It’s Groundhog Day and we’ve got lots of great information for you.

New Website
We’ve been “soft launching” the new website, working out the kinks as we go. Now we’re ready to have you create your new profile. You need to start from scratch with a new user name and new password. Go to www.MaineSongwriters.com and click on the “Membership Info” tab, then follow the links. Please spend some time exploring the site while you’re there and give us your feedback and suggestions. One of the cool features is that you can now search the member section for fellow collaborators. Looking for a bass player or drummer? Use the search feature and see what comes up! Do you want to have your gigs show up on the events schedule? Make sure to keep your ReverbNation page up to date and we’ll link to it (sometimes this can take some time). There are many other cool features too. Let us know what you think.

Concert Showcase Features Anni Clark
Just spend 30 seconds on Anni’s website (www.anniclark.com) and you’ll know this is a show not to miss. Openers include Ted DeMille, Curtis Brand, and Rob Cimitile. $8 at the door. If you would like to be considered for future shows, write to booking@mainesongwriters.com and specify OLS in the subject line.

Portland Summer Music Series
Once again, in a sure sign that warm weather is just around the corner, MSA is partnering with Portland’s Downtown District to put on a series of six outdoor concerts this summer. The City provides the space (either Post Office Park, or Congress Square), electricity, and a lot of publicity. Performers provide their own sound system and one hour of good music, and are encouraged to bring CD’s and publicity materials. All shows take place on Fridays, from Noon – 1 pm.
Post Office Park, July 13, 20, 27
Congress Square, August 3, 10, 17
If you would like to be considered for one of these gigs, please write to booking@mainesongwriters.com and specify “Summer Music Series” in the subject line.

Open Mic Series at One Longfellow Square
Here’s your chance to perform on one of the best concert stages in the northeast! Every Saturday MSA teams up with One Longfellow Square for an Open Mic from noon until 3:00 pm. Each performer gets a 20-minute slot—enough for three or four songs. It’s a perfect venue for trying out new material, honing your performance skills, and auditioning for other MSA events such as the concert showcase series, Portland Summer Music series, and paid performance opportunities. We offer on-line sign-up so you don’t have to show up beforehand and wait hours and hours to play-BUT, we hope that you will give your fellow musicians the same respect you’d appreciate from them: get there early, stay late, and listen well.
February sign-ups are here: http://www.doodle.com/v7wmyvbggrhriii2
IMPORTANT: Include both your name and your EMAIL ADDRESS when you sign in.

Benefit Concert for a Fellow Songwriter in Need
A series of benefit concerts and silent auctions are being put together to assist with the hardships of local Maine musician Jacob Cuff and his recent diagnosis of Leukemia. The second event in the “Leukemapalooza” series to raise money for Jacob’s medical bills will be held at the Frontier cafe in Brunswick on Saturday, February 4 at 7pm. There will be a silent auction and music by Yellow Roman Candles, Jeff Lemons and Earl Bigelow. People who are unable to attend but wish to contribute can donate at www.jacobcuff.com

“Songwriters in the Round” Features MSA Members
MSA member Lisa Redfern puts on an excellent monthly acoustic showcase at Frontier Café in Brunswick. The March 7 show will feature Delilah Poupore (who just ran our songwriting workshop), Peter Alexander, and Andre Villoch. This is a paying gig (performers share the gate) and draws a quality audience. If you would like to be considered for a future show, write to Lisa at lisaredfern1@gmail.com.

Songwriting Circles
The MSA Greater Portland Songwriters Circle will meet on Monday, February 13th, 7 – 9 PM at Seventy-Five State Street, Portland. Enter through side door on Gray Street. Bring a song you’re working on or one that you’d like to have others hear and comment upon. Informal. Bring a friend. Refreshments.

The Bath circle will meet on Monday, February 27, at 7:00. For more information contact Peter Alexander at peter@peteralexander.us

Monthly Song Review
Every month one of our board members writes about a song they love, an inspirational example of the craft of songwriting at its most transcendent. Are these selections meant to be definitive? Hell no. We don’t believe that’s possible. Our aim is to spark debate and conversation about both the technical and elusively magical elements that comprise a great song.

“High On a Hilltop”
Written by: Nick Lowe
Performed by: Nick Lowe
Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijCeGj1pda4

British musician Nick Lowe enjoyed his fair share of success as a paragon of “new wave” poppiness in the ’70s and ’80s,with hit records (“Cruel to Be Kind”), prestigious producing gigs (Elvis Costello’s early albums), and even a celebrity marriage (to Roseanne Carter Cash, of those Carter-Cashes). But deep down, at heart, Lowe remained a kind of pop classicist, a man rooted to the idea that every good record begins with a good song. As Lowe told Spin magazine recently, “If you do your homework ahead of time, a real good song, it’s pretty hard to fuck it up. You can do it many different ways, fast, slow, take away the drums, do it with only drums, no bass, soft voices, any idea you can, a good song will take you.”

This devotion to old-fashioned song-craft allowed Lowe to reinvent himself late in his career as a retro-crooner. The songs he has written since the mid-’90s sound like he plucked them out of the ether — as if they always existed and he simply discovered them. Lowe’s fluency with venerable song forms — from Tin Pan Alley, to blues, country, soul and rockabilly — means he can do a lot with very little; simple chords and simple lyrics are deployed to maximum effect.

“High On a Hilltop,” from 1998′s Dig My Mood is a good example of this aesthetic of classic simplicity and instant familiarity. For starters, Lowe audaciously “borrows” the song’s title and central thematic image from Tommy Collins’ Nashville perennial. But Lowe eschews Tommy’s weepy country melodrama for a cool, clean lyric stretched tautly between despair and salvation, the middle-aged Lowe wondering whether he missed his chance at happiness: “Each night I pray thats its not too late/Thats disappointment won’t be my fate/But I believe deep down/Someday I’ll stand/High on a hilltop…” The deep and steady vocal sounds convincingly effortless, too, as if Lowe were channeling the song on the spot. Musically, it’s the same story: For the verse Lowe coils tension between two tightly played chords (A and B), and from such a simple foundation, finding relief in the chorus is as simple as going to the E chord, which sounds positively liberating here. Meanwhile, soulful guitar filigree, a smattering of organ and just the perfect amount of echo keep the song vibrating with nuance and atmosphere. Listen for yourself, and see if you dig Lowe’s mood.

[Read the full interview here: http://www.spin.com/articles/qa-nick-lowe-dying-arts-and-second-acts ]