Thursday, May 31, 2007

NEW HAMPSHIRE BOUND

GOV.  BILL RICHARDSONI'll be in Manchester and Concord, N.H. this weekend covering Gov. Bill Richardson's latest campaign trip there.

On Sunday night, starting about 5 p.m. Mountain Time, I'll be live blogging the debate, which is being shown on CNN. You can find that here on this very blog.

I've also promised to do a call-in with The New Mexican's Web site, which plans to run the audio.

I'll probably even snap a few photos up there. Check this site, The New Mexican, and my dynamic FLICKR page.

Here's a look at Richardson's schedule this weekend:

Saturday, June 2

New Hampshire- Eastern Time
WHEN: 9 am
WHAT: House Party at the Home of Jim Stevenson
WHERE: 468 Webster Street, Manchester, NH

WHEN: 10:30 am
WHAT: New Hampshire Democratic Convention
WHERE: 144 South Street, Rundlett Middle School, Concord, NH


WHEN: 1:45 pm
WHAT: The Governor will walk Union Street with Lily Mesa, Eva Castillo,
and Sonia Parra, ending at Don Quijote Restaurant
WHERE: Start at 362 Union Street, Manchester, NH

Iowa- Central Time
WHEN: 4:30 pm
WHAT: The Governor will participate in PrideFest 2007
WHERE: Greene Square Park, Cedar Rapids, IA

WHEN: 5:30 pm
WHAT: Iowa Hall of Fame Dinner
WHERE: Crowne Plaza, Five Seasons Hotel, 350 1st Avenue NE, Cedar Rapids, IA

Sunday, June 3

New Hampshire- Eastern Time
WHEN: 7:00 pm
WHAT: CNN, WMUR and the Union Leader 2008 Democratic Presidential Debate
WHERE: St. Anselm College, Manchester, NH

WHEN: Following the debate
WHAT: Debate Watch and post-debate party
WHERE: Richardson for President NH Headquarters, 545 Hookset Rd., Manchester, NH
I won't be going to Iowa with the campaign.

And I won't be doing my radio shows this weekend either. Laurell is sitting in for the Santa Fe Opry Friday, while Dan will be doing Terrell's Sound World Sunday night. Hear them on KSFR, 90.7 FM.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: LITTLE JOY IN BLOGVILLE FOR BILL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 31, 2007


The reviews are in, and there’s little joy in Blogville over Gov. Bill Richardson’s network-television performance Sunday on Meet the Press.

A quick survey of Google’s blog search shows overwhelming criticism about the presidential contender’s answers when asked about his initial support for the Iraq war, changing his opinion on the latest immigration bill, serving on oil-company boards, shifting positions on gun laws, his response to a dead Marine’s mother who says she’s been politically exploited and New Mexico’s embarrassing rankings in national statistics on poverty, crime and education.

Connecticut journalist Colin McEnrow, who blogs on the Hartford Courant’s Web site — and says he “kind of likes” Richardson — wrote, “I have to assume that, when they cut to a break, Richardson vomited into a waste basket. It was that bad.”

Comments on the liberal Daily Kos blog also largely were critical. One Kos commentator was “flabbergasted” by the interview, writing in all-lower-case: “he’s obviously a very bright and talented guy, but he was absolutely terrible in an hour long, one on one setting. he seemed to embody so many of the common stereotypes about dems, especially the ones about not taking firm positions. … get thee to a media trainer, bill.”

Mainstream Web media also was harsh. MSNBC’s First Read had this to say about the appearance: “If you missed Bill Richardson’s appearance on ‘Meet’ on Sunday, the campaign is probably pleased.”

Slate’s John Dickerson wrote perhaps the most blistering review, saying Richardson “self-destructed.”

“Richardson is a world-famous hostage negotiator, so it was poignant to watch him fail to rescue himself from his own hostage crisis,” he wrote. “By the end of the hour, he wasn’t answering questions so much as swatting at them. … Sometimes, he contradicted himself within just a few breaths. After explaining why he changed positions on the assault-weapons ban, he broadly asserted, ‘I don’t change my positions.’ ”

Missed opportunities: Some bloggers complained the show’s host, Tim Russert, was too rough on the governor. Some even charged the interviewer tends to go softer on Republicans.

But there were a couple of times that Russert let him slide.

For example, when he played the Richardson “interview” ad, he could have questioned why Richardson was bragging about getting a “cease-fire” in Darfur when that agreement he helped negotiate was being broken before the ink was even dry.

And when Richardson gave his standard “I had to make a living” answer when asked about serving on oil company boards, Russert could have said, “What? Henry Kissinger was paying minimum wage?” (During that period when he was on the oil company boards — between jobs as energy secretary and governor — Richardson was senior managing director of Kissinger McLarty Associates, an international consulting firm headed by the former secretary of state.)

For his part, Richardson missed a chance when he was explaining the different stories about a conversation he says took place at the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq. (Richardson says Lance Cpl. Aaron Austin’s mother talked to him about death benefits are for those killed in action. The mom denies ever having that conversation.) The gov could have scored points with Democrats by saying, “At least I go to some of these funerals of our soldiers and Marines killed in this war — unlike a certain commander-in-chief.”


Stee-rike!: What seemed to get the most reaction, however, is the grave national issue of Richardson’s torn allegiance between the Boston Red Sox and The New York Yankees.

This not only upset fans of both teams, but those who said his statements make him look like a pandering politician.

A New Hampshire blog called No Looking Backwards railed against Richardson’s latest baseball dilemma in a post called “How to Be a Carnivore and a Vegetarian.”

But all the above is wrong: At least according to Richardson’s campaign Web site, which found some blogs that praised Richardson’s performance. One, called The Appletonian, boldly declares the governor “did pretty well.” (Bizarre! That post was up Wednesday afternoon. But by the time I posted this column on the Web it had disappeared from the site.)

Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley blogs that “Gov. Richardson was candid and direct and handled the tough questions well. He looked very Presidential.”

But Shipley might have been on an intense caffeine and sugar high: “The coffee in the green room at NBC is great and the pastries are sinful — I had too many while watching the governor’s appearance.”

More Bill TV: Richardson will surely have an easier time on his next national television appearance. C-SPAN, cable television’s public-affairs network, plans to show the Iowa Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame dinner Saturday, where Richardson and some of his rivals are scheduled to speak. That begins live at 5:30 p.m. MDT.

The next night, Richardson is to participate in a Democratic presidential candidate debate in New Hampshire on CNN, which shows here at 5 p.m. Sunday.

Adios Villaraigosa: Besides those reviews of his Meet the Press appearance, the Richardson campaign got some bad news this week when Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, endorsed U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in the California primary.

Richardson supported the Hispanic mayor’s 2005 campaign, during which New Mexico’s Democratic Party sent six staffers to Los Angeles to help with the effort. Richardson launched his campaign in Los Angeles this month, though the mayor was conspicuously absent.

“I know Bill Richardson quite well, and I think I’ll say his strength is his experience and his record, not his ethnicity,” Villaraigosa told The New York Times.

But apparently that strength wasn’t strong enough to get the endorsement.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

R.I.P. LAURA ELLEN

The music in Heaven just got better this week.

Laura Ellen Hopper of KPIG Radio in Watsonville, Calif. died Monday. You can read her obit HERE.

I didn't know her well. Never met her face-to-face. But I recall how nice to me she was when my CD came out back in 1996. She not only put it on the KPIG play list for awhile, but she wrote a letter of recommendation to another station for me. And she told me not to get discouraged by stations that weren't cool enough to play the type of stuff we like.

Most importantly, I admired her work. KPIG is one of the cooler commercial stations on the face of the planet. And before she created KPIG, she co-founded KFAT, which had to be the coolest station in the Universe.

Laura Ellen will be missed.

Monday, May 28, 2007

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 27, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
I Need Somebody by ? & The Mysterians
Juvenile by The Black Lips
Slip Insde This House by The 13th Floor Elevators
Can't Be So Bad by Moby Grape
Mooney by The Kilimonjaro Yak Attack
Riot on Sunset Strip by The Standells
Edith by Buick MacKane
Nest of The Cuckoo Bird by The Cramps

P2220011
Bill Richardson Campaign Theme Suggestions

Mr. Big Stuff by Jean Knight
Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now by Emmett Miller
Billy Boy by Jerry Lee Lewis
Built For Comfort by Howlin' Wolf
The Envoy by Warren Zevon
Bill Richardson by Angel Espinoza
I Want to Grow Up to Be a Politician by The Byrds

Time Travel Freaks by The Harry Perry Band

Echoes from Neptune/Shenandoah by The Surf Lords
Shredded Heat by Dick Dale
Let Loose the Kraken by The Bald Guys
Whittier Blvd. by Los Straitjackets
The Ghastly Stomp (Everyone's Doin') by The Ghastly Ones
Cha Wow Wow by The Hillbilly Soul Surfers
Escape Velocity by Man or Astroman?
Fish Taco by Surfacide
Ginza Lights by Satan's Pilgrims
Land of the One Percenters by The Bomboras
Black Widow by Link Wray

Let's Get Radical by Gogol Bordello
Willesden to Cricklewood by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros
Red Angel Dragnet by The Clash
Another Side of This Life by The Jefferson Airplane
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, May 26, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 25, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
The Eggs of Your Chickens by The Flatlanders
Monkey Face Gene by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Artificial Flowers by Cornell Hurd Band
Join the Club by The Wacos Brothers
The Lucky and the Lonely by Randy Kohrs
I'm Gonna Take You Home and Make You Like Me by Robbie Fulks with Donna Fulks
Big Ol' White Boys by Terry Allen

Hoy Hoy by The Collins Kids
Rockin' Bandit by Ray Smith
Treat Me Right by Cliff & Barbara Thomas
Baboon Boogie by Jimmy Murphy
Split Personality by Clyde Leopard's Snearly Ranch Boys
Good Rockin' Baby by Sid King & The Five Strings
Red Hot by Billy Lee Riley
Down on the Farm by Big Al Dowling
Low Down Dog by Sleepy LaBeef
Religious Discussion (Sam Phillips & Jerry Lee Lewis)
Wild One by Jerry Lee Lewis

Jack's St. Pete Blues by Ronny Elliott
No Good For Me by Waylon Jennings
Night of the Wolves by Gary Heffern
Road Too Long by Bill Hearne's Roadhouse Revue
Weary Blues From Waitin' by The The
God's House Ringing Dark and True by The Gourds
Do You Call That A Buddy by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong

Coldwater by John Hammond
Icewater by Peter Case
Three Chords and The Truth by Ry Cooder
Goin' The Country by C.W. Stoneking
Border Radio by Dave Alvin
Wish I Could by Marlee MacLeod
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots
Radio list

Friday, May 25, 2007

PETE'S POLLS


My story about Sen. Pete Domenici's falling poll numbers in this morning's New Mexican can be found HERE.

Survey USA's recent poll on Domenici and Sen. Jeff Bingaman can be found HERE.

To track Survey USA's monthly polls on Domenici for the past two years, CLICK HERE

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS (AND A COOL VIDEO)

First the bad news:

Frogville John informs me there will be no Frogfest this year. That's disappointing because last year's was so much fun for the few of us who attended. But I can't blame him. You blew it, Santa Fe! (For my thoughts on last year's Frogfest CLICK HERE and HERE)

But the good news is that Frogville is hosting three concerts at Santa Fe Brewing Company this summer. The first two already are set:

JUNE 9th 6pm-1am GOSHEN
A CD release party for Goshen's Lioness


7 pm Hundred Year Flood
9 pm Boris & the Saltlicks
11 pm Goshen
with special MC, Joe West
$10.00 at the door

June 27th 7pm-12 am
a double CD release Party for:
ThaMuseMeant's never settle for less and Nathan's In his own worlds


ThaMusueMeant
Nathan Moore
Taarka
This will be the only New Mexico show this year for these guys. I don't have the price on this one yet.

I just spotted this video of Hundred Year Flood doing "Rich Man's War" at last year's Frogfest. It brings back memories of a great show. (If you look at the audience shot near the very last you'll find my pretty face.)

(Speaking of HYF, the group is scheduled to appear on this Sunday’s “Gotta Dance” program on KSFR 90.7 FM, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time. You can hear a stream of the show on the KSFR site.)

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: BLUES DON'T GET MUCH BETTER


A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 25, 2007


For years and years I’ve basically dismissed John Hammond Jr. as a well-meaning but inconsequential blues interpreter. Granted, Hammond, who is playing at the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Friday, May 25, has been at it for 45 years now.

The son of the hallowed producer who discovered Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, and Bruce Springsteen, Hammond the younger released his first album in 1962, the same year Bob Dylan’s first album was released. This was an era in which Mississippi John Hurt, Skip James, and Son House were doing the coffeehouse circuit, and the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Sonny Boy Williamson ruled Chicago like tribal warlords.

My attitude toward Hammond was always, “Why should I listen to this guy when I can listen to the originals?” Undoubtedly some latent reverse-discrimination attitude was at work here.

I’ve got to admit that attitude didn’t change until a few years back, when Hammond released Wicked Grin, a blues-upped collection of songs by Tom Waits. I guess you could ask, “Why should I listen to this guy when I can listen to Waits’ originals?”

But on that 2001 album, Hammond did everything artists are supposed to do with cover songs. He got to the kernel of each tune and added fresh perspective. There are several cuts on Wicked Grin — “Murder in the Red Barn” for instance — that I like as well as or better than the originals. The album made me re-evaluate my attitude toward Hammond.

But I don’t think it’s just my attitude that’s changed. I think Hammond has gotten better with age. Not only does his most recent work rock more than before, but his voice has aged exquisitely. Whether he’s going into a falsetto cry on Junior Well’s “Come Into This House” or doing a one-man call and response on the choruses of “Take a Fool’s Advice,” he sounds like a grizzled blues prophet.

While I’m not ready to say that Hammond’s latest album, Push Comes to Shove, is as good as Wicked Grin, the new record is one of the freshest-sounding blues efforts I’ve heard in months. It’s nice and raw, hard-edged in places but with a lighthearted feel throughout most of the tracks.

He’s assembled a cool little roadhouse band, with the most valuable player (besides Hammond himself) being Bruce Katz on keyboards. Most of the record features Hammond on electric guitar, which, as far as I’m concerned, is Hammond’s greatest strength despite all his years as an acoustic-blues troubadour. On this album, Hammond’s guitar is loud and raunchy but not flashy. It grates and howls.

Push is produced by Garrett Dutton, better known as the one who put the Love in G. Love & Special Sauce, a group known for its hip-hop-informed blues rock.

In the album’s liner notes, Hammond’s wife, Marla, says the producer met the artist at a 1992 Hammond show near Philadelphia. Dutton was too young to drink at the time, and he approached the first couple he saw who looked like they were old enough to buy him a beer. It turned out to be the Hammonds. (The notes don’t say whether the couple defied Pennsylvania liquor laws and illegally purchased alcohol for a minor.)

Hammond and Dutton next crossed paths in 2005 at a train station in Japan. And from that encounter this album grew.

Although Hammond’s never been known as a songwriter, most of my favorite tunes on Push are Hammond originals. This includes the title song, which kicks off the album with some nasty, distorted guitar licks; “You Know That’s Cold,” which rocks hard with Hammond on National steel guitar and harmonica; and “Take a Fool’s Advice,” which sounds as if he’s communing with the restless ghost of Willie Dixon.

For all us Wicked Grin fans, there’s a Waits song here called “Cold Water.” It’s a gospel-flavored tune, a natural singalong number that reminds me of The Band at the group’s best. Katz even sounds like Garth Hudson on organ and accordion. The good-time feel of the song is belied by some of the verses that describe a grim world:


“Seen them fellows with the cardboard signs/Scrapin’ up a little money to buy a bottle of wine/Pregnant women and Vietnam vets/Beggin’ on the freeway, ’bout as hard as it gets.”

Modern blues just doesn’t get much better than this.

Hammond plays at 7 p.m. Friday; Santa Fe Brewing Company is at 27 Fire Place off N.M. 14, south of Santa Fe. The cover is $19 in advance and $25 at the door; call 424-3333 for information.

Hammond also plays the Outpost Performance Space (210 Yale Blvd. S.E. in Albuquerque, 505-268-0044) at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 26. Tickets are $25 or $20 for Outpost members. And he’s at the Silver City Blues Festival at Gough Park (corner of Pope and 12th streets) at 6 p.m. Sunday, May 27. If you want to drive down to Silver City, the festival is free.

Also recommended:
*
King Hokum by C.W. Stoneking. Speaking of acoustic-blues troubadours, here’s a record by an American-born singer who moved to the outback of Australia as a child and got his start busking on the streets of Melbourne.

Performing all original material, Stoneking goes right for the swampy, spooky soul of the blues on songs like “Don’t Go Dancin’ Down the Darktown Strutters Ball,” which opens with a clanging bell, a barking dog, and ominous footsteps. Stoneking plays a banjo that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Waits tune like “Murder in the Red Barn.” By the end of the first chorus he’s joined by his band, The Primitive Horn Orchestra, which could only be described as Dixieland Goth. (They sound a lot like Stoneking’s Voodoo Rhythm label mates The Dead Brothers.)

But as the title reveals, most of the album is dedicated to hokum — funny, suggestive blues that springs from vaudeville and even minstrelsy. I hear echoes of 1920s and ’30s acts like Barbecue Bob & Laughin’ Charlie and Butterbeans & Susie (especially on the comic dialogue of “You Took My Thing and Put It in Your Place”). And “DoDo Blues” sounds a lot like an old Emmett Miller blackface routine.

It’s politically incorrect on several levels, but it’s loads of devilish fun.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

CAMPAIGN THEMES

My column about possible campaign themes for Bill Richardson is getting a good response and lots of suggestions. I'm saving them all for another column in the near future. (Talk about lazy journalism ... letting the readers do the work!) E-mail me with your suggestions or leave a comment on this blog.

Meanwhile, I'll play the ones I listed, plus a couple more on Terrell's Sound World Sunday night. I'll do that portion of the show about 10:30 pm (Mountain Time). You can hear it on the Web from the KSFR site.

I found a few versions of some of those songs on YouTube. Check 'em out.





PRIVATE PRISONS


My story about New Mexico paying far more for private prisons than other state do can be found HERE.

It's another case of big campaign donations having nothing to do with state policies.

Here's a study that the Institute of Money in State Politics did last year about campaign contributions from private prisons. CLICK HERE Scroll down to page 94 and you'll see that little ol' New Mexico is in the Top 10 states for political contributions for these companies.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: SONGS FOR BILL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 24, 2007


Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., is asking the general public to help her choose an official song for her presidential campaign.

Why not one for Bill Richardson? His funny “job interview” commercials already have given him a decisive edge over all other candidates in creative political ads. Why should he cede the musical front?

Of course, some might ask why candidates bother with such things at all.

Because it’s American, that’s why.

Campaign tunes have been with us since at least the earliest days of the republic. A few years ago, folk singer Oscar Brand recorded an album called Presidential Campaign Songs: 1789-1996, a collection of 43 ditties going all the way back to “Follow Washington” and including such memorable hits as “Huzzah for Madison, Huzzah,” “Get on a Raft with Taft,” “Harding, You’re the Man for Us” and “Hello Lyndon,” a rewrite of “Hello Dolly” tailored for LBJ.

Former President Clinton might be to blame for starting the current trend of appropriating the original versions of pop hits for campaign themes. The man from Hope chose one of Fleetwood Mac’s worst songs, “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” for his theme song in the 1992 election.

Later that year, independent candidate Ross Perot joined in, unveiling at a news conference his song — “Crazy,” as performed by Patsy Cline.

Since then, others have picked up on the trend.

John Kerry in 2004 turned to U2’s “Beautiful Day” (which is one of the choices for Hillary’s theme), while John Edwards made “Small Town,” a John Mellencamp track, his campaign theme. (Kerry wasn’t able to get U2 to perform at the 2004 convention in Boston, but Mellencamp was there to sing “Small Town.”)

So what to chose for Richardson?

On his recent appearance on The Tonight Show, the band played Sly & The Family Stones's “Everyday People” when Richardson came out to meet Jay Leno. Somehow I don’t think most folks in New Mexico think of Bill Richardson as “everyday.” If it’s going to be a late ’60s soul song, Jean Knight’s “Mr. Big Stuff” is more on the mark.

But that’s just my opinion. Here are some other suggestions.

* “Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now” by Merle Haggard (or Ry Cooder or Van Halen or Peggy Lee ... ) This song goes back to the days of vaudeville. The earliest version I’m aware of is by minstrel-show singer Emmett Miller in the 1920s. This tune would be refreshingly different than the overwrought Baby Boomer anthems most candidates prefer.

* “Built For Comfort” by Howlin’ Wolf. On the Leno show, Richardson made a couple of jokes about his girth. This song would fit that theme with its lyrics, ”Some folks built like this/Some folks built like that/But the way I’m built, don’t you call me fat/Cause I’m built for comfort, I’m not built for speed.”

* “The Envoy” by Warren Zevon. I don’t know if Richardson is familiar with this song, but I bet he’d like it. Zevon wrote it in the early ‘80s about superstar diplomat Philip Habib. Sample lyrics: “Nuclear arms in the Middle East/Israel is attacking the Iraqis/The Syrians are mad at the Lebanese/And Baghdad does whatever she please/Looks like another threat to world peace/For the envoy.”

* “Bill Richardson” by Angel Espinoza (in the photo above with the gov, which I stole from her Website). This upbeat country-ish song was written in honor of our governor by Espinoza, who also wrote a great corrido for former Rio Arriba strongman Emilio Naranjo a few years ago. The Richardson song sounds like a jingle from good old-fashioned 1970s-era campaign commercial. According to Espinoza’s Web site, she’s sung this at Richardson rallies in the state. You can hear it HERE:

You have any other suggestions? E-mail me or comment on this blog.

Spare the Rod: The American Civil Liberties Union is suing state Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, over an altercation with a hometown critic during the legislative session.

The ACLU filed a suit on behalf of Virgil Beagles — a Roswell man who has written letters to newspapers criticizing Adair — who says he was barred from a legislative committee meeting on Feb. 16. The suit claims Beagles’ First Amendment rights were violated.

According to the suit, filed Wednesday in federal court, the incident began when Adair saw Beagles in the Capitol hallway.

“Adair verbally accosted Beagles as he sat in a hallway of the Capitol building, yelling and pointing his finger at Beagles and demanding that Beagles exit the building,” an ACLU news release said.

“At Adair’s insistence, Senate security prohibited Beagles from entering the Senate side of the Roundhouse and from attending committee hearings on bills that were of special interest to him.”

Adair in an e-mail told me, “I guess on reflection this is a badge of honor. Seems almost every time I introduce a piece of legislation the ACLU is there to testify against it.”

But Adair added, “I had no idea Mr. Beagles had been barred from the Senate. I did not even know it was possible to be barred.”

Some of the bad blood apparently stems from an incident in Roswell last June in which Beagles refused to let a Chaves County commissioner, Republican Alice Eppers, sit at his table during a luncheon honoring a Democratic commissioner who had just returned from Iraq. Eppers, according to the lawsuit, filed a police report saying Beagles had threatened her. Beagles denies any threats.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

RICHARDSON & HOLLYWOOD





Yes, indeed that was Wes Studi, star of Dancing with Wolves and Geronimo: An American Legend, on stage with Bill Richardson at his announcement in Los Angeles yesterday.

However, Studi was the only star to join Richardson on Monday. Oh well, at least Mel Gibson didn't show up.

Read my analysis piece on Richardson's modest Hollywood support HERE.

Monday, May 21, 2007

A QUICK CONFERENCE CALL

About 5:30 p.m. tonight the Richardson campaign sent out a notice that there would be a "blogger availability this evening" with the governor." It was supposed to be at 6:10 p.m. Mountain Time.

I was late calling the 1-800 number. But when I did, I got a surprise.

"That call is already finished," an operator told me. "It didn't last long."

If the conference call indeed did take place, it would have been the first time Richardson ever showed up on time to a news conference.

IT'S OFFICIAL (AGAIN)

Bill Richardson is running for president.

CNN showed the beginning of his speech in Los Angeles, but cut out just a couple of minutes into it.

Richardson noted that Lt. Gov. Diane Denish was there and joking asked who's minding the story back in New Mexico.

Other state officials were there also, according to a press release from the Richardson camp. These include state Treasurer James Lewis, Deputy Secretary of Aging and Long Term Care -- and longtime Richardson staffer -- Patsy Trujillo, and House majority Whip Sheryl Williams-Stapleton.

Also on stage was Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez, who, like Denish wants to be the next governor -- though, I suppose if Chavez is supporting Richardson for president, technically he wants Denish to be the next governor.

The only movie star with Richardson in the movie capitol of the world was Wes Studi.

The big announcement comes at a terrible time for Richardson. Chances are it could be overshadowed by the news that the mother of a fallen Marine is disputing Richardson's account of a conversation with her at son's funeral -- a story Richardson has repeatedly told on the campaign trail. CLICK HERE

As Heath points out , the Marine story could be a blow at a time in which he's starting to rise to double-digit status in polls in Iowa and New Hampshire.

UPDATE: CNN just did a profile of Richardson without mentioning the Marine story. Hmmm...

Of course state Republicans aren't ignoring this story. From a GOP news release:

Chris Atencio, Acting Executive Director for the Republican Party of New Mexico said, “It’s one thing when Richardson lies about being drafted to a major league baseball team, but it is entirely another when he tries to bolster his personal image at the expense of a brave New Mexican and his family who gave the ultimate sacrifice. And now his staff is implying that Mrs. Miller is lying. Again, we stand with Mrs. Miller in demanding an apology, and we hope he’ll heed her request that neither Aaron’s nor her name will be used by him again.”

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST


Sunday, May 20, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

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

BO DIDDLEY RADIO VOODOO HEALING CEREMONY
Ooh Baby/Wrecking My Love Life by The Super Super Blues Band
Story of Bo Diddley by The Animals
Oh Yeah by The Shadows of Knight
Who Do You Love by Ronnie Hawkins & The Hawks
Crackin' Up by King Khan & The Shrines
Dearest Darling by Half Japanese
Pretty Thing by Nightlosers
Diddy Wah Diddy by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
You Can't a Book by Its Cover by Bo Diddley

Trapezoid by Man or Astroman?
I'm Fried by The Stooges
The Colored FBI Guy by The Butthole Surfers
100 Naked Kangaroos in Blue Canoes by Simon Stokes & Timothy Leary
Crumble by Dinosaur Jr.
Crippled Inside by John Lennon

Nick Cave set
No Pussy Blues by Grinderman
Hiding All the Way by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Do You Love Me by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Figure of Fun by The Birthday Party
Depth Charge Ethel by Grinderman
The Kindness of Strangers by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Push Comes to Shove by John Hammond
Compared to What by Les McCann & Eddie Harris
Trash City by Latino Rockabilly War
Rose Colored Eyes by Moby Grape
Crown of Creation by Jefferson Airplane
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Sunday, May 20, 2007

PROJECT PLAYLIST, ETC.

Tonight on Terrell's Soundworld: I'm going to do a nice Nick Cave/Grinderman segment as promsed. But also I'll be starting off with a RADIO VOODOO HEALING CEREMONY for Bo Diddley, who is recovering from a stroke. Lots of songs for Bo for prayers, spirits and energy.

XXXXX

Here's a little Internet time-waster I just put together. It's from Project Playlist. I'll be adding more songs so come back.





UPDATE: I've been having a little trouble with this embed. If for some reason it doesn't work on your screen, click "Launch Standalone Player" or just CLICK HERE

Saturday, May 19, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 18, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I Saw the Light by The The
Lucky Day/Last Rebellion by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Sugar Coated Love by The Watzloves
Gettin' Drunk by The Yayhoos
Fat, Old, Drunk and Proud by Lancaster County Prison
Tell the King that The Killer is Here by Ronny Elliott
Tomorrow Night by Jerry Lee Lewis

Black Soul Choir by Sixteen Horsepower
Oklahoma Bound hy Joe West
Never Been To Spain by Waylon Jennings
Worth Dyin' For by Gurf Morlix
Down on the Riverbed by Los Lobos
Rancho Grande by Carolina Cotton
Wishful Thinking by The Bill Hearne Roadhouse Revue featuring Cathy Faber

Red Red Robin by Rosie Flores
Peg Pants by Bill Beach
Billy Lee Riley & The Little Green Men by Ebo & The Tomcats
Tear it Up by 1/4 Mile Combo
Wildcat Tamer by Dale Hawkins
Seven Nights to Rock by Moon Mullican
Trouble Bound by Delta Angels
Who Do You Love by Ronnie Hawkins
Jungle Hop by Kip Tyler
Pony Tail Partner by Bing Day
Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'n' Roll Trio

After the Gunfight by Mike Montiel
Footprints in the Snow by Ry Cooder
Funky Country by John Anderson
When Someone Wants to Leave by Dolly Parton
My Rifle, My Pony and Me by Dean Martin & Ricky Nelson
Uncle Smoochface by Michael Hurley
Sand by OP8
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Friday, May 18, 2007

BUT DID YOU FIND ANY PIC-A-NIC BASKETS, BOO BOO?

It's still early, but I'm betting this is the funniest press release I'm going to receive from the New Mexico state government all day. It's from my old pal and DeMolay brother Dan Williams at Game & Fish

Department of Game and Fish officers tranquilized and removed a young black bear from inside Presbyterian Hospital in Rio Rancho about 7:30 a.m. Friday.

Conservation Officer Darrell Cole described the incident as a "typical bear call" with a remarkably happy ending, especially considering it happened during rush hour. The bear, a 125-pound male estimated to be two to three years old, was transported and released in the Manzano Mountains later Friday morning.

"What was great about it was that at 7:30 a.m. when everybody was on the way to work or to school, the bear went into a building. He was contained," Cole said. "We were able to dart him and easily move him out of harm's way. If it had been outside, he could have run off and got hit by a car."

Cole said the bear could have made its way into Rio Rancho from the Jemez Mountains or the Manzano Mountains after it was displaced by its mother or a more dominant bear. It appeared to be in good health, although somewhat underweight, which is typical of a young bear in the springtime.

The bear apparently was able to enter the hospital by hitting an automatic door opener. A few witnesses inside said the bear did not threaten anyone or damage anything. Once inside, it retreated into a side room while Rio Rancho Police and Animal Control officers evacuated the immediate area. The bear retreated further into a restroom and was sedated within about a minute after it was darted by Game and Fish officers Cole and John Martsh.

"I guess if you're going to be darted with tranquilizer you might as well get it done in a hospital," Cole said.

BO DIDDLEY RECOVERING FROM STROKE

Rock 'n' roll founding father and former New Mexico resident Bo Diddley is recovering in Omaha, Nebraska from a stroke. Here's a news story about it: CLICK HERE This photo was taken back in 1985 in the lobby of the mayor's office in Santa Fe. I interviewed Bo for the Albuquerque Journal to preview a show at Club West. We talked about his years in the state during the 1970s. For awhile he was a member of the Valencia County Sheriff's Reserves and actually arrested a drunk driver, who he said had mouthed off to him. You'd have to be drunk to give Deputy Diddley any lip! Bo said he left New Mexico because "money got funny," but he came back in the late '80s to live south of Albuquerque for a few years. At my goading, back in '85 , Mayor Louie Montano made Bo an honorary citizen of Santa Fe. Get well Bo!

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: NOT THE SAME OLD GRIND

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 18, 2007


Rock ’n’ roll supposedly is a young man’s game — traditionally, some of the best of it is created by horny, sexually frustrated young guys. But with Grinderman, Aussie rocker Nick Cave proves that horny, sexually frustrated middle-aged men can rock, too.

After all, young-stud rock is propelled by the anxiety that you might not score tonight (or, for real young guys, that you might never score). The overriding anxiety throughout Grinderman is that Cave might never score again. And this fear can be even more intense than all that minor-league teenage angst.

It’s all laid out, so to speak, in the song “No Pussy Blues,” in which Cave begins with a spoken verse that begins, “My face is finished, my body’s gone.” He then relates a sadly humorous tale of picking up a young woman in his audience.


“I bought her a dozen snow-white doves/ I did her dishes in rubber
gloves/ I called her ‘Honey Bee,’ I called her ‘Love,’/ But still she didn’t
want to,” he snarls. “I sent her every type of flower/I played her guitar by the hour/I patted her revolting little chihuahua/But still she just didn’t want to.”

But even more desperate than the lyrics is the furious, spastic burst of electric-guitar squall that Cave unleashes as a solo. That’s one of the main differences between this album and previous Cave works. Nick is playing electric guitar instead of just piano. He’s no virtuoso, but his attack on the instrument adds to the crazy energy of this record.

Grinderman — which also is the name of Cave’s new band (actually a compact version of his old band The Bad Seeds) — shows Cave rocking harder than he has since he was a young man. I’m not the first voice in criticdom comparing Grinderman with Cave’s old ’80s band The Birthday Party. But the middle-aged Cave of Grinderman seems even more dangerous than the bellowing junkie of The Birthday Party.

The new album is full of memorable tunes. The opening number, “Get It On” is, in Cave’s words, “a lament for the messianic rock ’n’ roll hero.” It starts out with an incomprehensible spoken (actually shouted) tirade about baboons, white mice, and black dogs. Over a fuzz-tone backdrop and a crashing rhythm, Cave recites,


“He crawled out of the ooze/He defied evolution/He had green
flippers and sang the blues/He caused a revolution ... I call out from the storm/For those who gave their lives/So we could get it on.”

“Honey Bee (Let’s Fly to Mars)” features that strangled guitar playing beneath a Steppenwolf-like organ and apocalyptic drums. A couple of tunes remind me of John Cale. The grating but somehow beautiful “Electric Alice” (supposedly a tribute to jazz harpist Alice Coltrane) is slow, screechy, and surreal (there’s bouzouki and violin crunched up in the mix), while the title song is a slow burner that builds up to some nice guitar chaos.

(Historical note: The name of the band, album, and song comes from bluesman Memphis Slim, who had a song called “Grinder Man Blues.” But unlike the narrator of many of the songs on this album, Slim’s Grinder Man is a tireless gigolo who has “got so many customers, it takes me a week to get around.”)

Not every tune here is abrasive or thunderous. “Man in the Moon” is slow and pretty and wouldn’t have been out of place on some of Cave’s more subdued efforts like The Boatman’s Call. It does seem out of place on Grinderman, though. Thankfully, it’s the shortest song on the album.

For the past couple of Cave albums there have been hints that a rock ’n’ roll werewolf has been struggling to break out of Cave’s brooding theologian persona. Back in 2003, on his album Nocturama, there was a 14-minute celebration of raw lust called “Babe, I’m on Fire.” A year or so later Cave’s double-disc set, Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus, also featured several tough and gritty rockers such as “Hiding All Away” and “Get Ready For Love.”

Grinderman fulfills the promise of those works. It’s also a welcome affirmation to all us dirty old men who love to rock.

Also noted:
* Rock en Español Vol. 1
by Los Straitjackets. These masked Tennessee surfers have made me rethink my general rule of hating “guest star” albums. I loved their Sing Along with Los Straitjackets (2001), in which this instrumental band was joined by a bevy of guest singers (especially Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders, who did a muy bitchen cover of Roy Head’s “Treat Her Right”).

And now comes this collection of Spanish-language renditions of ’60s rock and soul hits (and even a stray Marty Robbins song) featuring vocals by Big Sandy, Los Lobos’ Cesar Rosas (who produced the record), and Little Willie G of the East L.A. rockers Thee Midnighters.

This is how I imagine a Tijuana rock club sounding in 1965. My favorite here probably is the stinging guitar cry of “El Microscopico Bikini,” sung by Rosas. The melody actually is “Dizzy Miss Lizzie,” written by Larry Williams and popularized by The Beatles. Other early Beatles numbers represented here are Williams’ “Slow Down” (retitled “Calor” and sung by Big Sandy), and the Arthur Alexander ballad “Anna” (now called “Ana” and sung by Little Willie).

While there’s nothing earthshakingly innovative here, it’s good basic rock that underscores the contributions of Hispanics to American music.

Songs from the Cave: Yes, it’s time again for a good, long Nick Cave set on Terrell’s Sound World. Hear Grinderman, The Bad Seeds, and The Birthday Party Sunday night on KSFR-FM 90.7. Santa Fe’s finest freeform weirdo radio show starts at 10 p.m., while the Cave set will start right after the 11th hour.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

RICHARDSON: MORE THAN A BLIP

Bill Richardson finally is out of single digits in an important primary state, according to a new poll by the Zogby organization.
P2220011
The latest Zogby poll of New Hampshire shows Richardson in fourth place. But he's jumped from 2 percent to 10 percent since early April.

The poll shows Hillary Clinton barely leading Barak Obama 28 percent to 26 percent. John Edwards is in third place with 15 percent.

Commenting on the Democratic race in New Hampshire, pollster John Zogby said, "Of greatest significance is the move of Bill Richardson into double-digits from merely a blip on the screen. He is now a player in all this.”

On the Republican side, Mitt Romney has jumped ahead of both John McCain and Rudy Giuliani.

The poll was conducted May 15 and 16, 2007, included 500 likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters and 503 likely New Hampshire Democratic primary voters. The margin of error for each survey is +/- 4.5 percentage points.

jj sez

Reporter Jackie Jadrnak, currently on leave from The Albuquerque Journal has been spending some of her off time starting a new blog called jj sez.

She talks about about health, the environment, politics, sexism and lot of issues. Check it out.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 17, 2007


Last week, I named the Richardson cabinet officials who have contributed to his presidential campaign and the four who did not.

To refresh your memory, those not on Richardson’s first-quarter campaign finance report were Higher Education Secretary Beverlee McClure, Health Secretary Michelle Lujan-Grisham, Tax and Revenue Secretary Jan Goodwin and National Guard Adjutant Gen. Kenny Montoya.

One week later, Richardson’s office has announced two of those four will be leaving the administration.

Coincidence? Probably.

But as Jimmy Olsen used to say, “Jeepers, Mr. Kent!”

McClure was the first to go. The governor’s office announced her departure Friday. She’ll be leaving in June to become president and chief executive officer of the state Association of Commerce and Industry.

Then on Monday, the governor’s office announced the health secretary is out.

Unlike McClure, Richardson isn’t going to appoint a search committee to find Lujan-Grisham’s replacement. She’s being replaced by Dr. Alfredo Vigil, chief executive officer of El Centro Family Health in Española.

The fact that the new health secretary was already chosen would seem to indicate that Lujan-Grisham’s departure has been in the works for some time.

She told reporters she’s planning to run for a political office, as yet to be named. Maybe that’s why she didn’t contribute to Richardson’s White House fund. She’s saving up for her own race.

The governor’s people of course deny there’s any requirement to donate to Richardson’s campaign. “They can contribute to whoever they want,” spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said last week. “We don’t know who’s contributed to the campaign.”

One possibility, at least in the cases of the two outgoing secretaries, is they might have known their time in the administration wasn’t long, so they didn’t bother donating to the presidential run.

So what about the two who haven’t contributed who remain? Last week Goodwin told me nobody had pressured her for a contribution.

On Wednesday, Montoya said the same. “Since I’ve worked for the governor, he’s never even asked me what political party I belong to,” the general said. “He’s done a good job of keeping the National Guard out of politics. We’re the guys who represent everybody.”

Close but no cigar: A potential Republican presidential candidate might have picked up on our governor’s funny campaign ads, which have received loads of national attention.

In case you’ve been living in a political fallout shelter for the past week or so, Richardson unleashed a couple of spots in which he’s a nervous job applicant sitting across a desk from a potential employer obviously unimpressed by Richardson’s résumé.

Fred Thompson who plays a down-home district attorney on Law and Order, made a funny — but pointed — video as a response to left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore.

In challenging the ex-senator from Tennessee to a debate over national health care policy, Moore brought up Thompson’s love of Cuban cigars. He refers to a description of Thompson’s office in a recent article in The Weekly Standard — “box upon box of cigars — Montecristos from Havana.”

“While I will leave it up to the conservatives to debate your hypocrisy and the Treasury Department to determine whether the ‘box upon box of cigars’ violates the trade embargo, I hereby challenge you to a health care debate,” Moore wrote on his Web site.

Thompson’s video reply has been on cable news shows as well as the Internet.

“You know, the next time you’re down in Cuba visiting your buddy Castro, you might ask him about another documentary filmmaker,” Thompson said, big cigar in mouth. “His name is Nicolás Guillén (Landrián). He did something Castro didn’t like, and they put him in a mental institution for several years, giving him devastating electroshock treatments. Mental institution, Michael. Might be something you ought to think about.”

Thompson makes a good point about freedom of expression under Castro. But he sidesteps the issue of breaking the embargo, not to mention that Cuba’s cigar revenues indirectly help fund those mental institutions and jails.

Could Cuban cigars replace John Edwards’ haircuts as the next weird little issue to pop up in the presidential race?

If so, our cigar-loving governor might already have his answer prepared. In 2004, he was smoking a Havana during an interview with a Salt Lake City Tribune reporter. “Since you’re smoking a Cohiba, what would you do with Cuba?” reporter Brent Israelsen asked.

“I would continue pressing Castro on human rights,” Richardson said. “I think his record is abominable. But I believe the best way to change Cuba is to consider some openings, perhaps some economic openings, rather than isolating it.” Richardson also said he’d lift the travel ban for people wanting to visit Cuba.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

NIGHTMUSIC!

No, I'm not turning this blog into a YouTube satellite, but I just realized that Youtube is crawling with clips from the coolest music show to ever grace the nation's television airwaves, Nightmusic. Here's a link to lots of 'em.

You can find Pharoah Sanders, Nick Cave, The Pixies, Richard Thompson, Graham Parker, NRBQ ... and so many more. I've been complaining for years that this show isn't available on DVD. But at least we have YouTube.

Below is one of the most infamous Nightmusic performances of all time. Conway Twitty singing the blues with dancing by The Residents.


A PLEA ... FOR THE CHILDREN

I just realized that Dean Martin is smoking a cigarette in the YouTube video I posted just a moment ago ("My Rifle, Pony and Me.") That might earn a R-Rating for the movie Rio Bravo in the near future. (See news item HERE)

So please, PLEASE! Keep this away from the children!

MY RIFLE, PONY & ME



Thanks to Jim Terr for showing me the way to this YouTube (on a page with lots of old Ricky Nelson videos, most of them featuring James Burton.)

About a year ago, my brother gave me this song on a disc full of weird stuff. I've played it on The Santa Fe Opry, (and I will again.) I also went out and bought the DVD to Rio Bravo, the John Wayne movie from whence it came.

And speaking of YouTube, thanks to Margot Paisley for turning me on to Luis & The Wildfires. I'd never heard of them before.

Monday, May 14, 2007

CONGRESSMAN STANDS UP FOR INDEPENDENT MUSIC AND LOTS OF OTHER GOOD STUFF

I wish we had more politicians who believe in the things that Congressman Mike Doyle was saying last week at a Future of Music Coalition event.

From the FMC blog:
As you well know, a number of issues currently before Congress and the FCC could have a big impact on that process – like media consolidation, net neutrality, and Internet royalty rates.

One disturbing product of the Telecom Act of 1996 has been the rapid consolidation of the ownership of television and radio stations across the country.

This is disturbing on a number of levels.

There’s obvious concern that a radio stationed programmed out of Denver won’t provide much timely local news for residents of, say, Pittsburgh.

That can, at worst, have serious public safety implications, as many have pointed out.

But even on a more mundane level, this process squeezes out all but the most mainstream voices in communities large and small.

I ask you: Could WKRP’s commitment to local news and (Johnny) Fever’s musical vision have survived in today’s consolidated media market?

On a more commercial and artistic level, there’s real concern – which I share – about the homogenization of the content that these broadcasters provide.

It’s clear that the media consolidation we’ve experienced over the last 10 years has reduced the diversity and independence of TV and radio broadcasts dramatically.


A Congressman who thinks radio should be more like WKRP in Cincinnati! That's nothing short of bitchen!

Later in the speech Doyle talks about the possibility of the federal government establishing programs to "encourage the creation of new and different music" similar to the way the National Endowment for the Arts promotes classical music and jazz.

I'm not sure I completely agree with the idea of government-sanctioned rock 'n' roll. But I sure wish a few presidential candidates would pick up on Doyle's basic attitude about the music-industrial complex.

Maybe one has. Apparently Republican Sen. Sam Brownback wants to take that recent ruling that could cripple internet radio behind the barn and kill it with a dull ax.

Again from the FMC blog:

After having a near-death experience a few weeks ago, webcasters got another dose of good news. Sens. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., introduced a bill that would vacate a recent ruling by the Copyright Royalty Board. The ruling would have increased royalty rates for webcasters by 300 to 1200 percent (according to Savenetradio.org).

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 13, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Fire on the Moon by The BellRays
Go Betty Go by The A-Bones
Destination X by Dead Moon
Bad Seed by Wayne Kramer
Giant Robot Rock 'n' Roll by The Goblins
Voodoobilly Man by Deadbolt
The Bad Stuff by The Fall
High Class by The Buzzards
Get Me to the World On Time by The Electric Prunes

We're Not Alone by Dinosaur Jr.
Free and Freaky by The Stooges
Letter to Memphis by The Pixies
My Friends Have by Marianne Faithful
To Bring You My Love by P.J. Harvey
Straight to Hell by The Clash
Pow Pow by Dengue Fever

Honeybee (Let's Fly to Mars) by Grinderman
It's So Easy by Willie DeVille
You'll Never Change by Detroit Cobras
Ana by Los Straitjackets with Little Willie G
I Need Someone by Thee Midnighters
Neighbor Neighbor by Roy Head
I Got a Lot to Learn by Esquerita
Satisfied Fool by Nathaniel Meyer
I Can't Control Myself by The Strawberry Zots

Hotrods to Honolulu by The Blue Hawaiians
Flaming Cheese by The Red Elvises
Gamagaj by Cankisou
Breath by Pere Ubu
Eyes Behind Your Head by John Hammond
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Sunday, May 13, 2007

RECENT RICHARDSON STORIES

My story about other presidential candidates who got contributions from New Mexico can be found HERE. (Looks like Hillary is winning the Maloof battle.)

But the strangest tale from the Richardson campaign finance report actually came from a Waco brother. The Waco Tribune-Herald reported that someone used a name very similar to that of a Republican Texas judge -- as well as the judge's former address -- to make a $2,300 contribution to the Richardson campaign. If that's a joke, it's a pretty bizarre one -- not to mention expensive! The judge said he didn't make the contribution. We don't know who did, but the story strongly implies someone made the contribution using a false name.

Meanwhile, back in Santa Fe, Tom Sharpe did a story about Richardson's real estate holdings in exclusive north-side Santa Fe. CLICK HERE

Saturday, May 12, 2007

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 11, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I've Got a Lot of Livin' to Do by Cornell Hurd featuring Blackie White
I Wouldn't Live in New York City If They Gave Me The Whole Dang Town by Buck Owens
Poor Litle Racoon by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Magia Blanca by Los Straitjackets with Big Sandy
Love Me Again by Mike Montiel
I Love the Way You Do It by Zeno Tornado
I've Got a Passion by Gurf Morlix
What a Fool I Was by The Watzloves

Naked Fool by Michael Fracasso
The Blue Side of Lonesome by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
The End of the Line by Bill Hearne's Roadhouse Revue featuring Cathy Faber
My Way of Rockin' by Wild Bob Burgos
You Took My Thing and Put it In Your Place by C.W. Stoneking
My Bucket's Got a Hole in It by Johnny Horton
River of Happiness by Dolly Parton
Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith

Ry Cooder set
All songs by Ry Cooder
J. Edgar
Footprints in the Snow
On a Monday
Big Bad Bill is Sweet William Now
Mexican Divorce
Stand By Me
Hank Williams
Down in Mississippi (Vocals by Terry Evans, Bobby King, Willie Green, Jr.)
There's a Bright Side Somewhere

Yellow Mama by Dale Watson
Hangover Tavern by Hank Thompson
Curtain in the Window by Johnny Bush & Justin Trevino
Please Help Me I'm Falling by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn'
Still Doing Time by George Jones
Miracle of Five by Eleni Mandell
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Friday, May 11, 2007

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: RY & BUDDY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 11, 2007


“People don’t know this history anymore. ... All these young parents and these little kids, they live in almost total ignorance of American history, which is very rich and colorful and sort of mysterious — poignant really. So I got to thinking, ‘How would you go about telling them about it? ...The ideal setting for this ... is where the little kid says, ‘Mommy, why is Buddy in jail?’ And then the mommy says, ‘Well, there was a miner’s strike.’ And the little kid says, ‘Mommy, what’s a miner’s strike?’ And the parent goes, ‘Well, let’s see. Let’s look into this a little.’”

Ry Cooder interview with Bill Fiskics-Warren, No Depression, March-April 2007

I suppose I was thinking along the same lines as Ry Cooder last summer when, coming back from a trip to Denver with my teenage son, I made a little side trip off Interstate 25 to visit the site of the Ludlow Massacre.

They didn’t teach about the Ludlow Massacre when I was in school, and my son had never heard about it either.
LUDLOW MASSACRE MEMORIAL
In case you didn’t learn about Ludlow in your history class, on April 20, 1914, at least 18 miners and members of their families, according to the official monument, were killed by Colorado National Guard troops called out on behalf of John D. Rockefeller’s Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. “Not one of the perpetrators of the slaughter [was] ever punished, but scores of miners and their leaders were arrested and blackballed from the coal industry,” the United Mine Workers Web site says.

The Ludlow monument isn’t exactly a tourist trap. No gift shop; no snack bar. Just a monument and some historical text and old newspaper clippings behind glass. And there’s a cellar in which two women and 11 children were burned to death. You can descend a ladder into the empty cellar. Nothing’s there — unless your imagination takes you back to that terrible day.

There’s no dark and violent imagery in Cooder’s new album My Name is Buddy, though it does express an old-time, Western-state, union-man worldview, a universe populated by the likes of Joe Hill, Tom Joad, Woody Guthrie, and the Industrial Workers of the World, aka the Wobblies (or, as folksinger and card-carrying Wobblie Dave Van Ronk called it, “the I trouble ya, trouble ya”).

But the story told in this song cycle (folk opera?) concerns talking animals — a mouse named Lefty, Rev. Tom Toad, and a red cat named Buddy. The CD comes with a fun little storybook with illustrations by San Antonio artist Vincent Valdez. But don’t expect a Disney cartoon version to follow.

My Name is Buddy is like a musical cross between Animal Farm and The Grapes of Wrath. Buddy and Lefty are itinerant workers and hobos, while Tom Toad is a blind preacher. They get arrested, they flee racists, they praise radicals, and they mock J. Edgar Hoover.

To be honest, as a registered adult I find Cooder’s animal concept a little cutesy and cloying at times. (Cooder says he got the idea when a friend sent him a Photoshopped picture of a cat’s head on Leadbelly’s body.) But he’s telling important American stories here, and you tend to forget the narrator is a talking cat.

The music is so good, it’s hard to hold that against him.

In many ways, Buddy is a return to Cooder’s classic 1970s albums like Chicken Skin Music (my personal favorite), Into the Purple Valley, Paradise and Lunch, and so on. Back then, Cooder was known as a hip and innovative interpreter of various strains of American music — folk, blues, Tex-Mex, Hawaiian. Cooder knew what “ditty wah ditty” meant. He helped introduce the My Generation to the likes of Flaco Jimenez, Earl “Fatha” Hines, and Gabby Pahinui. But more importantly, he found ways to mix up these sounds and have it sound natural.

Cooder went through a decade or so of doing virtually nothing but movie soundtracks, then started a series of collaborations with international musicians such as Ali Farka Toure and, most famously, master Cuban jazzmen in Buena Vista Social Club. Like Buddy, his Latin-flavored 2005 release Chavez Ravine was a concept album dealing with social injustice. It was a strong work, but it didn’t sound much like Chicken Skin.

On the new album Cooder brings back some of his finest sidemen from years past. Jimenez plays accordion on several numbers, and soul men Terry Evans and Bobby King sing on “Sundown Town (The Reverend Tom Toad).” Plus you’ll hear chief Chieftain Paddy Moloney on tin whistle and uilleann pipes, bluegrass mandolinist Roland White, Mike Seeger on fiddle and banjo (and his brother Pete playing banjo on one song), Van Dyke Parks on piano, and Jim Keltner and Cooder’s son Joachim on drums.

Given the setting of the story, it’s only natural that the spirit of Woody Guthrie’s Dust Bowl ballads is the foundation of the basic sound of most of the songs. It’s fun to try to trace the echoes of Americana and Irish folk melodies in many of the tunes. “Christmas in Southgate,” for instance, sounds a lot like Guthrie’s “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know Yuh.” And if you didn’t get it, Cooder even borrows a phrase from that song: “Well the telephone rang and it jumped off the wall.”

But as much as I love the old Cooder sound, some of the most interesting cuts here are when he strays from it. “Three Chords and the Truth” is a hard-edged blues rocker that pays tribute to persecuted leftist troubadours Joe Hill, Paul Robeson, and Pete Seeger.

It’s obvious that Cooder is emulating these singers with My Name is Buddy. I hope the story of this ramblin’ red cat gets told to a lot of people — children and adults alike.

A big shot of Ry
Hear a long stretch of Cooder — Buddy songs and older works — from 10 p.m. to midnight Friday, May 11, on The Santa Fe Opry, country music as the good Lord intended it to sound, on KSFR-FM 90.7. (I’ll start the Cooder segment shortly after 11 p.m.)

And don’t forget Terrell’s Sound World, free-form, weirdo radio, same time, same station, Sunday night.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: MONEY, MUSIC, POLITICS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 10, 2007


On Wednesday, I reported on 29 of 33 state Cabinet officials donating nearly $50,000 to Gov. Bill Richardson’s presidential campaign.

But Cabinet members aren’t the only ones who contributed. The Associated Press already has reported that New Mexico state employees gave the Richardson campaign at least $271,000. That includes the executive branch, the courts and state universities.

More than 40 state employees contributed $2,300, the maximum amount allowed by federal law.

Among those are Lt. Governor Diane Denish (whose husband, Herb, also kicked in $2,300); state budget Director Dannette Burch; Jay Czar, director of the state Mortgage Finance Authority; acting University of New Mexico president David Harris; Hillary Tompkins, chief counsel for the governor’s office; Jim Noel, director of the Judicial Standards Commission (and husband of deputy campaign manager Amanda Cooper); state Racing Commission director Julian Luna; Gary Giron, deputy director of the state Transportation Department; Ricardo Campos, Assistant Deputy Secretary of the Transportation Department; Manuel Tijerina, chief of the Risk Management Legal Bureau; and Interstate Stream Commission Director Estevan Lopez.

What about the primary states?: Richardson, according to his report filed with the Federal Election Commission last month, raised almost $2.8 million from nearly 2,000 individuals in New Mexico, nearly half of his reported $6.1 million. This state by far gave him more than any other for his White House quest.

But what about those states that might actually determine the Democratic nominee? According to PoliticalMoneyLine.com, a Web site operated by Congressional Quarterly, Richardson isn’t doing that well.

In Iowa, only six people gave him a total of $5,750 as of late March. In New Hampshire, Richardson reported $6,600 from nine individuals. He’s doing slightly better In Nevada, where he got 23 individual contributions totaling just over $32,000. In South Carolina, he picked up just shy of $20,000 from 19 individual contributions.

Richardson is doing better in Florida, which recently threw a monkey wrench into the whole selection process by moving up its primary to Jan. 29 next year (the same day as South Carolina’s). In the Sunshine State, Richardson has collected nearly $195,000 from 186 individual contributions.

However, he’s well behind the top-tier candidate there. Hillary Clinton raised more than $1.8 million, Barak Obama more than $1 million and John Edwards $499,000 from individual Florida contributors.

Musical contributions: There’s one prominent name in music on Richardson’s contributor list that will be familiar to fans of indie rock. Jonathan Poneman, co-founder of the influential Seattle label Sub Pop. Sub Pop gave the world Nirvana, and now Poneman gave the governor two contributions totaling $500.

I bet Richardson didn’t tell Poneman he’s a fan of The Eagles.

Popular Hispanic singer Darren Cordova gave Richardson’s campaign $2,300. It’s already been reported that country music star and New Mexico Music Commission member Randy Travis donated $2,300 to Richardson, as did his wife, Elizabeth, also a music commissioner.

However, there’s no record of any contribution from another celebrity music commissioner: Tony Orlando.

This proves you don’t have to contribute to the campaign to get appointed by the governor to the Music Commission. Some would argue that Orlando’s presence proves you can sometimes get an appointment for no apparent reason at all.

Speaking of the Music Commission: Executive Director Nancy Laflin said Wednesday that the commission has produced a 30-minute television show featuring performances by New Mexico musicians that will air at noon Saturday on KOAT Channel 7.

The pilot for New Mexico Southwest Sounds will feature Latin performer Ramon Bermudez, American Indian flutist Ronald Roybal, the Ben Martinez Project and The Dirty Novels (an Albuquerque band). An upcoming show will feature Tobias Rene, Daybreak Express and Jenny Marlowe.

Laflin said the plan is to produce a weekly show for state musicians.

Funny ads: There’s already been a huge reaction in political Internet circles to two new humorous television commercials the Richardson campaign plans to air in Iowa — and already showing on YouTube. The ads show Richardson at a “job interview” with what appears to be a bored potential employer, who acts disinterested while the governor discusses his lengthy résumé.

Most of the reaction I’ve seen has been positive.

“We’re sure Richardson’s opponents will say the ads are too cute by half and don’t exactly scream ‘presidential,” said Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post on his blog The Fix. “But they cut through the clutter that is surely to come. And the ads are winners in my mind simply because they are different.”

But the funniest reaction was from the blog Wonkette:

“There has never been a presidential campaign ad anything like this one. Every single campaign director and political reporter and media specialist and pollster is currently slumped in their chair, slack-jawed, wondering what it all means. Thank you, Bill Richardson. Thank you for whatever weird path you’ve just put the nation on. It will end in disaster — terrible disaster, for everyone — but it had to happen. It was our destiny.”


Wednesday, May 09, 2007

eMUSIC MAY

Funny thing about this month's list: I compile this one album at a time and save the post as a draft until all my downloads are done and I'm finished for the month. But once last week, I accidently published it instead of saving it as a draft. So for several hours and early version of this was on my blog . Thankfully a blog reader pointed it out to me. (See comments)

So here's the finished product, my allotted 90 downloads from eMusic this month:


* The Life of Riley by The A-Bones.
Like I said in last month's eMusic list, I've been on a real Norton Records kick lately. This is the band of Norton honchos Billy Miller and Miriam Linna . Pure '60s-informed rock 'n'soul.

*Vintage Voola by Esquerita. Here's another mutant Norton artist who looks like Little Richard on angel dust. eMusic's Dan Epstein explains it best: "A one-eyed, six-and-a-half-foot transvestite who taught Little Richard how to play piano (and copied Richard’s mile-high pompadour in return), the late Esquerita was simply too `out there' for mass consumption during the Eisenhower era." There's some crazy stuff here, but I'd still argue that Little Richard was even crazier and he did somehow make it in the Eisenhower years.

* Grinderman . In case you haven't heard, this is none other than Nick Cave, stripped down and raging, rocking harder than he's rocked since his days with The Birthday Party.

For a complete review, stay tuned for an upcoming Terrell's Tune-up.

For now, suffice it to say this is one of my favorite albums so far this year.


*LSD (Leary Stokes Duets) by Timothy Leary & Simon Stokes. Stokes is an unsung, obscure rocker who is responsible for one of my favorite albums of this century so far, the bitchen biker-rock masterpiece Honky. (You can find that HERE, but you have to scroll down some.) I'm not sure who this Leary guy is. (Just kidding, just kidding.) This album reminds me a lot of the other collaboration between Stokes and a counterculture ero of yore, The Radical, which Stokes produced for American Indian activist (and former New Mexico politician) Russell Means. It's a lot more polished and less raw than Honky, so I don't recommend it as highly. But it's still a lot of fun. How could Tim Leary ranting about "100 Naked Kangaroos in Blue Canoes" not be fun? But come on Simon, how about a new solo album?


*Rock En Espanol Vol. 1 by Los Straightjackets. The masked men of Memphis are joined here by three great Chicano rockers, Big Sandy, Little Wille G of Thee Midnighters and Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos. This is how I imagine a Tijuana rock club sounding in 1965.


* Your Favorite Band Live at the Great American Music Hall by The Red Elvises. The one time I got to see these guys live, I was with an old friend I hadn't seen in nearly 20 years so we talked all the way through it (I love you, Janet!) and somehow I've missed them every time they've come to New Mexico. But I do like their music and even though their Soviets-can-surf schtick is kinda campy, they're a lot of fun. I'd love to see a battle of the bands between the Red Elvises and Gogol Bordello.


*Three Hairs And You're Mine by King Khan & His Shrines. Dang, I thought I had a pretty good idea what's on eMusic, but I discover new stuff all the time. Just this month I learned that my favorite record label with a Swiss bank account, Voodoo Rhythm is represented here. They've even got that rockin' Santa Fe commie Jerry J. Nixon! But I was most excited to find Canadian soul maniac King Khan, who was one of my favorite artists featured on the Voodoo Rhythm DVD.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

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