Cheevyjames’ Musical Roundhouse

I know this is a bit later than I had originally intended, but sometimes work intervenes and things get put off. Oh well!

Julie and I visited Austin for my Grandmother’s 95th birthday. Although we’ve been back to Texas a few times since we moved out to NC, this was our first trip to Austin in 2 1/2 years. Austin’s a very important place for us. Not only did we meet there while in school at UT, we also lived there for 8 years and have a lot of great memories of the city. We’ve come very close to moving back several times since 2001 when we left, but it was never the right move at the right time. So, it’s always great to get back to Austin whenever we have the chance. I think it’s awesome we got to not only hang out in an amazing city, but also get to see all of my relatives and help my Grandmother celebrate her 95th.

95!! I’m amazed that I’ve been so fortunate to have her around this long. She can’t see perfectly anymore, but she can still get around and have conversations with people.  I know it’s selfish, but I hope she stays around a bit longer.  I lost 3 of my 4 grandparents back in 2003 so I’m very thankful that she’s still around and in such great shape & spirits.

We left North Carolina after work on Friday, 5/2 and got into Austin around 9.  It was a direct flight, so that made us really happy.  We got our rental car quickly and checked into the hotel as fast as we could so that we could head out to the Broken Spoke to see my cousin Lisa play with Cornell Hurd’s band.

“Broken Spoke…the last of the True Texas Dance Halls”

waiting for the food

You can’t beat Shiner and Chicken Fried Steak at a Texas Honky Tonk!

The website isn’t lying when it says “serving the best chicken fried steak in Texas”.  I *had* to order this masterpiece of food goodness.  I’m seriously salivating looking at that picture!  It was delicious, esp. with the Shiner Bock and good Texas country music.  The band was great and Lisa (drummer, for those of you who don’t know) rocked the house as always.  I’d never heard Cornell Hurd before so that was a treat.  There were a lot of couples, old and young, out on the dance floor doing their thing.  We had a blast.

After the show and food we headed “home” to our hotel on I-35 across the highway from downtown.

view out of the hotel room facing downtown.

Saturday was a fun day.  We started off by hitting the Hike and Bike Trail around Town Lake Lady Bird Lake (name change!).  It was a perfect morning and it’s always great to walk around the “lake” and see all of the people and dogs and the great scenery.

Stevie Ray Vaughan’s statue along the Hike & Bike Trail

After showering it was about time for lunch so we first headed to Shady Grove for lunch.  I should have known that it would be packed.  I mean, I expected a wait, but not an hour and a half!  Doesn’t surprise me, though.  The food and atmosphere is great there.  So, us being starving like we were, we headed to another Austin famous eatery, Hula Hut on Lake Austin.

Nice outside view overlooking Lake Austin.  The margaritas & food were excellent!  After Hula Hut we drove around West Austin for a while, just exploring and seeing where the road would take us.

view of downtown crossing Lamar on 15th

cool castle-house we saw while driving around

While driving around I finally got a hold of my great friend and old drummer, Wiley.  We agreed to meet at Double Dave’s with his wife and kids.  On our way there Julie and I stopped at the Univiersity Co-op to buy some Longhorn merch (because you can never have too much).

Freakish Bevo they built in the old Co-op parking lot.  I love it!

It was great to hang out with Wiley, Lynne, Holland & Drake for a little while, before the kids got too restless and needed to get home.  After leaving Double Dave’s, we had the evening to do whatever we felt like doing so we decided to drive out to Mount Bonnell (overlooks the Colorado River & Austin) and catch the sunset.

After the kick ass sunset we slowly made our way back to the hotel (still full from the late lunch) after stopping at Central Market for snacks and drinks.

Sunday morning we once again trekked over to Lady Bird Lake for some morning exercise.  I certainly didn’t go there enough when I lived in Austin.  I’d go there every day now if I could.  While hanging at the Bat-watching area (too early in the day to see them fly out, unfortunately), we watched a pro-pot rally march up Congress Avenue.  There was no upcoming voting so I guess they were marching just because they felt like it.  We cheered them on while they past us and crossed the river.

After that adventure we drove out to Dripping Springs to my Grandmother’s to see everyone and spend the rest of the day out there.  Everyone else was already there so we just hung out for a while at Granny’s before we headed to the DS Senior Citizen’s Center for her party.  There were so many members of my family who I hadn’t seen in a while and some who I hadn’t seen since I was 5 or 6 years old (and somehow still remember).  It was really great talking with everyone and, as usual, watching Julie provoke our nephew Kyle into doing more mischievous stuff.

After the party was over a lot of our group (Mom & Brother) had to head back to Dallas so Julie and I got to spend the rest of the evening with Granny, Aunt Sandy & Lisa all by ourselves.  I’ve really missed them all and except for the night Lisa’s band played in Raleigh last year, I hadn’t seen any of them in 2 1/2 years.  It was really, really great to see them all again.  That’s one thing I miss about living in Austin, getting to see my family all the time.

Before getting ready for bed Julie and I were looking through old pictures (always fun) and we came across a bunch of my Uncle Bob’s WWII papers and things.  REALLY COOL.  I didn’t realize that Granny had that stuff there.  Certainly a great piece of history.

Monday morning we said goodbye to Granny and drove out to the airport to fly back home.  It wasn’t as long as we’d like to stay there, but I’m happy we got to see everyone for as long as we did.  I guess it just means we’ll have to plan another Austin trip as soon as possible.

In what I hope is a yearly tradition, here is our 2nd annual Beerfest.  Same as in 2006, we weren’t able to get tickets to the World Beer Festival that happens yearly in Durham, so we had our own.  Also just as with last year, we divided the beer tasting into 2 sessions.  This year, for the first session, we were joined by our friends Kelly & Greta.  Typing this up made me VERY thirsty…

Session #1 - 10/13/07

1. Sierra Nevada Harvest Hop Ale -

Jenn – IPA Hoppiness, traditional flavor of S.N., only a bit more spice – dry finish
James – Hoppy, natch.  Similar to re. Sierra – a bit more “spice”.  Decent.
Eric – hoppy sweet
Julie – bright, hoppy with a mellow finish
Kelly – tastes just like normal SN Pale Ale, perhaps slightly more hoppy.  Crisp!!!  Slightly more spicy!
Greta – Love it – better than regular Sierra Nevada – really good w/ Jenn’s hummus-  more spice than regular w/o the bite

2. Steelhead Extra Pale Ale –

Jenn – Light, slight scent of citrus, fizzy, clear, refreshing
James – Kinda creamy, but in a light way.  Nice, smooth & mild.
Eric – Pale, lingers, mild nutty
Julie – Very light in color, slight hoppy scent, very mild hoppy taste & clean finish
Kelly – Definitely extra pale!  More like a pilsner.  Not chewy enough for my tastes.  Hoppier as the glass empties.  So Light!
Greta – Sweeter, less heavy than Sierra, goes down so easily – I like this so much!  Almost buttery.

3. Spaten Oktoberfest –

Jenn – Sweet, clean, stella-esque only not bitter
James – Smells like a Spaten.  Tastes like Stella.  Decent overall, but not great for an Oktoberfest.
Eric – soft pumpkins, hay
Julie – Slight lemony smell.  Smooth, smells a little like Stella
Kelly – Smells super skunky!
Greta – Smells like hops – almost no taste until it’s down – with more sips, slightly bitter taste comes out.  Tastes like a whiff of cigarette smoke smells

4. Weihenstephaner Kristall Weissbier –

Jenn – Foamy, spicy & citrusy, sweet, airy, like a very light Belgian – Really Good!
James – Fuck yeah.  Really good Belgian.  Very foamy.  Really good.  Quite filling.
Eric – Like a Belgian, heady, filtered wheat
Julie – Creamy head, smells like wheat vs. Belgian.  Very smooth, airy, no aftertaste.
Kelly – Slightly fruity.  Maybe even a little too bitter to be a Belgian.  What’s wrong with me?  I don’t like it if it doesn’t have an over-abundance of hops.
Greta – Smells like formaldehyde but tastes light & wheaty – no bitter taste – smooth

5. Dogfish Golden Era Imperial Pilsner –

Jenn - Hoppy – dry but characteristic sweet dogfish taste
James – Too hoppy.  Kinda gross.  Don’t care for it.
Eric – Very hoppy, even for imp.  Fairly intense.
Julie – Smells clean, deceivingly hoppy when tasted, malty finish
Kelly – Superb!  Crispy and almost a pale ale.  If I couldn’t have my Sierra, I’d definitely pick this one!
Greta – Smells like summer afternoon by a lake.  Very hoppy – slightly bitter aftertaste – lots of flavor.  Good w/ smoked almonds to balance out taste.  Would be great w/ parrano cheese.

6. Lefthand Polestar Pilsner –

Jenn – Light – probably better colder, but tasty refreshing
James – I don’t know, it’s average.  Tastes just like a basic pilsner.
Eric – Needed to be colder.
Julie – Almost Spanish-like in aleness – only a slight hoppy
Kelly – So light compared to DFH!  Funky aftertaste.  Ooey!
Greta – Light color like lemonjuice.  Slightly sweet & smooth w/ slight bitter taste on the back of the throat.

7. Ayinger Jahrhundert-bier –

Jenn – Hoarhound.  Herbal, sweet.
James – Filling – kinda plain.  Decent.  I’d rather not drink it.
Eric – Strong what?  Loc Bavarian lager.
Julie – Bavarian lager.  Creamy, light, malty, very nice ale
Kelly – Earthy, but blah.
Greta – Hoppy!  Tangy, smooth, syrupy.  Century Celebration Bavarian.

8. Taj Mahal Premium Lager –

Jenn – Laggery – Lightly bitter, good compliment to spice or cream, chestnut
James – Again, kinda plain.  Not very good.
Eric – Lagerific
Julie – Very lager-esque.  Mild, slightly lemony finish.  Clean – crisp, but not a lot of flavor or meat
Kelly – Better than the other lagers.  A Touch fruity, but watery!  Musty!
Greta – Sweet and smooth – a bit nutty

9. Alagash Grand Crü –

Jenn – Citrus fruity caramel, smokey (caramelized)
James – Smells good.  Everyone else says it’s “smoky”.  I don’t taste.  Not bad.
Eric – Smokey sweet
Julie – Oh, interesting.  Sweet & smoky.
Kelly – Sweet but light.  Still.
Greta – More amber.  Strong, sweet w/ smoky flavor.  Can taste the color – almost caramel.

10. Ommegang Three Philosophers –

Jenn – Fruity (orange), caramel, Autumn (Indian Summer) in a bottle – yummy yeast
James – Eh.  It’s not bad – I think being full of beer at this point is a detriment to this beer.  I’d drink this again, even though it’s filling.
Eric – Caramel
Julie – Foamy.  Damn, this shit’s good.  Caramely delight.  Sweet.
Kelly – Blah!!!  On 2nd taste, I think it is just a touch too rich, too sweet.
Greta – Red – caramel – sunshine in a cup with strong aftertaste – a little honey w/ hoppy

Session #2 10/31/07

11. Flemish Primitive Whirligig Wild Ale –

Jenn – Best Belgian evar!  Citrus and wild yeast, light body, malty – yummy
James – Kick ass Belgian.  Has a great taste & smell.  Looks “light”, but has a certain heaviness in the mouth.
Eric – Floral eucalyptus.
Julie – Eucalyptus-y – very strong smell, floral taste, crisp.

12. Delerium Tremens –

Jenn – Sharp after (the Whirligig) – “domestic” Belgian, light.
James – Smells like butt.  It’s not bad.  I’ve had better.
Eric – Good
Julie – I like the smell of butt.  J/K.  Delicious!  Fruity & delightful.

13. Red Hook Late Harvest Autumn Ale –

Jenn – Nutty, rich, good w/ spicy food.  A nice seasonal.
James – Pretty good.  I think it’s not the best Red Hook.  Slightly above average.
Eric – Nice even mildly foamy autumn ale
Julie – Nice & amber.

14. Shiner Bock –

Jenn – Weakened by spice, I think.  Watery after spice, “Brown”.
James – Shiner Bock, bitch!  It’s a nice heaviness.  Love it!
Eric – Bocky
Julie – college-esque.  Yee Haw.

15. Heavy Seas Peg Leg Imperial Stout –

Jenn – Cocabutter fragrance, honey, coffee.  Sweet & nutty w/ acidic end, like coffee.
James – Decent stout, it’s not flat, but the taste is a bit flat.
Eric – Tootsie rolls.
Julie – Strong alcohol smell, deep, dark unusual stout taste

16. Breckenridge Avalanche Amber –

Jenn – Weak, like malt water w/ a slightly dry finish
James – Don’t care for the smell too much.  Decent, I’d rather not have it again.
Eric – Wet bark & ski slope snow
Julie – Smells kinda sweet, tastes kinda like butt & sorta snowy

17. Ommegang Rare Vos –

Jenn – Spice & cinnamon, clove in the taste but less full bodied than the scent.  Slight citrus.
James – This is nice.  Jenn mentioned it’s fruity – I agree.  I like the foam, it’s quite flavorful.
Eric – Rich, deep Belgian.
Julie – Smells Belgian-y.  Nice balance between clean & crisp.

18. Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale –

Jenn – Smells like pumpkin pie, tastes kind of like pie too, without the characteristic sweetness.
James – It does smell like pumpkin pie & cinnamon.  Nice bite at first, then smooth.  This is fucking good!  Best fall beer ever!
Eric – Toasty pumpkin pie.
Julie – Cinnamon smell, nutmeg & pumpkin taste.  Really fuckin’ good.

19. Ebulum Elderberry Black Ale –

Jenn – Awesome dark herbal ale, dry but floral, rich, malty & toasty too
James – This looks like pure bad ass-ness.  Not as strong as I thought it’d be.  A little mild for a dark beer.  Pretty good!
Eric – Smokey sweet cheese.
Julie – Smells syrupy, tastes rich & smoky.

20. Great Divide Wild Raspberry Ale –

Jenn – Tart, actually like raspberry but beer too
James – Raspb-tacular.  Actually the raspberry is the only good quality.  The rest is just average, a bit plain.
Eric – Raspberry flavor.
Julie – Surprisingly raspberry smell.  Tastes even more raspberry-licious.  So disturbing…

Released: 2002
Tracks: Sometimes; Takin’ My Time; Unmitigated Gall; More Than Enough; On the Hill; I Had a Feeling; Domestic Bliss; Closing Time; The Morning; A Fine Line Today; Little Star; A Love That’s True
Best track: Unmitigated Gall
Track to skip: Domestic Bliss

For the most part I like listening to this album. The first three songs in particular are just some great songs, esp. Susanna’s version of Mel Tillis’ Unmitigated Gall. A great song anyway, but the backing musicians really make this one fly. Tommy Detamore’s pedal steel solo on The Morning is quite good. Being a bassist I’m naturally going to listen to what the bass players are doing on this album. Kevin Smith’s upright bass sounds perfect on I Had a Feeling and A Fine Line Today, while Brad Fordham plays on most of these tracks and he is spectacular throughout. There’s a particular run he does on Sometimes that I had to go back and listen to a second time. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the best songs on here have Fordham playing the bass – he and drummer Lisa Pankratz make a great rhythm section on these tracks.

There aren’t too many missteps here, the only things that stand out to me are Domestic Bliss, a song I just don’t care for, and I Had a Feeling (musicianship aside), which is another weaker song. The final track on this CD, A Love That’s True, is the only time where Susanna sounds like she’s aiming for that “Nashville” market and it really doesn’t work for me. Not a bad song, but not the best on here. Otherwise, I enjoy this album a lot. Susanna’s got a good voice that fits perfectly with these songs that she’s written. Like I said before, this music is really comforting and it’s really great to listen to on a Saturday night with the rain coming down outside. Country’s not always my first choice in listening, but I like this one.

Rating: 80

Holy crap, I actually FINISHED a project! Amazing. As of a few hours ago, everything is removed from the old geocities site and everything is housed here. So, there’s now a redirect link there (that points here) and I shall never touch it again. It’s definitely served me well these past 6+ years. I started the old site on 11/29/01 and started this site on 11/21/07. Yes, I had a lot of content over there and it took me a while to bring it all over. It’s funny that it took me so long to start a website, because I had the desire to do it (for album review purposes) over 10 years ago. Sometimes I’m a latecomer to this stuff. I’m just happy that everything is now here, under one roof.

As you can probably see over to the side (>>>) I’ve been delving into my past and posting a lot of Cheevy, EJ & 3PO stuff. Maybe I’ll get some recordings posted one day. We’ll see. It’s always interesting to see that stuff, the setlists and show posters and all that. I really wish I had more actual PICTURES to post, but what’s up there is all I have. I know that EJ is pretty well represented pictorially, but I just don’t have access to them. Audrey, Christina, Eve, Christine…I know you all have a bunch of stuff. Please send them my way! My mom told me that she has quite a few pictures of both EJ & 3PO (Cheevy?), but they’re currently residing in boxes in her garage and I bet I’ll have to be the one to go through that stuff and dig them out. Maybe that’ll be a project for me when I visit near the holidays. As for pictures of 3PO, I’m sure that the various band members/their families have stuff, but I haven’t been able to get them yet. Maybe one day. I’ve never been one to participate in my own photographic documentation, so I generally have to rely on others for pictures of the important stuff in my life!

In summer concert news, HML-Don and I saw Iron Maiden a few days ago. INCREDIBLE show. Possibly the best one I’ve seen them do. It’s between this and the Ed Hunter tour. It doesn’t surprise me that my favorite IM shows are ones where they play old, rare stuff and not the usual “songs from the new album + the expected hits they always play”. On Wednesday the band pulled out some rare old songs, stuff like Mariner, Powerslave, Wasted Years, MOONCHILD(!!!) and my 2 favorite songs in the whole world, Revelations & The Clairvoyant. Hell, if they had played The Prisoner I probably would’ve had a heart attack. Still, I’d risk it. It was an excellent show and we had a blast. This makes me infinitely excited for their next album & tour. I hope to find some time this week to write the proper review for it, as well for the other ones I’ve seen the past few weeks. The only other scheduled show this summer is Rush next month.

I suddenly have a desire to do an album review or two…

NP: Frank Zappa - Freak Out

Various Press -

show on my 22nd birthday

Austin American Statesman “Best Bets” for 12/18/97:

“Three Penny Opera plays college pop at Steamboat”

AusChron, 2/10/98 show

AusChron 2/18/98

Ad in Chronicle for the battle of the bands show, 2/27/98

Austin Chronicle Musician’s Register, 1998

from San Antonio Express News, 3/6/98 for our show at Taco Land with Megalo

from the Dallas Observer for our 3/14/98 show

Ad in Chronicle for our Liberty Lunch residency in 5/98

3PO & dizzybloom pitched an idea with Mix 94.7 for a weekly “pop” night at Liberty Lunch that was done in conjunction with the SIMS Foundation.  The sales pitch packet -

press from the Austin American Statesman’s XLent for the shows -

show posters -

program for the Liberty Lunch residency, outside

inside

text -

From “Alley Cat” swing to sultry blues, anthem rock to stuck-in-your-head grooves, then add Latin funk & rock-a-billy and you’ve got 3 Penny Opera.  The voice of America Alva is temperance and intensity.  Guitarist Bryan Dunn’s songs fly from classic rock riffs to butt-shakin’ rhythm ‘n’ blues.  On percussion, Manuel Gonzales becomes a jazzed-up, grooved-down rhythmic slice of Latin Love while James Hines dances from bass line to bass line, weaving funk through Bryan’s tunes.  On drums, Wiley Koepp is a shot in the dark that hits you every time and Edward Park, on violin, brings a country dosey-do to the band and mournful, soulful harmonies to Bryan’s melodies.  Variety keeps music from becoming too bland and 3 Penny Opera provides all the flavor you need.

best poster EVER - art by Bryan Douglas for our first show (full)

second gig (as Muchado), dual poster with Megalo. Art by Bryan Douglas

90% Live release party - art by Blueberry

11/13/97 - art by James Hines!

11/29/97 - artist unknown

12/97 - art by Bryan Douglas. The famous “America Head”

2/98 shows - art by Bryan Douglas

mailer we sent out for the 2/27/98 battle of the bands show (we came in 2nd)

dual poster for show with Megalo, 3/7/98

another dual-poster for 3PO & Megalo

web printout for our 4/10/98 show opening for Echo Juliet

this design became the standard poster

also see Show Fliers - Press

The band’s first album, 90% Live, recorded live on 8/14/97 with a studio version of Sunshine recorded 11/16/96 (drums, bass & guitar) and 7/26/97 (vocals & percussion).

Second 3PO album, 10 Pieces for Voice, Strings & Percussion. primarily recorded live on 10/8/98 (vocals, bass & violin were overdubbed) with a studio version of When You Comin’ Home Tonight recorded on 2/19/98.

the band’s first “sticker”

3PO press photo

proofs for the press photo 1 2

3 photos from our 5/23/98 show at Nasty’s.  Photos are mostly of me because my Dad took them.  Interesting note about this show: during the course of the night I managed to break 2 bass strings, the low ones, so for at least half of the time I had to manage with 2 strings.  The bottom pic shows this clearly.

tickets from various shows -

first show, playing as “Gromit”

temporary name change to “Muchado” for our 2nd show

finally, the right name

Wiley drummed for 3PO & Megalo so we sent out mailers for both bands -

(in order of their live debuts)

Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin

This Kris Kristofferson tune was the first cover we played in the band.  Wiley, Bryan and myself played it frequently in Echo Juliet and since America knew it too it was an easy choice.  We played it how we always did in EJ, which was based off the Janis Joplin version.  America took Janis as the proper inspiration and she just sang the hell out of this.  Always a fun song to play.

Baby Can I Hold You Tonight – Tracy Chapman

This was either Manuel’s or America’s suggestion at an early rehearsal.  I’m not a huge fan of Tracy Chapman’s, but this is a pretty song and I always enjoyed playing it.  There was this one pause, after the first chorus I think, where we just could not get it right.  Was the pause supposed to be 1 beat or 2?  I swear, we flubbed it so many times because we were always trying to count it out and half of us were almost never on the same beat as the other half.  We did hit it right every once and a while, but for some reason we could never consistently nail it.  For such a simple song too.  Cracks me up.  This didn’t stay in the repertoire too long, and truthfully most covers didn’t stay around that long because we had plenty of really solid originals.

Circle – Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians

This was the other early cover we attempted, and was suggested by America or Manuel.  I’m guessing America on this one and Manuel on the previous one.  I wasn’t terribly familiar with this song when it was brought forward, but it was fairly easy to learn and always a great song to play live.  America obviously felt more comfortable singing covers by females so this was right up her alley.

Redemption Song – Bob Marley

We didn’t do this one too often, and when we did it was only as a duet with Bryan and America.  It’s a beautiful song so it was a nice break where I’d get to go sit down and listen to America sing the pants off this great song.

Canon in D – Pachebel

The genesis for this started in Echo Juliet when Ed would sit in with us.  Bryan knew it, Ed knew it, so we worked up a really funky version of Pachebel’s ‘hit’.  It started off pretty traditional, but once all the counter melodies started up Wiley and I would get it going into ‘rock mode’ and the song would go into areas it probably was never meant to go in.  I think this surprised the audience, because you’d never expect to hear a classical composition at a rock band’s gig.  We took it further on the suggestion from local rapper and friend MC Truth that we extend it more, groove it up, and he’d improvise on top of it.  Man, talk about interesting!

(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay – Otis Redding

As Sunshine grew and grew, we decided to stick more and more solos in it.  After the guitar, bass & percussion solos, we decided that there should be a spotlight for America also.  For the first few times of doing this super-extension she wanted to do Dock of the Bay.  Dude, she sang the hell out of this song!  I always loved to hear her just rip it up and destroy the audience.  This one did it.  After a few verses of the song we’d go back into Sunshine.

For What it’s Worth – Buffalo Springfield

This was our other “America Solo” in the middle of Sunshine.  We did this one a lot more often than we did Dock of the Bay.  True to form she sang the hell out of this one too, but we usually played the WHOLE SONG before going back into Sunshine, so the entire thing would probably take like 15 minutes or so.  It’s all in the name of fun so it never bothered me.  I liked playing this one; it has a great vibe.

Jingle Bell Rock – Beal/Booth

This one starts out a batch of songs we worked up for our Christmas gig for the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce.  We played this at a show the day before, but it was pretty awful.  It clearly wasn’t rehearsed enough and Bryan was the only one who really knew it.  It’s a fine song, a bit over-played, but it’s all right.  We didn’t do an amazing job, but it was passable after that initial play-through.

Tennessee Christmas – Chapman/Grant

Another one from the COC gig…I don’t remember too much about this.  We only played it the one time.  I’m still unsure why this was chosen as a Christmas song to play.

Margaritaville – Jimmy Buffett

Everyone and their dog knows this, so it was easy to whip out whenever we were playing a party or Chamber of Commerce function.  If the audience is drunk enough, it’s impossible to play this one poorly.

Son of a Preacher Man – Dusty Springfield

The COC gig had Amy Mitchell on vocals and she knew this (we also used to cover it in Echo Juliet) so it was easy to play.

Time After Time – Cyndi Lauper

Same as above, only played once at the COC gig.  We knew it from the Echo Juliet days.

Blue Christmas – Elvis Presley

A COC-only performance of this classic Elvis song.  We played it just fine, only without the crazy background vocals.

Eight Days a Week – The Beatles

Oooh, I love this song!  Wiley, Bryan and myself frequently played this in Echo Juliet and would bring it out on occasion.  I really love Paul McCartney’s bass line on here so playing it was always a high for me.  It of course wasn’t as good as the Beatles version, but ours was good.  After I was fired from 3PO, I was playing a with Amy & Christina and we happened to open up for 3PO once and during their encore Wiley and Bry invited me up and we played this as a trio.  We were already friends again by that point, but that was really special to me and I think it fully healed everything that happened before with us.

Brown-eyed Girl – Van Morrison

A brainless song to play, anyone can whip this out.  It’s 3 chords, G-C-D, so it could always be played flawlessly at the drop of a hat.

Happy X-mas (War is Over) – John Lennon & Yoko Ono

A good song and one of the better Christmas songs written in the past 30+ years.  Definitely better than McCartney’s Xmas song.  Our version, played only once, was fine.  In high school and early college Bryan and a bunch of his friends (yes, me too) would do Christmas caroling during the holidays and this was one we’d always sing so we knew it very well.

Kiss – Prince

We only brought this out once or twice, I think only once (at the COC gig) officially.  The other time might have been a Megalo house party or something.  I never really knew how to approach it as in the original Prince doesn’t have much bass in there, if any at all.  Oh well, we played it for fun so it wasn’t super serious.  Bryan’s a big Prince fan so this was mostly for his enjoyment anyway.

Romeo and Juliet – Mark Knopfler

Bryan and America worked this up around the same time as Canción and Alcohol & Nicotine.  It was based off the Indigo Girls version and they played it as a duet.  Like Redemption Song, it gave the rest of the band a nice breather and a chance to be in the audience and appreciate Bryan and America in a different way, as opposed to standing on stage next to them.  They always did a great version of this.

Roddy McCorley – traditional

Played at one of our shows only once, on St. Patty’s Day 1998.  Bryan knows a million Irish Drinking Songs, so he decided to play this one solo since it fit the mood of the day.  I’m glad the rest of us didn’t try to play on it; it would’ve sounded bad.  Bryan always did a great version of this and he really let his Irish roots come out when he played it.

Keep on Rockin’ in the Free World – Neil Young

This was only attempted by 3PO once, and off the cuff at that.  We played this at a frat party and since it wasn’t at a real gig I never even documented it.  Since it was off the cuff it sounded unrehearsed, but that’s fine since no one was in the room listening to us anyway!

Stir It Up – Bob Marley

Only played at the same frat party, we actually did attempt to do a good job of this, but it didn’t really happen like we wanted.  The music is no problem, but the lyrics aren’t so much about the actual words, but about how Marley sung them.  It’s really hard to sing this right and make it sound good like Marley did.  Like the previous song, no one was listening anyway, but I think if Bob was tuning in at that particular moment he probably wouldn’t have been too enthralled with it.

Me – Paula Cole

This was played only once, at the Café on the Square gig (4/24/98) with Amy Mitchell on vocals.  Like Blue Margarita, this was off the cuff and another suggestion from me because Amy knew it and the band could pick it up easily.  It’s only 2 chords going back and forth, so if you have the tempo and someone who knows the words, then it’s no problem.  I honestly don’t care for this song too much, but our version was perfectly fine, especially for being spontaneous.

(in order of their live debuts)

Cycle – lyrics & music: Dunn

It makes sense that the first song we played live was also the first song Bryan ever wrote and since 3PO was essentially Bryan’s first band as a leader (he wrote 95% of the songs), I guess it’s all kinda cyclic. Har! This was indeed Big Bry’s first attempt at composition. We played it in Miniver Cheevy, tried it in Echo Juliet and it found its proper home here in 3 Penny Opera. The song is incredibly simple (G-C for the verses, with a big ol’ D thrown in for the choruses), but it still managed to be a pretty good song.

I guess over time I liked it less and less, mostly because it IS so simple and there were plenty of other songs that we didn’t play enough that should’ve been in the set instead of this. What happened over the course of the year is that this song became one of those songs that always got put in the same place of the set. One of the main things that I wanted to get away from in Echo Juliet was how setlists were constructed. It became annoying that certain songs would only be placed at the beginning or end of sets and other songs which may have been more deserving never got that placement. As witnessed by the placement of Cycle after I was out of the group, this was indeed one of ‘those’ songs that occupied only 1 spot in the set: the opener.

It did anger me that the rest of the group kept pushing this song as our de facto set opener. I hate (HATE) being predictable in any way and the insistence of this being song #1 annoyed me. I liked having it in the set for probably about 6 months, but after that I thought we really should have just dropped it out of the set entirely. That’s what I felt should’ve been done, but the rest of the band (that said anything about it) wanted it as the opener. Frustrating. Of course I got outvoted like always.

Regardless of all that drama, this is still a good song. And truthfully, the addition of Wiley, America and Manuel gave Cycle the energy it needed to be worthy of our opening song. I think we took it as far as it could go as a composition and we relied too much on it, but what the hell. I’m only the bassist, ya know.

College Radio – lyrics & music: Dunn

Another of the songs that went through all 3 bands. It’s pretty much a straight up rock song, and Manuel didn’t think he could add anything to it so he sat out. I believe Ed didn’t have a good part either so he also didn’t have a place in this song. Thus, we became a quartet for this number. Even though we played it a lot, Wiley STILL never had a drum part he felt comfortable with. Somewhere near the end of playing this in EJ I solidified what I was doing, but Wiley never felt it. I though he should’ve gone for a Stewart Copeland vibe in the verses, but that didn’t work for him either. All that aside, I did love playing this one and I thought we sounded pretty damn good doing it.

I’ve always liked the lyrics and the statement it was trying to make. Anyone over 30 lies…ha ha, we’re all approaching 30 aren’t we? I especially liked that Bryan wrote about something near to my heart, college radio. I guess having worked at the UT student run radio station made me appreciate what this song was saying that much more. Musically, the part of the song I couldn’t wait to get to was the middle section. For the solo section it was never clear what Wiley and I were supposed to do while Bryan wailed away, so over the years it eventually morphed into a pseudo-Cream jam. Cheevy tapped into that Cream vibe on occasion and for 3PO to do it was awesome as well. It wasn’t that we stretched this one out or anything, but when Bryan soloed what Wiley and I did was really good and a ton of fun to play. That’s what I’ll always remember this one for.

Bethlehem – lyrics & music: Dunn

When this was tried out with Miniver Cheevy we didn’t know what to do with it so it was put on the back burner. This was one of the songs that made the original group of our first material with 3PO. I don’t think America ever really liked it so once we started to get more material, this was one she pushed for us dropping. Her main objection was that she thought the chorus sounded like a cheesy Heart thing. I can see her point in that, but it never bothered me.

Musically it was one we never really got down solid and I think that was mostly my fault. While the chorus is straight up “Heart” rock, the verses were more funky…kind of a 2-chord, James Brown kinda funk. At first I totally overplayed on the funk bits and it sounded pretty awful and amateurish. I didn’t know what to play and I thought I should do something ‘cool’, but I was dead wrong. I guess after a couple of months I ditched the previous part and started over with the idea of playing it simple and trying to be funky. I’m a white dude, I can’t hide that, so any attempts at my part being authentic were laughable. I do think my second attempt at the verse bass line was better, but it never sounded that good and I think because of that the rhythm section never gelled on this. We did practice it as just a rhythm section, but it never really happened for us. I think put in the hands of some different musicians (um, me, or at least in a different mindset) this could be a cool song. As we got more material we phased it out of the set and once I was out of the group, the song was never to return.

Mr. Raleigh’s Dilemma – lyrics & music: Dunn

I LOVE this song! We tried it in EJ, but it didn’t sound good so it was put on hold until we started 3PO. It’s a fairly simple song, but the thing I love most is how it just breathes and there’s nothing in the way of enjoying America’s sultry vocals. I always think it takes some guts for a guitar player to completely sit out for large chunks of a song, so hats off to Bryan for having the balls (and being without ego) enough to not play AT ALL during the verses or choruses.

We worked it up where, in the solo section, Ed and Bry would trade solos until they eventually teamed up for the main riff. I think it took a while for this concept to fully work since it seemed Ed didn’t know exactly what Bryan was talking about. Dueling lead instruments and all that. I think after a few weeks it all clicked into place and we had one of our best songs. One of the little things that made the song so great was what Manuel and I did under the line cupid shot the arrow right through his heart. A bent harmonic from me (the arrow’s flight) and a conga hit from Manual (the impact); it’s a very subtle thing that was probably missed by the audience, but I loved it anyway. It’s really unfortunate that Bryan doesn’t play this one anymore. Granted he can’t sing like America on this, but it’s still a great song and one of my favorites of the whole 3PO repertoire.

Forgotten Days – lyrics & music: Dunn

I’m not sure if it’s still in the set or not, but I know it recently still has been played by Bryan. Last Romantic made a brief appearance, but mostly this song is the only one to go through the entire history of 3 Penny Opera and right on through Simple Thing. Understandably, it’s been re-worked many times since it first debuted. I had a habit of drastically changing up bass lines to some songs (this, Bethlehem, Imaginary Girlfriend) so this is another of those bassist-changes-his-mind type songs. It took a while for me to figure out what I needed to do for it, but when I found it I was extremely happy with the results. My first bassline boringly followed the chords on the verse and played in the same rhythm as Bry’s guitar part. Somewhere along the way inspiration hit me and I completely changed my part. Feeling the Latin-ness of the song I knew what I was doing sounded wrong, so I changed my approach and made the song a lot better. I have no earthly idea what the other 3PO’s thought of my bass line, or if they even cared, but *I* liked it dammit.

This is sticking out in my mind as one of the first ‘new’ songs we rehearsed with 3PO. It shows the hallmark of a great song by never getting old. Even in its new ‘super slinky’ version in Simple Thing, it’s still a wonderful song to hear. I really dig the new arrangement, but I honestly liked it all the way through. As usual it features well-crafted lyrics, something that always comes to mind when I think about Bry’s ability. This is a great song and I really miss playing it.

When You Comin’ Home Tonight – lyrics & music: Dunn

Yee-haw! One of only two country songs Bryan has written (the other being Hearts and Flowers, ask for it sometime). We started off playing it in G, but it was just at that uncomfortable place for America (just a smidge too low) so after maybe a month or two we raised the key to A. This is a very simple song, but it works. I think it was somewhere near the formation of the group my grandfather gave me his lap steel guitar and I thought this song was the ideal spot for it. I still can’t play it very well and I basically figured out how to play it only for this song. Since I used an open tuning, it was easy to play a solo on this with having no ability. I think I did my little lap steel solo for 3 or 4 gigs, and then it was thankfully dropped. You know why? Because it sounded like total crap! I guess the rest of the band decided to indulge me or something, but I have no idea why they ever let me play lap steel solos in front of an audience. The instrument is hard to keep in tune anyway, but when paired up with a finicky acoustic guitar and a bassist who should really stick to playing bass…guess how it sounded. Once Ed started playing his countrified solo, we heard how the song was supposed to sound and my lap steel services were never needed again.

We did have two different versions of the song. Theoretically, if the crowd was really into it that night, we’d play the ‘clap along’ version and if they were kinda sitting on their hands then we’d just go out of the middle section without much fanfare. I understood the difference between the two pretty easily, so it really used to bug me when we’d do the ‘clapping’ version to an audience who was yawning. I think it’s wrong to try to force audience participation and they’re not going to do it unless they’re moved to in the first place. When they were in the mood however, it was great stuff.

Virgin – lyrics & music: Dunn

I have some very slight beef with the way Scott (my replacement) played the bass lines for Forgotten Days and more so for Boatman’s Daughter, but I still think what he did for this song was outright wrong. Dammit, this is a truly beautiful song. The thing is, this song really needs to breathe and let America’s voice fill it out. I thought that none of the rest of us should get in the way of her on this so I kept my bassline as simple as possible to support all that vocal goodness. One or two notes held out per chord is all that was required from the bass in order to be the proper amount of support. So yeah, I though Scott overplayed and that took away from the song.

Obviously this song is about sex, and the first time one has it. I keep harping on this, but this song especially shows how great of a songwriter Bryan Dunn is. You have the nice romantic verses and choruses (in waltz time) and for the middle section Bryan wonderfully portrayed the awkwardness of The First Time by having that section be in the odd time signature of 5/8. It really contrasted with the rest of the song and was the perfect music for that part. Then, as 5 gives way back to 6 THE part of the song happens: America gives her vocal climax. When this was done right (and it was) it was SO AMAZING. Unless you’ve been there to experience it, there’s no way to describe in words how great America was at that moment. It was a big moment, that’s for sure.

The unfortunate thing is that somewhere in our first few months of playing, possibly on the night we recorded our 1st album, America stopped belting out that note and just plainly sang it before going back into the last verse. I know that when we recorded the album (recorded live at our 3rd gig) on that part in this song she really missed the note and that prevented this from being included on the album. I can see Wiley’s point in not including it on the album, but the rest of the song was so good I wanted it on there anyway. Regardless, that might’ve been the moment when that hesitation entered into America and I’m not sure if she ever attempted to sing that line ‘properly’ again. I used to talk to her and the rest of the band about it; I thought that it was an essential part of the song and all we had to do was keep practicing it until she could nail it every time. She didn’t feel the same way. I remember seeing the group for the release of the 2nd album (post-me) and when they did Virgin and that middle section came up I was so hoping she’d rise to the occasion and just belt it out. She didn’t, unfortunately. I think now America’s confidence in herself is a lot stronger and something as silly as one note wouldn’t be a problem for her. I really care about this song a lot, as should be obvious from reading this. Honestly, even when played by Scott and America laying back a bit it was still a fantastic song. I just think it was so magical when it was all done right.

Give Your Love To Me – lyrics & music: Dunn

I always think of this and Forgotten Days as the first two ‘new’ songs we did in 3PO. I do indeed like this song, and I still frequently play it while messing around on the bass. But man, I got SO sick of playing this. We played it at nearly all our gigs, I swear. Like Cycle, this was one of the songs that acquired a specific placement in the set. I assume that Wiley and Bryan thought so highly of it that it was decided this would always either be our set closer or encore song. Did the audience like this song that much that they thought it’s the last thing we should leave them with? I don’t know, maybe they did. I didn’t always feel that way though.

It’s a good song, but the thing that prevents it from ever being a great song is that there’s nothing more that can be done with it. It exists as it is, and it can’t be anything else. Also, as you can probably guess, I get awful tired of playing 3 chord simple songs all the time. If it’s 4 chords I’m OK, but if our last hurrah for an audience is a I-IV-V then I get bored of that pretty easily. It also doesn’t help things that Give Your Love to Me is a TOTAL AND COMPLETE rip off of The Beatles’ You Can’t Do That. Same feel, same key, same chord progression, and the lyrics on the middle section are almost directly plagiarized. Bryan wasn’t too happy when I pointed this out to him. Either he knew he was ripping it off, or You Can’t Do That was so ingrained in his brain that he came up with this and didn’t know it was ripped off until I pointed it out. But yeah, it’s all there for you to listen to and compare.

I really like the funkiness of this, and Bryan did write a good bassline for me to play. The other thing I really liked about this song was that we ended it on the ‘wrong’ chord. We didn’t resolve it on the G as was expected. The audience pretty quickly figured out that it wasn’t going to resolve and accepted it. I like that we trained the audience to accept and probably like us doing the ‘wrong’ thing. However, after I was out of the group they did start to resolve it, after a slight pause, and eventually just left the pause out all together and it wasn’t the least bit distinctive anymore.

Last Romantic – lyrics & music: Dunn

Awright dammit, I *still* get all emotional when hearing this song. What a beautiful song. As songwriters and as people, one of the things that really connects Bryan and myself is that we’re serious romantics. He might get a bit mushier about it than I do, but I’m right there with him. I too have a song called Last Romantic (I refer to it as ‘Part 2’ though) so I have a strong connection with this one. Again, this is a beautiful and sad song. The way America sang it was just amazing. There’s a line in the second verse I believe, when I dream I dream of you, that always puts a big smile on my face. When performing this that was the line I’d address to my wife and always sing to her. Even when she’s in the next room, every time I hear that line it makes me smile.

I think it’s probably just a smidge lower on the ‘shiver-down-the-spine’ meter than the part of Virgin, but the middle section of this was consistently an awesome vocal performance by America. I love how that bridge just starts so slow and calm and we instrumentalists didn’t do much to bring it up, but America sure did. The way she just belts out those lines, damn. No one will ever sing this song better than that. And the extremely cool thing is that she sang the hell out of this every time it was played. She just owns this. That’s totally one of those rare musical moments when everything just aligns and for that second, the world is a perfect place. That’s why I’m a musician; to be in the presence of music at those moments.

Sunshine – lyrics & music: Dunn

And they call it a monster…this was our only true ‘jamming’ song while I was in the group. A few others had parts where improvisation occurred, but this was a full-blown jamming excursion. I’ve said before in the EJ version of this song that Wiley really kicked this into gear so I don’t need to fully elaborate on that again. And that’s not a knock on the original drummer on this, because Dave can do 1000 things Wiley can’t and Wiley can do 1000 things Dave can’t. This just happens to be one of Wiley’s 1000 things he does better. This track always had a lot of energy in Echo Juliet, but we pushed it so much further in this group. Partially with America singing, partially with Wiley being even less of a ‘rock’ drummer and partially Manuel’s big influence it became how it should sound.

Bryan liked to experiment with different intros, usually vocal (one coming into mind now is Billy Joel’s The Longest Time) where he’d just sing a bit of a song and then launch in the beginning verse of Sunshine. Since we were dealing with 6 people in this group, I started to play a little bit less in my bassline to make more room for everyone else. It was especially true in this (an uptempo rocker) that there could be a lot going on. With everyone competing for the same sonic space, the lower notes I played the better it was. I ‘tried’ to not play up high, otherwise I’d be inaudible. We tended to play it the same as it was done in EJ, but after Bryan’s and my solos we’d treat the audience to a drum/percussion solo-a-thon. I always loved hearing Wiley and Manuel do their thang on this. After a couple of months we decided to extended the solos even further and let America have a go at it (I wonder why we never had an Ed solo in Sunshine?). After the percussion solo, we’d slow it down and play something that really showed off America’s voice. Some of the shows she did Dock of the Bay and some she did For What It’s Worth, with us playing nearly the whole song there in the middle of Sunshine. I loved all that stuff. It was great to hear her belt out those songs.

When we finished with all the soloing, we’d go back into the ‘breakdown’ riff and then finish off the song. I really loved playing Sunshine, not only because I got to solo (always improvised…although one time I attempted to play a solo based around Coltrane’s Mr. PC…oh, that was awful) but also because the band got to do some serious jamming. However, after maybe 6 or 7 months I did get tired of doing it every show. Not that I wanted to can it or anything, but I just didn’t want to play it as much. I don’t think this was our best song, but I do think it’s a great one and I’d love to play it anytime (just not every gig for 4 years).

Don’t Let Me Be Alone Tonight – lyrics: Dunn; music: Talbert

As you can read in the bio this was the song that really got this band going. Bryan and Wiley heard America rip this up and they knew a group had to be formed with her voice at the front. I agreed. Still do. Unless you actually heard America sing this song then I have no idea how to convey how great it was. Since Wiley, Bryan and I had been playing this for a few years in Echo Juliet, we had the music part down. So the arrangement mostly stayed the same. The only really difference was that about 6 months into the group we started to give Ed the first part of the solo, the mellow part. Then Bryan came in with his half of the solo. I think it might’ve been a little less dramatic that way (I liked Bry’s nice buildup) and what we should have done was let Ed have a mellow solo, then a mellow solo from Bry, then his full-blown Claptoning he’s so great at doing. Still, Ed always played some great stuff on this one. I do have to say that he wasn’t always 100% consistent in every song (name one of us who was. Not me.), but in this he was. The ONLY thing that ever brought this down a few notches was that semi-frequently (frequently enough for it to annoy the hell out of me) America messed up the lyrics. Not just something stupid like switching lyrics around, but totally messing up the lines and the rhyme. The line in question was: “You can stay across the room, leave on all the lights/But don’t let me be alone tonight”. It rhymes; it works. America would mistakenly alter it to: “You can stay across the room, leave all the lights ON/But don’t let me be alone tonight”. Eh, whatever. Normally, though, a fantastic song.

Adam and Eve – lyrics & music: Dunn

This was a song we did a lot in Echo Juliet and since Manuel and Ed didn’t play on it, the only difference was America’s voice instead of Christine’s. This song was better suited to America’s voice so I think this one sounded better. But basically, it’s the same song. We put this on our first album, but I don’t recall it staying in the set more than 3 or 4 months.

Without You – lyrics & music: Dunn

Great song! OK, yes, I actually got a bass solo in here and that naturally made this one of my favorite songs to play. Besides that, I still love this one. No, this isn’t the horrible Mötley Crüe song; it’s kind of a rockabilly-ish/swing kinda song. I loved my bass line to this as it had a wonderful bounce to it. Man, this was such a fun song to play! America sounded wonderful on this and her call-and-response with Ed’s violin on the bridge was excellent. I think pretty early on (in the first rehearsals) I mentioned the idea of a bass solo and they didn’t object to it so it stuck. I’d be soloing over a simple chord progression (D – A) so pretty much anything was possible as long as it had some relation to ‘A’. Like all my solos, every single one of these was improvised. Sometimes I played great ones, sometimes bad ones. That’s what’s fun and exciting about doing improvised solos. Whenever I felt like finishing (usually it wouldn’t be at an even number of repeats…sometimes on purpose, sometimes not) we’d then chill for a measure or two before the bridge. Of course after the bridge we’d do a little stop/start thing and finish the song.

Every gig but one the structure was the same. The only time that the song was altered was one evening at Common Grounds in Waco. Instead of the usual indoor gig at this coffeehouse, we played outside on the side patio. This particular evening after my solo Manuel just suggested we jam it out a little bit. I swear, I almost freaked out. I’m really big on improv and jamming and such and I always wanted us to stretch things out more and try some group improv. Not King Crimson type stuff, but like the man said, jam it out a little bit. Well, we just improvised for about 5 minutes or so and it was wonderful. I still think of that as one of my personal highlights in the group. Not because we were improvising, but because it was actually damn good. It was a huge moment for me and something I’ll always remember.

Electric – lyrics & music: Dunn

After the initial batch of material we learned for the group, this was the actual first ‘new’ song Bryan wrote while in the group. I think it was subconsciously inspired by the classic sign at the old Electric Lounge (a large, red neon ELECTRIC in cursive letters behind the band). The song itself had nothing to do with the sign or the club, but with the singer of our previous group. It’s not a hateful song in any way, but it was Bry’s musical response to the whole thing. Mine was a crazy jazz instrumental called “I Knew You?” Few people have heard mine (yet), but it was out there as well. Bryan’s Electric is a good song and very clever. The lyrics, obviously, are great, but the music was really intelligent too. The music sort of poked fun at typical songs and chord progressions we did in the old band. As you’ll know, Bryan does indeed use all that stuff in his own songwriting, so he’s not totally innocent of writing songs with basic chord progressions. Anyway, I know Bryan was proud of this song and it put a nice smile on my face as well.

It started life as more rockin’, but it quickly developed into a funky thang. I had recently acquired a pair of Funk Fingers (mini drum sticks attached to the first two fingers of the right hand…an invention by Tony Levin, he used them on Peter Gabriel’s Steam among other things) and you know how I am, whenever I get a new toy I have to find a place to use it. I think all musicians are that way. So, I thought that Electric would be the perfect place for it. You know, funk it up a bit. They create a very interesting sound and I thought it sounded good. I played the verses pretty straight, but for the chorus I’d play stuttered chords on my bass and slide them up and down (I often steal ideas from Tony Levin). I don’t know how enthusiastic the band was for my showing-off, but they let me do it anyway. Over the course of maybe 6 or 7 months, I did eventually phase out the Funk Fingers and just play it normally. I agree with them, it sounded better without them. The more we played it the funkier it got, to the point of it sounding just awesome by the time I was out of the group. Loved playing this one.

Imaginary Girlfriend – lyrics & music: Dunn

We never did this too often in EJ, so naturally when it appeared in 3PO it was a rarity. Keeping the tradition of Bryan singing on it, America sat out for this (as did Manny and Ed) so we were a Power Trio for this lone song. Occasionally Bryan would forget words (I had to remind him as we went along!), but mostly it was performed the same as it always was. One time in practice (it coulda been live, I can’t totally remember) Bryan started to play it as a ska instead of the normal ‘rock’ way he always did it. Naturally Wiley and I ran with it and I believe either once or twice we played the ska version of IG live in front of an audience. Man, that breathed so much life in this song! And for me, that really opened up so many possible things. I mean, if we can totally change the arrangement of a goofy throwaway song, why couldn’t we do it for our more ‘serious’ ones? Unfortunately it wasn’t a trendsetter. Although rare, I loved it when we just did something different.

Boatman’s Daughter – lyrics: Dunn; music: Dunn, Hines

Inspired by Bryan’s trip to England, I believe there was actually a “boatman’s daughter” and supposedly she looked like Bry’s twin or something. Did she have a beard too? I hope not. I have a special place in my heart for this song. And no, it’s not because I had a part in writing it; I loved when it was in the setlist and I loved playing it. The band was rehearsing in my apartment living room (cramped, but cozy) mostly just working up new material and this was one of the ones Bryan presented. He had the words, and he had the verses and chorus, but he needed that thing that could connect them. He offered for me to write the bridge and I happily accepted the job. My part is from the time change after the 2nd verse until we modulate back into the verse.

Obviously, given the opportunity to contribute I wanted to make the most of it & reflect as much of ‘me’ as possible while still having it be a cool part of the song. My immediate idea was to do a time change and a key change for bridge. Hey, why not, ya know? I couldn’t come up with much during the actual rehearsal other than possibly going to the relative minor (key of F#m…the rest of the song being in A major). After the band left, probably within 15-20 minutes I whipped up this slight change to 3/4 and then a violin solo in F#m over the chords F#m – D – A – C#m with the last time through hitting an E major (the obvious pivot point for the two keys) instead of the A and C#m and then, triumphantly, back into the verse in A. Obviously it’s a really easy change, not anything complex, and it’s nothing original to go to the relative minor for a bit, but it fit perfectly for the song. So after about 15-20 minutes of working on it, I had it down. I called up Bryan and played it for him over the phone and he liked it. I honestly never expected to get a partial writing credit for this song, as I just did the bridge, but Bryan thought it was an essential part of the song and put my name up there on it. Yay! (Although, I still haven’t received any royalty money from the CD…)

This is a song I had a great affinity for. Without throwing myself a parade here, I have to say that I really loved my bass line to this. I know the other guys did too. It had such wonderful bounce and space to it. I still love it. After one of our early performances of this my friend Audrey told me that she loved my bass line to this song and my part really made the song. It was something small, and from one friend to another, but that’s still one of the biggest compliments I’ve ever received. Thanks, Audrey.

She Waits By The Sea – lyrics & music: Dunn

This song makes me ache. He just writes these gorgeous songs and I know they just flow out of him. This was another “UK” song, but I think he might’ve actually written this IN Ireland. Maybe? Regardless, it’s a beautiful song and one I never thought I really did justice too. I always felt a nice fretless would compliment it perfectly. Too bad I still don’t have one.

We kept this one pretty sparse, as ballads of this type should be. I just love the whole feel of this. It’s a wonderful waltz in 3/4 and the way it’s written it really feels like you’re just calmly bouncing on the ocean. This is simply a gorgeous song and I’m very jealous of him for this. This is one that was still played by Bryan in his post-3PO group, Simple Thing.

San Francisco – lyrics: Alva; music: Koepp

This is the updated version of Echo Juliet’s Waiting in the Cold. I guess we liked this one enough so we asked America to write some lyrics to the music Wiley had written. Since Wiley, Bryan and I played this a lot in EJ, it was something we already had down. America wrote the words about her then boyfriend Blueberry (I don’t think I ever knew his real name). The lyrics are actually really sad and kinda morbid. I like this song in theory more than in reality. See, I was always wanting the group to have more diversity in the song writing credits and I loved seeing an “Alva/Koepp” credit. I wanted all 6 of us to contribute to the writing (esp. me) because 98% of our songs were written solely by Bryan. Of course I love Bryan’s songs, that’s not my point. I just felt (still do) that the band would have been even stronger with everyone contributing to the songs. As for San Francisco, I didn’t think it was that great. I got tired of playing the song in EJ, so I wasn’t terribly enthused to play it also in 3PO. I know Wiley could write better stuff, but this was all he showed us so it’s all we had. For me, I thought we kept it around a lot longer than it should have been.

Canción de Amèrica – lyrics: Alva, Gonzales; music: Dunn

This is possibly the best song 3PO had. I am still so impressed with Bryan for writing the music to this massive Latin Groove-fest. The idea originally stemmed from the idea that we wanted everyone to contribute to the music of the band and not just Bryan. Bryan determined for this one he’d write the music and have Manuel and/or America do the lyrics since the music he’d written was very Latin-Groovy. Manuel wrote most of the words and I think America helped out here and there. The vocal melody was definitely America’s. I don’t read Spanish, so I don’t get all of the words, but I can pick a few things out. I think some bits of this song concern America’s Aunt and different things she liked to drink. I have no clue how true any of it is; for all I know Manuel could’ve just pulled stuff out of the air. I think it would’ve been nice to continue with the idea of others writing lyrics for the group and not just Bryan. I think that Manuel’s further writing could’ve presented some interesting ideas since he was an English major.

Even without the lyrics, the music of this song just jams. Bryan just wrote the perfect music on this one. This was one of our more serious jam out songs, and it became an even bigger one after I was gone. We always extended Sunshine, but that was more like additional solos. Canción, however, was more of a true jamming vehicle. If you were in the audience for this one, then your ass would have been doing some SERIOUS moving. For my part I never really liked what I did. I tended to play it simple and it didn’t have as much bass groove as it needed. I’d say that this song was definitely played better once Scott took over the bass duties. He had a much better feel for it and put out a fantastic part on this. This song was always a highlight of the show, and once Scott got his hands on it Canción became an even better song. America did a fantastic job with this and I loved (still do, it’s on as I type this) hearing her sing in Spanish.

Alcohol and Nicotine – lyrics & music: Dunn

This was another great, grooving song Bryan wrote and it popped up around the same time as Canción. I was still in my ‘funk fingers’ mode so I figured I’d play them on another song, the first being Electric. I don’t know if the funk fingers truly worked on this song, but I played them anyway. I think if I were approached with this song today I wouldn’t even think of using the funk fingers. I’m sure back then it was more of a “new toy” thing and we musicians always love to see what songs we can stick our new toys in. But now, yeah, I’d just play it with my fingers. One of the things I loved about being in 3PO and playing Bryan’s songs was how he was really pushing for material with a strong groove. Except for the ballads, all of the newer songs Bryan wrote were all designed for dancing. The intent of 3 Penny Opera in the first place was to have a band that grooved and that the audience would have a great time seeing. We were all strongly influenced by Dah-veed and the energy of the Dah-veed shows. There was always a groove present at those shows and we wanted to be *that* kind of live band. Alcohol and Nicotine, still played by Bryan today, is one of those solid songs that would always get people moving. And whether or not the audience actually moved, I know that the 6 of us always did when playing this.

Diamonds – lyrics & music: Dunn

Another groove-based song here. And, like Canción, this was a serious jamming one. Bryan wrote a great bass line for the verse and the chords he played reminded me in a way of the sort of stuff the Jackson 5 would do; yeah, those kind of grooves. Like most of Bryan’s songs, the lyrics to this concerned a girl (Jenny on this one), but one thing I really liked about them is that they’re just a lot more playful and less “feel sorry for me” than some of the other girl songs. This was a fantastic song to play, with a wonderful bounce, and it became the other highlight of the live shows.

The guy who ran the rehearsal complex where we practiced is a guy named MC Truth. He was a talented local rapper, and a great guy too, and his musical involvement with us started off with him joining us in rehearsals and rapping over our version of Pachebel’s Canon in D. When Bryan wrote this he wanted to extend the middle jam part and have MC Truth come in and rap over it. It was just perfect. We practiced this a lot, but I think while I was in the group America never had the words fully memorized so the only time we played it live was a show she wasn’t at. Amy Mitchell filled in for that show in San Marcos and Bryan actually sang this on its debut. After I was gone it of course was being played at every gig and most of the time MC Truth would get up there and rap and give the crowd a show. I still love this song and it really showed the direction that not only the band was taking, but also where Bryan’s songwriting was going.

Blue Margarita – lyrics: Lewis, Beaver; music: Lewis

I’m throwing this in with the originals since it’s not truly a ‘cover’. This was played live only once, at the aforementioned San Marcos show with Amy Mitchell on 4/24/98. Blue Margarita, inspired by the fruity drinks available at Baby Acapulco’s in Austin, was written by our friend Christina Lewis with lyrical help by another big 3PO fan and friend, Erin Beaver. Christina played in an acoustic duo with Amy (called Amy & Christina, naturally; after I was out of 3PO I joined them as bassist) and this was one of the songs they did. It’s a silly song and a crowd favorite, so since we were playing with Amy that night I proposed that we do this for a laugh. I think that we didn’t even practice it; we just played it on the fly with me showing Bryan how it went right before we played it. I didn’t start playing with Amy & Christina for a few months, but I knew this just by being a fan of theirs and going to all their shows. Blue Margarita was a one-off, and the last song that was ever debuted with me in the band.

Here is a collection of show fliers by Bryan Douglas. He also did a bunch for 3PO. His artwork gave both bands a unique style that no one else had in Austin.

2/27/96

4/10/96 & 4/14/96

7/27/96

10/17/96

2/20/97 (CD Release Party)

My favorite artwork Bryan Douglas did for us, what I call the “Green Monster”

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