TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, September 24, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Whiskey in a Jar by Metallica
Romero Had Juliet by Lou Reed
The Olde Trip to Jerusalem by The Mekons
Middle Class Revolt, Simon, Dave & John by The Fall
Making Love to a Vampire with a Monkey on My Knee by Captain Beefheart
Elevator Music by Beck
The Ballad of Dwight Fry by Alice Cooper

Pass the Hatchet, I Think I'm Goodkind by Yo La Tengo
You Must Be a Witch By Dead Moon
I'm Ready by The Twilight Singers
Too Smart Polka by The Polkaholics
Pretty Dancing Girl by Brave Combo
Rock Bottom Tears by Pima Express

The 400 by The Sadies
Let Loose The Kracken by The Bald Guys
Mermaid Love by Man or Astroman
Hangman Hang Ten by The Ghastly Ones
Impaler by The Derangers
Tailspin by Los Straightjackets
Huskie Team by The Saints
Fish Taco by Surficide
Cha Wow Wow by The Hillbilly Soul Surfers
The Theme From The Godfather by Satan's Pilgrims

On The Road by Tom Waits & Primus
Robbers & Bandits & Bastards & Thieves by Drywall
Lost Fox Train (For Joe) by Hazmat Modine
Hold On by Los Lobos
Thadfus Star by Carl Hancock Rux
Into Oblivion by Lisa Germano
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, September 22, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Rich Man's War by Hundred Year Flood
Thunder on the Mountain by Bob Dylan
Tulsa by Wayne Hancock
Have You Had Enough by Ricki Lee Jones
The Way of the Fallen by Ray Wylie Hubbard
The Heart Bionic by Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminal Starvation League
From Attic to Basement by Richard Buckner & Jon Langford
My Rifle, Pony & Me by Dean Martin & Ricky Nelson

I Wish by Marlee MacLeod
Don't Ya Tell Henry by The Band
I Wish I Didn't Want You So Bad by Jim Lauderdale
May I Be Your June by Mary Alice Wood
A Legend in My Time by Johnny Cash
Don't Blame Me by The Everly Brothers
Deep River Blues by Janet Bean
Sad Songs and Waltzes by Willie Nelson

DON WALSER SET
All songs by Don Walser

Marie
Please Help Me I'm Falling (with Larry Gatlin)
Divorce Me C.O.D.
Are You Teasing Me? (with Mandy Barnett)
I Ain't Got Nobody (with Asleep at the Wheel)
Texas Top Hand
A Fool Such As I
Rose Marie (with Kronos Quartet)

A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow by Mitch & Mickey
A Better Word For Love by NRBQ
Mary (Won't You Come Along?) by Jon Nolan
Whipoorwill by Greg Brown
Good Old Boys Like Me by Don Williams
Tiny Island by Leo Kottke
One of the Unsatisfied by Lacy J. Dalton
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: A LITTLE TENGO IN THE NIGHT

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 22, 2006

They’ve been cranking out the tunes — frenzied guitar journeys, dreamy meditations, an occasional quirky cover, and stage stabs at shiny pop — for more than 20 years now. And the latest album by Yo La Tengo, sweetly titled I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, shows the trio still on top of its game, whatever that game is.

Tengo is the musical baby of guitarist Ira Kaplan and his wife, drummer Georgia Hubley. Bassist James McNew has been part of the Yo La family for most of its career. Sometimes Tengo sounds like Sonic Youth, sometimes closer to Fleetwood Mac. Actually the group reminds me of a lo-fi version of NRBQ. Both bands have covered Sun Ra, and YLT has covered at least one Q song (“Magnet”). Tengo doesn’t have NRBQ’s instrumental proficiency, and the group is rooted more in punk rock than R & B, but its catholic approach to music is similar.

On the new album, Yo La happily is all over the place, strolling down some strange avenues of pop sounds.

For example, “Mr. Tough” is a soul workout, horn section and all, with Kaplan singing in a funny, Prince-ly falsetto. The beauty of it is that he’s so unabashed about it. If it sticks out like a sore thumb, what the heck. There are sore thumbs all over the place.

The group gets even stranger in “Sometimes I Don’t Get You.” I had to stop and think of why this wistful, poppy little tune seemed so familiar. Then I realized, this is the kind of music they used to use in late-’60s romantic-comedy movies, when the young hero and the young heroine were first falling in love. It’s the kind of song that plays during the montage scene where the couple is seen walking down a bustling city street, feeding pigeons, and then running through a park hand in hand, then riding in a horse-drawn carriage.

The next track, a nine-minute slo-mo, astral-plane instrumental called “Daphnia,” could be used for the drug sequence in the same movie. A piano is the main instrument here, playing off reverberating guitar noise.

The spacey “Black Flowers” sounds like a Flaming Lips demo with horns and strings added for depth.

Don’t think Yo La has forgotten how to rock. “Watch Out for Me Ronnie” is breakneck garage rock, complete with a “Heart Full of Soul” fuzz-buzz guitar solo.

But the Yo La Tengo I love best is evident in songs like the opening cut “Pass the Hatchet, I Think I’m Goodkind,” the 12-minute closer “The Story of Yo La Tengo,” and the middle-of-the-album “The Room Got Heavy.”

On “Hatchet” and “Story,” the band takes its time to build up to full-fledged guitar fury. “Hatchet” has a crazy guitar hook that repeats throughout and a bouncy beat that almost suggests The Beatles’ “Taxman.”

Wild bongos and a screeching, Farfisa-like organ propel “Room.” Just listening to this song makes you want to sweat.

When you’re finished reading this, get thee to the computer and read a much better review of it by comedian David Cross on eMusic:

“Forged in hubris and leather, this New Jersey (and Brooklyn!?) trio consisting of the fat guy and two Jews are quite capable of taking us on one wild and wacky ride through the debauched underworld of the ‘Indiers.’ I have not listened to the CD, nor will I, but I nonetheless review it based on the track titles alone.”

More fun with Yo La Tengo: Every band should have its own political cause. On Yo La’s Web site, you can sign its petition.

“Appalled by the increasing ubiquity of soy sauce, Branston Pickle, sriracha, chutney and the scourge of undocumented salsas on our tables, we believe enough is enough and ask you to join us in our petition to the United States Congress demanding legislation that would once and for all make ketchup our national condiment. Our leaders must say no [to] the Mayonnazis and Mustardistas who would make our country weaker by dividing us. Let us speak together as one ... for America.”

Also recommended:

* Chainsaw of Life by Hellwood. On the heels of Johnny Dowd’s latest album, Cruel Words, the Dutch company Munich Records has released this little gem, a collaboration between Dowd and bizarro swamp songwriter Jim White. Dowd’s drummer Willie B (real name Brian Wilson) is the third full-fledged Hellwooder. Frequent Dowd vocal partner Kim Sherwood-Caso sings on several cuts.

Hellwood will be a welcome treat for fans of the movie Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, in which White was prominently featured and Dowd performed.

Even though Dowd and White collaborated on writing several of the tunes, most of the songs sound like either Dowd songs or White songs. (Well, except for “Fireworks Factory,” which was written by White and sung — or, rather recited — by Dowd, but it sounds amazingly like Stan Ridgway.)

White’s best moment, and perhaps the most powerful track on the album, is “A Man Loves His Wife,” a slow, acoustic, “scenes from a marriage” ballad that deals with a guy who “loves his kids but he scares them to death/When he comes home from work everyone holds their breath.”

My favorite Dowd song here is “Thomas Dorsey,” an ode to the great gospel songwriter. It’s a slow, plodding dirge, with marimbas and flanger-y guitar. “His songs give comfort, they give inspiration to lost souls across this great nation,” Dowd drawls menacingly. Later he confesses, “I wish Satan would let me go/Devil music is all that I know/I sing songs of lust and depravity/That’s the only kind of songs that come out of me.”

Well, that’s about right. But Dowd’s devil music is inspiring in its own wonderful way.

FREE WILLIE !!!!! (and assorted music notes)

By now everyone's heard that Willie Nelson was busted for illegal and dangerous marijuana in Louisiana this week.

OK, Willie and crew only got misdemeanor tickets for holding a pound and a half of pot (and some mushrooms). Thank God for the sake of the children that Willie, his 75-year-old sister and two others have to face criminal charges.

Willie of course has been beating the drug-reform drum for a long time. Here is one of his public service announcements he made a few years ago for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. In fact, here's a who;e page of Willie's NORML PSAs.

I'll play a couple of those on The Santa Fe Opry tonight. (Chris Goldstein used to play one all the time on his old show "The Last Hours of Night.")

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And speaking of the Opry, I'll do a decent set to honor the late great Don Walser on the show tonight. Walser was such a giant, his passing was noted even in the Axis of Evil.

(The Opry streams live on KSFR. And hey, if you haven't donated to the latest fund drive, DO IT!)

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There's a new slick magazine dedicated to New Mexico music. Check out OpenMic New Mexico, edited by Rick Huff. I picked up my copy at Natural Sound in Albuquerque this week. There's also a Web site.

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Finally, here's a shoutout to a soon-to-be-former "competitor" Jonanna Widner, who wrote her final column for The Santa Fe Reporter. That's Joanana to the left, with her soon to be former boss Julia Goldberg, in this photo I took at Frogfest last month.

Jonanna did well more than her share of keeping the musical conversation going in this town. I read her every week and suspect most of those reading this did also.

One time a couple of years ago she wrote a less than enthusiastic review of some album (was it Brian Wilson's Smile?) At the end of the piece she actually invited readers to check out another view of the album, referring them to my glowing review the week before. I thought that was pretty classy. I probably forgot to thank her, so thanks Jonanna, and good luck in Dallas.

LAND COMMISSION DEBATE

My story on last night's Land Commissioner debate can be found HERE

For more on this increasingly heated race:

A site called Lyonswatch.com, run by Democrat political consultant company Political Technologies, Inc., can be found HERE.

Lyon's radio ad attacking Baca can be found HERE