Monday, August 15, 2005
My Right Hand - A World Premiere
For those who are interested, this is post #200 on the Globex Corporation Newsletter. I started this blog on 31 December 2004 and have tried to post something new every day. That hasn't always been the case, and a few weeks ago it started getting a little sparse. It's not really a chore, but sometimes it's hard when I sit down to write and have nothing to say. On the other hand, sometimes those are my best posts. I'll keep plugging away. It is still fun, always has been, and I'll keep doing it until it's not fun any more.
Open mic was interesting tonight. I got a call from TSA just before I was about to leave saying that he and Dave were working on a poker table and he might be late to the open mic or maybe not make it at all. I was hoping he'd make it since we didn't get the chance to play on Wednesday due to some difficulties at his work. As it turned out he was unable to make it tonight either. Wednesday, man, Wednesday.
A little after I arrived at Cheers I saw my mom walk in with a friend of ours, my dad followed soon after, then my sister came in a little after that. Now they were in three seperate cars, but all ended up at the same place. Funny how that stuff works out. I won a T-shirt, but gave it to Sandy because it was exactly like one I already have and she had commented that she wanted one. Shawn tried to make me take a keychain, but I told him I had a plan for the shirt.
As it started to look more and more like TSA wasn't going to show, I started thinking about what I could play by myself. Shawn offered the use of his guitar, I had a capo in my oversized novelty harmonica case, so I could do anything I could play well enough to do in front of people. My folks left early as they're old and have to go to bed about the time the sun goes down, that made things a little easier as far as choosing what to play. I started off with I Know All The Presidents in Order. It was the first time I'd played it in a bar which was a little strange, but the people who were paying attention seemed to enjoy it. I followed that up with Two Condoms which I haven't played solo in a really long time. Geez I miss having a good guitar player carrying me. It went over well as usual and I was particularly pleased that I remembered how the bridge goes. I know that seems odd for something that I wrote, but I play it so seldom that I forget how to do it on guitar sometimes. My Right Hand (a Love Story) was after that, the premiere of my newest song. I probably wouldn't have tried that if my mom was still in the place, but she was gone, I only had to deal with my sister and Sandy, I can deal with that. I really shouldn't do that one by myself as it has the barre chords in it which I don't play all that well. Something I didn't forsee was that the I couldn't see my hand well enough to to get down to the Em7 chord while wearing the neck rack. I got it every time but it was sloppy. Again, those paying attention seemed to enjoy themselves, which in a perverted way is kind of the point of the song. I did Vibrator Dependent as a finale. After I was done playing I thought of lots of nice songs I could have played, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood to do that.
Had a discussion with Mike last week about novelty songs. I realize that I'm turning into a novelty songwriter which I don't have a problem with, but I realize the danger of that, novelty songs seem to have a pretty short shelf life. A Martha Stewart Christmas was a pretty cute little song, for example, but I can't really do it anymore. One it's a Christmas song, two it was specific to a certain year, but most importantly since it's really just a joke, once you hear it that's sort of it. I can see that happening to Two Condoms, it's a cute song, but people will only let you tell them the same joke so many times before they grow tired of it. The same thing will happen to My Right Hand. If this is the direction I'm going to take in my songwriting, I have to really write songs at a much quicker pace. I've gotta have lots of fresh material. The good thing about the novelty songs, though, is that they work on new audiences. There were a few new faces in Cheers tonight, so Two Condoms worked on them like it did on the regulars the first couple of times. I guess I can write lots of novelty songs or just write a few and find lots and lots of places to play. Either way, I guess I found what I write best, it's just a matter of volume.
BOJ
Open mic was interesting tonight. I got a call from TSA just before I was about to leave saying that he and Dave were working on a poker table and he might be late to the open mic or maybe not make it at all. I was hoping he'd make it since we didn't get the chance to play on Wednesday due to some difficulties at his work. As it turned out he was unable to make it tonight either. Wednesday, man, Wednesday.
A little after I arrived at Cheers I saw my mom walk in with a friend of ours, my dad followed soon after, then my sister came in a little after that. Now they were in three seperate cars, but all ended up at the same place. Funny how that stuff works out. I won a T-shirt, but gave it to Sandy because it was exactly like one I already have and she had commented that she wanted one. Shawn tried to make me take a keychain, but I told him I had a plan for the shirt.
As it started to look more and more like TSA wasn't going to show, I started thinking about what I could play by myself. Shawn offered the use of his guitar, I had a capo in my oversized novelty harmonica case, so I could do anything I could play well enough to do in front of people. My folks left early as they're old and have to go to bed about the time the sun goes down, that made things a little easier as far as choosing what to play. I started off with I Know All The Presidents in Order. It was the first time I'd played it in a bar which was a little strange, but the people who were paying attention seemed to enjoy it. I followed that up with Two Condoms which I haven't played solo in a really long time. Geez I miss having a good guitar player carrying me. It went over well as usual and I was particularly pleased that I remembered how the bridge goes. I know that seems odd for something that I wrote, but I play it so seldom that I forget how to do it on guitar sometimes. My Right Hand (a Love Story) was after that, the premiere of my newest song. I probably wouldn't have tried that if my mom was still in the place, but she was gone, I only had to deal with my sister and Sandy, I can deal with that. I really shouldn't do that one by myself as it has the barre chords in it which I don't play all that well. Something I didn't forsee was that the I couldn't see my hand well enough to to get down to the Em7 chord while wearing the neck rack. I got it every time but it was sloppy. Again, those paying attention seemed to enjoy themselves, which in a perverted way is kind of the point of the song. I did Vibrator Dependent as a finale. After I was done playing I thought of lots of nice songs I could have played, but I guess I just wasn't in the mood to do that.
Had a discussion with Mike last week about novelty songs. I realize that I'm turning into a novelty songwriter which I don't have a problem with, but I realize the danger of that, novelty songs seem to have a pretty short shelf life. A Martha Stewart Christmas was a pretty cute little song, for example, but I can't really do it anymore. One it's a Christmas song, two it was specific to a certain year, but most importantly since it's really just a joke, once you hear it that's sort of it. I can see that happening to Two Condoms, it's a cute song, but people will only let you tell them the same joke so many times before they grow tired of it. The same thing will happen to My Right Hand. If this is the direction I'm going to take in my songwriting, I have to really write songs at a much quicker pace. I've gotta have lots of fresh material. The good thing about the novelty songs, though, is that they work on new audiences. There were a few new faces in Cheers tonight, so Two Condoms worked on them like it did on the regulars the first couple of times. I guess I can write lots of novelty songs or just write a few and find lots and lots of places to play. Either way, I guess I found what I write best, it's just a matter of volume.
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 12:05 AM 
