APRIL'S OTHER SONG (AND THE FOOD BANK)...

April’s other song is done—“Family Photo.” A good old cheatin’-heart kind of song, but one where the woman leaves the cheater dude (and takes the kids and dog, too). One reason I like musicating other people’s songs is I get to address serious issues without having to write about them myself. I get to preserve my image as the guy who probably can’t take anything seriously (and then when I do write something serious—which I’ve done all of five times in 30-odd years—it has greater impact because it comes as such a surprise).

I gave “Family Photo” more of a rock beat, both to accommodate April’s Mary Milleresque voice and because I wanted to make sure it sounded different. I had one person complain (well, comment) that a lot of my music sounds the same, and I want to avoid that; it is a danger in country music, where one is dealing with a limited number of chords and progressions—and a particular danger for me, since I have to deal additionally with my one-octave voice range and limited guitar-playing ability. And in this case, I knew the music was coming in large part from two songs I’d done before, one for Stan Good and one for me, and I didn’t want it to be too obvious. So “Family Photo” is in a different key (also accommodating April’s voice) and has the bass doing 12-bar blues runs in the background rather than “country stuff.”.

So now, both “Family Photo” and “Sometimes Country Boys Get the Blues” are up on April’s OMDs, with her vocals, and she’s happy with them. And I’m glad. I find myself still listening more to my renditions of both songs, even though they’re not for public consumption (and April has a much better voice); it’s partly because I think I can learn from what I did. I do like my phrasing better—I was told once that it was possible to spot a Joe Song because the phrasing tended to be unique, though I’m not sure if that’s a good thing—but I’m not about to tell someone what they should do (and I am definitely not going to say they should do what I do).

Poster for the Insomnia Coffee Co. gig is done, and sent out to the “joelist”; notice on Facebook, too. I’ll take posters with me when I go to Portland Sunday, and distribute them to the Usual Outlets, plus give some to the Burlesque Troupe when we meet for our post-mortem (maybe I should say “If”—it’s been postponed twice), and leave some at the coffeehouse. I’d like to find an inoffensive way of getting posters to both the Hillsboro Chamber of Commerce (who were kind enough to give me directions when I was trying to find the coffeehouse the first time) and to the city manager in Hillsboro (whom I know); maybe there isn’t an easy way to do it.

Got the disturbing news that last Friday, the Garibaldi Food Bank ran out of food. Yes, they should have gotten a big pile of food two days later courtesy of the “Rocktoberfest” concert, but that’s still operating awfully close to the wire for these troubled times—and Thanksgiving is coming up, too. I have suggested it is maybe time to put on another Failed Economy Show concert. The City Hall Dance Floor is available Saturday, 14 November, because the square dancers cancelled. (And that’s the only Saturday the Dance Floor will be free before Thanksgiving, too.)

A few to-dos before that can happen: John (bass) is up for it, but I still have to talk to Chris (drums). We’ll need a lead player, and I have two to contact who said they were interested—I just don’t know if they’re available for that date. There are three (I think) songs from the original 2-hour setlist that I’d change out, because they were difficult to sing and the audience wasn’t all that entranced by them, anyway—but I’ll have to figure out what to substitute. And hey, I know a local radio station DJ now, courtesy of the “Rocktoberfest.” I bet he’d be tappable to help with promotion.

Joe