The Northwest Music Experience (NWME) was developed as a celebration of talent and community in the Pacific Northwest. Its first incarnation was a successful awards show honoring 40 fantastic artists who represented the diverse music community that surrounds us. This spirit will live on with the Songwriters in Seattle Awards, which is in the planning stages now to return in 2015.
Going forward, the Northwest Music Experience name and what it represents will be shifting from Songwriters in Seattle to a new non-profit organization based in Portland. Here is the description from leader Tom Melillo:
“Our non-profit will be geared towards experiential projects that connect young (high-school age) musicians with local professional musicians in our area to collaborate on projects to produce, perform, and record music. Our ultimate goals are to generate interest in music and music education, and to generate funds to give back to local school music programs.”
We hope you’ll agree that this is a worthy cause and a valuable addition to the NW music community. Please join us in supporting the new organization’s efforts whole-heartedly. Best wishes to Tom and to the new incarnation of Northwest Music Experience.
We’re excited that Songwriters in Seattle will be part of The Seattle Foundation’s GiveBIG event on May 6th. Donations made to Songwriters in Seattle through The Seattle Foundation’s website ON THIS DAY ONLY will be stretched/matched thanks to The Seattle Foundation and GiveBIG sponsors! Make a donation, share with your friends (#GiveBIG), and be a part of our community’s biggest day of giving of the year. Make your gift online at: http://www.seattlefoundation.org/npos/Pages/SongwritersinSeattle.aspx
If you donate through GiveBIG on May 6th, you could be randomly selected for a Golden Ticket that wins you a $100 Starbucks gift card and gives us an extra $1,000 from The Seattle Foundation & other sponsors!
Because @TheSeattleFdn’s #GiveBIG will stretch any dollars donated to us that day, we want this to be our one and only pure fundraising event of the year. Help us make that happen so we can keep bringing more impactful events to the Songwriters in Seattle calendar. Please Give BIG - thank you!
At the 3rd Annual Songwriters in Seattle BBQ and 1st Northwest Music Experience Awards, 14 performers entertained the crowd along with the presentation of all 40 awards finalists! From each category of 5 finalists, a winner was announced based on votes from 100 invited judges from within the music community. All finalists in attendance received a certificate in recognition of their submitted song, and winners were presented with a trophy and a prize based on their category. The winners and their associated prizes are as follows:
Blues - That’s the Truth by Roo Forrest, $75 gift certificate to American Music World Music - Perpetual Leader by Blake Noble, $75 gift certificate to American Music Hip Hop/R&B - Keep Going by Sheldon Botler, $75 gift certificate to American Music Heavy Rock - Secret Handshake by Christina Cramer/In Cahoots Band, $75 gift certificate to American Music Country - Diamond Rings by Alden Witt, $75 gift certificate to American Music Classic/Alt Rock - Get Some Love by Jeff Hamel/SweetKiss Momma, Tascam DP-2 Digital Portastudio with case and tutorial DVD Folk/Americana - Ready For The Dark by Larry Murante, Fat Head BE ribbon microphone from Cascade MicrophonesPop/Light Rock - The Way it Seemed by Sophia Duccini, 10 hours recording/mixing with Stephen Sherrard at DBAR Productions
(Prize associations/determinations were made related to the number of initial submissions for a particular category, donated prizes, and event budget)
Congratulations to all our finalists and winners! If you were not in attendance, please e-mail songwritersinseattle@gmail.com to arrange for pickup of certificates and prizes.
As part of the annual Songwriters in Seattle Summer BBQ, we are giving awards under the Northwest Music Experience event name. More information at nwmusicexperience.org - here are the results:
Congratulations to our finalists and a huge thank you to everyone who submitted a song and participated! The quality and variety of the 240 entries we received was so good it was extremely difficult for our panel of NWME and Songwriters in Seattle leaders to get to 5 finalists per category. There easily could have been others here, but ultimately we had to make some choices, so don’t be disheartened if you entered but didn’t make the list this time. Please note that the criteria was focused on songwriting and creativity, as well as performance talent and originality, not production quality. As we also are not a popularity contest, the finalists now go to over 100 invited judges to help determine winners for each category. See the official rules for more details on the whole process.
Over $1,000 in locally donated prizes for potential category winners include: - 10 hours recording/mixing with Stephen Sherrard at DBAR Productions - A Fat Head BE ribbon microphone from Cascade Microphones - A Tascam DP-2 Digital Portastudio with case and tutorial DVD - Gift certificates to local music stores
The full list of finalists *in no particular order:
1. Category: Classic/Alt Rock - Resilience - written by Julia Vidal, performed by The Salt Riot - Crying Shame - written by Regan L. Barger, performed by Strangely Alright - I Wish My Baby Was Born - performed by East Coast Dave - Get Some Love - written by Jeff Hamel and Aaron Arnold, performed by SweetKiss Momma - Talk About It Later - written by Elsa Faith and Marty Mitchell, performed by Soul Distraction
2. Category: Blues - Dirty - written by Scott Concinnity, performed by Letters From Traffic - The Sun Will Rise - written by Jus’Tina, performed by Jus’Tina, Wayne Ah Chan, Laurence Gouveia, Eric Robert, and Gary St. Martin - That’s The Truth - written by Roo Forrest, performed by Roo, Cody Rahn, Patrick McDanel, and Hans Tueber - Always Be The Blues - written by Mark Whitman, performed by The Mark Whitman Band - Trouble Leave Me Alone - written and performed by Pete Tomack
3. Category: World Music - EuroTribal - written and performed by Daniel Connolly - Somewhere Under the Sun - written and performed by Leslie vanWinkle - True Blue - written and performed by Ann Stockdale - Perpetual Leader - written by Blake Noble, performed by Blake Noble, Tim Snider, and Isaac Castillo - Waiting For Your Love - written and performed by Claire Johnson
4. Category: Folk/Americana - Used Bike - written by Jean Mann, performed by Jean Mann, Wayne Horvitz, Tom Dziekonski, Virginia Dziekonski, and Matt Hopper - Ready For The Dark - written by Larry Murante, performed by Larry Murante and Kevin Jones - Comfort in Your Strangeness - written and performed by Cynthia Alexander - California Dreams - written and performed by Bill Alsept - Julie - written by Jasper Tollefson, Joseph Gustav, and John Scott, performed by Jasper T. and John Crown
5. Category: Hip Hop/R&B - Woman of My Dreams - written by J.R. Rhodes, performed by J.R. Rhodes, Eyvind Kand, Brad Houser, Mike Dillon, Kym Tuvim, Willow, and Sarah Keenan - Journey My Mind - written and performed by Jai.P - Evolution of Poetic Suede - written by Poetic Suede, performed by Poetic Suede feat. Trel Fitted - Finish What I Start - written by Hands of Vengeance, performed by Consise, Verse, and Kreed - Keep Going - written and performed by Sheldon Botler
6. Category: Heavy Rock - Secret Handshake - written by Christina Cramer, performed by Christina Cramer, Brad Judy, Rich Huston, and Dave Crossett - Beware of Love - written by Terry Pelton, performed by Excuse You - Shadows and Dust - written and performed by Mechanism - Take Me Home - written by Ginine Mizerski and Randy Campbell, performed by Ginine Mizerski, Randy Campbell, and Mike Well - Welcome To No One - written and performed by In The Between
7. Category: Pop/Light Rock - Pretty Bird - written by Sammy Witness, performed by Sammy Witness, Jason Dunn, Brandon Erdos, and John Ducharme - The Calling - written by Andrea Lockwood and Charles Wilson, performed by Stained By A Killer - Up - written and performed by Gary Milici - The Way It Seemed - written and performed by Sophia Duccini - Trait & Trace - written and performed by Jerry Val
8. Category: Country - Mean Mother Trucker - written and performed by Larry Schacher - Diamond Rings - written by Alden Witt and Benjamin Johnston, performed by Alden Witt and Steffi Jeraldo - Chasing the Fire Alarms - written and performed by Bruce Hunt - I’ve Fallen In Love and I Can’t Get Up - written by Griffin James, performed by Griffin James and Corey Mage - Sweet Lucille - written by Susan Elliott, performed by Susan Elliott, Richard Askew, Lauren Vanderhoof, and Ash Devine
Michael Wansley, aka The Wanz, Tee Wanz, or simply just “Wanz” has had quite a year. After a seemingly routine and quick recording session with up and coming local hip hop stars Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Wanz has been catapulted into the spotlight with #1 hit Thrift Shop - including a video that has spawned nearly 150 million views, a Saturday Night Live appearance, and a sold out world tour. Despite this stratospheric rise, Wanz remains a humble and down to earth guy. And it goes to show that sometimes it takes 30 years of hard work to become an “overnight” success.
Wanz was one of the early leaders of Songwriters in Seattle. Along with Jeff Hatch in the basement of The Alibi Room at Pike Place Market (across from the infamous “gum wall”), he would delight the group with stories of many years of Seattle music scene history. He was still playing bass regularly with a local band, and constantly working on his own beats and hooks. He would often be seen around town with his headphones on, focused deep in his laptop working his new songs. His own R&B flavored hip hop and smooth voice rounded out a depth and experience in his songwriting that only come from years of dedicated effort.
Keep an eye out for a new EP from Wanz currently in the works and see him on tour with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. At this point you never know where he might turn up next! There are many places to find and connect with Wanz on the web - here are just a few links to get you started:
In his SiS podcast, from late 2011 - before he was poppin’ tags and lookin’ for come-ups - Wanz shares many Seattle music scene stories as well his sense of humor about his own musical evolution. You can find his podcast post by clicking here!
