Okay, I guess it's time for the Old Dog to weigh in with his thoughts about the trip. Over all it was a great time from the ocean front Condo, having coffee with KevMo and Philboy every morning and basically just hanging out together, to attending MAB's shows and regarding him and Jimbeau as the best entertaining and high energy act there.
The off season Condo rates allows for a 3 bedroom, beach front, fully equiped Condo to be rented for under $130 per day, not much when split 3 ways (not all of the Condo's had full beach front view but ours did). The Regatta Condo units we stayed in where a bit older with it's 3 story wood frame compared to many of the more modern high rise Condo's and Hotel's that make up the 10 mile scenic route to the Florabama (the gathering spot and main attraction of the festival). Even though it's a bit of a drive the rates and ammenities make up for it.
I would guess all of the singer/songwriters would agree the most desired venue to play is the smaller more intiment Listening Room, one of three rooms to play at the Florabama. In fact; even though many of the restaurants and bars within a 10 or 15 mile radius of the Florabama, feature songwriter nights, a person could see every main attraction and most of the others by just attending shows in the Listening Room every day of the feastival. The Listening room was a vision of the Florabama owner to model after the famous Bluebird Listening Room in Nashville. So one thing the two venues have in common is that talking will not be tolerated while a singer/songwriter is performing. The audience gets much more engaged with the songs and the performers receive the full attention of the audience; which can be rare for a singer/songwriter (don't Y'all know).
So keep in mind all the acts will be scattered about the area in the evening performing a various bars and restaurants; but all the entertainers gather just before noon, at the Florabama, to have a free lunch (catored by one of the local restaurants) and served by a group of dedicated local volunteers. Our Philboy is the only volunteer to travel from out of the local area to volunteer his service, and he has done so for 4 years now. Way to go Philboy, you are a much better man than me. The lunches are served in the Green Room designated for the songwriters and performers only that will be playing in the Listening Room during the evening but open to guests during the day.
The Showcase (open mic) begins in the Listening Room at 1:00 pm and follows a signup sheet the songwriters add their names from 1 thru 20, and they follow each other in that order; mostly doing two or three songs depending on how many names are on the list. The open mic is where the local artist and visiting artists (not playing an evening venue) get to perform on stage and sing their songs. Much like KevMo and Philboy did which allowed them to participate in the performance side of the festival along with the others to include an occasional Pro like MAB that would set in also. You truly get to hear almost every level of songwriter and see every level of performing skills during most 4 hour open mic sessions. They close the open mic sessions around 5:00pm to empty the room and get ready for the evening rounds ( made up of 3 or 4 performers which normally begin at 7:00 alternating performers until around 11:00 or 12 at night.
Like I mentioned earlier, you could hang around the Listening Room and catch every act in town along with many others; which is what Philboy did when he first began coming to the Frank Brown Festival. Even though you will hear every artist perform by attending only the Listening Room, I prefer to follow MAB to his venue's and watch him perform; especially when his friend and hit songwriter Jimbeau Hinson performs on stage with him. Those two guys could be doing a Vegas act they are that good; but I admit to being biased.
I'll tell ya, hearing all of these song ideas can be very inspiring to come up with some new song ideas of our own. Personally, I have lost my desire to write but to anyone that still has that creative flame burning in them, I would suggest attending a songwriters festival like Frank Brown or any other that will get you creative juices flowing and give you a sense of what other songwriters are doing out there. What is special about the Frank Brown Festival is many hit writers attend and when you hear the many okay songs performed by most of the performers then hear a hit songwriter or Pro songwriter who writes at the bar but maybe their song didn't become a hit song, still they stand out from all of the others. It is truly obvious but you would have to be sitting in the audience to truly witness it and hear the difference for ourselves. A valuable lesson for all of us to realize and a real treat to hear a song when it is written so well, with some great lines that took some thought and not just the first thing that many songwriters (like myself) often put down on paper.
So write all you can and with whomever you can. But the main thing is keep it FUN.
OD