Culture

Battle of the Bands: Zagadka

Zagadka tied for first place in UNM’s Battle of the Bands thanks to their powerful sense of identity, developed over the last seven years.

Artist's Avenue: Paul Spella

Albuquerque is sick as a dog … with dance fever! UNM students Paul Spella and Hendrick Onderdonk spin electro house music as DJ team Click Click Bang.

Battle of the Bands ends in toe-tapping tie

After eight and half hours of pounding drums, wailing guitars, crooning vocals and the occasional f-bomb, The Noms and Zagadka emerged the victors of the UNM Battle of the Bands on Sunday in the SUB.

Off the wall

— Some people can do a back flip, others a front flip, but the majority of the population would be hard-pressed to do a front flip over a 10-foot gap.

Bands to battle for their big break

Have you heard the buzz? Someone’s going to win the UNM Battle of the Bands. And it all goes down Sunday at the SUB. With 25 bands already signed up, and more coming in right up to the deadline, which was Tuesday at 5 p.m., Student Activities staff member Jordi Gailard said she expects this to be an extra huge event.

Brewing company to host blues fest

Santa Fe’s going to be a little blue this weekend. But that’s the way Mike Koster intended it. Koster is the director of Southwest Roots Music, the organization that’s bringing four blues artists to the Santa Fe Brewing Company on Saturday for the Santa Fe Blues Festival. “Nobody has done an all-blues fest in Santa Fe before, so this one is starting out pretty small, because it’s an indoor festival,” he said.

A new take on the tormented teen

Imagine that Jason Reitman’s Oscar-winning film “Juno” is a hand towel. Now, imagine wringing all the sentimentality and snappy dialogue out of it and leaving it crumpled up to bake in the sun.

Artist Avenue: Ramona Teo

The walls of UNM senior Ramona Teo’s home are covered in paintings from ceiling to floor. After high school, she lived in Malaysia, where she honed skills for drawing intricate geometric patterns.

Grad student creates complex color

Creating the difference between attractive and stimulating is what artist Beau Carey shoots for in his paintings. Carey mostly works with large-scale oil paintings to reconstruct landscapes.

Alcohol

Parents whose children are busted for underage drinking might say, “Oh, you got busted for alcohol.

Do it in the duke city: A crack of the whip can shake up a dull sex life

There is something about the word kinky that makes me blush every time I say it. It’s a great word.

Portrait of West trades sentimentality for sheep

I have never seen anything quite like “Sweetgrass,” the new documentary premiering Sunday at the Guild Cinema.

A nice, hot spot of hookah

You don’t need tobacco to smoke at this hookah lounge. The Terrene Cafe and Hookah Lounge, on Vassar Drive, is the only hookah lounge in Albuquerque to use tea shisha instead of tobacco shisha.

Shop offers safe haven to explore sexuality

At first glance, Self Serve might look like a boutique for vintage clothes, but it’s stocked with vibrators, rental porn, lubes and condoms. Warm-colored walls of red, brown, purple and green give the single-room sex shop its intimate feel.

Artist Avenue: Meredith Wilder

Meredith Wilder, a junior in the music education program, is signed with local label Royalty Life. She plays guitar and sings at local coffee shops and open mics around town.

Fashion Q$A- March 9

Brazilian workout builds spirited bodies

UNM’s capoeira club, Capoeira Pegadas, sweeps, kicks and handstands its way into the hearts of newbies like Isaac Burleigh. After he saw a demonstration of the Brazilian fighting style in November, he wanted to try it for himself. “I was like ‘Wow this is a pretty extreme workout,’” he said.

Deckin' out Duke City

Do you dress for yourself or for others? There’s a full-fledged ”Fashion Extravaganza” at the SUB on Friday, complete with models, music and food.

'Meta Morph' dances through Mexico

The Department of Theatre and Dance is UNM’s best-kept secret. “Meta Morph,” this year’s faculty dance show, will provide a glimpse into what the dance program has to offer, said Donna Jewell, department head and artistic director. “There’s a lot of talent in the Department of Theatre and Dance,” Jewell said.

Film folks shortchange mini flicks

The 82nd Annual Academy Awards are quickly approaching, and while main contenders like “Avatar” and “The Hurt Locker” are basking in the media’s speculative limelight, there are always nominees that slip through the cracks.