Monthly Archives: November 2008

“Goin’ Up The Country” (Canned Heat Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

Well, tonight I’m bringing you yet another piece of archival evidence to prove that I have no shame.  I am apparently not interested in impressing anyone, or if I am, then it’s impressing them with how willing I am to make a fool of myself… 🙂

But, seriously, I bring you this video tonight — another all-new cover by an all-new band to the sessions — in the hope that you’ll enjoy listening to it and remembering it as much as I have enjoyed learning to play it.

I actually heard it this weekend, as my friends and I watched the film Into the Wild.  This song came on during one of the scenes.  Instantly, I was reminded of my father’s tape collection again, as I had been for “Dead Skunk” and other cover songs that I’ve done.  One of his old tapes has this Canned Heat single, “Goin’ Up the Country,” on it.

Of course,  the first aspect that you’ll most likely notice is my falsetto delivery.  You may even think it sounds goofy.  Well, even though I wouldn’t classify the original vocal as goofy, it is certainly in a distinct voice.  If you don’t know the song, then you should most likely search YouTube or iTunes for it as a companion to my Laptop Session.  Or, just take my word that there is a good reason for the otherwise ridiculous vocals I have recorded here…

“Goin’ Up The Country” is how my night ends.  Allow me to share the rest of the evening, which was interesting and indeed, I hope, a kickstart to a relaxing, fun, and productive Thanksgiving week.  First of al, I stayed at school until six, entering grades and reading college essays.  By the time I got home and changed, Becky was napping, and Jim and Dana were in the kitchen getting ready for the first Fusco-Moore Pre-Turkey Day Celebration!  The best part of this story is that, as I went into the kitchen this morning to get my lunch, I found that Jim had stayed up late to prepare as much as he could.  Dishes were portioned out, sealed with cellophane, post-it noted with directions, and the counter was covered with an array of foods and utensils.  Now, the oven was working overtime, and the smells were tantalizing.

Before long, we ate dinner — which was amazing, by the way, and a definite home run for Jim.  We broke open the bottle of wine that Jim and Becky had bought for me a couple weeks ago in the Berkshires.  We watched the episode of The Office that we had DVR’ed from last week.

How much better could it get?

After dinner, we still had Two and a Half Men, Worst Week (which I regretfully missed in order to record my video), and Boston Legal (which was a wild and predictaby crazy Thanksgiving episode!).  Boston Legal was actually sobering for a number of reasons, such as the fact that it is drawing ever nearer to the final episode (don’t even get me started on how disappointing that is, being that it is my absolute favorite show on TV next to, perhaps, The Office), Denny was showing signs of progressing Alzheimers’, and Katie and Jerry were having a spat.  Jerry announced to her that he loved her… it’s about time!  He added that she need not feel awkward; he would find her friendship to be more than an adequate consolation prize.  I thought, particularly for a man with a social disorder, that Jerry handled the talk extraordinarily well.  Katie didn’t respond in any certain terms, but did mention that they are a couple, if not in a romantic way, and may be in need of couples therapy.

I have a bit of a crush on the Katie character, so I’m rooting for Jerry here so I can live vicariously through him, if only until the show ends in December!  🙂

And with that, the night was over.  A big thanks should be extended to Jim for cooking and to Dana and Becky for filling the house with great company.  Now, I’m off to sleep and school and then a night of hanging out, talking about music, and watching an Office mini-marathon with my sister, Jaime.  I can’t wait!

See you next session!

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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?

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“Jungle Love” (Steve Miller Band cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Oh yes, another Jim Fusco night, another acoustic cover song music video, and yet ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions cover songs series!  I’m not even going out of my way to find these new bands to do- they just come to me.

If you haven’t gotten a chance to check out the new Cover Songs website yet, do yourself a favor and go see it!  It took me many hours to complete, but now it’s fully navigable and even has a really cool Flash logo.  I’m really proud of it, especially considering how many revisions it went through so I could make it perfect.  Chris helped me finish making pages for the site.

I’m so excited about Christmas time right now.  Today, Chris, Becky, and I went to breakfast at Bickford’s (which they both sorely needed after the thrashing they received in Trivial Pursuit last night), then went to the Eric Carle children’s book museum (which was a really nice place), and got to meet famous author Patricia MacLachlin (“Sarah, Plain and Tall”).  She even signed books for us!  After that, we went up to an amazing place: the Yankee Candle headquarters in South Deerfield, MA.  That place is HUGE and really gets you in the Christmas spirit.  Too bad the prices were so high, though.  For instance, I wanted to get this great Christmas village piece of a 50s diner…but it cost $110!  I don’t think I’m quite there yet, financially.

But, we had a great time and it was a perfect way to kick off my favorite time of the year.  I just hope Chris and Becky had a good time, too.  This week truly rules- there is simply no better week during the year.  Why?  Because you have EVERYTHING to look forward to!  Christmas is great, but after that, it’s all over.  Thanksgiving week offers plenty of fun and excitement.  Here’s what I’m looking forward to:

  1. Monday: Normal working day, but when I get home, I’m cooking a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for Chris, Becky, Dana, and myself.  Everyone always goes their separate ways on holidays, so I thought this would be my way of celebrating together.  Yes, I have to cook, but at least everyone will be there!  Not to mention my favorite shows are on: Boston Legal and Two and a Half Men.
  2. Tuesday: This day isn’t anything great, as it’s just a normal workday and I still have to go in on Wednesday.  But, Becky has the day off on Wednesday, so she’ll be able to stay later, at least.  Maybe we’ll go shopping!
  3. Wednesday: Excitement grows, as I go to work (possibly breakfast with Becky before?) and get ramped-up to leave.  This night, we’ll be staying up late and having some fun!
  4. Thursday: Of course, Thanksgiving.  I’m going to Becky’s family’s house first, then we’re both going to my parents’ house to eat.  I love this holiday- it’s really so laid-back.  I’ll watch some football (how about those Jets?), watch a movie, eat, sleep, and get ready for a Thanksgiving night TNA iMPACT!
  5. Friday: After going to bed early on Thursday (yeah, right), Chris and I will get up MASSIVELY early to go shopping on Black Friday.  Not because we need to- it’s just an excuse to leave the house at 4:30!  We’re meeting Alberto Distefano for our now three-year tradition.  I’ll shop and hopefully get good deals, then we’ll all go to McDonald’s for some delicious egg McMuffins.  After that, I’ll go to my parent’s house, where my father and I will put up lights outside until it’s lunchtime.  Then, I’ll eat more fast food with him, followed by a trip to my house, where I’ll start putting up Christmas decorations and listening to the Christmas WCJM radio shows.  This amazing and long day will end with my yearly tradition of watching “Christmas Vacation”- one of the best movies ever.
  6. Saturday: Doesn’t stop there!  I’ll probably do more shopping, but we’re hoping to get the gang back together to do another radio show.  I hope it works out, as it’s our last chance to do the 10th Anniversary show.  We’ll see.
  7. Sunday: Well, they don’t call it the “day of rest” for nothing!

Wow, that’s a week.  I’m so excited- I don’t know how I’m going to get to sleep tonight.

Now, FINALLY (after over 700 words), I’m onto tonight’s cover song music video:

The Steve Miller band is famous for many hit singles.  “Jungle Love” is no exception, and I’m proud to bring it to the music video blog.  When I first learned how to play it, I said to myself, “Man, that is really high-pitched.”  Then I learned that song was even HIGHER pitched than I originally thought (a half-step up on a first-fret capo), so I had to adjust.

The result?  One of my most vocal-chord-shredding, but most exciting videos ever.  It only took me a couple takes to get through this one and I can’t believe I kept my wits about me to remember that whistling part at the end.  I had to borrow Chris’ acoustic guitar for this one (not like he noticed anyway- he was passed out asleep in his street clothes on top of his bed) because I wanted it to be a little more “punchy” than my normal nylon-stringed videos.  I love how easy the riff to this song is (basically an E to E-suspended 4th and D to D-suspended 4th on first fret capo), as I’ve always loved it.  It’s funny how things work out like that.  I swear that most songs I play that sound easy are the hardest and vice versa.  This one always sounded so good- I couldn’t believe that it was so simple.

Well, I’ve written 1000 words for this Laptop Session post.  I think that might be a first!  So, sit back and enjoy the video for the 10th time now, because I’m sure it took about nine video plays to get through the reading of this post!  Hey, that’s not a bad way to increase views- write longer posts and set the video to “loop”!  Enjoy the start of your week!

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“Teenager In Love” (Dion & The Belmonts cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Oh yeah, another Jim Fusco night and ANOTHER “new” band to the Laptop Sessions!  Incredible.  It’s almost hard to believe we haven’t done a song from a band starting with every letter in the alphabet.  I think we haven’t done Q yet…

I tell you, I have to do more songs from Dion.  He had some amazing hits and he was pretty prolific with them, too.  This song is a classic 4-chord doo-wop style number.  Even though the song was that “easy” to play, I still found myself doing take after take to get the inflection of the words right.  Plus, I play an “F” chord so much like a “C” chord, I was actually switching between the two accidentally!

But, practice made perfect and I got through the video without too much more trouble.  This is another one of my fading-out songs, as the single version of the original song is just a perfect recording and I wanted my video to reflect the same.  The way Dion sings with such youthfulness and the way the Belmonts give those great supporting vocals makes for a timeless single.

And hasn’t EVERYONE felt this way in the past?  Chris and I have had countless conversations on this topic, asking why we would even do this to ourselves in the first place.  The answer?  Because it made life interesting, which is a theme through many of my early songs.

Even though I’m not a teenager now (and incredibly surprised that it’s been five years SINCE I’ve been one!), I could still channel the sentiment in this song.  I don’t think Dion had that in mind when he recorded this number, but I think every time someone who was a teenager back when the song was released hears it again, it takes them right back.  That could be a scary thing, but any three minute song that can do that is more than just a four-chord song- it’s a classic.

Enjoy the video!

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