"Why did I make an appointment with you?"......
She said, again, ....for about the third time in the last 15 minutes.
Me: "I don't know. Maybe because you're a moron and you should never have been given this position in the first place?"....
O.K. I didn't actually SAY that.... but I THOUGHT it... and would have liked to have been able to say it....
So goes my experience with one of the leading performing rights societies. There are three of them... B.M.I. (Broadcast Music Inc.),... ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Artists and Publishers).. and SESAC ( Society of European Singers, Actors, and Composers)....
If you are a songwriter you are often told to make an appointment to see someone at one of the performing rights societies and have them listen to some of your songs. If they like what they hear, then they will refer you to a reputable publisher.... and, hopefully, you can move on up the proverbial "ladder" to the next step in your career.
I had made my appointment weeks earlier with this particular one and had made the 12-hour drive to Nashville to keep the appointment and get some of my songs listened to and evaluated.
The woman who met me in the lobby had made this statement upon my arrival. "Who are you, and why did I make an appointment to see you today?".....
This didn't bode well for our meeting. Nope, not a good sign.
I explained that I had indeed scheduled this appointment for "today" and would she please listen to some of my songs?......
Begrudgingly she had me follow her to a small office. She said, "I don't have much time... what have you got?"
I pulled out several songs and she stuck the first one into the CD player..... listened to about the first 20 seconds, stopped it, gave it back to me.... "What else?".... I gave her another song... Same response...
This went on for about 3 or 4 minutes. I could tell she didn't really want to listen to the songs. I could tell she was perturbed by my taking up her precious, valuable time.
Finally, she simply said, .. "I don't know why I made this appointment for today. I'm really busy right now getting ready for the Christian Music Awards.
In case you didn't catch that the first time: .... The CHRISTIAN Music Awards.!!!
Wow. She was busy working on the CHRISTIAN Music Awards..... and that was the reason she was being a real .... a real... well, you know.... a real....(It rhymes with "witch"...).....
She threw me totally off-guard with this remark. Actually, I didn't know what to say,.. or think, or do,....right at the moment...
So I simply said, "Well, thanks for your time.... maybe I can come back at a later date and, .. perhaps,... you could listen to some of my songs then."
"Fine, she said. I gotta go."...
I felt like she had done everything short of having Security throw me out the door. I should have been glad she didn't have a Pit-Bull handy to take a few bites out of a leg... or worse.
I packed up my little bag of songs and shuffled off towards the main entrance, feeling totally like an idiot... feeling totally dejected, rejected, ... discombobulated.... (fill in your own words)...
It was a looooong 12-hour drive back home..... and about $500 poorer for my time, gas, food, hotel stay....etc.
I never went back. At least I never want back to THAT performing rights organization. (I'm sure they're feeling really bad about it).. (sarcasm)....
That was years ago, and since then I have found a terrific publisher on my own,.... thank you very much...
But, the experience stayed with me.
Perhaps there was a lesson to be learned here. Maybe God was trying to tell me something... and it was up to me to listen and learn....
I'm still trying....
And, in the meantime, I happened upon something that sort of put it in perspective for me...
(to be continued).....
Showing posts with label Songwriting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Songwriting. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The "One Thing" Rule
I'm a songwriter. Over the years I had aquired a lot of books that are supposed to tell me how to become a "successful" writer. By "successful" I know they mean..... makin' MONEY with your music!.... I was looking over the list of book authors one day and suddenly realized that most of them had names that I never see on the Billboard Top 100 Chart listed as writers on any of the songs. Well.... duh.... I guess if I never write a hit song at least I can write a BOOK about how to write hit songs. I'll title it "How To (Not)...the "not" being in really, really, really.... small print....Write A Hit Song!....
Anyway.... one thing I DID get from one of the books with this advice: "You should do "one thing" every day towards making yourself a better (read..."successful").. songwriter. That "one thing" doesn't have to be anything really big. The author (who actually HAD a couple of fairly sizeable hit songs)... said it could be something as simple as.... write down a song title,... buy a little tape recorder to record your ideas on,... change your guitar strings,... write or call a music publisher and try to start making a connection,....buy a book on "How To Become A HIT Songwriter!"..... etc.. I thought it was pretty good advice, actually, good advice no matter what your particular hobby or aspiration might be.
Well... I then got to thinking about how that was good advice simply for living. In an earlier blog I wrote called, "Barn Building" (you can go back and read it if you like),... I said how I wanted to make this a year of trying to make a difference in other folks lives, trying to be more positive and more helpful and less negative and complaining. Some days I'm fairly successful. Other days.... well, ....let's not go there right now......
So, this book got me to thinking that I should try to do "one thing" every day to make myself a better human being. And, it doesn't have to be something "really big". I could start out simply by carrying a 300 pound woman down a thousand foot ladder to rescue her from a raging, burning building.... (o.k. maybe that's not a good example)....
I COULD start by simply doing things like: holding the door open for someone at the supermarket.... calling a friend to check on him/her to see how they're doing..... writing a thank you note to someone.... telling the waitress at the I-Hop that she's doing a great job and leaving a nice tip.....giving my wife a hug, just for putting up with me... (that will really freak her out)....
The "one thing" doesn't have to be earth-shattering... but added up, over time, I think it could be at least, in some small way, world-changing for ME. I'm sure as you're reading this you can think of lots of "little things" you can do today at home or at work or at the local market to make someone else's life a little brighter. I'm at least willing to give it a try. Some days I know I'll fail.. but some days I know I will make a difference. And,... some day.. I WILL write a HIT song! ( I say this because my publisher reads my blogs..... Hi Patricia!)..... And today I just want to say "one thing"... thanks for being my publisher and....friend.....I appreciate all you do! (Now, get out there and pitch, pitch, pitch....)...... I hope everyone has a great week!
Anyway.... one thing I DID get from one of the books with this advice: "You should do "one thing" every day towards making yourself a better (read..."successful").. songwriter. That "one thing" doesn't have to be anything really big. The author (who actually HAD a couple of fairly sizeable hit songs)... said it could be something as simple as.... write down a song title,... buy a little tape recorder to record your ideas on,... change your guitar strings,... write or call a music publisher and try to start making a connection,....buy a book on "How To Become A HIT Songwriter!"..... etc.. I thought it was pretty good advice, actually, good advice no matter what your particular hobby or aspiration might be.
Well... I then got to thinking about how that was good advice simply for living. In an earlier blog I wrote called, "Barn Building" (you can go back and read it if you like),... I said how I wanted to make this a year of trying to make a difference in other folks lives, trying to be more positive and more helpful and less negative and complaining. Some days I'm fairly successful. Other days.... well, ....let's not go there right now......
So, this book got me to thinking that I should try to do "one thing" every day to make myself a better human being. And, it doesn't have to be something "really big". I could start out simply by carrying a 300 pound woman down a thousand foot ladder to rescue her from a raging, burning building.... (o.k. maybe that's not a good example)....
I COULD start by simply doing things like: holding the door open for someone at the supermarket.... calling a friend to check on him/her to see how they're doing..... writing a thank you note to someone.... telling the waitress at the I-Hop that she's doing a great job and leaving a nice tip.....giving my wife a hug, just for putting up with me... (that will really freak her out)....
The "one thing" doesn't have to be earth-shattering... but added up, over time, I think it could be at least, in some small way, world-changing for ME. I'm sure as you're reading this you can think of lots of "little things" you can do today at home or at work or at the local market to make someone else's life a little brighter. I'm at least willing to give it a try. Some days I know I'll fail.. but some days I know I will make a difference. And,... some day.. I WILL write a HIT song! ( I say this because my publisher reads my blogs..... Hi Patricia!)..... And today I just want to say "one thing"... thanks for being my publisher and....friend.....I appreciate all you do! (Now, get out there and pitch, pitch, pitch....)...... I hope everyone has a great week!
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Forest Green
Pacific Blue...and Forest Green...
Color rolling ocean waves and summer leaves....
This is the beginning lyric of a song I wrote called, "CRAYONS"....
You can hear the entire song at: http://songramp.com/Flyingsheep
I think Freud was onto something when he talked about how the mind sometimes works "subliminally".
I was probably somewhere between 8 and 10 years old (5th or 6th grade?)... When sometime mid-year a new kid showed up in school one day. His name was Forest Green... (and, no, I'm not making this up). Forest Green was a lot different than the rest of us classmates. He seemed to wear the same clothes every day to school, he was unkempt and quiet... pretty much kept to himself. Also, at our school we had "hot lunches". Back then I believe it cost 50 cents a day if you wanted to eat a cafeteria lunch. I think most of us kids did...except for Forest. He brought his lunch in a paper sack (I think it was the same papter sack every day)... One day I just happened to notice that all he had in his sack was a bologna sandwich...maybe it was peanut butter...the exact memory fails me. All I know is that, in my world, at that time, Forest Green was very "different" than me. I do know that I (and the rest of the class) pretty much left him to himself. We probably made fun of him and teased him... the way kids are prone to do when they encounter someone quite unlike themselves. Forest was only in our midst for a short time...probably a few weeks at the most. One day I came to school and he was simply "gone". Looking back I imagine that his family was poor and transient and the father (if there was one in the home) probably lost a job and they had to move on.
Sometimes, even now, a half-century later, I find myself wondering what ever happened to that young boy who moved in and out of my life like a wisp of smoke. Did he ever escape the cycle of poverty? Did he end up in a juvenile facility? Prison? ... Did he ever find love? ... get married?... Does he have kids?... Is he even still alive?
In First Corinthians 13, the "Love" Chapter, it reads: "When I was a child I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways behind me." Sometimes, when I think about Forest, it makes me wonder... Have I really? Have I put childish ways "behind me"?... as an adult?
It seems that God, in His infinite wisdom, has always provided Forest Greens who periodically move in and out of my life... those "Ragamuffins" of society who somehow always show up unexpectedly and inconveniently in all their scruffiness and unlikeableness. Jesus was constantly criticized by the religious leaders of His time for not only hanging out with, but embracing the poor, the downtrodden, the lepers, the dregs of "society". When I read the Gospels I can't help but be taken by the fact that God loves ragamuffins. As a follower of Jesus (yes, I try)... I'm embarassed to admit that I, more often than not, still yearn to "cling to my childish ways". I still want to run the other direction when I see someone "different" than the person I think I am. ("I THINK I am") being the key phrase. God help me.... to see the worth in every human being created in YOUR image!... Help me "grow up" and put away the foolishness of childhood. Father, forgive me....Forest...forgive me. For not being there for you when you desperately needed a kind word...when all you wanted was someone to care... just another little kid who would play catch with you or sit down and share his lunch with you. When you needed...a friend.
I know,... I know... It was years ago. I was just a child back then. But now,...now... I have no excuse.
Color rolling ocean waves and summer leaves....
This is the beginning lyric of a song I wrote called, "CRAYONS"....
You can hear the entire song at: http://songramp.com/Flyingsheep
I think Freud was onto something when he talked about how the mind sometimes works "subliminally".
I was probably somewhere between 8 and 10 years old (5th or 6th grade?)... When sometime mid-year a new kid showed up in school one day. His name was Forest Green... (and, no, I'm not making this up). Forest Green was a lot different than the rest of us classmates. He seemed to wear the same clothes every day to school, he was unkempt and quiet... pretty much kept to himself. Also, at our school we had "hot lunches". Back then I believe it cost 50 cents a day if you wanted to eat a cafeteria lunch. I think most of us kids did...except for Forest. He brought his lunch in a paper sack (I think it was the same papter sack every day)... One day I just happened to notice that all he had in his sack was a bologna sandwich...maybe it was peanut butter...the exact memory fails me. All I know is that, in my world, at that time, Forest Green was very "different" than me. I do know that I (and the rest of the class) pretty much left him to himself. We probably made fun of him and teased him... the way kids are prone to do when they encounter someone quite unlike themselves. Forest was only in our midst for a short time...probably a few weeks at the most. One day I came to school and he was simply "gone". Looking back I imagine that his family was poor and transient and the father (if there was one in the home) probably lost a job and they had to move on.
Sometimes, even now, a half-century later, I find myself wondering what ever happened to that young boy who moved in and out of my life like a wisp of smoke. Did he ever escape the cycle of poverty? Did he end up in a juvenile facility? Prison? ... Did he ever find love? ... get married?... Does he have kids?... Is he even still alive?
In First Corinthians 13, the "Love" Chapter, it reads: "When I was a child I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man I put childish ways behind me." Sometimes, when I think about Forest, it makes me wonder... Have I really? Have I put childish ways "behind me"?... as an adult?
It seems that God, in His infinite wisdom, has always provided Forest Greens who periodically move in and out of my life... those "Ragamuffins" of society who somehow always show up unexpectedly and inconveniently in all their scruffiness and unlikeableness. Jesus was constantly criticized by the religious leaders of His time for not only hanging out with, but embracing the poor, the downtrodden, the lepers, the dregs of "society". When I read the Gospels I can't help but be taken by the fact that God loves ragamuffins. As a follower of Jesus (yes, I try)... I'm embarassed to admit that I, more often than not, still yearn to "cling to my childish ways". I still want to run the other direction when I see someone "different" than the person I think I am. ("I THINK I am") being the key phrase. God help me.... to see the worth in every human being created in YOUR image!... Help me "grow up" and put away the foolishness of childhood. Father, forgive me....Forest...forgive me. For not being there for you when you desperately needed a kind word...when all you wanted was someone to care... just another little kid who would play catch with you or sit down and share his lunch with you. When you needed...a friend.
I know,... I know... It was years ago. I was just a child back then. But now,...now... I have no excuse.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
12 Steps... the Music CD
During the two years that I was pursuing a degree in Addiction Counseling I did my practicum at Mainstream, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. As a songwriter I often was taken by some of the things discussed in group counseling sessions. Often it inspired me to write a song about a particular subject and then I would sing it for the guys at the center. Most of the time I would have great feedback on the song and even had requests for me to put it on a CD or, at least, make them a copy of the lyrics. It was during these two years that I sat in my little basement recording studio and put together the CD, "12 Steps And a Winding Road"... 15 songs of hope and healing for those in recovery. I wrote or co-wrote half of the songs and culled the other songs from some of my favorite songwriters who I felt had written a song which would tie-in to the message of hope. The CD was completed in 2009 and I now have copies available. While I would love to just give them away (and sometimes that happens), I also would like to recoup my financial investment in the recording, paying other musicians, the extensive artwork (full color booklet with lyrics) and the CD productions costs. If you are interested in purchasing a CD they are available for $15 (shipping and handling included) by sending to: Bob Jenkins, P.O. Box 671, Shawnee Mission, Kansas 66201. You can hear some of the songs at: http://songramp.com/Flyingsheep
Also I would love any opportunities to share my time and talent with any groups, organizations or churches that might be interested. email me at: coloringmoses@yahoo.com
I've enjoyed the journey so far and am looking forward to carrying the message of hope and healing to the hurting and suffering, wherever they may be and wherever the road may lead. God Bless
Also I would love any opportunities to share my time and talent with any groups, organizations or churches that might be interested. email me at: coloringmoses@yahoo.com
I've enjoyed the journey so far and am looking forward to carrying the message of hope and healing to the hurting and suffering, wherever they may be and wherever the road may lead. God Bless
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