MORE SACRED HARP

An old friend in Texas sent me this comment on my Sacred Harp column. She's got some personal experience with this music.

She writes:

"Sacred Harp" refers to the human voice.

In East Texas, I plumb growed up being dragged to Sacred Harp and Gospel Singin's, which my dad loved. I have a couple of his Sacred Harp books--donated his tapes to a friend in Kilgore, who's saving them until some museum is organized in Gilmer.

Biggest Sacred Harp Convention I know of is in Henderson, Texas, each August, or whenever temperatures and humidity reach 120 degrees. County Judge--must be dead by now--always saw to it that courthouse was available. The singers face each other, square. The women's tones are especially nasal and grating. Supposedly, this singing dates back to Shakespearian England. Rhythms are set and led by one distinguished person at a time. I think requirement is that the person be 101 years old.

I know. It's worth preserving. We took (my husband's) niece and nephew (both Ph.D's in music,Indiana) to one Henderson singin', and they both got all excited about the tonal distinctions.

I just remember being five years old, and desperately wanting to get out of whatever littlecountry church I was trapped in, while my dad was quite absorbed. Maybe my reward was growing up in Kilgore, listening in Baptist church and at school to Van Cliburn, who's a year older, and plays the music of my heart.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, December 10, 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
Fish in the Jailhouse by Tom Waits
In the Colosseum by Kazik Staszewski
Two Girls (One Bar) by Pere Ubu
Joker Hysterical Face by The Fall
Fire Down Below by Nick Cave
Fish Shack Closing by The Unband
Where's Your Boyfriend At by The Yayhoos
Don't Believe in Christmas by The Sonics

Siki Siki Baba by Kokani Orkestar
Prenzlauerberg by Beirut
El Nozanin by Severa Nazarkhan
Fernando's Giampari by A Hawk & A Hacksaw
Traffic Policeman by Zvuki Mu
Constantinoble by The Residents
I Want to See You Belly Dance by The Red Elvises

Oops I Did it Again by Richard Thompson
The Barren Fields by Hundred Year Flood
Down by The River by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Fat Daddy by Fat Daddy
O Holy Night by Robert Mirabal

Action is Action by Eleni Mandell
The River in Reverse by Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint
Hold On by Los Lobos
Straight to Hell by The Clash
Field Commander Cohen by Leonard Cohen
Leave Her Johnny by Lou Reed
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 8, 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
Life of a Fool by Paul Burch
Big Cheeseburgers and Good French Fries by Blaze Foley
Rattlesnake by Ramsay Midwood
Accentuate the Positive by Kelly Hogan & Jon Rauhouse
Jackson Shake by Arty Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
Backstreet Affair by Webb Pierce
I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink by Merle Haggard
Six Bullets for Christmas by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies

Xmas on the Isthmus by Terry Allen
I'm Not Coming Down by Ed Pettersen
Kingdom of Cold by Hundred Year Flood
Break This Fool by The Texas Sapphires
We're Gonna Hold On by Solomon Burke with Enmylou Harris
I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know by The Davis Sisters
Since the Well Ran Dry by Tony Gilkyson
Truckin' Trees for Christmas by Red Simpson

SACRED HARP SET
The Christian's Hope by Denson's Sacred Harp Singers of Arley, Alabama
Antioch by Henagar-Union Sacred Harp Convention
Wondrous Love by The Old Harp Singers of Eastern Tennessee
The Signs of The Judgement by Wineglass Sacred Harp Singers
The Good Old Way by Denson-Paris Sacred Harp Singers
Weeping Mary by Roswell Sacred Harp Singers
IDUMEA by Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church
The Last Words of Copernicus by Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
I'm Going Home by Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church
Whitestown by Henagar Union Sacred Harp Singers
Traveling Pilgrim by Henagar Union Sacred Harp Singers

Young at Heart by Tom Waits
Bedford (Avenue) by Eleni Mandell
Gatsby's Restaurant by June Carter Cash
Just Leave Me Alone Today by Dan Reeder
One Thing I Want to Tell You by Chip Taylor
He'll Have to Go by Ry Cooder
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

RADIO AMERICA

I just got interviewed by the folks at Radio America (not Air America) about our governor's presidential plans.

I didn't realize until after I agreed to do it that this is an ultra conservative network, home to G. Gordon Liddy and Michael Reagan. I'm supposed to be on a news show called Dateline Washington. A list of past guests there includes Tom DeLay, Mary Matalin, Gerald Ford and Gary Bauer.

So I'll fit right in.

It's scheduled to be on at 4 p.m. Mountain Time. (See link above.)

RICHARDSON'S FOX PAS

My story on Gov. Richardson's Fox News interview where he said the magic words "I'm running ..." can be found HERE.

The "fair and balanced" Fox story, including a video of the interview, is HERE

Here's my take on what happened: It's obvious that he just let his guard down when talking with Fox reporter Carl Cameron, skipping the usual tiresome coy disclaimers.

It's not the first time this has appened. When I interviewed on the phone in October for a campaign profile, I asked if he'd announce his presidential campaign in New Mexico. Without hesitation, he said yes. But then he caught himself, and quickly added, "If I announce I'm running."

What's weird is that in six weeks or so, it's all going to be moot. He'll make his big exploratory committee announcement surrounded by hundreds of supporters and it'll be off to the races.

But I think Joe Monahan has a good point though in today's blog.

... instead of taking his lumps and wiping the egg away with a serving of humor, the Governor and his multi-headed press staff proceeded to make matters worse by insisting the Guv's statement that danced across the Internet at lightning speed was taken out of context and that the Guv was not running for the 08' Dem prez nomination, at least not yet. They then tore into Fox for having `incorrectly reported that Governor Richardson has announced he will run for president.' ...

As is usual with these cases of jangled nerves under the harsh glare of the national spotlight, the reaction to the mistake was worse than the error. ... reacting so heatedly to his semantic error gets him off to a shaky start in a scene crowded with heavyweights like Hillary Clinton.

Monahan reports that Richardson's staff called Albuquerque television stations to implore them not to cover the story. I can't vouch for that. When I called spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, he told me the report was "absolutely false" -- even though the guv's words were on video. But he never asked me to not to write the story.

XXXX

Speaking of Monahan, one local politican denies something from a previous Monahan blog post.

State Sen. John Grubesic, D-Santa Fe, told me Thursday that he didn't actually hug Richardson at last weekend's Senate Democratic Caucus meeting. It was just a handshake, not a hug, he said.

Grubesic said he did apologize to Richardson for his "personal attack" early this year in the infamous "Flabby King" letter. Personal attacks don't do anyone any good, Grubesic said, especially his constituents.

He said he won't hesitate to stand up to Richardson when he disagrees on an issue. But he said he'll refrain from namecalling.

Grubesic, whose first year in office was marred by two well-publicized encounters with police, said he definitely will run for re-election in 2008, though he expects opposition.