Terrell's Sound World Play List

Terrell's Sound World
Sunday, April 11, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
EASTER SET
Easter by Patti Smith
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues by Bob Dylan
Peter Cottontail by The Bubbadinos
Run Rabbit Run by Julien Aklei
The Temple by The Afghan Whigs
Damned For All Time by Scratch Acid
Trial Before Pilate (from Jesus Christ Superstar, original album)
How Can You Refuse Him Now by Holly Williams
Were You There When They Crucified My Lord by Johnny Cash
Passion by Peter Gabriel
Jesus Was a Crossmaker by Warren Zevon
The Donor by Judee Sill
The Cross by Prince
(end Easter set)

Ecstasy/The Day John Kennedy Died/Street Hassle/The Bed by Lou Reed
My Beloved Monster by The Eels
You're Gonna Miss Me by The 13th Floor Elevators

Please Come Home Before It Rains by Otis Taylor
Biscuits by Wildsang
I Got Something To Tell You by Charles Caldwell
Til the Cows Come Come by Lucille Bogan
Nasty Car by The Big Ugly Guys
Not Meant to Be by Bone Pilgrim
The Ocean Doesn't Want Me by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

The Santa Fe Opry Play List

The Santa Fe Opry
Friday, April 9, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I Ain't Got Nobody by Don Walser with Asleep at the Wheel
Heartache by Heartache by Cornell Hurd
Lonely Street by Ray Price
Time Changes Everything by Johnny Cash
It Makes No Difference Now by Merle Haggard
Joy by Joe Ely
This Old Cowboy by The Marshall Tucker Band
If You Gotta Go, Go Now by Bob Dylan

The Fame of Lofty Deeds by Jon Langford
Beyond Our Means by Dollar Store
Country Bumpkin by Cal Smith
My Sweet Love Ain't Around by Starlings TN
Drink Me by The Dolly Ranchers
Jessico by The Kentucky Headhunters
Only the Strong Survive by The Tom Tom Club
Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again by Kris Kristofferson

Tell Me True by Grey DeIsle
A Great Depression by Ronny Elliott
Portrait of the Artist by Slipshod
Broken Conversation by Nels Andrews
I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry by The Holmes Brothers
Things Have Gone to Pieces by George Jones
A Little Shot of Something Blue by Tom House
Just Friends by Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

It's Only Make Believe by Kelly Hogan & John Wesley Harding
So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad) by The Everly Brothers
Whispering Pines by Johnny Horton
The Last Word in Lonesome is Me by Roger Miller
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights by Rex Hobart & His Misery Boys
Lovesick Blues Boy by Paul Burch
Opportunity to Cry by Willie Nelson
Alone and Forsaken by Hank Williams
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: The Animal Growls Again

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican, April 9, 2004

The very title of Lou Reed’s new double-disc live album Animal Serenade invites comparison to his first live album from the mid 70s. Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal.

Ultimately the comparison doesn’t bode well for the new record. Serenade doesn’t come close to the timeless power and glory that is Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal, which is one of the greatest live albums of the ages.Furthermore you have to wonder why Reed felt compelled to release another live album. It wasn’t that long ago that he came out with Perfect Night, which was a decent representation of his live sound.

But don’t dismiss Animal Serenade.

This animal might not roar like 1974, but the old beast has a pretty fearsome growl.

Recorded last June in Los Angeles, Serenade features two longtime Reed sidekicks Fernando Saunders on bass and percussion and guitarist Mike Rathke, as well as Jane Scarpantoni, (who has played cello from everyone from Sheryl Crow to The Beastie Boys) and the mysterious Antony, whose Bizarro World falsetto gave strange colors to Reed’s previous CD The Raven.

Reed himself draws attention to the gulf between then and now by starting out the new one with the familiar power chords of “Sweet Jane,” the tune that kicked off Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal. But here he stops and gets professorial, explaining how most people think there are only three chords in the riff, while actually, there are four. Instead of the long overworked “Sweet Jane,” he launches into “Smalltown,” an under-appreciated growing-up-weird-in-America song from the Andy Warhol tribute Songs For Drella.

One of the strangest aspects of Serenade is that there’s no drummer. True, Saunders plays some kind of synths drums on a couple of tracks. But for the most part, this record concentrates on Reed’s more ethereal and melodic songs. But the song selection here is one of the strengths of the album.

There’s a good smattering of Velvet Underground crowd-pleasers — a 10-minute “Heroin,” (far from his best version. It would have been more interesting had it turned into “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” as Reed hints deep into the song); a nine-minute “Venus in Furs,” (in which Scarpantoni out-Cales John Cale with her psychedelic cello solo); “Candy Says” (with Antony on lead vocals); and a surprisingly rocked-out “All Tomorrow’s Parties.”

And there’s some more obscure Reed tunes that shine here — “Tell it to Your Heart,” (one of Reed’s best straightforward love songs of ‘80s); “How Do You Think It Feels” (done here with hints of gutbucket funk and one of the best guitar solos on the album); “Set the Twilight Reeling,” (starts off slow and soulful, has a warbling Antony interlude and ends in guitar fury); and “Call on Me” (a heartbreaker from The Raven.)

But what really makes this album is a four-song, 23-minute run on the first disc.

Starting with a bosa-nova-like “Ecstacy” (title song of one of Reed’s more forgettable ‘90s records) that grows in intensity until you think you might be approaching an ecstatic state, Reed goes into a forgotten political meditation from 1982’s The Blue Mask, “The Day John Kennedy Died.”From there he launches into a gripping version of “Street Hassle” (some points off for the unnecessary and seemingly self-congratulatory spoken introduction), which leads to “The Bed,” the grim climax of Berlin, Reed’s disturbing hymn to decadence and depravity. Reed sings of this suicide scene as if he’s about to burst into tears.

When you hear these latter-day takes on Reed’s great tales from the underbelly, you realize how shallow it is to consider rock ‘n’ roll the exclusive property of youth. These songs sounded ravaged and haggard when we first heard them all those years ago. You could argue that now that he’s over 60, Reed is growing into these tunes.

Also Recommended:

*The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Live 1964 Concert at Philharmonic Hall by Bob Dylan Yes kiddies, 1964. That’s 40 years ago. Young Bob was just a pup.This two-disc set captures Dylan only months before he became a household word.

At this point he was still playing acoustic guitar only and thus he was still the darling of the folkies. You can hear them applaud enthusiastically when he plays his old protest favorites “With God on Our Side,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” etc. — and react far more politely to his newer, stranger batch of tunes like “Mr. Tambourine Man,” “Gates of Eden” and “It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding).”

But by the next year the Folk Nazis would turn on him when he “went electric” and “sold out” to a wider audience — even wildly unhip people like a certain Okie junior high kid who grew up to be me.

Listen to this concert and you can almost see Dylan’s creativity pounding on the walls of his folkie prison, filing the bars of his cell, trying to bust out. “If You Gotta Go, Go Now,” one of the first rockers Dylan ever recorded, is done acoustically here. But you can hear it crying for electricity and drums.

The folkies should have seen the great heresy ahead when Dylan introduced “Who Killed Davey Moore,” a protest song about a boxer who was killed in the ring — and the pressures that put him in the ring — the promoter, the manager, the press, the audience.

“This is a song about a boxer. It’s got nothing to do with boxing, it’s just a song about a boxer. And, uh, it hasn’t got anything to do with a boxer really … It’s got nothing to do about nothing ... ”

Little did they know it had everything to do with everything.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: RICHARDSON'S AMBITIONS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican


Gov. Bill Richardson on May 20 will give a commencement speech at a state university.

No, not this state. He'll be talking that night to the graduating class of the University of New Hampshire in Manchester.

New Hampshire? Why would a politician from New Mexico be interested in New Hampshire?

Certainly, it's not politics, Richardson's spokesmen insist.

"It's got absolutely nothing to do with the 2008 New Hampshire primary," Billy Sparks said Wednesday. "In fact, Governor Richardson has long advocated that a Western primary be given greater prominence."

Richardson has called for New Mexico and other Western states to band together for a regional presidential primary that would be held early in the election year.

For several decades, New Hampshire has held the first presidential primary of the election season.

Sparks also noted Richardson gave a commencement speech at Middlebury College in Vermont last year. And Vermont isn't one of those states where presidential hopefuls start poking around years in advance.

This will be Richardson's first trip to New Hampshire, Sparks said. Asked whether it will be his last, Sparks said, "I can't say that."

The university will pay for the trip, Sparks said.

Second banana blues: But, of course, it really is too early to be looking at the 2008 election when 2004 isn't even half finished.

However, the governor's assumed presidential ambitions have been noted by national pundits looking at the possibility of Sen. John Kerry choosing Richardson as the vice-presidential candidate this year.

(The usual disclaimer: Richardson has repeatedly said he would turn down any offer to be on the national ticket this year.)

A report on CNN's Paula Zahn Now noted Richardson's strengths are his appeal to Hispanic voters and his experience in foreign policy and energy issues. However, the report said some Democrats believe our governor might be perceived as being too interested in advancing his own political career.

Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said much the same thing in a telephone interview Wednesday.

In Sabato's most recent ranking of Democratic veep contenders -- in which our governor ranked third behind Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh and former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland -- Richardson ranked high in areas of experience and political strength. But he was docked points in the category of "compatibility" with Kerry.

This, Sabato said, was due to the fact that Richardson "is viewed as having his own presidential run in mind." Presidential candidates, Sabato said, prefer to have running mates with their ambitions on the back burner.

In Sabato's ranking system, Richardson lost more points in the category of possible "hidden problems."

Asked what this referred to, Sabato said he was mainly talking about the fact that Richardson's voting record as a congressman and his years as United Nations ambassador and Energy secretary haven't received much national scrutiny -- at least not the kind that candidates on national tickets get. Security problems at Los Alamos National Laboratory and rising gasoline prices in 2000 kept Richardson off the national ticket that year.

But that assessment probably doesn't sting as much as Sunday's New York Times article by Adam Nagourney, which listed Richardson as one of four possible running mates interviewed by the Kerry campaign.

While Richardson's experience and the fact he could help carry New Mexico -- a "must-win" state -- were big plusses, Nagourney said, "Mr. Richardson has not run for national office before, and Democrats said it was not clear that he has the political skills to survive what could be a highly complicated campaign."

The Snerdley factor: But Richardson can take solace in the fact that he's the favorite of "Mr. Snerdley," the screener for right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh's Web site has a transcript of a discussion about Kerry's possible running mates.

Quoth Limbaugh: "Now, is there a name, Mr. Snerdley? I've mentioned that you disagree with me. You think might, might add to the electability chances of John Kerry? ... Hm-hm. Hm-hm. Bill Richardson. OK, all right, Mr. Snerdley thinks that Bill Richardson might add aura, prestige and give an increased chance of electability to John Kerry. All right, fine."

Big Ugly's Response

My pal Rio DeGennaro of the Kansas City band The Big Ugly Guys wrote a full length response to my Kurt Cobain/Gaynel Hodge story (posted this morning immediately below.) However, it was too long for the "comments" feature.

I obviously don't agree with everything he says, (I believe there was plenty of joy and rebellion in the old Seattle sound) but Rio's a smart guy and his full response is worth reading. Plus I like his band. So here it is:

Great story, Steve.

I never really understood where all the BS about being the voice of teenage angst came from, and how Nirvanna was the medium for Corbain's status as spokesman for Gen X or whatever they were called. Grunge was the reason I bought a guitar and started my band to try to preach the fun and rebellion of rocknroll to people. I know that may seem to be an outdated idea but I still believe the reception of rock is in making people get out of their seats and shake their ass.

I never subscribed to the dark visions of the music of the Doors, the Velvet Underground, Black Sabbath. I kinda thought the record companies were using the weirdness in people brought out by the excesses of uninhibited lifestyles to make a buck. The whole Seattle thing to me is just a reverberation of the NW heroin scene that seemed to play on the disconnect
of youth at the time. Me, I've never been into smack or downers, so I just couldn't relate at all. A buncha minor key tunings do not make a memorable song to my ear. Have you heard anybody walking down the street whistling "Teen Spirit"?

Our local alt. rag, "The Pitch", had a music editor who hooked up with a local studio and tried to ram midwest grunge down everyone's throat.. The only bands who ever got favorable reviews were recorded at that studio with the same riff heavy hand. Totally sucked. We had plenty of great bands spread across the musical spectrum from jazz to blues who couldn't get the time of day in the paper. Me, I still get the cold shoulder from a lot of the clubs and businesses associated with the ass. I made the mistake of writing a letter to the editor pointing out the fact that "...you can't recreate the grunge scene in KC with 3.2 beer and road weed". My point being pretty obvious to anyone who bought records for 50 years.

I spent many a night trying to get a little sweater in the back seat of the car parked in some lover's lane listening to "Earth Angel" and "Tonight's the Night" and "Silhouettes". Aaaah, the glories of submarine race watching doo wop.

Now that was all rocknroll and all missed by kids today. Who wants to slow dance with some whiner mosh pit enthusiast.

I use to always want to be alive 100 years in the future. Now I'm just not so sure about the future.

rio