Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Christopher J Hartzog Music

Bassist, Guitarist & Composer

Blog and News!

The Video for Hide Away

Here is the video for Hide Away.    I released my arrangement and recording of Freddie King’s Hide Away last week, on July 1st and then worked on putting this video together.  I wondered if “Mel’s Hide Away Lounge” which Freddie says he named the song after was still there, but apparently it disappeared long ago.  I contacted the manger for Freddie’s brother, Benny Turner, to see if she knew about Mel’s Hide Away Lounge and she confirmed that it is indeed gone.  But she told me that according to Benny, it was on Roosevelt Road (12th Street) near S. Halsted Street.   By the way, in the process I found out that Benny has a book out titled, “Survivor: The Benny Turner Story“, which I bought and I am really enjoying reading about Benny’s life, along with stories about his big brother Freddie.  Anyway, since the original Hide Away lounge is long gone I tried to find as many pictures of other Hide Aways that I could to include with my music.  So here you go!

 

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New Music Wednesday – Hide Away

Hi friends,

It’s New Music Wednesday and Hide Away was released today and is now streaming on Spotify and other digital platforms. As always, you can find more info on the Music Store page on my site.

Hide Away Cover Art by Christopher J.

Officially the original Hide Away was written by Freddie King and Sonny Thompson, but like a lot of blues songs, it’s actual pedigree is a bit cloudier. Freddie apparently mentioned that he incorporated parts from several other songs into Hide Away such as The Walk, Guitar Boogie Shuffle and Peter Gunn, but arranged in his own way. Also, Hide Away got its title from a blues club in Chicago called “Mel’s Hide Away Lounge”, which I have been told was located on Roosevelt Road (12th Street) near Halsted. My version includes a new solo part way through the tune. See if you can spot it.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed Hide Away as one of the “500 songs that shaped rock and roll”.  The song also crossed over out of the blues market and charted on the Billboard Hot 100 list, making it one of the best performing songs by a blues artist in the pop genre.

Enjoy!

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PS: During my searching to see if Mel’s Hide Away Lounge is still there in Chicago (it’s not…) I discovered there are a lot of places around the USA (and world) named “Hide Away” or “Hideaway”. See below!

Hide Away locations

Enzo’s Hideaway Tunnel Bar
1560 E Buena Vista Dr, Disney Springs, Orlando, US 32830-8431
Enzo's Hideaway Tunnel Bar
The Hideaway Bar
516 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803
The Hideaway Bar 516 Virginia Dr, Orlando, FL 32803
The Hideaway Bar & Grill
At: Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort
6550 Adventure Way, Orlando, FL 32819
The Hideaway Bar & Grill At Universal’s Cabana Bay Beach Resort
The Hideaway Lounge
2627 S Parker Rd, Aurora, CO 80014
The Hideaway Lounge 2627 S Parker Rd, Aurora, CO 80014
and this one too…
Also The Hideaway Lounge 2627 S Parker Rd, Aurora, CO 80014
Hideaway Lounge
7466 Blackmon Rd Ste C, Columbus, GA 31909
Hideaway Lounge 7466 Blackmon Rd Ste C, Columbus, GA 31909
Hideaway Lounge
505 Ramsey Road, Jacksonville, NC  28546
Hideaway Lounge 505 Ramsey Road, Jacksonville, NC 28546
Hideaway Jazz Club
1 Empire Mews, London SW16 2BF UK
Hideaway Jazz Club 1 Empire Mews, London SW16 2BF UK
Hemingway’s Bar & Hideaway
438 Houston St, Nashville, TN 37203
Hemingway's Bar & Hideaway 438 Houston St, Nashville, TN 37203
AJ’s Hideaway Bar & Grill
5048 River Rd N, Keizer, OR 97303
AJ's Hideaway Bar & Grill 5048 River Rd N, Keizer, OR 97303
Hideaway Guest House And Bar
420-183 i Buakhow 15, Moo 9, Nongprue, Banglamung, Chonburi, 20150 Pattaya, Thailand
Hideaway Guest House And Bar Thailand
Hideaway Tavern
939 SE 2nd St, Bend, OR 97702
Hideaway Tavern 939 SE 2nd St, Bend, OR 97702
Hull’s Hideaway Restaurant & Tavern
37 Potomac River Rd Monterey, Virginia 24465
Hull's Hideaway Restaurant & Tavern 37 Potomac River Rd Monterey, Virginia 24465
Sam’s Hideaway Tavern
750 S Krome Ave, Homestead, FL 33030
Sam's Hideaway Tavern 750 S Krome Ave, Homestead, FL 33030
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Spotify Give Away

I have a Spotify Give Away going on:  Pre-Save to have my upcoming single “Hide Away” added to your library on the release date of July 1st! AND, If you connect now you can enter for a chance to win a free, autographed copy of my CD, ‘Bluesy Bach & Friends’!

 

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New Playlist: 3 Blue Kings & More

New Playlist: 3 Blue Kings & More:  I put a new playlist, 3 Blue Kings & More, up on Spotify with 3 hours of music featuring tunes by all the great kings of the blues: BB, FK, AK and their disciples. Please follow and save the playlist.

Click the Button to Follow me on Spotify……and…then….check out my playlist “3 Blue Kings & More”.

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Dave Barry’s Colonoscopy Journal

I posted this the last time I had to have all this fun and so I wanted to be sure to share the fun with you all!

A friend sent me this today in an attempt to cheer me up and break my nervousness over my impending colonoscopy.  BUT, I almost don’t need a colonoscopy NOW…..I think I just had one reading this.

ROFLMAO!! OH, I CAN BARELY BREATHE NOW!!

++++++++++++++++++++
This is from newshound Dave Barry’s colonoscopy journal:

…….I called my friend Andy Sable, a gastroenteritis, to make an appointment for a colonoscopy. A few days later, in his office, Andy showed me a color diagram of the colon, a lengthy organ that appears to go all over the place, at one point passing briefly through Minneapolis .

Then Andy explained the colonoscopy procedure to me in a thorough, reassuring and patient manner. I nodded thoughtfully, but I didn’t really hear anything he said, because my brain was shrieking, quote, ‘HE’S GOING TO STICK A TUBE 17,000 FEET UP YOUR BEHIND!’

I left Andy’s office with some written instructions, and a prescription for a product called ‘MoviPrep,’ which comes in a box large enough to hold a microwave oven. I will discuss MoviPrep in detail later; for now suffice it to say that we must never allow it to fall into the hands of America ‘s enemies.

I spent the next several days productively sitting around being nervous. Then, on the day before my colonoscopy, I began my preparation. In accordance with my instructions, I didn’t eat any solid food that day; all I had was chicken broth, which is basically water, only with less flavor. Then, in the evening, I took the MoviPrep. You mix two packets of powder together in a one-liter plastic jug, then you fill it with lukewarm water. (For those unfamiliar with the metric system, a liter is about 32 gallons.) Then you have to drink the whole jug. This takes about an hour, because MoviPrep tastes – and here I am being kind – like a mixture of goat spit and urinal cleanser, with just a hint of lemon.

The instructions for MoviPrep, clearly written by somebody with a great sense of humor, state that after you drink it, ‘a loose watery bowel movement may result.’ This is kind of like saying that after you jump off your roof, you may experience contact with the ground.

MoviPrep is a nuclear laxative. I don’t want to be too graphic, here, but: Have you ever seen a space-shuttle launch? This is pretty much the MoviPrep experience, with you as the shuttle. There are times when you wish the commode had a seat belt. You spend several hours pretty much confined to the bathroom, spurting violently. You eliminate everything. And then, when you figure you must be totally empty, you have to drink another liter of MoviPrep, at which point, as far as I can tell, your bowels travel into the future and star t eliminating food that you have not even eaten yet.

After an action -packed evening, I finally got to sleep. The next morning my wife drove me to the clinic. I was very nervous. Not only was I worried about the procedure, but I had been experiencing occasional return bouts of MoviPrep spurtage. I was thinking, ‘What if I spurt on Andy?’ How do you apologize to a friend for something like that? Flowers would not be enough.

At the clinic I had to sign many forms acknowledging that I understood and totally agreed with whatever the heck the forms said. Then they led me to a room full of other colonoscopy people, where I went inside a little curtained space and took off my clothes and put on one of those hospital garments designed by sadist perverts, the kind that, when you put it on, makes you feel even more naked than when you are actually naked.

Then a nurse named Eddie put a little needle in a vein in my left hand. Ordinarily I would have fainted, but Eddie was very good, and I was already lying down. Eddie also told me that some people put vodka in their MoviPrep. At first I was ticked off that I hadn’t thought of this, but then I pondered what would happen if you got yourself too tipsy to make it to the bathroom, so you were staggering around in full Fire Hose Mode. You would have no choice but to burn your house.

When everything was ready, Eddie wheeled me into the procedure room, where Andy was waiting with a nurse and an anesthesiologist. I did not see the 17,000-foot tube, but I knew Andy had it hidden around there somewhere. I was seriously nervous at this point. Andy had me roll over on my left side, and the anesthesiologist began hooking something up to the needle in my hand. There was music playing in the room, and I realized that the song was ‘Dancing Queen’ by ABBA I remarked to Andy that, of a ll the songs that could be playing during this particular procedure, ‘Dancing Queen’ has to be the least appropriate.

‘You want me to turn it up?’ said Andy, from somewhere behind me. ‘Ha ha, ‘ I said. And then it was time, the moment I had been dreading for more than a decade. If you are squeamish, prepare yourself, because I am going to tell you, in explicit detail, exactly what it was like.

I have no idea. Really. I slept through it. One moment, ABBA was yelling ‘Dancing Queen, Feel the beat of the tambourine,’ and the next moment, I was back in the other room, waking up in a very mellow mood.

Andy was looking down at me and asking me how I felt. I felt excellent. I felt even more excellent when Andy told me that It was all over, and that my colon had passed with flying colors. I have never been prouder of an internal organ.

ABOUT THE WRITER
Dave Barry is a Pulitzer Prize-winning humor columnist for the Miami Herald.

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New Music, New Video: Amazing Grace – How Sweet the Sound

Hey friends — Just letting you know that inspiration struck me and I finished some new recording and video editing in record time.  My latest recording is now on YouTube, or right here: It’s New Music, New Video: Amazing Grace – How Sweet the Sound.

Amazing Grace was written by former captain of a slave trading ship, John Newton and published in 1779.

Lyrics

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see!

‘Twas grace, that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved!
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come.
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe, thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise,
Than when we first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

 

 

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