WACKY WEDNESDAY: Going Out of My Head

One of my favorite podcasts in recent years is Squaring the Strange, hosted by  New Mexico author Ben Radford, Celestia Ward and sometimes Pasqual Romero. The show is dedicated to bringing  "evidence-based analysis and commentary to a wide variety of topics, ranging from the paranormal to the political," which includes,  "Investigating ghosts. Debunking conspiracies. Dodging chupacabras" not to mention busting phony psychics, various New-Age scams, poorly-source sensational news stories and Satanic panics (although I've been told that if you listen to the show backwards you will get all sorts of Satanic propaganda messages that eventually will enslave you to the Dark Lord.)

And speaking of subliminal messages, Squaring the Strange's latest episode, "The Head Show," which deals with "multi-headed creatures in folklore, conjoined twinning, Miracle Mike the headless chicken, experiments on heads fresh from the guillotine, the Frozen head of Walt Disney, and shrunken heads" filled my head not only with interesting historical information but with some crazy songs.

Here are some of them:

Hasil Adkins fans know that decapitation was a recurring romantic theme in the West Virginia rockabilly's oeuvre:



Hasil wasn't the first to explore this theme. Back in the early 1930s, "With Her Head Tucked Underneath Her Arm," which deals with the ghost of Anne Boelyn, an executed wife of British King Henry VIII, was a graveyard smash.




On their album Look Mom, No Head, The Cramps painted a sympathetic portrait of a two-headed transgender person:




Here's one for Miracle Mike from The Magnetic Fields



And here's a souvenir shrunken head from the World's Scariest Band, Deadbolt

King Shark in the Studio

King Shark, Nancie Brodhead, Jono Manson

The popular image of reggae recording sessions for most laymen probably involves a lot of dreadlocked musicians with red eyes smoking sweet, pungent spliffs the size of their forearms. I'm not saying that stereotype isn't based on the truth, but it's not what I found last week when I dropped in on a King Shark recording session at The Kitchen Sink Recording Studio in downtown Santa Fe last week.

There was Manson, a longtime Santa Fe musician who owns and operates the studio, with Shark, aka Alphanso Henclewood, hunched over the recording console.They weren't actually recording while I was there, just goosing and tweaking a couple of songs. 

Behind them, on a comfortable sofa, was Shark's friend and employer, Nancie Brodhead, who earlier that day had recorded vocals for a track Manson was playing back. I didn't immediately recognize the song, though it came to me when they they got back to the chorus:

Gonna take a sentimental journey

Gonna set my heart at ease

Gonna make a sentimental journey

To renew old memories ...

The arrangement might not be what Les Brown & His Band of Renown had in mind back in 1945 when they recorded it with a vocalist Doris Day. But it works as a reggae song.

Later in the afternoon Shark and Manson worked on another tune, this one with Shark on vocals. It was the old Smokey Robinson hit "Cruisin'," a song Shark's loved since he was a young man in Jamaica.

Shark's version of this song features a myriad of instrumental tracks Manson was bringing up in the mix, including an acoustic guitar (in which I think I heard flamenco overtones), a lone violin and electric guitar by longtime Shark crony  Earl “Chinna” Smith, a reggae monster whose résumé includes session work with Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Burning Spear, Lee “Scratch” Perry and King Tubby.

As may be obvious from those songs I mentioned, Shark is working on an album of cover songs, done in his roots reggae style. Most of the instrumental tracks were recorded in Jamaica, some of them years ago. 

The Shark Who Would Be King: The singer was born 62 years ago in the Greenwich Farms district of Kingston, Jamaica. It’s a fishing community, but it has also produced way more than its share of musicians, including Chinna and Shark.

Shark first came to the U.S. in the mid '80s, after a stint in Toronto. He moved to New York City in 1984 (and lived there at the same time Manson was living and gigging there -- though the two didn’t know each other during that time.)

About 20 years ago Shark left New York and ended up in Santa Fe, Here he  started a band called King Shark Solutions and established his record  company, Montego Records. In 2000, Montego released the first of several reggae compilations, King Shark and All Star Friends, which was recorded in Jamaica featuring tracks by artists like Prince Alla, (Keith Blake), Vicious Irie and Shark himself. 

Though he moved from Santa Fe to Dallas several years ago (to sing with a band called Irie Connections), the king returned in 2010, settling down in the Pecos area, where he's been ever since.

Through the years he's given me a lot of music, much of which I've reviewed and plugged in my old column at The New Mexican and played on the radio. I don't know when the covers record will be finished, but I'm looking forward to hearing it.

Until then here are a couple of King Shark tunes from recent years. 

"Walk in the Light" was released about a year ago.

And this one is a few years older

Montego Records can be found HERE

Shark also sells CDs at CD Baby 

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, January 12, 2020
  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
Thin Line by The Darts
Monkey David Wine by Scott H. Biram & Jesse Dayton
Celebration #1 by Night Beats
It's O.K by Dead Moon
Down in Flames by Alien Space Kitchen
I'm Gonna Make You Mine by Shadows of Knight
King of the New York Streets by Dion
Telephone Man by Quintron & Miss Pussycat

Frenchmen Street by Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
Cowboys are Square by Thee Mighty Caesars
Double Shot of My Baby's Love by The Swingin' Medallions
Poontang by Deke Dickerson
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Don't Come Back by Mary Weiss
I Hear Voices by Screamin ' Jay Hawkins
I'm Hurting by The Dustaphonics
Good Stuff by Bobby Rush

Tryin' to Get To You by Elvis Presley
Tell the Killer the King is Dead by Ronnie Elliott
Elvis is Everywhere by Mojo Nixon
Rock 'n' Roll Hell by Stephen W. Terrell
I Can't Help Falling In Love Withn You by Elvis Presley

Honey Don't You Want a Man Like Me by Frank Zappa
Distant Fingers by Patti Smith

The Conspiracy Song by The Dead Milkmen
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by The Leaving Trains
Man in the Box by Alice in Chains
Crawdad Hole by Jessie Mae Hemphill
I'm Gonna Make You Love Me by Buddy & Julie Miller
Sleeping Without You is a Dragg by Swamp Dogg
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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THROWBACK THURSDAY: The Plight of the Rich

For years, a recurring theme in country music concerned the poor little rich girl, that sweet thing from humble beginnings who marries a rich man only to find herself miserable.

Sometimes it's because the rich husband is a jerk. Sometimes it's because she realizes that money doesn't buy happiness. And, in at least one classic country song, the girl's misery is basically wishful thinking on the part of a poor boy she left behind

Here are some classic examples of this hillbilly music theme, starting with Wanda Jackson in the 1950s with "Silver Threads and Golden Needles," a song written by Jack Rhodes and Dick Reynolds, later recorded by The Springfields (featuring a singer named Dusty), Skeeter Davis, Linda Ronstadt  and many others.



The song from the spurned poor boy I mentioned is "Crystal Chandelier," best known for the version by Charlie Pride. However, a lesser-known singer named Carl Belew was the first to record this Ted Harris composition in 1965, two years before Charlie's version.



In 1973, Jeannie Pruett had a major hit with her cry-in-your-Dom-Perignon tune "Satin Sheets." Written by John Volinkaty, this song would later be covered by Dolly, Loretta, Tammy and others. But a year before Jeannie's version hit the charts, it originally was recorded by Whisperin' Bill Anderson and his wife Jan Howard.



And all these sad songs provided fodder for a wonderful satire by the mighty Austin Lounge Lizards

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, January 5, 2020
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
Wynona's Big Brown Beaver by Primus
Love and Death by Meet Your Death
Gutterboy Blues by Mean Motor Scooter
De Pumped Out Blues by Barnes & Barnes
Fish Heads by Osaka Popstar
Stuck Under My Shoe by The Dirtbombs
Brenda by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Sweet Young Thing by Chocolate Watchband
Leave Me Alone by Esquirita
I'm A Martian by Hollywood Sinners

Gholu by Thee Oh Sees
Who Told You That? by The Mighty Hannibal
Alley Cat by Cathy Freeman
Cherry Red by Ty Segall
Just a Little bit by The Hormonauts
Gimme Danger by Iggy & The Stooges
I'm Gonna Put You Under the Jail by Butterbeans & Susie

Let it Come Down by Alien Space Kitchen
Juvenile Delinquent by The Cavemen
Country Can by Spray Paint
Bitter 'n' Twisted by Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers
How Does That Grab You Darlin' by Empress of Fur
Hank Watson Stalks the Earth by Deadbolt
They Can't Stop Me by Prince Alla
Heart by REQ'D

La Llorona and the Lowriders by Boris McCutcheon
Old Landmark by Aretha Franklin
Oct 33 by Black Pumas
I've Gotta Have My Baby Back by Ray Price
Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Nirvana
Lovers Never Say Goodbye by The Flamingos
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page


Want to keep the party going after I sign off at midnight?
Go to The Big Enchilada Podcast which has hours and hours of music like this.

CLICK HERE

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast CLICK HERE