My Strange New Mexico

This site hasn't been active for too long and this is already my second post on New Mexico. I've an affinity with the state, which become even more apparent on my visit there.

I stumbled across a website recently, My Strange New Mexico, that I knew after reading the first article is one of those sites you bookmark. The pieces are written by a Mike Smith and he thoroughly does his research in his work. It is more than apparent. He covers everything from desert legends to historical accounts, including one of a hideout Al Capone allegedly used in his heyday. Another interesting article is about Grenville, NM, a town of 25.

Perhaps one of the most enlightening is about of a group called the Aggressive Christianity Missionary Training Corps. "Wearing military-style uniforms, and awarding rank to members of the group based on their dedication, the group considered themselves a spiritual army, preparing the world for an apocalyptic war against the evils of society—against rock and roll, homosexuality, television, psychoanalysis, medication, karate, and more," the article says.

Mr. Smith's account of the group can be read HERE. I highly recommend it!

(The link below apparently need a white background behind it. Click it. Order. Be saved.)

Chicken Feet

I've never noticed it near the fresh chicken but there it was, chicken feet for just a few dollars.

Espanola, New Mexico

7:17 p.m. — A woman calling from the Rio Chama Chevron said she didn’t know what her name was or what was wrong with her, but someone gave her brownies and later told her they put something in them. Officers checked to make sure she was okay.

Espanola, New Mexico is a grey zone. I loyally check out their local paper, Rio Grande Sun, for their police blotter because the stories are of a Twilight Zone/David Lynch flavor. The above blotter is a recent from their most recent edition.
I had the pleasure of stopping in the town on a ride from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. My friend advised me that Espanola is a town where many residents are addicted heroin and meth. Sometime after that trip I had met someone out in New Jersey, who grew up near Espanola, who also referred to the town as the "Heroin Capital of New Mexico."

Weird things happen in Espanola and their police blotter helps prove it.

Here are some other ones I've saved for my own future reference...

Monday, Jan. 12

• 7:51 p.m. — A County Road 103 caller said his aunt told him there was a man, who was wearing camouflage, holding a stick and pretending it was a rifle, trying to hide. The aunt told dispatchers she saw some lights a few minutes ago and could see lights again. The hidden man was found and detoxed.

Wednesday, Jan. 14

• 11:59 p.m. — A Private Drive 1625 caller said he was "a gangster rapper that has been all over Albuquerque." He called a second time and asked if the Cold War ended and asked whether someone could take his picture so that he could "be known and be normal." No report was taken.

Thursday, Jan. 15

• 4:07 p.m. — A Shoe Department employee said someone walked out with a pair of shoes. She later advised 911 dispatchers that the man fled in his socks and didn't take anything. The suspect told police that it was his boss who tried to steal the shoes, but they didn't get away with anything. He was arrested for driving under the influence.

Sunday. Jan. 18

• 10:48 a.m. — A State Road 76 caller said a man was trying to steal her doorknob, and he threw something on the door, scratching it. She said he wasn't at the house but goes there at night when he knows she isn't home. Police determined no one was trying to steal the doorknob.

Wednesday, Jan. 21

• 9:25 p.m. — A Ziegler Street caller said when she arrived home she heard some weird noises and her deaf roommate felt something weird. Police checked the residence.

Fast Food Pharmacy

Wall of Skulls [Tzompantli] at Chichen Itza

One of my favorite structures at Chichen Itza in the Yucatan jungle of Mexico is the Wall of Skulls, or Tzompantli. I took a bunch of photos of this area including these two. Another interesting site is the observatory. At the top of it is an observatory with three windows that perfectly align with three positions of Venus.

"The Wall of Skulls is called the Tzompantli, which is actually an Aztec name for this kind of structure, because the first one seen by the horrified Spanish was at the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan.

The Tzompantli structure at Chichén Itzá is a Toltec structure, where the heads of sacrificial victims were placed; although it was one of three platforms in the Great Plaza, it was according to Bishop Landa, the only one for this purpose - the others were for farces and comedies, showing the Itzá's were all about fun. The platform walls of the Tzompantli have carved reliefs of four different subjects. The primary subject is the skull rack itself; others show a scene with a human sacrifice; eagles eating human hearts; and skeletonized warriors with shields and arrows."

from Archaelogy.about.com

Navin Johnson Maxims

"I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this book everyday! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity - your name in print - that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now."

- Navin R. Johnson

Darger, Basquiat and Shrigley Vying for a 7-Year-Old's Attention

Was hanging with my seven-year-old niece today who is into drawing. She has been doing drawings of little girls on pieces of paper taped together. It reminded me of Henry Darger's work so I showed her a book (Sound and Fury: The Art of Henry Darger) of his work today.


I also showed her Basquiat and David Shrigley books too, which she liked as well.

Bad Brains Documentary

Bad Brains_teaser


I saw the original line up of Bad Brains at Irving Plaza back in November. I admit I am nowhere near any kind of expert on this band what so ever, but for me, there are two Bad Brains - the loud punkish band and then the laid back dub band. I prefer the green-laced tunes of the reggae sound Bad Brains produces. And I was fortunate enough to have seen this type of show. They played a two night engagement and from what I hear the other night was just the opposite, which was alright with me.

It was pretty cool to see them play the week of the 2008 election, not knowing during that first week in November how the next four years of the country would be. From stories I read, the election is one of the reasons the Washington, DC based band decided to play the three (which turned into four with the added NYC show) shows between NYC, Austin, and DC (which was an election night show).

If there was any right time to see the original line up of Bad Brains play, these were the shows to be at. How much more relevant could the shows have been at the crossroads the country was at with itself, it's citizens, and the rest of the world? Their logo of the lightning bolt crashing into the dome of the Capitol could not have had more energy behind it.

Here are a few recent photos I took with the cell phone camera.


The famous ceiling of Madison Square Garden while Wilco was playing. They opened for Neil Young.
-------

Caught this Gano moving on the Garden State Parkway. "Art: The Weapon of Intelligence."
-------

Some imagary from a hospital bed table on wheels.

Rime, Pimp My Trailer

RIME, PIMP MY TRAILER! from Young And Balding on Vimeo.

Check out the full video at The Art of Storytelling.

I saw this on a trip to The Metropolitan Museum of Art last week and enjoyed the head to this Egyptian artifact.