An intriguing array of black and white and color photos line the walls at Pearl's Dive, all created by UNM student Anny Gilbert. July 1 kicked off the month-long exhibit titled "AlleyStars." Adding to the charm of the 15 photographs, Albuquerque's Unit 7 Drain entertained the crowd that filled Pearl's Dive with an acoustic set.
The Vortex Theatre is presenting a new play festival of homespun material opening this Friday in celebration of the theater's 26th anniversary. The festival, aptly named "Quickies," is a series of shorts with eight original new plays. The Vortex, a community theater, is known for taking risks, but in the last few months, its board seems to be making changes in its roster of shows, leaving the drug paraphernalia-filled plays behind in search of new types of experimentation.
Puerto Rican sensation Plena Libre is on a mission to spread traditional plena-style salsa to the four corners of the world. On June 18, the Outpost Performance Space gave the 14-piece band its first chance to bring this music to the Southwest at Albuquerque's National Hispanic Cultural Center.
Is Unverified a media hoax, a conceptual art project or a band? According to Kate Nelson in an article for the Albuquerque Tribune, "contrary to what you've seen or heard or read, the Albuquerque band Unverified doesn't exist." Scott Warmuth a.k.a. Scotty Unverified would argue otherwise.
The Tricklock Theatre has produced yet another piece of visual and social splendor with the play "Hip Hop Prophets." You'd be a fool to miss out on this one - the play strips away negative, preconceived notions regarding the genre of hip-hop and creates a positive, open-minded view.
by John D. Bess Daily Lobo In the beginning there was the Holy Trinity of stoner rock: Kyuss, Fu Manchu and Monster Magnet. These bands paved the way for heavy-lidded groove and doom bands from around the world. Oddly, from the outset Sweden has maintained a high per capita ratio of great bands in the genre.
Calling all New Mexico bands - the 2003 NM Showcase entry deadline is this Saturday. Showcase producer Michael Feferman established the event two years ago in an effort to get people excited about local musicians. Feferman, who had been living on the East Coast for six years, made his way back to New Mexico and wanted to check out the local music scene.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg, giants in their respective pop music genres, packed the Journal Pavilion in a rowdy and amazing live performance Saturday night. Snoop and his band, the Snoopadellics, opened the show and played for an hour and a half - much to the relief of fans who remembered the half-hour fiasco that was last year's Sunshine Theatre performance.
by John D. Bess Daily Lobo While some may think Hollywood has beat the superhero thing to death, any wannabe-caped crusader would pay their own weight in vintage DC pulp to keep the celluloid versions coming. At first glance, the film adaptation of Marvel Comics' The Hulk appears to be just another studio attempt to cash in on the recent success of the Spiderman and X-Men franchises.
Once again, New Mexico was the nation's epicenter of poetry during its 22nd Annual Taos Poetry Circus from June 6-14. Although the circus had many events, including the annual poetry slam and Tag Team Bout, nothing packed the venue as much as the circus' coup de gras - the World Heavyweight Championship Poetry Bout.
At $6,000, the horror film "Soft For Digging" was the cheapest movie ever screened at the Sundance Film Festival, even cheaper then "El Mariachi" and "The Blair Witch Project." Created by J.T. Petty while at NYU's film school, "Soft For Digging" tells the story of a lonely old man searching for his cat in the woods.
Complete with shaggy locks, three-part harmonies and uber-pop guitar hooks, Rooney is being packaged as a band straight out of the '60s. And that's almost OK for these five L.A. natives. "We made the record in a modern studio and tried to make it appeal to modern people," drummer/singer Ned Brower said.
by Sari Krosinsky Daily Lobo Walking down Central Avenue is a good way to meet an eclectic assortment of interesting people - Central Avenue monthly magazine and open mic are each also a great way to encounter an equally diverse collection of poetry.
When directors Michele Torino and Kevin Paul decided to call their improvisational dance-theater performance "Strange Attractors," they could not have picked a more accordant name. Friday night's performance was not only strange, in a good way, it was also complex, combining modern dance, music and poetry with a hint of acting.
Although notorious for tongue-in-cheek songs about lesbians and drugs, NOFX have rounded the corner of a touchstone career move with their politically-throttling album, The War on Errorism. Despite being aging punk veterans - a status that indicates dying one's hair pink to hide the gray - Fat Mike, Melvin, El Hefe and Smelly's newest release brings a healthy dose of volatile political science to the mosh pit.
by Lisa J. Tabet The Daily Lobo This Tuesday, Kota Yamazaki and Mina Nishumura will take the stage at UNM's Rodey Theatre in "Meronna," a Butoh dance performance. Butoh is a contemporary avant-garde dance form originating in Japan and first performed there in 1959.
One look at the movie "Assassination Tango" and we can see that Robert Duvall has aged. Duvall wrote, directed and produced "Assassination Tango" and, like most of his other films, it centers heavily on character study. Unlike some of his contemporaries, Duvall's age has not made him ineffective.
First-time author Manny Garcia spoke to a small crowd at the UNM Bookstore Saturday about his autobiography An Accidental Soldier: Memoirs of a Mestizo in Vietnam. The novel is based on Garica's experience of becoming an Army ranger at age 17. He began his talk by reading the opening passage in which he made his first kill - a middle-aged Vietnamese woman.
Set in a post World War III environment, "Equilibrium" may be one of the most action-packed movies you have never seen. The film enjoyed limited success in its theatrical run due to poor critical acclaim and an initial release run that consisted of only the top 20 markets - New Mexico was not one of them.
It's a little known fact that Albuquerque has a thriving singer/songwriting scene. It's also a little known fact that Roger Jameson is one of the most consistent singer/songwriters in town. That he hasn't gotten more recognition for that is a shame, but his latest, The Great Compromise (Red Rebel Records), may finally change that.
Solutions by The State News
