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Summary

...Well, well, well. Over 300 entries this week! Unfortunately, it seems as though many of these 300+ entrants are not musicians at all. It is obvious that many of these entrants are likely just trying to game our venue for up-votes or rewards, and that’s totally NOT cool. All this is - is a form of SPAMMING and it is rather unbecoming to say the least.

Now if one of these Spammers, or anyone else who wishes to start a “Gong-Show” type contest, I’m sure that all these whacky entrants would be more than welcome to participate in such a comical venue of such sort, but these types of “embarrassingly awful entries” are most certainly not welcome here at the Open-Mic venue, nor are they welcome at the Songwriters Challenge!

I’ll be coming out with a special “unofficial” Open-Mic entry-post on Sunday for week #67 that I hope will assist greatly in reducing these types of bogus entries.

It is my hope that this forthcoming series of “unofficial” posts will provide everyone with some general guidance, entertainment, tips, and tricks for entering the Open-Mic contests in the future. With that out of the way, let’s move on, shall we.

Oh yeah, one last thing before we get into it. At the very end of this post, I have two special shout-out performances from week 66 that were not qualified entries – but deserving of some recognition nonetheless. I hope you enjoy them.

GENERAL NOTE: The seventh round/Week-7 of the Open-Mic SONGWRITERS Challenge sponsored by @meno is underway! This week’s theme is “Right Place/Right Time. There are only two weeks remaining in the challenge, and amongst the three judges, there are 5 more Golden-Mike Awards yet to be delivered. So stay tuned for all of the fireworks coming your way over the next two-weeks.

As @meno alluded to in his recent Songwriters posts, everyone who has entered, as well as anyone who has not yet entered the challenge thus far, still has a very real chance of capturing the Grand Prize. As such, no one should ever be discouraged from entering at any point in time along the challenge’s path. For more details on how this works read my summary here.

Though everyone shall remain free to do so, I’m not so sure that I’ll be continuing to encourage Songwriters to make dual entries of their Songwriters submissions into the general Open-Mic. If you wish to do so, this Sunday’s Open-Mic will be week #67.

You can check out all the current Right Place/Right Time “Songwriter Challenge” entries HERE. Do take the time to read the rules, and follow them carefully when entering.

Steemit Open Mic Week 66

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My Process

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As one of the esteemed Open Mic judges, it is my job to come up with a short-list of my top 5 entrants each week. With all of the great talent here, that is by no means an easy task. Sure, tossing in another 5 honorable mentions helps, but not when my weekly list starts out with 30 or more of my favorite entries... You guy's rock - I'm tellin ya!

Yes, I am a Libra – so I have an inherent drive deep within me to be fair and balanced – good qualities for a “judge” if you ask me. That being said, I’m still human – filled with emotion and subjective feelings – just like you. So, in order to mitigate my subjective tendencies to the best extent possible, I’ve come up with a method by which to narrow down my selections in a more objective vs. arbitrary manner.

Here’s how I go about my personal judging process: I first start out with a list of 30 or more of my most favorite entries for the week, and score them (yes, subjectively) in six distinct categories via a spreadsheet. The categories I’ve selected for scoring are in general harmony with those explained by @luczypher in his post titled How We Pick The Top 3 Entries, referencing such.

To get a more in-depth perspective as to how I personally go about selecting my artists, please refer to What I go through as an Open-Mic Judge.

Even though it’s still a “subjective” process – diligently going through each scoring category to come up with a “total” score for each entrant helps to minimize any overzealous subjectivity that I may harbor with respect to any specific entrants.

Quite often, this exercise doesn’t give me the exact results I would personally prefer to see – but that only means that my system of judging is working as intended and designed. With all of that said, here are...

My Top-5 Picks in Order

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FIRST PLACE: @shelbi - “Fall Away From Me” - (Original Song)

I have been enjoying Shelbi’s amazing guitar work for quite some time now – well before I even became a judge! A couple of weeks ago I commented on one his entries saying that I thought it would be awesome if would sing along with some of the many great songs he’s played for us on guitar. He replied back humbly saying that his voice wasn’t that great and that he’d have to get a microphone etc. Well, let me tell you what - when I heard him singing with this entry for week 66, I was simply floored! He did not disappoint AT ALL! In fact, his vocals really made this original song of his come to life like nothing else. His voice was the perfect complement to this most outstanding composition he’s created and entitled “Fall Away From Me.” Just click play and it will speak for itself. Thank you for singing, Shelbi! – You were great, my friend, and I hope to hear you singing again in the future!
https://steemit.com/openmic/@shelbi/steemit-open-mic-week-66-original-track-fall-away-from-me-shelbi

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SECOND PLACE: @kayclarity – “Forever” - (Original Song)

Kay composed this gem with a yearning to celebrate youth, and to call back into that delightful fray, all of us who may have become jaded with the varied burdens of life that come with age. It’s a beautiful song, written by a beautifully talented artist. This song touched me rather personally, and for that, Kay captured my number two spot this week.
https://steemit.com/openmic/@kayclarity/steemit-open-mic-week-66-original-song-forever-by-kay-clarity

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THIRD PLACE: @branhmusic – “The Mirror” - (Original Song)

@branhmusic is no stranger to Open-Mic! He's been missing in action for a while however, he suddenly showed up again this week and WOW! He really has a distinct signature style that is quite pleasing to the ear. He truly knows how to tell a great story with his melodic lyrics and guitar styling. I love this guy’s music! He’s a rather talented writer and performer and I hope to see more of him! I would love it if he got on board with the next Songwriters Challenge – now that would be awesome!
https://steemit.com/openmic/@branhmusic/steemit-open-mic-week-66-original-song-the-mirror

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FOURTH PLACE: @addiesworld – “Feeling Bitter” - (Original Song)

Addie is another of our most esteemed Open-Mic performers who’s been flying deep under the radar lately. She’s come back into view here this week though with a rather profound original composition entitled “Feeling Bitter.” If I were to venture a guess, I suspect that Addie is not referring to the bitter cold that many of us have been recently experiencing but rather that familiar bitterness that is associated with life’s general frustrations. If I were to go out on a limb and venture yet another guess, it would be that this rough and otherwise superb composition that she’s penned expressing such sentiments has done a great deal of good in sweetening the flavor of that which she, like many of us, struggle through on a day-to-day basis. She sure made things feel much sweeter and better for me after listening to this. Check her out!
https://steemit.com/openmic/@addiesworld/steemit-open-mic-week-66-original-feeling-bitter

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FIFTH PLACE: @kendramoriah– “Every Song Is About You” - (Original Song)

Kendra is a newcomer to both Steemit and the Open-Mic venue. Just like I feel about @branhmusic, I sure would love to see Kendra jump head first into the next Songwriters Challenge! She clearly has been gifted with a plentiful dose of creative abilities, and I just love her style and delivery! The story she tells here is one that I’m sure is very familiar to us all. The back and forth internal battle’s we all endure and wrestle with as we try to move forward. Her verses are in stark contrast with the overriding choruses, which capture the distinct inability to let go, while the verses speak to the freedom and independence of once again being on one’s own. A beautiful composition and performance by any measure.
https://steemit.com/openmic/@kendramoriah/steemit-open-mic-week-66-every-song-is-about-you-original-song

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My Top-5 Honorable Mentions in Order:

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First: @pechichemena – “Mandolin (Gustavo Pena)” - (Cover Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@pechichemena/steemit-open-mic-week-66-mandolin-gustavo-pena-el-principe-cover-bonus-outake-song-p

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Second: @edenmichelle - "Flame" - (Original Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@edenmichelle/steemit-open-mic-week-66-flame-original-song-by-eden-michelle

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Third: @davidfar – “Equality” - (Original Song)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@davidfar/steemit-openmic-week-66-equality-original-song

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Fourth: @missweirdy – “Good Vibes Only” - (Original)
https://steemit.com/dtube/@missweirdy/nq0y6nyg

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Fifth: @thomhoglen – “Living Your Dream” - (Original)
https://steemit.com/openmic/@thomhoglen/steemit-open-mic-week-66-living-your-dream-original

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Thank you all so much for taking some of your precious time to review my take on all of the magnificent artists here at the Open-Mic venue this week. Thank you so much as well for up-voting and re-steeming this post in order to spread the word that Open-Mic is clearly taking Steemit by storm and that it shall remain a collective people-oriented force of love and artistry to be reckoned with on every level of measure.

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Peace, Love, and Justice for All

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A very special shout-out to: The following artists who were very much on my radar, each within a splitting hair of making it into my overall top-10, and whose performances I loved, cherish, and respect most assuredly.

They are - in no particular order:

@malvarezmusic, @sazzler, @steembirds, @spaceballoon, @avesa, @thesimpson, @wilins, @klynic, @matiasfumagalli, @nirtsfaty, @dominiqueguitars, @luisferchav, @tarotbyfergus, @basilmarples, @jaybird, @bryandivisions, @bennettitalia, @armoniritmia, @olaivart, @denis.savisko3, @senzenfrenz, @owner99.

Much love and thanks to each and every one of you who have touched a part of my heart and soul - not only this week but forever!

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Two Special Bonus Performances for week 66

First up we’ve got – check this out – a bonus outtake from @pechichemena’s week 66 entry in which he was joined by two of my favorite artists - @luisferchav and @vera.carla covering John Mayer’s “Can’t Trust Myself Loving You.” This was such a soul-filled power-trio performance that I couldn’t help but give it a proper shout-out.

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And to close out this week I had to include this non-qualifying entry from @dandelion, which I found rather entertaining – and I’m sure you will too. Check it out!