A comment from Stan
We note a powerful letter from our friend José Pérez in this morning’s Brownsville Herald on the irregularity of building permits in recent (recent meaning the last five years or so) construction and the consequent problems. We heartily recommend Mr. Pérez’s letter to your attention.
Mr. Pérez provides us with as concise [...]

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Announcements from Virginia Gause

The Poet Mariachi Daniel Garcia Ordaz performs his original poems July 17 at 7 – 9 pm at South Texas College - Pecan Campus Library (2nd Floor Rainbow Room)
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Blues musician Seth Walker performs at Cine El Rey July 19 at 9 pm as part of [...]

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A thought from Stan Raines
I was standing in line at HEB yesterday and the man in front of me, someplace in his fifties, mustachioed and trim asked me how I was and I gave him my usual non-commital “Doin’ fine” and returned a “How you doin’?”

“Ah, you know,” he said, “another beautiful day in Brownsville.” [...]

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Announcements from Virginia Gause

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If I were Dr. Seuss and wrote children’s books, I would get Carl Vestweber to illustrate them.  So when I heard Carl was having his first solo show “New Stuff by Carl Vestweber” at Manichaus on Friday, July 11, I cancelled all my other social plans to be there.
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From Gene’s Notebook

…a bargain, the gallon of water in convenience stores, $1.29, beats the sodas and sports drinks …. I love tipping the plastic jug to my mouth ….
…and the turtles, all over the roads, maybe the rain, and most do not make it across, and are crushed; I picked one up on 281 [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook

…and how rare is it, rain, a lot in Brownsville, rain since early Friday, much like snow in the North when cabin-fever hits, especially in early February; here, in early July, with about seven deep weeks of summer to go, the rain is like snow, cabin-fever time …. But I go out: bike [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook

…smoky, smoky enough for choking, the grills, the barbecue grills, some with charcoal, some with wood, some with gas …
…always men, little boys to old men, circling the smoke, women away, unless one comes by to ask an unwelcomed question …
…the smoke, so thick, the men, shadows in the smoke, the fires dim, [...]

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Announcements

Wow, what a screen in Archer Park!  Bring your chairs and picnic baskets packed with snacks and beverages.  Wine and beer are allowed, just don’t get rowdy.

Friday is my favorite holiday of the whole year – the 4th of July!  In Edinburg, McAllen, Harlingen, Brownsville, Port Isabel, and Padre Island something [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook
…along 281, one of my favorite roads, highway of dreams and development and movement, I love it ….
…linemen stringing power lines for BISD High School Six, and I stop and say, “Hey! US electric needs will double in 20 years! Will there be enough power?”
A lineman, he on the ground, says, “Sure! Wind [...]

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You are cordially invited to “DOS” an art exhibition featuring the work of Carlos G Gómez and Gabriel Treviño.

“DOS” is an exhibition that represents two painters; Carlos G Gómez and Gabriel Treviño. Though very different, they each embody the spirit of free thinking and each has a linked unity which personifies the essence of contemporary [...]

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A comment from Stan
The clerihewvian experiment was quite a blast for us–such an outpouring of creativity and good humor and excitement. We could hardly wait to check email to see what new thing someone had created or to be prompted to a new burst of creativity ourselves. There were forty-two entries, all told, and even [...]

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from Gene’s Notebook
sultry, hot morning, this one of the three longest weeks of the year ….
…and down by the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo Sunday twilight at still-another anti-wall vigil, I felt like I was at a wake, funeral, burial …and the river, green bushes on the sides flowed on, chocolate-green …and the wall got closer and [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook
…continuing those never-ending moments, and they come faster and faster as my end nears ….
The man has a Marine cap. I say, “Former Marine?”
He leaps at me and growls, stopping short of hitting me, and says, “Never former, never ex, always a Marine!” Shoppers jump back at his growl.
“What war?”
“Three, WW Two, Korea [...]

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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. [...]

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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 reminder
It’s been a while since I’ve stopped by, but Gene Novogrodsky has reminded me that there’s good live music to be had Wednesday evenings at Joe’s on the Boulevard. Usually, the music starts up somewhere around nine o’clock and continues until midnight or so. It’s volunteer work and the musicians are doing it for [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook
…and the cat made its way along a wall near the Gateway Bridge fence, white cat, going west …. And I made my way east in today’s pre-dawn, though even before 6 a.m., pink and blue played with the eastern clouds - true dawn ….
I was pedaling to the airport to bid two [...]

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A journal entry in the old style
Ah.. rested at last. Not well-rested, mind you, but some-rested, and better than the last few nights.
Friday night, trying to sleep, and the nose would not stop dripping, so every ten minutes or so I had to blow it out. Then it dried up suddenly and swelled and closed [...]

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An announcement

Benefit concert Sunday, May 25th, 3 pm, UTB/TSC SET-B Lecture Hall
Dulcé N. Rodriguez is a music education major with an emphasis on flute at The University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.
She has been selected as one of only 12 instrumentalists to perform in Pavia, Italy at the 2008 SoundSCAPE Music Festival, [...]

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Don’t miss the Ann Moore Book Signing at IMAS on Thursday evening from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Ann is one of the heroes of the Valley Art Scene. She was one of the founders of IMAS in the early 1970s. She has also mingled with great artists of the world. Her book [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook

Vehicle lovers and developers, who long have had plans to turn the railroad tracks from the B&M Bridge out to Wal-Mart on Alton Gloor into a toll or regular road, are still active.
Texas State Transportation officials will hold a explanatory meeting next Thursday (May 29th) from 6-8 p.m. at ITECC.
I have wanted the [...]

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From Gene’s Notebook
…in a local club, two women and eight men sit around a table, drinking a lot of beer, all college people, some with Greek fraternity letters on caps; they’re part of the academic world, or were very recently. Friends all.
Then, in come two scruffy men, and one woman; they draw stares from the [...]

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An advertisement

Come and support your rights. You only have the rights you exercise.
Your first right is the right to think and then to express your thoughts.

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A poem for Joe Godfrey by Stan
We gave up
That there was a perfect swing
There was only the connection
To the moment of the swing,
And the things of the swing,
The club, the man,
The ball, the tee,
The green grass by the yard,
The pin and cup,
Melded in a moment
Worked without mind.
The club as much a man
As a thing of [...]

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A poem by Patricia A.
Inspired by last night’s City Commission meeting (May 6, 2008)
The circus came to town and stayed;
it set out tent at City Hall.
Stubborn minds will not be swayed,
and elevated egos will not fall.
How do good intentions go astray?
And how do so-called servants have the gall
to make [...]

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