In a culture that idolizes youth, where “anti-aging” products are sold in every grocery store and magazines are steeped in images of narrowly defined beauty, Anne Noggle’s portraits of middle-age and elderly women may elicit an uncomfortable, visceral response. Flight of Spirit: The Photographs of Anne Noggle, a book launch, will include a presentation and signing with author Martha Strawn and art critic Lucy Lippard at 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8 at Obscura Gallery.
For nearly a quarter-century, Los Angeles Latin fusion group Ozomatli has been reinventing the jam band for a global audience. They are at Meow Wolf on Wednesday, Nov. 13; doors 7 p.m., show 8 p.m.
Rocker Melissa Etheridge plays the Isleta Resort & Casino in Albuquerque at 8 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9; doors open for 21+ show at 7 p.m.
Presented by Performance Santa Fe, The Billy Childs Quartet appears 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 8, at Lensic Performing Arts Center.
The books in the Sheriff Walt Longmire series keep getting better and better. The newest of the books by Craig Johnson is Land of Wolves (Viking, 320 pages, $28).
Sagche’s is much more than a coffee shop. The wall-mounted menu offers a number of free-ranging breakfast and lunch choices. And if you crave enchiladas at 7 a.m. or have an urge for waffles at 2 p.m., you can have them — along with more than 40 other possibilities on the all-day, every-day menu.
She died in 1971, but when Carolyn Chatwin Murset talks about her grandmother today, the memories are still vivid. Like she’s sitting beside Domitila Trujillo, whom everyone called Tila. Tales of Tila, a one-woman musical by Carolyn Chatwin Murset, is at Teatro Paraguas, 7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 8 and Saturday, Nov 9.
It could be hard to stay on target this week. It will help to check our priorities, make sure our short-term goals are clear, and focus on the top of our to-do lists.
Book Review
"The Guardians" by John Grisham
What is there left to say about a new John Grisham novel? Maybe only that Grisham has done it again. The main character here is a so-called “innocence lawyer,” a workaholic attorney-turned-Episcopal-priest named Cullen Post.
Random Acts
A window on the world: The art of Hans Paap
Taos and Beyond: The Art and Odyssey of Hans Paap features his sensitive portraits of Native peoples and landscapes of the Southwest. It opens with a 1 p.m. reception on Saturday, Nov. 9 and continues through Dec. 6 at Nedra Matteucci Galleries.
Movie Review
The door is always open: "The Portal"
Director Jacqui Fifer and producer Tom Cronin will be on hand for an audience Q&A after the 5:15 p.m. screening of The Portal on Sunday, Nov. 10 at The Screen.
The Miguel Zenón Quartet plays at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at GiG Performance Space.
Random Acts
Belting notes as the trumpet floats: San Fermin
San Fermin has grown into a nine-piece indie-pop outfit with layers of percussion, brass, violin, and lead vocalists Allen Tate and Karlie Bruce. They’ll play Meow Wolf on Sunday, Nov. 10; doors open at 7 p.m. and the concert starts at 7:30 p.m.
Movie Review
Scenes of myself: "Pain and Glory"
As he grows older, Pedro Almodóvar seems to be growing more reflective. Pain and Glory is not strictly autobiographical, but it is strewn with deeply personal bread crumbs to lead us through significant passages of the great director’s life.
Random Acts
Layering it on: Santa Fe Symphony's Strata
Hear Beethoven’s early, lighthearted Serenade for Flute, Violin, and Viola (Op. 25), Mozart’s late, autumnal Clarinet Quintet, and Sibelius’ autobiographical septet En Saga, as well as Zhou Tian’s 2015 Viaje (Journey) for flute and string quartet when Santa Fe Symphony plays at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 10 at St. Francis Auditorium.
Terrell's Tune-up
Thrash 101: College-level punk
Professor Gregg Turner has gotten the green light to teach an actual college class for New Mexico Highlands University called A History of Punk Rock, in the spring semester.
Mary K Pop, the third episode of The Love that Would Not Die, premieres at the Jean Cocteau Cinema (418 Montezuma Ave.), at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9. If you’re not caught up on the story, not to worry: the first two episodes are also part of the night’s events. Subsequent screenings of Mary K Pop continue through Dec. 8.
Native American Art
Challenging expectations: "Laughter and Resilience" explores humor in Native art
When Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper in the 1490s, he probably didn’t foresee that, centuries later, a Native American artist would appropriate this piece of the collective consciousness to parody the drama and controversy of Santa Fe Indian Market.
Santa Fe Pro Musica music director Thomas O’Connor will share responsibility with Anne-Marie McDermott at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2 and 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3; McDermott will play soloist and conductor for two Mozart piano concertos.
First published as an extension circular, Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert’s recipe collection evolved into a small book known as Historic Cookery: Authentic New Mexican Food.
Strange Bedfellows is a monthlong series of performances that take place on a king-size bed inside the Ellsworth Gallery, which is outfitted to look like a bedroom. Transgender artist and improvisational comedian Quinn Fontaine performs at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14.
Stars of the Future: Olga Kern International Piano Competition Finals are held at 6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 2, Popejoy Hall, University of New Mexico, in Albuquerque.
A fairly large quantity of virtual ink has been spilled on the topic of the cosmopolitan. Still, the cosmo’s origin is a bit fuzzy.
Star Codes
Star Codes, Nov. 1 to
Ghosts and ghouls from the past don’t go away just because Halloween has come and gone. Thoughtful Mercury retrogrades in haunting Scorpio until Nov. 20 and stirs up memories, maudlin thoughts, and old grudges while also churning up sludge in the news.
Benchwarmers 2019
Stay seated: Benchwarmers at Santa Fe Playhouse
The Benchwarmers playwrighting contest is held annually by Santa Fe Playhouse. The plays are between five and 10 minutes long and revolve in some way around a bench, which is usually the only set piece.
Tasty Morsels
Tasty morsels, Nov. 1
One of Santa Fe’s favorite burger joints is back. Plus, other news from the local restaurant scene.
Movie Review
Imaginary friends with swastikas: "Jojo Rabbit"
Jojo is an only child whose father, he thinks, is off fighting the war for Germany. He lives with his mother, Rosie, in a modest, two-story home in a middle-class section of Berlin.
Opera Review
Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun: Santa Fe Opera, Oct. 26
Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun had its world premiere at the Lensic Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Oct. 26, courtesy of the Santa Fe Opera. At a running time of about 80 minutes, Sweet Potato felt about 15 or 20 minutes too long.
Random Acts
Both sides now: Judy Collins
Judy Collins plays at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 3, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.
Photographer Ann Murdy will be in conversation about her book On the Path of Marigolds: Living Traditions of Mexico’s Day of the Dead with writer Carmella Padilla at 6 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at Collected Works Bookstore.
Random Acts
No man's land: Wall Street in Black & White
Jim Costanzo read from Wall Street in Black & White: Fotos and Text of an Occupier (Autonomedia), at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1, at op.cit. books. An exhibition of the same name opens with a 4 p.m. reception on Saturday, Nov. 2, at Freeform Art Space. Costanzo gives a second reading at 5:30 p.m. during the reception.
Random Acts
Art on Highway 75: Dixon Studio Tour
The Dixon Studio Tour runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2, and Sunday, Nov. 3. A downloadable studio map is available at dixonarts.org.
The photos in the book Of Infinite Space: the Photography of David Loughridge (Meow Wolf Press, $50) memorialize the untimely passing of one of Meow Wolf’s early members while showcasing a selection of his photography from a vast archive.
Movie Review
Hypnotic homicide: "Murderous Trance"
A man wearing a ski mask robs a bank, dispassionately kills two clerks, and is quickly captured. He claims he was acting alone, but witnesses report that he seemed to be in some kind of trance, and a suspicion emerges that he was acting under hypnotic suggestion.
Day of the Dead
'It just is': Judith Fein on speaking with the dead
America is a death-phobic culture, Fein says, and people don’t want to talk about this sort of thing. But after five decades of active communication with the other side, she’s tired of hiding what she knows to be true. So she’s written a book.
Did you ever notice that a traditional three-line haiku, when centered on the page, is vaguely disc-shaped, like a flying saucer? You can bet that multimedia artist Allan Graham noticed. Graham, who died on Feb. 28 at age 76, worked with words and letters in many of his projects and had a keen eye for seeing words as shapes. A memorial exhibition of Graham’s work opens at 5. Gallery on Saturday, Oct. 26.
Opera for All Voices
Beating the box: "Sweet Potato Kicks the Sun"
The Santa Fe Opera has teamed up with renowned beatboxer Nicole Paris and composer Augusta Read Thomas on the commissioned piece, designed to attract a younger, more diverse audience. In keeping with modern attention spans, the performance is expected to be about 80 minutes long, with no intermission.
Time fractures and overlaps in Deborah Levy’s newest novel, The Man Who Saw Everything. The protagonist, Saul Adler, is a stunning 28-year-old and he is a paunchy 56-year-old; he’s in England and he’s in East Germany; the Berlin Wall is about to fall and Britain has just voted to leave the European Union.
Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson have two of the most mesmerizing physiognomies in movies. In this sly American Gothic set in the late 19th century, the director Robert Eggers lights and frames the actors to emphasize every bony plane. The stark cinematography deepens the film’s shadows and unease, but it also throws these grizzled faces into relief, sharpening their cheekbones and revealing the death’s head under each man’s grimace.
Opera Review
Alì Babà: Opera Southwest, Oct. 20
Themes of wealth and poverty run throughout Giovanni Bottesini’s comic opera, which has just had its first major staging in more than 140 years, courtesy of Albuquerque’s enterprising Opera Southwest.
Ancestors' Voices
Prodigal pottery: 100 Pueblo pots come home
Emotions are high for potters and others at New Mexico’s six Tewa-speaking Pueblos. They’re celebrating the return of 100, century-old pots from the Smithsonian Institution, and the reunion is stirring deep feelings.
Choreographer, composer, and dancer Mina Fajardo performs Friday, Oct. 25, through Sunday, Oct. 27, at Teatro Paraguas, joined by flamenco guitarist Chuscales and vocalist Meagan Chandler.
Terrell's Tune-Up
Country music’s real deal: Tyler Childers
Right up there with Sturgill Simpson and Margo Price, Tyler Childers is at the top of my list of favorite country music discoveries in recent years. I became an unapologetic zealot about three-quarters through my first listen of his landmark 2017 album Purgatory. And the good news is that his new album, Country Squire (Hickman Holler) is even better.
An Afghan filmmaker, mother, and wife, Fatima Hussaini adopted yet another identity in 2015: political refugee. That year, the Taliban called for the death of her husband, Hassan Fazili, a filmmaker who owned a Kabul café that served both men and women. Together with their two young daughters, the couple fled Afghanistan, beginning an arduous multiyear odyssey that took them across continents and scarily inhospitable countries.
Random Acts
Singing from the roots of folk: John McCutcheon
The Grammy-nominated artist, best known for his songwriting prowess and mastery of the hammered dulcimer, has a decades-long catalog rooted in traditional Appalachian music. He brings a sampling to the Lensic Performing Arts Center for a fundraiser Sunday, Oct. 27.
“My nipples are like the teats of a rain-god,” writer Mary Shelley (1797-1851) declares on the third page of Winterson’s new novel. This is perhaps not a typical way to begin a book review. This is not a typical novel.
Book Review
"Imaginary Friend" by Stephen Chbosky
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the book is the confidence with which Chbosky deploys the more fantastical elements of his complex narrative, using the baroque, hallucinatory imagery of horror fiction to tell a very human story with universal implications.
Día de los Muertos — or Day of the Dead — is among the most important annual celebrations in Mexico and in Mexican-American communities. The two-day fiesta is held on Nov. 1 (All Saints’ Day) and Nov. 2 (All Souls’ Day). The dead are honored through altars erected in homes, cemeteries, and public spaces. What follows is a list of Día de los Muertos celebrations, Santa Fe-style.
It’s a haunting week as we head toward Halloween, Samhain, and Day of the Dead. With the sun, mental Mercury, and heart-centered Venus now in deep Scorpio, our hearts and minds are brought to the far side of the veil. Mercury slows down to turn retrograde on Thursday, so our thoughts begin to walk with the people we’ve known, loved, and let go of.
Some people have a way with time. Take Santa Fe filmmaker Sylvia Johnson, who transforms 15 minutes into a powerful story of two refugees and their struggle for asylum in the United States. Perhaps, like so many artists these days, she’s motivated by a mission: Her art is also her activism on subjects like water pollution, transgender discrimination, and animal rights.
If you missed Pasatiempo's reviews of Sassella, Madame Matisse, and Jimmy D's, here they are in condensed form.
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Movie show times
Culinary Arts
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Amuse-BoucheHearty Central American fare, with coffee to boot: Sagche's Coffee House
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Just Drink ItJust drink it: The Mandarin blossom cosmopolitan at Jinja
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Tasty MorselsTasty morsels, Nov. 1
- As authentic as it gets: 100 traditional New Mexico recipes
- Short takes: A snapshot of recent reviews
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Amuse-BoucheA taste for change: Santacafé
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Amuse-boucheBelly up: Bar foods for all-time noshing
- Short Takes: A snapshot of recent reviews
- La dolce vita: Sassella Restaurant
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Amuse-BoucheFeed your (balloon) fiesta
- Tasty Morsels
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Amuse-boucheThe replacements: Plant-based meats hit the mainstream
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Amuse-boucheRed, green, or rosé? The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta
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Amuse-boucheAll that's missing are the Gauloises: Madame Matisse
- Tasty Morsels: A monthly roundup of food news