When a T-Mobile cell phone tower disguised as a tree is erected in the woods, does it make a sound?

Is it a curse? Harlow's on the Hill, a popular venue for local and touring acts, shut its doors after the state's Special Investigation Division (SID) arrested bar operator James Lambros on Sept. 13 and charged him with selling liquor without a license, according to a news release.

City councilors at the Sept. 18 meeting made final decisions on a couple of issues that require difficult balances between competing rights. Councilor Michael Cadigan's bill authorizing the city to purchase or condemn 56 mobile home lots at Del Rey Mobile Home Park passed unanimously. The bill, aimed at preserving affordable housing, will only go into effect if private negotiations fail.

Propaganda Wars--Five years ago, America experienced a disquieting amount of nationalistic fervor. There were flags on everything. People threw around patriotic rhetoric with abandon. Many were nauseated, but to most the propaganda was comforting.

Amy Goodman is tough. She’s smart. She’s precise. And she may very well be the busiest journalist alive. When I grabbed the attention of the “Democracy Now!” host last week over the phone, I asked her how her day was going. I received a two-minute response on the number of cities she’d been to since that morning, the number of lectures she’d presented and the order of bookstore signings she was soon to attend, including one in Albuquerque this Thursday, Sept. 28.

The biggest surprise so far in this year’s First Congressional District race between incumbent Heather Wilson and challenger Patricia Madrid has been the stumbling campaign mounted by Wilson. Wilson’s wobbles have helped Madrid gain traction for what many Democrats are starting to feel will be a huge upset in November.

Dateline: Nigeria--A murder suspect accused of killing his brother with an ax has offered a unique defense. The man, whose name was not released, told police that he actually killed a goat, which only later magically transformed into his brother’s corpse. The incident occurred on a farm in Isseluku village in southern Nigeria. “He said the goats were on his farm and he tried to chase them away. When one wouldn’t move, he attacked it with an ax. He said it then turned into his brother,” Police Commissioner Udom Ekpoudom told the Associated Press. Black magic is routinely offered as a defense in Nigeria. In 2001, eight people were burned to death after one person in their group was accused of making a bystander’s penis magically disappear.

I agree with Jessica's opening paragraph in “The Spirit of the Radio" [Music Editorial, Sept. 14-20] about Albuquerque's sparse radio landscape, but want to make a couple of points about her subsequent criticism of KUNM's musical programming. Although she admits that KUNM's musical programming is “eclectic," she then proceeds to label the listenership as “middle-aged left-leaning hippies," which of course directly contradicts her statement that KUNM's appeal is “eclectic." I don't believe that KUNM is really trying to appeal to her teen and twentysomething listenership, and that's not necessarily a bad thing.