Kulturkaempfert

A little more night music in the studio. Why do I suddenly want to watch the Big Movie or a game show?

Why am I pretty sure no one under 40 will understand?

Funny that way

An important reminder

Advanced pickups aren't just good in bars and nightclubs. They're absolutely crucial on phonographs.

That's why it's important not only to play your Miracle Surface long-playing records only on the best equipment, but to make sure you're playing your stereophonic albums on the right equipment.

















After all, an RCA "Living Stereo" LP with the advanced Miracle Surface is a terrible thing to waste.

This important hi-fi reminder comes to you courtesy of Revolution 21 and 3 Chords & the Truth.

3 Chords & the Truth: BRRRRRT!

What does this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth have that Brand X lacks?

Only a computer with a hard drive that sounds like it could use some Beano, some Saxy Jazz from the days of Mad Men, more freeform musical variety than anywhere else . . . and a host who knows how to put it all together. Brrrrrrrt!

I think that's a heck of an endorsement, myself. No the Big Show isn't up for election, and we won't be inundating you with campaign robocalls. Yuck.

But aren't you tempted to check out 3 Chords & the Truth just on account of the farting PC? C'mon, you know you are.

BRRRRRRT!

This week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth features a set that mans up, and a dreamy one, too. And there's another scrumptious and long foray into the wonderful world of jazz.

It's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there or be . . . BRRRRRT!

Happy Halloween from back in the day

If you're from my Louisiana hometown and are of a certain age, this is gonna take you back big time.

And if you heard the most recent episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, you'll experience déja vu all over again with this musical tribute to Count Macabre, the 1960s weekday horror host on Channel 2 in Baton Rouge, WBRZ.

Remember, boys and girls, Baton Rouge is a zoo. But you didn't need the good count to tell you that, did you?

Happy Halloween . . . both from your Mighty Favog and from the murky recesses of television history.

Rock-a-bye, baby!

If I'm tossin' and turnin', turnin' and tossin' all night. . . .

And if I kick the blankets on the floor, too. . . . 

Well, then my lovely bride can just blame Bill Black and His Combo.

More likely, though, she'll blame me for making this my choice for before-bedtime listening.

You do know Bill Black, right? Elvis' bass player in the early days?

WELL, this absolute period piece of an instrumental R&B LP is what Black did with his time when Elvis was off fulfilling his commitment to Uncle Sam with the U.S. Army in West Germany.

Listening to this absolute period piece of an instrumental R&B LP is what I do when it's time to go to bed . . . but not quite yet. Night owl that I am.

Yeah, it'll show up on 3 Chords & the Truth by and by. Of that, you can be sure.

Sadly, Bill Black died in 1965 during a third surgery to remove a brain tumor. He was only 39.

Praise God for records and used record stores, where musicians and their music live forever.

3 Chords & the Truth: Jazzland

Welcome to Jazzland.

Well, to be fair, 3 Chords & the Truth also is Rockland, Soulland, New Waveland, Punkland and Folkland. And don't forget to visit our Bluesland gift shop before you leave.

But this week, the Big Show just happens to feature a big, honkin' set of luscious classic jazz from the 1950s and early '60s. And it's all a result of recent finds at the now-late, lamented Antiquarium record shop in Omaha's Old Market.

BECAUSE there's nothing like a record shop, and nothing like stumbling upon wonderful stuff all but lost to the mists of time and memory. And there's nothing like the smell of old record albums. And nothing like getting lost in the music . . . time after time.

That's what our big, honkin' jazz set is about this week. For that matter, that's what 3 Chords & the Truth is about every week.

Our little show isn't a great record shop, exactly, but it's close. And your own journey of musical discovery can start right here . . . where you can join your Mighty Favog deep within the exotic stacks of wax on his ongoing quest.

Oh, the things we'll discover!

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

A Capitol idea!

 

My vinyl geekery knows no bounds. This is why I've been having a Capitol time the last couple of days.

(Insert groan here.) 

What we have here aren't just fine mid-century jazz LPs by the George Shearing Quintet and Dakota Staton. Oh, no!

No, what we also have here in the Revolution 21 studio are the first two iterations of Capitol's iconic "rainbow" label.

The Shearing LP, for example, is the second "rainbow" label the record company used, starting sometime in 1959. That makes it easy to tell that this album, though first released in 1956, actually was pressed and purchased no earlier than, say, late '59.

Because Capitol changed its label design again in 1962, putting the logo at the top, we know this record is an older pressing than that. (I told you my geekery knows no bounds.)

The third version of the "rainbow"? That's the one we know from, say, the original pressings of "Meet the Beatles," etc., and so on.

AND WE also know (getting back to the vintage album at hand) where it was purchased -- Younkers department store at one of the nation's first shopping malls, The Center at 42nd and Center streets in Omaha.

At left, on the other hand, is the very first of Capitol's "rainbow" labels, which featured the vertical "LONG PLAYING HIGH-FIDELITY" on it. The company introduced the new LP label in 1958, and the modification on the Shearing album first appeared the next year.

Being that this LP -- "Dynamic!" by Staton -- was a promotional copy, I'll betcha it's from '58.

Gee, I wasn't even born then. That's old.

I wonder how record geeks got along without me. Fortunately for them, I showed up in 1961.

Anyway, how much you wanna bet this stuff shows up on the next edition of the Big Show, otherwise known as 3 Chords & the Truth.

BE THERE. 

Or be square. 

Aloha!

3 Chords & the Truth: Quand ça balance

Quand ça balance, you're in for a hell of a show on 3 Chords & the Truth.

Quand ça balance?

Mais oui, mon ami.

Quand ça balance -- or translated from idiomatic French, when it balances . . . when it's right, when it's all good, when it rocks -- the Big Show is gonna knock your socks off. This week especially, ça balance.

FROM AN exploration of travelin' music to a set featuring the glories of France, 3 Chords & the Truth . . . ça balance.

But that's what you've come to expect from our little weekly podcast, isn't it?

Let me put it this way: If you're not up dancing and having your own private disco-a go-go during large chunks of this week's edition of the Big Show, you may want to have a medical professional check your pulse and respiration.

Is what I'm saying, cher.

It's all about quand ça balance, and that extends to you, too.

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

Tonight's night music

My favorite used-record store in the world is closing, so I've been stocking up the past week.

And it is from this new/old and growing stash that tonight's "night music" comes -- Warren Covington and the Commanders with "Shall We Dance?" The label: Decca. The year: 1957.

Here's what the Billboard reviewer had to say in the weekly's edition of Feb. 2, 1957:

Pleasant dance set devoted mostly to slow fox trot tempos. Selections are nearly all standards, with sweet trombones given featured billing. Covington solos for ear-easy effect instrumentally, and similarly and supplies vocals by a group at intervals. There are more kicks here for mom and dad, probably, than for the kids, but enough, in any case, to make a fair seller. Attractive cover.

I'M NOT SURE, but I think the reviewer is saying, four years before I arrived on the scene, that I would be born much, much too late.

As I say . . . to be a young man in New York in the 1950s.

Nighty night.

3 Chords & the Truth: Here's to the 'squares'

 

The New York Times said Andy Williams was "hopelessly square" . . . at least in the eyes of my generation, back in the '60s.

I wish to point out that the same people who found Andy Williams "square" in their youth have spent their middle age doing "a heck of a job" -- in the Brownie sense -- with the American family, the American economy and American politics. In other words, what the hell do the Boomers know?

Squat, that's what. Trust me on this. I am one.

So call this episode of 3 Chords & the Truth a loving tribute to contrariness. Also call it a tribute to Andy Williams, who died Tuesday night at 84. He was a hell of a singer.

LIKEWISE, being that this week's edition of the Big Show will be featuring his music, you can safely say that it's going to be a hell of a show.

That will be obvious to you shortly . . . assuming, of course, that you evaluate music -- and singers -- on individual merit and not one's particular geometry. Remember, the young, hip trendsetter of today is the totally discredited investment banker of tomorrow.

But Andy Williams is now forever.

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

Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Late, late on a Sunday night -- Or is it early, early on a dreaded Monday morning? Whatever -- seems to me to be the right time for a little night music.

This day on the old Webcor, we have Frank Sinatra's classic 1966 LP, Strangers in the Night. The monophonic version, of course.

Is it just me amid a bout with melancholy, or is it these sounds of Sinatra from the era of Don Draper, Lucky Strikes and fedoras -- preserved on vinyl like a prehistoric insect in amber -- represent the recorded demise of a civilization unaware of its imminent doom? Confident, a little worn on the margins, upbeat . . . and terminal.

Ring-a-ding-ding, Pally! AAAAACK!

WE SAY we have a civilization today. That may be true, in some diminished fashion in this Kardashianized ruin of a Honey Boo Boo world, but it isn't the civilization my generation was born into. I know this because it's my generation that finished it off.

It had its warts. We wanted a brave new world -- which we got, careless as we were in our wishes. Reaching for the stars, we ended up with "sketti," sex tapes, and baby daddies but not husbands.

That and Sinatra as a salve for disaffected refugees from The Collapse, strangers in the night who wander lost in the ruins of White Trash America.

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.

3 Chords & the Truth: Creative deconstruction

Let me riddle you this.

Where does a set of really fine music reside if it deconstructs a theme, includes Louis Prima and Better Than Ezra and intersects with Abbe Lane?

The answer is obvious. Even more so if you listen to this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth.

Let me riddle you something else. What music show is full of color, even though you cannot see it?

I'LL LET you jazz around a while as you think on that. Here's a hint: It's a Big Show.

Now, finally, let me riddle you this: If a music-show host riddles about his show but makes no sense at all, might he be sleep-deprived?

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The ol' one-two punch

Hello, Teacher? I'm just calling about my assignment.

Well, I wrote a most excellent report about this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth, but something happened.

No, ma'am. No, the dog didn't eat my homework. Not exactly.

Well, you see, it's like this. We're dog sitting for Sadie and her little brother, Boo. And Sadie's pretty old and doddering, you see.

Ma'am? Yes, ma'am, I'll get to the point.

ANYWAY, I did a really great writeup about the Big Show this week, and. . . .

Yes, ma'am. I'm getting to that, but it's kind of. . . .

Yes, ma'am. I know you don't have all day. Well . . . the dog pooped on my report. I only had the one copy, and I accidentally left it on the couch . . . and canine Grandma there had an accident.

On my most excellent report on this week's 3 Chords & the Truth. And I can't rewrite it in time for class Monday.

Why?

Well, the laptop's drying out, ma'am. Yes ma'am, it's what you think. She's very old, ma'am. Kind of senile.

The 30-second version? OK . . . the show this week is quite eclectic, as usual. A little old-school punk, a nice set of 1960s and '70s pop and lots of scrumptulicious jazz and rock form the core of the program, and. . . . Yes, ma'am. I know scrumptulicious ain't a word. OK, isn't a word.

Anyhow . . . anyway, I think this week's edition of the Big Show is quite upbeat and pleasing, and it definitely will hold your interest. It's really tight, as usual.

Ma'am?

THE PROGRAM had better be a lot better than the 30-second version of my report? Yes, ma'am, I think it is. I think you'll agree -- check it out.

Yes, ma'am. I will be getting Sadie some doggy diapers, you can Depends on it. No ma'am, that was a joke, not a subject-verb agreement problem. You know . . . Depends?

No, ma'am, it wasn't that funny after all, come to think of it.

Sum it all up? Well, OK, it's like this. . . .

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Running the option

Another football season has arrived, and that brings to mind a helpful analogy for 3 Chords & the Truth.

Something about how Nebraska used to be the king of option football, about how you can't touch this . . . will he keep it . . . or pitch it . . . something something . . . yadda yadda . . . keep 'em guessing . . . just like the music on the Big Show . . . something something . . . whatever.

Brilliant timing is what makes it work . . . flexibility . . . amazing to behold . . . blah blah blah . . . 3 Chords & the Truth.

WE CLEAR on that, podna? Really, it's just as simple as can be.

It perfectly explains why this week's episode of the Big Show is so dadgum good, dadgummit! Now I'm off to watch the game.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: We play everything!

You know what's great about 3 Chords & the Truth?

We play everything -- and nearly anything -- and it all ends up having a musical point. It goes somewhere. It's part of a tapestry we put together every single week here on the Big Show.

For instance, we start our first set of the day with the Carpenters covering the Beatles. That's not where it ends up, and all the fun is in getting there. Ta da! That's 3 Chords & the Truth in a nutshell.

Or CD jewel case. Whatever.

ANYWAY, that's our deal -- 3 Chords & the Truth plays everything (within reason). And it all has a point . . . and an end destination.

That's it. Managed to make my point right before my brain quit working due to exhaustion.

Whew! And nighty night.

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

Going out in style

If you have to go -- and we all do -- you'd just as well go out in style.

Some things that force your departure from this mortal coil pretty much make that impossible. I'm talking about you, Alzheimer's, you rat-bastard SOB. Way to go, taking people's dignity as you eat their minds and so much of what makes them them.

I know a little about this. I've seen it up close and too personal.

But I'll be damned if Glen Campbell isn't managing it -- going out in style, that is. Perhaps it's because the falls and hard knocks he's taken in his life left a lasting impression about the folly of denial.

If anything, the video for his latest song, "A Better Place," is a testimonial for grace . . . for counting your blessings while under the spell of a terrible curse.

I guess a punster might call this, the great guitarist and singer's final act, The Glen Campbell Goodbye Hour. And oddly enough, it might also be his finest hour.

He's going out in style.

1968: The psychedelic Bee Gees

From 1968 and West German television . . . the Bee Gees no one remembers today -- the psychedelic brothers Gibb.

Here now is the title track from their "Idea" LP. Enjoy.

Robin Gibb, 1949-2012

The thing about the Bee Gees was this: Even if you were young and opinionated in the late 1970s -- a foot soldier in the "Disco Sucks" army, even -- you had to acknowledge just how damned good the brothers were.

Because you remembered this song, among others the brothers Gibb -- Robin, Barry and Maurice -- had recorded. You had loved those pop-music classics first heard through a little earphone and eight transistors, classics that lived in the grooves of the soundtrack album of your life. Soon enough, you would realize that the brothers' disco-era incarnation was part of that soundtrack, too.

And you were OK with that. Quality endures, even though the earthly body does not. Not Maurice's. And now, not Robin's.

May he rest in peace, along with all the stilled voices of my youth.