ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: STAMPEDE IN LAS VEGAS

As Published in The Santa Fe New Mexican

There was a little stampede at the Plaza Hotel in Las Vegas last Saturday.

It seemed that some of the major obituary writers in the free world were in our own Las Vegas on the day that Ronald Reagan died.

And pity anyone between the attendees of the annual Great Obituary Writers’ International Conference and a payphone when that news hit.

According to an article in The New York Sun, “A number of the approximately 45 assembled obituary professionals from America and Britain raced for the single payphone in the hotel lobby.”

Adam Bernstein of The Washington Post told The Sun, “I raced to the phone to block the Daily Telegraph from getting access. In an apparent reference to The Front Page, Bernstein said, “I almost wanted to put an ‘Out of Order’ sign on the pay phone.”

The writers had been attending a workshop on coverage of the Sept. 11 fatalities and casualties of the Iraq war.

The rush to the phones undoubtedly was a knee-jerk reporters' reaction. As the story goes on to explain, most large news organizations have the background material for obituaries of prominent people prepared years in advance, so most the writers in Las Vegas weren’t desperately needed by their papers that day.

Madam Governor: Local Democrats had a little party at Tiny’s Restaurant and Lounge Tuesday. Actually, it wasn’t that little. More than 100 crammed into the restaurant’s patio to greet state party Chairman John Wertheim and other party honchos, who are visiting each of the state’s 33 counties this week.

Speaking at the event was Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who gave a rousing speech to the faithful.

But one thing that seemed odd was the fact that two previous speakers -- Wertheim and House Speaker Ben Lujan -- referred to her as “Gov. Denish.” and Denish didn’t correct them.

Well, technically she was governor at the moment, an aide pointed out. The real governor, Bill Richardson was in California at the Reagan library, so officially Denish was in charge.

However, according to Denish, referring to the lieutenant governor as “governor” is proper protocol when the governor isn’t present.

Where did she learn this arcane knowledge? From the people who ought to know a thing or two about gubernatorial protocol -- the governor’s state police security detail.

The 527s are Coming! Although the Democrats at Tiny’s seemed to be having a pretty good time, there are some people who might want to work in campaigns but aren’t comfortable with the regular party organizations. These are the people to whom the group called America Coming Together want to appeal.

ACT, one of the major liberal “527” groups (named so after a section in the national tax code that pertains to them) recently opened a headquarters in Santa Fe at 1500 Fifth St.

State ACT Director Geri Prado -- who was John Kerry’s state campaign director before the February presidential caucus -- said Wednesday her group plans to do door to door canvassing in hopes of defeating Presdient Bush.

ACT and other groups associated with America Votes -- a coalition of various progressive groups, PACs and 527s, are having a kick off event 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 12 at the NEA New Mexico Building, 13 South Capitol St.

SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

Sean Conlon, host of KSFR's Graveyard Shift (early Thursday morning, midnight - 2 a.m.) substituted for me last Friday (June 4) on The Santa Fe Opry.

Here's his play list.

Peter Stampfel & The Bottlecaps - Springtime in Alaska
Unholy Trio - Bring The Noise
Leon McAuliffe & His Western Swing Band - Blue Guitar Stomp
Rhythm Wreckers - Blue Yodel #12
Pine Valley Cosmonauts - Brain Cloudy Blues
Johnny Down - A Picture From Life's Other Side
Porter Wagner - The Rubber Room
Charlie Poole & His North Carolina Ramblers - Goodbye Booze

Janis Martin - Ooby Dooby
Blacktop Rockets - Froggie Went a Courtin'
Tina Turner - Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You
Jon Langford - Homburg
Kelly Hogan - Whispering Pines
George Jones - The Cold Hard Truth
Terry Allen w/ Lucinda Williams - Room To Room
Carter Family - You've Got To Righten That Wrong
Lorette Velvette - Broke The Circle

from Health & Happiness Show (Disc 1) by Hank Williams -
Happy Rovin' Cowboy
Wedding Bells
Lovesick Blues
Old Joe Clark
Where The Soul of Man Never Dies
Sally Goodin'

Maddox Brothers & Rose - Hangover Blues
Whiskeytown - Drank Like A River
Sally Timms - Seminole Wind
Ronnie Dawson - Rockin' & A Rollin'
Niu Abdomineaux Dangereux - Ghosts
Michael Hurley - Monkey On The Interstate/Whiskey Willie

Zeb Turner - Travelling Boogie
Johnny Tyler & The Riders of the Rio Grande - Freight Train Boogie
Jimmie O'Neal & The Colorado Hillbillies - Streamline Boogie
Lonnie Glosson - Pan American Boogie
Harry Choates - Louisiana Boogie
Jeff Durham & His Rhythm Playboys - Tennessee Boogie
Curley Williams & His Georgia Peach Pickers - Georgia Boogie
Gene O'Quinn - Texas Boogie

Ted Hawkins - Long As I Can See The Light

HIGH MAYHEM FESTIVAL CALLING FOR PERFORMERS

Attention musicians: Dave "Twisted Groove" Barsanti sent me this e-mail from the High Mayhem Festival's Carlos Sanistevan:

"Please help us get the word out! Forward this to everyone you know who might be interested. More info can be found at www.highmayhem.com "

So do it! Here's High Mayhem's Contact Page.

(The Twisted Groove airs midnight to 2 a.m. Saturdays on KSFR, immediately following The Santa Fe Opry.)

ANTI-WAR SONGS

In my recent review of Patti Smith's Trampin', (scroll down just a few posts) I went off on a tangent about new anti-war songs.

My friend David Menconi, music writer for the Raleigh News and Observer and author of the novel Off the Record, pointed out he did a story on this very subject more than a year ago. It lists quite a few that I missed, so CHECK IT OUT.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, June 6, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Birdhouse in Your Soul by They Might Be Giants
Lightning's Girl by Nancy Sinatra
Youth Against Fascism by Sonic Youth
Heart Full of Soul by The Yardbirds
I Think of Demons by Roky Erickson
Tele Novella by Cellophane Typewriters
Silver Naked Ladies by Paul Westerberg
Mudflap Girl by Timbuk 3

Fake Blood by Mission of Burma
Right of Way by The Von Bondies
Not So Sweet Martha Lorraine by Country Joe & The Fish
The Day Industry Decided to Stop by The Three Johns
Strobe Light by The B52s
Ignoreland by R.E.M.
Sweethearts by Camper Van Beethoven

Cash by Patti Smith
Down on Me by Big Brother & The Holding Company
If Eye Was The Man In Ur Life by Prince
Careless Eithiopians by Toots & The Maytals with Keith Ricahrds
At the Border Guy by Joe Strummer
Hollyweird by Wolfboy & The Fantods
Jhumka Gira Re by Asha Bhosle

Phil and Jerry by Mylab
Only You by Portishead
Riff Blues by Skip Martin
Two Thousand Places by The Polyphonic Spree
I Wanted To by Richard Thompson
Low Ambition by Lambchop
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

A WEEKEND WITH THE HATCHET-WIELDING JEWS

I had a good time Friday and Saturday night playing my tacky tunes with Gregg Turner (and on Friday, Lenny Hoffman). Got to see some old friends and meet a couple of new ones, which, besides making a joyful noise, is the chief reason I still do this kind of thing these days.

Friday's Aztec Cafe show was officially opened with a genuine Hassidic rabbi (Gregg, Lenny, remind me of his name!) who blessed the macaroons that we passed out to the audience.

My major accomplishment during my set was performing the late Rolf Cahn's "Special Love" for the first time in public. Before we started, the rabbi asked if I knew any Jewish songs, so I guess Rolf's tune will have to do in that category. Although I've loved the song since Rolf gave me the cassette tape 20-plus years ago -- and through the years I've frequently found myself singing the line "You can loaf with some oaf on the shore by the sea," I only learned the song last week. I got a weird urge that I must learn the song -- maybe a message from Rolf in the Great Beyond -- Tuesday night at work writing my election stories. So I went home and learned it and I don't think I blew any of the lyrics at the Aztec. I believe every Santa Fe musician should do at least one Rolf Cahn song.

I didn't realize until I got there that Saturday's gig at Twister's, an antique clothing store, was a fashion show! Believe it or not, I've never done a fashion show gig before. I guess I was modeling my Big Ugly Guys T-shirt and my Albuquerque Isotopes cap. Turner modeled a lovely pair of shorts.

Twisters set up a stage in back of their store facing the alley, where the Second Street Brewery sold beer and Back Road Pizza sold food. If it would have had about 500 more people and The Waco Brothers, it would have reminded me of the great Bloodshot Records parties at the Yard Dog Gallery during South by Southwest in Austin.

The highlight of my set was a two-or-three year old kid wearing a Pinocchio T-shirt and a painted-on mustache who got on the stage with me, dancing and hopping around.

Finaly, there's no Santa Fe Opry play list, at least not yet. Sean Conlon of The Graveyard Shift substituted for me Friday so I could play at the Aztec. If he sends me a list, I'll post it. I'll be doing Sound World as usual Sunday night.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: PATTI'S STILL TRAMPIN'

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican, June 4, 2004

Patti Smith is pushing 60, but her new album Trampin’ shows her rocking as hard as ever.

In fact Trampin’ is an outright call to celebration in the face of adversity, to “be a jubilee” as the first song says, to let the doves multiply even though the hawks are circling.

The song “My Blakean Year” (with a melody and beat that will remind old fans of “Dancing Barefoot”) espouses a similar creed: “Throw off your stupid cloak/Embrace all that you fear/for joy shall conquer all despair/ in my Blakean year.”

Some of the tunes rock downright ferociously, such as “Stride of the Mind” -- a mystical mishmash of lyrics set to a thumping garage rock tune -- and a couple of trademark Smithean epics here -- “Gandhi” and “Radio Baghdad” -- both long, (nine minute and 12 minute respectively) freewheeling , politically charged inspired diatribes that start off slow but build up into monster guitar frenzies.

(Political side trip: The war in Iraq is starting to inspire some musicians, Besides Smith’s raging indictment, there’s “That’s the News,” by Merle Haggard; a sad and beautiful tune called “Baghdad” by songwriter Ed Pettersen; The Beatie Boys’ “In a World Gone Mad”; Spearhead’s “Bomb Da World,“ not to mention the entire Rock Against Bush CD featuring punk bands like The Offspring, NoFX, Pennywise, etc. Nothing has the strong anthem potential of Country Joe & The Fish’s “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die Rag” or Pete Seeger’s “Knee Deep in the Big Muddy” has emerged.)

There are a couple of slow, pretty numbers here like “Peaceable Kingdom” and “Trespass.”

And surprisingly, one of the strongest, most memorable tracks here is the title song, an old spiritual, gone here with Smith’s daughter Jesse on piano. “I’m trampin’, trampin’, tryin’ to make Heaven my home,” Smith sings in a weary but unaffected voice.
While nobody honestly can claim that Patti Smith is mainstream, she’s no longer on the cutting edge of rock ’n’ roll as she was during her wild ride of the mid to late 70s.

But who cares? She’s created her own sound, her own style that nobody’s ever pulled off imitating. And she’s always been true to her visions. The uninitiated might not hear the call, but Smith fans should celebrate Trampin’.

Also Recommended:

*Onoffon by Mission of Burma.
When most of us hear the name “Roger Miller,” we think of the hillbilly hipster who used to live in Tesuque who was responsible for “King of the Road” and “Dang Me.” But there’s a whole generation of old punk rockers from Boston who know Roger Miller as the guitarist, singer and main songwriter of a short-lived but influential band from the early ‘80s, Mission of Burma.

Mission only did one studio album before breaking up about 20 years ago. But now they’re back, three out of four original members intact. (Miller, bassist Clint Conley and drummer Peter Prescott, both of whom also sing and write songs.)

O.K., MOB was one bandwagon I didn’t jump on back in the day. So I’m approaching Onoffon with fresh ears, unencumbered by whether or not the band sounds as good as they did during their golden era.

And I like what I hear.

With Miller’s dense feedback-drenched guitar roaring over meandering but sometimes catchy melodies this record reminds me somewhat of Husker Du (who arose in faraway Minnesota after MOB’s demise). And I hear just a little bit of another Massachusetts band that came along later, Dinosaur Jr.

But neither comparison does justice to the band.
There are so many joys on this record. The opening song “The Setup” sets the frantic tone of the album with Miller shouting over the glorious din. The rhythmic noise rock of “Fever Moon” sounds like punk and metal had a baby and they named it Bo Diddley. And “Max Ernst’s Dream” is an apparent followup to a very early MOB song.

Basically this makes me want to go back and discover Mission of Burma’s first album Vs. and other early work.

*Ruby Satellite System by Cellophane Typewriters. This is the new band of Santa Fe’s Zelda Salazar, who used to call his group The Occult Morphinas.

I don’t care what he calls it, this probably is Salazar’s best album yet. It’s full of big psychedelic guitars, crunching riffs colored by Kevin Zoernig’s keyboards.

The first song “Belladonna” is an exuberant tune even though he’s singing to a pill-freak girl who’s “barely alive” and “full of fear.“ It shows traces of Eastern music -- filtered through ’60s garage psychedelia, to be sure.

“The Prize” has even more brutal lyrics about a druggo friend who he envisions getting “brutalized, victimized and sodomized for your prize”

One of the most moving songs is “Evil Star,” a child’s bitter rebuke to a bad father.

Salazar doesn’t gig much, but he’s pretty prolific with the recordings. And he just keeps getting better.

(Last I checked, the Cellophane Typewriters’ web site wasn’t working. For more info try e-mailing ctmusic@yahoo.com or writing Iron Lady Music, 369 Montezuma St., Box 129, Santa Fe, N.M. 87501.)

*Hear songs from all the above albums on Terrell’s Sound World, 10 p.m. Sunday , KSFR, 90. 7 FM. And don’t forget The Santa Fe Opry, country music as God intended it to sound, Fridays, same time, same channel. Sean Conlon will be filling in for me tonight while I do my gig at the Aztec Cafe.

FOr details on that gig, scroll down until you see the poster of Gregg Turner and me.

Are You a Music Snob?

Find out HERE

I am not a music snob.

I don't have bony knees.

But I do dig Monti Rock III.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: PRIMARY MOP-UP

One of the real eye-openers during the recent primary season in Santa Fe was the sheer amount of money being raised by a couple of the candidates — tens of thousands of dollars all for a part-time position that pays a modest per diem.

Peter Wirth raised more than $101,000 according to his most recent report filed last week. If that’s not a local record, someone please let me know. Some of his critics grumbled that he was “buying” the election. And indeed he won the House District 47 race in a landslide.

But over in Senate District 25, Sen. Roman Maes reported raising more than $70,000, more than all his three opponents’ totals put together. But Maes came in second to John Grubesic, who raised less than one-sixth of Maes’ total.

So how much did the candidates pay for each vote?

Using the total amount of money the candidates reported raising as of last week (the final campaign finance reports aren’t due until July), assuming all that money got spent, and dividing the number of votes they received, according to unofficial results, here’s how it broke down:

Grubesic got the most bang for the buck. Each of the 2,928 votes he got cost $3.87.

That’s a stark contrast to Maes, who paid about $27.60 for each vote he got. And that doesn’t even include the $9,000 that Gov. Bill Richardson’s PAC paid for mail-outs and automated phone calls.

Maes’ votes cost less than those of Wirth’s. For his race, Wirth paid $31.83 per vote.

Down in House District 45, which was a low-key, low-budget race, Rep. Jim Trujillo, who handily beat challenger Robert Ochoa, paid $9.33 per vote.

Local government blues: A word to aspiring politicians. Local government positions in Santa Fe are rarely springboards to state office. At least not in recent years. My editor reminded me that a couple of guys named Bruce King and Ben Lujan started out on the Santa Fe County Commission.

But that was a long time ago. Two candidates from local government bodies got turned down by voters in legislative races Tuesday.

City Councilor Carol Robertson Lopez, who ran for the District 47 House seat, came in a distant second behind Wirth. Wirth had 65 percent of the vote in the four-candidate race, compared with 21 percent for Lopez.

Ochoa, who served on the Santa Fe school board for eight years, lost to Trujillo by a 70-30 margin.

The only Santa Fe local officials to go on to state offices in the last decade or so are senators Nancy Rodriguez — a former county commissioner, and Phil Griego, a former city councilor. Both senators won their unopposed primaries Tuesday.

Don’t forget the GOP: Democrats outnumber Republicans in Santa Fe by about 3 to 1, but several Republican legislative candidates will be on the ballot. Wirth will face Gregg Bemis in District 47, while Griego will be up against Republican Al Lopez in Senate District 39.

In Senate District 25 Grubesic has a Republican opponent in Bob Mallin. Also on the ballot is Green Party primary winner Rick Lass. Lass probably would have gotten more traction running against the more conservative Democrat Maes than Grubesic, who was endorsed by several progressive political groups.

Making good on his word: One opponent Grubesic doesn’t have to worry about is Robb Hirsch, who had been gathering petition signatures to get on the November ballot as an independent.

Hirsch on Wednesday did what he said he’d do if Grubesic won the primary. He officially ended his campaign and threw his support to the Democrat.

"The outcome of this election is a testament to the wonderful people who turned out to vote yesterday and who single-handedly defied the status quo power politics, overcame the special interest money game and put their confidence behind someone with new blood and integrity," he said in an e-mail press release.

Hirsch said he’ll devote his energy to a group he and his wife founded called Independent New Mexicans for Kerry.

He’s given up his campaign, but not his web site.

Hund on Lobos

"Dr. Hund," like me, a frequent contributor to the No Depression Yahoo group tried to fit this long rambling rebuttal to my recent Los Lobos review into the comment section of this blog. It was way too long.

I couldn't resist posting the whole thing here.



You want interactive? YOU CAN'T HANDLE INTERACTIVE! Check out my scathing rebuttal (which could not fit on that mickey mouse blog):

Steve, you ignorant slut. You miss the whole point of this fun album.

It is not a tribute album, friar's roast, nor Chieftains Syndrome. Nor is Los Lobos getting lazy. The band members (especially Hidalgo & Perez) just like to expand their horizons, experiment (which gave us their best work so far in the Latin Playboys), and keep the music fresh. It's not like they are slackers in original album and song production. Even the old tunes here (totally re-invented and less than half the album) are fresh. And there is some great new writing from Hidalgo/Perez, both as their usual songwriting team and collaborated with others like Luis Torres, Dave Alvin, Tom Waits, and Ruben Blades. Cesar Rosas and Robert Hunter also wrote a song for this diverse album.

BTW...why do you have a blog? You are published constantly in the major New Mexican newspapers, beam a radio show, have a media chokehold on New Mexican politics, and are already all over the internet. By proxy, your words are constantly being delivered by
other Southwest power brokers. You even have your own phraseology that is now coined worldwide and borrowed by many, such as, "Green Chile Diplomacy", "Boomburbs", and "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road".

With New Mexico losing judges, politicos, writers, celebs, and other speak boxes like vanishing desert land – you are now the de facto voice of the entire region - albeit via a "Last Man Standing" scenario. You have more market penetration and exposure in New Mexico than Clear Channel. You need a blog like George W. needs another asshole.

Back to your review. Sure, sometimes its difficult if not impossible to hear Los Lobos on a few of these songs but I like how they gather so many all-star sounds in such an unselfish quest for a unique album recorded with friends which they may never have a shot at again. But make no mistake...there are plenty of new sounds from Los Lobos here within the generous 13 songs. The first song with Café Tacuba is a fun summer tour de force followed by "Rita", which is one of the best Los Lobos songs ever. Both of these are new.

It seems from your review, you like these songs plus "Charmed", "Hurry Tomorrow", "Chains of Love" , "Somewhere in Time," (which you describe as "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"...isn't that cool?), the Waits track, "Kitate" (you say "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"....isn't that cool?), 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" , and "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." This all sounds sweet and it is!

Terrell, I think you are just pissed with what you call "the one truly misguided song here" (one misguided song out of 13?!) is Elvis Costello's version of "Matter of Time." The best part of your review is this history of this song that you so compassionately describe:

"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."


Yes Terrell! They are totally different approaches and versions because of this. I think that was the point. And what the hell is a "dirge"? Is that Latin, Mr. Smarty Pants? You do brilliantly describe the original's "sense of optimism" in such a sad song – which is so typical of Latin music. Even the sad songs seem to have some happy vibe underneath. But Costello is no Latino and sings this slowly with a solo piano accompaniment - and it is much sadder than the original. It also brings new light to the words and the music.

Did you want a rehash here of the original that only Hidalgo and Berlin could deliver in such a way you described? I think you are still pissed at Costello for becoming Mr. Diana Krall. But Steve, I ask you this, have you seen her legs? And at least Elvis is not
pussy-whipped to the point that he could actually be dragged to a Styx concert...for instance.

As you Steve, I do prefer full throttle new Los Lobos (what I would really love is new Latin Playboys) song batches - but the guest list, fun, and hybrid sounds of The Ride makes more than a decent ride.

It is one of the best albums this year.