Les Claypool, the bass-plucking force behind Primus and many lesser-known
bands (Sausage, Holy Mackerel, The Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and others) turns 58 today.
Happy birthday, Les. I remember when I was your age.
Unless you were completely deaf to early '90s "alternative" rock, you
already know that Primus was one of the most unique acts of the era -- a
"power trio" (I bet Claypool hates that label!) that centered around
the bass rather than guitar. And speaking of labels, Primus often was lumped
into the "punk-funk" category along with the more popular but vastly inferior
Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Besides Claypool's crazy talent (and guitarist Larry LaLonde and drummer
Tim Alexander werent exactly slouches either) the main thing that set Primus
apart was their humor and sense of absurdity.
So on this Wacky Wednesday, I present some of the wackiest Primus tunes.
The first song that drew me to Primus was the celebration of a murderous
hillbilly called "My Name is Mud.":
On this song, Primus pays tribute to one of the finest members of the rodent kingdom, a big brown beaver:
One of my favorite Primus tunes is "Fisticuffs." Here's a live version from 2013:
Although Primus is associated with punk and funk, they've also been known to do amazing covers of country songs. Back in the '90s, they recorded a wondrous version of Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses". More recently (2003) they recorded and made a bitchen video for this Charlie Daniels classic:
One of Claypool's most recent projects is his work with son of the Walrus Sean Lennon. Here's a tune from 2016, a touching tribute to a boy and his chimp:
Happy birthday, Les! Your name is never Mud on this blog.
Sunday, September 26, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
I'm Alive, Your'e Dead by Kathy Freeman
Feel Good by Ty Segall with Denee Segall
Killer vs. Killer by Sloks
Fruit Fly by Hickoids
Satan's Just a Waitin' by Big Al Anderson
Shrieking Insects by John Trubee & The Ugly Janitors of America
Last Kind Words by Dex Romweber Duo with Jack White
They Wanted the Devil But I Sang of God by The William Loveday Intention
Rang Tang Ding Dong (I Am the Japanese Sandman) by The Cellos
I Can't Get No Nookie by The Masked Marauders
Hairy Lula by Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers
Humans by Pocket FishRMen
Take the Skinheads Bowling by Camper Van Beethoven
Spilling Blood (at the Rock 'n' Roll Show) by The Fleshtones
Since retirement, I enjoy drinking my morning coffee out on the old
front porch when the weather is nice and warm.
This morning, after about a half a cup, I came back inside. It was too chilly.
It's Sept. 23 and I think summer time is over. So let's celebrate
"Summertime."
This classic song started on Broadway, composed in 1935 by George
Gershwin with lyrics by DuBose Heyward, for the musical Porgy and Bess. The lullaby soon became a jazz standard and made its impact in other genres of popular music as well.
Here's the first recording of it from 1935 featuring soprano Abbie Mitchell on vocals and Gershwin on piano. Abbie's part doesn't start until about 2 minutes in:
Here's the version by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong, who did an album
of Porgy and Bess songs in 1959:
The very first version I ever heard was Sam Cooke's. And it's still a doozie:
Soul singer Billy Stewart had a hit single with the song in the '60s. Dig the
10-gallon hat here:
Many members of My Generation believe that "Summertime" started with Big
Brother & The Holding Company. It didn't, of course, but Big Brother's version was beyond powerful. Here's a 1969 live performance by Janis
Joplin after she went solo:
Doc Watson, with his son Merle, took the song to the country:
And more recently, the Swiss band Die Zorros (featuring the unstoppable Reverend Beat-Man) took it to the Bizarro World:
The cool weather is nice, but don't be a stranger, summertime! I like it best when the livin' is easy!
Sunday, September 19, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Hand Full of Sand by Divine Horsemen
Baby Please Don't Go by Them
Exotic Store by Sloks
I'm Going Back by Grys Grys
Suzie by Coyotes y Krotal
Smash the Fascists by Pocket FishRMen
Confessions of a Psycho Cat by The Cramps
You Don't Know by 13th Floor Elevators
Hey Man! You Just Made My Day by Harry "The Hipster" Gibson
Crime to Be Poor by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
CIA Man by The Fugs
The Greatest Whole by King Khan & Saba Lou
New Big Prinz by The Fall
Come and Have a Go If You Think You're Hard Enough by The Mekons
Bongo Stomp by Little Isidore & The Inquisitors
Do You Remember What You Did by Nolan Strong & The Diablos
Mother of Earth by The Gun Club
O Christine by The Reigning Sound
Shopping Like a Mormon by 50 Watt Whale
Save the Whales by Country Joe McDonald
ICU by The Control Freaks
Mi Eganaste by The Fleshtones
What's His Name by Joey Quiones & The Sinseers
Wooden Heart by Elvis Presley
Driftwood 4023 by Mitch Webb & The Swindles
24 Hours from Tulsa by Shinyribs
What Are You Looking for by King Shark
My Love Is by Bernadette Seacrest
Lily of the West by Bob Dylan
Juanita by Sturgill Simpson
Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family
Dreaming My Dreams by Waylon Jennings
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, September 19, 2021 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 :
The Lost Ones by Ted Hawkins
Sugar Baby by Dock Boggs
Hog of the Forsaken by Michael Hurley Do the Boogie Mama by Yank Rachell & His Tennessee Jug Busters
Get Up in the Morning Soon by Gus Cannon
Fishing Blues by Henry Thomas
Booger Country Blues by Nick Shoulders
Going Down That Road Feeling Bad by Doc & Merle Watson
Oh Darlin' by Blaze Foley
Give Me That Old Time Religion by Joseph Spence
Ragtime Cowboy Joe by Peter Stampfel
World Gone Wrong by The William Loveday Intention
Crazy Mixed Up World by Ray Condo
Crawdad Song by Jerry Lee Lewis
Long Time Gone by The Flatlanders
Charlottesville by Jesse Dayton
J'Entendes Siffler Le Train / 500 Miles by Martha Fields
Pretty Polly by The Dead Brothers
Down South Kosher by Mark Rubin
Flora, the Lily of the West by Tim O'Brien
The Coo-Coo Bird by Clarence Ashley
I'm Satisfied by Mississippi John Hurt
Railroad Bill by Ramblin' Jack Elliott
Oh Ambulance Man by The Memphis Jug Band
Rambling Gambler by The Dixon Brothers
Jesus Don't Love Me by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
The Awful Parts of Me by Rachel Brooke
Alabama Pines by Jason Isbell
Come Down Angels by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
When I think of songs about the Vietnam war, the first one that comes to my
mind Country Joe & The Fish's
"I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag," However, for anyone who was out of diapers in 1966, the best known Vietnam song probably is "The Ballad of the Green Berets"
by Sgt. Barry Sadler (a New Mexico native, born in Carlsbad in 1940). For some weird reason, Sgt. Barry's song got tons more
commercial radio play than Country Joe's.
Encyclopedia Brittanica
says Sadler's patriotic song with the military beat and bugles "reached No. 1
on the Billboard Top 100 chart in late February [1966] and stayed there
for five weeks, going on to sell more than nine million records. The album
sold some two million copies and hit No.1 on Billboard’s best-selling albums
chart in early April."
Though it was more corny than a field in Nebraska, I believe part of the
appeal of Sadler's song was that the singer knew what he was singing about.
Unlike John Wayne, who later starred in a spectacularly bad movie called
The Green Berets (the soundtrack of which used a choral arrangement of the song), Sadler
was no poser. He was a real combat veteran, a medic with the Green Berets who was nearly lost a
leg after he stepped on a punji stick booby trap the year before he
became a recording star.
Look ma, no beret!
He released one other album in 1966 called The A-Team, then the next year he dropped the "Sgt." from his stage name and released another album, Back Home, in which he posed in civilian attire (with no beret!) and contained songs not dealing with warfare.
But "Green Berets" was such a colossal hit, all of Sadler's subsequent musical efforts paled and failed in comparison. The public was quickly turning against the war and Sadler's songs that followed seemed like faint echoes of the one song of his we know.
After his music career stiffed, Sadler turned to writing. Starting in 1977, he wrote more than 30 adventure novels, most of which were part of a series called Casca: The Eternal Mercenary. (Casca was the Roman soldier who speared Jesus on the cross. The Son of God wasn't amused, so he cursed Casca to live and fight wars until the Second Coming. (Other authors took over the series after Sadler died.)
Sadler's life became more troubled in the late '70s, as this 1989 Los Angeles Times story shows. He'd basically become a major lush and a womanizer. In 1978, while living in Nashville, Sadler shot and killed a wanna-be country singer named Lee Emerson Bellamy. The dead man was the ex-boyfriend of a woman with whom Sadler was having an affair. Bellamy allegedly was stalking and harassing the woman.
During a confrontation in his girlfriend's apartment parking lot, Sadler shot Bellamy, who'd reached for his pocket. Sadler thought he was pulling a gun, but in reality he was reaching for his car key. Sadler pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four to five years in the Tennessee State Penitentiary. However, according to the Times, "The judge later reduced the sentence to 30 days with two years’ probation. Sadler got off after 22 days on good behavior."
After all, silver wings upon his chest ...
In the early '80s, Sadler moved to Central America, where he wrote some of his Casca books. He also allegedly got involved with mercenaries, ran guns and trained the Contras for Nicaragua's civil war. (The Times article says, "The people who claim to know Sadler best say he nurtured the mercenary image only to sell books."
Almost exactly 33 years ago, on September 7, 1988, Sadler was shot in the head in Guatemala City. According to Brittanica, "Witnesses and the police said he accidentally shot himself. Others claimed he was the victim of a robbery or assassination attempt." He was brought back to the U.S., where he died in November 1989.
Even though it's hard for people my age to have avoided "The Ballad of the Green Berets," only the most die-hard Sgt. Barry fans know the rest of his musical repertoir. His follow-up was a song called "The A-Team," which, disappointingly, has nothing to do with Mr. T. (And for reasons best known to RCA Records, was not on the album of the same name.)
Here's the B-Side of "The A-Team"
Sgt. Barry loved the women. He undoubtedly was thinking of some Hotlips Houlihan -- or several -- when he wrote this song.
Here's another tear-jerker from the Sarge
Finally here's one of Sgt. Barry's non-military tunes
Sunday, September 12, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
The Show is Over by The Fleshtones
25th Floor by The Divine Horsemen
Far Away by Sleater-Kinney
Erased by Ty Segall
Long Way Down by The Ar-Kaics
Drug Me by ET Explore Me
Ode to a Mermaid by Robbie Quine
Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me by Mississippi John Hurt
Tomorrow, September 10, is the birthday of Marie Laveau, the Voodoo queen of New Orleans, who was active for most of the 19th Century until her death in 1881. She would have been 220 years old today.
Happy birthday, Queen Marie!
Marie, born a "free woman of color" in New Orleans, started out as a hairdresser. She also served as a nurse, tending to patients during outbreaks of yellow fever and and cholera.
But she became far more famous for her side gig of selling sold magic potions and gris gris (pouches of herbs, stones, grave dirt and other hoodoo material), telling fortunes and giving advice to spiritual seekers of all stripes.
Marie is said to have had followers among the wealthy elite as well as by poor people. Her funeral is said to have been attended by many prominent whites. And when she died in 1881, the New Orleans Time Picayune editorialized:
All in all Marie Laveau was a most wonderful woman. Doing good for the sake of doing good alone, she obtained no reward, oft times meeting with prejudice and loathing, she was nevertheless contented and did not lag in her work. She always had the cause of the people at heart and was with them in all things. ... While God's sunshine plays around the little tomb where her remains are buried, by the side of her second husband, and her sons and daughters, Marie Laveau's name will not be forgotten in New Orleans.
And, as you'll see below, she inspired many songs.
But first, here's one of my favorite personal shaggy dog stories (or maybe more appropriately a shaggy cat story) from my hitchhiking days.
I paid a visit to that "little tomb" where God's sunshine plays back when I was 21.
It was in the summer of 1975, on my second great hitchhiking adventure. I was going down to Birmingham, Alabama (by way of Arkansas and Kansas City) to help my friend, Julie move her stuff back to Albuquerque. I decided to stop in New Orleans for a few days.
There's an old superstition about going to the crypt of Marie and making a red X on the crypt with a brick. For good luck. So on my last day in town I decided to do that, just to get a little good hoodoo going for the last stretch of my trip.
Not the same black cat
So I found the cemetery where she's said to be entombed -- St. Louis Cemetery #1, though some have disputed that Marie actually rests there. There I went looking for her crypt. The rows and rows of big marble crypts all looked alike to me, so I just wandered around for several minutes trying to read the inscriptions on each one. It was very frustrating.
But then I saw the black cat.
The dang thing literally crossed my path so I decided to follow it. Was he an emissary of Marie? I followed the cat who turned a sharp corner . As I turned I almost bumped into this very tall, thin Black man in some weird, red Sgt. Pepper-like uniform.
“May I help you, sir?” he said in some kind of accent that sounded Caribbean.
I told him I was looking for the grave of Marie LaVeau. “Right this way,” he said and led me through the graveyard maze. I wondered whether this man might be an incarnation of Baron Samedi, Voodoo loa of the dead.
Whoever he was, he showed me the way to the white marble crypt covered with red Xs. On the ground, conveniently, were lots of pieces of red pieces of bricks. My guide disappeared before I made my X and asked Marie for her blessing for my travels.
Despite some bumps in the road, I like to think that I've traveled with that blessing ever since.
As I later wrote in my song "The Vagabond Treasure":
“Every highway has a demon, and buddy, I’ve met some. / But there are angels who will answer when you’re prayin’ with your thumb …”
I tried to go back to St. Louis Cemetery #1 when I was in New Orleans nearly 40 years later in 2013.
But I didn't get there until a Sunday afternoon and the graveyard was closed. I was leaving town the next day, so I couldn't return to her tomb.
And apparently, a few weeks after that trip, some idiot vandal had spray-painted the crypt, coloring it pink. Shortly thereafte,r The Archdiocese of New Orleans closed St. Louis #1 to visitors except for paid guided tours. I didn't learn of this until I returned to New Orleans in 2019. I went back to the ceremon7 on a weekday during regular business hours.
I decided against paying for a guided tours when I saw that the tour guide was neither the tall guy the Sgt. Peppers suit nor a black cat.
But let's get on to the music.
This song, simply known as "Marie Laveau," was recorded in the early1950s by Papa Celestine's New Orleans Band. It was later covered by Dr. John.
There was a spate of Marie songs in the 1970s. Holy Modal Rounders celebrated "Voodoo Queen Marie" on their 1975 album Alleged in Their Own Time. The melody here is borrowed from the old fiddle song "Colored Aristocracy"
Also in the '70s, the Native American band, Redbone, helped spread the legend of the "Witch Queen of New Orleans."
And even though it doesn't really have much to do with the historic Marie, Bobby Bare's "Marie LaVeau," written by Shel Silverstein, is a hoot.
Skipping ahead to the 21st Century, the Danish metal band Volbeat (not to be confused with the alt country band from Michigan, The Volebeats) showed that the legends of Marie have spread to Scandinavia.
Sunday, September 5, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Abigail Beecher by Freddy Cannon
Keep Movin' by Freddy Cannon & The Gears
Love by Country Joe & The Fish
No Makeup by Sloks
Forming by The Germs
Reog Doom by Arrington de Dionyso with Gal Lazer Shiloach
Time is Gonna Kill Me by The Devils
I Want to Be Your Love by Pan Ron
The Ballad of Forty Dollars by Jerry Lee Lewis
Wash My Bones by Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers
The Ape Who Loved by Pocket FishRMen
The FBI by The Control Freaks
Travolter by Control Freak
She's a Rainbow by The Barbarellatones
In My Garden by Martha Fields
Twilight by Alice Howe
She Loves My Dog More Than Me by Freebo
Crash the Party by The A-Bones
Run Baby Run by Southern Culture on the Skids
Queen of Suffolk County by Dropkick Murphys
Funky Music Sho 'Nuff Turns Me On by Edwin Starr
Won't Let Fear In by Honshu Wolves
Walking Talking People by Roy & The Devil's Motorcycle
You Gotta Move by The William Loveday Intention
The Mouse by Soupy Sales
Right Track Now by Powell St. John with Roky Erickson
I'm Tired of Singing My Song in Las Vegas by The Everly Brothers
The Hula Hula Boys by Warren Zevon
Tell It Like It Is by Trish Toledo
Magic Mirror by Leon Russell
Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Saturday, September 4, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist:
Heavy Voodoo by Lee "Scratch" Perry
Love and Death by Ebo Taylor
Cosmic Serenade by King Khan & The Shrines
Sar Di Va by Cankisou
Prosto by Kazik & Zdunek Ensemble
You've Got My Soul on Fire by Edwin Starr
Ronco Symphony by Stereolab
The Breather by M. Conn
The Particulate Black Soot on Sunset Boulevard by Gloop Nox & The Stik People
The Stranger in Town by John Trubee & The Ugly Janitors of America
Next only to The Banana Splits and possibly GWAR, The Village People are America's most beloved costume band. As Hillary Clinton would say, it takes The Village People to raise a child.
(No, I never get tired of that joke.)
Although this flamboyant disco ensemble hasn't had any hit songs since their
late-'70s glory daze, their biggest hit, 1978's "YMCA" is known to practically everyone. Hell, they even play it at Trump rallies. To a lesser extent, VP songs like "Macho Man," "In the Navy" and "San Francisco" still ring a few bells in the national consciousness.
But beyond those songs, practically all of The Village Peoples' joyous repertoire has sunk beneath our wisdom like a stone. But Hell's bells, the group produced five studio between 1977 and 1980, and a few more after that. So let's dive into the lesser-known material of this disco powerhouse, shall we?
Here the boys expressing their support for law-enforcement with a song called
"Hot Cop."
On this one, the Villagers praise Fire Island. According to the website
FireIsland.com, "A
weekend on Fire Island gets you back to nature. With all the biking, hiking,
swimming, surfing, beach volleyball, kayaking, and tennis, you can finally
break free of that monotonous gym routine." And according to the
testimony of one happy visitor, it's the "Best place on earth! Grew up in Ocean Bay Park. Still
remember crawling around in diapers ..."
They even shared a Bible story:
I've always liked this little gem, "My Roommate":
At the end of the Me Decade, the group asked an important question: Are you "Ready for the '80s"? Sadly, I don't think The Village People were.
It never got much radio play, but here is a latter-day Village People tune circa 1985, a song about a favorite
hobby of millions, "Sex Over the Phone" (There's a new lead singer here: Ray Stephens, not to be confused with this guy):