Monday, February 26, 2007

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 25, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Oscars Set
Tinsel Town Rebellion by Frank Zappa
No Business Like Show Business by Ethel Merman
Martin Scorsese by King Missile
Celluloid Heroes by The Kinks
Beloved Movie Star by Stan Ridgway
New Age by The Velvet Underground

She's Going Bald by The Beach Boys
Oops I Did it Again by Richard Thompson
People Who Died by The Jim Carrol Band
Neighborhood 1 - Tunnels by The Arcade Fire
Perfectly Good Guitar by John Hiatt
Windsurfing Nation by Broken Social Scene
Snake by P.J. Harvey
My Bai Taiga by Tyva Kyzy

Something in Your Back Pocket by Otis Taylor
Love Machine by The Time
Staring at the Sun by TV on the Radio
The Girl Can't Dance by Bunker Hill with Link Wray
Princess Lala by Irma Thomas
Mr. Big Stuff by Jean Knight
River of Dreams by Jerry Lawson & Talk of the Town
I Want You to Want Me by The Holmes Brothers

In Shock by Kristin Hersh
The Lonely End of the Rink by The Tragically Hip
Cousin Chris by The Fiery Furnaces
Live With Me by The Twilight Singers with Mark Lannegan
Love For Sale by Julie London
Little Drop of Poison by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, February 24, 2007

INSIGHT NEW MEXICO


I'll be appearing on Eric Griego's talk show Insight New Mexico between 3 pm and 4 pm this afternoon.
It's on Albuqueruqe's 1350 AM Talk Radio station -- which unfortunately doesn't come in very well in Santa Fe. But the show is podcasted HERE.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 23, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Guacamole by The Texas Tornados
Are You Sure Hank Done it This Way by Uncle Tupelo with Joe Ely
Rich Man's Town by Country Dick Montana
Closing Time by The Pleasure Barons
I Just Want to Meet the Man by Robbie Fulks
Don't Be Ashamed of Your Age by Jerry Lee Lewis with George Jones
Tobacco Road by Southern Culture on the Skids
Do You Call That a Buddy? by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong

Pinball Machine by Splitlip Rayfield
Why Don't You Haul Off and Love Me by Scroatbelly
One Voice by The Gear Daddies
Boil the Strings by The Gourds
Lookout Mountain by Drive By Truckers
Old Dan Tucker by Bruce Springsteen
Okie Boogie by Maddox Brothers & Rose

Heartaches by the Number by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
I'm Barely Hangin' On to Me by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers
Gonna Be Flyin' Tonight by Wayne Hancock
Thrown Out of the Bar by Hank Williams III
Just the Other Side of Nowhere by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
Sam Stone by Swamp Dogg
If I Had a Boat by The Holmes Brothers
Lorraine by John Egenes
Rye Whiskey by Sen. Robert Byrd

Seven Time Hotter Than Hell by T-Bone Burnett
Rio by Mike Nesmith
Remain by Jon Dee Graham
Barbara Allen by The Handsome Family
Dear Friend by Eleni Mandell
The Great Speckled Bird by Rob McNurlin
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, February 23, 2007

eMUSIC FEBRUARY

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



*Some Kinda Nut - Missing Links Volume 3 by Link Wray. This is a collection of rare Link Wray tracks both as a solo artist and sideman. "Little Red Riding Hood & The Wolf" by Bunker Hill. The greatest, the craziest rock 'n' soul hit you never heard.




*Quicksand/Cradlesnakes by Califone. If Wilco is The Beatles of roots-based experimental rock, then Califone is ... I dunno, The Who?




*Bee Hives by Broken Social Scene. I downloaded this because a friend recently turned me on to BSS' self-titled album. I like that one better than Bee Hives, which seems slower and more meandering.




*Young Liars
and New Health Rock by TV on the Radio . I just got into this band (See my recent Tuneup on Return to Cookie Mountain) Better late than never! This band's like a crazy mix of Fishbone and the Fall held hostage in a magic Radio Shack. These are a couple of EPs from TV's early years (2003-2004). Not quite as developed as Cookie Mountain, but they definitely were on their way.



*The Singles
by Spacemen 3. This is a band whose name I've seen under influences of an awful lot of pyscho/garage/guitar-fuzz/noise bands I like. However, I'd never really been into the Spacemen that much, so I thought I'd give 'em a try. Cool and spacey. Some of it rocks, some like "Ecstacy Symphony" are lengthy drones. That one and others are around 10 minutes long. Warning: This album barely fits on one disc. Burning it on iTunes I had to set it on 0 seconds between songs to make it all fit.



*Why I Remix Women by Pere Ubu. I would have titled this "Why I Hate Remix Albums." I couldn't not to get this because I liked Why I Hate Women so much. But my advise is to stick with the original.

Plus

* The first seven cuts from Vol. 2 America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band by The Maddox Brothers and Rose. I had seven tracks left over, so I decided to get a start on the second column. This family band had more fun than hillbillies out to be allowed to have. (I've just downloaded th remaining 23 tracks for my march selections.)

and

* Bloodshot Records Honky-Tonk Compilation What a deal! This currently is free to eMusic members. I already had most of these 11 tracks on the original albums by artists like Wayne "The Train" Hancock, Robbie Fulks, the Old 97s, former Santa Fe resident Rex Hobart, Paul Burch, etc. but it makes for a dandy sampler.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: OTIS ROARS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 23, 2007


Since his rise in the ’90s, Otis Taylor’s main goal seems to have been to stretch the boundaries of the blues in subtle yet exciting ways. Sometimes Taylor, or at least his PR folks, calls his music “trance blues,” though that tag hardly does his sound justice.

His latest album, Definition of a Circle (to be released Tuesday, Feb. 27), stretches those boundaries even further.

But it’s still very much the blues. And it’s still very much an Otis Taylor album. In fact, this is among his best. Like his best work, there are lots of socially conscious songs dealing with downtrodden and forgotten people. But on at least a couple of numbers here, Taylor sounds as if he wants to have a little fun.

Circle has to be the most richly textured album he’s ever done. There’s a wide variety of instruments — trumpets, mandolin, banjo, keyboards, cello, and, on some songs, even drums. (Until his last album, Below the Fold, Taylor never used drums in his recordings. He doesn’t always need a drummer, but I’m glad he hasn’t taken some purist attitude about the issue.)

And this could be the first time Taylor has actually had guest stars. British bluesman Guitarist Gary Moore plays guitar on some tracks. And Charlie Musselwhite blows his harp on “Looking Over Your Fence.”

Every song here is worthwhile. But here are some standouts:
“They Wore Blue” is about Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. It starts out slow and mournful, with Taylor moaning “Oh Katrina” as his daughter Cassie, sounding like a ghostly spirit, sings in the background. The chord structure reminds me of Hendrix’s version of “Hey Joe.” The last three minutes or so is a tasty little Allmanesque jam featuring Otis’ guitar, Nick Amodeo’s mandolin and Brian Juan’s organ. It’s an unexpected upbeat coda to a what started out as a dirge.

“Something in Your Back Pocket” is raging psychedelia, with Moore on lead guitar, Jack Hadley on steel guitar, and Taylor on slide. The vocals are all spoken word; Taylor plays a bouncer trying to keep a troublemaker out of a nightclub.

“Long Long Life” is a free jazz excursion with Ron Miles on cornet playing against the pianos of Hiromi Uehara and Taylor as well as Juan’s organ.

But Taylor might have saved his best for the album’s first track. “Little Betty” starts out on fire, with a fidgety guitar bouncing off the organ, Moore’s lead guitar answering Taylor’s vocals.

Once again, Taylor has shown that he’s the most innovative force in the blues. Despite all the periodic hand-wringing about the blues being a dying art form, as long as Otis is around, this music’s still a long way from extinction.

Also Recommended

State of Grace
by The Holmes Brothers. I have to admit I was worried when I saw the song list for this new one by The Holmes Brothers (Sherman Holmes and Wendell Holmes, plus Popsy Dixon.
Among a batch of original titles that looked promising were a bunch of rock and country covers — “Bad Moon Rising,” “(What’s So Funny ’Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding?” — and a couple of Lyle Lovett songs. And did the free world really need another version of Hank Williams’ “I Can’t Help It If I’m Still in Love With You”?

I should have known better than to be too concerned. After all, up until now my favorite Holmes Brothers song was a cover tune, Tom Waits’ “Train Song.” And they do a pretty good “Love Train” as well.

But the song that stopped me in my tracks on State of Grace was a cover of a Cheap Trick song.

I always kind of liked “I Want You to Want Me” as a jiffy little radio hit. The Holmes Brothers take it several steps beyond. In fact they take it right to church. They slow it down and turn it inside out. In the hands of The Holmes Brothers it is no longer a catchy ode to teenage lust but a stately appeal for love. The lyrics seem to be the same, but the song now has the aura of a prayer. It’s nothing short of gorgeous.

And the rest of the album is good too, even the covers I mention above. (Roseanne Cash helps out on the Hank Williams song.)

The trio skirts the borders of gospel, soul, blues, and country. Such distinctions don’t seem to make any difference to them. Whatever they’re singing turns out Holmesy.

One of my favorite songs here is a Wendell Holmes original called “Gasoline Drawers.” This is a funky tune with one of the funniest images I’ve heard about in a while. To win his woman’s love, Wendell Holmes “would run through Hell in gasoline drawers.”

One from the throat : Yes, this column is focused mainly on the blues, but if the late Paul Pena taught us anything, there’s a real link between the blues and Tuvan throat singing.

The best-known practitioners of this strange and alluring Central Asian style — Kongar-ool Ondar (who appeared with Pena in the documentary Genghis Blues) and the group Huun-Huur-Tu — are male. The deep voices (which to some sound like Popeye speaking in tongues) might make it appear to be a man’s game.

But that’s not true. Tyva Kyz is an all-female throat singing group from Tuva. These ladies not only sing, but play traditional Tuvan instruments like the homus (a Central Asian jaw harp), a bowed instrument called the byzaanchy, and the igil, a two-stringed fiddle.

Tyva Kyzy is scheduled to perform at Cloud Cliff Bakery (1805 Second St., 983-6254) at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28. Tickets are $20. The group gives a throat-singing workshop at the Blue Dragon Coffee House in Albuquerque (1517 Girard Blvd. N.E., 505-268-5159) at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: FUN AT THE CARSON CITY FORUM

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 22, 2007


CARSON CITY, Nev. — The Nevada caucus could prompt a national debate on something that many in the Silver State feel is a burning issue: How to pronounce this state’s name.

Politicians, pundits and academics here told me in interviews last week that nothing makes a visiting candidate seem more out of touch here than to mispronounce Nevada.

Residents insist it’s Ne-VAAA-duh (with the “a” sounding as in cat),” not Ne-VAH-duh.

I was sure Gov. Bill Richardson wouldn’t be the one to take this fall. He pronounced it like a Nevadan would at a Monday news conference in New Mexico. (Which was better than me. At least two Nevada contacts had corrected my pronunciation.)

It wasn’t a candidate who made the blunder at Wednesday’s forum for Democratic presidential candidates, however. It was the moderator.

George Stephanopoulos of ABC News offended local ears with his pronunciation of Nevada at the outset of his interview with U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, the first candidate to speak.

Some in the audience actually booed. Dodd corrected him, shaking his finger and saying they pronounce it correctly in Dodd’s home state of Connecticut.
WINNING THE WEST
Nevada state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus acknowledged to me last week that the accepted way to pronounce Nevada hereabouts actually is a mispronunciation of the Spanish word for “snowcapped.” But since enough natives mispronounce it the same way, Ne-VAAA-da is correct in the hearts of its citizens.

According to the Associated Press, the Nevada Democratic Party sent materials noting the correct pronunciation to every campaign, with the hope of helping candidates avoid the gaffe.

Could Stephanopoulos have purposely made the mistake to warn other speakers? Was he trying to alert Hillary Clinton, the wife of Stephanopoulos’ former boss Bill Clinton?

Nobody I talked to would buy such a theory. Those sitting near the stage said Stephanopoulos, who apologized, looked sincerely surprised when he started hearing the boos amid the groans.

Playing it safe: Actually, none of the candidates made a major gaffe. Most stuck pretty close to their talking points.

About the closest anyone got to dangerous territory was when Richardson, seemingly in passing, brought up the fact he supported the North American Free Trade Agreement. This in front of a big union audience. Green-shirted members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filled the auditorium.

However, few seemed to take notice. At least, it didn’t evoke the same reaction as a mispronunciation of Nevada.

Snubbing the press: The Carson City forum had one of the stranger formats I’ve seen. Candidates would take the stage one at a time, give a brief introduction, sit down and answer questions from Stephanopoulos, give a brief closing statement and leave.

Almost all the candidates went directly from the auditorium to a back room of the Carson City Community Center to meet with reporters. (The room officially was called the Media Availability Room, though in political circles such a place is better known as Spin Alley.)
John Edwards
Richardson devoted a respectable amount of time to the reporters there. So did John Edwards, tough he cut it short when a reporter asked him what he thought of the legalized prostitution in parts of Nevada.

The major no-show at Spin Alley was Hillary Clinton. She reportedly had to leave town quickly to attend some function in Las Vegas.

Earlier in the day, she riled some local reporters.

This from Ray Hagar of the Reno Gazette Journal:



“Things got off to a bad start for the assembled media at the Nevada
Legislature. Last week, state Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, had invited some of the capital press corps into her office for a meet and greet with Sen. Hillary Clinton. But when Clinton arrived, the press was not allowed in at the request of Senator Clinton’s people.”
Working the parking lot: AFSCME had a lunch — actually it started at 10 a.m., so it was more of a brunch — in the community center near the auditorium where the forum was held. Most candidates didn’t take advantage of this to get out and personally greet the AFSCME faithful.

The campaigns of former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack distributed little stickers and pamphlets at tables while Sen. Joe Biden’s people placed sign-up cards for his campaign on the tables.

Richardson’s Nevada team didn’t work the AFSCME lunch, but they were out in force to distribute buttons and bumper stickers at the parking lot of the Nevada Appeal, where the state Democratic Party held a forum-watching party. Richardson and some other candidates dropped by to address the crowd there prior to the forum.NEVADA FOR RICHARDSON

I didn’t notice until much later that the yellow “Nevada for Richardson” button has a little Zia symbol on the bottom.

Searching for Searchlight: Twice on Wednesday, Richardson pledged to come back to Nevada for upcoming debates and forums. “I’ve accepted the invitation to the debate in Reno on Aug. 14 and I’ve accepted the invitation to the debate in Searchlight,” he said. “It might just be you and me, but I’ll be there,” he told the Democrats gathered at the newspaper building.

He made a similar statement about potential crowd size to the reporters in Spin Alley, but added, “That was a joke.”

Searchlight is a community of less than 600 south of Las Vegas. There’s not really a debate scheduled there, but the town has made one major contribution to Nevada politics. It’s the birthplace of U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

MY PREVIOUS NEVADA ASSIGNMENT

Greetings from Carson City, Nevada.

I'm here covering the Democratic presidential forum for The New Mexican.

I was musing this morning over on my Legislature blog that the last time the paper paid me to go to Nevada it was to cover The Grateful Dead in Las Vegas in the summer of 1994.

Just for the heck of it, I dug up that old story and will reprint it here:


A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 3, 1994


Las Vegas is typically thought of as a harsh desert, in geography and so far as rock 'n' roll goes.

It's a city where, since the decline of the Rat Pack, third-rate lounge crooners like Wayne Newton have taken on the mantle of royalty.

It's the city where Elvis Presley went to die, artistically, at least.

But for the past four years, Las Vegas, the city of glitz, has played host to an annual onslaught by one of the most un-Vegaslike bands of all time, the good old Grateful Dead.

The Dead played in Vegas for three nights last weekend. I was there, along with photographer/crony Alec Walling and his brother Will.

Unlike most rock groups, the Grateful Dead is not just six musicians and a handful of roadies. Like some kind of twisted children's crusade, with the band comes thousands of loyal Deadheads.

The Deadheads, in full tie-dye regalia, fill the less-expensive hotels; they go in droves to stuff themselves at the $2.39 Circus Circus breakfast buffet; they crowd casinos like Slots-a-Fun, which offers 75-cent imported beers and cheap hot dogs.

They sometimes get dirty looks from pit bosses or cocktail waitresses and expressions of horror from nice, normal middle-class tourists.

The annual gathering has all sorts of potential for a major clash of cultures. And yet in many establishments there are printed signs welcoming Grateful Dead fans. ``Aw, they're people,'' said a 40-ish hotel security guard. ``Like any group of people, most are all right, and a few are pains. I haven't had any major problem with the Deadheads. Sometimes when they are all standing around together you have to tell them to move along. And sometimes you have to tell them they have to put on their shoes and shirts if they want to come in the hotel. But no major problems at all.''

In other words, the land of Frank, Dino and Sammy is amazingly tolerant of the followers of Jerry, Bobby and Phil.

Of course not all Deadheads are long-haired, freewheeling youth who make their living selling unauthorized Dead T-shirts in concert parking lots. At various times during the weekend I met a high school teacher, a court reporter, a law student, a primatologist (he studies monkeys) and an assistant district attorney from Phoenix, who said his fellow prosecutors make fun of him for going to Dead shows, though the public defenders think he's cool.

I had not seen the Dead since 1983, the last time they played in Santa Fe.

I decided I couldn't pass this one up. I had to find out what draws the Dead and its enormous following to Las Vegas.

I pondered the lyrics of several old Dead songs in which gambling is a recurring metaphor, the deadly poker game with "Dire Wolf," the desperation of "Loser," in which the narrator begs for a loan, promising, ``I've got no chance of losing this time.'' I considered the concept of the "Wheel" as related to roulette.

During one of Garcia's inspired guitar solos during the Friday show, a more sinister line of thought entered my mind: Vegas, the city designed by the Mob and built with Teamster Union pension fund money, represents something alluring and corrupt about the American spirit.

Therefore, the annual Dead shows might just represent a tainted side to those old hippy purists, the Grateful Dead, millionaires who charge their slavish fans $30 per head per show. You don't see Garcia standing in line for a $2.39 breakfast.

Perhaps Vegas represents the Dead shaking the hand of P.T. Barnum, as they sing in "U.S. Blues. "

And what about the Deadheads? Is there any real difference between an elderly housewife from Bumpoke, Idaho blowing her pension on nickel slots and the pie-eyed, tie-dyed Deadhead holding up a finger and a sign reading ``I Need a Miracle'' in hopes of someone giving him a free ticket?

Fortunately, Garcia's guitar solo took me to higher ground. A recent Dead song scoffs at "Easy Answers," but sometimes the easy ones are right.

Asked why he thought the Dead does so well in Vegas, Rob, a 30-year-old high school teacher from Dallas, said, ``I think it's just that it's a party town.'' A town that is open 24 hours a day, allows people to walk the streets with open bottles of booze and has flashing neon signs rivaling a psychedelic light show is bound to appeal to Deadheads.

In what other city in the world could a group of 200 or so scuzzy-looking kids gather in front of a bar on the main street, beat drums and dance all night long? That's what the scene was like in front of Slots-a-Fun early Sunday morning.

``The natives are restless tonight,'' joked a 60-ish hotel doorman across the street from the wild bongo donnybrook as the sun began to rise over The Strip. He was clearly more bemused than outraged. There are limits to Vegas' tolerance, however. Just a few feet away from the drum corps, a police officer was handcuffing a groggy young Deadhead who had committed the crime of sleeping on the street. But Vegas cops have a comparatively good reputation among Deadheads. Bob, an Oklahoma Deadhead in his mid-30s, said the Vegas police are great compared with the South Carolina state troopers who pulled Bob and his wife over earlier this year. According to Bob, when the officer saw the grinning skull decal on Bob's van, he radioed his dispatch, ``We got a couple of Deadheads here,'' and searched the van for drugs.

``All because we happen to like a certain band,'' Bob said. Indeed, recent articles in Rolling Stone and Details magazine document how federal drug agents have concentrated on Grateful Dead shows to make arrests for LSD sales.

Although a sickly sweet aroma could be smelled in many sections inside the Silver Bowl, there was no blatant drug trafficking in the parking lot, although when Alec was trying to sell an extra ticket, one young Deadhead who ``needed a miracle'' offered him a hit of acid in exchange. (Alec just said ``no.'') But attending the Dead concerts in Vegas was not all fun and party.

Sometimes it seemed like some kind of initiation, a brutal preliminary for a vision quest. And, of course, Vegas itself, with all its flashy temptations and subliminal messages telling you, ``Don't go to bed'', is a weird endurance test, especially after driving all night to get there, as we had done.

Temperatures in Las Vegas that weekend reached 119 degrees and remained in the mid 90s even after midnight. Although the Dead did not go on stage until just after dark, the opening act, Traffic, played in full sunlight. At the edges of the stadium floor, friendly Silver Bowl staff members squirted grateful Deadheads with hoses.

Seasoned Vegas concert-goers knew to stock up on bottled water before each show. Many brought spray bottles or squirt guns to share a little moisture with others. Then there's the sheer intensity of dealing with a crowd of 30,000 or so. Even though the Dead (and other bands) these days have giant video screens so you can see what's going on down on the stage, there's just no way to fully enjoy a concert from some distant bleacher. I actually tried it for a while during the Saturday show. It felt like watching television.

No, I've got to be down on the field, as close as possible, even though it involves scrunching into a sweaty maze of human bodies. This is not recommended for the claustrophobic.

There is another reward for those who venture onto the field. It's a good feeling to be accepted into the bosom of Deadheaddom.

In the past I have been a little harsh on the Deadheads, calling them tie-dye zombies and the like. But having spent a weekend in Vegas with them, my opinion has changed.

Sure, the ``I-need-a-miracle'' kids in the parking lot get tiresome. Some of them tried to make Alec feel like an evil bloodsucker about selling his extra ticket at face value, although they had no problem with those who sold 50-cent squirt bottles for $4. But the miracle moochers are just a tiny fraction of Deadhead Nation.

Having been to the Lollapalooza festival in Denver last year, as well as various smaller ``alternative'' rock shows, I have to say that the young Deadheads are far more open, friendly and tolerant than the Lollapalozers.

In Denver last year, I truly felt like a fish out of water because of my age.

There was so much ``more-alternative-than-thou'' attitude and pre-fab obligatory Generation X angst among the Lollapalooza crowd, I had little desire to get to know the little cretins.

At alt-rock concerts, ugly gaggles of short-haired machos routinely shove their way to the front of the stage.

At Dead shows there are those who worm their way through the crowd to get better spots. But if a Deadhead steps on your foot doing so, he or she apologizes.

This struck me on Saturday when the crowd was singing along withUncle John's Band. There's that line that goes, ``What I want to know is are you kind?''

Then there was a decal being sold by a Deadhead in the parking lot. It simply said ``Mean people suck.'' That reminded me of the shirtless goons who pushed my daughter and anyone else in their way at a Pearl Jam concert. Those guys weren't cool. I'll take kindness any day.

In short, a major part of the Deadhead code is an almost childlike dedication to simple decency.

In a city like Las Vegas, human decency is sometimes harder to find than a shady parking spot. Maybe that's why Vegas welcomes the Dead.


Alec took this shot of me and Elvis on our 1994 trip to see The Dead in Las Vegas

Sunday, February 18, 2007

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 18, 2007
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
Oh My Lover by P.J. Harvey
Here Comes the Summer by The Fiery Furnaces
New Health Rock by TV on the Radio
Sweet Georgia Brown by Captain Beefheart
Mannish Boy by The Electric Mudkats, Chuck D, Common
Some Kinda Nut by Link Wray & The Moon Men
Tonight by Celebration
Ayak Shalym (My Bowl of Tea) by Tyva Kyzy

True Believers/House of Voodoo by Half Japanese
Perhaps Vampires is a Bit Strong, But ... by The Arctic Monkeys
Vampiring Again by Califone
Our Faces Split the Coasts in Half by Broken Social Scene
Moon, I'm Coming Home by Pere Ubu
Little Betty by Otis Taylor

Surfin' in Harlem by Swamp Dogg
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by The Leaving Trains
The Commie Hoedown by Rotondi
Shanty Pig by Mary's Danish
Crazy Queen by Zvuki Mu
Peter's Trip by The Electric Flag
The Boilerman by Mike Watt

Forbidden Fruit by John Zorn & The Kronos Quartet
from Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Gavin Bryars with Tom Waits

Saturday, February 17, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 16, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Pick Me Up on Your Way Down by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
Run Back to Him by Brent Hoodenpyle & The Loners
Rose Garden by Southern Culture on the Skids
Accidently on Purpose by Johnny Paycheck
Let's Flirt by Cornell Hurd with Connie Hancock
Memphis by Carl Newman
Rolling Stone by Neko Case
Byrd from West Virginia by I See Hawks in L.A.
Cumberland Gap by Sen. Robert Byrd

Wallflower by David Bromberg
Down in the Bayou by The Watzloves
Down in a Hole by Audrey Auld Mezera
Let's Waste Another Evening by Josh Lederman & Los Infernos
Working Man by Bill Kirchen
Sunglasses After Dark by Dwight Pullen
Jimmy Parker by Ed Pettersen
Crazy Old World by Ukuleleman

BLACK HISTORY MONTH SET
Is Anyone Goin' to San Antone? by Charlie Pride
I Can't Help It If I'm Still in Love With You by The Holmes Brothers with Roseanne Cash
She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye by Swamp Dogg
Six Days on the Road by Taj Mahal
A Cigarette, A Bottle and a Jukebox by Big Al Dowling
Buffalo Soldiers by Allan Harris
Wasbash Cannonball by Blind Willie McTell
When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again by Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown

Funny How Time Slips Away by Al Green & Lyle Lovette
John Law Burned Down the Liquor Store by Chris Thomas King
Tallacatcha by Alvin Youngblood Hart
Busted by Andres Williams & The Sadies
Out on the Western Plains by Lead Belly
Jambalya by Professor Longhair with Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
Don't Let Her Know by Ray Charles
Will the Circle be Unbroken? by Mavis Staples
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, February 16, 2007

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: MY ADVENTURES IN LALA LAND

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 16, 2007



It was just what I needed — another way to spend money on music from the worldwide interwebs.

Back in September, I signed up on Lala.com, an online service for trading used CDs — and a pretty cool little music club.

As a bona fide used-bin bloodhound for the last 15 years or so, I’ve been able to get my hands on some CDs I’ve wanted for years that you just don’t see at used-record shops in Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

Basically it costs $1.75 per CD. You set up a “have” list and a “want” list and wait for someone to request CDs you have and send you those you want. The company provides postage-paid envelopes and plastic “clamshell” cases.

Since joining, I’ve received almost 60 CDs and sent out about the same number. Some of the ones I received I later sent out again. I’ve heard rumors that some people copy songs onto their computers or iPods from the CDs they get, then trade them. There is a comically unenforceable Lala.com rule forbidding this.

I have yet to receive an unplayable CD — knock on wood — though I’ve had to clean a couple. I’m waiting for four CDs to arrive: two Mike Watt solo albums, an out-of-print Irma Thomas twofer called Safe With Me/Live at the Kingfish, and Wild, Cool & Swingin’, a Julie London compilation.

My first month was the most active one. I spent $38.50 for 22 CDs. Since then, I’ve averaged a little more than $16 a month. I’ve found that I have to constantly add to the CDs I’m willing to part with as well as the ones I want.There are now 171 CDs on my “want” list. (Doesn’t anyone want to part with Surfin’ in Harlem by Swamp Dogg or The Electric Prunes’ Stockholm 67?)

I’ve only got 22 I want to get rid of, which means I probably ought to start going through my collection with an eye on thinning it out.

There are a few rules. You can choose to receive CDs only with art. If you choose this option, those sending CDs to you are required to send the front booklet. (Most also will send you the back-cover art even though it’s not required.) And you’re not allowed to send promotional CDs, which make up a good chunk of a music critic’s collection.

Some of my Lala plunder consists of obscure albums I reviewed in the early days of this column (the late ’80s and early ’90s) that I originally had on cassette tape.

These include:

*There Goes the Wondertruck by Mary’s Danish. This was a fun little Los Angeles band featuring two female singers; it was “the next big thing” for about 14 seconds back then.

*Preaching and Confessing by Rotondi. They were a kind of polka-rock (accordion and sax) band though not as crazy (or as tight) as Brave Combo or The Polkaholics. My favorite song here is “The Commie Hoedown,” a salute to the fall of communism and the end of the Reagan administration.

*Reading, Writing and Arithmetic by The Sundays. The mellow, haunting, almost-folkish British duo featured a singer named Harriet Wheeler. The Sundays became popular in the early 1990s.

*Zvuki Mu. This was the self-titled album by a Russian band that could only be described as the Soviet Captain Beefheart.

*Loser Illusion Pt. 0 by The Leaving Trains. This was a six-song EP on the influential SST label. Five of the songs are run-of-the-mill punk rock. The standout is the epic conspiracy rocker “Rock ’n’ Roll Murder,” which cleverly mixes elements of Patti Smith’s “Rock ’n’ Roll Nigger” with Richard and Linda Thompson’s “Did She Jump or Was She Pushed.” (Which many recognize as a tribute to the late Sandy Denny.) Karen Carpenter was murdered, the Trains claim, “But she was one of them.” And Peter Tosh was murdered, they say: “He even made it look like a murder to cover up a murder!”

Other obscurities I’ve found on Lala.com:

*Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet by Gavin Bryars. This is a haunting piece of music that I can’t play frequently. It’s a repetitive work based on a tape loop of a homeless man singing this sweet little hymn, originally recorded for a documentary by a Bryars filmmaker crony. As the hymn plays over and over again, different instruments — string quartet, full orchestra, etc. — come and go. One lengthy track features Tom Waits. At first it seemed maddeningly monotonous, but a few minutes into the music the melody becomes like a mantra and, if you let yourself flow with it, an emotional experience. The little tramp becomes a Stan Laurel/Buddha spirit who will live in your heart.

*The Trip by The Electric Flag. This is the soundtrack for the 1967 Roger Corman hippie-exploitation flick starring Peter Fonda. I was somewhat disappointed with this CD. Somehow this music (by a band that included guitarist Mike Bloomfield and drummer Buddy Miles) didn’t sound nearly as psychedelic as the music I heard on the DVD of The Trip I recently rented from Netflix (and I wasn’t tripping when I watched the movie). Maybe it just sounds better while watching tacky LSD special effects.

*A Tribute to Robert Altman’s Nashville. This was put together by alt-country singer Carolyn Mark and features songs by Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, and others. Some of these tunes, especially Mark’s version of Ronee Blakley’s “Idaho Home,” make me realize that some songs from this movie should have been country hits and Blakley should have been a star.

*Spillane by John Zorn. This is strange and wonderful music by Zorn and friends. The first song is Zorn’s avant-garde take on crime jazz, a 25-minute musical collage. The next two songs feature bluesman Albert King, who plays guitar on both and narrates a weird little story on “Two-Lane Highway: Hico Killer — Long Mile to Houston.” Then there’s “Forbidden Fruit,” a collaboration with the Kronos Quartet.

Thursday, February 15, 2007

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: MUSIC FOR THE ROUNDHOUSE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 15, 2007


There’s a bill moving through the Legislature — House Bill 406, sponsored by House Republican Whip Dan Foley of Roswell — that would give The University of New Mexico $8 million to broadcast legislative sessions.

It’s not exactly a radical idea. Forty other states have live Web-casting of their legislatures while 27 states televise their legislatures on public television.

But it’ll take more than $8 million to get people to actually watch our lawmakers in action. The Legislature is going to have to be jazzed up a little with good production values. And that includes music.

I propose each issue facing the Legislature should have its own theme music.

Some are obvious. For instance, anytime there’s any bill relating in any way to the proposed spaceport, the proper theme song would be the original television Star Trek theme. And whenever the House or Senate faces a smoking-ban bill and other tobacco legislation, they’d play “Smoke, Smoke, Smoke That Cigarette” by Tex Williams.

A couple of years ago, I wrote an entire column about death-penalty songs. (Steve Earle’s “Ellis Unit One” and Merle Haggard’s “Sing Me Back Home” led that list.) Similarly there’s a plethora of railroad tunes for any bill having to do with the Rail Runner. (“Daddy What’s a Train?” by Utah Phillips would be my nomination.)

Here are some other suggestions:

Cockfighting: “Gallo de Cielo” by Joe Ely (written by Tom Russell). If cockfighting is really so bad, how could such a great song come out of it? This is the ballad of a young Mexican named Carlos Zaragoza who steals a champion fighting rooster and goes to the U.S. seeking his fortune by gambling on that gallo. I’ve heard the song probably 500 times, but I still listen intently as Gallo de Cielo fights his last battle against a black rooster named Zorro.

Defense of Marriage: “The Ceremony” by George Jones & Tammy Wynette. This was a slow, solemn and not intentionally funny number, complete with someone playing a minister conducting a wedding ceremony for George and Tammy as they pledge their eternal one-man/one-woman love. Cynics and wise guys, of course, might point out that both Jones and Wynette were married multiple times.

Minimum Wage: “Minimum Wage” by The BusBoys. This New Wave band was briefly popular in the early ’80s. The song is from the perspective of someone who works for minimum wage.

Film industry bills: “Celluloid Heroes” by The Kinks. This song observes, “Everybody’s a dreamer, everybody’s a star/Everybody’s in show biz, no matter who you are.” And it has some wise advice for would-be stars, which would include politicians: “You who are successful, be always on your guard/Success walks hand and hand with failure/Along Hollywood Boulevard.”

Conference Committees: What else but the late Charlie Rich’s big crossover song, “Behind Closed Doors.”

Of course, individuals could have their own theme music. Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, beat me to the punch earlier this year when he played the Tone Loc classic “Funky Cold Medina” in honor of his fellow Republican, Sen. Steve Komadina of Corrales.

A natural theme for Gov. Bill Richardson would be Jean Knight’s old soul hit “Mr. Big Stuff.” House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, could be introduced by The Everly Brothers’ “That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine.” Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, has a ready-made theme song in “Mimi” by French crooner Maurice Chevalier.

Got any more? E-mail me at sterrell@sfnewmexican.com.

The Western candidate: Richardson, in national interviews about his presidential candidacy, has made a point of identifying himself as a Western governor with “Western values.” The West, as he’s noted, is fertile ground for the Democratic Party to grow.

But the latest polls from the New Hampshire-based American Research Group shows that Democrats in Western states have yet to embrace Richardson as a favorite son.

According to the polls released Wednesday, Richardson is doing best in Arizona, where he has the support of 4 percent of Democrats. In Utah, he’s at 1 percent while in Oklahoma, which is sort of like a Western state, he has 2 percent.

Alabama is not a Western state, but Richardson polled at 1 percent there, according to ARG.

Each of the polls were based on telephone interviews with 600 likely voters between Feb. 8 and 13. The margin of error is 4 percent.

So you want to influence the Legislature: A coalition of three advocacy groups Friday will be training citizens on how to deal with the Legislature. The groups are the Family Justice Campaign (a project of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that includes several labor and advocacy groups), the New Mexico Human Needs Coordinating Council and Student Social Work Advocates.

Some of the groups will be conducting training sessions at First Christian Church and St. John’s United Methodist Church. There’s a scheduled rally on the east side of the Capitol at 11 p.m. Friday followed by a news conference at 1:30 p.m. For more information, call Julie Roberts at 983-3277.

Monday, February 12, 2007

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 11, 2007
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
Sheila Na-Gig by P.J. Harvey
Go to Hell on Judgement Day by The Immortal Lee County Killers
Artschool Girl by King Automatic
Drug Train by The Cramps
Riot Van by The Arctic Monkeys
Lucky Few by Los Infernos
Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Red Riding Hood & The Wolf by Bunker Hill with Link Wray
Private Detectice by Gene Vincent

Waves of Fear by Lou Reed
The Place Where People Meet by Kustomized
Spread Your Love by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
The Slim by Sugar
Flames Up by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
Sweet Spots by The Fiery Furnaces
Monster Rock by The Monsters
That's Life by Frank Sinatra

Spillane by John Zorn

In My Homeland, the Great Shuilar by Tyva Kyzy
The Good Egg by Carl Stalling
Love and Hesitation by Otis Taylor
Bring it On Home by Chris Whitley & The Bastard Club
Beautiful Child by Camper Van Beethoven
New Skin by Celebration
Loving You by Elvis Presley
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, February 10, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 9, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Act Naturally by The Beatles
Muswell Hillbilly by Southern Culture on the Skids
Evening Gown by Jerry Lee Lewis with Mick Jagger & Ronnie Wood
The Kids are Allright by Joe Goldmark
Best Friends of Mine by Waylon Jennings
Blues Plus Booze (Means I Lose) by Randy Kohrs
Delilah by Jon Langford & Sally Timms
Detective Song by Brent Hoodenpyle & The Loners

The Memory of Your Smile by Ralph Stanley & Maria Muldaur
I Ain't Gonna Marry by The Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Moonshiner by Uncle Tupelo
Sugar Coated Love by The Watzloves
Rock Billy Boogy by Johnny Burnette
Tear it Up by 1/4 Mile Combo
Green Green Grass of Home by Kelly Hogan

ELENI MANDELL SET

Moonglow, Lamp Low
American Boy
Don't Touch Me
Dear Friend
I'm Your Girl
Too Bad About You
Miracle of Five

Backstreet Affair by Van Morrison
Smoke Smoke Smoke by Doc & Merle Watson
Someday We'll Back by Merle Haggard
When Did You Stop Lovin' Me by George Jones
It Makes No Difference by My Morning Jacket
I Believe in You by Don Williams
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, February 09, 2007

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: MIRACLE OF MANDELL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 9, 2007


I think I’ve written before that Eleni Mandell has just about the sexiest voice in showbiz today. Her new album, Miracle of Five, drives home this point. In fact, in my book, the new record shows Mandell to be the Julie London of her generation. She’d do a great “Cry Me a River,” and if London were still alive, I bet she’d be recording sensual songs by Eleni like the jazzy “Beautiful” and the wistful “Girls.”

Mandell’s last couple of solo albums, Afternoon and Country Love Songs, presented a more alt-country sound (especially the latter). Some songs here — most notably “Dear Friend” — retain shadows of twang. Nels Cline, best known for his experimental work and his contributions to Wilco and the Geraldine Fibbers, plays lap steel, dobro, banjo, and other instruments here.

But Miracle of Five is contemporary torch music with subtle touches of noir. The Los Angeles singer makes great background music for reading Raymond Chandler or Ross MacDonald or even James Ellroy.

Some of the songs — like the opening “Moonglow, Lamp Low” and “Perfect Stranger,” featuring Jeff Turmes’ menacing sax — sound a little like early jazznik Tom Waits records, except that Mandell’s voice is as sultry as Waits’ is raspy. Mandell and Waits have a mutual friend in Chuck E. Weiss, whom Mandell has described as a friend and mentor. (And Mandell did a drop-dead-gorgeous version of Waits’ “Muriel” on a Waits tribute album a few years ago.)

Not only is this a fine showcase for Mandell’s voice, but Miracle of Five contains some of her most memorable songs. The title song, which seems to deal with some type of numerology of the heart, is a lilting tune that features both banjo and vibes (from longtime Mandell collaborator D.J. Bonebrake of X). Maybe it’s because this whole album stimulates my dirty mind, but when Mandell purrs “kiss me every day/The miracle of six,” it sounds like she’s singing “the miracle of sex.”

“Make-Out King,” an atmospheric waltz featuring double-tracked vocals and squiggly electronic noises that complement the melody, is about falling in lust with someone you realize is ultimately no good for you.

“The make-out king/Is in my bed/And I’m so tired I think I’m a junkie/His hair is curly/He drinks like nobody knows where he’s going/And nobody cares what he’s saying.”

Mandell gets mysterious with “My Twin,” a minor-key, bluesy tune featuring a sad horn section and nasty roller-rink organ backing morbid lyrics like, “Why did that train derail?/201 victims killed/Was my twin among the dead?/Was my twin expected to live?”

But I think my favorite here is “Girls,” another one with Bonebrake on vibes. The verses are about a potential new love. “I wonder how you look when you sleep/Do you still dream about girls from your street/Do you still dream about girls from high school?/Do you still dream about girls, girls, girls?” But on the bridge, she turns on herself: “I am the marble the color of candy/I’ll make you money whenever you’re gambling/I am the dice you roll in the alley/I am the pennies that come in handy.”

In a just world, this album would make Mandell a star. Just world or not, I say the lady’s a contender.

Mini Eleni-thon: Tonight on The Santa Fe Opry I’ll do a 30-minute Eleni Mandell set, including songs from Miracle of Five and several other albums. The show starts at 10 p.m. Sunday, and the Mandell set will start shortly after 11 p.m. on KSFR-FM 90.7. And don’t forget Terrell’s Sound World, same time, same channel, on Sunday night.

Also recommended:
*The Peel Sessions 1991-2004 by PJ Harvey. The CD booklet for this album, released last fall, includes a note from Polly Jean Harvey celebrating John Peel, the late British radio host who, from the psychedelic era until his death in 2004, promoted great music and often broadcast live-in-the-studio performances by artists ranging from Donovan to Dinosaur Jr., Fleetwood Mac to Fugazi.

“John’s opinions mattered to me,” Harvey writes. “More than I would ever care to admit for fear of embarrassment on both sides, but I sought his approval always. It mattered. Every Peel session I did, I did for him.”

I’m sure Peel would have approved of the performances on this album. This is PJ at her bare-bones best. Hearing these ferocious versions of her early tunes like “Oh My Lover,” “Victory,” and “Sheela-Na-Gig” is a vivid reminder of what made me love Harvey in the first place. On these early songs — recorded in 1991, months before the release of her debut album, Dry — she’s backed only by bass and drums.

That’s also the case with her cover of the Willie Dixon classic “Wang Dang Doodle,” one of the highlights of this collection. Harvey doesn’t try to out-Koko Koko Taylor (who does the classic version of the song) here. In fact, she starts out in a high, little-girl voice. But by the chorus, her vocals are just on the verge of a scream. By the song’s end that voice is full of sex and glory.

But the true standout here is a 1996 version of “Snake,” in which Harvey’s only sideman is John Parrish on guitar and keyboards. The first verse has Harvey chanting the lyrics, getting angrier and louder with each word and leading up to a chorus of inhuman howls. Just like the original, it’s less than two minutes long, which probably is a good thing. That type of intensity shouldn’t go on for much longer.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: GOV. SLOW ON THE DRAW FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 8, 2007


Did Gov. Bill Richardson avoid a potential flip-flop?

Last year, the governor expressed strong support for a bill that would allow people with certain serious medical conditions to use marijuana to treat their symptoms. Better than that, Richardson actually put medical marijuana on his call, which was necessary for it to be considered during a 30-day budget session.

Last week, when the Senate Public Affairs Committee heard the medical marijuana bill (Senate Bill 238), there was no word from the governor on how he stood. As reported in this paper, “during the hearing, Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham and Human Services Secretary Pamela Hyde sat in silence. Last year, in the same hearing, they endorsed it.”

A Health Department spokesman said afterward, “We neither support nor oppose the bill” because his agency isn’t carrying it — even though the bill calls upon the Health Department to establish procedures and license medial marijuana growers.

New Mexican reporter Diana Del Mauro tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from a Governor’s Office spokesman.

On Monday, when the bill went to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I also tried to get a comment from the Governor’s Office to no avail.

Could it be that Richardson’s presidential candidacy was making him think twice about medical marijuana?

As it eventually turned out, no.

The next day, spokesman Gilbert Gallegos e-mailed me saying, “The Governor continues to support a medical marijuana bill with property safeguards, and he will work to get it passed.”

Then on Wednesday, the Governor’s Office sent out a news release quoting Richardson saying, “I will work with legislators to get it passed this session to provide this option for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases.”

This quickly was followed by e-mails from advocates.

“We are grateful that the governor continues to support the bill and has pledged to work with the Legislature to ensure its passage,” wrote Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico. “Gov. Richardson recognizes that this is a medical issue and that the strength of this bill lies in its safeguards to prevent potential abuse.”

So why the delay of several days?

“It just took me awhile to double-check, since this was not part of our legislative agenda,” Gallegos said Wednesday.

The Senate passed the bill 34-7 on Wednesday night.

Showdown in Carson City: The 2006 election has been over for three months now. Debate season for the 2008 election is about to get under way.

The first forum for the 2008 Nevada presidential caucus is scheduled for Feb. 21 in Carson City, Nev. Before this week, only second-tier candidates had accepted the invitation. These include Richardson, Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.

But earlier this week, the Associated Press reported, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s office confirmed she also would attend the event sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

So far, no word from Sen. Barak Obama or former Sen. John Edwards, the wire service said.
Nevada’s caucus is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2008, right between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary.

The Nevada contest is extremely important to Richardson, who attended some political functions in that state late last month.

Ducks Deluxe: One of my favorite parts of the great five-hour cockfighting debate in the Senate on Wednesday was an exchange between Sens. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and Phil Griego, D-San Jose.

Smith, who favors the cockfighting ban, remarked: “They’re not always fighting the chickens. Sometimes they’re gambling some dollars.”

Griego, who is opposed to the ban, said people who run cockfighting pits have assured him there are signs posted that say “Betting is illegal.”

Smith: “There’s signs along the highway posting the speed limit as 55 or 60, but there’s not a lot of compliance.”

Griego: “Do they bet on the duck races in Deming?”

Smith: “You bet they do.”

No word yet on a bill to ban the duck races.

Monday, February 05, 2007

JIM TERR IS A BASTARD!

Or at least he plays one on stage.

Here's an e-mail Terr sent me today:

I'm performing in one of the "Benchwarmers" plays (9 short plays in one program) in Santa Fe next two weekends, specifically the title role in "Bastard!"). I've seen all the plays and think they're fantastic -- well worth seeing even apart from the fact that they showcase great local writers and actors.

The play I'm in has a "split cast"; I and my partner will be performing this Friday and Sunday, Feb 9, 11, and all 4 shows next weekend, Feb. 15, 16, 17 & 18. (Sundays are matinees, "pay-what-you-wish.")

(There's some "adult" content).

Complete information
HERE

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 4, 2007
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
Dropkick Me Jesus by Bobby Bare
Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed
Head Held High by The Velvet Underground
Uranium Rock by The Cramps
I'm Bigger Than You by The Mummies
Dead End Street by The Monsters
Dirty Lie by Electric Koolade
13 Going on 21 by Dead Moon
Bridget the Midget by Ray Stevens

This Ain't No Picnic by The Minutemen
Drove Up From Pedro by Mike Watt with Carla Bozulich
Me and Jill/Hendrix Crosby by Ciccone Youth
Baby Blue by The Warlocks
Take Me To the Other Side by The Spacemen 3
Green and Gold by The Electric Flag
Wang Dang Doodle by P.J. Harvey

Things You Can Do by TV on the Radio
Lost Souls by Celebration
Pray to the Junkiemaker by Fishbone
Gett Off by Prince
Mighty O by Outkast
Le Vicomte by Soel
Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye

Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry by The Beatles
Tropical Iceland by The Fiery Furnaces
Miss World by Hole
When Leon Spinx Moved Into Town by Caliphone
Goodnight Irene by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, February 03, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 2, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Girl Called Trouble by The Watzloves
That's What She Said Last Night by Billy Joe Shaver
The Streets of Baltimore by Bobby Bare
Engine Engine Number Nine by Southern Culture on The Skids
I Don't Want Love by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Sting in This Old Bee by Hank Thompson
Put Your Cat Clothes on by Carl Perkins
Gallo de Cielo by Joe Ely

Amanda by Don Williams
Morphine by Audrey Auld Mezera
Honky Tonk Song by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Long Walk Back to San Antone by Junior Brown
Come With Me by Waylon Jennings
A-11 by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers
Backstreet Affair by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Brand New Heartache by Jeff Lescher & Janet Beveridge Bean

Tabitha by Ed Pettersen
If It's Really Got to Be This Way by Bill Kirchen
Unbroken Love by Andy Fairweather Low
You Can't Stop Her by Jim Lauderdale
99 Friends of Mine by Dan Reeder
You Can Buy My Heart With a Waltz by The Desperados
Cripple Creek by Steve Rosen
In Tall Buildings by John Hartford
Do it to Me Tonight by Hasil Adkins

Prozac by Ramsay Midwood
Nosy Neighbor by The Ditty Bops
The Old Rugged Cross by Jim Kweskin
Dear Someone by Gillian Welch
Miracle of Five by Eleni Mandell
Walkin' Man by Guy Clark
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, February 02, 2007

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: GROUNDHOG DAY CLEARANCE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 2, 2007


It’s the Groundhog Day clearance sale at Terrell’s Tune-Up.

Yes, it’s that time of year when the music industry is slow in releasing new products, a convenient time to look back on some of the albums from last year that I never quite got around to reviewing (and that, in a couple of cases, I just recently got into).

*Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio. This album topped the recent Jackin’ Pop Critics Poll at the online zine Idolator — without my help. Sheepishly I have to admit I didn’t notice this album until after the ballot deadline. So that makes 2006 one of those years that I wish I could go back to and change my top-10 list. Cookie Mountain definitely belongs on it.

Longtime readers know I’m a guitar chauvinist — a “rockist,” as some of those snooty, big-town critics would say. As a rule, my tastes generally lie with bands that don’t stray too far from the Buddy Holly and The Crickets guitar-bass-drums lineup. I’m generally leery of techno/electronica newfangled stuff.

But sometimes a sound is so amazing it makes me realize why rules are meant to be broken. TV on the Radio is a big case in point.

Somehow these five guys from Brooklyn create music that is catchy and otherworldly at the same time. The combination of the soulful vocals of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, emerging from the often apocalyptic sonic backdrop, is irresistible. It’s almost like a strange mash-up of Fishbone and Pere Ubu. I hear reverberations of Prince in here, and David Bowie, too. In fact he makes a guest appearance on the song “Province.”

In short, it’s the kind of music I’d like to take on a time machine and go back to, say, 1967 — or even better, 1957 — and tell people, “In the future, this is what rock ’n’ roll sounds like.”

Like Firesign Theatre records, with Cookie Mountain you find new things to appreciate with each subsequent listen — little audio treats you didn’t notice before. (Dig that crazy clarinet that comes out of nowhere about four minutes into “Tonight.”)

“Blues From Down Here” sounds like roots music from the planet of the robots. “Snakes and Martyrs” sounds like a long-lost David Byrne melody that’s gone through genetic reconstruction. “Let the Devil In” starts out with bruising industrial drums and turns into a desperate chant.

Of course, rockist that I am, my favorite song here is “Wolf Like Me,” which, with its stinging guitar and drums straight out of the Ramones’ “Teenage Lobotomy,” is probably the most traditional-sounding rocker here. Yet even this one breaks from the rocked-out first verse into a spacier bridge.

*Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady. Here’s another one that made it onto critics’ top-10 lists all over this great land of ours — but not mine.

Yet, unlike Cookie Mountain, I don’t regret that decision.

Boys and Girls is a very listenable album. The first song, “Stuck Between Stations,” starts out with a reference to Sal Paradise, which is a plus for Kerouac fans.

The album is probably the closest thing to classic rock a band of youngsters has put out in some time. Everyone compares it with early Springsteen, though some of the piano flourishes also remind me of early Meat Loaf.

That’s generally my problem with the record. Not only has it been done before, it’s been redone better. If you really want to hear a contemporary band that’s captured that early-Bruce spirit, seek out Marah, especially the 2000 album Kids in Philly — a masterpiece that includes one of the best songs about Vietnam ever recorded, “Round Eye Blues.”

Still Boys and Girls isn’t bad. I especially like the crazy organ solo in the faster-than-Springsteen-ever-went “Same Kooks.” And “Chillout Tent,” which deals with drug-abusing youngsters at a rock festival, is wicked fun.

*Idlewild by Outkast. This is more of a companion piece than a soundtrack to the movie of the same title that starred Outkast; it’s the influential hip-hop group’s follow-up to their amazing double-disc Speakerboxx/The Love Below.

I haven’t seen the movie. And this CD doesn’t match up to its predecessor. But it’s lots of fun, with some fine tunes that stand out.

Like the double disc, Idlewild is basically two solo records — it can be divided into Big Boi songs and André 3000 songs, plus some inconsequential spoken-word bits related to the movie. And just like I preferred The Love Below to Speakerboxx, I’m partial to the songs by Dre. The guy’s a real musician. I hate to mention Prince twice in one column, but I believe Dre is heir to the purple throne.

Some of the music here embraces jazz — and Cab Calloway gets credit for the “hi-di-hi’s” on “Mighty ‘O.’” “Mutron Angel,” featuring vocals by Myrna “Peach” Brown, is futuristic gospel. And Dre gets nice and bluesy — with a nod to Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” — on “Idlewild Blue (Don’tchu Worry ’Bout Me).”

For you Funkadelic fans, the almost nine-minute “A Bad Note” is a lengthy, “Maggot Brain”-like, fuming guitar piece.

*Love by The Beatles. This is a remix album patched together by longtime Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles. It was assembled for a Las Vegas spectacular (I’m not making this up) by Cirque du Soleil. But it’s a fun little ride.

“Get Back” starts with the opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night,” picks up with the drums, and (later some guitar) from “The End” before the vocals from the original “Get Back” start. There’s some Sgt. Pepper noise in there before it fades into the next track, a hyped-up “Glass Onion,” which has stray sounds from “Hello, Goodbye,” French horns from “Penny Lane,” and a lonely loop of John Lennon singing, “Nothing is real.”

I’m sure lots of hard-line, old-time Beatlemaniacs shuddered at the thought of this project. But I feel just the opposite. My biggest complaint is that there wasn’t enough experimenting and mixing up of the old Beatles tapes. Many songs just sound like new, “modernized” version of Beatles classics. Of course, what could ever match the spirit of experimentation and plain old weird thinking that went into making the original version of “Strawberry Fields Forever”?

Here’s a suggestion: next time, give TV on the Radio access to the old material and see what they come up with.

Thursday, February 01, 2007

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: IT'S HOT BUTTON DAY AT THE ROUNDHOUSE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 1, 2007


Today is Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day, according to a news release from Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

Happy Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day!

But a better name for Feb. 1 at the Roundhouse would be "Hot Button Day." This is the day that several hot-button issues get their first — and for some, quite possibly their last — hearings of the session.

You’ve got the medical marijuana bill, (Senate Bill 238 sponsored by Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque) in the Senate Public Affairs Committee.

There’s a twofer in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee: The panel is scheduled to discuss abortion (the parental-notification bill, House Bill 239, which would require abortion doctors to notify parents of teenage girls seeking abortions, sponsored by Rep. Larry Larranaga, R-Albuquerque) and gay marriage. There’s the proposed constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 2, by Rep. Gloria Vaughn, R-Alamogordo, as well as HB 395, sponsored by Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell.

And then there’s cockfighting. The Senate Conservation Committee — the traditional killing grounds of anti-cockfighting bills — will hear measures sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, (SB 10) and Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, (SB 70).

There might be even more hot-buttons to be pushed today. It’s sure to be an Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day we’ll never forget.

For the record: Denish has scheduled a news conference to make more people aware of that tax credit at 10 a.m. in Room 321. The credit, which many people don’t bother to claim, is up to $4,536 for qualifying families with two or more children, Denish said.

Real ID: The memorial calling for Congress to repeal the REAL ID Act has at least one friend in New Mexico’s congressional delegation.

Marissa Padilla of U.S. Rep. Tom Udall’s office, answering a reporter’s inquiry Wednesday, released a statement saying, “Congressman Udall voted against the REAL ID Act in the 109th Congress because it was a first step toward a national ID card. While he agrees that we need safe and secure forms of identification to help fight illegal immigration, the decision on how to issue driver’s licenses should remain something the states decide.”

House Joint Memorial 13 as of Wednesday was on the House Temporary Calendar, which means it could be heard on the House floor as early as today.

Victory for bolos: The bolo tie came one step closer to becoming the legal state tie Wednesday when the House voted unanimously to pass HB 115.

Bill sponsor Rep. Don Tripp, R-Socorro, is a jeweler by profession. He said several fellow jewelers requested the bill.

Tripp claimed New Mexico produces more bolos than any other state. I’m not sure whether our neighbors to the West would agree.

But in Arizona, people refer to the tie as “bolas” and say we’re wrong to spell it otherwise.
As I mentioned a few columns ago, in 1987, the Legislature named the bolo “official state tie or neckwear of New Mexico” in a memorial.

However, that was done in a nonbinding memorial, so the bolos aren’t listed in the same section of state law that lists the official state bird, state animal, state reptile, state butterfly, state cookie and all the state songs.

But even if the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, that doesn’t mean House members can wear bolos to floor sessions. Cloth ties still are required, according to House rules.

There’s an identical bill, SB 19, sponsored by Komadina, scheduled for a hearing Friday in the Senate Rules Committee.

Is it a session yet?: In a recent column, I listed several examples of “It’s not a session until ...”

At least one of those came to pass. Sen. John Pinto, D-Tohatchi, sang "The Potato Song."

However, some Roundhouse purists argue that didn’t count because Pinto sang the Navajo song in the Rotunda on Seniors Day — not on the Senate floor.

I’m not taking a position on this.

I asked you, the reader, to submit your own “It’s not a session until ...” examples and, sure shootin’, some of you did. Here are some of those:

* There is a “Call of the House” and members are under escort to the restroom. (This is from House Majority Leader Kenny Martinez of Grants.)

* Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, shows up in an opera cape for Italian American Day.

* A former legislator shows up, and lawmakers spend an hour of floor time lauding him rather than acting on bills.

* Someone (a) gets into a fight at a Santa Fe bar; (b) gets popped driving drunk; or (c) sends an incendiary op-ed to The New Mexican and then stands by it.

* Everyone in the Legislative Council Service has a cold they caught from schoolchildren sliming the bannisters.

* Throughout the building, it’s mariachi music all day every day.

* The lobbyists start delivering pizzas (always with green chile).

* The bill clerks are using three Xerox machines at once.

* When everyone is finally really sick of all the Valentine candy.

That last one is especially disturbing because the Valentine onslaught hasn’t even started yet.

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