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Notes_Norton

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Posts posted by Notes_Norton

    What was the best and/or worst Halloween costume you ever wore?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    For years, until a hurricane blew the clubhouse down, we did Halloween and New Year's Eve at a nudist RV campground in Florida.

    The first gig was Halloween. When they offered the job, I asked if the band was required to be nude, and she said no. Then I asked if they had a sense of humor, and she said yes.

    So Mrs. Notes had a flesh colored unitard, and she dyed a t-shirt and a pair of my skivvies flesh colored. Then we cut cardboard rectangles out, painted them black, and pinned them over the 'sensitive' areas. Then two more attached to sunglasses but not covering the lenses, and we went as 'censored nudes'. We were a hit.

    A lot of the audience members came in costume, but by the end of the night, most were naked.

    We played there at least twice a year for quite a few years. It's funny how unsexy playing a nudist camp can be. It just becomes natural.

    Years before that when I gigged in a strip club, that remained sexy,

    Funny how that happens. Taking clothes off never became unsexy, but total nudity, although pleasant, just settled down to normal.

    Anyway, they were both good gigs.

    But that was our all-time best halloween costume.

     

    Notes ♫

     

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    • Haha 1

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    On 10/21/2023 at 10:10 PM, Larsongs said:

    Dealing with annoying Vocal Plosives on Recordings is not new..

    I remember using a coat hanger with a woman's nylon stocking stretched over it in front of the mic. I don't know how well it work with the plosives, but anything having anything to do with women's nylons isn't probably a bad thing 😮

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    10 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

    Your mostly a horn player correct? The Beatles music didn't have much horns in it. There was Penny Lane and maybe A Day In The Life. That's all I can think of.

    Sax, Wind Synth, Guitar, Bass, Drums, Flute, Keyboard Synth/Organ and Vocals

    Drums were my first instrument, Saxophone/Wind Synth is my primary instrument. I play keys, but not piano (I can play at the piano, but I'm not a pianist)

    I consider sax and wind synth as one, because depending on the gig, and the audience, I make the choice of either one on many of the songs.

    l don't need horns to like a band or a song. As long as I like the music, it's OK with me.

    On the gig I probably play a little more than half on sax or wind synth, a little less than half on guitar, and a few on flute. Vocally, my duo partner is a great singer, I'm an adequate singer, but I sing almost half the songs (I get the easier one).

    Notes ♫

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted · Edited by Notes_Norton
    speling misteak

    11 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

    I've said it before and I'll say it again. We solve nothing here.

    But we pleasantly kill some time discussing non-earth shattering things.

    I've not seen many rock stars in concert. As a working musician, they usually come to town when we are gigging.

    In my lifetime I got to jam with a lot, Eric Burden, the Motown Funk Brothers, and even a formal Idol, Jr. Walker. Sadly, I never got to jam with any of the Beatles. 😞 nor did I ever have the slightest opportunity to do so.

    • Like 1

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    I started playing sax, bass, flute, guitar, drums, and keys, later wind synth. Then I decided to learn how to sing, after all, finding a singer is the hardest part of starting a band.

    That's when I started to seriously listen to singers, how they get their expression, what nuances do they use and when, and how do they use dynamics.

    That's also when I started to appreciate Sinatra. After all, he was a singer from the past, not from my generation.

    Not only did he have great pipes, he worked hard at his craft, had great intonation (don't need no stinkin auto-tune), and knew when not to sing quite in tune for expression. He had very good diction, held out long notes well, and phrased his melodies excellently.

    I play 8 instruments, including vocals, and voice is absolutely the most difficult one I've ever learned. I don't have the pipes to be a great singer, but I've learned to be a decent singer.

    As I get older, I realize every generation had its share of excellent music and lousy music, including my own. Of course, that is my personal taste showing. What's lousy to me, might be just right for someone else.

    Will the Beatles hold up today? How about Elvis? Sinatra? Bobby Darin? Shirley Horn?  Buddy Greco? Dusty Springfield? Donna Summer? Aretha Franklin? Buddy Holly? Otis Redding? Muddy Waters? Ella Fitzgerald? David Bowie? Prince? And really, does it matter?

     

    Insights and incites by Notes ♫

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    On 10/14/2023 at 12:20 PM, DanvillRob said:

    As a kid I always wanted to be a business man...my dad was a truck driver, and I wanted a white-collar job...never even thought about being a musician.   So, I had a 'day job' for 53 years, (I don't count my years working in the music store...those were fantastic years in my life!).

    Lucky you.

    If you make a living doing what you want to do, you are one of the few truly lucky people.

    Notes ♫

    • Like 1

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    Back to the girls (intoxicants)

    When I was a kid, I wanted to play music. My father played violin, trumpet, and ukulele. Later in life, he played a Hammond Organ.

    I actually wanted to play Baritone Horn (Euphonium) because it has a beautiful voice. But it was a small town back then and all the instruments were rented.

    So, like all the other overflow musicians, I got a pair of drumsticks and a practice pad. In retrospect, learning to play the drums has been a great asset for me, and I think all pop musicians should learn at least the first dozen rudiments and how to keep time on a drum kit.

    Eventually, the tenor saxophonist's family moved, and the band director asked who would like to play the saxophone? I guess I was more enthusiastic about it than the others. I just wanted to play anything that could play a melody.

    At that point in time, (7th grade) I had no idea that some women would be attracted to pop musicians.

    Well, as I got better, a few of my friends and I formed a rock band. We were terrible, but everybody was terrible back then.

    We got our first job, playing for a Jr. High School dance.

    There I was, on stage, with my best friends at the time, doing our best to cover the hit songs of the day. I looked off the stage and much to my surprise, that cute girl who didn't even acknowledge my existence in English class, was 'making eyes' at me!!!!!!!!! I was having one of the best days of my life so far, and at the end of the night, they actually paid me money!!!!!!!!!

    That's when I said, “This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”

    And I've been lucky enough to do just that. I did have two 'day jobs' in my life, still gigging on the weekends, when I was testing out what it was to be normal. I found normal to be quite overrated. Neither one lasted all that long.

    Now I'm past retirement age, still gigging, married to a fantastic singer who also plays guitar and synth, and still having the best days of my life.

     

    Notes ♫

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 1

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    1 minute ago, DanvillRob said:

    My wife 'accepts' the fact that Groupies were part of the life...but she was pretty protective of me whenever I played after we met.

    When I was on the road, we called them “Band-Aids”.

    I hope they enjoyed me as much as I enjoyed them.

    But now I'm married to a wonderful gal, so my Band-Aid days are over. Although I look back fondly on those days, I'm happy now and don't long for them at all.

    Notes ♫

    • Like 2

    Do The Beatles still hold up to modern music?

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted

    @DanvillRob I help fund The Wrecking Crew movie with my Kickstarter donation. You can see my name on the credits (along with hundreds of others). Great, versatile musicians, every one of them.

    ---

    At one time, stars were icons of the generation; Al Jolson, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and The Beatles. Every child knew them and listened to them.

    The Beatles were the last. Disco came, and the market was split, and some youths listened to the rock stations, others the disco stations. And since then it split even more with alt-this-and-that, metal, and a dozen others.

    Every child in the late 60s and 70s heard every Beatles single release. How many people have heard every Metallica release? Every Radiohead release? Every Taylor Swift release? Sure, they are megastars in their own market, but there are plenty of markets now.

    I suppose it's technology's “fault”. When there was only AM radio and three network TV stations, there wasn't enough bandwidth for niche markets.

    But like Jolson, Crosby, Sinatra, and Presley, the Beatles will become a footnote in history, when stars that are not as iconic like Badfinger and The Ides of March will be forgotten when their generation exits the stage.

     

    Insights and incites by Notes ♫

    • Like 1

    Song Association Game

    in The Gibson Lounge

    Posted · Edited by Notes_Norton

    1 hour ago, tx-ogre said:

    The Girl I Love She Got Long Black Wavy Hair - Led Zeppelin

    She's Not There – Zombies

    lyric association:
    Well, let me tell you 'bout the way she looked
    The way she acts and the color of her hair

    (I always thought it was The way she accents the color of her hair, but the lyrics sites disagree with me)_

     

    Notes ♫

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