CAN THE BAND PLAY DAUGHTER'S WEDDING?

Quickly, because weekends are busy… Band practice Sunday afternoon (the Rocktoberfest gig is next Sunday, and we need to be ready); have to record “Take Me Back to the ‘Sixties,” and re-record “Crosses by the Roadside” and “50 Ways to Cure the Depression” (because I want to remove a verse from each one, and that’s the easiest way with the equipment I’ve got); and there’s the column to do for the paper. Finish work to finish on the door, and another door to put in (the garage, this time—carpenter ants ate the door frame). I still don’t know if I’m getting to take a computer with me when I go back to Lafayette—I sure hope so.

Daughter Kym gets married Sunday, Oct. 31, and wants Deathgrass to play at the wedding reception (yay!). However, she doesn’t want any dead animal songs. I do have some love songs—one should play love songs at a wedding, methinks—that don’t have dead animals, and we could do those. Ones the band have played before are:

Naked Space Hamsters in Love—fast bluegrass
Test Tube Baby—Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
Glad That You’re Here (Stan Bolton)—slow blues

John and Chris have played “Hamsters” and “Glad,” but Mike and Doc haven’t. Ones we haven’t played, but could learn, are:

Distraction (Diane Ewing)—very sleazy quasi-blues
Always Pet the Dogs—mod. fast two-step
I Want a Man for Christmas—rock ‘n’ roll
About Love (Marge McKinnis)—bluegrass, Buddy Holly-style
So Far (Marge McKinnis)—slow blues
Twenty-Four Seven—fast waltz
One: I Love You—mod. speed country

The above is an hour’s worth. We should have an hour and a half, ideally. We could add:

Duct Tape—mod. speed country
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues

Ought to have at least once danceable waltz at a wedding, and “Twenty-Four Seven” doesn’t really qualify—it’s too fast. Maybe we should do one of the traditional (and hence public domain) “state” waltzes. Perhaps the North (I think) Dakota state waltz—“The Mosquito Waltz.” I’ve never heard it, but the name is attractive. (Another one that would be fun to do is “Lilly’s Song,” written by the 7-year-old daughter of Screamin’ Gulch’s drummer. It’s a very sweet love song, which we did as a blues. I may have it on CD somewhere.)

No lost-love songs (I’ll include “Duct Tape” because she specifically requested it). No rotten candy, no jumping off cliffs, no dumping the dead sweethearts in the river, and no stalking. No serious subjects or social issues, either. Weddings are occasions on which to convey happy and hopeful sentiments. That’s a little outside the band’s regular routine, but I bet we can do it just fine. I suppose I have to give the bride away, too, huh?

And I haven’t asked the band yet—I’ll do that tomorrow, at practice. Hopefully, they’ll say yes. It’ll be fun.

Joe