ALMOST FATHER'S DAY...

JOB SEARCHING gets a little discouraging sometimes. Got one rejection notice almost by return mail of being interviewed; two more are probably coming (one from my hometown), one more to apply for and one that’s too early to tell (but it’s within commuting distance so I wouldn’t have to move). And I’m almost out of money, and still have a lot of things undone.

On the good news front, the songs I’ve posted on the Whitby Shores Website that are intended for the new album are getting a lot more play than the others. Admittedly, it’s a small group of people still, but they do listen to stuff. I think I picked good. Len Amsterdam, who founded and basically runs Whitby Shores, has been pressing me to do videos; he says that’s the coming technology, and he may be right.

I have a video camera I got given, an old Fisher 880 (made by Sony, I think) that appears to be pretty good—even has stereo input from outside (like a house PA system). Battery packs are still made for it (but are currently beyond affordability—I really am poor). There appears to be no such thing as an owner’s manual any more. I’ll have to figure it out on my own.

Is there anything I can do in the meantime? Maybe—I’ve watched a lot of youtube videos with this in mind, and there are a lot of them that are just tastefully-done slideshows set to music. I think all that’s necessary for that is a good digital camera (check), good photo-manipulation software (check—mine is excellent, and not made any more, near as I can tell), and Windows Movie Maker (check--came with the operating system on the computer). I’ll have to try it. What song would be good to experiment on?

PUBLISHING: I think BMI is going to be the route to go. They do not appear to require the writer or publisher to have sold something before they’ll let you register. Registration is free for writers (Skip will like that), but $150 for publishers who are sole proprietorships. Add that, too, to the list of I’ll-do-it-when-I-can-afford-it. (The list is starting to grow.)

RECORDING: Finally broke down and recorded both “Twenty Saddles for My Chicken” and “Electronic Love.” I hadn’t done any recording in so long I was beginning to doubt my ability to do it, which is bad. (It was also misplaced. They came out fine.) Tried some experiments, too.

For “Electronic Love,” I set the voice to “duet,” to try to make it sound more electronic (we’re talking about Internet porn, after all), and the echo sounded almost female (and very sleazy, which is what I wanted). Lead (done with the acoustic—I haven’t unpacked the Strat) was set to “Acoustic Blues,” but still sounded electric. The lead got better as I went along, but I didn’t try to re-record it. All in one take, and it’s basically okay. (I do like that song.)

“Twenty Saddles for My Chicken” has two leads (with 4 channels to play with, I figured I might as well), simple dobro-ey plinks on the upper strings and fairly fast bass runs (in the background) on the lower strings. Kind of substituted for not having a bass guitar—I was having to do it all myself.

NEXT FRIDAY I head back to southern Oregon, for the big “Star of Stars” fundraiser for Rogue Community College. And hopefully get to play a lot of music for a couple of days. THIS Friday, I’ll be visiting the fambly on the Coast, and get to play for the first time in a long time with the Friday Night Group. Lot of new (for them) songs to share, if there’s time.

It’s almost Father’s Day. I was asked what I wanted for Father’s Day, and had to answer, “A job.” (And of course, the response was, “Can’t get you that. What else?”) There are things I want (reference that growing list), but I’m not sure I NEED much else, really. To all (or any) who are reading, if you’re a father, or have a father, have a happy Father’s Day.

Joe