‘I Wrote That One, Too’ Book by Steve Dorff

I Wrote That One, Too… 

A Life in Songwriting from Willie to Whitney

by Steve Dorff with Colette Freedman

Montclair, NJ  (November 2, 2017)  – One of the most successful songwriters and composers of the last 25 years, Steve Dorff has penned over 20 Top 10 hits for pop and country artists around the world, including Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion, Blake Shelton, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Ray Charles, Anne Murray, Whitney Houston, George Strait, Dolly Parton, Judy Collins, Cher, Dusty Springfield, Ringo Starr, and Garth Brooks. He has scored for television shows, including Growing Pains, Murphy Brown, Murder She Wrote, and Reba, and several films, such as Any Which Way but Loose, for which he penned the titular song.

Steve has now written his next hit, I Wrote That One, Too… A Life in Songwriting from Willie to Whitney (Backbeat Books Hardcover; November 1, 2017; $29.99), a memoir recounting his remarkable journey filled with amazing successes, happy accidents in the studio, incredible friendships, tremendous creative satisfaction, and sometimes just plain being at the right place at the right time with the right song in hand. He writes:

“I truly have loved being that ‘behind-the-scenes’ guy, maintaining my anonymity, and being able to walk past the obnoxious Paparazzi at great restaurants without them giving me a second glance. In my opinion, being a songwriter who has had a successful career and doing what he is passionate about, is an award in itself.”

The book follows Steve from his childhood in Queens to Manhattan to Nashville to his eventual arrival in Los Angeles. Steve shares anecdotes, advice, and insights into his phenomenal career and recounts his experiences and sometimes-hilarious behind-the-scenes stories with the many famous singers, musicians, producers, and lyric writers with whom he has collaborated. He also gets personal and shares what he has learned about strength, courage, perseverance, and unconditional love from three important women in his life: his first wife and his mother-who passed away within a few months of each other-and his big sister, who died in May 2016.

Full of heartfelt stories, hard-earned wisdom, and delightful wit, I Wrote That One, Too… is a great read for musicians, music fans, and whoever has chased a dream and survived the surprising but often serendipitous turns in the road.

About the Authors:

Steve Dorff is a Grammy-nominee songwriter with a long line of hits to his credit, including Kenny Rogers’ “Through the Years” and most recently Garth Brooks’ “Baby, Let’s Lay Down and Dance.” An industry stalwart with a career spanning four decades, Dorff is the recipient of the NSAI Songwriter of the Year award and has been honored with more than 40 BMI awards, 14 Billboard No. 1s, and 15 Top 10 Hits. More recently, he has returned to his first love, musical theater, with his forthcoming musical “Josephine“. His songs reflect all musical genres, from contemporary sounds to haunting orchestral melodies, and he continues to be an integral part of today’s music scene.

Colette Freedman is an internationally produced playwright with over 25 produced plays. She was voted “One of 50 to Watch” by the Dramatist’s Guild. Her play Sister Cities was the hit of the 2008 Edinburgh Fringe, earned five-star reviews, and has been produced internationally. She has co-written a number of books with such best-selling writers as Jackie Collins and Michael Scott, and has written two novels, The Affair and The Consequences.

I Wrote That One, Too… A

 Life in Songwriting from Willie to Whitney

By Steve Dorff with Colette Freedman

(ISBN 9781495077296; 272 Pages; $29.99)

Backbeat Books Hardcover; November 1, 2017

Available at Backwingstore.com

More information at http://www.halleonard.com & https://stevedorff.com

Austin Power – New Jandek DVD (Austin Tuesday)

 

Austin Tuesday

Corwood 0823 (DVD)

 

Filmed live at The Austin Library (Carver Branch) February 16, 2016

Reviewed by Dale Nickey:

http://corwoodindustries.com/

 

“The Doves are calling and lifting their wings”

Jandek has just released two works back to back that indicates an uptrending third act positioned to crash head-on into civilization’s accelerated, downward trajectory. In case you haven’t noticed, humanity is walking around in a Zombie state of  ennui, fear and loathing. But we all stagger onward, grabbing fistfuls of joy and comfort like unattended fruit on a street cart. Nothing means anything and what’s the point of art anyway? Is Jandek the voice of this generation?

Austin Tuesday is the most recent work to hit the Desk of The Hollywood Times. It predates his most recent work Dallas Thursday. Like Dallas…, Austin Tuesday documents a fairly recent  performance.

“I feel strangely serene, the sun feels so nice this time of day.”

Austin Tuesday is a live performance DVD shot with one camera. The optics are up close and bare ass naked. The facilities at this venue did not include stage lighting, so utilitarian floor lamps were employed.  The effect of this overabundance of light is a prosaic clarity that seems a driving force in the performance. One camera scans the stage searching for close ups of band members, instruments, ceiling tiles and other inanimate objects. However the majority of face time belongs to The Representative of Corwood Industries. The backdrop is a brick wall that is home to the building’s shielded electric wiring, a fire alarm, and a hanging, unused projection screen that people my age remember as standard equipment in grammar school.

“To be a cadaver in the midst of a party is what no one wants”

When you strip away the atmospherics, all that remains is Jandek. Black clad, intense and old. His younger self intermittantly lights up the bones of his face, but it soon returns to its ghostly aspect; noticing and cataloguing trivial daily events and elemental feelings because the ghost Jandek (in waiting) is already starting to miss the  sensations associated with life.

“The light is dimming so early today, there were some things I didn’t want to see.”

The band is top notch and assembled with an eclectic hand of a casting director. Concert Harp, Clarinet and Bass Drum. Jandek and Sheila Smith take turns artfully scraping the open strings of a violin. Sheila and The Rep also play some very attractive “happy accident” piano as well.  Music casts an odd spell when performed by interesting musicians unencumbered by the concept of right or wrong notes.

“… brown leaves walking in the air, brown gray houses, white trim windows, I can see everything I want to see…”

The musicians skillfully shadow both The Representative and Sheila and their verse. Too often spoken word is merely words scatted over the top of a rhythm bed. On Austin Tuesday we get both extrapolated free verse as well as more conventional poetry reading. Gluing it all together is the intensity of Jandek. Body tensed for every syllable. Very little was thrown away on this Austin Tuesday.

“I succumb to it all, just like you…”

Unlike some of the previous Jandek works, Sheila Smith does not dominate with her presence on Austin Tuesday. Now, after watching her perform unadorned by atmospherics on Austin Tuesday, it can  be said, Smith is one of the most unique front women in Rock with no obvious point of reference. Sheila’s polar opposite and namesake Patti Smith was passionate and poetic, but sold us a bill of goods thinking that poetry mattered. Conversely, Sheila seems to know it’s game over for Western Civilization, and all that is really matters is the next mundane experience, or the simple miracle of a quiet walk.

“I found a hollow, empty space and I called it home…”

One time on a business trip I found myself on a shuttle bus to the Oklahoma City airport. I remembered that J.J. Cale was a native Oklahoman. I grabbed my IPOD and earbuds and immersed myself in J.J.’s muse. As the dry, earth toned landscape swept by, the epiphany was swift and immediate. Elemental art isn’t about technique or intention, it’s a reflection of where you came from. And (many times) it suggests a certain topography. I’m not sure we can condemn Jandek to any fixed location; however,  Jandek’s muse evokes something Antarctic; cold, foreboding, occasionally beautiful, yet barren and melting away at an undermined but relentless speed. And like Antarctica, Jandekland is a place most normal people will never go.

“I caused a ruckus, disoriented everyone…that was my plan.”

 

To investigate Jandek click >>>> http://corwoodindustries.com/