November News and Announcements

NEWS and ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Holiday Party! We will have our annual holiday gathering next month.  You are encouraged to bring a finger food or beverage, and of course, a song to share.  This will also be a time for the annual White Elephant Gift Exchange.  This fun little activity involves wrapping up some kind of unwanted, possibly re-gifted, or ridiculously useless item, and playing a game of gift exchange.  This item should be of the low-cost or no-cost variety.  Each person wanting to participate should bring 1 wrapped item.  The meeting will be on our regular 3rd Tuesday of the month (December 15th) at 7:30pm, so be sure to mark your calendars now!

  

Music and Memory: The Indiana Veterans Home has a relatively new program called,  “Music and Memory.”   Music Therapist, Charis Vander Plaats explained that many veterans that have Alzheimer’s or dementia can instantly make connections through music. If you are interested in performing songs, helping to create ‘playlists’ for these veterans, or just finding out more on this exciting program, contact Charis Vander Plaats at charisvanderplaats@msn.com.

Unitarian Universalist Church Art Fair Music: The UUC is holding its annual art fair on Friday & Saturday, December 4 & 5 at the UUC Fellowship Hall, 333 Meridian Street, West Lafayette.  UUC is looking for musicians, singers, performers to play in the Fellowship Hall, where much of the art is displayed, from 5-9pm on Friday, 10am-4pm on Saturday.  Each set would likely be about 45 minutes; any kind of acoustic music is fine, it does not need to be Christmas music, but seasonal music would be nice.  A sound system will be provided.  There is no pay for performers, but there would be a chance to sell CDs (70% to performer, 30% to UUC).  Please contact Joe Peters (joedaiwarriors@yahoo.com) if interested.

RECENT CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOP:

The TAXI Road Rally in Los Angeles: SAMI members that went to this year’s Road Rally were, Bette Anderson, John Lacy, Joe Peters, Gilbert Gordon, Briagha McTavish and Neil McTavish. The conference features top music industry people giving break out classes and panels on various topics.  The main objective might be boiled down into “How do you get your music placed with artists and music libraries for film and TV.”  

Gilbert Gordon had a particularly successful experience and shared that his instrumental tune was played for Music Supervisor, Chas Ferry and accepted into his library!  Congratulations Gilbert!  What a great first time trip to the Road Rally!

Joe Peters also attended TAXI Road Rally this year.  Joe shared two of his songs on Open Mic stages, and interestingly to Joe, his song Low Down Funky Mood really seemed to connect with listeners this year.  A highlight for Joe all three nights was the Collaboration Room, where a revolving cast of characters shared mostly original songs, and much jammin occured.

Be sure to ask one of these SAMI members to talk about their experiences in Los Angeles. I'm sure there are fun stories and good info to be shared.

The First Annual CD Baby DIY Music Conference in Chicago: Cheryl and Amanda Fletcher came back with tons of ways to monetize online streaming and web presence, plus collecting various royalties for your songs.  This conference was focused on, “Now that you have your recordings, (CD’s or singles) uploaded onto CD Baby, here are the ways to make money from it.”  One of the most exciting topics had to do with monetizing YouTube and micro sync licensing.  Like the TAXI Road Rally, it was amazing to have 1,500+ musicians and artists in one place sharing and learning from one another. The information, inspiration, connections, and camaraderie made this conference one to attend next year!

The 21st annual Lamb's Retreat for Songwriters was held November 5-15, 2015.  It is held every November at the Birchwood Inn, Harbor Springs, Michigan.  Joe Peters went to week 2, and totally enjoyed the experience, the camaraderie, the songwriting, songs, songwriters, song circles.  In short, this retreat is all about the song!  On the first day, director John Lamb gives every attendee a songwriting challenge/prompt, and the morning of the last day is devoted to the sharing of each of these brand new original songs.  This year’s staff included: Joel Mabus, Laurie McClain, Claudia Nygaard, Pierce Pettis, Edie Carey, Tim Grimm, Natalia Zukerman, SONiA disappear fear, Penny Nichols, WT Davidson, and more. Since this retreat is open to all songwriters, their friends and family, wouldn’t it be fun to arrange to have a group go next November?

Member news: 

Scott Greeson and Trouble With Monday will have various shows utilizing various configurations of their band members.  Be sure to catch one of their shows.  Also check out the band and current info at scottgreesonmusic.com:

December 13th at 3:00 pm  Annual Battle Ground Christmas Concert @ The Battle Ground United Methodist Church, 201 Tipton Street, Battle Ground, IN 47920. 

December 17th from 4:00pm-7:00pm at the Indianapolis Airport Commons. 

December 19th Christmas with Scott Greeson and Trouble With Monday @ The Eye Opener Cafe at 8:00am,103 North Street, Battle Ground, IN 47920.

Joe Peters will perform at Fuel Coffee Shop, 1005 Main Street, Lafayette from 6-8pm on Monday, November 28th.  This is a laid-back little coffee shop, thus a great listening room.  Joe will share a set of songs from his new CD, Big Fat Liar, and encourages the audience to build a second set song list from Joe's other recordings.  The event is free.

Joe will also perform sometime during the UUC art fair.