DAY - 271+272

Apologies for the delay...busy dealing with annoying "life things" like car trouble and student loans.  

Here's what's going on yesterday and today!

Day - 271 (post for yesterday, Monday July 30th)

Found out that Avril Lavigne is looking for songs.  The latest song I wrote with hit writer, Scot Sax is a perfect pitch!  The song is in mid-production and we don't have a finished demo yet so I contacted Scot to let him know about the pitch.  He's definitely interested as well, so we're going to see what we can do about lighting a fire under this project.

Day - 272

This morning I reached out to Rebel America Inc., an indie publishing and music licensing company based in Houston, Texas.  The company is run by producer, James Dennis and seems to be doing some  cool things with Tv & Film placements.  I decided to reach out to see if we could potentially help each other and to get more info.

DAY - 270

TGIF...seriously!  The past 3 weeks have been insanely busy... and I thought summer was going to be relaxing.  Well, I guess busy is good these days.   Regardless, this weekend will be a blast.  Heading up to Long Island to hang with some good friends, go to the beach and hit up a string of wineries for the weekend.  Can't wait!  Got up early to do some networking before we leave, Hampton's traffic gets REALLY backed up.

Got an email from J Fred informing me that he has a meeting with Lady Antebellum producer, Paul Worley's people today to pitch "Carousel" and "Better With You" to Lady A!  Holy $h*t, fingers officially crossed!  Honestly, I can really see them being interested in Carousel.  Its seems like its right up their alley.  Good timing as well.... we finished the demo and basically the next day we found out that Lady A is looking.

Also, I reached out to co-writer, Heather Longstaffe today to touch base about our upcoming song demo.  Can't wait to start pitching this one.

Have a great weekend!

DAY - 269

New demos posted today!  I posted the Mastered and final mix of "Carousel" and I would also like to introduce a brand new song written by the Sweet Angeline team and Nashville's J Fred Knobloch called, "Better With You".   Hope you enjoy!  And if you do...feel free to pass along :)

Some really cool things are in the works at the moment.  Don't want to jinx anything, but J Fred is beginning to shop the new songs to some MAJOR reps and producers in Nashville.  Don't want to name drop yet (cough, Universal...cough, Warner Bros) excuse me I think I have something caught in my throat. ;)  Anyway,  Exciting news, nonetheless.  If you've been following, you can see that things happen slowly in this biz so I'm not expecting anything to occur over night.  The one thing I am really excited about is getting my name and music in front of major industry players.  As my co-writer Tye James would say, "I'm feeling very blessed".   Blessed indeed.  More to come...hopefully.

This morning I contacted Nashville music publisher and creative director for Wide Open Music Group, Lynn Gann.  Lynn is not only a publisher but a great songwriter as well.  I sent him an email with my links and approached it the same way... I'm looking for "development".  If you've been reading, you know what I mean. (for a recap check out Day- 258)

Cheers and enjoy the new music!

DAY - 268

Just got done Skype pitching "20/20"  to Sony/ATV music publisher, Terry Wakefield!  Hah, that's right, "Skype pitching".   I was able to participate in an "Evening With A Publisher" at Larry Beaird Studio in Nashville via the internet!  Pretty awesome.  Anytime you record a premier demo at Larry's studio you can participate in this event...one pitch per song recorded.  Terry Wakefield is a major music publisher and VP of creative for Sony/ATV.   They listened to the entire song and at the end he responded really well.  He said it was super catchy and would make a great Rascal Flatts pitch.  The only critique he gave was that he didn't like that the song started with the Chorus.  He felt as though it gave too much away up front.  Note taken...not sold on that idea yet though.

Nonetheless, its an easy edit if anyone wanted to make that change.  No decisions were made on the spot so if he wants to pick up the song and thinks he has a solid artist pitch for it,  he has my contact info.  We shall see.   Wether he wants to pitch the song or not its definitely cool just to get some face time with a major industry player even when I'm hundreds of miles away.  

Goodnight!

DAY - 267

Heard back from Jason Blume this morning...just touching base.  We're gearing up for pitching "20/20" to Rascal Flatts and we may do a couple re-writes before we do.  Re-writes are, most of the time, an inevitable process that songwriter's undertake to make a song as best as it can possibly be.  I've heard stories from writers who have re-written a song 10 times before it got cut or became a hit!  So,  I spoke with Jason and we're going to try to give "20/20" a facelift. :)

Speaking of Jason Blume,  he's holding a workshop/publisher pitch today in Nashville.  The guest publisher is Alex Heddle, creative director of Love Monkey Music.   Since I'm in New Jersey and not able to attend,  this morning I reached out to Alex via email.  I wrote Alex, not pitching a song, but asking for his creative help in development.  Basically, I asked if he could take a listen to some of my top material and if he digs it, set me up with one of his writers for a co-write.  I feel like this approach is a less obtrusive way to get to know someone and for them to get to know me.   We'll see!

Have a great day!

DAY - 266

99 days left...

Today I reached out to co-writer, J Fred Knobloch.  Fred is going to have the final version of our newest song done this week.  I found out that The Band Perry is looking for songs for a new record.  I contacted Fred about pitching both "Carousel" and the new song.  He agreed it'd be a great idea and will attempt the pitch.

I can't express how amazing it is to work with people who can walk a song through a door that would otherwise be closed.  Its an honor and a lesson every time I write with someone like Fred.   The past 265 days have shown me what constant motivation and persistence can achieve.  More doors are opening than ever before and more opportunities are presenting themselves everyday.   One of the biggest lessons I've learned is to get out of the passenger's seat, take the wheel, and steer.

Let's make these next 100 days count.  Wish me luck.    Cheers!

DAY - 265

Power-packed day!  Woke up 6am and started emailing.  I emailed co-writer and Nashville hit songwriter, Jason Blume just to say hi and follow up.  Then I reached out to media contact Heather at Disney Music. (she was the only email I could dig up so far)  I wrote her basically trying to get
"Heart On A String" to VP of Disney Music Group, Ken Bunt.  Also, got an email from BMG/Chrysalis creative director, Daniel Lee, letting me know he received the CD I sent and is looking forward to listening...nice!

To close out the night...I opened for Wynona Judd with the Liv Devine Band @ Mayo Performing Arts Center!!  It was a beautiful venue and an incredible show. Everyone brought their A Game.  Such an amazing experience.  Here's a couple pics taken back stage by the wonderfully talented, Susan Bushong (my fiance) :)  Cheers and have a great weekend!!

DAY - 264

Been in contact with Carl Restivio. (refer to yesterday)  He got back to me right away which was really cool.   We've been going back and forth getting a feel for what each other does and figuring out how we can help each other.   Looking forward to potentially working together.

I think that's the key and beauty of co-writing.  Teaming up with talented people and figuring out how each of you can contribute to make an end product that's undeniable...or just a cool song in general!   Maybe someone is great at writing melodies while someone else is awesome at writing lyrics.  Or maybe someone is just a fantastic lyricist and someone else is amazing at arrangement and music production.  Maybe someone is incredible at everything (which is rare, but happens)  Whatever it is...I feel like the goal of co-writing is to bring individual strengths to the table that compliment each other.  Often times this leads to not only great songs but a great time writing them!

Speaking of co-writing... Just got another demo back from J Fred Knobloch! Sounding amazing.  Hope to post by Monday or Tuesday...so stay tuned!!

If you haven't heard the latest... here's "Carousel"

DAY - 263

This morning I reached out to LA songwriter/producer/recording artist, Carl Restivio.   I was actually "email introduced" to Carl a long time ago through his Aunt who happens to be friends with my Uncle.   (hey, we're Italian, everybody knows somebody)  Anyway, turns out Carl is very accomplished and doing well as both a songwriter, producer and studio musician.  (google him for more info)  I reached out to Carl because I wanted to reconnect.  I think it'd be great to do some work with some one plugged in on the west coast.

Also did some digging on my "evening with a publisher" publisher, Terry Wakefield.  He's definitely a heavy weight in the publishing world so I'm getting amped up about this pitch next Wednesday.

DAY - 262

Rock Band camp session 2 is in full swing and its hard to find time to get some things done, but fortunately I'm managing to squeeze an email here and a phone call there.  First however, some cool updates...

1)  Here's the new song demo I promised!  The song is called "Carousel" and it was written by the Sweet Angeline team of me, Tye James and Liv Devine and Nashville hit songwriter, J Fred Knobloch.    The song was recorded and produced by Fred and I from both of our studios via dropbox.  Tye James is singing lead on this one and Liv and I are on backgrounds.  Hope you enjoy! http://mynameisaugust.bandcamp.com/track/carousel

2) Playing with the Liv Devine Band and opening up for country superstar, Wynona Judd this Friday @ Mayo Center for Performing Arts in Morristown, New Jersey!!

Alright, so a couple things we're on the agenda for today.  The first was to email both
contactmusic.com and Leanne Summers from LA Women in Music.  The objective is to get to Disney Music's head music supervisor and creative director, Cheryl Foliart.  Long story short, you may have guessed it, but I'm trying to get "Heart On A String" to Cheryl.   Both of these other contacts have been in connection with Cheryl and I figured if I could formulate and introduction through them,  it would be better than just a cold-call to Cheryl directly.  After a bunch of research it looks as though Cheryl Foliart and Ken Bunt are the main people running things at Disney Music.  Getting to them is the hard part... but today was a start.

The second thing on the agenda today was to call J Fred Knobloch regarding "Carousel".  I found out  that Lady Antebellum is looking for songs for a new record.  I called Fred to see if he thought it'd be a good idea to pitch Carousel to Lady A.  Not only did he think it was a great idea, but he said he'd make the pitch right away!!  More to come on that... keeping our fingers crossed...that would be an amazing cut!

DAY - 261

 I put together a promo package of a 4-song portfolio CD, lyrics, and contact card for BMG Chrysalis creative director, Daniel Lee.  From the looks of his latest cuts, Daniel handles and pitches mostly contemporary country so I made the CD heavy on that side.  Here's the track list incase you're wondering...
1) 20/20 - August/Blume/Bellinger/Devine
2) Boots - August/Devine/Micofsky
3) I Kinda Like It - August/Devine/Bellinger
4) Heart On A String - August/Knobloch

You can find all songs & lyrics here... www.mynameisaugust.bandcamp.com

I have Rock Camp then teaching all day so my supportive fiance Susan will be dropping it off at the Post Office this morning.  Say a prayer he likes what he hears!

Also heard back from Nashville based engineer and producer, Tommy Carnes.  Had a chance to sample a bunch of Tommy's work and its fantastic.  Definitely looking forward to working together in the future.  You can check out his own album here... http://listentommy.bandcamp.com/

DAY - 260

Happy Friday!   First week of Rock Camp is over and I am spent.  Got some cool things back today though.

I got the finished demo of a new I wrote with Sweet Angeline and J Fred Knobloch back today!  Sounds fantastic.  J Fred did an amazing job with the mix.  Hope to post on Monday so stay tuned for that!

Also, I heard back from BMG Chrysalis Publishing's creative director, Daniel Lee today!! (refer to Day 258)  He said he's interested in taking a listen to more and told me to send him a CD of 3 or 4 of my favorite songs.  First off,  its really cool that he returned my email.  Like I said, it was a cold-call type email and the majority of those go in the trash.  Secondly, its even cooler that he's interested in hearing more.  He said he likes to listen to new writer's while in his car.  This is potentially a great opportunity...   just have to choose wisely and hope it sparks an interest!  I wrote back, thanked him for his time and let him know a cd will be in the mail.   :)

Hope you have a great weekend!

DAY - 259

This morning I reached out to Kos Weaver, head of Disney Music Publishing Nashville.  Early in the year, my co-writer, J Fred Knobloch reached out to Kos regarding our song "Heart On A String".   He really LOVED the song, but was limited on what he could do with it.

I had the idea this morning to follow up with him to see if he knew of any Disney Music supervisors or creative directors we could try and connect with regarding getting the song placed in an upcoming Disney movie! I let him know that I greatly appreciate any advice or help with connecting the dots.

I also sent an email to the head of Taxi.com, Michael Laskow on the off chance that he might get back to me.  I wrote him asking if he knew or had any connection with Music reps at Disney...and the hunt continues.

DAY - 258

Tried something new today.  I wrote to Creative Director, Daniel Lee at BMG/Chrysalis Music Publishing this morning but instead of sending the normal 'cold-call' spiel, I tried a new technique.  I told Daniel I'm reaching out because I'm interested in development.  Let me explain,  one of the jobs of a Creative Director besides screening, plugging and pitching songs,  is development of writers.  I figured,  instead of going with the whole, "I'd love to meet sometime because I'm interested in a publishing deal yada yada..."  I'd try asking if he could possibly put and ear to my stuff and if he digs what he hears,   facilitate a co-write with one of his writers.

I like the thought of this idea because it might be a less abrasive, back door, kinda way to get noticed and work with a major publisher (and a good writer for that matter).  Instead of straight up saying, "Sign me!",  I'm merely saying, "Let me prove myself."  Its still a cold-call so we shall see.

Enjoy the day!

 

DAY - 257

Great day for networking!  Even though today was super busy (started directing a "Rock Band Camp" this week) I was able to get some cool things accomplished.  Here's a quick list...apologies for my brevity, but I have a lot of work to get done tonight!

1) Submitted to a company looking for music for a Rock Climbing Documentary.  I submitted a song I wrote with good friend and co-writer, Eric Schwank called, "A Higher Place."  

2) Got an email from Aaron Beaird at Larry Beaird Music Group regarding "Evening With A Publisher".  I booked a spot at their next event, July 25th @ 6:30pm to pitch "20/20" to the president of Creative @ Sony Music Publishing, Terry Wakefield!  I will be able to attend the event and pitch the song via Skype...awesome!

3) Did a bunch of research on finding the key people to contact at Disney regrading

 "Heart On A String".  Definitely made some headway.  Getting to them is the hard part...but let the games begin.  :)  

See you tomorrow! 

DAY - 256

Sometimes opportunities come along and you're too busy searching for other opportunities that you miss the one that's right in front of your face!  I don't know if any of you have experienced this, but I realized it happened to me...

In 2007-2008,  I was busy playing shows, booking tours, storming the media, etc,  and trying to become the next "Dave Matthews Band".  In late '07,  a father of one of guitar students, asked me if I'd be willing to write and score music for his upcoming documentary.  Let me preface this by saying this man is a very successful and award winning director for commercials like Mastercard.  I sat down with him, watched the film, and agreed to do the music.  One thing led to another, my focus shifted back to my own "vision" and I dropped the ball on the project.  Well, this documentary released in 2008 and happened to be "Song Sung Blue".  For those of you who haven't heard of it, its a multi, multi, award-winning documentary (I'm talking Slam Dance film festival winner) about a couple who were Neil Diamond and Patsy Cline impersonators.   The film followed their love story for years and it was truly incredible.  Just google it and you can read more about it, watch a trailer and buy the DVD.

My narrow vision of success caused me to overlook this special opportunity.  To make a long story short, as you can imagine,  this has been killing me for a while.  (especially now that my career focus is writing music for TV/Film and other artists)  Sooo...I figured one of the main reasons I started this blog is to make connections and to reconnect...so now would be a good time :)

I reached out to super-talented, director Greg Kohs to FIRST off, sincerely apologize for dropping the ball and secondly, try to reconnect with the hope of working together to some capacity in the future.   Greg, so graciously, wrote me back thanking me for my email and let me know he'd keep me in mind when he had an appropriate project.

Lesson Learned:

Keep your eyes and your mind wide open.  Opportunities may come in all shapes and sizes and sometimes you have to go a little outside of your comfort zone to recognize something truly worthwhile.  

DAY - 255

Close the door. Write with no one looking over your shoulder.

Don’t try to figure out what other people want to hear from you. Figure out what you have to say. It’s the one and only thing you have to offer.

- Barbara Kingsolver




I came across this little snippet again and found it really inspiring.  A lot of the time, as a songwriter or even as a performer, you get caught up trying to figure out what people want to hear, how people want to be entertained, what is going to be different, what is going to sell...  I do it all the time.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, its a pretty natural question when you're putting your own hard work out in the world.  But, what Barbara Kingsolver says reminds me of why I started writing in the first place...its an expression of myself.  In a world of  "don't write this, don't say that, its too long, its too short, who's gonna sing this?, the melody isn't catchy enough, the lyrics aren't fresh enough, ect...ect...etc."  Sometimes you gotta just clear your mind and write from the heart.

Had a killer show with the Liv Devine Band last night at World Cafe Live.. here's a pic

This morning I emailed NYC Music Publisher, Jeremy Yohai.  I sent him "Heart On A String" and straight up asked him if he thinks he might be able to help get it placed with Disney Pixar and/or Fox Film Animations.  I know it was a ballsy email for a Friday morning but I figured Jeremy does a ton of TV/Film stuff so if he digs it, he might be able to help connect the dots.

I also heard back from hit songwriter, Jim Femino. (refer to day 253) He said he really digs my stuff, especially "20/20" and he's interested in working together!!   Hopefully more to come on that!  Stay tuned and have a great weekend!

Cheers!

DAY - 254

Rise and shine, 6am, getting another early jump on the day. Hope you had a fantastic 4th of July.  Yesterday was a double celebration, one for the 4th, and one for my sister's birthday.  We ended up going to this AMAZING BBQ joint in Philly called Baby Blues.   The first Baby Blues was in Venice Beach and we used to go all the time when my sister's were living in LA.  Apparently, they just opened one in Philly not too long ago.  We ended talking to the owner and found out its a family run business, 3 in CA and one in Philly, all owned by brothers!  If you're jonesing for some killer BBQ, you gotta check this place out. (Venice Beach location was actually on Diners, Drives and Dives)  

Today I reached out to a LA publishing company owned by Kara Dioguardi called Arthouse Entertainment.   When I had my meeting with ASCAP rep Ryan Beauschel in Nashville he gave me a ton of feedback on a bunch of songs that I showed him, but the one he liked the best was  "I Kinda Like It".   So I wanted to try sending it to a publisher.

DAY - 253

Happy 4th!

Today I reached out to Philly/Nashville hit songwriter, Jim Femino.  Jim is a fantastic songwriter who travels back and forth from Philly to Nashville to write.  He recently had a #1 hit with Joel Otto's "Just Got Started Lovin' You".  Check him out and his band "Uncle Sexy" here... www.jimfemino.com

Its funny because I've been referred to Jim on 3 separate occasions now by 3 different people.  So I figured I finally reach out to see if he'd be interested in writing.

I also sent an email to reconnect with Philly songwriter Paul Sottile.  Paul and I had a great session a couple months ago but we were so busy we never followed up.  I wanted to shoot Paul an email and try to get together again to finish what we started and write some more!

DAY - 251+252

Sorry I've been MIA for the past 3 days!  All these amazing weddings leave little time.  Just got back from another weekend wedding adventure in Baltimore.   Sue's cousin got married this weekend and it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! Also, happened to be on a farm.  I think if my career in music doesn't take off,  I'm going to hang up the guitar and become a wedding blogger ;)

So let me get you up to speed.  I left off by saying that I was trying to contact country star, Lee Brice to pitch him "20/20".  Well, the next day I talked to co-writer, Liv Devine, and it turns out that she actually opened for Lee last year and had been in contact with his management!  Liv let me know that she'd be contacting his management directly to try and make the pitch.  She already has a foot in the door so its less of a "cold-call".  We shall see what happens!

I also spoke with co-writer, Tyler James yesterday.  It turns out that Tyler has made a cool connection with the guy in charge of choosing the song single for the winner of the hit TV show, The Voice. Long story short, we're going to get together to try and write/demo a song to send to his contact for next season.

And finally, I spoke with "My Name is August" producer, Chris Zurzolo yesterday about a couple new songs that are in the works.  Stay tuned for that!

Alright, now that wedding season is over, its time to kick things into full gear.  I only have 113 days left to secure my goal.   I'll be waking up earlier, digging deeper, writing non-stop and contacting more people than ever before.  Here we go!

*Note:  If you know someone I should contact or have any connections in the music industry, let me know and I will contact them next day.  Cheers and thanks for keeping up!