One more day of work, and I’m off for southern Oregon, and the Southern Oregon Songwriters show in Central Point Friday night, 27 August. (Dan and I are on at 6:50 p.m., on the bandstand in Robert Pfaff Park—behind the post office. If you’re in the area, do come. Should be fun.)
Dan will be doing three new songs at the concert (we’ll practice ahead of time). I’ll do five, I think:
Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy
Free-Range Person—fast bluegrass
No Good Songs About the War—slow two-step
Hank’s Song—mod. fast two-step
Meet Me at the Stairs—fast bluegrass
Nothing new, but there is one song (“Stairs”) I’m sure they haven’t heard before. Since Dan and I both have CDs for sale, that’s an appropriate one to close with: the chorus openly pitches buying CDs to help the starving musician.
I have a first verse now, I think, to the nostalgia-for-the-‘Sixties song. Need at least one more. Two would be better, but if I’ve got just two verses, I can repeat both bridge and chorus after the break, like I did in “Rotten Candy” and “The Frog Next Door,” and that’ll pad it enough for time. No, I won’t be playing the song on stage in Central Point (or, likely, at any of the other gigs this concert Season), but I may well finish writing it en route—that’ll be my next long trip in the car, and those are always good for writing.
My primary goal at this point is to have the thing done in time to fire it off to the Coventry writers’ group over in England. I missed sending them anything last month because I was just too busy with the new job and all. I’m still busy—but at least I’m not spending five hours every day commuting back and forth any more. I have the recording equipment with me—though I don’t have any way to hook it up to this Windows Vista-afflicted laptop to transfer completed recordings (the little Tascam’s brain is big enough to hold only one song). An alternative to upgrading the laptop (which may not be worth upgrading) would be to use the “line in” port on the old Akai CD burner, dump the Tascam’s song file to a CD, and upload that to the ‘puter—but the Akai is still in the studio, and I’m not sure I feel like hauling it around.
Band practice was good—I’m continually impressed by these guys. Our rendition of “Steamboat Bill,” the 1910 hit, is classic rock ‘n’ roll. I’ve been wondering what a musician (a piano player, probably) back in 1910 would have done with the song; it probably would have been performed as some version of ragtime—which isn’t that far away from rock ‘n’ roll, really: I think the emphasis is just on a different “syllable.” We could use another practice before the gig, to polish the songs that were a little rough; it’s going to be a crammed weekend, but I’ll have to try to make the time.
At practice, my little Yamaha amp had gone into Reverb Mode, which made the acoustic guitar sound very electric and distorted—and made the band play faster. A lot of the songs sounded really good played that way—but that may be a setup that’s hard to create on stage. When we do the show, I’ll be playing through a PA, not the little amp, and I wouldn’t be able to get the distorted-electric sound without an effects pedal—which thus far I’m disinclined to buy. I have looked—I’d still like one for the Electric Banjo—but I’m not buying. I suppose my actions—multiplied many hundreds of times over, of course—are the reason why there’s no economic recovery: people have to invest, to buy durable and frivolous things, and they won’t do that until they think times are going to be better. And right now, I don’t.
Joe
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Saturday, August 21, 2010
THE McMINNVILLE OPEN MIKE (&C.)...
Looks like I didn’t post an issue of the blog mid-week. I know I thought about it, and even had one partly written. It has been a tad busy, and commuting back and forth to the job—a 2.5-hour trip each way—has left me, by my count, all of three hours to myself, per day, if I’m lucky. It may get easier—I did find a place to stay (a room in someone’s home in Lafayette), and I’ll “move in” (clothes, guitar, laptop, recording equipment, and books) Monday.
Wednesday night’s open mike in McMinnville was good. I gave them “Bluebird on My Windshield,””Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus,” “No Good Songs About the War,” and Stan Good’s “Take-Out Food.” (I seem to have developed a pattern here. One serious song and one religious song each time—until I run out, of course. I don’t have many of either variety.) TWO encores—and both were requests for songs I had done last time, “Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues” and “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas.”
At one point, I did check out the crowd, and noticed the place had gotten full since I’d started playing; the audience also mostly drifted off after I was done. Is this the beginnings of a fan base over there? I hadn’t told anybody I was coming—just told the hosts last time I would try to be back. Yes, I expect I’ll be back again in two weeks if I can. I gave the hosts posters of the Deathgrass concert in Bay City (and they announced it to the audience), and also got to put a poster up on the coffeehouse’s bulletin board. Gave the hosts a free CD, too.
There’s one duo (guitar and bass) that seems to play the coffeehouse regularly (they were there last time, too), and they’re not bad. They appear to know what they’re doing, and to have been playing together for a while. Mostly old country standards. They could use a lead player (or a rhythm player—I think the guitar dude could play lead if he had the opportunity)—but I’m disinclined to take on extra work. Between the job, Deathgrass, the newspaper (just the column, these days), the ContraBand, and a couple of occasional opportunities to play music, there is not much free time.
I haven’t written anything in a while, either—and I know that will start to bother me after a while. I might have something, though. The latest challenge from Jon Harrington’s Coventry (U.K.) songwriters wanted songs about “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll,” and I can do that. An anthem to the ‘Sixties, I think—that period of which ‘tis said if you remember it, you didn’t really live through it. (Since I was mostly a Good Kid, I do remember the ‘Sixties. Interesting times.) Chorus and bridge (yes, there will be a bridge, even though I abhor bridges) are done; the trick now is to craft verses that are as good as the chorus and bridge are.
If I do manage that, would I want to incorporate the song into the Deathgrass concerts? I don’t think so—not the first two, for sure, and since the third comes pretty fast on the heels of those, maybe not that one, either. I’m highly organized about performances, and try always to have everything worked out and practiced ahead of time; accordingly, the setlists for the Bay City Centennial and the Rocktoberfest are done, as is the Rap for the former (I’ll do the Rap for the latter this weekend). This weekend, I’ll also distribute Rocktoberfest setlists and CDs to everybody. The Rocktoberfest organizers want photos and bios of the bands, too, so that’ll be my excuse to take pictures of everybody (I can catch everybody except Doc at Sunday’s practice—I’ll have to do him separately). After the practice, I’ll send out the notices for the Bay City Centennial concert—I always want to make sure first that I’m advertising something that’s going to be good (though with this band, I don’t think there’s any cause for worry).
Joe
Wednesday night’s open mike in McMinnville was good. I gave them “Bluebird on My Windshield,””Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus,” “No Good Songs About the War,” and Stan Good’s “Take-Out Food.” (I seem to have developed a pattern here. One serious song and one religious song each time—until I run out, of course. I don’t have many of either variety.) TWO encores—and both were requests for songs I had done last time, “Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues” and “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas.”
At one point, I did check out the crowd, and noticed the place had gotten full since I’d started playing; the audience also mostly drifted off after I was done. Is this the beginnings of a fan base over there? I hadn’t told anybody I was coming—just told the hosts last time I would try to be back. Yes, I expect I’ll be back again in two weeks if I can. I gave the hosts posters of the Deathgrass concert in Bay City (and they announced it to the audience), and also got to put a poster up on the coffeehouse’s bulletin board. Gave the hosts a free CD, too.
There’s one duo (guitar and bass) that seems to play the coffeehouse regularly (they were there last time, too), and they’re not bad. They appear to know what they’re doing, and to have been playing together for a while. Mostly old country standards. They could use a lead player (or a rhythm player—I think the guitar dude could play lead if he had the opportunity)—but I’m disinclined to take on extra work. Between the job, Deathgrass, the newspaper (just the column, these days), the ContraBand, and a couple of occasional opportunities to play music, there is not much free time.
I haven’t written anything in a while, either—and I know that will start to bother me after a while. I might have something, though. The latest challenge from Jon Harrington’s Coventry (U.K.) songwriters wanted songs about “sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll,” and I can do that. An anthem to the ‘Sixties, I think—that period of which ‘tis said if you remember it, you didn’t really live through it. (Since I was mostly a Good Kid, I do remember the ‘Sixties. Interesting times.) Chorus and bridge (yes, there will be a bridge, even though I abhor bridges) are done; the trick now is to craft verses that are as good as the chorus and bridge are.
If I do manage that, would I want to incorporate the song into the Deathgrass concerts? I don’t think so—not the first two, for sure, and since the third comes pretty fast on the heels of those, maybe not that one, either. I’m highly organized about performances, and try always to have everything worked out and practiced ahead of time; accordingly, the setlists for the Bay City Centennial and the Rocktoberfest are done, as is the Rap for the former (I’ll do the Rap for the latter this weekend). This weekend, I’ll also distribute Rocktoberfest setlists and CDs to everybody. The Rocktoberfest organizers want photos and bios of the bands, too, so that’ll be my excuse to take pictures of everybody (I can catch everybody except Doc at Sunday’s practice—I’ll have to do him separately). After the practice, I’ll send out the notices for the Bay City Centennial concert—I always want to make sure first that I’m advertising something that’s going to be good (though with this band, I don’t think there’s any cause for worry).
Joe
Monday, August 16, 2010
"ROCKTOBERFEST" SETLIST (&C.)...
I’d say I got everything done I was supposed to do this weekend, but it wouldn’t be true: I still have the application for that city-manager job in Alaska to finish. (I still need to mow the lawn and bake cookies, too.) Being employed doesn’t leave a lot of time to do things like that—but the statistical reality I have to face is virtually the only people who are being offered jobs these days are the ones who already have them. (My getting a job was really a fluke.) While I’m temporarily employed, I need to market myself as heavily as possible.
Setlists, CDs and posters for the Bay City Centennial concert are done; I dropped off John’s and Chris’s at their houses, and mailed Mike his. For the poster, turns out I did have good photos of some of us, taken last fall by Carol Ackerman with my camera; the only one I was missing was Mike, and I found an acceptable one of him online. I’d like to do better, but this works for right now.
I’ve arranged (I think) to have Jim Nelson run sound for the “Joe’s Birthday” Deathgrass concert 25 September at the Bay City Arts Center—and also to record the performance. I’d like to get the raw material for a live album out of it. It’s a 2-hour show—24 songs—and I should be able to extract 12 out of that for a record.
Potential setlist for the Rocktoberfest Sept. 19:
Dead Things in the Shower—mod. fast two-step
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Test Tube Baby—Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Angel in Chains—country death metal
Rotten Candy—fast bluegrass, with Gospel beat
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. fast two-step
10 songs, concentrating on the “rockers,” but with our classic opener and closer (both two-steps) and one bluegrass/Gospel tune. The rest is blues, various subspecies of rock, and country death metal. (“Angel in Chains” is the only new thing on the list. I’d really like to get the opinions of at least some of the band before including it on the setlist, though. I like it—but does (or will) anybody else?)
I’d really like to play at the open mike in McMinnville Wednesday night, if I can fit it into the schedule. This will be the first one since my “debut” performance two weeks ago, and if I’m consistent about it, I’ll both get their attention and be considered “dependable” and a candidate to be a paid performer. (And it is nice to have an appreciative audience. Those folks don’t know how rare that is.) They like the humorous stuff (that’s good—that’s mostly what I write), and I can throw in one serious song and really get their attention. This time, I could give ‘em “Dead Things in the Shower,” “Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus” and (serious) “No Good Songs About the War,” and if there’s time for a fourth, maybe “Bluebird on My Windshield.” And if they want an encore (they did last time), I could do something fairly outrageous—how about “Electronic Love”?
The McMinnville open mike and Saturday afternoon at the Library are my only music this week—though we should have a band practice, too. The Labor Day gig will be only two weeks away.
Joe
Setlists, CDs and posters for the Bay City Centennial concert are done; I dropped off John’s and Chris’s at their houses, and mailed Mike his. For the poster, turns out I did have good photos of some of us, taken last fall by Carol Ackerman with my camera; the only one I was missing was Mike, and I found an acceptable one of him online. I’d like to do better, but this works for right now.
I’ve arranged (I think) to have Jim Nelson run sound for the “Joe’s Birthday” Deathgrass concert 25 September at the Bay City Arts Center—and also to record the performance. I’d like to get the raw material for a live album out of it. It’s a 2-hour show—24 songs—and I should be able to extract 12 out of that for a record.
Potential setlist for the Rocktoberfest Sept. 19:
Dead Things in the Shower—mod. fast two-step
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Test Tube Baby—Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Angel in Chains—country death metal
Rotten Candy—fast bluegrass, with Gospel beat
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. fast two-step
10 songs, concentrating on the “rockers,” but with our classic opener and closer (both two-steps) and one bluegrass/Gospel tune. The rest is blues, various subspecies of rock, and country death metal. (“Angel in Chains” is the only new thing on the list. I’d really like to get the opinions of at least some of the band before including it on the setlist, though. I like it—but does (or will) anybody else?)
I’d really like to play at the open mike in McMinnville Wednesday night, if I can fit it into the schedule. This will be the first one since my “debut” performance two weeks ago, and if I’m consistent about it, I’ll both get their attention and be considered “dependable” and a candidate to be a paid performer. (And it is nice to have an appreciative audience. Those folks don’t know how rare that is.) They like the humorous stuff (that’s good—that’s mostly what I write), and I can throw in one serious song and really get their attention. This time, I could give ‘em “Dead Things in the Shower,” “Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus” and (serious) “No Good Songs About the War,” and if there’s time for a fourth, maybe “Bluebird on My Windshield.” And if they want an encore (they did last time), I could do something fairly outrageous—how about “Electronic Love”?
The McMinnville open mike and Saturday afternoon at the Library are my only music this week—though we should have a band practice, too. The Labor Day gig will be only two weeks away.
Joe
Thursday, August 12, 2010
BAY CITY SETLIST...
Draft setlist for the Bay City Centennial:
Dead Things in the Shower—fast two-step
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Things Are Getting Better Now that Things Are Getting Worse (Gene Burnett)—fast two-step
Steamboat Bill (Shields & Leighton)—rock ‘n’ roll
Eatin’ Cormflakes from a Hubcap Blues—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More (Woody Guthrie)—fast two-step
Welcome to Hebo Waltz—fast waltz
Duct Tape—mod. speed country
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Test Tube Baby—rock ‘n’ roll
Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy
Free-Range Person—fast bluegrass
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. two-step
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Woody Guthrie)—fast bluegrass
17 songs (normally, a 1-1/2 hour set would be 18 songs, but two of the Woody ones here are substantially longer than usual). The list includes both the “local color” songs, “Hebo” and the train; it’s mostly old standards the band have done before and do well. “Steamboat Bill,” written in 1910 (and one of the most popular songs of that year), is our main concession to historicity, but there’s three Woody Guthrie songs on the list, too (of three different styles), and he’s a little historic himself.
“Steamboat Bill” and “Ain’t Got No Home” the band haven’t played before. The latter, though, has been on setlists before (it’s just always got cut to save time), and it’s one of those classic two-steps people just seem to slip into easily. Often, when I’ve played this elsewhere, the audience will end up joining in on the last line of each verse, and it’d be nice if that happened here.
Next steps (I have to be ruthlessly organized these days)—record “Steamboat Bill,” make CDs and setlists and get them to the band, and set up time to practice. All that has to happen this coming weekend. Practice probably the following weekend, since I believe John’s out of town this weekend. The other task for this weekend is to typeset the programs for the two Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. summer concerts in Central Point (I’m playing at the second one of those).
And the poster. I know how I’d like to design the poster, but I’ve got to take people’s photographs for it. If I could use the Deathgrass logo (the stuffed dreadlocked skull hanging from the mike stand) as the centerpiece, and surround that with mug shots of the musicians with their instruments, it’d be neat, and would make a nice set piece for future concert advertising. I probably have a usable photo of me in the archives, but will need to take photos of everybody else—probably one by one.
I have all the same stuff to do with respect to the “Rocktoberfest” concert, though that’s two weeks later, has a different (and shorter) set, and we’ll have Doc with us. Still, it’d be nice to have that one done, too. It’s not like I have a whole lot of free time these days.
No music at the Library this Saturday (the staff will be busy at the county fair), and I don’t seem to be able to get back to Garibaldi early enough on Friday nights to sit in with the Friday Night Group. With luck, the Contraband will be getting together to practice, and I won’t entirely lose out on chances to play music.
Joe
Dead Things in the Shower—fast two-step
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Things Are Getting Better Now that Things Are Getting Worse (Gene Burnett)—fast two-step
Steamboat Bill (Shields & Leighton)—rock ‘n’ roll
Eatin’ Cormflakes from a Hubcap Blues—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More (Woody Guthrie)—fast two-step
Welcome to Hebo Waltz—fast waltz
Duct Tape—mod. speed country
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Test Tube Baby—rock ‘n’ roll
Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy
Free-Range Person—fast bluegrass
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. two-step
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Woody Guthrie)—fast bluegrass
17 songs (normally, a 1-1/2 hour set would be 18 songs, but two of the Woody ones here are substantially longer than usual). The list includes both the “local color” songs, “Hebo” and the train; it’s mostly old standards the band have done before and do well. “Steamboat Bill,” written in 1910 (and one of the most popular songs of that year), is our main concession to historicity, but there’s three Woody Guthrie songs on the list, too (of three different styles), and he’s a little historic himself.
“Steamboat Bill” and “Ain’t Got No Home” the band haven’t played before. The latter, though, has been on setlists before (it’s just always got cut to save time), and it’s one of those classic two-steps people just seem to slip into easily. Often, when I’ve played this elsewhere, the audience will end up joining in on the last line of each verse, and it’d be nice if that happened here.
Next steps (I have to be ruthlessly organized these days)—record “Steamboat Bill,” make CDs and setlists and get them to the band, and set up time to practice. All that has to happen this coming weekend. Practice probably the following weekend, since I believe John’s out of town this weekend. The other task for this weekend is to typeset the programs for the two Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. summer concerts in Central Point (I’m playing at the second one of those).
And the poster. I know how I’d like to design the poster, but I’ve got to take people’s photographs for it. If I could use the Deathgrass logo (the stuffed dreadlocked skull hanging from the mike stand) as the centerpiece, and surround that with mug shots of the musicians with their instruments, it’d be neat, and would make a nice set piece for future concert advertising. I probably have a usable photo of me in the archives, but will need to take photos of everybody else—probably one by one.
I have all the same stuff to do with respect to the “Rocktoberfest” concert, though that’s two weeks later, has a different (and shorter) set, and we’ll have Doc with us. Still, it’d be nice to have that one done, too. It’s not like I have a whole lot of free time these days.
No music at the Library this Saturday (the staff will be busy at the county fair), and I don’t seem to be able to get back to Garibaldi early enough on Friday nights to sit in with the Friday Night Group. With luck, the Contraband will be getting together to practice, and I won’t entirely lose out on chances to play music.
Joe
Monday, August 9, 2010
THE BAY CITY OPEN MIKE (&C.)...
The Bay City Arts Center open mike Saturday night was good: we had 12 performers, including a poet, a standup comic, and a short-story author (all very good), plus the musicians—Opal (electric autoharp), Bud (guitar), Elsie (accordion), Chippewa Bob (saw), Jim (piano), and Noah, one of Mike Simpson’s “Rockshop” kids, did an original song with little Max on drums. Had an “acapulco” singer, too, and first Opal and then Elsie were able to give him musical accompaniment. Thanks, guys.
Some folks insisted I play something, too—I hadn’t planned on it, since we had plenty of performers, and it’s their show, not mine—so I gave them “In the Shadows, I’ll Be Watching You” at the end. And we followed everything with a general jam session by the musicians, most of whom had come there wanting to do that, rather than play solo like usually happens at an open mike. The solo performances were videotaped (thanks, Charlie), and next weekend, I’ll see if I can’t make DVDs out of it for everybody—the office’s old Macintosh says it can do it, but I’ve never tried.
An experiment that did work out: instead of charging the Arts Center’s usual gate fee (since there was nobody to man the door and collect it, anyway), I just put out a donation jar next to the big bowl of homemade cookies, and people did indeed toss money in—more, in fact, than the Arts Center usually collects in gate fees at these open mikes. I think this is definitely the way to go. Yes, one can question whether folks were donating for the music or the cookies—they did eat almost all the cookies—but who cares? Does it matter?
It was nice (and satisfying) that some of the musicians came because I asked them to, and they said they had fun and I think they want to do it again. The monthly open mike may be on a roll now—a “set piece” that just gets bigger and bigger from here on, and can be one of the area’s regular cultural events. This, I think, is how we make the Arts Center the centerpiece of the community (and Bay City really needs a centerpiece): we have events that get people coming here, and they begin thinking of the Arts Center as a regular Place To Go—and subsequently, to schedule their own things at. I’ve made this pitch to the Second Street Market folks in Tillamook, too, but don’t think it’s sunk in yet.
I have seen minimal advertising thus far of the Bay City Centennial celebration, and expect the Deathgrass promotion will be the bulk of whatever gets out there. I’ll make sure our posters, flyers, press releases, and radio spots mention the other “acts” (while concentrating on us, of course); I’d like to see a big crowd at this, and the promotion is something we can do. I still have to figure out the setlist (I have to arrange the setlist for the “Rocktoberfest,” too), and get CDs of the songs to everybody. That last is probably a job for next weekend. This weekend is going to run out of time very quickly.
And for the Bay City Centennial CDs, I need to record “Steamboat Bill.” The second verse of that song is a bit choppy, and could be improved, I think—and I can probably do that. Jeff Tanzer (lead guitarist for the Dodson Drifters) and I never hesitated to improve other writers’ stuff—we even did it to Bob Dylan and Hank Williams—and I suppose Ren Shields, who wrote the lyrics for “Steamboat Bill,” should be no exception. Next week’s commuting back and forth to Lafayette (2 to 2-1/2 hours in the car each way) should provide plenty of time to work on it.
Played Sunday night with the ContraBand—Jane (fiddle), Kathryn (guitar), and Fred (keyboard). I don’t know if the contra dance organizers want us back, but we’re going to continue playing together anyway, I think. I think the goal is to have a band that can do community dances at (for instance) the local Grange Hall—filling a crying need in the Failed Economy. To the extent I can, I want to participate.
Joe
Some folks insisted I play something, too—I hadn’t planned on it, since we had plenty of performers, and it’s their show, not mine—so I gave them “In the Shadows, I’ll Be Watching You” at the end. And we followed everything with a general jam session by the musicians, most of whom had come there wanting to do that, rather than play solo like usually happens at an open mike. The solo performances were videotaped (thanks, Charlie), and next weekend, I’ll see if I can’t make DVDs out of it for everybody—the office’s old Macintosh says it can do it, but I’ve never tried.
An experiment that did work out: instead of charging the Arts Center’s usual gate fee (since there was nobody to man the door and collect it, anyway), I just put out a donation jar next to the big bowl of homemade cookies, and people did indeed toss money in—more, in fact, than the Arts Center usually collects in gate fees at these open mikes. I think this is definitely the way to go. Yes, one can question whether folks were donating for the music or the cookies—they did eat almost all the cookies—but who cares? Does it matter?
It was nice (and satisfying) that some of the musicians came because I asked them to, and they said they had fun and I think they want to do it again. The monthly open mike may be on a roll now—a “set piece” that just gets bigger and bigger from here on, and can be one of the area’s regular cultural events. This, I think, is how we make the Arts Center the centerpiece of the community (and Bay City really needs a centerpiece): we have events that get people coming here, and they begin thinking of the Arts Center as a regular Place To Go—and subsequently, to schedule their own things at. I’ve made this pitch to the Second Street Market folks in Tillamook, too, but don’t think it’s sunk in yet.
I have seen minimal advertising thus far of the Bay City Centennial celebration, and expect the Deathgrass promotion will be the bulk of whatever gets out there. I’ll make sure our posters, flyers, press releases, and radio spots mention the other “acts” (while concentrating on us, of course); I’d like to see a big crowd at this, and the promotion is something we can do. I still have to figure out the setlist (I have to arrange the setlist for the “Rocktoberfest,” too), and get CDs of the songs to everybody. That last is probably a job for next weekend. This weekend is going to run out of time very quickly.
And for the Bay City Centennial CDs, I need to record “Steamboat Bill.” The second verse of that song is a bit choppy, and could be improved, I think—and I can probably do that. Jeff Tanzer (lead guitarist for the Dodson Drifters) and I never hesitated to improve other writers’ stuff—we even did it to Bob Dylan and Hank Williams—and I suppose Ren Shields, who wrote the lyrics for “Steamboat Bill,” should be no exception. Next week’s commuting back and forth to Lafayette (2 to 2-1/2 hours in the car each way) should provide plenty of time to work on it.
Played Sunday night with the ContraBand—Jane (fiddle), Kathryn (guitar), and Fred (keyboard). I don’t know if the contra dance organizers want us back, but we’re going to continue playing together anyway, I think. I think the goal is to have a band that can do community dances at (for instance) the local Grange Hall—filling a crying need in the Failed Economy. To the extent I can, I want to participate.
Joe
Saturday, August 7, 2010
OPEN MIKE & "STEAMBOAT BILL"...
I’m back. Weekend “off,” but while I’m “off” I have two graphic-design projects to finish, cookies to bake, and a job application to do for that place in Alaska that wants a city manager, and tomorrow there’s music to play (a little) and the open mike to host. Tonight, I am deliberately doing nothing productive.
The garden, after a week’s absence, has a potato shrub (once it hits 4 ft. tall, State Forestry will officially classify it as a “tree”—I don’t know if there have ever been any potato trees in Oregon), and four tomato shrubs (also trying to turn into trees), and pea pods on the still-wimpy pea plants. Two of the corn plants may survive, and one of the bean plants. I don’t think any carrots will.
I am thoroughly enjoying the new job. I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything (yet), and might actually be able to accomplish something.
With new stings on the guitar, I essayed the McMinnville open mike. Cornerstone Coffee Roasters, downtown, 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. It was good. Nice place; hosts are an older couple, sound system is good, and the audience is attentive as well as sizable. They (hosts and audience) liked the stuff, and they (hosts and audience) want me back. There may be a chance of getting one of the paying Friday night gigs later on.
It’d be nice if Deathgrass’ Labor Day setlist included something historic—it being Bay City’s centennial celebration and all. There are no songs about either Bay City or Bayocean, the fancy resort (now washed into the ocean) for which Bay City was the jumping off point. (I checked.) But what about songs from 1910, the year Bay City was founded? There weren’t Billboard charts back then, but I did find a list of what purported to be the most popular songs written that year.
There’s “America the Beautiful”; that was written in 1910, but everybody knows that one (and I can’t sing it, anyway). Most of the other 1910 hits were real turkeys—with one exception. “Steamboat Bill” is a rather well-written tune about a riverboat captain who gets involved in a race, on a bet, and blows up his riverboat and dies. Does sound like Deathgrass material. It appears to be public domain, too.
The title, if not the song, is famous because Buster Keaton turned the story into a movie in 1913 (I think)—supposedly one of the best silent films ever made. And in 1928, a fellow named Walt Disney made an animated short, “Steamboat Willie,” starring a cartoon mouse, that was supposed to be a parody of the Keaton film. I don’t think anyone remembers the song.
It’s not clear how the song is supposed to sound—back in 1910, songwriters got royalties from sheet music, not recordings. I can hear it as a 16-bar blues with a good rock beat (which they didn’t have in 1910, of course). I’ll see if I can do a decent draft recording for the band. It would be particularly fun to do something historic, because I don’t think the idea will occur to anyone else.
Beyond that, we probably want to include some Woody Guthrie tunes (him being a bit historic himself): “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” is one of our standard closing songs, and we do a pretty good job on “Dance a Little Longer” (which we do as country rock), and it’s probably time to do “Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More” (a two-step)—it’s been on a number of our setlists, but it’s routinely been cut when we got short on time.
Joe
The garden, after a week’s absence, has a potato shrub (once it hits 4 ft. tall, State Forestry will officially classify it as a “tree”—I don’t know if there have ever been any potato trees in Oregon), and four tomato shrubs (also trying to turn into trees), and pea pods on the still-wimpy pea plants. Two of the corn plants may survive, and one of the bean plants. I don’t think any carrots will.
I am thoroughly enjoying the new job. I don’t think I’ve forgotten anything (yet), and might actually be able to accomplish something.
With new stings on the guitar, I essayed the McMinnville open mike. Cornerstone Coffee Roasters, downtown, 1st & 3rd Wednesdays, 6:30 p.m. It was good. Nice place; hosts are an older couple, sound system is good, and the audience is attentive as well as sizable. They (hosts and audience) liked the stuff, and they (hosts and audience) want me back. There may be a chance of getting one of the paying Friday night gigs later on.
It’d be nice if Deathgrass’ Labor Day setlist included something historic—it being Bay City’s centennial celebration and all. There are no songs about either Bay City or Bayocean, the fancy resort (now washed into the ocean) for which Bay City was the jumping off point. (I checked.) But what about songs from 1910, the year Bay City was founded? There weren’t Billboard charts back then, but I did find a list of what purported to be the most popular songs written that year.
There’s “America the Beautiful”; that was written in 1910, but everybody knows that one (and I can’t sing it, anyway). Most of the other 1910 hits were real turkeys—with one exception. “Steamboat Bill” is a rather well-written tune about a riverboat captain who gets involved in a race, on a bet, and blows up his riverboat and dies. Does sound like Deathgrass material. It appears to be public domain, too.
The title, if not the song, is famous because Buster Keaton turned the story into a movie in 1913 (I think)—supposedly one of the best silent films ever made. And in 1928, a fellow named Walt Disney made an animated short, “Steamboat Willie,” starring a cartoon mouse, that was supposed to be a parody of the Keaton film. I don’t think anyone remembers the song.
It’s not clear how the song is supposed to sound—back in 1910, songwriters got royalties from sheet music, not recordings. I can hear it as a 16-bar blues with a good rock beat (which they didn’t have in 1910, of course). I’ll see if I can do a decent draft recording for the band. It would be particularly fun to do something historic, because I don’t think the idea will occur to anyone else.
Beyond that, we probably want to include some Woody Guthrie tunes (him being a bit historic himself): “Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad” is one of our standard closing songs, and we do a pretty good job on “Dance a Little Longer” (which we do as country rock), and it’s probably time to do “Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More” (a two-step)—it’s been on a number of our setlists, but it’s routinely been cut when we got short on time.
Joe
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
ROCKTOBERFEST SETLIST (AND AN APOLOGY)...
An apology, first, to Alice, who did the sound for ContraBand; I hadn’t mentioned her when I was passing out thanks and credit to everybody, and I should have. I’m frankly not used to having a sound engineer. A sound engineer I knew in Medford (he hung out at the tavern where Screamin’ Gulch played) maintained the sound engineer should be considered an equal member of the band, since he or she is the reason the band sounds good in public, and I agree. Thanks, Alice. (And thanks, too, for reading this thing. I am always surprised to find out someone is actually reading it.)
I’ve got to re-write my column for the paper—they say they didn’t receive it. I don’t want to let a week go by without a column in the paper—people might think something had happened to me (or worse still, not even notice), and besides, there is Important News to disseminate. I should be able to re-do it from memory. I tend to remember what I write; in this case, that’s good—I’m 83 miles away from the data I used to write it.
Doc won’t be in town Sept. 4, so we will be doing the Bicentennial Concert with just four of us: John (bass), Chris (drums), Mike (lead guitar), and me. That’s how we did Garibaldi Days, too. Doc will be here for the Rocktoberfest concert Sunday, Sept. 19. I’d like to do two practices each for each of those concerts, but wonder whether that’ll be possible considering my own restricted movements. I thought ContraBand was scheduled to play dances two Saturdays in August (8/21 and 8/28), but I hear that’s not for sure (it’d be nice to know). I’ve got a performance myself with Dan Doshier at the SOSA Summer Concert in Central Point on Friday, Aug. 27, and could probably score another solo gig down South for the 28th—if I knew what I was supposed to be doing.
I’ve talked a little about wanting to include mostly “rockers” in the Rocktoberfest setlist, but I don’t think we have quite enough to make an entirely rock setlist. Better, perhaps, to just include a little of everything, and show off the band’s versatility. We have 50 minutes, which is ten songs. We could do—not in order (yet), of course:
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Test Tube Baby—Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
Love Trails of the Zombie Snails—folk-rock
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Rotten Candy—fast bluegrass, with Gospel beat
Dead Things in the Shower—mod. fast two-step
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. fast two-step
“Dead Things” is our standard opening song, and “Un-Easy Street” the usual closer. Both are two-steps, and are the only ones on the list. Style-wise, the list includes about everything we do except ragtime (Coleman & Lazzerini’s “So 20th Century”). Includes everybody’s favorites that I know about, too: Doc really likes “the Pigfish song” (and wants me to include a second lead break), Mike likes “Un-Easy Street,” and John is partial to the zombie snails. Tempting to include the country death metal song, “Angel in Chains,” but I’m not sure the band or the audience is ready for that yet.
And the job? (People have asked.) It’s good. I did my first city council meeting (the regular one is in ten more days), and folks were generally nice. I don’t know for sure if I’m a calming influence, but it’d be nice to think so. Got more people—from all three political groups, I think—looking for a place for me to stay. Tonight, I had the evening off, and managed to get to the music store before it closed; tomorrow—new strings. Tonight, me and the store owner just traded jokes—about banjo players (me) and drummers (him). Gave him a CD, too. There is reportedly an open mike in downtown McMinnville on alternate Wednesdays, and if this Wednesday’s the right day, I’ll go.
Joe
I’ve got to re-write my column for the paper—they say they didn’t receive it. I don’t want to let a week go by without a column in the paper—people might think something had happened to me (or worse still, not even notice), and besides, there is Important News to disseminate. I should be able to re-do it from memory. I tend to remember what I write; in this case, that’s good—I’m 83 miles away from the data I used to write it.
Doc won’t be in town Sept. 4, so we will be doing the Bicentennial Concert with just four of us: John (bass), Chris (drums), Mike (lead guitar), and me. That’s how we did Garibaldi Days, too. Doc will be here for the Rocktoberfest concert Sunday, Sept. 19. I’d like to do two practices each for each of those concerts, but wonder whether that’ll be possible considering my own restricted movements. I thought ContraBand was scheduled to play dances two Saturdays in August (8/21 and 8/28), but I hear that’s not for sure (it’d be nice to know). I’ve got a performance myself with Dan Doshier at the SOSA Summer Concert in Central Point on Friday, Aug. 27, and could probably score another solo gig down South for the 28th—if I knew what I was supposed to be doing.
I’ve talked a little about wanting to include mostly “rockers” in the Rocktoberfest setlist, but I don’t think we have quite enough to make an entirely rock setlist. Better, perhaps, to just include a little of everything, and show off the band’s versatility. We have 50 minutes, which is ten songs. We could do—not in order (yet), of course:
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Test Tube Baby—Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
Love Trails of the Zombie Snails—folk-rock
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Rotten Candy—fast bluegrass, with Gospel beat
Dead Things in the Shower—mod. fast two-step
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. fast two-step
“Dead Things” is our standard opening song, and “Un-Easy Street” the usual closer. Both are two-steps, and are the only ones on the list. Style-wise, the list includes about everything we do except ragtime (Coleman & Lazzerini’s “So 20th Century”). Includes everybody’s favorites that I know about, too: Doc really likes “the Pigfish song” (and wants me to include a second lead break), Mike likes “Un-Easy Street,” and John is partial to the zombie snails. Tempting to include the country death metal song, “Angel in Chains,” but I’m not sure the band or the audience is ready for that yet.
And the job? (People have asked.) It’s good. I did my first city council meeting (the regular one is in ten more days), and folks were generally nice. I don’t know for sure if I’m a calming influence, but it’d be nice to think so. Got more people—from all three political groups, I think—looking for a place for me to stay. Tonight, I had the evening off, and managed to get to the music store before it closed; tomorrow—new strings. Tonight, me and the store owner just traded jokes—about banjo players (me) and drummers (him). Gave him a CD, too. There is reportedly an open mike in downtown McMinnville on alternate Wednesdays, and if this Wednesday’s the right day, I’ll go.
Joe
Sunday, August 1, 2010
CONTRA DANCE POST-MORTEM...
Ah, checklists… Having a job—particularly a 24/7 job as a city manager—forces me to be ruthlessly organized. There is a limited window into which to fit a personal life. Laundry done? Check. Column filed for the paper? Check. Business cards for the new job? Check. Software to load onto the city’s computer? Check. Packed? Mostly. Before I leave, I need to design and Acrobat a poster for the “Rockshop” bands’ concert, IF that’s going to happen—if it does, it’ll be next Saturday.
The ContraBand—Chuck on percussion, Fred on piano, Jane on fiddle, Kathryn and myself on guitars—played the contra dance at the White Clover Grange in Mohler Saturday night. (Jane did a neat banner advertising the band.) Like the old proverb says, when we were good, we were very, very good—and I’d only practiced with the rest of ‘em twice (and they’d only practiced together two or three times besides that). And of course, when we were bad, we were horrid—but we were only horrid a couple of times. The audience (around 50 people) appeared to like us.
I told people who were surprised at the turnout they were looking at a symptom of the Failed Economy. Just as in the last Depression, people are hungry for entertainment; it has to be local, and it has to be cheap, because that’s what people think they can afford. An organized dance at the local Grange Hall with a live band is ideal—and something nobody’s seen in a long time (but the old folks will remember them from the last Depression). It’s a market ready to be tapped—and whoever gets there first gets to grab a big piece of it. There’s a chance that could be us. (Deathgrass, too.)
And one of the things I wanted to prove with the exercise is I can be a musician, too. This is all instrumental stuff: there’s no vocalist to keep one on track—I have to follow the melody (being played mostly by the fiddle player), without being able to hear it very well, and deliver a strong enough rhythm line to keep the rest of the band on track, and signal chord and verse-to-chorus changes. It’s a bit of a struggle, but I think I did okay.
I talked to Jay the caller a little afterwards, and he said we did best on the songs the fiddle player was most comfortable with, because she was playing melody without hesitation. Those were the old fiddle tunes “Red Wing,” “Golden Slippers,” and “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” and a sweet little dance tune called “Mossyrock.” I concentrated mostly on bluegrass-style bass runs, trying to keep the “A” and “B” parts distinctively different enough so the others could tell (if they needed to) which part we were playing. Some of those bluegrass runs are pretty fast, though, and that’s hard to keep up for maybe eight minutes at a stretch—which is how long it took the caller to complete a dance.
Frank, who organized the contra dance, says he wants to do another one Saturday, 28 August, and a Waltz Night on Saturday, 21 August, both at the White Clover Grange; I don’t know if he’s told the rest of the band yet, but he did tell me. (The August 28 dance will not draw as big a crowd; there’s a square dance that night, and quite a few of the dancers at Saturday night’s contra dance were from the square dance club.)
Right now, the ContraBand only know two waltzes, and we’ll have to learn more. (I know quite a few, because I can play lead to most waltzes, but I don’t have music for them—music doesn’t really enter into what Tone-Deaf Lead Guitarist does.) We need to learn as well some more “contra-able” tunes—I’m told we should know at least nine to be able to do these dances real well.
The Bay City Centennial wants Deathgrass for 1-1/2 hours Saturday, 4 September; I have John, Chris, and Mike confirmed, and still need to contact Doc. Practices will have to be limited to Saturdays and Sundays, the only time I’m home from the new job. And John will be out of town the first couple of weekends in August. That means the setlist ought to be familiar stuff—no new material. (When will I get to introduce them to “Angel in Chains”?)
Joe
The ContraBand—Chuck on percussion, Fred on piano, Jane on fiddle, Kathryn and myself on guitars—played the contra dance at the White Clover Grange in Mohler Saturday night. (Jane did a neat banner advertising the band.) Like the old proverb says, when we were good, we were very, very good—and I’d only practiced with the rest of ‘em twice (and they’d only practiced together two or three times besides that). And of course, when we were bad, we were horrid—but we were only horrid a couple of times. The audience (around 50 people) appeared to like us.
I told people who were surprised at the turnout they were looking at a symptom of the Failed Economy. Just as in the last Depression, people are hungry for entertainment; it has to be local, and it has to be cheap, because that’s what people think they can afford. An organized dance at the local Grange Hall with a live band is ideal—and something nobody’s seen in a long time (but the old folks will remember them from the last Depression). It’s a market ready to be tapped—and whoever gets there first gets to grab a big piece of it. There’s a chance that could be us. (Deathgrass, too.)
And one of the things I wanted to prove with the exercise is I can be a musician, too. This is all instrumental stuff: there’s no vocalist to keep one on track—I have to follow the melody (being played mostly by the fiddle player), without being able to hear it very well, and deliver a strong enough rhythm line to keep the rest of the band on track, and signal chord and verse-to-chorus changes. It’s a bit of a struggle, but I think I did okay.
I talked to Jay the caller a little afterwards, and he said we did best on the songs the fiddle player was most comfortable with, because she was playing melody without hesitation. Those were the old fiddle tunes “Red Wing,” “Golden Slippers,” and “Bonaparte’s Retreat,” and a sweet little dance tune called “Mossyrock.” I concentrated mostly on bluegrass-style bass runs, trying to keep the “A” and “B” parts distinctively different enough so the others could tell (if they needed to) which part we were playing. Some of those bluegrass runs are pretty fast, though, and that’s hard to keep up for maybe eight minutes at a stretch—which is how long it took the caller to complete a dance.
Frank, who organized the contra dance, says he wants to do another one Saturday, 28 August, and a Waltz Night on Saturday, 21 August, both at the White Clover Grange; I don’t know if he’s told the rest of the band yet, but he did tell me. (The August 28 dance will not draw as big a crowd; there’s a square dance that night, and quite a few of the dancers at Saturday night’s contra dance were from the square dance club.)
Right now, the ContraBand only know two waltzes, and we’ll have to learn more. (I know quite a few, because I can play lead to most waltzes, but I don’t have music for them—music doesn’t really enter into what Tone-Deaf Lead Guitarist does.) We need to learn as well some more “contra-able” tunes—I’m told we should know at least nine to be able to do these dances real well.
The Bay City Centennial wants Deathgrass for 1-1/2 hours Saturday, 4 September; I have John, Chris, and Mike confirmed, and still need to contact Doc. Practices will have to be limited to Saturdays and Sundays, the only time I’m home from the new job. And John will be out of town the first couple of weekends in August. That means the setlist ought to be familiar stuff—no new material. (When will I get to introduce them to “Angel in Chains”?)
Joe
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