ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 30, 2004

You decide which is sillier:

Having an actor from a popular 1980s sitcom come talk about your candidate’s plan for alternate energy, or reacting to said celeb as if his very presence is an affront to decent people in the state?

John Kerry’s campaign in New Mexico touted a Tuesday appearance in Albuquerque by actor Ted Danson, who played the unrepentant horndog Sam Malone in the old NBC television hit Cheers. According to the press release, Danson came to discus “John Kerry's plan to make America stronger by breaking our dependence on foreign oil, and investing in new technologies and alternative fuels to create high paying jobs and protect our environment.”

Sounds like a tall order for a TV bartender.

Danson, a former Santa Fe resident, was accompanied by state Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Secretary Joanna Prukop and state Sen. Richard Romero, D-Albuquerque, who is running for Congress against incumbent Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M.

According to one television report, about 100 people showed for the rally. It’s hard to say whether any votes were swayed.

I didn’t go.

I’m waiting for Norm and Cliff to come here to talk about the nation’s trade deficit.

Actually I didn’t pay the Danson visit much mind. But then I got an e-mail on behalf of a Republican legislator who took advantage of the Danson rally to engage in some good old-fashioned celebrity bashing.

“John Kerry thinks the heart and soul of our nation is represented by Hollywood liberals like Ted Danson, but President Bush knows the heart and soul of America is found in places like New Mexico,” said Rep. Brian Moore of Clayton, echoing almost word for word a stump-speech applause line used by Bush himself in various locales, including a speech in Albuquerque last month.

“New Mexicans have done well with President Bush’s tax cuts,” Moore’s statement said. “We don’t need a Hollywood actor to tell us differently.”

Conservatives in recent years seem to take great offense at entertainers getting involved in politics.

Except Arnold Schwarzenegger. Or Charlton Heston. Or Ronald Reagan.

The war on literacy: You’ll have to move quick to see this one for yourself because if the governor’s office reads this first, it’ll be gone, or at least corrected.

But as of Wednesday afternoon, a Sept. 8 press release on Gov. Bill Richardson’s official state Web site (www.governor.state.nm.us/2004/news/sept.html) announced that First Lady Barbara Richardson was declaring that day “International Literacy Day.”

“The facts speak for themselves — poor reading skills translate directly into poor student achievement, higher dropout rates, and lower financial and personal success,” Mrs. Richardson said in the statement.

That’s undoubtedly true.

But the next sentence made a surprising contradiction, quoting the first lady as saying, “Ending literacy will guarantee a more prosperous future for all New Mexicans.”

{Note: The Literacy Day press release in its original form was still on the governor's Web site at 8:30 a.m. today, but before 9:30 a.m. it was gone.}

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept 25, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Papa Satan Sang Louie by The Cramps
Two Headed Dog by Roky Erikson
I'm Not Down by The Clash
Victoria by The Fall
I'm in Disgrace by The Kinks
Burnin' Hell by The Fleshtones
Dirty Seconds by The Hollis Wake
Johnny Gillete by Simon Stokes

Sins of My Father by Tom Waits
God's Eternal Love by Sally Timms
Strange Fruit by The Twilight Singers
Civil Disobedience by Camper Van Beethoven

I Zimba by The Talking Heads
The Future by Prnce
Cold Bologna by The Isley Brothers
Grown So Ugly by Captain Beefheart
All Hands Against His Own by The Black Keys
Step Aside by Sleater-Kinney
Hang On Sloopy by Lolita #18

Restraining Order Blues by The Eels
Narc by Interpol
Sewers of Bagkok by Brazzaville
Hang Down Your Head by Petty Booka
Song of the Rats Leaving the Sinking Ship by American Music Club
Call on Me by Lou Reed
Venus by Shocking Blue
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, September 24, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
In the Satellite Rides a Star by The Old 97s
Worry Too Much by Buddy Miller
Tramps Rouge by Starlings TN
Drugstore Truck Driving Man by The Byrds
Sinner Man by 16 Horsepower
You Stupid Jerk by Peter Stampfel
Bears in the Woods by Nancy Apple
My Blue Heaven by (unknown home recording artist)

Lonely Street by Ray Price
Family Tree by Loretta Lynn
South Dakota Hairdo by Joe West
Guilty as Sin by Kasey Chambers
River of No Return by Jon Rauhouse with Neko Case
Putin' Out an Old Flame by Johnny Bush
He'll Have to Go by Jim Reeves
Moon River by The Bubbadinos

My Own Kind of Hat by Rosie Flores
The Day John Henry Died by Drive-By Truckers
Hill Country Hot Rod Man by Junior Brown
Something in the Water by Charlie Robison
Out of Control by Dave Alvin
F the CC by Steve Earle
I Know You Are There by The Handsome Family

Another Place I Don't Belong by Big Al Anderson
Murder's Crossed My Mind by Desdemona Finch
Charmers by Richard Buckner
Sammy's Song by David Bromberg
Sweet Savior's Arms by Grey DeLisle
Dark End of the Street by Elvis Costello
Old Friends by Roger Miller, Willie Nelson & Ray Price
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: REISSUES CALLING

As published in The New Mexican
Sept. 24, 2004

The punk era of the late 1970s was the result of a loose-knit movement in which the prevailing attitude was that there was way too much reverence toward rock stars, that music should be considered disposable, a fleeting joke, something for the moment.

Trouble is, there were some bands that included some serious musicians whose work, in spite of themselves, transcended the self-imposed limits of punk.

On a DVD interview included in the London Calling: 25th Anniversary Legacy Edition by The Clash, Joe Strummer recalls having to deal with “the punk police,” purists who insisted that punk rock had to be three-minute bursts of rage and snottiness and nothing else.

But Strummer, Mick Jones, Paul Simonon and Topper Headon disagreed. Punk was supposed to represent freedom, Strummer said. And that includes the freedom to incorporate the sounds of funk, rockabilly, dub reggae, jazz, R&B and anything else that wasn’t nailed down. If that means using a horn section on a ska version of “Staggolee” (called “Wrong ‘em Boyo” here) and if they sound a little bit like The Band on “Jimmy Jazz,” it didn’t have to distract from the punk ferocity.

One would like to think that the late Strummer is rolling over in his grave at the thought of this album being the subject of a fancy-schmancy multi-disc 25th Anniversary package (list price $29.98).

But remember, the sainted Strummer still was alive in 2002 when the song “London Calling” was used on a television commercial for Jaguar Motors. So I don’t see Joe getting too upset about this.

And not that he should be.

In addition to the original album (which was re-mastered a couple of years ago), the three-disc set includes “The Vanilla Tapes,“ which consists of a recently uncovered demo and rehearsal sessions including versions of most of the London Calling tunes.

It’s a low-to-no-fi affair. It’s got no-frills early takes on what would become signature Clash tunes (an almost tuneless version of the song “London Calling,” an embryonic instrumental “Guns of Brixton,” called simply “Paul’s Tune,” plus some previously unheard songs, like a hillbilly romp called “Lonesome Me” and a reggae-drenched cover of Bob Dylan’s “The Man in Me.”

There’s also a DVD featuring an interesting, if hardly essential, documentary about the making of London Calling, with interviews with all four Clash members, including Strummer. (The most fun part of the DVD though is the black-and-white footage of the album sessions, which are hilarious due to the crazed antics of producer Guy Stevens, a balding hippy who kept the band on edge by tossing chairs and a ladder across the studio and pouring wine on a piano while Strummer was playing it.)

But the main course still is the original album itself, which retains its joyful, dancing-on-the-trash-heap-of history power and its raw, working-class hero bite a quarter century later.

“Brand New Cadillac,” a cover of a song by obscure rockabilly Vince Taylor, makes most of the punked-up rockabilly that followed sound like Happy Days.

Though the comparison isn‘t obvious, “Train in Vain” follows in the tradition of Frank Sinatra, proving tough guys can sing love songs.

On the DVD documentary Strummer downplays the socialist politics of The Clash, making the obvious point that as musicians they didn’t really have the answers to the problems of imperialism, repression and unbridled commercialism.

But he’s selling himself short. Songs like “Clampdown,” “Spanish Bombs” and of course the title track, haven’t lost a trace of their apocalyptic relevance. “Lost in the Supermarket” remains the quintessential anthem of consumerism angst.

The Clash considered London Calling to be “the last rock ‘n’ roll album.” Well, they were wrong. But there haven’t been many albums in the last 25 years as powerful as this.

Also Recommended:
*The Name of This Band is Talking Heads. To be honest, I stopped keeping track of David Byrne’s solo albums about 10 years ago. I never did like The Tom Tom Club, Tina Weymouth’s and Chris Frantz’s side project, and the one Jerry Harrison solo record I heard was painfully boring.

The depressing post-Talking Heads work of these guys is almost enough to make you forget what a great band the Heads were. But perhaps that adds to the refreshing charm of this double-disc reissue.

For reasons best known to the brain trust at Warner Brothers, The Name of This Band, a collection of live Heads material first released in the pre-CD era of 1982, never was released on compact disc.

It took way too long, but they did it right. The new version of the album is nearly twice as long as the original, spanning the band’s early days -- recorded in front of what sounds like tiny audiences -- to the early ‘80s.

The collection is divided into two eras. Disc One features work from 1977-79, while Disc Two has songs from 1980-81.

Although the group’s signature tune is the too-delightful-to-be-creepy “Psycho Killer” (included twice here, once on each disc), the song that best sums up the spirit of the first disc is “Love àBuilding on Fire.” I try to imagine myself in the audience the first time Byrne, in his loopy-loo voice sang, “I’ve got two loves, two loves/And they go tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet tweet like little birds …” to a hopped-up folk-rock groove.

By 1980 Byrne had started hanging out with Brian Eno experimenting with funk and African music. By this point the basic Heads line-up was fortified by outside musicians like guitarist Adrian Belew and keyboardist Bernie Worrell, a Funkadelic alum, as well as background vocalistsm, an extra bassist and a percussionist.

On paper this might sound rather cluttered. But somehow it worked. This album’s version of the insane, pseudo-African workout of “I Zimba” might be the finest track ever recorded by The Talking Heads.

Stop Making Sense was a great live album. But this one’s even better. I wouldn’t mind seeing a movie version of The Name of This Band is Talking Heads.

YOU DON'T GOT MAIL ...

A personal note:

If anyone tried to e-mail me last -- Nigerian generals' widows, herbal Viagra merchants, whoever -- there apparantly was some problem with my MSN account. A couple of friends informed me this morning that their mail to me bounced back, plus I e-mailed some stuff from work and only one of two made it, and that was about 12 hours late.

Try again. It seems to be working now.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: POLL VAULTING IN THE ENCHANTED LAND

As published in the Santa Fe New Mexican
September 23, 2004

In case anyone is feeling “poll withdrawal,” there’s a couple of new presidential polls for New Mexico adding a new twist to what still seems like a close race.

The New Mexican-KOB-TV poll published this week showed President Bush barely leading John Kerry in New Mexico. However, two recent polls by other organizations give Kerry the edge — one of them by double digits.

The American Research Group, which has conducted several polls here this year, shows Kerry ahead 49 to 44 percent. That poll was taken about the same time as ours, Sept. 14-16.

In both polls, the difference between the candidates is within the margin of error: plus or minus four percentage points. For our poll, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington D.C. interviewed 625 likely voters. ARG interviewed 600.

Meanwhile, the most recent Zogby poll conducted last week, shows Kerry leading with 54 percent to Bush’s 41 percent, which is outside of their 4.1 percent margin of error. Nader is attracting two percent of the vote in the Zogby poll. Zogby polled 546 New Mexicans.

Unlike Mason-Dixon or ARG, Zogby’s poll is “interactive.” That means they don’t call people on the phone. They do it by e-mail, contacting those registered in the company’s database of voters. Some traditional pollsters belittle Zogby’s “interactive” methods.

Go ahead, punk. Make my day.
Earlier this year this column broke the news that a California-based group called Punx For Dean was coming to town to help out with the Howard Dean campaign. Despite that assistance, Dean managed to lose the New Mexico caucus to Kerry.

But now it seems Kerry is enjoying the support of the all-important punk-rock block. An organization called Punkvoter.com is coming to New Mexico to put on a concert and film screening in Albuquerque Friday.

The organization, which was started by “Fat Mike” of the band NOFX, is responsible for two volumes of Rock Against Bush CDs.

“To enrage and engage (the) punk community to take action and speak out,” Punkvoter.com in alliance with the Young Voter Alliance will present a screening of the documentary Unprecedented, a scathing look at the 2000 election. The screening is at 2 p.m. at the Student Union Building Theater at the University of New Mexico. Co-producer Richard Ray Perez will be on hand.

That night five bands — Anti-Flag, The Epoxies, Midtown, Strike Anywhere and Mike Park — will perform at The Sunshine Theatre, 120 Central Ave. S.E. Tickets are $15, $13 with student identification. The show starts at 8 p.m.

“This tour is about motivating Punk Voters to learn more, take action, and make their voices heard” said Anti-Flag’s lead singer Justin Sane in a written statement.

Hey, this isn’t a partisan column. If there’s any Republican punk groups coming to New Mexico, please let me know.

I’m POed and I Vote
It’s not clear whether actual punks have anything to do with this, but state Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, who is running against Republican Greg Bemis in the upcoming District 47 election, got an e-mail from the local chapter of a New York-based group calling itself “The League of Pissed Off Voters.”

The group asked Wirth for his views on a wide range of issues including police brutality, the war in Iraq, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, water, drug laws, rape and domestic abuse, jobs and racism.

The e-mail says the group is “a non-partisan, not for profit collective that is currently putting together a voter guide aimed at young people (Under 35).” The Web site for the national organization says , “Our mission is to engage pissed off 17-35 year olds in the democratic process to build a progressive governing majority in our lifetime.”

NEW MEXICAN-KOB POLL: THE HORSE RACE

According to the poll sponsored by The New Mexican and KOB-TV, George Bush holds a small lead over John Kerry in New Mexico.

READ ABOUT IT HERE

Happy Birthday Leonard Cohen, Bill Murray, Larry Hagman, Stephen King and Ricki Lake!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept 19, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
September Song by Lou Reed
Clampdown by The Clash
Hey Grandma by Moby Grape
I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight by Richard Thompson
Jockey Full of Bourbon by Los Lobos
Just Let Go by The Hollis Wake
Everything That Touches You by The Association
My Way by Sid Vicious

Sho Nuff and Yes I Do by Captain Beefheart
The Desparate Man by The Black Keys
Ding Dang by Les Claypool
Evil by Interpol
The Last World of Fire and Trash by Joy Harjo
Since I Fell For You by Big Mama Thornton

The KKK Took My Baby Away by The Ramones
Dirty Action by Texas Terri Bomb
My Generation by Patti Smith
Never Say Never by Romeo Void
Spiders (Kidsmoke) by Wilco
Patootie Pie by Louis Jordan

Saucy Sailor by Steeleye Span
Freedom Park by Marah
Foreign Disaster Days by Brazilville
America Loves the Minstrel Show by American Music Club
Sleep Enough to Dream by Jon Dee Graham
Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

NEW MEXICAN-KOB POLL

The Santa Fe New Mexican and KOB-TV have sponsored a poll on the presidential race and the issues. Somehow it's involved with MSNBC and Knight-Ridder newspapers too.

The results of the presidential poll will be published Tuesday. Today we have results of New Mexicans' opinions on the war in Iraq. CLICK HERE. On Monday we'll publish what we found out on New Mexico's attitudes toward terrorism and security.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

Friday, September 17, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I Think I'll Just Sit Here and Drink by Merle Haggard
American Question by Jason Ringenberg
Harm's Way by The Waco Brothers
Salute to a Switchboard by Tom T. Hall
There's a Higher Power by Buddy Miller
The Bridge Washed Out by Junior Brown
If I'm Going to Sink (I Might As Well Go to the Bottom) by Neko Case
As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone by Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty
Mike the Can Man by Joe West

Danko/Manuel by Drive-By Truckers
Country Boy by The Band
Wild as the Wind by Steve Forbert
A Change is Gonna Come by The Band
Diana by Alejandro Escovedo
Weighted Down by Skip Spence

Beautiful Dreamer by Raul Malo
Slumber My Darling by Alison Krauss
Old Black Joe by Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis
Swanee River Rock by Ray Charles
Nelly Was a Lady by Alvin Youngblood Hart
Camptown Races by The Bubbadinos
Hard Times Come Again No More by Mavis Staples
Oh Susanna by Ronny Elliott

Little Sister by Elvis Presley
Wake Up Call by Peter Case
Milk and Honey by Nels Andrews
The Bum I Loathe (Is Dead and Gone) by Desdemona Finch
Dear Mother by Acie Cargill
A Chance Counsel by Richard Buckner
So Much Wine by The Handsome Family
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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