Shameless Shopping

Time to offer a few suggestions for holiday gifts with a positive spin. Unlike shopping at the usual corporate culprits, these choices support our friends or our causes.

First up, Buffalo Lights, a new book by John Farr -- writer, web designer, blogger, artist, musician and vibrant Taoseno -- who generously provides our luscious daily FotoFeed at the top right of this page:

If it's snowing in the sunshine, the devil is beating his wife." That's what the locals say, and after six years of struggle and adventure in the terrible beauty of northern New Mexico, writer John H. Farr is ready to believe in anything except complacency.

The eagle screams just before the new millennium, when John and his wife leave everything they know in Maryland to make a living via modem in what turns out to be the frontier, before the dot.com boom goes bust. Mud, fire, drought, and freezing cold are nothing compared to the inner landscape of the soul. Careening from perilous insight to joy and back again, he finds his own soul laid bare against the mountains and the clear blue skies.

Click for Buffalo Lights order info.

Tom and Meredith Hughes, creators of the infamous Food Museum and Potato Museum whom many of you know from their days as Foodies for Dean, have a new book out tracing the history of French food. Gastronomie! Food Museums and Heritage Sites of France is the first extensive exploration ever of French food historic sites:

No one else delivers you this kind of book, food-lovers, packed with colorful photos from our trek and from The FOOD Museum's collections. We traveled over 10,000 kilometers around France ( someone had to do it) to bring you the backstory of French food.

France, the mother country of Western cuisine, is the home of more museums about food, and more initiatives to preserve food heritage traditions and sites, than any other.

Explore the Saffron Museum in Boynes, the world food museum at Agropolis in Montpellier, the ruins of a huge Roman mill outside Arles, the Olive Museum in Nyons, the fig orchards of Sollies-Pont, the oyster beds of Ile d'Oleron, the turkey parade and festival in Licques, the village ovens of Bugey, the Chocolate Museum in Biarritz, the Newfoundland Fishing Museum in Fecamp, the Honey Museum in Gramont, the melon statue in Cavaillon, the truffle market in Lalbenque, and more. And sample a few choice recipes, as well.

Click for ordering information and more.

Another excellent choice is the latest CD from my good friend Liz Melendez, born and raised in Albuquerque and now one of the top blues and rock musicians in Atlanta:

Her guitar playing has been compared to everyone from Carlos Santana to Stevie Ray Vaughan and her voice has been compared to everyone from Bonnie Raitt to Janis Joplin.

A prolific songwriter and dynamic performer, Melendez has garnered a sizeable following touring the southeast and beyond. She has headlined major festivals such as Riverbend Music Festival's Bessie Smith Strut in Chattanooga (the only female headliner in Riverbend history besides Koko Taylor), and co-headlined major festivals such as the Cape Fear Blues Festival in Wilmington, N.C. and the Blues 2003 Festival in New York and been invited to open for artists like the Nappy Roots. She has performed on stage with such notables as Bob Margolin, Henry Butler, Francine Reed, E.G. Kight, and former Freddie King keyboardist, Dave Maxwell.

Her tasty electric guitar and vocals can be found on Sweet Southern Soul. She also burns up the tracks on her earlier CD, Mercy. Check out her website at www.lizmelendez.com and click for ordering info.

A few folks from New Orleans and beyond put together a website to help New Orleans help itself after the devastating hurricane.  They believe the surest way to rebuild the city, attract residents and bring back visitors is to rebuild the economy one store and business at a time. Shop New Orleans is geared to helping provide jobs for NOLA residents and tax revenue for the city and state. A couple favorites of mine from their site: photos of New Orleans musicians to benefit hurricane relief for New Orleans musicians; and Christmas in New Orleans ornaments and more at The Nostalgic New Orleans Collection Shop.

Other choices: gifts or memberships from the links under the heading Responsible Shopping. Scroll down and check out the right-hand sidebar on this page. And of course, shopping at locally owned shops in Nob Hill, Old Town or other locations in Albuquerque or other locally owned merchants around the state helps New Mexican small business owners and those they employ. Why support those who work against our causes when you can provide a few bucks to those who do?