CARBON/SILICONE

I just noticed that Carbon/Silicone has a YouTube of one of the songs they played when I saw them Saturday night:

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Thanks to Laurell Reynolds and Pete Gurule for subbing on my radio shows this weekend.

Laurell sent her play list for Friday's Santa Fe Opry. Here it is:

Friday, March 14, 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
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by The Byrds
Joe West-Jam Bands in Colorado
Al Dexter and his Troopers-Saturday Night Boogie
The Animals-Ring of Fire
Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan-Down to the End of the Wine
Wayne Hancock-Thunderstorms and Neon Signs
Roy Orbison-(All I Can Do) is Dream You
Elvis Presely-Blue Moon of kentucky
John Trudell-Baby Boom Che
Neil Young-Cowgirl in the Sand
Restless Consumer
Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)-Jerry Garcia
Bob Dylan-Romance In Durango
Stephen Terrell-Those Were the Days
Emmy Lou Harris-Wheels /Easy From Now On
Shell Silverstein-The Taker
Gillian Welch-Everything is Free
Michael Hurley-Oh My Stars/ Troubled Waters
Willie Nelson-Peaceful Solution/ A Moment of Forever
Karen Dalton-Same Old Man
Maria Muldaur-Tenessee Mountain Home
Buffy St Marie-I'm Gonna Be a Country Girl Again
Glen Campbell-Wichita Lineman
Sibylle Baier-Give Me a Smile /The End

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

SXSW 08 DAY 4

The alt-rock casino circuit. That's one way of describing South by Southwest for me this year. So much of the music I heard this year -- X, Johnette Napolitano, Yo La Tengo, The Waco Brothers' Jon Langford (a founding member of The Mekons), Thurston Moore -- are aging stars of punk rock or its various offshoots.

On Saturday, the last day of South by Southwest (at least for me. Technically there are a few scattered Sunday showcases), I caught another couple of examples -- the reconstituted Breeders and Carbon/Silicone, the latest band of Clash member Mick Jones and Tony James of Generation X and Sigue Sigue Sputnik.

My verdict: Carbon/Silicone hit but The Breeders missed.

The Breeders, who played at the Mess With Texas festival in Waterloo Park, indeed were a disappointment.

The latest incarnation of The Breeders includes former Pixie Kim Deal, the lead vocalist and her twin Kelly Deal. I've been a fan of The Pixies, as well as The Breeders all these years. I thought Last Splash was one of the unsung albums of the '90s -- and even tonight I enjoyed their version of "Cannonball" and Divine Hammer" from that album. I was touched by the Pixies reunion documentary loudQUIETloud, particularly the way in which Kelly went along on the tour to keep her sister company and protect her from the remptations of old demon alcohol. (Kim is a recovering alcoholic.)

But somehow, most of their music didn't gell on Saturday. Part of it was the sound system. In the middle of the show it sounded as if an amp was blown.

And the playing often seemed half-assed. In dorm rooms all over the country there are guitar noodlers who could do better than Kim on some of her solos. Then there was that cover of The Beatles' "Happiness is a Warm Gun" started off well, but by the end of the song it had fallen apart. The band seemed like it was struggling to make it to the conclusion. Contrast this to X, whose average age probably is least a decade more than that of The Breeders. But X is 10 times tighter and plays with a crazier spirit.

Then there's Carbon/Silicone, who aren't nearly as frantic as X but are pretty inspiring for a bunch of old guys. Like X, they played at the Austin Convention Center's tv studios for a live concert on Direct TV. (For the record, Jones and his boys played in the half of the room called Lone Star Lounge, while X played in The Bat Bar.)

C/S is a quartet -- the classic two guitars/bass/drums/lineup. They play basic Clash-y tunes with its feet in early rock 'n' roll and its head in leftist politics. Some of the songs had titles like "War On Culture" and "Soylent Green." Check out some of their free MP3s on the Cabon/Silicone Web site.

Just to be sure that I saw at least one new young band before the end of the night, I caught most of the set of The Spinto Band, an energetic little guitar-oriented group from Delaware. (They were on an outdoor stage at Emo's Annex. I watched from behind the chainlink fence.) One of their song featured kazoos while on another, one of the guitarists switched to a mandolin. One one number the keyboardist made his instrument sound like bagpipes. Several song featured some cool falsetto harmonies. Never did the Spintos sound gimmicky.

All in all, SXSW was a blast as usual. But I'm still trying to figure what it means that Beatle Bob apparently didn't show up. Probably a terrible omen for the music industry in general.

Gonna be a long drive tomorrow ...

Check out my photos HERE.

SXSW 08 DAY 3

Well, hell, I already raved about The Waco Brothers in my column, posted immediately below (a review of their new live album and some sweet memories of Waco shows past). So to cut to the chase, let's just say the Wacos didn't disappoint Friday at the Bloodshot records party at the yard Dog Gallery..

For the record, there were some personnel shifts for this performance. Drummer Steve Goulding and bassist Alan Doughty weren't there. They were replaced by drummer Mighty Joe Whazisname (who played on some cuts on the live album) and bassist Davey Beebe from the Allen Oldies Band (who also backed up Andre Williams earlier at the Bloodshot Party.) Both did a fine job subbing.

The Brothers also were joined by some Waco sisters -- fiddler Jean Cooke, who has accompanied Jon Langford on several recordings, and Jo of the late great Meat Purveyors, who helped out on "White Lightning." Her presence reminded me of how much I missed the Purveyors, who always were a hoot at SXSW.

Once again, most the music shows I went to on Friday were those of old favorites. I guess I just haven't been in a real adventurous mood this festival.

Fortunately my old faves didn't let me down.

As I mentioned above, also appearing at the Bloodshot Party was Andre Williams, an old R&B warlord who had some minor hits in the 1950s and early '60s. He was best known for "Shake a Tail Feather," which curiously, he didn't perform Friday afternoon.

After years in obscurity -- and reportedly drug addiction -- Williams started recording again with punk-based groups on independent labels, where he's allowed to be as raunchy as he wants. He's recorded with The Dirtbombs and, backed by the surf/country Sadies, did a "country" album for Bloodshot back in 1999.

On Friday Williams emphasized his early rock 'n' roll background. My only complaint -- his set wasn't long enough -- less than 30 minutes. Just enough to make me want more.

John Doe SXSW '08
Photo by Molly Terrell Brake

Playing at the Austin Convention Center -- for some Direct TV live concert series, was X, the classic Los Angeles punk group that's broken up and reformed a few times, but still sounds fresh and vibrant.

Last time I saw this group was at Club Luna in santa Fe circa 1993. At that point Tony Gilkyson, a former Santa Fe boy, was playing guitar with the group. Nowadays original guitarist Billy Zoom is back in the fold.

With his blonde pompadour and Chuck Berry licks, Zoom still looks as if he wandered into the wrong group, thinking he was joining a rockabilly band. But he still looks as if he's having the time of his life.

And of course the highlight of X still is the weird harmonies of Exene and John Doe. They sing together as if they've uncovered some secret Appalachian code to summon the spirits of ancestors.

The group played exclusively their old, better-known songs -- "Los Angeles," "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene," "White Girl," "The New World," "We're Desperate," "The Hungry Wolf." Some of those songs are 30 years old, but to these ears, they don't sound dated.

But I'm wondering whether John and Exene have a few more new songs suitable for X left in them.

(John Doe photo by Molly Terrell)

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: WACOS LIVE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
March 15, 2008



Note: This column, obviously, was written before South by Southwest. The photos are from the Waco Brothers' Friday show at the Bloodshot Records party.

If you are reading this review of the new Waco Brothers live album on Friday, March 14, consider this — this very evening, I’ll be seeing the Wacos live at the annual Bloodshot Records party at the Yard Dog gallery in Austin, Texas, at the South by Southwest music festival. And if you’re reading this on Saturday, this very night I’ll probably be catching the Wacos live at their showcase at some joint called Red Eyed Fly.

So while you’re reading about this album, I’ll be living it. Cosmic, no?

Unfortunately, Austin is about as close to Santa Fe as these founding fathers of “insurgent country” ever get. They rarely play very far from their home base in Chicago. So, unless you travel, this album — Waco Express: Live and Kickin’ at Schuba’s Tavern, Chicago — probably will be as close to the live Wacos experience as you’ll ever get.

While I’ve liked all the band’s studio albums, and loved some of them, there’s nothing like one of the group’s live shows. (Jeepers, I sound like a dang Deadhead.) Waco Express captures much of the band’s crazy energy and provides a sampling of leader Jon Langford’s wicked stage banter.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the Wacos — at SXSW on a cramped little stage in some crowded little joint in 1996. The band romped through tunes from its first album, including the hopped-up labor rouser “Plenty Tuff and Union Made,” and super-charged covers of Johnny Cash and Buck Owens songs. Most of the musicians liked to jump around as they played, and the stage was so small that they kept bumping into each other. It was like a honky-tonk mosh pit. At one point, I thought bass player Alan Doughty was going to get in a fist fight with manic mandolin player Tracy Dear. And I was just waiting until someone went crashing into the steel guitar of Mark Durante, who, because of the sedentary nature of his instrument, didn’t get to hop around like the others. Somehow he escaped such a calamity, though there were several close moments.

I’ve been to lots of Waco shows since then and have come to expect a similar level of madness.

Who are these guys?

The Waco Brothers started out in the mid-’90s (soon after the tragedy at the Branch Davidian compound), basically as one of Langford’s side projects. Langford, a founding member and frontman of venerated British punk band/collective The Mekons, had relocated to Chicago, as did fellow Mekons Sally Timms and Steve Goulding — who serves as the Wacos’ drummer.

Though Langford is known to form bands at the drop of a hat (The Pine Valley Cosmonauts, Skull Orchard, Jon Langford’s Hillbilly Lovechild), the mixed Brit/Yank Wacos took on a demented life of its own.

Guitarist Dean Schlabowske (who last year opened a wine shop in Chicago) and Dear (“the greatest living Englishman,” as Langford always calls him) also sing in the group. Durante made his vocal debut on the Wacos’ 2005 album, Freedom & Weep.

The Waco Brothers became the flagship band of Bloodshot Records, an influential independent Chicago label. While other Bloodshot acts like Neko Case, Robbie Fulks, and Alejandro Escovedo have gone on to other labels, the Wacos have stood by the company, mangy but loyal mutts that they are.

In addition to all the rowdy fun, irreverent laffs, and excellent steel playing by Durante, Waco Express is a showcase of the best Waco Brothers songs. All are originals, save the crunching cover of Neil Young’s Manson family ode, “Revolution Blues.” The album includes songs from all seven Waco Brothers studio records and, wisely, leans heavily on the first two albums, To the Last Dead Cowboy and — my personal favorite — Cowboy in Flames.

“Plenty Tuff,” the first Wacos tune I ever loved, is here, as are the anthemic “Cowboy in Flames,” “Death of Country Music” (“We spill our blood on the ashes of the bones of the Jones and the Cashes/Skulls in false eyelashes/ghost riders in the sky” ), “Do What I Say,” “Harm’s Way” and “Hell’s Roof” (“History is written by the winners/This is a loser’s song”).

There are also the excellent but overlooked Waco tunes like “Blink of an Eye,” which has a hint of a Slavic influence that makes me fantasize about Gogol Bordello covering it, and Dear’s “Too Sweet to Die” — “Up, up up goes love/Down down down goes hate,” sounds like a positive little message, until you realize it’s a reference to murderous Robert Mitchum’s knuckle tattoos in The Night of the Hunter.

My two favorite Schlabowske songs are here. “Nothing at All,” which can be seen as containing an urgent political dispatch in this age of paranoia. (“What if our history means nothing at all? ... It means nothing, nothing at all.”)

Then there’s the bluesy tale of debauchery, “Red Brick Wall,” which contains a special message for fans like me who know the Waco Brothers mainly through their SXSW performances:

“On the day of his death I built JFK a shrine/Well, I know just how he felt/I get murdered in Texas every time.”

I can’t wait for this year’s murdering.

SXSW 08 DAY 2

Sorry, I'm late with this post. About 4 am, after a long day of rock 'n' roll, I realized I needed sleep. I thought I'd get up early enough to post it at a decent time. Guess I was wrong about that.

My SXSW day could have been complete even before Sundown Thursday. Nothing was going to top Roky Erikson, who headlined a fine afternoon of rock 'n' roll at Threadgill's known as the Roky Erikson Pyschedelic Ice Cream Social.

Roky, whose struggle with mental problems has been well documented, has been back performing for several years. But this is the first time I'd ever seen him play. And he was tremendous.

He rips through his songs -- leaning heavily on tunes from his greatest album The Evil One -- with strength and confidence. "Cold Night For Alligators," "Bloody Hammer," "Don't Shake Me Lucifer," "I Think of Demons" ... These are songs that make me proud to be an American.

His band, The Explosives, is a tight little trio featuring guitarist Cam King. Yesterday, he was joined on stage for his last few songs by his told friend, ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons (who also played with him on his recent Austin City Limits performance.)

One of the most amazing aspects of Roky's performance is that after each song -- most of which are filled with images of horror, demons, vampires, bloody hammers -- Roky flashes the most angelic smile, waves to the crowd and thanks everyone.

Although this was the first time I'd seen Roky play, it's not the first time I'd seen him. Back in 1995, my first SXSW, I went down to Iron Works BBQ, where he was supposed to do a book-signing. (He'd just published Openers II with Henry Rollins' publishing company. When I arrived, standing alone in the parking lot was none other than Roky himself.

I approached him. "Hey Roky, my name is Steve ..."
"I know."
"I'm a big fan ..."
"I know."

But he was friendly and chatty and started bumming cigarettes from passersby. It turns out that he had bolted the book-signing -- got claustrophobic inside. A few minutes later, Henry Rollins comes out of the Ironworks, trying to coax Roky back inside. Finally he got Roky to agree to get into a car and sign books there.

I'm glad Roky's better now. I'm also glad he's rocking like he always was meant to do.

The Ice Cream social had a great line-up including Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore playing with an acoustic band, including a fiddler and SY drummer Steve Shelley; ... And You Will Know Them By the Trail of Dead (most of whom look baby-faced enough to be a boy band), The Black Angels (an Austin favorite who sound like a tasty blend of Jesus & Mary Chain and My Morning Jacket), and a cool, hopped-up, almost New Wavy little band called The Golden Dogs. (We missed another band, The Strange Boys, because the aroma of Threadgill's was just too good, so we went inside to grab some lunch right after The Black Angels.)

Here's an unexpected musical treat: At one point during the show, I wandered on Threadgill's to use the ATM. There I learned that Ray Wylie Hubbard was doing a short, acoustic set in the back room with his teenage son Lucas, who's getting pretty good with his blues licks.

All this happened before the official SXSW showcases even began. And even before this ice cream social I went to another fun little gathering. Joe Ely and accordionist Joel Guzman recorded a live set at ME TV studios. Beside Ely's tunes, which I always love, the best part was the homemade posole, cooked and served by Joe's wife Sharon. She told me the recipe comes from New Mexico. I suspect Terry or Jo Harvey Allen might have something to do with that.

As far as official SXSW showcases go, the best I saw Thursday were Yo La Tengo, who played an amazing set at Austin Music Hall. I arrived late, and they were playing some of their weird poppy material, with Ira on the keyboards. I guess I'm just a guitar-centric kinda guy (a "rockist" as some fancy New York publications have labeled guys like me), but I vastly preferred it when Ira switched back to guitar. Like Sonic Youth at it's best, Yo La has a great knack of creating beauty out of sonic chaos. The band's version of "Tom Courtenay" Thursday was as gorgeous as Julie Christie, who is namechecked in the song.

Then came My Morning Jacket, which played for nearly two hours. (I remember a few years ago at the Music Hall when Little Richard wanted to play longer and, it seemed, nearly gave the SXSW organizers a heart attack trying to get him off stage. I wish they would have given him two hours ...)

MMJ started off with a great rush of energy. Their first few numbers were powerful and intense. I believe they were mainly new tunes from the group's upcoming album Evil Urges, though the set was liberally sprinkled with songs from their albums Z and It Still Moves.

I have some qualms about this band. Sometimes MMJ veers dangerously close to classic-rock pablum. Sometimes they sound like an overblown country-rock band. But Jim James' musical vision is so unique, most the time he's able to transcend these influences.

The middle of the first hour started to sag a bit as Jim James and crew concentrated on slower, more countryish songs. But then they got their footing again, and nearly every song could have been the blistering climax to a great performance. The last, say, hour and 15 minutes was nothing short of breath-taking.

For more photos CLICK HERE.

UPDATE: In the original version, I identified the title of Yo La Tengo's song "Tom Courtenay" as "Julie Christy." I like that title better, but out of respect for Yo La, I corrected it.

SXSW 08 DAY 1

I was disappointed when I realized that Johnette Napolitano was going to be doing a solo acoustic set at SXSW. After all, I'd just sat through an uninspired set by Bob "Bright Elusive Butterfly of Love" Lind --one of those "What the hell am I doing here?!?" moments.

But my disappointment subsided about two seconds after Johnette opened her throat and start wailing. This woman can belt! In her sexy Morticia Addams dress, Johnette definitely showed that singer-songwriter gigs don't have to be gimpy. I'd seen her twice before with Concrete Blonde, but this might have been the most powerful performance of hers I've ever witnessed.

She balanced the set with newer tunes and familiar Concrete Blonde songs like "Joey" and "Mexican Moon." The highlight had to be her a capella version of "Tomorrow Wendy." Even though she let out the "I told the priest ..." verse, the song was just devastating. She's been doing the song for nearly 20 years, but the emotion last night was raw and deep.

Other Wednesday favorites:

* Van Morrison: I caught the last few songs of Van the Man's showcase. Believe it ot not, it's the first time I've ever seen him. Playing new or at least unfamiliar material, Van was flawless and soulful as expected. But after seeing Johnette later that night, it was obvious that the venerated Belfast Cowboy wasn't exactly pouring his guts into the show.

* Bayou City Beach Party: This wasn't an official SXSW event. I'd stumbled into this bar called Headhunters on Red River on Tuesday night and appreciated the Tiki decor and biker/punk vibe of the joint. So, after my pals -- who don't have wristbands or badges -- were told they couldn't get in the REM show at Stubbs', we decided to go to Headhunters across the street.

This band, from Houston, was an energetic bunch and singer Blake Shepard is young, but a born showman.

* Ronny Elliott: Speaking of worthwhile singer-songwriters, Tampa rocker Elliott is one of my favorites. He played the Florida Bandango party Wednesday afternoon at the Yard gallery. It was a typical Ronny gig. He teamed up with singer Rebekah Pulley. except for Ronny's own "The Brothels in China," the duo concentrated mainly on cover songs such as Johnny Tillotson's "Talk Back Trembling Lips" and a minor-key arrangement of Hank's "Your Cheatin' Heart." Ronny also sat in on one song with songwriter/uke-player Sylvie Simmons.

See more photos HERE.