Does your mother know?

It's the Big Show, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Follow it, like it, share it

People think social media is in a computer somewhere.

As if folks are being social when their eyes are glued to a screen.

Social media is when you have some records, something to drink, something to snack on, a good sound system . . . and friends. In your house or apartment. Enjoying the media with you. In the manner of sociable people.

That's social media. Feel free to replace the records with 3 Chords & the Truth.

This week on the Big Show, we're engaging in social media of the proper sort. Feel free to join the party at the 3C&T studio via your streaming device. Please restrict usage of the streaming device to getting the show off of the Internet and into your hi-fi.

DO INVITE friends over for this exercise in actual social media. Reserve your attention for them . . . and for 3 Chords & the Truth. The screen on your smartphone or your computer gets plenty of attention from you already.

Don't forget the beer and snacks. Coffee is a good choice as well.

So you know what you have to do: Call your friends, invite them over, listen to the show, and pay attention to one another. Not your screen thingy.

A good time will be had by all.

You can bank on it, Cap.

IT'S 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Tunes for a clown-car commute

Life is a three-ring circus. Now more than ever.

And what we all are is stuck in the slow lane of a clown-car traffic jam. Rogue elephants up ahead have just shucked Peter Peanut (may Chuckles the Clown rest in peace) and a Flying Wallenda has just done a bug impression . . . all over your teeny-tiny windshield.

That's right, ladies and germs, Ringling Bros. is no more because it no longer could compete with the United States of Big Top, which has the advantage of scale.

Oooooh, watch your step there, pally. Elephants eat a lot of peanuts.

But I have got a deal for you. Step right up, and I will show you the great deal 3 Chords & the Truth has got for you.

Right over here, I present to you the Big Show, a fine program of musical erudition -- one this week that features an excellent set of tip-top, Big Top music for the times in which we find ourselves this fine day.

IT'S A CIRCUS out there, gents . . . and ladies . . . and, boy, do I have the music for you.

Right here, and for an unlimited time only, I give you the best in musical programming -- three full rings of musical bliss -- for the low, low price of absolutely nothing. That's right! Absolutely nothing. And all I require from you is . . . your undying devotion.

That's it! No catches, no regrets . . . just the finest music on the Internets for the low price of zilch! Zip! Nada!

Squat!

And if you stay tuned to this here episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, you will witness something too dangerous to ever hear on the regular, pedestrian radio airwaves! You will see -- somewhere in the middle of the show -- the death-defying segué that mere mortals dare not attempt at your crappy corporate radio station!

WILL your Mighty Favog live? Or will . . . he . . . die . . . in the flaming wreckage of a musical transition gone terribly . . . horribly . . . wrong?

You must stay glued to -- transfixed upon -- your high-fidelity listening device to find out the answer to that perilous question. Yes, indeed!

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, ladies and gentlemen! Be there. And let the show begin!

3 Chords & the Truth: Hello! Hello? Hello?!

Hello?

Is this thing on?

Hello! Hello! Hello???

Echo echo echo echooooooooo!

Hello! Hello! What's goin' on? This week's 3 Chords & the Truth is comin' on strong.

This one is 401, that's the number, it's true. And we just wanted to say hello . . . not to do so is wrong.

Hello! Hello! Can you hear me out there? Sometimes you just wonder. Sometimes, it's a bear.

This week's Big Show -- boy howdy, it's fun! The music's wonderful . . . there's joy in the air!

Hello! Hello! There's no more to say. So I'll just tell you "Ta-ta!"

The show's 3 Chords & the Truth. Be there. Aloha!

3 Chords & the Truth: The Now Sound @ 400

It all started in a 5,000-watt radio station in Fresno, California -- a $65 paycheck and a crazy dream.

Now 3 Chords & the Truth has just released its 400th episode, and while the dream is still crazy, the paycheck is down to $5.32. Working in the media is not for sissies.

Or, actually, for people who like to eat.

So, what can I say on this occasion of the 400th program of the Big Show?






















OK, I got something.

This 400th episode of 3 Chords & the Truth is one more than 399. And it's 399 more than episode No. 1 back in January 2008.

Thank you.

Oh . . . and the music's good. Real good.

Is this long  enough to turn in now, teacher?

Is anybody in here?

ECHO! ECHO! (ECHOOOOO! ECHOOOOO!)

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

Be there. Aloha.

It's the Big Show, y'all. Stay tuned for a new edition this week.

Be there.

Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: The sound of green

Let's play a game.

Chuck, Chuck bo-buck, banana fanna fo f . . . .

Uh, let's play another game. Let's play Psych-Out here on the Big Show and try to identify the sound of green. This should be a blast, man.

How we play Psych-Out is we play a bunch of far-out music, man, and we try to figure out what sounds like green . . . man. Come on, dude. This should be groovy.

We'll start you off with a mellow one, in three . . . two . . . one . . . .

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

Maaaaan.

3 Chords & the Truth: Never trust a Trumplator

The president is said to be branching out from Fox & Friends, and that means all media -- for easy comprehension -- are being required to employ Trumplators. This program is no exception.

We at 3 Chords & the Truth have learned, and learned the hard way, that Trumplation can be a fraught affair. And during the course of this rather jazz-centric edition of the show, some quick conclusions may be drawn about Trumplators and their inherent biases, ideologies and -- alas -- not-so-benign agendas.

To wit:

1. Never trust a Trumplator.

2. Never trust a Trumplator.

3. The Trumplator is not worthy of your trust.

4. Bad things will happen if you trust the Trumplator.

5. Do not assume that the Trumplator is translating for the president what you actually are saying.

6. Something ain't right in this whole deal.

7. I do not believe that Trumplators particularly like America or "decadent" American music.

8. Everybody in this whole Trumplation thing is up to something.

9. It is possible to do an excellent edition of the Big Showsky . . . uh . . . Big Show despite the mandated Trumplator causing all hell to break loose.

10. DO NOT trust the Trumplator, comrade.

That's about it.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Tune in, turn on, rock out

Here's what we're going to do this week on the Big Show: First of all, we're going to tune in.

Then we will turn on, maaaaan.

Finally, we will rock out. It's as simple as that.

Oh . . . we may end up jazzing out some, too. But we definitely will rock out.

Is what I'm saying.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Feelin' groovy

groovy
adj. \ ˈgrü-vē \
 
groovier; grooviest

1 : marvelous, wonderful, excellent

"If you really want to hear something really groovy on the Internet, check out 3 Chords & the Truth."

2 : hip, trendy

A more enjoyable and groovier listening experience -- that's what the Big Show is.

 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Thoughts and prayers

I could tell you all about this week's exciting and relevant episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, but . . . no.
 
Rest assured, however, that you remain in our thoughts and prayers.

It's the Big Show, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Can we go home?

This is an unusual edition of the Big Show, which this week explores the whole notion of . . . home.

Was Thomas Wolfe right in his posthumous 1940 novel, You Can’t Go Home Again? And what if you can’t go home again — sometimes — even when you never left?

And have you ever had the sick feeling that the country you call home suddenly feels like it’s anything but? You thought you knew your country . . . your people. But what if you were mistaken?

DID YOU change? Did it? Did they?

Yep. That's where we're going this time on 3 Chords & the Truth.

And . . . what about the American Dream? What about your hopes and expectations for your home — your life, your family, your place, your country?

As Bruce Springsteen wrote, "Is a dream a lie if it don't come true, or is it something worse?"

IN DONALD TRUMP'S Amerika, are you still feeling like you’re at home? What if your dreams are crashing down around you?

We have questions this week on the Big Show. Maybe we do or we don't have answers, but we sure have a lot of music to make you think.

I don’t care who you are, there’s one constant in this vale of tears: One way or another, nothing will break your heart like home. Yet home is what we always yearn for.



It's the damnedest thing.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: A light flickers in a dark land

The lights are out in Washington.

The lights grow ever dimmer across America. Darkness has come upon our land.

Screw that. Shine a light and push back the shadows of our demons and dysfunction.

Shine a light. Sing our songs. Listen to the music.

Screw Washington. Push back against the hatred and nativism and racism and anarchists in tailored suits.

Fight the power. Sing of the light amid the darkness. That's what we try to do on this -- and every -- episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. When we're doing that, even a little show can be the Big Show.

Word.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The nog is strong with this one

We're all amped up here on the Big Show as we come out of the big Thanksgiving turn and floor it down the straightaway all the way to Christmas.

That is, if we make it through December. These days. . . .

You know?

Having dispensed with the preface here, allow me to attempt a summation of this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth in but a single sentence. It may be a run-on, of course, but still. . . .

Here we go.

IT'S NOT GOOD out there as we hurtle toward what promises to be a strange Yuletide, more or less, but we're celebrating anyway because we might pull through despite everything, just so long as we can keep anyone in Washington from getting his hands on a Les Paulverizer, because that assuredly would result in the end of life on Earth as we know it.

IF THIS confuses you -- and we're sure it does -- your only recourse is to listen to the Big Show forthwith, which should allay your concerns.

I just used the word "allay." Yay, Favog!

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Drawing the line

There's a squiggly green line separating you from a world where you'd never know there once was a San Fransisco band called The Great Society, fronted by Grace Slick before . . . you know.

Before big things happened.

And you'd never know, on the other side of the squiggly green line, that the big Jefferson Airplane hit "Somebody to Love" once was "Someone to Love," the B-side of The Great Society's first (and only) single back in 1966.

No, you'd never know that on the far side of the squiggly green line. The squiggly green line is what 3 Chords & the Truth looks like before it gets to your ears -- and into your head.

It's a good thing to be on the right side of the squiggly green line.

It's a good thing to have the Big Show in your head. In your ears, too.

Who knows what surprises and what musical edification lies on the good side of the squiggly green line? Well, there's only one way to find out.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The Kudzu Curtain

Your Mighty Favog escaped from one of the Southern -stans when he was a young man. Now he brings the best in music and information to the captive populations of his home region of the United States.

He brings young and old alike the world their governments censor. Free thought and a robust culture . . . with a beat.

This week, millions in the -stans on the American frontier will tune in to 3 Chords & the Truth for uncensored news and music -- the "in" sound from outside. Join the Big Show this week for a program of special interest to listeners in Alabamastan, "Jesus Don't Like Ugly . . . or What Don't You Get About Jailbait?"

Captive Bubbas may not be able to spell "freedom," but almost all can spell 3C&T. And that's enough to cut through the Kudzu Curtain just a little every day.

Freedom's as close as the Internet, and 'Bamastanis spell it 3C&T.

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

(Apologies to the Radio Free Europe PSAs of the 1970s.)

3 Chords & the Truth: The latest thing is overrated

You can follow the crowd, stand in line, empty your bank account and get a new iPhone X-tremely expensive.

Or, you can sit in your dwelling in a toasty houserobe -- or your drawers, I really don't care -- and listen to the new 2017 iAnachronism for absolutely, positively no cost whatsoever. And it will sound just fine on your iPhone 6.

But your iAnachronism -- 3 Chords & the Truth, to be technical -- will sound better if you feed your computer into your home stereo. Preferably an anachronistic one. They sound awesome.

As usual, eclecticism reigns on the Big Show this week, as does freeformity. That's an anachronistic word. Listen to the show to catch the meaning, which has something to do with excellence in music programming.

Is what we're saying.

Also this go around, we celebrate the life and music of Fats Domino. That's all I have to say about that.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Hep to this jive . . . and that jive

This jive, that jive . . . we're hep to all that jive, Daddio. And Mama.

We live in a jive country in a jive world, and we're swingin' to some solid sounds on the Big Show this week -- and every week. What more can I say?

Well, I don't know, either.

So I guess we're cool on the content of the lil' hepcat hop we like to call 3 Chords & the Truth. Uh . . . we like to call it that, because that's its name.

But if you just want to call it the Serenade of Solid Sounds, you could do that, too. We're not picky.

Just so long as the good music drowns out the clunker notes of whatever lame tune the rest of the world is playing right now.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: FUT FUT FUT

Please open your 3 Chords & the Truth hymnals to Formula 409 as we open our program.

A song of Tonio. K?

A-one, an-a-two, an-a-three. . . .

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
BAH, I AM STUPID!
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
YES, I AM STUPID!

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
BAH, I AM STUPID!
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
HAH, I AM STUPID!

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT

This song has no doubt confused you.
You are maybe hurt?
You should not let this bother you
You are not so worthless!

You are:

a) an integral and valuable part of some Master Plan

OR

b) clearly as important as a dirt-clod or that can

Sing it out now:

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
BAH, I AM STUPID!
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
YES, I AM STUPID!

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
BAH, I AM STUPID!
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
HAH, I AM STUPID!

FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT
FUT-FUT-FUT FUT-FUT-FUT

YOU MAY be seated. Thank you.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: It's crazy, pally!

Charley, this week's episode of the Big Show is a real gasser. Man, I am talkin' the livin' end!

There's some stuff on 3 Chords & the Truth this go around that's just crazy. Coo-coo!

It's a real clambake. Parts of the thing will just fracture you, pally! Good as a tomato waitin' for you in every gin joint.

MAN, IT IS anything but Endsville. I'm tellin' you, whoever's behind this thing must be a big-leaguer.

What a ring-a-ding show! You're startin' out real freaky like -- you know, trippy -- and then, next thing you know, you're at the Sands. Pally, this thing's a gas!

But if you listen to the Big Show much, you knew that already, right?

Three words: Wow-ee wow wow!

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