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A tall, smartly dressed man crosses his left leg over his right as the woman next to him begins to play a cover of “Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side” by Jason Webley on her ukulele. The first few chords play, and the man lifts his microphone and begins to sing the lyrics to a crowd of about 120.
That man was multi award-winning author Neil Gaiman, performing at a charity event at the Jean Cocteau Cinema with his wife, former Dresden Dolls member Amanda Palmer.
Gaiman and Palmer raised $9,000 which will be split between two Santa Fe charities, Warehouse 21, which works with teens and young adults through music and art, and The Food Depot.
“We liked the balance. The idea that we’re helping feed the local deserving people who need food, on the one hand, and also feeding people’s souls,” Gaiman said.
The fundraising event was the idea of acclaimed author and new owner of the Cinema, George R. R. Martin. Martin, who lives in Santa Fe, said he wanted to give back to the community.
“It’s nice to help this whole area revitalize,” he said.
UNM senior Katherine Weinberg, a linguistics major with a concentration in American Sign Language, said she drove from Albuquerque for the show because Gaiman has been one of her favorite authors for a long time.
Weinberg wasn’t disappointed; Palmer’s music resonated with her and Gaiman’s storytelling was captivating, she said.
“They are so kind. They are a very, very kind couple to their fans. I think that’s really important and says great things about their character,” she said.
Senior business major Susie Davenport said she was so excited she could barely speak.
One of Gaiman’s short stories, “Harlequin,” inspired Davenport’s senior thesis. Her thesis explores the harlequin character in literature and how it is used to help readers deal with death, she said.
Davenport was unfamiliar with Palmer’s work prior to the show, but after hearing her play live, Davenport said she wants to buy a ukulele.
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“I never had the desire to play the ukulele before and now I do, so thanks Amanda,” she said.
Development Director for The Food Depot Jill Gentry said the nonprofit organization serves an area of 26,000 square miles and puts 93 cents of every donated dollar toward food for people in need.
The $4,500 the group will receive from the fundraiser will go directly to the purchase of food for families, she said.
“We certainly appreciate them thinking of us,” Gentry said.
“There’s a very significant hunger problem in northern New Mexico. We’ve got one in five adults going hungry and one in three children going hungry, and we need absolutely as much support as we can get.”
According to the organization’s website, Warehouse 21 uses mentor-based learning to help teens and young adults develop skills in performing, media and visual arts.
Martin said the group will also receive the old projection screen from the Jean Cocteau for Warehouse 21’s on-site movie house.
The Sunday-night show had sold out in a matter of hours, after he and Gaiman posted about the event on their websites, Martin said.
There had been no other advertising for the show, but no seat was left empty during the performance.
“We couldn’t have fit more people in there unless we’d greased them up and stuck them to the ceiling,” Martin said. “We could have filled up the Lensic for this.”
Cinema manager Jon Bowman said this was the first major charity event for the theater since its re-opening on Aug. 9.
Originally named Collective Fantasy, the theater was Santa Fe’s first art house when it opened in 1976, he said. It was renamed the Jean Cocteau Cinema in 1983 when Brent Kliewer purchased it from the four original owners. In 1989 it was purchased by the Trans-Lux Corporation. The corporation closed the business in 2006.
“It was always George’s favorite hall,” Bowman said. “He kept coming by and seeing it was closed, and he would say ‘I wish somebody would open it. I wish somebody would open it.’ Finally he just said ‘I think I could open that,’ so he did.”
Gaiman and Palmer have been hosting events, known as “The Neil and Amanda Show,” since 2011, but this was the first time the audience had been smaller than 2,000 people, Gaiman said.
“I loved it. It was really nice doing an event where we could see everybody,” he said. “The audience seemed to enjoy it. They laughed at my jokes, which is always nice, and nobody threw fruit or cans or bottles when I sang.”
