I don’t have any favorite bands anymore. Growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, there were great bands and you could buy anything they released and would be happy with your purchase for decades. These days, I don’t listen to bands. I don’t have favorite bands. I have great songs that I listen to by a number of various groups, but there is no band that consistently impresses me.
It will sound like sour grapes, but today’s music industry does not allow creativity. They only want guaranteed return on investment.
This was just a fun song in so many ways. National news has always been a good source for ideas and material and Cut the Fat takes it all and smashes it into a kaleidoscope of political slogans to irrational fears. In the recording I got everyone including neighbors, my kids and other relatives to sing and read news sections. My wife Ellen did a quick run on the vocals to get a feel of the timing. We never recorded another take.
A much younger me (on the right) performing with Personal Touch
Continuing the 1st set Personal Touch gets creative with some cover tunes. I always tried to do something a bit different or fun, sometimes bordering on irreverent, with my harmonies or stage comments. For only three of us on stage we kept the music and the entertainment going. This was more of a country music fan setting so we played to the crowd a bit.
I had only been playing piano for about three months before we started booking local gigs. I owned my Arp Odyssey for a long time and used it for bass sounds and effects on my original recordings, but it only played two notes at a time! Then I purchased the new Yamaha DX7 programmable synthesizer. It was that purchase that started my musical career as a sound engineer and performer. Because I taught myself how to program the DX7, I was hired at a local musical instrument store. It is the little decisions that have the biggest impact.
In fact, the EV microphones we are using I won as a music prize from the old Swallen’s Department store where I purchased the Arp Odyssey. They had a local music contest and I entered a song called “Red On Your Blue Suede Shoes“. Yes, a picture is worth a thousand words.
I’ve been nominated to complete this challenge by several of you and after some convincing from my daughter, I’ve decided to give it a go. Instead of nominating 10 more bloggers, I would like to ask you all to post your favorite things in the comments so I can get to know you better.
I want to take this moment to thank all of you again for your very kind and encouraging comments. I have truly enjoyed reading your blogs and getting to know you better. Thank you for being a part of my journey.
MidiMike 