TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: FUZZ & FLESH

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 29, 2008

Yes, they’re “retro.” Yes, they’ve been plowing a lot of the same ground since they first took the stage at CBGB in New York’s Bowery more than 30 years ago. And no, I’m not the first in criticdom to compare “First Date (Are You Coming On to Me?)” with the music of the Dave Clark Five.

But The Fleshtones, on their new album, Take a Good Look, attack their music with such strength, confidence, energy, and rock ’n’ roll joy that such reservations seem uptight and prissy.

Besides, I love the Dave Clark Five, so if “First Date” evokes fond memories of the DC5 version of “I Like It Like That,” it’s nothing but a plus. It makes me glad all over.

If you can’t name any hits by The Fleshtones, that’s because they never had any. Though mainstream success has eluded the members of this New York band for decades, their history is impressive.

Starting out in Queens in the mid-1970s, singer, harmonica blower, and keyboard man Peter Zaremba and guitarist Keith Streng took Nuggets-era fuzz tone and the Farfisa organ — which by that point in history had been missing in action for years and presumed dead — played it with punk-snot intensity, and created a signature sound they called “Super Rock.”

The Fleshtones lineup has stayed fairly steady all these years. Drummer Bill Milhizer has been with the group since 1980, while bassist Ken Fox joined in 1990. Though they’ve never been on the Billboard charts, The Fleshtones are the subject of a recent book, Sweat: The Story of The Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band.

Take a Good Look is full of songs that will fit naturally into The Fleshtones’ Super Rock repertoire. “Shiney Hiney” is raw defiance. “Ruby’s Old Time” is hot fun in the summertime. “Never Grew Up” is a pounding ode to extended adolescence.

Perhaps taking a cue from The Hives, “Jet Set Fleshtones” is a self-referential jewel. Built on an easy soul groove with a rumbling, fuzzy bass line, the song is an anthem for a traveling band.

“Going Back to School,” a nice plug for continuing education, reminds me a little of James Brown’s “Don’t Be a Drop Out.” However, The Fleshtones have the weird ability to take a socially responsible stance and make it sound menacing:

“When I go back to school/All the students gonna look at me /They’re
gonna wonder what I’m doing there/I got a lot to learn, so I don’t
care.”

Somehow you get the feeling that if these guys really went back to school, they’d still be juvenile delinquents.

Likewise, “Love Yourself” might sound like pop-psych pablum in the hands of lesser mortals. But this band makes self-respect sound tough and bitchin’.

One track shows a slight detour from the basic Fleshtones sound. “This Time Josephine” features a prominent acoustic guitar with Zaremba’s Farfisa-supplied Texy-Mexy fills (think The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer”). The song has an early-’70s Kinks feel to it.

But the most impressive tune is the title song, which ends the album. It’s an organ-dominated “talking song” that sounds like a mutant grandson of The Standells' Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White.” It’s a protest song against “a time when ugliness rules”; gentrification; “hipster overspill”; and some “tattoo-covered, goatee-, sock-hat-wearin’ ” jerk who’s trying to move in on the singer’s girlfriend. The song ends with Zaremba screaming as the band plays on.

This is a short album by modern standards — just over a half-hour. But it packs a super punch.

Also recommended:
* Two Headed Cow by Flat Duo Jets. A decade before the world heard of The White Stripes or The Black Keys, there was a loud, rowdy, blues-screamin’ duo from North Carolina called the Flat Duo Jets. With Dexter Romweber on guitar and vocals and Chris “Crow” Smith on drums, FDJ stripped rock ’n’ roll down to its basics.

The band broke up before the end of the last century, but just last year it was the subject of a documentary. This CD, released earlier this month, is a companion to that film. It’s a live show from 1986, but it sounds like it couln made in 1956 or last week.

“These are the damnedest people,” an unidentified announcer says in introducing the group. “You’ll have more sound coming off this stage than for any two people you’ll ever see in your life.”

Romweber and Smith immediately set out to prove him right. Kicking off the show with “Hoy Hoy,” a rockabilly workout originally done by The Collins Kids, the Jets set a dangerous energy level. (I have to say, however, I like the original much better. Take a look at the video below.)

Lots of songs here are familiar. The FDJ put a toughness into “Frog Went a Courtin’” that Burl Ives never imagined. And while Romweber is no match for Link Wray, this version of “Rawhide” is a spirited workout.

The group even pays tribute to the pride of Raton, The Fireballs, with a crazy, hopped-up rendition of the older group’s instrumental hit “Torquay.” The Jets prove they can do it slow and purdy too. “Burning Bridges” is a nice country ballad that finishes the set.

I didn’t pay much mind to this group when they were around. But this record makes me miss them.

Blog bonus:

Now dig those crazy Collins Kids!

A PRODUCTIVE MEETING

Gov. Bill Richardson, as a presidential candidate, had a joke I heard him tell at least a couple of times in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Talking about international summits, Richardson would quip, something to the effect of that world leaders would always come out of sessions and say, "we have just had a very productive meeting." To which candidate Richardson would add, "By the way, I’ve been in those meetings. When diplomats say they had a productive meeting it, means it didn't go very well."

The line always got lots of laughs.

A few minutes ago I received this e-mail from the Governor's Office following his session with state Senate leaders:

“We had a productive meeting and agreed to wait until this summer to hold a special session,” Governor Bill Richardson said. “We also agreed to form bipartisan, executive-legislative working groups that will develop consensus on all of the key areas of a universal health coverage plan.

“We all want a productive special session that results in affordable access to health care,” Governor Richardson said.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: A RETIRED NATIONAL POLITICIAN

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 28, 2008

Gov. Bill Richardson remained coy Wednesday when asked at a news conference whether he’ll endorse a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination.

“Endorsements by politicians don’t make any difference, never have,” he told members of the Roundhouse press corps. “I may wake up and decide to endorse. I’m a retired national politician now. I’m the governor of New Mexico. I love my job.”

That “retired national politician” line refers to his dropping out of contention for the presidential nomination in January after humiliating showings in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary.

He then added he’ll probably decide by the end of the week whether he’ll make an endorsement, and if so, whom.

Asked when he had last been called by Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama, Richardson replied, “Today. We talked today.”

So apparently some people think endorsements by other politicians are important. Of course, Clinton and Obama also might be courting Richardson’s support as a superdelegate to the Democratic national convention.

I agree with Richardson’s statement about endorsements by politicians not making much difference among voters. But Richardson has dragged this endorsement deal out for a long time. And the longer Richardson waits to endorse, the more that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Next Tuesday could be the day of reckoning for the candidates with the Texas and Ohio primaries. Many people, including former President Clinton, have said it will be a do-or-die day for Sen. Hillary Clinton’s campaign. If she loses those primaries to Obama, it would be hard for her to hobble on.

On one hand, Richardson probably wishes this endorsement talk would go away. Richardson owes a big chunk of his much-touted résumé to Bill Clinton.

As a longtime New Mexico Democratic politician told me recently, “If Richardson endorses Obama, that would make him one of the most ungrateful SOBs in the world.” But he might be reluctant to endorse Sen. Clinton as long as the momentum seems to be going in Obama’s direction.

Fascination: On the other hand, Richardson must be loving all the attention.

On Wednesday he told the local media, “I don’t know why you’re so fascinated with this,” referring to the endorsement question.

Tuesday night, the retired national politician talked to a fascinated Wolf Blitzer on CNN about a possible endorsement and why he hasn’t made one yet. “I’m just not trying to be cute,” he said. “I just have felt that an endorsement by me, I don’t think it is that significant. But I still might do it.”

On Wednesday, columnist Al Kamen of The Washington Post wrote, “New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M., may have dropped out of the race, but old habits die hard. So when he was spotted this week having coffee at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, he quickly accepted an invitation ... to wander over to a table of foreign affairs reporters who were interviewing a top European diplomat.

Kamen said an “impromptu mini-press conference” commenced when Richardson arrived at the table. Richardson “said he had not decided between Obama and Clinton, but ‘I might soon.’ ”

Richardson, Kamen said, “declined to say whether his endorsement would come before Tuesday, or later, when it would be meaningless. ‘I’m a Renaissance man now. I don’t have to answer this anymore.’ ”

Let me be your Teddy bear: Richardson also was featured this weekend in a rather gushing story in The New York Times by reporter Mark Liebovich, who called the governor a “generally beloved teddy bear among party insiders, if not by the voters of Iowa and New Hampshire. ”

The writer might have added “or by members of the New Mexico state Senate.”

Richardson laughed but refused to answer a question by a reporter (not me) wanting to know if he considered himself a beloved teddy bear.

The Richardson quote that fascinated me the most in the Times story was the obligatory vice president question. “Yes, he admits thinking about being someone’s running mate, or maybe secretary of state,” Liebovich wrote. “I can’t preclude it,” the 60-year-old governor said. “But I’m not pining for it, and if it doesn’t happen, I’ve had a great life. I’m at peace with myself.”

I’ve had a great life? That has a weird ring of finality.

Freudian slip: On Wednesday, when answering a question about what kind of health care bill he’d support in a special session of the state Legislature, Richardson said he wants the bill he outlined in his “State of the Union Address.”

The “State of the Union,” of course, is the president’s annual address to a joint session of Congress. Out here in New Mexico, the governor gives the Legislature a “State of the State Address.”

YIPPIE, I'M ON FACEBOOK

Yes, I finally joined. See my page HERE.

Not sure what I think -- basically so far it seems like a slightly more adult MySpace.

There's still a lot of goofy stuff. I added some music and a photo album of weird jpgs that happened to be on my computer. And I had a couple of Bevis-and-Butthead moments with the "Poke" feature. (As Julio and Willie would sing, "To all the girls I've poked before ...")

Just what I need -- another Internet time-waster. But if you're on Facebook, look me up. Be my friend.

NO COUNTRY FOR GEORGE

My pal George Adelo is the only pal I have who was in a movie that won the Academy Award for best picture.

No Country for Old Men was shot in New Mexico.

George was shot in the shower.

Check out this KOAT report.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 24, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Celluloid Heroes by The Kinks
Tinseltown Rebellion by Frank Zappa
New Age by The Velvet Underground
Act Naturally by Buck Owens & Ringo Starr
Burn, Hollywood, Burn by Public Enemy
My Beloved Movie Star by Stan Ridgway
No Business Like Show Business by Ethel Merman

Tijuana Affair by Manic Hispanic
Baby Please Don't Go by The Amboy Dukes
Elevator Ride by The Chesterfield Kings
Shiney Hiney by The Fleshtones
Frog Went a Courtin' by The Flat Duo Jets
Talk Talk by The Music Machine
Black September by Dead Moon
If You Can Want by The Dirtbombs
Empty Heart by Thee Midnighters

Detroit by Paul Humphreys & His Cool Aid Chemists
Scoobe by U.S. Navy Port Authority Soul Band
Dap Walk by Ernie & The Top Notes Inc.
Problems by Lee Fields
Night Fishin' by Bobby Rush
The Kick by The Rhythm Machine
Fish Head by Slim & The Soulful Saints
The Funky Buzzard by James Bell & The Turner Brothers

Who Will Lead Us by The Gutter Twins
Thela Hun Ginjeet by Les Claypool's Frog Brigade
Roq by Cankisou
Tiger Phone Card by Dengue Fever
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 22, 2008
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
e-mail me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

Pre-show warm-up: Pink Burrito by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suite Serenaders

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
No Depression by Uncle Tupelo
How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live by Tim O'Brien
The Death of Country Music by The Waco Brothers
Keep Your Hands to Yourself by The Georgia Satellites
Rockin' Country Cat by Ronnie Dawson
Sunset on the Rio Grande by The Border Blasters with Ponty Bone
The Governor by James McMurtry
Hell or High Water by Hundred Year Flood

No School Bus in Heaven by The Stanley Brothers
Little Pink Mac by Kay Adams
Jake Head Boogie by Lightnin' Hopkins
Four on the Floor (and a Fifth Under the Seat) by Trooper Jim Foster
Hippie From Mississippi by Chesley Carroll
I've Got a Tangled Mind by Hank Snow
I'm Tired of You, Satan by Pat & Keith Wayne
Vampira by Bobby Bare
Sitar Pickin' Man by Bobby Zhem
I'm Only Seventeen by Red Sovine

NO DEPRESSION SET
(Music I reviewed and people I've written about in No Depression.)
Wild Geese by Bill & Bonnie Hearne
Back to the Wild Side by Neil Mooney
Mutant Daddy by Flathead
High Noon in Killville by Angry Johnny & The Killbillies
Billy's First Ex Wife by Ronny Elliott
It's No Secret by Mose McCormack
I Hate CDs by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Terminally Trendy by Emily Kaitz
Texas Eyes by Cornell Hurd
How Lew Sin Ate by Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band
Ain't No Top 40 Song by Terry Allen
Old Friend by Loudon Wainwright III

No Depression in Heaven by The Carter Family
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: SONGS FROM BLOGDOM

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 22, 2008

It’s been nearly a year since I surveyed my favorite audio blogs in this column. So let’s look at some sites where you can find all sorts of amazing, rare, mostly obscure sounds for free.

* Licorice Pizza: This is a fun blog with a wide variety of stuff maintained by a guy called “aikin” from Miami. It’s a little more mainstream than some of the bizarre musical corners I’m drawn to, but there are some great MP3s here.

Among my finds is a series of live Amy Winehouse tracks (not the ones posted after her Grammy wins. These are from a December post featuring songs from Amy’s July appearance at the iTunes Festival in London.) There are some cool Lightning Hopkins songs, a live version of Alice Cooper’s “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” and demos from The Who’s Who Are You sessions and The Rolling Stones’ Exile on Main Street sessions (I downloaded a poor-quality demo of “Sweet Virginia.”).

But the MP3 from this site I’m fondest of lately is an acoustic mariachi version of “Conquest” by The White Stripes.

* Music for Maniacs: “The Web’s longest-running strange-music blog! Dedicated to extremes in music and utterly unique sounds.” This creation of North Hollywood blogger “Mr. Fab” lives up to its hype.

Recently MFM has featured a section of “car tunes.” No, not songs about cars. This is music made by people using various auto parts. A musician named Wendy Chambers invented a car-horn organ (“25 car horns operated by a homemade keyboard and powered by a car battery charger”) on which she plays “The Star Spangled Banner” and “New York, New York.” And there are bands like The Car Music Project and The La Drivers Union Por Por Group, a group of Ghanaian cab drivers who play instruments made from squeeze-bulb horns and other parts of their vehicles.

This blog seems perversely fond of crimes against music by “Golden Throat” Republican politicians. You can find John Ashcroft’s classic “Let the Eagle Soar” (the sound quality is as awful as the song), some patriotic grandiosity by Sen. Orrin Hatch, and even a disco exercise song by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Talking over “It’s Raining Men,” an old tune by The Weather Girls, the governor of California leads a series of workouts. (“Now remember, this is one of my favorite exercises that made me blast my biceps up to 22 inches.”)

There’s a tribute to early electronic-music meister Mort Garson, who died last month. His soundtrack work for the 1972 film Son of Blob (also known as Beware! The Blob) is a triumph of the human spirit.

And there’s a tacky-tune tribute to the late Evel Knievel. In a song that only could be described as garage-disco, the singer Eddie Carr asks, “Is he a man like you and I?/Does he have wings/How can he fly?”

* Flea Market Funk: In my previous column on music blogs, I praised a great funk/soul site called Funky 16 Corners. Flea Market Funk, created by DJ Prestige aka Jamison Harvey, isn’t quite as good, but it’s a great source for obscure funk MP3s.

Some of my favorite recent posts include songs by the United States Navy Port Authority Soul Band (not bad for government work), the easy groovin’ “Detroit” by drummer Paul Humphrey & His Cool Aid Chemists (Humphrey played on Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On”), and the “fuzzed, out wah-wah funk” of an unjustly unknown band The Sound Experience. Check their song “Don’t Fight the Feeling.”

The site’s “Eye Candy” section features YouTube clips of some the artists featured here, plus a selection of podcasts by DJ Prestige.

* WFMU Beware of the Blog: The official blog of this influential independent New York radio station offers a healthy collection of MP3s that are fun and even educational.

Some of my favorite recent offerings have been the themed posts.

There’s a selection of “Loony Tunes for Kooky Times,” 21 MP3s of songs about going insane. Some of my favorites are here: Napoleon XIV’s “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha Haaa!,” Porter Wagoner’s “The Rubber Room,” “Insane Asylum” by Willie Dixon & Koko Taylor, and Lenny Bruce’s “Psychopathia Sexualis.” I downloaded “Spasm” by Little Willie John, “I’ve Got a Tangled Mind” by Hank Snow, and the original “Twisted” by Annie Ross. (I like Annie’s better than the Joni Mitchell cover version, though I do miss Cheech & Chong’s cameo on Joni’s.)

There’s also a post of auto-fatality tunes including “No School Bus in Heaven” by The Stanley Brothers, “I’m Only Seventeen” (a maudlin talking song by the king of maudlin talking songs Red Sovine), and several DWI morality tales by Trooper Jim Foster, who was a Florida highway patrol officer.

One of the most original themes I’ve found here is the “Country Fuzz Spectacular” posted last September. While most people think of fuzz-tone guitar in terms of 1960s garage-band rock (“Psychotic Reaction” or anything by Davey Allan & The Arrows) apparently lots of Nashville cats loved the sound in the 1960s. There’s “The Fuzz” by Grady Martin, who accidentally discovered the fuzztone due to some equipment failure during a 1960 Marty Robbins recording session. Also check out “Mississippi Hippie,” an “Okie From Muskogee” parody (reportedly written by Trooper Jim!) but performed by Chesley Carroll, “I’m Tired of You Satan,” some hillbilly gospel fuzz by Pat & Keith Wayne, and “Little Pink Mack,” a truck-driving classic by Kay Adams.

Sometimes it pays to read the comments section. One reader of the “Country Fuzz” post posted a link to an MP3 of a strange little novelty tune called “Sitar Pickin’ Man” by Bobby Zehm.

* Other favorite music blogs: My original column on music blogs — complete with live links— can be found HERE.

He’s a jolly good Fela: My fellow KSFR jock DJ Spinifex is hosting a Fela Kuti-inspired dance party at the Second Street Brewery, 1814 Second St. (982-3030), at 9 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23. He’ll be spinning a bunch of Fela Kuti and other related grooves. There will be video projection and live drummers. No cover.

PRESS-LESS PRESS RELEASES

Granted, the state Democratic Party, in the wake of the NM Caucus fiasco, has bigger problems to worry about.

But here's another one.

Apparently on Tuesday afternoon the party sent a news release about Laura Sanchez stepping down as executive director.

The news was posted on a couple of blogs. But the release was not sent to The New Mexican, nor to the Associated Press. I can't speak for The Albuquerque Journal, but seeing that they didn't have the story until today, I'm assuming they didn't get the release on Tuesday either.

I probably spend too much time reading blogs at work, but because I was working on two stories Tuesday afternoon, I neglected my Internet patrol.

I spoke to new interim executive director Josh Geise yesterday. He wasn't sure what the problem was but assured me we'll be on the list for future news releases.

That's a start.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: SOME "FAMILY" DINNERS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 21, 2008

During the recently concluded legislative session, I reported how legislators’ social calendars remain filled with big parties and expensive meals on the lobbyists’ dime, despite a law aimed at restricting gifts to lawmakers.

Required reports filed by lobbyists showed some spent more than $20,000 of their clients’ money on huge receptions. (In fairness, the $20,000 affairs tend to be thrown by business organizations such as auto dealers or mining company executives. So much of the expense is for food and drink consumed by members of the associations, not just the invited politicians.)

There is, of course, nothing illegal about throwing parties or hosting dinners for elected officials. And nobody claims any votes were bought or sold in exchange for a fancy meal at a downtown restaurant or cocktails at some reception. Sometimes the lobbyist paying the tab won’t even have any bills pending before the committee whose dinner he buys.

Both lobbyists and lawmakers will tell you these gatherings are just to “build relationships,” opportunities for the lobbyists, and sometimes their clients, to get to know legislators in a relaxed environment.

Some say it even creates a feeling of “family” at the Capitol. Longtime lobbyists hold a special place of honor in the Roundhouse family. They are considered the wise elders who have seen it all before and know what can and can’t be done. Indeed, as one lawmaker pointed out, lobbyists tend to stick around longer than legislators. And many are former legislators, making the big step from eating free meals to buying the meals.

“There are some lobbyists I go to for advice on how to get things done, not because of who they represent or what bills they’re backing, but just because they were around in 1978 and have seen other young-Turk legislators try to make changes,” one senator told me during the past session. “They know which walls you can’t tear down.”

Of course, sometimes it might be in a lobbyist’s interest not to tear down certain walls.

Final lobbyist reports: Under state law, lobbyists are required to report expenses of more than $500 within 48 hours after the event. Last year’s Gift Act restricts gifts — including food and drink — to no more than $250 per legislator.

It’s the lobbyists — not the lawmakers — who have to file reports.

Here’s what was in what should be the last batch of the “48-hour” reports for the regular session:

* The 100th Bill Party, held Feb. 8 at La Fonda, featured the music of Darren Cordova. The event has become one of the biggest annual soirees for legislators. The party is sponsored by whoever introduced the 100th bill of the session in the House and the Senate. This year, the “winners” were House Majority Leader Ken Martinez, D-Grants, and Sen. Dede Feldman, D-Albuquerque. But the lawmakers don’t pay for the party — at least not all of it. According to lobbyist reports, Natasha Ning, a lobbyist for the city of Albuquerque and several other clients, spent $5,000 on the party while Vanessa Alarid, a lobbyist for Sun Cal Management, pitched in $1,500 and Reese Edwards, a lobbyist for Butch Maki & Associates and clients including Forest City Covington and Westland Devco, kicked in $1,000.

* Bob Gallagher, president of the New Mexico Oil & Gas Association, spent $3,013 on a dinner for the House Education Committee at Eldorado Hotel’s Old House restaurant Feb. 11.

* Roman Maes, on behalf of his clients Microsoft and Partners in Learning, spent $2,044 for a legislative reception on Feb. 5 at the Rio Chama Steakhouse.

* Mark Duran is a lobbyist who represented 15 clients, including the city of Santa Fe; Deloitte Consulting of Austin, Texas; Inx Inc. of Albuquerque; New Mexico Manufactured Housing Association; Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Co., Trex Enterprises Corp. of San Diego and Uranium Resources Inc. He spent $1,448 for dinner for unnamed senators and staff on Feb. 13, the last night of the Legislature.

* Qwest paid $1,070 to take the Senate Judiciary Committee out to dinner at the Bull Ring on Feb. 6. Attending were Sens. Cisco McSorley, D-Albuquerque, and a guest; Richard Martinez, D-Española, and a guest; Bill Payne, R-Albuquerque; Rod Adair, R-Roswell, and a guest; Kent Cravens, R-Albuquerque; Clint Harden, R-Clovis; Lidio Rainaldi, D-Gallup; and Feldman.

* Paul Gutierrez of the New Mexico Association of Counties spent $866 treating the Health and Government Affairs Committee to a meal at the Cowgirl BBQ and Western Grill on Feb. 8. Guiterrez said Wednesday that mainly staff members attended.

* Ning also spent $225 for dinner for unnamed House members and staff at Tomasita’s on Feb. 13.

Bang for bucks: It’s not just parties and meals that end up in lobbyist reports. Advertising and other expense reports have to be reported as well.

Steve Allen, executive director of Common Cause, reported spending $7,091 for patching calls directly to legislators from constituents supporting House Bill 564 — which would have expanded the state’s public financing of campaigns.

That bill never even made it to a House floor vote. Maybe next year supporters should consider spending $7,000 on a nice dinner somewhere.