Wednesday, March 9, 2022
Introducing the Calico Stray
Saturday, January 15, 2022
The next evolution
As retirement nears, officially April 29th, I KNOW I'm going to find more time to listen to music and write. My routine of writing each morning on a word will start back up and likely the creative juices will be flowing again. If you are reading this post, you are in the infamous The Zemmy Show. A blog I created to be a variety show like say the infamous Johnny Cash show or the Prairie Home Companion.
The Zemmy Show ran for over 800 posts, with many twists and turns now Dave's Basement Tracks (that originally started as a radio show) is coming to the internet as a streamable blog of Bandcamp embedded links and YouTube videos. Each post will have a theme or make a good hour radio show; yet of course you are in control as you read and click on the links that interest you. Hope to see you there.
Tuesday, December 6, 2016
For Jess.
First up has to be Natalie Gelman. I met her first at the Root Note after she had asked to play my house concert and I didn't have an open spot. Fast forward three years, and I made her 11th best fan list, and I've hosted her now.
If you have never heard of Sarah Jarosz, don't panic but she would be one artist I would love to get to the fest if we could afford it. The good news is that she seems to a favorite of Chris Thile and she's been on Prairie Home Companion more now. Her cover of Dylan is the best with the Transatlantic Sessions but they have seemed to have deleted that from YouTube.
Norah Rendell wins awards for her Celtic singing skills and here's one from our house concert that I put behind a Christmas tour. She and her husband played the night before.
Kelley McRae is an outstanding sensitive songwriter, but she can rock it a little when her hubby Matt gets cooking on that guitar. Kelly has played both my house concert and the Great River Folk Fest.
Barbara Jean has to make my list. Such a low key talent, she just slowly takes your heart away especially if you look into those beautiful eyes; but I wouldn't have booked her just because she's beautiful. She writes great songs, and here she is with her new group Dusty Heart.
HALFWAY through my ten songs.
If you scroll through this blog you will find I've been blogging a long long time, and met some of my favorite artists on MySpace before it died. Here's an upbeat one from one of the smartest woman I know (her day job is at MIT)
A dear MySpace friend who isn't touring at all anymore but her stuff should be out there to buy, Allison Sattinger. Back in 2009 she played my house concert, and I did this video to her song just for fun.
Scroll through the blog and again you will find Kendel Carson is one of my favorites. This is a duet but it was one of the first time I heard her sing. Being from Canada, she just doesn't get much publicity in the states but she is awesome. She's toured with Chip Taylor and has sung with my hero John Prine.
Oh my two left.. I'm going to leave off friends and favorites, but this one came to mind since you were looking for up beat. Jill Barber and her brother up in Canada are another great reason to move up north.
Ok I have to end on one you might have heard of, Jillian Rae. She's another talented soul that has played my house concert. Truly I get blessed by any honest hug from anyone I host, even if they are male. If you haven't seen this video, it was one that got me hooked on Jillian.
Ok like Spinal Tap, we need to take this to ELEVEN with Lindsay Lou
Again I was lucky enough to book this eclectic string band who is lead by Lindsay who grew up loving the wildly passionate Claudia Schmidt, this song is so much like something she would do:
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tax incentive
Being an accountant & marketer employed with a company who manufactures in the US and employs 600+ people; I both enjoy and do want to see America work more again. So drop the Corporate Tax reduction idea and be strategic with their reduction in tax relief. Let's take every $1 they spend on US wages for someone $100,000 or less count as $2 of tax reduction. This will allow companies to invest in PEOPLE, who will then spend money and pay for taxes. I would put one more caveat on it, I would make the incentive it only available for their employees that are eligible for Health Insurance.
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Natalie Gelman at The Madeira Film Festival
Here's a link to a review of the festival written by Ari Ratner and I pulled out the two paragraphs written on Natalie:
Of course I loved the review because I had noted the same new song and have already covered it on YouTube, here's a blog post on it.
Posted by Madeira Film Festival on Friday, May 1, 2015
Sunday, April 26, 2015
800th post
At 700 was the announcement of Mary Mack getting voice over on a Fox show... alas it's been cancelled but Mary was awesome.
At 600 was my discovery that my music tastes are sinking into my Son's tastes.... Sooner or later you will find that you are a lot like your parents.
At 500 was a music discovery... Mountain Man. A very haunting vocal video.
At 400 was a cover of a Blondie song by Amy Speace... I love great new ways of hearing songs, hell I never heard the before I heard Amy's cover.
At 300 and now back in Oct 2009, was my love for the Belleville Outfit. I find it so weird that I would find myself drifting away from their music only to find myself sitting at the Pump House in 2013 listening to a fiddle player someone recommended. It was Phoebe Hunt from the Belleville Outfit. Quickly I remembered why I loved their music.
At 200 and as luck would have the draw, a video of me doing Ian Robb's Old Rose and Crown and playing the piano. Videos have gotten better and I find this song belongs better on a accordion.
At 100 fitting is Ashlee Rose who I met on MySpace... rocking out an Aretha Franklin song.
Well that was fun... I know I should post more often... now off to work outside on a beautiful spring Sunday.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
London on my mind...
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Some People
So a funny thing happened while I was practicing this at church waiting for the Sunday School kids to come back up... some one moved from the back of church to a pew behind me to hear it.. so I got to the where it goes "you got a roof over your head..." and poof forgot the next line. Obvious to me later, "you got a book you haven't read"... I haven't read a book in about 15 years... ha
The song really does talk to the right kind of passion good Christians should have, so it's appropriate I was playing it in church... truly many get mixed up by what it means to walk in faith of God, Allah, or Jesus at times.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Where I Live - Bill Staines lyrics
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Love's been good to me - lyrics and chords
When I went to look for the chords and the lyrics of this song, first they put in more than you need and second most put in a verse about a Denver girl and leave out the Houston verse. Frankly I've never heard Rod sing the Denver version, so here are the words and chords in the video above:
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
So what is alone..
Truly in a crowd of people I can be so alone and so content
Maybe it was the fact that Rod taught me to talk to myself
Today I'm with Suzanne as she takes me down to the river
I'm in a calm space while the worlds stresses out.
I do want to travel with the sun through seasons
And in the silence I want to reach out with my mind and
Embrace the body of a lover who will escape at dawn.
Then the streetlights will be dimming with the sunrise
And I'll walk along side the river by myself, alone and yet not.
Dave Schipper (c) 2015 Rose Riversongs
Thursday, January 29, 2015
RIP Rod McKuen
Letting Go
Monday, January 26, 2015
Smile
I'm unelectable...
In most cases the answers are compromise and finding solutions that work within our government and bylaws. Here is my platform that will never get me elected...
For those of you who ran into this blog thinking that this was a music blog... think of this as satire.
Monday, January 19, 2015
Rolling thru the library...
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1 Yellow
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2 The Lion
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3 Hard Way Home
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4 Dance the Blues Away
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5 Cannonball
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6 Rocky Boat
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7 Paint My Life
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8 Comeback Kid (That's My Dog)
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9 Double Wide Trailer
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10 Here and Heaven
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11 Born In the Country
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12 Rag and Bone
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13 Till I'm Too Old To Die Young
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14 Freckles
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15 Flowered Dresses
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16 Lay Down Your Weary Tune
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17 Crossing The Water
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18 Follow the Heron Home
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19 Phantoms
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20 When I look into your eyes
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21 sail on white moon
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22 Fall Down With You
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23 Tree By The River
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24 Furr
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25 Achin' All the Time (Live)
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26 Most the While
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27 Old Man
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28 Man In The Long Black Coat
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29 The Storms Are on the Ocean - Aoi...
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30 Home To Me (is Anywhere You Are)
31 Soul
32 Ain't No Reason
33 Fields of Illinois
34 Seeds
35 Raise Hell
36 Ring Them Bells
37 Share the Well
38 (ours Is A) Simple Faith
39 how can i keep from singing
40 My Sweet And Shiny Eyes
Saturday, January 3, 2015
Six month hiatus
The Lucky Dog by Dave Schipper
Ah the second CD… at least from the purposes of organized and ready for hand out. The first one Gypsy Soul by Dave Zeman I dedicated a whole blog for and spent a couple years keeping it on iTunes. This one was started as a gift to a fine young friend leaving the place I work, but it also is kind of a point in time for me and what I've been doing the last few years. Many of the songs became the vocal tracks off my videos, but some I did putz with a little before they got into the folder of choice. Oh the folder of choice.... it still didn't get originals like Grace or an improved Blonde Attitude, nor covers I love to do like Way over in a Minor Key or Ring Them Bells... still many of hours of work and so little quiet time at home or maybe it's just focus.
2) Take the Dance slides in at number two. My original that my band mate Lynn has pushed me to play in every gig. Funny I've simplified the first verse and know that I sing it better than in the recording, but I still thought it was worthy. Now if Ashley helped inspire the CD and now the first two songs about women with dark eyes and fair complexion, she's probably worried if the cd is just for her. Well I'm a sucker for dark eyes, and wove everything I loved into the song. I had written a blog post about the journey of writing this song funny how it started way back in 2012. The video is in the blog post. Ashley, keep going and don't worry the songs change from being all about brown eyed girls, though you might understand that I tend to be a little romantic gypsy by the end.
3) Julia was on my first release, but I still love this song and it was really written for another loving soul that left my place of employment so I thought it really fit. I've already written about this song here, and I've kept in touch with Angie has she has ventured around the US. She considers me a loving crazy Uncle Dave.
4) Picks up the beat with Done with Bonaparte, a cover of an old Mark Knopfler tune that I just learned. Oh my I love this guy's work, he can write interesting tunes about history too! The song hasn't made it into our Lucky Dog set list yet... needs practice, and I not sure if Lynn has time to learn the lead part on the bouzouki, hope she does though. Again this was the vocal track from this video:
5) Graceful and Grand is the only instrumental I put on the CD and it is one many times I slip into my instrumental breaks. As a single guitar I've found the style of picking melodies and then back to chords, it works for some songs; though I still love Garageband and proverbially "playing with myself" and filling up the rest of the song. The song has words dedicated to Lady Mary Crawley again, but she is too pretty for me to kill the song by singing with my gruff voice; here's a different blog post to explain.
6) Family Tree... another song from the 1st CD, but another song that frequently makes it into Lucky Dog set lists since it gives a choice of what instrument to play it on Banjo or Guitar. I'll let you read more on the old liner notes, but now that I know Jessie at Ecker's orchards I'm going to share it with her when the Spittler family re-union shows up their placard. Lynn, Sue and Lori always loved my reference to petticoats.
7) One more Cup of Coffee, what's a music CD from me without at least one Dylan cover. Inspired to learn this after buying Calexico's cover with Roger McGuinn singing lead; mine pales but still it's all about the inspiration. I still go back to listen to it and then my next time I cover the song it changes ever so slightly.
8) Another Like You a love story about a Right Wing lady and Left Wing guy.. Lucky Dog had a night messing around with recording live at home, this one had to get on the CD. Lynn and I do this live when no kids are around. Again here's the inspiration from the talented Hayes Carll and Bonnie Whitmore.
9) Most of the While, a cover of Natalie Gelman's beautiful song about being on the road as a musician. While I never have been a road warrior, I have travelled for work and have hosted numerous artists... this song really works and spoke to me to cover it. I blogged about it here, and she even responded. We hosted Natalie recently when she played at the Elmaro Vineyard and look forward to her playing a house concert at our place in 2015. Here's her much better video and original.
10) Where you heart is, written for our church's mission statement a long time ago. I sometimes forget that it was one we used to sing many times with Tim and Paula on lead for ACTS. Here's a real old blog post from a site I ran for church with the lyrics.
11) Gypsy Soul... This song has always been a favorite and I named the first cd after it. It never gets played in Lucky Dog; maybe someday... of course I'll have to put up with Lori asking me who I wrote it for; dang if I knew. Here's what I wrote about it back in 2008.
12) Jolene... another cut from our Lucky Dog recording night, a song filled with such texture from a great writer, Ray Lamontage. I learned it from a recording of Hope Waits first on a EP of her second CD which she hasn't released yet. I do love Hope, who is now married to David Carducci and is expecting her first child. She has graced this blog numerous of times. http://thezemmyshow.blogspot.com/search/label/Hope%20Waits
13) Ghost of St. Augustine, fitting for the 13th spot an ghostly song.... My most researched original written after a fantastic ghost tour. Best just to enjoy this old blog post. http://thezemmyshow.blogspot.com/2009/07/ghosts-of-st-augustine.html
14) West Shore... not sure how I ever made this song sound like this... it's got to be written and produced with all the great tools I had back in 2007. Never made it on the first CD, and the whole premise with the chorus is double meaning of "Ride a Lie" an opinion about casual sex. Something I have no experience with thus was written as an observer, not always the best place to write from but in this case the safe place.
15) To Make you feel my love, ah the second Dylan piece. Had to learn this to back up Katie Johnson for a wedding, and when I recorded her to help her practice at home... later I couldn't help to add my voice. Haven't played the song in ages, but anyone want to sing like Katie, and I'll never pass up a chance to play guitar for them.
16) Opposite Destiny. Ah another one of my co-writes from the original CD, but it's one of my favorite internet stories with a woman who I've never met and recently fought a battle with cancer. Read more here. http://gypsysouldavezeman.blogspot.com/2008/12/take-fifth-opposite-destiny.html
17) Talkin at the Texaco... the results of loving a great song and having a quiet house for the night... many tracks added to this one, even had the hat from late step dad on...
18) Hard wired... ha just a silly original. Wow wrote it back in 2005 and still putzing with it.
http://thezemmyshow.blogspot.com/2013/07/want-my-cup-of-java.html
19) Eight is Midnight with Rose River and a co-write with my band mate Tim Kolek. It was Shelly's flute addition that has kept this a mainstay in every 2nd or 3rd set of Rose River. Read more at: http://gypsysouldavezeman.blogspot.com/2008/12/16-eight-is-midnight-rose-river-live.html
20) Wreck of the old 97, what's a cd that has covers without one from my youth and love of Johnny Cash. I was surprised I had a pretty decent recording of the song.
Hey if you got this far... thanks... I'll try to have some copies of this to give out at future gigs.