I didn't know former Attorney General Janet Reno. But I know her niece Jane and Jane's husband Ed. And I learned about her death this week via a sweet eulogy to her that Ed posted on his Facebook page Monday.
Reading Ed's tribute reminded me of this a cool music project that Reno had envisioned and Ed, a musician in Nashville, co-produced. Released in early 2008, the double-disc collection was called Song of America.
And it was, in the words of a wise old journalist, "a big, old, various-artist collection of songs outlining the strange and complicated history of this great land — both the official version and various alternate views that go beyond the wars, political campaigns, and other stuff they teach in school. There are patriotic tunes, protest songs, musical re-tellings of historic events, and songs about changes in our society."
Below is a Good Morning America feature on Song for America.
Below are a few tracks from Song of America.
This one, by Suzy Bogus, is really snazzy!
And here is a rocking version of a Johnny Cash song, "Apache Tears" by Scott kempner, formerly pf The Dictators and The Del-Lords
So rest in peace, Janet Reno. Thank you for your song.
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2016 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
Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Liar Liar by The Castaways
G-D Liars by Chuck E. Weiss
Dead in a Motel Room by Hickoids
I Don't Mind by The Angry Dead Pirates
Losing My Mind by Alien Space Kitchen
Tore Up by The Cryin' Jags
Ride With Me by Sulphur City
Dog on a Leash by The Badass Motherfuzzers
I Can Hear Her Fighting With Herself by Jonathan Richman
The Crusher by The Cramps
Kremlin Dogs by Gregg Turner
White Faces by Roky Erikson & The Aliens
Raw Power by Iggy & The Stooges
Not a Sausage by The Mobbs
Pony Tail and a Black Cadillac by Roy & The Devil's Motorcycle
Elected by Alice Cooper
Hallelujah by Churchwood
I Made a Mistake by James Williamson & MAIA
I Don't Want You Anymore by The Monsters
Follow Me Home by The Mystery Lights
White Glove Service by The Grannies
Analia by The King Khan & BBQ Show
It's Mighty Crazy by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
200 Years Old by Frank Zappa & The Mothers & Captain Beefheart
Mesopotamia by The B52s
Down on Me by Big Brother & The Holding Company
Plastic Fantastic Lover by The Jefferson Airplane
Autumn Leaves by Bob Dylan
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Nov. 4, 2016 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
Twenty three years ago today a Russian scientist and inventor named Leon Theremin died at the age of 97. But he left behind a strange musical instrument that he originally called the etherophone, with which he seemingly could pull music out of thin air.
The instrument would come to be known as the Theremin.
Theremin invented the contraption in St. Petersburg shortly after the Russian revolution. It consisted of a small wooden cabinet which contained glass tube oscillators and two antennae that produced electromagnetic fields. In 1922 Theremin demonstrated his instrument in the Kremlin for Lenin, who reportedly was pretty darned impressed.
"Theremin played Lenin pieces including Saint-Saens' `The Swan,' " a 2012 article in the BBC Newssaid. He then guided Lenin's hands -- the right one moved to and from the vertical antenna, changing the instrument's pitch, the left one moved to and from the horizontal antenna, controlling the volume.
Lenin sent him on tour in Russia to show off Theremin and his Theremin as an example of Russian progress and ingenuity.
In 1927, Theremin traveled to the U.S., where he played Carnegie Hall and licensed RCA to build his instruments.
But the BBC article said the real reason he came to the U.S. was to engage in industrial espionage. "He had special access to firms like RCA, GE, Westinghouse, aviation companies and so on, and shared his latest technical know how with representatives from these companies to get them to open up to him about their latest discoveries," Theremin biographer Albert Glinsky told the BBC.
Here is a video of Theremin demonstrating his instrument in 1954,
The Theremin was praised by composers like Edgard Varese (he demonstrated one at a lecture at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque in 1936 according an article in Theremin.info. But it didn't really catch on in American pop culture until the '40s and '50s in movie soundtracks like the ones below.
Hungarian composer Miklos Rozsa used a Theremin in Alfred Hitchcock's Spellbound as well as this 1945 noir classic.
The Beach Boys brought the Theremin to rock 'n' roll with "Good Vibrations" in 1966. But the rocker who seems to to have the most fun with a Theremin is Jon Spencer, who usually does a Theremin number in his shows with The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. This is a strange clip from some even stranger TV I just found.
Tuesday was the 72nd birthday of Richard Samet Friedman, better known to the Free World as Kinky Friedman, country singer, comic agitator, mystery author, failed politician, animal lover, cigar aficionado and 1973 Male Chauvinist of the Year.
Happy birthday, Kinky!
A couple of months before I ever heard Kinky's music, I learned about him from an article in a newspaper somebody had left in a little chapel that was part of a Methodist church in downtown Oklahoma City. That was on September 11 (!), 1973, back when I was doing my first big hitchhiking trip. The chapel at that time was open 24 hours and turned out out to be a good place to crash for a new amateur hobo.
But the main thing I remember about my stay there was reading that article about this crazed Texan -- whose band was called "The Texas Jewboys" -- who sang songs with titles like "The Ballad of Charles Whitman," "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed" and "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore."
I knew I was going to love this guy. God must have wanted me to find Kinky or He wouldn't have left that newspaper in His chapel.
And a couple of decades later I was extremely honored to be asked to open for him at a couple of gigs (1992 and 1995) at Albuquerque's El Rey Theater.
Kinky's songs were pretty radical back in the early '70s. But the thing is, they're probably more radical today. If he were more famous, his combination of fearless irreverence, wicked dark humor and outright blasphemy would get him banned from many college campuses (he don't give one Texas hoot about your "safe places"), condemned by religious leaders and shunned by all polite society.
Here are the three songs that made my eyes pop when reading about them in that paper at that Methodist chapel.
God love ya, Kinky!
Let's start with the song that earned him the National Organization of Women's Male Chauvinist of the Year award, "Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in the Bed."
Kinky uses all sorts of racial slurs in "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore." But remember, they're coming from the mouth of an idiot racist -- who in the end gets his just deserts from "one little Hebe from the Heart of Texas."
Kinky was a student at the University of Texas in Austin when Charles Whitman raised his ruckus in the belltower. "The Ballad of Charles Whitman" was recorded only six years after that violent tragedy.
And while looking for the above song, I stumbled across this little feature with the Kinkster talking about the Whiitman shootings.
Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016 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
Here's the playlist
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Halloween Hootenanny by Zacherle
Halloween (She Got So Mean) by Rob Zombie & The Ghastly Ones
Inside Looking Out by The Animals
Hainted by Churchwood
Birthday by Mission of Burma
Kiss Her Dead by Delany Davidson
Let Me Spend the Night With Your Wife by The Monsters
Bat Snatch by The Terrorsaurs
Feast of the Mau Mau by Screamin' Jay Hawkins
I Only Have Eyes for You by The Flamingos
Busload of Faith by Lou Reed
Baby Doll by Horror Deluxe
Stone Fruit by The Grannies
I'm a Mummy by The Fall
How to Make a Day by The Fleshtones
Mental Disease by Dow Jones & The Industrials
Home is Where the Hatred Is by James Chance & The Contortions
Friday, Oct. , 2016 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
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens
Daddy Was a Bad Ass by Jesse Dayton
Divorce Me C.O.D. By Wayne Hancock
Dirt Road by Southern Culture on the Skids
What Are They Doing in Heaven by Martha Fields
Birmingham Breakdown by Dale Watson
Over the Cliff by Jon Langford's Hillbilly Love Child
Honky Tonk Song by Webb Pierce
You Sure Got a Way with Women by Washboard Hank
One Has My Name by Jerry Lee Lewis
Meat Man by D.M. Bob & The Deficits
Four Leaf Clover by The Old 97s with Exene Cervanka
Two Doors Down by Dwight Yoakam
If You See Me Coming by Arty Hill
Please Me When You Can by James Hand
All Knocked Up By Ruby Dee & The Snakehandlers
Liquor and Whores by The Misery Jackals
Don't Lie Buddy by Josh White
Ghost in the Graveyard by Prairie Ramblers
Hole in the Ground by Iggy Yoakam & The Famous Pogo Ponies
Burn the Place Down by Dinosaur Truckers
Thin Air by The Defibulators
How Far Down Can I Go by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornflake Killers
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Oct.28, 2016 Back in the mid-1960s, there was a natural connection between soul music and the style of primarily Caucasian rock ’n’ roll we now call “garage rock.”
Practically all of those bands — from the lofty masters like The Sonics down to the pimpliest no-name Midwestern no-hit wonders — unabashedly tried to imitate African American hitmakers like Wilson Pickett and the Isley Brothers, and they did their best to mimic all those blues and R&B-soaked British bands like The Rolling Stones, The Animals, and The Yardbirds. The garage kids rarely, if ever, sounded as authentic as the performers they idolized, but the influence was obvious.
So it shouldn’t seem all that surprising that the most prominent neo-soul label of the day, New York’s Daptone Records, would start an imprint (Wick) specializing in neo-garage rock. And knowing the integrity of Daptone, which has given the world Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Charles Bradley, The Budos Band, and others, it's only natural that The Mystery Lights — the first band to release an album on the Wick label — would be a rocking delight. And though nobody is going to mistake Mystery Lights singer Mike Brandon for Lee Fields, there’s some true white-boy soul on the band’s self-titled album.
Starting out in Salinas, California — where Brandon and guitarist LA Solano started the band as teenagers — this quintet has the basic loud-fast-and-snotty, fuzz ’n’ Farfisa sound down like pros. They prove this handily on rockers like “Melt” — featuring crazed yelps from Brandon that sound right out of Thee Oh Sees’ bag of tricks — the loopy blues of “What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down,” along with The Seeds-like “21 & Counting” and “Follow Me Home.”
But even more interesting is when the Lights venture into the great cosmic beyond on psychedelic excursions like “Before My Own” and, especially, “Flowers in My Hair, Demons in My Head,” which features some tasty interplay between Solano’s guitar and the lysergic keyboards of Alex Q Amini.
This kid probably didn’t spend all his free time studying David Cohen’s organ solos with Country Joe and The Fish, playing Electric Music for the Mind and Body over and over again until they haunted his dreams. But it sure sounds like he did.
Also recommended:
* A Weird Exits by Thee Oh Sees. You didn’t think we’d make it through the year without another crazy collection of songs from the world’s most prolific band, did you?
Actually, this is their second album of 2016, but I haven’t gotten my hands or my ears on the first one, a live album. A Weird Exits shows a wider range for John Dwyer and crew than their last couple of albums did.
It starts out with a song called “Dead Man’s Gun,” a riotous pounder that, in short, sounds like everything I love the most about Thee Oh Sees — breakneck beat, falsetto vocals about who-knows-what from Dwyer, strange electric beeps and bleeps. It almost could be an outtake from any of my favorite Oh Sees albums: Floating Coffin, Carrion Crawler/The Dream, and last year’s Mutilator Defeated at Last. And that’s true for a few other tunes here, such as “Plastic Plant.”
But it’s the variety of sound that gives a punch to A Weird Exits. “Ticklish Warrior,” for instance, is lower and slower, showing echoes of the Melvins and the pre-synth The Flaming Lips. The spacey “Crawl Out from the Fallout” is downright dreamy, a seven-minute-plus ethereal soundscape with an edge of the blues.
Then there’s “The Axis,” which is slow and surprisingly soulful, that builds up to an explosive, distorted guitar solo. Is this Dwyer’s attempt to rewrite “Free Bird?” Dwyer gives his throat a rest on a couple of psychedelic instrumentals here — “Jammed Entrance” (the closest thing to The Beatles’ “Tomorrow Never Knows” I’ve heard recently) and “Unwrap the Fiend, Part 2” (don’t ask me where Part 1 is), which features a classic Dwyer melody and a suitably screaming guitar.
*M by The Monsters. It wouldn’t be Halloween without some Monsters, and the pride of Voodoo Rhythm Records is back with their second release of the year.
It’s the Swiss group’s 30th anniversary and they’re just as monstrous as they’ve ever been. Unlike their previous album, a re-release of their long out-of-print early album, The Jungle Noise Recordings, this is newly recorded material — loud, crunching garage-punk trash with the immortal Reverend Beat-Man out front screaming on songs like “You Will Die,” “Nothing, You Coward,” and “Baby You’re My Drug.”
“Let Me Spend the Night With Your Wife” is Beat-Man’s take on some imaginary Weimar Republic dirge. “Bongo Fuzz” is a classy instrumental featuring wild bongos. “Voodoo Rhythm” is a loving, growling homage to the record label Beat-Man built, while “Dig My Hair” is senseless blaring noise — and I mean that in the nicest way.
I only wish that Edd “Kookie” Byrnes could have been around to sing this with The Monsters. I’m sure he would have lent Beat-Man his comb. But the best song on the record is “Happy People Make Me Sick.” I don’t know — it just makes me happy.
The third installment in The Monsters’ 30-year anniversary celebration will be a tribute album soon to be released. You’ve been warned.
It’s Halloween! It’s time once again for the annual Big Enchilada Podcast Spooktacular. Hear an hour’s worth of spooky rock ’n’ roll, including a song from The Monsters’ new album. Follow this link and hear all my rocking Halloween podcasts. It’s all free — a public-spirited service to you, my readers.
Some videos for ya:
First, The Mystery Lights, who like it nasty, messed up
Yes, even before the heyday of Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Screaming Lord Sutch songs of witches and spooks have been part of American music. Here's a cauldron full of vintage Halloween tunes.
We'll begin at a seance with The Deep River Boys:
This ghostly number is a longtime favorite of mine.
This next one was written by one of my favorite songwriting teams of early rock 'n' roll -- Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote many of the songs you love best by The Everly Brothers.
You might think this next one from Fran Allison (Folks my age will remember Kukla, Fran & Ollie) might seem pretty saccharine. So it might help your enjoyment by imaging the type of horrific, blood-spattered, flesh-eating scene Rob Zombie might build around this happy little tune for some future movie. There, that's better, isn't it.
For a zillion more Halloween songs check out all my Big Enchilada Spooktaculars. Click HERE
