UPCOMING...

The Rockaway Beach Rocktoberfest will be in September (Sept. 18 & 19) this year; thankfully, they are still calling it Rocktoberfest—I am not sure there are any things they could call it with “September” in it that would be pronounceable. Mike Simpson and The Exiles’ Tim Croman are doing the booking. They are insistent on keeping the promise made last year that if the Rocktoberfest happened again, the musicians would get paid; they’re asking $75 per musician (which is reasonable—it’s just a little below market), and I hope they’re able to get it. I think if they don’t, the event isn’t going to happen.

I’ve arbitrarily scheduled a date for the “Joe concert” that was in the Bay City Arts Center’s budget. We were spec’ing out dates for all the events through the end of the year, and the concert was supposed to be a significant revenue source for the Arts Center for 2010. I picked Sept. 25, which is (1) a Saturday, (2) not reserved for anything else at the Arts Center, (3) isn’t an already-scheduled concert date for the band, (4) isn’t so deep into fall that the weather’s gotten rotten and the summer crowds have melted away, and (5) happens to be my birthday. Being able to play music on my birthday—and get paid for it—would be one of the best presents I could imagine. John (bass) says he’s in—I don’t know about the others yet.

Confirmation from the Southern Oregon Songwriters that I’ll be performing Friday, 27 August in their Summer Concert Series. That one’s a freebie 40-minute set; I think I can have Dan Doshier’s bluegrass band, plus Sheral Graham said she’d play her Green Thing (it’s actually called a melodion).

Saturday, before I go play music at the Tillamook Library (and then at the Arts Center’s open mike), I’ll go by the new 2nd Street Public Market and see what their stage looks like. It’s the opening day of the Market, and they have three musical acts scheduled—at least one of which is a soloist. I may want to promote myself as a solo act for this venue; if so, I should create (quickly, in the garage studio) an EP that’s just got me playing solo—no multiple guitars or effects. Just a handful of songs, I think: “Crosses by the Roadside” (a two-step), “Duct Tape” (mod. country), “Rotten Candy” (fast bluegrass), “Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus” (Gospel), and “Welcome to Hebo Waltz” (fast waltz) might be enough. I don’t have anything except the first album that has me playing solo, and I think I’ve become a better guitarist since then.

And I applied for a REALLY fun job—being a part-time design person for the Tillamook paper, the people I already write a weekly column and occasional news articles for. The same thing I did full-time 25 years ago in the Gorge, before daughter Kimberly was born. I took them copies of a few of my best graphic-design projects, along with the “functional” (here’s what Joe can do) resume—I finally did break down and write one—and we’ll see if they’re interested. Besides playing music, graphic design work is the most fun thing I do—and I maintain I am good at it and fast at it.

Biggest roadblock, I think, is that the newspaper uses Macs, and they want somebody familiar with Quark Xpress (which didn’t even exist back when I was designing ads on a Mac). Best I can suggest is that it’s not a big learning curve after PageMaker (another graphic arts guy told me that—I don’t know it first-hand). If I could get this job, I think I would cave in and let the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (one of the colleges that’s been stalking me) sign me up for their degree program. I would have finally escaped city-manager work. (Actually, I may have escaped it anyway, just by being unemployed for two years.)

Music Friday night at City Hall, at the Library and the Arts Center open mike Saturday—and Sunday at the Forestry Center. The Forestry Center was closed for months over the winter because of state budget cuts, but they’re open again, at least through the summer.

Joe