TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 12, 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
Ain't Comin' Back by Intruders Five
No Confidence by Simon Stokes
(We're a) Bad Trip by Mondo Topless
Happy Now by Lyres
Buy a Gun, Get a Free Guitar by  Deadbolt
Lies by Johnny Dowd
Always Wanting More by Jay Reatard
Gloria by Elastica

My Kind Of Trouble by Peter Case
He's Waitin' by The Sonics
Somebody Knockin'  by  T-Model Ford
Baron of Love Part II by Alex Chilton with Ross Johnson
Corinne Died On the Battlefield by The Preservation Hall Jazz Band & Tom Waits
Wowsville by Bob Taylor
Baby You Crazy by Nick Curran and the Lowlifes
We Wish You'd Bury the Missus by The Crypt Keeper
Jingle Bells by Richard Cheese

I'm Gonna Keep Singin' by Ray Charles
You Make Your Own Heaven Right Here on Earth by The Temptations
I'm So Proud by The Impressions
Promise of a Brand New Day by Diplomats of Solid Sound
The Hold Up by Andre Williams with Diplomats of Solid Sound
Whatcha Gonna Do by Rudy Ray Moore
Soul Survivor by Wilson Pickett
Me and The Devil by Gil Scott-Heron

Pammie's On A Bummer by Sonny Bono
Bad Trip by Lee Fields
Laugh at me by The Devil Dogs
World of Tomorrow by Death
Another Lost Heartache by Gregg Turner & The Mistaken
Symbol of Heaven by Little Julian Herrera
Drinkin' With Santa by The Polkaholics
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

BIG ENCHILADA 30: 2010 Christmas Special

Ho Ho Ho podlubbers! Here's the third annual Big Enchilada Christmas Special. Enjoy holiday cheer from Hank Ballard, Billy Childish, Sonny Boy Williamson, Mojo Nixon, The Polkaholics, New Bomb Turks, The Supersuckers, King Coleman, The Trashmen, Angry Johnny & The Killbillies and so many more.

Thank you for making The Big Enchilada part of your Yuletide tradition.

Play it here:




DOWNLOAD | SUBSCRIBE| SUBSCRIBE TO ALL GARAGEPUNK NETWORK PODCASTS

Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Santa Claus is Coming by True Light Beavers)
Poundland Christmas by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of The British Empire
Real Live Doll by The Trashmen
Boogaloo Santa by J.D. McDonald
North Pole Boogie by Billy Briggs
Sausage & Sauerkraut for Santa by The Polkaholics
Big Ol' Hole This Christmas by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Christmas in Las Vegas by Richard Cheese

(Background Music: Jingle Bells by Gene Krupa with Charlie Ventura)
Christmas Baby (Please Come Home) by New Bomb Turks
It's Christmas Time by Hank Ballard & The Midnighters
Is Santa Claus a Hippy? by Linda Cassady
Sonny Boy's Christmas Blues by Sonny Boy Williamson with Elmore James
Christmas is a Comin' (God Bless You) by The Shitbirds
Santa's Doing the Horizontal Twist by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards
(Background Music: carol of the Bells by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks)

Even Squeaky Fromme Loves Christmas by Rev. Glenn Armstrong
Blue Grey Christmas by King Coleman
Don't Believe in Christmas by Tallboy
Call It Christmas by The Supersuckers
Christmas in Vietnam by Johnny & Jon
Go Tell It on the Mountain by Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors
Jingle Bells by Johnny Dowd

Ghosts of Christmas Podcasts Past
2009
2008

Spend all your Christmas money at The Big Enchilada Podcast Zazzle Store.

The Mysterious Case of Jim Sullivan

Thanks to Tom Adler for telling me about this strange little story about a musician who was last seen 35 years ago in Santa Rosa, N.M.

The story of Jim Sullivan aired on NPR Thursday. He was a singer-songwriter (whose music, honestly, isn't the type of stuff I like). He had a bit part in Easy Rider, (the commune scene, according to his sister.) By early 1975 he'd decided to leave Los Angeles to try his luck in the Nashville music game.

Sullivan recorded an album called UFO  for a small label on which some top-notch L.A. studio cats -- members of The Wrecking Crew -- played. The title song of the album has caused some of his more mystical fans to speculate that perhaps his disappearance is connected to beings from beyond.

Matt Sullivan, no relation to Jim, is owner of the Light in the Attic record company, which last month re-released UFO. In the Aquarium Drunkard blog he wrote a lengthy piece about the singer after traveling to California and to Santa Rosa seeking clues about Jim Sullivan.

Jim left Los Angeles in his Volkswagen Bug sometime between noon and 1 p.m. on March 4. In the early morning hours of March 5, he was pulled over outside Santa Rosa for swerving. He was taken to the local police station for a sobriety test, which he passed. He was swerving from fatigue caused by the taxing 15-hour drive. Jim checked into the La Mesa Motel, but police reports later indicated that the bed in his room was not slept in, and the key was found locked inside the room.

Jim Sullivan's VW was found on ranch property 26 miles southeast of Santa Rosa.

Jim Sullivan has never been seen again.

Matt Sullivan writes:

We know that after he checked into the La Mesa, Jim stopped by the liquor store, bought some vodka, and drove around town. Somehow he ended up at this ranch. ... When the police found Jim’s car it was locked and the engine was dead. A number of things were found in the car, including Jim’s wallet, guitar, clothes, reel-to-reel tapes, cassettes, silver appointment book, and a box of LP’s of Jim’s 1972 self-titled album on the Playboy label.

Matt Sullivan met with Guadalupe County Communicator publisher M.E. Sprengelmeyer and veteran Santa Rosa reporter Davy Delgado.

(Weird little bit of synchronicity: I don't know Sprengelmeyer personally, but he and I have mutual friends, and one of them is named Sullivan -- my former New Mexican colleague T.J. Sullivan. I don't think he's related to Jim or Matt Sullivan.)

Matt Sullivan writes:

For more than two years, search parties were regularly convened by a number of agencies – the New Mexico State Police, Santa Rosa police, and a number of volunteer groups.

What happened to Jim Sullivan probably never will be known. Just another bizarre unsolved case from New Mexico.



Photo of La Mesa motel by John Hartnup on FLICKR, Creative Commons license.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 10, 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
The Party's Over by Willie Nelson (for Dandy Don)
What Go Around Come Around by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Tupelo County Jail by Webb Pierce
Birmingham Jail by Johnny Bond
Dirty Dog by Jimmie Revard & His Oklahoma Playboys
Your Friends Think I'm The Devil by The Imperial Rooster
Humpty Dumpty Heart by  Hank Thompson
A Fool Such As I by Marti Brom
I've Gotta Lotta Livin' To Do by Cornell Hurd

Ian Tyson Tribute Set
Wild Geese by Bill & Bonnie Hearne
Four Strong Winds by Neil Young with Nicolette Larson
Navajo Rug by Tom Russell
Summer Wages by David Bromberg

Is Santa Claus A Hippy  by Linda Cassady
Slaughter in a Winter Wonderland by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Feliz Navidad by  Billy Joe Shaver & Flaco Jimenez

TWISTED TALES FROM THE VINYL WASTELAND set

Beatin' on the Bars by The Travelin' Texans
The Voo-Doo Man by  Johnny Perry
Marijuana, The Devil Flower by Johnny Price
The Hep Old Frog  by  Jimmy Stayton 
Out In The Smokehouse Takin' A Bath by Leroy Pullins 
Excorcism by Tommy Scott & Scotty Lee
Jesus is My Pusher by Margie Singleton
Mother Trucker by Lloyd Hugo
The Girl on Death Row by Lee Hazelwood
Nudist Colony by Kirk Hansard

Wide Stance by Buddy
I'm Playin' It Cool by Neal Jones
Troubles by Tara Nivens & Moontree Sinqua
Xmas Ornament by The Defibulators
The Virginian by Neko Case
On A Christmas Day by C.W. Stoneking
One Endless Night by Jimmie Dale Gilmore
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: WHAT LURKS INSIDE THE RAY CHARLES VAULTS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 

December 10, 2010

So you thought Ray Charles died in 2004? To that I say, “But wait a minute!” — as Charles sometimes used to exclaim in the middle of a song. Here’s Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters, a brand-new collection of 10 Charles songs that sound like they could have been recorded this year.

Actually, some of the instrumental tracks on this album were recorded fairly recently. They’re built around vocal tracks discovered in the vaults of Charles’ recording studio.

Whenever I read about “lost” recordings uncovered “in the vaults,” I get this image of Indiana Jones making his way through some dank underground labyrinth protected by pygmy warriors and venomous reptiles beneath the streets of Beverly Hills.

Producer John Burk, who was at the helm for Charles’ last studio album, Genius Loves Company, probably wasn’t wearing a pith helmet or wielding a machete when he came across these forgotten tracks. But it had to be a rush for him.

The songs span the decades, going back to the 1970s. Some of them were basically finished and required no further work — such as the blues-drenched “It Hurts to Be in Love.” Some were just demos. Burk whipped them all into shape, calling in studio musicians to add final touches to some of the tunes.

By the end, he created a unified work that would have made Charles proud. Except maybe the song “I Don’t Want No One But You,” the sole clunker here, the album doesn’t sound overproduced, which can’t be said of all the records Charles made when he was alive.

I can’t imagine why “It Hurts to Be in Love” was never released. It sounds like a classic Charles tune, with a prominent bass and a big horn section that punctuates Charles’ vocals without overwhelming the song. There’s a lengthy fade-out as Charles plays with the tune, “crying” in falsetto, pleading, jiving, and generally having fun despite the “hurt” in the title.

Even more fun is the funky “I’m Gonna Keep on Singin’,” which also was a finished work. Charles begins with a simple command: “Y’all listen!” There’s some fine call and response with his lovely Raelettes and a spoken-word segment in which Charles talks to the creator of the universe:

“Friends, I told the Lord himself this morning, I said ‘Lord, you know I don’t mean a bit of harm in the world. ...’ ”

It reminds me of Charles’ old song “Understanding,” which also featured some spoken-word segments. There are some great instrumental solos here, too — vibes, sax, and trumpet.

Brother Ray also gets down and bluesy on the slow and soulful “There’ll Be Some Changes Made.” This is one that features overdubbing. Keb Mo’ plays guitar, but the standout is the organ work by Bobby Sparks.

Charles’ love for country music is well documented. It comes out on Rare Genius with “A Little Bitty Tear,” a Hank Cochran song that was a hit in the 1960s for Burl Ives. It’s sparsely produced, with Charles and his piano out front. “She’s Gone” sounds even more country: “The love affair is all over, but the heartaches just began.”

Charles does a duet with another biopic subject, Johnny Cash, on Kris Kristofferson’s “Why Me Lord?” which was produced in Nashville by Billy Sherrill (this one’s from the Sony Music vaults, which is guarded by different pygmies). I suspect it was recorded for a Cash album because Charles mainly sings background and plays some tasty electric piano.

Something tells me there’s a lot more treasure from the genius in those vaults, so don’t be surprised to see volumes two and three in the future. But as a die-hard fan, what I would like to see would be a collection of the raw tapes without new overdubs. Maybe call it “Ray Charles in the Rough.”

Also recommended:

*   What Goes Around Comes Around by The Diplomats of Solid Sound. Once again, The Diplomats prove that there’s more than corn in Iowa. Here’s a new crop of funky soul from Iowa City.

The Diplomats started out as an instrumental band. A few years ago they served as Andre Williams’ backup band on Aphrodisiac. Then with their 2008 album, Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring the Diplomettes, female vocals became part of the Diplomatic mix. Two of the three Diplomettes — Sarah Cram and Katharine Ruestow — are back for this album. And so are the Brothers Basinger — sax dude David and keyboard guy Nate.

One of my favorites here is “Back Off” — a protest song of sorts, though I don’t think telling the cops or the military to “back off” is necessarily effective. Then there’s “Gimme One More Chance,” which features some soul violin by guest Diplomat Hannah Drollinger, doing her best to sound like Don “Sugarcane” Harris.

The title song has a blaxploitation-movie-soundtrack feel, with punchy horn riffs, while “Can’t Wait for Your Love,” subtitled “Pistol Allen,” is apparently an ode, in spirit at least, to the late Motown drummer Richard “Pistol” Allen. It sounds almost like a lost Martha and the Vandellas tune, embellished with sweet, almost otherworldly chimes.

Jim Morrison Pardoned

Here in New Mexico we still don't know what Gov. Bill Richardson is going to do with Billy the Kid, but down in Florida outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist today pardoned Jim Morrison for his 1969 (settle down, Beavis) indecent-exposure conviction.

From the Associated Press:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – This is the end for 40-year-old convictions that left Jim Morrison marked with what today would be considered sex-offender status. Florida's Clemency Board, egged on by departing Gov. Charlie Crist, pardoned The Doors' long-dead singer Thursday on indecent exposure and profanity charges stemming from a wild concert.


Some people who were at the Miami show March 1, 1969, insist even today that he exposed himself, though others in the audience and Morrison's bandmates contend he was just teasing the crowd and only pretended to do the deed. Crist, tuned in to the controversy by a Doors fan, said there was enough doubt about what happened at the Dinner Key Auditorium to justify a pardon.


The board, which consists of Crist and a three-member Cabinet, voted unanimously to pardon Morrison as they granted several other pardons Thursday. At the hearing, the governor called the convictions a "blot" on the record of an accomplished artist for "something he may or may not have done."

Jackie Gleason, who organized a "Rally for Decency" prompted by the Morrison arrest, couldn't be reached for comment. Like Morrison, he's dead.

So now that this issue is done with, how about a "Pardon Sid Vicious" movement?

My Favorite Oklahoma Christmas Song

As a native Oklahoman, nothing says Christmas more than the commercial for B.C. Clark's, a jewelry store. The jingle for the ad has been stuck in my head for -- I'm not kidding -- 50 years or so. Maybe longer. The store has run various spots with the same jingle since 1956!

Here's one I found on YouTube:



And here's a version sung on the Jay Leno show by Megan Mullally, who played Karen, the slutty, pill-popping assistant on Will and Grace. She was raised in Oklahoma City (and this proves it.)

PROTO RAP FROM THE '60s

I searched, but I couldn't find Sen. Everett Dirksen's "Gallant Men," but Sammy was a find!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 5, 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
There But for the Grace of God Go I by The Gories
Don't Be Afraid of the Dark by The Sonics
Bend Over, I'll Drive by The Cramps
Dog Food by Iggy Pop
Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love) by  The Swingin' Medallions
What Goes Around Comes Around by The Diplomats of Solid Sound
Thunder Thighs by Andre Williams with the Diplomats of Solid Sound
Soul Struttin' by The Fleshtones 
Sausage Balls by The Polkaholics

Preacher by Blue Cheer
Sifu Bruce Lee by Sexton Ming
Call Girl by M!ho Wada
Brown Trash by Tandoori Knights
Insane Asylum by Willie Dixon & Koko Taylor
Stumblin' Man by Tad
Red Rose Tea by The Marquis Chimps
Christmas in Las Vegas by Richard Cheese

Space Jeeps by The Scrams
Charlie Laine Ate My Brain by The Ruiners
Wild About You Baby by Hound Dog Taylor
Scratch My Back by The Flamin' Groovies
Cheap Shot by Monkeyshines 
Monkey Suit by The Plasmatics
Little Girl by The Hollywood Sinners
Christmas Boogie by Canned Heat with Alvin & The Chipmunks

Punk Rock Casualty by The Subway Surfers
Luck Be a Lady Tonight by Frank Sinatra
Why Hurt Flesh  by Kid Congo Powers
Good Morning Little School Girl by Chuck Berry
Stop Pulling And Pushing Me by Richie Havens
I'm Gonna Keep Singin' by Ray Charles
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

eMusic December

Last month eMusic made a deal with another of the major labels -- Universal. In doing so, they lost several independent labels, including Matador and Merge.

They also changed their pricing structure. It's in dollars and sense now instead of credits. The prices also slightly increased -- 49 cents for most tracks. Plus, eMusic no longer allows you to download for free tracks you've already paid for. (So be sure to back up your digital music collection!)

That's all bad news. But the good news is a lot of the cool labels -- Norton, Crypt, In the Red, Voodoo Rhythm, Bloodshot, etc are still there. And there's still lots of good deals on albums, especially on the older stuff. And it's till cheaper than either iTunes or Amazon.

Here's what I've downloaded from eMusic in the last month:

* The Wild Man by Hasil Adkins. This was the Haze's sophomore Hunch album in the late '80s. Back in 1986, Billy Miller and Miriam Linna  decided to launch a record company to unleash this West Virginia backwoods one-man-band's early recordings --  which go back to the 1950s. That compilation, Out to Hunch was the birth of  Norton Record.  For The Wild Man, they let him loose in a studio for a fresh bunch of recordings.

And happily, the result was pure Punchy Wunchy Wickey Wackey Woo. Most of the tracks are just Adkins singing, playing guitar and playing the bass drum with his foot -- though on a few cuts he's aided, minimally, by various members of the A-Bones. Nobody gets their head cut off here, but it's still a lot of fun.

In addition to his own crazed tunes -- "Chicken Flop," "Big Red Satellite" and "Wild, Wild Friday Night" are classic -- Adkins also performs several tunes by the likes of The Carter Family, Carl Perkins, Jimmie Rodgers and Merle Haggard (a slow and heartfelt "Turning Off a Memory"). But my favorite cover here is a hunchin' take on Jumpin' Gene Simmons' Halloween classic "Haunted House."

* Live In Hollywood '91 by Lavern Baker. The first time I heard the song "Bumble Bee," performed by the under-rated British Invasion group, The Searchers, I thought it was a real bitchen song.

The first time I heard it done by LaVerne Baker, I nearly covered my head for fear of getting stung.

Baker was one of the most powerful R&B performers of the 1950s and early '60s. She's best known for her hit "Jim Dandy" and the follow-up "Jim Dandy Got Married" (I forgive her for accidentally spawning Black Oak, Arkansas), but for my money Baker's best was the song about that bumble bee (an evil bumble bee!)

Baker was on the comeback trail by the time she recorded this live album in 1991, six years before her death. Past her prime for sure, and her band lacked that first-generation R&B urgency. And yes, there's too many easy-listening standards like "That's My Desire" and "What a Difference a Day Makes Here" (though LaVern injects a lot of soul into these chestnuts). But still, it's a good listen. "Tomorrow Night," which she recorded in the '50s, (I'm most familiar with Elvis' version) is full of irresistible emotion, as is is her 1959 hit  "I Cried a Tear."

But my favorite one here has to be the grand finale, the  Lieber & Stoller novelty classic, "Saved,"
 the Salvation Army spoof, which was a title cut of a Baker album in 1961. "I used to cuss, i used to fuss/I used to cuss and fuss and boogie all night long!" she sings. Elvis did this song on his '68 "comeback special," The Band covered it on Moondog Matinee and , yes, I used to do it in my cheesy nightclub act in the '70s and '80s. But nobody did it like LaVern.



* Outta Here by The Gories. This 1992 album was the last album for this Detroit trio, whose stature and reputation continued to grow long after the group broke up. (They started doing reunion shows a couple of years ago. I saw them in New York last summer -- that's where I snapped the picture to the left.)

With Mick Collins (who later formed The Dirtbombs) and Dan Kroha on guitars and vocals and Peggy O'Neil bashing the drums, The Gories billed themselves as "punk blues. Along with their originals, they covered blues and R&B classics in their minimalist, primitive style.

One of my favorites here is "Great Big Idol With the Golden Head," which Leiber & Stoller wrote for The Coasters. They also do a tune called "Crawdad," which basically is a rewrite of Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley."

But best of all on this record is "There But For the Grace of God Go I," which came from a late '70s New York disco group called Machine. The song is a story of a couple of immigrants who try hard to protect their baby daughter. But by the time she's 16 she's running wild and ends up running away. The Gories cut it down to its basics and it sounds even more urgent the original.

You gotta give The Gories credit: They gave it their all to the very end. Though they were ready to break up by the time this was recorded, this definitely does not have the feel of some contractual obligation product or document.

PLUS

* The seven songs I didn't already have from Evol. by Sonic Youth. This was Sonic Youth back in 1986, back before hardly anyone knew them. Back before hardly anyone else was trying to sound like them. No Wave had already crested and Grunge was waiting to be born.

But still there was Sonic Youth exploring those strange darkened corridors of sound.

Highlights of Evol include "Shadow of a Doubt," which might be Kim Gordon's sexiest vocal ever; "In the Kingdom #19," in which the lyrics, which tell of a car crash, are spoken by Lee Ranaldo, reminding me of The Velvet Underground's "The Gift"; and the 7-minute excursion "Expressway to Yr Skull," that sounds like folk-rock played by Neptunians.

*Seven tracks from  A Night on the Town With the Rat Pack by Frank, Dino & Sammy.

How can you not love these guys? This might not be rock 'n' roll, but the power, swagger and humor of these monsters shares a lot of common ground with the rock beast.


I'm not sure what the circumstances of this album are -- not even when it was recorded. (As for the where -- there's references to Chicago as well as St. Louis, so you have to assume these performances were taken from more than one night on the town.)
 
There's plenty of good old-fashioned fucking around here, ("What kind of fool am I," sings Sammy as he begins his famous hit. "You're a schmuck!" Sinatra answers.) But when they get ready to rare back and sing a song, their talent is unmatched. And the Count Basie band plays on at least several of these numbers.

I spent the last of my month's allotment on songs from this album. I'll pick up the remaining 31 tracks when my account refreshes.