I got invited back to the Thirsty Lion next Tuesday (Jan. 17)—short notice, but I can do it. I’m in Portland Tuesday nights for the caller class. The only thing that’d get in the way would be a job interview, if I do get called for one. This will be my eighth time there, I think. What to play? I like to do different stuff each time. How about:

Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues—slow & sleazy quasi-blues

Spend the End of the World with Me—ragtime

Hank’s Song—deliberate two-step (starts slow)

50 Ways to Cure the Depression—folk-rock

Crosses by the Roadside—slow two-step

Meet Me at the Stairs—fast bluegrass

One song off the Deathgrass album (“Crossesâ€); that and “Meet Me at the Stairs†will give me the opportunity to push the CD. With these, I think I’ve covered all the standard bases—death, lost love, betrayal, religion, and dead animals. As usual, we start out with something slow and sleazy, because this is a tavern, and I seem better able to get tavern-goers’ attention with something slow and sleazy—and then we alternate fast-moving and slow-moving songs.

Got one new song on the list (“Spend the End,†which has been popular). I don’t know how many—if any—of the rest I’ve played at the Lion before; all but one of my previous Thirsty Lion setlists were on old Alice’s hard drive, and are now lost. It may not matter; except for host Eric, the audience may be different (or may not remember—it is a tavern, after all). Without breaks—and all of these songs work okay solo—those six should total the 25 minutes I’m allotted.

Poster and Rap are done; next, notices. Notices, like the poster, are set pieces—all I need to do is change the date.

An idea for the “Spend the End of the World with Me†video. We are told regularly that the Doomsday Clock is inching (or whatever clocks do) closer to midnight. Could we just film a clock for three minutes? I’d need one with an obvious second hand—maybe the Minnie Mouse clock?—and I’d want to film it close to midnight, of course (or adjust the time so it looked closer to midnight): maybe four minutes to midnight, so folks would be in suspense when the song ends. And then I’d just overlay the lyrics. Would that be interesting enough for the video? The only way to find out is to try it.

Good group of musicians at City Hall Friday; with music at the library on Saturday “on hiatus†for the forseeable future, a lot of the folks who were getting their music “fix†there are coming back to Garibaldi. From me, they got “Turn Your Radio On,†my favorite Gospel song (I love doing it when Carol Ackerman is around to harmonize), “Spend the End of the world with Me,†and “Pole Dancing for Jesus.â€

There was one elderly fellow in the audience who said he was a retired rockabilly guitarist, and promised to come next Friday with his guitar (which I understand is a J-200 “jumbo,†like mine); I gather he was famous, once—which begs the question whether he still knows anybody in The Industry. Perhaps it doesn’t matter. I may have given up on becoming famous anywhere except locally, like I’ve given up on other things. I won’t stop doing what I’m doing, and what happens, happens. But I no longer expect miracles. In the same vein, I’ll not obsess any longer about that interim city manager job I put in for. If they call, they call—but I won’t wait on them.

Joe