eMUSIC MAY

Funny thing about this month's list: I compile this one album at a time and save the post as a draft until all my downloads are done and I'm finished for the month. But once last week, I accidently published it instead of saving it as a draft. So for several hours and early version of this was on my blog . Thankfully a blog reader pointed it out to me. (See comments)

So here's the finished product, my allotted 90 downloads from eMusic this month:


* The Life of Riley by The A-Bones.
Like I said in last month's eMusic list, I've been on a real Norton Records kick lately. This is the band of Norton honchos Billy Miller and Miriam Linna . Pure '60s-informed rock 'n'soul.

*Vintage Voola by Esquerita. Here's another mutant Norton artist who looks like Little Richard on angel dust. eMusic's Dan Epstein explains it best: "A one-eyed, six-and-a-half-foot transvestite who taught Little Richard how to play piano (and copied Richard’s mile-high pompadour in return), the late Esquerita was simply too `out there' for mass consumption during the Eisenhower era." There's some crazy stuff here, but I'd still argue that Little Richard was even crazier and he did somehow make it in the Eisenhower years.

* Grinderman . In case you haven't heard, this is none other than Nick Cave, stripped down and raging, rocking harder than he's rocked since his days with The Birthday Party.

For a complete review, stay tuned for an upcoming Terrell's Tune-up.

For now, suffice it to say this is one of my favorite albums so far this year.


*LSD (Leary Stokes Duets) by Timothy Leary & Simon Stokes. Stokes is an unsung, obscure rocker who is responsible for one of my favorite albums of this century so far, the bitchen biker-rock masterpiece Honky. (You can find that HERE, but you have to scroll down some.) I'm not sure who this Leary guy is. (Just kidding, just kidding.) This album reminds me a lot of the other collaboration between Stokes and a counterculture ero of yore, The Radical, which Stokes produced for American Indian activist (and former New Mexico politician) Russell Means. It's a lot more polished and less raw than Honky, so I don't recommend it as highly. But it's still a lot of fun. How could Tim Leary ranting about "100 Naked Kangaroos in Blue Canoes" not be fun? But come on Simon, how about a new solo album?


*Rock En Espanol Vol. 1 by Los Straightjackets. The masked men of Memphis are joined here by three great Chicano rockers, Big Sandy, Little Wille G of Thee Midnighters and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos. This is how I imagine a Tijuana rock club sounding in 1965.


* Your Favorite Band Live at the Great American Music Hall by The Red Elvises. The one time I got to see these guys live, I was with an old friend I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years so we talked all the way through it (I love you, Janet!) and somehow I've missed them every time they've come to New Mexico. But I do like their music and even though their Soviets-can-surf schtick is kinda campy, they're a lot of fun. I'd love to see a battle of the bands between the Red Elvises and Gogol Bordello.


*Three Hairs And You're Mine by King Khan & His Shrines. Dang, I thought I had a pretty good idea what's on eMusic, but I discover new stuff all the time. Just this month I learned that my favorite record label with a Swiss bank account, Voodoo Rhythm is represented here. They've even got that rockin' Santa Fe commie Jerry J. Nixon! But I was most excited to find Canadian soul maniac King Khan, who was one of my favorite artists featured on the Voodoo Rhythm DVD.

MONEY IN THE CABINET

My story in today's New Mexican about state cabinet officials contributing to Gov. Bill Richardson's presidential campaign can be found HERE.

I should have plugged this several days ago, but The New Mexican has launched a Richardson web site for news on his campaign. (Blogger Heath Haussamen wrote 20-some background pieces for it.)You can find The Richardson File HERE.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 6, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Sixty Three Hours by Gas Huffer
No Confidence by Simon Stokes
D is for Dangerous by The Arctic Monkees
(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone by The Monkeys
The Devil in Miss Jones by Mike Ness
Mother Joseph by The Sinister Six
Closet Disco Dancers by The Red Elvises
Angry Generation by Dick Dale
Wiggling Fool by Jack Hammer
Whipper Snapper by Lavern Baker

One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula by Dengue Fever
Multi-Pop Indigenous (from Radio Phnom Penh)
Goodbye by Pietro Atilla & The Warlocks
Hit the Road Jack by Cat
Themes From James Bond by The Stylers
Muay Thai by Jiraphand Ong-Ard

Sacramento and Polk by Lenny Kaye
Everybody Loves Me by Charlie Musselwhite
Break This Time by Alejandro Escovedo
Black Shiny Beast by Buick MacKane
Insult Song/Spencer Must Die by The Fall
2 Kindsa Love by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Shift by Puttanesca
You Know That's Cold by John Hammond
Don't Go Dancin' Down the Darktown Strutter's Ball by C.W. Stoneking
Lost Fox Train (For Joe) by Hazmat Modine
King of the Jungele by King Khan & The Shrines
You've Got to Hurt by The Soul Deacons
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

WEEKEND MUSIC IN SANTA FE

What a treat Friday night's concert at the Lensic was --the Drive-By Truckers in their not-really-unplugged "The Dirt Underneath" version and Alejandro Escovedo with a good tight band.

And what a cool show Dengue Fever put on at the College of Santa Fe Saturday despite being hampered by an act of God. I'll rave about the music, though the weird snow-in-May weather made for a terrible day for an outdoor concert.

First Friday's Lensic show:

Alejandro opened the show. I've seen him several times both in Santa Fe and in Austin at various configurations -- with his full "orchestra"; with his "string quartet"; with Richard Buckner; with Buick MacKane (!) and playing informally with various pals at Maria's Taco Xpress at the party he used to throw there at South by Southwest.

But I hadn't seen him since his comeback after his near-fatal bout with Hepatitis C. I wasn't sure what to expect. So I was very happy when I realized Alejandro's playing as strong, if not stronger than ever. Part of the credit goes to his band. Longtime cello player Brian Standerfer (from Albuquerque) has become an integral part of Alejandro's sound and he shined last night. And guitarist David Polkingham is perfect for Alejandro. He can go from breathtakingly pretty Mexican and even flamenco sounds on acoustic guitar to growling electric craziness. Somewhere in there I thought I heard some Willie Nelson licks.

Alejandro started deceptively somber. The first part of his set seemed to concentrate on tunes from his latest album The Boxing Mirror. I've got to confess, that album didn't do much for me when it was released last year, but after last night's versions of "Arizona" and "Deer Head on the Wall," I think I'd better give it a second chance.

But by the end of his time on stage, Alejandro was rocking. One of my favorite tunes he did all night was "Everybody Loves Me" (which was even better than Charlie Musselwhite's version on Por Vida, the Escovedo tribute album.) "Castanets" always is fun. And I'm willing to bet that this was the first time "Now I Wanna Be Your Dog" has ever been played in the genteel Lensic.

But my absolute favorite had to be "Rosalie," which is one of my favorite Escovedo tunes anyway. It was a slower version than I'm familiar with. It was gorgeous.

All in all a soulful performance by a great American artist.

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I also loved the DBT's performance, though as Patterson Hood explained in my interview (scroll down a couple of posts) this was not a normal Truckers show. "The Dirt Underneath" is a stripped-down, kinder/gentler version of the usual ferocious, electric Truckers concert. Southern-soul architect Spooner Oldham played keyboards, guitarist John Neff played pedal steel on most songs and Hood and Mike Cooley played acoustic guitars.

Last night it hit me how tough it can be for a band known for its high-energy performances to try something mellower. This was illustrated when after a stunning and poignant version of "The Sands of Iwo Jima," some drunken doofus in the audience screamed out a request for "The Night G.G. Allin Came to Town." I cringed. And at one point early in the show, someone yelled, "Turn it up!" But the band played on.

Part of the reason for this tour was to try out new songs being considered for the upcoming album, which they're supposed to start recording next month. They played a few of these, though I didn't catch the titles.

The one that stood out was "Two Daughters and a Beautiful Wife," which Hood sang in memory of Bryan Harvey and his family, who were murdered in their Richmond, Va. home on New Year's Day last year. (Harvey was the singer in a cool '80s band called House of Freaks.) My brother said he couldn't make out the lyrics to the song. My problem was that it I started thinking about the murders and the horrible details (another Richmond family was murdered by the Harvey killers that same week), so I wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics. But the melody and Hood's raspy voice were haunting.

The band also reached way back to play a bunch of old tunes I've never heard them do live before. I counted at least three songs from their second album Pizza Deliverance. No "G.G. Allin" but a fantastic version of "Bulldozers and Dirt."

We also were treated to a pair of songs about Skynyrd from Southern Rock Opera -- "Shut Up and Get on the Plane" and "Angels and Fuselage."

Of course my favorite Truckers album is The Dirty South. "The Sands of Iwo Jima" is from that one. Hood's "Puttin' People on the Moon" was a rocking highlight Friday, as was Cooley's "Where the Devil Don't Stay" and "Carl Perkins' Cadillac." I wouldn't have minded hearing "Cottonseed" or "Daddy's Cup."

Ultimately I was craving the high-voltage DBT classic mode. But I'm sure there will be plenty of those shows in the future (and hopefully some will be here.) But "The Dirt Underneath" certainly was a memorable show.

One final shoutout for the DBT's favorite artist Wes Freed, who did the covers and inside artwork for the past several albums. Two of Freed's black demon-swan creatures with glowing red eyes framed the stage while an evil moon of Freed's design hung overhead.

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I feel for the good folks at College of Santa Fe trying to plan an outdoor concert here in May. (Organizers are saying next year's might be in September.) Three of the past four Quadstocks have been marred by foul weather, organizers said.

I had a sick kid, so I missed all the opening acts (as well as the Clovis Tornado benefit at Santa Fe Brewing Company, to which I'd also intended to drop by.)

But I wasn't going to miss Dengue Fever, one of the most original bands going today.

For those who haven't heard, this is a group based in southern California fronted by Cambodian-born singer Chhom Nimol. The band plays a hopped-up garage/psychedelic sound -- complete with a real live Farfisa organ and a funky sax -- with southeast Asian overtones, while Chhom sings mostly in her native Khmer tongue.

Much of their music, such as the mysterious "One Thousand Tears Of A Tarantula," sounds as if it's from a soundtrack of a Quentin Tarantino movie yet to be made.

Thanks to the weather, there turnout was terrible. But a couple of dozen of the faithful huddled together on the concrete slab in front of the bandstand and enjoyed a show that was spirited in spite of the cold.

Though the band seemed rather shocked to have to be bundling up in winter clothes (after one song, guitarist Zac Holtzman asked if anyone had any whiskey he cold pour on his left hand), they're pros and they gave it their all.

Several fans told band members after the show to please come back when it's warm. I fully endorse that sentiment.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Laurell sat in for me Friday so I could go to the Drive-By truckers, Alejandro Escovedo show. She sent me her playlist.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST
Friday, May 4, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Substitute Host: Laurell Reynolds

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Viva Las Vegas-Elvis Presley
All You Fascists-Billy Bragg & Wilco
Rusty Cage-Johnny Cash
Pistol Packin' Mama-Al Dexter & His Troopers
Close Up The Honky-Tonks-Bill Hearne's Roadhouse Review
This ol Cowbow-Marshall Tucker Band
Thanks a Lot-Neko Case and Her Boyfriends

In Spite Of Ourselves-John Prine with Iris DeMent
it Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels-Kitty Wells
Love's Gonna Live Here-Buck Owens
Silver Threads and Golden Needles-Linda Ronstadt
Blue Bayou -Linda Ronstadt
Talkin' Terror Yodel- Joe West
So. Central Rain-R.E.M.
Seminole Wind-John Anderson
Dad's Gonna Kill Me-Richard Thompson
A Girl I Used To Know-George Jones
You Can Close Your Eyes-James Taylor

Mellow My Mind-Neil Young Tonight's the Night
Prison Trilogy -Joan Baez
Caryl Chessman-Johnny Mathis
I Scare Myself-Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
The Streets of Laredo-Harry Jackson

Feelin's-Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink-Merle Haggard
I May Be Used-(But Baby I Ain't Used Up)- Waylon Jennings
The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You)-Waylon Jennings
Bruises For Pearls-Trailer Bride
I Love You so Much It Hurts-Floyd Tillman
A Horse with No Name-America
The Memories of You-Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris

VOICES OF LUNG CANCER

Here's a keep-it-in-the-family plug.

My sister-in-law Barbara Terrell (shown here with her husband/my brother Eric in Denver last year) has written a chapter in book being published this month.

Barbara is a breast cancer survivor. Her mother-in-law (my stepmother) Julie died of lung cancer.

Voices of Lung Cancer includes stories from several authors, and a forward by S. Epatha Merkerson, better known as Lt. Van Buren on Law and Order (and Reba the Mail Lady on Pee Wee's Playhouse.)

The book is available on Amazon.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: PATTERSON ON THE TRUCKERS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 4, 2007


The Drive-By Truckers apparently are going through a transition period that sounds a bit like a midlife crisis. Jason Isbell, one of the band’s three singer/guitarists, recently left the group. This came as the band, which plays at the Lensic Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. tonight, with Texas songwriter Alejandro Escovedo, was going through one of its “reinventions.”

“Last fall we all kind of did some soul-searching to figure out what was next, where we’ve been. We felt like we’d taken something we had done about as far as we knew how to take it,” singer Patterson Hood said in a telephone interview last week.

“Are we gonna do something a little different and see where we can take that, or are we gonna turn this thing into just our paycheck, just our job where we go out and play by the numbers? That obviously wasn’t going to work. We just don’t have that kind of temperament to do that kind of thing.”

At the tongue-in-cheek suggestion that the Truckers transform into a casino-circuit band, Hood laughed and said, “We could be like has-beens who never were. The idea that really worked for us was to reinvent ourselves a little bit. That’s what we did with Southern Rock Opera. We had to really reinvent ourselves.”

Southern Rock Opera, for those unfamiliar with the Truckers’ mythos, is a double-disc album that dealt with the life and death of Lynyrd Skynyrd and what it was like to grow up as an alienated teenager in the South during the late 20th century. Critics — including this one — hailed the record as a giant leap forward for the Drive-By Truckers in terms of both sound (more wild-eyed Southern rock and less alternative country) and songwriting. The albums that followed — Decoration Day, The Dirty South (my personal favorite), and last year’s A Blessing and a Curse — brought even more critical praise, if not mainstream success.

Wanting to try something new, Hood and his musical partner of 22 years, Mike Cooley, decided to do a small tour featuring a more acoustic version of the Truckers. They’re calling it “The Dirt Underneath” tour.


“You know that it’s gonna be really big and really loud, and there’s a certain thing that just kinda always happens with it,” Hood said of the crazed, raucous, three-electric-guitar assault for which the band is known. “What if we did a show that took away those elements? Let’s see if we can still have a valid, good show with that.

“This isn’t necessarily going to be strictly acoustic. We’re not calling it ‘unplugged’ or anything. It’s just a different slant on it — maybe change people’s expectations coming in, so the people who have seen it before will know they’re coming to see something different, so when it’s not exactly the way they remember the shows being they won’t leave mad.”

The band will be trying out new songs for its next album, which it will begin recording in June after the May tour.

“Since we’re not touring behind a new record for the first time in years, we could stay home and work up the best for this new record, or we could go out and play some smaller venues and do something a little more intimate and work it up in front of small, hopefully friendly audiences. And, while we’re there, throw in some other songs that haven’t gotten done much in a long time,” Hood said.


“I’m definitely hoping there will be songs done on this tour that have practically never been played live,” he said. “Like ‘Loaded Gun in the Closet.’ I’m really pushing Cooley to pull that one into the list. I love that song; it may be my favorite song on Decoration Day. I think we’ve played it live.”

There will be a guest Trucker on stage also: the venerated Spooner Oldham will be playing keyboards on this tour. Oldham is best-known as one of the primary studio musicians and songwriters who help create Muscle Shoals/Memphis soul in the 1960s. He worked with Hood’s father, bassist David Hood, on too many soul classics to mention.

So what happened to Jason?

“You spend a few years together, you get older, you change, you grow, you kinda have to all be moving close to the same direction to keep it moving forward,” Hood said. “He had some things he was wanting to do and needing to do, and we were all in pretty much agreement with what we wanted to do, and it seemed like a good time to be moving forward.

“Jason’s more pop influenced than the rest of the band,” he said. “But it’s never that cut and dry. In Beatle terms he’d be the McCartney figure. But even in Beatle terms, McCartney is the one who did ‘Helter Skelter.’ ... He was less influenced by the punk-rock end of the spectrum than certainly I was and Cooley was — not so much even the punk-rock music, but there’s a certain ethic that goes with that, I guess, that we’d always based it on. Jason just came from a different time. Jason’s a bit younger than most of us.”

Hood continued: “We were together five years. It was great. We made three records together. I’m a huge fan of his and his music. His record that’s coming out is fantastic. [Isbell’s Sirens of the Ditch is scheduled for July release.] We’ll leave the door open for us to ... maybe work on a project together or something.

“A bus is a small place when you spend 150 to 200 days a year on it, you know, with five or six of us at any given time plus the crew,” Hood said. “We live on it. When we tour, we don’t ride it from hotel to hotel like the big rock stars. We’re just one step away from being in the van; we’re all kind of cooped up in there. It can be a pressure tour when there’s tension. But it’s pretty cool. We’ve always been one big dysfunctional family.”

Tickets to the Truckers’ show are $21 to $35 and are available from the Lensic box office, 988-1234, or www.ticketssantafe.org.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: MORE ON MEL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 3, 2007

The Roundhouse received a pair of rare celebrity appearances Wednesday.

One was Gov. Bill Richardson, who was in Santa Fe between campaign appearances in Nevada and Louisiana.

The other was controversial actor/director/DWI offender Mel Gibson.

Gibson, according to several Capitol employees, autographed photos of himself for several fourth-floor staffers after his visit with the governor.

Everyone at the Capitol was abuzz.

Well, almost everyone.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, contacted some time after Mel had left the building, initially said he didn’t know anything about it but would check on it.

In the meantime, I checked myself, finding a freshly autographed Gibson photo belonging to a Capitol worker.

Gallegos called back later to officially confirm the meeting. He said Gibson was in town on personal business and decided to come by and meet with the governor. They discussed the state film industry Gallegos said, though no new movie is in the works.

Apparently Gibson is not in line for the job of director of the state Film Museum.

Some jaded reporters in the Capitol news rooms joked about Gibson being here to make a “You drink, you drive, you lose” public-service announcements. In fact, when Gibson pleaded no contest to DWI last year, he volunteered to do PSAs on the hazards of drinking and driving.

Gallegos said no Gibson PSAs are in the works here, at least none involving the governor’s office.
Gibson possibly is the most polarizing Hollywood figures alive to day. Many moviegoers thought Gibson’s The Passion of The Christ was anti-Semitic. “I felt brutalized when I saw that movie,” said Rabbi Marvin Schwab of Santa Fe’s Temple Beth Shalom on Wednesday.

Then there was the infamous July drunken-driving arrest in Los Angeles, in which Gibson cursed the arresting officer, who happened to be Jewish, saying, “The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world.” Gibson has since apologized for the outburst.

Asked about how he felt about Gibson meeting with the governor, Schwab said, “Not knowing the purpose of his visit, my only hope is that he’s here to make a movie that will elevate the human spirit instead of denigrating it and maybe help the economy of New Mexico in doing so.

“I can only hope that his apology for his drunken rant has become heartfelt, and I hope he comes to conquer the demons that made him drink. My ultimate hope is that we as a race can come to together and see the divine spark in which we’re all made.”

Other states being audited: Earlier this week, former Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil-Giron said New Mexico isn’t the only state to get audited by the federal government for its spending of Help American Vote Act funds.

She’s right that other states are being audited, 15 in all, including New Mexico, according to a spokesman for the federal Election Assistance Commission.

California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. South Carolina and Texas already have been audited, said spokesman Bryan Whitener said. Audits are still in the works for Indiana, Maryland, Wyoming, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, Kentucky and New Mexico.

Completed reports are posted on the EAC’s Web site.

Among the concerns about possible misuse of federal funds listed in those reports include:

* $3,889 for “activities booklets” for high school students in Illinois. According to the report, these “appeared to be targeted to children, not voters.”

* $131,924 for a pair of “hip hop summits” in New Jersey, that included panel discussions that involved old-school rappers including Rev. Run (formerly of Run/DMC) and Doug E. Fresh. The EAC determined the state will have to pay back more than $64,000 used to pay for food and transportation to the events.

* $92,506 used by the state of South Carolina to purchase a vehicle.

* Nearly $4 million in questioned costs in California, nearly $2 million of which went to contracts that “didn’t meet the state’s competitive bidding requirements.”

In New Mexico some — mainly Republicans — have complained Vigil-Giron used some federal money to buy television ads featuring herself, telling viewers about voting. The Federal Election Commission looked into similar complaints in 2004 and eventually cleared Vigil-Giron.

However, now there are questions about a budget shortfall of up to $3 million in the Secretary of State’s Office.

It’s not clear when New Mexico’s audit will be done.

MEL & BILL

Whose white limo was parked outside of the Roundhouse this afternoon? None other than actor/director/DWI defendant Mel Gibson.

Gibson, according to several Capitol employees, autographed photos of himself for several 4th Floor staffers after his visit with Gov. Bill Richardson, who also was making a rare appearance at the capitol today.

Everyone here was abuzz about it.

Well, almost everyone.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, contacted sometime after Mel had left the building, said he didn't know anything about it.

Maybe Gibson was here to shoot a "You drink, you drive, you lose" commercial.

UPDATE: 4:52 pm. Gilbert Gallegos just called. He said Gibson was in town on personal business and decided to come by and meet with the governor. No new movie is in the works, and no, he's not getting the job at the state Film Museum.

NEW BLOGS OF NOTE

Keeping with the great themes of this blog, one is political, one is musical.

The New Mexico Politico with Aaron Henry Diaz is the work of a 19-year-old student from Las Cruces who says, "My family has a long history in New Mexico politics and I aspire to carry on the tradition." Diaz doesn't seem completely aligned with either party, saying right now he can't decide whether he supports Bill Richardson or John McCain for president. (Thanks to blog scout Mario for finding this one.)

A new music blog worth noting is produced by the Future of Music Coalition, which features "issues at the intersection of music, law, technology and policy." I'll check this one every time I need a shot of outrage about the musical industrial complex.

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My story in today's New Mexican about the latest plans of Rebecca Vigil Giron can be found HERE.