THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 30, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
In the Jailhouse Now by Steve Earle & The V-Roys
Crazed Country Rebel by Hank Williams III
If Walls Could Talk by The Bottle Rockets
Poor Little Critter on the Road by Trailer Bride
Bullet of Redemption by Graham Parker
Always the Same by The Watzloves
Cottonseed by Drive By Truckers
When I Stop Dreaming by Charlie Louvin with Elvis Costello
Pig Ankle Strut by Cannon's Jug Stompers

Come On by Hundred Year Flood
Time Heals by The Gear Daddies
License to Drive Me Crazy by Jack McMahon
Ain't Got No Sweet Thing by Ponty Bone
Come and Take It by Brent Hoodenpyle & The Loners
Harper Valley PTA by Syd Straw & The Skeletons
I'm Sending Daffydills by Maddox Brothers & Rose

Truth and Darkness by Round Mountain
Lean on Me by Michael Hurley
Long Haired Country Boy by Charlie Daniels
The Running Side of Me by Dean Miller
Husbands and Wives by Roger Miller
Engine Engine Number Nine by Southern Culture on the Skids
I'll Sail My Ship Alone by Johnny Bush
My Blue Eyed Jane by Bob Dylan

I'm Tired of Pretending by Hank Thompson
Pistol Packin' Mama by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
I Walk Alone by John Egenes
Rose Petal Ear by Califone
Candy in the Window by Mary Cutrufello
Girls by Eleni Mandell
The Wilderness by Peter Case
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: ROUND MOUNTAIN, ANGEL, ROMANOVSKY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 30, 2007

Here are some recent CDs by folks from around these parts:
* Truth and Darkness by Round Mountain. The brothers Rothschild show that Round Mountain’s strange and wonderful self-titled first album was no fluke.

The first notable musical project by Char and Robby Rothschild was the band Lizard House, a local favorite back in the early ’90s. In 2004 the brothers regrouped as Round Mountain, playing a whole museum exhibit’s worth of musical instruments from around the world — stringed instruments, horns, percussion.

On the new album the brothers, joined by veteran Santa Fe bassist Jon Gagan, continue mixing all sorts of sounds. You’ll hear traces of reggae, bluegrass, Balkan, and African music and other subtle influences you probably won’t consciously recognize.

Sometimes you don’t even realize that a song is taking off into different realms. “I Won’t Lose Sight of You,” for instance, starts out as a banjo tune, but before you know it, a saz (a Turkish lute) joins in. And there’s some Middle Eastern drumming by Robby. And some kind of flute.

The title song starts off with a sweet bagpipe-like drone (Celtic? Balkan? I dunno) before going into a melody that reminds me of something hippie/hobo Michael Hurley might have written.

As with the first album, songs are mostly somber and meditative, a mood that Round Mountain does well. Sometimes I wish the band would cut loose with a good, crazy stomper. (They come close with the reggae-fried “Candle in the Willow Tree.”)

The CD-release parties for Truth and Darkness are 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 30, and 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 31, at the Armory for the Arts, 1950 Old Pecos Trail. Tickets are $10. For more information, call 984-1370.

* Amor, Dolor y Pasión by Angel Espinoza. This is how I like Angel best — nice and traditional. The music brings back memories of listening to Spanish-language radio as a kid, not understanding most of the words (my Spanish is still pretty bad) but being completely taken in by the seductive rhythms and the exotic, yet familiar, sounds.

This album — recorded in Mexico and San Antonio — has a real old-fashioned feel. Angel is backed here by instruments that include a prominent accordion (Rudy Cortez and Alex De Leon share the honors here), bajo sexto (a 12-string guitar), and horns and strings on some songs like “Pues a Poco No” and “Si Quieres.”

Angel’s voice is the centerpiece, as well it should be. (She won female vocalist of the year at the New Mexico Hispano Music Awards in January.)

Checking out Angel’s Web site, I see she has recorded a song for Gov. Bill Richardson. It’s more country western than norteño (there’s a steel guitar, and it’s in English). While not quite as cool as the one she did for Río Arriba political boss Emilio Naranjo a few years ago, it’s worth hearing. Find it

* It’s a Boy! A Circus Opera composed by Ron Romanovsky & Betty Katz Sperlich and Pittsburgh to Paris by Ron Romanovsky.

OK, I’ve always been a sucker for circus operas. True, that tag sounds a little crazy, but it’s a pretty apt description of the performance piece It’s a Boy! It was recorded live at Santa Fe Playhouse in 2005.

It’s operatic in that there are dramatic roles sung by various local musicians (Busy McCarroll, Peter Williams, Greg Harris, Nacha Mendez, and Charles Tichenor). And the music — provided by Romanovsky on accordion and guitar, Elena Sopoci on violin and viola, and Williams on electric guitar and string bass — sounds like a stripped-down circus band.

The subject matter is bound to make male listeners squirm. It’s basically a propaganda piece against circumcision. It’s handled with humor, however, with songs like “Cleaner Wiener” and “Locker Room Blues.”

And the music is a real treat. Romanovsky and Sopoci bring elements of French sidewalk café and Gypsy music into their circus sound, while Williams sounds like a monster when he comes in with his electric guitar.

Romanovsky is one of this town’s most interesting musicians. He’s got a Russian name, but he plays French music in New Mexico.

My favorite songs on the solo record are the French/Gypsy-flavored ones. (The instrumental “Birth Theme” from It’s a Boy! is on this CD, too.) Though there’s nothing wrong with Romanovsky’s voice, the best songs here are instrumentals — “Fellini’s Caravan” (which also is on his Je m’appelle Dadou album) and “Gypsy Hop.”

But I do appreciate Romanovsky’s humor. “Burro Alley Tango” is about finding a little piece of Paris in downtown Santa Fe, namely Café Paris, where Romanovsky entertained regularly for six years (“You will not find one single burro/ But you’ll find music and romance”).

In “The Gay in Paree” Romanovsky sings about feeling “butch” every time he goes to France even though he was taunted as a “sissy” as a lad (“I’m confused/I don’t know what to cruise”). He even pays tribute to KBAC-FM 98.1 radio personality Honey Harris with “Honey in the Morning.”

You can find these albums on CD Baby at HERE and HERE.

Ron Romanovsky is having a CD release party 8 pm Saturday at The Silver Starlight Lounge, Rainbow Vision at 500 Rodeo Road. Tickets are $10 at the door. For more information call 428-7781

Flash Flood: This is shaping up to be a great weekend for local bands. In addition to the Round Mountain and Romanovsky shows, Hundred Year Flood — a band we have to share with Austin, Texas — is returning to Santa Fe Friday, March 30, for a gig at Santa Fe Brewing Company. Goshen opens the show, which starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.

If you can’t make that, Hundred Year Flood also is appearing at the Mine Shaft Tavern in Madrid at 9 p.m. Saturday, March 31.

According to John Treadwell of Frogville Records, the Flood is going back to Texas until June after these gigs. Treadwell said he’s thinking of holding the annual Frogfest in June this year instead of August. Last year’s fest at the Brewing Company was a fantastic exposition of (mainly) local musicians, though it was criminally underattended. A lot of people whine that there’s no local music scene. If half of them had showed up, the joint would have been packed.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: LETTER TO A PASSIONATE SUPPORTER

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 29, 2007

The Richardson campaign last week sent one of its fundraising letters to The New Mexican’s post office box.

It was addressed to “Ms. Santa Fe New.”

And, in a nice personal touch, the letter, from campaign manager Dave Contarino, started off, “Dear Ms. New, I just got off the phone with Governor Richardson and he asked me to write you immediately.”

Apparently the guv. and “Ms. New” are old friends.

Deep down in the second page of the three-page missive, Contarino outlines Richardson’s goals for the next three months.

And in the letter is something that the campaign refused to tell me earlier in the week — how much money Richardson’s raised so far.

The letter says Richardson’s goal is to raise an additional $2.7 million from “the governor’s most passionate supporters” to meet a goal of $5.92 million by June 30. That would seem to indicate the campaign had raised about $3.22 million as of March 22.

It’s not clear why they’re shooting for $5.92 million by the end of June instead of an even $6 million. Maybe they’re hoping for $80,000 from less passionate supporters.

Richardson’s other goals include showing “the American people what the governor has done in New Mexico” and presenting a “detailed outline of his plan to get American troops out of Iraq and establish a permanent Mid Eastern envoy.”

Another goal is to “blitz the early primary states to get his message of economic growth at home and diplomacy abroad to the voters. Once we’ve spread the word, we’ll begin to gain on the so-called ‘front-runners.’ ”

In an underlined paragraph, Contarino says, “If we can meet these goals by June 30, we will have the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in our sights by the end of this year.”

I hope they’re not counting on a contribution from Ms. New.

Nuclear and other threats: I thought Gov. Bill Richardson’s appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart would be the most humorous thing coming out of the Richardson campaign on Wednesday, but somehow an irreverent Washington, D.C., blog found some comedy in a speech Richardson made to Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.

In a post with the headline, “Bill Richardson Threatens ‘Nuclear 9/11’ & Al Gore’s Life, Wonkette: The D.C. Gossip noted “You’re not a serious candidate until you start crazy fear-mongering so voters know you’re Tough On Terrorism,That’s why a somewhat likable like Bill Richardson had to ramp up his campaign today by threatening Americans with a ‘nuclear 9/11.’ ”
Before the word “voters” was a scratched-out word: “idiots.”

“Richardson, who couldn’t even keep track of laptops when he was Energy Secretary, says as president he will secure the world’s nuclear weapons to stop the constant accidental terrorism nuke attacks that are such a regular feature of our lives today.”

Wonkette missed an opportunity to poke fun at Richardson’s call in the speech for “a new Manhattan project to stop the bomb.” He’s already called for an “Apollo project” for clean energy. Can a president have a Manhattan project and an Apollo project at the same time?

As for the second part of Wonkette’s headline, the blog quoted an Associated Press story in which Richardson credited Gore with raising awareness of global warming — a quote described tongue-in-cheek as a “chilling message.”

“ ‘I like Al Gore, he looks very healthy and prosperous,’ Richardson said with a laugh. ‘He should stay where he is.’ ”

Bolo the belt: O.K., Wonkette, you can mock our governor. But not our recently designated official state tie. Last week, in a post about the governor’s weight loss, Wonkette wrote, “Richardson has reportedly lost 30 pounds, but he continues to burden his horse with the extra weight of a jackass ‘bolo tie’ that all western U.S. politicians are compelled to wear.”

Thanking Karl: Newsweek’s Michael Isakoff, in an article on that magazine’s Web site Tuesday, offers the latest twist in the ongoing U.S. attorney saga.

According to the story, Steve Bell, chief of staff for U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., sent a “cryptic thank-you note” to White House political director Karl Rove in January at the same time Domenici was recommending replacements for fired New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias.

“Thanks for everything,” Bell said in a Jan. 8 e-mail to Rove and two other White House officials. Isakoff said the same e-mail included the name of a candidate to replace Iglesias.

Isakoff admits it’s not clear what Bell was thanking Rove for. “But the thank-you note is the first indication that Rove himself may have been involved in replacing Iglesias,” he wrote.

Domenici spokesman Chris Gallegos told Newsweek, “We’re not going to have anything to say about that e-mail,” and Bell “did not want to discuss a private communication.” A White House spokesman, according to Isakoff, said the e-mail was “interpreted” by the officials who’d received it as “a thank you for considering the names of Domenici's candidates for replacing Iglesias — not for their help in removing Iglesias.”

GAYNEL!

Gaynel Hodge, a founding father of L.A. doo-wop and a co-author of "Earth Angel" has his own Web site. CLICK HERE.

I had the pleasure of meeting Gaynel about 13 years ago when I went to Phoenix to cover Lollapolooza. That encounter is described in the piece titled "Of Earth Angel, Lollapalooza and the Ghost of Kurt Cobain," which I wrote for The New Mexican. It turned out to be less of a concert review and more of a meditation on artistry and fame. You can find a reprint of that HERE.

I wonder if Gaynel ever crosses paths with Jerry Lawson, founder of the Persuasions, who also lives in Phoenix

ANOTHER REASON TO HATE THE MUSIC BIZ

My friend DJ Spinifex (I call him "Dave") from KSFR's The Twisted Groove sent me this link to a story of one music fan's frustrations with buying music downloads with weird "protections."

Long story short, the poor boob spent 10 bucks on a bunch of songs that are purposely set up not to be allowed to be played on an iPod.

Here's part of a conversation by the author with a record company "customer service" agent:

"Well" she responded, "You didn't actually purchase the files, you really purchased a license to listen to the music, and the license is very specific about how they can be played or listened to."

That's how these people think!

Read the story HERE

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, March 25, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

SUPPORT THE KSFR FUNDRAISER
PLEDGE @ http://www.ksfr.org
or call 428-1393 or (toll free) 866-907-KSFR

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
It's Money That I Love by Randy Newman
Money Won't Change You by James Brown
I'm Busted by Ray Charles & The Count Basie Orchestra
Pay the Alligator by The Flatlanders
Money (That's What I Want) by Jerry Lee Lewis
Leave My Money Alone by The Blasters
Money Honey by Elvis Presley

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime by Dr. John & Odetta
10 Dollars More by The Fleshtones
Money is King by Growling Tiger
I Love Nickles and Dimes by Robbie Fulks
Do Re Mi by James Talley
Greenback Dollar by Hoyt Axton
It's Money That Matters by Randy Newman

Cry About the Radio by Mary Weiss
Give Her a Great Big Kiss by The New York Dolls
Ju Ju Hand by Handsome Dick Manitoba
Red Hot by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
I Couldn't Spell !!*@! by Roy Loney & The Young Fresh Fellows
I'm a Man by The Baker Street Irregulars
Little Sally Tease by The Standells
Green Fuz by Green Fuz
Generation by Jelly Bean Bandits
I'm Cramped by The Cramps
We Tried, Try It by The Morfomen

My Delight by The Detroit Cobras
Red Rolling Papers by Spanking Charlene
Stop Using Me by Howlin' Wolf
I Need It by Johnny "Guitar" Watson
Jesus Rolled Over by Hundred Year Flood
Ride a White Swan by T-Rex

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, March 23, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
NEW: email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Nothing at All by The Waco Brothers
Gamblin' Man by Mike Ness
Lonesome, On'ry and Mean by Waylon Jennings
Panties in Your Purse by Drive-By Truckers
Our Kitten Sees Ghosts by Califone
Stadium Blitzer by The Gourds
Endless War by Son Volt
Catch Me a Possum by The Watzloves
Please Impeach Me by Jim Terr

Cussin' in Tongues by The Legendary Shack Shakers
False Hearted Girl by 1/4 Mile Combo
Tobacco Road by Southern Culture on the Skids
I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive by Rosie Flores
Rich Man's War by Hundred Year Flood
Death of Floyd Collins by John Prine & Mac Wiseman
Tom Dooley by Steve Earle
The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong

Candle in the Willow Tree by Round Mountain
Llegaste Tu by Angel Espinoza
Adios Mexico by The Texas Tornados
Rosalie by Alejandro Escovedo
What of Alicia by Terry Allen
Diggin' Billy by Jim Jones with Ranger Rick
I Love the Women by Maddox Brothers & Rose

Send Me the Pillow That You Dream On by Johnny Bush and Willie Nelson
Forever (and Always) by Lefty Frizzell
There's No Fool Like a Young Fool by Ray Price
Grave on the Green Hillside by Charlie Louvin with Tift Merritt & Joy Lynn White
The Girl in the Blue Velvet Band by Bill Monroe
Blue Wing by Tom Russell and Dave Alvin
Last Drop by Chris Mars
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: SUING WOLFGANG

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 23, 2007

I’m going to tell you about a pretty cool music Web site. But before I even start, here’s some advice: enjoy it while you can. The site, Wolfgang’s Vault, is the subject of a music-industry lawsuit. In most such cases, the music industry wins and cool music Web sites lose. And so do fans.

Wolfgang’s Vault is run by a businessman named Bill Sagan, who bought the lost treasures of the late rock promoter Bill Graham, whose birth name was Wolfgang Grajonca.

Sagan’s site sells vintage rock T-shirts, photos, and posters. (Nostalgia flashback: back in the late 1960s the TG&Y at Santa Fe’s Coronado Shopping Center used to sell replicas — for about $1 apiece! — of some of the classic psychedelic San Francisco posters advertising rock concerts at the Fillmore Auditorium and the Avalon Ballroom. Many of those can be found at Wolfgang’s Vault — for far more than a buck.)

The part of the site I like best is the Concert Vault. Here you’ll find complete sets by a variety of artists from the late ’60s through the late ’80s. (Graham died in 1991.)

It’s streaming music, which means you just listen to it rather than download it. Supposedly, there’s some software you can buy to capture Internet streams, but I’ve never tried it.

There are some huge names here: The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd. And there are some early MTV acts such as A Flock of Seagulls, Berlin, Big Country, Thomas Dolby, and The Alarm.

And, for some reason, there’s a bunch of cheesy Urban Cowboy-era country — Alabama, Lee Greenwood, and even Glen Campbell (a 1985 show in North Carolina with the Greensboro Symphony Orchestra).

Fortunately, there are also some hipper country artists such as Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, Bobby Bare (four shows from the mid-’80s), David Allen Coe, Charlie Daniels, and John Anderson (the guy who did “Wild and Blue,” not the lead singer of Yes, who, by the way, also is represented in the Vault).

Most of these are recordings made at Graham-promoted shows. By the ’80s his company, Bill Graham Presents, had stretched far beyond its San Francisco/New York base. But last year the Vault acquired the archives of a venerated, syndicated, live-rock radio show called The King Biscuit Flower Hour, which used to air on the old KRST-FM 92.3 in Albuquerque in the ’70s when that was a rock station.

So, naturally, Wolfgang’s Vault is being sued.

Last December a group of musicians, including Led Zeppelin, the Grateful Dead, Santana, and the Doors, filed a suit claiming copyright infringement. Sagan countersued in February, claiming the action against him was “a blatant attempt by two of the largest record labels in the world — using artists as a front — to secure new income streams and destroy a legitimate business.”

Like I say, enjoy it while you can.

Here are some of the shows I’ve listened to recently on Wolfgang’s Vault:

*Stevie Wonder, Winterland, San Francisco, March 3, 1973, and Berkeley Community Theatre, March 4, 1973. These concerts show Wonder at his wondrous peak. They took place between the time I saw him open for The Rolling Stones and a few months before he played Albuquerque’s Civic Auditorium. With his backup group, Wonderlove, he goes through his own impressive songbook (heavy on his albums Music of My Mind and Talking Book) and splendid covers like Billy Paul’s adulterer’s sleaze theme “Me and Mrs. Jones” and a short take on The Temptations’ “Papa Was a Rolling Stone.”

* Steppenwolf, Fillmore West, San Francisco, Aug. 27, 1968. I’ve always felt Steppenwolf is one of the most underrated groups of the ’60s. It’s too bad this recording is rather fuzzy. The concert was right before the release of the group’s second album (the one with “Magic Carpet Ride”).

*Elvis Costello, Winterland, June 7, 1978. He was young, angry and fresh. You’d never guess from this show that chamber quartets and Burt Bacharach were in his future.

*Talking Heads, CBGB’s, New York, May 31, 1977. My only complaint about this show is that it’s only four songs long, 17 minutes total. But CBGB’s in 1977 was ground zero of the New York punk explosion, which had begun to sweep the free world about the time of this recording. Even though we’ve all heard “Psycho Killer” and “Take Me to the River” a jillion times by now, these performances show a band full of fire.

*Los Lobos, Fillmore West, Dec. 31, 1985. This was right on the cusp of the group’s fame. Los Lobos dedicates “Our Last Night” to Ricky Nelson, who died in a plane crash earlier that night.

*Mother Earth, Winterland, Sept. 29 and 30, 1967: These are two 40-minute (give or take) sets from a Bay Area hippie blues-rock collective that should have been more famous. Mother Earth was the springboard for singer Tracy Nelson. A couple of songs on the latter show unfortunately are incomplete. These were recorded before the band’s first album, Livin’ With the Animals. Nelson’s “Help Me Jesus” is full of gospel glory.

*The Clash, Agora, Cleveland, Feb. 13, 1979. It’s only 33 minutes long and the recording quality is a little fuzzy, but this show from The Clash’s first American tour is nice and intense.

*Robert Cray, unspecified outdoor music festival in Austin, Texas, May 25, 1987. Back in the mid-’80s, it was very unusual to hear a young black guy playing the blues. That was part of the reason Cray was hailed as a savior of the blues at the time. But also it was because of his music. This concert, recorded a year after Cray’s classic Strong Persuader album, shows why Cray was a bona fide star.

*Patti Smith, CBGB’s, New York, Aug. 11, 1979. This two-hour-plus show starts out with a slow, 13-minute version of “Land.” This was just before Smith’s long “retirement,” and she sounds a little burnt around the edges. Her voice gets pretty hoarse after a few songs, and at one point she advises the audience to drink some hot tea in the morning. But her band rages. This set has lots of covers including John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey” and The Yardbirds’ “For Your Love” (with guitarist Lenny Kaye on vocals.)

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: SINE DIE and DAYS GONE BY

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 22, 2007

At last Saturday’s end-of-the-session news conference in the governor’s Cabinet Room, Gov. Bill Richardson made a strange statement that nobody challenged at the time.

I suspect those of us sitting around the big marble table were either too exhausted from the 60-day session or were still trying to cope with the reality of an upcoming special session to make anything of it.

I believe the governor was responding to a question about whether it was risky to call a special session so quickly.

Richardson answered that all his special sessions had been successful.

Success is a subjective thing, I suppose. But when he said that, my mind wandered back to the fall 2003 special session, originally called to consider an overhaul of the state’s tax system.

But as someone who covered that special session, I mostly remember it for the hostility, acrimony and accusations that Richardson wasn’t communicating well with lawmakers.
I remember that session for the Senate voting to sine die — go home without acting on the Richardson tax proposals. It was sine die déjà vu Tuesday, when the Senate voted to adjourn only hours after convening. Just like 2003, however, they will have to come back as long as the House keeps working.

The 2003 special session came after a blue-ribbon task force on taxes made several recommendations. However, Richardson denounced many of the ideas and came up with his own plan. But there was bipartisan consensus in both the House and Senate to balk at the 188-page bill pushed by Richardson.

True, Richardson got a package of bills aimed at fighting sexual predators in that special session, though some said the state easily could have waited until the regular session three months later to pass those bills.

And by the end of that special session, the Legislature passed a huge highway-construction package. That was the program known as GRIP (Governor Richardson’s Investment Partnership, for the record. Who thinks up these acronyms?) But that was seen largely as a “face-saving” measure so the entire special session wouldn’t seem like a waste.

It seems fitting that a new highway package — known as GRIP II — is one of the items on the governor’s call.

Wisdom from Max: Former Rep. Max Coll, D-Santa Fe, currently recovering from brain surgery, said something back in 2003 that still makes sense today.

In an interview after that harrowing session, Coll, who was still a lawmaker then, told me: “When you’ve got a special session, you need to build a consensus ... before you go in. You can’t just walk in without it settled.”

Coll never was one of Richardson’s favorite lawmakers, so it’s not surprising the governor didn’t heed those words.

The call of the Peregrine: As the governor spends much of this week campaigning in California, an old issue that nipped at him during his 2002 gubernatorial race — his tenure on a software company’s board of directors — has re-emerged in a scathing piece in a San Diego paper.

Columnist Don Bauder of the San Diego Reader notes in his latest column that the trial of four former executives of Peregrine Systems Inc. is scheduled to begin next month. Bauder has covered the Peregrine scandal for several years.

The Southern California company’s chief executive was Richardson’s wife’s brother-in-law, Stephen Gardner — who last week pleaded guilty to three felony counts in connection with an accounting scandal that brought the company to bankruptcy. He faces up to 20 years in prison.

“During Richardson’s period on the board, Gardner was regularly telling directors that the Peregrine boat was sinking,” Bauder wrote. “But the public knew nothing about it. The company was releasing official reports telling how revenue was soaring.”

Richardson never was charged with any crimes. But he sat on the board of the company for about a year and a half in 2001 and 2002 — “the period in which the directors were trying to put a lid on the billowing financial scandal that would ultimately send the company into bankruptcy and many of its executives into criminal proceedings,” Bauder wrote.

Next month’s trial “means Dollar Bill is going to have to sharpen his Peregrine alibis for a national audience,” Bauder wrote. “In 2002 when he ran for governor, he got away with some lame excuses that may have worked in New Mexico then but won’t fly nationally now.”

When the Peregrine issue first came to light in 2002, Richardson responded that he helped uncover the financial problems of the company — though he also said he was unaware of the problems until he read news accounts.

Richardson in 2002 said as a member of the board of directors, he voted to fire Peregrine’s accountants and bring in new auditors to conduct an independent investigation. He also said he urged employees and investors be protected.

In 2002, Richardson’s Republican opponent, John Sanchez, tried to make Peregrine an issue, running television ads calling Richardson “an insider who got paid while honest people got hurt.”
Richardson won that year in a landslide.

eMUSIC MARCH

Here's my allotted 90 downloads from eMusic this month:


Turban Renewal: A Tribute Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs . A great songwriter once wrote, "Only two things for which I give a damn/That's reincarnation and Sam the Sham."

My friend Nancy Apple actually knows Sam the Sham (Domingo Samudio). That's only one of many cool things about Nancy Apple.

I saw Sam & the Pharoahs live at Springlake Amusement Park in Oklahoma City circa 1965.

Sam was so much more than "Wooly Bully" and "Little Red Riding Hood." Few bands today could ever record anything half as bitchen as "Ring Dang Do" or "Red Hot."

This tribute includes tracks from Hasil Adkins, The Fleshtones and The Devil Dogs (whose cover of New Mexico Music Commissioner Tony Orlando's "Bless You" I play every now and then on Terrell's Sound World.)



*Hello Lucille… Are You A Lesbian? by T. Valentine. Had Wesley Willis been a 1960s soul beter, he'd have been T. Valentine.

On the title song, he claims he hates all lesbians. I think he's protesting too much.




*One More Road for the Hit by Frank Black And The Catholics. I already had four tracks from this compilation, released years ago by iTunes as an "exclusive EP" In fact those four songs were the first things I ever bought from iTunes.

Like nearly all of Mr. Thompson's work with The Catholics, this is good solid and frequently catchy rock -- though nothing that approaches his work with The Pixies.




*Charlie Louvin. This officially is Charlie's first solo album in 10 years or so. But in reality, it's is one of those "guest-star" albums, where all sorts of artists come in to honor a fabled veteran. George Jones, Bobby Bare, Tom T. Hall, Elvis Costello and Jeff Tweedy are just some of Charlie's angels here.

Charlie, for those not quite up on their country-music history, is half of the Louvin Brothers, one of the most influential duos in American music. Ira died in 1965.

Most of the songs on this album -- "When I Stop Dreaming," "The Knoxville Girl," "The Great Atomic Power," "The Christian Life" -- are Louvin Brothers classics.


There's some decent tunes here. Tweedy's grungy guitar on "The Great Atomic Power" is surely the most radical departure. But I'd advise potential Louvin fans to start with the old stuff.

Note: This has been corrected. See comments.



*Pompeii by Beirut. There's only two tracks on this eMusic only "album": "Fountains and Tramways " and "Napoleon on the Bellerophon."


* “My Body is a Cage,” the last track from Arcade Fire’s new Neon Bible. (That track was damaged on the promo I received.)



* The last 23 tracks from Vol. 2 America's Most Colorful Hillbilly Band by The Maddox Brothers and Rose. I downloaded the first seven tracks last month and the first volume back in October. This music not only has aged well. It just keeps getting better.

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I had three tracks left, so I used them to get a start on the new solo album from Mary Weiss, former lead singer of the Shangri-Las. More on that next month.