Dancehall PowerUp Choreography | “Loyal” PARTYNEXTDOOR & Drake

I was gone for several weeks, and in the meantime, the DHPU folks did this....

Ken Sanchez Passes Away

Not a good sign when someone in your graduating class passes away: Ken Sanchez, longtime councilman for Albuquerque's West Side. At the 40th high school reunion in 2014, we even did a conga line together and slapped each others backs. Politically, we were probably at opposite poles, but at least he got the West Mesa Aquatic Center built.

RIP Ken Sanchez:

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Ken Sanchez, one of the longest serving Albuquerque city councilors and an advocate for the West Side, died Wednesday.

He was 63.

In a room full of over 40 loved ones, Mayor Tim Keller, city councilors and Sanchez’s family announced his death Wednesday night.

They didn’t give details on the cause of death.

“Today, we lost one of our most beloved public servants,” Keller said. “It’s with a heavy heart that I have to inform the city of Albuquerque of the passing of Councilor Ken Sanchez.”

Sanchez suffered a “medical emergency” in late November and had not returned to City Hall. In a statement issued at the time, City Council staff said Sanchez was expected to make a full recovery but noted that “his family asks that you keep him in your thoughts and prayers.”

...Sanchez, a Democrat, was first elected to the City Council in 2005. The decades-long West Side resident had won another four-year term in 2017. He served three terms as council president.

During his tenure on the council, he helped steer a number of infrastructure projects, including the Patrick J. Baca Library, Fire Station No. 7 and the West Mesa Aquatic Center.

Sanchez operated the Gilbert Sanchez Tax Accounting Firm and was the president of Ken Sanchez & Associates Realty.

...During his 2017 reelection campaign, he told the Journal that serving on the City Council and Bernalillo County Commission were his major professional accomplishments, saying that he was able to bring “people together to deal with the challenges and injustice that we have faced on Albuquerque’s West Side.”

For school, he attended Holy Rosary, West Mesa High School, the College of Santa Fe and the University of New Mexico.

DMTC New Year's

The Winter So Far

The winter so far - drought in the Pacific Northwest and more rain than usual for the Southwestern deserts. Now, if we can only get rain and snow to western Colorado - the headwaters of the Colorado River.

Because of the late start to the rainy season, Sacramento is only about 78% of normal precipitation right now.

Rocks with Wings (2001 TV Movie)

Link to map

Last updated: December 31, 2019


Documentary about a female high school basketball team in Shiprock; addresses economic, social, and racial issues in New Mexico. Won the Documentary Prize at the Urbanworld Film Festival. Shot in Shiprock and in Albuquerque at Tingley Stadium. Directed by Rick Derby.


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Shiprock as seen from various angles

Shiprock High School

etc.

Hopewell CMS Church (Texarkana, Texas)

NW State in Louisiana

Louisiana Tech in Rustin

Various views - Highway 550 Curve, White Mesa, Big Chief Sign, Various Highway Signs: ABQ 15, Los Lunas 34, Belen 47; ABQ 14, Belen 46 (sign looks like it might have been replaced); ABQ next 14 Exits; Cuba 63, Aztec 161, Farmington 166 (got it).

View of Mesa

Collapsed Stone House (35.827034°, -106.967646°)

Views of Mesa

Descansos

View of Shiprock with bridge

Thriftway Food Store near Shiprock

Shiprock High School

Welcome to NM Sign/Boundary to Navajo reservation Sign

Navajo Weavers

Heading downhill - unclear

View of mesa

Second view (35.575202°, -106.868590°)

Graveyard with Shiprock

Shiprock High School

Kirtland, NM, are the rivals

Central High School in Kirtland

etc.

Cibola High School in ABQ

Tingley Coliseum

Parked vehicle window: Near Louisiana Blvd. & Marble Ave. NE (35.089145°, -106.568200°)

View of Shiprock southern hogback

Thriftway again

Nightwing (1979)

Link to map

Last updated: March 7, 2023


Adventure, Supernatural Horror; based upon the novel by Martin Cruz Smith. A colony of vampire bats threaten a Native American community. Starring Nick Mancuso, David Warner, Kathryn Harrold, and Strother Martin. Filming locations: Albuquerque, Bonanza Creek Movie Ranch, Laguna Pueblo.


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Notes on Individual Scenes
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Buttes

Grand Canyon

Horses

Cliff Dwellings

Looks like....Rio Puerco area

I had previously determined that the ranch used in the opening sequence (with vampire-bat-stricken horse corpses) is off Highway 6 on Laguna Pueblo lands (Old Sedillo Unit: 34.937524°, -107.120868°).  So, here is the gate to the ranch.  There is a sign saying "No Trespassing."  So, I have to decide if I have enough time to walk to the ranch and maybe get jailed if the area is being patrolled today.  About 1 kilometer away (0.7 miles). Tempting, but maybe not enough time today....

This is frustrating.  I can see the ranch buildings, about a quarter mile away.

This hill is visible in ranch scenes.

Stone House

Like other Pueblo communities, photography and sketching are strictly forbidden in the community - anything that can capture human likenesses - without permits and consultation with authorities.  The reason is religious.  Other tribal groups (Navajos, Apaches) don't have bans like this.  I don't know how they square their religion with moviemaking - money helps, of course - but it sure crimps tourism.  So, my challenge was to surreptitiously take just a few photos without incorporating any people in them or otherwise stepping on people's sensibilities.

Other movies have been filmed at Laguna Pueblo: "Ace in the Hole" (1962), starring Kirk Douglas; "Sicario" (2015), which used the soccer field at Laguna Pueblo; and "Sicario: Day of the Soldado" (2018).  I believe there was a War-on-Terror kind-of movie that was filmed here too.

Cecil's, in Laguna.

In "Nightwing," the Pueblo community buildings look fantastically fragile.  Forty-five years later, many of the buildings have been replaced.  Here are two pictures of the hill on which Old Laguna is built.  Many of these buildings are held in families, and are probably inhabited by the elderly, or used on celebration days, when families come into Laguna from outlying communities.

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View of mountain

Spring

Sheep

Stone House

Selwyn's Trading Post

Stone House

Burial

Location in ABQ - Just outside Sandia base on Wyoming????

Vista - Enchanted Mesa - exact location uncertain

Burning Stone House

Near Placitas

Buzzards

Laguna?

Kiva. Acoma?

'Holy Ground'

Singalong

Fishing - likely somewhere along Rio Puerco

Plaza at Laguna - White church top visible - Is there a kiva there?

I took some pictures of the Catholic Church, because I figured they might care a little less about photos there.  The church is only fleetingly visible in "Nightwing," but the whitewashed walls surrounding the church are quite noticeable.  According to Wikipedia, the church dates to the year 1699, immediately following the Pueblo Revolt, but the community itself is truly ancient. (I notice Wikipedia says 6,500 B.C., but an exact date is unknown.)

The only place I visited that is assuredly in "Nightwing" is the view from the top of the hill immediately north of town (35.039363°, -107.382978°).  In the movie, the helicopter raid is filmed from here.  Steep hill.  Lots of cactus too, which I learned about the hard way.

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Suggestions of a ring of rocks are present on the hill summit.

The view below.

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I wish I had been more successful at getting "Nightwing" photos, but with time and photo limitations, it was hard to get more.

Graves - Nice-looking country - where is this?

Driving offroad - Overheating

Sand Dunes

ABQ Again

Back Country

Hole in Ceiling - Bats

Some scenes filmed in Nevada - I'm thinking towards the end of the film.