3 Chords & the Truth: Rock on, man

What?

Hairy fist mush? What the hell is fist mush?

Hang on.

OK,  I turned down my almost brand-new, 48-year-old bitchin' studio headphones. What's this about fist mush?

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh. Merry CHRISTMAS! I thought the wall of sound had turned my brain to mush there for a second.

I see that look on your face. Don't say it, or it's no 3 Chords & the Truth for you. And you do not want to miss this edition of the Big Show.

Yes, it's that good.

Now, if you don't mind, I shall resume rockin' out. Man. Just listen to the show and don't try to talk to me when I have these things on.

Go. Get. Listen.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Tempus fugits at Christmastime

It's Christmas season once again, and another year that has slipped through our grasping fingers.

Because it's the holidays, we do the festive thing. Because it's another year that has passed by, leaving us -- yet again -- wondering where time has gone while our attention was elsewhere, we also think of all that was, yet is no more.

On 3 Chords & the Truth this week, we're doing a bit of the ho-ho-holidays. Behind the musical scenes, I'm wondering how six-plus decades could pass so quickly. So much I thought would be forever when I was young isn't anymore.

TAKE THE Dalton Theater in North Baton Rouge. It was a little neighborhood movie house we'd always drive by whenever we went to see my Uncle August. A middling landmark of my Louisiana youth, it was, standing there at Dalton Street and North Acadian Thruway.

First it closed sometime in the1970s, then it decayed. Then the city condemned it. Then, in 2000, the city tore it down. The progression of Uncle August -- who died, age 65, of cancer in 1982 -- was not dissimilar.

I think of that stuff at Christmastime. My parents' generation of the family is all gone. So are a lot of the things and places I grew up with. We shall not go there this week on the Big Show. I suspect you, if you're of a certain age, don't need my help in that regard this time of year.

It's there, lurking, in the corners of our minds. It stares back at you in the bathroom mirror every morning. C'est la vie.

Street View, Google Maps

No, this week, 3 Chords & the Truth, as always, is about the music -- pop, rock, big band, jazz, soul, standards, easy listening, country and all the rest. It's all mashed up in the food-for-the-soul processor of the mind and spit back out onto the Internet in sets that make musical sense. Well, I think they make musical sense; such is freeform radio, even when it's in cyberspace.

If my thoughts turn melancholy when the bitter wind sweeps across the Plains and the mercury digs a hole for itself, the Big Show does what it always does. It entertains and, one hopes, enlightens a bit. That doesn't change, even though everything else does.

Even though everybody else does . . . and you, too.

That's where we are as Christmas 2022 draws nigh after two previous, warped COVID Christmases removed so many things -- and people -- from the here and now and tossed them unceremoniously into the once was.

There's so much that, in Louisiana-speak, ain't dere no more. But the thing is this; the music always will be. Dance while you can, because the tempus is fugiting, and its run at the Dalton has been extended indefinitely.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: What the cluck?

Ask any random podcast listener what is this thing we call 3 Chords & the Truth, and chances are they won’t know, eggsactly . . . er . . . exactly.

But if you weren’t shunned, punched or had the cops called on you when you asked, you could deduce that you were dealing with a good egg.

So, what is this thing we also call the Big Show? It’s . . . uhhhhhhhh . . . it’s . . . uhhhhhhh . . . ummmmmmm . . . it’s eggsactly that. Whatever that is.

I CALL IT postmodern freeform radio on the Internets. I call it that because I just made that label up. Yay, me.

But, really, what the program is, is good. It’s diverse. It’s full of surprises. Eggsactly that. Er . . . exactly that.

This week on 3 Chords & the Truth, we’re gonna get you moving. We’ll have the best in soul, and the best in. . . . Well, why would I spoil the surprise?

Maybe you need to listen and find out what the rest of the good stuff is. In other words, do yourself a favor and be a good egg.

Eggsactly.

Here in the 3C&T studio, your Mighty Favog works hard so as not to have egg on his face. That means your ears will be happy. Eggsactly that.

Do your ears a favor for Thanksgiving. And you’re welcome.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Now and then . . . mostly then

Submitted for your approval, the curious story of Betty, who, unknown to her, now resides somewhere between past and present, between 1954 and 2022.

Between suburban Omaha sometime during the Happy Days and . . . the Twilight Zone.

Ostensibly, this is an ordinary day. Betty thinks she is having an ordinary phone chat with her best friend, Marge. But this is no ordinary telephone call, and hers is no ordinary telephone.

Unbeknownst to her, Betty’s is a special telephone. And she has called not to Happy Hollow just across town. She has dialed 68 years into the past . . . and Marge, unfortunately, still resides firmly in 1954.

LET'S LISTEN IN on Betty’s unwitting long-distance call, a long-distance call like no other.

“Hello, Marge? You won’t believe what I just heard! It’s this freeform music podcast called 3 Chords & the Truth, and it’s fabulous!

“What’s that, Marge? Yes, a freeform music podcast. FREE . . . form. That means freewheeling, I think. Without a set format. Format. You know, like the structure and content of something.

“Yes, Marge. What? What’s a podcast?

“It’s an online program you can download and listen to anytime. Download. Off the Internet and onto your smartphone . . . or computer or tablet.

“No, Marge. No, I haven’t had a stroke or a nervous breakdown.

“No, dear. I assure you I’m making perfect sense. No, the Internet is not some kind of a communist organization. Yes, I’m here at home. Why do you ask?

“Surely there must be some reason you wanted to make sure that I’m at home right now.

“No. No, I don’t need help. Why on earth do you think I need help?

“What? Who exactly do you need to get off the line to call?

“No, I am telling you that I am fine. I do NOT need help. I happen to be making perfect sense, dear.

“I am telling you, Marge, that I am NOT a communist and that I am NOT having a stro . . . hello? HELLO??? Marge?”

BETTY DOES NOT know that in 25 minutes — or, perhaps, 68 years and 25 minutes ago — two white-clad men will arrive at her tidy, tastefully appointed home. They will come to take her to . . . the Electroshock-Therapy Zone.

They will not notice the futuristic little device plugged into her new hi-fi console. The device is the size of a Big Chief tablet, but it contains no ruled paper. It’s an iPad, and it belongs not to the world of 1954, but instead to ours.

It is the world of tomorrow — the world of the Big Show. We know it as . . . today.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Come as you are

Have you seen those old ads for console hi-fis and televisions, where everybody is dressed to the nines just to stare at the screen or gaze fondly at . . . the speaker cloth, or maybe a spinning record?

What the hell is the deal with that anyway? Personally, I just think that means we've been demented for decades, and it's not just a recent phenomenon.

Let me be clear. We're not like that at 3 Chords & the Truth. You can sit on the couch in your underwear and stare at the speaker, for all we care.

WE MAY CHUCKLE at the thought of that but, fundamentally, we don't care. You do you.

Likewise, the Big Show will do the Big Show.

I'm glad we could clear that up straightaway.

Now to the business at hand. This week, there's yet another exemplary program cued up for you, with lots and lots of great music . . . and a reasonably competent host to carefully place it out here on the Internets.

And, really, what more do you need as you sit there in your chair or on your couch, drinking an adult beverage and eating nachos. In your underwear.

We chuckle at the thought. But again, you do you. No judgment, just a discreet chuckle here and there.

That's really all there is to say. Great music, thoughtfully ordered. Nachos. A sofa. You and your Fruit of the Looms. The end.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: No tricks, just treats

Trick or treat, smell my feet. . . .

No, I couldn't do that to you. I don't even want to smell my feet.

Let me tell you what I will do for this Halloween-ish edition of 3 Chords & the Truth, though. I will forgo the tricks . . . and give you nothing but treats of the musical variety.

This will not be your average ghoulcast. The Big Show is waaaaaaay better than that.

Don't believe me, just listen for yourself. And I promise, no one will suck your blood.

Unless, of course, your significant other is a mosquito. In that case, I can't really help you.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Ball of confusion

The ball of confusion in which we dwell is not the reason I'm just a wee bit tardy posting this edition of the Big Show.

The reason is because the LSU-Ole Miss football game was on TV this afternoon. To wit, "GO TO HELL, OLE MISS!"

And the hated Rebels did, 45-20. That was gratifying.

Now we return you to your regularly scheduled episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. About which, I gather I am supposed to say something that will get you to listen.

WELL, Sparky, this week we acknowledge the confusion and mayhem now engulfing us in these Disunited States. That's one thing . . . which, actually, is pretty entertaining despite the subject matter. Not as entertaining as watching my alma mater beat down Ole Miss for homecoming but, then again, what is?

Also, we feature the usual musically mysterious twists and turns that are the trademark of the Big Show . . . but that's a given. It's not like I have to point that out.

On the other hand, I have to write something. To get you to listen.

On the other other hand . . . you know, I bet the prong of this here fork will fit in that electrical outlet. I'm sure o . . . lqwFGHLU;;/CF ;odij  ;oiJFWp0;92rp0    9 'p;FK''KPp;'f '[OD['i2rkjpdW'Kd'dk

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

(thud)

3 Chords & the Truth: MAGA Goddam

The name of this episode is MAGA Goddam,
and I mean every word of it.

Tuberville's gotten me so upset,
Don Bacon made me lose my rest,
And everybody knows about that MAGA Goddam.

Nebraska's gotten me so upset,
Pete Ricketts made me lose my rest,
And everybody knows about that MAGA Goddam.

Can't you see it?
Can't you feel it?
It's all in the air.
I can't stand the pressure much longer.
Somebody say a prayer.

The GOP's gotten me so upset,
Traitor Trump made me lose my rest,
And everybody knows about that MAGA Goddam.

That's it! With apologies to the late, great Nina Simone.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: You've still got the Big Show

 

When you can't find a friend
You've still got the radio
When you can't find a friend
You've still got the radio
Radio, listen to the radio
Radio, listen to the radio

-- Nanci Griffith

 

True dat.

Well, the radio is totally a hit-or-miss proposition these days, but in these times of war, political strife and catastrophic hurricanes, we still have the Internet.

Such as it is.

AND IN A NICE, non-fouled corner of the Internet, we have 3 Chords & the Truth. Amid everything, there's still this.

That's not nothing. Think of the Big Show as your personal pick-me-up, one that will bring a smile to your face and a tap to your toes.

Really, that's not nothin'. That's one of the things that will get you through.

And we're doing our best to help you do that. Us, too, to tell you the truth.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The Think System

Here's the thing about 3 Chords & the Truth: It takes time to put together. 

You've got to pick the music. You've got to prepare the music -- clean up the clicks and pops on the vinyl, equalize the audio levels, yadda yadda yadda. Then you have to order the music so it all fits together in a pleasant manner. It's got to flow, you know? 

Then you have to talk about the music . . . and whatever else strikes one's fancy. Then it all has to be turned into a computer file to be uploaded to this spot right here. 

That's a lot of work to put on the Big Show. 

And there has to be an easier way. 

And that's what I've been searching for here in the 3 Chords & the Truth apocalypse bunker in Omaha, by God, Nebraska. Well, I think I've come up with something. 

This week, let's see how that works out, shall we? 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Chill, being

Ever feel the need to dial it back? To tone it down some? To mellow out, man?

To just chill?

Yeah, me, too. So the Big Show will this week. Yes, it will.

That's not to say it'll be moribund (stick that in your Funk and Wagnall's, pally). It's just going to be outstanding in a non-frenetic manner.

I guess I could say more, but how chill would that be? It wouldn't. It would be stretching . . . straining . . . trying too hard.

Nope. This week, we just let the show come to us. I'd recommend you do the same.

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