COUNTRY NOTES

• Mon. Oct. 27-- SHELLY PEIKEN is our Special Guest! (Shelly wrote or co-wrote "Almost Doesn't Count" for Brandy, "Bitch" for Meredith Brooks, "What A Girl Wants" for Christina Aguilera, plus songs for Michelle Branch, Keith Urban, LeAnn Rimes, many more.) 7-9:45p, Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Bl, Art Room #1. FREE to NSAI members, others $10: MEMBERSHIP WILL BE ENFORCED. Shelly will play her songs, talk about her ongoing career, how it all got started, answer all your questions. http://www.sethjackson.net  (AS TIME PERMITS, she may critique/review some of our songs, but no promises on that part.) (SPECIAL ADVANCE THANKS TO VOLUNTEER KURT STECKER for providing some keys and sound for this event!)Mon. Nov. 24-- Group Song Critiques, Plummer Park, 7-9:30p, 7377 Santa Monica Bl, "Art Room #4", West Hollywood.  Bring a tune-in-progress, play guitar or CD, lyric copies. NSAI Members free, visitors pay $10 after two free look-see visits.  Host Seth Jackson.
• Thurs. Nov. 13-- NSAI Showcase at Hallenbecks, 5510 Cahuenga, NoHo, 7:30-10p, free to ALL!! Special "themed" showcase "WRITERS IN REMISSION" hosted by Rex Poindexter, featuring writers who have first-hand (or second-hand) experience with cancer and other life-threats.  The lineup: Jeff Saxon, Charity Chapman, K.A. Parker, Laura Cohn (with Rosie Hitler), Judy Lamppu, Phil Kimbrough, Jerry Loggins, Cheryl Aranda, Craig & Jane Lackey.
• Monday, Nov. 24 - Group Song Evaluations.  Bring a song to be played live, on CD, or cassette and 15 copies of your lyric sheet.  7-9:30pm at Plummer Park "Art Room 1", 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood.
  
• Sat. Dec. 6-- DEAN DILLON is our Guest from Nashville for an all-day workshop, 10a-4p, at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Bl, "Art Room #2", West Hollywood.  Dean's written MORE THAN A DOZEN #1 HITS, for George Strait, Brooks & Dunn, Kenny Chesney, Pam Tillis, George Jones, Steve Wariner, and more.  He'll tell us how he does it, answer your questions, play us his hits, and even gently critique YOUR best song.  $30 NSAI members/ $40 non-members.  Reserve your spot TODAY by sending your check, payable to "NSAI", to Rex Poindexter, 7985 Santa Monica, #517, West Hollywood, CA 90046.
• Thurs. Dec. 11-- NSAI SHOWCASE at Hallenbecks, hosted by Seth Jackson, free, 7:30-10p.  Announced lineup so far: JOHN MC EUEN, Alan O'Day, Steve Fisher, more announcements coming.
• Sun. Dec. 14-- HOLIDAY PARTY, 3-7p, home of Seth Jackson: 2540 Cumberland Rd, San Marino 91108. "Kid friendly". CALL EARLY for directions, plan on some potluck (* Bring something!!), some guitar-passing and sangin', some haa-haas and hee-hees.

BRIAN JOSEPH: I have a new cd out, produced by legendary songwriter Wendy Waldman, called "King of Echo Park" and you can find it in the regular

places. I'm having a GOOD year for contests. I won the New Folks showcase at the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest in August, got second at the Telluride

Troubador competition, and just last night, I won the semi-final of the Acoustic Live competition here in L.A. the finals are November 9th at the

Westwood Brew Company.  My current tour schedule is always at my web site (http://brianjosephmusic.com)

MARK LUNA: No big announcements at the moment.    However, I do have a couple of upcoming shows and am in the studio working on new material....

1.    GENGHIS COHEN on Thursday, Nov. 6th @ 9:30pm

2.    COLD SPRING TAVERN (in Santa Barbara) on Saturday, Nov. 8th @ 8pm

See www.markluna.net <http://www.markluna.net>  for details.

JIMMY MUFFIN: For the past month I've had a song ("That Wall's Too High To Climb" co-written with Julie Zeitlin) on HOLD with Kellie Coffey and it's still on HOLD.  Thanks NSAI.  Go Yankees !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HARRIET SCHOCK: With Geoff Levin, I wrote the theme song for "Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks,"  a new PBS series and it's a wonderful show, airingin the U.S., Australia, Canada, France, Sweden and Ireland. As you may have guessed by its name, it's a children's show. But a lot of grownup children are watching it too. Mel Brooks plays one of the sheep and it's hilarious, set in Ireland and animated and produced by Mike Young

Productions and Entara. In L.A., it comes on weekly at 8AM Sunday, so I've only seen it once. Check your local listings. http://www.harrietschock.com

MAIA SHARP:  The CD I wrote and recorded with Art Garfunkel and Buddy Mondlock called "Everything Waits To Be Noticed" released in 2002 now has extended life.  They will be sold in the lobby at Simon and Garfunkel shows on their reunion tour that starts this month.  I start recording my next

solo record November 3rd with producer, Brad Jones in Nashville.  We're shooting for a Spring 2004 release on Concord Records.

SCOTT & MELANIE BOMAR:  Back in June Scott signed an exclusive publishing deal with Sony Music in Nashville. In addition, Sony has contracted with an independent company called Larga Vista Music (owned by hit writer Steve Seskin - www.stevesekin.com) <http://www.steveseskin.com> to help pitch Scott's songs.  There's a great team of folks at work here, so thanks to Mike Whelan (Sony), Steve Seskin and Stephanie Cox (Larga Vista) for making one of the "Bomar" dreams a reality! Also, Scott & Melanie Bomar Debut Their Full Electric Band on November 15: Melanie is putting down the guitar to play drums (her primary instrument) and Carlos Gonzalez, Chuck Lee Bramlet (www.chuckleebramlet <http://www.chuckleebramlet.com> ) and Phil Sheeran (www.philsheeran.com <http://www.philsheeran.com> ) will round out the five piece group.  It all starts at 8:15 pm at Molly Malone's (575 S. Fairfax). The cover charge is only $5.  This is sure to be a surprise-filled night not to miss!  Watch for details and updates at www.bomarmusic.com

<http://www.bomarmusic.com> .

MARTY AXELROD:   Will be hosting the November 6 edition of WESTERN BEAT at Highland Grounds. His guests include Phil Van Tee, Corrinne May, Nick Kirgo, Brad Parker and more.  Open mic at 7, show begins at 8.

STEVEN MC CLINTOCK: I have two songs I cowrote in the HBO film playing 12 times in October called A LITTLE INSIDE.  One song LOOK AT ME NOW was cowritten with Steve Mandile and the other was co written with Matt and Gunner Nelson.   I have a song performed and cowritten by Matt and Gunner Nelson and Victoria Shaw on a cool oldies PBS special to air in November ...the song is called JUST ONCE MORE.  I just produced a rock pop band called Spiral/Spiral Jimmy's out of Nashville that is really getting some great success.   This week they are filming and recording for the eastern Sub chain called JIMMY JOHNS in Chicago.   My publishing company McJames Music Inc. is signing with Royalty Networks and Steve Weber for North and South American Collection starting in January 2004.  I also produced my wife's first single called WHO KNEW due for Canadian release in February 2004 AND my wife Cathy-Anne McClintock and I just had our second child...a wonderful little baby boy named Jesse Christopher-Paris McClintock. www.stevenmcclintock.com <http://www.stevenmcclintock.com/>

SEVERIN BROWNE:  I am presenting a 'Song Starting' Workshop, November 15, 1pm to 5pm, $40.   First and foremost, this workshop will be about having fun while we write!  At the beginning there will be a song circle where each songwriter may share a song that he or she has written.  And at the end of the class, each student may play the song that he or she has worked on, but it is not required. Location of the workshop will be Severin Browne¹s home

in Northeast L.A.  Directions given at time of registration.  Email Severin@severinbrowne.com or call 323-258-5044 for registration and information.

CHARITY CHAPMAN:  Charity Chapman Wins KZLA Singing Competition! Every week, for three months, KZLA 93.9 conducted a singing competition on the Brian Douglas show. Participants phoned in their song each week and the winner was invited to do a live performance in studio the

following week. In October, eleven finalists (the winners from each week) squared off in a final singing showdown, to be judged by the

public ala American Idol. On Thursday, October 9th Douglas announced that Charity had won and would get to open at KZLA's Country Bash at

the Verizon Amphitheater (Irvine Meadows). She opened for Ryan Tyler and Ashley Gearing on the second stage with her original song, "Baby Blue" - a

song which veteran songwriter Michael Anderson (Maybe it was Memphis) says will someday be a "monster hit!" She got to meet all the KZLA DJs and,

perhaps more importantly, the Program Director.  Send YOUR Congrats to Charity at: charitychapman@sbcglobal.net

Song Camps slated for 2004

NSAI/Nashville will be hosting the following Song Camps in 2004:

Song Camp 101: Feb. 29 - Mar. 2, 2004

Song Camp 201: May 16-18, 2004

Song Camp 102: Aug. 1-3, 2004

Song Camp 301: Oct. 17-19, 2004

For more, see Song Camps

<http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com/news.ez?viewLink=41>

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NSAI/CMT SONG CONTEST DEADLINES NEAR!!!

Early entries save $5 and get raffle chances: enter by Sept. 30. Later entries all due by Nov. 29. LAST YEAR'S GRAND WINNER got 3-day trip to Nashville, appearance on CMT, and has now SIGNED a publishing contract with DREAMWORKS!  The L.A. area hadfour runner-ups in the contest, will you be this year's winner?
ENTER NOW, at http://www.nashvillesongwriters.com