MOOGRASS...

Labor Day—the Monday that feels like Sunday. Work tomorrow. Today, a chance to rest up from three days of playing music, two at the “Moograss” Bluegrass Festival and one with the Friday Night Group.

Moograss was a little bit of a re-affirmation that I’m still worth something as a performer. Did find out the reason I wasn’t on the agenda as a performer this year wasn’t because I wasn’t good, or wasn’t famous, but rather because I was solo. All of the acts this year were bands; all the guys who were solo last year who performed this year were in bands, either accidentally or intentionally. I did point that out to one of the organizers, and ask, “If I want to perform next year, I better have a band, yes?” The answer was “Yes.”

I have, I think, two options for putting together a band. I can do it down here in southern Oregon, or I can do it up on the Coast, with members of the Friday Night Group. In both cases, I’m probably looking at some adjustments. Like, we probably can’t play all my stuff; everybody is going to need to get equal time. If the band is all from down here, I may be able to insist that we do all original material. Up there (and maybe down here, too), it’d have to be a mix of my original stuff and traditional (or traditional Gospel) songs. Otherwise, since Moograss is charging a gate fee, they run afoul of the copyright authorities, and nobody wants them to go there.

Songwriting workshop had a class of one (I’d warned the organizers that might happen if they didn’t have me on the agenda as a performer, too), but the one was a lady who had had some commercial successes and then hadn’t written anything in years (she blamed it on criticism from her family). We talked for a couple of hours, and I hope I left her with a little inspiration. I think she at the class because she was looking for a reason to write, and maybe I gave her one or two. Gave her and one guy who showed up late for the class copies of the CD, too (and I notice he’s already left comments on Soundclick).

Good week for the clipping file, too. Besides the big article in the Medford paper last Monday (probably the first and last time “Naked Space Hamsters in Love” has ever been in a newspaper headline), the daily paper in Ashland (which is smaller) ran it, too, and the League of Oregon Cities Website picked that one up. And the Phoenix Chamber of Commerce ran a photo of me in their newsletter, with thanks for performing at their open house, and the Tillamook paper, which (under new ownership) ran a big article on Moograss, mentioned “Garibaldi’s own Joe Wrabek” was teaching the songwriting class. Need to save copies of all these things. Handled properly, they’re “chits” that can be parlayed into gigs.

Joe