Morning folks,
Yes, it is the OLD DOGS 97th Birthday today. I first met the Old Dawg, when he came down after reading a bit of what I was writing. He had two CD's that were well produced, but had that "dated" written feel about them. What does that mean anyway? Do you remember your parents music? Do you remember when you felt musically aware and started embracing your own music? This could have been the rock of the 60's or 70's and your parents were listening to Sinatra and Tony Bennet. Well that is it. Your music sounds like it was written in a different time. The phrasing is older. The point of view of the lyrics are older. You talk about things for your age group, or say things in the way your age group would say them. If you listen to a few songs or artists on television or radio, you see a big difference.
That is "dated."
So OD had that. When he speaks to some of you about sounding that way, HE KNOWS OF WHAT HE SPEAKS. OD was a very intriquing guy to me. He didn't want success, didn't really want anything. Just kind of wanted to be around some other people he enjoyed meeting and talking to. And yes, he is an incredible flirt. I am an incredible flirt and have made a career on it for nearly 35 years. But the reality is he and I are harmless (too damn old to be otherwise now), and don't even want to work that hard. So the "Dog's bark" is a lot worse than his bite. He was just a lot of fun. Great cook, did a bunch of stuff nobody had to ask to do always thought of others.
Great guy. But I knew he always wanted to learn things inside. He wanted to play them off like he didn't but he was interested. So i had him do some song study and watch CMT videos. He found that he was not as out of touch with today's music as he thought and that it was "just a bunch of crap on the radio." There were some instinctive, very well written songs, some really cool people involved in the industry and a really good time intereacting with a lot of these people. He did multiple tours with me always starting and stopping that he was going to do them. He would get very excited about ideas, build up in intensity, and then change his mind.
I knew the kind of person he was, (A wall bouncer) and knew how fleeting that could be. Almost everyone in the music industry is like that. We get great ideas, go charging out to make them happen, then often find (Most of the time too late, after we have spent a fortune) that there are some reasons some of those ideas haven't happened before. A LOT of what we do are just GOOD IDEAS AT THE TIME. Just because we don't hear a certain kind of idea on the radio or haven't heard some idea or subject matter before is usually NOT BECAUSE IT IS NOT OUT THERE. It is just NOT EMBRACED BY THE PUBLIC.
So he would do a lot of things. We wrote some really killer songs together. He would feed me some unique information and I would try to organize it the way he was looking for. I think we hit the target most of the time.
My favorite story was at the Frank Brown festival in 2009. About 10 of the Rampers and wives came down and we did three days of writing and hanging. At night they would come to the different shows I was doing and I was constantly trying to think up different songs to play. This one VFW hall way out in the woods, had an average age of the audience at about 80 years old. OD was a youth in this place. There were two really good looking girls, dressed hot, and seemed, well.... out of place. They were getting ready to leave and I stopped my show and asked them where they were going. They said 'We wanna go dance..." So I pulled out this song that OD, Norm and I had written called "Did Yo Mama Show you How to Dance Like That?" The girl's stopped in their tracks and dances a while on that song.
Later I found out that one of them were the local hooker in the area. Was funny as Hell, stopping a hooker in mid dance.
There have been a lot of those. OD running out of gas with Becky. OD fixing all the loose bricks on the house. Always a ton of OD stories. He popped up in weird places. Came all the way to Boston to hang out with Catfish Dave and Matt. Gone to TExas with the Kid. And the thing is he never thinks of just himself. Always trying to figure out how to do something for others.
One of the songs we wrote, Daddy's Upright Bass, was a song he started with Greg Powers, just trying to help Greg out. They brought me in when they got stuck. It was the story of Bill Black, the original bassist for Elvis, and the bass Bill used to play. He heard stories of Bill's daughter and how she found out where the bass ended up. With Paul McCartney in England. Was a great story. So we wrote that. OD let me record it the "old style" way in the studio. We have some great recordings. I'm still struggling with how to get it on my upcoming CD. Trying to keep the songs down, because there is only so much space. But he might make it on after all. I'm a sucker for an Elvis song.
OD can always be counted on here to have a little liquid encouragement and say what is on his mind. Sometimes he gets a little intense but there is no one with a better heart. And OD has a pretty huge one. No body like him.
So thanks, OD for being here. You are a teasure to us all.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY FRIEND!
MAB
Nothing wrong with that in my book! Hope everyone has a great week -- I might not be able to be on here much this week, but will be with everyone in spirit (and 'yes' OD, that kind of spirit too)! xo
I was sitting talking over a project later that day with 3 students when I realised I could read what was on the T shirt with the 'new' eye (it was that bad!). What a feeling. Over the next couple of days the mist cleared and it's now as good as the other. So good, I can read the read the small numbers flashing on a gaming machine across a very large bar. What am I doing in a bar on a Monday? Waiting for someone, honest.
I mean 
