FINALLY...

Good stuff… I have a job interview (first in a long time); Jane and I (and maybe Ken) are on the North Coast Recreation District’s comedy showcase (because both the person who asked and the person who told them to ask have heard my stuff); I’m getting responses back, slowly but surely, to the “Modest Proposal” letter soliciting performers for the three summer concerts; and my “guinea pig” square dancers claim I’m getting better (and I had ten of them come Wednesday night, two more than I needed). And I am almost over my cold. (Good thing. Denise and I perform at the Thirsty Lion Tuesday night.)

A couple of blasts from the past… I heard from Gary Harmer; he was the “mandolin man” in “Ballad of the Dodson Drifters,” and the one responsible for originally introducing us all to each other. Retired now (but still alive), still living in Eugene, and still playing guitar. Yes, I’ll have to visit. And I also heard from Ji Tanzer, son of the late Jeff Tanzer, the Dodson Drifters’ lead guitarist and other songwriter; turns out he’s recorded some of his dad’s songs that I’d thought were lost forever when Jeff died.

What prompted the contacts, in both cases, was old songs of mine—somebody’d given Gary the lyrics to “Randy MacDougall’s Saloon,” my song about the now-long-gone Coopey Falls Tavern in also-long-gone Bridal Veil, Oregon, and Ji had recorded “Ballad of the Dodson Drifters,” and wondered if it was a song Jeff and I wrote together. (It wasn’t. Jeff and I usually wrote in competition with each other, like Lennon and McCartney—and also like Lennon and McCartney, we didn’t often say who wrote what. We often played each other’s songs. And “Ballad of the Dodson Drifters” was one of mine that Jeff played a lot.)

It is starting to get a little busy. Denise’s and my practice today was the only one we’ll get before we go on stage next week; Jane and I should practice, too—she’s played “When They Die, I Put Them in the Cookies” before, but not “The Strange Saga of Quoth, the Parrot”—and our performance at the comedy show is a week from Saturday. Practiced “Quoth” Friday night at the jam in Tillamook; Sunday night (at the Rapture Room) may be the only other opportunity we have.

Poster is done for the Thirsty Lion; I got individual mug shots of Denise and myself, and it didn’t come out bad. (The photo of Denise is especially good. Yes, I can do promotional photos of these performer people.) Need new ink cartridges for the printer before I can print and convert the PageMaker file to send out with the notices.

Jim (co-owner of the music store) was expressing frustration about attracting musicians to his Friday night jam session at Corky’s Tavern in Tillamook (it’s been going on for five weeks now, I think). How does one find out who the local musicians are, and get them to come? I have no idea, and wish I did. The musicians are out there—I’ve met some of them—but getting them out of the woodwork is a challenge (and one I haven’t really been successful at myself). As a newspaperman I’m tempted to use the paper, but really it’s all media—one needs to become a standard part of everyone’s consciousness, and you don’t know for sure what gets people’s attention, so you need to use everything.

And finally, I found the little Hong Kong video camera while assembling stuff from the garage for the square dancers’ rummage sale. I’ve also got Sandee’s little video camera, which has a miniature tripod. I think we can Skype now.

Joe