Playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes takes on the word’s myriad dramatic possibilities in Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue, the first in her trilogy of plays about the Puerto Rican-American experience. Fugue opens Thursday, Sept. 26, at Teatro Paraguas, and is directed by Alix Hudson.
2019 Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts
Maverick art, lasting legacies: 2019 Governor's Awards for Excellence in the Arts
This year’s Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts recipients include poet, publisher, and community organizer Victor di Suvero; pianist and composer Marc Neikrug; Santero Nicolás Otero of Los Lunas; Santa Clara Pueblo sculptor Roxanne Swentzell; major contributor to the arts ¡COLORES! from New Mexico PBS/KNME; and individual contributor to the arts Lee Gruber.
2019 Governor's Awards
Governor's Awards: Victor di Suvero
Morning sunlight streams into Victor di Suvero’s small apartment at Brookdale Santa Fe, a senior living facility. The 92-year-old poet sits on a beige couch and seems restless, patting the legs of his trousers or getting up, time and again, to grab a book.
2019 Governor's Awards
Governor's Awards: Lee Gruber
Lee Gruber has pursued goals “that promote contemporary visual art, foster an understanding of the history of New Mexico cultural arts, and nurture an environment that will economically support the business of art,” according to award presenter New Mexico Arts.
2019 Governor's Awards
Governor's Awards: Marc Neikrug
Marc Neikrug has been the artistic director of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, one of the music world’s preeminent events of its type, since 1998.
2019 Governor's Awards
Governor's Awards: Nicolás Otero
Los Lunas Santero Nicolás Otero hopes the Governor’s Award will motivate and encourage his students. “These kids come in every day and it’s my job to inspire them,” he says. “They inspire me.”
2019 Governor's Awards
Governor's Awards: Roxanne Swentzell
On Friday, Sept. 20, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham presents Roxanne Swentzell with a 2019 award for excellence in the arts. Whether sculpting Pueblo clowns, Native elders or works that transcend indigenous subject matter, Swentzell invests her art with a universal sense of spirit, making it accessible and relatable.
2019 Governor's Awards
Governor's Awards: "¡COLORES!"
“To Walk in Beauty,” which aired in August 2018, is just one of hundreds of ¡COLORES! pieces created since the show premiered in 1989. ¡COLORES! is produced by Tara Walch and overseen by Michael Kamins, the executive producer for arts and cultural affairs at KNME.
A Tank and the Bangas show enlists the audience in recreating their songs onstage, improvising on the take: the band plays Meow Wolf on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
The Santa Fe Wine & Chile Fiesta is certainly a journey: a six-day accumulation of wine and food experiences — some innovative and some surprising, as well as tasty.
Random Acts
High-flying antics: Wise Fool’s Fall Cabaret
Wise Fool’s Third Annual Fall Cabaret is 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21, at the Wise Fool Studio and Performance Space. The evening show contains some adult themes.
Random Acts
Party like it's 1999: "Celebrating Prince"
Despite his death in 2016, Prince's songs live on; the Celebrating Prince tour comes to the Lensic Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
Theater Review
Some Saturday morning madness: "Eight Songs for a Mad King"
Madness was in the air at the Railyard on Saturday morning, Sept. 14, when produce-crazed shoppers wrangled their way to favorite Farmers’ Market vendor stalls on one side of Paseo de Peralta and the musical ensemble Chatter performed Eight Songs for a Mad King at SITE Santa Fe on the other.
Random Acts
90 years and counting: UNM Press
The University of New Mexico Press celebrates its 90th anniversary with several events, including one in Santa Fe at Collected Works Bookstore at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
The Seventh Annual Albuquerque Film & Music Experience (AFMX) features appearances by two stars of the music world: Dave Grusin and Neil Giraldo. For a schedule of film screenings and tickets, visit abqfilmx.com or call 505-265-7866.
Random Acts
World beats: ¡Globalquerque!
This year’s ¡Globalquerque! event is held on Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 21-22, at the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque. There are also educational workshops and activities for both children and adults; for more information visit globalquerque.org.
Autumn officially beings on Monday as the sun enters Libra. In the meantime, let’s appreciate our work (as the sun leaves Virgo), and the bounty of our relationships (as the sun enters sociable Libra).
The Downton Abbey film finds the characters in 1927, with events of the series finale receding into the past. The quotidian life on the estate continues until the family receives a letter informing them that King George V and Queen Mary are stopping in for an overnight visit.
Piano and vocal recitals. Chamber works. Operas, new and historic. Symphonic pieces of all sizes. And some notable performers. Fall in Santa Fe brings with it the start of a new classical music season. This year, nine performance organizations within The City Different present a smorgasbord of offerings — from Bach and Beethoven to Philip Glass and George Gershwin.
Country Music, the new eight-part documentary series by Ken Burns, premieres on Sunday, Sept. 15, on New Mexico PBS, KNME Channel 5.1, at 7 and 9 p.m., Sept. 15-18 and Sept. 22-25.
One man's madness
Terrell's Tune-up
What I did on my summer vacation
Man, I love New Orleans! Great food, voodoo — and music is everywhere. Even the airport is named after Louis Armstrong. Music seems to permeate the streets.
Elizabeth Hulings, the director and co-founder of the Clark Hulings Fund for Visual Artists, believes that artists’ innate creativity is entrepreneurial, if not visionary. They can make art, she says, and make money, too.
Amuse-bouche
All that's missing are the Gauloises: Madame Matisse
If you’re on Cerrillos Road, you’re probably there for tacos, ice cream, an oil change, or to pick up some new business cards — not French food or pastries. Chef Eric De Margerie wants to change that with Madame Matisse, a petite café in a small, boxy space where Revolution Bakery and the recently departed Bodega Prime got their start.
Subtexts
A shameful history brought to light
In The White Devil’s Daughters: The Women Who Fought Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown, Julia Flynn Siler writes about the relatively uncharted subject of women who fought against sex trafficking in San Francisco, especially in the first hundred years of Chinese immigration (1848-1943).
Emotions can flood in like a hurricane at high tide as a full moon, in sensitive Pisces, conjuncts Neptune this Friday morning.
Book Review
"All the Wrong Moves: A Memoir About Chess, Love, and Ruining Everything" by Sasha Chapin
“It’s tricky to explain the appeal of chess to someone who doesn’t play,” Sasha Chapin concedes, yet he makes all the right moves in doing just that in his memoir about the game.
Santa Fe may have the new media fest Currents, but Taos has the Paseo, which brings outdoor projection, performance art, interactive and immersive art installations, and more to the city’s high desert streets each fall. It takes place in the historic downtown district, starting at 7:30 p.m. (sunset) on both days and running to 11 p.m.
Movie Review
Cleaning rituals: "The Chambermaid (La Camarista)"
Life on the lower levels of the service sector can be soul-killing drudgery, and with her debut foray into feature films, Mexican director Lila Avilés takes us backstage at Mexico City’s luxurious Hotel Presidente Internacional, following the day-to-day duties of that invisible, lowly creature, the chambermaid.
The veteran lutenist Ronn McFarlane plays in Santa Fe at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, Gig Performance Space and in Corrales on Saturday, Sept. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at the Historic Old San Ysidro Church.
The Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi is among the 20 stops on David Rasch’s Downtown Santa Fe Architectural Walking Tour, a two-hour Friends of History event offered at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 17, and at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 26.
Random Acts
Transient random noise: Stereolab
The 1990s and 2000s alternative-pop band Stereolab is the live concert at Meow Wolf in Santa Fe on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at 8 p.m. Bitchin Bajas is the guest act.
Random Acts
Stand up for comedy: Michelle Wolf
Michelle Wolf, who received criticism and praise for her sardonic stand-up performance at the 2018 White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington, brings her act to the Stage at Santa Ana Star Casino at 7 and 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 13 and 14.
Random Acts
Strolling to the show(s): Theatre Walk
Theatre Walk Santa Fe takes place from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 14 in such traditional spaces as Teatro Paraguas as well as in alternative spots, including Art of Chocolate/Cacao Santa Fe.
Movie Review
On (not) being Ram Dass
Love him or — ignore him, I guess. I don’t see how you could hate him. But buy his philosophy or reject it, there is one aspect of Ram Dass that seems incontrovertible, and that is the pure joy he radiates.
Reuben Wu is a landscape photographer who’s discovered a unique way to illuminate large swaths of terrain at night. Reuben Wu: Aeroglyphs & Other Nocturnes is on exhibit at Photo-eye Gallery through Nov. 16; reception 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30.
He’s a poet, rapper, songwriter, music producer, screenwriter, and director, but Boots Riley and his influence extend beyond the arts. Riley with speak to Robin D.G. Kelley at the Lannan Readings & Conversations series, Lensic Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Nothing about Major Ridge’s decision to sign the Treaty of New Echota was simple, Mary Kathryn Nagle said. This perceived betrayal of her people by her ancestors has followed her throughout her life. A staged reading of her play takes place at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7.
Amuse-bouche
Jamming signals: Two books on preserves
“There is science involved in making preserves,” Joyce Goldstein writes, “but it is not rocket science.”
Comedy Festival
Better living through CAPITAL LETTERS: Comic Maria Bamford at CloudTop Comedy Festival
Maria Bamford has been performing for audiences since the 1990s. She has grown from a cult figure with a quirky online presence to a borderline household name with a Netflix series, Lady Dynamite. Bamford performs at the CloudTop Comedy Festival 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, New Mexico Museum of Art. The festival runs Thursday-Sunday, Sept. 12-15; venues vary.
In August, eight works by the Transcendental Painting Group were gifted to the New Mexico Museum of Art from the collection of William Dailey and Nicole Panter Dailey. Although short-lived — the movement was disbanded in 1942 — several of the group's members remained active in the region, influencing generations of artists to follow.
Book Review
Poetry by Harjo, Scenters-Zapico, and Chang
Three books of poetry
Mixed Media
Rare viewing, renowned artist: Harry Nadler
From the Sea to the Desert, an exhibition of Harry Nadler's paintings, prints, and drawings, opens at The Taos Center for the Arts’ Stables Gallery on Wednesday, Sept. 11.
Random Acts
Jazz éclat: The Ferenc Nemeth Trio
On Tuesday, Sept. 10, drummer Ferenc Nemeth joins American saxophonist Myron Walden and Grammy Award-winning pianist Ruslan Sirota for an evening of music with an international flair at 7:30 p.m. at Gig Performance Space.
Local food news, September 2019
Most of us will have an ordinary week, with sleepy moments and interesting opportunities to communicate our ideas. But there is also a window open for extraordinary circumstances that call people to rise to their best.
Mixed Media
Tradition with a twist: Lúnasa
Lúnasa's melodies are played on the traditional instruments of pipes, fiddle and flute, but the rhythmic and harmonic style — the bass and guitar style — give the band a contemporary sound; they play 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Lensic Performing Arts Center.
Now in its 40th year as the CCA, the long-running arts nonprofit boasts more than 65,000 visitors annually. CCA invites the community to come celebrate its birthday with a weekend-long series of events. Things get rolling with a 6 p.m. birthday bash in the Tank Garage on Friday, Sept. 6, called Past, Present, Future.
Noah Blaustein reads from his second collection of poetry, After Party, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 10, at Collected Works Bookstore. He is joined by Cyrus Cassells, author of The Gospel according to Wild Indigo.
Bowie: An Illustrated Life is more along the lines of a fictionalized memoir, told through pithy anecdotes and augmented by a plethora of provocative drawings (one on nearly every page).
Movie Review
It languishes in the maudlin
The heroes of It are known as the Losers Club. It: Chapter Two features the same group of talented young actors as the original 2017 film, and also adds older versions of these characters, who are in their 40s.
CHILE PAGES
Movie show times
Culinary Arts
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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
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Amuse-boucheJamming signals: Two books on preserves
- Lobster tales: The strange history of well-known foods
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Amuse-boucheLonely kitchens: Why Americans aren't cooking
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Santa Fe Farmers' Market Institute Community PicnicPicnic with panache: Farmers' Market Institute celebrates local food
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Amuse-BoucheThe comfort-food all-stars: Jimmy D's
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Amuse-boucheA pace for taste: Slow Food Santa Fe
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Amuse-boucheEcstatically pro plant: the joy of vegetarian cookbooks
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Amuse-boucheRaise a glass to Sister George
- Zero-proof inspiration: "Dry"
- 'We are all strangers, together'
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Book Review"Historic Cookery: Authentic New Mexican Food" by Fabiola Cabeza de Baca Gilbert
- Short takes A snapshot of recent reviews