JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum 2008 American Idol (original official)

Greetings!

This is my first post on Just Plain Folks...although I've peeked in here on occasion!

Just a little about me first: I'm new at songwriting, as of last year's American Idol contest when I wrote the song "Here I Am" with my son-in-law, singer-songwriter, Leslie Bowe (well, like the rest of us, we didn't make it into the finals, but our song did win the Grand Prize in the StageNoise Int'l Songwriting Contest). I'm also an author, writer and professional speaker.

Last year, in my search to connect with other songwriters after submitting our song to the Idol contest, I ended up starting a thread on the Idol board called "Songwriters Join In."

It ended up being a lively place with a great deal of support, encouragement and information shared, and an occasional spat to spice things up!

Anyway, we're back on the board as "SONGWRITERS JOIN IN - 2008." I don't expect much activity there until later in the Idol Season - and of course, providing there is a contest again. But we're proceeding "as if." Also, last year, Songwriter AI (from 19 Entertainment) kept in touch with us, so I'm hoping he does so again, letting us know details of the contest.

Not to take anything away from this great place (which I've mentioned on the thread already) but just to let you all know we, as songwriters, have a presence again on the Idol Forums.

Cheers, Nancy

Hi Nancy,

We actually had several finalists in the contest participating in our discussions here which were pretty lively to say the least. It's certainly a hot topic and we look forward to seeing how it all unfolds again this year. And you're welcome to hang here when you're not doing your AI thing.

Brian

Hi Brian!

Thanks! It's nice to make your acquaintance and to finally pop in over here. You'll see more of me once in a while. Being I'm so new at all of this, it's a bit intimidating being amongst the old pros, but I'll hang in there!

Now, I'm heading out the door to Indy, then to Nashville (where Les is playing the Bluebird again). He gets to fly, and I get to schlep his keyboard in the car! Ciao, Nancy

Jim, I think there will always be a need for great songwriters, and there is a vast amount of great music out there if you look for it. One reason why it might seem that there is less of a need for songwriters is because lots of artists nowadays write their own songs, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I think that the industry is demanding people to wear many hats. Oftentimes artists are singers, songwriters, performers, producers, etc. With that taken into account, you could argue that many artists today are perhaps more creative than ones of the past.

Remember in the past most groups and artists were fabricated. Everything was already done and they had to sing the song. While that is still the case to an extent, there are also great artists who are making great music.. you just have to look hard sometimes to find them, though with the internet it's not always too hard.

Hey Nancy!

Yay, you made it over! But no need to be so humble...with your experience, you are hardly a babe in the woods!

And while you might encounter an occasional foot on this site (check thread on same subject ), as a rule, this place is filled to the brim with cool cats. So jump on in, the water's fine.

See you around!

Beth

give people the link to your thread
http://www.americanidol.com/myidol/forums/topic/?tid=806957

bump

Ande,

Sorry.. I thought the other post and this one were one in the same. I do recall this one had a lot of negativity and bad blood in it now that I go back and look at it. I also see you changed your title and wanted you to know I wasn't trying to ignore your post. I actually couldn't figure out where the discussion about the backgrounds of contestants were. And this confusion was why I renamed the other post in the first place, so folks wouldn't be confused where the conversation had gone. This was one buried and the other was at the top making it look the popular one.

So what do you want do to? We definitely don't need 2 "competiting" official posts. People were putting their predictions on the other one and the early discussion is here.

Let me know what you want since you made your post first. This one also was becoming focused on the Songwriter side of the AI contest it appears.

Brian

Hi Brian

no worries
I was just having a little fun by renaming this thread

ande

either one is fine for the 'official discussion' - doesn't bother me!

Linda

Hi Nancy,
It's nice to meet you!
I just went and signed up on the AI Forums and read through all 17 pages of your thread. Looks like great networking. Is it OK to plug JPF there? Clearly you can't say "MySpace" (I think that's funny! LOL!) but anyway... I'll be hopping in there soon.

Networking is good! Thanks for letting us know about it!
Linda

Hi Linda,

I haven't been here on JPF for quite a while! I've been on a writing retreat in the woods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for the last ten days...with another 7 days to go.

Anyway, I've plugged JPF several times already, and I say - go ahead and do it again! The whole point of the American Idol forum is to encourage, support, offer guidance and make suggestions that can help others with their songwriting career. Ciao! Nancy

Story Behind the winner of AI's 2008 contest
Time of My Life
Song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt4aTMTGZPM
Story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxwbeL4i0zo

the story was amazing Ande, thanks for posting it...funny, no one thought the song was that great at first, including me...but now that I've heard it ten times, I really like it

I remember thinking it was kind of an odd duck for a potential hit song in that it was in 3/4 time. I wrote it off for that reason.

The story he tells is quite touching though.

Hey Ande,

Thanks for posting this. It's the kind of story we WANT to hear all year round, but especially during the holidays...."DON'T GIVE UP HOPE"!

Truly, it's a a pleasant reminder there still are some genuinely nice people in the business.

I wish him continued success -- and hope one of our motley JPF crew can follow in his footsteps next year!!

Ciao for now,
Beth