PAYING TAXES, PLAYING MUSIC, AND STUFF...

Music at the Tsunami Grill in Wheeler was good; not too much progressive-rock stuff (I like Aaron, but I cannot follow his rock instrumentals), so I pretty much got to play all evening. No bass player, so I “emulated” bass on the acoustic guitar (doable with that little amp, if one gets the knobs set right); compliments from several people on my playing—maybe they’re starting to know who I am. I sang a few things, too: “Pole Dancing for Jesus” is a definite hit with this crowd, even though they don’t go in for country music, and “She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself” goes over well, too (it should, since it’s a blues with a lot of lead breaks).

So now I feel re-energized, and ready to go do a bunch of stuff. That’s good, because I have a bunch of stuff to do. Hope it lasts through paying the taxes (which this year is NOT enjoyable—I feel like a mugging victim).

It may be difficult to get the garden-pest photos for the “Earwigs in the Eggplant” video. The OSU Extension Office doesn’t have anything; the local master gardeners have a number of books with good critter photos, but I don’t have any way to scan them (and neither do they).

I explained what I was doing: that The Impromptus had a gig at the Manzanita Farmer’s Market (they were excited about that), we wanted to do a song about vegetables (excited nods), so I wrote one (that got ‘em curious), found there was a vegetable, fruit or flower for nearly every letter of the alphabet (nods—they know this), and also that there was a garden pest for nearly every letter of the alphabet, too (raised eyebrows), so I put ‘em together and it’s a love song (really raised eyebrows).

I think the master gardeners are interested in helping if they can; I e-mailed them a list of the plants and pests I needed mug shots of, and told ‘em I’d send them the song, too, once we had it recorded. The audio of the song is not dependent on the video at all, so we can go ahead and record that—I’d like to do it quickly, so we have something to practice with (and promote our gig with). The video (which was just a Wild Idea, that has taken on a life of its own) can be done when I have all the requisite pieces.

I think “Earwigs in the Eggplant” is going to be a “keeper,” even though it has only been played once in public (and not very well). So I’ve done 3 new songs in 3 months (I wasn’t counting the theme song for the “Sleeping Piggy” play), but they all actually happened in the last two weeks. Why? What’s going on?

Still have the lead track to do for Scott Garriott’s “Clown in Paradise” (another of my favorite songs of his). The song’s in F#, which entails planning on my part; since I can’t hear whether the notes are right, I have to make sure I’m fingering and plucking in the right places. Setlists to help organize for The Impromptus; it’d be nice if we had all that together Sunday at practice. I want to record a couple of Candice’s songs, too, for promotion of that previously-mentioned concert up in Washington. I don’t know if there’s any commercial potential in it, but I intend to get good at that stuff.

Ordering copies of the album’s been on hold until taxes were done, so I could see how much (if any) money I had left; I can do it now. And Alice’s new DVD drive doesn’t fit, and I’m sending it back (I don’t know what kind of computer it was designed for, but it sure wasn’t mine)—I’m going to stop ordering this stuff online. I will be going to Portland in a week to hear Noam Chomsky speak, and I’ll get one then. A few more jobs to apply for, too. Filming for the video class. News to cover for the paper. Yeah, plenty to do.

The Play Friday and Saturday nights; music Saturday and Sunday. After that? I’d like to say things will get back to normal, but I no longer have a clear idea what “normal” is.

Joe