COMMENTS MEA CULPA

Boy, do I ever feel stupid!

I've been wondering why nobody has been commenting on my site since I switched back to Haloscan.

A couple of weeks ago a friend asked why her comments never appeared. I didn't know why until just now when I was fooling around on Haloscan and found a BUNCH of comments, going back to last August awaiting my "approval."

I didn't realize I had to approve the damned things!

Anywho, I approved them all and changed that setting. So please, comment away. (No advertising, please! I'll delete that crap toot sweet.)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 15, 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
Me and My Friend The Cat by Loudon Wainwright III
Fat Angel by The Jefferson Airplane
Mystic Eyes by Them
I Fought the Law by The Bobby Fuller Four
Police on My Back by The Clash
These Times With You by Dead Moon
Steppin' Out by Paul Revere & The Raiders
Apartment Wrestling Rock 'n' Roll Girl by Rev. Beat Man

Live With Me by The Twilight Singers with Mark Lanegan
Sleeping Around by Sonic Youth
Black Flowers by Yo La Tengo
See the Light by Sparklehorse
I See the Light by The Five Americans
Shanty Pig by Mary's Danish
Connecticut's For F*cking by Jesus H. Christ & The Four Hornsmen of The Apocalypse
Pictures of Matchstick Men by The Status Quo

Stevie's Spanking by Frank Zappa
Ball and Chain by Big Brother & The Holding Company
Tollin' Bells by The Butterfield Blues Band
Pinery Boy by Nick Cave
We Dance Alone by Beck
Dead Brothers Stomp by The Dead Brothers

Gingit by Jadoo
Lost in America by Jon Langford
To Try For the Sun by Lindsey Buckingham
The Good Ship Omega by Judee Sill
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

LALA LAND

I recently joined Lala.com, a CD trading service. I've gotten some interesting things, from Lord Buckley to Pigboy Crabshaw, from George Clinton to Jefferson Airplane.

Click the link to find out more about it. (The "one dollar claim is a little misleading. After postage it's $1.75 per CD you receive -- still a great price.)

Click here to explore Lala.com

THE GOVERNOR RACE

My profiles of Bill Richardson and John Dendahl, plus a lot of other coverage of the governor's race ran in The Santa Fe New Mexican today.

There's a bunch of stories. Here's the direct links:

* Race for Governor CLICK HERE
* The Job CLICK HERE
* Campaign Contributions CLICK HERE


* Richardson profile CLICK HERE
* Richardson bio box CLICK HERE
* The Richardson Record CLICK HERE









* Dendahl profile CLICK HERE
* Dendahl bio box CLICK HERE

R.I.P. FREDDY FENDER

The Mayor of Milagro is dead.

Baldemar Huerta, better known as Freddy Fender, died of lung cancer in his home in San Antonio. You can read the Associated Press story HERE .

The photo here is a snapshot I took at a Texas Tornados show at the Hole in the Wall at South by Southwest in 1996. Both Freddy and Doug Sahm are gone now.

The next teardrop just fell.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Laurell subbed for me on the show last night. She was nice enough to e-mail me her play list:

Friday, October 6, 2006
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Substitute Host: Laurell Reynolds

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Jeannie C Riley-Words, Names, Faces
Rose Maddox-Wild, Wild, Young Men
Wanda Jackson-Fujiama Mama
Eric Burdon & The Animals-Ring Of Fire
The Holy Modal Rounders-Synergy/Euphoria
Tex Ritter-Smoke Smoke Smoke
Al Dexter & His Troopers-Pistol Packin Mama
Jerry Lee Lewis-Milkshake Mademoiselle

Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty-Louisiana Woman Mississippi Man
Waylon Jennings-Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line
Henson Cargill-None Of My Business
Neil Young-Let's Impeach the President
Drivin and Cryin- Straight To Hell
Gary Stewart-Single Again
Billy & Terry Smith-Shame On the Moon
Don Williams-Tulsa Time
Sir Douglas Quintet-Be Real

Calexico-Alone Again Or
Bob Dylan-Lay Lady Lay
Townes Van Zandt-Nothin'/For the Sake Of the Song
Beatles-Rocky Racoon
The 6ths Featuring Kathrine Whalen-You You You You You
Eleni Mandell-Don't Say you Care
America-Lonely People

Maria Muldaur-My Tennesee Mountain Home
Dolly Parton-To Daddy
June Carter Cash-Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Johnny Cash-Redemption
Emmylou Harris-One Of These Days/Easy From Now On/Prayer In Open D
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

MOFFAT IS BACK

My old competitor Karl Moffat has entered the realm of Blogdom.

You can find his blog TALES FROM THE FAR BANK HERE.

We both covered crime in the early '90s, me for The New Mexican, Karl for Journal North. His blog however is about fishing, not crime.

HOW DO YOU HANDLE A HUNGRY TROLL?

I've received several inquiries about what happened to The New Mexican's comments feature, which has been down all week.

In case you haven't heard, here's the deal: There were so many crazy and disgusting comments about the recent violent assault and battery of Paige McKenzie, John Dendahl's spokeswoman the brass decided to yank the whole system until they could figure a better way to monitor the damned thing.

You can read the official explanation HERE and the new plan for comments HERE.

I hate censorship, and I like the fact the paper lets people comment. I'm sure that the fact I know and like Paige have something to do with my reaction, but I'm glad the paper's brass took action here.

As James Brown would say, Good God, ya'll!

There were Republican idiots blaming the evil Democrats for the attack and there were Democrat idiots claiming it was all a plot by the evil Republicans to get sympathy for John Dendahl. Plus all sorts of other nasty stuff.

All this while an innocent woman was lying in the hospital getting reconstructive surgery.

(She's still in the hospital, as of yesterday at leas, recovering from injuries that put her in the intensive care unit. Her condition, which had been critical is. satisfactory.)

You've still got your freedom of speech. If you don't like The New Mexican's new policy, you can start your own blog. It's free and easy enough even someone like me can do one. (If it's too complicated for you, I'm sure your parole officer can help you out.)

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: THE RISE OF BABY BARE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 13, 2006

Bobby Bare Jr. started his recording career at a very early age. Try 5 years old. It was back in 1973 when, as a squeaky-voiced ankle-biter, he co-starred with his father on a sweet but sappy Shel Silverstein song called “Daddy What If.”

“Daddy, what if the sun stopped shining?/What would happen then?” baby Bare chirped. It wasn’t the greatest moment for Papa Bare, who was a beloved country hitmaker in the ’60s and ’70s.

The kid grew up, as kids tend to do. Last year he reunited with his dad in the studio to produce and sing on Bare Sr.’s “comeback” album, The Moon Was Blue.

Since the late ’90s, Bare Jr.’s been playing an unusual style of rock ’n’ roll that draws from his country-music heritage but — even with his unabashed drawl — doesn’t sound like your typical country rock.

His latest album, The Longest Meow, was released under the name of Bobby Bare Jr.’s Young Criminals Starvation League and was recorded in a heady, 11-hour session with members of My Morning Jacket, ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, and others. It might just be his most eclectic, eccentric, and experimental album so far.

From the hard-charging, baritone-sax-and-guitar-driven “The Heart Bionic” through the Devo-drenched “Sticky Chemical,” this Meow is a sonic pleasure. And no, he hasn’t forgotten his country roots. “Back to Blue” has “Ring of Fire” mariachi trumpets and a steel guitar that suggests warm desert nights.

There’s an acoustic cover of the Pixies song “Where Is my Mind.” This seems appropriate since young Bobby played on the last Frank Black album. It’s not hard to imagine Frank Black Francis doing any of Bare’s songs from The Longest Meow.

One of my favorites here is “Gun Show,” which starts off with Bare crooning a Wilco-ish melody backed by acoustic guitar and a Lost-in-Space electronic whine. It’s about a guy who’s shot down at his home under circumstances that are never quite clear. Bare moans: “Mama’s gonna find a place to hide/And my girls are gonna wonder why/Why did my daddy have to die/And does he hear us when we cry?”

Then there’s “Demon Valley” and that steel guitar again. It’s a wistful, Beatlesque little tune with nonsensical lyrics such as “I found a place for you to hide/where you can be the devil’s bride.” There’s even a shout out to Sonny and Cher in the song.

Also recommended:

*Snake Farm by Ray Wylie Hubbard. “Snake farm, it just sounds nasty,” Hubbard spits in the chorus of the title song of his latest album. “Snake farm, pretty much is.”

That could pretty much serve as a review for this album. It sounds nasty, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. Co-produced by Hubbard and Gurf Morlix, this is a bluesy stomp-dance of a record, heavy on slide guitar and raunchy licks (thank you, Gurf). With Hubbard’s songs of reptile ranches, God, the devil, heartaches, damnation, and redemption, it’s almost like the Book of Revelation as interpreted by Hank Williams and Howlin’ Wolf.

“God smiles and lights a cigarette/And says there’s some souls I ain’t gonna get/I’d take all the little critters if I could/But some are too smart for their own damn good,” he sings in “Kilowatts.”

That’s how he does with the spiritual realm. He’s also got a good take on the material world. “Young pups, they ask me what makes my kind/shameless women and pork rinds ... There’s no sadder case of desire and anguish/I’m done in by women, hush puppies and catfish,” he growls on “Heartaches and Grease.”

Hubbard, a founding father of the Austin Cosmic Cowboy scene of the mid ’70s (I was going to try to write this without mentioning his “Up Against the Wall Redneck Mother”), is one of those rare artists who truly has gotten better with age. For the past few years, every album has been stronger than the last. More pork rinds, please!


* Nashville Rebel by Waylon Jennings. This four-disc collection starts out with a recording from New Mexico — Clovis, to be exact, home of Norman Petty Studios. There in 1958 Buddy Holly produced the first single by Jennings, his West Texas protégé. It was “Jole Blon,” the Cajun anthem, featuring none other than R&B shaman King Curtis on saxophone. It didn’t become a hit, at least not on the Holly level. But what a harbinger it was for things to come.

It took nearly 15 years, but the dark-eyed singer from Littlefield, Texas, along with co-conspirator Willie Nelson, led the great outlaw rebellion of the 1970s — which basically meant they got a whole lot more creative control over their records than Nashville traditionally allowed artists. That, and they did a lot of dope.

Waylon wasn’t known for his songwriting. Most of the songs he’s best known for — “Honky Tonk Heroes,” “Lonesome, On’ry and Mean,” “Luckenbach, Texas,” “Dreaming My Dreams With You” — were written by others. No, it was his voice, his “monster voice” as Rolling Stone once dubbed it — deep, rugged and earthy — that made his records so memorable.

This collection runs from the ’50s and (just barely) into the ’90s, wisely concentrating on the outlaw heyday of the early-to-mid ’70s. It leaves out a few jewels from Waylon’s final years, though fortunately it includes “I Do Believe,” a stunning little piece of humanist gospel he recorded on the last album by outlaw supergroup The Highwaymen.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: IT'S ALL IN THE MOVIES

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 12, 2006


Everyone knows Gov. Bill Richardson loves Hollywood. And soon his name will be appearing in movie credits.

No, major studios aren’t clamoring over rights to a feature-length version of the Richardson campaign’s “sheriff” commercials on TV.

The rules for a recent competition in which young filmmakers are seeking state grant money require that credits on any film they submit have to thank the governor.

On the state Film Office Web page announcing the program, potential applicants were told, “Awardees will acknowledge Governor Richardson and the New Mexico Film Office’s New Visions/New Mexico Program in the end credits of the completed film.”

The New Visions/New Mexico program, according to a news release earlier this year, offers a total of $160,000 in contracts “for New Mexico-based producers and directors to create narrative films, documentaries, animation and experimental works.” Individuals can get up to $20,000 for a project.

A total of 230 filmmakers applied, Film Office Director Lisa Strout said Wednesday.

Not all were seeking the maximum amount. “I heard that one was asking for $100,” she said.

The deadline for submissions was last week.

Funding recipients will be announced in December.

As for acknowledging Richardson, Strout said she wasn’t aware that was a requirement.

“What’s important is acknowledging the state,” Strout said. Specifically mentioning the governor, she said, “isn’t a requirement in my mind.”

Who knows, maybe one of these films acknowledging Richardson will go on to win the next Bill Richardson Film Achievement Award — the annual award established this year by the College of Santa Fe for outstanding national and regional contributions to film.

Oughta be in pictures: Richardson, of course, won’t be the first New Mexico governor to see his name in film credits.

Former Gov. David Cargo oversaw creation of New Mexico’s first state Film Office in 1968. According to its Web site, this was the first state agency in the country “whose primary goal was to enhance economic development via motion picture production.”

But Cargo didn’t stop there. He actually appeared in some movies made in the state.

According to the Internet Movie Guide, Cargo’s roles were as follows:

He played a lowly newspaper reporter in The Good Guys and the Bad Guys in 1969 — though his name didn’t appear in the credits. Some names that did appear in the credits in this Western were Robert Mitchum, George Kennedy and David Carridine.

The next year, Cargo had a bit part in a comedy called Up in the Cellar, which starred Larry Hagman and Joan Collins.

Cargo played a state trooper in Bunny O’Hare, a comedy that starred Bette Davis and Ernest Borgnine as a pair of golden-aged bank robbers.

And he played “Cpl. Benton” in a Western called The Gatling Gun, (shot in 1969, but not released until 1973).

Unfortunately, it appears Cargo was the biggest name in that movie.

What’s in a name?: A little mea culpa here. In Wednesday’s paper, I reported the Drug Policy Alliance contributed $25,000 to Richardson’s re-election campaign. Reena Szczepanski, who heads the local DPA office, says that’s not quite true. It actually was the Drug Policy Alliance Network that gave him the money.

The DPAN is affiliated with DPA, but they are funded separately. As Szczepanski explains it, donations to DPA are tax deductible, but donations to DPAN aren’t. Thus, DPA is not legally able to contribute to political candidates while DPAN is.

Also, billionaire George Soros — who as an individual gave Richardson $25,000 — sits on the DPA board, but not the DPAN’s.

Got all that?

Of course, all this only begs the question: Why is this drug-law-reform group giving so much money to Richardson?

True, Richardson came out this year in favor of a medical-marijuana bill — though he didn’t twist enough arms to get the bill through the House.

But Richardson frequently has criticized his predecessor Gary Johnson for advocating marijuana decriminalization. Richardson has made it clear he doesn’t want the state known for wanting to legalize drugs.

During his first month in office, Richardson stood side by side with national drug czar John Walters, a committed drug warrior, calling the visit “a symbolic meeting to show we support (Walters’) mission.”

And just last summer when John Dendahl got the GOP nomination for governor, several members of Richardson’s team attacked the Republican for his past support of several of DPA/DPAN’s basic positions on liberalizing marijuana laws.

“We welcome the opportunity to hear John Dendahl explain his pro-drug legalization plan throughout the campaign,” read a Richardson press release hours after Dendahl was nominated.

Of course, the $11.6 million Richardson campaign also welcomes the opportunity to collect campaign contributions.