TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: DIGGING LAZARUS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 6, 2008

No question, Nick Cave is back. Again. Like Lazarus.

True, along with other voices in criticdom, I’ve been saying this about Cave for four years now, starting with the sprawling, double-disc glory of Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, then again last year with his howling, stripped-down Grinderman.

And now with the new Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!, Cave and his Bad Seeds sound as tough as ever.

True, he’s plowing a lot of the same themes he’s plowed since he and his band The Birthday Party lurched out of Australia 28 years ago: sex, God, violence, and depravity. It wouldn’t be a Nick Cave album without these elements. But he makes it sound as if he’s discovered buried treasure on just about every song.

And what a great batch of songs.

The title cut is the continuing story of what happened to the guy Jesus raised from the dead, whom he calls “Larry.” As the Bad Seeds play a modified “Louie Louie” riff, Cave tells the tale of Lazarus’ missing years:

“Larry grew increasingly neurotic and obscene/He never asked to be raised up from the tomb/No one ever actually asked him to forsake his dreams/... He ended up like so many of them do, back on the streets of New York City/In a soup queue, a dope fiend, a slave, then prison, then the madhouse, then the grave/Ah, poor Larry!”

“Today’s Lesson” is about some kind of illicit affair between a couple of characters named Janie and Mr. Sandman, who “likes to congregate around the intersection of Janie’s jeans.” Martyn Casey’s bouncing bass line carries the rhythm, while Warren Ellis’ screaming guitar battles with two crazy, almost Doors-like organs played by Cave and James Johnston.

The slow, minor-key groove of “Moonland” sounds as if it might be sung by Lazurus/Larry himself. “When I came up from out of the meat locker/The city was gone.” As he repeats phrases like “under the stars, under the snow” and “I’m not your favorite lover” it’s almost as if Cave is channeling a lost track from Astral Weeks, a song too dark and gritty for Van Morrison’s album but related to it in spirit.

One of the strangest cuts here is “We Call Upon the Author.” More pulsating bass, discordant guitar noises, and otherworldly organ (which apparently is Cave’s new favorite instrument). Cave speaks rather than sings most of the song.

The smoldering “Hold on to Yourself” is one of the prettiest songs on the album. The lyrics are erotic and insane:

“There’s madhouse longing in my baby’s eyes/She rubs the lamp
between her thighs/And hopes the genie comes out singing. ... Factories close and cars go cruising/In around the borders of her vision/She says ooh/As Jesus makes the flowers grow/All around the scene of her collision.”

The album ends with an eight-minute opus called “No News From Nowhere.” It’s a relatively mellow tune compared with most of the others on the album. It reminds me a bit of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks era. The lyrics tell of sexual encounters, a violent confrontation with a one-eyed giant, and ghosts of all the girls he’s loved before. He even runs into the heroine of one of his old songs here:

“I bumped bang crash/Into Deanna hanging pretty in the door
frame/All the horrors that have befallen me/Well, Deanna is to blame.” By the last verse Cave laments, “Don’t it make you feel sad/Don’t the blood rush to your feet/To think that everything you do today/Tomorrow is obsolete.”

That might be true, yet very little about this album seems obsolete at all.

Also recommended:

* Hello, Voyager by Evangelista. Evangelista is the name of the 2006 avant-rock solo album by Carla Bozulich, who is best known for her tenure with the alt — very alt — country band The Geraldine Fibbers. I called the dark and noisy Evangelista “bruised gospel.” The best songs there were like passionate spirituals from the inferno.

Bozulich is now calling her band Evangelista. And Hello, Voyager continues down the same path through the valley of the damned. “Winds of St. Anne,” for instance, picks up right where the previous album left off — slow plodding rhythm, ominous guitar drones, distorted, explosive vocals.

The first song to really knock me on the head from this album was “Lucky Lucky Luck,” a bouncy little tale of a reform-school girl: “When I was a baby I was sweet as could be/ I had a good heart but I had to kill it/Eleven years old my blood ran cold, by 13 I had to spill it.”

“The Blue Room” has a melody straight out of some old Disney film (as filtered through The Geraldine Fibbers). It features longtime Bozulich collaborator Nels Cline (now with Wilco) on 12-string guitar. “For the Li’l Dudes,” featuring cello, viola and violins, is chamber music for the criminally insane. The six-minute-plus “The Frozen Dress” is a noise experiment that might have fit in the Eraserhead soundtrack.

The 12-minute title track that ends the album starts out with clunky percussion before settling into a long organ-driven spook-house ride with Bozulich shouting about having no hope. She repeats “the word is love” several times before shouting a bloodcurdling “No!!!!” And it doesn’t get any sunnier from there.

Though much of the music is foreboding, it’s not without humor. For instance, Kenny G fans might be disappointed to learned that the song “Smooth Jazz” isn’t smooth jazz at all!

Bozulich has a real cool Web site, including several free mp3s from various stages of her career; visit carlabozulich.com.

* On the radio: Steve Terrell remembers the late great Bo Diddley Sunday night on Terrell’s Sound World, 10 p.m. to midnight on KSFR-FM 101.1. It’s freeform weirdo radio at its finest.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: SHIFTING SANDS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 5, 2008

Could the fall of two longtime state senators from Albuquerque at the hands of self-proclaimed progressive reformers be the birth of a new Senate faction?

Self-proclaimed “Bull Moose” Democrat Shannon Robinson, who has been in the Senate for 20 years, lost by a huge margin to newcomer Tim Keller. Meanwhile, former Albuquerque City Councilor Eric Griego sang “Rockabye, sweet baby James” to Sen. James Taylor, who has served most of one term in the Senate but had nearly a decade in the House, where he rose to the rank of majority whip.

Although it wasn’t exactly a slate, the campaigns of both Keller and Griego were managed by Neri Holguin, a veteran of New Mexico politics since 2000. Both were endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters and Democracy for America/Democracy for New Mexico, a liberal activist group. And both campaigned in favor of ethics reform, not exactly a high priority with Robinson or Taylor.

It’s easy to imagine the two newcomers banding together with fellow Albuquerque progressives like Cisco McSorley, Dede Feldman and Jerry Ortiz y Pino — plus perhaps Santa Fe’s Peter Wirth, who will be moving from the House to the Senate — and give new life to ethics reform, which for the past few sessions has withered and died in the catacombs of the Senate.

I’ll even go out on a limb and predict that conference committees — the Legislature’s “last bastion of secrecy” — will finally get opened. In 2007, a move failed by one vote to open the meetings where legislators hammer out differences in the same bills passed by the House and the Senate.

(And, as I’ve said before, if they do make this change, the Legislature should designate a meeting room as the “Bob Johnson Open Conference Committee Room” in honor of the late director of the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government who fought against closed meetings for years.)

Of course, once they get to the Roundhouse, who knows what will happen. Sands shift and alliances rise and fall. There is always pressure to get along and go along. But the constituents who elected the new senators are bound to apply some pressure as well.

Best victory statement ever: State Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, who won a close re-election match Tuesday, had only one comment for blogger Heath Haussamen.

He referred to Psalm 140:11, which says:

“May a slanderer not be established in the earth; May evil hunt the violent man speedily.”

That’s pretty cool, especially when you imagine Samuel L. Jackson reciting it.

The blessings of St. Pete: Outgoing U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici is venerated by fellow Republicans, but apparently that doesn’t mean his endorsement is a magic bullet in a GOP primary. Domenici was 0-for-2 for the candidates he endorsed, Heather Wilson for U.S. Senate and Marco Gonzales for Congress in the 3rd District.

Granted, Domenici’s last-minute endorsement of Wilson might have helped her. She was six points behind Steve Pearce in the Albuquerque Journal poll taken right before the endorsement and ended up within two points of winner Pearce.

Gov. Bill Richardson has taken some blog flack for his endorsements of Robinson and Taylor, who both lost by landslides.

But in fairness, other Richardson-endorsed candidates did much better. In state Senate primaries, he endorsed Carlos Cisneros, Howie Morales, Linda Lovejoy, David Ulibarri, John Pinto and Feldman, all of whom won. In Congressional races, the Richardson-endorsed Ben Ray Luján in CD 3 and Harry Teague in CD 2 were victorious.

In the state House races, he endorsed six candidates, five of whom won. And he endorsed Bernalillo County Clerk Maggie Toulousse-Oliver, wife of Richardson spokesman Allan Oliver, who won.

Mr. Lonely: Poor Dan East is about to learn what it’s like to be a Republican in the 3rd Congressional District. He beat Gonzales fair and square in the primary. But on Wednesday, the National Republican Congressional Committee issued a statement noting the victories of Darren White in CD 1 and Ed Tinsley in CD 2. But they didn’t even mention the heavily Democratic 3rd District, where East will face Luján and most likely independents Carol Miller and Ron Simmons in November.

Get a job: Some influential people are looking at New Mexico politicians for big national jobs.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday quoted U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., suggested a possible running mate for John McCain: Heather Wilson.

“Davis — who hasn’t been shy about criticizing his party and telling Republicans how they need to turn things around in a challenging campaign environment — said that choosing a woman might help ‘balance the ticket’ and broaden McCain’s appeal, particularly if Barack Obama doesn’t pick Hillary Clinton as a running mate.” The WSJ did note Wilson lost her primary Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Monroe Anderson of EbonyJet.com suggested a chief of staff for Barack Obama: Bill Richardson.

“During the double-digit number of debates among the candidates for Democratic Party nomination for president, the governor of New Mexico demonstrated time and time again that he is both level-headed and a peace-maker,” Anderson wrote.

“Richardson, who was one of the highest-ranking Hispanic appointees in President Clinton’s administration, brings the right blend of experience and respect to keep Obama’s White House in order.”

HEATHER CONCEDES

Some thought we might be in for two or three gruelling weeks at the ballot warehouse in Albuquerque, but it looks like Steve Pearce is the winner of the Republican Senate primary.

Heather Wilson just e-mailed this statement a few minutes ago:

"When I first ran for public office ten years ago, I learned an important lesson: no one can do this alone. The wonderful thing about New Mexico is that I never had to.

I would not have served in the Congress if it weren’t for the support and encouragement of Senator Pete Domenici. Ten years ago, we sat in his sister’s living room on a Saturday afternoon and talked about our dreams for America, about our love of this state and its people, and about our shared passion for finding solutions to the challenges we face. It has been a wonderful privilege to serve for a decade in the Congress with him and I thank him for his support and his kindness.

The thousands of New Mexicans who stood with our campaign worked hard, contributed much and always had broad smiles and words of encouragement. Likewise, my wonderful and loyal staff has set the standard for excellence in public service.

From the depths of my heart, I thank all of you for everything you have done for our common cause. Please know that the election result tonight is mine, not yours. You did a wonderful job and I’m proud of every one of you.

Today, Republicans have made their choice and I gladly accept it. I congratulate and commend Congressman Pearce and wish him all the best. He has my support and my endorsement as he campaigns for the United States Senate.

As Republicans, we fight hard for the things we believe in. We also close ranks quickly when the people have spoken. As members of this great party, we have no time for disappointment or for bitterness. We have work to do and a charge to keep.

I ask all of you to join me as we roll up our sleeves and elect John McCain as the next President of the United States and Darren White, Ed Tinsley, and Dan East to our House delegation from New Mexico.

We will hitch our horses to the wagon and elect Republicans from the courthouse, to the Round House, and all the way to the White House.

We will continue to build this great party on the principles we share: support for free enterprise, a strong national defense, and the centrality of the family in American life. We will keep building this great party and we will win elections where it is tough to win because we offer positive solutions to problems that matter to people, and a quality of public service that every New Mexican wants and deserves.

I have always been blessed with a satisfying professional life and a very close, loving family life. Each gives richness and dimension to the other. In our family, we believe God gives you gifts, and then he comes back to check on you to see how you used them. And we believe in duty to country -- even when that duty can sometimes be a heavy burden for a family to carry.

While I certainly would have preferred to declare victory tonight, I remain very positive about the future of our nation and our great state. And I’m sure all of you can understand that the beautiful silver lining for us tonight is that I can look forward to watching less mud wrestling in Washington and more soccer . . . and softball . . . and tennis . . . and baseball. . . and basketball here in Albuquerque.

Thank you all for your support, and your kindness. May God bless you and may God bless the great state of New Mexico."

By the way, my story on the CD 3 race is HERE.

BEIRUT'S HOMECOMING

I was too busy blogging about late-breaking election stuff last night so I forgot to grab my camera before going to the Santa Fe Brewing Company. So I have to use this old photo I took from last time I saw Beirut, back in 2006.

But seeing Beirut was a perfect way to spend the night before the election. (I ran into a couple of other news dogs there doing the same thing.)

That's the most crowded I've ever seen the Brewing Company. They actually wee turning people away at the door. The show, fortunately, was on the outside stage.

Beirut, of course, is led by Zach Condon, who grew up here in Santa Fe (although some stupid national publications list his hometown as "Albuquerque" -- kind of like some of those Junior Brown bios I've seen that don't even mention New Mexico.) He didn't get well-known however until he moved to New York. There, inspired by Balkan brass bands he'd seen in his European travels and in movies by Emir Kusturica.

Last night's show wasn't nearly as intimate as the College of Santa Fe performance I saw back in 2006. At that earlier show the audience was just a fraction the size of the Bewing Company crowd. At CSF there wasn't a stage, so the band was at the same level of the audience and it was sometimes hard to tell where one started and the other ended.

Still, it's great to see how Beirut's audience has grown -- and how the sound has grown too. They've still got that Balkan spirit, but there's influences from all over the place. At one point Zach announced that his next song would be in Portugese. I thought it sounded familar, and sure enough it turns out to be a tune I first heard on David Byrne's first Luaka Bop Brazilian compilation Beleza Tropical -- Caetano Veloso's "O Leaozinho." Beirut does a fine version of it. (I found a YouTube version of it, recorded just a couple of weeks ago. Check it out below.) Last night's concert inspired me to listen to Beleze Tropical this morning. Now I realize there are several songs here that would sound good as Beirut covers.

And I was happy that Beirut still does a rousing version of Kocani Orkestar's “Siki, Siki Baba,” my favorite song from the Borat soundtrack.

Condon, on the Beirut Web site has said he's going to be making some changes with the basic concept of the band. (Maybe they'll go Hawaiian. They already have the ukes!) I hope he keeps most the current members. I'm amazed how they constantly swap instruments and how so many of them are proficient on so many instruments.

This is a great week for music at the Brewing Company. Laurell's going to sub for The Santa Fe Opry Friday night so I can see X and The Detroit Cobras.

NEW POLL: WILSON AND PEARCE NECK-TO-NECK

The new SurveyUSA poll shows U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce beating Rep. Heather Wilson by just one point in the Republican Senate primary.

Two weeks ago Pearce was leading by three points in the SurveyUSA poll. And the Albuquerque Journal poll, published on Sunday showed Pearce up by six points.

One big difference in the polls. As Brian Sanderoff has explained to me many times, automated polls like SurveyUSA tend to record fewer undecided votes because undecided voters tend to hang up early in the phone call. Indeed the latest SurveyUSA poll shows only 3 percent undecided, while the Journal poll (conducted by Sanderoff) showed 16 percent undecided.

SurveyUSA's poll has a 4.5 percent margin of error.

The new poll shows both Wilson 24 percent behind Tom Udall while Pearce is 25 percent behind Democrat UDall.

SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY

Let's indulge in a little political tea-leaf reading here.

This afternoon there was a news release from the Ben Ray Lujan campaign announcing an election night "celebration" at Hotel Santa Fe.

About the same time, Don Wiviott's campaigns e-mailed a release saying Wiviott's election night plans consisted of "private time with family.” Later there was an e-mail that Wiviott would make himself available to reporters after the results were announced. (Hate to be a cynic here, but in New Mexico that might mean three weeks from now -- though I don't think Wiviott meant that.)

Both these guys have hired consultants who do polling for them.

Not making any predictions here, but which one sounds like he might think he's going to win?

R.I.P. BO DIDDLEY

He was the coolest.

Here's his Pitchfork obit.

As I noted about a year ago when Bo had his stroke, this photo was taken back in 1985 by Barbaraellen Koch in the lobby of the mayor's office in Santa Fe. Mayor Louis Montano made him an honorary Santa Fean. I interviewed Bo for the Albuquerque Journal to preview a show at Club West. We talked about his years in the state during the 1970s. For awhile he was a member of the Valencia County Sheriff's Reserves and actually arrested a drunk driver, who, Deputy Diddley said, had mouthed off to him.

Tune in Terrell's Sound World Sunday for a decent tribute.

Enjoy some YouTubes below.

THAT'S A LOT OF CINNAMON ROLLS!

Here's some genuine Campaign 2008 trivia:

Joe Monahan today notes that Steve Pearce was campaigning Sunday at one of my old student ghetto haunts, The Frontier Restaurant in Albuquerque.

Joe notes that despite being in "the heart of liberalism," The Frontier is own by Republicans.

That's true. But they're Republicans who, according to Open Secrets.org, are among Heather Wilson's top contributors. People who list The Frontier as their employer have kicked in $9,200 to Wilson's Senate campaign, making the restaurant one of her top five sources of campaign money.

XXXXXX

Here's a link to the Sunday story by Kate Nash and me, whuich tried to sum up the CD 3 and U.S. Senate races: CLICK HERE

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 1, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Human Being by The New York Dolls
Treat Her Right by Los Straitjackets with Mark Lindsay
I'm in With the Out Crowd by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
QB by The Fuzzy Set
Espanto del Futuro by Man or Astroman?
James Bond Theme by John Zorn
Double-O-Bum by Gas Huffer
Mi Sangre Prisonera by Los Tigres del Norte
What's Behind the Mask? by The Cramps
Viva Del Santo by Southern Culture on the Skids

Boss Dance by Jerry Cole & His Spacemen
Scalped by Dick Dale
Hey Sugarfoot by The Astronauts
Swamp Witch by Deadbolt
Bad Girl by Detroit Cobras
Dick Shake by Juke Joint Pimps
Shake Your Hips by Slim Harpo
Polka Chicana by Eddie Dimas

Thunderbird by The Casual-Aires
Johnny's Jive by Johnny Little John & Guitar
Hey Girl by John & Jackie
Cold Slaw by Tommy Smith Jr. Trio
Cave Man Love by Spaceman & The Rockets
Peter Gun Twist by The Jesters
Pretty Lord Sundance Part 1 by Lord Sundance
Topless A Go Go by The Rockets Combo
Take it Off by The Genteels
Kaput by Sam & The Saxtones
The Jungle by Diablito
Drunken Guitar by The Lushes

Clipped Wings by Dengue Fever
Biting Game by Sinn Sisamouth
Telephone Call from Istabul by The Red Elvises
Moonland by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Smooth Jazz by Evangelista
The Bunker by Beirut
I Just Want You to Hurt Like I Do by Randy Newman
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

KSFR: CHANGE YOUR CAR RADIO PRESETS

For the past several months KSFR has been simulcasting at both 90.7 FM and 101.1 FM. It looks like we'll be loosing 90.7 FM before the end of the month.

Here's the word from the Mgt at KSFR.

KSFR -- Santa Fe Public Radio's new permanent home is at 101.1 FM on the dial. In just a few weeks, you will no longer hear us on 90.7. We are now working to maximize the 101 signal before the change over, and hope to keep signal problems to a minimum at our new location. Change your car radio button now to 101.1. We want you to continue to enjoy YOUR Public Radio without interruption in the coming weeks.