Pueblo Song Writers and Musicians Association


"Today's Musicians Forging Tomorrow's Music"

PO BOX 8054 Pueblo Colorado 81008-8054

COLLABORATION AND COMMUNITY

I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you who have contributed to the formation and longevity of PSMA over the years since it's inception. Pueblo is indeed fortunate to have such an organization.
     When I came to Pueblo a little over a year ago I quickly discovered a diverse and talented pool of individuals in the music community. I listened to many locally produced CD's and met many songwriters and musicians with dreams as diverse as their personalities. I was very fortunate to discover the open mike night at Zippers and again my luck was present at the precise moment that a new host was needed on tuesday nights. I volunteered immediately and have now had approximately 10 months of solid exposure to the talents of so many who show up to share their dreams, experience, competence and passion for music. I guess I caught the fever from all this activity. Hearing all those dreams, frustrations, concerns and great ideas inspired me to want to be part of an organization that helped propel those dreams and ideas forward. What better place than a songwriters and musicians aassociation.
     Having been involved in both the private and corporate business environment while helping my wife Nancy raise our three children, I can attest to the fact that there are basic truths that one can look at to help insure the success of any venture. Vision, committment of those involved, shared responsibilities, and a stated mission or set of goals are essential.
     Songwriters and Musicians association implies that we are organized to support and develop songwriters and musicians, first and foremost. It thereby follows that activities that support these developments must be a large part of our mission. A beautiful thing about setting goals is; what it makes of you while trying to reach them is nearly always greater than actually achieving them.
     You may have noticed the title of this letter. Collaboration and community are truly key words that can lead to the success of our organization. The combined experience and varied abilities of our membership and those who should be members, when brought to the service of our community could greatly help to change the face of the Pueblo and surrounding areas music scene. Those of us who want to make a difference have a great opportunity to collaborate and create a vibrant and exciting Pueblo music community. As President in 2008 I for one pledge my best efforts to help facilitate the healthy growth and credibility of this organization. I would like to be part of an organization that everyone wants to be associated with. Please be aware that its gonna take a little work on everyones part but I am sure it will be worth it. Please let a board member including myself know what your needs are so we can develop some programs to meet those needs. We all expect to be very busy this year with some of the programs already in development and are looking forward to your participation. Please stay tuned for some exciting news in the very near future. I'm sure many of you will want to be involved. Heres to collaboration and community in 2008.    Doug Garvey, President PSMA

Please read on regarding the history of PSMA.

It all started back in August, 1994 when Vel LeKay and Kay Singleton started the Tea & Jam at Tivoli's every third Saturday of the month. In May of 1995, the Acoustic Cafe was started at Tivoli's once a month on Sunday evenings for showcasing local artist performing original and obscure cover songs.
The success of Tea & Jam and Acoustic Cafe triggered a need to informally organize the participating musicians and patrons. In June 1995 the group concurred to call themselves the Southern Colorado Acoustic Artists and the first issue of a monthly newsletter "Notes" was Published. Doug Garvey President 2008

In February 1996, Kay Singleton, Vel LeKay, Tom Munch, John Cooper, Bob Craig, and Jill Montgomery initiated meetings to formalize the Southern Colorado Acoustic Artists. For the next few months this dedicated core group worked on formalizing a mission statement and outlined ideas for funding the organization, developing association events, and producing the newsletter. It was the consensus of this group that the name " Southern Colorado Acoustic Artists" was not inclusive of all the musical genre intended and the group acceded to become known as the "Pueblo Songwriters and Musicians Association."
The Acoustic Open Stage made it's debut in February 1997 at Tivoli's. This unplugged Open Mic was held the third Sunday of every month and ended in June 1997 and was relocated to the Irish Pub in September where it is still there today every Thursday Evening now using a complete PA system. In April 1997, PSMA initiated " An Evening With..." concerts for area performers at Tivoli's. Also, in 1997 the PSMA was asked to have some of our members perform at the Colorado State Fair and the Chile and Frijole Festival in Downtown Pueblo which is still going on today as some of our annual events.
In May 1998, we formed a new partnership with the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center for a new showcase for our performers called the After Hours Acoustic Gallery where we had our players performing in the Helen T. White Galleries on the second Tuesday of the month.
In 1999, other events started happening for PSMA, like the Riverfest Outdoor Concerts at the Nature Center with acoustic players and bands. Also, we started hosting two musical benefits a year at the Side Pocket, to help our community. One is our Homeless Benefit for The Wayside Cross Mission, which is a Homeless Shelter here in Pueblo. With the backing of the Wal-Mart stores and our musical benefit proceeds, we have raised three to four thousand dollars each year.
Our second musical benefit of the year is the one that is really close to our hearts here at PSMA. This benefit is our version of the National Save the Music Program, which we call the Adopt a Music Student Program. With the support of many area businesses and our benefit proceeds, we have helped many under privileged kids with instruments for their school music programs and local schools with their music programs!
Late in the year 2000, unfortunately our partnership with the Arts Center came to an end and we moved our Acoustic Gallery to the Riverwalk Bar and Grill. During our time at the Riverwalk, we started another new venue for bands called the Electric Gallery on the fourth Tuesday of the month to start promoting our local bands and not just the acoustic players. This was a bold move by our organization, and a long awaited one, by many area bands. The Galleries at the Riverwalk just never really took off there like we had hoped. We ended up not being able to financially pay our musicians anymore because we were not getting the crowds like we did at the Arts Center. Something had to be done. We tried to get back into the Arts Center with no luck. We were very lucky finding one of the best bars and “Bar Owners” in town, 50’S West, where they would pay us, for a nice change, to have our galleries there. So that's how year 2002 started out, with the galleries being moved to 50’S West in January with a bigger stage, a much larger room, “giving us plenty of room to grow with the Galleries” and “allowing us to pay our musicians again!” along with lots of parking. Thanks Sherri!!
Starting things out in 2003, we are continuing our Galleries at 50'S West and they are getting better all the time! We have doubled our membership in 2002 and hope to make it evan bigger in 2003! The new PSMA Web Site has opened many doors for our organization and our members in it's first year along with opening the lines of communication within our organization! We did loose the PSMA Stage at the Chile Festival this last year, but we will try our best to correct this problem in 2003 with The Pueblo Chamber of Commerce. In October 2003 after 50's West closed the doors and was taken over by new owners, we moved our Galleries to The Highest State on Union Avenue, a block away from where it all started at Tivoli's back in 1994!
Effective June 15th, 2004 the Acoustic & Electric Galleries will be moved to The Irish Brew Pub & Grill, 108 West 3rd Street in Pueblo with a professional house sound system, stage & lights. In February 2005, we had to move our PSMA home again to La Luna, 218 W. 2nd in Pueblo after the Irish Pub was sold. In July 2005, La Luna closed it's doors and we were forced to move our PSMA home again to Mulligans Sports Bar at 326 S. Union, which ironically, is right across the street from where PSMA started back in 1994 at a place called Tivoli's, which is now called the Cock & Bull Tavern. In 2006 we moved our Acoustic Gallery back to where it all began at the Cock & Bull, (Formerly Tivolies. Also, we will have some special Acoustic Galleries at the Colorado Heritage Center as well.) In 2007 all the Acoustic Galleries are now at the Heritage Center and our Open Mic is now at Zippers on Tuesday nights, formerly Mulligan's.
PSMA works very hard to accomplish our goals through our live venues, benefits, networking opportunities, and creative support to artists. We encourage the community and businesses to use the PSMA as an information resource and partner in promoting and expanding the live and original music of the Pueblo area. Our organization holds two monthly events, The Galleries, and one weekly event, and our Open Mic. Also, we have our annual events mentioned above that keep getting better every year!
Our Mission is to continue with our goals, to build the Galleries back up, continue to explore better advertising and to search for additional financial backing to make this organization grow and prosper so we can increase our support to local talent in the area, the homeless people of Pueblo and to the kids that want to learn the Wonderful Art of Music!


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