HILLARY SEEKS UNITY IN ESPANOLA

A longer version of this will be published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
August 18, 2008

Sen. Hillary Clinton, in an effort to convince her supporters — including a large number of Hispanic voters — to get behind the campaign of presidential candidate Barack Obama, appeared today at a rally at an Española gymnasium before hundreds of cheering Democrats.

Clinton was in the state for two fundraisers hosted by Gov. Bill Richardson, one in Santa Fe, one in Albuquerque. Richardson, a former cabinet secretary for President Bill Clinton, ran against Hillary Clinton and Obama in the early primaries this year, dropping out after poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire.

“I know that many of you here today voted for me, you worked for me. And I will never forget what you did for me, ever,” Clinton told the crowd at the Northern New Mexico College gym. “But I want you to know if you voted for me you have far more in common with Sen. Obama than you do with Sen. McCain. ... I hope you all will join in this historic endeavor. Everyone who supported me, I hope you work as hard for Sen. Obama as you worked for me.”

After the speech, Clinton told reporters that the Obama campaign had asked her to speak in Española, which was her only public appearance on this New Mexico trip.

Although Obama won Santa Fe County in the February New Mexico Democratic Caucuses, Clinton, who won big Hispanic majorities in primaries around the country, beat Obama soundly by wide margins in Hispanic-heavy Northern New Mexico counties. Clinton barely edged Obama statewide in the New Mexico caucuses.

“I did very well here in the (caucuses),” she said. “I’m very grateful to the elected officials and the people of this country.”

Clinton said she has a long history with the Hispanic community, starting in 1972 when she registered voters in the Rio Grande Valley. She said she has a “real wealth of personal contacts” with Hispanics around the country and represents New York, “which has a large Latino population.”

The New Mexico visit also can be seen as some fence-mending between Clinton and Richardson, who embraced his former rival before she spoke. The governor angered many in the Clinton camp when he went on to endorse Obama.

But there was no sign of any animosity Sunday.

“This was a hard-fought campaign,” Clin ton said in her speech. “I was honored to run in a field that included Bill Richardson. And he added so much to the campaign. And now we are working together to try to elect Sen. Obama. And we cannot do that if we are not unified."

In addition to Richardson, many other heavyweights in the state Democratic Party attended Clinton’s appearance, including Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman and 3rd Congressional District candidate Ben Ray Luján, who introduced Clinton.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, August 15, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Rainy Day Woman by Waylon Jennings
Let the Jukebox Keep on Playing by Mike Ness
Get Off on Your Porch by Charlie Picket And
Little Red Barn by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Huntsvile by Merle Haggard
The Struggle in the Puddle at the Bottom of the Bottle by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
Crazy Heart by Charlie Feathers
Itty Bitty Everything by Flat Duo Jets
Don't Need a Man by Ruby Dee & The Snakehandlers
How Many Biscuits Can You Eat by Stringbean

One in a Row by Willie Nelson
I Saw Them Together by Jim Stringer & The AM Band
The Lovin' Machine by Johnny Paycheck
Hard Luck Troubador by Nancy Apple & Rob McNurlin
Life's Lonesome Road by Wayne Hancock
Travelin' Man by David Bromberg
She Lived Down by The Firehouse by R. Crumb & The Cheap Suit Serenaders

Made in Japan by Buck Owens
Sho-Jo-Ji/The Hungry Raccoon by Petty Booka
My Boyfriend's Learning Karate by Thee Headcoatees
Chain Gang by Fred Eaglesmith
Pretty Girl by Miss Leslie
Dixie Fried by Carl Perkins
Riley's Got a Woman by Dr. Ruth & The Pleasure Seekers
Whirlwind by Charlie Rich
Stingray by Jim Lauderdale
Rich Man's Blues by C.W. Stoneking

Willie & Laura Mae Jones by Tony Joe White
Robes of Bible Black by Howe Gelb
Pony Ride by Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks
From the Land of Heroes by Jorma Kaukonen
After We Shot the Grizzley by The Handsome Family
Gift Horse of Mercy by Butch Hancock
One of the Unsatisfied by Lacy J. Dalton
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

AN OH-SO-SPECIAL SESSION

They came.

They prayed and pledged allegiance.

They recessed.

But both chambers are supposed to be back this afternoon. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Maybe I'm just grumpy because the snack bar is only serving red, not green, Frito pies.

PUBLIC RECORDS CRIMES?

I did a story today about a cool Web tool created by the Rio Grande Foundation, a conservative think tank, to track legislation and legislators.

My story about NewMexicoVotes.org is HERE.

But more important -- the Web site is HERE.

I played around with it for a long time yesterday and everything seemed to work. (And as I said in my story, there doesn't seem to be any overt ideological bias on the site.)

However, one astute reader who e-mailed me found a funny little problem: The site describes House Bill 1 from the regular session as "BANS THE USE OF PUBLIC RECORDS TO COMMIT A CRIME."

"Hmmmmmmmmmm, I've seen HB 1 described in many ways ... but this may be that unabashedly right wing interpretation I hadn't considered before ..." the astute reader joked.

In my random yesterday I hadn't looked at HB 1, which, as people who follow our Legislature know, is always the "feed bill," which appropriates money for the session at hand. Doing a quick check this morning, I couldn't find any bill from last session that banned the use of public records in committing crimes.

Hopefully there aren't many more of those on NewMexicoVotes.

UPDATE: Looks like NewMexicoVotes fixed HB 1.

Now I can go back committing crimes with public records.

HILLARY IN ESPANOLA

Sen. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to appear in Espanola Sunday to campaign for Barack Obama, according to an e-mail from the Obama campaign.

Clinton is scheduled to appear at the gymnasium at Northern New Mexico College at 2:45 p.m. The doors open at 2 p.m.

The former presidential candidate is in the state Sunday for two fund-raisers (in Santa Fe and Albuquerque) held for her by former campaign rival Bill Richardson.

I wonder if she'll stop by The Round House to say hi during the special session. Before the New Mexico Caucus, Bill Clinton dropped in on the Legislature for a few minutes.

Obama himself is supposed to make a New Mexico appearance on Monday, but the campaign has yet to decide on a place or time and can't even say which city.

This swing state is staring to swing.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: TRASHY GOSPEL

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

A few years ago, I praised Stan Ridgway for releasing the DVD version of his album Holiday in Dirt, pointing out that his compilation of videos by various directors showed “hope for the beleaguered art form of the music video” and gave viewers “a glimpse at what might have been had MTV lived up to its original promise.” Indeed, music videos seem to be a dying art form. MTV hardly even shows them at all anymore. Holiday in Dirt-quality video projects are few and far between.

But the music video is not completely dead. From the neutral nation of Switzerland comes a character who calls himself Reverend Beat-Man, with a collection of videos under the aptly named title Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash, Vol. 3. Beat-Man is the founder, chief artist, and probably janitor of Voodoo Rhythm Records.

“I have to get up in the morning out of the bed, and I have to play guitar,” Beat-Man says in the 2006 documentary Voodoo Rhythm: The Gospel of Primitive Rock ’n’ Roll. “I have to go to the office and put out records that nobody buys. I just have to do it. I don’t know why.”

Now he’s released a collection of 19 music videos based on songs selected from his recent solo audio albums Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2.

Using several directors — including himself — Beat-Man presents a series of weird morality plays involving Jesus, Satan, and lots of strippers. That eternal struggle of God and the devil provides two of the most satisfying stomp rockers here — “I See the Light” (not the Hank Williams classic, but a warped boogie re-imagining of “I’m My Own Grandpa”) and “Jesus Christ Twist.”

“Go down to your father’s place/Take a hammer and some nails/Nail your partner to the cross/Dance around and have some fun/Now do the Jesus Christ twist,” he growls in the latter song, which features black-and-white scenes of the crucifixion and rioting teen rockers. Blasphemy never sounded like so much fun.

In several videos, Beat-Man portrays a preacher. In the song “Jesus,” he goes down to the river to pray — and to baptize his flock. He also appears as a one-man band with guitar and bass drum.

But even more interesting is “I’ve Got the Devil Inside,” in which the preacher is tied up, tempted, and tormented by two sexy captors, one of whom wears a mask and eats fire. A similar theme is explored in “Our Girls.” As the liner notes explain, “Suppressed Guys need to learn about women. They experience Sex and Violence at a burlesque show. Their masters let them leave as Men.” Most of the action takes place in a room with red vinyl sofas and sparkling red curtains.

Beat-Man is portrayed by a puppet in “The Beat-Man Way” and by a child in “Clown of the Town.” But in one of the most striking videos, Beat-Man is never shown. “Meine Kleine Russin” features stop-motion animation using objects like a painted Mexican skull, a stuffed raven, fresh fruit, flowers, and a glass of red wine. The song sounds like Slavic folk influenced by the music of Voodoo Rhythm regulars The Dead Brothers. Beat-Man can call it “trash,” but the video is really quite beautiful.

In the closing credits, Beat-Man points out that all the videos were made with financial assistance from no one. The filmmakers and their crews — you get the idea they’re all friends and friends of friends of Voodoo Rhythm — volunteered their time to make it happen, which is pretty remarkable when you think about it.

At this point Beat-Man becomes something of a camp counselor for aspiring do-it-yourself artists. Repeating some of the same themes of “The Beat-Man Way,” the closing credits read, “I hope you did like those videos, and I hope there will be many bands & artists who are following this idea. Be creative and do whatever you wanna do. Don’t let anybody tell you that you are a no-count. Also if you are, just don’t give a fuck and do your own thing.”

If you like this kind of stuff, check out the Sonic Nightmares podcast featuring Reverend Beat-Man and Gringo Starr.

Also recommended:

* Singles 06-07 by Jay Reatard. Young Mr. Reatard is from Memphis, but there’s something about his music that sounds vaguely British to me — early-David Bowie British. It’s rough and lo-fi but surprisingly melodic and hook-heavy. Reatard’s sound is like glam rock without any annoying glamor.

This is a collection of 17 songs that were previously available only on 7-inch vinyl records and an obscure EP from a bunch of tiny indie labels. Except for one guitar solo on the tune “All Wasted” (a song about zombies), all the instruments are played by Reatard himself. Only one song makes it past the three-minute mark, and many are under two minutes.

“Hammer I Miss You” sounds like a lost hit from the New Wave era. “Blood Visions,” which was also the title track of a Reatard album, is one of the more discordant punk rockers here, while the swirling guitars between the verses of “Feeling Blank Again” might remind you of Dinosaur Jr.

On the other hand, the acoustic “Searching fu” and the easy-to-sing-along-to “Don’t Let Him Come Back” could almost pass for folk rock. And the catchy “Haunting You” is, well, haunting.

This CD comes with a bonus DVD of raucous 2007 performances with Reatard and his band, plus an interview with a Dutch DJ.

E-MAIL SUBJECT LINE OF THE DAY

From Diane Kinderwater, spokeswoman for the state Senate Republicans:

Educator Gas Pain Relief

No, it's not a plea for free Gas-X. It's a proposal by GOP Senate Whip Leonard Lee to give educators who travel between schools in their own vehicles a better mileage reimbursement rate.

eMUSIC AUGUST

*P'Twaaang!!! by The Wipeouters. Like thieves in the night, early in this century Devo returned and, under an assumed band name, recorded an album of mostly instrumental tunes that only can be described as New Wave surf music.

If Dick Dale was a kooky robot ... If there were surfers on Neptune ... pure techno-goof summertime fun.

And if you did surf sitar, check out the songs "Wounded Surfer," "Wedgie Wipout" and the "Rocket Power Theme."

(Thanks to the Music for Maniacs blog for turning me on to this. And check out the interview with Mark Mothersbaugh about The Wipeouters HERE.)


* Barn Dance Favorites by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts. This is a fun little EP from Bloodshot Records I somehow missed a few years ago. Basically it's old country tunes from the old National Barn Dance radio show, which broadcast out of Chicago between 1924 and 1960. Singers here include Jon Langford, Sally Timms, Kelly Hogan, Tracy Dear and Scott Ligon, with fiddling by Johnny Frigo.

Several of the eight songs are familiar -- "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," "Blues Stay Away from Me," "Bye, Bye Blues" (Frigo's big spotlight number) and Grandpa Jones' "Here, Rattler, Here," (which Langford performs in an easy-going style rather than Grandpa's maniac bluegrass style.)

My favorite that I hadn't heard before is "Little Red Barn," sung by Dear, which is about an Indiana farmer. Like the best Bloodshot projects, the performance is done lovingly, though not over reverently.


*Live 1984 by Bo Diddley. I guess there was some kind of blues revival going on in the mid '80s. (Isn't there always some kind of blues revival going on somewhere?) There sure were a lot of major blues R&B and early rock 'n' roll acts coming through Santa Fe back then -- Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Albert Collins, James Cotton, Robert Cray, The Legendary Blues Band featuring Pinetop Perkins, Gatemouth Brown, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Charlie Musselwhite, and of course Bo Diddley. This album was recorded less than a year before Bo played Club West -- after being made an honorary Santa Fean by the late Mayor Louie Montano earlier that day.

I'm not sure where this album was recorded. Released by a label called Goldenlane, it's apparently available only as downloads and not much information is given. Also it appears to be a shorter version of a record released a couple of years ago as Bo's the Man, which included three "bonus" studio tracks.

Bo of course was way past his hit-making prime by this point, but he could still romp through his greatest hits ("Mona," "You Can't Judge a Book," "I'm a Man," "Roadrunner" -- but no "Who Do You Love" -- in sets peppered with a few obscurities. ("Dr. Jekyll," "Everleen"). The band, a British group called Mainsqueeze, is punchy and competent, if not totally inspiring.

So if you're a Bo fan and want a decent live show from this period, this album isn't bad. But new fans definitely should start with his original stuff.

Warning: This album is available under three different titles on eMusic. Others include Mona and Bo Diddley with Mainsqueeze.)

* At Last by Screamin' Jay Hawkins. This is Screamin' Jay's last studio album, released a couple of years before his February 2000 death.

Like most of his 1990s albums -- Black Music for White People, Stone Crazy, etc. -- it's good solid blues rock with lots of voodoo and madness, Hawkins' strong baritone making him sound like an opera singer caught in carnival spookhouse.

The album was produced by Jim Dickinson at Sam Phillips Recording Service in Memphis and features Muscle Shoals studs like bassist David Hood (Patterson;s daddy) and drummer Roger Hawkins.

Among the highlights is "Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda," a slow blues featuring a tasty fiddle and an female vocalist named Kelley Hurt. "Potluck" is a re-write of "Feast of the Mau Mau" and "Alligator Wine." And, while this one doesn't have any Tom Waits songs (Screamin' Jay was one of Waits' finest interpreters), there's a crazy cover of "I Shot the Sheriff," one of the few blues songs of any era that namechecks Boris Yeltsin.

* My First Billy Childish Album. This isn't really my first Billy Childish album. That would be Surely They Were Sons of God by Thee Mighty Ceasars, one of several Childish bands represented on this outstanding compilation. There's them Ceasars, Thee Headcoats, their gal pals Thee Headcoatees, The Buff Medways, The Pop Rivets, The Chatham Singers, The Delmonas, The Buffets ... begging the question, "Where's The Milkshakes, The Natural , The Musicians of the British Empire, etc.?

But who's complaining? This is a fine overview of the handlebarred hero and his invaluable contributions to garage rock.

The highlights here include "I Feel Like Giving In," sung in French by the Childish-led girl group The Delmonas, a raw Bo Diddley-beat cover of Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown" by Thee Headcoats, and The "Buffets' simple, direct "You Piss Me Off."

Also, "Davey Crocket" -- a screwball "history" tune inspired by "Farmer John" and The Ramones "Gabba Gabba Hey Hey" chant -- inspired me to download the rest of the original album it came from ...

*The Sisters of Suave by Thee Headcoatees. The Delmonas isn't the only girl group Childish created.

The Headcoatees, featuring Holly Golightly, Kyra La Rubia and Ludella Black (also a Delmona), sound like a girl group from reform school. Lots of glorious fuzz guitar and piercing harmonica.

There are not one, but two songs about martial arts here -- "My Boyfriend's Learning Karate" (Someone, quick, get this song to Petty Booka!) and "Jackie Chan Does Kung Fu." There's a cover of a Sonics song, the classic "Strychnine." And there's even a Christmas song in which the girls do to Santa Claus what they did to Davey Crocket.


* Horndog Fest by The Dirtbombs. We Have You Surrounded is one of my favorite albums so far this year, so I figured I'd check out The Dirtbombs' first album, released in 1997.

This is rougher and rawer than Surrounded, but the Dirtbomb spark is there. "Bittersweet Romance Song" is based in '60s soul as well as guitar crunch. And the ultra-bitchen stomp "Can't Stop Thinking About It" sounds a lot like "Wreck My Flow," one of my favorite songs from Surrounded.

Plus ... the songs I didn't already have from The Pretty Things' self titled album.

Plus ... I accidently downloaded The Dirty Projector's "The Kindness of Uncles" from their album New Attitude. I just meant to listen to it, but I was tired and accidently pressed "download" instead of "play." I don't like it very much. This mistake means I'll have to download The Dirtbombs' "A Brief Treatis on the Discovery of Anti-matter" from Horndog Fest when my downloads refresh next week.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: PRAISE & SCORN

It had been weeks since any serious talk has appeared in the national media about Gov. Bill Richardson’s chances of becoming Barack Obama’s running mate. Most of the squawk on Richardson over the summer seemed to be based on the assumption the governor is bucking for secretary of state.

Then, early this month, came that editorial in The Denver Post.

“His outstanding record makes him an ideal partner for Obama, not only on the campaign trail but at the vital job of shaping America’s future,” the paper said. “... Richardson’s record not only qualifies him to assume the presidency, it makes him an ideal partner to the visionary and eloquent Obama in the task of running this country. And as a leading figure in a Rocky Mountain West that has emerged as a swing political region, Richardson could do more than any other possible running mate to carry the Democratic ticket to victory in November.”

It’s not clear what effect that editorial might have on Richardson’s chances of getting on the ticket.

If he has been meeting with Obama’s veep vetters, they’ve done a great job of keeping that secret.

But could it be that people on the other end of the political spectrum are starting to take seriously the idea of Richardson as vice presidential candidate?

A couple of recent attacks from commentators on the political right have been pretty harsh on the governor. They seem pretty eager to tear into him.

Earlier this week this newspaper published a George Will column about the Russian invasion of Georgia, which said, “... Big events reveal smallness, such as that of New Mexico’s Gov. Bill Richardson.”

Will explained: “On ABC’s This Week, Richardson, auditioning to be Barack Obama’s running mate, disqualified himself. Clinging to the Obama campaign's talking points like a drunk to a lamppost, Richardson said this crisis proves the wisdom of Obama’s zest for diplomacy, and that America should get the U.N. Security Council ‘to pass a strong resolution getting the Russians to show some restraint.’ Apparently Richardson was ambassador to the U.N. for 19 months without noticing that Russia has a Security Council veto.”

In a blog called The Campaign Spot, the conservative National Review also criticized Richardson’s thoughts on the Russian situation. One post on Monday, referring to Richardson on CBS’ Face the Nation, was headlined “Bill Richardson, Making Obama Look Good on Georgia By Comparison.”

A few hours later, the same blog, in a post titled, “Bill Richardson Self-Destructs on CNN,” lambastes Richardson for saying “a President Obama will have a good, strong dialogue-oriented relationship with Russia, where these kinds of situations would not occur.” The first line of the blog post is “Team Obama has GOT to get Bill Richardson away from cameras.”

Pasadena bound: If you’re thinking that Richardson is holed up on the Fourth Floor frantically preparing for Friday’s special session, you are wrong.

Though he plans to be back later today, Richardson is appearing this morning in Pasadena, Calif., at a “breakfast fundraiser to benefit the Obama Victory Fund.” VIP tickets are $1,000, and requested contributions are $250 per person.

As is all too frequently the case, we didn’t learn about the governor’s out-of-state trip from his office, but from an out-of-state newspaper Web site, this time the Pasadena Star News, which published the story Wednesday.

Several hours later, the governor’s office e-mailed a news release saying Richardson was in California on Wednesday and today to attend the Border Governors Conference at Universal City. While in California, he also planned to meet with members of the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles to talk about our state’s film industry, the official release said. But there was no mention of the Obama breakfast.

Meanwhile on the Senate front ... Democrat Tom Udall has been running lots of television ads the past couple of months. But not until this week have any of his spots mentioned the name of his opponent, Republican Steve Pearce.

The new ad, which opens with a photo of Pearce shaking hands with President Bush, never mentions Pearce without mentioning Bush. “George Bush and Steve Pearce. How much are they costing you? ... Steve Pearce voted 91 percent of the time with George Bush.”

Something tells me you’re going to hear more ads linking “George Bush and Steve Pearce.” And you’re probably going to hear more Pearce ads that mention Udall and “left-wing environmental extremists.”

Meanwhile, outgoing Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici is scheduled today to formally endorsed Pearce — who surely hopes the Domenici endorsement does him more good than it did U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, who lost to Pearce in the GOP primary.

“It is SO not a debate!” That’s what nondebate moderator Lorene Mills said about a candidate forum scheduled for Friday morning in Clovis at the New Mexico Municipal League’s annual conference. Apparently some Senate and Congressional candidates were threatening to skip the event if it was going to be an actual debate.

Not only will the candidates not interact with one another, they won’t have to be surprised by the questions asked. The candidates got those in advance.

The forum airs live at 8:30 a.m. on KENW-TV in Eastern New Mexico and KRWG-TV in Las Cruces. But Santa Fe folks will have to watch online. Mills said KNME-TV (Channel 5, Albuquerque) told her they would stream it on their Web page.

UPDATE: I posted a Youtube of Pearce's last commercial, so I'll post Udall's below:

OOOOPS!

Don't believe false Internet reports that I'm subbing for Susan Ohori on "Beyond Borders" tonight.

Actually I did go out to KSFR tonight, only to see Susan who gently reminded me that I'm subbing for her NEXT MONDAY!

And no, I won't be featuring the greatest hits of the one-man Klezmer band Rahmbunctious Eman.