The Chicago Songwriters Collective September Meetup

4th Sunday Song Sharing:

We'll be continuing our work with video this month. (see below). THe topic has generated a great deal of interest.

Parking is available across the street from N Lakeside at Sacred Heart School for the very reasonable price of $3. If you need a parking pass please respond the me at [masked] I arrange to get the number we need and then you reimburse me at the meeting. Please let me know as early as you can.

We've all discussed different ways to promote our music. Some of the discussions centered on getting videos made and up on sites such as U-Tube. SO this month we'll actually start the process of making a video. This is taking a bit of a risk in stepping out of our comfort zone, but as a group we can learn from and with each other.
I will bring along a digital video camera and if someone else could bring along a second one that would be good. Let me know if you'd like to have one of your songs done. Obviously, there is a limited number of people we can shoot. We will also need to have people working different roles - camera, lighting, cue-ing music, taking notes, etc. In other words, volunteer to do something even if you won't be in front of the camera.

There is no way any of us will be walking out with a finished, usable product, but the point is to leave with more knowledge than we started with.

If this topic is of sufficient interest, I will contact Robert Alaniz, an award-winning independent filmmaker about speaking to us and giving us some invaluable information on how to get a big budget look on a small budget. Robert used a song of mine in his latest movie Bitterblue and is very open towards musicians such as us. For the Bitterblue movie, one of the other songs got a full video treatment so he also has experience in music videos. He has great insight into things we as musicians tend to not think of - lighting, scene cuts, plot development, camera angles, etc. Tremendous opportunity!

However, I will only do this if there is sufficient and committed interest. Getting someone of Robert's talent and ability is pretty rare for a group like ours. Scheduling would probably be several months out, but ultimately dependent on Robert's availability. Please respond to me directly with your interest.

Depending on how our video efforts go, we may not have time for a song circle.
Do bring along instruments or recorded tracks as this may be part of our video efforts.
Note a piano is on site.

Meeting Location - the N. Lakeside Cultural Center, 6219 N Sheridan, is an old mansion on the shores of Lake Michigan. We've all found it to be an enjoyable place to meet fellow writers and share our music with each other. Look forward to seeing you.
for the Chicago Songwriters Collective - where songwriters gather and grow,
John