At the “RISK” of losing friends and family members… (Part 1 of 2)

By Chris Moore:

Hey there, folks. I’m back so soon after announcing the great news of our record-breaking day on Tuesday… to announce the friendship-breaking, heartache-causing, family strife-invoking events that took place in the meeting area of FMP Studios early on the morning of Thursday, July 24.

Early on, the scene looked something like this…

Risk Global Domination at FMP Studios

As you’ll note, the western third of the board is almost all red, the central third is almost all green, and the eastern third is almost all blue. Just for reference sake, I was red, Mike was green, and Jim was blue.

You may have guessed by now that, after recording some background vocals for Jim’s upcoming solo release, the boys of Fusco-Moore Productions kicked back with a game of Risk – the game of global domination, as the saying goes.

Early on, it was anybody’s game. And, from looking at the board, you might say — hey, they look about even. They must be happy.

A glance at the next picture will explain how wrong that statement is…

Risk Global Domination at FMP Studios - Jim and Mike Fusco

Some highlights of the game were the tension between green and red between South America and Africa, a standoff that remained non-violent until the end of my time in the game. Also, Mike and I took turns fighting for Iceland. In the pictures above, I own it so that Mike won’t own the entire continent of Europe, but then he just takes it back from me on his next turn. Jim quickly became the ignored party, having less troops than the other players, but being a silent killer. No, ladies and gentlemen, I’m not talking about farts. I’m talking about how he suddenly took ownership of Asia and maintained control of Australia AND a foothold in North America.

It is my strong opinion that I lost the game the moment, after having fought Mike for Iceland and winning, I forgot to attack Jim in Alaska, the one country in both Americas that I didn’t own at the time.

And he had only one man there!

Within a couple turns, he had flooded my troops, made a pact with Mike, and I was wiped out. So begins the final, dark chapter of the evening…

Risk Global Domination at FMP Studios - The Bitter End

Well, dark for Jim, at least at first. It seemed that Mike would wipe through Jim’s troops, but the battles quickly proved that he would not prove so easy a target.

At the time of publication, the battles are still raging on throughout northern Africa, Mike’s original stronghold and a continent that saw no action until the final moves of the game. The final results will be posted when they become available, along with friendship statuses…

WINNER:  Check back soon!!

RELATIONSHIP STATUS:

  • Jim and Chris: BEEN BETTER – Jim’s feeling good, riding high on having lasted so long. But, on the other hand, I’m not so happy. I still haven’t been convinced that Jim didn’t make the pact less out of a desire to win than out of a desire to take me out of the game. I may be wrong, but how can I be happy when I was the first casualty of war. Still, there are no hard feelings. But there is a hard rematch to come soon!!
  • Jim and Mike: HEALTHY – They both agreed at the end of the game that the strategy involved kept them interested and thinking at all times. A rare positive ending to a violent game of Risk for these brothers.
  • Mike and Chris: PRETTY GOOD – Years ago, I had trusted Mike and made a pact with him. He made a move that was best for him, thus spawning my classic Risk phrase, “MIKE! WE HAD A PACT!!” But, as the Monkees would say, that was then, and this is now. Mike treated me well, up until the pact. But Jim proposed the pact, so…

Well, that was more detailed than it needed to be. Until next time, this is your local loser Chris Moore reporting live from FMP Studios in Connecticut for all you Fusco-Moore fans out there…

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A record number of visitors to the Laptop Sessions Covers Music Video Blog!

By Chris Moore:

Even though it’s Jim’s day to post an acoustic rock cover song, it is with great pleasure that I make this official FMP announcement…

As of yesterday, the highest number of unique visitors we had in a day was 222, a record set back in April.  During that time, we were using a program that helped us invite YouTube friends and get more hits to our site.  We stopped using the program very shortly after hitting that record, but we always felt like it was a cheap way to make a record.  After all, we had the programs getting hits in addition to the actual viewers.

Well, we can feel guilty no more!

As of yesterday, our new record is 225 unique, in-the-flesh visitors to the Laptop Sessions music video blog in ONE day!  This is due in large part to two things that have never happened before in the history of the blog.  First, we have been gaining ground steadily in the search engines — Google, Yahoo, MSN — and now we’re actually coming up on the first page when people around the world search for terms such as “acoustic song” and even some songwriters and bands, such as “Ben Folds acoustic.”  A second benefit is that many people are curious about the Laptop Sessions based on various music forums that Jim, Jeff, and I belong to.  Hopefully, one day soon, those people will sign up for membership on this site as well, so they can leave comments!

That’s all for now.  Stay tuned for lots of great things to come!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Slide” (Goo Goo Dolls Cover)

By Jeff Copperthite:

What’s happening world?  It’s Jeff Copperthite here with the latest installment of The Laptop Sessions.  After two incredible showings by Chris and Jim, I can only hope that today’s video comes close to the quality that is on theirs.

I am happy to bring another new band to the sessions, and it is a band I have been a long time fan of.  I’m more surprised that it has taken me this long to dig up a song i’d like to cover by them.  The band is The Goo Goo Dolls – a band that has been around for over 20 years and has released multiple albums.   It took their 5th album to gain a significant following, upon the release of the song “Name”.

Well, i’m not doing “Name”, but I am doing one of their other popular songs – hey, it’s only one more character too – called “Slide” from their album “Dizzy Up The Girl”.  While seemlingly simple to play, getting the strum pattern and the arpeggiated intro/middle down was tough.

I hope you enjoy the new original album scrolling image on top of the page – be sure to check out our material as all three of us are very proud of our work, and we hope you agree!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up.  We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session.  We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and original music blog again in the future.  But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

Editor’s Note: Unfortunately, Jeff’s acoustic cover song music videos are no longer on YouTube, but we decided to keep his cover song blog posts up. We figured these music blog entries would be good for posterity’s sake and because Jeff always gave such insightful posts each Session. We hope to see Jeff’s impressive catalog of acoustic rock songs here on the Laptop Sessions cover songs and origianal music blog again in the future. But, for now, please make sure to check-out hundreds of other acoustic cover songs from all of your favorite bands here on the Laptop Sessions music blog!

More Laptop Sessions covers

“Temptation Eyes” (The Grass Roots Cover)

By Jim Fusco:

Tonight’s video blog entry is from yet another “new” band to the Laptop Sessions: The Grass Roots.

Chris and I have loved this song since my mini-obsession with it back in mid-high school.  For some reason, we equated someone I had a crush on to this song.  It was when I was first learning piano and learned how to play this song, which I was pretty impressed with.

I actually got to see the Grass Roots in concert a few years ago at the North Haven Fair here in CT.  Actually, I’ve seen a lot of great bands there, including America and Herman’s Hermits.  I always love getting to see a show there- you get to see some great acts and it’s just part of the general admission.  During my schooling years, the North Haven Fair was truly the only good thing about September.

This song, “Temptation Eyes”, is a bit “campy”, but I still love it and think it’s got a great tune.  It’s always a candidate for getting stuck in my head at a moment’s notice.

I hope you enjoy tonight’s Laptop Session here on the Laptop Sessions music video blog.  We’re happy to have all of you new fans here to listen to us!  

More Laptop Sessions covers