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More Updates...

TWO COMPUTERS running simultaneously! I feel positively 21st century… The laptop (which doesn’t have a name yet) now has the webcam installed, and it appears to be working; I need to do a test before taking it to band practice. I’ve had two computer experts (John here, and Al David in Chicago) tell me the video file from the laptop is transferrable to and useable by “Alice” the desktop. I’ll use the little flash drive for the transferring. The goal is to get some footage of the band—especia

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I Have A Webcam...

I have a webcam—cute li’l thing, looks like a miniature R2D2 on a tripod. (For the same $15 price, I could’ve got a “Hello Kitty” one, but I decided there were limits to how much cuteness I could tolerate.) I have installed the software, but not—yet—the camera itself. For a computer programmer, I am awfully paranoid about technology. I have scripted out the first episode of “The Joe Show,” and we’ll see how the recording comes out. I don’t know how much time the “speech” part will take;

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And The Album...

Wife Sandee and a girlfriend are on vacation this week, hitting the square dance circuit, and the dog and I are, well, doing whatever it’s possible to do with lots of time and no money. Burlesque show cast meeting tonight, job interview Tuesday, “Love Trails of the Zombie Snails” to record, a video to script out, and a webcam and flash drive to score if I can find ‘em cheap. I’ll be busy. Latest spate of mail (which included only one rejection letter) reminded me that for over a year, I’v

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First Steps Toward A Vlog...

Saw my second “Lorelei Loveridge—World Traveling Songwriter” video yesterday, and it did generate some ideas. Roughly the first half was just talk, interspersed with photos of her trip to Spain; second half was a song, just her on solo guitar. The photography work was simple but nice and clear. (Good webcam.) Could I do something like this? Probably; it wouldn’t take a huge investment in technology—I had a cheap-but-good webcam once, and bet I could find another. Windows Movie Maker

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Pitching To A Publisher...

Today I am pitching songs to a Nashville publisher—or seeing if I can. I got the invitation a couple of days ago. It’s not a big thing—I noticed a couple dozen other people got the same e-mail—but it’s not often one gets invited over to the bigger kids’ sandbox, so I’ll try to play. The publisher says he’s looking for material to pitch to 21 different artists who are lining out albums. Only four of them are names I recognize, but that’s not surprising. One is brand-new—an Indiana kid wh

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Central Point Concert Cancelled...

The 22 August concert in Central Point has been cancelled. I guess it’s a good thing I hadn’t sent out notices yet. Hard not to be bummed about it. There is a plus side: I won’t be gone for five or so days, I will save the money I’d have spent on the trip, and I can do something else. However, I am going to miss everybody. My only excuses for visiting southern Oregon this summer have been job interviews. Unless the City of Gold Hill calls me for a city-manager interview (and I am not expec

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Busy Weekend Post-mortem...

As this is written, the Busy Weekend is not yet over. I still have a job interview tomorrow in Salem, a 2-hour drive away, and errands to run. I need to get slimline CD cases, and T-shirt transfers and stickers for the Joe Thongs I want to have for the 22 August concert in Central Point. The Garibaldi Museum concert was a success. We had a very small crowd, but they were appreciative. We were competing with at least (1) the Jews’ Harp Festival, (2) the 100th anniversary of the Tillamook

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Before The Concert...

The North American Jews Harp Festival is this Friday and Saturday, in Bay City—5 miles away; I’ll be trying to be there as much as possible, around prior commitments: playing with the Friday Night Group in Garibaldi, and the Garibaldi Museum concert Saturday night. I’d like to invite the folks from the Jews Harp Festival to the concert, but I won’t—they have events of their own going on at the same time, and I don’t want to steal their thunder. I’ll just mention that we’ll miss them, and encour

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The Antarctican Zombie Snails (&c.)...

Imprinted thongs are NOT cheap. $7.17 each from the outfit that advertises on MySpace, minimum order of 24 (that’s a whopping $172.08, way too rich for my blood). I probably have to do something different. How about a sticker (maybe a 4-inch circle) that could be pasted on a generic thong? I could maybe get thongs in quantity through my daughter, who’s working at Ross’ Dress for Less. Could get the stickers when I’m in Salem next Monday for the job interview (yes, I have one of those, too—S

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Garibaldi Days Post-mortem...

The Garibaldi Days gig went good. We had an appreciative audience, and the band enjoyed themselves. The top three songs were, in order, Southern Pigfish’s “For Their Own Ends,” Gene Burnett’s “Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse,” and Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street.” The Pigfish song continues to be a surprise. People like rock ‘n’ roll, I guess. We should do more of it. One of mine we’ve never attempted is “Test Tube Baby,” a generally 12-bar blues which was an

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Replicating Radio In The New Era...

Let’s assume for a moment that I know what I’m doing. I can write stuff—I have written stuff. I have other musicians who want to play with me. There are venues (a few, anyway) that want me to play there—presumably, they think I’ll bring in customers. I can put on a show of at least 2 hours tailored for just about any kind of audience. And I’ve sold out five pressings of my CD. (Yes, all the pressings were small, but it’s the principle of the thing.) Sounds like we’re ready to Take It

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3 Days Till Garibaldi Days...

Three days till Garibaldi Days… The DVDs of last Saturday’s Ashland public television shows are done—I should have them in a week, and will get to see how they came out. I know that what Darrin and I, and emcee T-Poe, did in the studio was good; what I don’t know is how it came out on “tape.” The Tillamook County Library System are the latest folks to request copies. The Garibaldi Days program is printed, and looks okay. (Next time, though, I’ll make sure to use a front-page photo that

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Road Trip #2 Post-mortem...

Road Trip #2 was okay. Job interview went well; Gold Beach is a really nice place, and I think I’d enjoy living and working there. I’ll find out if I’m the Chosen One in a week or so. And the public television taping was lots of fun. I’m in the burlesque show, too. (From public television to burlesque in one day. I think that suggests versatility. Doesn’t it?) On the Bad News front, the only rejection letter I got while I was gone was a music one, from the West Linn Library, saying th

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Garibaldi Days Brochure (and The New Song)...

The Garibaldi Days program is done. I can’t say “finally,” because a lot of the delay is my own fault—I waited until the last minute to do anything. Of course, I didn’t get the last ads until 11 p.m. yesterday, and had to design one from scratch today from an e-mail, but it was fun nonetheless. I stayed up until 3 a.m. working on it, and was up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7, anxious to finish the job. I do love this kind of work. It goes to the printer—that part is not my job—tonight.

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The Relations With Fans...

I have tried a couple of times to devote an issue of the blog to exploring what I think is the changing relationship between fans and performers—something Lorelei Loveridge, founder of Performing Songwriters (United Worldwide) devoted a legal paper to recently. The legal paper, though, raised questions, and I want answers. And I thought of some. But I haven’t been able thus far to express them in the space I allot myself for issues of the blog. I treat these “bloggies” like songs—I have

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Updates...

Dick, Carol and I will be in the talent show (tentatively dubbed “Garibldi’s Got Talent!”)—I really hadn’t expected otherwise, but today’s audition made it official. The music store in Tillamook called; they want to sell my CDs ($15 per, of which I get $10)—I may need to get more pressed. (Handing the things out like business cards does help. That’s how the music store got one.) Rowan (the Craigslist banjo player) is interested in the banjo—we’ll try to connect while I’m in Portland.

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It Just Got Busy...

I think it just got busy. I was going to devote a blog to how I could get more gigs, and am going to be listing a schedule of gigs instead. Most of those happened all at once. This THURSDAY, 9 JULY is the auditions for the Garibaldi Days Talent Show (we figured we’d have one, since the county fair won’t be—the Fair Board claimed there was no point, since there is no local talent, and we are of course going to prove them wrong). I’ll play ‘em my two “local color” songs, with Dick backing

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Thoughts While Waiting...

As this is written, the Myrtle Point City Council is meeting to decide which of three city manager wannabes to hire. If it’s me, I’ll hear about it tomorrow. I shouldn’t be anxious—I have been disappointed an awful lot—but it was so exciting to be wanted by somebody that I hate to be dismissive of the idea. Some good and some bad news on the music front. The guitar teacher from the music store isn’t interested in playing with the band—he wants to be paid. So the band still doesn’t ha

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Independence Day...

Independence Day. Being unemployed and penniless, I don’t feel particularly independent, but it’s the principle of the thing, I guess. Here in Garibaldi, Oregon, we are also celebrating Giuseppe Garibaldi’s birthday (he was born on July 4); there won’t be fireworks—we save that for Garibaldi Days, late in July (I started that, while I was city manager here)—but we will be going to a goat roast, and there will be music. There has been, or is, or will be music all of this three-day weekend

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6-month Goal Review...

It’s July—six months since we set those 2009 goals. How are we doing? At the beginning of the year, I said 2009 would be the Year of Exposure. By the beginning of 2010, I wanted to (1) be better known, (2) be a music publisher with somebody besides myself as a client, (3) have another CD out, for sale in stores and on.line, (4) have played some writers’ nights in Nashville, (5) have more sophisticated recording equipment, and (6) be doing video. And I had a work list intended to achieve

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The Road Trip...

The Southern Oregon Road Trip was a good adventure—the job interview went well (I think—I’ll find out for sure in a week), I got to see a lot of the people I know, both in city government and in music, got to play music, and got a good new set of strings for the guitar (finally). Even the bartender at the Wild Goose in Ashland remembered me, after my whole year’s absence (and apparently there had been rumors circulating that I’d be coming by). The Wild Goose crowd got 4 songs—“The Taboo Song,”

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Ready To Go...

Like Joni Mitchell once said (in a song), “All my bags are packed, and I’m ready to go.” Only item not packed and waiting by the door is the Tascam; first thing tomorrow, I pick up the CD with the Failed Economy Show songs from John, listen to them, pick one and copy it to the Tascam to take to southern Oregon. I have, I think, everything else. Cell phone’s on the charger; cookies are baked and cooling. Even the alarm clock is packed. En route, I’ll stop by a computer repair place I’d p

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Two Days...

TWO DAYS till the trip to Myrtle Point. My bag is packed, but everything doesn’t fit; some of it’s going to have to go in another container. I’m packing for five days; I don’t know if I’ll get to stay that long. The job front actually looks hopeful for a change (it’s probably illusory, but I’ll ride the hope as long as I can). Not only is Myrtle Point interviewing me, but I found out Gold Beach, where I’d also applied to be city manager, is checking my background—and one usually doesn’t

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The Live Recording (and A New Song)...

The live recording of “Me and Rufus, and Burnin’ Down the House” at the Tillamook Library didn’t come out too bad; I posted it unedited online on the “Wrabek’s Works in Progress” page (http://soundclick.com/bands/page_songinfo.cfm?bandID=681142&songID=7735760). It’ll do until I have something better (which I may never—that’s happened a lot). I had to use my singing mike for the recording (the instrument mike I’d brought had stopped working), so I had to position it pretty close to me to pi

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Countdown (and Video Thoughts)...

Is writing things down an excuse for doing them? Sometimes I think so (like now). Lots of things to do before the Road Trip: get haircut, shine shoes, assemble books (I will visit one of my favorite bookstores while in Medford), pack (I’ll do it early, so I have plenty of time to worry about what I’m forgetting), get the van tuned up, apply for more jobs. I ran across an article about some city-manager jobs in Midwestern states going vacant for over a year, because nobody’s applying (the

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