A quick call to the FCC confirmed a dreadful rumor: Once the nation goes digital, white fuzz will be gone forever. Your TV will either get a clear picture, or it won't get the channel at all. Old analog televisions that aren't converted to digital will show nothing, said the FCC rep, audibly confused by why anyone would ask such a question. Gone will be the days of wraith signals, of watching faint shapes of people talking to you from behind a sheen of static. Gone will be the snow and its lulling shhhhh sound, sampled on so many great albums, a signifier of emptiness in the modern world. As a kid, I would let my eyes glaze over at the tingling pixels, and it was the first time I can remember meditating on that which is not concrete. Goodbye, sweet fuzz. How will insomniacs nationwide doze off at 3 a.m.?
Two categories of television stations are exempt from the federal government’s digital switchover: translators and low-power stations. Translators are basically signal boosters for metropolitan stations and are designed to serve a state’s more rural areas. Low-power (LP) stations are independent broadcasters usually confined to the UHF band of the television dial. Their low radio frequency (between 3 and 150 kilowatts) gives them a limited broadcast area. With even large corporate broadcasters struggling to make the original Feb. 17 deadline, few of these LP stations are capable of funding and installing the equipment necessary to make the digital change. So for now, the government is giving them a break.
Who did an angry driver try to run over, according to sheriff's deputies? How much water does Southern New Mexico have? What's wrong with Powerball tickets in New Mexico? And why is a volunteer racquetball coach being indicted?
More than 250 people descended on City Hall Monday, Jan. 26, to let councilors know where the Albuquerque's dollars should go. And they came bearing signs and strumming guitars.
That didn’t take long. The session’s just begun and we’re elbow-deep in lips and assholes. Here’s the news of the week from Santa Fe:
Sometimes the most interesting happenings at Albuquerque City Council meetings are not on the agenda. This was certainly the case at the Wednesday, Jan. 21 meeting when Councilor Michael Cadigan took on the mayor's men over the contentious red-light cameras.
Dateline: England—Tracey Fox of Thornley, County Durham, used her own body as a barricade to keep a repairman inside her laundry room in hopes of getting her washing machine fixed. Ten months after purchasing the appliance, it broke down. Fox placed five phone calls in December to have a repairman come out and fix it. Unfortunately, no one was able to come until after Christmas. Finally, on Jan. 13, a man finally showed up to check on the washer. “He said that I’d have to pay for any repairs, even though the machine was still under warranty, and I might as well get a new one because the amount it would cost would be the same as buying another one,” Fox explained. Fed up with her stinky clothes and lack of consumer satisfaction, Fox snapped. The 42-year-old mother of four braced herself against the washroom door and refused to let the repairman leave until the washing machine was fixed. The repairman used a cell phone to call police, after which Fox allowed him to leave. “She did let him go after a matter of minutes,” Inspector Craig Dixon, of Durham Police, told BBC News. “The matter was resolved without any arrests.” Fox told reporters she was not proud of her actions, but felt she had no other option. “It sounds stupid thinking about it now, but it was the final straw,” she said. The Curry’s appliance store where Fox purchased the washer has since offered to replace it at no charge.
Zinc Wine Bar & Bistro is continuing its popular Movie Monday Nights promotion in the Cellar Bar. Classic films are projected silently onto a seven-foot screen starting at 6, 8 and 10 p.m. Five different martini specials are available for $5 each. Come drink in the taste and feel of old Hollywood every Monday. February’s schedule of films includes Psycho (Feb. 2), Splendor in the Grass (Feb. 9), Citizen Kane (Feb. 16) and The Great Escape (Feb. 23). Zinc is located at 3009 Central NE.
“Gossip”—the photographic work of Josef Jasso, not the riot grrrl-soul of Beth Ditto—mouths off with a month-long exhibition at Blackbird Buvette (free, 21+). The Sunday, Feb. 1 reception features DJ Dirty Gold from 7 to 11:30 p.m. Tell your friends. (LM)
Sinatra may have sung “Love is a Many-Splendored Thing,” but I tend to think Nazareth had it right with its classic version of “Love Hurts.” Where do you fall on the love-spectrum? Has it brought you untold happiness, moments of ecstasy, or has it repeatedly re-enacted the scene from Alien, with you as John Hurt and your heart and everything you believe in as the alien? The world needs to know. Share with us here at the Alibi by entering our sixth annual Valentine's Day Card Contest. Send in your entry, measuring no larger than 8 ½-by-11, by Feb. 2, to our offices at 2118 Central SE, Suite 151, Albuquerque, N.M. 87106. Our cracker-jack staff of experts will assess your work and divy up the bounty that is your birthright, fair artist. But hurry. One entry per person, please.
On the eve of last year’s Super Bowl Sunday, we threw a dinner party with our own kind of couch-potato small plates menu of wintery finger foods. Football worthy, even Oscars material!
