THE 2011 WORKLIST...

Almost January—and time for the 2011 Worklist. Easy this year, because we didn’t accomplish that much on the 2010 Worklist—no DEATHGRASS ALBUM, no SOUTHERN PIGFISH ALBUM, no JOE WEBSITE; no TRIP TO NASHVILLE (deliberately bailed on that one because of money), and I didn’t WIN SONG CONTESTS though I entered three. I’m still not a HOUSEHOLD WORD (“toilet paper” is still a more familiar household word) , and I still don’t have any better answer to MAKING MONEY OFF THIS than “Perform a whole lot more than I’ve been doing.” Maybe there isn’t one.

On the plus side, I did manage to do a decent VIDEO or two (and learned a lot), and acquired DECENT VIDEO EQUIPMENT. Managed to EXPAND THE FAN BASE a little, playing at the coffeehouse in McMinnville. Nine new songs in 2010, five (maybe six) of them “keepers,” and three of them were in DIFFERENT GENRES; four co-writes (all musications), of which two were “keepers,” too. (I scripted a couple plays, too. That wasn’t on the list.) My productivity dropped sharply after getting the Lafayette job, but I suppose that’s to be expected. There just wasn’t a lot of free time after that.

So for 2011:

WRITING. One good song a month, and one good co-write a month—both on average, of course. Keep exploring different genres; I haven’t done jazz, or ragtime, for instance. Eastern European folk dances? Why not?

THE ALBUMS. Record the Deathgrass album; finish the Southern Pigfish album (and it’s supposed to be videos, on flash drive). I have enough material for the “12 Reasons Why Joe Is Going to Hell” album, and it’d be fun to do that, too. (Let’s be real, though—the money for that would have to come from somewhere.)

MARKETING. CDBaby (for the new album), the Joe Website (simple, with links to everything), and the publishing company. Figure out a way to use the promotional machinery to get more gigs. Get some video footage for gig solicitation of Deathgrass performing, also of me. Train one of the computers to produce DVDs. CD release parties, of course—one on the Coast, and one in southern Oregon.

VIDEO. Vid-ify the half-dozen or so songs I can do easily; line up resources to do the complicated ones. Do an experimental fan-generated video of the Southern Pigfish anthem, “For Their Own Ends,” and if that works, do more.

MORE (AND MORE PAYING) GIGS. Besides the Concert Season stuff from this year, hit all the people I’ve hit up before (or wanted to)—the Willamette Writers’ Conference, Neskowin Harvest Festival, Whitney Streed’s comedy open mike in Portland, Garibaldi Museum, and so on. Some solo, some with the band.

STAY IN TOUCH WITH EVERYBODY. That was the hardest thing to do while I was employed; I did it, but not easily or well. Make it easier and simpler, without being remote or insensitive (or expensive). That’s a challenge a lot of independent musicians face these days—we may be breaking new ground by figuring out how to do it.

Lastly, ORGANIZE THE WORLD TOUR. (I decided there ought be one “a man’s reach should exceed his grasp” item on the list.) I know (or think I know) people in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, the Philippines, Sweden, and on the Arabian peninsula; getting there really is doable for not much money. The operative question is what I’d do after I got there. There may at least be a song in it:

“They applauded my performance back in Ulan Bator,
Though they might not have understood a lot I said;
Din’t know Barbie, or Jesus, or a thing about the war,
But they liked it that the animals were dead…”

Joe