AN OLD HOUSE AD

My daughter apparently found this old New Mexican house ad from 1995. It's me with my lovely children 13 years ago.

You can actually read the copy if you check out the LARGE version.

CLICK HERE

JEROME'S RESPONSE

The Secretary of State's office this morning released Jerome Block Jr.'s official response to questions about his $2,500 campaign expenditure, of which he has admitted lying.

Here's the Public Regulation Commission candidate's explanation:

In April of 200 I entered into an agree with Mr. Paul Maez of the Wyld Country Band to play at a campaign event scheduled for May in La's Vegas, N.M. Our campaign was to pay $2,500 for this performance. In accordance with the New Mexico campaign reporting Act ... the payment for this performance was reported on Form C of the Report of Expenditures & Contributions as campaign expenditure for “Rally Entertainment.” This form was filed with your office on July 3rd, 2008.

Due to a scheduling conflict Mr. Maez’s band was unable to play on that date. In light of this, we agreed that the band would play at another event before the June primary. Subsequent to making those arrangements, Mr. Maez informed me that his band would be unable to play an event by June 3rd. Based on our agreement, I decided to set aside those funds for the sole purpose of paying him for a later performance. Inasmuch, I reported the $2,500 as an expenditure on Form C as “Rally Entertainment” for the purpose of paying a band for its performance in the future.

At some point I erroneously stated to Mr. David Giuliani of the Las Vegas Optic that the Wyld Country Band had in fact played at an event. I negligently made this statement. My negligence was due to the pressure and details of the campaign. My intent was not to mislead, confuse or disguise any expenditure on the part of my campaign.

On Sept. 24th, 2008 I explained to Mr. Giuliani via e-mail that the band had not played, but was planning to at a later event. Because of the attention given to this discrepancy, and to avoid the appearance of impropriety, I canceled a campaign rally scheduled for September 27th, 2008 in Las Vegas at which the band was scheduled to play. Upon canceling this event, Mr. Maez returned the $2,500 to my campaign. Because this money was unspent and unencumbered by any future debts it was returned to the Public Election Fund on September 26th in accordance with the New Mexico Election Code ...

This response will raise more questions about Block. It's not clear from this exactly when or why Block cancelled his Sept. 27 rally.

In a Sept. 18 interview with The New Mexican's Doug Mattson -- which took place when Block was sticking with his story that Wyld Country had played the May rally which he claimed attracted 75 to 100 people -- Block said he was cancelling the Sept. 27 shindig because of the possible perception of "impropriety" because Maez also serves as San Miguel County clerk. His response to the Secretary of State appears to say he cancelled it because of the attention given to the "discrepancy" of the May rally never actually taking place.

UDATE: My story posted on The New Mexican's site is HERE

A pdf of Block's response is HERE

Block's opponent Rick Lass of The Green Party responded to Block's response. He said:

First, it is clearly illegal to use primary funds for the general election under the campaign financing law. For Jerome to make a payment to the band using primary funds for a gig to be played in September is against the law, and he acknowledges in yesterday's letter that that is what he did.

His campaign finance report of July 3 shows he made the payment June 9, after the primary election was held.

He says that he lied to Giuliani because of the pressure of media calls. If he can't handle the pressure of accounting for his actions to his constituents, how will he stand up to the pressure of industry lobbyists and the media spotlight if he is a PRC Commissioner?

I worked hard along with other activists to enact public campaign financing, and one of the objections we heard was that candidates would use public funds improperly. We said that that would not happen because there would be strong enforcements written into the law. I call on the Secretary of State and Attorney General to act swiftly and decisively in this matter to uphold the integrity of the public financing system.

Jerome's most recent letter merely adds to his history of missteps and misstatements, and proves that he is unfit to hold the critical job of representing New Mexicans on the Public Regulation Commission.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

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

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

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Maverick by Laurie Lewis & Kathy Kallick
Burn Your Fun by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Pride Covered Ears by Johnny Paycheck
I Ain't Got Nobody by Merle Haggard
Jasperoux by Buckwheat Zydeco
Boney White Moon by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
Johnny Cash by Ry Cooder
Joe Bean by Johnny Cash
Mississippi by Bob Dylan

Cheap Living by Eric Hisaw
I Say a Little Prayer for You by Mary & Mars
Bring 'em All In by Mike Scott
Hopes Up High by The Flatlanders
Shoot for the Moon by Bovine
I'm Wasting Good Paper by Eugene Chadbourne

Loudon Wainwright III Set
All songs by LW3 except where noted
Black Uncle Remus
School Days (by LW3, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, Rufus & Martha Wainwright)
The Swimming Song
Me and My Friend the Cat
A Fine Celtic Name
How Old Are You?
New Paint
Prince Hal's Dirge
A Father and a Son
Needless to Say

Jacob's Ladder by Greg Brown
16 Tons by Joe Cocker
The Ghost of May West by Trailer Bride
Pretty Girl by Miss Leslie
Will You Visit Me on Sunday by Marty Stuart & Loretta Lynn
Last Drop by Chris Mars
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

THE LATEST ON JEROME

Public Regulation Commission candidate Jerome Block, Jr. today delivered a response to the Secretary of State as to why he lied on a campaign finance report about public money he spent.
But the Secretary of State’s office refused to let reporters see Block’s response.

The embattled Block delivered his written response shortly before 5 p.m. However spokesmen for Secretary of State Mary Herrera said the document wouldn’t be released until Monday at the earliest because Herrera and a deputy hadn’t had the chance to review the response.

Asked why it was important for the office to review the letter before letting reporters see it, spokesman James Flores said, “We don’t want to get inundated with calls about something we haven’t seen.”

Attempts to get a copy of the response from Block were unsuccessful.

The Secretary of State's Office on Monday of this week sent the letter to Block, asking him to "clarify" why he lied about a $2,500 expenditure in public campaign funds. The office also wanted to know Block’s explanation for a Sept. 24 e-mail exchange with a Las Vegas Optic reporter, in which Block admitted lying.

Block at first said he gave the $2,500 in public funds to San Miguel County Clerk Paul Maez's band, Wyld Country, to perform at a May rally. But he changed his story last month after two band members said there was no such performance.

At stake could be the seat Block hopes to win in November. Under the state Voter Action Act, violation of the statutes mentioned in the secretary of state's letter constitute a fourth-degree felony, and -- should matter go to trial and result in a conviction -- could strip Block of his right to vote.

The law also says a candidate who violates the Voter Action Act could face a civil penalty of $10,000 per violation and could be required to pay back all campaign funds. Between the primary and general-election races, Block has received $101,000 in state money.

Read more in Saturday's New Mexican. (Will update with link)

UPDATE: 7:49 p.m. James Flores called to tell me the document will be released on Saturday.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: GORDONDON'S GOLD

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
October 10, 2008

It’s hardly a new phenomenon for musicians to go back and re-record their old songs for new albums. Mostly these are business ploys. A record company persuades an old pro to redo his songs and purposely make them sound as close to the original hits as possible. This way the company can market a “Greatest Hits” package without having to license the original recording from the old record company. Virgin Records did this with Roy Orbison in the 1980s.

Likewise, sometimes musicians who don’t have the rights to their own early recordings will re-record and repackage those songs themselves. John Prine did this with Souvenirs, released on his own Oh Boy label in 2000.


But occasionally an aging artist will revisit his old songs as a purely artistic exercise. That seems to be the case with Recovery, the latest album by Loudon Wainwright III, which features songs from his first four albums, going back to the early 1970s.

Most of the 13 songs here were originally recorded with just Wainwright’s piercing voice and his acoustic guitar. They’ve been rearranged for this album with the help of producer (and longtime Wainwright fan) Joe Henry, who brought in the same basic band he used for Wainwright’s previous album, Strange Weirdos.

While this CD isn’t just an exercise in nostalgia for baby boomers, the songs will bring back memories for old-time Wainwright fans. Listening to it last week, I immediately recalled the first time I heard Wainwright screeching “Me and My Friend the Cat” on KUNM late one night in 1972.

The song selection is nearly impeccable. If I were compiling a “Best of Loudon: The Early Years” retrospective, just about all of these songs would be there — though I would have included “Me and My Friend the Cat” and the terrifying “Hospital Lady.”

Most of these tunes are like old friends to me — including the song “Old Friend,” which is about a man realizing that he no longer has anything in common with a buddy but the past. Fortunately that’s not the case with the songs here. Unlike some friendships, nearly all of the tunes have held up extremely well over the past four decades.

One of the most fascinating realizations in listening to these songs is how Wainwright, even though he was in his 20s when he wrote these songs, often wrote from the perspective of an old man looking back on his youth. “In Delaware when I was younger” are the first words on “School Days,” the first track on his first album (Loudon Wainwright III, 1970) and one of the songs included here.

In “New Paint,” a song about a man’s awkwardness on a date with a woman, the singer sadly declares, “If I were 16 again, I’d give my eye tooth/I’m tired and I’m hungry and I’m lookin’ for my youth.”

And of course there’s “Old Friend,” where Wainwright sings, “The good old days are good and gone now/That’s why they’re good, because they’re gone.” When he first sang this, those “good old days” couldn’t have been long gone, unless he was singing about some kid he hadn’t seen since kindergarten

While the original versions of these songs were powerful, now — sung by a 60-plus Wainwright — they are infused not only with a tangible wistfulness but also with an earned wisdom. “New Paint” in particular takes on a new sadness. Nobody really believed Wainwright in 1973 when he sang, “Sometimes I feel ugly and old” and that he was a “used-up 20th-century boy.” But now, aided by Greg Leisz’s heartache steel and Patrick Warren’s pensive piano, those lines are jolting.

“Motel Blues,” a tune about luring a girl to his room (“Chronologically I know you’re young/But when you kissed me in the club you bit my tongue”), takes on new implications. Singing it back in the ’70s, Wainwright sounded desperate when he cried, “Come up to my motel room — save my life!” But now that line sounds literal, though Wainwright sings it as if he’s resigned to the fact that the girl probably won’t succumb to his pleas.

Perhaps the most powerful track on Recovery is “Saw Your Name in the Paper.” This song was inspired by the death of Janis Jo though she’s never mentioned by name. For years I’ve suspected that it might also have been partly directed at Wainwright’s childhood friend Liza Minnelli. Maybe that’s because of the line “Your mother must be happy — they said you stole the show.”

But whether it’s about Janis, Liza, or the next American Idol winner, the song is a meditation on the dark side of fame and the fickleness of the celeb-loving public.

“Maybe you’ll get famous. Maybe you’ll get rich/It’s all right.
Don’t be afraid. Lots of us got that itch/Lots of us, we need it. We need it really bad/Lots of us are desperate. Lots of us are sad.”

And yes, as is the case with most of his tunes, the song turns out to be about Wainwright himself. It was written about the time he was being touted as a potential “new Dylan” (one of about 863 “new Dylans” of that era). Wainwright’s only partially successful quest for fame has been a frequent topic in his songs. There was “AM World,” “Two-Song Set,” “The Grammy Song, “Harry’s Wall” and of course, the title song of his 1983 album, “Fame and Wealth,” just to name a few.

The one low point on the album is the last song. I won’t call “The Man Who Couldn’t Cry” a clunker, but this is the one early Wainwright song I wouldn’t have included. I never understood its appeal, even when Johnny Cash covered it. It’s the biggest production number on Recovery — with a string quartet — but this weird little parable doesn’t hold a candle to the rest of the tunes.

But for the most part, Recovery reminds me why I first became a Wainwright cultist all those years ago and why he continues to be such a worthy artist.

Baby, it’s a public radio world: You knew I couldn’t resist doing a Loudon Wainwright III tribute on the radio. Tune in to Terrell’s Sound World, 10 p.m. Sunday on KSFR-FM 101.1 for some old, new, and in-between Loudon. The Wainwright segment starts at the 11th hour. (And don’t forget The Santa Fe Opry, 10 p.m. Friday, on KSFR.)