Hi Folks,

Christine here …..updating you on the latest SEMA Just Plain Folks News:

- 1/31 MEETING RE-CAP, NEWS AND QUESTIONS
- ROAD TRIP CALL
- OUR FIRST SHOWCASE - COME PLAY!!!
- RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS


MEETING RE-CAP and NEWS
- We had our first meeting January 31 at Musicians Development Institute in Plymouth. We had a nice turnout and a really wonderful talk by audio pioneer, Dinky Dawson. Members attending came from all areas of Southeastern MA including New Bedford, the South Shore and the Cape and from as far away as Bellingham. Thanks for coming everyone! Our next meeting is in the works right now. Stay tuned for details.

- Suzanne Tonaire from PIXY 103 has offered to make our new chapter their 'Featured Local Artist" for their local music show, 'Homegrown' for the month of April. Kim and I are going to stop by and do an on-air interview and the chapter will be featured on their website. With the website publicity, we can post two mp3s of member music. At the meeting we all decided that the fairest way to choose whose mp3s are posted is to let the radio station decide. If you would like to submit your music for consideration, please send your CD by March 1 to: Kim McDonough at Musicians Development Institute, 2277 State Road, G-1, Plymouth MA 02360. Make sure you specify in your pack that it's a JPF submission.

- If you didn't attend the meeting on the 31st, please check out this link to an essay on what Just Plain Folks founder, Brian Austin Whitney, envisions for the JPF chapters. It gives a really good overview of what we’re trying to create. It’s at the bottom of the web page...just scroll down

http://www.jpfolks.com/Chapters/index.html

- Since JPF's motto is 'we are all in this together', I'm calling on everyone for ideas and assistance. We will always need places to meet, venues to host showcases and events, and speakers to come and share their knowledge. Please reply with ideas or contacts that we should explore in any of these areas. We’re especially looking for meeting place suggestions for our next meeting.

- At the last meeting those attending decided to try to meet monthly. In general, what meeting times/days would be best for everyone?? Reply if you have general scheduling suggestions.

- We also decided not to do song circles at meetings. We left room to re-examine this point in the future. However, a great idea that emerged from the discussion was having JPF member jams. We'd like to actively pursue this idea to implement ASAP. Our "Just Plain Jam', at first I think, should be non-performance. We need ideas for places to jam (no fee) and themes for the jams. (My theme suggestions: Beatles, blues, and 80s glam rock...lol... any others??) Are there any members who would like to take a lead in managing the jam series (with tons of support from Kim and I)?


ROAD TRIP CALL
One of the points I realized I forgot to cover at the meeting was: Just Plain Folks Road Trips. Every so often our founder, Brian, takes to the road for a ‘Road Trip’. He coordinates with local chapters in a particular region and a whole string of events and showcases are set up as he travels around to the scheduled cities. He's planning one soon, and it would be a great thing for our new chapter to host a showcase for the Trip. I'm asking for everyone to take a second or two and go to our SEMA message board on the justplainfolks.org website and tell Brian that we'd like a Road Trip stop. Follow the link below to our board and look at the ‘2005 Road Trip” post. If you haven't signed up to post on the boards yet, it may take a couple of minutes to register. It's free. Check out the other great boards while you're there.

http://www.justplainfolks.org/cgi-b...ber=85&DaysPrune=1000&LastLogin=


OUR FIRST SHOWCASE - COME PLAY!!!
We have our first member showcase scheduled for Saturday, March 5 from 7-10m at Kiskadee Coffee on Main St. in Plymouth, MA. This is an 'all ages' venue. This will be an acoustic showcase. (Transportation can be provided from the Boston commuter train if any members up that way would like to join us for the evening. Just let me know)

The deal you make to play:
We are each other's audience for the evening. Everyone should plan to come for the whole event. If you play and immediately leave, you will not be invited to participate in the future.

Everyone will get at least two songs, probably more…. It all depends on how many people sign up. Once we know how many are interested in playing we’ll let you know how long each person will play.

Performance order will only be announced two days prior to the showcase. Specific performance times are not assigned since everyone is expected to come for the whole event. If there is time remaining at the end of the event, a sign up will be taken for people who would like to perform again. JPF will provide the sound system (with mics) and audio engineer for the evening. When your name is called you should be ready to 'plug and play'.

If you would like to play for the 3/5 showcase, please email me the following information:

Your name:
Act name (if different):
Contact email:
genre:
# of musicians:
Instrumentation (including # of vocals):
Any other info:

Hope to see you all there!! If anyone wants to put flyers up in your area for the event, just email me and I’ll send you a .pdf that you can print at home.


RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS
The more members we have, the better our chapter will be. Think about some of the local musicians you know, especially the working professionals, who might be interested in the organization and invite them to join us for an event or meeting. Feel free to forward our newsletters to anyone you like.

Peace,
Christine
Co-Coordinator
JPF SEMA
“We’re all in this together”
christine.mascott@verizon.net

Christine Mascott
----------------------------
formerly just Christine
http://www.syberdelix.com
http://www.christinemascott.com
vocalist/graphic design/web hosting and design