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Christmas Concert Post-Mortem...

The Christmas concert was good. We actually filled most of the chairs in the hall (briefly), and raised a lot of food for the Food Pantry—some cash money, too. Both Doc (blues harp) and Mike (lead guitar) said they want to do it again—and I told them both that could probably be arranged. Roughly half the people who came were folks I didn’t know, which means they either saw the ads, heard the radio interviews, or heard about the concert from other people. I hope we made some fans. And th
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Christmas Potluck Post-Mortem...

General judgment of the folks who put on the City-Port Christmas Potluck is they liked everything exactly the way it was, and they’d like to do it again next year. Including having us (John on bass, me on guitar, Bruce on keyboard, and city councilmember Terry Kandle on fiddle—drummer Chris was sick) play music. I would make a few changes with respect to the music. First, we need more practice, of course; we really needed to play together more than once before we went on stage. Second, we
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Two Days Till The Christmas Show...

Almost time to publish the 2010 Worklist; I’ll hold off one or two more issues of the blog, though, and let the Christmas concert get out of the way. Updates, first. The “I see dead things” sweatshirt came out good—I only had to re-print the design four times to get that right, but it ironed on the sweatshirt just fine. I can wear it Saturday night at the Christmas show—if I dare. Lorelei, Polly, Beth and Joanne got their Joe Songbook packages; I have some more to make, but I need more l
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More Practice...

Practice with “Deathgrass” Saturday, and with what I think of as “Bruce’s band” (that’s Chris, John, and me, plus Bruce on keyboard) Sunday. As this is written, there are two days until we (Bruce’s band) perform at the City-Port Christmas potluck, four days till the second radio interview promoting the “Deathgrass” Christmas Show, and five days until the Show. Suddenly, time is flyin’ way too fast. For the Christmas show, “Deathgrass” is ready. We went through the second half of the setl
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To Do: Dvds & A Website...

One way to keep warm while it’s bitterly cold outside is to clean; got daughter, cousin and daughter’s boyfriend coming this weekend, and wanted to be partway presentable. So I verified the upstairs does have a floor, and it is now clean, and things are organized and put away. Job interview this afternoon, music at City Hall tonight, band practice Saturday, and practice again on Sunday with Chris (drums), John (bass), and Bruce (keyboard)—we’ve been invited to play at the City-Port Christmas p
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Practice With The Band...

Practice yesterday with the band. We got through 14 of the 24 songs in 2-1/2 hours. Every single one was good, and some were perfect. In each case, I found myself thinking, “This here is what it’s supposed to sound like.” A 5-piece band—drums, bass, rhythm guitar, “whiny” lead (harmonica) and “non-whiny” lead (guitar), is ideal, I think. Those who come to the Failed Economy Christmas Concert are going to get one heck of a show. We practice again next Saturday. It’d probably be good to hav
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We Won The "doing Dylan" Contest!

BREAKING NEWS… An e-mail from England advised that “No Good Songs About the War” has WON FIRST PRIZE in their “Doing Dylan” contest we entered back this summer. (They wanted to know where to send the prize check for 100 pounds to.) “Deathgrass” (me, John, Dick and Chris) will split it four ways—that was our original arrangement. Here’s what the judge, John Tams, said: ‘1st “No-one Writes Good Songs About The War.” Ramshackle recording measured against some of the high quality pro
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Skype-Ing...

There’s a songwriter over in England I’d really like to talk to, and it was suggested I check out Skype, a program for making long-distance calls for free with the computer. Yes, “Alice” the ‘puter has the brains to handle Skype (though it would help to have those extra RAM chips installed), and our local version of high-speed Internet should work, even though it’s pretty slow compared to what most people in other areas have. Skype says I need a microphone and a webcam, and I have both, but th
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A Publisher, Again...

Hope everyone within earshot (or eyeshot) had a good Thanksgiving. I baked a whole salmon (traditional), so there’s a lot left; I’ll be making salmon quiche, and salmon fried rice, and other things, out of the carcass for a few days. There is a Nashville music publisher that apparently came up with the same idea I did, of marketing the songs of unknown writers to regionally well-known artists looking for material—bypassing the Big Boys and the Big Record Companies that aren’t interested in
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Christmas Rock?

Well, part of the Tascam’s problem was a dying power adapter, and I was able to get a Radio Shack replacement. The Tascam still has Volume Issues,.and I need to dump all my mixes into Audacity these days and boost the volume. My biggest headache, though, is my favorite soundhole pickup in the guitar—the one that makes the acoustic guitar sound like an acoustic guitar—is about dead, and I don’t have a replacement. (John has been miking my guitar at all our shows since July.) Nonetheless,
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What I Did (And Didn't Do) In 2009...

It was about this time last year that I did the “Year in Review” assessment, to see how many (or how few) of the year’s goals I had managed to accomplish. In 2009, I didn’t do well. I think I spent most of the year waiting for something to happen, and it never did, and if there’s a plus in that, it’s that I finally figured out there’s no point in waiting, and I just have to move on. What I’ve accomplished that was on the list: FIND/CREATE A BAND. Did that. “Deathgrass” are the best gro
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Promoting The Christmas Show...

More Christmas concert promotion: I caught radio station DJ Tommy Boye (Coast105 FM) just as he was finishing his show, and gave him Christmas concert posters; I’m now scheduled for two 15-minute promotional slots, one two weeks before the show, and one the day before. (John suggested he and either Mike or Doc come down with me, and the three of us play “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas” on the air. That’s a great idea. I wonder how we could fit us in Tommy Boye’s little bathroom-size
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Songbook And Structure...

The 2009 Joe Songbook is done. (Mostly. I’ve found a couple more corrections I can make. I like to be perfect.) The product is a 1.67MB Acrobat (*.pdf) file, that can come on a CD with a cute Depressionistic label if people want. I can sell the CD for five bucks, including mailing, and recover costs. Or e-mail it for free. (Anyone within earshot (or eyeshot) who’d like one e-mailed for free, contact me through the Usual Outlets and I’ll take care of it. I will need your name and e-ma
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Rules For Writing (Sort Of)...

Well, the so-called Big Storm is past—they recorded winds of 89 m.p.h. at the Coast Guard tower, and the power went out four times. We have maybe a day’s respite before the next one (I can see the wall of clouds offshore). I had someone tell me this week, “Your songs don’t follow that verse-chorus-bridge pattern like you’re supposed to. But they’re good.” It was tempting to applaud them and say, “You got it!” It is not necessary to follow that pattern to write something that’s good. I
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Updating The Joe Songbook...

Just finished updating THE JOE SONGBOOK with the 2009 songs. The book is now 103 pages long, with 65 songs (with discography, links and photos—I can’t resist dressing things up). For the record, only 14 of the 65 songs are about dead animals. (Those are still the ones people remember best.) A copy of the songbook is going off to Lorelei Loveridge in England tomorrow. She said she was interested in performing some of my stuff, and I’m happy to encourage it. I don’t know what (if anythin
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Playing For Christmas Dinner...

Chris, John and I—what you’d call the core of “Deathgrass,” I guess—have been asked to play at the City and Port of Garibaldi’s Christmas potluck dinner, on 16 December, three days before the Christmas show. We (and our spouses) are all invitees to the dinner: John’s the city administrator, Chris works for the Port, and I’m on the Urban Renewal District’s budget committee. We’ll have a keyboard player—Bruce, the husband of Mary the city finance officer. And I’m told these City and Port fo
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The Christmas Show Is On!

I think the Failed Economy Christmas show is a go. Setlist is done, the Rap is done, and we have a lead guitarist—Mike Simpson, the music teacher for the school district. (Mike was the organizer of last month’s “Rocktoberfest,” and has trained a couple of neat middle-school rock bands.) And we have “Doc” Wagner—probably the best blues harp player in the Northwest. I think it’ll be one heck of a show. Wish we could record it. I delivered CDs and setlists to everybody today (with lyrics f
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Christmas Show Setlist?

Here’s a tentative setlist for the Christmas show: SET #1 (12 SONGS): Dead Things in the Shower (fast two-step, in C) Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy, in C) [NEW] Santa’s Fallen and He Can’t Get Up (fast bluegrass, in C) Tillamook Railroad Blues (deliberate blues, in D) Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse—Burnett (fast two-step, in C) Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues (slow & sleazy quasi-blues, in C) For Their Own Ends—Southern
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The Making Of The 'rufus' Video...

The music video of “Me and Rufus, and Burning Down the House” is finished, and uploaded to YouTube. Link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp2G7K8znZ8. The video footage was shot last Sunday at Sara’s house, and is of Rufus the English bulldog doing Dog Things out in the yard; I matched that up with the soundtrack, and used still photos with text overlays during the Rap. It came out kinda cute. I doubt I’d change anything, though there are things I’d do differently next time around. Wha
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Initial Thoughts On The Christmas Show...

Well, the November Failed Economy Show isn’t going to happen—can’t get a lead player. With the idea that we could maybe do a pre-Christmas show instead, I reserved the Dance Floor for Saturday, 19 December—six days before Christmas. John (bass) and Chris (drums) are both in. Now the question becomes whether I can nail down a lead player (or two) for that date. A Christmas show could be fun. We’d still make it a benefit for the food bank, but we can avoid (sort of) the “message” songs (o
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Progress?

Had to do a quick reality check on how well I was doing as a writer this year. The answer is I’ve written eight new songs in ten months. (I’d have preferred ten, or an average of one a month.) I only count “keepers”; unless they’ve been played for, and requested by, audiences, they’re “forgetters,” and I don’t count them at all. Some on the list are better than others, of course. The Dog’s Song (pretty fast rock ‘n’ roll) Crosses by the Roadside (mod. slow two-step) Love Trails of t
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Hallowe'en And "wizard Rock"...

Judging a high-school speech tournament is a lot like critiquing performers at an open mike (except one doesn’t usually get to critique the performers at an open mike). Whether it’s a prose or poetry recitation, dramatic interpretation, radio commentary, or after-dinner speech, it’s all performance, and I probably know enough about performance to give kids pointers about how to work a crowd. This will be the sixth year I’ve judged speech tournaments for my daughter’s high school (now her forme
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The Job Hunt (And Songs)...

The suit and the truck have gotten a workout this week. Job interviews Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in Portland (90 miles away), Pendleton (150 miles further east), and Milwaukie (90 miles again). All state jobs; easiest (and poorest-paying) is Wednesday’s job, a lowly permit tech/secretary for the state liquor-control agency, and the most challenging (and most fun) is Tuesday’s, managing a state child-support office with a staff of 22 covering nine counties. Thursday, I get to have lunch
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Insomnia Coffee Post-Mortem...

Well, it has been a week (almost) of rejections. The fish hatchery in Trail hired someone else; so did a bunch of other state agencies that interviewed me. The newspaper’s auditors told them they should hire a business manager with an accounting degree, not accounting experience—not me, in other words. The last several city-manager jobs I applied for all went to people with degrees but no prior experience, too—it’s why I mostly don’t bother to apply for those jobs any more. And then ther
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The Burlesque Show (&c.)...

As this is written, I am waiting for the Oregon Justice Dept. to tell me whether they want to have my job interview in Salem (where their headquarters is) or in Pendleton, 200-plus miles away (where the job would be). Don’t know when the interview will be, but I have another one Monday in Portland. And a job test in Portland tomorrow—I’ll drop off more posters for the Insomnia Coffee Co. gig in Hillsboro while I’m at it. All part of re-inventing myself, I guess. I think city management i
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