Sunday, February 06, 2005
If You Gotta Lose, Lose Big
So neither of my Super Bowl predictions came in. I always figured that if you bet and lose a parlay, you might as well lose all aspects of the bet. If I had parlayed Pats and the over, I lose the same amount whether I lost both parts of the bet or get one or the other of them right. I also lose even if I'm close on both. I lose no matter how good my logic was. I lose.
So I watched the end of tonight's game at the open mic at Cheers. I'll admit to being a bit nervous about playing tonight because of the combined stock show and Super Bowl crowds. Neither of those groups is there to listen to amateurs play music. As TSA and I were discussing what to play tonight, a woman at the table next to us mentioned being from northwestern Iowa. I told Andy right then that we had to play "Two Condoms" because the woman it was written about teaches at a college in Orange City, IA. The woman overheard and came over to talk. She was from Alton which is just east of Orange City. What followed was a string of jokes about being Dutch which you would only understand if you've spent a considerable amount of time in that part of the country. They did try to get a name out of me, but I wouldn't let it go.
So "Two Condoms" was definitely on the bill. Deciding what else to play, Andy suggested the we do our Muddy Waters covers because we hadn't played those at Cheers in a while. We also decided to throw in the Weird Al cover "You Don't Love Me Anymore" because we hadn't played that in a while either.
We opened with "Rollin' and Tumblin'" which went over like crazy even if I repeated one of the verses, forgetting exactly what I was doing. For some reason, that song prompted a group of women in the back to demand we play "Man of Constant Sorrow" which was most recently featured in "O Brother, Where Art Thou." I actually know that song, but Andy doesn't. He's got the guitar, so we stick with the prepared material. We followed that up with the Weird Al tune. People either get it or they don't. Since the folks sitting at the bar can hear us really good, they were into it. The rest of the bar thinks it's me trying to be serious and tunes me out. Their loss, it's funny as hell. Next was "Two Condoms." As always, it was a crowd pleaser. Andy's mic wasn't on, so I had to add the "Sometimes Three...." line myself. Other than that, it was received well.
We finished up with "Got My Mojo Workin'." I love Muddy Waters, but we've sort of taken that song in a slightly different direction. It's become a little funky and I try to sing it as sweetly as possible. It works, but it's drastically different than the original. Sometime during the second chorus, my voice, without an concious effort from me, started sounding like I'd been gargling gasoline. That's not a bad thing, it fit the song perfectly. I'm not sure if I've ever felt so cool in my life. Adding the verse of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" between choruses seemed to have a little more effect surrounded by my gravely voice. The third and fourth verses I sang sweet again, adding that gravely thing again on the final chorus.
Willy Grigg said on Wednesday that the coolest part of "Mojo" is this thing Muddy did in the chorus, kind of a growly, head shaking, cheek wobbling pure blues vocalization. Having never even attempted that before, and without really thinking about it, I did it. It'll never be as cool as this time, if I ever chose to actually attempt it again, but for one split second in my life, Muddy was groaning through me. I don't claim to know what it was like to be a sharecropper, to be forced north by a shortage of work. I've lived a pretty easy life by comparison, but Muddy was with me at that moment. Any time you do a song by one of those great masters, you're honoring their memory, keeping a little part of them alive. I try never to do a Muddy Waters tune without mentioning that it's a Muddy Waters tune. I try to do those tunes with a respect, even if I don't do them anything like the original. Simply put, I can't do a Muddy Waters blues like Muddy Waters. I've come from a different upbringing than him. The music I grew up with has a different rhytmic emphasis than the music he grew up with. I try to treat it the same emotionally, because emotion is what the blues is all about.
Stuck around a little while longer. Listened to Brian followed by Josh. I'd like to have stuck around longer, but I've got an early day tomorrow, teaching for Bob Schlotman once again, subbing 7th grade math for my old 7th grade math teacher. I really do need to get to bed as I'll be in a class full of 12 year olds in less than 8 hours now........
BOJ
So I watched the end of tonight's game at the open mic at Cheers. I'll admit to being a bit nervous about playing tonight because of the combined stock show and Super Bowl crowds. Neither of those groups is there to listen to amateurs play music. As TSA and I were discussing what to play tonight, a woman at the table next to us mentioned being from northwestern Iowa. I told Andy right then that we had to play "Two Condoms" because the woman it was written about teaches at a college in Orange City, IA. The woman overheard and came over to talk. She was from Alton which is just east of Orange City. What followed was a string of jokes about being Dutch which you would only understand if you've spent a considerable amount of time in that part of the country. They did try to get a name out of me, but I wouldn't let it go.
So "Two Condoms" was definitely on the bill. Deciding what else to play, Andy suggested the we do our Muddy Waters covers because we hadn't played those at Cheers in a while. We also decided to throw in the Weird Al cover "You Don't Love Me Anymore" because we hadn't played that in a while either.
We opened with "Rollin' and Tumblin'" which went over like crazy even if I repeated one of the verses, forgetting exactly what I was doing. For some reason, that song prompted a group of women in the back to demand we play "Man of Constant Sorrow" which was most recently featured in "O Brother, Where Art Thou." I actually know that song, but Andy doesn't. He's got the guitar, so we stick with the prepared material. We followed that up with the Weird Al tune. People either get it or they don't. Since the folks sitting at the bar can hear us really good, they were into it. The rest of the bar thinks it's me trying to be serious and tunes me out. Their loss, it's funny as hell. Next was "Two Condoms." As always, it was a crowd pleaser. Andy's mic wasn't on, so I had to add the "Sometimes Three...." line myself. Other than that, it was received well.
We finished up with "Got My Mojo Workin'." I love Muddy Waters, but we've sort of taken that song in a slightly different direction. It's become a little funky and I try to sing it as sweetly as possible. It works, but it's drastically different than the original. Sometime during the second chorus, my voice, without an concious effort from me, started sounding like I'd been gargling gasoline. That's not a bad thing, it fit the song perfectly. I'm not sure if I've ever felt so cool in my life. Adding the verse of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love" between choruses seemed to have a little more effect surrounded by my gravely voice. The third and fourth verses I sang sweet again, adding that gravely thing again on the final chorus.
Willy Grigg said on Wednesday that the coolest part of "Mojo" is this thing Muddy did in the chorus, kind of a growly, head shaking, cheek wobbling pure blues vocalization. Having never even attempted that before, and without really thinking about it, I did it. It'll never be as cool as this time, if I ever chose to actually attempt it again, but for one split second in my life, Muddy was groaning through me. I don't claim to know what it was like to be a sharecropper, to be forced north by a shortage of work. I've lived a pretty easy life by comparison, but Muddy was with me at that moment. Any time you do a song by one of those great masters, you're honoring their memory, keeping a little part of them alive. I try never to do a Muddy Waters tune without mentioning that it's a Muddy Waters tune. I try to do those tunes with a respect, even if I don't do them anything like the original. Simply put, I can't do a Muddy Waters blues like Muddy Waters. I've come from a different upbringing than him. The music I grew up with has a different rhytmic emphasis than the music he grew up with. I try to treat it the same emotionally, because emotion is what the blues is all about.
Stuck around a little while longer. Listened to Brian followed by Josh. I'd like to have stuck around longer, but I've got an early day tomorrow, teaching for Bob Schlotman once again, subbing 7th grade math for my old 7th grade math teacher. I really do need to get to bed as I'll be in a class full of 12 year olds in less than 8 hours now........
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 10:51 PM 
