Boo! Halloween's just around the corner AND SO IS A KNIFE-WIELDING MANIAC!!!
While most people my age are busy placing razor blades in apples for trick-or-treat night, I've been brewing up this cauldron of horror for your listening pleasure. Have a ghoulishious time with some spooky tunes on this month's Big Enchilada.
(Background Music: Cemetery Stomp by The Essex)
Son of The Devil by D.D. Owen
Headless Horseman by Bibi Farber
I Saw a Ghost (Lean) by The Black Lips
Obeah Man by Meet Your Death
The Little Monster by Russ "Big Daddy" Blackwell
Sunday, Oct. 23, 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
Happy People Make Me Sick by The Monsters
You Let the Dead In by Churchwood
The Flesh is Weak by James Chance & The Contortions
Took My Lady to Dinner by King Khan & The Shrines
Exercise Man by The Dean Ween Group
Women Who Jog by MFC Chicken
Money Rock 'n' Roll by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Nightmare by The Embrooks
Mustang Ranch by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Love Like a Man by The Fleshtones with Lisa Kekaula
Plastic Plant by Thee Oh Sees
Dumb All Over by Frank Zappa
Follow Me Home by The Mystery Lights
Crazy Love by Musk
Johnny by Sulfur City
Honky Tonk Biscuit Queen by The Voluptuous World of Karen Black
Voodoohexenshakit! by The Brimstones
Skylab by The Grannies
Wide Open Blues by Big John Bates
What's Your Name by Nathaniel Mayer
When Fate Deals Its Mortal Blow by Meet Your Death
Plastered to the Wall (Higher Than the Ceiling) by Swamp Dogg
Sunglasses After Dark by Archie & The Bunkers
Should've Been Home With You by James Leg
I Have Always Been Here Before by Hickoids
Brains a Flame by Johnny Dowd featuring Anna Coogan
What Is It? by The Come N' Go
Look in the Mirror by Gregg Turner
She's Wearing You Down by Stan Ridgway & Pietra Wexstun
Let's Burn Down the Cornfield by John the Conqueror
Good Old World by Tom Waits
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Oct. 21, 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
Freak Flag by Southern Culture on the Skids
Shovelin' Bob by Washboard Hank
Ghosts on the Screen by Gary Heffern
Fools Like Me by Cornell Hurd
Then I'll Be Movin' On by Mother Earth
Killed Them Both by Wayne Hancock
Get on the Floor by C.W. Stoneking
The Stars by The Great Recession Orchestra
Odor in the Court by Doodoo Wah
Mama's Picture by Mose McCormack
Wall Around Your Heart by Chris Hillman
I Lie When I Drink by Dale Watson
Fifteen Beers by Johnny Paycheck
Big Fake Boobs by The Beaumonts
City Lights by Willie Nelson
Don't Give a Damn by Hony Tonk Hustlas
Tell Me Baby by Martha Fields
Crazy People by The Boswell Sisters
Lift Him Up, That's All by Ralph Stanley
I Was Born to Preach the Gospel by Washington Phillips
Denomination Blues by Ry Cooder
Weekender by Margo Price
Seein' Double by Nikki Lane
A Devil Named Music by Chris Stapleton
It's Only Make Believe by Kelly Hogan & John Wesley Harding
Buglight by The Flat Five
Keep it Between the Lines by Sturgil Simpson Heartsick Blues by Luke Winslow King
Hummin' to Myself by Dan Hicks with Maria Muldaur
Have Mercy by Steve Earle
Talk to Me Lonesome Heart by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Jointers CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Every week for more than 70 years, with the easy, familiar voice of a friend, Mr. Brand invited listeners of the New York public radio station WNYC to his quirky, informal combination of American music symposium, barn dance, cracker-barrel conversation, songwriting session and verbal horseplay.
Seventy years! His last show aired less than a week before he died, the Times said.
And like the best radio DJs, he was a volunteer. He did it for his love of his music and never got paid a nickel for his WNYC shows.
Although Brand never was a member of the Communist Party, during the McCarthy era, he was labeled as a communist sympathizer whose radio program was a "pipeline of communism" because he frequently invited blacklisted performers like Pete Seeger to appear on Folksong Festival
According to Martin's obit:
He invited Burl Ives, too, even though he had alienated many of his fellow folk singers by naming names to the House committee. The singer Dave Van Ronk, in his autobiography, The Mayor of MacDougal Street (2005), recalled taking Mr. Brand to task for this, only to be told, `Dave, we on the left do not blacklist'— a response that, Mr. Van Ronk recalled, `put me right in my place.'
Here's a few videos to pay tribute to Oscar Brand.
Let's start with a dirty one
Brand, who was in the Army during World War II, was a collector of songs sung by soldiers, sailors and Marines. In the late '50s, inspired by a collection of Air Force songs collected by a pilot named William Starr, Brand recorded an album called The Wild Blue Yonder, which included this next tune, "Save a Fighter Pilot's Ass."
Brand recorded an entire album of campaign songs for every president between George Washington and Bill Clinton. This is one of my favorites.
Finally, here's a clip with Brand's 1961 "Folksong Festival" interview with a young Bob Dylan. Here, the future Nobel Prize winner speaks of his (imaginary) boyhood in Gallup. N.M. and his (imaginary) travels with carnivals.
This week on Last Week Tonight comedian John Oliver, in a segment ridiculing third parties, introduced a horrified world to the Green Party candidate Jill Stein's 1990s band, Somebody's Sister, effectively stomping down any trace of Jill-mentum there might have been.
Oliver likened the sound of the group to the Indigo Girls fronting the Red Hot Chili Peppers. A former colleague of mine had a more scathing review: "Jill Stein does not have my vote if only because her band just drove the whittled end of an old public toilet plunger up my ass, out one ear and through the very core of my creative being."
Judge for yourself ...
Of course, had things gone differently in the Democratic primary, we might have had to endure four years of a version of The Dropkick Murphys -- minus any kick. Here's former Maryland Gov. Marvin O'Malley with his band O'Malley's March.
Donald Trump couldn't make it, but he sent a friend. (You have to sit through some wretched piano noodling until you get to the dreadful vocals) Fats Domino would do a better job invading Ukraine than Putin does on this song.
Somehow this guy pulled off the musician thing with a little style back in the Nutty '90s.
And who can forget this patriotic anthem from former Attorney General John Ashcroft.
The late Sen. Robert Byrd from West Virginia was never shy about his bluegrass roots
But we haven't really had a great singing politician since Louisiana Gov. Jimmie Davis. (I played this very song on The Santa Fe Opry last week.)
Sunday, Oct. 16, 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
Look at That Moon by Carl Mann
Garbage Head by Eric Amble
Melt by The Mystery Lights
Rick Wakeman's Cape by The Fleshtones
The Same by Grey City Passengers
Baby Runaround by The Gears
Violets are Blue by The Mobbs
Dead in a Hotel Room by The Hickoids
Spook Factor by The Memphis Morticians
My Baby Left Me by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Tiger in My Tank by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
The Dozens by Eddie "One-String" Jones
Elephant Man by Meet Your Death
Human Lawn Dart by James Leg
Bloodhound by Left-Lane Cruiser
The Wolf by The Bloodhounds
Sexual Release by Lonesome Shack
Tie My Hands to the Floor by Sulphur City
Savage by The Cavemen
Milchblut by The Grannies
Tura Santana Tribute Song by The Dustaphonics
Trouble of the World by Dex Romweber
Heaven is Ugly by The Gospel Truth
Mad Mod Goth by The Fall
Evil Eye by Dead Moon
Dirty Deeds by Grandpa Death Experience
Slippin' Sideways by Drywall
Here Come the Martian Martians by Jonathan Richman
Vibrator by The Painted Dogs
Motorcycle Irene by Moby Grape
Teenage Maniac by The Spooklights
Are You Man Enough by The Four Tops
This Time Darlin' by Social Distortion
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Oct. 14, 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
Guitar Man by Junior Brown
Endangered Species by Waylon Jennings
Kung Fu Fighting by Girls on Top
I Just Left Myself Today by The Hickoids
Rocket in Your Pocket by Jenny & The Steady Gos
King's Highway by Sulphur City
Downward Mobility by Southern Culture on the Skids
Southern White Lies by Martha Fields
Freddy Lopez by Joe West
Dirty House Blues by Wayne Hancock
My Boyfriend by Nancy Apple
If You're Looking for a Loser by Arty Hill
You're Humbuggin' Me by Dale Watson
I'm Not Drunk Enough by Rex Hobart
She's a Humdinger by Gov. Jimmie Davis
Your Past's Gonna Come Back to Haunt You by Emily Kaitz
My Gal by Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Easy Ridin' Mama by Devil in a Woodpile
Coney Island Washboard by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Euphoria by Holy Modal Rounders
Banjorena by Dixieland Jug Blowers
Lampshade On by The Dustbowl Revival
Darktown Strutters Ball by Howard Armstrong
Down on Penny's Farm by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Oct. 14, 2016
Back in 1960, a folklorist/ethnomusicologist named Frederick Usher discovered a street singer named Eddie Jones (if, indeed, that was his real name) playing a one-stringed contraption and singing the blues on Skid Row in Los Angeles.
Usher described Jones’ instrument as a “home-made African derived Zither-Monochord.” (I doubt Jones called it that.) It’s basically a close cousin of the diddley bow, another instrument with African roots.
There, in some Skid Row alley, Usher recorded at least 15 songs by Jones, some with his crony, harmonica player Edward Hazelton. Four years later, the venerated folk label Takoma Records released an album of those recordings under the title One-String Blues.
I first heard this remarkable, if under-appreciated, blues gem back when I was in college. My favorite track was a wild, filthy, hilarious little romp Jones called “The Dozens.”
The song begins:
“God made elephant big and stout / He wasn’t satisfied until He made him a great long snout. … He made him some eyes that was to look at that grass / He wasn't satisfied until He gave him a big fat ass ...”
So imagine my delight when I recently came across a new self-titled album by an Austin band called Meet Your Death. They’ve got a track they call “Elephant Man,” which is a louder, more raucous version of Jones’ one-string “Dozens.” Frontman Walter Daniels growls the lyrics over John Schooley’s apocalyptic slide guitar and then blows his harmonica as if challenging the elephant to a loser-leave-town battle.
This version is based on Bo Diddley’s 1970 take on it, also titled “Elephant Man.” And even though I’m pretty sure Meet Your Death wasn’t overly concerned about getting a G rating here, they leave out the “dirty” verses. Even so, the song is crazy joy from start to finish.
Walter Daniels
But even without “Elephant Man,” I was bound to love this band. I’ve been a long-time fan of both Daniels and Schooley — I even got to see them together in an acoustic setting along with fiddler Ralph White at a Beerland gig in Austin a few years ago.
Harp-man Daniels is a longtime Austin stalwart, having played in such bands as Big Foot Chester and Jack O’Fire, which covered a Blind Willie McTell song called “Meet Your Death” back in 1994.
I mostly know Schooley from his three albums on the Swiss label Voodoo Rhythm Records, under the name “John Schooley and his one-man band.”
In Meet Your Death, this dynamic duo is backed by a couple of younger guys — Harpal Assi on bass and Matt Hammer on drums.
John Schooley
Meet Your Death plays hard-rocking punk blues covers by some great American writers like Hank Williams (“I Don’t Care If Tomorrow Never Comes”) and Mose Allison (“If You Live”).
But next to “Elephant Man,” my favorite song here is the opening track, which comes from a more obscure source. “Obeah Man” is based on a song called “Exuma, The Obeah Man,” recorded in 1970 by Bahamian singer Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey, who recorded under the name Exuma.
Starting off with jungle drums, the song quickly turns into a hoodoo-drenched, Dr.-John-by-way-of-Bo-Diddley invocation to the ruling demons of rock ’n’ roll, with Daniels as the ragged-voiced high priest.
By the end of the song you’ll believe that the singer “came down on a lightning bolt” and “has fire and brimstone coming out of [his] mouth,” as he sings.
Also recommended:
* Blood on the Keys by James Leg. If you need more of that blues-driven, rump-bumpin’, holy-roller-shoutin’, swampy rock ’n’ roll, a keyboard player called James Leg just might be your man.
Leg was born John Wesley Myers. He’s the son of a preacher man, born in Port Arthur, Texas ( Janis Joplin country), and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee (home of the choo-choo).
Before launching his solo career, Leg played with a couple of notable hard-chugging bands. He fronted The Black Diamond Heavies and played in the final incarnation of The Immortal Lee County Killers, a pioneering band of the punk blues sound. Leg also recorded an album (Painkillers, 2012) with current blues minimalist titans Left Lane Cruiser.
Blood on the Keys, recorded in a converted Masonic lodge in Kentucky, is a splendid showcase of what Leg does best: roaring and thundering (with a voice that falls somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Jim “Dandy” Mangrum of the band Black Oak Arkansas) over stripped-down atomic-powered boogie.
A big percentage of these songs feature Leg backed by his own keyboards and drummer Mathieu Gazeau — sometimes joined by guest guitarists and, on a couple of tracks, backup female vocalists (a group called Foxxfire).
And indeed, these songs — including the opener, “Human Lawn Dart”; “Mighty Man” (written by the early ’70s British band Mungo Jerry, best known for their hit “In the Summertime”); “Huggin the Line”; and “DogJaw (Do Some Things You Say)” — are guaranteed to get the crowds moving.
But there are a handful of outliers here too. One of the most memorable songs on the album is “Should’ve Been Home With You,” penned by the late Austin songwriter Blaze Foley. This minor-key tune rocks with just about as much intensity as any other on Blood on the Keys, but the demonic fiddling of Sylvia Mitchell gives it a sweet touch.
Mitchell also plays on “St Michel Shuffle,” which sounds like a tribute to Tom Waits. There are also a couple of soulful, gospel-influenced ballads, including the title song and, even better, “I’ll Take It.”
I’m glad that Leg’s blues bruisers outnumber his ballads. But there’s nothing wrong with a little variety.
Video time!
Here's Meet Your Death live at Beerland
Here's some live Leg (from a Paris show in July)
And finally, I couldn't find "The Dozens" by Eddie "One-String" Jones on YouTube, Spotify or anywhere else. But here's a video of Jones doing "Baby Please Don't Go."
Today would have been the 91st birthday of comedian, First Amendment fighter and major jazz nut Leonard Alfred Schneider, better known as Lenny Bruce.
Lenny was a comic, not a musician. But his love for jazz led to some interesting musical collaborations.
He even produced a television pilot (The World of Lenny Bruce) that featured performances by jazz stars of the day including Cannonball Adderly, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross and Buddy Rich (see clip below.) But, of course, none of the gutless prigs running the networks would touch any show hosted by a foul-mouthed lunatic like Lenny.
And here's a final musical connection: Lenny's last gigs were with Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention at the original Filmore Auditorium on June 24 and 25,1966. Those who saw the show reported that Lenny was not in good shape. He died of a drug overdose about six weeks later,
Let's start with a strange beatnik poetry interlude called "Psychopathica Sexualis from Lenny's 1959 album The Sick Humour of Lenny Bruce
Here is Lenny singing -- and doing some shtick with -- a bittersweet little song about loneliness.
As promised, here's a clip from Lenny's TV pilot. "I feel from jazz," he declares as he introduces Buddy Rich.
And to conclude, here's Stan Ridgway covering Bob Dylan's tribute to Lenny
This weekend, on the heels of the release of the infamous Donald Trump "hot mic" tape in which he brags about being able to kiss and grope women without their consent because he was “a star," another Trump video begin popping up on Twitter. These were videos from earlier this year in which the Republican nominee reads a poem about a "tender woman" who shows mercy to reptile who seems to be in pretty bad shape.
Here is one of those speeches. (Note: The original Yotube I posted was taken down. I'm replacing it with one that CBS News posted in April 2017.)
As interpreted by Trump, the snake is a metaphor for Syrian terrorists and the "tender woman" are the foolish liberals who "would take them in."
But the people posting the video over the weekend were doing so to taunt Republicans who were practically tripping all over themselves trying to flee from Trump. Their message: They knew damn well what this guy was before they took him in.
Though Trump has repeatedly -- and incorrectly -- identified the writer as Al Wilson (a soul singer who covered it in 1968), the lyrics he's reading are a variation of a song written in the early '60s by jazz singer Oscar Brown, Jr. that was based on one of Aesop's fables.
Johnny's was the first version I ever heard, so I've got a soft spot for it. Here's a live version
And here is a fairly recent one by French rocker, Rev. Tom Frost from his 2013 album, Bloody Works. I'm pretty sure that Debra Paget, the dancer in this video never went furniture shopping with Trump.
Sunday, Oct. 9, 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
Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon
Purple Merkin Power by Purple Merkin
Mojo Workout by King Salami & The Cumberland 3
Hey You by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels
Stella by The Havishams
Bleed Me by The Upper Crust
White Glove Service by The Grannies
Voodoo Moonshine by Deadbolt
Bald Head by Bobby King & Terry Evans
Blood on the Keys by James Leg
I Wanna Be Your Busyman by The Fadeaways
Stormy Weather by The Reigning Sound
Obeah Man by Meet Your Death
Burn She Devil, Burn by The Cramps
Degenerate by DD Owen
Give Me Back My Wig by Hound Dog Taylor
Cannibal Island by The Young Rochelles
Midnight Queen by Iron Lizards
Mutants of the Monster by Christopher "CT" Terry & Micheal Denner
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2016 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM Webcasting! 8 am to 10 am Sundays Mountain Time Substitute Host: Steve Terrell 101.1 FM Email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org Here's the playlist :
Welcome Table and Prayer by Alice Wine
Howard Hugh's Blues by John Hartford
Blow the Man Down by Woody Guthrie
Ramblin' Man by Steve Young
Summer Wages by David Bromberg
The Boll Weevil by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
Love Song of the Dump by Washboard Hank
Don't Lie Buddy by Josh White
That'll Never Happen No More by Howard Armstrong
Do You Call That a Buddy by Martin, Bogan & Armstrong
Wine Spo-Dee-Odee by Kell Robertson
Wild Bill Jones by Eva Davis
Just Like a Monkey by South Memphis String Band
Luther Played Guitar by Stan Ridgway
I Want My Mama by Salty Holmes
Your Past is Going to Come Back and Haunt You by Emily Kaitz
Good Morning Judge by Louis Innis & His String Dusters
How Lee Sin Ate by Dr. West's Medicine & Junk Band
I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate by The Hoosier Hotshots
She Lived Down by The Firehouse by R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders
Stealin' by Dave Van Ronk's Ragtime Jug Stompers
Collegiana by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Like the Santa Fe Opry Facebook page Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list
Friday, Oct. 7, 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
Too Much by Rosie Flores
Two String Boogie by Wayne Hancock
Swamp Pigs by Dash Rip Rock
Hard Times by Martha Fields
These Arms by Dwight Yoakam
Church on a Saturday Night by Arty Hill
Baby I Like You by Southern Culture on the Skids
Zoysia by The Bottle Rockets
I'll Be There (If Ever Your Want Me) / Make the World Go Away by Willie Nelson
Sweet Georgia Brown by Johnny Gimble with Merle Haggard
Take Me to the Fires by The Waco Brothers
On the Verge by The Royal Hounds
The Ballad of Charles Whitman by Kinky Friedman & The Texas Jewboys
Ladies Love Outlaws by Waylon Jennings
Second Fiddle to an Old Guitar by Jean Shephard
Another Clown by Mose McCormack
Please Tell That Clown to Stop Crying by Neil Hamburger
I Just Can't Be True by Webb Pierce
You're Not Here by Washboard Hank
Drunken Lady of the Morning by Michael Hearne
Long Black Veil by Dale Watson
Roly Poly by The Pine Valley Cosmonauts with Brett Sparks
Venerable old Route 66 undoubtedly inspired more music than any other ribbon of asphalt built in the last century.
Although there have been several songs written about that highway, most of these have been overshadowed by the mother song of the Mother Road, Bobby Troups' ``Get Your Kicks On Route 66.''
Troup, a jazz musician married to the late singer Julie London, wrote the song in 1946, traveling down the road on a trip west. Much of the lyrics are a simple recital of towns along the highway.
`It winds from Chicago to L.A., More than 2,000 miles all the way, Get your kicks on Route 66. Now you go through St. Louie, Joplin, Missouri And Oklahoma City is mighty pretty. You'll see Amarillo, Gallup, New Mexico, Flagstaff, Arizona, don't forget Winona, Kingman, Barstow, San Bernardino.''
Here's a version by the songwriter
Nat ``King'' Cole had a hit with it in 1946 ...
But he was hardly the last to record it.
Route 66 historian David Kammer, who lives in Albuquerque said in 2001 that he was aware of more than 120 different versions of the song.
There are jazz, country, punk-rock, goth-rock, zydeco and raw schmaltz versions.
Here are some of those, starting with The Stones
Wayne Hancock takes it to the country
The late Buckwheat Zydeco did it
British synth-rock group Depeche Mode recorded a version.
The Cramps kindly kept it sleazy.
Here's a take by a Japanese blues band
And then there's this by Tom Trusnovic & Monkeyshines
Allow me to get a little self-indulgent on this Wacky Wednesday.
I have to give a speech in Albuquerque today. I won an award from the New Mexico Foundation for Open Government. It's the first time in awhile that I've had to give an actual speech, so I thought I'd study some classic oratory from the world of rock 'n' roll.
The first example that came to mind was the short but strange speech by Bob Dylan when he won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 1991 Grammy Awards. Jack Nicholson introduced him.
Then there was Mike Love's inspirational words when The Beach Boys were inducted into The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. After talking about the beauty of harmony, he rips into Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Diana Ross and Bruce Springsteen. Love later explained that he hadn't meditated that morning (His section starts at the 3:50 mark.)
I actually do admire the following speech by Frank Zappa. It wasn't an awards show -- it was a Congressional hearing on the dangers of dirty lyrics in rock songs. Frank stood up for liberty and against the "sinister kind of toilet training program" being advocated by Tipper Gore and her minions.
(If you want to see the rest of Zappa's testimony -- with questions from hostile senators -- Part 2 can be found HERE , Part 3 HEREand Part 4 HERE)
Zappa greets John Denver at U.S. Senate Porn Rock hearings 1985
Sunday, Oct. 2, 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
Matchbox by Jerry Lee Lewis
Like a Bad Girl Should by The Cramps
Tracking the Dog by Meet Your Death
St. Michael Shuffle by James Leg
Hank Turns Blue by Folk Devils
Geraldine by The A-Bones
Full Grown Boogie by Frigg a Go-Go
Please Judge by Roky Erikson with Okerville River
Pablo Picasso by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Never Enough Girls by The Sloths
The Other Side by Motobunny
Real Wild Child by Deke Dickerson & The Trashmen
Go Away by The Plague
Magical Colors by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
The Thin Man by Archie & The Bunkers
Where Do You Roam by Dex Romweber
Bessie's Blues by John Coltrane (for John Greenspan)
Hardcore Jollies by Funkadelic
Gelatinous Cube by Thee Oh Sees
High and Dry by Whiskeydick
What Happens When You Turn the Devil Down by The Mystery Lights
I Fuck Alone by The Grannies
New Structures by Nots
Last Laugh by Johnny Dowd
Everybody Knows by Concrete Blonde
Got a Little Secret by Leonard Cohen
They Took You Away by Gregg Turner
Free Money by Patti Smith
I Don't Want the Night to End by Phoebe Snow
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
Friday, Sept. 30, 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
Swamp Fox by Southern Culture on the Skids
Jump in the River by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs
Shot a Bird, Hit Me a Stump by Pete Krebs & Danny Barnes
Hold the Phone by Hank Penny
What a Woman Wants by Rhonda Vincent
Lampshade On by The Dustbowl Revival
Inside View by Dale Watson
Small Bouquet of Roses by Wayne Hancock
Little Community Church House by The Boys from Indiana
Satan's Jeweled Crown by The Louvin Brothers
John D. Loudermilk Tribute
Break my Mind by The Flying Burrito Brothers
I Wish It Were Me by Homer Henderson
Bad News by Johnny Cash
Tobacco Road by Southern Culture on the Skids
Sittin' in the Balcony by Eddie Cochran
Heartaches by the Number by Willie Nelson
Don't Stay Away 'Til Loves Grows Cold by Brennen Leigh
Pigsville by The Waco Brothers
Death Penalty Set
Sing Me Back Home by Merle Haggard
The Green Green Grass of Home by Kelly Hogan
They're Hanging Me Tonight by Marty Robbins
Turn it On, Turn it On, Turn it On by Tom T. Hall
Tom Dooley by Bobby Bare
Karla Faye by Audrey Auld
Sam Hall by Tex Ritter
Me and Rose Connelly by Rachel Brooke
Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair by David Bromberg
Lay My Lily Down by Bob Weir
Sweet Mama by Jim Kweskin & Geoff Muldaur
He Calls That Religion by Maria Muldaur
I Threw Your Picture Away by Miss Leslie & Her Juke Joint Band
Happy birthday to Ms. Moon Unit Zappa, author, actor and the eldest daughter of
Frank Zappa.
She turns 48 today.
Fans of Frank Zappa had known of her years before she became a household name in
the early 1980s. (Usually she was mentioned in conversations among fans that
provoked reactions like "He named his kids what????")
Then in 1982 Moon became famous at the age of 14 because of a wild novelty song
called "Valley Girl" in which little Moon ripped to shreds the empty-headed
chatter of her San Fernando Valley peers. But to the consternation of Zappa --
and his daughter-- across this glorious land teenage knuckleheads assumed the
Zappas were celebrating Valley girl culture, not mercilessly mocking it.
Here's a Solid Gold lip-sync version of the song by Moon with dancing
girls (and no Frank.)
But those of us who watched the interviews it was clear that even as a teen,
Moon had a similar deadpan, irreverent wit as her dad.
Here they are on Late Night With David Letterman. Letterman basically
begins the interview asking "You named your kids what????"
"Valley Girl" wasn't her only song though. Here she is with brother Dweezil on a
song she co-wrote with Steve Vai called "My Mother is a Space Cadet."
Moon still has her understated humor and story-telling talent. Here's a recent
appearance on
Back Fence PDX where she
talks about her quest to lose her virginity. It starts out funny, but ends up
being a bittersweet, poignant tale.
What better than a novelty record than a novelty record of a novelty record
and that is what we have here. Some Hawaiians lead by Will Moku take Frank
& Moon Unit Zappa's Valley Girl and infuse it with some local lingo and
slap some local geography on it and ta-da Palolo Valley Girl. Did a little
digging around and found some info that makes some sense of this record.
Will Moku was a popular dejay (real name William Saragosa, died in 2004 at
the age of 47) and guitarist. He had a 13 year run at KQMQ, where he came up
with Palolo Valley Girls. Surround yourself with enough novelty records and
pretty soon you figure out that most of them are done by disc jockeys. And
that is really all I have to say.
You can listen when you CLICK HERE
But this only begs the question: Why didn't anyone in New Mexico write a spoof
called "Espanola Valley Girls"?
It all started back in 1916 ... (or was it 2008?) with a cheap HP laptop and a dream ...
I'd recently become a member of the GaragePunk Hideout and a big fan of wild and wondrous podcasts that were an integral part of that online musical community. Having produced two late-night radio shows for more than a decade at KSFR in Santa Fe, I thought I'd try my hand at this newfangled podcast thing. I slapped together my first show -- using an old recording of one of my old Halloween radio shows, I slapped together my first podcast. About a month later I put together an original show.
And I've been going ever since. Welcome to the 100th Big Enchilada Podcast.
Sunday, Sept. 25, 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 Jesus' Chariot by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Sex House by The Rockin' Guys
Straight, Hard and Long by Meet Your Death
Stone Fruit by The Grannies
32 by The Gospel Truth
Rabble Rouser by The Upper Crust
Ice Queen by J.J. & The Real Jerks
Pablo Picasso by Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
Monkey with Your Tail by The Cramps
Son of the Devil by D.D. Owen
Ain't You Hungry by James Leg
21 and Counting by The Mystery Lights
Whizz #7 by The Shackles
Jammed Entrance by Thee Oh Sees
Young Miss Larsen by The Color
John D. Loudermilk Mini Memorial
Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye by The Casinos
Norma by NRBQ
You Call it Joggin' by Mose Allison
Mr. Muggles by Johnny Dowd
Mad Love by The Giant Blue Zeta Puppies
Fire Engine by The Molting Vultures
Ate O Osso by Horror Deluxe
House on Fire by The Electric Mess
Summer Boyfriend by The Manxx
Comb Your Hair by Lovestruck
Comin' Round the Mountain by Hound Dog Taylor
Let's Get Funky by Elvin Bishop
Hound Dog by 68 Comeback
Nightide by Dex Romweber
Take Me for a Little While by Miriam
Innocent When You Dream by Kazik Staszewski Georgia Lee by Tom Waits CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis
A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican Sept. 23, 2016 Like the best albums by The Handsome Family, their latest one, Unseen, is a literary as well as a musical adventure. With lyrics by Rennie Sparks and melodies and most of the vocals by her husband, Brett Sparks, this record is not just a collection of sweet country tunes. It’s full of amazing stories, unforgettable images, and echoes of ancient myths in contemporary contexts.
Recorded at the couple’s home studio in Albuquerque, Unseen starts out with a modern outlaw ballad called “Gold.” Brett sings:
Got a tattoo of a snake and a ski mask on my face/But I woke up in a ditch behind the Stop ‘n’ Go/Lying in the weeds with a bullet in my gut, watching dollar bills fly away in the dust.”
The Handsomes don’t give us the full story on how this stick-up went awry. All we know is that this criminal mastermind is dying in some vacant lot and thinking about that girl with dark eyes who somehow led to his demise.
“The Silver Light” is a snapshot of a casino, a “forest of slot machines” with flashing lights, cigarettes, all-you-can-eat buffets, and old men with oxygen tanks dropping quarters in slot machines. That sounds pretty depressing, but the sweet dobro picking of longtime Handsome crony Dave Gutierrez makes it easy to imagine it as a happy saloon singalong.
The New Mexico State Fair should turn “Tiny Tina” into an ad next year. Brett and Rennie sing with childlike innocence about going to the fair; riding the Tilt-A-Whirl; eating chili dogs, funnel cakes, and fried beer; and “shooting water guns at grinning clowns.” But they have one huge regret: For some reason they didn’t go see Tiny Tina, “the world’s smallest horse,” and it only cost a dollar. “Why didn’t I go see that little horse?”
“The Sea Rose” is a sailor legend, similar to that of mermaids or sirens. A mariner hears the call of this sexy mirage beckoning him to join her and marry her in the seaweed. Even more mysterious is “The Red Door,” which sounds like some long-lost song by The Band with the late Richard Manuel channeling New Orleans R&B. It’s about a beautiful woman with implied supernatural origins.
One of the most memorable songs on Unseen is “Back in My Day,” the Sparks’ take on nostalgia. “We had maps that unfolded back in my day/You could drink from the river/We had gods made of clay.”
At first it seems as if they’re making fun of old coots bellyaching about the good old days. But Rennie Sparks would never write something that obvious. Instead, it seems she’s expressing a yearning for the good old days from an invisible world none of the rest of us have ever seen.
The next time I hear some vinyl fetishist yammering about the superiority of LPs and 45s, I’ll be tempted to sing these lines from this song: “And music sounded better. We recorded on rings of ice/And as the songs turned to water we couldn’t help but cry.”
Let the Handsome Family’s songs turn to water in your brain so that strange but beautiful plants can grow inside there. Also recommended:
* Execute American Folklore by Johnny Dowd. You might not hear any obvious similarities between The Handsome Family and Dowd, but both appeared in a wonderful 2003 documentary by musician Jim White called Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.
Dowd, in fact, was touted as “alternative country” when his first album was released in the late ’90s. The first time I saw him live was at a party for No Depression magazine at the famed Austin honky-tonk the Broken Spoke.
But the only thing that sounds remotely country about Dowd on his last several albums is his Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, drawl.
This new album is much closer to hip-hop or electronica — though commercial radio stations devoted to those formats are no more likely to play this album than is your basic hot new country station. And some songs are infused with Latin touches (what might be described as a Martian mambo) or even metal. Truth be told, Johnny Dowd doesn’t really sound much like anyone but Johnny Dowd.
And I happen to love that sound. Here Dowd himself plays all the instruments — except the instrument named Anna Coogan, who sings background vocals on several songs and lead vocals on one. Dowd mostly speaks rather than sings his lyrics.
There are some doozies on Execute American Folklore. He dedicates the ultra funky “Last Laugh” to his mother, “a union maid if ever there was one.” In the song, however, his mom is a call girl. But the story, laced with Biblical imagery, actually deals with some bitter loser — lots of Dowd protagonists fall into this category — plotting unspecified revenge against those who have wronged him.
“Sexual Revolution” is not about the joy of sex. Dowd recites a tale of a frustrated man whose cheating wife leaves him in a sad world where “pornographic fantasies infect my brain, filling me up with guilt and shame.”
Then in the deceptively upbeat “Whiskey Ate My Brain,” the singer catalogs his physical and mental deterioration. “Cancer ate my liver, God’s an Indian giver … Cocaine ate my nose, I can’t smell the roses.”
Coogan steps out front in “Brains-a-flame,” which sounds like Dowd has been listening to the old Brazilian psychedelic Tropicália band Os Mutantes. She sings about her dream man who “chain-smokes my heart three packs a day/He’s like a bad habit who won’t go away.”
In the closing track, “A World Without Me,” built on the classic “Louie Louie”/”Hang on Sloopy” hook, Dowd muses about the fact that memories of his life will quickly fade.
But the song only makes me fantasize about archaeologists in a future century stumbling across a cache of Dowd albums, prompting them to write surreal theories about life in the early 21st century.
Some videos for yas
Here's "Gold" from The Handsome Family. This one has some nice footage of East Central in Albuquerque.
Another favorite from Unseen
Here's some live Johnny Dowd with his latest band The Sex Robots. (You might want to skip the first 20 seconds or so. Weird buzz before the song starts.) Despite what the YoutTube title says, this is "Whisky Ate My Brain."
Anna Coogan steps out front with "Brains A Flame."
And just for the heck of it, here's the trailer for Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.
Here's one of those corny old songs from my childhood that everyone should know.
"She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain" was taught in kindergarten. It was sung in cartoons and was the title of an Abbott & Costello movie. Mitch Miller & The Gang invited you to sing along with it. Barney the Dinosaur did his own take on it.
I never paid the song much mind actually. I was never quite sure who the "she" in the song was and why everyone seemed so excited that she was coming. Was this some kind of mail-order bride for some horny cowboy in some Old West town?
But it took a record by Neil Young a just a few years ago to make me realize that there was something much deeper -- much spookier going on here.
The song we know comes from a slave spiritual called "When the Chariot Comes." In Neil's version on his 2012 Americana album it's titled "Christ's Chariot."
Some of the verses start out:
King Jesus, he'll be driver when she comes ... She'll be loaded with bright Angels when she comes . . . . She will take us to the portals when she comes . . . .
I like the way that this article in Cracked describes it:
"When the Chariot Comes" and, by extension, "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain," are both songs about the Rapture -- the day when Jesus comes back to earth to play favorites. "She" actually refers to the chariot he'll be riding down to bring about the End of Days. ... Christ's big ol' Rapturous Red Flyer. So there you have it: That merry old-timey prospector song your kids are singing out in the yard is actually rejoicing about the imminent death of all humanity.
I couldn't find any old, old versions of "When the Chariot Comes." But here folksinger Roy D. Durrence does this recreation.
Carl Sandburg was the first to publish the song his 1927 book, The American Songbag.
Here's Ramblin' Tommy Scott, an old medicine show singer, playing a nice and lively version of it.
This Famous Studios Screen Songs cartoon below might be the first place I ever heard "Comin' Ruond the Mountain."
The saucy school marm in this version will be "lookin' for a feller" when she comes. "She don't want no city slicker, just a man who holds his liquor."
The actual song -- with the bouncing ball --starts at about the 4:19 mark.
Fast forward to the mid '70s and bluesman Hound Dog Taylor turned it into a hopped-up house-rockin' instrumental
Around that time Funkadelic took it to the funky cosmos, calling out to the Mother Ship.
Finally here's that monstrous version by Neil Young & Crazy Horse
Bill Murray is 66 years old today. He was born in Evanston, Ill.
Let's honor him in song with some of his classic bits as Nick the Lounge singer. (His last name changed depending on where he was playing.) Decades after Murray left Saturday Night Live, Nick remains one of the most popular that show ever produced.
Rolling Stone wrote of Nick: "For all his schmaltz, Murray put real heart and soul into this crooner — no matter how miserable the dump where he's singing, he wants to win the audience's love, one rendition of the Star Wars theme at a time."
This clip allegedly is the first Nick sketch ever -- before Saturday Night Live when Murray was part of the Second City comedy troupe.
