More amores perros?

in
dogs

A couple of days ago my cousin Rosalie in Los Angeles, looking out for my safety, sent me a link to a news story about four people who had apparently been mauled to death by a pack of wild dogs in Mexico City. The attacks occurred in the Cerro de la Estrella, a sprawling park in Iztapalapa, about 17 miles from my apartment. Here is a link to the latest in the story from the L.A. Times, written by the estimable Daniel Hernández.

If you got to the second-to-last paragraph you will have noticed that it is estimated that there are more than a million stray dogs in the city. The AP says that in the Federal District -- the central part of Mexico City -- there are as many as three million dogs, which would be approximately one for every three people. Not including the strays.

Now every time I post about dogs here I get hell from dog owners. But I'm just wondering. Am I the only one out here who believes that it would be great if you had to pass some kind of test before they let you buy a dog? To make sure that you would take care of it?

Not just any old jalopy

in
Rocket 2

Widely acknowledged as the first rock-'n'-roll song ever, the label for the record "Rocket 88" credits the number to Jackie Brenston (the vocalist) and his Delta Cats. The band was actually Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm; "Brenston and his Delta Cats" was a figment of the imagination of producer Sam Philips. Turner, who plays the piano on the tune, was so eager to begin work with Philips' Sun Records that he allowed the producer to use Brenston's name on the song, which went to #1 on the R and B charts (there were no rock charts in 1951, when the record was released).

Rocket 1

The song is about an Oldsmobile that was introduced to the market in 1949, and whose golden age lasted through 1953 (although the automaker continued to produce them until 1999). Until the 88s came out, Oldsmobile had been a staid family carmaker. The 88s, on the other hand, were sexy and dynamic -- the kind of wheels that would impress girls, were featured in the NASCAR races of the time and deemed worthy of an Ike Turner song.

Rocket 3

A couple of years before his death, at a club in New York, I heard Ike Turner play this song. His piano opening to "Rocket 88" was "appropriated" in 1958 by Little Richard when he cut "Good Golly Miss Molly." But in the argument over originality, there are people who will say that "Rocket 88" was itself "inspired" by Jimmy Liggins' "Cadillac Boogie" in 1948 and by Pete Johnson's "Rocket 88 Boogie," recorded the same year. As King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes, "There is nothing new under the sun."

In any case I had never actually seen a classic Rocket 88 until I ran across this somewhat rusting model the other day in Colonia San Miguel de Chapultepec.

104 in the shade

in

Now that the colder weather is upon us, a memory of higher temperatures. I was in east Texas last August. It was excruciating -- hotter than 100 degrees Fahrenheit (about 40 Celsius) every day I was there. It went up to 104 degrees the day that I took this photograph. One doesn't usually associate arch humor with the Baptist faith, so here's to the waggish preacher responsible for the message.

Jerk chicken

in

According to one Spanish-English dictionary, the word gilipollas -- used, as far as I know, exclusively in Spain -- is defined as a "bloody fool" or a "jerk." While there is probably no literal way to translate the term let's just say that most people would use decisively harsher epithets for their interpretation. So it took a sense of humor for a Mexican to call his spit-roasted chicken restaurant Gili Pollos. This is the flagship at Calle Cinco de Mayo #46 in the centro, but there is another at the corner of Sevilla and Avenida Chapultepec on the fringes of the Zona Rosa. While their claim to make the best chicken in Mexico City is arguable, I know of no other rosticería with a funnier name. (Of course I have always thought it odd that something called "Jerk Chicken" is more or less the national dish in Jaimaica.)