D e s e r t E x p o s u r e
January 2011
Resolve to have fun.
Sing in the New Year: Things may slow down a bit after the holidays, but that doesn't mean you have to. January abounds with musical offerings, starting with a Jan. 6 flamenco guitar concert at the Silco in Silver City by Chris Burton Jacome. After studying with flamenco greats in Spain, Jacome returned to the US to perform not only on-stage but for programs including the Emmy Award-winning PBS special "Flamenco" and TV shows "Kyle xy" and "Greek." His music is also featured in the feature films Amreeka and 9/Tenths.
The next night, Jan. 7, the Mimbres Region Arts Council's Folk Series brings Slaid Cleaves to the Opera House in Pinos Altos. This is the Austin-based musician's second Folk Series performance and his only New Mexico stop on his current tour, which is promoting a new album, "Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away" — his first in five years.
On Jan. 14, students of the Conservatory of Dance perform the Nutcracker Ballet at the WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre. There's more dancing — the kind you get to join in on — Jan. 15 at the annual 12th Night Dance with Bayou Seco, the Mullany Family Band and the Fiddling Friends. Take your dancing shoes to the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Hall for some family-friendly fun. Then on Jan. 26, "Mr. FM" takes to the piano for A Musical Journey at the Silco.
Jan. 29 brings another MRAC offering, the lively Fishtank Ensemble, at the WNMU Fine Arts Center Theatre. The ensemble performed for the first time in Silver City during Pickamania! 2009, and the audience loved them so much that it was on MRAC director Faye McCalmont's priority list to get them back as soon as possible.
Mountain Aire Folk Music — aka husband-wife duo Robert and Ronnee-Sue Helzne — will perform two free concerts this month: Jan. 15 at A.I.R. Coffee in Bayard and Jan. 30 at the Silver City Public Library. They've been performing since 1994 for arts events and festivals in Scotland and across the western US. Robert blends guitar, octave mandolin and bodhran (Irish drum) with Ronnee-Sue's fiddle, flute and guitar.
One traditional January Silver City to-do you can't enjoy this year is the Red Paint Pow Wow. According to the Pow Wow website, the 2011 event has been cancelled.
Out and about:
In Las Cruces, the Jam Session series of performances, gallery talks and films continues, as does the exhibition at the Branigan Cultural Center that inspired the city's extended celebration of jazz. See last month's Tumbleweeds to read all about it and for the complete schedule.
The Mesilla Valley Balloon Rally returns to the skies Jan. 15-16, after a hiatus.
The Black Box Theatre presents Crime and Punishment, a stage adaptation of the Dostoevsky classic, beginning Jan. 21.
Elsewhere, Jeff Scroggins and Fresh Horses start the new year off right with a concert on Jan. 1 at the Hillsboro Community Center. And in Deming, DPAT hosts crooner Sarah Getto on Jan. 8 and master yodeler Kerry Christenson on Jan. 30, both at historic Morgan Hall.