The show starts at 10 p.m. Mr. Slim will go on 10 or 15 minutes after that.
Slackeye, known in the mundane world as Joe Frankland is responsible for at least three albums -- Texas Whore Pleaser, El Santo Grial: La Pistola Piadosa, and, his most recent effort, Giving My Bones to the Western Lands. (Follow the links to my reviews of the last two.)
Basically his albums are the musical equivalent to dark, troubling western movies, wild tales full of harsh landscape, desperate anti-heroes. Sometimes the songs are full of savage violence. Sometimes they're just soul-searching reflections by men with broken hearts (to sneak in a Hank Williams reference.) And many of his melodies are nothing short of gorgeous.
Slackeye's originally from Ohio, but like the troubled transients he sings about, Slackeye has knocked around the west these past few years, living in Montana, Colorado and now New Mexico.
So tune in tomorrow night and hear Slackeye Slim's songs and stories. You can listen live on KSFR's website, or, if you live in northern New Mexico and parts of Albuquerque, at 101.1 FM.
I have one listener down there who tells me he sometimes drives out to the West Mesa to listen to my show on his car radio.
Tonight would be a great night to do that.
You can listen -- and buy (what a radical idea!) Slackeye Slim's most recent works HERE.
And meanwhile, here's one of his real purdy songs:
Whatever you say about Herbert Boutros Khaury, better known as Tiny Tim, you have to admit that the man knew a lot about old popular songs, especially those from the the first three or four decades of the 20th Century.
Below are a bunch of Tiny's songs as done by the original -- or at least much earlier -- artists. All but one of the following were on Tiny's first album, God Bless Tiny Tim.
Tiny loved these tunes and so do I.
"Livin' in the Sunlight, Lovin' in the Moonlight" was written by a couple of guys named Al (Sherman and Lewis) for the 1930 movie, The Big Pond, which starred Maurice Chevalier. Tiny Tim was exposed, so to speak, to whole new generation when his version was used in the very first episode of Spongebob Squarepants.
But Maurice did a good job too.
I once saw Ozzie Nelson sing a version of "Out on the Old Front Porch" on some late-night talk show. I think it was on Joey Bishop' show. Maybe Harriet was there too, I don't remember. But this one goes way back to at least 1913 when Billy Murray did it as a duet with Ada Jones.
Tiny of course didn't do a duet. He sang all the parts himself, including the angry father.
Tiny did a pretty warped cover of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" on his first appearance on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. He also recorded it for his 1969 children's album For All My Little Friends.
The original version, of course, was by America's little friend, Shirley Temple, who sang in in her 1934 movie Bright Eyes.
Tiny reached way far back for "Then I'd Be Satisfied with Life," 1903 to be exact. It was written by George M. Cohan, the same guy who wrote "You're a Grand Old Flag" and "Over There." This version is by S.H. Dudley.
One major change Tiny made in his version. Dudley wants "an heiress" for his wife. But Tiny wants Tuesday Weld!
And Tiny also did a little number called "Tiptoe Through the Tulips." Here is the original, as performed by Nick Lucas, the Crooning Troubadour, in the movie Gold Diggers of Broadway.
Before you start watching the videos of the bad television themes below, indulge me in a couple of creative musical exercises:
1) Think of the melody to "House of the Rising Sun." Now think of someone singing the Gilligan's Island theme to that melody. (Hey, it works better than "Stairway to Heaven.")
2) Now imagine The Pogues singing the theme, Shane MacGowan slurring all the lyrics, to The Brady Bunch.
I apologize if you can't get those out of your head all day.
The point is, I'm a fan of TV themes, even, in a weird way, the bad ones. I think about them way too much.
The Too Many Cooks video that swept the Internet late last year was a wonderful satire of cheesy boob-tube theme songs, especially from the late '70s and '80s. (If you're one of the last six Americans who hasn't seen or heard this CLICK HERE.)
But here a bunch of theme songs -- from shows that mostly were flops -- that still haunt my nightmares.
First, I give you My Mother the Car, a Jerry Van Dyke vehicle (pun intended) that ran on NBC from late 1965 through the spring of 1966.
Many years ago, George R.R. Martin (sorry for the gratuitous name-dropping) made me laugh out loud when he said that that the funniest thing about My Mother the Carwas that serious men with briefcases and expensive suits at NBC had to have had several intense meetings to develop this show.
The entire premise of this clunker is explained in the theme song.
Phyllis(1975-77) has the distinction of being the worst of the Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-offs. (Hey, I liked Lou Grant!) The opening theme actually was kind of clever. But still ... Phyllis.
The mid '60s hit series Batman had one of the coolest theme songs in TV history. Written by Neal Hefti, this instrumental was covered by The Ventures and even Iggy Pop, who did a live version. But that makes the theme song of Batman's far-less successful spin- off Batgirl even more deplorable. For one thing, they gave it lyrics -- lyrics like "Are you a chick who fell in from outer space? Or are you real with a tender warm embrace?" Holy crap on a cracker, Batman!
Besides Batgirl, Batman's success, inspired other superhero shows on network TV. NBC's answer was a bad comedy called Captain Nice. At least Batgirl was easier to look at than this mercifully short-lived series. And the theme song was nearly as terrible.
F Troop's stereotypical treatment of Native Americans would never fly today. Just ask Adam Sandler. Of course the only people dumber than the Hekawi tribe, for the most part, are the white soldiers at Fort Courage.
I have to admit, I kind of liked this show when I was a kid. It was better than My Mother the Car anyway. Still, the mock-heroic theme song from the first season is pretty clunky.
B.J. and The Bear was an NBC comedy about a truck driver and his chimpanzee. It debuted in 1979, a year after Clint Eastwood's Every Which Way But Loose, a comedy about a truck driver and his orangutan. (It was not a rip-off. Chimps and orangutans are completely different animals.)
And yes, the theme song sucked. "New dreams and better scenes/ And best of all I don't pay property tax," the show's leading man, Greg Evigan sang.
I don't know, but I think even Grover Norquist would rather pay property tax than to be stuck in the cab of a truck with a damned chimpanzee day in and day out.
The song loses even more points when you compare it with the theme of an earlier NBC truck-drivin' comedy Movin' On, -- which was written and sung by Merle Haggard.
All parents make mistakes, but I can proudly say that I never inflicted Lamb Chop's Play-Along (PBS, 1992-97) on either of my children. But I must admit, the theme song is a showcase for one of the pioneers of Caucasian hip-hop: Shari Lewis.
And I agree with this next one. Eight IS enough of these horrible tunes.
But may you spend your Wacky Wednesday like a bright and shiny new dime!
(Background Music: Dog Breath in the Year of The Plague by The Mothers of Invention)
Deputy Dog by The Great Gaylord & The Frigss
Motor Pyscho by Rattface
Bomb Squad by Gas Huffer
Saint Dee by The Bloodhounds
You Bring Me Down by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Hound Dog by '68 Comeback
(Background Music: Taylor's Rock by Hound Dog Taylor)
Sunday, May 24, 2015 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
Here's the playlist below;
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
After the Rain by Mission of Burma
God is a Bullet by Concrete Blonde
Goo Goo Muck by The Cramps
Miniskirt Blues by Simon Stokes
Suicide in a Bottle by Evil Idols
Baby Doll by Horror Deluxe
Don't Slander Me by Roky Erikson
Spider and Fly by Motobunny
Milkshake 'n' Honey by Sleater-Kinney
Whammy Kiss by The B-52s
Inside Looking Out by Chesterfield Kings
Time Will Tell by Handsome Jack
Take Me to Our Place by Jonny Manak & The Depressives
Mean and Evil by Juke Joint Pimps
Total Destruction to Your Mind by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
Oh Wendy, Let's Stay Out All Night by The A-Bones
Do the Get Down by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Designed to Kill by James Chance
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOB DYLAN
Maggie's Farm by Bob Dylan
The Wicked Messenger by The Black Keys
Thunder on the Mountain by Bob Dylan
Don't Think Twice by Mike Ness
Dignity by Bob Dylan
Every Grain of Sand by Giant Sand
Baby Let Me Follow You Down (Reprise) by Bob Dylan & The Band
That Knucklehead Stuff by Chuck E. Weiss
Borracho Mark Lanegan
That Lucky Old Sun by Bob Dylan
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
