BEING BACK: PART I...

Started to write the blog this morning, and ended up writing a job application instead. That’s a hopeful sign for the future. A lot of Monday’s activities will be job-related, too—I want to stop by the newspaper office and meet the new editor, and see if she might have additional work for me, let the folks at West Coast Temps know I’m available again, and check with the unemployment office (now that I’m unemployed again). On the not-job-related front, I’ll try to get signed up for a slot on the 2nd Street Public Market’s stage, attend the Bay City Arts Center’s board meeting for the first time in months, and make the rounds in person to collect stuff for the newspaper column—again, for the first time in months.

Looks like we can record the Deathgrass album in January; I’ll see two of the band in person Monday, and will call the other two. I want to do this Patsy Cline style—live and in one take—so we’ll need to be thoroughly practiced before we go into the studio. I’d like to do the recording in one evening if possible—then, the rest of the time can be Mike’s, doing the mixing and mastering. The Album List looks like this (still):

Dead Things in the Shower (with Bobbie Gallup)—fast two-step
Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
No Good Songs About the War—slow marching two-step
Free-Range Person—fast bluegrass
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
Crosses by the Roadside—slow two-step
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Rotten Candy—fast Gospel
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—deliberate two-step

I’m assuming Charlie on lead guitar (because Mike will be sound engineer—but I want Mike’s harmonies on “Tillamook Railroad Blues” and “Un-Easy Street”). A good half of those songs show off Doc’s blues harp playing. There’s one—“No Good Songs About the War”—where I’d really like to play lead guitar (I did it on the cut we sent to the “Doing Dylan” contest in England), but I think I’ll let it pass; almost anybody can play lead better than I can, and the goal is to have a good product, not for me to show off. I write stuff. That’s enough.

And—wanting to be as efficient as possible—practice for the album can do double duty for practice for the Failed Economy Show. I just don’t know when that concert will be. Third Saturday of January is out, but that Sunday might be okay (it’s a holiday weekend); the two or three following Saturdays might be okay, too. I’d like to have a month to work on the publicity, and I haven’t done anything to date (being employed, and all). Again, I want to do it in January, because I don’t know what February may bring (I keep hoping it’ll bring another job).

The recording will provide tracks for a couple of music videos, too. “The Dog’s Song” I’ve already mentioned; for “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” ideal would be to shoot footage of the band playing on the train (and I’ve been angling for a “Deathgrass cruise” event on the train this coming summer).

Music Friday and Saturday this week; next Tuesday’s the Thirsty Lion gig in Portland. No response from Oregon Music News to my message about the Thirsty Lion (I am not surprised—they don’t seem to accept outside input well), but I did hear from the Willamette Writers group—hopefully, some of them will come. Might have a familiar face or two at the show after all.

Joe