Flashback: This Date in 2013: Aztec, New Mexico - Drums!

On June 4, 2013, I wrote about a drum lesson in Aztec, New Mexico:

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Aztec, New Mexico: Drums

I recently revisited Aztec, New Mexico, and ..... took a conga drum lesson!

Yup, at Crash Music, which I talked about when I was last in Aztec.

George, a career music teacher, gives drumming lessons every Saturday and Monday.  

Drums at Crash Music, Aztec, New Mexico

I had never had a drumming lesson. I don't read music. Have never played an instrument. But it was all fine. George gave me a little one-on-one before things got going with the rest of the students, and it was too much fun. If you're visiting, check it out - he's got the drums for you to use.

Drums at Crash Music, Aztec, New Mexico

Being rootless, I won't be investing in my own conga drum any time soon, but I've already called my daughter to reclaim my djembe drum, a long-ago Christmas present that I loved, but never put to the use I dreamed of. When I sold my house and moved on, I passed it to her kids. She is delighted to give it back on to me.

Drums at Crash Music, Aztec, New Mexico

This is me getting into the ritmo:

OK, yes, a lie. That is a killer drummer named Jennifer Rojas.

Aztec, New Mexico: Drums

I recently revisited Aztec, New Mexico, and ..... took a conga drum lesson!

Yup, at Crash Music, which I talked about when I was last in Aztec.

George, a career music teacher, gives drumming lessons every Saturday and Monday.  

Drums at Crash Music, Aztec, New Mexico

I had never had a drumming lesson. I don't read music. Have never played an instrument. But it was all fine. George gave me a little one-on-one before things got going with the rest of the students, and it was too much fun. If you're visiting, check it out - he's got the drums for you to use.

Drums at Crash Music, Aztec, New Mexico

Being rootless, I won't be investing in my own conga drum any time soon, but I've already called my daughter to reclaim my djembe drum, a long-ago Christmas present that I loved, but never put to the use I dreamed of. When I sold my house and moved on, I passed it to her kids. She is delighted to give it back on to me.

Drums at Crash Music, Aztec, New Mexico

This is me getting into the ritmo:

OK, yes, a lie. That is a killer drummer named Jennifer Rojas.

Navajo Lake State Park, Part 1: On the Road

Highway 173 - or 511 - between Aztec and Navajo Lake State Park, New Mexico

I've got to get in the habit of noting which highway I'm on when I take road pics or videos. The photo above is a good example of this need - it could be either Highway 173 or Highway 511. 

Whichever - it's between Aztec and Navajo Lake State Park, New Mexico.

It was pleasing to be behind the silver, Airstream-like, retro RV. An iconic 60s kind of photo of Being On The Road.

On Mountains as Citizens

Angel Peak, New Mexico

When I did my post on Aztec, New Mexico, I forgot to mention something. It was how a brilliant jagged line of snow-capped mountains is so visually near the town, but it has no presence in the town. In the photo above, you can see the range I'm talking about. It's in the back; covered by snow. 

It was funny - each of the several times I approached or departed from Aztec over the course of a couple of days, I felt startled when I saw the gorgeous lines of this mountain range, almost a feeling of  "Wow! Where did that come from?!" But in Aztec, either the range is not visible because of the town's skyline, low-rise though it may be, or for some other reason. I'd have to go back to Aztec to test if one can see this beautiful mountain range from town.

I had the same experience in Sedona, Arizona. It was odd. Although Sedona is surrounded by its iconic red rock formations, I found I had to make a conscious decision to raise my eyes and look at them because otherwise, my eyes were kept at street-level, occupied by the town's buildings.

Sedona, Arizona. Remember to look up.

 Isn't that funny? I can look at this photo and wonder, gee, how could you not see the dramatic outcroppings everywhere you looked - they're right there! Nevertheless, I didn't notice them in Sedona unless, as I said, I made that conscious effort to see them.  Don't know why. A design flaw in my own visual circuits? A function of street orientation? Sun in the eyes, keeping them lowered? Too much street-level visual distraction?   

.... come to think of it, I don't notice any mountain presence in Santa Fe because all of my visual attention is consumed by the generic suburban sprawl of Cerillos Avenue and its tributaries. If I'm in the historic area, my focus is on the goings-on in the plaza.

Sacramento Mountains, Alamogordo, New Mexico

In Alamogordo, on the other hand, the mountains are as much a part of the city as any of its buildings. You are always conscious of their presence (or lack thereof, when they disappear). (Not to forget the wow factor of seeing the luminous line of the White Sands, 15 miles away, while moving west on First Street or while traveling on higher ground, parallel to the White Sands, on Scenic Drive. There aren't many places in the world that can boast such a sight.)

Organ Mountains, Dripping Springs Road, between Las Cruces and Organ, New Mexico

In Las Cruces, the Organ Mountain range is a substantial citizen of that city. Whenever I see the Organ Mountains, I imagine returning nomads, indigenous or not, crossing the basin miles and miles away, when they see the Organ Mountains, think, "We're almost home."

Mountains outside Las Cruces, New Mexico - natural backdrop for a performance

  

Navajo Dam: A Thrill of Fear

Navajo Dam, New Mexico.View from Highway 539.

Take a close look at the photo.

You see the concrete spillway over on the left, yes? And a faint gravel-y road that snakes down left-center. And do you see the road that curves down on center-right? With the two car dots on it?

Do you see a bit of Navojo Lake on the other side of the dam's rim on the upper right? .

Now look for the road that rides the top of the dam. In the photo, it is just a line, a line akin to the line of an infinity pool. As in a line that isn't really there, or at most, the suggestion of a line.

When I approached the dam from Aztec, New Mexico, I drove up the road you can see plainly, with the two car dots, otherwise known as Highway 511. A nice road.

When I finished my look-see of the dam and the lake, I thought I'd return to Aztec via Highway 539, the road you don't see in the photo but that is there. When I crossed the bridge that is over the spillway, I blithely took a left onto 539 instead of dropping down onto 511, and that's when it happened.

It took me completely by surprise - a piercing, cold thrill of gut fear, as I realized I was on a road that had no shoulders, and where there was nothing but air on both sides of said road, and where there were only - surely for decorative purposes only - intermittent yellow posts that could not possibly serve as any sort of protective structures in the event I should suddenly veer off the road into the abyss.

I would have laughed out loud at how shrilly was this fear shouting at me, but not while I was still driving oh so carefully on that ribbon that lay atop the slender ridge of the dam.

Whew. It has been a long time since I felt such as that.



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Aztec, New Mexico: Almost Got Me

 

Aztec, New Mexico

When I wheeled into Aztec last weekend, my first impression was:  "Oh, why didn't I know about this town before?" And I felt a spark of "maybe another year in New Mexico - here."

Although the lust was transient, Aztec does have a seductive charm.

First impressions

Deer grazed in the river bottoms at the edge of town.

You can enter the historic downtown area via an old metal bridge.

Handsome park benches downtown, though I do wonder if they get mighty hot in the summer.

Aztec, New Mexico

Not only is the downtown district photogenic, city planners and business owners have done some good design things to make the area accessible to people of all abilities, including those who are blind (chirping street crossing) or who rely on wheels for mobility (generous curb cuts and many businesses with main-entrance ramps). Parking seems plentiful in front of the stores and there's also a free, public parking lot.

Aztec, New Mexico

I think it's possible to say one could enjoy both the New Mexico and the Colorado vibes in Aztec, as the town is less than an hour from Durango, Colorado.  Nearby Farmington, New Mexico, though it doesn't enjoy the upscale trendiness of Durango, is a not-unattractive town of 45k-ish. Nearby natural attractions include Shiprock, Chaco Canyon, Navajo Dam, Mesa Verde, and other cool places.

Aztec, New Mexico

Damn, though, for a small town, Highways 526/550, which go through, seemed congested to me.



A little music

Aztec, New Mexico

A couple opened up a music venue in town - Crash Music - it happened that I saw an ad for a
performance in the local paper when I was in Farmington waiting to get two new rear tires. Currently, they're in a storefront space - and it's kind of cool - just a very straightforward set-up of folding chairs, with refreshments in the back. A little space for dancing. A corner stage up by the front. The Assortment performed when I was in town. It'd been ages since I heard live music - the wicked harmonica and guitar picking and sliding .... like a long drink of water.

Aztec, New Mexico

Crash has proved so popular that the owners are moving (hoping to move?) to the vacant Aztec Theater down the street. Based on the plans I heard, sounds similar to Ragtag Cinema in Columbia, Missouri, but with music at its core instead of movies.



















Although it appears shut down, Aztec also sports a Route 66ish venue:

Aztec, New Mexico

 
 Spring peak

I was in Aztec the first weekend of April. The flowering trees must have been at their peak for this neck of the woods. Bradford pears, flowering plums, forsythia, and maybe crabapple. There was also a non-flowering tree with a graceful shape and light-green, new leaves that cascaded a bit from their long stems. I have yet to identify these. Stunning. 

Aztec, New Mexico

A slide show:



 

New Mexico: Aztec Ruins

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

The Aztec Ruins, outside of Aztec, New Mexico, have nothing to do with actual Aztecs other than a mistaken assumption at the time of the ruins' discovery that there was a connection.

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

 On the other hand, the Aztec dancers in the U.S. Southwest do have an intentional connection with the Aztecs of Mexico.

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

I'm not much into ruins. Even at Macchu Picchu, I don't recall the ruins so much as the Jurassic quality of the forest below the ruins. Now, that was memorable. From my travel journal:

... the scenery was beyond description. The mountains go on forever, huddled together like so many jostling shoulders. Some of the highest mountains were capped with halos of white clouds and mist. All are covered with greenery, even up to the tops.   Much of the mountains are just plain rock and are covered with a mossy plant. As the day went on, the mist crept lower and lower until it looked like a prehistoric scene; very eerie and beautiful. 

About the Macchu Picchu ruins themselves, I said perfunctorily, "they are very interesting."

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

So when I say the Aztec Ruins impressed me, that's saying something. The ruins themselves ... shrug. But there's a quality about the location that speaks somehow.   

I especially felt taken with the reconstructed community kiva. Not the outside of it. In fact, I just realized I didn't even take a photo of it. It looks a little too new for my taste in archeaological remains. (I like my ancient buildings to look old, thank you very much.)

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

No, the inside, with its circles and rectangles and light and stairs (new) and shadows create a solemn and restful space.

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

I was not even put off by the recorded Navajo prayer-song that you can listen to when you push the appropriate button. The song choice, the quietness of it, both in audability and musicality, was right.

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico

 

Aztec Ruins, Aztec, New Mexico