Practical MIDI

Usually when I talk music with other people from all across the country and I mention that I’m from Wisconsin, they sometimes ask me about my home state. And in doing so I get the feeling that when they think of Wisconsin they immediately think of cheese and cows. Well, we’re more than that. We have a pretty good musical history of our own. All the big stars didn’t just come from L.A. or New York.

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Cybermidi’s latest sequence, “Sweet Life” reminded me of its composer and singer, Paul Davis, who died recently just one day after his 60th birthday, of a heart attack. There was never a lot written about the man during his lifetime. He was an unassuming, low-key kind of guy who stayed out of the spotlight when not performing. He released eight albums and six singles during his career, which began at the tender age of 22 back in 1970 when he signed with Bang Records. His highest charting single was “Cool Night,” which peaked at number two. “I Go Crazy” didn’t get any higher than number 7 on the charts, but broke the record for longest stay on the charts at more than 40 weeks. Another Davis hit, “’65 Love Affair” also reached the Top 10, as did 3 other hits during his career. He was inducted into the Jimmie Rodgers Hall of Fame in 1987.

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Last night I watched one of my favorite music-themed movies—“Mr. Holland’s Opus” with Richard Dreyfus. He’s a composer who supliments his income by teaching high school music classes in the mid-60s. In one scene he plays a piece on the school piano and asks if any student can name it. All hands shoot up and a dozen voices answer, “Lover’s Concerto” by The Toys. To which Mr. Holland answers, “Wrong! That was “Minuet In G Minor” by Johann Sebastian Bach and it was written in 1725.” Their mouths drop open as Mr. Holland plays the minuet version and explains that the original was written in 3/4 time while the pop version was converted to 4/4 time. This scene got me to thinking about how many other so-called contemporary tunes are actually the product of a much older beginning.

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You might wonder how some of those famous bands came to be known by the names they chose. Well, I’m here to enlighten you with just a few. For example, the Swedish band, ABBA is nothing more than an acronym using the first letters of the first names of its members. Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny & Anni-Frid. Nothing more, nothing less.

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I heard an oldie on the radio the other day and from the little bit I heard I assumed it was Santana because of the Latin-Rock flavor of the tune. Turns out it was actually a song by a group called Malo and the song was “Suavecito.” I was partially right about who I thought was playing it since Malo featured Carlos Santana’s brother, Jorge. And that got me to thinking about all the other relatives, siblings, brothers, sisters and other family member in the music business.

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