COLON WINS DEM CHAIRMANSHIP, WEH REELECTED GOP CHAIR

According to the Associated Press, Brian Colon won the state Democratic Party chairman race.

The AP quotes Dem spokesman Matt Farauto saying Colon got 295 out of 384 votes. Former state Rep. Michael Olguin of Socorro received 68, while former state party staffer and current blogger Gideon Elliot of Santa Fe took 21 votes. The Democrats met in Las Cruces.

On the Republican side, Col. Allen Weh won re-election with a margin of 183 to 137 over Earl Greer. The GOP met in Albuquerque.

FINAL WORD ON THE SC DEBATE

Various thoughts from what the Albuquerque Journal calls the "so-called Blogosphere" and hats off to Larry, who said the debate was one of the worst he'd ever seen as far as formats go. My story is HERE.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, April 27, 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
Daddy Was a Preacher But Mama Was a Go-Go Girl by Southern Culture on the Skids
Last Rebellion by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Race With the Devil by Gene Vincent
Sneakin' by George Weston
Hot and Nasty by Black Oak, Arkansas
Things You Do to Me by Hank Williams III
The Ballad of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum
Killin' Time in Texas by Gurf Morlix
Old Faithful by Bill Hearne's Roadhouse Revue

The Night That Porter Wagoner Came to Town by Tabby Crabb
Satan Gets the Gold by Porter Wagoner
Suburbia by The Riptones
Wrong Side of the World by Johnny Bush & Justin Trevino
Hollywood Hillbilly by Dale Watson
Sucker For a Trucker by Milly & The Sequins
One Has My Name by Jerry Lee Lewis
Got U on My Mind by The Watzloves
Molly Married a Traveling Man by Uncle Dave Macon

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS SET
All songs by DBT except where noted


Where the Devil Don't Stay
Wallace
The Boys From Alabama
I Met Her in Church by Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham
The Living Bubba
Hobo by Patterson Hood
Sinkhole


I Was Drunk by Alejandro Escovedo
Cat and Mouse by Ry Cooder
Blue Eyes Cryin' in the Rain by Carla Bozulich
Try Me One More Time by David Bromberg
No Demon by Jorma Kaukonen
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

DEBATE ANALYSIS

Here is my analysis of Bill Richardson's performance at last night's debate. CLICK HERE

You can find my live blogging of that debate by scrolling just a couple of posts down.

STATE CHAIRMAN BATTLES

Yikes, I thought the race for state Democratic chairman was getting interesting.

But the GOP contest between incumbent Alllen Weh and Earl Greer is getting interesting too, according to Mario Burgos' blog. Getta loadda THIS:

April 26, 2007

Lou Melvin
RPNM Rules Committee Chairwoman
5150-A San Francisco NE
Albuquerque, NM 87109

Dear Lou -

In accordance with Rule 10 of the Bernalillo County Republican Party Supplementary Rules, the following State Central Committee Members from Bernalillo County are not in good standing.

Please consider this a formal challenge of the following State Central Committee members:

Christopher Atencio
Mario Burgos
John Butrick
Samuel Carnes
Whitney Cheshire
Diego Espinoza
State Representative Justin Fox-Young
Elaine Henederson
Wade Jackson
Enrique Knell
Fran Langholf
Vickie Perea
Patrick Rogers
Patricia Rush
Dianne Shams-Avari
Matthew Stackpole

Mario raises the possibility that C de Baca is supporting Greer against Weh, but that's not certain from the post.

The plot thickens. Mario, who ran against C'De Baca for Bernalillo County GOP writes:

I made a decision in that race to focus on Mr. C' de Baca's performance failures, but I also made a decision not to attack him personally. I choose not to point out Mr. C' de Baca's criminal conviction from 1996:

Here’s what the Albuquerque Tribune (7/24/96) reported about C de Baca’s 1996 bid-rigging conviction in California:

Fernando C de Baca, 58, of Albuquerque pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego County District Court to conspiring to inflate bids for asbestos removal at two malls owned by the Hahn Co. of San Diego. One of them was Coronado Center in Albuquerque.

(C de Baca, acording to Burgos, told The Albuquerque Tribune that the California Superior Court later dropped the charges.)

But here's my favorite:

I also decided not to bring up the fact that the Executive Director,
employed by the Bernalillo County Republican Party and hired by Mr. C' de Baca, spent Election Night partying with Patricia Madrid supporters at her "Victory" Party. Or, the fact that this same individual, proudly has posted pictures on his personal website of himself posing with pornography star Jenna Jameson while wearing a t-shirt advertising her website.

The chairmanships of both parties will be decided Saturday.

Here's an Associated Press story from earlier this week about those races by Barry Massey. CLICK HERE

Stay tuned.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: SOME OF MY FAVORITE AUDIO BLOGS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 27, 2007

In my ongoing quest to inform you, the music-loving, working families, about cheap and innovative ways to enjoy music in that fabulous system called the Internet, I’ve discovered a few audio blogs that I’ve been enjoying lately.

For the uninitiated, audio blogs are where you can find free music samples — sometimes just clips or streams, though the ones I like are those where you can download MP3s of entire songs and/or podcast “radio” shows, sometimes with commentary from the hosts and other fun stuff.

Above all, I like to find MP3s that you aren’t going to find anywhere else, songs that aren’t even for sale. Here’s a few such sites:

* GaragePunk.com
This site, run by Jeff Kopp — a longtime music promoter, fanzine publisher, DJ, and fanatic from St. Louis — is dedicated to podcasts of “traditional garage rock to trashy punk, surf/instro to rockabilly, ’60s garage to swamp rock, broken blues to greasy R & B, soul to funk, frat rock to psych, freakbeat to power pop, proto punk to new wave, noise to lounge/exotica, and anything in between.” The shows, produced by several individual podcasters, have names like The Vagabond Garage Rocker, Savage Kick, Get Drunk & Play Records and Killed by Porn.

The fi is far from hi. As the site explains, “It’s important to keep in mind that these are very low bit-rate MP3s. The shows range from 64-80 kbps mono, which is a very low quality MP3, much lower audio quality than even a ‘good’ sounding MP3, and way, way lower than CD quality.” The sound quality reminds me of the AM radio in my long-gone ’63 Ford Falcon.

One recent night I listened to an hour-long podcast called Flying Saucer Rock ’n’ Roll #26, hosted by Canadian Dan Electreau, which features good old-school garage/psychedelic/trashabilly rock — and one crazy soul tune, “Alley Rat” by a guy named King Coleman — interspersed with cheesy dialogue from ’50s sci-fi and horror flicks. Unfortunately I can’t find play lists for the show. Among the performers are Alabama space surfers Man or Astro-Man? and rockabilly wunderkind Ronnie Dee (who grew up to be Ronnie Dawson). But mostly they were cool hopped-up bands I basically know nothing about, such as The Giant Robots, The Stingrays, and The Happy Happy Jihads, who wrote an instrumental called “Red Baron vs. Mars,” inspired by the comic-book style logo of the Flying Saucer Rock ’n’ Roll podcast.


* Funky 16 Corners
If there’s a better place to find rare soul, funk, and old R & B MP3s on the Web, I haven’t found it. This blog, produced by music writer Larry Grogan, features funky stuff from his vinyl collection.

Grogan includes music from some famous folks. Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett were featured in recent posts. But Funky 16 Corners is a great spot for lesser-knowns as well. Ever hear of soulsters like Diamond Joe or Curly Moore or Stacy Lane, who did the Pickett-esque shoulda-been hit “African Twist”? I hadn’t either until I started frequenting this blog.

There are several themed podcasts. One recent one focused on Philly soul, another featured music from New Orleans. (I downloaded this one. I’d heard of most the artists, like Aaron Neville, Irma Thomas, and Eddie Bo. But it included some rarities, such as a Neville song called “Ape Man.”) Grogan also recently posted a podcast collection of proto-funk 45s by New Orleans soul man Lee Dorsey.

* Edward Chewtoy
Chewtoy has an audio site that is pretty small and which hasn’t been very active lately. The latest music post was made in May 2006, featuring a collection of Asian folk-music downloads.

But Chewtoy’s major contribution to American culture is a post featuring 26 MP3s from a criminally overlooked rock ’n’ roll subgenre — strip club rock. “This was what R & R was supposed to sound like some 50 years ago,” Chewtoy explains. “The stuff hot-blooded gals used to shake their moneymakers to in strip clubs.” It’s basically Twist-era R & B, some of which is colored by jungle-themed exotica.

Most of the selections are from a long out-of-print CD series called Las Vegas Grind. I’d only heard of one of the artists here — soul man Andre Williams, who does a suggestive little R & B workout called “Sweet Little Pussycat,” complete with yackety sax and fake meows. But I suppose in the strip-club rock pantheon, names like Space Man & The Rockets, Jack Hammer, and The Hully Gully Boys are golden gods. The latter group does a song called “Yabby,” complete with wild bongos, pseudo-cannibal chants, and a roller-rink organ solo.

“Little Girl” by John and Jackie would be a generic early ’60s rocker except that Jackie responds with a sexy “Little boy!” every time John sings “Little girl.” She makes undisguised orgasmic noises during much of the rest of the song. “Topless” by Rolls Royce & The Wheels is a novelty dialogue between a man and a woman discussing a beach bunny in a topless bathing suit over a bluesy musical backdrop. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in one,” the woman says. “I don’t want you dead in one, I want you live in it, baby,” the man replies.

* The 365 Project
This is a wellspring of obscure music, novelty tunes, strange children’s songs, and just plain weird audio. You can find programs including the Rev. Mike Mills’ 1980s explanations of Satanic “backward masking” in rock records; alternative versions of all the songs on Jesus Christ Superstar; George Wallace and Bobby Kennedy campaign songs; and The Odd Couple Sings — duets by Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. What else do ya’ need?

My favorite recent download is “Palolo Valley Girls” by Da Mokettes & The Incredible Q Band. It’s a Hawaiian rewrite of the Frank and Moon Unit Zappa hit, complete with local slang and island references. “She’s a Valley Girl in a Goodwill store.” Makes you wonder why nobody ever did an Española “Valley Girls” takeoff.

MORE ON THE DEBATE

Heath also was live blogging. Read that HERE. He also did a post-debate analysis HERE

Wonkette had a lot of fun blogging live. "The biggest mistake Bill Richardson ever made is wanting change too damn much! He read up on his copy of “10 Tips to Ace That Interview” before the debate." Read more HERE.

MSNBC's conservative commentator Tucker Carlson gave Richardson the "Most amusing moment"

Bill Richardson pledging to get us out of Iraq “with diplomacy” on his very first day in office. On his second day, Richardson promised to solve the energy crisis. Bill Richardson is magic.

BLOGGING THE DEBATE

(I live blogged the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina. No wasn't in South Carolina. This was through the magic of TV.)

4:24 pm: Still 36 minutes from the debate but MSNBC is hyping it up. They just had Pat Buchanan on giving advice to the candidates. I wonder how many of them will listen to Pat Buchanan.

So far the best part of the pre-show festivities is the South Carolina State University band and drum line playing before the commercial breaks.

4:59 pm: They're all in their places with bright shiny faces.

5:02 pm: One thing I like about this debate already (from Associated Press):

The debate format barred opening or closing statements and limited the candidates' responses to one minute to ensure a lively pace ...

Hey! Bill Richardson was the first to be introduced.

5: 07 pm: So far nobody is actually answering Brian Williams' question whether they agree with Sen. Harry Reid that the war in Iraq has been lost. Joe Biden had a good retort though. "Look Brian, this isn't a game show."

5:10 pm: Nevada flashback! Hilary still won't apologize for her Iraq vote and Edwards still won't admit his statement about the subject wasn't a barb for her.

5:13 pm: Richardson says he wouldn't vote to fund the war. "This war has been a disaster," he said. He repeated his position that we should withdraw all troops by the end of the year and have the three major religious and ethnic groups sit down and negotiate.

5:18 pm: Former Sen. Gravel says "This war was lost the day that George Bush invaded." He says Congress should pass a law making it a felony to stay in Iraq.

Earlier Chris Dodd said this administration treats diplomacy as if it's a gift to our enemies and a sign of weakness.

Obama just said "We're 16 votes away from ending this war," referring to the number of votes needed to override the president's veto. Hillary agrees.

5:22 pm: Williams is asking candidates about embarrassing personal facts. Edwards just got asked about his $400 haircut. Why did he pay out of campaign funds? "That was a mistake," he said. As for the expensive haircut he says, "I remember where I come from."

5:27 pm: Richardson was asked about the fact he initially didn't call for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' resignation "because he's Hispanic." Richardson said he was just being honest about how he felt. "The American people want candor, they don't want blow-dried candidates who are perfect." He has since called for Gonzales' resignation.

5:31 pm: Gravel once again is the true "Straight Talk Express" He said that after appearing on stage with some of the other candidates he wonders "how the hell they got here." He added, "Some of these people scare me," saying talk about keeping all the options in Iraq open is code talk for using nuclear weapons. He singled out the top-tier candidates plus Biden, who he said has shown arrogance.

5:38 pm: Richardson sure isn't being called upon much. Only 2 questions so far.

5:40 pm: Richardson was asked about his model Supreme Court justice. "Justice Whizzer White," he answered "How about someone among the living?" Williams said to laughter from the audience. He answered Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

5:42 pm: In light of the Virginia Tech killings Richardson is asked about being the NRA's favorite candidate. "I'm a westerner. Second amendment rights are precious in the West. Most gun owners are law abiding." But he says the mental health system needs to be improved. And there should be instant background checks for buying guns.

5:44 pm: Candidates are asked who has ever had a gun in their house. Richardson raises his hand. So does Kucinich. KUCINICH HAS GUNS?

5:49 pm: Williams calls Richardson "the most strident about not raising taxes." Here's some talk we with which New Mexicans are familiar: "I'm a governor, I deal with these things every day." He promises "no new bureaucracy" for health care. At least he didn't say "Read my lips."

5:56 pm: Gravel says he's the senior statesman and he's beginning to feel like a potted plant standing up there.

The candidates were asked about the worst mistake they ever made. Kucinich said the worst mistake he ever made was as mayor as Cleveland he fired the police chief live on the 6 o'clock news. (Shades of Debbie Jaramillo!). Richardson said he's impatient tries to change drastically and is too aggressive. He said he made a mistake trying to ram the minimum wage bill through the Legislature last year.

6:00 pm: Richardson was asked what the first thing he would do as president: "The first day I would get us out of Iraq." The second day he said he'd work on global warming. "The fourth day, I'd take off," he said.

6:02 pm: One hour gone. Nobody's made any significant boo boos or hit any homers. But there's nearly a half hour to go.

6:04 pm: Gravel, asked about who our enemies are, says we don't have any enemies. "We spend more on defense than the rest of the world put together. Who are we afraid of? Who are you afraid of, Brian?"

6:06 pm: Asked about Russia, Richardson said he wants Russia to be more humane. "I would focus my presidency about dealing with the real threats to America. Terrorism, nuclear proliferation." He also said the U.S. should care more about Africa.

6:08 pm: Has Richardson smiled ONCE during this debate?

6:11 pm: Earlier this year Richardson was compared to The Soprano’s “Bobby Bacala” on Jay Leno's show. If he's Bobby, then Chris Dodd has to be Paulie Walnuts. (Of course Wonkette calls John McCain "Walnuts.")

6:14 pm: Obama says if U.S. cities were attacked the U.S. shouldn't act with bluster and should get the world behind us. Edwards gives a similar answer.

6:17 pm: Nobody on the stage would support Kucinich's resolution to impeach Vice President Cheney.

6:20 pm: Richardson asked about Cuba, but decides to answer what if US was attacked question. He'd respond with great force and get the world behind us. On Cuba, he said we should be planning for post-Castro Cuba and get Cuban-Americans involved in the process.

6:22 pm: Gravel: "We are mischaracterizing terrorism. terrorism has been with us since the beginning. We'll be as successful with the war on terrorism as we were on the war on drugs."

6: 24 pm: At this point, nobody's even playing like they're answering the question.

6:25 pm: Obama and Kucinich are arguing over whether Iran is a threat. Gravel chimes in that the U.S. is the biggest violator of the non-proliferation treaty. "Who the hell are we going to nuke?" Obama says he doesn't want to nuke anyone.

6:28 pm: Hillary is ambivalent about Wal-mart. It was great when it started out but now there are questions about its corporate responsibility.

6:30 pm: No parting words from our governor.

I've cleaned up some of my typos and fixed my "Brian Wilson" mistake as my friend Henry pointed out in the comment section.

NO BRAG

Back in 2005 when I wrote an advance review of Gov. Bill Richardson's autobiography Between Worlds, I caught holy hell from the governor's press army for writing, "As could be expected, much of the book is self-aggrandizing."

But in a review of presidential candidate autobiographies in Sunday's New York Times, reviewer Michiko Kakutani wrote, " "Bragging is a fundamental part of these books, helping to establish the authors’ credentials to dispense advice. ... Mr. Richardson’s Between Worlds is filled with boasts ..."

I guess I should have used "filled with boasts" instead of the offending "self-aggrandizing."

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: LOBBYING FOR THE CHAIRMANSHIP

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
April 26, 2007

When New Mexico Democratic Party leaders choose a new state chairman in Las Cruces on Saturday, many will have the “L” word on their mind.

That word is lobbyist.

There’s been a lot of talk among state Dems about the fact that one of the three contenders, Michael Olguin, a former state House majority leader from Socorro, is a registered lobbyist. And Olguin claims another contender, Brian Colon, might also be a lobbyist — which Colon denies.


One of Olguin’s clients, Cottonwood Financial Ltd., is a payday-loan company doing business in New Mexico as The Cash Store.

Olguin also used to represent Wackenhut, now known as GEO, the private prison corporation. But that fact shouldn’t offend Democrats. According to The Institute of Money in State Politics, Gov. Bill Richardson received from GEO more than $42,000, more than the corporation gave to any other politician nationwide running for state office in 2006. The company gave New Mexico Democrats more than $77,000 for the last election, compared with only $2,000 for Republicans in the state, according to the institute’s latest available figures.

Colon, an Albuquerque lawyer, said of Olguin in the Santa Fe Reporter a couple weeks ago: “His clients are fundamentally in opposition to the tenets of the Democratic Party of New Mexico and its platform.”

Interviewed Wednesday, Colon said he didn’t want to discuss his opponent. He didn’t dispute what he said to the other newspaper but said he’s trying to stress his own qualifications.

But Olguin has already fired back. In a letter sent to state convention delegates, Olguin wrote, “It was recently brought to my attention that Mr. Colon has been actively involved in lobbying activities. The law firm that he works for was hired by Pete Domenici Jr. to represent Silver City, New Mexico on water issues during this current legislative session. Mayor James Marshall has confirmed that Mr. Colon’s law firm had been hired to lobby for the city. The mayor indicated that he had met more than once with Mr. Colon regarding issues before the Legislature.”

Colon, he noted, isn’t registered as a lobbyist.

“I bring this to your attention not because I object to Mr. Colon pursuing a career as a lobbyist but he has raised the issue of my lobbying activities, which I have fully disclosed. … This raises a serious ethical question and if indeed his law firm represented Silver City before the Legislature and did not file with the Secretary of State then there has been a violation of the (lobbyist) act.”

Colon said Wednesday that his firm, Robles, Rael & Anaya, was hired by Silver City to assist with a federal settlement. But he said he didn’t lobby the Legislature for the town. “I have gone up to the Legislature to help Popejoy Hall and the Boys and Girls Club, but I don’t get paid for that,” he said.

Mayor Marshall couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

Olguin, in his letter, wrote, “I make no apologies for being a lobbyist. It is an honorable profession and is very much part of the legislative process. In many respects the state chairman conducts his or her business much like a lobbyist, i.e. lobbying on issues that are important to the party and working with individuals and businesses to secure funds to carry out the functions of the party.”

The third candidate in the chairman contest, Gideon Elliott of Santa Fe, said Wednesday, “I think it’s a sad day in New Mexico when we have candidates bickering over who has the most conflict of interest.”

Bill and Baker: Gov. Bill Richardson said Wednesday that if he’s elected president, he’d consider bringing back James Baker — former secretary of state under the first President Bush — as a special envoy for the Mideast peace process.


Richardson said this after addressing the National Jewish Democratic Council in Washington, according to the American edition of Haaretz, an Israeli paper.

This didn’t make Shmuel Rosner, the paper’s chief U.S. correspondent, very happy.

“Baker, as I mentioned in the article published in Haaretz today, was a member of an administration ‘widely viewed as the most hostile ever to Israel,’ Rosner wrote in his blog.

“Saying you might appoint him as your envoy (John McCain also did it in the past) is like telling people a ‘more balanced policy’ is needed. It seems just fine to the untrained eye, but is actually a code word which has only one meaning: I’m prepared to pressure Israel.”

I haven’t seen any reaction yet from Democrats who remember Baker chiefly for his role in representing the current President Bush in the 2000 Florida recount.

Baker recently co-chaired the Iraq Study Group, which recommended pulling back American combat troops.

Richardson seems to get along well with former Republican secretaries of state. Before running for governor, he worked for the international consulting firm Kissinger McLarty Associates — headed by Henry Kissinger and Mack McLarty, who was White House chief of staff under President Clinton. McLarty is senior adviser of The Carlyle Group, a global private equity investment firm. Baker was senior counselor at Carlyle between 1993 and 2005.

UPDATE: I added a link to the Santa Fe Reporter story printed above just so Julia doesn't think I'm part of the evil mainstream media plot to rob the Reporter of all its glory.