News

Hi Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying this Memorial Day Weekend. The weather here is supposed to be just about perfect.

I want to invite all of you in town to the CSLN Writers Night on Friday Evening, June 3rd. I don’t know if it will be streamed for you folks out of town, though there may be a video to put up on YouTube or my website, if we can get someone to record it.

The event will start with an Open Mic from 6:30 – 7:30. Sign up starts at 6:30–maximum of 12 slots open. At 7:30, we will have our first Spotlight Performer, Paul Nielsen. Paul has performed frequently at our Sunday Services, has his own studio, and several songs recorded, including one by The Little River Band. At 8 P.M., Lisa Hannah will take the stage. She too, has performed several times at our Sunday Services, and her debut CD, “Brand New Sun” features songs with honest lyrics that depict her personal life’s journey.

At 8:30, Yours Truly will take the stage as our Featured Performer, doing an hour set. I will be backed by Arnie Reed on keyboards and David Johnson on lead guitar, both of whom got lots of of compliments for their musicianship at my CD Release Party in November. Also, there will be vocal backup on various songs from Pam Atha, Raven Barrientos, and Mark Horwitz. As always, I will have some CDs available. This is shaping up to be a great night, and an important one, as we need to grow this event if we want to keep it going. Potluck snacks and drinks encouraged (We will only have what people bring), as well as a $5.00 suggested love offering to the Center. 6705 Charlotte Pike, Nashville 37209. I may also wind up doubling as MC, unless there is someone available.

BRIEF EDITORIAL:

For the last 40-50 years, we have witnessed mass shootings in this country. For the last 40-50 years, we have seen the same reactions–“thoughts and prayers” followed by inaction. They say insanity is doing what you have always done and expecting a different result. I won’t use this space to say all the things I could–there’s not enough space for it in a short newsletter–but instead of saying “That won’t work,” an attitude parroted by self-serving polititians who are beholden to big money to finance their campaigns), how about saying “Let’s try it” for once. If after 10 years, it doesn’t work, they can say “I told you so.”

That’s it for this month. I hope you and your loved ones are safe, healthy, and enjoying this holiday weekend.

Gordon

Hi Everyone,

Just a brief update. Last Sunday’s performance at CSLN went quite well. I guess that was to be expected, with such a great band backing me, and with the addition of Frank Wood, Pam Atha, and Tom Huebner on backing vocals. I was quite pleased, and when I watched the video stream the next day, I still felt good about it. If you would like to see it, you can go to CSLN.TV, our YouTube station.

Meanwhile, a reminder that this Friday, May 6th we will be resuming the CSLN Writers Night, after a several month hiatus. There will be an Open Mic from 6:30 – 7:30–sign up at 6:30, 12 slots open. Then from 7:30 to 8 P.M. we will have two Spotlight Performers doing 15 minutes each. Denny Martin is a well know songwriter and producer here in Nashville, who has performed at the Bluebird Cafe, The Listening Room and other notable venues around town. The other Spotlight will be Sam Gyllenhaal, who often works with Denny.

At 8 p.m. we will have our Featured Performer Susan Shann, who will do a full set. Sue is a prolific songwriter with a beautiful voice, an environmental activist, and has been a speaker at our Sunday Services a number of times. She plans on sharing some new material with us.

This will be a potluck event, as always, so please bring food or drink to share. A $5.00 love offering to the Center will also be appreciated.

Next month, I will be our Featured Performer–More on that in my next newsletter.

Looks like spring is finally here to stay. Enjoy.

Gordon

ELLISVILLE NEWS UPDATE 4/18/22: CSLN Writers Night Resuming; Guest Performer At April 24th Sunday Service; Featured Performer in June

Hi Everyone,

Well spring is definitely here in Ellisville. How can you tell? When you get 80 degrees, severe thunderstorms, then temps near freezing and sleet and snow showers within a 48 hour period, yes, it’s probably spring. And of course, the leaves are back on the trees, and everyone’s sneezing.

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I guess I’ll start off with a bit of self-promo. Next Sunday, April 24th, I will be the Guest Performer at CSLN’s Sunday Service. I will be doing four original songs, backed by their wonderful band under the direction of Larry Faragalli, and am planning to have three backup singers as well. The service starts at 11 a.m. (Central time), and if you are out of town and want to see it, you can go to CSLN.TV (Our YouTube channel) where it will be streamed live or can be seen later.

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Meanwhile, the CSLN Writers Night (Formerly the Coffeehouse) will be resuming on Friday, May 6th. There will be an Open Mic from 6:30 – 7:30 (Sign up starts shortly before 6:30 with space for up to 12 performers).

From 7:30 – 8 P.M. we will have two Spotlight Performers doing 3 songs each. I don’t have their promo yet, but Denny Martin is a well known performer and songwriter in town, with a number of songs cut by known artists. He will be bringing the second Spotlight Performer, Corrine Cook.

Then around 8 P.M., we will have our Featured Performer, Susan Shann. Susan is a wonderful performing songwriter with a beautiful voice and several CDs to her credit, and has been the Guest Performer at our Sunday Services several times, as well as one of our Guest Speakers.

There is a $5.00 suggested Love Offering, and this is a potluck, so please bring something to eat or drink–we will only have what people bring.

And speaking of Featured Performers, I am honored to have been chosen for that spot on Friday, June 3rd. More on that in next month’s newsletter.

Well, that seems to be all for this edition. Y’all take some allergy meds and enjoy the warm weather.

Gordon

Hi Everyone,

It has been a while since my last update. Frankly, I haven’t had a lot to share since my CD Release Celebration in November, which was a very gratifying experience. Definitely a highlight of 2021. The video turned out great too, and can now be viewed on this site, by going to “Media” and clicking “Videos.” Note: The performance doesn’t actually start until 5 minutes into the video.

As a result of that performance, the Jabberwackers blues and jazz band asked my trio (The nucleus of the large ensemble I performed with at the Release Party) to perform between their sets at Brown’s Diner, just before Thanksgiving, and that went well too–thanks, to all who came out. I feel fortunate that those two gigs fell in the lull between COVID surges, but then things spiked again, and we decided to wait until things settle down before booking more gigs. Now that cases are dropping, I hope to start lining up some more performances–stay tuned. My nursing home gigs were also largely cancelled, but are slowly picking up.

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So, there hasn’t been a whole lot going on, but I did want to mention a few things, while also simply wanting to stay in touch. On Sunday, March 13th, from 6 – 10 p.m., there will be a big benefit for Miranda Sullivan at the Commodore Lounge, hosted by Debi Champion, and I will be performing a song or two around 6:30 that night. There will be many songwriters on the bill–some of them hit writers, and others probably only a step away from having a hit. This event was originally scheduled for January, but got snowed out. Hopefully, good weather will prevail this time. Please come out.

Miranda was in a head on collision shortly before Thanksgiving, spent a month at Vanderbilt Hospital, and has been slowly getting her strength and her life back, but with no income and bills piling up, she needs help. Donations will be gratefully accepted, and I believe there will be a silent auction, so if you have something to sell that will help the cause, please bring it. For anyone not familiar with the Commodore Lounge, it is in the Holiday Inn on West End Ave. at 28th Ave. South.

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Congratulations to Holly Butler on the release of her debut novel, “Me, Myself, and Marilyn.” This engaging story about Kelly Jean Cavanaugh–a struggling Hollywood actress and budding songwriter–seemed at first to simply be a kind of romance novel, but it is really about a woman not only struggling with her acting career and her love life, but most of all with her own self esteem. She starts getting visited by the spirit of Marilyn Monroe, who she has been impersonating at conventions and private parties to make ends meet. Marilyn’s advice is often sound, but not always welcome. Written in first person, the story, the places Kelly visits, the conflicted feelings about her affairs, and even the juicy love scenes are all very believable. Is there any hope for Kelly? I suggest you get the book and find out. I really enjoyed it.

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BTW, if you have a copy of my “Messages” CD and have liked it, I would love it if you would post a review on Amazon. I heard that if you get 25 reviews, it gets more promotion, though I don’t know exactly how that works. Hey, good promotion never hurts.

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Well, that’s all for this edition. Spring is just around the corner, so let’s enjoy. Be well, stay safe.

Gordon

Hi Everyone,

I just got word that the CSLN Writers Night on Jan. 7th has been cancelled due to COVID concerns. In fact, CSLN has just gone back to requiring masks during services. We don’t know when this event will resume, as there is no way to know how long these restrictions will have to be in place. I’ll let you know if/when we will start up again.

Stay safe,

Gordon