WELCOME...

This blog is the outgrowth of a songwriting workshop I conducted at the 2006 "Moograss" Bluegrass Festival in Tillamook, Oregon. It presumes that after 30-odd years of writing and playing music, I might have something to contribute that others might take advantage of. If not, it may be at least a record of an entertaining journey, and a list of mistakes others may be able to avoid repeating. This blog is intended to be updated weekly. In addition to discussions about WRITING, it will discuss PROMOTION--perhaps the biggest challenge for a writer today--as well as provide UPDATES on continuing PROJECTS, dates and venues for CONCERTS as they happen, how and where to get THE LATEST CD, the LINKS to sites where LATEST SONGS are posted, and a way to E-MAIL ME if you've a mind to. Not all these features will show up right away. Like songwriting itself, this is a work in progress. What isn't here now will be here eventually. Thank you for your interest and your support.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

GIGS, ALBUMS & RECORDING...

OUT OF TOWN for five days this week, and four next week. There will at least be music. I’ll get to play this Thursday night with “The Risk-Takers,” the in-house band from City-County Insurance Services that performed at the annual conference last year, and both this Friday and next I get to sit in with the Friday Night Group. Sundays is still the Wild Goose in Ashland, and Tuesdays is Chris Parreira’s open mike, also in Ashland.

I have not mentioned in this blog the political maneuverings going on with respect to my day job, and I won’t—this blog is about music, and I keep music (which is about my only recreation) and the job completely separate. Nonetheless, a lot of people I play music with have had questions, and/or expressed concern or sympathy for what’s been going on, and I much appreciate it. I keep running into more and more people I know from work at these gigs, too, and that’s good as well.

THE ALBUM: I should list (again) what’s tentatively picked for the album; with all the computer changes, I could easily lose (or could already have lost) the file. Not in any kind of order, the selections are:

Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep (fairly fast rock ‘n’ roll)
Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy)
The Frog Next Door (very delierate blues)
Christmas Roadkill (more slow & sleazy)
Dead Things in the Shower (pretty fast country)
The Termite Song (bluegrass)
Naked Space Hamsters in Love (bluegrass, with aliens)
Twenty-four Seven (a fast waltz)
Rotten Candy (fast country)
When I Jump Off the Cliff I’ll Think of You (bluegrass)
Milepost 43 (moderately fast country)
Oil in the Cornfield (bluegrass)
Hey, Little Chicken (sleazy blues)

Only 12 songs (I decided to leave “Test Tube Baby” off the list). Four are dead-animal songs (five, if you count the chicken), two with live animals (if you count the aliens), and one with missing underwear. 10 of the 12 are love songs (using the term “love” very loosely). And only one—“Oil in the Cornfield”—is serious. Includes, as promised, The Song That Was Rejected by American Idol—“Rotten Candy,” which isn’t serious but sounds like it. For a change, not one song is from a previous album.

Does beg the question (which I’ve begged before): What DO you call an album like that? Maybe that’s a question the fans SHOULD answer.

RECORDING: Didn’t get to get Goodnight Kiss Music a cut of “The Termite Song” by the deadline for their “funny political” song competition, and I won’t have “Naked Space Hamsters in Love” done by the deadline for the SOSA “sampler” CD, either. For the latter, though, I can probably get the deadline extended, depending on how many entrants they have. The All-Stars still need to practice, and I’ve been busy and they’ve been busy.

Did get the recording of Beth Williams’ song “Syllables for Sale” done, though; Darrin Wayne did a dynamite job on the harmonica, and I added a simple “Miller Bass” guitar part on the Strat and posted the product in the usual places. Kudos all around thus far, including from Beth (it’s always good when the author likes the treatment you gave their song).

And got to participate in an international weekend collaboration, of all things. Wim Wever, a roofer in Holland, organized it—he did lead guitar and vocal, Stu (England) played bass, Ed (Canada) did drums and mixing. Haven’t heard it with my parts in it yet: I expect they’ll use the vocal (which was a brief introduction of the band), and don’t know about the guitar tracks (one acoustic, and one electric, both pretty simple stuff). It was fun anyway, and I hope they do more of them.

Joe

Saturday, February 23, 2008

MORE UPDATES..

A FEW UPDATES: I did attend the Song Contest at the wild Goose, but didn’t win—Gene Burnett took first place, and Frankie Hernandez second, and I can’t argue with the decision: both guys are awful good at what they do. There were additionally at least two more writers I would have rated higher’n me if I were doing the judging. Nonetheless, George Clark (on harmonica) and I did the crowd a good job with “Armadillo on the Interstate” and “Bluebird on My Windshield.” The audience were clapping along with the second one, and listening raptly to the first. I can’t complain.

AUDITIONS today for a sort of “superstar show”; I went—and found I either knew or had heard of all of the other folks auditioning. It’s reportedly a benefit for the community college, organized by the students. Happens in June at the big Ginger Rogers Theater in downtown Medford. $1,000 prize (which I’m obviously interested in). Gave ‘em “Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues” and “The Termite Song”; they did have me fill out a form for coming to the second round of auditions (which is maybe a good thing—I don’t know if they do that for everybody).

GOT TO PLAY LEAD on Darrin Wayne’s songs at tonight’s Southern Oregon Songwriters “showcase.”. Bunch of compliments, which I think means it turned out okay. May result in my being tapped for more lead work, which is what I was after. Tomorrow Darrin and I will get together to practice.

‘TIS THE SEASON: With March coming up, I can resurrent two seasonal favorites, “Invitation to St. Patrick” (another sleazy blues) and (for St. Leif’s Day) “The Six-Legged Polka.” Found an accordion player I’d like to tap for the latter, and sent him the *.mp3 file. (He hasn’t contacted me back.)

WHAT ELSE have I got going on? The Paying Gig at the Wild Goose is supposed to happen in March; that’s a 3-hour set. (Currently playing phone tag with the booking agent.) Most folks who do these have a partner, so they can trade off, but I’m tentatively planning on doing it all myself—I have more than enough songs to fill 3 hours. I want a band, though—and have to assemble them and practice. Done right—like, if we pack the place—it should result in other gigs. It’ll also be a good kickofff for assembling the “joelist” fan base.

Started work on the “joelist.” Maybe 100 entries initially, from the current e-mail archives and including the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. members I know (there are a bunch of ‘em I don’t know). Includes a bunch of out-of-town folks, too, that I’ve met at Pineyfest and suchlike places. (No, they aren’t likely to come to concerts, but they’re a market for CDs.) Next step—the old e-mail archives, which go back to the birth of “Alice” the computer in 2003.

UPCOMING: Next week is the annual city-county insurance conference (leave Wednesday, ends Friday afternoon), and it appears the “house” band we put together last year is still in business—they’ll be playing Thursday night, and I’ll be playing with them. Their “songbook” features two of my songs, “Duct Tape” and “Naked Space Hamsters in Love.” Friday, I’ll get to play with the Friday Night Group again in Garibaldi—and solicit additions to the “joelist.”

Joe

Monday, February 18, 2008

ABOUT FANS...

When the band, Oh, Hush! wanted a new logo (the old one was reminiscent of an early ‘60s Frigidaire ad), they went to their fans. They posted a call on their MySpace blog, announcing a two-week deadline. After two days, they had five pages of responses, that included a lot of logo entries.

Now, Oh, Hush! caters to a younger crowd, judging from the photos of some of the fans, and not all of them are graphic designers or graphic design students. A lot of the logo suggestions weren’t very good; on the other hand, all of them were better than what the band had before. Obviously, they’re going to pick one of them. And the picking—and picking process—is really good marketing. It’s generated a lot of interest in the band, and their music, and their gigs. Good deal.

Yes, this leads into an “I should do that.” Not the logo—I like the logo my daughter designed for me—but how about an ALBUM COVER? Yes, I could do it myself; I used to do graphic design for a living. But I haven’t gotten around to it. I haven’t even decided what to CALL the thing. Should it be entitled “Christmas at the Roadkill Café”? (There will be a Christmas song on it, and there is a Roadkill Café—in fact, there are several—and it would be an interesting opportunity for some cross-marketing if any were interested.) Or “The Heart by the Side of the Road”? (They are mostly love songs—with a lot of dead animals.) Or use the title of one of the songs—“Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep,” say?

Maybe that’s the place to start—ask first what the album should be called (given the list of songs that’ll be on it), then once that’s picked, ask for a design (or photo) for the cover based on that title. The important part is not the work. It’s INVOLVING THE FANS.

Do I HAVE fans? I certainly don’t know how many I have. (I assume the number is small.) How do I find out? And how do I increase the number?

Well, I can think of two “pools” of people to start with. I have 86 (at last count) “Friends” on MySpace; if I send out a “bulletin,” it gets sent to all 86 of them whether they like it or not. Second, I have the Southern Oregon Songwriters Association, maybe 25 to 50 mostly writers “on the make” who ought to be interested in something like this; first step there is probably to send them all an e-mail lining out what I’m doing and saying I’ll take you off this list if you ask.

And then we have what I’ll have to call the “joelist”: people I know, or have met, who have expressed a sort of interest in my music because they have either said so or were there somewhere when I played. The list includes (or will include) people who have bought the CD (provided I can find their edresses in my archives). Send them all an e-mail, too, and maybe offer the same deal—I’ll take you off the list if you ask. Otherwise, I promise to be nice and only bother you with something important.

And obviously we’ll add to the “joelist.” Next time I go play with the Friday Night Group in Garibaldi, for instance, take a signup sheet and make the Announcement; ditto when I do the March gig at the Wild Goose. And of course, when the time comes, mention events like the “Name the Album Contest” both in the blog and on the various writers’ Websites I subscribe to (currently, there are 5 of those).

A start? This does mean the assembling of a fan base is being driven by the technology by which it will be contacted, instead of vice versa. Maybe, considering the shortage of time, it has to be. As it is, it’ll take me a while to put it together.

And Folks Out There? Readers? Listeners? Let me know what you think. Is this a viable idea? Please? Thanks.

Joe

Monday, February 11, 2008

THE BIG GIG, ET AL...

The Big Gig went really well. Solo Wednesday night (and I was the #2 act), then with Screamin’ Gulch and Don Maddox. Had a good lead player sitting in with us, so I got to play background music. I can do decent bluegrass leads to Don Maddox’s stuff, though—real fast bass runs way up on the frets (where it’s easier to play real fast because things are closer together).

Second night, I had Dan (mandolin) and Paul (fiddle) backing me up on the “solo” set, so we were a lot more like a band. And there was no extra lead guitarist for Screamin’ Gulch, so I was it. Crowd (which seemed less wasted than the night before) didn’t seem to mind. Deke Dickerson played bass with us on a number of the Don Maddox songs—I guess he and Don never had played together before, though they’re both legends—and I got a few surprised-but-pleased glances from Deke while I was playing, so maybe it was all right. I hope so—it’s gigs like this that will establish whatever reputation I have as a guitarist in this area.

And one of the best compliments I’ve had on my music came from a lady in the tavern Thursday night. “You come from a very dark and strange place,” she said. “But I like it.” That’s a line that belongs on the “Joe is Great!” brochure (which I still need to re-do).

So what do we do with this? Not sure—I should press for a solo gig at Johnny B.’s (except it wouldn’t be solo per se—I’d want to arrange backup), and I think “Screamin’ Gulch” should do a gig, too: just schedule a night (any night would do, but a traditional party night like Friday would be ideal) and have no other bands on the agenda but us. (Yes, it’d be nice if the band were playing more of my songs by then.) Promote the heck out of it and see who comes.

Got to do music for another somebody-else song—“Syllables for Sale” by Beth Williams, one of the lyricists in Just Plain Folks. The music—very fast bluegrass stuff—just jumped out while I was reading the lyrics (which is how it usually happens). So I have a draft recording. I asked Darrin Wayne to add a harmonica part to it (might’s well dress this puppy up), which he will—but wants a week or so to practice. Copied the Tascam’s little digital-camera chip to his computer..

UPCOMING: Not much this coming week, ‘cause I’ll be out of town next weekend (holiday weekend, and I’m judging another speech tournament). Wednesday night is practice with Screamin’ Gulch, and I’ve got a choice of things to do Tuesday night. Two posters to do this week, one for the “showcase” Saturday night and one for the “Quartet Series” Friday night (I won’t be around for either one). I’ll miss next Sunday at the wild Goose, too (too bad—they’re having a “best original song” contest, which I gather I could probably win).

Joe

Sunday, February 3, 2008

PREDATORS, ET AL.

Is there ever such a thing as a slow week?

This one’s got a Southern Oregon Songwriters’ “showcase” next Saturday, and the Wild Goose open mike Sunday. Tuesday, Screamin’ Gulch will practice with Don Maddox, prior to the Rockabilly Shows Wednesday and Thursday. Five nights out of seven ain’t bad.

A new song? Maybe: fellow name of Big Jim Merillees from Scotland had posted some lyrics as an exercise to see how well people could put a melody to it, and I kinda went further—it got music, but then the words didn’t fit the music quite right, so the words changed, too. Same thing that happened a few years back with “The World Enquirer,” which just started as an attempt to learn the old bluegrass song about Jimmy Brown the newsboy.

Big Jim’s song was about Internet predators, which are a big issue (and a big problem) these days; mine is, too—but I had to ask whether anybody’d ever written an Internet predator song from the viewpoint of the predator? I guess somebody has now. I don’t think it’s finished; it’s still got some conceptual holes in it—the guy does get rehabilitated in the end (so he can deliver the all-important Moral Of The Story), but it’s not clear yet how (or if) he gets there. I already have 4 verses, and I’m not sure I have enough time for a fifth—but it’s bluegrass music, so it moves pretty fast. I’ll have to measure it and see.

Since we’re getting close to Valentine’s Day, the setlists include my Valentine’s Day song, “Rotten Candy”—duly introduced as “the song that was rejected by American Idol.” It’s actually a good song—and should serve as a reminder that you CAN get a good product out of deliberately following ALL the rules. It has a really good bass line, and a strong (but simple) melody, and I could see folks in the audience tapping toes even when the song was being performed by just me on guitar and Darrin Wayne on harmonica. I’d love to do this with a band

At SOSA’s “showcase” tonight, got to play lead guitar on some of Darrin Wayne’s songs (and he played harmonica on mine). Was good. Eric (from Musichead Studios) was there, and asked when we were going to record—but I haven’t even got the band together to practice yet. It’ll probably be close to the end of the month before we do the studio.

Joe