Prescription rules pit addiction activists against medical groups
By Margaret Wright
Legislation that aimed to curb the state's epidemic rates of opioid abuse and overdose deaths became a hot-button issue during the 30-day legislative session.
A big thanks to Showcase participants and attendees
Winners and nominees—23 of them— rocked over a thousand attendees at five venues on March 24, 2018. It was a blast and we’ll see you at next year’s shindig. Here for posterity (and your browsing pleasure) are the winners and runners-up.
After more than a year of death-defying escapes, an environmental rule was repealed on Monday, Feb. 6, with a unanimous vote by a Gov. Susana Martinez-appointed board.
Watching the Republican presidential candidates’ mind-numbing televised forums all winter long, this question echoed through Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino’s mind: How do we get past conjured fear?
You may recognize Joel Baca as the guy standing behind your head. He's cut hair Downtown at Ace Barbershop for the past two years. That's also where his A Collection of Works show is on display. The 33-year-old artist and barber was born and raised in Albuquerque. His father, the late Eddie Baca, and second cousin, Freddy Armijo, are well-known for wood carving. "I tried to pick up from them and learn a lot from them as a child and growing up in my teens," he says.
Duke City Rep’s noble undertaking riddled with monotony
By Christie Chisholm
More than a creepy story about a son murdering his father and marrying his mother, Oedipus is a tale about fate. In the Greek tragedy, King Oedipus is lauded among his citizens for one specific great feat of wisdom: answering a question posed by the tormenting Sphinx, who in response throws herself off a cliff. Yet the man who solved a riddle that had plagued a thousand men is terribly unaware of his own circumstances.
Being a generalist might be a good thing if you’re, say, a Renaissance man or a contestant on “Jeopardy!” With food, though, I prefer my chefs to focus on one area of expertise. But that doesn’t apply to Pasión Latin Fusion.
Technically dazzling 3D dance doc likely to leave viewers dizzy
By Devin D. O’Leary
Mad filmmaker Werner Herzog may have conjured up a whole new genre when he directed his 3D art-house documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams. That film—combining ancient cave art with eye-popping 3D technology—became an award-winning hit. Now, fellow German auteur Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire, Until the End of the World) has followed suit, creating a 3D documentary about avant garde dance choreographer Pina Bausch.
Apparently we are not, as a nation, over that whole “found footage” thing. Obviously, after the chart-topping release of the theatrical superhero flick Chronicle and the successful debut of the jungle-clad horror series “The River,” America is still perfectly happy to watch handheld shaky-cam footage of stuff they can’t quite see happening. From The Blair Witch Project to Cloverfield to Apollo 18 to The Devil Inside, Hollywood has worked long and hard to turn “shot-on-video faux documentary” into a genre—mostly because it costs next to nothing to make.
Spells, a low-budget romantic comedy shooting in Santa Fe starting mid-March, is looking for two featured roles. Producers need an “intelligent” female, aged 20 to 30, and a “handsome” male, 20 to 35. Both must be good at comedy. This film is being made under a low-budget SAG contract. Both SAG and non-SAG actors will be considered. The shoot is expected to last two weeks. To sign up for an audition, please submit photos and résumés electronically to daid@cybermesa.com.
Good literature is a conversation between the author and the characters, or the author and the subject—but the best draws readers into a conversation with themselves. Comprised of literary and thoughtful folk, The Glass Menageries invites you to converse while you sway to inspired dream pop that paints divine mind pictures.
Frank and Pilar Leto host a music and dance spectacular
By Mel Minter
This weekend, Frank and Pilar Leto’s Carnaval extravaganza—including costumes, music, dance, stilt walkers and more—moves into the National Hispanic Cultural Center to celebrate Caribbean, Brazilian and Louisianan traditions of the festival.
Albuquerque’s best chefs share a five-star dinner at home
By Christie Chisholm
All right, sweethearts, here’s the deal. Valentine’s Day is on Tuesday, which means restaurants are booked solid or filling up fast. If you haven’t already made a reservation, you could be gambling with your love life. But there’s no need to panic.
You, our beloved readers, submitted hundreds of short messages to your sweethearts. We printed them in this week’s issue, and you can read them all here.
It’s Gov. Martinez’ bash, and she’ll pack it with controversy if she wants to
By Marisa Demarco
The guv stuffs even brief sessions with contention: 2012 brings us relentless hammering on driver's licenses, an embattled education secretary, abortion, medical marijuana, bullying and prescription pills.
Love is a many-splendored thing, and music reflects this complexity. Songs are written about first love, obsessive love, unrequited love, heartbreak and so on. Whether you consider Valentine’s Day a silly Hallmark holiday or a nice annual summit on the true meaning of the L word, here's an eclectic soundtrack that ranges from torch songs to tortured ballads. Raunch, romance and resentment are represented in this sonic valentine.
A trio of snakes suggestively swarming a red, scantily clad cartoon girl calls attention to an interesting lineup at Low Sprits (2823 Second Street NW) on Friday, Feb. 10. Sad Baby Wolf, St. Petersburg, Alan George Ledergerber and DJ Nicolatron provide sounds—the $5 show begins at 9 p.m. (Jessica Cassyle Carr)
Ten dark, disturbing, entirely screwed-up (and yet still romantic) films for Valentine’s Day
By Devin D. O’Leary
We don’t hate Valentine’s Day around here. We’re not that jaded. Really. But we do have a very different idea of what constitutes romance. Sappy Hollywood rom-coms in which Julia Roberts or Jennifer Aniston or (God forbid) Katherine Heigl eventually falls in love with some guy she allegedly hates is not our idea of love. Real love is painful, messy and frequently fatal. Love, to quote Def Leppard, bleeds. Just ask Romeo and Juliet.
At Super Bowl XLVI, car companies clearly ran over beer companies. Anheuser-Busch—normally the King of Commercials—fumbled in 2012. The Budweiser brewer tossed off a couple of forgettably nostalgic spots before bottoming out with the introduction of Bud Light Platinum, which ... has a higher credit limit than other beers? I have no idea. Car companies, however, pulled out the stops with a string of notable ads. Hot babes made a good showing, as always, hawking cars, more cars and domain name registration. Dogs also had their day, starring in five spots (six if you count Snoopy in the MetLife commercial). Monkeys, bears and babies, on the other hand, seem to have worn out their welcome. Good riddance to them.
After a successful screening at the state Legislature’s New Mexico Film and Media Day, Brent Morris and David Jean Schweitzer’s Made in New Mexico will be shown at Albuquerque’s KiMo Theatre on Thursday, Feb. 9. The documentary explores the burgeoning film industry in New Mexico and the impact our state’s various tax incentives have had on the business of making movies. In addition to the documentary, there will be several shorts by New Mexico filmmakers. This includes the premiere of Governor’s Cup-winning Director Ramona Emerson’s “Opal,” about an 8-year-old Navajo girl taking on a town bully. A Q & A with filmmakers follows the screenings, which get underway at 7 p.m.
Valentine's Day is the chocolate industry's holiday season. With an eye toward this February's love-fest, the International Labor Rights Forum purchased an advertising slot on a JumboTron outside the Super Bowl's Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis on which to broadcast a video called “Hershey's Chocolate, Kissed by Child Labor.”
Finnish filmmaker goes Gallic for sentimental silent film tribute
By Devin D. O’Leary
In a year that celebrates the closed-mouth, open-eyed history of film by handing a Best Picture nomination to Michel Hazanavicius’ silent masterpiece The Artist, it seems only appropriate that we’d get another film from Finnish writer-director Aki Kaurismäki. Throughout his distinctively oddball indie film career (Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Drifting Clouds, The Match Factory Girl, The Man Without a Past), Kaurismäki has always shown a greater kinship to the silent film technicians of yesteryear than to the media-savvy moviemakers of today. His latest effort, the alternately gritty and whimsical modern fairy tale Le Havre, plays out like a politically minded remake of Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid.
Santa Fe’s LOW ON HIGH smooshes together. Maybe that’s why the filmmaking duo is up for a Grammy.
By Marisa Demarco
Married 17 years, Santa Fe residents Jon Moritsugu and Amy Davis are a band, a filmmaking team, and, after directing a video for TV on the Radio, Grammy nominees.
The first thing everyone points out about FOX’s new series “Alcatraz”—and I guess I’m doing it, too—is that it’s another mysterious, island-based sci-fi series from producer J.J. Abrams (who gave us a little thing called “Lost”). Unless the guy announces he’s rebooting “Fantasy Island” next, I wouldn’t get too worked up about the man’s creative obsessions, though.
Instituto Cervantes continues its Latin American film series this week at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. On Thursday, Feb. 2, the Bank of America Theatre at the NHCC (1701 Fourth Street SW) will screen the 2005 Ecuadorian film Anytime Soon (Esas No Son Penas). It’s the story of five women from Quito, buddies as teens, who reunite to visit an ailing friend after 15 years. Think The Big Chill, but with fewer hippies and more of an accent. The film screening is free and will be presented with English subtitles. Show gets underway at 7 p.m. Get there early to guarantee a seat.
Artistic team Todd Ryan White and Jack Wesley Schneider show their appreciation for metal subculture with a music series / exhibit of new work entitled DAMNED IF YOU DOOM.
King’s bastilla has to be one of the craziest things I’ve ever eaten. A specialty at Kasbah, it looked like a flying saucer constructed out of phyllo dough. It was stuffed with a mix of chicken, almonds, cinnamon and eggs, then was dusted with sugar and splashed with rosewater. The flavors took off in so many ways at once I could hardly keep track of them all. I didn’t even know if I liked it, but I kept eating it.
Council considers eliminating Downtown-UNM district
By Carolyn Carlson
Councilor Isaac Benton’s left-leaning region would be carved up under a Republican-backed plan, with much of it added to the North Valley district. Benton would lose his seat after the 2013 election.
French horn quartet fuses pop hits and classical training
By Sam Adams
Danielle Kuhlmann (aka Velvet Barbie) is one quarter of French horn quartet Genghis Barbie. Like the other members of her ensemble, she's a classically trained brass player who began her lessons in grade school. But rather than sticking to the traditional route of playing symphony halls and swanky tea-time luncheons, she and her bandmates decided to go pop.
New Mexico santeros and santeras on devotional folk art
By Lizzy von Stange
Saint-making is a devotional practice that tells the story of Catholic saints through retablos, panel paintings of saints, and bultos, hand-carved statues of saints. A talk on the subject at El Chante: Casa de Cultura on Saturday, Feb. 4., also features artwork from 14 New Mexican saint-makers in a show titled The Art of Devotion: Traditional and Contemporary.
In the fall, 516 ARTS put out a call for New Mexicans to submit pieces that would serve as the face of the gallery's five-year anniversary show. Nearly 300 artists responded with an eclectic range of works. 516 Executive Director Suzanne Sbarge decided to put the judging process in the hands of renowned critic Peter Frank, after they met while Frank was in town on assignment. He operates out of L.A. as associate editor of Fabrik magazine and as a contributor to the Huffington Post. Frank may not be local, but he says he has a soft spot and deep regard for art from the Southwest. He whittled down the pool of entrants to about 80 works, with each artist represented by one piece. It's the largest group show 516 has put on to date, with talent representing more than 30 cities statewide.
