View from the Innside

Cowboy up at the Western Music Association gathering

The gathering of the annual Western Music Association is now taking place at the Albuquerque Marriott, 2101 Louisiana Blvd. NE.

It's way too much fun to call it a conference, even though they've taken over the convention space in the hotel.  Rooms are filled with performance stages and all things cowboy and western, from clothes to art to hats to memorabilia and, of course, musical instruments and CD's.

If you're a musician yourself or want to be, check out the workshop sessions for all things musical including guitar playing, harmonicas and yodeling.  With numerous rooms and multiple stages, there's something going on all the time.

Friday night's activities include a chuckwagon dinner and Friday night opry, chock full of musical entertainment of all kinds. 

We plan to attend with friends who never knew we're great fans of cowboy music.  Are you kidding?  I grew up listening to country western and have my own collection of Sons of the Pioneers, Gene Autry, and Riders in the Sky, among others.

See you at the chuckwagon!

Albuquerque Isotopes--play ball!

Scott of Rainbow Ryders gave us his tickets for tonight's Albuquerque Isotopes game.  It was perfect weather for a baseball game--high 80's cooling down to about 76 degrees by the end of the game, no wind.

When we lived here in the early 80's, the old stadium was still here, bench seats with no backs (the cheap seats), and the team was the Albuquerque Dukes.  We were students at the time, and Steve's physics professor held his office hours at the ball park on game nights.  You could get in for free after the 5th inning, hot dogs were 25 cents, and Dr. Wolfe would help you with physics homework.

We left in 1984, and sometime after that, the Dukes got moved to Portland, Oregon, where we caught up with them when we moved there.  In the meantime, Albuquerque got a wonderful new stadium and a new team--the Albuquerque Isotopes.  What kind of mascot can you have with the "Isotopes?"  They're a bit cagey about that, and they describe Orbit as looking something like a cross between a dog and a bear.  Whatever he is, he's full of antics and much loved by the locals.

The Isotopes beat the Memphis Redbirds 6-2 and even the hamburgers were pretty tasty.  A good time was had by all. Well, maybe not by the Redbirds.

But I have to admit that the best thing about the stadium is the view.  The picture from my phone camera doesn't do it justice. There's nothing like a perfect late summer evening watching a baseball game with the Sandia Mountains as a backdrop, turning pink and then purple as the sun goes down.