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  • Writer’s block

    Writer’s block

    I’ve been wanting to post all week, but I have a touch of writer’s block…

    I haven’t been writing on Pop Rock Nation as much as I have in the past because lately I haven’t felt as inspired. I often look to the media or my daily life for ideas on things to write about. That is especially true when it comes to writing about music. I hear something on a TV show or the Internet and it makes me want to find out more and perhaps share with others. Unfortunately, nothing has come up in the past few days that has seemed worth blogging about. It seems like all my ideas for music posts are about things I’ve written about before. I was thinking about posting another “horrible covers” post, but that seemed a little too played out.

    So here I sit on Thursday morning trying to get over my writer’s block. I am immediately reminded of an old Elton John song called “Writing”. It’s from his Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy album, which I first discovered in the mid 90s when I bought a bootleg copy of it from a guy in Armenia. I went looking for it on YouTube and found this cover version by a user named zerobio. No, it’s not Elton’s version, but I really like what zerobio has done with it. So I’m sharing it here.


    He does a fabulous job with this deep cut classic, doesn’t he?

    So now that I’ve heard zerobio sing an old Elton John song, I’m curious about what else he’s done. Turns out he performs his own music and covers. Here’s one of his originals…


    “It Wouldn’t Be Right” is an original… and it’s pretty good. Listening to this, I realize that this YouTuber has got some mad skills.

    Wow. Just one visit to YouTube has melted my musical blogger’s writer’s block! I check out zerobio’s page and see that his name is really Elliott Kimmel and he’s from Ontario, Canada. I don’t know Elliott, but I can tell he loves music very much. I can tell that he wants to share with others, too. Here’s a guitar tutorial he’s put up for other musicians hoping to learn how to play certain songs. Mr. Kimmel is also a science teacher, which may also explain why he’s so generous with instruction.


    Wanna learn how to play “Blinded By The Light”?

    So now I’m sitting here listening to Elliott Kimmel and realizing that though I have only just discovered him, he and I have pretty similar tastes in music. Here’s a cover of “Ordinary Fool”, a song from the musical Bugsy Malone. I also covered it on my own YouTube channel. I like his version better because he accompanies himself and gives the song a different spin.


    Elliott Kimmel makes “Ordinary Fool” his own.

    My writer’s block is gone now… and now I’m also inspired to make some music. It beats vacuuming the house, right? Thanks to YouTuber Elliott Kimmel, aka zerobio, for chipping away my writer’s block. I highly recommend checking out his YouTube channel and showing him some love.

    If you like his music, you can purchase it…

  • Virginia has two new state songs!

    Virginia has two new state songs!

    My Virginia connection sent me an email today to tell me that Virginia has two new state songs!

    A couple of weeks ago, I posted a link on Pop Rock Nation’s Facebook page about Virginia’s quest to find a new state song. The article I posted was about Susan Greenbaum’s original song, “Virginia, The Home of My Heart”. I was interested in hearing the song because I am a native of Virginia and because Virginia seriously needed a new state song. The old state song was called “Carry Me Back To Old Virginny” and it has some rather racist lyrics.


    Ray Charles interprets Virginia’s former state song.


    Louis Armstrong and the Mills Brothers sing “Carry Me Back To Old Virginny.”

    I really like Susan Greenbaum’s song…


    Susan Greenbaum sings her original song “Virginia, The Home of My Heart”. I think she sounds a little like Judy Collins. She has a lovely, pure, soprano voice.

    Unfortunately, Susan Greenbaum’s gorgeous original song was not chosen to be Virginia’s new state song. According to an article that appeared on news radio channel WTOP’s Web site, Virginia’s two new state songs are “Sweet Virginia Breeze” by the Robbin Thompson Band and “Our Great Virginia”, which is the old folk song “Shenandoah” with new lyrics by Mike Greenly.


    “Sweet Virginia Breeze” by The Robbin Thompson Band. This song is so 80s. I used to hear a stripped down version used on TV ads for a local supermarket chain back in the 80s.


    1989 Farm Fresh ad using “Sweet Virginia Breeze”.

    Actually, I like The Robbin Thompson Band because they had a hit song called “Brite Eyes” back in the 80s. That song was stuck in my head for years and I couldn’t find it until I finally misspelled “bright”. The mystery was finally solved and I could focus on a new obsession. Robbin Thompson is not a native of Virginia, but he has lived there since 1969 and has worked with some really big talent, including Williamsburg’s own Bruce Hornsby! “Sweet Virginia Breeze” has been considered an unofficial Virginia state song for years now, so it makes sense that the legislature decided to make it official. “Sweet Virginia Breeze” was co-written by Steve Bassett.


    The other state song, “Our Great Virginia”.

    I love the old song “Shenandoah”, especially when Van Morrison sings it with The Chieftains. I like this retooled version with new lyrics well enough, but frankly I think Susan Greenbaum’s original song would have been a better choice. That’s just my opinion, though. At the very least, Virginia’s search for a new state song has introduced me to a very talented singer-songwriter in Susan Greenbaum… and listening to all of these songs have made me miss home a little. I’m all verklempt now.

  • Sharing SingSnap with friends…

    Sharing SingSnap with friends…

    It’s been awhile sing my last karaoke post. I’ve been sharing SingSnap with friends and now I want to share with you!

    Back when I first started writing on Pop Rock Nation, I wrote about SingSnap.com. SingSnap is an online karaoke site. I joined it when it first started in 2006, then took a several year hiatus. I got active on the site again in 2013, when someone who was reading my private music blog wanted to hear my singing voice. I remembered SingSnap and realized it wouldn’t take much to oblige his request. I quickly got hooked on online karaoke and have been hanging out there ever since.

    Over the past few months, I’ve gotten involved in a private duet thread on SingSnap. This thread is where people who enjoy singing duets gather to find partners. It’s a good place to find people who share your taste in music and like to harmonize. Recently, we had a “challenge” which involved singing duets that met certain pre-determined requirements. The duet thread administrators paired couples up every few days and then that couple would work together to come up with a fresh duet. The first week, we had a “ladies choice” challenge. The women were responsible for choosing a song. I ended up being paired with an old Epinions friend named Andrew and together we sang this… I should mention that I have never met Andrew in person, but we both used to write for Epinions.com and have become “virtual” friends! I’m sure we’d be friends offline, too!

    This is not an easy song to sing, especially if you’re a guy. Andrew did a good job!

    Another challenge involved taking a song that was ordinarily not a duet and turning it into a duet. My partner for this challenge was a guy who loves to sing. I found one of his old recordings that he did fairly well and we turned it into this…

    It never would have occurred to me to turn “Your Wildest Dreams” by The Moody Blues into a duet, but I think it worked pretty well. It was a bit of a challenge to pull this off, but we had fun with the process.

    And sometimes, it’s just fun to learn new songs. This SingSnap user named Bullfrog and I have done a number of duets together and he learned “Somewhere In The Vicinity of the Heart” for our challenge.

    This is a country song featuring Shenandoah and Alison Krauss. It’s not so often that I find guys who can sing this one. My partner had to learn it.

    Other times, it’s just fun to find someone who can really sing and duet with them. Last week, I sang “You Don’t Have To Be A Star” with a SingSnap user from Texas named OBSEQUIOUS. It was a blast!

    I think this guy belongs on a stage…

    Yesterday, I was hanging on one of my favorite message boards and someone started a thread about karaoke. Naturally, I had to pipe up with my experiences with online karaoke and I think I might have gotten a few more folks to try it. I like to sing at live karaoke shows because it’s a lot of fun to have a real time crowd. But SingSnap is a great tool for people who like to sing, for learning music, working on technique, and meeting new people from around the world. It’s also a great place to learn some basics of sound engineering. I also confess that I get a lot of ideas for my music blogging from hanging out on SingSnap, especially on my private blog DungeonOfThePast, which is mostly about songs from the 70s and 80s. I only hope my neighbors don’t mind that I sing all the time. If I’ve inspired you to check out SingSnap, I hope you’ll give it a whirl. You can join for free and sing a limited number of songs. If you like it, you can get a paid membership for less than $100 a year.