Anecdotes
Below are various stories/conversations/experiences we thought might be fun to share with anyone who might be interested. So take a read if you've nothing better to do. But honestly, don't you have ANYTHING better to do? Perhaps clean the bathroom, or floss your teeth, maybe have a colonoscopy. But if there's nothing better looming on your horizon, enjoy our lovely anecdotes.
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Standing Verses Stools
We normally perform standing up (verses sitting on stools). We feel it gives us more energy, and also promotes a better singing voice. But there are occasions where we decide to sit on stools, and tend to play our mellower songs. The songs with a softer, relaxed vibe. We like to call it our "stool softening set".
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Song Origin "Apples"
The song “Apples” came about when the three of us were practicing. Dana’s kind hearted and tremendously appreciated routine of providing sliced apples during our practice sessions resulted in us commenting on how delicious a particular apple tasted. Considering the “description continuum” below, our descriptions went from the extreme left to the extreme right (in a fairly short period of time I might add), and a song was born.
Not that we often talk about the lustful desires for women. We were simply trying to “one up” each other while we traveled to the right on the description continuum clearly described above. This is not a common theme to our conversation, nor is it common to our thoughts.
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Music Theory 101: Clapping
One evening, as we played a rather rousing version of “Man Hands” (a basic 4 beats per measure song), a particular audience member began clapping along. (The identity of this person is not important to this discussion, nor is the girth of their hands.) The tempo was correct, but there was still something amiss. I then realized the issue: They were clapping on the 1 & 3, instead of the 2 & 4.
I recalled a t-shirt a friend of mine had that said, “Friends don’t let friends clap on the 1 & 3”. Since I consider the person a friend, I thought I’d later try to explain. The conversation went something like this…
Me: (Gently and lovingly) “You know how when you count to four with the beats of a song, you really should be clapping on the 2 & 4.”
Friend: (Astonished) “What do you mean?”
Me: (Curious that it was not immediately clear) “I mean as you count “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, you should be clapping when you say “2” and “4”.
Friend: (Slightly disgusted) “How do I know when to start counting?”
Me: (Patiently) “At the beginning of a measure, usually when there’s a chord change.”
Friend: (Moderately disgusted) “What?”
Me: (Realizing I am communicating with a musical ignoramus so I cleverly thought of a different way to educate my clueless friend ) “Like if you were to say ‘boom-chucka-boom-chucka’ along with the song, it would be on the ‘chucka’.
Friend: “I’ll chuck-a-boom up your @%# if you don’t shut the #@%# up!”
Me: (Calmingly) “I was just trying to help you understand that…”
Ex-Friend: “SERIOUSLY?!!”
What I learned from this exchange was that the phrase “boom-chucka-boom-chucka” can somehow incite a great deal of anger in some people. One should only use the phrase with great caution.
Side Note #1: After much research on the topic (10 minutes on YouTube), I have since learned that there are occasional examples when clapping on the 1 & 3 is preferred! Elton John’s "Benny and the Jets" is a fine example. ("Man Hands" is not.)
Side Note #2: There’s also an awesome video showing Harry Connick Jr. dealing with a whole audience inappropriately clapping on the 1 & 3. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hYYgz-AJKU) He subtly adds one extra beat in a measure as he solos, resulting in everyone switching their clap to the 2 & 4 without them even knowing! Dude’s a genius!
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Song Origin "Dead Man's"
During one of our practices, Mark brought up the fact that many of us own items that were formerly owned by people who have since passed on. Perhaps a rather grim observation, but certainly true. We thought what a great idea for a deep, reflective emotional song. Somehow it turned out to be one of the most upbeat, rip roaring, foot tapping songs we do, about a rather depressing concept. Not sure how that works, but that's how we roll baby.
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