MORE BOOTLEG DEBATE VIDEO!

I haven't really been keeping up with the District 2 Congressional race in southern New Mexico. About all I know is that incumbent Republican Steve Pearce is taking a page out of the Bill Richardson playbook by resfusing to debate his lesser-known, under-funded underdog opponent on television.

I didn't realize until now that, according to Heath Haussamen, a debate between Pearce and Democrat Al Kissling actually was recorded by a Las Cruces TV station in late August, but "was never broadcast because Pearce, a debate ducker, wouldn’t allow it, and FCC rules require the approval of both candidates, according to the station."

But Heath has obtained a copy of the debate and posted it on his blog. CHECK IT OUT.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, October 22, 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
Rusty's Back in Town by Rusty Warren
Rock 'n' Roll Murder by The Leaving Trains
Friggin' in the Riggin' by The Sex Pistols
Groovy Times by The Clash
The Times Change by The Sadies
Mr. Gasser by Mr. Gasser & The Weirdos
Illuminated Cowboy by Roy & The Devil's Motorcycle
Mark Antony's Funeral Oration by Lord Buckley

Pink Steam by Sonic Youth
I'm Gonna Move Right In by The Velvet Underground
In This Home on Ice by Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah
Your Body Not Your Soul by Cuby & The Blizzards
Hey Little Girl by Syndicate of Sound
Please Stop Playing That Didgeridoo by Jono Manson
Murder's Crossed My Mind by Desdemona Finch

Mount Weoclai (Idle Days) by Beirut
Djelem, Djalem by Kocani Okestar
Vodopad by Boban Markoviae Orkestar
Sitta by Cankisou
Romana by Kultur Shock
Trust in Me by The Dead Brothers
The Gunboat Song by Kazik Staszewski
Bratislava by Beirut

Immigrant Punk by Gogol Bordello
T Stands For Trouble by Marvin Gaye
Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me) by Outkast
It Was You by Lindsey Buckingham
The Town by Los Lobos
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

eMUSIC OCTOBER

* Indian War Whoop by The Holy Modal Rounders. Imagine a full-color remake of Li'l Abner where everyone in Dogpatch is tripping on acid ...



* Dreams Come True - Hi - I Love You Right Heartily Here - New Songs by Judee Sill Most of these are outtakes from the long-lost third abum by the troubled Judee, who died before it ever saw the light of day. This doesn't match up to Heartfood, but it's a welcome addition to the works of a tragically overlooked singer and songwriter.

* Ray Sings, Basie Swings by Ray Charles & The Count Basie Orchestra. This album features live Charles vocals backed up by the Basie band later in the studio. Artificial? Maybe. But it sounds terrific. I couldn't resist when I saw it had "O What a Beautiful Morning." And it didn't disappoint. It was almost as good as the time I saw Ray live.


* RE-Search: Incredibly Strange Music Volume 2 Some cocktail exotica. Some "outsider" music. Some bad novelty tunes. Some Ken Nordine "word jazz." A bad raga-rock version of "The Letter." And, of course, Little Marcy, a singing Christian puppet. I was playing some selections from this album in the office Friday. "Where do you find this stuff?" a co-worker asked. "I don't," I replied. "It finds ME."


" Delusion of the Fury by Harry Partch. I'm just wild about Harry. He's a true musical iconoclast who not only invented his own scales but inveneted his own strange instruments on which to play his otherworldy wonder works. He hated synthesizers. He hated academia. He was a hobo as well as a homo. Check here for his bio and seek out his music. This one's a good place to start.


America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band by The Maddox Brothers & Rose . I heard "The Meanest Man in Town" on Home of Happy Feet Tuesday night, I knew I had to have more Maddox Brothers & Rose into my life. This California family band was loud and rowdy and sister Rose was pure hillbilly sex appeal. I only had enought left on eMusic this month to download 15 tracks, but I'll be back next month to nab the rest of this -- and possibly the second volume also.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, October 20, 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
No Sleep Blues by Wayne Hancock
Stay a Little Longer by The Sadies
I Push Right Over by Robbie Fulks
Gun Show by Bobby Bare Jr.'s Young Criminals Starvation League
Heartaches and Grease by Ray Wylie Hubbard
William Bonnie by Mandy Smith
My Baby's Just Like Money by Merle Haggard
I Rode in As a Stranger by Lynn Anderson
Rock Island Line by Little Richard & Fishbone
Cast the Devils Out by Butch Hancock

All the Way With Jesus by Buck Owens
She's Got Some Magic Going On by Jim Lauderdale
Wake me Up and Slap me by Doug Spartz
Gorrilla and the Maiden by Jon Langford
The Levee's Gonna Break by Bob Dylan
Another Man Done Gone by Irma Thomas
Before Magnolias Bloom by Chris Thomas King
Gypsy Songman by Jerry Jeff Walker

Storms Never last by Waylon Jennings with Jessi Colter
Louis Collins by Jerry Garcia & David Grisman
Soldier's Joy by Holy Modal Rounders
Rapid City, S.D by Dwight Yoakam
TV Barbecue by Rotondi
'50s French Movie by Carrie Rodriguez
Wabash Cannonball by Danny BarnesI Can't Be Satisfied by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time by Mickey Gilley

Blue Wing by Dave Alvin
They Don't Rob the Trains Anymore by Ronny Elliott
Sing Me Back Home by The Byrds
Beloved Garden by Jon Dee Graham
Let Us Travel, Travel On by Marty Stuart & Del McCoury
I'm Free From the Chain Gang Now by Johnny Cash
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

PAIGE McKENZIE RELEASED FROM HOSPITAL

This just in from Tom Garrity:

Following several surgeries, Paige McKenzie was released today from University Hospital. While she has made a remarkable recovery to this point, Paige still has a long road of recovery ahead. Paige and her family are grateful to the medical staff at University Hospital.

Paige is with her parents, the three will be staying at an undisclosed location as she continues the healing process.

Paige is very encouraged by all of the cards, letters and word of support from her friends and colleagues in New Mexico and around the country.

Those who want to show their support of Paige during this time are encouraged to make a donation to the "Paige McKenzie Fund" at First Community Bank, formerly First State Bank. Donations can be made to the teller or mailed to First Community Bank, Post Office Box 3686 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87190. Donations will go to offset medical costs associated with her assault.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

The John Dendahl campaign has yet to run any television ads, but his friends at the Republican Governors Association are buying one for him. VIEW IT HERE

It shows an bobble-head version of Richardson bouncing from one state to another. He mumbles and shouts "Whee!" I'll leave it to your own interpretation of what it looks like he's doing in front of The White House.

I'm sure Richardson doesn't like the ad, but he might be grateful that it makes him look so thin.

In case you haven't been near a t.v. set in the past three months, here's where you can find all of Richardson's campaign commericals. CLICK HERE

And here's something I stumbled across while looking for the RGA ad on YouTube:

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: BEIRUT IS COMING ...

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 20, 2006

Q: Was growing up in Santa Fe boring?
A: I’m sure that’s every adolescent’s complaint about their hometown. When a city is unstimulating, you get pretty isolated. That’s probably why I did what I did.

It almost sounds like the confession of a teenage sociopath who’s discussing some hideous atrocity he perpetrated. But this interview isn’t from some A&E true-crime show; it’s from Pitchfork, an online music magazine.


The bored, unstimulated Santa Fe youth is not some school-ground psycho but rather Zach Condon, a rising young musician with an album that’s rightfully getting great ink and word-of-mouth from places far and wide.

And the deed that he did, inspired by his “isolation,” was to retreat into his room — you can almost feel the presence of Brian Wilson’s spirit at this point — and create what would become the album Gulag Orkestar, released under the name Beirut.

Condon, now 20, did what most Santa Fe kids unfortunately have to do. He got out. Moved to Brooklyn.

But he’s coming home to visit. You can check out Condon and Beirut — which has grown from a boy and his ProTools into as much as a 10-piece band — Wednesday, Oct. 25, at the College of Santa Fe and Thursday, Oct. 26, at the Launchpad in Albuquerque.

While most American musicians his age are inspired by punk rock or hip-hop, Condon was inspired by the soundtracks of movies by Sarajevo-born director Emir Kusturica and by the Balkan brass bands Condon heard while bumming around Europe.

Beirut isn’t the first American band to employ Eastern European elements. There are bands like the gypsy punk of Gogol Bordello, the Bulgarian metal of Kultur Shock, and Balkan blues-blowers Hazmat Modine.

But none of these are as richly textured as what’s found on Gulag Orkestar. Condon seems to be walking some of the same rainy streets that Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits have tread, though even these comparisons fall short.

The sound is based on slightly off-kilter trumpets, accordion, rat-a-tat drums, keyboards and — for reasons not explained, though it works — a ukulele.

One of his cohorts on the record is Jeremy Barnes, former drummer for Georgia indie-rock geniuses Neutral Milk Hotel (and the lesser known A Hawk and a Hacksaw, which opens for Beirut on Tuesday).

And his voice! Condon has a sweet but world-weary croon that seems to come from a soul much older than the kid at the microphone. There’s an undeniably sad tone at work here. Many of the songs sound like funeral dirges, a jazz funeral down the back streets of Budapest, or a circus parade through a Bosnian slum.

Songs like the bolero “Bratislava” suggest a Spanish influence. There are strange pieces, such as the dream-world pop of the final track, “After the Curtain.”

Something tells me that future works by Condon and Beirut might sound completely different. Condon is young, curious, and hungry. There’s a whole world for him to digest. It’ll be a pleasure to hear him do it.

Beirut plays at the College of Santa Fe’s O’Shaughnessy Performance Space in Benildus Hall, 1600 St. Michael’s Drive, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 25; tickets are $8 in advance, $10 at the door, call 473-6511. The band performs at the Launchpad, 618 Central Ave. S.W., in Albuquerque, on Thursday, Oct. 26. Doors open at 8 p.m., entrance is $5; call 505-764-8887.


Balkan brass bands and other Eastern European sounds: Want to hear for yourself some of the sounds that inspired Gulag Orkestar? One good place to start is Calabash Music, a major online source of world music.


* L’ Orient Est Rouge by Kocani Orkestar. In interviews Condon has listed this Macedonian band as one of his favorites. The group boasts two trumpets, three tubas, saxophone, clarinet, zurla (a traditional oboe), and percussion. The track that reminds me most of Beirut is the final song, “Djelem, Djelem,” which starts out slow and brooding.

*Live in Belgrade by Boban Markovic Orkestar. This 12-piece Serbian band has been featured in Kusturica soundtracks. They do a rousing version of “Hava Nagila,” though I’m most impressed by the percussion-heavy “Vodopad” and the 11-minute medley of several tunes that allows the band to stretch out.

*Gamagai by Cankisou. This one, which I’ve been listening to for several months, is my favorite of all these. It’s the least traditional and the most rocked out. This can’t be called a brass band — there’s no brass. But there are crazy saxophones and even crazier rhythms. And sorry, Jono, they make the didgeridoo sound really cool. They claim to be based on the culture of the Canki people, a legendary race of one-legged people with roots in Africa and the Mideast.

Radio Beirut: Hear Beirut, various Balkan brass bands, and other bands mentioned here on Terrell’s Sound World Sunday night on KSFR 90.7 FM. The show starts at 10 p.m., but I’ll start this set right after the 11th hour. And don’t forget the The Santa Fe Opry, country music as the good Lord intended it to sound, same time, same station, Friday nights.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: TEARING DOWN NEW MEXICO

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 1, 2006

Democrats get angry when high-level administration figures say or imply that it’s unpatriotic and harmful to America to criticize President Bush’s Iraq policies.

The anger is justified.

Criticizing the government and any politician, high or low, is one of those rights, to steal a line from Merle Haggard, that our fightin’ men have fought and died to keep.

But here in New Mexico, where our chief executive is a Democrat, the proverbial shoe is on the other foot.

For several weeks now, when asked about Gov. Bill Richardson’s refusal to debate Republican challenger John Dendahl, Richardson’s campaign brass have said all Dendahl wants to do is “tear down New Mexico.”

Tear down New Mexico. Like some crazed Godzilla knocking over buildings, stepping on cars and breathing fire on anything in his way.

When I first read this, in a quote by Richardson campaign chairman Dave Contarino, it took me aback. But giving him the benefit of the doubt, I initially figured it probably was just overheated campaign rhetoric said spontaneously. Surely he didn’t seriously mean it.

But since then, I’ve read it elsewhere and heard it from campaign officials.

Tuesday night, after Dendahl’s 30-minute primetime interview on KOB, Richardson campaign manager Amanda Cooper said it again. She said Dendahl had used his time on TV to “tear down New Mexico.”

I’d been there in the television studio watching the program — which came about because Dendahl had accepted KOB’s invitation for a debate and Richardson had not.

Dendahl indeed did his best to “tear down” Richardson. He called him a “dictator.” He said he was “two-faced.” He said Richardson was corrupt and compared him to former Treasurer Robert Vigil.

He refrained from calling Richardson a “300-pound chicken.” He probably knows he’s gotten enough mileage out of that line.

Dendahl criticized Richardson’s plans, projects and policies, including the spaceport, the Rail Runner and the state investing in the movie industry.

You might disagree with what Dendahl says and stands for. You might not like his style. You might think he’s too harsh on Richardson — though some say he hasn’t been harsh enough.

But I was there. I was listening closely and taking notes. I didn’t hear him tear down New Mexico.

So let’s get it straight: George Bush is not America, and Bill Richardson is not New Mexico.

I “heart” debates: I have to admit, as a self-confessed political junkie, I like going to public debates. Even when the responses are canned and the rhetoric is stale.

I like seeing the supporters of both candidates — and the few stray civic-minded undecideds — filling an auditorium.

I like the anticipation, waiting for a candidate to break out of the polite happy talk and confront his or her opponent with some unpleasant difference between them.

And I like seeing how the confronted candidate responds. Will he have a good counterargument and turn it around? Will he fall back on some tired slogan and choke?

Of course, there won’t be any of that in the Richardson/Dendahl race.

I thought it was great that KOB offered Dendahl and Congressional District 2 Democratic challenger Al Kissling primetime slots this week. (Incumbent GOP Rep. Steve Pearce, like the governor, has refused to debate his opponent on live television.)

In fact, I thought news anchor Carla Aragon had the best line of the night during the Dendahl segment when she said of the show, “It’s a service to the voters.” This might just seem like TV news patter except for the fact that the Richardson campaign repeatedly has said it would be a “disservice to the voters” to debate Dendahl on television.

But it just wasn’t the same as a real debate.

KOB’s original plan was to hold the debate at the Kimo Theatre in Albuquerque, with each side getting tickets for more than 100 supporters. Questions would have come from a panel of reporters and the audience. And the real fun — the candidates would have been given time to ask questions of each other.

Instead, the “one-man debate” was held in a studio, where the only live audience, besides the TV crew, was Dendahl’s wife, Jackie, a New Mexican photographer and myself.

And nobody had to remind us not to cheer or boo.

ONE-MAN DEBATE

Because Gov. Bill Richardson refuses to debate Republican John Dendahl on television, KOB gave Dendahl a half hour of prime time last night.

I went down to watch it in person. My story is HERE

(I stole this graphic from Heath Haussamen whose post on the Dendahl show can be found HERE)

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.)