DAY - 41

Today I checked out ReverbNation.  I know everybody and their mother has been using it for awhile now but I never really got into it.  I never thought the "opportunities" feature was that cool.  However, this afternoon,  I decided to take a closer look.  Besides the obvious...post-your-music, pictures, life-story, etc., the greatest thing about it is the networking potential.  Not through the "opportunities" feature, but person to person.  So many of the top writers/artists in Nashville, LA and NYC, are on ReverbNation.  Long story short, I'm going to make a profile this weekend.  If you're like me and don't have one yet...check it out and see what you think.  If you do have one, let me know what you think!

Speaking of top songwriters, today I reached out to Justin Weaver from Cornman Music.  Justin has had tons of cuts as well as top 20 hits like "Get Off On The Pain" by Gary Allen.  I really like Justin's style of writing so I sent him an email with an idea.  We'll see if he digs it.

It's about time to wrap this up because I have to go teach.  Hope you have a great weekend!  Cheers!
 

DAY - 40

It's Friday eve.  You know it's been a long week when you refer to Thursday night as Friday eve.  It HAS been a long week.  Long days, long nights and little sleep.  Good news is there's only 3 weeks left of the intensive portion of my grad program.  Then, back to my wife, back to my dog, and back to Music City!

I've had little time for writing sessions lately.  I have a handful of songs and two new demos in the works.  Looking forward to posting for your listening pleasure.  The only writing I've been able to do is on the train in the mornings and late-late night after school work but this weekend I have a session with long-time friend and co-writer, Eric Schwank.  Looking forward to getting back into the writing room!

Today I reached out to the new creative director at Big Yellow Dog Publishing, Laura Wright. Laura is a very talented song rep and a huge advocate of her writers.  Big Yellow Dog is a super successful publishing company with a roster of folks like Josh Kear, Al Anderson, and Kate York!!  I'd love to get a foot in door.

Speaking of a foot in the door.  I've decided, the best way to get through the front door is through the back door.

Cheers!

DAY - 39

An incredible artist/songwriter and friend since birth, Anj Granieri sent me a link to a blog written by Levi Weaver.  Anj said, regarding Levi's post (actually 3 separate posts) "This is the best thing I've read in a long time."  She wasn't kidding.  If you're reading this, you'll want to read this...
"On Chasing Your Dreams" by Levi Weaver.  I'm not kidding, read it.  

Last night and this morning I started putting together a list.  A wish list, if you may, of artists and songwriters I would like to work with. Some with pub deals, some without, some with hits, some without.  All of whom, I believe are very talented.  Today I began reaching out to some of those folks.  I'll be back in Nashville, full-time, in less than a month and I'm going to come to town with a schedule filled with writing appointments.  I want to immerse myself in the scene and make an impression.  A good impression.  No, good is not good enough.  An exceptional impression.

I'll keep you posted about how the schedule is coming over the next month.

DAY - 38

Practice, Practice, Practice.  Growing up in a family of professional musicians, that word has been ingrained in me since I was a child.  Whether I was learning the violin, saxophone, piano, or guitar I was taught that practice is the key.  My grandpop would always tell me (with a big grin on his face) "You don't have to practice everyday, only on days that you eat." Only On Days That You Eat has even become my ASCAP publishing company name!

Practice and you'll get better.  Of course!  It's a simple concept.  Well, for some reason, that essential piece of truth hadn't truly hit me until this year.  If that applies to my advancement in guitar, piano, voice, etc. why would it not apply to my songwriting!?  Maybe because songwriting has always come so naturally.  I haven't had to WORK at it.  But that's not good enough.  Natural ability isn't good enough.  No one has achieved their greatest potential from natural ability alone.  It takes work. It takes HARD work.  It takes practice.  My instrumental conducting professor said something today that really resonated with me. "If you're passionate about what you do, you'll have an unquenchable thirst to grow and learn more.  If you don't have that thirst anymore, you might as well get your license to sell insurance."  Essentially... part of loving what we do is striving to become better!  Practice.  

Apologies for the self pep talk.  Sometimes I just need to get things out of my head!

Down to business.  Speaking of people who are great at what they do, this morning I reached out to hit songwriter, Jane Bach.  Jane has written hits and #1 songs for people such as Tammy Wynette, Reba McEntire, Collin Raye, and JoDee Messina.  I was referred to Jane by super-talented, Nashville publisher/songplugger, Shane Barrett.  Long story short,  Jane got back to me this afternoon and we are setting up a session for November!  

More to come.  Cheers!

DAY - 37

Hope you had a great weekend!  I got a chance to soak in the incredible fall weather at the Valenzano Wine Fest yesterday. My best friend, (and best man at my wedding) Bill had two free tickets from his law firm.  It was a power-packed day of tastings, great food, and music.  We actually got to hang with Mr. Valenzano himself. (the owner of the winery)

I know your saying, "They have wineries in NJ!?" The answer is yes, there's actually a lot!  Far more than I knew about.   Although they can't compete with California wines, some varietals are actually pretty good.

Back to the Monday morning grind.  

This morning I pitched Doug Johnson at Black River Entertainment two songs in consideration for Kellie Pickler.  Doug is a 30-year industry veteran and currently the VP of A&R at Black River.
I sent Doug, Cupcakes & Wine as well as Hear My Prayer.  Cupcakes is a light-hearted, fun and flirty country/pop tune and Hear My Prayer, is a pull-at-your-heartstrings, tear-jerker, ballad.  In my opinion, I think both would be great for Kellie.  I guess we'll see if Doug Johnson agrees.

DAY - 36

Happy Friday!  In deed, it is.  What a beautiful day in NJ.  It was 78 degrees and not a cloud in the sky all day.  Looking into a busy weekend ahead.  Teaching, homework, two birthday parties, and a wine festival.  At least it's not all work no play.

It's 9pm and my night is open. Besides updating my iPad to the new iOS7,  I think I'll dig into some writing.  I've got a couple cool new tunes in the works and a couple ideas to start developing.  Free night, pizza, a variety of pumpkin beer in the fridge = one happy camper and hopefully one creative songwriter.

Today, I reached out to Hannah Showmaker at Parallel Entertainment.  Parallel is both a music publishing company and management team, handling not only songwriters and artists but comedians such as, Larry The Cable Guy and Jeff Foxworthy.  They signed their first songwriter back in 2011 and have been doing great business ever since.

Update:  Cool news! The music video for my song "Boots" (co-written w/ Liv Devine and Gene Micofsky and released by Liv Devine)  is going to be broadcast on TNN (The Nashville Network) starting rotation on September 28.  Cool beans!   http://www.watchtnn.com/

Hope you have great weekend!

DAY - 35

Just got in from watching my long time friend and co-writer, Eric Schwank play a set over at Coffee Works in NJ.  Eric debuted a bunch of new tunes he's writing for an upcoming solo album.  Really amazing stuff!  Great songs...honest, heartfelt, and powerful.  Totally pumped for his new project.  Also excited to get back in the writing room with Eric next week.

Today I reached out to Nashville singer-songwriter, Adam Hambrick.  I've been surfing the web, researching so much lately, that I can't even tell you how I stumbled across him.  What I can tell you is, you need to check this guy out.  Fantastic writer, great voice and country/pop that's ahead of the curve.  Adam is signed to Sony/ATV as a writer and he's already getting cuts.  Latest is with Justin Moore. Our style and musical outlook is very similar.  I get the vibe that we'd get along famously (spoken w/ a British accent) in a collaboration so I dropped a line to connect.    

Anyway, it's 11:40pm and I have to be up crazy early tomorrow to observe a high school band director somewhere in PA.  Time to hit the sack.  Goodnight Neverland!

DAY - 34

Cropped out at the usual morning spot (Starbucks on Broad Street) getting in a little morning networking and a strong dose of caffeine.  I was up until about 2am doing school work last night.  Not fun.  It was clearly time to do some research this morning because I was out of "new connections to make."  Yes, I keep a list of names and companies I hear about for future networking opportunities and title it, "new connections to make".

After doing some initial research I came across a couple interesting people and companies...just have to dig a bit deeper before reaching out.

This morning I followed up with Carrie Gallo from Cal 4 Publishing.  Carrie came out to see the Sweet Angeline showcase at Bluebird back in March.  I've been reaching out to her every now and then to keep in touch.  This morning I sent her an email regarding collaborating with a writer at Cal 4.  The team over there is really strong and I have a handful of ideas I think would be a great fit for some of their writers.  Let's make it happen captain!

DAY - 33

I'm sitting in one of lounges at school with my co-hort of grad students plugging away at the massive amount of homework that's due this week.  If it weren't for these little breaks I wouldn't be able to accomplish anything!  Between studying conducting techniques, and lesson planning for tomorrow, I was able to squeeze in a bit of 'persistent' networking.

As I said last month,  If I didn't hear anything back from Disney Music Nashville I was going to politely keep up a bit of persistence.  The trick with being persistent is to not be annoying.  There is definitely a fine line between the two.  Emailing someone EVERYDAY is annoying... not to mention, it looks desperate.  But, giving at least a couple weeks between emails or phone calls is more acceptable and, in my opinion, shows passion and confidence in your ability. So today I reached out, again, to the new VP Disney Music Nashville, Patrick Clifford.  I pitched him "Heart On A String" with Disney Animated films in mind.  I know through MusicXRay.com that Disney also happens to be looking for new writers.  Kill two birds with one stone??  Lol...yeah, when you wish upon a star!

DAY - 32

This morning I reached out to Josh Hoge for Whiskey Jam at Winners bar in Nashville.  I actually met Josh a while back (I'm sure he doesn't remember) when he was touring with David Nail.  Co-writer, Liv Devine and her band opened for David and Josh at Prospectors in New Jersey.  Me, Sue, Tyler (from Sweet Angeline) and Liv ended up talking to Josh for a while after the show.  We exchanged info and talked about connecting, but nothing ever materialized.

The other night, co-writer, Matt Santry told me that Josh hosts this cool writer's night in Nashville called Whiskey Jam.  I decided to check it out further and yeah...it looks really cool! A lot of fantastic writers play the Whiskey Jam and country stars are also known to randomly sit in!  Needless to say, I sent an email to Josh today for consideration on the roster.  I'm sure there's a lot of songwriters/artists emailing Josh to be included so I'll probably have to be persistent with this one.

Btw, Here's a cool "wish I was there" story from this weekend...

This past Friday night my wife, Sue and my mother-in-law, Bonnie were at the dog park taking the little Yorkies for a stroll when Bonnie started talking to a "handsome young man" who was playing with his dog.  Before I go further, you have to understand, Bonnie is hilarious!  She has no filter and will strike up random conversation with anyone. (I'll never take for granted having amazing in-laws)  Anyway, after an hour and a half of speaking with the man they come to find it was country star, Chuck Wicks! (Stealing Cinderella, All I Ever Wanted)  Just so happens that Chuck was set to play the Grand Ole Opry the next night.  He was so cool that he actually went as far as to call his manager to get Sue and Bonnie backstage passes! They ended up going on Saturday night and had a blast!  Wish I was there.

DAY - 31

TGIF!...and it happens to be the 13th.  I remember when I was a kid, it was a tradition for my friends and I to get together for a sleepover every Friday the 13th.  We'd have our parents drive us to the movie store, race to horror section and rent a ton of scary movies.  We'd fill up a basket with popcorn, candy, soda and other assorted snacks, head home, order a pizza and stay up ALL night watching Freddie, Jason, Chucky and all the usual suspects go on a mass murdering spree.  Man, those were the days. Lol!

Remember when you could eat all that candy and pizza and not gain a pound?  Remember the movie store!?  I miss that place.  It was a date all by itself.  Going to Blockbuster, spending an hour picking out a movie that you weren't really even going to watch. ;)   Can you tell I'm feeling a bit nostalgic?  My apologies for the tangent.

Down to business.  Today I reached out to the general manager of RareSpark Media Group, Scot Sherrod.  RareSpark is a relatively new publishing company.  They also handle development and management.  Scot Sherrod and Suzanne Strickland launched the company in 2012 and have been building and growing ever since.  I decided to contact Scot, introduce myself and let him know I'm interested in meeting/co-writing with any member on the RareSpark team.  We shall see.

Have a great weekend!

DAY - 30

Had a great session with Philadelphia singer-songwriter, Matt Santry last night.  Matt brought an awesome idea/hook to the table and we started whittling away at it until late last night.  Matt is a talented songwriter and a fantastic vocalist. You can check out his stuff here. Looking forward to seeing where this tune goes.

I have a very short break before teaching so please accuse the brevity of this post.  Today I sent an email to Alex Heddle, at Big Machine Music.  You might have heard of Big Machine Records the label... Taylor Swift, Tim McGraw, Rascal Flatts, etc.  Big Machine Music is on the publishing side of things and Alex is the newly appointed director of publishing.  He's a very talented industry pro and has held various positions at different publishers in Nashville.  He's known for being a very strong song-plugger and a passionate advocate of songwriters.  Hoping to make an introduction.

Until tomorrow...

DAY - 29

Although the combo of teaching, school and school work has been kicking my butt already, I've been able to find little pockets of time to stay creative.  Wether it's on the train ride, or during a break in a coffee shop or keeping semi weird hours at night, I've been able to stay focused on my writing and development of new ideas.  This past Sunday I had a great skype session with Canadian songwriter, Kirk Penney.  Kirk and I finished the song we started in August and made some headway on another one.  Tonight, I'm writing with Philadelphia singer/songwriter, Matt Santry.  Looking forward to the session!  Looking forward to new material!

This morning I contacted Creative Partner for Tom-Leis Music and Love Monkey Music, Leslie T. DiPiero.  If your asking, "wait, didn't you contact Tom-Leis Music yesterday?" You would be correct.  After I sent the email yesterday, I regretted not sending it to Leslie...

The more I gather, Leslie is a creative force and a powerhouse in the publishing industry.  Being that she is a songwriter and performer herself, she is known for both finding and nurturing talent while creating a great environment in the company.  She's negotiated deals with writers and even facilitated mergers between publishing entities.   Not to mention, she happens to be married to mega hit writer Bob DiPiero.  Long story short, I know I mentioned yesterday that I got a great vibe from TLM and I wasn't kidding.  The company and it's staff seem to have songwriting in their blood. I normally would never contact the same place 2 days in a row but in this case, I think it's really worth showing my interest.

Stay tuned!

DAY - 28

I have a sweet little break today for a couple hours so I'm currently cropped out at the local Cosi for some Steak and Cranberry Chili and free wifi.  Got an email from co-writer, Jason Blume.  We haven't heard anything back from the Rascal Flatts pitch yet (refer to Day 20) but this week we'll be pitching Gloriana.  As usual, sending up the prayers.

Besides catching up on school work, today I reached out to the new Creative Director at Tom-Leis Music, Travis Carter.   After doing some research this past weekend, I got a great vibe from this company.  It's a boutique operation with some serious players and impressive credits.  Something really draws me in about some of the Nashville boutique publishers.  I like the intimate vibe of the smaller operation.  There seems to be a great sense of community and collaboration.  They're not so big that the writer gets lost.  The staff seems very hands on and in tune with their writers and the material they're pitching.  I can only assume that it'd be easy to get lost, or have a song get lost, in a big company.  I can't remember where I read it, but it was an article regarding boutique publishers being the wave of the future for music publishing.  I can totally see that happening, especially in Nashville.  Many of the small publishers are having immense success in the hit radio market.  Look at Big Loud Shirt, Combustion Music, Cal 4, etc.  It's interesting, but not surprising if you think about it.  A small but great staff that knows their writers well and knows how to fit their music into the market.  Sounds great...now sign me up!

Ps:  Finally fixed my Time Stamp feature.  No my posting times are actually correct!  I realize no one cares but me.  Still, I always hated referring to the time within my post and then when I post the entry the time stamp says something completely different...making a liar out of me.  No more!

DAY - 27

Just finished reading an article on a songwriting blog called, Our Scattered Words (OSW).  It's a really cool blog with tons of great interviews and a wealth of insights.  I was turned onto it because I follow hit songwriter, Brent Baxter's blog (manvsrow.wordpress.com) and he happened to be featured on OSW.   The address is ourscatteredwords.com if you're interested.  Please excuse the re-blogging, but I thought this was a great highlight.  

OSW: Do you sing or play an instrument? If not, do you think it would change your writing if you did? Brent Baxter: No, I don’t sing, and I haven’t strummed a guitar in years.  I’m strictly a lyricist.  Having those other skills surely would’ve changed how I write and what I write.  I’ve heard it said that your limitations define your style, and that’s sure true of me.  I’m sure I wouldn’t be as good of a lyricist if I could write strong melodies.  But what would that trade-off be?  It’s better to be great at one thing than to be mediocre at several- at least if you want to monetize your songwriting.

"It's better to be great at one thing..."  That hits home for me.  I personally get caught up with trying to be great at EVERYTHING (musicianship, melody, lyrics, hooks/concepts, arrangement, recording, production) and sometimes I spread myself too thin.  Hmmm...food for thought.  Not to mention, this speaks to the very nature of co-writing and teamwork.  Ideally, two or more writers with strengths in different areas, collaborating to create something great.  How many hit songs were written by one person?  A small fraction.  Fred Knobloch said something similar to me in a discussion we were having about success in songwriting.  He said,  "Sooner or later you're going to figure out what you're REALLY good at.  Do that."  

Enough talking shop, let's get to it.  Today I reached out to owner/director of Creative Nation, Beth Laird.  Earlier, I tried to connect with the creative director, but I haven't heard back. So... I decided to go right to the top.  It's a long shot, but we shall see.  I also reached out to a couple songwriters in Nashville I've been meaning to connect with.  I've received a lot of great referrals lately and have begun setting up dates for when I return full-time in late October.   

Over the weekend, besides submitting to a listing on MusicXRay for the TV show, "The Biggest Loser, I did a ton of research on new contacts.  Trying to connect with someone everyday gets harder the longer you do it!!  Gotta take the time to dig deeper.  Cheers! 

DAY - 26

Friday, Friday, Friday!  First week of school down.  Exhausted already and the assignments just started pouring in.  Head down, keep focused and plow through.  At the moment, I'm sitting in my car pre-writing this post because I don't have internet and I have to teach another lesson in 20min.  Gotta make the most of every free minute!  

Good news, today I heard back from Jeff Skaggs from Kobalt Music Publishing (refer to Day-19).  In the email I sent Jeff, I left a link for the "Making It 365" mini-documentary that Olive Branch Studios did on my 365 blog project.  Turns out Jeff checked out the vid and really dug it.  He sent me a nice return email and said to stay in touch, send updates and new material.  Will do!   Kobalt has some great artists/writers, both pop and country, and they seem to be on a hot streak at the moment. I'm definitely  looking to keep this door open.  I sent a follow up thanking Jeff for taking the time to check out my stuff and let him know I'll be keeping in touch.  

Later today I emailed Philly singer-songwriter, Matt Santry about getting together to write.  If you've never heard Matt, check him out.  Great voice, really cool stuff!  We've been talking about collaborating for a while and I'm totally looking forward to writing while I'm in town.  Also, I spoke with Fred Knobloch about our demo.  He's in the process of mixing and said it's sounding really good. All in all, a pretty sweet Friday.  

Oh btw!  I just found out my song "Boots" (written with Sweet Angeline co-writer, Liv Devine and Gene Micofsky, performed by Liv Devine)  is in rotation every hour on Thunder 106 in New Jersey and getting great response!!   You can tune in from anywhere online and if you're feeling up to it, even call in a request ;)  Or just check out the video here.   

Have a great weekend!

DAY - 25

Just got off the train for a 10am class in Philadelphia.  I figured I'd pop into the Starbucks on Broad Street before the day begins to try and get some things done.  I can't even say how many blog posts were written and how many things were actually accomplished from this very Starbucks in Chapter 1 of MI365.  Even though, for the time being, I'm missing my wife and missing my new stomping ground, it's cool to be in this familiar spot staring at this familiar screen.     

This morning I reached out to one of the heads of Parallel Music Publishing, Tim Hunze.  A statement that Tim made in an article for Music Row really caught my attention. He said, 

“We have extensive contacts in the TV, motion picture, video game, and music industries. The opportunities and possibilities for Parallel Music Publishing’s songwriters are endless. We love country music but we’re not limiting ourselves to any one genre.” 

I like the sound of that.  Especially the bit about not limiting ourselves to one genre. I'd love to know more about the company so I reached out to Tim to introduce myself.  

It's 9:51am...gotta get to class.  Cheers!  

DAY - 24

Today I reached out to Shea Fowler at Cornman Music.  A couple weeks ago I sent an email to VP of Creative, Nate Lowery.  I haven't heard back so I decided to send an email to the Creative Director, Shea this morning.  Like I had mentioned a couple weeks ago, Cornman Music is owned by mega hit songwriter, Brett James.  The roster of songwriters who write for the company is impressive.  Some very talented folks creating great music!

I just got my schedule down for the next 7 weeks.  It's going to be pretty chaotic to say the least.  I'm going to have to do most of my writing sessions after 8:30pm or on the weekends since my class schedule and teaching schedule will completely hi-jack the day.  We'll make it work!   I've got my first one scheduled for this Sunday...skyping with Canadian songwriter, Kirk Penney.  We started a really cool tune last session and looking forward to finishing this one up.

Alright...time to get to the train so I'm not late for my first class!  

DAY - 23

I hope you had a great Labor Day weekend!  Mine was fantastic.  Great BBQ, beer and family time.  My sister's boyfriend, James is like Bobby Flay on the grill.  Steaks and ribs seasoned and grilled to perfection.  I had my first pumpkin beer of the season. (Sam Adams)  I know, I know,  it's too early.  To that I say...it's never too early for pumpkin products!   I had another beer that was pretty remarkable...have you ever tried Well's Banana Bread Beer?  My wife Sue actually recommended it and I have to say, it's like a hoppy loaf of banana bread in a bottle.  

Anyway, I'm back in New Jersey/Philly for the next 7 weeks.  Today was orientation at Uarts.  I can't believe it has almost been 3 years since I started this master's program.  Time flies when you're doing what you love.  Can't wait to finish up the semester, follow in the footsteps of my parents, family and friends as a graduate of University of the Arts.

Thanks to co-writer, Bill Gue, who suggested to today's contact, I reached out to Alan Menken.  If you've never heard of Alan, just google him.  He is an incredibly talented musician and composer best known for his film score work with Disney.  The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Tangled, and the list goes on and on and on.  Since I've been on this quest to get a foot in the door at Disney, Bill suggested I try and connect with Alan.  Today I gave it a shot.