Tag Archives: chris

WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Double Meaning Show” – 2001

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By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

How many times can Matt Griffiths say, “Oh my God” in one show?  I don’t think Alberto can count that high!  This show has now taken a seat next to The Comedy Show as one of the funniest things to come out of WCJM free Internet radio.  The format followed this pattern: skit, song, skit, song.  This made for songs with double meanings and too many puns to bear!  And that’s not a Stuffy pun.

Skits like “The Rascal,” two Dr. Keck segments, a Spy Convention skit, and Stuffy D. Bear made this show incredibly hilarious.  There was also a new character called the Food Critic, played by Jim.  This show has great news reports, hilarious sports, and other great reports during the Traffic, News, and Weather segments.

The original cast plus Matt came back for this well rounded show.  The songs had trivia after them and there was even an investigation on the Beatles’ “Paul is Dead” hoax.  Matt also wrote his Minor Pain Christmastime Hits promo (see below).  Jim used his new DJ Machine to provide the music for the skits and the trivia questions, making for a constant beat during the show.

The show started off shaky (as usual), but after a microphone mix up was fixed, the show went off without a hitch.  Dave and Chris were actually funny!  That’s enough to make anyone want to listen to the show.  There was also a pun tournament during the comedy radio show.  Each pun was carefully counted by Alberto, and here is the final list:

1. Mike- 57
2. Jim- 44
3. Matt- 28
4. Dave- 27
5. Stuffy (in four minutes!)- 25
6. Chris- 19
7. Alberto- 17

“Wichita Lineman” (Glen Campbell Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

For Glen Campbell Chords/Lyrics, click here!

Hello and welcome to my first cover song music video for the blog in just about two weeks!  Those of you who are acquainted with my work here on the Laptop Sessions blog will appreciate just how long a break from recording that is.  After all, I spent the entirety of 2008 — along with Jim and Jeff — recording a session every three days.  So, when you look at it this way, two weeks off is an eternity!

That being said, I’m back tonight with a song from a new artist to the blog — Glen Campbell.  Campbell is a name you’ve probably heard before, as he’s been working in the realm of popular music ever since the 1960s.  I first remember him from the story of the Beach Boys, as he filled in for Brian Wilson as a touring bassist in 1964 and 1965.  Having come from a family of twelve, a group with three brothers must have been a piece of cake for him to handle!

What I had forgotten about Glen Campbell is that he was a member of the famous Wrecking Crew, along with other studio musicians like Hal Blaine and Carol Kaye.  He has played guitar on such popular recordings as the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds, the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” and the Monkees’ “I’m A Believer.”  He also played on tracks by other artists such as Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Merle Haggard, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jan & Dean, the Mamas and the Papas, and many more.

What a resume!

So, why did I decide to record a Glen Campbell song out of the blue?  Why have I encroached upon the usual Jim Fusco territory of the 1960s?  The answer is simple — Glen Campbell is releasing a new compilation tomorrow entitled Glen Campbell: Greatest Hits , and I thought it appropriate to pay tribute to him.  I especially like “Wichita Lineman,” perhaps because it sounds like a cross between the Beach Boys and the Moody Blues.  I say this because it’s got that great, bassy surf guitar-ish sound on the solo, and it has very obvious Justin Hayward inflections, particularly in the vocals and the Moody Blues-esque flute sounds.  So, having decided on “Wichita Lineman,” I got in front of my laptop, searched the Glen Campbell official website for a clip, went to YouTube to watch Glen Campbell playing it, and set about transcribing and practicing.  I’m glad that I’ve decided to post chords (tabs / how to play) for all my songs this year, as I looked around for chords online and didn’t find any sites with correct chords and lyrics.  So, if you’re interested in playing the song, refer to the information you find here – it’s hot off the presses!

Well, that’s it for me tonight.  I’d love to write more, but after my double posting yesterday, I’m pretty worn out!  Seriously though, I hope you’ve checked out my posts about the Grammy Awards and the TNA Pay-Per-View.  If you haven’t, I think that at least the Grammys post is worth a read for any fan of rock music.

Without further ado, here’s my latest cover song music video.  Hurry back tomorrow for an all-new Jim Fusco Tuesday Laptop Session…

See you next session!

WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Best Songs You Never Heard Of Show” – 2002

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By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

The WCJM cast got together again for yet another morning show. This theme was thought of by Jim. He decided that he knew too many great songs that he previously refrained from playing on the shows. He also had a hunch that the other cast members had songs they wanted to play that were pretty obscure. So, each cast member chose a few songs that had not been the singles off of the albums, but were just regular album cuts. This show is also recorded in stereo to let you hear all the side comments that are often lost in a mono mix- listen to this show on headphones!

The free Internet radio cast consisted of Chris, Jim, Mike, Dave, Matt, and Jeff. Alberto went A.W.O.L. on this show because of a Dave Matthew’s Band concert he attended. Jim made a comment about Alberto’s absence in one of comedy segments, too. Jaime Moore, Chris’s sister (who originally did radio shows with Chris back in the mid-1990s), sat by to listen to the show, as well.

This show has some of the funniest comedy segments ever done, including Matt’s classic first standup comedy segment that’s “completely related” to his job at Subway, the Food Critic taking on Jim by doing his own World Report, Chris’s classic “Stink” skit (actually written by, but not credited to Mike and Jim), Ronco (of course), a great TNWST with a hilarious soda pun segment, and Dr. K. Dave’s laugh not only leads off the show, but makes multiple appearances throughout the show, as well.

As Lawrence Muntz pointed out, “It’s been ‘Muntz’ since I’ve done this,” but this show proved that the WCJM cast still had it. The funny radio show went off without a hitch (other than Chris knocking the power to the mixer off during a song) and this stands as one the best shows WCJM doesn’t want not to hear of anymore!

“Down Under” (A Men at Work Cover)

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By Chris Moore:

This is another all-new cover video here at your source for the best cover songs on the web or anywhere: the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover song music blog! Since I haven’t introduced a brand-new band to the video blog in a while, I decided to record a song that I had considered recording back in the specialty “Number Ones Week.” I never recorded this song, which was a number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the eighties, for that week, and I put it aside — out of sight, out of mind — in my bookmarks menu. Then, I came across it tonight and decided to make it official.

This is “Down Under,” originally performed by the Men at Work. This is an eighties band that you wouldn’t necessarily expect to see here on this acoustic cover song blog. But, my father and I had always laughed and enjoyed this song whenever it came on the radio, so I thought it deserved its fair shake as an unplugged performance. It is an extremely easy song to play — the verse and chorus sections are different only by one chord — and it’s right in my comfortable vocal range.

Truth be told, it did take me quite a few takes. Unlike my last post, which I happily reported on Saturday was a one-take (my first ever!) recording, this took me about ten takes, false starts and all. It wasn’t so much that it’s a difficult song because, as I said before, it’s not. However, I haven’t really listened to the song in full for years, so I needed to find it on the YouTube videos search and watch it a couple times. Well, I really only had to listen to it, but it was so funny to watch that I simply couldn’t resist. I love the flute player in the tree and, of course, the man behind the counter “from Brussels” with “muscles” who gives the singer a “Vegemite sandwich.”

To this day, I’m really not even sure what a Vegemite sandwich is…

I actually just looked it up on Wikipedia now, and I found that it’s a “dark brown savoury food paste made from yeast extract, used mainly as a spread on sandwiches, toast and cracker biscuit.” It’s no surprise that I didn’t know what it was because, even though it is distributed by food manufacturing giant Kraft Foods, it has simply not caught on in Western nations such as the United States of America.

Vegemite knowledge notwithstanding, it really took me a long time because I needed to relearn the song. But, as my fellow FMP songwriters Jim and Jeff probably know all too well, I was very tired and had my mind on other things when I realized that tonight was my night to post another quality cover video. So, wiping the mid-summer sweat from my forehead and ignoring the headache that was creeping in, I did what any responsible video blog poster — or at least one who has committed himself to the session-a-day promise — would do… I recorded a Laptop Session.

I hope you enjoy it, as it really is a fun song, and I only wish that I had been able to record this acoustic cover song with some flute accompaniment… If this doesn’t quench your thirst for quality cover videos, you’ll just have to hurry back for Jeff’s next all-new session tomorrow, here on the Laptop Sessions Music Blog.

See you next session!