Well, yeah. Wedding was nice: TJ is a great minister, and family and friends put a tremendous amount of work into making everything perfect. I even got to be in costume for Hallowe’en (I was dressed up as Father of the Bride). Everything was neat, and the Happy Couple are, I believe, happy.
I wanted to do a post-mortem on the musical performance—because this was a gig for the band, too: the first wedding we’ve ever played. A lot of folks in the bridal party and attendees were excited that “Deathgrass” was playing; some of those had even heard us before (and some were real curious how we’d deal with a performance where we couldn’t do any dead-animal songs).
The answer, I think, is we did pretty well. The limitations—no dead animals, no stalkers, no rotten candy, no jumping off cliffs, no dumping dead sweethearts in the river—did force the learning of some new material; only about a third of the setlist were songs we’d played before. Quite a few of the songs I’d co-written (musicating other people’s lyrics—they address serious subjects like love better’n I do), plus some covers—three I’d been specifically asked to do, and two we thought up on our own.
And we didn’t get to play the whole thing. Our performance was more like an hour than an hour and a half, so we jettisoned about a third of the songs (including three of the covers). Did do Nickelback’s “Far Away”—it was supposed to be the Dance of the Happy Couple—but I know it didn’t sound like Nickelback when we were done: I finally figured out a consistent beat (something Nickelback didn’t have), so I could make what the guitar was doing automatic, and concentrate on remembering the words. We ended up just using my electrified guitar and drummer Chris on shakers—it seemed to sound best that way.
Of the rest, it’s really hard to cite “bests”; there were a lot of “bests,” based on how many people were dancing. They liked Diane Ewing’s “Distraction” (which is a great song, and we do it well), Marge McKinnis’ “About Love,” Woody Guthrie’s “Dance a Little Longer,” “The Dog’s Song,” Southern Pigfish’s “For Their Own Ends,” and (surprise!) “Duct Tape.” I’d forgotten daughter Kimberly’s high school friends (who were mostly there, I think) were some of my earliest fans, and “Duct Tape” was one of their favorite songs. Restores one’s faith in the future, it does, to see teenagers dancing to country music. And our closing song—a pretty faithful rendition of the Monkees’ version of Neil Diamond’s “I’m a Believer”—surprised everyone, I think.
Might we get more wedding (&c.) gigs out of this? I have no idea. Did prove, I think, that we’re more versatile than maybe folks suspected, and what we do is danceable. I hope people remember.
We had a young girl singer hight Indica (a friend of groom Tony’s, I think) sit in with us doing backup vocals, and she does have a good voice (and a pretty good ear); it would be fun to work more with her. (I don’t know how the logistics of that would work.) She was surprised we didn’t have lyrics with us for most of the songs (I only had them for the couple of songs where I was afraid I’d flub the words, and I told her we mostly don’t need lyric sheets because we know the material). Still, it’d be helpful for situations like this if I did have a printout handy of the lyrics and chords of the songs we’re going to do, just so somebody like her could take advantage of it. It’d be easy to do—I have all the stuff on the computer, anyway.
I raised with everybody the idea of doing another benefit concert for the Food Pantry—ideally, a week before Christmas, just like last year (I’m pretty sure the Dance Floor at City Hall will be available that Saturday night). Compared to what we just did, the setlist ought to be easy. We have a lot of Failed Economy songs.
Joe
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
PUMPKINFEST POST-MORTEM (&C.)...
Well, the Lafayette Pumpkinfest gig is history. Since I didn’t have expectations, it wasn’t bad. I did have to play unplugged—where they had me, there just wasn’t any way to run electricity without creating a tripping hazard—but it’s not like a lot of people were paying attention anyway. There was a lot of stuff going on, and a lot of kids doing it, and a lot of parents trying with varying degrees of success to keep track of them. It is probably just as well I couldn’t be too much of a distraction.
About halfway through the set, I got invited to move into Martha’s Tacos (and did—my fingers were getting numb from the cold) and finished the set there (and thanked the owners profusely for letting me do that). Positive notes: I did manage to play the whole set pretty good without my fingers getting unbearably sore (I’d practiced with the band for 3-1/2 hours earlier in the afternoon). And the timing was perfect—it was exactly an hour.
A number of people did notice—and maybe appreciated—that I was there, even though I doubt any of them heard much of what I was playing. I did hear one of the organizers saying they’d get a PA system next year. (They could use one.)
Practice was pretty good—but I have work to do. I still haven’t got one of the cover songs, Nickelback’s “Far Away,” down at all; John gave me some pointers on the timing, which did help, but it doesn’t help that the song changes timing a couple of times between beginning and end. (I was told that’s what happens when people with no musical training write hit songs.) The others aren’t bad. Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” turns out to be (mostly) the standard “Teen Angel” rock progression, just done as a waltz; “Cinderella” is a really well-written song—I just need to control my voice from cracking when I sing it, because it is really emotional; and Dylan’s “Love Minus Zero” is a fairly set piece (it’s one of my favorite love songs).
We spent a lot of time on “I’m a Believer,” because it’s become such a classic people expect anyone who plays it to sound like the Monkees (turns out Neil Diamond actually wrote it, and he performs it regularly, too—and he doesn’t sound at all like the Monkees). John (bass) and Charlie (lead guitar) were doing a good job re-creating the sound of the Monkees’ cheesy organ without having an organ in the band.
Since I want to sing “Cinderella,” I can’t do the “daddy-daughter dance” with it (and it was intended to be the “daddy-daughter dance” song). Perhaps the best route to go, since I do want to dance with daughter, too (and the “Cinderella” song underscores why that’s important), would be to have the band break into a couple of rounds of the “Saturday Night Waltz,” which is an instrumental (and Doc can lead it—he does it perfectly).
I have absolutely no time the next two (or is it three?) weeks. The band will practice one more time, Friday night; Saturday’s the wedding rehearsal (and I’ve been asked to make my fish lasagna for the Rehearsal Dinner); and Sunday is the wedding (and band performance). The following weekend, I don’t even get to go home—we’re doing the city manager interviews here in Lafayette. Somewhere between now and then, I’ve got another Southern Oregon Songwriters newsletter to do, and need to get one of the City’s computers “Skype-ready” with my video camera (because one of the folks we’re interviewing is in Alaska). And there are rather a lot of jobs to apply for, too. I can’t forget this one runs out soon.
Joe
About halfway through the set, I got invited to move into Martha’s Tacos (and did—my fingers were getting numb from the cold) and finished the set there (and thanked the owners profusely for letting me do that). Positive notes: I did manage to play the whole set pretty good without my fingers getting unbearably sore (I’d practiced with the band for 3-1/2 hours earlier in the afternoon). And the timing was perfect—it was exactly an hour.
A number of people did notice—and maybe appreciated—that I was there, even though I doubt any of them heard much of what I was playing. I did hear one of the organizers saying they’d get a PA system next year. (They could use one.)
Practice was pretty good—but I have work to do. I still haven’t got one of the cover songs, Nickelback’s “Far Away,” down at all; John gave me some pointers on the timing, which did help, but it doesn’t help that the song changes timing a couple of times between beginning and end. (I was told that’s what happens when people with no musical training write hit songs.) The others aren’t bad. Edwin McCain’s “I’ll Be” turns out to be (mostly) the standard “Teen Angel” rock progression, just done as a waltz; “Cinderella” is a really well-written song—I just need to control my voice from cracking when I sing it, because it is really emotional; and Dylan’s “Love Minus Zero” is a fairly set piece (it’s one of my favorite love songs).
We spent a lot of time on “I’m a Believer,” because it’s become such a classic people expect anyone who plays it to sound like the Monkees (turns out Neil Diamond actually wrote it, and he performs it regularly, too—and he doesn’t sound at all like the Monkees). John (bass) and Charlie (lead guitar) were doing a good job re-creating the sound of the Monkees’ cheesy organ without having an organ in the band.
Since I want to sing “Cinderella,” I can’t do the “daddy-daughter dance” with it (and it was intended to be the “daddy-daughter dance” song). Perhaps the best route to go, since I do want to dance with daughter, too (and the “Cinderella” song underscores why that’s important), would be to have the band break into a couple of rounds of the “Saturday Night Waltz,” which is an instrumental (and Doc can lead it—he does it perfectly).
I have absolutely no time the next two (or is it three?) weeks. The band will practice one more time, Friday night; Saturday’s the wedding rehearsal (and I’ve been asked to make my fish lasagna for the Rehearsal Dinner); and Sunday is the wedding (and band performance). The following weekend, I don’t even get to go home—we’re doing the city manager interviews here in Lafayette. Somewhere between now and then, I’ve got another Southern Oregon Songwriters newsletter to do, and need to get one of the City’s computers “Skype-ready” with my video camera (because one of the folks we’re interviewing is in Alaska). And there are rather a lot of jobs to apply for, too. I can’t forget this one runs out soon.
Joe
Friday, October 22, 2010
SETLIST FOR THE WEDDING...
Wedding Setlists and CDs got mailed off to the band yesterday (yes, way, way late). With luck, they get to Garibaldi before I do. Right now (I expect this is still subject to change), the setlist looks like:
Far Away (Nickelback)—soft rock (Dance of the Happy Couple)
Distraction (Diane Ewing)—slow rock
So Far (Marge McKinnis)—slow blues
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
The Frog Next Door—deliberate blues
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Duct Tape—mod. speed country (and our only country song)
About Love (Marge McKinnis)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Lilly’s Song (Screamin’ Gulch)—slow blues
I Want a Man for Christmas—rock ‘n’ roll
This Moment (Maria Picasso)—soft rock
Simple Questions (O.N. Vindstad)—rockabilly
I’ll Be (Edwin McCain)—soft rock
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Dylan)—folk-rock
I’m a Believer (Neil Diamond)—pop-rock
All rock (of one variety or another), except for “Duct Tape” (which was specifically requested), and all love songs, except for “Duct Tape” and the Southern Pigfish Song. The three soft-rock covers were requested by the Happy Couple, and I’ve never played them before, myself; they sound like they might be singable, though. Only six songs on the list that the band have ever played before. Next step: practice. Practice a lot.
Since they’re expecting absolutely rotten weather for the Pumpkinfest (the Coast is supposed to get five inches of rain the day before), they’ve arranged for me to be indoors, at the local Mexican restaurant. (And I have expressed hope I won’t drive too many customers away.) I’ll need to bring with me a big extension cord and the little Austin amp for the guitar (my new amp has only one input, which I’ll use for voice).
Took the opportunity to promote the Pumpkinfest (and my performance) at the McMinnville coffeehouse Wednesday night; the crowd got “Twenty Saddles for My Chicken,” Beth Williams’ “The Well in the Glade,” and “Dead Fishes,” all of which are on the Pumpkinfest setlist, and “I Want a Man for Christmas” (on the Wedding Setlist)—and then, because they wanted a “brief song” for a closer, they got “Milepost 43,” about Al David’s missing underwear. (It’s about briefs, after all.)
Latest e-mail from Disk Makers (the CD replicating service I’ve never used because I found one cheaper) was about getting your CD released before Christmas. Yes, I’d like to do that, but time (or the lack thereof) makes that impossible. I’d like to do it right after the first of the year. The thing I’d like to do before Christmas is another benefit concert for the Food Pantry. (We could use just about the same setlist we did last time.) That’s probably enough work outside of work.
Joe
Far Away (Nickelback)—soft rock (Dance of the Happy Couple)
Distraction (Diane Ewing)—slow rock
So Far (Marge McKinnis)—slow blues
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
The Frog Next Door—deliberate blues
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Duct Tape—mod. speed country (and our only country song)
About Love (Marge McKinnis)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Lilly’s Song (Screamin’ Gulch)—slow blues
I Want a Man for Christmas—rock ‘n’ roll
This Moment (Maria Picasso)—soft rock
Simple Questions (O.N. Vindstad)—rockabilly
I’ll Be (Edwin McCain)—soft rock
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Love Minus Zero/No Limit (Dylan)—folk-rock
I’m a Believer (Neil Diamond)—pop-rock
All rock (of one variety or another), except for “Duct Tape” (which was specifically requested), and all love songs, except for “Duct Tape” and the Southern Pigfish Song. The three soft-rock covers were requested by the Happy Couple, and I’ve never played them before, myself; they sound like they might be singable, though. Only six songs on the list that the band have ever played before. Next step: practice. Practice a lot.
Since they’re expecting absolutely rotten weather for the Pumpkinfest (the Coast is supposed to get five inches of rain the day before), they’ve arranged for me to be indoors, at the local Mexican restaurant. (And I have expressed hope I won’t drive too many customers away.) I’ll need to bring with me a big extension cord and the little Austin amp for the guitar (my new amp has only one input, which I’ll use for voice).
Took the opportunity to promote the Pumpkinfest (and my performance) at the McMinnville coffeehouse Wednesday night; the crowd got “Twenty Saddles for My Chicken,” Beth Williams’ “The Well in the Glade,” and “Dead Fishes,” all of which are on the Pumpkinfest setlist, and “I Want a Man for Christmas” (on the Wedding Setlist)—and then, because they wanted a “brief song” for a closer, they got “Milepost 43,” about Al David’s missing underwear. (It’s about briefs, after all.)
Latest e-mail from Disk Makers (the CD replicating service I’ve never used because I found one cheaper) was about getting your CD released before Christmas. Yes, I’d like to do that, but time (or the lack thereof) makes that impossible. I’d like to do it right after the first of the year. The thing I’d like to do before Christmas is another benefit concert for the Food Pantry. (We could use just about the same setlist we did last time.) That’s probably enough work outside of work.
Joe
Sunday, October 17, 2010
PUMPKINFEST, WEDDING AND FOOT (OH, MY)...
The Hurt Foot’s been kind of dominant the last couple of weeks; yes, it only hurts when it’s being used for standing, or walking, or touches something, but that’s, like, almost all the time. The doctor says it’s getting better—thereby convincing me he’s a more insightful man than I.
And so I haven’t got much done. (Yes, the Hurt Foot is a good excuse for inactivity, too.) I finally did write the Rap for the Pumpkinfest (a relatively easy job—just have to keep in mind virtually no one in that audience has ever heard me before), and piece by piece, as I go to jam sessions and open mikes, I’m getting to run through the songs on the Pumpkinfest setlist, making sure I know them by heart. I’m able to introduce nearly all of those as “here’s another song I can’t play at my daughter’s wedding.”
And I haven’t accomplished much with the Wedding Setlist. At this point, rather a small number of my suggestions have been ruled acceptable by the Happy Couple, and they’ve had four suggestions of their own—all covers (not a problem at this gig, since it’s unpaid), one of which I know I can play, two I think I can play, and one I’m not sure about at all. That still leaves rather a large material lacuna to fill—and said wedding is, as of tomorrow, just two weeks away. Need to get setlists and CDs to the band, and we have to practice all this new stuff. (Gack. In a word, gack.)
I think the only solution to the problem is to take Alice-the-‘puter’s braincase with me when I go back to Lafayette. StuartLittle, over there, can’t copy CDs—no rewritable CD drive. I’ll take the Tascam, too, in case I have to record something (likely); Alice has been trained to interface with the Tascam, too, and StuartLittle hasn’t (considering how old some of this stuff is, I’m not sure the software even can be found any more). I’ll have part of Monday night (still have to write the column for the paper) and Tuesday night to finish this. I can mail the material to the band, and hopefully arrange practice for next weekend.
My only getting-out this weekend was to play music Friday night and Saturday. Got to try out on Saturday’s crowd at the library “Dead Fishes” and “Vampire Roumanian Babies,” which I want to do at the Pumpkinfest, and “I Want a Man for Christmas,” which hasn’t (yet) been rejected for the Wedding Setlist. And they did like all of them. This Wednesday is another open mike at the coffeehouse in McMinnville, and I’ll use that opportunity to promote the Pumpkinfest again. The folks there haven’t heard “Dead Fishes” or Beth Williams’ “The Well in the Glade” yet.
One thing I’d really like to accomplish while I’m making money is to record the album. John hasn’t had any time (and since I became a city manager again, neither have I). It would be worthwhile, I think, to bite the bullet and record the thing at Mike’s studio in Rockaway. As usual, I would want to do it Patsy Cline style—live and in one take—to save money; since Mike would be recording engineer, I expect his lead guitar would have to be added later. Good winter project, assuming I can hang onto some of my money.
And the other is a Christmas benefit concert for the Food Pantry, like we did last year. Probably the ideal date would be Saturday, December 18—I’m pretty sure the Dance Floor at City Hall is available that night (it was last year). We could almost use the same setlist.
Joe
And so I haven’t got much done. (Yes, the Hurt Foot is a good excuse for inactivity, too.) I finally did write the Rap for the Pumpkinfest (a relatively easy job—just have to keep in mind virtually no one in that audience has ever heard me before), and piece by piece, as I go to jam sessions and open mikes, I’m getting to run through the songs on the Pumpkinfest setlist, making sure I know them by heart. I’m able to introduce nearly all of those as “here’s another song I can’t play at my daughter’s wedding.”
And I haven’t accomplished much with the Wedding Setlist. At this point, rather a small number of my suggestions have been ruled acceptable by the Happy Couple, and they’ve had four suggestions of their own—all covers (not a problem at this gig, since it’s unpaid), one of which I know I can play, two I think I can play, and one I’m not sure about at all. That still leaves rather a large material lacuna to fill—and said wedding is, as of tomorrow, just two weeks away. Need to get setlists and CDs to the band, and we have to practice all this new stuff. (Gack. In a word, gack.)
I think the only solution to the problem is to take Alice-the-‘puter’s braincase with me when I go back to Lafayette. StuartLittle, over there, can’t copy CDs—no rewritable CD drive. I’ll take the Tascam, too, in case I have to record something (likely); Alice has been trained to interface with the Tascam, too, and StuartLittle hasn’t (considering how old some of this stuff is, I’m not sure the software even can be found any more). I’ll have part of Monday night (still have to write the column for the paper) and Tuesday night to finish this. I can mail the material to the band, and hopefully arrange practice for next weekend.
My only getting-out this weekend was to play music Friday night and Saturday. Got to try out on Saturday’s crowd at the library “Dead Fishes” and “Vampire Roumanian Babies,” which I want to do at the Pumpkinfest, and “I Want a Man for Christmas,” which hasn’t (yet) been rejected for the Wedding Setlist. And they did like all of them. This Wednesday is another open mike at the coffeehouse in McMinnville, and I’ll use that opportunity to promote the Pumpkinfest again. The folks there haven’t heard “Dead Fishes” or Beth Williams’ “The Well in the Glade” yet.
One thing I’d really like to accomplish while I’m making money is to record the album. John hasn’t had any time (and since I became a city manager again, neither have I). It would be worthwhile, I think, to bite the bullet and record the thing at Mike’s studio in Rockaway. As usual, I would want to do it Patsy Cline style—live and in one take—to save money; since Mike would be recording engineer, I expect his lead guitar would have to be added later. Good winter project, assuming I can hang onto some of my money.
And the other is a Christmas benefit concert for the Food Pantry, like we did last year. Probably the ideal date would be Saturday, December 18—I’m pretty sure the Dance Floor at City Hall is available that night (it was last year). We could almost use the same setlist.
Joe
Saturday, October 9, 2010
PLANNING FOR PUMPKINFEST...
As repeated storms pound (lightly) the Oregon Coast, I get to do the Marge McKinnis Thing—“I stay inside, ‘cause I want to write about love.” Between next week’s column for the paper, the Southern Oregon Songwriters’ newsletter, organizing the Wedding Setlist, and seeing if I can maybe write two songs for the writers’ group in England, there is really quite a bit to do, but I’ve done rather little of it—I’ve just read, and rested my sore foot.
I’m on for the Pumpkinfest in Lafayette; the chief organizer said she liked my material, and I’ve sent her a poster. 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, 24 October, a week before Hallowe’en. I’m on for an hour, and it’ll be outside (I hope the weather’s decent). I tried to concentrate on kid-friendly material:
Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues—relatively slow two-step
Bluebird on My Windshield—fast bluegrass
Doing Battle with the Lawn—fast bluegrass
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Twenty Saddles for My Chicken—fast bluegrass
Vampire Roumanian Babies—fast bluegrass
Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More (Woody Guthrie)—mod. fast two-step
I May Write You from Jupiter—fast bluegrass
The Well in the Glade (Beth Williams)—spooky waltz
The Dog’s Song—supposed to be rock ‘n’ roll, but solo it’s going to be country
Dead Fishes—very fast Elizabethan bluegrass
When They Die, I Put Them in the Cookies—fast bluegrass
In that order, I think. Starts with a couple of relatively set pieces, that are hard to screw up even playing to a strange crowd, and ends with one that’s got a proven track record of appealing to kids—and a couple of Hallowe’en songs, too, in honor of the season. (I’ll need to use the new amp for the vocals, so I can add spooky reverb to my voice for Beth’s “Well” song.) 12 songs isn’t quite an hour’s worth when played solo, though—I may need to asdd a couple more.
For the Wedding Setlist, I’ve got the following—not in order, yet:
Saturday Night Waltz—deliberate waltz (Dance of the Happy Couple)
Glad That You’re Here (Stan “Lightning George” Bolton)—slow blues
Distraction (Diane Ewing)—slow rock
So Far (Marge McKinnis)—slow blues
Test Tube Baby—fast Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
I Want a Man for Christmas—rock ‘n’ roll
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Duct Tape—mod. speed country
About Love (Marge McKinnis)—bluegrass, Buddy Holly style
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Hey, Little Chicken—mod. slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Lilly’s Song (Screamin’ Gulch)—slow blues
Simple Questions (O.N. Vinstad)—rockabilly
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
A Mosquito Ate My Sweetheart Up (Segura Brothers)—fast Cajun waltz
If You Could (Polly Hager)—soft rock (if I can get the chords)
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Woody Guthrie)—fast bluegrass
Includes two songs some of the band haven’t played before, and six that none of them have played before, and two more that even I haven’t played before. We do need to practice.
And I still don’t know if the above is what the Happy Couple want. We could even play some cover tunes for this gig—something I normally avoid—because it’s not a paid performance, so there’s no copyright issues, and promoting ourselves doesn’t enter into it, either—it’s all for the bride and groom, and what they want. (The main limitation I have to work with is I can’t sing most other people’s stuff, because I don’t have the voice range—but I’m cast as the lead singer of the band. I can only do what’s possible.)
Joe
I’m on for the Pumpkinfest in Lafayette; the chief organizer said she liked my material, and I’ve sent her a poster. 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, 24 October, a week before Hallowe’en. I’m on for an hour, and it’ll be outside (I hope the weather’s decent). I tried to concentrate on kid-friendly material:
Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues—relatively slow two-step
Bluebird on My Windshield—fast bluegrass
Doing Battle with the Lawn—fast bluegrass
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Twenty Saddles for My Chicken—fast bluegrass
Vampire Roumanian Babies—fast bluegrass
Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More (Woody Guthrie)—mod. fast two-step
I May Write You from Jupiter—fast bluegrass
The Well in the Glade (Beth Williams)—spooky waltz
The Dog’s Song—supposed to be rock ‘n’ roll, but solo it’s going to be country
Dead Fishes—very fast Elizabethan bluegrass
When They Die, I Put Them in the Cookies—fast bluegrass
In that order, I think. Starts with a couple of relatively set pieces, that are hard to screw up even playing to a strange crowd, and ends with one that’s got a proven track record of appealing to kids—and a couple of Hallowe’en songs, too, in honor of the season. (I’ll need to use the new amp for the vocals, so I can add spooky reverb to my voice for Beth’s “Well” song.) 12 songs isn’t quite an hour’s worth when played solo, though—I may need to asdd a couple more.
For the Wedding Setlist, I’ve got the following—not in order, yet:
Saturday Night Waltz—deliberate waltz (Dance of the Happy Couple)
Glad That You’re Here (Stan “Lightning George” Bolton)—slow blues
Distraction (Diane Ewing)—slow rock
So Far (Marge McKinnis)—slow blues
Test Tube Baby—fast Elvis-style rock ‘n’ roll
I Want a Man for Christmas—rock ‘n’ roll
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Duct Tape—mod. speed country
About Love (Marge McKinnis)—bluegrass, Buddy Holly style
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Hey, Little Chicken—mod. slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Lilly’s Song (Screamin’ Gulch)—slow blues
Simple Questions (O.N. Vinstad)—rockabilly
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
A Mosquito Ate My Sweetheart Up (Segura Brothers)—fast Cajun waltz
If You Could (Polly Hager)—soft rock (if I can get the chords)
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Woody Guthrie)—fast bluegrass
Includes two songs some of the band haven’t played before, and six that none of them have played before, and two more that even I haven’t played before. We do need to practice.
And I still don’t know if the above is what the Happy Couple want. We could even play some cover tunes for this gig—something I normally avoid—because it’s not a paid performance, so there’s no copyright issues, and promoting ourselves doesn’t enter into it, either—it’s all for the bride and groom, and what they want. (The main limitation I have to work with is I can’t sing most other people’s stuff, because I don’t have the voice range—but I’m cast as the lead singer of the band. I can only do what’s possible.)
Joe
Saturday, October 2, 2010
WEDDING WALTZES (&C.)...
Another week, I think, in which to assemble and organize the Wedding Setlist. After that, we’ll need to concentrate on practicing. We’ll have a fair amount of new material to get familiar with. 10 of 18 songs, I think.
I found in my “I been to Phoenix” stuff a CD of Screamin’ Gulch songs, recorded by Wayne, our slide/steel guitarist (his guitar was literally made out of steel) live when he was testing out his recording equipment. And yes, “Lilly’s Song,” written by the drummer’s 7-year-old daughter, is on it. Very professional recording—you don’t realize it was live until you hear people applauding at the end. The 4-part harmonies really “make” the song—hard to believe it’s a punk-rock band doing it. I wonder if Deathgrass could do the harmonies? I’ll have to ask.
Wayne had recorded eight (I think) of my songs before I left, and I never have heard the recordings. I wonder if he still has them? I didn’t think to ask when I played at our impromptu Screamin’ Gulch “reunion” in August. It is probably time to do another visit—after the wedding, I expect, but if I get called for an interview for that assistant city administrator job in southern Oregon, I’ll go whenever they tell me to.
The Garibaldi Museum will be shutting down operations for the winter October 31 without a Deathgrass concert on the agenda, and I’m not going to try to change that. Yes, it’d be fun, but I have do triage on my time—there is simply not enough to do everything I’d like to do. I hit up the Museum’s manager—who is putting together their schedule for next year—to have us be one of the musical groups they schedule (and promote) next summer. August (when families are still on vacation) or September (when the retirees travel because it’s safe now that kids are back in school) would be ideal. There’s usually good weather on the Coast both months.
The open mike at the Bay City Arts Center Saturday night got “Doing Battle with the Lawn,” “Twenty-Four Seven,” “Vampire Roumanian Babies” and “In the Shadows, I’ll Be Watching You.” The audience—a good three times bigger than came to the Sept. 25 concert—wanted to be entertained, so I gave them stuff to laugh at. Based on their reaction, I’m not sure “Twenty-Four Seven” is a good inclusion in the Wedding Setlist. It may be too funny. We do need a waltz: there has to be at least the Waltz of the Happy Couple (a traditional feature of wedding receptions), and I haven’t found anything really suitable.
I did finally find listen-to-for-free cuts of both John Fahey’s “We Were Waltzing the Night Away and Then a Mosquito Ate Up My Sweetheart” and the much older Segura Brothers’ “A Mosquito Ate My Sweetheart Up.” Fahey’s is a fairly simple instrumental, but finger-picked with very strange guitar tunings; I’m not sure we want to chance it. The Segura Brothers song is a Cajun waltz, not a polka, and is so simple it might be boring, but it does have very strange lyrics that would be fun to learn. Just one verse, repeated, with an instrumental in between (that was the style back in the 1920s). I would want to do it in the original French, which might be a little hard to master—but lines like “Your brother looks like a frog and your niece looks like the corner of a sidewalk” sound a whole lot classier in French.
Maybe for the Dance of the Happy Couple, we should just default to the “Saturday Night Waltz”; it’s a fairly simple instrumental—what one might call a “deliberate waltz”—and is quite danceable, is so old it’s public domain, and has an interesting background we can talk about in the Rap. And it’s German (though I learned it from a Danish accordion player in Nehalem, here on the Coast), and both bride and groom have spent some time in Germany.
Music only Wednesday this week—the open mike in McMinnville (and I can probably give them the same songs I did in Bay City). Nothing Friday or Saturday this time around.
Joe
I found in my “I been to Phoenix” stuff a CD of Screamin’ Gulch songs, recorded by Wayne, our slide/steel guitarist (his guitar was literally made out of steel) live when he was testing out his recording equipment. And yes, “Lilly’s Song,” written by the drummer’s 7-year-old daughter, is on it. Very professional recording—you don’t realize it was live until you hear people applauding at the end. The 4-part harmonies really “make” the song—hard to believe it’s a punk-rock band doing it. I wonder if Deathgrass could do the harmonies? I’ll have to ask.
Wayne had recorded eight (I think) of my songs before I left, and I never have heard the recordings. I wonder if he still has them? I didn’t think to ask when I played at our impromptu Screamin’ Gulch “reunion” in August. It is probably time to do another visit—after the wedding, I expect, but if I get called for an interview for that assistant city administrator job in southern Oregon, I’ll go whenever they tell me to.
The Garibaldi Museum will be shutting down operations for the winter October 31 without a Deathgrass concert on the agenda, and I’m not going to try to change that. Yes, it’d be fun, but I have do triage on my time—there is simply not enough to do everything I’d like to do. I hit up the Museum’s manager—who is putting together their schedule for next year—to have us be one of the musical groups they schedule (and promote) next summer. August (when families are still on vacation) or September (when the retirees travel because it’s safe now that kids are back in school) would be ideal. There’s usually good weather on the Coast both months.
The open mike at the Bay City Arts Center Saturday night got “Doing Battle with the Lawn,” “Twenty-Four Seven,” “Vampire Roumanian Babies” and “In the Shadows, I’ll Be Watching You.” The audience—a good three times bigger than came to the Sept. 25 concert—wanted to be entertained, so I gave them stuff to laugh at. Based on their reaction, I’m not sure “Twenty-Four Seven” is a good inclusion in the Wedding Setlist. It may be too funny. We do need a waltz: there has to be at least the Waltz of the Happy Couple (a traditional feature of wedding receptions), and I haven’t found anything really suitable.
I did finally find listen-to-for-free cuts of both John Fahey’s “We Were Waltzing the Night Away and Then a Mosquito Ate Up My Sweetheart” and the much older Segura Brothers’ “A Mosquito Ate My Sweetheart Up.” Fahey’s is a fairly simple instrumental, but finger-picked with very strange guitar tunings; I’m not sure we want to chance it. The Segura Brothers song is a Cajun waltz, not a polka, and is so simple it might be boring, but it does have very strange lyrics that would be fun to learn. Just one verse, repeated, with an instrumental in between (that was the style back in the 1920s). I would want to do it in the original French, which might be a little hard to master—but lines like “Your brother looks like a frog and your niece looks like the corner of a sidewalk” sound a whole lot classier in French.
Maybe for the Dance of the Happy Couple, we should just default to the “Saturday Night Waltz”; it’s a fairly simple instrumental—what one might call a “deliberate waltz”—and is quite danceable, is so old it’s public domain, and has an interesting background we can talk about in the Rap. And it’s German (though I learned it from a Danish accordion player in Nehalem, here on the Coast), and both bride and groom have spent some time in Germany.
Music only Wednesday this week—the open mike in McMinnville (and I can probably give them the same songs I did in Bay City). Nothing Friday or Saturday this time around.
Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
