So This Is Christmas 2010

We Still Miss You, John

Words cannot convey the loss I felt 30 years ago tonight
when Howard Cossell announced
on Monday Night Football 

that John had been assassinated.

I heard from a lot of friends after that.
They knew how I felt.

My lady bought me a neat Lennon tee today.
Johnnie Walker texted me.

It still stings after 30 years.

We miss you, John.

It' Johnnie's Birthday, His 70th

John Lennon would have turned 70 today. I have said that The Beatles were the closest thing that I ever got close to as a religion, and that John has always been my hero. The Beatles were not just another rock group, from Rubber Soul through Let It Be, The Beatles explained their thoughts on life, love, politics and philosophy while being the most innovative rock band of all time.

I did a philosophy project in college on The Beatles. I received an A+ from my philosophy professor at Emerson College. The project was on the psycological influence of The Beatles' lyrics on a generation we now call Boomers. Emerson is a premiere arts college with broadcasting, theater and speech as its specialty. I will share just one nugget of what will be a book that I am bound to write.


The Gospel according to St. John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was good.

On The Beatles' song The Word John sang:

In the beginning I misunderstood but now I've got it, the word is good. Spread the word and you'll be free. Spread the word and be like me. Spread the worda I'm thinking of, have you heard the word is love? It's so fine, It's sunshine, It's the word, love.

From that point of the word love became sunshine with The Beatles. From Good Day Sunshine through Here Comes the Sun, the word “sun” became the word love.

I never met John Lennon. But he was my friend and mentor. So, I will just say “Happy Birthday, John.” Thank you for coming along and touching our lives. You taught us a great deal. We learned to Imagine.

A Day In The Life

We got to do a meme. The Rules? Pick out one of your favorite songs. Go to Song Facts and tell us about the song's history. I picked A Day in the Life from The Beatles. This is lifted completely from Song Facts: A 41 piece orchestra played on this song. The musicians were told to attend the session dressed formally. When they got there, they were presented with party novelties (false noses, party hats, gorilla-paw glove) to wear, which made it clear this was not going to be a typical session. The orchestra was conducted by Paul McCartney, who told them to start with the lowest note of their instruments and gradually play to the highest. (thanks, Jes - Mason City, IA) The beginning of this song was based on 2 stories John Lennon read in the Daily Mail newspaper: Guinness heir Tara Browne dying when he smashed his lotus into a parked van, and an article in the UK Daily Express in early 1967 which told of how the Blackburn Roads Surveyor had counted 4000 holes in the roads of Blackburn and commented that the volume of material needed to fill them in was enough to fill the Albert Hall. Lennon took some liberties with the Tara Browne story - he changed it so he "Blew his mind out in the car."

John Lennon stated this regarding the article about Tara Browne: "I didn't copy the accident. Tara didn't blow his mind out. But it was in my mind when I was writing that verse." At the time, Paul didn't realize the reference was to Tara. He thought it was about a "stoned politician." The article regarding the "4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire" was taken from the UK Daily Express, January 17, 1967 in a column called Far And Near.

John's friend Terry Doran was the one who completed John's line "Now they know how many holes it takes to fill..." Terry told him "fill the Albert Hall, John."

McCartney contributed the line "I'd love to turn you on." This was a drug reference, but the BBC banned it for the line about having a smoke and going into a dream, which they thought was about marijuana. The ban was finally lifted when author David Storey picked it as one of his Desert Island Discs.

McCartney's middle section (Woke up, got out of bed...) was intended for another song.

The final chord was produced by all 4 Beatles and George Martin banging on 3 pianos simultaneously. As the sound diminished, the engineer boosted to faders. The resulting note lasts 42 seconds, and the studio air conditioners can be heard toward the end as the faders were pushed to the limit to record it.

The rising orchestra-glissando and the thundering sound are reminiscent of Entry of the Gods into Valhalla from Richard Wagner's opera "Das Rheingold," where after the rising glissando, Thor beats with his hammer. George Martin said in his 1979 book All You Need is Ears that the glissando was Lennon's idea. After Lennon's death, Martin seems to have changed his mind. In his 1995 book Summer of Love: The Making of Sgt. Pepper, he states that the rising orchestra-glissando was McCartney's idea. (thanks to Johan Cavalli, who is a music historian in Stockholm)

This being the last song on the album, The Beatles found an interesting way to close it out. After the final note, Lennon had producer George Martin dub in a high pitched tone, which most humans can't hear, but drives dogs crazy. This was followed by a loop of incomprehensible studio noise, along with Paul McCartney saying "Never could see any other way," spliced together. It was put there so vinyl copies would play this continuously in the run-out groove, sounding like something went horribly wrong with the record. Kids, ask your parents about vinyl.

In 2004, McCartney did an interview with the Daily Mirror newspaper where he said he was doing cocaine around this time along with marijuana: "I'd been introduced to it, and at first it seemed OK, like anything that's new and stimulating. When you start working your way through it, you start thinking, 'This is not so cool and idea,' especially when you start getting those terrible comedowns."


The movie reference is to a film Lennon acted in called How I Won The War.

Keith Richards named his second son Tara after Tara Brown, the Guinness heir who smashes his car in Lennon's first verse. Richard's son was premature and died soon after birth.

The Beatles started this with the working title In The Life of...

This is a rare Beatles song with a title that is not part of the lyrics. Another one is Yer Blues. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France)

That's Mal Evans doing the counting during the first transition from John to Paul. He set the alarm clock (heard on the recording) to go off at the end of his 24-bar count. Evans also helped with the composition of a couple of songs on the Sgt. Pepper album. Although he never received composer's credit, the Beatles did pay his estate a lump sum in the 1990s for his contributions. Evans died January 5, 1976 after a misunderstanding with the police. (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL)

George Martin (from Q Magazine, July 2007): "John's voice - which he hated - was the kind of thing that would send shivers down your spine. If you hear those opening chords with the guitar and piano, and then his voice comes in, 'I heard the news today, oh boy' It's just so evocative of that time. He always played his songs to me on the guitar and I would sit on a stool as he strummed. The orchestral section was Paul's idea. We put two pieces of songs together that weren't connected in any way. Then we had that 24-bars-of-nothing in between. I had to write a score, but in the climax, I gave each instrument different little waypoints at each bar, so they would know roughly where they should be when they were sliding up. Just so they didn't reach the climax too quickly. With A Day In The Life, I wondered whether we were losing our audience and I was scared. But I stopped being scared when I played it to the head of Capitol Records in America and he was gob smacked. He said, That's fantastic. And of course, it was." (thanks, Edward Pearce - Ashford, Kent, England)

In the original take, a 41 piece orchestra was not used. Instead, Lennon had roadie Mal Evans count to 21 in a very trippy manner and set off an alarm clock after the 21 counts. This version is on the 2nd Anthology CD, and is a very different version than the one on Sgt. Pepper. (thanks, Emery - San Jose, CA)

David Crosby was at Abbey Road studios when The Beatles were recording this. In an interview with Filter magazine, he said: "I was, as near as I know, the first human being besides them and George Martin and the engineers to hear A Day In The Life. I was high as a kite - so high I was hunting geese with a rake. They sat me down; they had huge speakers like coffins with wheels on that they rolled up on either side of the stool. By the time it got the end of that piano chord, man my brains were on the floor." (thanks, Brian - Williamsburg, VA)

The orchestral bit was used in the Yellow Submarine movie. Photos of different geographical areas were shown as The Beatles were apparently traveling in the submarine to try and find Pepperland. (thanks, donald - as, KY)

When asked by Rolling Stone magazine what songs of his dad's constantly surprise him, Sean Lennon said: "I've listened so much to that stuff that there are very few surprises. But I do think A Day In The Life is always inspiring."
American rock band Hawthorne Heights originally named themselves A Day in the Life after this song. In 2003, lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist JT Woodruff changed it to their current name.

On June 18, 2010 John Lennon's handwritten lyric sheet for this song featuring corrections and alternate crossed-out lines was auctioned at New York Sotheby's .

It was sold for $1.2 million to an anonymous American buyer.

This was rated the greatest ever Beatles song in a special collector's edition issue by The Beatles: 100 Greatest Songs. The list was compiled to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Fab Four's final studio album, Let It Be.

That's it for today on WTIT: The Music Blog.
Catch us next time!

Hey Joe

Jimi Hendrix

It was 40 years ago today that one of the most talented rock 'n roll musicians died.

WTIT: The Music Blog wishes his family all the love and condolences on this anniversary. RIP Jimi. You will long be remembered. Join us next time on The Music Blog.

Come Sail Away

From a meme at WTIT: The Blog

Name three things from your bucket list. I’d like to meet and have a short chat with Paul. I’d like to do a radio show where I could be the last DJ who plays what he wants to play and says what he wants to say. Hey, hey, hey and we’d get back our freedom of choice with the last human voice. I want to be the last DJ. (Apology to Mr. Petty.) I’d like to write a piece of comedy that gets produced. I’d write a killer ass sitcom.


What was the last concert that you attended where the band was much better than you imagined? Yes. My lady loves country fairs and in New England ‘tis the season. She told me Dennis DeYoung was playing the Woodstock Fair. She read that he does the music of Styx. I always like Styx, but I am not exactly a Styx-freak. I asked if he was a tribute band. She hadn’t a clue. It turned out he was indeed the lead singer of Styx until the two main players had a falling out a decade or so ago. When we got to the stage area there were about 50 to one hundred people sitting on blankets. Obviously no one knew who he was. The dude is 63. I expected nothing. I mean the fucker is at a country fair.


When he hit his third song Lady, over 1500 people had crowded in and the cops stopped any more from entering. There was no pushing. We sat on the grassy knoll about five rows from center stage. His band was tight. The dude wailed. He held notes.

My lady said he was note perfect at his age doing 70s rock. She’s not even a fan, but she has the best ear I've ever encountered. So my friends, I’ve got this one as a great one that was better than expected. If DeYoung plays near you, run don’t walk. Here are a bunch of photos that my lady Kathy took.

What’s the next band you’re either planning to see or want to? We are planning to see Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders at the Big E. The Big E is Western New England’s annual regional fare. We are really psyched. If he is half as good as the Styx dude was, it will be fun.

That's all from WTIT: The Music Blog. We hope you join us next time!

Peace and Love

It's a big day. The oldest of The Beatles
turned 70 today. He requested that we all

say "Peace and Love" today. Happy birthday,
Mr. Starkey. Your music will last forever.
And we still get by with a little help from our friends...

WTIT: The Rock of the Blogosphere

I really did tell you that story for a reason yesterday. I mean more of a reason than just it being NaBloPoMo. The woman I spoke of yesterday wound up interested in investing in a business with me. I had owned my own business for a decade, a chain of video stores, in the 80’s. Part of what led up to my second divorce was a disagreement over the fact that I wanted to operate a business again. My new girlfriend had a ton of confidence in my abilities. But you cannot open a business without actually having an idea of what you might want to do.

Every city has an “After Dark” type of weekly newspaper that tells you what bands are playing where and generally have an incredibly liberal editorial staff. In our area it is called The Hartford Advocate. We had just celebrated the turn of the century and The Advocate had an article on webcasting. Wow, I thought. I could actually own a radio station on the internet. I started costing the proposition out. All the software and hardware you needed was under $5000. I was fairly excited. I discussed the idea with my girlfriend and she was very enthusiastic.

Fortunately when I was forming a business plan I realized two things. The first was that internet radio was so new that royalties (for the right to play the music) had not yet been established This was a VERY big red flag. You can’t start a business without knowing what your overhead will be. I also realized that the rates of advertising had to be tied to two factors. Those were the cost of playing the music and the amount of money on which I needed to live. While I knew the second I didn’t know the first. I was absolutely sure I could program music that you did not hear every fifteen minutes on broadcast radio. I hadn’t played my own songs other than on WTIT in years. It was a damn exciting proposition.

What this all ties into is the fact that I am now able to able to place a playlist of 75 songs right here on the WTIT Tape Radio Blog. I really enjoy putting together different music playlists and rotating the music. What you are actually listening to is a bit of what my vision was for that webcasted internet radio station, back in 2000. The difference is that the player merely is a conduit to licensed music. So, it is really just a link to the website that is sharing the music. A lot of the music is offered on MySpace sites of the musicians.

I never started that internet radio station. I realized that there were no limits to how many stations were going to wind up on the internet. I also was correct that when the record companies started suing webcasts for royalties most went bankrupt. Doing a business is not always about knowing the business (trust me I know radio and I know music), it is sometimes just knowing when the right business decission is to walk away. And as a footnote, the woman and I did not last a full year together, so it was REALLY good that there was no business relationship after we broke up.

I hope you take a little time to listen to our music here on the WTIT Blog. And email us , even if it is criticism. I am a big boy. In some ways though I feel I finally got my webcast radio station. I don’t sell advertising and if they stop the service, oh well. I am having a blast now and hope you like it.

That is it for the WTIT Blog on your Hump Day. We hope you enjoyed your stop here today. If you have the time come back tomorrow. We will be here with something. And of course, we will continue to be The Rock of the Blogosphere. Right here. Same time. Same blog.

WTIT Top 10 R&B Female Singers

WTIT Tape Radio Blog brings you today our feature called A DJ’s Take and another one of our "Best of" lists. Today we bring you our Top 10 Female R&B Singers of all time. Please feel free to “take this feature" and do it as a meme to present your opinions. Today, we will share. We will give you the artist and a bit of their bio. Let’s cue up today's A DJ's Take!

10. Donna Summer was born on New Year’s Eve 1948. Her biggest hits were released in the 1970’s. She became one of the premiere female disco singers, but in our opinion she would have succeeded in any era. “Love to Love You Baby”, “It’s Raining Men” and “Last Dance” are some of her huge hits.

9. Gloria Gaynor was born September 7, 1949. She is another of the disco queens of the 1970’s. Her biggest hit was “I Will Survive” and to this day rings true to a lot of folks. “Never Can Say Goodbye” and “Let Me Know (I Have a Right)” are another couple of big songs for Gloria.

8. Mariah Carey was born on March 27, 1970 in New York City. Her biggest hits include “Always Be My Baby”, “We Belong Together” and “Fantasy”. She popped on the national scene and has almost every conceivable award since. She is currently still a huge force in music.

7. Janet Jackson was born May 16, 1966. Her brothers were already superstars by the time Janet released her first album in 1982. It wasn’t until she hooked up with two of the men behind “Prince” (Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis) that she became a star. She released the album “Control” in 1986, which yielded five hit songs, videos choreographed by Paula Abdul. Her first nominations and awards came from “Control”. Janet still sells music to this day. But who will ever forget that Superbowl "Wardrobe Malfunction"?

6. Patti Labelle was born May 24, 1944 as Patricia Holt. She was the driving force to Patti Labelle and the Bluebelles in the 1960’s. When the Supremes needed a replacement for Florence Ballard they grabbed Cindy Birdsong from the Bluebelles. Patti and Cindy did not talk for eighteen years because of that. Their biggest hit was “Lady Marmalade” in the 1970’s.

5. Whitney Houston was born August 9, 1963. Considering the magnitude of her talent it will always be her rocky on and off relationship with husband Bobby Brown and drug problems that immediately come to mind at the mention of her name. Her self titled album in 1985 yielded five hit singles. Her last big album was released in 2002. At one point in the 80’s she had seven number one hits in a row breaking a record shared by The Beatles and the Bee Gees.

4. Martha Reeves was born July 18, 1941. She and her two friends were back-up singers to Marvin Gaye in the early 60’s. When Mary Wells didn’t show to record a song, they had Marvin’s back-up singers try it. It became the first hit from Martha Reeves and the Vendellas. Some others include “Dancing in the Street”, “(Love is Like a) Heat Wave” and “Nowhere to Run”.

3. Tina Turner started with husband Ike and had some huge hits with him. “Proud Mary” was the biggest of the era. It was an abusive relationship she later made a movie about that included some of her biggest hits of the 1980’s titled “What’s Love Got to Do with It”. Her Mad Max and the Thunderdome soundtrack was very successful as well. Tina was born on November 26, 1939. Her “Private Dancer” album was a huge 80’s work as well. Her first greatest hits album was titled “Simply the Best”.

2. Diana Ross was as good as a Motown ladies group leader got. Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard and she started the Supremes. Mary Wilson was lead singer until a record contract was at stake. Berry Gordy moved Diana to the lead spot. Mary Wilson would write in her book it was because of Diana and Berry’s personal relationship. However since they broke up in 1970, how many big Mary Wilson hits have there been? The Supremes had hits like “Where Did Our Love Go”, “Baby Love” Come See About Me” and on it goes. Diana’s solo career has been big as well. “Touch Me in the Morning”, Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To) and “Love Hangover” are some of her solo hits. She played Billie Holiday in “Lady Sings the Blues” and Dorothy in “The Wiz”. Diana was born on March 26, 1944.

1. Aretha was born “The Queen of Soul” on March 25, 1942. No one has ever been a bigger soul artist. She has recorded twenty number one R&B singles. Her biggest and signature song is “Respect”. Other hits included “Chain of Fools”, “Baby I Love You” and “(You Make Me feel Like) A Natural Woman. Steely Day in “Hey Nineteen” complained that a young lady did not know who “The Queen of Soul” was. And I never bought it. I bet even today, all these years later, a nineteen year old knows Aretha. OR perhaps they just don’t like music.

We hope that you enjoy this feature.

If you have a suggestion for A DJ's Take please email us at

WTIT: The Blog.

Tomorrow brings Friday and Dating Profiles.

Join us unless you actually have a life.

In that case, live it. We will be right here at WTIT.

Same time. Same blog.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

WTIT Blog’s feature A DJ’s Take has been one of our most popular features. Today we continue our latest version of this feature that we have "sub-titled" 5 Random Songs. When writing this, we simply pick out five songs (at random...who'd a thunk?) that we have grown to love over the years. We hope to share with you some of the background of the songs and of course why this music is important to us. Sometimes it is because of the trival nature of the song, sometimes it's the song's history. Today let's look at these five songs:

Love Song by Sarah Bareilles:

We were going to link this part of today’s post to Linda’s blog, Are We There Yet? because it was her post with the video of this song that drew us to the artist. Sarah Bareilles was a recording artist that we had not heard of as of that post. The video of this song totally captivated us. So we downloaded the entire CD. And yes, usually when you do this you are utterly disappointed. But in this case, we were very pleasantly surprised. Every song on the CD is as good as the next one. Her lyrics are well thought out and meaningful. Her voice is beautiful and her music is captivating. The song is from her 2007 album Little Voice.

It seems that Epic, the record company that signed Bareilles, told her that they wanted her to write and perform a “marketable love song”. She wrote this song as her response. As you might know iTunes features a free download each week and they featured Love Song for one week in 2007. By the next month Little Voice was the site’s number one downloaded album. The single peaked at number 5 in the Billboard Hot 100 songs. Her CD was certified gold and the album hit number 7 in the Billboard Top 200 albums.

Wild World by Cat Stevens:

We have always thought that there was no better song written about a breakup that is not your decision. It was out around the time my high school girlfriend told me that “God” told her to break up with me. It was Cat’s first hit in the US and had been a hit in the UK with a version by Jimmy Cliff three months prior to Steven’s release. It is from the album Tea for the Tillerman, one of his best albums. Cat was born Stephanos Demetre Georgiou and is now known as Yusuf Islam. For years after his conversion to Muslim he felt that had to leave his music behind him. It was not until the start of this century that Islam felt he could be both. When he released a boxed CD set of Cat Stevens music in 2001, he said that Wild World convinced him that it was the right thing to do. If you ever want to hear a terrific song that he covered in his CD, download his version of Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood.

American Woman by The Guess Who:

All the original members of the Guess Who were from Winnipeg, Canada. Chad Allen was the leader and lead singer in the start of the band in 1962 that was called Chad Allen and the Silvertones. Chad then changed the name of the band to Chad Allen and the Reflections just in time for an American band called The Reflections to have a hit with Just Like Romeo and Juliet. The band got signed by Quality records and recorded a cover of Shaking All Over. The record company called the band Guess Who? (yes with a question mark) and thought with the Mercy Beat sound teens might think it a secret Beatles record or something. Shaking All Over was a major hit in Canada. The band released their first two albums with separate releases under Guess Who? and again as Chad Allen and the Expressions.

A key member left the Guess Who at the end of 1965 and Burton Cummings was brought in as a keyboard player and a “co-lead” singer. Not Chad Allen’s best move. Burton Cummings, who made number 6 on WTIT’s Top 15 Male Rock Vocalists of All Time, replaced Chad almost immediately and Chad left the band. The question mark left shortly after Chad. Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman (when he left he formed Bachman Turner Overdrive) now wrote the songs. No longer a “Mercy Beat” band they now had an edge and injected more blues and hard rock in their music. American Woman was the title song of their first album that really showed the change in direction. And American Woman would be their only song to hit number one in the U.S.

The Boys are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy:

There is not a lot of story here, but it is one our favorite rock songs of all time. It was released in 1976. Thin Lizzy was an Irish rock band and the lead singer was Phil Lynott. Obvious we were not alone in loving the song. It has been covered in concerts or on albums by artists including: Bon Jovi, Ash Mondays, Everclear, and Pearl Jam. The song was in Rolling Stones Top 500 rock songs of all time. It has been written that the brass in the song was inspired by a Bruce Springsteen song, Kitty’s Back.

When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge:

Percy Sledge was all upset when he showed up for a gig while in the band The Esquires Combo. He could not concentrate on their normal set because he and his girlfriend had broken up. He asked the band to play a blues chord progression and wrote the song as he sung. At the time he called it Why Did You Leave Me and it was about his girlfriend Lizz King. After Sledge was in a better state of mind he rewrote the song as When a Man Loves a Woman and brought it to a record company to try and sell the song. They were so impressed they signed him to sing it. He gave sole credit to his band mates who played the riffs that night, his bass player Cameron Lewis and organ player Andrew Wright. This would end up costing him millions of dollars in royalties. When the song was released three years after he has last seen Lizz King, she contacted him and they actually got back together for a while.

After the song was recorded, the producers brought him back because they realized that he was off key in a couple of spots. Percy was glad to do it. Here's a bit of irony: The record company mixed the tapes up and released the off key version. It is the song we still love to this day. Percy Sledge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. The song has been covered and hits again by others including Bette Midler and in 1991 by Michael Bolton. A final piece of trivia: It was also covered during his solo career by Burton Cummings of the Guess Who.

That will do it for your Wednesday

edition of the WTIT Blog.
We hope you enjoyed our 5 Random

"Blasts from the Past" on this week's

A DJ's Take.

Join us next time.

We expect to be Thunking.

Same time. Same blog.

Say Hi to Song Long Davey

So today we will talk about music. Not just any music, but about a band named So Long Davey! As you probably have forgot, my son James moved to California what will be for two years this August. The reason for the move was that he wanted to be in a rock band and felt it was not happening for him in New England. While some parents would not be positive about this idea, I thought it was fantastic. I just advised him not to get married to the girlfriend that moved with him. Nothing against her, but nothing dampens dreams like wives and diapers. Had I not been an on-air radio personality for years, I would have always wondered, “what if?” I was glad that James was going to give it a shot. Since he broke up with his girlfriend shortly after arriving in San Diego, he dodged that bullet.

James writes terrific songs. He sings well, but lacks confidence that you need to be a front man. James was always in a band. I did a video of his high school band for a class on the history of the Roman Empire. I recorded the band on audio, then had them sit in the WTIT Studio to lip sync the tune. Since the drums wouldn’t fit, the drummer played “air drums” and made goofy faces. It came out all right and got an “A” for the project. Other than the band drawing fifteen town cops to show up at my house to shut the band’s practice down, when my wife (of the time, 2nd I think…) and I were out, this band The James Experience caused no excitement.

James’ music wouldn't wait for college, but he gave college a try anyway. He was in a band there, but his vision and the band's were not the same. James left school, came home, and formed a band named Euphony. He found a front person, a very pretty gal named Virgina who sounded a bit like Joplin. The CD they created was very good. But the front woman was wrong for a lot of reasons. In person while she sang well and could look pretty, she had no “it” factor. She wasn’t nearly as pretty as she thought she was, nor sang as well that someone who had her talent should have sung. She also had a thing with another band member and then insisted on becoming the band's leader. She changed the band’s names to North of Virginia and thought she could write music. James stayed on briefly and I saw the band once. They sucked, except for the songs they played that James wrote. James is a great songwriter and guitarist, but he couldn’t rescue this mess and left the band.

James' next project became The James Austin Band. I saw them at a WCCC (the Rock) concert. They recorded a bit and the band gave James and his oldest friend Dean, a terrific drummer, a chance to be in the same band, however how brief. They recorded a bit before James' next move.

Once James got to California, he looked online on Craig’s List to see if he could join a band that needed a guitar playing songwriter. He got in touch with a guy who was known locally named David Vaughn. Vaughn had a MySpace site, so I checked him out. He was outrageous. Not only did he have a ton of personality, but also he was an awesome singer. James joined his backing band and really respected the guy. As the relationship grew and the two trusted each other something really rocked about these two and the band. David is not a songwriter per se. He was a lot more pop than James, who was a lot more rock. The reigned each other in and the results are fantastic. With David’s personality and vocals, James’ guitar work and songwriting, the band started winning contests. Instead of David Vaughn and his band, they became So Long Davey! to acknowledge the partnership. They’ve now opened for national acts like The Plain White T’s. They’ve just recorded their first CD and are looking to get signed.

I got an email yesterday. Not from James, but the band’s leader, David Vaughn. I have not met David, but we chatted for an hour or so some six months ago. David wrote me:

Hey Bud!
How've you been? James has probably told you, but we're pushing this new CD like MAD!
We're now #30 in the Smartpunk.com's Top 100 selling CD's (right behind Fall Out Boy). I predict some awesome things will happen for us when we get to number 1 so we're getting everybody to buy our CD for only $5 on the site. And, of course, in bulk if they can! Spread the word; spread the music! :)

So, I don't know if you would honor us with a post of your everpopular (and hilarious) blog and/or with an e-mail forward. Anything that you can do will be MADLY appreciated, sir!

Thanks!
David

Here’s their promo ad:

SO LONG DAVEY!

Needs Your Help!

Please Order Our New CD,
Another Planet On Smartpunk.com!

CLICK HERE!

We need help getting to #1

We are currently one of the TOP 100 selling bands on Smartpunk.com!!

Awesome things have been happening to us ever since we got in the Top 100
and the higher we get the better

it¢s going to be for our careers!

Our CD is ONLY $5 on the site!
We're SO CLOSE to being #1!!!

It¢s really a GREAT CD and we¢ve worked tirelessly to get it to be as fun and catchy as it is!

Please get one for yourself and if you could share the love and order some extras for friends, nephews, nieces, co-workers, in-laws, dads, moms, girlfriends, boyfriends, whoever! We get points on the charts for every order

And it¢s ONLY $5 on the site!

Please help. We need you!

CLICK HERE!

Also, PLEASE FORWARD this to anyone and everyone you can!
We want to spread the music and we really think you¢re going to LOVE our CD!

Thank-you SO MUCH!

SO LONG DAVEY!

SO LONG DAVEY! on MySpace

Email the band CLICK HERE!

**************

Okay I know that I am totally prejudiced, but I know you will love this music. Give it a listen on MySpace and buy the CD for just a fin! And even more importantly talk about it on your blogs! I mean you've got tons more readers than I do. But I don't need James or David Vaughn learning that.

So mention it. Or Email Me for code for your sidebar.

These guys rock and are going to be big.

Here's an opportunity to say that you

helped David & James way back then.

If they are the next John & Paul, you will

kick yourselves later.

Thanks for joing us in the WTIT Blog today.

Join us next time.

Same time. Same blog.

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