Sunday, Oct. 30, 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
Halloween Hootenanny by Zacherle
Halloween (She Got So Mean) by Rob Zombie & The Ghastly Ones
Inside Looking Out by The Animals
Hainted by Churchwood
Birthday by Mission of Burma
Kiss Her Dead by Delany Davidson
Let Me Spend the Night With Your Wife by The Monsters
Bat Snatch by The Terrorsaurs
Feast of the Mau Mau by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
I Only Have Eyes for You by The Flamingos
Busload of Faith by Lou Reed
Baby Doll by Horror Deluxe
Stone Fruit by The Grannies
I'm a Mummy by The Fall
How to Make a Day by The Fleshtones
Mental Disease by Dow Jones & The Industrials
Home is Where the Hatred Is by James Chance & The Contortions
Friday, Oct. , 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
Daddy Was a Bad Ass by Jesse Dayton
Divorce Me C.O.D. By Wayne Hancock
Dirt Road by Southern Culture on the Skids
What Are They Doing in Heaven by Martha Fields
Birmingham Breakdown by Dale Watson
Over the Cliff by Jon Langford's Hillbilly Love Child
Honky Tonk Song by Webb Pierce
You Sure Got a Way with Women by Washboard Hank
One Has My Name by Jerry Lee Lewis
Meat Man by D.M. Bob & The Deficits
Four Leaf Clover by The Old 97s with Exene Cervanka
Two Doors Down by Dwight Yoakam
If You See Me Coming by Arty Hill
Please Me When You Can by James Hand
All Knocked Up By Ruby Dee & The Snakehandlers
Liquor and Whores by The Misery Jackals
Don't Lie Buddy by Josh White
Ghost in the Graveyard by Prairie Ramblers
Hole in the Ground by Iggy Yoakam & The Famous Pogo Ponies
Burn the Place Down by Dinosaur Truckers
Thin Air by The Defibulators
How Far Down Can I Go by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornflake Killers
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Oct.28, 2016 Back in the mid-1960s, there was a natural connection between soul music and the style of primarily Caucasian rock ’n’ roll we now call “garage rock.”
Practically all of those bands — from the lofty masters like The Sonics down to the pimpliest no-name Midwestern no-hit wonders — unabashedly tried to imitate African American hitmakers like Wilson Pickett and the Isley Brothers, and they did their best to mimic all those blues and R&B-soaked British bands like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and The Yardbirds. The garage kids rarely, if ever, sounded as authentic as the performers they idolized, but the influence was obvious.
So it shouldn’t seem all that surprising that the most prominent neo-soul label of the day, New York’s Daptone Records, would start an imprint (Wick) specializing in neo-garage rock. And knowing the integrity of Daptone, which has given the world Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley, The Budos Band, and others, it's only natural that The Mystery Lights — the first band to release an album on the Wick label — would be a rocking delight. And though nobody is going to mistake Mystery Lights singer Mike Brandon for Lee Fields, there’s some true white-boy soul on the band’s self-titled album.
Starting out in Salinas, California — where Brandon and guitarist LA Solano started the band as teenagers — this quintet has the basic loud-fast-and-snotty, fuzz ’n’ Farfisa sound down like pros. They prove this handily on rockers like “Melt” — featuring crazed yelps from Brandon that sound right out of Thee Oh Sees’ bag of tricks — the loopy blues of “What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down,” along with The Seeds-like “21 & Counting” and “Follow Me Home.”
But even more interesting is when the Lights venture into the great cosmic beyond on psychedelic excursions like “Before My Own” and, especially, “Flowers in My Hair, Demons in My Head,” which features some tasty interplay between Solano’s guitar and the lysergic keyboards of Alex Q Amini.
This kid probably didn’t spend all his free time studying David Cohen’s organ solos with Country Joe and The Fish, playing Electric Music for the Mind and Body over and over again until they haunted his dreams. But it sure sounds like he did.
Also recommended:
* A Weird Exits by Thee Oh Sees. You didn’t think we’d make it through the year without another crazy collection of songs from the world’s most prolific band, did you?
Actually, this is their second album of 2016, but I haven’t gotten my hands or my ears on the first one, a live album. A Weird Exits shows a wider range for John Dwyer and crew than their last couple of albums did.
It starts out with a song called “Dead Man’s Gun,” a riotous pounder that, in short, sounds like everything I love the most about Thee Oh Sees — breakneck beat, falsetto vocals about who-knows-what from Dwyer, strange electric beeps and bleeps. It almost could be an outtake from any of my favorite Oh Sees albums: Floating Coffin, Carrion Crawler/The Dream, and last year’s Mutilator Defeated at Last. And that’s true for a few other tunes here, such as “Plastic Plant.”
But it’s the variety of sound that gives a punch to A Weird Exits. “Ticklish Warrior,” for instance, is lower and slower, showing echoes of the Melvins and the pre-synth The Flaming Lips. The spacey “Crawl Out from the Fallout” is downright dreamy, a seven-minute-plus ethereal soundscape with an edge of the blues.
Then there’s “The Axis,” which is slow and surprisingly soulful, that builds up to an explosive, distorted guitar solo. Is this Dwyer’s attempt to rewrite “Free Bird?” Dwyer gives his throat a rest on a couple of psychedelic instrumentals here — “Jammed Entrance” (the closest thing to The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” I’ve heard recently) and “Unwrap the Fiend, Part 2” (don’t ask me where Part 1 is), which features a classic Dwyer melody and a suitably screaming guitar.
*M by The Monsters. It wouldn’t be Halloween without some Monsters, and the pride of Voodoo Rhythm Records is back with their second release of the year.
It’s the Swiss group’s 30th anniversary and they’re just as monstrous as they’ve ever been. Unlike their previous album, a re-release of their long out-of-print early album, The Jungle Noise Recordings, this is newly recorded material — loud, crunching garage-punk trash with the immortal Reverend Beat-Man out front screaming on songs like “You Will Die,” “Nothing, You Coward,” and “Baby You’re My Drug.”
“Let Me Spend the Night With Your Wife” is Beat-Man’s take on some imaginary Weimar Republic dirge. “Bongo Fuzz” is a classy instrumental featuring wild bongos. “Voodoo Rhythm” is a loving, growling homage to the record label Beat-Man built, while “Dig My Hair” is senseless blaring noise — and I mean that in the nicest way.
I only wish that Edd “Kookie” Byrnes could have been around to sing this with The Monsters. I’m sure he would have lent Beat-Man his comb. But the best song on the record is “Happy People Make Me Sick.” I don’t know — it just makes me happy.
The third installment in The Monsters’ 30-year anniversary celebration will be a tribute album soon to be released. You’ve been warned.
It’s Halloween! It’s time once again for the annual Big Enchilada Podcast Spooktacular. Hear an hour’s worth of spooky rock ’n’ roll, including a song from The Monsters’ new album. Follow this link and hear all my rocking Halloween podcasts. It’s all free — a public-spirited service to you, my readers.
Some videos for ya:
First, The Mystery Lights, who like it nasty, messed up
Yes, even before the heyday of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Screaming Lord Sutch songs of witches and spooks have been part of American music. Here's a cauldron full of vintage Halloween tunes.
We'll begin at a seance with The Deep River Boys:
This ghostly number is a longtime favorite of mine.
This next one was written by one of my favorite songwriting teams of early rock 'n' roll -- Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote many of the songs you love best by The Everly Brothers.
You might think this next one from Fran Allison (Folks my age will remember Kukla, Fran & Ollie) might seem pretty saccharine. So it might help your enjoyment by imaging the type of horrific, blood-spattered, flesh-eating scene Rob Zombie might build around this happy little tune for some future movie. There, that's better, isn't it.
For a zillion more Halloween songs check out all my Big Enchilada Spooktaculars. Click HERE
While recently putting together my Big Enchilada 2016 Spooktacular, I had no problem finding songs about witches, ghosts, devils, vampires and werewolves.
But one group of demonic supernatural beings that are severely under-estimated in the Spookbox Jukebox is the humble goblin. There just aren't that many songs about them.
But fear not -- or since it's almost Halloween maybe I should just say "Fear!" -- I found a few for you.
We'll start with this obscurity from Rosemary Clooney, who revealed in 1950 that goblins ride flying brooms.
Thirty years later Frank Zappa was still playing with Clooney's goblin/wobblin' rhyme.
This is another song called "Goblin Girl" by a late '90s garage/punk band from Chicago called The Goblins.
It's rumored that The Fall's Mark E. Smith has a little Goblin in his ancestry. In this song, "Iceland," Smith growls, "See a green goblin redhead, redhead / Make a grab for the book of prayers. / Do anything for a bit of attention / Get humbled in Iceland."
Mystery Science Theater 3000 had their own Hobgoblin song, in honor of the 1988 movie Hobgoblins.
And here's one for my favorite Spiderman villain, The Green Goblin. I'm not sure where this weird mash-up came from. I just hope Napoleon XIV got a cut
Boo! Halloween's just around the corner AND SO IS A KNIFE-WIELDING MANIAC!!!
While most people my age are busy placing razor blades in apples for trick-or-treat night, I've been brewing up this cauldron of horror for your listening pleasure. Have a ghoulishious time with some spooky tunes on this month's Big Enchilada.
(Background Music: Cemetery Stomp by The Essex)
Son of The Devil by D.D. Owen
Headless Horseman by Bibi Farber
I Saw a Ghost (Lean) by The Black Lips
Obeah Man by Meet Your Death
The Little Monster by Russ "Big Daddy" Blackwell
Sunday, Oct. 23, 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
Happy People Make Me Sick by The Monsters
You Let the Dead In by Churchwood
The Flesh is Weak by James Chance & The Contortions
Took My Lady to Dinner by King Khan & The Shrines
Exercise Man by The Dean Ween Group
Women Who Jog by MFC Chicken
Money Rock 'n' Roll by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Nightmare by The Embrooks
Mustang Ranch by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Love Like a Man by The Fleshtones with Lisa Kekaula
Plastic Plant by Thee Oh Sees
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
Follow Me Home by The Mystery Lights
Crazy Love by Musk
Johnny by Sulfur City
Honky Tonk Biscuit Queen by The Voluptuous World of Karen Black
Voodoohexenshakit! by The Brimstones
Skylab by The Grannies
Wide Open Blues by Big John Bates
What's Your Name by Nathaniel Mayer
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
Plastered to the Wall (Higher Than the Ceiling) by Swamp Dogg
Sunglasses After Dark by Archie & The Bunkers
Should've Been Home With You by James Leg
I Have Always Been Here Before by Hickoids
Brains a Flame by Johnny Dowd featuring Anna Coogan
What Is It? by The Come N' Go
Look in the Mirror by Gregg Turner
She's Wearing You Down by Stan Ridgway & Pietra Wexstun
Let's Burn Down the Cornfield by John the Conqueror
Good Old World by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Oct. 21, 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
Freak Flag by Southern Culture on the Skids
Shovelin' Bob by Washboard Hank
Ghosts on the Screen by Gary Heffern
Fools Like Me by Cornell Hurd
Then I'll Be Movin' On by Mother Earth
Killed Them Both by Wayne Hancock
Get on the Floor by C.W. Stoneking
The Stars by The Great Recession Orchestra
Odor in the Court by Doodoo Wah
Mama's Picture by Mose McCormack
Wall Around Your Heart by Chris Hillman
I Lie When I Drink by Dale Watson
Fifteen Beers by Johnny Paycheck
Big Fake Boobs by The Beaumonts
City Lights by Willie Nelson
Don't Give a Damn by Hony Tonk Hustlas
Tell Me Baby by Martha Fields
Crazy People by The Boswell Sisters
Lift Him Up, That's All by Ralph Stanley
I Was Born to Preach the Gospel by Washington Phillips
Denomination Blues by Ry Cooder
Weekender by Margo Price
Seein' Double by Nikki Lane
A Devil Named Music by Chris Stapleton
It's Only Make Believe by Kelly Hogan & John Wesley Harding
Buglight by The Flat Five
Keep it Between the Lines by Sturgil Simpson Heartsick Blues by Luke Winslow King
Hummin' to Myself by Dan Hicks with Maria Muldaur
Have Mercy by Steve Earle
Talk to Me Lonesome Heart by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Every week for more than 70 years, with the easy, familiar voice of a friend, Mr. Brand invited listeners of the New York public radio station WNYC to his quirky, informal combination of American music symposium, barn dance, cracker-barrel conversation, songwriting session and verbal horseplay.
Seventy years! His last show aired less than a week before he died, the Times said.
And like the best radio DJs, he was a volunteer. He did it for his love of his music and never got paid a nickel for his WNYC shows.
Although Brand never was a member of the Communist Party, during the McCarthy era, he was labeled as a communist sympathizer whose radio program was a "pipeline of communism" because he frequently invited blacklisted performers like Pete Seeger to appear on Folksong Festival
According to Martin's obit:
He invited Burl Ives, too, even though he had alienated many of his fellow folk singers by naming names to the House committee. The singer Dave Van Ronk, in his autobiography, The Mayor of MacDougal Street (2005), recalled taking Mr. Brand to task for this, only to be told, `Dave, we on the left do not blacklist'— a response that, Mr. Van Ronk recalled, `put me right in my place.'
Here's a few videos to pay tribute to Oscar Brand.
Let's start with a dirty one
Brand, who was in the Army during World War II, was a collector of songs sung by soldiers, sailors and Marines. In the late '50s, inspired by a collection of Air Force songs collected by a pilot named William Starr, Brand recorded an album called The Wild Blue Yonder, which included this next tune, "Save a Fighter Pilot's Ass."
Brand recorded an entire album of campaign songs for every president between George Washington and Bill Clinton. This is one of my favorites.
Finally, here's a clip with Brand's 1961 "Folksong Festival" interview with a young Bob Dylan. Here, the future Nobel Prize winner speaks of his (imaginary) boyhood in Gallup. N.M. and his (imaginary) travels with carnivals.
This week on Last Week Tonight comedian John Oliver, in a segment ridiculing third parties, introduced a horrified world to the Green Party candidate Jill Stein's 1990s band, Somebody's Sister, effectively stomping down any trace of Jill-mentum there might have been.
Oliver likened the sound of the group to the Indigo Girls fronting the Red Hot Chili Peppers. A former colleague of mine had a more scathing review: "Jill Stein does not have my vote if only because her band just drove the whittled end of an old public toilet plunger up my ass, out one ear and through the very core of my creative being."
Judge for yourself ...
Of course, had things gone differently in the Democratic primary, we might have had to endure four years of a version of The Dropkick Murphys -- minus any kick. Here's former Maryland Gov. Marvin O'Malley with his band O'Malley's March.
Donald Trump couldn't make it, but he sent a friend. (You have to sit through some wretched piano noodling until you get to the dreadful vocals) Fats Domino would do a better job invading Ukraine than Putin does on this song.
Somehow this guy pulled off the musician thing with a little style back in the Nutty '90s.
And who can forget this patriotic anthem from former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The late Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia was never shy about his bluegrass roots
But we haven't really had a great singing politician since Louisiana Gov. Jimmie Davis. (I played this very song on The Santa Fe Opry last week.)
Sunday, Oct. 16, 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
Look at That Moon by Carl Mann
Garbage Head by Eric Amble
Melt by The Mystery Lights
Rick Wakeman's Cape by The Fleshtones
The Same by Grey City Passengers
Baby Runaround by The Gears
Violets are Blue by The Mobbs
Dead in a Hotel Room by The Hickoids
Spook Factor by The Memphis Morticians
My Baby Left Me by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Tiger in My Tank by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
The Dozens by Eddie "One-String" Jones
Elephant Man by Meet Your Death
Human Lawn Dart by James Leg
Bloodhound by Left-Lane Cruiser
The Wolf by The Bloodhounds
Sexual Release by Lonesome Shack
Tie My Hands to the Floor by Sulphur City
Savage by The Cavemen
Milchblut by The Grannies
Tura Santana Tribute Song by The Dustaphonics
Trouble of the World by Dex Romweber
Heaven is Ugly by The Gospel Truth
Mad Mod Goth by The Fall
Evil Eye by Dead Moon
Dirty Deeds by Grandpa Death Experience
Slippin' Sideways by Drywall
Here Come the Martian Martians by Jonathan Richman
Vibrator by The Painted Dogs
Motorcycle Irene by Moby Grape
Teenage Maniac by The Spooklights
Are You Man Enough by The Four Tops
This Time Darlin' by Social Distortion
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Oct. 14, 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
Guitar Man by Junior Brown
Endangered Species by Waylon Jennings
Kung Fu Fighting by Girls on Top
I Just Left Myself Today by The Hickoids
Rocket in Your Pocket by Jenny & The Steady Gos
King's Highway by Sulphur City
Downward Mobility by Southern Culture on the Skids
Southern White Lies by Martha Fields
Freddy Lopez by Joe West
Dirty House Blues by Wayne Hancock
My Boyfriend by Nancy Apple
If You're Looking for a Loser by Arty Hill
You're Humbuggin' Me by Dale Watson
I'm Not Drunk Enough by Rex Hobart
She's a Humdinger by Gov. Jimmie Davis
Your Past's Gonna Come Back to Haunt You by Emily Kaitz
My Gal by Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Easy Ridin' Mama by Devil in a Woodpile
Coney Island Washboard by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Euphoria by Holy Modal Rounders
Banjorena by Dixieland Jug Blowers
Lampshade On by The Dustbowl Revival
Darktown Strutters Ball by Howard Armstrong
Down on Penny's Farm by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Oct. 14, 2016
Back in 1960, a folklorist/ethnomusicologist named Frederick Usher discovered a street singer named Eddie Jones (if, indeed, that was his real name) playing a one-stringed contraption and singing the blues on Skid Row in Los Angeles.
Usher described Jones’ instrument as a “home-made African derived Zither-Monochord.” (I doubt Jones called it that.) It’s basically a close cousin of the diddley bow, another instrument with African roots.
There, in some Skid Row alley, Usher recorded at least 15 songs by Jones, some with his crony, harmonica player Edward Hazelton. Four years later, the venerated folk label Takoma Records released an album of those recordings under the title One-String Blues.
I first heard this remarkable, if under-appreciated, blues gem back when I was in college. My favorite track was a wild, filthy, hilarious little romp Jones called “The Dozens.”
The song begins:
“God made elephant big and stout / He wasn’t satisfied until He made him a great long snout. … He made him some eyes that was to look at that grass / He wasn't satisfied until He gave him a big fat ass ...”
So imagine my delight when I recently came across a new self-titled album by an Austin band called Meet Your Death. They’ve got a track they call “Elephant Man,” which is a louder, more raucous version of Jones’ one-string “Dozens.” Frontman Walter Daniels growls the lyrics over John Schooley’s apocalyptic slide guitar and then blows his harmonica as if challenging the elephant to a loser-leave-town battle.
This version is based on Bo Diddley’s 1970 take on it, also titled “Elephant Man.” And even though I’m pretty sure Meet Your Death wasn’t overly concerned about getting a G rating here, they leave out the “dirty” verses. Even so, the song is crazy joy from start to finish.
Walter Daniels
But even without “Elephant Man,” I was bound to love this band. I’ve been a long-time fan of both Daniels and Schooley — I even got to see them together in an acoustic setting along with fiddler Ralph White at a Beerland gig in Austin a few years ago.
Harp-man Daniels is a longtime Austin stalwart, having played in such bands as Big Foot Chester and Jack O’Fire, which covered a Blind Willie McTell song called “Meet Your Death” back in 1994.
I mostly know Schooley from his three albums on the Swiss label Voodoo Rhythm Records, under the name “John Schooley and his one-man band.”
In Meet Your Death, this dynamic duo is backed by a couple of younger guys — Harpal Assi on bass and Matt Hammer on drums.
John Schooley
Meet Your Death plays hard-rocking punk blues covers by some great American writers like Hank Williams (“I Don’t Care If Tomorrow Never Comes”) and Mose Allison (“If You Live”).
But next to “Elephant Man,” my favorite song here is the opening track, which comes from a more obscure source. “Obeah Man” is based on a song called “Exuma, The Obeah Man,” recorded in 1970 by Bahamian singer Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey, who recorded under the name Exuma.
Starting off with jungle drums, the song quickly turns into a hoodoo-drenched, Dr.-John-by-way-of-Bo-Diddley invocation to the ruling demons of rock ’n’ roll, with Daniels as the ragged-voiced high priest.
By the end of the song you’ll believe that the singer “came down on a lightning bolt” and “has fire and brimstone coming out of [his] mouth,” as he sings.
Also recommended:
* Blood on the Keys by James Leg. If you need more of that blues-driven, rump-bumpin’, holy-roller-shoutin’, swampy rock ’n’ roll, a keyboard player called James Leg just might be your man.
Leg was born John Wesley Myers. He’s the son of a preacher man, born in Port Arthur, Texas ( Janis Joplin country), and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee (home of the choo-choo).
Before launching his solo career, Leg played with a couple of notable hard-chugging bands. He fronted The Black Diamond Heavies and played in the final incarnation of The Immortal Lee County Killers, a pioneering band of the punk blues sound. Leg also recorded an album (Painkillers, 2012) with current blues minimalist titans Left Lane Cruiser.
Blood on the Keys, recorded in a converted Masonic lodge in Kentucky, is a splendid showcase of what Leg does best: roaring and thundering (with a voice that falls somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Jim “Dandy” Mangrum of the band Black Oak Arkansas) over stripped-down atomic-powered boogie.
A big percentage of these songs feature Leg backed by his own keyboards and drummer Mathieu Gazeau — sometimes joined by guest guitarists and, on a couple of tracks, backup female vocalists (a group called Foxxfire).
And indeed, these songs — including the opener, “Human Lawn Dart”; “Mighty Man” (written by the early ’70s British band Mungo Jerry, best known for their hit “In the Summertime”); “Huggin the Line”; and “DogJaw (Do Some Things You Say)” — are guaranteed to get the crowds moving.
But there are a handful of outliers here too. One of the most memorable songs on the album is “Should’ve Been Home With You,” penned by the late Austin songwriter Blaze Foley. This minor-key tune rocks with just about as much intensity as any other on Blood on the Keys, but the demonic fiddling of Sylvia Mitchell gives it a sweet touch.
Mitchell also plays on “St Michel Shuffle,” which sounds like a tribute to Tom Waits. There are also a couple of soulful, gospel-influenced ballads, including the title song and, even better, “I’ll Take It.”
I’m glad that Leg’s blues bruisers outnumber his ballads. But there’s nothing wrong with a little variety.
Video time!
Here's Meet Your Death live at Beerland
Here's some live Leg (from a Paris show in July)
And finally, I couldn't find "The Dozens" by Eddie "One-String" Jones on YouTube, Spotify or anywhere else. But here's a video of Jones doing "Baby Please Don't Go."
Today would have been the 91st birthday of comedian, First Amendment fighter and major jazz nut Leonard Alfred Schneider, better known as Lenny Bruce.
Lenny was a comic, not a musician. But his love for jazz led to some interesting musical collaborations.
He even produced a television pilot (The World of Lenny Bruce) that featured performances by jazz stars of the day including Cannonball Adderly, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross and Buddy Rich (see clip below.) But, of course, none of the gutless prigs running the networks would touch any show hosted by a foul-mouthed lunatic like Lenny.
And here's a final musical connection: Lenny's last gigs were with Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention at the original Filmore Auditorium on June 24 and 25,1966. Those who saw the show reported that Lenny was not in good shape. He died of a drug overdose about six weeks later,
Let's start with a strange beatnik poetry interlude called "Psychopathica Sexualis from Lenny's 1959 album The Sick Humour of Lenny Bruce
Here is Lenny singing -- and doing some shtick with -- a bittersweet little song about loneliness.
As promised, here's a clip from Lenny's TV pilot. "I feel from jazz," he declares as he introduces Buddy Rich.
And to conclude, here's Stan Ridgway covering Bob Dylan's tribute to Lenny
This weekend, on the heels of the release of the infamous Donald Trump "hot mic" tape in which he brags about being able to kiss and grope women without their consent because he was “a star," another Trump video begin popping up on Twitter. These were videos from earlier this year in which the Republican nominee reads a poem about a "tender woman" who shows mercy to reptile who seems to be in pretty bad shape.
Here is one of those speeches. (Note: The original Yotube I posted was taken down. I'm replacing it with one that CBS News posted in April 2017.)
As interpreted by Trump, the snake is a metaphor for Syrian terrorists and the "tender woman" are the foolish liberals who "would take them in."
But the people posting the video over the weekend were doing so to taunt Republicans who were practically tripping all over themselves trying to flee from Trump. Their message: They knew damn well what this guy was before they took him in.
Though Trump has repeatedly -- and incorrectly -- identified the writer as Al Wilson (a soul singer who covered it in 1968), the lyrics he's reading are a variation of a song written in the early '60s by jazz singer Oscar Brown, Jr. that was based on one of Aesop's fables.
Johnny's was the first version I ever heard, so I've got a soft spot for it. Here's a live version
And here is a fairly recent one by French rocker, Rev. Tom Frost from his 2013 album, Bloody Works. I'm pretty sure that Debra Paget, the dancer in this video never went furniture shopping with Trump.
Sunday, Oct. 9, 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
Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon
Purple Merkin Power by Purple Merkin
Mojo Workout by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Hey You by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels
Stella by The Havishams
Bleed Me by The Upper Crust
White Glove Service by The Grannies
Voodoo Moonshine by Deadbolt
Bald Head by Bobby King & Terry Evans
Blood on the Keys by James Leg
I Wanna Be Your Busyman by The Fadeaways
Stormy Weather by The Reigning Sound
Obeah Man by Meet Your Death
Burn She Devil, Burn by The Cramps
Degenerate by DD Owen
Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor
Cannibal Island by The Young Rochelles
Midnight Queen by Iron Lizards
Mutants of the Monster by Christopher "CT" Terry & Micheal Denner
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 8 am to 10 am Sundays Mountain Time Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org Here's the playlist :
Welcome Table and Prayer by Alice Wine
Howard Hugh's Blues by John Hartford
Blow the Man Down by Woody Guthrie
Ramblin' Man by Steve Young
Summer Wages by David Bromberg
The Boll Weevil by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
Love Song of the Dump by Washboard Hank
Don't Lie Buddy by Josh White
That'll Never Happen No More by Howard Armstrong
Do You Call That a Buddy by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong
Wine Spo-Dee-Odee by Kell Robertson
Wild Bill Jones by Eva Davis
Just Like a Monkey by South Memphis String Band
Luther Played Guitar by Stan Ridgway
I Want My Mama by Salty Holmes
Your Past is Going to Come Back and Haunt You by Emily Kaitz
Good Morning Judge by Louis Innis & His String Dusters
How Lee Sin Ate by Dr. West's Medicine & Junk Band
I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate by The Hoosier Hotshots
She Lived Down by The Firehouse by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
Stealin' by Dave Van Ronk's Ragtime Jug Stompers
Collegiana by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Friday, Oct. 7, 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
Too Much by Rosie Flores
Two String Boogie by Wayne Hancock
Swamp Pigs by Dash Rip Rock
Hard Times by Martha Fields
These Arms by Dwight Yoakam
Church on a Saturday Night by Arty Hill
Baby I Like You by Southern Culture on the Skids
Zoysia by The Bottle Rockets
I'll Be There (If Ever Your Want Me) / Make the World Go Away by Willie Nelson
Sweet Georgia Brown by Johnny Gimble with Merle Haggard
Take Me to the Fires by The Waco Brothers
On the Verge by The Royal Hounds
The Ballad of Charles Whitman by Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys
Ladies Love Outlaws by Waylon Jennings
Second Fiddle to an Old Guitar by Jean Shephard
Another Clown by Mose McCormack
Please Tell That Clown to Stop Crying by Neil Hamburger
I Just Can't Be True by Webb Pierce
You're Not Here by Washboard Hank
Drunken Lady of the Morning by Michael Hearne
Long Black Veil by Dale Watson
Roly Poly by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts with Brett Sparks
Venerable old Route 66 undoubtedly inspired more music than any other ribbon of asphalt built in the last century.
Although there have been several songs written about that highway, most of these have been overshadowed by the mother song of the Mother Road, Bobby Troups' ``Get Your Kicks On Route 66.''
Troup, a jazz musician married to the late singer Julie London, wrote the song in 1946, traveling down the road on a trip west. Much of the lyrics are a simple recital of towns along the highway.
`It winds from Chicago to L.A., More than 2,000 miles all the way, Get your kicks on Route 66. Now you go through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty. You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.''
Here's a version by the songwriter
Nat ``King'' Cole had a hit with it in 1946 ...
But he was hardly the last to record it.
Route 66 historian David Kammer, who lives in Albuquerque said in 2001 that he was aware of more than 120 different versions of the song.
There are jazz, country, punk-rock, goth-rock, zydeco and raw schmaltz versions.
Here are some of those, starting with The Stones
Wayne Hancock takes it to the country
The late Buckwheat Zydeco did it
British synth-rock group Depeche Mode recorded a version.
The Cramps kindly kept it sleazy.
Here's a take by a Japanese blues band
And then there's this by Tom Trusnovic & Monkeyshines
Allow me to get a little self-indulgent on this Wacky Wednesday.
I have to give a speech in Albuquerque today. I won an award from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. It's the first time in awhile that I've had to give an actual speech, so I thought I'd study some classic oratory from the world of rock 'n' roll.
The first example that came to mind was the short but strange speech by Bob Dylan when he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1991 Grammy Awards. Jack Nicholson introduced him.
Then there was Mike Love's inspirational words when The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. After talking about the beauty of harmony, he rips into Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen. Love later explained that he hadn't meditated that morning (His section starts at the 3:50 mark.)
I actually do admire the following speech by Frank Zappa. It wasn't an awards show -- it was a Congressional hearing on the dangers of dirty lyrics in rock songs. Frank stood up for liberty and against the "sinister kind of toilet training program" being advocated by Tipper Gore and her minions.
(If you want to see the rest of Zappa's testimony -- with questions from hostile senators -- Part 2 can be found HERE , Part 3 HEREand Part 4 HERE)
Zappa greets John Denver at U.S. Senate Porn Rock hearings 1985
Sunday, Oct. 2, 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
Matchbox by Jerry Lee Lewis
Like a Bad Girl Should by The Cramps
Tracking the Dog by Meet Your Death
St. Michael Shuffle by James Leg
Hank Turns Blue by Folk Devils
Geraldine by The A-Bones
Full Grown Boogie by Frigg a Go-Go
Please Judge by Roky Erikson with Okerville River
Pablo Picasso by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Never Enough Girls by The Sloths
The Other Side by Motobunny
Real Wild Child by Deke Dickerson & The Trashmen
Go Away by The Plague
Magical Colors by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Thin Man by Archie & The Bunkers
Where Do You Roam by Dex Romweber
Bessie's Blues by John Coltrane (for John Greenspan)
Hardcore Jollies by Funkadelic
Gelatinous Cube by Thee Oh Sees
High and Dry by Whiskeydick
What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down by The Mystery Lights
I Fuck Alone by The Grannies
New Structures by Nots
Last Laugh by Johnny Dowd
Everybody Knows by Concrete Blonde
Got a Little Secret by Leonard Cohen
They Took You Away by Gregg Turner
Free Money by Patti Smith
I Don't Want the Night to End by Phoebe Snow
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis