A riddle. What’s new and 23 years old? My truck! Paid for it and picked it up a day after insurance advised the crashed Thunderbird was a total loss (mostly because of its age) and they were sending me a check. A small check, but it’s enough to buy the truck—a 1986 Toyota Nothing Special, with lockable canopy (good), standard transmission (real good), a little rust (not good), the little engine that Toyota made for years and years and years (real, real good). Even has fishing rod racks, rifle racks, and a moose sticker on the back window (all good). Definitely a country boy’s truck.

And no frills at all. I am tired of electronic froo-froo that stops working. Here I have no electric windows, no electric doors, no electric seats, no automatic seatbelts, no power steering, no power brakes, no Oriental voices making Zen statements at you like “The Door Is A Jar.” It has a primitive radio, that I could care less about—I never turned the radio in the old van on once in three years. Not expecting the critter to last forever, but if I get a few good years out of it, I’ll be satisfied.

That’s what’s taking me to southern Oregon Sunday for the job interview in Trail at the fish hatchery on Monday. Three mechanics (only one of whom works for the car dealer) have assured me it’ll do the trip without hassles. One said she wished she’d known the truck was for sale, ‘cause she would have bought it (and would have paid more money than I did). So I guess we’re as okay as we’re gonna get.

Derek Hines has posted “I Wanna Come Back as a Stripper Pole” (music and recording by me); URL is http://www.soundclick.com/share?songID=8168331. This is one I’d like to submit to the Burlesque Show folks—I think it’d be a good addition to the show. It would even make a good dance number (with a pole, of course).

Raw footage from the Sept. 26 Burlesque Show is online at the Pirate Satellite TV video gallery. There are three pieces, and the URLs are http://www.stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=185931960, http://www.stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=185932054, and http://www.stickam.com/viewMedia.do?mId=185932722. I haven’t watched the videos all the way through, so I don’t know if they incorporate the entire show, which was over two hours long. Edited video is reportedly coming, but it may take a while—I have done video, so I know how much time these things can take.

I haven’t done a video myself in weeks; doing it “French style,” the way I’ve been doing it, is a time-consuming process, and hard even for the unemployed to find time for. I could wish for a usable Webcam, but like the new soundhole pickup I need for the guitar, that’s not in the cards. It’ll be another week, I think, before I can film Rufus again with the digital camera—I want more and better footage for the video of “Me and Rufus, and Burnin’ Down the House.”

I have struck out about everywhere in the search for a lead player for the “Rocktoberfest.” The only good news is that “Doc” Wagner, my former dentist (and the best harmonica player I have ever met), is interested in playing with us—but he can’t do it Oct. 10 because he’ll be out of town. He wants to do future shows with us, though, and I sure will take advantage of that. One more person to try before I give up.

John has suggested we might be able to pull the concert off as a trio, if both he and I can do extra fills in between the lyrics; I know that’s possible (I have done it myself), but I’ll have to be a lot better practiced. For me, that means playing a lot more, so I’m thoroughly familiar with the material. We’ll also need three additional songs for the set—ideally, ones that require little or no lead break. This’d be a good opportunity to try “When I Jump Off the Cliff I’ll Think of You”—nine verses, no chorus, and doesn’t need any lead breaks at all. Tentatively, we’re going to practice Saturday night. Music at the Tillamook Library Saturday afternoon, and at the Wild Goose in Ashland Sunday night. I’m off to a good start for playing a lot before the gig.

Joe