Practice with Band No. 2 (we have got to get them some names) went real well. Jeff (lead), John (bass) and Dick (harmonica) work really well together. It helped, I think, that I’d given all of them CDs with the songs (helped, too, that Jeff and I have played a lot of these in our Wednesday nights at the tavern). They’re excited, and so am I. I’m comfortable advertising the concert, now that I’m sure we’re going to be good. We’ll have time for a couple more practices before the Big Concert.

Yes, there are oodles of possibilities for this band. I’d probably best not think about them. I have a tendency to build up hopes to the point where they’re easily dashed. We will just see where it goes, and not think too much about it.

Poster distribution next couple of days. Every business in Garibaldi and Bay City, plus the city halls and libraries in both towns; the Chamber of Commerce, newspaper, city hall, courthouse, and businesses whose people I know in Tillamook (a surprising number, when I think about it); then, four more towns up north, plus another newspaper, the high school and the Recreation District. Two monthly newspapers out of the area that cover promotional, touristy-type things in this area will get e-mailed copies of the poster. I’ll do everything possible to blanket the area—and see if I can spot efficiencies that’ll make it easier to do next time around. Handled properly, there will be a next time—maybe a lot of next times.

Two folks who need to hear about the Bay City concert from a future-gigs standpoint are the new manager of the Recreation District and the fellow who does the booking for Neskowin Valley School’s Harvest Festival fundraiser. I want to hit both of them up for benefit concerts for their respective outfits.

In addition, I’ve got the few hundred people on the “joelist,” MySpace and now Facebook to notify (the concert is only 2-1/2 weeks away). Most (though not all) of those folks live out of the area, however. They may be voices of encouragement, but probably not bodies in the hall.

UPDATES: Designed a new poster, this one for the Wednesday nights at the tavern (Jeff suggested billing it as “Live Music/Open Mike/Jam Session,” to cover all possible bases); took less than half an hour to do it, so I haven’t lost my touch. I could charge the same price I did 15 years ago for this stuff, and still make money if I did enough of it. One of the businesses I asked to post the flyer is one I’d solicited some advertising work from, so this is a way to show them what I can do.

Sent “The Cat with the Strat” off to the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn. for their 2009 “sampler” album. It’s never been on a record, and it’s almost impossible to perform in public because of all the sound effects.

There is one extra copy of the “Broken Record” CD (I must have miscounted), so I sent that to Just Plain Folks’ Brian Austin Whitney with a suggestion it be auctioned off as a fundraiser for the organization. All the participants in the project (except for Albert, who did the mastering) are JPF members, and JPF is reportedly losing a couple of big “sugar daddies” that are pulling out to save money

UPCOMING: I’ve got a Saturday slot at one of the Southern Oregon Songwriters Assn.’s summer concerts (it’d be nice to put together a band for that), and that June 26 paying gig at the Garibaldi Museum. This week, there’s music Wednesday at the tavern, the Friday Night Group at City Hall, and Saturday at the Library. I just might manage to keep busy.

Joe