Johnny Cash Has His Own Postage Stamp

"With his gravelly baritone and spare percussive guitar, Johnny Cash had a distinctive musical
sound — a blend of country, rock 'n' roll and folk — that he used to explore issues that many other popular musicians of his generation wouldn't touch. His songs tackled sin and redemption, good and evil, selfishness, loneliness, temptation, love, loss and death. And Johnny explored these themes with a stark realism that was very different from other popular music of that time."

No, that's not a music historian. That's Dennis Toner, a member of the  U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors talking about the man in the black stamp.

Earlier this year, the Postal Service released a stamp for Mexican American singer singer Lydia Mendoza. Ray Charles is getting one later this year.

Happy Birthday Laurie Anderson

Laurie Anderson is 66 years old today.

Mr. Heartbreak still is the best album of the 1980s in my book.

Home of the Brave still is one of my favorite concert films of all time.

She is far too good for Lou Reed.

I met her once, at a Shalako ceremony at Zuni Pueblo in the mid 1980s. It was about 3 in the morning and all I could think of to say was "I'm one of your biggest fans." She didn't seem impressed.

Later that morning I saw her in a Shalako house. She as sitting down and one of the Mudheads running around nearly tripped over her.

A few months later I saw Home of the Brave at the old Jean Cocteau theater. Tell me her musicians in the clip below don't look like Mudheads. (Though I think the concert was actually shot before I saw her at Zuni.)

Play this full screen and turn it up:



Paging Mr. Sharkey, white courtesy telephone, please ....

New batch of eMusic Downloads

* The Gangster is Back by Johnny "Guitar' Watson. Back in the mid 70s, rock stations across this fair land began playing this smooth, funky tune with an amazing little blues guitar solo in the middle featuring this guy singing about his economic frustrations:

"I program computers /I know accounting and psychology / I took a course in business / And I can speak a little Japanese .../ Gotta work two years / To get one week off with pay /And when I’m on my job / I better watch every word I say ..."

                                                                           
The singer's name was Johnny "Guitar" Watson, and this oddball hit was called "Ain't That a Bitch." For most of us, Watson seemed to have come out of nowhere. But the truth is, the Houston-born bluesman had an impressive resume going back to the early days of R&B and rock 'n' roll.

The Gangster is Back is a compilation of some of his earliest recordings, including records he made for the Bihari Brother's RPM label, including "Johnny Guitar," "Hot Little Mama," "Too Tired" and "Don't Touch Me."

But his classic song from the 1950s, alluded to in the title of this collection, was "Gangster of Love," a song later covered by Johnny Winter, Steve Miller, The Grateful Dead, Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs (where I first heard it) and others.

The best line in the song, exemplifying Watson's cocky attitude, and arguably anticipating gangsa rap, was "The sheriff said, `Is your name Johnny 'Guitar' Watson?' in a very deep voice / And I said, "Yes sir, brother sheriff, and that's your wife on the back of my horse.'"

* With the Wild Crowd by The B52'S. Techno-goof lives! I'll admit I hadn't thought that much about the B-52s lately until I saw a recent tweet from the Dangerous Minds blog linking to a blog post titled "Only Assholes Don't Like The B-52s Part 6." I read that post, then followed the links and read the previous five parts. But before I even started, I realized, by cracky, he's right! 

I've loved this band since their first album came out. Back about 1980 or so, when there was a hot-tub business downtown called The Soak, my then-wife reserved us a tub room and told me to bring some romantic music. I was shocked that she got pissed at me for bringing a cassette of The B-52s' first album. What's not romantic about "Rock Lobster"?

This is a fairly recent (2011) live album by The 52s. I knew they're. Still touring in one form or another, but frankly, I was afraid that they'd devolved into a casino act. Well, it's true that the huge majority of the songs here are from the days of yore. But, performing before a hometown crowd in Athens, Ga., the band is on fire. Kate and Cindy sing their guts out and geeky old Fred exudes Frednicity all over you.

Plus, I like their new songs like "Love in the Year 3000," (Come on fellas, admit it. You've fantasized about "erotibots" who look like Kate and Cindy, right? ) "Funplex" and "Ultraviolet." In fact I've put their 2008 studio album Funplex on my "Saved" list for future consumption. 

* Re-Mit by The Fall. The Fall is an institution, or maybe a natural phenomenon. They'll probably never get popular, but who those of us who have heard the Call of The Fall, the world would not be the same without them.

To the truly initiated, The Fall is everywhere. Every time you hear a car crash, an explosion, a radio blaring static -- you hear Mark E. Smith ranting, cursing, making rude noises in the background.

It doesn't matter what he's saying. Even when you're able to make out the lyrics, good luck trying to decipher any "meaning."

What matters is that Mark E. is there.

This, by some counts, is The Fall's 30th studio album. Here's to 30 more. 

* Floating Coffin by Thee Oh-Sees.  This year is not even half-cooked yet, so it’s much too early to be declaring an album of the year.

But from my very first listen, I knew in my heart that Floating Coffin, the latest CD by Thee Oh Sees,would place high in my annual Top 10 list.

Sound familiar? I just slobbered all over this album in last Friday's Terrell's Tuneup.  Read the whole review HERE.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

'
Sunday, June 2, 2013 
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(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Little War Child by The Oblivians

Blackmail by The R.unaways

Night of Broken Glass by Jay Reatard

Detox by The Anomalys

Blue Green Olga by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Sonic Granitosis by The Grannies

Victrola Time by The Fall

Hard Lessons by The Manxx

Pray For Pills by The Dirtbombs

Tell Her No by The Zombies

Hooky Wooky by Lou Reed

I Dreamed I Met Lou Reed by Gregg Turner with Billy Bill Miller

She"s on Fire by King Tuff

Gun by Iggy & The Stooges

Discreet Disguise by King Khan & The Gris Gris

Stop it You're Killing Me by The Hickoids

Sweets Helecopter by Thee Oh Sees

Inca Roads by Frank Zappa

Come on Everybody by Stomping Nick & His Blues Grenade

Honey Don't by The Blues Against Youth

Yemen Efe by The Tony Grey Super 7

Gbe Keke Wo Taoc by The Psychedelic Aliens

I Hear Colors by The Black Angels

Sue Egypt by Captain Beefheart

Intro/ Vato Perron by Piñata Protest

Black Snake by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Wang Dang Doodle by P.J. Harvey

The House of Blue Lights by Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band

Hell Yeah by Neil Diamond

A Damned Good Thrashing by The Mobbs

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

R.I.P. Jean Stapleton

Actress Jean Stapleton, known best for her role as Archie Bunker's sweet, if not that bright, wife Edith on All in the Family, died Friday at the age of 90.

Here's her obit in The New York Times. And here's an enjoyable essay by Jack Marshall, declaring her an "ethics hero emeritus" in his Ethics Alarm blog.

And below is my own tribute, recorded in the early 1980s for the album Pandemonium Jukebox. That's my sister, Mary singing the "Edith" part with Bob Graybill on piano (or "showtune 88s" as we billed it at the time) and Tom Dillon on guitar intro.