Big List Add Ons 7 and 8 2023

Big List Update 7 2023 And 8 2023

Most unexpected song: Bobbie Gentry dance number and song, "You’re Number One Fan!"

Most unexpected jazz Piano Talent – NatKing Cole (any. Of his songs with his jazz trio.

Best Guitar and Voice Demo: Paul McCarney and Cilia Black, "Step Inside Love."

Best Thumb Strumming, Wes Montgomery, "Impressions", by John Coltrane.

Best "Chelsea Morning’, song by Joni Mitchell.

Always Makes Me Happy, song, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, "Pretty World!"

The Perfect Doo Wop single, Tymes, "So much in Love" / "Wonderful Wonderful!"

Best Elton John Cover, "Love Song", composed by Lesley
Duncan.

Best First Take Vocal, Frank Sinatra, "Im A Fool To Want You."

Best Vocal Come On, or, How can a harpsichord be so sexy? Come On-a My House, by Rosemary Clooney.

Halloween Dance Classic, "Monster Mash", Bobby Boris Pickett.

Iconic Fun with Spelling Hands, "YMCA". The Village People.

The Saddest Song, Peggy Lee, sings Lieber / Stoller’s song, "Is That All There is?"

Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me About … Paul Humphrey, And His Cool Aid Chemists, "Cool Aid" or "sack Full of Dreams"

How Did We Miss This Classic Hit, "Romeo is Bleeding." Hall and Oates.

American Blues Psychedelic Sixties Classic That Nobody Remembers, "7:30 Guided Tour."

Best Sitcom Theme Song, Rock Update, Joan Jett, "Love is All Around."

Best Rock n Roll song from the Year I was Born, 1949, Jimmy Preston and His Presonaires, "Rock This Joint"

Best Buzz Buzz, Astrid Gilberto, "The Telephone. Song."

Best Version of Little Latin Lupe Lu, Lisa Beat E l Bugardi.

Best Collins Kids 1957 Rockabilly, "Hop, Skip, and Jump!"

Three Songs that Every 60’s combo Learned, "Louie Louie", The Kingsmen, "House of the Rising Sun", The Animals, "Gloria," Them.Big List Update 7 20023 And 8 2023

Most unexpected song: Bobbie Gentry dance number and song, "You’re Number One Fan!"

Most unexpected jazz Piano Talent – NatKing Cole (any. Of his songs with his jazz trio.

Best Guitar and Voice Demo: Paul McCarney and Cilia Black, "Step Inside Love."

Best Thumb Strumming, Wes Montgomery, "Impressions", by John Coltrane.

Best "Chelsea Morning’, song by Joni Mitchell.

Always Makes Me Happy, song, Sergio Mendes and Brasil ’66, "Pretty World!"

The Perfect Doo Wop single, Tymes, "So much in Love" / "Wonderful Wonderful!"

Best Elton John Cover, "Love Song", composed by Lesley
Duncan.

Best First Take Vocal, Frank Sinatra, "Im A Fool To Want You."

Best Vocal Come On, or, How can a harpsichord be so sexy? Come On-a My House, by Rosemary Clooney.

Halloween Dance Classic, "Monster Mash", Bobby Boris Pickett.

Iconic Fun with Spelling Hands, "YMCA". The Village People.

The Saddest Song, Peggy Lee, sings Lieber / Stoller’s song, "Is That All There is?"

Why Didn’t Someone Tell Me About … Paul Humphrey, And His Cool Aid Chemists, "Cool Aid" or "sack Full of Dreams"

How Did We Miss This Classic Hit, "Romeo is Bleeding." Hall and Oates.

American Blues Psychedelic Sixties Classic That Nobody Remembers, "7:30 Guided Tour."

Best Sitcom Theme Song, Rock Update, Joan Jett, "Love is All Around."

Best Rock n Roll song from the Year I was Born, 1949, Jimmy Preston and His Presonaires, "Rock This Joint"

Best Buzz Buzz, Astrid Gilberto, "The Telephone. Song."

Best Version of Little Latin Lupe Lu, Lisa Beat E l Bugardi.

Best Collins Kids 1957 Rockabilly, "Hop, Skip, and Jump!"

Three Songs that Every 60’s combo Learned, "Louie Louie", The Kingsmen, "House of the Rising Sun", The Animals, "Gloria," Them.

Grain of Salt Suggestions for Musicians

Reinventing the Wheel, the Facebook music group, has one solid rule – you have to review three other songs before you post one of your own for review. Most comments are supportive and mixed with some down to earth suggestions. This group has built up a musical community second to none as far as I can see. I love this site!

When reviewing others, I’m aware of some suggestions that I have, that might work with almost everyone’s songs. So instead of adding them to each review, I’d like to list them here. They are general, and are no more than suggestions for consideration!

1. Breathe like a singer, not a talker. Take the two hours to learn how to sing from the diaphragm. This will strengthen your voice, combat pitch problems, and even extend your singing range.
2. Don’t be afraid to use the ride cymbal – for some reason neither drummers or those programming a drum machine use this symbol anymore – it’s a great buzzing joy!
3. Double track the lead voice on the chorus or to emphasize any important words, lines, etc.
4. Double track, or triple track, every background vocal. This improves the song 90%.
5. Don’t play the same arrangement on every verse. That sounds like karaoke! Vary each verse and allow those changes to build up some drama in the song and keep the listener interested.
6. Lyrics should make sense, not on some lines but all of them. OR you can go the Dylan route and make some assorted moody phrases, and string them together in a musical surrealism. Either way its best to commit to one or the other. Hybrids of half clear and half fog, don’t work!
7. Consider two minutes for fast songs, and three minutes for ballads. Stop playing before the audience stops listening. Edit out the unnecessary repeats. Excess repeats are like telling a punch line to a joke over and over.
8. Best to sing like you talk. Make your voice direct like you are talking to the listener. Some singers are melodramatic, over the top like bad opera, and other singers whisper like a bad actor! Be honest in how you sing, and the audience will pick up on that immediately.
9. Don’t try to put everything in one song. Each song has limits. You only have a few verses to tell all. Keep it to one subject, one mood, one situation.
10 Join the music revolution!!! You don’t have a music career now, you don’t have fair compensation for your talent, and you never will; UNLESS we band together to change this once in history – The Big 3 Labels control all – mess, that we have now. Do this one thing for all of us. Share the news that music should be beyond greed, and a marketing ploy for 3 labels. Music is too important to be owned by so few.

That’s the list. Comments welcome, and once again each of you are different, and many of these may not apply for you! Play on!

My Personal Take on My Music

Here’s my personal take: I did NOT spend 50+ years trying to perfect my singing, playing, and writing with over 2,650 songs/compositions, plus 14 years of playing live box office concerts, plus a 10 year 150 song studio recording project of the “Hunkasaurus and His Pet Dog Guitar” , outside the box, Set, PLUS 25 years of publishing my zine Musea at 200+ issues, that advocates for all artists, to – at the top of my talent,
give it all up,
allow 3 CEOS to block me and every other talent out of careers,
and RETIRE.
NO!

Why would I give up NOW? I want a fair chance at a BIG CAREER that is as big as I can make it, and at least a little closer to my abilities and talent and hard work than what I’ve gotten so far.

I want it for others too, and I see that 3 old men, 3 CEOS of the Big 3 Labels, and their parent media companies, are the only thing standing in the way.

SO when someone asks you do you know anyone in music trying to build a career – you may say YOU are not interested, but add this – YES I DO – THAT GUY! and point them to me.

Rock and Roll Doesn’t Rock No More

ROCK AND ROLL DOESN’T ROCK NO MORE

Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.
It’s turned middle age and become a bore.
It’s everything it used to oppose.
Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.

Rock and roll is corporate and dull.
It’s phony music that’s lost its soul.
It’s paint-by-number and rotten to the core.
Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.

Rock and roll has got to go.
Base, drums, and guitars are so so-so.
Enough of the clones of clones of clones.
Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.

Rock and roll has got to go.
Its taken 60 years but now it’s so.
It’s lost the beat and doesn’t roll.
Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.

Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.
It’s a has-been and It’s your father’s olds.
It’s spirit is gone and the choir all knows
Rock and roll doesn’t rock no more.

c Tom Hendricks, 2010
but free to reprint in full.
(Just one person’s opinion)

Fifty Years Ago, or The Ballad of John and Martha

FIFTY YEARS AGO , or The BALLAD of JOHN and MARTHA

This is a convoluted story about a MYSTERY TAPE. – with link and 2 photos!

George Gimarc has quite a bio in music. Here is a quote from his Wikipedia entry:

George Douglas Gimarc (born 1957) is an American disc jockey, record and radio program producer and author based in Texas and is in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. He is known for his extensive and
authoritative knowledge about the classic rock radio format, recorded music in general, and specifically the era of punk rock. His broadcast programs have been heard in various formats in the US, Canada, Europe and New Zealand, via licensed stations and unlicensed pirate radio transmitters.

Through the years I have contacted him a few times about my music so we know each other. Then on August 6th, he emailed me with this message:
This is a sampler of an unlabeled tape found among the debris of Sellers Recording Studio. Is this collection of songs you?

He had added a link that had a sampler of the songs from a longer tape.

I listened … and went back 50 years. The technical sound was very very good, the instrumentation was simple and direct, but the straightforward voice was different and could have been me, or someone else …. I listened some more.

Then a few phrases popped up – that were definitely me – the lyrics of mine back then, were very specific so that I began to notice phrases that I had labored over during the making of this music – my first rock opera – John and Martha, a 5 act illustrated short story. I made it a point that each song would move the love story forward, so there was little wasted lyrics. The recording was made in the early 1970s when I had just gotten out of NTSU and moved to Dallas.

The Beatles album Sgt. Pepper had inspired me to connect my songs into a story. John and Martha was my first major illustrated short story. As I worked on it, the story began to evolve and included everything a short story would have: action, romance, some character development, and a plot. This recording was my first studio recording made somewhere between 1973-77.  I sang all four parts

Gimarc had found the boxes in storage on the Texas gulf coast. There was water damage on most of them. See the photo he sent me of a typical box.

He had rescued them just in time. They were soon to be destroyed as trash. Some tapes were completely ruined, some were playable. My tape was in its own individual box; but that had disintegrated from the weather and water damage. Remarkably the tape was in good condition. Whatever identification there had been though, was on the box that had disintegrated. There were no markings of any kind on the tape itself. Gimarc got the boxes of tapes back to Dallas and began to investigate.

Gimarc is not only a music collector; he has also issued certain albums of the treasures he has unearthed. Perhaps the most noteworthy include the Grammy award winning album, of previously unknown live recordings of Hank Williams from 1950 called The Garden Spot Programs; and Glen Campbell Sings for the King, a collection of demos for Elvis Presley sung by Glen Campbell!!! These collections of rarities are ongoing projects, and he tells me, more are on the way. I encourage readers to follow up on these historical releases.

Now back to the boxes of tapes and what was found inside them. He said most of the tapes were corporate ads of varying originality, lots of radio promos, and some assorted music like mine.

When it came to the mystery tape, he said that he had asked his friends and music contacts if anyone could identify the singer or the songs. Finally he found one that said it might be me, because he seemed to recall one of my 3 – VERY OBSCURE – how in the world anyone would remember – 45 singles that had two cuts from my John and Martha rock opera!

DESK CLERK/ OTHERS LIKE YOU. 1978. Two songs from my cast recording of John and Martha. I sang the uptempo song Desk Clerk, and Joy Tarver sang the ballad, Others LIke You. The main cast was Martha, sung by Karen Bella (a notable singer, composer in her own write – hear her on youtube!) and John, sung by me. This 45 was from a later version of John And Martha that had a 4 person cast. (See photo).

Those of you, patiently waiting, to hear this tape of the full recording of JOHN AND MARTHA will have to wait longer. We’ve decided to hold out a bit on that! But for those wanting to hear a sampler of the recovered tape; here is the link:

MYSTERY TAPE, JOHN AND MARTHA SAMPLER, by TOM HENDRICKS.
The 9 minute sampler file can be found at:
http://hunkasaurus.com/MysteryBand.mp3

Will you ever hear the entire first recording of John and Martha? Will you ever hear the later cast version of John and Martha? Who knows, we may have to wait 50 more years and see if it pops up again!!!

Tom Hendricks