Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Satan's Bride by Gregg Turner (see video at bottom of page)
Frankenstein by New York Dolls
Walking on My Grave by Dead Moon
Idol With the Glowin' Eyes by Southern Culture on the Skids
The Ghost With the Most by The Almighty Defenders
Bandstand by Tandoori Knights
Be Righteous by Mark "Porkchop" Holder
Sin Palabras by Al Hurricane
Fats' Fingers by Hakim Be
I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday/ I Want to Walk You Home by Fats Domino
Can't Fool the Fat Man by Randy Newman
What a Party by Fats Domino
Living Dead Girl by Rob Zombie
Mind Playing Tricks on Me by The Geto Boys
Murder in the Graveyard by Screaming Lord Sutch
(This set consists of songs from Friday's Halloween Terrell's Tune-up)
Nature's Revenge by Skinny Puppy
Season of the Witch by Vanilla Fudge
The Ballad of Dwight Fry by Alice Cooper
Brand New Girl by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
The Kindness of Strangers by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
D.O.A. by Bloodrock
... a Psychopath by Lisa Germano
Demon in My Head by Joe Buck Yourself
Plan from Frag 9 by Pere Ubu
Get it Boy by Travel in Space
Pretty Good for a Girl by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Digging My Grave by Wild Evel & The Trashbones
You Went Away by Phil Hayes & The Trees
Come On My Little Darlin' by The Masonics CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Oct. 27, 2017 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
(It's a) Monster's Holiday by Buck Owens (Ghost) Riders in the Sky by Marty Robbins
Frankenstein's Monster by Legendary Shack Shakers
I Flipped by Ray Condo & The Ricochets
Hot Dog That Made Him Mad by Carolyn Mark
Don't Say it by Margo Price
Delta Dawn by Hellbound Glory
Keep Your Mouth Shut by Beth Lee & The Breakups
You Gonna Miss Me by Eilen Jewell
Don't Mess with My Toot Toot by Fats Domino & Doug Kershaw
Harder Than Your Husband by Frank Zappa with Jimmy Carl Black
The End by The Imperial Rooster
The Tombstone Hymn by Rev. Tom Frost
Let it Roll by Dinosaur Truckers
Wrong Honky Tonk by Phoebe Legere
Honky Tonk Halloween by Captain Clegg & The Night Creatures
Eatin' Crow and Drinkin' Sand by Jesse Dayton
I Wish You Knew by Dale Watson & Ray Benson
Marie Laveau by Bobby Bare
Up to No Good Livin' by Chris Stapleton
Honky Tonk Flame by Tyler Childers
Let's Have a Party by Wayne Hancock
Back When We Was Young by Joe West
Sentimiento by Al Hurricane
Mi Madrecita by Baby Gaby
Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes by George Jones
Just Because I'm a Woman by Dolly Parton
Sweet Cruel World by Max Gomez
Lindsey Button by David Rawlings
You Don't Hear Me Crying by Modern Mal
Never Come Home by Robbie Fulks
The Pilgrim by Emmylou Harris & Kris Kristofferson CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
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A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Oct. 27, 2017
When people think of Halloween rock ’n’ roll songs, they normally think of whimsical novelty tunes dealing with the supernatural — ghosts, vampires, zombies, werewolves, witches, and Satan. But there are plenty of songs out there that are appropriate for Halloween because they are in themselves frightening and or at least deal with frightening — you might even say “monstrous” — topics like murder, insanity, blood, and gore. And while most of these don’t actually deal with spooks, many are spookier than the ones that do.
Here are some of my favorites:
* Too Dark Parkby Skinny Puppy. Let’s start with some music that actually terrified me one night. Back in the summer of 1991, I was driving alone and trying to get back home to New Mexico. I’d taken a wrong turn south of Reno and somehow crossed back into California, where some redneck kid at a gas station recommended a shortcut back to Nevada — a two-lane road with lots of little hills and no sign of civilization. I popped in a cassette tape of Skinny Puppy’s then most recent album, Too Dark Park, which made this stretch seem even more otherworldly.
This Canadian group made what was called “industrial” music, complete with jackhammer drum beats; growled, shouted, and incomprehensible vocals; samples of people screaming; and an occasional woman’s voice saying “Scared?” As I drove along that dark, lonesome road, there were no lights. No gas stations, no motels, no other cars. And most disturbingly, no road signs saying how far I was from anywhere. As Puppy pounded in my speakers, I kept thinking how this area was the kind of place Charlie Manson’s Family might choose to live. I started envisioning Charlie’s dune-buggies zipping along the desert alongside the road. And to add to my anxious state of mind, every few moments a rabbit would dart across the road, only to die under my wheels.
Finally, sometime after the end of the album, there was a junction and a road that led me back to Nevada. I don’t listen to much Skinny Puppy these days. Every time I hear them, I go right back to that never-ending road and all those suicidal rabbits.
* “Season of the Witch” by Vanilla Fudge. On their 1968 album Renaissance, the Fudge took Donovan’s mysterious little psychedelic folk-rock song, slowed it down, and turned it into an intense nine-minute saga. What creeps me out is the very end of the track, where the singer screams, “God. God, hey! / If you can’t help us, you better listen! Please!” Then he pauses, and as the organ plays its spookhouse noodles, in a frightened voice, just above a whisper, the singer says, “Momma, I’m cold.”
* “Ballad of Dwight Fry” by Alice Cooper. Not only is this track from 1971’s Love It to Death Alice’s greatest song, it’s also his funniest song — and his scariest. It’s about a tormented guy locked up in a mental hospital. Since the first time I heard it, my favorite line is when he talks about how much he wants to see his four-year-old daughter: “I’d give her back all of her playthings / Even the ones I stole.”
* “The Kindness of Strangers” by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. One of many highlights on Cave’s 1996 album Murder Ballads, this song tells the sad story of an Arkansas girl who wanted to escape her podunk surroundings. The song begins, “They found Mary Bellows cuffed to the bed / With a rag in her mouth and a bullet in her head / O poor Mary Bellows.”
* “Brand New Girl” by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies. From the backwoods of New England, Angry Johnny is a master of hillbilly horror. This gruesome little tune, from his mid-’90s masterpiece Hankenstein, features a noirish sax and lyrics about an Ed Gein-like character who threatens his girlfriend: “I’m gonna skin you alive and make a suit out of your hide.”
* “A Psychopath” by Lisa Germano. Germano herself was stalked for years by an obsessed fan, and this tune expresses her fears during the ordeal. This song, from her Geek the Girl album is downright eerie, with Germano singing in a hushed, resigned voice, “I am alone, you win again / I’m paralyzed. ... I hear a scream, I see me scream / Is it from memory?” Adding to the terror is an actual police dispatch recording of a terrified woman calling the cops because the stalker is breaking into her house.
* “D.O.A.” by Bloodrock. This had to be the most popular radio hit on local radio the week I graduated from high school in the spring of 1971. It’s a tune so sludgy and so dreary that it makes Vanilla Fudge seem like Herman’s Hermits. With sirens blaring in the background, the singer tells the story of a survivor of an airplane crash. He’s bleeding, unable to move, and surrounded by dead passengers. Slowly, he realizes he’s dying as well.
* “Demon in My Head” by Joe Buck Yourself. Never before has a banjo sounded so evil. This is just a simple song from this Nashville maniac who’s also played with Hank Williams III and Legendary Shack Shakers. He sings of an inner struggle with his dark impulses, a battle he’s obviously losing. “There’s a demon in my head and he wants you dead. … Glory glory hallelujah.” That night in 1991, while I drove on that lonesome road listening to Skinny Puppy and killing daredevil rabbits, my biggest fear was that my car would break down and I’d come across some deranged redneck like the guy in this song.
For all you Spotify users, here's a handy dandy playlist which includes all but one of the above songs:
Also, check out my 10th annual Big Enchilada Spooktacular, which is up and creeping around the internet. I gathered bones from all over the rock ’n’ roll graveyard to create a monster of a show. Listen to it below and enjoy all the Halloween shows HERE.
On Monday night, while editing one of my stories about the career of the late Al Hurricane, my editor Howard Houghton had a question about a reference to Fats Domino. Fats was in the story, of course, because Hurricane had toured with him briefly as a young man. Howard, a serious blues fan, asked whether we should identify Domino as an "early rock giant" as I had done in the piece, or an "early R&B giant." While either description is accurate, I argued that more people probably know him as a rock 'n' roll star.
"He's one of the last of the early rockers left," I said.
Like Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and the other founding fathers, I remember loving Fats Domino's music before I even started grade school. Maybe, being a fat kid myself I had a certain affinity for The Fat Man. But it's deeper than that. Just hearing him sing and play piano made me feel happy deep inside.
More than a quarter century ago, before my son was born, I wanted to name him "Antoine" to honor Mr. Domino. My then-wife wasn't quite sold. She thought such a French-sounding name might sound too affected, So we compromised and named him "Anton." It would be nice if I could say my son became a huge Fats Domino fan. He's not -- but he has an open mind and a healthy curiosity about music, so maybe one day.
By the way, as soon as I learned about Fats' death I sent Howard a link to theNew Orleans Time Picayune obit. When I got to work, he threw this part of the story right into my face:
Mr. Domino was one of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's first 10 inductees. But in a 1956 interview, Mr. Domino said, "What they call rock and roll is rhythm and blues, and I've been playing it for 15 years in New Orleans."
Lord keep you, Mr. Domino. Here are some of my favorite (and not overplayed) tunes from the late giant. Here's his first hit, "The Fat Man."
The Beatles always cited Fats Domino as a major influence. The first time I heard "Lady Madonna" in 1968 I thought it was an obvious tribute to the man from New Orleans -- and Paul McCartney has admitted as much. I guess Fats liked it too. Just a few months later he released his own version.
This is a fairly recent (2011) version of a fairly obscure Domino song from 1956.
In the mid 1980s, Domino teamed up with another Louisiana star, Doug Kershaw to cover "Don't Mess With My Toot Tooty," a song that not long before had been a hit for zydeco singer Rockin' Sidney. (Check out the guest appearances by David Carradine and Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards in this video.
Finally, here's a sweet tribute to The Fat Man from Albuquerque poet Hakim Bellamy, which he released Wednesday after Mr. Domino died.
