Celebrating my (almost) first year of blogging & Tribute to Shannon Hoon & Blind Melon!

Keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin’ it’s time to die. 
Shannon Hoon 

I knew it was getting close, but I wasn`t entirely sure when the big blog birthday was. Apparently I have 8 days to go but I just couldn`t wait any longer!

Here`s where it all started after a drive in town chasing a double rainbow last year after work on an awesome autumn night.  My intro blog! Full of introductory idiosy, and nothin`s changed as far as my disregard for grammar`s chains and the dictionaries. I just finished reading  http://wishiwerethere7.wordpress.com/2010/10/07/hello-world/ and felt good about it. It was a proud moment for a person who until that point had only used the internet for email, research, & of course killing time. Nowadays, I`d kill to have more time so I`m gonna keep this post quick…

Thanks for all the comments and an awesome year!!!

• versakay.wordpress.com
•   sayitwithmusic.wordpress.com/
• sisterearthorganics.wordpress.com
• tishipoo.wordpress.com
• jessicabarlow.wordpress.com
• play101.wordpress.com
• thoughtsappear.wordpress.com
• belleofthecarnival.wordpress.com
• nightmaircreative.com
• littlemisseverything.wordpress.com
• trailertrashdeluxe.wordpress.com
• servatisapericulum.wordpress.com
• findingpassionforlife.wordpress.com
• jaredblakedicroce.wordpress.com
• authenticseacoast.com
• cherishwords.wordpress.com
• astrawally.wordpress.com
• singlemaltmonkey.wordpress.com
• shapeyourweigh.com
• thefitacademic.wordpress.com
• munzee72.wordpress.com
• parheli.com
• lauratoennies.wordpress.com
• fionaqiqi.wordpress.com
• shannavannorman.wordpress.com

 The Soul One Cover

September 26th would’ve been the 44^th birthday of Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon. I wanted to commemorate it as best I could with song. As I thought of which one might be appropriate, I relived some good times that his music definitely helped elevate.

When I first heard the name Blind Melon it reminded me of my old Cheech & Chong tape where a washed up blues singer named Blind Melon Chitlin was in the studio trying to put together some gold for an ambitious producer. A lot of people have probably heard the song “No Rain” which got a ton of airplay in the nineties. It was a great song for a band who was described as psychedelic southern rock. I spent many hours listening to the 90’s albums and enjoyed every minute.

After Shannon overdosed, they released an album called Nico which featured a song called “Soul One”. I really took that one to heart, being one of the few love songs written by the five-piece group from Indiana. It’s lyrics were full of the pain that a guy who spent so much time on the road might feel and soul was definitely there.

Monday night I tried to harness some of that energy when I set up my recording gear out under the stars in my front yard. It was an experience I’ll always remember and hope I can do again before this Indian summer comes to a close and the elements won’t allow for such foolishness.

 

The Fundamentals of Planking

As promised I took part in Planking Day, if you don’t know what it’s all about I gave a pretty good description in “For the Love Of Planking“. Anyways, after a rough shoot, I dusted myself off and spent about four hours editing, then another 5 hours trying to figure out how to upload it. Finally my video debut is here!

I’ve been thinking about doing something to help raise awareness and this seemed like the ultimate opportunity, so check out the links for Asthma and Allergy Awareness & Mental Health, since May is the month for both. They’re great causes and just by understanding them better we can show our support!

Here’s the video for “The Fundamentals of Planking” I hope you enjoy it, it’s only my first crack at video so it ain’t perfect.

(And I even did my own stunts!)

Portrayal or Betrayal? City of New Orleans

A few weeks ago I recorded a cover of the Arlo Guthrie classic “City of New Orleans” (see track 5). The challenge I gave myself was to look up the chords and lyrics on chordie and without actually listening to the song first, just record it how I think it might sound.

So I did it and then I checked out You Tube to find out how close I was, then I found out I wasn’t the only one who did a cover of this one, so here the other musicians with their tributes. Who’s your favorite?
Arlo

Back From “Radioland”…

Most rock journalism is people who can’t write, interviewing people who can’t talk, for people who can’t read.
Frank Zappa

It’s been a somewhat busy week. I had a great time visiting the ECMA events, did a few interviews, heard a few live acts, and met some great people. On Wednesday I was on the air as one of the disc jockeys from 8pm until 6am. We interviewed Amanda Rae Gallant, Crazy Ann, Moe & Martin, Clinton Charlton, Color Code, and Sean Dalton. If any of the interviewees ever read this, thanks from the bottom of my heart. Amanda Rae and Clinton also did some wonderful performances. I am super-grateful for everyone who helped make my radio experience so much fun, especially Joseph, Mac, another Mac, and Bob. If I sounded good, they sounded tremendous!

Yesterday I went to the ECMA “Tweet-up” for a little while, it was sort of a meet and greet for people on Twitter and some people involved with the awards. I also got to hear a few songs from a band called The North Lakes. And a few hours ago I stopped by to talk to my friend Paul who was also volunteering at the Delta Hotel for the awards and heard a few songs by Carmen Townsend, who’s voice was wonderfully “wonderlandish”.

The Anatomy of an Interview

I may get back in town to check out some more music, but if I don’t, I’ve had enough fun for a while, I really want to get my writing back on track now that my little stint on the radio over with. I think it was a valuable experience for me as far as meeting people and learning to conduct interviews. The ability to establish an instant rapport with people isn’t really as hard as I thought it would be, I’ve done it many times before, I think it’s just a matter of keeping in mind that the other person is the guest and what they have to say trumps any questions that I’m curious about, while at the same time remembering to have those questions ready to avoid any awkward pauses. In the end an interview should probably sound as unscripted as possible and besides the interviews I was doing I got to hear radio veteran Bob Stanley pull off a really good one with Clinton Charlton just a little after midnight.

I remember seeing the coming of age film called “Almost Famous” about a teen who chases his dream of being featured in “Rolling Stone” magazine back in 2000 and thought to myself if I had the choice between being interviewed, doing the interview, and reading the interview, I would probably be content to just read it. The assumption that you would have to bend over backwards and follow around a bunch of ego-centric, under the influence rockers who could be replaced on the billboard charts in a heartbeat seems about as much fun as waiting for a lab-raised orangutang to recite his first Dr. Suess rhyme in sign language.

Of course, it’s not like that at all, at least for the artist’s I’ve met. Musicians are real people, too. They have a gift that they want to share with the world and the musicians with a real passion are the ones with the most real talent in most cases. I am so thankful that I was able to brush aside any fears about getting the “perfect” interview and just be myself with these people because I think their motive for being interviewed in the first place was to show that they are just as down to earth as the people buying their records and attending their shows.

Is that the end of my radio career? It may only be the beginning…  Here’s a video by Led Zeppelin called “That’s the Way“.

Have you ever met any musicians or actors that turned out to be really cool?