Daily Archives: April 18, 2008

Laptop Sessions Rocks George’s II Open Mic Night with New Music and Classic Covers

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to update all of you how our performance went last night!

We really played well, and had a high percentage of the crowd watching us, bobbing their heads, and clapping after each song. We got to play 7 original songs in a half hour. Favorites such as “That Was The Day” and “Where Are We Now”, as well as new songs from MoU’s new album “Homestead’s Revenge” such as “Evil Disappointment”, “These Streets”, and “Please Stay” were also showcased. I really think we’ll see a lot of the same people in the near future…

…when we play there again on May 16! That’s right! The Laptop Sessions Live will be playing Friday, May 16 at George’s II Restaurant from 9:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. We’ll also have the freedom of playing whatever we want, so expect to hear songs from the entire FMP library – including “Greenlight”, “Homestead’s Revenge”, and perhaps a track or two from Jim Fusco’s upcoming album “Halfway There”. Mike Fusco will also be with us as a drummer, so it’ll be a full band ensemble.

Lots of people came up to us to congratulate us on our performance, and gave us a lot of confidence.

Heck, we rocked so much….that my amplifier couldn’t take it!

Hartke B60 amplifier

That’s right. The power supply on my 11 year old Hartke B60 (pictured) fried! Thankfully during the last song, but man. These things are not cheap, and hopefully our friend Dana can repair it in time. If not, I do plan on purchasing another Hartke amplifier. I love the thing so much because of a feature called a Shape controller, which basically allows me to use a dial to select a treble, “picky” bass, or a deep bass sound (I prefer the latter). Thankfully we’ve been making good money on shows, and I have a lot of side jobs that I can afford to purchase a new one, but I hadn’t planned on purchasing one.

We closed with “Where Are We Now”, and after the drum solo, I noticed my bass wasn’t sounding anymore. I then smelled an electrical burnout, so I quickly unplugged my amp and turned it off – while Chris, Jim, and Mike kept playing! I then had to stand there staring at my amp for 30 seconds while they finished the song. The director of the Open Mic night announced to the crowd “How about a hand for Jeff Copperthite, whose bass amplifier has just burned out”, and I received a round of applause for that.

We’ll hope it is fixed for May 16!

Thanks for reading this wall of text post, and I hope you are enjoying The Laptop Sessions, and have an opportunity to come see us on May 16!

“‘Til I Die” (Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone and welcome to another Beach Boys edition of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! Tonight’s song, “Till I Die” by the Beach Boys, goes out to everyone on the Brian Wilson message board, especially those who contributed to that great post about the Laptop Sessions.

Tonight’s song is ‘Til I Die, one of Brian Wilson’s most introspective and personal songs. I love the harmonies (Bruce Johnston once said that he believes it’s the last true Beach Boys song, with all the counter-harmonizing), but I think this paired-down version translates well. This performance shows how singularly personal this song can be.

If you’re a big fan like me, then I’m sure you’ve heard the alternate version of “Till I Die” that a producer made while mixing and mastering the “Surf’s Up” album.  That version of this great Beach Boys song is very unique.  It features almost the whole song with just the instruments playing.  It’s pretty spooky to hear the cool vibes that Brian Wilson put into the original song.  But, the most fascinating part of the instrumental section is how few instruments are used.  The Beach Boys’ harmonies in “Till I Die” are wonderful and they fill up the whole song.  It’s incredible to hear how Brian Wilson put it all together.

Of course, when you start listening to the lyrics, you realize how alone Brian felt while writing this song.  As a songwriter, Brian Wilson usually had other people write the lyrics for him.  But, I’m sure he contributed to the meaning of the song and knew the sentiment he wanted to get across.  As you can tell, Brian was feeling lonely and realized that his life wasn’t going to change.  And, yes, that was true for quite some time.  Even when his other band members/family finally got him out of bed a few years later, it was embarrassing (remember the “Brian Is Back” campaign?) and short-lived.  Instead of being the songwriter he was for the Beach Boys back in the early-mid sixties, he only wanted to play old songs he loved.  Thus, the cover songs you hear on “15 Big Ones”.  And when he actually went back to writing again, he was writing about pedestrian things like watching TV (“Johnny Carson”) and his family (“I Wanna Pick You Up”).  I guess the good part was that Brian was finally living his life again, but somehow I doubt the PR image we’ve all been given really reflects his life at the time.  He was neglecting his family members and I think there are some clues to that in songs from “Love You”.  For instance, in “I Wanna Pick You Up” is about how he still thinks his children were “babies”, even though he had essentially missed those important years of their lives.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s music video and thanks for watching this Beach Boys cover song here on the music blog!