BURN HIM

Last night was the annual burning of Zozobra, one of the world's most ultra-bitchen community celebrations of all time. I went with my son, which is what I've been doing nearly every year since 1995 when he was three.

For those who don't know, Zozobra is a massive 40-50-foot monster puppet who is ritually burned to symbolically burn our gloom of the past year. Last night was the 80th burning. (CLICK HERE FOR MORE ZOZOBRA INFO)

I'd seen Zozobra a few times before we moved here in 1968. Since then, I've only missed twice.

In 1973 my friends and I got to drunk and didn't make it in time. We arrived at Ft. Marcy Ball right when the lights came on.

Then last year I missed it because of the Democratic Presidential debates in Albuquerque where seven or eight candidates did their best to burn Howard Dean.

What amazes me is how the Zozobra ritual has grown and evolved. When I first saw it I was probably about three. Back then Santa Fe was so small, people drove their cars into the ballpark and watched from right outside the cars.

All I remember is that I was terrified.

But in a good way.

For years the ritual was just one guy (Harold Gans) moaning with a crude drum beat in the background. The Fire Dancer danced, torched Old man Gloom and then the fireworks went off.

Now it's grown into an impressive and elaborate pseudo-Pagan spectacle with several dancers -- The Queen of Gloom and her court -- fancy syncopated drums and eerie music. Still a lot of moaning and fireworks and they still have a Fire Dancer.

This was Katy Lilienthal's first year and she was beautiful. Her dad Chip did it
for 30-plus years. (His mentor Jacques Cartier did it for 30 years or so before that.) Katy got the job only after some controversy. (Check my August archives, Aug. 11 post)

My only disappointment this year was that there was no "Gauntlet of Jesus" afterwards. Usually there's a line of folks the Potter's House with bullhorns berating the crowd and passing out those cool Jack Chick comics where people go to Hell for cussing etc.

A few years ago when that kid got killed on the Plaza in a gang shooting, the shooter's family was up with the Potter's House screaming bloody Christ at the crowd. (It was after that when they moved the burning from Friday to Thursday, which I still feel is a shame. I know many disagree -- especially my police friends -- but I liked it when the crowd was crazier and there was someplace to go after the burning.)

A few years later the Potter's House folk got too pushy with the cops and lots of them ended up getting pepper-sprayed in the face. It was sad how many free-speech liberals applauded what many of them would call "police abuse" if the victims had been different. (I can't believe it: My original story on that incident is still on the web! CLICK HERE)

Sure, the Jesus screamers are annoying but they've become part of the tradition and I missed them. This year they had a band on a traffic island -- I'm pretty sure it was a Jesus rock band -- but no bullhorns and no Chick comics. Now if we all go to Hell for seeing Zozobra without repenting NOBODY WARNED US!

Otherwise, Viva la Fiesta!

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: SHAVER & SON

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 10, 2004

It’s curious that Billy and the Kid is credited solely to Billy Joe Shaver, considering that most of the vocals and songwriting and virtually all of the guitar work was done by his son Eddy, who was “the Kid” of the title.

It’s ironic because during the years that Eddy Shaver played with his dad, the albums were credited to “Shaver,” a band name that was shorthand for giving the father and the son equal credit.

And as a matter of fact, most the cuts here were originally intended as part of an Eddy Shaver solo album -- a project that was halted when Eddy died of a drug overdose on New Year’s Eve 2000.

In the liner notes Billy Joe writes that he and his son’s musical collaborator Tony Colton finished the album after “visits and instructions from Eddy.” I’ve listen to enough of Billy Joe Shaver’s music to know that this God-fearing Texan is not the type to make such a claim lightly.

While it’s touching that Shaver would do this for his son, the sad truth is that it doesn’t measure up to most of his albums of the past 10-15 years.

First of all, poor Eddy just wasn’t the songwriter his dad is. In truth, few people are. Billy Joe’s tunes on Waylon Jennings’ classic Honky Tonk Heroes (including the title song, “You Asked Me To,“ “Black Rose” and seven others) practically defined the “outlaw” movement of the ‘70s. (And Billy Joe didn’t rest on his laurels. His songwriting in the last 10 years is as strong as ever.)
Secondly, Eddy’s music, a metal-tinged blues/boogey that seems to aim somewhere between Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gv’t. Mule, gets monotonous.

That’s not to say Eddy doesn’t have some good moments on this album. “Baptism of Fire,” a live recording, is a slow burner. With its images of “long legged women in short, short skirts,” and “holy rollers who ride subway trains,” sung to a backdrop of liquidy guitar, shows Eddy at least had the beginnings of an interesting songwriting career.

The same could be said of “Eagle on the Ground,” a demo featuring just Eddy and his guitar. The picking is flashy on this minor-key tune, but the lyrics, which deal with the cost of addiction -- “there were demons in them bottles that tore the angels down and set afire their wings” -- give the song its punch.

But it’s the father, not the kid, who has the best songs on the album.

“Fame,” a lo-fi recording of Billy Joe strumming a guitar, is a simple but moving reflection about loss and failure.

But best of all is the ultra-spooky “Window Rock,” in which Shaver’s fire-and brimstone Christianity melds with Native American mysticism. Over a spacey, psychedelia-dripping guitarscape by Eddy, Billy Joe sings:

“If you take enough peyote, evil ones will soon find you/They will stalk you in the dream world, but Window Rock will see you through/by the light of the Navajo moon.”

I can see why Billy Joe wanted to complete his son’s album. And besides, you can’t argue with “visits and instructions.” But I’m hoping he’s busy right now writing new songs and getting on with his own work.

Recommended:

* Rubber Factory by The Black Keys. Normally the music snob in me would look askance and hold my nose at a couple of goofy looking white kids from Akron, Ohio making a career of pounding the crap out of cranked up old blues riffs.

That’s exactly what The Black Keys do. And not much more.

But somehow, they make it work. In fact the new album by The Keys, for the most part is just as brash and unabashed -- and just as simple -- as their previous two.

But singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach seems to be singing with more confidence. And Patrick Carney tears into his drum set as if he’s trying to summon the wicked spirit of Keith Moon. The music bounces and flows.

Most the songs are raw garage blues rampages. But there are a couple of spots where the Keys dare to get pretty. “The Lengths” is a minimalist soul ballad, with Auerbach making a lap steel scream for joy.

All but two of the songs are original (O.K., “Stack Shot Billy” is a rewrite of “Stagolee”). But their choice of covers shows The Keys have fine tastes.

“Act Nice And Gentle” is an old Kinks song. Auerbach and Carney perform it like a tougher version of Mungo Jerry. (And the lap steel gets a great workout here.)

The other cover is bluesman Robert Pete Williams’ ode to self-loathing, “Grown So Ugly,” previously covered (37 years ago) by Capt. Beefheart. The Keys were undoubtedly influenced by Beefheart’s version, but theirs is even more primitive.

The Black Keys will be in Santa Fe 10 p.m. Tuesday. They’re playing at The Paramount. They’re the official “after party” for Neko Case and The Handsome Family, who are playing earlier at The Lensic. Tickets for the Black Keys are $12, but if you have a Neko ticket stub they’re only $5.

Big Barn Dance: Taos singer Michael Hearne presents his second annual Big Barn Dance this weekend at The Old Blinking Light and Casa de Caballos Barn in Taos. The acts this year include Terri Hendrix with Lloyd Maines, Bill & Bonnie Hearne, The Buckarettes, Manzanares, Syd Masters & The Swing Riders, Shake Russell & Dana Cooper, Luke Reed, Mentor Williams, The Rifters and of course Michael Hearne & South by Southwest.

Ticket prices range from $25 to $50. For a complete schedule CLICK HERE

NADER CERTIFIED IN NM, DEMS SAY QUICK LAWSUIT LIKELY

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 10, 2004

The state Bureau of Elections on Thursday certified independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader to be on New Mexico’s general-election ballot. But the chairman of the state Democratic Party said his party is likely to file legal action to derail Nader, possibly as early as today.

“Ralph Nader is not a legitimate independent candidate," Democratic chairman John Wertheim said Thursday. “We doubt this Republican-backed petition drive is sufficient. It’s very likely we’ll challenge it.”

But time is quickly running out. Earlier this week state elections director Denise Lamb said her office will have to mail absentee ballots to New Mexico voters who are in the military and/or overseas by the end of next week.

Carol Miller, Nader’s New Mexico coordinator, said that Wertheim’s threat of a lawsuit “shows disrespect to the courts and to the people of the state.”

Although the Nader campaign this week submitted petitions with more than 31,000 signatures — more than twice the number needed — Wertheim said Democrats checking the petitions found “a bunch” of signatures of people not registered to vote. He declined to give an exact number.

But another argument Democrats might make in court is that Nader isn’t truly an independent candidate because he’s been endorsed by several minor parties, including the Reform Party, the Peace and Justice Party, the Populist Party and the Independent Party of Delaware.

Last month a panel of three judges in Pennsylvania ruled that Nader shouldn’t be on the ballot as an independent in that state because he is the Reform Party’s nominee.

It isn’t clear whether New Mexico election law has the same provision that knocked out Nader in Pennsylvania.

In this state an independent candidate is defined as a “candidate without party affiliation.” It would be up to a court to determine whether Nader is affiliated with parties in other states that endorse him.

In Florida this week, a court ruled that Nader couldn’t be on the ballot as the Reform Party candidate because that party — started by Texas billionaire Ross Perot who ran for president twice in the 1990s — is not a legitimate national party and did not follow Florida law in giving Nader its nomination.

Miller predicted a court will quickly throw out any Democratic lawsuit in New Mexico.
“I can’t imagine any lawsuit against us getting any votes for John Kerry,” she said. “I think there could be a backlash against them.”

Democrats nationwide are afraid that Nader will pull votes away from Democrat Kerry and perhaps throw the election to President Bush.

Some New Mexico Republicans — including state Sen. Rod Adair of Roswell — advocated that Republicans sign Nader’s petitions.

In New Mexico four years ago, Democrat Al Gore beat Bush by only 366 votes. Nader, at that time running as the Green Party candidate, received 21,251 votes.

Few political observers expect Nader to do that well this year. An Albuquerque Journal poll this week showed Nader at only 1 percent — about a quarter of his 2000 total.

Despite his setback in Florida, Nader received some good news Thursday when an Oregon judge ruled that Nader’s name should appear on Oregon’s ballot — overturning a decision by the state’s Democratic secretary of state.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: LOG CABINS & BUSH

While the national board of the Log Cabin Republicans -- an organization of gay and lesbian members of the GOP -- announced this week that they would not endorse President Bush for re-election, New Mexico's Log Cabin leader reassured state Republicans that he's still on board with Bush.

"As you know, while echoing Vice President Cheney in respectfully disagreeing with the Federal Marriage Amendment issue, I have continued to be a vocal and financial supporter of President George W. Bush and of Bush-Cheney '04," Pat Killen of Albuquerque wrote in a letter to state Republican honchos.

Cheney, who is the father of a lesbian, recently said, "People ought to be free to enter into any kind of relationship they want to."

Killen, 24, said he has given a total of $330 to the Bush campaigns this year and in 2000, plus $250 in "soft money" to the Republican Party at a Bush event four years ago.

He was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention in New York last week.

Killen said the bylaws of the national Log Cabin Republicans specify that state and local chapters don't get involved in federal races. "I strongly believe that President Bush must continue to provide his steady leadership of our nation in these times of change and challenge, especially in the areas of protecting our homeland, fighting the war on terror and strengthening our economy," Killen wrote.

But support by Bush -- and the Republican convention -- for the proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw same-sex marriages is the main reason the national Log Cabins decided to withhold support for Bush's re-election.

The organization also objected to a section of the Republican platform that Killen says condemns "any and all legal recognition of gay and lesbian families, including domestic partnerships or civil unions."

Killen said another reason for the Log Cabins not endorsing Bush was the GOP Platform Committee's refusal to adopt a "unity plank" that had been endorsed by their group as well as abortion-rights groups called Republicans for Choice and the Republican Youth Majority.

State Sen. Joe Carraro, R-Albuquerque, who was on the platform committee, said Wednesday that after discussions with the various groups, the committee approved a slightly different version of the "unity plank," which said, "As the party of the open door, while steadfast in our commitment to our ideals, we respect and accept that members of our party can have deeply held and sometimes differing views. This diversity is a source of strength, not a sign of weakness, and so we welcome into our ranks all who may hold differing positions."

Carraro said the Platform Committee believed that the main focus of the platform should be the big issues -- the war on terrorism and the economy. The committee decided to go along with Bush's wishes -- without a great deal of discussion -- on other issues such as gay rights and abortion, Carraro said.

"This was the platform the president wanted," Carraro said.

The Log Cabin Republicans, who endorsed Bush and paid for television commercials for him in 2000, say exit polls indicate that more than a million gays and lesbians voted for the GOP ticket that year -- including nearly 50,000 in Florida.

In his letter to the state GOP, Killen stressed that the national Log Cabin group is not endorsing John Kerry. He pointed to the official statement of the board that applauds Bush for his foreign and economic policies.

He didn't mention the part of the statement that said, "Log Cabin's decision was made in response to the White House's strategic political decision to pursue a re-election strategy catered to the radical right."

But in that statement, the gay Republicans also said, "Log Cabin also denounces the continued flip-flops on gay and lesbian issues from Democratic nominee John Kerry. Senator Kerry has repeatedly made clear his opposition to civil-marriage equality and has supported discriminatory constitutional amendments in Massachusetts and Missouri."

NADER FILES PETITIONS IN N.M.

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Sept. 8, 2004

Unless Democrats can disqualify more than half the 31,000-plus petition signatures submitted Tuesday for independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader, the controversial consumer advocate will be on November’s general-election ballot in New Mexico.

Carol Miller, Nader’s New Mexico coordinator, submitted the petitions to the Secretary of State’s office Tuesday.

Miller said the petition drive was successful despite “organized and well-funded malicious attacks” by Democrats, who fear Nader will draw enough votes from their candidate, John Kerry, to tip the state to President Bush.

Although the state has only five electoral votes, New Mexico is a battleground state in what most pundits think will be a close election.

Miller said Nader petition gatherers had been harassed and intimidated by Democrats. “We’re just lucky we had some strong people,” she said.

“I’m calling on the New Mexico Democratic Party to take the high ground,” Miller said. “I’d encourage the Democrats not to divert their energy on Ralph Nader and concentrate on getting out the vote for John Kerry.”

State Election Director Denise Lamb said she expects to certify Nader’s name for the ballot this week. Nader needs valid signatures of 14,527 registered voters.

Lamb said her office only checks whether signatures are legible and contain a name and address. She said her office doesn’t check voter-registration lists to determine if each signature on a Nader petition is valid. Instead, the office checks to see if names are legible and include addresses.

However, a private group — such as the Democratic Party — could file a lawsuit to challenge the validity of petition signatures. Matt Furtado, a state Democratic party spokesman, said Tuesday that Democrats might do just that.

“Given Ralph Nader’s submission of insufficient signatures in Virginia, Missouri, Arizona and Pennsylvania, we will be reviewing those (New Mexico signatures) very carefully.”

Any lawsuit would have to be filed quickly because voting for overseas military begins Sept. 18. Absentee voting for other New Mexico voters begins Oct. 5.

The president of an anti-Nader group that purchased television commercials in New Mexico last month said Tuesday that it looks as if Nader will be on New Mexico’s ballot.

David Jones of The Nader Factor said his group will concentrate on trying to convince potential Nader voters that “the only way to stop the Bush agenda is to unify with the Democrats. Issues they care about — job outsourcing, health care, consumer rights, the environment — are all being undermined by the Bush presidency.”

Jones said he didn’t have the state-by-state breakdown for money spent trying to stop Nader, so he couldn’t say how much The Nader Factor has spent in New Mexico. The organization — which is a 527 political group — has spent about $300,000 nationwide, he said.

That figure doesn’t include the legal costs for the Democratic parties of various states fighting Nader in courts. According to Ballot Access News — a newsletter dedicated to minor political parties — the Nader campaign has pending legal battles in seven states.

Furtado repeated state Democratic claims that Republicans in the state are using Nader’s campaign to hurt Kerry. He pointed to state Sen. Rod Adair, R-Roswell, who circulated Nader petitions via e-mail.

Adair said Tuesday he only gathered “a couple of thousand” signatures for Nader.

But Miller said she didn’t accept any of Adair’s petitions. “I said all along that we didn’t need Rod Adair’s help,” she said.

However, Lamb said, “I don’t know if they’re from Rod Adair, but there sure are a lot of signatures from Chaves County.” Chaves is Adair’s county.

Adair has agreed that Nader’s name on the ballot helps Republicans. But he’s countered that the Libertarian Party, whose candidate Michael Badnarik is on this state’s ballot, draws votes away from the GOP.

Also on the New Mexico presidential ballot are the Green Party’s David Cobb and The Constitution Party’s Michael Peroutka.

“Voters want choice,” Adair said. “It’s part of democracy, despite what the Democrats want.”

In 2000 Democrat Al Gore beat Bush in New Mexico by 366 votes statewide. In that election, Nader, who was running as the Green Party candidate, got 21,251 votes, which was about 4 percent.

Most observers don’t expect Nader to get nearly that much support here this year. An Albuquerque Journal poll on Sunday showed Nader with only about 1 percent.

Nader had good news and bad news in other states Tuesday.

In Wisconsin — another battleground state — Nader supporters turned in twice the number of signatures he needs to get on the ballot there. Only 2,000 valid signatures are required in Wisconsin.

More on Nader Here

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAY LIST

Sunday, Sept. 5, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now Webcasting:
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
On Broadway by Neil Young
Romeo Had Juliette by Lou Reed
NYC by Steve Earle
The Man From Harlem by Cab Calloway
Forty Deuce by Black 47
Uptown by Loudon Wainwright III
New York City Cops by The Strokes

Good Guys/Bad Guys Cheer by Country Joe & The Fish
Empty Sky by Bruce Springsteen
53rd & 3rd by The Ramones
Hard Times in New York Town by Bob Dylan
New York City by They Might Be Giants
New York, New York by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
I Gotcha by Joe Tex
Big Brother by Mose Allison
Don't Hang Up by The Orlons

Just Couldn't Tie Me Down by The Black Keys
The Wheel by Dinosaur Jr.
Lost in Music by The Fall
I Have Been to Heaven and Back by The Mekons
The Slow Drug by P.J. Harvey
Walk Idiot Walk by The Hives
Let it Be Me by Magic Elephant Orchestra

Patriot's Heart by American Music Club
Automatic Blues by Chuck Prophet
Dreaming Awake by Bing
Falling by Julee Cruise
World So Full by Jon Dee Graham
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

(The above photo, featuring my pals Dedemona, Doug and Chuck, was taken Thursday night at the photo booth at The Lakeside Lounge in New York City.)

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: I DON'T THINK LAWRENCE DONE IT THIS WAY

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
September 3, 2004

Remember how in the early ’90s some music-marketing geniuses tried to promote Johnny Cash and Tony Bennett as “alternative-rock” stars? It wasn’t a totally wrongheaded ploy in either case — mainly because both artists kept true to their respective art.

Today there’s a hot “new” star from the days of yesteryear for the electronica crowd: Lawrence Welk. I’m not kidding.

Upstairs at Larry’s: Lawrence Welk Uncorked is a compilation of DJ/techno/dance/electronica remixes of favorite (well, somebody’s favorite) Lawrence Welk tunes.

In case you never got hip to the Lawrence trip, Welk was a North Dakota-born band leader who died in 1992 at the age of 89. The son of Alsatian immigrants, Welk didn’t speak English until he was 21 years old. His dense German accent and smiling countenance became ingrained in the popular consciousness beginning in the mid-1950s when his weekly television show debuted. The show aired on ABC until 1971, then went to syndication until the early ’80s.

The Lawrence Welk Orchestra’s basic sound was soft, safe and sanitized — lots of clarinet, accordion and syrupy, young-Caucasian vocals. Saxophones with no trace of Charlie Parker grit. And if Lawrence approved of a performance, he’d respond at the end of the song with a hearty “wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful!”

Welk was known as a puritan. He once fired a female singer for showing “too much knee” on TV. But Welk’s sound had a hedonistic side. Just like the Grateful Dead will always be linked with LSD, and Bob Marley’s music is synonymous with ganja, Welk’s music is forever associated with a certain intoxicant: champagne.

Welk’s heirs own Vanguard, that respected folk-music label, which normally doesn’t release stuff sounding remotely like techno — or Lawrence Welk, for that matter. And I’m a huge fan of neither techno nor Welk. I’m completely unfamiliar with the remix artists who mutated the champagne music. But this album is so surreal and so much goofy fun, it won me over.

My favorites here are “You Can Dance,” done by Q-Burns Abstract Message. I’m not sure who the vocalist is — one of the Lennon Sisters perhaps? — whose line, “You can dance with any girl at all,” is repeated robotically throughout the tune.

“Let it Be Me” — yes, the ballad recorded by Jerry Butler and Betty Everett, the Everly Brothers and many others — is made into something dark and sinister by Magic Elephant Orchestra.

But perhaps best of all is the remix of “You Are My Sunshine” by Joy & the Spider. It sounds like a love song for androids. I’m not sure if the late Gov. Jimmy Davis would recognize this version of his signature song, but with its sped-up vocals (one singer sounds like Bryan Ferry), it’s a creepy joy.

Some minor complaints: there didn’t have to be two versions of essentially the same song, “Baby Elephant Walk,” a Henry Mancini ditty from the soundtrack of Hatari, an early-’60s John Wayne movie. I’m not sure which version I prefer here, the one by Monkey Bars or the one by DJ Keri and DJ 43, which they’ve tweaked to call “Baby Elephant Safari.”

Also, David Lynch was so successful in filling the song “Blue Velvet” with dread and horror in his 1986 movie of the same name — sung there by actress Isabella Rossellini without the benefit of technological tricks of a DJ remix — that Smitty’s best efforts were doomed to sound second-rate.

Though it’s a novelty album to be sure, Upstairs at Larry’s is a bubbly pleasure. All in all, it’s wunnerful, wunnerful, wunnerful.

Also recommended

Ride This by Los Lobos. I was pretty disappointed with Los Lobos’ most recent proper album, The Ride. I felt it was one of those overrun-by-guest-stars affairs; it had too many remakes of old Lobos tunes, and a good number of those remakes were less than impressive.

But now, just a couple of months later, the band comes out with this fine little seven-song EP in which they cover songs by some of those guest stars on The Ride.

They bring out the just-beneath-the-surface Latin overtones of Tom Waits’ “Jockey Full of Bourbon,” while maintaining the knowing-hipster attitude of the “Rain Dogs” tune. Cesar Rosas sounds like he was born at Stax Studio on Bobby Womack’s “More Than I Can Stand.”

Their version of “Shoot Out the Lights” sounds similar to Bob Mould’s take on the song in the early ’90s, with screaming guitars and knuckle-sandwich drums. It’s as tough as Louie Perez’s singing on Rubén Blades’ “Patria” is beautiful.

With the roller-rinky organ and jazzy guitars of Thee Midnighters’ “It’ll Never Be Over For Me,” Los Lobos captures the rock sound of East L.A. in the ’60s. They do the same thing for the L.A. roots-rock scene of the early ’80s — the scene that launched Los Lobos — with their cover of the Blasters’ “Marie Marie.”

But perhaps the thing that makes Ride This more satisfying than The Ride is that Los Lobos, especially singer David Hidalgo, does Elvis Costello’s “Uncomplicated” so much better here than Elvis Costello did Los Lobos’ “Matter of Time” on The Ride. They do the song as a slow-burning, growling-guitar boogie, and Hidalgo sings it with understated soul.