Doug Pauly and the Cover Girls - April 1, 2023

"The Side Door" in Curtis Park is a very-conveniently-located venue for live music - generally folk and rock music. 

Even though I’ve known for decades that Doug (my neighbor the next house over) is a guitarist, this is the first time I’ve actually seen him perform. I didn’t realize that Mike Crain (who lives between Doug and I) is the percussionist. (Mike teaches percussion at Sac State.)

Two musicians within a stone's throw! I’m clueless about my own immediate neighborhood!

 

From The Side Door's mailing list: "Doug Pauly brings “Doug & The Cover Girls“ Sister duets this five member group includes Doug Pauly, Jeanne Munoz, Erin Costa, Mike Crain and Kerry Kashiwagi performing music described as the next generation of The Great American Songbook. Duets as only sisters backed up by guitar as only Doug Pauly can play."

Introductions at the show.

Song In My Head - Madison Cunningham

Vertical Freedom (2022)

Link to map

Last updated: March 31, 2023


Link to Top-Level Menu
Link to Top-Level Map




Quick Summary:

(From imdb) Six diverse tower climbers overcome personal struggle and every-day danger to perform extraordinary work at very high levels to connect us all.

Notes on Individual Scenes

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

Interviews with several tower climbers all over the U.S., including Robert Gallegos in the the Albuquerque area.

Sandia Crest, NM (KNME Tower listed in credits)

I-40 Eastbound - 2 locations, including maybe near Coronado Park (35.105870°, -106.646456°).

View of Albuquerque along the Griegos corridor, looking west from approximately San Andres Ave. and Grande Dr. NW

5021....

Various locations seen along drives include:

• Smoke City, 6900 Central Ave. SE;
• Central Avenue, just east of Wyoming Blvd., and;
• Oakwood Homes on Central Avenue.

Views of the prison in Los Lunas.

Vengeance (II) (2022)

Link to map

Last updated: March 31, 2023


Link to Top-Level Menu
Link to Top-Level Map




Quick Summary:

(From imdb) A writer from New York City attempts to solve the murder of a girl he hooked up with and travels down south to investigate the circumstances of her death and discover what happened to her.

Notes on Individual Scenes

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

Red Solo cups - Oil field (presumably near Artesia somewhere)

Bridge NYC - Party

Subway/Apartment

Double Eagle Airport

Cemetery - Mount Calvary Cemetery, near Edith Blvd. & Odelia Rd.

Driving, and a pitch to the producer - Bobby Foster Rd.

NYC Apartment

Corner mobile home - Dinkle Rd. and Summerfield Lane, in Edgewood (35.084687°, -106.150221°)

Quentin Sellers Music Factory - 680 NM-344, Edgewood (35.159650°, -106.187679°)

Cafe 66 (but with a reverse image?)

Mount Calvary Cemetery

Rodeo, near Walmart - Valencia County Sheriff's Posse Arena, Belen

Bar with country line dancing - The Dirty Bourbon, 9800 Montgomery Blvd. NE

Meeting with Sancholo

Law enforcement offices

NYC Office

Cafe 66

Doctor's Office

Whataburger, On Highway 528 near Highway 550, Rio Rancho

etc.

Evangelical Leaders are Slightly Miffed

Apparently evangelical leaders are slightly miffed at Donald Trump. Really? I wonder why? And does it matter? Somehow, I think not. The delusions are thick, thick, thick in this article. You can read this article and decide who's delusions are worst.

Piety aside, raw political calculation was at work. Trump’s relationship with the evangelical movement—once seemingly shatterproof, then shaky after his violent departure from the White House—is now in pieces, thanks to his social-media tirade last fall blaming pro-lifers for the Republicans’ lackluster midterm performance. Because of his intimate, longtime ties to the religious right, Pence understands the extent of the damage. He is close personal friends with the organizational leaders who have fumed about it; he knows that the former president has refused to make any sort of peace offering to the anti-abortion community and is now effectively estranged from its most influential leaders. 

According to people who have spoken with Pence, he believes that this erosion of support among evangelicals represents Trump’s greatest vulnerability in the upcoming primary—and his own greatest opportunity to make a play for the GOP nomination.

"Inside," with Willem DaFoe

I went to see Willem DaFoe in “Inside” at Saturday’s late showing at the Tower Theater. The plot is basically Trapped Burglar vs. Malfunctioning Smart Penthouse, and reminds me of other glitchy-tech movies like “2001: A Space Odyssey.” The movie is a meditation on the meaning of art as well as technology. The movie’s sense of isolation was heightened by me being the only person in the theater. I recommend the movie for those considering buying either sophisticated security systems or modern art, or who fancy some alone time. Excellent cinematography!

 

Springtime Means Exotic Creatures Last Seen in the Cambrian Start Appearing

To The Dog Groomers

Love and attention from Anthony and Azalia at Anthony's Dog Grooming Shop, in the Sierra Shops near Fair Oaks and Munroe/Fulton.

Before....

After.

Arguing Over the Inevitable

People are arguing about how to manage the reappearance of Tulare Lake as the snow starts to melt, but there's a "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic" character about the disagreements. As Led Zeppelin sang in their version of "When the Levee Breaks":

Cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good 

No, cryin' won't help you, prayin' won't do you no good 

When the levee breaks, mama, you got to move, ooh

In previous flood years, Grewal said, levees were typically cut open in an agreed-upon order, sending water from one enclosed “cell” to another, and filling the lake bottom in an orchestrated way. This time, he said, there have been delayed responses and more levee breaches than in the past.

“The flood isn’t being handled properly,” said Grewal, noting he works with one grower who has 2,400 acres of pistachio trees choking underwater. “It’s a mess, because there are breaks everywhere.” In one mysterious incident, Jack Mitchell of the area’s Deer Creek Flood Control District alleged that someone had intentionally cut open a levee with a backhoe in the dark of night. He says he knows who did it, but the report hasn’t prompted an investigation. 

Elsewhere, Mitchell said, the Boswell company at one point used a massive piece of equipment as a barrier, keeping Mitchell’s crew from cutting into a levee to send water flowing toward the basin bottom and away from towns. 

“It’s silly the way they’re doing it,” he said at the time. “It wants to go to the lake, and they won’t let it go.” 

The Kings County Board of Supervisors stepped in to settle the dispute, ordering Boswell’s managers to cut a levee and send water toward the lake bottom — and into their fields and those of other growers — rather than trying to pump the water up to higher elevation areas. 

“They weren’t really happy with me,” said Supervisor Doug Verboon. “To have someone come and tell them what they have to do is not good for them. But what it did was, it opened a line of communication. So now we’re speaking to each other and sharing ideas.” 

…Over the years, the company has built levees on the old lakebed bottom to control floodwaters. “The idea is that you want to flood the least amount of acres the highest you can to minimize losses,” Grewal said. Local responsibility for flood control in the basin is split among about a dozen reclamation districts, which are controlled by landowners. State officials have visited the area to discuss response efforts. Department of Water Resources Director Karla Nemeth told the news website SJV Water that she and her team are assessing the state’s authority to intervene, if needed, to help “deal with the challenges we’ve already seen emerging in the last 10 days.” 

Verboon said one issue that has complicated matters is bad blood between the Boswell company and John Vidovich, who also owns vast acreage in the basin. Their disputes, some rooted in disagreements over water rights, have led to litigation, and Verboon said they have refused to talk to each other. 

“We all pay the price when they’re fighting,” Verboon said. But he said he anticipates the flooding, which is set to worsen in the coming weeks, could spur the two camps to “work together to move this water out of here.” During the 1983 floods, Grewal said, a decision was made to take a large portion of the water that was rushing in and divert it to Southern California cities. “They pumped a million acre-feet to L.A. that would have gone to the lake,” he said. “Boswell paid for that, just to dewater the lake faster.”

White Cat, On Patrol

Every breath you take 

And every move you make 

Every bond you break 

Every step you take 

I'll be watching you

More Runoff Being Aimed Towards Groundwater

Dunnigan in the news:

DUNNIGAN, Calif. — As storms have drenched Northern California, water diverted from the swollen Sacramento River has been flowing from a canal and pouring onto 200 acres of farmland. 

For more than a month, the water has spread across fields, forming shallow pools, then percolating slowly into the earth. 

This farm northwest of Sacramento, which has previously produced rice, is being used to replenish groundwater. It’s one of a growing number of sites across the Central Valley where landowners and local water managers are using farmland to take advantage of this year’s heavy rain and snow by capturing water and putting it underground. 

Once applied to the fields near the town of Dunnigan, the water quickly sinks into the soil and makes its way through sediment to the aquifer. Measurements in nearby wells show that groundwater levels have risen. 

“Within a matter of a couple of days, we see improvement in the water table,” said David Schaad, a farmer and president of the Dunnigan Water District. “It’s wonderful to see.”

Prince - Crimson and Clover

Love Tommy James and the Shondells. Love Prince. Love Misty Copeland.

 

Millennium Bugs (2020)

Link to map

Last updated: March 27, 2023


Link to Top-Level Menu
Link to Top-Level Map




Quick Summary:

(From imdb) Set in the last week of 1999, best friends Kelly and Miguel find themselves on the cusp of their future. Kelly has been floating through life after her parent's death. Drowning herself in alcohol and drugs. When her inheritance money runs out, Kelly is slapped with the realities of her actions. Her best friend Miguel is torn between his immigrant parent's expectations and his dream to become a comedian. The pressure to pursue his dreams while defying the sacrifices his parents made for him pushes Miguel to the brink. Together, Kelly and Miguel along the rest of the world find themselves wondering what's next.

Notes on Individual Scenes

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

Various news clips

Police Station - James Dwyer Police Station

House

Looks like Calvary Skatepark - 4001 Osuna Rd. NE

Convenience store - North Heights Food Mart, aka Shop N Go, 11928 Candelaria Rd. NE

Vulcan Video Store, 4411 Russell Drive, Austin, TX

Rooftop

Office

Vehicle

Miguel's House

Launchpad club, downtown near 7th & Central

Outside El Rey Theater, SW corner

The Pic, Moonlight Lounge, 120 Central Ave. SW

Miguel and ex-girlfriend meet on sidewalk just in front of Launchpad

Getting in vehicle - U Public TV Parking Lot, 912 3rd St. NW

Towing Place - Acme Towing and Recovery Inc., 8705 Broadway Blvd. SE A

etc.

Storage Unit

In alley and parking lot just behind Launchpad

Ex's house

Kelly's House - 2840 Rhode Island St. NE

etc.

Drive away towards I-35 - about 7920 Claremont Ave. NE.

(Credits thank AAA - U-Lock It and Self Storage.  Three possible places where that could be.)