Highlights from May 19, 2010- TrappDog on ARIYNBF

Shortly after my appearance on the May 19th show, I had edited the highlights into a six part series and posted them on my you tube channel, so chock full of memorable moments was the event.

Here are Parts 1 and 2, consolidated into an all encompassing super duper opening video.

The show begins with the playings of the theme song, and we quickly move into TV Time. Then Alison begins to choke, a very common reaction when I start playing. Fortunately, Koryn was on hand to offer her medical expertise which include both Heimlich maneuver and tracheotomy.

The doorbell rings, and it is Alfred Schulz. I play “My Guest Is Here.” Alfred is convinced to stay despite this, but Koryn leaves to get food. For herself. We continue with “Things You Never Hear People Say.”

Actually, I crack up every time I watch Alfred’s response to the playing of the song, “That was awesome!” I don’t know what it is. I think it’s the combination of his perfect delivery of the line, and the idea of being so applauded for this 20 second jingle, as though I had just done a ten minute rendition of “Freebird.” Then “The Dating Experiment” begins in Koryn’s absence.

Dustin joins us in Part 3, having just returned from his trip to Greece. Even more of my old bandmates make their presence known in the chat room, and we have an excellent round of “Just Me Or Everyone,” followed by “Gal Chat.” We continue with a special feature that I made for the occasion, “The TrappDog Music Quiz.”

Part 4 begins with my masterpiece, “Happy Ducklings” and the Alison music quiz continues. Also included is a little of Elvis Costello’s “Alison.”

The evening reaches its crescendo in Part 5 with “The Amazing Santa Hat Moment” as I join Alison up front for a truly memorable rendition of “Must Be Alison,” followed by my performance of “Happy Ducklings” as a Bob Dylan and Kermit the Frog duet.

Finally, in Part 6, we wind things down with a special lounge-y rendition of Alison’s Theme, and a jet lagged Dustin nearly passes out. After the “Fan Phone Call,” we close out with the full rock version of the theme, and “The Alison Rosen Show (Closing Song).”

Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Because My TrappDog Is Here

May 19, 2010

Now that I’m at the entry where I discuss my grand appearance on Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend, I find myself tempted to make up silly stories as to how this went down.

Story #1: Alison kept me waiting outside in the freezing cold for three hours, and once inside instructed me not to touch anything, not to speak until the show started, never to look her straight in the eye, and no, I was not allowed to use the bathroom.

Story #2: Alison and her gang of thugs jumped me as I walked in the door, beat me up, stole my wallet, and forced me to engage in certain degrading activities that I’ll leave to your imagination. Then they broke my guitar and kicked me out.

I could go on like this for hours. What really happened was that everyone was really cool and I had a lot of fun being on the show.

I arrived as per Alison’s instructions about an hour prior to show time, probably a wise precaution on her part, in case I turned out to be a creepy guest, at least she wouldn’t have to figure out what the hell to do with me while waiting for the show to begin.

Typically, I brought a ridiculous amount of equipment with me, and Alison, answering the door in her famous fluffy slippers, asked if I wanted her to put on shoes and help carry things in, as though I was going to say yes, and put her to work. Mr. Gentleman was never going to do that.

Some might think that’s a nice attitude to have, but over the years I’ve come to question whether or not that’s such a good quality in myself. I could probably stand to be a little more nervy. This approach, that has always made me a big hit with parents and grandparents, usually just worked against me in business and with women. To borrow Alison’s catch phrase, that’s why I’m still single. And broke. Mind you, the game isn’t quite over yet.

So Koryn arrived shortly thereafter. I set up my stuff, and as I said, there really wasn’t much time before the show began. I did a quick sound check. I think it was pretty exciting for all of us though. No one had performed music on the show before, and of course, I was the wonderful music man who had come up with all these songs.

It’s funny how places look bigger on camera. The living room in Alison’s nice Brooklyn apartment was rather tiny, although you’d think it was much more spacious from watching the show. I had experienced something similar before, but in reverse.

I was in Nashville a few years back and played at the famous open mic night at The Bluebird Cafe, where every up and coming songwriter wanted to be. Some time later there had been a feature about the place on the news, and the way they filmed it, you’d have thought it was this big, bright impressive place, not the tiny, dark hole in the wall it actually was.

But back to the story, it was also funny how the show began. Since starting the event is simply a matter of Alison turning on the computer, there were no announcements, or lights going on or anything. One moment I’m chatting with Koryn, and the next thing I notice is that Alison is sitting at her computer talking to the camera. I didn’t even know she’d started!

I sat hidden behind Alison as she did her usual introduction, and then she moved aside to reveal me sitting on the arm of the couch, guitar in hand, ready to go.

A few hours later it was all over. Alison texted as I packed up. Everyone had already left, even Dustin, which really tells you how harmless they all concluded I was! They were right, but don’t tell anyone. I don’t want to ruin this great rock and roll image of mine. I once again declined Alison’s kind offer to help me carry things to the car, and headed home. TrappDog had left the building.

In the next post, I’ll go over the highlights from the show.

And Jingles For All

I’ll always love Alison for embracing my songs as she did. As much as I believe in my music, I never expected the songs to be played so often, even beyond their original function in introducing the segments. She was doing impromptu shows now, trying out different days and times, just chatting with the audience and showing off her songs.

Granted, if they sucked she wouldn’t have played them, and they were serving a useful purpose in that whenever there was lull in the action, she could fall back on them like a radio DJ. But that was wonderful as far as I was concerned, and it was incredible how cool the fans were about it. Going to the chat room became like the TV show “Cheers” where “Everybody knows your name.” I became internet friends with a lot of cool people through Alison’s show.

In fact, the songs were played so much that to continue to post all the musical highlights at this point seems not only redundant, but a little too self congratulatory. I could watch them forever, but I’m not so sure about you!

Oh, what the heck. Just this one. When else am I going to get this kind of attention? And you’ll never get tired of looking at Alison. This awesome clip is from May 13th.

And here’s an excellent highlights video that Alison made from the May 5th Cinco de Mayo show.

You can also watch past episodes of Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend by going to her Ustream channel, and scrolling down to the bottom.

And if you’d like to see when I snuck in a couple of Alison songs at my May 8th gig, click here.

Things You Never Hear TrappDog Say

It was countdown to TrappDog in the weeks leading up to my guest appearance on the May 19th show. Having mostly finished the requested songs, ideas were being bandied about such as making appearances with Alison, maybe on college campuses, handing out fliers to promote the show as I played.

And I was getting more requests for cover songs with Alisonized lyrics, which is a bit more work than I usually let on. I hate to say no to friends, but it really wasn’t a direction I wanted to keep going in. I did two more before calling it quits. For the April 28th show, it was a take on Elvis’ “Guadalahara,” and on May 5th, a Bonnie Raitt take off, “Something To Tweet About.”

But an interesting idea also emerged. Alison had encouraged me to make videos of myself doing the songs, and on the 28th, Alfred Schulz, brother of Red Eye’s Bill Schulz, also mentioned it would be interesting to see me doing one.

So I decided to try something new. There was one more number that Alison had requested, and I decided to actually film myself writing and recording it. Originally posted as a 2 part video, here it is consolidated into one, me creating “Things You Never Hear People Say.”

I hadn’t watched it in a while. It’s kind of amusing. Video gremlins hindered the first couple of minutes, so I included some photos of me from over the years. The song first appeared in the amazing May 5th “Cinco de Mayo” show, and again on May 12th.

Gal Chat

“Gal Chat” premiered on April 21st. Uncharacteristically jazzy for me, it was a concept driven composition. I approached it from the male perspective, thinking back on days as a teen, hanging out with the guys, and maybe the gals were having a sleepover, so we’d skulk around, wondering what they were doing and talking about. “Maybe they talk about me!…” Hope springs eternal.

On hand for the fun are Dustin, Koryn, and newcomer Jenna Kim Jones, aspiring comedienne and staffer at The Daily Show. By this point the songs were obviously becoming staples on the show, as Alison reveled in showing them off to her friends.

As seen here in Part 1, the April 21st show also heralded the debut of the Alison made opening credits. She did a great job. Technical issues at Ustream hindered much of the video on this night, but that in turn instigated a request by Dustin for a MacGiveresque “diffusing the bomb” type of song. I did eventually write one, which to date hasn’t seen the light of day in a show, but when I get to that part of the story, I’ll present it here.

Next, upon her arrival, Koryn asks if there’s a song for her, confused by Alison’s mentioning “My Guest Is Here” as her entrance song. As we know, there will indeed be a Koryn song, also a story for a future date. “Happy Ducklings” and “The Dating Experiment” are included too.

Then in Part 2, “Gal Chat” is introduced, “Must Be Alison” touches Koryn, and “Just Me Or Everyone” and the closing song are played as well.

Must Be Alison and an Italian Soap Opera

A few days after the April 7 show, I did another cover song with Alisonized lyrics, but this time it was my own idea, “Must Be Alison.” Truth be told, I’d tried to make a point of doing the songs with the goal that Alison would be considered the belle of the ball, and as much as I enjoyed doing “Viva Nevada,” didn’t really fancy the idea of the star of the show being upstaged.

As the memory fades, I can’t quite recall what specifically led me to use “Must Be Santa” as the vehicle for this counter weight, but it may have been one of Alison’s tweets or blog posts wherein she listed some of her characteristics. As I added to the list in my head, the song came to mind.

She also had a couple of new requests for upcoming segments, including one for some type of Italian music to use with an Italian soap opera skit that Nevada Caldwell was writing for the next show. And when I say the next show, I mean that I received the request for it on the April 13th for use on the 14th. “Gal Chat” was the second request, but that would take a little more time to do, especially for the type of song I had in mind.

For the Italian soap opera, I went with an instrumental of “O Sole Mio,” with a little twist. The choruses would include very old time soap opera-ish dissonant chords on the organ, so as to invade the otherwise pleasant and serene music with appropriately ridiculous dramatic flourish. I had no idea what Nevada had planned, so I tried to make it as generic as possible.

Alison introduced “Must Be Alison” and Nevada’s Italian soap opera, “The Living Room” on April 14th.

She closed the show with plays of “Phone Interview,” “Fan Phone Call” and the closing song.

On Saturday, April 17th, Alison made the first of a number of guest appearances on FOX Sports Radio WBGN to participate as a judge in a TV Theme Song elimination contest, and the “Alison Rosen Is Your New Best Friend Theme” made its radio debut.

Phone Interview and My Guest Is Here

For the April 7th show, in addition to “Happy Ducklings,” I had finished the pair of interview songs, “Phone Interview” and “My Guest Is Here,” and a fourth recording, of Rosenfan Boinkity’s reworking of Elvis’ “Viva Las Vegas,” retitled “Viva Nevada,” in honor of aspiring actress, comedian, and Alison pal, Nevada Caldwell.

These recordings were the ones where I missed my studio the most. All the songs were still being performed as live vocal takes, and I would have added vocal harmonies to them had I the option.

An amusing thing about “My Guest Is Here” and “Phone Interview” is that I wrote and programmed the backing tracks almost simultaneously, and then there were a busy few days when I walked away from them. By the time I got back, I momentarily had forgot how they went! “I can’t believe I don’t know what the hell these are!” I kept repeating, as I listened to the backing tracks. Thankfully, the melodies eventually came back to me!

Here’s part 2 of April 7th, when Alison played them. It was ladies night, and Koryn and Nevada Caldwell were on hand. It should be noted that this particular entrance of Koryn’s was certainly the inspiration for her song, which wouldn’t surface until a bit later. And her wonderful compliment about how happy my songs make her earned her a place in my heart for all time. Kudos to Nevada for cracking me up with her deliberately off beat “Phone…” “Phone…” on the “Phone Interview” song!

Next, in part 3, Nevada is treated to “Viva Nevada,” which as Alison described, was done in a ridiculously short period of time in the afternoon before the show. And it was no easy song to sing, especially since Boink had not stuck to the limitations of the melody line, stuffing many additional syllables into his lyrics! But I do like a challenge, and was very proud to have pulled it off. Special kudos to Alison for being an incredibly gracious hostess. She showed incredible patience about a number of things on this evening! However, she did fight back with another play of “Happy Ducklings.”

Finally, Alison and Nevada closed out the show with another fun round of “Just Me Or Everyone”, and the closing song.

Happy Ducklings

So I walked down to the store to buy Easter cards for the family, and came upon this one featuring two cute ducklings. Naturally, it caused me to smile given all this recent Alison involvement and her well known love for the ferocious fowl.

I bought it, intending to send it to my brother’s family, but as I thought about it on the way home, I already knew that I’d be sending it to Alison. It was one of those times when a gift just seemed destined for some one else.

Her positive reaction to the computer scan reinforced that notion so I did send it to her, and on a whim, instead of signing it “Happy Easter,” I made the salutation, “Happy Ducklings!” By the time I got back from the trip to the mailbox, I had my song.

That in turn, reinforced the notion that I’m out of my ever lovin’ mind. As if I didn’t have enough songs on the docket already, here I was writing one that wasn’t even requested! Well, as I always say, if you’re going to lose your mind, you might as well enjoy it.

And I did. I enjoyed seeing how happy it made her, and hearing that it brought a tear to her eye as well. Happy tears, I think. It’s hard to say why something can make us both joyful and a little sad at the same time. But I’m glad that she loves it. I love it too. And when I get around to making a childrens album, I suspect that it will be a favorite of theirs, as well.

It made its debut on the next Alison show, on April 7th.

The Dating Experiment

I submitted just one new song for the March 31st show (See? I was slacking already.) “The Dating Experiment.”

Alison had alternately described her situation as being “Single, reluctant to mingle,” and “Single, hesitant to mingle.” It was the latter that I seized upon as the foundation for the song, owing to my experience in singing and lyric writing. Just try singing the word “reluctant.” Now get a towel and wipe up the spittle. By contrast, “hesitant to mingle” flows nice and smooth, locks in with the groove. The other lyrical challenge was of course, rhyming “experiment,” although there were ways to avoid having that as the word to rhyme, had I wished to.

As Koryn points out, the song’s happy and optimistic tone seems to contrast with the reality of the misery of the dating process. This was deliberate. I think somebody already wrote “Love Stinks,” and I have a dozen or so songs that reinforce that truth, but something a little more hopeful seemed to be in order. We’re supposed to be having a good time here! And after all, we’re going for the prize, aren’t we? Because when you’re in love, there’s nothing better in the world.

In part 1 of the musical highlights, Alison shares it first with Koryn, who again immediately has ideas on how to present it, and then for Dustin, who seems amused by these songs.

Speaking of amusing, the get ups that he and Alison are wearing certainly inspire a particularly amazing “pencil dance,” which I include in part 2, and “Just Me Or Everyone” gets many a play as they give a fine demonstration of the segment.

TV Time, Just Me Or Everyone and Fan Phone Call

In addition to the “Safety Pencil Dance” spoof and flushing sound effect, “TV Time,” “Just Me Or Everyone” and “Fan Phone Call” also first saw the light of day on the March 24th show.

TV Time and Fan Phone Call
These are sort of “sister” songs; happy, upbeat bursts of ridiculousness to give a little energy boost when introducing their respective segments. I was conscious of the likelihood that they would be following an extended chat period, and that viewers would probably need a little pick me up.

TV Time was actually supposed to be “TV Talk,” but I had written it before I even realized the error. Perhaps it was a subconscious thing. “Talk” is a horrible word to try to sing! I imagined TV Time as this joyous moment where everyone is excitedly gathering in front of the set. And it’s very me to take delight in making the song with no other lyrics beside the words “TV Time.”

I still laugh every time I listen to “Fan Phone Call”. It is a very silly song. It took me a while to get the vocal down, singing with the funny voice. An alternate version had a strange computer glitch that caused it to skip the last line and end abruptly with a warped sounding ring! Leave it to Alison to seize upon that as something to keep around and include in the show! I’m also proud of these lyrics. In her original email, Alison was undecided as to whether to call the segment “Phone a Fan” or “Fan Phone Call”. So naturally, I used both. “Phone a fan! The Fan Phone Call! Alison wants to thank you all!”

Just Me Or Everyone
This seems to be a favorite of everyone, including me. It was the last one I did in this session, and I must have been at one with some great mystical musical spirit or something, because unlike the other songs, I didn’t even have the idea before working on it! I said, “Oh yeah. Just Me Or Everyone,” walked up to the piano, and plop! As though I’d vomited it out or something. Or maybe I’m such a master of laziness that I decided to skip the part where you write the song first. It certainly would be a strong contender for the best song I wrote for Alison award, if there were such a thing. First prize would no doubt be a duckling.

Here are parts 1 and 3 of the March 24th show. Alison, Koryn and Dustin are wonderful, as usual!