DOING DYLAN AT THE MERCANTILE...

There’ll be a “Dylan Night” show Saturday, May 26, at The Mercantile in downtown Beaver (some have argued The Mercantile is downtown Beaver), and I’m one of those invited to perform. Nothing but Dylan songs—it’s his 70th birthday, I understand. I have only three Dylan songs I know by heart and can sing decently, and I can’t do one of them because Fred and his girlfriend Sonya are performing it, and it looked like the performers were getting four songs apiece, so I beset myself to learn some more Dylan. Obscure Dylan, preferably—I’m partial to the obscurantist folk-rock stuff, that no one listens to (or admits to listening to) any more. And I found one. Hight “Absolutely Sweet Marie,” it’s got a great beat, and an almost country-style chord progression; a number of rock ‘n’ roll bands (and at least one heavy-metal band) have covered it, and the haunting (and haunted) tagline, “So where are you tonight, sweet Marie?"—Dylan wasn’t doing choruses much in this period—is reminiscent of the Reba McIntire hit about the telephone. And of course I want to do that one with the band (Jane on fiddle, Ken on lead guitar, and Clint on standup bass). The band is interested in coming; that probably means I’m doing only two songs, and Ken is singing two, and that’ll be fine. In that case, I want to do “Absolutely Sweet Marie”—I’ve just about got the lyrics down—and “Love Minus Zero/No Limit,” also from the folk-rock period, which is my favorite Dylan song. Deathgrass is going to have some gigs this summer—we’ve been asked back to the Wheeler Summerfest (paying gig), and as entertainment chairman for Garibaldi Days and the Rocktoberfest and the Relay for Life, I want us to play all those, too. (And the Rocktoberfest pays, too.) It’d be good to have some new material, though—I don’t want us coming off as un-innovative. Songs already in the repertoire I’d like us to continue doing are: Dead Things in the Shower—fast two-step (and our trademark opening song) Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—deliberate two-step (and our standard closer) I could add “Bluebird on My Windshield” (which we’ve done before—fast bluegrass that we can do with a good trucker rhythm), and maybe “The Resurrection Blues” (if they don’t think it’s too controversial); Diane Ewing’s “Alabama Blues” would be a nice substitute for “Distraction” (also by Diane), but I don’t want too many country songs. I’m the only country musician in the band; the rest are heavy metal, rock, classical and jazz, and I try to accommodate what they like. Coaster is doing eight of my songs: Pole Dancing for Jesus—slow, sleazy Gospel Naked Space Hamsters in Love—fast bluegrass The Abomination Two-Step—fast polka Cuddle in the Darkness—slow two-step Duct Tape—mod. tempo country Hank’s Song—deliberate two-step Simple Questions (Odd Vindstad)—Norwegian rockabilly Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy I don’t want to repeat. Since both bands are likely to be on a lot of the festival stages this summer, I don’t want them doing the same songs. Got to be different. (I would like to hear what Deathgrass does with “Pole Dancing” and “Simple Questions,” though.) Working another 36 hours this week, in four days. The only chance I’ll have to play music will be Friday night, I think—and there, it appears I have a choice between City Hall and a new open mike at the 2nd Street Market in Tillamook. Not sure which to go to—maybe I’ll flip a coin… Joe