3 Chords & the Truth: No. 200

First, in October of '06, there was this little thing called the Revolution 21 Podcast. Serviceable, but the name was pretty generic.

Then, on Jan. 11, 2008, something happened to the podcast.

It got bigger, and it got a new name -- 3 Chords & the Truth. Four years, nine months and 10 days later, here we are.

3C&T 200.

To rip off the sentiments of the Grateful Dead, what a long, strange trip it's been.

TODAY, the Big Show is what it always has been, only more of it. More freeform. More eclectic. More audacious. More unique. More of a musical revolution for the 21st century.

And your Mighty Favog hopes you're having more and more fun. He certainly is.

This week, on 3 Chords & the Truth No. 200, we start off by greeting the arrival of autumn. Yay! I mean, when you start off a program with John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman's rendition of "Autumn Serenade," you're starting off at "special" and then aiming for the heavens. Then again, that's just the kind of deal the Big Show is.

Of course, there are attendant problems with this approach to a music program. At the top of the list -- particularly after a show like No. 200 -- is "How the hell do we top that?"

COME BACK next time for 3C&T 201 to find out.

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

Big Nebraska sky

Hey Mom, been looking for time to write
Yeah, I’m getting by all right
How’s Dad? Did he get that East field plowed?
Used to be done by now
Out here it gets cold at night
But the stars are a welcome sight
To me

I pretend it’s the big Nebraska sky
Like the picture in my mind
Is the wind still rollin’ across the plains?
Please say it’s still the same

Follow the sun as it goes
Nothing but endless rows

-- Nebraska Sky

Steve Gulley
and Tim Stafford

Levon Helm, 1940-2012

I am old enough to remember when there was only one "day the music died."

This, by God, has been the week the music died.

First, we learned Levon Helm -- of The Band, Levon Helm and the RCO All-Stars and his later years of "Midnight Rambles" -- was near death. Then Dick Clark died suddenly Wednesday at 82.

And now, just a day later, Helm has died, too.

The music dies more and more often these days, at least if you're someone my age. But like the savior of the world from a garden tomb, it always rises again, so long as we have our records and our CDs and a decent radio station here and there.

Levon Helm has found his release from this vail of tears, which he once brightened with his music. And which he brightens still.

Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine.
Et lux perpetua luceat ei.
Requiescat in pace. Amen.

We don't know what we've got till it's gone

It's easy to forget the music

Amid a radio landscape marked by "downsizing" and consultants, generic playlists and stations threatening to sue their listeners, it seems to be about everything but the music. On an Internet fractured into a billion subcultures, interest groups and -- yeah, this is about right -- tribes, it seems to be about nothing other than a virtual Tower of Babel.

It is what it is; we are who we are. And everything -- everybody -- is off key in this world of discordant notes. It's not about the music. And then you see this:

Levon Helm, the revered multi-instrumentalist and singer for the group the Band, is in the final stages of cancer, according to his family.

A heartbreaking note appeared on the musician's website Tuesday announcing that he is terminally ill:

Dear Friends,

Levon is in the final stages of his battle with cancer. Please send your prayers and love to him as he makes his way through this part of his journey.

Thank you fans and music lovers who have made his life so filled with joy and celebration… he has loved nothing more than to play, to fill the room up with music, lay down the back beat, and make the people dance! He did it every time he took the stage…

We appreciate all the love and support and concern.

From his daughter Amy, and wife Sandy

SUDDENLY, we are reminded of the music by its absence. It's the story of life.

As Joni Mitchell put it:

Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
Till it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

OR. . . perhaps you might prefer Don McLean's take:

I met a girl who sang the blues
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before
But the man there said the music wouldn't play

FRANKLY, I prefer to curse the passage of time and the ravages of cancer and culture. I prefer to not look in the mirror. I prefer to delude myself that I'm still 18 and my future is an endless horizon.

But we can't do that forever, now, can we?

Godspeed, Levon. And thank you.

3 Chords & the Truth: Warm . . . and cool

Fall. Finally and fully.

That sums up the weather here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska, and that kind of sums up the vibe on this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Not too hot . . . stretches where it's pretty cool.

Then again, if cool music is the criteria, maybe every edition of the Big Show is fall-like, then.

This week, we start off with the extremely cool jazz stylings of Mr. Tony Bennett, and we go from there, making regular stops at rhythm and blues, doo-wop, rock, alternative, avant-garde jazz and country.

AND WE TAKE a look back at the fathers of alt, R.E.M., upon the occasion of their hanging up the guitars and drum sticks after a 31-year run across the modern-rock charts. It's a tribute; it's cool . . . and it's going to blow you away when you least expect it.

Did I mention this week's edition of the Big Show is cool, just like a sublime fall night on the Plains? I may have.

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

Happy Labor Day

Pete Seeger



Arlo Guthrie

Harry Chapin, 1942-1981

Harry Chapin's been gone 30 years today.

Even after all these years, that's a damned hard pill to swallow. I wish to associate myself with these remarks in the Chicago Sun-Times:

To mark the anniversary, I listened to “Greatest Stories Live ” again. It holds up well. Though I skipped, as I always do, the final song, “The Shortest Story,” an excruciating dirge for a baby starving to death in Africa. The thing about Chapin is, some of his music is indeed hard to take; if you think the hits are downers, you should hear the more obscure stuff, like “Burning Herself.”

But that doesn’t make it bad. He was a man who deeply cared about matters most ignore. When he died in his little Volkswagen Rabbit, it could have been an irony lifted from his songs: Chapin was on his way to do another free show — half his concerts were for charity. No wonder hip folk despised him: He lived the life that they only paid lip service to, pinning on a ribbon and calling themselves bighearted while Chapin gave away half his income.

The music stands up. His music is less dated than some of Bruce Springsteen’s, because it was never current to begin with. Anyway, listening to his song “Circle,” watching the morning sun reflect off Metra cars in the train yard heading downtown Friday, I thought Chapin didn’t really die at 38. Harry Chapin lives on, as much as any artist can.

3 Chords & the Truth: Enraptured

While Harold Camping and his Family Radio devotees have been preparing to be caught up to Jesus in the sky today, I've been working on this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth, just in case.

I sincerely hope you find the program . . . enrapturing.

And if I'm still around, and you're still around, come Sunday we'll have us some fun.

And if I'm still around, and you're still around, and the Rapture-ready folks aren't anymore come Sunday, next week's edition of the Big Show will be broadcast via the facilities of KYFR, 920 on your AM dial, Shenandoah, Iowa.

Being that Mr. Camping and Family Radio won't have any use of KYFR anymore, we will be returning that frequency to rock 'n' roll for the duration.


I'VE EVEN got a slogan: "Rock around the clock while the world goes to pot." That's because Jimmy Buffett already took "Why Don't We Get Drunk and Screw?"

It's not like we'd have anything to lose, being that eternal doom already awaited.

Anyway, enjoy the show . . . for whatever time we all have left.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there (or not). Aloha.

A musical salve

Gwyneth & Monko, the San Francisco country-folk duo, kinda reminds me sometimes of Nanci Griffith's wonderful work of the late '80s -- if Nanci had been hanging out a lot with Lucinda Williams.

Or maybe I should just say it's as if Lucinda Williams had Nanci Griffith's voice. Or something highly complimentary.

Aw, hell. What I'm trying to say is this is good stuff.



Thank you, Hear Nebraska for turning me onto this. After that Flaming Lips thing yesterday, it's a much-needed salve for my musical soul.

Truth > fiction? Almost always.

One of these clips is not like the others . . .

One of these clips just doesn't belong,


Can you tell which clip is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?

Did you guess which clip was not like the others?
Did you guess which clip just doesn't belong?


If you guessed this clip is not like the others,
That's it's not from A Mighty Wind,

If you guessed Bill Daily was taping a pilot,
Lincoln . . . '75 . . . KOLN,

Then you're absolutely . . . right!

With profound apologies to Sesame Street

3 Chords & the Truth: Summer's last blast

Think of this episode of the Big Show as the last fling of summer. It is Labor Day weekend, after all.

But it's more than that.

It's a party, a celebration of all that's ending -- summer, for one . . . can't you feel the first chill of fall in the air? But around these parts, here in Omaha, we've also just had a hell of a wake for our old ballyard, Rosenblatt Stadium.

WE DID our crying Thursday night at the last game -- an Omaha Royals win over Round Rock -- and now, what with the holiday and all, we at 3 Chords & the Truth just want to party like it's . . . Labor Day.

Duh. What'd you think I was going to say? 1999?

No thinking allowed this week. And after last week''s pensive edition of the show, it's just time to jam. And groove. And tap your foot.

Party on , Garth. And try not to get sunburned.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Heck of a job

It's five years down a flooded road from Aug. 29, 2005.

Katrina is gone. Her effects live on.

New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are recovering. But the Crescent City is 100,000 people lighter than she used to be. About 1,300 of those folks are still dead. Dead because we can't competently build levees in America.

Dead because Brownie didn't do such a "heck of a job" after all.

Dead because some Americans are more important than other Americans.

Stone-cold dead. Killed by social Darwinism cloaked in "freedom."

THIS WEEK, 3 Chords & the Truth remembers the fateful events of half a decade ago. This week, the Big Show pays musical tribute to the victims of our national incompetence.

This week, on this episode of the Internet's best music show, we put it all together in song. And we ponder. And we remember. And we honor those who were lost along the way.

Yeah, I have something to say about the last five years on this week's 3 Chords & the Truth. You might find it to be worth a listen.

Of course, the music's worth a listen -- maybe more than one listen -- every week on the Big Show. It's right at the top right of the blog -- you can't miss it. It's also here . . . in case you've been slow to take the hints.

THEY SAY music is a healing thing. Well, we'll see.

Join us this week as we remember . . . and heal, all in song.

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

* * *

OH . . . one more thing. Of course, you remember "Brownie" -- Michael Brown of FEMA bungling infamy.

He lasted in his job running the federal disaster agency about a week after New Orleans went under. And "Heck of a job, Brownie" has entered the national vocabulary as a phrase meaning, "God, what a f*** up."

Well, all you need to know about America today is that "Brownie" isn't living his life out in repentance and selfless service. He's not out there making reparation for the damage his bungling did to untold thousands, if not millions, of people.

No, "Brownie" -- illustrating the "new moral normal" in these United States today -- is out there profiting off of the notoriety that comes from being a spectacularly flagrant f*** up.

He's a talk-show host on Clear Channel's KOA radio n Denver. Getting paid the big bucks to tell us all what to think.

And this week, he's in New Orleans. For the anniversary.

It's a heck of a job . . . if you can swing it.

3 Chords & the Truth: All you need . . .

. . . is love.

But there's a catch.

Love is a verb.

Download 3 Chords & the Truth for details . . . and some fine music. That is all.

Oh . . . except for this last thing about the Big Show. . . .

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The water's fine!

Dear folks,

Hope things are going well back at 3 Chords & the Truth! Am having a great time on this mental trip to the Bahamas.

The water is fine, the beach is pristine, and I'm doing my own musical thing here! Nobody looks askew at me when I play wild, crazy, improbable collections of all kind of music -- because here on the beach, in the Bahamas, everybody's free to do our own thing, baby!

And I'm a-doin' it! You can make book on that.

You just wouldn't believe the fineness going on here by the ocean, in the Bahamas of my mind.

Sweet!

I MEAN, all these crazy artists are here -- like, people who would NEVER play on the same bill -- and they're having this amazing jam session on the beach outside my cabana. OMG!

Really . . . wish you all were here!.

Hello! This is the Internet, people . . . you can join me on my mental trip to the Bahamas! WOOT!

Did I mention the water's fine?

Anyway, gotta go -- time to play some more tunes! So join me on the Big Show, won't you?

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

Oh, wait. "Aloha" is Hawaii, isn't it?

3 Chords & the Truth: We all sprawl

It's the scene of the crime.

It's the place we longed for -- the place to get away from it all. The place to be an individual just like the Joneses, with whom we must keep up.

It's the adjustable-rate American Dream, the one where we lose ourselves as we lose our way, and the neighbors can't help because -- frankly -- we don't know them all that well.

It's the hour commute of our discontent. It's where we come to know poverty can be more than a lack of disposable income. It's where we have everything and have nothing.

It's a way of life we're finding we no longer can afford, fueled by resources we're running out of.

It's Suburbia . . . and we're taking a musical look at it this week on 3 Chords & the Truth, just in time for the release of Arcade Fire's excellent new album, The Suburbs.

What does it all mean? Well, it depends.

Download the Big Show, put on your musical thinking cap and see whether you can sort it all out. Or just turn off your brain and rock out -- it's totally up to you.

Really.

LET'S SEE . . . what else we got going on on this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth? Well, lots, actually.

We go under the covers, and you can use your imagine to decide what that's all about, because I ain't giving it away here. You'll have to listen to be sure.

And . . . what else? Let's see, we also go all the way back to 1949 to see what was on the radio back then, as we look for the roots of rock 'n' roll in there somewhere.

Sound like fun? Yeah? Then what are you waiting for? It's up there on the audio player, and it's here, too.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Wake us up next week

If you're wondering what happened to this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth . . . there isn't one.

We're taking the week off. As you can see from this picture of my assistant Scout, we're tired.

As you also can see from my assistant Scout, it's impossible to find good help that works for dog treats.

We figure the Big Show will be back next weekend, and we also figure that it just might blow your mind.

It already has blown Scout's.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there next week (or listen to the archives now). Aloha.

Lâche pas la tomate, mon nèg

May, June, July . . . well that took long enough.

The first tomato of the season, that is. Yeah, it looks like it's going to be another one of those too-cool years where the tomatoes make late and get ripe later.

That's how it went last year, and when we finally started to get a bunch of ripe tomatoes, the blight hit. Wiped out most everyone's crop hereabouts.

This year, we've had precious few really scorching-hot, perfect tomato weather days, but it looks like we're getting a decent number of fruit on the vines. So far, too, it looks like the blight is being held at bay.

(Yes, it's extremely difficult to type with your fingers crossed. Knock on wood. And where's my damned rabbit's foot?)

On the other hand, the jalapeños seem to be doing fine. I've already picked a small mess of them. A couple of those went into a bottle of red wine vinegar to make hot sauce for the mustard greens in the bunny-proof wheelbarrow bed.

Ah reckon that's about it for the Revolution 21 farm report. I'm your Mighty Favog reporting.


P.S.: The headline? A pun probably understood only in Quebec or south Louisiana, based on "Lâche pas la patate," or "Don't drop the potato," which is a colloquialism for "Hang in there."

And no, "mon nèg" has no racial connotation whatsoever here -- it's a Cajun term of endearment. For what it's worth.

3 Chords & the Truth: Was he stoned, or what?

This episode of the Big Show seeks to answer a single, simple question. Was Rusty stoned, or what?

He hadn't been himself lately. Normally, he would be the life of the party, telling jokes and flirting with all the women.

Tonight, though, he seemed different. Introspective. He kept putting this Joan Baez album on the record player, and listening over and over again -- deep in thought.

RUSTY, normally a leisure suit full of laughs and hijinks . . . piss and vinegar, got a little weepy talking about Janis Joplin. Wondering about the music of her former beau, Kris Kristofferson.

Yeah. He used the word "beau."

It's the pure-dee 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all.

We asked him to sing that "La Vie en Rose" thing he does, but he said he wasn't in a bistro-y, chanson-y kind of mood. He was hitting the Early Times pretty hard.

I mean, you saw him -- was Rusty stoned or what?

Man, I sure hope Mary was driving home -- if Rusty was behind the wheel, it'll be "Book him, Dano" time.

That boy -- there's four letters for that boy . . . D-R-N . . . U . . . D-R-A . . . . There's five letters that spell that boy's name -- S-T-O-N-E-D.

I DUNNO. Listen to the Big Show right now and let me know what you think.

Hey, babe! Hit me up again with a double of somethin', doll!

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

(Thud.)

3 Chords & the Truth: The poor Omaha mall!

If a certain teen-age heartthrob is any indication of "how we ball at the Omaha mall," I'd rather watch paint dry.

But Twitter says this is da bomb, trendingwise, so it must be fab.

Or . . . maybe it's time for America to overthrow the running-dog teenybopper mindlessness and return whathisname to performing in the annual talent show at some fresh suburban high-school hell.

Maybe it's time to rise up against a level of adolescent crap that makes Donny Osmond look profound.

MAYBE it's time to dig deeper into the music -- maybe it time to try music for a change -- and "trend" over to the Big Show, otherwise known as 3 Chords & the Truth.

What do you have to lose? It's not like 3 Chords & the Truth could be any worse putrid than how Justin Bieber "balls" at the Omaha mall.

Save America's children. Eschew the suck. Rebel by playing the good stuff -- loudly.

It's only Western civilization that lies in the balance. Your choice.

I'm not bitter or anything. No sirree. Not me.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Crank it up!

The last time I posted a "WBRH episode" of 3 Chords & the Truth, it was an accident.

When I finished putting that particular program together back in February, it struck me that one of the musical sets sounded a lot like what we might have done at the radio voice of Baton Rouge High School 3o-something years ago. Or something like that.

This "WBRH episode" of the Big Show, however, is entirely on purpose -- as in, "If I could bring the WBRH of old into the present day . . . and then do the afternoon rock show there again, what would I do?"

THE ANSWER is simple: Something a lot like this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Of course, that's a lot like most editions of 3C&T, but not exactly.

If I had a shift on my high-school radio station once again, there's probably one or three things I do here I couldn't do there. But after I'd had a while to work on 'em . . . who knows?

This week, it's the spirit of '78, updated and plopped down in July 2010, right here on WBR . . . er, the Big Show.

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