BEN LUJAN PROFILE

My story in today's New Mexican about House Speaker Ben Lujan's battle to keep his position and what led to Rep. Kenny Martinez's challenge can be found HERE.

The sidebar about Lujan's life and career is HERE.

The state House Democrats meet Monday to vote on the speaker and other positions.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, December 15, 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
Brand New Heartbreak by Jeff Lescher & Janet Beveridge Bean
Aftermath U.S.A. by The Drive-By Truckers
Wired Ole Gal by The Gourds
I Blunder On by Gurf Morlix
Prozac by Ramsay Midwood
Shove it by Audrey Auld Merzera & Nina Gerber
If Your Poison Gets You by Frank Black
For Too Long by Eric Hisaw
The Only Law That Santa Claus Understood by Ted Lyons

Kiwi Moon by John Egenes
Worried Spirits by Howe Gelb
Valley of Tears by Solomon Burke with Gillian Welch
Faith by Chris Thomas King
Flowers by Irma Thomas
Gather the Family 'Round by Ed Pettersen
All I Want For Christmas is My Upper Plate by Homer & Jethro
Blue Christmas Lights by Chris & Herb

Grapevine by Tom Russell
Big Daddy's Rye by Artie Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
The Country is Young by Jon Langford
Officer Norris by Blaze Foley
Wild Man by Hasil Adkins
The Chokin' Kind by Waylon Jennings
The One You Slip Around With by Skeeter Davis
Here Comes Fatty Claus by Rudolph & Gang
Where It All Began by Mac Wiseman

Christmas in Jail by The Soul Deacons
Christmas in Jail by Chip Taylor
Christmas in Prison by John Prine
Man About Town by Tony Gilkyson
Miss Me by Eleni Mandell
Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground by Willie Nelson
Distant Land to Roam by Ralph Stanley
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: FIRE IN THE ORPHANAGE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 15, 2006

He’s at the piano singing inebriated ballads after hours at a smoky little dive at the end of dirty little dead-end street. Fat bar girls in blue sequined gowns sleeping in patched Naugahyde booths. A couple of bankers on holiday, too drunk to leave their tables, half listening to the almost familiar tunes.

He’s playing a battered guitar around an illegal fire near the railroad tracks outside of town, singing songs of girls with golden hair he left behind. One tramp uses a rusty knife to rip into a shoplifted can of SpaghettiOs. Others in the circle sing along keep time clanking empty bottles of fortified wine.

He’s walking backward down the alley moving his arms like some wounded bird, leading the ragtag gospel band, the sour trumpets, the sad trombone, the rhythmless drum — a Salvation Army Band that somehow escaped salvation. He bellows his dark hymns above the din, an unholy cacophony for Jesus.

Such are the images evoked by the music of Tom Waits. His songs are like dispatches from an archetypal shadowland of underdog America, a place where a nation’s dreams go to die — but where a thousand more dreams are born.

On his new collection — the 3-disc Orphans: Brawlers, Brawlers & Bastards — Waits proves once again that truly he’s one of the immortals.

Apparently Orphans started out as a compilation of stray Waits tunes that have appeared on various various-artist collections, tribute albums (including Daniel Johnston, Bertolt Brecht and Walt Disney), soundtracks (from Pollock to Shrek 2) and other artists’ records (Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, Sparklehorse and others). But the project grew, with Waits re-recording some old tunes and creating new ones. Thirty of the 54 songs here are new recordings, and only 14 have been available on other albums.

Waits’ wife and songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan once famously said that Waits’ songs can be divided into “Grand Weepers” and “Grim Reapers.” The first two discs roughly correspond with this. Brawlers mostly features Waits’ mutant blues and junkyard rockers. Bawlers consists mainly of his ballads, some of which indeed are wonderful tearjerkers.

This leaves Bastards, a glorious explosion of Waits’ experimental side, including spoken-word pieces (a Bukowski story, concert raps, jokes and shaggy dogs), his heart-of-Beefheart sonic craziness, lo-fi cries and other pictures from life’s weirder side.

At the moment, my favorite disc is Brawlers. The first four songs on this first disc are frankly the most convincing little rock ‘n’ roll set I’ve heard in ages. It starts out with an otherworldly rockabilly slugger called "Lie to Me," goes to a growling blues appropriately called “Low Down,” chugs down the track with a funky tune called “2:19” and ends up behind bars in “Fish in Jail,” which sounds like a voodoo insurgency.

Note: I’m writing this during daylight hours. Late at night I start leaning toward Bawlers. The lilting “Long Way Home” ranks up there Waits’ greatest love songs. And he turns The Ramones’ “Danny Says” into a truly gorgeous creature. “The Fall of Troy,” from the Dead Man Walking soundtrack, is as sad as powerful as ever. And his steel-guitar flavored cover of “Young at Heart” will make you believe that fairy tales may come true.

Of course, when I’m really feeling twisted, there’s Bastards, which includes “Army Ants,” a biology lecture on the life of insects with a stand-up bass and robotic guitar backdrop and “On the Road,” a collaboration with Primus that first appeared on a Jack Kerouac spoken word album.

One of the most memorable tunes here surprisingly is one that been performed by countess singers, “Goodnight Irene.” With its hobo chorus you almost can imagine Waits singing it on a boxcar, harmonizing with Leadbelly himself as the train blows its whistle, click-clacking into a tunnel of no return.

Bonus:
Steve Terrell’s Tom Waits List

Best Waits Album: The Mule Variations (1999)
Best Waits Song of the ‘70s: "Tom Traubert's Blues (Four Sheets To The Wind In Copenhagen)"
Best Waits Song of the ‘80s: “You’re Innocent When You Dream”
Best Waits Song of the ‘90s: “Filipino Box Spring Hog” (honorable mention: “Back in the Good Old World”)
Best Waits Song of the ‘00s: “The Day After Tomorrow”
Best “Grand Weeper”: “Georgia Lee”
Best “Grim Reaper”: “The Earth Died Screaming”
Best Waits spoken word piece: “Nighthawk Postcards from Easy Street”
Best Cover song Waits Has Done: “Phantom 309” (originally by Red Sovine)
Best Waits Duet: “This One’s From the Heart” with Crystal Gale (honorable mention: “That Feel” with Keith Richards)
Best Song About Waits: “Waiting for Waits” by Richie Cole
Best Waits sideman gig: Playing electric organ behind Roy Orbison on A Black and White Night.
Best Waits Cover by a Punk Rock Band: “I Don’t Want to Grow Up” by The Ramones
Best Waits Cover by a ‘50s Rocker: “Heart Attack & Vine” by Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Best Waits Cover by a Country Artist: “Down There by the Train by Johnny Cash (honorable mention: “Murial” by Eleni Mandell)
Best Waits Cover by a Soul Singer: “The House Where Nobody Lives” by King Ernest
Best Waits Cover by a Gospel group: “Down in the Hole” by The Blind Boys of Alabama (honorable mention: “Train” by The Holmes Brothers)
Best Waits Cover by a Blues singer: “Murder in the Red Barn” by John Hammond, Jr. (from Hammond’s Wicked Grin, which is the best Waits tribute album)
Best Waits Cover by a Foreigner: “In The Neighborhood” by Kazik Staszewski (from Piosenki Toma Waitsa, a Waits tribute album by this Polish rocker.)
Worst Waits Cover: “Downtown Train” by Rod Stewart.
Best Waits Movie Appearance: Down by Law (honorable mention: Shortcuts)

You guessed it: I’ll do a Tom Waits tribute Sunday night on Terrell’s Sound World on KSFR, 90.7 FM. Sound World starts at 10 p.m., the Waits segment will start right after the 11th hour. The show streams live on the world wide interweb.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: A BOOST FROM NORTH KOREA?

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
December 14, 2006


It’s surely just a coincidence. But an e-mail from Gov. Bill Richardson’s office announcing his pending meeting with North Korean diplomats this week came less than an hour before an e-mail from his campaign announcing the governor’s itinerary for his latest trip to New Hampshire.

Richardson is meeting two North Korean diplomats Friday at the governor’s mansion to discuss multilateral talks, scheduled to begin next week in China, on the North Korean nuclear weapons program.

The next day, he’s going to the Granite State — home of the nation’s first 2008 presidential primary — for a speech and a couple of house parties for Democratic legislators there.

Richardson is expected to announce his presidential plans next month — if you don’t count his “hypothetical” answer in that Fox News interview last week.

The Richardson camp wisely downplays crass political considerations in relation to the North Korean visit.

“If the governor can be helpful in moving forward the six-party talks and bringing a resolution to the crisis on the Korean Peninsula, he’s happy to do it,” spokesman Pahl Shipley said. “That’s his primary concern.”

But political scientists interviewed Wednesday say this visit only can be seen as a coup for a governor running for president.

“Here we go again,” said Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. Bill Richardson is the only governor in the nation with his own foreign policy. This is a big plus for him. Most governors face legitimate criticism that they don’t have national-security credentials in an age when they are essential. Former U.N. Ambassador Richardson, who also seems to continue in his role as a roving ambassador, has no such problem.

“Has there ever been a governor running for president throughout U.S. history that negotiated with an unfriendly foreign power about nuclear weapons — with the quiet consent of the serving president?” Sabato asked. “I’d place a large wager the answer is no.”

University of New Mexico political science professor Lonna Atkinson agrees the North Korean visit can only be seen as positive news for any future Richardson candidacy.

“Foreign policy usually is a weakness for a governor running for president,” she said Wednesday. “Foreign policy is going to be a top issue in 2008, and North Korea probably will be a top issue.

“And assuming Iraq still is an issue in 2008, Richardson will be able to point to this and say, ‘I can do the Baker report.’ The Baker report said we need to be talking to our enemies. All that is in contrast to the current administration’s strategy.” Former Secretary of State James Baker chaired the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, which released its report last week.

While Richardson has a strong résumé, Atkinson said, “how do you get that out to the primary voters.” Richardson, on the national level, still struggles with low identification numbers.

“So at this point, all news is good for him,” she said. “Anything to get him in the public eye.”

Bumper sticker alert: Usually when I receive anonymous letters at work, somebody’s either ratting somebody out or calling me names. Or occasionally both. So I was somewhat relieved earlier this week to find the no-return-address envelope in my mailbox didn’t contain anything nasty. There were a couple of bumper stickers with the familiar Bill Richardson logo — a red sky over a black mountainscape with yellow and white letters — that said “The Governor For President USA.”

If you see any of these on cars in the next month or so, don’t immediately call Fox News.

A note — unsigned, of course — said the bumper stickers were not the work of any authorized Richardson organization, but a group of former volunteers from Richardson’s 1982 Congressional campaign.

The slogan, the note says, is borrowed from Gov. David F. Cargo’s 1968 re-election. Cargo apparently had stickers that said, “The Governor for Governor.” The “USA” part is a reference to the state’s license plates, which were designed to let out-of-staters know that indeed New Mexico is one of the 50.

Gimme another milk: Back during the campaign, right after the much-discussed Richardson Western-movie parody, this column pointed out that while Richardson’s line, “Gimme a milk,” was played for laughs, the dairy industry had contributed more to the Richardson campaign than the liquor industry.

I thought about that last week when the governor’s final campaign finance report showed one of his two $50,000 contributors was Select Milk Producers, an Artesia-based milk marketing cooperative.

KOREANS COMING TO SANTA FE AGAIN

This just in. A delegation of North Korean diplomats is coming to Santa Fe to talk to our gov. Here's the press release:

SANTA FE, NM - New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson will meet with two top North Korean officials this Friday, December 15, in Santa Fe. The North Koreans asked for the meeting with Governor Richardson to discuss the upcoming multi-lateral talks regarding the North Korean nuclear weapons program. The so-called six-party talks include North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan, and the United States. They are scheduled to resume Monday, December 18, in Beijing, China. Two diplomats from the North Korean Mission to the United Nations, Minister Kim Myong Gil and First Secretary Song Se Il, have been granted permission by the US State Department to make the visit to Santa Fe.

“While I will not be acting as an official representative of the administration, I am pleased to do whatever I can to help increase understanding between our two countries and help move the 6-party talks forward,” said Governor Richardson. “I believe we have an opportunity to use diplomacy to end this crisis and bring stability to the Korean Peninsula. I will press the North Koreans to start dismantling their nuclear weapons.”

The North Korean delegation will arrive in New Mexico Friday morning and meet with Governor Richardson in the afternoon at the Governor’s mansion.

"We have reached a critical crossroads in the effort to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons," stated Dr. K.A. Namkung, Governor Richardson's senior advisor. "The North Koreans' visit to Santa Fe this week will hopefully help move the talks forward."

Governor Richardson has dealt extensively with North Korea during his tenure as US Congressman, US Ambassador to the United Nations, and Energy Secretary. He has traveled to North Korea five times, most recently last October. This will be the second North Korean delegation to travel to Santa Fe to meet with Governor Richardson. The first visit took place shortly after he took office in January, 2003.

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.