SDC OmniMedia Group Magazine

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USA SONGWRITING COMPETITION
http://www.songwriting.net

9/25/06
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*** IAMA (International Acoustic Music Awards) ACCEPTING ENTRIES

The 3rd Annual IAMA (International Acoustic Music Awards) is now accepting
entries. IAMA promotes excellence in Acoustic Music Performance and Artistry.
Acoustic artists in various genres can gain exciting radio and web exposure
through this competition. Participating sponsors include New Music Weekly,
Loggins Promotion, Airplay Only, Broadjam, Acoustic Cafe Radio Show, XM
Satellite Radio, Superdups.com and Kari Estrin Management.

IAMA is open to all independent artists and labels with or without a CD release.
Unlike other music industry competitions, IAMA focuses on developing new markets
for Acoustic artists and labels. Past year’s winners include Jen Foster,
Millish, David Francey, Zane Williams, Suzanne Teng, Dave Potts, Mother Jane,
Kate & Kacey Coppola and more.

Win prizes in 8 different categories: Folk/Americana/Roots, AAA/Alternative,
Instrumental, Open, Bluegrass, Best Male Artist, Best Female Artist, Best
Group/Duo. There will also be an Overall Grand Prize winner awarded to the top
winner worth over US$10,000, which includes radio promotion to over 250 radio
stations in US and Canada. Partners include: Onlinegigs.com, Media Guide and
Artist Monitor.

Winning songs will be heard on radio! Winners and runner-ups will be featured on
our CD compilation. Also, we feature up to 10 different artists get featured and
promoted on IAMA website every month, which provides a review, ratings, CD
information and more. Enter now and get a chance to be featured on our website
and e-mail newsletter as soon as possible!

Judging is based on excellence in music performance,
songwriting/composition/song choice, Music Production and originality.

***EARLY ENTRY BONUS: First 1,000 entrants postmarked by September 30 or earlier
will receive a free 6-month Broadjam membership worth $25.00. The membership
gives users access to Broadjam’s basic feature package. Members get an
Artist Profile section to promote their songs, photos, videos, albums, bio, sell
there downloads, and more. Other features like classified ads and the transmit
tool are also included.

Ways to enter:

*For the regular entry form, please go to:
http://www.inacoustic.com/entryform.html

*Enter online with your MP3 files (Powered by Broadjam.com):
http://www.broadjam.com/submissions/details/index.asp?contest_id=116

===[ Sponsored in part by IBANEZ Guitars ]========================
Ibanez Acoustic Guitars… Diversity in Size, Sound, and Style. Ibanez has
over 75 different acoustic guitar models in 12 very different body shapes to
help you FIND YOUR VOICE. http://www.ibanez.com/acoustics/
==================================================================

*** Rate the Songs Submitted to IAMA
This year IAMA is accepting online submissions via Broadjam.com. Also, entrants
submitting online get a chance to rate songs submitted on IAMA, using
Broadjam’s contest peer review mechanism. Such companies as Peavey and
Yamaha/Steinberg have used this unique and proven system. The Broadjam contest
peer review allows contestants to rate the music submitted to the IAMAs
anonymously and at the same time listen to what has been submitted.

Also, A Peer Review Prize worth $200.00 will be given to the entrants with the
top peer review.

How to Rate the Songs on IAMA (How Peer Review it works)
Three anonymous songs are presented in random order to the contestant. After
the contestant has listened to the three songs, they must select only one of the
ratings (good, better, best) per song or the review is not accepted. The
contestant submits their vote and three more anonymous songs are presented. At
the end of the contest, only the judges are presented with the overall scores of
the peer review votes. You must submit your song online through Broadjam in
order to rate the songs of other entrants.

*** IAMA (International Acoustic Music Awards) Featured Artists Spotlight

Featured Artists of the Month are:

~ Danan Healy
~ Eric Roberts
~ Alice Bierhorst

For more details of the artists, please visit:
http://www.inacoustic.com/artists2.html

*** IAMA Artists on Acoustic Cafe Radio Show
David Francey (Best Male Artist - 1st Prize) and Victoria Vox (Open - Runner-up)
will be featured in the first week of October on Acoustic Cafe radio show. For
the radio station in your area, please see:
http://www.acafe.com/stations.html

===[Sponsored in part by New Music Weekly]======================
NEW MUSIC WEEKLY covers the radio and music industry within its
weekly magazine, website, NMW-mail and fax services. NMW, built
by radio stations who “break” the hits first, has become the
standard for tracking radio airplay nationwide. For information
visit: www.newmusicweekly.com or call 310-325-9997

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** COMPILATION CD [sponsored by WWW.SUPERDUPS.COM]
“NEW MUSIC NOW Vol 3″ - THE USA SONGWRITING COMPETITION COMPILATION CD sponsored
by SUPERDUPS.COM. USA Songwriting Competition’s CD Compilation is out. It
includes the top winners such as Patrice Pike and more.
http://www.cafepress.com/usasong

** COOL MERCHANDISE
You can now purchase our cool USA Songwriting Competition T-shirts, Hats & other
stuff online:
http://www.cafepress.com/usasong

===[Sponsored in part by Loggins Promotion]=================
LOGGINS PROMOTION is the leading radio promotion and marketing
firm providing services to all genres of music. We operate at
the highest level of efficiency and integrity, so that you
receive maximum promotion, exposure, and attention. For further
info: 888-325-2901 or email: promo@logginspromotion.com
www.logginspromotion.com
==================================================================

MUSIC CONFERENCES, FESTIVALS & WORKSHOP PARTNERS

*Atlantis Music Conference: October 4-7, 2006 Atlanta, GA
http://www.atlantismusic.com

Paul Reisler¹s Songcamps 2007
June 19-24, 6 day Blue Ridge Songwriters Retreat € Charlottesville, VA
www.songcamps.com

July 27- August 1, Hollyhock Songwriting Workshop€ Cortes Island, BC
www.hollyhock.bc.ca

August 13-16, Rocky Mtn. Folks Song School € Lyons, CO
www.bluegrass.com

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The American Association of Independent Music (A2IM) represents a
broad coalition of music labels to promote sector opportunity and
enhance the market share of it’s combined membership.
http://www.a2im.org

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*RADIO STATIONS THAT WILL PLAY YOUR MATERIAL:
XM Radio - XMU/The R.A.D.A.R. Report, airing Thursday 9pm USA eastern time
http://www.radiounsigned.com

Craig’s Music - the radio voice of independent music
http://www.craigsmusic.net
This show’s broadcast is on 1550 KYCY-AM San Francisco as well as anywhere in
the world on the internet.

WTLC Radio
Box 20205, Springfield, IL 62708
PH: 217-306-2592 FX: 217-585-1534
Don Hunt don@wtlcradio.com
www.wtlcradio.com
We only play Christian indie music and programs. We are looking for Christian
indie artists to submit completed works for consideration of airplay.

Unsigned Underground
230 S. Main St., Newtown, CT 06470
PH: 203-426-2030 FX: 203-426-2036
Darryl Gregory info@unsignedunderground.net
www.unsignedunderground.net
This show is broadcast on WVOF 88.5 Fairfield University, Weds. 4PM to 6PM EST
and a Podcast that features independent CDs and interviews with artists. Great
free exposure!

WCH Radio
GW Carver House, 3035 Bell Ave. St. Louis, MO 63106
PH: 314-718-7143 FX: 270-682-9474
John ODay wchradio1@lycos.com
www.wchradio.com
Features independent artists, both signed and unsigned from around the world.
WCH Radio is sister station to The Wave, and is part of the Next Step Promotions
Group. Our website is rich in content relative to the music industry.

KRCK-FM 97.7
73-733 Fred Waring Dr. #201, Palm Desert, CA 92260
PH: 760-341-0123 FX: 760-341-7455
The Big KC kc@krck.com
http://www.krck.com
KRCK supports local talent and encourages independent artists. Rock &
Alternative format.

WRHO FM
Hartwick College, 1 Hartwick Dr. Oneonta, NY, 13820O
PH: 607-431-4555 FX: 607-431-4064
Alex Cameron wrho@hartwick.edu
http://users.hartwick.edu/wrho
Please send us your promo CDs. We play all genres of music, however we tend to
lack in the Folk/Country/Jazz/Blues/ Classical/Spoken Word genres - so more of
those genres would be greatly appreciated!

WGRX FM
4414 Lafayette Blvd. Ste #100, Fredericksburg, VA 22408
PH: 540-891-9696 FX: 540-891-1656
Stephanie Taylor staylor@thunder1045.com
http://www.thunder1045.com
A mainstream Country station that mixes in Americana and Southern Rock. We air a
two hour Americana/Bluegrass/Texas Country show on Sunday nights that
incorporates independent artists.

M3 Radio
Attn: Tony-O/Music Dir.
259 West 30th Street
12th Floor
NYC, NY 10001
www.M3Radio.com
We’re an Indie friendly radio station with a worldwide audience! Feel free to
tell your readers to send us CDs (for legal liability reasons we do not program
downloads). If they’re not sure their music may be right for us then they may
need to do a bit of homework and listen to our station (it’s free!!!!!) at:
http://www.M3Radio.com (and why not sign the guest book when you drop by?).

*The list of radio stations are brought to you by INDIE BIBLE. You can find the
Indie Bible in these stores: Borders Books & Music, Barnes & Noble, Sam Ash,
Virgin Records, Tower Records and Mars Music. All USA Songwriting Competition
subscribers can get the $5 discounted Indie Bible. Go to:
http://www.indiebible.com/usasong

===[ REFER A MUSICIAN FRIEND TO US ]==============================
Tell a musician or songwriter to sign up for this FREE informative
e-mail newsletter of USA Songwriting Competition with chock full
of opportunities for the musician or songwriter, please e-mail
them on where to sign-up:
http://www.songwriting.net/join.html
==================================================================

PAST WINNERS & FINALISTS’ UPDATES
*Patrice Pike (2004 USA Songwriting Competition Overall Grand Prize Winner) was
on the TV series: RockStar Supernova and watched by millions all over the world.
She finished within the Top 7 and had performed on the TV program for over 1 1/2
months. Congratulations Patrice!

*Aruna (2004 USA Songwriting Competition 1st Prize - Pop) had her song “I’ve Got
Nerve” hit Radio Disney Top 30 Countdown at #1 on the week of September 1, 2006.

*Jen Foster [2005 USA Songwriting Competition First Prize - Gospel and Grand
Prize - IAMA (International Acoustic Music Awards)], appeared on Sirius
Satellite radio and has her song “Taking Bob Dylan” (IAMA wining entry) and
“Saturn” on heavy rotation on Sirius.

*Beth Thornley (2005 & 2003 USA Songwriting Competition finalist) was featured
in the latest issue of Electronic Musician magazine.

*Rachael Sage (1999 USA Songwriting Competition Honorable Mention Winner) was
featured in Performing Songwriter magazine’s “Top 12 DIY Picks”.

~Were you a past winner or finalist of the USA Songwriting Competition and have
some interesting news on yourself? If so, please e-mail us at:
info@songwriting.net

MUSIC RESOURCES
*MusicGorilla.com - places your music directly onto pages we’ve built for Major
Labels, Indie Labels and Film Studios. We get your music heard. Our artists get
access to free submissions for film, tv and video games, they are eligible for
free live label showcases and more. We don’t take any piece of any deals made on
our site, and have had many successes including placement, songwriting and
publishing deals.
http://www.MusicGorilla.com

*AirplayOnly.com - available to Program Directors, Music Directors, Syndicate
Radio, and Internet radio. Radio airplay is tracking using the STS technology.
AirplayOnly is the music industry’s answer for fast, secure music
delivery, enabling registered industry professionals, records labels,
artist/bands to get their promotional music directly to radio as broadcast
quality digital files. Airplay Only is a complimentary service to radio stations
from a trusted name in radio airplay tracking…STS
http://AirplayOnly.com

*Songwriters Series - Songwriters Series live on streaming video
http://www.songwritersseries.com

*Artistopia.com - Professional presentation of the music artist to the music
industry, with comprehensive profile building tools, artist development and
community, with fantastic resources and services.
http://www.artistopia.com

*IndieRhythm.com - Get more CD and download sales with IndieRhythm.com! We’re
offering the lowest listing fees, and even including free digital download
setups with all listings. You can even have your music Featured on our homepage
for 3 months.
http://www.IndieRhythm.com

*The Music Broker - We pitch unsigned talent to Record Companies, Music
Publishers and Film/TV studios. We represent only the best songwriters/artists
we can find, wherever they are in the world and whatever style of music they
write. http://www.TheMusicBroker.net

*songwriters Series TV - Voted in the TOP 10 “BEST OF AUSTIN” Television Series
by the Austin Chronicle for the second year in a row. Past winner Rachael Sage
was featured in their TV show.
http://www.songwritersseries.com

*Songbridge - Bringing artists and songs together
http://www.thesongbridge.com/

*musictalkssessions.com
http://www.musictalkssessions.com

*Australian Country Music Listeners Association
http://www.acmla.com.au

*New Music Weekly
http://www.newmusicweekly.com

*Loggins Radio Promotion
http://www.logginspromotion.com

*Mediaguide - proprietary technology monitors nearly 2,500 US radio stations 24
hours/day, 7 days/week
http://www.artistmonitor.com

*Hal Leonard
http://www.halleonard.com

*Ibanez
http://www.ibanez.com

*Sony
http://www.sonystyle.com

*Livewire Contacts
http://www.livewiremusician.com

*IK Multimedia
http://www.ikmultimedia.com

*Onlinegigs - Onlinegigs Version 4 fully automates the booking and promotional
process for bands, booking agents, record companies and music managers.
Onlinegigs will do it all for you, from finding the right venue to automatically
reminding your fans about upcoming performances right on their cell phones.
http://www.onlinegigs.com

*Kari Estrin Management - coaching artists through her Career Assessment System
http://www.kariestrin.com

===[ To Advertise ]===============================================
To advertise in the newsletter, please e-mail: ira@songwriting.net
==================================================================

Have a great week!

….Jessica Brandon, Artist Relations ~~

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Press Release

7 Year established service releases new development site.

Casting Directors and Talent Agents, sign up for a free account to post
your links and calls.

If you are a beginner or old hand freelance actor the rules are the
same. Homework, research, networking, and asking around are the daily
chore to keep yourself in work. It’s the grunt work that stars have
their business managers have their secretaries have their office
managers have their assistants have their interns do. Research and
posting..

Surfing casting sites and notice boards for gigs, posting your head
shots and resume, signing up to mailing lists, reading the trade
gossip, networking on discussion forums, posting your link in
directories, snail mailing your press pack and photos to casting
directors and talent agents. Yes it is a lot of hours at the computer,
but it gives you a whole lot of information about the industry that you
didn’t know you needed to know.

You can find so much useful stuff along the way; what agencies and
companies post a lot of calls, what folks think of working on a
particular production, what productions are coming up, where to get
yourself TV exposure, actor discounts on head shots and shows and other
services, new agencies and sites, and actor support groups and
associations in your location. For Show Biz Parents and female
performers this research is very important to make sure your or your
child is in safe hands and you are getting the right advice. The right
resources and the right advice is important for every freelance actor,
but it is usually dependent on individual resources suited to the
individual freelance actor.

Just researching where all the resources are and which out of them suits
you can take years if you have to find them all yourself. Gigslist.org
has just released a private portal for actors with over 250 sites,
mailing lists and discussion groups with hundreds of acting jobs,
casting directors, local groups in the USA, and listings for Canada,
UK, and Australia. The perfect career and casting tool for actor,
talent agent, and casting director. Released for 2007 and online so it
can be continually updated and you can add your own links.
http://www.gigslist.org It is priced at $19.95, and I believe that
compared to the time it would take to compile a list like that
yourself, it is a pretty great investment.

Gigslist.org has been developing arts industry resources on different
sites since 2001 and recently redeveloped and is updating it’s home
site using it’s 7 years of research and development experience. The
directory is the first of it’s new breed developments. “It gives
freelance actors access to hundreds of free resources and the tools to
compare those to paid resources and discuss them with other actors on
different boards.” Deborah Paulino, author of Gigslist.org

Keep your bookmark on Gigslist.org as a little bird has heard that other
resources other entertainment industries are on the Gigslist.org
production slate.

Cheers

gigslist.org | Post Mail 1621 Haight St. PMB 9, San Francisco,
California, 94117, USACalifornia, 94117, USACalifornia, 94117, USACalifornia, 94117, USA

Well, it’s about time that the Baby Boomers reclaim the recording business.  It has been awhile since we have captured the turntables of many good music listeners.  D-Town’s jumb back into the music business in early 2005 with the release of seven CD’s of Linda Lou Kestin.  KDTN Radio One Network uploaded and began playing “Spirit On The Water” by the early morning shows’ run.  Also added to the playlist was the Dixie Chicks “Not Ready To Make Nice”, Bernadette Bascom’s “Sweet Thang” from 1986 and Debbie Clinton’s “There Was A Time” from Platinum Sound in 1980 .

While Bob Dylan has been touring regularly for the past few years, and his archives continue to be steadily emptied, Columbia’s August 29 release of Modern Times will be his first new studio album since 2001’s Love And Theft.  Modern Times was recorded with Dylan’s touring band, who are comprised of drummer George G. Receli, bassist Tony Garnier, multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron and guitarists Stu Kimball and Denny Freeman. Dylan sings and plays guitar, harmonica and keyboards on his 44th LP.The album features 10 tracks, four of them that pass the six-minute mark. “Spirit On The Water” hits almost eight minutes, while “Ain’t Talkin’” is nearly nine. 

The album can also be purchased as a special edition that includes a bonus DVD featuring four additional songs. There are no details about them at this point.  Dylan will embark on his third tour of American minor league baseball stadiums in August and  September in support of Modern Times. Guests expected to join him include Junior Brown, Elana James & The Continental Two, Jimmie Vaughan and Lou Ann Barton. The Times They Are A-Changin’, a production by director and choreographer Twyla Tharp that combines Dylan songs and dancing, will open on Broadway on October 26 at New York City’s  Brooks Atkinson Theatre.  A Dylan tribute charity concert will be held on November 9 at New York City’s Avery Fisher Hall. Patti Smith, Phil Lesh, Cat Power, Philip Glass, Natalie Merchant, the Black Crowes’  Chris and Rich Robinson, Rosanne Cash, Sonic Youth’s Lee Ranaldo, Medeski Martin & Wood,  Gov’t Mule, and Al Kooper And The Funky Faculty will cover Dylan tunes in support of the Music For Youth Foundation.Here are the tracks on Modern Times:

# “Thunder On The Mountain
# “Spirit On The Water”
# “Rollin’ And Tumblin’”
# “When The Deal Goes Down”
# “Someday Baby”
# “Workingman’s Blues #2″
# “Beyond The Horizon”
# “Nettie Moore”
# “The Levee’s Gonna Break”
# “Ain’t Talkin’”

 

The year was 1965, September to be exact.  My first year at
Rosamond High School.  It was going to be one tough year.  Even thought I had gone to school with the majority of these students all of my life from first grade, the atmosphere was different. While most of them returned to Rosamond High in the temporary trailers before the doors open, I elected to remain at Antelope Valley, so I guest, I was looked upon as a “traitor”.  but one thing was for sure, I could play me some football, and tear your head off.
 In our tiny little town, we did not have all of the benefits of a MacDonald’s, or the theaters that Lancaster had, and yet I would have to make the very best of it.  And so Reggie, Ricky, Lynn, Rusty and the lot of us hung out at the Foster’s Freeze. Playing football, as I did at AV High School was going to be the same.  I decided I would move from the backfield to the line as a guard, and a linebacker.  I was very good. I went out on the town to recruit a band.  The first member of the group was Terry Lambright.  He had a twelve string Rickenbacher guitar, and he could play it like the wind.  My second choice was Buddy Wampler.  He played bass.  Buddy started out well, but as time went on, I found that he had a problem with the tones.  He would not hear the notes, and we always were playing off key. After several months of this, Buddy, finally admitted he was deft in one ear, and would not here the notes at all.  I was left in a dilemma.  With nothing else to due, I had to make a choice. I decided to go over to my old friend’s house, Paul Martinkovic, and I borrowed a bass guitar from him, and had him placed stickers of the notes on the top frets of the bass.  He showed me what I needed to get started.  Here there, I would practice late in the night, using my Webor tape recorder as an amplifier, and I would play with the songs of the radio. My first song that I learned to play was by Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. “Young Girl” was what I learned to play and sing at the same time.  It was very exciting, and yet, it was very hard. When the season was over, I wanted to start in on the musical in of the business.  I first enlisted Ricky Perrine.  He was a drummer and had his very own set.  Ricky, Terry and I practiced together for over six months before we got Rollyn Zink as our singer. Merrell’s part time job was at Cliff Rohr’s’ Music Box.  Cliff had  a small recording studio in the back, and Merrell would give guitar lesson there and record demos for the local artists, placing them on a four-track cartridge. All of the local musicians would hang out there — it was the spot. Don had just finished recording his first demo at Goldstar Recording Studios.  All us guys t set back as Cliff placed the needle on the captain’s new acetate.  The song was “Who Do You Think You’re Fooling” and the old blues rendition of “Diddy Wah Diddy”. I had a chance to attend the first Hollywood Teenage Music Fair held at the Hollywood Palladium with Captain Beefheart as a “roadie”.  My group was not yet ready and I was looking for anything to do. Don Van Vliet (Captain Beefheart) would practice in his father’s garage. His father was the local Fritos-Lay distributor, and we would get free knacks from his dad during practices. So when the Magic Band played at the Hollywood Palladium, I got a chance to sing one song.  Bob Krasnow and Richard Perry where at the fair, and they immediately signed the band to  Alpert’s and Moss’ new A&M Records.   Rick Jarrard was the vice president at RCA Records.  He was producing a new group called Jefferson Airplane.  I had a couple of songs that I had recorded at my house, and Jarrad wanted to know if anything I had recorded could be used for this group. Jarrard listened to the tape, and he didn’t hear anything for the group, but he was interested in me as an artist.   Jarrard make a couple of telephone calls for me and before I knew it I was at the office of A&M Productions.  Alpert owed one more deal to RCA and Jarrard figured I was a good catch, and asked A&M to produce my first single.  My meeting with Jerry Moss and Herb Alpert was in their garage in South Hollywood.  We talked about the future and what I wanted to do.  Alpert suggested that I go back home and attempt to write all kinds of songs, but songs that would fit me and other artists.  I must have made twenty trips to that garage over the next few years. At the RCA Recording Studios they had just installed a brand new Ampex Four Track Multi-recording machine.  The first one in the country.  Multi-track recording, that was so unique for our time.  All recording was done at the same time on a full track recorder.  For once, you could cut the tracks, add various sweeting, such as strings, horns, background vocals, and then the lead vocals. Too get more tracks, you would  “ping pong” or marry the tracks together on another machine and then record them back to the four track, or you could marry two tracks together on one track, then erasing those tracks, leaving one combined track and recording on the blank tracks. This was the first time that I had experience making a record without all the band and singers and special effects were all in the same place.  When I finally got a chance to record, I was in the studio all by myself with the engineer.  Alpert was hitting the charts with The Lonely Bull, A&M’s first big selling record.  Then Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band was the next release with Diddy Wah Diddy.  Everyone believed that the flipside of the record Who Do You Think You’re Fooling was going to be the hit side.  Only KUTY and KRLA played both sides of the single in Southern California.   Diddy Wah Diddy hit the top one hundred records on Billboard Magazine’s list.  Don started living in Topanga Canyon and with their first royalties, he purchased a black Cadillac Hearst for the band. Back at the Music Box with Merrell and Don there.  The place was just packed with all of the high school kids as were listened to KUTY count down the top forty songs, and at the number five position was Merrell’s record Can We Get Along, and at the Number One position was Diddy Wah Diddy. Don started passing out free tickets for their concert at The Hollywood Bowl.  He didn’t have that many, but I got my ticket to see the Magic Band.  The promoters of the concert had a new group that was going to open for them.  This new band had not played in front of a crowd yet and they had a strange name – The Doors? Back in Rosamond Ricky, Terry and I continued to practice and practice and practice. However, back at the Music Box a couple of new groups begin to show up there.  One of the groups was from Edwards Air Force Base.  They were called The Dartells.  Their song was called Hot Pastrami  a record with very little words and a lot of heavy drums and organ.  It was very commercial and you could dance to it.  This record stalled out in Billboard’s top ten singles at number nine.  They never recorded another record. The other group was called Count Five and they were former servicemen who were stationed at Edwards also.  Count Five’s recording was entitled Psychotic Reaction.  The very first commercial Psychedelic record to every go national. Frank Zappa had left Antelope Valley College and moved to Hollywood. He returned to Lancaster a couple times a month to visit his mother and father.  Don and Frank remained friends, but they didn’t do the same kind of music anymore, not like in their former bands, the Nomads and the Omens.   Frank’s band The Mothers of Invention has just released their first album Freak Out.  There were no danceable songs on this long playing album.  It was something, you just listened too. My record did not come out until two years later.  The single sounded like a James Brown “sound-alike”.  It was just terrible.  I knew that it was just a contractual thing with A&M and RCA.  They were not listening for a hit record from me, but just to finish an obligation, and I was the way out of it.  When asked who were the players on the record, all I  could remember, was the rhythm guitarist being Glenn Campbell and Hal Blaine on the drums.   KUTY only played the record once.  They were brave.  I hated it. I just wanted the record to go away real fast, and I never ever talked about it.  But it didn’t take long for a couple of my classmates to find my record and query me about it. I was in denial.  When I received 100 copies of that record in the mail, I remember going out into the desert behind my house, and playing flying saucer with them.  Little did I know that 25 years later, I would pay $15 for just one copy of my own record just to give to my daughter. People ask, what did you do with all the money you made from those records?  It’s not hard to show them.  On a typical record deal, the artist, producer, and publisher split 1/2 cent at minimum four different ways.  I remember my deal with RCA and A&M being only an advance of $1,000 for one single.  After the repayment of studio time, publishing demos, mailings, copyright fees, etc., I was lucky if I got $200. Rosamond was getting to be something. It had two bands.  Sunny Motion which was under Lynn Henson and Purple Olive, our band.  We played from time to time for free at the Rosamond Community Park.  Our music was not quite good, nor was it bad.  We like the idea of performing our own songs, and we did. Our first paid gig was at Jayne Reynolds Park for a group of girl scouts.  The place was packed, only because we had this song called “Journey To The Center Of Your Heart” on a demo disk, and the radio station was playing it all the time.  The song was not commercially released, but we were getting a lot of mileage with it. We were going through with our regular practice at Ricky’s house, now our practice place, when Lynn showed up at the house one day.  He just kind of hung around, and then after practice, he wanted to talk to us.  He wanted to joint our group.  It really took us all by surprise, because Sunny Motion was a good group, and they were more musical and tighter as a group then we were. On a unanimous vote, Lynn was in the band.  He was the much needed punch that we needed to get the music across to the audience.  Lynn really made the different to the band. The two years went by in a flash, and I found myself graduating from high school, and going back to Lancaster this time as a freshmen at Antelope Valley College, and again, I was undecided between playing music and playing football.  I decided that I would do both. As time went on, I also found myself on the executive student council and as a co-editor on the school newspaper.  I did not realize how much power that I had at this time. I was given the real crazy projects that had failed miserably for other administrations.  My job title on the council was Director of Publicity, and later the double duty of Director of Publications. My first project was the annual Christmas Ball.  From what I had gathered, this project was the kiss of death to anyone who attempted to make it fly. First of all, the student body had no money, and was in debt to the school board to the tune of $25,000 dollars.  Our football team, which I was a member was down on its luck, and we no wins and looking at our ninth loss.   Student body card sales were less then one percent.  Help?  It did not take long to figure out I was in trouble, and I was going to sink to the bottom of well like a rock. One thing about playing in a band, you get to play.and secondly, you have a lot of friends that will support you.  The majority of all the bands in the Antelope Valley were friends, and they played gigs with each other from time to time, and used each other’s equipment.  As in our case, our brother band was Boobla, a group headed by Bobby “O” Ormsby in Palmdale.   From time to time, Bobby “O” would borrow our public address system to play a large dance at one of the high schools.  And that meant that our group members and girlfriends got in free.  After all we had the PA equipment. This was our first gig with Bobby’s group.  And we heard something that we never heard before.  Our music was very soft.  On the other hand, Bobby’s musical choices were hard and cutting.  They were playing songs that we never heard on the AM dial. And these songs were never heard by anyone on the dance floor either, but did they get a resounding approval from the crowd. After the gig, I asked Bobby where did he get these songs?  What happened, that most of our school mates fathers were in the military, and they were stationed thought out the world.  So the kids would purchase the local records and ad them to their collection bringing them back to the states.  Such friend’s name was Arnie Athos.  He was a jazz drummer, and he had a lot of records in his collection.  His father was an engineer for NASA and they traveled all over the world. I went to visit Arnie one day after school, and to my surprise, he had over 800 LPs in his bedroom.  And I mean he had everything.  He had artists that I never even heard of.  B.B. King, Lowell Fusom, Albert King, Freddie King, Etta Jones, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald and Robert Johnson. Also in his collection were new groups that were not even released here in the states, Cream, Eric Clapton and Powerhouse, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix Experience, Ten Years After and others.  I was over the Arnie’s house every night for about a month, and he let me record his albums on my Webcor recorder, and yes at the slow speed to conserve tape. We learned a lot of these new songs, and the irony of it all, was when we did these songs at our paid gigs, the people would stand around and just listen to us play them.  They were not sure if you could dance to it, or what.  Sometimes it would take the first full set to get the crowd to dancing, and by then, it was total chaos.   They crowd would not let us leave the stage. After awhile, we would just go into our own songs, and they blended right in with everything else, and you never new these groups songs from our own.  We were really hot. Back to the school dilemma of the Christmas Ball.  Well, having discovered the real English sound, and having some success with it, I started hanging out at KUTY’s radio station.  I was the Director of Publicity, and I wanted to change a couple of things. And so it started. By now, I had no money to work with, but I did have the Inter-Club Council headed up by Kathy Holodnick and others.Noting that our students were not coming to the school dances, unless it was a big local group, I was left with the task of bringing back these kids that went out into the desert to drink at their private parties and have sex orgies.  It was a task at hand. I remember going to the high schools, and taking to the executive student council members, and I assured them that if their students came to our dances, we would honor their student body cards, and they would be permitted to come to  our dances for free. Of course, our executive student council did not see the light at first, but with the help of George Kappers, we showed them how this might work. The first step was coming up sooner then I had imagined.  It was our home coming dance.  For some reason, I felt that we might win this one.  I asked the council for hot dogs, buns, sodas and hamburgers.   Over the radio waves at KUTY, I asked Captain Don Imus to impress upon the audience that  the school dance was free to all college and high school students with student body cards.   We won the game, and the place looked like a refuge camp.  In one night, I managed to make over $5,000.  To say the least, this was just the beginning of how the ball game was being played. By the beginning of the next school semester, we had surpassed our debt and were in the black to the tune of $250,000. Student body card sales had exploded at the college as well as the local high schools. Because of this great success experienced by us, our conference schools wanted to know what we did to make things work, and so begin our networking practice that carried over into the four year schools. Don Podolor was an owner of a booking agency that booked the acts that his brother Richie Podolor produced.  One of his group’s was Three Dog Night for Dunhill Records.  Yes, Don and Richie were friends of mine! After the first year at AV College, I decided that playing football was not for me, and I just wanted to work on being a journalist and writing music for anybody.