Thursday, November 30, 2006

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: AT THE MOVIES

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 30, 2006


Gov. Bill Richardson loves the movies. Now he’s in one, showing this weekend as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Inside Bill Richardson is the work of Neil Simon. No, not the famous playwright. This isn’t “The Good-bye Governor.” It’s Neil H. Simon, former KOB-TV newsman, who now works as a freelance journalist in Washington, D.C.

Weighing in at only 30 minutes, the film is basically a television public-affairs special — which it originally was — not a full-length documentary in the Michael Moore/Morgan Spurlock/Al Gore vein.

For those who have followed Richardson’s career, there are not many startling revelations. But it’s a good, balanced overview of Richardson’s career.

There are old black-and-white still photos of baby Bill, as well as old news footage of a younger, slimmer and bearded (!) Bill Richardson pressing the flesh.

The film covers Richardson’s triumphs — campaign victories, his renown hostage-release missions and legislative conquests. There are glowing words from Richardson’s staff; friendly comments from Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce president Terri Cole; and an interview with the guv himself.

There are even clips from the Richardson spoof on Saturday Night Live last year (Comic Horatio Sans has to be praying that our governor’s 2008 dreams come true) and Richardson’s 2004 appearance on The Daily Show. (“I’m getting the sense that you’re here for selfish reasons,” host Jon Stewart tells him.)

This film never will be used as a campaign tool for any future Richardson campaign. The film discusses Richardson’s temper and his speeding, and shows low moments, such as the bi-partisan blasting he got from U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W. Va., and U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., at a 2000 Senate Armed Services Committee meeting when Richardson was the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy.

There are local critics, too. There are interviews with usual suspects, such as state Rep. Dan Foley of Roswell (now House GOP whip), state Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, and Republican operative and blogger Whitney Cheshire.

But there are some discouraging words from unexpected sources. Christine Trujillo, president of the New Mexico Federation of Labor, says “We just sort of shake our heads in awe because we feel very disenfranchised.”

University of New Mexico political science professor Christine Sierra says in the film that some critics “felt that, in a way, Bill Richardson was too much of a compromiser, that he would, you know, wet his finger and see which way the wind was blowing and then decide to take the path of least resistance.”

Inside Bill Richardson will be shown at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the theater formerly known as the Jean Cocteau Cinema, now the New Mexico Film Museum, 418 Montezuma Ave. Tickets are $5 at the door.

A discipline problem: Richardson was discussed Wednesday in The Washington Post’s online chat with political blogger Chris Cillizza. A participant from Baltimore wanted to know, “Is there anything you see holding him back from grabbing the center should Hillary Clinton not run?”

Cillizza replied, “I think a candidate with the résumé of Gov. Richardson certainly belongs in the conversation about the 2008 nomination but continue to hear concerns from Democrats that he is simply not disciplined enough to run a campaign under the national spotlight. At the moment, that question is unanswerable.”

Cillizza last week raised the same “discipline” concern In his blog (The Fix), but added, “Before you write off Richardson, however, ask yourself what other potential 2008 candidate could have pulled off this ad?”

There’s a link to Richardson’s well-liked western parody campaign ad from the recent campaign.

Speaking of ads: Another D.C. publication, The Hill, published a story Wednesday that some Republicans are angry at the Republican Governors’ Association over a $115,000 anti-Richardson ad.

The comical ad featured a bobble-headed — and incredibly thin — cartoon Richardson bouncing from one state to another, mumbling and squealing “Whee!” The basic thrust was that Richardson’s out of state too much, running for president.

“That late expenditure in the noncompetitive race was the coating on a bitter pill for GOP operatives in several red states with Democratic governors,” the story by Aaron Blake says. “Their candidates received little financial help from the governors’ association and went on to lose by stunning margins.”

Not to mention the irony that the RGA is headed by Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is running for president himself.

Making the move: The contest for speaker of the New Mexico House isn’t the only leadership battle brewing among House Democrats. Besides the pending Ben Lujan/Kenny Martinez showdown, at least two candidates are vying for majority leader.

In addition to the previously reported bid by Rep. Joe Cervantes of Las Cruces, Rep. Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque confirmed Wednesday that she’s running, too. “I’ve served for 12 years,” she said, “and I have a real understanding of the workings of the floor and committee system.”

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

HOUSE LEADERSHIP BATTLE


Looks like it's on between House Speaker Ben Lujan and House Majority Leader Kenny Martinez.

You can read my story in today's New Mexican HERE.

Of course this has been all over the political blogdom of the state. Heath has been all over it. He's even run a totally unscientific, (but fun to watch) poll. Monahan has made a few posts on it (Here's the best). Mario weighed in this morning.

I have to give special kudos to Kate Nash of The Albuquerque Tribune who scored a major journalistic coup last week when she actually got Kenny Martinez to return a phone call. (Neither Martinez nor Lujan returned my calls yesterday.)

Monday, November 27, 2006

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 25, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Thanksgiving in Reno by Too Much Joy
We're Gonna Have a Real Good Time Together by The Velvet Underground
Record Junkie by The Monsters
Five to One by The Doors
One-Track Mind by Johnny Thunders
Turquoise Boy by Sonic Youth
Details of the War by Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
March of the Cosmetic Surgeons by French, Frith, Kaiser & Thompson

River of Dreams by Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town
One More Time (Over and Over) by Fleetwood Mac
Angel by Camper Van Beethoven
What Makes You Think You're the One by The Twilight Singers
Get Back/Glass Onion by The Beatles
The Sparrow by A Hawk & A Hacksaw
Harlem Nocturne by Esquivel

PERE UBU SET
Blue Velvet
Wasted
Sentimental Journey
Drinking Wine Spodyody
i Hear They Smoke the Barbecue
Texas Overture

The Valley by Los Lobos
I Met Her in Church by The Boxtops
Red Apples by Smog
Hangin' Johnny by Stan Ridgway
In the Land of Fairies by Lisa Germano
True Love by Tiny Tim & Miss Sue
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, November 25, 2006

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 24, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Agony Wagon by The Legendary Shack Shakers
Bring the Noise by The Unholy Trio
Highway Bound by Wayne Hancock
Come on Baby Let's Go Downtown by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Wicked Savior by Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys
Waymore's Blues by Waylon Jennings
Fortunate Son by John Fogerty
The Christian Warfare by The Original Sacred Harp Choir
He Was a Friend of Mine by The Byrds

Sometimes by Jerry J. Nixon
Been Down Too Long by Scott H. Biram
Planet Nixon by Ramsay Midwood
Me and My Glass Jaw by Arty Hill
John Peel by Paul Burch
Dirty Mouth Flo by Robbie Fulks
Your Head's Too Big by The Ditty Bops
I'm a Nut by Leroy Pullens

Mr. Shorty by Marty Robbins
Big Dwarf Rodeo by Rev. Horton Heat
Change is Gonna Do Me Good by Big Al Anderson
Yes Ma'am (He Found Me in a Honky Tonk) by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers
That's Not the Issue by Wilco
Mojave High by Tony Gilkyson
Dirty Me Dirty Me (I'm Disgusted With Myself) by The Texas Sapphires
Two More Wishes by Jim Lauderdale

Thanksgiving by Loudon Wainwright III
That's How I Got to Memphis by Solomon Burke
Makeout King by Eleni Mandell
To All the Girls I've Loved Before by Willie Nelson
Rock of Ages by Rob McNurlin
When I Loved Her by Kris Kristofferson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Friday, November 24, 2006

FORTUNATE SON

Football fans were treated not once but twice to John Fogerty halftime shows on Thanksgiving Day. First at the Miami-Detroit game, then at the Kansas City-Denver game.

And both times he sang "Fortunate Son," a song just as relevent today as it was back during the Vietnam war when Fogerty with Creedence Clearwater Revival first released it.

Some short-sighted idiots might dismiss Fogerty as boomer nostalgia. But I think it's pretty radical to sing it on national t.v -- TWICE IN A DAY -- in this troubled era.

And both times he sang it, he was charged!

In case anyone's forgotten the lyrics:

Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Yeah!

Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, oh.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.

Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more!
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one.

(By John Fogerty)

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: UBU VOODOO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 24, 2006


Thirty years after the birth of Pere Ubu — a scene I imagine as a grainy 8 mm film of mad scientists holed up in a secret, makeshift laboratory in some abandoned warehouse in Cleveland, shooting electrical bolts into a huge, discolored dinosaur egg — the band still sounds as crazy, dangerous, and, yes, fresh as ever.

To be sure, Ubu ’06 has only one of its original members: frontman David Thomas. But just like the Ubu of yore, on the new album Why I Hate Women, Thomas and his cohorts explore musical frontiers nobody else ever reached, shores to which no other band even aspired to sail.

Yes, they’re experimental, avant-garde, and artsy — if your idea of art includes cheapo ’50s and ’60s sci-fi flicks. (And in fact, another recent Ubu project was to supply a new soundtrack to the old Roger Corman popcorn-muncher X: The Man With the X-Ray Eyes.)

There’s a film noir — avant noir? — feel to some of the songs. Thomas describes Why I Hate Women as “my idea of the Jim Thompson novel he never wrote.” For instance, “Stolen Cadillac” starts out, “I gotta get out of this place else I swear my head will crack/What will you do for me?/Johnny Two-Toes says to Betty Groove.”

Pere Ubu is proudly fartsy as well as artsy. That is, they not only create fascinating sound — they rock!

“Caroleen,” for instance, is a hard-pounding kick in the teeth with a steady, manic, guitar hook over near-metallic drumming (and of course, trademark Ubu syntho-squeals and Thomas’ wild warbling.)

Likewise, the opening track, “Two Girls (One Bar),” sounds like the buildup to an explosion. “In this bar, the beer don’t work on me,” Thomas sings, as if he’s just begun a terrible search for something that will work on him.

Some of the songs here are thick and sinisterly atmospheric — “Stolen Cadillac” is one. “Blue Velvet” is another.

(One amusing little Ubu trick I love is how they sometimes employ the titles of old rock and pop songs for their weird sonic excursions. In the past there have been PU songs called “Down By The River” and “Cry, Cry, Cry.” You’ll see names like “Blue Velvet,” “My Boyfriend’s Back,” and “Mona” here, but you’re not going to hear covers of Bo Diddley, The Angels, or Bobby Vinton. A few years ago Thomas pulled a surprise when the song “Surfer Girl,” turned out to be a cover version of the Beach Boys song — albeit a very strange version.)

But even at their most incomprehensible, Thomas and the Ubus don’t seem to take themselves too seriously. Check the lyrics to “Caroleen”: “And in the cool hours of the nite/she kisses me and it rips my head off/You know her name, rhymes with gasoline/Her perfume, I think it’s turpenteen.”

Or how about “Mona” (about a gal from Arizona), which has the refrain, “Mona loves Popeye/Mona loves Popeye.”

The album ends with “Texas Overture,” on which Thomas seems to be plugging and reciting the menus from various barbecue joints.

“Salt Lick in Driftwood is no beer family style,” Thomas says, referring to one of my favorite BBQ restaurants. “3 meat platter bowl of beans slaw tata salad/Onions pickles two slices white bread Texas style/Order in order out order online/Order by mail fax toll free anytime. ... Bottomless refills more meat more beans whole lotta slaw please.” Think of this as a New-Wave/post-punk/proto-rap/art-rock version of Guy Clark’s “Texas Cookin’”, with a swampy guitar riff that sounds like a mutant cousin of Creedence Clearwater Revival.

For those who love these strange sounds and crazed visions, Why I Hate Women is nearly as satisfying to the ears as a meal at The Salt Lick is to the belly.

Don’t call him “Dave”
The album is available at Smogveil Records. And any Ubu cultist or prospective fan will want to see Pere Ubu's own site and check out the “protocols” section, in which Pere Ubu policies on performances, press, bootlegs, and nearly any other aspect of their operation is laid out for the world to see.

My favorite is the in-store appearance policy: “Immediately on arrival introduce Mr. Thomas to as many people as possible, pointing out interesting facts & aiding the flow of conversation. Do not let Mr. Thomas stand around like a lemon. ... As soon as possible Mr. Thomas must be guided to a chair from which he may play his accordion & dominate the immediate space in an absolutist manner. ... Mr. Thomas should not be referred to as “Dave” or touched in an overly familiar way. His name is ‘David.’”

Also noted
Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain by Sparklehorse. This record, the first Sparklehorse album in five years, is surprisingly accessible — especially after the often grating yet strangely beautiful sonic experimentation with the likes of Tom Waits and PJ Harvey on the last album, It’s a Wonderful Life. I was tempted to call the first song (“Don’t Take My Sunshine Away”) Beatles-ish, but on repeated listening it’s closer to Badfinger-ish. True, the instrumentation starts to head on a discordant trip to Banana Land for a few moments toward the end. But for the most part, this song and most of the others here are sweet, melodic pop.

Slow and sweet at that. Sparklehorse — not so much a band as a stage name for singer Mark Linkous — can actually rock out and does so on a handful of tracks, the best one being “Ghost in the Sky.”

But the shoegazers outnumber the foot-stompers. The album ends with the 10-minute instrumental meditation that is the title song. It sounds kind of like what Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” would have been without guitarist Eddie Hazel.

Belly of a Mountain is very listenable and mainly likable, though ultimately disappointing. I kept longing for more of the wilder side of Sparklehorse. There’s a hint of that in the near-psychedelic final moments of “Knives of Summertime,” where the guitars sound like fighting alley cats. But the fur never really flies.

Thursday, November 23, 2006

R.I.P. ALTMAN


What a loss!

I've just been filling my Netflix qeue with Altman flicks that I've never seen before (California Split, A Wedding) and some I haven't seen in years (McCabe and Mrs. Miller, The Long Goodbye).

Here's my favorite Robert Altman movies:

Shortcuts (my favorite film of the '90s.)

Three Women

Nashville

M.A.S.H

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (Hey, any movie with both Karen Black and Cher is going to be a winner)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: A THANKSGIVING TURKEY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 23, 2006



A turkey that came way before Thanksgiving is the Secretary of State’s Web site, specifically the campaign contribution reports page.

Two weeks ago in this column I noted that just a very small handful of the reports that were due on Nov. 2 were actually posted on the site. Among statewide races the only ones there were those of the gubernatorial candidates.

I sarcastically suggested that someone ought to take the software used for this site back to Toys “R” Us and demand a refund. Vastly overestimating my own influence, I assumed that ridiculing this useless site would shame the office into fixing the problem.

Guess what ...

As of Wednesday afternoon — nearly three weeks after the reports were filed and more than two weeks since the election — there are still only the gubernatorial candidates’ reports on the site and still just a tiny fraction of the others.

That’s right, it’s impossible to use the Internet to track most of the campaign contributions given to New Mexico politicians since early October.

There’s no note of explanation or apology on the site. Just this lame message that’s been up there for weeks: “ Not all reports that have been submitted appear on this page. The Secretary of State's staff will link missing submitted reports to this page ASAP.”

ASAP now appears to be WHFO.

A spokesman for the secretary of state said Wednesday he doesn’t know what the problem is. “I know we have a server that’s down,” said Ray Baray. But for three weeks?

State Sen. Dede Feldman, who sponsored the legislation to create the electronic filing system as well as several other bills to improve public access to campaign finance records, said Wednesday she finds the delay “very disturbing.”

“It’s not that they don’t have the money,” she said. She made sure the secretary of state got a special appropriation to get the system going.

“The secretary of state’s timely operation of this system is the lynch pin,” Feldman said.

Remember, the public posting of these reports isn’t just some nice gift from the Secretary of State’s office like free milk and cookies. It’s required by law.

And though having campaign reports available on line is indeed a convenience to reporters, it’s not just a convenience to reporters. It’s supposed to be the right of every citizen to be able to easily inspect these documents without having to drive to the Secretary of State’s Office.

Of course our election laws, routinely scorned by national watchdog groups as weak and ineffective, provide little if any recourse for this failure. Indeed, Feldman noted, there is nothing in the law about deadlines.

Feldman said she’d like to see a “real-time” system, when a report would appear on the Web site right after it’s filed.

“It would be great to have real-time reporting, but right now we’re not even doing un-real time,” she said.

For what it’s worth, the final reports for campaign 2006 are due a week from today.

Got it Maid: It’s been a couple of weeks since the election but some of us still hear negative campaign ads echoing in our nightmares.

The attack ad that’s stuck in my ad was Republican secretary of state candidate Vickie Perea’s shocking revelation that her Democratic opponent — and eventual winner — Mary Herrera, on some official junket as Bernalillo County clerk had charged a cup of Starbucks coffee and a hotel room with maid service to taxpayers.

Maybe I’m missing something here, but I’d be more worried about public officials staying in a hotel that doesn’t have maid service.

And if Herrera can fix the secretary of state’s web site to make it run like it should by the next election, I’ll personally buy her a cup of any caffeinated beverage she’d like.

Only one year, 11 months and a few days until the 2008 election: Everyone anxiously is awaiting Gov. Bill Richardson’s big announcement in January.

That would be his long-promised position on cockfighting. Will he stand up for the gamebird industry and announce a bold initiative to make New Mexico a destination cockfighting capital?

Oh yeah, some people also are interested in his other promised announcement — whether he’s going to seek the presidency.

A CNN poll released this week shows Richardson’s got some work to do.

The poll shows Richardson in a tie with U.S. Sen. Joe Biden for seventh place. Both got three percent of the vote.

To nobody’s surprise, Sen. Hillary Clinton is ahead with 33 percent. The next tier includes Sen. Barack Obama 15 percent and former Vice President Al Gore and former Sen. John Edwards, who each got 14 percent. The single digit contenders include Sen. John Kerry, the party’s 2004 nominee (7 percent), retired Gen. Wesley Clark (4 percent), Sen. Evan Bayh (2 percent) and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (1 percent.)

For the poll, Opinion Research Corp. conducted telephone interviews with 530 registered voters who describe themselves as Democrats or independents who lean to the Democratic Party. The margin of error is plus or minus four percent.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP!
It was Thanksgiving Day 2001 when the first Roundhouse Roundup was published in The New Mexican. It started off as a joint effort between myself and my then Capitol Bureau partner Jonathan McDonald, who has since moved to Montana.

I still love doing it, and I'm thankful to all you readers who have offered encouraging words about the column.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

R.I.P. AL TELL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 21, 2006


Al Telcocci, a jazz pianist better known to Santa Fe audiences as Al Tell, has died in Colorado following a long struggle with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, his wife and musical partner Norma “Tell” Telcocci said Monday. He was 87.

He died Nov. 11 at Shalom Park, an Aurora, Colo. nursing home where he’d lived for several years, his wife said.

The couple, working in a combo called The Al & Norma Tell Quartet entertained at Santa Fe bars and hotels throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Al moved to Santa Fe in the 1970s. According to a 2003 newsletter for Shalom Park, “Al and Norma met in Santa Fe in 1982 — after Norma’s eldest daughter, Nancy, raved about Al Tell, the jazz pianist she had heard the night before: ‘He plays all the songs you always sing around the house. You’re gonna LOVE him!’ ”

“I ‘sat-in’ for three months before getting paid to sing with The Al Tell Trio,” Norma said Monday. She said they worked together over three years before they were married in 1985.

He was born in 1919 in Lodi, N.J. “Al started his musical career at age 14," Norma said. "He had to borrow a pair of long pants from an uncle for his first gig.”

Al served four years in the Army Air Force. After his service he returned to playing the East Coast circuit with a group called the Johnny Kaye Trio. He moved to Oklahoma City in 1950, where in addition to club gigs, he landed his own television show on WKY-TV called Music on Call. “Listeners would call in to request many of over 3,000 songs for which Al had quick recall,” Norma said

“If Al knew the song, he could play it in any key,” she said. “Even today, it's hard to find someone who can transpose as effortlessly as Al did."

In 1968 Al toured Canada and several eastern states as part of Benny Goodman’s band.
In addition to their musical careers, in Santa Fe Al and Norma operated a bed and breakfast called Casa de la Cuma, which is still running.

The couple left Santa Fe in 2001 after Al was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Al’s death came six month’s after the death of Norma’s oldest son Daniel Baca in an auto accident in California.

A memorial service is scheduled today in Denver. Norma said she will take Al’s ashes to Santa Fe National Cemetery on Nov. 28, where they will be blessed by Father Frank Pretto, a priest and musician who presided at Al and Norma’s wedding. A reception at La Fonda will follow. The times of these events are pending.

Besides his wife, Al is survived by his sisters Anna Curcio and Marie Pasciolla in New Jersey, his son Jim Telcocci in Oklahoma, daughter Gina Falick in California; stepchildren Nancy Walters of Colorado, Rebecca Benenati of California and David Baca of Madrid, N.M.; nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He also is survived by Norma's mother, Olga Stark, who also lives at Shalom Park.

In lieu of flowers, Norma requested donations may be made in the name of Al Tell to The Alzheimer's Research Foundation, to Shalom Park, or to The Santa Fe Jazz Foundation.

For a pretty cool article in the Shalom Park newsletter about Al & Norma Tell, CLICK HERE and scroll diown to page 4.

Monday, November 20, 2006

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 19, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Good Enough For You by The Fleshtones
It's Not Enough by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
Crack Soundtrack by The Unband
Forgotten Sex by Zvuki Mu
Caroleen by Pere Ubu
They Ride by The Twilight Singers

Loch Lomond by Richard Thompson
Country at War by X
The Skin of My Yellow Country Teeth by Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
Rats by Sonic Youth
Feet Music by John Zorn
Technicolor by Os Mutantes

Please Send Me Someone to Love by The Persuasions
Attica Blues by Archie Schepp
Life is Like a Musical by Outkast
Skinny Legs and All by Joe Tex
The Turner Diaries by Eddie Turner
Lord Will Make a Way by Mighty Sam McClain
Not Me by The Orlons
Don't You Ever Let Nobody Drag Yo' Spirit Down by Linda Tillery & The Cultural Heritage Choir with Wilson Picket and Eric Bibb

Voice of The Turtle by John Fahey
Zu Zu Mamou by Dr. John
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Sunday, November 19, 2006

CLUB ALEGRIA TO CLOSE

I don't have any details yet, but I just learned that Club Alegria on Agua Fria is going to close. The big question of WHY so far isn't known.

Here's the e-mail from manager Zia Cross:

Hello everyone,
It is with great sadness that I am writing to inform you all that Alegría will be closing forever.

This news came suddenly to me so I am passing it along as quickly as I can to inform you of our final shows. I hope everyone can come out one last time (or 3…).
Thank you to all who have come out and showed your support. Also much thanks to the media and especially to all of the great musicians and DJ’s who have played and tried to help make Alegría a success. We are sad to say goodbye.
Thank you, I hope to see you all soon.
Zia

She goes on to list the final three shows scheduled:

*Tuesday: ''We Are The Village'' music and art benefit party for Modesto’s Huichol family’s community in Nayarit, Mexico. It is to raise money for adequate water and sanitation. Children have come down with cholera and many are sick and have open sores and lice. Performers include The Keven Zeornig Project, Ricardin, Andromeda Crash, Miquel y Thelma, Ben Joaquin, The Dixon All Star Band, The Revolutionary No Water Blues Band, Hickory Strongheart, and Bob and Jodie Arellanoand Chispa. DJ Vita

* Friday: A "Farewell party" featuring Xoe Fitgerald Time Travelling Transvestite (Joe West has something to do with that) and D-Numbers with DJ Feathericci.

* Friday, Dec. 8 Public Enemy. PUBLIC ENEMY???!!!! That's what it says, folks. Bring the noise!

I'm ashamed to say I haven't been to Alegria since Zia took it over a few months ago. I remember some great shows there in th '90s -- Mike Watt with The Geraldine Fibbers, Wilco (banc when they were a country band), Billy Joe (and Eddie) Shaver, Joe Ely, The Tragically Hip, etc. I'm sorry to see it close.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

eMUSIC NOVEMBER

Here's my allotted 90 downloads from eMusic this month:


* Why I Hate Women by Pere Ubu. Yes, Ubu's back, but this time they've fooled everyone by recording an entire album of Dan Fogelberg covers. They even brought Debbie Boone out of retirement for lead vocals on "Leader of the Band."

Just kidding ... But to find out how I really feel about this album, you're going to have to wait until Friday.


*Bloodied But Unbowed: The Soundtrack . You should already know how I feel about the music here. eMusic and iTunes are the only places where you can find the music from this excellent Bloodshot DVD. This has three live songs from The Waco Brothers, plus a few more from Langford. But I think my perverse favorite here is Sally Timms and Jon Rauhouse doing the cocktail Latino standard "Perfidia."

* Retarder by Unband. I'd never heard of this group until Lexie Shabel sent me an advance DVD of her new movie, We Like to Drink, We Like to Play Rock ‘n’ Roll, which will be shown at this year's Santa Fe Film Festival. The film is a documentary of this band of loveable losers. Musically, the Unband owes a lot to The Replacements and dozens of punk and metal bar bands too numerous to mention. Lots of fun though. Lexie is going to join me on Terrell's Sound World Nov. 26 to talk about the film and the Unband.
* L.A.M.F. - The Lost '77 Tapes by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers. Johnny we hardly knew ye. This is a cool little high-charged glimpse of stripped-down New York punk rock as performed by one of the founding fathers. I still don't know how the New York Dolls could have a "reunion" without Johnny Thunders.



* (14 songs from) Presidential Campaign Songs, 1789-1996 by Oscar Brand. This 1996 album has songs for nearly all the presidents between Washington and Clinton. (Hey! Where's Chester Arthur?) I mentioned this album in passing in a recent column. I didn't feel like spending nearly half of my 90 downloads this month on one album, (most the songs are less than two minutes) but I wanted a few for my pre-election Terrell's Sound World. I couldn't resist nabbing the songs for Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover ("If He's Good Enough for Lindy") and of course Tricky Dick.

* America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band - Vol. 1 by The Maddox Brothers & Rose. I downloaded more than half tracks from this album at the end of last month. I immediately went and picked up the remaining ones when my downloads "refreshed." One word of caution here: The track marked "New Mule Skinner Blues" actually is "I Want to Live and Love" -- which also appears here as the last track. And at this writing, they still haven't fixed it despite my alerting eMusic to it. Wonderful song, but you don't need to download it twice. (Hey eMusic, you still owe me a track!)

* John Fahey I had five tracks left over, so I decided to go for some good loooong tracks. eMusic has a good selection of Fahey, so I spent the last of my November allotment on "Voice of the Turtle" and "Mark 1:15," (both from America, plus "The Transcendental Waterfall" "What the Sun Said" and "I Saw the Light Shining 'Round and 'Round." I'd already downloaded a 13-minute "Fahey Sampler" years ago, so this will make a nice full CD.

I have deep emotional connections with Fahey. America was released about the time I started college and I remembering listening to these long, mysterious guitar excursions played frequently during the wee hours on KUNM. About this time my brother was getting serious about learning guitar, so everytime I'd go back to Santa Fe, he'd be intensely recreating hypnotic Fahey works. These indeed are immortal sounds.

* Tom Waits' "Road to Peace" and "Long Way Home." eMusic has dribbled out songs from the upcoming waits compilation Orphans, a 56-song, 3-disc affair due for release next week. (I picked up two free ones last month -- "Bottom of the World" and "You Can Never Hold Back Spring.")

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 17, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Wildwood Flower by Mike Ness
Muleskinner Blues by The Cramps
Medley: Ghost Riders in the Sky/Rawhide/The Ballad of Palladin by Chuck Maultsby & His Old Band
The Ballad of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum
Wreck of the Old 97 by Johnny Cash
Over the Cliff by Jon Langford
Rockin' in the Congo by Hank Thompson
Las Vegas by The Texas Sapphires
One Meatball by Dave Van Ronk

Tomorrow is Forever by Solomon Burke with Dolly Parton
Green Green Grass of Home by Ted Hawkins
Little Old Wine Drinker Me by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers
Cold, Cold World by Blaze Foley
Almost Thanksgiving Day by Graham Parker
Rambunctious Boy by John Fogerty
The Only Trouble With Me by Merle Haggard
11 Months and 29 Days by Johnny Paycheck

I Love the Way You Do It by Zeno Tornado
A Little More Cocaine Please by Splitlip Rayfield
Get Your Biscuits in the Oven by Kevin Fowler
The Pony to Bet On by The Legendary Shack Shakers
Kung Foo Cowboy by Alan Vega
Boxwine Ruth E by Ramsay Midwood
Raining in Port Arthur by The Gourds
Mean and Wicked Boogie by Maddox Brothers & Rose

I Ain't Marching Anymore by Richard Thompson
Salt Truck by Eleni Mandell
Be My Love by NRBQ
Better Word For Love by Big Al Anderson
Things Change by Lonesome Bob with Allison Mohrer
The Pilgrim Chapter 33 by Kris Kristofferson
You Should Have Wrote a Book by Dan Reeder
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Friday, November 17, 2006

JERRY LAWSON IS STILL PERSUASIVE

I just got an e-mail yesterday from Jerry Lawson, longtime leader of The Persuasions, that great a cappella band of yore.

Jerry moved to Arizona a few years ago after splitting from The Persuasions. That makes us neighbors. Kind of.

Luckily, it didn't take him long to hook up with another band, Talk of the Town.

An album is in the works and judging from the tracks on his My Space site, it's gonna be a good one. I especially like "River of Dreams." Check it out.

PILLOW TO GIVE BIRTH IN SANTA FE

A few months ago I posted about New Mexican Web editor Stefan Dill doing the soundtrack for an Indian art film, Birth of a Pillow which, according to a press release, is -- "a film with no dialogue portraying personal responses to sexuality in present-day India. At the juncture of external stimulus, sociocultural conditioning, and personal drive lies the deepest human cores of fear, guilt, loneliness, power, weakness, pain, and denial."

Yikes!

HERE is the orginal link for information on that film. Check it out. it's got a bunch of good links I'm too lazy to re-post here.

But here's the news. The film is coming to Santa Fe as part of the Santa Fe Film Festival.

Birth of a Pillow will be screened Sunday, Dec 3, 2:00 p.m. at the Santa Fe Film Center, 1616 St. Michael's Drive in the St. Michael's Village West Mall.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: WATCHING THE MUSIC

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 17, 2006


Here’s a bunch of music DVDs I’ve been enjoying lately, including two from some of my favorite indie record labels and two featuring ascended masters of rock ’n’ roll.

*Bloodied but Unbowed: Bloodshot Records’ Life in the Trenches This is an extensive collection of live performances, music videos, a few interviews, and assorted madness by the Chicago company that invented the concept of “insurgent country.”

Fortunately the DVD doesn’t get hung up on the actual biography of the Bloodshot label. Sticking with the spirit of the company, any commentary about Bloodshot’s history, philosophy, or influence is strictly irreverent and usually drunken.

Among the artists you’ll find here are Ryan Adams, Alejandro Escovedo, Neko Case, Wayne “The Train” Hancock, Robbie Fulks, the Old 97’s, Trailer Bride, Kelly Hogan, The Sadies, The Detroit Cobras, and those wascally Waco Brothers.

It wouldn’t be a Bloodshot party without the Wacos. There are three songs by Bloodshot’s flagship of fools, live concert and studio footage, and a bunch of stills — including some photos that look a lot like snapshots I’ve taken at various Waco shows at South by Southwest in Austin through the years.

I have to admit, part of the fun of this DVD for me is that I was at some of these performances, such as those by Jon Langford, The Meat Purveyors, and Paul Burch.

While the live stuff is the best stuff on Bloodied but Unbowed, there are some videos that, to use a Waco Brothers title, are “Out There a Ways.” One-man blues stomper Scott H. Biram has a video for his song “Hit the Road” that includes disturbing footage of auto-accident carnage. And the grainy black-and-white video for The Unholy Trio’s backwoods cover of Public Enemy’s “Bring the Noise” could almost be classified as hillbilly soft-core porn.

One of my favorite features here is the Bloodshot tribute on Chic-a-Go-Go, a Chicago dance show modeled after American Bandstand, Soul Train, and the local versions of such shows that used to pop up on Chicago-area TV stations in the ’60s and ’70s and featured lip-syncing bands and dancing teens. Case sings “Brown-Eyed Handsome Man” in a foofy blonde wig featuring a band with Sally Timms on electric guitar, and Escovedo lip-syncs Langford’s vocals on “California Blues.”

(Songs from this DVD are available through iTunes and eMusic.)

*Voodoo Rhythm: The Gospel of Primitive Rock ’n’ Roll You’ll never again think of Switzerland in terms of chocolate, cuckoo clocks, army knives, or bankers.

Every so often we Americans need foreigners to remind us how magical but dangerous rock ’n’ roll should be.

One of the craziest messengers of the power of rock ’n’ roll and one of the true modern prophets of rock’s slimy underbelly is a Swiss fanatic who calls himself the Reverend Beat-Man. Not only is he a musician — both a harsh-voiced one-man psychobilly band and leader of a fierce garage group called The Monsters; he’s a record mogul, the founding father of Voodoo Rhythm Records.

“I have to get up in the morning out of the bed and I have to play guitar,” he says in an interview in this film. “I have to go to the office and put out records that nobody buys. I just have to do it. I don’t know why.”

On the DVD you meet not only Beat-Man and his Monsters but a wide array of musical misfits on his label. There’s some country acts — Zeno Tornado and the Louisiana-born DM Bob, who, with his accordion-playing, German girlfriend, Silky, is in a band called The Watzloves. (Silky’s a visual artist who does wonderful work based on carnival freak-show art.)

My favorite new discovery here is King Kahn, a Canadian soul belter who has taken up Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ skull scepter, fronting a noisy, horn-fortified soul/punk band that reminds me a little of The Contortions.

But the most mysterious — and most musical of all — are The Dead Brothers, a “psycho Slavic funeral orchestra.” It’s a group led by a bug-eyed Charlie Manson-looking singer that features accordion, tuba, and sometimes banjo playing spooky acoustic tunes.

My only complaint here is that director Marc Littler should have taken a cue from the Bloodshot DVD: less talk and more music would have been better. But there’s lots to love about the Voodoo Rhythm stable.

*Roy Orbison: In Dreams This is a good little documentary about the life of one of the greatest rock singers of all times. It goes back to Roy’s roots in Wink, Texas, through his rockabilly years at Sun records; his “Only the Lonely”/“Oh Pretty Woman” years of glory in the early ’60s; his lean years — a time of horrible tragedy (his wife died in a motorcycle accident, two of his sons were killed in a fire); his bad career moves (anyone remember the movie The Fastest Guitar Alive?); and his great comeback in the late ’80s, cut short by a fatal heart attack.
I wasn’t ready for the film to end. I was looking for someone to wrap up his life and bemoan the cosmic injustice of his passing. But the interviews — including plenty with Roy and fans from Johnny Cash to David Lynch — are good, and the music is great.


* Johnny Cash at San Quentin Legacy Recordings just released an expanded version of Cash’s second prison album. Along with the two CDs, there’s a DVD of a 1969 documentary about the San Quentin concert.

It’s not a concert film — there’s far too little music, and the sound quality’s pretty awful. Plus there’s an introduction by a guy with a British accent that somehow relates the myth of the cowboy loner to Cash and his prison audience.

However, some of the interviews with the inmates are eye-opening. One death-row resident tells a story of a sexual encounter with a woman who cried rape when her 12-year-old son walked in and found them on the couch. He murdered both of them.

“I don’t know why I done it,” he says.

Just to watch ’em die?

The San Quentin set and the Orbison DVD are available at http://www.legacyrecordings.com.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

BUT WHAT COLOR DO WE GET?

The National Journal's Chuck Todd argues that we need to start thinking in terms of a new political map.
Forget "red" and "blue." The country is basically divided into four voting blocs: the Democratic Northeast, the Republican South, the populist Midwest and the libertarian West. Democrats probably have a decent grip on those populist Midwest voters for a while (at least until the area transforms completely into a new economy). As for the libertarian West (home of the first state -- Arizona -- to reject a gay marriage ban), this is a region that is more up for grabs than it should be. And it's because the Republican Party has grown more religious and more pro-government which turns off these "leave me alone," small-government libertarian Republicans.
The entire column can be found HERE.

Monday, November 13, 2006

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 12, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Change in the Weather by John Fogerty
Pink Slip by The Unband
Dopefiend Boogie by The Cramps
I Wanna Be Loved by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
My Wig Fell Off by Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band
Bless You by The Devil Dogs
You Don't Need a Doctor by The Leaving Trains
This Guy's in Love With You by Faith No More

Stolen Cadillac by Pere Ubu
Jams Run Free by Sonic Youth
Ocean by The Velvet Underground
Mountains by Sparklehorse

Where There Are No Children by Kult
Buri Na Laty by Cankisou
Asfalt Tango by Fanfare Ciocarlia
Ciganka by Kocani Orkestar
Adje Idi by Zdravko Colic
God Bless the Ottoman Empire by A Hawk & A Hacksaw
It Was Floating in the Air by Zach Condon

The Concept by Teenage Fanclub
Shut Us Down by Lindsey Buckingham
Into Oblivion by Lisa Germano
Questions in a World of Blue by Julee Cruise
American Tune by Paul Simon
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, November 11, 2006

AUTOPSY ON LAND COMMISSIONER RACE



Why, in an election where everyone was talking about a "Democratic Wave" -- and New Mexico Democrats like Sen. Jeff Bingaman and Gov. Bill Richardson were pulling about 70 percent of the vote -- didn't Jim Baca pull it off in the race for land commissioner?

For one thing, despite all the talk about voter disgust and winds of change, it seems in New Mexico, for the most part, incumbents won.

For those not completely ODed on politics, HERE is my analysis of the race, published in today's New Mexican.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 10, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Takin' the Country Back by John Anderson
Love's Gonna Live Here Again by Leon Russell
See Willie Fly By by The Waco Brothers
What's a Simple Man to Do by Steve Earle
Wanted Man by Johnny Cash
Barstow Barstool by The Texas Sapphires
Cash on the Barrelhead by Dolly Parton
Miller, Jack and Mad Dog by Wayne Hancock
Whiskey, Women and Money to Burn by Joe Ely
Every Man a King by Randy Newman

Ringmaster by Ramsay Midwood
My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson
Heather's All Bummed Out by Lonesome Bob
Roadmap For the Blues by Butch Hancock
I'd Rather Be Gone by Merle Haggard
Round Eye Blues by Marah
Dirty Leather by Carrie Rodriguez
Don't Let the Deal Go Down by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

Where's the Devil When You Need Him by The Legendary Shack Shakers
Christian Lady Talkin' on a Bus by Blaze Foley
Poor Howard by the Volo Bogtrotters
Shady Grove by Colby Maddox
Mole in the Ground by Doc & Merle Watson
Bottle of Wine by Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs
Shoot Me to the Moon by Dan Reeder
Cowboys to Girls by The Hacienda Brothers
Nashville Bum by Waylon Jennings

Girls by Eleni Mandell
Sold American by Lyle Lovett
Tired Giants by Smutfish
Drinkin' Thing by Gary Stewart
Some Humans Ain't Human by John Prine
Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down by The Maddox Brothers & Rose
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Friday, November 10, 2006

THE RACE IS ON !

... and here comes pride at the backstretch ....

Congressional Quarterly has profiles of 2008 presidential candidates.

There's 13 Democrats and 13 Republicans. (Hmmm ... 13, same number as a witches coven.)


Here's one of them:
Bill Richardson — Governor, New Mexico
Rationale: For starters, ethnicity and geography argue in favor of Richardson, a Latino governor in a battleground state that backed Al Gore in 2000 but George W. Bush in 2004. Add to that his varied Washington experience — 14 years in the House plus four years in the Clinton administration, first as U.N. ambassador and then as Energy secretary — and on paper you have the ingredients for national office.
Richardson is a larger-than-life character who is charming on the stump. On policy matters, he is a pragmatist who remains quite popular in his politically fluid state, recently winning kudos for making good on a 2003 campaign promise to save taxpayers $90 million in state budget costs. Governors do well in presidential contests, which is enough of a reason to consider Richardson a player.
Resources: Richardson raised more than $8 million (note from swt: Make that $13 million) for his bid for a second term as governor this year, a sizable sum in New Mexico politics. And his shoo-in standing in that race has allowed him to spread his money around to other Democrats in the state, always good for earning chits to solidify his home-state base in a presidential campaign. Also, the bulk of his campaign funds come from business interests instead of big labor, a good talking point for any Democrat in a general-election bid.
Hobby Horse: Richardson earned foreign- policy credentials as the ambassador to the United Nations, troubleshooting hot spots from Iraq to North Korea, and he also can emphasize his popular management of New Mexico and tout what is expected to be a lopsided re-election victory.
Hobble Horse: Richardson’s closet is not entirely clean. At a minimum, a presidential bid will again bring to light his brush with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, in which he reportedly offered her a job, and revelations that for years he erroneously claimed to have been drafted as a pitcher by the Kansas City A’s.
By the way, one of the Republicans in this list, obviously compiled before the election, (in fact there's a sheepish note at the top of the page) is none other than soon-to-be-former Sen. George Allen.

Macaca '08!

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: BUCKINGHAM'S PALACE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 4, 2006


My only real complaint about Under the Skin, the new album by Lindsey Buckingham, is this: What took him so dang long? The last time Buckingham released a solo album, the simple but stunning Out of the Cradle, George Bush was president.
Bush senior.

Buckingham reportedly was working on an album sometime in the Clinton era, but that got shelved when he decided to rejoin Fleetwood Mac for one of those reunion tours. I’m not the first writer to note that this is only the fourth Buckingham solo album in 25 years.

While Fleetwood Mac generally — if sometimes unfairly — is considered the ultimate white-bread, mainstream, corporate, classic-rock band, Buckingham has been responsible for many of its darker, crazier, and more experimental moments. True, Stevie Nicks’ witchy-poo image probably has received more attention, but Buckingham — who recorded an album called Go Insane — is the one who’s truly nuts. I mean that in the best possible way. “I’m a madman out on a bad man route/Looking for paradise,” he sings in “Show You How.”

Buckingham is experimental, though in a pop-savvy way, a Brian Wilson way. I’m sure he’s tired of that comparison, but like Wilson, Buckingham has a way of capturing gorgeous melodies and irresistible hooks and, like a sonic stalker, nearly loving them to death. He addresses his critical reputation as Fleetwood Mac’s resident mad genius in the first line of the second song on Under the Skin: “Reading the paper saw a review/Said I was a visionary, but nobody knew/Now that’s been a problem, feeling unseen.”

The first song, “Not Too Late,” will do nothing to dispel that reputation. The instrumental accompaniment is a hundred-mile-an-hour, Segovia-on-angel-dust flamenco-like guitar.
Basically it’s an acoustic album. Though he’s an ace electric guitarist, Buckingham’s acoustic guitar reigns supreme here. His picking style goes back to old British folk rock bands like Pentangle rather than a Delta blues groove.

And his voice. Sometimes it’s a lonely, breathless whisper, sometimes a Wilsonesque falsetto. Often it’s multitracked, creating a one-man choir. On the chorus of “It Was You,” his vocal parts create a psychedelic calliope.

This is indeed a solo album. The only help Buckingham gets is from Mac-mates Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, who supply a rhythm section on the song “Down on the Rodeo,” and someone named David Campbell, who supplies “orchestration” on “Someone’s Gotta Change Your Mind.” Don’t let the orchestration tag scare you. It’s low-key and sounds a lot more like the Memphis Horns than the Moody Blues.

Buckingham wrote all but two of the tunes on the album. He covers the obscure Rolling Stones song “I Am Waiting” (originally from Aftermath, Stones fans) and an even more obscure Donovan number called “To Try for the Sun.” But I didn’t know this until I read the liner notes. Both songs fit seamlessly with the rest of Under the Skin. Buckingham gives the Donovan song a jittery beat you don’t find much outside his productions.

So far my favorite Skin song is “Cast Away Dreams.” Buckingham’s voice is nearly a sob. Over a strumming guitar, he again raises the “visionary” thing, which he seems to view as a burden. “Lay down my visionary eyes dancing on my cast away dreams,” he sings. It’s a song about going away, not coming home, as he comes to grips with the faith he’s lost.

I just hope he doesn’t go away for another 14 years.

Also recommended

* In the Maybe World
by Lisa Germano. Sweet Lisa reminds me of the unnamed “she” of Butch Hancock’s “She Never Spoke Spanish to Me” (“She spoke to all the shadows in her bungalow”). Germano’s talking to a lot of shadows in her latest album.

Normally I don’t care that much for sensitive-female singer-songwriters. But Germano, with her broken-wing songbird persona and lyrics so unabashedly self-absorbed they’re nearly clinical, is hard to dismiss.

And she’s almost always sonically fascinating in her lo-fi way. Often there’s a low rumble in the background or some weird discordance about to erupt. Many of the songs here are like dream fragments, featuring demented little piano lines that would be right at home in soundtracks to creepy 1960s black-and-white movies like Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

One of the prettiest melodies on this album — one of the prettiest tunes she’s ever written — is “Too Much Space.” By the end of this song about a love gone wrong, Germano is evoking a scene from Tod Browning’s infamous movie Freaks. “One of us,” she sings repeatedly, as if she’s welcoming herself into the world of the carnival’s human oddities. “One of us. One of us.” (Or maybe she’s just revealing — awkwardly — that she’s a fan of the Ramones.)

On Maybe World, the singer even encounters supernatural beings. When I saw the title “In the Land of Fairies,” I feared Germano had become a born-again New Ager. When I heard the song’s bizarre little melody, which sounds like it’s lifted from some hoary Italian folk tune, I couldn’t resist it. She’s seeing fairies, but they only annoy her. You can almost see her in some garden bickering with little creatures nobody else can see.

Speaking of arguments, in “Red Thread” she seems to be having one with herself. The refrain is a one-woman call and response that begins “Go to hell” and responds with "Fuck you."

But the song has a happy ending: “I love you,” she sings, then answers herself, “I love you too.”

Thursday, November 09, 2006

NAKED CONGRESS


I'm sure most of you have seen those "Worst Album Covers" emails and Web pages that have floated around the Internets for a couple of years. Hell, half of you have sent me emails and links to these pages.

The classic list includes this cover by the band Orleans -- one of the few acts listed on these lists that anyone ever actually heard of.

Well here's the deal. John Hall, the lead singer of Orleans just got elected to Congress! CLICK HERE

I'm not sure, but I think the new congressman is the one in the middle.

Almost makes up for Kinky Friedman losing the Texas governor's race.


I think I'll start a exploratory committee for Devastatin' Dave.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: A NEW DEMOCRAT

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 10, 2006


I saw the hair and the mustache across the crowded ballroom.

There among the giddy Democrats celebrating at the Hotel Albuquerque Old Town, was Bob Schwartz, former district attorney in Bernalillo County and, for a few months this year, a candidate in the Republican primary for state attorney general.

Just to be a wise guy, I asked him, “So are you a Democrat now, Bob?”

His answer surprised me. “Yes, I sure am.”

Schwartz, who took a lot of lumps from Republicans for accepting a job as Gov. Bill Richardson’s crime adviser during the first three years of the governor’s first term, said it was unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate John Dendahl who finally drove him from the GOP.

Specifically, he said, it was the day last June when J.R. Damron, who had been the party’s nominee for governor, stepped down and was replaced on the ticket by Dendahl. Some Democrats accused Dendahl of engineering Damron’s exit. Both Damron and Dendahl have denied it.

“I read that in the Sunday paper, and the next day I went down and changed my affiliation,” Schwartz said.

Dendahl and Schwartz go way back.

When Schwartz ran for mayor of Albuquerque in 2001, losing to Democrat Martin Chávez, the Republican establishment backed another candidate, Mike McEntee. At that time, Dendahl was state GOP chairman.

When Schwartz announced his candidacy late last year, Dendahl said: “Bob Schwartz is not regarded by many rank-and-file Republicans as a Republican. Especially since serving for three years at the feet of The Emperor.” You can guess who The Emperor he referred to was.

Dendahl said he’d rather vote for a Democrat than Schwartz.

When the state GOP had its pre-primary convention this year, Schwartz didn’t have enough votes to get on the primary ballot.

During the campaign, Schwartz was part of Democrat Attorney General-elect Gary King’s Truth Squad, which answered attacks from Republican AG candidate Jim Bibb.

Asked whether he might end up with a job in King’s office, Schwartz said, “We haven’t discussed that.”

Nice guys finish last?: Re-elected U.S. Rep Tom Udall was feeling magnanimous at the party Tuesday night.


In an interview, he praised his Republican opponent, Ron Dolin, for running a clean and positive campaign. “He refrained from personal attacks in all our joint appearances,” Udall said.

Of course, a cynic could argue the clean and positive campaign didn’t do Dolin any good. Udall trounced the underfunded political unknown by a 3-to-1 margin.

But in fairness, Udall is a “nice guy” also.

Pat the Cable Guy: The Republicans clearly didn’t have as much fun as the Democrats on Tuesday night.

My colleague, David Miles — who was covering the GOP — reported it wasn’t all gloom and doom over at the Marriott Pyramid North in Albuquerque.

The only statewide Republican to win Tuesday was incumbent Land Commissioner Patrick Lyons.

When Lyons took the stage to declare victory, someone in the audience, using his best Larry-the-Cable-Guy imitation, yelled, “Get ’er done!”

Not missing a beat, Lyons — who kind of talks like Larry, anyway — responded, “We got ’er done!”

Tuesday, by the way, was Lyons’ 53rd birthday.

I’m guessing it was a happy one.

World Wide Weak: Here’s something both Democrats and Republicans can agree upon.

The most useless political tool in New Mexico has to be the secretary of state’s Web site.
For months, reporters, campaign staffers and interested citizens have complained about the campaign finance reports posted on that site.

Most of the reports are not in a format that can be searched. So if you want to know whether, say, Charlie Manson contributed to any of the candidates, you have to go through each report page by page.

Complaints have also surfaced throughout the election cycle about how long it takes to get reports posted to the Web site.

This problem grew into a crisis by the last reporting deadline, Nov. 2.

By the end of that day, the reports of only two statewide candidates — gubernatorial candidates Richardson and Dendahl — were posted on the site.

As a matter of fact, nearly a week past that deadline — the day after the election — those still are the only reports of statewide candidates there.

As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, the site had only the reports of the two gubernatorial candidates, eight legislative candidates, a judicial candidate, a Public Regulation Commission candidate and a handful of county candidates.

No, I didn’t call the Secretary of State’s Office to find out the reason for this. At this point, I don’t want to hear the office’s excuses.

Someone should take the software used for this site back to Toys “R” Us and demand a refund.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

HAIKUS BY TERRY

Terry Brunner, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman's campaign manager, took it upon himself to write haikus for several New Mexico political reporters and bloggers.

That has a certain zen to it ...

He was interupted during this project by the birth of his daughter last month, but he managed to come up with a few.

With his permission, I blog them all:

(Jeff Jones)
J Jones is the man
Journal political beat
Quiet but deadly

(Kate Nash)
Albuquerque Trib
Kate Nash their political lass
Damn good reporter

(Heath Haussamen)
A new perspective
The South is not forgotten
With Heath on the beat

(Joe Monahan)
Oh, Joe Monahan
You tawdry gossip monger
We are addicted

And last, but not least ...

Steve Terrell New Mex
Roundhouse inside track
Music for my ears

Still, I can't help but wonder: Could Bingaman have done better than his 71 percent if his campaign manager wasn't busy having babies and writing haiku?

ELECTION

Yikes, I'm exhausted ...

I'm unwinding in my motel room in the luxurious Comfort Inn West in Albuquerque. I spent several hours over at the Democratic victory party at the Hotel Albuquerque Old Town.

I think I'll just cut and paste what I wrote for the New Mexican The only update I'll offer is that at this point Heather Wilson has a slight lead over Patricia Madrid at this point in the Congressional District 1 race.

Here's my stuff:


ALBUQUERQUE — The wave of anti-war and anti-Bush sentiment that swept Democrats into control of the U.S. House of Representatives affected New Mexico races, Democratic leaders said Tuesday, even though it wasn’t a clean sweep for the party here.

In the Albuquerque area, the bitterly-fought 1st Congressional District race between Republican incumbent Heather Wilson and her Democratic opponent, Attorney General Patricia Madrid, remained too close to call at press time.

“Great things are happening in this country tonight,” Madrid told cheering supporters at the Democrats’ election-night party at the Hotel Albuquerque Old Town. But she stopped short of declaring victory.

In other races for federal offices, incumbents won easily. U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman and U.S. Rep. Tom Udall of Santa Fe, both Democrats, won huge victories, as did Republican U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, who represents Southern New Mexico’s 2nd Congressional District.

Gov. Bill Richardson, meanwhile, glided to an easy victory over his Republican opponent, John Dendahl. And it appeared the governor was joined in victory by most Democratic candidates for state offices.

Democratic state land commissioner candidate Jim Baca was the only Democrat statewide to lose. As was the case four years ago, Patrick Lyons appeared to be the only Republican to win election in a statewide race.

How much the national mood affected most New Mexico races is open to debate.

Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at The University of New Mexico, said Tuesday that anti-Bush sentiment likely helped some New Mexico Democrats. “There probably were a small number of people who said, ‘Screw it; I’m voting a straight Democratic ticket,’ ” she said.

The war in Iraq — and the tight Congressional race between Wilson and Madrid — probably helped bolster voter turnout in the Albuquerque area, Atkeson said.

However, judging by early voting turnout, she said, this issue did little to stimulate turnout in the state’s other two Congressional districts, where the races weren’t exciting.

Richardson told a reporter Tuesday: “The national mood has had a spillover on state races. The war in Iraq, the Hurricane Katrina rescue effort and ethics problems with the Bush administration have had a positive effect in state races — even in the governor’s race.”

Richardson’s campaign chairman, Dave Contarino, said Tuesday that the national mood had energized state Democrats and helped with turnout.

Richardson trounced Dendahl, a former party chairman who has been critical of Richardson since the Democrat’s days as Northern New Mexico’s congressman. The governor racked up impressive numbers.

The race was so one-sided that Richardson’s victory, however huge, can’t be considered a surprise. Even Republicans complained about Dendahl running an “invisible” campaign, while many wondered why the GOP couldn’t field more competitive gubernatorial candidates.
Richardson also was able to accumulate some political IOUs.

After amassing a huge campaign treasury — a record-smashing $12.9 million — the governor shared his wealth with other Democratic candidates.

He was the biggest single contributor to Baca’s unsuccessful campaign, giving him $75,000 at last count. He also donated $70,000 to secretary of state candidate Mary Herrera, $60,000 to state auditor candidate Hector Balderas and $50,000 to attorney general candidate Gary King.

In addition, the Richardson campaign donated thousands of dollars of in-kind services such as automatic “robo” calls for individual Democrats’ campaigns, which were a great help to the down-ticket candidates, Atkeson said. “His purse was overflowing to his friends,” she said of the Richardson treasury.

There was a danger of some Democratic voters staying home because Richardson’s race seemed so one-sided and pre-determined, Atkeson said. But, she said, Richardson did “an incredible job at encouraging turnout and getting out the vote.”

New Mexico Democrats weren’t the only beneficiaries of Richardson’s generosity. He also contributed to Democratic candidates and organizations in other states — most notably New Hampshire and Nevada, both early presidential-primary states in the 2008 election.

Atkeson said Richardson’s contributions and travels to primary states probably will help him get contributions from those states if he runs for president. However, it probably won’t immediately pay off in endorsements from party leaders, she said. Democratic leaders make presidential endorsements much later than their Republican counterparts, she said.

Democratic domination of most New Mexico state races was not unusual. The state has elected only one Republican attorney general since 1930 and no GOP secretary of state in more than 76 years.

But while the Republicans might be faulted for tacitly conceding the governor’s office, unlike 2002, the last year the statewide offices were on the ballot, the party this year fielded candidates for all the positions.

Most of the down-ticket Republicans ran aggressive, well-funded campaigns. Some, like GOP attorney general contender Jim Bibb and secretary of state candidate Vickie Perea, ran television commercials.

The GOP’s effort for these races was serious. Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman came to Albuquerque for a fundraiser in July. But it wasn’t for Wilson or Dendahl. It was for Perea’s race for secretary of state.

XXXXXXX

ALBUQUERQUE — To the surprise of virtually nobody who has paid attention to the governor’s race, voters by a staggering margin elected Bill Richardson to a second term.

Richardson led his Republican opponent and longtime critic John Dendahl, a former state GOP chairman, 67 percent to 33 percent as of about 10 p.m.


Most political observers believe the 2006 governor’s race was little more than a dress rehearsal for the 2008 elections in which Richardson is expected to seek the Democratic nomination for president. Richardson has said he will make an announcement about his possible presidential plans in January.

Richardson, who was at the state Democratic victory party at Hotel Albuquerque Old Town, said his victory was a mandate from the voters to continue his policies. He credited a superior campaign organization for his big win. He also said the nation’s mood against the Bush administration had some “spillover” effect on his and other state Democratic races.

Richardson said during his campaign his main focus in a second term would include increasing the state’s minimum wage, providing pre-kindergarten to all 4-year-olds in the state, overhauling the state’s health insurance system and reforming the state’s ethics and campaign finance rules. If re-elected, he said during the campaign, he would declare 2007 to be The Year of Water and he’d fight for funding new water projects to the tune of $103 million.

The governor’s race for months had the smell of a landslide. The only Republican to run in the primary for governor was J.R. Damron, a Santa Fe doctor and political novice. He was criticized by some within the GOP as not running an aggressive campaign against Richardson. Shortly after the June primary, Damron withdrew as a candidate. The state Republican Central Committee, meeting behind closed doors, nominated Dendahl for the position.

Dendahl, during his eight years as party chairman, earned a reputation as an “attack dog,” always ready to hit an opponent with his quick wit and a barbed tongue. Many assumed he was in the race to do as much damage to Richardson as possible. And many thought it could turn out to be an exciting race.

In his concession speech, Dendahl said, “We wish the best for New Mexico, so of course, we wish the victor of this election well.”

Dendahl stood at the podium with his wife, Jackie, his running mate, Sue Wilson Beffort, and her husband, Steve Beffort. “The main reason that I’ll sleep well tonight is knowing that the Dendahl-Beffort campaign was important work,” Dendahl said to gathered Republicans at the Albuquerque Marriott Pyramid North.

He said his disappointments included the brutal attack on his campaign spokeswoman, Paige McKenzie, the difficulty of raising cash and Richardson’s refusal to debate him on live television.
As the race increasingly looked like a Richardson rout, fundraising for Dendahl grew more difficult. By the end of last month, he’d been able to raise just over $300,000 — compared to the incumbent’s $11.9 million.

Dendahl was only able to buy one television commercial late in the campaign. Richardson, meanwhile, commanded the airwaves with a plethora of television ads, all of them positive, touting his achievements and never mentioning his opponent.

Richardson’s ads provided the major framework of the campaign. Voters never were able to see him directly contrast his ideas with those of his opponent.

Richardson was criticized in newspaper editorials across the state for refusing to debate Dendahl on television. However, that decision never seemed to make a dent in the governor’s poll numbers or fundraising.

Despite the criticism, Lonna Atkeson, a political science professor at The University of New Mexico, said Tuesday that Richardson’s refusal to debate probably wouldn’t affect him in a presidential race. However, she said, there’s no way he’d be able to duck debates against other presidential contenders if he runs for president.

In the last weeks of the campaign, Richardson seemed to be campaigning more for other Democrats than himself. His overstuffed campaign coffers doled out thousands of dollars to the campaigns of fellow Democrats — both in New Mexico and out-of-state, including candidates and organizations in the early primary states of New Hampshire and Nevada.

Staff writer David Miles contributed to this report.

XXXXX

ALBUQUERQUE — After a hard-fought and often bitter race for state land commissioner, incumbent Patrick Lyons defeated his Democratic opponent Jim Baca, a former land commissioner.

As in his first election to the job in 2002, Lyons was the only GOP candidate to win a statewide office.


With 91 percent of the precincts reporting, Lyons had 53 percent of the vote to 47 percent for Baca.

In conceding the race late Tuesday, Baca said he had refrained from airing negative television ads against his Republican opponent and said that was probably a factor in the outcome.

“I made the decision not to do negative ads because I didn’t want his family to see them, like my family saw his ads about me,” Baca said in an interview. “That decision probably hurt me.”

Baca also said the fact he trailed in campaign funding was a factor. “I’m proud I didn’t take any oil company money,” Baca said.

Lyons is a rancher from Cuervo, a small community in Eastern new Mexico. He served in the state Senate for 12 years before winning his first four-year term as land commissioner.

“We ran a good, hard campaign,” Lyons commented while watching election results Tuesday night along with other Republicans gathered at the Albuquerque Mariott Pyramid North.

Baca, who lost despite help from Gov. Bill Richardson, held the job for four years in the 1980s. In 1990, he won another term, which was cut short when he was appointed by President Clinton to head the federal Bureau of Land Management.

The land commissioner manages the state Land Office, overseeing 9 million acres of state-owned land and 13 million acres of state mineral rights. Revenues from leases go into the state’s permanent fund and benefit several institutions, including public schools, universities and children’s hospitals. Last year, the office raised $386 million.

From the beginning, Lyons had much more money than Baca. According to the most recent campaign finance reports, Lyons had raised about $959,000, more than twice as much as Baca.

During the campaign, Lyons stressed how much money the Land Office had made for its beneficiaries during his term.

He also aggressively attacked Baca, blasting the Democrat’s stormy years as Albuquerque mayor.

Baca made a major issue of campaign contributions in his race against Lyons. He accused the Republican of being a “business agent” for the oil and gas industry because of the campaign funds Lyons has accepted from that industry, which accounts for much of the public revenue generated from state trust lands administered by the land commissioner.

The latest figures available from the Institute of Money in State Government — which don’t include contributions made during the past three months — show energy and natural resources interests are indeed Lyons’ top source of money, accounting for more than $87,000. His next largest source of industry support was agriculture ($67,050), which is another major sector that leases state lands.

Baca’s major contributor was Gov. Bill Richardson’s re-election campaign, which gave him $75,000.

Baca said this was probably his last political race. “I think I’m going to stay retired,” he said.

UPDATE: Blogger, bless its twisted little heart, has changed the way to upload and display photos, so I wasn't able to add the shots of Madrid, Richardson and Lyons (an old one of him)until Wednesday night -- and only then by figuring out a way around the new system. Anyway, I took a few snapshots (nothing great) of the Democratic festivities in Albuquerque last night, which can be found on my FLICKR site.


Monday, November 06, 2006

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 5, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Remember by John Lennon
Bikini Girls With Machine Guns by The Cramps
Babylon Warehouses by Pere Ubu
Words by The Monkees
Riot on Sunset Strip by The Standells
Death Cab For Cutie by Bonzo Dog Band
Sleeping Around by Sonic Youth
Going Out West by Tom Waits

Side 1 by The Beat of the Earth
The Room Got Heavy by Yo La Tengo

ELECTION SET
Have You Had Enough by Rickie Lee Jones
The Last Honest Man by Stan Ridgway
Harding You're the Man For Us by Oscar Brand
Lookin' For a Leader by Neil Young
Know Your Rights by The Clash
Hello Lyndon by Oscar Brand
Superbird/Tricky Dick by Country Joe & The Fish
James J. Polk by They Might Be Giants
Clinton Got a B.J. by Eric Schwartz

God Bless America by James McMurty
Something Broken in the Promised Land by Wayne Kramer
My Baby Joined the Army by Terry Evans
People Have the Power by Patti Smith
That Great Election Day by Butch Hancock

Sunday, November 05, 2006

KUNM CALL-IN SHOW & OTHER ELECTION RADIO

I'm one of several guests on a special edition of KUNM's Call-In Show Monday morning at 8 a.m. It's normally on Thursday mornings, but this is a pre-election deal, so tune in and, if you're so inclined, call up. 505-277-5866. KUNM is 89.9 FM or catch it on the internet HERE.

Speaking of the election and radio, I'll be playing some political /election songs tonight on Terrell's Sound World, including some of those I mentioned in Terrell's Tuneup this week.

The show starts at 10 p.m. tonight, but I'll do the special set starting at the 11th Hour. That's of course on KSFR, 90.7 FM. (And don't forget, out-of-towners, we stream live.

PAPER BALLOTS, FRITO PIES

Though normally I enjoy the Election Day ritual of going to a nearby elementary school, hopefully seeing some neighbors and perhaps some stray sign-holding politicos I know, this year I decided to vote early. I wanted to see how the new paper-ballot system worked, and, with all the dire predictions of long lines Tuesday, I thought I'd just get my personal voting out of the way.

So I went, along with my son (who isn't old enough to vote) to the Santa Fe County Fair Grounds, where voting was taking place in the Small Animal Barn.

At first it looked daunting. There were dozens of people sitting on bleachers waiting to be called to vote. Among them were J.R. Damron, who briefly was the Republican gubernatorial candidate, with his wife Barbara and their children.

I figured it was going to be a long wait. But, to my pleasant surprise, I barely had time to read the literature on the constitutional amendments before my name was called.

I was careful to fill in the bubbles and not color too much outside of the lines. The machine accepted my ballot on first try.

The whole process took about 25 minutes.

In the building right across from the voting barn -- but not within the 100-feet zone where politicing is forbidden -- attorney general candidate Gary King was hosting a rally complete with mariachis, Frito pies and other goodies. I saw a bunch of my Dem friends there. The atmosphere was more of a light-hearted social gathering than a heavy political rally.

So have fun voting Tuesday -- too bad you probably won't get a Frito pie.

My story in the Sunday New Mexican about the new voting system can be found HERE.

Saturday, November 04, 2006

YOUR TAX DOLLAR AT WORK

Here's an idea that's bound for glory: Having the government spend money promoting abstinence for people in their 20s!

From USA TODAY:

The federal government's “no sex without marriage” message isn't just for kids anymore.

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
Can it get more surreal than this?

JUST AN AMERICAN DAD

My KSFR colleague Sean often turns me on to crazy, obscure music. (You can hear his wonderfully ecclectic musical vision on his show Undercurrents, or as I sometimes call it, "Undergarments," 10 p.m. to midnight on KSFR.)

This time, Sean introduced me to some crazy music with a sad story.

He had noticed a wire story The New Mexican published recently about "Azzam the American." Azzam's father, Sean explained, was a guy named Phil Pearlman, a hero of the "psychedelic underground."

I was intrigued. Sean loaned me some CDs.

Pearlman was in a band called The Beat of the Earth, who released a self-titled album in 1967. It has two untitled 20-minute-plus tracks, originally the sides of an LP. It's hypnotizing raw psychedelia jams. You hear traces of The Velvet Underground, The Incredible String Band, Sandy Bull. Pearlman's voice reminds me of The Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kanter.

I'm wondering whether Yo La Tengo isn't aware of this music.

Sean loaned me two other Pearlman projects, The Electonic Hole (from 1970, again, untitled tracks, though I recognize one as a cover of Frank Zappa's "Trouble Every Day") and Relatively Clean Rivers (1976), some of which has a slight country-rock flavor. Both are slightly more mainstream sounding (well, "mainstream" is hardly adequate. The tracks are shorter than 20 minutes) but still fascinating stuff.

But I hadn't seen the stoy about his kid. So while listening to The Beat of the Earth I Googled "Azzam the American," which I'd assumed to be some cheesy hip-hop moniker or band name.

Wrong.

My first clue was that most of the sites that showed up on Google were Fox News or right-wing blogs. Turns out Azzam, 28, last month was indicted on charges of treason, the first American citizen to face this charge since World War II.

According to a story on the CBS Web site, Pearlman's kid,
"appeared last month in a 48-minute video along with al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, calling on his countrymen to covert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars.

"It was the second time he appeared in the same video with al-Zawahri. In a July 7 video marking the one-year anniversary of the terror attack on London commuters, (Azzam) appeared briefly, saying no Muslim should "shed tears" for Westerners killed by al Qaeda attacks."
That's serious stuff. A lot more so than that American Boy John Walker Lyndh, who was younger and always seemed to me to have been confused and gotten involved in something over his head. I don't think Steve Earle will be writing a song for Azzam.

Azzam has been indicted, but not captured. According to one account, he hasn't been in the U.S. since his grandfather's funeral in 1998

Many of the stories and blog posts I read emphasized the fact that Azzam's grandfather -- Phil Pearlman's dad -- was Jewish, by all accounts a kindly doctor, who was on the board of the Anti-Defamation League.

Hearing Phil Pearlman's visionary music makes this story even sadder. I don't have much sympathy for the kid. He's old enough to know what he's doing. But I can't help but wonder what kind of hell his father is going through. Does he blame himself? Is some of that blame justified? Did he resign himself to the fact he lost his son years ago?

It's ironic looking at the verse on the back cover of Relatively Clean Rivers:

Hoping we can all get together, the Arabs and the Jews,
And melt down weapons into water sprinklers,
Tractors, shovels and hoes,
Irrigation pipes

Hippie-dippy utopian doggerel for certain.

But dammit ...

The best article I found on this sad story is on Pop Matters.

And here's a good interview, apparently done years ago before the world knew of Azzam the American, with a former member of The Beat of the Earth.

UPDATE: Sean just sent me a link to an eBay auction where an original Beat of the Earth LP sold for $711. (Plus $7.50 shipping.) But, hey bargain hunters, there's an eBay store selling the LP for a mere $599 (and only $4 shipping.)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, March 17, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Te...