Singer/Songwriter/Storyteller Michael Gaither

File this under “careful what you ask for”. My friend Edie and I thought it would be fun to ask a few folks what she should name her new baby donkey. So we ran this contest, with a “Got Mule?” t-shirt going to the winner. And I ended up spending more than a few hours sifting, sorting, and spread-sheeting (yes, it’s now a verb) all the submissions.

And the winner is…Molasses (or “Moe” for short) Plus, it works in the meaningless bonus points for having “ass” in the name. This was actually suggested by six different people, but JoAnn K (of Muldrow, OK) got her entry in first and gets a “Got Mule?” t-shirt. Jeff S (Santa Cruz, CA), Gail H (San Jose, CA), Pete K (Redlands, CA), Lisa M (Orlando, FL), and Misty P (Azle, TX), who sent in “Molasses” after JoAnna will get a few MP3s as a sort of runner-up prize.) Big thanks to everyone who entered. This was a fun little exercise (spread-sheeting notwithstanding, of course.) I’m sure I’ll do something like this again in the near future.

Baby Molasses
In the meantime, here’s a big, blocky list of all the names that were submitted:

DennASS, Jack (Ass), Kong (as in “Donkey”), Wyatt, Donkey-Hotey, Spring, Preciass, ASStronomic, ASSmygrass, Saint NickolASS, PicASSo, Elvis, Blackie, Buddy, SASSafrASS, CompASS, No HASSles, ClassicAss, Cassanova, “Holly’s Ass, Hollyson, Li’l Bit, Jehosephat, Assan, Cass, Jack, Kassi, Henry, SassafrASS, Buck, Buddy Holly, OBSIDIAN, Jassper the Jackass, Cassper, cASSidy, Sassafras, Baby, Assinus, Sassy, Boji, Vegass, Victoriass, Assimillion, Assifeller, Spyglass, Chassis, Asstronaught, Grasshopper, St. Subasstian, Passtor, Fred ASStaire, FASST Talkin’ Frankie, MavelASS, Pinnochio, Dodge, Eugene, Trigger, El Culo Negro, PhineASS Thomas (“PT for short”), Feassta.

Edie W., one of my favorite equestrian folks from back east, emailed me this morning with the proud news that last Saturday evening she and her husband became the owners of a brand new male donkey. He’s the third generation for their stock. His mother is Holly. (She was born near Christmas a few years back.) And his grandmother is Sara. This little guy’s name is…well, that’s where you come in.

(More pics of Holly and baby)

Edie wrote me and said, “you’re the writer. You think of something. Or better yet, run a contest.” So we’re running a contest. Think of a name for this cute little one. Email me your ideas, and I’ll forward them to Edie. And after a vigorous and completely subjective and slanted voting method (Edie picks the name she likes), I’ll send a “Got Mule?” t-shirt to whoever thinks up the winning name. (Bonus points for anyone who can work “ass” into the little guy’s name.)

I’ll take submissions for a few weeks and then announce the winner in my next newsletter. (Sign up here if you’d like to receive it.)

A webmaster’s work is never done…particularly when you’re a musician who’s just *pretending* he’s a webmaster. (Yeah, I wear a lot of hats, and I don’t even like hats.) But I digress.

I took a look at the Gallery page recently and realized it needed a little updating. So I updated it. Now you can see pics from the “Dogspeed” CD-release party at Jansen Music in January and some of the entries from the “Dogspeed” photo contest (entries came from as near as across the street and as far away as the Phillipines).

There are also a bunch of shots from our appearance last summer on Michael Nesmith’s VideoRanch and the December show at Don Quixote’s Music Hall. If you were at the show, you might see yourself in this batch of photos. And speaking of Don Quixote’s, we’re back there on June 18th.

Now where’s that other hat…

This April makes five years that I’ve been running the open mic night at the Wooden Nickel Bar and Grill here in town, so I thought it fitting to talk to award-winning songwriter Arthur Godfrey (no relation to the original). (Arthur started the open mic way back in the “early 2000′s”. He ran it, along with local songwriter Sherry Austin, before I took it over in 2004.)

Originally from Boston, Arthur is based in Nashville these days. In “Songs and Stories” #54, Arthur explains what brought him to the west coast and how running an open mic allowed him to meet other local musicians. He gives some great tips for folks who might be working on their first songs and also tells us how he got the name “Arthur”.

Clickto hear “Songs and Stories” #54 (time = 19:59, size = 22.9 mb)

In “Songs and Stories” #55, Arthur tells the stories behind (and plays) “Richard’s Song” and “Broken Wings” (from his new record, “Broken Wings”).

Click to hear “Songs and Stories” #55 (time = 16:25, size = 18.8 mb)

CD Giveaway Want to win a copy of “Broken Wings”? Listen to these episodes for details.

The new “Dogspeed” record will be available next month. As on the last CD, this is another Americana story collection, with two songs centering around an animal motif. Last time it was mules. This time it’s dogs. Being a dog person myself, I know that dog owners love showing off pictures of their dogs even more than parents love pulling out photos of their kids. So I thought a little contest was in order.

The rules are simple: Send me a photo of your dog that I can eventually post onto my Gallery page. When “Dogspeed” is ready, I’ll make a list of all the folks who entered, drop their names into a hat, and draw names to give a couple away (CDs, not dogs).


Maggie: Entry #1

11/24/08 Update: I’ve had submissions from a close as across the street from my house and as far away as the Philippines. As of this morning, there are 28 dogs, one cat, and a coyote up on my Facebook gallery. When the contest ends, I’ll copy everything over here on michaelgaither.com.

And if you want to get an idea what “Dogspeed” sounds like, there’s a sampler and a few full-length cuts (“Roselle”, “Where’d the Time Go?”, “Dad Built Roads”) in the player on my Music page.

Keep them cards and letters (and dog pictures) coming.

Subscribe to this blog

www.michaelgaither.com