BAY CITY POST-MORTEM (AND SEPT. 25 SETLIST)...

A draft Sept. 25 setlist:

SET #1:
Dead Things in the Shower—fast two-step
Armadillo on the Interstate—slow & sleazy
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Take Me Back to the ‘Sixties [NEW]—mod. fast two-step
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Duct Tape—mod. speed country
Steamboat Bill (Shields & Leighton)—rock ‘n’ roll
Things Are Getting Better Now that Things Are Getting Worse (Gene Burnett)—fast two-step
Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus—mod. speed Gospel
The Strange Saga of Quoth, the Parrot—talking blues (actually, a talking two-step)
Test Tube Baby—fast rock ‘n’ roll

SET #2:
When I Jump Off the Cliff I’ll Think of You—fast bluegrass
50 Ways to Cure the Depression—mod. fast two-step
Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues
Free-Range Person—fast bluegrass
Crosses by the Roadside—slow two-step
I May Write You from Jupiter—fast bluegrass
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Ain’t Got No Home in This World Any More (Woody Guthrie)—mod. fast two-step
So 20th Century (Coleman & Lazzerini)—ragtime
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—mod. two-step
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad (Woody Guthrie)—fast bluegrass

Two one-hour sets, with a short potty-and-refreshments break in between. To make CDs for the band, I’ll need to record the “’Sixties” song, and re-record “Crosses” and “50 Ways” (I want to eliminate a verse from each one of those—I think it’ll make them better). Mike and Doc haven’t heard “50 Ways” or “Jupiter”—we did those in the first Failed Economy Show, and haven’t done them since—and nobody’s heard “Quoth.” (Actually, only John’s done “Crosses” before. Haven’t played that since our first concert in February 2009. I didn’t play it for a long time after it was rejected by a Nashville publisher, but I think I’m over that now. I don’t care what Nashville thinks. If I like the song, I’ll play it.)

I had written another version of this blog that talked at length about the Bay City Centennial concert, and I’ll do a brief post-mortem here. It was good. Some musicians who presumably know what they’re talking about said it sounded real good, and they were impressed. Best song? This time, “Test Tube Baby”; a bunch of teenagers had asked for a fast song, just as that one was coming up on the setlist, and we did have ‘em dancing in the sawdust. Second? Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street. It makes people listen. “Steamboat Bill,” the Big Hit from 1910, came off good, too. It probably ought to be a permanent addition to the setlist.

One weekend’s break from concerts—next weekend, and we really should practice. Two concerts coming up fast after that—the Rocktoberfest on Sunday, Sept. 19, and the Bay City Arts Center concert the next Saturday, Sept. 25. I still need to arrange a date for a Garibaldi Museum concert, too.

Joe