Neil Fein's Blog

After discovering that I can add a title to a blog entry, I went back through the posts since March 2002 (when I started this blog) and turned the "titles" I had assigned into real titles; I was using "H4" tags in HTML before that. I imagine thie will let me search on titles at some future time.

I also noticed a few posts about the Greenwich Village Songwriter's Exchange... they're scattered in a few places, and I'll add links in place of this text if I ever figure out how to do permalinks. (Or is that a Blogger Pro-only thing?) My first post [Tue Aug 27 2002] goes on about how wonderful it is. I mention it a few more times in passing, but haven't gone lately. I mention the Princeton Songwriter's group in February 2003, but that's it.

I've for the time being decided not to go to the village-based group, mostly because what they consider a good song isn't what I consider a good song. To the folk circle, a "good song" is mostly in the lyrics. What I'm writing is a form of rock music, with the music and the lyric being equally as important and interdependent.

The Princeton group is closer, much closer to what I'm looking for. While they still write mostly folk music, I've seen them enjoy music for its own sake. They will point out flaws in the lyric, but also in the music. The most I ever got from the Greenwich Village group is a vague sense that the music and the words "don't go".

It occurs that all of this may be a way to avoid an uncomfortable situation. I'll go back to Houston Street sometime soon, just not as a regular.

Let me make this clear, I'm not saying one group is better than the other. I do miss the thorough lyric-thrashing that Jack and co. can deliver, even if I don't agree with their musical choices. And nothing beats an established group. I still have to find that -- or make it.