THE ALBUM: Skip’s in—he wants his song on the album. He wants me to handle the publishing, so I guess this is where Joe Becomes a Music Publisher. ASCAP, I think, since they’re a co-op and BMI isn’t; I’ll tell Skip he needs to join ASCAP as a writer (I do, too) so Joe Publisher doesn’t have to take out memberships in two PROs. I have a little “pocket” consulting firm, Outside Services Ltd. (the logo is an outhouse), that I’ll use as the “shell” for the publishing company—applying Occam’s Razor (“Do not multiply divinities without reason”). There will still be lots of forms and fees—just what I need while I’m unemployed.
TRIP TO SOUTHERN OREGON this weekend; official reason is a briefing session Saturday for the “Star of Stars” fundraiser for Rogue Community College (both Darrin Wayne and I are finalists, and we’ll be backing each other up). I have a “pallet on the floor” place to stay, so I’ll do two nights. I can play at the Wild Goose Sunday night, but it’d be nice to find a place to play Saturday. It is a holiday weekend, and not much is happening.
NEW SONG: A throwaway, really—but it was nice to be able to whip it out over a 6-hour drive in the car. One of those online contests where they assign a title and you’re supposed to write to it; in this case, the title was “Twenty Chickens for a Saddle.” And I tried, really I did—but it kept coming out “Twenty Saddles for a Chicken.” I decided in the end to screw the contest and write it anyway. “Twenty Saddles for My Chicken” is a surreal, bouncy little romp—very chicken-fetishy, I suppose--and if nothing else, may be an addition to Gene Burnett’s chicken songs album.
(At least I wasn’t alone. Other entries after mine included “Twenty Chickens for a Sadist,” “Twenty Chickens on His Saddle,” “20 Chickens for Seattle,” “Saddled with 20 Chickens,” and “Twenty Chickens for a Salad (Ask a Hooker).”)
WHITBY SHORES: Well, it’s a nice site—lot of musicians and writers, many of whom I know from other places on the Web. I’m slowly but surely copying my music over from Soundclick—I have a feeling Soundclick is probably not long for this world, between over-regulation by its “moderators,” its determined effort to be a MySpace clone, and its reliance on what appears to be an antique and poorly designed operating system that’s lately been prone to major shutdown failure. I told deejay/veejay Len Amsterdam, who founded and runs Whitby Shores, that I’d post the URL for Whitby Shores in the blog, in case anyone outside was reading; it’s http://whitbyshorespost.googlepages.com.
And “The Writer’s Blog” is on Whitby Shores now, too (if you’re reading it there, you already know that). That makes the fourth “home” for the blog; it’s still on Google’s Blogspot, MySpace, and Songstuff, too. I really need to create a personal Website: just a one-page clearinghouse with links to all the other stuff—the songs, the blog, the “buy my CD on CDBaby” (when I get that set up). I will need it by the time the new CD comes out, which will be sometime between September and Christmas. (That’s why there had to be a Christmas song on the CD. Just in case…) And yes, maybe the time to do that is while I’m unemployed and have time to experiment.
Joe
Friday, May 23, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
A REVISED SETLIST FOR THE ALBUM?
A NEW LINEUP?
I would really like to put “Tune the Strings of My Soul,” Skip Johnson’s bluegrass hymn I did music for, on the new CD. As the final song, I think: it’s got a can’t-get-out-of-your-head melody that suggests Something Got Done Right.
I’ve asked Skip if he’d be willing. If so, it’s going to necessitate a change in the setlist for the album. If there’s a hymn on it, things will have to be cleaner (as in less risque). No animal rapes and mutilations (that rules out “Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep”); no overt sex, either (there goes “Naked Space Hamsters in Love,” and “The Frog Next Door,” too). Of course, there are plenty of substitutions. The other stuff can go on an R-rated album released later (in a plain brown wrapper, maybe).
Here—in order, I think—is what the lineup would look like if the hymn were on the album:
DEAD THINGS IN THE SHOWER (with Bobbie Gallup)—mod. fast country. Love song, Frank Sinatra style, for the cat which may or may not be dead.
HEY, LITTLE CHICKEN—sleazy-sounding blues. Answers the question “Why did the chicken cross the road?” The chicken does not die in the song, but its fate is pretty clear.
WHEN I JUMP OFF THE CLIFF I’LL THINK OF YOU—fast bluegrass. My attempt to go through all the stages of death (in 9 verses), from jumping off the cliff to getting buried, all with caustic commentary on the girl being left behind. ALREADY RECORDED.
ARMADILLO ON THE INTERSTATE—slow, bluesy, tragic love story about two star-crossed, butt-ugly rodents. Romeo and Juliet, with scales. ALREADY RECORDED.
FREE-RANGE PERSON—fast bluegrass. My Joe-got-fired song, about the advantages of being homeless. ALREADY RECORDED.
NO GOOD SONGS ABOUT THE WAR—mod. slow country. My attempt at writing a protest song, in response to the question “How come there’s no good songs about the war?” ALREADY RECORDED.
OIL IN THE CORNFIELD—mod. fast country. An old song (1975) the Dodson Drifters made famous, about the oil crisis. Or is it the farm crisis?
[tentatively] THE TERMITE SONG—fast bluegrass. Pokes fun at global warming. Several alternatives here—any fast bluegrass tune will work—but this one is ALREADY RECORDED.
MILEPOST 43—mod. fast (or maybe mod. slow) country. The song about Al David’s missing underwear, from Pineyfest 2007. ALREADY RECORDED.
ROTTEN CANDY—fast country. Uptempo lost-love song, Dottie West style. This is the song that was rejected by American Idol in 2007.
CHRISTMAS ROADKILL—slow and sleazy-sounding, with sleigh bells. Really the same lost-love theme as above, but Christmasy.
TUNE THE STRINGS OF MY SOUL (by Skip Johnson)—bluegrass hymn. I’d keep exactly the same format as on the draft.
Two serious songs, three lost-love songs that sound serious but aren’t, lost underwear, lost job, dead armadillos, dead unspecifieds, a maybe-dead cat, an about-to-be-dead chicken, and nuclear bombs used on bugs. Yeah, good accompaniment for a hymn. We’ll see what Skip thinks.
As far as production goes, I’d really like to record the rest of the songs (there are five: “Rotten Candy,” “Christmas Roadkill,” “Oil in the Cornfield,” “Hey, Little Chicken,” and “Dead Things”) with the Wild Goose Band—Jack Fischer (bass), James Maille (lead guitar), and Darrin Wayne (harmonica). I’d like to have Dan Doshier on mandolin on the hymn, and Sheral Graham on flute on “Oil in the Cornfield.” And Wayne do the recording. Wonder if we could pull that off?
Joe
I would really like to put “Tune the Strings of My Soul,” Skip Johnson’s bluegrass hymn I did music for, on the new CD. As the final song, I think: it’s got a can’t-get-out-of-your-head melody that suggests Something Got Done Right.
I’ve asked Skip if he’d be willing. If so, it’s going to necessitate a change in the setlist for the album. If there’s a hymn on it, things will have to be cleaner (as in less risque). No animal rapes and mutilations (that rules out “Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep”); no overt sex, either (there goes “Naked Space Hamsters in Love,” and “The Frog Next Door,” too). Of course, there are plenty of substitutions. The other stuff can go on an R-rated album released later (in a plain brown wrapper, maybe).
Here—in order, I think—is what the lineup would look like if the hymn were on the album:
DEAD THINGS IN THE SHOWER (with Bobbie Gallup)—mod. fast country. Love song, Frank Sinatra style, for the cat which may or may not be dead.
HEY, LITTLE CHICKEN—sleazy-sounding blues. Answers the question “Why did the chicken cross the road?” The chicken does not die in the song, but its fate is pretty clear.
WHEN I JUMP OFF THE CLIFF I’LL THINK OF YOU—fast bluegrass. My attempt to go through all the stages of death (in 9 verses), from jumping off the cliff to getting buried, all with caustic commentary on the girl being left behind. ALREADY RECORDED.
ARMADILLO ON THE INTERSTATE—slow, bluesy, tragic love story about two star-crossed, butt-ugly rodents. Romeo and Juliet, with scales. ALREADY RECORDED.
FREE-RANGE PERSON—fast bluegrass. My Joe-got-fired song, about the advantages of being homeless. ALREADY RECORDED.
NO GOOD SONGS ABOUT THE WAR—mod. slow country. My attempt at writing a protest song, in response to the question “How come there’s no good songs about the war?” ALREADY RECORDED.
OIL IN THE CORNFIELD—mod. fast country. An old song (1975) the Dodson Drifters made famous, about the oil crisis. Or is it the farm crisis?
[tentatively] THE TERMITE SONG—fast bluegrass. Pokes fun at global warming. Several alternatives here—any fast bluegrass tune will work—but this one is ALREADY RECORDED.
MILEPOST 43—mod. fast (or maybe mod. slow) country. The song about Al David’s missing underwear, from Pineyfest 2007. ALREADY RECORDED.
ROTTEN CANDY—fast country. Uptempo lost-love song, Dottie West style. This is the song that was rejected by American Idol in 2007.
CHRISTMAS ROADKILL—slow and sleazy-sounding, with sleigh bells. Really the same lost-love theme as above, but Christmasy.
TUNE THE STRINGS OF MY SOUL (by Skip Johnson)—bluegrass hymn. I’d keep exactly the same format as on the draft.
Two serious songs, three lost-love songs that sound serious but aren’t, lost underwear, lost job, dead armadillos, dead unspecifieds, a maybe-dead cat, an about-to-be-dead chicken, and nuclear bombs used on bugs. Yeah, good accompaniment for a hymn. We’ll see what Skip thinks.
As far as production goes, I’d really like to record the rest of the songs (there are five: “Rotten Candy,” “Christmas Roadkill,” “Oil in the Cornfield,” “Hey, Little Chicken,” and “Dead Things”) with the Wild Goose Band—Jack Fischer (bass), James Maille (lead guitar), and Darrin Wayne (harmonica). I’d like to have Dan Doshier on mandolin on the hymn, and Sheral Graham on flute on “Oil in the Cornfield.” And Wayne do the recording. Wonder if we could pull that off?
Joe
Saturday, May 17, 2008
WHITLEY SHORES, &C...
Well, mostly house stuff, and not playing music—priorities, y’know. I’ll get to go back to southern Oregon a weekend from now, for a briefing session on the “Star of Stars” show, and I’ll see if I can’t stretch one overnight into most of two days.
WEIRD STUFF: Internet deejay/veejay Len Amsterdam, the most tireless promoter of independent music I know, started his own OMD (Online Music Distributor) Website, hight Whitbey Shores--sort of a MySapce for musicians—and invited me to join. I did, and posted a few tunes there, and started to get a dribble of requests for “friends.” All Canadians, of course—Len lives in Canada, and a lot of the musicians he knows are Canadian.
Two “friends” that showed up were really interesting: they were named “Gordon Lightfoot” and “Neil Young.” The Internet being the gigantic repository of misinformation that it is, I have no idea whether these guys are the Real Deal (or even guys, for that matter); “Gordon Lightfoot”’s information does sound right, though—and very understated, like the man himself—and both of them (the real ones, that is) are Canadian.
I think this means I need to post more songs there. I think the basic rule is you expect no miracles, but do your best to create them. If these are the Real Deal, then I want them exposed to the best of my material; if they’re not, I have hurt nothing. I can play the Bulletin Game (if Len has bulletins enabled), and put “The Writer’s Blog” there, too (ditto).
AN IDEA: A lot of musicians have been sharing (and asking about) how to get gigs. Generally, it seems, you give the venue owner a promotional photo, a “onesie” (basically a one-page version of the “Joe is Great!” brochure, that says what you do and why people lkke it), and a CD. Now, the CD is a good tool in a lot of places—I know Johnny B., down in Medford, books a lot of bands because of what they sound like, and he’s got CDs playing in his tavern all the time—but what if you can’t replicate live the sound that’s on the CD?
I’ve got that problem—not because my CD has a lot of special effects, but because the band on my last CD is over in Eastern Oregon, and I’m not. If I’m playing a gig, it’s either solo or with a band of different, local musicians. What does that sound like? Not like the CD, for sure.
What about a DVD? Of a live performance, say? If I could get my old Fisher 880 video camera working, I could do this. (I can get a battery pack for the thing. What I haven’t been able to locate—even from the manufacturer—is an owner’s manual.) If I understand it right, what one can do is tap the sound out of the “house” PA, and feed it into the camera at the same time the camera is recording video. Do two sets, of a couple songs apiece, one solo and the other with a band. You do it in a venue situation, so you can include crowd reaction—hooting and hollering, and applause (the audience can be coached to hoot, holler, and applaud a lot for the camera), because that’s what the venue owner wants to know—that you can attract and motivate a crowd. Then, all one needs is a DVD-rewritable drive on the computer, and you can make copies to give to venue owners along with the photo and “onesie” and CD. (One probably still needs all those.)
The ideal place to make an experimental DVD would be one of the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. “showcases,” which are mostly attended by other writers and performers. And one could tell ‘em, “Folks, if this works, we’ll do it for everybody who wants it.” A lot of us are trying to get gigs. Could be one of the services the organization provides its members.
Joe
WEIRD STUFF: Internet deejay/veejay Len Amsterdam, the most tireless promoter of independent music I know, started his own OMD (Online Music Distributor) Website, hight Whitbey Shores--sort of a MySapce for musicians—and invited me to join. I did, and posted a few tunes there, and started to get a dribble of requests for “friends.” All Canadians, of course—Len lives in Canada, and a lot of the musicians he knows are Canadian.
Two “friends” that showed up were really interesting: they were named “Gordon Lightfoot” and “Neil Young.” The Internet being the gigantic repository of misinformation that it is, I have no idea whether these guys are the Real Deal (or even guys, for that matter); “Gordon Lightfoot”’s information does sound right, though—and very understated, like the man himself—and both of them (the real ones, that is) are Canadian.
I think this means I need to post more songs there. I think the basic rule is you expect no miracles, but do your best to create them. If these are the Real Deal, then I want them exposed to the best of my material; if they’re not, I have hurt nothing. I can play the Bulletin Game (if Len has bulletins enabled), and put “The Writer’s Blog” there, too (ditto).
AN IDEA: A lot of musicians have been sharing (and asking about) how to get gigs. Generally, it seems, you give the venue owner a promotional photo, a “onesie” (basically a one-page version of the “Joe is Great!” brochure, that says what you do and why people lkke it), and a CD. Now, the CD is a good tool in a lot of places—I know Johnny B., down in Medford, books a lot of bands because of what they sound like, and he’s got CDs playing in his tavern all the time—but what if you can’t replicate live the sound that’s on the CD?
I’ve got that problem—not because my CD has a lot of special effects, but because the band on my last CD is over in Eastern Oregon, and I’m not. If I’m playing a gig, it’s either solo or with a band of different, local musicians. What does that sound like? Not like the CD, for sure.
What about a DVD? Of a live performance, say? If I could get my old Fisher 880 video camera working, I could do this. (I can get a battery pack for the thing. What I haven’t been able to locate—even from the manufacturer—is an owner’s manual.) If I understand it right, what one can do is tap the sound out of the “house” PA, and feed it into the camera at the same time the camera is recording video. Do two sets, of a couple songs apiece, one solo and the other with a band. You do it in a venue situation, so you can include crowd reaction—hooting and hollering, and applause (the audience can be coached to hoot, holler, and applaud a lot for the camera), because that’s what the venue owner wants to know—that you can attract and motivate a crowd. Then, all one needs is a DVD-rewritable drive on the computer, and you can make copies to give to venue owners along with the photo and “onesie” and CD. (One probably still needs all those.)
The ideal place to make an experimental DVD would be one of the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. “showcases,” which are mostly attended by other writers and performers. And one could tell ‘em, “Folks, if this works, we’ll do it for everybody who wants it.” A lot of us are trying to get gigs. Could be one of the services the organization provides its members.
Joe
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT...
…as Monty Python used to say. I wrote music for a hymn.
Maybe I had spent too much time researching the old public-domain hymns for the music publisher, but when I read Rev. Skip Johnson’s lyrics for “Lord, Tune the Strings of My Soul,” I could hear a choir singing it. So it got music—a simple (5 chords), uptempo, bluegrass Gospel sort of thing. It also got a chorus—something else I picked up from the 19th-century hymnmeisters—a simple 4-line thing, with one line repeated three times so it’d be easy for a congregation to sing.
I recorded the guitar and vocal, and Dan Doshier, who runs a religious bookstore out of his music store, did dual leads for it (mandolin and harmonica), and I sent the product off to Skip—and he liked it. (Yay!) Not sure where it’ll be posted yet; I don’t know if Skip’s got an “OMD” site like Soundclick or MySpace, since he usually writes only lyrics. I’ve offered the use of my Soundclick page if he doesn’t.
We did the thing within a couple of days after getting Skip’s okay. The music was able to be recorded so fast because it was stolen. (I stole it from myself. It’s okay.) Part of the music is from “Tugga Pa,” the Swedish song by Leif Alderman that I’ve been setting to country music (I still don’t have those Swedish pronunciations down yet), and part of it is from a love song I’ve been writing for my wife. The combination sounded okay—and because it’s different, it won’t prevent me from finishing both the other songs.
I have robbed music from myself before. I try in those instances to make sure the two (or sometimes three) songs sound different enough from each other—because of tempo, arrangement, or whatnot—so they can’t be confused with each other. I still avoid performing them next to each other anyway, on principle.
OTHER STUFF: Well, I’m ensconced in our rental house in Cascade Locks, 7 hours from southern Oregon and 3 from wife and child on the Oregon Coast. Lot of work to do on the house—the last renters really trashed the place. Haven’t played any music; I’ve been a carpenter, weedeater, and garbage hauler instead. Got computer and Internet back after a 4-day hiatus. I still have an interview to finish for the music publisher (a press release, too, maybe), and John Lennon-style guitar to record for a Vonee Rose song. I will keep busy. If there isn’t a song (or two) in the remodeling, there my be one in the loneliness.
Joe
Maybe I had spent too much time researching the old public-domain hymns for the music publisher, but when I read Rev. Skip Johnson’s lyrics for “Lord, Tune the Strings of My Soul,” I could hear a choir singing it. So it got music—a simple (5 chords), uptempo, bluegrass Gospel sort of thing. It also got a chorus—something else I picked up from the 19th-century hymnmeisters—a simple 4-line thing, with one line repeated three times so it’d be easy for a congregation to sing.
I recorded the guitar and vocal, and Dan Doshier, who runs a religious bookstore out of his music store, did dual leads for it (mandolin and harmonica), and I sent the product off to Skip—and he liked it. (Yay!) Not sure where it’ll be posted yet; I don’t know if Skip’s got an “OMD” site like Soundclick or MySpace, since he usually writes only lyrics. I’ve offered the use of my Soundclick page if he doesn’t.
We did the thing within a couple of days after getting Skip’s okay. The music was able to be recorded so fast because it was stolen. (I stole it from myself. It’s okay.) Part of the music is from “Tugga Pa,” the Swedish song by Leif Alderman that I’ve been setting to country music (I still don’t have those Swedish pronunciations down yet), and part of it is from a love song I’ve been writing for my wife. The combination sounded okay—and because it’s different, it won’t prevent me from finishing both the other songs.
I have robbed music from myself before. I try in those instances to make sure the two (or sometimes three) songs sound different enough from each other—because of tempo, arrangement, or whatnot—so they can’t be confused with each other. I still avoid performing them next to each other anyway, on principle.
OTHER STUFF: Well, I’m ensconced in our rental house in Cascade Locks, 7 hours from southern Oregon and 3 from wife and child on the Oregon Coast. Lot of work to do on the house—the last renters really trashed the place. Haven’t played any music; I’ve been a carpenter, weedeater, and garbage hauler instead. Got computer and Internet back after a 4-day hiatus. I still have an interview to finish for the music publisher (a press release, too, maybe), and John Lennon-style guitar to record for a Vonee Rose song. I will keep busy. If there isn’t a song (or two) in the remodeling, there my be one in the loneliness.
Joe
Sunday, May 4, 2008
MOVING AWAY...
Well, it’s time to move. I managed to postpone it for a whole couple of months, which was cool, and got to spend that time being a full-time musician, which was very cool. If I’m missed—or remembered—in this area, it’ll be as a writer, rather than anything else, and I like that.
Lot of packing and sifting and throwing away and cleaning before I go, and it’s been hard, because I really don’t want to go. The best I’ve been able to tell everybody is “I’ll be back.” I really hope I can be.
A few musical things to do before I go, too. I’ll get to say farewell at two more open mikes, Sunday and Tuesday, plus practice one more time with Screamin’ Gulch Wednesday (and I’ll find out then if I can add a few more tracks to the album in June), and a final Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. board meeting, too (also Sunday).
I’ve been asked to do an over-the-Internet guitar track for a Vonee Rose song, have a writing assignment from a music publisher, and think I might get to write the music for a Rev. Skip Johnson hymn. (Skip is an Adventist minister in the Boston area, and a prolific writer. This one just shouts “Congregations are gonna sing this.”) Those things I can finish up after I move if I can get connected to Internet promptly—but it does mean there’s a couple of things (the Tascam and computer) I won’t be packing up until the last minute.
This year’s song contest by Goodnight Kiss Music is looking for songs for a new recording artist, Cathy Kent. I know nothing about her music, but apparently GNK has a single out, with two songs, one uptempo, the other one of those ballads. (I have to buy iTunes in order to hear them.) All genres are reportedly okay (what she’ll get from me is country, anyway).
Potentially, I’ve got two songs of my own and five co-writes that might be suitable, depending on the image Ms. Kent is trying to convey to the public:
Rotten Candy (fast country—the song rejected by American Idol in 2007)
The Writer’s Block Blues (slow country blues)
Dead Things in the Shower (with Bobbie Gallup—fast country)
Born Again Barbie (with Scott Rose—Everly Brothers country-rock)
Distraction (with Diane Ewing—slow & sleazy)
So Far (with Marge McKinnis—slow, jazzy blues)
About Love (with Marge McKinnis—bluegrass, Buddy Holly style)
Quite a range, there. That’s why I asked GNK—and will get to ask Cathy Kent herself, I think, since it looks like I’ll get to interview her—how she feels about singing about abandonment, betrayal, premarital sex, dead animals, and poking fun at religion. That could rule out the first five songs on the list—but not the last two. It would be great to get Marge a cut with a real artist—she’s such a good writer.
Which prompts—don’t you love stream-of-consciousness writing?—the question of what I should be doing with my life (and whether I can do any of it in southern Oregon). I’d thought earlier about reviving my “pocket” consulting firm and making it a music-publishing company; I could still do that—I know what paperwork steps are necessary, I just haven’t done them. I know, too (I think) that the service is needed in this area; what I don’t know is whether there’s any money in it. Just being a full-time musician might pay better.
Joe
Lot of packing and sifting and throwing away and cleaning before I go, and it’s been hard, because I really don’t want to go. The best I’ve been able to tell everybody is “I’ll be back.” I really hope I can be.
A few musical things to do before I go, too. I’ll get to say farewell at two more open mikes, Sunday and Tuesday, plus practice one more time with Screamin’ Gulch Wednesday (and I’ll find out then if I can add a few more tracks to the album in June), and a final Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. board meeting, too (also Sunday).
I’ve been asked to do an over-the-Internet guitar track for a Vonee Rose song, have a writing assignment from a music publisher, and think I might get to write the music for a Rev. Skip Johnson hymn. (Skip is an Adventist minister in the Boston area, and a prolific writer. This one just shouts “Congregations are gonna sing this.”) Those things I can finish up after I move if I can get connected to Internet promptly—but it does mean there’s a couple of things (the Tascam and computer) I won’t be packing up until the last minute.
This year’s song contest by Goodnight Kiss Music is looking for songs for a new recording artist, Cathy Kent. I know nothing about her music, but apparently GNK has a single out, with two songs, one uptempo, the other one of those ballads. (I have to buy iTunes in order to hear them.) All genres are reportedly okay (what she’ll get from me is country, anyway).
Potentially, I’ve got two songs of my own and five co-writes that might be suitable, depending on the image Ms. Kent is trying to convey to the public:
Rotten Candy (fast country—the song rejected by American Idol in 2007)
The Writer’s Block Blues (slow country blues)
Dead Things in the Shower (with Bobbie Gallup—fast country)
Born Again Barbie (with Scott Rose—Everly Brothers country-rock)
Distraction (with Diane Ewing—slow & sleazy)
So Far (with Marge McKinnis—slow, jazzy blues)
About Love (with Marge McKinnis—bluegrass, Buddy Holly style)
Quite a range, there. That’s why I asked GNK—and will get to ask Cathy Kent herself, I think, since it looks like I’ll get to interview her—how she feels about singing about abandonment, betrayal, premarital sex, dead animals, and poking fun at religion. That could rule out the first five songs on the list—but not the last two. It would be great to get Marge a cut with a real artist—she’s such a good writer.
Which prompts—don’t you love stream-of-consciousness writing?—the question of what I should be doing with my life (and whether I can do any of it in southern Oregon). I’d thought earlier about reviving my “pocket” consulting firm and making it a music-publishing company; I could still do that—I know what paperwork steps are necessary, I just haven’t done them. I know, too (I think) that the service is needed in this area; what I don’t know is whether there’s any money in it. Just being a full-time musician might pay better.
Joe
Friday, May 2, 2008
THE ALBUM...
THE ALBUM: Wayne says it’s coming out fine. There are only 8 songs, though; unless I want do something like call it “The Short Album,” I need to add more. We didn’t record that night everything I wanted on the album anyway. I’ll see if I can tentatively arrange to do some more songs when I come down June 15 for the big “Star of Stars” performance.
What’s “in the can” with Wayne right now are:
The Termite Song (fast bluegrass)
(When I Jump Off the Cliff) I’ll Think of You (fast bluegrass)
Free-Range Person (fast bluegrass)
Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy)
Naked Space Hamsters in Love (fast bluegrass)
No Good Songs About the War (slow country)
Milepost 43 (mod. fast country)
Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep (rock ‘n’ roll, Johnny Cash style)
Mostly fast songs, in other words—those were what I had planned on recording with Screamin’ Gulch (only the band wasn’t there that night). I would like to add at least:
The Frog Next Door (very deliberate blues)
Rotten Candy (fast country)
Hey, Little Chicken (sleazy blues)
Dead Things in the Shower (mod. fast country)
That would provide more of a mix of styles—one almost-standard blues (and in a different key), one blues-sounding, and one that requires some decent singing. (“Dead Things” was my emulation of Frank Sinatra.) “Dead Things” is also a co-write, which would force me into doing the conventional “I’m a record company” paperwork for the whole album, instead of just releasing it. Bobbie Gallup, who co-wrote “Dead Things in the Shower,” has her own publishing company, and I had asked her at one point if she’d be willing to be publisher for the rest of the songs. Time to press that.
I proved with the “Santa’s Fallen” CD that I can play with the Big Boys: assemble a band of local musicians who are the equal of the professionals, record it in a local studio that’s the equal of the professionals, do it a whole lot cheaper (I like that) and exercise one of my personal biases, too, by recording it “Patsy Cline” syle, live and in one take—something no one does any more—and have the thing sell, just at gigs and by word of mouth, and even get played on the radio. Next step, I think, is to play LIKE the Big Boys, instead of just with them. Compete on the same playing field, in other words.
And it’d be really nice to record those additional songs with the Wild Goose Band (not a bad name for a band, that)—Jack on bass, James on lead guitar, Darrin on harmonica—and maybe Sheral on the Green Thing (it’s called a “melodicon,” and it’s really a child’s toy, but she can get some incredible sounds out of it). That band (with Sheral on flute) would be perfect for “Oil in the Cornfield,” too, if everybody were willing.
And then, one goes to the “joelist,” to SOSA, and to MySpace, and asks the involve the fans” question, “What would you call an album that’s got those songs on it?” Maybe post *.mp3 files of a couple of the songs as “teasers” on the “Wrabek’s Works in Progress” page on Soundclick, so folks can get a taste of what they sound like.
Release date by the end of summer? That would be fun…
Joe
What’s “in the can” with Wayne right now are:
The Termite Song (fast bluegrass)
(When I Jump Off the Cliff) I’ll Think of You (fast bluegrass)
Free-Range Person (fast bluegrass)
Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy)
Naked Space Hamsters in Love (fast bluegrass)
No Good Songs About the War (slow country)
Milepost 43 (mod. fast country)
Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep (rock ‘n’ roll, Johnny Cash style)
Mostly fast songs, in other words—those were what I had planned on recording with Screamin’ Gulch (only the band wasn’t there that night). I would like to add at least:
The Frog Next Door (very deliberate blues)
Rotten Candy (fast country)
Hey, Little Chicken (sleazy blues)
Dead Things in the Shower (mod. fast country)
That would provide more of a mix of styles—one almost-standard blues (and in a different key), one blues-sounding, and one that requires some decent singing. (“Dead Things” was my emulation of Frank Sinatra.) “Dead Things” is also a co-write, which would force me into doing the conventional “I’m a record company” paperwork for the whole album, instead of just releasing it. Bobbie Gallup, who co-wrote “Dead Things in the Shower,” has her own publishing company, and I had asked her at one point if she’d be willing to be publisher for the rest of the songs. Time to press that.
I proved with the “Santa’s Fallen” CD that I can play with the Big Boys: assemble a band of local musicians who are the equal of the professionals, record it in a local studio that’s the equal of the professionals, do it a whole lot cheaper (I like that) and exercise one of my personal biases, too, by recording it “Patsy Cline” syle, live and in one take—something no one does any more—and have the thing sell, just at gigs and by word of mouth, and even get played on the radio. Next step, I think, is to play LIKE the Big Boys, instead of just with them. Compete on the same playing field, in other words.
And it’d be really nice to record those additional songs with the Wild Goose Band (not a bad name for a band, that)—Jack on bass, James on lead guitar, Darrin on harmonica—and maybe Sheral on the Green Thing (it’s called a “melodicon,” and it’s really a child’s toy, but she can get some incredible sounds out of it). That band (with Sheral on flute) would be perfect for “Oil in the Cornfield,” too, if everybody were willing.
And then, one goes to the “joelist,” to SOSA, and to MySpace, and asks the involve the fans” question, “What would you call an album that’s got those songs on it?” Maybe post *.mp3 files of a couple of the songs as “teasers” on the “Wrabek’s Works in Progress” page on Soundclick, so folks can get a taste of what they sound like.
Release date by the end of summer? That would be fun…
Joe
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