Friday, Sept. 30, 2016 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Swamp Fox by Southern Culture on the Skids
Jump in the River by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Shot a Bird, Hit Me a Stump by Pete Krebs & Danny Barnes
Hold the Phone by Hank Penny
What a Woman Wants by Rhonda Vincent
Lampshade On by The Dustbowl Revival
Inside View by Dale Watson
Small Bouquet of Roses by Wayne Hancock
Little Community Church House by The Boys from Indiana
Satan's Jeweled Crown by The Louvin Brothers
John D. Loudermilk Tribute
Break my Mind by The Flying Burrito Brothers
I Wish It Were Me by Homer Henderson
Bad News by Johnny Cash
Tobacco Road by Southern Culture on the Skids
Sittin' in the Balcony by Eddie Cochran
Heartaches by the Number by Willie Nelson
Don't Stay Away 'Til Loves Grows Cold by Brennen Leigh
Pigsville by The Waco Brothers
Death Penalty Set
Sing Me Back Home by Merle Haggard
The Green Green Grass of Home by Kelly Hogan
They're Hanging Me Tonight by Marty Robbins
Turn it On, Turn it On, Turn it On by Tom T. Hall
Tom Dooley by Bobby Bare
Karla Faye by Audrey Auld
Sam Hall by Tex Ritter
Me and Rose Connelly by Rachel Brooke
Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair by David Bromberg
Lay My Lily Down by Bob Weir
Sweet Mama by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
He Calls That Religion by Maria Muldaur
I Threw Your Picture Away by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Joint Band
Happy birthday to Ms. Moon Unit Zappa, author, actor and the eldest daughter of
Frank Zappa.
She turns 48 today.
Fans of Frank Zappa had known of her years before she became a household name in
the early 1980s. (Usually she was mentioned in conversations among fans that
provoked reactions like "He named his kids what????")
Then in 1982 Moon became famous at the age of 14 because of a wild novelty song
called "Valley Girl" in which little Moon ripped to shreds the empty-headed
chatter of her San Fernando Valley peers. But to the consternation of Zappa --
and his daughter-- across this glorious land teenage knuckleheads assumed the
Zappas were celebrating Valley girl culture, not mercilessly mocking it.
Here's a Solid Gold lip-sync version of the song by Moon with dancing
girls (and no Frank.)
But those of us who watched the interviews it was clear that even as a teen,
Moon had a similar deadpan, irreverent wit as her dad.
Here they are on Late Night With David Letterman. Letterman basically
begins the interview asking "You named your kids what????"
"Valley Girl" wasn't her only song though. Here she is with brother Dweezil on a
song she co-wrote with Steve Vai called "My Mother is a Space Cadet."
Moon still has her understated humor and story-telling talent. Here's a recent
appearance on
Back Fence PDX where she
talks about her quest to lose her virginity. It starts out funny, but ends up
being a bittersweet, poignant tale.
What better than a novelty record than a novelty record of a novelty record
and that is what we have here. Some Hawaiians lead by Will Moku take Frank
& Moon Unit Zappa's Valley Girl and infuse it with some local lingo and
slap some local geography on it and ta-da Palolo Valley Girl. Did a little
digging around and found some info that makes some sense of this record.
Will Moku was a popular dejay (real name William Saragosa, died in 2004 at
the age of 47) and guitarist. He had a 13 year run at KQMQ, where he came up
with Palolo Valley Girls. Surround yourself with enough novelty records and
pretty soon you figure out that most of them are done by disc jockeys. And
that is really all I have to say.
You can listen when you CLICK HERE
But this only begs the question: Why didn't anyone in New Mexico write a spoof
called "Espanola Valley Girls"?
It all started back in 1916 ... (or was it 2008?) with a cheap HP laptop and a dream ...
I'd recently become a member of the GaragePunk Hideout and a big fan of wild and wondrous podcasts that were an integral part of that online musical community. Having produced two late-night radio shows for more than a decade at KSFR in Santa Fe, I thought I'd try my hand at this newfangled podcast thing. I slapped together my first show -- using an old recording of one of my old Halloween radio shows, I slapped together my first podcast. About a month later I put together an original show.
And I've been going ever since. Welcome to the 100th Big Enchilada Podcast.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016 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
Here's the playlist OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres Jesus' Chariot by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Sex House by The Rockin' Guys
Straight, Hard and Long by Meet Your Death
Stone Fruit by The Grannies
32 by The Gospel Truth
Rabble Rouser by The Upper Crust
Ice Queen by J.J. & The Real Jerks
Pablo Picasso by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Monkey with Your Tail by The Cramps
Son of the Devil by D.D. Owen
Ain't You Hungry by James Leg
21 and Counting by The Mystery Lights
Whizz #7 by The Shackles
Jammed Entrance by Thee Oh Sees
Young Miss Larsen by The Color
John D. Loudermilk Mini Memorial
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye by The Casinos
Norma by NRBQ
You Call it Joggin' by Mose Allison
Mr. Muggles by Johnny Dowd
Mad Love by The Giant Blue Zeta Puppies
Fire Engine by The Molting Vultures
Ate O Osso by Horror Deluxe
House on Fire by The Electric Mess
Summer Boyfriend by The Manxx
Comb Your Hair by Lovestruck
Comin' Round the Mountain by Hound Dog Taylor
Let's Get Funky by Elvin Bishop
Hound Dog by 68 Comeback
Nightide by Dex Romweber
Take Me for a Little While by Miriam
Innocent When You Dream by Kazik Staszewski Georgia Lee by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Sept. 23, 2016 Like the best albums by The Handsome Family, their latest one, Unseen, is a literary as well as a musical adventure. With lyrics by Rennie Sparks and melodies and most of the vocals by her husband, Brett Sparks, this record is not just a collection of sweet country tunes. It’s full of amazing stories, unforgettable images, and echoes of ancient myths in contemporary contexts.
Recorded at the couple’s home studio in Albuquerque, Unseen starts out with a modern outlaw ballad called “Gold.” Brett sings:
Got a tattoo of a snake and a ski mask on my face/But I woke up in a ditch behind the Stop ‘n’ Go/Lying in the weeds with a bullet in my gut, watching dollar bills fly away in the dust.”
The Handsomes don’t give us the full story on how this stick-up went awry. All we know is that this criminal mastermind is dying in some vacant lot and thinking about that girl with dark eyes who somehow led to his demise.
“The Silver Light” is a snapshot of a casino, a “forest of slot machines” with flashing lights, cigarettes, all-you-can-eat buffets, and old men with oxygen tanks dropping quarters in slot machines. That sounds pretty depressing, but the sweet dobro picking of longtime Handsome crony Dave Gutierrez makes it easy to imagine it as a happy saloon singalong.
The New Mexico State Fair should turn “Tiny Tina” into an ad next year. Brett and Rennie sing with childlike innocence about going to the fair; riding the Tilt-A-Whirl; eating chili dogs, funnel cakes, and fried beer; and “shooting water guns at grinning clowns.” But they have one huge regret: For some reason they didn’t go see Tiny Tina, “the world’s smallest horse,” and it only cost a dollar. “Why didn’t I go see that little horse?”
“The Sea Rose” is a sailor legend, similar to that of mermaids or sirens. A mariner hears the call of this sexy mirage beckoning him to join her and marry her in the seaweed. Even more mysterious is “The Red Door,” which sounds like some long-lost song by The Band with the late Richard Manuel channeling New Orleans R&B. It’s about a beautiful woman with implied supernatural origins.
One of the most memorable songs on Unseen is “Back in My Day,” the Sparks’ take on nostalgia. “We had maps that unfolded back in my day/You could drink from the river/We had gods made of clay.”
At first it seems as if they’re making fun of old coots bellyaching about the good old days. But Rennie Sparks would never write something that obvious. Instead, it seems she’s expressing a yearning for the good old days from an invisible world none of the rest of us have ever seen.
The next time I hear some vinyl fetishist yammering about the superiority of LPs and 45s, I’ll be tempted to sing these lines from this song: “And music sounded better. We recorded on rings of ice/And as the songs turned to water we couldn’t help but cry.”
Let the Handsome Family’s songs turn to water in your brain so that strange but beautiful plants can grow inside there. Also recommended:
* Execute American Folklore by Johnny Dowd. You might not hear any obvious similarities between The Handsome Family and Dowd, but both appeared in a wonderful 2003 documentary by musician Jim White called Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.
Dowd, in fact, was touted as “alternative country” when his first album was released in the late ’90s. The first time I saw him live was at a party for No Depression magazine at the famed Austin honky-tonk the Broken Spoke.
But the only thing that sounds remotely country about Dowd on his last several albums is his Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, drawl.
This new album is much closer to hip-hop or electronica — though commercial radio stations devoted to those formats are no more likely to play this album than is your basic hot new country station. And some songs are infused with Latin touches (what might be described as a Martian mambo) or even metal. Truth be told, Johnny Dowd doesn’t really sound much like anyone but Johnny Dowd.
And I happen to love that sound. Here Dowd himself plays all the instruments — except the instrument named Anna Coogan, who sings background vocals on several songs and lead vocals on one. Dowd mostly speaks rather than sings his lyrics.
There are some doozies on Execute American Folklore. He dedicates the ultra funky “Last Laugh” to his mother, “a union maid if ever there was one.” In the song, however, his mom is a call girl. But the story, laced with Biblical imagery, actually deals with some bitter loser — lots of Dowd protagonists fall into this category — plotting unspecified revenge against those who have wronged him.
“Sexual Revolution” is not about the joy of sex. Dowd recites a tale of a frustrated man whose cheating wife leaves him in a sad world where “pornographic fantasies infect my brain, filling me up with guilt and shame.”
Then in the deceptively upbeat “Whiskey Ate My Brain,” the singer catalogs his physical and mental deterioration. “Cancer ate my liver, God’s an Indian giver … Cocaine ate my nose, I can’t smell the roses.”
Coogan steps out front in “Brains-a-flame,” which sounds like Dowd has been listening to the old Brazilian psychedelic Tropicália band Os Mutantes. She sings about her dream man who “chain-smokes my heart three packs a day/He’s like a bad habit who won’t go away.”
In the closing track, “A World Without Me,” built on the classic “Louie Louie”/”Hang on Sloopy” hook, Dowd muses about the fact that memories of his life will quickly fade.
But the song only makes me fantasize about archaeologists in a future century stumbling across a cache of Dowd albums, prompting them to write surreal theories about life in the early 21st century.
Some videos for yas
Here's "Gold" from The Handsome Family. This one has some nice footage of East Central in Albuquerque.
Another favorite from Unseen
Here's some live Johnny Dowd with his latest band The Sex Robots. (You might want to skip the first 20 seconds or so. Weird buzz before the song starts.) Despite what the YoutTube title says, this is "Whisky Ate My Brain."
Anna Coogan steps out front with "Brains A Flame."
And just for the heck of it, here's the trailer for Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.
Here's one of those corny old songs from my childhood that everyone should know.
"She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" was taught in kindergarten. It was sung in cartoons and was the title of an Abbott & Costello movie. Mitch Miller & The Gang invited you to sing along with it. Barney the Dinosaur did his own take on it.
I never paid the song much mind actually. I was never quite sure who the "she" in the song was and why everyone seemed so excited that she was coming. Was this some kind of mail-order bride for some horny cowboy in some Old West town?
But it took a record by Neil Young a just a few years ago to make me realize that there was something much deeper -- much spookier going on here.
The song we know comes from a slave spiritual called "When the Chariot Comes." In Neil's version on his 2012 Americana album it's titled "Christ's Chariot."
Some of the verses start out:
King Jesus, he'll be driver when she comes ... She'll be loaded with bright Angels when she comes . . . . She will take us to the portals when she comes . . . .
I like the way that this article in Cracked describes it:
"When the Chariot Comes" and, by extension, "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," are both songs about the Rapture -- the day when Jesus comes back to earth to play favorites. "She" actually refers to the chariot he'll be riding down to bring about the End of Days. ... Christ's big ol' Rapturous Red Flyer. So there you have it: That merry old-timey prospector song your kids are singing out in the yard is actually rejoicing about the imminent death of all humanity.
I couldn't find any old, old versions of "When the Chariot Comes." But here folksinger Roy D. Durrence does this recreation.
Carl Sandburg was the first to publish the song his 1927 book, The American Songbag.
Here's Ramblin' Tommy Scott, an old medicine show singer, playing a nice and lively version of it.
This Famous Studios Screen Songs cartoon below might be the first place I ever heard "Comin' Ruond the Mountain."
The saucy school marm in this version will be "lookin' for a feller" when she comes. "She don't want no city slicker, just a man who holds his liquor."
The actual song -- with the bouncing ball --starts at about the 4:19 mark.
Fast forward to the mid '70s and bluesman Hound Dog Taylor turned it into a hopped-up house-rockin' instrumental
Around that time Funkadelic took it to the funky cosmos, calling out to the Mother Ship.
Finally here's that monstrous version by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Bill Murray is 66 years old today. He was born in Evanston, Ill.
Let's honor him in song with some of his classic bits as Nick the Lounge singer. (His last name changed depending on where he was playing.) Decades after Murray left Saturday Night Live, Nick remains one of the most popular that show ever produced.
Rolling Stone wrote of Nick: "For all his schmaltz, Murray put real heart and soul into this crooner — no matter how miserable the dump where he's singing, he wants to win the audience's love, one rendition of the Star Wars theme at a time."
This clip allegedly is the first Nick sketch ever -- before Saturday Night Live when Murray was part of the Second City comedy troupe.
Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016 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
Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Mean Evil Child by The Raunch Hands
Jack Pepsi by TAD
The Tasteless Blues by Musk Ain't You Hungry by James Leg
My Baby Does the Bird by Deke Dickerson & The Trashmen Amazons and Coyotes by Simon Stokes
Where Wolf by Gino & The Goons
Whiskey and Wimmin by John Lee Hooker & Canned Heat
Jump into the Fire by Psychic TV
Last Laugh by Johnny Dowd
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
Skylab by The Grannies
CIrcus by Left Lane Cruiser
The Gay Pirate Dance by Ray Stevens
Get the Wow by Shonen Knife
Going South by Dead Moon
Let's Get Funky by Hound Dog Taylor
Flat Foot Flewzy by NRBQ
Standing on the Verge of Getting It On by Funkadelic
I've Been Watching You (Move Your Sexy Body) by Parliament
Little War Child by Oblivians
Shady Grove by Quicksilver Messenger Service
The Thin Man by Archie & The Bunkers
Go Home Girl by Frank Black & Gary U.S. Bonds
Sinnerman by Nina Simone
Smile by Dex Romweber
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Sept. 16, 2016 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell with special guest co-host Scott Gullett 101.1 FM