Music

Steely Dan – Rikki Don’t Lose that Number (Guitar Cover)

November 1, 2018 By Mark Chatham 2 Comments

Rikki Don’t Lose that Number – Steely Dan (Guitar Cover)

Rikki Don’t Lose that Number was released as a single in 1974 off Steely Dan’s Pretzel Logic album. It made it as far as number 4 on the Billboard top 100 and was number 51 in Billboard’s Top 100 for 1974.

Now I ask you. What was the number one song for 1974? The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand. Really? And Rikki finishes in 51st place? Behind Terry Jacks Seasons in the Sun at number 2 and The Streak at number 9, no less. FOR THE YEAR. Wow.

Rikki has always been a favorite of mine. When I lived in PEI the first time there was a bar in the Charlottetown Mall when it first opened in 1974. The first time I heard the song I was walking by the bar and the band was playing a great version. I was 16 and too young to go in, but I had to stop and listen. I just loved the song.

The smooth, bossa nova groove really pushes everything along nicely. It’s a beautiful arrangement and everything slides together with precision. It’s a song I’ve learned and relearned over the years and it’s always fun when I find myself doing it again. I still think Jeff Baxter’s solo is one of the great signature solos of all time.

The boys became tired of playing it live though. In 2013 Donald Fagen told Rolling Stone: “Walter and I aren’t fond of ‘Rikki Don’t Lose That Number.’ It’s not a bad song. I think it’s ‘well-written,’ but it’s so simple. I just have listening fatigue. It’s been played so much. Same with ‘Reeling in the Years.'”

Track information:

Lyrics:

We hear you’re leaving, that’s okay
I thought our little wild time had just begun
I guess you kind of scared yourself, you turn and run
But if you have a change of heart

Rikki don’t lose that number
You don’t want to call nobody else
Send it off in a letter to yourself
Rikki don’t lose that number
It’s the only one you own
You might use it if you feel better
When you get home

I have a friend in town, he’s heard your name
We can go out driving on Slow Hand Row
We could stay inside and play games, I don’t know
And you could have a change of heart

You tell yourself you’re not my kind
But you don’t even know your mind
And you could have a change of heart

Songwriters: Donald Jay Fagen / Walter Carl Becker

Pink Floyd – Time

June 27, 2018 By Mark Chatham 2 Comments

The first time I heard Dark Side of the Moon I was unimpressed. Hey, I was 16 years old so my brain hadn’t fully formed yet. I’d been playing for almost a year and I was into Deep Purple and Black Sabbath which was the type of music that would appeal to an ADHD sort of guy. This music just seemed so… slow. Mind you, I’ve always like ballads but these were not ballads by any stretch and it just didn’t work for me at the time. It would be Animals that got me into Floyd and upon revisiting Dark Side of the Moon I gained a real appreciation for “slow” music which couldn’t be characterized as a ballad.

This is my first real effort at a guitar video since I covered SRV Pride and Joy about… eight years ago. The mix isn’t the greatest and I’m feeling out how to make the process work and look decent.

Obviously, I’m not there yet. I’m painfully aware of the camera so it may take some time to get used to that element. My head is cut off for a reason. lol! However, I hope you don’t get distracted by the bit of leg I’m showing here. I really need to work on my video “mise en scene.”

Any suggestions or criticism is welcomed by this guitar student. Thanks for your time.

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Pride N Joy

May 30, 2018 By Mark Chatham Leave a Comment

Eastern Passage and the Internal Com-busk-tion Engine

Shamelessly, I busk my own son’s wedding. Fortunately, nobody called the cops.

New Menu

There’s a new sub-category under Music which is going to cover… well, musical covers. I’ll pull popular and unpopular songs into the studio, play along and video the entire thing. I’ve found the monkey bars next to the sandbox.

That’s the video component which I’ll go into a little more depth in a bit. Now on to the topic of busking!

Why?

Some are undoubtedly thinking “You’re going to busk at your age? Are you MAD?” The quick and proper answer to that query is “bite me.” However, I’ll go for a more tactful approach and respond “The material is timeless.”

As to why, I posted the rationale on facebook:

“#8 in the “So I’m…” series which I thought was finished after #4.

So I’m going to be busking the boardwalk at Eastern Passage this summer. It’s not about the money, although all proceeds will go towards the “Get the Grandcitters to Disneyworld” initiative.

I need to get used to playing in front of people again and this seems like a sensible way to go. Plus, there’s the bonus of I’ll get to meet a lot of cool people.

I’ll relearn a number of tunes note for note which have signature solos. “Rikki Don’t Lose that Number” and “Reeling in the Years” by Steely Dan for instance. Sultans of Swing, Hotel California, mucho Pink Floyd, etc.

Just so you know, I will be departing from musical dinosaur world by noodling along to contemporary artists like the Imagine Dragons, C2C, Justin Timberlake, Taylor Swift, et al.

As to the latter choices, with the exception of C2C it appears that education goes both ways when you have grandcritters, who enlightened me in respect to Imagine Dragons, JT and Taylor Swift. I love my grandcritters, they teach me more than just patience.

As I get these tunes together, I’ll be making vids and posting them on my Groove Fondue Youtube account. For the verbatim covers, I hope to eventually include guitar tab for any young players who are learning. I wish Youtube had been around when I was learning.

I’ve come a ways since I did this video years ago and the sound quality will be much better, but it’s at least a starting point in terms of reference.

If nothing else, this should generate story food for my blog.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get out there by mid-June.

My cover of SRV’s “Pride and Joy.” The audio quality of vids going forward will be much, much higher.”

Just because I’m going to make this a blog post, I’ll post a bonus tune: China Grove by The Doobie Brothers

Fairgale – Pillars

May 11, 2018 By Mark Chatham Leave a Comment

I first met Andrew Rodgers of Fairgale out of St. John’s, Newfoundland at the Taxi Songwriter’s Convention in Los Angeles in November of 2017. Craig Dodge, a Charlottetown music producer and mutual acquaintance suggested we hook up at the convention. Don and I were attending as Groove Fondue to pitch songs and network, as was Andrew. It was charming. Don and I were two, far out old men attending this convention with a bunch of much younger musicians. Well, as it turns out there were a lot of far out old people pitching music along with the gaggles of youth there so fortunately, we didn’t stand out freakishly. Much. We hung out with Andrew and had a blast. That, however, is a story for another day.

25 years old, in LA for the first time and the rental car didn’t have the sub-sub-compact car on hand so a complimentary upgrade to a Mustang convertible was the solution. Times are hard!

Prior to the convention, I emailed Andrew as part of my “getting to know you” campaign. He told me about Fairgale and later would send me links to their first album and I was extremely impressed with the band’s sound and the maturity of their writing.

The tourism industry would have people believe the music of the Maritimes and Newfoundland are all about jigs and reels. Listening to Fairgale’s Pillars, there’s nothing even close to being influenced by a jig and the only reeling was done by myself as I was listening to this CD. I’m talking “reeling” in the “gob-smacked” sense rather than the traditional dance sense.

From the opening notes of Tunnel Vision until the final ringing note of Another Day, I was enthralled. There’s not a hint of filler on this album and every song is compelling in its own way. For a basic four piece group Fairgale offers an incredibly sophisticated sound.

L to R Brad Tuck, Stephen Green, Andrew Rodgers, Gary Powers At the launch of *Pillars.* I think Andrew should change his surname to “Beard”

Fairgale is an alt rock band but could easily cross over to pop given the production values and writing. Along with Andrew on guitar and vocals is Stephen Green on guitar and vocals with a rhythm battery which consists of Brad Tuck providing the iron on drums and Gary Powers the steel with his punchy and potent bass. Andrew and Stephen are the primary writers of the group and all of these guys offer the utility of playing multiple instruments.

If I had to compare them to another group it becomes difficult. Initially, given the high caliber of musicianship, production values and overall vibe I would say they would fit in a playlist with Amanda Marshall’s debut album easily and that’s a very tall order. It’s difficult to pin down a direct comparison because I hear so many influences that are referenced, but not copied. Alluded to but not imitated. U2, Don Henley, Tom Petty, Oasis… but in the end, it’s all uniquely Fairgale.

The two singles Tunnel Vision and Bad Reputation, written and sung by Stephen and Andrew respectively kick things off. Tunnel Vision leads off and there are definitely shades of the 80’s in there. I hear the familiar roll of jangly guitar octaves in the chorus and I get all warm n fuzzy. It’s a good foot to put forward to begin the journey.

Bad Reputation written by Andrew also captures the 80’s vibe with a contemporary sound. It has a bouncy groove and the choices of organ as a layer adds to the fun. I hear the line “She’s crazy about Elvis is her favorite Tom Petty line” and I’ve got to smile. Andrew’s lyric brings this grrrl to life. It’s a fun tune and a nice follow up to Tunnel Vision.

When I initially fired up the CD, the bass sounded hot to me but as the album rolled on I realized it’s exactly in the space it needs to be in terms of the mix. The drums and bass are definitely the pulse of this band. They’re deep in the pocket, every time and this makes for a consistently driving foundation for each song. In terms of vocals, I find Stephen has a Bono quality to his voice, controlled, contained and silky. Andrew seems to be more on the edge in terms of phrasing and choices, but that tension creates great emotional moments. Both their vocals complement each other and dovetail beautifully to enhance the band’s cohesive and fluid vibe.

Andrew’s Drop in the Ocean is the third cut and has a compelling, mid-tempo flow that has shades of Pink Floyd and Cold Play. Perhaps a hint of Foo Fighters in terms of chord voicings; the continuously ringing open B and E strings that fatten the sound and help sweep you away. Andrew’s vocal is perfect. A simple melody with lots of room to work sustained notes to wring out the emotion and he does it perfectly. Every time I hear this I pick up my guitar to play along, it’s a very relaxing groove. The opening lyric is striking in its simplicity but it resonates.

“You don’t speak my language. You don’t think the way I do.”

There are only two short verse but that’s somewhat appropriate given the isolation of which the song speaks. Drop in the ocean, indeed.

Wishful Thinking written by Stephen is a compelling mid-tempo rock groove that at it’s core flows like the Tragically Hip, but the instruments providing supporting color as well as the shift in the bridge twist things in ways that are “un-Hip-like,” but work well. A case study in musical tension. The bass and drums are locked together, feel more “rock” here and give an insistent push to the music. Stephen has fantastic control of his pipes. His performance is structured and he makes great phrasing choices, particularly in the chorus. The lyric is poignant, introspective and the phrasing in the chorus underpins a hint of bitter regret.

“Sometimes I wonder,
Is this as good as it is ever gonna get”

What really made that line pop in terms of performance was the punchy delivery on “good as it is,” each word a shot on the beat and artfully done. Stephen is definitely a wordsmith.

“Daylight in the Dark” begins with evocative cellos and acoustic guitar but shifts gears to an upbeat drive that along with Stephen’s vocal styling lends a strong U2 vibe to the piece. Each and every time I’m impressed with Gary and Brad’s playing. It’s not just how tight they are when driving a groove, they just make solid choices across the board. Together. No weak and thready pulse here, their vitals are strong. How good are they? It’s another song that whenever it’s on, I’ve got the the Strat in hand and in a large measure it’s the compelling groove they set up that calls to me. These are simple lines, haunting and memorable:

“are we living on a memory
have we gone too far
gunning for the
daylight in the dark
daylight in your heart”

As a lyricist… I really wish I’d written that.

“40 nights of wishful thinking
40 days of wasted time“

Biblical references are always powerful word juice, if you will. However, there’s a precision and symmetry in the lines is almost mathematical. That would carry more weight had I not failed math in high school, but I’ll stand by my position.

My first exposure to Andrew’s music was a song he was pitching for the convention called 100 Miles a Minute and it floored me. It’s not part of Fairgale’s portfolio yet, but even in its simplest form it’s a divine piece about a glimpse of a girl, a yearning ache and unrequited love. I was drawn to it and listened to it multiple times. There’s no doubt in my mind Andrew does “longing” extremely well and in Never Live Long Enough, the eighth cut on Pillars he does it again.

Is there anything that imparts a sense of deep longing in a more unique way than a single note, insistently pedaled on a piano? Think Don Henley’s A Month of Sundays or A Great Big World’s Say Something and you know what I mean. The song begins with a simple piano line accompanying Andrew in this beautiful piece on the loss of a relationship.

“Where are you now?
How have you been?
How did we become strangers after everything?”

The questions are a great way to set up the mood and they tell us everything we need to know. Andrew’s lyrics can be a little spare at times, but I believe it’s due to the difference in singing styles. If Stephen can be compared to Bono, then I’d compare Andrew to Peter Gabriel. He hangs notes out there and works them to their full emotional potential. However as it turns out, Andrew is also a wordsmith in his own right:

“I hear your song on the radio.
It haunts me like a ghost creeping in like the sunset through my window.”

That’s a nice bit of word craft and use of imagery. There are times Andrew’s lyrics almost feel like dialogue and I like the way that anchors the listener. I feel that aching pull every time I hear this song and I sigh.

The entire album is a work of casual precision. It feels casual, but it’s all actually precisely tooled and balanced. I think this is a world class project and these are hard working, serious lads. If these guys can’t make it off The Rock and out of the Maritimes with this type of material, then I’d say the executives in the music industry are either deaf or willfully obtuse. Yes, that essentially means stupid. However, it’s always about getting music to the right set of ears. There’s always the “crap shoot” variable to success in the music industry and lucky for Fairgale, they’re rolling with loaded dice.

Check out their first album Own the Light at their website at Fairgale.ca

Check out Pillars on Spotify

The Eagles Moncton 2008

April 13, 2018 By Mark Chatham 1 Comment

It was 2008 and I was still working as a MCTSO for the Canadian Coast Guard. I’ve always felt that radio operations drew a slightly eccentric sort of person and our workplace was a fascinating and eclectic blend of humanity. There was a staff of around 40 or so working rotating shifts 24/7 and the ranks had a musician component which comprised 20% of the total with four guitar players and a drummer. The Maritime provinces don’t tend to draw huge acts regularly due to our low population, so when The Eagles were coming to town the station was abuzz with the news and we were all pretty stoked at the opportunity to see these legends live.

Don Henley’s post concert press conference addressing the issue of meat portion size on typical donairs in Moncton
Photo: Chris Kleponis

To up the ante, the act immediately preceding The Eagles would be John Fogerty so this was a mandatory concert and all non-music hating colleagues attending were scrambling to get their shifts covered for the concert date. The competition for overtime could normally be brutal. You could potentially step out the door after getting off a night shift on a sunny morning and be momentarily confused by the industrial air conditioner shaped shadow steadily growing directly beneath you a la Wile E. Coyote before you inadvertently found yourself off on sick leave or worse. However, at times of high interest events people would be scrambling the other way trying to get time off. In the end, those that wanted the time off had it granted.

The Pope live at the Magnetic Hill venue in Moncton on his Heavenz-a-poppin tour. I don’t know who opened for him… probably John Fogarty. Photo: Ottawa Citizen

The concert was being held at the Magnetic Hill Concert Venue which is a natural bowl outside of Moncton, New Brunswick. The site was built for the visit of Pope John Paul II in 1984 to hold a papal mass. I guess he wasn’t overly impressed as he didn’t bless the site and make it the Magnetic Hill Concert Basilica. Anyway, there was a hayfield cum campground across the road from the venue, so my friend and fellow guitarist Stuart and myself decided we’d camp out the evening before the concert.

Bear in mind, I was 50 at the time and hadn’t slept on the ground in a good while. Builds character though, yes? By character, I mean enough nitrogen buildup in your joints so when you fight gravity to get off the ground in the morning there’s so much popping and snapping it sounds like there’s a dog jumping on a sheet of bubble wrap inside your tent. No matter, this was The Eagles and that made me feel 20 again in the comfort of my armchair. The day before we were to head out, Stuart mentioned that I should bring along an acoustic guitar to turn our campsite into a jampsite.

I was on board completely in respect to bringing a guitar, but I didn’t want to bring an acoustic I wanted to bring my Strat. Off to Long&McQuade to see if I could find a travel amp and I was in luck. I found a Line 6 Micro-spider which was supposed to run for 20 hours on six “C” cells, a claim of which I was skeptical. As it would turn out, at $150 it was the best musical buy I ever made. It ran throughout the weekend and I’m talking serious jam time. When I wasn’t using it, someone else would plug in. Twelve solid hours those two nights and I didn’t have to replace the batteries until my son’s wedding a month later in September 2008. Truth in advertising. It was a scramble the day before the trip, but we were good to go.

Even these bears at the campsite next to ours managed to get their tent up without help and they don’t have opposable thumbs. Way to go Yogi and Boo Boo

We arrived at the camp site at around 1630 ADT or 0430 in the afternoon and we immediately went to work on getting the tent up. That didn’t go so well. I’m about as handy as Omarosa and Stuart might be marginally better… maybe Paris Hilton level. There were aluminum pole segments that had some kind of bungee cord inside them. It was like giving nunchuks to orangutans. We’re scratching our heads and looking at each other and when we finally get them together and they’re each like, nine feet long. I had to check the box to make sure we hadn’t accidentally bought a tight rope walking kit. Some kindly campers from the neighboring camp sites acted as technical advisors and we finally erected the tent. Their motives may not have been entirely altruistic, but due to the fact we now could extend our ineptitude by a good nine foot radius and maybe “put someone’s eye out” as my mom used to say.

That task completed and the campsite organized, we headed off to supper. We still had another 24 hours to go until the concert so we started jamming that night at around eight p.m. Stuart is an excellent guitarist and blues is his jam, but he has great skill and cross genre is not a problem so it was a really fun evening. The weather wasn’t extremely co-operative and spat at us throughout the evening, but we kept the request line open until 4 a.m. before packing it in.

Stu and I sing for our lunch with a rendition of The Eagles *Take it Easy*

By morning it was pouring and we weren’t too happy about that. Fortunately, my buddy Don would be going to the concert and was staying in town at his mom’s. Don’s mom Viola is sharp and very engaging. Don had told us we could stop by to shower to get the jampsite funk out. I think it was self-interest as he’d be sitting with us that evening at the show, possibly downwind. Viola told us she’d feed us, but we had to play for our lunch. She was kidding but we don’t need much of an excuse to play. As I recall, we played Take it Easy before sitting down to some excellent home cooking. On the way back to the concert we picked up some tissue paper thin, yellow plastic ponchos for $10 each from a guy that no doubt would be selling selfie sticks had the weather been nice. 10 minutes after we bought them it stopped raining.

This was an event and opening were KT Tunstall then Sam Roberts, but we were there for Fogerty and The Eagles. Nothing against Tunstall or Sam Roberts but I just don’t have the concert stamina I had at a younger age. Fogerty was set to take the stage at 7 p.m. and at around 6 we set out. Now I didn’t know where the venue actually was, you couldn’t see it from the campsite… or the main road for that matter. It entirely possible the venue can only be viewed from the International Space Station using the Hubble telescope for all I know, because it was at least a half hour walk along a paved, private road that wound through some gorgeous scenery to what appeared to be a secluded glen. There had been 90,000 for The Rolling Stones in 2005, 75,000 for John Paul II but for The Eagles there would be 45,000 in attendance so it would be… cozy, I guess.

We were only a stone throw away from the stage…

Don, Stuart and I all had tickets together in the VIP section, which I assumed would be a stone throw away from the stage. That is, if Keith Richards is the Stone in question and you’re launching him with a trebuchet. It seemed like we were the equivalent to at least eight tractor trailers distance away from the stage.

The seats consisted of aluminum staging and we were perched at the top in the back row of our section. We were leaving contrails on the way to our seats. From the ground looking up, we had to be at least three stories up. No matter, this contraption is regulated and certified by the Department of Rickety Aluminum Poles which also certified our camping equipment so we’re good, right? Then John Fogerty hit the stage.

John Fogerty’s Setlist (my links always open a new tab)

From the opening bars of Travelling Band the place was rocking! Literally. I was frightened. I’m looking around at a LOT of 40+ year old people with a mean average weight of 210+ pounds jumping up and down. I was bouncing in my seat without moving a muscle. I found myself deeply caring about the tensile strength of aluminum in that moment. As I looked down the drop behind me at the flimsy lattice work holding us up in the air I couldn’t help note how impalement-friendly the design was in case of structural failure. Well, there was nothing I could do but have faith so I turned back to the music.

John Fogerty and friend singing Proud Mary for Don’s Mom’s world class divinity fudge.

The stands were bouncing pretty hard and with good reason. Fogerty’s set was fantastic. He still has powerful pipes and that raspy style in a higher register can’t be easy to sing, but it was a world class performance. The musicianship was also first class. Fogerty had left the business in 1976 until 1985 when he released the solo project Center Field. He’d said he wanted to take the time to work on becoming a better musician and his chops that night when he was cutting solos reinforced that decision as a good one. He rocked for an hour or so and it was great to hear those hits I’d heard on the radio when I was growing in to adolescence. He took me through a time when I was 11 to 14 and then the Eagles took over to play the next phase of the soundtrack of my adolescence.

The Eagles Setlist

It was an understated opening when The Eagles hit the stage with How Long and Take it to the Limit, but with the opening lines of the album version of Hotel California everybody went crazy and I’m certain if a seismic detection app existed back then, I’m certain we hit a 7.4 on the Richter Scale in our section of the stands. And why not? This was a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Night. John Fogerty had already treated us with both Credence and his solo catalogue and was being followed by another segment of rock history with not just The Eagles hits, but The Boys of Summer, Dirty Laundry and All She Wants to do is Dance from Don Henley’s solo career. Also Joe Walsh’s contributions to rock history with Walk Away and Funk #49 from the James Gang as well as In the City, Rocky Mountain Way and the incomparable Life’s Been Good from his solo career.

I’m pretty sure these guys could bring guitars to a gun fight and still win.

The band was deep into the setlist with Rocky Mountain Way when we all realized that as we were on the far side of the venue, perhaps we should start making our way out. After all, we had at least three lines of longitude to cross to get back to the campsite and there were roughly 44,998 between us and the exit. Best to start out while they were distracted.

Now while we were in the stands, I thought the overall mix was I’msittinginahighendstereo amazing but as we got closer to the mixing booth I was shocked at just how much better it could get as the high frequencies really started to bloom sonically. I was so struck that I had to stop and just listen as the band played All She Wants to Do is Dance. I’d never heard a live sound that crisp with such a pristine mix, everything sitting in its proper space with precision. But the guys were picking up half eaten hot dogs off the ground and were throwing them at me in an attempt to get me moving. It worked. When we got back to the campsite we jammed until four a.m. once again. I like to tell people that The Eagles opened for us. That’s not why this is the concert that I’d have to say is the number one concert I’ve seen.

The evening was almost literally a timeline in respect to the arc music had played in my life from the age of 11 until I was married. CCR was very early in my musical awakening, The Eagles were in the next stage of musical maturity so this night covered a broad range of influences as these artists had appeared in many iterations in the past, all of them iconic. It stirred up great memories and the emotions evoked were all warm. It was also the festival atmosphere and the fact we camped out and got to jam after the concert while the music was still fresh.

One thing I know for a fact. Great friends and great music are always a great combination.

Musical Direction

February 12, 2018 By Mark Chatham Leave a Comment

Tell em What You’re Going to Tell em

For the music category I wasn’t sure what to write, so I asked my facebook friends and I received a generous number of suggestions for topics to discuss. A friend of mine is a Toastmaster and offered me this popular maxim in respect to public speaking. “Tell em what you’re going to tell em. Tell em. Tell em what you told em.” I’ve decided I’m going to use every single suggestion that was offered on facebook and decided for the first post, I’d tell you what I’m going to tell you in future posts. I’m going to do this to a generously cranked blues channel on cable radio to keep in the musical spirit of the thing.

The peanut gallery is invaluable and here are the suggestions:

“Roger Slaney: Concerts you’ve seen over the years … a review on noteworthy ones … be interesting to hear your perspective.”

Concerts are something that stick with you over the years, kind of like the accompanying tinnitus that also seems to come with loud concert attendance, playing in a band and working a job that requires headphones to communicate through atmospheric noise. But my hearing is just fine.

That being said, concerts will be a series of posts.

“Paul Martin: Home recording & publishing. Music type must see places you recommend in the cities you’ve visited.”
“Dan O’Brien: How about the disgraceful use of Auto Tune in the recording industry.”

This sounds like another great idea for an ongoing discussion. A comprehensive look at the recording industry over the years. I can use my experiences with Groove Fondue (the production name Don Dupuis and I use) as well as at least one other Cows at War project. It’s been an… interesting journey for sure. The music industry is a tough nut to crack and it can leave you feeling like Dustin Hoffman playing Michael Dorsey being rejected at an audition during the opening credits of Tootsie. Replace the actor/director with music producer/music supervisor and you get the the general feel of the thing.

Michael Dorsey: “They have dinner–” Can I start again? I didn’t get kicked off right.

Casting Director: The reading was fine. You’re the wrong height.

Dorsey: I can be taller.

Director: No. We’re looking for somebody shorter.

Dorsey: Look. I don’t have to be this tall. See, I’m wearing lifts. I can be shorter.

Director: I know, but we’re looking for somebody different.

Dorsey: I can be different.

*pregnant pause*

Director: We’re looking for somebody else.

I like the suggestion of places of musical relevance. I really started paying attention to that when we went to Manhattan for three days in 2014. I’d been posting on facebook and Vaughan Evans got on me about my responsibilities as a guitar player to hit the music stores and post photos and I’m pretty certain I’ve done so ever since. Speaking of Vaughan…

“Vaughan Evans – I’ve always wondered if the guitar has been taken as far as we will see it.
There really hasn’t been many new innovators pop up in the last 25 years and make us all stop and jaw drop.
A lot of incredible players but no innovators.
Has the instrument met its climax?
Who is the last guitarist who’s become a household name?”

I’d like to start a discussion with some respected musical friends on general topics such as Vaughan suggested, then distill it into post form. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a forum going soon for these interesting topics of dialogue.

“Mike Ouellette: Here’s a few ideas Mark: Since you are talking to music lovers, it would be nice to have an audio/video component to your blog or vlog if you will!
It could include favourite acoustic versions of songs from the original bands or singer, or even favourite covers as there are a lot of Youtubers and Facebookers out there doing covers and many are very, very good!
Also, maybe a section on guitar solos section where people could discuss which melts their face or touches them or whatever guitar solos can do to a person.
And lastly, you could have a discussion on interesting or touching lyrics from the present and the past. For example, for me, Bob Seger’s line “Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then” from Against the Wind always spoke to me in it’s simplicity yet, it is open to so much interpretation for any individual, based on their experience. That’s the beauty of music!!!
Just a few ideas to use or discard as you wish.
Have a great Sunday! Cheers!”

These are all fascinating topics that I can incorporate into the general flow of discussion. A series of top ten lists would be great on ALL of those subjects. This is definitely going to be a multi-media website. Wait a minute… I may have misunderstood what you meant here. You want me to perform in front of the camera???

Oh my. Hmmm… if I had to choose between that and having my nipples spot welded to my forehead? It would be a real tough choice. Real tough. It might not be so bad if I just play and never open my mouth. Then I see this… and IIIIIII dunno. I’ll have to ponder it for a while… maybe shoot from the neck down… with me wearing black on a black background in dim lighting to hide the bulk of me…. I’ll probably do it, Mike. Lord help us.

“Bob Fitzgerald: There are a lot of very talented street musicians in the world. Some that you can tell are very well trained. I could sit and listen to them all day….and they are everywhere! Cheers Mark!”

I’m telling you, when we’re traveling and I hear music, I’m like Peter Boyle in Young Frankenstein. Drawn to the sound like a stumbling zombie, clutching at imaginary notes in the air. There were two street acts I caught in Zurich and Paris that I managed to capture on video and I’m going to be doing more or that in the future. Street music is always a great encounter, be it an oompah band in a Paris subway to two Canadian guys slamming out the blues on a bridge over the Seine in Paris. Done, Bob! I’m thinking of busking at the nearby Eastern Passage boardwalk this summer. Maybe not even busking, but just sitting out on a bench on a nice day with the strat, the Vox, my phone and a wifi speaker for accompaniment.

So I told ya what I’m gonna tell ya.

From now on, I’ll just tell ya and I’ll try to keep it entertaining.