song writing

An Exclusive Interview with the Father of the original “Dan Spanner Radio.”

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An exclusive behind-the-scenes chat with the devilishly handsome man behind the music.

Don’t miss next week’s broadcast–

Dan Spanner Radio is inviting the incredible Martin Spanner to the show next week for an exclusive interview about his life of music. The original producer of “Dan Spanner Radio” in its younger years, Martin is an incredible background percussion-man, fluent ambiance facilitator, harmony enthusiast, quirky / upbeat vibe-creator, and an all around devilishly handsome individual. Tune in next week for a chat between father and son about Martin’s influences, from Deano Martin to Billy Joel.

Questions for Marty:

  1. Who are some of your most influential bands and musical artists in your life?
  2. What are your earliest memories of music?
  3. Why have you latched onto certain artists and who are they?
  4. What are some of your favorite music-memories– band concerts, wild parties, etc.?
  5. What can you tell me about “Ben Spanner Radio?”
  6. What are some of your most memorable songs you and I have recorded together, and do you think we can both still hit the notes?
  7. If you could play any musical instrument, what would it be and why?
  8. Who is favorite classic, early 1900s musician?
  9. What are some of your proudest records that you own, and what are your attachments to them?
  10. Let’s talk about the Boss.
  11. Let’s talk about Billy.
  12. Let’s talk about Harry Chapin.
  13. Do you have any goals within the music world? Do you have any hopes or dreams associated with you and music?
  14. What is one of your favorite albums? What is its relationship with you personally? How did it change your life, the world, and what would the world be like without this album, in your eyes?
  15. If you could perform any one song on your own, either in your own privacy or in front of others, what would it be and why?

Greetings, world and music-lovers!

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There is a day in every person’s life when they must adapt. They must change, grow, move on, groove to a different mixtape, listen to albums beyond the 80’s, stop playing God of War on god-mode, read beyond James Joyce and J.M. Barrie, and say goodbye to Toby Maguire’s Spider-Man.

Today is not that day.
Today is a day to dig deep into the comfort and mundane and core shenanigans of my life and to bring with it a challenge.
I have been a piano player and singer and harmonic-neck-piece whatchamacallit for most of my life, which is not exceptionally long, because I am only 23-years-old. I have performed in Battle of the Bands, high school and college musicals and plays, and I’ve played loudly for my folks keeping up until the dead and annoyance of early morning. One of my favorite musical endeavors, though, was something I have never shared to anyone beyond my family.

When my brother Ben moved to Chicago, I missed him. It sucked. I continued practicing more piano. We still talked and gamed and gabbed, but it still was a pain to be away. You’ve heard the story, yes, but this one has a strange twist that led to a wild and wonderful hobby– at least, I thought it was wonderful. I decided to record songs and send them to my brother via Gmail and audio recordings from my phone. If that wasn’t enough, I created a radio personality, of myself, introducing myself, (yes, I realize this sounds nuts, but I swear I am mostly sane and not completely bonkers!) and the entire thing became known as BSR or “Ben Spanner Radio.”

In this blog, I would finally like to share those recordings as well as create new ones. Hopefully, I can even try finally writing my own songs, of which have been mostly terrifying and failures so far. I’m not sure if anyone will listen to them outside of my required classmates and my Professor, but so we go.

Thank you for listening. Frasier Crane signing off.

              

Let’s do this thing.