NM Pop Politics

SFR recently chatted by email with the ever-loquacious Jim Terr, mastermind behind Santa Fe Shorts (www.santafeshorts.com) and the just-released campaign tune, “Swiftboatin’”.

Here’s the vid:

Here’s the interview:

SFR: Would you mind giving some details on the song/video? Why did you write it, what inspired it, etc.?

JT: As for the song, I woke up about 3a.m. Sunday morning with a hangover from I-don’t-know-what, since I don’t drink, and with this song in my head. So I sketched it out, took me about 20 or 30 minutes, then went on-line to find a MIDI version of the original song - which is the easy way to go about this, on an existing song. The only thing I found (which was surprising) was a fragment, not even through the first verse or chorus. But since the basic sound was so good, I spent about three hours cutting and pasting that, transposing certain sections to get the “4″ and “5″ chords (fortunately there were no minor key chords in it!), overlaying and faking “horn sections”, drum hits, etc., etc., til I had a pretty good track. Using a program called SoundForge.

Then I typed up the lyrics, with a couple changes, (this is now mid-morning at this point), laid the track out on a free-download multi-track recording program called Audacity, and sang the song. Still hadn’t had any coffee; at this point, it was just a challenge to see how well I could do it without coffee. Another couple hours with this process, mixing it, etc.

Then I started thinking about video, and called a friend (Nanda, whom you’ll see on the left), to lip-synch and dance along, and she said why not, and she had a lovely friend in town, with her friend’s husband, who operated the camera, so about late afternoon they came over to do that sequence you’ll see, and I also got them to sing the word, “Swiftboatin’”, which I grafted into the original recording.

Meanwhile, I’m gathering images for the video, working away since early this morning, and it’s now almost 11 a.m. and I’ll have it done soon and up on YouTube. Then I’ll notify my assorted friends in cyberspace and in “the media” about it, along with a request to check out www.PalsOfParis.com to send in their videos of encouragement for Paris’ candidacy, and suggestions for items to be discussed in the campaign (the most important ones are left out, you might agree).

What inspired it? I think the most important dynamic in this race, and in US politics in general, is the gullibility of the public, and the hate industry (think Rush, Hannity, Swift Boat author, etc.) who exploit it. It makes any fair discussion or consideration or the issues, and of our real disagreements, and solutions, impossible. The original Swiftboat book and the current piece of shit are just a couple examples. But it will probably cost Obama the election, since fear trumps everything else, and these guys (the GOP etc.) know how to exploit that like experts.

So, like the controversial NEW YORKER cover which I think was the best idea ever, this is the issue that needs to be addressed - including by Obama, who can be hard-hitting when he wants to be - and if he doesn’t address these lies and this whole attack-ad-mentality directly, and forcefully, he’ll lose just like Kerry did. And WHAT AN OPPORTUNITY to shine a light, bring to consciousness, this cesspool. I even have a TV show pilot that relates to this issue!

I have several projects directed at that, including a couple upcoming videos, THE ULTIMATE OBAMA ATTACK AD and JOHN McCAIN IS NOT THE ANTICHRIST.

SFR: You mentioned in a previous email that you’d like to get this song on Thom Hartmann’s show. Ideally, what would the best-case scenario be for this song, in terms of getting publicity?

JT: My wish? That my humble opinion (my political work) would get out there much further, even beyond the Hartmann show, etc., even beyond the left-wing sphere, because my interest is really not in preaching to the choir. I think (hope) I have a gift for actually giving people some realizations… (see essay on Ben Franklin and his satirical approach, below - I strongly relate to that).

My immediate wish is that one of these supposedly wealthy local liberals or whoever, would support my satirical and political work on a more ongoing basis, instead of my having to spend so much time nickel-and-diming my friends (working folks, all) for $50 here and $100 there to afford to take the time to do this stuff. That’s not cutting it, and it’s tiresome and stressful.

Best case scenario? A Mark Sanders article or blog catches the attention of your colleagues in the alt weekly media, and there are several such stories or reprints around the country, and people start visiting www.BlueCanyonSatire.com - or any of my zillions of other websites (too many), and I get something going on a regular basis, which can be self-supporting (or subsidized) and make the impact I want to make…

Anyhow, thanks for your interest. If you’ve seen my website, YouTube videos, etc., you have a sense that I’ve got lots of projects, documentaries, feature films, that I’d like to do. More than I could do in my remaining time, probably. Well, better too much creativity than too little.

I even have 10 or 20 videos I’ve shot, of booksignings (talks), other cultural events around Santa Fe, etc., that I haven’t had the time (money) to edit and post on YouTube, in addition to what I’ve got up there and on www.SantaFeShorts.com . Since I do so much promotion of Santa Fe and New Mexico like that, people are always asking me why I can’t get the City or State can’t support some of that work. (Why indeed?)