Imprinted thongs are NOT cheap. $7.17 each from the outfit that advertises on MySpace, minimum order of 24 (that’s a whopping $172.08, way too rich for my blood). I probably have to do something different. How about a sticker (maybe a 4-inch circle) that could be pasted on a generic thong? I could maybe get thongs in quantity through my daughter, who’s working at Ross’ Dress for Less. Could get the stickers when I’m in Salem next Monday for the job interview (yes, I have one of those, too—State Dept. of Revenue).

It would be fun to have thongs for the 22 August concert in Central Point. Could toss some out into the crowd, and donate a couple for the Southern Oregon Songwriters raffle. I need to get more CDs pressed before then, too. Biggest need is for those “slim-line” cases, which the big retailers seem to not be carrying any more. I like to package the CDs in those so I don’t have to print a cover—just the label.

Another song this morning—just a throwaway, I think, for one of those online contests. They wanted a hook consisting of two words that rhyme; somebody had to suggest I do “flat cat,” of course (I seem to have a Reputation), but I did “snails’ trails” instead. I’d been wanting to do something about the Antarctican zombie snails ever since I suggested them for a song title (I hadn’t “done” snails yet, and it felt like it was time). So now we have, for what it’s worth, “The Antarctic Trails of the Zombie Snails: A Love Song.”

The music is trying to come out somewhere between “Me & Rufus and Burning Down the House” and the Southern Pigfish classic, “Bedpans for Brains,” and I’d like it to not be too similar. Maybe if I did it in a different key? Forcing myself to play in a different key without using a capo makes the fingering/strumming come out a lot different sometimes. Alternatively, I wonder if it’d be possible to do it in a minor key? I don’t do minors very often.

I have had one suggestion that I keep to the original idea of the zombie snails as something evil and haunting, rather than focusing on their sex lives, and that’s doable; if I did that, I’d want the music upbeat and happier-sounding, for contrast. It could still be in a minor key. It’d almost be a Jewish folk dance if I did that.

Does the setlist for the Museum concert need to be revised? Based on what went over well at Garibaldi Days, I think I’d like to do:

Dead Things in the Shower (fast two-step, in C)

Armadillo on the Interstate (slow & sleazy, in C)

Bluebird on My Windshield (fast bluegrass, in C)

Tillamook Railroad Blues (deliberate blues, in D)

Things Are Getting Better Now That Things Are Getting Worse (mod. fast two-step, in C)

No Good Songs About the War (slow two-step, in C)

For Their Own Ends (folk-rock, in E)

Eatin’ Cornflakes from a Hubcap Blues (mod. slow quasi-blues, in C)

Welcome to Hebo Waltz (fast waltz, in C)

The Frog Next Door (deliberate blues, in D)

I’m Giving Mom a Dead Dog for Christmas (slow & sleazy, in C)

Duct Tape (mod. fast two-step, in C)

Nothing that we haven’t practiced, in other words—and all of them things we played last Saturday, and that were well-received by the audience. If we’re lucky, we’ll have one chance to practice this week—and we might not be lucky.

This weekend is the North American Jews’ Harp Festival, too, in Bay City, and I’ll try to attend as much of their stuff as I can. First priority is the Museum gig Saturday night. There’s music Friday night at City Hall, but the Jews’ Harp Festival is scheduling a jam session later the same evening, and I’d like to go. Music at the Forestry Center Sunday. It’s shaping up to be a busy week.

Joe