ANOTHER STEVE TERRELL BLOG

Somewhere in Indianapolis there's a lawyer who is in danger of getting getting puzzling e-mails from folks wondering about Bill Richardson's latest doings or asking what band did that weird song last week on The Santa Fe Opry.

And I'm probably lucky I haven't heard from people asking about Indiana real estate law or personal-injury litigation.

Yep, there's another Steve Terrell in Bloggerville. Check out the other Mr. Terrell's Hoosier Lawyer.

And no, neither of us starred in Drag Strip Girl or Invasion of the Saucer Men.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, May 27, 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
Three Foot High and Risin' by Johnny Cash
High Water (For Charlie Patton) by Bob Dylan
The Day John Henry Died by Drive By Truckers
Oh Tired Feet by Terry Allen

KAREN HUDSON LIVE SET
Honky Tonk Merry Go Round (EP)
I Thought I'd Die
Nicotine
Hudson River Blue
Lovesick Blues

You Don't Want What I Have by Robbie Fulks
The Good Ain't Gone by Rex Hobart & The Misery Boys
Ride Me Down Easy by Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison
Get Up and Go by David Bromberg

The Moon is Down by John Prine
Give a Little Whistle by Michelle Shocked
Please Don't Go Topless, Mother by Troy Hess
Up on Mars by Hasil Adkins
Downtown Chicken by Scott Biram
Hotel Hell by The Earl Brothers
Brain Damage by The Austin Lounge Lizards
Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young by Faron Young
Lean on Me by Michael Hurley
Amos Moses by Jerry Reed

My Biggest Fan by Loudon Wainwright III
My Generation's Golden Handcuff Blues by Peter Case
I Love Her, She Loves Me by Ware River Club
Howard Hughes' Blues by John Hartford
The Man in the Bed by Dave Alvin
My Father by Audrey Auld Mezera
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

NO PAGAN JOY FOR THIS BOY

Talk about "activist judges" ... here's a family-values jurist in Indiana who has ruled that a divorced couple of the Wiccan persuassion can't teach their religion to their 9-year old son. CLICK HERE

According to the Associated Press, Judge Cale J. Bradford followed the recommendation of a court commissioner who presided over a custody hearing for Thomas Jones and Tammy Bristol.

A court commissioner wrote the unusual order into the couple's divorce decree after a routine report by the court's Domestic Relations Counseling Bureau noted that both Jones and his ex-wife are pagans who send their son, Archer, to a Catholic elementary school.

"Ms. Jones and Mr. Jones display little insight into the confusion these divergent belief systems will have upon Archer as he ages," the report said.

The divorce decree said "the parents are directed to take such steps as are needed to shelter Archer from involvement and observation of these non-mainstream religious beliefs and rituals."

The commissioner who wrote that obviously knows nothing about Southwestern Indian tribes who have little trouble reconciling their traditional religions with Catholicism.

One little ray of hope here. The head of a conservative Christian group in Indianapolis actually is siding with the Pagans.

"The parents have the right to raise their child in that faith, just as I have the right to raise my child in the Christian faith," said Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: BACK AT BUCK'S RANCH

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 27, 2005

For a jolting reminder of the era when both country music and local television productions were raw, real, spontaneous and fun, a good place to start is The Buck Owens Ranch Show DVD collection.

Available only through Owens’ Web site, these three discs contain episodes of Owens’ syndicated television show, which showed in some 100 markets between 1966 and 1972.

Before I get started here I’d be remiss not to give a consumer warning. Strictly speaking. these DVDs are a giant rip off.

Sold only separately they cost $29.99 each, plus postage and handling, so if you get all three the cost is over $100. Each disc contains only three 30-minute episodes — and unfortunately each one contains one inferior early ‘70s segment (more on that later).

That being said, I’m glad I spent the money. I love these DVDs.

Part of it is sentimental. The Buck Owens Ranch was taped in my hometown of Oklahoma City at WKY-TV studios. The show initially was sponsored by a local store, Mathes Brothers Furniture. I saw the very first episode in 1966 and rarely missed it on Friday night until I moved to Santa Fe in 1968.

But even more important than these precious memories, is the fact that nearly 40 years later, the music not only holds up, it’s even better than I remember.

The Buckaroos was an extremely tight little roadhouse band. “Tender” Tom Brumley was one amazing steel guitarist. But the real menace was guitarist/singer/occasional fiddler Don Rich. His guitar solos often were breathtaking and sometimes downright crazy. His harmonies with Owens could rip out your heart and stomp on it.

Though Buck and his band were the main focus, there were some fine guest performers as well. Bakersfield icon Tommy Collins was a frequent guest, performing mainly novelty songs, (at least on these DVDs.) Kaye Adams, famous for her proto-feminist trucker theme “Little Pink Mac,” also was a semi-regular.

By far the most surreal performance in this collection was J.D. Sumner & The Stamps Quartet, a gospel group, led by a frog-voiced singer with a pencil-thin mustache. (This group would become part of Elvis Presley’s stage show.) Here they sing “Poor Wayfaring Stranger.” I had to check the credits to make sure that David Lynch didn’t direct this episode. The Stamps, in their pompadours, matching green suits and otherworldly expressions are weird enough. But what about the sudden shifts of Sumner’s scalp? His hair looks like some sleeping mammal that wakes up only when Sumner hits certain notes.

The earlier definitely were the most fun. As the DVD notes explains, “During the first few years, the shows were performed live to tape—each segment between commercial breaks was done without stopping or editing!”

Indeed, there were some rough moments there. You sometimes can hear the sound man making adjustments in the middle of a song. Whenever someone sings near the fountain, you can hear the water gurgling. And at one point Buck practically has to shout at Tommy Collins, who was on another part of the set, to start a song.

But by 1970, the show became slicker, more professional -- and ultimately far less immediate and far less charming.

As the DVD notes explain, “In later years Buck brought his son Mike in to help and they started editing the shows together after the songs were taped.”

In the 1970 and ‘71 shows included in the DVDs, The Buckaroos still have Rich, though his role seems diminished. Brumley was gone. Instead of Tommy Collins and Kay Adams, there’s the cheesy Hager Twins and Buck’s talentless son, “Buddy Alan.” (I do like big-haired/mini-skirted singer Susan Raye, who had joined the Owens troupe by this time though.)

In short The Buck Owens Ranch had become a junior version of Hee-Haw, which Buck had started co-hosting in 1969.

Owens quickly was heading for artistic decline by 1970. But the mid ‘60s episodes included in these DVDs show Buck Owens in his prime.

{CLICK HERE for an interesting article that contains some deatils about The Buck Owns Ranch.}

Other notable music DVDs:

The Dirty South Live at the 40 Watt Club by Drive-By Truckers. The Truckers don’t make it out to New Mexico very often (last time was January 2002 when they played Burt’s Tiki Lounge in Albuquerque), so if you’ve been craving to see this band, this DVD might have to do.

The performances here, including nearly all the songs from their latest and best album The Dirty South, was recorded last August at the kick-off shows for their 2004 tour.

It’s a hometown crowd for The Truckers (who, like R.E.M. before them, rose from the Athens, Ga. Scene) so the energy is high and crowd’s enthusiasm seems to fuel the band.

Besides the Dirty South tunes, the Truckers also include some of their greatest older tunes, including “Sinkhole” and “The Southern Thing” and their wild-eyed Southern boy version of Jim Carrol’s “People Who Died.”

My only complaint: No “Steve McQueen.”


The Pretenders Greatest Hits (to be released June 7). One of the first videos I ever saw on MTV featured guys in business suits jumping up and down in slow motion on “Back on the Chain Gang.” It’s true, Chrissie Hynde’s sad and soulful voice is the main draw of that beautiful song, but the video imagery, Chrissie in her denim jacket and windswept sheepdog bangs, helped burn it in my mind forever.

This collection includes classic late ‘70s/early ‘80s Pretenders works as well as increasingly less essential products going up to the late ’90s.

I started losing interest in The Pretenders’ music almost 20 years ago, and have been disappointed with all their post Learning to Crawl albums. But seeing a scowling Chrissie with graying hair and a black cowboy hat in the 1999 “Human” video, looking like some criminally insane cousin of Lucinda Williams makes me want to give some of her more recent stuff another listen.

BELABORING THE OBVIOUS

When a member of the state press asks Gov. Bill Richardson about his intentions in 2008 he'll usually laugh and roll his eyes and act like this is something we're making up.

However, Richardson's ambitions are obvious to the national media as well. Check out today's edition of ABC News' The Note

Six things that are known:

1. What George F. Will thinks of the Democrats, the filibuster deal, and Harry Reid.

2. What Paul Gigot thinks of ethanol.

3. How badly Bill Richardson wants to be president. (Emphasis mine)

4. How high Sen. Grassley's frustration level is over Social Security.

5. How Michael Whouley reacted when Carlos Watson named him one of the five possible "next Karl Roves" on CNN.

6. How quickly the RNC will put out a press release on what Bob Rubin said yesterday to the House Democratic caucus.

The only other reference to the gov in today's Note is a link to a New Hampshire Union Leader story that mentions his upcoming trip to New Hampshire, which, if you believe the governor's office, has nothing to do with the 2008 New Hampshire primary.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: WHOSE PARTY IS THIS ANYWAY?

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
May 26, 2005

Gov. Bill Richardson is catching flak in the blogosphere for amassing a $3 million re-election campaign treasury.

But the complaints aren’t coming from Republicans, who have yet to find an obvious frontrunner to challenge Richardson in 2006. They’re coming from fellow Democrats — specifically the progressive wing of the party, or as some of them call themselves, the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.”

Over on the Democracy for New Mexico blog, a site that grew out of Howard Dean’s national Democracy for America group, Dems have been going back and forth over a recent post by the blog’s co-founder and webmaster Barbara Wold.

“Is it just me, or is anyone else put off by Gov. Richardson’s already large campaign fund for the 2006 governor’s race?” Wold pondered .

“What peeves me is that we frequently hear ‘we have no money’ when we suggest that the Dems, particularly our County Parties, do something about building our Party BEFORE the next election cycle,” she wrote. “No wonder it’s so difficult to raise funds for party activities when the big honcho at the top sucks all the bucks into his own personal coffers for a race that’s way down the line.”

Noting a couple of major donors on Richardson’s contribution list — namely Miguel Lausell, a political and business consultant based in Puerto Rico who gave the governor $25,000, and California real-estate investor Richard L. Bloch, who also pitched in $25,000 — Wold wrote: “Hmm. I wonder what they expect to get from such generous donations to a governor’s race in New Mexico? We once were truly the party of the people. What are we now? The party of the big bucks contributors?”

This initial post prompted just a handful of replies. But one Democrat who noticed was Amanda Cooper, Richardson’s political director.

In a lengthy reply, Cooper defended her boss, saying Richardson “has taken the lead here in New Mexico and across the country when it comes to the importance of investing and strengthening the Democratic Party. New Mexico is the first state in the country to put grassroots organizers on the ground. The grassroots organizer program was conceived, developed and funded by Gov. Richardson and his organization. Gov. Richardson not only placed the organizers at the Democratic Party, he continues to raise and donate the money for them to work in communities around the state in an effort to help move the party forward.”

Cooper denied the guv keeps all his campaign contributions for himself.

She wrote that Richardson “invested over a half a million dollars in helping candidates run for office here in New Mexico just last cycle, over a million dollars registering people to vote, holding campaign trainings, and turning out people to the polls.”

Cooper’s post elicited major response. And some blog regulars weren’t impressed.

“Are these organizers working for Richardson or the Democratic Party?” one poster asked. “Is the party just a parking lot for Richardson organizers before they go over to his campaign in ’06?”

Another wrote: “We are all happy we have a Democratic governor. And we are all glad that Richardson has brought more attention and resources to our state. ... What we (are) concerned about is someone making a private kingdom out of donations from large donors and sucking up all the capital for himself instead of for ALL our candidates, and our on the-ground operations.”

Some defended Richardson.

“As the leader of our party and the executive branch, and with a punch clock on the national playing field, the governor is the most obvious recipient for special interest largesse, which is why he has three million in the bank,” one man wrote. Richardson, he said, “has shown that he is able to say no to some of his biggest donors.”

Another wrote: “Instead of sitting around complaining about Richardson, we should be happy that he’s investing in the party both in NM and across the nation. We have the chance to have a two term gov running for President of the United States. What’s not to like about that?”

One poster got all historic on us: “Machiavelli would be pleased, reacting like a Jacobin Mob, which one of our leaders will we bring to the guillotine today!! Need not worry about the GOP, we will cut the throats of our own.”

But keeping quiet in the name of party unity doesn’t seem likely with these folks. These guys think the higher-ups might learn some things from the lower-downs .

In one of her posts, Wold said: “I think one thing people in higher positions in the Party here and nationally don’t seem to fully understand is how much mistrust and disgust there is within the Dem base about how things have gone and who’s in charge of the message and how it’s communicated and disseminated. There is a massive sea change happening from the ground up and people are very frustrated with the business as usual attitudes of many of our ‘leaders.’ ”

ATTENTION NORTHERN NEW MEXICO MUSICIANS!

Pasatiempo editor Kristina Melcher asked me to post this. Feel free to copy it and pass it on to any northern New Mexico musician you know. I don't want to hear any whining if you get left out.

Will you be in Pasatiempo's Music Directory?

If a musician plays in northern New Mexico and nobody is there to hear it --
does it make a sound?

Don't put this to the test. Instead, tell us who you are (or your band,
ensemble, orchestra, or any other musical life forms play; where you play (Santa Fe, La Cienega, Cerrillos, Las Vegas, Pecos, Los Alamos, Española, Chimayo, Taos or any surrounding areas); and how others can contact you (by phone or online).

We¹d like to consider you for inclusion in our new directory. Deadline to
apply is Friday, June 10 at 5 pm.

E-mail your facts to pasa@sfnewmexican.com with "music info" in the subject line, or fax us at 505-820-0803. Or use the mail: send info to R. Benziker, Pasatiempo, The New Mexican, P.O. Box 2048, Santa Fe, NM 87504.