TERRELL'S TUNEUP: STIRRING THE SOUL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 24, 2007

Good God, ya’ll! Do you hear that funky sound? There’s a soul revival going on!

Truth be told, there probably is always a soul revival going on somewhere on the outskirts of American music. At any given time in the past couple of decades, some venerated old soulster from the days of yore was making a comeback, and a bunch of new, obscure bands are doing their best to carry on the traditions of the J.B.’s or Bar-Kays, while some cool underground labels are specializing in funky sounds (think Soul Fire in the early part of this decade or its predecessor Desco in the late ’90s).

Even though the current crop of soul revivalists doesn’t attain the heights reached by James Brown, Otis Redding, or Aretha Franklin, and there’s little, if any, chance in today’s musical climate that a revival will break into mainstream popularity like it did in the golden years, there are some cool, funky sounds coming down that definitely are worth hearing. They include the following albums:

* Kaboom! by The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker. This record CD represents both a new band specializing in good old soul as well as a comeback vehicle for a respected vet.

Charles Walker has been in the music game for many decades. One of his songs, “No Fool No More” (by Charles Walker & the Daffodils) was included on the second volume of Night Train to Nashville, that wonderful collection of R & B, blues, and soul hits from the country music capital.

Walker’s voice has grown deeper and a little rougher since his Daffodils days, but it’s no less powerful. He’s a perfect match for this horn-heavy Nashville ensemble. All the songs here are original numbers, and all but one were penned by Dynamite chief guitarist Leo Black.

One of the highlights is the seven-plus-minute “Way Down South,” a slow-cooking, swampy protest song in which Walker moans about crooked judges and hurricanes “with beautiful names.” Then there’s the up-tempo, muscular “Killin’ It,” which concludes the album. It’s sheer madhouse funk, with Black’s guitar and Tyrone Dickerson’s organ rising over the horns.

*The Budos Band II by The Budos Band. As the name implies, this is the second album by this 11-piece instrumental band from Staten Island, N.Y., that blends soul, funk, and an ominous touch of crime jazz with a discernible West African pop sound. It’s like a soundtrack Fela Kuti never made for a great blaxploitation movie that exists only on the astral plane.

There’s definitely an undercurrent of danger here. The album cover shows a scorpion about to strike. One of the song titles is “King Cobra” — both a dangerous arachnid and a malt liquor.

Horns and percussion dominate the Budos sound, but organist Mike Deller’s slinky riffs also stand out. His solo on “Deep in the Sand” sounds like it came straight out of The Arabian Nights, while the hook on “Ride or Die” sounds like it owes a debt to ? & The Mysterians (or perhaps to the contemporary psychedelic Cambodian American rock band Dengue Fever).

In the middle of the album, you might think you recognize one of the melodies — or at least the pulsating bass intro. But you might have a hard time placing it. “His Girl” is a minor-key rearrangement of “My Girl.” The Temptations never sounded this evil.

*Skippin’ Church by The Soul Deacons. Yes, Santa Fe has a bird in this cockfight. Brother E. Clayton and the boys, who live here, are as friendly and inviting as The Budos Band is sinister. But that’s not a bad thing. This high-spirited record is almost as irresistible as the band’s live performances.

Unlike The Dynamites or The Budos Band, members of The Soul Deacons don’t write much of their own material. But they have a good knack for choosing songs that aren’t that well known or overcovered, so the band can make the songs their own.

At the moment my favorite tune on the album is “Stool Pigeon,” originally performed by Kid Creole and the Coconuts. Steve O’Neill’s Stevie Wonder-like clavinet is nice and subtle, while Nick Thompson’s sax solo is exquisite. And among the background singers is none other than Chris Calloway.

While most the tracks are upbeat and danceable, Clayton slows it down on the closing song, “You’ve Got to Hurt.” It’s sweet and packed with soul, with Clayton accompanied only by piano, organ, and sax.

Also recommended:
*Lonely Just Like Me: The Final Chapter by Arthur Alexander. Back when The Beatles was a cover band, one of the group’s most powerful numbers was the mournful “Anna.” When John Lennon sang the line, “So I will set you free, go with him,” you could tell even then there was a primal scream building up in the guy.

The song was written by Arthur Alexander, who is best known as a behind-the-scenes songwriter whose songs were recorded by The Rolling Stones, Johnny Rivers, and all sorts of rock, soul, and country artists. His own solo career never quite took off, though his understated, earnest voice perfectly fit his solemn songs of heartache.

This is a reissue — fortified by bonus tracks — of Alexander’s 1993 comeback album. True to his reputation as one of soul music’s saddest hard-luck stories, Alexander, died shortly after the album’s original release.

The original album, which featured sidemen like Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn, and “Funky” Donnie Fritts, includes some of his best-known songs — “Every Day I Have to Cry” (Rivers did my favorite version of this), “In the Middle of It All,” and “If It’s Really Got to Be This Way.”

One of the most gripping songs is “Lonely Just Like Me,” which unexpectedly turns into a murder ballad. The studio version sounds almost like a Marty Robbins song, but there’s also an a cappella version recorded in a hotel room that’s stark and startling. And, yes, there’s a live version of “Anna” that’s just heartbreaking.

Students of soul should get well acquainted with Arthur Alexander.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: WHAT IF THE WHAT-IFS COME TRUE?

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

Possible 2010 lieutenant governor candidate Javier Gonzales might have hit the nail on the head this week when asked about Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano’s announcement that he’s running for the “light guv” when he said, “In politics, three years is an eternity.”

Solano, of course, has his reasons for starting so early. While well-known in Santa Fe County (where he won big in last year’s primary and faced no opponent in the general election), the sheriff needs to build up name recognition in those other 32 counties.

And of course, while there haven’t been any formal news conferences like Solano’s, he’s not the only candidate working on the 2010 election. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish has said straight out she’s running for governor. Albuquerque Mayor Marty Chávez has an exploratory committee for a possible gubernatorial run. One of the world’s shortest books would be about exploratory committees that didn’t turn into full-blown campaigns.

But Gonzales and others with whom I’ve spoken in the last couple days agree that there are a lot of “what-ifs” out there with the potential of shaking up the political ecology in this state.

First of all, before we get to the 2010 election, there’s something called the 2008 election. (Remember that?)

True, no state offices are up for election next year. All legislative seats are up, and theoretically, any legislator planning to run in 2010 could be defeated in 2008. But assuming next year is like most previous elections, there will be little legislative turnover and an embarrassing number of incumbent lawmakers will face no opposition in the primary or general election.

The real “what-if” is next year’s national election and what ripple effects it might have for New Mexico.

Gov. Bill Richardson is running for president. Even if he doesn’t get the nomination, there’s speculation he could end up on the Democratic ticket. Or he could end up in the Cabinet if a Democrat gets elected. Or — and this is just pure speculation on the part of some political junkies — he could end up running against his old rival Pete Domenici for U.S. Senate.

(Richardson, for the record, has repeatedly said if he doesn’t get the nomination, he’ll go back to “the best job I’ve ever had,” i.e. governor of New Mexico. However he also told the New York Daily News last week, “I never preclude anything.”)

If Richardson, for whatever reason, doesn’t complete his term, Denish would become governor. That would mean she would have the advantage of the incumbency. No incumbent New Mexico governor has been ousted in a primary, at least in the near 40 years I’ve lived in this state.

Under the New Mexico Constitution, there’s no provision for choosing a replacement lieutenant governor. There have been attempts to change that in the past two legislative sessions, but both have stalled. It’s possible though such an amendment could pass in the next session and be approved by voters in November 2008.

That would mean if Denish became governor, she would choose her lieutenant governor, who then, assumedly, also would have the advantage of the incumbency in 2010.

But Richardson is not the only New Mexico Democrat who — at least according to the rumor mill — could be tapped for a federal office. There’s some chatter about U.S. Rep. Tom Udall becoming interior secretary — his dad Stewart Udall’s old job — if a Democrat is elected president.

If that were to happen, that would create the biggest political stampede among Northern New Mexico Democrats since Richardson gave up his congressional seat to become U.N. secretary. That actually could help Solano because some of the potential candidates looking at the lieutenant governor’s job might switch their sights to Congress.

Even if none of these particular “what-ifs” come true, three years indeed is a long, long time in politics.

Voter ID: An independent report released Tuesday found that 80 percent of New Mexico voters surveyed rated their voting experience with the new state paper-ballot system as “good” or “satisfactory.”

The poll was of 471 voters in the 1st Congressional District (which mainly consists of Albuquerque).

However, according to the executive summary, the same study indicates there is confusion among poll workers and voters about the voter identification requirements under the new election law that went into effect last year.

That law requires some identification be provided at polling places. The ID can be “verbal” — a statement of the voter’s name, address, birth year and last four digits of the voter’s Social Security number.

During legislative debates on the law, Republicans argued that verbal identification amounts to no identification at all. As it turns out, a big number of voters weren’t even asked for verbal ID.

“Although many poll workers asked for voter identification, many did not,” the study said. “The voter survey confirmed this finding indicating that almost 65 percent of voters showed some form of voter identification, while 35 percent did not.”

The summary goes on to say, “Voters should be treated equally by poll workers and given the politics around this issue and the clear confusion by poll workers, more effort should be made training poll workers on voter identification election laws.”

UNAPOLOGETIC NEPOTISM

Say hello to my little friends.

BLOOD-DRAINED MONKEY FLOOR

I just got word that Santa Fe expatriate Tommy Trusnovic will be back in Santa Fe for a visit and has lined up a reunion for the last three (!) bands he was involved with here.

Monkeyshines, The Floors and The Blood-Drained Cows (that one featuring Gregg Turner, who I believe was fired by Manny Aragon from The Angry Samoans or something) will be playing at CKs -- right next door to Cheeks -- on Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2841 Cerrillos Road. Don't know about exact time or cover charge yet.

I realize most of the readers of this blog are at Cheeks every weeknight anyway, so pull yourself away and wander in next door to check out these bands on Sept. 5.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, August 19, 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
Give Her a Great Big Kiss by The New York Dolls
London Boys by Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer
Wild Wild Lover by The A-Bones
Psycho Daisies by The Hentchmen
Psychedelic Love by Big Ugly Guys
Carolina Hard Core Ecstasy by Frank Zappa & Captain Beefheart
Teddy Bear by The Residents
Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Orion

Zina Marina by Gogol Bordello
Otono No Himitsu by Go!Go! 7188
This Town Belongs to Me by Thundercrack
Scorpion by The Budos Band
Frankie & Johnny by Kajik Staszewsky
Goodbye My Roller Girl by Mummy the Peepshow
Indian Johnny by Robert Mirabal
I Got Something For You Girl by Hot Nuts
Half a Boy and Half a Man by Queen Ida

Grinnin' in Your Face by James Blood Ulmer
I'm Not Your Clown by Hubert Sumlin
Sinner Girl by Benny Spellman
Slinky by The Dyamites featuring Charles Walker
She's Not Just Another Woman by The Soul Deacons
Johnny Heartbreak by Arthur Alexander
One Kind Favor by Canned Heat

Good Shepherd by The Jefferson Airplane
Lynch Blues by Corey Harris
Borracho by Mark Lannegan
The Indifference of Heaven by Warren Zevon
That Feel by Tom Waits with Keith Richards
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE LATEST DEM DEBATE

I haven't actually seen this morning's debate at Drake University in Iowa. Due to some weird local programming decision, Channel 7 isn't showing the debate until 4 p.m. Mountain Time. ("Action 7 news! We keep you way behind the rest of the country ...")

But judging from the official transcript of the debate, it looks like Gov. Bill Richardson might have done pretty well.

He avoided any serious gaffes and weird nonsequiturs (no gay relationships with undocumented workers), he was able to jump in and engage the other candidates over the issue of the Iraq War.

He was able to land a couple of good laugh lines and applause lines. And he even poked a little fun at himself for his previous verbal blunders.

He desperately needed this after a week of apologizing to the gay community and dealing with his former Nevada staffer, the former bordello manager wanted on hot check charges.

XXXX

When questioned about his position that all troops could be withdrawn from Iraq in six to eight months, Richardson said many (unnamed) generals and security expert Anthony Cordesman agree with him.

That might give the impression that Cordesman, a former director of intelligence assessment at the Pentagon, has endorsed Richardson's plan.

That's not the case. Cordesman did recently say that troops could be withdrawn earlier than the military is advocating. Here's an Associated Press story about Cordesman's recent report.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, August 17, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Reprimand by Joe West
Henry by New Riders of the Purple Sage
Beaucoups of Blues by Ringo Starr
Crying Tramp by Heavy Trash
Guv'ment by Roger Miller
The Ballad of Roger Miller by Homer & Jethro
Black Rose by Billy Joe Shaver
Get Thee Behind Me Satan by Billy Joe Shaver with John Anderson
Briars & Brambles by Chipper Thompson

Paul by Bobby Bare
Lumberjack by Willie Nelson
Summer Wages by David Bromberg
Lumberjack Song by Monty Python
Love of the Common People by Waylon Jennings
Mom's Tattoo by Cornell Hurd with Johnny Bush
All in the Pack by The Gourds
Catch Me a Possum by The Watzloves


A TRIBUTE TO ELVIS
Tomorrow Night by Elvis Presley
Tell the Killer the King is Dead by Ronny Elliott
Listening to Elvis by Ed Pettersen
It Took Four Beatles to Make One Elvis by Harry Hayward
En El Barrio by El Vez
So Glad You're Mine by Elvis Presley
Love Me by Nicolas Cage
Birth of Rock 'n' Roll by Carl Perkins & Class of 55
Elvis is Everywhere by The Pleasure Barons



The Open Road Song by Peter Case
Cold + Dark + Wet by Gregg Brown
My Wildest Dreams Grow Wilder Every Day by The Flatlanders
It Must Be You by Dolly Parton
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: AROUND THE WORLD IN A DAZE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 17, 2007

If The Pogues were Ukrainian — if The Clash had been raised in a Gypsy caravan — if Brave Combo had a New York snarl — then they might be Gogol Bordello, whose latest album, Super Taranta!, is a lusty, vodka-fueled stomp.

GB is a nine-member, New York-based band led by singer Eugene Hütz, whose family fled Ukraine in the 1980s, after the Chernobyl nuclear accident. He ended up in New York City in the early ’90s and founded a band that specializes in a sound he calls “Gypsy punk.”

Comparisons to The Pogues are frequent and on the mark. Hütz and his crew — an international cabal that includes members of various nationalities and instruments including accordion and fiddle — do for Eastern European music what Shane MacGowan and his merry men did for Irish drinking songs.

And like The Pogues, Gogol doesn’t limit himself to a single ethnic influence in his music. Super Taranta! not only has the band’s trademark Gypsy craziness, but also delves into dub reggae (in the Clash-like “Dub the Frequencies of Love”) and Italian music. I almost want Francis Ford Coppola to make another Godfather sequel, just so he could include a wedding scene with GB’s “Harem in Tuscany (Taranta)”.

Gogol is known primarily as a wild party band, and many of its partisans swear you’ve got to see the group live before you really can claim you’re a fan. That might be true. But there’s plenty on this album (and albums past) for we uninitiated to love.

Hütz is not only a crazed performer but a good songwriter as well. He’s got a philosophical bent. For example, on “Supertheory of Supereverything,” he meditates on religion. With a chorus of “I don’t read the Bible/I don’t trust disciples,” this song can be seen as an Eastern European take on “It Ain’t Necessarily So” — the Porgy and Bess tune that opened a whole new world of skepticism to me when I heard Cab Calloway sing it as a child.

Hütz also got a great sense of humor. “American Wedding” is a sardonic look at a culture that he finds repressed. Starting out with a riff from Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust,” Hütz spits, “Have you ever been to American wedding? Where’s the vodka, where’s the marinated herring? ... Everybody’s full of cake staring at the floor. ... People got to get up early, yes, they’ve got to go.” And worst yet, “Nobody talks about my Supertheory of Supereverything.”

More recommended rock from around the world

*Best of Go!Go! by Go!Go! 7188. This is the latest Japanese girl-punk group to emerge on the great Japanese girl-punk label Benten. The trio has been around for nearly 10 years and have released right albums before this “greatest hits” collection.

Go!Go!7188 isn’t quite as harsh and aggressive as many of the Benten groups, like Mummy the Peepshow or (my current favorite) Lolita No. 18. In fact, some of the more power-poppy songs here might even be compared with the Go-Gos. This is especially true of most the earlier cuts on the record.

But don’t think they don’t rock. Tunes like “Thunder Girl” and “Jet Ninjin” are fine basic guitar/bass/drums throw-downs. “Otona No Kusuri” starts out with a bass riff that sounds almost like the band is going to go into a hopped-up version of Roy Orbison’s “Oh, Pretty Woman.” That’s followed by “Otona No Himitsu,” a mad pogo-polka.

*6 Mighty Shots by various artists from the Bang! Bang! Recording Organization. From Nancy, France, and London comes a promising new label that’s released this dandy sampler.

The Bang! Bang! gang apparently is led by King Automatic, who also records on the Swiss Voodoo Rhythm label. He’s billed as a one-man garage band, playing organ, drums, harmonica, and who knows what else — all at the same time.

But just because he’s a one-man band doesn’t mean he’s a hermit. He’s on every cut here (including his own Yardbirdsy “My Shark”) except for one by another one-man band, Monsieur Verdun. That’s a banjo-driven stomper called “Blind Man With a Pistol.”

There’s some cool Nuggets-style fun with “I Got Something for You Girl” by a band called Hot Nuts (no, it’s not the same band as Doug Clark’s classic dirty-minded frat/soul crew) and Thundercrack’s “This Town Belongs to Me,” which features a strangled, Standells-like fuzz-guitar hook and tortured vocals.

Perhaps my favorite mighty shot is a sweet lo-fi sleaze ballad called “Nothing Works,” by British singer Rich Deluxe.

Automatic, Verdun, and Deluxe team up under the name of The Bang! Bang! Organization for a banjo/organ/guitar dirge called “Stay Drunk.”

All in all, an impressive collection.

*In the Blood by Robert Mirabal. Here’s some “world music” from right here in New Mexico. This is the first album in four years from Taos Pueblo’s Mirabal, the most acclaimed Native American musician from the state, and, come to think of it, one of the most prominent in the world.

I’m not sure why, but nearly half of the songs on this album have appeared on previous Mirabal works. Some, like “The Dance,” “Medicine Man,” and “Little Indians” have been on at least two previous albums.

Several tunes are just too synthy and adult contemporary for my peculiar tastes. But I love “Indian Johnny,” which starts with a shotgun blast and is carried by some fine, raunchy guitar by Larry Mitchell.

And “Theo’s Dream,” which also appeared on Mirabal’s underrated 2003 album Indians Indians, is a moving tale of a relative forever changed by the Vietnam War.

(LAST WEEK'S) SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

When I was off checking out a cool little country band called Public Enemy last Friday during my Santa Fe Opry shift KSFR played the pre-recorded show that Laurell made last month -- which had never aired because I got back from my vacation in time to do it live.

Unfortunately there was some kind of Robojock glitch and most of the last set never aired. Laurell sent me the songs that did play.

I'll be back from the shadows again on Friday night for this week's Opry.


Friday, August 10, 2007
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Guest Host: Laurell Reynolds

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

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Your Flag Decal Won't Get You into Heaven Anymore-John Prine
Whiskey River (live)-Willie Nelson
Fire on the The Mountain by The Marshal Tucker Band
If I Could Have Her Tonight-Neil Young
Mama's Opry-Iris Dement
Open Up/Panama Hat-Michael Hurley
Country Pie-Bob Dylan
Same Old Man-Holy Modal Rounders
Tulsa Twist-Dickie McBride and the Village Boys

Through the Eyes of an Eagle-Janette & Joe Carter
Wayfaring Stranger-Burl Ives
Red River Valley-Don Edwards
Cowboy's Lament-Slim Critchlow
Tulsa Queen /Pancho & Lefty-Emmylou Harris
Nothin' /Waiting Around to Die- Townes Van Zandt

Not the Lovin' Kind-Buffy Sainte-Marie
Ode To Billy Joe-Bobbie Gentry
In the Ghetto-Elvis Presley
Together Again-Buck Owens
Rhinestone Cowboy-Glen Campbell
Someday Soon-Judy Collins
Rose Garden-Lynn Anderson
Sundown-Gordon Lightfoot

Live Forever-Billy Joe Shaver

ROUNDHOUSE ROUNDUP: FLIRTING WITH EXHAUSTION?

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 16, 2007

Gov. Bill Richardson made national headlines and created a true Internet buzz last week when at a gay-issues forum in Los Angeles he said he believed homosexuality was a choice, not something a person is born with.

But the next day, while trying to explain and apologize for that answer, Richardson said something that could be even stranger.

It was on the Michelangelo Signorile Show on the gay-oriented OutQ channel on SIRIUS satellite radio. Signorile asked him if he agreed with a statement by another Democratic presidential candidate, Mike Gravel, that “love between a man and a man is love, is beautiful too.”

Richardson agreed. “I think that gay relationships are human decency, they’re love, they promote families. I’m for gay adoption. I think it’s very healthy because there are millions of kids in this country that have no homes.”

Fair enough. But then Richardson went on: “I’m for gays having relationships with undocumented workers, and I’ve always felt that way.”

Huh?

That’s right. You can listen for yourself. (Go to http://www.siriusoutq.com/ and click on the audio clip labeled “Gay relationships are love.”)

There you’ll also hear Richardson declare, “I’ve been a Hispanic,” before he catches his mistake and says, “I am a Hispanic.”

I’m not sure what he meant by that or what “undocumented workers” had to do with anything being discussed.

Earlier in the interview, in trying to explain why he didn’t understand the question that tripped him up, Richardson told Signorile that he’d just flown all night from New Hampshire.

One has to sympathize somewhat with Richardson in one respect. Most of us puny mortals would crumble if we tried to keep up with the schedule to which Richardson is subjecting himself.

Still it raises the question: Is Richardson — whose public-relations staff for years have used the word tireless to describe him — flirting with exhaustion from the endless campaign?

Would this explain the isolated non sequiturs in his public appearances, such as his unexplained reference to “OSHA protections” in a recent debate when he was asked what he’d do to prevent factories from shutting down.

In a Salon.com profile last month, writer Walter Shapiro noted that Richardson told an Iowa audience, “My mind is mush” when he lost his train of thought while answering a question about immigration.

“It is so easy to imagine how that self-deprecatory moment would look — taken out of context — on YouTube,” noted Shapiro.

Little sympathy from public: I asked uber pundit Larry Sabato — director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics and author of the upcoming book A More Perfect Constitution, what he made of this.

“I’ve been surprised at how poorly Richardson has performed in the various debates and forums,” Sabato said in an e-mail response. “Sometimes candidates appear better than they are. Arguably, Richardson is the opposite — he’s much better than he appears. Part of it is clearly lack of preparation. One gets the sense that some of these candidates read big briefing books and have mock debates, practicing their sound-bites, while Richardson is almost winging it. (As a college teacher of 29 years, I’m good at spotting that!)”

Sabato suggested Richardson go easier on his public schedule and spend more time preparing for debates and forums.

“No doubt, the exhaustion of the campaign trail is contributing to this,” Sabato said. “At the same time, the presidency is the most exhausting office on earth, and the campaign is a measure of how well a person will bear up under the strain.”

“Over the years, staffs always attribute a poor performance by their candidate to tiredness or exhaustion. The public has little sympathy, though. Every presidential contender has asked for the job, after all.”

Well Bob, here’s your conference room: The state Treasurer’s Office is naming a conference room after the late Santa Fe newsman Bob Barth.

Somehow that seems appropriate. After the scandals at the Treasurer’s Office, you’ve got to wonder what kind of weird deals went down in that room. Now maybe the spirit of a roly-poly guy with a tape recorder will guard over that room and exorcise some of those less-than-savory spirits, at least in a metaphorical sense.

Barth, who worked for years as a reporter for the old KVSF radio station and later a long-defunct talk station called KMKE, died in 1990 at the age of 43.

He was just a few years older than me. I first met Barth when I was in high school and he was dating a woman who worked with my mother. He’s the guy who turned me on to Waylon Jennings, loaning me several albums years before most people ever heard of Waylon.

One of those albums was called Love of the Common People. I didn’t realize at that time how that title could apply to Barth’s career. He was on a first-name basis with governors and mayors, but he never forgot how to relate to everyday Santa Fe folks.

Years later, we’d cross paths again as fellow reporters. I’d always see him at City Council meetings. We’d sit together at the press table in the council chambers, Barth from KVSF, me, then from Journal North. And, yes, there was still room for Tom Day of The New Mexican.

He was a gentleman and he was a pro — even if we teased him about his habit of not editing out “Well, Bob ... ” from his audio clips of interviews. I’m convinced the politicians felt obligated to start off every interview with “Well, Bob ... ” any time Barth stuck a tape recorder in their faces.
State Treasurer James Lewis will officially dedicate the conference to Barth in a ceremony beginning at noon Tuesday at the Treasurer’s Office, 2019 Galisteo St.

Lorene Mills — widow of Barth’s radio colleague Ernie Mills — will officiate. She said former Govs. David Cargo, Bruce King and Toney Anaya will be on hand to share some Barth memories as will other assorted politicos, several old news hounds who knew him and lots of those “common people” who loved him.

Blog Bonus:
Here's Jon Stewart's take on the Human Rights Campaign debate last week, including Richardson's "choice" gaffe. Comedy Central will yank this in a few days, so enjoy it while you can.