Songsalive! Event Reviews

On July 18th, we had about 12 people attend the Songsalive! Las Vegas workshop. Sandy Kastel gave a fun-filled and outstanding performance on the ins and outs of recording with examples of her personal experience in doing 3 CD’s over the past few years.  She gave great feedback to the group once we started the second half of the evening, and everyone had a great time. She was kind enough to give away several CD’s and was a joy to have as a speaker.   

NAME OF NEXT EVENT:  Las Vegas Workshop
DATE OF NEXT EVENT:  Sept. 19, 2011
TIME: 6:00PM – 8:00PM
LOCATION: Sam Ash
COST: $10
SPEAKER:  Jamie Hosmer
TOPIC: TBA

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/vegas

Songsalive! Chicago's July 9th workshop was very educational.  Five people shared their songs with everyone, and they all received quality feedback on their material.  Our guest speaker this month was Chicago coordinator, Mary Lemanski.  Her topic was “Recording 101 for Songwriters,” and she discussed what an audio engineer does, what to expect in the studio, equipment names and what they do, and various terminology you would hear in the studio.  Everyone seemed to learn something new!
 
NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Showcase
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: July 28, 2011
TIME: 8:00 PM
LOCATION: Heartland Cafe
COST: $5.00
IF SHOWCASE, LIST ARTISTS:  Mary Lemanski, Lowell Pries, Daschl

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/chicago

July 6th was the 3rd workshop for the Long Island Songsalive! Chapter, and it was the BEST and most productive out of all 3 workshops so far. Five people presented a song to be critiqued, and everyone had such a positive response to the workshop. I handed out a 3 page document with certain books I recommend that I’ve read and certain people to check out as well.

NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Workshop
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: Wed, Aug. 3, 2011
TIME: 6:30-8:30PM
LOCATION: Sam Ash
COST: $5 for non-members

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/longisland

On June 26th, Songsalive! Orange County hosted its monthly workshop.  A small meeting this time around, but it was great to see no less than three new faces there. Each of them had some great things to say and some good opinions to present. As only one of the new folks -- General Lee -- brought songs to critique, we took a look at two of his for the sake of compare and contrast.  A self-admitted country singer, one of his songs was an over-the-top romantic number with great crossover appeal, and the other was a wall-slamming bit of southern rock. Our host Rod O'Riley kept the theme going by presenting one of his own country songs to finish things up.

NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Songsalive! Orange County Songwriter Showcase
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: 07/19/11 (Tuesday)
TIME: 7:30 pm
LOCATION: Sam Ash Music Store, 14200 Beach Blvd, Westminster, CA 92683
COST: FREE!
SHOWCASE ARTISTS: Our host Rod O'Riley will be performing with his acoustic trio once again. We're also welcoming Michael Vanags, a brand-new -- and very talented -- member of Songsalive.

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/orangecounty

Welcoming the new and the... old?  Familiar, familiar! This month the Orange County Chapter of Songsalive! welcomed two seasoned performers, one returning and one brand new. First up was Roz Esposito, whom we saw at the Songalive! Winter Holiday show at the The Mint and said "We have GOT to get this lady down to OC!". She didn't disappoint, performing heart-felt songs on guitar and piano and engaging the audience with her wit and her personal connections in between songs. Loved it. Next up was Mike V and his band, returning for another set of bluesy bluster songs -- with Mike out in front on a classic hollow-body electric guitar. But the band switched things up, with everybody trading instruments and everybody getting a chance to sing lead on the songs they wrote. Never a dull moment!
 
NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Monthly Songwriting Workshop and Critique
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: Sunday, June 26th, 2011
TIME: 7:00 - 9:30 pm
LOCATION: Spires Restaurant, Westminster, California
COST: Free to Songsalive! members, $10.00 for non-members
Hosted by Rod O'Riley. Subject: "The OC Music Scene"

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/orangecounty

On June 20th, Songsalive! Las Vegas hosted an incredible workshop at Sam Ash.  Our guest speaker, Mike Candito was fabulous with sharing his insight on how to approach songwriting as a true business.  He shared some of his personal experience he had had in the past when it comes to selling your music to other performers, and he did a wonderful job giving feedback to the songwriters that presented their songs.  Everyone got to present and we ended right on time, as usual.  Sam Ash’s staff was very accommodating and helpful!

NAME OF NEXT EVENT:  Las Vegas Workshop
DATE OF NEXT EVENT:  July 18, 2011
TIME: 6:00PM – 8:00PM
LOCATION: Sam Ash
COST: $10
SPEAKER:  Sandy Kastel
TOPIC:  Don’t Tell Me I Can’t!  Finding Your Voice as a Songwriter

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/vegas  

On June 11th, Songsalive! Chicago hosted another fantastic workshop at the Beat Kitchen. Eight people shared their songs for critique.  The quality of the songs was very high, and everyone received some great feedback on their writing.  Our guest speaker this month was mastering engineer, Collin Jordan from The Boiler Room: Full Service Music Mastering.  He talked about “Mastering for the Independent Musician.”  He discussed the various stages of getting a song from start to CD, and he talked about how mastering fits into the process.  He explained what a mastering engineer does, and he encouraged everyone to try mastering their own songs on their home recording equipment to better understand how mastering works.  Lots of people had some great questions, which Collin answered with great knowledge.  He was an incredible speaker, and it was a very educational workshop!

NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Workshop
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: July 9, 2011
TIME: 11:30 AM
LOCATION: Beat Kitchen
COST: $5.00
GUEST SPEAKER & TOPIC: Mary Lemanski will talk about "Recording 101 for Songwriters."

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/chicago 

The Los Angeles Songsalive! showcase at Hallenbecks on June 3rd was a great way to bring in summer.  This was an evening featuring wonderful original songs from Dean Dobbins, Joe Hamilton, Siobhan, and Julie Chadwick. This showcase is known for quality. Comments posted on our Meetup page (www.meetup.com/songsalive): "Extraordinary! The talent was UNBELIEVABLE! I kept shaking my head asking myself is this really happening? Best concert I've ever been to but without the crowds, parking hassles or ticketmaster "service" charge.…" And also: "Wow, they set the high bar way up there talent wise! Very friendly and welcoming too. Real professionals. Like getting a backstage pass to a party where you don't belong but everybody treats you like you do. Nice." . The audience stayed to the end and there was a big buzz in the room at the end of the evening. This is what a Community of Song is all about!

NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Los Angeles Songsalive Showcase at Hallenbecks
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: July 1, 2011
TIME: 7:30PM
LOCATION: Hallenbecks
COST: $8
SHOWCASE ARTIST: Shane Carther Thomas

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/losangeles

Songalive! is running a San Francisco showcase series every first Thursday of the month, currently held at Velo Rouge Cafe in San Francisco, CA hosted by local artist Katie Garibaldi, which features Songsalive! members performing outstanding original acoustic music.  The most recent showcase took place on June 2nd, and featured two Bay Area local artists Miriam Speyer and Essence.  Miriam wooed the listeners with her soothing and rhythmic folk-y jazz acoustic songs.  Essence played songs off her albums, including some acoustic pop gems as well as a children's song she wrote inspired by her son.

NAME OF NEXT EVENT: San Francisco Songsalive! Showcase
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: July 7, 2011
TIME: 7-9 PM
 
LOCATION: Velo Rouge Cafe in San Francisco, CA
 
COST: Free. Donations are encouraged for the performing artists.
 
SHOWCASE ARTISTS: Jon Moldover and Rebecca Parks

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/sanfrancisco

On Wednesday, June 1st, the second Songsalive! workshop on Long Island, NY was received very well by the people that attended. We spent the entire workshop on song critiques and just talking about the music industry. Everyone there had a very positive response from the information being shared and from the song critiques we did. Looking forward to building up the songwriting community on Long Island even more in the upcoming months!

NAME OF NEXT EVENT: Songsalive! Long Island, NY
DATE OF NEXT EVENT: Wed, July 6, 2011
TIME: 6:30-8:30PM
LOCATION: Sam Ash
COST: $5 for non-members

Chapter url: http://www.songsalive.org/longisland