For the past two years, Local iQ has put on the Funky Sweater Get Down, a music event where people donate food and clothing to charities. The Funky Sweater Get Down kicks off Friday at 8 p.m. at the Launchpad. "We call it an 'ugly-sweater party' because we like people showing up wearing their used sweaters," said Kevin Hopper, Local iQ's editor.
Choreographer Shira Greenberg does "The Nutcracker" nuttier than the traditional ballet. "Nutcracker on the Rocks" is a modern dance performance set to the music of Van Morrison, the Velvet Underground, Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday and Medeski Martin & Wood.
Self-taught painter Darrin Armijo Wardle's style is a culmination of different periods in Spanish art history, especially cubism, Francisco de Goya's political undertones and the subject of bulls. "Goya's just one of the most incredible artists," Wardle said.
Art studio junior Gabriel Alarid can sometimes be found dragging huge paintings of heads across campus. He also draws faces with black string and gel medium, a move influenced by Jackson Pollock's drip paintings. In 2003, a fire destroyed all his belongings, including his first sketchbook, at his apartment in Denver.
If you're looking for an unusual Christmas gift on a college budget, go no farther than ASUNM's Holiday Arts & Crafts fair for handmade gifts. "We're providing students with an affordable way to buy gifts, but we're also promoting the arts at UNM in general, and arts straight across the board," said Zane White, event director and contributing artist.
College is the perfect time to tap into the culinary side of the brain. There is a plethora of food that lends itself to college cooking. I have talked to many people throughout my life who say their cooking is so bad they manage to burn water. I'm here to tell you, and show you, that you can learn the ways of a college chef.
A condenser mic is enough to amplify Shara Worden's wineglass arrangements onstage. Worden, magical-realism composer/arranger of the band My Brightest Diamond, will bring her string-based music to the Cooperage on Sunday. "I do all the arranging, and I tell everybody what to do," she said.
Artists are decorating and enhancing toilet seats for the Wooden Cow Gallery's art show "Art de Toilette." Elaine Russell, member of the Wooden Cow cooperative, organized the show, which will be displayed in the gallery's bathroom. Artists pay a $20 entry fee, which also pays for the wooden toilet seat.
Rha Goddess is using hip-hop to fight for the rights of people who have mental health issues. The New York-based spoken-word artist and social activist who coined the term "floetry" will stage her one-woman show, "Low," Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at VSA North Fourth Art Center.
On Sunday, MTV's "Total Request Live" issued its swan song, and I wasn't listening. Dubbed "TRL" by its hordes of devotees - among whose ranks I used to count myself - the show marked a generation of awkward and not-so-awkward teenagers who tuned in for a decade to watch, fanatically, their favorite "celebs" battle it out for the top spot on the show's daily music video countdown.
Third time's the charm for open-mic night. Steven Nery took the reins of the open mic at the Blue Dragon before it closed for good two years ago, had a short-lived run at the now-defunct Hunab Hookah Lounge, and then developed the event into an above-average open mic extending beyond the standard guitar/singer setup.
Life is ridiculous. That's the focus of award-winning artist and clown Courtney Cunningham's workshop, "Finding Your Ridiculous: An Introduction to Clown." She will teach a workshop from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Orpheum Arts Space, at 500 Second St.
An ensemble of UNM students is baring it all onstage. Baring their souls, that is. "Full Frontal Poetry," showing at Theatre X, features the confessional works of 13 actor-writers. The show, directed by Paul Ford, explores the themes of sin, confession, journey and the loss of innocence through poetry, fable, art and nursery rhyme.
Dance major Andrea Hernandez-Gonzales is an animated performer, and she's quick on her feet. She's getting ready to dance in this weekend's faculty dance show, and she studies physical therapy so she can one day help injured dancers. Hernandez-Gonzales hails from San Antonio.
Ever since 1985, when women started demonstrating in front of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the performance group the Guerrilla Girls has exposed sexism and racism with their humor. On Friday and Saturday, they will continue to spread their message by screening a video at the KiMo Theatre and offering a workshop at the UNM ARTS Lab.
This year's Pornotopia extended its vision into an art show at the Stove Gallery. Organized by Matie Fricker and Molly Adler, who own the sex shop Self Serve, last weekend's Pornotopia film festival at the Guild Cinema emphasizes using porn as an art form and screening it in public theaters.
The movie "Role Models" is clichéd in its comedic-yet-sincere formula. But the sincerity of the characters and dialogue raises this film above typical Hollywood comedy. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play Danny Donahue and Wheeler, a duo who drive a truck shaped like a minotaur, campaigning against drugs and promoting an equally bad energy drink, Minotaur.
People want a saint but with a cowboy mouth. Or so Cavale tells Slim in "Cowboy Mouth," a 1971 play written by Sam Shepard and his then-lover, musician Patti Smith. The play, produced by SCRAP Productions and opening today at the Box Performance Space at 1025 Lomas Blvd.
Bag-maker Fernando Webb knows what makes a good bag, and it isn't big leather tassels. "They seem unnecessary - they just look stupid," Webb said. "And I really can't stand the designer labels like Chanel or Louis Vuitton, where it's their print all over the bag.
Recording studios and fencing classes - that's what you'll get at church-turned-performance space 1Kind Studios. Studio manager Adrian Griego and sound engineer Roman Garcia came up with the name long before the studio opened in June at 1016 Coal Ave. S.W.
Solutions by The State News
