Dream, that's all you can.

February 28, 2008 is the sort of day I can only remember pieces about. There's lots of pieces, some of them fit together, but for the most part, it's all a jumbled mess of a day.

I remember driving faster than I've ever driven through the canyon, only to find a huge black cloud rising from downtown. At which point I thought, "Why am I speeding? Am I going to put out the fire?". I remember gagging when the fire department let us close enough to the Golden West where we could finally see the full extent of what had happened. I remember the huge, overwhelming sense of relief when the fire department let us inside the El Rey, seeing our precious dance floor flooded with gallons of water. In a weird way, it didn't look out of place. I remember the smell, oh God, that smell. It still makes me cringe. I remember sitting on curb, in between Kyle and Joe Anderson, eating a sandwich. we were waiting for something. I have no idea what. I remember Kathy screaming at ATF to be nice to our staff. I remember sitting down in her house with a yellow tablet and a pen, trying to figure out exactly where to start.

I thought about having some kind of memorial service in the Golden West (actually, I thought we should have a fun jump and a keg in there). I thought about getting a memorial tattoo today, just something to symbolize the year that's gone by. But, the way it's worked out, I decided the best way to honor my fallen comrade was to let the anniversary pass by, quietly and gracefully. It's what she would have wanted. If you don't believe that those walls could talk, then I don't know what to tell you. I think that's why we all miss it so much. She had some good stories. But really, she still does. She would tell me to stop feeling sorry for myself, go to work, and maybe throw down a shot or two later on in the night.

Last night was the first night I cried over the fact that someone could have been in there when the fire broke out. I guess that has a lot more to do with my Grandfather. He would have loved that place.

So, after a year, it's still there, four walls and a wooden floor, the skeleton of its former self. We lose certain parts and pieces of our lives at any given time, but we find just as much as we lose. I guess that's what I needed to learn this past year.

That being said... Seriously. Get me out of February.

I'm spent.

Working at a live music venue in Albuquerque means you have to deal with a pretty decent number of serious potheads. You have no idea how hard it is to get ticket sales counts from the Zone. Not to mention, a promoter managed to drop tickets off at a place called "Mike's Zone", instead of the actual Zone on Eubank. So, sweet, there's about $200 floating around in a discrete Heights head shop. Frustration abounds!

But enough of that. I have a new home! If this weather holds, I hope to have my fantastic mattress sitting pretty in a two bedroom townhouse this weekend. Maria lives down the hall from me. I'm so fantastically excited about having a short commute, as well as green chile stew. It's making me nostalgic for those old school dorm days, when French was hard and relationships were even harder. Geez, if I only knew.

Speaking of, love day was lovely. I worked 8 hours, watched Training Day, then went to 66 Diner and Le Chat Lunatique's CD release with my boyfriend. I hope you all got loves. I meant to send out Valentines, but settling in became priority. Just know I love every person reading this blog. Probably.

And go see the NM Burlesque Showcase this weekend. Good luck ladies, I'll be trying to sneak in on Saturday night. :)

I woke up this morning to the empty sky.

Well, here I am. All's familiar once more, perching above the Golden West in the cold haunted office. The desert's outside.

I've been telling everyone it feels like I never left. I came back and it's the exact same weather. Not quite meriting a full jacket, but just enough to be cold in a hoodie. Good weather for cuddling. And thankfully I have a boyfriends and dozens of friends to fill that very void.

I spent the weekend trying to cram as much enjoyment as I possibly could into two days. A crave salad at Flying Star. Burlesque craft night at Cari's. Flood the Sun at the Launchpad. Wiggle butt. Hanging out with the night crew at the bar. Movie shopping with my mom. I did it all because I knew Monday was like my D-Day, the return to the work force.

And man, have I ever been dragging. Yesterday was the worst, I just felt completely useless and I was messing up the smallest things. By the end of the 8 hours, I was so apathetic and slow, it's a miracle I made it back to Edgewood okay. So, today I tried to fill myself with positive attitude, eat a good breakfast and listen to the Bouncing Souls to give me some energy. It seems to be helping.

It is very nice to be back, by the way. It's so nice to see so many happy faces when they greet me. And I got my sky back. My skin's having a hard time rocking the dry air again, but Swedish skin care is proving effective.

I'm meeting up with Maria today to discuss a possible roommate arrangement. Oh, how quickly the world changes. But, I'm excited to have a full time home for me and my mattress, that isn't at my mom's. I'll be couching for most of the week because of this supposed monster of a snow storm that's rolling in. Done, done, done with living out of a duffel bag. Soon I hope.

The dork of the Golden West.

(Heavily sampled from my dear friend, Wiki.)



Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was born December 22, 1858 in Lucca in Tuscany, Italy into a family with five generations of musical history behind them. Puccini decided to take an interest in opera after he and a friend walked 18 and a half miles to see a production of Aida in Pisa. In 1880, with the help of a relative and a grant, Puccini enrolled in the Milan Conservatory to study composition. While studying at the Conservatory, Puccini obtained a libretto from Ferdinando Fontano and entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882. Although he did not win, Le Villi was later staged in 1884 at the Teatro dal Verme and it caught the attention of Giulio Ricordi, head of G. Ricordi & Co. music publishers, who commissioned a second opera, Edgar, in 1889.



La boheme, considered to be Puccini's first great masterpiece, was first preformed in 1896 in Turin. The opera would go on to become the inspiration for Rent, the most popular rock opera to date, as well as the second most popular opera in the Western hemisphere. Madama Butterfly, also written by Puccini, comes in first.

La fanciulla del West, also known as The Girl of the Golden West made its American debut at the New York Metropolitan Opera on December 10, 1910. In 1913, it was rumored that Puccini was finally on a train, travelling to the living landscape of which he had composed his opera. Iole Bachechi, a young Italian girl from Albuquerque, was thrilled to learn that she could see this famous celebrity from Lucca, Italy, the Tuscan hometown of her mother Maria Bachechi. There was definitely a Puccini on that train that stopped in Albuquerque, but it wasn't Giacomo - it was his cousin, Luigi. Luigi, a young journalist living in New York (and also from Lucca) was passing through Albuquerque, saw Iole, and fell in love. They were married in 1914.

Luigi Puccini spent the royalties from the operas written by his famous cousin buying and building theaters in the southwest. In 1929, shortly after his in-laws, Oreste and Maria Bachechi built the Kimo Theater, Luigi built the original Puccini Building, which is now known as Puccini's Golden West Saloon. Constructed by Lembke Construction, the building was originally a grocery store, and later became a paint store, a lamp store, and ultimately...



A saloon. That I work at.

The Puccini building, as well as the El Rey Theater, an addition built in 1941, still remain in the Puccini family, owned by his daughters, Adelina and Virginia, and managed by his granddaughter, Kathy Zimmer.



Luciano Pavarotti made his opera début in the role of Rodolfo, which would, debatedly, become his signature role, in La bohème on April 29, 1961 in the town of Reggio Emilia. 1963 saw the debut of the famous Franco Zeffirelli production, conducted by Herbert Von Karajan with Mirella Freni singing Mimi and Pavarotti in the role of Rodolfo. This production played in Milan, Vienna, Salzburg and Moscow and dominated the repertoire for decades. Pavarotti would go on to play the role of Rodolfo in New York, Paris, Chicago, La Scala (debatedly the most famous opera house in the world, located in Milan), Australia, Philadelphia, and in Beijing, where performed in front of 10,000 people, at the very first concert at The Great Hall of People, on the western edge of Tiananmen Square.

Pavarotti's pivotal step in becoming an internationally known celebrity occurred in 1990 when his rendition of Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot, became the theme song of the BBC TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria achieved pop status and remained his trademark song. Turandot was Puccini's last opera, in fact it remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1924. News of Puccini's death reached Rome during a performance of La bohème. The opera was immediately stopped, and the orchestra played Chopin's "Funeral March" for the stunned audience. Pavarotti sang "Nessun Dorma" during his last major performance, at the opening of the Winter Olympics in Turin in February 2006.

The moral of the story is that it's great day to listen to some opera.

Mi vida loca.

It was pretty much the most eventful night of my night last night.

1. I ended up working security at the bar because one of our security guards showed up to work 2 hours late and completely hammered. Thank you.

2. We had a wedding at the El Rey, at which one of the groomsmen got so smashed that it took two security guards, all the other groomsman, and the groom to drag him outside, kicking and punching the whole way.

3. A very short and extremely androgynous girl got wasted at the bar. It took two equally short and androgynous friends of hers to carry her outside.

4. Some poor kid, who I'm assuming was at the 12 Step Rebels show at the L-Pad, got all four of his tires slashed outside on 7th street.

5. I get a text from Scott as we're closing up the bar saying, "You might appreciate this one, Cat. I just got into a fight at the Village Inn parking lot, and now my face is bleeding. Isn't this the best night ever?" Apparently, 3 dudes just decided that Scott was "in their way" and that his face needed to be planted in a car window. All of us at the bar were so frustrated and dilerious that we were ready to head down to the Village Inn and destory, but I guess the cops were inside and handled things.

To recover, today I ate Indian food for lunch, took a 3 hour nap, then ate Cracker Barrel for dinner. Right now, I'm watching Kenneth's gnome ride a mechinal chicken. Tomorrow, I'm adventuring to the Social Security office for the new card (what disaster!) and Tuesday I'm going to Tucumcari/Pampa to help my dad finish moving. Getting out of town, even if it's just to Tucumcari, sounds lovely.

Dirty little Saloons and Drag Queens.

Home is home. I've been spending about 90% of my time in Edgewood with my mom. I'm kind of feeling the pressure of constant hangout-ness. While the people I've seen over the past few days bring me nothing but comfort, I'm still missing a little bit of solitude. I miss just hanging out in my room, on the internet, and listening to music. OH. Those were the days.

I get a bit of that with my mom, as I do have "a room" there. But this room is piled high with boxes and bags, all my earthy possesions are split between that room and my boyfriend's closet. So, it's wierd, to sit on my actual bed, which is stacked on top of another bed, and just look at all your "stuff". Your life. In a box.

I'm currently perched atop the Golden West Saloon, watching a band load out. I've been doing some work here, playing catch-up on some office stuff. It's been okay, even the slightest hint of work sends anxiety up my spine. Oh, how I am enjoying my time off.

A big part of me feels like I never left. Well, I guess it wasn't that long. But, minus the whole carting my life around in a few bags thing, everything's about the same, I'm in my little Burque groove. Not bad, not good, just there and repetative. It's a little mudane, but in that, also comforting.

Tonight, I went to see Revolting Drag Queens at the Vortex. Burque peeps, if you find yourself with nothing to do on a weekend night, please, please, PLEASE go. It was the funnest theater experience I've had in a while. Safe to say, the ladies of The Dolls, have won my vote for the second best performance troupe in Albuquerque. :)

Sadly, all this climate change and lack of money has left my face pretty broken out. To the point of being painful. You know, acne's not supossed to last forever.

Hopefully, I head out for California after the 4th, if money allows. I'm excited to spend time by the ocean.