Just a little over a month after announcing the milestone of 60K views, Jeff has met his stated goal and reached 70K views before the new year.
It really is something else to see the outpouring of support the three of us have received throughout the year, and I hope that the next 10K views bring a lot of satisfied ears and eyes to many people.
I now have a new goal and I want to reach 100K views by the end of February.
Again, thanks to all of you who have supported us throughout session-a-day. I hope you have a great holiday season, and I hope you keep checking back for our end-of-year reflections and future sessions here on guitarbucketlist.com!!!
I’m sooooo tired. No, I’m not quoting a classic Beatles tune- I’m really freakin’ exhausted! Something about driving an hour to the Buckland Hills mall, shopping, eating a TON at Red Robin, and driving an hour back just makes me so tired. Then, I realized it was my night for a cover song music video. It always works that way. My way of dealing with it? Honk the horn while driving down I-84.
As we gear up for yet another winter storm here in CT, I find myself really ready for Christmas, and just in time. Today, we dug ourselves out of the snow and I went to my parents’ house for a party with my father’s cousins- a yearly tradition. It was so nice, especially because Mike was there. Felt like old times. Mike and I would attempt to fit in with the older crowd, but eventually would just run downstairs and play with our Hess trucks, which we would get each year. Today, we got pizza from Fratelli’s in Wallingford. My parents had never eaten there before, but I tried it at work and loved it. So, I put my recommendation out there, and thankfully, everyone loved it.
I then went to do a video job (maybe THAT’S why I’m so tired) at the New Haven Lawn Club. It was a nice Jewish wedding. I only had to do the ceremony, but got paid for a whole job. And a few days before Christmas, that’s always a welcome thing. Chris, Dana, and I went on our trek (see above) after I got home, and that brings us to my cover song music video for tonight.
I’ve known “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” my whole life. I always found it interesting that my father said this song wasn’t really a big Christmas “hit” until after John Lennon died. Just like George Harrison’s music- the man’s albums went on being obscure and not available on CD until AFTER he died. Hey, at least they’re out now. Dennis Wilson is the perfect example of this phenomenon, except it took everyone about 25 years to re-release something after his death. And he was the most talented of them all.
I dedicate this song to my boss, Steve Mirabella, who suggested I do this for the Laptop Sessions. It’s so rewarding to find someone who cares about and loves music as much as I do and is actually interested in these cover songs music videos we do on a daily basis here. And yes, Steve, I found a much less annoying way of handling the Yoko Ono parts, so the song sounds much less….well, you know…than the original.
I hope you all enjoy this great Christmas song and heed its words- Christmas is a time for EVERYONE and it will come no matter the wars, hardships, unreasonable hatred, etc. It’s good to know that there’s an anchor in our lives like that. It allows me to keep traditions going and that makes me incredibly happy. I’ll see you back here again on Tuesday for another great Laptop Session! Oh, and tonight is my 150th music video, and here’s to 150 more!
It’s just a hunka-hunka-burnin’-cover-song tonight on the Laptop Sessions!
Oh, yes, the Session-a-day project is winding down, but the energy still lives on in this acoustic cover song video, as I deliver one of my new favorite videos. I thought of doing this song a while ago, but never got around to it. Tonight, I needed something that would give me a “Sunday night spark”, as I’m usually pretty laid-back on Sunday nights.
This weekend was crazy. I had a work party on Friday (where I finally got to meet Dr. Perricone), came home and slept for three hours, woke up and went to see my good friend Matt Griffiths’ directing job on a one-act play at Southern Connecticut State University, went out to SBC Brewery for dinner with Becky and Danielle, came home and stayed up video editing (and hanging out with Chris and Dana) all the way till 7:30 am (!!!), waking up at 11:45 to go to our weekly “Luncho Marx” with my father at Burger King, driving down to my cousin Lou’s house in Branford to drop off my wedding video edits, coming back to do a bit of shopping, going to see “Quantum of Solace” (which was good) with Chris, leaving right from there to go to another Christmas party, came home to practice some Christmas songs and sleep, woke up to pack the car and drive an hour to another Christmas party (where I played Santa Claus and played Christmas songs with Chris and Becky), and finally came home after usual Sunday dinner at my parents’ house.
Yikes- what a sentance!
Anyway, I finally got a chance to sit down when I remembered that it was my night to post a cover song video here on the blog! And, since this blog is a true musical lifeline for me, I was all too happy to do it. This is almost my 150th music video and I’m so proud of the work we’ve done here on the best music video blog online!
Tonight’s song is an Elvis tune from the early 70s. I remember my father telling me that this song was an Elvis comeback of sorts because he returned to rock’n’roll after years of awful lounge-singing. I think The King’s story is truly one of most tragic in all of pop culture. He was the Britney Spears of his day. “Burning Love” was a huge hit, but sadly, this did not stop Elvis on his decline and he never came out with such a rockin’ single for the rest of his life.
I think the best part about this song is just how classic it sounds. He got the Jordanaires back to sing backup, the song has a great beat, and it really highlights Elvis letting loose on the vocals, especially at the end.
It’s also an incredibly easy song to play. If you can play D-G-A-Bm, you’re all set. Just husk-up that voice and get your best Elvis impression going. Actually, we recorded the performance today of Christmas song, so I may post it, depending on how good it came out. On that, I got to do a couple of Elvis Christmas songs, which have to be my all-time favorites. The only other contender is the Beach Boys Christmas album. Although, in the past few years, there have been some AMAZING Christmas offerings from the likes of Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, Barenaked Ladies, America, and the Moody Blues. I cherish these albums as new classics every single year.
I’ll be back for an Original Wednesday that’s so good, it’s like “Your Secret Santa decided to ignore the spending limit but you didn’t and he’s not mad” good! 🙂 Wow, I’m way too proud of that one right now- I’m laughing out loud.
Have a great night and we’ll see you back here after two amazing new Sessions from Chris and Jeff!
Tonight, Chris and I bring you another acoustic-electric tune in Chuck Berry’s classic Christmas hit, “Run Rudolph Run”. And NO, that’s not “Run Run Rudolph” as many people (including me up to a couple years ago) think. I’m not sure why Berry titled it the way he did, but if that’s the way it is, you know the Laptop Sessions will stay true to the original.
I like this performance a lot because it gave me a chance to do a guitar solo, which I rarely get to do on these music videos. And this is a pretty rockin’ solo, too. It’s always so much fun to play it. But, to be honest, I’m actually not that huge of a fan of Chuck Berry’s version. I mean, I love the song, but his version is just so subdued. It sounds like a song that he just farted out in like two takes, then said, “It’s good. It’s like playing rock’n’roll into my eighties good,” and then left the studio.
I love his guitar playing style, though. It always sounds so effortless. I even have a Chuck Berry influenced guitar, but a string was broken and I was too lazy to play it. You can search for Masters of the Universe’s live version of this song to see me playing my Chuck Berry guitar!
Actually, I kind of have this “thing” against Chuck Berry for no good reason. One time, a long time ago, my mother went to Chuck Berry concert. They waited for HOURS for him to arrive, as he was late for one reason or another. Well, he came out, played like two songs, and left. She never forgave him.
I can’t believe it’s another Original Wednesday week for me starting on Sunday, which is when you’ll see me next. After I’m done with some other freelance work I’ve been doing, I’ll be able to devote a bit more time to promoting the Laptop Sessions and our new site, Cover-Songs.com, in hopes of increasing our site views by 50% by February. You know what would help the most? WORD OF MOUTH! So, tell your friends, blog about us, put a link on MySpace- DO ANYTHING and help us get the word out! The more excited we are, the more we’ll do for the site. And the more views we get, the more excited we are. So, I hope everyone will chip in and tell a friend about the Laptop Sessions.
Have a great night and we’ll all be looking forward to the weekend…not to mention great videos from Chris and Jeff. It’ll be “like having two weekend nights off before your next cover song music video” good!
