Prescription drug costs, wildcat strikes, Google’s union-busting and racism in forced sterilization among top 10 stories, showing patterns of normalized censorship
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DECEMBER 15-21, 2021 | Volume 48, Issue 50
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BANKING BUILT FOR
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OPINION 5 NEWS 7 DAYS, CLAYTOONZ AND THIS MODERN WORLD 6 STILL ON THE DIME 9 Former deputy chief public defender accused of sexual assault still works for New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender
WE’RE HERE FOR YOU
A DENT IN THE DARKNESS 11 Risk factors for suicide among youths remain high and Santa Fe organizations work to fill in the gaps COVER STORY 12 PROJECT CENSORED Prescription drug costs, wildcat strikes, Google’s union-busting and racism in forced sterilization among top 10 stories, showing patterns of normalized censorship
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SFR PICKS 17 Meet McDowell, merry Medina, funky funk and that one good night of holiday jamz
CULTURE EDITOR ALEX DE VORE
THE CALENDAR 18
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT JULIA GOLDBERG
3 QUESTIONS 20
STAFF WRITERS BELLA DAVIS WILLIAM MELHADO
WITH VEGAN BAKER THOMAS KAMHOLZ MUSIC GOLD TIDES STRIKE IT RICH 23 Fun-loving band keeps things tight while writing serious hooks X MARKS THE SPOT 25 A Q&A with ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s Jason Reece MOVIES 26
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find love and your new best friend at Española Humane and these adoption events: Saturday, 12/18 Violet Crown Cinema 1606 Alcaldesa St, Santa Fe 9am–noon Railyard District Saturday, 1/8 PetSmart 11am–2pm 3561 Zafarano Drive, Santa Fe Saturday, 1/15 Petco 11am–2pm 2006 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe Saturday, 1/29 PetSmart 11am–2pm 3561 Zafarano Drive, Santa Fe BISSELL Pet Foundation Holiday Hope Adoption Special through Dec. 20. Adult pets fee waived; $25 adoption fee for puppies and kittens Browse available pets and fill out an application at: www.espanolahumane.org SFREPORTER.COM •• DECEMBER DECEMBER15-21, 15-21,2021 2021 SFREPORTER.COM
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Mail letters to PO Box 4910, Santa Fe, NM 87502; or email them to editor@sfreporter. com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.
ONLINE, NOV. 30: “UNINVESTED PROPS?”
SURRENDER? I read your article on NM educators requesting NMOGA to stop using NM schools and students as props. Will you do a follow up article asking these educators if they would surrender any raises and refund any tuition reimbursements the oil and gas industry afforded them?
FARHON SMITH FARMINGTON
HELP WANTED CONSTRUCTION CAREERS The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 is now law and will provide an estimated $3.725 billion to New Mexico for highway improvements, bridge replacement and repairs, expanding connections to high-speed internet, improvements in water and wastewater systems, building energy infrastructure and more.
Construction firms are struggling to find enough qualified workers as they continue to be impacted by volatility in materials costs, project delays and supply chain disruptions that are part of today’s pandemic reality. That is why Associated General Contractors, New Mexico Chapter, and Associated Contractors of New Mexico have launched a campaign called “Let’s Get New Mexico Working” to grow our construction workforce. As part of this campaign we are providing: A resume and job board website—agc-nm.org/ resume_job_board.php—where anyone can post their resume for free, see jobs advertised by members in the southwestern US and seek out career coaching, assistance with writing a resume, reference testing and a career learning center. Social media (Facebook.com/letsgetNM working and Instagram.com/letsgetnm working/) will feature testimonials from a wide variety of New Mexicans in the construction industry. For information, call (505) 842-1462.
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CLINTON BEALL, BOARD PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATED GENERAL CONTRACTORS, NM CHAPTER AND JAMES FIELDS, BOARD PRESIDENT, ASSOCIATED CONTRACTORS OF NEW MEXICO SFR will correct factual errors online and in print. Please let us know if we make a mistake: editor@sfreporter.com or 988-7530.
SANTA FE EAVESDROPPER “I wouldn’t work for that asshole for anything.” “Right. Who talks about putting pepper spray on their balls at the dinner table?” —Overheard in The Compound ladies room
“I don’t know if it’s eight hours worth of interesting.” —Overheard at Kitchenailty as two women discussed the new Beatles documentary
Send your Overheard in Santa Fe tidbits to: eavesdropper@sfreporter.com SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM • • DECEMBER DECEMBER15-21, 15-21,2021 2021
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S FREP ORTER.COM / FUN
KIND OF WEIRD IT HASN’T SNOWED IN TOWN YET If it does snow while this issue of SFR is on the streets, disregard.
CITY HIRES MORE THAN TWO DOZEN SANTA FEANS FOLLOWING HIRING EVENT Pretty interesting since we heard everybody hates working now.
NETFLIX SURE CANCELED THAT LIVE ACTION COWBOY BEBOP SHOW PRETTY QUICKLY See you, space cowboys. Someday! Somewhere!
OSHA TO INVESTIGATE AMAZON AFTER POOR TORNADO PREPAREDNESS LED TO WORKER DEATHS IN ILLINOIS Did we say “poor tornado preparedness?” Because we meant the company doesn’t actually care if its workers live or die.
FIRST OMICRON VARIANT CASE APPEARS IN NEW MEXICO...
SHI
T!
O, frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
...BUT 99% OF SANTA FEANS HAVE REPORTEDLY RECEIVED AT LEAST ONE VACCINE DOSE We like our vaccination rates to match the number of people terrified they won’t be able to afford to live here much longer.
OUTDOOR RECREATION SEEMS TO BE BOUNCING BACK IN NM We sometimes look outside from our window. Does that count?
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DECEMBER DECEMBER15-21, 15-21,2021 2021 •• SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM
READ IT ON SFREPORTER.COM PORTABLE CARE Santa Fe will provide staff next summer for a mobile hygiene unit intended to help the homeless access showers and toilets and sinks.
W E A R E WAY M O R E TH A N W E D N E S DAY H E R E A R E A CO UP LE O F O N LI N E E XC LUS I V E S :
BUG OUT Harrell House Bug Museum leaving Santa Fe Place mall—to be replaced by national chain.
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PA R K
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WARNING FOR P NM CUSTOMERS
THERE’S ONLY ONE PNM. DON’T FALL FOR A PHONE SCAM. BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR PHONE SCAMS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. Scammers can trick your caller ID to look like PNM is calling you. They then demand that you pay your overdue bill with a prepaid card or electronic bank transfer within an hour to avoid having your power disconnected. We would never do this.
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: • Scammer has a caller ID that reads PNM or will add a 505-prefix to appear local • Scammer may know your name, address, and will claim you are past due on your PNM bill • Scammer will claim a technician is on their way to disconnect your power within an hour • Scammer will demand you pay over the phone to prevent power from being disconnected • Scammer only takes payment over the phone via a pre-paid card, gift card, or electronic transfer • If the call is at odd hours, the weekend, or on a holiday, it’s always a scam
WHAT TO DO IF YOU SUSPECT A SCAMMER: • Initiate the call yourself. Firmly tell them you will contact PNM directly using the number on your bill, which is 888-DIAL PNM (888-342-5766).
• Don’t take the claims as truth. Check your PNM bill to verify your balance. You may also text PNM by sending #BAL to 78766 to immediately get your account balance.
• Check the clock and calendar. Scammers often call outside of business hours or on the holidays. PNM does not shut off power over the weekend or on holidays and never disconnects power without providing written notice in advance.
• Never give banking information over the phone unless you initiate the call to PNM. We do not demand banking information by email or phone and will not force you to pay by phone as your only option.
• If the caller demands payment by a pre-paid card, gift card, or wiring money, it is a scam. Legitimate companies don’t demand payment by cash reload cards (like MoneyPak, Vanilla, or Reloadit), gift cards (like iTunes or Amazon), electronic bank transfer (like Zelle) or cryptocurrency (like Bitcoin).
• Listen to your instincts. If the caller is convincing but threatening, then simply hang up and initiate contact with PNM yourself. REPORT THE SCAM: Call 888-DIAL-PNM to report any suspected scam. You can also report a scam to the FBI. By reporting the details, the FBI is better able to track scams and suspects. Reports can be made at ic3.gov. Visit PNM.com/scams to learn how you can protect yourself and your business.
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Still on the Dime Blair did not respond to multiple requests for an interview with SFR, and Baur, through a spokeswoman, refused to be interviewed. The public defender agency did, however, provide the contours of its ongoing working relationship with Blair through a response to a request under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act and emailed responses from agency spokeswoman Maggie Shepard. Blair accepted a contract in July 2018 after a couple other attorneys in Cibola County terminated their contracts on short notice, Shepard says. A few months later, in November, he participated in the department’s regularly-scheduled request-for-proposals process, during which he received a contract for Cibola and Bernalillo counties for all types of cases and statewide for first-degree murder cases. Of the 112 attorneys the agency has on contract, Blair is one of 36 authorized to represent clients in complex and murder cases, Shepard tells SFR. He does public defense work primarily in Cibola County, in addition to work done separately out of his Albuquerque-based, private firm. A search of New Mexico court records shows Blair acting as a public defender for people charged with first-degree
Former deputy chief public defender accused of sexual assault still works for New Mexico’s public defender department B Y B E L L A D AV I S b e l l a @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
That men in positions of authority continue to want to protect men who have been credibly accused of, in this instance, not just sexual harrassment but a sexual assault in the workplace, is disheartening and discouraging. -Laura Schauer Ives, civil rights attorney
COURTESY WWW.CHANDLERBLAIRLAW.COM
J
ocelyn Garrison’s career as a New Mexico public defender began to fray when she accused her boss in the Clovis office of choking her, hitting her genitals and telling her she “liked it like that.” It was 2017, and after more than a year of the Law Offices of the Public Defender brass allegedly retaliating against her for reporting the alleged assault, she resigned and later sued the agency and her former boss, Chandler Blair, the agency’s erstwhile second-in-command. In January, the case settled for $750,000. Among the terms: Garrison can never again work as a public defender, either on staff or on contract. Meanwhile, Blair has continued to cash checks to represent the state’s indigent defendants—to the tune of nearly as much as the state paid Garrison in the settlement— even though he quietly resigned from his post as deputy chief public defender on July 26, 2018, about a year and a half after the alleged assault. The very next day, he inked a contract with the agency, signed by Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur, that opened the door for him to help buttress the state’s beleaguered public defender corps with a top-end price tag of $550,000. The contract has been renewed every year since, and Blair has raked in about $730,000 to work on 1,268 cases for the department. Albuquerque-based civil rights lawyer Laura Schauer Ives, who represented Garrison in the civil case, says the decision to bring Blair back on as a contractor is “not surprising but deeply disappointing.” “We, the taxpayers, are paying him and that’s a slap in the face to every woman who comes forward and in particular to Ms. Garrison,” Schauer Ives tells SFR. “That men in positions of authority continue to want to protect men who have been credibly accused of, in this instance, not just sexual harrassment but a sexual assault in the workplace, is disheartening and discouraging.”
murder, aggravated burglary and trafficking controlled substances, among other crimes. Another example of a client Blair is representing, this one through his private practice: A Cibola County man accused of aggravated stalking and violating a restraining order prohibiting domestic violence in October who’s set to go to trial next year. Blair’s public defender contract has been renewed each year since 2018, per the approval of Baur, the agency chief financial officer and the director of contract counsel legal
Chandler Blair, former deputy chief public defender, entered into a contract with the Law Offices of the Public Defender shortly after resigning amid sexual assault allegations.
NEWS
services. The first amendment to Blair’s contract, made in May 2019, increased his workload and possible compensation, up from a maximum of about $107,000 to $237,000. Since July 27, 2018, the agency has paid him $732,990, according to Shepard. (As a contractor, he’s responsible for his own business costs, including office space, insurance and support staff.) Baur, after not responding to multiple telephone messages, said in an emailed statement through Shepard: “It is common for attorneys to resign or retire from LOPD and take contracts in private practice. Mr. Blair, who resigned from LOPD, is a very experienced attorney who was willing to take cases in areas where we were—and are—in need of contract attorneys.” Baur did not address the concerns raised by Schauer Ives about Blair receiving contract work after leaving the department amid sexual assault allegations. Garrison was working as a managing attorney at the public defender’s office in Clovis when Blair allegedly assaulted her. In her lawsuit, Garrison claimed Blair sexually harassed her and other female staff members and had a sexual relationship with a paralegal that made the office dysfunctional. Garrison requested to be transferred to the Las Cruces office but, in February 2017, before the transfer went through, Blair allegedly assaulted her. An independent investigator reported to the agency later that year that Garrison was “very credible in her testimony,” and the Human Resources Department recommended that Blair be fired. But he was allowed to keep his job. Garrison’s transfer to the Las Cruces office was approved a month after the alleged assault. Over the next year, she wasn’t warned when Blair would be present in the office—she sought medical treatment on at least one occasion for the stress his unexpected presence caused her—and was given the largest caseload of any attorney in the office, according to the lawsuit. “It’s very difficult for women to come forward with anything like this and when she does so, the department betrays her and then retaliates against her for reporting it instead of doing the right thing,” Schauer Ives says. Garrison resigned in May 2018 and sued Blair and the agency that December. Blair, meanwhile, remained in his position as deputy chief public defender, second only to Baur, for over a year after he allegedly assaulted Garrison. In July 2018, shortly before he resigned, the Public Defender Commission presented Blair with the “Fearless Defender” award— the first such award the commission has ever given out, Blair’s website claims.
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A Dent in the Darkness Risk factors for suicide among youths remain high and Santa Fe organizations work to fill in the gaps BY WILLIAM MELHADO w i l l i a m @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
A
s the world rounds the corner on the second year with COVID-19, an unsteady new mix of heightened anxiety and mental stresses has emerged in young people, threatening to exacerbate New Mexico’s persistently high rate of death by suicide, experts and advocates tell SFR. But despite another year of concerning figures, investments in community-based services and the arrival of more statewide resources project hope. “We’re seeing numbers, right, in November that we would normally not see until about February, typically in a school year,” says Carlotta Saiz, program manager of the Sky Center, a family counseling provider in Santa Fe focused on youth suicide prevention. The Sky Center’s heavier caseload clearly signals that the need for mental health services is greater this year. And that continues a trend. The number of deaths by suicide for children under 18 increased dramatically in 2017—double that of the year prior, according to the state Department of Health. Since then, the number of youth suicides each year has lingered above 25 individuals, higher than numbers documented in the early 2010s.
The lion’s share of youth deaths by suicide in the last five years occurred in the state’s metro region, which encompasses Sandoval, Bernalillo, Valencia and Torrance counties. In the northeastern region of the state, which includes Santa Fe County and nine others, the DOH reported total 17 youth suicides between 2016 and 2020, the most recent year for which state health data is available. Five of those deaths were Santa Fe County residents. In a 2019 cover story, SFR reported Santa Fe County had few options to support young people experiencing a mental health crisis. With no inpatient beds for adolescents experiencing suicidal ideations, young people in the county traveled to Albuquerque, or even Las Cruces, to find a safe place to spend the night. That was before the pandemic began exacting its invisible toll—and it hasn’t changed: Santa Fe County still doesn’t have overnight inpatient services for youths. “The county is just now devoting significant resources in the area of youth behavioral health,” says Rachel O’Connor, director of Santa Fe County’s Community Services Department. “It’s an evolution of a practice.” Since the pandemic began, the county has used over $140,000 in gross receipts tax revenue to contract with the Sky Center and Teambuilders, a counseling provider in Santa Fe, for a year of services, explains O’Connor. There’s more relief coming, too, O’Connor tells SFR. The county plans to allocate $700,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act to expand existing services for youths. This summer the county opened a detox and crisis center to help address behavioral health issues, says O’Connor. In addition, the county launched a mobile crisis team to
respond to incidents when an individual is experiencing a behavioral health crisis. It serves county residents as young as 14. At the Sky Center, housed at Ortiz Middle School, the staff are well aware of how important it is to reach even pre-teens. “We’re seeing a younger demographic… saying they’re having thoughts of suicide than we have seen historically,” Saiz says. This year, they’ve served children as young as 8 or 9. Explaining the pandemic’s crushing impact on youths, Saiz says, “Teenagers probably, I think, were impacted more devastatingly than anyone, just because of where they are at developmentally. “Social connection is such an important part of that developmental process at that age.” New Mexico’s trendline mirrors the nation’s, as documented in a public health
NEWS
advisory on the pandemic’s impact on the crumbling mental health of youths from the US Surgeon General. Depression and anxiety symptoms have doubled during the pandemic, the report says. Earlier this year, a survey of emergency room visits nationwide for suspected suicide attempts rose 51% for adolescent girls and and 4% for boys. In states like New Mexico, with significant portions of rural areas, it’s difficult to get behavioral support to people in remote regions, explains Molly McCoy Brack, the director of Agora Crisis Center in Albuquerque. But McCoy Brack is encouraged by what’s coming to New Mexico to better serve the whole state, including rural communities. By July 2022 the entire country should have a different emergency number to call, instead of 911, during behavioral health crises. In July, dialing 988 in New Mexico could direct callers to Agora and a team of volunteers trained to de-escalate crises and connect those at risk with services if necessary, including mobile crisis teams like the one recently established in Santa Fe County. While the trends concern Saiz, she’s in the business of cultivating hope, not grim statistics. She and her team at the Sky Center are rushing to get “as far ahead as we can in front of suicide.”
If you or someone you know needs help, call one of the following local or national resources: • The Sky Center at (505) 473-6191 (hablámos español) • Agora Crisis Center at (505) 277-3013 • National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text 741741.
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Prescription Drug Costs Set to Become a Leading Cause of Death for Elderly Americans
Prescription drug costs, wildcat strikes, Google’s union-busting and racism in forced sterilization among top 10 stories, showing patterns of normalized censorship
B Y PA U L R O S E N B E R G
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roject Censored’s co-directors, Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth, title their introduction to this year’s edition of State of the Free Press, “A Return to News Normalcy?” drawing a direct parallel between our world today to that of post-World War I America, “When the United States faced another raging pandemic and economic recession,” with other sources of tumult as well: “The United States then had experienced a crackdown on civil liberties and free speech in the form of Espionage and Sedition Acts; racial tensions flared during the Red Summer of 1919 as violence erupted from Chicago to Tulsa; Prohibition was the law of the land; and the first wave of US feminism ended with the passage of the 19th Amendment.” At the time, they noted, “People yearned for a return to ‘normalcy,’ as then–presidential hopeful Warren G. Harding proclaimed.” But it was not to be. “The desire for simpler times, however, was more a phantom than a reality, as millions of Americans ultimately had to adjust to an ever- and fast-changing world,” including a rapidly changing media landscape—most notably the explosion of radio. And we should expect much the same. Every major change in the media landscape has brought with it the promise of expanded horizons and democratic possibility—the
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potential for a broader, more inclusive public conversation—only to see many of the old patterns of division, exclusion and demonization recur in new ways as well as old, as recent revelations about Facebook vividly remind us. Project Censored isn’t alone in drawing parallels to a century ago, of course. The pandemic above all has expanded journalistic horizons, as a matter of necessity. To a lesser extent, the threat to American democracy—part of a worldwide trend of democratic backsliding—has done so as well. But though some have expanded their horizons, many more continue as if little or nothing has fundamentally changed. Day-to-day news stories perpetuate the fantasy that normal has already returned. And in one sense they’re right: The normal patterns of exclusion and suppression that Project Censored has been tracking for over 40 years continue to dominate, with even the latest wrinkles fitting into well-established, if evolving, broad patterns that are depressingly familiar. These patterns are reflected in Project Censored’s top ten list, with stories about labor struggles, racism, threats to health, the environment and free speech. The point has never been just to expose significant stories that have been ignored, but rather to expose them as portals to a wider landscape of understanding and action. In that spirit, here is our summary of this year’s top 10 censored stories:
“Soaring prescription drug costs have been widely reported by corporate news outlets,” Project Censored notes, but they’ve utterly ignored the staggering resulting cost in human lives. More than 1.1 million seniors enrolled in Medicare programs could die prematurely in the next decade due to unaffordable prescription drugs, according to a November 2020 study reported on by Kenny Stancil for Common Dreams. “As medicines become increasingly expensive, patients skip doses, ration prescriptions, or quit treatment altogether,” Project Censored explained, a phenomenon known as “cost-related nonadherence,” which will become “a leading cause of death in the US, ahead of diabetes, influenza, pneumonia, and kidney disease” by 2030, according to a study by the nonprofit West Health Policy Center and Xcenda, the research arm of Amerisource-Bergen, a drug distributor. “[E]ven with Medicare insurance, what seniors pay is linked to a drug’s price,” the study explained, which allowed them “to model how cost-related nonadherence would change under policies that would reduce drug prices, such as Medicare negotiation.” The study focused on five medical conditions that “significantly affect seniors and for which effective pharmaceutical treatments are available,” including three types of heart disease, chronic kidney disease and type B diabetes. “The good news is that policy changes can curb the power of Big Pharma, resulting in far fewer avoidable deaths,” Stancil reported. “Medicare negotiation is projected to reduce drug prices and seniors’ cost-sharing, which could prevent nearly 94,000 seniors’ deaths annually and save $475.9 billion,” the study stated as one of its key findings. “As a model for policymakers, the study pointed specifically to the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act (H.R. 3),” which passed the House in December 2019, but died in the Senate, Project Censored noted. It’s been reintroduced after Joe Biden “declined to include Medicare negotiation in his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan proposal,” they explained. “The public’s understanding of the debate surrounding H.R. 3 and other proposed legislation designed to control inflation in prescription drug prices ought to be informed by accurate information about the grim repercussions of continuing the status quo,” Project Censored noted.
Journalists Investigating Financial Crimes Threatened by Global Elites
Historic Wave of Wildcat Strikes for Workers’ Rights
Financial crimes of global elites, involving the flow of dirty money through some of the world’s most powerful banks, have made major headlines in recent years, most notably with the Panama Papers in 2016 and the FinSen Files in 2020. But we’d know a great deal more if not for the flood of threats faced by journalists doing this work—a major story that hasn’t been told in America’s corporate media, despite a detailed report from Foreign Policy Centre (FPC), “Unsafe for Scrutiny,” released in November 2020. The report was based on a survey of 63 investigative journalists from 41 countries, which found that 71% had experienced threats and/or harassment while doing their investigations, with a large portion of those (73%) experiencing legal threats as well. Its findings were described by Spencer Woodman in an article for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists . “Legal threats are chief among the types of harassment facing journalists conducting financial investigations, and often seek to exploit a skewed balance of power between often-underfunded reporting enterprises and the legal might of attorneys hired by the world’s wealthiest people and corporations,” Woodman wrote. “Focusing on frivolous cases known as ‘strategic lawsuits against public participation,’ or SLAPPs, the report asserts that such actions ‘can create a similar chilling effect on media freedom to more overt violence or attack.’” Legal threats are often communicated via private letters, “and, if successful in achieving their aim, the public will never know,” the report said. Physical threats and online harassment were also a grave concern, but they were geographically uneven. “While no journalists surveyed in North America reported physical threats, 60% of respondents working in sub-Saharan Africa, and 50% of respondents from North Africa and the Middle East region reported threats of physical attack,” Woodman noted. Daphne Caruana Galizia was murdered by a car bomb in Malta in October 2017, but he added, “The report asserts that an assassination is often not a starting point for those seeking to silence reporters but instead a crime committed after a pattern of escalating threats, noting that Caruana Galizia had faced numerous legal threats and actions and that her family is still fighting 25 lawsuits over her reporting.” Project Censored noted Galizia’s murder along with that of Slovak investigative journalist Ján Kuciak, adding that “According to FPC’s report, an additional thirty reporters from Brazil, Russia, India, Ukraine, Mexico, and other countries who were researching financial corruption have been murdered since 2017.”
After millions of people were designated “essential workers” when the US went into lockdown in March 2020, thousands of wildcat strikes erupted to challenge dangerous working conditions and chronic low wages, exacerbated by refusal to protect against COVID-19 and cutting or sharply increasing the cost of medical insurance, for those who had it. A further strike surge was driven by “Black and Brown workers using digital technologies to organize collective actions as a way to press some of the demands for racial justice raised by Black Lives Matter and George Floyd protestors,” Project Censored noted. The nation’s fourth busiest port, Charleston, South Carolina, shut down during George Floyd’s funeral on June 9, for example. At the labor news website Payday Report, Mike Elk created a continuously updated COVID-19 Strike Wave Interactive Map, which had identified “1,100 wildcat strikes as of March 24, 2021, many of which the corporate media have chosen to ignore,” according to Project Censored, including “more than 600 strikes or work stoppages by workers in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement,” in June 2020 alone, according to Elk. “While local and regional newspapers and broadcast news outlets have reported on particular local actions, corporate news coverage has failed to report the strike wave as a wave, at no time connecting the dots of all the individual, seemingly isolated work stoppages and walkouts to create a picture of the overarching trend,” Project Censored reported. The sole exception where there was national coverage was in August 2020 when highly-paid baseball and basketball pro athletes walked out in violation of their contracts to protest the shooting of Jacob Blake by Wisconsin police. The coverage ended quickly once they returned a few days later. Wildcat strikes occur when workers simply stop working, often in response to a specific incident, such as employer actions putting lives at risk by skimping on protective gear or attempting to cut workers’ healthcare. Examples covered by Elk that Project Censored cited include: In Santa Rosa, California, 700 healthcare workers went on strike because their hospital lacked sufficient personal protective equipment to keep employees safe, and management warned employees that their insurance fees would be doubled if they wanted continued coverage for their families and in May 2020, workers at 50 McDonald’s, Burger King, Starbucks, and other fast food establishments throughout Florida staged a day-long strike for higher pay and better protective equipment.
Climate Debtor Nations Have Colonized the Atmosphere The United States and other developed countries in the global north are responsible for 92% of all the excess carbon dioxide emissions driving global warming, according to a study in the September issue of The Lancet Planetary Health. The US alone was responsible for 40%, followed by Russia and Germany (8% each), the United Kingdom (7%), and Japan (5%). The study’s author, economic anthropologist Jason Hickel, told Sarah Lazare, of In These Times, that his research began from the premises that “the atmosphere is a common resource” and that “all people should have equal access” to a fair share of it. He calculated each nation’s fair share of a sustainable global carbon budget, based on population, along with an analysis of “territorial emissions from 1850 to 1969, and consumption-based emissions from 1970 to 2015.” In turn, this was used to calculate “the extent to which each country has overshot or undershot its fair share,” according to the study. Thus the above list of the largest climate debtors. The results, he told In These Times, show that “the countries of the Global North have ‘stolen’ a big chunk of the atmospheric fair-shares of poorer countries, and on top of that are responsible for the vast majority of excess emissions… [T]hey have effectively colonized the global atmospheric commons for the sake of their own industrial growth.” In contrast, the study found that “most countries in the Global South were within their boundary fairshares, including India and China (although China will overshoot soon).” The leading climate creditors to date are India (34% of global “undershoots”), China (11%), Bangladesh and Indonesia (5% each) and Nigeria (4%). In 2015, Oxfam International “found that the poorest half of the world’s population—roughly 3.5 billion people—are to blame for just 10% of ‘total global emissions attributed to individual consumption,’ yet they ‘live overwhelmingly in the countries most vulnerable to climate change,’” Lazare reported. “In contrast, the richest 10% of people in the world are responsible for roughly 50% of global emissions.” CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
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to human health of ingesting plastic, but this new method [they used for detecting selected plastics] will make it easier for us to find out,” another co-author said. “Roughly 17% of the protein humans consume worldwide is seafood,” Berman noted. “The findings, therefore, suggest people who regularly eat seafood are also regularly eating plastic.”
Microplastics and Toxic Chemicals Increasingly Prevalent in World’s Oceans According to a pair of scientific studies published in the summer of 2020, microplastic particles and a family of toxic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS have become more widespread in the world’s oceans than previously realized and have begun to contaminate the global seafood supply. The two problems are related because PFAS—a family of highly stable “forever chemicals” with more than 4,700 known members— can occur as microplastics, they can stick to microplastic particles in water, and are involved in the production of plastics. In July 2020, a German-American study published in the scholarly journal Environmental Science & Technology revealed that PFAS—which are used in a range of products including carpets, furniture, clothing, food packaging and nonstick coatings—have now been found in the Arctic Ocean. “This discovery worries scientists,” Project Censored explains, “because it means that PFAS can reach any body of water anywhere in the world and that such chemicals are likely present in our water supply.” This is concerning because, as Daniel Ross reported for Truthout, “Known human health impacts...include certain cancers, liver damage, thyroid problems and increased risk of asthma. As endocrine disruptors, these chemicals have been linked to increased risk of severe COVID-19.” Ross cited a number of other studies as well, noting that, “Emerging research suggests that one important pathway [for PFAS spreading] is through the air and in rainwater,” and that they had been widely detected in China, the US and elsewhere. “PFASs are probably detectable in ‘all major water supplies’ in the US,” according to an Environmental Working Group study, Ross reported. “What’s more, over 200 million Americans could be drinking water containing PFAS above a level EWG scientists believe is safe, according to the organization’s most recent findings.” The second study, in August 2020, also published in Environmental Science & Technology, came from researchers at the QUEX Institute, a partnership between the University of Exeter and the University of Queensland. According to the study’s lead author, as reported by Robby Berman in Medical News Today, an Australian seafood eater with an average serving “could be exposed to…up to 30 mg of plastic when eating sardines,” about as much as a grain of rice. “We do not fully understand the risks 14
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Canary Mission Blacklists ProPalestinian Activists, Chilling Free Speech Rights Before the “critical race theory” moral panic fueled a nationwide uprising to censor discussions of race in education, there was an opposite moral panic decrying “cancel culture” stifling certain people—especially in education. But even at the peak of the “cancel culture” panic, perhaps the most canceled people anywhere in America—pro-Palestinian activists and sympathizers—got virtually no attention. Even though a well-funded, secretly run blacklist website, known as Canary Mission, explicitly targeted thousands of individuals—overwhelmingly students—with dossiers expressly intended to ruin their careers before they even began, and which “have been used in interrogations by Israeli security officials,” according to the Forward, a Jewish publication. They’ve also been used by the FBI, as reported by The Intercept. The website, established in 2015, “seeks to publicly discredit critics of Israel as ‘terrorists’ and ‘anti-Semites,’” Project Censored noted, but its careless style of accusation has caused a backlash, even among pro-Israeli Jews. “While some of those listed on the site are prominent activists, others are students who attended a single event, or even student government representatives suspected of voting for resolutions that are critical of Israel,” the Forward reported. Its main targets are Palestinians, particularly activists involved with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions or BDS movement that works to peacefully pressure Israel— similarly to South Africa in the 1980s—to obey international law and respect Palestinians’ human rights. As the Intercept reported in 2018, “While Canary Mission promotes itself as a group working against anti-Semitism, the blacklist’s effective goal is to clamp down on growing support for Palestine in the United States by intimidating and tarnishing Palestinian rights advocates with the brush of bigotry.” While the FBI told the Intercept that it “only investigates activity which may constitute a federal crime or pose a threat to national security,” this didn’t match up with its
actions. “If the FBI was concerned about criminal activity among the student activists, its agents made no indication of that in the interviews,” the Intercept reported. “They did, however, ask questions that echoed far-right propaganda about unproven links between pro-Palestine activist groups and militant groups.” The list itself has had a chilling effect on First Amendment rights, another Intercept story reported. “A survey of over 60 people profiled on Canary Mission, conducted by the group Against Canary Mission, found that 43% of respondents said they toned down their activism because of the blacklist, while 42% said they suffered acute anxiety from being placed on the website.” Some have even received death threats.
Google’s Union-Busting Methods Revealed In 2018, Google dropped its long-time slogan, “Don’t be evil” from its code of conduct. In 2019, Google hired IRI Consultants, a union avoidance firm, “amid a wave of unprecedented worker organizing at the company,” as Vice’s Motherboard put it in January 2021, while reporting on leaked files from IRI that provided a disturbing picture of how far Google may have strayed in its willingness to sabotage its workers’ rights. The 1935 National Labor Relations Act makes it illegal for companies to spy on employees and guarantees workers the right to organize and engage in collective bargaining. “Nevertheless,” Project Censored noted, “companies like Google attempt to circumvent the law by hiring union avoidance firms like IRI Consultants as independent contractors to engage in surveillance and intimidation on their behalf.” “[E]mployers in the United States spend roughly $340 million on union avoidance consultants each year,” Lauren Kaori Gurley reported for Motherboard, but their practices are apparently so disreputable that IRI doesn’t identify its clients on its website “beyond saying the firm has been hired by universities, renewable energy companies, auto-makers, ‘the nation’s largest food manufacturers,’ and ‘several top ten worldwide retailers,’” she reported. “Consultants specialize in operating in the grey areas of the law,” John Logan, a Professor of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State, told Gurley. “They’re not quite illegal but they’re sort of bending the law if they’re not breaking it.” “The [leaked] documents show that the firm collected incredibly detailed information on 83 Seattle hospital employees, including their ‘personality, temperament, motivations, ethnicity, family background, spouses’ employment, finances, health issues, work ethic, job performance, disciplinary
history, and involvement in union activity in the lead-up to a union election,’” Project Censored noted, “including descriptions of workers as ‘lazy,’ ‘impressionable,’ ‘money oriented,’ and ‘a single mother.’” The documents Motherboard reported on didn’t come from Google, but from two Seattle-based hospitals owned by Conifer Health Solutions, who hired IRI on the sly—a common practice for corporations to shield themselves from public scrutiny. “Google is not the only Big Tech company to enlist union avoidance consultants in recent years. In fall 2020 and spring 2021, employees at Amazon’s massive fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama launched a much-publicized unionization effort,” Project Censored noted. “As John Logan detailed in a lengthy article for LaborOnline, Amazon responded to the Bessemer drive by spending at least $3,200 per day on anti-union consultants Russ Brown and Rebecca Smith and by bringing in a second union-busting consulting firm,” as well as hiring “one of the largest law firms in the country specializing in union avoidance.”
National and Global Health Law, Lawrence Gostin, told BIJ. “Companies have no right to ask for indemnity for these things.” Just after the United States approved Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, In These Times’ Sarah Lazare filed a detailed report on the history of the pharmaceutical giant’s opposition to expanding vaccine access to poor countries, beginning in the mid-1980s. As a result, “One could make a map of global poverty, lay it over a map of vaccine access, and it would be a virtual oneto-one match,” she wrote. “Once again majority Black and brown countries, by and large, are left to suffer and die.”
Activists Call Out Legacy of Racism and Sexism in Forced Sterilization
Police Use Dogs as Instruments of Violence, Targeting People of Color Pfizer Bullies South American Governments over COVID-19 Vaccine “Pfizer has essentially held Latin American governments to ransom for access to its lifesaving COVID-19 vaccine,” Project Censored reports, the latest example of how it has exerted undue influence to enrich itself at the expense of low- and middle-income nations going back to the 1980s, when it helped shape the intellectual property rules it’s now taking advantage of. “Pfizer has been accused of ‘bullying’ Latin American governments in Covid vaccine negotiations and has asked some countries to put up sovereign assets, such as embassy buildings and military bases, as a guarantee against the cost of any future legal cases,” according to reporters at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. In one case it resulted in a three-month delay in reaching a deal. “For Argentina and Brazil, no national deals were agreed at all,” BIJ reported. “Any hold-up in countries receiving vaccines means more people contracting COVID-19 and potentially dying.” It’s normal for governments to provide some indemnity. But, “Pfizer asked for additional indemnity from civil cases, meaning that the company would not be held liable for rare adverse effects or for its own acts of negligence, fraud or malice,” BIJ reported. “This includes those linked to company practices—say if Pfizer sent the wrong vaccine or made errors during manufacturing.” “Some liability protection is warranted, but certainly not for fraud, gross negligence, mismanagement, failure to follow good manufacturing practices,” the World Health Organization’s director of the Collaborating Center on
The use of vicious dogs to control Black people dates back to slavery, but it’s not ancient history, according to an investigative series of 13 linked reports, titled “Mauled: When Police Dogs are Weapons,” coordinated by the Marshall Project in partnership with AL.com, IndyStar, and the Invisible Institute. They found evidence that the pattern continues to this day, with disproportionate use of police dogs against people of color, often resulting in serious injury, with little or no justification. Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a majority-Black city of 220,000, is the dog-bite capital of America, with a bite rate more than double the next-ranked city, Indianapolis. According to Bryn Stole and Grace Toohey’s February 2021 report: Between 2017 and 2019, Baton Rouge police dogs bit at least 146 people, records show. Of those, 53 were 17 years old or younger; the youngest were just 13. Almost all of the people bitten were Black, and most were unarmed and suspected by police of nonviolent crimes like driving a stolen vehicle or burglary. But Baton Rouge is hardly alone. Approximately 3,600 Americans annually are sent to the emergency room for severe bite injuries resulting from police dog attacks. These dog bites “can be more like shark attacks than nips from a family pet, according to experts and medical researchers,” a team of five reporters wrote in October 2020, as part of a summary of the main finding of their research. The data shows dog bites in nearly every state; some cities use biting dogs far more often than others. This ranged from just one incident in Chicago from 2017 to 2019 to more than 200 in Los Angeles and more than 220 in Indianapolis. Most bite victims are men, and studies suggest that in some places, they have been disproportionately Black. This includes the Ferguson, Missouri police department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, where it’s been found that “dogs bit non-White people almost exclusively.”
Forced sterilization was deemed constitutional in a 1927 Supreme Court decision, Buck v. Bell, after which forced sterilizations increased dramatically, to at least 60,000 in some 32 states during the 20th century, predominantly targeting women of color. And while state laws have been changed, it’s still constitutional, and still going on today—with at least five cases of women in ICE custody in Georgia in 2019—while thousands of victims await restitution, as reports from the Conversation and YES! Magazine have documented. “Organizations such as Project South, California Latinas for Reproductive Justice, and the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab are actively working to document the extent of this underreported problem—and to bring an end to it,” Project Censored noted. But their work is even more underreported than the problem itself. “During the height of this wave of eugenics by means of sterilization in the US, forced hysterectomies were so common in the Deep South that activist Fannie Lou Hamer coined the term ‘Mississippi Appendectomy’ to describe them,” Ray Levy Uyeda wrote in a YES! Magazine article, “How Organizers are Fighting an American Legacy of Forced Sterilization,” which begins with the story of Kelli Dillon. Dillon was a California prison inmate in 2001 when she underwent a procedure to remove a potentially cancerous growth—and the surgeon simultaneously performed an unauthorized hysterectomy, one of 148 forced sterilizations that year in California prisons, and one of 1,400 carried out between 1997 and 2010. Dillon began organizing inside the women’s prison, gathering testimonials from other victimized prisoners “and provided the personal accounts to staff at Justice Now that was laying the groundwork to petition for legislation that would ban the procedures in prisons,” Uyeda reported. She eventually sued the state of California for damages, and helped to shape legislation to compensate victims (finally passed this year), a story told in the 2020 documentary film, Belly of the Beast. “All forced sterilization campaigns, regardless of their time or place, have one thing in common. They involve dehumanizing a particular subset of the population deemed less worthy of reproduction and family formation,” Alexandra Minna Stern wrote at the Conversation. Stern directs the Sterilization and Social Justice Lab, where “Our interdisciplinary team explores the history of eugenics and sterilization in the US using data and stories”—35,000 of them so far captured from “historical records from North Carolina, California, Iowa and Michigan.”
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YUK IT UP Santa Fe hasn’t always been known as a comedy hub, but small pockets of standup have been quietly coming together in various venues over the years, and those in the know tell us that a small scene has emerged. For people interested in humorous observations and such, maybe the All Fierce Comedy Show is for you? Heck, it’s hosted by Graviel De La Plaga, the alter ego of comic/musician Carlos Medina, perhaps our fair city’s most notable current comedian. This’ll be a good time for anyone from the puro Nuevo Mexico folks to those who just like a chuckle. For a movie theater, the Jean Cocteau Cinema sure does offer a lot of live experiences. (ADV) All Fierce Comedy Show: 7 pm Thursday, Dec. 16. $10 Jean Cocteau Cinema 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528
S FR E P O RTE R .CO M /A RTS / S FR P I C KS COURTESY WESTIN MCDOWELL
COURTESY CARLOS MEDINA
COMEDY THU/16
KATY KIDD ART
MUSIC SAT/18 HAPPY FUNK-MAS We’re not going to get into a whole thing about how bad everything feels right now, but we will point out that you can finally see some of your favorite local bands again—so long as you’re cool masking it up and playing it safe. This week, said fave locals come in the form of über-funky act The Sticky—featuring everyone’s favorite multi-instrumentalist and performer Peter Williams—plus supporting jamz from none other than DJ Dynamite Sol. ‘Tis a highly danceable event, and free, plus if you donate there (or through ampconcerts. org), proceeds go to St. Elizabeth Shelter thanks to promotions nonprofit AMP Concerts and support from Thornburg Investment Management. (ADV) Funk ’n’ Soul Holiday Get-Down Booty Ball & Benefit: 8 pm Saturday, Dec. 18. Free. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808
PUBLIC DOMAIN
PERFORMANCE TUE/21 TONIGHT’S GONNA BE A GOOD NIGHT Not a lot feels more Christmassy than a holiday program inside a dang church with a whole mess-load of voices singing loud and proud. It’s a family thing, really, and the sort of holiday musical action that might just make folks forget the weather has been mild this year. The Santa Fe Desert Chorale has just such a thing, its annual Nochebuena event featuring familiar holiday tunes, but also jamz from Hispanic composers. You’ll hear some things you know, some things you don’t and some things that are so new, nobody’s familiar just yet. We’re picturing you and your kids feeling the spirit. (ADV) Santa Fe Desert Chorale’s Nochebuena: 7:30 pm Thursday, Dec.16-Saturday, Dec. 18 and Tuesday, Dec. 21; 4 pm, Sunday, Dec. 19. $22-$100. Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi, 131 Cathedral Place, (505) 982-5619
MUSIC FRI/18
Shiny! Westin McDowell returns with more Shiner’s Club OK, so maybe we’re all a little sick of talking about how the pandemic affected the arts world, but there’s no denying artists and musicians experienced what local musician Westin McDowell calls “a seismic shift.” “I don’t really have any records out, but I’ve also seen how music finds its place in the world with Spotify and streaming services,” McDowell continues. ”Because of the new mediums, it’s radically changing how people can use music, but where does that leave the live musicians?” McDowell’s been getting back to it, though, both with a few small shows in Santa Fe, and a number of gigs in the tiny Colorado town of Trinidad. This week, McDowell returns to Second Street Brewery’s Rufina Taproom with his Shiner’s Club band in tow, a combo of dad Scott and brother Dylan, plus dual trumpeters Chiefo Sanchez and Tom Rheam, plus bassist Dave Moier. “It’s the old-timey jazz band through which I like to bring out what I call the staple players of Santa Fe,” McDowell tells
SFR. “The experienced cats. I love playing with them and always learn something.” And though Shiner’s Club will probably touch on a few songs the people already know, McDowell says he and his father have at least one new composition up their sleeves. Not only that, but the pandemic helped him realize it might just be time to cut his first solo record. “As a composer, I wanted to make that shift,” he explains. “Gotta get out at least one record, and I hope to have it out in the spring.” Fingers crossed, because when it comes to eclectic and unexpected composer/performer types in Santa Fe, you could do a lot worse—and get a lot less variety—than Westin freaking McDowell. (Alex De Vore)
SHINER’S CLUB WITH ANTHONY SUTTON 8 pm Friday, Dec. 18. Free Second Street Brewery (Rufina Taproom) 2920 Rufina St. (505) 954-1068
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COURTESY HEIDI LOEWEN FINE ART
THE CALENDAR Make sure you include all the pertinent details such as location, time, price and so forth. It helps us out greatly. Submission doesn’t guarantee inclusion.
ONGOING ART ANIMAL PORTRAITS: THE OTHER WORLD photo-eye Gallery 1300 Rufina Circle, Ste. A3 (505) 988-5152 x202 Brad Wilson’s astonishing animal photographs and all their thrilling details. 10 am-5:30 pm, Mon-Sat, free CELEBRATION OF COLOR FANTASY Placitas Community Library 453 Hwy. 165, Placitas (505) 867-3355 Presented by Bead Society of New Mexico. We’re talking bead embroidery, Japanese braiding techniques, bracelets, earrings and beyond. 10 am-5 pm, Wed, Thurs, Sat 10 am-7 pm, Tues 1 pm-4 pm, Sun, free HELEN PASHGIAN: PRESENCES SITE Santa Fe 1606 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-1199 A tribute to the Light and Space artistic movement. 10 am-4 pm, Thurs, Sat and Sun 10 am-7 pm Fri, free MARIETTA PATRICIA LEIS: SENSE MEMORIES Center For Contemporary Arts 1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 982-1338 Informed by her journeys and imbued with a sense of place, the work of Leis is situated in the vortex of light, color, minimalism and expression. 11 am-5 pm, Fri-Sun, $10
“A Star is Born” from A Star is Born: Holiday Show of Fine Art Porcelain at Heidi Loewen Fine Art. Opening Sat, Dec. 18.
MIND THE GAP Strata Gallery 418 Cerrillos Road, Ste. 1C (505) 780-5403 Strata’s first two-person exhibition presents works by David Olivant and Jennifer Van. Olivant’s Retrogylphs reinvents characters and imagery from his earlier sculptures, while Van’s photography centers on emotional expression and the human form. 10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free
MORE THAN BOOKS: STAFF WORKS Santa Fe Public Library Southside 6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820 Librarians aren’t just professional researchers, they also bring some kick-butt art into the world. Paintings, mixed media, cyanotypes, quilting and embroidery from all the libraries in town. Also, check out a book while you’re at it. All day, free
MOUNTAINS & SKY TAI Modern 1601 Paseo de Peralta (505) 984-1387 Elemental-based vessel work. 10 am-5 pm, Mon-Sat, free NACIMIENTOS Adobe Gallery 221 Canyon Road (505) 955-0550 Nativity scenes via Native artists via various Pueblos, plus the histories behind them. 10 am-5 pm, Mon-Sat, free
NO SHADE FOR THE SHADOW Kouri + Corrao Gallery 3213 Calle Marie (505) 820-1888 Thomas Christopher Haag’s ethereal symbolism and vibrant color palette examine the push and pull of the “shadow” on the human condition. The results are retro-style, thought-provoking abstract ghost-like figures with a Mad Men aesthetic. We love ourselves a Mad Men aesthetic. Noon-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free
RESURGENCE: PORTRAITS FROM E.I. COUSE’S PUEBLO PHOTOS Couse-Sharp Historic Site 138 Kit Carson Road, Taos (575) 751-0369 A series based on EI Couse’s photographs of life in Taos Pueblo. Noon-4 pm, Tues-Sat, free RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW: IMAGES AND WORDS IN REAL TIME El Zaguán 545 Canyon Road (505) 982-0016 A combination of Jack Stark Dudzik's bold landscapes with Sarah Stark’s simple line drawings and narrative verse. The effect? Profound stillness within the movement and chaos of our world. All day, free LAND CRAFT THEATRE SITE Santa Fe 1606 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-1199 Joanna Keane Lopez is a multidisciplinary artist whose work brings together contemporary sculpture, adobe architecture and land-sourced practices as a reimagining of landscape and place. All day, free SOURCE PROCESS TRANSFORMATION Pie Projects 924B Shoofly St. (505) 372-7681 An exploration into artist Judy Tuwaletstiwa's memories, reflecting on the pains and joys of our human condition. 11 am-5 pm, Tues-Sat, free WINTER SCENE Kay Contemporary Art 600 Canyon Road (505) 365-3992 Rick Stevens is a Santa Fe artist who draws his inspiration from the beautiful New Mexico landscape, especially regional winter scenes. All day, free THERE’S NO OTHER LIKE YOUR MOTHER Foto Forum 1714 Paseo De Peralta (505) 470-2582 Artist BrandyTrigueros’ photography examines our perceptions of what it means to be a woman, reflecting her apprehensions as the window for motherhood narrows and she questions bringing a child into our climate-threatened world. 1-5 pm, Wed-Fri, free
TO CHRISTM N W O D T AS COUN g promotions EVERYDAY until Christmas! Visit our website's newsletter link sary is offerin for a full p bis dispen a romotion n n a c l ica al sched ier med ule and m e r p 's e more! F a t San
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DANCE ENTREFLAMENCO CHRISTMAS SEASON El Flamenco Cabaret 135 W Palace Ave. (505) 209-1302 Familiar readers may know, but it’s such a sweet sentence we gotta say it again: wine, tapas and dance. Oh yeah, that’s nice. 6:15 pm, $25-$40
WED/15 EVENTS GEEKS WHO DRINK Second Street Brewery (Railyard) 1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 989-3278 Trivia night. Drink or don't, but get your geography facts ready. 8 pm, free HOTLINE BINGO Desert Dogs Brewery and Cidery 112 W San Francisco St., Ste. 307 (505) 983-0134 B-I-N-G-whoa. You won? A sense of success so denied in your everyday life, finally? Man, this is why we love bingo. $2 per round here, plus drinks, plus atmosphere, plus some prizes here and there. 7 pm, $2-$10
MUSIC JOHN FRANCIS & THE POOR CLARES La Reina at El Rey Court 1862 Cerrillos Road (505) 982-1931 Old favorites, clever rhythms and new lovable storytelling songs from a beloved folksy band. 8 pm, free (no cover) THEO KUTSKO Social Kitchen & Bar 725 Cerrillos Road (505) 982-5952 A mix of ‘70s rock, Broadway tunes and more every week. 6-9 pm, free (no cover) DESERT CHORAL CAROLS Around Santa Fe desertchorale.org (505) 988-2282 Pop-up caroling for the holiday enthusiasts and the caroling curious. Hear classics at the Plaza, Museum Hill, the Chavez Center and more—check their website for more deets. 10:30 am-5 pm, free
THU/16 BOOKS/LECTURES AUTHOR TALK: BROOKE WILLIAMS Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeehouse 202 Galisteo St. (505) 988-4226 In Mary Jane Wild, Brooke documents his experience in Utah’s Mary Jane Wilderness and how it has impacted his views on the nation. 6 pm, free
THE CALENDAR
EXPOSURE: POETRY READING IAIA Museum of Contemporary Native Arts 108 Cathedral Place (505) 983-8900 Featuring current Exposure artists Dan Taulapapa McMullin (Samoan) and No’u Revilla (Kanaka Maoli) as well as M’ohi author and activist Chantal Spitz as they read selections from their own work. 4-5 pm, free
EVENTS ALL FIERCE COMEDY SHOW Jean Cocteau Cinema 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528 Hosted by Graviel De La Plaga, featuring the music of Carlos Medina. Music, comedy, margaritas (!) and Micheladas. (see SFR picks, page 17). 7-10 pm, $10
MUSIC AL ROGERS Fenix at Vanessie 427 W Water St. (505) 982-9966 Piano skills so sharp you can perform minor cosmetic surgeries with them. 6:30 pm, free HALF BROKE HORSES Tiny's Restaurant & Lounge 1005 S St. Francis Drive (505) 983-9817 The horses might be half broke, but these honky-tonk sounds are as rich as can be. 7-10 pm, free NOCHEBUENA Cathedral Basilica 131 Cathedral Place (505) 988-2282 The Desert Chorale builds on its long-standing commitment to music by Hispanic composers. This concert is a seasonal celebration with new works as well as beloved carols from Spanish and Anglo traditions. (see SFR picks, page 17) 7:30 pm, $22-$100
THEATER FORCES OF NATURE: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACT PLAYS The Lab Theater 1213 Parkway Drive justsayittheater.com Two one-act plays: Avalanche! by Leslie Dillen and Sworn to Water by Dale Dunn, both exploring the ways nature affects us, how we think, how we live our lives and even how we face our inevitable end. 7 pm, $15-$25 #UNDERTHEINFLUENCE Santa Fe Playhouse 142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262 Check out Kristin Goodman’s play, a dark comedy exploring modern digital culture, social media and the search for meaning. 7:30-9 pm, $15-$25
FRI/17 ART LABYRINTHS Susan Eddings Pérez Galley 717 Canyon Road (505) 477-4ART A selection of illustrations, paintings and stained glass works from artist Alison Hixon. These selected works represent the stages of finding one’s way through the irregular network, passages and paths of life. All day, free THE CREATIVE CURE FOR ANXIOUS TIMES Online bit.ly/3GA4dD8 Join artist Julie Claire for a complimentary group session to release anxiety, relax your mind and tune into your creative spirit. Meditate, release and relax, make some spontaneous drawings and paintings. All you need is a computer with Wi-Fi and anything you want to draw with. 10-11:30 am, free
EVENTS LIVING NATIVITY First Baptist Church of Santa Fe 1605 Old Pecos Trail (505) 983-9141 Just as it sounds—a living Nativity scene. And yes, there are real animals (and we don't mean the carolers who will be on scene). 6-9 pm, free VITAL SPACES WINTER MARKET Farmers Market Pavilion 1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 983-7726 50+ artists, makers, music and food. Might be your last chance for some cute local gifts, you beautiful but troubled procrastinators. 5-9 pm, free
MUSIC ANTHONY SUTTON AND THE SHINER'S CLUB JAZZ BAND Second Street Brewery (Rufina Taproom) 2920 Rufina St. (505) 954-1068 Sutton is a singer/songwriter with the guitar, banjo and dulcimer, adept in country, pre-War Blues, Ragtime and Old Time Mountain Traditions. On stage as well is Santa Fe's favorite jazz band, The Shiners! (see SFR picks, page 17) 8 pm, free AL ROGERS Fenix at Vanessie 427 W Water St. (505) 982-9966 If life were a 1940s noir we’d get a lot of close-ups of Rogers at a jazz club when dem dames are ‘round, ya know? Rogers is the master of mood. 6:30 pm, free CONTINUED ON PAGE 21
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COURTESY PLANTINA VEGAN BAKERY
With Vegan Baker Thomas Kamholz
In March, we spoke with Santa Fe transplant and vegan baker Thomas Kamholz (Lactose Intolerant, March 10), whose Plantita Vegan Bakery serves up some of the finest sweet and savory vegan treats around without forgetting about flavor, texture or overall quality. It’s been a whirl of wind for Kamholz since then, and somewhere between an ongoing series of pop-up events, one of which pops off this week (10 am-noon Saturday Dec. 18. Free. Plantita Vegan Bakery, 1704 Lena Street, (505) 603-0897), and his nowavailable special holiday menu (from which folks can order until 5 pm on Tuesday, Dec. 21 through plantitaveganbakery.com), we decided it was time to check back in and see what’s what. (Alex De Vore) When we spoke earlier this year, you’d mentioned possibly expanding the business to include a brick and mortar. Is that still the plan? No brick and mortar. Mostly I’ve been focusing on trying to expand the made-to-order stuff, which is the main objective of the business. I have been doing a lot of pop-ups on the second and fourth Saturdays of the month. That’s been really good for me, because I’ve had people ask me if they can just get a couple things, and I have a whole clientele base who comes to the popups, but they don’t do the advanced order stuff. It’s been a huge cash influx, and I’ve been selling out pretty much every time I’ve done it. I don’t make an insane amount of stuff, but I set a goal for how much I want to make and I’ve hit that every time. I usually try to have a few staples that people want every time, and I usually switch up the muffin and the cookie; I usually try to offer one hand pie, one cookie, and lately I’ve been selling granola and an un-chicken Tempeh chicken salad kind of thing. I’ve been selling out of that, I think, because it’s really good on the bagels.
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What can you tell us about the treats you’ve developed for the holiday season? I’m super excited about the pot pie, because my background is ItalianGerman, and I’ve been trying to dive into doing more Italian stuff. I always do a veggie pot pie, but I switched this up for Christmas with Beyond Meat sausage with white bean and fresh herbs like thyme, oregano, rosemary. It’s like thick gravy. I had to make a couple test ones [to zero in on the recipe]. The first didn’t have enough rosemary, so I added some fennel seeds and rosemary, and I really try to get a sausage meat flavor in there. For someone who grew up in a hardcore Italian family eating a lot of sausages, the Beyond Meat is pretty tasty. I had to experiment as far as ratio, but I think I dialed it in. The Yule log has been interesting because I don’t have a lot of experience rolling up Swiss rolls, but I’ve been practicing. It’s a mint cream with mint chocolate ganache and chocolate cake. It’s not technically a buche de noel, y’know, like, with the little mushrooms on top, but it’s a mint chocolate Yule log. And then I also have a flourless chocolate cake. I still don’t really do gluten-free stuff, but I get a lot of requests all the time, so I looked around for some different recipes and found one I was able to tweak. It’s ridiculously rich with chocolate and cocoa powder—you only need a little bit, and I’m excited to have it because I have a couple regulars with partners who can’t eat my stuff because they have Celiac. So that’s exciting. At the popup I’m going to be selling—I had these as a kid, and it’s not the most appealing name—German rock cookies. They’re called that because they have nuts or dates in them, and they’re an old Depression-era cookie. Me and my brothers and sisters would have to eat them all in one day. So they’ll be available at the pop-up. I think they’re delicious—heavy on the brown sugar with a molasses-like taste. I’ve also been doing a recipe from my grandmother: Zucchini cookies. I’ve had them before, but I’ve decided to carry them again because people always ask. What’s something you wish every vegan nay-sayer knew about vegan baked goods? You don’t have to sacrifice flavor or texture just because you don’t use eggs and butter. If you’re vegan, overall, you just feel better, I think. It feels cleaner, and you’re still eating fat and sugar, but most of the fat is not saturated. I think there’s a myth you’re going to lose the crispy texture on the outside of the cookie, not have the chewy center— that’s totally acheivable with flax eggs, almond milk and vegan butter.
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MELDING AS ONE: OUR ROOTS, OUR VOICES AND OUR VISIONS Loretto Chapel 207 Old Santa Fe Trail bit.ly/31FXd9h From the Santa Fe Women’s Ensemble, where centuries-old choral pieces never sounded so good. 6:30 pm, $40 NOCHEBUENA Cathedral Basilica 131 Cathedral Place (505) 988-2282 You will feel very cultured going to the Cathedral to listen to choral music. Come in a top hat and ornate cane for double points. (see SFR picks, page 17) 7:30 pm, $22-$100 TGIF CONCERT First Presbyterian Church 208 Grant Ave. (505) 982-8544 Christmas music from the High Desert Harps. 5:30 pm, free (donate pls) TRAIL OF DEAD Meow Wolf 1352 Rufina Circle meowwolf.com/events Alt-rock never dies. Speical guests: Death Valley Girls. (see Music, page 25) 9 pm-midnight, $18.50
OPERA HOMETOWN TO THE WORLD Lensic Performing Arts Center 211 W San Francisco St. (505) 988-1234 This show is set in 2008 in the aftermath of the nation’s largest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency raid of North America’s biggest kosher meat processing plant, in Postville, Iowa. The worlds of three characters, representing varying demographics, collide. 7 pm, $25
THEATER SFI HOLIDAY IMPROV COMEDY BASH Santa Fe Improv 1202 Parkway Drive, Ste. A santafeimprov.com Santa Fe Improv says goodbye to 2021 and rings in Santa Fe Improv for 2022, even if it is a little early. Their favorite family, Sibling Rivalry, performs alongside The Faculty Lounge and long time favorites, The One Night Stanleys. Prep yourself to laugh. 7:30 pm, $15 A MUSICAL PIÑATA FOR CHRISTMAS Teatro Paraguas 3205 Calle Marie (505) 424-1601 Traditional and modern holdiday songs, plus short plays by Mark Harvey Levine, Alix Hudson and Paola Vengoechea. Ever heard of holiday joy? This is it, theatrical style. 7 pm, free (but donate)
FORCES OF NATURE: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACT PLAYS The Lab Theater 1213 Parkway Drive justsayittheater.com Just Say It Theater asks the big questions: what if we said aloud all we were thinking? But in an existential and artistic way, not every thought, thankfully. 7 pm, $15-$25 #UNDERTHEINFLUENCE Santa Fe Playhouse 142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262 You can’t tweet your way to victory, it seems. But you can watch this social media inspired play. 7:30-9 pm, $15-$25
BOOKS/LECTURES ENVIRONMENTAL HOT TOPIC BRIEFING AND FUNDRAISER FOR THE NM GREEN AMENDMENT Jean Cocteau Cinema 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528 A discussion around important environmental topics in New Mexico. 5-7:30 pm, free
EVENTS
SAT/18
PEOPLE AND PLANTS: INTRODUCTORY ETHNOBOTANY Santa Fe Botanical Garden 715 Lejo St. (505) 471-9103 Join knowledgeable garden docents for a leisurely walk that piques your curiosity and enlivens your senses. Learn all about the local botany and the people's relations to them. Free with admission. 1 pm, $7-$10 SANTA FE HOLIDAY ARTISTS MARKET The West Casitas 1612 Alcaldesa St. (505) 310-8766 Last market of the season, but open to all the wintery “oh my God I need to get so-and-so a gift“ joys and horrors. 9 am-2 pm, free SANTA FE FARMERS MARKET Farmers Market Pavilion 1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 983-7726 For those who worked in the food industry, you know how weird it is when a customer is like “is your food fresh?“ Like what are we gonna say, that it’s old? Anyways, let’s hope our regional farmers don’t get asked that too. It is fresh. Trust us. 8 am-1 pm, free
ART
FOOD
A STAR IS BORN: HOLIDAY SHOW OF FINE ART PORCELAIN Heidi Loewen Fine Art 315 Johnson St. (505) 988-2225 Maybe you're off the deep end watching yourself just dive in, and you'll never meet the ground. But at least you'll have some cool pottery in lieu of Bradley Cooper's weird grunty voice. Noon-6 pm, free COMMUNITY ART CLOSET Vital Spaces Midtown Annex 1600 St. Michael’s Drive Free art materials to anyone who needs them. 11 am-3 pm, free HOLIDAY ARTWALK Teatro Paraguas 3205 Calle Marie (505) 424-1601 15+ local artists selling their creations, food trucks, live music and more in tandem with A Musical Pinata for Christmas. Noon-5 pm, free
PLANTITA VEGAN BAKERY: HOLIDAY POP-UP SALE Plantita Vegan Bakery 1704 Lena St. Unit B4 (505) 603-0897 An offering of organic fruit hand pies, cookies, muffins and more all vegan style. That takes some skill, folks. 10 am-noon, free
WORKSHOP GIFT CREATION WORKSHOP FOR KIDS Santa Fe Public Library Southside 6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820 Get your crafty and not-socrafty kids down the library for a session on how to build some cuteso holiday gifts. We cannot guarentee any amounts of glitter. 2-4 pm, free MEDITATION AND MODERN BUDDHISM: LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST Santa Fe Community Yoga Center 826 Camino de Monte Rey (505) 282-5293 Contemplate Buddha’s teachings and overcome discontent. Meditate to deeply understand the value of your life and appreciate the meaning of each moment. 10-11:15 am, $10
MUSIC A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS Loretto Chapel 207 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 988-4640 Classical music so good it’ll baroque you into pieces. 6 pm; 8:30 pm, $20-$95 AL ROGERS Fenix at Vanessie 427 W Water St. (505) 982-9966 Al rhymes with sal, which means salt, which is what’s on the rim of margs, which is how you’ll feel after a few minutes of Al’s dreamy piano: drunk on music. 6:30 pm, free
FREE
MUSEUM ADMISSION
SUNDAY DECEMBER 19 10AM–5PM Enjoy a free day at both the New Mexico Museum of Art and the New Mexico History Museum. From noon to 5 p.m., enjoy activities, music, and a guest appearance from a very special Santa! Visit museum websites for more information about programming.
113 Lincoln Avenue On the Plaza in Santa Fe (505) 476-5200 nmhistorymuseum.org
107 West Palace Avenue On the Plaza in Santa Fe (505) 476-5072 NMArtMuseum.org
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AN EVENING WITH DAVID BERKELEY San Miguel Chapel 401 Old Santa Fe Trail bit.ly/3yfhWwk Songwriter and author David Berkeley and his full band perform in acoustic-friendly historic spaces. David is joined by Ben Wright on guitar, Paul Groetzinger on drums, Karina Wilson on fiddle and Susan Holmes on upright bass. 7:30 pm, $15-$20 FRENCHY TOAST Honeymoon Brewery 907 W Alameda St., Ste. B (505) 303-3139 Songs from early 20th century Paris. 6-8 pm, free FUNK 'N SOUL HOLIDAY GET DOWN BOOTY BALL & BENEFIT Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery 2791 Agua Fría St. (505) 303-3808 Funk, soul and R&B from The Sticky and The Ron Crowder Band, and none other than the perennially tasty DJ Dynamite Sol. Time to dance, you cuties. (see SFR picks, page 17) 8 pm, free JASMIN WILLIAMS & RYAN HANSELER: ALIVE Antieau Gallery 130 Lincoln Avenue, Ste. F (505) 983-9529 An evening of original songs and arrangements by Jasmin Williams and Ryan Hanseler. 7 pm, $35-$75 MELDING AS ONE: OUR ROOTS, OUR VOICES AND OUR VISIONS First Presbyterian Church 208 Grant Ave. (505) 982-8544 Music as delightful as that first winter snowfall, which will come any day now certainly, right? 3 pm, $10-$25 NOCHEBUENA Cathedral Basilica 131 Cathedral Place (505) 988-2282 Man, the chorales are really out in full force, aren’t they? (see SFR picks, page 17) 7:30 pm, $22-$100
FORCES OF NATURE: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACT PLAYS The Lab Theater 1213 Parkway Drive justsayittheater.com We love us experimental theater. 7 pm, $15-$25 #UNDERTHEINFLUENCE Santa Fe Playhouse 142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262 We also love us some socially concious theater. 7:30-9 pm, $15-$25
THEATER
POSOLADA Santa Fe Art Institute 1600 St Michaels Drive, Bldg. #31 (505) 424-5050 A farolito drive-through evening at the Midtown Campus. A classic holiday event with a Midtown twist. Input for what the heck to do with the space will be taken. Maybe the answer is in your brilliant mind? 4-7 pm, free WINTER SOLSTICE FAROLITO LABYRINTH WALK Santa Fe Children's Museum 1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359 A farolito labyrinth and a drum circle for the kids at the Children’s Museum. Kids will love the bright lights, grown ups will love the promise of the days getting longer. 5-7 pm, free
A MUSICAL PIÑATA FOR CHRISTMAS Teatro Paraguas 3205 Calle Marie (505) 424-1601 Holiday cheer for the fam. 3 pm, free CONSIDER THIS... Santa Fe Improv 1202 Parkway Drive, Unit A santafeimprov.com A solo romp through the pre-history of American theater, from Greek Tragedy to Commedia dell’Arte. 7 pm, $10-$15 CIRCUS CABARET Wise Fool New Mexico 1131 Siler Road, Ste. B (505) 992-2588 Cabaret-style show: trapeze, stilt walking, aerial pole and more. 2 pm; 6 pm, $5-$20
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SUN/19 BOOKS/LECTURES FREETHINKERS FORUM: MODERNIZING THE NEW MEXICO LEGISLATURE Online meetup.com/freethinkersforum/ A discussion about the above mentioned topic—how can we move on from an unpaid Legislature with insanely short sessions and no dedicated paid staff? Ricann Bock will be leading the discussion 8:30 am, free PHOTO ARCHIVES AND LIBRARY OPEN HOUSE New Mexico History Museum 113 Lincoln Ave. (505) 476-5200 Tour the historical library building and explore unique archival collections in both the Photo Archives and Museum Library. Enter via the Museum elevator or through the "public library" arched doorway on Washington. 1-4 pm, free SECULAR ALLIANCE: UNIVERSAL BASIC INCOME— WHAT IS IT? Online bit.ly/3lUhcbc Learn about the topic and how it's been implemented. Examine together what researchers have learned and are learning. All viewpoints welcome. Noon-1:30 pm, free
EVENTS
DECEMBER DECEMBER 15-21, 15-21, 2021 2021 •• SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM
MUSIC A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS Loretto Chapel 207 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 988-4640 Handel is not a lot to Handel at the Loretto Chapel. 6 pm; 8:30 pm, $20-$95 AL ROGERS Fenix at Vanessie 427 W Water St. (505) 982-9966 He’ll bring world peace via his musical mantras. 6:30 pm, free NOCHEBUENA Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi 131 Cathedral Place (505) 988-2282 “Nochebuena” is a rough translation to Christmas Eve— Dec. 19 might not be that, but the feels will be there. (see SFR picks, page 17) 4 pm, 7:30 pm, $22-$100
OPERA HOMETOWN TO THE WORLD Lensic Performing Arts Center 211 W San Francisco St. (505) 988-1234 Optimistic opera? We stan. 7 pm, $25
THEATER A MUSICAL PIÑATA FOR CHRISTMAS Teatro Paraguas 3205 Calle Marie (505) 424-1601 No word on if there will be actual piñatas, but if so perhaps they will provide sticks. 3 pm, free CONSIDER THIS... Santa Fe Improv 1202 Parkway Drive, Unit A santafeimprov.com Consider this: check out improv. 7 pm, $10-$15 CIRCUS CABARET Wise Fool New Mexico 1131 Siler Road, Ste. B (505) 992-2588 We love ourselves some diverse circus shows, don’t we? 2 pm, $5-$20 FORCES OF NATURE: AN EVENING OF ONE-ACT PLAYS The Lab Theater 1213 Parkway Drive justsayittheater.com Don’t wait for the real forces of nature to hit before. Winter is coming, friends. 7 pm, $15-$25 #UNDERTHEINFLUENCE Santa Fe Playhouse 142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262 Get a connection outside of the Wi-Fi connection. 2-3:30 pm, $15-$25
WORKSHOP BELLYREENA BELLYDANCE Move Studio 901 W San Mateo Road (505) 660-8503 For those with the insatiable urge to move your bellies. 1-2 pm, $15
MON/20 DANCE SANTA FE SWING Odd Fellows Hall 1125 Cerrillos Road Class at 7, open dance at 8. Bring vax proof. 7 pm, $3-$8
EVENTS QUEER NIGHT La Reina at El Rey Court 1862 Cerrillos Road (505) 982-1931 Solidarity plus drinks. 5-11 pm, free
MUSIC A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS Loretto Chapel 207 Old Santa Fe Trail sfpromusica.org Handel, Vivaldi, Blavet and other Baroque bros for listening joy. 6 pm; 8:30 pm, $20-$95
WORKSHOP
MUSIC
LIFE DRAWING SESSIONS Center For Contemporary Arts 1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 982-1338 Weekly life drawing sessions at CCA! They provide seating, unusual models and snacks for purchase —you come with drawing materials and that cute little face of yours. 6-8 pm, $10
A BAROQUE CHRISTMAS Loretto Chapel 207 Old Santa Fe Trail sfpromusica.org Hardcore Handel, vivacious Vivaldi, badass Blavet and some awesome others. Have a classical winter, why don’t you? 6 pm; 8:30 pm, $20-$95 AL ROGERS Fenix at Vanessie 427 W Water St. (505) 982-9966 It’s finally getting cold, but we can always rely on Rogers’ piano tunes to keep us warm. 6:30 pm, free NOCHEBUENA Cathedral Basilica 131 Cathedral Place (505) 988-2282 A high desert holiday concert that showcases New Mexico’s musical diversity? Oof, that’s the good stuff. (see SFR picks, page 17) 7:30 pm, $22-$100
TUE/21 EVENTS SETH MEYERS Lensic Performing Arts Center 211 W San Francisco St. (505) 988-1234 Yeah that’s right, that dude your parents always remind you is so funny is gonna be here in town. That’s a joke, calm down. Meyers, the youth like you too. 7 pm, $60-$120
MUSEUMS IAIA MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY NATIVE ARTS 108 Cathedral Place (505) 983-8900 Experimental exPRESSion: Printmaking at IAIA, 1963– 1980. Exposure: Native Art and Political Ecology. 10 am-4 pm, Wed-Sat, Mon 11 am-4 pm, Sun, $5-$10 MUSEUM OF INDIAN ARTS AND CULTURE 706 Camino Lejo (505) 476-1200 Curator H.P. Mera’s Trip to Navajo Country in 1932 10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sun, $3-$9 MUSEUM OF INTERNATIONAL FOLK ART 706 Camino Lejo (505) 476-1200 Yokai: Ghosts and Demons of Japan. Música Buena: Hispano Folk Music of New Mexico. 10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sun, $3-$12 MUSEUM OF ENCAUSTIC ART 18 Co Road 55A, Los Cerrillos (505) 424-6487 Museum of Encaustic Art Exhibition. By appointment, $10 NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF ART 107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5052 Storytellers: Narrative Art and the West. Poetic Justice: Judith F. Baca, Mildred Howard and Jaune Quick-To See-Smith. 10 am-5 pm, Tues-Sun, $7-$12 GEORGIA O’KEEFFE MUSEUM 217 Johnson St. (505) 946-1000 Abstract Nature. Georgia O’Keeffe in New Mexico. 10 am-5 pm, Thurs-Mon $20
COURTESY OF IAIA MOCNA PERMANENT COLLECTION, SE-67
THE CALENDAR
“Microcosms of the Everglades” by Benjamin Harjo (Seminole/Shawnee) part of Experimental exPRESSion: Printmaking at IAIA. MUSEUM OF SPANISH COLONIAL ART 750 Camino Lejo (505) 982-2226 Trails, Rails and Highways.. Pueblo-Spanish Revival Style: The Director’s Residence and the Architecture of John Gaw Meem. 1-4 pm, Wed-Fri, $5-$12, free for members NEW MEXICO MILITARY MUSEUM 1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 474-1670 New Mexico’s Civil War. 10 am-3 pm, Mon-Fri, free
POEH CULTURAL CENTER 78 Cities of Gold Road (505) 455-5041 Di Wae Powa: A Partnership With the Smithsonian. 9 am-5 pm, Tues-Sun, $7-$10 WHEELWRIGHT MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN 704 Camino Lejo (505) 982-4636 Indigenous Women: Border Matters (Traveling). Portraits: Peoples, Places, and Perspectives. 10 am-4 pm, Tues-Sat, $8
S FR E P O RTE R .CO M /M US I C
Gold Tides Strike It Rich BY KILEY LARSEN a u t h o r @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
Y
ou wouldn’t expect surf rock this fine to come from the high desert, but Santa Fe’s Gold Tides hit all the right spots on their debut EP, Fever Water. No, I’m not talking about the velvety harmonies of The Beach Boys or the Pasadena-loving melodies of Jan & Dean, but a broader nationwide scene that has taken off over the last decade with elements of shoegaze and dream pop in the vein of Beach Fossils and DIIV. Fever Water is as brisk as a sea breeze with five songs full of sing-along choruses and sometimes darker lyrical content beneath a delicious wall of chorus-heavy guitar. Gold Tide’s new songs are so catchy, I’ve found myself constantly humming various melodies for the past few weeks only to realize each is from Fever Water. My most consistently-hummed would be “3 am,” a number that finds singer Gabe Kohler singing the refrain of “3 am and you’re not around/Oh why, oh why did I go downtown?” It’s one of many moments throughout the release wherein Kohler occupies the same hallowed space as Arctic Monkeys’ Alex Turner—elevating songs with genuine presence and swagger. Meanwhile, once the shimmering first notes of ear-worm opener “Danger” hit, I felt something ecstatic within, so after a full weekend spent spinning Fever Water, I reached out to the band to learn more about their story. They were kind enough to invite me for a meal at Yamas Greek Rotisserie, which acts as a de
Fun-loving band keeps things light while writing serious hooks
facto HQ around the corner from their rehearsal space. Formed by drummer Jeremy Brownstone and guitarist Lorenzo Aragon, Gold Tides started as an after-hours creative outlet and break from their jobs at a local plumbing supply store. Soon after, Aragon’s brother Rick found himself a part of early jam sessions before joining the band outright and trading guitar for bass. Still in need of a singer, the group mined Craigslist, through which they connected with Kohler. Brownstone and Aragon recall the energy on his demo freaked them out. “I was just looking for an outlet for pent-up aggression,” Kohler says. After auditions with other singers went nowhere, Gold Tides’ founding members recognized Kohler had the secret sauce and brought him on full time. And it’s a good thing they did. The band’s hook-laden formula works so well due, in part, to Lorenzo and Brownstone’s songwriting relationship, but also Kohler’s presence. Since the band’s inception, they’ve written steadily, amassing quite the collection of songs; Lorenzo also records riffs constantly, a few bars at a time, and sends them to Brownstone, who experiments with the beat before bringing a more fully-realized song to the rest of the group. “We don’t throw away anything,” Brownstone explains. “We either keep the
best songs or send the others to the recycling bin and come back to them later.” In fact, he says, most songs on Fever Water spent time in the in flux, tightening or even changing genres entirely during the writing process. It’s finally finding those songs’ best versions that makes the COVID-19 lockdowns so heartbreaking for the band. Gold Tides was playing shows regularly and gaining a bit of momentum early last year, but the pandemic soon halted their ability to write and rehearse in-person. The group spent months apart, without practice, but things changed when they gained the attention
of local scene staple Augustine Ortiz, owner of The Decibel Foundry and Enteledon Records, and a celebrated local metal icon with bands like Dysphotic and Carrion Kind. After inviting Gold Tides to perform in his studio for a mid-pandemic streaming series, the band tapped Ortiz to produce and engineer Fever Water.
MUSIC
One might question a bonafide metalhead like Ortiz working on a poppy surf rock record, but having recorded with other locals like hardcore punk act The Illegal Aliens and proggy post-punkers The Blackout Pictures, his talent and diversity are impossible to miss on Fever Water. Ortiz captures the band in lush live mode, rather than the track-bytrack breakdowns of most mainstream records. His expertise and prowess are most noticeable on “Whales,” which puts the listener behind Brownstone’s drum set as Aragon’s guitar hooks hover above Kohler’s vocals with just the right amount of reverb. And this is only the beginning. Since recording Fever Water, Gold Tides has added Hubba/Thieves & Gypsies guitarist and lyricist Jared Garcia to the lineup, who recalls Brownstone approaching him to ask, “Hey, aren’t you that famous guy?” With Thieves & Gypsies recently calling it quits after more than a decade, Garcia’s addition to the fray can only add an emotional indie edge to Gold Tides’ stuff. He’s been known to write with vulnerability, and he’s one of the best hook-smiths to ever call Santa Fe home. “Our music sounds so much different with Jared,” Brownstone says, though what that means exactly will have to wait. While preparing to record their fulllength debut, opportunities abound for Gold Tides, including a tour through Colorado and Wyoming next year. Still, given the shakeups and lockdowns, singer searches and personnel additions, this band seems to have finally found its spark. “We’re really excited for this spring,” says Kohler. “We’re making the live set more interactive and will have some high-energy outdoor shows that fit the new material.” Listen online at goldtides.bandcamp.com
SFREPORTER.COM •• DECEMBER DECEMBER 15-21, 15-21, 2021 2021 SFREPORTER.COM
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MUSIC A Q&A With ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead’s Jason Reece
Sounds a lot like the ’80s in East Berlin. The track “Something Like This” channels a kind of frustration with memory, where you seem to be trying to remember words and chords and if you can even still sing them like you used to. Does that channel a specific feeling or more of a general fear? That’s where Conrad was coming from, lyrically. It was all from an uncertainty and ominous feeling—we were dealing with him maybe getting deported from the United States since he’s actually an Irish citizen. He had to come back to America [from Cambodia] to retain his green card, and so a bunch of immigration issues are always tied to the band like that.
VIKTOR SCOTT
Marks the Spot
crazy apartment and paying, like, $200 in rent, so he was focusing on his creative stuff.
...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead’s Jason Reece (right) says the band’s newest record X is “more personal...closer to what was around us at the time.”
BY RILEY GARDNER r i l e y @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
P
unk rock, post-rock, post-punk, Euro-rock-post-punk: ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead fits neatly into a lot of musical categories. Headed by Jason Reece and Conrad Kelly, you can expect them at Meow Wolf this week. Reece sat down with SFR to talk about the influences on the band’s new album X: The Godless Void and Other Stories, some thoughts on where punk and rock go from here and the current state of metal in Cambodian youth culture. SFR: Can you give me a breakdown of your new-ish album, X? Jason Reece: We were making it in 2019 at Scary American Studios [in Austin, Texas]. Our band kind of fell apart, and it was just me and Conrad and our friend Charles [Godfrey] putting together this monstrous kind of album that we made. It was a hard process to make this record, and we hadn’t made a record in, like, five years. There was a ton of uncertainty. So it has a lot of
that throughout the lyrics—this darker outlook on life, sure, but it can be somewhat uplifting too. [X is] a journey, a way to escape for a bit. It definitely has more of a Brit-pop influence, like Peter Gabriel’s earlier stuff. British sounds from the ’80s and post-punk, plus influences from The Verve, Oasis and that time period of Mass Attack—it doesn’t sound like that, but it nods to them. A lot of your music is in response to happenings in society or some kind of general discontent—like how “Worlds Apart” from your fourth album references 9/11 and the War on Terror. Given all that’s happened in the country and in the world recently, does X respond to similar societal discontent, or is this really more of a personal journey? I think X is more personal—it’s closer to what was around us at the time [we were writing]. There are worldly moments to the album, but it’s not as political as “Worlds Apart.” X is just more of the existentialist woe you’re feeling as a human being—this fact that you are older, you are dealing with
a lot heavier adult things. It’s not like our youth anymore when you had a lot of freedom outside of things like rent or whatever. It’s more of us thinking about the adult shit. There’s a lot of metaphysical moments to it—a lot of it is staring into the abyss, this insanity you can get caught up in. Conrad Kelly recently came back from six years living in Cambodia, and he’s talked about the sounds there, from wildlife to Buddhist chants to urban life. I’m curious if him being over there was a major influence on this album. Oh, yeah. The opening soundscape has Cambodian monks chanting, something he took a recording of when he was over there. Cambodian music is interesting because there’s a whole scene of this psychedelic rock that’s coming out over there. Conrad was part of a pub-psychedelic rock band. Grinding metal resonates with the kids there. So we’ve got traditional music mixed with metal and psychedelic. There’s a disconnect with the traumas of the past— the youth there is over it, getting more Westernized. Conrad had, like, a two-story
When people put X on, what’s the thing you’re hoping people feel from it and also take away from it? It’s hard for people to really know where you’re coming from with this band, there’s a lot of interpretation. If you just like what it sounds like, I get it. If you like the lyrics, that works too. It’s all just kind of a personal choice you can make with this music. Some people just really like the energy it gives off. When I listen to songs, some of them you gather right off the bat. Some songs are just nice on the ears even if the lyricism doesn’t take the forefront. I know you live and breathe music, but do you have any creative pursuits outside of music that let you get away and decompress for a while? I’m kind of just a house husband, frankly. I cook meals, I’m like Martha Stewart. That’s my other job. I skateboard, but I do it like an old man. Punk, rock and all that—some see it as synonymous with a bygone era, but it still feels like it’s thriving in a lot of places. For you guys, what’s the importance of keeping the punk and rock flame burning? For us, it’s something that we just do. I can’t think of anything else—if the creativity is still there and we’re making art, it’s important that we go on. It’s funny, because younger people sometimes don’t listen to us and then it’s like, ‘Holy shit—you guys exist!’ Hopefully some younger generation can check out what we’re doing, and we can thrive in that sense. ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD 9 pm, Friday, Dec 17. $18.50. Meow Wolf 1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369
SFREPORTER.COM •• DECEMBER DECEMBER 15-21, 15-21, 2021 2021 SFREPORTER.COM
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RATINGS BEST MOVIE EVER
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 WORST MOVIE EVER
West Side Story Review It’s the economics, stupid
8
BY RILEY GARDNER r i l e y @ s f r e p o r t e r. c o m
No, Steven Spielberg! No! Don’t make me actually like this! You probably know the West Side Story drill: White boy and former Jets member Tony (Ansel Elgort) falls for the Puerto Rican María (Rachel Zegler), whose brother leads the rival Sharks gang. Drama and violence ensue. There’s a lot more blood here, making Robert Wise’s 1961 West Side Story look like a playground by comparison. Long-time Spielberg collaborator Tony Kushner’s screenplay brings a more logical cohesion lacking from the earlier iterations; Kushner goes a far more radical route and digs deep into the socio-economic reasons behind why these finger snappin’ street gangs exist at all: Robert Moses’ development projects bring in the wealthy gentrifiers, the boys wind up fighting for scraps. It isn’t conflict for the sake of it—here, economics and race go hand-in-hand. Young white boys are told to destroy in order to defend, even when home is just a field of rubble. In theory there’s more than enough to go around, but New York’s canyon-like streets make it suffocating.
MUSIC BOX: MR. SATURDAY NIGHT
7
+ FASCINATING BIT OF MEDIA HISTORY - WE ONLY LEARN ABOUT STIGWOOD AS A BUSINESSMAN
HBO’s ongoing Music Box series of feature-length documentaries dedicated to the highs and lows of big music moments has thus far included deeper looks into subjects like Kenny G., DMX and Alanis
+ RARE TECHNI-
CAL MARVEL; “AMERICA” IS STILL A BANGER - ELGORT IS BLAND; DATED
Lovers of classic Hollywood will likely watch wideeyed as shooting in 35mm brings a far more cinematic look commonly discarded by most modern productions. The physical design knowingly channels the heyday of Technicolor. We avoid cursed quick-cut editing that plagues the cinema of today—and guess what? We can really see the choreography at work. It looks as good as you can imagine, even if Spielberg can’t help dousing his subjects in heavy angelic light and even if West Side Story and its more musical theater elements feel dated. We can see the technical mastery, feel it, but the appeal only goes so far. Skeptics of musicals won’t be converted. Sorry, theater kids, but pre-Cabaret musicals don’t click for everyone. Spielberg translates with such an alarming ease, though, that you might doubt if
Morissette. But these are well-known commodities; interesting in their own ways, sure, but not hidden figures. Its newest episode, however, paints a fascinating portrait of Australian/British media tycoon Roger Stigwood and his enduring impact on music, film, business and the culture of the 1970s itself, even if personal details are brushed to the side. Director John Maggio (The Newspaperman) finally gives Stigwood his due, though he admits
Mr. Saturday Night: Robert Stigwood changed music and movies forever, and somehow that includes John Travolta. Weird.
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DECEMBER DECEMBER 15-21, 15-21, 2021 2021 •• SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM
he’s fully human. Whereas so many musicals struggle with staging, every piece here is naturally fitted into its world with even the most grating songs emerging from a logical place. Spielberg knows the original’s flaws and leapfrogs them well enough, though the main storyline remains less interesting than the side plots (Ariana DeBose and Mike Faist in particular are stellar). Oh, and Shakespeare’s 16th century plot beats aren’t always natural, but if American cinema is now a dud, at least the greatest hits are properly remastered.
in his new film’s early moments the project started out as a disco documentary. Stigwood, as it turned out, so indelibly steered the genre’s second coming—forever changing how movie studios perceive soundtracks—that disco might have died a quiet death had it not been for a handful of visionary business decisions, skeptical studio execs and a band called the Bee-Gees. Previously, Stigwood had orbited The Beatles, managed some bands and released some records, but a 1976 disco culture article by journalist Nik Cohn for New York Magazine planted the seeds for 1977’s Saturday Night Fever in Stigwood’s mind. Revitalizing a then-waining Bee-Gees for the film’s music, Stigwood would tap TV star John Travolta for the lead, Serpico scribe Norman Wexler for the script and John Badham (War Games) to direct. Fearing they’d missed the lifespan of disco proved false—together Stigwood and crew extended the genre’s popularity another half-decade at least, becoming the first production to ever release a soundtrack before its premier, both of which would earn hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide. That was unheard-of at the time. As such, Mr. Saturday Night proves a strangely satisfying glimpse into a very niche world. If nothing else, it’s never disappointing to hear about folks who enraged film exec and notorious bastard Michael Eisner, but Maggio drops the ball on exposing why a movement driven by queer and Black ’70s culture was sold back to them by straight white folks. We do learn, though, that Stigwood’s business acumen laid the foundation for media practices still common today, but we only see
WEST SIDE STORY Directed by Spielberg With Zegler, Elgort, DeBose and Faist Violet Crown, PG-13, 156 min.
this commercial side of the man. That leaves a whole lot of mystery on the table, which is admittedly enticing in its own way, but is that really enough to have ditched an entire doc on disco? Instead, we mostly get a making-of film about Saturday Night Fever told through audio interviews and countless photos, TV spots and other documentation. If that does nothing else but remind the world how the Bee-Gees wrote some bangers, there’s some merit there, and music fans of a certain age will want to know this stuff. Too bad it doesn’t go as deep as it could or should have, though. (Alex De Vore) HBO Max, NR, 83 min.
THE HAND OF GOD
7
+ A CINEMATOGRAPHER’S DREAM - COULD BE TIGHTER
Hear me now and thank me later: The Hand of God is likely to go over your head. Those with a literacy in Fellini’s filmography will probably clock director Paolo Sorrentino’s (The Great Beauty) intent, but questions of unique depth against mere imitation of Italian filmmaking masters prevails. Even then the most dedicated cinephiles can find more than enough to miss in Sorrentino’s autobiographical tale, both to its credit and to its fault. In 1980s Naples, teenage Fabietto (Filippo Scotti) is a loner who lives primarily through his imagination, his eccentric extended family—it’s an Italian film, so prep for a lot of family—and an outrageous group of García Márquez-like
MOVIES
FO R M OR E R EV IEWS , V I S I T S FREP ORTER.COM /M OV I ES
c haracters.Fabiettoworshipssoccerstar Maradona,who’sjustperformedhisfamous HandofGodplay(Googleitifyoumust)when majorfamilytragedyshattershisworld,pushing himtowardfilmmakingasameansofescaping thepain. Whenthetragedystrikesatthemidpoint,the The Hand of Godveersdownapathwithwhich Sorrentinofansarewellfamiliar—anexamination oflife’smomentsandhowthatwhichisholy mergeswiththecursed.LikeThe Great Beauty, there’sayearning,bothtobelongandtohide away.Sorrentino,longaccusedofbeingaFellinimimicbyhiscritics,mightbeusingFabiettoto justifyhisownfuturecinematicchoices.Looking backward,The Hand of God’ssimilaritiesto8 1/2areendless,but,toitscredit,itstillgoesfor aminimalgrandiosityratherthanadream-like atmosphere. Twohoursfeellikefour,andyoumightjust wishFabiettowouldgetthehellonwithwhatever itishe’sdestinedtodo.Thenarrativemoves aheadbygentleandcruelmoments,lackingin plotanddesignedwithoutcomingfullcircle.Hand of Goddoesn’tintendtohand-holdyou,andthose who’vebeenforcedtocomeofagebeforetheir timewillseefarmoreinFabiettoframedsideby-sidewiththeruinedVesuvius,ajaggedand unformedstructure.Life’seruptionsmightlead itsfuturefertilities,afterall.(RG) Center for Contemporary Arts, Netflix, R, 130 min.
WOLF
7
+ MACKAY IS DEDICATED - CLUMSY THEMES
Jacob(GeorgeMacKay,1917)hasspeciesdysphoriainwriter/directorNathalieBiancheri’s Wolf.Hebelieves,infact,thathe’sawolftrapped inahumanbody.Senttoaninstitutionbyhis familyinanefforttocurehim,JacobcrossespathswithagirlcalledWildcat(Lily-Rose Depp),aGermanShepardboy(FionnO’Shea) andaDarwinistmaster-of-the-housecalledThe Zookeeper(PaddyConsidine)whois,aspsych institutemoviesseemtorequire,alittleinsane. Nevertheless,Jacobseesmoreexistentialtruth wheninhiswolfform,soheandWildcathatcha plantoescape. MacKay’scareerhasalreadyshownan intensededicationtorolesthatmightbeboring inanotheractor’shands.Here,heparticularly shines.AsJacob,hisbodysomehowmoveslike awolf,jointsturninginunnaturaldirectionsand bodytwistedinwaysaboutwhichayogamaster mightonlyfantasize.Intandemisfantastic,eerie lightingthathighlightstheshadowedcontortions ofMacKay’sbodyinawaythatwouldbelostin anystandardwayofshooting. ButareMacKay’sprotrudingjointsenough tocarryanentirefilm?Maybe,assomeofusare morethanhappytoseesemi-clothedgood-lookingactorscrawlaroundthefloor.Biancheri (Nocturnal)hasamarvelouseyeinhersecond featureandknowshowtoisolatecharactersin theframetocreateahauntedhouseatmosphere. Yet,withsuchadismaltone,wehavetoask:Is thistherightwaytoframethisstory? ThewhysofWolf nevercomeclosetogetting answers,butthere’sahintofametaphorabout genderidentityand/orconversiontherapy. Binancheridoesn’tfullycommit,though.Instead, Wolfisfarmorefascinatedwithitsownpremise thananythingelseitmightoffer—somuchso thatyoumightbeleftwonderingifthisisjusta sickcircus-likeglimpseintoJacob’sworld.It’s worthawatchforMacKayhowlingatthemoon. (RG) Violet Crown, R, 98 min
HOLIDAY DINING DINING HOLIDAY The Hand of God: 1980s-ing ain’t easy.
MIXTAPE
4
+ KILLER SONGS; NICK THUNE - DOESN’T UNDERSTAND ITS
CHRISTMAS EVE CHRISTMAS EVE CHRISTMAS DAY CHRISTMAS DAY NEW YEAR’S EVE NEW YEAR’S EVE
INSPIRATIONS
Oh,joy!We’vehitthetimeinpopculturewherein kidswhoweren’taroundorveryyoungduringthe 1990saregonnastartgettingmoviesaboutwhat atimeitwas.Lo,those20-ish-plusyearsago wereindeedatime,butwhenitcomestothenew NetflixmovieMixtape fromdirectorValerieWeiss (Prodigal Son),anylegitimatenostalgiatakes abackseattocutesystorytellingandthetype ofbubblegumromanticismthatreducesentire sub-culturesintoone-dimensionalcaricatures drawnbypeoplewhomaybedon’tquitegetwhat they’reattemptingtolovinglymock. InMixtape,youngBeverly(GemmaBrooke Allen)liveswithhergrandmother(Modern Family alumJulieBowen,whopresumablyranovera witchwithhercarandwascursedtotakesuch ameaninglessrole)intheyearofourlord1999. Bev’sfolks—punkfans,we’retoldthroughphotographicevidence—diedinacarcrashwhenshe wasatoddler,andsinceGrandmaain’tspilling thedetailsaboutwhatkindofpeopletheywere, Bev’sforcedtofeelconnectedtoherghostparents throughamixtapeshediscoversinthebasement. Tragically,thatmixtapeisunspooledbya shoddyWalkmanduringtheveryfirstsong(a bangerfromUKpost-punkersGirlsAtOurBest), butratherthanasksomeonehowtofixthator simplygrabbingapenciltoworkitoutherdamn self,BevIDsthetapeasdeadandheadstoher localrecordstorewhereownerAnti(NickThune) startssellinghersongsfromthetapeoneata time.Thesetup,forwhatit’sworth,isactuallykind ofadorableandinteresting.Theexecution,however,feelstoopreciousforanyadultswho’dfeeltape nostalgiaandtoonicheforanykidswhomighttrip outoverthethoughtofcassettesandvinyl. Allen’sturnastheprecociousBeverlyfeelsfine andall,butitseemsthateveryobstacleshefaces issolvedimmediately.Don’treallyknowhowtodo theinternetorNapster,Bev?Nottoworry—agirl youragejustmovedinnextdoorandisacomputerwhiz!Can’tfindthatraretrackfromTheQuick? Nobig,Bev—you’llnoticethatseeminglymean girlatyourschooliswearingtheirshirtonthe verysamedaytheproblemcametolight!Founda photoofyourmomwithsomelocalsinger?Good news—hisband’splayinginacoupledays,andthe
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Holiday dining dining Holiday CHristmas EVE CHristmas EVE CHristmas day CHristmas day nEw yEar’s EVE nEw yEar’s EVE nEw yEar’s day nEw yEar’s day
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MOVIES record store owner is totally down to drive you and your middle schooler buds despite how inherently fucking weird that is! Huzzah! The absurdity only serves to highlight newbie-caliber performances from Bev’s burgeoning buddies Ellen (Audrey Hsieh) and Nicky (Olga Petsa)—and that’s not even getting into Bowen’s wish-I-weren’t-here tackling of the grandma character. Thune would be OK if it weren’t for a series of jokes about how people who like punk and rock and stuff loathe the pop music set. It’s lazy and tired and a Gen-X lite kind of joke that feels written by people who never felt accepted at the record stores of their youths, though likely because of their own hang-ups. The soundtrack does slap, though, and probably ate up most of the budget. Perhaps that’s why everything else feels like a lesser Degrassi movie (with all due respect to the timeless Canadian classic) and why it’s so hard to figure out to whom this movie is supposed to appeal. (ADV) Netflix, TV-PG, 93 min.
THE WHOLE TRUTH
5
+ ENDING IS KIND OF UNEXPECTED; SOME CREEPS
- SILLY PERFORMANCES; TOO FAMILIAR
Thai director Wisit Sasanatieng helms Netflix’s newest horror offering The Whole Truth, a mashup of ideas from films like The Grudge and The Ring and The Sixth Sense and The Orphanage, but with enough tension and scares to stand on its own despite a few notably robotic performances and an ending that just won’t stop ending. Hours after accepting a new role at work, young mother Mai (Nicole Theriault) is hit by a drunk driver and lands in a coma with a 50% chance of waking. Her father (Sompob Benjathikul) steps in to care for her kids Pim (Punpun Sutatta Udomsilp) and Putt (Mac Nattapat Nimjirawat), but when the pair discovers a hole drilled into the living room wall at grandpa’s house, horrifying past secrets threaten to reveal themselves and creepy ghost girls with stringy black hair come out to play. Nobody else can see the hole, even that smarmy kid from school who took video of Pim in the locker room shower, but as Pim and Putt become increasingly unable to quit staring into the damn thing, things seem to get worse. No spoilers here, but it’s the age-old conundrum of the scary thing deflating the more you learn about it; almost no payoff would keep the scares going, really, or even be as satisfying as one would hope. Udomsilp and Nimjirawat are meant to carry the film, but over-emotive physical performances wrest away any chance for subtlety. Someplace between their frantic eye movements and poorly
FO R M O R E R E V I E WS , V I S I T S FR E P O RTE R .CO M /M OV I E S
delivered lines, things begin to border on the cartoonish, as does pretty much every choice from Koi Tarika Thidathit, who plays their grandmother Wan. Elsewhere, good ol’ grandpa might have a penchant for taking the law into his own hands and nobody is sure where Latte the cat went. Is it a wormhole? A ghost hole? A glimpse into the future? Whatever it is, it sucks hard in that other room, and when the truth spills out in a quick succession of tense strings, shoddy CGI and terrible revelations, it’ll ultimately feel familiar. Still, you’ve got to hand it to Sasanatieng and writer Abishek J. Bajaj for sneaking in a twist or two that ultimately save The Whole Truth from feeling completely lifted. (ADV) Netflix, NR, 125 min
THE POWER OF THE DOG
8
+ SO GOOD; MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES AND IMAGERY
- PAYOFFS MIGHT BE UNSATISFACTORY
One viewing of The Power of the Dog and you’ll know you have to see it a second time to catch everything—if you can stomach it. Rose (Kirsten Dunst) is a struggling widow living in rural Montana’s isolation with her son Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee). He isn’t like the other boys, though, and often faces mockery for his more feminine characteristics. When Rose suddenly elopes with George (played by Dunst’s real-life beau Jesse Plemons of Breaking Bad), she and Peter move onto her new husband’s ranch, where they soon find themselves tormented by George’s stone-hearted brother Phil (Benedict Cumberbatch). Phil, it turns out, has plenty of his own secrets to hide, but still—he takes Peter under his wing for grooming. Director Jane Campion’s newest is all about sexual repression, and it is not subtle in that regard, nor is it trying to be. The number of phallic symbols alone are enough to make the ancient Greeks blush, and everything from fence posts to saddles to blades of grass let you know what’s happening in Phil’s head. Campion’s first film in 12 years is a slow burn, too, and it expertly stokes the embers of tension. As such, it’s a hard film to watch for the character humiliations alone, let alone for the psychotic messes Cumberbatch’s Phil continually unleashes on Peter and the others. Campion is a master director and knows exactly what she wants and how to get it (check out her 1993 knockout The Piano as another example) while making every frame useful to character psychology and development. When stacked against the modern Western of the last few decades, wherein grittiness seems to have become the de facto stand-in for old Ford romanticism and wherein violence for its own sake
DECEMBER 2ND — DECEMBER 19TH A dark comedy which explores the modern digital culture of social media, reality TV, and our innate search for meaning. Tickets @ www.santafeplayhouse.org
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DECEMBER DECEMBER 15-21, 15-21, 2021 2021 •• SFREPORTER.COM SFREPORTER.COM
Tick, Tick... Boom!: Something, something, Andrew Garfield. is meant to be enough, Campion doesn’t shy from the realities of rural life. Instead, Power of the Dog harkens back to a cornerstone of Western film theory: How does isolation affect the soul? Mix in pentup desire and questions of masculinity and you’ve got a classic cinematic formula, only this is a little more gay. It doesn’t sparkle with energy, but why should it? This is Montana, by God. (RG) CCA, Netflix. R, 126 min
TICK, TICK... BOOM!
7
+ WE DON’T DESERVE ANDREW GARFIELD; LARSON’S MUSIC
- ESOTERIC; GENERIC ARTIST WOES
If you’ve ever sat at a table with musical theater nerds and not had a clue what they were talking about, you’ve met the target audience for tick, tick.... BOOM!’s. It’ll be a film with legs in the years to come, particularly with the drama kids, but chances are it will struggle in its initial release, even with someone like Lin-Manual Miranda (who created a little show called Hamilton) in his directorial debut. In this biopic-lite/musical, we meet a pre-Rent Jonathan Larson (Andrew Garfield) who hasn’t yet crafted the 1994 Broadway smash hit. Larson is living in Manhattan squalor trying to put together a rock-opera retelling of 1984, and his inner-circle consists of 1980s NYC underground communities rather than posh Broadway elites. By the time we catch
up with him, Larson’s determination to reinvent musical theater has become a dangerous obsession. At its best, Miranda finds a touching tribute to the late playwright; at its worst, tick, tick...BOOM! becomes an insufferable tribute to the archetypical starving artist that seems aimed solely at white boy coastal types. The romanticization of suffering is tiresome, and the celebratory manner in which the film showcases Larson’s very real obsessive behaviors feels wrong. We don’t—or shouldn’t—want to be like him, but the film wants us to admire his dedication even as it ruins lives. But hey, the music is banging, and Miranda’s directorial style translates well to film, even if his inspirations are familiar. The frenetic energy is fantastic and he knows what to capture within the frame; the rough edges reflect a rough world, and anyone familiar with movie musicals—looking at you, drama geeks—will note the repetitive staging decisions and numbers lifted from big hitters like Chicago and Hedwig and the Angry Itch. tick tick… BOOM!’s anchor is Garfield, who is here at the height of his prowess and an actor who can take on the most obscure, bizarre projects and bring such life to them that it’s hard not to recall the likes of Marlon Brando or Montgomery Clift. Even so, the general public will likely find the film a little too insider baseball. Those who’ve not been lulled by Broadway and musical culture will find Larson’s short life fascinating if frustrating. (RG) Netflix, PG-13, 121 min
SFR CLASSIFIEDS JONESIN’ CROSSWORD
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DECEMBER 15-21, 2021
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SFR CLASSIFIEDS MIND BODY SPIRIT PSCYHICS Rob Brezsny
Week of December 15th
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Key questions for you, beginning now and throughout 2022: 1. What do you need to say, but have not yet said? 2. What is crucial for you to do, but you have not yet done? 3. What dream have you neglected and shouldn’t neglect any longer? 4. What sanctuary is essential for you to visit, but you have not yet visited? 5. What “sin” is it important for you to forgive yourself for, but you have not yet forgiven yourself? 6. What promise have you not yet fulfilled, even though it’s getting late (but not too late!) to fulfill? 7. What secret have you hidden so well that you have mostly concealed it even from yourself?
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Author Barbara Sher offered this wise counsel: “Imaginary obstacles are insurmountable. Real ones aren’t.” I bring this to your attention because I believe the coming weeks will be an excellent time to identify the imaginary obstacles you’ve erected in your inner world—and then smash them or burn them or dispose of them. Once you’re free of the illusory interference, I think you’ll find you have at least twice as much power to neutralize the real obstacles.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Prolific author Ray Bradbury liked to give advice to those with a strong need TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Taurus novelist Anthony to express their imaginative originality. Since I expect Trollope (1815–1882) took one of his manuscripts to a you will be a person like that in 2022, I’ll convey to you publishing company, hoping it would be made into a one of his exhortations. He wrote, “If you want to create, book and sold to the public. A few weeks later, he got you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned word by mail that his masterpiece had been rejected. He out and sent rambling. I wish you a wrestling match with took a train to the publisher’s office and retrieved it. On your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime. I wish crazithe train ride home, he turned the manuscript over and ness and foolishness and madness upon you.” Keep in began writing a new story on the back of each page. He mind that Bradbury was referring to constructive crazispent no time moping. That’s the spirit I recommend you ness, wise foolishness, and divine madness. embody in the coming weeks, dear Taurus. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The coming months GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “John Coltrane was an addict,” wrote author Cornel West about the renowned will be a favorable time for you to redefine the meaning of the term “sacred” and to deepen your relationship jazz saxophonist and composer. “Billie Holiday was an addict. [Nobel Prize-winning author] Eugene O’Neill was with sacredness. To spur your imagination, I offer four an addict. What would America be without addicts and quotes: 1. “Recognizing the sacred begins when we are post-addicts who make such grand contributions to our interested in every detail of our lives.” —Buddhist teacher Chögyam Trungpa 2. “When you notice something society?” I welcome West’s sympathetic views toward addicts. Many of us who aren’t addicts understand how clearly and see it vividly, it then becomes sacred.” — poet Allen Ginsberg 3. “Holiness begins in recognizing lucky we are not to have the genetic predisposition or the face of the other.” —philosopher Marc-Alain the traumatic experiences that addicts often struggle with. We unaddicted people may also have been spared Ouaknin 4. “Modern culture, in its advertising of sex, is in a misguided fashion advertising its longing for the the bigotry and abuse that have contributed to and sacred.” —teacher Sobonfu Somé aggravated some addicts’ addictions. Having acknowledged these truths, I nevertheless hope to do whatever I CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn author E. M. can to help you convert any addictive tendencies you might have into passionate obsessions. Now is an excel- Forster wrote, “The only books that influence us are lent time to launch a new phase of such work. Invitation: those for which we are ready, and which have gone a little further down our particular path than we have yet Make a list of three things you can do in the coming gone ourselves.” I propose we universalize that statemonths to nurture the process. ment: “The only people, information, and experiences CANCER (June 21-July 22): Actor and model Kate that influence us are those for which we are ready, and Beckinsale unleashed a cryptic boast: “My best feature is which have gone a little further down our particular path unfortunately a private matter, although I’m told it is than we have yet gone ourselves.” I believe this principle spectacular. But you can’t really walk it down the red car- will be especially fruitful for you to embrace during the pet. What can I say?” Are you imagining what I’m imag- next three months. Prepare yourself for lessons that are ining? I bring this oddity to your attention in the hope vital for you to learn—and on the frontier of that I can convince you to be more forthright and expres- your understanding sive about your own wonderful qualities. It’s time to be less shy about your beauty, less secretive about your AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Among America’s deep assets. Show the world why you’re so lovable. Founding Fathers was Aquarian William Whipple (17301785). He was one of 56 men who signed the LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo-born Edna Ferber (1885– 1968) was a celebrated author who won a Pulitzer Prize. Declaration of Independence in 1776, instigating war She was witty and outspoken. Her stories featured strong with Great Britain. Unlike many of his colleagues, howwomen and characters struggling against discrimination. ever, Whipple believed it was hypocritical to enslave “I never would just open a door and walk through,” she human beings while fighting for freedom. That’s why he said about her career. “I had to bust it down for the hell emancipated the person who had been in bondage to of it. I just naturally liked doing things the hard way.” At him. The coming months will be a favorable time to least in the coming weeks, Leo, I urge you NOT to adopt make comparable corrections, Aquarius. If there are disFerber’s attitude. In my view, you’ll be wise to do everycrepancies between your ideals and your actions, fix thing possible to open doors rather than bust them the problem. down. And the best way to do that is to solicit help. Cultivate your ability to ask for what you need. Refine PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): According to Piscean author your practice of the arts of collaboration, synergy, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, “People sometimes devote their and interweaving. lives to a desire that they are not sure will ever be fulVIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “No one has ever written, filled.” So true! I can personally attest to that behavior. Is painted, sculpted, modeled, built, or invented except liter- such a quest misguided? Delusional? Naive? Not in my ally to get out of hell,” wrote Virgo dramatist Antonin view. I see it as glorious, brave, and heroic. Akutagawa did Artaud. That’s a ridiculous generalization, in my opinion. too. He said that those who refrain from having inspiraFor example, I occasionally generate songs, stories, and tional desires are “no more than mere spectators of life.” horoscopes to help me escape from a momentary hell. In any case, I recommend you think big in 2022, Pisces. But most of my creations are inspired by my love of life From an astrological angle, this could be the year you and a desire to inspire others. I’m very sure that in the home in on and refine and upgrade the single most coming weeks, your own motivations to produce good important desire you will ever have. things will be far closer to mine than to Artaud’s. You’re in Homework: Tell me your most important lesson of the a phase when your quest for joy, generosity, blessings, and fun could be fierce and productive. year. https://Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology
Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text Message Horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700. © CO P Y R I G H T 2 0 2 1 R O B B R E Z S N Y 30
DECEMBER 15-21, 2021
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PSYCHIC/TAROT READINGS & SPIRITUAL COUNSELING “We saw you around this time last year and you were so accurate. We were hoping to schedule another session” S. W. , Santa Fe. For more information call 505-982-8327 or visit www.alexofavalon.com.
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COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENT Clutter Control Group: Did Covid create clutter? Need help managing? Support open to individuals and family members. Caring, non-judgmental supportive discussions. Find the right tools to make lifestyle changes that tackle the psychological issues in order to make transitions that are manageable and lifelong. Sunday nights from 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM. January 9, 2022 March 13, 2022. Sessions led by art therapy/ counseling students via Zoom through Tierra Nueva Counseling Center. $10 per session. Please call: 505-471-8575 to register.
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STATE OF NEW MEXICO IN THE PROBATE COURT SANTA FE COUNTY IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF DESIRAE LYNN LUJAN, DECEASED. No. 2021-0283 NOTICE TO CREDITORS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned has been appointed personal representative of the estate of the decedent. All persons having claims against the estate of the decedent are required to present their claims within four (4) months after the date of the first publication of any published notice to creditors or sixty (60) days after the date of mailing or other delivery of this notice, whichever is later, or the claims will be forever barred. Claims must be presented either to the undersigned personal representative at the address listed below, or filed with the Probate Court of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, located at the following address: P.O. BOX 1985, Santa Fe, N.M. 87504 Dated: December 3, 2021 Hector J. Sanchez 2711 Via Caballero Del Sur Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505
SFR CLASSIFIEDS STATE OF NEW MEXICO IN THE PROBATE COURT SANTA FE COUNTY IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF Joseph Edward Ortiz, DECEASED. No. 2021-0230 NOTICE OF CREDITORS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that the undersigned has been appointed personal representative of the estate of the decedent. All persons having claims against the estate of the decedent are required to present their claims within four (4) months after the date of the first publication of any published notice to creditors or sixty (60)
days after the date of mailing or other delivery of this notice, whichever is later, or the claims will be forever barred. Claims must be presented either to the undersigned personal representative at the address listed below, or filed with the Probate Court of Santa Fe County, New Mexico, located at the following address: P.O. Box 1985 Santa Fe, NM 87504 Dated: November 1, 2021. /s/ Pauline Laumbach Pauline Laumbach PO Box 17 Rainsville, NM 87736
STATE OF NEW MEXICO COUNTY OF SANTA FE FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT COURT IN THE MATTER OF A PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME OF Joshua Dylan Aon Case No.: D-101CV-2021-02526 NOTICE OF CHANGE OF NAME TAKE NOTICE that in accordance with the provisions of Sec. 40-8-1 through 40-8-3 NMSA 1978, et seq. The Petitioner Joshua Dylan Aon will apply to the Honorable Maria SanchezGagne, District Judge of the First Judicial District at the Santa Fe Judicial Complex, 225 Montezuma Ave., in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at 9:35 a.m. on the 20th day of January, 2022 for an ORDER FOR CHANGE OF NAME from Joshua Dylan Aon to Angelo Joshua Dylan Aon. KATHLEEN VIGIL, District Court Clerk By: Marina Sisneros Deputy Court Clerk Submitted by: Joshua Dylan Aon Petitioner, Pro Se SFREPORTER.COM
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