Roundhouse Round-up: Pressure in the Halls of Power

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican

The clock is edging toward midnight Tuesday at the Roundhouse -- and edging ever closer to the noon Thursday cutoff when the session, as mandated by the state Constitution, must end.

The vote has just been taken on the food/medical tax repeal in the Senate. An ad-hoc coalition of five Democrats and 17 Republicans has just passed a substitute bill that sponsor Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, unabashedly described as a "tactical move."

Another Democrat, Tim Jennings of Roswell, has framed the substitute as a way to send a message to Gov. Bill Richardson, who only hours before had threatened -- and that's Richardson's word -- to call a special session if he doesn't get the tax bill he wants by the session's end.

The atmosphere in the hallway between the Senate gallery and the Senate lounge is understandably tense.

Various senators wander in and out of the gallery with dazed expressions brought on by the day's seemingly endless session. Standing in the hallway with stern expressions are Richardson spokesman Billy Sparks, House Speaker Ben Luján of Nambé -- who sponsored the original House Bill 625 that just got ravaged in the Senate -- and Luján's assistant Regis Pecos.

"This isn't over yet," passers-by keep whispering to reporters in the hall.

It seemed the vote was done, but the real work had just begun.

The word is the Senate will vote to reconsider the bill. To do so, someone who had voted with the majority would have to make the motion to reconsider.

If this is going to happen, conventional wisdom said, it will be one of five Democrats who voted for the Smith substitute -- Smith, Jennings, Michael Sanchez of Belen, Linda Lopez of Albuquerque and Lidio Rainaldi of Gallup.

With the shift of just one vote, the tally would be 21-21. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish would break the tie and go against the Smith substitute.

Immediately after the vote, the focus seems to be on Rainaldi, a kindly faced, grandfatherly, retired magistrate judge who some say resembles actor Abe Vigoda.

As Rainaldi emerges from the gallery, the speaker approaches him.

As the two walk down the hall together, I overhear Rainaldi say, "Let me explain something to you," to Luján. Unfortunately that's all I hear.

"The speaker is leaning on (Rainaldi) as hard as he knows how," Smith later tells reporters.

The speaker and the senator disappear for a few minutes. When Rainaldi comes back into the hallway, Sen. Phil Griego, D-San Jose, who voted against the Smith substitute, grabs him.

"Lidio, can I talk to you for a minute?" The two go into the Senate Lounge for several minutes. I don't think they're talking about the weather.

About 20 minutes later, a weary-looking Rainaldi is seen walking briskly down the outer hall.

He's polite as I try to get a word from him. But he doesn't slow down.

"No, nobody's pressuring me," the senator says, not very convincingly.

But asked whether he'd make the motion to reconsider, Rainaldi replies, "I don't know. I don't know what the bill is going to say."

Some wags said Rainaldi voted for the Smith substitute because the original bill didn't include gross-receipts taxes on dentists. He has a son who's a dentist.

This implies some new version of House Bill 625 is in the works.

Meanwhile Smith has no allusions that his substitute bill has much of a future.

He only introduced it to put a monkeywrench in the progress of the original bill, which he vehemently opposes. "I had 22 votes tonight, but I've been here long enough to know that could slip away," he tells reporters.

By Wednesday morning, Rainaldi no longer seems like the focus of arm-twisting. Rumors now center around Lopez or possibly Sanchez as the one who'd make the motion to reconsider.

Update: Shortly after 9 p.m. Wednesday on the floor of the Senate, Rainaldi made that motion. He and Sanchez would change their votes and vote against the Smith substitute Wednesday, though their votes were offset by Sen. Leonard Tsosie, D-Crownpoint and Sen. Joe Carrarro, R-Albuquerque changing their minds and voting for the substitute on Wednesday.

ARCHIVES BACK UP; MORE ON THE BONNIE HEARNE LOVEFEST

For several days my January archives were missing a few weeks worth of my wisdom-filled posts. That's the bad news. The good news is that the Blogger folks acted promptly and fixed it as of this morning.

That might not seem like a big deal to most of you readers, but considering the inept and unresponsive dolts who run the free site where I used to park my old web site (that's Dreamwater. Avoid them at all costs!), this place is a Godsend. There wasn't even a way to contact the Dreamwater jerks.

So thanks, Blogger or Blogspot or whoever you are.

Bonnie Hearne Benefit
Mark Sunday, March 7 on your calendar. That's the benefit for the ever lovely Bonnie Hearne, who's been plaugued with health problems in recent months. Half of the Santa Fe musicians you've ever heard of will be playing -- including yours truly. I'll be contributing one song to the show. (Note to self: get a substitute for Terrell's Sound World that night!)

For a complete list of musicians, go to the February archives and scroll down to the Feb. 1 entry.

The show starts at 6:00 p.m. and goes on till closing. Tickets are $20 -- and remember it's a good cause.

A day and a half left of the Legislature!

swt

New Junior Brown CD Coming!

My old Santa Fe High locker partner, Junior Brown (local folks still call him "Jamie") just signed a new record deal.

The "Kirksville, Indiana" reference below is only part of the story. Mr. Brown moved to Santa Fe in the late '60s, attended Mid High and Santa Fe High and was in several local bands including the psychedelic Humble Harvey (they played at my first DeMolay dance!) and more importantly, The Last Mile Ramblers, an "outlaw" country band who contributed to a good deal of the soundtrack to my drunken college years.

Sorry, Jamie, but I'm going to use this opportunity to re-publish your junior year photo from the 1970 SFHS yearbook (as well as a more recent photo I took not too many years ago)


For Immediate Release

For more information, please contact
Mike Wilpizeski: 718 459 2117 or mikew@telarc.com

JUNIOR BROWN SIGNS DEAL WITH TELARC
August 2004 Debut is His First Release in Over Three Years

February 16, 2004, Cleveland, OH - Telarc International Corporation, one of the world's leading independent recording companies, today announced the signing of an exclusive deal with guitarist/singer/songwriter Junior Brown to be inaugurated with an August 24, 2004, release (title to be announced).

Michael Bishop engineered Brown's Telarc debut - his first new recording in over three years - at the Tracking Room at Emerald Entertainment in Nashville, TN, in February. The album will also be released as an SACD in 5.1 Surround Sound.

"Junior is a fabulously talented entertainer and musician with lots of fans, which was the only consideration when it came to signing him to the label," says Telarc president Bob Woods. "The more eclectic the better these days, and we're truly excited that Junior decided to work with us."

Brown says, "I think we are coming into a time where music is less dependent on categories than it used to be. I think I'm the kind of artist that can't be categorized easily, and I believe Telarc is a label that's interested in the creativity of a performer. It's that focus that many labels have chosen to ignore more and more due to their emphasis on mass marketing over substance. The Telarc folks are great and supportive - I'm thrilled to be on the label."


Playing fiery rock-guitar licks and hardcore honky-tonk with equal aplomb on his self-styled double-necked "guit-steel" - a combination electric and steel guitar - Junior Brown is regarded as one of the most talented guitar players the world. Born in 1953 and raised in Kirksville, IN, Brown first learned to play the piano from his father and became a professional musician at the end of the '60s. A dream prompted him to create an instrument fusing a six-string guitar with its steel counterpart, and in 1985, he developed the "guit-steel," a double-necked guitar combining the standard instrument with the steel.

He made his long-awaited album debut in 1993 with 12 Shades of Brown,
which featured a tribute to his biggest influence, "My Baby Don't Dance to Nothing but Ernest Tubb." Guit With It followed later in the year, and like its predecessor, was met with considerable critical acclaim.

After a five-song EP, 1995's Junior High, Brown returned in 1996 with
Semi-Crazy.

The Long Walk Back followed two years later, and Brown released his
fifth album, Mixed Bag, in 2001.

Terrell's Sound World Play List

(Sorry it's late. Blame it on the state Legislature ...)

Terrell's Sound World
Sunday, February 15, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Electric Uncle Sam by Primus
Rope Bridge Crossing by John Parrish & P.J. Harvey
The Kid is a Witch by Stuurbaard Bakkebaard
Happy Man by Sparklehorse
Lamb by Kult
Garden of Delight by Johnny Dowd
Eternity Ahead by New Creation

The Cuban Bake by The Diplomats of Solid Sound
Nothing Lies Still Long by Pell Mell
Gritty Shaker by David Holmes
"H" is For Harlot by The Civil Tones
Jungle Drums by Esquivel
Inspector Jay From Delhi by Kalyanji & Anandji Shah
Surf Age by Jerry Cole & His Spacemen

Supa Killa by The Soul of John Black
Truck Turner by Isaac Hayes
Sweet Sticky Thing by The Ohio Players
Vibration by Terrance Trent D'Arby
Letitgo by Prince
Hide nor Hair by Ray Charles

You Only Live Twice by Nancy Sinatra
Chopper Squad by The Mekons
Staging the Plaguing of the Raised Platform by Cornershop
Make Believe Mambo by David Byrne
I'm Sorry by B.B. King & Bobby Bland
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

The Santa Fe Opry Play List

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, Feb. 13, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Special Love by Rolf Cahn
I Fall to Pieces by Patsy Cline
Why You Been Gone So Long by Bill Hearne
That's What Makes the Jukebox Play by Roy Acuff
Baby Do You Love Me Still by The Flatlanders
Writing on Rocks Across the USA by Terry Allen

Kell Robertson Live in the Studio
Broke and Hungry
Marylou (Goodtime Gal)

(3 from Cool and Dark Inside CD)
Star Motel Blues
One Shot Can Kill the Music
Song For Roxy

Mary's Bar
Madonna on the Billboard
When You Come Down Off the Mountain
Take Your Fingers Off It

(end Kell set)

Pigsville by The Waco Brothers
Explain Away by Dollar Store
Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone by Charlie Pride
Steve McQueen/Give Me Three Steps by Drive-By Truckers
Hot Dog by Buck Owens
Valentine by Marlee MacLeod

What Went Wrong by Acie Cargill
Old Smokey by Greg Brown
St. Valentine by Joe Ely
Twang on a Wire by Kate Campbell
Is This My Happy Home by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
I'm Leavin' Now by Johnny Cash & Merle Haggard
A Voice From On High by Ricky Skaggs
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Terrell's Tuneup: How I Love Them Old Songs

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican, Feb. 13, 2004

A close cousin of the “tribute” album is the “covers” album, in which singers or bands perform their versions of the songs that inspired them. In recent months I’ve received three such collections in the country/folk vein.

The most frequent criticism of tribute albums apply here: The covers are o.k., but the original versions are far superior. Yet all these new records have their own integrity and in many cases, it’s just great to know that people are still playing these great old songs.

* Twang on the Wire by Kate Campbell. Campbell is a singer-songwriter from the South who pays tribute here to Nashville’s pantheon of female singers from the early to mid 1970s. Most of these selections could be found on any cowboy bar jukebox during the Watergate era.

Twang is a low key affair, but it has a lot of heart. You can feel the love Campbell has for these tunes. She even finds the emotional core of country pop crossover ditties like Donna Fargo’s “Funny Face” and Taos resident Lynn Anderson’s “Rose Garden”.

(Those songs make me think about the “Outlaw” movement of that era. Not to detract from Waylon and Willie and the boys -- who I’ve always loved and always will -- but when you compare those songs to modern so-called-country radio fluff you have to wonder what the “outlaws” were rebelling about.)

Campbell does a creditable job covering the big three ladies of country of ‘70s country: Two Dolly Parton songs (“Touch Your Woman” and the teenage pregnancy horror tale “Down From Dover”); a relatively obscure one by Tammy Wynette (the stately “ ‘Til I Can Make it on My Own”); and one by Loretta Lynn (“Mississippi Woman, Louisiana Man” with alt country rocker Kevin Gordon taking Conway Twitty’s part.)

But my favorites here are two originally sung by a lesser-known artist, Jeannie Pruett. Campbell performs Pruett’s big hit, “Satin Sheets,” which is one of the finest examples of the country-girl-marries-rich-guy-but-learns-money-doesn’t-buy-happiness sub-genre.

But the other Pruett song here is a beautiful obscurity, “Honey on His Hands” is a powerful cheatin’ song and Campbell did us all a favor by reviving it.

The album ends with the title song, the lone original tune here. Here we get an image of a young Kate in her bedroom listening to records, being comforted and inspired by “angels with flattops, they play and they sing.”

Campbell does a good job here of honoring those big-haired angels.

*Countrysides by Cracker. This collection also consists of country covers (mostly) from the ‘70s (mainly). It’s a lot less earnest than Twang on a Wire and more fun loving. These are songs you’d drink beer and dance to while looking for love at a honky tonk. Campbell’s are the songs you’d drink whiskey and listen to after your honky tonk queen has stomped your heart.

Indeed Cracker, (which played in Santa Fe recently with singer David Lowrey’s other band Camper Van Beethoven), concentrates on hard-drinking outlaw anthems like Hank Williams Jr.’s “Family Tradition,” Jerry Jeff Walker’s Ray Wylie Hubbard-penned “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mothers” and Merle Haggard’s “The Bottle Let Me Down.”

And they even do Santa Fe resident Terry Allen justice, kicking off the album with a rowdy take on his “Truckload of Art.”

The lone original here, “It Ain’t Gonna Suck Itself” is a hilarious, scathing musical diatribe against Virgin Records (Cracker‘s former company) that could almost pass for a Texas Tornados tune.

But not everything on Countysides is drunk and disorderly. Lowrey sings a moving, accordion-sweetened version of Bruce Springsteen’s “Sinaloa Cowboys,” a tale of a meth lab tragedy. Their straightforward version of Dwight Yoakum’s “Buenos Noches from a Lonely Room” is downright pretty.

And Haggard’s “Reasons to Quit” is a melodic hangover in which a worried boozer takes assessment of his reckless life.

*Honey in the Lion’s Head by Greg Brown. The material Brown works here is of an older vintage than the Cracker and Kate Campbell albums. Here, the deep-voiced Iowa songwriter goes back to old folk tunes -- the most recent ones being Jim Garland’s “I Don’t Want Your Millions Mister” and Brown’s original “Ain’t No One Like You.”

This record has a lot in common with Dave Alvin’s Public Domain and Bob Dylan’s early ‘90s folk detour World Gone Wrong and Good As I’ve Been to You.

Honey is an all acoustic album, save a few electric guitar contributions from Bo Ramsey (he makes the lion growl on Brown‘s version of the Rev. Gary Davis‘ “Samson.”) It’s colored with banjos, mandolins and fiddles, not to mention a couple of singing Brown daughters.

Some of the material here is extremely familiar -- “Old Smokey,” “Down in the Valley,” “I Never Will Marry.” But Brown does an admirable job in making these old chestnuts ache.

Perhaps my favorite here is the last cut, an old hymn Brown sings with wife Iris DeMent. Jacob’s Ladder takes me right back to Methodist Youth Fellowship. Brown’s almost breezy arrangement makes a listener almost expect to hear the voice of Mississippi John Hurt chime in.

*Hey Santa Fe readers: Poet, picker, country singer and American ramblin’ man Kell Robertson will appear live tonight on The Santa Fe Opry 10 p.m. . That’s KSFR, 90.7 FM, Santa Fe Public Radio.

Kell, by the way, is the subject of a cover story this month in The Fringe, a free monthly Santa Fe "Alternative Arts & Culture Rag."

* Pazz & Jop: I was one of 500 or so music critics contributing to The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop poll. I see two participants named David Prince and I'm assuming one is my colleague from Santa Fe.

In the nearly 15 years I've been doing this poll, I think this is the first time that FIVE of my 10 album selections -- The New Pornographers, The White Stripes, Outkast, The Drive-By Truckers and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs -- made it into the poll's top 10. I feel so ... mainstream ...

Roundhouse Round-up: Down on the Farm

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican,

Senate Democrat Leader Manny Aragon of Albuquerque has been known to make jokes about farmers. During this session he had a little fun on the Senate floor at the expense of Senate Bill 108.

Introduced by his colleague, Senate Democratic Whip Mary Jane Garcia of Doña Ana, the legislation calls for $150,000 for a marketing plan for "socially disadvantaged farmers."

A few days later, Aragon introduced his own bill to help the farmer.

SB 477 would appropriate $100,000 from the general fund to the state Office of Cultural Affairs "to provide for instruction in manners, dancing and attire for the socially disadvantaged farmers of the state."

In the spirit of bipartisan lampoonery, Senate Republican Leader Stuart Ingle of Portales -- himself a farmer, though he doesn't appear to be "socially disadvantaged" -- signed on to Aragon's bill as a co-sponsor.

The New Mexico Farm and Livestock Bureau didn't seem overly concerned about Aragon's bill.

"We appreciate Senators Ingle and Aragon for thinking of those in agriculture, as they are sometimes overlooked in urban areas," said the bureau's director of communications, Erik Ness. "However our demographic research shows that most farmers and ranchers are well-groomed, college-educated professionals with impeccable manners and a firm grasp on the mechanics of the two-step and jitterbug."

For the record, there's actually a federal Office of Minority and Socially Disadvantaged Farmers Assistance. I don't think they teach dancing.

Aragon's bill was assigned to three committees and hasn't been heard anywhere yet, so don't expect it to get very far. Garcia's bill got the same number of committee assignments, but it sailed through the first two and now awaits action in the Senate Finance Committee.

Break a leg, Joe: Rep. Eric Youngberg, R-Albuquerque, was trying to put a positive spin on the fact that House Republican Whip Joe Thompson broke his leg during Monday's annual House-Senate basketball game.

The game was fairly close until Thompson's injury, Youngberg said. But Thompson's loss inspired the House team to hustle, spurring them to defeat the Senate 57-38.

Maybe it was a case of "win one for Joe." Or, as one wise guy observed, maybe they just got better when Thompson wasn't playing.

A sweet pill to swallow: Walk through the Capitol Rotunda during a legislative session and you'll undoubtedly find several tables where organizations are giving away some kind of candy along with their pamphlets and literature.

But representatives of a Northern New Mexico health-care provider recently had a curious way to package their giveaway treats.

Las Clinicas del Norte offered pill bottles labeled with the clinic's name and other information. The bottles were filled with little Valentine's Day candy hearts.

I'm not sure whether the bottles had child-proof caps.

More crime

Synchronicity alert!

Soon after I posted here yesterday about the big break in the 1989 Tracy Barker case -- mentioning in passing last year's confession of David "Little Blue" Morton to the murders of Janet Benoit and Teri Mulvaney in the early 1980s -- I learned that Morton had a scheduled court hearing yesterday.

Morton pleaded guilty to both killings and got life sentences for each.

Read all about Morton HERE

And for more on the Barker case, go HERE.

On a lighter note -- so to speak -- here's a plug for an internet pal. David Hamilton, who has worked as a lighting technician on concert tours for musicians from Steve Vai to Olivia Newton John (and many many country stars) has a new web site of his own. CHECK IT OUT.

Crime Beat

For the second year in a row my work covering the state Legislature has been interrupted by police apparently cracking an old unsolved Santa Fe murder that I'd covered during my years as a crime reporter.

Yesterday I learned that a DNA test had linked Cowgirl Hall of Fame rapist Chris McClendon to the 1989 killing of Tracy Barker. READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE.

(Basic civics reminder: McClendon hasn't been charged in the Barker case, let alone tried and convicted.)

Last year -- right in the middle of the legislative session -- convicted Texas murderer and former Santa Fe resident David "Little Blue" Morton confessed to Santa Fe police that he'd killed his neighbor Teri Mulvaney in 1984 as well as Janet Benoit in 1983, Local authorities still haven't charged Morton in the Santa Fe killings. He was tried for killing Mulvaney back in the '80s but the jury was hung, voting 11 to 1 to acquit him.

I guess one could make a bad joke about the fact that my coverage of the Legislature had already been interrupted by a "mass murder" this year: John Kerry's merciless slaughter of his opponents in the New Mexico Democratic caucus last week.

Terrell's Sound World Play List

Terrell's Sound World
Sunday, February 8, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Beatles Set (all songs by The Beatles except where noted)

All My Lovin'
Til There Was You
I Want to Hold Your Hand by Al Green
Twist and Shout
Money by The Backbeat Band
Baby It's You
Slow Down
Got to Get You Into My Life by Joe Pesci
Big Show by The Royal Crescent Mob
I Saw Her Standing There
(end Beatles set)

Surfin' Bird by The Trashmen
Wedding Dress by Johnny Dowd
Mannish Boy by The Electrik Mudcats with Chuck D and Common
I Just Want to Make Love to You by Muddy Waters
Shakin' All Over by Iggy Pop
Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Dirty Pool by The Replacements

Mekons Set (All Songs by The Mekons)
Teeth
The Curse
Sympathy For The Mekons
The Ballad of Sally
The Olde Trip to Jerusalem
The Flame That Killed John Wayne
Dance and Drink The Mekons
Never Been to a Riot
Now We Have the Bomb
Lonely and Wet
Men United
St. Valentine's Day
Psycho Cupid
Memphis, Egypt
Cast No Shadows
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis