THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 13, 2005
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
The Glory of True Love by John Prine
Got No Strings by Michelle Shocked
Countrier Than Thou by Robbie Fulks
Home on the Range by Terry Allen
Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn
Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round by Karen Hudson
Dry Lightning by Michael Martin Murphey
Lonesome Cowboy Burt by Frank Zappa featuring Jimmy Carl Black

Then I'll Be Movin' On by Mother Earth
Marijuana Fields by Big Ugly Guys
Chili Fields by Lenny Roybal
Whatcha Gonna Do Now? by Tommy Collins
Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart Tonight by Whiskeytown with Alejandro Escovedro
Dying Breed by Allison Moorer
Between Lust and Watching TV by Cal Smith

The Genitalia of a Fool by Cornell Hurd with Justin Trevino
What Made Milwauke Famous by Johhny Bush
Squaws Along the Yukon by Hank Thompson
Payday Blues by Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
Out of the Past by The Strangelys
Billy's First Ex Wife by Ronny Elliott
Borrowed Angel by Mel Street
Don't Make Me Break Your Heart by Rex Hobart & His Misery Boys

Oklahoma City Bombing by Acie Cargill
Billy Joe by Audrey Auld Mezera
Hearts-a-Bustinn' by Jimmy Dale Gilmore
Dancing With the Tiger by Hank & Nancy Webster
Atmosphere by Shine Cherries
Legend in My Time by Leon Russell with T. Graham Brown
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: DECEMBERISTS!

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 6, 2005



How best to describe the sound of The Decemberists?

Maybe something like “From all atop the parapets blow a multitude of coronets/Melodies rhapsodical and fair.”

I’m plagiarizing here (not me actually. My press secretary will take the fall.) It’s a line from the first song on The Decemberists’ new album Picaresque.

No there’s not really a lot of coronets on this album, but the sound of this Portland, Ore. band sounds like Robyn Hitchcock fronting Steeleye Span. In fact the album that Picaresque msot reminds me of is Steeley’s underrated 1977 album Storm Force 10, undoubtedly the British folk-rock band’s grittiest work in which songs by Bertold Brecht joined the traditional material Steeleye did so well.

This literate record is full of regal bombast, pomp and inspired pretentiousness.

Yes, I said “pretentiousness.” I realize that this has become a dirty word in rock ’n’ roll, where “keeping it real” is among the highest virtues.

But don’t knock pretentiousness. Sometimes a high dose of fantasy is good for the soul. And for you purists out there, I have some harsh news: Tom Waits isn’t really a bowery bum who plays piano in waterfront dives, most of the Beach Boys never surfed and the members of The Band weren’t really Civil War veterans.

When an album starts off proclaiming, “Here she comes on her palanquin/On the back of an elephant/On a bed made of linen and sequins and silk …” you know you’re in for a fantastic voyage through some unusual terrain.

That first song -- the one with the elephants and coronets and … palanquins (Look it up, I had to ) -- is “The Infanta.” It’s about the baby daughter of a Spanish king. Introduced with a screaming horn and drums that suggest an elephant stampede, the setting of the song is a grand parade.

There’s a king and his concubine, dukes and virgins. The narrator seems to be full of wonder at the spectacle, but there is tension just beneath it all. A baroness ponders her “barren-ness.” Who are the “luscious young girls of the Duke and Dutchess? And what’s this lake from which the Infanta’s cradle was pulled?

Picaresque is bursting with wild, sleazy sex. The heroes of “On the Bus Mall“ are gay prostitutes.

With a Morrissey-like melody, Meloy sings, “But here in the alleys, your spirits were rallied/As you learned quick to make a fast buck/in bathrooms and ballrooms, on dumpsters and heirlooms …”

“We Both Go Down Together” deals with a rock ‘ roll theme older than “Rag Doll,” “Down in the Boondocks.” “Patches” or “Hang On Sloopy“ -- romance between social un-equals.

But unlike the typical rich-boy/poor-girl sagas, in which all would be peachy except for uptight parents or “society,” Meloy‘s song deals with the inherent power issues in such relations. In fact, by the end of the song the affair sounds more like rape than romance.

“I found you, a tattoo’d tramp/A dirty daughter from the labor camp/I laid you down in the grass of a clearing/You wept, but your soul was willing.”

My favorite songs on Picaresque are long theatrical pieces. “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” is a tall tale of a young man seeking revenge against a gambling sailor who’d wrong his mother years ago. Mom’s final request to the lad was “Find him, bind him, tie him to a pole/and break his fingers to splinters …” The climax of the story takes place inside the belly of a whale.

With its minor-key accordion and one-two beat and weird waltz interlude, this nearly nine-minute piece would have fit in perfectly on Storm Force 10.

But best of all is “The Bagman’s Gambit,” which sounds as if it were ripped from the pages of a Tom Clancy novel. Starting off with slowly strummed, stark guitar chords, a plain-clothes cop is shot on the steps of the Capitol, and we‘re plunged into the plot.

“Bagman” deals with a lowly government worker who sells unspecified secrets to an enemy spy -- in exchange for sex.

“And I recall that fall/I was working for the government/And in a bathroom stall off the national mall/How we kissed so sweetly!/How could I refuse a favor or two/And for a tryst in the greenery/I gave you documents and microfilm too.”

With its sad melody, and Phillip Glass-like string interlude (featuring guest Decemberist Petra Hayden), by the end of a song, a listener feels he’s a co-conspirator.

{NOTE: The rest of today's column was devoted to Acie Cargill, whose latest CDs I published prematurely here a couple of weeks ago.}

IMPECCABLE TIMING

So yesterday I receive Disc One of Season One for Carnivale,, the bizarre HBO dramatic series.

I watched both episodes on the disc and was immediately hooked.

It's the story of the never-ending battle of good and evil, set in a traveling carnaval in the Dust Bowl era. It's like Tom Joad in Twin Peaks. It's got almost everything I enjoy in a t.v. series -- circus freaks, psychic weirdness, Adrienne Barbeau, a hallucinating preacher, cootch dancers ...

So today I learn that only hours before I slipped the disc in my DVD player, HBO went and cancelled the series!

This made me sad.

There's an effort to save it. Check out this blog There's even a post there from Carnivale creator Dan Knauf.

Damn!

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: FROM MURDOCH TO MEATHEAD, THEY GIVE TO THE GOV

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 12, 2005

It looks like Gov. Bill Richardson’s well-publicized overtures to the entertainment industry is starting to pay off. At least for him.

According to Richardson’s re-election campaign finance reports filed this week, better than 10 percent of the $3 million he’s raised so far comes from southern California, much of that from the world of movies, music and television. And the overwhelming amount of this was collected at a fundraiser in Los Angeles late last month, Richardson’s political director Amanda Cooper said.

It’s already been reported that Richardson’s contributors include Sylvester Stallone, Disney CEO Michael Eisner and music producer Quincy Jones are among those who care enough about New Mexico state government to give thousands of dollars to Richardson’s campaign.

Others include actor/director Rob Reiner ($2,000); Tijuana Brassman Herb Albert ($5,000); former talk-show host Merv Griffin ($2,000); Film producer Brian Grazer ($2,000); former Paramount Studio head Sherry Lansing ($5,000); Universal Studio head Ronald Meyer ($2,000).

There’s a couple of celebrity widows on the list. Jackie Autry, who was married to singing cowboy Gene gave $5,000 to put Richardson back in the saddle again. And Virginia Mancini, wife of the late composer Henry, gave $2,000.

There’s another possible Mancini connection: There’s a $2,000 contribution from one Andy Williams in Branson, Mo. Cooper couldn’t confirm that this donor is the crooner in the sweater who had a big hit in the ‘60s with Henry Mancini’s “Moon River.” But that Williams does have his own theater in Branson.

Richardson’s old pal Jerry Perenchio provided for about half of the governor’s So-Cal cash. The president of Univision gave $100,000, which his wife Margie Perenchio, — modestly described in the report as a “homemaker” — kicked in another $50,000. Perenchio’s son John Perenchio, a music executive, gave $4,000. Those who listed their occupation as being part of Perenchio’s Chartwell Partnership chipped in $6,000, while Univision vice president Andrew Hobson contributed $2,000.

In 2003, Richardson lent his name to a full-page advertisement Univision placed full-page ads in national papers. In the ad, Richardson urged Democratic Congressional leaders to back a controversial merger between Univision and Hispanic Broadcasting Corp. The Federal Communications Commission later approved the deal.

A fair and balanced contribution: But Perenchio isn’t the most famous television mogul to donate to our governor. Rupert Murdoch chipped in $2,000 to Richardson’s re-election campaign. The Australian-born Murdoch is CEO of News Corporation Ltd., which includes Fox News, the favored cable news channel of conservatives, as well as the neo-conservative journal The Weekly Standard and the right-leaning newspaper The New York Post.

Asked about the contribution, Cooper said “What can you say? He loves the governor.”

Other interesting contributors: At least two cabinet secretaries from the Clinton administration donated to Richardson — former Transportation Secretary Federico Pena and former Commerce Secretary William Daley. Daley is the brother of the Mayor of Chicago Richard Daley. (Richardson was Energy secretary and United Nations Ambassador during Clinton's last term.)

Then there’s Michael Johnson, CEO of Herbalife, the vitamin supplement company that sells its products via a pyramid-style distribution structure. He supplemented Richardson’s campaign by $4,000. (Hey, Richardson is working Republican state Sen. Steve Komadina's side of the street here!)

There’s a Dr. Peter Bourne of Washington, D.C., who gave $1,000. Neither Cooper nor Richardson spokesman Billy Sparks could verify that this is the same Peter Bourne who served as President Jimmy Carter’s drug policy adviser. Bourne resigned after being accused of snorting cocaine at a Christmas party. (He has denied that allegation.)

An online resume for the former Carter aide at the Institute of Human Virology (where Bourne is on the board of advisers), says of the doctor, “He was an adviser on foreign policy to U.S. Congressman Bill Richardson and in that capacity he negotiated a variety of agreements with foreign governments, including Iraq, Bangladesh, Cuba, Iran and North Korea.”

My kind of town, Chicago: But even more striking than the famous names on this contributor list are all the names from other parts of the country.

Richardson has never been shy about collecting cash from beyond this Enchanted Land. In 2002 a full 40 percent of the $8 million he raised came from out of state, a percentage far higher than those of governors from surrounding states.

As was the case in 2002, there are plenty of contributions from New York, Washington, D.C. and Houston.

And this year there are significant contributions from Illinois, mainly Chicago, totaling more than $125,000. Most of these were dated in early October or mid April. Among these are lawyers, consultants, bankers, developers, health care facilities, food industry people — all who apparently have some interest in New Mexico.

(One big contributor does have an obvious interest. Chicago businessman Martin Koldyke headed the group of investors that bought the baseball team that would become the Albuquerque Isotopes. His contributions to Richardson totaled $13,700.)

Cooper said these contributions usually come from Richardson fund-raising receptions in these cities.

“A lot of these people are old friends of the governor,” she said. “A lot of them knew him even before he was a Congressman. It says a lot for a person when you can keep those kinds of relationships.”

Indeed. It’s good to have friends.

UPDATE: In a wee-hour frenzy of Googling, I found a Perenchio/Mancini/Williams connection. Read the first paragraph (at least) of this story. (Richardson is mentioned down at toward the bottom of the story.)

MORE SONGS YOU WON'T FIND ON THE PRESIDENT'S iPOD

Courtesy of Rev. Moon's paper.

You can find the James McMurtry download HERE and my original thoughts about the First Pod HERE.