Sunday, Feb. 16 , 2014 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 Valentine by Concrete Blonde
Amnesia by The Mekons
All Black and Hairy by The Fuzztones
Long Battle Coming by Dex Romweber Duo
Rescate Griego by Wau y Los Arrrghs!!!
Roofarama by The Fleshtones
Julie Oulie by Peach Kelli Pop
Hey Seniorita by The Beat Pack
Girl Like You by The Future Primitives
Shake a Tail Feather by Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels
Prison Habbits by The Malarians
Eyes by El Pathos
Mailman by The Count Five
King Roland's Prayer by Juke Joint Pimps
Honky Tonk Biscuit Queen by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black
Don't Mess with My Baby by Black Lips
Body in Plastic by Glambilly The Lover's Curse by The A-Bones
Who's Been Driving My Little Yellow Taxicab? by Lincoln Street Exit
Swollen Colon Lament by Figures of Light
Rock of Gibraltar by Sons of Hercules
Out of My Means by JJ & The Real Jerks
I Wanna Get in Your Pants by The Cramps Over the Edge by Dead Moon
Rat's Nest by The Gories Sugar Farm by T-Model Ford
Bang Bang by Gaunga Dyns
Eye Patch/ Bitties at the BK Lounge by De La Soul
St. James infirmary by Bobby Blue Bland
She Be Your Wife by Irma Thomas That's Where It's At by Ray Charles & Lou Rawls
This Old Town by Charlie Whitehead
Goodbye So Long by Chuck E. Weiss
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Feb. 14, 2014 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
Keep on Truckin' by Hot Tuna
Have You Ever Spent the Night in Jail by T. Tex Edwards
Daddy Was A Preacher, Mama Was A Go-Go Girl by Southern Culture on the Skids
Waco Express by The Waco Brothers
Trouble in Mind by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Falling by The Dad Horse Experience
I'm Troubled by Scott H. Biram
Valentine by The Gourds
Truck Drivin'. Son of a Gun by Dave Dudley
The Writing is on the Wall by Country Blues Revue
Battle of Love by Mose McCormack
Son Don't Shine by Jason Ringenberg & Paul Burch
Saint Valentine by Joe Ely
You and Your Damn Dream by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders
Satellite of Love. By DM Bob & The Deficits
Get Rhythm by James Hand
Far From Any Road by The Handsome Family
I Take a Lot of Pride in What I Am by Brian & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne
Hate and Whiskey by Black Vermillion
The Ballad of Speedy Atkins by Legendary Shack Shakers Hot Rod Lincoln by Bill Kirchen
Movie Mag by Carl Perkins Everything's Okay by Hank Williams
Hearts on Fire by Gram. Parsons & Emmylou Harris
Everything's Gone by Lydia Loveless Flesh and Dream by Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks
Cool and Dark Inside by Kell Robertson Where Does All the Time Go by Possessed by Paul James
Talk is Cheap by Don Williams Valentine's Day by Steve Earle CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Feb. 14, 2014 Many people tell me I remind them a lot of John Lennon. The three major reasons are: (1) Like Lennon, my uncompromising idealism and sharp wit often get me in trouble; (2) I think I’m bigger than Jesus; and (3) I began my career entertaining sailors onstage with a toilet seat around my neck.
No, not really. In real life, nobody ever tells me I remind them of John Lennon. Not even Ringo. Truth is, I just wanted to start this column with a joke instead of melancholy, nostalgia, and reverence — which is what I felt when I was driving last Sunday and heard a radio report about the 50th anniversary of The Beatles appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.
I’m far from the first to observe this, but it’s true that The Beatles arrived at a perfect time for America — less than three months after the assassination of President Kennedy. In a spiritual sense, the moment Paul McCartney opened his mouth to sing “Close your eyes and I’ll kiss you, tomorrow I’ll miss you” was the moment the national mourning for JFK ended. And a new era began.
I’m an old baby boomer, but I’m not one of those old baby boomers who wistfully thinks The Beatles were the alpha and the omega of popular music. Even back then, as the British Invasion unfolded, I loved The Beatles, but I loved The Animals even more. (I thought Eric Burdon and crew were even uglier than The Rolling Stones, and to an ugly kid, that was important.)
And I was disappointed the week after the Sullivan show when “I Want to Hold Your Hand” knocked The Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” off the No. 1 spot on my local radio station’s Top 50. The Trashmen were robbed, just like poor Fred Kaps, the hapless Dutch magician who followed The Beatles on Sullivan’s show that week with a card-trick act.
The Fab 5 in Hamburg circa 1961
But it’s hard to underestimate the significance of the rush of optimism and joy we felt in this country on the night the four lovable mop tops performed on television. The Beatles, during their (mercifully short) Maharishi period, would help make “mantra” a household word in the West, but that night in 1964, America had a common mantra: “Yeah, yeah yeah.” And it was far more cosmic than anything the Maharishi ever gave us.
Historical flashback: On the morning of Nov. 22, 1963, CBS Morning News aired a short feature from its London bureau about a band called The Beatles that was driving the kids wild over there. It had footage of the group singing “She Loves You,” complete with screaming girls. Newsman Alexander Kendrick said in the report, “Besides being merely the latest objects of adolescent adulation and culturally the modern manifestation of compulsive tribal singing and dancing, The Beatles are said by sociologists to have a deeper meaning. Some say they are the authentic voice of the proletariat.” Kendrick’s report was supposed to air that night on the evening news as well. But it was preempted by news of a certain murder in Dallas that occurred that afternoon.
Some say that Feb. 9, 1964, was the night that “youth culture” was born. Maybe so, but the first thing I thought of while listening to that radio report Sunday was my grandfather. He was there with us that night watching Ed Sullivan. I’m not sure whether Papa actually liked The Beatles’ music, but he sure got a kick out of them. For months afterward, anytime a friend would come over to the house, he’d ask, “What do you think of those long-haired boys from England?” (He was 60 years old then. I’m 60 now, and here I am talking about those long-haired boys from England.)
Not surprisingly, back in those crew-cut days, The Beatles’ hair seemed to fascinate a lot of people. But watching them that night, my biggest surprise wasn’t the long hair; it was their white faces. The radio had been playing “I Saw Her Standing There” — still one of my favorite Beatles songs — and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” — still one of my least favorites — in the days leading up to Sullivan’s show, and I just assumed The Beatles were a black R & B band.
One thing The Beatles had going for them is that virtually everyone back then watched Sullivan’s show — at least that night. Only three major networks were on TV. (Any old-timers out there remember what was showing on NBC and ABC that night?) Today there are dozens of networks — and surprisingly little music on any of them. (“57 Channels and Nothing On,” as Bruce Springsteen sang.) Meanwhile, music fans are fragmented into hundreds of little tribes.
Since the murder of John Lennon in 1980, I rarely listen to The Beatles. The songs are all so etched in my mind that it’s almost as if I don’t need to listen anymore. I didn’t go nuts when they first released The Beatles on CD or when the corporate hacks who own their music these days finally released their material on iTunes. I thought those “lost” Beatles songs “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” released in the 1990s, should have stayed lost.
I did, however, buy the DVD set The Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring the Beatles about 10 years ago. As soon as I get done writing this, I think I’ll watch it again, if only to try to figure out how Kaps worked those cards.
As you can surely tell, the anniversary opened a floodgate of memories for this old rocker. While music groups are routinely hyped today with an intensity that makes Brian Epstein and even Col. Tom Parker look like amateurs, no other rock ’n’ roll band and no other pop singer has had the cultural impact The Beatles did. Plenty of good music is still being made, but nobody has come close to The Beatles’ stature in their heyday. I hope someone eventually proves me wrong, but I don’t think anyone ever will.
Here's that first report by CBS, originally aired Nov. 22, 1963
Some people are starting to compare HBO's True Detective to Breaking Bad. I won't go that far yet. But like the saga of Walter White, True Detective does show one small aspect of New Mexico culture
While watching the latest episode of True Detective last night, I realized that a lot of folks might not realize that the show's opening song each week is done by New Mexico's own Handsome Family, Brett & Rennie Sparks of Albuquerque.
The song is "Far From Any Road," from perhaps my favorite Handsome Family album, Singing Bones. Back when I reviewed it in November 2003, I called it "a gringo-mariachi murder ballad," and said "I had to check the credits to make sure Calexico wasn’t backing them on this song."
Here's a video of the song:
And below is a radio interview I did with Brett and Rennie last year around the time they release their latest album Wilderness. I didn't know about True Detective at the time, so I didn't ask.
Since the days when Buddy Holly recorded in Clovis, New Mexico, the land of roadrunners, sopapillas and crashing flying saucers, has been the home of some excellent rock 'n' roll. It hasn't always thrived, but somehow it's survived. Step inside the Garage of Enchantment into hear some immortal garage, punk and psychedelic sounds, with some Hispanic sounds, which is the foundation of much of New Mexico rock 'n' roll. Viva Nuevo Mexico!
(Background Music: Mr. Big by The Four Frogs)
Witches by Bichos
Run Girl Run by The Movin' Morfomen
Who's Been Driving My Little Yellow Taxi Cab by Lincoln Street Exit
Spreading the Love Vibration by 27 Devils Joking
Working Girl by The Strawberry Zots
El Corrido de Emilio Naranjo by Angel Espinoza
Many of the bands from the '60s on this episode recorded for or were associated with Dick Stewart's Lance Records in Albuquerque, N.M.. Check out their website HERE
And check out my recent Terrell's Tuneup column on Norton Records' excellent El Paso Rock compilations -- the recent ones including many southern New Mexico bands. That's HERE.
Sunday, Feb. 16 , 2014 
