If you’ve walked passed Johnson Center recently, you may have noticed a little shack covered in soil, with grass growing out of its side walls and roof. This “earth house” is titled Culture Digest(e).
To the untrained palate, barbecue is barbecue. But not at The Cube on Central Avenue. The restaurant specializes in Memphis, Tenn.-style barbecue, and also offers other American-style food and hot dogs. Owner Manny Aka said he wanted to give UNM students another option for authentic barbecue. The difference between Memphis-style barbecue and other styles, such as Texas-style barbecue, is the meat, Aka said.
Sol Aravena, 37-year-old Chilean and creator of Muza, just moved to Taos to work with Petroglyph Records. Aravena traveled to New Mexico without her original Chilean musicians, but she has teamed up with two musicians from Taos to soothe ears all over the Southwest.
Antonio’s Gun and Delfino’s Dream, by Sam Quinones, is a series of short stories and essays that begins with a break-dancing bricklayer and ends with drug-dealing German Mennonites in Mexico.
“¡Que Viva!” That’s what 20,000 people will chant tonight in Santa Fe as Old Man Gloom, aka Zozobra, burns to the ground. The Kiwanis Club has constructed the 50-foot effigy for the past 85 years on Fort Marcy and Magers Field. Ray A.
In spite of having an incoherent story line, “9” redeems itself with ornate visual design and sound effects.
David Polka knows a career in art isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. Polka comes from a family of artists and got a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art. He’s had shows for the pieces he creates on multiple mediums including wood and paper. Polka said New Mexican art has influenced him without his realizing it, and he will incorporate that style into his future work.
Pizza 9 is challenging anyone with a big enough stomach to break the world record for eating the most pizza slices in 10 minutes.The record, set by Joey Chestnut in 2008, is 45 slices of Chicago-style cheese pizza.Pizza 9’s Tom Epley said the contest is a great way to have fun while consuming ludicrous amounts of pizza.
New Mexico Tea Company’s Tea Bar isn’t your grandmother’s tea house, but there’s no guarantee she won’t go after she hears about it. This summer, owner David Edwards expanded his company, which opened in 2006, into a cozy, full-fledged tea bar, open on the weekends, that serves tea and a light meal. “There’s a stereotype that just grandmothers drink tea,” Edwards said.
The first vineyards in North America were grown in New Mexico, and the nearly 400-year tradition continues today at a winery within Albuquerque city limits. John Calvin, owner of Casa Rondeña Winery, said he began making wine after a successful career as an architect and musician.
Sit down in the deep mountains of South Korea. Prepare to find your inner self. Sang Hwan Kim, the producer of “Zen Buddhism: In Search of Self,” which premieres at a Singapore film festival this month, says that one can spiritually die and be reborn, become one with the body and mind, and ascend to another level of life through meditation. The documentary is set in the Baek Hung (pronounced ‘beck kung’) Temple, deep in the Palgong Mountains of Daegu, South Korea, during a 90-day event known as Dong Ahn Geo, when Zen Buddhist nuns gather for rigorous meditation, fasting and contemplation. Kim, a Korean-American who was born in what is now South Korea, is working on a doctorate in exercise science at UNM.
Ben McClintock has returned to his native Albuquerque, but only for a bit. He graduated from Berklee College of Music for guitar, but figured too many other people did the same thing.
Lev Grossman is after your inner child. In his latest novel, The Magicians, Grossman aims to kill that small hope many of us harbor: If magic existed, the world would be a better place.
“The reason I write music is because I want people to start falling in love again,” said Cliff Campbell, a local guitar teacher and performer. Campbell’s new DVD, “Helio Raie,” takes viewers on a supernatural and kaleidoscopic journey that features the acoustic and electric forms of Campbell’s music.
Zombies are out to steal the supernatural limelight this year at the 41st Bubonicon Convention. The literary science fiction convention — whose mascot is a bubonic plague–infected rat — starts tomorrow at the Albuquerque Grand Airport Hotel.
Spicing up your Saturday night could be as easy as adding a little salsa — but not the kind you put on chips. This weekend you can move your hips to Latin music at a salsa dance class at Salsa-Baby.com, aka Salsa Baby dance studios, on 3901 Central Ave.
Motorcycle madness is roaring down the halls of Chroma Studios. The Downtown art center, which opened in May, will exhibit contemporary motorcycle prints until Saturday in a show called “Keeping it Shiny Side Up.” Jacqui Lewnes, a printmaker featured in the show, said she has always loved motorcycles. “I love riding, especially through open mountains,” Lewnes said.
Tapas are rare in New Mexico, so if you’ve never tried them now is the perfect time to head to the newly opened Cosmo Tapas on Central Avenue. Good tapas always present a dilemma for me, because if they are good, I’ll probably want more than a tapas-sized portion, and that was exactly the case at Cosmo. The food fits right in with the atmosphere, with mood lighting and live music in the lounge every weekend.
There are few authors who can make readers laugh out loud, and David Sedaris does just that.
Solutions by The State News
