Thursday was a great day for rock 'n' roll spectacle at South by Southwest. Though most of the music I listen to -- be it rock, country, blues or whatever, is performed by artists with come-as-you-are fashion sensibilities, sometimes it's fun to see a full-blown costume party on stage.
That was certainly the case with a German band called Bonapart, who played an afternoon party organized by Saustex label of San Antonio. They were already in to their set when I arrived and I couldn't believe what I was seeing on stage. There was a guy in a horse costume. One of the guitarists had a mask that looked like a terrorist gorilla (that's correct -- not guerrilla.) The keyboardist, to quote the Bonzo Dog Band, had "a head on him like a rabbit.." A woman with a Plasmatics-style Mohawk was charging out from the stage into the audience.
Several costume changes ensued during the next few songs.
The music was frantic and hard driving. I liked it well enough to buy a CD (My Horse Likes You) -- though on first listen it's not nearly as exciting as what I heard on stage.
Pinata Protest
Bonaparte was followed by Pinata Protest, a San Antonio band I've described as a Chicano version of The Dropkick Murpheys. (They do a fantastic punk version of "Volver, Volver") I saw them last summer in Espanola, where their opening act was The Imperial Rooster. (Here's a video of one of their songs from that show.)
Although the German crazies was a hard act to follow, Pinata did the job. At the Dog & Duck show, I heard some songs I hadn't heard them do before, including a cover of "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For a Sunbeam" originally done by The Vaselines, but made famous by Nirvana.)
Although the German crazies was a hard act to follow, Pinata did the job.
I guess Thursday was Saustex day for me. After the D&D party, I went to the label's official showcase at a downtown club called Karma. Unlike my bad experiences from the night before, I was able to get in by paying a cover charge -- an incredible $5.
Glambilly
Glambilly had just started its set when I walked in. This is a San Antonio trio that infuses a basic cowpunk sound with a New York Dolls style glam-rock sound.
Michella the Fire Eater
Glambilly concentrated on tunes from their album White BBQ Sauce, including a blazing version of "I Must Be the Devil." (I'm not kidding about "blazing." the performance was aided by a beautiful dancer/ fire-eater, who provided some real "glam."
Glambilly was extremely tight. My only complaint is that they didn't do their cover of Bob Wills' "Stay All Night."
A San Francisco punk band called The Grannies followed. This was the second great costume-party band I heard Thursday. The members appeared on stage in granny drag -- bad wigs and even worse dresses.
And their show was downright feral. The singer frequently charged out into the audience to get the moshing started.
But the set was way too short. Apparently some technical problem caused them to start 15 minutes or so after they were supposed to. Oh well, they were fun while they lasted.
The last act I saw was The Hickoids, the band fronted by Saustex owner Jeff Smith and one of the first real-live cow-punk bands of the 1980s.
The group includes Santa Fe punk hero Tom Trusnovic (Monkeyshines, The Floors, Blood Drained Cows, 27 Devils Joking).
When they played in Santa Fe last year, Tommy was playing drums with The Hickoids. However, he's since switched to acoustic guitar. The band was bigger than the one that played at The Underground (Evangelos' basement). At one point they had four guitars blaring on the stage.
As always they were loud, funny, obscene and rocking. They even make Elton John's '70s clunker "Bennie & The Jets" sound exhilarating.
I learned a couple of valuable lessons for SXSW yesterday.
1) Austin traffic during the festival either has gotten a lot worse during the past 4 years, or at least is a lot worse than I remember it. And parking is even worse.
2) Not having a badge or a wristband is a lot harder than people say, at least for the nighttime, officially sanctioned events.
The first lesson I learned after trying to get from my daughter's house in south Austin to Lovejoy's where Kid Congo Powers was playing a free show at 5:15 pm. After dealing with the traffic crawl and finding a $10 parking space about 6 blocks from the venue, I got there just in time to hear Kid Congo thank the crowd.
Hubbard & son
I also arrived too late to see Eric Burdon (yes, former singer of The Animals) play a free show in the Hotel San Jose parking lot. That was my own fault though for stopping for a nice Mongolian BBQ dinner downtown.
But then the badges deal: I figured my musical taste was so obscure there wouldn't be big crowds for some of the bands I wanted to see -- such as Lee Fields, a soul singer I like.
I was wrong. The line was so long in from of Red 7 that the SXSW looked at me like I was crazy when I asked if I could pay a cover charge.
Then I hiked several blocks uphill (with my soon-to-be-replaced arthritic hip) to the Presbyterian church where Giant Sand was playing. Even though there wasn't a big line, again it was a badge-or-wristband-only show. I even tried to play the crippled old man card. Sorry. Policy is policy.
By now it was midnight, so I trudged back to my car, down near I-35 and drove to East Austin where I knew that Ray Wylie Hubbard and Billy Joe Shaver were playing at a bar called The White Horse.. I found a parking spot nearby (free!) and I didn't need a wristband to get in. In fact it was a free show. And Ray Wylie Hubbard was onstage with a full band.
The funny thing is that I'd started out the day with Ray Wylie Hubbard. He had done a short solo set around noon at Threadgill's, where I'd just had brunch with family. I didn't mind For one thing, Hubbard sounds best with a band. His songs stand by themselves but they sound best with bass and drums and electric guitar. His son Lucas does that job, both on stage and on the record. And the boy can pick. I remember seeing an impromptu set by Hubbard four years ago when I was in Austin during SXSW, Hubbard and son, then about 14, I think, did some blues tunes at Threadgill's. He's learning well.
For another thing, his soon-to-be-released album, The Grifter's Hymnal, is the first great album of 2012 as far as I'm concerned. It's got Hubbard's trademark style of snarling, cosmic blues he's perfected during the past few years. Lots of slide and attitude.
As I said in reviewing his previous album, " ... unlike his fellow cosmic cowboys of the ’70s, Hubbard stayed cosmic. Since the ’90s ... his best material has been concerned with the wrath of God and the temptations of the devil, of earthly delights and heavenly light. And it’s mostly done with wry humor."
(I didn't get close enough to shoot a decent video myself, but check out this one Ray made himself.)
Bass Drum of Death
Earlier in the day I did catch a pretty cool band over at Waterloo Records. They're called Bass Drum of Death. No, thy aren't some techno band. It's a trio from Mississippi that play a raw blend of blues rock and pop. I couldn't make out any of their lyrics, but they played with spirit.
But some of my favorite part of SXSW is hearing music just walking down the street. For instance I came across a fun little jazz band -- trumpet, guitar, snare drum and accordion -- playing "Mack the Knife" and other tunes, on Sixth Street Wednesday afternoon. They sounded a lot better than the one happy guy banging on an acoustic guitar just up the street.
And there was a fairly competent metal band called Broken Teeth, playing a free outdoor show on Seventh Street I heard while eating a BBQ chicken Korean taco on my way between being denied entrance to Lee Fields and being denied entrance at Giant Sand.
So far today I've been hanging out with my grandson on his first birthday. We'll see what music awaits this evening.
UPDATE 3-16-12 : The original version of this post misidentified the venue where I saw Ray Wylie Hubbard do his solo set.
Here's a couple of great musicians who unfortunately I won't be
seeing this year. (R.I.P Doug & Freddy!)
AUSTIN, TEXAS -- I'm here at the Live Music Capitol of the World for the South by Southwest Music Festival, my first time at SXSW since 2008.
I'm off to a great start. I rolled into town about 1 am and went to the motel I usually stay at. But to my surprise, when I booked the room in January, I boneheadedly booked the chain's other Austin location -- way way up on the north side, miles away from anything. And, as fate would have it, the northside location doesn't have wi-fi in my room. (I won't name the motel chain, but let's just say that NRBQ was WRONG!)
But I won't let a little thing like that stop me. I'll just camp out in the lobby and blog away.
Unlike past years, when, like other media elites, I'd have a press pass for the festival (and my own dear friends with me would refer to me as a "badge-wearing scum"), this year I'm trying something different. I'm going to try doing it like a regular plebeian -- hitting the free parties shows and/or paying a single cover at bars and staying all night instead of running all over the downtown area. We'll see how that turns out.
Hopefully I'll see this guy this year.
So check back here every day and I'll let you about the bands I see.
You bet Jurassic, there's no stoppin' the dinosaurs from hoppin'! Get hip to the prehistoric jive of this month's Big Enchilada featuring giant reptilian rock 'n' roll. Shake your dinosaur bones to The Hickoids, J.C. Satan, Persian Claws, The Terrorists, The Mighties and Bedrockin' New Mexico bands like The Blood-Drained Cows, The Dirty Novels and -- from the tar pits of time, Jimmy Gilmer & The Fireballs.
* This song from the Italian garage rock compilation Fresh Meat . You'll find a song by The Mighties there too. For a free download of the compilation, send an email to freshmeatdownload@gmail.com . Thanks to Freddi at the Kicks from the Boot podcast for finding this.
Sunday, March 11, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Diggin' Up My Date by The Blood Drained Cows
Love is a Dog from Hell by Help Me Devil
Harm's Way by The Ugly Beats
Brand New Baby by White Pagodas
(segment from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers by The Firesign Theatre )
Devil's Stomping Grounds by Southern Culture on the Skids
We're All Water by John Lennon, Yoko Ono & Elephant's Memory
(segment from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers by The Firesign Theatre )
I'll Follow Her Blues by The Gibson Bros.
Blood Veil by The Mighties
(segment from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers by The Firesign Theatre )
Losers, Boozers and Heroes by fIREHOSE
Evil Thing by Thee Headcoatees
I Ain't Dead Yet by The Breakers
(segment from Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me The Pliers by The Firesign Theatre )
Shake Your Tailfeathers by Ray Charles & The Blues Brothers
Howard Johnson's Got His Hojo Working by NRBQ
Her Incredible Shoes by Dan Melchior und Das Menace
Abigail by Johnny Dowd
Anna by Rocket from the Tombs
Life Stinks by Pere Ubu
Caught With the Meat in Your Mouth by The Dead Boys
Venus de Milo by Television
Bury You Alive by The Batusis
Carne Voodoo by Rocket from the Crypt
Six and Two by Rocket from the Tombs
PRE ST. PAT'S WARM UP
The Old Main Drag by The Pogues
The Black Velvet Band by The Irish Rovers
Captain Kelly's Kitchen by The Dropkick Murpheys
Forty Deuce by Black 47
The Likes of You Again by Flogging Molly
Whiskey in the Jar by The Dubliners
Substitute CLOSING THEME: Lucky Day by Tom Waits
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Friday, March 9. 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Eye to Eye With a Fool by Leon Payne
I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again by The Maddox Brothers & Rose
Club Temptation by Tom Armstrong
Whistle Bait by Larry Collins
El Corrido de Jesse James by Ry Cooder
Sparkling Brown Eyes by Webb Pierce
Detroit City by Bobby Bare
Dodo Blues by C.W. Stoneking
Missing in Action by Jim Eanes & His Shenandoah Valley Boys
Coricidin Bottle/ South of the River by Rat Wylie Hubbard
Can't Go to Heaven by The Dirt Daubers
Magic City Stomp by Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires
Corn Liquor Made a Fool Out of Me by The Bad Livers
What's Patsy Cline Doing These Days (Parts 1 & 2) by Marvin Etzioni with Jon Wayne & Grey DeLisle
Nashville Casualty and Life by Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys
I Just Don't Care by Halden Wofford & The Hi Beams
If I Knew Now What I Knew Then by Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys
Shootin' Straight by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Cootchie Coo by Charlie Feathers
Walk It By Myself by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
Down South Blues by John Schooley & His One Man Band
She Do the Taboo by Jason Eklund
Pocket Dial by The Possum Posse
Drinkin' Thing by Gary Stewart
Brown Eyed Handsome Man by Waylon Jennings
Lake of Fire by The Meat Puppets
Sad Songs and Waltzes by Willie Nelson
My Pillow by Roger Miller
Train of Life by Merle Haggard
I'm Just an Old Chunk of Coal by Johnny Cash
Where Will I Shelter My Sheep by Flatt & Scruggs
I'll See You in My Dreams by Ukulele Ike
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican March 9 2012
Two of the most overused misused words in music journalism are “legend” and its adjectival brother “legendary.”
Read almost any rock rag, and you can find those words used in reference to any singer, picker, or band that existed more than 10 or 15 years ago. Eddie Money is a legend! The legendary Stone Temple Pilots! The living legend, Little Peggy March!
I’ve railed about this in the past and cautioned several younger writers to avoid it. If you want to write about legends, do a book about Paul Bunyan, Robin Hood, or Johnny Appleseed. So here I am now about to explain to you that a certain Cleveland band from the ’70s is kind of a (gulp) legend — or at least was for several decades.
Rocket from the Tombs
Early days
I’m talking about Rocket From the Tombs, a highly influential proto-punk band that included singer David “Crocus Behemoth” Thomas, later of Pere Ubu; guitarist Gene O’Connor, better known as Cheetah Chrome, who would join The Dead Boys; and the late punk-rock forefather Peter Laughner, also an early member of Pere Ubu.
Not only did Rocket hive off into two great bands, the group inspired an unrelated but very cool band across the country, San Diego’s Rocket From the Crypt, to take its name — kind of.
The reason I’ll break my own rule and use the “L” word here is because for 30 years or so after the band broke up — after being together about eight months — all anyone ever knew about Rocket From the Tombs was through word of mouth. There were scattered bootlegs, but the band never recorded a proper album during its brief existence in the mid-’70s. Those who never saw the group live and couldn’t find the boots just had to imagine how the band sounded. You had to create the Ubu/Dead Boys convergence music in your mind. And tell your friends about it. Thus, a legend was born.
A couple of Rocket From the Tombs’ songs, “Amphetamine” and a seven-minute recording of “30 Seconds Over Tokyo,” surfaced in a 1990s Pere Ubu box set, Datapanik in the Year Zero. But it wasn’t until 2002 that an actual legal album emerged. That was The Day the Earth Met the ... Rocket From the Tombs, a compilation of lo-fi live recordings and demos released by Smog Veil, Ubu’s record label. It included some tunes later to become known as Pere Ubu and Dead Boys standards as well as a couple of Stooges covers — “Search and Destroy” and “Raw Power” — and a crazed version of a Velvet Underground song, “Foggy Notion.”
It might sound harsh, but I’d argue it was at this point that Rocket ceased to be a legend. Though the group had been defunct for decades and though the release was barely publicized and basically ignored by the mainstream media, Rocket’s music was now accessible to anyone who knew how to search for it. Rocket no longer existed only in the mists of legend.
Apparently that album sparked something. Original members Thomas, O’Connor, and bassist Craig Bell got together with Richard Lloyd (from the band Television, which was lege ... oh, never mind) filling in for Laughner and drummer Steve Mehlman for a Rocket reunion tour in 2004. That tour resulted in an album called Rocket Redux, consisting of ancient RFTT classics recorded in the studio.
Finally, late last year, the 21st-century version of Rocket From the Tombs brought the world Barfly, a studio album with a bunch of new songs. And it’s a decent effort.
The album starts out strong with a song called “I Sell Soul.” Mehlman is storming on the drums while Thomas croons in his trademark warble, and O’Connor and Lloyd play showdown riffs. The band slows down a bit with “Birth Day,” which, without Thomas’ vocals, would actually sound more like a Television song. “Six and Two” is another one in which Lloyd’s Television influence really comes out.
My favorite tracks on Barfly are the crazy rockers. “Anna” falls into this category. So does the minor-key “Maelstrom,” which starts out with a guitar hook that has echoes of original Rocket killer “30 Seconds Over Tokyo.” You can hear a nod to The Velvet Underground in “Good Times Never Roll.” Like the song that precedes it, “Butcherhouse 4,” there’s a pervading blues-rock vibe.
One of my favorite songs is one that’s so good that Rocket included two versions. “Sister Love Train” (and the nearly identical “Love Train Express”) is a soul-infused tune. The main version is fortified by a horn section, while “Express” is a rawer, fast and furious guitar-dominated take.
Even the original Rocket didn’t play at breakneck speed all the time. The current band slows it down with “Romeo & Juliet” and “Pretty,” which starts off with a guitar lick that reminds me of (I’m not kidding) The Band. “Romeo & Juliet” seems plodding at first, but eventually some intense guitar solos emerge.
Rocket from the Tombs
These days
As you might have gathered, I like this album. It’s good rock ’n’ roll with some catchy tunes. If you like the music of Pere Ubu, The Dead Boys and/or the original Rocket From the Tombs, definitely buy it.
But it would be a stretch to call Barfly innovative and an even bigger stretch to call it anything close to dangerous — or even adventurous. The original Rocket was all those things. I guess it’s nearly impossible to live up to a legend.
Don’t cry for me ’cause I’m going away. But I’ll be back some lucky day: Because of a vacation and a hot date with a surgeon, this is my last column for a few weeks. Please don’t cancel your subscriptions! But I will be blogging next week from South by Southwest. I haven’t been for four years, and for the first time I’ll be there without a press pass, so it should be an adventure. Watch this blog!
Sunday, March 4, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Quick Joey Small by Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus
Heart of a Rayt by Rocket from the Crypt
Earthquake by Butthole Surfers
Hippie Hippie Hoorah by The Black Lips
Poison by Hundred Year Flood
Leave My Kitten Alone by The Detroit Cobras
Baby I'm Your Dog by Stomping Nick & His Blues Grenade
Grits Ain't Groceries by '68 Comeback
Swimsuit Issue by Sonic Youth
Weekend by New Bomb Turks
C'Mon by The Dragons
Jump Jive and Harmonize by The Plimsouls
Roadrunner by The Modern Lovers
Little Miss Contrary by Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians Of The British Empire
Talking Main Event Magazine Blues by Mike Edison
Mr. Krushchev by Bo Diddley
Shoot it Up Baby by The Terrorists
Love Train Express by Rocket from the Tombs
Axis Abraxis by Mark Sultan
Fly Paper by Persian Claws
Sky is Black by The Hustlers
Porn in the USA by The Parents
We Sold Army Secrets for Dope by Help Me Devil
Lutin Au LSD by The Curlee Wurlee!
Hot Head by Captain Beefheart
Stranded In Your Love by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings with Lee Fields
Preacher's Blues by Lee Connors
What a Nice Way to Go by NRBQ
Mojo Hannah by Andre Williams
The Thunderer by Dion
Country Boy by The Band
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Friday, March 2, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Shake a Leg by Kim Lenz
Cowboy in Flames by The Waco Brothers
Yodelin' Rhythm & Blues by Halden Wofford & The Hi-Beams
Hell, I'd Go! by Dan Hicks & The Acoustic Warriors
You're Bound to Look Like a Monkey by The Great Recession Orchestra
Rainmaker by Eliza Gilkyson & Tusker
Work on the Railroad by Trailer Bride
Whatever Kills Me First by Joey Alcorn
Hell Came to Killville by Angry Johnny
She's a Hum Dum Dinger by Gov. Jimmie Davis
I Was There When It Happened by Johnny Cash
Pigfork Jamboree by The Imperial Rooster
A Little Too Old (and a Lot Too Ugly) by Trailer Radio
The Devil Gets His Due by The Dirt Daubers
Foggy Mountain Breakdown by Flatt & Scruggs
Home Sweet Home by Reno & Smiley
Take This Job and Shove It by Eugene Chadbourne
Colorado Cool-Ade by Johnny Paycheck
The Teddy Bears' Picnic Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
I Want My Mojo Back by Scott H. Biram
Side by Side Doublewides by The Hickoids
Honky Tonk Carnie by Lone Wolf OMB
Crow Holler by The Shiners
Broken Man by The Goddamn Gallows
Bring The Nose by The Unholy Trio
Swinging From Your Crystal Chandeliers by The Austin Lounge Lizards
I'll Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms by Buster Carter & Preston Young
Wild Bill Jones by Wade Mainer & The Sons of The Mountainers
Burn Down That House by Poor Boy's Soul
I'm Ragged But I'm Right by George Jones
Weird by Dr. West's Medicine Show & Junk Band
I Push Right Over by Rosie Flores
Your Hearty Laugh by The Defibulators
Almost Persuaded by Etta James
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican March 2 2012
After three years of a terrible economy, a downright hostile Congress, and basically being forced to prove he’s not some sort of foreign impostor, President Barack Obama showed that he knows something about the blues.
B.B. King and The President
He recently proved it at a White House concert in honor of Black History Month, which featured an all-star blues band — B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger, Shemekia Copeland, Gary Clarke Jr., Jeff Beck, and others.
After thanking the musicians, the president stepped off stage. Guy, noting that Obama had recently sung a few bars of “Let’s Stay Together” at an Apollo Theater event attended by Al Green, coaxed him back. Obama demurred at first, but after Jagger handed him a microphone, the Leader of the Free World started singing the chorus of “Sweet Home Chicago.”
“Hey, baby, don’t you want to go,” Obama sang, muffled at first but at full force when repeating the line. Then he handed the mike to B.B. King, who sang the next words, “Back to that same old place.” The president, who by now seemed to be enjoying himself, finished the chorus: “Sweet home Chicago.”
Reviews of the performance -- like everything else in these poisonous political times -- probably broke along party lines. Most of the people I talked to thought it was kind of cool.
But one Obama critic I know tweeted that it made him “look like a clown.” And it only took a day or so for the Republican National Committee to produce an ad with a 15-second clip of the song with a chart of rising gasoline prices superimposed over it, ending with the message, “Obama’s Got America Singin’ the Blues.”
Not bad.
For reasons far beyond me, it is usually controversial when a political leader shows any musical talent.
Singing or playing popular music in public doesn’t destroy a politician. But political opponents will imply that it should.
After Obama’s Apollo appearance, Newt Gingrich sniffed, “I’m not going to compete with Obama in singing, because I’m not running for entertainer in chief. I’m running for president.”
There was similar scoffing by Clinton critics in 1992 when the sax-blowing, sunglasses-wearing future commander in chief played “Heartbreak Hotel” on The Arsenio Hall Show. At the time, Clinton was badly trailing in the polls. Some believe the moment helped him turn that around. Greil Marcus, in his 2000 book Double Trouble: Bill Clinton and Elvis Presley in a Land of No Alternatives, boldly declares, “Elvis Presley won the 1992 election for Bill Clinton.”
It doesn’t always work.
John McCain got little political advantage when he sang a line from a song associated with The Beach Boys. Of course, the Arizona senator substituted some lyrics: “Bomb bomb bomb/Bomb bomb Iran.”
Some folks just don’t want to take a politician seriously — especially a politician they’re not fond of — if he opens his mouth to sing something other than “The Star Spangled Banner” or “God Bless America.”
Roberto Mondragon sings on Plaza 2009
New Mexico Supreme Court Justice Charles Daniels and I talked about this a couple of years ago. Before he was appointed to the high court, Daniels was a guitarist in the Albuquerque band Lawyers, Guns & Money. What’s the big deal? Daniels pondered. Some people play golf. He plays guitar.
The first public official I ever interviewed at the Roundhouse, in 1980, was then Lt. Gov. Roberto Mondragón — he had just released one of his albums of Spanish-language songs. Mondragón told me that he got so tired of people asking him “Where’s your guitar?” that he started bringing it to work.
There have been some notable musician politicians. The late Sen. Robert Byrd played fiddle, releasing an album called Mountain Fiddler backed by ace bluegrass pros including Doyle Lawson.
In college, (or was it high school? ) Sen. John Kerry played bass in a surf band called The Electras, though he never played it publicly when he ran for president in 2004.
And don’t forget Kinky Friedman, who ran for governor of Texas in 2006.
Gov. Jimmie Davis
One politician known as much — perhaps more — for his music as for his politics was Jimmie Davis, a two-term governor of Louisiana, who co-wrote and performed “You Are My Sunshine.” When he first ran in 1944, Davis sang the song on the campaign trail. However, some of his earlier, raunchier songs stirred up a little trouble. In his 1977 book Country: The Biggest Music in America, Nick Tosches writes, “The opposition ran advertisements in newspapers listing some of his older, profaner songs. (His 1936 ‘Bed Bug Blues’ was called ‘depraved vulgarity.’).”
There was no uproar from decent citizens last year when, on his talk show, bass-playing former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee backed Ted Nugent on “Cat Scatch Fever” and the Nuge sang -- right there on Fox News, "I can make a pussy purr with the stroke of my hand.
But just imagine if Obama and his White House blues band had sung a more menacing blues standard like John Lee Hooker’s “Crawlin’ King Snake” or Muddy Waters’ “Rollin' Stone” instead of “Sweet Home Chicago.”
Imagine the “Obama promotes the occult!” hysteria on talk radio had he sung “Hoochie Coochie Man” or “Who Do You Love.”
“Sweet Home Chicago” was a safe choice. In the end it probably will have no effect on the outcome in November. I just wish I could have been there for the show.
Enjoy some politician music:
Here's Obama ...
Gov. Jimmie Davis
John Kerry was a surf rocker
Kinky coulda been a governor
Everyone remembers "Heartbreak Hotel," but Bill Clinton also did this Billie Holiday classic.
Louisiana Red, left, playing the Thirsty Ear Festival in 2006.
Also on stage is Dave "Honeyboy" Edwards, who died last year.
Ivorson Minter, better known as Louisiana Red, died over the weekend. He was 79.
Though a native of Alabama, Red moved to Germany in the 1980s. He died in a German hospital Saturday after slipping into a coma brought on by a thyroid imbalance, the Los Angeles Times reported.
From the Times obit:
Red's mother died within a week of his birth, and his father was lynched by members of the Ku Klux Klan when he was 5, prompting an aunt to place him in an orphanage. He later lived with his grandmother and an uncle in Pittsburgh. He landed a deal with Chicago's influential Chess Records after playing a song over the phone for label co-owner Phil Chess, who sent him a bus ticket for Chicago. The man who picked Red up at the station to drive him to meet Chess was Muddy Waters, who was to become one of the label's biggest stars.
Waters and some of his band mates, including harmonica player Little Walter and guitarist Jimmy Rogers, played on some of Red's recordings, and he appeared on records by other blues artists including Waters and John Lee Hooker.
I was lucky enough to see him play back in 2006 at the Thirsty Ear Festival in Santa Fe -- on the same bill as Dave "Honeyboy" Edwards. During Honeyboy's set, Red joined him on stage for several songs.
Red's just the latest blues great to die in the last year or so. He joins Honeyboy, Etta James, Johnny Otis, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, Pinetop Perkins and Big Jack Johnson in that great juke joint in the sky.
Sunday, Feb. 26, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star) by The Village People
Celluloid Heroes by The Kinks
Beloved Movie Star by Stan Ridgway
New Age by The Velvet Underground
It'll Chew You Up and Spit You Out by Concrete Blonde
Shaky City by The Plimsouls
Mess Around by The Manxx
Sizes by The Cleopatras
Sunday You Need Love by The Oblivians
Rock 'n' Roll Can Rescue the World by Electric Eel Shock
Baby Don't Tear My Clothes by The Raunch Hands
Brain Dead by Sons of Hercules
Officer Touchy by The Scrams
Love Your Money by Daisy Chainsaw Pretty Thing by The Pretty Things
No Body by The Tombstones
Rock 'n' Roll Grrrl by Ditch Bank Okies
Andre Williams Set
Hoods & Shades by Andre Williams
Babbling Brook by Andre Williams & The Goldstars
Nasty Women by Andre Williams
Tricks by Andre Williams
Hallelujah by Andre Williams & Green Hornet
Swamp Dogg's Hot Spot
That Ain't My Wife by Swamp Dogg
Just a Little Bit by Bobby King & Terry Evans
Chocolate River by The Seeds
House on Highland Ave. by The Gun Club
The Gravedigger's Song by Mark Lanegan Band
Sherry by Johnny Dowd
Wayfarers All by Dead Meadow
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Friday, Feb. 24, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Cheap Motels by Southern Culture on the Skids
Honky Tonk Queen by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys
Jason Fleming by The Sadies with Neko Case
Chevy Beretta by Johnny Corndawg
Cold Neon Stare by Jason Arnold & The Stepsiders
Evil Hearted Me by Jody Reynolds
Dim Lights, Thick Smoke and Loud, Loud Music by Joe Maphis & Rose Lee
I've Got $5 and it's Saturday Night by George Jones & Gene Pitney
String's Mountain Dew by Stringbean
Let's Duet by Dewy Cox & Darlene
Old Home Place / Ball by Whiskey Shivers
Drunkard's Hiccups by J.E. Mainer's Mountaineers
Shout Little Lulie by Ralph Stanley
Nothin' Better to Do by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
The Story of My Life by Big Al Dowling
Burnt Toast Mornin' by Jason Eklund
Kiss Of Death by Split Lip Rayfield
Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down by Uncle Tupelo
Hand of the Almighty by John R. Butler
In the Pines by The Louvin Brothers
Southern Family Anthem by Shooter Jennings
Oak Tree Hangin' by Gary Gorence
I'm Comin' Home by Elvis Presley
You're Drifting Away by Johnny Cash
My Brand of Blues by Bloodshot Bill
Rose Marie by Halden Wofford & The Hi-Beams
Show Them to Me by Rodney Carrington
River of Crystal by Roy Acuff
More Pretty Girls Than One by Doc & Merle Watson
Leavin' Home by Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers
Summer Wages by David Bromberg
When The Gypsies Camped on Prairie Creek by Tom Irwin
Who Takes Care Of The Caretaker’s Daughter? by Cliff "Ukulele Ike" Edwards
No Cane on the Brazos by The Band
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
That assessment came from the fact that his latest album at the time, That’s All I Need, didn’t seem to have the fire of his previous efforts. But I think I probably spoke too soon.
Williams is releasing an impressive new album this week,Hoods and Shades. And that’s only a few weeks after a jumping little five-song EP, Nightclub, with a Chicago band called The Goldstars, came out.
Although he’s been in the music biz since the 1950s and wrote an actual hit — “Shake a Tail Feather,” covered by Ike & Tina Turner and James & Bobby Purify — Williams has never been a household name.
His is one of those terrible R & B years-in-the-darkness stories — obscurity, drugs, homelessness — that’s way too common. (Rest in peace, Howard Tate.) In the late ’90s Williams began his current incarnation as an underground indie rock elder statesman. He recorded for some of my favorite labels including Bloodshot, Norton, In the Red, and Pravda.
Williams’ albums are always fun, and Hoods and Shades is no exception. What’s exceptional about it is that it’s interesting on so many levels. The first thing you notice about Hoods is its cover, which resembles some blaxploitation movie poster. Williams is there, with his arms around a couple of gun-wielding babes against a backdrop of fiery explosions, skyscrapers, a police helicopter, hooded thugs, and some mean-looking guy in a fedora playing what appears to be a combination guitar/machine gun.
I’m not certain, but I’m thinking the latter is supposed to be guitarslinger Dennis Coffey. Coffey is best known as one of the Funk Brothers, that Detroit collective of studio cats who gave us the Motown sound.
He played on such Motown hits as “Runaway Child,” “Just My Imagination,” and “Cloud Nine” for The Temptations; “War” by Edwin Starr; and “What Does It Take to Win Your Love” by Junior Walker & The All Stars. He also played on non-Motown records including Funkadelic’s first album, Freda Payne’s song “Band of Gold,” and — best of all, in my book — “Who’s Making Love” by Johnny Taylor. In other words, he is one serious picker.
Indeed, it’s Coffey who most contributes to the unique sound of Hoods and Shades. But the rest of the musicians here aren’t exactly lightweights. Among them are Detroit producer and former Dirtbombs member Jim Diamond playing electric bass and Don Was on upright bass.
According to the publicity material for this project, Williams has referred to Hoods and Shades as his “folk album.” That’s probably because Coffey’s acoustic guitar-playing is prominent on many cuts. But the term folk is pretty misleading. This isn’t “Michael Row the Boat Ashore.”
Coffey and crew create a swampy sound to complement Williams’ vocals. This musical backdrop is a perfect fit for this collection of songs.
The opening song, an upbeat blues number called “Dirt,” is a new take on the basic dust-to-dust theme of Memphis Slim’s “Mother Earth.” Williams, taking the voice of a streetwise sage, chuckles before he starts singing, “It don’t matter how high we go/It don’t matter if it’s high or low/It don’t matter if we help or hurt/When it all boils down, we just dirt.”
There are a couple of lengthy story songs here that I suspect will be the main things most fans will remember about this album. There’s the atmospheric title song, in which Williams relates a number of terrifying descriptions of violence and poverty in a landscape haunted by young thugs hiding hardened faces behind hoods and sunglasses. The background music is a low-key acoustic blues shuffle with Coffey’s electric guitar providing a distant, desperate sounding response.
Then there’s a funny shaggy “Dogg” story called “Swamp Dogg’s Hot Spot.” Yes, the hero of this tale is none other than soul singer Jerry Williams, aka Swamp Dogg. Somehow I don’t think this story is really true. I’m not sure whether Swamp and Williams really met in “the county jail” like the song says, but I’m pretty sure that Andre Williams never got popped for “selling bootleg CDs.” (In real life, Swamp produced a 1990 Williams album, Directly From the Streets.)
My personal favorite on Hoods is a dandy new version of an old song Williams co-wrote, “Mojo Hannah.” This has been recorded by Esther Phillips, Aaron Neville, Marvin Gaye, and an underrated New Orleans singer named Tami Lynn. Williams doesn’t have the voice of any of those, but his knowing rasp does the song justice.
Nightclub is more typical of what Williams fans have come to expect in recent years. The Goldstars is a fine band playing at the intersection of garage rock and soul music. The group even did a high-energy cover of Williams’ song “Agile, Mobile, and Hostile” a few years ago. And recently The Goldstars has been Williams’ touring band.
Williams has been paired with many bands on recordings in recent years. But with The Goldstars, there’s a real chemistry that’s not always apparent with other backup bands.
My favorites here are “Hot Coffee,” a tight rocker in which Williams sounds like an unholy combination of sex maniac and caffeine fiend, and “Babblin’ Brook,” about a female companion who won’t shut up.
My only complaint about the E.P. is that it’s an E.P. and not a full-length album. I hope that’s something on Williams’ to-do list.
After three years of a terrible economy, I think even the most hardcore Republican would have to admit that President Obama knows something about the blues.
On Tuesday he joined an all-star blues band -- B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Mick Jagger -- at the White House for a verse of "Sweet Home Chicago."
It was a Black History Month concert honoring the Blues. Read about it HERE or HERE and check out the video below.
Sunday, Feb. 19, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Little Mouth by Sleater-Kinney
Pepper Spray Boogie by The Compulsive Gamblers
Weekend by New Bomb Turks
Barely Homosapien by The Hives
Birth Day by Rocket from the Tombs
Freezer Burn by Edison Rocket Train
Repulse Me Baby by Mark Sultan
Love Me by The Phantom
Albuquerque Annie by The 99ers
It Gets a Little Red by '68 Comeback
Animal Husbandry by The Hickoids
Bucket O Blood by Big Boy Groves
Mojo Hannah by Andre Williams
Nightclub by Andre Williams & The Goldstars
Pink Champagne by Don & Dewy
Little Esther's Blues by Esther Phillips with The Johnny Otis Show
Freaking Out by Mondo Topless
Five Months, Two Weeks, Two Days by Louis Prima & The Witnesses
Hard-Hearted Hannah by Ukulele Ike
Oldest Story in the World by The Plimsouls
The Price of Love by The Everly Brothers
Thunderbird ESQ by The Gories
When It Comes to You I've No More Dreams to Lose by The Lazy Cowgirls
Angry Hands by Manby's Head
Get Happy by Simon Stokes
White Rabbit by The Frontier Circus
Candy by Johnny Dowd
I'll Take Care of You by Gil Scott-Heron
Amos Moses by Primus
Don't Let Me Down by The Pornostuntman
Run Through the Jungle by The Gun Club
Tripped Out by Pierced Arrows
I Told a Secret by Delaney Davidson
Bleeding Muddy Water by Mark Lannegan
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Don't freak out. It's Happy Hour down at the corner Freak Bar. The beer is cold and the jukebox is blasting the freakishly superb sounds of Barrence Whitfield & The Savages, King Khan, The Reigning Sound, Ty Segall, The Manxx, Stomping Nick, The Hex Dispensers, The Lot Lizards and more. You don't have to be a pinhead to appreciate this episode. But it helps.
Friday, Feb., 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Done Gone Crazy by Ray Condo & The Ricochets
Heavy Breathin' by Cornell Hurd
Worries on My Mind by The Karl Shiflett & Big Country Show
Humpty Dumpty World by Ry Cooder
Ain't No Diesel Trucks In Heaven by Bob Wayne
Jesse James by Whitey & Hogan
You're Humbuggin' Me by Ronnie Dawson
Harm's Way by The Waco Brothers
Ubangi Stomp by Carl Mann
Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyeballs by Homer & Jethro
Cowboy Dan by The Ditchbank Okies
Barstool Mountain by The Frontier Circus
I'll Tell You What to Do by Ronny Elliot & The Nationals
Dolores by T. Tex Edwards & Out on Parole
Crazy Love by Trailer Bride
My Pretty Quadroon by Jerry Lee Lewis
Hippie in My House by Halden Wofford & The Hi-Beams
Working on a Building by The Bad Livers
You Better Not Do That by Tommy Collins
Put Your Cat Clothes on by Carl Perkins
Ship of Broken Dreams by Hank Penny
Restless Man Blues by The .357 String Band
Harry Glen Ludlum by Tom Irwin
On a Givin' Day by Jason Eklund
Julie's Neon Shoes by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
The Girl In The Blue Velvet Band by Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
Always Late (With Your Kisses) by Merle Haggard
Married Life Blues by Byron Parker & His Mountaineers
Too Much Sex (Too Little Jesus) by Drive-By Truckers
Pastures of Plenty of Cedar Hill Refugees
Colors of Night by Peter Case
Hangman by Marty Stuart
This Town Called Fate by Stan Ridgway
Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar by The Louvin Brothers
Green Green Grass Of Home by Ted Hawkins
Gone by Ferlin Husky
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Feb. 17, 2012
Two years after their last live album, the mighty Plimsouls are back with an even more powerful concert CD. Not bad for a group that broke up almost 30 years ago.
Even if you didn’t know anything about The Plimsouls, you would have a hard time believing that Beach Town Confidentialwas recorded just a couple of months ago, not in 1983.
Now what should you know about The Plimsouls?
They rose from the fires of the frenzied L.A. punk/New Wave scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s. Led by Peter Case, who had been in a punk group called The Nerves, and fortified by Eddie Muñoz on guitar, Dave Pahoa on bass, and drummer Louie Ramirez, they forged a sound that featured the guitar frenzy of their punk peers but sweetened it with irresistible melodic hooks. You could hear echoes of rock’s founding fathers, mid-’60s folk-rock, and sweaty soul.
The Plimsouls only released a couple of studio albums in their heyday, including their major-label debut, the over-produced but — hey, it was the ’80s — still worthy Everywhere at Once, which yielded the closest thing the band had to a hit, “A Million Miles Away.” They broke up in the mid-’80s when Case decided to pursue a solo career as an acoustic troubadour, which was a return to his roots as a street busker in San Francisco’s North Beach area.
But about every 10 years or so he reunites with the other Plimsouls for a few shows, most recently in 2006. (In 1996, they actually did a fresh studio album, the undeservedly out-of-print Kool Trash, which every true Plimsouls fan should demand to have re-released.)
There are a lot of similarities between Beach Town Confidential and Live! Beg, Borrow, Steal, the Plimsouls’ live record recorded in 1981 and released in 2010. Many of the songs are the same — “Zero Hour,” “Shaky City,” and, of course, “A Million Miles Away.”
Both have covers of Thee Midnighters’ “Jump, Jive, and Harmonize,” and both have desperately horny versions of their own classic “Now” (“Right now! I need your love tonight! I can’t wait any longer!”). Both contain a Bo Diddley song (a splendid “You Can’t Judge a Book” on Beach Town). And both have guest appearances by The Fleshtones’ Keith Streng. (On Beg, Borrow, Steal, all the Fleshtones joined The Plimsouls for a couple of songs. On Beach Town, Streng plays guitar on “Jumpin’ in the Night,” a Flamin’ Groovies tune.)
But the more recent album includes a lot of songs we haven’t heard before on live Plimsoul albums.
“Jumpin’” is just one of the rarities here. Another is “Who’s Gonna Break the Ice,” which — like the best Plimsouls songs — is as catchy as it is urgent. There is even a little-known Everly Brothers song called “The Price of Love.” Like the Everly Brothers, the Plimsouls play this as a bluesy stomp with prominent harmonica. Case pals Andrew and David Williams sing lead on this one, their brotherly harmonies evoking the Everlys.
Beach Town Confidential has the only live recordings of Plimsouls tunes “Magic Touch” and “Oldest Story in The World” — hearty rockers both — and “Hobo,” an instrumental Case dedicates to “all the surfers in the house.” (The show was at Huntington Beach. There probably were quite a few there.)
I think my favorite Plimsouls surprise here, though, is a punchy version of a Moby Grape song, “Fall on You.” All I can say is “Grape job!”
Case is about to embark on a tour with former Nerves bandmate Paul Collins. (They’re playing in Arizona and Texas, but seem to have forgotten about that state in the middle.) I’m hoping the response to Beach Town Confidential will be so great that he will do another Plimsouls reunion — and record a new Plimsouls album — in the near future.
Also recommended:
* Everybody’s Rocking by The 99ers. This record has been out since early last year, but I just recently sunk my teeth into it. It’s the third record by a group that bills itself as a Minnesota punk/rockabilly/surf band.
Minnesota? Why not? One of their songs here, “Minnesota Sun,” is a rewrite of The Rivieras’ “California Sun.” (Come to think of it, last year, the title song of the collaboration between Mama Rosin and Hipbone Slim was “Louisiana Sun,” a Cajunized “California Sun.”
Since this album was released, the term “99ers” has taken on new political connotations. But don’t worry. You won’t hear any weird “human mike” chants or political polemics here. The band named itself after its favorite ice-cream dessert.
This album, on the Spinout label owned by Los Straitjackets’ Eddie Angel, is nothing but good, basic, happy rock ’n’ roll, grounded in Chuck Berry, colored by The Beach Boys, and pumped up by The Ramones. (One song here is called “Ramones Forever.” It’s a cover of a Shonen Knife tune immortalizing our beloved cretins from Queens.)
My two favorites are sung by Molly Holley — the frantic “Six Steps to Your Heart” (I can almost imagine The Plimsouls playing this one) and a sultry cover of a Brenda Lee rockabilly-tinged “Sweet Nothin’s.”
There’s a song here called “Albuquerque Annie,” about a woman who sings in a rockabilly band. It mentions Central Boulevard as well as the Tramway. But it’s not the first time The 99ers set a song in the Land of Enchantment. Their 2008 album, Stand Up and Surf, has a song called (I’m not kidding) “The Surf at Santa Fe.” (“So to my compadres in Minneapolis/Get yourself to N.M. if you’re in need of bliss,” British Steve Shannon sings.) According to one source close to the band, Shannon is a frequent visitor to this state.
Update: 2-27-12 The previous version of The 99ers section here had a couple of errors, including the identity of the New Mexico visitor and Eddie Angel's relationship with the album. The text has been corrected.
But the passing of Johnny Otis just three days before went comparatively unnoticed. Maybe if President Obama had played "Willie and the Hand Jive" instead of "At Last" at his inaugural ball ...
Many Etta fans might not even realize that Otis was instrumental in launching her career. He "discovered" her when she was just 14, producing her first hit "The Wallflower (Roll With Me Henry)," an "answer" song to Hank Ballard's "Work with Me, Annie." Ballard also was part of Otis' stable for awhile.
Besides "Hand Jive," Otis didn't have many major hit records under his own name. He was a producer and an A&R man for King Records. He worked with Wynonie Harris and Charles Brown, Little Willie John and Jackie Wilson. He played vibes on Johnny Ace's haunting "Pledging My Love" and played drums on Big Mama Thornton's original recording of "Hound Dog."
And Otis was a bandleader who toured with an incredible R&B revue The Johnny Otis Show (originally the California Rhythm and Blues Caravan), which at various points included the likes of Etta, Big Mama and Little Esther, who grew up to be Esther Phillips.
This album is a live recording of the Otis' revue at the 1970 Monterrey Jazz Festival. Some of the giants of west-coast R&B are here -- Big Joe Turner, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Pee Wee Crayton, Roy Milton, Roy Brown, Ivory Joe Hunter, Otis' then teenage son Shuggie Otis and, best of all, Esther Phillips.
Some of these codgers' careers dated back to the 1940s. But at this show they still were full of that crazy R&B energy that popped the eyes and twisted the heads of an entire generation all those years before.
Highlights here include Vinson's "Cleanhead Blues," on which he sings and plays the sax that made him famous. (Here's some Cleanhead trivia: In the early '50s, his band included a young sax player named John Coltrane.And Eddie became "Cleanhead" after he lost his hair as a young man after using a lye-based hair straightener.)
Big Joe Turner proves he was still Boss of he Blues with Otis at Monterrey. He has two songs here, "Plastic Man" and "I Got a Gal."
But the real show-stopper is Little Esther. "Cry Me a River Blues" bears little resemblance to the torch blues standard "Cry Me a River." Phillips' song is an uptempo romp in which lyrics you'll recognize from who knows how many blues and R&B standards flow from her mouth. Maybe she was improvising. Maybe she was possessed. But you don't want it to end. Her other song, "Little Esther's Blues" slows down. It's a soulful simmer with Otis out front on the vibes.
If there's an R&B revue in Heaven, they just picked up a hell of a band leader.
* Scrapsby NRBQ It was another recent rock 'n' roll death that inspired me to download this album. Longtime NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino died on Jan. 6, ending all hopes of a reunion of the classic NRBQ lineup of Terry Adams, Joey Spampinato, Big Al Anderson and Ardolino.
This album, the second in NRBQ's long, long career, was recorded in 1972, a few years before Ardolino joined. (Tom Staley was still there.) In fact, Big Al had just recently hopped on at that point, replacing guitarist Steve Ferguson. In 1972, the "Q" stood for "Quintet," as the group had a vocalist named Frank Gadler.
Scraps had most if not all the ingredients that served the group so well for the next three decades. (The one thing missing is that Big Al had not yet emerged as a vocalist and songwriter for the band.) There was plenty of goofball humor ("Just Close Your Eyes and Be Mine, Ruby" is just one example) Adams' subtle Sun Ra influence popping up in strange corners, an inspired cover (an irresistible version of Johnny Mercer's "Accentuate the Positive") and straight-ahead roots rock.
Highlights here include the road-warrior anthem "Howard Johnson's Got His Ho-Jo Working," a kazoo-enhanced "Who Put the Garlic in the Glue," an instrumental called "Tragic Magic" (which reminds me a little of a subdued Frank Zappa) and the ultra-catchy "Magnet."
* Barfly by Rocket from the Tombs. Riddle me this, Batman -- how can a band that broke up in the mid 1970s record and release their first album of new material just last year?
I guess the answer would be "Because they can."
This is the story of Rocket from the Tombs, that influential Cleveland band that included David Thomas of Pere Ubu and Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys and punk-rock forefather, the late Peter Laughner (also an early member of Pere Ubu.)
RFTT basically was a word-of-mouth band. There were scattered bootlegs, but they never recorded a proper album during their brief existence in the '70s. A couple of tunes, "Amphetamine" and 7-minute recording of their song "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" surfaced in a 1990s Ubu box set Datapanik in Year Zero. In 2002 came a compilation of lo-fi live recordings and demos called The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From the Tombs.
Original members Thomas, Chrome and bassist Craig Bell got together with Television guitarist Richard Lloyd filling in for Laughner and and drummer Steve Mehlman for a Rocket reunion tour in 2004, resulting in an album called Rocket Redux consisting of RFTT classics recorded in the studio.
And finally, last year they 21st Century version of Rocket from the Tombs brought the world a bunch of new songs.
I'll be writing more about Barfly in an upcoming Terrell's Tune-up. Watch this blog!
* Whenever I Want Itby Mark Sultan . This is thesecond of two solo albums Sultan released last year. I downloaded the first one, Whatever I Want in last months's eMusic batch. And I reviewed them both in a recent Tuneup.
Some of my favorites on Whenever include the rockabilly-fueled “Satisfied and Lazy," “Party Crasher,” which gets psychedelic with a droning organ, some “Paint It Black” guitar riffs, and distorted background vocals that may make you think of Dion & The Belmonts interpreting the Tibetan Book of the Dead.
I'm also fond of "Pancakes," which makes me think of Sha Na Na making the greatest IHOP commercial in the history of the world.
Then there's The epic eight-minute jazz odyssey “For Those Who Don’t Exist,” whic starts out with Sultan strumming a guitar with the tremolo way up and whistling a weird little melody that could almost be a slower version of the Pixies’ “La La Love You.”
Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell Webcasting! 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Strychnine by Barrence Whitfield
Set Aside by ? & The Mysterians
You Better Hide by The Ding Dongs
Let Me Freeze by Mark Sultan
Goin' Back To L.A. by Johnny Otis & Delmar Evans
Oh Babe by Andre Williams
Bell Air Blues by Drywall
Heebie Jeebies by The Gun Club
The Doorway by Pierced Arrows
Pretty by Rocket from the Tombs
Fall on You by The Plimsouls
Changes by Moby Grape
Why Pick on Me by The Standells
When the Girls Are Rocking by The 99ers
Shake This Feelin' by The Liquid Vapours
Betty by Johnny Dowd
Clever Way to Crawl by Persian Claws
I Wish You Would by The Fleshtones
My Struggle by The Black Lips
Selling That Stuff by McKinney's Cotton Pickers
My Top 10 Favorite Covers set
Stairway to Heaven by Tiny Tim & Brave Combo
Goldfinger by Peter Stampfel
Sugar Sugar by Wilson Picket
Banana Splits (the Tra La La Song) by The Dickies
I'm the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised by Eugene Chadbourne
Little Rug Bug by NRBQ
I Wanna Be Sedated by Two Tons of Steel
Stormy Weather by The Reigning Sound
Surf's Up by David Thomas & Two Pale Boys
One For My Baby by Iggy Pop
The Rocky Road to Dublin by The Young Dubliners
Beer, Broads, and Brats by The Polkaholics
Love Miner by O Lendario Chucrobillyman
Rockin' Bones by Flat Duo Jets
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
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Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Big Balls in Cowtown by Waylon Jennings
Honky Tonk Merry Go Round by The Stumbleweeds
Down Down Down Down Down by Dale Watson & The Texas Two
Tennessee Rooster Fight by The Howington Brothers
Beautiful Blue Eyes by Red Allen & The Kentuckians
Pass the Peacepipe by Peter Stampfel
Chinese Honeymoon by The Great Recession Orchestra
Dirty Dog Blues by The Modern Mountaineers
Oklahoma Hills by Jack Guthrie & His Oklahomans
High by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
String's Mountain Dew by Stringbean
I Like Drinking by The Gourds
Live Set (Pickers Remember Kell Robertson)
When You Come Off of the Mountain by Mike Good
Mr. Guitar by Kevin Hayes
Great Big Donut by Tom Irwin
Madonna on the Billboard by Bob Hill
I'll Probably Live by Jason Eklund
Julie's Neon Shoes by Mike Good
Prison Walls by Kevin Hayes
Me and You and The Wind by Jason Eklund
Writing it Down in the Rain by Mike Good
Junkie Eyes by Bob Hill
(CD break) As Long As You've Still Got a Song by Kell Robertson
Tell 'em What I Was by the whole crew
Dust off Them Old Songs by Jason Eklund, Mike Good & Tom Irwin (recorded)
When a House is Not a Home by Roger Miller
Old Rattler by Grandpa Jones
Santa Cruz by The Imperial Rooster
Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms by Buster Carter & Preston Young
A Woman's Intuition by Johnny Paycheck
What Do I Care by Eddie Spaghetti
Road to Hattiesburg by Robert Earl Reed
One Has My Name, One Has My Heart by Jimmy Wakely
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
