friday random elevenish – “financial reminder of your own mortality” edition
When I looked at my electronic pay stub on Wednesday morning for this week’s pay check, I noticed my bottom-line take-home was twenty-five bucks less than it’s been previously. I was concerned for a second, until I saw the notes section, which indicated that I’d moved into a new age category for my life insurance and my premium went up.
Nothing like a tangible reminder that you’re getting closer to death, huh? Whatever, I’m going to try and find wry, ironic humor in it.
In any case, this week has been better than last week; the work grind is more in the milieu of “hours of budget meetings” than “your entire efforts for the past two years have been for naught”, which I guess is an improvement.
Out of the office, I’ve gotten some decent outdoor time in, Frank the chiropractor gave my spine a good stretch-and-crack, relieving a lot of the physical signs of last week’s anxiety, made some nicely improvisational and delicious dinners, and have made some very real progress on the record; “Done” is definitely on the horizon, and I think I’m maybe going to have this thing in hand/on disc to sell to my adoring fans by the Atomacon gig
Also, I got to host the monthly open mic on Wednesday, which is always a treat that I still can’t quite believe I get away with doing and getting paid for. The crowd was smaller than usual this month, but enthusiastic and engaged. Also, with fewer folks on the sign-up sheet, we all got to stretch out a bit and play a few more tunes, as well as mix things up with some collaboration. It was relaxing and fun, though the part of me who knows my real job here is to bring business into the taproom feels a little like he dropped the ball, even if I realistically know that it’s not really all that much on me (even if I didn’t get the word out as much on social media this time), and the folks who did show definitely took advantage of the taproom’s custom.
Oh well, I’m going to try to not think too hard about it. Besides, I have another gig this weekend with the Humdingers down in Wake County, NC for the Yates Mill Park Fall Harvest Celebration. We’ll be playing a couple of sets between 1pm and 3pm, and it looks like the weather’s going to be gorgeous. I’m looking forward to it.
Nothing left to do but introduce the playlist, which has a nice mix of a couple of friends, old and new alternative, and that wonderfully quirky tune at #1, which I’d kind of forgotten about, but am already hatching plans to introduce an arrangement of into my setlist:
- “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades” – Timbuk 3
- “Donald, Where’s Your Trousers?/What Do You Do With A Drunken Sailor?” – The Brobdignagian Bards
- “Cats & Netflix” – The Doubleclicks
- “Regeneration Carol” – Not Literally
- “See America Right” – The Mountain Goats
- “Ampersand” – Amanda Palmer
- “…And Then I Died” – The Moaning Myrtles
- “Good Girls Don’t” – The Knack
- “Bad Connection” – Yaz
- “You’re My Favorite Waste of Time” – Marshall Crenshaw & The Handsome, Ruthless, and Stupid Band
- “The Killing Moon” – Pavement
- “If You Just Didn’t Do It” – That Dog
- “Chimney Fire” – Sway Wild, Birds of Chicago
- “A New England (John Peel Session, 27th July 1983)” – Billy Bragg
