COUNTRY MUSIC POLITICAL SHOWDOWN

Hank Williams, Jr. campaigned with John McCain and Sarah Palin today. He sang a little song.



But for those of you who prefer Ralph Stanley, here's what the doctor says:

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 12, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Where's Your Boyfriend At by The Yahoos
A. on Horseback by Charlie Pickett & The Eggs
Generation by The Jelly Bean Bandits
Lost Avenue by Johnny Dowd
Red Eyes and Tears by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Inside Out Over You by Mudhoney
English Civil War by The Clash
Big Brother by Mose Allison

Monster Rock by Screaming Lord Sutch
I Think of Demons by Roky Erikson
(Check out my Spooktacular podcast HERE)
Attack of the Zorch Men by The Meteors
They Have Us Surrounded by The Dirtbombs
Draygo's Guilt by The Fall
Action by Los Peyotes
It's Lame by Figures of Light
Thee Olde Trip to Jerusalem by The Mekons
Cheap Thrills by Ruben & The Jets

Highway Man by Howlin' Wolf
Wolfman's Romp by The Juke Joint Pimps
Work Me Baby by Junior Kimbrough
Stalking My Woman by Howard Tate
Ain't No Sunshine by Freddie King
Washerteria Woman by Little Freddie King

Tonya's Twirls by Loudon Wainwright III
So Long Marianne by Leonard Cohen
East Easy Rider by Julian Cope
Rickity Tickity Tin by Barbara Manning
Spiral by Giant Sand
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

eMUSIC OCTOBER

Here's my 90 e-Music downloads for this month:

* Sun Recordings by Howlin' Wolf. Before he moved to Chicago and became a giant on Chess Records, Wolf recorded for pre-Elvis Sun records in Memphis.

This collections shows Wolf doing what he does best -- raw, minimalist blues. Nobody can deny there is power here. "Chocolate Drop" is just good stomping fun. "Drinkin' CV Wine," with Wolf singing in a higher key than usual, makes it sound cool to be a wino, and "In the Groove" is a Memphis blues refiguring of Glen Miller's "In the Mood."

While this material is not quite the quality of the classic tunes that would mark his tenure at Chess. Not that the material is bad here -- it's just that there's nothing on par with "Smokestack Lightning," "Goin' Down Slow" "Back Door Man" or "Killing Floor."

Still, it's a joy hearing Wolf develop his talent, showing hints of what was in store.

*All Night Long by Junior Kimbrough. It was the Charlie Feathers reissues I recently reviewed that made me crave a little more Junior Kimbrough in my life. (The Feathers retrspectives included a couple of duets by Charlie and Junior)

This was Kimbrough's first album, and indeed one of the albums that helped launch Fat Possum back in 1992. Kimbrough, along with fellow Mississippi Hill Country bluesman R.L Burnside, were the embodiment of the back-to-basics Fat Possum blues asthetic of that era.

Some of Kimbrough's best-known songs are here -- "You'd Better Run," "Do the Romp," "Stay All Night," "Done Got Old." (And some of the tunes I already had from Fat Possum Compilations.)

Kimbrough's high-pitched moan and the rough-cut minimalist guitar/bass/drum musical backdrop create a hypnotic sound. You feel like you've isolated the basic DNA of American music right here.

* Teenagers From Outer Space by The Meteors. This is classic psychobilly from England by one of the first bands to embrace the term.

They have the punked-up rockabilly sound down like perfect masters. And one thing I like about them from the start is that they don't try to sound like they're from Tennessee. Their British accents are loud and proud. Jon Langford could jam with The Metoers and not sound out of place.

Much of their songs on this album are horror. "My Daddy is a Vampire" and "Graveyard Stomp" make me think Screaming Lord Sutch was an influence. There's even a song called "Voodoo Rhythm." Could this be where my favorite Swiss record company got its name?

The Metors do science fiction too -- "Dog Eat Robot" and "Jupiter Stroll" for instance. In fact the album title comes from one of the tackiest '50s sci-fi B movies I've ever seen.

And they do a fine version of The Electric Prunes' "Get Me to the World on Time."

*Make It Stop! The Most of Ross Johnson. This Memphis maniac's been a sideman for Alex Chilton and Tav Falco and used to write for Cream magazine. But that doesn't matter. He's a complete nut, at least on stage. "What part of I have a personality disorder don't you get?" he chides an audience on one tune here. And yet he's actually pretty lovable. In real life he works as a librarian.

Backed by his bands including The Young Seniors, Our Favorite Band and American Musical Fantasy, that offer up ragged-but-right versions of songs like "Theme From a Summer Place," "Mr. Blue," "Last Date,"and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." Ross rants, raves and tells shaggy dog epics kind of like a cross between The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and Roy D. Mercer.


*Provisions by Giant Sand. I'm still absorbing this one. This is Giant Sand's first album in four years or so -- though Sandman in chief Howe Gelb has released solo efforts in between. I'm not the first writer who's expressed confusion at what constitutes a Giant Sand album vs. a Howe Gelb album.

Gelb already named a previous album "Glum" (which still is one of my favorites), but that title would have fit this record as well. There's a somber tone throughout. Gelb's raspy voice seems almost a whisper on many tunes.

The piano-bar apocalyptic lament "Spiral" -- in which Isobel Campbell adds background vocals -- might be Gelb's "Everybody Hurts." It don't get much glummer than this.

Provisions rarely breaks out and rocks, (though it gets close with some crazy guitar on the instrumental "World's End State Park" and a few chaotic moments on "Muck Machine" and "Belly Full of Fire") but the noirish tremolo guitar and the late-night truckdriver radio melodies that grace several of the cuts make this album an intriguing listen.


* The rest of Introducing Los Peyotes . I'd snatched the first few tracks last month (plus one of the songs, "El Humo Te Hace Mal" when it was released as a "single" several months ago.)

The Argentines are one exciting little band. Offering original Farfisa-fueled garage rock they play mainly original Spanish songs. But they also do a fine take on The Seeds' "I Can't Seem to Make You Mine."

PLUS

* "CIA Man" by The Fugs. Here's the other side of "Secret Agent Man." No kissing of persuasive lips here. I heard this during the credits of Burn After Reading and had to have it. This is the 1986 version of The Fugs. The music is a little more focused, a little less chaotic than their '60s incarnation.

AN OLD HOUSE AD

My daughter apparently found this old New Mexican house ad from 1995. It's me with my lovely children 13 years ago.

You can actually read the copy if you check out the LARGE version.

CLICK HERE

JEROME'S RESPONSE

The Secretary of State's office this morning released Jerome Block Jr.'s official response to questions about his $2,500 campaign expenditure, of which he has admitted lying.

Here's the Public Regulation Commission candidate's explanation:

In April of 200 I entered into an agree with Mr. Paul Maez of the Wyld Country Band to play at a campaign event scheduled for May in La's Vegas, N.M. Our campaign was to pay $2,500 for this performance. In accordance with the New Mexico campaign reporting Act ... the payment for this performance was reported on Form C of the Report of Expenditures & Contributions as campaign expenditure for “Rally Entertainment.” This form was filed with your office on July 3rd, 2008.

Due to a scheduling conflict Mr. Maez’s band was unable to play on that date. In light of this, we agreed that the band would play at another event before the June primary. Subsequent to making those arrangements, Mr. Maez informed me that his band would be unable to play an event by June 3rd. Based on our agreement, I decided to set aside those funds for the sole purpose of paying him for a later performance. Inasmuch, I reported the $2,500 as an expenditure on Form C as “Rally Entertainment” for the purpose of paying a band for its performance in the future.

At some point I erroneously stated to Mr. David Giuliani of the Las Vegas Optic that the Wyld Country Band had in fact played at an event. I negligently made this statement. My negligence was due to the pressure and details of the campaign. My intent was not to mislead, confuse or disguise any expenditure on the part of my campaign.

On Sept. 24th, 2008 I explained to Mr. Giuliani via e-mail that the band had not played, but was planning to at a later event. Because of the attention given to this discrepancy, and to avoid the appearance of impropriety, I canceled a campaign rally scheduled for September 27th, 2008 in Las Vegas at which the band was scheduled to play. Upon canceling this event, Mr. Maez returned the $2,500 to my campaign. Because this money was unspent and unencumbered by any future debts it was returned to the Public Election Fund on September 26th in accordance with the New Mexico Election Code ...

This response will raise more questions about Block. It's not clear from this exactly when or why Block cancelled his Sept. 27 rally.

In a Sept. 18 interview with The New Mexican's Doug Mattson -- which took place when Block was sticking with his story that Wyld Country had played the May rally which he claimed attracted 75 to 100 people -- Block said he was cancelling the Sept. 27 shindig because of the possible perception of "impropriety" because Maez also serves as San Miguel County clerk. His response to the Secretary of State appears to say he cancelled it because of the attention given to the "discrepancy" of the May rally never actually taking place.

UDATE: My story posted on The New Mexican's site is HERE

A pdf of Block's response is HERE

Block's opponent Rick Lass of The Green Party responded to Block's response. He said:

First, it is clearly illegal to use primary funds for the general election under the campaign financing law. For Jerome to make a payment to the band using primary funds for a gig to be played in September is against the law, and he acknowledges in yesterday's letter that that is what he did.

His campaign finance report of July 3 shows he made the payment June 9, after the primary election was held.

He says that he lied to Giuliani because of the pressure of media calls. If he can't handle the pressure of accounting for his actions to his constituents, how will he stand up to the pressure of industry lobbyists and the media spotlight if he is a PRC Commissioner?

I worked hard along with other activists to enact public campaign financing, and one of the objections we heard was that candidates would use public funds improperly. We said that that would not happen because there would be strong enforcements written into the law. I call on the Secretary of State and Attorney General to act swiftly and decisively in this matter to uphold the integrity of the public financing system.

Jerome's most recent letter merely adds to his history of missteps and misstatements, and proves that he is unfit to hold the critical job of representing New Mexicans on the Public Regulation Commission.