Tag Archives: mike fusco

Laptop Sessions Rocks George’s II Open Mic Night with New Music and Classic Covers

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By Jeff Copperthite:

Good afternoon everyone. I wanted to update all of you how our performance went last night!

We really played well, and had a high percentage of the crowd watching us, bobbing their heads, and clapping after each song. We got to play 7 original songs in a half hour. Favorites such as “That Was The Day” and “Where Are We Now”, as well as new songs from MoU’s new album “Homestead’s Revenge” such as “Evil Disappointment”, “These Streets”, and “Please Stay” were also showcased. I really think we’ll see a lot of the same people in the near future…

…when we play there again on May 16! That’s right! The Laptop Sessions Live will be playing Friday, May 16 at George’s II Restaurant from 9:30 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. We’ll also have the freedom of playing whatever we want, so expect to hear songs from the entire FMP library – including “Greenlight”, “Homestead’s Revenge”, and perhaps a track or two from Jim Fusco’s upcoming album “Halfway There”. Mike Fusco will also be with us as a drummer, so it’ll be a full band ensemble.

Lots of people came up to us to congratulate us on our performance, and gave us a lot of confidence.

Heck, we rocked so much….that my amplifier couldn’t take it!

Hartke B60 amplifier

That’s right. The power supply on my 11 year old Hartke B60 (pictured) fried! Thankfully during the last song, but man. These things are not cheap, and hopefully our friend Dana can repair it in time. If not, I do plan on purchasing another Hartke amplifier. I love the thing so much because of a feature called a Shape controller, which basically allows me to use a dial to select a treble, “picky” bass, or a deep bass sound (I prefer the latter). Thankfully we’ve been making good money on shows, and I have a lot of side jobs that I can afford to purchase a new one, but I hadn’t planned on purchasing one.

We closed with “Where Are We Now”, and after the drum solo, I noticed my bass wasn’t sounding anymore. I then smelled an electrical burnout, so I quickly unplugged my amp and turned it off – while Chris, Jim, and Mike kept playing! I then had to stand there staring at my amp for 30 seconds while they finished the song. The director of the Open Mic night announced to the crowd “How about a hand for Jeff Copperthite, whose bass amplifier has just burned out”, and I received a round of applause for that.

We’ll hope it is fixed for May 16!

Thanks for reading this wall of text post, and I hope you are enjoying The Laptop Sessions, and have an opportunity to come see us on May 16!

New Music from MoU Songwriters – “Homestead’s Revenge” arrives!!

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They said it wouldn’t happen. There’s no way the album would ever be released. It was even written about in the newspapers. But, these words of discouragement are what seem to drive Masters of the Universe.

Fast-forward two years to the day since MoU’s first (self-titled) album release.

“Homestead’s Revenge” combines the songwriting skills of all five members along with expert harmonies and instrumentation. The album is nothing less than a polished work of art.

Homestead's Revenge MoU Masters of the Universe album cover

The album is available in two forms: Digital download and physical CD, both for only $9.99!

Click HERE for the Digital mp3 Download version of the 12 track album, complete with full digital book and album artwork.

Click HERE for the physical CD version.

 

We know you’ll enjoy the album and guarantee it’s the best you’ll hear in 2008! We’d love to hear all comments and if you have any questions, we’ll be happy to answer.

 

New Music News: Songwriters assure that Homestead’s Revenge is coming…

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Will YOU get the Revenge? We certainly hope so!

“Homestead’s Revenge”, the new album from Masters of the Universe, is coming out tomorrow.

April Fools?

We hope not, but I for one won’t believe it until I see it.

Needless to say, I’ll be downstairs mastering songs for a LONG time tonight, then working on covers, back covers, inside spreads, mp3 files, and websites. Ugh. But, this album’s worth it- you’re going to LOVE it!

More details as they come in tonight…

“Handle With Care” (Traveling Wilburys Cover)

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Hello and welcome to another edition of the Laptop Sessions acoustic cover songs music video blog! We’re back again with a cover song video from the Traveling Wilburys- their most famous song,  “Handle With Care”. When I was four years old, this song came out and it’s one of my first musical memories. Plus, it’s been one of my favorite songs for 20 years.

We’ve been playing this song live for years. It’s usually the full electric set, but we’ve done it live and acoustically here for the Laptop Sessions music blog.  As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, the goal of the Laptop Sessions cover songs blog is twofold.  First, we want to put an end to bad YouTube cover song videos forever.  And second?  We want to give a different take on our favorite songs.  This track, though mostly acoustically based in the original recording, is still not the same without George Harrison’s amazing lead guitar part.  But, we figured it would make the song sound different to only break out the acoustic guitars and the bongos for this cover song video.

One thing I love about this performance is the energy our band, Masters of the Universe (or MoU), puts into “Handle With Care”.  From the video, you can tell that we’re all having a good time singing one of our favorite Traveling Wilburys songs.  The harmonies, though not perfect (or complete, without band member Becky), are still pretty good.  And sure, the bongos are a bit louder than we would’ve liked.  But again, this was a fun acoustic live performance.  I think that having more energy in a video recording is even better than getting it note-perfect.  That’s one of the reasons why Masters of the Universe earned a nomination for Best Album of the Year by the New Haven Advocate in 2006.  We made an album that consisted mostly of our live set of original songs.  The songs sound great, but if we recorded everything separately, it probably would’ve come out much cleaner.  But, the thing that made MoU’s album stand out from the rest was the energy we had.  The songs would start out slowly and gradually get faster as it went on.  You can tell that the band is having a good time when something like that happens.  Plenty of people can play music in a technically correct manner.  But, it’s something special when you’ve got a band firing on all cylinders, playing music together in a circle.  You can really feel the energy in that album.

I know this has been requested before, so I hope you enjoy tonight’s Traveling Wilburys cover song! It’s my tribute to both George Harrison and Roy Orbison, and you know I’ll be doing more songs from George, Roy, and the Wilburys in the weeks to come!

To hear MoU’s original music, visit http://jimfusco.com/albums.html. To hear my original music, visit http://jimfusco.com.