CAROLINE AT AIRPORT ROAD EVENT

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late President Kennedy, will appear Friday at PC's Restaurant & Lounge for a campaign function for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama.

The event is being billed as a "debate watch party," Alfred Johnson, Obama's campaign director for Northern New Mexico, told me late Wednesday — although she's scheduled to appear at the Airport Road eatery at 4 p.m., while the debate starts at 7 p.m.

Kennedy, who co-chaired Obama's vice-presidential selection team, also has scheduled a debate-watching fundraising event and reception at the home of Debbie Fleischaker. The cost: $1,000 per person. Later that evening, Kennedy is scheduled to attend a dinner at the Santa Fe home of Paul Bardacke and Lisa Enfield. Cost for that event is $10,000 per person.

More details about the PC's event should be available today, Johnson said. PC's is located at 4220 Airport Road.

UPDATE: (Thursday afternoon) The Obama campaign now is saying the event is at 4:30 p.m. It's being billed as a "debate watch party and volunteer training." Kennedy is scheduled to be there until 5:45 pm.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: PEARCE SAYS C de BACA SHOULD GO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 1, 2008

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce on Wednesday became the latest major Republican in New Mexico to call for the resignation of Bernalillo County GOP chairman Fernando C de Baca over remarks concerning Hispanic attitudes toward black people.

“Fernando is a friend and a good friend,” Pearce told me in a telephone interview. “He’s done a lot of good for the Republican Party in Bernalillo County. But the comments were very unfortunate. I feel like it’s affecting the party. I called him and told him there’s no way he should continue as county chairman.”

Pearce joins U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, state GOP chairman Allen Weh and others who have called for C de Baca to step down.

The controversy started when C de Baca told a British Broadcasting Corp. reporter in an interview last week that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama won’t attract Hispanic support. “The truth is that Hispanics came here as conquerors. African Americans came here as slaves. Hispanics consider themselves above blacks. They won’t vote for a black president.”

In a taped interview with the BBC (courtesy KSFR) , C de Baca said older Hispanics won’t support Obama “primarily because there is a strong feeling that African Americans during the civil-rights movement took advantage, full advantage, of all the benefits and programs that the government offered, that were supposed to be offered to all minorities. But we were left behind. We were left sucking air. And we resented that ever since the ’60s, and I don’t see how a black president is going to change that.”

C de Baca has since claimed his comments were taken out of context. He said he was referring to views held by older Hispanics.

Pearce said Wednesday that he met Saturday morning with C de Baca about the controversy. “My understanding then is that he would be stepping down.” Since then, however, the Bernalillo County Republican Party executive board gave C de Baca a vote of confidence.

Republicans aren’t the only ones to offer opinions on C de Baca’s interview. Pearce’s Democratic Senate opponent, Rep. Tom Udall, released a statement Wednesday calling the chairman’s statements “insulting and disgraceful.”

“We boast New Mexico’s long-standing minority-majority status because of our immense pride in our vibrant diversity. Chairman C de Baca’s comments are not only demeaning to the people and pride of New Mexico, they perpetuate and validate racism. These words are unacceptable for any official who represents our great state.”

Although C de Baca probably is the first to bring up the conquistador/slave argument, others have talked about the reluctance of some Hispanics, especially older people, to support Obama. In an interview at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last month, state labor leader Christine Trujillo — an Obama supporter — told me the candidate needs to do more to reach out to Hispanics. She said while younger members of her family enthusiastically favor Obama, older family members are having a difficult time accepting him.

However, recent polls show Obama doing better with Hispanics in New Mexico than John Kerry did in 2004. The North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling did a poll of 1,037 likely voters in New Mexico late last week that showed Obama winning 59 percent of the Hispanic vote compared with John McCain’s 35 percent (margin of error 3 percent). A SurveyUSA poll taken a couple of days before shows Obama winning the Hispanic vote by a margin of 69 percent to 28 percent (671 adults interviewed, margin of error 3.9 percent).

Where the heck is the guv? Gov. Bill Richardson might have the “best job in the world” as governor of New Mexico, but he sure hasn’t been here very much during the political season.

What’s frustrating for reporters is that often we don’t find out about Richardson’s out-of-state trips until we see items in Google News alerts. The governor’s press office has basically stopped releasing weekly public schedules for Richardson. Generally, there is no advance warning of political trips, despite our requests.

The attitude of the office seems to be that it’s nobody’s business when the governor is in the state or not.

Anyway, here’s the latest of Richardson’s treks:

After campaigning for Obama in Colorado this weekend, he appeared Monday in Reading and Bethlehem, Pa. In Bethlehem, he spoke to the Council of Spanish Speaking Organizations.

And, speaking of Fernando C de Baca, one Obama volunteer there told Richardson that some Democrats are reluctant to vote for Obama because of his race, according to an article in The Morning Call, an Allentown, Pa., paper. “In conversations with some of these people, it seems undecided is just an excuse for what their real hesitation is for voting for Sen. Obama,” Melba Tolliver told Richardson.

Richardson, according to The Morning Call, said, “Is there going to be a certain percent who is not going to support Obama because of his race? Yes, probably. But you know I think this has become a very tolerant nation.”

The next day, Richardson was in New Hampshire, where in January he saw his own presidential candidacy die when he finished a distant fourth in the Democratic primary. He had speaking engagements in Manchester, Nashua and Laconia, according to news accounts.

At least we know, from an account in PolitickerNH.com, that Richardson is scheduled to be in Mississippi on Friday for the presidential debate.

“My role is going to be what’s called a spinner. I will declare, don’t write this down, John, Obama the victor before the debate starts,” Richardson said. “John” is political reporter John DiStaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader in Manchester, who was covering the speech.

Richardson was in New Mexico on Wednesday. He had a news conference at Isleta Pueblo to announce the recipients of $2.8 million in capital outlay funding to help restore and improve the health of rivers in the state.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, September 21, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

SUPPORT THE KSFR FALL FUNDRAISER!
Call me during the show 505-428-1382 or PLEDGE ONLINE

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
It's Money That I Love by Randy Newman
Money Money by The A-Bones
Money (That's What I Love) by Jerry Lee Lewis
I Need Some Money, I Want Some Money by Swamp Dogg
Money Won't Change You by James Brown
Before the Money Came by Bettye Lavette

Maniac Rockers From Hell by The Meteors
Chocolate Drop by Howlin' Wolf
(I'm Not Your) Scratchin' Post by The Dirtbombs
Cab it Up by The Fall
Vampiro by Los Peyotes
Seething Psychosexual Conflict Blues by Figures of Light
Only to Other People by The Detroit Cobras
Addictos Al Ye Ye by The Hollywood Sinners
Dos Hojas Sin Rumbos by Al Hurricane

BRIAN WILSON SET
All songs by Brian Wilson except where noted
That Lucky Old Sun/Morning Beat
Heroes & Villains by The Beach Boys
My Jeanine by Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks
Rio Grande
Cabin Essence
Add Some Music to Your Day
Still I Dream of It
Surf's Up by The Beach Boys
Going Home

Meth of a Rockette's Kick by Mercury Rev
Always by Leonard Cohen
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

NOW HERE'S A REAL POLITICAL AD.

I did laugh yesterday at the punchline of Tom Udall's new Senate campaign ad with the parrot. ad.

But that's not my favorite political ad I've seen lately. That would be a 2006 ad by Republican Paul Nelson who ran unsuccessfully against Democratic Congressman Ron Kind in Wisconsin.

Now this is an ad! (Thanks to Mark Wolf of Rocky Talk Live.)



UPDATE: (Sunday) I just found this 2006 story from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that sheds some light on this ad. Turns out that it's based on a near identical version that popped up in a North Carolina race. Could New Mexico be next?

I SHOULDA POSTED THIS EARLIER ...

There's no Santa Fe Opry playlist tonight because the show was pre-empted by the live broadcast of Globalquerque.

I'll be back on the air Sunday nigth with Sound World and back witrh the Opry next Friday.

OBAMA IN ESPANOLA

You can find my story in today's New Mexican HERE.

I took a few snapshots. You can find those HERE.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: LIFE OF BRIAN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 19, 2008


If Brian Wilson's new album, That Lucky Old Sun, truly were the follow-up to Smile, I could see why it would be considered something of a sophomore slump.

That Lucky Old Sun is Wilson’s first album since Smile. (not counting his 2005 Christmas album). But let’s be real. Smile is a bizarre masterpiece that Wilson first began working on more than 40 years ago with The Beach Boys. It was rescued and revived four years ago by Wilson, with the loving, patient, and determined assistance of members of his band Wondermints. (Wilson fans should, if they haven’t already, immediately get their hands on the DVD Brian Wilson Presents Smile. I came away respecting his young band mates nearly as much as I respect Wilson himself.) Smile is in a class by itself, but you shouldn’t hold that against this new album.

It could be argued that, on the surface, That Lucky Old Sun sounds like a follow-up to Smile. Both albums are song cycles featuring recurring musical themes, tunes ranging from the whimsical to the melancholy, and obvious references to longtime Wilson sources like Phil Spector and The Four Freshmen. You hear strains of doo-wop, barbershop, California pop, quasi-chamber music, and lounge sleaze. The lyrics are frequently clunky — but that’s been true ever since Wilson, now in his mid-60s, was a little-bitty Beach Boy.

The tune for which the album is named, which appears as a brief introduction and reappears in short snatches elsewhere in the album, is indeed that old Frankie Laine hit. My initial encounter with the song was Ray Charles’ version in the 1960s. I was just a kid, and this big-orchestrated production was one of the first times a song actually made me sad. I could feel the depths of sorrow and frustration as Charles sang, “I fuss with my woman and toil with my kids/Sweat ’til I’m wrinkled and gray/I know that lucky old sun has nothin’ to do/But roll around heaven all day.”

But Wilson’s version of the song doesn’t evoke the same level of sadness or world-weariness. There’s no fussing or toiling here. Wilson’s take is fortified by a strange optimism, as if he’s saying, “If you’re lucky, you can be like the sun and roll around heaven all day.”

The first half or so of the record is an update of one of Wilson’s longest-running themes — his love for Southern California. It’s a celebration of Los Angeles, from the beach to the barrios to Hollywood Boulevard. “The sun burns a hole through the 6 a.m. haze/Turns up the volume and shows off its rays/Another Dodger-blue sky is crowning L.A.,” Wilson sings in the peppy “Morning Beat.” You almost expect him to intertwine pieces of Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.”

But in the second half, Wilson gets more interesting as he begins to confront himself about his infamous “lost years” of mental illness. “At 25 I turned out the light/Couldn’t handle the glare in my tired eyes,” he sings in “Going Home.”

In “Oxygen to the Brain,” he moans, “How could I have got so low/I’m embarrassed to tell you so/I laid around this old place/I hardly ever washed my face.”

Then there’s “Midnight’s Another Day,” in which he sings, “Swept away in a brainstorm/Chapters missing, pages torn.”

Alas, there are aspects of this album that prevent it from being a classic. For instance, the silly doggerel “narratives” that pop up between some songs are corny and annoying. Surprisingly, they are written by Smile lyricist Van Dyke Parks. Sadly, they are Parks’ only contributions to the record.

“Mexican Girl,” about some lovely señorita in East Los Angeles, is downright embarrassing — at least the lyrics are. “Hey bonita muchacha/Don’t-cha know that I want-cha. ... You have my sacred heart/We’ll finish at the start.”

And while the music of “Forever She’ll Be My Surfer Girl” isn’t bad, the self-referential sentimentality is a little much for these jaded ears.

So no, That Lucky Old Sun is not in the same league as Smile. But consider this: even though Beethoven’s Sixth is no Beethoven’s Fifth, it’s still Beethoven.

Bonus:

Steve Terrell’s Brian Wilson List
* Best Brian Wilson Song of All Time: “Surf’s Up,” co-written by Van Parks. My favorite version of this song, originally written for Smile, is the one that appeared as the title song of the Beach Boys’ 1971 album.
* Best Brian Wilson Song of All Time Runner-Up: “Heroes and Villains.” My favorite version is from the original Smile sessions; it appears on the Beach Boys’ 1993 box set, Good Vibrations.
* Best Cover of “Surf’s Up”: David Thomas & Two Pale Boys.
* Worst Cover of “Surf’s Up”: Vince Gill, Jimmy Webb, and David Crosby on the DVD An All-Star Tribute to Brian Wilson.
* Weirdest Brian Wilson Song: “Rio Grande,” from his self-titled 1988 album. It sounds like the soundtrack for an imaginary theme-park ride based on a Western starring Pee-wee Herman.
* Saddest Brian Wilson Song: “Still I Dream of It.” My favorite version is the lo-fi demo track on I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times.
* Best Brian Wilson Celebrity Ode: “Johnny Carson,” from The Beach Boys Love You.
* Best Ode to Brian Wilson: “Brian Wilson” by Barenaked Ladies
* Best Brian Wilson Song I Don't Care If I Never Hear Again in My Whole Life: “Good Vibrations.” It’s a great song, but Sunkist ruined it for me years ago.
* Best Brian Wilson Song That’s Not Really a Brian Wilson Song: “Meth of a Rockette’s Kick” by Mercury Rev.
* Best Brian Wilson Radio Tribute: This Sunday at 11 p.m. on Terrell’s Sound World, KSFR-FM 101.1.

Bonehead correction: This is embarrassing, but I got the title of the Zeno Tornado album reviewed in last week’s Tune-Up wrong. (I corrected it in my blog) The correct title is Rambling Man, which appears in near illegible letters on the cover. I called the album Lover of Your Dreams, which is the name of the first song. And this is what confused me: It’s also the name of a previous Tornado album