Welcome to Just Plain Notes
Just Plain Notes: Volume 2.008, May 5th, 2013
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website: www.jpfolks.com
Mail CD's @ 5327 Kit Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46237
Copyright 2013 Just Plain Folks Productions.
Just Plain Folks Member Population: 50,003
Just Plain Folks on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JustPlainFolks
Brian on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Brian.Austin.Whitney
Brian on Skype: Brian Austin Whitney
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Would you like to join the JPF Networking Message Boards? It's quick and easy. Just click the link and choose a password and user name and you'll be posting in no time! We'd love to hear from and about you. You can get peer feedback on your music or lyrics, find people to co-write with, get answers to just about any music related question and promote yourself and your gigs on the appropriate boards. It's a very friendly place where over 20,000 of your peers hang out!

To register: (It's a separate registration from JPF membership):
http://www.jpfolks.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?action=agree
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Just Plain Quotes:

"The person who knows how will always have a job. The person who knows why will always be his boss." -Diane Ravitch

"You learn more quickly under the guidance of experienced teachers. You waste a lot of time going down blind alleys if you have no one to lead you." -W. Somerset Maugham

"But pride only helps us to be generous; it never makes us so, any more than vanity makes us witty." -George Eliot (Think of this in terms of "Talent" rather than "Pride")

“People come into your life for two reasons; to help you or to be helped by you. Both cases can be a blessing.” -Brian Austin Whitney

My Take:

People come into your life for two reasons; to help you or to be helped by you. Both cases can be a blessing. This is something I've learned over time, and the more I've thought about my life in those terms, the better person I have become and the deeper and more meaningful my life has felt to me.

Often in the beginning we look for help, especially from those further up the ladder of success. That is simply an exposure of our relative immaturity in life. (And I am not talking age-immaturity, but rather immaturity in whatever endeavor you are pursuing). As you grow in your experience and knowledge, you start to learn how important helping others really is, even surpassing the help you might ask someone else for.

Imagine the motivation. You ask someone else for help, they may be anywhere from very motivated to not only unmotivated, but hostile to your goals. On the other hand, helping others can often teach you more, open more doors, build your stature in your community and assure that on the occasions when you ask for help, the odds are far more in your favor that someone will step up and deliver for you.

The recent loss of my good friend and mentor John Braheny demonstrated how rich someone's life could be when they spent the majority of it helping others. The outpouring of love and respect that showed up before and after his passing paid tribute to a life well lived and proved that he was well loved. He spent his life helping others; so please read below to see how we can help his family continue his work teaching the Craft and Business of Songwriting. Watch some great music and toss a few bucks into the virtual hat in tribute to someone who helped make things better for us all.

Learn, Succeed and Thrive. We're all in this together!
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Table of Contents:

Support our Sponsors: It's a win/win/win!

01. John Braheny Tribute Concert/Fundraiser
02. 2013 Just Plain Folks Music Awards Entry Information
03. Singing/Songwriter/Acting Opportunities for JPF Members!
04. Just Plain Folks finally has a Facebook Page!
05. 2013 Los Angeles Roadtrip: Summary and future trips!

Note About Our Website: We are working on a brand new website which we can use to feature your videos, bios and music files. Don't be fooled by the outdated home page which shows our 2009 Award winners. It's simply a placeholder until we launch a new site. The JPF message boards linked near the top of this newsletter are very active daily with thousands of your peers! Please join us there!
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2013 Just Plain Folks Community Partner Sponsors!

TAXI: The world's leading independent A&R company, has been successfully helping Songwriters, Artists and Composers get their music heard and signed by top Publishers, Major & Indie Labels, and Film & TV music supervisors since 1992. TAXI, is your best bet! See them at www.TAXI.com.

CDBaby: The best place to sell your CD's or music files on line. They also have the best on-line hosting service called Hostbaby. Nobody else even comes close. See them at www.CDBaby.com and www.Hostbaby.com.
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Join Us for a Live, Online Tribute Concert
Honoring John Braheny

Sunday, May 5th, 6-9pm (PDT)

Dear Friends,

Thank you for filling the Concert Hall at Musicians Institute with so much love at the John Braheny Memorial Event held a couple of weeks ago.

Many of you have asked how you can help. This coming Sunday evening, May 5, from 6-9 p.m. PDT there will be a live, online tribute concert to celebrate John’s remarkable life, and you’re invited to attend! It will be broadcast live from Kulak’s Woodshed in Los Angeles, with performances in John’s honor from Stephen Bishop, Allan Rich, Harold Payne and Dorian Holley – hit songwriters and performers whose careers were dramatically impacted by the Los Angeles Songwriters Showcase (LASS), the organization that John co-founded and directed.

As he battled cancer in the final year of his life, John was unable to work and his economic resources were severely challenged. Per his wishes we want to support his wife JoAnn’s work to update and record an audio version of his book, and to create an online archive of the huge body of historic interviews and articles amassed by the LASS during its decades of service to songwriters.

John gave so much to so many songwriters and never really asked for much in return. Please join us in preserving his life’s work by donating a few bucks to this endeavor via Paypal to JoAnn@JohnBraheny.com. You may also send a check to JoAnn Braheny, PO Box 5715, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413.

And don’t forget to tune in and join us for a very special evening of music and celebration of John’s life as “The Songwriter’s Best Friend” on Sunday, May 5th at 6pm (PDT) 9pm (EDT) @ http://kulakswoodshed.com/webcast-high.


With gratitude,
Dan Kimpel and Michael Laskow
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2013/2014 Just Plain Folks Music Awards

We are still on hold figuring out details before opening digital entries via our long time Music Awards partners CD Baby. While we wait, you can enter your music right now for free by following the instructions below.

We are now officially accepting entries via CD directly to JPF. Send us any CD's released AFTER January of 2008. We expect to continue accepting entries through much of 2013 directly and will give you plenty of warning before we cut off entries. Much of it depends on our Digital Entry process. If you already have music ready to go, please go ahead and send us a CD copy. We accept ALL genres of music and last time around we had 100 different genres of music from 168 different countries submitted for the awards. The bar is set pretty high, but if you have what it takes, let's hear what you have!

IMPORTANT!
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Inside your package, please include ALL contact info including full name and position (singer, artist, drummer, manager, publisher, attorney, whatever), your full mailing address, your phone number and cell number, and if your CD case does not include a listing of all song titles and songwriters, including whether or not the song is a cover or public domain, you MUST include a listing of this information for your music to be considered in the awards process. In addition, please include your contact info on the physical CD's itself (meaning unwrap it and write it with a sharpie or in some other clearly readable way) because CD's are quickly separated from their cases in our screening process and if your CD has no contact info, band name, album name and song listing, we may not know who you are and would have no way to find you.
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Once you've met those requirements, you may also include band bios or whatever else you want. (Press kits, T-shirts (3X is the size), Hats etc. as we collect them and if they fit, I wear them while attending events, showcases, tours, conferences etc. If we get enough cool shirts and hats this year, we may even have a category for best Promotional Item).

Send the package to Just Plain Folks, 5327 Kit Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46237.

We do NOT return CD's and we cannot offer direct feedback or critiques simply because we receive thousands of CD's a year and during the awards the numbers are much higher. But we do listen to all the CD's we receive in the order we receive them.
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Cool Opportunities: Singing, Acting and Songwriting!

JPF Founder Brian Austin Whitney is working on 2 music/acting projects in development and we're looking for the following:
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New Girl Group forming for possible indie film/TV series and live performances:

Female Vocalists of all styles: We need POWERFUL vocalists in all genres of music who can demonstrate the ability to harmonize with others across multiple genres of music. Preferred Age: 20-50. Acting experience a huge plus, acting talent required because you will be on film playing a musician. Size and looks less important but vocal ability is a must. You must have live performance experience.

Please email the following:

Contact Info, Links to: (no files please) Electronic Press Kit (if available), Performance Resume (including age and general music performance & acting experience), YouTube clip of at least one live solo/featured and group harmony performance, Links to 3 music tracks featuring your voice as well as at least one example of you harmonizing with others. We also need to see what you look like in at least 2 different looks as well as full body shots in everyday street clothes and make up so we can see how tall and heavy/thin you are. We need diverse body types and looks, so please show us who you really are so we can cast appropriately from among those who qualify vocally. Please DO NOT spend ANY money putting this together. This is simply a project in development. If you are missing any of the above, tell us about your interest and experience and we'll let you know what else we need if we're interested.

Place: Singing Project (along with your name) in the subject line and email it to jpfolkspro@aol.com.

This is NOT a reality show format. This is an album, film/TV and online project.

Note: We are now also looking for 2 male vocalists/actors and cast members to add to this project. One music be able to perform on an instrument, act and sing, the other must be able to perform on an instrument and act and can be older in the 35-65 age range.
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Diverse Songwriters Needed for new Reality Show Concept:

Songwriters (Male and Female) who can write in any genre (meaning Rock, Rap, Pop, Country, Electronic, R&B, Punk, you get the idea) who have distinct personalities, (acting experience a plus) who may be interested in participating in a new reality show concept. IMPORTANT: You will have to be able to write in ALL the styles listed, not just one of them. We can't use teams or lyricist only or composer only at this time. Please email the following:

Contact Info (including complete address, phone, email etc.), Links to: (no files please) Electronic Press Kit (if available), Links to: (no files please) Samples of finished songs (words and music) written only by you in at least 3 distinctly different genres of music. YouTube clips so we can see what you look like and get a feel for your personality are helpful as this is a television project. Please DO NOT spend any money putting this together. This is simply a project in development. If you are missing something above, send us a note, tell us about yourself and your music and what you are missing and if we are interested, we'll let you know what to do next.

Place: Songwriting Show (along with your name) in the Subject line and email it to jpfolkspro@aol.com.

This IS a reality show format.
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Both of these projects are in development ONLY, so please be patient. We will contact you if we are interested in discussing further. We expect this development phase to last well into the summer, so it will likely be a while until we get back to folks while we test various components of the idea. Remember, you must be able to write a rock song, a country song, a jazz song and a rap song (and others) with equal enthusiasm and legitimacy.
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Just Plain Folks (Finally) Has a Facebook Page:

Okay, so I avoided it for a long long time. But I finally gave in and dipped my toe into the Facebook world. I barely have my own page and the JPF page is mostly a stub so far but I'd love to have you join us. And, anyone who considers themselves a Facebook expert, please help us out to build a nice community page there! Like the page or better yet, join us there! Here's the link:

Official JPF Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/JustPlainFolks
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Los Angeles Roadtrips 2013

We had a wonderful time seeing old friends, making new ones, hearing some great talent at our showcase and meeting with a plethora of industry folks each night including a meeting about our Film and TV projects, a dinner with our friends at TAXI, a visit with my dear friend and mentor Alan O'Day, some JPF member events including a networking night in Newport Beach and we ended it with a wonderful tribute to John Braheny. We look forward to seeing our friends and members in Nashville and Philadelphia/New York City/Boston later in the year among other Roadtrips around the world. Stay tuned!
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Copyright 2013 Just Plain Folks Productions


Brian Austin Whitney
Founder
Just Plain Folks
jpfolkspro@gmail.com
Skype: Brian Austin Whitney
Facebook: www.facebook.com/justplainfolks

"Don't sit around and wait for success to come to you... it doesn't know the way." -Brian Austin Whitney

"It's easier to be the bigger man when you actually are..." -Brian Austin Whitney

"Sometimes all you have to do to inspire humans to greatness is to give them a reason and opportunity to do something great." -Brian Austin Whitney