First ever Restaurant Week to take place at select local eateries March 7-13

By Logan Greely
Too many restaurants, too many salacious entrees, too many seasonal menus, not enough time. The appetites of avid diners will be whet with anticipation when the first ever Albuquerque Restaurant Week commences on March 7. More than 20 local restaurants have signed on to participate, offering specially designed prixe-fixe multi-course dinners through Mar. 13.

The musical paradigm offered by unlikely Midwestern folk outfit Frontier Ruckus might just end up changing the music loving world

By Kevin Hopper
It makes sense that the next musical revolution will be a quiet one. After all, how many more discordant breakthroughs can the American musical pantheon take? After punk rock, heavy metal and grunge, it only seems logical that the music listening public is ready for a kinder, gentler revolution.

Enter Frontier Ruckus.

Photo by Wes Naman

New book by the “Pope of Peppers” a hot commodity for chile lovers

 

By Kevin Hopper
If Dave DeWitt and Paul W. Bosland aren’t careful, The Complete Chile Pepper Book may just mark the end of the spicy foods industry as we know it. Not only does the book provide detailed specifics on more than 100 pepper varieties, it works as a university level blueprint for chile cultivation. So, if the people know how to grow their own, will they continue to buy spicy products?

The answer is a resounding, “yes,” if you ask DeWitt, an Albuquerque-based writer, publisher and founder of the 22-year-old National Fiery Foods & Barbecue Festival, (in full-disclosure, DeWitt is also a writer for Local iQ). Internationally regarded as the “Pope of Peppers,” DeWitt has banked on the idea that America loves spicy. The fact that, each year, the festival draws more than 10,000 attendees tasting products from 200-plus exhibitors, suggests that DeWitt is onto something. This year’s festival will be held at Sandia Resort & Casino from March 5-7.

JR Sullivan (l) and Shepard Sobel (r)

Recently retired Pearl Theatre director Shepard Sobel settles nicely into Albuquerque theater community

 

By Mark Dunn

Woody Allen once said that it was possible to go to a different restaurant in New York every night for the rest of your life and never come close to visiting the same place twice. The same could be said for New York theater companies. Among those myriad companies (both the brick and mortar variety and those of the vagabond stripe), my wife Mary and I had our favorites during our time living there. Near the top of the list was the Pearl Theatre, a repertory company strongly rooted in the classics. The Pearl was founded in 1982 by theatre Renaissance man Shepard Sobel and his wife, Tony-nominated actress Joanne Camp and is still in operation.

Photo by Wes Naman

516 Arts teams up with youth art center Warehouse 508 to make grand mural

By Kendra Tuthill
Inspired by 516 Arts’ current exhibit, Form and Function, the newly opened youth-oriented ABQ art center, Warehouse 508, will be unveiling a mixed-media mural on the south wall of the 516 gallery. 

 

The project has taken six weeks, five teenagers, two senior artists, one lead artist and a good amount of donated scrap metal, found images, LED lights, fabric and paint.   

 

In January, Warehouse 508 fliers, in collaboration with 516 Arts, were posted around town in search of young artists interested in participating in a mural project. From there, the participants dedicated eight hours a week to the concept, design and construction of the mural.

On the streets right now is Issue Number 100 of Local iQ magazine. It marks the hundredth time that our editorial team put their heads (and shoestrings) together to bring readers a sampling of local cultural happenings. It’s the hundredth time that local businesses purchased advertising in a fledgling, but quickly growing, print vehicle, which has consistently been put forth by a determined crew of advertising executives.

 

It’s also the hundredth time our loyal delivery folks distributed tens of thousands of copies to all corners of the city. And, of course, it is the hundredth time that tens of thousands of citizens picked up a copy of Local iQ to read.

The fourth installment of the Italian Film Festival yet again brings a little taste of Italy to ABQ

 

By Jeff Berg
“Eat, drink and a movie.” What a great idea. The above phrase is the working tag line for the fourth edition of the New Mexico Italian Film Festival, which is currently in full swing and will run through February 21.

The annual festival, a benefit for UNM’s New Mexico Children’s Hospital, was founded strictly as a philanthropic effort.

“Most film festivals try to support themselves, and few, if any, support charity,” IFF director Ronaldo Steiner told Local iQ in a recent interview. “From the beginning, we have been dedicated to raising money for charity. Thanks to our cash sponsors — Merrill Lynch, Saggio’s, CB Richard Ellis and Lithexcel Printing — we cover our expenses, so that almost all of the ticket money goes to the children’s hospital.”

By Bill Nevins

Henry Rollins fronted the brutally iconoclastic punk rock outfit Black Flag back in the ‘80s and he played the part of a very nasty white supremacist who died badly on TV’s Sons of Anarchy. But he’s really a nice guy — civic minded, businesslike and patriotic. He runs a publishing company called 2.13.61 (his birthday), champions gay rights and donates time to perform via the USO for the troops — and you better believe he leaves them laughing.

New exhibit showcases the pivotal, images that noted master Man Ray imported from a then surprisingly modern Africa

By Sophia Carvlin-Miller
Students and lovers of photography will immediately recognize the name Man Ray as the moniker of a towering figure in the history of photography. Others may be familiar with his work, if not his name. The early 20th century Surrealist photographer produced several iconic images such as “Le violon d’Ingres,” which makes a parallel between a curvaceous female back and a viola.

The Philadelphia-born artist’s status as a master is one reason to be excited about the upcoming UNM Art Museum exhibit, Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens. The exhibit will feature a number of recently discovered photographs by Man Ray, as well as other rare images that are not normally on view to the public. However, the exhibit is not, as the title suggest, meant to be a simple retrospective.

Photo by Wes Naman

By Bill Nevins

“I lived that life close to the bone and in cold blood, like a rattlesnake’s kiss.” —from the song “Highway 52” by Cole Mitchell

The preceding lyric, penned by Albuquerque songwriter Cole Mitchell, was inspired by his years spent living in the southern New Mexican town of Cuchillo, a former stagecoach stop and trading center located about 15 miles northwest of Truth or Consequences. Though the town thrived for many years, it all but shut down when the mining industry eventually went bust.