Tag Archives: WMOM

RIP George Duke, “I Need You Now”…

For those who know me, I’m a miserable person. Music is usually one of very few cures for my ailment. As I get older, the people I have grown to love and follow are falling off like flies. We lost a great one in the music of Chad today.

George Duke and a Synth
George Duke

The man was one of great Jazz keyboardists.  The news was, of course, for a musician of such talent and depth, completely muted or uninformed at best.  It was mentioned in my research that he died of complications from leukemia. This IS INDEED what is TRULY sad.  This guy was as diverse as anything could be in the musical realm.  From R&B, Jazz, Progressive, Blues, Fusion… you name it, he was legendary.  From jazz, to R&B, to soul, to pop to his work with Frank Zappa (if you’re lazy, and want to hear wicked george duke keyboards and synth, start at 6:36). It was always fun to see how Frank Zappa brought out the crazy in him:

Notice how fast he plays the keyboard and listen to what the hell he was doing with synthesizers in 1974. Amazing. He was mostly known as a song writer, keyboardist, and excellent singer (who really knew how to multitrack his own voice to perfection)… (also had a great fro)… But what most don’t know is he was a great trombone player. Listen to the trombone breaks in this, from my favorite album “A Brazilian Love Affair”:

A lot of critics accused him of pandering in the 80’s to the pop taste, but personally, I thought his music sounded more busy and jazzy than ever. Listen to the bass line in this bit… This is an underrated classic (i think).

I know I know… It’s very 80’s and really corny, but listen to the musicianship in this… The bass and songwriting mostly stick in your head like sugary glue. Good stuff… AND NOBODY COULD WORK A KEY-TAR LIKE GEORGE! And the guy has the fastest right hand on a keyboard I’ve ever seen. He put emotion and soul into an emotionless instrument, the keyboard. Truly legendary.

On a final note… His music is very positive in lyric and in tone. It has made me feel happy, good or empowered many times (this is quite a long time as I’ve been listening to him since I was 8). His latest album “Dreamweaver” is a big bag of varying style. He put it together in tribute to his wife Corine who passed away almost a year ago. It is rumored that he really took a beating from this. He comes out about it in this promo for the album.

His music is about the music which is what I like most. He doesn’t always take a vocal. Sometimes guests do all the singing. If there is one song he does that gives me goose bumps, this one is it. It’s called, “I need you now”. I dont know why, but it’s my favorite. It’s the one I enjoy the most. I like how George comes in on verse 2 and translates it all. Today…. It makes my eyes water and gives me goose bumps… I’ll miss him.

Had to add this video at a later date. THIS WHOLE SHOW BLEW MY MIND! Crank it up!

Late ABC Voice Over Talent Ernie Anderson!

I never did voice over work, but I’ve sat at the controls and produced it.

You can see how frustrating this crap can be.  I’m amazed at how his personality and tone totally changes when the mic is live.  This is hilarious.

 

Here’s a clip of Ernie from the Mike O’meara Show (TMOS) bonus show (which explains how they get away with all the swearing).

Harmonia Remix That’s Really Cool

For those who don’t know Harmonia, they were part of that early German electronic collective that consisted of Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Cluster(aka Kluster and Qluster).

Harmonia consisted of Hans Joachim Roedelius, Dieter Moebius, and Michael Rother.  All of these people affected or played in the big electronic German three above.

Roedelius + Rother + Moebius = Harmonia
Roedelius + Rother + Moebius = Harmonia
I want a living room like this.
I want a living room like this.

For my want, I was always on the lighter side of the German electronic stuff, obviously connected somehow to Brian Eno (of  course).  I leaned more on the Cluster, Moebius, Roedelius stuff.  More atmosphere and shit.  I later listened to Neu! and learned how the stuff can rock with teeth.  And thanks to MsNeeBo and others, Kraftwerk became the smooth cross over of all of this music.  This is how my taste sits.  (I’m not going to even start a dissertation on how none of this would exist without the German band Can, but that’s another blog).

So…

I found this Harmonia discography on the web that contained the following track.  It is a re-do of a Harmonia song called Deluxe (Immer Wieder).  The mix is credited to something called “Post Love Crackers”.  I like it. If you are impatient and have the musical attention span of a gnat and wanna groove, bump it up to about 4:20 and crank it.

and because you can never get enough of German men droning, here’s the original. I like it just as much.

Here’s the lyrics if you want to sing along:

Immer wieder rauf und runter,
Einmal drauf und einmal drunter,
Immer wieder hin und her,
Kreuz und quer, mal leicht, mal schwer.
Immer wieder rauf und runter,
Einmal drauf und einmal drunter.

Here’s the translation:

Up and down again and again,
Once on top and once underneath,
Back and forth again and again,
Crisscross, once easy, once hard.
Up and down again and again,
Once on top and once underneath.

A Todd Rundgren Fix! Some New, Some Old.

toddpic

Just because I can’t get enough of Todd Rundgren, and these sort of represent my frenetic mood lately with job hunting and everything…

This song is called “In My Mouth” From the new album titled “State”. Bob and I cant get enough of this one. It seems to be stuck on infinite loop in my head:

This song is called “The Wheel”. This was done in the 70’s with Todd’s band Utopia. I just like the lyric:

Some people say life’s like a merry-go-round
I think it’s more like a ferris wheel
’cause sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down
Sometimes you just don’t know what to feel

And just when you think you’ve got the game figured out
And you say you’ve had enough
The mysterious mad man with his hand on the lever
Don’t seem to never ever want to let you off

You can’t get off this wheel of karma
You can’t stop the hands of time

I tell ya folks, the swings of mood and spirit right now are killing me, DAILY.  My friends, I ask you to please just tolerate me.  I’m worse than a woman on menopause right now, and it is showing no signs of stopping…. AND I HATE IT!

If I Do Myself In…

Play this at my funeral… Somehow, every time I’m drunk or silly… this song appears in my head.

Can’t explain it…

And then if you think you get it, follow it up with this one…

Then try to figure out why the hell you are looking at this blog in the first place.

(Thank you Liz for the introduction to the second track here)….

The Continuing Audio Saga of Job Hunting in Amurka (aka Halloo Meester Glabeeyl): Episode #1

I have decided to start recording my potential job “Whoppertunities®”.

This is the first of hopefully many audio bits of recruiters calling me with job opportunities. Essentially, they are the people who will be representing me to my future dream employer. I suppose this IS the best person to do that. (Sigh). Odds are, well, I’m still looking for work….

Our first contestant in this series needs some serious slowing down or something. I like how long it takes her to find my name on the prostitute du jour list.

Here she is a little slower. Try not to laugh, I laughed it all out!

And, just to show I care, here she is SLOW but with a funky beat for no particular reason.

More to come… Get all excited! Any ideas, or comments? I’m all in!

Music Format Distribution Over The Years (aka I Remember 8 Tracks)

Check out this animated gif from a German website. It shows how people purchased music throughout the years. No play button for the image, it does its’ own magic.

music format distribution1

Feel free to visit the site by clicking this, but it is in German. Get your zhoozhle (google) translator out.

Now where the hell can I get a decent price for my CD’s? Cause I sure as HELL aint sellin my vinyl!!!