The North American Jews Harp Festival is this Friday and Saturday, in Bay City—5 miles away; I’ll be trying to be there as much as possible, around prior commitments: playing with the Friday Night Group in Garibaldi, and the Garibaldi Museum concert Saturday night. I’d like to invite the folks from the Jews Harp Festival to the concert, but I won’t—they have events of their own going on at the same time, and I don’t want to steal their thunder. I’ll just mention that we’ll miss them, and encourage them to scrape up a venue they can hear us at.
Posters for the Museum concert are up all over town, and the Museum owners did a promo on the radio, too. There is a chance we could get a good crowd. We will practice tonight, mostly to reassure me; I know we’re good, but I want the confidence that when we go on stage, absolutely everything is perfect.
The band still does not have a name, but the moniker “The Floating Heads” is circulating around since I mentioned it, and some people are referring to us that way. We’ll see if the name catches on. I have a nice photo of the Port of Garibaldi’s floating restroom (officially chartered as a vessel--the S.S. Head) we could use on posters if that’s the way we end up going.
Friday night, I’m pretty sure Sara the librarian is going to request the snail song (tentatively hight “Love Trails of the Zombie Snails”), and I do want to be ready. I can hear the rock ‘n’ roll beat I want to give it, but am not sure I can play it. But I need to be able to lead it, in order for the Friday Night Group to follow. If it comes out country, that’s what they’ll play—they’re good followers.
Considering the subject matter (and the generally strange and obscurantist lyrics), this would be a great Southern Pigfish song—particularly if it can be done as rock ‘n’ roll. Another one for the Pigfish album, I guess. We already have “For Their Own Ends” (the title cut) and “Vampire Roumanian Babies.” There’s “Bedpans for Brains,” too, but that one really needs to be a music video, because each verse is sung by a different character from The Wizard of Oz.
Still not recorded—and it needs to be, while I’ve got these heavy-metal band members around—is the Norwegian Black/Death Metal song, “Evil Dead Fairies in My Mobile Home.” That one shouts “Southern Pigfish!” too.
There are songs by other people that would work on a Southern Pigfish album—some of Scott Garriott’s come immediately to mind—but it might be safer to use all my stuff. Real experimental stuff, here, creating a “buzz” and a persona for a band that is probably never going to play a concert (hard to do when you don’t exist), but is going to have—and sell—a record. (Their songs will get covered, too, if only by us. I always make sure to identify “For Their own Ends” as a Southern Pigfish song when we perform it. And we’ve been performing it every show, because people like it.)
On the promotional end, I can get blank thongs for roughly $1.00 apiece from Kimberly; I can do the message as either an iron-on transfer (if it won’t scorch the fabric) or a sticker, and I’ll pick up supplies for both when I’m in Salem Monday. Both the iron-on transfers and the stickers will make the thongs a little stiff to wear, but I don’t think anybody’s going to be wearing them. (If they do, I want a picture.) There do not appear to be any retailers that still sell the clear “slimline” CD cases, but I can get them in quantity on line.
I’m starting to see little jump drives available in quantity, too; I haven’t looked at the price—I’m not ready yet. I still think a jump drive with video (even if it’s only “French video,” that species of fast-moving slide show with text overlays) is the way to go with the Southern Pigfish album. If one is going to be experimental, one might as well go all the way.
I got to listen to Scott Garriott’s song “Marilee” (the one I played lead guitar on); it’s got a fiddle and backup singers on it now, and sounds real good. I tried an experiment—dumped the recording into the Audacity program and sped up the tempo a little over 10%, and it became a very fast-moving (and rather compelling) bluegrass number. I’ll send it back and see what Scott thinks.
Joe
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Monday, July 27, 2009
ANTARCTICAN ZOMBIE SNAILS (&C.)...
Imprinted thongs are NOT cheap. $7.17 each from the outfit that advertises on MySpace, minimum order of 24 (that’s a whopping $172.08, way too rich for my blood). I probably have to do something different. How about a sticker (maybe a 4-inch circle) that could be pasted on a generic thong? I could maybe get thongs in quantity through my daughter, who’s working at Ross’ Dress for Less. Could get the stickers when I’m in Salem next Monday for the job interview (yes, I have one of those, too—State Dept. of Revenue).
It would be fun to have thongs for the 22 August concert in Central Point. Could toss some out into the crowd, and donate a couple for the Southern Oregon Songwriters raffle. I need to get more CDs pressed before then, too. Biggest need is for those “slim-line” cases, which the big retailers seem to not be carrying any more. I like to package the CDs in those so I don’t have to print a cover—just the label.
Another song this morning—just a throwaway, I think, for one of those online contests. They wanted a hook consisting of two words that rhyme; somebody had to suggest I do “flat cat,” of course (I seem to have a Reputation), but I did “snails’ trails” instead. I’d been wanting to do something about the Antarctican zombie snails ever since I suggested them for a song title (I hadn’t “done” snails yet, and it felt like it was time). So now we have, for what it’s worth, “The Antarctic Trails of the Zombie Snails: A Love Song.”
The music is trying to come out somewhere between “Me & Rufus and Burning Down the House” and the Southern Pigfish classic, “Bedpans for Brains,” and I’d like it to not be too similar. Maybe if I did it in a different key? Forcing myself to play in a different key without using a capo makes the fingering/strumming come out a lot different sometimes. Alternatively, I wonder if it’d be possible to do it in a minor key? I don’t do minors very often.
I have had one suggestion that I keep to the original idea of the zombie snails as something evil and haunting, rather than focusing on their sex lives, and that’s doable; if I did that, I’d want the music upbeat and happier-sounding, for contrast. It could still be in a minor key. It’d almost be a Jewish folk dance if I did that.
Does the setlist for the Museum concert need to be revised? Based on what went over well at Garibaldi Days, I think I’d like to do:
Dead Things in the Shower (fast two-step, in C)
Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy, in C)
Bluebird on My Windshield (fast bluegrass, in C)
Tillamook Railroad Blues (deliberate blues, in D)
Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse (mod. fast two-step, in C)
No Good Songs About the War (slow two-step, in C)
For Their Own Ends (folk-rock, in E)
Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues (mod. slow quasi-blues, in C)
Welcome to Hebo Waltz (fast waltz, in C)
The Frog Next Door (deliberate blues, in D)
I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas (slow & sleazy, in C)
Duct Tape (mod. fast two-step, in C)
Nothing that we haven’t practiced, in other words—and all of them things we played last Saturday, and that were well-received by the audience. If we’re lucky, we’ll have one chance to practice this week—and we might not be lucky.
This weekend is the North American Jews’ Harp Festival, too, in Bay City, and I’ll try to attend as much of their stuff as I can. First priority is the Museum gig Saturday night. There’s music Friday night at City Hall, but the Jews’ Harp Festival is scheduling a jam session later the same evening, and I’d like to go. Music at the Forestry Center Sunday. It’s shaping up to be a busy week.
Joe
It would be fun to have thongs for the 22 August concert in Central Point. Could toss some out into the crowd, and donate a couple for the Southern Oregon Songwriters raffle. I need to get more CDs pressed before then, too. Biggest need is for those “slim-line” cases, which the big retailers seem to not be carrying any more. I like to package the CDs in those so I don’t have to print a cover—just the label.
Another song this morning—just a throwaway, I think, for one of those online contests. They wanted a hook consisting of two words that rhyme; somebody had to suggest I do “flat cat,” of course (I seem to have a Reputation), but I did “snails’ trails” instead. I’d been wanting to do something about the Antarctican zombie snails ever since I suggested them for a song title (I hadn’t “done” snails yet, and it felt like it was time). So now we have, for what it’s worth, “The Antarctic Trails of the Zombie Snails: A Love Song.”
The music is trying to come out somewhere between “Me & Rufus and Burning Down the House” and the Southern Pigfish classic, “Bedpans for Brains,” and I’d like it to not be too similar. Maybe if I did it in a different key? Forcing myself to play in a different key without using a capo makes the fingering/strumming come out a lot different sometimes. Alternatively, I wonder if it’d be possible to do it in a minor key? I don’t do minors very often.
I have had one suggestion that I keep to the original idea of the zombie snails as something evil and haunting, rather than focusing on their sex lives, and that’s doable; if I did that, I’d want the music upbeat and happier-sounding, for contrast. It could still be in a minor key. It’d almost be a Jewish folk dance if I did that.
Does the setlist for the Museum concert need to be revised? Based on what went over well at Garibaldi Days, I think I’d like to do:
Dead Things in the Shower (fast two-step, in C)
Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy, in C)
Bluebird on My Windshield (fast bluegrass, in C)
Tillamook Railroad Blues (deliberate blues, in D)
Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse (mod. fast two-step, in C)
No Good Songs About the War (slow two-step, in C)
For Their Own Ends (folk-rock, in E)
Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues (mod. slow quasi-blues, in C)
Welcome to Hebo Waltz (fast waltz, in C)
The Frog Next Door (deliberate blues, in D)
I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas (slow & sleazy, in C)
Duct Tape (mod. fast two-step, in C)
Nothing that we haven’t practiced, in other words—and all of them things we played last Saturday, and that were well-received by the audience. If we’re lucky, we’ll have one chance to practice this week—and we might not be lucky.
This weekend is the North American Jews’ Harp Festival, too, in Bay City, and I’ll try to attend as much of their stuff as I can. First priority is the Museum gig Saturday night. There’s music Friday night at City Hall, but the Jews’ Harp Festival is scheduling a jam session later the same evening, and I’d like to go. Music at the Forestry Center Sunday. It’s shaping up to be a busy week.
Joe
Sunday, July 26, 2009
GARIBALDI DAYS POST-MORTEM...
The Garibaldi Days gig went good. We had an appreciative audience, and the band enjoyed themselves. The top three songs were, in order, Southern Pigfish’s “For Their Own Ends,” Gene Burnett’s “Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse,” and Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street.”
The Pigfish song continues to be a surprise. People like rock ‘n’ roll, I guess. We should do more of it. One of mine we’ve never attempted is “Test Tube Baby,” a generally 12-bar blues which was an old Dodson Drifters hit, and we should try it. I think people like Gene’s song because it’s more uptempo than the average two-step—it’s just something that demands to be danced to—and it is unfailingly upbeat. Like Gene himself. Stan’s song, by contrast, we do very deliberately; people aren’t dancing to that one, they’re listening—and nodding. Every word of it hits home.
Other songs that got a good response were “Dead Things in the Shower,” “The Frog Next Door,” “Duct Tape,” “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” and of course “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas.” The band likes to “rock up” all of these, and it sounds good when they do it.
I still need to work on my timing for “Bluebird on My Windshield,” “The Termite Song,” and a few others. My problem, not the band’s; the band have learned how to deal with me—they let me set the tempo with my standard first-few-bars intro, and then they follow, keeping whatever time that was. That means my timing has to be perfect at the outset. The only way I’ll get that is practice.
The other thing I need to practice is being fancier on the guitar. The band is gelling easily into a 4-piece combo, with Dick’s blues harp as the lead instrument. That means I need to make up for the absence of a lead guitar. I don’t need to go the Deke Dickerson/Buddy Holly route, and play lead and rhythm at the same time (I never liked how that sounded anyway)—but I do need to return to the tactic I used to use when I was playing solo, of including marginally fancier riffs in the spaces when I’m not singing. Again, the only way I’ll get there is practice. Practice on my own—which I don’t do enough.
A couple of notes on the sound, because we did get the sound right this time, I think. We miked my guitar rather than using the pickup; since I tend to be stock-still and deadpan anyway when singing, a stationary mike works fine. It does give the guitar a fuller sound. My singing mike for the vocals, John’s instrument mike for the guitar, one of Dick’s wireless mikes for his blues harp—and the other mounted overhead of the drums, to pick up the “treble” sounds (cymbals and snares). Everything except John’s bass was run through the PA, and we used two little amps (his and mine) for monitors. It took just about an hour to get everything set up; since John had tested everything the night before in his living room, levels didn’t have to be messed with. And people said everything sounded clear and mixed just right. We’ll use the same setup at the Museum gig next Saturday.
I could have sold one CD, but I don’t have any left—I gave every one I had to the music store in Tillamook, and I had to send the requesters there. In retrospect, that’s not bad—if they do go there. If somebody actually goes to the Tillamook music store and specifically asks for my record, that sends a message I bet the music store doesn’t often get.
Dick’s and my appearance at the “Garibaldi’s Got Talent!” show was good, too; we were easily better (and definitely more professional) than any of the other acts. Had people clapping along to the “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” too. I met the fellow with the Rockaway recording studio, too—turns out he’s the new music teacher for the school district. Got him excited about recording the next album; he understood immediately what “Patsy Cline style” meant, without explanation, and told me he’s got a big room we could do it in. I told him I wanted to hear what he’d done for other folks before I committed to anything, but he’s definitely an option—if I ever have the money, of course.
Joe
The Pigfish song continues to be a surprise. People like rock ‘n’ roll, I guess. We should do more of it. One of mine we’ve never attempted is “Test Tube Baby,” a generally 12-bar blues which was an old Dodson Drifters hit, and we should try it. I think people like Gene’s song because it’s more uptempo than the average two-step—it’s just something that demands to be danced to—and it is unfailingly upbeat. Like Gene himself. Stan’s song, by contrast, we do very deliberately; people aren’t dancing to that one, they’re listening—and nodding. Every word of it hits home.
Other songs that got a good response were “Dead Things in the Shower,” “The Frog Next Door,” “Duct Tape,” “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” and of course “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas.” The band likes to “rock up” all of these, and it sounds good when they do it.
I still need to work on my timing for “Bluebird on My Windshield,” “The Termite Song,” and a few others. My problem, not the band’s; the band have learned how to deal with me—they let me set the tempo with my standard first-few-bars intro, and then they follow, keeping whatever time that was. That means my timing has to be perfect at the outset. The only way I’ll get that is practice.
The other thing I need to practice is being fancier on the guitar. The band is gelling easily into a 4-piece combo, with Dick’s blues harp as the lead instrument. That means I need to make up for the absence of a lead guitar. I don’t need to go the Deke Dickerson/Buddy Holly route, and play lead and rhythm at the same time (I never liked how that sounded anyway)—but I do need to return to the tactic I used to use when I was playing solo, of including marginally fancier riffs in the spaces when I’m not singing. Again, the only way I’ll get there is practice. Practice on my own—which I don’t do enough.
A couple of notes on the sound, because we did get the sound right this time, I think. We miked my guitar rather than using the pickup; since I tend to be stock-still and deadpan anyway when singing, a stationary mike works fine. It does give the guitar a fuller sound. My singing mike for the vocals, John’s instrument mike for the guitar, one of Dick’s wireless mikes for his blues harp—and the other mounted overhead of the drums, to pick up the “treble” sounds (cymbals and snares). Everything except John’s bass was run through the PA, and we used two little amps (his and mine) for monitors. It took just about an hour to get everything set up; since John had tested everything the night before in his living room, levels didn’t have to be messed with. And people said everything sounded clear and mixed just right. We’ll use the same setup at the Museum gig next Saturday.
I could have sold one CD, but I don’t have any left—I gave every one I had to the music store in Tillamook, and I had to send the requesters there. In retrospect, that’s not bad—if they do go there. If somebody actually goes to the Tillamook music store and specifically asks for my record, that sends a message I bet the music store doesn’t often get.
Dick’s and my appearance at the “Garibaldi’s Got Talent!” show was good, too; we were easily better (and definitely more professional) than any of the other acts. Had people clapping along to the “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” too. I met the fellow with the Rockaway recording studio, too—turns out he’s the new music teacher for the school district. Got him excited about recording the next album; he understood immediately what “Patsy Cline style” meant, without explanation, and told me he’s got a big room we could do it in. I told him I wanted to hear what he’d done for other folks before I committed to anything, but he’s definitely an option—if I ever have the money, of course.
Joe
Friday, July 24, 2009
REPLICATING RADIO IN THE NEW ERA...
Let’s assume for a moment that I know what I’m doing. I can write stuff—I have written stuff. I have other musicians who want to play with me. There are venues (a few, anyway) that want me to play there—presumably, they think I’ll bring in customers. I can put on a show of at least 2 hours tailored for just about any kind of audience. And I’ve sold out five pressings of my CD. (Yes, all the pressings were small, but it’s the principle of the thing.)
Sounds like we’re ready to Take It To The Next Level, doesn’t it? So what IS the next level, and how do we get there?
Back in the days of the Dodson Drifters, 30 years ago, we would be cutting a new record and takin g it around personally to the DJs at radio stations. If they thought it was good, they’d play it, and promote it—and we’d get people at gigs, and they’d be buying the record. We’d also at this point have a booking agent arranging the gigs (actually, with the Dodson Drifters, it was the booking agent who contacted us, not vice versa).
The second part of that strategy may still work, but the first part?. There are very few radio stations these days with DJs; most stations these days do not control their own playlists, and nothing new or independent gets played. On the other hand, people don’t seem to listen to the radio like they did 30 years ago (boring may have something to do with it). These days, it’s the Internet that’s ubiquitous. The Internet does have the advantage of not being controlled by anybody. It has the disadvantage of not having any filters. Nobody’s performing the function of those old radio station DJs, identifying and promoting talent.
Or is there? Those who get their music off the Internet are not searching blindly; there is at least the beginnings of a filtration system. Some of the players are big, like Rhapsody and iTunes, and some are small, like those little podcasters that seem to be cropping up in all sorts of places. It is those folks, big and small, I should treat like the old radio station DJs, making sure they know who I am, and making sure they get copies of everything I professionally produce.
There are a lot more of them, and the little guys and gals especially “cover” much smaller markets—but on the other hand, it’s cheaper to reach them. Back in the ‘70s, getting records in the hands of DJs meant a couple of us going on the road for a couple of months, staying in cheap motels and personally delivering 45s to the DJs. (We would often get interviewed, too—a big plus. Wonder if one could start that trend again?) These days, “Alice” the ‘puter can do it from the inexpensive comfort of my home; all I have to do is set up the mailing list—a clone of the “joelist,” really.
The process is a lot like the old radio distribution, too, in that it’s all promotion, not sales. The Dodson Drifters never made a dime off radio; the records we gave away to radio stations were just CODB—Cost Of Doing Business. Where we made money, as a performing band, was getting gigs. Promorion, I think, is the highest and best use of the Internet, too, in its present anarchic state. Perhaps the best one can shoot for is being able to direct listeners to points-of-sale like CDBaby where they can buy a CD—but the money is still going to be in the gigs, just as it was 30 years ago.
And just like 30 years ago, I’ll want a professional product to send the podcast folks. That’ll be the New Album (still planned for just before Christmas). In the meantime, what I can do is identify and contact the podcasters, find out how best to get material to them, and give them the last (“Santa’s Fallen”) album as a “here’s what it sounds like” tool. Sound like a good work program?
UPCOMING: Garibaldi Days starts today. The Friday Night Group plays tonight, the “Garibaldi’s Got Talent!” Show is tomorrow, and so is the band concert in the park. A week from Saturday is the Garibaldi Museum show, and then we’ve got to send the Dylan-wannabe recording to England, with its entry fee in British pounds. SOSA concert in Central Point is 22 August. Wonder if I’ll have any more job interviews?
Joe
Sounds like we’re ready to Take It To The Next Level, doesn’t it? So what IS the next level, and how do we get there?
Back in the days of the Dodson Drifters, 30 years ago, we would be cutting a new record and takin g it around personally to the DJs at radio stations. If they thought it was good, they’d play it, and promote it—and we’d get people at gigs, and they’d be buying the record. We’d also at this point have a booking agent arranging the gigs (actually, with the Dodson Drifters, it was the booking agent who contacted us, not vice versa).
The second part of that strategy may still work, but the first part?. There are very few radio stations these days with DJs; most stations these days do not control their own playlists, and nothing new or independent gets played. On the other hand, people don’t seem to listen to the radio like they did 30 years ago (boring may have something to do with it). These days, it’s the Internet that’s ubiquitous. The Internet does have the advantage of not being controlled by anybody. It has the disadvantage of not having any filters. Nobody’s performing the function of those old radio station DJs, identifying and promoting talent.
Or is there? Those who get their music off the Internet are not searching blindly; there is at least the beginnings of a filtration system. Some of the players are big, like Rhapsody and iTunes, and some are small, like those little podcasters that seem to be cropping up in all sorts of places. It is those folks, big and small, I should treat like the old radio station DJs, making sure they know who I am, and making sure they get copies of everything I professionally produce.
There are a lot more of them, and the little guys and gals especially “cover” much smaller markets—but on the other hand, it’s cheaper to reach them. Back in the ‘70s, getting records in the hands of DJs meant a couple of us going on the road for a couple of months, staying in cheap motels and personally delivering 45s to the DJs. (We would often get interviewed, too—a big plus. Wonder if one could start that trend again?) These days, “Alice” the ‘puter can do it from the inexpensive comfort of my home; all I have to do is set up the mailing list—a clone of the “joelist,” really.
The process is a lot like the old radio distribution, too, in that it’s all promotion, not sales. The Dodson Drifters never made a dime off radio; the records we gave away to radio stations were just CODB—Cost Of Doing Business. Where we made money, as a performing band, was getting gigs. Promorion, I think, is the highest and best use of the Internet, too, in its present anarchic state. Perhaps the best one can shoot for is being able to direct listeners to points-of-sale like CDBaby where they can buy a CD—but the money is still going to be in the gigs, just as it was 30 years ago.
And just like 30 years ago, I’ll want a professional product to send the podcast folks. That’ll be the New Album (still planned for just before Christmas). In the meantime, what I can do is identify and contact the podcasters, find out how best to get material to them, and give them the last (“Santa’s Fallen”) album as a “here’s what it sounds like” tool. Sound like a good work program?
UPCOMING: Garibaldi Days starts today. The Friday Night Group plays tonight, the “Garibaldi’s Got Talent!” Show is tomorrow, and so is the band concert in the park. A week from Saturday is the Garibaldi Museum show, and then we’ve got to send the Dylan-wannabe recording to England, with its entry fee in British pounds. SOSA concert in Central Point is 22 August. Wonder if I’ll have any more job interviews?
Joe
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
3 DAYS TILL GARIBALDI DAYS...
Three days till Garibaldi Days… The DVDs of last Saturday’s Ashland public television shows are done—I should have them in a week, and will get to see how they came out. I know that what Darrin and I, and emcee T-Poe, did in the studio was good; what I don’t know is how it came out on “tape.” The Tillamook County Library System are the latest folks to request copies.
The Garibaldi Days program is printed, and looks okay. (Next time, though, I’ll make sure to use a front-page photo that doesn’t go all pixelly when blown up.) People are making copies of pieces of it and posting them around town, and I hope that means they liked the job, too. It was fun—but I have told everybody in creation that if I do this again, we are starting earlier and we will have a firm (and early) deadline.
Another job application sent off—this one to be city manager in the little city of Gold Hill, 16 miles up-freeway from Phoenix, where I used to work, and just outside the burgeoning Medford metro area. Three state jobs, too. Still to apply for: a financial-guru job at the local cheese factory, and two more public-sector ones—a city planner position and a city recorder one, both out of town. I am turning over every rock possible to see if there’s a paycheck hiding under it.
One of the Nashville music publishers I’m now on the mailing list for sent out a call for material for a new Darius Rucker album, so I spent a little time listening to Rucker’s stuff, most of which he apparently writes himself. It’s “modern country,” I guess—stuff that would have been considered rock music 30 years or so ago—but I did run across one song that had a bluegrassy feel to it (even had a banjo playing in the background). So the publisher got sent “Rotten Candy,” the [drum roll] Song That Was Rejected By American Idol in 2007. It is probably my most commercially viable song; it was written, after all, deliberately to comply with every single one of Nashville’s songwriting rules as I knew them—including the ones that didn’t make any sense. And it’s definitely bluegrassy.
All I could send the publisher, though, was a draft recording (the industry would call it a “mixtape”) done on the Tascam. The vocals and guitars (rhythm and lead) are okay, but it’s not the “full band treatment” one is supposed to send folks like this, and I don’t know how it’ll be received. When the band practices the song for our Garibaldi Days concert (it’s on the setlist) we should record it at the same time. I can add the lead guitar—maybe even Electric Banjo—later, and then we’ll have a Real Demo. Suitable for the album, in fact (“Rotten Candy” is one of the songs on that list, too). The lesson (there are always lessons): I should “demoify” every song that’s got the potential to get recorded or performed by somebody else. You never know when you’re going to need it.
The Garibaldi Days Rap doesn’t need to be written; it’s already done (I apparently did it before I went on Road Trip #2, and then forgot I’d done so). All I have to do is memorize and rehearse it. The band will practice Wednesday afternoon and evening, and Friday afternoon. We’re allocating enough time to go through the 2-hour setlist at least twice each session. Dick has heard all the songs, John all but one, and Chris about half of them, and all three are very good at what they do. I am not anticipating we’ll have to spend a lot of time on the material.
Still to do: Posters for the band’s Garibaldi Days concert. Programs for the next SOSA concert (it’s two weeks away, but I promised I’d have them done early). And another column for the newspaper (my third). And the demo to finish for the Dylan-song contest in England. The base track (rhythm guitar, vocal, bass and drums) is done, I think; just need to add lead guitar and blues harp. That one’s destined for the album, too, so the recording can do double duty.
Joe
The Garibaldi Days program is printed, and looks okay. (Next time, though, I’ll make sure to use a front-page photo that doesn’t go all pixelly when blown up.) People are making copies of pieces of it and posting them around town, and I hope that means they liked the job, too. It was fun—but I have told everybody in creation that if I do this again, we are starting earlier and we will have a firm (and early) deadline.
Another job application sent off—this one to be city manager in the little city of Gold Hill, 16 miles up-freeway from Phoenix, where I used to work, and just outside the burgeoning Medford metro area. Three state jobs, too. Still to apply for: a financial-guru job at the local cheese factory, and two more public-sector ones—a city planner position and a city recorder one, both out of town. I am turning over every rock possible to see if there’s a paycheck hiding under it.
One of the Nashville music publishers I’m now on the mailing list for sent out a call for material for a new Darius Rucker album, so I spent a little time listening to Rucker’s stuff, most of which he apparently writes himself. It’s “modern country,” I guess—stuff that would have been considered rock music 30 years or so ago—but I did run across one song that had a bluegrassy feel to it (even had a banjo playing in the background). So the publisher got sent “Rotten Candy,” the [drum roll] Song That Was Rejected By American Idol in 2007. It is probably my most commercially viable song; it was written, after all, deliberately to comply with every single one of Nashville’s songwriting rules as I knew them—including the ones that didn’t make any sense. And it’s definitely bluegrassy.
All I could send the publisher, though, was a draft recording (the industry would call it a “mixtape”) done on the Tascam. The vocals and guitars (rhythm and lead) are okay, but it’s not the “full band treatment” one is supposed to send folks like this, and I don’t know how it’ll be received. When the band practices the song for our Garibaldi Days concert (it’s on the setlist) we should record it at the same time. I can add the lead guitar—maybe even Electric Banjo—later, and then we’ll have a Real Demo. Suitable for the album, in fact (“Rotten Candy” is one of the songs on that list, too). The lesson (there are always lessons): I should “demoify” every song that’s got the potential to get recorded or performed by somebody else. You never know when you’re going to need it.
The Garibaldi Days Rap doesn’t need to be written; it’s already done (I apparently did it before I went on Road Trip #2, and then forgot I’d done so). All I have to do is memorize and rehearse it. The band will practice Wednesday afternoon and evening, and Friday afternoon. We’re allocating enough time to go through the 2-hour setlist at least twice each session. Dick has heard all the songs, John all but one, and Chris about half of them, and all three are very good at what they do. I am not anticipating we’ll have to spend a lot of time on the material.
Still to do: Posters for the band’s Garibaldi Days concert. Programs for the next SOSA concert (it’s two weeks away, but I promised I’d have them done early). And another column for the newspaper (my third). And the demo to finish for the Dylan-song contest in England. The base track (rhythm guitar, vocal, bass and drums) is done, I think; just need to add lead guitar and blues harp. That one’s destined for the album, too, so the recording can do double duty.
Joe
Monday, July 20, 2009
ROAD TRIP #2 POST-MORTEM...
Road Trip #2 was okay. Job interview went well; Gold Beach is a really nice place, and I think I’d enjoy living and working there. I’ll find out if I’m the Chosen One in a week or so. And the public television taping was lots of fun. I’m in the burlesque show, too. (From public television to burlesque in one day. I think that suggests versatility. Doesn’t it?)
On the Bad News front, the only rejection letter I got while I was gone was a music one, from the West Linn Library, saying they’re not interested in having me as a performer. They didn’t say it was because they didn’t like my stuff—just that there were too many applicants. (Nonetheless, the fact they picked other people instead of me means they liked those folks’ stuff better.) And Rowan (Banjo Girl) can’t play the banjo for a while—she got tendonitis. I offered to try to contact her again in a month and see if things are better. So the banjo got to make a thousand-mile trip in the van and is still with me.
TV is a fascinating medium. It’s all illusion: the studio is a cavernous concrete-block space with multitudinous lights hanging from a ceiling two stories above; there are three cameras, all manned, and a sound room four times the size the Dodson Drifters had, crammed with equipment and manned by two more people. The stage is actually a very small platform in the middle of the room, and the space for the studio audience is small, too (which was good—we had only a small audience), but you’d never know it when you see it on TV. The Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. tapes two shows a month here, except in August and September.(when everybody in SOSA is busy with the summer concerts).
The “serious issues” RVTV show came in at 29 minutes 33 seconds (out of 30 minutes), and we didn’t have to change a thing. In the “not serious” show, we cut the lead break out of the last song and the show came in at 29 minutes 44 seconds. Near perfect timing, in other words. Darrin and I had practiced the two previous nights, and had everything note-perfect for the show. Since I can’t receive Ashland public television in Garibaldi (just Portland public television), I ordered DVDs of the show (they want $10 apiece for those). I’ll have to find out if it’s legal to make copies. A number of people have asked for DVDs of the shows.
I do have one follow-up I can do after the RVTV shows air. I had contacted Ariella St. Clair, a concert promoter in Ashland, last year, and been told by her she wasn’t interested in me because I wasn’t famous enough. I asked what would make me famous enough, and was told, “I only do people who’ve been on public television.” Now I can find out if she was serious, or if that was just an excuse. I will have been on public television.
While in southern Oregon, I got to see Darrin’s band (hight The Hired Guns) perform Friday night (impressive show). The Hired Guns will also be the backup band for songwriter Larry West (their lead guitarist) when he plays Central Point 22 August—the same day I do. I also delivered both Darrin and Dan CDs with the setlist for our 22 August concert in Central Point. That show’s an hour 15 minutes long (last year’s shows were only half an hour).
Got to meet the organizers of the burlesque show in Portland, and talk with them a bit about what they had in mind. I only played them two songs, “The Taboo Song” (which they hadn’t heard) and “Naked Space Hamsters in Love” (which they had). I got the impression they’d made up their mind they wanted me in the show before I got there. Their next step is a general meeting, sometime in August, of all the performers they’ve selected. First show is planned for late September at the Hawthorne Theater, which I’ve been told is a nice—and big—performance space with a good sound system.
Now that I’m back, I have half a dozen more jobs to apply for (including the City of Gold Hill, also in southern Oregon, which is hiring their first-ever city manager), and practice for the Garibaldi Days concert—which is this coming Saturday. Still need to write the script for that, too.
Joe
On the Bad News front, the only rejection letter I got while I was gone was a music one, from the West Linn Library, saying they’re not interested in having me as a performer. They didn’t say it was because they didn’t like my stuff—just that there were too many applicants. (Nonetheless, the fact they picked other people instead of me means they liked those folks’ stuff better.) And Rowan (Banjo Girl) can’t play the banjo for a while—she got tendonitis. I offered to try to contact her again in a month and see if things are better. So the banjo got to make a thousand-mile trip in the van and is still with me.
TV is a fascinating medium. It’s all illusion: the studio is a cavernous concrete-block space with multitudinous lights hanging from a ceiling two stories above; there are three cameras, all manned, and a sound room four times the size the Dodson Drifters had, crammed with equipment and manned by two more people. The stage is actually a very small platform in the middle of the room, and the space for the studio audience is small, too (which was good—we had only a small audience), but you’d never know it when you see it on TV. The Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. tapes two shows a month here, except in August and September.(when everybody in SOSA is busy with the summer concerts).
The “serious issues” RVTV show came in at 29 minutes 33 seconds (out of 30 minutes), and we didn’t have to change a thing. In the “not serious” show, we cut the lead break out of the last song and the show came in at 29 minutes 44 seconds. Near perfect timing, in other words. Darrin and I had practiced the two previous nights, and had everything note-perfect for the show. Since I can’t receive Ashland public television in Garibaldi (just Portland public television), I ordered DVDs of the show (they want $10 apiece for those). I’ll have to find out if it’s legal to make copies. A number of people have asked for DVDs of the shows.
I do have one follow-up I can do after the RVTV shows air. I had contacted Ariella St. Clair, a concert promoter in Ashland, last year, and been told by her she wasn’t interested in me because I wasn’t famous enough. I asked what would make me famous enough, and was told, “I only do people who’ve been on public television.” Now I can find out if she was serious, or if that was just an excuse. I will have been on public television.
While in southern Oregon, I got to see Darrin’s band (hight The Hired Guns) perform Friday night (impressive show). The Hired Guns will also be the backup band for songwriter Larry West (their lead guitarist) when he plays Central Point 22 August—the same day I do. I also delivered both Darrin and Dan CDs with the setlist for our 22 August concert in Central Point. That show’s an hour 15 minutes long (last year’s shows were only half an hour).
Got to meet the organizers of the burlesque show in Portland, and talk with them a bit about what they had in mind. I only played them two songs, “The Taboo Song” (which they hadn’t heard) and “Naked Space Hamsters in Love” (which they had). I got the impression they’d made up their mind they wanted me in the show before I got there. Their next step is a general meeting, sometime in August, of all the performers they’ve selected. First show is planned for late September at the Hawthorne Theater, which I’ve been told is a nice—and big—performance space with a good sound system.
Now that I’m back, I have half a dozen more jobs to apply for (including the City of Gold Hill, also in southern Oregon, which is hiring their first-ever city manager), and practice for the Garibaldi Days concert—which is this coming Saturday. Still need to write the script for that, too.
Joe
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
GARIBALDI DAYS PROGRAM (AND THE NEW SONG)...
The Garibaldi Days program is done. I can’t say “finally,” because a lot of the delay is my own fault—I waited until the last minute to do anything. Of course, I didn’t get the last ads until 11 p.m. yesterday, and had to design one from scratch today from an e-mail, but it was fun nonetheless. I stayed up until 3 a.m. working on it, and was up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7, anxious to finish the job. I do love this kind of work. It goes to the printer—that part is not my job—tonight.
Even though it felt like it took a long time, it really didn’t. Had I been charging for my time (which I was not), the bill, even at the high prices I used to charge, would have been only a few hundred bucks. And the product is—even if I do say so myself—pretty good. I hope the Lions Club and the advertisers like it. (I suppose a copy should go in the Joe Portfolio so I can use it to impress people.)
One of the ads I got for the Garibaldi Days program was from [drum roll] a recording studio. Girl who was selling the ads is married to a rock guitarist whose band is playing at Garibaldi Days, and he uses ‘em. I don’t know if they’re any good—I haven’t heard any of his records—but it’s nice to know the business exists.
“Always Pet the Dogs” is recorded. Just a simple couple-of-takes rendition on the Tascam, but it should be sufficient show-and-tell for the band down in southern Oregon. I’ve included it on the setlist for the August 22 concert in Central Point. I won’t include it in the RVTV taping this Saturday (7/18), or the Garibaldi Days concert next Saturday (7/25)—those sets are, well, set, and I won’t change them at the last minute.
I don’t know if I’d include the song in the Museum gig the following week (8/1); I’ll ask the band. It is a fairly simple tune, but the band is not getting a lot of time to practice, and I’ve been trying to stick to familiar material. On the other hand, audiences do half-expect me to keep coming up with new stuff (me being a writer, and all); the song could get a pretty good hearing, even on a “we’re playing this in public for the first time” basis. Other songs have.
I was excited about “Always Pet the Dogs,” because I thought it was pretty good, but looking at it realistically (which one has to do eventually), I don’t have a lot of places I can go with it. I don’t control “Star-Maker machinery” that can get my material a lot of exposure; all I can do is perform it, and put it on the next album, and neither of those is really big-time stuff.
I do know a number of music publishers (the number is three), but—no offense to the publishers, if they’re reading this—that may not count for a lot. Publishers these days are in exactly the same position real estate agents are, trying to peddle an increasing volume of material to a shrinking number of mostly disinterested buyers. It’s probably worth an e-mail—not sending the song (most publishers flat refuse any unsolicited material), but just asking if they’d be interested in listening.
The key to getting attention for a good song—and that’s not just this song, but ANY good song—is getting it performed by more people, people who hopefully reach larger audiences than I can myself. That was the principle put into practice in the Failed Economy Show, where we performed a lot of good songs by writers every bit as unknown as I am. (And the ones that got people dancing we want to keep playing, as a regular part of our repertoire.) I’d like to see other people performing my stuff—some do already, just not on the scale I’d wish. Royalty-free, of course; I’m not interested in revenue so much as I am exposure. When I get the phone call that says, “Y’know, we’d really like to include this song on our next album,” that’s the point where we can talk about those little copyright fees. Otherwise, I’d be happy if people just played the song, and mentioned my name.
Another outlet—one that’s not dependent on other people—is that Great Lakes Song Contest I keep hearing about. Their spam messages are pretty annoying—to the point where I was going to refuse to enter their contest—but I could send them “Always Pet the Dogs.” Worth the entry fee? Probably. The band will need to record base tracks, and then Dick and I can overlay harmonica and guitar leads, respectively. John (bass player/sound engineer) is pretty busy with his new city-manager job, but we could maybe do this in conjunction with practice.
Leaving tomorrow for the job interview, et al. I have not packed. And I still have stuff to do.
Joe
Even though it felt like it took a long time, it really didn’t. Had I been charging for my time (which I was not), the bill, even at the high prices I used to charge, would have been only a few hundred bucks. And the product is—even if I do say so myself—pretty good. I hope the Lions Club and the advertisers like it. (I suppose a copy should go in the Joe Portfolio so I can use it to impress people.)
One of the ads I got for the Garibaldi Days program was from [drum roll] a recording studio. Girl who was selling the ads is married to a rock guitarist whose band is playing at Garibaldi Days, and he uses ‘em. I don’t know if they’re any good—I haven’t heard any of his records—but it’s nice to know the business exists.
“Always Pet the Dogs” is recorded. Just a simple couple-of-takes rendition on the Tascam, but it should be sufficient show-and-tell for the band down in southern Oregon. I’ve included it on the setlist for the August 22 concert in Central Point. I won’t include it in the RVTV taping this Saturday (7/18), or the Garibaldi Days concert next Saturday (7/25)—those sets are, well, set, and I won’t change them at the last minute.
I don’t know if I’d include the song in the Museum gig the following week (8/1); I’ll ask the band. It is a fairly simple tune, but the band is not getting a lot of time to practice, and I’ve been trying to stick to familiar material. On the other hand, audiences do half-expect me to keep coming up with new stuff (me being a writer, and all); the song could get a pretty good hearing, even on a “we’re playing this in public for the first time” basis. Other songs have.
I was excited about “Always Pet the Dogs,” because I thought it was pretty good, but looking at it realistically (which one has to do eventually), I don’t have a lot of places I can go with it. I don’t control “Star-Maker machinery” that can get my material a lot of exposure; all I can do is perform it, and put it on the next album, and neither of those is really big-time stuff.
I do know a number of music publishers (the number is three), but—no offense to the publishers, if they’re reading this—that may not count for a lot. Publishers these days are in exactly the same position real estate agents are, trying to peddle an increasing volume of material to a shrinking number of mostly disinterested buyers. It’s probably worth an e-mail—not sending the song (most publishers flat refuse any unsolicited material), but just asking if they’d be interested in listening.
The key to getting attention for a good song—and that’s not just this song, but ANY good song—is getting it performed by more people, people who hopefully reach larger audiences than I can myself. That was the principle put into practice in the Failed Economy Show, where we performed a lot of good songs by writers every bit as unknown as I am. (And the ones that got people dancing we want to keep playing, as a regular part of our repertoire.) I’d like to see other people performing my stuff—some do already, just not on the scale I’d wish. Royalty-free, of course; I’m not interested in revenue so much as I am exposure. When I get the phone call that says, “Y’know, we’d really like to include this song on our next album,” that’s the point where we can talk about those little copyright fees. Otherwise, I’d be happy if people just played the song, and mentioned my name.
Another outlet—one that’s not dependent on other people—is that Great Lakes Song Contest I keep hearing about. Their spam messages are pretty annoying—to the point where I was going to refuse to enter their contest—but I could send them “Always Pet the Dogs.” Worth the entry fee? Probably. The band will need to record base tracks, and then Dick and I can overlay harmonica and guitar leads, respectively. John (bass player/sound engineer) is pretty busy with his new city-manager job, but we could maybe do this in conjunction with practice.
Leaving tomorrow for the job interview, et al. I have not packed. And I still have stuff to do.
Joe
Sunday, July 12, 2009
THE RELATIONS WITH FANS...
I have tried a couple of times to devote an issue of the blog to exploring what I think is the changing relationship between fans and performers—something Lorelei Loveridge, founder of Performing Songwriters (United Worldwide) devoted a legal paper to recently. The legal paper, though, raised questions, and I want answers. And I thought of some. But I haven’t been able thus far to express them in the space I allot myself for issues of the blog.
I treat these “bloggies” like songs—I have an arbitrary length I do not want to go over, and if I can’t express a complete thought in that space, I won’t. I will try again. It’s training in being economical with words, that is going to carry over into (among other places) songwriting.
The argument I was trying to make is that while the relations between the Big Boys and their fans can be expressed in contractual terms—the parties being remote from and isolated from each other, and their “interfaces” consisting of transactions involving the exchange of money—mine aren’t like that. My relations with my fans are a lot more personal; our communication is a lot more two-way—I listen as well as speak, and they know I do (I think)—and our transactions often do not involve money. I think a lot of (maybe most) small-timers are in similar boats.
I think that’s an opportunity for me (us). I (we) are delivering something the market (if we can apply such a crass term to a bunch of individual people) wants. In an increasingly encapsulated world, folks crave personal contact, and they also need to feel they’re important to somebody besides that small circle of family and friends they hang with. Point Two: I (we) can deliver that, and the Big Boys can’t. And every thing that I (we) can do that they can’t do needs to be looked at real carefully, because it’s an opportunity to level the playing field.
Now, I don’t have too much trouble satisfying the fans right now. The numbers are pretty small, as are the venues I play at, and while I don’t have money to let me travel around a lot, I sure do have time. But what if—by some wild stretch of the imagination—things get better? I’ve said repeatedly that in five years, I want to be making half my income off music. That means—since I do not and will not have access to what Joni Mitchell called “the Star-Maker machinery”—I’ll be playing more gigs, to bigger crowds, and staying in touch with a much larger number of people.
And therein lies a big challenge. I have to be able to hang onto those two important aspects of the relationship—(1) those folks feel I know them, and (2) those folks feel they’re important because I know them—and I accordingly can’t let myself get sucked into “the Star-Maker machinery” even if the chance happens because it will “remotify” me from my people, transforming our relationship from a personal into a contractual one, and I don’t want that. I would be jettisoning the very thing that enabled me to be successful in the first place. Instead, while I’m small-time, I need to figure out ways to be more efficient at the same time I’m continuing to be effective. (That is a lot easier to say than do.)
UPDATES: The music store in Tillamook got my last 5 CDs—and a poster to hang in the window. A bunch of people have asked for DVDs of the RVTV shows, and I’ll try to accommodate them (I need a DVD myself—I can’t receive Ashland public television here on the Coast). While I’m down in southern Oregon, there will NOT be a SOSA showcase at Johnny B.’s in Medford—it’s been postponed, to a date when I can’t be there. I “MySpaced” Johnny, asking if he needed an opening act for the band he’s got coming in, but I’ll probably have to call him—he’s usually too busy to answer messages.
And the reason I’m anxious is I’m looking for opportunities to perform the new song. “Always Pet the Dogs” got the nicest comments from fellow songwriters that I’ve seen in a long time, and it makes me wonder whether I might have something good there. The setlists for the next 3 shows are set, though; I’m not going to change them. But I do want to see how live audiences react to the song. I have a feeling I want it on the next album.
And it just occurred to me—I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to obsess about the job interview next week. That is cool.
Joe
I treat these “bloggies” like songs—I have an arbitrary length I do not want to go over, and if I can’t express a complete thought in that space, I won’t. I will try again. It’s training in being economical with words, that is going to carry over into (among other places) songwriting.
The argument I was trying to make is that while the relations between the Big Boys and their fans can be expressed in contractual terms—the parties being remote from and isolated from each other, and their “interfaces” consisting of transactions involving the exchange of money—mine aren’t like that. My relations with my fans are a lot more personal; our communication is a lot more two-way—I listen as well as speak, and they know I do (I think)—and our transactions often do not involve money. I think a lot of (maybe most) small-timers are in similar boats.
I think that’s an opportunity for me (us). I (we) are delivering something the market (if we can apply such a crass term to a bunch of individual people) wants. In an increasingly encapsulated world, folks crave personal contact, and they also need to feel they’re important to somebody besides that small circle of family and friends they hang with. Point Two: I (we) can deliver that, and the Big Boys can’t. And every thing that I (we) can do that they can’t do needs to be looked at real carefully, because it’s an opportunity to level the playing field.
Now, I don’t have too much trouble satisfying the fans right now. The numbers are pretty small, as are the venues I play at, and while I don’t have money to let me travel around a lot, I sure do have time. But what if—by some wild stretch of the imagination—things get better? I’ve said repeatedly that in five years, I want to be making half my income off music. That means—since I do not and will not have access to what Joni Mitchell called “the Star-Maker machinery”—I’ll be playing more gigs, to bigger crowds, and staying in touch with a much larger number of people.
And therein lies a big challenge. I have to be able to hang onto those two important aspects of the relationship—(1) those folks feel I know them, and (2) those folks feel they’re important because I know them—and I accordingly can’t let myself get sucked into “the Star-Maker machinery” even if the chance happens because it will “remotify” me from my people, transforming our relationship from a personal into a contractual one, and I don’t want that. I would be jettisoning the very thing that enabled me to be successful in the first place. Instead, while I’m small-time, I need to figure out ways to be more efficient at the same time I’m continuing to be effective. (That is a lot easier to say than do.)
UPDATES: The music store in Tillamook got my last 5 CDs—and a poster to hang in the window. A bunch of people have asked for DVDs of the RVTV shows, and I’ll try to accommodate them (I need a DVD myself—I can’t receive Ashland public television here on the Coast). While I’m down in southern Oregon, there will NOT be a SOSA showcase at Johnny B.’s in Medford—it’s been postponed, to a date when I can’t be there. I “MySpaced” Johnny, asking if he needed an opening act for the band he’s got coming in, but I’ll probably have to call him—he’s usually too busy to answer messages.
And the reason I’m anxious is I’m looking for opportunities to perform the new song. “Always Pet the Dogs” got the nicest comments from fellow songwriters that I’ve seen in a long time, and it makes me wonder whether I might have something good there. The setlists for the next 3 shows are set, though; I’m not going to change them. But I do want to see how live audiences react to the song. I have a feeling I want it on the next album.
And it just occurred to me—I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to obsess about the job interview next week. That is cool.
Joe
Friday, July 10, 2009
UPDATES...
Dick, Carol and I will be in the talent show (tentatively dubbed “Garibldi’s Got Talent!”)—I really hadn’t expected otherwise, but today’s audition made it official. The music store in Tillamook called; they want to sell my CDs ($15 per, of which I get $10)—I may need to get more pressed. (Handing the things out like business cards does help. That’s how the music store got one.)
Rowan (the Craigslist banjo player) is interested in the banjo—we’ll try to connect while I’m in Portland. Sent the Garibaldi Museum owners the poster for the 1 August concert. And my audition for the burlesque show is confirmed, too—6 p.m. Sunday 7/19, in Portland. Means I’ll need to leave southern Oregon by around 10 a.m.
The burlesque show will get 6 songs, I think:
Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes? (slow & sleazy Gospel)
Naked Space Hamsters in Love (fast bluegrass)
Sam & Melinda (slow traditional folk)
Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep (Johnny Cash-style rock ‘n’ roll)
The Cat with the Strat (talking blues)
The Taboo Song (mod. slow two-step)
That’s under half an hour, because all the songs will be shorter when there’s no lead breaks. Enough shorter so I could fit in a seventh song? Maybe. My best candidate may be “The Termite Song”—it’s pretty short, too—inserted in between Sam & Melinda and the sheep. It’s not as suggestive as the rest of the setlist, but it does get people’s attention—and global warming is such a (shall we say) hot topic these days.
Script is done for the 7/18 RVTV shows, and e-mailed to host T-Poe and producer Sheral; I found “flex points” where I can reduce the length of my performance slightly to accommodate lengthier interviewing by T-Poe if necessary. Two of the songs in the “Serious Issues” set have extra choruses that can be eliminated, and two of the songs in the “Not Serious At All” set have lead breaks than can be cut back. Just need to know ahead of time that we need to do that.
At the Southern Oregon Songwriters showcase in Medford Sat. 7/18, I’ll do my three newest: “The Taboo Song,” “Me and Rufus, and Burnin’ Down the House,” and the finally-finished reincarnation song, “Always Pet the Dogs.” Yes, it’s done, I think (lyrics are getting peer review at Just Plain Folks, but I haven’t seen any nits yet). It’s just three verses (2 verses, chorus, last verse, chorus), but I really couldn’t think of anything that needed to be added. Some songs are just like that. Maybe I can record it this weekend.
On the not-good-news front, I did not get the city-manager job in Myrtle Point; I got the formal rejection letter in the mail (they even said which of the whippersnappers they hired, but I can’t remember which of the kids was which). I’ll send them a nice letter back, wishing ‘em the best of luck (they are nice people), but I still do have other fish to fry. No point in being discouraged about it. (And that’s the only bad news—today, anyway? That’s not too bad.)
Tasks for the weekend are to mow the lawn, finish the Garibaldi Days program, design and typeset the program for the 17 July SOSA concert in Central Point, script out the Garibaldi Days and Museum sets, apply for half a dozen more jobs, and pack for Road Trip #2. Music Friday night at City Hall and Saturday at the Tillamook Library.
Joe
Rowan (the Craigslist banjo player) is interested in the banjo—we’ll try to connect while I’m in Portland. Sent the Garibaldi Museum owners the poster for the 1 August concert. And my audition for the burlesque show is confirmed, too—6 p.m. Sunday 7/19, in Portland. Means I’ll need to leave southern Oregon by around 10 a.m.
The burlesque show will get 6 songs, I think:
Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes? (slow & sleazy Gospel)
Naked Space Hamsters in Love (fast bluegrass)
Sam & Melinda (slow traditional folk)
Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep (Johnny Cash-style rock ‘n’ roll)
The Cat with the Strat (talking blues)
The Taboo Song (mod. slow two-step)
That’s under half an hour, because all the songs will be shorter when there’s no lead breaks. Enough shorter so I could fit in a seventh song? Maybe. My best candidate may be “The Termite Song”—it’s pretty short, too—inserted in between Sam & Melinda and the sheep. It’s not as suggestive as the rest of the setlist, but it does get people’s attention—and global warming is such a (shall we say) hot topic these days.
Script is done for the 7/18 RVTV shows, and e-mailed to host T-Poe and producer Sheral; I found “flex points” where I can reduce the length of my performance slightly to accommodate lengthier interviewing by T-Poe if necessary. Two of the songs in the “Serious Issues” set have extra choruses that can be eliminated, and two of the songs in the “Not Serious At All” set have lead breaks than can be cut back. Just need to know ahead of time that we need to do that.
At the Southern Oregon Songwriters showcase in Medford Sat. 7/18, I’ll do my three newest: “The Taboo Song,” “Me and Rufus, and Burnin’ Down the House,” and the finally-finished reincarnation song, “Always Pet the Dogs.” Yes, it’s done, I think (lyrics are getting peer review at Just Plain Folks, but I haven’t seen any nits yet). It’s just three verses (2 verses, chorus, last verse, chorus), but I really couldn’t think of anything that needed to be added. Some songs are just like that. Maybe I can record it this weekend.
On the not-good-news front, I did not get the city-manager job in Myrtle Point; I got the formal rejection letter in the mail (they even said which of the whippersnappers they hired, but I can’t remember which of the kids was which). I’ll send them a nice letter back, wishing ‘em the best of luck (they are nice people), but I still do have other fish to fry. No point in being discouraged about it. (And that’s the only bad news—today, anyway? That’s not too bad.)
Tasks for the weekend are to mow the lawn, finish the Garibaldi Days program, design and typeset the program for the 17 July SOSA concert in Central Point, script out the Garibaldi Days and Museum sets, apply for half a dozen more jobs, and pack for Road Trip #2. Music Friday night at City Hall and Saturday at the Tillamook Library.
Joe
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
IT JUST GOT BUSY...
I think it just got busy. I was going to devote a blog to how I could get more gigs, and am going to be listing a schedule of gigs instead. Most of those happened all at once.
This THURSDAY, 9 JULY is the auditions for the Garibaldi Days Talent Show (we figured we’d have one, since the county fair won’t be—the Fair Board claimed there was no point, since there is no local talent, and we are of course going to prove them wrong). I’ll play ‘em my two “local color” songs, with Dick backing me up on blues harp, and Dick, his wife Carol (she of the beautiful voice) and I will do ‘em some Gospel songs (last time we did that was years ago). Some combination of us will be on stage at the Talent Show July 25.
SAT. 18 JULY is the RVTV television taping in Ashland (day) and a Southern Oregon Songwriters “showcase” at Johnny B.’s in Medford (evening). The two half-hour TV shows will air at different times, and I’ve scripted two different setlists, one tackling social issues and one, well, not. For the Johnny B.’s showcase, I’ll give the crowd my newest material. There is plenty they haven’t heard—I’ve been away for a while.
SUN. 19 JULY is my half-hour audition for the “Life’s Subtle Tease” burlesque show in Portland. I’ve asked for a late-afternoon/evening slot, so I can get back from southern Oregon (300 miles) without having to get up too early in the morning. For that one, I’ll give ‘em 6 or 7 of the songs that have been most popular at the Wild Goose. The actual burlesque show will take place in August (don’t know the date yet), and the organizers say they’ll be doing one a month. (And I don’t know if they’ll want me. All I have here is the chance to audition.)
SAT. 25 JULY, the band plays at Garibaldi Days, plus Dick, Carol and I will be in the Garibaldi Days Talent Show (both are in the afternoon, back to back). I’ve scripted out the 2-hour setlist for the band, and distributed CDs, and Dick, Carol and I picked out our material for the Talent Show today. The Friday Night Group is also on the Garibaldi Days schedule, FRI. 24 JULY, because I’m typesetting the schedule and I put them there (they’d be playing Friday night anyway).
SAT. 1 AUGUST is the new date for the Garibaldi Museum concert. 7 p.m., $3 cover. The band gets paid for this one. We’ll be on for an hour. Setlist is already done for this, and it should be easy to pull off—we’ll have played every one of the songs on stage at Garibaldi Days.
SAT. 22 AUGUST is the all-day SOSA concert in Central Point. I’m on at 11 a.m., playing (hopefully) with Dan Doshier’s band. I could use the same setlist as for the Museum concert—this show is an hour, too—just substituting something else for the two “local color” songs we’ll do at the Museum.
It’s not a bad schedule thus far. Sometime in September or October (don’t know the date for sure) will be the Neskowin Harvest Festival, the fundraiser for the little Neskowin Valley School that I’ve played at 3 of the last 4 years. This time, I’d like to do it with the band, if they’re willing, and do enough advance publicity so we draw a really good crowd.
Did I mention I don’t think I got the job in Myrtle Point? I didn’t get The Phone Call, and I think that means they hired one of the two younger guys. (Yes, I’ve been whippersnappered.) It’s all right. I have another interview in just one week, and more applications in the pipeline. And I obviously do not lack for things to do.
Joe
This THURSDAY, 9 JULY is the auditions for the Garibaldi Days Talent Show (we figured we’d have one, since the county fair won’t be—the Fair Board claimed there was no point, since there is no local talent, and we are of course going to prove them wrong). I’ll play ‘em my two “local color” songs, with Dick backing me up on blues harp, and Dick, his wife Carol (she of the beautiful voice) and I will do ‘em some Gospel songs (last time we did that was years ago). Some combination of us will be on stage at the Talent Show July 25.
SAT. 18 JULY is the RVTV television taping in Ashland (day) and a Southern Oregon Songwriters “showcase” at Johnny B.’s in Medford (evening). The two half-hour TV shows will air at different times, and I’ve scripted two different setlists, one tackling social issues and one, well, not. For the Johnny B.’s showcase, I’ll give the crowd my newest material. There is plenty they haven’t heard—I’ve been away for a while.
SUN. 19 JULY is my half-hour audition for the “Life’s Subtle Tease” burlesque show in Portland. I’ve asked for a late-afternoon/evening slot, so I can get back from southern Oregon (300 miles) without having to get up too early in the morning. For that one, I’ll give ‘em 6 or 7 of the songs that have been most popular at the Wild Goose. The actual burlesque show will take place in August (don’t know the date yet), and the organizers say they’ll be doing one a month. (And I don’t know if they’ll want me. All I have here is the chance to audition.)
SAT. 25 JULY, the band plays at Garibaldi Days, plus Dick, Carol and I will be in the Garibaldi Days Talent Show (both are in the afternoon, back to back). I’ve scripted out the 2-hour setlist for the band, and distributed CDs, and Dick, Carol and I picked out our material for the Talent Show today. The Friday Night Group is also on the Garibaldi Days schedule, FRI. 24 JULY, because I’m typesetting the schedule and I put them there (they’d be playing Friday night anyway).
SAT. 1 AUGUST is the new date for the Garibaldi Museum concert. 7 p.m., $3 cover. The band gets paid for this one. We’ll be on for an hour. Setlist is already done for this, and it should be easy to pull off—we’ll have played every one of the songs on stage at Garibaldi Days.
SAT. 22 AUGUST is the all-day SOSA concert in Central Point. I’m on at 11 a.m., playing (hopefully) with Dan Doshier’s band. I could use the same setlist as for the Museum concert—this show is an hour, too—just substituting something else for the two “local color” songs we’ll do at the Museum.
It’s not a bad schedule thus far. Sometime in September or October (don’t know the date for sure) will be the Neskowin Harvest Festival, the fundraiser for the little Neskowin Valley School that I’ve played at 3 of the last 4 years. This time, I’d like to do it with the band, if they’re willing, and do enough advance publicity so we draw a really good crowd.
Did I mention I don’t think I got the job in Myrtle Point? I didn’t get The Phone Call, and I think that means they hired one of the two younger guys. (Yes, I’ve been whippersnappered.) It’s all right. I have another interview in just one week, and more applications in the pipeline. And I obviously do not lack for things to do.
Joe
Monday, July 6, 2009
THOUGHTS WHILE WAITING...
As this is written, the Myrtle Point City Council is meeting to decide which of three city manager wannabes to hire. If it’s me, I’ll hear about it tomorrow. I shouldn’t be anxious—I have been disappointed an awful lot—but it was so exciting to be wanted by somebody that I hate to be dismissive of the idea.
Some good and some bad news on the music front. The guitar teacher from the music store isn’t interested in playing with the band—he wants to be paid. So the band still doesn’t have a lead guitarist (bad.) The “Portland Concert Coop” is finally going to do their podcast of my Thirsty Lion performance (good), and they sent me a nice, professional release form (which suggests they know what they’re doing). I got a phone call from a fellow wanting to know the Garibaldi Days schedule—he said he read about it in my blog (surprise) and wants to make sure he gets to hear the band (also good). I told Sara the librarian if she could get me about five minutes of film of Rufus doing bulldog things, I’d make her a music video of “Me and Rufus, and Burnin’ Down the House,” and she thinks she can do that (good).
Still working on a Garibaldi Days setlist. Because of the shortage of time—just a little over two weeks until the gig—we will need to concentrate as much as possible on tunes we’re familiar with. For Chris the drummer, that means songs from the Failed Economy Show—only seven of which were mine. (John the bass player also did the Bay City concert, which was all my material, and Dick (blues harp) and I have played together for so many years he probably knows almost everything I’ve written.)
Played “The Taboo Song” for the Friday Night Group, but Sara the librarian was the only one who liked it, I think. Nonetheless, the song continues to get a favorable response from people on line, and from (shall we say) less sedate audiences. This may be one of those songs that’s just not playable everywhere. That means it can’t be album material—but there’s definitely a performance niche that it just fits. Like “Sam and Melinda,” my 1920s-style tale of VD, auto accidents, and killing your lover, and “Electronic Love,” the look at the brighter side of Internet porn. I just have to make sure I don’t play it outside that niche. And I still want to make the music video.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the stage where I have enough material for a plain-brown-wrapper album (and I’m not sure I want to)—but I did see, and answered, an ad (Craigslist, again) soliciting entertainment for a burlesque show in Portland, and I could see me doing that. (I am good at fantasizing myself in performance situations. It helps me script out what I’m going to say and do, and pacifies the butterflies that always seem to attack in crowd situations. I do the same with jobs, and job interviews. They, too, are performances.)
What I’d envision is no fancy costume, no dancing, just Me The Deadpan Writer, solo on an otherwise empty stage, with Those Lyrics. It could be a potentially entertaining contrast to everything else likely to be in the show. The organizers say they want half an hour’s worth of material, and I definitely have that.
Second and final day of auditions for the thing is Sunday, 19 July, the day I’d be heading back from the TV taping in Ashland. I could just make it. I asked them to listen to “Electronic Love,” “Naked Space Hamsters in Love,” “Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep,” and “Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes?” and let me know what they think.
Music this week Friday and Saturday. And maybe the band will finally get to practice, too.
Joe
Some good and some bad news on the music front. The guitar teacher from the music store isn’t interested in playing with the band—he wants to be paid. So the band still doesn’t have a lead guitarist (bad.) The “Portland Concert Coop” is finally going to do their podcast of my Thirsty Lion performance (good), and they sent me a nice, professional release form (which suggests they know what they’re doing). I got a phone call from a fellow wanting to know the Garibaldi Days schedule—he said he read about it in my blog (surprise) and wants to make sure he gets to hear the band (also good). I told Sara the librarian if she could get me about five minutes of film of Rufus doing bulldog things, I’d make her a music video of “Me and Rufus, and Burnin’ Down the House,” and she thinks she can do that (good).
Still working on a Garibaldi Days setlist. Because of the shortage of time—just a little over two weeks until the gig—we will need to concentrate as much as possible on tunes we’re familiar with. For Chris the drummer, that means songs from the Failed Economy Show—only seven of which were mine. (John the bass player also did the Bay City concert, which was all my material, and Dick (blues harp) and I have played together for so many years he probably knows almost everything I’ve written.)
Played “The Taboo Song” for the Friday Night Group, but Sara the librarian was the only one who liked it, I think. Nonetheless, the song continues to get a favorable response from people on line, and from (shall we say) less sedate audiences. This may be one of those songs that’s just not playable everywhere. That means it can’t be album material—but there’s definitely a performance niche that it just fits. Like “Sam and Melinda,” my 1920s-style tale of VD, auto accidents, and killing your lover, and “Electronic Love,” the look at the brighter side of Internet porn. I just have to make sure I don’t play it outside that niche. And I still want to make the music video.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get to the stage where I have enough material for a plain-brown-wrapper album (and I’m not sure I want to)—but I did see, and answered, an ad (Craigslist, again) soliciting entertainment for a burlesque show in Portland, and I could see me doing that. (I am good at fantasizing myself in performance situations. It helps me script out what I’m going to say and do, and pacifies the butterflies that always seem to attack in crowd situations. I do the same with jobs, and job interviews. They, too, are performances.)
What I’d envision is no fancy costume, no dancing, just Me The Deadpan Writer, solo on an otherwise empty stage, with Those Lyrics. It could be a potentially entertaining contrast to everything else likely to be in the show. The organizers say they want half an hour’s worth of material, and I definitely have that.
Second and final day of auditions for the thing is Sunday, 19 July, the day I’d be heading back from the TV taping in Ashland. I could just make it. I asked them to listen to “Electronic Love,” “Naked Space Hamsters in Love,” “Dirty Deeds We Done to Sheep,” and “Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes?” and let me know what they think.
Music this week Friday and Saturday. And maybe the band will finally get to practice, too.
Joe
Saturday, July 4, 2009
INDEPENDENCE DAY...
Independence Day. Being unemployed and penniless, I don’t feel particularly independent, but it’s the principle of the thing, I guess. Here in Garibaldi, Oregon, we are also celebrating Giuseppe Garibaldi’s birthday (he was born on July 4); there won’t be fireworks—we save that for Garibaldi Days, late in July (I started that, while I was city manager here)—but we will be going to a goat roast, and there will be music.
There has been, or is, or will be music all of this three-day weekend (which is a holiday weekend for those folks who still have jobs). Dick Ackerman and I performed at the City of Rockaway Beach’s 100th birthday celebration Friday, and went from there to play two hours more music with the Friday Night Group. Today, several folks from the Friday Night Group have been tapped to play at an afternoon something at the Old Mill, plus there will be musicians at the goat roast. And Sunday is the monthly bluegrass jam at the Forestry Center.
I responded to an ad on Portland Craigslist (I still watch Craigslist, despite a poor track record of people responding to my e-mails) from a restaurant-bar in Portland looking for live, original music and offering to pay $100 a night. It’d be solo for that kind of price (and they said the place was small, anyway). I gave Eric from the Portland Songwriters Showcase as a reference; he hasn’t responded to me, but he may them. I think he liked my stuff—and I did play to a sizable crowd at the Thirsty Lion Pub, even if they weren’t there precisely to see me (they’d been there to watch the LA-Orlando playoff game on big-screen TV, and I was the first act on after they put the big TV away).
Reviewing the e-mail I sent these “Jade Lounge” people, I do come across as mildly impressive. I told them I couldn’t do a gig on July 18 because I was taping a couple of public television shows of my material, couldn’t do July 25 because me and the band were performing at Garibaldi Days, and couldn’t do August 22 because I was performing in Central Point. I warned them that some of the material on Soundclick and MySpace was off the album (thereby letting them know I have an album out). Dang, I look good. So when (or if) they hire me, I can stand up in front of a crowd (probably a small one), not one of whom I know—because very few people on the “joelist” are actually in the Portland area.
Reminds me of a comment I heard azbout someone in Texas: “Big hat. No cattle.” Yes, but is it possible the hat will enable you to get some cattle? We may find out.
I keep tweaking setlists, and wonder whether there’s any point in doing so. I have a 2-hour family show (from the Bay City concert), and a couple one-hour shows (the one I’d spec’d out for the Museum, and the one Dick and I did in Rockaway), and some half-hour shows, too (the RVTV shows, and the Thirsty Lion); is that enough? I could probably treat them as set pieces if they work—I just don’t want to repeat myself in front of an audience that’s already heard the stuff before. I need to take a 1-hour setlist with me (printed out, and on CD) when I go down to southern Oregon in mid-July, to give to Dan Doshier for the band for the 22 August concert in Central Point.
It does look like the southern Oregon trip will be a busy one. Interview in Gold Beach on the 16th (Thursday), I’ll help put together (since I’ll be there) the Southern Oregon Songwriters concert that’ll be on the 17th (Friday), I have the RVTV taping on the 18th (Saturday), plus there’s a SOSA event at Johnny B.’s in Medford Saturday night. Thursday night (the 16th) is probably the only chance to practice in advance of the TV taping. Should I happen by some wild chance to have been offered the city-manager job in Myrtle Point, I’ll be lining myself up an apartment there on my trip, getting utilities connected, &c.
There are a lot of things that are uncertain. I have not heard a word from Eric about whether I might get picked for a paying gig at the Thirsty Lion. I have not heard a word from the West Linn Library or the Airway Café in Portland (in both cases, that probably means no). I have a pile of jobs, too, that I’ve applied for that I haven’t received rejection letters from yet. I have nonetheless managed to make myself very busy. There is room for employment in the schedule (thankfully), but it means I will once again be going on automatic pilot—I won’t have time to think about things, only to do them. I nonetheless think I’d enjoy that.
Joe
There has been, or is, or will be music all of this three-day weekend (which is a holiday weekend for those folks who still have jobs). Dick Ackerman and I performed at the City of Rockaway Beach’s 100th birthday celebration Friday, and went from there to play two hours more music with the Friday Night Group. Today, several folks from the Friday Night Group have been tapped to play at an afternoon something at the Old Mill, plus there will be musicians at the goat roast. And Sunday is the monthly bluegrass jam at the Forestry Center.
I responded to an ad on Portland Craigslist (I still watch Craigslist, despite a poor track record of people responding to my e-mails) from a restaurant-bar in Portland looking for live, original music and offering to pay $100 a night. It’d be solo for that kind of price (and they said the place was small, anyway). I gave Eric from the Portland Songwriters Showcase as a reference; he hasn’t responded to me, but he may them. I think he liked my stuff—and I did play to a sizable crowd at the Thirsty Lion Pub, even if they weren’t there precisely to see me (they’d been there to watch the LA-Orlando playoff game on big-screen TV, and I was the first act on after they put the big TV away).
Reviewing the e-mail I sent these “Jade Lounge” people, I do come across as mildly impressive. I told them I couldn’t do a gig on July 18 because I was taping a couple of public television shows of my material, couldn’t do July 25 because me and the band were performing at Garibaldi Days, and couldn’t do August 22 because I was performing in Central Point. I warned them that some of the material on Soundclick and MySpace was off the album (thereby letting them know I have an album out). Dang, I look good. So when (or if) they hire me, I can stand up in front of a crowd (probably a small one), not one of whom I know—because very few people on the “joelist” are actually in the Portland area.
Reminds me of a comment I heard azbout someone in Texas: “Big hat. No cattle.” Yes, but is it possible the hat will enable you to get some cattle? We may find out.
I keep tweaking setlists, and wonder whether there’s any point in doing so. I have a 2-hour family show (from the Bay City concert), and a couple one-hour shows (the one I’d spec’d out for the Museum, and the one Dick and I did in Rockaway), and some half-hour shows, too (the RVTV shows, and the Thirsty Lion); is that enough? I could probably treat them as set pieces if they work—I just don’t want to repeat myself in front of an audience that’s already heard the stuff before. I need to take a 1-hour setlist with me (printed out, and on CD) when I go down to southern Oregon in mid-July, to give to Dan Doshier for the band for the 22 August concert in Central Point.
It does look like the southern Oregon trip will be a busy one. Interview in Gold Beach on the 16th (Thursday), I’ll help put together (since I’ll be there) the Southern Oregon Songwriters concert that’ll be on the 17th (Friday), I have the RVTV taping on the 18th (Saturday), plus there’s a SOSA event at Johnny B.’s in Medford Saturday night. Thursday night (the 16th) is probably the only chance to practice in advance of the TV taping. Should I happen by some wild chance to have been offered the city-manager job in Myrtle Point, I’ll be lining myself up an apartment there on my trip, getting utilities connected, &c.
There are a lot of things that are uncertain. I have not heard a word from Eric about whether I might get picked for a paying gig at the Thirsty Lion. I have not heard a word from the West Linn Library or the Airway Café in Portland (in both cases, that probably means no). I have a pile of jobs, too, that I’ve applied for that I haven’t received rejection letters from yet. I have nonetheless managed to make myself very busy. There is room for employment in the schedule (thankfully), but it means I will once again be going on automatic pilot—I won’t have time to think about things, only to do them. I nonetheless think I’d enjoy that.
Joe
Thursday, July 2, 2009
6-MONTH GOAL REVIEW...
It’s July—six months since we set those 2009 goals. How are we doing?
At the beginning of the year, I said 2009 would be the Year of Exposure. By the beginning of 2010, I wanted to (1) be better known, (2) be a music publisher with somebody besides myself as a client, (3) have another CD out, for sale in stores and on.line, (4) have played some writers’ nights in Nashville, (5) have more sophisticated recording equipment, and (6) be doing video. And I had a work list intended to achieve those goals. In addition to writing an average of one good song a month, and having a round dozen of other people’s songs musicated, too.
Am I getting better known (1)? I noticed I wasn’t forgotten in southern Oregon when I visited last week, and I’m definitely not forgotten on the Coast—I’m playing somewhere at least twice a week. I’ve had some gigs in Portland, too (and one still coming up), and some of them have been paid (they just haven’t paid much). I’ve put together two bands, and the one on the Coast is going to make it, I think; we’ve done two shows, got two more coming up, and I want to use them for the album. The “joelist,” which keeps growing (slowly), is a big help; so has been the strategic and timely placement of posters.
I haven’t pushed the publishing company (2), after getting advice from a music publisher I know how to pay co-writers and such without having to have a publishing company. As long as I’m penniless, I’ll avoid the expense. I did register as a writer with BMI—that was free. And Outside Services Ltd. will take out a local business license, as soon as I figure out where “local” is going to be.
I have made some progress on the CD (3). What I’ve done is mostly setup work; I have the band, I have the studio, and I have picked out the songs. There is no recording studio here on the Coast, so it’s been necessary to create our own. I will have it professionally mastered, and this time around I’ll invest in shrink-wrapping and barcoding so the CD can be sold through CDBaby. The intent is to have it done in time for Christmas.
I keep getting asked about the Southern Pigfish album, too—which is kind of a surprise. (Those guys are popular? How’d THAT happen?) I know how and where I could get a Pigfish CD done, I think; I just need to let a few more people in on the secret. It would be a hoot if the thing sold. My album first, though.
A trip to Nashville (4) is out this year because of money. Even if I were to be offered a job right away, it’d still be this time next year before I could take the vacation time to go. Money, or the shortage thereof, is also why I’ve done almost nothing about upgrading recording equipment (5). I have acquired a few additional things—a couple of decent instrument mikes, for instance—but it’s all been free or cheap. I do have a wish list of things I’d like, but I’m using what I’ve got as long as it keeps working.
Video (6) was kind of a surprise. I did do a music video—“The 30-Second Resume,” in response to a solicitation by a Portland TV station. I don’t have video equipment; I gave daughter Kimberly my cheap little Webcam over a year ago, and while I’ve bought a tripod and power adapter for the big Fisher camcorder, I still haven’t managed to make it work. I did “The 30-Second Resume” in what I think of as “French style” (because French teenagers do it), as a fast-moving slide show with soundtrack and printed comments on screen. It didn’t come out bad—and the TV station in Portland did air it. I have another one to do now, for that Performing Songwriters (United Worldwide) organization Lorelei Loveridge formed, and I’ll do that video the same way. I’ll use “The Taboo Song” for the soundtrack, and I’ve scripted out some printed comments on the present and future of the music industry (which is what Lorelei wanted the video to be about). I just need to find—or take—more photos.
On the WRITING front, I have not managed that song-a-month quota I set for myself; I’ve had only three new songs since the beginning of the year (the two oldest have been played in public, and are definitely “keepers,” and I think the third will be, too). I have done a lot of musicating of other people’s stuff, though—one by Beth Williams, one by Betty Holt, three by Stan Good, plus I had to figure out music for two obscure Woody Guthrie songs we wanted to do in the Failed Economy Show. Maybe it evens out.
Better than last year this time? Maybe. I don’t have time to worry about it—next gig (Rockaway Beach’s 100th anniversary celebration—Dick and I will do it as a duo) is tomorrow.
Joe
At the beginning of the year, I said 2009 would be the Year of Exposure. By the beginning of 2010, I wanted to (1) be better known, (2) be a music publisher with somebody besides myself as a client, (3) have another CD out, for sale in stores and on.line, (4) have played some writers’ nights in Nashville, (5) have more sophisticated recording equipment, and (6) be doing video. And I had a work list intended to achieve those goals. In addition to writing an average of one good song a month, and having a round dozen of other people’s songs musicated, too.
Am I getting better known (1)? I noticed I wasn’t forgotten in southern Oregon when I visited last week, and I’m definitely not forgotten on the Coast—I’m playing somewhere at least twice a week. I’ve had some gigs in Portland, too (and one still coming up), and some of them have been paid (they just haven’t paid much). I’ve put together two bands, and the one on the Coast is going to make it, I think; we’ve done two shows, got two more coming up, and I want to use them for the album. The “joelist,” which keeps growing (slowly), is a big help; so has been the strategic and timely placement of posters.
I haven’t pushed the publishing company (2), after getting advice from a music publisher I know how to pay co-writers and such without having to have a publishing company. As long as I’m penniless, I’ll avoid the expense. I did register as a writer with BMI—that was free. And Outside Services Ltd. will take out a local business license, as soon as I figure out where “local” is going to be.
I have made some progress on the CD (3). What I’ve done is mostly setup work; I have the band, I have the studio, and I have picked out the songs. There is no recording studio here on the Coast, so it’s been necessary to create our own. I will have it professionally mastered, and this time around I’ll invest in shrink-wrapping and barcoding so the CD can be sold through CDBaby. The intent is to have it done in time for Christmas.
I keep getting asked about the Southern Pigfish album, too—which is kind of a surprise. (Those guys are popular? How’d THAT happen?) I know how and where I could get a Pigfish CD done, I think; I just need to let a few more people in on the secret. It would be a hoot if the thing sold. My album first, though.
A trip to Nashville (4) is out this year because of money. Even if I were to be offered a job right away, it’d still be this time next year before I could take the vacation time to go. Money, or the shortage thereof, is also why I’ve done almost nothing about upgrading recording equipment (5). I have acquired a few additional things—a couple of decent instrument mikes, for instance—but it’s all been free or cheap. I do have a wish list of things I’d like, but I’m using what I’ve got as long as it keeps working.
Video (6) was kind of a surprise. I did do a music video—“The 30-Second Resume,” in response to a solicitation by a Portland TV station. I don’t have video equipment; I gave daughter Kimberly my cheap little Webcam over a year ago, and while I’ve bought a tripod and power adapter for the big Fisher camcorder, I still haven’t managed to make it work. I did “The 30-Second Resume” in what I think of as “French style” (because French teenagers do it), as a fast-moving slide show with soundtrack and printed comments on screen. It didn’t come out bad—and the TV station in Portland did air it. I have another one to do now, for that Performing Songwriters (United Worldwide) organization Lorelei Loveridge formed, and I’ll do that video the same way. I’ll use “The Taboo Song” for the soundtrack, and I’ve scripted out some printed comments on the present and future of the music industry (which is what Lorelei wanted the video to be about). I just need to find—or take—more photos.
On the WRITING front, I have not managed that song-a-month quota I set for myself; I’ve had only three new songs since the beginning of the year (the two oldest have been played in public, and are definitely “keepers,” and I think the third will be, too). I have done a lot of musicating of other people’s stuff, though—one by Beth Williams, one by Betty Holt, three by Stan Good, plus I had to figure out music for two obscure Woody Guthrie songs we wanted to do in the Failed Economy Show. Maybe it evens out.
Better than last year this time? Maybe. I don’t have time to worry about it—next gig (Rockaway Beach’s 100th anniversary celebration—Dick and I will do it as a duo) is tomorrow.
Joe
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
THE ROAD TRIP...
The Southern Oregon Road Trip was a good adventure—the job interview went well (I think—I’ll find out for sure in a week), I got to see a lot of the people I know, both in city government and in music, got to play music, and got a good new set of strings for the guitar (finally). Even the bartender at the Wild Goose in Ashland remembered me, after my whole year’s absence (and apparently there had been rumors circulating that I’d be coming by). The Wild Goose crowd got 4 songs—“The Taboo Song,” “50 Ways to Cure the Depression,” Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street,” and for an encore, “Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues.” (Nice to get an encore.)
“The Taboo Song” did go over well, but it’s hard to tell whether that means it’s a “keeper” or not. The crowd at the Wild Goose—it being a songwriters’ bar, and all—tend to appreciate the sleazier stuff. At the risk of damaging what reputation I may have left, I could try it out on the Friday Night Group and see how they react.
The other fun thing I got to do “down South” is record a lead guitar track on one of Scott Garriott’s songs. He’s recording an album (yay), and says it’s going to be a country album (also yay), and asked me to play lead guitar on it (really yay). The one song I got to work on, “Merrilee,” is classic Scott—compelling melody with very strange lyrics—but it has a great beat. Very danceable two-step. I asked him to e-mail me “base” tracks for the songs, and I can record lead parts at my leisure on the Tascam, and send them back. My little Tascam allows my acoustic guitar to “emulate” 40 different electric guitars, something a lot of professional studio equipment doesn’t seem able to do. Might try an electric banjo lead on “Merrilee,” too, and see how that sounds.
I got back to Garibaldi to find another call for a job interview waiting for me, this one from the City of Gold Beach, also in southern Oregon. I scheduled that one for July 16, so I could do the interview and the RVTV television taping in the same trip.
Some setlists to organize, now; me and The Band have two hours’ worth to play at Garibaldi Days (twice as long as we were going to be playing at the Museum), and I have another 60 to 75 minutes of my songs to organize for the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. concert in Central Point August 22. Both those will be family crowds, so I need to concentrate on things little kids will appreciate—cannibalism, missing underwear, and lots of dead animals.
With luck, I can enlist Dan Doshier and his band to help in Central Point, like I did last year. We will need to do mostly familiar stuff, but I have plenty of that. I’ll repeat the tactic—it’s worked out well—of giving everybody a CD with draft recordings of the songs ahead of time. I can do that when I go down for the RVTV taping in July.
It is shaping up to be a potentially busy Concert Season. Besides Garibaldi Days, the RVTV taping, and the Central Point concert, there’s three I haven’t heard from yet; the Museum wants to re-schedule but hasn’t said when (I’ll find out the new date after the middle of July), and no word yet from either the West Linn Library or the Thirsty Lion Pub in Portland. All three, if they happen, will be paying gigs.
I got most of a song out of the trip, too (I’d been hoping that would happen). The reincarnation song—tentatively titled “Always Pet the Dogs”—has three verses now, to go with the chorus I had over a year ago; it could probably use one more, for length’s sake (it just feels short), but the three verses I have just might say everything that needs to be said, and I might leave it at that. Same pattern as the missing-underwear song, “Milepost 43,” which is a fairly short song, too—2 verses, chorus, break, last verse, last chorus. One could of course keep repeating the chorus ad infinitum, if people are dancing. It does have a catchy melody.
And I have another job to apply for. There’s a Chamber of Commerce hereabouts—within commuting distance—looking for an executive director, and I want to tell them it should be me.
Joe
“The Taboo Song” did go over well, but it’s hard to tell whether that means it’s a “keeper” or not. The crowd at the Wild Goose—it being a songwriters’ bar, and all—tend to appreciate the sleazier stuff. At the risk of damaging what reputation I may have left, I could try it out on the Friday Night Group and see how they react.
The other fun thing I got to do “down South” is record a lead guitar track on one of Scott Garriott’s songs. He’s recording an album (yay), and says it’s going to be a country album (also yay), and asked me to play lead guitar on it (really yay). The one song I got to work on, “Merrilee,” is classic Scott—compelling melody with very strange lyrics—but it has a great beat. Very danceable two-step. I asked him to e-mail me “base” tracks for the songs, and I can record lead parts at my leisure on the Tascam, and send them back. My little Tascam allows my acoustic guitar to “emulate” 40 different electric guitars, something a lot of professional studio equipment doesn’t seem able to do. Might try an electric banjo lead on “Merrilee,” too, and see how that sounds.
I got back to Garibaldi to find another call for a job interview waiting for me, this one from the City of Gold Beach, also in southern Oregon. I scheduled that one for July 16, so I could do the interview and the RVTV television taping in the same trip.
Some setlists to organize, now; me and The Band have two hours’ worth to play at Garibaldi Days (twice as long as we were going to be playing at the Museum), and I have another 60 to 75 minutes of my songs to organize for the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. concert in Central Point August 22. Both those will be family crowds, so I need to concentrate on things little kids will appreciate—cannibalism, missing underwear, and lots of dead animals.
With luck, I can enlist Dan Doshier and his band to help in Central Point, like I did last year. We will need to do mostly familiar stuff, but I have plenty of that. I’ll repeat the tactic—it’s worked out well—of giving everybody a CD with draft recordings of the songs ahead of time. I can do that when I go down for the RVTV taping in July.
It is shaping up to be a potentially busy Concert Season. Besides Garibaldi Days, the RVTV taping, and the Central Point concert, there’s three I haven’t heard from yet; the Museum wants to re-schedule but hasn’t said when (I’ll find out the new date after the middle of July), and no word yet from either the West Linn Library or the Thirsty Lion Pub in Portland. All three, if they happen, will be paying gigs.
I got most of a song out of the trip, too (I’d been hoping that would happen). The reincarnation song—tentatively titled “Always Pet the Dogs”—has three verses now, to go with the chorus I had over a year ago; it could probably use one more, for length’s sake (it just feels short), but the three verses I have just might say everything that needs to be said, and I might leave it at that. Same pattern as the missing-underwear song, “Milepost 43,” which is a fairly short song, too—2 verses, chorus, break, last verse, last chorus. One could of course keep repeating the chorus ad infinitum, if people are dancing. It does have a catchy melody.
And I have another job to apply for. There’s a Chamber of Commerce hereabouts—within commuting distance—looking for an executive director, and I want to tell them it should be me.
Joe
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