Sunday, March 5, 2023 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Devil Get Away From Me by T. Tex Edwards & Out On Parole
Get Up by De Los Muertos
Nobody But Me by The Dickies
Shoot The Freak by LoveStruck
Night Of The Sadist by Larry & The Blue Notes
Bad Luck Man by Delaney Davidson
Shake A Tail Feather by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
My World Is Upside Down by The Shames
Hootie Sapperticker by Barbara & the Boys
Hey! Sister Lucy (What Makes Your Lips So Juicy?) by The Treniers
Brimful Of Asha by Cornershop
Try It by The Standells
One Piece Topless Bathing Suit by Jan & Dean
Topless A Go Go by The Rockets Combo
The Perfect Me by Deerhoof
Civilization by Uncle Toasty
Cone Of Lightby The Almighty Defenders
Get Me Outta the Country The Electric Mess
Norman by Sue Thompson
Tell Me What's Inside Your Heart by Ty Segall Band
Oo-Ma-Liddi by J.J. Jackson & The Jackals
Evil Eye by The Low Spirits
Head Held High by Frontier Dan & the Hickoids
Goin' Home by Churchwood
Frenzy by Iggy Pop
Monkey Man by Baby Huey & The Babysitters
Jug Town by Neil Hamburger
Murder In My Heart For The Judge by Moby Grape
Crazy West Virginia Mutant Water Woman Blues by The Slow Poisoner
Clementine by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
We Were Wrong by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
Wings Of Dawn by Monsoon
The Kindness Of Strangers by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
I Believe In Tomorrow by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, December 11, 2022 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Clear Night for Love by Roky Erickson
Strobe Light by The B52s
Johnny Gillette by Simon Stokes
Who Do You Think You're Fooling by Captain Beefheart
Rock Therapy by Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'n' Roll Trio
Sunday, November 6, 2022 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Big Zombie by The Mekons
Brand New Cadillac by Vince Taylor
Lily of the West by Heathen Apostles
Baby You Crazy by Nick Curran & The Lowlifes
Oh No, She Didn't Say by The Cyclones
Madness by Bogos
Man in Black by Chuck D with Bob Log III
Old MacDonald Had a Boogaloo Farm by Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs
Git Back in the Truck by Hickoids
Pie in The Sky by The Jackets
Insatisfaccion by Doctor Explosion
There Goes My Babe by Miriam
The Voice by Fred Parris & The Scarlets
Foolin' No One by Churchwood
On the Old Front Porch by Tiny Tim
Take Only What You Can Carry by Gogol Bordello
Whack It by Oh! Gunquit
Heart of Darkness by Ghost Wolves
Mighty Mighty Love by Lee Fields
Hey You by Simon Stokes
Left Hand Shake (SSS Remix) by Old Time Relijun
Way Down by Elvis Presley
Baby Please Don't Go by Paul Revere & The Raiders
You Can't Delete Nightmares by Degurutieni
Underground by Kazik Staszewski
Glass Jaw by James Leg
Last Night by Honshu Wolves
Voodoo Blues by Hoyt Axton
Patrick's Song by Michael Eck
Needless to Say by Loudon Wainwright III
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, December 19, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Santa Claus by The Sonics
She Said Yeah by Larry Williams
Long Way Down by The Ar-Kaics
Once Upon a Time (in Your Mind) by Mal Thursday
I Didn't Know I Was Dead by Negativland
Abstract Blues by Kim Gordon & J Mascis
Grass Jeans by Kim Gordon
Get Me by Dinosaur Jr.
Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year by Tiny Tim
Out for Blood by Johnny Dowd
Too Good to Be Blue by Trixie & The Train Wrecks
Misshapen Head by The Grawks
Ride by Ty Segall
Funky But Chic by David Johansen
Faith in Love by The Lostines
Armenia City in the Sky by Petra Haden
Little Drummer Boy by Joan Jett
Must Be Santa by Bob Dylan
Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For Her Hand in the Snow) by Yoko Ono
Scumbag by Frank Zappa, The Mothers of Invention Yoko Ono & John Lennon
We Start the Fire by Old Time Relijun
Nail My Dick to the Wall by The Toy Trucks
Punk Rock Retirement Plan by Legendary Shack Shakers
A Poundland Christmas by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
My Insurance Man (from Bathtubs Over Broadway)
Almost Persuaded #2 by Ben Colder
Come Closer by Honshu Wolves
Jacob's Ladder by Michael Hurley
Girls by Eleni Mandell
Give Me That Old Time Religion by Joseph Spence
Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, March 21, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Justine by The Blasters
Lil Lobo by Joe "King" Carrasco with Patricia Vonne
Baby Doll by The Del Moroccos
Ain't Your Choir by Churchwood
Before the World Blows Up by The Electric Mess
Frog Went a Courtin' by Flat Duo Jets
The Model by Big Black
It's Trash by The Cavemen
My Way by The Darts
All I'm Saying by Alien Space Kitchen
Bowdlerize by Danger Cutterhead
Travelin' Riverside Blues by Hindu Love Gods
Cape by Jon Spencer
Talent Show by The Replacements
Say Goodbye to a Dream by The Woggles
I Am Gonna Unmask the Batman by Lacy Gibson with Sun Ra
Coming to Take Me Away by Tiny Tim
Sophisticated Boom Boom by The Knoxville Girls
Parts Unknown by Kid Congo Powers with Lydia Lunch & Die Haut
Down the Road by Dead Moon
Snickersnee by Thee Oh Sees
Scumbag by Frank Zappa with John Lennon & Yoko Ono
Crazy Train / Monkey Town by Degurutieni
Hot Pastrami with Mashed Potatoes by Joey Dee & The Starliters
It's a Jungle Out There by Randy Newman
Geeshie by The Mekons
I'm a Suspect by Lonnie Holley
How Great Thou Art by Homer Henderson
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, January 10, 2021 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Sunday, May 5, 2019 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
Fiesta by The Pogues
Gutterboy Blues by Mean Motor Scooter
Traces by The Mystery Lights
Hanging Tree by Bob Mould
Pictures of Lily by Hickoids
Queen of the Pill by The Jackets
Dad or Dead by Dirk Geil
Contageous by Sleeve Cannon
The Art of Projection by Imperial Wax
I've Been Duped by The Fall
Mechanic Wanted by Mekons 77
St. Stephen by Ty Segall
Sucka Punch (Get Back) by Dinola
Two Dollar Elvis by Left Lane Cruiser
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
The Dozens by Eddie "One String" Jones
Hokomo Ju Ju Man by Little Howlin' Wolf
Monster Surf Party by The Barbarellatones
Don't Touch by Andre Williams
Snack Crack by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians of the British Empire
X-Ray Glasses by The Scaners
Free Money by Patti Smith
Soy un Bruto by ET Explore Me
The Devil in the Dance Hall by Harvey McLaughlin
Devil's at Red's by Anthony Leon & The Chain
Hard Travelin' by Simon Stokes
No, I'm Iron Man by The Butthole Surfers Batman Theme by Iggy Pop
This Wonderful Day by Kyra
Conway Twitty by Johnny Dowd
The Fruit Man by Ween
Springtime in nthe Rockies by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
Boot That Thing by Roosevelt Sykes & Henry Townsend
The Good Old World (Waltz) by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Over the weekend, the biggest threat to America and the freedoms we cherish was the version of "The Star Spangled Banner sung by Fergie, formerly with The Black Eyed Peas (not to be confused with The Dutchess of York) sung at the NBA All-Star Game.
I don't think that was how Jimi Hendrix intended it be performed.
True, Cosmopolitan called it "different AND sexy," but other reaction on social media was far less positive. (I think my favorite was comedian Johnny Taylor, Jr., who tweeted, "Not sure what Fergie was going for on that national anthem performance but if it was `my friends drunk mom acting sexy' she nailed it."
By Monday, the singer apologized in a statement saying, “I’m a risk taker artistically, but clearly this rendition didn’t strike the intended tone. I love this country and honestly tried my best.”
Judge for yourself:
This whole stink reminded me of 1968, when at a World Series game, Jose Feiciano, known as "The Blind Puerto Rican Fergie," shocked an dismayed patriots everywhere by his unconventional take on the national anthem.
Back then, the anthem was generally performed by popular musicians of stage and screen, or talented first-responders and members of the military, always in a very straightforward way. Feliciano's gentle, Latin jazz-infused version puzzled some people. And it outraged others. "After I sang it, it was really strange to hear me being booed, as well as yay'd, and I didn't know what happened," he recalled when I reached him by telephone last week, while he was on tour in London.
A Tigers official told him the club's phones were lighting up with angry calls from around the country: "Some veterans were taking off their shoes and throwing them at their television screens," he was told.
Jumping ahead a few decades, I do like this version of the anthem by the group Patax, "a communion between flamenco, funk and Afro-Cuban folklore" from Spain. "Star Spangled Banner" appears on their latest album, Creepy Monsters.
On their Youtube channel the band says the song is their, "humble contribution to tolerance and mind openness sending a musical message to the Trump Administration: lets make America open minded and tolerant again. Greatness will be the result."
What kind of commie talk is that? (By the way, percussionist Jorge Perez is a citizen of both Spain and the US of A.)
And if you don't like that, there's always Tiny Tim. He even knew the largely forgotten second verse ...
Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018 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
Ain't No Pussy by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Interlude: E'Lectric Spider Webz by The Black
Call the Police by The Oblivians
The Cat's Meow by The Darts
Don't Mess with Me by Rattanson
Lies by Dilly the Kid
Elevator by Boss Hog
Voodoo Got Me by The Goon Mat & Lord Bernardo
The Cuckoo by Johnny Dowd
Victoria Train Station Massare by The Fall
The Projects by Baronen & Satan
Queen of the Gorillas by Pocket FishRMen
Born to Lose by Social Distortion
We Want the Lot by The Movements
Swamp Thing by The Cavemen
Sea Serpent by Mean Motor Scooter
Ultimo Cartucho by Hollywood Sinners
Shotgun by Junior Walker & The All Stars
Comin to Take Me Away by Tiny Tim POLKA SET!
Hosa Dyna by Brave Combo
Who'd Ya Like to Love Ya by Li'l Wally
Division Street by The Polkaholics
Desert Polka by The American Indians
Minnesota Polka by Karl & The Country Dutchmen
Tra Ra Ra Boom De by Walt Spolek & The Orchestra
The Polka Polka by Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper
Mountaineer Polka by Norm Dombrowski's Happy Notes
Weiner Dog Polka by Polkacide
Edge of Reality by Elvis Presley
Mr. Moonlight by The Beatles
Love Letters by Dex Romweber Duo with Cat Power
Wang Dang Doodle by P.J. Harvey
One for My Baby by Iggy Pop
He Gives Us All His Love by Randy Newman
Lonely Town by Stan Ridgway CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
(My Facebook Friend Truly Judy inspired this one)
Back in 2005, there was an episode of South Park featuring a middle-aged Chinese woman trying to make it as a singer. Her name was Wing and she became a client of a "talent agency" run by Cartman and the boys.
She had a voice that would curdle your soup. Hilarity ensued.
Many South Park fans just assumed Wing was a cartoon character from the warped imaginations of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. But no. Wing was a flesh-and-blood human named Wing Han Tsang or Zēng Yǒnghán or 曾咏韓.From the scant biographical information I can find, it appears she originally was from Hong Kong and migrated to New Zealand, where she began her musical career by singing in nursing homes.
She released a CD of cover songs called Phantom of the Opera, (featuring the theme from the Andrew Lloyd Weber musical) and appeared on some TV shows in New Zealand and Australia.
The South Park guys discovered her via Internet buzz. Her appearance there basically made her the Tiny Tim of 2005 -- even though her voice was closer to Mrs. Miller. Though she seemed to take her music seriously, she was considered a novelty act -- or by some, an "outsider artist."
Yes, we laughed at her, not with her. But she seemed like such a sweet, modest lady you felt like a jerk after the yuks.
Her career kept going for several years. She cranked out several albums between 2006 and 2008. and even making an appearance at the 2008 South By Southwest in Austin.
According to her Wikipedia page, she announced on her website that she was retiring from showbiz in 2015. That website is no longer online. And though the Allmusic Guide says she made a couple of records for CD Baby, I can't find them there. She's got a Facebook page, but she hasn't posted anything there in three years.
But there is a lot of material still available on YouTube, so Wing, this is for you, wherever you are.
She did this one on South Park.
Wing did a whole album of AC/DC covers. And hey, even Tiny Tim did "Highway to Hell."
This is one of the later Wing songs I could find. Produced by Rappy Mcrapperson, Wing truly lives up to her weirdness potential here.
Finally, here's some live footage of Wing. I guess we'd be going over that old rainbow ...
Call me Scrooge. Call me Grinch. Call me Ishmael. But once again I just couldn't bring myself to produce another damned Christmas show. Sometime in the past couple of holiday seasons, I just burned out on Christmas songs. So, just like last year, once again I'm giving you an hour of crazed rock 'n' roll -- with just a sprinkling of songs from the season. (And if you really need some Christmas music right now, you can find all my Christmas specials HERE)
Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017 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
You're Humbuggin' Me by Rocket Morgan
Second House Now by The Fall
The Leader is Burning by Pocket FishRMen
Diddy Wah Diddy by Captain Beefheart
I Ain't Got No by Mary's Kids
Break a Guitar by Ty Segall
Red Grave by The Devils
Signal by Boss Hog
Danger by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year by Tiny Tim
Happy Birthday Jesus by Little Cindy
Drowned Beast by Thee Oh Sees
Comet by Baronen & Satan
Moon by Travel in Space
There Ain't No Other Way by The Blasting Fondas
Church Mouse by Nobunny
Heavy is the Head That Wears the Crown by Count Vaseline
I Found a Peanut by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkey Birds
Strange Days by The Darts
Egg Nog by The Rockin' Guys
Rock and Soul by Country Joe & The Fish
Kiss and Ride by King Soul
Man With Soul by Alex Maiorano & The Black Tales
King of the Jungle by King Khan & The Shrines
Wonderful Girl by Jack Mack & The Heart Attack
House Party II by The Soul Deacons
Galactic Zoo by Swamp Dog
Beginning to See the Light by The Velvet Underground
Usurpentine by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Demona by Dead Moon
Fish Out of Water by Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls
O Holy Night by Brian Wilson
Star of Wonder by The Roches CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Dec. 15, 2017
Christmas is coming, and America’s annual explosion of holiday blitz of glitz and other stuff is in full gear. And music, from the sublime to the syrupy, plays no small part in it. There is no escaping all the seasonal songs about Baby Jesus, Santa Claus, snow, and sleigh bells. From sappy sentimentality to cringe-worthy novelty tunes to songs professing hardcore religious zealotry — hark the herald hucksters sing!
And you can’t complain about it, you communist Grinch, you malcontent Scrooge. It’s for the children. It’s for the health of the economy! So get with the program. It’s best for everyone if you just embrace the Christmas craziness and join in the cheer.
Here are a few insane Christmas albums to keep you sane through it all.
*Tiny Tim’s Christmas Album. Just about everyone my age remembers Tiny Tim. But it occurred to me that younger folk probably don’t know Tiny Tim from Fibber McGee and Molly.
A quick Tiny Tim primer: Back in 1968, a war-weary nation shared a collective laugh at a strange, slightly creepy crooner who plucked a ukulele and warbled in an unsettling falsetto — Herbert Khaury, aka Tiny Tim. At first Tiny might have thought we were laughing with him, as he crooned “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In and revived “On the Good Ship Lollipop” while the nation’s youth sang “Street Fighting Man.” But no, we were actually laughing at him. Tiny’s career pinnacled when he got married on The Tonight Show. It was obvious that he was a carnival freak and we, the public, were the rubes cramming into the sideshow tent to gawk.
The most puzzling thing about his Christmas album is that Tiny didn’t get around to making a full-press effort to cash in on the holiday until the 1990s. This was released in 1996, the same year he died.
This collection includes several Christmas chestnuts like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (sung in his trademark falsetto) and White Christmas” (showing off his warbling baritone). And for some reason, there are a handful of tunes that have nothing to do with Christmas. The most surprisingly relevant song here is his take on “Silent Night,” during which he launches into an angry sermon against Christians who don’t act very Christian. “Hypocrites!” he snarls. “Professing His name! Fornicating with children! Fornicating with young girls!”
Roy Moore, the ghost of Tiny Tim is on to you!
Sadly, this record doesn’t include Tiny’s best, and most tasteless, Yuletide classic, “Santa Claus Has Got the AIDS This Year.” I've embedded it below.
* Bummed Out Christmas by various artists. Back in the late ’80s, when Rhino Records was one of the coolest labels around, they used to release some wonderful, irreverent compilations, such as this one. It’s full of songs about people having a hard time finding any Christmas cheer.
There is a weeper by The Everly Brothers called “Christmas Eve Can Kill You,” as well as one of George Jones’ saddest songs, “Lonely Christmas Call.” There is the heart-stopping lonesome soldier lament, “Christmas in Viet Nam” by the soul duo Johnny & Jon.
Some of my favorites are a couple of fine old ’50s R&B songs about holiday drunkenness — “Santa Came Home Drunk” by Clyde Lasley & The Cadillac Baby Specials and “Christmas in Jail” by The Youngsters (a tune that many local folks may associate with the cover by The Soul Deacons about a decade back).
* I Know What He Wants for Christmas ... But I Don’t Know How to Wrap It! by Kay Martin and Her Body Guards. Back in the 1950s, they used to call risqué records like this “party album.” Martin was a former model who claimed she’d posed for Playboy. (Though I’ve read several accounts that say she’s not the scantily clad redhead on the album cover.)
With her kittenish voice and a dominant electric organ that sounds as if it were stolen from a roller rink, Martin purrs through suggestive holiday numbers like “Santa’s Doing the Horizontal Twist” and “Santa’s Going to Be Late Tonight.”
*A Twismas Story by Conway Twitty With Twitty Bird & Their Little Friends. Here is a little Christmas recycling. I wrote about this bizarre holiday album 10 years ago in this very publication. First released in 1983, it was reissued in 2007 to shock a new generation. A decade later, this album is just as frightening now as it was then.
A Twismas Story goes well beyond normal Christmas albums by country stars you find in bargain bins at supermarkets, drugstores, and truck stops this time of year — at humiliatingly low prices. Your average Nashville holiday clunker features disturbingly similar overproduced, underinspired, twangy takes on the same 20 or so holiday standards. But the late Twitty and his imaginary friends went above and beyond. This is so tacky, so cheesy, so over-the-top, and so overstuffed with Christmas corn that it’s a perverse classic.
Twitty Bird — who was Conway’s Tweety-like cartoon mascot (how did he not get sued by Warner Bros.?) — is portrayed here by the singer’s granddaughter. The “Little Friends” are sped-up “chipmunk” voices. They all chatter insanely and sing about Santa, Frosty, Rudolph, etc.
I stand by my advice from 2007: Friends don’t let friends take hallucinogenic drugs and listen to A Twismas Story at the same time.
Proceed at you own risk! Wacky, tacky Xmas songs below:
Here is Tiny Tim's playful spoof about a virus that would kill millions.
This song, from Bummed Out Christmas actually is pretty bitchen
Kay Martin seduces Santa
Yes, the great Conway stooped to this. For the children.
America's sweetheart, Tonya Harding, is back in the national consciousness once again thanks to an upcoming biopic I, Tonya, starring Margot Robbie that looks back on the life of the champion figure skater from the wrong side of the tracks.
In 1991 Tonya Harding won her first national skating title and became the first woman to complete a triple axel in competition. In January 1994, Harding earned notoriety when her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly, hired a hitman to assault fellow U.S. figure skater Nancy Kerrigan. The attack seriously bruised Kerrigan's kneecap and quadriceps tendon, and prevented her from participating in the U.S. Championships. Harding pleaded guilty to hindering the investigation into Kerrigan's attack, which allowed her to avoid jail time. Under the plea bargain, Harding was stripped of her '94 national title and banned from competing in the U.S. for life. Despite her knee injury, Kerrigan went on to win the silver medal at the 1994 Olympic Games.
You confronted your sorrow
Like was no tomorrow
Kerrigan was clearly the victim in this story. But while there is still dispute about whether Harding was responsible for the attack, Harding became a national villain, hated and reviled.
But guess which one the nation's songwriters preferred. As one of my favorite college professor posed to a literature class, "Who do we love, Pat Garrett or Billy the Kid? Jesse James or the dirty little coward who shot Mr. Howard?"
In short, I'm not aware of any songs about Nancy Kerrigan. But here are three about Tonya.
I’ve been trying to write a Tonya Harding song since I first saw her skate at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in 1991. She’s a complicated subject for a song partly because the hard facts of her life are so strange, disputable, heroic, unprecedented, and indelibly American. ...
Tonya Harding’s dramatic rise and fall was fiercely followed by the media, and she very quickly became the brunt of jokes, the subject of tabloid headlines and public outcry. She was a reality TV star before such a thing even existed. But she was also simply un-categorical: America’s sweetheart with a dark twist. But I believe this is what made her so interesting, and a true American hero. In the face of outrage and defeat, Tonya bolstered shameless resolve and succeeded again and again with all manners of re-invention and self-determination.
He reportedly submitted the song for I, Tonya, but it wasn't used in the film.
Here's my favorite of Stevens' Tonya songs
But I don't like Stevens' lonesome ode a fraction as much as I love Loudon Wainwright's "Tonya's Twirls." I first saw him perform it at a Santa Fe concert about a year and a half after the Kerrigan attack.
It's truly a subversive little ditty, that starts off with a quick yuk at the expense of Hardin's "body guard" Shawn Eckardt, and includes a little bit of the " puns, punch lines and light-hearted jabs" Sufjan Stevens says he tried to avoid.
But once you're drawn into the song Wainwright hits you with the sad tale of class struggle -- the lower-class girl in that world of prissy little ice princesses.
... she was your parents' worst nightmare: the slut who moved next door
From the wrong side of the track, she liked the boys more than the girls
With their gliding and their sliding and their girlish dainty twirls-
And then Wainwright pulls back and uses the story to decry the corruption of a fun little activity for "giddy, slipping, sliding, laughing, happy little girls" that grew to be more about corporate sponsorship deals and American nationalism.
And I just learned that the immortal Tiny Tim wrote a little song for Tonya not long after the knee-capping incident. Dedicated to "Miss Tonya Harding," Tiny's song has some invaluable advice here:
Though you are sighing, though you are crying and everything has gone wrong
Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017 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
No Rest for the Wicked by Wayne Cochran
Stutterin' Sue by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Gravy for My Mashed Potatoes by Dee Dee Sharp
Hot Pastrami With Mashed Potatoes Part 1 by Joey Dee & The Starliters
Hot Pastrami With Mashed Potatoes Part 2 by Joey Dee & The Starliters
Living Wreck by Mudhoney
Midnight Motorway by Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons
Caught in the Devil's Game by The Darts
The Devil and Me by The Vagoos
If You Live by Meet Your Death
She Left Me With the Herpes by Tiny Tim
Time Has Come by Mary's Kids
Pray You Parrots by The Devils
Loose It by Arvidson & Butterflies
Fox by Travel in Space
Police Call by Drywall
Brillo de Facto by The Fall
Yen For Your Yang by Pocket FishRMen
Stick a Knife in His Heart by Casey Jones Dead
Andres by L7
Yabba Ding Ding by Joe "King" Carrasco
A Lap Full of Hate by Movie Star Junkies
Monkey Bizness by Pere Ubu
Cave Girl by The Texreys
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Teeth by Baronen & Satan
The Unsignposted Road by The Masonics
Geraldine by The A-Bones
Bumble Bee by LaVern Baker
Dagger Moon by Dead Moon
Haunt by Roky Erickson
Nocturne by Mark Lanegan
I Felt My Courage Fail by Jon Langford's Four Lot Souls
House Where Nobody Lives by King Ernest
Take it With Me by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
OK, I realize that just a week ago Throwback Thursday featured a bunch of my
favorite Elvis Presley songs to mark the 40th anniversary of his death.
But this week we're taking a slightly deeper dive into another Elvis song, "Are
You Lonesome Tonight."
Basically this is a song about a guy who misses his woman so much he's
fantasizing that she's so miserable without him, she'll gladly take him back on
the strength of a pretty melody.
And he may be projecting a little mental instability on her:
Do the chairs in your parlor seem empty and bare? Do you gaze at your doorstep and picture me there?
As I sometimes do with songs I love, a wrote another verse to "Are You Lonesome
Tonight" for my own amusement, building on that theme of insanity:
Do the shadows in your hall seem to whisper my name? Do you pound on the walls seeking someone to blame?
Fortunately for you, gentle readers, I've never recorded that, though I did
perform an a Capella version last week at Whoo's Donuts.
Be that as it may, "Are You Lonesome Tonight," unlike many of Elvis' hits of
that era, was already decades old when he recorded it.
It was written in 1926 (some sources say 1927) by the team of
Roy Turk
(lyrics) &
Lou Handman (melody).
Turk (1892-1934) also wrote the lyrics to "Walkin' My Baby Back Home," (recorded
by Nat King Cole, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and a jillion others) as well
as the jazz standard "Mean to Me," (Billie Holiday,
Sarah Vaughan) and Bing Crosby's "Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day."
By 1927 several artists of the day had recorded "Are You Lonesome Tonight."
You'll notice in the early version, the song that we know, as sung by Elvis, is
just the chorus of the song. The verses (the first one begins "Tonight I'm
downheated / For though we have parted /I'll love you and I always will") have
been forgotten through the years.
Here's the first recording of the song by crooner Charles Hart:
Here's a female singer, Vaughn De Leath, with another 1927 version.
I never realized until researching this that The Carter Family did a version in
1936 with a different melody.
Al Jolson recorded first version I could find to include the "world is a stage"
spoken bridge. This is from 1950, just a decade before Elvis recorded it.
(Despite the photo in the video, I don't believe Jolie did this one in
blackface.)
Let's fast forward through a few decades. This is from the '90s but I bet Tiny
Tim loved this song even before Elvis did. (Song doesn't start until after the 4
minute mark.)
A recent podcast posted on Radio Mutation re-sparked my fondness for so called "outsider music." It was a an old radio show, preserved on Archive.org, from 2010 called Runny Noise from CJLO in Montreal.
The DJ, a lady named Danielle, used several selections from Irwin Chusid's classic Songs in the Key of Zcompilations, plus several she'd found on her own,
So what is this "outsider music"? I'll yield to Chusid (as one should in this area):
Outsider musicians are often termed "bad" or "inept" by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. And believe it or not, they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality... Since I started doing Wacky Wednesday, I've featured several outsider musicians including Tiny Tim and Wesley Willis. And just a few months ago I featured Christmas music by outsiders.
Below is a sampling of outsider artists singing songs good (or bad) for any time of year.
Let's start with Charlie Tweddlewho recorded a psychedelic mess of an album of untitled songs called Fantastic Greatest Hits back in the early 70's. It originally listed the artist's name as "Eilrahc Elddewt" (Charlie Tweddle backwards.) Today Charlie still makes music, but he's made a decent living not as a hit-maker, but as a hat-maker.
Bingo Gazingo, born Murray Wachs, was a New Yorker whose unique style defies description. The New York Times tried though. "... his trademark songs most closely resemble free-verse beat poetry, and he delivers them in a mesmerizing chant, sometimes screamed, sometimes shouted or growled." Bingo died on New Year's Day 2010, reportedly hit by a cab.
Mark Gormleyis an ex-Marine whose songs were discovered more by fellow Florida musician Phil Thomas Katt, who hosted a public access TV show called The Uncharted Zone. Katt produced some appropriately cheesy videos that helped make Gormley an internet sensation. Here's my favorite:
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy is a titan of outsider music. The Lubbock, Texas native (born Norman Carl Odam) got national exposure in 1968 on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (a performance in which he stormed off the set because he felt the cast was making fun of him.) I once wrote of this artist that his "wild cries and spontaneous `wooo-hoooo' declarations are those of pure Earthly joy. Billy The Kid probably made near-identical noises while escaping from the Lincoln County jail. ... Don't worry about "understanding" whatever it is The Legendary Stardust Cowboy says or does. Just bask in the freedom he represents."
New Creation was a Christian rock band from Vancouver in the late '60s. I once described them as a "Bible-soaked cross between The Shaggs and The Partridge Family (there was a mother-son team in the band) The New Creation played like a garage-band apocalypse."
Sunday, May 28, 2017 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
The Sky is a Poisonous Garden by Concrete Blonde
Give Her a Great Big Kiss by New York Dolls
Groove is in the Heart / California Girls by Crocodiles
Long Way Down by Sons of Hercules
Chicken in a Hurry by MFC Chicken
If a Man Answerrs by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Turn My Head by The Molting Vultures
Right on You by Benjamin Booker
Main Offender by The Hives
Baby, I'm in the Mood for You by Dion
Simone on the Beach by The Mekons
69 by The Four
Grab as Much as You Can by The Black Angels
Bunny Run by The Ghost Wolves
Will You Teach Me by Mark Sultan
Mr. Rolling Stone by The Hard Times
OUTSIDER MUSIC SET
Walking on the Moon by Pamela Lucia
Cut the Mullet by Wesley Willis
Big Ole Bear by Little Howlin' Wolf
My Pal Foot Foot by The Shaggs
We're Going to Texas by What's Your News
Like a Monkey in a Zoo by Daniel Johnson
Sodom and Gomorrah by New Creation
Lift Every Voice and Sing by Shoobie Taylor
I'm Just the Other Woman by The MSR Singers
True Love by Tiny Tim and Miss Sue
You like this crazy stuff? Check out this podcast on Radio Mutation, an aircheck from a July 18, 2010 show by a D.J. named Danielle on CJLO, a Montreal station
The Spotlight Kid by Captain Beeheart
Slip Inside This House by 13th Floor Elevators
Feel the Pain by Dinosaur Jr.
Tijuana Hit Squad by Deadbolt
Singing in the Rain by bPetty Booka CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Sunday, Jan. 29, 2017 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
Love is All Around by Husker Du
All the Nation's Airports by Archers of Loaf
America Goddamn by King Khan
Immigraniada by Gogol Bordello
West of the Wall by Toni Fisher
Evil is Going On by Howlin' Wolf
Let's Burn Down the Cornfield by John the Conquerer
What's the News by Motor City Crush
Legs by PJ Harvey
Melt Yourself Down by James Chance & The Contortions
A New Wave / Dig Me Out by Sleater-Kinney
Fall on You by The Plimsouls
I Love You So Much by Mark Sultan
Killing the Wolfman by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Earth Blues by The Sex Organs
Goin' Down by Dinosaur Jr
I Like it Small by Mudhoney
Not Me by The Orlons
Mazhott by Mazhott
Rag by Ras Al Ghul
Who's Your Buster, Dolly by Dicky B. Hardy
Lost Someone by James Brown
The Claw by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
So Much in Love by The Tymes
Celery Stalks at Midnight by Doris Day with The Les Brown Orchestra
Charlie Brown by The Dean Ween Band
Love Like a Man by The Fleshtones
Graveyard by Sloaming Moops
Cold Feelings by Social Distortion
Slippin' Sideways by Drywall
I Believe in Tomorrow by Tiny Tim CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Outsider musicians love Christmas too! It's time for some of the most twisted carols you may ever hear.
Not hip to the concept of outsider music? Fear not. Irwin Chusid, author of Songs in the Key of Z, the Bible of this "genre," will enlighten you:
Outsider musicians are often termed "bad" or "inept" by listeners who judge them by the standards of mainstream popular music. Yet despite dodgy rhythms and a lack of conventional tunefulness, these often self-taught artists radiate an abundance of earnestness and passion. And believe it or not, they're worth listening to, often outmatching all contenders for inventiveness and originality...
Most of the artists below appear in Chusid's book and or the fabulous Songs in the Key of Z CD compilations,
Here's an outside artist you probably have heard of, the late, great Tiny Tim, (especially if you read Wacky Wednesday very much.)
