TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 31, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Bo Diddley is Crazy by Bo Diddley
Sugarfoor by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Land of the Freak by King Khan & The Shrines
I Had to Chew My Own Leg Off/Born in a Haunted Barn by The Dirtbombs
You've Got My Mind Messed Up by James Carr
Farmer John by Don & Dewey
Conjuration by The Tex Reys

Puss n Boots by The New York Dolls
I Got Something for You Girl by Hot Nuts
Cosmic Belly Dance by The Monsters
Night of The Phantom by Larry & The Blue Notes
Oomp Boomp by The Rhythm Addicts
Blowout by Los Straitjackets
Devil Smile by Nekromantix
Sonic Reducer by The Dead Boys
The Hurdy Gurdy Man by The Butthole Surfers

WFMU FREE MUSIC ARCHIVES SET
Last Lost Fight by New Bomb Turks
Last Double Eagle by Little Howlin' Wolf
Predator by Modey Lemon
Put Down the Carving Knife by Singing Sadie
When You'd Go by The Cynics
The Wait by Pierced Arrows

Sacred Trickster by Sonic Youth
Jeepster by T-Rex
One For My Baby by Iggy Pop
I Ain't Got Nobody by Fats Waller
Where and When by Dion & The Belmonts
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

FROGFEST 2009

Festival season is starting early in Santa Fe this year. The Thirsty Ear Festival, which traditionally has been held on Labor Weekend, currently is scheduled for June 12-14. And Frogfest, which normally is in August, was held yesterday.

But I, for one, was happy it was earlier. I had to miss last year's Frogfest because that was the day I had to drive to Denver for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. And the year before, Frogville took a break from the Festival. So I hadn't been to a Frogfest since 2006. As the old Wolf Brand Chile ads used to say, "Well that's too long!"

Yesterday's festival was a fine show indeed. Thought I thought I was running late, I was actually got to the Santa Fe Brewing Company just in time to order a burger before the music started. I did have to leave for a couple of hours to go see my son's drama presentation at Capitol High (sorry, Taarka!), but otherwise I was there for the whole shebang.

Once again, it was a great reminder of what a cool little record label Frogville is and how lucky Santa Fe is to have it and all the acts associated with it.

Here's some random observations:
* This was the first time I've seen Hundred Year Flood since Jim and Kendra went on hiatus a few months ago to raise their little one. (Jim played with Goshen earlier in the day, while Kendra was there for most of the time there with the mighty Oak Palmer). Flood has John Courage filling in for Kendra on the bass and Andy Kravitz on drums. Plus they've added a second guitarist, Justin Lindsey. The new members fit nicely in the band. And Bill and Felecia soared. Damn, every time Felecia opens her mouth to sing it's goddamn magic! Flood's set included at least a couple of new songs, which Bill said are going to be on a new album that they plan to start on shortly.

* Joe West not only writes some great tunes (he did my favorite last night, "Reprimand"), but he has a knack for choosing covers that make great sing-alongs. He sang "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy" and "Okie from "Muskogee" with his pal Mike the Can Man. The Joe West Situation is a heck of a band too. He's got mandolin angel Sharon Gilchrist, guitarist and Bob Dylan interpretter Josh Martin, bassist Margaret Burke (more on her below) and a drummer, whose name I didn't get. (Sorry!)

* Speaking of guest stars, the stage was crawling with them during his set. Among those was Terry Diers, who recently moved back to Santa Fe. I hadn't seen him in years. I'll never forget the time back at Club West in the '80s when I was interviewing Screamin' Jay Hawkins between sets. Terry, if I'm remembering this right, was in Hawkins' pick-up band. The two got in some kind of weird argument. At first it seemed like friendly banter, but Hawkins got more and more agitated. At one point he exclaimed, "You crazy, man!" When Screamin' Jay calls you crazy, that means something.

* Goshen's set was blistering! Grant Hyunga was pounding out his most intense blues, including some great slide numbers. Goshen would be right at home on Voodoo Rhythm Records along side of Thee Butchers' Orchestra, Stinky Lou and The Jukejoint Pimps. Too bad it was so early in the day that the crowds had yet to arrive.

* Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks were fortified on several songs by singer Stephanie Hatfield (who has her own band, Hot Mess.) Boris' daughter, who must be 3 or 4, commanded the dancing area during her favorite song by her dad, "Pony Ride."

* The surprise of the day for me was The Strange, who played a short second-stage set inside. The group includes Justin Lindsey, HYF's new guitarist and singer Lynsay Ayala, who wails. Good boogie rock. Santa Fe should be seeing more of them.

* Margaret Burke, who played bass and sang with Joe West and Bill Hearne, has to have more fun on stage than any performer I know. She's not flashy and doesn't engage in crazy antics. She just beams and it's infectuous.

* Bill Hearne's still a hell of a honkytonker. His Roadhouse Review, including Margaret, steel guitarist Augie Hayes and guitarist Bob Goldstein are aces.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 29, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Pollyanna by Patterson Hood
Rock Island Line by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Mutant Daddy by Flathead
Dance Crazed by Lil Mo & The Monicats
Spayed Cooley by Ry Cooder
Swinging the Devil's Dream by Spade Cooley
Goodness Gracious Gracie by The Light Crust Doughboys
The Blues My Naughty Baby Gives to Me by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
The Big Enchilada by Bud Kurtz

The Way We Are by The Flatlanders
The Gardens by Freddy Fender
Are the Good Times Really Over For Good by John Doe & The Sadies
Fight (Tonight's the Night) by James McMurtry
Beyond Here Lies Nothin' by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan's 300 Game by Emily Kaitz with Jimmy LaFave
Animal Hoedown by Harry Hayward

Frogfest Set
Oklahoma by Joe West
The Wicked Things by Boris & The Saltlicks
Belladonna by Goshen
The Waltz of the Angels by Bill Hearne's Roadhouse Revue
My Angeline by Tarka
Jockey Full of Bourbon by Santa Fe All Stars
Hell or High Water by Hundred Year Flood

Hotel Grand by Eric Hisaw
Downey Girl by Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women
Hey Toughen Up by Candye Kane
Freight Train Boogie by Wayne Hancock
The Ghost by Willie Nelson
Old Friend by Loudon Wainwright
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: FREE MUSIC!

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 1, 2009

The bad news: Joe Ely summed up the current economic situation 20-plus years ago, “Prices keep rising every day and I keep getting paid the same.”

The good news: there’s so much free music on the Internet, you can go crazy trying to keep track of it, as long as you can afford to pay your Internet bill.

My latest Internet music obsession is WFMU’s Free Music Archive, a huge library of free — and legal — downloads of cooperating independent artists. There are thousands of tracks, which you can stream as well as download. You can build your own playlists.

WFMU is an amazing radio station in Jersey City, New Jersey. It started this archive, but other stations, music venues, and independent labels also have contributed. For instance, Bloodshot Records, that venerated home to “insurgent country,” has posted a couple of tracks from a wide sampling of its albums, new and old, by artists including the Waco Brothers, Andre Williams, Justin Townes Earle, Charlie Pickett, and Bobby Bare Jr.

One of the most interesting sections in the archive is the “Old-Time/Historic” section. Not only are there some great old recordings by the likes of Sophie Tucker (the Last of the Red Hot Mamas!) and Billy Murray, but there are some interesting new artists dabbling in the old styles. More on one of them later.

Of course, most of the artists are folks you’ve probably never heard of. As I noted, these are independent artists, some of whom are so independent that they aren’t even on indie labels. Some of the better known are Billy Childish (who has a batch of literally phoned-in solo blues tunes from a WFMU show called Phoning It In), Dengue Fever, Pierced Arrows (the new band from Fred and Toody Cole of Dead Moon), Alan Vega, The Moaners (an all-woman blues duo featuring Melissa Swingle of Trailer Bride), Edith Frost, Xiu Xiu, and garage rockers like the New Bomb Turks and The Cynics.

Here are some of my favorite discoveries on the Free Music Archive:


* Little Howlin’ Wolf. James Pobiega has nothing to do with the late Chester Burnett, the original Howlin’ Wolf. He’s a gigantic (I’ve read height estimates from 6-foot-6 to 6-foot-9) street musician from Chicago who looks like a caveman and growls some of the most primitive gutbucket blues I’ve ever heard. He makes T-Model Ford sound like Debby Boone. But there’s another musical side to him.

In addition to the blues, LHW doubles on sax and performs crazy Beefheartian free-form jazz. Truly some of the wildest stuff I’ve heard lately.

* Modey Lemon. This is a Pittsburgh trio that sounds like The Blues Magoos (remember “We Ain’t Got Nothin’ Yet”?) might have sounded if they had a Moog synthesizer. On one track here the radio hostess jokingly introduces them as Golden Earring (remember “Radar Love”?). Normally I don’t care much for synthy stuff, but Jason Kirker plays his Moog like a Farfisa from the Forbidden Planet.

Singing Sadie. I found her filed with the “Old Time/Historic” stuff, so when I first listened to her songs “Put Down the Carving Knife and Everyone in Town Wants You Dead,” I thought they were from some bizarre 78s from the ’30s. I later learned she’s “the all singing all dancing queen of the burgeoning underground show tunes scene.” She wails happily off-tune in her Aussie accent like Betty Boop on angel dust. And she tap-dances.

I think I’m in love.

Frogs on fire!

It’s becoming a summer tradition in Santa Fe. I’m talking about FrogFest, a showcase for the mighty Santa Fe record label Frogville. It’s on Saturday, May 30, at the Santa Fe Brewing Company (37 Fire Place, 424-3333), starting at 2 p.m. and lasting until the witching hour.

In case you haven’t been paying attention to local music since the turn of the century or so, Frogville Records, which is celebrating its sixth anniversary this year, is responsible for some of the most impressive New Mexico albums of this millennium. The label is the creature of co-founder, CEO, and president for life John “Big Frog” Treadwell, a big charismatic guy (and self-described “artist, hermit, and entrepreneur”) who looks like a hippie Viking and must be certifiably insane to want to run a record company in these dark days for the music biz. But Treadwell’s major accomplishment — besides getting some fine music on disc — is making possible a creative community of musicians who continue to delight and amaze.

A good chunk of Frogville’s musical family is on this year’s bill, including Hundred Year Flood, Goshen (I just reviewed their pounding new EP, The Como Sessions, a few weeks ago), the Santa Fe All-Stars (Joe West, Sharon Gilchrist, Susan Hyde Holmes, and Ben Wright), Boris McCutcheon and the Saltlicks, Taarka (featuring Dave Tiller and Enion Pelta-Tiller of ThaMuseMeant), and Bill Hearne’s Roadhouse Revue.

There also will be several non-Frogville acts, including Peacefield (a San Antonio band whose CD was produced by Bill Palmer of Hundred Year Flood), the Sean Healen Band, The Strange, and Stephanie Hatfield & Hot Mess.

Indoor sets are planned by West with his pal Mike the Can Man (West recorded an EP of Can Man songs a few years ago) and John Courage (who has been playing bass with HYF in recent months) with Gilchrist.

So go hear some great music. And while you’re there, buy a couple of CDs. Support your local musicians! Admission is $10, and kids under 12 get in free. The first 100 people who pay at the door (translation: not freeloading Santa Fe scenesters) get a free T-shirt.

* Frog radio: John Treadwell has his own Frogville Radio Show at 7 p.m. on Thursdays on KBAC-FM 98.1. But I’m going to totally rip him off on The Santa Fe Opry on Friday, May 29, and do my own Frogville half-hour on KSFR-FM 101.1. The show starts at 10 p.m, and the Frogville set will start at 11 p.m

PETTY STUDIOS DOCUMENTARY

This just in from the New Mexico Music Commission:

Many of the biggest names in music started their careers in New Mexico. And, for musicians like Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison, Leann Rimes and the Fireballs, it began at the Norman Petty Recording Studios in Clovis.

On Thursday, June 4, the New Mexico Music Commission, You And Me Productions and PBS stations throughout the state are teaming up to tell audiences about the music legends who came out of eastern New Mexico and west Texas. Included will be a tour of the studio where the original equipment is still preserved and where songs like Buddy Holly's “That'll Be the Day” and “Peggy Sue” were recorded.

Audiences will also learn what the Clovis community is currently doing to honor musicians, and see and hear from the talent that is still coming from the area. During the New Mexico premiere, live from the KNME studios, members of the Fireballs will join Music Commission Director Nancy Laflin talking about what it was like for a group of teens from New Mexico to have a number one hit song, “Sugar Shack.”

The documentary will air Thursday, June 4, at 7:00 PM, simulcast on New Mexico's three PBS stations: KENW ( Ch. 3 - Portales) serving Eastern N.M., KNME (Ch. 5 - Albuquerque/Santa Fe) serving northern and central N.M., and KRWG (Ch. 22 - Las Cruces) serving Southern N.M.

PODCAST 10: THE BIG ENCHILADA IS SERVED

As Bob Dylan wisely pointed out, "God gave names to the animals." And in that spirit, I'm giving a name to this animal, i.e. my podcast:

THE BIG ENCHILADA!!

That's a little snazzier than "The Steve Terrell Podcast." Plus, as I mention in this latest installment, I got sick of all the numbers -- "Podcast 9, Terrell's Sound World 3," etc.

So welcome to THE BIG ENCHILADA!!

Number 10 is a hillbilly show, more Santa Fe Opry favorites, with lots of western swing and rockabilly, great tunes by Little Jummy Dickens, Mama Rosin, The Pine Valley Cosmonauts, The Supersuckers, Austin Lounge Lizards. Kris Hollis Key, Eugene Chadbourne, Emily Kaitz & Ray Wylie Hubbard, Bayou Seco, Hazeldine, Smokey Wood & The Wood Chips, Cecil McNabb, Andy Anderson and more. There's even a fine old murder song recorded live by Willie Nelson more than 40 years ago.

These are songs that will make you proud to be an American -- even if you aren't one.


CLICK HERE to download the podcast. (To save it, right click on the link and select "Save Target As.")

Or better yet, stop messing around and CLICK HERE to subscribe to my podcasts and HERE to directly subscribe on iTunes.

You can play it on the little feedplayer below:



My cool BIG feed player is HERE.

Here's the play list:

Hillbilly Fever by Little Jimmy Dickens
Hot Rod King by Kris Hollis Key
Clock Tickin' Rhythm by Cecil McNabb
Tough, Tough, Tough by Andy Anderson
Keep on Truckin' by Smokey Wood & The Wood Chips
I'm So Lonesome Without You by Hazeldine
(Background: David Bromberg Fiddle Tunes)

Silver City Two-Step by Bayou Seco
Honky Tonky Trout Le Temps by Mama Rosin
The Golden Triangle by The Austin Lounge Lizards
Sweet Kind of Love by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Sally's Got a Wooden Leg by Sons of the West
I Will Stay With You by Emily Kaitz with Ray Wylie Hubbard
(Background: All the Pretty Horses by Friends of Dean Martinez)

Hungover Together by The Supersuckers with Kelly Deal
Hard Travelin' by Simon Stokes
I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised by Eugene Chadbourne
I Just Can't Let You Say Goodbye by Willie Nelson

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 24, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Stormy Weather by The Reigning Sound
A Million Miles Away by The Plimsouls
Shades by Pierced Arrows
Storm Warning by Edison Rocket Train
Coffin Talk by Modey Lemon
God Jazz Time by Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula by Dengue Fever

Cave Girl by The Texreys
Wolfman's Romp by The Juke Joint Pimps
White Lightning by Doo Rag
Honest I Do by John Schooley
I Want Oblivion by Heavy Trash
Tough Frog to Swallow by Little Freddie King
I'm Shufflin' by Little Howlin' Wolf

The Fat Angel by The Jefferson Airplane
Season of the Witch by Key
The Trip by Donovan
Booze, Tobacco, Dope, Pussy, Cars by The Butthole Surfers
Subway Train by New York Dolls
Hungarian Dance # 5 by The Red Elvises

In Your Grave by King Khan & The Shrines
Get Yo Shit by Black James Lewis & The Honey Bears
Pushing Through the Night by The Soul of John Black
Maybe Your Baby by The Dirtbombs
Let Me Tell You Baby by Larry Williams
Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed by Candye Kane
The Sky Above, The Mud Below by Johnny Dowd
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May, 22, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
The Golden Triangle by The Austin Lounge Lizards
Two Six Packs Away by Dave Duddley
Rebel Thunder by Kris Hollis Key
I Think Hank Woulda Done it This Way by The Blue Chieftains
California's Burning by Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women
Rockin' Chair on the Moon by Little Mo & The Monicats
Don't Tempt Me by Todd Snider with Loretta Lynn
I'm Talkin' About You by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

Waco Express by The Waco Brothers
The Fame of Lofty Deeds by Jon Langford
The Whole Thing Stinks by Rico Bell
Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You by Sally Timms
Stateline Bar by Deano Waco & The Meat Purveyors
Shanty by The Mekons
The Comedians by Roy Orbison
If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time by Lefty Frizzell

Shout Out Loud by Eric Hisaw
Homeland Rufugee by The Flatlanders
Keep on Truckin' by Hot Tuna
Jolene by Bob Dylan
Jolene by Dolly Parton
Bus Fare to Kentucky by Skeeter Davis
Off the Couch by The Blacks
Let's Waste Another Evening by Josh Lederman y Los Diablos
Bonapart's Retreat by Glen Campbell

What Can You Do To Me Now by Willie Nelson
Take These Chains From My Heart by John Doe & The Sadies
Walkin' My Baby Back Home by Dan Hicks with Maryanne Price
Viper of Melody by Wayne Hancock
King of the Blues by Robbie Fulks
Big in Vegas by Buck Owens
I'm So Proud by Dan Penn
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

HAVE I TOLD YOU LATELY HOW MUCH I HATE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY?

Here's one that got me pig-bitin' mad this evening.

Sparklehouse and Danger Mouse have colaborated on a new album called Dark Night of the Soul. It's got guest vocals by all sorts of folks including Iggy Pop, Frank Black, Vic Chessnutt and -- I'm not kidding -- David Lynch. Lynch also produced several strange photographs for the project (including the one here I nabbed from the NPR site.)

But, according to NPR, don't expect to see Dark Night of the Soul on record store shelves, or on iTunes or Amazon anytime soon.

An unnamed spokesperson for Danger Mouse says that "due to an ongoing dispute with EMI" the book of photographs will "now come with a blank, recordable CD-R. All copies will be clearly labeled: 'For legal reasons, enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will.'" While offering no specifics, EMI has acknowledged the legal dispute with Danger Mouse and released a statement saying, "Danger Mouse is a brilliant, talented artist for whom we have enormous respect. We continue to make every effort to resolve this situation and we are talking to Brian Burton (Danger Mouse) directly. Meanwhile, we need to reserve our rights."

I think EMI needs to reserve its last rites.

Like one of the commenters on the NPR site wrote, "Would they rather I download it for free illegally from a bit torrent client...instead of having my money from iTunes..."

Indeed. And record company suits wonder why their stupid industry is in the toilet. There's lots of fans who gladly would pay for this music.

Anyway, you can listen to the entire album -- or any track you want -- streaming on the NPR site.

And if you look hard enough on the web, (I haven't yet) I'm sure you can find illegal downloads of the album.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP:THE ANCIENT ONE AS TEX-MEX CROONER

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 22, 2009


In the twilight of his career, Bob Dylan is still making solid albums that are worth listening to and that spark passionate debate. Most important, as his new one, Together Through Life shows, it’s music worth debating.

It’s not his best album. Far from it.

Dylan’s throat is getting so froggy he’s starting to make Tom Waits sound like Beverly Sills (as if anyone ever listened to Dylan for his vocal abilities). Just to use examples from his (fairly) recent works, there’s nothing here that’s as deep as his chess game with Sgt. Death on Time Out of Mind, nothing as ominous as “High Water” or as funny as “Poor Boy.” But still, the new album is a sweet, sometimes-funny hobo journey into the hazy mists of American music.

As with his other 21st-century albums — Love & Theft (released on Sept. 11, 2001) and Modern Times (2006) — Dylan presents himself as a bluesman oracle, half Homer, half Howlin‘ Wolf. You can almost picture him as the blind bard in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, using simple tunes to offer otherworldly wisdom, popping up at opportune times on his railroad handcar. Or perhaps the Ancient One in the Doctor Strange comics — if the Ancient One sang in a Tex-Mex band.

Yes, there’s a distinctive Southwestern flavor on this record. Much of the credit for that belongs to Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, whose accordion colors just about every cut. On the song “This Dream of You,” Hidalgo’s accordion is there, as is a violin that will remind longtime Dylan fans of Scarlet Rivera’s playing on Desire.

Then on “I Feel a Change Comin’ On,” Dylan’s band sounds like Dylan & The Band on Planet Waves, with Hidalgo doing his best Garth Hudson and Mike Campbell (of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) doing his best Robbie Robertson.

“I’m listening to Billy Joe Shaver and I’m reading James Joyce,” Dylan sings here. “Some people they tell me I’ve got the blood of the lamb in my voice.” (I love that there’s a national dialogue about whether he’s singing “blood of the lamb” or “blood of the land” here. Either works.)

My favorites on the album are the rocking, blues-based numbers, such as the opening song (“Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ ”), “Jolene” (no, not the Dolly Parton song, though it could be about the same home-wrecking woman), “Shake Mama Shake,“ and “It’s All Good” — though, had God made me the producer of this album, I would have added a screaming sax to this last song.

Some have complained about Dylan lifting way too much from classic blues songs and claiming them as his own. For instance, “Beyond Here Lies Nothin’ ” owes much to Howlin’ Wolf’s “Who’s Been Talkin’,” “If You Ever Go to Houston” is a mutated version of “The Midnight Special,” and “My Wife’s Home Town” is so close to “I Just Want to Make Love for You” that a listener might suspect the bass line is sampled from Willie Dixon himself. This isn’t a new Dylan practice. “Rollin’ and Tumblin’ ” from Modern Times was even more blatant reworking.

I dunno. Maybe Dylan should have shared songwriter credits (and, who knows, perhaps copyright lawyers are poring over these tunes at this very moment). But for good or for ill, this “love and theft” is a time-honored American tradition. Willie Dixon himself, not to mention A.P. Carter, Woody Guthrie, and who knows how many others have been accused of taking hoary old folk melodies and motifs and melding them into their own. Dylan reignites these songs with his own crazy fire.

So here it is 2009. Dylan’s approaching 70. It’s been 40 years since Nashville Skyline and 30 since Slow Train Coming. Those weren’t Dylan’s greatest albums either, but all these years later we still remember them. And I still love “Lay Lady Lay” and “You Gotta Serve Somebody.” And we’re still listening to crusty old Bob. I wonder if we’ll still be doing this in 2019?

* This just in! Dylan, along with Willie Nelson and John Cougar Melencamp are scheduled to appear at the Journal Pavilion Aug. 9. Tickets go on sale May 30 and range from $79.50 to $29.50 (lawn tickets). They will be available at Live Nation.

* Roy Orbison lives! Well not really. But sometimes late at night during heartbreak hour, the lonely can hear his voice in the wind ...

And you can see and hear the bard of Wink, Texas, on the big screen when his great 1987 concert A Black and White Night is shown at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Saturday, May 23. His widow, Barbara Orbison, and “surprise guests” will be on hand to answer questions.

A Black and White Night, originally a Cinemax special on cable TV, featured Orbison with a super band including Bruce Springsteen, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and guitar super-stud James Burton. Big names aside though, the star here is Roy himself. He sings his greatest tunes, mainly from the early 1960s, and does justice to each one. Another treat is Orbison’s first recorded performance of “The Comedians,”a Costello song that sounds as if it were written with Orbison in mind.

Not only is the music solid, it’s almost worth the price of admission just to catch a glimpse of Orbison laughing at one of Waits’ bizarre organ solos.

The show was part of a well-planned Orbison comeback campaign that began when weirdo filmmaker David Lynch used Orbison’s “In Dreams” in one of the most intense scenes in Blue Velvet. To this day, I can’t hear the song without hearing Dennis Hopper as thl Frank Booth rasping menacingly, “In dreams I walk with you. In dreams I talk with you.” (In fact, sometimes I hear that when I’m not even listening to the song.)

So there was Blue Velvet, then A Black and White Night, and then Roy joined Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and others in the Traveling Wilburys. And then, in late 1988, at the age of 52, he died.

At the time, I wrote in Pasatiempo, “Roy Orbison is dead and the world is a cheaper and colder place because of it.”

I still believe that. Mercy!

* Roy Orbison and Friends: A Black and White Night shows at 7:30 p.m. at the Lensic, 211 W. San Francisco St., 988-1234, presented to benefit New Mexico Women in Film. Tickets are $20, available at the box office.