Most difficult thing Christine ever did onstage

[David]

the "Spare Me a Little" breakdown/coda ... playing it & singing/vamping ("spare me a little bit .. just a little bit ... don't want much ...") those parts at the same time


.....It's like rubbing your tummy, patting your head, & tapping your feet simultaneously!!!!!!!!!

[jbrownsjr]

Songbird

Only because there's a lot of room to f*ck it up vocally and piano.

[jbrownsjr]

the "Spare Me a Little" breakdown/coda ... playing it & singing/vamping ("spare me a little bit .. just a little bit ... don't want much ...") those parts at the same time


.....It's like rubbing your tummy, patting your head, & tapping your feet simultaneously!!!!!!!!!


which concert was this David?

[David]

Songbird

Only because there's a lot of room to f*ck it up vocally and piano.
Do you think so? I think songbird is very easy for Chris to play because she doesn't play the studio arrangement. she plays a stripped-down accompaniment arrangement thats probably a cinch for her. the question remains, is it difficult song to sing for chris technically? Opinions may be split on this, jbrown.

[David]

which concert was this David?
Do you have the trod nossel studios tape? Its on that one, or on the Yale coliseum show. do you have those?

when she switches from the organ over to the electric piano, the song goes into hootenanny mode, kicks into double time, & while she's pounding away in a very rhythmic pattern on e-piano, she has to sing stretchy arcs of melodic phrases across it, like trying to pull a piece of chewing gum across the vast chasms of time & space & olympic peninsula up there in Washington

[HomerMcvie]

the song goes into hootenanny mode
Now there you go again, gettin' all technical on us.... :lol: :rolleyes:

[SteveMacD]

I would have thought drinking a bottle of Dom Perignon during the show and one after the show would be pretty hard...

[HomerMcvie]

I would have thought drinking a bottle of Dom Perignon during the show and one after the show would be pretty hard...
:lol: Yet, she seemed to master that art pretty quickly. God love her! :woohoo:

[PenguinHead]

I would have thought drinking a bottle of Dom Perignon during the show and one after the show would be pretty hard...

Great comment! I love it! :laugh: Also add smoking! Christine, John and Lindsey all mastered that on stage at one time or another.

[jbrownsjr]

Do you think so? I think songbird is very easy for Chris to play because she doesn't play the studio arrangement. she plays a stripped-down accompaniment arrangement thats probably a cinch for her. the question remains, is it difficult song to sing for chris technically? Opinions may be split on this, jbrown.

actually i didn't think of the stripped down version on stage

i have the sheet music and was thinking of the sheet arrangement, duh!!

but yeah vocals are still hard to cover

[David]

i have the sheet music and was thinking of the sheet arrangement, duh!!Just a heads up. Pretty soon, Lesley's site (www.madnessfades.net) will post the transcription of the arrangement on "Songbird" (not the goofy thing you get in the Rumours songbooks published by Warner Bros.), so that should be nice for lots of people who have asked for it over the years.

She gonna post the entire "Off the Record" full-band notation folio, which seems to be out of print, although I'm not sure.

Also, here's something that not a lot of people seem to be aware of: Chris recorded her piano separately from her vocal for "Songbird," as is the traditional studio method for the Mac people. a lot of people think she just sat down in Zellerbach & played & sang it once & bingo, there's the track for the album. But she spent the day recording the piano tracks & vocal tracks, all separately

[aleuzzi]

I've heard/watched a lot of Chis' performances and think her vocal interplay with Buckingham on "Eyes of the World" (Mirage Tour) seemed fairly difficult. It's the beginning I'm referring to, where she and he are doing this kind of pygmy-influenced call-and-response exchange.

[strandinthewind]

Stay awake

:cool:

[dougl]

Tusking away on the accordian with a broken arm seems like it might be challenging.

[HomerMcvie]

Tusking away on the accordian with a broken arm seems like it might be challenging.
I don't remember the broken arm, but she's said she doesn't use the left hand buttons much, if at all.
When was the broken arm? :confused:

[ThePenguin]

I don't remember the broken arm, but she's said she doesn't use the left hand buttons much, if at all.
When was the broken arm? :confused:

Didn't she break her arm the first time she went skiing, on her way out the door? I know she said that somewhere. Right before they were about to do a tour of the orient or something....did she really do the tusk/accordian thing w/ a cast on?! :p

-Lis

[David]

When was the broken arm? :confused:Poor Chris broke her wrist (tennis accident or something) back in 1980 when the band was headed to Japan for the Far East Tour. Hit Parader ran a bunch of photos of her in her cast playing the Japan/New Zealand shows. In one shot, Andy Sumner of the Police was backstage signing her cast.

Even worse than playing the accordeon, it must not have been much fun playing piano & keyboards with the broken wrist, even though the cast kept her fingers free. Actually, ergonomically, it was probably like having a wrist strap!

[David]

Didn't she break her arm the first time she went skiing, on her way out the door? I know she said that somewhere. Right before they were about to do a tour of the orient or something....did she really do the tusk/accordian thing w/ a cast on?!Was it skiing, Lis? All I remembered was that it was some sort of sporting activity

Yep she had to play a bunch of shows with her (right?) arm in a cast. Luckily for "Don't Stop" & some other songs, she's left-handed. WMYTYTO must have been painful, however.

[macfan 57]

Well, I just learned something new about Christine. :) I had never heard that she had broken her arm or wrist. Does anyone have that Hit Parader with those pictures of her playing in a cast?

[ThePenguin]

Was it skiing, Lis? All I remembered was that it was some sort of sporting activity

Yep she had to play a bunch of shows with her (right?) arm in a cast. Luckily for "Don't Stop" & some other songs, she's left-handed. WMYTYTO must have been painful, however.

Yes, I'm positive it was skiing. Actually before skiing--She slipped on her way out the door of the lodge or whatever, and broke her arm. Then she said "Never again." :laugh: Poor Chris.

-Lis (who after a near death experience almost 20 yrs ago has also sworn off skiing! never again will I hit the slopes!!!!)

[SteveMacD]

Yes, I'm positive it was skiing. Actually before skiing--She slipped on her way out the door of the lodge or whatever, and broke her arm. Then she said "Never again." :laugh: Poor Chris.
I swore off intertubing after being dragged 35 mph by the crotch. I felt like my leg that was in the water was going to be ripped off. I couldn't sit, walk, or stand without pain for a few weeks. Luckily the swimsuit stayed on... :thumbsup:

[jbrownsjr]

I swore off intertubing after being dragged 35 mph by the crotch. I felt like my leg that was in the water was going to be ripped off. I couldn't sit, walk, or stand without pain for a few weeks. Luckily the swimsuit stayed on... :thumbsup:

ouch!!! :distress:

[AliP]

Luckily for "Don't Stop" & some other songs, she's left-handed. WMYTYTO must have been painful, however.


Chris is left handed? Or you mean she plays Don't Stop left handed?? uh, if that makes sense... :shrug:

[macfan 57]

Chris is left handed? Or you mean she plays Don't Stop left handed?? uh, if that makes sense... :shrug:

Chris is left handed.

[HomerMcvie]

Well, I just learned something new about Christine. :) I had never heard that she had broken her arm or wrist. Does anyone have that Hit Parader with those pictures of her playing in a cast?
I know. And I thought I knew everything about her. :xoxo: I'm surprised we've not seen pics of it though..... :confused:

[SteveMacD]

Chris is left handed.
Actually, Chris is ambidextrous. Look at how she plays the guitar!

[chiliD]

I would have thought drinking a bottle of Dom Perignon during the show and one after the show would be pretty hard...


So...the Blue Nun was just for photo shoots & recording sessions? :shrug: :laugh:

[SteveMacD]

So...the Blue Nun was just for photo shoots & recording sessions? :shrug: :laugh:
:lol:

Okay, now I have this image in my head of Christine in a recording studio dressed in a blue habit, and whacking John on the hand with a ruler.

[David]

Chris is left-handed? Or you mean she plays Don't Stop left handed??You can tell listening to her play on songs like "Don't Stop" & "Angel" that Christine is left-handed. The attack on the rhythm shuffle of "Don't Stop" is pure lefty.