ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: IF I RULED THE LEGISLATURE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 16, 2006

Earlier this week, I had to explain to editors several times one of the strange quirks of the Legislature, the “mirror bill” — how if the Senate passes a Senate bill and the House passes an identical House bill, neither bill becomes law unless the governor signs a bill passed by both chambers.

“It’s not the way I would have set it up,” I said during one of these conversations.

That got me to thinking. There’s lots of things about the Legislature I’d have set up differently.

Not that there’s a chance of instituting any drastic change in the legislative branch. These guys refuse to open conference committees and vote down bills that would have required telling the public more about their campaign contributors. They’re not about to do anything that would seriously change business as usual at the Roundhouse.

As a pure exercise in fantasy, here are some changes I’d make if I could magically restructure the Legislature:

* A unicameral Legislature: Why does there have to be two chambers in the Legislature? The current rationale for having two houses in Congress is that smaller states get a bigger voice in the Senate. But that’s not applicable with the states. Due to the one-man/one-vote doctrine, all districts in a state House or state Senate must have roughly the same population.

Some say the state Senate is designed to be a more “deliberative” body where members, who only have to run every four years (instead of two years like the House), can take a more long-sighted view.

You have to wonder if anyone who says that has actually witnessed a Senate debate.

Nebraska is the only state with a unicameral legislature. Minnesota, at the urging of former Gov. Jesse Ventura, considered it a few years ago but didn’t take the plunge. Currently, there’s a group called Unicameral Michigan working to force a vote on a state constitutional amendment that would abolish the Michigan state Senate.

Advocates say a unicameral legislature creates more transparency in government, eliminates legislative redundancy and saves taxpayer money.

Having two chambers creates more obstacles for bills, providing more opportunity to waste time to run out the clock and for using other procedural tricks to kill bills.

Granted, a lot of bills deserve to be killed. But if that’s the case, vote them down.

I would create one house with a nice, even 50 districts. Lots of House and Senate members could end up running against each other, a potential political bloodbath that would be fun to watch.

And with a unicameral legislature, the Senate chambers could be turned into a permanent large committee room for those really big issues that attract large crowds. (Unless, of course, the remaining lawmakers would want to turn it into a cockfighting pit.)

You wouldn’t have to open conference committees because there would be no need for conference committees. And I’d never have to explain “mirror bills” to an editor again.

* Limit on bills: I would put a cap on how many bills a legislator could introduce in a session. I’m not sure what number I’d impose, but something has to be done to cut down on the clutter of bills that seems to grow every year.

In this year’s 30-day session, there were nearly 900 bills in the House and more than 750 in the Senate. Most of these never got anywhere, and truth is, a good many really were never intended to go anywhere.

* Resolve to eliminate resolutions: I’d eliminate all unnecessary resolutions and memorials. Proposed constitutional amendments would still be allowed, and I suppose some of the studies mandated by memorials are justified.

And maybe the Legislature should have one more chance to pick a state cowboy song — but that’s it.

Seriously, there’s no reason legislators should be spending precious chunks of time debating unbinding memorials on quail hunting season (as the Senate did Monday night) while serious issues are waiting to be heard. If legislators want to honor some New Mexico athlete or spelling-bee winner or send condolences to the family of a prominent state resident who has died, they can send a card.

* Don’t share the love: One of the biggest wastes of time in a floor session is when some former legislator or other former state official is up for confirmation to some board or commission. Though I didn’t catch this happening during this session, all too often, the confirmation turns into an hourlong love fest with each lawmaker showering some former colleague with flowery praise.

That’s nice. But at the end of the session when lawmakers throw up their hands and say, “Sorry, we just ran out time” to consider serious bills, it’s hard not to think back to the day when they spent hours heaping sweet soliloquies onto some former colleague who was tossed out by the voters years before.

If I ruled the Legislature, the floor “debate” over confirmations would be limited to five minutes, unless there was actual opposition to the appointment.

* But share the food: On many days during the session, some community chamber of commerce or other well-meaning group will prepare lunch or dinner for lawmakers. That’s nice.

But it violates a basic principle we all should have learned in elementary school: Don’t bring anything unless there’s enough to share.

So if I were in charge, nobody could bring food for the legislators unless they share it with everyone else in the Roundhouse. State farm and ranch organizations do this every year, serving free barbecue and ice cream in the Rotunda. (Thanks, guys. The food was great Tuesday.)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 12, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Bits and Pieces by Joan Jett
Gluey Brothers Creep by The Gluey Brothers
Hiding All the Way by Nick Cave
Don't Crowd Your Mind by Lorette Velvette
Already Forgotten by The Grabs
Porcupine People by Kevin Coyne
Chlorophorm by Graham Parker & The Figgs

Women is Losers by Big Brother & The Holding Company
Early Today and Later That Night by Greg Dulli
Eric's Trip by Sonic Youth
American Music by The Violent Femmes
Tornado at Rest by Concrete Blonde
Mad Bomber by The Mighty Sparrow
Stop the Violence by Wesley Willis

MY MORNING JACKET SET
What a Wonderful Man
Mahgeetah
Dancefloorz
Gideon
The Bear
One Big Holiday

Goodnight Josephine by The Tragically Hip
Room Full of Mirrors by Jimi Hendrix
Bastard by The Mekons
There is a Ghost by Marianne Faithful
Green Eyes by Mark Eitzel
In the Wilderness by Mercury Rev
Favorite Hour by Elvis Costello
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

NM's ALT-COUNTRY HEROS IN NM MAG

My story about alternative country artists who live in New Mexico is in the March issue of New Mexico Magazine, which currently is on the stands.

In it, I profile Terry Allen, The Handsome Family and Joe West.

Sorry, I don't think it will be online. You'll have to go out and buy a copy.

Speaking of Terry, the movie Lubbock Lights, which is about all the crazy musicians to come out of that town will be playing at the Santa Fe Film Center at Cinemacafe this weekend. It's not on the Web site yet, but I was told by Boo Boo Bowman himself.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 10, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Lookout Mountain by Drive-By Truckers
Dancing With the Women at the Bar by Whiskeytown
Rainbow Stew by Jason Ringenberg
Shanty by The Mekons
How Many Biscuits Can You Eat by Split Lip Rayfield
Sal Paradise by Dashboard Saviors
Old Time Religion by Marley's Ghost
Is Your Innerworld Like Your Outerworld by Oneil Howes

Trouble with a Capital T by Marshall Chapman
Baby's in Black by Destiny's Whores
Velvet and Steel by Jessi Colter
Take Me to the Country by James Talley
Hillbilly Hula Girl by Junior Brown
Bluebird Wine by Rodney Crowell with Steve Earle & Steve Young
Christine's Tune by The Flying Burrito Brothers
Act Naturally by Camper Van Beethoven

Pick and Roll by The Gourds
Pardon This Coffin by Jon Rauhouse
We're All Gonna Die Someday by Kasey Chambers
No Way Out But Down by Graham Lindsey
Dead Man's Will by Iron and Wine & Calexico
U.S. of Generica Blues by Danny Santos
Seeds and Candy by Boris & The Saltlicks
Wild Side of Life by Hank Thompson
Just Between You and Me by Charlie Pride

Dance of Death by Calexico
Pretty Boy Floyd/Stoney Point by The Duhks
Oooh Love by Blaze Foley
Another Place I Don't Belong by Big Al Anderson
Behind That Locked Door by My Morning Jacket
It's All in the Game by Bobby Bare
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: A RECENT MUSIC OBSESSION

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 10, 2006

OK, I’ve got to admit that I’m a Stevie-come-lately to My Morning Jacket.

Z, the latest album by this Louisville, Ky., band, released late last year, made it to critics’ top-10 lists all over this great land of ours, ranking 10th in the recently published 2005 Village Voice Pazz & Jop Critics’ Poll.

But I didn’t start getting into them until a few weeks ago, when out of curiosity I downloaded an old live show from eMusic. (I couldn’t resist. It was recorded Aug. 16, 2002, the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, and it starts out with a mournful version of “Suspicious Minds.”)

I was hooked. I got copies of Z and It Still Moves (another critics’ fave that I basically ignored in 2003 despite the cool cover depicting a stuffed bear). The band started growing on me. As I said here last week, one of my favorite tunes on the recent Bloodshot compilation (For a Decade of Sin) was Jacket’s mysterious country weeper “Behind That Locked Door.”

Next thing I knew I was obsessed, a 52-year-old fanboy, downloading live concerts from the Live Music Archive, where they’ve got 55 shows, including a short one from 1999, very early in their career. Right now I’m loving the Nov. 23, 2005, show from Louisville.

The main voice behind Jacket is Jim James. (Gotta wonder if that’s his real name. Jimmy James was an early stage name for one James Marshall Hendrix. Could someone have actually named a baby James James?) His high-pitched voice gives the band much of its texture.

Texture, in fact, is one of the first words that come to mind when trying to describe My Morning Jacket. Their music is based more on melody than riffage. Often James’ melodies make unexpected turns. Instrumentally, songs often turn into fierce battles between guitarist Carl Broemel and keyboard man Bo Koster (both of whom joined Jacket in 2004).

Some have tried to define them as “alt country” — and in fact that steel guitar and honky piano sure sound pretty on Z’s “Knot Comes Loose.” Others have compared them to latter-day psychedelic bands like the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev. Check out the alien synth jam that rises from the guitar thunder at the end of “It Beats 4 U.” But to get all metaphysical on you, while Mercury Rev’s main element is Air, My Morning Jacket is of the Earth. This band’s sound is thick and heavy, and as unique as it is, there’s something homey and familiar about it.

Other musical ingredients are detectable on Z. Neil Young (Crazy Horse model) definitely is an influence. You can hear echoes of Bono in James’ howl on the choruses of “Gideon” and touches of Brian Wilson’s sweet insanity (though that was more pronounced on It Still Moves). Reggae beats sneak in at various spots. There’s a slightly altered “Hawaii Five-0” riff on “Off the Record,” a twisted nod to doo-wop on “Wordless Chorus,” and a little bit of happy Meatloaf anthem pop in “What a Wonderful Man.” (I won’t even try to describe that bizarre falsetto “YEAH!” at the end of this song.)

The centerpiece of Z is a weird carnival waltz called “Into the Woods.” Bird chatter and insect chirping introduce the calliope-like keyboards that bounce in. James’ voice sounds world-weary as he begins spouting his black-humor lyrics: “A kitten on fire/A baby in the blender/Both sound as sweet as a night of surrender.”

I’ve still got some catching up to do. I haven’t heard Jacket’s first two albums (The Tennessee Fire and At Dawn). Also a little label called Darla has released a couple of rarity albums with lots of James originals plus covers of folks ranging from Hank Williams to Jefferson Airplane to the Pet Shop Boys. There’s even a My Morning Jacket Christmas EP .

This could be a long, happy relationship.

Also recommended

*Amber Headlights by Greg Dulli. This nine-song EP, clocking in at less than 35 minutes, sounds more like the Afghan Whigs than Dulli has in years. While his current band, the Twilight Singers, explores more layered, dreamier sounds, most of these songs offer that trademark angsty, Whigsy guitar — descended as much from ’70s blaxploitation soundtracks as punk/metal.

There’s a good reason this sounds closer to his old band. It originally was recorded back in 2001, but for reasons I’m not sure of only saw the light of day late last year. Some riffs and melodies from Amber Headlights have been reworked into other tunes on Twilight Singer albums.

Longtime Dulli fans surely will find similarities between this effort and Black Love, the Whigs’ 1996 masterpiece. As is often the case, the narrator of these songs is a shadowy cad, almost like a Steely Dan character, trying to lure young naked prey with slick talk and cocaine.

“Your weakness is my sweetness,” he sings with Petra Haden in an almost-mocking falsetto in “Pussywillow,” though he also sings, “sweetness is my weakness.”

“Used to feel love, now I wanna hurt you/real bad/real slow,” he confesses as the Shaft-like guitar starts to boil in “Early Today (and Later That Night).”

“This world is wicked/it’s beautiful,” he sings on “Wicked.”

But in the last song, “Get the Wheel,” Dulli, alone at a piano, sounds as if he’s gone soft on a skirt: “Last night was all right,” he sings in his cool rasp. “I wanna see you again.”

And you know she’ll be back.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: HEATHER & NSA

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 9, 2006

Congresswoman Heather Wilson made national headlines this week when she broke with the White House and said she had “serious concerns” about the National Security Agency’s warrantees wiretaps of American citizens and wanted a full investigation.


On Wednesday, President Bush reversed his position and provided the House Intelligence Committee with highly classified information about the operations. (Here's Wilson's latest statement on the issue.)

The New York Times, in a Wednesday editorial about the NSA wiretaps, called Wilson’s statement “one hopeful sign of nonpartisan sanity” and said, “With Karl Rove reported to be threatening Election Day revenge against anyone who breaks ranks on this issue, Ms. Wilson deserves support for a principled stand.”

But someone not lining up to support Wilson is her re-election opponent, state Attorney General Patricia Madrid, who in a news release said Wilson’s move is nothing more than an election-year effort to separate herself from the administration.

“Rep. Wilson could have stood up to this illegal program sooner,” Madrid said. “As chairwoman of House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, Wilson had direct oversight of this program, and she did nothing. She could have — and should have — taken action sooner.”

Madrid also blasted Wilson for voting in 2003 against repealing the “sneak-and-peek” searches on Americans allowed in the Patriot Act.

In addition to Madrid’s criticisms, the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee joined in.

“If Heather Wilson is trying to raise her profile by publicly taking on the Republican establishment, it must be an election year,” DCCC regional spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield said in an e-mail. “But when push comes to shove, she never quite gets around to putting her vote where her mouth is.”

Said Bedingfield: “She did this exact same song and dance with Abu Ghraib in 2004 and then voted against a congressional investigation.”

Wilson in 2002 made several statements against the abuse in that Iraqi prison, calling for open discussions on the issue.

However, a month before, Wilson voted against a move to establish a select committee to investigate the treatment of detainees in the war on terror — including allegations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners. That measure was defeated in the House with all Republicans voting no.

Wilson spokesman Enrique Knell said Wednesday that Wilson wouldn’t comment on the Madrid and DCCC statements.

Singing cowboys: We’ve got the official state song, "Oh Fair New Mexico," written by Elizabeth Garrett (the daughter of Sheriff Pat) and the official translated version of the state song, "Asi Es Nuevo Mexico," by Amadeo Lucero. There’s the official state bilingual song, "New Mexico Mi Lindo Nuevo Mexico," by Pablo Mares, and the official state ballad, "The Land of Enchantment," by former Taos resident Michael Martin Murphey.

So how about a state cowboy song? Rep. Gloria Vaughn, R-Alamogordo, has one in mind — one simply called New Mexico, written by R.D. Blankenship and Calvin Boles, now deceased. The House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear Vaughn’s HB232 today.


But in the Legislature’s apparent quest to proclaim enough state songs to make a box set, it’s been hard to settle on a state cowboy song.

One year in the 1990s, several songs competed for that distinction. None of them made it through the Legislature.

And in 2001, Rep. Dub Williams, R-Glencoe, tried to pass a bill to declare an official “state western song” — I think that’s pretty close to a “cowboy” song — called "Song For New Mexico," by James Hobbs of Capitan.

The soft-spoken Williams was surprised that year when he got an analysis of his bill from the Legislative Council, declaring the song to be “sexist, racist and religiously unacceptable.” For one thing, it referred to “cowboys” instead of “cowpeople.” (I’m not joking.) The bill passed the House that year but died in the Senate.

One of the co-authors of the latest would-be state cowboy song was something of an icon for popular music in southeastern New Mexico in the postwar era.

Calvin Boles, who died in 2004, started the Yucca record company in Alamogordo in 1958, according to an obituary in The Alamogordo Daily Times (and reprinted in hillbilly-music.com ) The company released 237 singles, including early work by an El Paso kid named Bobby Fuller, who later would have a national hit with "I Fought the Law." Boles and his wife/bass player, Betty, recorded eight albums with their band The Rocket City Playboys.

Betty Boles contacted Vaughn about the song, the lawmaker said.

The committee will hear a cassette tape of the song, sung by Calvin Boles. As a music critic and a connoisseur of old-time country music, I say they’re in for a treat. It’s a cowboy waltz with a strong steel guitar. Boles had a voice similar to that of Ernest Tubb.

Vaughn said Wednesday that she hasn’t heard any criticism of the words to New Mexico. It does use “cowboy” instead of “cowperson,” but it doesn’t have any lyrics about “a pretty, dark-eyed señorita,” which triggered the political-correctness police in 2001.

I guess someone could make something of the line, “Where missiles are flying, Spanish mission bells toll.” But come on; Boles was from Rocket City.

THOSE LONG-HAIRED BOYS FROM ENGLAND

Thanks to my internet buddy Phil from North Carolina who reminded me that 42 years ago this week, The Beatles made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.

February 9, 1964.

I was in 5th grade.

My first reaction was surprise that they were white. They'd been playing "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand" a lot on WKY in OKC and I just assumed they were a black R&B band.

When they did "All My Loving," I knew in my heart they were immortal.

(Anyone remember the guy who did card tricks who followed them on Ed Sullivan? I didn't either until I bought the DVD a couple of years ago. His name was Fred Kaps. Poor bastard!)

At school the next day the Beatles were all anyone talked about.

My grandfather became extremely fascinated with them. For the next few months any time a friend would come over he's say "What do you think of those long-haired boys from England?"

I was a little disappointed though the next week when "I Want to Hold Your Hand" knocked The Trashmen's "Surfin' Bird" off the number one spot on WKY's Top 50. The Trashmen were shortchanged, just like the card-trick guy.

TENT ROCKS

Helen left her photos of our Saturday hike at Tent Rocks National Monument on my computer, so I'll post a few here.


This was my first time there. Anton's too. We were all impressed. It's so otherwordly -- "the landscape of Pluto" is what I kept saying. (The "blue" photo below reminds me of a Van Gogh painting.) Hard to believe it's so close to Santa Fe (just down the road near Cochiti Pueblo.)



The hike was fairly easy too, which is good because I'm so out of shape. At some points though you have to pass through very narrow spaces between the rock walls. It's definitely not for the claustrophobic.




(Helen took the two top photos. A fellow hiker snapped the one below.)

LET'S SPEND SOME TIME TOGETHER

Boy, we've sure come a long way since nearly 40 years when Ed Sullivan made The Rolling Stones change the lyrics to "Let's Spend the Night Together."

Thank the almighty Lord Jesus that the censors at ABC (or was it the NFL?) were diligent last night in protecting America's youth from the foul-mouthed, lech Mick Jagger, who gladly would have exposed THE CHILDREN to sexual innuendos in the songs he sang at The Super Bowl.

From the Associated Press:

In "Start Me Up," the show's editors silenced one word, a reference to a woman's sexual sway over a dead man. The lyrics for "Rough Justice" included a synonym for rooster that the network also deemed worth cutting out.

Read the whole account HERE.

Despite those artless cuts (I thought my satellite dish was messing up when the sound cut out), I thought The Stones did a fine job. I especially liked the grungy version of "Satisfaction." Unlike the AP guy, I appreciated the "ragged" quality of their performance. It seemed like real rock 'n' roll to me.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 5, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Dropkick Me Jesus by Bobby Bare
Stupid Girl by The Rolling Stones
Love Your Money by Daisy Chainsaw
Sex, Fashion and Money by The Grabs
Shame by P.J. Harvey
She Looks Like a Woman by The Fleshtones
10,000 Beers Ago by Dicky B. Hardy
Oblivion by Mudhoney
Jolie's Nightmare by Chuck E. Weiss
My Mammy by Al Jolson

Early Today (and Later That Night) by Greg Dulli
Jangling Jack by Nick Cave
Local Boys by Graham Parker & The Figgs
Wave of Mutilation by The Pixies
Witches by Bichos
Hothead by Captain Beefheart
Another Land by The Residents

Be With Me Jesus by The Soul Stirrers
Gather at the River by Davell Crawford
Joy by Isaac Hayes
Sing a Simple Song by Chuck D, D'Angelo & Isaac Hayes
My Troubles Are So Hard to Bear by Ethel Davenport
When the Saints Go Marching In by Eddie Bo

Into the Woods by My Morning Jacket
Hell Yeah by Neil Diamond
Road by Concrete Blonde
Roll Away My Stone by Mark Eitzel
Wishlist by Pearl Jam
Prairie Fire That Wanders About by Sufjan Stevens
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis