THE INVISIBLE PRIMARY

ABC News' political unit has devised what they call "The Invisible Primary," a system that considers 19 different categories to rank 2008 presidential candidates.

"The ratings reflect a sense of who has "juice" — a demonstrated ability to elicit favorable attention from critical sectors of the political world, including activists, major fundraisers, and member of the news media who are paying minute daily attention to what has become the earliest and most intense presidential campaign ever at this stage."

So far the leaders are Sen. Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and Sen. John McCain for the Republicans.

No big surprise.

Gov. Bill Richardson ranks a modest 7th in the Democratic Invisible Primary so far.

According to ABC News, he does best in the "Hang Test" category, where he ranks second behind former Sen. John Edwards.

The Hang Test is:

"How does the candidate do in dealing with people in person in formal speeches before large audiences, smaller venues, spontaneous situations, pig roasts, sledding, flapjack-flipping, and town meetings? Coat on or off? Tie loosened or tight? Dress or pantsuit? Can the candidate turn on a room? Perhaps most importantly, can he or she `hang?'"

Richardson also tied for second in the "Fire in the Belly" category. He's with Clinton and Edwards here behind former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner.

He has high ratings in television campaign skills and party constituencies.

However Richardson falls down in the category of ability to win the New Hampshire primary where, in spite of his recent visit there, he ranks 10th. And he ranks even worse (11th) in his chance of winning the Iowa caucuses.

And he ranks troward the bottom in the areas of "Biography and Spouse," and perceived electibilty.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: CONVENTIONS, POLLS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 23, 2006

So what did Gov. Bill Richardson say to the Democrats after they put him on the state primary ballot Saturday at the their pre-primary convention at Albuquerque’s Highland High School?

Nothing.

While Richardson spoke at the convention that morning, he left for New Hampshire before the delegates voted.

Something tells me there’s going to be more and more of these little anecdotes in the months to come.

Richardson has no primary opposition — in the governor’s race at least. But not everyone at the high school was there to cheer the governor.

A handful of members of the Hispano Round Table of New Mexico — an umbrella for nearly 50 Hispanic organizations and labor unions — was there to demonstrate against Richardson.

A press release from the group complained about Richardson’s “abuse of executive power when it comes to vetoing important funding initiatives as a way of punishing legislators who fail to support the governor’s priorities, many of which seem to serve the interests of a limited number of people, including some who aren’t even residents of the state. ... Instead of providing for adequate funding of children and youth programs, for school facility construction and repair, for water projects so desperately needed by countless New Mexico communities, and a minimum wage to help bring vast working populations out of poverty, they chose ... to invest in the pet projects of celebrities and other special interests.”

The planned Southern New Mexico spaceport, proposed by Virgin Galactic’s Sir Richardson Branson, is one such example, said Hispano Round Table president Evangeline Trujillo. “We’re a poor state,” she said in an interview Wednesday. “It’s like a low-income family that chooses to buy a Hummer when their children can’t read and need shoes.”

(Spaceport backers, of course, say the project will bring good jobs to the state.)

The Hispano Round Table also expressed frustration with legislative leaders who are unwilling to challenge Richardson’s vetoes.

“We got a lot of people giving us thumbs up,” Trujillo said. But she admitted other Democrats asked whether it was good publicly to criticize a Democratic governor.

Will the Hispano Round Table back Richardson against his Republican opponent (most likely Dr. J.R. Damron of Santa Fe, who only has a write-in opponent in his primary)?

“Not necessarily,” Trujillo said. “We’re going to be issue-oriented. We’ll align ourselves with the candidate of either party who best addresses our issues.”

Poll sliding : Richardson still has a good popularity rating — especially with Hispanics — in the latest monthly poll by Survey USA and KOB-TV.

According to the poll of 600 adults in the state, taken by telephone between March 10 and 12, 59 percent approved of the job Richardson is doing as governor. That’s down five points from February.

The latest survey found 36 percent disapproved of Richardson’s performance — up from 32 percent last month.

But the poll still shows Richardson doing fairly well with Republicans. Results said 46 percent of GOP respondents approved of Richardson’s performance while 51 percent disapproved.
Richardson got his best ratings from Hispanics, who gave him a 69 percent approval rating (26 percent of Hispanic respondents disapproved of the job he’s doing).

The margin of error is 4 percent. Survey USA conducts monthly polls on governors in all 50 states.

More fun with polls: Survey USA is a scientific poll. I’d hate to be unfair to unscientific polls, so consider the recent Daily Kos poll for 2008 Democratic presidential contenders.

If I were doing spin for the governor, I’d write a press release proclaiming that Richardson tied with conventional-wisdom front-runner Sen. Hillary Clinton and finished with twice the numbers of U.S. Sens. John Kerry, Joe Biden and Evan Bayh in the liberal blog’s monthly straw poll.

Only trouble is, Richardson and Clinton each only got a lousy 2 percent in the poll. The big winner was Sen. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, who scored 48 percent. Retired Gen. Wesley Clark was a distant second at 15 percent followed by ex-Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (11 percent); former U.S. Sen. John Edwards (7 percent) and “No Freakin’ Clue” (4 percent).

Unconventional convention: With Sweeney Center being torn down, where can political parties hold conventions here? If you’re the Green Party, just do it at Java Joe’s. The Rodeo Road coffee house, which has a capacity of about 50 people, is where the Santa Fe County Green Party is holding its convention tonight.

Speaking of parties: Local political activist Agnes Moses — best known as a former president of the Santa Fe branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People — turns 80 this weekend.

Seven of her nine children will be in town to eat gumbo and enchiladas at a private celebration Saturday.

Moses has lived in Santa Fe with her husband, Bob, for the past 13 years. She also held offices with the Democratic Women of Santa Fe County.

I worked with her a few years ago in the fight to save KSFR, Santa Fe’s public radio station. Happy birthday, Agnes.

ZERXING MY RESPONSIBILITIES

Mark Weber, the strongman of Zerx Records, just sent me the latest albuZERXque compilation, Volume 22 to be exact, and it includes my song "Parallel World," which Erik Ness had me record a few years ago down in Las Cruces in the old farm & Livestock Bureau building, which had just been vacated. Erik took my vocals and guitar part and fortified it in a proper studio with the Desperados, a Cruces country band. The compilation has a more folk/country bent than most of the AlbuquZERXque projects, including several fresh tunes from The Bubbadinos, plus Bayou Seco and Weber himself. So buy the damn thing!

SXSW MOP-UP

At the Austin Airport on my way out of town Sunday afternoon, I ran into Ronny Elliott standing in line for ice cream. He told me he'd just seen Karl Rove.

I think there's an omen in there somewhere ...

Sometimes I think I'm getting too old for SXSW -- the lines, the who-bribed-the-fire-marshal crowds, standing up for hours at a time, the goddamn Austin traffic, which I forget how bad it is every time ...

Like Karl Rove's most famous client says, "It's hard work!"

I'm getting too old for it.

But I've got the feeling I'll be back.





YOU'RE ALL GOING TO HELL, YOU DEGENERATE BASTARDS!













"Are you sure this is the venue where P.W. Long is supposed to play?"














Inside the Yard Dog











Beatle Bob joins the Waco Brothers














Watch out for flying chairs!















Leslie cruises Sixth Street












P.W. plays while the crowd watches the backdrop


















Kev Russell of The Gourds tries to prove you can't catch bird flu from the Funky Chicken.











The Entourage: "We're the pros from Dover."

SXSW DAY 4

I stopped to listen to this guy preaching on Sixth Street Friday night, a lonely Christian soldier armed only with a megaphone, an island in a hostile sea of drunks.

He basically was telling the St. Patrick's night revelers that they were a bunch of drunken scumbags and Hell-bound reprobates.

Trouble is, in some ways I kind of agreed with him.

So I spent much of my Saturday night in church.

It just so happened that two of the most high-energy shows I saw this year was scheduled at the Central Presbyterian Church in downtown Austin.

Granted, the religion I heard about at these shows didn't sound much like that preached Friday by Rev. megaphone. There wasn't much talk about Hell and damnation. Instead, I heard about love and blessings. The singers I heard sang about Jesus as a friend, not a warden.

The first show I caught there was The Jones Family Singers, a gospel group from Bay City, Texas fronted by five of the six daughters of Elder Fred A. Jones, founder and pastor of The Mt. Zion Pentecostal Holiness Church.

Several other family members play instruments -- guitars, bass, keyboards. And 13-year-old Ian D. Wade, who I'm guessing is Elder Jones' grandson, on drums.

The group was amazing. They had the congregation going from the first note. Singer Alexis Roberts led most of the songs, which featured choreography from her sisters. They kicked the Devil, rocked in Jesus and rolled in the Holy Spirit.


Later in the evening, Marty Stuart and his band The Fabulous Superlatives did a breathtaking gospel set at Central Presbyterian. Stuart, a longtime Nashville vet and former sideman for Johnny Cash, released a gospel album called Souls' Chapel -- which I've got to get my hands on.

Stuart and band infuse gospel with strong portions of rockabilly and blues, and, one one guitar instrumental, even a sanctified version of surf music.

He was on fire.

Between these two shows, I walked down to Sixth Street to catch Lisa Germano's set. Back in 1995, my first SXSW, Germano was one of my very favorite acts. This was during her strongest period, not long after the albums Happiness and Geek the Girl, both pure sonic treats.

But tonight I just couldn't get into Lisa. Maybe it's because she just played piano and didn't have her full band. Or maybe it's because following the Jones Family, her music just seemed too self-absorbed and needy. Fortunately Stuart's show elevated my spirit back up to the level where the Joneses had left it.

But I wasn't completely avoiding drunken hellbound reprobates Saturday. Early in the evening I caught Marah at the Yep-Roc party at the good old Yard Dog. The brothers Bielanko were rocking.

My favorite song of theirs still is "Round Eye Blues," a moving song about Vietnam -- a war way too old for the Bielankos to have any memory of. When they first released this song back in 2000 (on their best album Kids in Philly), the song seemed like some stray ghost of a memory. With its references to singers and songs of that era ("I was shakin' like Little Richard, I was sweatin' like old James Brown ...") it seemed a period peace.

What a difference these years have made. The jungle's now a desert, but those same fears and horrors in "Round Eye Blues" are more relevent than ever.

And yes, I did on Friday attend more services at the Waco Brothers' Church of the Dollar Apocalypse.

As usual, I ended my SXSW with another Wacos show, their "official" showcase at Bourbon Rocks. While not as crazy, chaotic and inspiring as their Yard Dog gig the night before, (and indeed, Tracey survived what had to be a vicious hangover from his adventures the night before) it was a good and proper Viking funeral for this year's festival.

One surprise -- Garland Jeffreys, who had played a set earlier at Bourbon Rocks, joined the Wacos on stage for a version of "The Harder They Come."

Back to Santa Fe tomorrow ... back to work Monday ... It's been fun.

SXSW DAY 3

You probably can tell by reading these posts that I really enjoy South by Southwest and love coming here.

But sometimes it's not hard to get cynical about the monstrosity the whole shebang has become.

My big SXSW moment of the day was when I was outside of the Yard Dog Gallery, taking a break from the Bloodshot Party and calling my girlfriend on my cell phone. As I was talking with Helen, some wide-eyed kid comes up to me and hands me a CD in a paper envelope. I smile and nod, assuming he'll buzz off.

But no.

He starts giving me the song and dance about the band whose CD I now held in my hand, where I can catch them playing, and so on. I look at the little dunderhead and snap, "I'm trying to talk on the phone!"

The stupid kid is lucky I wasn't the man with the big cigar who could make him a star. Maybe I did him a favor so he won't bother someone who actually could help him. Of course, I thought of that kid later Friday walking down Sixth Street and ever so often seeing a bunch of scruffed up CDs lying among the paper pizza plates and plastic cups.

Oh well, on to the music.


The entourage and I spent most of the daylight hours at the annual Bloodshot Party. We got to see Bobby Bare again, who sang a couple of tunes -- "Detroit City" and one called "The Stranger," which is about a cowboy who has sex with cows. No joke. Bobby also sang an unfinished original concerning adultry.

Other highlights of the party:

The Bottle Rockets did a spirited set, despite the fact that the bass player blew an amp.

Cordero, a new Bloodshot band, was my surprise favorite discovery of the day. I know nothing about this band except they have a talented female singer, a trumpet player, and play a Latin-flavored rock that reminds me of Calexico.

Speaking of big surprises, during The Meat Purveyors' set, a guy standing behind me hopped up for a second on the stage with Cherilyn DiMond, the stand-up bass player. At the end of the song, Cherilyn said, "Oh my God, my boyfriend just proposed to me!

I think her answer was "yes."



As always though, the highlight of the Bloodshot party was those rascally Waco Brothers. They didn't play the last year I was here (2004), so I hadn't seen them since 2002.


This was the best Waco set I've seen in years. It was obvious that magic would be made as many began singing along with "Nothing at All," one of Deano Waco's best angry political songs.

Raw, inspired chaos seemed to be the order of the day. This is due in part to Tracey Waco's drunken highjinx. I'd never seen him this way. Usually he seems like a nice quiet guy. Not last night. He literally was falling-down drunk. At the end of the night Jon Langford said, "Tracey's going straight back to the hotel without his supper."

After the Wacos, almost anything would seem like a letdown. But it truly was a letdown when I learned that soul singer Bettye LaVette cancelled her performance. I'm not sure what her reasons were, but I was disappointed. She was one of the main acts I wanted to see here.


But someone who didn't disappoint was Big Al Anderson. I had assumed that his SXSW showcase would be on the mellow side, which was to support his newly released After Hours, a relatively mellow, sometimes jazzy album.

Instead, Al was rocking, reminding people why he was such an asset to NRBQ. My favorite songs he did were "All You Ever Do is Let Me Down" (a hit for The Mavericks, which he co-wrote with Raul Malo), "It Comes to Me Naturally" and Johnny Cash's "Get Rhythm"(both from his NRBQ days)

The next show I caught was a guy named P.W. Long. He's a fomer frontman for the band Mule, and a favorite of most the guys in the entourage.

He's got a raspy voice, a beat-up guitar and a pissed-off attitude. He's backed only by a drummer -- the basic White Stripes/Black Keys/Moaners/Doo Rag arrangement.

P.W. was fun. But for good rocking rage, the Wacos were still ringing in my ears and Mr. Long didn't quite measure up to that standard.

I ended the evening at the Stan Ridgway showcase. He played with his acoustic trio feature his wife Pietra Wexstun on keyboards and Rick King on guitar. I knew it was going to be good when they opened with a slow spooky version of "Police Call," one of my favorite songs from the first Drywall album.

There was a Tex-Mex version of "Mexican Radio" a crazy romp on "Come on Down to The Barbecue," a strong "Call of the West" (from Stan's Wall of Voodoo days) and a good classic spookhouse rendition of "Ring of Fire."

I'd better get some sleep now or I'll be in worse shape than Tracy Waco Saturday.

SXSW DAY 2

If you were hoping for a thoughtful analysis of Neil Young's keynote speech -- sorry! For the first time in my SXSW history I overslept and missed the keynote speech. Blame it on my blogging.

It was another strong night of music. So strong, after the triple assault of The Fiery Furnaces, The Twilight Singers and The Drive-By Truckers, my delicate ears are still ringing.

The day started off nice and mellow at the party at The Gingerman hosted by singer/songwriter/producer Ed Pettersen and his lovely wife Jane. Truly a class affair with good music, tasty food (including fresh pineapples, blueberries and mango slices) and good friends. (You folks know who you are.)

My new musical discovery there was Andy Hersey, an Arizona cowboy singer (whose music you'll soon be hearing on The Santa Fe Opry.)


Ed played the strongest set I've ever seen him perform, backed by ex Dictator/Del Lord and longtime Pettersen crony Scott Kempner, who also played a solo set.

A funny note: during Kempner's set, a band at the bar next door, began doing a sound check on the outdoor stage -- a loud and insane ruckus that sounded like New Year's Eve in the nuthouse. Scott growled, "I guess it's revenge. I think when when I was a kid growing up, all my records sounded like that to my parents."

The first official SXSW showcase I caught Thursday night was Bobby Bare, making a rare appearance to promote his latest album The Moon Was Blue. His son Bobby Jr. sang background and played some guitar, harmonica and keyboards.

Bare's friendly voice still is in fine form. He played most of his greatest hits -- "Detroit City," "Streets of Baltimore," "Marie Laveau" -- but the stunner was "Are You Sincere" from the new album.


For my next musical treat I chose a jolter -- The Fiery Furnaces.

This brother-and-sister-led band made one of my very favorite albums last year, Rehearsing My Choir, much of it narrated by and centering around stories told by their grandmother.

I had wondered how the group would handle this. I imagined them using the taped voice of Granny Olga. I was secretly hoping for a guest appearance by the lady.

Instead, the Furnances did radically different versions of the Choir songs. In fact, live, they sound much different than their records. The synth-sounds are gone, replaced by a full guitar attack. The results are quite pleasing.


Speaking of favorite albums, Greg Dulli routinely makes my yearly Top 10 lists -- with his former group The Afghan Whigs and his latest one, The Twilight Singers.

He was in excellent form Thursday, playing his dark, intense music. He played some familiar Twilight tunes -- "Teenage Wrist Band," "Martin Eden" -- but much of his set was new material, presumedly from his upcoming album "Powder Burns."

It sounds promising. There was a slow, slinky, almost voodooistic song that I loved,

My only complaint -- nothing from the Whigs songbook.


And then there was The Drive By Truckers, who didn't play any of my very favorite songs -- "Sink Hole," ""Lookout Mountain," "Putting People on the Moon," "Steve McQueen" -- but still managed to pull off a terrific show.

This is the first time I've seen them with their current line-up, which includes singer/guitarist Jason Isbell and bassist Shona Tucker. They also had a steel guitarist sitting toward the back of the stage.

They did some new songs from their new album A Blessing and a Curse but the one that impressed me most tonight was "Cottonseed" from their previous album The Dirty South.

I'm about to pass out. Too bad I don't have any speech to sleep through on Friday morning.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: GET YOUR IRISH UP

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New MexicanMarch 17, 2006


Black 47 first roared back in the early ‘90s, about the time that The Pogues began to falter. It’s always been tempting to assume that this New York band, led by Irish expatriate Larry Kirwin was just running with the torch that The Pogues passed on to them.

But nothing’s that simple, especially when you’re dealing with Irish musicians. While both bands mix traditional Irish music with crazy rock ‘n’ roll, Black 47 can’t be dismissed as a “Pogues Jr.” group.

While not the poet that The Pogues’ former frontman Shane McGowan is, Kirwin is a strange visionary in his own right. In the Black 47 cosmos, elements of reggae, Dixieland and even hip hop are as natural as uilleann pipes and penny whistles.

And Black 47, taking its name from the worst year of the potato famine, has a pronounced political bent. Many of Kirwin’s songs celebrate Irish revolutionary heroes — James Connolly, Michael Collins, Bobby Sands — while many more deal with Irish immigrants and the generations they spawned in America.

Their latest album Bittersweet Sixteen, is both a treat for old fans as well as a good starting place for newcomers. It’s an odds ‘n’ sods (in this case, maybe an “odds and Old Sod”) retrospective including rarities, live radio cuts, a stray soundtrack number from a movie you probably never saw, and a couple of new tunes.

Larry and the boys tackle the issue of war. There’s a funky version of the Vietnam-era Buffalo Springfield hit, “For What It’s Worth,” which plays just before a trilogy of anti-war anthems. “One thing holds true in all wars, working class kids do the fightin’, rich white men in Washington do the sendin’ ” Kirwin tells the audience before the live version of “My Love is in New York,” which is about Vietnam.

The next two tracks, “Downtown Baghdad Blues” and “South Chicago Waltz” both are from the perspectives of American troops in Iraq wishing they were back home.

“Downtown Baghdad” is almost jaunty, with Kirwin rapping in his sing-songy style: “Me, I don’t care much about Jesus or Mohammad/They don’t stop bullets to the best of my knowledge.”
“Southside Chicago Waltz,” is slower, sadder, with uilleann pipes playing a heartbreaking air.
“Sometimes you gotta be bigger than you are stretch upon your stars, reach out for the stars/I hope to God what we’re doing here is right/’Cause I can’t take anymore of these bloody, God-awful nights.”

Later in the album there’s a version of the Irish Republican classic “Patriot Game,” from which Bob Dylan borrowed the melody for “With God on Our Side.”

But just because Kirwin’s against the war doesn’t make him a tofu-munching, aura-balancing peacenik.

Bittersweet Sixteen contains a version of what probably is my favorite Black 47 song, “Forty Deuce,” a sweeping tale of the life of an Irish gangster in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, full of sex, crime, betrayal and revenge.

This take is radically different from the familiar one on Green Suede Shoes. Here it starts out with a crazy wailing bebop sax. Kirwin comes in with a raspy spoken introduction. The sax part evolves into the melody of the instrumental break of the song before the whole band comes in.
The climax of the song has a line that ranks up there with Johnny Cash’s famous words about shooting that guy in Reno.

“I followed Spider Murphy into a church down by Times Square/I blew him to sweet Jesus while he was kneelin’ at his prayers.”

Perhaps the most moving song here is none other than “Danny Boy.” But this is not your father’s “Danny Boy.” Kirwin turns this into an ode to a wild, gay Irish immigrant who in his prime gave homophobes good reason to be phobic of homos. (”...whenever the weather turns damp at least one homophobe has an aching jaw,” Kirwin says of the song in the liner notes.)

But Danny Boy ends up dying of AIDS, After Danny’s last words from his hospital bed, (”Life’s a bitch and then you die,”) Kirwin sings the original lyrics, about a parent bidding farewell to a son who is leaving — off to war? Sailing to America? It’s hard to imagine the original “Danny Boy” being any sadder, but Kirwin and Black 47 somehow pull it off.

(Check out www.black47.com)

Another new Irish treat:

The Essential Chieftains: This two-disc set is a much more honest effort than the single disc compilation from 2002 that was questionably named The Best of The Chieftains. That collection drew from only three Chieftains album (all on Columbia in the late 1970s).

Granted, it would be hard to compile a career-spanning retrospect of Paddy Maloney and his traditional-based Irish ensemble, whose first album was released more than 40 years ago. And judging from what’s missing from Essential, apparently the group’s first several albums were unavailable — assumedly for legal, contractual, why-I-hate-the-music-industry reasons.

(A little Chieftains trivia: The first albums were numbered, Chieftains 1, Chieftains 2, etc. However, between Chieftains 6 -- subtitled Bonapart’s Retreat and Chieftains 7 -- there was another album, Chieftains Live! )

I’ve got a few minor qualms with this new collection. Did the entire second disc have to be guest-vocalist cuts? And if so, why did they leave out “St. Stephen’s Day Murders” (with Elvis Costello) and, if you’re going to have only one with Van Morrison, why use the plodding “Shenandoah,” instead of the celestial “Cerrickfergus” or the sublime “I Can’t Stop Loving You.” ? (Again, I suspect contractual issues.)

Still, I admire the compiler for finding versions of early Chieftains songs “The Women of Ireland” and “Tabhair Dom Do Lamh (Give Me Your Hand).” Both the versions her are part of medleys, and neither are as good as the mid ‘70s originals, but they’re both wonderful pieces of music.

And I was happy that at least one track from The Chieftains in China showed up here. That was an early ‘80s album where Paddy and the lads teams up with Chinese folk musicians to produce some delightfully exotic sounds.

(Check out www.legacy recordings.)

SXSW DAY 1

AUSTIN, TEXAS --What am I still doing up this late?????

It was a long, long day of rock 'n' roll. If this were Sesame Street, the letter sponsoring tonight would be "P" -- in honor of The Plimsouls and the Pornographers -- New Pornographers, that is. Those two bands made what has to be one of the best Wednesday nights at SXSW I've ever seen -- at least since 1996 and Lou Reed played in Austin on a Wednesday. Usually the first night is rather tame. Not this year.

As usual, the entourage and I started the evening at the Guitartown party, which this year was at Mother Eagan's on West 6th Street. Got there just in time to see the last of Tres Chica's set. Tanya Lamm formerly of Hazeldine is in this group.


I was determined to make it to the Frogville portion of the New Mexico showcase over at Las Manitas restaurant on Congress (and determined to get the fajitas and tamales and various other goodies there), so I trotted over there just before Hundred Year Flood started playing.

HYF has a new album coming out in April, and apparently some of the songs they played Wednesday are from it. They all sounded strong. It's been months since I've seen these guys -- they've been wintering in Austin -- so it was a treat.

My only complaint is that the set was way too short. I think they scheduled eight bands in four hours, so you do the math. Good thing most the New Mexico acts -- including some that didn't play Wednesday like Goshen and Boris McCutcheon --are playing Thursday night at Schoal Creek Saloon.


Unfortunately I had to make one of those horrible SXSW choices. Joe West was going on, but if I was going to catch The Gourds over at Mother Eagan's, I was going to have to make a quick hoof back. Sorry, Joe, but I'm sure I'll get to see you before I get to see The Gourds again. I did however snap Joe's picture right as he was going to the Men's Room.

The Gourds didn't disappoint. Unlike their recent show in Santa Fe opening for Ralph Stanley, they got nice asnd rowdy, with Kev Russell playing mostly on his electric guitar. They did a lot of the more rocked out stuff from their new album, Heavy Ornamentals and a version of The Rolling Stones' "Miss You."


After this we headed for Stubb's BBQ, where The New Pornographers played.

It's amazing: Ask the regular Joe on the street and chances are he's not aware of The New Pornographers. Say the name and he'll think it's the start of a dirty joke.

But here at South by Southwest -- which not only draws hoards of music bizzers, but even bigger hoards of music geeks -- they're major stars. They packed the massive backyard of Stubb's.

And rightfully so.

Yikes! Sounds this sweet should be illegal. Neko Case, who in this band mainly sings harmonies behind Carl Newman (and plays the best tambourine this side of Betty of The Archies), but she's indispensible.

On the way out we were all humming "Sing Me Spanish Techno."

We headed down to Sixth Street to B.D. Riley's, apparently a sports bar in real life, to hear one of my favorite singer-songwriters, Ronny Elliott of Tampa, Fla. He played a a solo acoustic set including some of my favorite songs -- "Tell The King The Killer's Here," "Burn, Burn, Burn," "Mr. Edison's Electric Chair" and "South by So What," a sardonic song he wrote after the first time he played the festival in the early '90s.

Afterwards we squeezed into the crowded 6th Street bar called Exodus to see The Plimsouls reunion show. I never got to see this band during their early '80s heyday (I understand they played the late great Golden Inn once back then) But I did see their previous reunion gig back in 1996, also at SXSW.

If anything, they've gotten better. For some reason they started late, so the set was short. But they rocked like kids half their age. Peter Case has gone on to become a respected acoustic singer-songwriter/folkie. But the man's a natural rocker.

I wish The Plimsouls would have played at Stubb's -- a nice big outdoor venue. The Exodus not only was sweating room only, but apparently there's no ventilation there. It was extremely uncomfortable, but The Plimsouls helped me transcend such trivial concerns.

Gotta get to bed ...Neil Young is tomorrow's keynote speaker.

OFF FOR TEXAS

The bad news: No Roundhouse Round-up or radio play lists from me this week.

The good news: I'll be blogging from the South by Southwest music festival this week.

I'm flying to Austin tomorrow morning. Looking forward to some loud music and BBQ.

And I'm going to try this newfangled digital camera to see if i can't bring some exciting fresh rock 'n' roll photography to this blog. (And unlike my btrip to Boston a couple of years ago, I'll try hard not to lose the camera.)

Watch this space! (I'll probably post in the insanely wee hours.)