The contest is over, the scores are being tallied. Shortly, the final songs will go out to the Grand Prize judges, who will decide who gets to cash the big $1,000 check. I hope that it will be a member of the LASC, but the odds are that it won't be – more non-members entered than members, by quite a lot.
It's been moving in that direction tor the last few years. It seems that once a songwriter enters a song in a contest, he/she never tries that song again —with a notable exception. Louis Cate, an LASC member from Virginia, has entered and re-entered his songs. He has quite a few good ones and he has certainly collected his share of winnings over the last three or tour years.
It has also seemed to me that it a writer has a real good song he/she believes in, he/she would send it into battle again. But what do I know? All l do is listen to most the entries over the year, so many, in fact, that I have taken to saying that I can recognize a poorly written or trite song a lot faster than I used to be able to. It doesn't mean that I can recognize a great song when I hear one, but my chances are better.
At any rate, this contest is done, except for giving away the money. And next year is another year.
Other songwriting items of note: the Austin Songwriters Association had someone call to see if we would plug their contest, so here 'tis — a bit late, but better, etc. Cash prizes are $400, $200 and $100 in tive categories, including country, pop, rock, blues/rap/reggae/ jazz and singer/songwriter. The deadline is November3. Call 512-338-1200 for an entry form and information. As soon as we get this issue out, I've got a Texas song I'm going to enter.
All you folks should come out to the LASC Songwriter Showcase, set for Thursday, November 2. Showtime is 8:30 p.m. and the line-up is Ralph Sidway, Jeff Poole and Dwight Smith. Ralph has played the show before and will have at least one accompanist. Jeff Poole has never played the show, but he has been in the guitar-picking sessions that we tried out — in fact, they were his idea. Dwight Smith, a school teacher from Independence, Ky., also played at one of the song swaps and had everybody chuckling with his tune "Bungee–Jumping Luther." "Luther" is a finalist in the contest, by the way.
We'll be having a general membership meeting on or about the middle of December. Look for a letter from the Board.