SETLIST FOR THE FAILED ECONOMY SHOW...

The Failed Economy show will be either JAN. 29 or FEB. 5—both are Saturdays. Tentatively, the setlist for the 2-hour show looks like this:

SET #1 (11 songs):
Dead Things in the Shower (with Bobbie Gallup)—fast two-step **
50 Ways to Cure the Depression—country rock
Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues **
Things Are Getting Better Now that Things Are Getting Worse (Gene Burnett)—fast two-step
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues **
No Good Songs About the War—slow, marching two-step **
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock **
Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy **
Rotten Candy—fast Gospel **
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—deliberate two-step **

SET #2 (11 songs):
Have a Good Day (Frank Pappas)—country rock
Final Payment (Gem Watson)—mod. speed Gospel
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll **
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More (Woody Guthrie)—fast two-step
So 20th Century (Coleman & Lazzerini)—ragtime
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Free-Range Person—fast bluegrass **
Crosses by the Roadside—slow two-step **
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Woody Guthrie)—fast bluegrass

11 of those 22 songs are also going to be on the album—also intended to be done in January—so our practices (next weekend, tentatively) can do double duty. (I’ve told the band two practices ought to do it.) Publicity still to do; I seem to have acquired a couple of media contacts now, that I can maybe use to advantage. This time, I want to have refreshments at the break, to discourage the crowd from drifting away—my cookies, and (if I can locate her—her boyfriend, who’s in his 90s, has been sick) Jeannette’s cinnamon-rolls-to-die-for. And this time, I’d like to have the event videotaped. The publicity this time will extend to a couple of additional counties, and it’d be fun to have the event on TV.

Oregon Music News did e-mail me back, and I sent (at their request) my version of an electronic press kit—a couple of photos, the “Joe is Great!” text from the Songbook CD, and links to the two Soundclick “pages.” Couldn’t give them any videos of me playing, but I sent links to the music videos of “The Taboo Song,” “Leavin’ It to Beaver,” and “Me and Rufus, and Burning Down the House.” Sounds like they’ll say something about the Thirsty Lion gig. Can I get them to say anything about the Failed Economy Show and the album? We’ll see.

The open mike at the Bay City Arts Center Jan. 15 wants to focus on freedom (it being Martin Luther King weekend), so I think I’ll give them “The Writer’s Block Blues,” “Free-Range Person,” and “50 Ways to Cure the Depression.” They’re all about freedom (albeit a little tongue-in-cheek), and the last one specifically says (a la Paul Simon), “We’ve got to help each other in our struggle to be free.” If there’s time, the Arts Center crowd can have “Song for Charity (and Faith, and Hope)”—I think that’s the only one nobody there has heard yet. And that show will get videotaped. I’ll see if I can extract my part to use for promotional purposes.

Yes, it’s busy—deliberately so: not only did I save up a lot of stuff do do while I was working, but I really enjoyed being constantly busy while I was working, and would like to keep it up. ‘Sides, as I’ve been telling folks, I could get employed again at a moment’s notice. I don’t know if that will happen, but I hope it does.

Joe