THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 30, 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
Bonpart's Retreat by Glen Campbell
Grapevine by Tom Russell
Got No Strings by Michelle Shocked
The Tigers Have Spoken by Neko Case
Wintertime Blues by John Hiatt
House of Gold by Bethleham & Eggs
Beat me Daddy Eight to the Bar by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
Bohemian Rhapsody by Grey DeLisle

Ride 'em Jewboy by Kinky Friedman
Newry Highwayman by Josh Lederman y Los Diablos
Don't You See That Train by The Delta Sisters
Home on the Range by Terry Allen
Lawd, I'm Just a Country Boy in This Great Big Freaky City by Alvin Youngblood Hart
Feel Like Lightnin' by Otis Taylor
Well I Guess I Told You Off by The Carter Sisters

Keep Going by by Boozoo Bajou with Tony Joe White
Endless War by Son Volt
Peace Begins With You and Me by Bobby Earl Smith
I Saw Your Face in the Moon by Mac Wiseman
Border Town by Chris Whitley
Permanently Lonely by Willie Nelson
Choices by George Jones
Queenie's Song by Guy Clark

(I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle by Townes Van Zandt
Wild Geese by Bill & Bonnie Hearne
Private Thoughts by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
I Met Her in Church by Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
Some Humans Ain't Human by John Prine
Hotwalker Coda by Little Jack Horton
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: TOP MUSIC OF 2005

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 30, 3005

TOP ALBUMS of 2005

1) Barbecue Babylon by Drywall: The world of Barbecue Babylon is apocalyptic. Corruption is everywhere. A desperate spirit of lawless has settled over the land. Thievery and murder abound, but the government has gone even more insane than the populace. Life is cheap. Love is tawdry. Paranoia thrives. Doom is always just around the corner. Stan Ridgway makes a great carnival barker at the gates of Armageddon.


2) Rehearsing My Choir by Fiery Furnaces: It’s a wild journey led by Olga Sarantos, the 83-year grandmother of the siblings known collectively as The Fiery Furnaces -- through darkened corridors of the past, filled with memories, fantasies, triumphs and regrets, part sung and part spoken word by Olga and granddaughter Eleanor Friedberger. It’s all told in the secret language that family members share, part verbal scrapbook, part travelogue of 20th Century Chicago, part radio drama, colored by meandering melodies, synthy squiggles, bleeps and blurps, church music, carnival tunes, insane soundtracky backdrops, kiddy songs played on what sounds like dingy dongy toy xylophones and even a few moments of raunchy rock ‘n‘ roll.


3) I've Got My Own Hell to Raise by Bettye LaVette: LaVette is an unjustly overlooked singer who should have been a huge star in the 1960s, but through a series of strange misfortunes, somehow missed the boat. I’d like to believe that there’s a parallel world somewhere in some galaxy in which Bettye is right up there in higher reaches of the soul pantheon.


4) Fair & Square by John Prine: Prine shows there’s still gold in those classic three-or-four-chord melody structures he does so well. During this last decade, he’s struggled with throat cancer. His voice has dropped an octave or so, but that always was a scratchy instrument. The important thing is that he didn’t lose his sense of humor nor his sense of poignancy.


5) Aha Shake Heartbreak by Kings of Leon: Frantic guitars and drawling vocals telling tales of sex and sin, often with hints of revulsion though usually with a big grin, and a fair amount of self effacement, or at least self-consciousness about rock-star pretensions. Would Van Morrison sing about his comb-over?





6) Below the Fold by Otis Taylor: You know you’re going to be in for a ride in the opening stains of the first song. A plunking banjo is joined by a screaming guitar, a crazed fiddle, drums and bass, as Otis shouts “Oh Yeah!” It’s a joyful one-chord acoustic cacophony -- and there’s a cello in there too.






7) If You Don't Already Have a Look by The Dirtbombs: Detroit’s Dirtbombs play good old fashioned stripped-down fuzz-tone rock with a blast of raw punk power, maniacal crank-damaged rockabilly and strong nod to soul music. Just don’t call it “garage rock” or singer Mick Collins will rip out your spleen.





8) The Woods by Sleater-Kinney: This roaring, all-girl, Pacific Northwest trio shows how screaming guitar rock can still have brains, soul and relevance. “Let’s Call it Love” is a savage 11-minute frenzy that brings back memories of Steppenwolf‘s “Magic Carpet Ride,” The Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction” and Patti Smith’s “Radio Ethiopia.” Corin Tucker’s hopped-up Banshee wail is still the band‘s greatest weapon.


9) Master of Disaster by John Hiatt: This record is soulful, rootsy, full of tales to astonish and dripping with wry humor and hard-earned wisdom. In some ways Hiatt reminds me of the masked luchadore on the cover. When he crawls back in the ring you know it’s going to be a thrill. It may be all show biz, but the bruises are real.





10) Picaresque by The Decemberists: When an album starts off proclaiming, “Here she comes on her palanquin/On the back of an elephant/On a bed made of linen and sequins and silk …” you know you’re in for a fantastic voyage through some unusual terrain. This literate record is full of regal bombast, pomp and inspired pretentiousness. Don’t knock pretentiousness. Sometimes a high dose of fantasy is good for the soul.

Honorable Mention

Hotwalker by Tom Russell
Human Cannonball by Joe West
Got No Strings by Michelle Shocked
Moments From This Theatre by Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
Red Dog Tracks by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez

Reissues:
Keep on The Sunny Side by June Carter Cash
Horses by Patti Smith
The Silent Majority by Terry Allen
The Holy Bible by Manic Street Preachers
Raw Vision by The Tom Russell Band

In the Village Voice’s annual Pazz & Jop poll, critics are asked to list their favorite “singles” -- though the definition of “singles” has loosened to the point that it basically just means “songs” rather than 45 rpm discs or CD tracks designated for radio play. Here’s my ballot for the “singles” competition.

1) “My Baby Joined the Army” by Terry Evans -
2) “Oklahoma Bound” by Joe West
3) “Hell Yeah” Neil Diamond
4) “Endless War” by Son Volt
5) “Keep Going” by Boozoo Bajou with Tony Joe White
6) “The Green Fields of France” by Dropkick Murphys
7) “The Saga of Jesse Jane” by Alice Cooper
8) “Lawd, I'm Just a Country Boy in this Great Big Freaky City” by
Alvin Youngblood Hart
9) “Private Thoughts” by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
10) “Newry Highwayman” by Josh Lederman y Los Diablos

For 2004's Top Music list, CLICK HERE
For previous years CLICK HERE

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: THE YEAR OF THE JUDICIARY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 29, 2005

There’s only three more days left of the Year of the Judiciary.

This, of course, is according to the Bill Richardson calendar. Remember last January, during the State of the State address, the governor proclaimed, “Some called 2003 the Year of the Governor. 2004 was the Year of the Legislature. Let’s make this the Year of the Judiciary.”

Richardson was right. 2005 was a remarkable year for the state’s judiciary. Every time you turned around, it seemed another New Mexico judge was in the news.

Richardson has declared 2006 to be the Year of the Child.

Pray for the children!

Here’s some highlights from the Year of the Judiciary:

* Feb. 11: State District Judge Edward Fitch of Socorro drives his government-owned mini van off an embankment on a southwest Santa Fe frontage road. Sheriff’s deputies found a large bottle of vodka in the van, which had been opened and partially consumed. Breath-alcohol tests showed the judge to have a blood alcohol count of more than twice the legal limit. Fitch later pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol and resigned from the bench.

* March 31: Gov. Bill Richardson appoints former state police officer Tommy Rodella -- the husband of a state Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-San Juan Pueblo -- as the new magistrate judge for Rio Arriba County. The Rio Grande Sun later reports the state police internal affairs division investigated Rodella more than 10 years ago, concluding that Rodella, as a police sergeant in Española, had pressured officers in his command to dismiss traffic citations to benefit his wife's political supporters. Richardson stands by Rodella.

* May 27: Las Cruces Magistrate Ruben Galvan resigns from the bench about a month after his first trial on charges of rape and bribery end in a hung jury. Galvan in August was acquitted in a second trial. Prosecutors said he promised a Las Cruces woman he would dismiss a pending battery charge against her husband if she would have sex with him. Galvan admitted to having sex in a parked car with the woman. The rape charge stemmed from the woman saying she’d told Galvan to stop several times. At the time of his resignation, Galvan was on probation for failing to disclose a sexual relationship with an assistant district attorney who had cases before him.

* June 22: The Supreme Court ordered a two-week suspension without pay for a Doña Ana County magistrate Susana Chaparro who interfered in a traffic case involving her adult son. The court noted in its unanimous decision said Chaparro has a “history of misconduct.”

* July 4: Judge Rodella drives from Española to Tierra Amarilla to personally spring a family acquaintance, who had been arrested on a DWI charge, out of jail. Richardson expresses his “disappointment” with Rodella and following a July 20 meeting between the two, Rodella resigned.

* July 5: The Supreme Court disciplines Columbus Municipal Judge Javier Lozano for his former business relationship with a company that contracted with the village to auction vehicles impounded by police. The J-Loz Auction Services got a 17 percent fee for conducting the sales, and Lozano was paid from those profits, according to the Supreme Court order. Lozano got a formal reprimand, a $500 fine, and supervised probation during the rest of his term, which expires in March.

* August 12: The Judicial Standards Commission recommends Santa Fe Municipal Judge Fran Gallegos be suspended for “a myriad of ethical violations.” Besides altering records, the commission says, Gallegos failed to properly instruct defendants concerning their options for making pleas. Later in the month the high court suspends Gallegos for 90 days while the commission conducts further investigations.

* Oct. 20: The Supreme Court reprimands Taos Magistrate Erminio Martinez for working part time for the Taos Pueblo Tribal Court. He was suspended for three days and fined $812, which is what he’d earned with the Pueblo. Full-time judges are prohibited from taking other jobs.

* Nov. 3: Judge Gallegos resigns after state police file three felony counts of tampering with public records against her. Her case is pending.

* Nov. 8: David Gregorio Valdez, who had been appointed by Richardson to take Rodella’s place as Rio Arriba magistrate, withdraws, admitting he failed to disclose to the governor’s staff that he’d done jail time in the early 1980s for not paying child support. So far, Richardson has yet to fill the vacancy.

* Dec. 14: Gallup Magistrate Rhoda Hunt resigned and promised never to run for or hold any judicial office in an agreement filed with the state Supreme Court. This followed an FBI investigation in which Hunt allegedly admitted to “numerous criminal and ethical violations” including taking bribes in exchange for favorable rulings; improperly taking free legal services and a vehicle from lawyers who appeared before her; taking $2,000 to marry an already-married Palestinian man so he could avoid deportation; and using an alias and a fraudulent social security number on a loan application and defaulting on the loan.


*Dec. 15: Santa Fe District Judge Daniel Sanchez signs a restraining order from a woman who claims comedian David Letterman is harassing her in secret code on his late-night talk show. When this hits the news, Sanchez gets more laughs than Letterman has in years. (Sanchez voided the restraining order this week.)

* Dec. 21: Another Las Cruces judge, state district Judge Larry Ramirez was put on six months supervised probation and got a formal reprimand for intervening in a case against his adult son, who was cited for drinking in a city park. Before the reprimand, Ramirez attended an ethics course for judges and reimbursed the Judicial Standards Commission for $1,500 in costs.

HAPPY HOLLANDAISE!

I didn't want to post anything angry on Christmas or Christmas Eve, but this story really pissed me off.

It's about a local cook, David Luckey, who wanted to give a free meal meal to the homeless on Canyon Road just before the Christmas Eve farolito walk. Luckey's been homeless himself in the past and he had this crazy idea to try to uplift the spirits of the needy right where the community goes to celebrate Christmas Eve.

Naturally, some of the East-side elite heaved a collective "How gauche!"

Talk about a war on Christmas ...

Here's some of the reaction:

The Farolito Walk has been a nuisance for Canyon Road homeowners and businesses for many years, said Dina Aquilina, who is president of the (Historic Neighborhood Association's) board and has lived in Santa Fe for 30 years. She said she remembers a time in Santa Fe when people set up farolitos in their own neighborhoods and walked closer to home.

"I just wish we could get back to when everyone did this in their own neighborhood,"

and then:

"Encouraging homeless people to come to this neighborhood is not a good idea," (John Pen Lafarge) said. "What we are trying to do with (the Farolito Walk) is to create a remembrance of Christmas."

I've always liked Pen, but jeeeeeeez!

My 13-year-old son was so angry when he read this, he wanted to go demonstrate against the city if they tried to stop Luckey for not having a permit.

As it turned out, Luckey went ahead and had his free dinner for the homeless. The city didn't bust him.

And furthermore the Farolito Walk was wonderful as usual (much warmer this year than last). The homeless didn't rampage through the neighborhood and Canyon Road property values remain untouched.

Happy New Year to all!

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 23, 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
Out There a Ways by The Waco Brothers
Marry Me by Drive-By Truckers
Everybody's Doin' It by Commander Cody & His Lost Plant Airmen
Thunderbird by John Hiatt
U.S. Steel by Tom Russell Band
Baby My Honey by The Jimmy Stadler Band
Christmas on the Moon by Troy Hess

Blue Kentucky Girl by Emmylou Harris
Gorgeous George by Ronny Elliott
Mike the Can Man by Joe West
Children Go Where I Send Thee by Bethleham & Eggs
Get Right With God by Lucinda Williams
High on Jesus by Kinky Friedman
Then I'll Be Movin' On by Mother Earth
Merry Christmas Elvis by Michelle Cody

Don't You Make Me High (Don't You Feel My Leg) by Maria Muldaur
He Went Slippin' Around by The Carter Sisters
Please Cut My Song, Mr. Travis by Jim Terr
Let's Waste Another Evening by Josh Lederman y Los Diablos
Brimstone Rock by 16 Horsepower
For Too Long by Eric Hisaw
Merry Christmas for Me by Nancy Apple with Rob McNurlin
Gail with the Golden Hair by The Handsome Family
The Story of Susie by Billy Ray

I'd Deal With the Devil by Dale Watson
Taking a Walk by John Prine
Yo Ho Ho by Terry Allen
Faithful Shooter by Richard Buckner
Something to Think About by Willie Nelson
Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
SUBSTITUTE CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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

SECRET CODE

I for one am not laughing at the story of the Santa Fe woman who got a restraining order against David Letterman for harassing her in secret code on his show. (CLICK HERE and HERE and HERE)

I know how the poor lady feels.

For years, Sponge Bob Squarepants has been giving me tips on the horses.

And every one of them is wrong.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: LOCAL YOKELS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 23, 2005

Before you stuff your holiday shopping cart with CDs by those from beyond our state‘s borders, think again and consider giving the gift of local music. Here are some recent examples:

*Unscrambled: The Gospel Truth by Bethleham & Eggs. This band, featuring Joe West, Margaret Burke and Lydia Clark, started out last year as a good-time gospel brunch (Sundays at the Cowgirl restaurant) side project for these veteran Santa Fe musicians. It seems only right that they committed some of their material to CD.


And with three strong vocalists and some of Santa Fe’s finest instrumentalists (guitarist Ben Wright and bassist Josh Martin, two thirds of the late lamented Mary & Mars for starters), there’s no way this could have turned into anything less than a blast.

This is a country-tinged, blues-informed album featuring several familiar gospel tunes (“Angel Band,” “John the Revelator”) and some you may have never heard of.

The album starts off with a West original, “Twelve Gates to the City,” featuring some true Westian lyrics you aren’t likely to find on other gospel records. (“I knew a girl she came from France/She took off her clothes off and she liked to dance ...”)

Other standouts include Clark’s brassy of “Standin’ in the Need of Prayer,” Burke’s sultry version of Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s “Nobody’s Fault But Mine,” and “House of Gold” an obscure Hank Williams song sung by West.

And there’s a showstopper by guest vocalist Terry Diers, who, back in the ’80s was a real force on the local music scene. (Personal flashback: I thought I was pretty cool 20-some years ago when John Ehrlichman called me “sleazy.” But then, one night backstage at Club West, I heard Screamin’ Jay Hawkins call Terry Diers “crazy.”) Diers sounds like a sage here on the old spiritual “Children Go Where I Send Thee.”

A couple of weeks ago at their CD release party at the Cowgirl, Bethlehem & Eggs did a bunch of songs that aren’t on this album, including covers of Lucinda Williams’ “Get Right With God” and Bob Dylan’s “Slow Train Coming” (I was impressed that West had all 37-or-so verses memorized!) I’m already looking forward to Bethleham’s second album.

*Thoughts & Time by Ken Valdez featuring Michael Kott. Valdez is a powerful performer and impressive electric guitarist. At last summer’s Thirsty Ear Festival he joined Alex Maryol on stage and created a living example of the sum being greater than the total of its parts.

So it’s pretty amazing that his new album would be an acoustic album full of almost meditative songs. Aided by Kott, a cellist (!) best known for his work with Robert Mirabal, Valdez has created an intense, brooding and soulful work.

My favorites here are “Best Intentions,” which was written by Santa Fe psychedelico Key Francis and the six-minute odyssey called “Tragiksoul.”

*Sagebrush Alley by The Jimmy Stadler Band. Taos resident Stadler has long been a mainstay of Northern New Mexico stages. With a tight little combo including bassist Dave Tolland and drummer Craig Neil, (who share songwriting credits with Stadler on all the songs here), Stadler plays a rootsy style, with nods to blues, soul and a little country.

There’s a song inspired by a New Orleans cab driver (no, not Mem Shannon) called “The Big Easy.” Besides the nice New Orleans piano, my favorite part of the song is the fact that Stadler rhymes “The great state of Ohio” with “Louisiana bayou.”

The best songs though are “Baby My Honey,” a cool blues stomper with a monster bass; the easy acoustic funk of “Bad Habit” (the bad habits here being hard work and being overly concern for one’s health); and “Let’s Go See Daddy,“ a moving tune about a son who worships his dad, who gets arrested and apparently executed for killing a guy in a barroom fight.

*Live by Bernadette Seacrest & Her Yes Men. Good news and bad news here.

The good news is that there’s a new Bernadette Seacrest album and it sounds smoky, seductive, and slinky.

The bad news is that about the time the CD arrived, The Yes Men are no more. According to the singer, she and the band have split and it’s not quite clear what she’s doing next.


But like, I say, the CD is really good …

Recorded live last summer at Santa Fe’s Swig bar, where the group held court most Friday nights for most the past year or so, Seacrest, backed by a bass, sax and drums, shows her stuff as a torch singer with a punk-rock past.

There are some familiar tunes here (“Summertime,” “Fever”), but the real treats are the originals penned by bassist Michael Grimes and Seacrest crony Pat Bova. The best one here is a Grimes song called “Money,” which sounds like it’s from some imaginary crime movie.

Even though she’s no longer surrounded by a bunch of Yes Men, I bet Seacrest re-emerges soon with something mysterious and wonderful.

*Please Cut My Song, Mr. Travis by Jim Terr & Friends. Subtitled “Songs for other singers (plus a couple that no one else would ever cut)” this collection features some comedy and parody for which Terr is most notorious, (in this respect, I don’t think he’s ever topped “The Ballad of the Queen Berets” from about 15 years ago) as well as just some dang good songs.


Standouts here include a couple of country weepers -- “This Changes Everything,” performed by Nashville singer Kathy Chiavola and “Three-Teared Wedding Cake,” sung by Margaret Burke; and a folky “Excuse Me While I Have the Blues,” sung by Don Armstrong.

Terr’s own best moments are “Some Guy in Kansas City” (a funny look at the effect of greeting cards); “Bringin’ the Honky Tonk Home,” a Jerry Lee Lewis style country song; and the title song, a plea to a New Mexico Music Commissioner. Hey, Randy’s cut worse songs than “This Changes Everything.”

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: USED CARS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 22, 2005

Would you buy a used car from this administration official?

Jeff Siembieda, deputy director of the New Mexico Sports Authority has been appearing on television lately. But it’s not for talking up Gov. Bill Richardson’s efforts to bring a National Football League team to the state.

No, he’s selling cars in a commercial for Cross Country Auto Sales, an Albuquerque business.

Siembieda, a former morning news anchor on Channel 13 and sportscaster on Channel 7, said he’s not violating any state rules by making a commercial. In an interview Wednesday he said he checked it out with the governor’s office before doing the ad.

“It has nothing to do with my duties as deputy director,” he said. Cross Country wanted him, he said, because of his radio show.

Siembieda hosts a sports talk program called “The Big Show” weekday afternoons on Albuquerque’s KKNS, 1310-AM. Cross Country, he said, is an advertiser on the station.

Siembieda ran into some criticism earlier this year for keeping his radio show while taking a job in the administration. He earns about $50,000 for the state.

But apparently, there’s no problem with the governor’s office with the show, and indeed no problem with the commercial.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Wednesday that the commercial was “just a one-time deal.”

“It was just a favor for a friend,” Gallegos said. “It’s not an ongoing thing. He wasn’t representing the Sports Authority. There’s no conflict with his job.”

O.K. But if we start seeing commercials with state Public Safety Secretary John Denko endorsing Blake’s Lota Burger or Department of Finance and Administration chief James Jimenez plugging Cliff’s Amusement Park, we’re going to start to wonder.

Who did you support? Santa Fe art and real estate tycoon Gerald Peters’ fund raiser to help retire state tax secretary Jan Goodwin’s 2002 campaign debt was Wednesday night. Goodwin ran in the Democratic primary that year, losing to Robert Vigil, who has since resigned in the face of scandal and federal indictment.

In a cover letter that went out with the invitation, Peters wrote, “As you may know, I also supported her 2002 campaign for the position of state Treasurer.”

Perhaps it was only moral support.

A search of Followthemoney.org, the Web site for The Institute of Money in State Politics found no contribution from Peters or any of his companies to Goodwin’s campaign.

However, according to the Web site, Peters’ umbrella Peters Corp did make one contribution to the treasurer’s race. In October, 2002, the company gave $500 to Vigil, who was running unopposed in the general election.

Goodwin said last week she has an outstanding campaign debt of $71,500. More than $100,000 of the $179,000 she spent on that race was from herself and her family.

Carraro weighs his options: State Sen. Joe Carraro might try to change Senates.

In an interview last week, the Albuquerque Republican said he’s considering a race for incumbent U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s seat next year.

“I’ve made several trips to Washington, D.C. where I’ve talked with various people,” Carraro said. At first he was talking with “conservative groups,” he said. Recently he’s been talking to official Republican organizations, he said.

If he does run, Carraro said that none other than Jack Kemp, the 1996 GOP vice presidential candidate, would be his national fund raiser.

Candidates in the Republican primary so far include Santa Fe City Councilor David Pfeffer and former state Sen. Tom Benavides of Albuquerque.

Nobody’s saying it’ll be easy beating Democrat Bingaman, whose approval rating is nearly 60 percent according to the most recent Survey USA/KOB poll, conducted on Dec. 12.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 18, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

THE STEVE TERRELL CHRISTMAS SPECIAL
Santa Claus is Coming to Town by The Rev. Horton Heat
Counting the Days, A Christmas Polka by Marah
Aou Tumhen Chan Pe by Asha Bhosle, Bappi Lahiri, Chorus, Kishore Kumar, Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd. Rafi, Sushma Shreshtha
Egg Nog by The Rockin' Guys
Gloria by Elastica
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer by Pietra Wexstun
Even Squeaky Fromme Loves Christmas by The Rev. Glen Armstong
Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope by Sonic Youth
Santa and the Sidewalk Surfer by The Turtles

Merry Christmas From the Family by Robert Earle Keene
Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight by The Ramones
Go Tell it on the Mountain by Mojo Nixon & The Toadlickers
Lucy's Tiger Den by Terry Allen
Christmas in Jail by The Youngsters
Did You Spend Christmas Day in Jail by The Rev. J.M. Gates
Must Be Santa by Brave Combo
Six Bullets for Christmas by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie by The Cryptkeeper
Little Drummer Boy by Joan Jet

St. Stephen's Day Murders by The Chieftains with Elvis Costello
Fairtytale of New York by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl
Christmas in Paradise by Mary Gauthier
The Last Month of the Year by The Fairfield Four
Santa Claus Go Straight to the Ghetto by James Brown
Blue Christmas by Stan Ridgway
Christmas is a Special Day by Fats Domino
Christmas Boogie by Canned Heat with The Chipmunks
Good King Wenceslas by The Jingle Cats

Oy to the World by The Klezmonauts
Goyim Friends by The LeeVees
White Christmas by Otis Redding
Oh Holy Night by Brian Wilson
A Change at Christmas by The Flaming Lips
Christmas Everyday (Maybe It'll Help)by Giant Sand
Silent Night/What Christmas Means by Dion
Star of Wonder by The Roches

THE POETRY OF SPAM

I don't think I've ever actually bought a can of SPAM, and I know I've never actually read the label.


But my friend Ciskoe, as part of a "Secret Santa" package, gave me a Christmas stocking containing a can of the the pride of Austin, Minn.

On the back is a recipe for SPAM quesadillas. And beneath the recipe is this commentary:

"Do not be fooled by the simplicity of this recipe. Yes, it is easy to make, but the flavor is complicated and exotic. Like something that pulls at your senses and then flies away, wanting to be chased. And you will chase it, oh yes you will."

It struck me that somebody is actually paid money to write stuff like that. It also struck me that this particular writer really enjoys his or her job.

Almost makes we want to make some SPAM quesadillas.