Every now and then, you do something just about right. I think we did the Garibaldi Days concert just about right. The audience was small, but most of them were there to see us, I think (some had come earlier, saw that another band was playing, and went away and came back). Sold two CDs, got tips, got another name for the “joelist.” The newspaper got some photos (don’t know if they’ll use them), and so did I—I gave my camera to one of Charlie’s relatives in the audience, and she took a lot of pictures.
I tried to watch the audience carefully (I don’t have a problem doing that, I’ve found, as long as they’re being appreciative). Best? They really liked “Dead Things in the Shower” and “Un-Easy Street” (our standard opening and closing numbers), and also “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” “Crosses by the Roadside,” Betty Holt’s “Our Own Little Stimulus Plan,” “She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself” and “Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus.” (Wait—isn’t that more than half the setlist? Yes. It is.) Had two people ask afterwards, “You’re the guys who play ‘Bluebird on My Windshield,’ aren’t you?” Guess that’s another one that ought to be added to the setlist to be played on a regular basis.
Not practicing the night before was good; a night’s rest really helped—and gave me plenty of time to think through how I’d do things I wasn’t satisfied with at practice. I’d like to continue doing it that way.
It is time to incorporate a few new things into the setlist; haven’t done that thus far this year because there just hasn’t been time to practice anything new. But we will be doing substantially different stuff for the Rocktoberfest—“rockier” material, some of which we haven’t done since last summer. 90 minutes’ worth, too. That’ll be a chance to see how that stuff goes over—and stuff the audience really likes we can make “standards.”
One thing I haven’t seen other bands do is the Rap—patter that fills the space between songs (and also separates songs that might sound too much alike). I hear dead space when other bands are playing, but there’s none when we do; I do not want to give people the opportunity to be bored by silence, so there isn’t any. It adds to the rapid-fire feeling of the performance (even though half the material may be slow). The Rap also triggers for the band what song is coming next (though they really know that already, because they’ve had the list, and the CDs, and we have practiced everything in order). That we can just launch into stuff without anybody having to say anything just adds to the professionalism. I think.
I sent my request for original train songs to writers on Just Plain Folks, Soundclick, and the Actors & Musicians group on Facebook, and to the Coventry songwriters over in England; I’ve already received some songs, with promises of more. There’s some that may be too complicated to do (I’m the one who’s going to have to make draft recordings for the band), and there’s at least a couple I know I can’t sing because the vocals are way outside my voice range in both directions (it actually doesn’t take much to be outside my voice range in both directions). I will see what I can do. And there’s a couple by people who are semi-famous—I’ve asked people who know the writers personally to see if we could get permission to play them. I wouldn’t want to do it any other way.
A lot of the songs are mournful, but that’s to be expected: we’re talking about a way of life that’s pretty much gone away, that folks are very nostalgic about. “The Tillamook Railroad Blues” is sad, too. It just happens to rock at the same time, ‘cause we do that.
Joe
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Friday, July 29, 2011
WILLAMETTE WRITERS POST-MORTEM (&C.)...
Had some folks ask me today, as I was making my rounds, how the Willamette Writers gig went. They knew I’d been excited about breaking into a new area. I was going to wait to post a post-mortem, but here ‘tis.
The gig went good, I think. It was outside, and beastly hot—a bottle of lemonade got too hot to drink before I finished drinking it—but the Arts Center’s amp worked well (I guess—people said they could hear me, though I couldn’t hear myself well), and they did like the stuff. I did end up keeping it to an hour; I’d originally planned on going over, but I was sweaty, and my fingers hurt.
54 people (they counted), mostly writers (I think)—and they did listen. I think the only song I didn’t get an appreciative reaction to was “The Taboo Song.” The ones they seemed to like best were “Dead Things in the Shower,” “Pole Dancing for Jesus” (something possesses people to sing along to that song), “Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus,” “Twenty-Four Seven,” “Rotten Candy” and “Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues.” Got to meet in person the two folks I’d corresponded with by e-mail about the gig—and they said they liked the stuff, too. Didn’t sell any CDs, but they did feed me, and that was nice.
I made the point to the audience that I’d made to my correspondents—that it was a good idea to have a writer be entertainment for a writers’ group event. (And I thanked them for thinking of it.) What I hope is that message will be retained when the Willamette Writers’ annual conference comes around in August 2012. They pay the entertainment for that, and I’d like to be it, or part of it. If the pay were enough, I could maybe even supply a band.
RailsNW, which is doing the centennial dinner cruise on the train from Garibaldi to Wheeler and back, would like Deathgrass to perform in the park when the train comes back. Saturday, Oct. 1, 3:30 p.m. for about an hour—and for free. That’s another of those might-turn-into-paying-business-later gigs, maybe; the railroad centennial is going to be a low-key affair, because there isn’t much time to plan anything—but next year, it could be a lot bigger. (They even have a name for it—“Rails 101.”) If we’re in on the ground floor, we can rise with the elevator, so to speak.
I’ve already got confirmation from two of the band that they’d like to do it (I’ll see the other two tomorrow, at the Garibaldi Days gig). I’m sure RailsNW is interested in us because of the “Tillamook Railroad Blues”—I don’t know if any other bands around here know any train songs, much less any about The Local Train; since these are railroad fans, it’d be fun to do a set that was all train songs. Could we pull that off?
Besides the “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” we’ve got one other we’ve done before; “Steamboat Bill,” by Shields and Leighton, was one of the top songs of 1910 (and we played it at Bay City’s centennial last year), but it was also #20 in 1911, the year the railroad was finished—and it does have that “Next time, we’re marrying a railroad man” line in it. Beyond that, there’s a couple more we could do that are public domain—“Wreck of the Old 97,” by that old fellow Traditional, and “The Wabash Cannonball,” by J.A. Hoff (1882). Both are fast-paced bluegrass tunes, and I can play the “signature” riffs on both. That’s 20 minutes’ worth. Could we do more?
Well, maybe. I’ll put out a call to the writers I know (I do seem to know a lot of them) and see if anybody’s got any train songs they’d be willing to let us play—full credit to them, of course. If we can’t get enough, we’ll fill with more of our regular standards. I am insistent about the “we don’t do covers” thing—we play originals and traditionals, and songs by writers who are as unknown as I am. And thus far we have managed to do that, and become popular. (The only exception we’ve made to that rule has been Woody Guthrie—we play a couple of his more obscure numbers. Woody encouraged people to perform his stuff and not pay royalties. “All I wanted to do was write it,” he used to say. “And I done that.”)
Joe
The gig went good, I think. It was outside, and beastly hot—a bottle of lemonade got too hot to drink before I finished drinking it—but the Arts Center’s amp worked well (I guess—people said they could hear me, though I couldn’t hear myself well), and they did like the stuff. I did end up keeping it to an hour; I’d originally planned on going over, but I was sweaty, and my fingers hurt.
54 people (they counted), mostly writers (I think)—and they did listen. I think the only song I didn’t get an appreciative reaction to was “The Taboo Song.” The ones they seemed to like best were “Dead Things in the Shower,” “Pole Dancing for Jesus” (something possesses people to sing along to that song), “Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus,” “Twenty-Four Seven,” “Rotten Candy” and “Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues.” Got to meet in person the two folks I’d corresponded with by e-mail about the gig—and they said they liked the stuff, too. Didn’t sell any CDs, but they did feed me, and that was nice.
I made the point to the audience that I’d made to my correspondents—that it was a good idea to have a writer be entertainment for a writers’ group event. (And I thanked them for thinking of it.) What I hope is that message will be retained when the Willamette Writers’ annual conference comes around in August 2012. They pay the entertainment for that, and I’d like to be it, or part of it. If the pay were enough, I could maybe even supply a band.
RailsNW, which is doing the centennial dinner cruise on the train from Garibaldi to Wheeler and back, would like Deathgrass to perform in the park when the train comes back. Saturday, Oct. 1, 3:30 p.m. for about an hour—and for free. That’s another of those might-turn-into-paying-business-later gigs, maybe; the railroad centennial is going to be a low-key affair, because there isn’t much time to plan anything—but next year, it could be a lot bigger. (They even have a name for it—“Rails 101.”) If we’re in on the ground floor, we can rise with the elevator, so to speak.
I’ve already got confirmation from two of the band that they’d like to do it (I’ll see the other two tomorrow, at the Garibaldi Days gig). I’m sure RailsNW is interested in us because of the “Tillamook Railroad Blues”—I don’t know if any other bands around here know any train songs, much less any about The Local Train; since these are railroad fans, it’d be fun to do a set that was all train songs. Could we pull that off?
Besides the “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” we’ve got one other we’ve done before; “Steamboat Bill,” by Shields and Leighton, was one of the top songs of 1910 (and we played it at Bay City’s centennial last year), but it was also #20 in 1911, the year the railroad was finished—and it does have that “Next time, we’re marrying a railroad man” line in it. Beyond that, there’s a couple more we could do that are public domain—“Wreck of the Old 97,” by that old fellow Traditional, and “The Wabash Cannonball,” by J.A. Hoff (1882). Both are fast-paced bluegrass tunes, and I can play the “signature” riffs on both. That’s 20 minutes’ worth. Could we do more?
Well, maybe. I’ll put out a call to the writers I know (I do seem to know a lot of them) and see if anybody’s got any train songs they’d be willing to let us play—full credit to them, of course. If we can’t get enough, we’ll fill with more of our regular standards. I am insistent about the “we don’t do covers” thing—we play originals and traditionals, and songs by writers who are as unknown as I am. And thus far we have managed to do that, and become popular. (The only exception we’ve made to that rule has been Woody Guthrie—we play a couple of his more obscure numbers. Woody encouraged people to perform his stuff and not pay royalties. “All I wanted to do was write it,” he used to say. “And I done that.”)
Joe
Thursday, July 28, 2011
BUH-BYE, FRIDAY NIGHT GROUP?
Getting ready to leave for the Willamette Writers gig in Portland; got the Arts Center’s 4-channel amp, my mike and stand; taking guitar, “joelist” notebook—and I better print out some business cards while I’m at it. These people don’t know me. Hopefully, they’ll want to when it’s all over.
One change in the setlist: I’m not going to play “Earwigs in the Eggplant,” because I haven’t practiced it on the guitar. I’ll substitute “Blue Krishna” instead. It, too, is about writing on demand, so to speak.
Not only have I had it running through my head a lot, I now have the electric sitar tracks from “Doctor Tom.” There’s actually only one track, but if I insert it twice (in Audacity), offset by a verse-and-chorus, and have one coming through the right speaker and the other from the left, it sounds like “dueling sitars.” I think I’ll keep that. Next week, I’d like to record Sedona’s flute if she’s ready, and then I think the song will be done.
I’d like to send that one off to the Coventry songwriters; they had a “shout it out” challenge a while back which I never responded to—but “Blue Krishna” does have that “Light the boy a candle, and call out his name” line in the chorus. It might qualify. I have been fairly successful in turning a number of the Coventry challenges into something sick and twisted—they want “deep river,” and I give them a song about a serial killer, and so forth.
My suggestions for my piece of the Southern Oregon Songwriters concert have been sent off to Dan, so I’m about as ready for that as I can be, too. Deathgrass has practiced for the Garibaldi Days gig, too. We are ready.
A word about the Friday Night Group, because some folks have asked. It appears to be falling apart. And no, I’m not going to do anything about it, even though I was one of the founders (so to speak), eight years ago, and kind of regard it as one of my children. I don’t control things there any more. I will just watch. And be a little sad.
What’s happened over time is the group has acquired some “musicians” who aren’t, really—they don’t know a lot, and can’t do a lot. Some are learning pretty fast, but others don’t, and that’s been frustrating, I think, for the more experienced musicians. So the best musicians have drifted off, singly or in groups (some have formed bands, and are getting gigs, which is great—one thing the Friday Night Group has always been good at is being a breeding ground for performers). I was one of the off-drifters, too: I want to hang with people better’n I am, because I want to learn from them, and there isn’t anybody left to learn from any more. So I, too, have found other things to do. One of the hosts recently went into the hospital for an operation, and is facing a very long recovery; that’s probably the death knell for the group. There hasn’t been music at City Hall for maybe a month.
I have to regard it as one of those “circle of life” things. It happens, and I can’t prevent or stop it. On the plus side, some of the folks who are determined to keep learning have begun getting together quietly, elsewhere—and I want to encourage that, and them; if something revives in the future, it may be because of them. I won’t do anything myself until after Concert Season is over. I will not have the time.
Joe
One change in the setlist: I’m not going to play “Earwigs in the Eggplant,” because I haven’t practiced it on the guitar. I’ll substitute “Blue Krishna” instead. It, too, is about writing on demand, so to speak.
Not only have I had it running through my head a lot, I now have the electric sitar tracks from “Doctor Tom.” There’s actually only one track, but if I insert it twice (in Audacity), offset by a verse-and-chorus, and have one coming through the right speaker and the other from the left, it sounds like “dueling sitars.” I think I’ll keep that. Next week, I’d like to record Sedona’s flute if she’s ready, and then I think the song will be done.
I’d like to send that one off to the Coventry songwriters; they had a “shout it out” challenge a while back which I never responded to—but “Blue Krishna” does have that “Light the boy a candle, and call out his name” line in the chorus. It might qualify. I have been fairly successful in turning a number of the Coventry challenges into something sick and twisted—they want “deep river,” and I give them a song about a serial killer, and so forth.
My suggestions for my piece of the Southern Oregon Songwriters concert have been sent off to Dan, so I’m about as ready for that as I can be, too. Deathgrass has practiced for the Garibaldi Days gig, too. We are ready.
A word about the Friday Night Group, because some folks have asked. It appears to be falling apart. And no, I’m not going to do anything about it, even though I was one of the founders (so to speak), eight years ago, and kind of regard it as one of my children. I don’t control things there any more. I will just watch. And be a little sad.
What’s happened over time is the group has acquired some “musicians” who aren’t, really—they don’t know a lot, and can’t do a lot. Some are learning pretty fast, but others don’t, and that’s been frustrating, I think, for the more experienced musicians. So the best musicians have drifted off, singly or in groups (some have formed bands, and are getting gigs, which is great—one thing the Friday Night Group has always been good at is being a breeding ground for performers). I was one of the off-drifters, too: I want to hang with people better’n I am, because I want to learn from them, and there isn’t anybody left to learn from any more. So I, too, have found other things to do. One of the hosts recently went into the hospital for an operation, and is facing a very long recovery; that’s probably the death knell for the group. There hasn’t been music at City Hall for maybe a month.
I have to regard it as one of those “circle of life” things. It happens, and I can’t prevent or stop it. On the plus side, some of the folks who are determined to keep learning have begun getting together quietly, elsewhere—and I want to encourage that, and them; if something revives in the future, it may be because of them. I won’t do anything myself until after Concert Season is over. I will not have the time.
Joe
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
PREPARING FOR SOUTHERN OREGON...
I think I’ve been writing an issue of the blog just about every day lately. To those who have been reading it, in Latvia and elsewhere: don’t worry—it’s just a temporary thing. I have been frightfully busy, and I have to write things down or I will forget them. I regularly refer to back issues of the blog to remind myself of what I was supposed to be doing.
I was worrying about what to play in the Southern Oregon Songwriters concert Aug. 6—just a week and a half away—and realized I don’t have to worry. It’s been almost a year since I was last in southern Oregon (well, 11 months and a week, but who’s counting?), and I’ve written plenty of new stuff. I can play the new stuff. I can do:
Pole Dancing for Jesus—slow & sleazy two-step
The Dead Sweethearts Polka—fast bluegrass
In the Shadows, I’ll Be Watching You—slow & sleazy
Selling Off My Body Parts—fast bluegrass
One more short one, to fill out my 20 minutes. (Dan Doshier and I are splitting 40 minutes.) “Crosses by the Roadside,” I think—I need to do one off the album, since I’ll be trying to sell CDs while I’m down there. That does put three two-steps on the setlist, but two of them are songs I don’t think anyone’s heard before (and I can try to make them a little different—maybe with Dan playing different instruments on the lead). They are all predictable progressions (all in the same key, even), so they should be easy to follow. Next step: Mix it up with Dan’s stuff, so we’re not too compartmentalized. I may have to wait until I get to southern Oregon to do that. I haven’t heard what Dan wants to play yet.
I suppose I ought to apologize to the audience for not including any dead-animal songs (I have a reputation to maintain, after all); instead, what folks will get is the pole dancers, a serial killer, a stalker, and another of those tongue-firmly-in-cheek anthems about the Failed Economy. There is one song about a dead person, though (“Crosses”). Maybe that’ll be enough.
The above list doesn’t include “Last Song of the Highwayman,” “Song for Charity (and Faith, and Hope),” “Take Me Back to the Sixties,” “Earwigs in the Eggplant,” “Blue Krishna” or “Angel in Chains,” all of which were also written since I last went to southern Oregon. Based on crowd reactions, those are all “keepers,” too. I think the ones I put on the setlist are the best attention-getters, however.
The gig will be outside, I believe, at the Community Center in Talent, Oregon, just down the road from Phoenix, where I was briefly city manager, and the audience will probably be mostly other writers, their families and friends. And it will be hot. The Medford area has a climate akin to the Los Angeles area (only with more trees and fewer cars).
I’ve been told it might be possible to play a couple more performances while I’m down there, one of which might even be paid; that’d be nice. I’ll have the Ugly Orange Bucket (with its “Tipping Is Not A City In China” message) with me, and CDs to sell, too. To the extent possible, I’ll be prepared like a good ex-Boy Scout ought to be.
Practice with Deathgrass Wednesday night this week, the Willamette Writers gig Thursday, Deathgrass performance at Garibaldi Days Saturday. The following week I can devote to 45 Degrees North—at least the first part of it. Besides practicing a whole new hour of material (the Manzanita Farmer’s Market show is three hours), I’ve got a sound system to fix: we’ll be playing outdoors, and we need to be loud and sound good—two things that don’t appear to be possible at the same time with the sound system we’ve got, and I still don’t know why.
Joe
I was worrying about what to play in the Southern Oregon Songwriters concert Aug. 6—just a week and a half away—and realized I don’t have to worry. It’s been almost a year since I was last in southern Oregon (well, 11 months and a week, but who’s counting?), and I’ve written plenty of new stuff. I can play the new stuff. I can do:
Pole Dancing for Jesus—slow & sleazy two-step
The Dead Sweethearts Polka—fast bluegrass
In the Shadows, I’ll Be Watching You—slow & sleazy
Selling Off My Body Parts—fast bluegrass
One more short one, to fill out my 20 minutes. (Dan Doshier and I are splitting 40 minutes.) “Crosses by the Roadside,” I think—I need to do one off the album, since I’ll be trying to sell CDs while I’m down there. That does put three two-steps on the setlist, but two of them are songs I don’t think anyone’s heard before (and I can try to make them a little different—maybe with Dan playing different instruments on the lead). They are all predictable progressions (all in the same key, even), so they should be easy to follow. Next step: Mix it up with Dan’s stuff, so we’re not too compartmentalized. I may have to wait until I get to southern Oregon to do that. I haven’t heard what Dan wants to play yet.
I suppose I ought to apologize to the audience for not including any dead-animal songs (I have a reputation to maintain, after all); instead, what folks will get is the pole dancers, a serial killer, a stalker, and another of those tongue-firmly-in-cheek anthems about the Failed Economy. There is one song about a dead person, though (“Crosses”). Maybe that’ll be enough.
The above list doesn’t include “Last Song of the Highwayman,” “Song for Charity (and Faith, and Hope),” “Take Me Back to the Sixties,” “Earwigs in the Eggplant,” “Blue Krishna” or “Angel in Chains,” all of which were also written since I last went to southern Oregon. Based on crowd reactions, those are all “keepers,” too. I think the ones I put on the setlist are the best attention-getters, however.
The gig will be outside, I believe, at the Community Center in Talent, Oregon, just down the road from Phoenix, where I was briefly city manager, and the audience will probably be mostly other writers, their families and friends. And it will be hot. The Medford area has a climate akin to the Los Angeles area (only with more trees and fewer cars).
I’ve been told it might be possible to play a couple more performances while I’m down there, one of which might even be paid; that’d be nice. I’ll have the Ugly Orange Bucket (with its “Tipping Is Not A City In China” message) with me, and CDs to sell, too. To the extent possible, I’ll be prepared like a good ex-Boy Scout ought to be.
Practice with Deathgrass Wednesday night this week, the Willamette Writers gig Thursday, Deathgrass performance at Garibaldi Days Saturday. The following week I can devote to 45 Degrees North—at least the first part of it. Besides practicing a whole new hour of material (the Manzanita Farmer’s Market show is three hours), I’ve got a sound system to fix: we’ll be playing outdoors, and we need to be loud and sound good—two things that don’t appear to be possible at the same time with the sound system we’ve got, and I still don’t know why.
Joe
Monday, July 25, 2011
ROCKTOBERFEST, CDS AND THE BLOG (OH, MY)...
Looked up the blog statistics again (have to check the market occasionally). Of the 3,000 or so people who have read the thing, well over half are from the United States (of course)—but 239 are from Russia? And 61 are from Latvia? (That’s up from 29 Latvians last time, I think.)
Google will tell you where people found the blog. The bulk of my readers followed the link from Vikki Flawith’s “Shy Singer-Songwriter Blog.” She has a link to my blog on her site. (Thank you, Vikki.) Most of the Russians found me via a Russian search engine (they were apparently looking for “naked space hamsters”—and no, I have no idea why). I have not a clue about the Latvians. I hope they weren’t expecting to learn English by reading my stuff (but this is called “The Writer’s Blog,” after all).
Time confirmed for Deathgrass’ performance at the Rocktoberfest in Rockaway Beach; we’re on at 11 a.m. SATURDAY, SEPT. 17—opening act of the festival, in other words. We like being first—we can set up and check sound at our leisure, and any people that come will probably be there because we invited them, anyway. We’ve done it that way at the two previous Rocktoberfests—the first time inadvertently, the second time deliberately.
We will need to play our “rockier” stuff for the Rocktoberfest. (That’s fine—the band likes rock ‘n’ roll, and they do a real good job with it.) Not in order::
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Steamboat Bill (Shields & Leighton, 1910)—rock ‘n’ roll
Angel in Chains—country death metal
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Simple Questions (O.N. Vindstad)—rockabilly
50 Ways to Cure the Depression—folk-rock
Test Tube Baby—rock ‘n’ roll
--plus, of course, we’ll want to do some of the “standards”:
Dead Things in the Shower (with Bobbie Gallup)—fast two-step
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—deliberate two-step
Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse (Gene Burnett)—fast two-step
Bluebird on My Windshield—fast bluegrass
When I Jump Off the Cliff I’ll Think of You—fast bluegrass
Crosses by the Roadside—slow two-step
Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus—mod. fast Gospel
So, 11 that are definitely “rockers” (out of 18). All are songs we’ve done before; I could add new material for this show, though—we will have time to practice. A couple of the “rockers” are really hard for me to sing (and I’ll need to practice). Next: setlist. Rap. Practice.
I know how the Rocktoberfest Powers That Be picked the bands—they had everybody send them CDs. (I wasn’t one of the Powers That Be, but I did get to listen to some of the CDs.) Some of the bands playing aren’t really rockers at all, and I know of at least two bands that aren’t playing the Rocktoberfest that are “rockier” (though still not classifiable as “rock”)—but they didn’t send the Rocktoberfest folks CDs because they don’t have one. The lesson: Have a CD if you can—at least a 4-or-so-song EP. No, it’s not necessary in all cases—nobody asked for CDs for the Wheeler Summerfest, but that’s because all the performers were local, and personally known to the organizers. A CD allows you to communicate, as it were, with venues who don’t know you, but might hire you if they knew what you sounded like.
So could 45 Degrees North put out a CD? Are we ready for that yet?
Joe
Google will tell you where people found the blog. The bulk of my readers followed the link from Vikki Flawith’s “Shy Singer-Songwriter Blog.” She has a link to my blog on her site. (Thank you, Vikki.) Most of the Russians found me via a Russian search engine (they were apparently looking for “naked space hamsters”—and no, I have no idea why). I have not a clue about the Latvians. I hope they weren’t expecting to learn English by reading my stuff (but this is called “The Writer’s Blog,” after all).
Time confirmed for Deathgrass’ performance at the Rocktoberfest in Rockaway Beach; we’re on at 11 a.m. SATURDAY, SEPT. 17—opening act of the festival, in other words. We like being first—we can set up and check sound at our leisure, and any people that come will probably be there because we invited them, anyway. We’ve done it that way at the two previous Rocktoberfests—the first time inadvertently, the second time deliberately.
We will need to play our “rockier” stuff for the Rocktoberfest. (That’s fine—the band likes rock ‘n’ roll, and they do a real good job with it.) Not in order::
For Their Own Ends (Southern Pigfish)—folk-rock
Dance a Little Longer (Woody Guthrie)—country rock
The Dog’s Song—rock ‘n’ roll
She Ain’t Starvin’ Herself—fast blues
Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues
Steamboat Bill (Shields & Leighton, 1910)—rock ‘n’ roll
Angel in Chains—country death metal
Our Own Little Stimulus Plan (Betty Holt)—Buddy Holly-style rockabilly
Simple Questions (O.N. Vindstad)—rockabilly
50 Ways to Cure the Depression—folk-rock
Test Tube Baby—rock ‘n’ roll
--plus, of course, we’ll want to do some of the “standards”:
Dead Things in the Shower (with Bobbie Gallup)—fast two-step
Un-Easy Street (Stan Good)—deliberate two-step
Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse (Gene Burnett)—fast two-step
Bluebird on My Windshield—fast bluegrass
When I Jump Off the Cliff I’ll Think of You—fast bluegrass
Crosses by the Roadside—slow two-step
Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus—mod. fast Gospel
So, 11 that are definitely “rockers” (out of 18). All are songs we’ve done before; I could add new material for this show, though—we will have time to practice. A couple of the “rockers” are really hard for me to sing (and I’ll need to practice). Next: setlist. Rap. Practice.
I know how the Rocktoberfest Powers That Be picked the bands—they had everybody send them CDs. (I wasn’t one of the Powers That Be, but I did get to listen to some of the CDs.) Some of the bands playing aren’t really rockers at all, and I know of at least two bands that aren’t playing the Rocktoberfest that are “rockier” (though still not classifiable as “rock”)—but they didn’t send the Rocktoberfest folks CDs because they don’t have one. The lesson: Have a CD if you can—at least a 4-or-so-song EP. No, it’s not necessary in all cases—nobody asked for CDs for the Wheeler Summerfest, but that’s because all the performers were local, and personally known to the organizers. A CD allows you to communicate, as it were, with venues who don’t know you, but might hire you if they knew what you sounded like.
So could 45 Degrees North put out a CD? Are we ready for that yet?
Joe
Sunday, July 24, 2011
"RAPTURE ROOM" POST-MORTEM (SORT OF)...
I like the “Rapture Room.” That’s the big performance space in downtown Nehalem, next door to (and upstairs from) the Rainbow Lotus. (Its real name is the Nehalem Center for the Creative Arts.) It has great acoustics—we amplified only voices for the 45 Degrees North concert, and left everything else unplugged—and the living-room-cum-kitchen in the next room emphasizes the intimacy. Audience was small—which begs the question, “How do you market something like this?” Every way (and any way) you can, I think; I recommended Michael and Sedona contact the local “Fencepost” columnist for the paper, and also Tommy Boye at the Tillamook Cow Internet station; posters (which they’ve done), and the Internet—you never know what stimuli people are going to respond to. Printed out for them my “Yes! You Have Come to the Right Place!” sign we’ve used for the Failed Economy Show concerts at City Hall.
And word of mouth. The more the space can get used, the more people will know about it, and have ideas what it’s good for. With enough publicity, the “Rapture Room” could become a community center of sorts—in a way the North County Recreation District, which is in the same town (and bigger, and tax-supported, but a little exclusive) hasn’t been able to be.
45 Degrees North were the Inaugural Concert, Saturday afternoon—Michael and Sedona plan on doing one of these a month—and it was good. The tiny crowd was probably the result of the hot, sunny weather—but we still got tips. I think everything worked well, actually: everybody in the band has their own particular strengths, and the mix shows them all off, and audiences seem to like it. Our best tunes are still Dylan’s “Wagon Wheel” and my “Armadillo on the Interstate” (with the trademark 3-part Heavenly Chorus), our standard opening and closing songs, but there are others that are becoming close contenders.
I played a short set at the “Hoffapalooza,” too—the day-long “here’s what we can do” show at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. Gave them 5 songs: “Dead Things in the Shower,” “Pole Dancing for Jesus,” “When They Die, I Put Them in the Cookies” (for the kids), Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street,” and (because I had a little time left) “The Termite Song.” Sold a CD at the “Hoffapalooza,” got names for the mailing list both places.
The coming week is Deathgrass Week; Deathgrass plays Garibaldi Days on Saturday, and I’d like us to have one practice opportunity beforehand. I myself am doing the solo gig in Portland for the Willamette Writers Group Thursday, so Thursday’s out for practice.
After that, I get to obsess about 45 Degrees North’s performance at the Manzanita Farmer’s Market—3 hours worth of music, on Friday, Aug. 12. We’ll need about 12 new songs for that. We should do our Jimmy Buffitt parody, “Manzanitaville,” and my “Earwigs in the Eggplant” (since it was written with the Farmer’s Market in mind), and the Scottish fiddle tune “The Red-Haired Boy” (which has a fascinating history); Kathryn is working out an arrangement to the old jazz tune, “Coconut Grove,” and I think “The Termite Song” would be popular, too. Uptempo; must be uptempo. They want (shall we say) happy, upbeat songs for their customers to shop for vegetables by.
Got two weeks to prepare for that, but no weekends—I’m in southern Oregon for the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. concert Saturday, Aug. 6. Since I’m still unemployed, it’d be nice to hang out a couple extra days and play more music. I wonder if that’s possible? The crowd of writers at the Wild Goose in Ashland haven’t heard “Pole Dancing for Jesus,” “Selling Off My Body Parts,” or “Blue Krishna.” It’d be nice (and fun) if they could.
Joe
And word of mouth. The more the space can get used, the more people will know about it, and have ideas what it’s good for. With enough publicity, the “Rapture Room” could become a community center of sorts—in a way the North County Recreation District, which is in the same town (and bigger, and tax-supported, but a little exclusive) hasn’t been able to be.
45 Degrees North were the Inaugural Concert, Saturday afternoon—Michael and Sedona plan on doing one of these a month—and it was good. The tiny crowd was probably the result of the hot, sunny weather—but we still got tips. I think everything worked well, actually: everybody in the band has their own particular strengths, and the mix shows them all off, and audiences seem to like it. Our best tunes are still Dylan’s “Wagon Wheel” and my “Armadillo on the Interstate” (with the trademark 3-part Heavenly Chorus), our standard opening and closing songs, but there are others that are becoming close contenders.
I played a short set at the “Hoffapalooza,” too—the day-long “here’s what we can do” show at the Hoffman Center in Manzanita. Gave them 5 songs: “Dead Things in the Shower,” “Pole Dancing for Jesus,” “When They Die, I Put Them in the Cookies” (for the kids), Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street,” and (because I had a little time left) “The Termite Song.” Sold a CD at the “Hoffapalooza,” got names for the mailing list both places.
The coming week is Deathgrass Week; Deathgrass plays Garibaldi Days on Saturday, and I’d like us to have one practice opportunity beforehand. I myself am doing the solo gig in Portland for the Willamette Writers Group Thursday, so Thursday’s out for practice.
After that, I get to obsess about 45 Degrees North’s performance at the Manzanita Farmer’s Market—3 hours worth of music, on Friday, Aug. 12. We’ll need about 12 new songs for that. We should do our Jimmy Buffitt parody, “Manzanitaville,” and my “Earwigs in the Eggplant” (since it was written with the Farmer’s Market in mind), and the Scottish fiddle tune “The Red-Haired Boy” (which has a fascinating history); Kathryn is working out an arrangement to the old jazz tune, “Coconut Grove,” and I think “The Termite Song” would be popular, too. Uptempo; must be uptempo. They want (shall we say) happy, upbeat songs for their customers to shop for vegetables by.
Got two weeks to prepare for that, but no weekends—I’m in southern Oregon for the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. concert Saturday, Aug. 6. Since I’m still unemployed, it’d be nice to hang out a couple extra days and play more music. I wonder if that’s possible? The crowd of writers at the Wild Goose in Ashland haven’t heard “Pole Dancing for Jesus,” “Selling Off My Body Parts,” or “Blue Krishna.” It’d be nice (and fun) if they could.
Joe
Saturday, July 23, 2011
2ND STREET POST-MORTEM....
I think we were good (mostly) at the 2nd Street Market. (The only person who screwed up was me, on “Queenie” the fiddle tune and on “Manzanita Moon.”) Problems with the sound, though. If you got it loud enough so people could hear us, it distorted. The building itself has pretty good acoustics, though, with those brick walls.
Jim from the music store said it’s our PA not being powerful enough; it is only 40 watts, but I wonder. The Dodson Drifters had the late-‘70s model of that same PA (it was only 30 watts then), and it was the basic engine of our battery-powered PA system, powering two gigantic speakers—and we used it for outdoor concerts. I don’t think we ever had a “not powerful enough” problem (or a distortion one).
Could the speakers be the problem? We were using some home-stereo speakers—twice the size of the ones we had in Ilwaco, but still not designed for a room as big as we were playing. There is almost no way to tell whether the speakers are the problem except by hooking up a decent set of speakers. (I might be able to do that at the Arts Center next week—I think they may have a set I could test with.)
How we have the mixer hooked up is another possibility. We have the mixer run through the “CD player” jacks on the back of the PA, and that’s not how I recall the Dodson Drifters doing it. The Dodson Drifters had two 4-channel mixers (battery-powered), and I believe they were run through the microphone inputs—splitting each channel into four, in other words. Should we be running the 6-channel mixer the same way? I don’t know—but the techie guy who owns the Radio Shack store might. While I’m feeling flush, I should go see him. (Before I do that, however, I’ll do some testing myself. That old Japanese mixer will take a special cable, but I might have one that would work for testing.)
Flush? Yes, the bands got paid for performing at the Wheeler Summerfest. Not a lot, but it is the first money I’ve made off music this year. We got tips at the 2nd Street Market, too, from (I believe) seven different people.
And an offer (of sorts), this morning. The square dance club is thinking about putting on a dance with live music—something almost never done any more—and asked if we could do it. (That’s 45 Degrees North. They really want the fiddle player. She’s good, I was told. Yes, she is.) Actually, I think we could do it pretty easily. We would want to do mostly “singing calls,” where the caller is calling out the moves in time with popular (or once-popular) songs, occasionally throwing in snippets of the lyrics. What makes it easy is the caller already has that music in recorded form, on either computer or CD, in “karaoke” format (no vocals) but in a key he or she can sing in—and if I can get that, I can make copies for the band, and we have something to practice to in our spare time.
The club is talking about three dances over a weekend—Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night. I’m assuming with that kind of schedule, the band is getting paid—not a lot, because the square dance club can’t afford a lot, but something. Like the Good Book says, “The laborer is worth his hire.” It could be quite a draw: square dance clubs and callers went to recorded music decades ago because of the expense of hiring live bands, but the novelty of a live band is likely to bring in a lot of people, because it’s just not done any more. Wouldn’t happen until next summer—which gives us plenty of time to practice.
That’d make two commitments for NEXT YEAR (Deathgrass has already been enlisted to play at the Garibaldi Museum for the Crab Races next March). Does this mean I know what the future is going to be like? No—only that I have confidence there will be one.
Joe
Jim from the music store said it’s our PA not being powerful enough; it is only 40 watts, but I wonder. The Dodson Drifters had the late-‘70s model of that same PA (it was only 30 watts then), and it was the basic engine of our battery-powered PA system, powering two gigantic speakers—and we used it for outdoor concerts. I don’t think we ever had a “not powerful enough” problem (or a distortion one).
Could the speakers be the problem? We were using some home-stereo speakers—twice the size of the ones we had in Ilwaco, but still not designed for a room as big as we were playing. There is almost no way to tell whether the speakers are the problem except by hooking up a decent set of speakers. (I might be able to do that at the Arts Center next week—I think they may have a set I could test with.)
How we have the mixer hooked up is another possibility. We have the mixer run through the “CD player” jacks on the back of the PA, and that’s not how I recall the Dodson Drifters doing it. The Dodson Drifters had two 4-channel mixers (battery-powered), and I believe they were run through the microphone inputs—splitting each channel into four, in other words. Should we be running the 6-channel mixer the same way? I don’t know—but the techie guy who owns the Radio Shack store might. While I’m feeling flush, I should go see him. (Before I do that, however, I’ll do some testing myself. That old Japanese mixer will take a special cable, but I might have one that would work for testing.)
Flush? Yes, the bands got paid for performing at the Wheeler Summerfest. Not a lot, but it is the first money I’ve made off music this year. We got tips at the 2nd Street Market, too, from (I believe) seven different people.
And an offer (of sorts), this morning. The square dance club is thinking about putting on a dance with live music—something almost never done any more—and asked if we could do it. (That’s 45 Degrees North. They really want the fiddle player. She’s good, I was told. Yes, she is.) Actually, I think we could do it pretty easily. We would want to do mostly “singing calls,” where the caller is calling out the moves in time with popular (or once-popular) songs, occasionally throwing in snippets of the lyrics. What makes it easy is the caller already has that music in recorded form, on either computer or CD, in “karaoke” format (no vocals) but in a key he or she can sing in—and if I can get that, I can make copies for the band, and we have something to practice to in our spare time.
The club is talking about three dances over a weekend—Friday night, Saturday afternoon, and Saturday night. I’m assuming with that kind of schedule, the band is getting paid—not a lot, because the square dance club can’t afford a lot, but something. Like the Good Book says, “The laborer is worth his hire.” It could be quite a draw: square dance clubs and callers went to recorded music decades ago because of the expense of hiring live bands, but the novelty of a live band is likely to bring in a lot of people, because it’s just not done any more. Wouldn’t happen until next summer—which gives us plenty of time to practice.
That’d make two commitments for NEXT YEAR (Deathgrass has already been enlisted to play at the Garibaldi Museum for the Crab Races next March). Does this mean I know what the future is going to be like? No—only that I have confidence there will be one.
Joe
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