THE BAND IS GOOD...

Okay, the band is good. We can take over the world now.

Things clicked at practice when Donny came outside while I was taking a break and announced, “Sharma’s playing the bass—and she’s better than I am!” I suggested, since Donny plays harmonica (among other things) that we try “Armadillo on the Interstate” (which we’d had trouble with) with him playing harmonica and Sharma playing bass—and it was beautiful. We subsequently revised the whole setlist to do it that way.

So there’s the new lineup: Sharma on bass, Doug on drums, Dave and Donny trading leads on Strat and harmonica, respectively, and me with rhythm guitar and vocals. It has some sideline benefits. This’ll be Sharma’s first performing gig, or first one in a long time, and bass is a great way to break into performing, because you don’t have to be up front. It matches people’s talents up perfectly—something I always tried to do when I was a city manager. We can do the slower stuff easier now, because it gives the harmonica room to wail. And I’ve got the dual “whiny lead” (harmonica) and “non-whiny lead” (guitar) I maintain works best with most of my material.

And we have the Magic. I had been wondering if (and hoping that) it was possible; arranging a gig and then putting together the band, with less than a month to spare, is really putting the cart before the horse But it’s going to work, I think. One more practice—next weekend—before the Big Night.

Only change in the setlist is we’ll do “Naked Space Hamsters in Love” instead of the Tri-Met bus song. With the reaction I’ve been getting to the hamsters in other places, it should be a crowd-pleaser.

I had Sharma (who is a sound engineer par excellence) check out the PA system at the Red Room, and she says it’ll work for what we need. We’ll need the phantom power for that big omnidirectional mike we’ve been using for the vocals, but everything else can just plug right into the PA.

I’d like to use these guys on the album. I have a studio lined up, I think; all I need is the money to do it with. Maybe by the time I have the money, the band--if they continue to play together—will be really good. We haven’t played any really new material, yet—except for “Electronic Love,” the songs are all Old Sleazies that have an historical success with bar crowds. For a first gig in a new market, one wants to be certain one has something that’ll grab the audience.

I got another job rejection—and this one after an interview; I was told in pretty blunt terms that I simply didn’t have enough degrees for the job, even though I’ve been doing these manager jobs for 15 years, and they were going to hire somebody better degreed than I was, irrespective of whether they could do the job. I guess that’s de rigeur for these tough times, when a lot of people are chasing a small and shrinking number of jobs. It doesn’t make it any easier to take personally.

My first reaction, as a songwriter, is “There’s probably a song in that.” Got a few snippets of verse and/or chorus already, and we’ll see. It will of course be hopeful (if it’s a blues, it has to be hopeful), because I’m a hopeful kind of guy. Have to admit, though, the hope is getting a little frayed around the edges.

On the new job possibilities front, the U.S. government is reportedly hiring 11,000 new Border Patrol officers. They’ll be taking applications in Portland next week. I wonder what that kind of career path would be like?

Joe