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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 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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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If a clod like Ralph appreciates good music expertly curated . . . I expect that you'll be copacetic with everything, right?
I said right?
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.
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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!"?
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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.
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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.
I turned on the Internet stream of my high-school radio station this morning just in time to hear the DJ mention that this spring, they're kicking off WBRH's 45th anniversary celebration.
Wut?
In 1977.
S***.
IT ALSO HAPPENS that I have a birthday coming up in a few days. It would appear that I'm no longer 18, much less 16.
It would appear that I'm 45 years older than 16.
S***.
That would explain that when I walk by, I fall to pieces. A little help here . . . I've fallen, and I can't get up.
Well, that kind of sets the scene for this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Expect some music from when I was 61 years younger than I am now . . . and 39 years younger . . . and 47 years younger . . . and 51 years younger . . . and you get the gist here.
And that's a very good thing. It was a very good year. All of 'em.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Does anybody really care?
Do we go forward or backward?
Personally, I'd go with a lot. It's that good.
And that's good enough, because it's the Big Show. It's as simple as that.
Period.
I said period.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Well, it's time to drop the needle on another stack of hot wax on the Big Show, Daddio.
That used to mean something, and it says nothing young about me that I know what it used to mean. Man.
That incomprehensibly said, it's another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. As per the norm, it's another good one.
Right on.
I am copacetic with the lingo, for I am a groovy dude. Get it? Groovy, as in hot wax on the record machine.
Forget it. Let's just drop the needle and get on with it. The times are too dark to go on without some music to get us through.
Find joy where you can -- the message of the day on the Big Show.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. (Click.)
Be there. Aloha. (Click.)
Be there. Aloha. (Click.)
Be there. Aloha. (Click.)
Be there. Aloha. (Click.)
Be there. Aloha.
The other day, a Russian warship demanded the surrender of a tiny Ukrainian outpost on a small island off the coast of Odessa. Or else.
The radio response of the 13 soldiers stationed there? “Russian warship, go f*** yourself.” Those were the last known words of the soldiers before the shelling began and their lives ended.
We live in a chaotic world, and malefactors abound. Fascism and tyranny are ascendant, particularly in the United States, which has many Vladimir Putin wannabes. Thus, those last words of the Ukrainian martyrs are, today, a rallying cry for those of us who love freedom, seek decency and hate authoritarianism.
Vladimir Putin, go f*** yourself. Donald Trump, go f*** yourself. Tucker Carlson, go f*** yourself. American Nazis, go f*** yourself. MAGA nation, go f*** yourself.
Here in Nebraska . . . Gov. Pete Ricketts, go f*** yourself. Gubernatorial candidates Charles Herbster and Jim Pillen, race-baiting fascists both, go f*** yourselves. No retreat, no surrender.
Like Russian missiles slamming into apartment buildings in Kyiv, such American fascists represent high explosives aimed square at American civil society. At our very soul. That these charlatans call themselves "Christian" makes the offense all the more grievous.
The brave defenders of Ukraine, outgunned though they are, show us all how to respond to tyrants and their evil doings. We fight. That's the underlying spirit of the Big Show this week. It, really, is the underlying spirit every week.
It's just that we do what we can . . . with music. Good music. A diversity of music. And we all know what the fascists think about diversity.
Well, they can go f*** themselves.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
You know how your parents told you that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?
Today's subject on 3 Chords & the Truth is American corporate capitalism.
I think you'll like it.
That pretty much covers everything, so you can get to listening now.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
See the difference? To the world, the humdrum world, you seem a bit off-kilter -- a blur, perhaps. But to you . . . you look mahvelous. You feel mahvelous. You are mahvelous.
Crucially, the music is mahvelous. It doesn't matter if you can't spell marvelous. That's because you, on the Big Show, are mahvelous. And the world just can't keep up.
That is the world of 3 Chords & the Truth.
It's the world of infinite variety, great music you can't hear just anywhere . . . and a host celebrating yet another day he's not in the federal penal system. What's more mahvelous than that?
I'll wait while you decide. It shouldn't take long.
Now go listen to the show. It's . . . well, you know.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
We're gonna have us some legitimate musical discourse.
NOTE: We have ways of making you like this episode of 3 Chords & the Truth.
Uhhhh . . . we're all patriots here, right?
I said . . . riiiight? Excellent.
See, discourse is good.
Yeah, it's a great show. The best show. You wouldn't believe how good the show is this week.
It is some serious musical discourse. Or else.
As a matter of fact, I have a peaceful, easy feeling about the whole shootin' match.
NOTE: No Mike Pences were hanged during the course of the Big Show.
It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
