Sunday, November 29, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :Circus Freak by The Electric Prunes
Dead Moon Night by Dead Moon
Haint Blue by Churchwood
Hunker in My Bunker by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys
Heart Attack and Vine by Lydia Lunch
Secret Agent Man by Devo
(Background Music: Mental Strain at Dawn by David Murray)
Today, November 25, 2020, would have been the 174th birthday of radical
prohibitionist
Carrie Nation.
Happy birthday, Carrie.
Mrs. Nation -- who
also was known as "Carry Nation,"
in case you think I'm guilty of a typo -- became famous for leading attacks on
saloons in which she and her followers used axes to smash up these dens of
inequity. She showed thatLizzie Borden wasn't the only 19th Century woman to "take an ax."
According to
History.com, Nation described her June 6. 1900 raid on a saloon in Kiowa, Kansas:
“I ran behind the bar, smashed the mirror and all the bottles under it;
picked up the cash register, threw it down; then broke the faucets of the
refrigerator, opened the door and cut the rubber tubes that conducted the
beer,” she recalled. “I threw over the slot machine…and got from it a
sharp piece of iron with which I opened the bungs of the beer kegs, and
opened the faucets of the barrels, and then the beers flew in every
direction and I was completely saturated.”
She seems nice ...
As is the case of many American fanatics, Nation was inspired by The Bible and
direct messages from God. In
her own Bible,
she wrote the word "smashing" besides this inspirational passage (Jeremiah
1:10):
"See, I have this day set thee over the nation and over the kingdoms, to
root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build,
and to plant."
She was either the John Brown of her time, or the
Eric Rudolph, depending on your point of view.
Nation's dream of national alcohol prohibition came true in 1919. We all know
how that worked out...
But this is a music blog, so to honor Carrie or Carry or whoever she was, here
are some songs inspired by the temperance movement.
Let's start with "The Lips That Touch Liquor Will Never Touch Mine," with a
melody by George T. Evans and words by Sam Booth. Unfortunately this 2016
recording bythe Women's Choir at Concordia College only includes the first
verse.
This temperance tune, recorded in 1916 by singer/evangelist Homer Rodeheaver "Molly and the Baby Don't You Know" was about wives and children who suffered from an alcoholic husband and father.
Along those lines is "Father's a Drunkard and Mother is Dead," written in 1866 by one Mrs. E.A. Parkhurst. This recording is by Cincinnati's University Singers on an album released in 1997.
I couldn't do a post about temperance songs without including this Kinks klassic:
And I can't help but wonder how Mrs. Nation would feel about her name being used by a fictitious rock 'n' roll band in a notorious outrageously sleazy movie, Beyond the Valley of The Dolls. Ladies and gentlemens I present The Carrie Nations!
Hare Krishna, we're honky tonkin' now! Welcome to the latest hillbilly episode of The Big Enchilada, Hillbilly Happy Hour, an hour of hillbilly music, old and new, bound to make you happy. You'll hear bluegrass, rockabilly, hard-core honky tonk and more. This show includes a tribute to three giants who died last month, Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver and Johnny Bush.
Remember, The Big Enchilada still is officially listed in the iTunes store. So go subscribe, if you haven't already (and please, gentle listeners,
give me a five-star rating and review if you're so inclined.)
Thanks.
Sunday, November 22, 2020 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM
Email me during the show!
terrell(at)ksfr.org
Here's my playlist :
OPENING THEME: Let It Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Poor Gary from the Gallows by Harvey McLaughlin
Over You by The Cavemen
Teen Angel by Dirty Fences
Julio Iglesias by Butthole Surfers
All I’m Saying by Alien Space Kitchen
Rats in My Kitchen by The Fleshtones
Ain’t Your Choir by Churchwood
One Dark Day by Dave Del Monte & The Cross Country Boys
Don’t Make Me Pregnant by Miss Tammy Faye Starlite
(Background Music: Jitterbug by Angelo Badalamenti)
JFK ASSASSINATION SET
November by The Rockin’ Guys
Back and To The Left by JFn’K
Lee Harvey by T. Tex Edwards
Jack Ruby by Camper Van Beethoven
Memories of Kennedy by Hasil Adkins
I Want to Know Why by James & Fannie Brewer
Get Outta Dallas by Mal Thursday & The Cheetahs
A Tragedy in Dallas by James Dotson
He Was a Friend of Mine by The Byrds
(Background Music: Jack Ruby by Roland Alphonso)
Way Down in the Hole by Tom Waits
Hand Sanitizer by The Terrorists
Up in Her Room by The Seeds
Turtles All the Way Down by Sturgill Simpson
(Background Music: Perry Mason Theme by Bloodless Pharoahs with Brian Setzer
)
Make It Mine by The Howlin’ Max Messer Show
You Don’t Want Me by The Compulsive Gamblers
When I Turn Off the Living Room Light by The Kinks
Postcards from Italy by Beirut
Hand of God by Soundgarden
In God’s Eyes by Willie Nelson
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Ray Collins, the original lead singer of The Mothers of Invention, was born on
this day, November 17, 1936.
Happy birthday, Ray.
Collins died in 2012 at the age of 76.
After dropping out of high school (he'd gotten his girlfriend pregnant)
Collins, the son of a Pomona police officer, started singing with an R&B covers band called The Soul Giants in
Pomona, Cal. Among its members were drummer Jimmy Carl Black (a former New
Mexico resident) and Roy Estrada on bass. And following a dispute with The
Soul Giants' guitarist, Collins recruited a guy named Frank Zappa, who shared
his love for old R&B and Doo-Wop, along with his sense of musical
adventurousness.
Collins had a great background in doo-wop. He sang with local L.A. favorite Little Julian Herrera & The Tigers. You can hear his vocals on Herrera's "I Remember Linda."
Collins and Zappa, who had been friends since 1961, engaged in a side project called Ned & Nelda. This
1963 parody of the hit "Hey Paula" definitely was a pre-cursor to Ruben &
The Jets.
Collins and Zappa co-wrote a song called "Memories of El Monte," which was
recorded in 1963 by The Penguins. It wasn't nearly as big as the group's
best-known song, "Earth Angel," but it's still pretty bitchen.
Zappa slowly took over The Soul Giants, which mutated into The Mothers of
Invention. Here's a tune from The Mothers' first album,
Freak Out (which later was re-recorded for
Cruising With Ruben & The Jets.)
And here's the lead track of the Mothers' second album, Absolutely Free.
But tensions between Collins and Zappa were growing during this period. According to a 2009 interview with Collins in The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin:
[Collins] "had been ambivalent about the Mothers ever since Zappa relocated the band from Pomona to Hollywood to pursue a record deal. ... Quitting became a running joke.
"`I think I [quit] four times, maybe,' Collins says. "I didn't like doing that stuff onstage. Too much comedy, too much making fun of stuff. ... I wanted to make beautiful music. I was raised on Johnny Mathis and Nat King Cole.' "
Collins did quit the band after Absolutely Free, but came back to sing on Cruising with Ruben & The Jets.
But I don't think Johnny Mathis done it this way.
Ruben & The Jets turned out to be the last gasp of Collins' music career.
In the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin interview, Collins said, "People will ask why it's been 40 years since I've been onstage. I don't know ... If you just enjoy life it's conducive to not being successful. You know what I mean? I just enjoy life."