REMEMBER OUR HEROS

Next Monday, May 25th is Memorial Day - a time for us to honor and celebrate all the brave men and women of our armed services who laid their lives down for our country and our freedom.

Stay Strong Nation is a non-profit organization dedicated to honoring the men and women who have served our nation in combat, bringing awareness to the often unrecognized Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and promoting proper treatment and care for our heroes. With the release of the song "Stay Strong," they ask all Americans alike to give their support to our soldiers in combat regardless of their political views. PTSD affects many men and women who serve in our military who lived through traumatic experiences, and many of them come home to people who don't recognize their need for help or treatment.

This summer, on July 10th, Stay Strong Nation is organizing an event called Climb Strong, which is centered around a climb to the peak of Mount Fuji, Japan to benefit our service men and women.

StayStrongNation.org has also formally submitted a National Proclamation to the White House detailing the creation of National PTSD Awareness Week, beginning this year on Saturday, November 7th, which would include Veterans Day on Wednesday the 11th.

This Memorial Day Weekend, show your support for our troops, and help our nation to stay strong together!

Best,
Michael

POINT OF GRACE NEWSLETTER

Find the Hidden Tickets for
POG Concerts!

We're so "techy" now!

Hey Everyone! It's about time for summer and I can't WAIT! I will be going to the beach at the end of the month, I'm so ready for sand, sun and relaxation. It's been raining here in Nashville for weeks... so we're all saying BRING ON THE SUN! We will make sure and share pictures with you all when we get back!

I wanted to let you in on a few really cool things we are doing
that involve YOU...

First off we now have a Facebook page! YAY! Add us if you have one! We're all pretty new at it but I think we're all going to be very addicted...

Secondly, We ALL now have Twitters, we're totally up with the times. :) We are going to start doing some really fun things on our Twitter and we're SO excited to share it with you! On show days, we will be hiding 2 TICKETS and 2 MEET AND GREETS to our show somewhere in the town we will be playing.. .and it will be a race... first person to find them gets them! It's as easy as that! We will all Twitter the day of the show (around noon), where they are hidden. We're starting this today in Richmond!

So if you don't have a Twitter account yet, sign on up, and if you're not following us, make sure you are! We will be announcing some VERY exciting things on our Twitter!!!

Our Twitter names are pogshelley, pogdenise, and pogleigh.

And last (but not least)...You've been asking... and we have a new video blog up for GMA Week! Check it out here!

Hope you all are doing great! Keep in touch! We LOVE hearing from you!

- Shelley

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BEEGIE ADAIR NEWSLETTER

Parisian Café Now Available!

Yes! Beegie's newest studio recording, Parisian Café, is now available, so visit her online store to place your order! This album features tracks that originated in France and became popular hits in the United States, and of course, Beegie (along with violinist David Davidson) has revived them in a new light and with a new sound that is sure to melt your heart. To hear more about this exciting new album, you can click here for a YouTube video interview featuring Beegie herself as she discusses some of the aspects of her most recent recording.

Beegie on NPR’s Piano Jazz

This week, Beegie flew to New York to record her second Piano Jazz program, hosted by the legendary jazz pianist Marian McPartland. Beegie first appeared on McPartland's hit public radio show back in 1990, and now, nearly 30 recordings later and with her career moving in an exciting direction, Beegie treated her fans to another interview! Beegie shared some very interesting stories and conversations about her current music as well as her future plans.

Since April 1979, Marian McPartland has hosted Piano Jazz each week, welcoming jazz artists for an hour of conversation and improvisation on her Peabody Award-winning program. Piano Jazz is the longest-running national performance program on public radio, and is a product of South Carolina Educational Radio, nationally distributed by NPR.

For more information about McPartland's Piano Jazz program, visit the website at NPR.org.

Free Song Download

Enjoy Beegie Adair and David Davidson in a special bonus track from Parisian Café entitiled "Fascination Waltz," courtesy of Green Hill Music! Just enter your name, country, zip code and email address on our simple download form to receive this special download for FREE!
To download "Fascination Waltz" now just click here!

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JIM BRICKMAN PIANO CLUB CONTEST

Piano Club Contest

For May 15th through May 31st 2009

Question:
What pop song duet by artists Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder topped the Billboard charts at #1 and stayed there for the next 7 weeks back in 1982?

SEND YOUR ANSWER HERE TO QUALIFY!

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Vocabulary Word:
In music, what is a “Cadence?”

Current News:
The pop music group Coldplay is giving their new “live” album away for free!
All you have to do is go here to download it!

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American Idol and swine flu
Even "American Idols" are not exempted from swine flu checks. Philippine health authorities had to chase down David Cook and David Archuleta, the winner and the runner-up of last season's TV singing contest, to have them fill out a health checklist and report their temperatures at least twice a day before their open-air concert Saturday in the Philippines!

World Famous Pianist makes the Time 100-People of the Year
Classical pianist sensation Lang Lang made Time’s Top 100 People of the Year list, under Artists and Entertainers.
Lang, 26, has been playing the piano since he was 2 or 3 years old, and apparently he got turned on to it watching Tom and Jerry cartoons in China. When he's just messing around — which he does a lot — he'll play comic riffs that sound like they're from cartoon music. He is touring this summer with Herbie Hancock.

Over the last few weeks and months there has been an explosion in the interest and use of Twitter. This micro blogging phenomenon has swept the online world, and it's official - Tweeting is the new coolest thing.

As I have been working with clients to leverage this new phenomenon in social networking, it has reminded me of a simple, yet fundamental marketing truth: It is the message, not necessarily the medium that counts in the end.

We recommend that our clients focus on their message, and view channels such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and even old-fashioned email communication as open doors to reach out to their audiences. It is easy to get caught up in the hype of the latest blogging tool and risk possibly missing a core audience that may actually prefer to receive a message via email, text, or directly from your website.


Communicating Your Message Consistently Across Multiple Media Platforms


As this image shows, it is important to put the message at the center of your communication, and then focus on spreading it over the different channels. You don't want to start out Tweeting just because it seems like everyone else is doing it. Instead, it is important to first focus on what you want to say, then communicate it across a variety of channels in order to reach your maximum audience.


Messaging DOs and DON'Ts

DO
-Have a goal in mind.
-Be consistent. Your message and tone should fit your brand.
-Have a call to action for the recipient.
-Create dialogue and be prepared to answer.
-Have a way to measure success.

DON'T
-Ignore an audience by only sending your message through a single channel.
-Tweet without a goal in mind.
-Bounce from channel to channel. Be patient, building an audience takes time.


Links of Interest

Here are some interesting articles on how to make the most out of evolving social networks and micro blogging tools:

Top 10 Twitter Tools for Musicians

Facebook - How to Build a Facebook Community of Millions

And don't forget, there are only 6 shopping days left until Mother's Day. So do something nice for the Mom in your life!

Best,

Michael