Friday, December 9, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Honky Tonk Hiccups by Neko Case
1 Way Ticket to the Blues by Marti Brom
Rootin' Tootin' Santa Claus by The Buckerettes
Big Ol' White Boys by Terry Allen
There's a Star Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere by Hank Thompson
Bad Habbit by Jimmy Stradler
Tonsils in Taiwan by Jim Terr
Sittin' on Top of the World by Jack White
Kaw-Liga by Silver Sand
Is Anybody Going to San Antone? by Doug Sahm
Lawd, I'm Just a Country Boy in This Great Big Freaky City by Alvin Youngblood Hart
Stoned Faces Don't Lie by The Bottle Rockets
Santa Can't Stay by Dwight Yoakam
John Law Burned Down the Liquor Store by Chris Thomas King
Black Soul Choir by 16 Horse Power
I Walk the Line by Telly Savales
Twelve Gates to the City by Bethleham & Eggs
Sinner, You'd Better Get Ready by The Lilly Brothers
Trouble in the Amen City by Porter Wagoner
Standin' in the Need of Prayer by Bethleham & Eggs
Dust on Mother's Bible by Buck Owens
He Will Set Your Fields on Fire by Flatt & Scruggs
Nobody's Fault But Mine by Bethleham & Eggs
The Old Rugged Cross by Johnny Cash
River by Albert & Gage
Little Hearts and Flowers by Bobby Earle Smith
Oil Field Girls by The Tom Russell Band
Four Walls by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Scrapyard Lullaby by Chris Whitley
Hard Candy Christmas by Dolly Parton
The Wayward Wind by Jackie "Teak" Lazar
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Friday, December 09, 2005
TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: NEW CHRISTMAS ALBUMS
Technically there is no Terrell's Tune-up column in today's Pasatiempo. Instead I wrote a bunch of Christmas CD reviews for the special Christmas Pasatempos section. Here they are:
A version of these were published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 9, 2005
BRIAN WILSON
What I Really Want For Christmas
(Arista)
One of the most oddly enduring Christmas albums of the rock ’n’ roll era is The Beach Boys Christmas, a 1964 outing that featured mostly original Yuletide songs, plus “Blue Christmas,” “White Christmas,” a stunning version of “We Three Kings” and a few other Christmas chestnuts. Even considering the frequently cornball production, the Boys of summer created a wintertime classic.
Forty-one years later, Brian Wilson not only pays homage to The Beach Boys Christmas with this album, he has created a holiday treat that stands on its own. This is due mostly to Wilson’s own sensibilities. But much credit should go to the band he’s been using for the past several years, The Wondermints. (The documentary on the making of Smile gives a viewer great appreciate for the contribution of this band -- especially to keyboardist/singer Darian Sahanaja -- to Wilson’s art. )
The new album has a couple of novelty tunes from The Beach Boys Christmas, “The Man With All the Toys” and that album‘s best-known ditty, “Little Saint Nick.” (Of the old stuff, I’d have preferred “Santa’s Beard,” the story of a brat who exposes a department-store Santa.)
More importantly there are some new songs, including the title tune, which Wilson co-wrote with Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin and “Christmasey,” which he co-wrote with Jimmy Webb. If I have one complaint, ’d have liked some more originals here.
The other songs are the usual suspects -- “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” a rocking “Deck the Halls,” etc. -- all done up in Beach Boys-style harmonies. He doesn’t revive “We Three Kings,” but there’s one incredible jaw-dropper in Wilson’s version of “Oh Holy Night.” As Wilson and his group sing “Fall on your knees/Hear the angel voices,” all I can say is “Bet yo’ sweet pork chops!”
REV. HORTON HEAT
We Three Kings
(Yep Roc)
The king of the psychobillies has entered the Christmas sweepstakes with a good rocking collection.
There are the classic holiday tunes -- the title song is an instrumental, part ominous surf music, part hoedown. Likewise, “What Child is This,” is a Link Wray inspired instrumental. “Frosty the Snowman” practically melts because of the speed, while the reverend plays a slow, earnest take of “Silver Bells,” complete with gospelish organ and piano.
This album also is a survey of classic rock ‘n’ roll and country Christmas songs. Heat does a worthy cover of Elvis Presley’s “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me,” a crooning version of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper,” a properly rocking romp on Chuck Berry’s “Run, Rudolf Run” and a hearty salute to Buck Owens on the obscure Owens holiday hit “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” (I’m sure the Rev. would agree that it’s worth it for Buckaroo fans to seek out the original.)
But the weirdest cut on We Three Kings is Heat’s inspired melding of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” with the theme from the Batman television show. It’s good he remembers the true meaning of Christmas.
MARAH
A Christmas Kind of TownYep Roc
Anyone who’s ever sat through a Christmas pageant at virtually any elementary school or church -- and serious enjoyed it despite of, or even because of the corniness and amateurishness -- would get a kick out of this album.
This roots-rock band from Philadelphia (where the concept of “roots” also includes Phil Spector) apparently called up a bunch of friends (including a sexy singer who calls herself “Felicia Navidad“), took a serious dip into the wassail and made this album, a collection of songs, silly skits and general Yuletide goofiness.
There are a couple of songs associated with 1960s animated Christmas specials. There’s “Christmas Time is Here” where Marah and crew sound disturbingly like the Peanuts gang, and “Holy Jolly Christmas,” (sung by Burl Ives on the 1964 clay-puppet classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.)
There’s some typical over covered songs like “Silver Bells,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Winter Wonderland.” But there’s a very obscure Buck Owens song “Christmas Times A Comin’” And better yet are some fine original tunes here including a polka-like “Counting the Days (Til Christmas),” the Brian Wilson-worthy “Christmas with the Snow” and “New York is a Christmas Kind of Town.”
THE LEEVEES
Hanukkah Rocks
(Reprise)
Back in the late ‘80s — when 2 Live Crew was the rap group that was the biggest threat to civilization — there was a parody of As Nasty as They Wanna Be called As Kosher as They Wanna Be by a group calling itself Two Live Jews. The anchor cut was a takeoff of Crew’s “Me So Horny,” called “Oy! It’s So Humid.”
The LeeVees (Adam Gardner and Dave Schneider) channel the spirit of Two Live Jews, and probably even Allen Sherman on this collection of funny songs about Hanukkah and the chosen people in general.
“Latke Clan” is about Hanukkah spirit (“Santa’s cool/But Hanukkah Harry’s the man …”), while “Goyim Friends” examines the jealousy that Jewish kids feel when they get six packs of socks on Hanukkah when their Christian pals get snowboards and iPods for Christmas.
My favorite is “How Do You Spell Channukkahh”: “In elementary school/A Spanish kid told me/That it starts with a silent J/But Julio was wrong.”
The humor is non-stop and the music is catchy, infectious pop rock, including Farfisa organ on many tracks. Maybe next year The LeeVees will team up with Kinky Friedman for more Jewish holiday fun.
A version of these were published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 9, 2005
BRIAN WILSON
What I Really Want For Christmas
(Arista)
One of the most oddly enduring Christmas albums of the rock ’n’ roll era is The Beach Boys Christmas, a 1964 outing that featured mostly original Yuletide songs, plus “Blue Christmas,” “White Christmas,” a stunning version of “We Three Kings” and a few other Christmas chestnuts. Even considering the frequently cornball production, the Boys of summer created a wintertime classic.
Forty-one years later, Brian Wilson not only pays homage to The Beach Boys Christmas with this album, he has created a holiday treat that stands on its own. This is due mostly to Wilson’s own sensibilities. But much credit should go to the band he’s been using for the past several years, The Wondermints. (The documentary on the making of Smile gives a viewer great appreciate for the contribution of this band -- especially to keyboardist/singer Darian Sahanaja -- to Wilson’s art. )
The new album has a couple of novelty tunes from The Beach Boys Christmas, “The Man With All the Toys” and that album‘s best-known ditty, “Little Saint Nick.” (Of the old stuff, I’d have preferred “Santa’s Beard,” the story of a brat who exposes a department-store Santa.)
More importantly there are some new songs, including the title tune, which Wilson co-wrote with Elton John lyricist Bernie Taupin and “Christmasey,” which he co-wrote with Jimmy Webb. If I have one complaint, ’d have liked some more originals here.
The other songs are the usual suspects -- “Hark the Herald Angels Sing,” a rocking “Deck the Halls,” etc. -- all done up in Beach Boys-style harmonies. He doesn’t revive “We Three Kings,” but there’s one incredible jaw-dropper in Wilson’s version of “Oh Holy Night.” As Wilson and his group sing “Fall on your knees/Hear the angel voices,” all I can say is “Bet yo’ sweet pork chops!”
REV. HORTON HEAT
We Three Kings
(Yep Roc)
The king of the psychobillies has entered the Christmas sweepstakes with a good rocking collection.
There are the classic holiday tunes -- the title song is an instrumental, part ominous surf music, part hoedown. Likewise, “What Child is This,” is a Link Wray inspired instrumental. “Frosty the Snowman” practically melts because of the speed, while the reverend plays a slow, earnest take of “Silver Bells,” complete with gospelish organ and piano.
This album also is a survey of classic rock ‘n’ roll and country Christmas songs. Heat does a worthy cover of Elvis Presley’s “Santa Bring My Baby Back to Me,” a crooning version of Willie Nelson’s “Pretty Paper,” a properly rocking romp on Chuck Berry’s “Run, Rudolf Run” and a hearty salute to Buck Owens on the obscure Owens holiday hit “Santa Looked a Lot Like Daddy” (I’m sure the Rev. would agree that it’s worth it for Buckaroo fans to seek out the original.)
But the weirdest cut on We Three Kings is Heat’s inspired melding of “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” with the theme from the Batman television show. It’s good he remembers the true meaning of Christmas.
MARAH
A Christmas Kind of TownYep Roc
Anyone who’s ever sat through a Christmas pageant at virtually any elementary school or church -- and serious enjoyed it despite of, or even because of the corniness and amateurishness -- would get a kick out of this album.
This roots-rock band from Philadelphia (where the concept of “roots” also includes Phil Spector) apparently called up a bunch of friends (including a sexy singer who calls herself “Felicia Navidad“), took a serious dip into the wassail and made this album, a collection of songs, silly skits and general Yuletide goofiness.
There are a couple of songs associated with 1960s animated Christmas specials. There’s “Christmas Time is Here” where Marah and crew sound disturbingly like the Peanuts gang, and “Holy Jolly Christmas,” (sung by Burl Ives on the 1964 clay-puppet classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer.)
There’s some typical over covered songs like “Silver Bells,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” and “Winter Wonderland.” But there’s a very obscure Buck Owens song “Christmas Times A Comin’” And better yet are some fine original tunes here including a polka-like “Counting the Days (Til Christmas),” the Brian Wilson-worthy “Christmas with the Snow” and “New York is a Christmas Kind of Town.”
THE LEEVEES
Hanukkah Rocks
(Reprise)
Back in the late ‘80s — when 2 Live Crew was the rap group that was the biggest threat to civilization — there was a parody of As Nasty as They Wanna Be called As Kosher as They Wanna Be by a group calling itself Two Live Jews. The anchor cut was a takeoff of Crew’s “Me So Horny,” called “Oy! It’s So Humid.”
The LeeVees (Adam Gardner and Dave Schneider) channel the spirit of Two Live Jews, and probably even Allen Sherman on this collection of funny songs about Hanukkah and the chosen people in general.
“Latke Clan” is about Hanukkah spirit (“Santa’s cool/But Hanukkah Harry’s the man …”), while “Goyim Friends” examines the jealousy that Jewish kids feel when they get six packs of socks on Hanukkah when their Christian pals get snowboards and iPods for Christmas.
My favorite is “How Do You Spell Channukkahh”: “In elementary school/A Spanish kid told me/That it starts with a silent J/But Julio was wrong.”
The humor is non-stop and the music is catchy, infectious pop rock, including Farfisa organ on many tracks. Maybe next year The LeeVees will team up with Kinky Friedman for more Jewish holiday fun.
Thursday, December 08, 2005
ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: ORDERED BY GOD
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 8, 2005
Gov. Bill Richardson was the interview subject in this week’s “10 Questions” section of Time magazine. He talked about immigration, his book, his meetings with famous dictators, etc.
And he also spoke a little bit about theology, specifically the divine right of early primary states.
“Nobody should tamper with Iowa and New Hampshire being the initial primaries or caucuses,” Richardson told Time. “That's God given and party given.”
This is even stronger than what he told people in New Hampshire last summer at a political breakfast. There, Richardson said that having the first primary in the nation is “your birthright.” But he didn’t mention God by name.
Even so, a Democratic National Committee panel is apparently trying to mess with God’s plan.
The 40-member commission is considering a plan that would add a Western and a Southern state to the January primary calendar.
“The four Western states under consideration are Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada as well as Colorado,” Rocky Mountain News columnist Peter Blake wrote Wednesday. “But Mike Stratton, a Colorado political strategist who's on the commission, conceded Nevada is the likely choice.”
Stratton, by the way, was working for Richardson during the governor’s visit to New Hampshire last June.
But a Nov. 30 story in the Manchester Union Leader quotes New Hampshire’s secretary of state William Gardner saying he will move up the New Hampshire primary if the Democrats adopt the proposed primary plan. And state law allows him to do it.
Truly he is a man of God.
Meanwhile, Richardson still is pushing for a regional primary — which would include this state, Arizona, Utah and possibly others — for Feb. 5, 2008.
For the record, God didn’t create the New Hampshire primary until 1913. Actually, according to the New Hampshire Political Library’s the Web site, it was a body called “The General Court” that created the primary. The first primary actually wasn’t held until 1916.
But New Hampshire didn’t become the first-in-the-nation primary until 1920, when the state of Minnesota decided to drop its primary and Indiana moved its primary back to May. I’m not sure what happened here.
Did God also create the Minnesota and Indiana primaries and decide He had made a mistake?
Or were those primaries the work of Satan?
At first New Hampshire primary voters elected delegates to the national political conventions. It wasn’t until 1952 that God decided the names of the presidential candidates themselves should be on the ballot.
God didn’t get the January Iowa caucuses going until 1972. (A history of the caucuses by The Des Moines Register also gives former Iowa Gov. Harold Hughes some of the credit.)
Baseball blues: The subject of Richardson’s professional baseball “career” was bound to come up in the Time interview.
After all, last week in an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Tom Ruprecht, a writer for Late Show with David Letterman poked wicked fun at the governor’s recent discovery that he actually had not been drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the 1960s.
Ruprecht’s story, headlined “Field of Hallucinations,” started out, “Yes, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico had to embark on an exhaustive fact-finding mission to determine whether or not he was ever a major-league baseball player. (And we wonder why nothing gets done in government.)”
In the Time interview, Richardson, apparently decided that a good defense is a bad pun.
“I had been told by various scouts that I would be drafted if I signed,” he told reporter Karen Tumulty. “When it appeared in the official program of my team that I had been drafted, I assumed it was correct. However, the mistake was mine. I should have checked. Obviously, it's become a little bit of an instance where I dropped the ball. Get it, Karen?”
“I get it, I get it,” Tumulty replied.
“Get that?” Richardson continued. “Dropped the ball?”
Flattery will get you nowhere: State Rep. Al Park, D-Albuquerque, who according to the Roundhouse rumor mill was considering a run for state attorney general or treasurer, announced last week that he would instead seek a fourth term in the House of Representatives.
“While I am flattered by the support I have received to run for higher office, I believe the best way I can serve the people of New Mexico is to remain in the Legislature,” Park said in a news release.
How come I get the feeling that if he’d been flattered with more support, he might have been making a different announcement?
Dec. 8, 2005
Gov. Bill Richardson was the interview subject in this week’s “10 Questions” section of Time magazine. He talked about immigration, his book, his meetings with famous dictators, etc.
And he also spoke a little bit about theology, specifically the divine right of early primary states.
“Nobody should tamper with Iowa and New Hampshire being the initial primaries or caucuses,” Richardson told Time. “That's God given and party given.”
This is even stronger than what he told people in New Hampshire last summer at a political breakfast. There, Richardson said that having the first primary in the nation is “your birthright.” But he didn’t mention God by name.
Even so, a Democratic National Committee panel is apparently trying to mess with God’s plan.
The 40-member commission is considering a plan that would add a Western and a Southern state to the January primary calendar.
“The four Western states under consideration are Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada as well as Colorado,” Rocky Mountain News columnist Peter Blake wrote Wednesday. “But Mike Stratton, a Colorado political strategist who's on the commission, conceded Nevada is the likely choice.”
Stratton, by the way, was working for Richardson during the governor’s visit to New Hampshire last June.
But a Nov. 30 story in the Manchester Union Leader quotes New Hampshire’s secretary of state William Gardner saying he will move up the New Hampshire primary if the Democrats adopt the proposed primary plan. And state law allows him to do it.
Truly he is a man of God.
Meanwhile, Richardson still is pushing for a regional primary — which would include this state, Arizona, Utah and possibly others — for Feb. 5, 2008.
For the record, God didn’t create the New Hampshire primary until 1913. Actually, according to the New Hampshire Political Library’s the Web site, it was a body called “The General Court” that created the primary. The first primary actually wasn’t held until 1916.
But New Hampshire didn’t become the first-in-the-nation primary until 1920, when the state of Minnesota decided to drop its primary and Indiana moved its primary back to May. I’m not sure what happened here.
Did God also create the Minnesota and Indiana primaries and decide He had made a mistake?
Or were those primaries the work of Satan?
At first New Hampshire primary voters elected delegates to the national political conventions. It wasn’t until 1952 that God decided the names of the presidential candidates themselves should be on the ballot.
God didn’t get the January Iowa caucuses going until 1972. (A history of the caucuses by The Des Moines Register also gives former Iowa Gov. Harold Hughes some of the credit.)
Baseball blues: The subject of Richardson’s professional baseball “career” was bound to come up in the Time interview.
After all, last week in an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Tom Ruprecht, a writer for Late Show with David Letterman poked wicked fun at the governor’s recent discovery that he actually had not been drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the 1960s.
Ruprecht’s story, headlined “Field of Hallucinations,” started out, “Yes, Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico had to embark on an exhaustive fact-finding mission to determine whether or not he was ever a major-league baseball player. (And we wonder why nothing gets done in government.)”
In the Time interview, Richardson, apparently decided that a good defense is a bad pun.
“I had been told by various scouts that I would be drafted if I signed,” he told reporter Karen Tumulty. “When it appeared in the official program of my team that I had been drafted, I assumed it was correct. However, the mistake was mine. I should have checked. Obviously, it's become a little bit of an instance where I dropped the ball. Get it, Karen?”
“I get it, I get it,” Tumulty replied.
“Get that?” Richardson continued. “Dropped the ball?”
Flattery will get you nowhere: State Rep. Al Park, D-Albuquerque, who according to the Roundhouse rumor mill was considering a run for state attorney general or treasurer, announced last week that he would instead seek a fourth term in the House of Representatives.
“While I am flattered by the support I have received to run for higher office, I believe the best way I can serve the people of New Mexico is to remain in the Legislature,” Park said in a news release.
How come I get the feeling that if he’d been flattered with more support, he might have been making a different announcement?
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
E-MAILS FROM POSSUM
I've recently been involved in correspondence with the one and only George Jones. I didn't realize until this week that he's not only one of America's greatest entertainers, he's also an important official with the government of Mauritius. Not only that, but he has a plan that could make ME some money.
Here's the e-mails we've exchanged the past few days:
From: georgejones@virgilio.it
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 5:34 AM
To: (Me! Steve Terrell!)
Subject: Funds for keeps/investment
Sir/Madam,
My name is Mr George Jones, chairman of contract award and monitoring committee of the ministry of industry and international trade development, my duty as empowered by the Mauritius government is to provide the basic amenities, social recreational activities in urban and rural areas.
This program includes assistance to deprived local communities and to co-ordinate projects and development at the national level. Furthermore,from this projects were able to realize some reasonable amount of u.s.$21.8 (Twenty one million eight hundred thousand US. dollars only) as commission from various contractors resulting from over invoicing of payment receipts/vouchers hence all the necessary approvals has been completed.
These approved funds were packaged and dispatched through a security company for onward delivery to its destination in Europe. The money was first deposited into a security vault before we arrange for its movement to Europe through diplomatic channel using decoy purporting that the fund belongs to an expatriate/company.
As we are government officials, the oath of office does are not allowed us to operate foreign bank account, hence we need you to stand as the beneficiary and claim the fund on our behalf from the security company.
Presently I am now in Europe to search for a reliable person/company of high integrity /dignity and one with conscience who will claim this fund on our behalf as the beneficiary.
We have agreed to give you 30% of the total sum as commission for your assistance/effort and 5% will be used to settle every expenses incurred, we will use 65% to invest under your recommendation/guide and go into joint venture business with you.
I would greatly appreciate your assistance and I look forward to your response as soon as possible through this e mail address:georgejjons@netscape.com
Best regards,
Mr George Jones
(To which I replied ...)
From: (me)
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 5:34 AM
To: georgejones@virgilio.it
Subject: Re: Funds for keeps/investment
You can't fool me, George! You're America's greatest country singer.
swt
(Then today, George wrote back ...)
From: georgejjons@netscape.net
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 2:40 AM
To: Steve Terrell
Subject: information from Mr George Jones.
y will be required to come with their official handling charges.{NOTE: That's how it actually starts, "y will be required ..." Must be some Mauritian slang.) The fees representing the handling charges will be paid in the office on your arrival, and receipt will be given to you immediately before your funds is subsequently released to you.
On your acceptance of all the above, the contact details of FORTIS security company is below:
FORTIS SECURITIES AND FINANCE
15 KOMMERSTRAAT,AMSTELVEEN BRANCH,
AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS.
CONTACT PERSON;MR VAN ENLO
EmailAddress: fortisfinancebv@mail2world.com
Please due contact them and get back to me,I will be waiting for your response including the requested information of your personal data(full names, address, phone/fax numbers) or do you want us to use your official contact information below.
Note : the motto of this business is trust , secret and confidence. I will expect your phone call as soon as you receive this mail.
Sincerely.
George Jones
(Wow! George Jones is sharing secrets with ME! And I notice his e-mail changed too. So I wrote back ...)
From: (me)
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 2:40 AM
To: georgejjons@netscape.net
Subject: Re: information from Mr George Jones.
I love the way you do "Window Up Above."
Possum, you are a genius.
swt
XXXXXXX
Remember folks, the motto of this business is "trust , secret and confidence," so please don't tell anyone.
Here's the e-mails we've exchanged the past few days:
From: georgejones@virgilio.it
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 5:34 AM
To: (Me! Steve Terrell!)
Subject: Funds for keeps/investment
Sir/Madam,
My name is Mr George Jones, chairman of contract award and monitoring committee of the ministry of industry and international trade development, my duty as empowered by the Mauritius government is to provide the basic amenities, social recreational activities in urban and rural areas.
This program includes assistance to deprived local communities and to co-ordinate projects and development at the national level. Furthermore,from this projects were able to realize some reasonable amount of u.s.$21.8 (Twenty one million eight hundred thousand US. dollars only) as commission from various contractors resulting from over invoicing of payment receipts/vouchers hence all the necessary approvals has been completed.
These approved funds were packaged and dispatched through a security company for onward delivery to its destination in Europe. The money was first deposited into a security vault before we arrange for its movement to Europe through diplomatic channel using decoy purporting that the fund belongs to an expatriate/company.
As we are government officials, the oath of office does are not allowed us to operate foreign bank account, hence we need you to stand as the beneficiary and claim the fund on our behalf from the security company.
Presently I am now in Europe to search for a reliable person/company of high integrity /dignity and one with conscience who will claim this fund on our behalf as the beneficiary.
We have agreed to give you 30% of the total sum as commission for your assistance/effort and 5% will be used to settle every expenses incurred, we will use 65% to invest under your recommendation/guide and go into joint venture business with you.
I would greatly appreciate your assistance and I look forward to your response as soon as possible through this e mail address:georgejjons@netscape.com
Best regards,
Mr George Jones
(To which I replied ...)
From: (me)
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 5:34 AM
To: georgejones@virgilio.it
Subject: Re: Funds for keeps/investment
You can't fool me, George! You're America's greatest country singer.
swt
(Then today, George wrote back ...)
From: georgejjons@netscape.net
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 2:40 AM
To: Steve Terrell
Subject: information from Mr George Jones.
y will be required to come with their official handling charges.{NOTE: That's how it actually starts, "y will be required ..." Must be some Mauritian slang.) The fees representing the handling charges will be paid in the office on your arrival, and receipt will be given to you immediately before your funds is subsequently released to you.
On your acceptance of all the above, the contact details of FORTIS security company is below:
FORTIS SECURITIES AND FINANCE
15 KOMMERSTRAAT,AMSTELVEEN BRANCH,
AMSTERDAM THE NETHERLANDS.
CONTACT PERSON;MR VAN ENLO
EmailAddress: fortisfinancebv@mail2world.com
Please due contact them and get back to me,I will be waiting for your response including the requested information of your personal data(full names, address, phone/fax numbers) or do you want us to use your official contact information below.
Note : the motto of this business is trust , secret and confidence. I will expect your phone call as soon as you receive this mail.
Sincerely.
George Jones
(Wow! George Jones is sharing secrets with ME! And I notice his e-mail changed too. So I wrote back ...)
From: (me)
Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 2:40 AM
To: georgejjons@netscape.net
Subject: Re: information from Mr George Jones.
I love the way you do "Window Up Above."
Possum, you are a genius.
swt
XXXXXXX
Remember folks, the motto of this business is "trust , secret and confidence," so please don't tell anyone.
Monday, December 05, 2005
TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST
Sunday, December 4, 2005
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
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
This Side of Heaven by The (International) Noise Conspiracy
Let There Be Pain by The Stillettos
Dimples by The Animals
Push Up Man by The Fleshtones
The Unheard Music by X
Hit the Road Jack by Cat
Captain of a Shipwreck by Neil Diamond
Robert Mugge Set
(from the soundtracks of Deep Blues and Last of the Mississippi Jukes)
Jr. Blues by Junior Kimbrough
Casino in the Cottonfields by Vasti Jackson & The King Edward Blues Band
Love Like I Wanna by Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes
Strokin' by Patrice Moncell
John Lennon Tribute
Not John by Loudon Wainwright III
Give Me Some Truth by John Lennon
No Reply by The Beatles
Cold Turkey by John Lennon
Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles
Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles
God by John Lennon
Instant Karma by John Lennon
I Am the Walrus by The Beatles
Run For Your Life by The Beatles
Remember by John Lennon
Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles
The Late Great Johnny Ace by Paul Simon
Medley: Happy Xmas/Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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
Backstreet Girl by Social Distortion
This Side of Heaven by The (International) Noise Conspiracy
Let There Be Pain by The Stillettos
Dimples by The Animals
Push Up Man by The Fleshtones
The Unheard Music by X
Hit the Road Jack by Cat
Captain of a Shipwreck by Neil Diamond
Robert Mugge Set
(from the soundtracks of Deep Blues and Last of the Mississippi Jukes)
Jr. Blues by Junior Kimbrough
Casino in the Cottonfields by Vasti Jackson & The King Edward Blues Band
Love Like I Wanna by Roosevelt "Booba" Barnes
Strokin' by Patrice Moncell
John Lennon Tribute
Not John by Loudon Wainwright III
Give Me Some Truth by John Lennon
No Reply by The Beatles
Cold Turkey by John Lennon
Strawberry Fields Forever by The Beatles
Tomorrow Never Knows by The Beatles
God by John Lennon
Instant Karma by John Lennon
I Am the Walrus by The Beatles
Run For Your Life by The Beatles
Remember by John Lennon
Don't Let Me Down by The Beatles
The Late Great Johnny Ace by Paul Simon
Medley: Happy Xmas/Give Peace a Chance by John Lennon
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Saturday, December 03, 2005
THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, December 2, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Don't Get Above Your Raisin' by Ricky Skaggs with Elvis Costello
Haley's Comet by The Tom Russell Band
Cortez Sail by Terry Allen
The Moon is High by Neko Case
Ghosts in the Holler by The Family Lotus
Trotsky's Blues by Joe West
Behind the Fear by Lurn Hatcher
Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over by Jack White
Steve McQueen by Drive-By Truckers
I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size by Hank Thompson
New Lee Highway Blues by David Bromberg
County Line by Eleni Mandell
Silver Bells by The Rev. Horton Heat
He'll Have to Go by Ry Cooder
The Big Easy by The Jimmy Stadler Band
Blue Louisiana by Bobby Earl Smith
Hard Luck Troubador by Nancy Apple & Rob McNultin
To the Music World Unknown by Oneil Howes
Bluer Than You by Ronny Elliott
It Took 4 Beatles to Make One Elvis by Harry Hayward
Your Past is Going to Come Back to Haunt You by Emily Kaitz
Christmas Time is Here by Marah
On the Wings of a Dove by Lucinda Williams & Nanci Griffith
My Sister's Tiny Hands by The Handsome Family
Lonely Boy/Greener by Boris McCutcheon
Ain't No Cane on the Brazos by The Band
(Think About a) Lullaby by Merle Haggard
Last Train from Poor Valley by Norman Blake
Am I That Easy to Forget by Bobby Bare
Four Walls by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Don't Get Above Your Raisin' by Ricky Skaggs with Elvis Costello
Haley's Comet by The Tom Russell Band
Cortez Sail by Terry Allen
The Moon is High by Neko Case
Ghosts in the Holler by The Family Lotus
Trotsky's Blues by Joe West
Behind the Fear by Lurn Hatcher
Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over by Jack White
Steve McQueen by Drive-By Truckers
I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size by Hank Thompson
New Lee Highway Blues by David Bromberg
County Line by Eleni Mandell
Silver Bells by The Rev. Horton Heat
He'll Have to Go by Ry Cooder
The Big Easy by The Jimmy Stadler Band
Blue Louisiana by Bobby Earl Smith
Hard Luck Troubador by Nancy Apple & Rob McNultin
To the Music World Unknown by Oneil Howes
Bluer Than You by Ronny Elliott
It Took 4 Beatles to Make One Elvis by Harry Hayward
Your Past is Going to Come Back to Haunt You by Emily Kaitz
Christmas Time is Here by Marah
On the Wings of a Dove by Lucinda Williams & Nanci Griffith
My Sister's Tiny Hands by The Handsome Family
Lonely Boy/Greener by Boris McCutcheon
Ain't No Cane on the Brazos by The Band
(Think About a) Lullaby by Merle Haggard
Last Train from Poor Valley by Norman Blake
Am I That Easy to Forget by Bobby Bare
Four Walls by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Friday, December 02, 2005
ROBERT MUGGE'S MUSICAL SPIRIT
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 2, 2005
To filmmaker Robert Mugge, music is a metaphor for the human spirit.
“It’s beneath the surface in every film I’ve made,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “Music is a leaping-off place for discussions of social issues, cultural issues, political issues, even religious issues.”
Mugge, who will be in town to present three of his music documentaries at the Santa Fe Film Festival, is enmeshed in a project to document the effects of Hurricane Katrina on a city that is a major wellspring of American music. Mugge is making the Katrina movie for the cable network Starz.
“The story of what’s happening in New Orleans is so big,” Mugge said, “you can turn on a camera anywhere there and get something interesting. You can talk to anyone you see on the street and get a great story. So music makes it a manageable focus.”
Music has been a metaphor for Mugge’s spirit since his early childhood in North Carolina in the early 1950s, when a radio introduced him to the strange and alluring world of American music — country, gospel, and rock ’n’ roll.
Mugge began studying film in the early ’70s at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. By the end of the ’70s he’d made documentaries about Frostburg, Md. (an Appalachian mining town where he’d gone to college in the 1960s), and controversial Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo. George Crumb: Voice of The Whale (1976), a portrait of the contemporary avant-garde composer, was Mugge’s first music movie.
In 1978 Mugge began filming Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise, a portrait of the Alabama-born jazz spaceman. From then on, music, musicians, and places where music is made have been his focus.
Music isn’t shortchanged in Mugge’s movies. Unlike many music documentaries that interrupt great performances for inane fan chatter or irrelevant observations, Mugge frequently allows the whole song to play and let the music speak for itself. And his interview segments almost always go straight to the core.
Mugge has made documentaries about bluegrass, reggae, and Hawaiian music and has done films centered on Rubén Blades, Sonny Rollins, Robert Johnson, and Gil Scott-Heron. In 1984’s Gospel According to Al Green, Mugge became the first interviewer to get the soul singer to open up about a terrible night in which a spurned girlfriend threw a pot of boiling grits on him — causing second-degree burns — then went into a bedroom and fatally shot herself.
He’s done several movies on the blues, three of which are showing at the film festival. Deep Blues, a 1991 film narrated by Arkansas music writer Robert Palmer, features performances by Mississippi masters R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough — captured on film well before they became cult heroes on Fat Possum records — as well as lesser-known worthies like Jessie Mae Hemphill (both solo and with her fife-and-drum band), Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes, and Big Jack Johnson.
Mugge said that a major point of Deep Blues was that pockets of authentic Mississippi blues were alive and well. But by 1999, when he made Hellhounds on My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson, “I started to sense (Mississippi blues) was beginning to die. A lot of performers were dying, and jukes were closing down.”
That concern prompted him in 2003 to make Last of the Mississippi Jukes, which also is showing at the film festival. While it’s full of high-powered performances by Alvin Youngblood Hart, Chris Thomas King, Vasti Jackson, Bobby Rush, and Patrice Moncell, it’s ultimately a sad film.
It starts off with a brand-new juke joint in Clarksdale, Miss., the Ground Zero Blues Club, which is co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman. But it ends at the Subway Lounge in Jackson, Miss., shortly before the club closed. At the end of the film there’s hope that the Subway would be renovated and revived. However, due to structural problems, the building has since been demolished.
The third film Mugge presents in Santa Fe is Rhythm ’N’ Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music, originally released in 2000. Mugge said the purpose of this film was to show the impressive breadth of music in Louisiana — Cajun, zydeco, Creole, gospel, country, blues, soul, funk, jazz, rock ’n’ roll — and not just focus on “the same people” usually chosen to represent Louisiana music.
Among those featured in the movie are jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, rockabilly artist Dale Hawkins, New Orleans rocker Frankie “Sea Cruise” Ford, and blues pianist Henry Butler.
Rhythm ’N’ Bayous can be considered a preamble to his new project about Katrina’s effect on New Orleans music, a joyful picture of “before” that will provide a sad contrast with the “after” that Mugge is documenting.
In the days before his interview with Pasatiempo, Mugge had been in New Orleans and other locales in the South talking with and filming performances of New Orleans musicians. He found cars on top of houses and in swimming pools, and he saw mysterious men dressed in black patrolling the neighborhoods at night. He filmed in clubs with no running water and unspeakably foul restrooms.
Mugge convinced the Army Corps of Engineers to take him up in a helicopter for an aerial perspective of the city and of landmarks such as Fats Domino’s house. Mugge’s co-producer, Diane Zelman, convinced a voodoo priestess to allow the crew to shoot a voodoo ceremony in a neighborhood where electricity hadn’t been restored. At the climax of the ritual — whose purpose was “to bring the city back to life,” Mugge said — the lights suddenly came back on, evoking nervous laughter from all involved.
Mugge filmed a gig at Grant Street Music Hall in Lafayette in which Marcia Ball presented fellow pianist Eddie Bo with a new electronic keyboard to replace the one he’d lost in the hurricane.
He shot an unknown guitarist playing an unplugged electric guitar on the roof of his mother’s home.
“We filmed Irma Thomas going back to her home, which is now gutted,” Mugge said, speaking of the venerated soul singer. “We went with her to her nightclub, the Lion’s Den, which was destroyed. She pointed to these Christmas lights on the wall and said, ‘You guys put those there 12 years ago’” when Mugge filmed Thomas for True Believers, a film about Rounder Records.
The new Thomas footage as well as that of Ruffins, whom he tracked down in Houston, will be interspersed with old performance footage “from happier times.”
A major question underlying the Katrina project is whether New Orleans will survive as a living, thriving music center. It’s a question Mugge has yet to answer.
“Cyril Neville believes there’s a real conspiracy among white financial people to do away with the black, impoverished neighborhoods,” Mugge said. “That’s where the people get this culture that’s responsible for this music.”
But even people who are less conspiracy-minded fear that New Orleans will be rebuilt as a Disneyfied version of its former self, perhaps something like Beale Street in Memphis, once a bucket-of-blood crucible of the blues, now an upscale tourist district offering safe, sanitized blues.
“People want to make sure that the city (government) doesn’t sell them out and don’t try to turn it into a new Las Vegas,” Mugge said.
Many New Orleans musicians have fled and might not return. Ruffins is Houston, Eddie Bo in Lafayette, and Neville in Austin, Texas. “These guys are really good and they’re still New Orleans musicians,” Mugge said. “But if New Orleans ceases to be New Orleans, there’s no place for them. If every city in the country has its own New Orleans musician, are they truly New Orleans musicians if the city’s ceased to function?”
New Orleans, Mugge says, “is like a body without a spirit. The music itself is the spirit.”
(The photo way above is Robert Mugge with Jack Owens during the filming of Deep Blues.)
Schedule for Mugge Films at Santa Fe Film Festival
Deep Blues 7:30 p.m Thursday Dec. 8
Rhythm 'N' Bayous 2:30 p.m. Friday Dec. 9
Last of the Mississippi Jukes 2:30 p.m. Sunday Dec. 11
(All at CCA Cinematheque, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe NM 87505, phone: 505 982 1338)
December 2, 2005
To filmmaker Robert Mugge, music is a metaphor for the human spirit.
“It’s beneath the surface in every film I’ve made,” he said in a recent telephone interview. “Music is a leaping-off place for discussions of social issues, cultural issues, political issues, even religious issues.”
Mugge, who will be in town to present three of his music documentaries at the Santa Fe Film Festival, is enmeshed in a project to document the effects of Hurricane Katrina on a city that is a major wellspring of American music. Mugge is making the Katrina movie for the cable network Starz.
“The story of what’s happening in New Orleans is so big,” Mugge said, “you can turn on a camera anywhere there and get something interesting. You can talk to anyone you see on the street and get a great story. So music makes it a manageable focus.”
Music has been a metaphor for Mugge’s spirit since his early childhood in North Carolina in the early 1950s, when a radio introduced him to the strange and alluring world of American music — country, gospel, and rock ’n’ roll.
Mugge began studying film in the early ’70s at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. By the end of the ’70s he’d made documentaries about Frostburg, Md. (an Appalachian mining town where he’d gone to college in the 1960s), and controversial Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo. George Crumb: Voice of The Whale (1976), a portrait of the contemporary avant-garde composer, was Mugge’s first music movie.
In 1978 Mugge began filming Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise, a portrait of the Alabama-born jazz spaceman. From then on, music, musicians, and places where music is made have been his focus.
Music isn’t shortchanged in Mugge’s movies. Unlike many music documentaries that interrupt great performances for inane fan chatter or irrelevant observations, Mugge frequently allows the whole song to play and let the music speak for itself. And his interview segments almost always go straight to the core.
Mugge has made documentaries about bluegrass, reggae, and Hawaiian music and has done films centered on Rubén Blades, Sonny Rollins, Robert Johnson, and Gil Scott-Heron. In 1984’s Gospel According to Al Green, Mugge became the first interviewer to get the soul singer to open up about a terrible night in which a spurned girlfriend threw a pot of boiling grits on him — causing second-degree burns — then went into a bedroom and fatally shot herself.
He’s done several movies on the blues, three of which are showing at the film festival. Deep Blues, a 1991 film narrated by Arkansas music writer Robert Palmer, features performances by Mississippi masters R.L. Burnside and Junior Kimbrough — captured on film well before they became cult heroes on Fat Possum records — as well as lesser-known worthies like Jessie Mae Hemphill (both solo and with her fife-and-drum band), Roosevelt “Booba” Barnes, and Big Jack Johnson.
Mugge said that a major point of Deep Blues was that pockets of authentic Mississippi blues were alive and well. But by 1999, when he made Hellhounds on My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson, “I started to sense (Mississippi blues) was beginning to die. A lot of performers were dying, and jukes were closing down.”
That concern prompted him in 2003 to make Last of the Mississippi Jukes, which also is showing at the film festival. While it’s full of high-powered performances by Alvin Youngblood Hart, Chris Thomas King, Vasti Jackson, Bobby Rush, and Patrice Moncell, it’s ultimately a sad film.
It starts off with a brand-new juke joint in Clarksdale, Miss., the Ground Zero Blues Club, which is co-owned by actor Morgan Freeman. But it ends at the Subway Lounge in Jackson, Miss., shortly before the club closed. At the end of the film there’s hope that the Subway would be renovated and revived. However, due to structural problems, the building has since been demolished.
The third film Mugge presents in Santa Fe is Rhythm ’N’ Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music, originally released in 2000. Mugge said the purpose of this film was to show the impressive breadth of music in Louisiana — Cajun, zydeco, Creole, gospel, country, blues, soul, funk, jazz, rock ’n’ roll — and not just focus on “the same people” usually chosen to represent Louisiana music.
Among those featured in the movie are jazz trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, rockabilly artist Dale Hawkins, New Orleans rocker Frankie “Sea Cruise” Ford, and blues pianist Henry Butler.
Rhythm ’N’ Bayous can be considered a preamble to his new project about Katrina’s effect on New Orleans music, a joyful picture of “before” that will provide a sad contrast with the “after” that Mugge is documenting.
In the days before his interview with Pasatiempo, Mugge had been in New Orleans and other locales in the South talking with and filming performances of New Orleans musicians. He found cars on top of houses and in swimming pools, and he saw mysterious men dressed in black patrolling the neighborhoods at night. He filmed in clubs with no running water and unspeakably foul restrooms.
Mugge convinced the Army Corps of Engineers to take him up in a helicopter for an aerial perspective of the city and of landmarks such as Fats Domino’s house. Mugge’s co-producer, Diane Zelman, convinced a voodoo priestess to allow the crew to shoot a voodoo ceremony in a neighborhood where electricity hadn’t been restored. At the climax of the ritual — whose purpose was “to bring the city back to life,” Mugge said — the lights suddenly came back on, evoking nervous laughter from all involved.
Mugge filmed a gig at Grant Street Music Hall in Lafayette in which Marcia Ball presented fellow pianist Eddie Bo with a new electronic keyboard to replace the one he’d lost in the hurricane.
He shot an unknown guitarist playing an unplugged electric guitar on the roof of his mother’s home.
“We filmed Irma Thomas going back to her home, which is now gutted,” Mugge said, speaking of the venerated soul singer. “We went with her to her nightclub, the Lion’s Den, which was destroyed. She pointed to these Christmas lights on the wall and said, ‘You guys put those there 12 years ago’” when Mugge filmed Thomas for True Believers, a film about Rounder Records.
The new Thomas footage as well as that of Ruffins, whom he tracked down in Houston, will be interspersed with old performance footage “from happier times.”
A major question underlying the Katrina project is whether New Orleans will survive as a living, thriving music center. It’s a question Mugge has yet to answer.
“Cyril Neville believes there’s a real conspiracy among white financial people to do away with the black, impoverished neighborhoods,” Mugge said. “That’s where the people get this culture that’s responsible for this music.”
But even people who are less conspiracy-minded fear that New Orleans will be rebuilt as a Disneyfied version of its former self, perhaps something like Beale Street in Memphis, once a bucket-of-blood crucible of the blues, now an upscale tourist district offering safe, sanitized blues.
“People want to make sure that the city (government) doesn’t sell them out and don’t try to turn it into a new Las Vegas,” Mugge said.
Many New Orleans musicians have fled and might not return. Ruffins is Houston, Eddie Bo in Lafayette, and Neville in Austin, Texas. “These guys are really good and they’re still New Orleans musicians,” Mugge said. “But if New Orleans ceases to be New Orleans, there’s no place for them. If every city in the country has its own New Orleans musician, are they truly New Orleans musicians if the city’s ceased to function?”
New Orleans, Mugge says, “is like a body without a spirit. The music itself is the spirit.”
(The photo way above is Robert Mugge with Jack Owens during the filming of Deep Blues.)
Schedule for Mugge Films at Santa Fe Film Festival
Deep Blues 7:30 p.m Thursday Dec. 8
Rhythm 'N' Bayous 2:30 p.m. Friday Dec. 9
Last of the Mississippi Jukes 2:30 p.m. Sunday Dec. 11
(All at CCA Cinematheque, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, Santa Fe NM 87505, phone: 505 982 1338)
STEEEEEEE-RIKE!
The commentary on Gov. Bill Richardson's baseball career keeps coming.
Here's a hilarious op-ed piece titled "Field of Hallucinations" from Tom Ruprecht in The New York Times.
One of my favorite paragraphs:
Here's a hilarious op-ed piece titled "Field of Hallucinations" from Tom Ruprecht in The New York Times.
One of my favorite paragraphs:
Howard Dean, the Democratic Party chairman, concedes he may not have been a member of the Beatles. "I have distinct memories of singing 'Penny Lane' and 'Rocky Raccoon,' but whether I did that as a member of the Beatles or in my dorm room, I am unable to determine at this time," Mr. Dean says. Scientists studying Beatles albums find no evidence of Mr. Dean's voice, though they do note that there is one scream on "Helter Skelter" that could be his.I like this one too:
With others in Washington rewriting their biographies, former House majority leader Tom DeLay asserts his claim that he is the pope. The recently indicted pontiff denounces his colleagues' dishonesty and proclaims himself "saddened" by the state of politics before jetting off with former lobbyist Jack Abramoff for missionary work in Cancún.
TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: A WORTHY CONSPIRACY
So you thought The Hives were the only serious high-voltage guitar band to come out of Scandinavia? Think again.
The (International) Noise Conspiracy is one exciting band of Swedes whose albums almost, though not quite live up to their live performance.
On the new (I)NC CD, Armed Love, Dennis Lyxzen and the boys continue on their strange path of aggressive socialist lyrics and even more aggressive music.
While The Hives are armed with personality and humor in addition to their musical chops, these guys are all hopped up on rhetoric.
“The (International) Noise Conspiracy calls for a change,” proclaims the band’s Web site bio. “Now is the time for questioning, organizing and action. The political left needs to take the step back into the mainstream and the open air to let people know that there's an alternative to this barbaric state of the world today.”
(They’re not completely humorless. An earlier (I)NC song was titled "Capitalism Stole My Virginity.")
“To have rhythm and revolution/Seems like an easy solution/But right now we‘re gonna set it all on fire” Lyxzen sings on the title song, basically proclaiming the Conspiracy’s underlying philosophy.
“We got guns for everyone … We got love for everyone,” he proclaims on one song.
The Conspiracy comes across like a modern -- but not too modern -- version of the MC5. Or imagine if Rage Against the Machine had started out on Shindig?
Few other bands could get away with singing lines like “No more dreams about the power structure/Now we’re on the move,” (from “Landslide”) or “I don’t want to have to wait forever/I want freedom on this side of Heaven,” (from “This Side of Heaven.”) Few bands could even get away with having a song titled “Communist Moon” these days: “Let’s share all our dreams tonight under a communist moon,” Lyxzen bubbles.
All this would sound like so much left-wing flotsam and dribble except one thing.
These damned commies are good!
Armed Love is produced by Rick Rubin, who contrary to popular notion doesn’t just work on reviving the careers of senior citizens like the late Johnny Cash, Donovan and, most recently Neil Diamond. He’s captured the sweaty essence of the band.
One strange aspect of this album: Somewhere along the line the group lost its keyboard player, Sara which is an important part of their sound. (Reviewing their set last year at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin I compared them with Steppenwolf, a truly underrated band from the late ‘60s known for their keyboards as well as their guitars.)
Rubin compensates for this loss by supplying guest keyboardists, including the likes of Benmont Trench (of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) and, even more impressive, Billy Preston. It works on this album, but I hope they find a permanent organist.
Also recommended
Beachhead by The Fleshtones. There’s a song on this album called “Late September Moon.” I don’t think it’s a communist moon. When they sing “I Want the Answers,” I don’t think they are addressing the song to The White House. Indeed you won’t find much in the way of politics on this or any other other Fleshtones album I’ve heard. (O.K., they had an early song called "Atom Spies," but that was a surfy instrumental that sounded a lot like the "Batman" theme.) Their only mission is to praise “Pretty Pretty Pretty” women, encourage good lovin’ in every state of the union and spread the gospel of what they call “Super Rock.”
But like the (International) Noise Conspiracy, this American band revels in old-fashioned fuzzed-up guitar/cheesy keyboard rock. In fact The Fleshtones are one of the only contemporary “garage” bands that enthusiastically embraces the term and the concept of “garage-band” rock.
Maybe it’s their age. The band has been around for almost 30 years now, starting out in the mid ‘70s in Queens, New York. Singer/organist Peter Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng and drummer Bill Milhizer have been the band from the start.
They were contemporaries of The Cramps, a band with whom they often are compared. However, while The Cramps leaned more towards horror and other B-movie imagery, The Fleshtones tended to avoid obvious shtick.
Still, they sounded -- and still sound -- like they memorized every song of the entire Nuggets box set.
About half of Beachhead was recorded in Detroit and produced by Jim Diamond of The Dirtbombs, while the other half was recorded in North Carolina by Southern Culture on The Skids’ Rick Miller. Although the band touts this as some kind of “North vs. South” concept, Diamond and Miller have similar sensibilities, at least when it comes to The Fleshtones.
You won’t find much artsy stuff here, just the hard-driving Fleshtones Super Rock. A little retro -- “I Want the Answers,” for instance, has a melody similar to The Standells’ “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White” and The Romantics’ “What I Like About You” -- but vital enough to rock without nostalgia.
The (International) Noise Conspiracy is one exciting band of Swedes whose albums almost, though not quite live up to their live performance.
On the new (I)NC CD, Armed Love, Dennis Lyxzen and the boys continue on their strange path of aggressive socialist lyrics and even more aggressive music.
While The Hives are armed with personality and humor in addition to their musical chops, these guys are all hopped up on rhetoric.
“The (International) Noise Conspiracy calls for a change,” proclaims the band’s Web site bio. “Now is the time for questioning, organizing and action. The political left needs to take the step back into the mainstream and the open air to let people know that there's an alternative to this barbaric state of the world today.”
(They’re not completely humorless. An earlier (I)NC song was titled "Capitalism Stole My Virginity.")
“To have rhythm and revolution/Seems like an easy solution/But right now we‘re gonna set it all on fire” Lyxzen sings on the title song, basically proclaiming the Conspiracy’s underlying philosophy.
“We got guns for everyone … We got love for everyone,” he proclaims on one song.
The Conspiracy comes across like a modern -- but not too modern -- version of the MC5. Or imagine if Rage Against the Machine had started out on Shindig?
Few other bands could get away with singing lines like “No more dreams about the power structure/Now we’re on the move,” (from “Landslide”) or “I don’t want to have to wait forever/I want freedom on this side of Heaven,” (from “This Side of Heaven.”) Few bands could even get away with having a song titled “Communist Moon” these days: “Let’s share all our dreams tonight under a communist moon,” Lyxzen bubbles.
All this would sound like so much left-wing flotsam and dribble except one thing.
These damned commies are good!
Armed Love is produced by Rick Rubin, who contrary to popular notion doesn’t just work on reviving the careers of senior citizens like the late Johnny Cash, Donovan and, most recently Neil Diamond. He’s captured the sweaty essence of the band.
One strange aspect of this album: Somewhere along the line the group lost its keyboard player, Sara which is an important part of their sound. (Reviewing their set last year at the South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin I compared them with Steppenwolf, a truly underrated band from the late ‘60s known for their keyboards as well as their guitars.)
Rubin compensates for this loss by supplying guest keyboardists, including the likes of Benmont Trench (of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers) and, even more impressive, Billy Preston. It works on this album, but I hope they find a permanent organist.
Also recommended
Beachhead by The Fleshtones. There’s a song on this album called “Late September Moon.” I don’t think it’s a communist moon. When they sing “I Want the Answers,” I don’t think they are addressing the song to The White House. Indeed you won’t find much in the way of politics on this or any other other Fleshtones album I’ve heard. (O.K., they had an early song called "Atom Spies," but that was a surfy instrumental that sounded a lot like the "Batman" theme.) Their only mission is to praise “Pretty Pretty Pretty” women, encourage good lovin’ in every state of the union and spread the gospel of what they call “Super Rock.”
But like the (International) Noise Conspiracy, this American band revels in old-fashioned fuzzed-up guitar/cheesy keyboard rock. In fact The Fleshtones are one of the only contemporary “garage” bands that enthusiastically embraces the term and the concept of “garage-band” rock.
Maybe it’s their age. The band has been around for almost 30 years now, starting out in the mid ‘70s in Queens, New York. Singer/organist Peter Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng and drummer Bill Milhizer have been the band from the start.
They were contemporaries of The Cramps, a band with whom they often are compared. However, while The Cramps leaned more towards horror and other B-movie imagery, The Fleshtones tended to avoid obvious shtick.
Still, they sounded -- and still sound -- like they memorized every song of the entire Nuggets box set.
About half of Beachhead was recorded in Detroit and produced by Jim Diamond of The Dirtbombs, while the other half was recorded in North Carolina by Southern Culture on The Skids’ Rick Miller. Although the band touts this as some kind of “North vs. South” concept, Diamond and Miller have similar sensibilities, at least when it comes to The Fleshtones.
You won’t find much artsy stuff here, just the hard-driving Fleshtones Super Rock. A little retro -- “I Want the Answers,” for instance, has a melody similar to The Standells’ “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White” and The Romantics’ “What I Like About You” -- but vital enough to rock without nostalgia.
Thursday, December 01, 2005
ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: POLL DANCING
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 1, 2005
That Richardson. His suits don’t fit, but his latest poll numbers ought to make him feel pretty comfortable.
In fact, a statewide tracking poll shows Gov. Bill Richardson with a 63 percent approval rating, a full 10 points higher than his approval number just four months ago.
The poll was conducted between Nov. 11 and 13 by a New Jersey firm called SurveyUSA and paid for by KOB TV in Albuquerque. It is based on automated phone calls to 600 New Mexican adults. The margin of error is 3.9 percent.
Participants were asked “Do you approve or disapprove of the job Bill Richardson is doing as Governor?” Only 34 percent said they disapproved.
The gap between his approval and disapproval numbers also is widening. “Richardson has gone from Plus 13 in June to Plus 29 in November, which is singularly impressive,” said Jay Levy, an editor with SurveyUSA.
According to the poll, which tracks numbers for governors in all 50 states, Richardson is now the 13th most popular governor in the nation. That’s up from July when he was merely the 20th most popular governor.
Suiting Up: So what’s happened since July to help Richardson’s approval numbers?
There was the trip to North Korea in October, allowing Richardson to wear his diplomat suit.
There was his quick and widely praised appointment of Doug Brown — a Republican — to fill out the term of indicted state Treasurer Robert Vigil, allowing Richardson to wear his bi-partisan suit.
Then there were the energy-rebate checks — sent to virtually every taxpayer in the state — allowing Richardson to wear his Santa Claus suit.
And there were television commercials airing all over the state in early November with actors posing as cowboys touting those energy-rebate checks (and poking some good-natured fun at the governor’s suits.)
New Mexico pollster Brian Sanderoff said the ads — which weren’t countered by any GOP commercials — could be a factor in the better poll numbers.
Greg Graves, who is managing the gubernatorial campaign of Republican J.R. Damron of Santa Fe, said Wednesday he believes the commercials are a major reason for Richardson’s improving numbers.
One problem with this theory though. According to SurveyUSA, Richardson’s numbers rose most between September and October, before the commercials were aired.
Automated calls: About a month ago Sanderoff conducted a poll for The Albuquerque Journal that included a question about Richardson. He found Richardson’s approval rating at 53 percent.
Sanderoff on Tuesday pointed to the fact that SurveyUSA’s poll uses an automated system.
He said that people who aren’t interested in state politics or who don’t have an opinion on Richardson — not to mention those among us who get angry when we get calls at home from automated androids — are more likely to hang up on such a call than they are when there’s a live human on the other end of the line.
Therefore, Sanderoff said, the percentage of “undecideds” is going to be much lower in automated polls, while the percentage for approval and disapproval tend to rise. In the new poll a measly three percent were undecided.
But even with this factor, Sanderoff noted that the overall trend in Richardson’s SurveyUSA polls is upward.
Graves said he’s not daunted by Richardson’s high numbers.
“He’s got a record he’s going to run on and he’s got a record we’re going to run on,” he said.
Richardson, Graves said, “is going to be under more scrutiny and more of his foibles are going to be reported. You’ll see how quickly 10 points can be made up.”
No Joy in Mudville: The poll was taken before the story broke about Richardson admitting that he indeed was not drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the mid ‘60s as he’d previously claimed.
The national response to that story has not been pretty.
Bob Warner of Cincinnati Enquirer wrote.
“Richardson has had hopes of making it to the big show — as a Democratic presidential nominee. Maybe someday he will have to research how he didn't get that call either.”
But Richardson has at least one defender. Local gallery owner and activist Steve Fox took time out of his recent crusade against the sweetener aspartame to write a letter to the online edition of Editor and Publisher.
There Fox called the baseball story “a dismal and failed attempt at character assassination.”
“How about the other party's leaders' protracted and elaborate lies about Iraq's ‘weapons of mass destruction,’” Fox asked.
Dec. 1, 2005
That Richardson. His suits don’t fit, but his latest poll numbers ought to make him feel pretty comfortable.
In fact, a statewide tracking poll shows Gov. Bill Richardson with a 63 percent approval rating, a full 10 points higher than his approval number just four months ago.
The poll was conducted between Nov. 11 and 13 by a New Jersey firm called SurveyUSA and paid for by KOB TV in Albuquerque. It is based on automated phone calls to 600 New Mexican adults. The margin of error is 3.9 percent.
Participants were asked “Do you approve or disapprove of the job Bill Richardson is doing as Governor?” Only 34 percent said they disapproved.
The gap between his approval and disapproval numbers also is widening. “Richardson has gone from Plus 13 in June to Plus 29 in November, which is singularly impressive,” said Jay Levy, an editor with SurveyUSA.
According to the poll, which tracks numbers for governors in all 50 states, Richardson is now the 13th most popular governor in the nation. That’s up from July when he was merely the 20th most popular governor.
Suiting Up: So what’s happened since July to help Richardson’s approval numbers?
There was the trip to North Korea in October, allowing Richardson to wear his diplomat suit.
There was his quick and widely praised appointment of Doug Brown — a Republican — to fill out the term of indicted state Treasurer Robert Vigil, allowing Richardson to wear his bi-partisan suit.
Then there were the energy-rebate checks — sent to virtually every taxpayer in the state — allowing Richardson to wear his Santa Claus suit.
And there were television commercials airing all over the state in early November with actors posing as cowboys touting those energy-rebate checks (and poking some good-natured fun at the governor’s suits.)
New Mexico pollster Brian Sanderoff said the ads — which weren’t countered by any GOP commercials — could be a factor in the better poll numbers.
Greg Graves, who is managing the gubernatorial campaign of Republican J.R. Damron of Santa Fe, said Wednesday he believes the commercials are a major reason for Richardson’s improving numbers.
One problem with this theory though. According to SurveyUSA, Richardson’s numbers rose most between September and October, before the commercials were aired.
Automated calls: About a month ago Sanderoff conducted a poll for The Albuquerque Journal that included a question about Richardson. He found Richardson’s approval rating at 53 percent.
Sanderoff on Tuesday pointed to the fact that SurveyUSA’s poll uses an automated system.
He said that people who aren’t interested in state politics or who don’t have an opinion on Richardson — not to mention those among us who get angry when we get calls at home from automated androids — are more likely to hang up on such a call than they are when there’s a live human on the other end of the line.
Therefore, Sanderoff said, the percentage of “undecideds” is going to be much lower in automated polls, while the percentage for approval and disapproval tend to rise. In the new poll a measly three percent were undecided.
But even with this factor, Sanderoff noted that the overall trend in Richardson’s SurveyUSA polls is upward.
Graves said he’s not daunted by Richardson’s high numbers.
“He’s got a record he’s going to run on and he’s got a record we’re going to run on,” he said.
Richardson, Graves said, “is going to be under more scrutiny and more of his foibles are going to be reported. You’ll see how quickly 10 points can be made up.”
No Joy in Mudville: The poll was taken before the story broke about Richardson admitting that he indeed was not drafted by the Kansas City Athletics in the mid ‘60s as he’d previously claimed.
The national response to that story has not been pretty.
Bob Warner of Cincinnati Enquirer wrote.
“Richardson has had hopes of making it to the big show — as a Democratic presidential nominee. Maybe someday he will have to research how he didn't get that call either.”
But Richardson has at least one defender. Local gallery owner and activist Steve Fox took time out of his recent crusade against the sweetener aspartame to write a letter to the online edition of Editor and Publisher.
There Fox called the baseball story “a dismal and failed attempt at character assassination.”
“How about the other party's leaders' protracted and elaborate lies about Iraq's ‘weapons of mass destruction,’” Fox asked.
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