D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
March
2009
March forth with these noteworthy events.
Get your feet wet: The Gila Conservation Coalition celebrates a quarter-century of "saving New Mexico's Last Wild River" with a 25th anniversary bash on March 5, 6-7:30 p.m., at the Silver City Public Library. Adults can enjoy readings from Dutch Salmon's book, Gila Libre, and Aldo Leopold's classic A Sand Country Almanac, plus a video about the river. For the kids, there's a skit and the opportunity to make a Gila River coloring book. Refreshments will be served, and it's all free. 538-8078, www.gilaconservation.org
And starring Pancho Villa as himself: It was 93 years ago, on March 9, 1916, that Pancho Villa and his men stunned the sleepy village of Columbus with their daring raid. Villa's raid and the subsequent "Punitive Expedition" led by General John "Blackjack" Pershing into Mexico will be commemorated at the 6th annual Camp Furlong Day at Pancho Villa State Park in Columbus, March 7 from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Unlike those 1916 hostilities, this will be a bi-national celebration of friendship, featuring a parade of 150 horseback riders from Mexico, military re-enactors, trick-horse riding, folklorico dancers, music, museum exhibits and food and crafts vendors. 531-2711
The eight soldiers and 10 civilians killed in Villa's raid will be commemorated at the 93rd annual Columbus Memorial Day at 10 a.m. on March 9, sponsored by the Columbus Historical Society. 531-2620
I want my MTV: Silver City singer-songwriter Melanie Zipin and her husband, music partner and co-writer, Jeff LeBlanc, will premier their first music video in a celebration in the back room at Isaac's Bar & Grill in Silver City, March 7, 7 p.m., with showings on the big screen every 10 minutes or so. The song, "What Does It Mean?," was co-written by the musical duo, and the video was filmed completely in Silver City, directed by Teresa Dahl-Bredine.
"I am very thankful to the community. And it was a blast!" Zipin says of the project. "So many people volunteered their time and expertise, as well as their facilities for this project." Among the musicians who recorded tracks on the song is renowned drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic. www.melaniezipin.com
Notes from underground: Award-winning author Salman Rushdie, whose novel The Satanic Verses led to Muslim protests and an official death threat, will speak at NMSU's Pan American Center at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10. The event is free and open to the public as part of the University Speaker Series.
Rushdie is the author of nine novels, including Midnight's Children, which was awarded the Booker Prize in 1981 and, in 1993, was judged to be the "Booker of Bookers," the best novel to have won that prize in its first 25 years. The Satanic Verses as well as The Moor's Last Sigh won Rushdie the Whitbread Prize for Best Novel. He was awarded a knighthood in 2007.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a death threat for Rushdie following publication of The Satanic Verses, the author's fourth novel. The book was the center of protests for Muslims in several countries in the late 1980s, because of what was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. After the threat, Rushdie spent much of the next decade underground but continued to be outspoken against censorship. 646-2005
Looking for more literary experiences? Author Luis Alberto Urrea speaks in Silver City on March 15, 2-5 p.m. at the WNMU Global Resource Center. Read all about it in this month's Tumbleweeds section.
No evil shall escape my sight: Fans of superheroes have a big month in store. First, the long-awaited film adaptation of Watchmen, Alan Moore's dystopian twist on the genre, hits movie screens on March 6.
The following week, on March 13 and 14 at 7 p.m., Silver High School stages an original one-act play, Plan B, which pits superhero Extreme Lee against his evil brother Intense Lee. In this satire written, directed and produced by members of the Advanced Drama class, Extreme Lee's band of superheroes — Twitch, Captain Obvious and Murphy — aim to save the damsel in distress, Maxine, from the clutches of the villainous Intense Lee, The Weatherman and Tranquiliquist.
Local audiences will get the first look at Plan B before it's performed at the annual ENMU Drama Festival in Portales. The performances, at the high school's Little Theater, are also a major fundraising event for the theater department. Admission is $5 and tickets will be available at the door. Jill Hare at 388-1563 or jhare@silver.k12.nm.us
Draw, pardner: The 10th annual Cowboy Days at the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces will also mark the opening of an extensive new exhibit at the museum, "A Most Terrible Wonder: Firearms from 1600 to 1900," featuring dozens of guns from the museum's collections. The exhibit opens with a reception and lecture from 6-8 p.m. on March 13. Firearms expert Tad Vanderhye of Lincoln County will talk about military firearms from 1855-1896 and will bring a variety of swords, rifles and handguns from that era. Admission to the lecture and opening is free.
Cowboy Days proper then runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 14-15, preceded by a chuckwagon breakfast both days at 8 a.m. ($9 advance, $10 same day). Musical headliners for the two-day cowboy celebration are Syd Masters and Swing Riders (Saturday 2:30 p.m.) and Sons of the Rio Grande (Sunday 1:30 p.m.).
Old Western movies will screen in the museum's theater, and Saturday at noon former Las Cruces Mayor Tommy Tomlin will talk about "Hollywood's Interpretation of the West." Saturday also marks the opening of the museum's greenhouse; visitors will be able to buy different types of plants during the weekend.
Six Guns & Shady Ladies (see May 2008) return this year to provide gunfight re-enactments. They'll be joined by living-history re-enactors. The annual Western Arts & Crafts Show will be held throughout the weekend, along with demonstrations and children's activities. Admission is $2. 522-4100, www.nmfarmandranchmuseum.org
If you can't make it to Las Cruces but still have an itchy trigger finger, the annual High Desert Gun Show returns to the National Guard Armory in Santa Clara, March 14-15. Hours are Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Admission is $4; military and law enforcement and accompanied children under 12 get in free.
Built to last: Historic downtown Silver City will host the state conference of the New Mexico Historic Preservation Alliance, in the town's historic downtown, March 26-28. The alliance, which last met here in 2002, is a statewide, private non-profit organization that promotes, protects and advocates for New Mexico's heritage.
This year's conference, themed "Sustaining the Enchantment," will feature sessions such as "Rethinking Vigas," "How Old Buildings Work — They're Greener Thank You Might Think!," "Understanding Historic Wood Windows — Durability, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability" and "Trailer Houses and Adobe Houses." Local author Dutch Salmon will give a presentation on the Gila River, and a local panel will talk about Silver City's own historic-preservation successes ("We Did It Our Way"). There will be tours for the out-of-towners to Fort Bayard and the Mining District, as well as a tour/update of the Murray Hotel project (see October 2006). Also there's a Star Party planned, as the night sky is still on the organization's list of endangered places. (505) 989-7745, www.nmheritage.org