Songwriter showcase showcases Goldendale
Lou Marzeles
News Editor
A few hundred years ago, it feels like, I was an editor at The Washington Times, in D. C. I also did a lot of writing for the paper, and most of it was on music. I directed the music coverage for the publication, and I focused a lot of my own attention on local musicians. I wrote the first piece in a major newspaper on Mary Chapin Carpenter, before she signed with Columbia Records and back when she and I used to perform on the same bill at the famed Birchmere in Virginia. It was clear early on she was destined for deserved stardom.
So I get intrigued when I see something musically ambitious being undertaken by local people. What Rainier Billingsley is doing around here is very ambitious indeed, and the remarkable thing is that it seems to be working. I'm more than a little surprised, to tell the truth. It's a difficult thing in any market to drum up interest in original music-people commonly like to stick to music they know. A good turnout at a showcase of original music by local, unknown musicians is quite a rare thing, unless you're in a market like Austin, Texas.
Goldendale is no Austin. Nonetheless, about a hundred people showed up at Pine Springs Resort to listen to music they'd never heard before. In and of itself, that wouldn't seem to be particularly significant. But the first such showcase, in August, also was successful. Far more significant, to my sense, is not just the turnout. It's the attitude of the audience. They listened. They were actually interested in the music. I can't tell you how truly uncommon this is. And it's happening right here.
I'd like to see a focus on quality of musicianship at this point. Goldendale seems poised to become a target for original music. It can only get better.
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