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Within You Without You Joe Manzi
Hi Everyone, My name is Joe Manzi, I was born in New York and lived in New Jersey and Texas. I grew up during the British invasion. That was a special time the 60’s. It’s amazing when you think about how the children of England went through World War 2. And they produced all these great bands. Myself my top Three Bands of the 60’s are of course The Beatles. The Kinks and The Who. If you listen to all their music from 1 album to last.
They were always improving. There are so many like that. But those are the ones that capture
my ears. In my teens I learned to play guitar and some bass. I have a Gibson Les Paul 69
a Fender telecaster along with a couple of Acoustic. I have always love music. I have attended many great concerts. Every weekend I would go to my second home. The Filmore East and saw everybody. I attend the Woodstock Festival in 69. The best 3 1/2 days of my life. I saw all the Beatles separately. Paul with Wings, John & Yoko at an Elton John concert in Madison Square Garden They did two songs and left. The concert for Bangladesh George and Ringo.
I know some people don’t like saying who their favorite Beatle was. Not me George, John Ringo then Paul. That’s the way it goes. .
Now why I like Mona Lisa Twins. There has been many years where I was not happy with the music that was being made. I am not a rap fan. Hate Disco. Thank God for Tom Petty and early U2. Not much happening. I’ve notice all of a sudden there is this invasion of women groups and artist. I came across the Twins by accident on You Tube. I was looking for this girl group called Larkin Poe two sisters from Georgia. I saw this video You Can’t do That. One of my favorites. I always love the way John sang. Twist & Shout nobody better. I listen to the clip of the Mona Lisa Twins and said who the hell are these people. They are Great and cute. I spend the rest of my day listening to everything they had on them. I am hooked on them. I bought all their music. I like that they are doing their own music too. You want to be an artist and perform your own music. They don’t want to just perform others music. I can’t believe I said that. But it’s true. They are that good.. I could go on. But I am going to stop.
I join the Club and glad I did… So Stay Groovy. And as Ringo’s say peace and love girls..
Me
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72 Replies
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Here is the link to that Woodstock blog
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Hey Jung,
I did write a little something about a week ago. I will collect my thoughts and write some more. You can read what I have wrote for now.
Joe
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It looks like my previous post evaporated into thin air? Here it is again.
A huge warm welcome Joe to the:
So glad you joined. Enjoyed reading your post here and all the other posts!
It looks like you witnessed some great concerts, including the Woodstock festival, wow! That is very special. There is a blog at the MLT website where Woodstock was discussed you might find interesting. See the link I posted above.
Do you still play the guitar? I resumed practicing the piano after a 20+ years break, thanks to inspiration from MLT. They got me back into music!
Hope you have a wonderful time here!
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Hey Jung,
First thank you for your help my friend. To answer your question. I did post something on that link you provided about a week ago. I will think of some other things that happen. I went up there with three other friends. One of them was Robert Zimmerman. Now not Bob Dylan.
Just another Zimmerman.
Yes I play at least two hours a day. I picked it up for a while and then stop. On and off.
Then I retired and I promised I would play everyday. You can never learn enough. My hearing is not what it used to be. But my number one fans are my dogs.. One howls once in
a while if I am playing Acoustic. She must be a country dog.
That’s great you went back to the piano. Stick with it. So what type of music do you play?
Joe
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Welcome Joe, glad to have you here. I found the twins on a Beatles search about 18 months ago. I saw these young girls with big grins doing “Drive My Car”. Fabulous. Then it was video after video.
I’d just come back from a medical clinic and felt about 80% dead. I started searching for music to jump start some endorphins to deal with my pain. Their music, skills and the joy they bring to it made a huge difference for me. So positive, so upbeat, so excellent in their skills! I am very grateful to have found them. They’ve brought some of the best music ever made to life again and turbocharged it.
I’ve enjoyed your posts. I ran across Larkin Poe a few weeks ago. I love “Don’t” that you mentioned and “Bleach Blonde Bottle Blues.” I have a little southern blues rock in my soul. I ran into Sina that you mentioned about a year ago. I admire her skills and first saw her “Ringo” video. I love her “old” version of “Last Night a D.J. Saved My Life.” She has a newer one, but I like the old. I’d never heard that song before. I really enjoy the drum beat. I used to be a drummer and I appreciate her skills. One of my favorite MLT videos is their first concert with the different solos. All 4 are masterful, but being a drummer I love watching Mona’s solo on “Ain’t No Sunshine.” She has this big grin at the end and I just wish I had been there to clap very loudly and tell her how amazing it was. Such impressive skills for 13 yrs old.  If you haven’t gotten to it yet, Lisa’s solo on “Samba Pa Ti” is incredible.
I could go on forever, but will restrain myself. Again, welcome to the best club on the internet or anywhere else.
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Welcome to the club Joe. thanks for your intro.  Regarding the British Invasion, I have always found it amazing that it was  young people from so far away that took a completely American sound,made it their own and inspired countless Americans & others to pickup a guitar and form their own bands. I love a lot of different kinds of music but those British bands you mentioned still sound to me as explosive & fresh as they must have sounded when they first appeared. It sounds like you have seen a lot of incredible concerts. Although, most off what is considered popular today I can’t listen to, there is an a lot of wonderful music being made today. Youtube  and the internet in general made it possible for any  to show their talents to the world. But I think the level of quality  & professionalism of the Mona Lisa Twins is still very rare. Discovering their music  has been an addictive and life affirming experience.
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Then I retired and I promised I would play everyday. You can never learn enough. My hearing is not what it used to be. But my number one fans are my dogs.. One howls once in a while if I am playing Acoustic. She must be a country dog.
LOL!  Joe, it’s always good to have man’s best friend as an audience, especially the 4 legged furry kind!Â
On the piano it’s been learning classical.  I learned and performed a simplified version of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata once. I’m relearning it all, and may expand into other genres like pop/rock like a Beatles tune or something jazzy like a Peanuts Linus and Lucy song.
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Thank you John,
I have to find that video of Mona doing Ain’t No Sunshine. Haven’t seen that one.I really think the Twins are special and I am looking forward to the club and new music from Mona and Lisa
Larkin Poe I really enjoy. Love there version of Black Betty, Mississippi Preaching Blues,
John the Revelator and Robert Johnson Come on IN My Kitchen. All their music, Rebecca has a strong voice, I really consider them more Blues. I love the Blues myself. Looking forward to interacting with you and others.
Have a great evening John,
Joe
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Joe, in addition to Aint No Sunshine, check out this one too of Mona drumming and singing!
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Thanks David,
Right now I think it’s a women invasion. There are a lot of good women bands out there. Mona Lisa is definitely on top. If you like southern bands like Allman brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
There this band from Georgia I’ve been following for years now. I am finally going to see them
with some restriction at the Stone Pony in Jersey. That band is Blackberry Smoke.
Have a listen I love Amanda Shires on the fiddle. This is a take on Petty.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td8To6gb3qA
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My favorite song by them. Payback is a @$%%
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David,
The music business has changed so much today. Not many bands sign with big labels. They do their own producing and everything else. For a band to make money today you have to be on the road a awful lot. They really don’t make much money on cd, vinyl and downloads. The you have piracy. I can’t believe what they charge for vinyl today. It outrageous..
Tuff to make it. The old days the record company control you. So today you have to pick your poison. I’m sure the Twins are going through this.
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John,
Do you still play the drums at all?
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Hey Jung,
You keep at the piano and go where it takes you….
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Hey Joe, where you going with that guitar in your hand?
Welcome, there are a lot of similar stories here on how we each discovered the MonaLisa Twins. A lot of them, including mine, go like yours. I saw this one video when I was looking for something else, and then bodda – boom, bodda – bing, Bob’s your uncle. I just started watching everything.
And then I discovered this club. It’s so kool. They have so much on here to wander through. Sounds like you have already been around. Did you see the Duo Session for She’s Leaving Home? It’s one of my favorites, and it really shows off both of the girls’ talents. It seems like everything they do is just drenched in natural talent. They have cursed me with so many earwigs. Today at work, I found my self humming Sweet Lorraine. Like that’s a bad thing? These songs are very catchy. Their production is second to none. I was amazed to learn that these beautiful pieces were written, recorded, produced and marketed by a very small group of people. I do believe four is the most you can have to be called a very small group of people.
I play guitar a bit, too. I was going to say I play a little guitar, but then have you seen that pic of Lisa’s little guitar? 69 Les Paul sounds nice. I have a Takamine acoustic and a Parker electric. Have you ever tried a Parker guitar. No relation, but since that is my last name, it was kind of a must-have. Have you heard of Adrian Belew? He does a lot of nice demos for Parker Guitars on youtube. I go through periods of playing every day to not being able to find time to play. Following these girls has inspired me to practice a little more.
Last night I was strumming along to Hey Joe, and I said to my wife,”I will remember this as CanGeorgeDoAnythingElse.” I felt so clever. She just gave me one of those wife looks.
Oh, and I live in a sleepy little town north of Yasgur’s Farm. That was a little before my time, but the thought of it make me miss going to concerts.  Hopefully soon.
JP is feeling groovy in the Catskills…One More Time
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Only in my mind and on my knee or desk or dash – whatever is near. Surprisingly I think I could pick it up again. It seems to still be there. At about 13 and a year after I started the drums I traded them in for a motorcycle. I started skiing when I was 5 and I think became addicted to speed. I think secretly my parents might have enjoyed me annoying the neighbors with my noise instead of them with my drums. I’ve been debating picking up the guitar which is what I always wanted to play anyway. I’m still running a business and taking care of a family so my brain just doesn’t see spare or leisure time. I can’t see myself murdering guitar chords when I could be listening to the the sublime music of Mona and Lisa. Why take up fingerpainting when I have a beautiful museum of music right here.
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