“When I Go” (Original song performed by Jim Fusco) – The Open Mic Sessions

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to another edition of “The Open Mic Sessions” with Jim Fusco!  Today, I reach back into the archives for a song off of the EP “Meaningless: Echoes of Dreams”.  You see, back when these tracks were recorded, the idea was to take an entire week’s vacation from school and record an album.  Our idea was to basically lock ourselves in and to write and record the whole thing.  It’s still an idea I’d like to try someday, but back then, it just didn’t turn out that way.

First, I had a bad cold so I couldn’t really sing.  Second, my brother and I are, well, brothers.  You can’t lock us in a room for a week (figuratively speaking, that is) and expect good results.  So, after some fights and even less work getting done (mostly because of arguments over how each song should’ve sounded), we ended up with nothing more than a few backing tracks at the end of the week.  Oh yeah, and a vow to never work together again…which we ditched in 2006 when we started MoU.  And now we’re still in the throes of the newest vow never to work together again. 🙂  Time heals all wounds, but some wounds take a bit longer to heal!  I guess that’s why certain bands that have stayed together longer aren’t really friends- they work together and go their separate ways.  It’s tough to think of playing music that way because of how social it is.  But, there’s so much passion involved.  And the addition of one vocal part one band member doesn’t think should be there seems like a life-or-death decision.  I kind of liken it to a marriage, except it’s even more stressful because there’s someone messing with something you’ve created!

That’s a long-winded way of saying that, even though we didn’t accomplish too much, what we did accomplish was really good.  Those tunes are some of the most enduring ones I can remember writing and participating in.  “When I Go” is played by my brother and me every time we jam together.  It’s just this great tune that has a great beat.  What more could you want?  So, when I went to play an open mic performance at The Space in Hamden, CT, I wanted to bust-out this song.  I never got to perform it there while in MoU, so it was my chance to resurrect it.

I hope you enjoy the performance- everyone there certainly seemed to!  Stay tuned for more from The Open Mic Sessions, as my solo acoustic and electric performances of original songs continues here on the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs and original music video blog!


WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The First Show” – 1998

By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

This ground breaking tape of Moore 94.2- Moore Hits in the Morning came from the mind of Chris Moore before Jim and Mike Fusco even met him. He had begun this show using the most primitive of equipment, and occasionally featuring members of his family on the show. Jim got into the act when Chris and Jim took part in a class play of the novel “Raisin in the Sun”. Jim had worked the sound for one of the acts of the play, and when mentioned his interest in sound mixing to Chris, he had the idea of visiting a radio station. So Chris and Jim wrote several letters to several radio stations, finally getting a letter back from KISS 95.7 in Hartford, CT. They visited the radio station on August 6, 1998, and had a great time, even controlling the station for a few seconds! They returned to Jim’s house that day with the ambition to make their own radio show. Chris mentioned his earlier work in the “radio business”, and showed Jim and Mike the ropes of producing a show.

The show began with Chris not realizing that the tape had started, giving an “Uh, hello?” to begin the Moore Hits in the Morning program. Because of the lack of equipment they had on hand, the trio had to hold one of the two microphones up to the speaker of a CD player! Because they could not talk (they would be heard in the background) they remained silent throughout the whole show (unless they were on the air), making it even more of a challenge to make the radio show work. So, with this show, Moore Hits in the Morning was born, giving Chris, Jim, and Mike a chance to do what they loved to do – create enjoyable and free Internet radio shows!

WCJM Internet Radio is a free comedy radio station with ten years of skits, themed radio shows, and wild entertainment all available on-demand. If you’re looking for the most hilarious radio station in the world…look somewhere else…and then come back for some other great free Internet radio from WCJM!

WCJM Free Internet Radio Station: “The Comedy Show” – 2000

By WCJM Free Internet Radio:

What is the most comedy in a Moore Hits in the Morning Broadcast?  The Comedy Show, done on August 27th, has to take that honor.  That day the cast, short Alberto (no pun intended) and Dave, assembled at the Fusco household to do their first radio show since April.  Jim had been gone all summer at acing school, and when he came back, he found that Alberto had soccer practice, and Dave was on vacation!  But, as they say, “the show must go on,” and the original cast of Chris, Jim, and Mike, added Matt Griffiths, a writer for the show that wrote almost half the material for the Comedy Show, and Cody Scholnick, who has made appearances in a couple of shows already.

But it wouldn’t be a Moore 94.2 broadcast if Jim Fusco didn’t produce it.  So, after hours on end of typing up and organizing material, he ended up with an 11 page script!  (Not to mention the three page spreadsheet of the timing for the show)  But, as fate had it, the script was somehow erased from Jim’s computer!  Devastated, Jim was ready to give up.  But Chris had 5 pages of the script, and Matt resent his material by e-mail, and after another grueling day of work, Jim got back his precious script.  Now, all that was needed were the personalities that made this free Internet radio show work.

Cody, who was very apprehensive about talking too much on the air (the perfect replacement for Alberto) does not appear in much of the show.  But Matt Griffiths exceeded all expectations.  His hilarious promos, skits, and impressions made him an invaluable part of the show.  Another guest, who was present only on pre-recorded clips, was Jeff Copperthite, who made an appearance on the Homerun Derby Challenge.  Jeff did Ron Popeil on the Ronco promos, and wrote some great material in his “Jeff’s tips of the Day” clips.  Of course, Dr. K had to make an appearance, so he had a whole ten minutes for his great comedy routine on he fourth side.  Chris hosted the show, and for someone who doesn’t laugh a lot, he actually got a kick out of the show!

But there were recording problems too.  Dr. K’s segment ran long, and the show wouldn’t fit on the two designated 60 minute tapes!  So, the show now exists on three separate tapes!  But Jim Fusco spent another whole day transferring the show to two CDs, making it the first Moore Hits in the Morning program on CD!  But the quality is only tape quality, so the next show was actually the first CD QUALITY show of Moore Hits in the Morning.  But this show is a classic one, showing everyone that listens to the show that the cast of the morning show is the funniest free Internet radio show EVER!

“Surrender To Me” (McGuinn, Clark, & Hillman Cover)

By Jim Fusco:

Welcome to your Monday, Monday edition of the Laptop Sessions with me, Jim Fusco!

If you take a look at the last few posts, you’ll notice all the work I’ve been doing over the past 24 hours.  I’ve managed to mix, master, and put online three concerts worth of material.  The last one has 35 songs!  Then, I finally posted my photos from our TNA Wrestling show back in May.  Finally, I went through and backed-up literally 100 gb of data that was clogging up my laptop’s harddrive.  I put all of it on DVDs, which meant that I needed to complete everything before I backed it up and deleted it from my hard drive.

This is the first time in about nine months that the coffee table is clear of five spindles of DVDs.

Today, I bring you a song that Chris, Becky, and I have been playing since the beginning.  Back in late high school, I fell in love with the music of Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman.  I mean, I was already a fan of the Byrds, but we had recentely gotten this album called “McGuinn, Clark, and Hillman”.  It was recorded in the mid-seventies, long after the original Byrds broke up and reformed.

A few tracks on this album, including the first track (which Jeff did as a Laptop Session- Click HERE to view it!) meant a lot to me at the time.  I was with my first girlfriend (and so proud that I had a CD player in the car- my 1990 Camaro) and the way we got together was a little weird.  We kinda had a thing going a year or so earlier, but then something happened to make us not talk for a long time.  I’m being vague not because I want to be, but because I honestly don’t remember.  That’s why I wrote in a journal every single day, I guess.  I’ll have to go back and read up on it.  Anyway, when we finally made it happen, I just thought the song “Long Long Time” was perfect for it.  I hope you’ll listen closely to the words in Jeff’s version and you’ll see what I mean.

“Surrender To Me” is a great song for a couple of reasons- mostly because of McGuinn’s incredible guitar work.  I actually based our live version half on the album version and half on the acoustic demo with Hillman and McGuinn.  Having Chris there to play the rhythm guitar (back when we first started playing live, he had a ton of trouble doing harmony parts while playing), Becky singing with me, and me playing a guitar solo I could actually handle, this was a prime choice.  I just wish more people had heard of it.  But, that’s okay- most people probably think it’s an original, which is major points for me!

Actually, this song is a cover itself.  Neither McGuinn, Clark, or Hillman wrote this tune.  But I still think it’s a great one and a standout track on the album.  Coming up on my next Session starts my suite of videos recorded in the great outdoors.  These videos are part of what the Laptop Sessions is all about, coupled with those Jeff did while on vacation- they’re LAPTOP Sessions!  We can record them anywhere and bring them to you from whereever you may be.  Enjoy today’s Session and make sure to come back tomorrow for Chris’ video, Wednesday for Jeff’s Original Wednesday (which I hope he comes through and plays us his new song), and to download all the new concerts!