THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, July 31, 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
I'm Coming Home by Johnny Horton
Miss Froggie by Warren Smith
Hospital Escape/Time Flies by Scott H. Biram
Sleeping With the Enemy by Simon Stokes with Texas Terri
Calling in Twisted by The Rev. Horton Heat
Lift Your Leg by Joe Ely
High on a Mountain Top by Loretta Lynn
Crazy Pritty Baby by Heavy Trash
The Hucklebuck by The Riptones
I'm a Hobo by Danny Reeves

Don't Make Promises by Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women
Shakin' All Over by Eilen Jewel
Tennesse Jed by Levon Helm
Hittin' the Bottle Again by Waylon Jennings
Don't Sweep That Dirt on Me by Buddy Shaw
Good Gracious, Gracie by The Light Crust Doughboys

Pussy Pussy Pussy by Light Crust Doughboys
Big Black Cat by R.D. Hendon & The Western Jamboree Cowboys
The Great Car Dealer War by The Drive-By Truckers
She's a Little Randy by Patterson Hood
Country Love by The Gourds
Hey! Toughen Up! by Candye Kane
Wammo's Blues by The Asylum Street Spankers

Trail of Tears by Wayne Lavallee
White Freightliner Blues by Steve Earle
Working at Working by Wayne Hancock
The Problem by Beausoleil
Hemmingway's Whiskey by Guy Clark
The Deep End by Aimee Hoyt
What You Gonna Do Leroy by Buddy & Julie Miller with Robert Plant
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: CONTINUING REUNIONS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 31, 2009

How do you know if a band has been around too long? How do you know whether the latest rock ’n’ roll reunion is the true rebirth of magic or just another casino-circuit wonder? As this thing called rock lurches onward through its second half-century, these questions will arise more and more.

Two recently released albums by reconstituted rock groups might provide some insight into these issues. The latest efforts by Dinosaur Jr. and the newest incarnation of the New York Dolls show the pitfalls and the potential power of rock ’n’ roll longevity.

First the good news.

My initial thought upon hearing Dinosaur Jr.’s Farm was that these guys shouldn’t really still be sounding this great. But, it looks as if the reunion of J. Mascis and Lou Barlow a couple of years ago on their big comeback album Beyond was no fluke.

Truthfully, I should have known that was the case. When I saw the resurrected Dinosaur Jr. at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago last year, they were indeed mighty and — Mascis’ gray hair notwithstanding — they blew away most of the younger musicians. The band sounded far more vital than when I saw the 1993 version of Dinosaur Jr. — then at its commercial peak — at Lollapalooza.

A little background: Dinosaur Jr. started out in the mid-’80s when Mascis and Barlow were in high school in Amherst, Massachusetts. But by the end of the decade, the boyhood chums parted ways. Barlow went on to form Sebadoh, a highly respected indie band. Mascis carried on with Dinosaur, signing with a major label and, with his Neil-Young-Is-God guitar studsmanship, rode the crest of the grunge era.

While it lasted. Both Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh eventually flamed out. Mascis tried to carry on with a band called The Fog — a trio, centered around Mascis’ stormy guitar solos, which sounded pretty similar to Dino Jr. But hardly anyone paid attention.

Then in 2007, Mascis and Barlow apparently kissed and made up. With longtime Dino drummer Murph, they recorded Beyond, which was the best thing any of them had done in years. But if anything, Farm is even better than Beyond. Not only are they sounding strong as ever, Mascis and Barlow sound as if they actually are having a great time playing with each other.

Mascis remains the dominant frontman/songwriter, penning all but two of the tunes here and taking his trademark long, feedback-laden solos. But the sound is clearly a group effort. There’s frantic joy in all the songs here. My favorites are the upbeat opening cut “Pieces” and the epic “Said the People,” which starts out slow before building to epic Dinosaur Jr. fury by the end of the nearly eight-minute track.

But if the new/old Dinosaur Jr. is an example of the positive potential of the rock reunion, the new album by the New York Dolls — ’Cause I Sez So — helps make the argument that some iconic bands shouldn’t take the chance of messing with their reputations. About halfway through my first listen to this album, a terrible realization occurred. Most of this stuff would fit in just fine on any crappy classic rock station.

Please, God, no!

Back in the early ’70s the Dolls — like The Velvet Underground and The Stooges before them — were one of the primal influences on what would later be known as punk rock. They were loud and raunchy and proudly decadent — part Rolling Stones, part Shangri-Las.

Of course, they wouldn’t last long. The title of their second album summed it up: Too Much Too Soon. That was 1974. The band crumbled not long after that. The band wouldn’t release an album of new material (One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This) for another 32 years. By that time only two original members were still alive — singer David Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain.

(Note for Dolls fans: If you haven’t already seen the documentary New York Doll, which concerns the later years and death of original Dolls bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, get thee to a video store — or at least try Netflix. It’s one of the most touching rock bios I’ve ever seen.)

This is actually the third album by the latest version of the Dolls. Last year, there was Live at the Fillmore East December 28 & 29, 2007, a concert album consisting of all ’70s-era Dolls tunes except for a couple of tunes from One Day It Will Please Us. While that one was hardly an essential work, it showed the band in great form, ripping through the old “hits” with spirit and aplomb.

Unfortunately very little of that energy is evident on ’Cause I Sez So. Maybe producer Todd Rundgren — who also produced the first Dolls album — is partly to blame for this. There are just too many slow tunes, Springsteenish folk-rocky anthems, and faux-teenage ballads here.

Fortunately, there’s a handful of tracks in which you’ll find the old Dolls spirit fully intact. The title track is pretty rocking. Even better is “This Is Ridiculous,” a swampy blues with a delightfully obnoxious guitar hook. And they saved their best for last with “Exorcism of Despair.” It’s tough and snarling, fully Dolls-worthy.

But if the New York Dolls are going to continue, they’d better have an exorcism of mediocrity.

BRING ME THE HEAD OF PERE UBU

This has been going on for over a month, but I just got hip to the Pere Ubu podcasts. The fourth one was unleashed today.

Go HERE for the downloads. Below is the press release:

Chicago, IL, June 9, 2009 ­ Beginning June 16th, and then every two weeks until September 22nd, 2009, a scene from the first half of the radio play featuring the band Pere Ubu titled, "Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi" (Version 2), will be podcast for free download at hearpen.com. Pere Ubu¹s online-only record store, hearpen.com, is administered by Smog Veil Records.

This series of eight podcasts covers the first three acts of the six act radio play that was inspired by the songs on Pere Ubu's forthcoming Hearpen Records CD titled, Long Live Père Ubu!, (digital release via hearpen.com is available September 14, 2009). The idea to record a "radio play" was conceived as a way of managing the "silence" between songs in the concert set for the album so that the spoken word is manipulated and mixed with electronic ambience and transformed into a unique musical style of its own.

The script for the radio play, adapted by David Thomas from Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi (King Ubu), is also Version 2 of a theatrical production, featuring Pere Ubu, also called "Bring Me The Head Of Ubu Roi" that premiered in its original version at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London, April 25 and 26 2008.

Embedded in the podcasts are songs from the Long Live Père Ubu! album, as well as dialog and electronic ambience. Sarah Jane Morris (ex-Communards, Happy End) performs the role of Mère Ubu, partnering Thomas who performs as the character Père Ubu. Members of the band supply the voices of other characters in the play.

Jarry's proto-Absurdist stage play (which premiered in Paris in 1896) gave the band its name, and supplied the inspiration for the songs on Long Live Père Ubu! In its day the play provoked riots in the theatre and a national scandal. A vicious and satiric re-telling of Shakespeare's Macbeth, Jarry's work lambastes do-gooder monsters and the survival of the Unfit.

Pere Ubu is David Thomas on vocals, Keith Moliné on guitar, Robert Wheeler on EML synthesizer and theremin, Michele Temple on bass and Steve Mehlman on drums.

The eight scenes to be released episodically in the form of podcasts are:
1. Act 1 Scene 1 (5:04) Release date: June 16.
2. Act 1 Scene 2 (1:16) Release date: June 30.
3. Act 1 Scene 3 (6:07) Release date: July 14.
4. Act 2 Scene 1 (4:12) Release date: July 28 5. Act 2 Scene 2a (8:13) Release date: August 11.
6. Act 2 Scene 2b (3:20) Release date: August 25.
7. Act 2 Scene 3 (4:10) Release date: Sept 8.
8. Act 3 (4:07) Release date: Sept 22.

THE MOST TWISTED ANDY KAUFMAN PERFORMANCE EVER

This made me laugh harder than any other time I saw Andy on TV.

The show is Fridays, a Saturday Night Live rip-off in the early '80s. Several months before this appearance Kaufman created a stir by breaking character and refusing to do his lines in a skit. This led to a brawl with cast and crew members. Supposedly it was all a joke.

In this appearance, a cleaned-up Andy talks about changes in his life and introduces his "fiance," Kathie Sullivan a gospel singer who was a regular on the Lawrence Welk Show.

Yes, just like his "feud" with Jerry "The King" Lawler, it was a hoax. But here Andy proves he can stay in character. (Warning: The weirdness doesn't really start until about 5 minutes into this Youtube.)

(By the way, what's a "Monolouge"?)

QUOTE OF THE DAY: BILLY CHILDISH

From a recent interview with eMusic:

"... it isn't fun if it's going along with fashion. It's got to have vim and vigour, and things that are sanctioned don't, because they are being sanctioned to nurtur… No, to n… — what is it when you cut a thing's balls off? Neuter? That's what sanctioning is. To take the life out of it, emasculate it. That chap who died last week, Michael Jackson, yeah, he was like the emasculated James Brown. And that's meant to be some kind of victory!"