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The Auction, The Dreidel, And "silent Night"...

Bay City Arts Center’s auction/dinner is over. 61 people for the dinner—biggest crowd ever, I understand—and 80 came for the documentary movie (ditto). A number of people who came said they did so because of my front-page article in the paper (nice to know the paper did that). I spent most of my time designing the graphics for everything, and fighting with the printer. (I finally figured out the problem wasn’t the printer: it was because my Sotheby’s-style auction brochure was so huge—the Ar

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Tonic Lounge Post-Mortem (&c.)...

Tonic Lounge show was really good. The place was packed (not because of me, but it’s nice to play to a packed house) and the audience was very appreciative. The other comics were good, too—a couple of them really good. I got paid, and sold a CD—neither of which I expected. For once, one of my gig trips to Portland actually paid for itself (or would have if I hadn’t had to drive 50 miles and 1-1/2 hours out of my way because the highway home was closed by an accident). Got to throw my “Anoth

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"spend The End Of The World With Me"...

Christmas shopping done, I think—and the “Spend the End of the World with Me” song is done, too. It’s undergoing peer review, and then I’ll essay recording it. Played it at Garibaldi City Hall, and the audience did like it so I guess it’s a “keeper.” Ragtime, definitely; I couldn’t make it come out jazz with me playing guitar but ragtime is kinda close. It’s only got one verse and a chorus; it’d be nice to have more, but those two things really do sum it up, and saying anything else wo

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Recording/videoing "quoth, The Parrot"...

2012 is an election year. A big one. We’ll either re-elect or depose a President, and if the latter, replace him with someone who may or may not be crazy. We’ll be deciding whether to re-elect or depose most of Congress, too. And state legislatures. And city councils all over the country. And people aren’t all that happy with the government they’ve been getting. Might be an opportunity to get attention for a political song. Specifically, “The Strange Saga of Quoth, the Parrot.” Wri

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The 2012 Worklist...

I think it’s time to try a different tack with this Music Biz thing. 2011 was supposed to be the Year of Promotion, and looking back, I don’t see a lot of progress as a result. Continuing to do the Same Old Thing while expecting different results is the classic definition of insanity; I would rather do something different and hope (more sanely) for different results. Some advice I gave Michael and Sedona when they were doing the first Sedona Fire album (just released, by the way, and I w

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Netarts Post-Mortem...

Netarts Christmas show was good. Audience appeared to enjoy the stuff; there were a few people there who knew me, and a couple who’d heard me play before, but most of the crowd were new. The Netarts Community Club is a small place but it was full. And I got paid! I hadn’t expected that. Tips, too. It was actually the best-paid gig I’ve had this year (which isn’t saying much for this year, I know). No CD sales from the Netarts show, and no new names for the “joelist”—but there were t

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Netarts Christmas Show Setlist...

Finished the setlist for the Netarts Christmas show Dec. 20 (Netarts Community Club, 7 p.m.). They wanted all Christmas songs. They’re going to get: Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer (Elmo & Patsy Shropshire)—fast pop White Christmas (Irving Berlin)—slow two-step Santa’s Fallen and He Can’t Get Up—fast bluegrass Blue Christmas (Hayes & Johnson)—slow, bluesy two-step Welcome to Hebo Waltz—fast waltz Even Roadkill Gets the Blues—slow two-step Another Crappy Christmas (

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Soul Searching...

Soul searching (where did I leave that dang thing?)… It appears precisely none of the city-manager jobs I put in for are going to pan out, and I’m told by the experts that shouldn’t surprise me; I’ve been out of the business too long, and the “market” assumes I have forgotten everything I know. I haven’t—but as in songwriting, the market is always right and I have nothing to say about it. I will have to do something else for a living—provided someone is willing to hire me to do something else

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About Writing Christmas Songs...

Watched an instructional video on “How to Write Christmas Songs.” (It was free. Wouldn’t have watched it otherwise.) It was annoying in part because of the mechanical approach—it assumed all you had to do is write down a bunch of words and phrases with the right imagery, string them together, and voila! Instant Christmas song! I realize a lot of people do sit down to write deliberately (and I’ve always been impressed by their ability to do that). There are numerous organized exerci

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Tonic Lounge Setlist (&c.)...

For the Tonic Lounge Dec. 28, I’ve got a maximum of 12 minutes. That’s four songs if (1) I’m playing solo (no lead breaks), and (2) the songs are short and (3) people don’t clap too much. (I can ask them to limit their applause. I’m sure that’ll go over well.) How about: Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes?—slow & sleazy Dead Things in the Shower—fast two-step The Abomination Two-Step—fast bluegrass Pole Dancing for Jesus—slow, sleazy Gospel Three of the four are

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A Few Things...

A few things… I’m procrastinating—it is cold outside—but procrastinating really is one of those things that by rights should be done later. Got speakers from next door neighbor Bob that may work for the square dance caller setup. They’re not super-large but they’re as large as the ones our instructor uses—and he’s able to fill a grange hall with sound. I have Dick Ackerman’s old Radio Shack amp (that we used as the basic engine for 45 Degrees North’s amplification), and my ancient 6-cha

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Reviewing The 2011 Worklist...

I was patting myself on the back for accomplishing most of the things I wanted to do today. I was able to do so, though, because it was a short list. I have of late assigned myself way too much to do and not managed to do it. I got the new sweatshirt design done (and it was pretty good), and wore it around in public some (where it got mostly appreciative comments), tried to retrieve Wayne the songwriter’s CD from the library (which couldn’t find it), welded “Luke” the ‘puter’s hard drive rack

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The Trip To Portland...

The New Family Marimba is home; it’s got short legs, which I might want to change—but maybe not. (Squatting on the floor to play is supposed to be good for you.) I did get advice from the vendor on electrifying the thing; he’s unaware of anyone ever having done so, but he did have instructions from someone who electrified a different African percussion instrument using a fleet of little piezo mikes, connected in series. I don’t know if that would work with the marimba; one would have to mount

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Another Wild Idea...

Got an interesting proposal today. There’s an artist—songwriter, perhaps—who’s putting out an album, and is asking for, well, investors. I could contribute anywhere from $1 to $750, and I’d get a sliding scale of goodies depending on the size of my contribution. For my dollar I’d get a free download of the single of my choice, for instance, and for the $750 she’d come do a concert at my house, bar, Legion Hall, or whatever. (That last is pretty attractive.) She’s trying to raise $8,000.

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Website Thoughts...

I have envisioned the Joe Website as primarily a repository for LINKS. I want a link to the blog, links to the Soundclick sites and to ReverbNation, a link to the videos on YouTube, a link to CDBaby for online CD sales, and to the three (out of four) Retail Outlets selling the CD that have Websites of their own. I want some specific “click here for…” links, too, that can change regularly: “click here” to play a song, “click here” to play a video, and so forth. There are some “un-linky”

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2Nd Street Market Post-Mortem (&c.)...

Leftovers Day show was good. Small crowd, but I knew most of them (and also knew where they’d heard about the show). Near as I could tell, they liked all the songs. “Bluebird on My Windshield” was an obvious favorite; so were “The Abomination Two-Step” and (of course) “Pole Dancing for Jesus.” “Hank’s Song” made ‘em think (good), and they liked “The Occupation Song,” which continues to surprise me—I’m not that happy with it, but it’s the audience’s opinion that counts, not mine. Jane’s

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Happy Thanksgiving...

Breaking news, first: I’ve been asked to play Eric John Kaiser’s Songwriters Showcase at the Thirsty Lion Pub in downtown Portland, Tuesday Dec. 6. They want Christmas songs (it’s St. Nicholas’ Day), and at this point I can give them five: I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas—slow & sleazy Santa’s Fallen and He Can’t Get Up—fast bluegrass Christmas Roadkill—slow two-step Another Crappy Christmas (Don Varnell)—fast quasi-pop I Want a Man for Christmas—rock ‘n’ roll I n

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About That Digital Revolution...

Good news, maybe, from one of the cities where I’ve applied for the manager job. I’m in Tier Two (those are the people who will be considered if the Tier Ones—the people they really want to interview—don’t work out)—and the Tier One candidates mostly haven’t worked out for one reason or another. So I may hear something soon. Or not. I still haven’t applied for any more city manager jobs. I figure there’s no point. I will concentrate on doing something else. One evening’s practice wit

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Relay For Life Summit (&c.)..

All in all, a good trip to Portland. I got a lot of encouragement from the employment consultant, and new leads to follow. “Justin” the big desktop PC got fixed (bought him a keyboard as a “welcome back” present). Got new business-card software, T-shirt transfers, and T-shirts. Got to look over the square dance caller’s equipment—I think I have a lot of what the “job” requires—and he’s interested in teaching me! (He’s teaching another caller-wannabe, too.) We’ll get together after Thanksgiv

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Leftovers Day Setlist...

Setlist is done for the Leftovers Day show. We have: SET ONE (11 songs): Pole Dancing for Jesus—slow & sleazy Gospel Santa’s Fallen and He Can’t Get Up—fast bluegrass Hank’s Song—deliberate two-step Welcome to Hebo Waltz—fast waltz Hey, Little Chicken—slow & sleazy quasi-blues Bungee Jumpin’ Jesus—mod. tempo Gospel The Occupation Song—ragtime Tillamook Railroad Blues—deliberate blues Santa, Baby (Javits, Springer & Springer)—slow, sleazy quasi-jazz Abominat

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Vignettes...

The truck has brakes now. Considering how they feel (the stopping, and all), I don’t think it really did before (with a standard transmission, it’s not like you use the brakes much). The brake job cost so much money I’m probably committed to keeping the truck for a much longer time than I’d planned. I didn’t make it to Manzanita for their little weekly “Occupy” demonstration (gotta watch that gas expense, now), but I still might be able to get footage of the “Occupy Portland” encampment.

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Square Dance Calling? (&c.)

Trip to Portland next Friday; bunch of “next time I’m in town” stuff to do. The big Dell desktop still needs to go to a Dell repair place (if they want to charge too much money, though, I’ll either postpone doing something or do it myself). There’s an employment consultant I promised to visit, and I’ve got to go by a music store. I’ll be in Portland because the next day (Saturday) is a big Relay for Life meeting there (and as the local entertainment chairman I need to be at the meeting). I’l

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"jedi Pigs Of Oz"...

Draft script for the Wizard of Oz puppet show is done. Tentative title: “JEDI PIGS OF OZ.” With our all-pigs, all-Star Wars characters cast: Princess Leah as the girl, Luke as the Zombie Scarecrow (who needs a brain), Darth Vader as the Tin Man, Chewy as the Cowardly Wookie, Hansolo as the Great and Powerful Wizard, and Yoda as the Wicked Witch of the West. One new character: sassy Glyn the Good Witch, who’s trapped inside a balloon and can’t get out. (So we can use a balloon and Karen does

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Music Video Of "the Occupation Song"?

People seem to like “The Occupation Song”—I played it at both the Tillamook Library and the Bay City Arts Center Open Mike, and it got a good response both times. Guess it’s time to record it. Folks at the library wanted me to make a music video of it, and that’s possible to do, too. I always want to incorporate new techniques into each new video and this one’s no exception. This time I want to try a variation on the “green screen” technique I saw used in a video of one of Gene Burnet

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A Gig, A Play And An Insight (Of Sorts)...

A gig! Well, sort of: the 2nd Street Market called, wanting me to play one of two dates the end of November (I picked Friday Nov. 25, the day after Thanksgiving). Nice that they called, wanting me—I much prefer that to me soliciting them. 2-hour show; unpaid, of course (the Market has no money, and won’t for a while). I can do two hours easily on my own, but like I told them, I’d rather have company, and I’ll enlist some if I can. That’ll affect what I (or we) play, but not much. They have

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