Raindrops on Roses, Whiskers on Kittens

Local congressional candidate Martin Heinrich finds time two weeks before the primary to list his Ten Favorite Things About Albuquerque.

8. Eating chile-laden breakfast, on the patio at Las Mananitas in the spring when the cottonwoods are greening.

7. The Ta Lin Market, the South Valley Dia de Los Muertos parade, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, and all the diverse communities that make up Albuquerque

4. The fact that a pair of boots and a bolo tie is considered formal-wear.

(My friend Donna and I have a running discussion about whether there are one or two restaurants in Albuquerque where blue jeans (or shorts) might not be de rigueur.)

But Martin, why then the rush to go to Washington to live? Trust me, if you don’t have any Sweeties near there like I do, it’s not all that great.

One Down, 62 to Go

Albuquerque averages 63 days each summer when the temperature reaches 90º F.

At Casa NewMexiKen today is the first of those days for 2008. (Currently 90.3º and 7% humidity.)

Got milk?

Via Oh Fair New Mexico —

Several lanes of Interstate Highway 80 were shut down for hours overnight after a truck hauling Oreos crashed into a median, spilling tons of the chocolate cookies across the highway, police said.

The crash occurred at about 3:40 a.m. Monday on I-80 just east of Morris, said Master Sgt. Brian Mahoney of the Illinois State Police.

The truck was westbound, hauling about 20,000 pounds of Oreos, when the driver lost control and the rig hit a median before veering into the eastbound lanes. The impact ripped the trailer open, spilling its cargo across the eastbound lanes of the highway, he said.

The driver was not hurt, but police had to shut down the eastbound lanes for several hours while the cookies were cleaned up, Mahoney said.

Chicago Tribune.com

I’m thinking the cleanup might have gone faster if the crew didn’t stop and split each cookie to lick the creamy stuff in the middle.

NewMexiKen once blew a VW Bug engine on I-80 near Morris, Illinois. But no, not an Oreo in sight that day.

Little girls have pretty curls
But I like Oreos

‘Topes

Admission for two, ninth row behind the plate: $26

Food and drinks including a margarita: $32.25

Sunny Sunday afternoon doubleheader with 27 runs (including nine home runs): Priceless

Gotta love the Isotopes and AAA baseball.

Malcolm

Malcolm Little was born 83 years ago today in Omaha.

Your assigned reading: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, the best book Alex Haley wrote.

Essay question (after reading the autobiography): What would 83-year-old Malcolm say about this year’s presidential election?

May 19th ought to be an international holiday

Dusty Hill is 59 today. It ought to be an American holiday.

The genius of ZZ Top is that they’re reverential about the blues but loose and funny about the subject matter of their songs. Their songs are laden with pop-culture references, sexual double entendres and the determined pursuit of a good time. They have written about fast cars, fishnet stockings, sharp clothes, TV dinners, cheap sunglasses and “tush.” They visually connected with the MTV generation by virtue of Hill’s and Gibbons’ long beards and fur-lined guitars. For many, ZZ Top have been the premiere party band on the planet. Certainly, they have been Texas’s foremost cultural ambassadors.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Pete Townshend is 63. It ought to be a national holiday in Britain too.

From Mod-era “maximum R&B” to rock operas and quintessential Seventies hard rock, the Who reigned across the decades as one of the greatest rock and roll bands of all time. At their best, they distilled the pent-up energy and chaos of rock and roll into its purest form while investing their music with literary wiles and visionary insight. In their prime they were a unit whose individual personalities fused into a larger-than-life whole. Pete Townshend provided the slashing guitar work and much of the material. Vocalist Roger Daltrey injected the songs with expressive muscularity and passion. Bassist John Entwistle anchored the band with his stoic demeanor and expert musicianship. Keith Moon, one of the greatest of all rock and roll drummers, embodied their explosive energy and anarchic wit.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

And AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd is 54. So it ought to be a national holiday in Australia as well.

For three decades AC/DC has reigned as one of the best-loved and hardest-rocking bands in the world. Featuring guitarist Angus Young as their visual symbol and musical firebrand, they grew from humble origins in Australia to become an arena-filling phenomenon with worldwide popularity. They did so without gimmickry, except for Angus’s schoolboy uniform, which became mandatory stage attire. From the beginning they have been a straight-ahead, no-frills rock and roll band that aimed for the gut. “We’ve never pulled any punches,” vocalist Brian Johnson has said. “We just play music that’s fun and simple–the way our audience likes it.”

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Elsewhere, Jim Lehrer is 74, Nora Ephron is 67 and Kevin Garnett is 32.

Ho Chi Minh was born on May 19th in 1890. Pol Pot was born on May 19th in 1925. So probably not a holiday in Cambodia.

Idolatry

In last week’s New Yorker, Sasha Frere-Jones had an interesting profile of American Idol. It included:

“Idol” watchers have been trained to think about aesthetic concepts like arrangement and song choice, and, by the time the judges weigh in, we have already been sorting out our thoughts. The viewers need compete only with Cowell; Jackson and Abdul both give us plenty of opportunities to feel superior. The self-flummoxing Abdul is physically incapable of not reassuring the contestants. One of the few variables that Jackson seems able to track is pitch.

The Other Boleyn Girl

Anne Boleyn lost her head on this date in 1536.

She was never described as a great beauty, but even those who loathed her admitted that she had a dramatic allure. Her olive complexion and straight black hair gave her an exotic aura in a culture that saw milk-white paleness as essential to beauty. Her eyes were especially striking: ‘black and beautiful’ wrote one contemporary, while another averred they were ‘always most attractive,’ and that she ‘well knew how to use them with effect.’

Karen Lindsey, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived: A Feminist Reinterpretation of the Wives of Henry Viii

Anne’s charm lay not so much in her physical appearance as in her vivacious personality, her gracefulness, her quick wit and other accomplishments. She was petite in stature, and had an appealing fragility about her…she shone at singing, making music, dancing and conversation…Not surprisingly, the young men of the court swarmed around her.

Alison Weir, The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Whatever, Henry VIII wanted her badly enough to overthrow the Church in England.

Anne was the mother of Elizabeth I. Interesting that two such promiscuous parents gave birth to the Virgin Queen.

Ever Wonder Who Johns Hopkins Was?

Johns Hopkins was born on May 19, 1795, in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, to a Quaker family. Convinced that slavery was morally wrong, his parents freed their slaves. As a result, Johns had to leave school at age twelve to work in the family tobacco fields. Hopkins regretted that his formal education ended so early. Ambitious and hardworking, he abandoned farming, and, at his mother’s urging, became an apprentice in his uncle’s wholesale grocery business when he was seventeen. Within a decade, he had created his own Baltimore-based mercantile operation. Hopkins single-mindedly pursued his business ventures. He never married, lived frugally, and retired a rich man at age fifty. A series of wise investments over the next two decades—he was the largest individual stockholder in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, for example—further increased his wealth. He used his fortune to found The Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, incorporating them in 1867.

Hopkins died in 1873. His will divided $7 million equally between the hospital and the university. At the time, the gift was the largest philanthropic bequest in U.S. history. Hopkins also endowed an orphanage for African-American children.

Library of Congress

Today in New Mexico History

New Mexico Magazine has this item for May 19th. It took place in 1893.

Clandestine leader Vicente Silva kills his wife north of Las Vegas and hires five henchmen to dispose of her body. Dissatisfied with the paltry $10 payment each, they also rob and kill Silva. Two years pass until the Silva deaths are known. Silva ran a prosperous business by day and at night he was the leader of a feared outlaw gang.

The wages of sin were a little low I guess.

It’s Still the Wild West

A 5-year-old Albuquerque boy hiking with his family near Sandia Peak has survived an attack from an unidentified large animal.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White said the family was hiking on a trail near the popular Balsam Glade area on the east side of the Sandia Mountains on Saturday evening when the boy ran ahead of his parents, who said they heard a scream.

The boy’s parents, Jose and Charlotte Salazar, then saw the animal emerge from the brush and start dragging away their child.

The father gave chase, and tried to jump on the animal’s back, and it let go of the child, identified in a sheriff’s department report as Jose Salazar Jr. The animal fled.

A University of New Mexico Hospital spokeswoman said Monday the parents did not want the boy’s condition disclosed. The boy, who suffered puncture wounds to his head, neck and back, was in serious condition Saturday at University of New Mexico Hospital, White said.

White said Sunday the animal was a mountain lion, but Ross Morgan, a spokesman for the state Department of Game and Fish, said dogs trained to track mountain lions picked up no scent in the area Saturday night or Sunday.

Las Cruces Sun-News

Best Manny line of the day, so far

“Red Sox left fielder Manny Ramirez, to AP, on his pending milestone after hitting his 498th career homer: ‘I know I have two more to go, but I ain’t counting.’”

Sideline Chatter

Another good line

“Bush urges Pakistan to solve Kashmir problem, says that any threat to the world’s sweater market must be taken seriously”

Fark.com

The other day Fark.com had:

“For those of you still not sure whether the gas tax holiday is actually a good idea or not, Bush is considering it, so that should clear things up”

Best line of the day, so far

“I keep picturing a bunch of rabid fans holding up lighters and calling out their top requests: ‘Social Security reform, Universal Healthcare, Free Bird.’”

Davenetics thinking about the huge crowd for Obama in Portland. Of course, Dave dates himself. No lighters these days. Rock fans hold up their lighted cell phones.