Thursday, April 08, 2004

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: RICHARDSON'S AMBITIONS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican


Gov. Bill Richardson on May 20 will give a commencement speech at a state university.

No, not this state. He'll be talking that night to the graduating class of the University of New Hampshire in Manchester.

New Hampshire? Why would a politician from New Mexico be interested in New Hampshire?

Certainly, it's not politics, Richardson's spokesmen insist.

"It's got absolutely nothing to do with the 2008 New Hampshire primary," Billy Sparks said Wednesday. "In fact, Governor Richardson has long advocated that a Western primary be given greater prominence."

Richardson has called for New Mexico and other Western states to band together for a regional presidential primary that would be held early in the election year.

For several decades, New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary of the election season.

Sparks also noted Richardson gave a commencement speech at Middlebury College in Vermont last year. And Vermont isn't one of those states where presidential hopefuls start poking around years in advance.

This will be Richardson's first trip to New Hampshire, Sparks said. Asked whether it will be his last, Sparks said, "I can't say that."

The university will pay for the trip, Sparks said.

Second banana blues: But, of course, it really is too early to be looking at the 2008 election when 2004 isn't even half finished.

However, the governor's assumed presidential ambitions have been noted by national pundits looking at the possibility of Sen. John Kerry choosing Richardson as the vice-presidential candidate this year.

(The usual disclaimer: Richardson has repeatedly said he would turn down any offer to be on the national ticket this year.)

A report on CNN's Paula Zahn Now noted Richardson's strengths are his appeal to Hispanic voters and his experience in foreign policy and energy issues. However, the report said some Democrats believe our governor might be perceived as being too interested in advancing his own political career.

Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said much the same thing in a telephone interview Wednesday.

In Sabato's most recent ranking of Democratic veep contenders -- in which our governor ranked third behind Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland -- Richardson ranked high in areas of experience and political strength. But he was docked points in the category of "compatibility" with Kerry.

This, Sabato said, was due to the fact that Richardson "is viewed as having his own presidential run in mind." Presidential candidates, Sabato said, prefer to have running mates with their ambitions on the back burner.

In Sabato's ranking system, Richardson lost more points in the category of possible "hidden problems."

Asked what this referred to, Sabato said he was mainly talking about the fact that Richardson's voting record as a congressman and his years as United Nations ambassador and Energy secretary haven't received much national scrutiny -- at least not the kind that candidates on national tickets get. Security problems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and rising gasoline prices in 2000 kept Richardson off the national ticket that year.

But that assessment probably doesn't sting as much as Sunday's New York Times article by Adam Nagourney, which listed Richardson as one of four possible running mates interviewed by the Kerry campaign.

While Richardson's experience and the fact he could help carry New Mexico -- a "must-win" state -- were big plusses, Nagourney said, "Mr. Richardson has not run for national office before, and Democrats said it was not clear that he has the political skills to survive what could be a highly complicated campaign."

The Snerdley factor: But Richardson can take solace in the fact that he's the favorite of "Mr. Snerdley," the screener for right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh's Web site has a transcript of a discussion about Kerry's possible running mates.

Quoth Limbaugh: "Now, is there a name, Mr. Snerdley? I've mentioned that you disagree with me. You think might, might add to the electability chances of John Kerry? ... Hm-hm. Hm-hm. Bill Richardson. OK, all right, Mr. Snerdley thinks that Bill Richardson might add aura, prestige and give an increased chance of electability to John Kerry. All right, fine."

Wednesday, April 07, 2004

Big Ugly's Response

My pal Rio DeGennaro of the Kansas City band The Big Ugly Guys wrote a full length response to my Kurt Cobain/Gaynel Hodge story (posted this morning immediately below.) However, it was too long for the "comments" feature.

I obviously don't agree with everything he says, (I believe there was plenty of joy and rebellion in the old Seattle sound) but Rio's a smart guy and his full response is worth reading. Plus I like his band. So here it is:


Great story, Steve.

I never really understood where all the BS about being the voice of teenage angst came from, and how Nirvanna was the medium for Corbain's status as spokesman for Gen X or whatever they were called. Grunge was the reason I bought a guitar and started my band to try to preach the fun and rebellion of rocknroll to people. I know that may seem to be an outdated idea but I still believe the reception of rock is in making people get out of their seats and shake their ass.

I never subscribed to the dark visions of the music of the Doors, the Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath. I kinda thought the record companies were using the weirdness in people brought out by the excesses of uninhibited lifestyles to make a buck. The whole Seattle thing to me is just a reverberation of the NW heroin scene that seemed to play on the disconnect
of youth at the time. Me, I've never been into smack or downers, so I just couldn't relate at all. A buncha minor key tunings do not make a memorable song to my ear. Have you heard anybody walking down the street whistling "Teen Spirit"?

Our local alt. rag, "The Pitch", had a music editor who hooked up with a local studio and tried to ram midwest grunge down everyone's throat.. The only bands who ever got favorable reviews were recorded at that studio with the same riff heavy hand. Totally sucked. We had plenty of great bands spread across the musical spectrum from jazz to blues who couldn't get the time of day in the paper. Me, I still get the cold shoulder from a lot of the clubs and businesses associated with the ass. I made the mistake of writing a letter to the editor pointing out the fact that "...you can't recreate the grunge scene in KC with 3.2 beer and road weed". My point being pretty obvious to anyone who bought records for 50 years.

I spent many a night trying to get a little sweater in the back seat of the car parked in some lover's lane listening to "Earth Angel" and "Tonight's the Night" and "Silhouettes". Aaaah, the glories of submarine race watching doo wop.

Now that was all rocknroll and all missed by kids today. Who wants to slow dance with some whiner mosh pit enthusiast.

I use to always want to be alive 100 years in the future. Now I'm just not so sure about the future.

rio

OF EARTH ANGEL, LOLLAPALOOZA AND THE GHOST OF KURT COBAIN

Kurt Cobain's suicide 10 years ago this week shook me, even though I'm a generation older than the generation for whom he'd been deemed a spokesman. His death was on my mind that next summer when I went to Lollapalooza in Phoenix. After all, before the suicide Nirvana was considering an offer to headline Lollapalooza.

The night before the concert , I was with a group of folks that went to hear doo-wop pioneer Gaynel Hodge play his happy hour set at a hotel lounge. Kurt's ghost tagged along. This is the oddball Lollapalooza review I wrote for the paper:


Originally published September 2, 1994

SANTA FE NEW MEXICAN


Gaynel Hodge said he'd like to go to Lollapalooza, but he didn't think he could make it. He had a dental appointment that day.

Besides, being in his 60s, Gaynel undoubtedly had no desire to stand out in the un-airconditioned sun for hours with thousands of navel-pierced white kids listening to music that he had helped to create some 40 years ago, but which had mutated beyond his recognition.

Chances are, unless you have a Ph.D. in Doo Wop, you have never heard of Gaynel Hodge. But surely you have heard his song, "Earth Angel," which in 1954 arose like a trapped spirit of the underworld, eventually becoming part of our civilization's collective unconsciousness.

Actually, Gaynel is one of three authors listed on "Earth Angel"'s credits, the other two being Jesse Belvin, (the silken-voiced crooner of "Good Night My Love") and Curtis Williams, a member of The Penguins, the group that made the song famous.

Gaynel himself never made it big, although he still earns his living playing music. The night before Lollapalooza he was playing happy hour at the Quality Inn bar near downtown Phoenix.

That's right. Happy hour at the Quality Inn. Phoenix, Ariz.

Sounds like your archetypal rock 'n' roll sob story, right? Kurt Cobain blew his brains out partly so he'd never end up playing happy hour in a hotel lobby. Cobain also assured that Nirvana would not headline this year's Lollapalooza, thus propelling Smashing Pumpkins to headliner status.

As fine as the Pumpkins sounded, I couldn't help but think about that fact throughout their set. Cobain's ghost also seemed to be flitting about the Quality Inn as Gaynel sang his hit along with covers of Ray Charles, James Brown and Little Richard songs.

Try to imagine the year 2033 with Billy Corgan or Kim Deal or Green Day's Billy Joe in some cocktail lounge, serving up '90s nostalgia with piano- bar renditions of "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Disarm" and Pearl Jam's "Alive."

Doesn't seem likely, but it could happen. And if it does, would any of them handle it with as much grace and humor as Gaynel?

All in all, I'd rather be Gaynel Hodge than Kurt Cobain.

In some ways, Gaynel's gig is closer to the democratic spirit that nurtured the Lollapalooza bands. Ironically, the "alternative'' acts on the main stage are big rock stars now, separated from the audience by a fence and a small army of security guards. All that comes between Gaynel and his fans is the free hot-wing spread.

And fans there were. There were the ladies who usually caught Gaynel at a neighborhood bar called Chez Nous (nicknamed "Cheese Nose'') where until recently he played with his own combo.

And there were a couple of bozos on holiday who had a berserk fantasy about taking him to Lollapalooza where someone - probably some graybeard in George Clinton's entourage - would recognize him and hustle him up to the stage, where he would win over a new generation with his ageless hymn to teen-age passion.

Surely the kids would recognize the secret links between "Earth Angel" and the Pumpkins' "Cherub Rock." If they could appreciate the grandfatherly Clinton, maybe they could relate to Gaynel.

It was a well-meaning fantasy.

Roseanne Cash probably was right. Earlier this year when there was talk about Johnny Cash playing Lollapalooza, Roseanne worried that the same people who stormed past security guards to mosh to Green Day would not show her dad proper respect. Johnny didn't sign.

Gaynel promised his new friends he would call them if he could make it to Lollapalooza.

He didn't.


Gaynel Hodge with fans

Monday, April 05, 2004

Terrell's Sound World Play List

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Click that link or call (505)428-1393 or, if outside Santa Fe, 1-866-907-5737 (toll free)

Terrell's Sound World
Sunday, April 4, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
from Cryptical Evelopment by The Grateful Dead
Hpw Do You Think It Feels by Lou Reed
Gravity/Falling Down Again/Street Hassle by Alejandro Escovedo

Mama's Selling Heroin by Otis Taylor
Funky Kingston by Toots & The Maytals with Bootsty Collins and The Roots
Dylan's Coat by Johnny Dowd
The Fever by The Von Bondies
Smash it Up by The International Noise Conspiracy
In Praise of Sha Na Na by The Dead Milkmen
Privacy Calls by The Baby Robots
Ragdoll by The Four Seasons

Kurt Cobain Tribute
All Songs by Nirvana unless otherwise noted

Sliver
Been a Son
Heart Shaped Box
Rape Me by Richard Cheese
Floyd the Barber
Territorial Pissings
Sleeps With Angels by Neil Young
You Know You're Right
Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam
Smells Like Teen Spirit by Sara DeBell

Dive
Serve the Servants
Breed
Something in the Way
About a Boy by Patti Smith
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, April 03, 2004

The Santa Fe Opry Play List

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, April 2, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Host: Steve Terrell

Support the KSFR Fund Drive!

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Allon a Grand Coreau by Cyndi Lauper
Brother, It's All Lunchmeat by Cornell Hurd
Sleeper Hold on Satan by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
The Pilgrim, Chapter 33 by Kris Kristofferson
Last Fair Deal Gone Down by Jon Langford
Too Long in the Wasteland by James McMurtry

One Woman Man by Johnny Horton
Nothing Can Stop My Loving You by George Jones
Darling Do You Know Who Loves You by The Stanley Brothers
Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms by Flatt & Scruggs
I'm Ragged But I'm Right by Johnny Cash
No Depression in Heaven by The Carter Family
Please Carry Me Home by Jessie Coulter & Shooter Jennings
Dry Bones by Norman & Nancy Blake

Radio Interview/Moonlight by Jerry J. Nixon
Up Jumped the Devil by Ronnie Dawson
Red Hot by Billy Lee Riley
Hillbilly Monster by James Richard Oliver
Blues Keep a Callin' by Rosie Flores with Janis Martin
Gonna Romp and Stomp by Slim Rhodes
Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Jerry Lee Lewis
Baboon Boogey by Jimmy Murphy
Annie Don't Work by Jimmy Wade
There's a World Between You and Me by Jerry J. Nixon

Revengin' the Death of Charlie Sapp by Starlings Tn.
Payne Co. Line by Slipshod
Jamie III by Joe West
Smoke Rings by Jon Rauhouse with Kelly Hogan
Sharecroppin' Man by Grey DeIsle
Mon Conne La Cause by David Hidalgo
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, April 02, 2004

Terrell's Tuneup: My Search For Jerry J. Nixon

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican, April 2, 2004

Every few years about this time, I toy with the idea of writing an April Fool’s column and make up a bunch of ridiculous titles for CDs to review. “Where the Rude Boys Are: A Reggae Tribute to Connie Frances”; “Ebony and Ivory: The Ray Charles/Elvis Costello Sessions”; “The Symphonic Iggy Pop”; The Essential Eddie Money (oops, that’s a real one!)

Somehow it always seemed too cute to do a whole column of that stuff.

However in late March I stumbled across a real CD, that, after a little research, I’ve come to believe is an April Fool’s Day joke at Santa Fe’s expense by an obscure Swiss record label, Voodoo Rhythm.

Gentleman of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The Q Recordings, New Mexico ‘58-‘64, released last year, is by an unknown rockabilly singer named Jerry J. Nixon with sad eyes, pale skin and greasy hair.

Nixon’s life story is told inside the package.

Indeed, it was like uncovering a secret history of this place I call my home.

Born Gerald James Hall in 1937 in Yorkshire England, the future rockabilly gentleman was involved with a botched armed robbery in Southampton. But because of his youth, he got off with a light sentence, joined the merchant marines and sailed to America, where he adopted a fake identity — Jerry J. Nixon — and stayed.

By 1956 “Nixon” ended up here in Santa Fe, where he initially worked at a cardboard box and packing company. Perhaps the oppression of this factory was what led Nixon to join the Communist Party of New Mexico.

Inspired by Elvis Presley, Nixon hooked up with a band playing at Atahualpa Bar & BBQ. The were initially called The Santa Fe Flames, but under Nixon’s sway, they became The Volcanoes.

Santa Fe businessman Leonard E. Sanchez, who managed entertainers and owned Q Studios and Quality Records, heard a Nixon and The Volcanoes gig, signed them up, made some records and toured the Southwest and even Mexico.

Like the archetypal rock manager of the day, Sanchez took songwriting credits on nearly all Nixon’s original songs.

After a few short years, however, things soured between Nixon and Sanchez, who gambled away all the band’s money betting on card games and cockfights. He also favored one of his other stars, local country singer Dick Lotner.

The bad blood came to a head in 1963 when the two got into a fight that ended with Sanchez in the hospital and the Gentleman of Rock ’n’ Roll in jail. The bio in the CD says the two never spoke again. However, according to the album notes, the song “Red Sun” was recorded at Q Studios in March 1964.

But shortly after that, Nixon left the Volcanoes and the music biz in general. After doing some work in the Texas oil fields, Nixon settled in Albuquerque by 1967, working as a driver for the Sunset Glades retirement home. He died in Albuquerque in 1999.

Damn! Had I known about him, I could have interviewed him. How come nobody ever told me about Santa Fe’s greatest rockabilly commie?

But the more I thought about it, the more I suspected there was a good reason why nobody told me about Jerry J. Nixon.

The fact that I had never heard of any of the people or the places mentioned in the Nixon story made me wonder.

Checking city directories and phone books between 1957 and 1961 I found no listings for Atahualpa Bar & BBQ, Quality Records, Q recording studio or KWXL radio. There’s no current listing for Sunset Glade retirement home in the Albuquerque directory. I couldn’t find a listing for any cardboard factory in Santa Fe During those years.. There were no residential listings for Leonard Sanchez, Dick Lotner or Jerry Nixon.

Whoever wrote the stuff on the CDs knows something about Santa Fe though. Q Studios was said to be located above a garage on Galisteo Street, while Atahualpa Bar & BBQ allegedly was off Old Taos Highway.

So where did this music come from? One online critic said there are similarities between Nixon and Die Zorros, a Swiss band led by “Beatman” the head honcho of Voodoo Rhythm.

The sad part is, I wanted the album to be real. While not exactly revelatory, this is the sound of a journeyman rockabilly cat who captures the wild spirit of that era.

The music is tough and cranking. Several cuts feature an eerie organ sound (think Joe Meeks or Del Shannon), while “Saturday Midnight Bop,” has a cool sax (credited to one Jose Martinez, if that can be believed) and Latin rhythm that could pass for proto-Los Lobos.

You could almost believe it’s a frustrated cardboard worker releasing his tensions in a cluttered little studio overlooking a garage on Galisteo Street.

Of course the real Santa Fe wasn’t devoid of real rock ’n’ roll during this area. Wouldn’t it be great if some record company recorded a compilation of real Santa Fe bands — The Defiants, The Rocking Aces, The Morfomen?

Jerry J. Nixon Lives on the Radio: Hear songs from the Gentleman and other rockabilly renegades on The Santa Fe Opry, country music as the Good Lord intended, Friday 10 p.m. to midnight and Terrell’s Sound World, freeform weirdo radio (same time Sunday.)

Thursday, April 01, 2004

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: Anarchy in the GOP

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican

Ramsay Gorham's decision Wednesday to step down as state Republican chairwoman -- and to quit her contested re-election campaign for the state Senate -- caps off more than a year of infighting in the state GOP. The party has been so divided that New Mexico Republicans are behaving like a bunch of Democrats, or so the joke goes.

While some GOP leaders such as U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici have called for Republicans to view Gorham's departure as a time for reunification, some think the divisions are going to haunt the party for a long time. "The war isn't over," state House Republican Leader Ted Hobbs of Albuquerque said Wednesday.

"We've still got two factions," said Hobbs, a Gorham supporter, "and they're still going to do their things. Ramsay was trying to bring the factions together, but we've still got a problem. And it's not in best interest of the party."

It's hard to pinpoint the exact date of origin for the current turmoil. But there were serious rumblings as early as spring of 2001, when Gorham and her husband, Frank, a former Bernalillo County Republican chairman, backed Rep. Ron Godbey of Cedar Crest against John Dendahl for the state chairmanship.

The Gorhams and Godbey were upset with Dendahl and then-Gov. Gary Johnson over their support for liberalizing laws against marijuana. Though Domenici didn't take sides in the chairmanship battle that year, he, along with U.S. Reps. Heather Wilson and Joe Skeen, publicly denounced Dendahl for saying Republicans shouldn't use Democrats' support for drug-reform bills against them.

Dendahl won another two years as chairman. But Ramsay Gorham began positioning herself as a challenger. During the next legislative session, she and her husband started an antidrug group called Protect New Mexico to lobby against Johnson's drug-reform bills. By the end of 2002, she announced her candidacy against Dendahl.

Dendahl in 2002 had come under fire from some Republicans for allegedly favoring gubernatorial candidate John Sanchez over other contenders -- including then-Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley -- in the Republican primary. Sanchez won the nomination but lost to Bill Richardson in the general election.

The Dendahl-Gorham battle was long and bitter. Gorham's effort was boosted when Domenici endorsed her. The state Republican Central Committee in May voted 197-156 to elect Gorham.

But the sniping between the two sides continued. Gorham supporter Rep. Earlene Roberts of Lovington told a reporter that GOP National Committeeman Mickey Barnett would be next to get the ax. Dendahl supporter and Barnett protégé Joe Thompson had earlier that year defeated Roberts, who was seeking re-election as House Republican whip.

Last October, Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, wrote a scathing analysis of what he said were Gorham's shortcomings in fighting a state constitutional amendment concerning school funding. The amendment narrowly passed.

(Adair, in a Wednesday interview, bristled at the notion he is a "critic" of Gorham. He has merely analyzed certain things that have happened under the chairwoman, he insisted. The kicker: "I'm a Gorham supporter," Adair said.)

But perhaps the most obvious signs of discord in the GOP was the distance between Gorham's state party organization and the Bush-Cheney campaign. The state Bush organization -- which includes several Gorham opponents -- has visibly distanced itself from the state party. Gorham was snubbed in November when the Bush campaign didn't invite her to a presentation in Albuquerque by national Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot.

Although at one point Gorham announced a "truce" between the state party and the Bush campaign, it soon became obvious that peace wasn't really at hand.

The latest Gorham controversy was over her running for re-election to the Senate (against former Dendahl staffer John Ryan) while keeping her position as chairwoman. Some called that a violation of party rules. The state Central Committee was to discuss the issue in Roswell next week, but Gorham on Wednesday made it moot.

As Hobbs pointed out, there's still plenty of GOP strife. There are plenty of contested Republican legislative primaries, one of which pits incumbent Rep. Larry Larranaga of Albuquerque against former Rep. Rob Burpo -- a Gorham ally. Republican National Committee members Barnett and Rosie Tripp of Socorro are expected to face challengers from the so-called Gorham faction.

And sometime in the next 30 days, the divided party has to chose a new state chairman or chairwoman.

Stay tuned.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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