interview

courtesy of 516 ARTS

Former Albuquerquean mixes the old with the new

Kai Margarida-Ramírez de Arellano was born in Puerto Rico but spent most of her formative years in New Mexico. Her art, in part, explores the clash between the two cultures, as well as family history and sexual politics.

• arts
• 516 arts
• papel picado
• interview
• puerto rico
• kai margarida-ram??rez de arellano

Courtesy of the Tamarind Institute

The Tamarind Institute looks to the future

With the 50th anniversary of Tamarind Institute still glimmering in the rearview mirror, I sat down to talk with gallery director Arif Khan about fast forward: four for the future, which features pieces by Anna Hepler, Fay Ku, Mark Licari and Ethan Murrow. The show is a mix of work made by these artists during their time at Tamarind and in their own studio practices, ranging from high-definition film to inflatable sculptures, wall drawings and watercolors.

• tamarind institute
• david leigh
• arts
• interview

20th Century Fox

How Albuquerque got its nerd back

Fanboys rejoice.

The Albuquerque Comic Con will be the first “full-blown comic book convention” to hit Albuquerque in more than a decade, according to event organizer and Tall Tales Comics owner Jim Burleson. On Saturday, Jan. 15, and Sunday, Jan. 16, four rooms in the Hilton Albuquerque will be dedicated to gaming, vendors and panels, as well as celebrity photo ops.

• comic con
• tall tales
• art
• gene ha
• andy kuhn
• david della rocco
• interview

courtesy of Marc Maron

Comic returns to his hometown for one stand-up night

Marc Maron isn’t famous, but he should be. The stand-up comedian and ex-Albuquerquean has appeared on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” three-dozen times and “The Late Show With David Letterman” four times, and he’s had two of his own half-hour specials on Comedy Central. He was one of the voices behind the now-defunct “Morning Sedition” radio show on Air America. Plus, he was the irate promoter in Almost Famous (an appropriate title for Maron) who orders his minions to “Lock the gates!” on the protagonists’ hurtling tour bus.

• marc maron
• the cell theatre
• wtf with marc maron
• comedy
• stand-up
• carrot top
• morning sedition
• conan o’brien
• interview

An interview with filmmaker Alex Cox

Bursting out of the streets of Liverpool and onto the avenues of Los Angeles, filmmaker Alex Cox made a resonant cultural impact with 1984’s Repo Man. At the time, Universal Pictures didn’t understand the satyrical punk rock comedy; but it became a major cult hit on the burgeoning home video market anyway. Cox followed it up with 1986’s music industry biopic Sid & Nancy. A string of increasingly cultish films (Straight to Hell, Walker, Highway Patrolman, Searchers 2.0) trickled out in slow but steady succession.

Get into the mind of William Gibson

Ask any aficionado to list the foundational texts of cyberpunk and you will surely hear mention of William Gibson's 1984 debut novel, Neuromancer. Cyberpunk, for those not in the know, is a science-fiction sub-genre of urban-noir in which characters repurpose futuristic technologies to get by on the fringes of dystopian societies. Since those early days, the present has made great strides towards catching up with Gibson's imagined future. His latest cycle of books, which concludes with the just-released Zero History, examine our science-fictional present with the same skill set he once used to depict the 2030s. The Alibi caught up with Gibson through the magic of cellular technology in advance of his upcoming talk at the Albuquerque Public Library. In other words, the future is almost here.

• cyberpunk
• william gibson
• books
• interview

The Alibi’s Patricia Sauthoff speaks with authors Stephanie Syman and Mark Singelton about the cultural history of yoga in America

Yoga-junkies, wrap your mind around asanas and more with the Alibi’s interviews with authors Stefanie Syman and Mark Singleton. We spoke with Syman over the phone during the first leg of her book tour and sat down with Singleton at Santa Fe’s Body Café (which explains the clinking in the background). Both interviews have been edited slightly for time and to take out the bits where we wandered off topic. Now, pardon us, all this yoga research reminds us we’ve got a pose to perfect…

Ann Summa

Power pop turns folkie—a chat with Peter Case

In 1975 Jack Lee, Paul Collins and Peter Case formed the short-lived but influential power pop group The Nerves. Most notably, the band is responsible for the classic track "Hanging on the Telephone," later made famous by Blondie. The group also had a hand in founding the West Coast punk scene—but just as the cultural explosion got its footing in L.A., The Nerves split in 1978. Collins and Case formed The Breakaways, and Lee went solo. Case went on to find success as the frontman for The Plimsouls, but by the mid-’80s that band dissolved and Case returned to his solo roots.

An interview with writer/director Harmony Korine

At the tender age of 19, Harmony Korine wrote the controversy-courting screenplay for Larry Clark’s the-kids-are-not-alright opus Kids. He followed that by writing and directing a couple of bizarro, nihilistic dramas (or are they comedies?) about disaffected youth and their demented families (Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy). In 2002, he reunited with Larry Clark for the seedy suburban drama Ken Park (a film so blunt in its depiction of sex, drugs and violence among teens that it’s still not available on DVD in America). In 2007, he directed his slickest, most expensive and most puzzling indie film, Mister Lonely. Now, in 2010, comes Trash Humpers, the 37-year-old Korine’s tribute to ... well, it’s hard to say.

Mike Ruiz makes others look (and feel) good

Mike Ruiz is a photographer, model and TV personality known for his work on “America’s Next Top Model,” “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and magazine spreads. Ruiz has been named Grand Marshal of the 2010 Albuquerque Pride Parade.

• lgbt
• albuquerque pride
• photography
• mike ruiz
• america’s next top model
• rupaul’s drag race
• new mexico aids services
• arts
• interview

galfromdownunder.com

An Aussie lady bikes around an island

From late 1999 to early 2000, Lynette Chiang traveled by folding bicycle through Cuba. An Australian, Chiang wasn’t subject to the restrictions on visiting Cuba that Americans are, giving readers a detailed look at the forbidden land. Her memoir, The Handsomest Man in Cuba, published in 2007, details her solo travels around the island in a quirky first-person account, taken from Chiang’s diary. The Alibi caught up with Chiang in advance of her rolling through Albuquerque for a slide show presentation and talk.

Just a Couple of Chickens

Corinne Tippett never cared one way or the other about chickens. She harbored no childhood dreams of becoming a farmer, an egg seller or a butcher. But one day in 2004, without much planning, the Northern New Mexico resident found herself with a roost full of more than 100 birds—chicken, ducks, geese, quail, pheasants and a myriad of other tiny, feathered hatchlings.