Use What U Got To Do What U Can

As we move from the recently celebrated Thanksgiving holiday weekend… and shouldn’t EVERY weekend be a thanksgiving opportunity… we now find ourselves in the mad crush of the Holiday Season! Parties, open houses, dinners, any reason to get together and eat, drink and be merry!
While I have always loved this time of year, especially here in the MidWest where traditionally we would have frosty temperatures and possibly even snow by now, this holiday season I’m feeling more reflective and keenly aware of others and their emotional well being during this sometimes very stressful time of year.
I look forward to spending time with family and close friends, and the opportunities to make new friends. But I also can’t help wondering what I can do for those who have no one. This can be a very lonely time as well.
Perhaps my feelings are the result of the latest song that I’ve written, in collaboration with my new writing partner, Terry Abrahamson. We wrote USE WHAT YOU GOT (TO DO WHAT YOU CAN) specifically to enter the John Lennon songwriting contest. While we are quite aware of the realities and fickle nature of song contests, we are also very confident that we have a winner here no matter how it fares in the JL contest.
Cheers, and may your holidays be filled with warmth and love.

So, it’s been a while since my last post. Crazy summer heat has slowed us all down somewhat… at least here in the MidWest. Time to play outside while we can, enjoy the wealth of activities that are all seemingly crammed into a few short months before we get our wool undies back out of storage!

Music festivals were everywhere, water activities, plenty of food and drink to last through our ensuing hibernation. I only hope that the distraction of the upcoming presidential election will sustain me as I get ready to hit it hard musically during the traditionally “slow” winter months ahead.

I’ve been enjoying a recent creative start with a new writing partner, Terry Abrahamson. Terry and I go way back to the days when I was a first call jingle singer in Chicago. He was a one-of-a-kind character who, as a freelance producer, showed up at various singing gigs of mine. He became a fan, and has been doggin’ me for quite a while to team up. His lyrics to I WILL BE YOUR LEATHER intrigued me enough to get us rollin’ down our current path. After a brief flirtation with a major corporate entity, we are still working on the best route to take with this great American motorcycle song. We believe it’s the next great biker hit!I Will Be Your Leather

Our second collaboration, THE ARMS OF MOTHER NATURE, is at the moment in the hands of Chuck Leavell and company in the songwriting contest at www.sing4the trees.com More on that as it unfolds.

Lastly, end of summer days has always been somewhat bittersweet for me as I celebrate my birthday at the end of August. As a kid, it meant that summer vacation was over and school was about to commence. Here’s to new beginnings!

Yeah… I know. I’m not supposed to be political. But it IS a song after all. In fact, I believe Paul McCartney owns that one!

However, I’m compelled to write in the aftermath of the recent historic recall election in my former home state. Governor Scott Walker is no friend of mine, nor anyone I know. I’m ashamed for the people of Wisconsin that they fell for the bought and sold tactics of an absolutist dupe of big business.

As I spent most of my formative years in Wisconsin, playing in a variety of blues, rock and country bands, I knew it mostly to be the birthplace of the Progressive movement and home of hard swingin’ Senator William Proxmire, who would take on anyone who was trying to bullshit the public… especially his constituents. I was proud to say that I was from Wisconsin when I toured other parts of the country.

I think I’ll go write a blues song and dedicate it to what used to pass for a liberal state. God help us all if this is an indication of where the USA is headed!

Seems Max has had an ongoing relationship with the Jonathon Brandmeier show, having contributed numerous parody songs and gag voice-mails. Of course, this endeared him to me since I have my own little twisted history of producing parody songs. In the mid-eighties I gained international infamy in the guise of Guy Herman and the Bubbler Boys, with our rendition of I’M A MILWAUKEEAN. It was a loving tribute to my then hometown, done as as parody of Boy George’s KARMA CHAMELEON. As soon as Max learned of this, we became new BFF’s.

Which leads to the current inevitable partnering on a new parody song, NATO Chicago Video, a hilarious puppet led rendition of the Village People’s YMCA. The song is a warm hearted welcome to Chicago for the upcoming NATO summit. I supplied the vocals, while Max produced the video and Sillypuppetguy provided the excellent puppets.The viewer numbers just keep growing everyday.

This is just another example of “you never know where things might lead” And I’m always putting it out there, knowing that that is exactly what will happen.  So…where next?

Been listening to the new Bonnie Raitt record, Slipstream, the last few weeks… a lot! It’s her first new recording in seven years, and it is worth the wait. I’ve been a huge fan of Bonnie’s ever since my old red headed girlfriend turned me on to her in the late 70′s. Instantly fell in love with her blend of American music styles from blues to country to rock all on one record. I was very into Little Feat at the time, and she struck me as a female version of that group. I found out a little later that she was actually being courted to be part of their lineup at one time.

Every track on the new record is solid and her long-time band is smokin’. She’s changed keyboardists yet again… oh what I would give to be the man on the ivories in her band…and producers, and the result is one of her best albums ever.

On top of that, The  American Music Association announced the selection of Bonnie Raitt to receive its coveted Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance at the Association’s 11th Annual Honors and Awards ceremony, slated for Wednesday, Sept. 12 at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn.  As this year’s honoree, Raitt joins a distinguished list of previous recipients, which includes Gregg Allman, Wanda Jackson, Asleep at the Wheel, Jason & the Scorchers, Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo, Chris Hillman, the late Levon Helm and Emmylou Harris.

Lawrence Whittemore / Foter

The truth is that I happen to like the sound of the name…go ahead, say it a few times…. and I happen to delight in writing, producing and performing genuine American music. My politics are not on display here, nor should they be. I do not lean hard left or right. I prefer to think of myself as leaning forward.

My definition of a real American is someone who realizes just how fortunate they are to live in the United States. It’s also someone who embraces the ideals that this country was founded on and lives by those ideals despite the political climate…or maybe because of it. You know… someone who leans forward!

When we allow ourselves to be divided as a nation by an ever-increasing media fed frenzy of fear, name calling, and hateful rhetoric, it weakens us all.

The only way I know how to deal with the daily onslaught of political divisiveness is to ignore it, have a laugh watching The Daily Show and Colbert Report,  and make music. Hopefully, it’s the kind of music that says America to you.

Musically & patriotically yours,

Derrick An American