How can I participate?
By coming to The Songwriter's Beat, listening at least one night, and
giving us your name, email address and/or phone number
and a CD of your material. Please keep in mind that we encourage all performers to play at least one new song at The Songwriter's Beat!
When is the The Songwriter's Beat?
The Songwriter's Beat meets every third Wednesday night of the month from 8:30pm-11:00pm.
What can I do to help?
Come to the Songwriter's Beat to encourage and support songwriters! Tell all your friends about The Songwriter's Beat! And, most importantly, keep writing songs!
Tell me more about the experience...
Picture a long, blue room with a stage at the far end. A red velvet curtain lines the back of the room, there are mirrors on the walls - in the shape of windows -
making the room appear larger than it is without losing the cozy feeling. Inviting tables and chairs, with benches along the walls, encourage you to sit, to listen,
to smile at your guest, your lover, your partner, your friend, your waiter. There is energy in these walls - these walls have absorbed more creative energy than most
rooms ever get to experience: music, poetry, storytelling,
cabaret, performance after performance. Songwriters, among them Suzanne Vega, presented new songs in this venue twenty years ago in The Songwriter's Exchange.
Val started The Songwriter's Beat in December, 2000, to give songwriters an opportunity to perform their new works and a chance to hone their craft.
Drinks flow, delicious scents of fine food wafting by as waiters carry soup, salad, entrees to the tables. Wine, beer, seltzer, alcohol, your preference. Val runs
The Songwriter's Beat with obvious delight, reminding people we are 'casual here' and that her running back and forth from stage to mixing console is her choice,
not that Steve Northeast can't handle the sound but Val likes to do it, plus she's a topnotch engineer! She introduces each songwriter and likes to say
she never knows what will happen once people gets onstage,
especially as she encourages writers to try their new work. Every five-six months Val joins the lineup and performs herself, on piano and vocal.
The Cornelia Street Cafe has created a haven for creative people to experiment, to perform, to experience their work in front of an audience who is supportive,
generous and caring. The Songwriter's Beat. We welcome you as an artist, an audience member, a music lover, a friend. Join us! Celebrate the human soul and spirit in song.
What are future plans?
We will record and release CD's of songs generated through The Songwriter's Beat.
We would to create an environment where musicians can share their experiences and ways of recording, releasing, promoting one's own CD.
We plan to create an ongoing songwriting 'clinic' series with a focus on teaching and discussing the craft of songwriting.