THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 3, 2010
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Wild Wild Friday Night by Hasil Adkins
Corn Money by The Defibulators
Love Me by The Phantom
A Pinhead Will Survive by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
Little Dog Blues by Mel Price
Eatin' Fish and Drinkin' Sterno by The Imperial Rooster
I Think I'm Gonna Kill Myself  by  Buddy Knox
Burn Burn Burn by Ronny Elliott
Christmas Mornin' by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks

In the Nuthouse Now by Angry Johnny & GTO
That Mink On Her Back by  Hank Penny
Crack and Similac by Misery Jackals
Sally's Got a Wooden Leg by  Sons Of  The West
 Hang Man by Halden Wofford & The Hi Beams
Sneaky Pete by  Sonny Fisher
Man in the Bottom of the Well by Bill Kirchen with Elvis Costello
I'm Gonna Love the Glenn Beck Out of You by Jim Terr
Shootin' Snowmen by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies

Hot Dog by Rosie Flores
Diddy Boppin' And Motor Mouthin' by Clara Dean
Blues Keep Calling by Marti Brom
The Devil, My Conscience & I by Billy Barton
Deep in the Heart of Texas by Andy Anderson
Suffer to Sing the Blues by David Bromberg
Welcome Touch Of Death by Billy Hunt
Lookin' For Somebody to Kill by Kell Robertson
Stop, Look and Listen by Patsy Cline
Yakov the Polka Reindeer by The Polkaholics

Lucille by The Beat Farmers
I Pity the Poor Immigrant by Richie Havens
Must Be the Whiskey by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez
Just Call Me Me Steven I'm Leavin' by Cornell Hurd
Samson by Greg Brown
The Lost Cause by Legendary Shack Shakers

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: A Special Birthday Wish

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
December 3, 2010

From the days of Motown, through the proto-punk era of the MC5, going into the garage-rock ’90s with The Gories and The Detroit Cobras, and culminating commercially with The White Stripes, the city of Detroit has been a dependable breeding ground for rock ’n’ roll.

A band called The Ruiners does nothing to ruin the reputation of the Motor City. In fact, the group’s new album, Happy Birthday Bitch, fits into the city’s proud tradition.

Fronted by Rick Ruiner, aka Rick Lappin (a recent feature in the Detroit Press referred to him as the group’s “singer/stuntman”) and Russian-born singer Nina Friday (that’s her on the cover), the band has a reputation for “setting things on fire, stripping down onstage, and occasionally winding up behind bars” (That’s from Chicago music critic Jim DeRogatis.)

This record just explodes with powerful rockers. “Fix That Broken Halo,” which starts off with a roaring “yeee haw!” from Friday, features crazy locomotive drumming over some wild slide guitar. “Charlie Laine Ate My Brain” is an ode to a real-live porn star. (Reportedly, there have been talks about the actress doing a video for the song.)

“Sugar Buzz” is a sweet crunching ode to a young lady enjoying treats at Dairy Queen, while “Suburban Cop” is a high-charged, hopped-up insult to law enforcement (“Hey, cop, congratulations, you just found my crotch!”).

If The Ruiners were better known, politicians across the country would be calling for their heads.

And while it’s a fine little rock ’n’ roll tune, do yourself a favor, guys, and don’t play the title song for your wife or sweetheart on her birthday.

Also recommended:

* The Scrams. One day last year, I was listening to a show by a fellow GaragePunk podcaster (RadiOblivion’s Michael Kaiser, who lives in Tennessee), and he announced a fun, rocking, heavy-on-the-Farfisa band called The Scrams from “Steve Terrell’s backyard in New Mexico.”

I went out and checked — they weren’t there. He was lying.

But later I found out that The Scrams were only some 60 miles away, in Albuquerque. Just recently The Scrams released a full-length, self titled album that fulfills the promise of the songs on the first 7-inch EP they released last year.

They’ve only been around for less than two years, and they call their sound “warehouse rock.” Started by guitarist Juan Carlos Rodriguez and drummer Nate Daly, other Scrams include singer Joseph Cardillo, Farfisa-nut Daniel Eiland, and bassist Matthew Vanek.

All tracks, from the opening shout of “1,2,3,4,” on “Exiles” to the weird sonic blast that follows “Cry, Cry Cry (In the U.S.A.)” — it sounds like backward masking — is raw garage joy. The first tune that grabbed me was “La Llorona,” a song about a local girl. She murdered her children and is now doomed to eternally wandering the arroyos as a wailing ghost. The Scrams pay her spooky justice.

There’s a song called “Chimp Necropsy,” which may or may not be about those poor medical-experiment chimps in Alamogordo. I can’t make out the lyrics here to save my life. I’m not sure what “Goat Throat” is about, either. Maybe The Scrams are trying to warn the world about some sort of human-animal hybrid.

Whatever, it’s an irresistible little tune with just a hint of ’60s-style soul. “Space Jeeps” is a science-fiction adventure, while “Cry, Cry Cry” almost sounds like The Fleshtones mangling Dion & The Belmonts’ “Teenager in Love.”

I’d be proud to have The Scrams in my backyard. If you want a hard copy of the CD, you’ll have to buy it from The Scrams. You can download the MP3 version for free at www.thescrams.com.


* Curry Up: It’s The Tandoori Knights by The Tandoori Knights Canadian rockabilly Bloodshot Bill might be the logical person to step in and heal the rift between King Khan and BBQ (Mark Sultan), who split up earlier this year after a disastrous Asian/Australian tour.


After all, just this year Bloodshot Bill has released records with both — recording as The Ding-Dongs with Sultan and as The Tandoori Knights with Khan. Maybe he can instigate the melding of the two — a trio to be known as “The Tandoori Dongs.”


If I had to choose between the two, Tandoori Knights would get my nod. It’s got the same spirit of lo-fi rockabilly zaniness as The Ding-Dongs, but there’s also a flavor of East Indian exotica. (Both Knights are Indian. Arish Khan is of East Indian heritage, while Bloodshot Bill is Native American. And both were born in an exotic foreign country called Canada.)

“Pretty Please,” which opens the album, kicks off with a slow, slinky slide guitar. It sounds like a crude ditty beginning for what could, but never quite does, blossom into a huge Bollywood ballad. Other diamonds here include the rocking “Dress On,” a takeoff on Mitch Ryder’s “Devil in a Blue Dress” and “Big Belly Giant,” which features a dangerous sax and a chicken-lickin’ guitar while the Tandooris sing “eeny meenie miney moe.”

But my favorite is the sour-grapes dismissal of America’s oldest teenager on the song “Bandstand.” The boys protest in the refrain, “They won’t let Tandooris play on the Bandstand!” Come on, Dick, let ’em on the show! I don’t care if American Band did go off the air more than 20 years ago.

Consumer warning! I notice that a new copy of this CD is available for $23 and change from Amazon. But you can get it for $10 on the Norton Records site.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 28, 2010
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Note: KSFR's Signal is down but you can still listen on the Internet


email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Cold Turkey by John Lennon
Thanksgiving in Reno by Too Much Joy
Rat's Nest by The Gories
Beer Time by The Ruiners
Exiles by The Scrams
Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps
Pay the Devil His Due by The Raunch Hands
Don't You Just Know It by The Sonics
Goody, Goody by Frank Sinatra

Eternity Road by Monkeyshines
Kingdom of  My Mind by Gregg Turner & The Mistaken
Winter Funeral by Manby's Head
She Floated Away by Husker Du
Playtex, The Cryptic Village Idiot by Sexton Ming 
Wild Wild Women by Tav Falco
Comme L'Agent Secret by  The Cool Jerks
Abi Gezunt by Cab Calloway

I'm Sixteen by  Dengue Fever
Cantina by Pinata Protest
Can't Find Pleasure by  Thee Mighty Caesars
Young Blood by  Thee Headcoatees
Forbidden Fruit by Oscar Brown, Jr.
Freaking Out by  Mondo Topless
Lion Tamer by Arrington De Dionyso & Old Time Relijun
Ferryboat Bill by The Velvet Underground
True Believers by The Black Angels
Hey Hey Hey Hey by Little Richard

No Man by Diplomats of Solid Sound
Took My Lady To Dinner by King Khan & The Shrines
Big Belly Giant by The Tandoori Knights  
God's Song (That's Why I Love mankind) by Etta James
Moonbeam by King Richard & The Knights
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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DRUG DEMON STOPPED BY BORDER SECURITY

Sleep easy, America. Your children are safe. In a rare victory in the war on drugs, the one-man drug menage called Willie Nelson  was arrested Friday at a border stop in southwest Texas.

From the Associated Press:

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas (AP) — A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman says country singer Willie Nelson was charged with marijuana possession after 6 ounces was found aboard his tour bus in Texas.
Patrol spokesman Bill Brooks says the bus pulled into the Sierra Blanca, Texas, checkpoint about 9 a.m. Friday. Brooks says an officer smelled pot when a door was opened and a search turned up marijuana.
Brooks says the Hudspeth County sheriff was contacted and Nelson was among three people arrested.

Here's a take from Reason, which compares the Border Patrol's operations to that of the TSA:

Uh, sheriff — no it is not surprising. It is Willie Nelson. Perhaps one of the best known pot smokers on the planet. And why oh why is the Border Patrol making 70 to 100 “drug-related arrests” a week at a single US interstate barricade? That is not its job.

Nelson is 77 years old.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 26, 2010
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Turkey Jive by The Hormonauts
Turkey in the Straw by Sen. Robert Byrd
Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread by Odetta & The Chambers Brothers
Honkey Tonk Man by The Honky Tonk Man
The Wig Song by Bud & Darlene Chambers
I Wanna Waltz by Wanda Jackson
The Love-In by Ben Colder
Honey Baby Blues by Lightning Beat-Man
Sweet Thang by Marti Brom & Bill Kirchen
Turkey and the Rabbit by T-Model Ford
You Burned Me by Suzette & The Neon Angels

Pigfork Jambouree by The Imperial Rooster
Pigmeat by Leadbelly
Too Much Pork For Just One Fork by Southern Culture On The Skids
Alligator Meat by Johnny Ray Harris
Born Bred, Corn Fed by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Tootie Ma Is a Big Fine Thing by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Tom Waits
Mark Twain by Boris McCutcheon & The Salt Licks
Dark Angel by Benny Joy

Hot Rodder's Lament by Deke Dickerson & The Ecco-Fonics
Waxahachie Drag Race by Ronnie Dawson
Me and Old Dog Tray by Peter Stampfel & The Bottle Caps
Too Sweet to Die by The Waco Brothers
I'm Troubled by The Gourds
Country Cool by Shinyribs
Swingin' from Your Crystal Chandeliers by The Austin Lounge Lizards
Hippie in a Blunder by Johnny Bucket
You Ain't Never Gonna' Live To Love Saturday Again by T.Tex Edwards & Out On Parole

Steve McQueen by The Drive-By Truckers
Devil's Game by Stevie Tombstone
Back Street Affair by Web Pierce
Red Wine in the Afternoon by The Whateverly Brothers
Big in Vegas by Buck Owens
Santa's Workshop by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets


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BIG ENCHILADA PODCAST SELLS OUT!

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TERRELL'S TUNEUP: COCKADOODLE DOO!

How can you not love an album that begins with a slide guitar lick from a guy called “Khorn Sirrup” followed by the line, “Well I ain’t too pretty and I ain’t too bright ...”?

The album is Old Good Poor Crazy Dead, and the band responsible for it is The Imperial Rooster. They’re from Española, and the singer’s right. They ain’t too pretty. From the looks of the band photo on the inside cover of the CD, I’d hate to meet these guys in a dark alley — or even worse, a well-lit alley.

But pretty or not, I can’t get enough of this album.

This is good, rootsy hillbilly slop. I don’t hear a jug in the mix, but The Imperial Rooster has a real jug-band spirit — on top of a punk-rock soul. The band members’ funny monikers — such as “Nat King Kong,” “Cootie LeRoux,” and “Dusty Vinyl” — create a mythological musical world somewhere along an astral plane between Dogpatch and Española.

The first song, “Your Friends Think I’m the Devil,” has a melody similar to an old tune called “Wild About My Lovin’ ” (a traditional song covered most famously by The Lovin’ Spoonful). It is a serious, self-loathing blues song. “Well, I try to be a good man, try to do what’s right / But Betty Sue done told me that I’m a parasite.”

The song that first drew me to the Rooster was “Pig Fork.” The title should remind you of “Too Much Pork for Just One Fork” by Southern Culture on the Skids. But this tune, punctuated by frightening hog squeals and embellished with a chorus of “yeah yeah yeah” whenever the singer says “pig fork,” achieves its own level of lunacy. “Well, I keep it in my pocket right next to my thigh / If you get too close you get poked in the eye / Stick it in a socket you get electrified / I like my pork cracklins deep fried.”

They’ve even got an eight-minute minor-key epic here. “Advice of the Ages” starts off slow and spooky, led by the upright bass of “Tennessee Skilly McGee.” A lengthy instrumental starts to sound like Symphony Sid Page’s solo ins. But instead of a violin, the dominant instrument on the Rooster song is a kazoo. (“Pilgrum Hart” later comes in on the fiddle.)

The Imperial Rooster plays The Cowgirl BBQ, 319 S. Guadalupe St., at 9 p.m. on Dec. 11. Bring your own pig forks.

Other new CDs from this enchanted land:

*  Wheel of Life by Boris McCutcheon & The Salt Licks. Here’s the latest collection of melodic celebrations from the Massachusetts-born singer-songwriter and his capable, underrated band. Wheel is McCutcheon’s third album with The Salt Licks. While I still prefer the first, 2005’s Cactusman vs. the Blue Demon, the new one has some real delights.

My favorites here are the ones in which he cuts loose with honky-tonk abandon. The first song on this album (“What Ails You?”) grabs you right from the beginning with its Johnny Cash chunka-chunka beat. That’s Susan Hyde Holmes on upright bass and Brett Davis on twang guitar and lap steel.

Also notable is country-funk charmer “Boxspring Plough.” Judging from this and Tom Waits’ “Filipino Box Spring Hog,” one can only conclude that songs with “box spring” in the title are fun. This one starts out with McCutcheon singing about the annual “hippies vs. the locals” baseball game up near Picuris Pueblo. Then there’s “Peeler,” which McCutcheon, on his website, says is about “a young man who falls madly and foolishly in love with a new age stripper.”

Though McCutcheon is known mostly as a songwriter, on Wheel of Life he includes three songs written by others. There’s a decent version of Townes Van Zandt’s “No Place to Fall” and a fun take on “Lee Harvey,” a tune written by Homer Henderson but best known for The Asylum Street Spankers’ version. It’s about a guy who apparently was involved in some kind of kerfuffle in Dallas back in the early 1960s. Despite its unnecessarily slanderous lyrics about a Texas businessman named Jack Ruby, it’s a fun song, and McCutcheon does it justice.

And once again McCutcheon teams up with Albuquerque songwriter Mark Ray Lewis from the band Trilobite. On Cactusman, McCutcheon covered Lewis’ spooky “Caves of Burgundy.” Here he does a Lewis tune called “Mark Twain.” It’s not about the author. It’s a compelling tale about a fateful romance with a farmer’s daughter and a trip into the unforeseen.

The album ends with a jaunty little backroads journey called “Bad Road, Good People,” which is also the title of his previous album. Here he sings about his Northern New Mexico home, which apparently is “a good place to burn a car or shoot an old washer or dryer.”

*  Keep ’em Coming by The Whateverly Brothers. Longtime Santa Fe favorite Jono Manson joins forces here with an old pal, British singer-songwriter George Breakfast. The two were musical compadres in New York back in the ’80s and became The Whateverly Brothers in the early part of this century.

The first 10 tracks in this collection are new recordings. But also here is The Whateverly Brothers’ entire first album, Global Toast, which was recorded in Denmark in 2001.

The music is simple and underproduced — in my book, a good thing. Mainly just two guys and their guitars. (Was that a dog I heard yip in “Warm Love”?)

There’s a new recording of Manson’s “Red Wine in the Afternoon.” Other favorite tracks include the bluesy “I Prefer to Walk” and especially the wickedly clever “I Never Want to Be Your Ex.” The chorus goes, “I never want to be your ex / Someone with whom you used to have sex / Who got swept aside when you cleared the decks.”

The Whateverly Brothers make a rare Santa Fe area appearance at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 28, at Mike’s Music Exchange in La Tienda shopping center in Eldorado. The suggested donation (come on, pay it, ya cheapskates!) is $15.

TOM WAITS at 78 rmp

Let's be thankful for Tom Waits and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band from New Orleans. They've teamed up to produce a couple of songs that recently were released on a 78 rpm record.

The songs are “Tootie Ma Was A Big Fine Thing” and “Corrine Died On The Battlefield,” both recorded originally by a guy named Danny Barker in 1947.

They only pressed 504 hand-numbered copies to raise money for Preservation Hall and its outreach programs. The first 100 will be accompanied by a special Preservation Hall 78rpm record player (which also plays albums and 45s.) That special package will cost you $200. The record alone is a mere $50.

To be honest, I'm not sure if I'll be buying this. I can't afford the $200 and I don't know whether my iPod even plays 78s. (Actually Waits' songs are on a benefit CD released early this year including Merle Haggard, Richie Havens, Dr. John, Buddy Miller and many more.)

Here's one of those songs, below. (Thanks to Liisa for the tip.)

NEW GARAGE EXPLOSION!

While your turkey's cooking Check out this 3-part documentary from Scion A/V. Lots of Jay Reatard and Black Lips. Enjoy

(This post has been updated. It had been in three parts -- now the complete episode is in one.)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 21, 2010
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Licking the Frog by Manby's Head
Blew My Mind by The Reatards
Runaround Sue by Dion & The Belmonts
Yellow Elevator #2 by The Black Angels
The Coo Coo by Big Brother & The Holding Company

The Other Side Of This Life by Jefferson Airplane

Jungle Music by Simon Stokes

Gin and Juice by The Gourds
Get Me To The World On Time by The Electric Prunes
In a Dirty Cellar by Pirate Love
A Luz Sobre Mim by Horror Deluxe
Hot Head by Captain Beefheart
Officer Touchy by The Scrams
Death Cult Soup n Salad by The Almighty Defenders
Saved by LaVern Baker

JFK ASSASINATION SET

Murder Weapon by The Rockin' Guys

Jack Ruby by Camper Van Beethoven

Lee Harvey by Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks
November by The Rockin' Guys
He Was a Friend of Mine by The Byrds
Tomorrow Wendy by Concrete Blonde

Palaceo of Montezuma by Grinderman
Do You Know What I Idi Amin by Chuck E. Weiss with Tom Waits
Jealous by Diplomats of Solid Sound
Bel Air Blues by Stan Ridgway
Hands on Your Stomach by Otis Taylor
Just A Closer Walk With Thee by Treme Brass Band
Caberet by Big Maybelle

MORE TO COME (Keep refreshing your browser until midnight)


CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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