Culture
Surreal play is best of year
Graham Gentz | March 29Simply put, “The Ghost Sonata” is the best play UNM has produced all school year — SCRAP, UNM Facility, Tricklock or otherwise.
Culture
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Bring a toothbrush to the robotic invasion
Alexandra Swanberg | March 24They’re in homes, at workplaces. It’s the March of the Robots, Quelab’s monthly public expo that takes place Saturday.
Culture
unmasking the ‘monsters’
Alexandra Swanberg | March 24Acknowledging the murky part of humanity is what UNM theater student Van Hollenbeck looks to do in his directorial debut.
Culture
Polo requires poise, balance
Hunter Riley | March 22A bike polo game looks kind of like a dance — a dance on bikes, with mallets. The players ride their bikes back and forth on a basketball court, trying to hit a ball the size of a large egg into the goal. The most important skill for a bike polo player is patience, and being able to ride with one hand, two-year bike polo veteran Sebastian Beers said.
Culture
An exhausting trip
Chris Quintana | March 22It took Odysseus 10 years to get back to his wife, and while it took me only 12 hours on a Greyhound bus to get from Oklahoma to Albuquerque, the ride was just as much an odyssey.
Culture
Blackout delivers New Mexican folk
Graham Gentz | March 22It’s like Blackout sits down and says, “How are we going to be exceptional today?” Blackout doesn’t just put on plays.
Culture
And the world comes dancing
Alexandra Swanberg | March 10Global DanceFest artists are challenging spoken language’s limitations. The production kicks off its three-weekend-long, eclectic compilation Friday.
Culture
Give me a Break
Chris Quintana , Antonio Sanchez , Alexandra Swanberg , Graham Gentz and Juanita Martinez | March 10_So you blew all your money on illegal cock fights, genetically enhanced green chile and alcohol. Always with the alcohol, you alcoholic.
Culture
Press’ health critical, but stable
Alexandra Swanberg | March 7Pressing through stormy financial times and evolving mediums, UNM Press’ ink hasn’t run dry. Staff reductions have coincided with steadily declining book sales, but the press’ reputation as the go-to for scholarly writers, novelists and poets endures. Editor-in-Chief Clark Whitehorn said that when the economy tanked in 2008, publishing became unstable, and about half the staff was lost because of layoffs or resignations.
Culture
Show is a must-see for opera first-timers
Alexandra Swanberg | March 3Opera isn’t just for men with monocles and women in ball gowns, but also for college students in tattered jeans.
Culture
Discover math’s hidden beauty
Chris Quintana | March 3Mathematicians are glasses-wearing, pocket-protector-sporting, calculator-wielding geeks. That’s the misconception UNM professors Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner try to dispel in their just-released book, Loving Hating Mathematics.
Culture
Disciples dance alongside mentors
Hunter Riley | March 3It’s not in every department that undergraduate students get to perform alongside their professors. But in the Theatre and Dance Department’s faculty show “Strada,” five faculty members will present six pieces, using more than 60 student dancers from the program. Mary Anne Santos Newhall, a rehearsal coach for the first piece “Panorama,” said the department is interconnected. “One of the beauties of our department is that we all do different things, and we really enjoy working together,” she said.
Culture
Bradley's Books
Andrew Beale | March 3Three times a week, Winning Coffee Co. offers more than food and coffee — it’s got something for the mind, too. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the coffeehouse doubles as a used bookstore. The bookstore, Bradley’s Books, has been operating out of Winning for four and a half years, but owner Bradley Bumgarner-Kirby has been selling books in the UNM area since the mid-70s.
Culture
‘Life of Pi’ author speaks
Chris Quintana | March 2Who would have thought two stuffed animals and a taxidermy shop could have such deep-seated meaning? Yann Martel’s latest book Beatrice and Virgil uses childlike toys to tell a compelling, suited-for-adults allegory about the Holocaust.
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Theatrical mixed bag right before your eyes
Graham Gentz | March 2It’s one-act time again at the Vortex Theatre. In an annual competition, the Vortex selected from nationally submitted works (more than 200 this year alone) to show the eight best in a celebratory exhibition of playwriting talents. The entire showcase is called “Don’t Blink,” and each 10-minute act boasts a local director.
Culture
Documentary stays on fence
Andrew Beale | March 2Luis Carlos Romero-Davis traveled all over the Southwestern United States, Mexico, Colombia and Chile to tell people his story — or, perhaps, other people’s stories. Romero-Davis spent four and a half years making his documentary, “389 miles,” named for the length of the Arizona-Mexico border fence.
Culture
For Your Ears
Andrew Beale | March 1March 1 Busdriver The Spot (504 Yale Blvd. S.E.) All Ages $10 Indie-rap touchstone Busdriver recently told the Alibi that his fans are “antisocial kids who have little or no sex drive.” If this describes you (be honest), you can catch him at local house-party venue The Spot tonight at 8 p.m.
Culture
Frank endures Hitler’s horrors
Graham Gentz | March 1Talking about the Holocaust is not easy. This is especially true for those who survived it. Yet James Still’s play “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank” tells the naked horror of World War II with three powerful stories.
Culture
Musicians’ mettle tested at band battle
Alexandra Swanberg | March 1There was no shortage of guttural grunting over the weekend at Battle of the Bands, but in the end, intelligible lyrics won out. The bands played in order of how many tickets they sold, with the groups that sold the fewest tickets taking the stage first. Highest-ticket-earner Croyal took the $500 grand prize, a label contract and 20 hours of free studio time.
Culture
Backstage Brass
Chris Quintana | February 24They say behind every great man there’s a great woman. Well, in the UNM production of “And Then They Came for Me,” behind a great cast are three great women.
