this gay mad whirl

[kip_w]

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I've been working on finishing a book I've been setting up since forever. I do changes, then the author decides to make more changes. The editor wanted to send it to the publisher like yesterday, but I got the changes to her and haven't heard back yet, so I'm just holding the line or something.

Been going to the Y with Sarah. She stopped going to swim lessons, so we got our money back for the rest of the session to cut our losses slightly. She has been going with me instead. She still wanted to pass the deep end test so she could go down the slide on weekends. Tried once and almost made it, then she didn't seem to want to try again. Tonight Cathy took her, and she took it and passed. She also plays in the adventure center, where there are always several kids willing to run around and climb stuff.

Cathy keeps getting better. She came back from ALA on schedule, or maybe a half hour late. She was going to have lunch with my sister, but fresh snow made it foolish for my sister to drive 60+ miles, so they talked on the phone instead. Cathy brought me back the first volume of Orphan Annie reprints, which I have been reading at every opportunity.

A restaurant Sarah and I went to had a piano, so I told them I was always looking for a place to play. More conversations ensued, I played a little bit for them, and told them what kind of stuff I do, and offered to play an hour for free so they could hear a real cross section of my material. Instead, after I tried to get them on the phone a few times, they said I could play Thursday night (next week) for money. Then a bit after that, they called again to say their Friday guy couldn't make it and asked if I felt like filling in, so I said sure and went out and bought a nice pair of slacks to wear and got a shoe shine kit so my shoes would look good. I played (and played well, I think) for two and a half hours, and at the end of the time they told me the customers hadn't really enjoyed it and asked if I knew any 80s and 90s stuff. I said I didn't, so Thursday's off.

They have a guy who does some show tunes and stuff on Friday already, so they don't want more of that. They have a guy who plays some classical on Saturday, so they don't want more of that -- apparently, there is just enough classical music to fill a two and a half hour slot.

Sarah tried again and succeeded, so I guess I have to try again somewhere else. I don't know where I'll find an audience for my cornball 60s stuff and obsolete earlier material. Retirement homes, I guess. Waffle House doesn't have a piano.
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Comments

[sarah-ovenall.livejournal.com]

what a bummer! There's a jazz duo (bass and guitar) who play Sunday brunch at a restaurant I like. I always make a request from the "great American songbook", and they seem really relieved to get requests that are in their genre. They told me most people request 80s and 90s music they don't know.

You could do the Richard Cheese thing and develop loungey arrangements for modern pop & rock tunes. The Richard Cheese version of "Baby Got Back" is killer.

[kip-w.livejournal.com]

The modern stuff is loungey. None of it was written to be performed by anybody else. There are no decent arrangements that I can find (except for Elton John, whose piano writing is exquisite, if difficult). If you don't have synth strings and a drum machine, you can't hope to match the sound of the recording in any way. The music is just a bunch of repeated and slightly syncopated chords. Half the time, they don't even put the vocal line into the piano part.