The Deathgrass CDs are here! Opened one up and listened, and yes, DiskFaktory really did record it, and they did their usual very good job. We got a salable item, here. Next step (well, a few steps from now)—sell this puppy. Got to make back production costs.

Today, copies go out to some radio station DJs that have expressed interest in listening to it (and maybe playing it on the air), and a music publisher and a record distributor I’m in touch with who have also deigned to listen. I’m sending off as well the “sales stock” to CDBaby—I signed up yesterday for their online sales. They’ll get a 40% cut ($4 out of $10), but they’ll take care of the shipping—and it may be an easier way for folks out of town to buy it, especially if they’re using a credit card. If they order it from me direct, they’ll have to send checks, and I will tack on $2 for shipping and handling (which won’t completely cover it, but it’ll help).

Next step: scheduling and organizing the CD Release Event. I want to have it at the Arts Center, but will have to check dates and also make sure the band is available. I have some retail outlets in the area to talk to, too, about carrying the CD. I’d like to have an outlet in every little town in Tillamook County; we are, after all, The Local Band. It’d be nice to tell the venue owners having our CD in stock will bring customers in the door, but I don’t know that for sure. I can give them a fancy poster to hang in the window, though. If they act like it’s special that they have the Deathgrass CD, maybe others will think so, too.

I got to be in a reader’s theater at the alternative school in Tillamook (since it’s reader’s theater, no rehearsal, but I did get advance copies of the scripts). “We need an old guy,” I was told. “Would you be the old guy?” I was an “actor” in one play, narrator in two others; plays were written by the kids. What the drama teacher does is bring in “professional” actors from the community to read the plays, from TAPA and the Arts Center (and I’m in both). Edgy stuff (and very well-written): the plays dealt with child and spousal abuse, child abandonment, prostitution to make ends meet, gangs, and drugs. My favorite: two sisters who make a pact, one to give up heroin, the other to give up guns—so they plan their next robbery using grenades… One presumes a lot of the subject matter was drawn from real life—and if so, these kids have had quite a life.

Got word that Deathgrass is on the agenda for Garibaldi Days—Saturday, July 30, 3 to 4 p.m. That’s Gig #2 for Concert Season (we’re also on for the Rocktoberfest in September). Not too early to get the word out—I want to pack the place. (I’ve been asked if we’ll have T-shirts. I suppose we could. I have the ability to make them.)

Downloaded to the Arts Center’s Mac the open mike video from the older of the Arts Center’s two cameras. I haven’t touched the new camera yet—the older camera was doing “static” work (the new camera was doing zooms, and closeups, and the like), but the video and audio of The Impromptus’ set are pretty good. Candice’s rendition of Lange & Twain’s “Still the One” and Kathryn’s performance of her own “Desperately Sinking Into the Sea” both came out nice. On the two I did, my guitar is too loud (and it’s way too loud on “Pole Dancing for Jesus”), but I’d be tempted to keep “Armadillo on the Interstate” just for the “heavenly chorus” of Supremes-style doo-wop during the “tragic part.” And of course, the thunderous applause. (People do keep telling me how good we sounded.)

Joe