Thursday, April 28, 2022

THROWBACK THURSDAY: My Favorite Concerts (after more than a half century of concert going)

 Warning: This is a LONG post!

In December 2020, my daughter gave me a subscription to a strange service called Storyworth, which basically asks you a question about your life, your history, your philosophy, your complaints,  every week. Each of these becomes a chapter in an actual book. Basically a vanity-press kind of deal. 

I did it. It was fun. And earlier this year, I got my book (as did both of my kids).

No, it's not commercially available. But I've decided to publish my longest chapter here on my music blog. 

Enjoy:

Chapter 29: What are the best concerts you've ever been to?

I’ve been to a lot of concerts in my life. I’m pretty sure that my first show was The Beach Boys at Springlake amusement park in Oklahoma City in 1964. I would have been 10 then. Brian Wilson was still touring with them then. (I saw The Beach Boys a year or so later. By that point, Brian was in his sandbox, not touring. His substitute in The Beach Boys was an unknown kid named Glen Campbell.) Later that year I saw The Dave Clark Five. (The Beatles never made it to Oklahoma. But DC5 did, and so did Herman’s Hermits, come to think about it.)

Speaking of British Invasion bands, one of the best shows I’ve ever seen had to be The Rolling Stones in Albuquerque in the summer of 1972. They were touring the Exile on Main Street album then, which I believe was the Stones’ greatest. The concert, which took place at the University of New Mexico Pit, was just a few weeks after the Vietnam protests at the university — at the end of my freshman year of college.

These were terrifying protests. I lost my tear-gas virginity then. A student journalist was shot, non-fatally, by a cop right after we’d blocked I-25 near Central Blvd. And the next night, I was shot at by a cop. I didn’t get hit, but my pal Green Bay Frank took some birdshot in his arm. So when the Stones played “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” and Mick Jagger sang, “I went down to the demonstration to get my fair share of abuse” I started shouting and pounding on whoever was sitting next to me (I think it was Alec Walling) and shouting, “They KNOW! They KNOW!!!!!”

But actually the best part of that show was the opening act, Stevie Wonder. I’d been aware of Stevie back when he was Little Stevie Wonder. He’d had several hits under his belt as a teenager, but in 1972, with the album Music of My Mind, Stevie’s music took a major step in establishing his own sound. He’d gone far beyond the Motown assembly-line sound, growing more funky and introspective at the same time. And live, he was nothing short of astonishing.

One final word about that show. Putting on my old-fart “back in the good old days” hat for a second, it seems amazing now that tickets were only $6 — considering that these days Stones tickets are in the hundreds. But back then, most people I know only begrudgingly bought tickets. We all were grumbling that the Stones were charging $6 while most bands only charged $5. “Who do they think they are?” To be fair, that same year I skipped what would be my only chance to see Elvis Presley (at the wretched Tingley Auditorium at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds) because the King was charging a whopping $15 for his show. 

The Rolling Stones, Austin, Texas 2021

[Update: Nearly 50 years later, in November 2021 while visiting the family in Austin, my pal Alec gave me a ticket to see the Stones there. Turns out they were just as good, if not better, than they were in 1972.]

Here are a few more of my favorite concerts over nearly a half century of concert-going:

* The Everly Brothers at Springlake amusement park in Oklahoma City circa 1965:

I went to this show with my whole family — my brother, my sister, my mother, my grandmother and my grandfather. This was during something of a slump in the Everly’s career, as was the case with so many first-generation rockers in the wake of the British Invasion. But they sounded great that night. 

However, as much as I loved the show, I didn’t love it nearly as much as my grandfather. Like Don and Phil, Papa was born and raised in Kentucky and something about those storied Everly harmonies sounded like home to him. At that point in my life, I wanted to be a lawyer like Papa But after the show, Papa turned to my brother and me and said, “Boys when you grow up, I don’t want you to be lawyers, I want you to play guitar like those Kentucky boys.” 

Jack took that advice more literally than I did, though for me it was a parental permission to let my obsession with music be a major force in my life. And I got a sweet, cosmic affirmation of that a couple of years later, a few months after Papa died. I was listening to the radio and the DJ announced a brand new song by The Everly Brothers. It was what would become a minor hit for the brothers, “Bowling Green” in which every verse contains the line, “A man from Kentucky sure is lucky.” I took that as a message from Papa from the great beyond.

* Steeleye Span at the University of New Mexico Pit, 1973:

Like Stevie Wonder at that Rolling Stones show, Steeleye was the opening act at this show, headlined by Jethro Tull. At the time I’d never heard of Steeleye. In fact, I thought the radio ads for the concert said that Steely Dan would be opening. So I get to the show flying high on an extremely strong marijuana brownie. The lights go out and a group of men, plus one woman take the stage in what looked like Druid robes. One of them had a hand drum as they sang a haunting, minor-key acoustic melody I later learned was titled “Rogues in a Nation.” In bizarre and ancient harmonies the group sang:

But pith and power, till my last hour

I’ll make this declaration

We were bought and sold for English gold:

Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

Then, following a pithy and powerful fiddle solo, the group doffed their robes and began rocking in their own peculiar British folk way, singing of elves, witches, doomed greedy kings, stormy seas. My mind was fully blown and after that, Tull seemed kind of tedious.

* The Mahavishnu Orchestra at the UNM Student Union Building Ballroom:

This classic jazz-fusion group featured guitarist John McLaughlin as well as Jan Hammer on keyboards and Billy Cobham on drums. They had just released their first album, The Inner Mounting Flame, and at the time, nothing sounded like it. At one moment it would be wild, screechy and chaotic, then, meditative and peaceful, and sometimes even “jazzy.” No complaints about ticket prices here. It cost $2 to get in.

However, one thing I remember about this show is that I got in trouble. Before the band came on, I heard a knocking behind me. I was sitting on the floor by glass door exit, hidden by a curtain. I looked to see who was knocking. It was a cute hippie girl pointing at the door handle. I decided to help her, so I got up and open the door. She rushed in — followed by about 20 hippie freeloaders, who scattered quickly around the ballroom. A security dude started approaching me I thought, “Oh no, they’re going to kick me out. No Mahavishnu for me …” Turns out I was correct that the guy was angry. But all he did was tell me to move away from that door and don’t do it again. I’m grateful now because it truly was one of the best concerts I’ve ever seen.

* Dave Van Ronk at the Armory for the Arts, Santa Fe, 1980:

Me and Van Ronk

I’ll always remember this show, by the consummate New York folkie, because it was the first concert I was ever assigned to cover for a newspaper (The Santa Fe Reporter) and afterward, the “Mayor of MacDougal Street” became the first actual human I ever interviewed. (Actually, what I remember most was getting drunk with Van Ronk and his local entourage at La Posada.) But the show itself was great too. I’ll never forget Van Ronk’s raspy voice taking the audience into the misty, mystic world of William Butler Yeats’ “The Song of the Wandering Aengus.”


* John Lee Hooker, at The Line Camp, Pojoaque, 1982:

In early 1982, Stevie Wonder came to Santa to shoot a commercial for a recording tape company for Japanese television. He was staying at La Fonda with his mobile recording unit in the parking lot there. One night Stevie played an impromptu set at The Palace. I wasn’t there. Lots of people I know, including my brother were there — though if everyone who claims they were there that night really were, The Palace would have to be bigger than Lobo Stadium.

For the rest of the week, Wonder rumors were flying everywhere. “Stevie’s supposed to be here tonight. Stevie’s going to be there this afternoon …” One of the most compelling was that Wonder would be sitting in with his “old friend” John Lee Hooker, who was playing at the Line Camp north of town that weekend. I don’t think I’d ever seen the Line Camp so packed. Judging by the buzz, most of the crowd was there to see Stevie — who didn’t show. 

But Hooker, backed by a group called The Coast to Coast Blues Band, rose to the occasion. The venerated old bluesman seemed to draw energy from the capacity crowd and proceeded to give one of the most dynamic concerts I’ve ever seen. At one point, as the crowd became transfixed by the boogie spirit generated by the band, Hooker spread his arms and shouted, “Can you feel it? CAN YOU FEEL IT?” I felt it! I later learned that the Stevie Wonder-at-the-Line-Camp rumor was pure Grade-A hucksterism on the part of bar’s owner John Harvey. I always admired him for that.

* Butch Hancock somewhere along the Rio Chama, New Mexico 1995:

Butch Hancock, desparado waiting for the rain

This was not a regular concert by any means. There’s a river rafting company called Far Flung Adventures that organizes musical rafting trips in New Mexico and elsewhere featuring musicians, mostly Texas singer-songwriters. Butch Hancock, who is one of my favorite songwriters from any state, has done several of these. I convinced my editors at the New Mexican that I needed to cover one. (Dang it was nice when local papers had the funds to do things like this!)

 Butch, who is an experience raft pilot would help guide the trip down the Rio Chama during the day and sing us songs by a campfire at night. I believe it was the second night when the clouds above us got serious and began a heavy rain. Luckily the Far Flung staff had anticipated this and had brought a large tarp. When the rain came, several members of the audience, including me, became human tent poles, holding the tarp above Butch and other campers. It was a wonderful hearing Butch singing and playing his guitar as the rain on the tarp provided a soft percussion.

Starting with a trip to Denver with Alec for the 1993 Lollapalooza, I began my career as true rock ’n’ roll tourist. I went to several Lollapaloozas, in Denver and Phoenix. I started attending South by Southwest regularly in the mid ‘90s. Alec, his brother Will and I attended three nights of Grateful Dead shows in Las Vegas the year before Jerry Garcia died. I did a couple of music-based trips to with Molly (Bob Dylan and Paul Simon one year, The Chieftains and Sinead O’Connor another). About a decade later I went to the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago and the Hootenanny Festival in California with Anton. The remainder of the shows I talk about here all were on out-of-town trips.

* Tom Waits at the Paramount Theater, Austin, Texas, 1999:

This show, at a grand old theater on Congress Avenue, capped off the 1999 festival. Because seating was so limited, those who wanted a Waits ticket had to get up early the day before and wait in line at the Austin Convention Center. I was drinking back then and getting up early during South by Southwest was no easy task. But I did and the ordeal was worth it. The real show stopper at the concert was a song I’d never heard before, the bizarre and hilarious percussion-driven “Filipino Box Springs Hog.” But the tune that stuck in my head as I left the theater was Waits’ classic, “Innocent When You Dream.” It was the end of the 20th Century and it seemed like a more innocent time then.

* Los Lobos, The Blasters, Reverend Horton Heat and others, at The Hootenanny Festival, near Irvine, Calif. 2009:

Los Lobos-plus!

The festival, which featured several rockabilly, psychobilly and roots-rockers, was on the 4th of July the year I went, accompanied by my son. It was fairly early in the day and I’d heard a couple of inconsequential acts and had gone to a porta-potty. There I heard a loud cheer from the crowd and some familiar guitar riff. The Blasters had taken the stage and had begun their set with their song “American Music.” It was a July 4 miracle! I ran out of the plastic outhouse cheering like a maniac. It felt great to be an American! 

Later, during Los Lobos’ set, the band was joined onstage by Blasters singer Phil Alvin and Rev. Heat (Jim Heath) who’d also played earlier) for several songs. It was a roots-rock supergroup and it was fabulous.

* Question Mark & The Mysterians with Ronnie Spector at The Lincoln Center, New York City, 2010:


This show, called “The Detroit Breakdown,” featured bands from the Motor City: Death, The Gories, Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. But the highlight was Michigan’s greatest garage band, Question Mark & The Mysterians. 

Though some might consider them to be a one-hit wonder, those of us who serious dug “96 Tears” and dove deeper into this band realize these guys were monsters. The band that played in New York that day included all the original Mysterians — five Chicano guys who grew up hanging out and playing music with each other. Though they’re from Michigan, I looked at them and saw Santa Fe. They were tight but had an easy way with each other. They’d done all these songs a jillion times, but they still look like they’re having the time of their lives playing them. The Mysterians got a little outside help at this show. Soul singer Louise Murray of the Jaynetts dueted with Question Mark on The Jaynetts’ big hit, “Sally Go Round the Roses.” But the real show stopper was when the one and only Ronnie Spector joined the group on a lengthy, groove version of “96 Tears.” It was nothing short of transcendental.

* The Sonics at the Ponderosa Stomp, Midtown Rock ‘n’ Bowl, New Orleans, 2013:

Gerry Roslie of The Sonics

This Washington State band are woefully under-recognized and under-appreciated by the masses. I’d never even heard them until I was an adult. My beloved WKY radio in OKC never played them for reasons I’ll never know. 

But it’s probably for the best that The Sonics never got to be that famous. They never had the temptation to do anything as embarrassing as Paul Revere & The Raiders’ teen idol period. They never went artsy during the flower-power era. Basically, they broke up, did other things in their lives and reunited decades later when they were old enough not to care about show-biz career pressures. 

The group I saw that night in New Orleans included three members from their glory days — Gary Roslie (who plays keyboards as well as handling about half the vocals), guitarist Larry Parypa and sax man Rob Lind. I shouldn’t even have to say this, but just because Roslie, Parypa and Lind are well into senior citizenship doesn’t mean they don’t rock like crazy. They blazed through their tunes like “”Psycho,” “Strychnine,” “Boss Hoss,” “Have Love Will Travel,” and others with crazed intensity. It seemed that everyone I ran into after The Sonics’ set had wide eyes and dazed grins.

* Negativeland, at The Crystal Ballroom, Portland, Oregon, 2014:

This wasn’t music, but it was a SHOW! There wasn’t a guitar in sight. But it was rock ‘n’ roll. Negativland, a sonic-collage, multi-media, socio-political art collective from San Francisco that’s well into their fourth decade as an entertainment unit, are an unlikely crew of revolutionaries, all four members wearing gray plaid shirts that might have come off the rack at K-Mart. 

But don’t be fooled. They are subversive. Employing sound and video from TV news, radio talk shows, government training movies, commercials, old educational films, all chopped up, manipulated and distorted on top of electronic noises and sound effects, this show the group has named “Content” was thought-provoking, hilarious, incomprehensible, annoying and almost mystical — sometimes all at once. They take all these messages — political, commercial, religious, educational — that we’re bombarded with constantly, throw it into an electronic blender and create new, frequently hilarious art.

* The Mekons at the Mekonville Festival, Suffolk County, the United Kingdom, 2017:

There aren’t that many bands I’d cross an ocean to see. But The Mekons are one of them. This festival was a celebration of the group’s 40th anniversary. About 90 percent of the people I know gave me blank stares when I told them I was going to England for a Mekons festival. That’s not surprising. The group has never had a really big hit. They haven’t even been on a major label in a quarter century or so. How many bands these days have eight members — including three or four lead singers — and feature fiddle, accordion, and oud? 

The Mekons sprang out of the punk world, but they went on to incorporate elements of folk and country music, reggae, and other sounds. Whether they are playing an original rocker, some mutated sea shanty, or a Hank Williams song, The Mekons don’t sound much like anyone else. Besides The Mekons — both the current musicians (a lineup that has been relatively stable since the mid-1980s) and the original 1977 crew — the three-day festival also spotlighted various bands involving Mekons members (Jon Langford’s Men of Gwent was a highlight), solo spots by Mekons Sally Timms and Rico Bell, as well as friends, family, former members and assorted allies of the group. While all The Mekons sets that weekend were amazing, my favorite still was the first night. 

The night before I’d been in Dublin, where I’d hurt my shoulder during a late-night egg roll run. It was still hurting and after a day of lugging my bags through airports and train stations, I was exhausted by the time I got to the festival grounds. But the moment the Mekons took the stage I felt a surge of happiness. And when they launched into their hard-driving battle cry, “Memphis, Egypt” (“Destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late / The battles we fought were long and hard / Just not to be consumed by rock n’ roll …”), I knew I was at the exact right place at that moment.

Destroy your safe and happy lives before it is too late 


Sunday, April 24, 2022

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST




Sunday, April 24, 2022
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
Dirty Little Secret by Mike Edison
Laura by Archie & The Bunkers
Cesspool by The Electric Mess
Underground by The Darts (US)
Hag Marcella by John Trubee & The Ugly Janitors of America
Rose by Johnny Dowd
Welcome to my Nightmare by Alice Cooper
I Want to Be in Dixie by Laurel & Hardy

Drunk Stripper / Frankie the Sausage Dog by Bob Log III
Gone by Dawn by Les Grys-Grys
Bad to the Bone by Sloks
Crickets by The Grawks
Here I Am I Always Am by Captain Beefheart
Shake Your Hips by Slim Harpo
Pray the Devil Back to Hell by Lucinda Williams

Get Lost by Tom Waits
The Great Grandfather by Bo Diddley
St. James Infirmary by Billy Lee Riley 
Oooh Baby (Hold Me) by Howlin' Wolf
Pow Wow Highway 89 by Roy & The Devil's Motorcycle
She's Ballin' by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Two Little Men in a Flying Saucer by Ella Fitzgerald

Hunter S. Thompson by Nocturne Spark
Darling Baby by Trish Toledo
Love in the Wind by The Sha La Das
Blue Scar of a Miner by The Freakons
Talkin' to Myself by Sarah Shook
You Tell Me Why by The Beau Brummels
Here Comes That Rainbow Again by Leo Kottke
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Alice Cooper, 1970s TV Star


When the world first became aware of Alice Cooper, he was known as a fiend from Hell with a woman's name, a shock-rocker who bedazzled vulnerable youth with guillotines, snakes and demonic imagery. 

Alice was a killer. But Alice also was a clown.

And by the end of the decade Alice no longer was a threat to God-fearing, flag-waving Americans. He was a cuddly, kooky comic, bringing his weirdness, with a wink in his eye and tongue in his cheek to national TV.

And Americans welcomed the friendly weirdo with open arms into our living rooms. He appeared on Hollywood Squares, Dinah, Phil Donahue and all sorts of tacky shows you probably wouldn't expect.

For example, here's Alice making fun of his own image on an episode of Tony Orlando & Dawn. Here he is in 1976 with the future New Mexico Music Commission member. (Music starts at 2:30, but the ound quality is pretty bad here):

As you saw, in pre-QAnon America, you could joke about "children chained to the wall" on a network variety show without any blowback.

Here's a clip of Alice on The New Soupy Sales Show in 1979:

Alice joined The Muppets in 1978


On April 25, 1975 ABC gave Alice his own national TV special, Alice Cooper: The Nightmare. It basically was an hour-long television commercial for Alice's latest album, Welcome to My Nightmare

On the show, Alice played a guy named "Steven," who is trapped in some kind of nightmare world. His co-star was none other than Vincent Price who plays the "Spirit of the Nightmare."  On the show, Alice performed all the songs from the new album, as well as this classic, my favorite Alice Cooper song:


Sunday, April 17, 2022

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST




Sunday, April 17, 2022
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
Guess Who Ain't Getting Laid Tonight by Johnny Legend
Going Down by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Black Mold by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
I Dig You by Boss Hog
Sh*t Show by The Darts (US)
Suggestion Box by Xposed 4Heads
For the Love of Ivy by The Gun Club
Samson and Delilah by Edison Rocket Train
The Black Dahlia by Johnny Legend

Pieces of 8 by The Ghost Wolves
Justine by Don & Dewey
Real True Love by The A-Bones
Cookout by Bloodshot Bill
Take On Me by Dave Del Monte & The Cross-Country Boys
Meow Meow by Nesttor Donuts
Funnel of Love by Wanda Jackson & The Cramps
These Boots Were Made for Walkin' by The Meteors
Carnival by The Sha La Das
Teach Me Tiger by April Stevens
Homer at work


Just One More Glass by Homer Henderson
Lee Harvey by T. Tex Edwards
I'll Fly Away by Homer Henderson

Jump and Shout by The Dirtbombs
Broke My Own by Shannon Shaw
I've Always Been Crazy by Carlene Carter
Dolemite Redux by Johnny Dowd
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize, Hold On by Nocturne Sparks
I'm Shakin' by Little Willie John


It's About Blood by Steve Earle
Sisters of the Moon by Camper Van Beethoven
Sand by OP8
I Know Sometimes a Man is Wrong by David Byrne
Don't Write This Song by Nick Shoulders
Is That You in the Blue by Dex Romweber Duo
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Friday, April 15, 2022

FRIDAY NIGHT FREEFORM Playlist




Friday, April 15, 2022
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
Fridays 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Mountain Time
Guest Host: Steve Terrell substituting for Mark Oswald
101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :
Mama Get the Hammer by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Don't Slander Me by Roky Erickson
Evol Yearted Ada by Flamin' Groovies
Sit by Window by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys
Love Tsunami by The Darts (U.S.)
Total Destruction of Your Mind by Swamp Dogg
Foggy Notion by The Velvet Underground
Your Cheatin' Heart by James Brown
Look at That Moon by Carl Mann

What Was It You Wanted by Willie Nelson
Hot Rod Lincoln by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen
I Wanna Dance With You by Nathaniel Meyer
People from Another World by The Jive Five
O How She Dances by James Luther Dickinson
I Wish It Was Me / Lee Harvey Was a Friend of Mine by Homer Henderson (RIP)
Way Down the Old Plank Road by Uncle Dave Macon

Nightclub by Andre Williams & The Goldstars
I'm Your Slave by The Fiestas
Pink Cadillac by Paul Bascomb
Long-Playing Daddy by Ruth Wallis
Keep on Churnin' by Wynonie Harris
My Favorite Things by John Coltrane
Parties in the USA by Jonathan Richman
Drove Up from Pedro by Mike Watt with Carla Bozulich
Let's Invite Them Over by George Jones & Melba Moore

Please Be a Stranger by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Phoebe Snow by The Freakons
She's a Rainbow by Robbie Quine
Under My Thumb by Social Distortion
Boogie Woogie Country Girl by Big Joe Turner
Night Time is the Right Time by Bettye Lavette, Andre Wiliams & Nathaniel Meyer

Sunday, April 10, 2022

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST




Sunday, April 10, 2022
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
Nothing at All by The Waco Brothers
Little Sally Tease by The Standells
Sliver by Nirvana
Laugh at Me by The Devil Dogs
Drugs, Guns, Hookers by Angel Babies
Road Ragin' Mama by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys
Mash Potatoes by Double Cheese
Gun to My Head by The Grawks
White Trash by Southern Culture on the Skids
Bugsy Siegel by Johnny Legend



The Old Dope Peddler by Tom Lehrer
Rickity Tikity Tin by Barbara Manning
I Got It From Agnes by Tom Lehrer


Letter to Memphis by The Pixies
Changing Contours by Ty Segall
Mrs. Rampage by Les Grys-Grys
Demons by E.T. Explore Me
Manpower Debut by The Fleshtones
Edge of Reality by Elvis Presley


If It's Poison by Sarah Shook & The Disarmers
Tarmac by Hazeldine
Let's Have a Party by Nancy Apple
Try a Little Reefer by The Bloodhounds
How Far Can Too Far Go by The Cramps
You That Is You by Old Time Relijun
Still a Fool by Muddy Waters 
Hey! Sister Lucy (What Makes Your Lips So Juicy?) by The Trenier Twins

Blackleg Miner by The Freakons
Cheap Drunk by The Royal Hounds
Ain't Nobody Here Listening to Me by Bigdumbhick
Aha by Honshu Wolves
Hey Hey by Pat Burns with Cynthia Becker
Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends by Kris Kristofferson & Rita Coolidge
One for My Baby by Iggy Pop
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Saturday, April 09, 2022

TWISTED GROOVE PLAYLIST




Saturday, April 9, 2021
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 101.1 FM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Saturdays Mountain Time
Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

Slave by The Temptations
Scumbag by Yoko Ono, John Lennon, Frank Zappa
Hothead by Captain Beefheart
Fixin' to Crawl by Churchwood
On the Dancefloor by Nocturne Spark
Natty Kick Like Lightning by Dillinger

Tomorrow Never Knows by Danielle Dax
Very Very Hungry by Brian Eno & David Byrne
One and One by Miles Davis
The Sound of Confusion by Spacemen 3
Stolen Cadillac by Pere Ubu
Ladies by Johnny Dowd

Dream Baby Dream by Suicide
Hell on Earth by James White & The Blacks
Too Many Creeps by Bush Tetras
Do the Wrong Thing by The Lounge Lizards
You Got Me by Glenn Branca

Extraordinary Woman by The Psychedelic Aliens
Nga Nga by Ebo Taylor
Awon-Oise-Oluwa by Gasper Lawal
Breakthrough by The Funkees
Afro Blues by Orlando Julius 

Thursday, April 07, 2022

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Root Root Root for the Home Team



Today, April 7 is the official opening day of Major League Baseball's 2022 season. I predict that the song at the center of this post will be played hundreds of times in baseball arenas around the country during the next six months ago.

I'm talking, of course, about "Take Me Out to the Ball Game," a song that's become synonymous with America's Pastime in the past hundred years, even though, according to the Library of Congress, composer Albert von Tilzer as well as lyricist Jack Norworth, who wrote the famous tune in 1908, each claimed they'd never actually been to a ball game.

The article about the song on the Library of Congress site says:

Few musical creations embody such significance in American musical culture or rise to the stratum of Americana as `Take Me Out to the Ball Game.' Just why the song has enjoyed such lasting popularity has been the topic of sports commentators, journalists, and popular music historians for decades. After all, one author quips, "Stardust it ain't." Critics have described the lyrics as crude, but singable, and puzzle over the chartbuster's instant success. Fans of the song, however, insist that it is the sheer simplicity and straightforwardness of the words, gender-neutral and shrewdly crafted so as not to name or favor any one team, coupled with von Tilzer's luring waltz-like rhythms and unforgettable melody that sealed the baseball ditty's success.

The Major League Baseball site says, "it is generally acknowledged to be the third most-performed song in America in a typical year, behind only `The Star-Spangled Banner' and `Happy Birthday to You.' " (They apparently forgot about "In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida," but, you know...)

Like many songs of the early 20th Century, most modern folks only know the chorus of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  But actually, there are verses that tell the story of one Katie Casey, who was was "baseball mad."

The first recording of "Ball Game" in 1908 was by a funky dude named Edward Meeker:

In 1949 Frank Sinatra and Gene Kelly sang it in a movie called "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." By this time, for reasons I'm not sure of, "Katie Casey" had been changed, by Norworth himself (in 1927), to "Nelly Kelly."

Here's a sad trumpet version of the song, which appeared in the Ken Burns 1994 documentary series Baseball. It's by George Rabbai:


Dr. John's New Orleans funk version also appeared in the Burns project:


And here's an unusual, ukulele-backed version by The Skeletons


Having celebrities sing "Ball Game" at actual ball games has become common. Here's a transformational version by Ozzie & Sharon Osbourne during the seventh-inning stretch at Chicago's Wrigley Field in 2003:

Here's my favorite version of this song. It's by "Bruce Springstone," some kind of short-lived Flintstones/Springsteen parody act. But when I first heard it, I thought it was the actual Bruce:


Finally, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" survived the change from Katie Casey to Nelly Kelly. But will it survive this?

Thanks to Cracker Jack's parent company Frito Lay which just recently introduced Cracker Jill to honor women in sports, there has been another lyric update. "Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jill / No one can stop you if you have the will...”

Here's singer Normani with the new version.(And like just about any change these days, the introduction of Cracker Jill has sparked conservative culture-war OUTRAGE! Read the comments on the Youtube page and you'll see):



For more deep dives into songs, check out The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log Songbook


Sunday, April 03, 2022

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST




Sunday, April 3, 2022
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
April Showers by Al Jolson
Old Rattler by Long John Hunter
Play Safe by King Khan Unlimited
Slander by Ty Wagner
Bite It by Double Cheese
Match by Sam Snitchy
Creep Me Out by Robbie Quine
Sweet Sugar Bugger by Peggy Upton
Oh La Baby by Laura Lee Perkins

Mongoose by Sleeve Cannon
Killer Vs. Killer by Sloks
Sexual Feeling by Stinky Lou & The Goon Mat with Lord Bernardo
I'll Pick You Up by Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Jimmy and Rico by Gary Gorence
Birdbrain by Allen Ginsberg
Suicide by Louie Innis

END OF PROHIBITION in NEW MEXICO CELEBRATION

The Man from Harlem by Cab Calloway
Light Up by Buster Bailey
Weed by Bea Foote
Feelin' High and Happy by Hot Lips Page
Here Comes the Man with the Jive by Stuff Smith & His Onyx Club Boys
Dopey Joe by Slim & Slam
Marihuana Boogie by Lalo Guerrero
Reefer Hound Blues by Curtis Jones
I'm Gonna Get High by Tampa Red
If You're a Viper by Fats Waller
Reefer Man by Cab Calloway


Mannington Mine by Freakons
Feel the Pain by Dinosaur Jr.
Pull My Daisy by David Amram
This Guy's in Love With You by Faith No More
Baby It's You by The Shirelles
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, October 6, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell ...