A Tale of Two Gig Posters: a Selina Martin / Tony Bardach / Minimalist Jug Band gig, behind the scenes

I can't find Erika's fucking glue sticks. 

It is 4:38 AM as I write this. I got out of bed a) to pee, b) to adjust my CPAP mask straps, which had come loose, and because I figured I would, while awake, c) wrap her anniversary present (a 1992 Charles van Sandwyk); and could d) creatively and quietly amend some gig posters for an event I am helping promote while she slept. The first three items are taken care of,  but my plans have been otherwise foiled by the complexity of her art supply area. Her studio space is not quite on the level of Francis Bacon's...

...but, y'know, it's nowhere near as orderly as MY stuff. If you wanted, say, to find my Goddo records, there is a G section on the shelf of the rock area that is easy enough to locate. Movies are another matter, organized by genre or country or filmmaker, or sometimes even actor -- because, you know, I have several Kevin Bacon movies, for instance, most of which are not directed by auteurs, but can still be grouped together, so I don't have to be going, "Now where the fuck did I put Stir of Echoes?" (I have no section for Richard Matheson adaptations), though where I do have movies Bacon is in by a filmmaker I admire and/or recognize as an auteur (Greg McLean, say), it's in the filmmaker section. 

No connection between Francis Bacon and Kevin Bacon should be inferred. 

(And yes, you are right, film fan, Kevin Bacon is not actually IN Chattahoochee, but Gary Oldman is, and Gary Oldman is in Criminal Law, which DOES have Kevin Bacon, and Oldman has no section of his own; it makes sense to ME, anyway).

(I may have to go move Chattahoochee closer to Criminal Law now).  

Sometimes more than one system of organization applies: my small selection of anime is kept in the animation section, along with The Plague Dogs and The Iron Giant and Paranorman; this section is nowhere near the live-action Japanese movies, but the Japanese anime discs have their own subsection, and the Miyazaki movies are grouped together within that subsection, too, a cluster (Miyazaki) within a cluster (anime) within a cluster (animation). The point is, the logic is more complicated than mere alphabetization, but it could be learned and understood, if one were interested. Some randomness exists, requiring memorization -- like, there is no good reason why my John Boorman section is just above my Kevin Bacon section -- but both are on the "mainstream American films" shelves (I know that Boorman is British but there is no space in the British section and, like, just how British are Point Blank and Deliverance? By the same logic I could put Chattahoochee next to Threads in the British cinema section, but Mick Jackson is not an auteur, by my reckoning, and the two films have nothing much else in common). 

By contrast, in Erika's art space -- well, obviously, there is no G section (for "glue stick") among the piles and drawers of art supplies. (She would be mortified to have them documented photographically, so I'll just leave you with Francis Bacon's studio image instead). I can find multiple roles of Scotch tape, but apparently her art supplies are not organized by attributes such as "sticky things;" there are no glue sticks with them. If there is a "small cylindrical object" section, I cannot see it. There may be, somewhere, an actual glue drawer, but having looked for it in vain for fifteen minutes, I have chosen instead to give up in the fear that, in fact, there is no order at all. Jordan Peterson would have things to say about Erika's artspace. But in truth, there probably is some order, and were Erika awake, she would find the glue sticks without much hesitation. It may just be that (trying to keep the lights out and noise down, so she can go on sleeping in the other room), the order is simply not one I can perceive at present:  "How was I supposed to know that the John Boorman movies are above the Kevin Bacon movies? Kevin Bacon isn't in any John Boorman movies! And look, why is Chattahoochee here? What's that about?" 

Anyhow, suffice to say, my plans are foiled! 

All of this relates to a gig you should go to at Green Auto on March 24th (next Sunday; you have no conflicts, I hope; that's the Eventbrite link, but also see here for the FB event page). Ontario-to-France transplant (and Dead Bob contributor) Selina Martin is headlining, coming in from Europe on a tour of the west coast; if you don't know her music, I suggest starting here, which is a charming video for a genius piece of Pixies-esque, power-poppy songcraft from her 2010 album Disaster Fantasies; it makes more sense to begin there and move forward to the more sophisticated, artful, multi-layered music of her most recent album than it does to start with the latter and move back (I felt I approached her in the wrong direction, myself). My past big interview with her is here, when I was still more or less a novice to what she does. She's great.

I haven't gotten to my gig poster problem yet, but I should also mention that Tony Bardach's newest iteration of Slowpoke and the Smoke is playing that gig, which is different enough from previous iterations that it was almost not going to be called that (it is less of Slowpoke's goofy fuck band doo-wop and more a quirky, musically varied, but more fully-realized "outsider pop" oddment that seems like something Shimmy Disc might release in their heyday). In the tradition of simplifying overlong fuck band names, removing, say, the Radicos from Los Radicos Popularos, "Slowpoke" almost ended up in the cutting room, until Tony realized -- I think -- that a band called "the Smoke" was not necessarily search-engine optimized, unless you were looking for something to inhale. And brand recognition is important too! 

By the way, my not so big, somewhat old, but still fun Slowpoke and the Smoke interview is here. 

Where this gets complicated is that -- y'see, the Minimalist Jug Band was not originally on this bill. Those of you who have seen the early-iteration gig posters for this at Red Cat, Video Cat, Carson Books or Audiopile know that a band called Yep was going to be playing, but -- after those posters were printed, Yep had to drop off; something came up (yes, variants on "Nope on Yep," "Yep is now Nope," etc., got said). But in helping with arranging the gig -- I was the guy who actually put Selina and Tony together! -- I had chatted with Al Mader, the Minimalist Jug Band, who some of you know from the LAST gig I had a hand in, with John Otway at LanaLou's.  

Al Mader at LanaLou's, onstage, with a cast of notables, including John Otway (standing at the pillar), and on the table to the right, ARGH!!, Hamm, Ed Hurrell, and Judith Beeman. I almost called her Judith "Back of a Car" Beeman but the Big Star reference is lost). 

But someone else (forget who) suggested Yep, who seemed a fine fit, and someone said yep to Yep before I even got round to suggesting Al; hence the posters getting printed initially with Yep on them. Al was fine with it, and happily displayed a Selina Martin/ Slowpoke and the Smoke/ Yep poster on the wall of the bookstore where he works - because he knows Selina, and was happy to have just been asked; I think I even said to him, "Maybe if something happened to Yep, you could still get on the bill?"

This has come to pass. So here I am, with 20-odd gig posters with Yep prominently displayed on them, as well as 20-odd gig reprints with the Minimalist Jug Band on them, because he is now the opener. Then in popping by the bookstore, I see that the resourceful Al has used stickies on the gig poster that I had already given him to put his own name over Yep's.

...which is hilarious. I took the photo just to show Selina and Tony, then realized: wait a sec, I could print this out, cut it up, and stick it on the already-printed posters over Yep's name! This would double the supply of posters I could put up and make for some amusing storytelling (which you are now in the thick of; I hope you had fun). 

Which is exactly what I came out here to do, except I've only got to the glue stick phase. So now the trick is just to wait ONE MORE HOUR -- not even! -- for Erika to wake up and get her to show me where the glue sticks live. 

Then I can go back to bed for awhile (meantime, I'm going to go put Chattahoochee next to Criminal Law, because that's going to bug the hell out of me). 

Post-script: 

Erika (who, alas, was awakened by the light from my computer screen even though I am in a distant room) quickly and easily located the glue sticks before going to work: "They're right here!" I was sleepy enough, making breakfast, that I accidentally reached for a Kirkland container of garlic instead of a Kirkland container of cinnamon and put a shake of garlic in the French toast; I had to start over, despite many Facebook friends saying I should have just rolled with it (Erika would disagree). I have now a double-helping of printed posters, a borrowed tape gun, and a plan. 

Oh, and I talked to Tony Bardach about the new project. More to come on that. Still haven't moved my Chattahoochee, though.