Free Melvins EP (Melvins in SF Tonight)

As most of you know, The Melvins are playing tonight at Santa Fe Sol.

What you might not know is that their latest recording, a five song EP called The Bulls & The Bees is available for free downloading from the good folks at Scion.

Scion is the car company that also gave away free downloads for the most recent albums by King Khan and The Reigning Sound. (I wrote about those HERE.) They also produced a fun little music documentary called New Garage Explosion which contains some good live performances.

So go download The Bulls & The Bees and maybe I'll see you tonight at Sol.

The Big Enchilada Goes Back to the Honky Tonk

Burn down the honky tonks with another fine Big Enchilada hillbilly episode featuring lots of new music by current bands like The Calamity Cubes, The Dirt Daubers, The Waco Brothers with Paul Burch, Lydia Lovelace, The Misery Jackals, Poor Boy's Soul plus not-too-long-ago sounds from Ronny Elliott, Harry Hayward, Asylum Street Spankers, DM Bob & The Deficits and more ... not to mention the late Kell Robertson live on The Santa Fe Opry and a rowdy tribute from his pals.

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Here's the playlist:

(Background Music: Honky Tonk Tout le Temps by Mama Rosin)
Coricidin Bottle by Ray Wylie Hubbard
Do Right by Lydia Loveless
Help Me From My Brain by Legendary Shack Shakers
The Devil Gets His Due by The Dirt Daubers
Gutter Town by Hank 3
I Got Your Ice Cold Nugrape by The Nugrape Twins

(Background Music: Intexicated Part 2 by T. Tex Edwards)
Tell the King the Killer's Here by Ronny Elliott
Transfusion by The Waco Brothers with Paul Burch
Liquor and Whores by The Misery Jackals
Beautiful Blue Eyes by Red Allen & The Kentuckians
TV Party by Asylum Street Spankers
Animal Hoedown by Harry Hayward

(Background Music: Guitar Boogie by Arthur Smith's Hot Quintet)
Wine Spodee Odee by Kell Robertson
Go on Home by Jason Eklund, Tom Irwin & Mike Good
Wild Bill Jones by Wade Mainer & The Sons of  The Mountaineers
Throwing Stones by Poor Boy's Soul
FBI Top 10 by DM Bob & The Deficits
Empty Bottle by The Calamity Cubes
(Background Music: Five by Eight by Benny Martin)

Play it here:



You like this hillbilly stuff? If so, then you'll probably like some of my previous episodes like:

Episode 44: Moonshine Becomes You
Episode 39: Podunk Holler Hoedown
Episode 36: Sweathog of the Rodeo 
Episode 31: Below Tobacco Road
Episode 26: Hillbilly Pigout
Episode 22: Honky in a Cheap Motel
Episode 16: Hillbilly Heaven
Episode 10: More Santa Fe Opry Favorites
Episode 8: Santa Fe Opry Favorites Vol. 2
Episode 2: Santa Fe Opry Favorites

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, May 6, 2012 
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
Rock 'n' Roll is the Answer by Joey Ramone
A Message from Fermin Deslodge by Churchwood
Formal Introduction by fIREHOSE
Wind Up Blind by Scott H. Biram
Side Door Man by The Grannies
Boot Check by Gas Huffer
I'm a Pig by The Angry Samoans

I Can't Shake It/National Hamster/Creepy Smell by The Melvins
Doug The Thug by The 99ers
Bad She Gone Voodoo by Chief Fuzzer
(Everybody) Loves a Loser by The Molting Vultures
Wiener Dog Polka by Polkacide
Ruby Red by The Copper Gamins

I'm Insane by T-Model Ford
Goin' Down South by Kenny Brown
My Baby Got Drunk by Paul "Wine" Jones
A Good Day to Feel Bad by Andre Williams
Psychedelic Sex Machine by The North Mississippi All Stars
Kidney Stew Blues by Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson
Mud by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Call My Job by Detroit Junior

End of the World by El Pathos
Pepper Spray by Light Bulb Alley
Reindeer Are Wild by Thee Headcoats
Do You Know What  I Idi Amin by Chuck E. Weiss with Tom Waits
You Lie by Dr. John
Love Letters by Dex Romweber Duo
Get it While You Can by Janis Joplin
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 4, 2012 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Precious Time by Broomdust Caravan
Bold Marauder by Richard & Mimi Farina
Adios Mexico by Joe "King" Carrasco & The Texas Tornadoes
No Yodeling on the Radio by Karen Collins
I'm Sending Daffydills by The Maddox Brothers & Rose
Sheik That Thang by The Great Recession Orchestra
Yesterday Morning by El Pathos

Mudflap Girl by The Misery Jackals
Blue Tick Hound by Split Lip Rayfield
Shotgun by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Hooked by Eilen Jewell
Her Love Rubbed Off by Ray Condo
Someone That You Know by The Waco Brothers with Paul Burch
Driftwood 40-23 by The Hickoids
Hand for the Hog by O'Brien Party of 7
Ol' Corn Likker by The Carolina Chocolate Drops


SONGS T. TEX EDWARDS TAUGHT US
It's Gravity by T. Tex Edwards
LSD by Wendell Austin
Blood on the Saddle by Tex Ritter
Crazy Date by The Crazy Teens
Lee Harvey by Asylum Street Spankers
Dolores by Eddie Novak
The Rubber Room by Porter Wagoner
Psycho by Jack Kittel
Death of a Clown by T. Tex Edwards

Empty Bottle by The Calamity Cubes
Never Cold Again by The Imperial Rooster
Beatin' My Head by Jayke Orvis
Lonesome Turns Boresome by Rachel Brooke
Wind Blown Waltz by Giant Giant Sand
Be My Love by NRBQ
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

R.I.P. David Lescht

Terrible news.

David Lescht, the man who for years headed an organization that brought untold hours of free music -- local and national -- to the Plaza each summer in the popular Santa Fe Bandstand program, died early this morning. He was 64.

A mutual friend told me that it was a massive heart attack that killed David. I haven't officially confirmed that yet. David had just appeared on KBAC radio yesterday to talk about the 2012 Bandstand schedule. (Joe "King" Carrasco is the first headliner in July! Damn, David, you're going to miss it!)

David also was the founder and head honcho of the Outside In program, which brought music to jails, hospitals, rest homes and other institutions.

He also was a KUNM DJ. The man just loved music and loved bringing it to people.

The first time I interviewed David was in 1995 when he was doing one of the first Outside In shows at St. Elizabeth homeless shelter. This was years before the Bandstand program.

xxxx

UPDATE 10:30 am. Friends of Lescht are planning to get together at 5:30 pm at the Cowgirl to toast his legacy.

xxxxx

As you'll see in the story below, David had big plans since day one. I'll admit I was skeptical at first, but David worked like a maniac to make this program a reality.


A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
November 12, 1995

It was an outdoor gig on a cold night. A guitar string had broken in the middle of a song. The cops came and unceremoniously brought the show to a halt after a neighbor complained.

But to Nathan Moore and other members of ThaMuseMeant, a local acoustic band that performs mostly original tunes, the St. Elizabeth's homeless shelter show was successful beyond expectation.

The show was part of a program -- organized by music promoter David Lescht and called Outside In -- which brings quality music to the homeless, sick and incarcerated.

At St. Elizabeth's, people clapped, smiled and then grumbled when the officers apologized for having to shut the performance down.

``She sings just like Buffy St. Marie, '' a woman said when bassist Aimee Curl took a turn at the mike. ``I saw Buffy at Carnegie Hall back in the '60s.''

After the band had broken down all its equipment and shelter staff and residents had taken in the folding chairs, Moore was in a pensive mood.

``As we were playing for the homeless people, lyrics in some of our songs started taking on new meaning for me, '' Moore said. ``Our band -- myself, Dave (Tiller) and Aimee -- we started out in Virginia and went to Austin and now Santa Fe. We all spent a lot of time in which we were homeless. But because we had our music, we never felt like we were homeless.''

The song lyrics that most jumped out at Moore:

You won't find me beggin'/Straight up on the street/I've got nowhere to go/But I've got dancin' feet.

Such introspection after a concert is not uncommon, according to the bushy-bearded, 47-year-old Lescht. While he has no illusions that bringing music into an institution is going to solve the problems of audience members, he says it can be enriching -- can increase the chance for ``dancin' feet.''

Of course, ``dancin' feet'' is more of a state of mind than physical reality. On a recent Tuesday at La Residencia nursing home, many of cowboy singer Sid Hausman's audience sat in wheelchairs.

But the spirit was in the air.

La Residencia folks tapped their fingers and sang along as Hausman -- in his bright red shirt and tall cowboy hat -- sang and played banjo, ukelele and 12-string guitar. When he tried to leave, the crowd called him back for two encores.

Music can help people deal with boredom, isolation and despair, Lescht said.

``I just try to bring a little light from the outside into dark places, '' he said.

But the audiences are not the only beneficiaries.

``Musicians tell me this is therapy for themselves, '' Lescht said. ``The effect on the artist is amazing.''

ThaMuseMeant's Moore agreed. ``It really was a special feeling, '' he said a few days after the gig.

Hausman said he favors nursing home audiences to rowdy bar crowds.

``If you play music, you play for people, and if you can reach people, you've done your job, '' Hausman said. ``Unlike playing the bars, I can tell the people here were really listening.''

The concert by ThaMuseMeant was not the first time the St. Elizabeth's shelter had seen a show produced by Lescht. In late July, local bluesman Jono Manson and The Mighty Revelators played there.

Outside In also has performed at a local youth shelter. In June, Virginia singer/songwriter Vicki Pratt Keating entertained there. Although most teens are more into rap and hard rock than folk, Keating related well to her audience, Lescht said.

``She spent some time in a shelter for runaways herself when she was a kid, '' he said.

Later in June, Lescht organized a show by Cajun Connections, a band from Los Alamos, at a dance for developmentally disabled people at New Vistas in Santa Fe. The next month, Outside In brought a bluegrass band, Ain't Misbehavin, ' to Horizon nursing home, and Carlos Lomas and his flamenco troupe to La Residencia nursing home.

In August, Lescht brought a local rock group, The Withdrawals, to inmates at the Central New Mexico Correctional Facility in Los Lunas. And Jono Manson and his band performed at the women's prison in Grants in October, Lescht said.

So far, Lescht is paying musicians out of his own pocket.

``It's not a bad paying gig, '' Moore said. ``I've made more at parties, but I've made less at bars.''

But Lescht hopes to stop bankrolling the venture.

``I'm doing it myself now to get the ball rolling, but I'm actively seeking contributors, '' he said.

Outside In is affiliated with the Santa Fe Council for the Arts, so donations made through the SFCA are tax deductible, Lescht said. His first year projected budget is slightly more than $55,000.

Lescht said he was inspired by a similar program in California called ``Bread and Roses.'' Created by Mimi Farina, a folk singer who is a sister of famous folkie Joan Baez. Bread and Roses -- which organizes 30 events a month -- has been around for 20 years, Lescht said.

But long before he became acquainted with Bread and Roses, Lescht was experimenting with ways to mix music and social consciousness. He moved to Santa Fe in 1974 and lived in a commune, working at a now-defunct hostel on Manhattan Street.

Out of the commune, grew a rock group called The Brotherhood Band, which Lescht said contained elements of gospel music, The Grateful Dead and preachy ``peace and love'' sloganeering. He was the group's manager.

The band focused on playing in prisons, hospitals, youth shelters and other institutional settings in the West. The band did a tour of virtually all the prisons in Spain.

In 1984, The Brotherhood Band played a Bread and Roses gig in California, where Lescht met Mimi Farina. At the time, the band was suffering from the usual type of personality and ego problems that doom some of the best groups. The Brotherhood Band sputtered to an end about 1988.

Lescht then moved to England, where he met his wife Sarah. He kept his hand in the music business by managing a rehearsal space for musicians.

One of his friends from The Brotherhood Band era who was living in Massachusetts sent him a copy of Farina's Bread and Roses Handbook . The two talked about, and eventually planned, moving to Santa Fe to start such a program here.

However, soon after the Leschts arrived here, his friend died in Massachusetts at age 49.

``That kind of gave me an extra push to go ahead and do this, '' he said.

Lescht worked for awhile at Seeds of Change, but quit earlier this year to pursue Outside In fulltime.

Whether he can get the financial backing to make it work remains a question. But one thing is for certain: He will always have audiences whose days could be made a little brighter by some music. And there undoubtedly are enough musicians around to do the shows.

``I'm not really sure who it means more for -- the performers or the audience, '' Moore of ThaMuseMeant said.

UPDATE: 11:08 am Earlier versions of this post said Lescht died "last night." I'm now being told it was early this morning. The text has been corrected. (Also cleaned up a little gibberish in the first paragraph.)