Tag Archives: acoustic

“I’m Just Waiting” (Original Wednesday Jim Fusco acoustic song)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another “Original Wendesday” edition of The Laptop Sessions!  I hope this once-a-week treatment is becoming a favorite of yours, because we truly believe our original tunes can stand alongside the other major-label bands’ songs we play on the music video blog.

If you want to hear any of our original music, make sure to visit the websites of Jim Fusco (me), Chris Moore, Jeff Copperthite, and our band (with Mike Fusco) Masters of the Universe.

Today, I bring you a “classic” Jim Fusco tune from the epic album, “My Other Half”.  This album is a unique concept where it takes you on a journey from the beginning to the end of a relationship.  How did I get my inspiration?  Well, I lived through it and wrote a song each step of the way.  I didn’t do it on purpose- it just happened.  Strong emotions always make me want to write.

I’ve never had trouble coming up with tunes for my songs.  I’ve always had them floating around, waiting to be written out.  The trouble I have sometimes is coming up with something substantial enough to write about.  That’s why you’ll notice many of my songs are about some sort of big event or emotional period in my young life.

During the days of the “My Other Half” album, relationships were so new to me- I wanted to write about every facet of them.  That’s probably why I ended up with over 25 tracks…

Nowadays, things (as far as relationships go, at least) have definitely settled down.  I’m happy, but comfortable, too.  So, you’ll notice that the songs off of my upcoming album (who knows when that will come out…) are mostly about when something or someone bothered me in some way.  I think you can learn a lot about me, my life, and my emotions by listening to my albums in order.

This song was written in one night with another song that I’ll be bringing to you next Original Wednesday in three weeks.  I was in a very bad mood back in January of my senior year in high school.  I knew my first ever relationship was going to end, but it hadn’t yet.  I didn’t want it to because ANYTHING was better than being alone at that point.  But, I didn’t know when things were going to happen.

Isn’t it funny to have those moments when you know something is going to happen, you can’t stop it, but you’re not sure when it’s all going to come to pass?  Well, that’s how I felt then, and it ended up in a simple, yet heartfelt song.

I think some may think this is a kind of “suicide-song”.  It isn’t and was never meant to be.  “The end” that I speak of is the end of the relationship, not my life.  And for that matter, if I ever felt that way, I wouldn’t end my life- I would continue living just to get back at all the people that made me so miserable in the first place! 🙂

Okay, enough of the explanation: get to watching this video!  I hope you enjoy it.  I’ll be on the “cover song” track on Saturday with another great tune from Paul McCartney.  Stay tuned to the best music blog on Earth!

“Little Willow” (Paul McCartney Cover)

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By Jim Fusco:

Hey folks!  Today, I bring you a favorite song of the Fusco family in “Little Willow” by Paul McCartney.  “Flaming Pie” is one of my favorite all-time albums and that’s because we listened to it CONSTANTLY when it came out, during vacation, and all throughout the summer.  It always brings back fond memories and I always play the album when I take my own vacations now.

It’s fitting that I’m presenting this song today, as we’re in the midst of Tropical Storm Hanna up here in Connecticut.  Hopefully it won’t be too bad because I have a video job (taping an anniversary party) up at the Mohegan Sun casino tonight.  Should be fun, but who wants to drive an hour in a tropical storm?

So, why is it so fitting?  Well, I read in the liner notes of “Flaming Pie” (which is the booklet I modeled the booklet to my first album, “With Or Without You”, after exactly) that this song, “Little Willow”, was written to calm people after a hurricane.  It’s such a great song- so simple, but it has a great calming effect.  I thought it was a perfect one to do while outside with my nylon string guitar.

There’s also “Heaven on a Sunday” off of this album that makes me feel so calm.  I guess that’s the point of the song, but it always reminded me of a particular summer when I went to Boy Scout camp in Camp Sequassen.  That must’ve been a busy summer.  No wonder I remember this album so well!  Anyway, I used to get to fish off of a row boat there.  Having “Heaven on a Sunday” (“cooling my fingers in the bay…”) stuck in my head while peacefully fishing was a zen-like experience.  I think of that moment and it takes me right back there.

On another topic, how about Jeff with his Beatles cover yesterday?  And Chris doing Hendrix?  Amazing, folks- you never know what you’re going to get next on this music video blog- the BEST music video blog in the universe!  Starting in a couple weeks, we’ll be bringing you yet another “New Bands Week” here on the Sessions because we love to challenge ourselves and entertain you.

I’ll be making a couple of BIG announcements in the next few minutes here on the music blog, so stay tuned and for now, enjoy today’s music video!

“Time” (Ben Folds Cover- Jim’s 1st on Piano!)

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By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions on the best music video blog on the web.  Tonight, I bring you my first Laptop Session on the piano, which I actually learned to play before the guitar.  In fact, I taught myself piano- it’s actually very logical in the way it’s set up, so once you learn some of the chord patterns, you can just go from there.

Anyway, tonight’s video is a cover song of the piano master, Ben Folds, and probably my favorite all-time song from him: “Time” off “Songs for Silverman”.  Weird Al joins him on the choir-like backing vocals, which is one of the reasons that this track is my favorite.  I realized, though, that the song is great on its own, so that’s why I wanted to do a Laptop Session of it.

You may notice that the vocals are a bit “airy”.  Well, you see that microphone in front of me?  Perfect placement.  I even make sure to sing directly into it most of the time.  Well, I wanted to get the whole piano sound.  My ZOOM H2 microphone actually has 4 mics in it.  The two on the front are put in a 90 degree angle and the two on the back are placed at 120 degrees for a “wider” pickup range.  I wanted to use that 120 degrees to pick up the piano and my voice.

That only works if you turn the freakin’ microphone around!

So, you couldn’t hear my voice at all and the piano was very muffled.  But, through the magic of equalization, I managed to brighten the piano sound and bring my vocals out of the mix and salvage the video.  I had two others I recorded at this session (originals) on my fiancee’s piano, but those had to be scrapped.  I’ll go back again and re-record those, making sure this time to turn the microphone around…

I hope you enjoy tonight’s music video.  I guess I can’t plug the word “acoustic” tonight, but I guess it’s considered an “acoustic piano” as opposed to an electric piano.  Have a great Sunday and make sure to stop on back for another video the Laptop Sessions acoustic guitar AND piano music video blog!

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

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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 in 2009, not only with the Fusco-Moore Productions Blog and the Laptop Sessions music blog series, but also with FMP Studios and the brand-new, redesigned WCJM site.

See you tomorrow for another all-new session!