Monthly Archives: August 2008

“Wednesday Morning” (America Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Thursday night edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

To quote Jeff, “The only thing the same about the site is the background’s still gray.”  That describes the work I’ve been doing over the past couple of days.  You’ll notice the new navigation on the top of the homepage, the smaller text in the upper left hand corner, and the left sidebar rearranged.  The best part of all this is the release of the The Laptop Sessions free mp3 download series.  We tried doing it once before, but it was a LOT of work.  Okay, so it’s not as fancy now, but you still get 20 great cover songs in mp3 format as a completely and absolutely FREE download!  You have nothing to lose and a whole lot of music to gain.  I sound like an Oreck XL commercial…

We have 7, yes 7, Volumes released already.  We’re going to do them by Sessions member.  Meaning that a whole volume will be dedicated to 20 of my cover songs in order and the same with Chris, Jeff, and Mike.  Original Wednesday Volumes will be released, as well, and we’ll also come out with a holiday songs version at the end of the year- my favorite kind of music!

So, we already have 140 free mp3s for you to download so you can bring the Laptop Sessions cover songs with you wherever you will go (to quote the Calling)!

Also, you might have noticed that you can leave comments MUCH easier now- you don’t need to register or login to leave a comment for us!  We’d LOVE to read your comments and reply- we’re trying to build a community of Laptop Sessions lovers here that come back on a daily basis to see what’s new.  We hope you’ll be part of that community!

Okay, on to tonight’s video:

“Wednesday Morning” is a great tune written by Gerry Beckley off of the America album, “Human Nature”.  This is one of my favorite albums from them (probably second to “Homecoming”, which is on my list of best albums of all time).  Their new album, “Here and Now”, is great, too, as is their Christmas LP, “Holiday Harmony”.  Noticing all of these albums start with the letter “H”?  Well, about 90% of their albums do!

I love the songwriting of Gerry Beckley.  I’ve gotten to meet him on MULTIPLE occasions after shows.  He even threw me his guitar pick once during a show!  It’s funny that I actually got into America after listening to “Becky, Lamm, and Wilson” for Carl Wilson’s songs.  I knew about Chicago (with Lamm), but didn’t know much about Beckley.  I bought their “Best of” CD and never looked back.  I have every album I could find from them on CD and many on records, too.

“Human Nature” has a TON of classic songs on it, but the catchiest to me was always “Wednesday Morning”.  This album came out shortly after Carl Wilson’s death, and after hearing the “Beckley, Lamm, and Wilson” stuff, I was hurting for new, non-Christmas, material for a long, long time, especially because “Human Nature” was so good.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Session- my first in the great outdoors!  The next five are also outside, so I hope you get used to it!  It’s been beautiful weather here lately, and at this point, I’ll take ANY excuse to get away from Chris playing off-key renditions (on purpose to annoy me) of “Who Needs Sleep” and “The Hurricane” all night…



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“I Know A Girl” (Mike Fusco Original Song)

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Hey there!  Well, it’s Original Wednesday, and Original-ly this post should have been Jeff!  But he was nice enough to call me and offer the spot to get back on blogging.  So, out from the bullpen I come, (hopefully more effectively than the Mets bullpen!) with this original acoustic laptop session for you to enjoy.  I remember everything about writing this song- I remember being embarassed by the oddity of the tune.  But, as some of you may know, songs come to me.  So I don’t really have control of the style or genre or tune…and most of the time the words!  It hits me like a sack of bricks.  So what you get are raw and honest tunes, with simple lines that end up being my favorite.

This song has a spanish-feel to it, and the middle where chords ring out is very Dennis Wilson sounding.  Some of my favorite lines are “She’s easy to love, and you can bet she’s so good lookin’…but in this case there’s more than meets the eye…”  All of these words were auto-biographical, and you can hear it in the lyrics, like you’re a fly on the wall for these interactions- “And sometimes when I look in your eyes, I see confusion”…  “When she sits across from me”…”Sometimes when I sleep, your eyes- they look so deep,..and in them I can see nothing but love”.

It was about the stress of romance and the meaning of dreams (where this song was written) and how during the day, facades can be put on, but at night, your conscience isnt always there to protect you from talking in your sleep.  One of my favorite lyrics, in its simplicity, is “And somehow I know that I’ll never stop loving you”.  The last verse, after a pause- was a joke in music form… when people think it ends, I hop in saying I wasn’t through speaking (hope i got you on it!)  I remember playing it for Jim when it was recorded, saying “Wanna hear this stupid, weird song I just did?” and when he finished listening to it, he kept the headphones on and said, “Are you kidding me?  Are you kidding me?…that’s the best song you’ve ever written” =)

oh jim, this is for you… you’ll be the only one that gets it.

3 = ooO

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“Little Willow” (Paul McCartney Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hey folks!  Today, I bring you a favorite song of the Fusco family in “Little Willow” by Paul McCartney.  “Flaming Pie” is one of my favorite all-time albums and that’s because we listened to it CONSTANTLY when it came out, during vacation, and all throughout the summer.  It always brings back fond memories and I always play the album when I take my own vacations now.

It’s fitting that I’m presenting this song today, as we’re in the midst of Tropical Storm Hanna up here in Connecticut.  Hopefully it won’t be too bad because I have a video job (taping an anniversary party) up at the Mohegan Sun casino tonight.  Should be fun, but who wants to drive an hour in a tropical storm?

So, why is it so fitting?  Well, I read in the liner notes of “Flaming Pie” (which is the booklet I modeled the booklet to my first album, “With Or Without You”, after exactly) that this song, “Little Willow”, was written to calm people after a hurricane.  It’s such a great song- so simple, but it has a great calming effect.  I thought it was a perfect one to do while outside with my nylon string guitar.

There’s also “Heaven on a Sunday” off of this album that makes me feel so calm.  I guess that’s the point of the song, but it always reminded me of a particular summer when I went to Boy Scout camp in Camp Sequassen.  That must’ve been a busy summer.  No wonder I remember this album so well!  Anyway, I used to get to fish off of a row boat there.  Having “Heaven on a Sunday” (“cooling my fingers in the bay…”) stuck in my head while peacefully fishing was a zen-like experience.  I think of that moment and it takes me right back there.

On another topic, how about Jeff with his Beatles cover yesterday?  And Chris doing Hendrix?  Amazing, folks- you never know what you’re going to get next on this music video blog- the BEST music video blog in the universe!

For now, enjoy today’s music video!

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Photos from TNA Wrestling Live in Wallingford, CT

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By Jim Fusco:

Well, it’s been months since the show, but I’ve finally gotten around to posting the photos from our amazing “trip” (five minutes down the road) to see TNA wrestling live in Wallingford, CT at the Chevrolet (formerly Oakdale) Theater.

Obviously, my favorite part of the night was climbing in the actual six-sided ring and getting a photo taken with Kurt Angle.  He was a nice guy and I even made him laugh!  And, no, he wasn’t just laughing at how weak I look…I think…

Well, here are some great photos from that night:

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