THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 10, 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
Crazy Ex Boyfriend by Rev. Horton Heat
Endless Sleep by Tav Falco
Sing Me Back Home by The Chesterfield Kings
Country Hixes by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
It Was the Whiskey Talkin' (Not Me) by Jerry Lee Lewis
Love Letters by The Dex Romweber Duo
Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy by Uncle Dave Macon
There Goes My Everything by Jack Green
Christmas in the Honkytonks by Ethyl & The Regulars

Hopes Up High by Bill Hearne
Under Lock and Key by Gary Gorence
Loudmouth Cowgirls by Kim & The Cabelleros featuring (Chipper Thompson)
In the Jailhouse Now by Webb Pierce
Hey Thurman by The Gourds
Liza Pull Down the Shades by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Mean Mean Mama (from Meana) by The Light Crust Doughboys
Hong King by Chris Darrow
Blue Christmas Lights by Chris & Herb

Wreck on the Highway by The Waco Brothers
Gorgeous George by Ronny Elliot
He's in a Hurry by Johnny Paycheck
Big River by Johnny Cash
Heartaches by The Number by Roseanne Cash with Elvis Costello
Dark Enough at Midnight by Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Blues Keep Calling by Janis Martin
Hound Doggit Blues by Cordell Jackson
Christmas Ball Blues by Leon Redbone

The Great Car Dealer War by The Drive-By Truckers
Only You (Can Break My Heart) by Buck Owens
It's Four in the Morning by Faron Young
Back Home in Sulpher Springs by Norman & Nancy Blake
Midnight Stars and You by Wayne Hancock
Good Night Irene by John McKelvy
Be Real by Freda & The Firedogs
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: GIVE THE GIFT OF LOCAL MUSIC

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 11, 2009


Here are some suggestions for presents that will bring joy to your loved ones and help keep the Santa Fe music scene alive. I'm talking about the gift of local music.

A whole pile of CDs by bands and singers from the Santa Fe area were released in recent weeks and months. Fans can find the discs in local stores — at least I think there are a few places here that still sell CDs — or on the artists' Web sites and MySpace pages. Amazon, iTunes, and other online services sell works by several of the following artists. Or better yet, skip the middleman, go to their gigs, and buy the CDs in person.

* A Good Ride by Bill Hearne. Unlike most of Hearne's recent CDs, which focus on his love for hard-core honky-tonk, his newest one showcases his acoustic, folky side. It's not quite as danceable as his last few, but it does feature that great flat-picking that Hearne fans love. He performs songs by The Blasters (a sweet, sad "Border Radio"), Gordon Lightfoot, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, Ian Tyson, and Chuck not to mention a tune by Frogville label-mate Joe West ("I Remember Lovin' You") and one by former local picker John Egenes ("The Railroad Is Calling My Name"). Hearne's main musical partner on A Good Ride is the wonderful Don Richmond, who plays just about any stringed instrument you can name. But the best news is that on a couple of tracks he's backed by his main musical partner in life, wife Bonnie Hearne, who in recent years has been too ill to perform very much.

* Straight Ahead by Gary Gorence. And the winner of the 2009 track most likely to be mistaken for Creedence Clearwater Revival is ... "Change in the Weather" by John Fogerty. But coming in second is Gary Gorence's "Under Lock and Key," the first song from his new album. It's a cool, swampy rocker that will remind you of "Green River," "Born on the Bayou," and other Creedence tunes. Gorence is backed by his band, The Jakes, and the whole album is full of good, rootsy, country-and-blues-influenced working man's rockence is a decent storyteller, too, as he proves with "Monica's Mother." The CD release party for Straight Ahead starts at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, at Tiny's Restaurant & Lounge.

* Stephanie Hatfield & Hot Mess. If the music reminds you of Hundred Year Flood, there's good reason. HYF's Bill Palmer co-produced and plays guitar (and other instruments) on this hot mess and also wrote the opening song, "Suffer." But the real star of the album is Hatfield's soulful voice. My favorite tune here is the hard-rocking "Fishboy." Hey, they're playing New Year's Eve at the Cowgirl BBQ & Western Grill!

* Crooked by Jaime Michaels. Singer-songwriter Jaime Michaels is backed here on various cuts by some of Santa Fe's finest — Jono Manson (who also produced the album) on guitar, Sharon Gilchrist on mandolin, Mark Clark on drums, Peter Williams on bass, Tom Adler on banjo, and Ben Wright on guitar. And there are some appearances by some pretty impressive "outsiders," like Tejano accordion ace Joel Guzman, guitarist Andrew Hardin, and the Austin duo of Christine Albert (a singer formerly of Santa Fe) and Chris Gage (who plays a sweet, sad accordion on the title song).

* You Can Take a Child Out of the Ghetto But ... by Willy Magee. As you've probably noticed, all the other albums I've mentioned here are in the folk/country/blues/roots-rock vein. Not this. Here sweet Willy — who has played in numerous local bands, including Alex Maryol's — lays down funk, hip-hop, and sly humor. Magee played most of the instruments here himself. But on "Freakaholic," Lydia Clark plays keyboards and Jay "Rusty" Crutcher blows sax. And on "Woo You," Magee reveals his Marcia Brady fantasies.

* One Man's Music by Vince Bell. Twenty-seven years ago this month, singer-songwriter Bell, who moved to Santa Fe more than five years ago, was driving home from a recording session in Austin, Texas, that involved ideman named Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bell was broadsided by a drunk driver in a Ford Fairlane and thrown 50 feet from his car. "My right arm was not recognizable, and my liver had been forced out of my midsection and onto the pavement. There was substantial injury to my spinal cord and brain. I would have scar tissue in my eyeballs as a result of lying in gasoline," Bell wrote. But he lived — despite a premature report in the Austin American-Statesman to the contrary (an error that, as a reporter, made me cringe nearly as much as the description of Bell's injuries).

And he's still making music, as demonstrated by this album, released earlier this year along with Bell's autobiography of the same name (published by the University of North Texas Press). The CD features Bell on vocals and Ned Albright on piano. The music is sparse and haunting, perfect background music for reading the book, which deals not only with the accident but also with his years of recovery, both physical and mental.

NEW ADVENTURES IN LALA LAND

The last couple of days I've been listening to my digital music collection on Lala.com. I've uploaded about 30,000 songs -- some of those are duplicates, which I'm trying to weed out, though that's a pretty tedious task.

I first signed up at Lala about three years ago when it mainly was a CD swapping service. (I wrote a Tuneup column about that, which you can see HERE. A couple of updates: Since writing that I have received several unplayable CDs. Also I eventually located Surfin’ in Harlem by Swamp Dogg and The Electric Prunes’ Stockholm 67.)

Eventually the CD-trading aspect of Lala dried up. The last CD that was supposed to be sent to me never arrived.

But recently I've been noticing that when I'm searching for information about a particular song on Google, many times it results in a playable full version from Lala right at the top of the page. Lala has evolved into a major music streaming service. That means, you can listen to your entire music collection from any computer anywhere.

And then there was the recent news that Apple has purchased Lala -- some speculate as a vehicle to make iTunes more Web friendly.

There some bugs in Lala, however. Apparently when it scans your music collection, some of the songs that end up in your Lala collection are a little different.

For instance, The Cramps' version of "Heartbreak Hotel" somehow turned into a rather blah instrumental version. And "Murder's Crossed My Mind" a dark, folkish tune by my Brooklyn friend Desdemona Finch somehow got translated into a hair-metal screamer.

Oh well, surprises are good sometimes.

My Lala profile is HERE. (Some of you will remember the pseudonym I'm using there)

My Radio Shows on YouTube

This was put together by KSFR News Director Bill Dupuy who did some others as well for the special one-day KSFR fund-raiser this Thursday.

Speaking of which, BC of Blue Monday and I will be doing a shift together from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, so do tune in 101. FM or stream us on the Web . And most important, GIVE US YOUR MONEY!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 6, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Jackyard Backoff by The Cramps
Rebel Woman by Dean Carter
Ballad of the Fogbound Pinhead by Thee Headcoats
Heart Attack and Vine by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
Jimmy the Exploder by The White Stripes
Busted by The Black Keys
I Loved Her So by Me & Them Guys
Easy Action by The Sons of Hercules
Built For Comfort by Gary Farmer & The Trouble Makers
Deck the Halls with Parts of Charlie by The Cryptkeeper

King of Beers by Too Much Joy
The Shape of Things to Come by The Ramones
Blues That Defy My Soul by Dex Romweber
Psilocybin Explosion by Marshmallow Overcoat
DTs or The Devil by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
One Fine Day by Rev. Beat-man
Death Metal Guys by The Rev. Horton Heat
Old Time Religion by Rev. James Cleveland & The Gospel Chimes
American Wedding by Gogol Bordello

Gabbin' Blues by Big Mabelle with Rosemary McCoy
Sugar Farm by T-Model Ford
Kissing Tree by Barrence Whitfield
Comin' Round the Mountain by Hound Dog Taylor
Return of the Mantis by The Hydes
Vague Information by King Automatic
Reml by Tin Huey
Step Aside by Sleater-Kinney
Jingle Bell Rock by The Fall

Ghost of a Texas Ladies' Man by Concrete Blonde
Find Me a Home by The Detroit Cobras
My Little Problem by The Replacements with Johnette Napolitano
Brand New Man by The Fuzztones
Spider's Web by Stan Ridgway & Pietra Wexstun
The O-Men by The Butthole Surfers
Big Fat Mama by Mississippi Fred McDowell
The Parting Glass by Tommy Makem & The Clancy Brothers
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

eMUSIC DECEMBER

* Johnny Cash Sings The Ballads Of The American Indian: Bitter Tears. I had this on LP when I was a kid and I've been meaning to buy a CD for years. But I was inspired to download the album after reading this article in Salon about Cash, Ira Hayes, Peter LaFarge, Bitter Tears, a clueless music industry (thank God that's all been cleared up by 2009) and Tricky Dick.

It's a sad album. It's one of the angriest albums released on a major label in the '60s -- especially the early '60s. It's all about broken promises, broken lives, damned rivers and damned peoples and Goddamn you, Great White Father, anyway.

And yet, there's a sweet ray in humor -- albeit black humor in one song: Cash's "tribute" to General George Armstrong Whazisname. "I can tell you, Buster, I ain't a fan of Custer/And the general he don't ride well any more."

And hey, isn't the melody of "Drums" a lot like that of "Running Bear"?

* The Whole Fam Damnily by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band. This trio from Indiana is a damn family -- The Rev plays slide guitar, the Mrs. plays washboard and the brother plays drums.

And hey, they got Jon Langford to do the album cover!

It's a hopped-up homage to raw country blues, a pig sloppin;, snake-stompin' romp. You might hear a little Scott H. Biram in here, maybe some Legendary Shack Shakers, definitely some Southern Culture on the Skids influence.

But the lyrics, at least in several songs, are modern. True, the message of "Wal-mart Killed the Country Store" has been spouted by many a coffee house whiner. But "Your Cousin's on Cops" -- reportedly based on true Peyton family history -- is one of a kind.

And here's some good news, especially for those of us who missed them when they first played Santa Fe several months ago: Rev. Peyton and the family is playing the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Sunday, Jan. 31. I missed him last time he was here so I'm hoping to make it this time.

* Fall Be Kind by Animal Collective. Sometimes I have these weird time-travel fantasies about going back to the late 50s or early '60s and playing some of my favorite music for the folks. In some, my better angels prevail. I want to play stuff like, say, Rev. Peyton to assure people that good American roots music will survive in the 21st Century.

But sometimes my darker angels have the upper hand and I want to fuck with them. I'd play them Animal Collective and tell them that the aliens had invaded the Earth. And that they'd won.

Of course, the befuddled earthlings of the past probably would think I was talking about aliens who worshiped Brian Wilson.

Just a few months after releasing their album Merriweather Post Pavilion comes this 5-song EP. There's nothing as sweet and euphoric as "My Girls" from MPP. But just when you're floating along the cosmic plane on the opening song "Graze" and think you might you have it figured out ... ZAP! Of of the sudden you're in the middle of a weird Teutonic, cartoonic flute solo. For some reason it brings back strange memories of this coin-operated puppet show they used to have in arcades. The aliens have lost, and, at least for a few moments, the puppets have won.


* My Shit Is Perfect by Bob Log III Here's one of the most fun one-man bands out there.

This is just good down-home stomping blues with Log’s trademark distorted vocals (he performs in a motorcycle helmet making him look like some demented Power Ranger) and some scattered electronic embellishments.

I reviewed this album in a recent Terrell's Tune-up. If you missed my words of wisdom, check it HERE


* Invisible Girl by The King Khan & BBQ Show. What distinguishes this dynamic duo from all the other punk/blues bashing two-man outfits out there is its anchor in raw doo-wop. Your basic punk-rock roar is colored by some Ruben & The Jets/Sha Na Na/rama-lama-ding-dong silliness, but the music is based on some seriously pretty melodies and occasional sweet harmonies.

My favorites are the ones where Mark "BBQ" Sultan’s high voice soars, such as “I’ll Be Loving You” and “Tryin’.” Sometimes he sounds like a more ragged Sam Cooke.

I also reviewed this album in that recent Terrell's Tune-up. You can see the whole shebang HERE.

Plus

* 6 tracks I didn't already have from Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful by The Waitresses. Recently discovering Tin Huey, which included Chris Butler, the songwriter and guitarist who conceived of The Waitresses re-sparked my interest in this long defunct Ohio band.

I was fortunate enough to get to see The Waitresses in Pasadena in May 1982. (I was out in California promoting Picnic Time for Potatoheads with my pals Alec and Rich, who owned the Potatohead van. Besides seeing The Waitresses, the most we got accomplished in the L.A. area was getting kicked out of the Capitol Records Building and getting propositioned by hookers at a Malibu sushi joint.)

I'd never heard of The Waitresses until a few days before, but KROQ was playing "No Guilt" continuously -- and "I Know What Boys Like" slightly less frequently. And unlike most songs played continuously on the radio, I didn't start hating it. In fact I still like it more every time I hear it. And I still grin every time Patty Donahue says "Sucker!" near the end of "I Know What Boys Like."

(We dropped a copy of Potatoheads by KROQ, but I don't think they ever played it.)

About the songs off this, The Waitress' 1982 debut, are on the CD The Best of The Waitresses, which I've had for years. Nice to see the full album available.

* Nine tracks from The Kids Are All Square - This Is Hip|Girlsville by Thee Headcoats and Thee Headcoatees. Billy Childish can get more use from basic Kingsmen/Kinks/Bo Diddley riffs than George Washington Carver could for the peanut. Thee Headcoats, his band from the late '80s until the early part of this century perhaps was his best.

The songs here include, not one, not two, not three, but four songs dealing with the American frontier -- an irreverent yang to the righteous ying of Johnny Cash's "Bitter Tears," though Cash's "Custer" would fit in with these songs.

There's Thee Headcoatees' "Davy Crockett," (which I didn't download because I already had it from another compilation) set to the tune of "Farmer John." In "Cowboys Are Square" Wild Billy takes the side of the Indians. "Pocahontas Was Her Name" is far cooler than any song used in the Disney movie. Then, heading up to frozen north, "Nanook of the North" is yet another fantasy about falling in love with a Native girl. ("I killed a pack of wolves with my frost-bitten hands/Just to prove to her I was a mighty mighty man.") It would be a good companion with Hank Thompson's "Squaws Along the Yukon."

But not all the songs are hysterically historical. One of my favorites is "Ballad of the Fogbound Pinhead." It's just a simple put-down song. "He never ever knew right from wrong/Never knew the words to a Headcoats song."

This basically is a two-album combo. I didn't have enough credits this period to get Girlsville, the second album, which is by Thee Headcoatees (Thee Headcoats' ladies auxiliary). I'll pick that up next week when my account recharges.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 4, 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
Please Don't Take the Baby to the Liquor Store by The Rev. Horton Heat
Doghouse Blues by Wayne Hancock
Change in the Weather by John Fogerty
Cotton Fields by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Rockin' Granny by Nancy Apple
Little Bells by Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Hot Dog That Made Him Mad by Carolyn Marks & The Roommates
Silver Threads and Golden Needles by Wanda Jackson

Big Mamou by Waylon Jennings
You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover by Sleepy LaBeef
Good Lovin' by Quarter Mile Combo
It's the Law by Bob Log III
Poor Little Critter on the Road by Trailer Bride
Mud by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Pontiac Joe by The Electric Rag Band
Darlin' by Jimmy Dale
Billy the Kid by Jacques & The Shakey Boys
Sal's Got a Meatskin by Cliff Carlisle

Border Radio by Bill Hearne
Jubilee Train by The Blasters
Monica's Mother by Gary Gorence
One Hour Mama by Maria Muldaur
Sadie Green (The Vamp of New Orleans) by Roy Newman & His Boys
Suits Are Picking Up the Bill by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Horse Doctor Come Quick by Corb Lund
Rabbits Don't Ever Get Married by Hank Penny

Droppin' Out by Ron Haydock & The Boppers
Lovesick Blues by Artie Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
Barn Dance Rag by Bill Boyd & His Cowboy Ramblers
Wrong Side of the Tracks by Guy Clark
Oil in My Lamp by The Byrds
Why Me Lord by Johnny Cash
The Birth of Jesus by Clarence Fountain & Sam Butler
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: THE DIN OF THE TIN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 4, 2009

It’s strange that one of the most exciting, innovative, and all-around crazy albums released this year was recorded in the late ’70s.

I’m talking about the “new” CD Before Obscurity: The Bushflow Tapes by the long-defunct Akron, Ohio, band Tin Huey.

Tin Huey rose from the same weird Midwestern creative ether as its homeboys Devo and Pere Ubu from nearby Cleveland.

Some people will be drawn to this record — consisting of previously unreleased live recordings and Huey rarities — because it features early work by sax maniac Ralph Carney, who has blown on some of Tom Waits’ finest albums along with guest shots with The B-52s, Ubu, Elvis Costello, The Black Keys, and many others. (Recently he’s been touring with They Might Be Giants.) Though best known for sax, Carney also plays clarinet, flute, guitar, harmonica, keyboards, Jew’s harp, and who knows what else.

Tip your Waitress: But it wasn’t Carney who first attracted me to Tin Huey. It was Huey singer/guitarist/Chris Butler and Huey’s connection with another Ohio band — The Waitresses. Butler was basically the brains behind The Waitresses, a band that rose to a short but well-deserved glory in the great New Wave scare of the early ’80s.

Fronted by singer Patty Donahue, whose hilariously whiny, disengaged-punk-chick, proto-Valley Girl voice epitomized the music of that era, The Waitresses actually had a hit with a song called “I Know What Boys Like,” which you can find on just about any Best of New Wave compilation in bargain bins across this great land. Butler wrote or co-wrote virtually every song Donahue ever sang with the group.

Some have dismissed The Waitresses as a one-hit-wonder or an ’80s novelty band. But if you ever saw them live (I did, at Perkins’ Palace in Pasadena in May 1982) or listened to their albums, you know that their music was strange and deceptively complex. There was a definite Zappa/Beefheart influence, as was the case with Tin Huey. The Waitresses had a sax player named Mars Williams who was a crazy performer — though, recently re-rereading the liner notes of The Best of The Waitresses CD, I realized that Carney, not Williams, played sax on “I Know What Boys Like” and sax and harmonica on my personal favorite Waitresses tune, “No Guilt.”

The first song on Before Obscurity is an early version of “Heat Night,” which would appear on The Waitresses’ first album, Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful. But even better for Waitresses’ fans is “The Comb.” It’s a live performance featuring Donahue on lead vocals. Butler considers this to be the birth of The Waitresses — it was the first time he and Donahue performed together in public. For devotees of Donahue, who died of lung cancer in 1996, this alone will make Before Obscurity mandatory listening. It’s a sweet reminder of her cool persona.

But wait, there’s more: Even without the Waitresses connection, there’s lots to love about Before Obscurity. I already mentioned the debt to Zappa and Beefheart and common cultural roots with Devo and Pere Ubu.

There’s some obvious proto-punk influence, most apparent in the group’s cover of The Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (which must have been recorded on or around April 21, as they begin the track singing “Happy Birthday” to Iggy). You can also hear some Velvet Underground, and there’s probably a Television influence, especially on the song “Return Engagement.” (I thought I heard a little Mission of Burma here, but that’s not likely, because that band from Boston didn’t release its first recording until 1981. Must have been something in the air.)

Even though Huey was obscure, I wouldn’t be surprised if some musical acts that came later were hip to the group. Listen to Mr. Bungle, for instance, and you might hear echoes of Tin Huey. A few nights ago, when the Huey tune “Remi” came up on random shuffle mode on my iTunes, at first I thought it was Primus — but with an arrangement by Tom Waits. (This track is actually credited to “Ralph Carney & Friends,” with an explanation that the friends include “one or more Hueys.”)

“Pink Berets” is a dated political spoof about letting women into the military (there’s a reference to the ERA. Don’t know what that was, kids? Look it up!). The punch line is, “Now I’m a boy in the USO.” (I prefer the spoof from the early '90s by Santa Fe's Jim Terr: "The Ballad of the Queen Berets.")

Here’s a disclaimer for the last four tracks on the album: they are best listened to if you’re a longtime fan, musicologist, or flirting with unconsciousness. (I wonder how many people fall into all three categories.) These are lo-fi live recordings of the band, apparently without Butler or Carney. Though not truly representative of Tin Huey’s sound, it’s good rocking fun.

Free Huey: Do check out the band's Web site. There you’ll find a free MP3 of a cover of Talking Heads’ “Don’t Worry About the Government.”

WEASELS "DEFEND" KOOKABURRA

Speaking of reasons to despise the music industry, I heard a report on NPR tonight that got me pig-bitin' mad.

Weasels in the Land Down Under!

It seems some Australian music publishing company is suing Colin Hay and Ron Strykert of the early '80s band Men at Work claiming copyright violation. Oh no, did The Men steal "Down Under" from somewhere?

Well, not the whole song. But if you listen close to a little flute part between verses you'll hear a little snatch of "Kookaburra" -- you know, the kiddie song about the bird who sits in the old gum tree.

Apparently that's a copyrighted song, written by an Australian school teacher in 1934. In the NPR piece you'll hear an Aussie lawyer explain, "Kookaburra' is a four-bar song. Over half that song is used in 'Down Under,' which is the test of law."

As NPR reporter Neda Ulaby points out, half of four bars is two bars!

Next we'll hear that Larrikin Music Publishing is coming after this little music pirate.



And here's The Men from the early days of MTV:

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

Thanks to a Twitter pal (was that you, T. Tex?) I stumbled across this loathsome tale of music industry weaselry.

It's a blog post by Tim Quirk lead singer of long defunct band Too Much Joy. (I've played songs like "King of Beers," "Long Haired Guys From England" and of course their wonderful cover of "Seasons in the Sun" for years on Terrell's Sound World -- and I saw them live once at South by Southwest circa 1995).

Anywho, Tim dissects his royalty statement from Warner Brothers and makes a pretty good case that it's, well, not that accurate.

... I am conflicted about whether I am actually being a petty jerk by pursuing this, or whether labels just thrive on making fools like me feel like petty jerks. People in the record industry are very good at making bands believe they deserve the hundreds of thousands (or sometimes millions) of dollars labels advance the musicians when they’re first signed, and even better at convincing those same musicians it’s the bands’ fault when those advances aren’t recouped ...

Read the whole thing HERE.

Meanwhile, here's a little Too Much Joy:

Seasons in the Sun - Too Much ...

(And to learn about Too Much Joy's bizarre relationship with Newt Gingrich CLICK HERE.)