SMAC Coffeehouse a HUGE success!

On Friday, June 8, the Smith Martin Arts Council (SMAC) hosted the last of this season’s Coffeehouse series, featuring a number of SVSA members in an in-the-round format.  It was a huge success.  Two groups of four songwriters performed four songs each, in rotation. In left to right, top to bottom order on the poster below, they were David Simpkins, Mike Frankē, Mike DeGiorgi, Randy Williams (aka Johnny Holiday), Greg Trafidlo, Larry Sakayama, Larry “The Undertaker” Helms, and Celie Holms. Also a huge part of the show were the ever-present Kathy Acosta and Britt Mistele, singing backup.  The audience of 80+ people was wonderful — extremely appreciative and attentive.  They have SUCH good taste!  🙂

This was a fund-raising event for the SVSA, which goes a long way to pay SVSA annual expenses, and this means a lot to us.  Thanks so much to all the folks at SMAC for being such awesome hosts, and particular thanks to SVSA members Larry Sakayama and Mike DeGiorgi for organizing the event, putting together the lineup, and doing all the grunt work.

Mike Franke wins “Silver” at SAW MASC

SVSA President Mike Franke recently won “Silver” in the Jazz/Blues category of the the 2018 Mid-Atlantic Song Contest (MASC), hosted by the Songwriters Association of Washington (SAW), for his song “Recognize Me.