Local Vibe

Every Wednesday at Mulligans Sports Bar, Robbie Hancock of RJ Entertainment hosts the Cambridge Songwriting Competition. This event is sponsored by Budweiser and all entry fees that are generated are recycled back into the competition.

The winning songwriter will receive a first prize of $1500 with second prize being a Takami guitar and rounding off with a third prize of various gift certificates. The 5 judges rotate weekly and the competition starts at 6pm every Wednesday and Mulligans fills up very quickly.

Although there is a plethora of talent appearing every week I’m going to focus my attention on last weeks two semi finalists, Tyler Neely and Peter Judd.

Tyler Neely at Mulligans

Tyler Neely is a 17 year old from Ayr who felt very limited playing covers so he switched over to some originals. He has been playing for 3 years now and is quite the performer as he plays like a pro. Nominated for a Niagara Music Award and finishing in the top 3, he currently has 500 songs at his disposal and is currently recording an E.P. for release. His advice for budding musicians is “Don’t put it down”. You can catch him next at the Fresh Air Music Festival on June 20th in Ayr’s Victoria Park. You can also find out more about him and sample his music on his MySpace at www.myspace.com/tylerneelymusic.

Peter Judd at Mulligans

Peter Judd is a seasoned player who is as humorous as he is talented. A very fluid player who incorporated a passing imitation of a trombone solo vocally. This man can pull you into his performance and hold you there with his quick wit, good demeanor and variety of songs. Keep an eye out for him in the future and you can always check out his website www.peterjuddsongs.com. You can catch him next at the Rum Runner Pub in Kitchener on May 29th.

Tyler Neeley and Peter Judd perform together after making it into the semi-finals

Do not miss the opportunity to see the next batch of songwriters and story tellers at tomorrows event. Remember it starts at 6pm and I’m more than sure that the mixture of new and seasoned artists will hold your attention and interest until the final note. Last weeks finalists played together at the end of the night and you would swear they had been playing together for years, congratulations to Dan Lapierre, Jason Cave, John Power, Lee Cipolla and Kevin Burnett who entertained us that evening as well.

For further information on this competition or to check out past performances go to www.rjentertainment.ca. Like Robbie says it’s ” Musicians supporting musicians “. Hope to see you out there.

Keep amusing your muse, Peter Ezekiel.