On Song Contests, Competition, and Judging Art

I've been meaning to address this thought since last weekend but I've been knee deep in packing boxes. As of Thursday I will have to be completely out of my place, so phew! No more time to procrastinate. I'm kind of sick of updating my Facebook status with something involving boxes, packing, or re-locating said boxes to a new place...but that's what's on my mind so that's what you FB peeps have to see. Anyway. The Songwriter's Serenade Contest in Halletsville turned into a really fun weekend. It was part of the larger Fiddler's Frolic competition, where I guess fiddlers from across the nation gather to...fiddle. It was cool. I was selected as a semi-finalist so I was one of 20 writers that performed Friday. The top 10 on Friday moved on to Saturday. I did not make the top 10. That's a weird feeling because as an artist and writer I vacillate between "I AM AWESOME" and "MAYBE I SHOULD GO BE A BARISTA SHUTUP JANA" and then there's the between nitpicky things like "you should be practicing," "you should be making money," "you should do something with that song," "don't tell me what to do with my art," "I am cooler than that dude/girl/hamster over there," and other sundry and not very pleasant thoughts. I also have genuine emotions that run more like "I am so happy to be here," "this is such a cool experience," "I'll do better next time," "judging contests is subjective," etc. It's a giant mind mess, really. All of us who write or compose or play out constantly spout the mantra that Art is Subjective and hey man, what works for me might not work for you. But then we throw ourselves at the mercy of songwriting judges just in case what we do works for them. And then we try not to be jealous and jerky when it's not. It's a weird process. I guess my ultimate thoughts on the whole thing are that there ARE some solid criteria for a good song, and those can be judged. Period. My thoughts on Halletsville are that my performance was not my A game. I didn't show up in that way that day. I played "Paper Rock Scissors" which I believe is an A game song. When you don't perform up to the standard of the song, how does that get judged? (That's a rhetorical question). Long blog post summed up: I'll keep entering these things, I'm pleased with my reaction to not winning (i.e. no crying and screaming haha), I will improve my head game for competitions such as this, and in the process I always meet new and interesting writers. Win. (And watch out next time cuz heads are gonna roll heehee).

Holy Kerrville, Batman

Firstly, my Easter gig in New Braunfels was lovely and full of good folks and Katie sang my song "Ritalin" because she rocks it and it was so good. Thanks, Katie! All right. So in case you're not familiar, the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Contest is "the thing" to enter if you are a singer-songwriter. Every year. Rain or shine. You send in your 2 songs and then in April, you check the New Folk Finalist list. You kind of check it with maybe one eye shut and one squinted toward the screen because there's always a morsel of hope. This was my second time entering. So yesterday I squinted at the Kerrville site and did not see my name and was not surprised because there are people like Lucy Wainright Roche on that list. (I love her, go see her). So then I kept reading about what happens and then there on the site it says: "In addition to the above finalists, we selected regional performers to appear at the BALLAD TREE to sing one of their songs." And then I saw THIS: Woooohooo! I got a little giddy. And maybe told everyone I know. And announced it to the whole lobby at Red Leaf. And I'll be toasting with Adler & Hearne in Winnsboro this weekend when I open the show at their lovely venue Crossroads Music Co. Even neater. And I get to play my tune on the same day that Susan is playing her main stage set at the festival. Neatest. So this news doesn't ultimately help me pack boxes or send out emails, which is what needs to be done this morning...but it's nice to hum to in the background.