TERRELL'S TUNEUP: LADIES SING THE BLUES

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 17, 2005

The blues often is thought of as a masculine genre, an unforgiving world of hard drinking, skirt chasing, razor fights, faithless love and harsh prisons.

Often we forget about the feminine side of the blues, how singers like Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ma Rainey and Memphis Minnie brought a vaudeville-bred sense of showmanship, style and a sense of regality to the music. It’s true that males still dominate the blues, but the contributions of women are not to be overlooked.

However, movie maker Robert Mugge felt this is exactly what happened in Martin Scorsese’s 2003 series of films about the blues for PBS. In several published interviews, Mugge has said it was the Scorsese series that inspired him to produce eight hour-long concert shows for what would become a Mississippi Public Television series called Blues Divas.

Each episode focused on a different singer -- some that you‘ll recognize, some that you probably never heard of. These are Mavis Staples, Irma Thomas, Ann Peebles, Denise La Salle, Odetta, Bettye LaVette, Deborah Coleman and Renee Austin.

A two-hour compilation of performances from that series will be shown at the Santa Fe Film Center at Cinemacafe Saturday and Wednesday. It’s Blues Divas’ southwest premier.

Mugge is no newcomer to the blues. Though he’s done documentaries on bluegrass, Hawaiian music, reggae, jazz, Cajun music, Gil Scott-Heron, Ruben Blades and even entertainers who performed for the troops during World War II, blues and soul have been his major focus. His films include Deep Blues, Last of the Mississippi Jukes, Blues Breaks and documentaries about Robert Johnson and Alligator Records.
Fans of the singers featured in Blues Divas, and in fact fans of the blues in general shouldn’t miss this movie.

It’s the music that’s the real draw here. It’s more of a “concert” film than documentary.

Blues Divas does include short segments in which each of the singers is interviewed by actor Morgan Freeman. Most of these are rather light conversations, that don’t reveal much -- except when Staples talks about getting punished by her God-fearing grandmother as a child for the sin of singing a blues song.

All the performances are shot at the Ground Zero Club in Clarksdale, Miss. (which is owned by Freeman). The audiences are small. Perhaps stage hands whooping it up.

The selection of talent represents a good variety of styles often included under the general umbrella of the blues. Staples comes from a gospel background and indeed plays gospel-rooted tunes in this film. Odetta is from the folk world. Thomas, Peebles and Lavette originally known as “soul” singers. And when Freeman calls LaSalle “the queen of the blues,” she corrects him. It’s “the Queen of Southern Soul Blues.

(Historical aside: At some point around the ‘80s what’s known as “blues” did a takeover of what was once known as soul music, at least southern soul. The two are now virtually inseparable in the public mind, so soul singers like Al Green, Soloman Burke and the ladies mentioned above are embraced on the “blues” circuit while “blues” artists like Robert Cray and Mem Shannon often play a style that once would have been called “soul.” Indeed, it’s good not to get too anal-retentive about such distinctions. But you can’t help but remember the story about B.B. King opening for Sam Cooke in the early ‘60s. Cooke’s audience, who considered King’s blues as old fashioned and hokey booed B.B. off the stage.)

The undeniable highlight of this show is the Queen of Southern Soul Blues. LaSalle takes the stage like a tornado, tearing through funny, sexy songs like “Don‘t Mess With My Man” and “Your Man is Cheatin’ On Us.”

Lavette is a singer who goes back to the ‘60s, but never achieved the fame she deserved. Her voice is mesmerizing, oozing with emotion and her performance in Blues Divas is likely to win her new fans. My only beef is that the film doesn’t include her signature tune “Let Me Down Easy.” (Serious soul fans should seek out the 8-minute version of this song on Let Me Down Easy: In Concert. It’s a Dutch import, but available at a decent price on Amazon and other online sites.)

Odetta’s voice just grows richer by the year. She performs a surprising tough cover of Lead Belly’s “Bourgeois Blues” and sweet version of “Careless Love,” a song that has been batted around between country and blues artists. Talking about the implications of this sexual cautionary tale she advises her audience not to forget their condoms.

In addition to all these veterans, there are a couple of younger, lesser-known artists included here. Renee Austin is a big-voiced redhead in a slinky black dress. She belts out a bluesy torch song called “Fool Moon” she says is inspired by Ella Fitzgerald.

Guitarist/singer Deborah Coleman starts off with a respectable cover of Koko Taylor’s “I’m a Woman” (a rewrite of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy.) Unfortunately the song degenerates in to a lengthy, generic bar-band guitar solo. I wish they’d have cut this in half to make room for another LaSalle song or Lavette’s “Let Me Down Easy.”

I don’t know what kind of business obstacles there might be between Mississippi and New Mexico public television, but after watching this two-hour compilation, I wish KNME would broadcast the entire eight-hour Blues Diva series.

Blues Divas is playing at the Santa Fe Film Center at Cinemacafe, 1616 St. Michael's Drive 4 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets are $8; $7 for students and seniors; $6 for film festival members.

BAD AD SONGS AND CLASSY RIDES

Slate magazine this week has a funny piece about painfully inappropriate songs used in television commericals.

Among them are General Electric using the song "Sixteen Tons" in an ad extolling the virtues of coal (What? They couldn't get the rights to "Dark as a Dungeon"?); Iggy Pop's junkie anthem "Lust For Life" used in an ad for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines; and worst of all, Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son" being twisted into a patriotic ditty for Wrangler Jeans. This is worse than Ronald Reagan's infamous misinterpretation of "Born in the U.S.A."

I thought of a few songs just waiting to be used as commericial jingles.

1. "The Bed" by Lou Reed would sound great on a Posturepedic commercial.

2. "Hellhound on My Trail" by Robert Johnson surely would sell a lot of Alpo.

3. "Wreck on the Highway" -- either the Roy Acuff version or Bruce Springsteen's -- are ripe for an auto insurance commercial.

4. "People Who Died" by The Jim Carroll Band is just begging to be picked up for a commercial by a life insurance company.

Any other ideas? Post 'em in the comments section.

On a completely different subject, my friend Judy pointed out that Gov. Richardson isn't the first gov in these parts to get stylish transportation. Below is from today's New Mexican's "The Past 100 Years."

June 16, 1905: Two handsome Ford automobiles are on the road for Santa Fe people. One is for Gov. Otero and the other will be used by Territorial Secretary J.W. Raynolds.

GOP ATTACKS LEATHER SEATS, WET BAR AND MAKE-UP ARTISTS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 15, 2005

The radio war between Gov. Bill Richardson and the New Mexico Republican Party escalated Wednesday.

The GOP unleashed two more commercials -- in English and in Spanish -- that blast the governor for his administration’s purchase of a $5.5 million jet airplane and what they call his “high-roller lifestyle.”

Both ads make pointed references to the eight-passenger jet and to Richardson having a “make-up artist” on staff. Both will be running on six stations across the state for the next week, state GOP executive director Marta Kramer said Wednesday.

The ad comes a week after a similar GOP radio ad ran in New Mexico and New Hampshire, where Richardson made a political trip last week. Richardson quickly responded with his own ad that ran on New Mexico stations defending his purchase of the jet.

State Republican Chairman Allen Weh said the notion that Richardson leads “the lifestyle of the rich and famous” — at taxpayer expense — will become a theme in next year’s gubernatorial race. Richardson has said he’ll seek re-election.

“I don’t know of another governor in any of the other 49 states who has such a pampered lifestyle as Bill Richardson,” Weh said.

Richardson’s political director Amanda Cooper said the ads are “full of lies.”

Cooper it was “unconscionable” and “disgraceful” that the Republicans would run such ads during a time when the governor is working with Sen. Pete Domenici and other Republicans to save Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, which the Pentagon has recommended for closure.

“Bipartisan work needs to be done,” she said. “Let’s save Cannon”
But she said it’s likely the Richardson re-election campaign will pay for another round of ads attacking the new GOP spots.

One ad features a narrator acting as a pilot, welcoming passengers to “Gov. Richardson's new Cessna Citation Bravo.”

The “pilot” continues, “This 5.5 million dollar jet is the lap of luxury, with leather seats and wet bar.”

The ad gives a little history of Richardson’s efforts to get the new plane, specifically how he tried to purchase it without approval by the Legislature, until Attorney General Patricia Madrid issued an opinion saying that plan was illegal.

The “pilot” also talks about Richardson’s “$4 million helicopter, a Cadillac Escalade, three chefs and the largest personal staff of any Governor in the state's history ... that even includes a make-up artist.”

The ad claims Richardson has raised taxes to pay for personal extravagances. “Well, maybe that 's why he wears all that make-up.

“I guess it's hard to look at New Mexicans with a straight face while he raises taxes on the sick and elderly to pay for his high-roller lifestyle.”

The ad concludes, “So sit back, strap in and hold on to your wallet. Gov. Richardson is taking you for a ride... so he can fly first class.”

The second ad consists of a man and woman discussing Richardson’s response to the jet controversy, also referring to the leather seats and wet bar.

“Bill Richardson says it's the Republicans fault,” a woman says.

“How can he say that?” a man says. “ The Legislature never voted on the jet itself. It says right here that the jet was tied to funding for schools, senior centers, and over 3,000 other projects. ...”

The jet was in the general appropriations bill.

The couple jokes about Richardson having a staff make-up artist, whose job included fetching the governor cigars. This was based on a 2003 Washington Post story in which a reporter followed Richardson the day of a Democratic presidential candidate debate in Albuquerque.

That staffer, whose job title was executive assistant, now works for another state agency.

Cooper said there is no make-up artist on staff. She also said Richardson has only one chef, not three.

She said the image of Richardson as a pampered high roller isn’t fair. “Gary Johnson had a car. He had a cook,” she said. She added, “The governor does not do politics at taxpayer expense.”

But Weh said the Republican ads are resonating with New Mexicans who see Richardson as “an egotistical guy who indulges in perks."

“The emperor isn’t wearing any clothes," Weh said. "and we’re going to tell people.”

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: ROUNDHOUSE HOME COMPANION

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 16, 2005

There was a time, not too many years ago, when you could predict how Republican legislators would vote on any given bill by knowing how the New Mexico Association for Commerce and Industry — the state’s most prominent business lobby — stood on it.

Republicans tend to vote in favor of ACI positions on bills relating to such issues as taxes and easing regulations on businesses. And thus, traditionally, Republicans get the highest scores in ACI’s annual report on the Legislature.

But this year it seems there have been some tensions between the ACI and some GOP lawmakers. During a House floor debate this year, Rep. Dan Foley, R-Roswell, sarcastically referred to the ACI as the “Association of Conflicted Interests.”

And in one of his periodic mass-e-mail “Legislative Reports,” Sen. Rod Adair, another Roswell Republican, says the ACI’s rating of lawmakers is “of absolutely no value whatsoever, even worse they communicate a completely false picture of the attitude of the Legislature toward business.”

He suggests the group has manipulated its scoring system to make Democrats look better.

Borrowing a line from radio humorist Garrison Keillor, Adair wrote, “Some might call the New Mexico Legislature ‘ACI's Lake Wobegone’ where everybody is above average.”

Adair points out that several longtime conservative Republicans this year were rated the same or even lower than some of the most liberal members of the Legislature.

For instance, Rep. Gail Beam and Rep. Miguel Garcia, both Albuquerque Democrats, got higher scores than Rep. Richard Cheney, R-Farmington, while Don Bratton, D-Hobbs, tied Beam with a score of 73. Meanwhile, House Speaker Ben Lujan, D-Nambe, tied ultra-conservative Foley with a score of 80 percent.

Adair said he doesn’t want ACI to become a laughingstock. He doesn’t want people to start saying, “Oh, yeah ACI, that's the organization that says Miguel Garcia is more pro-business than Richard Cheney and Don Bratton.”

“I want to make it clear that far from being a critic of ACI,” said Adair, who has been deemed a “Business Star,” by the ACI for having a cumulative score of better than 85 percent for the past four years. “My point is not to criticize the organization, but to encourage a serious discussion of ACI, with the goal of trying to keep it from becoming completely irrelevant,” he said.

Points of conflict: Three bills caused many Republicans to lose ACI points and helped Democrats get better scores this year.

One was a pre-kindergarten pilot program. Another created a new cabinet department, The Department of Higher Education. The third, House Bill 410, delayed implementation of personal income-tax cuts for the state’s richest citizens but contained several tax incentives.

Republicans voted overwhelmingly against these bills, which were backed by Gov. Bill Richardson and supported by the ACI.

ACI lobbyist J.D. Bullington said, “Education reform has been at the top of the business community’s agenda for many years. In Florida, it’s the Republicans who are working for pre-kindergarten.”

As for HB 410, Bullington disputed Adair’s argument that delaying the tax cut is the equivalent of raising taxes.

“HB 410 was the most important economic-development legislation in the session,” he said.

The bill eliminated some of what the business community calls “pyramiding” — charging gross-receipts taxes on business-to-business transactions -- a change which the ACI has advocated for years. It also established a gross-reciepts tax holiday, tax credits for high-tech start-ups, renewable energy production and creating jobs in rural areas.

But by delaying the tax cuts, the state over the next three years will collect an estimated $121 million in personal income taxes that would have been lost if the tax cuts had taken effect on schedule.

“That does not meet our definition of a tax increase,” Bullington said. “We’re still moving downward (in taxes).”

Another reason for high Dem scores: Bullington said besides those issues, there’s another explanation for the Democrats and Republicans having closer ACI scores in recent years. The scores, he said, are based on floor votes.

“We used to see floor votes on whistle-blower bills, union laws, bills that punished business,” he said. “We don’t see those bills coming to the floor any more.”

According to Bullington, lawmakers have “gotten so sensitive to (the ACI) report card for the last 15 years, they’ve shut off the flow of anti-business bills.”

El Queso Grande: There have been two cheese-related announcements coming out of the governor’s office in the past couple of weeks.

First there was the plans for a whey factory in Clovis that will use byproducts from the nearby cheese factory to make food for piglets.

Second, Richardson appointed ‘70s pop star Tony Orlando to the state Music Commission.

MR. BIG STUFF

There's a story about our governor in The Hill today, focusing mainly on Richardson's support for a western primary -- a move that assumedly would boost any Richardson '08 effort.

The Hill story is by Alexander Bolton, but it sounds like John Coventry helped him with his lede:

"New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson is pushing to increase the weight of Western states with fast-growing Hispanic populations in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary ..."