Northern Virginia

March 31st, 2023

FOLKING AROUND NORTHERN VIRGINIA

The Folk Club of Reston Herndon has been for nearly 40 years “dedicated to the appreciation of music and the preservation of folk traditions.”  Along with their weekly in-person sessions, the Folk Club has a virtual open mic on alternating Mondays.  The virtual open mic’s are archived on Youtube.  I participated on several Mondays this Fall after I moved to Virginia.  For example:

On March 6, 2023, I stopped by (virtually) to play four songs, with the times noted below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ziJi1iG4aM

Don’t Postpone Joy ( at about 1 minute into the recording), followed by

Center of the Universe (and the Brecht poem Pleasures); later,  

Anyone Who Had a Heart (Burt Bacharach) (at about 1 hour into the recording) and

River Nearby (at 1:38:00)

FCRH’s virtual open mic is organized and hosted bi-weekly by Al Hobson, the group Treasurer; Al also has opened a house concert venue, info at https://artsbarnmusic.org/.  Regulars at the FCRH virtual open mic during my first 6 months or so include talented and entertaining fellow Virginians such as Ron Goad, Jim Nagle, John Druitt, Dan Grove, Bob Boden, Isabella Perelman, among others.

Links for my performances from the FCRH virtual open mic’s in Fall:

September 5, 2022 (my first visit) CCC Boys, First Class View, Greene County Coal. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8A_mAZpKqQ

September 19, 2022. Blue Star in the Window, Mastodon Conversation, Old Strings, Orange Moon https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzddxV6DU1M 

October 3, 2022. How Much Time Have I Got, Green Barracuda, Fake It Til You Make it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0ysvcGs0po

October 17, 2022 It’s My Party (Wiener, Gould and Gluck); See You Later Traitor; Ballad of the Old Hitchhiker https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMY1x-dV_Qw 

November 28, 2022 Barmaids and Waitresses, Maple Sugar Snow, Shine When Trouble Shakes You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX03C2azBkY 

December 26, 2022 Good King Wenceslaus (trad.), The Day after Christmas, The Magi (Michael Smith), A Wanderer Am I (Michael Smith) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmlZ8iMUPMs 

Performing over Zoom for the Folk Club of Reston Herndon
Folk Club of Reston Herndon (Virginia)

Archiving “Songwriters Open Mic”

March 12th, 2023

The Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) has acquired all 25 years of the Songwriters Open Mic video programs for their Archives.  There were 9 cardboard boxes stuffed with different video formats (VHS, 8 mm, mini-DV, DVDs), plus sign-in sheets, program logs, and publicity material.  The AADL Archives will digitize the collection, and eventually present this material online, in the context of documenting the local and regional community of passionate amateurs who constitute and support the environment for original music in our area. 

Already online is a large sample of close to 200 half-hour programs from the past few years, which I uploaded to YouTube, at https://www.youtube.com/@songwritersopenmicannarbor7761/videos 

Additional background:  AADL’s  COMMUNITY COLLECTIONS have a focus on Local History.  Topics range widely:  the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the Police Department, recipes and cookbooks, architectural drawings and postcards, pioneer families, the White Panther Party and John Sinclair, and an oral histories of African-American culture in Washtenaw County.     

Andrew MacLaren, AADL Archives Manager, moved my boxes of media and papers to the Library’s temporary storage facility, and coincidentally the facility is immediately adjacent to the public access television station (CTN) that has broadcast the Songwriters Open Mic programs for all these years.

As I watched Andrew drive away with the 25 years of tv programs, I appreciated once again how much the open mic nurtures my own songwriting, and it allows me to meet and engage with a community of hundreds of talented and creative songwriters and those who love songs.

Boxes in my basement ready to go
Chyron used in “Songwriters” episodes c.2015-2020
Library Archivist Andrew MacLaren at the storage building

1300 weeks “on the air”

February 25th, 2022

1300 Weeks

On Friday, February 25, 2022, Songwriters Open Mic passes 1300 weeks of broadcasts on the Community Television Network. Each “week” on CTN begins with a Friday-evening broadcast, followed by at least three additional re-broadcasts over the week. Broadcasts are live-streamed over the internet, and the schedule is at https://www.a2gov.org/departments/communications/ctn/whats-on/Pages/default.aspx#A2TV. 25 years ago, the broadcasts were scheduled only once a week and available only to cable tv subscribers in Ann Arbor. To extend our reach, the programs were also broadcast on the public-access station in Grand Rapids, where they are still broadcast weekly, and on another network that once served 9 counties in northern lower Michigan.

200 of the Songwriters Open Mic 30-minute shows from recent years are archived on a YouTube channel, at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9NEc1wuphx3tiaBQwvcoXA/videos

The live open mic where these episodes are videotaped started in February of 1996 at Oz’s Music Store in Ann Arbor. Until COVID and social-distancing concerns hit, the store’s cozy performance space served as home, except for a short stint at a local book store and occasional on-the-road video-tapings at songwriter events around Michigan — Traverse City, Cheboygan, Mackinac Island, Battle Creek, Harbor Springs, and other locations. Oz’s Music Store continues to serve musicians and students on Packard Road.

Our open-mic performances and the videotaping switched to Zoom by April of 2020. The difficulties of doing live music over Zoom were overcome fairly quickly by a handful of motivated and tech-savvy performers. The videotaping continues, and un-edited tapes are immediately shared with the performers via DropBox. In this Zoom era, the frequency of our open mic has shifted to weekly events, on Tuesday evenings, and now the performers are not only locals, a few of whom go back to early days of Songwriters Open Mic, but also songwriters from a couple dozen states, 5 countries, and 3 continents.

As many have noted over the past 22 months, what is unfortunately lost due to “physical distancing” can be countered by efforts toward virtual connectedness. At Week 1300, it feels good to appreciate the vital community that Songwriters Open Mic is and has been for so long, and to acknowledge the community within Community Television Network, broadcasting the programs for more than 25 years.

Jim Novak, host and producer, Songwriters Open Mic
jimnovakmusic@gmail.com

The episode broadcast during Week 1300 is on the YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzDDBqcO-7k&t=1594s Recorded over Zoom, it includes 3 songs by John Peiffer from Maryland, and one each by Carolyn Cott from Pennsylvania, and Jim Eddy from Michigan. Jim Novak closes with a song called “Open Mic Music.”

Bedrooms, Basements and Zooming

November 2nd, 2021

Bedrooms, Basements and Zooming

The 20th Zoom session of our first-Tuesday Songwriters Open Mic is 11/2/2021. SOM began in 1996, so at this point we’re right around 300 monthly get-togethers to play original music. Most of the pre-Covid / in-person meetings were at Oz’s Music Store in Ann Arbor, which was (and is) a terrific space. But after a year and a half of Zooming from bedrooms or basements, I see several good things to appreciate despite the physical isolation, the shortcomings of not being in the same room with an attentive audience of close listeners.

The first consolation: success in a collaborative effort to master the technology. We learned together, over time, how to convey live music pretty well over the internet. We experimented with variations of microphones and DAWs and computer connections, and made cheat sheets for managing the audio settings. We progressed from “it’s better than nothing” to “it’s pretty darn good.”

Also, Zoom widened the circle of performers. Over these 20 months we’ve enjoyed songwriters from coast to coast in the US, plus England and Australia.

And about the community aspect: For many years, the “regulars” of the open mic at Oz’s Music set a committed standard not only for earnest and unflagging efforts at writing and playing, but also for the endearing quality of personal interaction. The post-performance discussion at Songwriters Open Mic has had two primary features: supportive feedback about the songs, and idiosyncratic digressions into amusing rabbit holes of popular-music history. Newcomers often noted these qualities and felt both welcomed and intrigued. I had some concern about whether any of this would carry over to the Zoom world, but learned quickly that all was well. The positive vibe of engaged, knowledgeable and capable amateur musicians definitely prevails, month after month, despite the tech apparatus and spatial distance.

So, it’s another first-Tuesday, and SOM is online once again, open to all, to participate or listen, a virtual get-together. The Zoom meeting ID and Passcode change each month. Songwriters can get the monthly sign-on info and reserve a performing slot by writing me directly or by using the MeetUp app, which is https://www.meetup.com/Ozs-Music-Songwriters-Open-Mic/

Here’s a link to a lightly edited 30-minute selection of songs, from three of the regulars, mostly from August’s first-Tuesday open mic:

Jim
JimNovakMusic@gmail.com

Michael Peter Smith on Songwriting

September 7th, 2021

Michael Peter Smith was such an outstanding teacher of songwriting — intense yet light-hearted, it seemed to me. In recognition of what would have been his 80th birthday today, here in two 30-minute videos is his lecture-demonstration called “Writing Songs for Shows,” recorded with permission at Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters, in 2016. Michael talked about his creative process, with examples from musicals he had written including the Tony-award-winning Grapes of Wrath, Moby Dick, and The Snow Queen. The links for these 2 episodes with Michael are https://youtu.be/w_Rc2ZWbrqA (part one) and https://youtu.be/wJGesRzW5gY(part two). These videos were broadcast on my long-running public-access tv program, Songwriters Open Mic. There are over two hundred half-hour programs on the Youtube Channel for “Songwriters Open Mic Ann Arbor.” Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters is an annual event held in November at Harbor Springs, Michigan, by springfed (dot) org.

Here is a run-down of each episode:
Part One—
2:30 writing for shows as “a way to write songs”.
6:50 About The Snow Queen
10:50 the genesis of the song Love Letter on a Fish
16:45 how to be more prolific
21:10 performance, Love Letter on a Fish
25:00 extraordinary rhymes and “the amount of labor”

Part Two —
2:30 Aaron Copland’s remarks about writing music to prose
5:00 Opal Whiteley; performance of Brown Leaves
8:00 Melville, arranging phrases
10:30 performance, Macey and He’s Stark Dead
13:00 John Prine quote on fixing things
15:00 when comments from other people won’t do you any good
17:30 how to record yourself and listen back, as a “third person”
19:30 two performances from the Staff Concert: Accokeek, and The Dutchman.

Song for the Civilian Conservation Corps: “CCC Boys”

September 26th, 2020

The youtube channel Megaprojects recently put up an excellent video on The Civilian Conservation Corps. I was prompted to get my song about the “CCC Boys” out there as well, and here’s the new link: https://youtu.be/qKXTuysUMfw

The lyrics are here:

“CCC Boys” (Song for the Civilian Conservation Corps)

by Jim Novak

The forests of the Garden were lumbered and left to burn,
Farmland and stream heading for trouble as the Century turned.
The market crashed in ’29, there was no work for many,
A dust cloud settling down on this once-proud Land of Plenty.

There were hobo boys in jungles, and teens out on the street,
Young men on the farm: even there they couldn’t make ends meet.
So when FDR was elected, right away he made a plan,
He said “Let’s put those boys to work, and let’s restore our Land.”

Here’s to the CCC, planting trees and more,
Cheers to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps.

A quarter-million enrollees in just a few months’ time,
From ’33 to ’42, there were three million point five,
All in Roosevelt’s Tree Army, Soil Soldiers, CCC….
They restored the woods, restored their lives, that’s their history.

With axe and hoe and shovel, they leaned into their task;
Fire trails, riverbanks, campsites — all that they were asked;

California to Maine, Skyline Drive to Yellowstone,
They made 30 bucks a months, and all but 5 went home.

3 billion seedlings with mattock, axe, and maul,
Their message was “Think Ahead,” and what they did’ll outlive us all.

So, here’s to the CCC, planting trees and more,
Cheers to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps.

My Dad was a CCC Boy, as he so liked to be called,
Went from home near Pittsburgh to Virginia’s Front Roy-alle.
The he got a job in Detroit, then he served in World War Two,
Said, After being in the C’s, there was no work he could not do.

I met those CCC Boys at reunions at Higgins Lake,
They’ve slowed a step but still quick of mind, w/ a firm, firm hand to shake.
To a man they’ve got great stories, and it’s not just trees they grew:
They grew themselves –they want that choice for the next generation too.

Here’s to the CCC, planting trees and more,
Cheers to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Learning on the job, they leaned into their task;
They called it the College of Callouses — & did all they were asked;

California to Maine, Skyline Drive to Yellowstone,
They made 30 bucks a months, and all but 5 went home.

3 billion seedlings with mattock, axe, and maul,
Their message was “Think Ahead,” and what they did’ll outlive us all.

Here’s to the CCC, planting trees and more,
Cheers to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps

That’s my song for the CCC Boys, you can sing it in a national park,
Sing it in a state forest, on a morning hike or at dark,
Sing it once, in gratitude for the men of my father’s age,
And sing it twice for the youngsters, to be inspired by History’s page.

Here’s to the CCC, planting trees and more,
Cheers to the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corps

NEW DIRECTORY OF PERFORMERS ON THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL FOR “SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC ANN ARBOR”

March 1st, 2019

Here’s a list of 65 performers from Songwriters Open Mic, and where to find them on my YouTube channel (Search YouTube for “Songwriters Open Mic Ann Arbor”). When you are at the Channel in search of a particular performer, click on the thumbnail with the four-digit Episode Number associated with the name in the Directory below. Or search by the performer’s name and the Episode number. When you open a 30-minute video program, you’ll see a description of the contents of the episode including a list of the performers in order of appearance.

Alec Wiener, Episodes # 1100, 1101, 1102, 1123,1136
Alex Whipple, Episodes # 1141, 1142
Andres Hernandez, Episodes # 1071,1140, 1141, 1142
Annie Bacon, Episode # 1129
Ashley Schuliger, #1073, 1077
Austin Dubois, # 1092, 1095
Bernadette Quist, # 1131
Brian Lampkin, # 1092, 1093, 1097
Bryan Elum, #1055
Charlie King, # 1109
Craig Lemieux, # 1085
Dan Bilich, # 1071, 1074, 1085
Dan Boyd, #1055
Dan Meloni, # 1072, 1075, 1079, 1094
Don Lee, # 1121, 1131, 1136
Duel at Dawn, # 1106
Ed Dupas, # 1110
Erik Harp, # 1144
Ethan Rogers, #1121
Folk Y’All, # 1104
Greg Maxwell, # 1083
ilyAIMY, # 1097
Jack Richards, # 1146
Jeanne Mackay, # 1109
Jeremy Morse, # 1095
Jerry Mack, # 1087, 1101, 1102, 1119, 1124, 1127, 1135, 1146
Jim Bouldin, #1071, 1135, 1145
Jim Eddy, # 1071, 1073, 1074, 1075, 1078, 1079, 1103, 1100,1098, 1094,1093, 1092, 1090, 1089,1088, 1083, 1119,1122, 1138, 1123, 1124, 1127, 1132, 1133, 1134, 1135, 1136, 1137
Jim Novak, # 1120, 1122, 1123, 1124, 1127, 1131, 1132, 1136, 1134, 1137, 1142, 1144, 1145, 1146
Joe Kidd, # 1106
Jonas, # 1131
Julia Furlong, #1120
Kat Renae, # 1092
Kelsey Detering, # 1129
Kevin Brown, # 1128, 1147
LaRon Williams, # 1109
Laura Baris, #1120
Laurie White, # 1109
Lily Talmers, # 1084
Linden Thoburn, # 1096, 1093, 1092, 1130, 1141, 1142
Marlo Mudd, #1121
Mary Ann Kirt, # 1078, 1075, 1074,1073, 1079, 1096, 1094, 1091, 1084, 1083, 1120, 1122, 1138,1139, 1123, 1124, 1129, 1133, 1136
Michael Joseph, # 1083, 1138, 1139
Milan Seth, # 1128
Mike Carter, # 1130, 1147
Nick, # 1125
Oliver de Peralta, # 1077
One Dangerous Mind, # 1104
Paul Epstein, # 1077, 1075, 1074, 1073, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1102, 1100, 1095, 1094, 1090, 1089, 108, 1087, 1119, 1138, 1139,1123,1125, 1132,1133,1136,1140, 1143
Phil Daker, #1100, 1103
Phil McMillion, # 1099
Richard Daddy Love, # 1055
Rod Johnson, # 1076, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1103, 1101, 1099, 1095, 1086, 1083, 1138,1139,1123,1133,1134,1141
Sal Schmittou, # 1074, 1077
Sarah Robinson, # 1081
Sean Kagalis, # 1105
Sheila Burke, # 1106
Sherry and Leslie, #1119
Stuart Benbow, # 1105
Stuart Fensom, # 1104
Steve Trosin, # 1110
Tim Reahard, # 1073, 1071, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1103, 1102, 1100, 1098, 1095, 1089, 1088, 1086, 1083, 1119, 1122, 1139, 1124, 1127, 1132, 1137,1146
Tommy Badfinger, # 1092, 1093
Wolf B. Reuter, # 1076

There are now over 400 original songs on the YouTube Channel (“Songwriters Open Mic Ann Arbor”). At 16 months old, there are 80 “SOM” videos (30 minutes each) available there, including recent and not-so-recent performances. (NOTE: There is a separate Directory of uploaded videos for performers taped at the Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.)

Jimnovakmusic(at)gmail(dot)com

Updated Directory to “Songwriters Open Mic” on YOUTUBE

October 13th, 2018

UPDATED DIRECTORY: “SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC” PERFORMERS ON THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Here’s a list of more than 50 performers from Songwriters Open Mic, and where to find them on my Youtube channel (Search for “Songwriters Open Mic Ann Arbor”). When you are at the Channel in search of a particular performer, click on the thumbnail with the four-digit Episode Number associated with the name in the Directory below. When you open a 30-minute video program, you’ll see a description of the contents of the episode including a list of the performers in order of appearance.

Alec Wiener, Episodes # 1100, 1101, 1102
Andres Hernandez, Episode # 1071
Ashley Schuliger, #1073, 1077
Austin Dubois, # 1092, 1095
Brian Lampkin, # 1092, 1093, 1097
Bryan Elum, #1055
Charlie King, # 1109
Craig Lemieux, # 1085
Dan Bilich, # 1071, 1074, 1085
Dan Boyd, #1055
Dan Meloni, # 1072, 1075, 1079, 1094
Don Lee, # 1121
Duel at Dawn, # 1106
Ed Dupas, # 1110
Ethan Rogers, #1121
Folk Y’All, # 1104
Greg Maxwell, # 1083
ilyAIMY, # 1097
Jeanne Mackay, # 1109
Jeremy Morse, # 1095
Jerry Mack, # 1087, 1101, 1102, 1119
Jim Bouldin, #1071
Jim Eddy, # 1071, 1073, 1074, 1075, 1078, 1079, 1103, 1100,1098, 1094,1093, 1092, 1090, 1089,1088, 1083, 1119,1122
Jim Novak
Joe Kidd, # 1106
Julia Furlong, #1120
Kat Renae, # 1092
LaRon Williams, # 1109
Laura Baris, #1120
Laurie White, # 1109
Lily Talmers, # 1084
Linden Thoburn, # 1096, 1093, 1092
Marlo Mudd, #1121
Mary Ann Kirt, # 1078, 1075, 1074,1073, 1079, 1096, 1094, 1091, 1084, 1083, 1120, 1122
Michael Joseph, # 1083
Oliver de Peralta, # 1077
One Dangerous Mind, # 1104
Paul Epstein, # 1077, 1075, 1074, 1073, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1102, 1100, 1095, 1094, 1090, 1089, 108, 1087, 1119
Phil Daker, #1100, 1103
Phil McMillion, # 1099
Richard Daddy Love, # 1055
Rod Johnson, # 1076, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1103, 1101, 1099, 1095, 1086, 1083
Sal Schmittou, # 1074, 1077
Sarah Robinson, # 1081
Sean Kagalis, # 1105
Sheila Burke, # 1106
Sherry and Leslie, #1119
Stuart Benbow, # 1105
Stuart Fensom, # 1104
Steve Trosin, # 1110
Tim Reahard, # 1073, 1071, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1103, 1102, 1100, 1098, 1095, 1089, 1088, 1086, 1083, 1119, 1122
Tommy Badfinger, # 1092, 1093
Wolf B. Reuter, # 1076
The YouTube Channel is 10 months old, and there are over 50 “SOM” videos (30 minutes each) there, including recent and not-so-recent performances. (NOTE: There is a separate Directory of uploaded videos for performers taped at the Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.)
Jimnovakmusic(at)gmail(dot)com 10/13/18

TWO POLITICAL PARODY SONGS ON SOUNDCLOUD

September 18th, 2018

TWO POLITICAL PARODY SONGS ON SOUNDCLOUD

My latest is “It’s My Party,” written in August 2018, and I’ve also uploaded “The Wreck of the Ryan-McConnell,” from the summer of 2017. Many thanks to Lesley Gore and Gordon Lightfoot, whose classic songs provided an outlet for my wonkish outrage. Below are the Soundcloud links and a copy of the each lyric.

My Soundcloud User ID is https://soundcloud.com/user-698601894

It’s My Party:

The Wreck of the Ryan-McConnell:

IT’S MY PARTY
(1963, By Wiener, Gould and Gluck; additional words by Jim Novak, 2018; jimnovakmusic@gmail.com)

In The New Yorker magazine, August 16, 2018: “Trump’s Grip on the Republican Party Just Got Even Tighter,” by John Cassidy.

It’s my Party and I’ll lie if I want to, lie if I want to, lie if I want to
You would lie too if you knew what I knew.

Nobody knows where the GOP’s gone, but Republicans get I’m the King
They wear my red MAGA hats, and kiss my ass and my ring.

GOP voters are solid for me, never a peep or a doubt
Congress’ oversight, man what a joke, minority Dems got no clout!

It’s my Party and I’ll lie if I want to lie if I want to, lie if I want to
You would lie too if you knew what I knew.

Working class white people voted for me, they still think I’m on their side,
Health care, tax breaks, all that I pledged, they just don’t get that I lied!

GOP candidates, best get this straight: Russia’s my friend, not the Press,
White supremacists, go ‘head and hate: you domestic terrorists (“fine people”).

It’s my Party and I’ll act like I want to, distract if I want to, change facts if I
want to, You would lie too if you knew what I knew

OK so what if I break a few norms, and I’m shameless about getting laid,
I bully with morning tweet storms , and shit on the CIA!

I punish enemies, Payback is sweet, and Emoluments are no prob,
Money laundering, shadowy deals, I’m like the Boss of this Mob!

It’s my Party, I’ll collude if I want to, talk crude if I want to, screw you if I want to,
You’d cover up too, if you knew what I knew.

Subpoena my records, I’ll just dance away, & call the whole thing Fake News
Mueller’s Witch Hunt, & my D.O.J. (are) G-Men I love to abuse!

Vlad, the Russkies and Porn Movie Stars, I pick my friends from the Best,
Swamp Pirates Scott, Paul and Chris, DC’s our Treasure Chest!

It’s my Party and I’ll troll if I want to, control who I want to, burn coal if I want to,
You would lie too if you knew what I knew

Tax cheating, campaign laws, who gives a crap, I conspire with friends to make fraud,
So unfair now to come after me, but Fox News treats me like God!

Casual racism, dog whistles too, then I claim Whites are oppressed,
Evangelicals boy they love me: my greed and adulteries are blessed!

It’s my Party and I’ll lie if I want to, lie if I want to, lie if I want to
You would lie too if you knew what I knew.

RECITATIVE:

I’ll end regulations and Roe versus Wade, stoke resentment against immigrants;
More court justices, more nutty tweets — You really want Mike Pence??!!

“Resistance” is futile, my voters don’t care I’m disruptive, unstable, bizarre,
“Unhinged” and orange, I swear, they tell me, We love how you are!

It’s my Party and I’ll lie if I want to, lie if I want to, lie if I want to
You would lie too if you knew what I knew.

The Wreck of the Ryan-McConnell (Lyric by Jim Novak, jimnovakmusic@gmail.com; from the song by Gordon Lightfoot)

From Politico, July 28, 2017: “At a closed-door conference meeting with House Republicans hours after Sen. John McCain scuttled perhaps the last best hope of repealing Obamacare, Ryan read an excerpt from ‘The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,’ a song about sailors drowning in a 1975 shipwreck. He likened the tune to what he deemed the Senate’s tragic failure to repeal Obamacare.”

1.
The law was signed in Obama’s time,
For health-care reform and expansion.
Affordable care with a free-market share,
It helps 24 million and then some…

A Conservative thing but Dems gave it wing,
No one was ever Death-Paneled.
Republican jerks said the law’d never work,
With their lawsuits and bills to dismantle!
2.
The Law of the Land the GOP could not stand,
Voting 50-plus times to repeal it.
Folks were so scared, the GOP did not care,
They’d take your coverage and steal it…

Medicaid and markets, for all the insured,
The goal was for all to be healthy.
The cost wouldn’t bust us, it’s pure social justice,
But the Right wanted more for the wealthy!
3.
Trump was elected, Hillary rejected,
Republicans took over Congress.
The House bill in May got Paul Ryan’s OK,
It was callous enough to astonish…

Costs out of pocket were sure to sky-rocket
For those who were poorer and older,
Mandates were gone and the tax breaks were strong
But if you’re not rich you’re cold-shouldered!
4.
The Senate’s bill was a similar pill,
As 13 old men worked in secret.
McConnell was nasty, but couldn’t get it passed, he
Had Trump’s help but he is a nit-wit…

Calls and e-mails on a massive scale,
At Town Halls, alarms were sounded.
Til McCain’s thumb went down and the GOP drowned,
And the Ryan-McConnell was grounded!

5.
If they can’t dislodge it, won’t Trump sabotage it,
By dropping the insurer payments,
Discouraging consumers, fomenting false rumors,
And kill it with all such betrayments…

The coverage to be lost and the premiums’ cost
And subsidies they’d just as soon kill,
There’s no compromise, there’s still blood in their eyes,
Where’s the Wreck of the Ryan-McConnell?

6.
With things so unsettling, some people are betting
That Ryan-McConnell ain’t over.
Til a mid-term election and mid-course correction,
One day, the Dem’s will take over…

Then we might mend it rather than end it,
And do as the law was intended.
Good folks should be able to make markets stable,
And Ryan-McConnell upended!
7.
And let’s say one prayer for single-payer,
For fair-minded ways of wealth-sharing.
We’re all common stock, so let’s sit down and talk
Not Repeal-Replace, but Repairing!

The law that was signed in Obama’s time
For health care reform and expansion,
It’s affordable care with a free-market share,
It helps 24 million and then some!

DIRECTORY: “SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC” PERFORMERS ON THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL

July 16th, 2018

DIRECTORY: “SONGWRITERS OPEN MIC” PERFORMERS ON THE YOUTUBE CHANNEL
Here’s a list of nearly 50 performers from Songwriters Open Mic, and where to find them on my Youtube channel, officially called “Songwriters Open Mic Ann Arbor.” When you are at the Channel in search of a particular performer, click on the thumbnail with the four-digit Episode Number associated with the name in the Directory below. When you open a 30-minute video program, you’ll see a description of the contents of the episode including a list of the performers in order of appearance.
Alec Wiener, Episodes # 1100, 1101, 1102
Andres Hernandez, Episode # 1071
Ashley Schuliger, #1073, 1077
Austin Dubois, # 1092, 1095
Brian Lampkin, # 1092, 1093, 1097
Bryan Elum, #1055
Charlie King, # 1109
Craig Lemieux, # 1085
Dan Bilich, # 1071, 1074, 1085
Dan Boyd, #1055
Dan Meloni, # 1072, 1075, 1079, 1094
Duel at Dawn, # 1106
Ed Dupas, # 1110
Folk Y’All, # 1104
Greg Maxwell, # 1083
ilyAIMY, # 1097
Jeanne Mackay, # 1109
Jeremy Morse, # 1095
Jerry Mack, # 1087, 1101, 1102
Jim Bouldin, #1071
Jim Eddy, # 1071, 1073, 1074, 1075, 1078, 1079, 1103, 1100,1098, 1094,1093, 1092, 1090, 1089,1088, 1083
Jim Novak, # 1078, 1072, 1071, 1080, 1103, 1101, 1094, 1093, 1092, 1083
Joe Kidd, # 1106
Kat Renae, # 1092
LaRon Williams, # 1109
Laurie White, # 1109
Lily Talmers, # 1084
Linden Thoburn, # 1096, 1093, 1092
Mary Ann Kirt, # 1078, 1075, 1074,1073, 1079, 1096, 1094, 1091, 1084, 1083
Michael Joseph, # 1083
Oliver de Peralta, # 1077
One Dangerous Mind, # 1104
Paul Epstein, # 1077, 1075, 1074, 1073, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1102, 1100, 1095, 1094, 1090, 1089, 108, 1087
Phil Daker, #1100, 1103
Phil McMillion, # 1099
Richard Daddy Love, # 1055
Rod Johnson, # 1076, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1103, 1101, 1099, 1095, 1086, 1083
Sal Schmittou, # 1074, 1077
Sarah Robinson, # 1081
Sean Kagalis, # 1105
Sheila Burke, # 1106
Stuart Benbow, # 1105
Stuart Fensom, # 1104
Steve Trosin, # 1110
Tim Reahard, # 1073, 1071, 1080, 1082, 1081, 1103, 1102, 1100, 1098, 1095, 1089, 1088, 1086, 1083
Tommy Badfinger, # 1092, 1093
Wolf B. Reuter, # 1076
So far, the Channel is 8 months old, and there are about 40 “SOM” videos (30 minutes each) on the Channel, including recent and not-so-recent performances. Later this summer, I’ll add videos that are newly edited and others from the archives, at the rate of about two per week. (NOTE: There is a separate Directory for performers taped at the Lamb’s Retreat for Songwriters, in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016.)
jimnovakmusic(at)gmail(dot)com