Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts at the Albuquerque Community Foundation and the New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

...and Viewers Like You.

THIS TIME, ON COLORES!

ALBUQUERQUE'S INCREDIBLE BALLOONING STORY BEGINS WITH PARK VAN TASSEL'S DARING HISTORIC FLIGHT IN 1882.

AN ARTISTIC SANCTUARY...

THROUGH STORY AND MUSIC REFUGEES IN UKRAINE'S LES KURBAS THEATRE SHARE POIGNANT ACCOUNTS OF ESCAPING WAR.

IT'S ALL AHEAD ON COLORES!

NEW MEXICO'S FIRST "SKY RIDER."

(Burner Igniting) >>Ebony Isis Booth: We are in Albuquerque 1882, how crazy was it to lift off a balloon in Albuquerque at that time?

>>Gary B. Fogel: Back then when you buy a balloon from someone, there's kind of no instruction manual.

It's like basically, you know, here's the idea, "go figure it out and don't kill yourself".

No one had ever thought about doing such a thing.

When Van Tassel came to Albuquerque, he purchased a saloon called the "Elite Saloon" which was a part of the Opera House in New Town, which is now downtown Albuquerque.

He was basically a saloon barkeeper for quite some time, for a year before he had the nerve to say "I'm going to launch myself up in a balloon".

People must have thought he was out of his mind, because no one's ever done that at all in New Mexico territory.

It's never been done.

But he said, "Yeah, I'm going to try it".

So out he ships this balloon -and it took two days of all of the city's coal gas to inflate this balloon, only two thirds full.

He wanted to do this ascension for the City of Albuquerque on July 4-and you know, gotta make it happen on July 4!

He can't wait the next day for the extra third of the balloon to get filled.

So in the morning when he was supposed to be launching, that there's-there's no way, there's not enough lifting capability of this balloon to lift me or anything else.

It's not gonna happen.

So all the people that are-had arrived to see this because it had been widely advertised in local papers.

They all realize that this is not going to happen.

So they went across town to Old Town, to go watch a baseball game and do other fun stuff for July 4 because it was Independence Day, despite the fact that Mexico is not yet a state, just the territory.

And then by the evening time, about five o'clock, word gets back to Old Town that Van Tassel's balloon is getting closer to being ready and everyone's got to get ready for the launch.

So, all of Albuquerque who was at Old Town, came over to New Town by the trolley as fast as they possibly could, to arrive at about 6:15.

When Van Tassel hopped into this basket, and when he got into the basket -most balloonists, especially at that time, would carry ballasts along with them.

It's extra weight, extra sandbags.

And when you go up in the balloon, as you're coming back down, you can throw the ballast overboard, throw the sandbag overboard, which makes you lighter and it decreases your rate of descent and you come down to a slower speed.

Well, in order to get to the balloon to go up, with only two thirds of it full, he had to almost get rid of all the ballasts entirely, just himself.

His lunch, some water, and the clothes he has on.

That's about it, and then it would kind of barely go up.

So he launched in this balloon and managed to climb.

There was a rather motionless day, a rather windless day -managed to climb to 14,000 feet above Albuquerque.

Onboard, he had a barometer, a measurement of the pressure of the air in the altitude-and from that he could tell how high he was going up by the rate of the pressure decrease.

>>Ebony Isis Booth: In Albuquerque that 14,000 How far did he go?

>>Gary B. Fogel: The winds aloft were towards the northwest.

So drifting out towards Old Town, he came back down, after a period of time.

When you're up that high and it's getting late in the day, you can pull a valve to release some of the gas from the top of the balloon.

So you start your descent, when you pull that release valve, you're coming down and he had no ballasts.

So on the way down, he's throwing his lunch overboard, he throws his water overboard, he takes off his jacket, throws his jacket overboard.

Anything you can do to lighten the load because it's coming down pretty quick.

And he ended up landing in a cornfield near Old Town and survived the landing, ---very fortunately.

And then, the story goes that by nine o'clock, people in Old Town had brought back Van Tassel and the balloon and everything else back to his Saloon in New Town and they had a huge bonfire and a party and he was the hero of Albuquerque for having been this first aerial Aeronaut of New Mexico's history.

And very quickly after that his wife left for California.

He left to make a tour of the American West with balloons.

It was when he kind of decided that "this is going to be my career".

But he set off to bring ballooning to Utah.

To Colorado for the first balloon flights in Colorado's To Portland, Oregon for their first balloon flights in Portland, Oregon's history.

All over the American West, bringing ballooning to public that have never ever seen anyone fly in anything before.

(CHEERING) (BURNERS IGNITING) >>Ebony Isis Booth: What is the legacy of this first manned flight to Albuquerque, New Mexico?

>>Gary B. Fogel: You know, back then these flights were so rare.

Especially for the American West - so difficult to do and achieve that I think those first flights simply put in the mind of Albuquerque or New Mexico that flight was possible.

Even just settling that, you know, "is it possible or not for someone to fly in something that's lighter than air as a balloon".

He did that exceedingly well with that demonstration and was very publicly, publicly widely recognized.

There were several other courageous people that were flying balloons into the 1890's, 1900's, in the Albuquerque area.

But, as powered flight and heavier than air flight, became more in fashion after the Wright Brothers- and I think into the 1910's, lighter-than-air-ballooning kind of went out of fad, as a function of that.

And it wasn't until later that hot air ballooning, because of Sid Cutter's work with propane tanks and hot air balloons became so popular in Albuquerque.

Of course now, is the focus of the Balloon Fiesta.

So Van Tassel's legacy is in this first ever flight of a balloon, in all of New Mexican territory.

Now we have the International Balloon Fiesta that brings thousands of people to Albuquerque every year to witness balloon flights, and hot air ballooning.

And it really was that Van Tassel brought Albuquerque the balloon and now Albuquerque brings the balloon back to the world, and the world thinks that Albuquerque is the international capital of ballooning.

And it all relates back to what Van Tassel was trying to do, back in 1882.

FINDING SHELTER.

<PIANO PLAYING> >>Olekander/Alexander: I've lived off music the last seven And this is the only place where I can play right now.

For 15 years after finishing school, I wrote songs, music arrangements.

Came upon a vocalist friend here and a drummer.

We'll try to play together.

It's sad songs, though happy ones aren't particularly welcome to these people now.

>>Tetyana: We've got lots of factories, metallurgical, nobody's caring for them.

Ukrainian history is being erased, being brainwashed that Ukrainians never existed.

That they're nobodies.

But, Ukrainians are the mind and soul of the planet.

Just think how many of us have gone out from all over the world.

But nobody back home will be learning anything, because there is constant shelling, explosions.

Not even a green card or evacuation routes are working.

>> Olekander/Alexander: I ended up playing foreign songs in four countries over five years.

The first engagement was on a tour in Turkey, then Kazakhstan, United Arab Emirates, and finally the longest in China.

>>Tetyana: We left home after Zaporizhzhya, what a long line.

They told us there would be only one train and we would need to spend a night in the station.

They divided us into groups of 50 to make it easier to load without crowding.

There were nine of us in the sleeper compartment.

People sat, stood, any which way because more boarded along the trip.

>> Olekander/Alexander: I'm Alexander from Irpin near Kyiv.

I've been a musician for over 30 years.

Music lets me express my inner emotional self.

<PIANO PLAYING> Words are so hard to express, because each person understands each word differently.

But music it's like this, <Heartfelt Piano Playing>... >>Tetyana: Checkpoints, there were nine or eight, I don't remember.

Russian ones, Ukrainian.

Ukrainian were- one, two, three, four.

Then five or six Russian.

>> Vsevolod Sadovyi: How did you manage?

>>Tetyana: Well it was okay, they checked our documents, asked where we were going, where we were from.

Well you know, the usual.

We showed them what we had and thank God, we made it.

>> Olekander/Alexander: We packed everything we could, but couldn't take the synthesizers or instruments.

It took us four or five hours to get through the checkpoints to the Metro.

There were three of us and we really did not have a plan.

>>Tetyana: Lord, we left at seven.

Took us two and a half hours to get to Zaporizhzhya.

Slow going.

It went faster once we got to where our army was.

There were no land mines or extra complications.

But landmines were alongside everywhere.

Those who met up with one could confirm their presence.

>> Olekander/Alexander: For me, music is like life itself.

The black and white keys.

We understand joy when we are sad, and vice versa.

Five days ago I found this gentle, soft sounding piano.

It's the first one I have ever come across in Ukraine.

>>Tetyana: We were hit by Grads, rockets, hail, as it was explained to me.

And now, they are using cluster bombs.

I don't understand these things, and I do not want to know them.

I am a peaceful person and I want all of this to be over.

On the contrary, I tell all the girls "You are strong, just embrace each other.

Tell them that you love each other, love and hug Ukraine."

Embrace the whole world and let love be in all things and in you-for all this to end.

>> Olekander/Alexander: Right before the war, I put together an acoustic group.

Violin, cello, percussion, and piano.

It's hard without music.

As for me, it's a form of meditation- no worries, only emotion.

>>Tetyana: My son-in-law stayed behind with his mother, my son stayed, along with my great grandmother.

And whoever else is living somewhere through a bombardment.

Boom, boom.

>>Halyna: And today from dawn at four, then at five AM.

My husband calls at 7:40 and says "What, you're still sleeping?"

I tell him "I went to bed at 2:00 AM and we sleep well here because it's peaceful and quiet".

Back home their "good morning" starts with explosions.

>>Tetyana: That's every morning at 4:45 then 4:50, "Boom, Boom", then quiet.

Then again, "boom, boom" and then again near evening it starts.

Then again at night.

What are they shooting at?

People aren't out yet.

They're frightened.

>> Olekander/Alexander: March 7th...

I have a problem like this.

I react strongly- my body reacts to all kinds of sounds.

Mentally I am a very calm person, mentally.

But I cannot control this from my whole life.

When there is cacophony, commotion, I get very agitated.

And in a moment I understood that I could not handle the sound of gunfire or bombs.

I couldn't differentiate or understand them with my nervous system.

I have great headphones and I put them on and play, play, play.

But the moment came when I knew this was the end, I decided it was time.

I did not plan on leaving.

But I am glad I am here.

The view is much quieter than there and I sleep normally here.

That was so very hard to do back there.

>>Tetyana: They completely leveled the central market, they destroyed the big train station.

At the start of it, no one thought they would be attacking us.

Then the military machinery started showing up and more and more kept arriving.

We only have 29 local civilian home defense volunteers for the entire city and they left to a neighboring town of Tukmak to help the 130 residents there.

But only 23 of them returned.

Where are they?

Alive?

Captured?

Escaped?

No one knows.

>> Olekander/Alexander: I believe that few understand what music means to each of us.

When I explain that I am a musician, they tell me "take up something more serious.

What is this 'musician'?"

>>Tetyana: My daughter and her husband pulled a bullet out of the bedroom wall.

When my windows shattered from the explosion, I tacked up my kitchen rug over the hole.

My neighbor came over to help me seal up the next blasted window with cardboard and tape.

That evening I visited another neighbor in our apartment building and their windows blew out while I was there.

Glass shards flying all over the kitchen and into the children's bedroom.

That's how they live, who stayed.

They have nowhere to go.

Freezing cold in-and-out, and go where?

>> Olekander/Alexander: I don't get my fill of music, which is why I try to come here everyday.

Music is the best thing that has happened to me in my life.

I could've done something else, my father was in the military.

By fifth grade he taught me a lot like mathematics; a different language, another method of expression.

So music became a language for me.

This interview can't explain it enough, how much music holds and how to understand it.

How to incorporate it into your life, live with it.

This is clear to me as any other language.

I can communicate like this, communicate like that but for people who only listen to music, they think we musicians are not serious people but they cannot even imagine what the world would be like devoid of music.

This is a singular truth that can give a person an individual experience and be an emotional event.

>>Tetyana: Once you see it with your own eyes, then yes, you can say "I've seen it".

>> Vsevolod Sadovyi: No train service connection anymore with your old town of Polohy?

>>Tetyana: I have been told there is none remaining.

The trains aren't running, maybe a bridge blew up too.

We couldn't leave, didn't even have internet from the third.

>>Halyna: From the 2nd to the 18th, we got it back for one day on the 18th, then it was gone again until the 21st.

And once we figured out that we wanted to escape, we looked for a way.

>> Vsevolod Sadovyi: So for two weeks you were without >>Halyna: Yes, almost 20 days.

Without communication we received a bit of electric light from the 12th to the 13th but it was weak, but it was enough for the tap water to return and communication.

<Piano Playing> >>Tetyana: Five people sat in the back seat of the car.

As we went through a Ukrainian checkpoint an older soldier said, "You were stuffed together like seeds in a pod, how did you all manage to all fit?"

Well that's how we did it, how else could we do it?

There wasn't even room for a child to squeeze in.

>> Olekander/Alexander: I played with a fellow who took up guitar just to get girls.

I had to play with this kind of musician for over a year and I understood his motivations were absolutely different from mine.

For a musician to experience a different reality.

>>Tetyana: Let me tell you about our movements here are very restricted.

There is a curfew.

Saturday, Sunday also, nobody comes out or shows themselves.

They can't even go out for bread or water.

You really want your freedom after something like this.

I think we'll travel across the border.

It's a good thing that people are getting out through Poland.

I can't get the picture of the destroyed theater in Mariupol out of my mind.

When they bomb you, so many women, so many children, seniors, and they all perished.

That's not normal.

This isn't liberation.

These are marauders, orcs, a savage horde.

I don't know what these boys are thinking, those that are being sent here but this is not normal.

I cannot imagine what commands these boys are obeying.

But our Ukrainian women, our Ukrainians aren't interested in this war.

Our people are peaceful.

>>Olekander/Alexander: I'll play one!

>> Vsevolod Sadovyi: Does it have a title?

>>Olekander/Alexander: Not yet.

Let's make one up together.

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"UNTIL NEXT WEEK, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING."

Funding for COLORES was provided in part by: Frederick Hammersley Fund for the Arts at the Albuquerque Community Foundation and the New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts & Education Endowment Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation ...New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

...and Viewers Like You.

(CLOSED CAPTIONING BY KNME-TV)