Monday, May 31, 2004

LIVE! HATCHET WIELDING JEWS!


Dr. Turner, formerly of The Angry Samoans, and myself will be doing a little entertaining next weekend.

First there's the Friday night (7 p.m.) at the Aztec. This will be the first time the two of us have played there since a pre-Christmas gig three or four years ago.

Then the next night about 6 p.m. we'll play at the grand opening of Twisters Vintage, 1810 Second Street (right by the Second Street Brewery.)

The Hatchet Wielding Jews are only half Jewish, and I'm not that half. But as you can see in the poster, I do wield a mean hatchet.

Unfortunately our busy schedules prevented us from rehearsing adequately, so we'll basically be doing our cheesy solo acts that you know and love -- and haven't seen much of lately.

Hope to see you there.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, May 30, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Undercover of the Night by The Rolling Stones
The Blue Mask by Lou Reed
Black Sheets of Rain by Bob Mould
Stride of the Mind by Patti Smith
Falling by Mission of Burma
Just a Gigolo by Bing Crosby

Illusion, Coma, Pimp and Circumstance by Prince
I'm So Proud by The Isley Brothers
Ain't That a Bitch by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Me and Mrs. Jones by Billy Paul
Will It Go Round in Circles by Billy Preston
Bitch/Dumb Ass by Gary "U.S." Bonds with Phoebe Snow and Dickie Betts

Los Lobos Set
(All Songs by Los Lobos unless otherwise noted)

Hurry Tomorrow
Good Morning Aztlan
I Got Loaded
Kitare (Los Lobos with Tom Waits and Martha Gonzalez)
Fiesta Erotica by Latin Playboys
Lonely Dying Love by Houndog
Rita

Wreck of the Carlos Rey (Los Lobos with Richard Thomopson)
Down Where the Drunkards Roll
Manny's Bones
Angelito by Cesar Rosas
El Canoero by Los Super 7
A Matter of Time
Rio De Tenampa
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Sunday, May 30, 2004

Saturday, May 29, 2004

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, May 28, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Smoky Shadows by Cornell Hurd
Three Wishes by Jim Stringer
Fake Love With Me by Audrey Auld
You've Never Seen me Cry by The Flatlanders
Half a Boy, Half a Man by Queen Ida
Paper In My Shoe by Michelle Shocked
Fancy Dancer by J.J. Cale
This Old House by Loretta Lynn
Merchants Lunch by The Austin Lounge Lizards

Choctaw Bingo by James McMurtry
Borrowed Bride by The Old 97s
Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight by Whiskeytown with Alejandro Escovedo

I Love You Baby (And I Hate Myself) by Uncle Dave & The Waco Brothers
Tramp on Your Street by Billy Joe Shaver
Say a Little Prayer by Mary & Mars

Don't Gossip In the Sauna by Emily Kaitz
Anything for a Laugh by Graham Parker
She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye by Cowboy Johnson
Disappearing Angel by Tav Falco
Presently in the Past by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Wishin' by Jon Rauhouse
If You Love Me You'll Sleep on the Wet Spot by Asylum Street Spankers
In the Shell by Angel Dean & Sue Garner
Baghdad by Ed Pettersen

I Saw the Buildings by James Talley
The Assassin by Patterson Hood
Sweet Saviour's Arms by Grey DeLisle
Are You Still My Girl by Joe West
Marie by Randy Newman
Sign of Judgment by Dave Alvin
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

Friday, May 28, 2004

In Focus: Tonight (and Sunday Morning)

I just got back from taping a segment on In Focus KNME-TV (Channel 5)talking about next Tuesday's primary and other political topics with anchor Kate Nelson of The Albuquerque Tribune and Joe Monahan, famous for his New Mexico politics blog.

Our segment follows a discussion featuring state Democratic Chairman John Wertheim and his Republican counterpart Allen Weh.

The show airs tonight at 8:30 p.m. on Channel 5 (short notice, I know .. ) and again 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

APRIL WINCHELL!

Chuck the Duck just turned me on to this site. And now I'm in love with April Winchell. She's a DJ on KABC in Los Angeles, was the voice of Baby Herman's mom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, but most importantly, has a collection of truly weird music. You'll find outsider music, Golden Throat celeb songs ("Hot Dog Heart" by Jim Nabors, "Yellow Submarine" by Milton Berle), commercial jingles, foreign cover songs (ABBA in Hindi!), chicken songs, "Terrifying Christian Recordings," KFC training recordings, and much more.

You'll also find links to April's blog and archives of her radio shows. Have fun.


TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: TOO MANY DRIVERS ON THIS RIDE

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican, May 28, 2004
Hate to say it, but with their new album The Ride it looks like Los Lobos have come down with Chieftains Syndrome.

This is a condition that happens to musicians who pack so many guest stars onto an album that it’s hard to tell who the “host star” is.

Can’t say I blame the band. If I was doing an album and my friends included Tom Waits, Richard Thompson, Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples etc., I’d be tempted to call on them for help too.

And so Los Lobos plays Latin sounds with Ruben Blades and Mexico’s CafĂ© Tacuba, gospel soul with Staples, British folk rock (!) with Thompson, weirdness with Waits, and Chicano funk with Little Willie G of the classic 1960s East L.A. band -- and Los Lobos inspiration -- Thee Moonlighters.

And what’s even stranger, The Ride has so many new versions of old Lobos tunes, with all these different singers at some points it seems like a tribute album.

Unlike aging comedians, aging rockers don’t have Friar’s Roasts. Instead, they make albums like these.

Los Lobos deserves a tribute album as much as anyone, but being that it’s been a couple of years since their last album, Good Morning Aztlan, I wanted to hear more new songs.

This is somewhat disappointing because when I saw Los Lobos in Austin a couple of months ago, the band sounded stronger than ever. I was hoping for an album that would twist my head.

On the bright side, there’s much worthwhile music here.

There’s a few songs without guest singers, showing that the band is in great form on its own. “Rita,” with its sweet steel guitar by Greg Leisz.

Both “Charmed” and “Hurry Tomorrow” (the latter co-written by Lobo Cesar Rosas and Grateful Dead songwriter Robert Hunter) are both tough, boiling blues tunes with lots of sax and guitar.

“Chains of Love” is closer to ‘60s Memphis soul, slow and bluesy. Garth Hudson of The Band is playing organ and there’s a crazy Hidalgo fiddle solo.

“Somewhere in Time,” a duet between David Hidalgo and Dave Alvin, featuring a Drifters/"Spanish Harlem” beat and Leisz’s hypnotic steel, almost sounds like a latter-day Righteous Brothers tune with baritone Alvin as Bill Medley and Hidalgo as Bobby Hatfield.

The Waits track, “Kitate” sounds like something off one of the Latin Playboys’ CDs. Like the music of that Lobos side project, this tune sounds like a surreal field recording from some Mexican or Central American street festival, with lots of percussion, horns and carnival organ. Waits scats and shams and growls in languages nobody speaks in a near call and response with Martha Gonzalez of the band Quetzal.

And the new version of “Wicked Rain” is sung by ’70s soul man Bobby Womack, as a part of a medley with Womack’s Blaxploitation movie title song, “Across 110th Street.”

On its own there probably wouldn’t have been a good reason to re-record “Wicked Rain,” a good, if not great, Rosas blues grinder. But coupled with Womack’s song, the whole track cooks.

“The Wreck of the Carlos Rey,” featuring Hidalgo trading verses with Thompson, is a rocking tune. But with its folk rock riffs and Thompson’s guitar, it sounds like something right off a Thompson album -- even though it's written by Hidalgo and Louie Perez.

The one truly misguided song here is Elvis Costello’s version of “Matter of Time,” the first song to ever indicate Los Lobos was more than just a high-energy goodtime band, but was in fact a great band.

The song is a conversion between a Mexican man and his wife right before the man leaves her to go to the U.S. to seek a decent future. It’s the story of this country and all its immigrants. “I’ll send for you, baby in just a matter of time.”

It’s a moment full of tenderness and uncertainty. But in the original 1984 version on How Will the Wolf Survive, the rhythm is upbeat and Steve Berlin‘s sax, is jaunty, giving a sense of optimism even when the singer wonders if he’s just pursuing an empty dream.

Costello’s version is slow and maudlin. Pretty, yes. But it sounds like a sad dirge. The promise of a new life, which propelled the original version, is completely missing here.

Despite this misstep, The Ride is, song for song, a pretty decent cruise. I just hope Los Lobos comes back soon full throttle with a new batch of songs and a downsized guest list.

*Terrell’s Sound World this week will feature a lengthy Los Lobos segment, including lots of cuts from The Ride, as well as old Lobos tunes, Latin Playboys, Los Super 7, Houndog, etc. TSW starts at 10 p.m., Sunday, while the Lobos songs start shortly after 11 p.m. On KSFR, Santa Fe Public Radio, 90.7 FM, of course.

And don’t forget The Santa Fe Opry, country music as the good Lord intended it to sound, starting at 10 p.m. Friday on KSFR.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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