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It’s 8:05pm on Friday, November 2nd, and the lights dim in the Frontier event room – a converted mill space with wood posts and 15-foot windows. The audience of over one hundred supporters take their seats and quiet their conversations. The 8th Annual MSA Song Contest Finals is underway.
Six songwriters have made it to this point in the contest. They’ve drawn lots to set the performance order. The conversations in the green room are light and easy, masking the stomach knots and damp palms. It’s show time, and each performer is anxious to share the song that has brought them here.
Jason Roman is first to take the stage with “Lisdoonvarna”, a melodic journey through a distant land. Sara Trunzo is up next to sing her haunting look at life in rural Maine, “Food and Medicine”. With her tribute to her 95 year old father, Karen Gray tenderly shares “My Father’s Daughter”.
The audience warmly greets each artist as they come to the stage. They cheer and roar with their approval for each song as the last notes linger in the electric air of the room.
Doug Kolmar shares his introspective “Change”, taking quiet care of each phrase. With the heartbreak of love lost, Ray Calabro takes the audience on the metaphorical bus ride of “It’s Over”. Closing out the show, Olivia Frances charms the audience with her high-spirited, pop ukulele song “It Just Takes One”.
The judges, Gary Lawless, Michele Arcand, and Stan Keach, have a monumentally difficult task. The songs are all well-crafted, all deserving. They check their scoring sheets and hand them over to be tabulated. While the crowd nervously await the results, Michele Arcand shares a hard-edged poem of loss, accompanied by Jason Roman’s guitar. Stan Keach takes the stage to share “On Boot Hill”, his winning song for the 2017 MSA song contest.
At last, the results are in and the crowd falls silent. Ray Calabro takes second runner-up with “It’s Over”. In second place is Jason Roman’s “Lisdoonvarna”. As the audience mentally drum-rolls in anticipation, Sara Trunzo’s “Food and Medicine” is announced as the winning song.
All six songwriters come to the stage to the adoring applause of the audience. They have given the crowd an evening of wonderful music that will be remembered well by all who came to listen. The Maine Songwriters Association community is alive and well with exceptional talent.
Congratulations to Sara Trunzo, Jason Roman, Ray Calabro, Karen Gray, Doug Kolmar, and Olivia Frances!...
