Pesky Insect, aka Horse Fly, was Bill’s monthly critique of politics, art, and culture that he published from September 1999 to September 2009 and where I first met him, recruited to write articles on water issues. After Horse Fly’s demise he went online with Taos Friction, which took the Taos politicos to task on an almost daily basis, parsing Horse Fly friend Flavio’s estimation of the town: “Taos is a great place to visit but you wouldn’t want to live here.”
But Bill did live in Taos for many years and became its notorious gringo. Arriving in the 1960s as a member of the National Guard to avoid Vietnam, he gravitated to the ski slopes of Taos, forging a contentious relationship with owner Ernie Blake. He moved on to became a mostly failed entrepreneur whose ventures included the Plaza Theater, Plaza Theater Bar, Cortez Theater, Old Martinez Hall, the Taos Community Auditorium, and KVNM-FM radio, the precursor of KTAO. While he often lost his shirt and his sanity during those years of terror, he gave the Taos community downtown movies ranging from Fellini’s 8 ½ to Blazing Saddles, lots of memorable bar experiences, an Earl “Fatha” Hines concert, and a rousing production of West Side Story.
All of this is documented in his book, Gringo Lessons: Twenty Years of Terror in Taos, about which our mutual friend John Nichols had this to say in his review in Taos Friction (and that I reposed in La Jicarita):
“This wonderful autobiography is as honest as the day is long, no holds barred, no punches pulled. It’s beautifully written, highly entertaining, truly wild and wonderful even as it also may make you cringe on every other page. This pilgrim’s progress is definitely not a stroll through a summer meadow. Whaley might have done better not to have gone AWOL from the National Guard, but to have punched his ticket to Vietnam instead.”
But Bill had another life plan ahead. He left Taos in 1987 to resume a college career in his home state of Nevada. Ten years later he was back, as an ABD (all but dissertation). Thus ensued the journalism years with Horse Fly and Taos Friction. He published all my articles about the impending water battles over the Taos Pueblo (Abeyta) water adjudication, and when I served as the chair of the Taos County Public Welfare Advisory Committee, he was right there to back up my attempt to get the commission to protest water transfers that were not in best interest of the citizens of Taos County, always in language that was uniquely Bill’s: “But, when you measure the risk of litigation against the potential dollars, some $130 million, which will begin flowing into the mouths of thirsty Taosenos from the federal mammary glands, well, what can you do.”
His love of language also flowered in a late-blooming academic career as a professor of English and philosophy at UNM-Taos. He also taught independent classes on Taos history, politics, and culture, a man of all seasons.
During the long, difficult 2020 year of the pandemic he continued to teach and published many a screed about the national political scene. Over the past few weeks he became especially outraged, with posts like “The Fascists are planning a Second Coup in Plain Sight”.
For the past several years Bill skied with his granddaughter Lili up in the Valley. Initially, he was thrilled that he could beat her coming down Al’s Run. As she aged, though, and her skills improved, that became more difficult and when he told me she finally beat him, it was with both chagrin and pride. I also ski with my grandkids, but they’re younger and I’m much less an accomplished skier than Bill was. I’m not going to be doing Al’s Run with them. I don’t know if that’s where he died, but anywhere on the mountain is a fitting end, I guess, although I wish his granddaughter hadn’t been there to witness this traumatic event. And I wish he was still here.
No comments:
Post a Comment