3 Chords & the Truth: Uhhhhhhhhh . . . .

I was working on putting together this week’s episode of the Big Show, last night and it was going just fine, but then something happened.

We had a bit of weather here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska.

By “weather,” I mean all hell broke loose. For about an hour, conditions varied between “strong tropical storm” and Category 1 hurricane. This, mind you, 1,000 miles from the nearest coastline. 

In the Midwest, we call that “a pretty good thunderstorm.” And some fallen limbs, a neighbor’s fallen tree, a blown-off downspout, no cable or Internet and a battered and blacked-out city later, we’re going to see how it goes trying to post 3 Chords & the Truth using the 4G connection from my iPhone.

WELL, at least the apocalypse bunker still has electricity, though there were doubts about that during the storm as the lights flickered and transformers blew up here and there in the night.

That said, it’s a pretty good edition of the Big Show. When everything is surveyed and considered, all you need is love . . . and electricity.

This week, there’s some of this and a bit of that, and it’s all primo stuff, man. If I were you, I’d give it a listen. After all, it took a little doing (and some duct tape and jury rigging) to get it to you.

C’mon. Show a little gratitude. Is what I’m sayin’.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: It's 100% fun

The Big Show is 100 percent fun, once you get used to it.

And, if you ask me, it's nice to get used to not hearing the same 100 songs -- if you're lucky -- over and over and over again on the radio. Then again, some folks just can't handle expanding one's mind . . . or one's horizons. 

Thanks for not being one of those people. Because you're here at 3 Chords & the Truth and not there. And, boy, are you gonna get some variety today.

There's not really anything more to say, is there? So let's get on with the Big Show. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: You've gotta warm up to it

It could be that you're listening to the Big Show and thinking "What the f***???" 

If you are,  maybe you've gotta warm up to it. And -- maybe -- once you've warmed up to it, you'll be hooked. Maybe you'll look forward to not looking forward to what you figure will be playing next on the show. 

Maybe you'll be hooked on being surprised. A lot. 

Maybe you'll find that you're the type who likes shows like 3 Chords & the Truth, which is like Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get next.

IN FACT, there's at least a couple of those moments on this very episode. Really, you'll be surprised -- pleasantly so, one hopes.

Like the time when I go from. . . . Hang on. If I give it away, you won't be surprised, now, will you?

That was close.

So I guess you'll have to just listen to yet another stellar installment of this here program and be waylaid all over again. Because that's what we do.

Yes, indeed.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Well, I don't know about that

It's a colossal phantasmagoria this week, coming to you live -- recorded to hard drive -- from the www.revolution21.org apocalypse bunker here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska. 

Well, I don't know about that. 

But this episode of 3 Chords & the Truth may be a colossal something. You be the judge.

I mean, there's some wild sh . . . uh, some wild things going on. Mushroom hunting is a tricky thing, and I may have picked the wrong batch. Is what I'm sayin'. 

And, well, I don't know about that. 

It's all this week on the Big Show. 

Teacher, does this have to be 500 words? Because I'm done.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Listen to the music

If you listen to the music this week on the 3 Chords & the Truth, I'll be your Dixie chicken. S'wonderful. 

We can go hear the Sultans of Swing, and we'll do the Tripe Face Boogie. I'll speak easy, and you'll be utterly bewitched. 

That's how it goes on the Big Show today. Heck, yesterday, too. I mean, life is just a bowl of cherries -- except when it's not. 

Does that sound good to you? C'mon, talk to me.

I'll be around, at least until the real thing comes along. Or until I head to Woodstock . . . or somewhere.

Well, I hear the trumpets blow, so it's time for me to fly. So listen. You'll love it. You may even get a bad case of the love-itis.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Carried by the music

some days, you're chasing your morning coffee with a can of jolt cola. 

other days, you make jeb bush look high energy. 

this week on 3 Chords & the Truth, welcome your low-energy mighty favog. be thankful i could manage punctuation, at least. 

i was going to say something clever about this week's edition of the Big Show -- look, capital letters! and more punctuation! -- but i just spent the last on my energy on random capital letters and punctuation. 

well, crap. 

i suppose the music will have to suffice in the absence of my . . . personality. you buys your ticket; you gets the ride. and how.

this is e.e. favog, signing off. i'm gonna take a nap. 

it's 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. be there. aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Operator, get me Internet

Listen, I'm trying to just phone in the program this week, but Ernestine kept wanting me to feed the pay phone with quarters. 

Wait. What's this "cell" thing you keep talking about? Smart what? I phone? 

No, I not a telephone. I am Mighty Favog. What the hell is wrong with y'all?

Anyway, you have Ernestine the Telephone Operator to thank for having a reasonably engaging and well curated edition of 3 Chords & the Truth this week. Otherwise. . . .

So. There's a pretty good show. 'Nuff said.

Hey, just because I couldn't phone in the Big Show this week, it doesn't mean I can't just phone in the description of it. Peace . . . out. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: It happens

We live in a world crumbling under the weight of "It happens." 

Case in point: COVID. Other case in point: Trump. 

And, like, when when you start to dig out from under "It happens" -- when you've finally gotten fully vaccinated against the 'rona, for example and you're ready to reengage with the world, such as it is . . . "It happens." Again. 

You find you've forgotten your social graces. This being around people thing is kind of awkward. 

It happens. 

Well, bucko, 3 Chords & the Truth happens, too. I guess that's something, right? 

I said "Right?" 

I mean, I didn't forget how to do the Big Show over the past year and change. At least, I don't think I did. 

I guess that's for you to judge. Right here, right now.

Just don't forget your social graces. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Those were the days

Those were the days, my friend. We thought they'd never end.

But they did.

The virus saw to that -- the end of what passed for normal life. Of course, there have been those who think the virus didn't apply to them and insisted on normality. A certain percentage will not make that mistake again . . . or any other mistake, for that matter.

But what does that have to do with 3 Chords & the Truth? 

FOR ONE THING, it's sort of why there wasn't one last week. I got the second Moderna vaccine, and (at least for me) it's true what they say: It kicked my butt for a couple of days. And you know what? I've never felt so good about feeling bad. 

Now I'm counting down the last handful of days until peak immunity. And freedom, or what passes for freedom as the COVID pandemic endures, in large part because too many Americans refuse to get vaccinated.

We think we'll sing and dance forever and a day.

I don't know what to do with that. 

So, I guess all of that has influenced this week's edition of the Big Show. The lost past and an uncertain future. The relentless tick tock of racing to vaccinate an obstinate public as the virus continues to mutate. 

All this mess kinda does make you want to turn back that clock up on the wall, doesn't it? Turn it back to the day. 

Back when we could live the life we choose. When we could fight and never lose. 

Those were the days, oh yes, those were the days. 

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

Make America Cringeworthy Again

(Baton Rouge) Morning Advocate, April 30, 1965

This is the America the troglodyte caucus would like us to be again. The one where the ad men drank too much firewater on the job and illustrated for us all, 56 years later, the concept of institutional racism.

Or, as they themselves might have put in the caption, "This makum red man and paleface say 'Ugh!'"

The past is an unfailingly wonderful place only in the privileged memories of certain white folk.

3 Chords & the Truth: Listening on the corner

It's long been a cliché, the group of misunderstood teenagers passing the time by standing on the street corner and singing in perfect harmony. 

There, they are discovered, taken to the recording studio, make a hit record, then find fame, girls, a turbulent lifestyle and drugs.

Our corner is a bit different here at 3 Chords & the Truth. 

FOR ONE THING, over there is Emerson, Lake and Palmer with a crapload of electronic gear.

Pete Townshend is across the way smashing his guitar on the sidewalk.

On the other corner, Herb Alpert is playing some mean trumpet between taking calls regarding some record-label business.

Paul Mauriat is looking for a corner big enough for a full orchestra and string section.

And you don't want to know what the New Wavers are doing.

Pretty interesting corner here on the Big Show. 

If I were you, I'd stick around to listen. You never know what you're going to hear next.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The BIG Show

This week's edition of the Big Show is indeed a BIG show.

You might think you know where the music is going this week, but you'd be wrong. Surprise is a way of life on 3 Chords & the Truth. 

Now, I could tell you some of the twists and turns of this particular episode, but then I'd have to kill you. It is far safer for all involved to just find out when you find out.

That, of course, is achieved by listening. So get to it, OK?

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Lent everlasting

We're at the end of another season of Lent smack in the middle of a seeming everlasting season of Lent -- and the 'rona. 

That, at least, is how it seems here at the Big Show. I'm guessing it feels pretty much the same way at your place.

Understandably, and also given that it's late on Good Friday as we post this episode of the program, it's pretty much a Lenten kind of 3 Chords & the Truth this week. That doesn't mean it's not an excellent edition of the show . . . just kinda dialed back and thoughtful. As is fitting on the most solemn day of the Christian calendar. 

Did I mention that dialed back absolutely, positively can be great? I wouldn't want to underemphasize that. Besides, reflection is good for the soul.

That's probably what I should be doing right now instead of giving you the hard sell. For a podcast that, frankly, should be able to sell itself. So I'll shut up . . . for Lent. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Classing the joint up

I sit here in the studio listening to Juan Garcia Esquivel at ear-splitting volume, because that's what the hell I do. I love this stuff . . . but that's probably the next edition of the Big Show.

Mrs. Favog loves the "space age" of space age bachelor pad music. She's highly suspicious of the "bachelor pad" part.

Her husband turns 60 on Wednesday, so I'm not sure how much she has to worry about on that front. 

None of that, however, tells you much about this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth as we continue classing up Omaha, as we have since 2008.

Well, I'll tell you. Now that I'm a certain age, I just don't care. I do what I want -- like that wasn't already the case -- and this particular program is about as eclectic as it gets. We have a bit of everything (almost), and it's quite the ride. Strap in. 

Heck, we even have what Lawrence Welk once called "a modern spiritual." Poor Lawrence. He was neither hip nor happening, and certainly not "now." 

As I said,  it's a hell of an episode of the Big Show. 

And that's all I have to say about that. Now on to getting the first vaccine jab -- yay! -- and turning a certain age. Old age is gonna be lit. 

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

3 Chords & the Truth: We got the beat

We got the beat.

We got all the colors of the rainbow. 

We got the music. 

We 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. And we still hangin' in there and holdin' out against the 'rona. While we're waiting on the miracle vaccine jab, we'll just play some really good music for you.

Truly, it's been a terrible year since the world stopped last March. The Big Show has done what we could to make it a little less intolerable, because what else can you do that doesn't involve curling up into a little ball under the covers?

Now there's a light at the end of the tunnel, and if we don't do stupid things and if we keep masking up for a bit longer, there's every chance that light won't just be the 'Rona Blossom Special. All you have to do is keep calm and listen to the music. Right here.

It'll take the edge off.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The point of it all

Somewhere, there's a point to this show.

Maybe the music is the point to 3 Chords & the Truth. (OK, obviously the music is the point to the show.) But beyond that, I mean, for this week's tunefest. 

You discuss. I'll wait. 

OK, THIS WEEK I guess the point to the Big Show is whatever you want it to be. I'm open-minded that way.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Stereo rock

I pity those who never  got the chance to be inspired by the radio -- at least inspired to do something other than storm the Capitol. 

I suppose this is yet another step down the road to old farthood, the compulsion to tell the young'uns how much better it was back when we were whippersnappers. Some of that is, undeniably, bullshit. The thing about how special radio once was -- especially that brief moment where freeform radio shined -- definitely is not.

This week, I find myself thinking of my first encounters with enlightenment, my early forays into subversion of the constipated world The Man desperately was trying to foist upon my young self all those years ago. And remembering lying in bed out at our camp in south Louisiana, which was within the range of the glorious FM signal of Rampart 102 in New Orleans, WWL-FM.

Rampart 102, named for the street where the good music lived, was a middle finger in the face of The Man. Kind of fittingly, it was owned by the Jesuits back then. And it played what my parents would call "hippie music," which was what they called it when they were in a good mood. What they called it when they weren't would make them, if they were still with us, MAGAs of the Year. 

I'D LIKE to think 3 Chords & the Truth carries the torch today for that lost moment in time -- the subversive moment, not the reactionary one. The reactionaries today have no problem carrying their own torches. Literally.

If you'd like to authentically relive the 1971 experience of kids like me, surreptitiously listening to The Music of Which Your Parents Would Not Approve, the music that would get your ass labeled an Enemy of Right Thinkin' (say this in your head with a Southern accent), you'll listen to the Big Show late at night, in bed, under the covers, with an earphone to hide your inner subversiveness from the agents of repression. 

For the full glory of the music, however, I recommend a good stereo system or listening through good headphones -- not crappy earbuds. 

And remember the days when listening to the radio -- listening to the FM radio -- could be an enlightening experience, a chance to connect with that late-night radio host, sitting with an audio board and a couple of turntables in a darkened studio somewhere in the ether, through the music. It was a supremely human thing.

It's Rampart 102 . . . er . . . 3 Chords & the Truth, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

3 Chords & the Truth: Thaw is not a four-letter word

The sun is shining (for now), the temperature is above freezing, and life could be worse here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska. 

Like, you could be Ted Cruz right now.

Or . . . you could be totally ignorant of the best music on the Internets. That would be 3 Chords & the Truth.

Well, we have another stellar program for you this week, and your Mighty Favog is going to take you on a couple of musical journeys. You're gonna want to stick around for those.

And that's about all you need to know about this week's edition of the Big Show. Yep, c'est tout.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: The deep freeze

The weather here in the upper Midwest is fitting, I think.

It's a meteorological manifestation of the times in which we live. Frigid. Harsh. Bleak. Potentially deadly.

The difference between America's sociopolitical weather and that chronicled by the weather forecaster is this -- meteorologically, we know that spring will come in a matter of weeks. Yes, baby, it's cold outside, but it's as warm as we can make it in here -- on 3 Chords & the Truth.

So, put on your warm sweatpants, your fuzzy slippers and maybe a wool cap, too, and wrap up in a toasty blanket after getting a warm cup of something. Then put on this here episode of the Big Show and enjoy the music as we wait on spring.

Whenever it may come.

Oh . . . and you really want to hear how we get from Ray Conniff to The Clash. Sometimes, you just have to do something difficult just to see whether it can be done.

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

3 Chords & the Truth: Zap!

Blame it on the Jewish space lasers.

This show . . . the problems with the United States of Qmerica . . . that bald spot on the top of your head . . . wildfires . . . that we have a congresswoman who believes in Jewish space lasers -- take your pick, or take all of the preceding.

Howard Walowitz going up to the International Space Station? Coincidence? I think not.

There are two types of people who listen to 3 Chords & the Truth: Those who have been zapped by the Jewish space laser . . . and those who will be zapped by the Jewish space laser. Qmerica is the land of zaportunity.

So, while you're waiting to get baked like a nice brisket by a beam from low earth orbit, we have some nice music for you this week on the Big Show. Some really nice tunes, and a nice musical journey in the middle of the program.

Because you only live once, and then you get zapped.

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