PAOLO SOLERI SAYS SAVE PAOLO SOLERI

Check out the news release from Soleri's Consanti Foundation below:

Also today the state Cultural Properties Review Committee passed a resolution asking Santa Fe Indian School to reconsider its decision to demolish Paolo Soleri Amphitheater. The City Council passed a similar resolution on Wednesday.

Please check out my story in Saturday's New Mexican.

Consanti Foundation on Paolo Soleri Theater

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: WHEN THE SHARK BITES

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 11, 2010

King Shark is back. And he’s got lots of fine reggae music for Santa Fe.

Shark, aka Alphanso Henclewood, was born 52 years ago in the Greenwich Farms neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica. It’s an area populated mainly by people who make their living in the fishing industry. But it has also produced way more than its share of musicians — the most notable probably being Earl “Chinna” Smith, a guitarist whose résumé includes work with Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Jimmy Cliff, Ziggy Marley, Burning Spear, Lee “Scratch” Perry, King Tubby, and King Shark.

Moving from New York, Shark first came to Santa Fe about 10 years ago. (The love of a woman first brought him here, he said in a recent interview.) It was here in Santa Fe that he set up his company, Montego Records. In 2000 he released a compilation, King Shark and All Star Friends, which was recorded in Jamaica and featured tracks by artists including Prince Alla, Vicious Irie, Charlie Chaplin (a Jamaican), Michael Prophet, and Shark.

He left Santa Fe for several years. “I went to Texas,” he said. Dallas, to be exact. But earlier this year, he returned, settling down in the Pecos area. And he’s been busy.

Shark recently completed Rasta Life, a 56-minute film about the music of his homeland. He produced and directed, while Eduardo Griego edited the documentary. Opening with Chinna Smith playing bluesy jazz licks on an acoustic guitar, the film mainly consists of singers he knows doing what they do best — singing. These include artists like King Alla, Earl Zero, Pretty Rebel, Lucani, Peter Ridkind, and Ernest Wilson.

While there is some studio footage, most of these performances are spontaneous (or at least spontaneous-feeling) a capella performances. It’s lots of fun, even though those of us not fluent in Jamaican English have a hard time following some of the dialogue. The music is easy to follow, however, and that’s what really counts. This movie will be available to the public soon.

Another new treat from King Shark was a CD he gave me full of songs mostly by the musicians appearing on Rasta Life. (Among these is a new one by King Shark himself, “She’ll Be Mine,” performed in the “lover’s rock” style.)

Many of these tracks are available to download from the Montego Records website. Warning: this site is a little difficult to navigate. If there’s a way to search by artist, I haven’t figured it out yet. But the music’s good and reasonably priced — 89 cents for MP3s, $1.38 for higher-quality WAV versions of the songs.

Felecia Ford

Speaking of websites, last month Shark launched a new one, RastaLives.com. Though much of it is still under construction, several articles are up, and it has loads of biographies of the King’s musical pals.

And King Shark has been recording some music here too. Recently he’s been recording at Frogville Studios with Felecia Ford of Hundred Year Flood. (Full disclosure: I helped direct Shark and Ford to each other when King told me he was looking for a strong female vocalist.) Ford told me last week that she was doing vocals on “The Oil,” a song about the BP oil spill that she co-wrote with Frogville Records tycoon John Treadwell. The background music was recorded previously by King Shark, back in Jamaica.

So if Santa Fe ever becomes internationally famous as a reggae capitol, King Shark will surely be behind it.

Some other recommended international treats for your ears:

* Trans-Continental Hustle by Gogol Bordello. Eugene Hütz, the Ukrainian gypsy punk rocker behind this roving band, recently moved from New York City to Brazil. That’s why there’s suddenly a huge carnivale influence in the already multinational blend of sounds that is Gogol Bordello. The good news is that it works. Hütz and crew might be maniacal when they perform, but he’s smart enough to be subtle about adding new sounds.

Another new factor in the Gogol record is the addition of Rick Rubin as producer. That made a lot of Gogol fans worry: will the next Gogol album sound more like Slayer or Neil Diamond?

Fortunately, it sounds like neither. If anything, the acoustic instruments, especially Hütz’s guitar, seem a little more prominent than in past recordings. But there are still enough crazed rockers to keep old fans happy. In fact, in “Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher),” Gogol’s rhythm section has a little Slayer in it when it goes to the chorus.

My only beef here is that none of the 12 tracks instantly grabs you by the throat the way “American Wedding” did on Gogol’s previous album, Super Taranta!, or the way “Not a Crime” did on 2005’s Gypsy Punks Underdog World Strike. None of the new tracks would put a damper on a Bordello show, but none of them, at least so far, seem like an obvious contender to become a Gogol classic.

* Woman in Sin by Fishtank Ensemble. I love Little Willie John. And I enjoy an occasional Transylvanian folk tune and Kurdish fiddle stomp.

Well, here’s a group that happily plays all of the above. This Oakland-based band is led by singer/fiddler/saw-player Ursula Knudson and her husband, Fabrice Martinez, who also plays viand violin tromba, a stringed instrument that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns. Martinez is a native of France who traveled with a real-life gypsy caravan through Europe.

Sometimes Fishtank sounds like an acoustic Gogol Bordello. Sometimes they sound more like the Hot Club of Cowtown. And every so often, such as in the 1920s-flavored “CouCou,” Knudson’s voice reminds me of Katharine Whalen of the Squirrel Nut Zippers.

Knudson sings a passable “Fever.” But my favorite is the six-minute “Kolo Suite,” a medley of traditional Serbian tunes with a Transylvanian finale that’ll make the vampires boogie.

This record is good, but I’ll bet Fishtank Ensemble is even better live. And they’re coming our way. The band is scheduled to play the Albuquerque Folk Festival at noon June 19 at Expo New Mexico (real people still call it the state fairgrounds).

PICNIC TIME FOR PRESLEY

Two of my favorite American icons are coming together ... at last.

Elvis Presley and Mr. Potatohead!

The Associated Press reports:

The first of the Elvis potato heads will be released for Elvis Tribute Week in August. The toy will be in a jumpsuit. A second version — with the likeness dressed in black leather — will be on the market for Christmas.

That's a hunka hunka burnin' spud!

emusic June

* Humpty Dumpty LSD by The Butthole Surfers. Here they are, in all their Butthole splendor.

This is a 2002 collection of Surfer rarities and obscurities, culled from long-forgotten compilations and dusty recording studio shelves.

Most of the tracks here should remind Butthole Surfer fans why we love them in the first place. Crazy noise, psychedelic guitars, industrial strength percussion. It's New Year's Eve in the Nuthouse. They're coming to take you away, ha ha!

"One Hundred Million People Dead" is a living nightmare with a funky bass line. "I Love You Peggy" probably sent Peggy running. "I Hate My Job" is raw punk-rock and probably makes both Sid Vicious and Johnny Paycheck smile from Beyond. The opening piano chords banging in "Hetero Skeleton" recalls Frank Zappa's "The Chrome Plated Megaphone of Destiny."

Listen close and you can hear Daniel Johnston on "All Day," though he's buried in the thick mix. And there's a 13th Floor Elevators Cover, "Earthquake," that originally appeared on a Roky Erikson tribute album, Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye.

* Psychotic Beat! by Thee Vicars. After listening to The Butthole Surfers, Thee Vicars doesn't really sound all that psychotic.

But this is a pretty decent little British garage band. You can easily detect their influences -- The Kinks and The Standells among them. And singer Mike Whitaker sounds like The Troggs' Reg Presley with a sinus condition.

Here's something cool: Thee Vicars are playing the Eysines Goes Soul Festival this month in France with The Standells, The Zombies and Charles Walker & The Dynamites. My kinda show!

* Dangerous Magical Noise by The Dirtbombs. This is the third album from Detroit's premier rock 'n' soul band. It kicks off with a high-charged tune called "Start the Party" ... and the party never ends. To use my podcast pal Michael Kaiser's favorite word, every one of these tunes is a pounder.

Highlights here include "Motor City Baby," (which has a little T Rex in it), "I'm Through With White Girls," and "Stuck in Thee Garage," a nod at being pigeonholed in the genre game.

Displaying the group's wide array of influences, this version of Dangerous Magical Noise includes a cover of a Robin Hitchcock song ("Executioner of Love") and a Brian Eno tune, "King's Lead."

Just about all the reviews of this album I've read stresses that coming right after the soul-soaked Ultraglide in Black, (the first Dirtbombs album I ever heard), this was supposed to be a hard rocker. But the thing is I find such such distinctions useless. Frontman Mick Collins has soul in his voice that comes through on just about every song. But he's rocker at heart -- and that was true on Ultraglide as well.

PLUS:

*13 songs from (Not)Your Standard Spike Jones Collection. Sometimes the only music that makes any sense to me at all is that of Spike Jones. I was hooked as soon as I heard the first pistol fired in "Cocktails for Two."

With perfect comic timing (and impeccable musicianship) Jones skewered the classics as well as the hot hits of his era. Descriptions of his stage shows sounds like Vaudeville gone berserk -- jugglers, midgets, honking horns, bells, whistles, farting trombones, crazy homemade instruments (a toilet seat with strings), and usually a beautiful blonde playing harp.

Jones became famous for his anti-Hitler song "Def Fuhrer's Face" back in 1942. One of the tracks I downloaded here was directed toward another member of the Axis -- "You're a Sap, Mr. Jap." (Yes, politically incorrect, but hey, we were at war and they did bomb us ...)

I downloaded a few cockeyed cowboy songs here like "Dodging a Gal From Dodge City," "Barstool Cowboy, " and "Big Bad Bill" (from the Badlands), And there's a fine little polka full of slide whistles and horn honks, called "City Slicker Polka."

But I think my favorites here are American chestnuts like "Hi Neighbor" and "Toot Toot Tootsie Goodbye." Jones makes them even chestnuttier.

This is a gigantic collection - 88 songs. I already had a bunch of them from the Rhino box set that was released in the '90s. But there's still plenty I don't have, so this'll be a musical well on eMusic I'll be drawing from in months to come.

* "Billy Richardson's Last Ride" by Grandpa Jones. I just wish I'd found this before I wrote that column suggesting theme songs for our governor's presidential campaign.

Memories of Paolo Soleri Amphitheater

The first time I went there was for my high school baccalaureate service in 1971. I was a amazed by the architecture. It seemed like a theater The Flintstones would frequent.

I first met Roger Miller there, backstage after a Michael Martin Murphey concert in the summer of 1980. Murphey had called Roger out on stage to do a couple of songs. Roger was barely able to strum one chord before the rain started pouring down and the show had to be called off.

That's where I interviewed B.B. King. Several others too, but I remember B.B. most of all because he was, and still is, the nicest "big star" I've ever interviewed.

That's where Frank Zappa dedicated an entire show to Paul Bardake, who at the time was attorney general of New Mexico. I called Bardake the next day and learned that his dad was Zappa's high school English teacher -- one of the few teachers Zappa actually got along with.

That's where I was stiffed for an interview with the late reggae star Peter Tosh after waiting several hours there one afternoon in the summer of 1981. (I finally had to leave because I'd booked studio time in Albuquerque. I was in the middle of recording Picnic Time for Potatoheads.)

I've seen a lot of great music there: Santana, Elvis Costello, Robert Cray, John Prine, David Bromberg, Jerry Jeff Walker, David Byrne, several Native Roots & Rhythms shows. I haven't been there in a couple of years, but last summer I dropped off my son there to see Atmosphere.

And now they're going to tear it down.

A news release from Santa Fe Indian School (that I've only seen on Facebook, thanks, Rima!) says:

"The decision was not made lightly," said Everett Chavez, SFIS superintendent. "Thousands of people have been a part of the Paolo Soleri’s history, but unfortunately we cannot support it any longer."

Chavez cited safety and annual maintenance costs as the primary reasons for closing the amphitheatre housed on the SFIS campus. The SFIS utilizes the amphitheatre only twice a year to host its annual 8th grade promotion and 12th grade senior graduation events. It is used less frequently for other entertainment events primarily because of competition from other concert venues and local casinos. He also called elements that go along with some Paolo Soleri events "unsavory" and not in keeping with the school’s mission as an educational institution."

All I can say is that it's a goddamn shame.

A goddamn shame.