ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: POLL VAULTING IN THE ENCHANTED LAND

As published in the Santa Fe New Mexican
September 23, 2004

In case anyone is feeling “poll withdrawal,” there’s a couple of new presidential polls for New Mexico adding a new twist to what still seems like a close race.

The New Mexican-KOB-TV poll published this week showed President Bush barely leading John Kerry in New Mexico. However, two recent polls by other organizations give Kerry the edge — one of them by double digits.

The American Research Group, which has conducted several polls here this year, shows Kerry ahead 49 to 44 percent. That poll was taken about the same time as ours, Sept. 14-16.

In both polls, the difference between the candidates is within the margin of error: plus or minus four percentage points. For our poll, Mason-Dixon Polling & Research of Washington D.C. interviewed 625 likely voters. ARG interviewed 600.

Meanwhile, the most recent Zogby poll conducted last week, shows Kerry leading with 54 percent to Bush’s 41 percent, which is outside of their 4.1 percent margin of error. Nader is attracting two percent of the vote in the Zogby poll. Zogby polled 546 New Mexicans.

Unlike Mason-Dixon or ARG, Zogby’s poll is “interactive.” That means they don’t call people on the phone. They do it by e-mail, contacting those registered in the company’s database of voters. Some traditional pollsters belittle Zogby’s “interactive” methods.

Go ahead, punk. Make my day.
Earlier this year this column broke the news that a California-based group called Punx For Dean was coming to town to help out with the Howard Dean campaign. Despite that assistance, Dean managed to lose the New Mexico caucus to Kerry.

But now it seems Kerry is enjoying the support of the all-important punk-rock block. An organization called Punkvoter.com is coming to New Mexico to put on a concert and film screening in Albuquerque Friday.

The organization, which was started by “Fat Mike” of the band NOFX, is responsible for two volumes of Rock Against Bush CDs.

“To enrage and engage (the) punk community to take action and speak out,” Punkvoter.com in alliance with the Young Voter Alliance will present a screening of the documentary Unprecedented, a scathing look at the 2000 election. The screening is at 2 p.m. at the Student Union Building Theater at the University of New Mexico. Co-producer Richard Ray Perez will be on hand.

That night five bands — Anti-Flag, The Epoxies, Midtown, Strike Anywhere and Mike Park — will perform at The Sunshine Theatre, 120 Central Ave. S.E. Tickets are $15, $13 with student identification. The show starts at 8 p.m.

“This tour is about motivating Punk Voters to learn more, take action, and make their voices heard” said Anti-Flag’s lead singer Justin Sane in a written statement.

Hey, this isn’t a partisan column. If there’s any Republican punk groups coming to New Mexico, please let me know.

I’m POed and I Vote
It’s not clear whether actual punks have anything to do with this, but state Rep. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, who is running against Republican Greg Bemis in the upcoming District 47 election, got an e-mail from the local chapter of a New York-based group calling itself “The League of Pissed Off Voters.”

The group asked Wirth for his views on a wide range of issues including police brutality, the war in Iraq, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, water, drug laws, rape and domestic abuse, jobs and racism.

The e-mail says the group is “a non-partisan, not for profit collective that is currently putting together a voter guide aimed at young people (Under 35).” The Web site for the national organization says , “Our mission is to engage pissed off 17-35 year olds in the democratic process to build a progressive governing majority in our lifetime.”

NEW MEXICAN-KOB POLL: THE HORSE RACE

According to the poll sponsored by The New Mexican and KOB-TV, George Bush holds a small lead over John Kerry in New Mexico.

READ ABOUT IT HERE

Happy Birthday Leonard Cohen, Bill Murray, Larry Hagman, Stephen King and Ricki Lake!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept 19, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
September Song by Lou Reed
Clampdown by The Clash
Hey Grandma by Moby Grape
I Want to See The Bright Lights Tonight by Richard Thompson
Jockey Full of Bourbon by Los Lobos
Just Let Go by The Hollis Wake
Everything That Touches You by The Association
My Way by Sid Vicious

Sho Nuff and Yes I Do by Captain Beefheart
The Desparate Man by The Black Keys
Ding Dang by Les Claypool
Evil by Interpol
The Last World of Fire and Trash by Joy Harjo
Since I Fell For You by Big Mama Thornton

The KKK Took My Baby Away by The Ramones
Dirty Action by Texas Terri Bomb
My Generation by Patti Smith
Never Say Never by Romeo Void
Spiders (Kidsmoke) by Wilco
Patootie Pie by Louis Jordan

Saucy Sailor by Steeleye Span
Freedom Park by Marah
Foreign Disaster Days by Brazilville
America Loves the Minstrel Show by American Music Club
Sleep Enough to Dream by Jon Dee Graham
Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

NEW MEXICAN-KOB POLL

The Santa Fe New Mexican and KOB-TV have sponsored a poll on the presidential race and the issues. Somehow it's involved with MSNBC and Knight-Ridder newspapers too.

The results of the presidential poll will be published Tuesday. Today we have results of New Mexicans' opinions on the war in Iraq. CLICK HERE. On Monday we'll publish what we found out on New Mexico's attitudes toward terrorism and security.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

Friday, September 17, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I Think I'll Just Sit Here and Drink by Merle Haggard
American Question by Jason Ringenberg
Harm's Way by The Waco Brothers
Salute to a Switchboard by Tom T. Hall
There's a Higher Power by Buddy Miller
The Bridge Washed Out by Junior Brown
If I'm Going to Sink (I Might As Well Go to the Bottom) by Neko Case
As Soon As I Hang Up the Phone by Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty
Mike the Can Man by Joe West

Danko/Manuel by Drive-By Truckers
Country Boy by The Band
Wild as the Wind by Steve Forbert
A Change is Gonna Come by The Band
Diana by Alejandro Escovedo
Weighted Down by Skip Spence

Beautiful Dreamer by Raul Malo
Slumber My Darling by Alison Krauss
Old Black Joe by Van Morrison & Linda Gail Lewis
Swanee River Rock by Ray Charles
Nelly Was a Lady by Alvin Youngblood Hart
Camptown Races by The Bubbadinos
Hard Times Come Again No More by Mavis Staples
Oh Susanna by Ronny Elliott

Little Sister by Elvis Presley
Wake Up Call by Peter Case
Milk and Honey by Nels Andrews
The Bum I Loathe (Is Dead and Gone) by Desdemona Finch
Dear Mother by Acie Cargill
A Chance Counsel by Richard Buckner
So Much Wine by The Handsome Family
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: TRIBUTE IN DE COLD, COLD GROUND

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 17, 2004

There’s no doubt that Stephen Foster is one of the greatest songwriters ever to spring from American soil. His songs paint a picture of the mid 19th Century that have become an ingrained part of the way we look at that era.

Making a tribute album to Foster is a long overdue idea. However Beautiful Dreamer: the Songs of Stephen Foster, the recent “various artists” tribute gives an incomplete picture of Foster, and thus an incomplete portrait of his era.

Quick history lesson: Though many of Foster’s best-known songs deal with the antebellum South, Foster was born near Pittsburgh, Pa. In 1826.

He is recognized as America’s first professional songwriter. But despite writing some songs still being sung 150 years later, his final days were spent in poverty, alcoholism and despair. At the age of 37 he committed suicide by slashing his own throat.

So that would make him the Kurt Cobain of his era. But before that, he was Elvis Presley.

Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and those who loved them were drawn to the wild and mysterious music called rhythm & blues and mutated it in a new style called rock ‘n’ roll. Likewise, many white musicians in Foster’s era were drawn to the African-American music of their era, turning it into blackface minstrel music. Beautiful Dreamer’s liner notes describes this music as “the rowdy, racist and first uniquely American form of popular entertainment.”

Several music historians have noted the sociological similarities between rock and minstrelsy.

Foster as a youth ate up the minstrel songs. While his songs were grounded in European styles, the minstrel element is what made Foster’s music unique and powerful.

But despite some fine performances by some respectable artists here, Beautiful Dreamer presents a largely bowdlerized, almost Disneyland version of Stephen Foster.

Sure it’s got the song “Beautiful Dreamer” (sung beautifully by Raul Malo), “Old Kentucky Home” (by native Kentuckian John Prine) and a breezy, funky “Oh Susanna” by Michelle Shocked, on which she is backed up by guitarist Pete Anderson.

And it’s got some pretty versions of lesser known Foster tunes. Grey DeLisle, who normally sings like she’s channeling spirits of the 19th Century, does her strange magic on “Willie We Have Missed You.” And the ever-amazing Allison Krauss will make you weak kneed on “Slumber My Darling.” which she sings with an ensemble including fiddler Mark O’Connor, bassist Edgar Meyer and classical cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

But what about “Old Black Joe”? What about “Massa’s in De Cold Ground”? Where is Foster’s minstrel side?

Politically incorrect? Why, sure.

But don’t say it can’t be done.

A couple of years ago Van Morrison and Linda Gail Lewis did a powerful rocking version of “Old Black Joe” that transcended any possible racist overtones. (Foster detractors tend to forget that like most the black people in Foster’s songs, Joe has always been a sympathetic character, not the subject of ridicule.)

And a couple of years ago Tampa, Fla. Roots rocker Ronny Elliott recorded a version of “Oh Susanna” that included a forgotten verse in which Foster actually used “the N word.”

“I jumped aboard the telegraph/And traveled down the river/The electric fluid magnified/ And killed 500 niggers.”

In his liner notes of his album Poisonville, Elliott wrote, “I restored the dreaded second verse to remind us that maybe society does inch along.” In doing so, Elliott raised serious questions. Is it better to forget these hideous reminders of the ugliness of our past? Should we whitewash -- so to speak -- our heritage, or confront head on ugly reminders of racism in our national heritage?

Beautiful Dreamer answers that question in its timidity.

To be fair, this album is hardly the first time Foster has been smoothed over for contemporary sensibilities. Despite what you learned in elementary school music class, (and despite the words John Prine sings here), in Foster’s original version it wasn’t the “old folks” who are “gay” in “My Old Kentucky Home.” (And as long as we’re cleaning up Foster, isn’t it time to rewrite that whole line?)

I’m not saying Michelle Shocked was obligated to sing “the dreaded second verse” of “Oh Susanna.” But wouldn’t it have been great to hear someone like Chuck D or Michael Frante do their own update of “Massa’s in De Cold Ground”?

As it happens, two of the strongest tunes here are by African-American performers. Mavis Staples does a passionate take on “Hard Times Come Again No More.”

But even better is Alvin Youngblood Hart’s rendition of an obscure Foster song from 1849 called “Nelly Was a Lady.” It’s the lament of a slave for his dead wife. The gruff-voiced bluesman sings the tune with the sad, simple dignity Foster intended.

Despite Foster’s minstrel-show roots and demeaning racial slurs in some of the songs, Foster had the respect of black abolition leader Frederick Douglass, who praised Foster’s empathy for slaves.

And later, W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues,” would write, “The well of sorrow from which Negro music is drawn is also a well of mystery....I suspect that Stephen Foster owed something to this well, this mystery, this sorrow.”

Too bad Beautiful Dreamer doesn’t delve deeper into the complex well of Stephen Foster.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: WHERE'S THE ROCK STAR?

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 16, 2004

Back in December when North Carolina Sen. John Edwards was campaigning for president in Santa Fe, he spoke fondly of Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who endorsed Edwards early in the game — the most prominent New Mexico politician to do so — and was running his campaign for the New Mexico Democratic caucus.

“Patsy’s our rock star,” Edwards told me.

It’s obvious Edwards holds Madrid in high regard. She stood in for him at a candidate debate in Arizona. And just a couple of months ago at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Edwards — by then the vice presidential nominee — invited Madrid and her husband, Mike Messina, to join the Edwards family in their box seat to watch John Kerry's acceptance speech.

So it’s somewhat surprising when Edwards came to Museum Hill for a campaign stop Monday, the “rock star” was nowhere to be seen.

Not only that, Madrid didn’t make it to Edwards’ previous New Mexico appearance, a rally in Las Cruces last month.

Some have speculated that the conflict between Madrid and Gov. Bill Richardson — who introduced Edwards Monday and stayed on stage for the entire event — might have something to do with Madrid’s absences.

(Richardson seemed sort of like a “rock star” Monday as he took the stage to a loud version of Diana Ross & The Supremes’ “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”)

In recent months the governor and the attorney general have wrangled over a number of issues — especially Madrid’s opinions that Richardson’s attempt to purchase a plane with state highway funds and his policy of requiring advance undated letters of resignation from board members violate the state constitution.

But the rivalry with Richardson isn't why madrid stayed away, the Madrid camp insists.

“It was just a scheduling conflict,” Madrid spokeswoman Caroline Buerkle said of Monday’s visit.

Something official? “No it was a personal scheduling conflict,” she said.

Another scheduling conflict kept Madrid away from the Las Cruces event, Buerkle said.

“Sen. Edwards called her when he was in Las Cruces,” Buerkle said.

For his part, at Monday’s event Richardson paid a compliment to Madrid — without mentioning her name — saying Edwards had a good organization for last February’s caucus. (Edwards came in a distant fourth in that contest, behind Kerry, Wesley Clark and Howard Dean.)

The governor’s assessment was the opposite of Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, another Madrid rival, who in July told a reporter, “You didn't see much of an (Edwards) organization here, just a few people out front.”

Vanity of vanities: National publicity for the governor has slowed down since the July convention in Boston. But a recent article in Slate.com about New Mexico as a swing state ended with a discussion of Richardson.

Slate’s associate editor Bryan Curtis quoted an unnamed “Democratic lobbyist” saying that many Democrats view Richardson “with suspicion and dread.”

According to that lobbyist, “He’s not one of us — not a plebe. He’s not from here, wasn’t raised here. [Richardson was born in California and spent part of his childhood in Mexico City.] He came here for one reason: running for office.”

The article states that the governor thinks “he’s destined to be the first minority candidate to run on a national ticket. (When it became obvious Kerry was leaning another way for vice president this summer, Richardson dramatically withdrew his name from consideration.) A Kerry collapse in New Mexico could effectively snuff out Richardson’s big plans ...”

After quoting Richardson spokesman Billy Sparks expressing optimism about Kerry’s chances in New Mexico, the article concludes, “I have no doubt George Bush can beat John Kerry in New Mexico. It’s less clear whether he can overcome Bill Richardson’s vanity.”

DEMS CHALLENGE NADER PETITIONS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 16, 2004

Nearly two thirds of the 31,000-plus signatures to put Ralph Nader on the state ballot are “defective” and shouldn’t be counted, according to a legal action filed Wednesday by a group of Democrats — and one Green Party maverick — in an attempt to sink Nader’s candidacy in New Mexico.

Filing in state district court in Albuquerque, the anti-Nader group claims Nader isn’t qualified to run as an independent because he is running as the Reform Party presidential candidate in some states and as the standard bearer for other minor parties in other states.

“They’re making a sham of the whole election,” Nader’s New Mexico coordinator Carol Miller said. “If by some horrible desecration of New Mexico law they succeed in keeping Ralph Nader off the ballot, I predict those votes will go to the Green Party, the Libertarian Party and to George W. Bush, not to Kerry. There will be a backlash.”

A spokesman for the state Democratic Party said the case will be heard Friday morning by state District Judge Wendy York.

The suit was filed after more than a week in which Democrats examined the thousands of pages of petition signatures submitted by Nader backers last week.

“As is the case here, when the Republicans hijack a candidacy, as a means to distract from Bush’s record, it takes a lot of effort and energy to bring honesty into the process,” said state Democratic Party spokesman Matt Farrauto.

Democrats claim Republicans are behind Nader’s effort here — a claimed based on the fact that a Republican state senator distributed some Nader petitions, a petition collection company with Republican ties helped gather signatures and because Republicans have aided Nader in other states this year. Miller disputes that claim.

The common wisdom is that Nader takes votes from Democratic John Kerry.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Vanessa Alarid, the executive director of the state Democratic Party; Abe Gutmann — who founded an organization called Greens for Kerry; Moises Griego, chairman of the Democratic Party in Valencia County; and Richard Kirschner and Laura LaFlamme of Albuquerque.

Named as the defendant was Secretary of State Rebecca Vigil Giron, whose office last week certified Nader to be on the ballot. She will be represented in court by the state attorney general’s office.

Miller said lawyers working for Nader will attempt to intervene to make the Nader campaign part of the case.

The suit was filed after ballots for at least six New Mexico counties have been sent to the printer. State Election Bureau director Denise Lamb said this week that absentee ballots have to be sent to New Mexico members of the military by Saturday.

The suit argues claims there are more than 19,000 defective signatures.

According to the suit:
*10,852 names do not appear on the secretary of state’s voter rolls.
*At least 4,598 signatures are identified to addresses for which no voter is registered.
*At least 2,580 signatures are illegible
*At least 850 signatures have been termed “suspect” by a handwriting expert.
*212 people who signed live in different counties than the one listed on top of the petitions they signed.
*At least 78 signatures belong to people who signed more than once.
Nader needs 14,527 valid signatures to get on the ballot.

Miller said she stands by her petitions.

“I predict next week we’ll all be in a room passing pages of signatures around to lawyers, handwriting experts, tea leaf readers and who knows who else,” she said. “Is this what elections have come to?”

Ralph Nader is on the ballot in 33 states plus Washington D.C., according to an online newsletter that keeps track of the progress of minor parties in the country.

According to Ballot Access News, the states that have placed Nader on the ballot are:

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa. Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

But, the site notes that in several of these, court actions filed against Nader could remove him from the ballot. Those states — all considered battleground states by Democrats and Republicans — are Arkansas, Colorado, New Hampshire, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Democrats in New Mexico Wednesday filed legal action in an attempt to remove Nader from the ballot.

In addition, there are seven more states in which Nader’s future as a candidate rests with judges. These are Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas.

In Florida it’s been topsy-turvy for Nader.

On Wednesday, Circuit Judge P. Kevin Davey ordered that Nader’s name be removed from the November ballot, finding that the Reform Party — which nominated Nader — isn’t a legitimate party under state law. Davey also ordered that four counties that have already mailed absentee ballots listing Nader send out amended ballots without his name.

Davey had issued a temporary order last week keeping Nader off the ballot, but his ruling was suspended Monday after Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood filed an appeal. Davey’s ruling on Wednesday reinstates his original decision.
Florida’s Supreme Court has scheduled a Friday hearing on the appeal.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

HIDING MOUNTAIN SPIRITS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 14, 2004

When you enter Milner Plaza on Museum Hill, there’s no way you’ll miss the striking 18-foot bronze statue of an Apache mountain-spirit dancer near the entrance of the Museum of American Arts and Culture.

Unless maybe you have campaign workers hold tall political banners to block the view of the huge statue.

That’s what happened Monday morning at the campaign appearance of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards.

As Edwards spoke and took questions from crowd, campaign workers held big Kerry-Edwards banners that obscured the view of the 1995 work by San Carlos Apache sculptor Craig Dan Goseyun.

A local volunteer who helped set up the area for the Edwards stop said someone from the campaign told him that the statue should be hidden behind the signs because people from other parts of the country viewing photos or footage from the rally might think the hulking figure was a “war dancer.”

The items the dancer holds in his hands could be interpreted as weapons, the volunteer said he was told.

“I argued that they should show the statue,” the volunteer said. “This is the Southwest and it’s a beautiful statue.”

But that’s an argument he lost to the campaign higher-ups.

Ruben Pulido, a spokesman for the state Kerry-Edwards campaign, said Monday that he thinks the campaign put the banners in front of the statue because “it’s just good sign placement.”

“I agree it’s a beautiful statue,” Pulido said. “I just think (the campaign) just wanted to frame the shots.”

Dody Fugate, assistant curator for the state’s Archaeological Research Collection, said Monday that the Apache Mountain Spirit is not a warrior, but a healer.
“It’s a spirit from the mountain that produces rain and dances at healing ceremonies, and dances at girls’ puberty rites,” she said.

The tablita the dancer holds in one hand and the bull-roarer held above the dancer’s head represent lightning and thunder, Fugate said. “They’re weapons of healing,” she said.

More coverage of Edwards visit CLICK HERE

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept. 12, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT

Annual Labor Show
Host: Steve Terrell
Co-host Stanley "Rosebud" Rosen


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Plenty Tough and Union Made by The Waco Brothers
Joe Hill by Paul Robeson
There is Power in the Union/No More Layoffs/Public Workers Stand Together by
The Solidarity Singers
Then Workin' Man Can't Get Nowhere Today by Peter Case
Workin' Man's Blues by Merle Haggard
Working Man Blues by Louis Armstrong & King Oliver

In Every Street Down With the Police by The Jewish Labor Bund
The Wreck of the Old 97/San Quentin by Johnny Cash
Union Fights the Battle of Freedom/The Memorial Day Massacre by Bucky Halker
King Harvest Has Surely Come by The Band
Bread and Roses by Brooklyn Women's Chorus

Pie in the Sky by Stanley "Rosebud" Rosen
The Unwelcome Guest by Billy Bragg & Wilco
(excerpt from a Howard Zinn speech)
Sad State of Affairs by The Descendents
The Greatest Bulb is Burned Out by Billy Bragg
Rich Man's War by Steve Earle
Corporate Me by Kito Peters
Decolores/We Were There by The Brooklyn Women's Choir

Turn Back the Hands of Time/Trust in Me by Eddie Fischer
Sweetheart on the Barricade by Richard Thompson
If Jimmy Didn't Have to Go by Charlie King & Karen Brandow
Solidarity Forever by The Solidarity Singers
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis