THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAY LIST

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, October 15, 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
Lower 48 by The Gourds
Cussin' in Tongues by The Legendary Shack Shakers
Why You Always Cheatin' On Me? by Nancy Apple

Nancy Apple Live Set

Bears in the Woods
My Boyfriend
Table For Two, Dinner For One
Angel Cried
Pride
You're the Reason
Shoulda Lied About That
Fruit of the Vine
Truck Driver's Woman

Midnight Rodeo by Cordell Jackson
Honey Do by John Fogerty
Honey Don't by The Beatles
Home to Houston by Steve Earle
Tuskegee Pride by Jason Ringenberg
Let's Live Together by Robbie Fulks
I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine by Elvis Presley
Next Stop Santa Fe by Sid Hausman & Washtub Jerry
Wrong by Splitlip Rayfield

Town by The Dashboard Saviors
Music Man by Hank & Nancy Webster
Two Seconds by Laura Cantrell
Somewhere in My Heart by The Volebeats
I'm Falling in Love Again by Willie Nelson
Sold American by Kinky Friedman
Jacob's Ladder by Greg Brown
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

A SLAP IN THE FACE

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TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: WORTH THE WAITS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 15, 2004


Real Gone is Tom Waits’ roughest, most grating and most out-there albums since -- well, maybe this one is his roughest, most grating and most out-there album ever.

Starting out with a crazed, five-minute human beat-box, clunky, funky out-Becking Beck nonsense workout called “Top of the Hill”, which hands off the baton to a gritty Latin-flavored tune called “Hoist That Rag,” which sounds like he’s fronting Giant Sand trying to be Santana, Waits lets us listeners know that we’re in for a crazy ride.

The very title recalls Elvis’ challenge to his band after the false start of “Mystery Train”: “Hold it fellas, that don’t move. Let’s get real, real gone for a change.”

So Waits gets more gone than Elvis ever imagined.

But even though Real Gone may be something of an acquired taste for a casual Waits fan, and even takes a little time to warm up to for Waits zealots like myself, this album is definitely worth the time and effort. While its charms aren’t as obvious as those of Mule Variations or Frank’s Wild Years, Real Gone is an amazing piece of work.

Some of Waits’ best musical collaborators play here. Guitarist Marc Ribot, who helped Waits redefine his sound in the mid ‘80s, returns here. Les Claypool of Primus plays bass on a few cuts, though most of those duties are covered by Larry “The Mole” Taylor (a founding member of Canned Heat). Waits’ wife Kathleen Brennan co-wrote the songs (I still say she’s the anti-Yoko, because Waits’ work improved after she started collaborating with him) and their son Casey plays turntables and drums.

As for Waits, he sings (as well as, grumbling, mumbling, scatting and sometimes screaming,) he plays guitar, he creates percussion tracks with vocal loops, and on a spoken-word recitation called “Circus” he plays the chamberlain.

But he doesn’t play piano. In fact this is the first album he’s ever made where he doesn’t touch the piano. Back in the ‘70s he told us “The Piano Has Been Drinking." Maybe now the piano’s in rehab. At any rate, it’s a radical departure for a musician who first became famous playing piano with a beatniked-up cocktail jazz sound.

Real Gone, for the most part has two basic styles. There are noise songs like “Top of the Hill,” “Metropolitan Glide” and the 46-second post-modern chain chant “Clang Boom Steam”

And there’s songs that might be described as blues noir/grainy art-house torch tunes. These are my favorites.

They include the 10-minute “Sins of My Father.” Some complain it‘s too long, but the length just becomes part of its captivating hypnotic power.

There’s “Dead and Lovely,” a classic Waits cautionary tale of a good girl who falls in with a bad, bad dude. The title tells you it ends tragically.

“Make It Rain” starts out with a blues cliché, but Waits is well aware that this road has been traveled. “She took all my money and my best friend/You know the story/Here it comes again.”

One of the scariest tunes Waits has ever done is “Don’t Go Into That Barn.” Could this be a continuation of the story he first told more than a decade ago in “Murder in the Red Barn”?

In a chilling call and response between evil-doers, (with Waits calling as well as responding), the signer growls “Did you bury your fire? /Yes, sir!/ Did you cover your tracks?/ Yes, sir!/ Did you clean your knife?/ Yes, sir!/ Did they see your face?/ No sir!/ Did the moon see you?/ No sir!

Some tunes are an unholy cross between noise tracks and raunchy blues. Such is “Shake It,” in which both Ribot and Taylor play guitar while Claypool’s bass rumbles and Waits wails "like a preacher waving a gun around.”

Most of the album has an otherworldly feel about it. Te sound quality is almost tinny, as if it was the unearthed soundtrack from some long forgotten surrealist film.

But at the end of the album Waits brings us abruptly into the present with what turns out to be one of the strongest anti-war songs of the Operation Iraqi Freedom era.

The narrator of “The Day After Tomorrow” is a lonely soldier. With Waits’ raspy voice, you know it’s got to be a real dogface right out of a Bill Mauldin cartoon.

With Waits writing one of his saddest melodies in recent memory, this song is the “grand weeper” among all the “grim reapers.”

The singer, writing a letter to loved ones back home, is cold and “tired of taking orders.” He shudders at the bloodshed he’s seen, but doesn’t dwell on it. “I still don’t know how I’m supposed to feel at all the blood that has been spilled.” And he wonders about the enemy praying to God. “How does God chose? Whose prayers does he refuse?”

But mostly he’s having bittersweet nostalgia about home. “What I miss you won’t believe/ Shoveling snow and raking leaves.”

He’s coming home, he says, the day after tomorrow. But the listener can’t help but wonder. Is death waiting around the corner? Is this show going to drop? A lesser writer would have had the song end in a terrible tragedy. Waits, in his wisdom lets you wonder. Waits lets you hope.

Real Gone can be considered Waits’ first new album of the millennium. True, he released two albums, Blood Money and Alice in 2002. However both of those were from theater works and were composed years before. Real Gone is a sometimes difficult album for difficult times.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: SEXING UP THE ELECTION

As published in the Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 14, 2004

According to New Mexico election lore, miniature bottles of whiskey was always the traditional method to entice otherwise reluctant voters to the polls. But a Web site erected by a group of Harvard and Columbia University alums is trying something different to penetrate the low-turnout problem.

Votergasm.org, according to its mission statement, is "a non-partisan nonprofit campaign formed to simultaneously reverse two disturbing trends in American society: low voting rates among young people, and unacceptably low rates of youth sexual activity."

Don't panic. They're only talking about youth who are old enough to vote.

Participants are asked to sign a pledge. There are three levels.

* To be a "Citizen," one must pledge to withhold sex from non-voters for the week following the election.

* To be a "Patriot," one must pledge to have sex with a voter on election night and to withhold sex from non-voters for the next week.

* To be known as an "American Hero" one must pledge to have sex with a voter on election night and withhold sex from non-voters for the next four years.

The Web site has a section to help organize election night parties. "Make your party sexy without being sleazy," Votergasm advises.

Such parties are listed by the state. So far the response from New Mexico has been rather limp. Only one is listed in New Mexico.

Most of you probably think it's in Albuquerque, the home of all those free-love college students at the University of New Mexico who read about Votergasm last month in the Daily Lobo. Or perhaps in liberal Santa Fe.

However, the sole Votergasm election night party listed is in that Sin City on the San Juan -- Farmington.

But alas, the guy who posted on the site said he just did out of curiosity.

In an e-mail Wednesday the 19-year-old man who asked to be identified only by his first name, Cody wrote "I actually heard about it on Rush Limbaugh."

Limbaugh, who has talked about Votergasm at least three times on his national radio show and Votergasm, which has links to Limbaugh's transcripts, have each had some fun at each others' expense.

Cody, who indicated he's supporting said he posted "just to see what kind of turn out it would get and see how far people would go just for a presidential election."

He's received only one response so far -- in addition to the query from this columnist. Cody said he's not really going to have an election night party.

Rapidly responding

Most polls give John Kerry a slight edge over President Bush in last Friday's debate, while many pundits declared that debate a tie.

But there's one aspect of the debate that Bush won hands down: The rapid response battle.
While the general public is busy watching the debate, each political camp has a team of laptop warriors scurrying to find contradictions or arguments to oppose what the opponent just said.

I assume both sides have a similar operation to the Democratic "war room" I visited during the Republican Convention in New York - rows of tables where the rapid-response teams Google and Lexus/Nexus away to create instant press releases to make the other guy look bad.

Judging from my e-mail inbox, the Bush camp was twice as aggressive as Kerry's on Friday.

Counting e-mails from the time the debate started until shortly before midnight (which actually is an artificial cut-off time as the partisan debate analysis resumed early Saturday), the Republicans sent 26 e-mails compared to 12 from the Democrats.

These includes electronic correspondence from the national as well as state campaigns.

Bush's numbers might be slightly padded. For instance I got two e-mails with Bernalillo County Republican Chairman Darren White's analysis of the debate. (Surprise, surprise. Bush won according to White.)

The Kerry squad wins for the funniest heading though. While most of Bush's Most of their e-mails during the debate had the subject heading of "Breaking Debate Fact" (they were numbered, going up to 12), Kerry's e-mails were called "Bush vs. Reality."

After the debate both sides sent out favorable quotes from various commentators.

I'm writing this an hour and a half before Wednesday's third and final presidential debate. I have no doubt that my inbox will be full again tonight. Already I've received an e-mail from the Kerry folks with the subject heading "Prebuttal - What This Election is Really About."

DEBATE WATCH: THE FINAL ROUND

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

The final debate between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry changed few if any minds in the audience that watched the event at Santa Fe Community College Wednesday.

But, with the election less than three weeks away the passion levels of both sides seemed to be at full throttle.

Just like the previous debate-watching parties at the college during the past two weeks, about 100 people showed up.

Judging from comments made after the debate during a discussion broadcast on KSFR, 90.7 FM -- as well as crowd reactions during the debates -- Kerry supporters seemed to outnumber Bush voters, which isn’t surprising for a community in which Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans.

However, Republicans made a bigger show of force than they did at previous debates.

While there was some loud reaction to some speakers -- and toward the end of the night many Bush supporters walked out en mass on one speaker who was critical of Bush -- there was no moment as tense as last Friday when some audience members began shouting at former Republican Congressman Bill Redmond.

Local leaders of the two campaigns showed up to support their candidates.

Democrat John Pound, local chairman of the Kerry-Edwards campaign, said, “We’ve watched all four debates. I want you to ask yourself, who is the most intelligent? Who expresses the most wisdom.”

Pound’s conclusion was predictable.

Republican Bob Parmelee, county chair of the Bush-Cheney campaign, echoed Bush’s criticism of Kerry for calling the nations that helped the U.S. in the Iraq war “the coalition of the coerced and bribed.”

“What a way to build a coalition,” he said. Parmelee also blasted Kerry’s sister for going to Australia and backing a candidate who favored pulling that nation out of Iraq.

Parmelee said that nearly three fourths of soldiers in Iraq are backing Bush.

Phillip Chavez, a New Mexico National Guardsman who recently returned from serving eight months in Iraq, said sarcastically that he didn’t know the U.S. was losing the war until he got back home. Chavez said spirits are high among the troops in Iraq.

However Mary Jo Boyd, who said she was visiting from Texas, said many soldiers are afraid to express their true feelings against Bush and the war. “If my sons were drafted I’d tell them to be very careful about saying anything opposed to the president.

A man named Francis said, “Bush absolutely did not respond to the question about the minimum wage. He has no intention of raising the minimum wage from the dismal $5.15 an hour.”

But Leonard Rodriguez said, “Whether it’s $5.15 or $7 an hour, poor is poor. Education is what will change that.” He said Bush is stronger on education than Kerry.

Michael Rothberg prompted the Republican walk-out when he made a lengthy statement against Bush. Rothberg said his grandfather was a millionaire when he died, but he was glad that his family had to pay a 50 percent estate tax. He said Bush’s tax cuts didn’t help the economy because there is so little manufacturing in this country.

“Who benefited? China?” He said he would have rather have seen the money spent on tax cuts be used to build bridges because Americans, not Chinese, would be hired.

When Rothberg went on, one Bush supporter yelled, “Filbuster!” At that point several Bush backers began leaving.

Across town, singer-songwriter Carole King -- famous for songs such as “You’ve Got a Friend,” “Natural Woman,” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow” -- watched the debate with Democrats at Kerry-Edwards headquarters in Solana Center.

King, who has been campaigning for Kerry in several cities around the state this week, said in a telephone interview after the debate that Kerry is the first presidential candidate she’s campaigned for since Gary Hart in 1984.

“For the past three and a half years, I’ve felt the country has been going in the wrong direction and I’ve felt so frustrated and powerless, I decided I’d better get off my duff and support the man I know is so clearly a strong leader.”

She said she’s known Kerry for years. “I’m a resident of a rural community in Idaho called Custer County. It’s just over the hill from a vacation home owned by John and Teresa.”

BIKING WITH KERRY

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 13, 2004

Sen. John Kerry decided to take a short break from his debate preparations Tuesday and take a little bike ride up Canyon Road.

Of course when you’re running for president, nothing is that simple. The Democratic candidate was accompanied by two Secret Service agents on bikes, two state police cruisers and at least one sports utility vehicle full of law enforcement officials.

Shortly before 4 p.m. Kerry and his protectors left the Inn at Loretto — where he has been boning up on domestic issues for tonight’s debate with President Bush. Wearing a Navy blue shirt and shorts, Kerry waved as he passed a group of people on East Alameda.

When he left the hotel Kerry wasn’t wearing his orange and yellow striped helmet. However when he returned about 4:30 p.m., the helmet was on his head.

Kerry rode his Serotta Colorado III road bike, manufactured by a New-York based company that specializes in custom-made bikes. Kerry’s press secretary David Wade said Kerry takes the bike with him on the campaign trail.

The New York Times reported in May that Kerry owns two Serotta bikes, the Colorado — which according to the company’s website retails for about $1,900 — and an Ottrott, which sells for about $8,000.

Among the pedestrians who saw Kerry were Fran and Allen Kirschner, tourists from Philadelphia who are Kerry volunteers in Pennsylvania.

“We didn’t know he was going to be in town,” said Fran Kirschner, who said the couple stopped in Santa Fe before going to Denver to visit their son. “We were just coming from the state Capitol. We saw Bill Richardson too.” Richardson was in the Capitol rotunda Tuesday to sign a contract with state employees who are members of the Communications Workers of America union.

“We just saw Kerry give a speech at a rally at the University of Pennsylvania,” Fran Kirschner said.

Meanwhile, campaign officials said Kerry decided to extend his Santa Fe visit. Instead of leaving for Arizona Tuesday as originally planned, he decided to stay an extra night.

“He intends to watch the Red Sox game tonight,” Wade said. The senator from Massachusetts is a fan of the Boston Red Sox, who on Tuesday played their rivals the New York Yankees in the first game of the American League Championship series.

Kerry will fly out of Albuquerque about 10 a.m., spokesman Ruben Pulido said.

Wade said Kerry was spending part of his debate preparations in mock debates with two podiums and a table.

Greg Craig, a former Clinton administration lawyer, is portraying Bush in the practice debates, Wade said. Campaign advisors Bob Shrum and Ron Klain are taking turns portraying the Tempe, Ariz., debate moderator, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer.

Asked how Craig, who has played Bush in previous debate rehearsals with Kerry, prepared for the role, Wade joked, “He learned to swagger.”

Craig doesn’t actually sound like Bush, Wade said. “But he’s done a good job researching Bush speeches and attack lines,” he said.

Among Kerry’s domestic advisors in Santa Fe is U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., who is the senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee. Frank has expressed interest in running for Kerry’s Senate seat if Kerry wins the presidency.

Another adviser is Gene Sperling, who was President Clinton’s national economic policy adviser.

Shortly after Kerry returned from his bicycle trip, Sperling was spotted going into the hotel. He was carrying a box of dinosaur bones he’d just bought from a downtown store called Dinosaurs and More.

Sperling said his job is to help Kerry boil down complicated economic issues into succinct points that can be made in the 90-second segments allowed in the debate. “That’s the really hard part, what are the few key points,” he said.

Although Kerry has a reputation to be long-winded, Sperling said the candidate has had no trouble in keeping to the time limits. “I think you saw that in the first two debates,” he said.

Although Kerry is leaving town, more political celebrities are descending upon Santa Fe today.

* Feminist movement pioneer and co-founder of Ms. magazine Gloria Steinem will “discuss the women's vote over eggs and chile” at a breakfast at El Farol, 808 Canyon Road. The $100-a-plate event, scheduled for 8 a.m. will benefit N.M. Women Vote 2004, a program designed to turn out 11,000 infrequent female voters in November. New Mexico’s First Lady Barbara Richardson also will appear at the event.

* Singer-songwriter Carol King will host a “women’s town hall meeting” 3 p.m. at Wild Oats Community Center, 1090 St. Francis Drive. King sang her 1971 hit “You’ve Got a Friend” at the Democratic National Convention in July. The meeting is sponsored by the state Democratic Party. For reservations call 982-5727.

THE POLITICAL CIRCUS COMES TO TOWN

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 12, 2004

Dozens of people gathered at the Plaza gazebo Monday holding umbrellas in the drizzling rain as CNN's Inside Politics telecast live from Santa Fe.

But the most heard question among the onlookers wasn't concerned about the topics host Judy Woodruff was talking about. Instead, Santa Feans wanted to know, "Is Kerry supposed to speak here?"

Many were disappointed when they learned the answer.

Indeed, Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry was in the neighborhood, just a couple of blocks away. He was holed up at the Inn at Loretto, preparing for Wednesday's debate with President Bush.

Members of the Santa Fe Police Department SWAT team, who are responsible for protecting visiting dignitaries, were stationed visibly on the first floor of the hotel. The lobby had heavy traffic by members of the national press who are following Kerry. Dozens of these were filing stories from laptop computers in the Chaco Room in the basement level of the Inn.

Kerry went to the hotel immediately after his speech at Sweeney Center and didn't emerge all day, campaign spokesman Ruben Pulido said.

"He stuck to just working," Pulido said. "He had breakfast from room service. For lunch they picked up food for him at The Shed. He ate enchiladas verde and green chile stew."

With Kerry were members of his domestic policy team including economic adviser Gene Sperling as well as campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill, Pulido said.

Greg Craig, a former Clinton administration lawyer, is in Santa Fe to portray Bush in practice debates, Pulido said. Bob Shrum, a Kerry campaign strategist, is portraying the Tempe, Ariz. debate moderator, CBS newsman Bob Schieffer.

Two CNN programs - Inside Politics and 360° with Anderson Cooper - were telecast live from the Plaza Monday. CNN's American Morning with Soledad O'Brien and Bill Hemmer will be there today beginning at 5 a.m.

Santa Fe is just one of the stops for CNN, which is being telecast from various cities in battleground states.

But though the news network wanted to show some local color, CNN initially wanted to park its Election Express bus directly behind the gazebo, which would have completely blocked the view of the Palace of the Governors, a state Tourism Department official said.

State tourism marketing director Jon Hendry told a reporter that he tried to convince CNN officials to allow a full view of the Palace, the oldest public building in the U.S. Hendry said a compromise was reached in which the bus would only block about half of the view of the Palace.

In front of the bus, on the Plaza sidewalk were bales of hay topped by large pumpkins. Hendry denied he was responsible for these props.

When Kerry spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter took the stage, Woodruff told her - off camera, "Welcome to cold, wet New Mexico." She told Cutter that she hadn't planned on Monday's rain. Woodruff's legs were covered in a Indian-style blanket, Woodruff said was bought just before the show to keep her warm. "Sorry I don't have one for you," she said.

During Woodruff's show, some Kerry supporters tried to get behind the gazebo to show their campaign signs.

Patricia Anderson, who sells jewelry beneath the Palace portal, said she tried to show her sign that read "Native Americans for Kerry-Edwards, Catch the Dream" on camera. But Anderson said she was stopped several times by private security guards. Instead Anderson stood with a group of about a half dozen people holding their signs across Palace Avenue from the Plaza. They could be seen from a distance on television.

When Cooper's show came on later Monday, CNN apparently relented. A large and enthusiastic group of Kerry supporters waved their signs every time Cooper was on camera.

{For coverage of John Kerry's speech CLICK HERE}

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

{Note: I didn't host The Santa Fe Opry Friday because I was covering the debate watch at Santa Fe Community College. Kevin Stone of KSFR's Coffee House substituted for me. I don't jave his play list but I know he ended the show with Tammy Faye Starlite's "The South is Gonna Rise Again."}

Sunday, Oct. 10, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting: http://www.ksfr.org
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell
Co-host; Laurell Reynolds

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Run Through the Jungle by Link Wray
Deja Vu (All Over Again) by John Fogerty
Have You Ever Seen the Rain by The Ramones
Zig Zag Wanderer by Captain Beefheart
Hard Loving Man by The Fleshtones
Undercover of the Night by The Rolling Stones
Drivin' South by Jimi Hendrix

Three Blind Mice by The Electras
The Lumberjack Song by Monty Python
War Pigs by Black Sabbath
Birthday by The Beatles
I Found Out by Nathaniel Mayer
Gloria by Van Morrison With John Lee Hooker

Heroes and Villains by Brian Wilson
Love and Mercy by Jeff Tweedy
Old Master Painter/You Are My Sunshine by Brian Wilson
Hang on to Your Ego by Frank Black
Wonderful by Brian Wilson
Surf's Up by David Thomas
Heros and Villains by Geraint Watkins
In Blue Hawaii by Brian Wilson

It's Allright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding by Bob Dylan
Sam Stone by John Prine
Day After Tomorrow by Tom Waits
The Deserter by Fairport Convention
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: SMILE A LITTLE SMILE FOR ME

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 8, 2004

The great ethereal art-rock Philosopher’s Stone, The Beach Boys’ fabled “teenage symphony to God” known as Smile is finally a reality -- though now it‘s a 62-year-old man‘s symphony to eternity.

Brian Wilson Presents Smile, released last week, is nothing less than an artistic triumph, an eccentric, often-emotion trip through American history as seen through the drug-addled eyes of youth in the late ‘60s. There are stretches of intense melancholy, moments of sheer silliness, tears, smiles, banjos, theremins, French horns, Beach Boys-style harmonies, barnyard noises, fake Hawaiian music, orchestral flourishes, crow cries uncovering the cornfields, columnated ruins dominoing, fresh, crispy vegetables …

As the Bioneers would say, it’s all alive, it’s all intelligent, it’s all connected.

A little history for those not versed in Smilelore:

It was Wilson’s friendly -- but very serious -- rivalry with The Beatles that led him to start the album that he first called “Dumb Angel,” but later became known as Smile.

Teaming up with then-unknown songwriter Van Dyke Parks and the best studio musicians in L.A. Wilson recorded untold hours of sessions for the album, intended to be even more artful than Pet Sounds and more cosmic than “Good Vibrations.”

But Wilson‘s increasingly bizarre behavior during these sessions showed that his mental state was slipping into the abyss.

Capitol Records, which back then was cranking out two or three Beach Boys albums a year, kept pressuring Wilson to finish Smile. The company even printed covers for the album for an early 1967.

There were other pressures as well. The other Beach Boys, especially Mike Love, hated the strange music, hated the weird lyrics by Parks and hated what Brian Wilson had become. And Wilson’s already fragile psyche wasn’t helped by the amount of LSD and speed he was consuming.

By the time The Beatles released Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Wilson cracked. It was the start of a decades-long exile in Banana Land for Brian. The group did a half-hearted salvage job on the shambles that was Smile with Smiley Smile, which was released in late 1967.

A few stray Smile tunes popped up through the years on Beach Boys albums. And of course there were jillions of bootlegs of the Smile sessions in various forms.

In 1993, the Beach Boys’ box set Good Vibrations contained a generous suite of Smile material. Still, this was only a hint of what Smile could have been. It left a fan only wanting more.

For years Wilson has expressed reluctance about revisiting Smile. Nothing but bad memories from a terrible period in his life, he’d say. But with the steady goading of his wife and members of his latest touring band The Wondermints, Wilson finally agreed to finish what he’d started all those years ago.

I had hoped that one day Wilson would go to the vaults and finally patch together a definitive version of the album. Instead, Wilson and The Wondermints recorded entirely new tracks. And, with the help of Parks, Wilson even wrote some new material for the project.

I was disappointed with the new live version of Pet Sounds Wilson released a couple of years ago. It gave me little reason to hope for the new Smile. Plus, I was one of those jaded rock ‘n’ roll cynics who feared that remaking the lost masterpiece would ultimately cheapen the mystery and mythology of Smile.

I was in for a fantastic surprise.

First of all, there are some first-rate songs here. I always thought “Heroes and Villains” was musically stranger -- and stronger -- than “Good Vibrations.” It tells a vague story with the historical backdrop of the western migration of this country. It’s done here complete with the “in the cantina” bridge that was missing from the original single.

And the melody of the chorus is hauntingly reprised in various points in the album, most noticeably in “Roll Plymouth Rock,” (originally titled “Do You Like Worms/“) which deals with the European conquest of America from Plymouth Rock to Hawaii. To the “Heroes and Villains” melody, Wilson sings, “Bicycle rider, just see what you’ve done to the church of the American Indian.”

There’s “Cabin Essence,” a wistful meditation on frontier life accented by a lone plunking banjo, a sad harmonica and a weirdo chorus chirping “doing doing doing” The scene is pastoral until the last when ominous visions of the railroad crossing the country and the Grand Coulee Dam spring forth.

And perhaps the grandest Wilson song of them all, “Surf’s Up” is the album’s centerpiece. It’s one of the saddest tunes Wilson ever wrote: “A choke of grief, hard-hearted I/Beyond belief a broken man too tough to cry.”

“Surf’s Up” is preceded here by two cuts that seem to serve as introductions, “Song For Children” and “Child is Father to the Man,” playing not only with the background vocal part in final refrain of “Surf’s Up” but with a melody line from “Good Vibrations.”

There’s even snips of cover songs that crop up on Smile. There’s a verse of Johnny Mercer’s “I Wanna Be Around,” (best known in its Tony Bennett version) hiding between “I’m in Great Shape” and “Workshop.”

But the best of all is “You Are My Sunshine.” This country classic is recast with some of the saddest chords ever played by man, sung by Wilson backed by weeping strings and clicking percussion. The depressing mood is broken by a cheerful honking sax.

Perhaps Smile isn’t the ultimate pop album of all time as some of the hype that surrounded the great lost work implied. It’s often disjointed and if you’re like Mike Love and want song lyrics to always make literal sense, this album will only frustrate you.

But for me Smile is pure pop pleasure and ultimate proof of Brian Wilson’s crazy genius.

For more information on Smile, CLICK HERE

NEW MEXICAN VOTERS PANEL: THE DEBATES SO FAR

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Oct. 8, 2004

The overwhelming consensus of a panel of Santa Fe area voters following the presidential election -- including most of those leaning toward President Bush -- is that Bush lost the first debate last week.

However neither the first presidential debate between Bush and Democratic challenger John Kerry, nor this week’s debate between the vice presidential candidates, appeared to have changed any panel member’s mind about who to back, members said at their meeting Thursday.

“Kerry did a number on him,” said Bobby Gonzales, a retired sheriff’s deputy. “I’m still supporting Bush, but Kerry just took him behind the shed and spanked him.”

“Kerry did great,” said Dana Czoski, a substitute teacher who also is backing Bush. “Kerry gave a great performance, but that’s what it was a performance. I still think he is terribly naïve about these people,” she said, referring to terrorists.

The 12-member panel was selected by the New Mexican to give the average voter’s perspective on the presidential election. On Thursday, the second of four moderated meetings, the panel spent the first part of the meeting discussing the debate and other political news of the week.

Geary Radcliffe, a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory employee who is leaning toward Bush agreed that Kerry won the debate.

However, he said after watching the debate on television he read a transcript of the event he downloaded from the internet. Without seeing Bush’s facial expressions -- which were roundly criticized after the debate -- and hearing the coices of the candidates, the debate seemed more even, Radcliffe said.

But Kerry didn’t get all rave reviews from the panel. Daveen Masias, who said she is considering voting for independent Ralph Nader, said, “It was eye-opening to hear a potential president say `I will hunt down the terrorists and kill them.’ We’re in trouble as it is.”

But Masias said she was encouraged that Kerry brought up the fact that after the fall of Saddam Hussein last year, the only Iraqi government facility U.S. troops guarded was the Oil Ministry. “It is an oil war,” she said.

In the case of the vice presidential debate, the reactions fell along more predictable lines. Kerry supporters tended to say Sen. John Edwards won, while Bush backers proclaimed victory for Vice President Dick Cheney.

“Kerry and Edwards did me proud,” said Carmen Rodriguez, a community activist. “Both were very articulate.”

“I look at Cheney and his record and I found without doubt that he was very misleading,” said Paul Rainbird, a past president of Southwestern Association for Indian Arts . “I know that Edwards does not have a lot of experience as a political person, but he seemed very sincere.”

But Lori Montoya, a college student, said, “The debate showed me that Cheney could really be president. All Edwards did was look like a trial lawyer.”

“With all of Cheney’s years of experience, he just spanked Edwards,“ said Mike Yerby, a Qwest employee who is leaning toward Bush.

Some members said they were bothered that Edwards mentioned the fact that Cheney has a lesbian daughter.

Edwards, during a debate question concerning a proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit same-sex marriage, commended Cheney for standing by his daughter.

“I was really upset when Edwards brought up Cheney’s daughter’s sexuality,” Gonzales said.

But Dave Duran, a paralegal for the National Guard who is backing Kerry, said, “I like how it was brought up. (Gay rights) is an important issue.

Rodriguez agreed. “It’s not a big secret that Mary Cheney is a lesbian. She’s acknowledged it. Her father has acknowledged it. (Gay rights) is an issue that needs to be discussed.”

Several panel members on both sides of the political divide, said there seemed to be too much negativity in the debates.

“The in fighting gets old,” said Ken Barros, a Kerry supporter who works for county government. “They should be talking about how to make things better for the American people. Sometimes it’s like high school when they go back and forth and back and forth.”

“The vice presidential debate was particularly contentious,” Carrie Norris, a Santa Fe business owner and a Bush supporter said. “The first thing out of Edwards’ mouth was calling Cheney a liar. There was a lot of it coming from both sides.”

Further coverage of the New Mexican voter panel’s second meeting will be in Sunday’s paper.