The Songwriter's Beat celebrates 5th Anniversary December 21, 2005 at the Cornelia Street Cafe

To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected]



Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street Greenwich Village, NY 10014

Tel: 212-989-9319 Fax: 212-243-4207 Web: corneliastreetcafe.com

between West 4th and Bleecker Sts, Greenwich Village 1,9 Subway to Sheridan Square; A, C, E, B, D, F to West 4th St.

December 7, 2005 (New York, NY) The Songwriter's Beat 5th Anniversary, Wednesday December 21, 2005, 8:30pm at The Cornelia Street Cafe The Songwriter's Beat, New York's most popular monthly acoustic showcase event for songwriters, celebrates its fifth anniversary on December 21st at the renowned Cornelia Street Caf in Greenwich Village, New York.

Since its inception five years ago, The Songwriter's Beat has presented over 200 songwriters, including Broadway-bound Elisabeth Withers (The Color Purple); The Letterman Show's own Felicia Collins; Brian Muni w/ Carlos Alomar; Defunkt's Joseph Bowie and Kim Clarke; Morley; blues-rocker Michael Hill; John Margolis; celebrated vocalist Dean Bowman; Liz Queler; Kelli Sae; Leni Stern; Tuey Connell; Rachel Loshak; Robert Secret; Paulette McWilliams w/ Nat Adderly, Jr.; Valerie Ghent; Ann Klein; JJ Appleton; Nadine Goellner; Stephanie Winters; Sara Divine; and many more, including Steve Buscemi reading a poem by Lou Reed alongside firefighters and police officers singing at a 9/11 benefit concert. Although many writer- performers are from the Tri-State area, The Songwriter's Beat welcomes songwriters from afar and has featured performers from Australia, England, Ireland, Japan, Spain, Germany and Canada as well as from around the USA. Notable guests have included Songwriter's Hall of Fame inductees Ashford and Simpson, legendary producer Orrin Keepnews, and the aforementioned Lou Reed.

Founded in December, 2000 by acclaimed singer-songwriter/producer Valerie Ghent, The Songwriter's Beat supports and encourages songwriters to perform new songs in an intimate and warm environment. The Songwriter's Beat, which meets every third Wednesday of the month at The Cornelia Street Caf, has become a well-known hotbed of creativity where over 500 new songs have been born. (Several thousand new songs have been born at the cafe if you go back a few decades and include the legacy of the Cafe's “Songwriter's Exchange".) This creative spirit is encouraged and embodied by the peripatetic Valerie Ghent, who books and hosts the evening, engineers the sound and casually creates an atmosphere where members of the audience feel as though they are simply the luckiest people in the world, about to discover the next great performer. (They are!) Some writer-performers choose to present a complete set of new songs, others work one or two new songs into their set. All songwriters sing their own, original songs, usually performing solo, but sometimes as a duo (often unusual ones, such as a trombone-bass duet), trio or larger ensembles. Any evening is a delight, offering a rare combination of musical styles from blues to pop, funk to rock, a capella to dirgey mood music to acoustic soul to rootsy folk. Almost always vocalists, yet sometimes...instrumentalists; yes guitar and piano, but also banjo, cello, even mandolin.

The Songwriter's Beat started several offshoot songwriter series and events such as “Political Songs of Change", “The Songwriter's Beat Festival", “Songs of Peace", “Songwriters Beat NewSongs Workshop", “Songwriter's Beat Showcase Night!", “The Hamlet Project" and the “Indiegrrl Valentine's Day Love Fest" as well as welcoming an ASCAP Latin Songwriter night. In addition to these benefit events, The Songwriter's Beat has been extremely involved in community events, contributing proceeds to various charities over the years: hosting fundraiser events for direct 9/11 relief (WTC Ground Zero Relief), The September 11th Families' Association, The World Foundation for Music and Healing's “Feel the Music!" music program for children who lost parents on 9/11, breast cancer research, the local firehouse, Music for America, and most recently, for Katrina relief.

It's all about songs at The Songwriter's Beat, and about celebrating and supporting the creative process. The songs: love songs, political songs, songs of loss, longing, betrayal, celebrations, birth, death, sex, religion, faith, truth....if music moves you, if great songs and great voices move you, you will enjoy The Songwriter's Beat.

Featured performers on the December 21st Fifth Anniversary Celebration include cellist Stephanie Winters, Songs of Love founder John Beltzer, Julliard graduate Paula Myln, New York's own funk- meister Tomas Doncker, Kyra Gaunt and Songwriter's Beat founder Valerie Ghent. Show starts at 8:30pm. Admission $5, $6 minimum.

media contact:

The Cornelia Street Cafe: Jim Eigo, [email protected]

The Songwriter's Beat: Valerie Ghent, [email protected]

The Songwriter's Beat - every third Wednesday of the month

The Cornelia Street Cafe

29 Cornelia Street, New York, NY 10014

212.989.9319

http://corneliastreetcafe.com

************************************************** Valerie Ghent songwriter, vocalist, performer, producer http://valghent.com

The Songwriter's Beat http://songwritersbeat.com

World Foundation for Music and Healing http://musicandhealing.org

West Street Records http://weststreetrecords.com

The Cornelia Street Cafe http://corneliastreetcafe.com