PUPPET SHOW (AND THIRSTY LION) POST-MORTEM...

Thirsty Lion: done. Puppet show: done. One more this week—Ilwaco tomorrow (Saturday) with 45 Degrees North—and then… rest? No; another gig with 45 Degrees North Tuesday night. At least that one will be shorter—one hour instead of three.

The “Cinderpiggy” puppet show was a hit, I think. We had an audience of about 35, kids and adults, and I think we had humor appealing to both groups. Biggest hit was Chewy, who’s a one-word Wookie—he can only say “Cookie,” though with different inflections (conceptually, he’s a cross between Animal and Cookie Monster). And we had little kids running around afterwards shouting “Cookie!” at everything—just like Chewy does. Paying gig, that one was (have to wait for the county library to tell me how to bill them). It was suggested the show ought to be “taken on the road” and performed at the Main Library—and sure, we’d do that. Somebody just needs to ask.

Next play? I don’t know. “Snow White” would be an obvious choice (no, we don’t have enough dwarves, but some of them could be at work, I suppose). On the other hand, we could do something completely local. In the course of my interviews for the video class, I ran across the legend of a local treasure, a hoard of pirate gold buried on Neahkahnie Mountain beneath the bodies of dead Negro slaves (that was supposed to keep the Indians away); local folks hunted for the treasure for decades, unsuccessfully. The sock-puppet troupe could do “The Treasure of Neahkahnie Mountain: The Musical.”

I managed to fix the soundtrack for the “Cinderpiggy” puppet show about an hour and a half before showtime. Both the Tascam and “Alice” the ‘puter are having technical difficulties which I think are age-related. Both are actually seven years old now (Alice is going on eight).

The Thirsty Lion gig June 14 went well—it usually does (this was the sixth time I’ve played there). This time, the “Songwriters’ Showcase” was on the heels of a “gold cup” soccer match, so there was a good crowd that hadn’t had time to leave before the music started. My stuff went exactly 25 minutes, the sound was okay (even though I couldn’t hear myself—folks in the audience told me so), and people did seem to be listening (and applauding). No, I didn’t win their prize—but I wasn’t expecting to, either. Didn’t sell any CDs, either, even though both I and host Eric mentioned I had them.

The 21 June performance at the Pine Grove Potluck in Manzanita is an hour’s show. I assume it’s a generally older, wealthier audience, inclined toward more uptempo and out-of-the-ordinary stuff. Not slow, ballady things, in other words. Since there are four of us, an hour’s worth of music works out to about three songs apiece. I’d make the inclusions (1) our best stuff, but (2) concentrate on originals and traditionals to the extent possible—I’d really like to get us away from cover songs. (And I think it is the originals—by Kathryn and myself—that the group actually does best.)

For June 21, though, we need to pick from the Ilwaco setlist—two days is not enough time to learn new material. Later—for the Wheeler Summerfest July 16, perhaps—it may be possible to do more. I would like to hear “Crosses By the Roadside,” Stan Good’s “Don’t Remind Me You’re On My Mind,” April Johns’ “Family Photo,” and Jody Dickey’s “Down at the Blue Haven” done with Candice’s voice. I think every single one of them would be stunning.

Joe