.

HAPPY COWRITING!

Zane Williams to Speak at the April 10 Meetings

2nd Tuesday Meeting, April 10, 

Guest Speaker: Zane Williams

The Texas-born singer/songwriter spent nine years in Nashville and honed his craft by performing at hundreds of colleges and universities nationwide. And though the experience was invaluable and helped mold him into the artist he is today, it wasn’t until he returned to Texas in 2009 that he really hit his musical stride. A perfect mesh of commercial irresistibility and indie honesty and credibility,

http://www.zanewilliamsmusic.com/fr_home.cfm

Carly Simon and Ben Taylor to Speak on March 13

2nd Tuesday Meeting, March 13, 

Guest Speakers: Carly Simon and Ben Taylor 

Winner of 4 grammy awards and an Oscar, Simon is the quintessential singer songwriter with a career that spans 5 decades.

Critically acclaimed touring singer songwriter, Taylor, represents a new generation of hard working performers with 4 albums and 3 EPs under his belt. 

Barry DeVorzon will be Guest Speaker on February 14th

Barry DeVorzon, President and Founder of MasterWriter will speak to Dallas Songwriters in person on Tuesday, February 14 at 7:15PM. He developed MasterWriter, the program
designed by songwriters for songwriters which contains all the tools and reference that are essential for the modern
songwriter.

As a composer/songwriter/artist Barry DeVorzon has long been a prominent name in the recording industry. He discovered the highly successful group, The Association and developed one of the most successful independent record and publishing companies of that time. He later sold his companies to Warner Records. He was nominated for an academy award for "Bless The Beasts And The Children" and won a Grammy for "Nadia's Theme". His music for television has earned him six Emmys and numerous nominations.

Among his hits are "Nadia's Theme", "Theme From S.W.A.T.", "Bless The Beasts And Children", "In The City", "No More Drama", Dreamin", "Hey Little One" and "I Wonder What She's Doing Tonight".

DSA 2nd Tuesday Meeting, Jan. 10

Tuesday, Jan. 10, 

Elements of a Good Lyric 

presented by Lyric Contest Director, Nancy Rynders.

Nancy Rynders has been an active Dallas Songwriters Association member since 1987 and served as a director from 1989 - 2009. She has served as Lyric Contest Director since 2006. A contest winner herself, she's had a number of her songs recorded and published. She considers herself mainly a lyricist and is always looking for musicians with which to collaborate.  Her tip for any songwriter is to join their local songwriters organization. Within these organizations, they can gain the tools to better their songwriting skills as well as find a wonderful support group.

Future Programs:

FEB: Barry Devorzen, Master Writer, Nadia's Theme, tentative

MARCH: Ben Taylor, tentative

APRIL: Zane  Williams

MAY: Bret Dillion, KHYI DJ  tentative