ILWACO POST-MORTEM...

First Big Gig for 45 Degrees North was Saturday night in Ilwaco, at the River City Theater. Nice place, by the way—it’s an old American Legion hall, so it’s got a decent-sized auditorium, stage, kitchen, et al. The Peninsula Players, the TAPA-like community theater troupe that owns the building, are a nice bunch of people, too. They asked us to do two hours instead of three, and we were able to re-arrange the setlist without too much headache.

We ended up using our own sound system (good that we brought everything—we needed it) because the theater’s was way worse than ours. (They do have bigger speakers, though, and for next time—there will be a next time—I learned how to hook them up to our PA system.) Having the setlist in big print on a board behind one of the mikes worked well. Got all six channels working on the antique mixer (that thing continues to surprise me—it must be 40 years old). I did the emcee work (since I had a Rap scripted out for everything), and it was okay. And the Ugly Orange Bucket with its “Tipping Is Not A City in China” sign did get some tips—without us ever having to mention it was there.

On the distaff side, I did get a number of helpful comments. Our energy level could be higher (we were all insecure about the show); when the Crazed Weasels mandolin and fiddle players joined us for a trio of songs, the energy level went up several notches—and people did notice. I was told we should play more uptempo stuff—people like it better. I should look up more (instead of worrying about the setlist, and whether I had the Rap memorized well enough). Candice should belt more—she has a real good voice. And Kathryn’s mike wasn’t delivering a clear sound (I couldn’t hear that from on stage, and I don’t know if the problem was with the speakers (ours are real small), with being too close to the mike (which distorts), or whether the singing mikes should be plugged into something other than the mixer (there are two more inputs on the front of the PA amp, and I’ll have to try those, I guess).)

Original songs went over a lot better with the audience than covers. Since one wants to deliver what audiences want to hear, I’d say that means we should phase out covers as quickly as possible. (I don’t like to do covers anyway. Besides the copyright issues—which admittedly most cover bands never encounter because enforcement of copyright laws is so lax—I see no point in enhancing the famosity of already-famous people. I would rather promote unknowns—including ourselves.)

I’d make only two exceptions, I think: Candice and Kathryn’s rendition of “Moon River” is impeccable (and the song is a Broadway show tune rather than a standard jukebox number), and Gram Parsons’ “Sin City” is topical because of the local tsunami scares (it’s also really obscure). Anything “traditional” is fair game, of course—no copyright problems there—and that incorporates most (though not all) of the Celtic and bluegrass fiddle tunes we do.

Next steps: We have another performance Tuesday night, at the Pine Grove potluck in Manzanita; I’ve given everybody suggestions for the songs we should do, and I think they’re okay. Need to assemble them into a setlist, script out a Rap, &c. We should gather at Pine Grove early and set up and test the sound. (We will be needing to use our system again, I think.)

This is Week Two From Hell coming up, but it’s not all music: I have a couple of meetings to attend (one of which may be deciding whether to offer me a temporary job), and the film footage from the “Cinderpiggy” puppet show to convert to video, with titles and credits. What we’re calling “the writers’ guild” will be meeting for the first time Thursday night at the Arts Center. Willamette Writers gig to firm up (I know what night it is, and how long it is, but I don’t know time or location). And now that the Manzanita Farmers Market is open, I need to check it out—45 Degrees North is playing there August 12.

Joe