Festival of No Lights

And Plenty of Freedom: The City of Albuquerque is about to celebrate the grand opening of the new I-25 / Paseo del Norte interchange, an eagerly-awaited traffic triumph for all of us settlers on the West Bank (of the Rio Grande, that is).

This Chanukah, the city will celebrate the first Festival of No Lights, as morning commuters taking Paseo to I-25 South will encounter none of same from the Coors intersection to G-d Knows Where.

No flyovers for you!

Commuters going straight across Paseo to Albuquerque Proper - sorry about that. 

Super-commuters going north on I-25 to Santa Fe or Los Alamos - fuggedaboutit! 

The city, county, state, and federal governments all ran out of Chanukah gelt.
Enjoy the Festival of Lights in all its radiance!

For all of us traditionalists, as well as for the nonconformists among us, there is this year, as every year, led, as always, by Chabad of New Mexico:

Community Chanukah
Celebration & Menorah Lighting

Sunday December 21 at 4:00 pm

Albuquerque Civic Plaza

Note: there is (optional) food involved!
Please contact Chabad for reservations!

Which brings us to the timesly (Times of Israel, that is) topic of Hanukkah music.
Way back on December 9 - almost a week ago! - Renee Ghert-Zand published

Swinging Hanukkah wins YouTube
Chicago Jewish wedding band goes all out with holiday video that is inching towards 300k views 

Forget those a cappella groups and goofy parodies. Let’s swing into the winter holiday season this year with a new Hanukkah video that ushers in the Festival of Lights big band style. 

Since its posting on November 22, Hanukkah Song Mashup – Dance Spectacular by Elliot Dvorin and the Key Tov Orchestra has racked up 275,455 views on YouTube.

“People have been in touch with me to tell me how the video really makes them smile,” Dvorin told The Times of Israel from Chicago, where he and his Jewish wedding band are based.

As Abq Jew goes to hit the Publish button, that YouTube count is up to 399,592. Enjoy!

Cheery Chanukah, Chevreh!