Goodbye Mark Crowley... There's a "Vacant Chair"

This week's Jeffy Music Monday is turned over to an old song from the 1860's performed by Kathy Mattea. Thanksgiving is approaching and it was Abraham Lincoln who established it as a National Holiday. A way to be with family when the Civil War was tearing the country apart.

This was the first ever Thanksgiving song and tells of a family's "Vacant Chair" at their table as a brother was lost fighting the war.



I am losing a brother this week too, albeit not as permanently...


This weekend we had a farewell "Pub Crawl" for my good buddy and member of my "blog family" (though he swore to whatever pagen Gods he worships he would never read the dang thing) Mark Crowley.

Mark, along with his significant other Katherine are leaving Southern California for the home of Outlaw Country and all great live music, Austin, Texas...and I'm jealous as hell.

The usual suspects for Pub Crawl fun showed up. Preparing for our drunken march at "The Steamy Grotto/House of Whacks/Jeffy's apartment below are (l. to r.) Mark, Katherine, my nephew Scott, Mark's mother Kathy, the lovely backside of Naomi "Nay Nay" Barraza and Action Frank...

Below l. to r. Scotty, Kathy, (can't get enough of Naomi's back), Frank, Kelli "designated driver and probably eternally miserable" King and Mike Crowley...

As we hit lovely downtown Huntington Beach, the sun set on our party, but we didn't go down just yet.

We were all there for food, drinks and to say goodbye to one of our favorite people and got to know Katherine (a newer member of our family) a little better.

We wish them all the luck and happiness they deserve.

I'm gonna miss ya, ya big dumb ol' softie of a mook!

Talk to you soon.

Show Bid'ness and The Economy: A Goofy Tale of Woes!

"Show me da money!" I guess I'd say if I felt like beating a dead horse. Here's a tale of life outside of show bid'ness.

Regular readers here know I like to make noise on my guitar and like to every so often make up songs on my own. This is called "writing songs" to most...I humbly just make up stuff that rhymes.

Wayyyy back in 2001 the company I work for had a talent contest at their Christmas party. A "Gong Show" type of thing actually. I wasn't going to enter the contest because I'm a sensitive artistic type of guy and was sure there weren't enough folks at my company to appreciate the high-brow humor and subtle nuance of my craft.

Then they announced there would be cash prizes and I decided it was not beneath me at all to pander.

And so I did.

I made up a song called "Christmas Time at OCB" (OCB is the company I work for, but for the sake of relativity in my story, insert your company name) and is was about as filled with inside jokes about our industry and our company's president and CEO as you can get.

The crowd and the judges loved it and I was honored with 1st prize. Like Loudon Wainwright III said "Shakin' hands with the devil ain't as bad as it seems." and I forsook my lofty artistic knuckleheadedness for good old commerciality...

...and was awarded a $1,000 cash prize. Other than the fact that those big foam-core backed checks don't fit well into ATM machines it was great! My brush wit' Show Bid'ness!

I then opted to go back to my bohemian roots and have fun with banging on the guitar and caterwauling for friends and family and neighbors...whether they liked it or not.

Somewhere along the line my nephew, Scott Campbell got into real show bid'ness. That's him below during one of our shared birthday parties. His birthday is the 14th of August and mine is the 8th and damned if some one's gonna spoil 2 weekends celebrating with us!

He appeared in a small independent movie a couple years back and did a scene where he was to play the guitar and sing a song. The only part I'll really take credit for in any of this story is that Scottie was inspired to learn to bang on a guitar after hearing me make noise on one...I'm proud to say that I helped pay forward the fun that can be had doing this.

During the filming, he decided to play a different song with every take. On one take he did a song made up by his old Uncle Jeffy called "A Phone Call We've All Made" alternately titled "The Telephone Song". For anyone who may have missed this universal broken hearted love song, here's my version.



Bring a tear to your eye? I thought it would.

Anyway, to make a short story long, in the editing bay the director decided to use the take with this song in it for the final cut of the movie.

I spent 9 months or so receiving e-mails and phone calls from lawyers on both coasts trying to convince them that they could have the right to use this made-up song in the movie at no charge. The movie was a little $300,000 indy film and I'd be proud to see my nephew up on screen singing something that I was gonna write even if they didn't pay me.

Besides the real fun would be to one day be walking down the street and hearing some stranger humming the dang thing. THAT would be cool.

I did work out that they only had the rights to use it in conjunction with this film at no cost and that I was the sole publisher and would receive credit as such.

Well the movie, after a long delay was finally released straight to DVD this week. Here it is.

After months of e-mails and stacks of pages signed, I got a call from the production company last month. It was time to reimburse me for my efforts.

Giving up on telling me for the unpteenth time that I wasn't seeking pay, I just folded and confirmed my address and waited to see what would happen.

This happened.

Don't get all jealous now...shooooooooot...anyone could negotiate like me!

The Brothers Crowley and Co., Nay Nay, Kelli and Frank all ran out this last weekend to celebrate my windfall!

I of course threw down the base of the cost from my $1 payday, everyone else filled in the rest!

I don't understand the why's a wherefor's of all this, I can just assume that there's some legality that says that even if I sign 27 contracts saying it's for free, they have to pay at least a dollar to prove acknowledgment.

And I got a copy of the contract stating this.

That's right...Uncle Jeffy's in the movies.

I gotta say though, over the course of 10 years the value of a song can drop 1,000%, from $1,000 to $1...times are tough all over.

Next time though I'm gonna take the advice of this anonymous "Jeffy's Angel"...

"SHOW ME DA MONEY!"

Ode to My Blog

Mike and Mark were on the bunk couch
Playing some video games,
So I adjourned to somewhere else
I didn't find quite so lame.

I walked along through grey, ugly streets
Full of "real life", drab and drear
And decided to go to where I belong
Where dwell all that I hold dear.

I stopped down under a pink neon sign
And I knew I was once again home.
The Drink Hole, bastion from societies ills
And good setting for this Poem.

Jeffy's Angels met me at the door,
Filled my heart and pants with glee.
The Juke box was playing a John Prine song ,
Humphrey Bogart was on TV.

Another TV had Fleischer Popeye cartoons,
The Three Stooges were on the next,
There were no mindless sports and no mooks
No...all the customers had necks.

The bar was split up into factions,
Different but not really apposed.
Jesus at one end, FSM at the other
While Rusty checked the run in her hose.

Frank "The Douche" was at the bar
Saving for me a stool,
So I stepped in where the company was warm
But the air still fresh and cool.

The juke kept on playing all my favorite stuff,
Clark, Snider and Shaver all sang.
And all round the bar, for our reading enjoyment
Comic books and old strips, they did hang.

Rev. Will and Scotty finally got there
And then the beer did flow.
Mike and Mark left their games and drifted in
With Kelli and Nay Nay in tow.

The cold, dark real world is locked outside
I have no time for that.
All the things that you've seen inside this blog
Are what keep me happy and fat.

I'd give up all my earthly goods
Every physical thing, leave dead.
If I could but live with only all the things
That are Inside Jeff Overturf's Head

-fin-

Recently I've been fortunate enough to gain a few new readers and followers of this blog. I thought I would get them caught up to speed on some of the characters and settings, factual and fictional (though the line is often blurred) that pop up here during my ramblings.

I'm not conceited enough to believe that you new readers would go back and re-read all my rambling posts...just conceited enough to write myself a poem. =D

See y'all tomorrow.

The Dan Band - now I'm a "Concert-Going-MFer"

Now I'm feeling all "Hollywood Rock Star". We just went to the Todd Snider concert last weekend and at the last minute we found out my new favorite band, "The Dan Band" was coming to Anaheim this week. So off we went!

My buddy's Mark Crowley and Naomi "Little Sissy Nay Nay" Barraza were my posse.

Here they are relaxing pre-show in The Grove Theatre's "Terra Rosa Room"

My new favorite picture: Me, Naomi and her verrrrrrrrry warm and soft left breast. Mmmmmm.

For those of you still uninitiated to the music stylings of The Dan Band...do yourself a favor and enjoy.

Take off on Beyonce's "Single Lady":

Florence "Mrs. Brady" Henderson joins The Dan Band for Christmas:

Michael "American Idol" Johns joins The Dan Band:



Ah, there was beer, music, love and bro-mance in the air.

This is what happens after a night of Beyonce and Abba music apparently.

Hope you enjoyed it...if not for The Dan Band's take on it all, you'd never hear this putrid drek on this blog.

Merry Christmas Dan and the Band. It was a fun spontaneous night had by all!