Welcome to the 10th anniversary of The Big Enchilada!!!!! And just like my very first podcast back in October 2008, it's another Halloween show. So brace yourself, Bridget, it's a twitchy, witchy, blood-suckin', flesh-eatin' nightmare of an episode and there's not a ghost of a chance that you won't love it.
Remind your loved ones that The Big Enchilada is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and gimme a good rating and review if you're so inclined.) Thanks.
Sunday, October 14, 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
Dancing All Around the World by The Fleshtones
Blood Vision by Jay Reatard
A Fix on You by Dead Moon
Flesh Eating Cocaine Blues by Daddy Long Legs
Hush Hush by The Plimsouls
Geraldine by The A-Bones
No Thanks by King Brothers
Distemper by The Ar-Kaics
I Never Told You by Reverend Beat-Man & Izobel Garcia
I Want it Back by Jonah Gold & His Silver Apples
The Trip of Kambo by O Lendario Chucrobillyman
Another She by Arvidson & Butterfly
The Noose That Snapped by Demented Are Go
Handshake Drugs by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
I Am Trying to Break Your Heart by JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound
Get the Family Together by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Single Again by Fiery Furnaces
Wimp by Jean Caffeine
Where have you been, Billy boy, Billy boy?
DAMAGED GOODS SET
Every Bit of Me by Thee Headcoats
Davy Crockett by Thee Headcoatees
Jack the Ripper by The Revillos
Are You a Wally by The Spartan Dreggs
Punk Rock Enough For Me by CTMF
All My Friends are Zombies by The Priscillas
Ain't No Rock 'n' Roll Rookie by Johnny Moped
Love Pours Out of My Heart by Miss Ludella Black
Walk a Mile by Holly Golightly
I Don't Like the Man That I Am by Billy Childish & The Singing Loins
Archive from 1959 by The Buff Medways
I Had a Dream by Charlie Pickett
Dusty Bibles and Silver Spoons by The Bloodhounds
Waltzing in the Moonlight by Country Joe & The Fish
From Her to Eternity by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Say We'll Meet Again by Lindsey Buckingham CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Oct. 12, 2018
Which way ya goin', Billy?
Steven John Hamper — or is it William Charlie Hamper? — of Chatham, England, aka Billy Childish, sometimes records under the name of “Wild Billy Chyldish” and other variations of his pseudonym.
He's a painter, a photographer, a poet, and — let’s go full Kristofferson here — a picker and a prophet and a prolific pusher of a do-it-yourself aesthetic of rock ’n’ roll that is informed by punk, garage, blues, folk, and probably other influences that lesser mortals have yet to uncover.
This infamously curmudgeonly contrarian has been responsible for a crazy number of bands since the mid-’70s, including The Pop Rivets, Thee Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Delmonas, Thee Headcoats (which spawned the all-girl group Thee Headcoatees), The Buff Medways, The Chatham Singers, The Musicians of the British Empire, The Spartan Dreggs, and, most recently CTMF — unless he’s started a new group since I began writing this.
As could be expected, this fifty-eight-year-old artist — who says he’s made more than 150 albums, never using a producer — has recorded on a long list of independent record companies including Sub Pop, Sympathy for the Record Industry, K Records, Amphetamine Reptile, Get Hip, and his own Hangman label.
But when I think of Billy Childish, the first label I think of is Damaged Goods, the British label started 30 years ago by a guy called Ian Damaged (who’s married to a lady named Alison Wonderland). And now, that wondrous label is releasing a two-disc, 37-song 30th anniversary compilation called Damaged Goods 1988-2018, described by the DG media machine as “a selection of top tracks, deep cuts, lost gems, and personal favourites.”
No, Damaged Goods and Billy Childish are not synonymous. DG started out as a punk-rock reissue label, and Childish didn’t start recording for them until 1991 (initially with Thee Headcoats, which served as his major music vehicle through most of the ’90s).
And Childish probably isn’t as well known with the general public as the Manic Street Preachers, who went on to major labels after their 1990 debut on Damaged Goods, New Art Riot E.P. (The title track is included here, but, frankly, it’s not all that impressive.)
But Damaged Goods began managing Billy’s back catalog a few years ago, and I’d argue that even though he was a little late to the party, he quickly became the soul of the label. I’m not comparing Ian Damaged to Sam Phillips, but trying to discuss Damaged Goods without Billy Childish is like trying to talk about Sun Records without mentioning Elvis Presley.
Besides, Childish is all over this collection.
He’s responsible for a quarter of the tracks on the first disc. Following a cool blast of punk by a guy called Johnny Moped called “Ain’t No Rock ’n’ Roll Rookie,” Thee Headcoats barge in with a tune of classic Childish self-loathing called “Every Bit of Me.” Childish, who has frequently talked publicly about being molested at the age of nine by a “friend” of his family, roars in this song about that defining incident: “He was forty years old inside my jeans/I was nine years old and feeling unclean/He told it’s a secret to keep to myself/I wanted to hate him but I hated myself/with every bit of me, every bit of me ...”
In another Childish song in this compilation, “I Don’t Like the Man That I Am,” recorded with the folk-punk group The Singing Loins, Childish works a similar introspective theme. Backed only by banjo, acoustic guitar, and bass drum, he sings, “I don’t love you ’cause I don’t like the man I am.”
There’s another autobiographical tune, a fierce rocker called “Archive From 1959” (that’s the year he was born) by The Buff Medways, and some weird noodling from Childish and his crony, fellow artist-poet-singer Sexton Ming called “Sing Shed Sing” (a minute and 16 seconds of spoken word over what sounds like a toy organ and chimes). I also like “Are You a Wally?” by The Spartan Dreggs, though I have no idea what Childish is singing about here. (Could it be that I’m a Wally?)
But the best song on the whole collection is “Punk Rock Enough for Me,” by Childish’s CTMF — and don’t ask me what that alphabet soup of a band name stands for. The song is basically a list of musicians, writers, artists, and some inanimate objects, like a cup of tea — all of which Billy considers to be punk rock — sung over a tune that sounds like a hard-edged version of Them’s “Gloria.”
Among this esteemed company are Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix (in Beatle boots), Bo Diddley, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Billie Holiday, Nikolai Gogol, and Buddy Holly. And I almost did the Freddie when Childish included the ’60s British band Freddie and The Dreamers. This tune is a dandy put-down of punk-rock purity.
Besides Childish himself, Damaged Goods 1988-2018 includes what might be the most popular song by the lovely and talented Headcoatees, the cool, wacky “Davy Crockett,” which has a melody similar to Don and Dewey’s “Farmer John.”
Even better are some lesser-known songs by former Headcoatees who went on to solo careers. There’s the soulful “Love Pours Out of My Heart” by Miss Ludella Black (I can imagine Sally Timms of The Mekons singing this one) and a couple from the ever-delightful Holly Golightly, who sings a bluesy, sultry “Walk a Mile,” as well as a song with The Brokeoffs, “Just Around the Bend.”
Speaking of girl groups, the best non-Childish tracks on the compilation are by female bands or singers. Thee Dagger Debs sound like a tougher Bay City Rollers on the catchy “Ain’t Worth the Time.” The Period Pains do a tune called “Spice Girls (Who Do You Think You Are?),” while Betty and The Werewolves toast a pop star from a previous era, “David Cassidy.” And speaking of werewolves, The Priscillas have a great spook-rock tune called “All My Friends Are Zombies” just in time for Halloween.
With the music biz imploding and transforming at a near-deadly pace, it’s refreshing to see that a determined independent label like Damaged Goods can last three decades. Here’s to 30 more years for this wonderful company. Let's see some videos:
Here's some live Billy & The Buffs
Thee Headcoatees were the queens of the wild frontier
I don't think I'm a Wally, but how can I be sure?
And as a special treat, here is my Spotify playlist of various Billy Childish bands, offshoots and related artists.
It's almost
International Newspaper Carrier Day.
So in honor of that cherished holiday, which this year falls on Saturday Oct.
13, let's take a look at song about America's most beloved newsboy, a lad named
Jimmy Brown.
William Shakespeare wrote the original version of this song.
William Shakespeare Hays, that is. He was a songwriter born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1837. Hays wrote
it under the title of "Jimmie Brown (the Paper Boy). It had a different melody
than the one we later came to know (CLICK HERE to download a midi version). But the story is basically the same:
I'm very cold and hungry, sir, My clothes are worn and thin, I wander on from place to place, My daily bread to win; But never mind, sir, how I look, Don't sneer at me, or frown,-- I'm selling papers, for I am The newsboy, Jimmie Brown. CHORUS I sell the morning paper, sir, My name is Jimmie Brown,-- Most ev'ry body knows I am The "poor boy of the town." 2. My father was a drunkard, sir, So I've heard my mother say,-- Before he died, how oft for him I've heard her weep and pray! But I am helping mother now, I journey up and down, To sell my papers, for I am The newsboy, Jimmie Brown. (CHORUS) 3. My mother tells me ev'ry night To kneel with her and pray,-- She says if I've an honest heart, I'll be all right some day; And when she's gone to heaven, sir, To wear a starry crown, She'll wait up there to welcome home The newsboy of the town. (CHORUS)
A.P. Carter took the song, rewrote some of the lyrics, gave it a different
melody and, as was his practice, gave himself the songwriting credit. Here's the
Carter Family's version.
Bill Monroe, Mac Wiseman and others recorded "Jimmy Brown," but my favorite
bluegrass version is by Flatt & Scruggs. Lester sang, while banjo deity Earl
Scruggs proved that he's pretty darn good at flat-picking a guitar.
The song drifted overseas where Lonnie Donegan skiffled it all up.
It's a completely different song, but in 1989, Stan Ridgway recorded a song
about another news carrier. This one is older, more cynical and more
philosophical than little Jimmy Brown. And he also has crazy fantasies about
becoming a caped crusader.
Sunday, October 7, 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
I Walked With the Zombie by Roky Erikson & The Aliens
Her Cold Cold Heart by The Night Beats
I Suffer, I Get Tougher by The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Hangman by Beat Happening
Conception of the Blues by The Goon Mat & Lord Bernardo
El Perversio by Deadbolt
Johnny Voodoo by Empress of Fur
Thunderbird ESQ by Hank Haint
Love Pours Out of My Heart by Miss Ludella Black
Nudist Colony by Kirk Hansard
DJ. Why Why Why by Bee Bee Sea
Ask the Angels by Patti Smith
Heat Wave by The Vagoos
Strangest Stranger by Salty Pajamas
Cosmic Two Step by The Barbarellatones
The Straight Life by Mudhoney
Jack the Rippers by The Revillos
Can't Help (But Wonder) by The Moonbeats
What I Like About Miami by Charlie Pickett
You Turn Me Bad by The Ar-Kaiks
Lost Memories by Sloks
You're So Sorry by The Budget Girls
Dead Man's Shoes by Hipbone Slim & The Knee Tremblers
Long Runs the Fox by The Bonnevilles
I Ain't the One by Bobby Rush
Spiders by Harlan T. Bobo
Evil Woman by Gogo Loco
Something's Goin' On by Jessica Lee Wilkes
I Drink Too Much by Cornell Hurd
Sundown Blues by Tony Joe White
She Said She Said by Black Keys
Trouble in Mind by Johnny Dowd
Season of the Witch by Donovan
Say We'll Meet Again by Lindsey Buckingham
Please Send Me Someone to Love by The Persuasions
I Believe Her by Ramblin' Deano CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
