Honest Tunes Radio Show & Weekly Webcast

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Honest Tunes Radio Show, Dgold “interviews” members of The Codetalkers. It’s not exactly an interview, more of a crazy improv session, a stream-of-consciousness experiment. The Codetalkers’ Bobby Lee Rodgers plays guitar and a 1960’s echoplex (tape delay echo chamber), and sings, while Colonel Bruce Hampton performs improvised singing and poetry, talks in 12 languages and a variety of unearthly dialects, and communicates with several people by cell phone. It all comes together to show the OUT side of The Codetalkers.

SETLIST: Bail Bondsman > Look Out For That Tornado > Lo! > Some Say Love > 16 Years > Oh Falcon, Tornado > Bail Bondsman, Arkansas (I Never Had Much Control Until I Got To Arkansas), Interview, Lando Calrissean, Interview, Tornado

Interview topics / partial transcripts of some of the strange and funny moments such as Col. Bruce playing Falcon’s drum kit:
In “Bail Bondsman” the Colonel says “Room 104 has 14 bail bondsmen entrenched by the Daniel Gold concept. While running amok they consumed meals on the hoof.”

The Codetalkers new CD “NOW” will be available in June (and we’ll be playing it in advance on KXUA)

Col. Bruce is in the phone booth talkin’ to his mama

Hampton Grease Band reunion show June 2nd @ Variety Playhouse, Atlanta… Colonel Bruce said “Need them people from Arkansas down there, make it go off. Need them peoples down there. If you’re from Arkansas we’ll give you 75% off, and a free room, and the letter M out of the alphabet. Give you $100,000 cash and a get-away car. Come on!”

Col. Bruce raving about BLR:
Hey that man’s been all over the world
He’s been everywhere,
Poland, Russia, St. Lawrence river
Texas, been all over Texas
He know the Queen of England and the Queen of Sweden
He’s been all over the world
That man sitting right there invented the sympathizer
He taught B.B. King how to use extortion
And that amplifier was born the same day Loralee Wallace the Governor of Alabama died
Looa-lean, that’s what his name is.
That man right there been all over the world!
Thank you for having us tonight.

Dgold: What was your original concept when you started the Hampton Grease Band?
Col. Bruce: There’s no such thing as a concept. Get a mental institute on the road. 12 different languages. I can say hello in 12 languages. I’d like to send this out to Joe-Tex, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley. I better go back into that phone booth now, somebody callin’ me.

Bobby Lee Rodgers lists the track-titles on the new CD “Now” by The Codetalkers, including Ike Stubbelfield, Victor The Snakeman, Blow My Brains, Sagittarius Face

Bobby Lee Rodgers on the song Sagittarius Face: “It’s about one of my friends, that actually went through a lot of stuff and had a lot go wrong in their life. They made a lot of decisions, and they had to wear it. That’s what it’s about. It’s about, ‘there’s some things you just can’t erase, that are on your Sagittarius Face.’ A lot of times you go through things in life, and you have to wear them for the rest of your life. And that person happens to be a Sagittarius.”

Bobby Lee Rodgers speaks about the song Saturn from The Codetalkers debut CD “There’s a thing called Saturn Return that happens every 30 years of your life, that makes you look at yourself. And it’s about just about someone having to look at themselves. A lot of people go through life, and they just kind of go through life, and then all of a sudden life catches up with them. And they have to go, ‘Oh my God, here it is.’ It kind of slaps them in the face. That’s what it’s about. I’ve had so many people come up to me and say, ‘Thanks for writing that tune.’ They finally get it. First they think it’s about a car or something, but that’s not it at all. And then they check out what Saturn Return is, and it’s something that’s pretty heavy. It’s a pretty powerful thing. We know people that are going through it, don’t we Falcon!”

Col. Bruce “Central’s calling” >> plays sounds from his cellphone

Dgold: What about Chief Whitehorse, he’s become Chef Whitehorse?
Col. Bruce: He has become the Chef. We’re taking out an “I”. When you turn 35 years, you lose an “I”. The gravity in the muscles start to come apart.

Col. Bruce: You know what state has the most average rainfall?
Dgold: Florida?
Col. Bruce: Hawaii.
… You know what state has the most people that make $20,000?
Dgold: Mississippi?
Col. Bruce: Arkansas.
… You know they said Pike’s Peak was started in Colorado, it was actually.

Bobby Lee Rodgers playing “Lando Calrissean”

Bobby Lee Rodgers on Fayetteville: “Everytime we come here, we just feel like we’re home. The best weather, the best people, the best radio station.”

Col. Bruce Hampton on Fayetteville: “A and Z, the first letter in the alphabet, and the last letter in the alphabet. They were switched. And now, A is the second letter. And anytime you get a city with the second letter A in it, it’s good. That’s why it is. You look at C and X. Christmas and Xmas, they were switched around. B and Y, by means two — but now Y used to be the second letter of the alphabet, now it’s the second to last.”

They play “Watch Out For That Tornado” one more time

Col. Bruce Hampton and musical foil Bobby Lee Rodgers in The Codetalkers revisited the studios of Honest Tunes Radio for an interview and improvised musical performance, Live Webcast on Saturday afternoon! 5PM Central Time this Saturday April 8th (before their show at George’s Majestic Lounge that evening). Thanks to Stingray for recording the webcast.

Discussion thread on The Codetalkers Forum

The band performed that night at George’s Majestic Lounge on Dickson Street, just down the road from KXUA. The radio interview took place Saturday April 8th, 2006, about 5:00 PM Central Time Zone.

Shortly after this Fayetteville concert, Col. Bruce went to have his heart checked out, and took time off from The Codetalkers tour. Within just a few shows, he bounced back and was playing shows with the band again. All our best wishes are with The Colonel and the band as they make their way in the world. We seek every opportunity to see The Colonel perform and shine his unique personality, and hope to have him on the radio show again soon for the three-peat.

Before the show we had gathered questions here on the radio blog….
Got a question for Col. Bruce Hampton? You can submit your questions using the comments/requests form at the end of this message: http://dgold.info/radio/webcast2006/music136#comments. The craziest and most interesting questions, I will try to ask Col. Bruce on the radio show.

This was the 2nd time we’ve gotten to interview The Codetalkers and hear a live performance from Col. Bruce and Bobby Lee Rodgers on the radio show. Last time, the Codetalkers played Jennings Rose Room which we offer here in a podcast mp3 recorded in 2005. Whereas this post featured the April 2006 interview with the same fellas, doing songs like Bail Bondsman > Look Out For That Tornado, Oh Falcon, Arkansas, and Lando Calrissean. Those interviews were OUT there, weren’t they?

When in doubt, go completely OUT.

Print | Posted Sat. April 8th, 2006 by Arkansas | Filed under Live Acoustic, Interviews, Podcast, Setlists