Monthly Archives: November 2008

“Live Let Live” (Brian Wilson Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

This post will be a shorter one, as Ace Ventura 2 is on in the background.  Any time Jim Carrey’s on screen, my attention is pulled towards the television.  Today was a fun day, as the original seven cast members of WCJM Radio got together to do our first Moore Hits in the Morning show that was actually in the morning!  The 10th Anniversary Show went off without a hitch, except for the producing mistakes I made.  Those will be edited out LONG before you hear it online!  I’ll be working on the show soon and I hope everyone will go online and listen to it!

Tonight, I bring you a great song off of Brian Wilson’s new album “That Lucky Old Sun”.  I love this album and it proves how great this guy still is.  His singing voice just seems to get better and better.  It has such a full sound now that it didn’t have back in the late 80s.

This song I chose not for its lyrics, which are a bit on the unexpected side, but for its incredible tune.  I just love when the music kicks in after the first vocals-only part.  The chords are great and Brian’s voice is even better.  The lyrics provided by Van Dyke Parks are still very witty.  That man says things in song a way no one else ever has before.  It’s funny to me that probably my favorite song on the album was written by the classic duo of Wilson/Parks and not the new duo of Wilson/Bennett.

This is a short song, but I think it captures the essence of Brian’s efforts to speak out against pollution, etc.  When you think of California, you think of sunshine, beautiful views, and wildlife.  Brian sang about the other two things throughout the rest of the album, so this song covers the last topic and brings the album full-circle.

Enjoy this song tonight as I go off for a LONG winter’s nap and finish off my big weekend!

“What An Outsider Sees” (Jim Fusco Original Acoustic Rock Song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Original Wednesday video tonight with me, Jim Fusco!

Tonight, I bring you a tune I wrote back in senior year of high school in 2001-2002.  A friend of mine at the time was having some troubles because the person he liked always decided to go out with the jerkier guys so she could keep up appearances with the cool crowd.  But, she always acted so natural and comfortable around him, so it made it even harder to live with, especially because the decision was out of his hands.

I took a few lines that he wrote (the cornier lines and the ones with the clichés) and wrote this tune around it.  I love the tune, but it was written after all of the songs for my album, “My Other Half”, that I was recording at the time, so I relegated this song to the bonus tracks.

Even though I always tease Chris for his use of the major to minor chord switch in his songs, I thought my usage of the E to E minor chords before the chorus gave the song a nice feel.  In fact, I didn’t plan it at all- it’s just what the tune called for.

You’ll notice that this video looks a bit different, in that I have my microphone right up to my mouth.  This song is sung in a lower register.  If you’ve watched my videos before, you know I have no problems belting out songs in many different styles and tempos.  But, something about this song- one that I wrote, mind you- is very difficult for me to sing with any loudness in my voice.  I mean, I could sing it louder, but then you’d lose that feeling and my voice wouldn’t be as bassy as I’d like it.

So, I tried this new technique for this video.  I’ll be back to my old technique next time around.

I’m very much looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow, coupled with the early start on Friday.  I’m just as excited about the upcoming WCJM “10th Anniversary Show” on Saturday morning- our first real “morning show” in a long, long, long time.  It’ll be nice to gather the guys once more for a show.  You know it’ll be online as soon as possible!

Enjoy tonight’s video.  I’d write even more, but we just finished watching “North By Northwest” and I won yet another Trivial Pursuit game against Dana and Chris.  I hope you all have an amazing holiday weekend (mine started when my work let us out two hours early with pay!) and I’ll be back with you on Saturday night after everything calms back down.  Until then, go stuff yourself silly! 🙂

Jim Fusco Reaches 140,000 YouTube Video Views!

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I love when these milestones are so close together, as Jeff posted yesterday about his latest YouTube count.  I thought I would follow suit with a similar, albeit shorter, list describing my Top 5 highest viewed Laptop Sessions videos.  I do have a couple of my “How To” videos topping my overall list- the Top 5 Laptop Sessions cover songs videos are as follows:

“I’m So Lonely” (The Beach Boys) – 5968 views

This is exactly what the Laptop Sessions is all about: taking a song that everyone wrote off previously and turning it into an acoustic song.  This way, you get to hear the actual song and, in this case, not the cheesy mid-80s production.

“Do You Want To Know A Secret” (The Beatles) – 4541 views

Can’t explain this one.  I don’t even truly love this song- it’s just one that was a nice song that I thought would translate well on my nylon string guitar.  But, this is one of my oldest videos, so I can only hope that it’s a trend- the longer my videos are online, the faster they’ll get more views!

“Wouldn’t It Be Nice” (The Beach Boys) – 4075 views

You know why this song is in the top three?  Because I can hit the notes.  I don’t mean to sound pretentious, but honestly, that’s what separates my video from every other so-called “cover” on YouTube.  But, then again, that’s what we all try to accomplish on a daily basis here!

“You May Be Right” (Billy Joel) – 3948 views

I can’t believe this one.  I honestly did it because I love the song, but didn’t think it would end up in my top 5!  I think it’s because I turned an electric song acoustic…and that I have a ton of energy in this one.

“Let It Ride” (Bachman Turner Overdrive) – 3968 views

This one’s the most surprising of them all.  The other videos were added six months or more ago.  This one?  Three months.  I think this video’s popularity follows the same logic of “You May Be Right”, as I took an electric song, used an acoustic, and let it ride!

Of course, I look forward to the next milestone, as it’ll be a big one: 150,000!  Congrats to Jeff and we’re both looking forward to Chris’ next YouTube view round number!

Laptop Sessions Milestone: Jeff reaches 60,000 Youtube views!

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By Jeff Copperthite:

As it reads in the subject header, I have reached another Youtube milestone.  That’s right, 60,000 views!  Most of which have come during Session-a-day.

I always enjoy seeing the highest place value increase by 1, and I know that in due time I will enjoy having to read 6 digit view counts.  Although I have come to the realization I will not achieve my 100K view goal by the end of the year, I know that over the past few months my views per day continues to increase.  I think that 70k views by years end is achievable, but i’m going to raise the bar and hope for 75k.

As a treat, I thought i’d share with you the current top 5 videos that I have posted, and some commentary on what the Youtube community thinks of them.  For your convenience, i’ve even included links to their pages on the blog.  All view counts are current as of November 24, 2008 3:39 p.m.

1) A Horse With No Name (America) (7,074 views)

I receive lots of views from various “how to play” pages, and there are many covers of this song on the website.  Most commentary about this song approves of the style, and the “ease” that the song comes out of me.  I knew that I was going to get a lot of views simply on the popularity of the song, but I did not expect it to skyrocket to 1st and beat the next closest video by so many views.  I fully expect this video to be among the first to achieve the 5 digit mark from this site.

2) Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead) (3,297 views)

I was pleased how I played this song, but not in how it was sung.  It was partially due to a cold I had at the time.  I could’ve sang it better, but it also suffered from being recorded in the kitchen, which provided some reverb that makes it sound worse.  I have long since stopped recording in that location.  The Youtube community finds my cover “ok”, but overall people tend to look negatively on Radiohead covers overall.  They have such staunch, dedicated fans who accept nothing except the real band.

3) Something Good This Way Comes (Jakob Dylan) (2,710 views)

I was very pleased with this video, and so is the Youtube community.  I had the advantage of posting this video the day of the release of Jakob Dylan’s solo album “Seeing Things”, and the initial view spike shows this.  Youtube likes this video, and all the comments I received on it have been positive.  This is among my favorites.

4) Big Empty (Stone Temple Pilots) (2,171 views)

This was the first video I recorded for 2008, and the first to be recorded on my new digital camera (and every video since has been recorded on this camera – it gets a lot of use!).  I don’t think this was among my best since I was still a little “camera shy” at the time.  I’ve gotten a lot better as the year has gone on, but it’s good to look back at how I have progressed through the year.  I’m glad that the community likes this cover, but i’ve gotten both ends of the comment spectrum from Youtube users.  Overall it’s liked, though.

5) “Best of My Love” (The Eagles) (1,817 views)

This is among my favorite videos, because it is a favorite song of mine.  It was one of those videos that I recorded, then pumped my fist because I thought I played it perfectly.  Similar to previous videos, I get a lot of hits from “how to play” videos and other covers on the site.  Comments have been approving mostly, and viewers have enjoyed it quite a bit.

I look forward to the next milestone, and to share another top 5.  Will it be different, or the same?