SAW Events

Hosted by Bob Sima and modeled after the classic Nashville "Singer Songwriters in the Round" format. Each Tuesday, Bob brings in 2 guest singer-songwriters to join him on stage for an evening of all original singer-songwriter material. Some nights, there is a cameo set-which is a 3 song set for selected up and comers! You can email Bob at info@bobsima.com for more information.

Balancing the Art, Craft & Business of Songwriting
Workshop featuring Jen and Scott Smith from Naked Blue

Date: Saturday, June 14, 2008 (1:00pm-4:00pm)
Place: The Lab at Convergence (1819 Crestwood Drive, located off of N. Quaker Lane).
Cost: $30 SAW members / $40 non-members if registered by June 6. $40/$50 after June 6.

Fill out the registration form to register.

Mail-in forms should be sent to:
Songwriters' Association of Washington
4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, PMB 106-137, Washington, D.C. 20016
must be postmarked by June 6th, to receive the discount.

Have you ever wanted to get your songs into television, film or in the hands of successful recording artists? Are you looking for focus on where you'd like your songs to end up and what you can do to get them there? Are you concerned that your work isn't "refined" enough to be appealing, or if you should commercialize to appeal to the masses?

In SAW's upcoming workshop, Balancing the Art, Craft & Business of Songwriting, sucessful songwriting veterans Jen and Scott Smith of the band Naked Blue will share their experiences as writers in the "industry". The workshop will begin with a discussion of the joys & conflicts they have experienced while making (and trying to make) money from their songs. Jen and Scott will deconstruct a hit song and define the elements that make it broadly appealing. They will help you apply those concepts of "craft" to your own songs. So be sure to bring copies of your lyrics and a guitar or recording of the song you want to work on. They will conclude the workshop with a Q&A time on practical and legal issues affecting songwriters in today's market. If you have ever paid for a consultation with an entertainment lawyer to answer questions about today's legal issues, you will realize that this part of the workshop alone makes it well worth the price of admission!

By the end of the session you will have gained some focus on where you'd like your songs to end up and what you can do to help get them there.

Scott & Jen Smith have written hundreds of songs, released 5 CDs and co-written and/or worked with a few high profile artists including Anton Fig, Ivan Neville, Gary Nicholson, Kenny Rogers, Pete Brown & John & Sally Tiven. They've had songs recorded by MCA recording artists Evangeline, Telarc Records recording artist Troy Turner and have appeared on compilations including The British at Midem, A Taste of AAA, Paste Magazine Sampler 2 and 3, Recording Magazine Playback 18 and 3 Best of Taxi compilations, to name a few. Their most recent CD peaked at #105 on FMQB. Scott & Jen have also had song placements in 14 films & TV shows to date.

Directions to the Lab at Convergence: Take the Shirlington exit off of I-395 and follow the signs to Quaker Lane, then take the second left on Crestwood Drive. The Lab is the first building on the left, with the entrance facing Crestwood Drive.

For more information, contact education@saw.org.

The SAW Song Circles usually take place on the second or third Sunday of the month, starting at 2pm, taking place at the homes of Jim Johnson (Springfield, VA), Jim Clark (Vienna, VA), and Andrew Coupe (Maryland) on a rotating basis.

Light refreshments will be provided. All musicians and songwriters are encouraged to share songs. Bring your instrument and come on over! Bringing food is always appreciated, but not mandatory!

We've set up a yahoo list for the Song Circle, which will be used for announcements. Members can either add their name to the list by sending e-mail to SAWSongCircle-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or remove their name from the list by sending e-mail to SAWSongCircle-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

Next Song Circle: Sunday, May 18, 2:00-5:00pm (and possibly later) at the home of Jim Johnson, located at 6424 Wainfleet Ct., Springfield, VA 22152 (ADC Map page 22, Grid A-10)

Directions: From the intersection of Rolling Road and Old Keene Mill Road in West Springfield, go south on Rolling Rd two/tenths of a mile. Take a left on Taunton Place (community name is "Rhygate"), then take the first left onto Wainfleet Ct. 6424 is the third townhouse on the left.

Upcoming hosts for SAW Song Circle:

May 18: Jim Johnson
June - August: Summer hiatus. No song circles
September 21: Jim Clark

The next SAW Songwriter Exchange will be on May 24, 2008 (10:00am-12:30pm)

The Lab
1819 Crestwood Drive (located off of N. Quaker Lane)
Alexandria, VA
(Take the Shirlington exit off of I-395 and follow the signs to Quaker Lane, then take the second left on Crestwood Drive. The Lab is the first building on the left, with the entrance facing Crestwood Drive)

The Lab is a large room with plenty of chairs and tables, a piano, and a stage. It´s a facility that´s part of the Convergence Church across the street, but SAW and the Song Xchange are unaffiliated with them or any religious group. We are very grateful to the Church and its pastors, Lisa Hawkins and Todd Cullop, for allowing us to meet there, and for supporting our secular artistic goals.

The SAW Songwriter Exchange is an excellent opportunity to get input on your songs-in progress from an audience of friendly peers. We're usually upstairs in the music lesson studios. The idea behind these workshops is for participants to bring a song-in-the-works to share with the group for constructive criticism. Songwriters can either play their songs live, or bring a recording to play on a boom box. You're encouraged to bring about 8-10 lyric sheets to distribute, too, which will be returned with comments in the margins, if you wish to present a song. Even if you get substantial co-writer-quality input on your song from the group, the copyright remains exclusively yours.

Each month a different guest artist hosts the first hour of the exchange. The guest can lead a discussion about the songwriting process, offer a lesson, or actually write a song on the spot. Guest artists usually play three or four songs during their portion of the Exchange, and then help critique your songs-in-progress.

The guest artist for May 24 is Tom Dews.

He soaked up roots rhythms and fished the great rivers of the southeast growing up in South Georgia and central Florida. He writes instrumentals for guitar, harmonica, and piano as well as songs that he delivers with his lived-in and karma-buffeted voice. Tom spent years playing coffeehouses and bars from Savannah to Minneapolis to Ireland, and has three recordings available at CDBaby.com, the most recent being last year's Driving Dreams. He also holds an endorsement from the M. Hohner Co. for harmonica studio work.

For his day job, Tom is the head librarian at St. Albans School in DC, and says, "A novelist creates a fictive dream, and when done well there are revelations for the reader. My interest is in creating a mood, at once mirthful and melancholy - a sort of re-creation of the old 'hearth' experience. Created by artist and audience together, this mood-edifice can generate spontaneous improvisations that are nourishing for everybody - a sort of musical epiphany can strike its seal into the world."

Visit Tom's website (www.tomdews.com) for more information.

Upcoming Artists
May 24 - Tom Dews
June 28 - Bill Williams
July - 26 - TBD
August 23 - Andrew McNight

Please come join us whether you have a song to share or not.

There is no fee, but we pass a tip jar around for the guest artist. For directions and more info call Paige Powell at 703-671-4131 or 571-242-0716.

Next session: Wednesday, May 21

Participants should arrive between 6:00pm-6:30pm.

Hosted by Scott Harlan and Eric Weinberg, this event offers SAW members a new outlet for elevating their songwriting. Rather than playing for an audience, come share songs with your peers and with a producer/engineer in a professional recording studio environment. Four or five performers who sign up in advance will convene in the big tracking room, where there will be a
combination of room mikes set up to capture conversation, and performance-position microphones set up to capture the individual performer. We'll do two "rounds," where each person performs one song followed by an optional critique by the attendees. You will also have the option of taking a recording of the evening home with you if you provide a blank CD.

THE RULES:
1) No bands, and no extra/unnecessary accompaniment.
2) Original songs only!
3) Performers will be scheduled on a first-come, first-serve basis.
4) There will be NO "punch-ins"/edits/re-takes. This is the equivalent of a live recording!

Email ScottHarlan@verizon.net to SIGN UP for a SAW Studio Session.

SAW has added a community service component to our organization whereby we offer free music concerts performed by our members to groups with limited access to the arts. We are currently planning a series of shows for people in the blindness community and possibly for juvenile detainees and senior citizens.

If anyone is interested in participating in SAW Serves in any capacity, please contact Tomm Sibert, who now chairs SAW Serves, at tsibert@comcast.net

Get a Gig at the Electric Maid Community Living Room

Electric Maid, 268 Carroll Street, NW, Washington, DC 20012. Artists are invited to apply to play at the Electric Maid Community Living Room. Also, Electric Maid Community Living Room will be rentable now for band rehearsal space at reasonable rates and a new open mike and a new song exchange will be started soon at the Electric Maid. Contact Joel for details at pomeranj@yahoo.com or 240-383-9732.

Monthly Songwriter's Jam

Every third Saturday, in collaboration with Picker's Supply Music Store, there will be a monthly “Songwriter's Jam” from 2 – 5 p.m. Area songwriters are invited to attend. These are not critique sessions; they are simply song sharing events that can help songwriters network and to gain additional performing experience in a friendly atmosphere. Advance notice not required; just show up ready to share some songs.

Where:
Picker's Supply Concert Hall
902 Caroline St
Fredericksburg, VA
540-371-4669

For more information contact:
Frank Dieter
www.frankdieter.com
540-580-8002

Housing for Artists

Renaissance Square Artist Housing in Prince George's County, MD is accepting applications for their new low-income housing for musicians, writers, dancers, painters and actors. Includes music practice room, studio space, computer room. See www.hiphomes.org or call Ava Kuo at 301-699-5099.

MusiCares for Music People

MusiCares assists music professionals in times of personal, medical, financial and /or addictions crisis. For more info, visit www.grammy.com/musicares or call the following regional toll-free numbers: West: 1-800-687-4227; East: 1-877-303-6962; South: 1-877-626-2748; Addiction Recovery Help: 1-888-627-6271