TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, July 29, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and out new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Driftin' by The Big Ugly Guys
Trash by The New York Dolls
Gentleman in Black by Tav Falco
Nothing Works by Rich Deluxe
Thunder Girl by Go! Go! 7188
Mechanical Flattery by Lydia Lunch
Almost Black by James Chance
Angel Baby by Roky Erikson

Fear Explosion by Chocolate Helicopter
Get Your Kicks on Route 666 by Monkeyshines
Saboteur by The Mayfair Classics
Undertaker by Pussy Galore
Devil Dance by The A-Bones
Fun Time by Iggy Pop
You Lost Everything But It's Not My Fault by Hang on The Box
American Wedding by Gogol Bordello

El Incidio de Los Alamos by The Knights
Vamos Ala GoGo by The Surf Lords
El Mosquito by Eddie Dimas
Bottle of Wine by The Fireballs
Bonehead by Milo de Venus
When You Were Mine by The Morfomen
Mi Saxophone by Al Hurricane
Moonbeam by King Richard & The Knights

My Rights vs. Yours by The New Pornographers
Lost in The Supermarket by The Clash
Mohammed's Radio by Warren Zevon
God's Away on Business by Tom Waits with The Kronos Quartet
I'm Your Man by Nick Cave
Every Day I Have to Cry by Arthur Alexander
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, July 27, 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

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
It Came out of the Sky by Creedence Clearwater Revival
If You Don't Love Jesus by Billy Joe Shaver
Be a Little Quieter by Porter Wagoner
How Many Biscuits Can You Eat by Splitlip Rayfield
The Mermaid by Bobby Bare
Ten Year Coin by Martin Zellar
I Keep Wishing For You by Sir Douglas Quintet
I Should Have Married Marie by Cornell Hurd
Pink Burrito by R. Crumb & The Cheap Suit Serenaders

My Dirty Life and Times by Warren Zevon
Excuse Me While I Break My Own Heart by Whiskeytown with Alejandro Escovedo
Give Back the Keys to My Heart by Uncle Tupelo with Doug Sahm
California Stars by Wilco & Billy Bragg
Tennessee Waltz by Sally Timms
Sally Let Your Bangs Hang Down by Rose Maddox
Hearts Like Ours by Marty Stuart & Connie Smith
Amos Moses by Primus

2007: A Bluegrass Oddity/Don't Be Cruel by Shawn Camp & Billy Burnette
Eager Beaver Baby by Johnny Burnette & The Rock 'n' Roll Trio
Cranky Mulatto by The Gourds
Something in the Water by Big Al Anderson & The Balls
You Ain't Gonna Have Ol' Buck to Kick Around No More by Buck Owens
She Never Met a Man She Didn't Like by Dolly Parton
One Man Against the World (Part One) by John Schooley
Jesus Loves a Jezebel by Goshen
Early Every Morn by Maria Muldaur

Odds and Ends (Bits and Pieces) by The Bill Hearne Roadhouse Revue
Blue Angel by Hundred Year Flood
Are You Still My Girl by Joe West
Poisonville by Ronny Elliott
Makeout King by Eleni Mandell
The Face of a Fighter by Willie Nelson
I'm Gonna Change My Ways 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: ALL HAIL KING RICHARD!

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

There’s a lot of history wrapped up in a modest little CD called King Richard’s Red Hot New Mexican Chile Stew-Art! (subtitled A Southwest Guitar Rock and Ranchera Instrumental Adventure) by a band called The Knights, (formerly King Richard & The Knights).

It’s a tasty little collection of surfy instrumentals influenced by Mexican and cowboy music led by guitarist (and self-crowned “king”) Dick Stewart, a 40-plus-year veteran of New Mexico rock.

I first stumbled across King Richard & The Knights earlier this year while searching eMusic for obscure ’60s garage-band music. There I found Precision, a compilation credited to “King Richard & The Knights (Plus Other ’60s Albuquerque Groups).” It’s an album, originally released on the Collectibles label, of proto-psychedelia, instrumental tunes, and early rock ballads. The title track is an instrumental that was a regional hit in the early ’60s — back when “regional hits” were popular in the world of commercial radio.

The track that slugged me in the gut was the vocal version of “Moonbeam” (there’s also an instrumental); it’s six minutes of pure, greasy soul. Six minutes was an eternity when this song was recorded, but when it pops up on my iPod, I don’t want it to end.

Upon further investigation, I discovered the Lance Records Web site, run by Stewart. The site includes a candid history of The Knights that begins in 1961. Stewart describes the early incarnation of his band as “a Ventures/Fireballs clone playing 40 to 50 instrumental guitar songs per gig with no vocals other than a Chuck Berry tune here and there to break the monotony.”

“Precision” became a hit shortly before civilization as we knew it was destroyed by The Beatles and the subsequent British Invasion. Stewart on his Web site recalls: “Of course we were pissed, as were the other American rock musicians of the early ’60s, especially when our fans swiftly dumped us for the rock bands that sang with English accents, played those hideous-looking Vox guitars (especially when compared to the Fender), and grew their hair long! I admit that The Knights performed some of the early British hits shortly before calling it quits, but it was done purely out of necessity. (We wanted to remain employed.) Nevertheless, I just couldn’t shake the lead-guitar rock styles of the early ’60s, much less develop a passion for performing the new age of rock that was completely dictated by the British. That attitude, in fact, ultimately caused the demise of the original Knights.”

The band broke up just after Stewart started Lance Records, a “little, off-the-wall indie label” in Albuquerque in the mid-’60s that featured local garage bands like Lincoln Street Exit (which later became XIT, an influential Native American rock group) and Fe-Fi-Four Plus 2, best known for its psychedelic cult classic “I Wanna Come Back From the World of LSD.”

He also began publishing a newsletter called The Lance Monthly, which had stories about acts in the Lance Records stable and other local and regional acts like Al Hurricane, The Morfomen (a Santa Fe band), and Floyd & Jerry.

Stewart spent many years concentrating on his Hispanic music label, Casanova Records. But after Collectibles released the Precision compilation and the rise of Internet marketing convinced him the Web gave indie labels “a fighting chance,” Stewart revived The Lance Monthly. (This month there’s a lengthy and somewhat bitter recollection of the West Texas band The Cavaliers — most famous for the teenage-death classic “Last Kiss” — written by former Cavalier Sid Holmes.)

And Stewart revived The Knights.

As for Red Hot New Mexican Chile Stew-Art!, there’s a fine cover of “Ghost Riders” (which previously was transformed into a surf song by Dick Dale). There’s also one called “Phantom Riders.”

Did I say there was history on this album? Until I got this album I never realized that the original name of Clovis, N.M., was Riley Switch. “Riley’s Switch” is the title of a chugging little rocker here.

Meanwhile “El Incendio de Los Alamos (When Los Alamos Burned)” sounds like it could have come out of the classic surf-music era, as does “Surfin’ the Rio Grande.”

But my favorite ones are the rancheras — “El Rancho Grande,” “Poco de Todo,” “A Medias de la Noche.” They remind me of classic tunes by Arizona Hispano instrumental rocker Eddie Dimas, whose “El Mosquito” should have been a national hit.

So here’s to King Richard Stewart. Let’s hope he keeps cranking out The Lance Monthly and keeps rocking with The Knights.

Also recommended:

*Voodoo Surf Fever by The Surf Lords. These guys haven’t been surfing the Rio Grande for nearly as long as King Richard, but they’ve been around long enough to make three CDs.

The Lords are led by guitarist/vocalist (they’re not entirely instrumental) Tom Chism, and their sound has a definite Latin influence. The song “Voices Carry” sounds like it’s inspired by Native American music — heavy tom-toms, some subtle chanting at the beginning and end, and guitar references to The Shadows’ “Apache.”

Like the title implies, this is kind of a spooky album. The best songs here are slow and spooky. There are fine mysterioso covers of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” and David Essex’s “Rock On.”

“Lost in the Bayou” is simmering swamp funk. Downright psychedelic is a spacey medley “Echoes From Neptune — Shenandoah.” Yes, “Shenandoah” is the famous Civil War-era tune, but this one is way across the wide Missouri.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: THE CNN/CARTOON NETWORK DEBATE

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

People who read my music column or listen to my radio shows know that I like a lot of crazy music. I also like some strange movies, television shows, books and art. Captain Beefheart, R. Crumb and David Lynch are all heroes of mine.

But when it comes to the political process, I guess I’m pretty much a stuffy traditionalist. Monday night’s YouTube/CNN Democratic presidential debate made me feel like an old fuddy-duddy.

Don’t get me wrong. I like that this new format gave several “average Americans” (whoever they are) the chance to question politicians. I thought it was great that people whose children have died in the war and people struggling with real health issues had a platform to address the candidates. And the lesbian couple who asked about same-sex marriage put human faces on this wedge issue.

But despite all the praise lavished on the YouTube format, someone has to throw a wet blanket on some of the silly stuff.

It just didn’t seem quite right for these potential leaders of the free world to have to respond to talking snowmen, fake hillbillies and bad musicians.

I’m waiting for the Cartoon Network to host its own forum, where each of the candidates gets interviewed by Space Ghost.

Bundles of money: Richardson, based on a campaign finance report released earlier this month, has raised more than $13 million for his presidential campaign — which is considered a respectable amount, though far less than front-runners Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and slightly less than John Edwards.

So who is bankrolling Richardson’s campaign?

OpenSecrets.org (the Web site of the campaign finance watchdog group Center For Responsive Politics) breaks down contributions by the donor’s employer. By far, the biggest employer is New Mexico’s state government. State employees so far have coughed up $244,730 for the chief executive’s campaign.

Employees from American Income Life Insurance, a Waco-based company, gave Richardson $34,300.

University of New Mexico employees contributed $31,950, closely followed by those who work for the Sutin, Thayer and Brown law firm, which gave $31,365.

Employees of BGK Group, a Santa Fe-based real-estate company, gave $27,500. Eddie Gilbert, who heads the company, hosted a fundraiser for Richardson in May, New Mexico Business Journal reported.

People who work for a California company called National Recreation Properties raised $20,700 for Richardson. According to Answers.com, “The company markets residential real estate most notably through television advertising, including infomercials, generally featuring actor Erik Estrada or game show host Chuck Woolery.”

Forest City Enterprises employees handed Richardson $20,100. That company is involved in developing the 12,900-acre site in south Albuquerque.

Other companies whose employees have been generous to Richardson include Qwest ($19,100); the Denver-based Brownstein Hyatt law firm ($18,650); Time Warner ($18,300); and PNM Resources ($15,700).

The top industries contributing to Richardson are miscellaneous businesses ($1,767,924), lawyers ($861,022), real estate ($418,775), civil servants and government officials ($354,043), securities and investments ($351,000), business services ($206,474), education ($203,685), entertainment ($165,150), miscellaneous finance ($161,150), general contractors ($135,500) and health professionals ($131,225).

People who list their occupation as “retired” have provided $1.3 million to the campaign.

Blue acts: A huge source of Richardson’s campaign money has been Act Blue, the self-described “online clearing house for Democratic action.”

OpenSecrets, using figures from campaign finance reports, places the amount raised for Richardson via Act Blue at $238,285, though Act Blue’s own Web site, which presumably is more up to date, reports $301,810 raised for Richardson from 1,427 supporters.

While all the candidates have received some money through Act Blue, only two have raised significant amounts there. One is Richardson. But he’s raised far less Act Blue bucks than John Edwards, who has raised more than $3.5 million.

WE'RE NUMBER TWO!

It's official! This here is a second-rate blog!

The Stephen W. Terrell Web Log won second place in The Santa Fe Reporter's annual Best of Santa Fe contest.

I lost out to Julia, but I beat the crap out of The Santa Fe Library Blog.

Maybe now Joe Monahan will buy me lunch.

Keeping it in the family, the store where my sister works, The Critters and Me, won best pet-supply store.