The Regular Friday Post
Rando lyrics: Been putting up a real good fight There were times I thought you'd win
RIP Jeffrey Foskett
“Jeffrey Foskett (February 17, 1956 – December 11, 2023) was an American guitarist and singer, best known as a touring and studio musician for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys since the 1980s.[1] Credit: Wikipedia Link: Jeffrey Foskett
Last week’s rando lyrics: The lyric, “But what you break is what you get You wake up in the bed you make, is from the song “Lucky You” which is Track 12 on The National’s 2003 album “Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers” (remastered 2021) released on Brassland Records, produced by Peter Katis. Credit: Wikipedia Link: Sad Songs For Dirty Lovers
Welcome to The Regular Friday post!
For Today: It’s That Time Of Year….
It’s that time of year for end-of-year lists of the greatest or the worst, or the weirdest, or whatever. At the moment I’m interested in our Substack friend, Steve Goldberg’s list (along with three other music posting Substack authors) of the the Top Ten Albums of 2023 as each one of the four contributors judge. You can find the top 5 (I think 6-10 were last week) at Steve’s Substack, check the link below in the “Other Voices” section.
So, what did you think? Interesting choices all, but I’m especially drawn to another Substack friend, Kevin Alexander’s list - also linked in the “Other Voices” section - both Steve and Kevin’s Substacks are fabulous, highly recommended and if you’re not already, go follow both of them right now. I’ll wait…taps foot…are you back? Great!!!
Kevin’s number one pick for 2023 albums is by The New Pornographers, “Continue As A Guest”.
Link to album: Continue As A Guest
I’ve been a New Pornographers fan for a long time and this album is a great addition to their discography. You can play the whole album at the link above and a few selected tracks are in the WIL2 section (below) in a public playlist (it’s Amazon, so not sure if it will play if you’re not a subscriber - I wish Spotify would get their head out of where it presently is…. - easy to make playlists that everyone can play, but they’re still being useless about royalties, so….)
I’m actually pretty taken by the title track “Continue As A Guest”, which is Track 5 on the album, and that would be a great song to play (it would have been the song to play for today, but see below). It would be difficult to reproduce the sonic depth and variety of the song solo on an acoustic guitar, but having played it exactly that way, I can say it’s a fun song to play solo, would be even more fun at a jam, especially with a bass player (interesting line underneath), but your mileage may vary. Certainly having a sax player at your jam would be a help as well….
I will say if you’re looking for something with a bit more of that classic New Pornographers “Crash Years” sound, check out Track 6, “Bottle Episodes”.
However!!! Within the last few weeks (sometime in October), The New Pornographers released a new version of Track 9 on the album, “Firework In The Falling Snow” in collaboration with singer/songwriter Aimee Mann (SQUEE!!! One of my favorite artists, ever!!) so that’s going to be today’s A Song To Play!
A Song To Play
4/4 common time, a languid 83 BPM, originally in the Key of FMajor - capo on 3 to play in the original key using the shapes of DMajor, or leave the capo off and just play in DMaj if your voice can carry it. I have trouble with some songs in DMaj, just can’t hit some notes there anymore. I prefer the GMaj to A#Maj/BbMaj range mostly and will almost always capo or transpose to get there, just sayin.
It’s a beautiful song - interesting, even poignant lyrics, made even more beautiful in this version with Aimee Mann’s harmonies.
[Verse 1] Ready for a move, at the gun Fire on the trip back to one Strapping on the jets, we're good to fly Firing after one last side eye A firework in the falling snow [Verse 2] Maybe clean the heart off your sleeve Careful of the mess that you leave Oh, you will be damned if you do And if it's the price we've come to I'll go as far as this thing goes [Chorus] Whatever you're selling, I'll Take it all Whatever you're selling, I'll Take it all [Verse 3] Giving up the ghost, good to go Digging through the big pile of coats Wanted to be bright, bright and loud Be the kind of thing that dies out A firework in the falling snow [Verse 4] If you want to breathe forgotten arts You got to believe the hard parts Strapping on the jets, enjoy the show And my next impression is called "A firework in the falling snow" [Chorus] Whatever you're selling, I'll Take it all Whatever you're selling, I'll Take it all [Outro] Steady in the cold, slightly high Steady in the calm of the flight Couldn't tell the highs from the lows Who can tell the heart what to know That's as much as I had, as I had to go on That's as much as I had, as I had to go on That's as much as I had, as I had to go on That's as much as I had, as I had to go on
Other Voices:
Even more voices:
So, Mr. Pendergast is a writer, and so far as I know he is not a musician, nor does he write about music (I dunno, maybe he does sometimes). What he does do exceptionally well is capture an idea and express it so well that it’s immediately clear and understandable. In a recent post he explained why he isn’t contemplating going paid, and his reasoning so closely matches mine (but explained so much more clearly) I wanted my readers to know the why, and not just the that, this Substack stays free to all.
This post is from a Substack writer I haven’t read before, but I completely agree with the point. Several of us who are music writers meet online at regular intervals to discuss things within our little community and I don’t think we spend a lot of time with other communities with specific non-musical interests that have organically arisen, mostly because we read the music stuff and there’s way too much stuff on Substack to go hunting for divisive racist crap. Still, I think most of us would take as much offense to censorship by anyone, either inside or outside the Substack universe as we would to antisemitic or racist writing. Either would be a sad way to see such a great platform come to an end. And of course, many of us consider ourselves something other than writers. We’re folks who just happen to write, or in some cases podcast, about music, the subject we love.
(Ed. Update: I was writing part of today’s post on Wednesday, links and some non-time-sensitive stuff, and learned of Jeffrey Foskett’s passing. Today (Thursday, so I can get this out early on Friday) I see the censorship debate as in the above article is heating up with threats of leaving the platform and such, apparently due to some article in the overrought and overrated rag (IMHO) The Atlantic. For the record, I absolutely deplore and denounce the apparently racist and antisemitic subject matter that apparently some Substack writers spew. I know nothing of these writers or the accusations concerning their posts, but my opinion of execrable The Atlantic, barely useful only as birdcage liner, is but marginally better.)
From An Article On "Thalia Capos" Thalia makes really nice capos - exotic woods and bling and such. Their website features articles sometimes. This one highlights an issue for a lot of smaller businesses who make and/or sell instruments, accessories, audio and stage and studio equipment and such. If Spotify, (unlawfully, in my opinion) withholds royalties from us “little guys”, a lot of the little guys aren’t going to be investing in the things that are tools of the trade for us, and the people/companies who are going to be receiving our share of those royalties (again, unlawfully - looking at you power touring performers, you know who you are) probably already have all and more of the stuff they need. So - Gibson, Martin, Fender, Taylor, Shure, Sennheiser, Focusrite, Presonus, Pig Hog, Mogami, Carvin, Marshall, Orange, Boss, Earthquaker, Reverb, Sam Ash, and all the rest of you manufacturers, resellers, and retailers - what you gonna do when you lose a significant portion of your business? Small, local bands and performers are already saying gigs aren’t coming back fast or at all since the end of the Covid scare. Where are your corporate profits going to come from? If Spotify gets away with this, you know the rest of the herd will have to follow the money of the Bigs….
Thanks, Subscribers!! This Week’s Conversation With Mika, the Cat:
Me: “Why are you doing this?”
Mika: “Pretty sure you hid some of my stuff in here…”
Me: “Nope”
Mika: “Well I’ll just be checking on that, pal…”
This Substack is free, I receive no compensation of any kind from companies or products I mention. Some linked or quoted material may be copyrighted by others, and I credit them. I rely on the “Fair Use” doctrine for educational purposes (Link: Fair Use). I do not use AI, things I link to might though. -Michael Acoustic
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Some Links for today:
ASCAP Copyright Office Comments - If you’re a songwriter, whether your songs are played in public (as opposed to streaming, film and TV, recorded media, terrestrial radio) by you or covered by others, you’ll have royalties coming to you, but make sure you’ve copyrighted your composition (lyrics), your publishing rights (business entity) and your sound recording (arrangement). I belong to ASCAP; BMI is the other heavyweight PRO (Performing Rights Organization), SESAC is the “name” where big kid snobs hangout. Besides collecting royalties on your behalf, ASCAP and BMI have clout with the Feds and aren’t afraid to use it for your benefit with Congress, the US Copyright Office and others. Make sure to join one of them (SESAC is invitation only, so good luck there) as least as soon as you have something out in the wild.
From Blues Guitar Unleashed
The "3 gig rule" - despite the name, this doesn’t relate to public performances (“gigs”) - it’s about knowing a solo progression (lick) but having to play what you’ve practiced over a different key or beat/tempo - interesting if you’re soloing blues songs.
7th chord SHAPES - 4 of 'em you should know - I like this because it emphasizes something we’ve talked about as a concept when using a capo - you’re playing a chord “shape”, but not the root note name of the cowboy chord - example, you’re playing a common GMaj chord shape, but capoed on the second fret - you’re playing an AMaj chord - why? Because chords are named for the root note, even if the chord is played in an inversion. A cowboy chord GMaj is rooted on the 3rd fret of the low E string, so E is the open note, F is the first fret note, F# is the second fret note, and G is the third fret note. When you capo on the second fret, you have to move you chord shape down 2 frets, from G, past G#/Ab to A. Magic…. When you’re plying up and down the fretboard without a capo there are certain “shapes” your fingers make that allow you to keep the shape, move it, and play a different chord. Barre chords are common, but there are certain “moveable” chord shapes that don’t require a barre, this video explains how some of that works
Major Pentatonic Turnaround - this relates to blues turnarounds. If you don’t know what that is, you should read this. If you do know, you should still read this.
From TapeOp
Working With A Mix Engineer - TapeOp is a industry insider publication for mixing/recording/audio engineers. This is some good stuff for working with them - they can be kinda picky, and you’re paying them - you should be happy with the result, but carefully choose your approach.
From Songtown
Are Your Songs Believable? - This is a brief, but really important article. I especially encourage my songwriter followers to read and think through point #2 - “Write The Songs Truth And NOT Your Truth” - I often see lyrics that are likely true, but so detailed with the writer’s “truth” they’re nearly unrelated to the common experiences of many potential listeners. Songs have (or don’t have) a meaningful, relatable, core of shared experience, enough at least that the listener will hear some of their own “truth” about life, or love or something in their own life. If there’s not enough of that shared, commonality of experience “truth”, the listener just moves on.
Songwriting Goals 101 - This is so short as to be nearly unhelpful, but may spark an idea or maybe not.
Insider Tips - industry and TV/film - This is a podcast, and as I’ve said before, I’m just not a podcast fan - I don’t have a long spoken word attention span… That said, those of you who do may find something useful here.
From Disc Makers
Whare Can You Sell CDs? As you can imagine, they’re gonna tel you where…
Dealing With Criticism My experience is that not one person on earth can do more damage to my ego than me. If you meet someone who can do a lesser, but painful amount, this may be good advice….
Trends In Music - I might have titled this differently - I kind of think these are things to consider that may or may not end up being trends, but interesting - definitely worth the read, while keeping a few grains of skepticism handy…
Shameless Self Promotion Section:
My song is out! Link: “Long Road Back” (click on link for streaming options)…
What I’m Listening2:
LINK»> WIL2 15 Dec 23 - just click the underlined link, it’s on Amazon
Ed. - This playlist features The New Pornographers, a bunch of 90s and 2000s songs that caught my ear or took me back and a couple of Jeffrey Foskett songs.
Cheers and keep playing!!
Michael Acoustic
“It’s never really final - you just run out of things you can bear to change…”
Good stuff. Nice to meet you, Michael.
Thanks, as always, Michael for the shout out! I also really loved the latest New Pornographers album, and I only didn’t put it on my list because I was trying to not overlap with the other writers! In fact, my upcoming 75 best songs of 2023 playlist features the song you shared here! The acoustic duet with Aimee Mann! I’ve been humming it in my head, earworm style all week, so don’t be surprised if it appears on my stack. A little bit of kind criticism though-- Aimee should have been given lead vocal on one of the verses. I feel she was slightly under utilized.