Dr BLT's Blog n Roll Studio
an innovative fusion of music and discussion centering around a variety of topics
A blog about Arts & Entertainment, Health & Wellness, and Kern County.
Real Name: Bruce Thiessen Member Since: July 29, 2006 Last Signed In: July 23, 2008 Profile Views: 14565 Blog Views: 79450 male/female Bakersfield's Next Buck contestants team up for duet about Buck and Bonnie Owens What this Country Means to Me: A tribute to Kern county country music I'll pull some Strings for You: Lyric today, hear it tomorrow Bakersfield sound pioneer helps younger songwriters pen tribute to the Blackboard where he played Roots, Rhythm and Boots to Fit In: Lyric today, hear it tomorrow I'm going to try to get Sonny Langley and Red Simpson to record this duet Sonny Nights: Latest from Songs inspired by Sonny Langley Shadows: I can't believe I got to produce this Hank Ray song Are You the New Hank? That's what I asked him in this interview question that doubles as a song Music critic Michael Dalton's review of Buck Owens Studios Farewell Session CD August 06 September 06 October 06 November 06 December 06 January 07 February 07 March 07 April 07 May 07 June 07 July 07 August 07 September 07 October 07 November 07 December 07 January 08 February 08 March 08 April 08 May 08 June 08 July 08 http://www.drblt.net 
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I'm white, but my skin is not. As a Euro-Canadian-American, I'm supposed to keep my opinions about rap to myself. I've got too much education. I didn't grow up in the ghetto. No, I don't know much 'bout living on the streets, but I do know entertainment when I see it and when I hear it.
If you're down with pre-gansta rap, and into praising the rap rejects, like Tone Loc, MC Hammer, Sir Mix-a-Lot, and yes, the quintessential rap persona non grata, Vanilla Ice,...
It's not going to be easy going back to work after a long weekend. The only source of comfort is that you'll be looking at a 4-day week. No, there are a couple of additional reasons to return to work. These reasons are two Tone Loc tunes for your post-Labor-Day-weekend Tuesday.
This is pre-gangsta, pre-sagging britches and pre-raps-about-driveby-shootings-and-slappin-hos and bitches. I'm talkin' rap's quintessential old school story-teller, Mr. Tone...
This song came to me as I reflected on how much time Americans (myself included) spend on work as opposed to play or R&R. Americans are driven by pay, and many are prepared to work hard in order to get it. Some apply at least some of their hard-earned pay towards some well-deserved hard-earned play, but many more skip this essential part of life. If you don't take time to stop and smell the roses and if you don't take time to play, then you are not really living, you are...
As a self-proclaimed Christian, I should not be posting such devil-worshipping dung. Nevertheless, I find it to be the perfect antidote for being sick and tired of being bored and restless at work. Maybe you will find it to be your perfect antidote to.
There aren't many brights sides to growing old. But for those of us just barely old enough to remember 45 rpm records, being able to hold on to memories of B-side songs represents one of the bright sides of growing old.
One of my favorite B-side 45s was the B-side of Andy Kim's Rock Me Gently. The reason? Because it was a straight instrumental mix of the A-side song, so it was a self-contained Karaoke back-up track.
For those just barely old enough to remember...
Welcome to my new BLOGame show, I Wanna Be a Rock Star.
Where's the drummer? As you can see in the photo, and as you can hear in the song: Something's missing. Someone's missing, and that someone is you!
Today, Kern County drummers will be invited to download this Dr BLTune for free, add a drum track, and enter it, by sending the drum-augmented mp3 as an attachment to my email address. Got a flair for snare? Personally, I think a track heavy on the...
Welcome to my new BLOGame show, I Wanna Be a Rock Star.
Where's the drummer? As you can see in the photo, and as you can hear in the song: Something's missing. Someone's missing, and that someone is you!
Today, Kern County drummers with a flair for county crossover hits will be invited to download this Dr BLT cover of Jimmy Buffet's Come Monday, add a drum track, and enter it, by sending the drum-augmented mp3 as an attachment to my email address. The song will be...
Meet the Bloggers: Kern County Family of 4: Episode 4
Play catch-up here:
http://people.bakersfield.c...
The VH-1 cameras are rolling. This time, the camera crew rolls the cameras into the spare room, where Billy Baker is practicing his guitar. Ed Baker, Billy’s father, is intolerant of noise (except that of his own making), and so, he stormed in just as Billy is wailing out what he believes to be one of the...
I was entering fourth grade (Grade 4, as we say in Canada, eh?) at Brunskill School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. My teacher's name was Mrs. Gaston.
My mom and I did some last-minute back-to-school shopping, and among other nerd wear, she purchased me a nice, shiny, positively out-of-style pair of shoes. I was so worried that they would get a crease in them that I didn't bend my feet or my toes all day.
How about you? Do you have any back-to-school nerd stories you'd like...
It was written in about 20 minutes. It started with a birthday song for Buck, entitled Don't Forget Buck's Birthday. Then it evolved into a song you can sing along with all year long.
The recording process was quite simple. I sat down at my home studio overlooking The Streets of Bakersfield, laid down the rhythm guitar track first, then the lead vocal, then the harmony track, and, finally, the lead guitar. Then I mixed it down. The pros will be able to tell...
Claiming, even to come close, to the legendary Johnny Cash, is clearly blaspheme. It's like not being John Lennon and claiming you've become more popular than Jesus Christ. No, I'll never be Johnny Cash, because I'm...well... me, but it sure was fun smuggling in a guitar and playing Johnny Cash at a northern California prison. You can catch the whole the story here:
http://www.tollbooth.org/20...
As for the version of the song you hear here, that's...
Well, nobody questioned whether or not this picture of me kickin' it with the king was the real deal. But over at Bakotopia.com somebody did have the audacity to challenge my notion that Elvis is that "only one king," I referred to in that initial post and in the 2 similarly-titled songs that further lend support to this claim.
Chase brought up race. Does it apply, in the case of Elvis?
Here's the link, if you want to chime in over there,...
The Reverend Dorian Baxter is to Elvis what Ron Gross is to Socrates. Ron Gross, who often sports a toga and a pair of Socratic sandals, is a human bridge from Greek philosophy to contemporary, vital, philosophical dialogue. Dorian Baxter, an Anglican minister and Elvis impressionist who often sports the trademark Elvis jumpsuit, is a human bridge from religious tradition to contemporary, vital religious expression. Each has adopted a distinctive persona or archetypal character in order to...
To catch up from the prior episode, hit this link:
http://people.bakersfield.c...
Ed grunted in frustration as he walked around the large cable TV camera now focused at the center of the table, where the Bakers, aka, the Bloggers, were about to have another family dinner together, while pretending that they were not the subjects of a new reality show.
Janet sat down with an eager expression on her face. "If you haven't heard, Billy's been...
I'll never put a mortal above the king of kings. John Lennon gave the appearance of putting himself above the King of Kings and paid for it, dearly. But notwithstanding the King of Kings, there is, was and will always be, only one king---The King of Rock n Roll---Elvis Presley.
No man has ever touched the hearts and souls of people of all ages across the world in the way that Elvis did.
I did have the chance to interview the only man giving him competition in...
More Fire from Barry McGuire
The Rock n Role Model Interview: Part II
By psychologist, Dr Bruce L. Thiessen, aka Dr BLT
It is fitting that my second interview with Barry McGuire would follow an interview I had with Pat Boone and would occur just prior an interview I have scheduled with Brian
"Head" Welch, formerly of the band, Korn.
Barry is from Pat Boone's generation, but his music is timeless. If you go back and check out this video, you'll know exactly what I mean....
Pearl Jam is not one of my favorite bands, but the band is undeniably talented. Nevertheless, Pearl Jam, and frontman Eddie Vedder in particular, has yet to offer any pearls of wisdom concerning politics. He mostly just vents. I don't like it, but censoring the idiotic comments of celebrities as they try to wax political, is something I rarely support.
You can catch the featured story here:
http://www.daylife.com/arti...
...
For me, it's family, friends, music, and faith. These are the things that sustain me. How about you. What sustains you through the hard times? What keeps you going when you want the world to stop turning?
Round and Round
Dr BLT
words and music by Dr BLT copyright 2007
I can't tell if you are dancin'
right in step with me
I can't see a way out of the
way things used to be
but we go
round and round
and back and forth
and round and round together
...
Notwithstanding one death threat (and this one in one of my Sacramento performances, so none of you should feel responsible for that), it wasn't a tour that ushered in a great deal of excitement or generated a great deal of buzz. It didn't end with fireworks, a great bang, or a sizzle. It just kind of fizzled out.
Dr BLT's Takin' in to the Streets of Bakersfield summer tour in honor of street musicians didn't draw large numbers, and ended up being held over at...
I generally don't draw big numbers with my outdoor acoustic performances, and I don't generally sell many CDs. In short, I'm not very popular as a singer/songwriter.
Dr. BLT's Birthday Breakfast for Buck, (featuring original songs from Confessions of a Buckaholic, including the new birthday song) would have been deemed a disaster by some. But I always try to look at the glass as half full, and this was no exception. Besides, it wasn't for...
Have you ever tried to deceive yourself into thinking something was true when you knew it was not? Have you ever tried to comfort yourself with words that, while true, may have been totally inadequate in addressing what you were feeling at the moment? Have you ever turned your back on your true feelings?
This song is a song I wrote back in the early nineties when a young woman I thought I was in love with at the time wasn't sharing the same feelings I had for her. ...
If you think psychologists are able to consistently model a suitably high level of self-esteem, think again. Why do you think they (we) tend to be such over-achievers. Adler would probably say we're all trying to compensate for a deep sense of inadequacy?
I hate to break it to you, but the "Dr Phil" image is not what the mental health field is all about. We're not altogether together. We're all just wounded healers, all at different levels of our own...
I wasn't satisfied with the birthday song I had previously written for Buck, so this morning I wrote him a brand new one. And after his birthday, I'll introduce an alternative version called Don't Forget Buck Owens that you can sing all year round.
In the meantime, here are the lyrics for those few fans dedicated enough to me, Buck, or both to attend my early morning Buck tribute show Sunday at 8:00 am. Where, you one dear soul may ask?
At the front patio at...
By popular demand (yeah, right, in my dreams!), here is the new, full instrumentation edition, for your listening pleasure.
For those who are being exposed to the song for the first time:
Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? That sentiment, poignantly expressed in the Simon and Garfunkel classic, Mrs. Robinson, carries with it, a whole new meaning today.
This whole new meaning is now contained in a whole new record, by yours truly, Dr BLT.
Remember, for better or...
On Saturday, June 30, 2007, my wife sent me to the corner of Coffee Road and Olive Street in our hometown of Bakersfield, to pick up a pre-ordered party pack of Subway sandwiches for my now 2-year-old daughter, Kassidy's 2nd birthday party.
When I walked into Subway, there, at the head of the line was none other than Brian "Head" Welch with his soon-to-be 9-year-old daughter, Jennea. You guessed it, they were picking up a pre-ordered party pack of sandwiches and cookies for her...
I'M A TERRIBLE SHRINK. YOU'D HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO COME AND SEE ME! When this first came to my head as a joke, I didn't know that by the crepuscular hours of the day, it would turn into a song.
This blog n roll song, and this blog n roll topic is about my changing picture of what a psychologist should look like. I used to believe I had to be a younger Dr. Phil. My picture has been gradually changing.
I've recently adopted a more humanistic approach to...
July 17, 1996 was the day some terrible news came in. It was the horrifc crash of TWA Flight 800. Before that news put a damper on my day, I met Kevin Coster, his mother, and Kevin's 3 charming children.
Lucky me. The office that the company I was contracted with to provide comprehensive psychological services had rented me an office right, smack dab in the middle of an entertainment complex in Beverly Hills, California.
I didn't have any patients scheduled...
For those who missed episode I of my part fact/part fiction sort of blog reality show/gradually unfolding novel, here's the link that will get you all caught up:
http://people.bakersfield.c...
Since the last episode, following a meeting with Bakersfield.com and Bakotopia.com staff, and VH-1 staff, a decision is made and announced to the Baker family that they may now leave the house on occasion, but continue to be restricted to Bakersfield.com and Bakotopia.com in...
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