Welcome to Just Plain Notes
Just Plain Notes: Volume 2.004, December 31st, 2012
Written by Brian Austin Whitney
Visit the Website:
www.jpfolks.com Mail CD's @ 5327 Kit Drive, Indianapolis, IN 46237
Copyright 2012 Just Plain Folks Productions.
Just Plain Folks Member Population: 50,326
Just Plain Folks on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/JustPlainFolksBrian on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Brian.Austin.WhitneyBrian 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 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***************************************************
Just Plain Quotes:
"If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass, you live more richly those moments." -Anne Morrow Lindbergh
"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experience."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson
"It is in the knowledge of the genuine conditions of our lives that we must draw our strength to live and our reasons for living." -Simone de Beauvoir
"Success often comes when you spend less time dreaming and more time doing."
-Brian Austin Whitney
My Take:
It's that time once again where we reflect on what has happened to us, what we've done ourselves and as is tradition for many, make resolutions to fix the things we feel need fixing while planning for what we hope to accomplish in the New Year. I know I am doing that myself. But success often comes when you spend less time dreaming and more time doing. So tonight I reflect on something that one of our fellow members focused on doing, and who immortalized it all in one of his songs.
Many people have talked about their lives using the final measuring stick of the "dash between the dates." Not familiar with it? I wasn't either before Sonny Bell wrote a lyric he submitted for our 2003 Just Plain Folks Music Awards lyric category. It was simply called "The Dash Between The Dates" and I came across it purely by chance this week and felt it may make a nice vehicle to take some of you as well as myself into the New Year. But before I share his words, I wanted to share a bit about his own story, at least from my own bit of knowledge about his dash.
I first came to know Sonny when he sent me some of his songs, in demo form, for an earlier music awards back in the 90's. Back then they weren't very good. It seemed to me he was far from any type of success and as I was new myself to dealing with other people's music, I didn't feel optimistic about his chances going forward. Though he seemed simply another in a large number of people who just didn't have it, he was busy not only reaching his goals, but teaching me an invaluable lesson I've never forgotten.
In a matter of a few years, his work really started to improve. He learned from feedback, kept writing, working with others and making better and better material. Before I knew it, he became well known for his writing and for the band he put together called "The Backstretch Boys." They put out an album of songs centered around one of his passions, NASCAR racing, and he'd become somewhat of a celebrity in that world, appearing not just at races and events, but also on national TV on the morning show circuit and elsewhere. I happened to tune in one morning and watched him passionately talking about the project and all the fun he and his cohorts were having.
He went from an "also ran" to the top of our JPF awards, not only winning one year for "Best Lyric" but receiving recognition among the best songs and albums in his genre. In all the years I've been doing this, I've never seen someone start so low on the totem poll and finish so high up on it so quickly.
The lesson was about pursuing a dream and pushing hard and fast around the musical race track to the finish line and getting there like the characters in his songs. In my view, he filled in his own dash between the dates nicely. And he needed to. Unknown to him and the rest of us, Sonny's own time was short. On March 26th, 2007, a mere 4 years after winning that first award, he discovered, fought and sadly passed away from brain cancer. Not only did he live by his own words, he also lived many of his own dreams, for real, leaving me not only with the hope, but with a roadmap which proved it was possible to start at the bottom and still reach up high to achieve success.
I got to be there, trackside so the speak, as Sonny Bell put the triumphant finishing touches on his own dash between the dates: 1959-2007. With belief, hard work and a little talent we may not even know we have, we just need to get in the race for real. I sure hope you do. As for me, I am getting my race car helmet on. See you in turn 1!
Here's a little more about Sonny Bell from some of his friends, his lyrics to "Dash Between The Dates" and a link to a page of some of the music he left behind in the better days before his illness took hold.
The lyrics:
http://www.3sistersracing.com/sonnybell_memorial.htmHis music:
http://www.myspace.com/backstretchboysHave a safe and Happy New Year everyone!
Learn, Succeed and Thrive. We're all in this together!
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Table of Contents:
01. Support our Sponsors: It's a win/win/win!
02. Just Plain Folks finally has a Facebook Page!
03. 2013 Just Plain Folks Music Awards Early Entry Information
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 the new site. The JPF message boards linked near the top of this newsletter are very active daily with thousands of your peers! Join us there!
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2012 Just Plain Folks Community Partner Sponsors!
Note: We'll be adding some new sponsors in the coming months with special exclusive deals for JPF members who switch to their services. To All Companies: Email Brian directly at jpfolkspro@aol.com if you'd like to become a Just Plain Folks Community Partner and work with our 50,000+,members around the world.
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.Future of Music Coalition: Future of Music Coalition is a national nonprofit organization that works to ensure a diverse musical culture where artists flourish, are compensated fairly for their work, and where fans can find the music they want. Visit:
www.futureofmusic.orgSongU: SongU.com provides multi-level song writing courses developed by award-winning songwriters and more. You will find all the tools you need to succeed as a songwriter -- all online. At
www.SongU.com we’ll bring the music industry TO YOU.
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.Disc Makers: Nobody makes CD or DVD manufacturing easier and no one delivers faster. When you need CD or DVD replication, short-run duplication, complete printing and packaging options, sturdy duplicators and printers, or affordable blank CDs and DVDs look no further. They've got it. They also now handle licensed merchandise for you (t-shirts, hats etc.). Mention you're a Just Plain Folks Member and get a $50 Discount off your initial CD Orders! Sign up for a free catalog and booklet on Mastering your Music, Achieving Success and the Fast Forward Newsletter at
www.discmakers.com/jpfolksTo All Members: If you work with an online music industry company you love, please tell us about it and maybe we'll team up with them as well! Email Brian at jpfolkspro@aol.com with information and a contact for the company you are endorsing!
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Seeking Volunteers for 2013!
If you would like to volunteer to help start a local Just Plain Folks Chapter, get involved in one of our projects or help set up a tour to your neck of the woods or somewhere else in the world, please send us a note with "Volunteer (and what you want to help with)" in the subject and send it to me direct at jpfolkspro@aol.com.
JPF is a completely volunteer run organization serving over 50,000 members in over 170 countries around the world in ALL genres and levels of music. Please join us in lifting the tide for all our boats together!
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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***************************************************
2013 Just Plain Folks Music Awards
We are still waiting for information from our long time Music Awards partners CD Baby before launching our next music awards. If you'd like to get an early start, we always accept your CD's in hard copy form if you wish to send it to us. We'll hang on to it (as we have all previous CD's received) until the next cycle begins.
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).
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.
Note to those waiting to enter digitally: We will announce info on the digital entry process ASAP. Please be patient!
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Copyright 2012 Just Plain Folks Productions
