JPF Home Page Forums Southeast US Chapter Message Boards Tampa Chapter Message Board What is your personal musical accomplishment this year?.

Folks,
I know its only September but the year is winding down and Im starting to reflect on 2005. My year has been very full of changes not only in my personal life but with my music. I think its important that we all get something positive out of our mutual associations even if its just listening to each others creations. Please share with us what you have derived from your chapter association.
I'll start.
This year I have decided that Im actually going to learn many more songs all the way through and start to create a repertoire.In January I got to Emcee the Lorna Bracewell CD release party and was thrilled to do it. I was fortunate enough to be asked to accompany on stage Tracy Lee at both Pro Star Studio and at "Hot Acoustic Nights"
Also have performed with Jim Mason on stage at Ricks on the River and will play a private party with him in two weeks. So I guess I have started to actually perform publically. My songwriting has not really taken off the way I would have hoped penning only one song this year "Last Call" but the performance experience has been more fulfilling than I could have imagined. I have never been the kind of songwriter who is constantly inspired but more of a promoter, but we all add our expertise where it will work. Lets hear from some of you. You never know how you might inspire someone else with your comments.
Keep Strummin' Al
www.aandrproductions.com

I have really grown personally & professionally because of JPF and the people in it.During the past year I have written more songs & higher quality songs,done some co-writing and have been a part of Horse Feather's,the backing band for JPF.My playing and perfomance skills have also greatly increased because of my association with JPF,Horse feather's,Dan Copeland,Andy Karpinski,Alex Parnes,Kathy Stafford & Jim Terry(master guitarist and steel player).Then there is Jak Kelly,Cindy & Frank LaRosa,Doc Lovett,Don Noble,Jules,Jim Mason and a few others whose flawless perfomances keep me inspired me to get better as an entertainer.Al Alvarez and his leadership & co ordinating qualities as well as his friendship.We(JPF of Tampa Bay)is a very large extended family.The love and support that is shown is incredible.I am a pretty happy human being because of all of you and who you are.Thank you for that as well as your talents.

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Jerry Jakala

Well, I finished one CD this year, have a start on the next, Have been dragged kicking and screaming out of "retirement" and have 3 more gigs booked this year! Even playing HAN FEST DEC 3rd!!!
Can't thank JPF enough for helping me get back into the thing I've always loved most.
Music!
Thanks Al, and everyone.
If I can find a new vehicle I'll see you all at next meeting.
Thanks again.

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jak kelly
http://www.jakkelly.com
swampwood1@juno.com
http://www.cafepress.com/jakkelly
http://www.soundclick.com/jakkelly

I completed three seasons of my concert series, finally have my second CD ready for distribution and air play, and will have a Christmas recording ready in November. The cameraderie and support of the Tampa JPF members sustained me through some pretty tough times, and I'm looking forward to becoming involved in JPF up here in the great north. We may just have to grow a northern Michigan chapter!

Donna

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http://donnaklein.com

I feel personally that I have been able to take my site TampaBayMusicScene.com to a new level. I am a musician and honostly Ive set my personal goals aside to better focus on promoting our scene..

I am extremely satisfied with the progression this year and If this trend continues I have all the confidence in the world that tampaBayMusicScene.com will be the best promotional site for the bay area.

Its not a one man or site deal. It takes many efforts by many musicians and organizations to make this work.

JPF is doing a great job and has really progressed over the past year or so.. As it grows we grow together..

There is so much in our scene and presenting the scene in a whole is a huge task.

Thank all the sponsors and site contributors for making the site possable..

with this being said, Im not satisfied and looking ahead to next year I think the additions of our internet radio station and a few things in the works will keep our trends on the upswing..

Thanks Al and to all the JPFers that have supported it really is appreciated ..

God Bless and keep promoting your folking butts off..

were do i start? i was featured on nubzilla in jan. bought an upright bass in march. and have joined BNAV in july. played with COLD HARBOR at the ka-tiki. and sat -in with many artits. got fired from my job in sept. and am working at home doing medical billing. have done several solo gigs. was asked to open the JAVA JUNCTION 3rd aniversary. wrote 6 new songs. started going to the BLUE GRASS STORE open jams on sats. (where i'm getting better at bluegrass.)and found the guys for my new porchband acoustic version of the TALL BOYS .(ORIGINAL MUSIC) playing afternoons on the beach.(bass)BNAV playing at both BUCS and LIGHTING games. raised over $2000.00 for hurricane katrina victims,looking forward to working with JEFF O'KELLY,re-formed THE BLIND MICE with butch and am doing car shows and private parties (4-piece ,rock-a-billy) and got a new years gig that pays me $400.00!!and it's only sept! who knows what the next 3 months will contain? great topic al. love, barn.

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www.barkinbarney.com

[This message has been edited by barkin barney (edited 09-15-2005).]

Hey Guys,
Well Al this is a great post.
So far everyone's shared some really good stuff.

Our personal experience this year (and last too) has been a very good one...this year has been very empowering to us as artists and even on the local bar band level.

Our association with the chapter has been one of great friendships and lots of support from you guys which has been such a springboard to all of our activities and those of the other artists in the group. One thing I've really enjoyed and gained some personal insight and enjoyment from is watching other members' growth as artists over the past year....watching Jak come out of retirement and get back to performing...Al, you have evolved from that guy who was first stepping up on the stage last year to a regular stage performer now! Hearing people's new material is always a very cool experience too. One of the best moments of the year for me was at the Den watching Jerry "cut loose" with Horsefeathers and DANCING (that shake was too much) during their rousing rendition of "Spray on Jeans". That was great!!

I could ramble on about our own accomplishments...of course you already know about them. There was no greater moment than the day we first tried out KaBlam on you guys to see how it flew. And fly it did!! (Chris has pitched it to Kenny Chesney's people among others who've kept the song for consideration). What else? Well...we have a well-established bar band that plays out LOTS and what great fun we have with it. It is a unit that exists for the pure joy of making music. Al and Becky have come out to support the band at Frenchy's..along with Mikey, Linda and a few other friends and what a fun night that was!! Thank you guys so much. Jak and Jerry have come out to see the band plenty of times too...you guys are wonderful.

And OF COURSE, we have bumped up the bar way high this year as originals artists and are working on taking things to the next level with the help of Chris Keaton....which IS currently in the works. Chris LOVED our show and said we "rocked his world" and he is going to be taking over interim "management" of us so to speak coaching us to get ready to showcase for some labels in Nashville - hopefully in January. (What a great birthday present for ME this year for my 17th Annual 25th Birthday! LOL) More details on that in the coming weeks.

WE cannot thank this chapter enough for the support those of you who came out to Java Junction showed on Sept. 3rd. That show basically tipped things over the edge and although there's no guarantees a label will sign us, at least we now have a very well-connected, professional and dedicated someone in our court who can and WILL get us in front of several with the hopes one of them will like what we do. (Chris has over 100 contacts in the Nashville music industry from major labels, to publishers, to journalists, songwriters, indie labels, etc. etc.) It's definitely a step up one or two rungs on the ladder in the right direction!
As always, there's no guarantees at any level you reach. Even a signed record deal does not guarantee success with the radio stations or the music purchasing public...but at this stage we're just keeping our eye on the ball and taking one step at a time with some high hopes.

Anyway, our year has been a good one with more on the way. Another indie CD...Front Row Ticket will be released before the end of the year.

Much love and many thanks to ALL of you for your friendship and for sharing your music, your talent, perspectives and just being there. Each and EVERY ONE of you is a shining star in their own special way and we've enjoyed watching you grow as artists and songwriters right beside us.

See you soon!

Cindy and Frank
NORTH 2 SOUTH

[This message has been edited by Cindy LaRosa (edited 09-15-2005).]

1) I had one of my songs, "Thinking Of You," appear as one of the 17 songs on the first compilation CD by the Muse's Muse internet based songwriters group. Muse's Muse is a sister organization to JPF and a link to them may be found on the JPF home page. They have over 14,000 members with an average age around 25, compard to 45 for JPF. Thank you Kathryn Stafford and Dan Copeland for your help in recording this song!

2) I played a number of open mics, showcases, and festivals this year, including The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville last month.

3) I have received some "10's" in some TAXI critiques for the first time, including one song that got straight "10's" and was forwarded to a major label rock band for consideration as the first single on the band's next CD.

4) I received almost unanimous positive feedback from reviewers and publishers in Nashville, with two publishers taking seven of my songs in August.

5) I was invited to play on Bill Dudley's morning show later this year when they get their studio ready to accommodate electric bands.

6) I written some great songs with some cool co-writers. Thanks, Stan and JoDell!

7) I've met a bunch more really cool people here in Tampa Bay as well as Nashville and elsewhere.

Probably some more stuff has happened this year which I'm forgetting. Too much going on!

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Stone Marmot
experimental pop-rock
www.stonemarmot.com
www.soundclick.com/stonemarmot.htm

To begin with, finding out about JPF (Thanks again Kathy) and getting off of my couch and going to the meetings. I first attended a JPF meeting this past January and haven�t missed one since.
I consider myself primarily to be a songwriter, and it can be a solitary experience up to a point, but one of the final steps in songwriting is offering it to an audience and seeing how the it grows (or withers) as a result. Whatever the response, I believe that performance is like a lathe to a song, smoothing and shaping it in ways that you can�t foresee while it remains hermetically sealed at home.
I have had the pleasure of having Dan, Andy, Alex and Kathy generously share their talents on my songs at the last meeting and have humbly attempted to do justice as a support player to JoDell, Tyler and Stan.
I am consistently impressed by the size of our musical community and the variety and quality of the performances at the meetings. Jeff O�K., Leigh, Steve, Jak, Carl, Jim, Don, Jules, James, Tom, Monty...I apologize in advance that I to anyone I�ve omitted from this list...to all I say thanks for opening my eyes to your talents and widening the scope of my musical vision.

I had to really think about this one. I took most of the last year and went to Nashville to see if I could hang with the big dogs up there. I found out that I could. I got the oppurtunity to play with some of the best and to write with some top hit writers and they didn't send me home. All in all a very good year musically. My writing has changed for the better and my playing got better due to the amount of time I was able to practice. Now back home I am now concentrating on my writing and putting together a good band to possibly go back out on the road, at least that is the goal. Getting involved in JPF was one of the best things also of this year. A great group of people with alot of good things going on. Thank you for your support and wish me luck in future endeavors.

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Bob Lever
727-278-6168
615-497-7485

Well, I finally broke out of my er.."Watching The Wheels" period and managed to get the debut solo CD("Away For The Day") out of the way.
As well as getting some International airplay(UK, Netherlands, Germany, Italy,Australia, NZ,Canada) I've been more than a little pleased by the reviews so far. Have a look here if you'd like..http://www.steverobinsonmusic.com/press1.html.
Time to get to work on the follow-up! Cheers to all, Steve Robinson

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"The Empire's slipping away..."

I seem to be having trouble posting the link to my site; I'll give it another go. In the event that I fail again, feel free to roll your eyes and help me out by getting the link from my Profile. Thanks for your patience!
http://www.steverobinsonmusic.com/press1.html

Surviving the game another year! Being able to make music on my own terms, and then performing it. The simple joy of it.

I know i'm not from the Tampa area but i post here from time to time!

Just my two cents ...

Thanks alot,
Lee
www.leetylerpost.com

Nice idea here Al. Thanks for opening it up. I'm a little reluctant to do this but, I think I need to take stock of the year for myself. I often feel like nothing is happening. But......

1. I moved to Sarasota to get out of the Key West rut.....yep, it was a rut.
2. I joined JPF and couldn't be more pleased with myself.
3. Was featured on Nubzilla
4. Was featured on EOM.com
5. Wrote about a dozen good songs and have many, many more in the works.
6. Timeline CD rec'd great reviews and one in particular, in the Weekly Planet.
7. Weekly Planet published a full-page feature story.
8. Was featured artist on WMNF's Live Music Showcase.
9. Produced a sold-out all-original music band show in Michigan, 2 encores ending in a standing ovation! Makes me want to do more of these.
10. Getting enough gigs in my new home town to pay the bills w/no "day job"......that's a biggie.
11. NYC record label has offered to set-up a nat'l distribution and marketing deal for "Timeline"....we're going back and forth at this writing.
12. Made a lot of new friends and contacts, building a whole new network.

Looking ahead:
1. Form top-notch band, rehearsed and ready to hit the road.
2. Establish tour assistance i.e. booking, possible tour financing.
3. Tour as required by the distrib. deal.
4. Establish financing through investors or other sources to fund the "Timeline" promotional budget as required by the distribution deal.
5. On my own or,with help will be setting up and promoting more shows like the one in Michigan.
6. Start recording the next CD.
7. Sell 50,000+ "Timeline" CDs. (hey, it's just as easy to think big as to think small.) This may be thinking small too. If you don't reach for the moon, how do you ever get there?
8. Keep improving honing the craft of songwriting, improving on guitar and vocal performances. Just keep getting better.

[This message has been edited by fremontjohn (edited 09-30-2005).]

I just joined and wanted to say hello to everyone. Thanks to Stan for the invite.

A little bit about myself--

Two years ago, I started writing lyrics, music, and learning to produce what I record. Yes, my brain gets full at times. I have an Art degree, but music has been the soundtrack of my life.

Learning the craft started when a friend and myself, were playing "You got to hear this!" We were listening to an instrumental and I quipped,"Needs lyrics." He said, "Write some."

I embraced the process and the magic. I was home.

So here I am, looking foward to networking and to hone my craft. Also trying to nudge myself beyond "hobby mode". I have been aware of JPF for a while, and decided to take the leap and join.

I have accomplished this past year what was beyond my imagination 5 years ago.

The fun has just begun!



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"You can fiddle with my music, but you can't pick my words."

cool!! welcome to the site. you'll find a lot of great folks here!! if poss. try and make a chapter meeting. take care..barn.

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www.barkinbarney.com

What a great topic!

1. I joined JPF and met a lot of really pleasant beings who speak my language (music) and care about each other.

2. Got airplay for one of my songs in a public service announcement that I also did the voiceover for (Arts Alive open mics on Hawk Radio at Hillsborough Community College). My first radio interview was last year, so that doesn't count for this topic.

3. Performed with the incomparable Tracee Lee at Hot Acoustic Nights.

4. Learned how to make and send MP3's and send and receive them via email. Consequently, I received songs from other JPFers, recorded my bass parts, then emailed them back to the songwriters.

5. Got a tiny MP3 player and loaded my originals into it (minus lead vocal and guitar) and performed with my own backup tracks - and no moving parts!

6. Wrote better songs and my singing is improving.

7. Opened my first website. "Bad Enough (to be Good Enough for Me)" went to #36 in the Country standings on SoundClick.

8. Changed my job to allow for more concentrated time to spend on writing, recording and promotion of my songs.

9. Made my first-ever submission to JPF song competition. Ten songs in various styles.

10. And to top it all off, I became a serious contributor! Whoo-hoo!
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Steve Dockendorf
"Quality music for quality people"
dockendorf2000@yahoo.com
www.soundclick.com/stevedockendorf

[This message has been edited by smdock (edited 10-02-2005).]

Well,
First I joined and met song writers from NSAI.
I attempted to form a few country bands with not much luck. However I met some great musicians in the Tampa Bay area.
Then I met Andy and Dan and Jules they told me about JPF while we were indulging in Ice cream yum yum!
Then I joined JPF and met all the wonderful supportive creative songwriters/performers in the Tampa Bay Area. Where friend ships have been made and growing. More to come!
I then finally finshed my CD "More Than I Ever Dreamed"
I made a couple of trips to song writing classes. Where I hung along with Andy(I hope he didn't think I was stalking him).
I had some good things said by professionals about my song writing.
Then Andy and I started writing songs together. What an honor that is for me.
I am determined to be playing out, perhaps by my self by the end of the year with my guitar and I. If I have a band that would be great but if It's just little ol me thats just fine. Yes, about a year plus 2 months I started taking guitar lessons. Tyler Dickerson is singing one of my songs, "Daddy I Love You" when he performs.
I have had the privlege of playing with Bob Levor at JJ. Within a couple months of meeting Bob he introduced me to his good friend Larry at a Nashville style concert we put on. How fun. Let's do it again guys!
I sang 2 songs on the radio WMNF. Thanks Bob and the folks at WMNF for letting me be a part of the radio show.
I attended my first and won't be the last house concert hosted by our great president Al and his lovely wife Becky. BEST OF ALL! I
have the support and love of a wonderful caring husband. I feel I have grown as an artist/performer/song writer. Because I have met a community of friends who have the same goals and or likes that I have. I feel so............lucky to have found this organization and meeting such beaufitul people. From the heart, Thank you Thank you Thank you.

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JoDell
jodellsmusic.com
Believe in yourself and your dreams will come true!

The year started off wonderful - joining my Tampa JP family is what made the year wonderful for me. Wow, this is emotional thinking back on this year and how good God has been - First, I made some incredible friends through JP Folks - Al and Mikey - you are at the top of this list. I did my first outdoor concert at a weekend Jamboree - a first for me and it was a blast. Then I had the awesome privilige of singing on 88.7 or 88.9 (having a brainfart here) and got to do the whole hour music showcase since unfortunately, but yet so cool, got the whole hour to perform on the radio since the other artist didn't show. I was informed only 10 minutes before we went on air that I had to come up with a total of 10 songs instead of 4....haah! Well, you know, you just gotta be ready in season and out...That was a blast for me. And then thanks to Carl Ballentine and Hot Acoustic Nights, I was able to perform in this concert series in which I had a total blast doing...and oh my goodness...the band - Mikey, Al and Steve - YOU SIMPLY ROCKED THE WORLD THAT NIGHT! I will never, ever forget that night as long as I live. The sad part of my year was when I informed all you wonderful people that I was moving. Just when things were really started to roll, due to jobs, we had to move BUT, we really are loving it here in good ole' Tennessee! The only sad thing is I don't have you guys here with me so in that aspect, it's lonely, but GOD is good! Since I've been here - I actually took the summer off and just got situated here, moved into a house we bought, etc...but now the ball is rolling again. I now have a music manager/entertainment lawyer and a promoter - this all became real in the past week...we've been working up the contract for the past month and have now made it official so, it's only a matter of time before the road starts spinning again! So, I'm very thrilled with what I've accomplished this year, and the year is not even over yet!

You will always be my family and I can't thank you enough for making my world wonderful...Love you guys

Tracee Lee

www.traceelee.com