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.