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This is a schedule for the 2012 Austin Songwriter Symposium Jan 5 – 8. Please go to www.austinsongwritersgroup.com for more info.

Thanks…. See you there!!

THURSDAY, JANUARY 5, 2011

3:00 REGISTRATION OPEN

SIGN UP FOR CONFERENCE

PICK UP SCHEDULE AND WRIST BANDS

SIGN UP FOR THE ONE ON ONE WITH THE PUBLISHER OF YOUR CHOICE

4:00 “The Art of Attending a Conference”

Paul Barker

7:00 KICK OFF PARTY

Meet and greet the instructors, staff, panelists, publishers and special guests

8:00 CONCERTS

Come and hear the instructors perform their favorite songs for you!

SONG CIRCLES WILL FOLLOW THE CONCERTS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2012

9:00 Registration

10:00 – 11:15

PUBLISHERS PANEL

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

SONGWRITING

Gary Burr & Georgia Middleman

PERFORMANCE

Jim Photoglo

11:15 – 12:30

PERFORMANCE RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS PANEL

Thomas Cain BMI

John Mullins SESAC

Jesse Willoughby ASCAP

PITCH TO PUBLISHER SESSIONS

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

CO-WRITING

Kimmie Rhodes & Sonny Throckmorton

12:30 – 1:30 LUNCH ( ON YOUR OWN)

1:30 – 2:45

TEXAS STATE OF MIND

Casey Monahan, Governor’s Office State of Texas

Rose Reyes, Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau

Nancy Coplin, Austin Bergstrom International Airport

SONG CRITIQUES

Thomas Cain, BMI

Jesse Willoughby, ASCAP

John Mullins, SESAC

Talli Giles, NSAI

ONE MAN BAND

Matthew Santos: Simple Looping Techniques and use of effects pedals to enhance your live performance.

2:45 – 4:00

PITCH TO PUBLISHER

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

BI-LINGUAL SONGWRITING

Louie Ortega

FINANCING, BRANDING & MARKETING YOUR NEXT PROJECT

Benji Rogers, Founder CEO of Pledge Music

Charlie Faye, Independent Artist

Ed Bailey, Austin City Limits

SONGWRITING

Will Sexton & Ruth Ellsworth Carter

4:00 – 5:15

PITCH TO PUBLISHER

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

TOURING PANEL

Michael Fracasso

Amanda Mora Jones

Charlie Faye

Zoe Cordes Selbin

RECORDING TECHNIQUES

Marvin Dykhuis

MENTORING SESSIONS

Talli Giles, NSAI

Jim Photoglo

Gary Burr

Georgia Middleman

Jesse Willoughby

Thomas Cain

John Mullins

Stephen Doster

5:15 to 7:00 Dinner (on your own)

7:00 – 8:00

Spend an hour with Texas Legend, Joe Ely

8:00 – 9:00

CONCERT: Matthew Santos & Jim Photoglo

9:00 – 11:00

SHOWCASES

SONG CIRCLES DIRECTLY FOLLOWING SHOWCASES

Marvin Dykhuis

Joe Manuel

Will Sexton

David Halley

SATURDAY, JANUARY 7, 2012

8:00 – 9:00

Sonny in the Morning: Coffee & War Stories with Sonny Throckmorton

9:00 – 10:15

PITCH TO PUBLISHER

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

SONGWRITING

Jim Photoglo

ALTERNATIVE TUNINGS FOR GUITAR

Gabe Rhodes

10:15 – 11:30

SONG CRITIQUES

Thomas Cain, BMI

Jesse Willoughby, ASCAP

John Mullins, SESAC

Talli Giles, NSAI

SERIOUS ABOUT MUSIC – BOOKING PERFORMANCES AND EVENTS PANEL

K T Gardner, Nancy Fly Agency

Jennifer Hargraves, Kinetic Entertainment

Jean Spivey, Old Settlers Music Festival

Zoe Cordes Selbin, Music Consultant

PRE-PRODUCTION

Marvin Dykhuis & Stephen Doster

MUSICAL HOOKS

David Halley & Joe Manuel

12:00 LUNCH ON US!!

KGSR’s Roger Allen interviews Jody Denberg

AWARDS CEREMONY

MEET THE INSTRUCTORS

2:30 – 3:45

SONGWRITING

Gary Burr & Georgia Middleman

PITCH TO PUBLISHERS

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

SOCIAL MEDIA PANEL – Interactive Communications

Doug Freeman, Austin Chronicle

Greg Roberts, AustinMusicCity.com

Paige McGuire, Austinist

Cash Edwards, Cash Edwards Music Services

RADIO TODAY PANEL – Get your song on the radio

Roger Allen, KGSR & Lone Star State Of Mind

Ted Branson, KOOP Radio

Dallas Wayne, Sirius XM Satellite

John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music & FAR

Dave Maisano, Radio Free Texas

David Cotton, Cotton Austin

3:45 – 5:00

PITCH TO PUBLISHER

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

ONE MAN BAND

Matthew Santos: Simple Looping Techniques and use of effects pedals to enhance your live performance.

A LAWYER CAN HELP: HOW MANY ROYALTY STREAMS ARE THERE ANYWAY?

Mike Tolleson, Mike Tolleson & Associates

Tiffany Walker, Haynes & Boone, LLP

PITCH TO PRESS – THE TIMING OF A CAMPAIGN

Richard Skanse, LoneStarMusic.com

Margaret Moser, The Austin Chronicle

John Conquest, 3rd Coast Music

Sandra Greaney, Country Line

David Cotton, Cotton Austin

Tim Basham, Paste Magazine

5:00 – 7:00 Break for Dinner ( on your own)

7:00 – 9:00 CONCERTS

9:00 SHOWCASES

SONG CIRCLES IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE SHOWCASES

SUNDAY MORNING, JANUARY 8, 2012

8:00

SONNY IN THE MORNING, Coffee & War Stories with Sonny Throckmorton

9:00 – 10:00

Gospel Music Jam: Hosted by Sonny Throckmorton & Thomas Cain

BRING YOUR INSTRUMENTS AND FAVORITE GOSPEL SONGS

10:00 – 11:15

PITCH TO PUBLISHERS

Bobby Rymer, The Writer’s Den

Chris Oglesby, Oglesby Writer Management

Mike Molinar, Effusion Entertainment

RECORDING TECHNIQUES

Marvin Dykhuis

SONGWRITING AND PERFORMANCE

Jim Photoglo

CO – WRITING

Georgia Middleman & Gary Burr

11:30 to 1:00

CLOSING CONCERTS

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brought to view by family members with first hand information may enlighten facts your prospective knowledge about yourself and family members never brought to the surface till someone’s truthful memory helped bring it there.

Remember the unity of truth is what we need to communicate and live, well and long and establish a lifetime of love, trust and happiness with real self worth and natural creativity that no one can deny. As you travel through these Christian based life experiences that may need some repair, prayer and understanding and forgiveness that may help you govern your own life better in this important part you have left. As you get closer to the end you will understand and see what I mean. Some of us “get it” in the very beginning and the rest are waiting for the free speech we were promised in the very beginning.

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Sunday, December 7th, 1941–Admiral Chester Nimitz was attending a concert in Washington DC. He was paged and told there was a phone call for him. When he answered the phone, it was President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the phone. He told Admiral Nimitz that he (Nimitz) would now be the Commander of the Pacific Fleet. Admiral Nimitz flew to Hawaii to assume command of the Pacific Fleet. He landed at Pearl Harbor on Christmas Eve, 1941. There was such a spirit of despair, dejection and defeat–you would have thought the Japanese had already won the war. On Christmas Day, 1941, Adm. Nimitz was given a boat tour of the destruction wrought on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Big sunken battleships and navy vessels cluttered the waters everywhere you looked.

As the tour boat returned to dock, the young helmsman of the boat asked, “Well Admiral, what do you think after seeing all this destruction?” Admiral Nimitz’s reply shocked everyone within the sound of his voice. Admiral Nimitz said, “The Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could ever make, or God was taking care of America. Which do you think it was?” Shocked and surprised, the young helmsman asked, “What do mean by saying the Japanese made the three biggest mistakes an attack force ever made?” Nimitz explained:

Mistake number one: the Japanese attacked on Sunday morning. Nine out of every ten crewmen of those ships were ashore on leave. If those same ships had been lured to sea and been sunk–we would have lost 38,000 men instead of 3,800.

Mistake number two: when the Japanese saw all those battleships lined in a row, they got so carried away sinking those battleships, they never once bombed our dry docks opposite those ships. If they had destroyed our dry docks, we would have had to tow every one of those ships to America to be repaired. As it is now, the ships are in shallow water and can be raised. One tug can pull them over to the dry docks, and we can have them repaired and at sea by the time we could have towed them to America. And I already have crews ashore anxious to man those ships.

Mistake number three: every drop of fuel in the Pacific theater of war is in top of the ground storage tanks five miles away over that hill. One attack plane could have strafed those tanks and destroyed our fuel supply. That’s why I say the Japanese made three of the biggest mistakes an attack force could make or God was taking care of America.

I’ve never forgotten what I read in that little book. It is still an inspiration as I reflect upon it. In jest, I might suggest that because Admiral Nimitz was a Texan, born and raised in Fredricksburg, Texas. He was a born optimist. But any way you look at it, Admiral Nimitz was able to see a silver lining in a situation and circumstance where everyone else saw only despair and defeatism. President Roosevelt had chosen the right man for the right job. We desperately needed a leader that could see silver linings in the midst of the clouds of dejection, despair and defeat. There is a reason that our national motto is, IN GOD WE TRUST.

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American Voices, in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is now accepting ensemble applications for the American Music Abroad 2012-2013 touring season.

To represent the full spectrum of the American musical landscape, musical ensembles from across the United States that specialize in Hip Hop, Rock & Roll, Jazz, Country, and other American roots music including but not limited to Native American, Latin, Afro-Caribbean, Blues, Bluegrass, Cajun, Gospel and Zydeco are invited to apply for this international exchange program. The American Music Abroad program offers the opportunity to conduct musical exchange tours abroad, particularly to countries not often visited by American musicians, to foster cross-cultural engagement and understanding.

January 16, 2012: Application deadline 5pm PST

January 27, 2012: Announcement of up to 40 ensembles invited to live auditions.

Mid-February, 2012: Live Auditions.

Spring/Summer 2012: Announcement of 2012-13 American Music Abroad finalists.

More information and applications for the 2012-2013 tours are available at www.exchanges.state.gov and www.americanvoices.org/ama. Musicians inquiring about applications can call 314-732-1323, email: ama@americanvoices.org or skype: americanmusicabroad

American Music Abroad engages with people across the world through music. Working in partnership, American Voices and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs will produce a series of month-long, multi-country cultural exchange programs for approximately 10 ensembles drawn from a wide variety of American musical genres.

Through public concerts, interactive performances with local musicians, lectures and workshops, the American Music Abroad program builds on Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power” diplomacy, which embraces the full range of diplomatic tools – in this case music – to bring people together and foster greater understanding.

Forwarded by

Casey Monahan, Director

Texas Music Office, Governor’s Office

P.O. Box 13246, Austin, TX 78711-3246

512.463.6666 / fax 512.463.4114

music@governor.state.tx.us

http://governor.state.tx.us/music

http://EnjoyTexasMusic.com

~You Can’t Hear American Music Without Hearing Texas~

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I think I know where she is! She is in my thoughts and in my memories and in my prayers.

A centenarian is a person who is or lives beyond the age of 100 years. Because current average life expectancies across the world are less than 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. Much rarer, a supercentenarian is a person who has lived to the age of 110 or more, something only achieved by about one in a thousand centenarians. Even rarer is a person who has lived to 115 years old; only 1 in 50,000 centenarians make it to this age

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It is axiomatic that the more beautiful a place, the more people it attracts, thereby ruining the beauty of the place. Is this the case for the Yosemite Valley in California?

Years ago while living in the San Francisco Bay area, I went camping every chance I had in the Yosemite Valley. It was a camping paradise. There were spectacular views of geological wonders including Half Dome, Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls, Bridal Veil Falls, the El Capitan granite monolith, open meadows, oak and pine trees with the Merced river flowing through the length of the valley floor.

I moved back to Texas and did not get back to Yosemite until 40 years had gone by. When I did, I was shocked! But, it was not the crowds of people. IT WAS THE TREES!

The Park Service had diligently protected the conifers from fire and disease. Pines and firs had grown to the point where spectacular views had been obscured. They had encroached on the meadows. Oak trees, which the Yosemite Indians had depended upon for acorns as a food source had been crowded out.

I thought at first that my memory was deceiving me. I asked a park ranger. He said, “No, it is true. In the past, one could ride a horse at full gallop the seven mile length of the valley and not get brushed by a tree branch”.

In fact, early photographs bear this out. A photo taken from Glacier Point in the mid 1800’s, shows the valley floor and surrounding slopes having only scattered trees. It is believed the Yosemite Indians maintained oaks for the acorn crop and burned off the conifers. It is estimated that two thirds of the meadows have been lost to conifers.

A few months after this visit, I received a letter from an environmental organization requesting a donation to help them offset the impact of the thousands of visitors to the park. I wrote back the major impact was not the visitors but the conifers overrunning the park. I suggested logging out the offending trees and the sale of the lumber would far outweigh any pittance I could contribute. Needless to say, I never heard back from them.

A couple of years have gone by and to my surprise and pleasure the National Park Service seems to agree with me! The Los Angeles Times and several web sites have come forth with the news that plans are in the works, starting in 2012, to start cutting down conifers in selected areas of the valley to once again open up the vistas that have been lost..

I recognize many will be against the cutting down of any trees. The question is, what is important. Is it a matter of maintaining a “pristine wilderness”. Is it a matter of what is the “climax vegetation” of the valley that must be achieved? Is it a matter of maintaining the appearance of the Valley as it appeared when President Lincoln declared it a national park?

“Climax vegetation” is the collection of plant types that establish themselves at any given site over a long period of time if left undisturbed. If a collection of conifer types should be considered the “climax vegetation” of the Yosemite Valley it would have been periodically destroyed by naturally occurring forest fires. If not naturally, then definitely by the Yosemite Indians. I don’t know if anyone really knows what the climax vegetation may have been before the Indians.

In any event, the dominant beauty of the valley is the geological features produced during the ice age by the glacier that carved out the valley creating the spectacular waterfalls and stone monoliths. .In this case, it is not the hoards of people that are ruining the beauty of Yosemite Vally, it is the hoards of trees that have cut off the beautiful views from the hoards of people. .

P.S. I admit the hoards of people are a problem, too, insofar as getting around in the valley because of the traffic. It is probably a good idea to go in the spring when it is warm enough for snow water to be cascading over the falls and before California schools have let out for the summer. Winter is not bad either if you don’t mind freezing and don’t care to drive to the Mariposa Grove of the giant sequoias as the road will be snowed in.

P.P.S. Merry Christmas to all the Whipples and friends.

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We borrowed money from each other on numerous occasions and I can proudly say he paid me back and I paid him back. My mother was a different situation. She required me to pay back things I did not owe which later explained that all gifts were to be hand-me-downs to my siblings. They were all paid in full anyway.

We should be able to own all goods which we acquire by our own creativity and not to expect “something for nothing.”

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We believe the weather is going to be warm enough at latitude San Pedro, longitude Hildebrand to be outside on the bandstand.

I hope others do, too but I for one have a new tune to debut and am itching to play it for you. After hearing it you may wonder if that itch may be associated with an STD. I don’t think so but I would bring ear condoms for your personal protection.

PLEASE stop in and visit and play with us, this may be the last nice weather outside meeting of the year.

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The moral of this post is, “He who looses key to girl friends roller skates gets “No new key”.

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