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.

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.