"... it isn't fun if it's going along with fashion. It's got to have vim and vigour, and things that are sanctioned don't, because they are being sanctioned to nurtur… No, to n… — what is it when you cut a thing's balls off? Neuter? That's what sanctioning is. To take the life out of it, emasculate it. That chap who died last week, Michael Jackson, yeah, he was like the emasculated James Brown. And that's meant to be some kind of victory!"
Sunday, July 26, 2009 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 Blinding Sun by Mudhoney Barricuda by The Standells Boys are Boys and Girls are Choice by The Monks Astral Plane by The Rockin' Guys Rats' Revenge Part II by The Rats Mr. Eliminator by Dick Dale Tubby by Los Straitjackets (Can't Stop) The Hands of Tyme by Marshmallow Overcoat Mommy's Little Baby by Wizzard Sleeve Put de Pot on Mary by Poontang Perkins
Yesterday's Sorrows by Chesterfield Kings Wild Wild Lover by The Monsters Know Your Rights by The Clash House at Pooneil Corners by The Jefferson Airplane Mad Mad Daddy by The Cramps Go Man Go by The Olympics
Alright by Jesse Dee Can't Have Enough by The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker Love Attack by James Carr Get Yo' Shit by Black Joe Louis & The Honeybears If Ya Got Soul by Willie Magee Killer Diller by King Khan & The Shrines My Mumblin' Baby by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages Gloria by The Cadillacs
Theme from Burnt Weenie Sandwich by The Mothers of Invention Grown So Ugly by Captain Beefheart Please Don't Drop the Bomb by Nathaniel Mayer Sail On by T-Model Ford This Is Ridiculous by The New York Dolls Lap Dance by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with Andre Williams I Started a Joke by The Dirtbombs Massachusetts by Die Zorros CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
The Big Enchilada is back with The Monkey-Wrestling Polka!
This episode is divided into four segments. There's a set of songs from bands I've discovered through The GaragePunk Hideout. There's a barrel of monkey songs, inspired by a recent You've Got Good Taste podcast. There's a bone-crunching, loser-leave-town cage match of wrestling tunes and finally, a crazy polka party. Truly this is a milestone in Freeform Weirdo Podcasting!
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Friday, July 24, 2009 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 John Peel by Paul Burch You Used to Live It Up by Tom Armstrong Hot Rod King by Kris Hollis Key Goin' Down the Road by Pine Valley Cosmonauts Shooting Over the Head by Ray Mason Living on the Road Again by Artie Hill & The Long Gone Daddies I'm Just a Honky by The Ex Husbands Juke Joint Jumping by Wayne Hancock & Hank Williams III Can't Help It Blues by Hasil Adkins
Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue by Scott H. Biram The Ones You Say You Love by Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys Shake a Leg by Kim Lenz & Her Jaguars If the Back Door Could Talk by Randy Kohrs Downey Girl byt Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women Beer's on the Way by Mike Neal Window Up Above by The Blasters Don't You See That Train by The Delmore Brothers
Wishful Thinking by Aimee Hoyt Pretty Girl by Miss Leslie The Willow Tree by Exene Cervenka Quiet Desperation by John Doe The End of Ol' Johnny by The Electric Rag Band In New Orleans by C.W. Stone King George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues by The Drive-By Truckers You Stole My Motorcycle by Mama Rosin
The Guitar by Guy Clark Gasoline and Matches by Buddy & Julie Miller Marie by Steve Earle Weakness in a Man by Waylon Jennings Many Happy Hangovers to You by Leona Williams I'll Sign My Heart Away by Merle Haggard When I Was a Cowboy by Odetta CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
The album starts out with a desperate voice mail to a friend from the singer, who claims he’s being held as a prisoner at some hospital. The first actual song, “Hospital Escape,” starts out with strains of a slow church organ before Biram comes in with his trademark distorted vocals on a simmering blues with the paradoxical refrain, “Time flies when you’re going down slow.”
Overall, Biram continues to live up to the promise of the title of perhaps his greatest early tune, “Blood, Sweat, and Murder.”
On the new album, Biram goes nuts with the over-amped five-minute blues cruncher “Hard Times” (aided by John Wesley Meyers with terse organ accompaniment). On the hard-driving “The Wishing Well,” you can’t tell what he’s singing, but when you hear the police sirens come in toward the last of the song, you know some kind of trouble is afoot. And “Feel So Good,” a Big Bill Broonzy song sounds like Hound Dog Taylor on a gas-huffing high.
But there are several songs here that could almost be described as (gulp) “pretty.” That’s certainly the case with “Still Drunk, Still Crazy, Still Blue,” a sweet honky-tonker that George Jones could absolutely kill. “Draggin’ Down the Line,” featuring Biram on acoustic guitar, is a “life on the road” tune that finds the singer in a reflective mood. And though “Wildside” features a delightfully obnoxious grungy electric guitar, it can’t hide a very soulful melody.
Biram gets philosophical in the harmonica gospel tune called “Ain’t It a Shame.” Written by 1940s gospel star Elder Roma Wilson, it’s a simple call for peace, racial harmony, and getting right with God. Biram sounds sweet and sincere.
But Biram sounds more natural in the following song, “Judgment Day.” It’s a blues apocalypse with lyrical references to Jesus, Buddha, Hitler, Frankenstein, the Ku Klux Klan, and the boogie man.
This is American music at its crazy finest.
Also recommended:
* The Further Adventures of Los Straitjackets. Following their excellent Rock En Espanol, Vol. 1 — which featured the masked men from Nashville backing Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, Little Willie G. of Thee Midnighters, and Big Sandy of the Fly-Right Boys on Chicano rock classics — Los Straitjackets return to their bread and butter with an impressive set of guitar instrumentals. Lead guitarist Eddie Angel and the boys carry on the tradition of Link Wray, Dick Dale, and The Ventures.
My favorite on this collection is “Teen Beast,” in which the jungle drums of Jason Smay nearly overshadow the guitars. Also steaming with bitchenicity is “Tubby,” featuring sax by “Kaiser” George Miller and some downright hairy fuzz guitar. And they get nice and garage-y in “Blow Out,” with guest fuzz-bassist Jake Guralnick.
“Catalina,” in which Angel shows his mastery of the whammy bar, might be the prettiest song Los Straitjackets have recorded since they covered “My Heart Will Go On” (yes, Céline Dion’s love theme from Titantic) a decade ago. Another suave slow dance is “Mercury,” which might remind you of ancient surfy theme songs from The Endless Summer or A Summer Place.
Cajuntopia: Old Cajuns, young Cajuns, real Cajuns, fake Cajuns. In recent months three new albums of good stompin’, screechy fiddled, accordion zingin’ Cajun music have crossed my path. Here’s a glance at those:
* Alligator Purse by BeauSoleil. Michael Doucet and band have been recording for nearly 35 years, but they still manage to sound fresh. That’s no surprise to anyone who has seen BeauSoleil’s live shows.
There’s not a weak spot on this album. BeauSoleil performs some classic bayou tunes such as “Bosco Stomp” (which Doug Kershaw fans will recognize as the melody of “Cajun Stripper”).
The group does a Cajun version of R & B on “Marie” and “I Spent All My Money Loving You” (feat the instantly recognizable Garth Hudson of The Band on organ). And even though Natalie Merchant usually sounds like an art-school waif, when she sings with Doucet on “Little Darlin’ ” she sounds outright hillbilly. (And that’s John Sebastian of The Lovin’ Spoonful on harmonica on that track.
* Homage Au Passé by The Pine Leaf Boys. Here’s evidence that Doucet and other middle-aged purveyors of Cajun music have been successful in their mission to keep the flame of this sound alive.
The Pine Leaf Boys are a youthful quintet from rural southwest Louisiana led by Wilson Savoy and Cedric Watson. They play good old Cajun dance music, sung in Cajun French. While traditional, the Pine Leafers know how to rock.
Their best songs are the up-tempo romps like “Country Playboy Special” and the zydeco-sounding — actually it almost sounds like Cajun rockabilly — “J’suis Gone Pour Me Saouler,” although the waltzes like “Newport Waltz” and the acoustic “T’es Pas la Même” sound mighty nice too. * Brule Lentement by Mama Rosin. The cover of this CD will catch the eye of Velvet Underground fans. It looks like a red version of Warhol’s banana, which graced the cover of the Velvet’s first album. But on second glance, it’s a cayenne pepper.
This is Swiss punk Cajun from the irascible Voodoo Rhythm Records. But the punk element shouldn’t imply that the members of Mama Rosin are disrespectful to Cajun and zydeco traditions. The love they have for this music is obvious at every turn. They just play it a little faster most of the time.
Actually, I think BeauSoleil would sound pretty good playing “You Stole My Motorcycle” and it’s not even a stretch to imagine The Pine Leaf Boys doing “When the Police Came.”
BLOG BONUS:
Here's a video of Elder Roma Wilson singing "Ain't It a Shame" and other gospel clips.
From a recent interview with eMusic:
