The Top 5 Reasons our Video Contest is Better than Ice Cream

Happy Thursday!

Wait, you didn't know about the video contest?  Well, i's been going on for like a month now, for any song on our new album.  Unfortunately, there's no entries in yet...surprising because the prize is $1000!  We have, however, gotten a bunch of serious question-packed inquiries about it.  So we are expecting a few entries to get in by the deadline of August 18.  After that, you and the rest of the internet will vote the winner and select out next official video.  Complete details at: http://www.thewindsoroaksband.com/videocontest
So without further ado, here are the Top 5 Reasons our Video Contest is better than ice cream:

5. Our video contest has 0 calories, and is completely and totally fat free. 

4. Ice Cream melts and makes the cone all soggy if you don't eat it fast enough.  The Video Contest will not melt no matter how long you don't eat it.

3. Our video contest is completely lactose and gluten free so it won't upset your stomach.  

2. You can enter with a video you can make on your phone or tablet in a day or less.  Although Brandon is totally ineligible for this contest, he made a video with his iPad for one of his acoustic songs in a total of about 6 hours, just to see if it could be done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7uP4BIBB7E

and the #1 reason that the Windsor Oaks Video Contest is better than ice cream....

1. You have a chance at winning a $1000!!! And the voting us totally up to the internet to vote on it on facebook. So make that video! Upload it ASAP, and get your friends to vote on it so you can win that money!  (think of how much ice cream you can get with a thousand bucks!)

...Maybe if you don't make videos but you know someone who does, you could forward this to them?

ALSO, TODAY is August 1st. So that means it's Brandon's day to go LIVE on Ustream for Break Time 1X15.  So go check him out, LIVE at 1:15pm: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/breaktime-1x15  I believe he's having Michelle Johnson as a special guest today, playing and singing her songs on our piano in our kitchen!

as always, please email back or reach out to us on facebook, twitter, or whatever....
Alex, Brandon, and Shane
Windsor Oaks Band



August in WindsorLand:
(we've had a couple people ask us to give a little more notice about our "weekends in WindsorLand," so we'll do just that....we'll give you like 2-3 weeks in advance from now on)

Today -  LIVE ONLINE at 1:15pm - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/breaktime-1x15 (if you miss it you can still watch, just not live anymore)

Tomorrow! Friday, Aug 2 - First Friday @ Raleigh Times - outside, in the road, full band! - 8-11pm
fb event: https://www.facebook.com/events/469771099774992/

Wednesday, Aug 7 - Sullivan's - Acoustic Trio - 7pm
Fri, Aug 9 - Fox and Hound @ North Hills - Acoustic Trio - 10pm
Sat, Aug 10 - Woody's Downtown - Acoustic Trio - 9:30pm  
Sat, Aug 17 - Private Party @ Carolina Beach (email for details if you wanna come...)

Friday, August 30 - POUR HOUSE in Raleigh - full band w/ Motley Tones and New Sweat (don't miss this one!)
fb event: https://www.facebook.com/events/260669410742559/

So You Think You're a Songwriter?

Hey hey, 
We are all back in Raleigh, NC...safe and sound after our uber-educational trip to Music City, USA akaNashville, Tennessee.

Sometimes, in any business/field/sport, it's good to be put in your place once in a while. And that's exactly what happened to us this past week. If you are a musician, songwriter, or even someone who just picks around on a guitar and sometimes writes songs, you owe it to yourself to go to Nashville for a few days. The level of musicianship and songwriting talent in that town is nothing less than mind blowing.

Take Broadway for example. It's the "main drag" in downtown Nashvillle, loaded with famous bars and clubs like Tootsie's, the Stage, the Wheel, Hard Rock Cafe, Margaritaville... with live music 7 days a week from 2pm to 2am. Most of the time, upwards of 5 acts every single day...most of them playing for tips! To top it off, the talent is amazing. I wanted to beg almost every guitar player I saw for a free lesson, but I didn't want to come off too tourist-y.

While we were there we met with our reps at ASCAP, and I joined the Nashville Songwriters Association International (which has chapters all over the US, with one opening in Raleigh very soon).

Honestly, I went there with the delusional notion that people were going to hear the couple "country songs" I wrote recently and immediately feed them to some hungry country artists and put our names on the musical map "just like that"...boy was I wrong. After having the tunes heard by some professionals it's clear to me that I have a little ways to go before I try that again. They didn't hate it all, but their critiques were honest and heartfelt, and after letting it all sink in for a few days their words are clear as day.

I want to give a special shout out to Linda and Sandy, the people who have let me crash with them on all three of my humbling and enlightening trips to Music City. Accomplished performers and songwriters themselves, they know how awesome-and-totally-sweet-yet-difficult-and-soul-crushing this business can be at times. And they believe in me and the Windsor Oaks Band more than anyone I've met in a long time. Serendipitously, Sandy's poignant and personally relevant play (all about a struggling songwriter who gets dream-visits from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr., called All For a Song) opened at a really cool dinner-theatre while we were there. Shonna (my lady) and I went to go see it and we were absolutely blown away. And so were the reporters from the Examiner. Check out the raving review here: http://www.examiner.com/review/chaffin-s-barn-dinner-theatre-presents-world-premier-of-all-for-a-song Thank you, Linda and Sandy, from the bottom of my heart.

So, tell me...Are you a songwriter or just someone who writes songs? At this point I am just someone who writes songs, and it's gonna be a minute before I graduate.

Sincerely all for a song,
Brandon Scott McLean and the Windsor Oaks Band

THIS WEEK IN WINDSOR LAND:
we are back!
1.) Tomorrow - Friday July 19 - World of Beer @ North Hills
2.) Saturday - 7/20 - Chef's Palette in Cary, NC
3.) getting some pirates on board for August 30 at the Pour House
and
4.) ROCKING OUT to Linda's viola-driven version of "I Am the Walrus"