After the conflict in the country in September, 2001, WCJM decided to heighten its American Pride. The entire free Internet radio cast, minus Jeff, gathered in the studio and picked out their favorite songs that deal with America. From Simon and Garfunkel to Justin Hayward, this show will definitely get you in an American mood!
This show is where Jim Fusco finally tried to show up everyone else. He wrote ten pages of material for both the Food Critic and his new segment, The World Report. The cast was a little tense after arguments about paying attention to the skits, but got out of that mood very quickly when they heard the various comedy segments.
Without a doubt, the funniest Stuffy D. Bear segment ever was heard on this show. Stuffy showed his American pride by singing his own rendition of “God Bless America”. He also expressed his utter longing for his brother Stuffo by singing his own song, “Stuffo Come Home.”
The cast even sang the National Anthem at the beginning of the show, making the absolute worst rendition of the song since Roseanne! And it might be worse than that! So, if you’re not a fan of Dave’s singing, skip past the first two minutes, but stay tuned for the rest of the All-American Show! This is classic comedy radio at its best!
Wow, how long has it been?!?! I’ve been so incredibly busy that I keep looking back and saying to myself, “Hey, hasn’t Thursday just passed?” Between work, refinancing a mortgage, ditching cable for DirecTV, working on the house and lawn, and much more, I can’t believe it’s already almost Christmas time! I’m really excited about it and hope to have some more free time to do videos and just enjoy life, you know? I’m most excited about writing and recording my new set of songs- I’m already up to 13! Plus, we’re hoping to get our basement finished soon, and that means I’ll have a brand-new “studio” of sorts to record my videos in! I’ll have more room, be able to use instruments I haven’t touched since I moved-in over a year ago, and will have much better lighting. Plus, who wants to see a printer in the background, anyway? 🙂
Onto tonight’s video!
I have such a long list of videos to record now, but I’m starting here with a song I’m sure you’ve never heard of. Normally, I like to take songs that weren’t originally “acoustic” and turn them into the classic Laptop Sessions “a man and his guitar” format. But this is just a great song and shows that a true simple acoustic guitar tune can be just as good as a fully produced song. Sure, the Thorns (a band formed by three mid-90s solo acts to form a sort of “supergroup”) sing in great three-part harmony on the song. But, I’ve never been able to find other people to sing in that range with me on a consistent basis. So, I’m going it alone on this one!
Doesn’t the guitar part just sparkle on my new Martin? I truly love playing this guitar and it makes all of my videos sound that much better. Now, I’m not knocking the nylon string guitar. That guitar is so easy to play and I love its mellow sound. It’s great to sing with because you don’t have to fight with the loudness of a steel-string guitar.
On a side note about “I Told You”, I believe I read that Van Dyke Parks (of Beach Boys ‘SMiLE” fame) plays the accordion on the original recording. The Thorns used a lot of older musicians and collaborators on their only album from 2002. Jim Keltner, the drummer for the Traveling Wilbruys, plays the drums on the whole album! Now that’s pretty cool. One of the songs even features a bass harmonica, which is used on the Beach Boys track “I Know There’s an Answer” from “Pet Sounds”. So, this album was an instant winner with me. If you haven’t heard the Thorns self-titled album, please do yourself a favor and get it. You won’t be disappointed.
One final personal aside for a moment- I’ve been going-through the audio versions of every single Laptop Sessions acoustic cover and original song I’ve ever recorded. I’m up to 221 videos now. That’s GOTTA be a record! I wanted to do a project where I chose my favorite videos and recordings. But, I’m over 150 songs into the list now and am no closer to compiling a list. I hope I get popular enough to have my own historian someday. That way, I won’t have to keep track of all this myself. 🙂
It’s good to be back here on the site. I sincerely hope that I’ll be posting regularly from now on, but who knows. Something always manages to come up. Have a great couple of weeks and I hope to see you again in early December!
NOTE: This video was remastered in 2020 for improved picture and sound.
Today, Jim Fusco reached 800 YouTube video subscribers! This was done without a single “invite”, meaning these are all people who listened to Jim’s acoustic cover song music videos and liked them so much, they decided to subscribe.
Here’s looking forward to Jim’s goal of 1,000 subscribers and a million views!
As a special treat for all you Fusco-Moore music blog faithfuls, this post is in honor of Laptop Sessions founder Jim Fusco’s wedding to Becky Daly over the weekend. That’s right; as of July 25th, 2009, Jim is no longer a single man.
Sorry, ladies…
As part of my wedding gift to them, I sifted through the 10,000 plus songs on my iTunes and created a playlist to commemorate their marriage. As you skim through the bands and titles below, you’ll find that the theme is pretty obvious — two people getting together in a relationship (1, 2), getting married (5, 7, 11), and the new life that follows (8, 10, 12, 14). Of course, there’s some mention of Saturday night (4) and the bonus tracks are all about the honeymoon — can you guess where that’s going to be taking place?
I hope you enjoy the playlist rundown, and I encourage you to leave comments for the newlyweds here on this post!
TRACK LISTING:
1 ) “Got to Get You Into My Life” – The Beatles
2 ) “Better Together” – Jack Johnson
3 ) “Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do” – Huey Lewis & The News
4 ) “Almost Saturday Night” – Gene Clark & Carla Olson
5 ) “Chapel of Love” – The Beach Boys
6 ) “I’ll Always Love You (Day After Day)” – Dean Martin
7 ) “Wear My Ring Around Your Neck” – Elvis Presley
8 ) “What Love Has Joined Together” – The Temptations
9 ) “Really Love You” – Paul McCartney
10) “Ideal Woman” – William Shatner
11) “Wedding Song” – Bob Dylan
12) “A New Life For Us” – The Now People
13) “Satisfied” – Ringo Starr
14) “Believe In Life” – Eric Clapton
15) “This is Love” – George Harrison
16) “One True Vine” – Wilco
BONUS TRACKS:
17) “The Honeymoon Song” – The Beatles
18) “The Hula Hula Boys” – Warren Zevon
19) “Rocking Chair in Hawaii” – George Harrison
20) “Rock-A-Hula Baby” – Elvis Presley
21) “Hawaii” – The Beach Boys
