Albuquerque Signs - BCS Finale Fest

Part of the fun of visiting Albuquerque is finding unusual signs, murals, and other graphic or artistic representations.

Flight From Phoenix to Albuquerque - September 29, 2023

Near the "D" gates at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, AZ.

Parking structure just east of Sky Harbor.

Vista del Camino/Eldorado Park, snaking through Scottsdale, AZ.

Salt River Pima/Maricopa Indian Community lands.

Bumblebee Highway crosses the aqueduct from Granite Reef Dam.

Fountain Hills way over there.

Fountain Hills/Verde River/We-Ko-Pa Casino and Resort/Ft. McDowell.

Northern reaches of Theodore Roosevelt Lake.

Power line corridor, maybe running up towards Four Corners.

Fort Apache Reservation, probably northeast of Cibecue, AZ.

Show Low, AZ.

That weird, notable linear mesa.  I think it figures as an important landmark along the estimated Coronado Trail to Hawikuh, and Cibola.

Little Ortega Lake, and that weird, notable linear mesa.

St. Johns, AZ.

Salt River Project Coronado Generating Facility/Alejandro Tank.

Where Highways 36 and 117 meet, east of Fence Lake and north of Quemado, NM.

Southernmost end of El Malpais lava flow, near Grants, NM.

Acoma Pueblo lands.  Acoma Pueblo itself is almost impossible to spot from this distance - more or less in the background, roughly between the airliner's two red tips.

Remarkable cliffs out here on Laguna/Acoma lands.

Highland Meadows, and where the Rio San Jose starts entrenching itself on the way to the Rio Puerco, plus those strange mountains.

The Rio San Jose entrenches itself along Highway 6.

The Rio Puerco.

Low volcanic mesas northeast of Los Lunas, NM.

Where Pajarito Mesa meets the edge of the Albuquerque metropolitan area.

South Coors Blvd. SW.

A very, very dry Rio Grande River.

Where Tijeras Arroyo meets the Rio Grande River/Broadway Blvd. SE.

Murray Rd. SE.

Interstate 25 just southeast of the Albuquerque International Airport (and that growing shadow's been following us too).

Brief New Mexico Hiatus

Heading to Albuquerque for the Better Call Saul Three Strikes Group Final Party. Will be back by Sunday evening!

Barney Google's Song is 100 Years Old

One hundred years old! I remember Snuffy Smith well enough from the comics when I was a kid; Barney Google was older and beyond my time, but his name apparently inspired the large number Googol, which then inspired the Google we know today.

 

Damned Granite Countertops

Stonecutting is always hazardous, and engineered stonecutting is the worst:

Silicosis can ravage the lungs of workers after they inhale tiny particles of crystalline silica while they cut and grind stone that contains the mineral.

The disease dates back centuries, but researchers say the booming popularity of countertops made of engineered stone, which has much higher concentrations of silica than many kinds of natural stone, has driven a new epidemic of an accelerated form of the suffocating illness. As the dangerous dust builds up and scars the lungs, the disease can leave workers short of breath, weakened and ultimately suffering from lung failure.

“You can get a transplant,” Cabrera told the man in Spanish, “but it won’t last.”

In California, it has begun to debilitate young workers, largely Latino immigrants who cut and polish slabs of engineered stone. Instead of cropping up in people in their 60s or 70s after decades of exposure, it is now afflicting men in their 20s, 30s or 40s, said Dr. Jane Fazio, a pulmonary critical care physician who became alarmed by cases she saw at Olive View-UCLA Medical Center. Some California patients have died in their 30s. 

“They’re young guys who essentially have a terminal diagnosis,” Fazio said.

"Something Rotten" - DMTC - September 23, 2023

I made a very low-key visit to DMTC Saturday night in order to support several cast members. Several cast members stood out: Matthew Draper as Shakespeare, Tea Berumen as Portia, and Pam Lourentzos as Shylock. Kyle Jackson is particularly good as Nostradamus. Kat Fio is excellent as co-choreographer and in the dance ensemble. I had problems with the one-tone, Shouty McShoutface portrayal of Nick Bottom by Hugo Figueroa (which I blame on the writing, not Hugo's capabilities). The ensemble is uneven, per usual. I thought Rachele Wurr is particularly good.

"Fiddler on the Roof" - Lincoln Theater Company - September 16th and October 1, 2023

(Draft) 

The original Broadway production of "Fiddler on the Roof" (1964):

Book by Joseph Stein 

Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick 

Music by Jerry Bock 

Entire Production Directed & Choreographed by Jerome Robbins

From Wikipedia:

Fiddler on the Roof is based on Tevye (or Tevye the Dairyman) and his Daughters, a series of stories by Sholem Aleichem that he wrote in Yiddish between 1894 and 1914 about Jewish life in a village in the Pale of Settlement of Imperial Russia at the turn of the 20th century. The stories are based on Aleichem's own upbringing near modern-day Kyiv (fictionalized as Yehupetz). It is also influenced by Life is with People, by Mark Zborowski and Elizabeth Herzog. Aleichem wrote a dramatic adaptation of the stories that he left unfinished at his death, but which was produced in Yiddish in 1919 by the Yiddish Art Theater and made into a film in the 1930s. In the late 1950s, a musical based on the stories, called Tevye and his Daughters, was produced off-Broadway by Arnold Perl. Rodgers and Hammerstein and then Mike Todd briefly considered bringing this musical to Broadway but dropped the idea. 

Investors and some in the media worried that Fiddler on the Roof might be considered "too Jewish" to attract mainstream audiences. Other critics considered that it was too culturally sanitized, "middlebrow" and superficial; Philip Roth, writing in The New Yorker, called it shtetl kitsch. For example, it portrays the local Russian officer as sympathetic, instead of brutal and cruel, as Sholom Aleichem had described him. Aleichem's stories ended with Tevye alone, his wife dead and his daughters scattered; at the end of Fiddler, the family members are alive, and most are emigrating together to America. The show found the right balance for its time, even if not entirely authentic, to become "one of the first popular post-Holocaust depictions of the vanished world of Eastern European Jewry". Harold Prince replaced the original producer Fred Coe and brought in director/choreographer Jerome Robbins. The writers and Robbins considered naming the musical Tevye, before landing on a title suggested by various paintings by Marc Chagall (Green Violinist (1924), Le Mort (1924), The Fiddler (1912)) that also inspired the original set design.

The Lincoln Theater production is directed and choreographed by Jeff Teague. In general, Teague's production moves and flows very well on a fairly-small stage. Teague has an excellent eye for movement. (Friend and Choreographer Pam Lourentzos particularly praised Teague's choreography.)  Musical Directon is by Bill Zinn. The Lincoln Theater production featured recorded rather than live music. 

My attention was drawn to the Bottle Dance (I've done it myself twice; in 1997 and 2008). On September 16th the dancers managed to keep their bottles on their heads (although Matt Dunn's bottle was off-center and he had a terrible challenge to keep from dropping it), all succeeded!  I was impressed how the costumes and the background set worked together in the wedding scene.

The central character in the musical is Tevye (played very well by Gary Giurbino).  Tevye is earnest, active, doing his best to maintain Jewish traditions in an era when political violence and rapid changes systematically upended every tradition. 

Tevye is ably assisted by his wife Golde (played by Rachel Rycerz). Rachel is a wonderful Golde, with the clearest singing voice and convincing familial center. 

The three older daughters - Tzeitel (Leah Deutch), Hodel (Amanda Bistolfo), Chava (Sierra Nevin) - and their beaus - Motel (Jack Fidler), Perchik (Matthew Dunn), Fyedka (Drew Mayes) - are the familial flywheel that spins apart. All three daughters play their parts well. Deutch has a bright, winning personality.  Bistolfo has an excellent singing voice and Nevin carries the difficult acting required to portray Chava's shunning. 

There are several important character actors. The Fiddler (Kayden Dayog) has a larger and welcome presence in this production than in others I've seen. Karen Tricomo portrays Yente and her talkative ways (but had a tendency to wander off-script). The Constable (Adam Triplett) seemed measured but remote. Lazar (Jamesson Kaupanger), Rabbi (Steve Allison), and Mordcha (Travis Mononym) were ably played. 

The Lincoln Theater production was dogged by difficulties, with the cast and crew catching Covid-19, among other problems. There were changes in the September 16th show that were significant. Fruma-Sarah was played, I believe, by Amanda Bistolfo. Mendel (Vikram Verma) was unable to finish the September 16th show

(More to come) 

---------------

Role Name Hodel (Amanda Bistolfo) Sasha (Brandon Hunter) Yussell (Colin Monks) Momma (Dawn Maurer) Fyedka (Drew Mayes) Tevye (Gary Giurbino) Fruma-Sarah (Gracie Hollwager) Motel (Jack Fidler) Lazar (Jamesson Kaupanger) Yente (Karen Tricomo) Momma (Kasper Cummins-Rodriguez) Momma, Grandma Tzietel (Kay Jones) Fiddler (Kayden Dayog) Daughter Ensemble (Kourtney Sebree) Tzietel (Leah Deutch) Shprintze (MaKenna Spencer) Perchik (Matthew Dunn) Avram (Matt Toto) Belke (Persephone Hanks) Golde (Rachel Rycerz) Chava (Sierra Nevin) Rabbi (Steve Allison) Momma Ensemble (Susan M Stecz) Momma Ensemble (Tea Hanks) Mordcha (Travis Mononym) Mendel (Vikram Verma) Constable (Adam Triplett) Position Name Director/Choreographer Jeff Teague Musical Director Bill Zinn Stage Manager Patti Keeling-Haines Set Designer Brandon Hunter, Jeff Teague Costumer Laurel Krein Lighting Designer Chris Moore Sound Designer Paul Schechter Executive Director Paul Schechter Executive Producer Peggy Schechter Props/Production Assistant Kate Abila

"Hadestown" - Broadway Sacramento - SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center - September 19, 2023

Been Spending A Lot of Time With Lincoln Theater Company

Rachel was cast as Golde in Lincoln Theater Company's production of "Fiddler on the Roof," which opened last weekend, so I have been helping transport her sons Jack and Larry up there, as well as watching the show.  Producers Paul and Peggy Schecter have been very welcoming. We used to be on the Board of DMTC in 2008, and they've all but asked me to join their Board. I'm not sure I want that responsibility since I have no organic connection to the theater company, but it is flattering, and who knows?

I've Been Busy Updating My February SWPACA Presentation

I realized I overstated my argument, so had to completely revamp the presentation.

Mitt Romney, The Blogger

We are birds of a feather!:

It’s not a surprise that Romney has turned to Coppins to help author his farewell address. Coppins, an excellent storyteller and chronicler of Republican politics in the Trump years, is a fellow Latter-day Saint who came of age in Massachusetts when Romney was governor of the state. That shared background is important. We found out last week, when Coppins published an excerpt of the biography on the Atlantic’s website, that in 2021 Romney and Coppins began meeting in Romney’s Senate offices or in his tony Washington town house, and had long conversations during which, Romney told Coppins, “no subject would be off-limits.” 

Romney also gave Coppins access to a space even more intimate, and perhaps even more Mormon: Romney’s personal journals and other papers from his time as a senator. On these pages, Romney presents himself as a vestige of a mostly mythic past, when senators spoke and voted based on their principles, not party expediency.

Jasper Welcomes Laurel on Her First Visit to the Dog Park

Maren Says Leave

Country Music has always had problems with racism and misogyny, but lately it's gotten much, much worse. So what should country artists do about it? This artist says: LEAVE! NOW!

It’s not that Morris, 33, has tired of twanging guitars or neatly cornered rhymes, both of which define the tunes that came out Friday, a decade after she moved to Nashville from her native Texas, first to write songs for established country acts such as Tim McGraw and later to sign a major-label record deal of her own. Rather, she says she’s leaving because of what she views as the country music industry’s unwillingness to honestly reckon with its history of racism and misogyny and to open its gates to more women and queer people and people of color.

 

 

 It's good Maren gets that option. I suspect it's hard on women in country music. I sort of knew these girls from the Sacramento area, but not seeing signs of huge success just yet.

 

Crazy Comes For The Garbage Cans

One of my neighbors (the lady with the Italian Greyhounds) warned me that one of her neighbors was in a delirium from the last stages of alcoholism and was collecting garbage cans and rolling them home. Then, one of the garbage cans in the alley was set afire and turned into a grotesque pile of plastic ashes. Then I saw someone looking through the neighbors' garbage can while using a flame for light.  If a fire starts there it's a good chance that the tree, the hedge, and both houses will go up in flames.  

So, I expected the worst when I heard the heavy scraping of a garbage can being dragged. I went outside, and found - this. I turned the garbage can back over, on the principle that one should never remain ignorant of what’s behind Door Number Two when it comes to the alley. Nothing was hidden. Not sure what it means. Maybe a portent?

September 11th - A Bit More About Victor Saracini

At the NM Tech Facebook page for alumni from the 70s and early 80s, they had more about Victor Saracini, pilot of United Flight 175 on September 11, 2001. I have a hazy memory of sharing Dr. Loganbill's English class with Victor in the spring of 1975:

Then, in breaking news around 10:30 P.M., the authorities identified the pilot of United Flight 175, the hijacked plane that had flown into the second tower. Terrorists had stabbed a flight attendant and burst into the cockpit, where they killed the pilot and first officer, then took over the controls. All sixty-five people aboard died. 

As if that wasn’t enough, Géza felt a gut-punch when he saw the name of his college roommate flash across the screen: The pilot was 51-year-old Captain Victor J. Saracini, a husband and the father of two daughters, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

“Oh, shit,” Géza said. 

One of us, he thought.

Never, Ever Stop

Entering Jack's pool party on August 27th at the Antelope Aquatic Center, the two high school students manning the front counter sent me back to my car to get my debit card for the $5 entry fee - the pool wasn't accepting cash. Upon reentry, the two girls asked me about my T-Shirt. I had been at ballet class just an hour before. I identify as a dancer.  The girls warmed to the subject of dance. They were enrolled in a dance class at Antelope High School, immediately adjacent to the Antelope Aquatic Center, and were happy to tell me about their class - some ballet, hip-hop, and contemporary dance. I think they were surprised to see someone so old who still danced.  Upon departure, I gave them just one piece of advice: Never, Ever Stop.  Ever.

Jack's Pool Party

It was fun to attend Jack's 10-year-old birthday pool party on August 27th at the Antelope Aquatic Center. I went down the big tube slide and otherwise got wet with Jack, his family, and his friends.

Dance Break

Kate sends this:

I’m a big fan of dance-off scenes where warring factions express their differences in dance, like in West Side Story, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, and many more. I wish all disputes could be resolved that way. In The Umbrella Academy, a wonderfully inventive dark-comedy sci-fi series on Netflix, two super-powered families face off to do their interpretation of “Footloose.” It’s funny and fun to watch. And the song itself will energize you.

FAFO in Bernalillo

I feel sorry for the family, but good luck getting any relief from a lawsuit:

A New Mexico family rushing to try and save their dog’s life was stopped and held at gunpoint by the cops. ... Did Bernalillo Police officers take things too far? That’s what attorneys with the ACLU believe, and now the family plans to file a lawsuit.

...Albrecht drove down 550 through Bernalillo from their Rio Rancho home, toward the nearest 24-hour emergency vet. He spotted a Bernalillo police cruiser.

“I imagined if he was going to pull me over for speeding, I’d pull over,” Albrecht told KRQE. “He’d say something to me and then maybe even help us get there. You know, I’ve heard of stories like that before, but that didn’t happen.”

Police video from the officer’s lapel footage shows what did happen. Officer Jeramie Nevarez is seen pointing his gun at Albrecht as he shouts, “Driver, step out of the vehicle!”

The officer continues shouting commands at Albrecht, who has his hands in the air. “Face the f*** away from me!” The officer shouts. Lapel video shows Officer Jeramie Nevarez ordering Albrecht out of the car at gunpoint, and telling him to walk backward toward traffic.

“Step back! Step f****** back! Go to your left!” Officer Nevarez is shouting, as cars pass by them on the busy road. “My dog’s gonna die!” Albrecht tries to explain to the officer, who doesn’t approach the family’s vehicle.

...“I’m thinking, this is unbelievable,” Tara Albrecht recalled. “I can’t believe – it’s like, why didn’t someone just come check with us, find out what the reason our speeding was, and help us?”

Ready For The SWPACA Conference, But It's Only September

I started looking at Native American influences in "Breaking Bad" and discovered something quite striking. I've excitedly prepared my presentation for the next Southwest Popular/American Cultural Association meeting. But they won't meet until February.

All dressed up and nowhere to go....

My Neighbors Are Back From Burning Man

They apparently got an early start compared to the others. Now they've got their hose and are cleaning camping gear. My alleyway is running with alkaline mud. Most importantly, they look happy.

"I'll Send a Plane"

"Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul" Casts on the Picket Line

Trying to get proper pay:

“I don’t get a piece from Netflix on ‘Breaking Bad’ to be totally honest and that’s insane to me,” Paul said. “I think a lot of these streamers know that they have been getting away with not paying people a fair wage and now it’s time to pony up.”

 

Cranston said they chose Sony for their reunion as the studio behind the Emmy-winning hit, along with its spinoff projects, the AMC prequel series “Better Call Saul” and the Netflix film, “El Camino.” 

“We’re not making them the enemy. They are not villains. These are people that we all will be working with once again at some point,” Cranston said. “We just want them to see reality.”

An Octopus Garden Off The California Coast

Mysterious!:

But then, just as Hercules crossed over a ridge, a curious sight floated across the screen: small, almost iridescent bulbs clinging to the seamount wall. The scientists directed Hercules down, farther into the depths.

“And sure enough, that’s where we ran into thousands and thousands of these octopus,” King said. “And we were just absolutely floored. We were just giddy.”

The scientists, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, had alighted upon what they called an “octopus garden.” The images they captured revealed nearly 6,000 octopuses — leading scientists to estimate the total population of the area could exceed 20,000.

The discovery of the thousands of Muusoctopus robustus — or “pearl octopus,” as researchers dubbed it for the animal’s shape and opalescent shine — led a team of scientists on a five-year quest to solve the mystery: Why are there so many thousands of pearl octopuses at the foot of the Davidson Seamount, and how did they come to be living there?

The researchers visited Octopus Garden more than a dozen times to find out, and a study published last week in the journal Science Advances shows they solved one part of the mystery. The pearl octopus came to the Davidson Seamount, they discovered, to nestle into the warm crooks of its wall and brood eggs.

The ambient temperature of water around the seamount is about 35 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute scientists. But by using sophisticated marine thermometers, the researchers found that the octopuses were settling into crevices warmed by spring water, where the temperature reached nearly 51 degrees.

“So we’re still unsure exactly about what kind of geological circulation drives these springs, but essentially water’s getting heated somewhere underground there,” said Steve Litvin, a marine ecologist at the institute. “And just like a warm spring, you know, I don’t want to say ‘Old Faithful,’ but it’s bubbling up there out of the rocks.” 

“They’re in warm water, the metabolism is much faster,” King said, “so their life history has been very compressed relative to most deep-sea animals.”

Anticipating More Lunar Hijinks

Things are getting interesting lunar-wise. We are heading to what's called a major lunar standstill in January, 2025. So, for the next two years or so, the moon will appear to wander in the sky from where we are used to seeing it. For example, lately, the moon has been pretty far south of the ecliptic. For the next two years or so, the moon will move around and get caught in eclipses, and entertain, before settling down again.