Albuquerque is New Mexico's biggest city. There is a very interesting art and music scene here, along with a lot of vices. Nevertheless, the sunsets here are beautiful, and the picture below typifies this.

Albuquerque is historically a stopover point for truck drivers driving along U.S. highway Interstate 40 and the famous Route 66 ("get your kicks on Route 66"). This role of Albuquerque as a stopover point for truck drivers has invited vices of all kind here, including prostitution, gambling, and illegal drugs.

The most noted illegal drug here is methamphetamine, a popular "stay-awake" drug for some truck drivers.  And this drug methamphetamine is the main and controversial subject of a very popular U.S. television series filmed in Albuquerque called "Breaking Bad."    

"Breaking Bad," is a current popular U.S. television series with a huge audience. The series is about a chemistry teacher who discovers he has cancer and decides to raise money for his bills by manufacturing methamphetamine (a.k.a. "speed," "crank," "meth," "crystal"). His product is too good, and he is all of a sudden a big drug-dealing kingpin of north New Mexico.

Here is a clip from the Breaking Bad television series with a popular character named "Wendy," who is a drug addict and prostitute at the Crossroads Motel (and I was going to stay at that motel, but the place got bad reviews per travelers advisory with complaints of bedbugs).  

click https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_50AduGvQAU for 3-minute clip.

Albuquerque's Central Avenue: The Heart Of "Breaking Bad"

Central Avenue is the main drag of Albuquerque. The Crossroads Motel is located here, and is known as "The Crystal Palace" in the "Breaking Bad" television series:

The Grove Cafe was another spot for a shooting in "Breaking Bad," and it is right across the street from the motel I am staying at. It was voted "Best Cafe In New Mexico" last year, and tripadvisor.com has it ranked #4 out of 1414 restaurants in Albuquerque:

And yes, there is also the infamous Desert Sands Motel eight blocks down the street from where I am staying. This motel was featured in a scene from the movie "No Country For Old Men" that involved actor Josh Brolin getting shot-up by Mexican criminals. This motel also had a movie scene shot there from the movie "Alpha Dog," which was about a drug dealer who kidnaps a relative of a drug-dealing rival.

Entertainment: "Sister Bar" On Central Avenue And Burt's Tiki Lounge (not far away from each other)

I got to hear some very interesting music at Sisters. The band I listened to played music that sounded like a combination of 1967 Pink Floyd and Jimmy Page's "Lucifer Rising." Most of the patrons appeared to not like it and were leaving, and this was probably due to equipment that featured too much distortion. I told the guys the music was great, but they needed to buy some quality equipment with less distortion when "turned up." 

Burt's Tiki Lounge was featured in "Breaking Bad" with a methamphetamine  dealer conducting sales. I got to hear a techno-music group that sounded like a combination of 1980's techno and hip hop. The music was well done, and they did get a lot of people on the dance floor.

The thing that I like about Albuquerque's music scene is that there is a new kind of music being played there that is highly experimental in approach. This approach is not seen too much in Austin, Texas (where I'm from), and Austin calls itself "The Live Music Capital Of The World." Austin could learn a thing or two from Albuquerque in this regard.

NEXT STOP: Santa Fe, New Mexico