ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: FIELD OF NIGHTMARES

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 21, 2007

In his autobiography Between Worlds: The Making of an American Life, Gov. Bill Richardson wrote that baseball was “the ruling passion of my young life.”

Reminiscing about coming to the U.S. from Mexico to attend a private boarding school in Concord, Mass., Richardson’s book recalls how his baseball skills helped him overcome his feelings of being from a different country. “I still felt like an outsider. But as it had been in Mexico, baseball rescued me,” Richardson wrote.

I thought about this earlier this week when the state Republican Party released its satirical 2007 Bill Richardson baseball card, which cleverly pokes fun at some of the governor’s position changes.

Seeing the double photo of Richardson (one in a Yankees cap, one in a Red Sox cap), I thought about this cruel irony:

While baseball was Richardson’s salvation as a youth, the national pastime has become a common thread in many of the controversies that have haunted his campaign for president.

First there was the draft/no-draft story. Richardson for years said he’d been drafted by the old Kansas City Athletics in the 1960s. He told me that in a 2002 interview. However, last year, a sports writer for the Albuquerque Journal checked it out and debunked the story.

Then there was his recent statement on Meet the Press that he’s a fan of both the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees — teams that constitute probably the fiercest rivalry in modern Major League baseball. This caused a huge Internet buzz on both political and sports blogs. Fans of both teams were in a state of disbelief.

More recently was the profile of Richardson in The New Republic. Writer Ryan Lizza mainly focused on Richardson’s shifting positions on foreign policy issues. However, the part of the piece that received the most attention was the part describing Richardson at — yes — a baseball game in Iowa.

“As we get up from our seats to visit the play-by-play announcer’s booth, Richardson does something I’ve never seen any politician do,” Lizza wrote. “There are two women sitting in front of us. They are both young and attractive, probably in their twenties. The governor rotates his large frame sideways and shimmies out of his row. The two women smile up at him. As he passes, Richardson reaches down and places his fingertips on the head of one of the women, tickling her scalp as he opens and closes his hand. Then, as he reaches for the next scalp, his hand suddenly aborts its mission, as if the governor realizes this wasn’t such a good idea after all.”

At least he didn’t say he was a fan of both the Albuquerque Isotopes and the Iowa Cubs.

It’s got to eat at Richardson to think that a game that once brought him acceptance and praise now is associated with some of the statements and incidents that appear to be holding him back from the major leagues of politics.

With all due respect: At a candidate forum in February in Carson City, Nev., Richardson made headlines by saying he and the other Democratic presidential candidates should sign a pledge not to attack one another.

However, earlier this week at a Washington, D.C., speech, Richardson was on the offensive, naming names in distinguishing his position on withdrawing troops from Iraq.

“With all due respect to my outstanding Democratic colleagues — U.S. Sens. (Hillary) Clinton, (Barack) Obama, (Christopher) Dodd and (Joseph) Biden — they all voted for timeline legislation that had loopholes,” he said at the Take Back America conference. “Those loopholes allow this president, or any president, to leave an undetermined number of troops in Iraq indefinitely. ... Clearly, my Democratic colleagues in this campaign think it’s responsible to have an ongoing military role in Iraq. They voted not once but twice to leave troops behind.” (See Youtube clip below)

It’s not really an attack, though. He did say “with all due respect” and call them “outstanding.”

However, Lizza — the same writer at that Iowa ballgame — pointed out in The New Republic political blog, The Plank, that one of those pieces of legislation was the Feingold-Reid amendment, which would have cut off funds for the war next March and which Richardson initially supported.

In a later blog post, Lizza quotes a rebuttal from Richardson spokesman Pahl Shipley, saying Richardson only “conditionally” supported the amendment, without exceptions in the amendment for training Iraqi soldiers and other limited purposes.

Richardson has a new anti-war Web site called No Troops Left Behind.

His Take Back America speech is below:

HILLARY GOES FOR CELINE

Apparently writing off the rock 'n' roll vote, Hillary Clinton has gone and chosen a song by Celine Dion -- who isn't even an American -- for her campaign theme.

She managed to get a theme song even crappier than her husband's -- Fleetwood Mac's "Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow."



There apparently was a vote on her Web site. I suspect Republican sabotage. What's Donald Segretti up to these days?

So come on, Bill Richardson. Here's your chance to pay tribute to good American music! . I made a lot of good suggestions for your theme song. Jean Knight, Howlin' Wolf, Emmett Miller, Warren Zevon, Angel Espinoza ... and my column readers made some good suggestions too. Any of them are better than Celine Dion!

Speaking of Republican sabotage, the state GOP today released its 2007 Bill Richardson baseball card.

PLAY FOR PAY

A group of big-name musicians, and, I assume, the major labels who love them, want radio stations to start paying to air their music.

Check this out:

Setting the stage for a new battle between radio broadcasters and the music industry, a group of recording artists have formed a coalition called musicFIRST to seek cash payments from local radio stations for the airplay of music broadcast over the air. Among the members seeking new performance royalties are Christina Aguilera, Jimmy Buffett, Celine Dion, Toby Keith, John Legend and Jennifer Lopez. The group plans to introduce its legislative plans Thursday.

Currently, broadcasters pay songwriter royalites to ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, but not performance royalties. Broadcasters are required to pay performance royalties for music streamed over the Internet.

I believe this request should be honored.

Therefore, I hereby pledge to never play any songs by Christina Aguilera, Jimmy Buffett, Celine Dion, Toby Keith, John Legend or Jennifer Lopez on any of my shows. I hope other radio folk do the same.

Seriously, I hate to side with the National Association of Broadcasters on anything. But where would these "artists" be if radio didn't play their stupid music a jillion times a week?

eMUSIC JUNE

Here's how I spent my 90 eMusic downloads for the month of June.

* Dial "M" For Motherfucker by Pussy Galore. Jon Spencer is an obscene maniac. That's why I like him. This 1989 album came shortly before Spencer would form his Blues Explosion. In Dial M could be considered the fuse that led to that Explosion -- tasty guitar slop riffs, crazy caveman drums and no bass. The vocals, mainly by Spencer are buried, but the joy is naked.


*Sun Spots, vol. 2: Oddities and Obscurities by Various artists. You normally think of Sun Records as the wellspring of rockabilly. But before Elvis and Jerry Lee, Sun mainly dealt with blues and R&B artists from the Memphis area. Some well-known blues and R&B names are here -- Honeyboy Edwards, Sleepy John Estes, Little Milton and Ike Turner, performing with his first wife (or at least an early wife, Bonnie). There's also some cool hardcore hillbilly, gospel and rockabilly, mostly by folks you've never heard of. (Malcom Yelvington did a pretty good "Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee.") . The Killer's spirit is all over the place, even though there's not any songs of his. There's a song by a young Linda Gail Lewis, There's one of those tacky cut-and-paste fake "interview" novelty songs, "The Return of Jerry Lee" in which questions about Jerry Lee's infamous trip to London and his marriage to his 13-year-old cousin are answered by clips of the singer's tunes and there's that famous religious discussion between Sam Phillips and Jerry Lee in Sun Studios. "HOW CAN THE DEVIL SAVE SOULS? WHAT ARE YOU TALKIN' ABOUT?"


*The Original Rockabilly Album by Ray Campi. Speaking of cool rockabilly, I recently saw a good little documentary on Netflix called Rebel Beat: The Story of L.A. Rockabilly. One of the featured artists was Campi, who inspired me to download this album.

I can't find much info about this album except that it was released in 2002 on a label called Magnum Force and earlier in England. The recordings sound pretty ancient, rough and raw, like rockabilly ought to be. According to one source all these songs were recorded in 1957 -- except obviously the spoken introduction to the first song "Catepillar," which was Campi's first rockabilly record, where Campi talks about the old days.

There's some familiar songs -- Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me" and Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" -- but my favorite is a lo-fi wonder called "My Screamin' Screamin' Mimi."


* Pop A Paris: Rock N Roll Mini Skirts - Compilation 1 . The French have a saying:

"Ooo la la!"

That's a good way of describing the music from this album, a collection of rock and pop from the great nation of France in the swingin' a-go-go '60s. These mostly are covers of rock and pop hits from the U.S. and England. My favorites are Marie Laforet's "Marie Douceur Marie Colere," which you'll recognize as "Paint it Black," and "Ces Bottes Sont Faites Pour Marcher" a version of Nancy Sinatra's biggest hit by someone called Eileen.


UPDATE: I forgot to mention, there's a song here by Brigitte Bardot! It's a mod-a-go-go ditty called "Tu Veux Ou Tu Veux Pas." I still like "Boots" and "Paint it Black" better.


* Live at Maxwell's by The Reigning Sound . This is a raw 40-minute set n which the band plays on desite the fact that guitarist Greg Cartwright keeps breaking strings. (thinking back to my own performing days, I can sympathize.) By the last song he's down to three strings.

Most the songs are relentless rockers. But the group slows down for a sweet version of Sam Cooke's "I Need You Now." That's not the only soul cover they do. The album starts off with a ragged, savage take on Sam & Dave's "You Got Me Hummin'."



*A Hawk And A Hacksaw And The Hun Hangár Ensemble . This is an 8-song CD that H&H recorded with a group of Hungarian folk musicians, who add instruments including brass, woodwinds and Hungarian bagpipes.

My favorite song here is called "Zozobra," a quick-stepping duet with Jeremy Barnes (on accordion and percussion) and Balázs Unger on cymbalom, an instrument that sounds like a hammer dulcimer.

If you buy the actual CD, I understand, it comes with a DVD about A Hawk and Hacksaw.

* Several tracks from Greatest Hits of the National Lampoon. There's some great parodies of '60s and '70s rock stars, which I hadn't heard since my college days, by the likes of Christopher Guest, Gilda Radner, Tony Hendra and Chevy Case. No Beatles fan should be without Hendra's primal-scream Lennon spoof "Magical Misery Tour."

* "Gendhing and Ladrang Galagothang" a 20-minute track of gamelon music from The Sultan's Pleasure, Javanese Gamelan And Vocal Music From The Palace Of Yogyakarta. I guess you could say this is Java's version of The Gong Show.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 17, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Jackrabbit by Goshen
Black Shiny Beast by Buick MacKane
Death is the Only Real Thing by The Chesterfield Kings
Interstellar Hard Drive by Man or Astro-Man
Hand on the Hot Wire by Key
Guitar Shop Asshole by The Oblivians
Hippie Hippie Hoorah by The Black Lips
Rebel on the Run by Davy Allan & The Arrows
P-S-Y-C-H-O by Ben Vaughan

I'll Sleep When I'm Dead by Warren Zevon
I, Zombie by White Zombie
Mumbo Jumbo by The A-Bones
Love Train by The Yayhoos
Say You're Sorry by The Remains
For Crying Out Loud by Scratch Acid
Love Bomb by Grinderman
Fuzz Gun 2001 by Mudhoney

Stool Pigeon by The Soul Deacons
Can You Feel It? by The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
Snake Eyes by David Holmes
Maybe Your Baby by The Dirtbombs
Chicken Heads by Bobby Rush
Dealin' With the Devil by Muddy Waters, Johnny Winters & James Cotton
Can Blue Men Sing the Whites by Bonzo Dog Band
Since I Stole the Blues by Mose Allison

Monsters of the Id by Stan Ridgway
Lady Madonna-Yuuutunaru Spider by Love Psychedelico
Martha Cecilia by Andres Landeros
Future Kings by Gogol Bordello
Anna by Arthur Alexander
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 15, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Absolutely Sweet Marie by Jason & The Scorchers
Bonnie Blue by John Anderson
Julia by The Flatlanders
Food, Water, Shelter & Love by Gurf Morlix
Action by Son Volt
Road Too Long by Bill Hearne's Roadhouse Revue
Waitin' In Your Welfare Line by Buck Owens
Tater Pie by Carolina Cotton with Tex Williams

Cracker Jack by Janis Martin
Snake Man by Ronnie Dawson
My Screamin' Screamin' Mimi by Ray Campi
You Are My Sunshine by Jerry Lee Lewis
Witchdoctor's Curse by The Frantic Flattops
Hi-Billy Music by Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
No Good Robin Hood by Delbert Barker
Big Dwarf Rodeo by The Rev. Horton Heat
Peroxide Blonde by Hank Penny
Bottle Up and Go by Sleepy LaBeef
Let's Have a Party by Wanda Jackson

Unprotected by ThaMuseMeant
Understand Under by Nathan Moore
Don't Go by Hundred Year Flood
Seeds and Candy by Boris & The Saltlicks
Son of a Gun by Goshen
Are You Still My Girl? by Joe West
After the Gunfight by Mike Montiel

The Beautiful Waitress by Terry Allen
Million Dollars Bail by Peter Case
A Ghost i Became by Richmond Fontaine
The Losing Kind by John Doe
My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson
Ballpeen Hammer by Chris Whitley
8:05 by Moby Grape
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

HEY THAT'S MY SIDE OF THE STREET

Joe Monahan points out that a New Republic blogger is suggesting a campaign theme song for Gov. Bill Richardson.

Ahem! I said AHEM!

But Michael Crowley is suggesting a song that neither I not the readers who responded to my original column had thought of.

Bill Richardson advisor Steve Murphy just defended his boss on MSNBC. Asked by Tucker Carlson about the opening anecdote in Ryan Lizza's new TNR piece, in which Richardson bizarrely tickles the head of a woman he's never met at a baseball game, Murphy declared: "Everybody touches everybody!"

Here's the campaign theme Crowley suggested:

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: PLAY THOSE DEAD MEN'S SONGS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 15, 2007

Writer Carl Hiaasen sums it up best in the liner notes: “One of the most heinous crimes in rock ’n’ roll was the suppression, intentional or otherwise, of Warren Zevon’s mind-blowing Stand in the Fire.”

I’m not sure if it ranks up there with the murder of John Lennon and the fatal stabbing at Altamont, but the weird failure to release Zevon’s definitive live album on CD for all these years — who knows, and who cares why — indeed is a dirty, rotten shame.

But now, nearly four years after Zevon’s death, that wrong has been righted. Now, at a time when some music-biz pundits are actually contemplating the death of the CD format, Stand in the Fire is finally on CD. At his favorite barstool in Rock ’n’ Roll Hell, Zevon chuckles.

I can’t say it was “worth the wait,” but, dang, it’s great to hear this album in its entirety again (plus some bonus tracks). Every song is a jewel, and most of them just make me wish I had louder speakers.

One of the stranger ironies of Zevon’s twisted career is that while he sang wicked and brutal songs of murder, mercenaries, extremism, and vice, he sprang out of the ’70s Los Angeles wimp-rock scene. His truest champion was Mr. Sensitive, himself, Jackson Browne. And I’m sure more people are familiar with Linda Ronstadt’s renditions of “Mohammed’s Radio” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” than with Zevon’s. (That’s unfortunate, but as Zevon says in his introduction to “Hasten Down the Wind,” “This is the song that came along and intervened between me and starvation, thanks to Miss Ronstadt.”)

Zevon’s 1970s music established him as a respectable maniac as far as lyrics went. But his production, featuring elite Southern California studio cats, was restrained and subdued, not that much different from records by Browne, Ronstadt, The Eagles, etc.

But Stand in the Fire, released in 1981, mostly featured — instead of his regular sidemen — members of Boulder, a little-known Colorado bar band that reportedly specialized in Zevon covers. The result was ferocious. The Stand in the Fire versions are the way that songs like “I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead” and “Poor Poor Pitiful Me” should be heard. “Get up and dance or I’ll kill ya!” he shouts at his road manager in the frenzied final minute of the latter song. He sounded like he meant business. It could be the motto of the entire album.

Even “Mohammed’s Radio,” the only “slow” song on the original version of the album, crackles with a crazy, clunky energy it never had before. There’s even some offbeat political commentary on events of the day: “Ayatollah’s got his problems too/And even Jimmy Carter’s got them highway blues.” Most of the tunes here probably could be considered Zevon’s “greatest hits,” but there also are some Zevon tunes that aren’t on any other albums, such as the title song and “The Sin,” one of the most rocked-out assaults he ever recorded.

On the original LP, the closing number was a crunching cover of “Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger.” That seemed like a fitting summation — Zevon neatly identifying himself with a founding father of rock with a song some might consider politically incorrect. But the CD has four bonus tracks following “Gunslinger.”

That messes with the symmetry a bit; perhaps some of them should have been interspersed among the original selections. But I’m glad to have these tunes on the album. The best bonus song is the underappreciated “Play It All Night Long,” a snarling insult to Southern living. “‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ play that dead band’s song,” goes the backhanded tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd that serves as the refrain.

Stand in the Fire’s new closer is “Hasten Down the Wind.” The band is gone, and it’s just Zevon at the piano. His voice is haggard, sometimes breathless, and you can almost smell the sweat. Grudgingly, I have to admit it’s a more satisfying conclusion than “Bo Diddley’s a Gunslinger.”

As the audience cheers, Zevon bids his fans goodnight. “Thank you very much,” he says. “Keep on rocking. And take my lung. And vaya con Dios.” A proper farewell and words to live by.

Also recommended:
*The Future Is Unwritten by Joe Strummer. Strummer’s another rocker who left too early. But, unlike Zevon, there’s been no major lapse in reissuing and recycling just about everything that he recorded with The Clash.

This album is a soundtrack for an upcoming documentary about Strummer, who died in 2002. It’s a strange little collection. Many of the songs here are songs by other artists — Nina Simone, MC5, Tim Hardin, Eddie Cochran — with introductions by Strummer on his BBC radio show. (My favorites are Elvis Presley’s “Crawfish,” a bluesy tune from the King Creole soundtrack, and the accordion-driven “Martha Cecilia” by Colombian singer Andres Landeros.)

Some previously unreleased versions of Clash tunes are here. But special treats are songs by other Strummer bands. “Keys to Your Heart” is a peppy little number by the pre-Clash group The 101ers. But even better is “Trash City” by Latino Rockabilly War, a late ’80s Strummer band whose music featured great percussion.

His latter-day band The Mescaleros is featured on a couple of songs, the vaguely African sounding “Johnny Appleseed,” and “Willesden to Cricklewood.” The latter song could infuriate hard-core Clash fans. It sounds like a slow, dreamy lullaby. You can’t get much further from “White Riot.” I would have preferred to end the album with more Latino Rockabilly War.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: MORE SONGS FOR BILL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 14, 2007

My column about choosing an official theme song for the Richardson campaign got a big response from readers.

I wrote that because Hillary Clinton is sponsoring a theme-song contest on her campaign Web site. So far Richardson hasn’t followed suit.

I’m still partial to Jean Knight’s early ’70s soul hit “Mr. Big Stuff.” But many of you had other suggestions.

Emmett O’Connell of the America for Richardson blog suggested the Los Lobos classic “Will the Wolf Survive.” But of course he would. That was the original name of O’Connell’s Richardson blog long before the governor said he’d run. A reader named Mark also nominated that song. “With Richardson playing up his Hispanic background and his ‘lone wolf’ stance, and the odds of him surviving the first few primaries looking slim, this tune is a great choice for him.”

A Richardson fan named Sherry jokingly offered The Fifth Dimension’s song “Wedding Bell Blues,” which repeats the line “Won’t you marry me, Bill?” — but withdrew the nomination noting Richardson already is married. Instead, she suggested the song “From a Distance,” recorded by Bette Midler, Nanci Griffith and others. I assume she chose this song not because the title refers to how Richardson is governing New Mexico during this period of heavy traveling, but because of the idealistic lyrics: “From a distance we all have enough/And no one is in need/There are no guns, no bombs, no diseases/No hungry mouths to feed.”

Karen from Santa Fe suggested the song “Bill” from the musical Showboat, which she said would compliment his “I’m not a rock star” statements. I used to dream that I would discover/The perfect lover someday./I knew I’d recognize him if ever/He came ’round my way./I always used to fancy then/He’d be one of the god-like kind of men,/With a giant brain and a noble head,/Like the heroes bold/In the books I’ve read./But along came Bill, who’s not the type at all. … He’s just my Bill, an ordinary guy.”

Paige recommended “I’m an Old Cowhand” (from the Rio Grande), with slightly adjusted lyrics: “I rode in from the Enchantment State/And I sure do know how to legislate/Yippee yi o ki yay.”
An Ohio reader named Margot nominated the Cream song “Politician,” with the lines, “Come on baby, get into my big black car/And I’ll show you what my politics are.” Walt suggested “One for My Baby and One More For the Road,” though this might conflict with Richardson’s anti-drunken-driving stance.


Miriam nominated “Love & Hope” by Ozomatli, a Latino band from Los Angeles (that is appearing in Santa Fe in August). Sample lyrics: “The hope deep in his eyes are dreams he must let fly!”

Sean suggested several songs including Van Morrison’s “Back on Top” and “The Ballad of Billy the Kid” by Billy Joel. But that song is so full of historical inaccuracies (“Well, he started with a bank in Colorado. … Well, he robbed his way from Utah to Oklahoma …”) Richardson would have to appoint another task force to look into it, and Jay Miller would have to write another book debunking it.


Susan from Taos said she likes “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Willie Nelson), saying she “can readily envision Gov. Richardson entering a room-full of people, NOT tap-dancing (as I would), but smiling, with his endearing dimples and easy mien.”

Justin submitted a country song by Alabama called “I’m in a Hurry (and I Don’t Know Why)” because of the repeated line, “I’m in a hurry to get things done,” which he said, “conveys the gov’s biggest assets, his experience of getting things done.” However Richardson probably would want to delete the verse that begins, “Don’t know why I have to drive so fast/My car has nothing to prove.”

Speaking of which, another reader named Sean wickedly suggested Sammy Hagar’s “I Can’t Drive 55.” Apparently not a Richardson supporter, he also suggested others such as Bob Wills’ “Roly Poly” and the folk tune “Bully of the Town.”

Even harsher was Jay, who suggested "I'm an Asshole" by comedian Denis Leary, which has references to fast driving and Cuban cigars.

Selling Cabinet posts: She’s not governor yet, at least not officially, but Diane Denish is selling — that’s correct, selling — memberships in her Cabinet.

A recent mailer for the lieutenant governor says you can become a “founding member” of her Cabinet for just $1,000 a year.

But no, a thousand bucks doesn’t guarantee you a high government position, said Steve Fitzer of the 2010 Denish campaign. “It’s just a cutesy name we came up,” he said. “There’s the Richardson Roundtable and the Bingaman Circle.”

Membership in the Denish Cabinet get first notice of “key Denish events.” Members pay only base-cost for Denish fundraisers, so a $500 dinner might only be $50. There will be two members-only meetings a year.

The first Denish Cabinet event is a barbecue in Albuquerque tonight. There’s no charge for those under 18. I guess that makes them members of the Children’s Cabinet.

ALEX MAGOCSI & DEEP ELLUM

I just got an e-mail from a Dallas documentary maker named Phil Lee, who recently learned of Alex's death.

Alex appeared in a short doc Phil did in 1991 about Dallas' Deep Ellum district. It's on YouTube and is just over 8 minutes long.

Phil was hoping to find Alex for another documentary he's working on when he came upon my obit.

"I will never be able to watch that Deep Ellum project again the same way, knowing that Alex is gone," Phil wrote. "He was an intelligent, caring soul, and he will be greatly missed."

All of Alex's friends have to watch this.