The suit and the truck have gotten a workout this week. Job interviews Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, in Portland (90 miles away), Pendleton (150 miles further east), and Milwaukie (90 miles again). All state jobs; easiest (and poorest-paying) is Wednesday’s job, a lowly permit tech/secretary for the state liquor-control agency, and the most challenging (and most fun) is Tuesday’s, managing a state child-support office with a staff of 22 covering nine counties. Thursday, I get to have lunch with the local newspaper publisher (his idea—I don’t know what he has in mind).

“The Dog’s Song” has gotten a lot of good attention; so, belately, has “Crosses by the Roadside,” which I dedicated to Sharma Kay. “Crosses” was panned by a Nashville publisher—one reason I hadn’t played it much until recently—but I get the opposite reaction from audiences. I am forced to go with the audiences, and guess the “Nashville experts” just don’t have a very good handle on what the public wants to listen to.

Both “The Dog’s Song” and “Crosses by the Roadside” would be good album inclusions—but not this time, I think: the setlist for the upcoming album is set, and I don’t really want to change it. I want the upcoming album to include Stan Good’s “Un-Easy Street,” too, and it and “Crosses” are both two-steps, and just a little too similar in tempo—they shouldn’t be on the same record. Next time. (Yes, I’m already organizing the next album, and I haven’t finished this one yet.)

“The Dog’s Song” is probably one for the next album, too. I would like the band to tackle it—it is definitely rock ‘n’ roll, and they like that stuff. “The Dog’s Song” is one that’s unlikely to get performed for many live audiences, but it is good (one time—and there aren’t many—where I agree with the reviewers), and I know I can sing it okay, even though it’s in an awful key.

It might be possible to pad the setlist for the second Failed Economy Show with a couple more of my tunes. “The Strange Saga of Quoth, the Parrot” is a possibility, because it is political, and does have an upbeat message of determination, and “Hey, Little Chicken” is openly about acquiring food. Could do “Rotten Candy,” too; it is, after all, about me getting fired from my city manager job in Union (I just ratcheted up the lost-love imagery to the point where you’d never guess it was about a guy losing his job). Add Stan Good’s “Gimme Couple Billion of Them Bailout Bucks,” which we didn’t do last time, and Al David’s new “Poverty Blues,” and we’d be okay, I think.

Those would replace Z. Mulls’ “The Emperor,” my “Oil in the Cornfield,” Stan Good’s “WD-40 the Economy,” and Stan Bolton’s “Glad That you’re Here,” none of which I can sing very well. (On the other hand, if we get “Doc” Wagner playing blues harp, “Glad That You’re Here” should be an inclusion; it’s a great blues number and ideal for the harmonica.)

Of course, I don’t know if there will be a show yet. I haven’t contacted my potential lead players to see if any (or all) of them are available, and that’s a prerequisite. I guess my excuse is I needed to recover from my generally depressing showing at Insomnia Coffee. I think I have now. I’m ready to perform again. I still might avoid soliciting any more solo shows in Portland; that has not worked out, and has pretty much been a waste of time and money. I may have the time, but I sure don’t have the money.

UPCOMING: Music Friday with the Friday Night Group; it’ll be the Hallowe’en show, and my excuse to give ‘em “Vampire Roumanian Babies” and “Love Trails of the Zombie Snails,” as well as Bobby Bare’s famous blues about voodoo queen Marie Laveau, which I don’t do any other time of year. Sunday there should be music at the Forestry Center.

Joe