Area men make national news after filming what? Why is it getting warmer out here? A new bill would increase domestic-violence penalties how? A Deming man collected what kind of animal?
I am writing this column several days before the 22 states holding Democratic primaries (New Mexico among them) will have made their decisions on the matter of the party’s next presidential candidate on Super Tuesday.
Dateline: Croatia--Hundreds of Croatians painted themselves blue and wore silly white hats in an attempt to break the world record for dressing up as Smurfs. A total of 395 turned up dressed as the popular cartoon characters in the town of Komin. But when they contacted Guinness officials to register their record, they were told it was too late. A spokesperson for the organizers said, “We read on the Internet that the record was 290 people held by a group of Americans and decided to beat it. We had TV, radio and print media report our success.” Unfortunately, the smurfy record had already been topped last July by 451 people at Warwick University Students’ Union in England. One organizer of the wasted Croatian record attempt told reporters, “We could easily have got more Smurfs, but we thought that over a hundred more than the American record we found on the Internet would be enough.”
The New Mexico Italian Film Festival enters its sophomore year with more days, more films and more events. The second annual film fest gets underway this Sunday, Feb. 10, at 1 p.m. with an opening gala concert by the Albuquerque Philharmonic featuring classic Italian music at the KiMo Theatre in downtown Albuquerque. This is followed by the New Mexico premiere of The Legend of Tony Vilar, a comic mockumentary about an Italian who becomes a pop superstar in Argentina. An opening gala dinner is next at 4 p.m. at the Embassy Suites. Opening night wraps with a screening of Martin Scorsese’s Italian filmmaking documentary My Voyage To Italy, beginning at 6 p.m. back at the KiMo.
Iraquerque oudist and composer Rahim Alhaj is up for a Grammy! Alhaj's nomination was announced toward the end of 2007, but you'll have to tune in to the 50th Grammy Awards (which aren't being picketed by the Writers Guild) to find out if our homeboy wins. It's airing on CBS (or "Channel 13" to you and me) this Sunday, Feb. 10. The album of the hour is When The Soul Is Settled: Music Of Iraq, 73 minutes of music Alhaj recorded with tabla master Souhail Kaspar (the tabla is a hand drum that's sort of shaped like an hourglass—you've seen them before). Look for it on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings label. Good luck, Rahim!
OK, the hockey mask and KFC bucket “hat” are completely annoying and gimmicky, but you can’t deny Buckethead’s prowess with an electric guitar. See No. 8 on Guitar One magazine’s "Top 10 Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time" list at the Sunshine this Sunday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Marsupious opens. Tickets are $20 at sunshinetheaterlive.com. (LM)
Josh Jones is turning 30 and he's using it as an excuse to host an erotic art show. Jones, the brains behind Black Market Goods, plans to celebrate his coming of age with 30 But Still Durty. The one-night, 18-and-over event is at the Princess Jeanne Shopping Center (1440 Eubank NE) on Saturday, Feb. 9, at 8 p.m. and features naughty paintings, titillating sketches, searing photographs and flirtatious body painting. Jones even promised to re-enact his birth using interpretive dance and a tub of hair gel. Just let that image set in ...
When pondering the aesthetics of the typical lodging establishment—
