Saturday, August 27, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Over the moon

You'll be over the moon about this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Whether you want to be or not.

By George, you will.

NASA is sending up the first, unmanned, Artemis mission to the moon this coming week, but you're going to get there first. Your space-age Mighty Favog is going to make sure of that, and the Big Show is your rocket ship.

Bang! Zoom! You're goin' to the moon!

And all you have to do is sit back and listen.

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

Saturday, August 13, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Psssst!


Listen.

Do you want to know a secret?

Do you promise not to tell?

Closer.

Let me whisper in your ear . . . about the show you want to hear. 

The Big Show.

It's all you need to know. And that's a plain and natural fact. 

Telling you that, at least, is no violation of the Espionage Act. And no search warrants are needed to hear that for yourself. 

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

Friday, August 05, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: How it's done

Alrighty then, I'm going to tell you how to make the magic that is 3 Chords & the Truth.

First, you gather up a bunch of records, CDs and tapes. Then you mix in some digital files. Place the preceding into the 3 Chords & the Truth machine. 

Put the power switch in the "on" position, then depress the "engage" button.

In a few hours, you will see the finished product in the output bin. A copy automatically will be uploaded to the Internet. 

Then, sit back and enjoy the Big Show.

These are the basics, but if I went into granular detail about how the audio magic is performed . . . well, I'd have to kill you. 

That would be bad. 

So don't ask too many questions, OK? 

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

Saturday, July 30, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Uhhhh . . . OK

There will come a time during this program that you will have a serious thought pop into your overloaded brain. 

It will be a simple thought, yet profound. 

This thought, arguably, could sum up 14 years of 3 Chords & the Truth

YOU MAY question your sanity. 

You may question my sanity. 

But first, there will be the thought

At the time in question. 

It will be this, I assure you: 

"This is some f***ed up s***, but it could be brilliant." 

Welcome to the Big Show

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

Saturday, July 23, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Out there

way back there then,

it was a hell of a thing

to see the poetry of e.e. cummings

who wrote

but did not capitalize.

bt thn smbdy invntd txting.

this week on 3 Chords & the Truth, we're exploring musical innovation, thinking outside the clichéd and metaphorical box, and how that just -- eventually -- became . . . music.

by the way, my shift key is feeling unappreciated right now. it's just going to have to take two Theramin and call me in the morning. but speaking of the Theramin, that's where electronic music started, and we've been coloring outside the conventional lines ever since.

kind of. well, at least the innovators have, and all innovation eventually becomes conventional, and then somebody else has to get farther out, man.

and still farther out, man.

f*** me, this is freeing, this typing with no caps. or few caps. whatever, man. watch out punctuation you're next

lol

i think you're getting an idea of the thrust of this week's edition of the Big Show. it's gonna be out there. maaaaaaaan.

it's also gonna be a hell of a ride and a hell of a lot of fun. which is kinda what we do here.

so, let's hear it for the innovators and the musical freethinkers. better yet, let's just hear them.

right here.

on this here program.

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

Saturday, July 16, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: This + That = Awesome

You take some of this, add a little of that, stir well, and you end up with some kind of wonderful.

That's the genius of 3 Chords & the Truth.

This edition of said program is as good an example of that simple recipe as anything. And it's something that hasn't sounded so good since a long-haired DJ let the spirit move him -- or her -- on the FM radio before the Gods of Homogeneity killed everything with their moneygrubbing wrath.

IF YOU'RE HERE, and if you're of a certain age, you know what I mean. If you're not of a certain age, welcome to freeform radio.

Now, this week's Big Show is all about the some of this and a little of that, including a 78 RPM rarity, one of the last performances of Maj. Glenn Miller's Army Air Forces Overseas Orchestra, which just might be the most astoundingly good big band ever assembled. At 50 pieces, it was a regular swing symphony.

The original 78, circa February 1946, was pretty scratchy and noisy, but the magic of modern computer technology here in the studio cleaned it up as best as possible without scrubbing it so much that it just sounded lifeless. 

There are also a lot of other gems in the lineup this go 'round, and you'd be quite edified if you stuck around to hear them all. He says humbly. 

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

Saturday, July 09, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Bad tidings, good tunes

Methinks I have come to be the bearer of bad tidings and good music. 

It's a hell of a thing to live in America today and be constitutionally unable to avert one's gaze from the sh*tshow, where crazy is the new normal. Welcome to my life. 

Welcome to 3 Chords & the Truth. Fortunately, you get some really good tunes along with the failure to avert one's gaze. 

COULD IT be that we're a clandestine voice of the resistance, broadcasting from deep in occupied, red-state territory? Yeah, it could. Go figure. Some days here in Omaha, by God, Nebraska, it feels like the führer is running things, and the only active resistance is from the nutters who think Herr Ricketts is being soft on humanity. 

And the anti-sh*tshow people are waiting for the American invasion to come. 

What? Well, hell.

We interrupt this program for an urgent message for Amtrak Joe: The red fox chases the blue bunny. The red fox chases the blue bunny. 

And now on with the music on the Big Show. It's extra good to counteract the extra bad times. 

Which is exactly what you'd expect from the rebel radio. 

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

Saturday, July 02, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Truth from Your Radio Friend

Well, this edition of 3 Chords & the Truth certainly lives up to its name.

We have a minimum of three chords, and we also have some cold, hard truth . . . from Your Radio Friend. It should be quite a ride.

The truth covers what has been going on in these Disunited States of America and where that's likely to lead us. That will not be a good place -- at all. 

Can you say fascist hellhole? I knew that you could.

And we also have a lot of great music, some of which might touch your heart and make you think. Some of it will be good fun. Some of it will be all of the above. 

That said . . . that's about all that's to be said about this go-round of the Big Show

So, sit back, turn on your favorite streaming device -- one preferably hooked up to a nice stereo system -- and get in touch with all kinds of stuff on 3 Chords & the Truth

It's hip, it's happening, and it's now, y'all. Be there. Aloha.

Saturday, June 25, 2022

This won't end well

This is the artwork that ran with the Nov. 11, 2016 edition of 3 Chords & the Truth, after the election of Donald Trump as president.

Everyone of sound morals, sound judgment and sound mind knew that America would be left in tatters by the time he was done. And yet, we still underestimated the "American carnage."

But the thing about Trump, and his MAGA movement, is that he -- and it -- is the "gift" that keeps on taking. It corrupts everything it touches -- our institutions, our society, our democracy and even the church. Especially the church.

Now Roe v. Wade has been overturned, thanks to the lackeys Trump and the MAGAfied Senate GOP installed on the Supreme Court. And the United States, already roiled and disunited by the culture wars and partisan strife, surely will finish the job of self-immolation.

WE ALL have lost much over the last six or seven years, thanks to the twin plagues of COVID and Trumpism. I have lost my relationship with an increasingly Trumpified Catholic Church in the United States. I can live in this country, or I can be Catholic. The roiling ball of mortification and visceral disgust in my gut tells me I cannot do both.

Now, I am no enthusiast of abortion. I suspect not that many people are. In fact, I consider myself pro-life.

But I have come to the conclusion over the years that outlawing abortion will not end it. It may not even make a dent. It will just criminalize it -- and make criminals of desperate women.

It will work just about as well as Prohibition did, and probably worse. The carnage resulting from the war of the self-righteous against the hard-pressed likely will be worse than that of trying to make teetotalers of an entire nation, and that whole deal gave us Al Capone and a raft of lesser mobster lights . . . and the resulting wave of death, violence and public corruption.

Today, few babies will be saved, and more women will die. Even more will be hounded after suffering miscarriages, because the Unsatisfied Righteous will see illegal abortions around every corner. Especially where there are none.

We will see no increase in maternal health care, and it won't be more affordable. We will see no outbreak of affordable child care. We will see no expansion of paid parental leave. There will be no child tax credits, increased food aid or accessible mental-health care.

Babies will be precious -- and protected -- right up to the moment they exit the birth canal. Then it will be time to suck it up, Buttercup. Just like today, only worse.


Bullshit from the "pro-life movement"
ANY CELEBRATING "pro-lifer" who tells you differently almost assuredly is blowing smoke up your ass. I've already lost track of the times I've heard big, vague promises in the last 16 hours or so. When asked by television journalists for details on all this coming aid for mothers and children, the unfailing answer is "We're sorting that out."

And I'm the goddamn queen of France. They only had 49 years to figure this shit out . . . and now it's going to get done on the fly?

What we have now, people, is flat-out minority rule heading fast for full-bore tyranny. My 61 years of life experience, my observational skills as a one-time journalist and my increasingly accurate, increasingly fright-making gut instinct tells me that some form of civil war might be an optimistic outlook.

You thought things were bad before? Just wait, now that the "pro-life" dog has caught the speeding dump truck of history. And fate.

Ugly doesn't even begin to cover it. Forget fetuses, we're gonna kill one another now. We've been waiting for the spark to set off the powder keg. And here it is.

The possibility exists that we could get some leadership -- and pragmatic common sense -- from somewhere. On the other hand, our institutions have been corrupted or enfeebled, and our politicians are either malign or feckless.

I mean, do you trust them to fix anything today? Do you really think the average American is even capable of democracy anymore? Come on, man. Double-digit percentages of us think the Italians beamed shit from satellites to make voting machines gaga for Joe Biden and screw Trump out of re-election.

Confidence has not been inspired.

That said, there will be no 3 Chords & the Truth this week. And I even had everything ready to go.

But it isn't distraction -- or a salve -- that we need now. We need a little silence . . . and space. It may be the last we get for a long, long time.

Goodnight, America. You had a too-brief run.

Friday, June 17, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Ralph-tastic

If a clod like Ralph appreciates good music expertly curated . . . I expect that you'll be copacetic with everything, right? 

I said right

Now that we're clear on everything, we're good to go with another Big Show, which is a very very very fine show, with one dog in the yard, tunes used to be so hard . . . now everything is easy 'cause of you. And the 3 Chords & the Truth mascot, Ralph . . . who is  a clod, which isn't an insult but a fact, in the earthiest of manners. 

But he has a nice smile. Don't you think Ralph has a nice smile? 

And Ralph thinks this week's edition of the program is especially mud-tacular. (We're pretty sure that's a good thing.) 

So be like Ralph. Listen to the Big Show

And, yes, we've had a lot of rain here recently.

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

Saturday, June 11, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Under the table

These are the times that try men's livers. Because the safest place to be in America today just might be under the table. 

Can I get a "Hic!"?

In that totally practical spirit, we're gonna be drankin' this week on 3 Chords & the Truth. Thus, we're going to have some good drankin' music. 

We'll have some other good music, too, on this here soused edition of the Big Show, but let's just start with the drinking songs. 

OK? (thud)

I mean, what's the use of getting sober when the news comes on every day?

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

Saturday, June 04, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Deviants all

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a . . . well, shit

America, America, God took thy brains from thee. Don't get me started on your soul. 

That, sadly, is where we seem to be as a nation as we somewhat reluctantly offer up another episode of 3 Chords & the Truth. If it's not one thing, it's another.

And sometimes, it's everything at once. Well, shit.

You will have to forgive your Mighty Favog this week for a program done amid a haze of depression and, frankly, not-so-suppressed rage. Because this shit never ends.

We keep doing the same thing -- which is not doing anything -- and expecting different results. Well, the bodies keep piling up. Republicans seem to be good with that.

I am not. Maybe you aren't, either. I don't know. 

And that's where we are for this go-round of the Big Show. I may have more to say about that -- give it a listen. There's some damned fine music, too.

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

Saturday, May 21, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: And it blew right up in our face

Crazy.

Mean.

Cruel.

Hate.

Crying.

Help.

WELL, that pretty much sums up America these days, and it sums up what we're dealing with on 3 Chords & the Truth this week.

You know, it gets harder and harder to try and do the Big Show with even something of a smile on one's face. At some point -- with a million dead of COVID and a fascist political party egging on murderous white supremacists -- a smile starts to feel like a delusion.

Still, you try. Still, you seek out joy -- and music.

Such is life in these Disunited States of Dystopia . . . er, America.

"Made it, Ma! Top of the world!" And it blew right up in our face.

Heaven help us.

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

Saturday, May 14, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Illegal in seven states

This edition of 3 Chords & the Truth is illegal in Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Listen at your own risk.

Legal notices aside, it's a damn fine show this week. Lots of great music -- as always.  

Plus, you'll learn things and hear songs you had no idea about. About which you had no idea? Damn you, awkward yet correct grammar! 

Well, this show must be special; I've already used the word "damn" twice. Damn! 

Three times. 

I'd better wrap this up and let you get to the Big Show before I get banned in a couple more states. Given Tuesday's primary results in Nebraska, I may even get banned here. too. 

Uh, yeah. 

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

Saturday, April 30, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: More ump-ff!

3 Chords & the Truth -- it's the show with more ump-ff. 

And your mileage won't vary. Everybody gets maximum ump-ff when listening to the Big Show.

But you don't have to believe me; prove it to yourself. Try an episode and see just how much ump-ff can be packed into 90 minutes of a music podcast. 

You'll be glad you did. 

IN FACT, you'll probably think 3 Chords & the Truth invented ump-ff. We did not, but we do appropriate it heavily. That's why we have more ump-ff than Brand X. Or Brand Y. Or even Brand Z. 

Once you try the exquisite musical mix we present, it's safe to say that you'll never go anywhere else for your weekly measure of ump-ff. Because the Big Show just has more. More music, more ump-ff, more satisfaction at the low, low price of . . . zip.

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

Saturday, April 23, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Noise annoys

Noise annoys. So we don't do that here.

Instead, the Big Show goes with music -- the best music. We wouldn't want you all annoyed and stuff.

So, as usual, you can be assured this week's episode of 3 Chords & the Truth is not annoying. No, it's down right entertaining and stuff. 

Apart from that, I'm not sure what to say about the show. Music . . . good . . . not annoying. That pretty much covers it. 

Yep. Ima just shut up now. The subject matter has been covered. All that's left to do is for you to listen. 

Uh huh. 

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

Saturday, April 09, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Reality does not inspire

As one of the selections on the Big Show says, "Reality does not inspire."

Really? I'll alert the media. Wait, 3 Chords & the Truth IS the media -- I consider myself alerted.

There are several approaches to dealing with this reality. One is falling into stupid nostalgia, where everything was better and everyone got along way back there then. I grew up in the South "way back there then," so I am immune to this approach.

The reality of the time was not so inspiring. Were some things better than now? Sure. And a lot of things were a flat-out horror show.

Another approach is to fall into a bottle. First, I no longer fit. Second, liquor ain't cheap. Third, I am cheap.

OK . . . I thought of why I do want to go back in time -- as an adult -- to the year of my birth in Baton Rouge, La. I want to go back and surreptitiously change all the "White" signs on public restrooms and drinking fountains to "White Homo sapiens."

I'd just want to see fine, upstandin' Christian white people afraid to drink water and crapping themselves in public because they wouldn't want anybody to think they were one a them queers. Still, I would be careful about complimenting aspiring young actresses by saying they had the makings of a true thespian. 

The struggle was real. Even today, that kind of compliment might get you labeled a "groomer" by the Republican booboisie.

But I've come off the tracks with my musings here.

The point here is that while reality may not inspire -- at least most of it, anyway -- the Big Show always does . . . musically, at least. Check it out. 

If you disagree, you can go around telling people I'm a Homo sapien.

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

Saturday, April 02, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Going all the way

 
Birds do it. Bees do it. Even educated fleas do it.
 
Let's do it. Let's listen to 3 Chords & the Truth.

What the hell did you think your Mighty Favog was talking about?

After all, the Big Show IS everybody's favorite freeform musical phantasmagoria. Look that up in your Funk and Wagnall's, skipper.

But first, listen to the show. You'll be glad you did.

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

Saturday, March 19, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: I fall to pieces

I turned on the Internet stream of my high-school radio station this morning just in time to hear the DJ mention that this spring, they're kicking off WBRH's 45th anniversary celebration.

Wut?

I was there then. I can tell you what the first record was. I was a junior in Radio I.

In 1977.

Forty-five years ago.

S***.  

IT ALSO HAPPENS that I have a birthday coming up in a few days. It would appear that I'm no longer 18, much less 16.

It would appear that I'm 45 years older than 16.

S***.

That would explain that when I walk by, I fall to pieces. A little help here . . . I've fallen, and I can't get up.

Well,  that kind of sets the scene for this week's edition of 3 Chords & the Truth. Expect some music from when I was 61 years younger than I am now . . . and 39 years younger . . . and 47 years younger . . . and 51 years younger . . . and you get the gist here.

IT'S MY PARTY, and I'll play what the hell I want to. Fortunately for you, it's all good. Every bit of it. That's what we've all come to expect of the Big Show

And that's a very good thing. It was a very good year. All of 'em. 

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

Saturday, March 12, 2022

3 Chords & the Truth: Anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really know what time it is?

Does anybody really care?

Do we go forward or backward?

This, I do know, however. Any time is the right time for a little 3 Chords & the Truth. Or a lot, for that matter. 

Personally, I'd go with a lot. It's that good.

And that's good enough, because it's the Big Show. It's as simple as that.

Period.

I said period.

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