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A nice compliment, that sort of indicates how the world is put together these days. I saw somebody complimenting a guy’s song, saying “that sounds like a Joe Wrabek tune”—as if everybody ought to know what that is. The guy who said it was in England, and the guy he was saying it about was in Canada. The world has become a very strange place…

There’s tentative sentiment on the part of the band for including Tarra Young’s “You’ll Make a Real Good Angel” (lyrics by her, music by me) on the “Deathgrass” album and dedicating the album to the late Dick Ackerman. Of course, they haven’t heard the song yet, but I think they’ll feel the same way once they do.

Including that song changes the mix on the album, and I’ll have to re-examine what I was going to include and why. Probably means a revised list. We are still scheduled to record the base tracks on Jan. 23. I’ll want to give everybody revised CDs and songlists well before then.

Also done is the music and recording for Stan Good’s “Take-Out Food,” the song about buzzards and roadkill Stan said he wrote with me in mind. (So how could I not do the music?) It did come out good; I was trying for a blend of sleazy and manic (which are kind of opposites), and managed to achieve it. I performed both songs at the Tillamook Library, and both went over well—“Take-Out Food” especially so. I wonder if this ought to get added to the band’s repertoire?

Still to do: Glynda Duncan’s “He’s a Man—This Is a Bar.” It’s an opportunity to work on something serious (after the buzzards and roadkill, I probably need to).

Friday night was the first get-together of that band in Astoria (60 miles away) I talked myself into. They’re all about my age (nice to see some aging musicians), three of the four are unemployed (so there is a drive to make money at this), and they are very good. I’m definitely not their equal as a musician, though I can play some of the stuff they do; I do have a couple of advantages they can use—I can transpose in my head (since I’ve been doing it so long), and I have some tips on marketing. So maybe they’ll keep me. They like rock ‘n’ roll; I like rock ‘n’ roll, too—I just don’t get to play it much. I think I’ll put new strings on the Strat, and try playing it next time we practice (next Saturday).

I had a few people at Saturday’s square dance (can’t say “several” because there were only several people there) tell me how much they missed the community dances most towns had years ago (there are some small towns in remote places that still do); I think that was a suggestion we try to do some. It would be fun. I’ll ask the band if they’d be interested. I asked the questioners what kind of music they wanted—since the band can play all sorts of different styles—and was told, “country and rock ‘n’ roll from the ‘60s.” From my standpoint, that means music that SOUNDS like that, because I mostly can’t sing anybody else’s stuff, but I have some—rather a lot, in fact. It’d be nice to find somebody else who could sing—we could do more stuff. Venues may not be a problem; besides the Dance Floor at City Hall in Garibaldi (which is rented out nearly every weekend), there’s one in Bay City, 5 miles away, at the Arts Center (which isn’t). One couldn’t expect money out of the dances, at least for starters; one would have to just start doing it, and if crowds started showing up, start putting out something like the Friday Night Group’s “donation llama” (ugly thing, made out of an orange crate—but people leave money in it).

Two more jobs to apply for; that’ll bring up to five the applications I have in the pipeline (and four of them are city-manager jobs, again). Wish I could say I expected anything out of the exercise. I’m afraid I no longer do.

Joe