Too tempting of an individual appearing on the blog to not jump in and say Hi Joe! Great to see you! Perry Como , Frank Sinatra, Julie Andrews songs all part of my childhood…Mom singing “Willow Weep For Me”in the kitchen. I sing that one in my band now but in my head I hear her with the faucet running as she washed the dishes
singing away in a dreamy, sad voice…More later but it’s wonderful to see you Joe…xox

Nov 8, 2009/4:03 pm

Too tempting a question not to throw in. Dad was a country singer in Illinois. So I always heard him singing song like “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “You Don’t Know Me”. He would be singing at some Hillbilly Bar down by Hannibal, Missouri or Florence, Illinois… and Mom would go along… probably to keep the other women away. I’d sit at home with a baby sitter and listen to the cracklin’ Late night AM signal (no FM yet) on what I remember as a turquoise Bakelite Philco Radio. There was a single exposed bulb hanging from the center of the ceiling. Electricity on the farm was a new thing and was primitive. I’d fall asleep on a Plastic couch that had been relegated to the “mud room” (naugahyde was not yet invented..or they had not started bagging and skinning the once pleantiful Nauga beast). I’d fall asleep as the signal faded in and out depending upon the clouds and lightening and other mysteries of nature and sometime in the night Dad and Mom would re-appear smelling of Cigarettes and Beer and Adult fun…they’d carry me home and tuck me in to bed with the sounds of Hank Snow and Ernest Tubb, Eddie Arnold and Minnie Pearl still drifting in and out of my dreams. 60 some years later I’m here on a thing called the internet sharing remembrances. What a journey.

Nov 8, 2009/3:38 pm

Stacy:

I have to say, listening to Jim Reeves. He had a voice as smooth as butter and he was one of my Dad’s favorites. I am reminded of his Christmas album when he would sing “Silent Night” while me and my Dad were untangling Christmas lights (those gigantic ones like on Christmas vacation). It was never that bad though! Dad would check each bulb after spreading them out on the floor – Jim Reeves and “Silent Night” playing in the background. Priceless.

Bruce

Nov 8, 2009/1:59 pm

I want to know what song (or artist, album etc) evokes a fond memory for you. Whats the song(artist,album)? Whats the memory? ummm no R rated stuff though….keep that to yourself!

Mine is “The Way I Am” by Merle Haggard. I go back to a time when I was little, my family all sat around at my grandparents house singing that song, and then my mom would play guitar and I’d sing with her. Those moments in my grandparents house fed my love for music and songwriting.

~Stacy

Nov 8, 2009/12:25 pm

Perhaps sulfuric acid might work…

I’ll ask Gragnat.

Nov 8, 2009/2:26 am

oh… and i have a truck driver’s dirty mouth also.

Would have to fix that too…

Nov 8, 2009/2:24 am

Peter:

I’d need to learn to sing in key and play to that metronome thingy.

Just not possible Peter.

Good idea though.

Unfortunately it’ll never work.

Cheers:)
pro

Nov 8, 2009/12:19 am

Pete

As long as the song matches your clothes I think it’ll do alright. It works for miley!

Troy

Nov 7, 2009/2:09 pm

Troy: that article gave me an idea. Let’s all start our own line of clothing. Just imagine: Body Worx from Clan of the Can. WE could each design a featured piece for the line.

We could even get Protilius and Johnny UK to co-write and produce a song to promote the clothing. . . just a thought.

Nov 7, 2009/8:15 am

Laughing my @ss off regarding that Cyrus interview. Tech Trash…a man after my own heart. Hook? What hook? I tried it, and had fun with it, but am going back to what comes naturally. .

Nov 7, 2009/8:02 am

Peter,
You and I are of like minds… most of my songs are lyrically hookless cause I write for me, without the worry if someone will say “wow great hook”. (BTW Poems don’t have a hook) Sure I want to connect to the listener but I won’t compromise my ART to fit some formula… cause that’s what it is… ART… Musically and lyrically from the soul like it or not. Ok that said, I must get ready to play in a tennis tournament this morning…
9 am match times suck… but we intend to kick ass…
TT

Nov 7, 2009/6:19 am

Talk about the state of the music industry…I read this little blurb about Miley Cyrus and her latest hit, Party in the USA. Here’s a bit of that article:

——

During a backstage interview before her Halloween night concert in Louisville, Ky., the gravelly-voiced teen queen, 16, was asked, probably for the umpteenth time, about the Jay-Z tune mentioned in “Party”

“I don’t know,” replied Miley, who was dressed up as Pocahontas for the occasion. “I didn’t write the song, so I have no idea. Honestly, I picked that song ’cause I needed something to go with my clothing line. I didn’t write it.

“I’ve never heard a Jay-Z song. I don’t listen to pop music,” she declared, an admission that’s likely to confuse her tweeny-bopper fan base. “It’s not even my style of music, that song.

——

Christ, I guess that kind of sums up the state of pop and country music these days! She’s purely cashing in without really leaving anything memorable behind. Ok, maybe she’ll leave behind a bunch of merchandise from Walmart that we can buy at a garage sale a few years from now. Here’s the link if you want to read the full story. http://wonderwall.msn.com/music/miley-cyrus-does-a-good-deed-sort-of-disses-jay-z-1525269.story?gt1=28135

Troy

Nov 7, 2009/1:30 am

Bruce, Stacy, Peter, Felice, PT, Troy,

couldn’t have said it better myself.

Now let’s get to work!

Nils

Nov 6, 2009/10:50 pm

Swinford:

I’m with ya 100% Radio presents to the listener a small package that says “Here you go. Which one do you like?” Many of us say: “We don’t like any of it. We then go on-line to find the “unknowns” and we are satisfied. I think the internet is only going to challenge radio that much more in the future especially when people will stream on demand from their cars etc. That will grow too.

Bruce

Nov 6, 2009/10:30 pm

Good Comrades of the 7th Can – Good Evening from the Eastern Time Zone. In direct response to Stacy, I have found the virtual radio stations available thru iTunes to be most rewarding.

And free of cost should you not mind occasional interruptions reminding one that should you subscribe there won’t be any further interruptions.

Literally hundreds upon hundreds of stations are streaming, not just the cliched hit-maker pablum, there is a most eclectic and broad selection of artists, bands, genres and things that fall into the category of: who-knew-you-could-do-that!

Now, let me ascend to the pulpit as we address the Gospel of Popular Music and the preachings of one Brittney Spears.

(Aaaaaarrrrggh – please excuse me while I purge and rid my body of that poison). CLAN: ask yourself, “do you wish to further the culling of our young girls and boys.” That’s the audience our supposed ‘music industry’ is attempting to sway and win loyalty.

CHILDREN, your children, everybody’s children are being spoon fed (along with their froot loops) that they want to be Brittney or have Brittney in their bed. CHILDREN are being activated as consumers by an ancient and decrepit machine.

What to do . . . what to do.

Okay. I am not someone you should ever wish upon yourself. But, I will always be an honest and supportive friend. Don’t write hits. Don’t always seek to be clever. A hook is waht you use to kill a fish.

Tell stories. Say things about you and he and she and me that you want others to learn from. Make history, put it to word and music, make it enticing to the ear, then share the truth of the life you lead and the world around. Just a thought. . .

PGO

Nov 6, 2009/9:57 pm