Category Archives: Announcements

A “Chris Moore Monday” Premiere!

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By Chris Moore:

Well, I am regretfully feeling pretty terrible tonight and my throat has taken quite the hit.  So, should we just cancel the session for the night and wait for “Jim Fusco Tuesday?”…

Not a chance!

Instead of a music video tonight, I’m working on the first in a series of articles on rock music that I will release in the coming year.  I’m still trying to work on a name for the series as a whole.  Maybe “Rock Face: The Face of Rock Music Today.”  Sorry, that was a shameless inside joke that only a few of you will get.

Seriously, though, I’m working hard on this article now and I hope you enjoy it when I post it later tonight.

On an unrelated note, the Bruce Springsteen Halftime Show performance yesterday was even more exciting than I thought it would be, for a number of reasons.  First of all, the performance itself was great.  As Jim’s father pointed out, it looked like Springsteen would need to be hooked up to oxygen immediately after the show, based on all the energy he put into the twelve minute performance.  Once again, I’m not really a Springsteen fanatic, but I love his recent work.  I’ve been somewhat unimpressed with his live work (including a couple of concerts televised on television over the past few years), but the Super Bowl performance was certainly a high point of the game for me.  I realize that’s sacriledge and I may be branded as an outcast, but so be it…  Oh, and that being said, there’s a really funny list on a Yahoo! blog today called: “The 10 Unforgivable Sins Of Bruce Springsteen’s Performance At The Super Bowl.”  Jim sent it to me earlier today.  Worth a read for any music fan.

The second reason why the performance was so exciting is its aftermath.  I posted the set list and some general comments and predictions yesterday, mainly because I was looking forward to the show and it was on my mind.  Well, the post helped catapult us to an all-new view record for a single day on the Laptop Sessions music blog!  Thank you, Super Bowl, and thank you, Bruce Springsteen!

Stay tuned for the article to come; I hope you enjoy reading it!

Super Bowl Halftime Show: Bruce Springsteen’s Set List

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By Chris Moore:

Hello, football fans. More specifically, hello Super Bowl XLIII Halftime Show rock music fans! I’m writing this post mid-game, anticipating Bruce Springsteen and his Halftime Show songs.

Yes, as I’m sure you’ve heard, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are performing a 12 minute set at the half time of tonight’s big game. For those of you who don’t know me, it’s those twelve minutes of Springsteen live songs that I’m eagerly anticipating. Some people bet on the game and who will win. Me? I try to guess which songs the Boss will decide to play.

Luckily, Jim invited me to his parent’s home, which hosts a big screen television and lots of snack food — the best of circumstances for watching the game!

My bet? I’m personally predicting (and hoping) that Springsteen’s set list of songs will include four tracks — three greatest hits and one from the new album, “Working on a Dream.” With only twelve minutes to work with, it seems like four songs will be a tight squeeze, but we’re talking about a crowd of football fans and party-goers with predictably short attention spans. Also, even though the great majority of Super Bowl fans won’t recognize the new songs, playing a new song just might interest some of the viewers of Super Bowl XLIII to buy “Working on a Dream.”

Okay, so here’s the predictions for specific songs, understanding of course that I don’t expect any of these to necessarily come true.

Hits: “Born in the USA,” “Brilliant Disguise,” & “Hungry Heart.” Maybe “My Hometown” as a fall back. Pretty random guesses here from a recent Springsteen fan, so take these for what they’re worth…

New Song: “My Lucky Day” or maybe “Working on a Dream” (the former is the single, but the latter IS the title track…)

Some other predictions from the Laptop Sessions peeps:

Mike and Jim agree: “Born to Run,” “Born in the USA” and “Dancing in the Dark”; something from the new album.

My bet is that they’ll be more accurate with the hits; they’re usually amazingly intuitive and/or logical with these types of music trivia and predictions.

And now, courtesy of the WordPress app on my iPhone…

The Super Bowl XLIII Bruce Springsteen Halftime Show Songs (Set List):
1) “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out”
2) “Born to Run”
3) “Working on a Dream”
4). “Glory Days”

Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong in my predictions, but I was right about one thing – Springsteen and the E Street band ROCKED! He really gave it his all. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more energetic performance from anyone at any age, never mind a rock legend pushing 60 years of age…

See you tomorrow for my all-new “Chris Moore Monday” Laptop Session music video!

Chris reaches the 80,000 YouTube views milestone!

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By Chris Moore:

Well, it’s been a slow climb uphill, especially considering that I’ve seen many individual cover songs (not unlike my own) that are individually at tens of thousands of views.  That being said, every notch in the belt towards 100,000 is reason for excitement.

So, I took a break from getting dressed and ready for work to report that I have officially reached 80,000 YouTube views!

Every time I hit one of these increments, I get even more determined to see six digits.  So, even though the session-a-day project is over, I’ll just have to find new and different ways to make fewer videos get more views.  Maybe I can start by posting fewer of my favorite songs that are completely unknown to the YouTube community as a whole.  I have to admit that I understand the balance that needs to be struck, but I just love the feeling of accomplishment I get when I record the songs that I truly love.  And I honestly thought that some of my long shots, such as Wilco’s “Wishful Thinking” or even Big Star’s “Thirteen” might pick up some attention from the indie music crowd on YouTube.

Some of the videos that I have recorded recently — covers of Bob Dylan, the Barenaked Ladies, and the Beatles, for instance — have become fairly popular videos, at least for me.  However, many of my other videos are getting fewer views than my average even, say, six months ago.  Some videos — like the Wilco ones — pick up steam after a while, but many others — like Leonard Cohen, the Fruit Bats, and, of course, Big Star — just stagnate.  I like what Jeff has done, cornering the Laptop Sessions market on recording songs that were popular in the 90s but that are not necessarily from popular bands.  As Jim pointed out the other day, Jeff and I seem to be the 90s and 2000s wonder boys.  I guess I’m more of the 90s and 2000s kid with a lot of obscure records in his collection… 🙂

Regardless, I hadn’t intended to write a “State of the Tube” address for myself, but there it is!  I hope you enjoy Jeff’s Thumpin’ Thursday post tonight, stop back for another all-new guest session on Friday, and then I’ll see you back here on Monday!

“With our powers combined…”: WordPress and the iPhone!

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By Chris Moore:

So, here I am at work taking a break to eat lunch and thinking about which song I will choose and record for my upcoming installment of Chris Moore Monday.

Instead of simply thinking about it, I figured I would try out this new app for the iPhone…

…which is pretty amazing!

The fact that I can sit here at work and type some thoughts into my phone that will instantly appear on the Laptop Sessions site is fabulous. That’s right – it’s a fabulous fact. It’s a shame that I don’t really have anything of substance to write about. Let’s leave it at this: I’m looking forward to recording my weekly video and writing a post, and it just kills me to think I’ll have to wait many more hours before I can focus on that particular task.

Well, that’s it for now. Come back tonight for a brand-new video and a much more interesting, lengthier post!