Showing posts with label Omaha. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Omaha. Show all posts

Saturday, September 24, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: The Think System

Here's the thing about 3 Chords & the Truth: It takes time to put together. 

You've got to pick the music. You've got to prepare the music -- clean up the clicks and pops on the vinyl, equalize the audio levels, yadda yadda yadda. Then you have to order the music so it all fits together in a pleasant manner. It's got to flow, you know? 

Then you have to talk about the music . . . and whatever else strikes one's fancy. Then it all has to be turned into a computer file to be uploaded to this spot right here. 

That's a lot of work to put on the Big Show

And there has to be an easier way. 

And that's what I've been searching for here in the 3 Chords & the Truth apocalypse bunker in Omaha, by God, Nebraska. Well, I think I've come up with something. 

This week, let's see how that works out, shall we? 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, September 17, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Chill, being

Ever feel the need to dial it back? To tone it down some? To mellow out, man?

To just chill?

Yeah, me, too. So the Big Show will this week. Yes, it will.

That's not to say it'll be moribund (stick that in your Funk and Wagnall's, pally). It's just going to be outstanding in a non-frenetic manner.

I guess I could say more, but how chill would that be? It wouldn't. It would be stretching . . . straining . . . trying too hard.

Nope. This week, we just let the show come to us. I'd recommend you do the same.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, September 10, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: In memoriam

The queen is dead. Long live the king.

The vast majority of her subjects have never known another monarch -- another head of state -- than Queen Elizabeth II. For that matter, neither has this American small-R republican.

It seems to me, even as someone steeped in our particular Yank brand of civic egalitarianism (such as it is at present), that there are advantages today to having a head of state removed from the realm of electoral politics.

THINK OF IT -- a head of state who is a true symbol of national unity, not fated to be loathed by a significant chunk of the population from the get-go. Because politics. A head of state whose entire job description is service to her -- now his -- subjects seems to be something of a miracle today.

I envy the British people, and the people of the Commonwealth, that. Especially during these fractious times.

So, today's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth is different from our usual fare. This program is a memorial to the departed queen, who for 70 years conducted herself not as just a light and an example for her nation, but for all nations.

Godspeed, ma'am. And thank you.

It's the Big Show. And it's all about the queen we all were blessed to have for so long . . . and who now belongs to the ages.

Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, September 03, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: College rock

I remember skinny ties, legal beer at 18, doing the Pogo . . . and college radio.

I remember when college radio was a force of nature. Driving the musical narrative. Making commercial radio look ever so lame.

I remember a time before commercial radio started making itself look lame. 

I REMEMBER college radio with real DJs behind real microphones, all through the night. Playing real records, before CDs -- much less computer automation -- was a thing.

I remember. 

And so does this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth

This week, we're going back to the 1980s . . . and the 1970s, with a couple of side trips to the '60s and '50s. College radio was a little freewheeling back then. 

What we do on the Big Show owes almost everything to the glory days of college radio . . . and what we learned in high-school radio, too. We just kick it up a notch for the online age. 

So join your Mighty Favog as he relives a bit of those days when he was young . . . and pogoing. It's gonna be quite the journey. 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, August 27, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Over the moon

You'll be over the moon about this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Whether you want to be or not.

By George, you will.

NASA is sending up the first, unmanned, Artemis mission to the moon this coming week, but you're going to get there first. Your space-age Mighty Favog is going to make sure of that, and the Big Show is your rocket ship.

Bang! Zoom! You're goin' to the moon!

And all you have to do is sit back and listen.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, August 13, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Psssst!


Listen.

Do you want to know a secret?

Do you promise not to tell?

Closer.

Let me whisper in your ear . . . about the show you want to hear. 

The Big Show.

It's all you need to know. And that's a plain and natural fact. 

Telling you that, at least, is no violation of the Espionage Act. And no search warrants are needed to hear that for yourself. 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Friday, August 05, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: How it's done

Alrighty then, I'm going to tell you how to make the magic that is 3 Chords & the Truth.

First, you gather up a bunch of records, CDs and tapes. Then you mix in some digital files. Place the preceding into the 3 Chords & the Truth machine. 

Put the power switch in the "on" position, then depress the "engage" button.

In a few hours, you will see the finished product in the output bin. A copy automatically will be uploaded to the Internet. 

Then, sit back and enjoy the Big Show.

These are the basics, but if I went into granular detail about how the audio magic is performed . . . well, I'd have to kill you. 

That would be bad. 

So don't ask too many questions, OK? 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.  Be there.  Aloha.

Saturday, July 30, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Uhhhh . . . OK

There will come a time during this program that you will have a serious thought pop into your overloaded brain. 

It will be a simple thought, yet profound. 

This thought, arguably, could sum up 14 years of 3 Chords & the Truth

YOU MAY question your sanity. 

You may question my sanity. 

But first, there will be the thought

At the time in question. 

It will be this, I assure you: 

"This is some f***ed up s***, but it could be brilliant." 

Welcome to the Big Show

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, July 23, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Out there

way back there then,

it was a hell of a thing

to see the poetry of e.e. cummings

who wrote

but did not capitalize.

bt thn smbdy invntd txting.

this week on 3 Chords & the Truth, we're exploring musical innovation, thinking outside the clichéd and metaphorical box, and how that just -- eventually -- became . . . music.

by the way, my shift key is feeling unappreciated right now. it's just going to have to take two Theramin and call me in the morning. but speaking of the Theramin, that's where electronic music started, and we've been coloring outside the conventional lines ever since.

kind of. well, at least the innovators have, and all innovation eventually becomes conventional, and then somebody else has to get farther out, man.

and still farther out, man.

f*** me, this is freeing, this typing with no caps. or few caps. whatever, man. watch out punctuation you're next

lol

i think you're getting an idea of the thrust of this week's edition of the Big Show. it's gonna be out there. maaaaaaaan.

it's also gonna be a hell of a ride and a hell of a lot of fun. which is kinda what we do here.

so, let's hear it for the innovators and the musical freethinkers. better yet, let's just hear them.

right here.

on this here program.

it's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.  be there. aloha.

Saturday, July 16, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: This + That = Awesome

You take some of this, add a little of that, stir well, and you end up with some kind of wonderful.

That's the genius of 3 Chords & the Truth.

This edition of said program is as good an example of that simple recipe as anything. And it's something that hasn't sounded so good since a long-haired DJ let the spirit move him -- or her -- on the FM radio before the Gods of Homogeneity killed everything with their moneygrubbing wrath.

IF YOU'RE HERE, and if you're of a certain age, you know what I mean. If you're not of a certain age, welcome to freeform radio.

Now, this week's Big Show is all about the some of this and a little of that, including a 78 RPM rarity, one of the last performances of Maj. Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Overseas Orchestra, which just might be the most astoundingly good big band ever assembled. At 50 pieces, it was a regular swing symphony.

The original 78, circa February 1946, was pretty scratchy and noisy, but the magic of modern computer technology here in the studio cleaned it up as best as possible without scrubbing it so much that it just sounded lifeless. 

There are also a lot of other gems in the lineup this go 'round, and you'd be quite edified if you stuck around to hear them all. He says humbly. 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, July 09, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Bad tidings, good tunes

Methinks I have come to be the bearer of bad tidings and good music. 

It's a hell of a thing to live in America today and be constitutionally unable to avert one's gaze from the sh*tshow, where crazy is the new normal. Welcome to my life. 

Welcome to 3 Chords & the Truth. Fortunately, you get some really good tunes along with the failure to avert one's gaze. 

COULD IT be that we're a clandestine voice of the resistance, broadcasting from deep in occupied, red-state territory? Yeah, it could. Go figure. Some days here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska, it feels like the führer is running things, and the only active resistance is from the nutters who think Herr Ricketts is being soft on humanity. 

And the anti-sh*tshow people are waiting for the American invasion to come. 

What? Well, hell.

We interrupt this program for an urgent message for Amtrak Joe: The red fox chases the blue bunny. The red fox chases the blue bunny. 

And now on with the music on the Big Show. It's extra good to counteract the extra bad times. 

Which is exactly what you'd expect from the rebel radio. 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, July 02, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Truth from Your Radio Friend

Well, this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth certainly lives up to its name.

We have a minimum of three chords, and we also have some cold, hard truth . . . from Your Radio Friend. It should be quite a ride.

The truth covers what has been going on in these Disunited States of America and where that's likely to lead us. That will not be a good place -- at all. 

Can you say fascist hellhole? I knew that you could.

And we also have a lot of great music, some of which might touch your heart and make you think. Some of it will be good fun. Some of it will be all of the above. 

That said . . . that's about all that's to be said about this go-round of the Big Show

So, sit back, turn on your favorite streaming device -- one preferably hooked up to a nice stereo system -- and get in touch with all kinds of stuff on 3 Chords & the Truth

It's hip, it's happening, and it's now, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Friday, June 17, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Ralph-tastic

If a clod like Ralph appreciates good music expertly curated . . . I expect that you'll be copacetic with everything, right? 

I said right

Now that we're clear on everything, we're good to go with another Big Show, which is a very very very fine show, with one dog in the yard, tunes used to be so hard . . . now everything is easy 'cause of you. And the 3 Chords & the Truth mascot, Ralph . . . who is  a clod, which isn't an insult but a fact, in the earthiest of manners. 

But he has a nice smile. Don't you think Ralph has a nice smile? 

And Ralph thinks this week's edition of the program is especially mud-tacular. (We're pretty sure that's a good thing.) 

So be like Ralph. Listen to the Big Show

And, yes, we've had a lot of rain here recently.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, June 11, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Under the table

These are the times that try men's livers. Because the safest place to be in America today just might be under the table. 

Can I get a "Hic!"?

In that totally practical spirit, we're gonna be drankin' this week on 3 Chords & the Truth. Thus, we're going to have some good drankin' music. 

We'll have some other good music, too, on this here soused edition of the Big Show, but let's just start with the drinking songs. 

OK? (thud)

I mean, what's the use of getting sober when the news comes on every day?

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, June 04, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Deviants all

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a . . . well, shit

America, America, God took thy brains from thee. Don't get me started on your soul. 

That, sadly, is where we seem to be as a nation as we somewhat reluctantly offer up another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. If it's not one thing, it's another.

And sometimes, it's everything at once. Well, shit.

You will have to forgive your Mighty Favog this week for a program done amid a haze of depression and, frankly, not-so-suppressed rage. Because this shit never ends.

We keep doing the same thing -- which is not doing anything -- and expecting different results. Well, the bodies keep piling up. Republicans seem to be good with that.

I am not. Maybe you aren't, either. I don't know. 

And that's where we are for this go-round of the Big Show. I may have more to say about that -- give it a listen. There's some damned fine music, too.

 It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.  Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, May 14, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Illegal in seven states

This edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is illegal in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Listen at your own risk.

Legal notices aside, it's a damn fine show this week. Lots of great music -- as always.  

Plus, you'll learn things and hear songs you had no idea about. About which you had no idea? Damn you, awkward yet correct grammar! 

Well, this show must be special; I've already used the word "damn" twice. Damn! 

Three times. 

I'd better wrap this up and let you get to the Big Show before I get banned in a couple more states. Given Tuesday's primary results in Nebraska, I may even get banned here. too. 

Uh, yeah. 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: More ump-ff!

3 Chords & the Truth -- it's the show with more ump-ff. 

And your mileage won't vary. Everybody gets maximum ump-ff when listening to the Big Show.

But you don't have to believe me; prove it to yourself. Try an episode and see just how much ump-ff can be packed into 90 minutes of a music podcast. 

You'll be glad you did. 

IN FACT, you'll probably think 3 Chords & the Truth invented ump-ff. We did not, but we do appropriate it heavily. That's why we have more ump-ff than Brand X. Or Brand Y. Or even Brand Z. 

Once you try the exquisite musical mix we present, it's safe to say that you'll never go anywhere else for your weekly measure of ump-ff. Because the Big Show just has more. More music, more ump-ff, more satisfaction at the low, low price of . . . zip.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, April 23, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Noise annoys

Noise annoys. So we don't do that here.

Instead, the Big Show goes with music -- the best music. We wouldn't want you all annoyed and stuff.

So, as usual, you can be assured this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth is not annoying. No, it's down right entertaining and stuff. 

Apart from that, I'm not sure what to say about the show. Music . . . good . . . not annoying. That pretty much covers it. 

Yep. Ima just shut up now. The subject matter has been covered. All that's left to do is for you to listen. 

Uh huh. 

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, April 09, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Reality does not inspire

As one of the selections on the Big Show says, "Reality does not inspire."

Really? I'll alert the media. Wait, 3 Chords & the Truth IS the media -- I consider myself alerted.

There are several approaches to dealing with this reality. One is falling into stupid nostalgia, where everything was better and everyone got along way back there then. I grew up in the South "way back there then," so I am immune to this approach.

The reality of the time was not so inspiring. Were some things better than now? Sure. And a lot of things were a flat-out horror show.

Another approach is to fall into a bottle. First, I no longer fit. Second, liquor ain't cheap. Third, I am cheap.

OK . . . I thought of why I do want to go back in time -- as an adult -- to the year of my birth in Baton Rouge, La. I want to go back and surreptitiously change all the "White" signs on public restrooms and drinking fountains to "White Homo sapiens."

I'd just want to see fine, upstandin' Christian white people afraid to drink water and crapping themselves in public because they wouldn't want anybody to think they were one a them queers. Still, I would be careful about complimenting aspiring young actresses by saying they had the makings of a true thespian. 

The struggle was real. Even today, that kind of compliment might get you labeled a "groomer" by the Republican booboisie.

But I've come off the tracks with my musings here.

The point here is that while reality may not inspire -- at least most of it, anyway -- the Big Show always does . . . musically, at least. Check it out. 

If you disagree, you can go around telling people I'm a Homo sapien.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, April 02, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Going all the way

 
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.
 
Let's do it. Let's listen to 3 Chords & the Truth.

What the hell did you think your Mighty Favog was talking about?

After all, the Big Show IS everybody's favorite freeform musical phantasmagoria. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's, skipper.

But first, listen to the show. You'll be glad you did.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.  Be there.  Aloha.