Song Talk with Morry Campbell

Friday Happy Hour with Carene!

Here's a great way to kick off the weekend: Carene Lydia is doing 2 sets of eclectic songs at the Vandam Diner, and I'm playing guitar for her. Here's the deets:

Carene Lydia
with yours truly on guitar
Friday, Feb 5, 2010
6:00-8:00PM
Vandam Diner
12 Vandam Street  (C or E to Spring Street)
 

Come on down and hear this lady sing the blues!

Happy 2010

Here's to a great new year, and a fresh decade, for everyone. One song down for 2010 already, and another one coming. How's your songwriting coming along?

World AIDS Day Concert

Hey kids,

This past weekend, my good friend Terry Christopher and I went up to contribute our talents to Newburgh, NY's World AIDS day event, organized by Markus Payne. Terry videotaped the event, and here is his (our) rendition of the song, Wade in the Water. Hope you enjoy it.

xo,

M

Amy Clarke at the Bitter End, NYC

My good friend and extremely talented musician/singer/songwriter Amy Clarke is in town for the weekend, and she's performing at The Bitter End on Monday at 7:30PM. I'll be sitting in and adding some guitar to her song From Here. It' promises to be a very good show.  $10 + 2-drink minimum, the proceeds of which are split between an Environmental non-profit called Amazon Conservation Team, and the Artist.

You can't see much in New York City anymore for less than $20. Come down and support live music AND the Environment at the same time.

We're doing it again

Hey y'all.  The lovely and talented Carene Lydia is back doin' her thing at Mood Restaurant  in Kew Gardens, Queens.  Some old songs, and some new songs, and I'm backing her up on guitar. If you're in the neighborhood, or if you feel you need a break from the craziness of a Manhattan Saturday night, come out to the provinces and join us for an eclectic evening of music.

Carene Lydia
@ Mood Restaurant
Saturday, August 15, 11:30PM

Read Carene's bio and get more info below the fold.

Songtalk Podcast: Dan Manjovi, Part 2

My conversation with the masterful Dan Manjovi continues in Songtalk Podcast: Dan Manjovi Part 2. We talk about song structure, music theory and subliminal political themes in music. Dan talks about his musical education and gives some great advice to songwriters with little or no background in Music Theory.

You can download part 2 here on this website, or at iTunes. You may want to subscribe to the website, which you can do by clicking on this link. Read more about Dan Manjovi below the fold.

March SongTalk challenge: write some bones

As promised, this writing assignment involves working with a chapter in the book we're talking about, Writing Down the Bones. If you don't have it yet, you can still click on the link within this posting, or click on the picture link on the page in the left-hand column, and buy it from Amazon.

So here's the challenge for March, based on the chapter First Thoughts from the book: Get a notepad of some kind, and write in it for a pre-determined amount of time every day for a week. If you already keep a journal, then you're set. If you don't, start one, at least for the next week.  Write every day, and write for the same amount of time.  If it's five minutes, let it be five minutes.  If it's ten, make it ten. Twenty minutes, thirty--whatever is doable for you. Keep in mind the following rules:

1. Keep your hand moving
2. Don't cross out
3. Don't worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar.
4. Lose control
5. Don't think.  Don't get logical.
6. Go for the jugular

Ms. Goldberg goes into much more detail in the book, so read on for further advice on how to make that work for you.

Anyway, back to the assignment. After you've journaled in this way for seven days, on the eighth day, go back and read what you have written. Look for something, anything, that sparks your imagination, and write a song around it.

Have fun, and we'll see you on Monday, March 9. And, if you're not a current member of the group, feel free to post a link to your results, or leave a comment about your experience.

ASCAP New York Sessions

Every year ASCAP has this big I Create Music seminar out in LA, and us New Yorkers have to either miss out and look longingly to the west where all the fun is happening without us, or put out major buckage to fly out to sunny California to attend. But not anymore, baby! There's an (albeit) smaller group of sessions happening right here in New York City!

For one day only (but better than no days at all, n'est-ce pas?) the New York ASCAP folks are hosting New York Sessions, a one-day intensive for songwriters and other music types, that promises to make up for all the neglect us poor New Yorkers have been suffering at the hands of the LA Music Expo for all these years. You can look at the day's schedule of events here.

But Wednesday, March 4, is looming ahead.  That's the day that the price of attending the day's events jumps from the pretty reasonable $55 for ASCAP members, $75 for non-members, to the less affordable $75 for members, $95 for non-members. So think fast. You can register here.

Criticism versus Critique

Vikki Flawith has an interesting take on criticism on her blog, The Shy Singer-Songwriter.  In her article, entitled the 'honesty" movement is laziness (referencing this article at Esquire) she says:

There is a huge difference between criticism (this sucks) and critique (okay, here's a place to start, there's some good elements in what you've done here, I'm going to zero in on a couple of things I think would really help).

Playing with the blues

In college I took a class in Improvisation, and was part of an improv comedy troupe for a short time (I think we did two performances).  One of the exercises, or lessons, or whatever we're calling them, involved making up a blues song on the spot.  We were asked for a subject, and someone shouted out "Slime!"  So we had to improvise a chorus of the Blues on the subject of slime. For some whacked out reason, I still remember the little verse I came up with:

Guerilla music promotion

I was accosted by a Rap artist on Sixth Avenue Thursday afternoon.  He was out hocking his CD, one he had obviously produced himself.  I hate being approached in the street, especially when it ends up someone is trying to sell me something.  So I was wary when he stopped me. I was immediately hostile, my first reaction, get rid of the guy as quickly as possible.  But he absorbed my first wave, and asked me if I knew the bass player from Pearl Jam, whom he asserted was from Montana (I was wearing a Montana sweatshirt).  And it turns out he was right.  Jeff Ament, the bass player for Pearl Jam, was indeed born in Montana, and not only that, but he was born in my home town, Havre.  Havre  Montana.  I was having a conversation on Sixth Avenue and 8th Street with a rapper about Montana.  And I ended up buying a CD. Now, I"m not a big fan of Rap music.  I've never understood the popularity of Rap.  I'm a bit of a philistine that way.  And yet I ended up buying the CD.  I'm going to see if I can explain to you, and to myself, why that happened.

Welcome

I’m Morry Campbell.  Welcome to my blog.  Song Talk is a chronicle of my quest to write better songs as a singer/songwriter living and working in New York City.  I am the founder and facilitator of the 21st Street Sessions Songwriters Collective, and this blog will also serve as an information exchange for this group.  All current songwriting “assignments” or “challenges” will be posted here, so you at home can play along too.  In addition, if you do take part in the challenges, although I don’t have the facilities to host your files, feel free to post a link to your efforts in the comments.

I have a theory that anyone can write a song who is passionate enough about it to want to try, no matter what their musical background.  This theory is born out in the diverse group of writers that have become the 21st Street Sessions Group.  Our membership includes writers who have excellent chops on guitar or keys and have a sophisticated understanding of music theory, and writers who can’t play an instrument and have little understanding of music theory, but all consistently bring in material that captivates me as a listener.

Although the main focus is songwriting and related topics (recording, gigging, etc.), it may from time to time depart from topic to talk about issues and/or events I feel strongly about and wish to comment on.  Fair warning, I tend to lean to the left.  Also, this blog welcomes songwriters of any race, creed or sexual orientation/gender identity.  If you have issues with any of those categories, this may not be the blog for you.