This week on the Big Show, I guess we could talk and play into a big horn in the studio here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska . . . but I'm betting it'd sound bad and you wouldn't hear anything very well.
So we're using the electrical process, instead.
That means we're enunciating into a professional RCA broadcast microphone and using the best in audio and phonographic technology to bring to you the finest in musical entertainment on 3 Chords & the Truth. On the other hand, a fair amount of the music you will hear on this week's edition of the program predates the best in audio and phonographic technology. Yes, some of these folks in the mid-1920s were speaking and singing into large horns in the studio which, in turn, wiggled a little stylus into a wax master recording. If you wanted microphonic amplification, you would have to go -- wait for it -- on the radio.
In 1925, the record industry had some catching up to do. It would begin, on some recordings, on some of the largest labels, late that year. Behold electrical recordings. Some were even Viva-tonal.
NO, I don't know what that was supposed to mean. Uh . . . it's viva but it is also tonal. All I know is I want a little drink. Oh. . . . 1925.Damn.
But I digress.The point to this week's edition of the Big Showis that we're getting as far away from 2017, musically and zeitgeist-wise, as we possibly can without hiring a colonial band of fiddlers to drop in at your residence to play some Virginia reels for you. That's the deal. And we're going back, in some cases, to 1925 and big recording horns in recording studios to do it.
Coincidentally, that's also an era when record companies thought the way to compete with that newfangled radio thing was to have popular radio announcers introduce the records. On the record. WE'LL HEAR one of those, and we'll tell you what the record radio announcer went on to do not long after he was announcing records . . . on the actual record. And as crazy a notion as this is, it's no match for modern times. So there's that. So, vo vo oh de oh do and twenty-three skidoo, everything's jake on the Big Show. But don't get zozzled. That would be against the law. It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
It may have been something I ate. Still, last night I dreamed that I was Don Draper from Mad Men . . . the post- enlightenment Don Draper who'd like to teach the world to sing (in perfect harmony).
I was with Roger Sterling and my ex-wife Betty (as opposed to my ex-wife, Betty), who wasn't dying of lung cancer anymore. We were obligated to go to some stuffy occasion at some tony, modernistic (circa 1971) apartment in some newish high-rise that looked like all the other newish high-rises. That detail made it difficult to figure out exactly where we were going. Eventually, we did. And we got there.
Inspiration from a 1964 record sleeve
As expected, the affair was staid, and the guests dull. And stuffy. Fakey, even. Naturally, being Don Draper, I had a drink or three and for some reason wandered into the kitchen, which wasn't tony or modernistic. It was old, and it was a little shabby. A gal was in there, dressed like a normal, blue-collar human being -- not a wealthy poseur. She was cooking and pouring drinks. And she was dancing to the music from an old radio or phonograph, I forget which. I looked back out the kitchen door at the immaculate, expensive and quite sterile condo. I looked back into the kitchen, which wasn't any of that. I decided the door was a portal into another dimension, and the kitchen was in another world -- a more real world than where I started. Then I walked through another door on the other side of the small kitchen area, and I found myself in a garage or storeroom. (A garage would have been damned interesting, considering high-rise. Then again, alternate dimension . . . so we're good.) There, a young person was teaching an old, suspendered geezer to do the latest dance . . . to that music that was playing. I may not have known what the hell was going on, but the song had a good beat, and you could dance to it. My self-consciousness wasn't needed here, and it was all good.
WHAT DOES it all mean? Beats me -- I'm no shrink. Maybe I taught the world to sing after all. Maybe I should have taught the world to dance instead -- though if you've ever seen me dance, you'd probably tell me to stick to the "sing" thing. For the purposes of this here podcast -- 3 Chords & the Truth -- I'd like to think it's the kitchen . . . and the down-to-earth young woman cookin' and pourin' bourbon-and-Cokes. I'd like to think it's the other young person teaching the old fellow something more contemporary than the Lindy hop.
I dunno, maybe it's the geezer teaching the young'un the Lindy hop. Either way works.
Any which way you call it, however, it's not the expensive, modernistic apartment full of stuffed shirts acting like a bunch of phonies. Old Don merely endured that kind of thing, and Enlightened Don liked it even less.
And come to think of it, there's not a damn thing "alternate" about the Kitchen Dimension. Now give me a bourbon-and-Coke and a hug. Ding!
Things may look a little different around here. Not a whole lot . . . but enough.
Welcome to the new look of Revolution 21's Blog for the People. The basic format is the same, but we've given the old girl a new set of duds and a little eyeliner and lipstick after several years. I like the new look, and I hope you do, too.
Probably the biggest thing you'll notice is that the blog now displays a lot better on tablets, courtesy of installing (and tweaking) a new Blogger template that, at long last, will keep all the elements of this thing where they're supposed to be, no matter how you size your browser window. IT'S LONG overdue, and she'll be looking a lot less like a hot mess, all without you having to futz with the size of your browser on the computer screen. Here it is full screen on my Surface, on the right.
Before, it would have looked staggeringly weird. But you probably know that if you have a tablet and have ventured over to the blog. So, that's all I have to say about that. Enjoy the new, more adaptable look of the Blog for the People.
As if getting to listen to a classic song from Hawaiian legend Alfred Apaka wasn't enough reason to listen to the Big Show today, I have 23 other good reasons for you. Of course, there are the other 22 bits of musical excellence on this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. And then you have your witty, charming and thoroughly brilliant Mighty Favog. OK, you have 22 other wonderful songs on this edition of the Big Show. We promise that Favog doesn't talk all that much . . . concentrate on the music. It's as eclectic as the host is, uh . . . uh . . . uh, eccentric. Yeah, that's the word.
FOR EXAMPLE, in just this edition of the epitome of eclecticism on the Internets, you'll hear bands and artists like:
Creedence Clearwater Revival,
Chuck Prophet
The Avett Brothers
Mimi & Richard Fariña
The Allman Brothers Band
Rosanne Cash
Bruce Springsteen
Billy Bragg
John Prine
Glenn Miller & the American Band of the A E F
Frankie Carle
Les Elgart and His Orchestra
Eddie Heywood
Al Hirt
Crystal Gayle . . .
. . . AND MUCH, MUCH MORE! If you act in the next 24 hours, you also will get other episodes of 3 Chords & the Truthabsolutely free! So you get the most recent edition of the Big Show for free, and then the extra added bonus of several other gems of freeform programming at no additional cost. Act now! It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
Rockin'
it really old school in the Revolution 21-slash-3 Chords & the Truthstudio tonight. Jazz in the night from a 1960 Voice of Music tuner hooked up to a 1962 Pioneer stereo multiplex converter, and it's all being recorded by a TEAC reel-to-reel deck,
circa 1969.
The Crown monitor amp is new, but what you gonna do? They're damn fine amplifiers.
For what it's worth, I shot the video with a Microsoft Surface tablet, which has decent-sounding microphones that also are prone to being overdriven. Sorry about that.
As a public service to our listeners everywhere, the Big Show is happy to pass along the following advice from Irving Berlin. Per the usual procedure, it is strongly advised that you do the following while listening to 3 Chords & the Truth for maximum musical enjoyment. And now, our free advice:
As you listen to the band don't you get a bubble? As you listen to them play don't you get a glow? If you step out on the floor You'll forget your trouble If you go into your dance You'll forget your woe So:
Come Get together Let the dance floor feel your leather Step as lightly as a feather Let yourself go
Come Hit the timber Loosen up and start to limber Can't you hear that hot marimba? Let yourself go
Let yourself go Relax And let yourself go Relax You've got yourself tied up in a knot The night is cold but the music's hot
THIS MUSICAL advice has been brought to you by the Big Show, the happy home of your Omaha friends on the Internets. Listen early and listen often -- a rich menu of musical goodness awaits! It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.
I don't sleep so you can stay awake. I have no idea what I just said here. I mean that I don't sleep so each week's 3 Chords & the Truthwon't fall asleep . . . uh, put you to sleebh. Sleep. The keybirtod os loojinf kinfa blurty. Blurdy. Blurry. What did you say your name was again?
OK . . . what did I say myname was again? LIsstdn, aal I knowe is that this week's ebisodbe of the Big Show kicbks bubtt. You willm not falss azsleep during it -- ths sis because I forgo sleep to put together an exceptional music podcasty proddcut. Product. In fgact, you will marvel. You will be enraptured. You will even snap your fingers. You will keep comming banck for more 3 Chords & the Truth. Now let ypour Mighty Favog take a little nap. IT'S3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha. (thud)
Then again, I put in a lot of time, blood, sweat and tears into production of this here show, this 3 Chords & the Truth thingamajig, so why shouldn't I jive you if I feel like it?
So I hope you enjoy the 90-minute program I've prepared this week on Tibetan throat singing and "the romantic zither" of Ruth Welcome. Naaaaaw . . . I'm just jivin' you! See, there you go.
THAT'S CORRECT, after putting in the work and summoning the creativity necessary to conjure up each new episode of the Big Show -- and let's not even think of the Herculean effort that is saying something pithily original about the program every week, week after week, month after month, year after year -- I reserve the right to mess with your mind. The show is free on the Internets but, no, there is no free lunch. Particularly since the "sequester" went into effect in Washington. So here's the deal: You get the best in freeform musical programming; I get to screw with your head. Sound fair? Who cares? YOU SEE, that Ruth Welcome album, The Romantic Zither, is on the shelf at the local Goodwill, and I am not afraid to pay the 99 cents. Naaaaaw . . . I'm just jivin' you!
This episode of 3 Chords & the Truth has a theme song.
I stole it from a TV show of my youth, The Partridge Family, which was the Hollywood version of the Cowsills, sans the abusive father. Because that's how we illicitly roll on the Big Show.
I blame bad parenting; your mileage, as always, may vary. Here it is:
Hello, world, here the song that we're singin',
C'mon get happy!
A whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringin',
We'll make you happy!
We had a dream, we'd go travelin' together,
We'd spread a little lovin' then we'd keep movin' on.
Somethin' always happens whenever we're together,
We get a happy feelin' when we're singing a song.
Trav'lin' along there's a song that we're singin',
C'mon get happy!
A whole lot of lovin' is what we'll be bringin',
We'll make you happy!
We'll make you happy!
We'll make you happy!
-- Words and music by Wes Farrell and Danny Janssen
It's May. It feels like February -- and looks it, too.
This is no way to run a springtime. What do you do when you're tired of something, but that something's the weather -- which you cannot change?
There's nothing left but to abide, dude. In the face of crappy, unchangeable weather . . . the dude abides. Like Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, whadda ya gonna do, man?
WELL, I'd suggest what I'm doing this week -- and every week on 3 Chords & the Truth. That would be listening to some tasty tunes. Lots of luscious jazz and pop, for starters. Maaan. To ease your stress level, we've been digging through the laid-back music section of the Big Show archives. You wouldn't believe the great stuff in there. Well . . . maybe you would if you're a regular 3 Chords & the Truth listener, man. Like, just listen to the show, man. It'll put a smile on your face -- even if the weather is crappy, and it seems to be staying that way.