FATS AND R.L.

It was one of the few bright notes coming out of the Hell hole that is New Orleans, but I was very relived last night when I found that Fats Domino had been found and was alive and well. The horror that is New Orleans is unimaginable, but the thought that Katrina had claimed Fats made it just that much worse.

But has anyone heard whether Irma Thomas has been found yet?


XXXXXX


I was very sad to hear about the death of R.L. Burnside though. I remember two grea shows of his at teh old Santa Fe Music Hall. I also recall that about six years ago Burnside had to cancell his headlining gig at the Thirsty Ear Festival due to health problems. Corey Harris said a prayer for him on stage at the festival that year. I'm sure more will be said this weekend.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: JOE & JOSH

{NOTE: This is being posted later than usual because I was out late at Tiny's for the CD release party of the first CD reviewed below. Joe and band and various pickers did a great show, including one of the most moving versions of Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" I've ever heard.}

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 2, 2005

Why should I review Joe West? He does a good job himself of summing up his musical outlook on his new album The Human Cannonball, on a song called “Jam Bands in Colorado”

“I’m a country singer, a little punk rock ‘n’ roll, I got a beatnik poet somewhere in the soul …”

West has earned his status as one of Santa Fe’s favorite singer/songwriters. His wry wit, laconic drawl and simple yet memorable country-soaked melodies provide an ongoing poignant -- and usually humorous -- of life in the southwest.

The Human Cannonball won’t disappoint old fans and hopefully will win him some new ones.

As usual, he’s got a good collection of musicians backing him up, including longtime crony Frank Rolla on banjo, Ben Wright (formerly of Mary & Mars) on guitar, and members of Frogville Records label mate Hundred Year Flood. On the banjo-driven stomper “Oklahoma Bound,” it sounds like everyone singing or playing is having the time of their lives.

There’s tunes of twisted love. The opening track, “The Combines Are Coming” an easy-paced hillbilly tune (that starts off with someone torching a trailer park) tells of an affair with a married woman. When the narrator asks about her wedding ring, the woman says her husband is working out of town. “And I love him more than you’ll ever know/But I’m not the type to kiss and tell.”

There’s tall tales like “Jimmy Joe the Wrangler,” the story of a “Philippino queen” who takes revenge on a group of Ted Nugent-loving redneck bullies in an Oklahoma bar.

There’s some sardonic topical songs that are fun, if relatively inconsequential. “Straight Man in a Gay World,” for instance. And there‘s “Jam Bands in Colorado” pokes fun of our northern neighbors’ String Cheese/Leftover Salmon neo-hippie scene. Some folks, he says have suggested West himself hook up with the jam banders. But he knows he wouldn‘t fit in. (Because he’s a country singer, a little punk rock ‘n’ roll …)

And there’s even 43 seconds of lo-fi political commentary called “Talkin’ Terror Yodel.” This offers sage foreign policy advice : “If you piss in the wind, it’s gonna come back at you.”

Since his earliest work, West has a wonderful knack at making fun of Santa Fe, its artistic pretensions and its realities that lurk beneath its hyped-up image. Sometimes he uses City Different images in a surreal way, such as in “Trotsky’s Blues,” in which he reports seeing the Russian revolutionary at Bert’s Burger Bowl.

In “Cowgirl Hall of Fame” West sings a slow, sweet tribute to one of his most frequent musical venues in town, even though the lyrics aren’t literally about the local bar and restaurant.

West likes to sing loving tributes to locals who can’t afford the proverbial “$2,000 Navajo Rug.” A few years ago he did Mike the Can Man, an entire E.P. about a local character who collects aluminum cans for recycling. On Cannonball, he signs of “Anita Pita,” about a single mom who vacuums art galleries for extra cash.

West, a veteran of the gospel brunch at the Cowgirl, ends Cannonball with a spiritual message. He might or might not be singing the song “Heaven” with a completely straight face, but I’d to think he’s sincere when he urges folks not to be jealous of successful friends or bitter about their own shortcomings because “Jesus and his angels are rootin’ for you.”

Not a complex message, but one worth hearing. I think Jesus is rooting for Joe West.

Also Recommended:

*Let’s Waste Another Evening by Josh Lederman y Los Diablos. Josh Lederman might just be the Joe West of Boston. I bet the two would have a lot to talk about.

Lederman’s band, with the Mexican-sounding name, has been described as the kings of “Jewish-Celtic Folk Punk.” Indeed, there’s an obvious Pogues influence here -- a prominent accordion and Irish-sounding melodies played rowdy but rarely sloppy.

They also can do rocked-out versions of other folk styles. The instrumental “Te Portki Tancuja” contains elements of Cajun music and polka.

But Lederman’s voice, which sounds like a hoarser version of John Linnell of They Might Be Giants, is one of the major draws.

He’s also a fine songwriter, telling stories of lost love and lost weekends.

“The Waltzing Ladies,” has a melody similar to “The Wildwood Flower” tells of poor girls gone wrong. “My Sweet Caroline” is an outright country kicker about “playing lots of cards and smoking cheap cigars” to get his mind off an absent lover.

“China Town,” probably the most Pogue-like song here, alternates between brutal and irresistible mandolin interludes. Lederman sings of heartache and debauchery, name checking Charles Bukowski in the process.

“Will I Miss the City” is a perfect album ender, about a ramblin’ guy about to pull up stakes.

“Will I sing the same songs over and over down the rail?/Will I find my way out when the rain has washed away the trail?/Will I ride the thunder, or come home slithering like a snail?/when the rain has gone and washed away the trail?”

My favorite tune here is a cover of a traditional Irish outlaw song, “Newry Highwayman.” It’s the same basic story of “Brennan on the Moor” or “Wild Colonial Boy.” But this song has echoes of the funeral fantasies found in American jazz and blues tunes like “Saint James Infirmary” and “Dyin’ Crapshooter Blues.”

“And when I’m dead and in my grave/A fancy funeral please let me have/Six highwaymen to carry me/Oh give them broad swords and sweet liberty … Six pretty maiden to bear my pawl/Give them white roses and garlands all/And when I’m dead,they’ll speak the truth,/ He was a wild and wicked youth.”

Indeed, this is a wild and wicked album.

GREAT MUSICAL WEEKEND

Lots of music ahead for Santa Fe this Labor Day weekend.

The big thing, of course is the Thirsty Ear Festival, Friday night then all day Saturday and Sunday. You probably can find me there at the KSFR booth, peddling propaganda about public radio.

But this weekend begins Thursday -- tonight -- at Tiny's Lounge where Joe West is having a CD release party for his new album Human Cannonball. (More on this CD real soon.)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: THE GREENS BACK FRAN (WHEN ASKED)

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 1, 2005

Santa Fe Municipal Judge Fran Gallegos is one of two elected officials in New Mexico who is a member of the Green Party (the other being Gary Clauss, a member of the Silver City Town Council.)

But so far, the Greens have been mysteriously silent about Gallegos’ recent suspension by the state Supreme Court over what the state Judicial Standard Commissions says is “a myriad of ethical violations” on the judge’s part.

Until now.

I called one of the party’s two recently elected co-chairmen, John Otter of Santa Fe on Tuesday and asked whether the Greens had taken a stand on the Gallegos situation — and if not, why not?

Otter confirmed that the party hadn’t made any public statements about the case. He said he wasn’t familiar with the details of the case — which includes allegations of Gallegos altering drunken-driving case records to make her look tougher on DWI — but that he personally has the “highest respect” for the judge.

He also said party leaders would be meeting that night and that the topic was likely to come up.

On Wednesday, Otter said the basic consensus of the Greens about Gallegos was that “We have every confidence in her and her efforts to benefit the community.”

If Gallegos did make a “misstep,” Otter said, “we’re sure it wasn’t to benefit herself.”

“We need to know more about the current charges,” Otter said. “Nobody’s perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. Her work has been very beneficial to Santa Fe.”

Not the most spirited, hard-hitting defense. But that’s what he had.

Otter said Gallegos hadn’t spoken with him or other Green leaders since the high court suspended her with pay for 90 days last month.

Carol Miller, a past state co-chairman of the Greens and a former Green candidate for Congress, also had praise for Gallegos, though she too said she wasn’t up on the specific case against the judge.

“My personal position is that she’s innocent until proven guilty,” Miller said Tuesday. “I have high regards for Fran Gallegos.”

Santa Fe elections officially are “non-partisan” — which means candidates don’t run as Democrats, Republicans or Greens. However, since she was first won her office in 1996, the Greens have touted Gallegos’ election victories as their own.

(For a couple of years, Santa Fe city government had three elected Green officials. But in 2002, City Councilor Cris Moore didn’t seek re-election. Later that year, Councilor Miguel Chavez switched from the Green Party to become a Democrat.)

Gallegos ran as a Green in her first political race. That was in 1994, when she gave Democrat Richard “Buzzy” Padilla a scare in a magistrate judge race.

Gallegos in July spoke to a state “Green Gathering." According to an item on the state party’s Web site, Gallegos, “spoke of her struggles with both major parties and her gratitude to Greens who gave her a home and helped her gain and retain office, and implement her successful and innovative programs.”

Could one of those “struggles” refer to her problems with the state Judicial Standards Commission, which would explode in public a month later?

Grist for the conspiracy buffs: This is probably just all coincidence. There’s probably nothing to it. I’m probably being terribly irresponsible for even suggesting there’s some dots here that have any possibility of being connected.

But what the heck ...

In early August, following a memorial service for a Santa Fe woman killed by a drunk driver, Gov. Bill Richardson said he was disturbed by The New Mexican’s investigation that revealed Gallegos had altered some DWI case records.

“I find the reports about the DWI records very troubling,” Richardson said. “I plan to seek advice from my legal counsel about what steps might be taken with (the Judicial Standards Commission).”

Soon thereafter the commission recommended Gallegos be suspended.

The JSC’s general counsel is Jim Noel, who is the husband of Richardson’s political director, Amanda Cooper.

The plot thickens.

This week Santa Fe Mayor Larry Delgado chose a substitute judge to take over during the 90-day suspension period. The substitute judge, Sonya Carasco-Trujillo, is a top aide to Richardson’s loyal Lt. Gov. Diane Denish.

And if you really want to carry it to an extreme, Gallegos, before becoming a judge, also worked in the lieutenant governor’s office — though she worked for Lt. Gov. Walter Bradley, a Republican.

POTATOHEADS FOR KATRINA RELIEF

O.K. Here's the deal:

The fine folks at CD Baby, who sell my album and oh so many more, have offered to let artists donate their profits to the Red Cross in order to help the Gulf Coast relief effort.

I'm doing it with my CD, Picnic Time for Potatoheads. It costs $12.97 and nearly nine bucks of that will go to the Red Cross.

I'll do this at least until the end of the year, so remember the gift of Potatoheads this holiday season ...

I won't get a dime of it -- just that warm feeling a musician gets when you know your work is doing more than just providing a soundtrack to debauchery.

Buy it. Don't be a chump.

And if you don't want my tacky music, here's the gallery of CD Baby artists who are donating their profits to Katrina Relief.

PFEFFER TO ANNOUNCE FOR SENATE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican August 30, 2005 City Councilor David Pfeffer — a former Democrat who switched parties this year after campaigning for President Bush in the 2004 election — is expected to announce his candidacy for U.S. Senate in Albuquerque today. 

Pfeffer, 60, who represents the north-side District 1 on the council, would be running against popular Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman, a four-term incumbent who earlier this year announced his intent to seek re-election. 

A Monday news release for Pfeffer said the councilor “has been touring New Mexico in recent months exploring a run for the United States Senate, meeting with GOP groups in Taos, Clovis, Los Alamos, Roswell, Albuquerque, Socorro, Alamogordo, Las Cruces and other communities.” 

The news release said Pfeffer would “discuss his political plans” at today’s news conference. In a telephone interview Monday he declined to publicly discuss his decision about the Senate race — though he joked about the unlikeness of holding a press conference in Albuquerque to announce he is seeking re-election to his Santa Fe council seat.

Most political observers agree that Bingaman will be hard to beat. His career has been virtually free of controversy. After defeating an incumbent Republican Sen. Harrison “Jack” Schmitt in 1982, Bingaman has been re-elected by healthy, usually landslide margins. 

A statewide poll of 600 New Mexican adults conducted Aug. 12 through Aug. 14 by the Survey U.S.A. organization showed that 59 percent of those polled approved of Bingaman’s performance in the Senate while only 26 percent disapproved. (The margin of error was plus or minus 4 percent.) 

But one of Pfeffer’s City Council colleagues — a Democrat — said Pfeffer’s chances shouldn’t be dismissed. Councilor Carol Robertson-Lopez said Pfeffer is articulate and media savvy, and probably is the best-known of the eight Santa Fe city councilors. Robertson-Lopez also said she expects the Republican Party to pour impressive amounts of cash into Pfeffer’s campaign. 

Earlier this month Pfeffer acknowledged that he has raised more than $5,000 for his Senate campaign. But he refused to name any of his contributors and refused to say who owns the two planes he used during the “exploratory” part of his campaign. Bingaman already has raised more than $1 million for his re-election effort.

TERRELL'S SOUNDWORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, August 28, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Like a Hurricane by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
New Orleans is Sinking/Fire in the Hole/Nautical Disaster by The Tragically Hip
Louisiana 1927 by Randy Newman
Tokyo Storm Warning by Elvis Costello

That Big Weird Thing by Drywall
Call of the West by Wall of Voodoo
Driftin' by Big Ugly Guys
Pistol of Fire by Kings of Leon
Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan
School Days by The Kinks
She's Up North by James Bilacody & The Cremains

Hookers in the Street by Otis Taylor
Porch Monkey's Theme by Alvin Youngblood Hart
She Caught the Katy (And Left Me a Mule to Ride) by Taj Mahal
Neon Messiah by Terrance Trent D'Arby
Monty is That You? by Quincy Jones
Who Was In My Room Last Night? by The Butthole Surfers

True Love by X
She Floated Away by Husker Du
World Leader Pretend by REM
Swingin' Party by The Replacements
Sea of Love by Iggy Pop
Letters from the Ninth Ward/Walk Away, Rene by Rickie Lee Jones
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis