Tonight Zozobra Dies!

It's Santa Fe's greatest spectacle -- even better than the state Legislature.

Tonight Zozobra must die.

Here's a little music from Pinata Protest to get you in the mood.




Viva la Fiesta!

TURNER CD RELEASE PARTY

As the poster says, "You won't wanna miss the action."

At long last, former Angry Samoan Gregg Turner is releasing his long awaited new album, Gregg Turner Plays the Hits. Along with known associates Billy Bill Miller and Britt Alexander, they'll be rocking the Aztec Cafe this Friday night.

And as an added bonus, I'll be opening the festivities, making one of my infrequent unintentionally hilarious attempts to impersonate a musician.

Show starts at 7 p.m. at 317 Aztec Street.

I'll be there. Will you?

P.S. Remember this?

UPDATE: In the original version of this, I listed Britt Alexander as "Britt Hume." My deepest apologies to both Britts.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Sept. 2, 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

(This show was prerecorded) 
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dive by L7
Mr. Big Hat by The McCool Whips
Suicide Cat by Pong
Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell by Iggy & The Stooges
Nobody to Love by The 13th Floor Elevators
Maelstrom by Rocket From the Crypt
Four O'Clocker by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282
I Pity the Man by The Hickoids
Draggin' the Line by Tommy James & The Shondells

(Russian title) by Pussy Riot
Hang On by Pussy Galore
Cuckoo by The Monks
Milkshake and Honey by Sleater-Kinney
Tiger Lillian by Kevin Coyne
Hot Rod Baby by Elvis From Outer Space
Somebodu Knockin' by T-Model Ford
Women and Wimmen by John Lee Hooker

Nancy Sinatra Tribute Set   

Nancy Sinatra by The Bottle Rockets
How Does That Grab You by Empress of Furrs
Summer Wine by Rick Shea & Patty Booker
Some Velvet Morning by Firewater
These Boots Are Made for Walkin' by Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer
Lightnin's Girl by Lydia Lunch
You Only Live Twice by Nancy Sinatra

Prisoner of The Tiki Room by Mojo Nixon
The Trip by Donovan
Done Got Old by Robert Belfour
No Chance by Houndog
Between the Ditches by The Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Long Black Veil by The Walkabouts
The Port of Amsterdam by David Bowie

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TERRELL's TUNEUP: Rev. Peyton's Code of the Road

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Aug. 31 2012

You might think that a trio consisting of a crazy slide guitarist, his wife on the washboard and his cousin playing a bass drum and junkyard percussion might be little more than a fun little novelty act. But those who have enjoyed the recordings and/or the live shows of The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, know that this group from rural Indiana goes way beyond the novelty spectrum.

“Reverend” Josh Peyton’s gruff vocals and flawless slide guitar; Breezy Peyton’s impeccable washboard and soprano harmonies are a powerful combination. And Aaron Persinger is the Gene Krupa of the plastic bucket. So this tight little band packs a big damn musical punch.

And cementing the deal is the Rev’s impressive lyrical skills, highly evident in the band’s new effort Between the Ditches. He’s not “poetic” in the traditional sense. Nobody’s going to mistake him for Leonard Cohen. He’s closer to Woody Guthrie — Woody Guthrie with crazy rhythm.

Peyton’s songs can be funny, poignant, much like the country bluesmen he emulates. He’s got a knack for taking everyday observations and annoyances — like, say, bugs getting into the house when someone leaves the door open — and turning them into romping, stomping singalongs.

Ditches represents a return to form for the Big Damn Band following last year’s Peyton on Patton, a tribute to Delta blues great Charlie Patton. Although the album was credited to The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, basically it was a Josh Peyton solo album with Mrs. Peyton and Persinger making only minimal contributions. I missed them on that one. But the new record is charged up with all the thump, crunch and rumble of the full band.

This album picks off where Peyton’s last album of original material, 2010’s The Wages, left off. Like that previous effort, Ditches is full of bluesy, populist-themed songs about economic hard times and social decay.

“Shake ‘em Off Like Fleas” — the music of which sounds like “Polk Salad Annie” overdosing on gamma rays — is full of righteous rage against corrupt politicians, soulless corportations and other powers-that-be who rig the game against the rest of us. “A change is coming, a change in store / ‘cause there’s more of us than them and we’ve freed ourselves before,” Peyton sings.

The gentler “We’ll Get Through” definitely is the prettiest song on the album. The narrator of the song has been hit hard by the “tough times and tough timing,” but like Merle Haggard in the song “Someday We’ll Look Back,” he reassures his loved one that it won’t always be so bad

Some of the songs suggests images of displaced workers going down the road feeling bad, seeking better lives but finding mostly “cops and thieves and sons of bitches,” as Peyton growls in the refrain of the title song. In this song, Peyton warns, “The code of the road is take care/ The law can’t protect us out there … The code of the road is to share/ We have only each other out there.”

Meanwhile the song “Move Along Mister” — a slow song with Peyton’s slide evoking early Ry Cooder — is about a late-night confrontation between a worn-out, perhaps vagrant, traveler and an unfriendly cop. “I’m weary and hungry and I ain’t from around here, ” the singer tries to explain.

Other topical songs here include, “Don’t Grind it Down,” a protest against strip mining. In a melody similar to “Wabash cannonball,” Peyton sings, “If we lose our mountain and with it all them trees, I don’t know about you, I think I’d rather freeze.”

Then the Rev preaches against drugs on “The Money Goes” Where does the money go? “Up her nose,” of course. In a later verse he repeats the line “Looks like death” several times before adding, “Might be meth.”

But Peyton and band know how to have good fun too without making serious socio-economic points. “Brokedown Everywhere” is an update of the country classic “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Peyton alludes to that song in the refrain: “You’ve been everywhere / I’ve been broke down there.” Like he the old song, the singer lists several geographical locations, but describing his car troubles in every one. “South of Portland lost a wheel/ New York City broke the seal/ Nevada an alternator/ Memphis a radiator … “

For those already familiar with the band, there aren’t that many musical surprises on Between the Ditches — except perhaps the sweet mandolin in “Don’t Grind it Down.” Yet somehow on their seventh album, they’re only getting better. This just might be their best work yet.

Here’s something to look forward to: The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band is scheduled to play at Sol Santa Fe on Nov. 16. Mark your calendar.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, August 26, 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
Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins by The Byrds
Jet Boy by New York Dolls
Telstar by The Tornados
Wiggy Waggy Woo by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
Mojo Man From Mars by The Cramps
Punk With Gretches by The 99ers
Torture by King Khan & The Shrines
We Repel Each Other by The Reigning Sound
Goin' Down by The Monkees

Drunk Stripper by Bob Log III
White Lightning by Doo Rag
Nice Guys Finish Last by The Electric Mess
Gut Feeling, Slap Your Mammy by Devo
Club Mekon by The Mekons
30 Minute Love by The Terrorists
Pepper Spray by Light Bulb Alley
Everybody's Doing It by The Black Lips
Shut the Screen by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band

Dinah Moe Hum by Frank Zappa & The Mothers
Dewayne's Drone by Night Beats
Soup by Can
Haunting at 1300 McKinley The Black Angels
Throwing My Money Away by Rosco Gordon

Tone Deaf by The Angel Babies (playing Albuquerque and Santa Fe next weekend.)
U Bug Me by Modey Lemon
G.G. Allen Died Last Night by Mike Edison
When I Were Young by Memphis Slim & Canned Heat
Somebody Stop the Bleedin' by Houndog
Rag Doll by The Four Seasons
Port of Amsterdam by Dave Van Ronk
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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