THROWBACK THURSDAY: Janet Reno and her Songs of America

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.

Scott Kempner with Ed Pettersen

WACKY WEDNESDAY: Songs for an Election Hangover

So you've had enough of the damned election?

Who are you kidding?

Go ahead.

Scramble your brain just a little more with some of these wacky campaign jingles.

It won't hurt.

Honest!






Let's start with this one from Milwaukie, Oregon. (Thanks Kristina ... I think)



40 years ago there was this ...



And even further back in time ... (The actual song starts at about the 1:30 mark)


Finally, OBEY YOUR ANIMAL OVERLORDS!

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 

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

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

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

Here's my playlist :

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens

Long Time Gone by The Dixie Chicks

Wreck of the Old 97 by Johnny Cash

My Dirty Life and Times by John McCuen

The Ballad of Charles Whitman by Kinky Friedman

Too Sweet to Die by The Waco Brothers

Southern White Lies by Martha Fields

Poor Don't Vote by Paul Burch

I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow by The Soggy Bottom Boys

 

Holy Ghost Rock 'n' Roller by Jesse Dayton

Love You Always by Wayne Hancock

Inside View by Dale Watson

I Play With Girls My Own Age by Cornell Hurd

Much Too Young for Love by Barney Burcham

Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young by Faron Young

Rattlesnake Daddy by John Tinsley

That'll Learn Ya, Dean Ya by Washboard Hank

Whooping Baby by Earl Songer

Baby Keeps Stealin' by Great Recession Orchestra 

Skull and Crossbones by Bell & Shore

Big Drops of Trouble by Arty Hill

Home for Sale by Dwight Yoakam

Bueno Noches from a Lonely Room by Cracker

Heartache by The Numbers by Wille Nelson

Psycho by Eddie Noack

Hogtied Over You by Tennessee Ernie Ford & Ella Mae Morse 

Heaven is the Other Way by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys

The Silver Light by The Handsome Family

When The Good and The Bad Get Ugly by Butch Hancock

Pretty Girl by Miss Leslie 

Pastures of Plenty by Cedar Hill Refugees with Dave Evans

Sweet Alcohol by Audrey Auld

Down to the River to Pray by Allison Krauss

I'll See You in My Dreams by Asylum Street Spankersrs

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

 

THROWBACK THURSDAY: Remembering Leon Theremin

Leon in action

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 News said. 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.



Here's a contemporary Theremin artist, Dorit Chrysler.



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.