3 Chords & the Truth: Fly, pigeon, fly

I shall share with you a scene from the week's hiatus of the Big Show. It starts with a stroll through City Hall Plaza in Chicago, a resumption -- after a 41-year delay -- of my Great Blues Brothers Tour.

 

Picture a walk-by of the site of Jake and Elwood’s last stand — along with its iconic Picasso sculpture.

 

A healthy (or perhaps, medically speaking, not) gathering of Big City Pigeons attracted my attention for a bit before I turned back to the Picasso. After a while, I was distracted by the sound of what only could be described as a pigeonado. This is similar to a sharknado, only oddly more impressive.

 

I entertained the possibility that this phenomenon might be even more impressive than what greets you weekly on 3 Chords & the Truth.

 

Likewise, I entertained the alternate possibility that this might be Armageddon, defying centuries of end-times Cassandras by starting in the Windy City. In fact, after witnessing this Avian Apocalypse, I considered this might be where Chicago got its nickname.

 

I will not pussyfoot around. There was a whole lot of flappin’ goin’ on.

 

IN THE CENTER of the maelstrom was not a cosmic cage match between the Son of God and the Prince of Darkness, but instead a little Asian lady tossing the last of a sack of rice into the whirlwind. Then, as suddenly as she appeared, she faded into the mists of time.

 

OK, that was hyperbole. 

 

Instead, she crossed the busy street and vanished into the evening hubbub.

 

Mrs. Favog and I struck up a conversation with a nonplussed bystander who explained what we had seen was, alas, not Beelzebub but instead the "Crazy Asian Pigeon Lady," a figure as determined as she is reviled by Chicagoans sick and tired of scraping pigeon crap off of sidewalks, downtown structures . . . and themselves.

 

ANGRY CITIZENS, exasperated property mangers and pissed-off members of Chicago’s Finest apparently are helpless against a determined woman and a bag of rice.

 

It's kind of similar to how radio and musical convention are helpless against the mind-blowing experience of this humble . . . ish . . . podcast, the Big Show.

 

Anyway, the fellow we talked to said the pigeon lady comes to feed the city’s flying rats every evening at 6 sharp. Also, pigeons can tell time. He noted, though, that she was a few minutes late that evening.

 

I blame climate change.

 

There is no word on whether the city of big shoulders will get serious about ending this crap — literally — once and for all with full deployment of the Chicago PD SWAT team, the Illinois National Guard, a sizable contingent of state police . . . and the fully strapped ghost of Carrie Fisher. (I told you this was a Blues Brothers tour.)

 

There also was no official confirmation that the dude who was way too happy to be considered of sound mind (or permanent address) as he danced amid — and perpetuated — the pigeonado, is, in fact, Da Screwtape.

 

Film at 11 on WBBM-TV, fortuitously positioned right across North Dearborn Street from the coming manifestation of the End of Days.

 

As you may be able to tell, Chicago is one of my favorite cities ever.

 

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

 

3 Chords & the Truth: Uh . . . well . . . um. . . .

You know the old saying, "When you have nothing in particular to say, just shut up and play the music"?

You don't?

Well, you do now. See, there's a reason you listen to 3 Chords & the Truth.

Maybe it's because I'm preoccupied with taking a week off next week. Mrs. Favog and myself are celebrating our 40th anniversary (Yes. I am old. She, however, has not aged a day.), and we plan to revel in goofing off and doing fun stuff. For a whole week.

Listen, would you want to be stuck with me non-stop for four decades? The woman has earned at least a week of goofing off and doing fun stuff. At least.

So, I'm talking about pretty much nothing, and I'm letting the music do all the heavy lifting. (As if that weren't the case already.)

It's gonna be great.

Naturally, the lack of things to say extends to describing the episode of the Big Show where I have nothing much of importance to say. So . . . so . . . so . . . so. . . .

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Rock on, man

What?

Hairy fist mush? What the hell is fist mush?

Hang on.

OK,  I turned down my almost brand-new, 48-year-old bitchin' studio headphones. What's this about fist mush?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. Merry CHRISTMAS! I thought the wall of sound had turned my brain to mush there for a second.

I see that look on your face. Don't say it, or it's no 3 Chords & the Truth for you. And you do not want to miss this edition of the Big Show.

Yes, it's that good.

Now, if you don't mind, I shall resume rockin' out. Man. Just listen to the show and don't try to talk to me when I have these things on.

Go. Get. Listen.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Ball of confusion

The ball of confusion in which we dwell is not the reason I'm just a wee bit tardy posting this edition of the Big Show.

The reason is because the LSU-Ole Miss football game was on TV this afternoon. To wit, "GO TO HELL, OLE MISS!"

And the hated Rebels did, 45-20. That was gratifying.

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. About which, I gather I am supposed to say something that will get you to listen.

WELL, Sparky, this week we acknowledge the confusion and mayhem now engulfing us in these Disunited States. That's one thing . . . which, actually, is pretty entertaining despite the subject matter. Not as entertaining as watching my alma mater beat down Ole Miss for homecoming but, then again, what is?

Also, we feature the usual musically mysterious twists and turns that are the trademark of the Big Show . . . but that's a given. It's not like I have to point that out.

On the other hand, I have to write something. To get you to listen.

On the other other hand . . . you know, I bet the prong of this here fork will fit in that electrical outlet. I'm sure o . . . lqwFGHLU;;/CF ;odij  ;oiJFWp0;92rp0    9 'p;FK''KPp;'f '[OD['i2rkjpdW'Kd'dk

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

(thud)

3 Chords & the Truth: You've still got the Big Show

 

When you can't find a friend
You've still got the radio
When you can't find a friend
You've still got the radio
Radio, listen to the radio
Radio, listen to the radio

-- Nanci Griffith

 

True dat.

Well, the radio is totally a hit-or-miss proposition these days, but in these times of war, political strife and catastrophic hurricanes, we still have the Internet.

Such as it is.

AND IN A NICE, non-fouled corner of the Internet, we have 3 Chords & the Truth. Amid everything, there's still this.

That's not nothing. Think of the Big Show as your personal pick-me-up, one that will bring a smile to your face and a tap to your toes.

Really, that's not nothin'. That's one of the things that will get you through.

And we're doing our best to help you do that. Us, too, to tell you the truth.

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

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.

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.

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.

3 Chords & the Truth: This 'n' that

I've been writing little descriptions to go with episodes of the Big Show for almost 14 years now.

And I think I'm officially to the homina homina homina stage of 3 Chords & the Truth literary development. Freeform . . . check. Good music . . . check. Eclectic . . . check. Yadda yadda yadda.

YET, I still need to say something about this week's show so you'll be inspired to give it a listen. Ain't that a kick in the head?

So, how about this?

This week, we'll cover Jesus, male prostitution, oral sex, drugs, mothers with the lust to f***, a victim of love, trouble, strange fruit and a banana republic where it snowed yesterday. Sparky, if that doesn't pique your interest, I got nothin'.

And that's all I have to say about that. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Any show for just . . . FREE!

You want a great musical deal? We'll give you a great musical deal. 

What would you think of 23 great songs -- all quality songs selected for your listening pleasure -- absolutely free! Well, your fondest desire is our stone-cold command here at 3 Chords & the Truth. 

This week, you'll get an insane number of songs for the low, low price of . . . absolutely nothing. And most every week, you'll get 90 minutes for the best listening your money can't buy for that same low, low non-price, downloaded to your digital device or conveniently streamed over the Interwebs. 

We here at Favog House call it the Big Show, and it's absolutely yours, absolutely all the time. 

HERE'S ALL you have to do, and the biggest thing you have to do, you've already done. You came here!

Now all you have to do is to click on the link, then download a carefully curated sonic cornucopia, or you can stream effortlessly by using the handy player right here at your fingertips. That's all! 

Really, how can you say no to the best bargain in music today? Forget the radio; we have radio done right, right here at 3 Chords & the Truth. And it costs you squat. That, my friend, is a deal that cannot be beaten. 

Ever. 

Are you ready for some entertainment? Some real mind-expanding stuff? 

We knew that you were. And you have to send in absolutely nothing to get what's yours. It's yours for a simple click. 

Right here, right now. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Carried by the music

some days, you're chasing your morning coffee with a can of jolt cola. 

other days, you make jeb bush look high energy. 

this week on 3 Chords & the Truth, welcome your low-energy mighty favog. be thankful i could manage punctuation, at least. 

i was going to say something clever about this week's edition of the Big Show -- look, capital letters! and more punctuation! -- but i just spent the last on my energy on random capital letters and punctuation. 

well, crap. 

i suppose the music will have to suffice in the absence of my . . . personality. you buys your ticket; you gets the ride. and how.

this is e.e. favog, signing off. i'm gonna take a nap. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The BIG Show

This week's edition of the Big Show is indeed a BIG show.

You might think you know where the music is going this week, but you'd be wrong. Surprise is a way of life on 3 Chords & the Truth. 

Now, I could tell you some of the twists and turns of this particular episode, but then I'd have to kill you. It is far safer for all involved to just find out when you find out.

That, of course, is achieved by listening. So get to it, OK?

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Lent everlasting

We're at the end of another season of Lent smack in the middle of a seeming everlasting season of Lent -- and the 'rona. 

That, at least, is how it seems here at the Big Show. I'm guessing it feels pretty much the same way at your place.

Understandably, and also given that it's late on Good Friday as we post this episode of the program, it's pretty much a Lenten kind of 3 Chords & the Truth this week. That doesn't mean it's not an excellent edition of the show . . . just kinda dialed back and thoughtful. As is fitting on the most solemn day of the Christian calendar. 

Did I mention that dialed back absolutely, positively can be great? I wouldn't want to underemphasize that. Besides, reflection is good for the soul.

That's probably what I should be doing right now instead of giving you the hard sell. For a podcast that, frankly, should be able to sell itself. So I'll shut up . . . for Lent. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Classing the joint up

I sit here in the studio listening to Juan Garcia Esquivel at ear-splitting volume, because that's what the hell I do. I love this stuff . . . but that's probably the next edition of the Big Show.

Mrs. Favog loves the "space age" of space age bachelor pad music. She's highly suspicious of the "bachelor pad" part.

Her husband turns 60 on Wednesday, so I'm not sure how much she has to worry about on that front. 

None of that, however, tells you much about this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth as we continue classing up Omaha, as we have since 2008.

Well, I'll tell you. Now that I'm a certain age, I just don't care. I do what I want -- like that wasn't already the case -- and this particular program is about as eclectic as it gets. We have a bit of everything (almost), and it's quite the ride. Strap in. 

Heck, we even have what Lawrence Welk once called "a modern spiritual." Poor Lawrence. He was neither hip nor happening, and certainly not "now." 

As I said,  it's a hell of an episode of the Big Show. 

And that's all I have to say about that. Now on to getting the first vaccine jab -- yay! -- and turning a certain age. Old age is gonna be lit. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: We got the beat

We got the beat.

We got all the colors of the rainbow. 

We got the music. 

We 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. And we still hangin' in there and holdin' out against the 'rona. While we're waiting on the miracle vaccine jab, we'll just play some really good music for you.

Truly, it's been a terrible year since the world stopped last March. The Big Show has done what we could to make it a little less intolerable, because what else can you do that doesn't involve curling up into a little ball under the covers?

Now there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and if we don't do stupid things and if we keep masking up for a bit longer, there's every chance that light won't just be the 'Rona Blossom Special. All you have to do is keep calm and listen to the music. Right here.

It'll take the edge off.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The point of it all

Somewhere, there's a point to this show.

Maybe the music is the point to 3 Chords & the Truth. (OK, obviously the music is the point to the show.) But beyond that, I mean, for this week's tunefest. 

You discuss. I'll wait. 

OK, THIS WEEK I guess the point to the Big Show is whatever you want it to be. I'm open-minded that way.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Stereo rock

I pity those who never  got the chance to be inspired by the radio -- at least inspired to do something other than storm the Capitol. 

I suppose this is yet another step down the road to old farthood, the compulsion to tell the young'uns how much better it was back when we were whippersnappers. Some of that is, undeniably, bullshit. The thing about how special radio once was -- especially that brief moment where freeform radio shined -- definitely is not.

This week, I find myself thinking of my first encounters with enlightenment, my early forays into subversion of the constipated world The Man desperately was trying to foist upon my young self all those years ago. And remembering lying in bed out at our camp in south Louisiana, which was within the range of the glorious FM signal of Rampart 102 in New Orleans, WWL-FM.

Rampart 102, named for the street where the good music lived, was a middle finger in the face of The Man. Kind of fittingly, it was owned by the Jesuits back then. And it played what my parents would call "hippie music," which was what they called it when they were in a good mood. What they called it when they weren't would make them, if they were still with us, MAGAs of the Year. 

I'D LIKE to think 3 Chords & the Truth carries the torch today for that lost moment in time -- the subversive moment, not the reactionary one. The reactionaries today have no problem carrying their own torches. Literally.

If you'd like to authentically relive the 1971 experience of kids like me, surreptitiously listening to The Music of Which Your Parents Would Not Approve, the music that would get your ass labeled an Enemy of Right Thinkin' (say this in your head with a Southern accent), you'll listen to the Big Show late at night, in bed, under the covers, with an earphone to hide your inner subversiveness from the agents of repression. 

For the full glory of the music, however, I recommend a good stereo system or listening through good headphones -- not crappy earbuds. 

And remember the days when listening to the radio -- listening to the FM radio -- could be an enlightening experience, a chance to connect with that late-night radio host, sitting with an audio board and a couple of turntables in a darkened studio somewhere in the ether, through the music. It was a supremely human thing.

It's Rampart 102 . . . er . . . 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Mostly sanitary

The Big Show, we are proud to announce, is sanitary. Sanitation has been achieved.

Being sanitary is important these days -- there's the 'rona goin' round. And we have a very sanitary lineup of music on 3 Chords & the Truth this week.

Except for that one thing. And maybe that other one. We do the best we can; it's a filthy world out there. Ask the president . . . but don't get too close. He's not sanitary.

Is this enough for you, Skipper? Sometimes, it gets hard to think of new ways to describe the Big Show. Still, I must write something -- and this is it.

So, is this enough for you, bucko?

Well, it better be. After all, the proof is in the listening, not in my blathering.

And remember to stay away from Donald Trump. Not sanitary . . . or anything else that fittin'.

That is all.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The Blues Cafe

Damn right, I've got the blues.

Damn right, I bet you do, too.

It's a blue world here in Coronavirusland, so there's only one thing for us to do on 3 Chords & the Truth. It's time to play the blues.

Fortunately, if your playlist is as broad as American music, there's lots to pick from. It's hard to escape the blues in something that expansive.

Rock? Blues.

Jazz? Blues.

The American songbook? Look beneath the surface of so much of it. Blues.

Damn right, we got the blues -- right here on the Big Show. Which is perfect for when a whole country done got the blues.

Trust us; the blues will cure your blues. At least a little.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: A tuneful light

You remember the old Merle Haggard song, "If We Make It Through December"?

Somehow, it has become not insane to wonder if we'll make it to November. That ain't good.

That can send a body into a serious funk. That can seriously harsh one's mellow. That ain't good.

Seriously, what the hell are we to do? Shine a light into the virus-loaded darkness, I guess. I mean, that's what we're trying to do here on 3 Chords & the Truth -- shine a tuneful light into this darkest night.

So, in that . . . light . . . this is gonna be one hell of a show. A Big Show. The price of admission? Wash your hands.

And keep your distance from your neighbor.

And wear a mask when you're out in public -- which you ought to be as little as possible. There's a virus goin' on.

F*** the darkness. Let's shine some musical light.

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