Midsummer Update.
A plethora of interesting stuff has been going on since the last post.Here's goes most of it:
New Family Member. No, Susan and I didn't adopt some poor Chinese kid, but we do have an addition to the critters hanging around our house. One of Susan's recent tasks for her Master's Degree was to create an entire unit on frogs and reptiles. She worked like mad on all things froggish and toadish, and finished the day before she left to visit her family in Detroit. On the morning she left, I was out watering the flowers in the front patio, when I noticed an odd shaped rock in a flower pot. Turns out it was a toad sunning himself, specifically a Woodhouse Toad. Both Susan and I think she manifested him to our house by all her toady vibes while studying. He was also our spiritual link while she was gone. At night, he would come out of the flower pot and sit on the front door stoop, facing the street like he was guarding me. Thanks to our sporadic rains, he was still around when she returned, and he still pops up in our flower pot every days days. We have named him "Potter," of course.
More Summer Music. Since last we talked, here are the concerts we've seen.
Incendio at the Albuquerque Bio Park/Aquarium. Sort of a smooth jazz/worldbeat/flamenco ensemble, these folks aren't very exciting from a stage presence standpoint, but they do mellow you out big time. Very enjoyable, chillout music. Check out their website.
Wagogo at the Albuquerque Bio Park/Aquarium. Local worldbeat band with a suprisingly large following, at least to me. They focus on two kinds of music, African dance and Latino/Mexican dance. The problem is, their Hispanic stuff sounds just like the African stuff, only with Spanish vocals! A huge crowd was on hand for this show; I estimate it to be twice the normal audience size. The band members had ZERO personality. They didn't converse with the crowd,instead, the lead singer would just yell "HELLO!" once in a while. While the music was fun, and Susan and I got up and danced the last couple of numbers, I'd say this band knows the right kind of music to play to get a crowd on their feet, but they just need to lose the African guitar licks in the middle of a Mexican polka. I know a lot of folks are going to get on my case here, but sorry, Wagogo was my least favorite act so far this season.
Children of the Revolution at the Albuquerque Zoo. Now this is a worldbeat band. From Seattle, this band is made of American, Greek, Spanish/Mexican and Iranian musicians playing a mix of Latin, Greek and Middle Eastern music. Very original pop lyrics and a social consciousness mix with primarily Flamenco stylings to make a one of a kind sound. They also feature an alluring female flamenco dancer on many numbers. The band has a great personality, and an extremelynenergetic stage presence. They also have one of the best electric violinists I've heard since Jean Luc-Ponty. The last number features an extremely hot dance number starring the lead singer and a very sexy guest dancer. A great band, tied with Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem for best show this so far this year.
The Public Transportation Blues. While people jam the Railrunner to take a quick free trip from Albuquerque to Belen (Yee-Haw) or Bernalillo (Double Yee-Haw), there is another great free transporation service the city is making sure no one utilizes. The Bio Park is offering free train or bus rides from the Aquarium to the Zoo Music series on Friday nights. This is a big plus for us, since we live next door to the Aquarium, and driving to and parking at the zoo is a pain in the butt. We took the free bus to the zoo last Friday, and according to the bus drivers on both the coming and going rides, we were the only people who took advantage of it. This is a damn shame, because it will surely not be offerred next year based on the lack of use. The big problem is the city is not advertising this service! We only knew about it because Mary Ann Torres, the events cooridiator for the Bio Park, mentioned it at a show a couple weeks ago.
As for the Railrunner, it is really of no use to anyone living in Albuquerque who wants to go to Belen or Bernalillo because, at least in the case of Bernalillo, the train station is at least two miles from the "center" of town, or anything of interest besides fast food joints. I can see if you lived in Belen or Bernalillo and commuted to Albuquerque for a downtown job, this service would be a godsend, but until it is extended to Santa Fe, I see no reason Albuquerque residents would use it, other than as a free roundtrip time waster.
News, Sensationalism or a Sign of the End of the World? Yesterday, Susan and I were watching the 4:00 pm news on KRQUE Channel 13. The anchor mentioned that the upcoming footage would be disturbing to some viewers, but other than mentioning it happened during a routine police traffic stop, he did not say what we were about to see. The footage was from a highway patrol car's dashboard camera, and showed an officer discovering drugs in a van, with a suspect standing near him. Another man climbs out of the van, and both men open fire on the officer at close range, killing him instantly. Susan and I immediately changed the channel. We sat in shock for about five minutes. We had just seen an actual cold-blooded execution on television. This officer lost his life. We were horrified and shocked that this unspeakable horrendous act was broadcast at a time when young children could be watching. It was also a huge lapse in taste and judgement for the anchor not to tell us we were about to see an officer of the law lose his life on our television screens. There really seemed to be no point in showing this footage other than sensationalism. I am so offended by this footage that I will no longer watch the Channel 13 News. I don't know if any other stations aired this, but they should all be ashamed. This has ceased to be news. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to "Snuff TV."
Booknotes: The latest books I've read:
Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer. A wonderfully imaginative children's novel in the vein of the Harry Potter books. This series features a modern English boy and girl who are transported via a secret time machine to 1762. There they encounter involving a charming thief and his rival. The plot involves the pair trying to recover the time machine and get back to modern times, all while fading back and forth between dimensions. A clever, entertaining story, with plenty of allusions to British literature and history. Kids will learn something and have fun doing it. Great fun, even for adults.
The Big Over-Easy by Jasper Fforde. Extremely different, hilariously funny, and downright bizarre first novel in the "Nursery Crimes" series, involves DI Jack Spratt of the Nursery Cirmes Division and his partner Mary Mary attempting to solve the murder of Humpty Dumpty, who didn't just fall off that wall. A wonderful mix of reality, fantasy and classic children's fairy tales, inventively done. Very worthwhile for fans of mysteries, children's literature and Monty Python-style humor.
