TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 1, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Guest hosts: Chuck McCutcheon and Liisa Ecola

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Crawling From the Wreckage by Dave Edmunds
Color Me Impressed by the Replacements
Mr. Pinstriped Suit by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
Don't Slander Me by Roky Erickson
Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor & the Houserockers
Rental Car by Beck
JC Auto by Sugar
Jimmy Carter Says 'Yes' by Gene Marshall

The Infanta by the Decemberists
Greasy Jungle by the Tragically Hip
Material Girl by Petty Booka
You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla) by the Dickies
LSD Partie by Roland Vincent
Helena Polka by the Polkaholics
Root of all Evil by Desdemona Finch

POLISH ROCK SET:
Kryzys Energetyczny (Energetic Crisis) by Kazik Staszewski
Who Is Getting Married by the Warsaw Village Band
Marianna by KULT
Nie Pij Piotrek (Peter, Don't Drink) by Elektryczne Gitary
Wyszkow Tonie (The Town of Wyszkow Is Sinking) by Elektryczne Gitary
Szybka Piosenka o Zabijaniu (A Short Song About Killing) by De Mono
Mam Juz Ciebie Dosc (I've Had Enough of You) by De Mono
Jeden Raz Odwiedzamy Swiat (You Only Go Around Once) by Wilki

Streams of Whiskey by the Pogues
Handshake Drugs by Wilco
Common Man by the Blasters
Crackhouse May Day Suicide by Stuurbaard Bakkebaard
B-A-B-Y by Carla Thomas
Hulkster in Heaven by Hulk Hogan
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 29, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Cold Feelings by Social Distortion
Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash
Strange Woman by June Carter
California Stars by Billy Bragg & Wilco
Someone Else's Song by Wilco
Cocktail Desperado by Terry Allen
Running Gun by Michael Martin Murphey
Taxes on the Farmer Feed Us All by Ry Cooder

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by Hayseed Dixie
I'm Gonna Dig Up Howlin' Wolf by Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper
My Wife Thinks You're Dead by Junior Brown
Waitin' On a Train by The Bottle Rockets
Daddy's Cup by Drive-By Truckers
24-Hour Store by The Handsome Family
Jesus Rolled Over by Hundred Year Flood
Can Man Polka by Joe West

You're Gonna Miss Me by Hasil Adkins
Hot Rodding in San Jose by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Miss Missy From Old Hong Kong by Webb Wilder
You Ought to See Pickles Now by Tommy Collins
(This Isn't Just Another) Lust Affair by Mel Street
Walk on By by Charlie Pride
Lead Me On by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Whoa Sailor by Hank Thompson
Big City by Merle Haggard
Red or Green by Lenny Roybal

Potato's in the Paddy Wagon by The New Main Street Singers
Nothin' Wrong With Me by NRBQ
Statue of Jesus by The Gear Daddies
Pity the Wandering Man by Hank & Nancy Webster
Hope Fades by Ronny Elliott
Fight or Flight by Shine Cherries
Moves Me Deeply by Peter Case
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

BACK TO THE CROSSROADS

I just watched a movie that I hadn't seen since the 1980s -- Crossroads, a 1986 picaresque blues fable and Voodoo allegory with echoes of Huckleberry Finn starring Joe Seneca and Ralph Macchio.

Seneca plays Willie Brown -- you might remember Robert Johnson mentioning him in his song "Crossroads" -- a cantankerous old bluesman wasting away in a New York City nursing home. Macchio plays Eugene -- later dubbed "Lightning Boy" by Willie. He's a nerdy Julliard student studying classical guitar, even though his true love is the blues. He locates Willie in a quixotic search for a mysterious "lost" Robert Johnson song. Willie agrees -- if young Eugene helps break him out of the nursing home and takes him back to Mississippi.

Besides Seneca's performance, the music is the main draw. It was put together by Ry Cooder. Sonny Terry plays the harmonica parts. The movie includes a performance by Frank Frost, whose band includes Otis Taylor on lead guitar. (But I'm not sure it's the same Colorado Otis Taylor of When Negroes Walked the Earth/White African fame. He sure doesn't look like the Otis I've seen and his bio doesn't mention Frank Frost or Crossroads.)Frost sings a jumping version of "Cotton Needs Pickin'"

The movie culminates in a "head-cutting" contest between Lightning Boy (Cooder's actually playing guitar) and a soul-selling hotshot played by metal monster Steve Vai. At stake are the souls of both Lightning Boy and Willie, who back in his youth signed at contract at the crossroads with the Voodoo god Legba. It's a cosmic showdown introduced by a surreal gospel quartet (featuring Bobby King)singing "Somebody's Callin' My Name." When the contest gets going the stage is graced by a sexy dancer (Gretchen Palmer) wildly prancing around the stage in a slinky black dress and red flower in her hair. She's not identified as such in the credits, but those with eyes to see will recognize her as Erzulie, Voodoo goddess of love.

Sure it's corny and you know who's going to win. But it's an enticing little melodrama.

Crossroads has been unavailable on DVD since it was quietly released last summer in that format. For the last few years if you asked for Crossroads at a video store, they'd think you were talking about that Brittney Spears movie of the same name. The real Crossroads is available at Netflix too. And Cooder's soundtrack still is available also, although it unfortunately doesn't have the head-cutting guitar showdown.

Hey Warner Brothers/Rhino -- isn't it about time for a deluxe 20th Anniversary Edition of the Crossroads soundtrack?

ACIE'S LATEST CDs

ACIE CARGILL
Coyote Kick Band
Acie Cargill’s Memorial Tributes
(Cobwebs Records)

Every time I hear folk-poet/picker/singer Acie Cargill, it feels like I’m listening to a true uncorrupted American voice. Cargill’s records seem like handmade artifacts -- no fancy production, and lyrics that, while sometimes clumsy and proudly corny, are so sincere they jolt you.

Coyote Kick Band is something of a departure for Cargill, who previously specialized in acoustic folk and country. But Coyote rocks with electric guitar and drums, as well as fiddle, banjo and mandolin.

There’s love songs, backwoods standards like the instrumental fiddle tune “Sally Goodin” a couple of mama songs (including a reprise of the Cargill classic “Dear Mother,” where mama gives advice like “Don’t you ever hit a woman, no matter what.” and “don’t you ever play gospel music in a tavern”) and topical songs.

“Baghdad Baghdad” shows Cargill’s inner conflicts about the war. It’s about a frightened soldier trying to communicate with Iraquis who hate him.

In mid April -- just days after the death of the Pope and just before the 10th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing -- he released a new five-song EP of tribute songs. One‘s for “John Paul the Peacemaker” and one’s for the bombing victims (“Is this what you wanted, Tim McVeigh?”) Other subjects include NFL star Pat Tilman, (killed in combat in Afghanistan), Irish Republican Army martyr Bobby Sands and folksinger Dave Carter.

UPDATE: When I posted this review this morning I did so because I thought it was scheduled to run today in Pasatiempo's "Pasa Tempos" record review section. When I actually got the paper, I learned it was wrong. I usually wait for my New Mexican stuff to come out in print before I post it here. I guess this should just be considered a little free bonus preview for my loyal blog readers. Hopefully it'll see print next week.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: BECK IS BACK

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 29, 2005

Beck fans rejoice! The enchanted wizard of rhythm has returned. His new album Guero -- while not quite up to Odelay, Mellow Gold or my guilty Beck pleasure Midnight Vultures -- is a solid work of sonic wonder. And most importantly, it’s strong evidence that Beck has got over his mopiness that marred his previous album Sea Change.

Pardon my digression: I know that lots of Beck fans and lots of my fellow denizens of criticdom absolutely loved Sea Change, Beck’s 2002 musical account of the demise of a love relationship. I forget which gushing rock scribe compared this self-pitying mess with Hank Williams.

Blasphemer! Thou shalt not take Hank’s name in vain!

Don’t get me wrong. A break-up is indeed legitimate ground to plough for songwriters. Think Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks or Tom Russell’s Borderland or Marvin Gaye‘s Here My Dear.

Beck’s morose little song cycle might have showed another side of the crazy kitchen-sink sonic trickster we loved, but the music came nowhere near these classic break-up records. It didn’t even match his own Mutations, a previous album of slower, more somber tunes.

Maybe I’m oppressing the artist. But when listen to Beck, I don’t want some sensitive troubadour, I want magic and hipster insanity.

But, back to the present:

With Guero (hey gringo, it’s pronounced “whetto” and it means “blondie.”) Beck sounds like he’s having fun again. It’s a return to Beck’s freewheeling, funky, clunky sound, mixing hip-hop, blues, porno-soundtrack rock and any other sound that isn’t nailed down. With his old pals The Dust Brothers producing, Beck sounds like he’s ready to go back to Houston and do that hotdog dance.

It starts off with a nasty, fuzzy guitar and heavy-handed drums on “E-Pro,” quieting down for Beck to sing the verses. And it sounds like he means business:

“See me comin’/to town with my soul/straight down of the world with my fingers/holding onto the devil I know all my trouble’s hang/on your trigger.”

A galaxy of sonic delights follows.

“Que Onda Guero” is pure Beckian fun. With Dust Brothers scratching and taunting Spanish voices in the background, Beck takes a picture of a gringo lost in the barrio. "Andelay joto, your popsicle’s melting …”

“Go it Alone” is a collaboration with The White Stripes’ Jack White. It’s a slinky bluesy number with a downright hairy guitar that keeps threatening to erupt. It might have been cool if Beck had shared vocals with White, who just plays bass here. But it sounds pretty cool as is.

“Farewell Ride” is a sweet nod to Beck’s folk roots -- a nasty slide guitar and harmonica over robo chain-gang percussion, with lyrics lifted from Blind Lemon Jefferson’s “One Kind Favor” (“Two white horses in a line/Two white horses in a line …”)

“Missing” has a bosa nova sound, while the chorus and distorted guitar sound on “Earthquake Weather” sounds like a postcard to Steely Dan.

Beck is at his Beckiest on “Rental Car” Some truly obnoxious guitar interplays with what sounds a harpsichord. In the middle a near metal jam is interrupted by Petra Hayden sounding like she’s auditioning for The Swingle Singers, chirping “La la la la La … ” You can almost see the interlude from some ‘60s movie with some groovy couple rolling in the daisies. Till Beck’s rasty guitar comes back.

It’s a good think that nasty guitar is back. And the silly samples and the crunchy percussion and the psychedelic joy-boy lyrics … Welcome back, Beck.

{Note: I snapped the photo of Beck, above, at Lollapaloza in Denver, 1995.}

Also Recommended:

The Lighthouse by Ana da Silva. I would bet that most of the fans of The Raincoats in this country came to them through the late Kurt Cobain, a devoted fan who talked them up in interviews.

For the uninitiated, The Raincoats was a British female punk band led by da Silva and Gina Birch. They disbanded in 1984, but, after Cobain-related publicity, reunited, toured with Nirvana in England and made a pretty fine comeback album called Looking in the Shadows -- before slipping back to the shadows again.

Now, a decade later, da Silva has resurfaced with this album. The Lighthouse is largely a self-made affair with da Silva as a virtual one-woman electronic band, playing keyboards, some guitar and singing.

The voice -- sweet, silky and extremely British -- is the main draw, thought the instrumental “Hospital Window” is gorgeous.

There are few overt traces of punk left here. The melodies are pretty and the music restrained.

There’s a little hint of menace in “In Awe of a Painting” where the shaky-handed singer is spilling coffee as she gazes at a lover. She sounds like the queen of electro-Wonderland in “Disco Ball” and like a less crazy Nina Hagen in “Two Windows Over the Wings.”

Then there’s “Modinha” a song written by Brazilian master Antonio Carlos Jobim that has echoes of Bjork and -- not as obviously -- Marianne Faithful.

I hope it doesn’t take another decade for da Silva to bless us with more music.