Author Archives: Jim Fusco

About Jim Fusco

Jim Fusco is a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and all-around musician. Learn all about him and his creative works at http://jimfusco.com!

“It Ain’t Me Babe” (Turtles & Bob Dylan Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hey hey, everyone!  Time for another Laptop Session acoustic cover song music video from yours truly, Jim Fusco!

Tonight, I bring you a song that I’ve known for a very long time- “It Ain’t Me Babe” by the Turtles.  Of course, it took until Chris became interested in Bob Dylan (sometime around 2000) for me to realize that he actually wrote this song.  So, why did I come back to it tonight?

Well, I love the Turtles version- it’s a great rock song that has slow parts on the verses and faster rockin’ parts on the choruses.  Plus, it’s short and just has so much energy packed into it’s two minutes.

But, I also thought of covering it because I was just listening to “The Bob Dylan Show”, which is a radio show on our own WCJM Radio.  This really isn’t a great show in terms of execution- Chris and I did it on a whim and Chris just wasn’t on his “A-game” when it came to on-air chatter.  For the most part, the show seems forced and that’s probably why I kept it offline and in the archives since the summer of 2001 when it was recorded.

Actually, an interesting note- Chris talks about looking forward to when Dylan’s new album at the time, “Love and Theft”, would be released- he says he can’t wait for September 11th to get here.  Little did we all know…

But, I digress.

The show actually redeems itself because of the music (which is surprising when talking about a show with all Bob Dylan music).  The covers of his songs from Manfred Mann (“The Mighty Quinn”) and George Harrison (“I’d Have You Anytime” and the co-written “If Not For You”) are great additions.  I actually listened to the show twice this week (putting up with the really poor dialogue- I’ve had better conversations with myself!) because I wanted to hear those great cover versions of Dylan’s songs again from the likes of Eric Clapton (“Born In Time”), Jimi Hendrix (“All Along the Watchtower”) and, of course, the Byrds.

So, after you’re done watching my acoustic cover song music video here today, you should head on over to WCJM Internet Radio and listen to “The Bob Dylan Show” (or any other show there) absolutely free!  There’s nothing to sign up for or anything like that.  Just click “Play” and start listening.  Click HERE to visit the “Jammin’ With Jim Show” page and click on “The Bob Dylan Show”.

I hope you enjoy both forms of entertainment this Tuesday.  I’m very excited for the next few days, as they’re starting to frame our new home and all employees at work were given a surprise free “Appreciation Day” off, so I get to choose any day in the next two weeks and just not go to work!  I love my job. 🙂

Have a great one, and to echo Chris’ sentiment yesterday- please make sure to come back for another great acoustic rock cover song music video from our very own Jeff Copperthite on his “Thumpin’ Thursday” post!  See you next week.

“It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” (Lenny Kravitz Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

I’m sure a couple of people are picking their jaws up off the ground for this one…

If you know me, you know I would never say, “Wow, you know who I should do a song from?  Lenny Kravitz.”

It’s not that I have anything against him- his popularity just came at a time that I wasn’t listening to any music on the radio, i.e. the past 25 years…  But, somehow this song worked its way into my head.

It literally took me over a half hour to finally figure out that this song was done by Lenny Kravitz.  I would have bet good money that this was written and sung by Smokey Robinson with the Miracles.  Have you heard the studio version?  The strings, the beat, the high vocals, the great bass line- it HAD to be Smokey!  Plus, it has that classic Motown sound to it and I truly believed this song was recorded in 1964.

So, all I knew was the tune and the words, “Baby, it ain’t over ’til it’s over…”  How does one search for that?  I wish I could just hum into my iPhone’s Shazam program and have it tell me what I was thinking of.  I finally found a different version by some woman and realized it was the song I was thinking of.  I kept coming across Lenny Kravitz’s name, but said, “Nah, it can’t be him” and kept looking.  Finally, I clicked on his version and sure enough, it was the exact one I heard in my head!  Who knew?

I was very happy to finally perform this song and I’m even happier that I’ve brought a very popular artist to the music blog for the first time.  Gotta respect a man that plays a great guitar, has a high range of vocals, and writes his own songs- that’s pretty much my criteria!

This song is easy to play- same for verse and chorus: A, Amaj7, Asus4, D, Dm on a 4th fret capo.  This comes out to C# and F#, but it’s much easier to play it with the capo.  I’m glad it was easy to play because it’s not the easiest song to sing.  I find I sing better with my eyes closed- you’ll see I do it a lot in songs with a high range to them.  I do it a lot here, but I hit all the notes and am very happy with this performance.

It’s been a busy week- Chris said it all about the Moody Blues concert.  It was a fun time and I was happy to have gone both with family and friends from work.  The baseball card show I went to in the morning with another colleague from work was a blast- meeting the likes of Orlando Cepeda, Steve Carlton, and even Ric Flair!  I got baseballs signed by Ralph Kiner and Ken Griffey Jr. and a ton of cool new cards, including printing plates and signed jersey letters.

This weekend looks to be slower, but I have a lot of wedding video to edit and, as of tonight, I still haven’t started.  Becky moving in has proven quite stressful and involved, as I had to setup her computer (and the one back at her parents’ house because the move screwed-up their internet situation) and still cook, etc.  The house is coming along great, as well.  I spent a lot of time there today, just looking around and imagining where things would be.  The back yard is especially exciting, as I truly believe we’ll have room for whiffle ball, which is very important to me.

Finally, did you get a chance to check out the Twitter widgets up at the top of the Laptop Sessions homepage?  It shows the updates for Chris, Jeff, and myself.  I update all the time and it allows me to keep in touch with the Laptop Sessions viewers on a much more consistent basis than I previously could.  Well, have a great night and I’ll be back next week with another great acoustic cover song.  As Dana would say, “Until then”!!

“Lahaina Aloha” (The Beach Boys Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hello everyone!!  I’m back from obscurity to bring you another obscure Beach Boys song!

I’ve been on my honeymoon for the past two weeks.  You’ll notice a certain new accessory on my left hand in the video- I actually notice the difference when playing.  To sum up the trip and the wedding- everything went great.  Great weather, had a good time at the reception, wasn’t nervous at all, heard good music, went great places, hotels were nice, and just got to live the Hawaiian experience for two weeks!

Back to reality now, but there’s a lot to look forward to- a new house on the way and a new life as a married man.  It’s both exciting and tiring and I think I need a couple more days to decompress after my vacation!  You see, my wife (weird to say that) is the type that needs to see and do anything and everything while on a trip.  So, there really wasn’t much relaxation.  I need another vacation! 🙂

Anyway, Hawaii is an amazing place- from the weather to the people (who are very jolly, as the Beach Boys have said) to the scenery.  One of our favorite places was Lahaina, which is a nice town along the coast that boasts many art galleries and the second largest banyan tree in the world!  So, of course, this Beach Boys song was stuck in my head the entire time.  Becky and I walked around the town that day and even though it was only in the mid 80s, that “near the equator” sun made it feel like it was 100 or more.  But, the day was nice and I will remember Lahaina fondly.

I hope to have some time in the near future to post some photos, etc.- things I’ve been wanting to do, but haven’t gotten a chance to.  I hope you all followed me on Twitter (http://twitter.com/jimfusco), as I chronicled all the great (and hilarious) things we saw and did on the honeymoon.

I know Jeff is a fan of tonight’s song, as I played it on one of our BSYNHO shows we did for our significant others.  I hope my acoustic cover version does it justice.  “Lahaina Aloha” comes from an album that didn’t sell well and is officially the last ever Beach Boys album, as I truly don’t think there will ever be another.  “Summer in Paradise” isn’t all bad- just half.  I actually really enjoy the other half of the album- Bruce’s “One Summer Night”, with great vocals from Al, and Mike’s “Strange Things Happen”, which is one of Becky’s favorites, as well.

But, “Lahaina Aloha” is the perfect song for the acoustic cover song music blog tonight, as the islands of Hawaii are still very fresh in my mind.

Just as a last funny note- while on the ship, we saw The Second City, which is a comedy troupe not unlike the cast of “Whose Line is it Anyway?”.  They were very good and did a hilarious skit where they pointed out that the word “aloha” in Hawaiian can mean either, “Hello”, “Goodbye”, or even “I love you”!  So, they would sing songs that fit with that.  For instance, they did the Doors hit: “Aloha, aloha won’t you tell your name…”  And, they ended the skit with the best one- the Beatles “Hello, Goodbye”, or in Hawaiian: “Aloha, aloha!  I don’t know why you say Aloha, I say Aloha.”

Anyway, with that, I bid you the same- ALOHA!  It’s great to be back to the best blog ever created!

Jim’s Most Interesting Week Ever

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Yes, this is proving to be one of the most interesting weeks of my life. In fact, I think it will be THE most interesting week by far! In lieu of doing a video tonight, I thought I would comment (ala Jeff) about my goings-on. Hopefully I’ll be able to record a video tonight and then I’m planning on having some very special audio-only sessions for the two weeks I’m away.

Why am I away? Well, we can’t get there just yet. Let’s start here:

My fiancée and I recently purchased a new home. And by new, I mean just a piece of land! We went through the mortgage process (which is very tedious) and have finally come out okay on the other end. After all the deposits and fees, we’re ready to go.

So, this week, we met with the builder to pick out everything in the house- the siding, the shutters, the options, the cabinets, etc. It was difficult to make all those decisions (especially when we didn’t exactly agree on a lot of the stuff), but it was pretty fun to customize the house like that. This place is going to rock!!

Now, we have to meet with the builder and all the real estate agents on Wednesday for a pre-construction meeting. This should finalize and solidify everything. They’ll be able to break ground this week! By the time I get back, the foundation should be up and they’ll be ready to start framing the house! What a thing to come home to.

Also this week, I’m holding very private “sessions” that will be the fruit of my secret audio-only Sessions for the next two weeks. Sorry, but I have to be cryptic about this one.

Now, I’m still working, mind you. I work 40 hours a week and I’m working right up to Friday afternoon. Every night this week, I’m also working hard to edit a wedding video and hopefully get some other freelance work done.

Oh, and I forgot to mention: I’M GETTING MARRIED THIS WEEKEND!

So, we have our rehearsal on Friday and the wedding is on Saturday morning. Of course, my fiancée is going nuts running around and getting everything ready. Thankfully, she isn’t working this week, but even still, it’s a lot to do. I’ve been handling the house stuff and she’s been doing all the wedding stuff. I think I got the better end of the deal.

There’s so many more things to it than what I mentioning. Things that you don’t think about until it’s all too much to handle. I mean, we had to pick up the tuxedo, print programs for the church, etc. And, early next week is my father’s birthday- thankfully, I remembered to buy a present last week!

Then, on Tuesday, we leave for sunny Hawaii and I won’t be back until August 9th. Obviously, we’re extremely excited about it and it should be a great, relaxing time. I just can’t wait to lay on that beach and soak up the sun. It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go and Becky really deserves this trip.

So, again, a recap of events this week (keep in mind that I’m working 8:30 to 5:30 each day, as well!):

Monday: Met with builder to pick out stuff for the house
Tuesday: Tuxedo and secret “sessions”
Wednesday: Meet with builder for pre-construction meeting
Thursday: More secret “sessions” and secret “preparations”, plus our weekly dose of TNA iMPACT!
Friday: Rehearsal at 5:00 (working till 3:00) and rehearsal dinner at 6:30
Saturday: Ceremony at 11:30 and reception until 6:30, then off to Presidential Suite at hotel in Hamden for a couple of nights
Tuesday: Leave at 7 am for Hawaii!!

With that said, including the fact that I need to finish editing this wedding tonight and do web work, I’ll still try to get that video done. Talk to you then!