R.I.P. David Prince

I just received some terrible news. David Prince, a fellow music writer, sometimes DJ and all-around music fanatic, died last night at his Santa Fe home after a lengthy bout with emphysema. He had been in hospice for some time, I'm not sure how long, so his death wasn't unexpected. But it's still terrible.

Our mutual friend Al Faaet, who informed me of his death, said Prince was 65.

Prince's musical passions and mine have intersected several times during the past 20 years or so, He had a at least a couple of long-standing gigs writing music reviews and features for Pasatiempo, The New Mexican's arts and entertainment magazine (where Terrell's Tune-Up is published). The most recent stint ended in late 2007.

He had a column there in the mid '90s called "Take 505." Prince also wrote for The Santa Fe Reporter and was music editor for the long defunct local paper Crosswinds. For a few years we were both contributors to the Village Voice's annual  Pazz & Jop poll.

And he was a DJ at KSFR. In fact my show, The Santa Fe Opry, took over Prince's Friday night slot where his show Flight 505 aired for several years. I got to sub for him on his show fLight 505 a couple of times. He also did radio shows for KUNM and a short-lived jazz show for KBAC.

Prince was at KSFR back in the weird old days, when the station had a "fine arts" format that permitted very little crazy rock 'n' roll. Here's what writer Jason Silverman wrote about Prince's show in Pasatiempo in 1994:

Prince plays a range of music over Flight 505 . The show also includes readings and comedy, linking styles and influences ranging from Ornette Coleman to Joseph Heller, from Captain Beefheart to Lenny Bruce, from the two-tone of the 1910s to Tom Waits.
Prince, who covers music for Pasatiempo, has been on the radio on and off since the late '60s, when he was a jock on the Ithaca College station. Public radio, he said, affords him a freedom that commercial radio doesn't.
``On oldies stations you can't play Jimi Hendrix, because he's too rock 'n' roll, '' he said. ``And on classic rock stations you can't play The Drifters, because they're oldies. That's just ridiculous, because all of these people influenced each other, all of them cross-pollinated.''

Which reminds me of how I first got to know Prince. It was in 1989 or '90 and I'd been sick for several days. I was flipping around the radio dial on a Friday night and stumbled upon KSFR. I forget what song it was, but I liked it and was surprised to hear it on a station that normally played classical music.

And I liked the song after that, and the one after that, and the one after that ... This, I later learned was Prince's fLight 505.

Of course I didn't always agree with Prince's musical opinions. But I always had to concede that his knowledge of music was far wider than mine. He knew far more about jazz than I ever will. And the same is true for classical music.

A few years later, I was listening to a classical show one weekend afternoon. Now, I'm a complete rube when it comes to classical music. I don't even remember much about the piece I was hearing, but the DJ talked about it enthusiastically  in easy to understand language and it really added to my appreciation. This, of course, was Prince, who I think was substituting for the regular host. Sometimes classical DJs seem so snooty and effete, but not Prince.

I think the last time I saw Prince he was working at The Candyman a few years ago, back when they sold records and CDs. Until I heard about his illness recently I wasn't even sure if he was still in town. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to say goodbye.

All I can say now is that Santa Fe has lost a true champion for music.

Update 11:45 a.m.: I added the fact that Prince suffered from emphysema.

Update 8 a.m. Dec. 25: CLICK HERE for Prince's obit by Craig Smith in The New Mexican.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Gorilla My Dreams

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Dec. 23, 2011


I love Kinky Friedman, but something he said at his Santa Fe Sol Stage & Grill concert a couple of weeks ago irritated me. (Hey, if the Kinkster doesn’t irritate everyone in the audience at least a little, he’s not doing his job.)

Kid Congo & Pink Monkey Birds at Knitting Factory
Brooklyn, NY, 2010

He basically said that the only musical acts worth seeing these days are “geezers” like Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Billy Joe Shaver, Iggy Pop, and Levon Helm (and, I suppose, by extension, Kinky Friedman.) He said something similar in his recent interview with my distinguished colleague Rob DeWalt.

I’m willing to cut Kinky some slack. After all, he’s 67 years old, and I’m just a kid of 58. But, jeez, when he talks like that, he sounds like the crotchety old goats of my youth. He should be tied up and forced to listen to nothing but Allan Sherman’s “Pop Hates the Beatles” for 72 straight hours.

The truth is, our modern world is full of great musical artists. I try to spotlight them nearly every week in this column. It’s fair to say that few, if any, of them will get the mainstream recognition of Dylan and the others. But to those with ears to hear, the underground is spilling over with crazy talent making timeless sounds.

This little rant got going in my head the other day when I was driving to work listening to Gorilla Rose, the latest album by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds. Brian Tristan, aka Kid Congo Powers, plays some of the most interesting sounds being produced today. It’s a wild mix of mutated ’60s Chicano rock, surf, garage, and spooky, noirish R & B.

This album (which is named for an L.A. performance-art character Powers met as a lonesome teenage punk) is a worthy follow-up to his previous work, Dracula Boots, which took similar paths into bizarre dimensions. It’s full of cool-groove instrumentals and weird tales that Powers recites.

I don’t think I’ve ever read any article or review of Kid Congo that didn’t mention his impressive résumé. And I won’t break precedent here. He was the original lead guitarist in the pioneering punk-blues band The Gun Club. And he also served time in The Cramps and Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds. This, friends and neighbors, is what you call credentials. When I saw him and the PMBs play in New York last year, they did some great Cramps covers (”Goo Goo Muck” and “I’m Cramped”) and an even better cover of Gun Club’s “Sex Beat.”

Gorilla Rose starts off with a jamming little instrumental called “Bo Bo Boogaloo.” It sounds as if it came out of some archetypal mod à go-go teen dance club in a 1960s spy thriller. There’s a snaky, sinister organ that reminds me of early ’70s Nigerian music and some serious distorted guitar. The next song, “Goldin Browne,” is driven by a throbbing funky bass lead, while Powers recites “Dark colors, black leather/Stray pets, bad habits/Medicine cabinets, Chairman Mao/Aladdin Sane, Goldin Browne.” And then he repeats it.

The words to the slow, slinky “Catsuit Fruit” are even more mysterious — basically, he lists a bunch of fruits. “Cherries, bananas, lemon, grape, peach, lime ...”

Then there’s “Our Other World,” in which Powers tells a story about being a kid working in a Hollywood record store. He recalls seeing Rick James losing his temper and breaking copies of Parliament’s Gloryhallastoopid as a drag-queen shoplifter ODs in the jazz section.

In “Bunker Mentality,” Powers and The Monkey Birds do a pretty good impersonation of The Fall. Powers even sounds like Mark E. Smith. And, truth be told, I can’t understand a word he’s saying; though I don’t care, because I like the music — jungle drums and repeated cranked-up guitar riffs.

Meanwhile, “Hills of Pills,” with its falsetto vocals backing Powers’ spoken word, reminds me of The Black Lips. The music is dominated by a basic blues-riff slide guitar (hinting at Mickey & Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange”). And this tune should win the prize for Best Use of Kazoo in a Non-Jug-Band Setting.

“Lullaby in Paradise” starts out like some lost Lou Reed song, perhaps the ugly cousin of “Perfect Day.” It’s a slow tune lead by a wistful, almost jazzy electric guitar (with some weird grating distortion in the background). Then the tempo picks up as the guitar attacks a basic soul riff before slowing down again.

Kid Congo is full of surprises. He’ll take a simple neo-punk song like “At the Ruin of Others” and go into different dimensions with a crazy discordant guitar solo that would make Sonic Youth blush. And a little later, just for a few moments, there’s a pseudo East-Indian or Arabic guitar part that sounds like the early days of psychedelia. But then it fades, never to return — leaving a listener to wonder, “Did I imagine that?”

That’s basically how I feel about much of this crazy good album.

Also recommended:

*  El Camino by The Black Keys. Now here’s a decent 21st-century band that might actually have a decent chance of achieving a level of popularity and (gulp!) fame.

Granted, I liked them better in their early days — not that long ago — when they were just a couple of nerdy blues geeks from Ohio who would give up everything just to touch the hem of the garment of T-Model Ford.

These days singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney sound like they’re searching for the ghost of Mark Bolin. This album, produced by Danger Mouse, has a glam-rock sheen. When I saw them live nearly a decade ago, they reminded me of the old proto-metal monsters Blue Cheer. Listening to the new album, I wonder how that could have been so.

The Keys are a lot slicker now than their days of bashing out their high-volume blues as a two-man band, but don’t get me wrong. They’re still rocking. “Lonely Boy,” with its fuzzy, rubbery guitar hook, is nothing short of a gas. And “Gold on the Ceiling” has a healthy blues crunch, even though the main riff is played by some sort of keyboard instead of a guitar, while the minor-key “Mind Eraser” is downright soulful.

So don’t begrudge them their success or their efforts to evolve. I just hope that, as they progress, The Black Keys don’t forget why we liked them in the first place.


Blog Bonus: Here's a song from the Kid Congo Powers show I saw in New York last year. (I didn't shoot this, but I'm pretty sure I was standing right next to the person who did.)

Barrence & Savages Live on WFMU

If you missed Barrence Whitfield & The Savages cool set on WFMU's Cherry Blossom Clinic a couple of weeks ago, never fear. You can listen right here (Courtesy of WFMU's Free Music Archive.)

And if you like it, you can download any or all of the songs (and even the interview with Terre T) right HERE.

Ow! Ow! Ow!

 

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 18, 2011 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Six Bullets for Christmas by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Dumpster Dive by The Black Lips
Keep it Simple Stupid by The King Khan Experience
American Wedding by Gogol Bordello
Can't Hold On by Reigning Sound
I'll Be Your Santa by Rufus Thomas
If You Could Hang Your Wash Like You Hang Your Lines by Duster Bennett
Sleigh Bells, Reindeer and Snow by Rita Faye Wilson

Strawberry Soda by The Bastard Winos
When I'm a Grown Up by The Monsters
Something's Coming by Dee & Tee
Secret Agent Man by Frontier Circus
Yakov the Polka Reindeer by The Polkaholics
Nate Will Not Return by The Fall
Future Crimes by Wild Flag
What a Way to Die by The Pleasure Seekers
Fat Daddy by Fat Daddy

If It Doesn't Snow on Christmas by Joe Pesci
Trash by The New York Dolls
I'm a Loner by The Jaybees
Happy Birthday Jesus (A Child's Prayer) by Little Cindy
Hang Your Balls on the Christmas Tree by Kay Martin & Her Body Guards
Loretta by The Senators
Cardiac Party by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack
Until You Get Enough of Me by The Revelations featuring Tre Williams
Run Rudolf Run by Keith Richards

Johnny Ace is Dead by Dave Alvin
A Johnny Ace Christmas by Squirrel Nut Zippers
Kiss Me by Tom Waits
Me and the Devil Blues by Dead Meadow
All Alone on Christmas by Darlene Love
White Christmas by Otis Redding
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Merry Christmas From the Big Enchilada!

Waging the War on Christmas since 2008, here's the FOURTH annual Big Enchilada Christmas Special. Enjoy holiday cheer from The Fleshtones, King Salami, El Vez, The Polkaholics  and so many more.

The Big Enchilada used to be part of the GaragePunk Podcast Network, But now it's part of GaragePunk Pirate Radio. So Ho ho ho and Yo ho ho!

Thank you once again for making The Big Enchilada part of your Yuletide tradition.


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Here's the playlist:
(Background Music: O Come All Ye Faithful by Los Straitjackets)
Hooray for Santa Claus by The Fleshtones
Santa Fuzz by Marshmallow Overcoat
Snowman by Thee Fine Lines
Merry Christmas Baby by The Revelations Featuring Tre Williams
Santa Claus is Sometimes Brown by El Vez
Merry Christmas Elvis by Michelle Cody
Drinkin' With Santa by The Polkaholics

(Background Music: Joy to the World by The Klezmonauts)
Jingle Bell Rock by The Fall
It's Christmas Time by The Qualities
Louisiana Bayou Santa by Crankshaft & The Geargrinders
Merry Christmas Loopy Lu by The Kaisers
Santa Came in on a Nuclear Missile by Heather Noel
Bang Bang Baby Bang Bang Merry Christmas by Angry Johnny

(Background Music: Frosty the Snowman by Liquid Mice)
C'Mon Dance with Santa Claus by Micragirls
Christmas Lights by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of The British Empire
Sock it Me Santa by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
A Christmas Duel by The Hives and Cyndi Lauper
Christmas Spirit by Julia Lee & Her Boyfriends
Background Music: What Child Is This by The Reverend Horton Heat)

Play it here:


Ghosts of Christmas Podcasts Past
2010
2009
2008

Spend all your Christmas money at The Big Enchilada Podcast Zazzle Store.