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Welcome to Songwriters of Wisconsin International

Thank you for visiting!  Please feel free to tour the site, and take advantage of our documents and links pages.  Check back often as we will be adding new content to these regularly.  Use our "Join" page to sign up for SOWI and the annual seminar and/or awards banquet held every September.

Mission Statement:

Songwriters of Wisconsin International was formed in 1983, with the purpose of bringing songwriters together, to study and improve the craft of songwriting, by listening to, and critiquing each other's songs, and by bringing in Industry professionals.  Membership is open to anyone, in the whole world, who has an interest in songwriting.

Bio:Tony Ansems, Founder of SOWI

SONGWRITERS OF WISCONSIN INTERNATIONAL (SOWI) was established in 1983 by Tony Ansems of Neenah, Wisconsin to promote the craft of songwriting for all styles of music.  Thirteen songwriters showed up for the first meeting in the spring of 1983 at the UW Fox Valley, Menasha.  Two of these pioneers are still members today:  Tony Ansems, Neenah; and Jim Purtell, Oshkosh.  Today the SOWI family has grown to about 150 worldwide.

 

SOWI MONTHLY MEETINGS - Meetings are held at Sabre Lanes, Midway Rd. (Cty AP), Menasha, WI on the last Thursday of each month (except there are no meetings held in Nov. and Dec. due to proximity to the Holidays).  (Special meetings or events may be planned for other dates, please check the schedule below.)  There is no cost to attend a SOWI meeting.  Various members are presenters (hosts) each month.  Meetings include song critiques, whereby original songs (either played in demo form, or performed live with your instrument of choice) are critiqued by the songwriters present.  Any person who wishes to have an original song(s) critiqued should bring a CD (or cassette), and 10-15 copies of the lyrics to pass out for review.  Songs are critiqued after the host's presentation between 7:00 p.m. until approximately 9:30 p.m., give or take a half hour.    

 

The annual Songwriting Contest has a deadline of June 15.  (Check the contest page for complete information.)  All day songwriting seminars are held every third Saturday in September at the Holiday Inn Riverwalk, Neenah, followed by the annual Awards Banquet, when results of the annual Songwriting Contest will be presented, followed by a songwriter's showcase. In the past many local professionals have been seminar presenters such as Patrick Leigh, Maury Laws, Larry Darling, John Harmon, Keith Irish, Ken Anderson, Dennis Provisor, Cooky Coque, Jay Wells, Tim Dorsey, Lois Skiera-Zucek, etc.  National presenters who are professional songwriters include Steve Seskin, Moe Loughran, Jerry Vandiver, John Ims, Tony Haseldon, Scotty Turner, Marc-Alan Barnette, Chris Van Belkom, Cham Laughlin, Dale Burie, and others.     

 

Webmaster: Patrick Leigh Smolinski, pat@alternativemidi.com

SOWI e-mail: sowi(at)new.rr.com  *You must type this into your email program manually, replacing (at) with the "@" sign.  This is to prevent us from getting spammed.

Mailing address:  SOWI, PO Box 1027, Neenah, WI 54957

2010 Meeting Schedule:

Date:

Event:

Location:

Host:

Time:

March 25th Critique Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha  Jay Brehmer 7-10PM
April 29th Critique Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha  Jim Felhofer 7-10PM
May 27th Critique Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha  Melanie Kuettel 7-10PM
June 24th Critique Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha  Rikki Bellos 7-10PM
July 29th Critique Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha  Mike Heath 7-10PM
August 26th SOWI Summer Social/Critique Meeting Alternative Studio, New London Patrick Leigh (Smolinski) 5-10PM
September 25th Annual Seminar and Awards Banquet Holiday Inn River Walk, Neenah Mark Brinkman 7-10PM
October 28th Critique Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha Kevin Van Pay 7-10PM
November 11th SOWI 2010 Planning Meeting Sabre Lanes, Menasha  Tony Ansems 7-10PM
December 12th SOWI Xmas Party Menasha  Bonnie Lingnofski 7-10PM

Click HERE for directions to Sabre Lanes.  

Please Email the webmaster (below) or SOWI(at)new.rr.com for directions to the other events

 

 


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