I just got a nice e-mail from Jerry Lawson, formerly of The Persuasions, and his wife Julie alerting me to a new Lawson song you can hear streaming on the Web.
The new one is called "Down on My Knees," featuring Jerry backed by a band (cool slide guitar and reggae beat.)
And from that page you can find two songs of Jerry with Talk of the Town, an a-capella group from Phoenix. The songs aren't named, but I recognize the last one as Randy Newman's "He Gives Us All His Love." (The other is good too. It's called "I Hope.")
Check them out by clicking the icon below: (It'll take you to "Down on My Knees" You'll find links to the other two on the right side of the page.)
"... we received word yesterday that Nathaniel Mayer suffered a stroke this past week. Our prayers are with Nay Dog for a full recovery. LOVE YOU NATHANIEL!!!!
Sunday, April 20, 2008 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres Greasebox by TAD 7 and 7 Is by Love A Small Demand by International Noise Conspiracy Buckethead by Carbon/Silicone Elevator Ride by The Chesterfield Kings Leopardman at C&A by The Dirtbombs
Martin Scorcese by King Missile Live With Me by The Rolling Stones Champagne and Reefer by Muddy Waters Skinny Minnie by The Mummies Birthday by The Sugarcubes Searchin' For Love by The Come n' Go God Jazz Time by Thee Michelle Gun Elephant 1970 by Mission of Burma
I Wanna Dance With You by Nathaniel Mayer Night Train by James Brown You Make Your Own Heaven and Hell Right Here on Earth by The Temptations What Have You Done For Me Lately Part 1 by Sharon Jones Deuce and a Quarter by The Bo-Keys Hard Hustling by Andre Williams Give Me a Chance Part 1 by Lee Fields Rocket 69 by Todd Rhodes & Orchestra featuring Connie Allen Tiger Rag by Brand New Orleans Country Brass Band Pachuko Hop by Chuck Higgens
Six Forty Five by Firewater Musica Aggressia by Gogol Bordello Meine Kleine Russian by Reverend Beat-Man Hey Amigo by Havana 3 AM Samisen Boogiewoogie by Umekichi If I Have to Go by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, April 18, 2008 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell
Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos Arise! by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy The Taker by Waylon Jennings On a Monday by The Detroit Cobras The Tough Sell by The Drive-By Truckers Hurricane Party by James McMurtry Trip to Roswell, NM by The Santa Fe All-Stars Love Problems by Johnny Paycheck Split Personality by Clyde Leopard's Snearly Ranch Boys Truck Drivin' Son of a Gun by Dave Dudley
I Don't Want to Love Anyone This Much Again by Cornell Hurd Smoke & Wine by Hank Williams III Night Train to Memphis by Roy Acuff Bouncing Beer Cans Off the Jukebox by Dallas Wayne Put Me in Jail by Joe "King" Carrasco Sweet Mary Alice by Possessed by Paul James Hard Travelin' by Simon Stokes Always Late with Your Kisses by Lefty Frizzell Twisted World by Doug Sahm CHRIS GAFFNEY TRIBUTE Midnight Dream by The Hacienda Brothers The Gardens by The Texas Tornados Zero Hour by Chris Gaffney Six Nights a Week by Dave Alvin Wasted Days and Wasted Nights/Volver Volver by Billy Bacon & The Forbidden Pigs with Chris Gaffney Life's Little Ups and Downs by The Hacienda Brothers
Polly's Last Ride by Cedar Hill Refugees Laredo by Snakefarm Chante Moi by Christine Albert What'll It Be (A Soldier's Song) by The Cerrillos Islanders The Sky Above, The Mud Below by Tom Russell CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
For info on a webcast of a Hacienda Brothers concert 2 pm Mountain Time Saturday, check out this video. And dig Android Girl! Supposedly the show will be HERE But there's also some Hacienda Bros. interviews with Big Kev HERE.
Chris Gaffney of The Hacienda Brothers and Dave Alvin's Guilty Men died Thursday, losing a bout with liver cancer. He was 57.
That's him playing accordion here with Alvin at the 2006 Thirsty Ear Festival.
There's a decent obit in the L.A. Times: Gaffney sang in a tuneful yet conversational voice that was both sandpapery and sweet. He had no pretentiousness about his music. In a 1992 Times interview, he described taking part in a songwriters panel at a folk festival: "The kids were asking, 'How do you write songs?' I said, 'I'm sitting in front of the TV, having a beer, and something comes to my mind, and I go 'what the hell' and write it down."
As I blogged earlier, Alvin and Gaffney's family set up a Web site to help with Gaffney's medical expenses. Though Chris is gone, I'm sure the medical bills live on, so if you can contribute, please click the banner below.
I'll do a little tribute for Gaffney tonight on the Santa Fe Opry. (KSFR, 101.1 FM, 10 to midnight. Webcasting from KSFR's site.)
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican April 18, 2008
Nothing like a little apocalyptic paranoia to make a body want to rock. And you’ll find plenty of that on We Have You Surrounded, the new album by The Dirtbombs.
On nearly every song, singer/guitarist Mick Collins seems to be looking over his shoulder and not liking what he sees. Civilization is decaying, burning. The future’s so dim Collins can’t wear his shades. The end is near, and everyone’s out to wreck his flow.
There’s even a twist with the album title. We Have You Surrounded sounds triumphant. But there’s no song by that name on the album. Instead, there’s one called “They Have Us Surrounded” — a change of perspective or perhaps a fatal turnabout.
The Dirtbombs are one of the many Detroit bands of the 1990s that didn’t become famous when The White Stripes rose. (But don’t call his group a “garage band,” or Collins will twist your head off and eat your children.) With a lineup that includes two bassists and two drummers, Collins pays vocal tribute to the soul greats of his hometown’s past.
The album starts out with a searing little tune called “It’s Not Fun Until They See You Cry,” in which Collins seems to adapt a British accent and sounds almost like a tougher version of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith as he spits the menacing refrain, “Ah, you got what you wanted-uh. ...”
Although “Ever Lovin’ Man” is basically a love song (or at least a plea-for-sex song), it’s one of the most urgent-sounding and desperate tunes on an album steeped in urgency and desperation. It’s there from the first line: “Time is running out, and I can’t wait/I have to say this before it’s too late.” A cool little fuzz-tone guitar hook sounds as if it’s been shoplifted from a spy-movie soundtrack.
There’s a crunching rocker called “I Hear the Sirens” and a masterful cover of Dead Moon’s “Fire in the Western World” (“The red sky’s moaning, and the wind is blowing hard/Better take warning, ’cause this time it’s gone too far”).
In “They Have Us Surrounded,” the music fades in, as if thon for some time. It’s a plodding but intense cacophony that goes on for a few moments before you can detect faint vocals. Someone’s still alive in there! Collins sings in a scared falsetto. It’s hard to understand exactly what he’s saying — except the refrain “They have us surrounded, and there’s no way out.” One of the most masterful selections here is “Wreck My Flow,” with scatter-bomb lyrics (“Holy roller/despot/car bomb in the parking lot/kid blow/new show/prime-time lead slot”) that might remind you of Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues,” The Temptations’ “Ball of Confusion” or R.E.M.’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” But despite the sociopolitical nature of the words, Collins, ever the put-out hipster, is mostly concerned that “everybody’s tryin’ to wreck my flow.”
But the coolest and craziest song here is “Leopardman at C&A,” which features lyrics by artist Alan Moore, who did a graphic novel of the same name. Ature-shock techno tribalism: “We’ll hunt down television sets and kill them for their skins/We’ll squeeze the juice from cellphones, and we’ll smear it on our faces/While zebra cars and trucks drink from a gasoline oasis/With our necklaces of radio teeth and bar-code based tattoos/We’ll build a tribal fire of sound bites/Cut from central network news.”
The album ends with a song called — what else? — “La Fin du Monde” (The End of the World). Sung in French, it’s ironically the happiest, poppiest tune on the record.
The major misstep on We Have You Surrounded is “Race to the Bottom,” an eight-minute-plus electro-noise collage that mainly seems to serve as filler. But it’s a forgivable sin. All in all, this record is a real joy — in a paranoid, apocalyptic kind of way.
Also Recommended: * Something’s Got to Give by The Come n’ Go. Forget the old stereotype about young Europeans only loving bleak, neutered electroSwitzerland between the French-speaking and German-speaking parts, comes this crazy little band that was apparently raised on gunpowder, old Yardbirds 45s, and Oblivians CDs.
The Come n’ Go play nothing but good, back-to-basic guitar stomp, colored occasionally by a wild harmonica. They went all the way to Memphis to make this record. You can almost smell the barbecue.
* Psychedelic Sunrise by The Chesterfield Kings. It would be impossible to count the number of bands that wished they could be The Rolling Stones. In fact, it would be a lot easier to count the ones that didn’t. But Stones envy seems to be extremely apparent in The Chesterfield Kings, a band from upstate New York that has been recording since the late ’70s. Their latest album, released last fall, even has liner notes by ex-Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
And you can hear ’60s-era Stones in nearly all of the songs on Psychedelic Sunrise. If “Spanish Sun” got much closer to “Paint It Black” itd prompt a cease-and-desist letter from the Stones’ lawyers. Cool sitar part though. There are other influences, too: The New York Dolls, The Flamin’ Groovies. My favorite number here is “Elevator Ride,” which borrows from The Who’s “I Can See for Miles” as well as Alice Cooper’s “Black Juju” (check that nasty little organ fill). And the end of “Streaks and Flashes” sounds like The Beatles’ “Rain.”
The Chesterfield Kings are probably doomed to be forever known for emulating earlier bands. But somehow they pull it off, putting it all together in a way that almost always sounds fresh.
Here's some exciting musical news: The Drive-By Truckers and James McMurtry are scheduled to play the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Tuesday June 17. No details on tickets yet, so stay tuned. The Truckers played here last year as part of their their quasi- acoustic "Dirt Underneath" tour. But this year they're a full-fledged electric band, which is how I like them best.
June looks like a great month for the Brewing Co.
On Friday June 6, X is playing there with the Detroit Cobras as an opening act.
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican April 16, 2008
Third Congressional District candidate Benny Shendo Jr. is getting a lot of support — and campaign contributions — from Indian pueblos and American Indian officials. That’s not surprising. Shendo was born and raised in Jemez Pueblo and until late last year served as Gov. Bill Richardson’s secretary of Indian affairs. If elected, he’d be New Mexico’s first Indian congressman. But he’s not the only candidate in that crowded Democratic primary who’s getting financial support from American Indians. Ben Ray Luján collected some Indian money also, according to federal campaign finance reports filed this week. Shendo, who reported $113,626 in contributions during the three-month quarter ending March 31, got money from tribal governments, including $6,900 each from Jemez and Isleta pueblos; $2,300 from Acoma Pueblo and $250 from Tesuque Pueblo. He’s also received money from a couple of out-of-state tribes: the Ute Mountain Utes in Colorado and the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in California, each of which gave $2,300.
And there are individuals who work with Indian governments, agencies and other institutions. Eddie Gomez, executive director of Isleta Pueblo, gave $4,600, and his wife, Theresa Gomez, who is deputy secretary of the state Indian Affairs Department, gave another $2,300; Richard Williams of Broomfield, Colo., executive director of the American Indian College Fund, gave Shendo two contributions totaling $2,685; Kai Gachupin, president of The Hemi Group, which provides jobs to American Indians living on and near Jemez Pueblo, gave $2,300; Joel Matthew Frank, an ambassador with the Seminole Tribe in Florida, gave $500; Herman Agoyo, realty officer for Ohkay Owingeh, gave a total of $500; and Sarah J. Yepa of Albuquerque, a manager with the federal Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians, contributed $250.
And some guy named Benny Shendo, who is running for Congress, pitched in $10,000 to the campaign.
Luján, collected a total of $328,740 during the last quarter.
He didn’t get as much from American Indians as Shendo did, and what he did get represented a smaller percentage of his total than was Shendo’s. But it wasn’t chump change either.
Among the representatives contributing to the younger Luján’s campaign were Joni Gutierrez of Mesilla and George Hanosh of Gallup (each $1,000); Al Park, Dan Silva and Henry Kiki Saavedra of Albuquerque (each $500); Jim Trujillo of Santa Fe ($500); and Ed Sandoval of Albuquerque ($200).
Also, Brian Egolf Jr., who faces no primary or general election opponent in his campaign to become the next representative for Santa Fe’s House District 47, contributed a total of $2,300 to Luján’s campaign. The speaker kicked in $1,000 to his son’s campaign.
The younger Luján did even better among those who lobby in the state Legislature. Ed Mahr, Robert Rivera, Ricardo Barros, Bob Barberous, Dan Weaks ($2,300 each); Tom Horan ($1,300); former House Speaker Raymond Sanchez, former Senate President Pro Tem Richard Romero and Maurice Bonal ($1,000 each ); Carroll Cagle, Natasha Ning and Fred O’Cheskey ($500 each).
The “Bitter Battle”: U.S. Rep. Tom Udall has a free ride through the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in New Mexico. But the national Republicans on Wednesday launched an attack against him — and six other Democratic Senate candidates — and are taking a shot at presidential hopeful Barack Obama in the process.
No, it’s not a TV attack ad. Those things cost money. We’ll be seeing plenty of those by general election season.
It’s what the National Republican Senatorial Committee calls a “video press release,” an e-mail that links to near identical ads on YouTube.
The ad shows Obama talking while playing the now infamous comment that people in small towns “get bitter; they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations,” which Obama made at a private fundraiser in (gasp!) San Francisco. The video portion isn’t quite in synch with the audio, like those old Japanese monster movies overdubbed in English.
Then Udall’s face appears in an upper corner, identifying him not as a congressman but as a “Democratic Superdelegate.”
“Will he cast his vote for Barack Obama?” a superimposed text asks as pensive piano music begins to swell, “a man who calls small-town America bitter?” You can see the video HERE.
Udall, who indeed is a superdelegate, has been uncommitted. His campaign had no immediate response.
Closing in on cloture: A couple of readers, who apparently remember their civics classes better than I do, pointed out a mistake in my story about the U.S. Senate race Wednesday. I mistakenly said national Democrats want to elect Udall to move “closer to the veto-proof number of 60 Democratic senators.”
That’s wrong. Overriding a veto takes a two-thirds majority, which would be 67 senators. Sixty is the magic number to invoke cloture, which is used to break the filibusters that block legislation from reaching a vote in the Senate.
I’m sure I had a good excuse for missing class the day I was supposed to have learned that.
XXXXX
Here's that Republican video aimed Udall. And to catch the Defenders of Wildlife video aimed at Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce, CLICK HERE:
