This coming Saturday is May 4—which may not mean a lot to a lot of people, but it’s a special date for serious Star Wars fans. May the 4th (as in “May the Force be with you”) is the day on which we celebrate all things Star Wars-related. And what better way to celebrate the date than by watching George Lucas’ original 1977 space opera Star Wars (aka Star Wars: Episode IV—A New Hope)? New Mexico Museum of Natural History Foundation and the Albuquerque Film & Music Experience host a screening of that very film in the NMMNH’s DynaTheater (1801 Mountain Road NW) starting at 2pm. Tickets are $10 for general admission or $7.50 for AFME sponsors and NMMNH members. Costumes are, of course, encouraged. The best dressed Jedi (or Sith or bounty hunters or whatever) take home free passes to AFME 2019. If that’s not enough for you, Albuquerque’s Central and Unser Library (8081 Central Ave. NW) hosts a day-long celebration featuring crafts, games, prizes and a screening of Solo: A Star Wars Story from noon to 5:30pm. (See this issue’s “Event Horizon” for more information on that one.)
Reel World: Booking Bad Booking Bad
Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande Blvd. NW) welcomes back the stars of locally lensed crime dramedy “Better Call Saul” for an evening of reading and meeting. Bob Odenkirk (“Saul Goodman”) and Rhea Seehorn (“Kim Wexler”) return for the “Second Annual Better Call Saul Book Club.” The two actors share their favorite recent reads with audience members. There will be a Q&A, dramatic readings and at least one “special guest.” This is a free event, but seating is limited. The store closes at 5pm. Attendees may line up beginning at 6pm. The book club starts at 7pm. To take a look at the books Odenkirk and Seehorn are talking about (including Cherry: A Novel by Nico Walker, Everything is Just Fine by Brett Paesel and A Load of Hooey by Bob Odenkirk), go to bkwrks.com/better-call-saul-book-club-2019.
Reel World: Theater, By The Book Theater, By The Book
The historic KiMo Theatre in downtown Albuquerque gets its due this Wednesday, May 8, with a special book launch celebration for KiMo Theatre: Fact & Folklore. This freshly published work of nonfiction is a long-germinating project of SouthWest Writers, a local nonprofit organization dedicated to helping both published and unpublished authors. The book is a collection of “newly told stories, articles, insights, opinions, never-before-heard remembrances and researched facts” about the KiMo Theatre as a performing arts theater and as a movie palace. Past employees, elected officials, performers and audience members share remembrances of the theater’s construction, its famous owners and the city’s vote to buy and preserve the building in 1977, as well as the building’s subsequent renovation and rebirth. The book launch party takes place from 6:30 to 9pm at the KiMo (423 Central Ave. NW). The Kalpulli Ehecatl Aztec Dancers, New Mexico Young Actors, the Ballet Repertory Theatre of New Mexico and the Watermelon Mountain Jug Band will be on hand for the event. There will also be a silent auction of KiMo memorabilia and other items. Admission is free and open to the public.
