Friday, October 05, 2007

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: MICHELLE & JUDEE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
OCtober 5, 2007


In introducing Michelle Shocked at the outset of her new live album ToHeavenURide, an announcer says “We’ve always enjoyed what she’s brought to us. It’s different every time.”
That it is. Through the years Shocked has released folky campfire music, big-band swing, sensitive chicky singer-songwriter stuff, an album of Disney songs, and she even took a stab at East Los Angeles R & B.

But in recent years, Shocked seems most grounded in the world of gospel music. She’s not just a spectator when it comes to gospel. She attends services and sings in the choir at a Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles. My favorite Shocked album (except for the periods in which I prefer the country rootsy Arkansas Traveler) is 2002’s gospel-propelled Deep Natural.

ToHeavenURide was recorded at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 2003 and almost seems like an extension of the earlier album. It features a band centered around the Dancy family from the New Greater Circle Mission Church in South L.A. The title of the album is a play on one supposed root of Telluride’s name, “to hell you ride.”

There are only two Deep Natural songs here — the reggae-infused “Can’t Take My Joy” and “Good News,” a rocking tune inspired by an environmentalist struggle led by church folks against a polluting company in a Louisiana town.

ToHeavenURide starts off with a slow, eight-minute groove on a classic song by Sister Rosetta Tharpe, “Strange Things Happening Every Day.” Here, Shocked talks about “the ministry of Sister Rosetta,” who she says is considered by some to be the “father” (that’s what she says!) of rockabilly, a “church lady playing electric guitar and wearin’ a blonde wig.” People didn’t understand her ministry, Shocked says, “’cause she wouldn’t just play in the churches. She would play in the nightclubs, she would play in the bars, she would play wherever anyone needed to hear the Word.”

My personal favorites here are “Good News,” another Shocked original called “The Quality of Mercy” (originally on the Dead Man Walking soundtrack compilation), and the much-covered classic “Uncloudy Day” in which Shocked is accompanied only by background singers and a tremolo guitar. Try not to think about Pops Staples during this one.

Also recommended:
*Live In London: The BBC Recordings 1972-1973
by Judee Sill. Just a few years ago it seemed that all traces of the late singer/songwriter Judee Sill had been completely wiped out of the collective memory of the human race. You couldn’t find much of anything about her on the Internet. There even was a dispute about when she died. (It was 1979, at the age of 35, of a heroin overdose. )

But since Rhino Handmade rereleased her (only) two albums — Judee Sill and the immortal Heart Food — a few years ago, more and more people are being initiated into the strange and alluring world of Sill’s music. (In case you haven’t guessed, Heart Food is one of my favorite albums in the history of civilization.)

Lasr, Warner released both the albums and various outtakes and alternate versions as Complete Asylum Recordings (also called Abracadabra: The Asylum Years). The year before, the independent Water Records released Dreams Come True, consisting of recordings for her never-completed third album, plus other stray demos and live tapes.

Now comes a live album, also released by Water. These stripped-down solo versions of songs from her two official studio albums were recorded during a British tour. You can hear Sill talking between songs about her music and her career, including how she learned to play gospel piano in reform school. She talks about the religious mysticism that haunts her songs. But her reflections are jarring knowing that with the commercial failure of Heart Food, her career would soon fizzle, and she would drop out of sight and be dead in just a few years.

If you haven’t heard the studio albums, get them first to hear these songs as God — or at least Judee — intended them to be remembered. But if you are already a Sill fan, you’ll need this record. While I prefer Heart Food’s full-blown version of “The Donor,” the solo version here also will infest your soul.

Local recording notes: Frogville Records recently scored a coup when it snagged bluesman Taj Mahal — in town for a Sept. 21 show at the Santa Fe Brewing Company — to record harmonica and guitar tracks for upcoming releases by Hundred Year Flood and Boris & The Saltlicks.

Frogville supreme commander and president-for-life John Treadwell explained it this way: “We had less than an hour and a half with Taj in the studio before we had to rocket him back to the hotel to change clothes, but it was just perfect. We got just what we needed. He is such a professional.” Treadwell said he and producer Andy Kravitz stuck around in the hotel parking lot to make sure Taj Mahal got a ride to the show. This was fortunate because the musician’s ride never came. Treadwell and Kravitz got him to the Brewing Company “with about two or three minutes to spare.”

Taj Mahal is the second nationally known performer to record on the ongoing Flood sessions. Country rocker Shannon McNally was rounded up to sing on the upcoming album when she was in Santa Fe for an August bandstand show on the Plaza.

Speaking of Boris & The Saltlicks, kudos to the group for winning in the country/folk/singer-songwriter category at New Mexico’s State Fair Talent Showcase last month.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

LORD, MR. FORD, IT'S STARTING ...

The Hill is reporting that Heather Wilson will be seeking Domenici's seat. CLICK HERE


Rep. Heather Wilson (R-N.M) will run for the New Mexico Senate
seat that is expected to open up officially later Thursday when Sen. Pete Domenici (R) declares that he will not seek reelection in 2008, according to a source familiar with Wilson’s decision.



Unnamed source, so it isn't official yet. Yesterday a spokesman told me that Wilson wouldn't be discussing this possibility until at least after Domenici's official announcement. The piece notes Wilson is a strong campaigner, but faces the same Iglesias baggage as Domenici.

PETE McCLOSKEY

The news of Pete Domenici's announcement brought back memories of the 1972 election, whiich, as I mentioned in the post below, was the first election in which I could vote.

So it seemed like synchronicity this morning when, out of the blue, former California Congressman Paul "Pete" Pete McCloskey was just interviewed on KUNM's Call-In Show with Arcie Chapa.

I didn't realize until this interview that McCloskey and his wife have a home in Madrid, N.M. I also hadn't heard that McCloskey has switched parties from Republican to Democrat, though that news isn't surprising. In fact it's amazing he stayed in the GOP for so long.

McCloskey first got national attention in the '72 election, when he challenged President Nixon in the Republican primaries, running as an anti-war candidate.

He didn't get very far. McCloskey got only about 11 percent in the New Hampshire primary and about the same in the New Mexico primary in June. However, under state law, that qualified him for one delegate at the 1972 GOP Convention.

As it turned out, New Mexico sent the only anti-Nixon delegate to the Republican National Convention. (The delegate was Tom Mayer, who a couple of years later would be my creative writing teacher at the University of New Mexico.)

Any way, I enjoyed the radio interview. I hope to run into McCloskey on one of his visits here.

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

HEAVY WEDNESDAY

There won't be a Roundhouse Round-up column Thursday (please don't cancel your subscription) because I got a little sidetracked working on the expected Pete Domenici retirement announcement. (Here's a link to the wire story. I'll post a link to mine when it's up on the New Mexican site.)

(UPDATE: Here's that link)

Domenici's apparent decision has created a political vacuum affecting both the parties. Looks like it's going to be a heck of a race next year. As my trusty experts told me, an open Senate seat is a very rare opportunity in New Mexico. We tend to keep our senators for decades.

In fact, Domenici's first run for Senate, in 1972, was the the first year I was eligible to vote.

The three Congresspeople from New Mexico -- Udall, Wilson and Pearce -- are all being coy at this point. Udall and Wilson's staff sent flowery press releases praising St. Pete. Pearce's office never got back to me. I'm sure they want to give Domenici the courtesy of making his announcement before they pounce.

On the Dem side Diane Denish and Martin Chavez, both of whom have been running for governor, are looking at the race.

Don Wiviott, who actually has declared his candidacy, says he's in it for the long run despite the likelihood of bigger names jumping in. Another candidate, Jim Hannan, says he's hoping Udall will take the plunge. I never did find Patsy Madrid today.

On the GOP side, state Land Commissioner Pat Lyons told me he's considering the race.

XXXXXXXX

But the really big news today is that The Santa Fe Reporter finally published my water bill! CLICK HERE (and scroll way way down)

Their investigation revealed that in June, July and August I used 4,500 gallons (50 gallons a day.) That's 67 percent less than the average household. Makes me thirsty just thinking about it.

Yay! I'm not an evil water hog -- like that wretched Mark Oswald, who used 13 percent more than the average God-fearing Santa Fean.

Actually I'm tied with Bill Richardson's house for water usage. One difference -- I'm actually at my house on most days. (As The Reporter explains, those numbers are for the actual Governor's Mansion itself, not the separately billed mansion grounds, which uses an astronomical amount.)

How do I do it? I only drink and shower in bottled water. And I throw the empties down in the arroyo. So there.

XXXXXX

As a little reward to you who read this far, here's a free, legal download of a 1985 NRBQ concert, courtesy of the band's Web site.

Monday, October 01, 2007

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, September 30, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and out new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
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OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Metal Detector by They Might Be Giants
On Lovers Lane by The Dirty Novels
Car Down Again by Clawhammer
Devil Took Mrs. Jenkins to Hell by Deadbolt
Double 0 Bum by Gas Huffer
Navajo by The Black Lips
No Confidence by Simon Stokes
Drug Deaths by The Violent Femmes
Amphetimine Annie by Canned Heat

Loaded Heart by The Gore Gore Girls
Puppet on a String by The Detroit Cobras
Wonder Why by The Stillettos
Ski Hat by The Unband
New Kind of Kick by The Cramps
Night Time Girl by The Seeds
Mixed Up Confusion by Bob Dylan
Perverts in the Sun by Iggy Pop
Steve's Den by Nat Dove & The Devils

My Baby Left Me by Elvis Presley
Poppies by Patti Smith
Man in the Box by Alice in Chains
Big American Problem by Drywall
All Light Up Up by The Pretty Things
Baby Please Don't Go by The Amboy Dukes

Hearsay by The Soul Children
I've Known Rivers by Gary Bartz & Nu-Troop
To Talk to You by P.J. Harvey

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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