WORLD WEEKLY NEWS

I loved the Washington Post eulogy for the soon-to-be-departed World Weekly News. Especially this quote:

"Mainstream journalists read WWN and dreamed about killing the county sewer-system story they were working on and writing about a swamp monster or a 65-pound grasshopper," says Derek Clontz, who was a Weekly World News editor for 15 years.

What can I say? It's true. Wouldn't a session of the state Legislature be a little more lively if we could throw in some stories about the Mole People living secretly beneath the Round House or reveal that Ben Lujan actually is Elvis Presley living under a new identity?

The bad thing about the WWN is that every time I'd pick up one up in line at the grocery store to check out some crazy story, someone -- sometimes a friend, sometimes a complete stranger -- would suddenly appear to rib me: "So THIS is where you get all your stories ..."

Back in the late '80s or early '90s I actually got to write an article for The New Mexican based on a WWN cover story. It was something about an underground UFO base in northern New Mexico revealed. This was based on a speech given by some "expert." I actually tracked down the guy and it turned out he was pig-biting mad at the WWN for that story. He indeed had given a speech, but he had mentioned the New Mexico base in a disparaging way. He believed in some other theory of UFOs and looked down on those who believed in the New Mexico base.

Yes, I was disappointed.

Better go. have to check out a story about zombies running a slate of candidates in Taos County.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, August 12, 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
Lightning's Girl by Nancy Sinatra
Pablo Picasso by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Who's Been Driving My Little Yellow Taxi Cab by The Lincoln Street Exit
1976 by The 50 Kaitens
Jet Ninjin by Go!Go! 7188
Viva del Santo by Southern Culture on the Skids
Transcore by Chopper Sick Balls
Ravioli/Red Red Whine by The Dick Nixons

Ultimate by Gogol Bordello
Love Pipe by Zee Rok
Blind Man with a Pistol by Monsieur Verdun
Herpes Simplex by Rosa Yemen
W Czarnez Urnei by Kult
Lust Strings by Les Claypool
King Cobra by The Budos Band
Harder Than You Think by Public Enemy
Bring The Noise by The Unholy Trio

P-FUNK SET

R&B Skeletons in the Closet by George Clinton
Who Says a Funk Band Can't Play Rock?! by Funkadelic
Everything is on the Move by Parliament
Something Stank by George Clinton featuring Sativa
Mr. Wiggles by Parliament
Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow by Funkadelic


Tower of Song by Leonard Cohen & U2
New Amsterdam by Elvis Costello
The Hawk by Tom Verlaine
Theo's Dream by Robert Mirabal
The Body of an American by The Pogues
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

WE WANT THE FUNK!

Saturday was the second time I've seen George Clinton live. He played the Santa Fe Muzik Fest with his current line of P-Funk or whatever he's calling it these days.

The first time I saw him was the 1994 Lollapalooza in Phoenix. I remember that show as a weird and wonderful blast of funk.

But -- 13 years later -- Clinton's band sounded even stronger. Bootsy, Bernie, Maceo, etc. are long gone, but his current band (including greybearded long-timers like guitarists Garry "Starchild" Shider -- the guy in the diaper -- and DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight) are tight but maniacal.

Clinton is the front man, though others handle most of the vocals. He's the benevolent, grandfatherly embodiment of the spirit of the band. (Speaking of grandfatherly, his granddaughter Sativa is now part of the troupe. )

Check out my photos of the Muzik Fest over on my FLICKR site. (Gobs of Clinton and Public Enemy photos.)

ELVIS WAS A HERO TO MOST

Just about my only disappointment with Public Enemy's performance at the Santa Fe Muzik Fest last night was the fact they still have that verse, "Elvis was a hero to most" in the song "Fight the Power" and they still call him a racist.

I had read a couple of years ago that Chuck D no longer believes this. That fact is brought up in this excellent New York Times opinion piece by Peter Guralnick that Jim Terr sent me this morning.

So what's the deal with Elvis as racist? There's this nasty rumor, repeated for decades as fact that Elvis had once said something to the effect of "“The only thing Negroes can do for me is buy my records and shine my shoes” in some interview somewhere.

I first heard this back in 1976 when I was doing student teaching at Albuquerque High School. I was talking music with one of my students, a Black girl. When I mentioned Elvis her whole demeanor changed. "Why don't you like Elvis?" I asked. She told me the awful thing he supposedly said, using a stronger word than "Negroes."

As Guralnick points out, this "shine my shoes" statement never has been documented and Elvis specifically denied it.

So come on, PE, if we can forgive Professor Griff for anti-Semitic statements he really did make, let's give Elvis a break for something he likely never said.

UPDATE: I just read a 2002 interview with Griff denying he said that Jews are "responsible for a majority of wickedness in the world" or whatever he was quoted saying. I'm not sure of the truth of the matter. But he apparently doesn't agree with the alleged statement. Maybe we all should take a step back from rushing to judgement.

MORE ON RICHARDSON GAY-DEBATE "SCREW-UP"

My story in Saturday's New Mexican on Gov. Bill Richardson's gay damage-control effort can be found HERE

His Friday interview with The Advocate is HERE

His Friday interview with the blog Queerty is HERE