When a town experiences a tragedy, it’s hard to choose just the right way to express grief, loss, hope and healing. Some organize concerts, some curate art shows, some write songs—and, in the wake of last summer’s tragic drunken driving accident that killed four teens (Rose Simmons, 15, Julian Martinez, 16, Alyssa Trouw, 16, and Kate Klein, 16) and left one injured, Santa Fe has tried just about every method it can to help the hurt.

The latest in a string of memorials, in the company of The Heart of Santa Fe music compilation, is a sculpture by local artist Bates Wilson. The piece was commissioned by John Simmons and Gwyn Madeen, parents of victim Rose Simmons after the grieving parents saw Wilson’s artwork at the Recycle Santa Fe art festival in November. The outer rim of the heart has been left blank, and at a ceremony this Saturday, family and friends of the teens are invited to engrave their thoughts and messages on the metal. (Click the image above for a larger version.)

The permanent home of the sculpture, according to Warehouse 21 Executive Director Ana Gallegos y Reinhart, is to be determined. “At some point in the near future,” she writes via email, “the winged sculpture will be installed at Cathedral Park at the current yet temporary memorial site.”

SCULPTURE DISPLAY AND ENGRAVING

Noon-5 pm
Saturday, March 13

Warehouse 21
1614 Paseo de Peralta
989-4423

I’ve been driving meals every Monday night for Kitchen Angels for nearly five years now (I even wrote about it a few Winter Guides ago), and every year my single favorite event hosted by Kitchen Angels is Angels’ Night Out. This Thursday, March 11, if you go to any one of more than a dozen restaurants in town (a full listing below), said restaurant will donate 25 percent of its profits from that night to Kitchen Angels. You don’t even have to specify that you’re there for Angels’ Night Out, you can just show up and chow down and have that be that! Though it’s usually a good idea to call ahead of time and reserve a table, because things can get pretty crowded when the food’s for a good cause. You can also enter to win a door prize at every restaurant.

This Thursday yours truly will be an ambassador at Bamboo Asian Cuisine, which I personally believe is the best Chinese food in town. Come by, enjoy some fried rice and say hi!

Below the jump, learn more about Kitchen Angels, and get a full listing (addresses, websites and phone numbers included) of where you should go eat on Thursday.

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The end of this month marks South by Southwest, the legendary music festival in Austin that brings musicians traipsing from far and wide to play with thousands of other folk-rock-indie-alternative-generally cool artists. Santa Fe, depending on where you’re coming from, is on the way or very close to being on the way to Austin, so each year we get to rope in tons of talent that may not otherwise swing by our neck of the woods.

There are tons of chances to catch SXSW artists in Santa Fe this week; Corazón, for one, is holding the first (annual?) SXSF Transit Music Festival from March 11-15, bringing in tons of stellar acts on their way to Texas. Cowgirl has a bunch of shows this week as well, some of which we were able to feature in this week’s paper, but one of which slipped through the cracks (it got confirmed past our press deadlines): Anamieke Quinn will play the Girl this Friday, March 12, along with ABQ rockers Ants Have Voices.

Quinn is pretty much totally badass. She’s presently based in Phoenix, so she’s really coming out of her way to play for us, and we here at SFR are quite chuffed that she’s making the trip. While she’s played in bands since college and may perhaps be best known as the yodeling cowgirl that played with Phish for the band’s Vegas ‘96 show, Quinn is now a decidedly solo act. Lady-led bands are all well and good, but there are few things hotter than a girl onstage with an acoustic guitar (this, coming from a nothing-but-straight female), and that’s precisely what Quinn is.

Go below the jump for more about Quinn, plus a rundown of a slew of acts that are on their way to the Motherland. Continue reading »

THE DREAM WITHIN THE DREAM

5-6 pm
Saturday, March 6

Free

Collected Works Bookstore
202 Galisteo St.
988-4226

This weekend at Collected Works Bookstore, Kelly Sullivan Walden, a hypnotherapist and dream analysis expert, joins San Francisco-based poet Joan Gelfand to discuss those nocturnal musings and just how they can influence the creative process.

From ancient shamans to modern-day rock ‘n’ rollers, creative types have used their dreams to further their art. It’s a well-known tale that Paul McCartney dreamed the melody to “Yesterday,” which went on to become the most-recorded song in the history of recording. It’s a lesser-known tale that Keith Richards recorded the main riff to “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on a tape recorder next to his bed in the middle of a half-delirious alcohol-induced stupor, only to find the tape the next morning with no memory of the event whatsoever. That’s kind of like dreaming, right?

Either way, I’m quite a dreamer myself, so I decided to call Sullivan Walden up and tell her about the single strangest dream I’ve ever had—then get her take on whether or not I’m completely crazy.

Sullivan Walden lives part-time in Santa Fe (she divides her time between Los Angeles and Cerrillos) and is the author of I Had the Strangest Dream: The Dreamer’s Dictionary for the 21st Century. Gelfand’s most recent book of poetry is The Dreamer’s Guide to Cities and Streams.

Below the jump, get the scoop on my dream (which involved, among other things, Ron Jeremy, water parks and moldy ears of corn) and what Sullivan Walden thought of it.

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Colorado-based author Mark Lee Gardner’s latest book, To Hell on a Fast Horse: Billy the Kid, Pat Garrett, and the Epic Chase to Justice in the Old West isn’t your average Billy the Kid book. Gardner, who has made a career out of researching and writing about New Mexican territorial history, tells the story of the young outlaw and his killer in great detail, crafting a narrative that reads like a novel. With evocative character descriptions of many of the men, outlaw or lawman, involved in the rivalry between Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, Gardner renders a time, place and a people with sincerity and accuracy.

SFR spoke with Gardner about the book. On Thursday, Gardner will perform cowboy songs, some original and some classic, at the Santuario de Guadalupe. On Friday, he reads and speaks on the book at the Palace of the Governors (for full event info, check out the bottom of this post).

SFR: So, Billy the Kid. That story’s been told before, huh?

MLG: Obviously there’s a gazillion books on the Billy the Kid story, but I never really felt like the dramatic potential of that story—the action, the drama, the backstories—I felt like it hadn’t been fully told before. The fear is that people will say, ‘Oh, I’ve already read about Billy the Kid,’ and that kind of stuff.

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