"Live from the Broken Spoke, it's the Nashville Independent Music Hour"

We're on the air on www.acrn.fm , on several other Internet feeds, on 3 stations is central SC, on Radio Free Nashville (Thursdays, 11PM) and now on the official gov't radio station of the Bahamas

The show/ and the song Contest are currently on hiatus. Check here frequsntly for info on the next contest/show taping.

Peace, Love and Flowers,

CJ

I've noticed lately that the 'newbies' don't know these and nobody else seems to remember. It's time to start learning and/or remembering, while we still have osme places left to play.

The Nashville Rant by C.J. Watson
22 Jul 2001
How to Play Writer's Nights Without Getting Shot or, Worse, Ignored

One thing I like about Nashville is the steady stream of new faces, people
moving here to chase the dream or spending a week to check out the scene or
passing through just to play a song or two onstage in Music City so they can
tell Uncle Chester (who once shook hands with THE bus driver for Merle) that
they did it for real. However, after kvetching with some of my fellow hosts,
there are a few things you should know when you come to a writer's
night in Nash Vegas:

1. Get your guitar out of the case, let it adjust to the room a few minutes
and tune it to an electronic tuner BEFORE your name is called. If you waste
three minutes getting ready, that's one less song someone gets to play that
night. Being in tune is a good way to get your song across and, if you tune
to a tuner, then people (like me) can play along without it sounding like a
catfight..:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

2. Don't wear a sequined jacket, a forty gallon hat with a twenty gallon
reserve tank and brand new cockroach killers (pointy boots) that you can't
even walk in or everyone will KNOW you're just a tourist. Even Garth doesn't
dress like Garth when he's home in ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Nashville. If you see a guy with khaki
shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, an ASCAP baseball cap and socks with sandals,
chances are he's had enough hits to fill a whole page in Billboard. I'm not
advising you to dress like THAT (sorry Reese) but BE COMFORTABLE and you'll
stand a better chance of not looking like a dork who's fresh of the bus from
East Nosepick, Montana.

3. Don't be a GHERM (pronounced gurm, hard 'G', rhymes with worm). A germ is
someone who becomes human velcro and attaches themselves to anyone famous,
semi-famous, potentially famous or possessing a famous last name. They are
easily recognized by their distinctive mating cries:1)here's my card. 2)let
me get you a tape out of the van. 3)I have a song that's just perfect for...
The point here is that Nashville is a small community, a family, really. If
you don't have the time to develop a network of friends and get to know some
people, you came to the wrong place. People here like doing business with
people they know and trust. You'd be better off staying in Poughkeepsie and
mailing in CD's than trying to germ someone. If somebody starts a
conversation with you, that's different, just try not to drool and don't beg
unless they ask you to.

4. If you want a writer's night host to like you, spend money and bring
friends, come early and stay late. Most hosts get paid a percentage
and most of us can only afford to book one or two people just because they
happen to be brilliant writers. Promoting the gig means you are not only
brilliant, but also market minded and highly motivated, which are just as
important in this town. Yes, a part of me wishes it wasn't this way and I
promise that, when I have a gazillion dollars, I'll start a writer's club
where bookings are determined solely by raw talent but, for now, deal with
it! Anyone who wants extra good karma points, stay and listen to the open
mic, these folks wait all night to do one or two songs. If you do this, they
are likely to come hear YOU (remember the part about bringing friends?)

5. Talk as much as you want to... as much as you want to hear ME talk during
YOUR song. There are some writers in this town I thought were total crap
until I HEARD them. Don't be fooled by performance, listen hard to the SONG.
If you already know somebody stinks, at least try not to talk too loudly.
That way I'll think you're listening.

6. We know you were the big thing back home, so were we. New game here.
Winning the Ox Booger, South Dakota Talent Show and Potato Auction three
years in a row don't count for diddly here in Nashtucky. The quicker you get
humble, the quicker you can start making a name HERE.

Nobody is ever going to complement you on the vastness of your ego.

7. A seven minute song is NOT going to make you any friends (unless you're
Jonathan Long). You just burned up three and a half minutes of someone else's
time on a song that's not gettin' cut anyway. Think about cutting down that
32 bar intro where you soulfully strum an out of tune "E" on your crappy
k-mart guitar. We know "E" too. It doesn't impress us, get to the hook.
Don't worsen this problem by talking about the song for half an hour. If we
can't tell what the song is about by LISTENING TO THE SONG, then you have a
problem.

8. Be polite and quick during soundcheck. This ain't Madison Square Garden
and you ain't Springsteen. You're probably doing two or three songs, get it
close and GO FOR IT, then get out of the way and let someone else have a
shot. IF you piss off the sound person, you're not gonna sound good anyway
This is like the rule that says not to annoy anyone who is going to handle you're food. Every soundboard has a "suck" button. Don't make us use it. Don't ask for reverb in the monitor, this ain't karaoke night at the VFW. If you don't like your voice, practice. Reverb in the monitor takes feedback threshold down by a factor of ten and makes most people sing flat. If you have one of those pickups that stick in the soundhole, throw it away and get a real one. If you don't have a pickup in
your guitar, stay home (unless you're Mike Williams or Tim S. Rose).

9. Be nice to the help. A lot of waitresses and bartenders are themselves
writers or are dating writers. Almost all of them are good friends with some
BIG TIME WRITERS upon whom they used to wait back when they were nobodies.
If you're any good and they like you, they'll say nice things about you to
lots of people. If you're not or they don't you will not only die of thirst
but, most likely, you will die in obscurity. Also, if you moved here with
$500 to last you until you made it big, you will BE a waitress or bartender
very soon, so be nice, tip what you can and remember that it takes as long
to bring you a glass of water as it does to bring a quadruple shot of Wild
Turkey with a flaming pink umbrella (Jimmy Rinehart's cocktail of choice).

10. A special skill like harmony or percussion or a lead instrument can get
you into some good rounds. Just make sure the folks you're backing up are
helping you out, too. When I first got here, I was playing out seven nights
a week in two or three rounds a night for free and still only doing three of
my own songs with no help from anybody. If someone asks you to play FOR them
but not be IN the round too many times, start charging them. Some people
practice with friends and learn each other's songs to get more of a band
feeling. Diane Gentes and friends are a great example of this. Don't
overdo it, though. Keep it simple enough to set up in under a minute. BTW,
four drunk guys doing the same exact thing on acoustic guitars doesn't count
as 'ensemble' playing.

Above all, remember to HAVE FUN and LEARN. You are a ten times more likely
to get a cut from a meeting on the row or a conversation with a
well-connected friend than you are to 'get discovered' at a writer's night.
Don't get me wrong, it DOES happen but I've learned that the best things
about writer's nights are making friends, talking shop and figuring out how
other people approach the writing process (this is done by a process called
'listening'). These things will help you to be ready at that big meeting
when it happens. Oh, a guy DID come up to me tonight and ask if he could cut
one of my songs. But he's a friend AND I always listen to HIS songs, so he
was listening to mine. Like I said, it DOES happen.

I know most of you are experienced writers and you know all this stuff.
Please feel free to pass out copies of this to anyone you see walking in to
sign up for open mic at midnight, wearing a lizard skin duster and carrying
pictures of themselves.

Peace, Love and Flowers y'all,

CJ

Contributors to this Rant include Barbara Cloyd, Debi Champion, Camille Wallin, Jack Scott and Lee Rascone

Hello Doc and CJ and Songwriter's Cafe!  Some inquiring minds wanted to know about the bike cop on our trip to Nashville?  Well since you asked...

The bicycle cop was really a funny/ironic thing.  We were laughing about how hard it must be for a motorcycle cop to pull people over, and that lead to a similar conversation about bike cops.  Downtown Nashville was FULL of them, and we just thought it would be really funny to have one pull you over for speeding.

Anyway, our last evening there, we went out to dinner at The Boundry (Really spectacular food if you've never been there) Off of 20^th Street I think..., and we were on our way back to the hotel after dinner, and there is a funny little intersection where it appeared that you could follow a little exit to U-turn onto the street that we needed to be on, so I curved right & immediately, a little Asian guy coming my way started to scream at me, and in my left EAR i heard someone say "Please Pull over to the side of the road!"  

I thought for a second that it was God himself, and I still didn't see ANYONE, but I pulled over....and sure enough, it was the bicycle cop!

He asked me if I knew that I was merging the WRONG WAY onto a One Way

street.  I told him I was just confused, and he asked me to pull into a parking lot.   He kinda swaggered up to my side of the car (probably swaggering from being on a bike seat for God knows how long, wearing tight little shorts to boot!) and the first thing he said is "Mam, Have you had anything to drink tonight", and I pointed out my big belly & told said "Sir, I sure wish I could have been, I'm just on visiting, and honestly got confused."

He mentioned that he pulls "out-of-towners" over there all the time, and then asked me if I had seen the Wrong Way sign.    I told him, with the sweetest "I'm pregnant & very very sorry" smile, that I hadn't, and perhaps if the sign were clearly visible, it would serve it's purpose and he wouldn't be pulling people over as often."

He let me go after just a sec with only a verbal warning.  I guess being pregnant does have its perks.  :)

So, that's the story.   Really, it was good timing because I couldn't drink.  I think the city makes good money off of that corner. Sorry to keep you in suspense.  :)

Helloooo Doc Possom, CJ Watson, and The Songwriter's Cafe!

Doc Possom asked me to write you all a little ditty about my trip to Nashville TN, so here it goes: Nashville, TN. Where the streets are paved in legends & broken dreams. (How's that for melodrama? I've been practicing!)

Every few months, my buddy Stella & I leave the kids, pack the car, and hit I65, headed toward the bright lights of Nashville. We were gone from May 18th-23rd.  This trip, I had a spot at the Bluebird Cafe, and we were featured at the French Quarter Cafe, the Commodore, and the Broken Spoke's Songwriters Cafe.

Our trips are always incredible, but this trip was a little different...you see, I'm in my last few weeks of pregnancy with baby #2. That made the trip down a little longer due to frequent bathroom breaks, the singing and picking a little harder with being so big and all, But this trip was different mostly because I had no choice but to behave myself.....and while we were pretty well behaved, we still got pulled over by one of those bicycle cops. (that's another story.  I'll write it if you all want to hear it.)

Now, the everyday normal human being goes to Nashville to walk down Broadway, bask in the rhinestone glory of Opry Land & eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, and if you mentioned any of the clubs in the paragraph above, they would look at you with a confused and lost look in their eyes. But we're different. We hear voices in our heads. We are songwriters.

Places like the Broken Spoke just make us feel like we're finally home & among people who "get it". It is within those walls that we bear our souls, and listen to others do the same.

We walked into the Broken Spoke on Saturday night and were greeted by C.J. Watson, the evening's host & a fabulous spirit.  It was around 7pm, and we weren't scheduled until 9, so we just found a seat, ordered up some food, and listened to round after round of brilliant writers.  Nearly every song had a space for a lovely lead, and C.J. was behind the soundboard adding lovely guitar solo's and the occasional back up vocal. It really was beautiful.

I recognized many of the writers as the bar staff from other clubs. It seems the Broken Spoke feels like home to them as well. Stella & I went up for our round, and immediately after, C.J. took the stage with Nita Velo, Jennifer Williams, and Jeff Gilkenson.  Jeff played the cello & they all played along with each other as if they had known each other forever.  But i think that is just the way at the Spoke. By the end of the night, everyone felt like they HAD known each other forever, & I put the Spoke at the top of my list.

The next day Stella went to NSAI's (Nashville Songwriters Association International) "Song Camp 201". I didn't attend this one, but was really impressed with the songwriters who were teaching the seminar. (Craig Carothers, Don Henry, Hugh Prestwood, Rick Beresford, and Ralph Murphy.)

I didn't sign up for Song Camp because I really didn't think that I had it in me to be busy all day, and sing all night, So i spent the day looking for an ice cream shop within walking distance and resting up for my spot at the Bluebird Cafe. If you've never been to the Bluebird, it's the kinda place where everyone pays attention....in fact, i think the host tells them that they have to!

Greats such as Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, Dwight Yochum, and Gillian Welch are among the many legends who have passed through those doors on the way to their destinies.

I had a Sunday Night Writers spot (my second), which I earned by sitting in the cold February rain for an audition a little over a year ago. Over 90 people auditioned the morning that I did, and they hold auditions 2-3 times a year. I was allowed 3 songs, and my buddy Stella joined me on guitar & back up vocals.

The talent was so good that I was just a little nervous when I walked up to the mike, BUT the crowd was squirrely & ready for a good time, and a tatooed & pregnant woman with a mandolin seemed to peak their interest. It was a great experiance & I'm looking forward to going back again.

We did another writers round at the Commodore on Tuesday night before we left town, and on Monday night, we attended a writers round at Douglas Corner featuring all the Song Camp teachers. Their names became real to me as i heard them play thier original songs and recognized Hugh Prestwood's "Ghost in this House".

I realized that these weren't just songwriters, these guys had written songs that could arguably be called some of the greatest songs in modern country music.

That's a lesson to learn about Nashville. You could be sitting at the Bluebird, or the Broken Spoke, or in your hotel lobby, and strike up a conversation with
the stranger next to you, only to find that they wrote the greatest song of all time.

So, other than a run-in with a bicycle cop, we did all right for ourselves. In a few months, I'm sure we'll leave the kids, pack the car, and hit I65 South once again to find more adventures & bring back new stories.

Thanks to Doc Possom, C.J. Watson, the Broken Spoke, my super team of baby sitters, super-daddy husband, & everyone at Indy Folk News for checking in with me.

:)
All my best.

Bobbie Lancaster
myspace.com/bobbielancaster
www.stellaandjane.com
_______

Wow. Songs aren't all you write Bobbie! And do we want to hear about the bicycle cop??? I do!

Doc Possom

http://www.indyfolknews.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/indyfolknews/
http://www.myspace.com/indyfolknews

So the contest is going to work like this- we'll tape 2 shows every other Saturday. On the 'off' weeks, we'll have a song contest both Friday and Saturday nights from 6-8PM, then the regular writers night from 8:00 on.

It must be YOUR song (i.e. You must have the right to broadcast the song and sell downloads of it).You must play your song LIVE (or have someone else play it) to be in the contest. We'll judge more on the song than the performance but, since this is a broadcast show, please try not to suck.
 
If you want to sign up in advance for one of the next two contest nights-June 8 and 9- . send me a msg. at this page. Otherwise, it's first come, first serve.

I'll try to have an FAQ up soon.

CJ