San Diego Songwriter's Guild

The Fourth Annual San Diego Songwriters Guild Performing Songwriters Showcase took place on two inspiring nights in San Diego. In a listening session at the Country Inns & Suites on March 9, an all-star panel of judges including  writer/performer Allegra Barley (last year’s Showcase winner),  Chris Adams from Clear Channel, Bart Mendoza and SDSG President Sandi Shaner auditioned entrants’ recorded work, picking the top six acts to perform in the finals at Humphrey’s Backstage on April 3.

Entrants were shooting to win a rich prize package including Six Hour Recording Session at Chuck Schiele’s StudiOB92107,  KPRI Homegrown Hour Radio Airplay sponsored by ListenLocalSD.com, a 30 Minute set at Humphrey’s Showcase or House of Blues from Black Cherry Group, a Bag of Schwag from Moze Guitars, plus a Guitar Set-Up, an acoustic guitar from local custom luthier Cervantes Guitars , and $250 in Cash from SDSG.

Performing in the LIVE Finals at Humphrey’s Backstage Shelter Island, on the evening of Saturday, April 3, 2010 were Baja Blues Boys, Charlie Recksieck, Diane Waters, Vanity Affair, Rob Mehl, and Bar Elements.

Our second panel of judges cast their votes in the finals. Producer Chuck Schiele, Guitarist/Vocalist James Steele, SDSG VP Eddie Jason Coven, and Bandleader Will Faeber dedicated their evening to grading the finalists, giving the nod to Diane Waters who took home the top prize with a powerful performance, accompanied by Erik Ferentinos on guitar.

Second place went to the Baja Blues Boys and Third Place was taken by Vanity Affair.  All of the performances were deserving of the spotlight, proof positive that SDSG members are among the best at their craft in San Diego.

Special thanks go to our hard-working panels of judges and to our SDSG volunteers in the trenches: Annie Rettic, Richard and Susan Widney, and our MC and DJ for the listening session, SDSG Advisor Mark Charles Hattersley.

Please remember our sponsors (contact info is on page 19) without whom the event would have been far less stimulating. Finally, let’s not forget Country Inns & Suites and Humphrey’s Backstage for allowing us to host the Showcase in their fine establishments.

SDSG is pleased to announce that Diane Waters is the winner of the 2010 San Diego Songwriters Performing Songwriters Contest held recently at the Humphrey’s Backstage Lounge in Point Loma.  Her winnings include  the opportunity to perform at the infamous HOUSE of BLUES in San Diego.

2nd place went to the Baja Blues Boys and 3rd Place went to 3rd-Vanity Affair.

Here is what you will find in the February 2010 issue:

• Performing Showcase – 2010 Live Contest
• 2009 Contest Review – Winners & their Songs
• Garden of Song- Sven Eric-Seaholm
• Venue Revue – Lestat’s -Annie Rettic
• Holiday Party Review – December 8 Coolness
• Lindsay White – SDSG Member Interview
• 2010 Food Drive – Sandi Shaner
• Seven Lessons: Part 2 – Bridget Brigitte
• School of Rock Vista – San Reilly
• Bad Science Fiction – Eddie Jason Coven
• Legal Seminar – Entertainment Law
• Songwriters’ Community
• Reaching Out
• Meetup.com
• The Gig Page

Click here to Download this issue!

SDSG’s 18th Annual Song Contest showcased the work of some of San Diego’s finest writers. It was an amazing evening of incredibly consistently excellent music! Only a few points separated the top songs, affirming Guild writers’ overall high standards. Our Winners:

Platinum

Anthony Plourd and “JD Romance” with “Daylight“.

Prize:

• $500 cash from SDSG
• Opening Act Spot at House of Blues or 4th and B form Black Cherry Group

Gold

Lindsay White with “Fancy Shoes”

Prize:

• Baby Taylor Guitar from Taylor Guitars
• $100 cash from SDSG
• Opening Act Spot at U-31 Cocktail Lounge or other North Park Rocks venues for Black Cherry Group

Silver

Brian Darnell and Mark Charles Hattersley with “Chasing Trains”

Prize:

• 500 Retail-Ready CDs from CDRollout.com

Bronze

Sara Petite with “Little Souvenirs”

Prize:

• 3 Hours Studio Session at Rancho Bohemia

Honorable Mentions:

Aaron Echeverria and Amber Plaster with “Lily Among Thorns”

Sara Petite with “Shouldn’t Be Doing This” and “Fade Away”

Lindsay White with “Give Up, Give In”

Cindy Santini with “Making Sound”

Ed Williams and Christian Williams with “Dark Rain”

If you were there when “Daylight” was announced as the winner, you know what a perfect ending we shared at this year’s contest. Congrats to winner Anthony Plourd and all our entrants… we enjoyed your music so very much. Thank you for sharing it with us. Special thanks go to our hard-working panel of judges: Eddie Jason Coven, Gregory Page, Diane Waters, and Steven Ybarra, and to our SDSG volunteers in the trenches: Sandi Shaner, Bridget Brigitte, Ann Rettick, John Pape, Richard Widney, Barby Hattersley, and our MC and DJ Mark Charles Hattersley. We couldn’t have done it without you. Please don’t forget to remember our sponsors, without whom the event would have been far less stimulating: Taylor Guitars, CDRollout.com, RagingBohemian.com, and Black Cherry Group. Finally, let’s not forget Country Inns and Suites for allowing us to host the event in their fine hotel, and FruitFlowers.com for providing us with incredibly edible delights including some tasty chocolates which we raffled off on Contest breaks to appreciative SDSG members.

We’re all looking forward to our Holiday networking Party at Humphrey’s on December 8. Contest Judge Gregory Page will be headlining. See you there!

SDSG’s 18th Annual Song Contest will be held Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at the Country Inn & Suites in Sorrento Valley. The contest is a popular tradition for San Diego writers, and offers a unique opportunity to hear a tremendous cross section of local work. Prize winners are selected by a panel of industry professionals in our fi nal event on November 3, during which song entries recorded on CD are played for both judges and audience to hear. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded on this jam-packed night, an exciting prospect indeed. If you are a songwriter, or a producer or artist looking for some new material, Country Inn & Suites, located at 5975 Lusk Boulevard , San Diego 92121 is the place to be on Tuesday, November 3.

This year’s grand prize includes a $500 Cash Award from SDSG. We’ll also be giving away many
other great prizes as well, donated by local and national businesses. The maximum total number of entries is only 70 songs, so do the math and you’ll know your chances of taking home a prize are excellent!

The contest is open to the public. You may join the Guild or renew your membership simultaneously with your entry and take advantage of member discounts. Submit your entries by mail now or in-person on the night of the contest. To guarantee entry into the contest, and to qualify for the early entry discount, songs must be mailed to SDSG and received no later than
October 20, 2009. Mail-in entries are being accepted now. Up to 70 recorded songs will be judged in the Finals the night of Tuesday, November 3. If more than 70 entries are received by October 20, a panel of judges will pre-screen and select the 70 top songs for the Finals. If space permits, SDSG will accept additional entries before and on the night of the Final. However,
registration by mail is encouraged to guarantee your entries can be accepted. Please see the 2009 Contest Rules and Entry Form
Download 2009 Contest Flyer Now

Pacific beach singer/songwriter Allegra is the winner of the 3rd annual San Diego Songwriters Performing Songwriters Contest held recently at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach.

32 local songwriters competed in the event. Seven semi-finalists were selected to perform live at the Belly Up. The semi finalists were:

• Allegra,
• Blues Lyne,
• Lindsay White,
• Reverend Stickman,
• Candice Graham,
• Kerri Dopart and
• Steven Ybarra.

Contest winner Allegra received cash from SDSG, recording time at Studio West, and CD manufacturing from CD Rollout in Los Angeles.

On February 23, 2009, a talented group of musicians submitted recordings for the review of a panel of judges, with the six top entrants being selected to move on the 2009 SDSG Performing Songwriters Contest finals. At the end of the listening session, the judges commented on the overall quality of the submissions, noting that everyone who came out presented strong material with professional recording quality predominating. As one who can recall the days of cassette submissions being the norm, it was gratifying to hear the solid, well-crafted material that was presented. Kudos to all our contestants for a job well done!

Our judges still had to select top entries to move on to the Belly Up and the contest finals; they picked seven top songs from the 32 entrants. Scoring was very tight, with only a few points separating songs in the scoring.

Slated to perform at the Belly Up on Tuesday March 3, 2009 are Allegra and the Allegra Collective, Blues Lyne, Candice Graham, Kerri Dopart, Lindsay White, Reverend Stickman, and Steven Ybarra. The winner of the Contest finals will receive a Six-Hour Studio West Recording Session, a 500 CD Package from CDRollout.com, and $250 in cash from SDSG.

Our panel of judges for the Qualification Session at Country Inn and Suites included SDSG President Sandi Shaner, SDSG Vice President Tim Turner, former SDSG President Bridget Brigitte, and Contest Sponsor Studio West’s Kyle Z. Helmstetter.

Board Members John Pape and Richard Widney, assisted by SDSG associate Barby Hattersley, diligently ran the sign-ins, organized the entries and handled the housekeeping chores as the judges reviewed our contestants’ songs.

Mark Hattersley served as the Contest MC and handled sound for the session.

We couldn’t do an event like this without the support of our members and our generous sponsors. Thank you KPRi 102.1 FM, CDRollout.com and Studio West for your support for this event. And thanks to Country Inn and Suites for your proving us with a fine venue for the listening session.

Finally, thanks to everyone who entered and attended our 2009 Performing Songwriters Contest. Keep your eyes peeled for upcoming events… we’ll see you there!

Download Latest SDSG Newsletter

Thanks to everyone for a great job with the first leg of the Performing Songwriters Contest.

The artists moving forward to the next round at the Belly Up on March 3rd are:

• 8PM – Kerri Dopart
• 8:30 – Lindsay White
• 9PM – Reverend Stickman
• 9:30 – Steven Ybarra
• 10PM – Candice Graham
• 10:30 – Allegra
• 11PM – Blues Lyne

Sponsors…

Diane Waters, veteran SDSG Member and last year’s Song Contest Gold Award winner took home Platinum at the 17th Annual San Diego Songwriters Guild Song Contest with her song “Better Things,” co-written with and produced by Doug Stokes. An up tempo crossover country tune with a hot melody and Diane’s typically exceptional lyrics, this song captured a high score from each of our judges, putting Diane and Doug over the top in 2008. Congratulations to our winners, who took home $500 and a sixhour recording session at Studio West as their reward.

Close on the heels of Ms. Waters and Mr. Stokes, was Sara Petite with her Gold Award winning song “Flying in Your Dreams” followed by Kirk Cumming with “Nothing in Common,” this year’s Silver Award winner. Our final top award, the Bronze Award, went to Diane Waters and Jason Brawner for “Crawling.”

This year, six Song of Merit Awards were presented, going to Ryan Hiller for “Insatiable,” Linda Sargent Brown for “Cloudless” and “Hold On,” Sara Petite for “Dead Man Walking,” Joan Kurland for “Right Kind of Wrong, and Paul Moeller for his hilarious “It’s Xmas Time Again.“

Overall, the evening was a rousing success, with entries ranging across the universe of musical styles and structures, and a great panel of judges who listened intently to every song. Bob Duffy, Ren Daversa, Steven Ybarra, Thomas Di Noto, and Tim Mudd were this year’s judges, and we sincerely thank them for a job well done.

Board Members John Pape, Karen Real, Richard Widney, and Tim Turner, assisted by SDSG Associate Barby Hattersley, were each instrumental in the show’s success. These hard-working Board Members diligently ran the sign-ins, organized the entries and handled the housekeeping chores as the judges reviewed our contestants’ songs. Mark Hattesrley served as the Contest MC and handled sound for the event.

Over the course of the evening, participants had the opportunity to both hear their peers’ writing and shoot the breeze with like-minded musicians and writers. Thanks to everyone who entered and attended our 2008 Song Contest. Please drop SDSG a line if you have any comments or suggestions for future events, and don’t hesitate to let us know if you are interested in working with SDSG’s Board of Directors in 2009.

SDSG’s 17th Annual Song Contest will be held Wednesday, November 12, 2008 at the Country Inn & Suites in Sorrento Valley. The contest is a popular tradition for San Diego writers, and offers a unique opportunity to hear a tremendous cross section of local work. Prize winners are selected by a panel of industry professionals in our final event on November 12, during which song entries recorded on CD or cassette are played for both judges and audience to hear. Winners will be announced and prizes awarded on this jam packed night, an exciting prospect indeed. If you are a songwriter, or a producer or artist looking for some new material, Country Inn & Suites, located at 5975 Lusk Boulevard , San Diego 92121 is the place to be on Wednesday, November 12.

This year’s grand prize includes a $500 Cash Award from SDSG. We’ll also be giving away a Taylor Guitar, thanks to Taylor’s generous support, and a stay at Pala Mesa Resort, too! Many other fine prizes, donated by local and national businesses will be awarded… Remember, the maximum total number of entries is only 70 songs, so do the math and you’ll know your chances of taking home a prize are excellent!

The contest is open to the public. You may join the Guild or renew your membership simultaneously with your entry and take advantage of member discounts. Submit your entries by mail now or in person on the night of the contest. To guarantee entry into the contest, and to qualify for the early entry discount, songs must be mailed to SDSG and received no later than November 1, 2008. Mail-in entries are being accepted now. Up to 70 recorded songs will be judged in the Finals the night of Wednesday, November 12. If more than 70 entries are received by November 1, a panel of judges will pre-screen and select the 70 top songs for the Finals. If space permits, SDSG will accept additional entries before and on the night of the Final. However, registration by mail is encouraged to guarantee your entries can be accepted. Please see the 2008 Contest Rules and Entry Form for complete details.

5975 Lusk Boulevard,
San Diego 92121
(858) 558-1818

In-Person Entries will be accepted starting at 6:00 PM on November 12

Click Here For Current Newsletter with Complete Contest Information.