THE WAYBACK MACHINE

While cruising around on the Live Music Archive tonight I found a strange little site called The Wayback Machine , which basically is a search engine for long-lost Web pages that have been archived through some unholy fusing of technology and necromancy.

I couldn't resist the temptation to look up my original Web site, which I created soon after I first got on AOL about 11 years ago.

Sure enough, there were a few versions of the old site, the earliest being from December 1998. The cool thing is, most of the graphics and the links still work! (Some of my favorite old antimated giffs I'll include here.)

I also found some versions of the Web site after I left AOL and took the site to the wretched Dreamwater site. The most recent one is May 2003. It includes the infamous dancing Potatoheads, which came up in a murder trial in which the defense attorney tried to imply my Web site influenced the investigation of the case. (The defendant got off, so maybe the jury believed some of that talk.)

By the end of the year I was no longer able to access my site (and unable to get anyone from Dreamwater to return e-mails), so that led me to create this here blog.

Sure brings back some memories!

A HECK OF A SHOW

I'm looking forward to seeing The Gourds Thursday night on the Plaza as part of the Santa Fe Bandstand series. But the show just became more interesting after this Internet message from Gourds singer/mandolinist Kev Russell. (I'm naturally suspicious of some things that pop up on the Web, even some Maureen Dowd columns. But I checked this out and verified it with a source close to the band.)

Oh by the way we are under a "curse word" ban in Santa Fe NM this week. I do not know if we can get through a whole show without dropping expletives. If we hadn't been told not to, it would have been more likely that we wouldn't. But, now, I don't know, I just don't know. We might have some huffy New Mexicans morally judging us as we bust out of the Land Of Enchantment, pockets full of chili pods and fried bread.

I suspect there's probably some standard clause in The Gourds' contract prohibiting obscenity since it's outisde on public property, etc. I doubt the Cuss Word Police will be pulling double shifts Thursday night to guard us against the Gourds menace.

Still, it'll be interesting to see how the band handles the inevitable requests for their countried-up version of "Gin and Juice."

Should be a darn good show. Sean Helean opens at 6 p.m. The Gourds go on at 7.

MORE ON THE SECOND COMING

I'm still on the mailing list for The Government of God on Earth , the organization of Jose Luis de Jesus Miranda, the self proclaimed second coming of Christ. They forwarded the news of a Houston TV station doing a report on the new messiah. Read it and watch it HERE.

Part of the new JC's gospel is pretty interesting.

"His message tells us that we’re perfect, that there’s no sin, there’s no devil,” (one follower) says. Miranda also says there’s no hell.

I think he got that from a much older source -- The Temptations:

"I'm tellin' you the natural facts for what it's worth/ You make your own Heaven and Hell right here on Earth/on Earth, on Earth, on Earth."

You gotta dig those cool "666" symbols on the podium and his followers' baseball caps. What could that mean?

I found this YouTube about Miranda by his fans. Enjoy.

CAMPAIGN RETROSPECT

I know, I know, I'm on vacation and I probably should be avoiding political stuff, but I couldn't resist Comedy Central's Indecision 2008 retrospect on the Richardson presidential campaign.

Basically, it's pretty brutal, but I learned these interesting "facts":

* Richardson was "The first serious candidate to strongly resemble the Incredible Hulk."

* Richardson enjoyed "support from the powerful pro-cockfighting wing of the Democratic Party." (They link to a story on the governor's much-mocked 2006 statement that "arguments for and against cockfighting have been strong on both sides," but failed to point out that he changed his mind and supported the cockfighting ban a few months later.)

The Indecision 2008 piece concludes, "For now Richardson remains the Governor of New Mexico, but the state's lackluster economy may inspire the voters to place him on waivers, at which point Richardson hopes he'll be picked up by the increasingly desperate Washington Nationals!"

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, July 13, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Surf's Up on Goon Island by The Wipeouters
Give Her a Great Big Kiss by The New York Dolls
Heaven Only Knows by Mary Weiss
Superbird/Tricky Dick by Country Joe & The Fish
Going Cheap by The Crushers
'sup by The Fuzzy Set
Crazy Pills by Quan & The Chinese Takeouts
Sweet and Sour by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

Bad Little Woman by The Wheels
I Know a Place by Jay Reatard
Alakazam by Sky Saxon
Young Men Dead by The Black Angels
Break on Through by Mark Ribot's Ceramic Dog
Shivers Down my Spine by King Khan & The Shrines
Plenty Nasty by The Diplomats of Solid Sound
Can You Deal With It by Andre Williams & The New Orleans Hell Hounds
I Hear Sirens by The Dirtbombs

As the Crow Flies by Tony Joe White
Baby Scratch My Back by Slim Harpo
Stealin' All Day by C.C. Adcock
I Walk on Gilded Splinters by Dr. John
Endless Sleep by Jody Reynolds
Polk Salad Annie by Elvis Presley

The History of Utah by Camper Van Beethoven
Teen Angst by Cracker
Put Me in jail by Joe "King" Carrasco y Las Coronas
Never Grew Up by The Fleshtones
Cactus by Frank Black & Two Pale Boys
Hoodoo Party by Tabby Thomas
Boney was a Warrior by Jack Shit
Lord Don't Let Me Fail by Mahalia Jackson
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

SOME MISC. POLITICAL STORIES

I wrote another installation in the continuing series of stories on how Senate candidates Tom Udall and Steve Pearce differ on the issues. This one is about Iraq.

The main story is HERE. A sidebar on the candidates' history with the military is HERE. A quick chart on roll call votes on Iraq is HERE.

I also contributed a story to Kate Nash's package on private prisons in New Mexico. My story is about private prison campaign contributions to Bill Richardson and other New Mexico politicians.

(Yes, I've written similar stories in the past, but as long as GEO and the other companies keep giving, I'll keep writing it.)

CRACKER TIME!

As I mentioned in this week's Tune-up, Cracker played Albuquerque's Summerfest Saturday -- a free show -- so I figured it would be a good way to kick off my two-week vacation.

Although, I'm more of a Camper Van Beethoven fan, I was impressed. Cracker's an extremely tight band and longtime guitarist Johnny Hickman is downright impressive. And of course, David Lowrey is Lowrey. These days is band is a quartet -- two guitars, bass and drums.

They went through most of their best known songs -- "Teen Angst," "Euro Trash Girl," "Mr. Wrong," "Happy Birthday to Me." It seemed to me "Low" was a little half-hearted, but, as my son pointed out, that's how a lot of '90s bands treat their big hits.

Actually I preferred one of their newer songs, a Stonesy little tune called "Everybody Gets One For Free."

Cracker also played some bitchen covers -- Bob Dylan's "The Man in Me" (sung by Hickman), Jerry Garcia's "Loser" (I have a live Camper version of that tune) and Camper Van Beethoven's "Take the Skinheads Bowling."

Check out more snapshots of the show HERE.

If you missed Saturday's show, there's a whole lot of free, legal downloads of shows (going back years) at the Live Music Archive.

And just because I'm a nice guy, here's a flash player of the most recent show posted on the archive (July 5, 2008 in Milwaukee). Enjoy.