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Category Archives: Music
Tedeschi Trucks Band and Friends
Country Music | A Film by Ken Burns
After watching the first two episodes (4 hours) of Ken Burns’ new documentary, I’m a little surprised at how much country music history there was before 1948. Many of the photos were reminiscent of the groups that performed at KBOA.
The Weight
I never tire of these. The face of each performer radiates joy.
Sheryl Crow, Bonnie Raitt and Mavis Staples
The list of Big Names that perform and record with Sheryl Crow knows no end.
Like the scene in Big… only better
Honky Tonk Women
Rob Frommel
Rob Frommel has been bussing tables and washing dishes at the Coffee Zone for the last couple of years and while I knew he was a musician, I had never listened to any of his music. Until today.
Jay Parks – Drummer
Jay Parks drums for the sheer joy of it. Most afternoons he can be found sitting in his truck (waiting to pick up his wife when she gets off work) drumming along with tunes on local radio stations. He was kind enough to let me record a minute or two. I don’t think Under the Boardwalk by the Drifters would have been his first choice but he’s a trooper. As I drove away I could hear him keeping time to Ike and Tina’s Proud Mary.
I recorded this video back in 2012 and would have sworn I posted here but I can’t find it.
Four chords
I came across a video showing how most pop songs are made with the same four chords. This got me wondering which chords go together so I asked my ukelele mentor, Professor Peter. Knowing my musical limitations, he dumbed it way down. If you want a 4 chord group:
A, F#m, D, E(7) – or
G, Em, C, D(7) – or
F, Dm, Bb, C(7)- or
C, Am, F, G(7)
When I started noodling around with these I noticed each group sounded like every teenage tragedy song from the early 60’s so I started jotting down high school memories. A quick, stream of consciousness list: high school cafeteria; AM radio; drag racing; orange vodka and cherry slo gin; fake IDs; 3.2 beer; drive-in movies; etc. I plugged ’em into C-Am-F-G7 and came up with three verses in search of a chorus.
The cool kids table in school lunch room
The A-M radio, playin’ our tunes
They put my jockstrap on my head
You go too fast, you wind up dead
Some orange vodka after the prom
Passed geometry with help from mom
My buddy Jimmy had a fake ID
But three-two beer was good enough for me
Too hot to neck at the local drive-in
Wasted money on the cherry slo gin
Suzie’s footprints on the dash of my car
You can leave but you can’t go far
I’ll cast these crumbs upon the water in hopes that someone will come up with the chorus.