Former Rio Arriba County political strongman Emilio Naranjo remained hospitalized at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, but one of his sons told me Wednesday night that he is doing better.
Naranjo, 92, was hospitalized about a week ago because of dizziness and possible heart problems, his son Benny Naranjo, a prosecutor with the 13th Judicial District, said. "He's doing a lot better."
Benny Naranjo said he voted early Wednesday and was wearing his "I Voted" sticker on his tie when he visited his father in the hospital. "He saw that sticker and said, 'Way to go," the younger Naranjo said.
Emilio is a former state senator, county sheriff and longtime Rio Arriba County Democratic Party chairman. He was the top political figure in Rio Arriba for more than 40 years beginning in the 1950s.
I first found out about Emilio being in the hospital on Monday and wrote about it HERE.
I interviewed Emilio nearly 25 years ago for a lengthy cover story in The Santa Fe Reporter. I wish I had that in an electronic form so I could post it on the blog.
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Octobber 23, 2008
Is anyone out there not sick of candidate debates yet?
In recent weeks, we’ve seen three presidential, one vice presidential, two U.S. Senate, and I’m not sure how many Congressional debates.
Last week, we even had a double-header — the last Barack Obama/John McCain debate followed minutes later by the first Tom Udall/Steve Pearce debate.
As always, there have been a variety of formats and a plethora of rules. Frequently you see the candidates questioned by a panel of journalists, sometimes just a lone moderator.
Often there are questions from audience members (or e-mailed questions from television viewers). Sometimes the candidates have their own podiums or stools or they have to sit together at the same table.
Some formats discourage interaction between candidates. I remember a 2006 state land commissioner debate between Pat Lyons and Jim Baca in which both seemed eager to challenge each other. It could have been an interesting night, but the candidates kept getting interrupted by a moderator who insisted on sticking with the boring rules and kept going on to the next question instead of allowing Lyons and Baca to go at it.
Then there was the state Public Regulation Commission forum sponsored by business organizations this week in which the candidates got the questions in advance and read from scripts. Nobody better complain about “gotcha” questions there.
Here’s a few things I’d do if I ran the debates:
* First, I’d have a single moderator. It would have to be someone knowledgeable on the issues. And most important, it would have to be someone with enough guts to interrupt and say, “Please answer the question,” to any candidate who started giving a stump speech instead of sticking to the topic at hand.
* The first part of the debate would be a town-hall format with questions from unaffiliated voters. But, unlike the recent presidential town-hall forum in Nashville, Tenn., the questions would not be pre-screened and pre-approved by anyone. Trust the people! Sure, you’ll get some pointed questions, maybe even a few rude ones. You might even get a stray nut ball now and then. But seeing how the candidates handle those unpredictable questions would tell us far more than their canned answers to canned questions.
* The second part would be the candidates questioning one another. These segments hands down have been the most interesting part of the debates between Udall and Pearce. Udall made Pearce praise George Bush, while Pearce socked Udall with an unexpected question about some child-porn bill. Back in 2006, it was a question from Heather Wilson about raising taxes that stumped her Congressional opponent Patricia Madrid — and may have helped cost Madrid the election.
* The final third would be a feature I’ve never seen on any debate, though it’s almost always done these days during post-debate coverage by television networks: fact-checking. You’d have to have a team of journalists frantically Googling during the early parts of the debate to see who got what wrong. The moderator would then confront the erring candidate. If there weren’t enough provable errors, then the rest of the time could be filled by more questions from the audience — or by the candidates.
Of course, if one candidate got his facts wrong significantly more than the other, his supporters would complain that “the media” was biased against him. But chances are, they’re going to make that claim anyway so let ‘em squawk. Mr. White Bucks doesn’t buck White: Here’s one of the stranger celebrity endorsements I’ve seen lately.
Actually, it’s not technically an endorsement, but the 1st District Congressional campaign of Republican Darren White on Wednesday released a statement announcing that singer Pat Boone had presented White with an Honorary Guardian of Seniors’ Rights award.
Boone is national spokesman for a group called the 60 Plus Association — “a non-partisan seniors advocacy group with a free enterprise, less government, less taxes approach to seniors issues,” according to the group’s Web site.
“I am pleased to present this award to Darren White,” Boone said in a statement. “He is a tax cutter, protecting the pocket books of senior citizens. 60 Plus calls on nearly 5 million seniors for support so I believe I can speak on behalf of seniors when I say that they can count on Darren White. Clearly, seniors will have no finer friend in Congress than Darren White.”
Boone praised White for opposing “the death tax,” which actually is called the estate tax.
But the most interesting claim on the news release was the description of Boone — “a recording artist, movie and TV star second to none in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.”
Second to none? Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Jerry Lee Lewis and a few dozen others might take issue with that — and that’s just dealing with the ’50s.
Blog Bonus: I wonder if Pat Boone would groove on the cop-rock band that was second to none in the early 90s, Darren White & The Force.
Where the heck is Bill Richardson? The traveling governor was on the campaign trail again this week, this time in Florida. He was there Tuesday and Wednesday, attending Obama campaign events in Palm Beach, Immokalee, Port Charlotte, Tampa and Kissimmee. This is according to various online newspaper reports. The governor’s office doesn’t make public announcements of when the governor leaves the state.
Next week, according to The Sandusky Register, Richardson will be in Erie County, Ohio.
Sunday, October 19, 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
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres Working Man by The Cellar Dwellers Grease Box by TAD Pleasure Unit by The Gore Gore Girls Mr. Custer Stomp by The Scouts Louie Louie by Paul Revere & The Raiders We're Having Much More Fun by X The Open Mind by Mudhoney Snake Eyed Suzie by Thee Cybermen Fat Angel by Jefferson Airplane
A. on Horseback by Charlie Pickett & The Eggs Angeline by Figures of Light Baby Stardust by Thee Michelle Gun Elephant Te Voy Odiar by Wau y Los Arrrghs!!! Blow My Mind by Hollywood Sinners Action by Los Peyotes Panic Button by Edgar Allen & The Po' Boys Long Haired Guys from England by Too Much Joy Murder in My Heart for the Judge by Moby Grape Woody Woodpecker by Mel Blanc & The Sportsmen
Moonlight Drive by The Doors Flames Over Nebraska by Pere Ubu Lizard's Tongue by Dickie B. Hardy I'm Gonna Kill You Tonight by Lightning Beat-Man Don't Go Away by Thee Midnighters Haywire Hodaddy by The Hodads Do the Trouser Press by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band The Weirdness by The Stooges Welcome to My Mind by Duggie Ward
Loneliness by Junk Do Lord Remember Me by Mississippi John Hurt You Better Run by Junior Kimbrough & The Soul Blues Boys Rock Minuet by Lou Reed Lucky Day by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, October 17, 2008 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos Huntsville by Merle Haggard Plastic Love by The Riptones The Struggle in the Puddle at the Bottom of the Bottle by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers Good Girls by Bovine Little Red Corvette by The Gear Daddies Burn Your Fun by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs Davy Crocket by Thee Headcoatees No Swallerin' Place by June Carter On This Mountain Top by Johnny Paycheck Then You'll Know What It Means to Be Blue by Spade Cooley
Tell Ol' Bill by Bob Dylan Absolutely Sweet Marie by Jason & The Scorchers Billy 1 by Los Lobos One Good Gal by Charlie Feathers The Young Psychotics by Tav Falco Real Cool Ride by The Hillbilly Hellcats Ridin' With the Blues by Ry Cooder Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O Dee by Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'n' Roll Trio
Between the Whiskey and the Wine by Miss Leslie Brothers of the Bottle by George Jones The Drinking Song by Loudon Wainwright III Wreck on the Highway by The Waco Brothers Bulldozers and Dirt by Drive-By Truckers The Winner by Bobby Bare Crawdad Hole by Gus Cannon
Loser by Dave Alvin Moon Gone Down by The Gourds Tennessee by Last Mile Ramblers Killing Me by Fred Eaglesmith Former American Soldier by Chip Taylor Night Accident by Robbie Fulks CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Octobber 17, 2008
Warning: Between the Whiskey and the Wine by Miss Leslie is unadulterated hard-core, heartache honky-tonk music. Don’t look for irony. Don’t look for hipster detachment. This is real emotion. Nothing cute here. This is the sacred ground where Tammy Wynette and Kitty Wells have tread. Yuppie slummers, get packing.
Leslie Anne Sloan’s clear, intense voice just stops you in your tracks. Unlike many female country singers, there’s nothing sugary, flirty, or kittenish about Miss Leslie’s voice. She enunciates every word and sings with a power that lets you know she means every word that leaves her lips.
“This album is about a journey I started several years ago — a journey toward finding myself and living that person without apologies,” she writes in the CD’s booklet. “This album is mainly for anyone who has lost themselves — and ever tried to find themselves in something else — whether it was a bottle, another person, or a song.”
While Leslie’s earlier records — Honky Tonk Revival and the live Honky Tonk Happy Hour — are good authentic Texas country stompers, neither has the emotional punch of Between the Whiskey and the Wine. When she sings lines like, “So keep pouring drinks until I can’t remember/ Cause that’s the only way I know I’m bound to heal” (on “I Can Still Feel”) or “A shot of Makers on my left, a glass of red on my right and somewhere in the middle you’ll find me” in the title song, you get the feeling she knows what she’s talking about.
Even on upbeat songs with hints of humor, like “Honky Tonk Hangover” (“My head is sore, I smell like beer/And all my money is gone”), there’s a troubling aura of truth that gives a troubling aura of truth that give the songs an edge.
Adding power to Leslie’s music is her band, a bunch of two-step studs known as Her Juke-Jointers. The steel guitar of Ricky Davis (who has played in the bands of Dale Watson, Gary P. Nunn, The Derailers, and Asleep at the Wheel) and the fiddle, played by Leslie herself, drive the sound. Rounding out the Juke-Jointers are Ric Ramirez on upright bass (he’s served time with Wayne “The Train” Hancock) and Timmy Campbell on drums.
After a dozen heartbreakers, the last song on the record, “Love Will Find You,” is like a ray of hope. Leslie sings it with just as much conviction as she does her woozy, boozy laments.
Also recommended: *Dirt Don’t Hurt by Holly Golightly and The Brokeoffs. OK, I’m not completely down on ironic, hipster takes on country music.
This lady is probably doomed to be best known for singing, “I love Jack White like a little brother,” in her funny little cameo on The White Stripes’ novelty song, “It’s True That We Love One Another.”
But there’s a reason The Stripes would want Holly on their album. Though not that well known in the States, she has released about a dozen solo albums, plus a couple of live recordings, since the early ’90s. She’s also done a couple of duet albums with British garage band guru Billy Childish. She began her career with a Childish offshoot, Thee Headcoatees, a not-so-slightly deranged garage/punk take on the girl-group sound. (The group did funny odes to Jackie Chan, Davy Crockett, and Santa Claus.)
And yes, “Holly Golightly” is her real name — Holly Golightly Smith, to be exact — even though some assume she lifted it from the character in Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Her latest album — the second released under the name Holly Golightly and The Brokeoffs — is a bluesy country romp with a jug-band spirit. The first album under that name was last year’s You Can’t Buy a Gun When You’re Crying.
Dirt Don’t Hurt was recorded in five days in Spain. Holly sings and plays guitar and banjo, while “The Brokeoffs” — actually her longtime sidekick “Lawyer Dave” Drake — sings and plays several stringed and percussion instruments. He gets a solo spotlight on the blues-drenched “Cora.”
One of the coolest songs here is a barnyard meditation called “Cluck Old Hen,” which is, in fact, about a female chicken. “Kick and squall, cackle and strut/I think everyone hates her guts.”
Holly and Dave get nice and spooky on the minor-key “Burn Your Fun,” which warns of religious fanatics taking over. “Better run, better run, better burn your fun/Preacher man’s comin’ for you.”
Religion’s on their minds on another tune, “Gettin’ High for Jesus” (”I’m gettin’ high for Jesus, cause He got so low for me”) featuring a squawking harmonica and tremolo guitar.
By far the prettiest tune on the album, and indeed, one of the most gorgeous country melodies I’ve heard in years, is “Up Off the Floor,” a slow waltz that reminds me a lot of “Tennessee Blues” by Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge.
Good news for the Democrats in the latest Rasmussen poll in this Enchanted Land.
Barack Obama is leading John McCain 55 percent to 42 percent -- that's a margin of 13 percentage points -- while Tom Udall is leading Steve Pearce 57 percent to 37 percent, 20 big ones.
Check out the presidential poll HERE and the Senate poll HERE.
Obama has a 17-point lead among Hispanics in New Mexico. He leads by 15 among women but trails by eight among men.
Rasmussen conducted the telephone survey of 700 likely voters on Monday -- obviously before last night's presidential and Senate debates. The margin of error is 4 percentage points.
There were also numbers for the current president and out governor.
Just 27 percent of likey voters in New Mexico say Presdient Bush is doing a good or excellent job.
Gov. Bill Richardson fares better, but he's below 50 percent. Those polled, by a margin of 48 percent say he's doing a good or excellent job. Only 17 percent say he's doing a poor job.
Former Rio Arriba County political strongman Emilio Naranjo remained hospitalized at Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center, but one of his sons told me Wednesday night that he is doing better.
