TERRELL'S TUNEUP: MIRACLE OF MANDELL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 9, 2007

I think I’ve written before that Eleni Mandell has just about the sexiest voice in showbiz today. Her new album, Miracle of Five, drives home this point. In fact, in my book, the new record shows Mandell to be the Julie London of her generation. She’d do a great “Cry Me a River,” and if London were still alive, I bet she’d be recording sensual songs by Eleni like the jazzy “Beautiful” and the wistful “Girls.”

Mandell’s last couple of solo albums, Afternoon and Country Love Songs, presented a more alt-country sound (especially the latter). Some songs here — most notably “Dear Friend” — retain shadows of twang. Nels Cline, best known for his experimental work and his contributions to Wilco and the Geraldine Fibbers, plays lap steel, dobro, banjo, and other instruments here.

But Miracle of Five is contemporary torch music with subtle touches of noir. The Los Angeles singer makes great background music for reading Raymond Chandler or Ross MacDonald or even James Ellroy.

Some of the songs — like the opening “Moonglow, Lamp Low” and “Perfect Stranger,” featuring Jeff Turmes’ menacing sax — sound a little like early jazznik Tom Waits records, except that Mandell’s voice is as sultry as Waits’ is raspy. Mandell and Waits have a mutual friend in Chuck E. Weiss, whom Mandell has described as a friend and mentor. (And Mandell did a drop-dead-gorgeous version of Waits’ “Muriel” on a Waits tribute album a few years ago.)

Not only is this a fine showcase for Mandell’s voice, but Miracle of Five contains some of her most memorable songs. The title song, which seems to deal with some type of numerology of the heart, is a lilting tune that features both banjo and vibes (from longtime Mandell collaborator D.J. Bonebrake of X). Maybe it’s because this whole album stimulates my dirty mind, but when Mandell purrs “kiss me every day/The miracle of six,” it sounds like she’s singing “the miracle of sex.”

“Make-Out King,” an atmospheric waltz featuring double-tracked vocals and squiggly electronic noises that complement the melody, is about falling in lust with someone you realize is ultimately no good for you.

“The make-out king/Is in my bed/And I’m so tired I think I’m a junkie/His hair is curly/He drinks like nobody knows where he’s going/And nobody cares what he’s saying.”

Mandell gets mysterious with “My Twin,” a minor-key, bluesy tune featuring a sad horn section and nasty roller-rink organ backing morbid lyrics like, “Why did that train derail?/201 victims killed/Was my twin among the dead?/Was my twin expected to live?”

But I think my favorite here is “Girls,” another one with Bonebrake on vibes. The verses are about a potential new love. “I wonder how you look when you sleep/Do you still dream about girls from your street/Do you still dream about girls from high school?/Do you still dream about girls, girls, girls?” But on the bridge, she turns on herself: “I am the marble the color of candy/I’ll make you money whenever you’re gambling/I am the dice you roll in the alley/I am the pennies that come in handy.”

In a just world, this album would make Mandell a star. Just world or not, I say the lady’s a contender.

Mini Eleni-thon: Tonight on The Santa Fe Opry I’ll do a 30-minute Eleni Mandell set, including songs from Miracle of Five and several other albums. The show starts at 10 p.m. Sunday, and the Mandell set will start shortly after 11 p.m. on KSFR-FM 90.7. And don’t forget Terrell’s Sound World, same time, same channel, on Sunday night.

Also recommended:
*The Peel Sessions 1991-2004 by PJ Harvey. The CD booklet for this album, released last fall, includes a note from Polly Jean Harvey celebrating John Peel, the late British radio host who, from the psychedelic era until his death in 2004, promoted great music and often broadcast live-in-the-studio performances by artists ranging from Donovan to Dinosaur Jr., Fleetwood Mac to Fugazi.

“John’s opinions mattered to me,” Harvey writes. “More than I would ever care to admit for fear of embarrassment on both sides, but I sought his approval always. It mattered. Every Peel session I did, I did for him.”

I’m sure Peel would have approved of the performances on this album. This is PJ at her bare-bones best. Hearing these ferocious versions of her early tunes like “Oh My Lover,” “Victory,” and “Sheela-Na-Gig” is a vivid reminder of what made me love Harvey in the first place. On these early songs — recorded in 1991, months before the release of her debut album, Dry — she’s backed only by bass and drums.

That’s also the case with her cover of the Willie Dixon classic “Wang Dang Doodle,” one of the highlights of this collection. Harvey doesn’t try to out-Koko Koko Taylor (who does the classic version of the song) here. In fact, she starts out in a high, little-girl voice. But by the chorus, her vocals are just on the verge of a scream. By the song’s end that voice is full of sex and glory.

But the true standout here is a 1996 version of “Snake,” in which Harvey’s only sideman is John Parrish on guitar and keyboards. The first verse has Harvey chanting the lyrics, getting angrier and louder with each word and leading up to a chorus of inhuman howls. Just like the original, it’s less than two minutes long, which probably is a good thing. That type of intensity shouldn’t go on for much longer.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: GOV. SLOW ON THE DRAW FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 8, 2007

Did Gov. Bill Richardson avoid a potential flip-flop?

Last year, the governor expressed strong support for a bill that would allow people with certain serious medical conditions to use marijuana to treat their symptoms. Better than that, Richardson actually put medical marijuana on his call, which was necessary for it to be considered during a 30-day budget session.

Last week, when the Senate Public Affairs Committee heard the medical marijuana bill (Senate Bill 238), there was no word from the governor on how he stood. As reported in this paper, “during the hearing, Health Secretary Michelle Lujan Grisham and Human Services Secretary Pamela Hyde sat in silence. Last year, in the same hearing, they endorsed it.”

A Health Department spokesman said afterward, “We neither support nor oppose the bill” because his agency isn’t carrying it — even though the bill calls upon the Health Department to establish procedures and license medial marijuana growers.

New Mexican reporter Diana Del Mauro tried unsuccessfully to get a comment from a Governor’s Office spokesman.

On Monday, when the bill went to the Senate Judiciary Committee, I also tried to get a comment from the Governor’s Office to no avail.

Could it be that Richardson’s presidential candidacy was making him think twice about medical marijuana?

As it eventually turned out, no.

The next day, spokesman Gilbert Gallegos e-mailed me saying, “The Governor continues to support a medical marijuana bill with property safeguards, and he will work to get it passed.”

Then on Wednesday, the Governor’s Office sent out a news release quoting Richardson saying, “I will work with legislators to get it passed this session to provide this option for New Mexicans suffering from debilitating diseases.”

This quickly was followed by e-mails from advocates.

“We are grateful that the governor continues to support the bill and has pledged to work with the Legislature to ensure its passage,” wrote Reena Szczepanski, director of Drug Policy Alliance New Mexico. “Gov. Richardson recognizes that this is a medical issue and that the strength of this bill lies in its safeguards to prevent potential abuse.”

So why the delay of several days?

“It just took me awhile to double-check, since this was not part of our legislative agenda,” Gallegos said Wednesday.

The Senate passed the bill 34-7 on Wednesday night.

Showdown in Carson City: The 2006 election has been over for three months now. Debate season for the 2008 election is about to get under way.

The first forum for the 2008 Nevada presidential caucus is scheduled for Feb. 21 in Carson City, Nev. Before this week, only second-tier candidates had accepted the invitation. These include Richardson, Sens. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel.

But earlier this week, the Associated Press reported, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s office confirmed she also would attend the event sponsored by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

So far, no word from Sen. Barak Obama or former Sen. John Edwards, the wire service said.
Nevada’s caucus is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2008, right between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary.

The Nevada contest is extremely important to Richardson, who attended some political functions in that state late last month.

Ducks Deluxe: One of my favorite parts of the great five-hour cockfighting debate in the Senate on Wednesday was an exchange between Sens. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, and Phil Griego, D-San Jose.

Smith, who favors the cockfighting ban, remarked: “They’re not always fighting the chickens. Sometimes they’re gambling some dollars.”

Griego, who is opposed to the ban, said people who run cockfighting pits have assured him there are signs posted that say “Betting is illegal.”

Smith: “There’s signs along the highway posting the speed limit as 55 or 60, but there’s not a lot of compliance.”

Griego: “Do they bet on the duck races in Deming?”

Smith: “You bet they do.”

No word yet on a bill to ban the duck races.

JIM TERR IS A BASTARD!

Or at least he plays one on stage.

Here's an e-mail Terr sent me today:

I'm performing in one of the "Benchwarmers" plays (9 short plays in one program) in Santa Fe next two weekends, specifically the title role in "Bastard!"). I've seen all the plays and think they're fantastic -- well worth seeing even apart from the fact that they showcase great local writers and actors.

The play I'm in has a "split cast"; I and my partner will be performing this Friday and Sunday, Feb 9, 11, and all 4 shows next weekend, Feb. 15, 16, 17 & 18. (Sundays are matinees, "pay-what-you-wish.")

(There's some "adult" content).

Complete information HERE

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 4, 2007
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
Dropkick Me Jesus by Bobby Bare
Coney Island Baby by Lou Reed
Head Held High by The Velvet Underground
Uranium Rock by The Cramps
I'm Bigger Than You by The Mummies
Dead End Street by The Monsters
Dirty Lie by Electric Koolade
13 Going on 21 by Dead Moon
Bridget the Midget by Ray Stevens

This Ain't No Picnic by The Minutemen
Drove Up From Pedro by Mike Watt with Carla Bozulich
Me and Jill/Hendrix Crosby by Ciccone Youth
Baby Blue by The Warlocks
Take Me To the Other Side by The Spacemen 3
Green and Gold by The Electric Flag
Wang Dang Doodle by P.J. Harvey

Things You Can Do by TV on the Radio
Lost Souls by Celebration
Pray to the Junkiemaker by Fishbone
Gett Off by Prince
Mighty O by Outkast
Le Vicomte by Soel
Trouble Man by Marvin Gaye

Come Together/Dear Prudence/Cry Baby Cry by The Beatles
Tropical Iceland by The Fiery Furnaces
Miss World by Hole
When Leon Spinx Moved Into Town by Caliphone
Goodnight Irene by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 2, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Girl Called Trouble by The Watzloves
That's What She Said Last Night by Billy Joe Shaver
The Streets of Baltimore by Bobby Bare
Engine Engine Number Nine by Southern Culture on The Skids
I Don't Want Love by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Sting in This Old Bee by Hank Thompson
Put Your Cat Clothes on by Carl Perkins
Gallo de Cielo by Joe Ely

Amanda by Don Williams
Morphine by Audrey Auld Mezera
Honky Tonk Song by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
Long Walk Back to San Antone by Junior Brown
Come With Me by Waylon Jennings
A-11 by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers
Backstreet Affair by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Brand New Heartache by Jeff Lescher & Janet Beveridge Bean

Tabitha by Ed Pettersen
If It's Really Got to Be This Way by Bill Kirchen
Unbroken Love by Andy Fairweather Low
You Can't Stop Her by Jim Lauderdale
99 Friends of Mine by Dan Reeder
You Can Buy My Heart With a Waltz by The Desperados
Cripple Creek by Steve Rosen
In Tall Buildings by John Hartford
Do it to Me Tonight by Hasil Adkins

Prozac by Ramsay Midwood
Nosy Neighbor by The Ditty Bops
The Old Rugged Cross by Jim Kweskin
Dear Someone by Gillian Welch
Miracle of Five by Eleni Mandell
Walkin' Man by Guy Clark
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: GROUNDHOG DAY CLEARANCE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 2, 2007

It’s the Groundhog Day clearance sale at Terrell’s Tune-Up.

Yes, it’s that time of year when the music industry is slow in releasing new products, a convenient time to look back on some of the albums from last year that I never quite got around to reviewing (and that, in a couple of cases, I just recently got into).

*Return to Cookie Mountain by TV on the Radio. This album topped the recent Jackin’ Pop Critics Poll at the online zine Idolator — without my help. Sheepishly I have to admit I didn’t notice this album until after the ballot deadline. So that makes 2006 one of those years that I wish I could go back to and change my top-10 list. Cookie Mountain definitely belongs on it.

Longtime readers know I’m a guitar chauvinist — a “rockist,” as some of those snooty, big-town critics would say. As a rule, my tastes generally lie with bands that don’t stray too far from the Buddy Holly and The Crickets guitar-bass-drums lineup. I’m generally leery of techno/electronica newfangled stuff.

But sometimes a sound is so amazing it makes me realize why rules are meant to be broken. TV on the Radio is a big case in point.

Somehow these five guys from Brooklyn create music that is catchy and otherworldly at the same time. The combination of the soulful vocals of Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone, emerging from the often apocalyptic sonic backdrop, is irresistible. It’s almost like a strange mash-up of Fishbone and Pere Ubu. I hear reverberations of Prince in here, and David Bowie, too. In fact he makes a guest appearance on the song “Province.”

In short, it’s the kind of music I’d like to take on a time machine and go back to, say, 1967 — or even better, 1957 — and tell people, “In the future, this is what rock ’n’ roll sounds like.”

Like Firesign Theatre records, with Cookie Mountain you find new things to appreciate with each subsequent listen — little audio treats you didn’t notice before. (Dig that crazy clarinet that comes out of nowhere about four minutes into “Tonight.”)

“Blues From Down Here” sounds like roots music from the planet of the robots. “Snakes and Martyrs” sounds like a long-lost David Byrne melody that’s gone through genetic reconstruction. “Let the Devil In” starts out with bruising industrial drums and turns into a desperate chant.

Of course, rockist that I am, my favorite song here is “Wolf Like Me,” which, with its stinging guitar and drums straight out of the Ramones’ “Teenage Lobotomy,” is probably the most traditional-sounding rocker here. Yet even this one breaks from the rocked-out first verse into a spacier bridge.

*Boys and Girls in America by The Hold Steady. Here’s another one that made it onto critics’ top-10 lists all over this great land of ours — but not mine.

Yet, unlike Cookie Mountain, I don’t regret that decision.

Boys and Girls is a very listenable album. The first song, “Stuck Between Stations,” starts out with a reference to Sal Paradise, which is a plus for Kerouac fans.

The album is probably the closest thing to classic rock a band of youngsters has put out in some time. Everyone compares it with early Springsteen, though some of the piano flourishes also remind me of early Meat Loaf.

That’s generally my problem with the record. Not only has it been done before, it’s been redone better. If you really want to hear a contemporary band that’s captured that early-Bruce spirit, seek out Marah, especially the 2000 album Kids in Philly — a masterpiece that includes one of the best songs about Vietnam ever recorded, “Round Eye Blues.”

Still Boys and Girls isn’t bad. I especially like the crazy organ solo in the faster-than-Springsteen-ever-went “Same Kooks.” And “Chillout Tent,” which deals with drug-abusing youngsters at a rock festival, is wicked fun.

*Idlewild by Outkast. This is more of a companion piece than a soundtrack to the movie of the same title that starred Outkast; it’s the influential hip-hop group’s follow-up to their amazing double-disc Speakerboxx/The Love Below.

I haven’t seen the movie. And this CD doesn’t match up to its predecessor. But it’s lots of fun, with some fine tunes that stand out.

Like the double disc, Idlewild is basically two solo records — it can be divided into Big Boi songs and André 3000 songs, plus some inconsequential spoken-word bits related to the movie. And just like I preferred The Love Below to Speakerboxx, I’m partial to the songs by Dre. The guy’s a real musician. I hate to mention Prince twice in one column, but I believe Dre is heir to the purple throne.

Some of the music here embraces jazz — and Cab Calloway gets credit for the “hi-di-hi’s” on “Mighty ‘O.’” “Mutron Angel,” featuring vocals by Myrna “Peach” Brown, is futuristic gospel. And Dre gets nice and bluesy — with a nod to Stevie Wonder’s “Higher Ground” — on “Idlewild Blue (Don’tchu Worry ’Bout Me).”

For you Funkadelic fans, the almost nine-minute “A Bad Note” is a lengthy, “Maggot Brain”-like, fuming guitar piece.

*Love by The Beatles. This is a remix album patched together by longtime Beatles producer George Martin and his son, Giles. It was assembled for a Las Vegas spectacular (I’m not making this up) by Cirque du Soleil. But it’s a fun little ride.

“Get Back” starts with the opening chord of “A Hard Day’s Night,” picks up with the drums, and (later some guitar) from “The End” before the vocals from the original “Get Back” start. There’s some Sgt. Pepper noise in there before it fades into the next track, a hyped-up “Glass Onion,” which has stray sounds from “Hello, Goodbye,” French horns from “Penny Lane,” and a lonely loop of John Lennon singing, “Nothing is real.”

I’m sure lots of hard-line, old-time Beatlemaniacs shuddered at the thought of this project. But I feel just the opposite. My biggest complaint is that there wasn’t enough experimenting and mixing up of the old Beatles tapes. Many songs just sound like new, “modernized” version of Beatles classics. Of course, what could ever match the spirit of experimentation and plain old weird thinking that went into making the original version of “Strawberry Fields Forever”?

Here’s a suggestion: next time, give TV on the Radio access to the old material and see what they come up with.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: IT'S HOT BUTTON DAY AT THE ROUNDHOUSE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 1, 2007

Today is Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day, according to a news release from Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

Happy Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day!

But a better name for Feb. 1 at the Roundhouse would be "Hot Button Day." This is the day that several hot-button issues get their first — and for some, quite possibly their last — hearings of the session.

You’ve got the medical marijuana bill, (Senate Bill 238 sponsored by Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino, D-Albuquerque) in the Senate Public Affairs Committee.

There’s a twofer in the House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee: The panel is scheduled to discuss abortion (the parental-notification bill, House Bill 239, which would require abortion doctors to notify parents of teenage girls seeking abortions, sponsored by Rep. Larry Larranaga, R-Albuquerque) and gay marriage. There’s the proposed constitutional amendment, House Joint Resolution 2, by Rep. Gloria Vaughn, R-Alamogordo, as well as HB 395, sponsored by Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell.

And then there’s cockfighting. The Senate Conservation Committee — the traditional killing grounds of anti-cockfighting bills — will hear measures sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Mary Jane Garcia, D-Doña Ana, (SB 10) and Sen. Steve Komadina, R-Corrales, (SB 70).

There might be even more hot-buttons to be pushed today. It’s sure to be an Earned Income Tax Credit Awareness Day we’ll never forget.

For the record: Denish has scheduled a news conference to make more people aware of that tax credit at 10 a.m. in Room 321. The credit, which many people don’t bother to claim, is up to $4,536 for qualifying families with two or more children, Denish said.

Real ID: The memorial calling for Congress to repeal the REAL ID Act has at least one friend in New Mexico’s congressional delegation.

Marissa Padilla of U.S. Rep. Tom Udall’s office, answering a reporter’s inquiry Wednesday, released a statement saying, “Congressman Udall voted against the REAL ID Act in the 109th Congress because it was a first step toward a national ID card. While he agrees that we need safe and secure forms of identification to help fight illegal immigration, the decision on how to issue driver’s licenses should remain something the states decide.”

House Joint Memorial 13 as of Wednesday was on the House Temporary Calendar, which means it could be heard on the House floor as early as today.

Victory for bolos: The bolo tie came one step closer to becoming the legal state tie Wednesday when the House voted unanimously to pass HB 115.

Bill sponsor Rep. Don Tripp, R-Socorro, is a jeweler by profession. He said several fellow jewelers requested the bill.

Tripp claimed New Mexico produces more bolos than any other state. I’m not sure whether our neighbors to the West would agree.

But in Arizona, people refer to the tie as “bolas” and say we’re wrong to spell it otherwise.
As I mentioned a few columns ago, in 1987, the Legislature named the bolo “official state tie or neckwear of New Mexico” in a memorial.

However, that was done in a nonbinding memorial, so the bolos aren’t listed in the same section of state law that lists the official state bird, state animal, state reptile, state butterfly, state cookie and all the state songs.

But even if the bill passes the Senate and becomes law, that doesn’t mean House members can wear bolos to floor sessions. Cloth ties still are required, according to House rules.

There’s an identical bill, SB 19, sponsored by Komadina, scheduled for a hearing Friday in the Senate Rules Committee.

Is it a session yet?: In a recent column, I listed several examples of “It’s not a session until ...”

At least one of those came to pass. Sen. John Pinto, D-Tohatchi, sang "The Potato Song."

However, some Roundhouse purists argue that didn’t count because Pinto sang the Navajo song in the Rotunda on Seniors Day — not on the Senate floor.

I’m not taking a position on this.

I asked you, the reader, to submit your own “It’s not a session until ...” examples and, sure shootin’, some of you did. Here are some of those:

* There is a “Call of the House” and members are under escort to the restroom. (This is from House Majority Leader Kenny Martinez of Grants.)

* Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, shows up in an opera cape for Italian American Day.

* A former legislator shows up, and lawmakers spend an hour of floor time lauding him rather than acting on bills.

* Someone (a) gets into a fight at a Santa Fe bar; (b) gets popped driving drunk; or (c) sends an incendiary op-ed to The New Mexican and then stands by it.

* Everyone in the Legislative Council Service has a cold they caught from schoolchildren sliming the bannisters.

* Throughout the building, it’s mariachi music all day every day.

* The lobbyists start delivering pizzas (always with green chile).

* The bill clerks are using three Xerox machines at once.

* When everyone is finally really sick of all the Valentine candy.

That last one is especially disturbing because the Valentine onslaught hasn’t even started yet.