Right now, Concert Season looks like:

TUESDAY, JUNE 14: Solo at the Thirsty Lion Pub in Old Town Portland. Show starts 8:30; I’m on after 9 p.m. 25-minute set.

FRIDAY, JUNE 17: The Great Intergalactic Puppet Theatre (Bay City Arts Center) performs “Cinderpiggy” at Garibaldi City Hall, 1 p.m. The play will have my song “My Happily Ever After,” performed by the sock puppet band. (I wrote the script, too.)

SATURDAY, JUNE 18: With 45 Degrees North at the River City Theater, Ilwaco (WA), 7 p.m. 3-hour show.

TUESDAY, JUNE 21: With 45 Degrees North at the Pine Grove Potluck in Manzanita (OR), 7:30 p.m. 1 hour (I think). No pay, but it sounds like we’ll get fed.

SATURDAY, JULY 16: With Deathgrass (11:30 a.m.) and 45 Degrees North (3:30 p.m.) at the Wheeler (OR) Summer Festival. Both are 90-minute sets.

SATURDAY, JULY 30: With Deathgrass at Garibaldi Days, 3 p.m. 1-hour set.

SATURDAY, AUG. 6: With Dan Doshier at the Southern Oregon Songwriters’ Summer Concert, Talent (OR) Community Center. 6:20 p.m. 40-minute set; half the songs will be Dan’s, and half mine.

Either SAT. SEPT. 17 or SUN. SEPT. 18: With Deathgrass at the Rocktoberfest, Rockaway Beach (OR) Wayside. Time (as well as date) won’t be firmed up until later in June, but it’ll be a 90-minute set.

So there are still a few weekends left I could fill. The fun part? Five of those gigs are PAID. That hasn’t happened in years. I am not one of those who won’t play unless they’re paid; I think a certain amount of one’s performances need to be for charity and/or publicity purposes. But in a capitalist society, where value is expressed in monetary terms, it’s nice that someone is willing to assign a dollar value to what I (or we) do.

Gave away two more CDs, at a meeting I was at that was trying to organize a 100th anniversary celebration for the train (the railroad finally made it through the Coast Range in late 1911, though the tracks were seriously damaged in a 2007 storm and have never been repaired). One CD went to a promoter who organizes jazz-and-blues train excursions (never country music, though I keep suggesting it); the other I gave to local railroad fanatic Pat Patterson. Pat’s favorite song is the “Tillamook Railroad Blues,” which is on the CD, and I have no doubt he’ll talk the thing up incessantly once he hears Deathgrass’ rendition.

I will manage, I think, to play music every night this week; it’s good finger-strengthening exercise. By mid-month, I need to be able to play a solid three hours without my fingers getting sore—not an easy task. The crowd at the Tsunami Grill is developing an appreciation for country music (though the only country music they’ve been exposed to is mine); they request “Pole Dancing for Jesus” every time I show up, and they know the words to “Can I Have Your Car When the Rapture Comes?” It is probably time to teach them something new. “I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas,” perhaps?

Joe