Santa Fe Reporter, August 2, 2023

A Scientist Said Her Research Could Help With Repatriation. Instead, It Destroyed Native Remains.

By Mary Hudetz, P.10

OPINION 5

7 DAYS, CLAYTOONZ AND THIS MODERN WORLD 6

A BUDDING DISPUTE 8

Residents claim county rushed to approve cannabis grow before a community plan could prohibit it

STIPENDS FOR SPECIAL ED 9

SFPS cancels controversial contract to pay union members more for high-needs positions

COVER STORY 10

THE DELAYED RETURN OF NATIVE REMAINS

A scientist said her research could help with repatriation. Instead, it destroyed Native remains.

CULTURE

SFR PICKS 15

facebook: facebook.com/sfreporter

Explore Oppenheimer’s local fallout, get charmed by Susan Estelle Kwas’ watercolors, swoon to immigrant songs and jam with Zella Day

THE CALENDAR 16

FOOD 25

FRITO FE

We stuffed our intern with an ungodly number of Frito pies and had him analyze the results

OPERA 26

TO HELL AND BACK

Santa Fe Opera’s Orfeo brings a very old story into the 21st century

MOVIES 28

TALK TO ME REVIEW

Almost too horrifying to hand-le

RETURN TO DUST REVIEW

Arranged marriage, real connection

WE’RE HERE FOR YOU

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EVAN CHANDLER MO CHARNOT

CALENDAR EDITOR

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Cover photo by Russel Albert Daniels for

NM Gas Company (NMGC)'s planned Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) plant, just three miles from a school and two miles from Double Eagle Airport and Petroglyph National Monument, is not worth the risk to the health and safety of Rio Rancho, Bernalillo County and surrounding communities.

As planned, LNG, derived from fracked methane gas and chilled to -260ºF, could be liquefied, stored and regasified at the plant for injection into NMGC's existing distribution pipelines and for transport by tanker trucks throughout the state. Health and safety risks include:

Physical danger from the ignition of leaking gas forming a low-lying vapor cloud that drifts until it hits an ignition source — even simple static electricity — and ignites an inferno. Depending upon wind and topography, such methane clouds can extend for miles.

LNG fires are extremely difficult to control and cannot be extinguished with water. Firefighters require special training and equipment to control the flames.

Proposed LNG tanker trucks will endanger New Mexico drivers and communities throughout the state.

Impacts from boil-off gas and other necessary intermittent venting could increase cumulative emissions and further exacerbate existing air quality issues in Rio Rancho and Albuquerque.

These dangers are not hypothetical. Even if safety procedures and technology are robust, accidents, leaks and explosions at LNG storage facilities and involving LNG tanker trucks have resulted in numerous fatalities, fires, widespread evacuations of communities in the US and around the world, and property damage in the hundreds of millions.

And the proposed facility is not cost effective. The $180M or more that could be charged to ratepayers to build the plant will cost each NMGC customer at least $3 per month for the next 30 years and will not reduce exposure to price volatility. The capacity of the plant - less than half the contracted capacity from the current supplier in Texas - means more gas will have to be purchased on the volatile swing market where gas prices fluctuate dramatically.

Now is not the time to build new infrastructure that makes decarbonization more difficult!

LEARN MORE AND TAKE ACTION TO TELL THE PUBLIC REGULATION COMMISSION TO OPPOSE THIS DANGEROUS PLAN AT HTTP://NEWENERGYECONOMY.ORG/LNG

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.

NEWS, JULY 12: “MANSION TAX IN FOR FIGHT” NO TRUST IN THIS FUND

The City of Santa Fe is about to embark upon yet another misguided public policy mistake. The latest issue is with the city’s ongoing housing shortage. According to news reports, the plan is to levy a 3% excise tax on sales of million-dollar homes to create a new revenue stream for the city’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

As the article describes it, a buyer of a $1.5 million home would pay the tax on $500,000, and the $15,000 collected would go into the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to help cover down payment assistance, rental assistance and housing rehabilitation for city residents.

The problem is the plan won’t actually do anything significant to solve the city’s housing challenges for the simple reason that it doesn’t create any new housing. Rather, by taxing high-end housing and shifting those dollars to the low-end buyers, these new dollars will result in price inflation on those lower cost properties.

If Santa Fe policymakers are serious about making housing more affordable, then increased supply (not redistributionist taxes) MUST be the largest part of the equation.

PAUL J. GESSING PRESIDENT, RIO GRANDE FOUNDATION

COVER, JULY 12: “SANTA

FE MURAL TOUR”

WHITEWASHING THE WALLS?

The gorgeous and evolving New Mexico mural everyone enjoyed seeing was thoughtlessly erased from what has become the bland Vladem Contemporary art building. What were Museum of New Mexico people thinking, or not thinking?

And a few years back children did a nice mural on the outside the wall of the public library. It was covered up one day, but it still exists beneath that mindless cover. Let our creative muralists shine again!

RICHARD POLESE

SANTA FE

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

“Any interest in doing basket weaving Monday?”

“I can’t. I have crystal work that day.”

—Overheard at the Plaza Café Southside

“Music or people. You have to cut one out because I can’t do both.”

—Overheard from a female Boomer to her three friends

Send your Overheard in Santa Fe tidbits to: eavesdropper@sfreporter.com

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DECLARES MONSOON SEASON

“A DUD”

More like non-soon season. #swish

CITY OKS POTENTIAL MIDTOWN FILM STUDIO EXPANSION

Just in time for this super-fun ongoing WGA/SAG strike, too!

BRAH.

BIDEN HEADING TO NEW MEXICO SOON

He’s probably coming for that sweet, sweet herb, brah.

SECRETARY OF AGING AND LONG-TERM SERVICES KATRINA HOTRUM-LOPEZ LEAVES STATE JOB

Like something leaving a sinking something.

BRAAAH.

DRUNK DRIVER CRASHES AT POLICE ACADEMY

Well, that’s not funny at all, but then, neither is Steve Guttenberg.

NEW DUTCH BROS. COFFEE ON CERRILLOS ROAD REPORTEDLY CAUSING TRAFFIC ISSUES

Everyone knows we already have kickass local coffee shops here, right?

COMIC LEGEND PAUL REUBENS DIES FOLLOWING PRIVATE BATTLE WITH CANCER

He was a loner, Dottie. A rebel.

TO A TEE

Miss out on picking up this year’s Best of Santa Fe T-shirt? They’re still available alongside other merch at sfreporter.com/shop.

My name is Milagra

I was hit by a car and left paralyzed on the side of the road. A Good Samaratan brought me to Española Humane, and with medication, time and a little rehab, I miraculously started walking again. Now I’m a tenacious tabby who is making up for lost time. Without you, who knows what would have happened to me? THANK YOU for being there when I needed you most. www.espanolahumane.org

A Budding Dispute

cultivation in its rural/residential, rural fringe, residential fringe and traditional community zoning districts.

Emails provided to SFR show Crail explained to members of the San Marcos Committee that the community plan and zoning process are distinct and the latter is not always based on popular opinion.

“While the Community Plan process is focused on community-led consensus decision-making, the Overlay process is on County Planning staff to ‘implement the recommended land uses of an adopted community plan’ (SLDC 8.11.3) and not always by consensus,” Crail writes.

San Marcos is not the only community district on the waiting list for a plan update, according to District 5 County Commissioner Hank Hughes.

“Both the 285 Corridor and San Marcos are wanting to update their plans,” Hughes says. “I guess the trouble is we don’t have enough staff to do all of these quickly.”

San Marcos Association President Dennis Kurtz said during the July 11 meeting that after the county paused the plan during the pandemic, the committee continually asked for updates to no avail.

BY EVAN CHANDLER evan@sfreporter.com

Approval for a cannabis grower in Santa Fe County has kicked off a neighborhood fight over whether officials gave existing property owners a chance to prohibit the operation.

People who live in San Marcos say they’ve been trying to convince the county to amend their community plan, but have faced delays. In the meantime, LRA Growers acquired a permit on April 20 from the Growth Management Department to begin outdoor cannabis cultivation on 10.22 acres in the area.

Now, neighbors have asked the county to rescind that permission. Commissioners held a hearing July 11 on the matter and plan to discuss it again at the end of the month.

As part of the Santa Fe County Sustainable Growth Management Plan, the Sustainable Land Development Code allows for the establishment of community district overlay zones, a tool “intended to preserve and protect unique communities and areas” through the implementation of community plans and individualized zoning regulations.

Santa Fe County Community Planner Nate Crail tells SFR one of the primary reasons for a community plan is to establish “a role for local public involvement.”

“Santa Fe County is a really large county,

and there’s a lot of different types of communities and different interests and histories and contexts and demographics. A community plan tries to reflect that through our land use regulations,” he says.

San Marcos adopted its county-approved community plan in 2006 and updated it twice since: in 2015 and again in 2019. San Marcos Community District Committee member Doug Speer says the group spent “a good 18 months” on the most recent revision, with the intention of next working on the overlay’s “use matrix,” or permitted uses of land. Following the COVID-19 pandemic’s onset in 2020, the process stopped completely.

After New Mexico legalized broad cannabis cultivation in 2021, the county adopted zoning rules to regulate where producers could set up operations countywide. While the county stipulated that its 14 existing community planning districts could ask for stricter rules later, it has been slow to roll out a process for doing so.

That’s why Speer and other neighbors filed an appeal against the cannabis operation. It cites typical development disputes such as water usage and potential road damage, but also calls out the county for failing to update the community overlay district and for poor communication about new

zoning laws on cannabis cultivation.

“There was no thought of a commercial agricultural level in any of our discussions … It was much more of a ‘if you want to grow some carrots and take them to farmers market, that’s totally acceptable,’” Speer tells SFR, “but having a commercial operation to grow marijuana is not.”

Early this year, at the same time the LRA Growers’ application was moving through the review process, Santa Fe County contracted with Southwest Planning & Marketing to conduct a public opinion survey in San Marcos about whether district property owners wanted commercial cannabis.

According to survey data from April and May, 73.3% of 194 respondents in the area said they believed commercial cannabis outdoor growth should not be allowed in residential areas, with one resident writing San Marcos community district is “no place for a pothead business.”

The county also conducted a similar survey in Chimayó, and spokeswoman Olivia Romo tells SFR the county “will be surveying additional communities this year and in 2024 as necessary.”

It’s not clear what happens next for any of the community planning areas, and in the meantime the county code allows cannabis

“This is not a case of the San Marcos Planning District Committee jumping up now and saying we want to enact some kind of regulations concerning cannabis,” Kurtz testified during a public hearing. “We have been in limbo. We feel like granting these applications and even considering them when we haven’t had a chance to fulfill our legal obligations is not really fair.”

Other locations in New Mexico have also seen adverse reactions to the idea of commercial cannabis sold near homes. Executive Director of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce Ben Lewinger says High Horse Cannabis in Las Cruces suffered similar criticism from neighbors.

“That definitely sounded like a reaction out of fear of folks not wanting cannabis in their neighborhood,” Lewinger says, noting the High Horse lost its bid to open a shop.

The Santa Fe County Commission punted the San Marcos permit appeal to a meeting on Aug. 29, but the community plan doesn’t seem to be the major issue its members are considering. They asked the applicant and neighbors to come up with a road management plan.

Neither Jim Harris, principal of LRA Growers, or his agent at Santa Fe Permits returned a request for an interview. The appeal, agent Michael Salimbene said at the hearing, “isn’t about whether we or anybody supports cannabis growth or not. This is about whether it’s allowed on 62 Southfork Extension.”

A sign posted outside 62 Southfork Extension notifies neighbors of pending outdoor cannabis grow.

EVAN CHANDLER

Residents claim county rushed to approve cannabis grow before a community plan could prohibit it

Stipends for Special Ed

since been filled, as well as the one vacant social worker position. The district has yet to fill all eight educational assistant positions open, but Chavez says the district is actively recruiting and has a few workers lined up for the start of the school year.

cludes all teachers and educational assistants, she says.

BY MO CHARNOT mo@sfreporter.com

Despite having approved a contract with an outside firm for special education services, Santa Fe Public Schools has backtracked and instead will use pay incentives to recruit its own staff for the program during the coming school year.

The school board voted in June to enter into a $1.5 million contract with Specialized Education Services after it had trouble finding teachers and other workers, but the local branch of the National Education Association union opposed that plan.

However, within just a few weeks of negotiating with the union, on July 21, the superintendent reversed the district’s course and instead set up stipends ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 per year for those willing to work for the special ed program—on top of the salary and benefits the positions already offer.

“We’re pleased that we were able to come to a compromise,” Grace Mayer, NEA-Santa Fe’s union president, tells SFR. “It’s never a good idea to outsource public education, ever. Especially to a for-profit entity.”

Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez reports all four of the vacant teaching positions in the special ed program have

“We want what is best for students. We want to ensure they are receiving a proper education; this can be in-house or through a contractor. At the end of the day, it’s about the kids in those classrooms,” he tells SFR.

Although the SFPS Board of Education unanimously approved the contract at its June 22 meeting and planned to locate a new program at the Aspen Community School, the contract had yet to be signed. At the time, Jeff Pinkerton, the school district’s executive director of Exceptional Student Service, said no one had applied to two-year-old job openings for the behavioral health jobs.

Mayer says the union was caught off guard by the board’s vote, noting, “We were a little sur prised that the district wanted to move forward with this without really trying to see if we could negotiate an alternative.”

The board’s plan to out source teaching positions would dilute the union’s collective bargaining unit that negotiates wage and working conditions, which in

“It seemed like the school board was either unclear with that relationship and process or they were just not interested,” Mayer adds. “So, that’s why I stood up and I objected to what was happening.”

District officials and union members met to discuss pros, cons and costs, with the union suggesting a plan to ask current staff to take on the vacant positions in special ed, providing stipends between $10,000 to $20,000 as incentive.

Mayer says the union surveyed staff about the idea, and enough staff respond-

ed, resulting in the district pulling back from the contract.

“The whole intention behind this was to have our most experienced people, that have the commitment to the community and their students, fill these positions, and see if we can work with them to create a program that’s gonna be sustainable, long-term and have the impact on students’ achievement that we hope to see,” she says.

The yearly stipend for the four special education teachers will be $20,000. The first $10,000 to be paid in December, and the remaining in May. The social worker will receive a $15,000 yearly stipend, and educational assistants will receive a $10,000 yearly stipend.

The district now plans to establish three classrooms dedicated to special education at Sweeney Elementary, and one at Ortiz Middle School when school begins Aug. 15.

The union also advocated for the social worker to be hired specifically to work with special ed students, which Mayer says is a first for SFPS. Salaries, benefits, stipends, and costs to operate the special ed program are expected to fall near the proposed contract amount.

Chavez told lawmakers about the plan at a July 26 Legislative Education Study Committee meeting, noting, “I’m a true believer that if we have a happy workforce, if you have a workforce that know they’re cared about, vacancy rates of employees will go down and the quality of instruction will go up.”

SFPS cancels controversial contract to pay union members more for highneeds positions

ANSON STEVENS-BOLLEN

The Delayed Return of Native Remains

efit us,” said Theresa Pasqual, director of the historic preservation office for the Pueblo of Acoma. “What it does is it bolsters their careers; it bolsters their professional, academic standing. Let’s be real about it.”

In 1990, Congress passed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, anticipating that within a decade federally funded museums and universities would return tens of thousands of ancestral remains and burial items. But as ProPublica reported this year, U.S. museums continue to hold the remains of more than 100,000 Native American ancestors, almost all of which they say are “culturally unidentifiable,” meaning they are unable to determine which tribe, if any, can rightfully claim them.

ProPublica found that by funding scientific studies on Native American human remains, the NSF and other federal agencies have created incentives for institutions to hold on to ancestors in ways that undermine the goals of NAGPRA. Federal agencies have awarded at least $15 million to universities and museums for such research since the law’s passage, a ProPublica review found.

As a result, tribes have been not only denied opportunities to reclaim and rebury their ancestors, but also excluded from having a say over the treatment of the remains.

“There’s this perverse sense of ownership, that ‘these are our samples.’ And ‘You know, we’re protecting it for the good of research,’” said Krystal Tsosie, a Navajo Nation citizen and assistant professor at Arizona State University whose research focuses on genetics and bioethics.

BY MARY HUDETZ ProPublica

Two decades ago, an anthropology professor at the University of Utah asked the National Science Foundation to fund research on Native American ancestors to determine when the cultivations of crops like corn first became prevalent in their cultures.

The studies, according to the research proposals, would involve analyzing Ancestral Pueblo remains that museums had excavated around 1900 from some of the Southwest’s most sacred sites: a deep rift that winds through Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, an ancient village near cliff dwellings in Colorado and the remnants of a settlement at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico that dates back more than a thousand years. Nearly all of the remains were held at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.

The analysis would destroy portions of the ancestral remains but yield valuable information, including a more precise date of when the individuals lived, Joan Brenner Coltrain, the Utah professor, said in the research

proposals. This information could help the institutions finally return the remains to descendant tribes, she said at the time.

The NSF provided $222,218 under two grants for research that spanned eight years, starting in 2002. But the studies never resulted in Harvard or the AMNH repatriating human remains to any of the tribes that trace their ancestry to sites studied by Brenner Coltrain, including the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico and the Hopi in Arizona.

Instead, the work inspired even more destructive research on ancestral remains by other scientists supported by federal funding and done without the consent of tribes, many of which view such studies as a violation of their traditions and beliefs.

“There’s somehow this perspective that this kind of research will enhance us or ben-

When another group of researchers was set to publish a study that had involved damaging Native American remains — including two from Chaco Canyon used in the Brenner Coltrain research — some on the team questioned the ethics of moving forward without permission or input from tribes. But an AMNH curator, who was listed as a contributor to the study, discouraged outreach to Pueblo leaders, according to previously unreported emails. Involving them could cause researchers to lose control of the project, he wrote.

The fallout from that study led the AMNH in 2020 to ban destructive research on human remains.

The museum said in response to questions from ProPublica that it has not repatriated the ancestral remains used in the studies because no tribes have formally claimed them under the law. Pueblo representatives have continued to visit the AMNH and meet with staff about its collection, the statement added.

Several tribal members and representatives interviewed for this story said museums’ demands that tribes initiate the repatria-

A Scientist Said Her Research Could Help With Repatriation. Instead, It Destroyed Native Remains.

A large kiva at Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Culture National Historical Park in New Mexico. Pueblo Bonito, the largest of the great houses, has hundreds of rooms and dozens of kivas, which have long been used by Pueblo tribes for ceremonial and social purposes.

RUSSEL ALBERT DANIELS FOR PROPUBLICA

tion process place an unfair burden on them to do the work of addressing the looting of Indigenous graves.

“The museums tend to think of all these objects as their personal property, and they don’t want to turn it back over to the tribes even though much of it was unscrupulously obtained,” said Kurt Dongoske, who is a tribal historic preservation officer for Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico.

The AMNH also said it is not aware of scientific research it authorized yielding enough information to allow for repatriation decisions.

Harvard, which declined to comment after receiving questions from ProPublica, has prohibited research on ancestral remains and items subject to NAGPRA under a temporary policy that allows an exception for studies done with tribal consent. The university has acknowledged publicly that as a premier research institution, it long ignored the wishes of tribal communities while benefiting from collections of their ancestral remains amassed through excavations and donations.

This year, the Interior Department is reviewing proposed regulations that would require institutions to halt research on Native American remains if requested by a tribe. The NSF said in response to written questions from ProPublica that it is committed to engaging more with tribes and is now beginning to standardize policies for funding research that impacts them. Under draft guidelines that could go into effect in January, the agency said, it would require all researchers to show that they have consulted with tribes on their research proposals before obtaining an NSF grant.

Still, the NSF and other federal agencies have continued to fund research on Indigenous remains in recent years.

Involving Indigenous groups in research can add to researchers’ understanding of ancestors’ lives and belongings, said Pasqual, of Acoma Pueblo. Without this context, scientific studies are incomplete, she said.

Pasqual’s background in archaeology helps her understand how science’s view of her ancestors differs from that of her tribe’s culture. Scientists and museums, she believes, have long viewed ancestors’ remains as objects, specimens or property. Pueblo people have a continuing relationship with their ancestors and an obligation to steward them.

“There are a lot of folks who may see ancestors as being an open resource to do different types of DNA testing,” she said. “We recognize that there is an ethical obligation.”

“THE LAW IS SO VAGUE”

For nearly two centuries, museums and universities used science to justify building and keeping massive collections of Native American human remains.

Harvard, which today holds the remains of 6,000 Native Americans, opened the Peabody museum in 1866 with a handful of pottery and other items, plus a small collection of Indigenous remains that were used to analyze the “anatomical characteristics” of the races, according to the museum’s first annual report, issued two years later.

By 1900, an AMNH anthropologist with medical training, Aleš Hrdlička, set up a

makeshift laboratory in Chaco Canyon’s Pueblo Bonito, a sprawling multistory settlement with hundreds of rooms and dozens of kivas, spaces that have long been used among Pueblo tribes and the Hopi for ceremonial and social purposes.

Hrdlička conducted his work as the expedition’s archaeologists cleared rooms in the “great house,” including a chamber the archaeologists labeled Room 33 where 14 peo-

ple had been buried along with ceramics and thousands of pieces of turquoise. The team began taking remains and objects and sending them to New York by train, until concerns about looting at the canyon prompted a federal probe.

One of the expedition’s benefactors defended the work as a scientific enterprise, not a looting one. But the investigation still halted the excavation, and the investigator recommended making Chaco Canyon a national park to protect it.

Of the more than 150 ancestral remains from Chaco Canyon at the AMNH, Hrdlička helped unearth more than half, according to the museum’s inventory provided to the National Park Service under NAGPRA.

David Hurst Thomas, a longtime archaeologist, said he considered the Chaco Canyon holdings to be the AMNH’s most important collection from the continent when he first stepped into his role as the museum’s curator of North American archaeology in the 1970s.

“There are people who want to call that looting, and certainly by 21st-century standards that’s true,” said Thomas, who’s now retired. “But by late 19th-century standards, that’s one of the best digs in the country.”

Frustration that institutions had treated Native American ancestors as scientific specimens played a major role in driving Indigenous rights activists to push for federal repatriation legislation. When Congress passed NAGPRA in 1990, lawmakers anticipated repatriation would be completed within five to 10 years. As a result, the law is limited in how it addresses scientific analysis.

“The whole concept of NAGPRA was to return these collections to tribes, so that they would have rights over them. They would be able to authorize or not authorize testing,” said Melanie O’Brien, manager of the National Park Service’s National NAGPRA Program. “But that didn’t happen.”

Congress simply did not envision that 33 years later institutions would be where they are now — holding tens of thousands of Native American remains they have designated as “culturally unidentifiable” and allowing them to be used for research, said O’Brien.

The law states that it should not be interpreted as authorizing new scientific studies to advance repatriation efforts. It also says that the only justification for halting repatriations in order to conduct research is if it is considered so important that the findings would be in the national interest. And even in such cases, institutions have three months from the study’s conclusion to return the human remains and items to tribes, according to the law.

No institution has ever sought an exemption for such a study, according to O’Brien.

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Stewart Koyiyumptewa, the Hopi Tribe’s

Theresa Pasqual, director of the Acoma Historic Preservation Office, at Pueblo Bonito.

Visitors can still pass through doorways between rooms in Pueblo Bonito.

RUSSEL ALBERT DANIELS FOR PROPUBLICA

cultural preservation office director, believes NAGPRA should clearly acknowledge tribes’ right to have a say over studies of their ancestors, including those that involve taking and examining samples of their DNA. “But the law is so vague,” he said.

In a letter commenting on the Interior Department’s proposed regulations, Koyiyumptewa said clarifying this would help prevent remains or objects in museums pending repatriation from being used for scientific or museum work.

From the perspective of his culture, Koyiyumptewa said, samples extracted for DNA research and other studies still represent the remnants of a person and should be respected. “Even though the person may be deceased,” he said, “that small sample still has life.”

Alyssa Bader, who is Tsimshian and an assistant professor of anthropology at McGill University in Montreal, agrees that tribes should have a say over the treatment of biological samples of ancestral remains used in research.

But this work can be done ethically, Bader said.

She has collaborated with Indigenous communities to examine the diets of Tsimshian ancestors and how foods have changed in the distant and recent past. As her partners, Indigenous groups help shape research questions in ways that can benefit their communities.

This collaborative work requires more time and money but it is worth the investment, Bader said. “I 100% believe that it produces better research.”

PURSUING RESEARCH, NOT REPATRIATION

Soon after NAGPRA’s passage, NSF records show, some institutions began to seek grants to preserve Ancestral remains for future scientific study, even though Congress had called for museums to be “expeditious” in

returning them to tribes. At the time, many museums had not yet fulfilled the law’s requirement to inventory their collections.

It would take a full decade from the law’s passage — years longer than expected — for the American Museum of Natural History and Harvard to fully review their collections. The park service had extended deadlines for the institutions with vast collections to file inventories of the items and human remains that had been taken from Native American burials. In 2000, both finally reported that most of their holdings subject to the law could not be culturally affiliated, claiming they did not have enough information to make repatriation decisions.

For example, the AMNH declared its entire Chaco Canyon collection to be “culturally unidentifiable.” In federal records, the museum said that people’s migrations from the canyon in the 1300s to villages in Arizona and New Mexico where their descendants now live left gaps in archaeologists’ knowledge about the region.

Martha Graham, who oversaw the mu-

seum’s NAGPRA compliance in the 1990s, told ProPublica that because multiple tribes claimed ties to the canyon, institutions needed even more time than the park service had granted them to consult with the tribes. Graham, who is from New Mexico and briefly worked for the park service at Chaco Canyon, said she appreciated the connection that the tribes, including the Hopi, had to the area. She left her job in 2001. But had she stayed, she would have pressed the museum to revisit its conclusion that it could not identify which tribes could reclaim what it held from the site, she told ProPublica. “We were pretty explicit, as I recall,” about the need for that to happen, said Graham.

In a statement, the museum said the work of “affiliating” collections did not end when it filed its inventory with the park service in 2000 and is ongoing. But the museum has not revised its decision, though it said it recognizes multiple Pueblo tribes’ ties to the canyon.

Thomas, the retired AMNH curator of North American archaeology, believed NAGPRA gave the museum even more rea-

son to approve scientific research because it might help identify descendant groups for repatriation. He acknowledged in an interview that it was wrong to exclude tribes from decisions about such research.

“WHY DIDN’T YOU ASK US?”

Brenner Coltrain at the University of Utah pursued the first of two NSF grants in 2002, hoping to learn more about when farming became a central part of life for Ancestral Puebloans who lived more than 2,000 years ago on the Colorado Plateau. She began by analyzing human remains formerly buried in Arizona and Colorado and now held at Harvard’s Peabody museum, saying the work would “undoubtedly influence” the institution’s final repatriation decisions.

Brenner Coltrain did not grant an interview for this story. In an email, she told ProPublica that her work could help institutions make “informed decisions regarding repatriation” but “not ensure that repatriation will follow.”

Pueblo Bonito, a massive “great house,” once stood four stories tall, according to the National Park Service.

RUSSEL ALBERT DANIELS FOR PROPUBLICA

The museum had granted Brenner Coltrain access to its collection on the condition that she share her findings with several tribes, including the Hopi, Pueblo of Acoma and Navajo Nation, according to her NSF research proposal.

Initially, the research involved having another Utah professor analyze mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which was becoming increasingly prevalent in anthropological studies. Extracting it required pulverizing portions of bone. The genetic material, which is inherited from mothers, could help researchers learn more about trade routes, human migration and matrilineal lineages.

Brenner Coltrain and her colleague hoped to gather genetic information from more than three dozen ancestors. But they only had success with seven because the remains either were not well preserved or had lost bone mass.

The process was expensive and the results were disappointing, Brenner Coltrain said in a grant report to the NSF. It showed that the people from different ancient sites shared a common ancestry, a finding she said was “perhaps not surprising,” given what was already known about Native American genetics in the region.

But another form of destructive analysis that involved examining the bone chemistry of 80 ancestors led Brenner Coltrain to what she considered a more noteworthy finding: Corn had become a staple in the region by roughly 2,400 years ago. Her final reports did not say whether she shared this information with the tribes as Harvard requested.

Even though no repatriation happened following the first study, she successfully proposed similar research in a second NSF proposal in 2007. This time, she studied the remains of more than 140 ancestors held at the AMNH that had been excavated around the 1900s, mostly from Grand Gulch, a winding canyon within Utah’s Bears Ears National Monument. In the course of her work, she also extracted bone samples from the remains of at least two ancestors buried within Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon, according to a paper she and her co-researchers later published.

Joel Janetski, a now-retired anthropology professor at Brigham Young University who worked with Brenner Coltrain on the second of the studies, said in an interview that the researchers had followed all appropriate guidelines. They did not consult with tribes, he said, because they would have had to go around the AMNH to do so and therefore jeopardize future opportunities to research its collection.

“It would have been inappropriate,” he said.

As Brenner Coltrain’s NSF grant ended, another researcher took an interest in the

Chaco Canyon ancestors whose remains she had analyzed. Stephen Plog, a University of Virginia archaeologist, obtained samples from her and sent them to a radiocarbon-dating lab for further analysis, he said.

He co-authored a paper about the research in 2010. No one raised concerns about his work, Plog said in an interview: “No reviewer, nor anyone else commented to say, ‘You know, do you think it’s really right to just do destructive analysis of human remains?’”

Next, he collaborated with researchers at Penn State, Harvard and the AMNH on a paper that again focused on the ancestors from Pueblo Bonito’s Room 33. Their work was supported by NSF funding. Using mtDNA, they showed that eight individuals buried together in the room descended from a woman laid to rest among them and that the group’s lineage spanned 300 years.

In late 2016, the team was prepared to report their findings in Nature, the leading scientific journal.

But before publication, an anthropologist who wasn’t involved in the project urged members of the team to reach out to tribes, according to interviews and emails exchanged among the researchers. It was too late to get consent for destructive analysis that had already happened. But the team could still engage with the tribes and discuss

The Delayed Return of Native Remains

the research ahead of publication, suggested George Perry, a professor at Penn State and co-author of the paper.

Peter Whiteley, a cultural anthropologist at the AMNH, firmly opposed the idea, saying in an email to Perry and other researchers that involving tribes would result in surrendering scientific “decision-making” to them. The team should publish first and contact the tribes later, he said.

Whiteley knew the region, having spent much of his career researching and writing

books about the Hopi tribe. Since the 1980s he had done this work in collaboration with tribal members or with tribal authorities’ consent, he wrote in an email to ProPublica sent via an AMNH spokesperson.

The team studying the ancestors of Pueblo Bonito’s Room 33 had asked Whiteley to contribute expertise on matrilineal cultures among the Pueblo tribes but did so only after the research had been completed. Whiteley called the proposal to engage with tribes pre-publication “naive.”

“If they had wanted Pueblo and Hopi involvement, the time to seek it was at the beginning of the research, not its conclusion,” Whiteley told ProPublica.

Despite opposition from others on the research team, Perry sent letters to Pueblo and Hopi tribal officers before the paper was published. The possibility that tribes might disapprove of the research was all the more reason to engage, he said.

In retrospect, Plog said, he understands arguments against doing the type of research on Native American human remains that he and the others pursued. But he said he participated in the belief that his findings had the potential to advance public perceptions of Native Americans by showing the culture at Chaco Canyon had rivaled other great ancient civilizations.

Koyiyumptewa, the Hopi cultural preservation office director, said he felt upset upon learning the research had been done without the tribe’s input.

“You know, why didn’t you ask us?” Koyiyumptewa said in an interview.

News headlines seized on the finding that the Ancestral Puebloans shared a matrilineal line. One read, “Girl Power,” another “Moms Rule!” But that was hardly revelatory to people like Pasqual, who trace their roots through Chaco Canyon and sustain cultures that center matrilineal ties.

“We could have told you that,” she said of the Pueblo of Acoma.

She and others say tribes have their own ways of understanding and appreciating their past.

In her youth, her father used to take her to Chaco Canyon and teach her about the people who built the great houses and how their practices extend to her and others in the present. She has since driven countless times from Acoma Pueblo to the canyon, 100 miles to the north, where she observes traces of Pueblo ancestors, their footholds embedded in the canyon walls.

“If the Pueblo people identify themselves as descendants, that should be enough,” Pasqual said.

This story was originally published by ProPublica as part of The Repatriation Project. Read more at: propublica.org/series/ the-repatriation-project

Pasqual climbs a mesa at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, a place she has visited frequently since she was a child.

RUSSEL ALBERT DANIELS FOR PROPUBLICA

I f they had wanted Pueblo and Hopi involvement, the time to seek it was at the beginning of the research, not its conclusion,

-Peter Whiteley, cultural anthropologist

KWASCINATING

Sometimes you’ll be out there on the internet just scrolling around looking at art when something makes you pause and think, “Oh, dang, where’s this been all my life?” Just such a thing happened over here at SFR HQ when we stumbled upon painter/illustrator Susan Estelle Kwas. According to Kwas’ bio, the years she spent as an illustrator still inform the watercolor painting she’s working on today, and with a hybrid style that marries elements we might associate with folks such as Maurice Sendak and a contempo cartoony style that would be at home in fine art galleries, lowbrow spaces and countless points between, the work is just plain fun. Kwas says she likes to observe animals out in the wild and merge those meaningful interactions into a pure form of self-expression. We see a dense and riveting visual feast. Win/win. (ADV)

Susan Estelle Kwas: Some Other Day Opening: 5-7 pm Friday, Aug. 4. Free. Martinez Studio 223 1/2 Canyon Road, (920) 288-7157

PERFORMANCE FRI/4

COMING HOME

Cool off in the cathedral with all 24 voices of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and narrator Ama Zathura in a stirring modern program called The American Immigrant Experience, accompanied by pianist Nathan Salazar. The program is one of three in the chorale’s Summer Festival’s final weekend, and its diverse compositions reflect generations of people whose music shaped the nation with each wave of arrival. Hear a Spanish “Luna Liberiana” highlight the group’s remarkable ensemble sound, along with a soaring and hopeful number in Haitian Creole. At the opening concert last month, Marques Jerrell Ruff brought down the house with his bass solo in a Josephine Poelinitz arrangement of “City Called Heaven.” We dare you to make it through without a few tear drops. (Julie Ann Grimm)

The American Immigrant Experience: 7:30 pm Friday, Aug. 4. $10-$100 Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi. desertchorale.org

MUSIC TUE/8

DAY AT NIGHT

Zella Day is one of those rare perennial talents who could just as well have successfully bloomed 50 years ago as when she did in 2015, when she released her first major label album, Kicker. Born and raised in Pinetop-Lakeside, Arizona, Day’s discography encapsulates the sweeping highs and lows of the desert Southwest through vibrant guitars, reverberant bass, mesmerizing vocals and her equally ethereal backbeats. Having collaborated with Lana Del Rey (to whom Day has often been compared) as well as Weyes Blood and Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, Day presides over the realm of indie desert pop as a kind of ‘60s daisies-and-headbands hippie queen— and it sounds so nice. (Noah Hale)

Zella Day: 7 pm Tuesday, Aug. 8. $20. Meow Wolf

1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369

Atomic Age

Pieces from Meridel Rubenstein’s Critical Mass provide Oppenheimer context and contrast at the CCA

Whether you choose to view select images from photographer Meridel Rubenstein’s enduring Critical Mass project before or after screening Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer at the Center for Contemporary Arts (a 35mm print, no less) is immaterial. What’s important is that you make the time to do so, should you watch the big new film about the bomb.

Though the idea kicked off in 1989, Critical Mass as a whole premiered right here in Santa Fe back in 1993, with Rubenstein and her collaborators Ellen Zweig and Steina and Woody Vasulka making use of a National Endowment for the Arts grant to explore the intersection of scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project and Indigenous New Mexicans who, at times, came together at the home and tearoom of Los Alamos resident Edith Warner circa 1944. According to a statement hanging at the current abridged Critical Mass showing at the CCA, the project “examined the forces of domesticity and history that led to the bomb’s creation.”

This is achieved through numerous methods, including triptych, collage, portraiture, superimposition and, of course, Rubenstein’s unique eye. Think images of industry and aged tech juxtaposed against

the land, or J. Robert Oppenheimer himself; of Danish physicist Niels Bohr and Indigenous New Mexicans who orbited the Manhattan Project in the 1940s and were still alive during the inception and execution of Critical Mass. You’ll see Coke bottles that survived the now-infamous Trinity Test and looming grids of photos shown large within massive metal frameworks. Ultimately, however, the show covers intimate portraiture and a more human aspect to a decidedly horrifying yet scientific topic.

Rubenstein herself will take part in two upcoming pay-what-you-wish events at the CCA: a guided walkthrough of Critical Mass on Sunday, Aug. 6 at 2 pm, and a roundtable discussion on Tuesday, Aug. 8 featuring speakers from nonprofit Tewa Women United, the pueblos of San Ildefonso and Santa Clara, gallerist Tonya Turner Carroll, writer and journalist Alicia Inez Gúzman and curator Josie Lopez of the Albuquerque Museum. (Alex De Vore)

PHOTOWORKS FROM CRITICAL MASS

Check ccasantafe.org for hours

Through Wednesday, Aug. 16. Free Center for Contemporary Arts

1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338

COURTESY ZELLADAY.COM

MERIDEL RUBENSTEIN

ART OPENING FRI/4

EXHIBIT THROUGH WED/16

THE CALENDAR

LA EMI 2023 FLAMENCO SERIES

The Lodge at Santa Fe

Want to see your event listed here?

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Send notices via email to calendar@sfreporter.com.

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.

WED/2

BOOKS/LECTURES

AROUND THE WORLD WITH O'KEEFFE bit.ly/459DBFm

Giustina Renzoni leads a discussion of the artist's international travels, guided by various souvenirs on display in the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum's ongoing exhibit of the same name.

9-10 am, free

PEOPLE TO PEOPLE: ERIKA WANENMACHER AND KATIE DOYLE

New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

The artist and curator (respectively) talk about their roles in creating the current exhibition

The Nature of Glass

11 am-noon, free

THE LEGACY OF THE 101-YEAR-OLD GALLUP INTERTRIBAL INDIAN CEREMONIAL bit.ly/47ejmYS

Alison Griffiths discusses ephemera from the Inter-Tribal Ceremonial. Presented by the Friends of History Wednesday

Lecture Series.  Noon-1 pm, free

DANCE

ENTREFLAMENCO SUMMER SEASON

El Flamenco Cabaret

135 W Palace Ave. (505) 209-1302

Director Antonio Granjero's flamenco company performs with Spanish guests.

7:30 pm, $25-$48

750 N St. Francis Drive (505) 992-5800

The New Mexican flamenco diva takes the stage with guest appearances.

7:15 pm, $25-$55

EVENTS

ALL THINGS YARN

La Farge Library

1730 Llano St., (505) 820-0292

Break out those knitting needles or crochet hooks and collectively count stitches to your heart's content.

5:30-7:30 pm, free

LEISURELY BIKE RIDE

Fort Marcy Park

490 Washington Ave. (505) 955-2500

Instructor-led bike rides.

10-11 am, $5

NOH8 PHOTO SHOOT

Santa Fe Brewing Company

35 Fire Place, (505) 424-3333

First come, first served photos courtesy of the anti-bullying and LGBTQ rights organization. Wear a white T-shirt and come camera ready.

6-8 pm, $25-$40

OPEN MIC COMEDY Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Wayward Comedy welcomes you to the stage weekly. Better make 'em laugh.

8 pm, free

OPEN MIC WEDNESDAYS

Tumbleroot Pottery Pub

135 W. Palace Ave. (505) 982-4711

Local talent, plus booze and clay.

7-10 pm, free

PAUL ROSS

The Lodge at Santa Fe 750 N St. Francis Drive (505) 992-5800

Comedic cowboy poems before La Emi's flamenco performance (for which attendees of Ross' event will receive a discount).

6:15 pm, free

WEE WEDNESDAYS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Storytime and themed play.

10:30-11:30 am, free

WRITER'S DEN

Beastly Books

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 395-2628

A weekly quiet, communal space to write to the sound of others' clicking keyboards.

5-6:30 pm, free

MUSIC

ALMA: SUNSET CONCERT

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo (505) 471-9103

Bring a picnic and enjoy various Latin musical traditions.

6-8 pm, $10-$12

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT RECITAL

St. Bede's Episcopal Church

550 W San Mateo (505) 988–2282

Three Desert Chorale artists perform alongside pianist Nathan Salazar.

4 pm, $40

BETH LEE/EASY TROUBLE Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Texan singer-songwriter.

4-6 pm, free

BOB MAUS

Vanessie Restaurant & Piano Bar 427 W Water St. (505) 982-9966

Piano and voice.

7-10 pm, free

DVOŘÁK STRING QUINTET

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art 107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

A smattering of Popper and Braunfels in addition to the titular Czech composer. Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

6 pm, $40-$80

INSTRUMENTAL JAZZ JAM Club Legato 125 E Palace Ave. (505) 988-9232

BYOB: Bring your own bassoon.

6-9 pm, free

MICHELLE DEYOUNG AND KEVIN MURPHY RECITAL

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art 107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

Mahler with a touch of Zeisl and Korngold. Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.  12 pm, $35-$40

RHYME CRAFT Mine Shaft Tavern 2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

A DJ'd hip-hop dance party.  7 pm, free

SANDBOX MUSIC SERIES

Jean Cocteau Cinema 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Local and touring experimental musicians fuse new jazz, modern classical and more.   7 pm, $15-$20

Airborne self portraiture in Jerry West’s “Flight Over Roswell,” from The Vernacular Sublime, opening this week at Pie Projects.

SUNSET SERENADE

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

Ride the rails with electroacoustic cover duo Repurposed Vibe.

7-9 pm, $109-$139

TOPPA TOP REGGAE

TUESDAYS KICK OFF

Boxcar

133 W Water St. (505) 988-7222

Celebrate the sports bar's new digs with reggae, dancehall, Afrobeats and remixes from DJ Selectah DeeCee.

8 pm-1:30 am, free

OPERA

ORFEO

Santa Fe Opera

301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

MacArthur Prize Winner Yuval

Sharon directs the Monteverdicomposed (and Nico Muhlyarranged) underworld romance.

8 pm, $50-$366

WORKSHOP

ARTS ALIVE!

Museum of International Folk Art

706 Camino Lejo (505) 476-1204

Craft recycled piñatas inspired by the ongoing exhibition La Cartonería Mexicana

10 am-2 pm, free

THU/3

BOOKS/LECTURES

BOOK CLUB

Travel Bug Coffee Shop

839 Paseo de Peralta (505) 992-0418

Join the Old Santa Fe Association to discuss Pen La Farge's Turn Left at the Sleeping Dog: Scripting the Santa Fe Legend, 1920-1955.

5-7 pm, free

DANCE

ECSTATIC DANCE

Railyard Performance Center

1611 Paseo de Peralta

EmbodyDance hosts a weekly DJ'd free movement sesh. Contact hello@ EmbodyDanceSantaFe.com for more information.

6:30 pm, $15

ENTREFLAMENCO SUMMER

SEASON

El Flamenco Cabaret

135 W Palace Ave. (505) 209-1302

Expect appearances from the likes of Angel Muñoz and Charo Espino.

7:30 pm, $25-$48

INTRO TO SOCIAL DANCE

Dance Station

947-B W Alameda St.

(505) 989-9788

Weekly drop-in classes on a rotating variety of dance forms—no experience or partner required. On the menu this week is ballroom.

6:45-7:30 pm, $15

LA EMI 2023 FLAMENCO

SERIES

The Lodge at Santa Fe 750 N St. Francis Drive (505) 992-5800

You might just catch Vicente Griego, Eloy Aguilar, Daniel Azcarate or Eloy Cito Gonzales sharing the stage with La Emi.

7:15 pm, $25-$55

EVENTS

ADULTI-VERSE: PAJAMA PARTY

Meow Wolf

1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369

Bring your snazziest PJs for a multiverse pajama contest while DJs Dmonic and Allin spin—no under-21s allowed.

6 pm, $29-$39

ASK A MASTER GARDENER

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Take your thorniest plant questions to the experts from the Santa Fe Extension.

11 am-2 pm, free

CHESS & JAZZ

No Name Cinema 2013 Pinon St., nonamecinema.org

Chess playing, jazz listening and free herbal tea.

6-8 pm, free

FUN WITH FIREFIGHTERS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Certain SFR staffers can attest that getting to tour a fire engine earns instant preschool cred.

1-2 pm, free

GEEKS WHO DRINK

Social Kitchen & Bar

725 Cerrillos Road (505) 982-5952

Don't call it trivia.

7 pm, free

SEEDS & SPROUTS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Julia Elgatian Romero leads the little ones in guided garden exploration.

10:30-11:30 am, free

SUMMER WAREHOUSE

CLEARANCE SALE

Peyote Bird Designs

675 Harkle Road, (505) 986-4900

Discounted turquoise and sterling silver jewelry.

10 am-5 pm, free

FILM

THE RIGHT TO READ

La Farge Library 1730 Llano St., (505) 820-0292

A doc following an NAACP activist, a teacher and two American families working to uplift literacy.

6-7 pm, free

FOOD

FLIGHT NIGHT

Santa Fe Spirits

Downtown Tasting Room

308 Read St., (505) 780-5906

Sample four mini cocktails instead of one large one.

3-10pm, free

THE CALENDAR

MUSIC

ALEX MURZYN QUINTET

Club Legato

125 E Palace Ave., (505) 988-9232

Sax-centric jazz.

6-9 pm, free

BETH LEE

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Soulful Americana.

7 pm, free

BILL HEARNE

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Americana and honky-tonk.

4-6 pm, free

BOOMROOTS/MISTER KALI & LAKANDON

Santa Fe Plaza

100 Old Santa Fe Trail lensic360.org

New Mexican funk, soul and reggae. Presented by Lensic360.

6 pm, free

DAVID GEIST

Osteria D'Assisi

58 S Federal Place (505) 986-5858

Broadway, pop and original tunes for voice and piano.

7-10 pm, $5

HALF BROKE HORSES

Tiny's Restaurant & Lounge

1005 S St. Francis Drive (505) 983-9817

Two-step your way to honkytonk heaven.

7-10 pm, free

PAT MALONE

TerraCotta Wine Bistro

304 Johnson St. (505) 989-1166

Solo jazz guitar.

6-8 pm, free

STARK AND DVORAK

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

Featuring pianist Juho Pohjonen, violinist Jessica Lee and cellist Zlatomir Fung. Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

12 pm, $35-$40

SUNSET SERENADE

Sky Railway 410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

All rails and cocktails.

7 pm, $109-$129

THE TUDORS AND THE MEDICI

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

131 Cathedral Place (505) 982-5619

Sixteen Desert Chorale singers perform alongside period instruments.

7:30 pm, $10-$100

OPERA

PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE

Santa Fe Opera

301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

Netia Jones directs Debussy's oneiric story of regal love triangles.

8 pm, $50-$336

CONTINUED ON PAGE 19

THEATER

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER

Santa Fe Playhouse

142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262

A musical drawn from the same source material (Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal) as the film Kind Hearts and Coronets

7:30-10 pm, $15-$75

CITY MICE

Teatro Paraguas

3205 Calle Marie, (505) 424-1601

Join the Theatre Lovers Club for a post-performance talkback with the cast by signing up at theatresantafe.org/rsvp.

7:30-9:15 pm, $15-$25

SHAKESPEARE IN THE GARDEN:

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Beatrice’s name has to be a Dante reference, right? Love an Elizabethan fanboy.

6:45-9:30 pm, $40-$55

WORKSHOP

ARTS ALIVE!

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Celebrate pollinators with hands-on bee-themed activities.

10 am-2 pm, free

HATHA YOGA

Four Seasons Rancho Encantado

198 NM-592, (505) 946-5700

Gentle yoga.

10:30-11:30 am, $18-$90

SEASONAL COOKING

Reunity Resources

1829 San Ysidro Crossing

(505) 393-1196

Cook up farm-fresh goodies from a menu based upon what's harvested earlier in the day. Presented by Sprouting Kitchen and Slow Food Santa Fe.

5:30-7:30 pm, $85

THURSDAY MORNING WHEEL

Paseo Pottery

1273 Calle de Comercio

(505) 988-7687

Practice shaping spinning clay.  10 am-noon, $70

FRI/4

ART OPENINGS

KENNETH SUSYNSKI: A FIRE RACING UNDER THE SKIN (RECEPTION)

Aurelia Gallery

414 Canyon Road, (505) 501-2915

Figurative expressionism meets abstract composition.

5-7 pm, free

ADONNAH LANGER

art is gallery santa fe

419 Canyon Road, (505) 629-2332

The jeweler showcases beaded bracelets with gemstones.

11 am-5 pm daily, free

AMY DONALDSON:

EXTRAVAGANT HOPE (OPENING)

Gaia Contemporary

225 Canyon Road, #6 (505) 501-0415

Color-centric abstract paintings.

5-7 pm, free

ART & LEADERSHIP

PROGRAM 2023 ART SHOW

Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Education Annex 123 Grant Ave., (505) 946-1039

A showcase of linocuts, watercolors, glass works and more made by young artists in the museum's summer program.

5-7 pm, free

CARRIE MARSH: ART OF HUMANITY (OPENING)

Downtown Subscription

376 Garcia St., (505) 983-3085

Photos and monotypes of India.

5-7 pm, free

DANIEL MCCOY: MVSKOKE DIASPORA (OPENING)

Hecho Gallery

129 W Palace Ave., (505) 455-6882

Pop art, cartoons, sign painting and murals intersect.

5-7 pm, free

DAVID OLIVANT: WHETHER OR NOT SOMETHING BAD HAS HAPPENED (OPENING)

Strata Gallery

125 Lincoln Ave., Ste. 105 (505) 780-5403

Strata celebrates its brand-new digs with a solo exhibition of mixed media paintings.

5-8 pm, free

FIRST FRIDAY OPEN STUDIO

Joshua Lance Studio

1218 Siler Road, #806 joshualance.com

See samples of the artist's work alongside live painting and portrait commissions.

5-8 pm, free

JASON POOLE: THE EDGE OF WILDNESS

Aurelia Gallery

414 Canyon Road, (505) 501-2915

Photos probing boundaries between organic and artificial.

Open 11 am-5 pm, Mon-Fri; Noon-5 pm, Sat-Sun., free

JENNY IRENE MILLER: HOW TO SKIP A ROCK (OPENING)

Foto Forum Santa Fe

1714 Paseo de Peralta (505) 470-2582

Queerness tenderly captured on film.

5 pm, free

LINDA PETERSEN AND JULIA ROBERTS (OPENING)

New Concept Gallery

610 Canyon Road, (505) 795-7570

Western oil landscapes and hand-pulled prints.

5-7 pm, free

MARK SPENCER: FINDING BALANCE (OPENING)

Edition ONE Gallery

728 Canyon Road, (505) 570-5385

Neo-surrealist paintings.

5-7 pm, free

MIGUEL TRUJILLO AND THE PURSUIT OF NATIVE VOTING RIGHTS (OPENING)

New Mexico History Museum

113 Lincoln Ave., (505) 476-5100

Exploring the life and legacy of the Isleta Pueblo educator and veteran.

5-7 pm, free

REBECCA HAINES: GLYPH (OPENING)

Giacobbe-Fritz Fine Art

702 Canyon Road, (505) 986-1156

Oil paintings of Southwestern wildlife.

5-7 pm, free

SUSAN ESTELLE KWAS: SOME OTHER DAY (OPENING)

Martinez Studio

223 1/2 Canyon Road (920) 288-7157

Watercolors straddling contemporary painting and illustration.

(See SFR Picks, page 15)

5-7 pm, free

BOOKS/LECTURES

FIRST FRIDAY: STUART ASHMAN

New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

The museum's former director chats about the exhibit Manuel Carrillo: Mexican Modernist

6-7 pm, free

READINGS WITH THE DECK OF MIRRORS

Artistic License Gallery

7 Ave Vista Grande, #D7 (505) 920-0997

Card interpretations on offer.

5-7 pm, free

THE HISTORY AND ORIGINS OF NATIVE AMERICAN HOOP

DANCE

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

710 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1269

A panel featuring Dennis Bowen, Sr. (Seneca), Ginger Sykes Torres (Diné), Benito Concha (Taos Pueblo) and Derrick Suwaima Davis (Hopi/Choctaw).

1-3 pm, free

DANCE

ENTREFLAMENCO SUMMER

SEASON

El Flamenco Cabaret

135 W Palace Ave., (505) 209-1302

Come early for dinner and drinks.

7:30 pm, $25-$48

LA EMI 2023 FLAMENCO SERIES

The Lodge at Santa Fe 750 N St. Francis Drive (505) 992-5800

Castanet clacking.

7:15 pm, $25-$55

NEW CENTURY DANCE

PROJECT: NEW VOICES

NDI NM Dance Barns

1140 Alto St., (505) 620-6643

Eighteen high school, undergraduate and emerging choreographers premiere new works.

7 pm, $10-$20

EVENTS

ART WALKING TOUR

New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

Museum docents guide an art and architecture-centric tour of downtown (weather permitting).

10 am, $20

CRASH KARAOKE

Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Yowl your heart out.

9 pm-1 am, free

FINE ART FRIDAYS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 989-8359

Guests from the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum share creative activity with the kiddos.

2-4 pm, free

LEISURELY BIKE RIDE

Fort Marcy Park 490 Washington Ave. (505) 955-2500

Borrow a bike from the Recreation Division if you don't have one.  10-11 am, $5

LIVE PAINTING WITH ERIN

FORE

Dragonfly Transformations

129 W San Francisco St., Ste. E (505) 652-7633

In addition to the artist demonstration, get your aura photographed by Annette Gates.

5-7 pm, free

MAKE AND BELIEVE TIME

Rainbow Rainbow at Meow Wolf

1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369

One hour's worth of story time and art projects with librarian-selected books.  10 am, free

MINIATURES PAINTING

Beastly Books

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 395-2628

Paint table-top game figurines.  4-6:30 pm, free

POTTERY THROWDOWN

Paseo Pottery

1273 Calle de Comercio (505) 988-7687

Live pottery demos, music, refreshments and more.  5-8 pm, $25

PUBLIC GARDEN TOUR Santa Fe Botanical Garden 715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103 Stop and smell the flowers.  10 am, $12

SUMMER TRUNK SHOW SERIES

Bishop's Lodge 1297 Bishops Lodge Road (888) 741-0480

Jewelry from five local artists, curated by Bobby Beals Presents.  Noon-5 pm, free

WALKING HISTORY TOUR

School for Advanced Research 660 Garcia St., (505) 954-7213

Check out the estate turned artist residency center. 10-11:30 am, $15

FILM

BEAT THE HEAT MOVIE MATINEE: WALL-E

Santa Fe Public Library Main Branch 145 Washington Ave. (505) 955-6780

Free popcorn, lemonade, AC and AI—the cute robot kind, not the stealing-creative-jobs kind.  3-5 pm, free

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

Expeditions across canvas in Leticia Herrera’s “Within the Inspiring Journey,” from The Walkers, opening this week at Thornwood Gallery.

COURTESY THORNWOOD

FEMME FATALE FRIDAYS

Beastly Books

418 Montezuma Ave.

(505) 395-2628

A full day devoted to the femme-centric fantasy of Xena:

Warrior Princess, Buffy The Vampire Slayer and beyond.

11 am-7 pm, free

FIGHT CLUB

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave.

(505) 466-5528

You know the rules. There's not a whole lot we can say here.

9 pm, $5

FREE MOVIE NIGHT

SWAN Park

Jaguar Drive and Hwy. 599

Bring the kids for Vivo—or swing by at 8 pm sans offspring for Elvis

6 pm, free

RETURN TO DUST

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave.

(505) 466-5528

A story of unlikely friendship in rural China. (See Movies, page 28)

3 pm, 6 pm, $13

MUSIC

BILL HEARNE

Ahmyo River Gallery Wine Garden

652 Canyon Road, (505) 820-0969

Americana and honky-tonk.

2-5 pm, free

CHARLES TICHENOR CABARET

Los Magueyes Mexican Restaurant

31 Burro Alley, (505) 992-0304

King Charles and occasional guests serenade diners.

6 pm, free

EMANCIPATOR

Meow Wolf

1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369

Dance and electronic with support from Northern Form.

10 pm, $40

FIORENTINO & KOTT:

ELEMENTAL CONCERT

San Miguel Chapel

401 Old Santa Fe Trail

(505) 983-3974

Part of a series of performances paying tribute to the Periodic Table, one element at a time. Up this evening is Carbon—with a guest appearance from violinist Gabriel Wheaton.

6:30 pm, $20

FIRE FOR THE PEOPLE

Second Street Brewery

(Rufina Taproom)

2920 Rufina St., (505) 954-1068

A jazzy album release celebration

8-10 pm, free

FREAKY FRIDAYS

The Matador

116 W San Francisco St. (505) 984-5050

DJ Le Kuro Neko spins harder fare.

10 pm, free

JER KILLINGER

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Albuquerque singer-songwriter.

5 pm, free

JOHNNY LLOYD

Upper Crust Pizza

329 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 982-0000

Old school Americana.

6-8 pm, free d

LA SANTA CECILIA

Railyard Plaza

Market and Alcaldesa streets

lensic360.org

A fusion group with influences ranging from cumbia to klezmer.

Local support from Alma.

Presented by Lensic360.

7 pm, free

NEW MUSIC WITH FLUX QUARTET

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

Charlotte Bray's festival-commissioned "Ungrievable Lives," alongside Ligeti, Lindveit and more. Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

6 pm, $10

PAT MALONE

Four Seasons Resort Rancho

Encantado

198 NM-592, (505) 946-5700

Solo jazz guitar.

7-9 pm, free

QUEEN BEE

Eldorado Farmers Market

7 Caliente Road

Rock, country and pop covers.

4-6 pm, free

RUDY BOY EXPERIMENT

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Swingin' blues-rock.

8 pm, free

SANTA FE SUMMER ORGAN

ACADEMY

First Presbyterian Church of Santa Fe 208 Grant Ave., (505) 982-8544

Kimberly Marshall's pupils show off newly-gained musical skills.

5:30 pm, free

SUNSET SERENADE

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

All rails and cocktails.

7 pm, $109-$129

THE AMERICAN IMMIGRANT EXPERIENCE

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis

131 Cathedral Place, (505) 982-5619

The Desert Chorale and pianist

Nathan Salazar perform compositions about immigration. (See SFR Picks, page 15)

7:30 pm, $20-$100

TRINITY SOUL

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St., (505) 982-2565 Rock, reggae, funk and soul.

8-11 pm, free

OPERA

RUSALKA

Santa Fe Opera

301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

The music is by Antonín Dvořák, and the story's a Freudian take on The Little Mermaid. Dope.

8 pm, $50-$366

THEATER

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER

Santa Fe Playhouse

142 E De Vargas St., (505) 988-4262

An Edwardian musical farce.

7:30-10 pm, $15-$75

CITY MICE

Teatro Paraguas

3205 Calle Marie (505) 424-1601

A hippy farmer and urbane New Yorker connect.

7:30-9:15 pm, $15-$25

SHAKESPEARE IN THE GARDEN: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

And what kind of a name is Benedick, anyway? Poor kid.

6:45-9:30 pm, $40-$55

TWELFTH NIGHT

UUC Santa Fe

107 Barcelona Road (505) 466-3533

Presented by the young thespians of Upstart Crows.

6:30-9:15 pm, $10-$20

SAT/5

ART OPENINGS

BARBARA HARNACK: MYSTICAL REFLECTIONS (OPENING)

Calliope

2876 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 660-9169

Mixed media ceramic sculptures and paintings.

4-6:30 pm, free

GHOST: CERAMIC GROUP SHOW (RECEPTION)

Kouri + Corrao Gallery

3213 Calle Marie, (505) 820-1888

Seven artists present textural abstractions in clay.

12-5 pm, free

JERRY WEST: THE VERNACULAR SUBLIME (OPENING)

Pie Projects

924B Shoofly St., (505) 372-7681

Magical realist New Mexican paintings.

4-6 pm, free

KATHRYN ALEXANDER: BEAUTIFUL BEINGS (OPENING)

Eye on the Mountain Art Gallery

222 Delgado St., (928) 308-0319

Textural paintings of animals.

5-8 pm, free

THE SANTA FE ARTISTS

MARKET

Santa Fe Railyard

Market and Alcaldesa streets (505) 982-3373

An outdoor juried art market featuring jewelry, painting and more.

9 am-2 pm, free

BOOKS/LECTURES

IDENTIFYING NEW MEXICO'S NATIVE BEES

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Olivia Carril teaches participants to recognize all sorts of local buzzers.

11 am-1 pm, $15-$35

INDIAN MARKET LECTURE SERIES: CONVERGENCE

New Mexico History Museum

113 Lincoln Ave., (505) 476-5100

Cochiti Pueblo multimedia artist

Virgil Ortiz reflects on his long history with Indian Market.

2-4 pm, free

MICHAEL BENANAV

Travel Bug Coffee Shop

839 Paseo de Peralta

(505) 992-0418

The writer and photographer shares a slide show presentation on his journeys through the Indian Himalayas.

5 pm, free

DANCE

DANCES IN THE TENT OF RUBIES

Railyard Performance Center

1611 Paseo de Peralta (505) 501-2142

Pomegranate Studios belly dances alongside Mosaic Dance Company, Starbelly Dancers and the Sherefe Musical Ensemble.

7 pm, $25

ENTREFLAMENCO SUMMER SEASON

El Flamenco Cabaret

135 W Palace Ave., (505) 209-1302

Tapas and toe tapping.

7:30 pm, $25-$48

LA EMI 2023 FLAMENCO SERIES

The Lodge at Santa Fe

750 N St. Francis Drive (505) 992-5800

New World talent, Old World dance form.

7:15 pm, $25-$55

NEW CENTURY DANCE

PROJECT: AN EVENING OF THREE PREMIERES

NDI NM Dance Barns

1140 Alto St., (505) 620-6643

Francisco Gella's Zeitgeist Dance Theatre presents new contemporary works.

7-9 pm, $15

SECOND ANNUAL NAKOTAH LARANCE MEMORIAL

YOUTH HOOP DANCE

CHAMPIONSHIP

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

710 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1269

Indigenous youth (up to age 26) from across the US and Canada showcase their hoop skills.

9 am-5 pm, free

EVENTS

ANNUAL IRIS SALE

DeVargas Center

564 N Guadalupe St. (505) 983-4671

Drought tolerant blooms from the Santa Fe Iris Society.

9:30 am until sold out, free

ASK A MASTER GARDENER

Reunity Resources

1829 San Ysidro Crossing (505) 393-1196

Get to the root of plant issues.

9 am-noon, free

FIESTA HEALTH AND WELLNESS FAIR

La Familia Health Southside Clinic 2145 Caja del Oro Grant Road (505) 982-4425

Health screenings, kids’ haircuts, backpack giveaways and more.  9 am-noon, free

FROM ALPACA TO HAT

Santa Fe Public Library Southside 6599 Jaguar Drive, (505) 955-2820

Local artists card, spin, sew, weave and knit alongside the alpacas whose wool they work with. Presented by Art through the Loom Fiber Arts Guild.

10 am-1 pm, free

INDIGENOUS TOUR OF DOWNTOWN OGA POGEH Cathedral Park

131 Cathedral Place christinamcastro.com

Christina M. Castro (Taos and Jemez Pueblo) walks you through Santa Fe’s past and present 10 am-noon, $40 suggested KARAOKE WITH CAKE

Cake’s Cafe 227 Galisteo St, (505) 303-4880

Keep the karaoke rolling.

7-11 pm, free

LA TIENDA FLEA

La Tienda at Eldorado

7 Caliente Road

Dozens of yard sales rolled into one giant rummage opportunity.  8 am, free

LENA STREET FIRST SATURDAYS

Lena Street Lofts 1600 Lena St., (505) 984-1921

Check out the best pottery, aromatherapy, craft coffee and beyond available in the Midtown mini-hood.

3-6 pm, free

MARGARITA RAIL

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St.

(844) 743-3759

Tequila and live tunes.

1:30 pm, $99

PUBLIC GARDEN TOUR

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Staff members and docent tour leaders showcase floral faves.

10 am, $12

ROCK TIME+ARCHAEOLOGY

Vista Grande Public Library

14 Avenida Torreon, Eldorado (505) 466-7323

Bring your favorite mineral finds.

11 am-2 pm, free

RADIUS BOOKS ARTIST

WEEKEND BOOK SALE

Radius Books

227 E Palace Ave., (505) 983-4068

Food trucks, music and book signings with more than 80 artists, writers and curators.

10 am-3 pm, free

READ TO A PUP

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive, (505) 955-2820

Little ones practice reading skills.

11:30 am, free

SAND PLAY SATURDAY

Railyard Park

740 Cerrillos Road, (505) 316-3596

Kids expand their creative cognition through sand, water, toys— and kitchen utensils.

10 am-noon, free

SANTA FE BEER & FOOD

FESTIVAL

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

334 Los Pinos Road (505) 471-2261

Sort hops from the Las Golondrinas fields while sampling brews.

Noon-6 pm, $6-$10

SCIENCE SATURDAYS

Santa Fe Children's Museum

1050 Old Pecos Trail

(505) 989-8359

Hubert Van Hecke ("Mr. Science") leads the little ones in a hands-on experiment.

2-4 pm, free

SUMMER TRUNK SHOW SERIES

Bishop's Lodge

1297 Bishops Lodge Road

(888) 741-0480

The jewelry showcase continues.

Noon-5 pm, free

TEATRO PARAGUAS

FUNDRAISER CELEBRATION

Santa Fe Elks Lodge

1615 Old Pecos Trail (505) 920-9550

Live music, tapas, a raffle and more to support the local Latinx community theater organization.

4-7 pm, $10 suggested

VÁMONOS HIKE: FAMILY DAY

Randall Davey Audubon Center & Sanctuary

1800 Upper Canyon Road (505) 983-4609

Organizers urge carpooling.

9-11 am, free

FILM

CAT VIDEO FEST 2023

Violet Crown Cinema

1606 Alcaldesa St., (505) 216-5678

A selection of the world's best cat videos, curated just purr you.  Noon, $10-$13

FIGHT CLUB

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

That soap still haunts us.

9 pm, $5

RETURN TO DUST

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

A Berlinale-approved Chinese drama. (See Movies, page 28)

3 pm, 6 pm, $13

SATURDAY MORNING

CARTOONS

Beastly Books

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 395-2628

Nostalgic cartoons and cereal all day. Pajamas highly encouraged.

11 am-7 pm, free

FOOD

SANTA FE FARMERS'

SATURDAY MARKET

Farmers' Market Pavilion

1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 983-7726

Goods from 150 farmers and producers across 15 northern New Mexico counties.

8 am-1 pm, free

MUSIC

ALL HANDEL

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

Can you Handel it? Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

5 pm, $47-$60

BOB MAUS

Inn & Spa at Loretto

211 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 988-5531

Piano and voice takes on blues and soul classics.

6-9 pm, free

CHARLES TICHENOR

CABARET

Los Magueyes Mexican Restaurant

31 Burro Alley, (505) 992-0304

Vocals and piano.

6 pm, free

CURRY SPRINGER DUO

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Acoustic rock 'n' roll.  1 pm, free

FREDDIE SCHWARTZ

Ahmyo Wine Garden & Patio

652 Canyon Road, (505) 428-0090

Classic rock from a New Orleans native.

2-5 pm, free

HEARTLESS BASTARDS

Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery

2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

Indie rock with support from Matthew Logan Vasquez.

Presented by AMP Concerts.

7:30 pm, $25-$28

JAZZ ON THE PATIO

Palace Prime

142 W Palace Ave.

(505) 919-9935

Featuring the vocals of Loveless Johnson III alongside Thom Rheam on piano and trumpet, Richard Snider on bass and Ralph Marquez on drums.

5:30-7:30 pm, free

LOVE UNFOLD THE SUN

Paradiso

903 Early St., (505) 577-5248

Featuring Mustafa Stefan Dill on guitar and oud in his first performance since open heart surgery.

7:30-10 pm, $10 minimum donation

MARK'S MIDNIGHT

CARNIVAL SHOW

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Self-described "Colorado rock."

8-11 pm, free

MARKETMUSIC

Sanbusco Market Center

500 Montezuma Ave. (505) 837-4951

Severall Friends presents a series of biweekly baroque concerts paired with Farmers' Market-appropriate food talks.

Noon-1 pm, $20 suggested

PAT MALONE AND JON GAGAN

La Boca (Taberna Location)

125 Lincoln Ave., (505) 988-7102

Jazz guitar.

7-9 pm, free

POLLO FRITO QUARTET

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Funk and soul.

8 pm, free

ROBERT FOX JAZZ TRIO

Club Legato

125 E Palace Ave., (505) 988-9232

Jazz on jazz on jazz.

6-9 pm, free

ROSE'S PAWN SHOP

Reunity Resources

1829 San Ysidro Crossing lensic360.org

Folk-rock and Americana—and an onsite leaf-printing project with Meow Wolf. Presented by Lensic360.

7 pm, free

ST. RANGE

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Homegrown rock.

3 pm, free

SUNSET SERENADE

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

All rails and cocktails.

7 pm, $109-$129

THE COLORADO TRAIL

San Miguel Mission

401 Old Santa Fe Trail Chamber music for harp, cello and mezzo-soprano vocals.

3 pm, $15-$35

THE ECSTASIES ABOVE

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

131 Cathedral Place, (505) 982-5619 Vocal and string renditions of Handel and Tarik O’Regan's titular Edgar Allen Poe adaptation.

7:30 pm, $20-$100

OPERA

THE FLYING DUTCHMAN

Santa Fe Opera

301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

David Alden brings Wagner's saga of doomed love and salty seas to Santa Fe for the first time in 35 years.

8 pm, $50-$366

THEATER

A GENTLEMAN'S GUIDE TO LOVE AND MURDER

Santa Fe Playhouse

142 E De Vargas St. (505) 988-4262

A pretty sure bet for fans of Sweeney Todd.

2 pm, 7:30 pm, $15-$75

CITY MICE

Teatro Paraguas

3205 Calle Marie, (505) 424-1601

Brothers overcome their differences with the support of their wives, poetry and pot.

7:30-9:15 pm, $15-$25

SHAKESPEARE IN THE GARDEN: MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Anyway, it's about time to reclaim Beatrice and Benedick from Joss Whedon's sweaty hands.

6:45-9:30 pm, $40-$55

TWELFTH NIGHT

UUC Santa Fe

107 Barcelona Road (505) 466-3533

Shakespearian gender-swapping at its best.

6:30-9:15 pm, $10-$20

ZERO Center for Contemporary Arts

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 982-1338

Exodus Ensemble adapts Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine. 18+.

8 pm, by donation

WORKSHOP

PRANAYAMA SHAKTI YOGA

Four Seasons Rancho Encantado

198 NM-592 (505) 946-5700

Elementally-focused yoga.

10:30-11:30 am, $18-$90

WHY WAIT?

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820

Tips and tricks to move past procrastination.

2-4 pm, free

WOODSHOP BADGE

MAKE Santa Fe

2879 All Trades Road (505) 819-3502

Learn your way around a well stocked wood shop.

10 am-2 pm, $90

SUN/6

ART OPENINGS

RAILYARD ARTISAN MARKET

Farmers' Market Pavilion

1607 Paseo de Peralta (505) 983-7726

Buy directly from local creators.  10 am-3 pm, free

BOOKS/LECTURES

HARRY J. SHAFER

Hotel Santa Fe

1501 Paseo de Peralta (505) 982-1200

The archaeologist discusses the history of Mimbres painted potterry. Presented by Southwest Seminars.

6 pm, $20

LEO LINARES AND MARTA TUROK

Museum of International Folk Art

706 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1204

The alebrije artist—and grandson of the art form's creator—joins the cultural advisor from the ongoing La Cartonería

Mexicana exhibit for a discussion of all things paper and paste.

2-3 pm, free

NM ART BOOK CLUB

New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

Discuss Kassia St. Clair's The Secret Lives of Color in the context of the ongoing exhibit Donald Beauregard: An American in Paris.

12-1 pm, free

DANCE

ENTREFLAMENCO SUMMER SEASON

El Flamenco Cabaret

135 W Palace Ave., (505) 209-1302

Flamenco with flair.

7:30 pm, $25-$48

LA EMI 2023 FLAMENCO SERIES

The Lodge at Santa Fe

750 N St. Francis Drive (505) 992-5800

Spanish dance with a side of nuevomexicano pride.

1:15 pm, $25-$55

SECOND ANNUAL NAKOTAH

LARANCE MEMORIAL

YOUTH HOOP DANCE

CHAMPIONSHIP

Museum of Indian Arts & Culture

710 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1269

Expect food trucks, event merch and more.

9 am-5 pm, free

EVENTS

CHALK FOR PEACE

Santa Fe Railyard Water Tower

1612 Alcaldesa St., (505) 819-8138

Israeli and Palestinian girls ages

15-17 create pro-peace chalk art. Hosted by Tomorrow’s Women.

1-4 pm, free

LORE OF THE LAND

Sky Railway

410 S Guadalupe St. (844) 743-3759

Learn a bit of local history to the sounds of live music and a humming locomotive.

1:30 pm, $115

MAGICAL SUNDAYS

The Center for Wisdom Healing

Qigong/Chi Center 40 Camino Vista Clara, Galisteo (800) 959-2892

Brunch, nature walks and live music from Joaquin Gallegos, Alberto Villoldo and Marcela Lobos.

10 am-3 pm, $20

OPEN MIC JAZZ

Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Join High City Jazz Quartet

onstage and bring your Billie Holiday dreams to life.

5-7 pm, free

POETRY READING

Teatro Paraguas

3205 Calle Marie, (505) 424-1601

New lines from Art Goodtimes and Robyn Hunt.

5 pm, free

PUBLIC GARDEN TOUR

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

Floral fawning.

10 am, $12

ROOT TO FRUIT FARM TOUR

Reunity Resources

1829 San Ysidro Crossing

(505) 393-1196

Drop by the farm to view (and learn a bit about) its community-centric programs.

10-11 am, free

SANTA FE BEER & FOOD

FESTIVAL

El Rancho de las Golondrinas

334 Los Pinos Road (505) 471-2261

Maybe wander down to the water and dip your toes after catching a historian’s talk on brewing?

12-6 pm, $6-$10

SUMMER FAMILY ART MAKING

New Mexico Museum of Art 107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

Creative time for kiddos, with supplies courtesy of the museum.

10 am-noon, free

SUMMER SUNDAYS WITH BETTY BENEDEADLY

El Rey Court

1862 Cerrillos Road (505) 982-1931

Live music, signature cocktails, wood-fired pizza from Tenderfire Kitchen and goods from local makers and artisans. 3-7 pm, free

FILM

CAT VIDEO FEST 2023

Violet Crown Cinema 1606 Alcaldesa St. (505) 216-5678

No internet searches necessary for this feline entertainment.  Noon, $10-$13

FIGHT CLUB

Jean Cocteau Cinema 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Between Helena Bonham Carter and Brad Pitt, this counts as an underdiscussed bi awakening film. 7 pm, $5

RETURN TO DUST

Jean Cocteau Cinema 418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Directed by Li Ruijun. (See Movies, page 28) 1 pm, 4 pm, $13

MUSIC

'SAL GOOD SUNDAYS

Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 393-5135

Close out your weekend on the porch with DJs Dmonic and Dynamite Sol.

4-9 pm, free

BOHEMIACS! HILARY AND RON

Ahmyo Wine Garden & Patio 652 Canyon Road, (505) 428-0090

Accordion and violin.  2-5 pm, free

DOUG MONTGOMERY

Rio Chama Steakhouse 414 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 955-0765

Master pianist. 6 pm, free

FESTIVAL OF SONG: AILYN

PÉREZ AND ROBERT WATSON

Scottish Rite Center

463 Paseo de Peralta (505) 982-4414

Rusalka's leads perform. Presented by Performance Santa Fe.

4 pm, $45-$95

GENE CORBIN

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Soulful Americana.

1 pm, free

HONDO COYOTE

Mine Shaft Tavern

2846 Hwy. 14, Madrid (505) 473-0743

Country and Americana.

3 pm, free

JAZZ BRUNCH

Bishop's Lodge

1297 Bishops Lodge Road (888) 741-0480

Featuring the Pat Malone Trio.

11:30 am-2:30 pm, free

JOE WEST AND FRIENDS

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Folk with a flair for the theatrical.

Noon, free

LES AND FRIENDS

San Miguel Mission

401 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 983-3974

Pianist and conductor Leslie Dala emcees an evening of chamber music.

7 pm, $15-$35

LIGETI PIANO CONCERTO

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

Also on the menu are Bartók and Elgar. Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

6 pm, $73-$100

SATSANG

SWAN Park

Jaguar Drive and Hwy. 599

lensic360.org

Folk-rock meets hip-hop.

6:30 pm, free

SECRET SHOW AFTERPARTY

El Rey Court

1862 Cerrillos Road

(505) 982-1931

Organizers note, "all we can tell you is...be ready to dance."

8-10 pm, free

SUNDAY JAZZ BRUNCH

Vanessie Restaurant & Piano Bar

427 W Water St., (505) 982-9966

With the Loveless Johnson Quartet.

11 am-1:30 pm, free

THEATER

CITY MICE

Teatro Paraguas

3205 Calle Marie, (505) 424-1601

Nick Stofocik directs Rosemary

Zibart's tale.

2-3:45 pm, $15-$25

SHAKESPEARE IN THE GARDEN:

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Santa Fe Botanical Garden

715 Camino Lejo, (505) 471-9103

The Emma Thompson version is the only adaptation we accept.

6:45-9:30 pm, $40-$55

TWELFTH NIGHT

UUC Santa Fe

107 Barcelona Road

(505) 466-3533

Such a Shakespeare bounty this summer!

6:30-9:15 pm, $10-$20

WORKSHOP

BELLYREENA BELLY DANCE

Move Studio 901 W San Mateo Road (505) 670-4386

Classic and fusion techniques.

1-2 pm, $15

HATHA YOGA

CHOMP Santa Fe 505 Cerrillos Road (505) 470-8118

Find your flow in the food hall's loft. Check out the happy hour immediately afterwards, too.

Noon-1 pm, $10

INTRODUCTION TO ZEN

MEDITATION

Mountain Cloud Zen Center

7241 Old Santa Fe Trail

Valerie Forstman teaches the basics of simply sitting, from breath awareness to dealing with mental chatter.

10-11:15 am, free

KIDS' CREATIVE MOVEMENT

Reunity Resources

1829 San Ysidro Crossing (505) 393-1196

Dancer Tamara Bates helps little ones express through movement.

10-10:45 am, $25 for five classes

SOUL-FULL SUNDAY FLOW

Louis Montaño Park

730 Alto St.

A gender-inclusive, body-positive asana. Email knowyouredgeyoga@ gmail.com for more info. Proceeds support the Shontez 'Taz' Denise Morris fund.

8-9 am, $15 suggested

SUNDAY YOGA IN THE PARK

Bicentennial Alto Park

1121 Alto St.

Build strength with Vinyasa yoga.

10 am, $15

WHEEL CLASS

Paseo Pottery

1273 Calle de Comercio (505) 988-7687

Another instructor-led throwing opportunity. Students also access open studio time for $5 an hour.

11 am-1 pm, $70

KIDS SOCIAL DANCE CLASS

Dance Station

947-B W Alameda St. (505) 989-9788

Salsa, swing and ballroom for ages 7-12.

12:45-1:30 pm, $10

MON/7

EVENTS

GENERAL VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION

Stewart Udall Center

725 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1125

Learn about all the options for getting your hands dirty at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden.

Noon-1:30 pm, free

LEISURELY BIKE RIDE

Fort Marcy Park

490 Washington Ave. (505) 955-2500

Free for members of the City of Santa Fe recreation centers.

10-11 am, $5

FILM

VIDEO LIBRARY CLUB

Jean Cocteau Cinema

418 Montezuma Ave. (505) 466-5528

Lisa from Video Library picks a film—from obscure cult flicks to blockbuster classics—to share on the big screen.

6:30 pm, free

MUSIC

DOUG MONTGOMERY

Rio Chama Steakhouse

414 Old Santa Fe Trail (505) 955-0765

Expert ivory tickling.

6 pm, free

EILEN JEWELL

Santa Fe Plaza

100 Old Santa Fe Trail

lensic360.org

Folk with support from Sarah Streitz. Presented by Lensic360.

6 pm, free

LIGETI PIANO CONCERTO

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072

Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

6 pm, $73-$100

METAL MONDAY

Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery

2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

Moonhaven, TKTWA and more.

7:30 pm, $15

QUEER NIGHT

El Rey Court

1862 Cerrillos Road, (505) 982-1931

An LGBTQ-centric evening benefitting the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico.  5 pm, free

SCHOLA SUMMER CONCERT

Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

417 Agua Fria St., (505) 983-8868

Medieval chants and more.

6:15-7:30 pm, free

ZAY SANTOS

Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Blues-rock.  4 pm, free

OPERA

TOSCA

Santa Fe Opera

301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

Puccini's tale of political intrigue.

8 pm, $50-$366

WORKSHOP

ADVANCED WHEEL

Paseo Pottery

1273 Calle de Comercio (505) 988-7687

Throw advanced shapes.

6-8:30 pm, $70

CORD CUTTING

Vista Grande Public Library

14 Avenida Torreon, Eldorado (505) 466-7323

Tips and tricks for reducing the cost of subscription TV etc.

9 am, free

PRANAYAMA SHAKTI YOGA

Four Seasons Rancho Encantado

198 NM-592, (505) 946-5700

Chakra-opening yoga.

5:30-6:30 pm, $18-$90

TUE/8

BOOKS/LECTURES

MERIDEL RUBENSTEIN

ROUNDTABLE

Muñoz Waxman Gallery

1050 Old Pecos Trail (505) 982-1338

A panel discussing the local effects of Los Alamos’ legacy. (See SFR Picks, page 15) 5-7 pm, free

EVENTS

GEEKS WHO DRINK

Santa Fe Brewing Company 35 Fire Place, (505) 424-3333

Don't call it trivia.  7 pm, free

OPEN MIC POETRY AND MUSIC

Chile Line Brewery

204 N Guadalupe St. (505) 982-8474

Be a modern-day bard for your fellow Santa Feans.

8 pm, free

VÁMONOS WALKS: TAKE A WALK ON THE SOUTH SIDE

Santa Fe Public Library Southside

6599 Jaguar Drive (505) 955-2820

Were we meant to read that title to the tune of Lou Reed?

6 pm, free

FOOD

SANTA FE FARMERS' DEL SUR MARKET

Presbyterian Santa Fe Medical Center 4801 Beckner Road (505) 983-4098

Fresh local produce shopping for the Southside? Heck yeah.

3-6 pm, free

MUSIC

ELIANA JOY AND ROBERT PAPACICA

Tonic

103 E Water St., (505) 982-1189

American Songbook standards, Brazilian tunes and originals.

6-8 pm, free

ESCHER STRING QUARTET

St. Francis Auditorium at the New Mexico Museum of Art

107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

Haydn, Bartók and Dutilleux. Presented by the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

12 pm, $35-$40

JOHN CAREY Cowgirl

319 S Guadalupe St. (505) 982-2565

Blues and Americana.

4-6 pm, free

ROBERT RANDOLPH AND FAMILY BAND Santa Fe Plaza 100 Old Santa Fe Trail lensic360.org

Gospel rock with support from Matthew Andrae.

6 pm, free

THE DOWNTOWN BLUES JAM Evangelo's 200 W San Francisco St. Loveless Johnson III returns.

8:30-11:30 pm, free

ZELLA DAY

Meow Wolf

1352 Rufina Circle (505) 395-6369

Indie pop with support from Okey Dokey. (See SFR Picks, page 15) 7 pm, $20

OPERA

RUSALKA

Santa Fe Opera 301 Opera Drive, (505) 986-5900

Love at first splash. 8 pm, $50-$366

WORKSHOP

LIFE DRAWING

New Mexico Museum of Art 107 W Palace Ave. (505) 476-5072

The museum provides art supplies and a (clothed) model.  Noon-2 pm, $10

Celebrate our 30th anniversary with us! Our three decades of conservation and trails work, community programs and the protection of our night sky improve your quality of life. If you love the outdoors of northern New Mexico, come support the nonprofit that protects it.

Special performance by Joe West & Friends: A musical love letter to the land.

Delicious food from the Cowgirl Specialty drinks from Tumbleroot Local suds from Second Street Brewery

Wonderful wines from Gruet

Join us for the fun, and help us continue to protect the landscapes you love for future generations to enjoy. Buy your ticket today!

Frito Fe

BY NOAH HALE intern@sfreporter.com

Odds are, you believe New Mexico owns the intellectual property rights to the Frito pie—but your two-steppin’ neighbors in Texas beg to differ. You’ve likely heard one of two origin stories for the popular dish: New Mexicans claim it was invented by Teresa Hernandez in the 1960s at the Santa Fe Woolworth’s (now the Five & Dime); Texans insist it was whipped up some 30 years earlier in San Antonio by Daisy Dean Doolin, mother of Frito Company founder Charles Elmer Doolin.

But after decades of debate, there might finally be an end to this interstate food fight as, in 2011, Charles Elmer Doolin’s daughter Kaleta Doolin published her book, Fritos Pie, Stories, Recipes, and More. With exclusive access to her father’s company archives, she repudiates the Santa Fe story, citing documents that list a “Fritos chili pie” as being served to members of the Dallas Dietetic Association in 1949—an entire decade before the Woolworth’s claim.

That doesn’t mean it belongs any less to New Mexico. The Frito pie was canonized into the hallowed halls of the state’s culinary kitsch the day Hernandez scooped chili—think meat and sauce and not so much the chile pepper—into that fateful bag of corn chips. Being from back East, I knew I had to try one while I was here if I wanted to get the full City Different experience. Then I tried five.

Tortilla Flats

3139 Cerrillos Road, (505) 471-8685

Tortilla Flats’ pie ($8.29) felt unusually hefty in my to-go bag, and I found a wonderful, smothersome platter of red chilesoaked pinto beans and ground beef topped with lettuce, tomato, cheese and (optional) onions. The catch? Those mini snack bags only carry a handful of Fritos each, not nearly enough to withstand the weight of so many different ingredients. Not halfway through, the Fritos began to evanesce into soggy, limp strips. Here I learned a valuable lesson: Balance between the Fritos and the amount of chile and garnish on top is key, and timing the mix is everything.

Blake’s Lotaburger

2004 St. Michael’s Drive, (505) 471-8694

Blake’s pie ($4.99) was served in a heavy styrofoam cup full of chili and paired with yet another fun-sized bag of Fritos. At first I was somewhat disappointed the chips weren’t served in the chili (note the “i” spelling, which Blake’s uses), but I soon realized the minimal

effort required to mix the ingredients myself was worth it. At the time, I didn’t yet know what these things are supposed to look or taste like, but this pie was a winner. The chili was not too spicy and sprung off the Fritos with a crunch. Still, even though this pie checked off all the basic recipe boxes, I felt there was something missing.

The Pantry

1820 Cerrillos Road, (505) 986-0022

At The Pantry, I instantly noticed there was no bag of Fritos sitting atop my togo container. Borderline panicked, I extracted the contents of the $10.95 bag and discovered the Fritos already laid under generous portions of red chile, pinto beans, shredded cheese, diced tomatoes and an overabundance of lettuce. Thankfully, there wasn’t as much chile and garnish on top of the Fritos themselves. In lieu of over-smothering, I found more ground beef than in other pies, which created a kind of insulation between the toppings and the chips. The downside, however, was all that lettuce.

I found myself scraping the shreds aside with my fork almost the entire time.

Posa’s El Merendero

1514 Rodeo Road, (505) 820-7672

Posa’s pie ($7.95) was a swift pick-up and, like The Pantry, already assembled. I saw a promising mix of toppings that had not fallen victim to an unappetizing onslaught of lettuce, too. In fact, it met my expectations with the first bite. Again, the ground beef sopped up the saucy runoff of the chile before it soaked the Fritos, so they still had the desired texture. Still, the ratio felt off and the Fritos weren’t given their due attention.

Five & Dime

58 E. San Francisco St., (505) 992-1800

The $6.50 pie that ostensibly started it all is deceptively simple: chili (again with the “i”), cheese and optional onions scooped directly into a small bag of Fritos. I might’ve been quick to judge had this been my first impression of the dish, but after ordering the unpretentious meal from several restaurants, I finally understood why so many people say this one’s the best. There was a near-perfect Fritos-to-chili ratio, and I could actually taste the cheese this time. There also wasn’t so much chili that it overpowered the taste of the chips and garnish. It hit me—the Frito pie was never meant to be more than chili (or chile) and cheese on Fritos. This lowbrow pie defies all the attempted showiness of restaurants who try in vain to elevate it to sit-down-and-eat status. It doesn’t need to be any more than it already is.

Wherein we make our intern eat as many Frito pies as he can handle

To Hell and Back

Santa Fe Opera’s

their Santa Fe debuts, performance architect Alex Schweder and Matthew Johnson—the latter lead designer of New York’s High Line area—the opera’s visual designers, whose central grassy hill upon where the action begins transforms dramatically into the subterranean Hades to which Orfeo journeys.

In addition to integrating technological and visual flourishes throughout (costume designer Carlos J. Soto, who made his debut in last season’s Tristan und Isolde, employs fabric as both costume and set design, with one particularly compelling moment that ensues as Euridice’s death is announced in a gripping performance by mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy as La Messaggera), Orfeo includes the world premiere of orchestration by Nico Muhly, who says in a statement his main challenge in adapting the work to modern instrumentation was “realizing the continuo parts; everything needs to be, notefor-note, the same as the original, but with a modern musician’s sensibility about embellishment and ornament.” As the New York Times detailed in a preview of the premiere, reorchestrating Monteverdi’s work for modern instruments—a necessity to perform the work in Santa Fe—is another way of keeping one of the earliest examples of the genre alive for modern audiences.

BY JULIA GOLDBERG @votergirl

Versions of the story of Orpheus and Euridice abound—most notably from Virgil and Ovid—but I am partial to Edith Hamilton’s re-telling in which she emphasizes Orpheus’ musical gifts, along with his unspeakable grief. “The very earliest musicians were the gods,” Hamilton writes, followed by “a few mortals so excellent in their art that they almost equaled the divine performers. Of these, by far the greatest was Orpheus.”

Orpheus’ musical talent was so marked, he successfully wooed the maiden Euridice to marry him. The opera in turn opens with La Musica singing about Orpheus’ talent— soprano Lauren Snouffer, who makes a show-stealing debut as both La Musica and Speranza (hope), the latter Orpheus’ companion to the gates of hell where he travels after Euridice dies from a snake bite. Once there, he enchants the underworld’s guardians with his song in order to rescue his beloved.

But he fails to abide the terms set by Plutone—the terrific baritone Blake Denson, who made his debut as Angelotti in this season’s Tosca—to not look back at his bride until they make it home. By peeking back

at Euridice (soprano and SFO apprentice Amber Norelai in her company debut), Orpheus loses her forever. In some versions of the myth Hamilton relays, Orpheus’ subsequent grief consumes him, and he is eventually devoured by angry Maenads who tear him to shreds and throw his still-singing head into the river. This does not happen in the operatic version by Claudio Monteverdi. Rather, Orfeo has what passes for a happy ending, ascending to heaven with his father, the god Apollo (sung by SFO apprentice bass-baritone Luke Harnish in his debut).

As for that opera, when it premiered on Feb. 24, 1607 at the Carnival at Mantua, it wasn’t the very first opera in history but, as SFO lecturer Oliver Prezant says, it was the first “great opera,” and it remains the oldest opera still regularly performed. Despite being around for 416 years, the Santa Fe Opera has never mounted Orfeo before, but does so this summer with tremendous innovation.

As it happens, the opening night performance I attended did not include the Santa Fe debut of renowned tenor Rolando Villazón as scheduled. Baritone Luke Sutliff stepped in for Villazón after the latter sustained an injury during the final dress rehearsal—specifically a back injury, Villazón said in a social media post, from the harness he wears

during one of the opera’s flying sequences. As of press time, Villazón was slated to return tonight for the remaining performances.

Sutliff, a former SFO apprentice singer, made his company debut as Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2021, performed the role of El Dancaïro in last season’s Carmen and will return next summer as Belcore in a Stephen Lawless production of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love. I have no doubt Villazón, for whom Orfeo has become a signature role, will deliver a command performance (clips of his performance last spring in the role at Dresden’s Semperoper are quite amazing). But Sutliff more than ably stepped into a heady production that provided no shortage of visual and musical feats. Of particular note: his rendition of the aria “Possente Spirto,” which he not only sang with a full and sonorous tone but did so while in a harness and simulating flying (with a few flips for good measure).

The production teems with such visual theatrics. Directed by MacArthur Foundation grant winner Yuval Sharon in his company debut, Orfeo makes notable use of lights, strobes and mist, with Lighting and Projection Designers Yuki Nakase Link and Hana S. Kim, respectively, vivifying the opera’s mythological components. Also making

If it sounds as though a lot is going on in the orchestra (ably conducted as always by Harry Bicket), there is. If it sounds as though a lot is happening on stage (and hovering above the stage at times), there is—and I’m leaving a few notable moments out due to space limitations. The intensity of the production is only heightened by its relative briefness: five acts in approximately one hour and 45 minutes, with no intermission.

I found myself on opening night idly imagining Orfeo’s first small audience of royals and royal-adjacent listeners, hearing music arranged in ways wholly novel—with arias, choruses and dances—probably enthralled even without any staging. What would they make of Orfeo circa 2023, flying through space? Of Apollo rising on the sun above the stage? Well, presumably they’d be shocked, but perhaps they’d also simply be grateful the music had endured.

ORFEO

Music by Claudio Monteverdi World premiere orchestration by Nico Muhly Libretto by Alessandro Striggio Sung in Italian 8 pm, Aug 2, 11, 16, 24 $40-$380, plus fees; $15 standing room

First-time NM residents are eligible for a 40% discount; call the box office in advance:

(505) 986-5900 or (800) 280-4654. Day-of discounts available for students, seniors and military via the box office by phone or in person.

Lauren Snouffer as La Musica and Luke Sutliff as Orfeo demonstrate the enduring power of Monteverdi’s opera.

CURTIS BROWN FOR THE SANTA FE OPERA

Orfeo brings a very old story into the 21st century

RETURN TO DUST

Talk to Me Review

Two embalmed thumbs up

BY SIENA SOFIA BERGT siena@sfreporter.com

“Gripping” is possibly the cheesiest word to apply to a horror movie about an embalmed hand. In the case of Australian twin brothers Danny and Michael Philippou’s debut feature Talk to Me, it’s also likely the most succinct summation. But whether Talk To Me may be best appreciated through the lens of “horror” at all remains a matter for more debate.

That’s not to say the film isn’t frightening. The first possession scene occurs within mere minutes, after main character Mia (Sophie Wilde) learns the lore of the central ceramic-encased severed hand (possibly that of a psychic, as we discover in an exchange poking fun at the seriousness with which most high concept horror handles its mythology). She need only hold the hand, whisper the movie’s title and issue the invitation “I let you in” to be taken over by whatever spirits accept her offer. But before 90 seconds have passed, the connection between the realms must be cut lest the departed take up more permanent residence in their living hosts.

Of course, any rule introduced so early in a scary movie has to be broken—and Wilde’s committed and

8 + GORGEOUSLY CONSIDERED; POWERFUL - SLOW TO A FAULT AT TIMES

Though the messaging of director/writer Ruijun Li’s slow but poignant Return to Dust is not what you’d call subtle, the sweeping shots of rural China as contrasted by the encroaching modernity of the cold, unfeeling city and its accoutrements begin to feel like a siren call for simplicity. It’s not hard to find beauty in Li’s measured tale, and though the filmmaker takes his time in hitting his conclusion, its themes reveal themselves to be universal as they illustrate that love needn’t always be a sexy explosive fire bolt—maybe the better stuff comes as a slow burn.

Simple or no, Li’s minimalist film does feel like it was informed by the filmic epics in its cinematography, particularly in the grand scope of how it portrays familial frustrations and country vistas—the lands that sprawl out seemingly forever beyond the confines of one tiny village; the people who stay there, leave there, resent it or love it. In this village, aging farmer Ma (Renlin Wu) is entered into an arranged marriage with the weakly and timid Cao (Hai Qing). Both families seem thrilled to foist off their outwardly stranger relatives, hiding cruel indifference behind a somewhat common Chinese cultural norm and leaving the pair to await condescension at nearly every turn.

Ma, for example, is defined by slow, introverted

intensely physical performance left even this self-professed gorehound trembling home from the theater. The film as a whole is so unrelenting it doesn’t even yield the checked-out relief that often comes when a story pushes past one’s terror tolerance threshold. It simply doesn’t let you go.

But unlike in the vast majority of horror movies, the fear doesn’t originate with the unknown—a murderer in a mask, a hidden cannibal cult, an ancient evil unleashed. Viewers see in the graphic cold open exactly what will happen to Mia, and multiple prophetic figures throughout the story reinforce that fate. Yet both she and the audience are helpless to stop it. In other words, we’re talking about a classic Greek tragedy. For all its abundant jump scares, its tightly-wound plot and gorgeous practical effects, Talk to Me is truly

movements and obliviousness to the pace of the world around him. This seems to drive the people in his orbit mad, but he’s almost secretly capable and wise, which he most often proves by keeping his mouth shut. Cao, meanwhile, suffers from incontinence and epic timidity, but the light in her smile eschews the idea that her issues make her lesser. As houses long abandoned are torn down throughout their village, Ma and Cao begin to build their own home using the old ways: mud bricks and straw insulation. The land around them once thought inhospitable accepts the seeds they plant. It, like Ma and Cao, flourishes once it has the proper attention.

No spoilers, but the conclusion of Return to Dust—one that feels all at once so heartbreakingly disappointing for its characters while ultimately unavoidable, and one openly critical of the Chinese government—was reportedly censored in China with a text crawl. Its US release, which remains untouched, will play in a limited engagement at the Jean Cocteau Cinema from Friday, Aug. 4-Sunday, Aug. 6. (Alex De Vore) Jean Cocteau Cinema, R, 131 min.

OPPENHEIMER

+ IMPORTANT HISTORY, EPIC ARC OF TIME

− VERY FULL DANCE CARD, LITTLE NM CONTEXT

Most New Mexicans who viewed Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had a head start on other mov-

a film about the cyclicality and loneliness of grief. And grief is, after all, a horrifying experience.

Because of that trauma-steeped subject matter, this film might not satisfy those who turn to genre for an escape from lived pain (and extra care might be warranted for anyone sensitive to depictions of suicide). It’s also not a movie that’s going to thrill folks looking for visual innovation—the cinematography serves the story without ever offering much originality. But for anyone who loves Antigone as much as Antichrist, Talk to Me’s grasp will be too potent to resist.

TALK TO ME

Directed by The Philippou Brothers With Wilde Violet Crown, R, 95 min.

iegoers. Whether they had read the Pulitzer Prizewinning biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer or had learned about the state’s role in the birth of atomic war in grade school, they also carry other connections to the enduring legacy of the story.

Nolan’s script adapted from American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin unfolds as three storylines: Oppenheimer’s rise to become director of the nation’s new secret weapons lab and the subsequent removal of his security clearance; the birth of the bomb itself from the chalkboard to Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the end of World War II; and onetime Atomic Energy Commission Director Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr.) as the story’s true villain with a tangled timeline.

Cillian Murphy (Peaky Blinders) disappears into J. Robert Oppenheimer, delivering a performance that captures the fresh and frantic graduate student in the pre-war days all the way through to the ghoulish, battered “father of the atomic bomb” phase as he undergoes a Red Scare beat-down of his reputation.

The hopscotch through time can be confounding, though expert costuming and makeup help sync the logic, as do shifts between black and white and color photography. The sheer number of characters, however, has a tendency to overwhelm.

Women take a decidedly backseat role in this version of the story. Emily Blunt has a few powerful moments as Oppenheimer’s troubled and alcohol-dependent wife Kitty, but Nolan’s choices around how much Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh) appears onscreen don’t quite add up. Oppenheimer’s enemies use Tatlock, an also-troubled early love inter-

est and member of the Communist party, to help make the case against him. It’s a pity the majority of Pugh’s screen time depicts Tatlock as nude and/ or neurotic. Kai and Sherwin’s book portrays both women as troubled, but doesn’t attempt to draw such a tidy bow on their disparate relationships with Oppenheimer or cast them as antagonists the way Nolan does.

The film acknowledges New Mexico’s role in the project but doesn’t offer a true sense of place. Nolan smartly filmed on-location; the script, however, contains little mention of the contributions locals made to the project and no mention of the ongoing environmental damage wrought by the Manhattan Project and the people who suffered and died from radiation poisoning due to the secret Trinity test detonation.

Could there have been fewer esoteric sizzles and sparkles to depict Oppenheimer’s mind? Less time with explosions and mesmerizing flames blooming across the screen? Certainly.

Yet, the story of why and how the United States developed the atomic bomb is itself more than complex, and Nolan’s film takes an admirable stab at unpacking the overlooked historical tick-tock. While Oppenheimer was hailed a hero for his leadership role in developing the world’s most destructive weapon, the government rapidly recoiled and cast aspersions on his character when it removed his security clearance. It’s puzzling, however, why the closing credits fail to reveal the posthumous reversal of that decision late last year. (Julie

Ann Grimm) Center for Contemporary Arts, Violet Crown, 180 mins.

VISUALLY CONVENTIONAL; TOO MUCH FOR SOME AUDIENCES

by Matt Jones

a Drank” rapper

67 Chopin composition

68 1970s Cambodian leader Lon

69 To this point

70 Royal ___ (butter cookie brand with those reusable blue tins)

71 “What’d I tell ya?” DOWN

1 Helvetica alternative

2 Laptop item (which should go underneath the circled answer in the same column)

3 Dance design, informally

4 It may be presented first

5 “It’s the end of an ___!”

6 Columbia Sportswear president Boyle who starred in their “One Tough Mother” ads

7 Goth necklace designs

8 1998 Olympics city

9 One-third of a three-step

10 Primus singer/bassist Claypool

11 Someone who gathers and sells shellfish

12 Reference books that can expand your vocabulary, quaintly

13 Garden equipment

19 One of two guards in a classic logic problem, e.g.

21 With a not-too-bright approach

25 Interstate access

27 Law enforcement orgs.

28 Whittling tool

30 N.C. capital, for short

32 Quart divs.

34 1990 Literature Nobelist Octavio ___

36 Diamond expert

37 How serious players play

38 Wear out, as a welcome

40 President pro ___

41 Acronym popularized by Rachael Ray

44 Absorb, with “up”

46 Like the eyebrows in a 2014 viral video

48 “Pictures ___ Exhibition” (Mussorgsky work)

49 Completely avoided

51 Finite units of energy during the day, in a coping mechanism theory

52 Randall ___, creator of XKCD

54 ‘90s treaty acronym

56 Postpone indefinitely (or where you’d see what this puzzle represents)

57 This one, in Spain

59 Brown, in Bordeaux

62 50-50, for instance

63 1099-___ (bank tax form)

64 Mag staffers

2024 WALL & ENGAGEMENT CALENDARS

Rob Brezsny Week of August 2nd

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Emotions are not inconvenient distractions from reason and logic. They are key to the rigorous functioning of our rational minds. Neurologist Antonio Damasio proved this conclusively in his book Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain. The French philosopher’s famous formula—”I think, therefore I am”—offers an inadequate suggestion about how our intelligence works best. This is always true, but it will be especially crucial for you to keep in mind during the coming weeks. Here’s your mantra, courtesy of another French philosopher, Blaise Pascal: “The heart has its reasons, which reason does not know.”

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The famous Taurus TV star Jay Leno once did a good deed for me. I was driving my Honda Accord on a freeway in Los Angeles when he drove up beside me in his classic Lamborghini. Using hand signals, he conveyed to me the fact that my trunk was open, and stuff was flying out. I waved in a gesture of thanks and pulled over onto the shoulder. I found that two books and a sweater were missing, but my laptop and briefcase remained. Hooray for Jay! In that spirit, Taurus, and in accordance with current astrological omens, I invite you to go out of your way to help and support strangers and friends alike. I believe it will lead to unexpected benefits.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): “Did you learn how to think or how to believe?” When my friend Amelie was nine years old, her father teased her with this query upon her return home from a day at school. It was a pivotal moment in her life. She began to develop an eagerness to question all she was told and taught. She cultivated a rebellious curiosity that kept her in a chronic state of delighted fascination. Being bored became virtually impossible. The whole world was her classroom. Can you guess her sign? Gemini! I invite you to make her your role model in the coming weeks.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): In the coming weeks, I advise you not to wear garments like a transparent Gianfranco Ferre black mesh shirt with a faux-tiger fur vest and a coralsnake jacket that shimmers with bright harlequin hues. Why? Because you will have most success by being downto-earth, straightforward, and in service to the fundamentals. I’m not implying you should be demure and reserved, however. On the contrary: I hope you will be bold and vivid as you present yourself with simple grace and lucid authenticity.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): In 1811, Leo scientist Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856) formulated a previously unknown principle about the properties of molecules. Unfortunately, his revolutionary idea wasn’t acknowledged and implemented until 1911, 100 years later. Today his wellproven theory is called Avogadro’s law. According to my analysis of the astrological omens, Leo, you will experience your equivalent of his 1911 event in the coming months. You will receive your proper due. Your potential contributions will no longer be mere potential. Congratulations in advance!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Israeli poet Yona Wallach mourned the fact that her soul felt far too big for her, as if she were always wearing the clothes of a giant on her small body. I suspect you may be experiencing a comparable feeling right now, Virgo. If so, what can you do about it? The solution is NOT to shrink your soul. Instead, I hope you will expand your sense of who you are so your soul fits better. How might you do that? Here’s a suggestion to get you started: Spend time summoning memories from throughout your past. Watch the story of your life unfurl like a movie.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Nineteenth-century Libran physician James Salisbury had strong ideas about the proper ingredients of a healthy diet. Vegetables were toxic, he believed. He created Salisbury steak, a dish made of ground beef and onions, and advised everyone to eat it three times a day. Best to wash it down with copious

amounts of hot water and coffee, he said. I bring his kooky ideas to your attention in hopes of inspiring you to purge all bunkum and nonsense from your life—not just in relation to health issues, but everything. It’s a favorable time to find out what’s genuinely good and true for you. Do the necessary research and investigation.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): “I’m amazed that anyone gets along!” marvels self-help author Sark. She says it’s astonishing that love ever works at all, given our “idiosyncrasies, unconscious projections, re-stimulations from the past, and the relationship history of our partners.”

I share her wonderment. On the other hand, I am optimistic about your chances to cultivate interesting intimacy during the coming months. From an astrological perspective, you are primed to be extra wise and lucky about togetherness. If you send out a big welcome for the lessons of affection, collaboration, and synergy, those lessons will come in abundance.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Please don’t make any of the following statements in the next three weeks: 1. “I took a shower with my clothes on.” 2. “I prefer to work on solving a trivial little problem rather than an interesting dilemma that means a lot to me.” 3. “I regard melancholy as a noble emotion that inspires my best work.” On the other hand, Sagittarius, I invite you to make declarations like the following: 1. “I will not run away from the prospect of greater intimacy—even if it’s scary to get closer to a person I care for.” 2. “I will have fun exploring the possibilities of achieving more liberty and justice for myself.” 3. “I will seek to learn interesting new truths about life from people who are unlike me.”

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Champions of the capitalist faith celebrate the fact that we consumers have over 100,000 brand names we can purchase. They say it’s proof of our marvelous freedom of choice. Here’s how I respond to their cheerleading: Yeah, I guess we should be glad we have the privilege of deciding which of 50 kinds of shampoo is best for us. But I also want to suggest that the profusion of these relatively inconsequential options may distract us from the fact that certain of our other choices are more limited. In the coming weeks, Capricorn, I invite you to ruminate about how you can expand your array of more important choices.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): My best friend in college was an Aquarius, as is my favorite cousin. Two ex-girlfriends are Aquarians, and so was my dad. The talented singer with whom I sang duets for years was an Aquarius. So I have intimate knowledge of the Aquarian nature. And in honor of your unbirthday—the time halfway between your last birthday and your next—I will tell you what I love most about you. No human is totally comfortable with change, but you are more so than others. To my delight, you are inclined to ignore the rule books and think differently. Is anyone better than you at coordinating your energies with a group’s? I don’t think so. And you’re eager to see the big picture, which means you’re less likely to get distracted by minor imperfections and transitory frustrations. Finally, you have a knack for seeing patterns that others find hard to discern. I adore you!

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Is the first sip always the best? Do you inevitably draw the most vivid enjoyment from the initial swig of coffee or beer? Similarly, are the first few bites of food the most delectable, and after that your taste buds get diminishing returns? Maybe these descriptions are often accurate, but I believe they will be less so for you in the coming weeks. There’s a good chance that flavors will be best later in the drink or the meal. And that is a good metaphor for other activities, as well. The further you go into every experience, the greater the pleasure and satisfaction will be—and the more interesting the learning.

Homework: Make up a fantastic story about your future self, then go make it happen.

Newsletter.FreeWillAstrology.com

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.

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