WACKY WEDNESDAY: "Hi, How Are You?" Day

Daniel Johnston plays the Electric Lounge in Austin during the 1999 South by Southwest.

Monday was Daniel Johnston's 57th birthday.

And in Austin, Texas, where Johnston rose to become one of America's most beloved "outsider" musicians in the 1980s, the mayor declared Jan. 22 as "Hi How Are You?" Day.

In a statement given to various news outlets, Austin Mayor Steve Adler said:

"'Hi, How Are You?' is more than one of Austin's most iconic murals. It's a reminder to reach out to our friends and neighbors to see if they're OK, and for those experiencing mental health issues it's a reminder that you've got a whole community that can handle an honest answer because we want to help you get the help you need."

The mural

For the uninitiated, Hi, How Are You? was the name of Johnston's 1983 album, originally self-released on cassette only.

It's also a new foundation in Austin dedicated to generating "new conversation around mental well-being."

The mural of which the mayor spoke was one that Johnston himself painted on the wall of the old Sound Exchange record store. It was based on the cover of the album, a weird frog-like creature drawn by Johnston. The record shop is gone, but the mural remains.

Johnston's struggle with his mental health problems are well documented.

On Monday in honor of Hi How Are You? Day there was a Johnston tribute concert at The Mohawk. HERE is the Austin American-Statesman's coverage, written by my pal Peter Blackstock. Daniel himself was on hand for the show and performed "Caspar the Friendly Ghost" and "a couple of other short fragments of songs."

So happy belated Hi How Are You Day! Here are some videos of some of my favorite Daniel songs.

This is one of the many Johnston wrote inspired by his unrequited love for the beautiful Laurie.



Johnston teamed up with Jad Fair in the late '80s to sing about Roky Erikson



"True Love Will Find You in the End."



Here's a live performance of a Beatles song with Jeff Tweedy in Chicago late last year.



This is a my favorite cover of one of Daniel's most moving songs. It's by the late Vic Chesnutt.



Finally, here's a video from the Hi, How Are You Foundation.

My Daniel Johnston cassette collection,
(two with original Sound Exchange price tags)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Evil by Grinderman
Greenies by Skip Church
Corpse on a Roof by The Blind Shake
Wanderer by De Los Muertos
Jesli Bedaiesz Tam by Kult
Abduction by The Scaners
Chunk of Steel by Hollywood Sinners
They Ring the Bells for Me by Reverend Beat-Man
Going Uptown by Rattanson

Blow Dumb by Nobunny
Can't Fool With Me by The Spaceshits
Trip to the Clinic by Demon's Claws
Shake 'em on Down by R.L. Burnside with Jon Spencer
4 Seasons Love by Juke Joint Pimps
She Lives in the Jungle by O Lendario Chuchrobillyman
Slut by New Bomb Turks
Clever Way to Crawl by Persian Claws
The Projects by Baronen & Satan

Tall Black and Bitter by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
You Can Eat My Poussiere by Rosie Ledet
Gay Jew Conquistador by Pocket FishRMen
Gibbus Gibson by The Fall
Trainwreck by The Dirtbombs
Your House or The Courthouse by The Livids
Formula X by Boss Hog
Get Wound Up by Oh! Gunquit
How Come You Do Me by The Cramps
St. James Infirmary Blues by Johnny Dowd
Laredo by Snakefarm

Love Gangsters by Gogol Bordello
Move Like Two Ghosts by Movie Star Junkies
Down for Death by Simon Stokes
There's So Many by Brian Wilson
Johnny Mathis' Feet by American Music Club
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this.

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, Jan. 19, 2018
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

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
25 Minutes to Go by Johnny Cash
Midnight Train to Memphis by Chris Stapleton
Walking with Frankie by Eilen Jewell
That's What She Said Last Night by Billy Joe Shaver
The President is Out of His Goddamn Mind by Ramblin' Deano
Nails in the Pines by Poor Boy's Soul
It's Been a Long Time Mama by The Blues Against Youth
Heartbreak Queen by Diamonds and Whiskey
Heavy on the Lonesome by Miss Leslie

Drift Away by Jim White
Way Out West / Jailhouse by Marty Stuart
Johnny Law / Dog House Blues by Wayne Hancock
The Housefire by Turnpike Troubadours

Cajun Joe (The Bully of the Bayou) by Doug & Rusty Kershaw
Cajun Stripper by Doug Kershaw
Alligator Man by Jimmy C. Newman
Cajun Clones by Stephen W. Terrell
Diggy Liggy Lo by Buck Owens
Bye Bye Boozoo by Beausoleil
The Swimming Song by Loudon Wainwright III
Goin' Down to Louisiana by Rusty Kershaw with Neil Young
Louisiana Man by Bobbie Gentry
Toot Toot by Doug Kershaw & Fats Domino
Stopm Kickin' My Dog Around by Rusty Kershaw
Hey Mae by Doug & Rusty Kershaw

Honey Child by Peter Case
Blood Red Velvet by Joe West
Dying Breed by Lonesome Bob
I Will Always Love You by Dolly Parton
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets



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Want to keep this hoedown going after I sign off at midnight?
Check out The Big Enchilada Podcast Hillbilly Episode Archive where there are hours of shows where I play music like you hear on the SF Opry.

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Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

THROWBACK THURSDAY: A Musical Salute to Oliver Hardy

"If you must make a noise, make it quietly."

Today is the birthday of one of the world's greatest comics, Oliver Hardy. He would have been 126.

Happy birthday, Ollie!

One of my happiest memories as a child was watching Laurel & Hardy on TV with my grandfather. He always called them "Stan and Ollie." One of the local stations in Oklahoma City played their old shorts every Sunday. In fact I might have been going to watch Stan & Ollie with my grandfather that day when this happened.

Or maybe not.

Even before he became a comic actor, Hardy was a singer. When he was a kid in Georgia his mother sent him to Atlanta for voice lessons. He sang in local vaudeville theaters. And in later years, he'd sometimes sing in the Laurel & Hardy films.

Here are a few of those clips.

This song, called "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" from their movie Way Out West. The baritone part that Laurel lip syncs is actually sung by cowboy actor Chill Wills.



Swing your Honolulu baby!



"I'm singing this song!"



What can you say about a couple of sad sack street buskers singing "In the Good Old Summer Time" in the snow?



Finally, "Shine on Harvest Moon" may be Hardy's greatest musical moment captured on film.

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Further Adventures in White Rap

Yo, homebodies!

A couple of years ago on a quiet Wacky Wednesday I posted an introduction into the world of White Rap. You can find that masterpiece HERE.

There I quoted Irwin Chusid from his liner notes for the classic 1994 Spy Magazine compilation White Men Can't Wrap.

White rap is a centuries-old tradition; the original white rappers were square-dance callers improvising rhymes for Saturday-night barn parties in America's rural backwaters. Like today's rappers, they were seen as debauchers, imperiling the morals of the young. The fiddle was "the instrument of the devil"; church leaders banned it. The callers' freestyle rhymes teased with erotic innuendos ("Duck for the oyster/Dig for the clam/Knock a hole in the old tin can").  ... it was all about sex and forbidden behavior! It was the roots of today's white rap culture."


Let's start off with the works of three classic rockers who, in the 1980s, proved they were down with the hippity hop.

First there's Rappin' Randy.



Lou Reed declared himself "The Original Wrapper."



And there's no denying that when Brian Wilson raps, he's still a genius. A very stable genius. Paging Dr. Landy!



Just for the heck of it, here's one of the classic old hillbilly "white rap" tunes like Chusid talked about. This song by Seven Foot Dilly & His Dill Pickles is from a cool compilation called The Roots of Rap.



But there is not, nor will there ever be a white rapper greater than the one and only Devastatin' Dave (the Turntable Slave). Here he is with a positive message for the youth.