Announcements One of McAllen’s newest art venues is an ice cream parlor. Fun loving Jim Kryzak notified me that he will be hosting live music from 7 – 9 pm on Tuesdays at the new Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Shop at Palms Crossing, next to Barnes & Noble at McAllen Convention Center. And he [...]

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A performance Here’s a performance of Donnie Hathaway’s “Valdez in the Country” by the Mid-Night Combo at the benefit concert for Dulce Rodriguez last Sunday. Thomas Raines, the keyboard player, is my son. Other players are Noé García, Jorge Mujica on drums, and special guest Ted Lucio, The Dude, on bass. Enjoy.

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A lyric by Stan Raines (with a twenty-times-revised explanatory essay appended) I write him letters When I cannot sleep When the I-Pod dreams Won’t come. I draw him pictures When I have the time Of my cat dancing Across the lawn. He doesn’t come From my home town, But I know he loves The homeland. [...]

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A poem by Thomas Thornburg from Ancient Letters The day was blithe as she swung by, Dimple-shouldered, hair awry, Soft kirtled in a downy gown To do her washing by the town; She rilling, whistled tirra, lira, Knelt beside the lilting water. Arlotta, the tanner’s daughter. When she awoke, the wadded tunic Beneath her hip [...]

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