TERRELL'S TUNEUP: SUING WOLFGANG

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 23, 2007

I’m going to tell you about a pretty cool music Web site. But before I even start, here’s some advice: enjoy it while you can. The site, Wolfgang’s Vault, is the subject of a music-industry lawsuit. In most such cases, the music industry wins and cool music Web sites lose. And so do fans.

Wolfgang’s Vault is run by a businessman named Bill Sagan, who bought the lost treasures of the late rock promoter Bill Graham, whose birth name was Wolfgang Grajonca.

Sagan’s site sells vintage rock T-shirts, photos, and posters. (Nostalgia flashback: back in the late 1960s the TG&Y at Santa Fe’s Coronado Shopping Center used to sell replicas — for about $1 apiece! — of some of the classic psychedelic San Francisco posters advertising rock concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom. Many of those can be found at Wolfgang’s Vault — for far more than a buck.)

The part of the site I like best is the Concert Vault. Here you’ll find complete sets by a variety of artists from the late ’60s through the late ’80s. (Graham died in 1991.)

It’s streaming music, which means you just listen to it rather than download it. Supposedly, there’s some software you can buy to capture Internet streams, but I’ve never tried it.

There are some huge names here: The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd. And there are some early MTV acts such as A Flock of Seagulls, Berlin, Big Country, Thomas Dolby, and The Alarm.

And, for some reason, there’s a bunch of cheesy Urban Cowboy-era country — Alabama, Lee Greenwood, and even Glen Campbell (a 1985 show in North Carolina with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra).

Fortunately, there are also some hipper country artists such as Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare (four shows from the mid-’80s), David Allen Coe, Charlie Daniels, and John Anderson (the guy who did “Wild and Blue,” not the lead singer of Yes, who, by the way, also is represented in the Vault).

Most of these are recordings made at Graham-promoted shows. By the ’80s his company, Bill Graham Presents, had stretched far beyond its San Francisco/New York base. But last year the Vault acquired the archives of a venerated, syndicated, live-rock radio show called The King Biscuit Flower Hour, which used to air on the old KRST-FM 92.3 in Albuquerque in the ’70s when that was a rock station.

So, naturally, Wolfgang’s Vault is being sued.

Last December a group of musicians, including Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Santana, and the Doors, filed a suit claiming copyright infringement. Sagan countersued in February, claiming the action against him was “a blatant attempt by two of the largest record labels in the world — using artists as a front — to secure new income streams and destroy a legitimate business.”

Like I say, enjoy it while you can.

Here are some of the shows I’ve listened to recently on Wolfgang’s Vault:

*Stevie Wonder, Winterland, San Francisco, March 3, 1973, and Berkeley Community Theatre, March 4, 1973. These concerts show Wonder at his wondrous peak. They took place between the time I saw him open for The Rolling Stones and a few months before he played Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium. With his backup group, Wonderlove, he goes through his own impressive songbook (heavy on his albums Music of My Mind and Talking Book) and splendid covers like Billy Paul’s adulterer’s sleaze theme “Me and Mrs. Jones” and a short take on The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”

* Steppenwolf, Fillmore West, San Francisco, Aug. 27, 1968. I’ve always felt Steppenwolf is one of the most underrated groups of the ’60s. It’s too bad this recording is rather fuzzy. The concert was right before the release of the group’s second album (the one with “Magic Carpet Ride”).

*Elvis Costello, Winterland, June 7, 1978. He was young, angry and fresh. You’d never guess from this show that chamber quartets and Burt Bacharach were in his future.

*Talking Heads, CBGB’s, New York, May 31, 1977. My only complaint about this show is that it’s only four songs long, 17 minutes total. But CBGB’s in 1977 was ground zero of the New York punk explosion, which had begun to sweep the free world about the time of this recording. Even though we’ve all heard “Psycho Killer” and “Take Me to the River” a jillion times by now, these performances show a band full of fire.

*Los Lobos, Fillmore West, Dec. 31, 1985. This was right on the cusp of the group’s fame. Los Lobos dedicates “Our Last Night” to Ricky Nelson, who died in a plane crash earlier that night.

*Mother Earth, Winterland, Sept. 29 and 30, 1967: These are two 40-minute (give or take) sets from a Bay Area hippie blues-rock collective that should have been more famous. Mother Earth was the springboard for singer Tracy Nelson. A couple of songs on the latter show unfortunately are incomplete. These were recorded before the band’s first album, Livin’ With the Animals. Nelson’s “Help Me Jesus” is full of gospel glory.

*The Clash, Agora, Cleveland, Feb. 13, 1979. It’s only 33 minutes long and the recording quality is a little fuzzy, but this show from The Clash’s first American tour is nice and intense.

*Robert Cray, unspecified outdoor music festival in Austin, Texas, May 25, 1987. Back in the mid-’80s, it was very unusual to hear a young black guy playing the blues. That was part of the reason Cray was hailed as a savior of the blues at the time. But also it was because of his music. This concert, recorded a year after Cray’s classic Strong Persuader album, shows why Cray was a bona fide star.

*Patti Smith, CBGB’s, New York, Aug. 11, 1979. This two-hour-plus show starts out with a slow, 13-minute version of “Land.” This was just before Smith’s long “retirement,” and she sounds a little burnt around the edges. Her voice gets pretty hoarse after a few songs, and at one point she advises the audience to drink some hot tea in the morning. But her band rages. This set has lots of covers including John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey” and The Yardbirds’ “For Your Love” (with guitarist Lenny Kaye on vocals.)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: SINE DIE and DAYS GONE BY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 22, 2007

At last Saturday’s end-of-the-session news conference in the governor’s Cabinet Room, Gov. Bill Richardson made a strange statement that nobody challenged at the time.

I suspect those of us sitting around the big marble table were either too exhausted from the 60-day session or were still trying to cope with the reality of an upcoming special session to make anything of it.

I believe the governor was responding to a question about whether it was risky to call a special session so quickly.

Richardson answered that all his special sessions had been successful.

Success is a subjective thing, I suppose. But when he said that, my mind wandered back to the fall 2003 special session, originally called to consider an overhaul of the state’s tax system.

But as someone who covered that special session, I mostly remember it for the hostility, acrimony and accusations that Richardson wasn’t communicating well with lawmakers.
I remember that session for the Senate voting to sine die — go home without acting on the Richardson tax proposals. It was sine die déjà vu Tuesday, when the Senate voted to adjourn only hours after convening. Just like 2003, however, they will have to come back as long as the House keeps working.

The 2003 special session came after a blue-ribbon task force on taxes made several recommendations. However, Richardson denounced many of the ideas and came up with his own plan. But there was bipartisan consensus in both the House and Senate to balk at the 188-page bill pushed by Richardson.

True, Richardson got a package of bills aimed at fighting sexual predators in that special session, though some said the state easily could have waited until the regular session three months later to pass those bills.

And by the end of that special session, the Legislature passed a huge highway-construction package. That was the program known as GRIP (Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership, for the record. Who thinks up these acronyms?) But that was seen largely as a “face-saving” measure so the entire special session wouldn’t seem like a waste.

It seems fitting that a new highway package — known as GRIP II — is one of the items on the governor’s call.

Wisdom from Max: Former Rep. Max Coll, D-Santa Fe, currently recovering from brain surgery, said something back in 2003 that still makes sense today.

In an interview after that harrowing session, Coll, who was still a lawmaker then, told me: “When you’ve got a special session, you need to build a consensus ... before you go in. You can’t just walk in without it settled.”

Coll never was one of Richardson’s favorite lawmakers, so it’s not surprising the governor didn’t heed those words.

The call of the Peregrine: As the governor spends much of this week campaigning in California, an old issue that nipped at him during his 2002 gubernatorial race — his tenure on a software company’s board of directors — has re-emerged in a scathing piece in a San Diego paper.

Columnist Don Bauder of the San Diego Reader notes in his latest column that the trial of four former executives of Peregrine Systems Inc. is scheduled to begin next month. Bauder has covered the Peregrine scandal for several years.

The Southern California company’s chief executive was Richardson’s wife’s brother-in-law, Stephen Gardner — who last week pleaded guilty to three felony counts in connection with an accounting scandal that brought the company to bankruptcy. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

“During Richardson’s period on the board, Gardner was regularly telling directors that the Peregrine boat was sinking,” Bauder wrote. “But the public knew nothing about it. The company was releasing official reports telling how revenue was soaring.”

Richardson never was charged with any crimes. But he sat on the board of the company for about a year and a half in 2001 and 2002 — “the period in which the directors were trying to put a lid on the billowing financial scandal that would ultimately send the company into bankruptcy and many of its executives into criminal proceedings,” Bauder wrote.

Next month’s trial “means Dollar Bill is going to have to sharpen his Peregrine alibis for a national audience,” Bauder wrote. “In 2002 when he ran for governor, he got away with some lame excuses that may have worked in New Mexico then but won’t fly nationally now.”

When the Peregrine issue first came to light in 2002, Richardson responded that he helped uncover the financial problems of the company — though he also said he was unaware of the problems until he read news accounts.

Richardson in 2002 said as a member of the board of directors, he voted to fire Peregrine’s accountants and bring in new auditors to conduct an independent investigation. He also said he urged employees and investors be protected.

In 2002, Richardson’s Republican opponent, John Sanchez, tried to make Peregrine an issue, running television ads calling Richardson “an insider who got paid while honest people got hurt.”
Richardson won that year in a landslide.

eMUSIC MARCH

Here's my allotted 90 downloads from eMusic this month:


Turban Renewal: A Tribute Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs . A great songwriter once wrote, "Only two things for which I give a damn/That's reincarnation and Sam the Sham."

My friend Nancy Apple actually knows Sam the Sham (Domingo Samudio). That's only one of many cool things about Nancy Apple.

I saw Sam & the Pharoahs live at Springlake Amusement Park in Oklahoma City circa 1965.

Sam was so much more than "Wooly Bully" and "Little Red Riding Hood." Few bands today could ever record anything half as bitchen as "Ring Dang Do" or "Red Hot."

This tribute includes tracks from Hasil Adkins, The Fleshtones and The Devil Dogs (whose cover of New Mexico Music Commissioner Tony Orlando's "Bless You" I play every now and then on Terrell's Sound World.)



*Hello Lucille… Are You A Lesbian? by T. Valentine. Had Wesley Willis been a 1960s soul beter, he'd have been T. Valentine.

On the title song, he claims he hates all lesbians. I think he's protesting too much.




*One More Road for the Hit by Frank Black And The Catholics. I already had four tracks from this compilation, released years ago by iTunes as an "exclusive EP" In fact those four songs were the first things I ever bought from iTunes.

Like nearly all of Mr. Thompson's work with The Catholics, this is good solid and frequently catchy rock -- though nothing that approaches his work with The Pixies.




*Charlie Louvin. This officially is Charlie's first solo album in 10 years or so. But in reality, it's is one of those "guest-star" albums, where all sorts of artists come in to honor a fabled veteran. George Jones, Bobby Bare, Tom T. Hall, Elvis Costello and Jeff Tweedy are just some of Charlie's angels here.

Charlie, for those not quite up on their country-music history, is half of the Louvin Brothers, one of the most influential duos in American music. Ira died in 1965.

Most of the songs on this album -- "When I Stop Dreaming," "The Knoxville Girl," "The Great Atomic Power," "The Christian Life" -- are Louvin Brothers classics.


There's some decent tunes here. Tweedy's grungy guitar on "The Great Atomic Power" is surely the most radical departure. But I'd advise potential Louvin fans to start with the old stuff.

Note: This has been corrected. See comments.



*Pompeii by Beirut. There's only two tracks on this eMusic only "album": "Fountains and Tramways " and "Napoleon on the Bellerophon."


* “My Body is a Cage,” the last track from Arcade Fire’s new Neon Bible. (That track was damaged on the promo I received.)



* The last 23 tracks from Vol. 2 America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band by The Maddox Brothers and Rose. I downloaded the first seven tracks last month and the first volume back in October. This music not only has aged well. It just keeps getting better.

XXXXX

I had three tracks left, so I used them to get a start on the new solo album from Mary Weiss, former lead singer of the Shangri-Las. More on that next month.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, March 18, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Leave the Capitol by The Fall
Give Me Some Truth by John Lennon
We're All Water by Yoko Ono
Mr. Big Stuff by Jean Knight
Back When Dogs Could Talk by Wayne Kramer
God Forsaken Town by Lorette Velvette
I'm Waiting For My Man by Lou Reed
Try Love by The Detroit Cobras

Keep the Car Running by The Arcade Fire
Police Call by Drywall
Sample and Hold by Neil Young
Brave Men (Run in My Family) by Sonic Youth
Books About UFOs by Husker Du
I'm So Happy by The Mekons
For a Few Dollars Less by King Automatic

Jon E.'s Mood by Jon E. Edwards
Blowin' Your Mind by O.C. Smith
I'm a Millionaire by Lee Field
Coffy is the Color by Roy Ayers
Shotgun by Junior Walker & The Allstars
Theme of Foxy Brown by Willie Hutch
Children of Production by Parliament

I Discovered America by Graham Parker
Joey by Concrete Blonde
Waiting Underground by Patti Smith
They Were Blue by Otis Taylor
Yer Not the Ocean by The Tragically Hip
Now by The Plimsouls
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: CONFESSIONS OF A MIDDLE-AGED iPOD NERD

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 16, 2007

A couple of years ago when I went through a Rodney Dangerfield/Back to School phase and took a political science class at The University of New Mexico, I noticed that about half the college kids I saw were strolling around the campus in blissful little worlds of their own, iPod buds in their ears, white wires swaying. The other half were yakking on cellphones.

At the time I looked down my middle-aged nose at them. Thinking back to my own UNM years 30-some years before, I huffed, “When I was a lad, we didn’t need any electronic device to walk around campus in a glassy-eyed daze.”

But now I’m one of them.

Although I thought all those pod people walking around campus seemed like zombies, I did feel a bit of jealousy while riding the parking shuttle. Looking at the blissful iPod kids on the bus, I realized that one of those contraptions would allow me to listen to Howlin’ Wolf or Tom Waits or Soundgarden instead of the Top 40 and “hot new country” radio that the bus drivers, bless their hearts, always seemed to be playing.

I started thinking about getting one, though I was pretty good about arguing with myself against the idea.

Although I like album art, liner notes, and good CD booklets as much as the next music fanatic, in recent years I’ve become a fan of MP3s. Through eMusic, ripping my favorite CDs and other sources (I’ve heard of a notorious MP3-swapping ring in the Roundhouse, but my investigation is inconclusive), I’ve begun to amass a good little digital-music collection.

In fact, most of the music I listen to at home these days is not on CDs; it’s digital music I have stored on a 160-gigabyte external hard drive and played through my computer, which is hooked up to my old-fashioned stereo system.

But at first I was reluctant to spend a couple of hundred bucks on a gadget the size of a pack of cigarettes. (I’m usually reluctant to spend a couple of hundred dollars on anything.) And I just couldn’t envision myself walking around with those stupid ear buds, lost in my own little world of music.

But my resistance began to soften. I remembered that it was a little device not much bigger than an iPod — a transistor radio — that led me to become a music freak back in grade school. I fell asleep almost every night with the music of the Shirelles and Sam Cooke and Bruce “Hey Baby” Channel coming through the little (monaural) earphone.

On a recent work trip to Nevada, looking around at my fellow airline passengers, I noticed a lot of happy faces with iPod wires hanging from their ears. Then came the realization that the state income-tax refund I’d just received was close to the price of a 30 GB iPod.

The first major challenge was deciding just what to load on the pod. I could have automatically synchronized it with the iTunes program on my computer. However, I have more than twice the music on my iTunes program than my little 30 gigger can hold, so the only option I had was to load it manually — choosing each song, each album. Some might consider that a big hassle. I consider it a labor of love.

I first loaded the basics. All my Johnny Cash, Beatles, Stones, Dylan, Ramones. Every MP3 I have of Ray Charles, Jerry Lee Lewis, Frank Zappa, George Jones, NRBQ, and The Cramps. I decided to load everything — about 14 hours’ worth of music — from a self-created genre I call (with a tip of the hat to Greil Marcus) “Old Weird America” music. It consists of old blues, hillbilly, gospel, and jazz records, plus field recordings by the Lomaxes and their ilk.

My iPod probably has more Butterbeans & Susie than any other in town.

I began to realize that some of my favorite CDs had yet to be converted into MP3s. How could any self-respecting Steve Terrell iPod be without Astral Weeks or Smile or the Waco Brothers’ Cowboy in Flames or The Pogues’ Rum, Sodomy & The Lash?

So this new purchase has accelerated my project of converting all my favorite CDs. Almost every night after work I find myself rifling through my CDs to find more must-haves to digitalize and zipping up and down my iTunes finding more and more songs to add to the iPod.

(As I’m writing this, I’m ripping Elvis Is Back, the second of four Presley CDs that should be on the pod soon.)

I’ve found I almost always have my iPod on shuffle mode. Perhaps it’s because of my fondness for the good old days of free-form radio or because I like to be surprised.

I just love an Uncle Dave Macon song bouncing off something by the Pixies. And it makes the drive to work a little easier hearing Bo Diddley seem to answer some mystical call by The Bonzo Dog Band. With more than 3,200 songs — eight days’ worth of music — on the device (I’ve not quite filled it halfway), some pretty interesting combinations can be heard.

And yes, there have been a few times that the song was especially good, and I’ve been seen walking around the state Capitol with those idiot wires hanging from my ears. I’ve become one of them. I’ve become a 53-year-old iPod nerd.

Songs shuffling on my iPod one recent afternoon (when I couldn’t listen anymore to the state House of Representatives being piped into the Capitol press room) in the actual order:

“I’d Have to Be Crazy” by Willie Nelson
“Dagger Moon” by Dead Moon
“Saran Wrap” by Dengue Fever
“Adios Hermanos” by Paul Simon
“Rock ’n’ Roll” by Lou Reed
“Kentucky Gambler” by Merle Haggard
“Man Whose Head Expanded” by The Fall
“Say No to the Devil” by the Rev. Gary Davis
“The Man From Harlem” by Cab Calloway
“Devil in Her Heart” by The Beatles (Two devil songs out of the last three! Is my iPod sending me satanic messages?)
“Complete Control” by The Clash
“Long Haired Doney” by R.L. Burnside
“Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)” by John Fred & His Playboy Band

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: UNUSUAL ALLIANCES

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 15, 2007

The battle over regional housing authorities is a classic example of how unusual alliances can form in the Legislature around various issues.

Sometime after 11 p.m. Tuesday, the House Business & Industry Committee effectively killed Senate Bill 519, sponsored by Sen. Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, which would put the state’s scandal-plagued housing authorities under state Mortgage Finance Authority supervision.

It was the second time in recent days that the committee, chaired by Rep. Debbie Rodella, D-Española, had tabled such a bill.

Last week, the panel tabled a similar measure proposed by Rep. Janice Arnold-Jones, R-Albuquerque.

The committee did, however, pass a bill (House Bill 1321, sponsored by Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell) calling for an investigation of housing authorities by the state auditor and the Legislative Finance Committee. The attorney general already is investigating.

Papen’s bill was prompted by the Albuquerque-based Region III Housing Authority’s defaulting last year on $5 million in bonds it had sold to the State Investment Council. The council later determined the authority had misused housing funds to pay salaries and benefits, make loans and buy vehicles.

At the center of the controversy is former Region III Director Vincent “Smiley” Gallegos, a lobbyist and former legislator who stepped down after the default. Gallegos has been spotted around the Roundhouse, some lawmakers say, making a case against the housing authority bills.

The oversight bills are strongly backed by Gov. Bill Richardson and Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

Denish especially has been vocal about the issue. In the past week, she spoke to several fellow Democrats on the committee who had voted against Arnold-Jones’ bill, trying to get them to support Papen’s bill.

But none of those Democrats — Reps. Rodella, Jim Trujillo of Santa Fe, Joe Campos of Santa Rosa, Thomas Garcia of Ocate, Richard Vigil of Las Vegas and Andrew Barreras of Tomé — changed their votes.

Denish issued a statement Wednesday that committee members, by tabling Papen’s bill, “have essentially refused to protect taxpayers’ money in the future.” The regional housing authorities, she said, have “outlived their usefulness.” None of the agencies have built a single house in the past five years, the lieutenant governor said. Denish called upon the committee and House Speaker Ben Luján, D-Nambé, to allow the bill to get heard on the House floor.

In fact, except for Democrat Dona Irwin of Deming, the only members supporting the governor-supported oversight bills were the Republicans.

So where does Luján — who normally is Richardson’s biggest helper in the Legislature — stand? Luján said last week that he supported Arnold-Jones’ bill and, in fact, was a co-sponsor. However, Luján also counts Smiley Gallegos as a friend, so many of the bills’ supporters are suspicious.

Media sweetheart: Sometimes it seems that Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, thinks the press hates him. He has claimed nobody has been attacked more in the news media than he has been.

I seriously doubt if that’s true. In fact, during this session the tow-headed conservative has won a lot of hearts among the ink-stained.

During Senate floor debates on whether to open conference committees to the public, when the discussion was allowed to devolve into a bilious barrage of press-bashing, Adair stood up for the press. No, he didn’t lay on the sugar. Adair said the press makes mistakes, usually isn’t thorough and isn’t always fair. But he said reporters are human, just like senators.

Adair got some cheers from the press room the day he called on the state to spend whatever money was necessary to make the Capitol more computer friendly. Those of us who have dealt with the spotty wireless service in the Roundhouse definitely support that idea.

On Wednesday, the Senate unanimously passed Adair’s Senate Resolution 1, which will require the Legislative Council Service to post roll-call votes on the Legislature’s Web site within a day of the vote.

During floor discussion of the resolution, Adair joked that he was pushing the issue so he can find out how he voted on various bills the day before.

It’s a move toward openness and transparency in a body that doesn’t always seem to embrace openness and transparency. I only hope the House follows suit. After all, they have a computerized scoreboard and the ability to print out roll-calls within minutes of the vote.

No longer perennials: For this newspaper’s special section called The Session, published in January right before the Legislature convened, I wrote an irreverent little article titled, “The Top 10 Bills that Refuse to Die.” I looked at a number of bills that have popped up in nearly every 60-day session since I’ve been covering state government, bills for which “virtually everything that can be said — on either side — has been said.”

It looks as if I’d have to do some major revisions for such a story in the future.

I correctly anticipated this would be the last time cockfighting would be on the list. The governor signed the cockfighting ban this week.

But we’re also not going to have medical marijuana and the smoking ban to kick around anymore. And though a bill that would impose limits on payday loans hasn’t passed the Senate at this writing, a compromise bill, which the House passed unanimously, is on the Senate calendar.

RETURN OF THE FLOOD

I heard from John Frogville that Hundred Year Flood will return to Santa Fe Friday March 30 at the Santa Fe Brewing Company. Goshen will open the show, which starts at 8 p.m.

Advance tickets are available at the Lensic box office for a mere five bucks ($10 at the door.)

Also Hundred Year Flood will play at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid the next night.

John says HYF will be going back to Texas until June. He also says Frogfest may be in June this year instead of August

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, March 11, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
I Have Always Been Here Before by Roky Erikson
Pray for the Girls by Frank Black & The Catholics
Fight the Cuts by The Mekons
The Bluejackets' Manual by Mike Watt
Behind by Spanking Charlene
TV Set by The Cramps
99 to Life by Social Distortion
Jesus Christ Pose by Soundgarden

Highball with The Devil by Les Claypool & Holy Mackerel
Here Comes Sickness by Mudhoney
(You Must Fight to Live) On the Planet of the Apes by The Mummies
Blues For Joe by The Monsters
Demon Seed by TAD
Black Girls by The Violent Femmes
Unsatisfied by The Replacements

Porn Wars by Frank Zappa
Sharkey's Night by Laurie Anderson
Sing For Me by The Fiery Furnaces
Staring at the Sun by TV on the Radio
Gentles on My Mind by Queen Earlene

Patriot's Heart by American Music Club
The Murderer's Pub by Kult
Mamo, Snezhets Navalyalo by 3 Mustaphas 3
The Minotaur's Song by The Incredible String Band
Dad's Gonna Kill Me by Richard Thompson
Last Kiss by J. Frank Wilson
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 9, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Take Me to the Fires by The Waco Brothers
Roots Rock Weirdos by Robbie Fulks
Let's Invite Them Over by Southern Culture on the Skids
Satan Gets the Gold by Porter Wagoner
Some of Shelly's Blues by Michael Nesmith
Blues Stay Away from Me by Charlie Louvin with Bobby Bare and Tom T. Hall
Satan is Real/Straight to Hell by Hank Williams III
Stalin Kicked the Bucket by Johnny Dilks

It Is No Secret What God Can Do by Johnny Cash
Your Red Wagon by Paul Burch & His Honky Tonk Orchestra
Ain't it Funny What Love Will Do by The Holmes Brothers
Saginaw, Michigan by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
Forever (and Always) by Lefty Frizzell
Sweet Nutty by The Gourds
Gallo de Cielo by Tom Russell

My Mary by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
These Hands by Johnny Bush
Philadelphia Lawyer by Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard
Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women by Ray Price
Night Watch by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price
Ain't Your Memory Got No Pride at All by Johnny Bush & Ray Price
Something to Think About by Willie Nelson
Sweethearts or Strangers by Merle Haggard
Born to Lose by Johnny Bush
Back to Earth by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price

Lady Pilot by Neko Case
Lost Highway by Jerry Lee Lewis with Delaney Bramlett
I'm Out of My Mind by Johnny Paycheck
Dreaming My Dreams With You by Waylon Jennings
Dreamboat by Eleni Mandell
Whiskey Girl by Gillian Welch
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: HONKY TONK HEAVEN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 9, 2007

If you ask me, the greatest Bush ever to come out of Texas never was president of the United States. No, not Jenna. I’m talking about Johnny Bush, the shoulda-been-a-lot-more-famous honky-tonk star.

Johnny Bush, born John Bush Shinn III, probably is best known for writing the song “Whiskey River,” which his longtime pal and former bandmate Willie Nelson has been using to open concerts for more than 30 years.

Bush should have been a star. But right at the cusp of fame in the early ’70s — shortly after he wrote “Whiskey River” — he choked. Literally. His voice just went. First he couldn’t reach the high notes. After a while he could barely speak. Doctors thought it was a psychological problem. Eventually he was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called spasmodic dysphonia. It drove his career right off the cliff.

Bush recovered and started recording regularly again — for small labels — in the mid-’90s. He’s revered in Texas and by lovers of Texas honky-tonk music everywhere.

But he should have been a star.

Bush, who turned 72 last month, recently published an autobiography titled Whiskey River (Take My Mind): The True Story of Texas Honky-Tonk and recorded a CD called Kashmere Gardens Mud: A Tribute to Houston’s Country Soul. The book and the CD are basically two halves of a whole. The former tells Bush’s life story and the latter explores his musical roots.

The CD includes Texas beer-joint classics like Moon Mullican’s “I’ll Sail My Ship Alone” and Floyd Tillman’s “They Took the Stars Out of Heaven.” (There are some vocals from Tillman, who died in 2003.)

There’s a Tex-Mex tune called “Tequila and Teardrops,” with accordion by Ruben Laredo and vocals by Dale Watson (who wrote the song); there’s an instrumental “Jole Blon” (the “Cajun national anthem”) recorded in 1975 that guest-stars “Fiddlin’” Frenchie Burke; “I Want a Drink of That Water,” an original bluegrass gospel tune Bush sings with his brother the Rev. Gene Shinn; some big-band blues with “Free Soul”; and a full-on Ray Pricey horns ’n’ strings tuxedo-country version of the country-western touchstone “Born to Lose.”

Bush pays homage to another giant from Houston, Townes Van Zandt, with a cover of “Pancho and Lefty.” Nelson joins Bush on that song, as he does on the even more impressive acoustic version of “Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On,” a song by Houstonite Hank Locklin that was a pop hit for Dean Martin in the ’60s.

And Bush performs a couple of Willie Nelson songs here: the Outlaw-era “Bloody Mary Morning” and an early stab at gospel, “Family Bible.” But what ties all this together is the title song, and it’s one of the most personal pieces Bush ever wrote.

“Nothing good ever grew in Kashmere Gardens,” Bush sings of the Houston hillbilly ghetto where he grew up: “Only bitter weeds and flowers of despair.”

The song recounts the poverty he knew, the apocalyptic fears he knew as a child at the dawn of the nuclear age, the trauma of his parents’ divorce. All of this is told in more detail in Bush’s book. But boiled down to a three-minute song, it’s just devastating.

Bush has made some pretty fine little albums in recent years. Green Snakes (2001) and HonkyTonic (2004) are worth seeking out. But Kashmere Gardens Mud makes you feel like you know Johnny Bush.

Also recommended:
*Last of the Breed Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and Ray Price. Speaking of venerated masters of the honky-tonk, this double-disc council of tribal elders is nothing but pure delight.

Haggard and Nelson, if not at full strength these days, remain vital artists. Price, who’s a decade older at 81 (and the only one of this trio who hasn’t toured with Bob Dylan), has slowed down his recording career. But, as his work here indicates, his voice remains strong and clear.

A little history: Nelson used to play in Price’s band the Cherokee Cowboys (as did Johnny Bush, Roger Miller, and Johnny Paycheck). The California-raised Haggard, who has recorded with Nelson, is a devotee of Texas music, having recorded definitive tribute albums honoring Bob Wills and Lefty Frizzell.

Among the 22 songs on this collaboration, the three titans harmonize and trade verses on some good Wills western-swing numbers (“My Life’s Been a Pleasure,” “Still Water Runs the Deepest”); some classic Texas honky-tonk (“I Love You So Much It Hurts”); some countrypolitan hillbilly jazz (“I Gotta Have My Baby Back”); a couple of Frizzell tunes (“Mom and Dad’s Waltz,” “I Love You a Thousand Ways”); a Hank Williams song (“Lost Highway,” actually written by Leon Payne); a Kris Kristofferson song (“Why Me Lord,” with Kristofferson singing background harmonies); a Mickey Newbury gem (“Sweet Memories”); a cornball but irresistible Gene Autry chestnut (“That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine”); new material from Nelson and Haggard (“Back to Earth” and “Sweet Jesus,” respectively); and a remake of one of Price’s greatest hits (“Heartaches by the Number”).

The singers are backed by some top-notch instrumentalists, including Buddy Emmons on steel guitar and Johnny Gimble on fiddle.

No, they don’t break much new ground here. But if you’ve ever liked any of these singers, there’s no way you can listen to this without a huge smile.

The bad news is that this album won’t be released until March 20. The good news is that Willie, Merle, and Ray are appearing 7:30 p.m. Sunday night, March 11, at the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. The backup band for this tour is none other than Asleep at the Wheel. Tickets, available at Gettix.net, range from $55 to $86.

But the Santa Fe Opry is free: Hear all these honky-tonkers on KSFR-FM 90.7 from 10 p.m. to midnight Friday. (Yes, it’s free, but the station fundraiser is coming up, so start writing those checks!)