An open letter from GiG Performance Space in Santa Fe

Hi Friends,

We are so grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support for GiG Performance Space (1808 Second Street, Suite H, Santa Fe) this holiday season. It has been really been nice to be on the receiving end of all this holiday cheer. And you have our sincere gratitude for supporting more than 200 great performances each year at GiG!

Laura Marrich

Promoter, producer, emcee, DJ, graf-artist, skateboarder, business-owner, punk rock frontman—Speed One fits a lot of places

Speed One is not bitter.

Sure, he's part of Albuquerque's early gen hip-hop, among the first in the 505 to record original material and promote local shows.

Sure, he was a member of Small Town Desert Funk Mob in ’96 alongside the now-famous Xzibit, who lived with Speed as the two finished their trek through Cibola High School. And though Xzibit dropped the "A" from his handle (it stands for Alvin) just like he dropped Albuquerque, Speed wishes him the best. "I'm content with what I'm doing," he says. "I get in where I fit in."

Question and Answer

Q: What's flat, shiny and sounds like trashy coed Brooklyn punk and nail-spitting hardcore from Las Cruces?

A: The new CD split from Four Deadly Questions and The Answer Lies! $8 at GC Records (www.gcrecords.com). (LM)

A quick reference guide to an all-ages New Year

New Year's isn't so much fun when you’re under 21, what with all the hype around drinking to excess as one last hurrah for the passing year. But, honestly, the younger crowd has it easier in some ways: no need for designated drivers, no waking up next to a stranger or forgetting the events of the previous night. Take advantage of your freedom from alcohol-induced stupidity and enjoy a musically stimulating all-ages New Year. Here are a few places around town open to all for the dawn of 2007.

Virtuous.com is a friendly alternative to online ticketing giants

Albuquerque started seeing the virtuous.com tag on the Launchpad's calendar about three years ago. Working primarily with independent promoters, the advance ticketing service gets props for donating 10 percent of its profits to charities in the communities where the tickets are being sold. In Burque's case, that's Roadrunner Food Bank.