Since its foundation in Burque just over a year ago, online magazine Pyragraph has wowed artists, filmmakers, authors, musicians, designers and other working visionaries all over with its bevy of useful, no-nonsense articles and personal stories gleaned directly from the trenches of the creative economy. Advice and essays run the gamut—Pyragraph writers have covered everything from the art of the hustle to how performance rights organizations work to becoming a set decorator on “Breaking Bad”—but it’s all geared at helping professional and amateur creators define success on their own terms and achieve it one juicy gig at a time. In advance of a technical upgrade on their website, they’re throwing the Pyragraph ReLaunch Variety Show & Fundraiser on Saturday, April 26, at 8pm, a shindig featuring hilarious storyteller James Judd plus the canny folk warbles of AJ Woods, belly dancers moving to music by The Khans, aerialists from AirDance ArtSpace, a t-shirt transfer/decal station and much more. The night’s entertainment at ArtBar (119 Gold SW) isn’t cheap—$20, unless you’re not a member, in which case it’s $25—but it’s an exceptionally entertaining opportunity to mingle with good people who are invested up to their eyeballs in the creative community.
Culture Shock: Portmanteau Words Portmanteau Words
A little yellow suitcase decorated with a bright design by a renowned Zuni artist becomes something much larger in J. René Peña’s one-woman show, Traveling with Angels, playing at the South Broadway Cultural Center (1025 Broadway SE) on Saturday, April 26, at 7:30pm. Peña’s hour-long show is a deeply personal story about loss, personal guidance and adventure that leavens grief with laughter. Dr. Alex Seowtewa, the well-known Zuni artist who merged Native religious traditions with Catholicism in his paintings of kachinas on the walls of the Old Zuni Mission, becomes a character in the unflinching honesty and sublime spirituality of this Gallup native’s story. Tickets are $20, $5 of which benefits Carrie Tingley Hospital; purchase them at brownpapertickets.com.
Culture Shock: Moving Witness Moving Witness
The Holocaust changed everything—no one can doubt that, and yet its meaning continues to evolve, amplify and assert itself as a legacy that must be uniquely dealt with by each successive generation. Ani Ma’amin (I Believe) commemorates and explores this struggle through the modern, emotional movements of five dancers at Keshet Center for the Arts (4121 Cutler NE) on Saturday, April 26, at 8pm and Sunday, April 27, at 2pm. First performed in 2008, Ani Ma’amin is choreographed and directed by Shira Greenberg, Keshet’s founder and artistic director. Video testimonies from Holocaust survivors and 2nd-generation survivors as well as poetic interludes add to the beauty and impact of this powerful artwork. Tickets are available through brownpapertickets.com or at the door, $15 general admission, $8 students/seniors.
