BEFORE THE CONCERT...

The North American Jews Harp Festival is this Friday and Saturday, in Bay City—5 miles away; I’ll be trying to be there as much as possible, around prior commitments: playing with the Friday Night Group in Garibaldi, and the Garibaldi Museum concert Saturday night. I’d like to invite the folks from the Jews Harp Festival to the concert, but I won’t—they have events of their own going on at the same time, and I don’t want to steal their thunder. I’ll just mention that we’ll miss them, and encourage them to scrape up a venue they can hear us at.

Posters for the Museum concert are up all over town, and the Museum owners did a promo on the radio, too. There is a chance we could get a good crowd. We will practice tonight, mostly to reassure me; I know we’re good, but I want the confidence that when we go on stage, absolutely everything is perfect.

The band still does not have a name, but the moniker “The Floating Heads” is circulating around since I mentioned it, and some people are referring to us that way. We’ll see if the name catches on. I have a nice photo of the Port of Garibaldi’s floating restroom (officially chartered as a vessel--the S.S. Head) we could use on posters if that’s the way we end up going.

Friday night, I’m pretty sure Sara the librarian is going to request the snail song (tentatively hight “Love Trails of the Zombie Snails”), and I do want to be ready. I can hear the rock ‘n’ roll beat I want to give it, but am not sure I can play it. But I need to be able to lead it, in order for the Friday Night Group to follow. If it comes out country, that’s what they’ll play—they’re good followers.

Considering the subject matter (and the generally strange and obscurantist lyrics), this would be a great Southern Pigfish song—particularly if it can be done as rock ‘n’ roll. Another one for the Pigfish album, I guess. We already have “For Their Own Ends” (the title cut) and “Vampire Roumanian Babies.” There’s “Bedpans for Brains,” too, but that one really needs to be a music video, because each verse is sung by a different character from The Wizard of Oz.

Still not recorded—and it needs to be, while I’ve got these heavy-metal band members around—is the Norwegian Black/Death Metal song, “Evil Dead Fairies in My Mobile Home.” That one shouts “Southern Pigfish!” too.

There are songs by other people that would work on a Southern Pigfish album—some of Scott Garriott’s come immediately to mind—but it might be safer to use all my stuff. Real experimental stuff, here, creating a “buzz” and a persona for a band that is probably never going to play a concert (hard to do when you don’t exist), but is going to have—and sell—a record. (Their songs will get covered, too, if only by us. I always make sure to identify “For Their own Ends” as a Southern Pigfish song when we perform it. And we’ve been performing it every show, because people like it.)

On the promotional end, I can get blank thongs for roughly $1.00 apiece from Kimberly; I can do the message as either an iron-on transfer (if it won’t scorch the fabric) or a sticker, and I’ll pick up supplies for both when I’m in Salem Monday. Both the iron-on transfers and the stickers will make the thongs a little stiff to wear, but I don’t think anybody’s going to be wearing them. (If they do, I want a picture.) There do not appear to be any retailers that still sell the clear “slimline” CD cases, but I can get them in quantity on line.

I’m starting to see little jump drives available in quantity, too; I haven’t looked at the price—I’m not ready yet. I still think a jump drive with video (even if it’s only “French video,” that species of fast-moving slide show with text overlays) is the way to go with the Southern Pigfish album. If one is going to be experimental, one might as well go all the way.

I got to listen to Scott Garriott’s song “Marilee” (the one I played lead guitar on); it’s got a fiddle and backup singers on it now, and sounds real good. I tried an experiment—dumped the recording into the Audacity program and sped up the tempo a little over 10%, and it became a very fast-moving (and rather compelling) bluegrass number. I’ll send it back and see what Scott thinks.

Joe