Out There!

May 17—IN GOOD TASTE

Small town, big art

The best that El Rito has to offer will be on display this weekend.

The El Rito Art Association will host its 36th annual Spring Arts Festival on May 18 and 19, and a number of local artists in a variety of mediums will open their studio doors to the public.

details

* El Rito Spring Arts Festival

* 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19

* Various locations in El Rito

* Free, elritoartassociation.org

Photographer David Michael Kennedy, who has gained renown for his evocative renderings of northern New Mexico landscapes, will be one of 11 artists interfacing with visitors.

Other participating artists include oil painter Shawn Demarest, photographer Ted Harsha, acrylic painter Larry Sparks, figurative painter Lucia Vinograd, landscape artist Robert Nicolais, and mixed media artist Joshua Wills.

The El Rito Public Library will hold two events as part of the festival; one is their Death by Chocolate fundraiser, and the other is a sale by the El Rito Quilters Guild.

The Santa Fe Raptor Center and U.S. Forest Service will also welcome visitors.

Northern New Mexico College will host a Mercado with more than 30 artisans in addition to live music and food vendors, and the school's Fiber Arts program will also hold an exhibit of weavings by current students and faculty. — Spencer Fordin

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MUSIC FESTS

Dueling festivals

The New Mexico spring concert scene is heating up, and this weekend will feature dueling music festivals in Albuquerque and Madrid.

details

Boots in the Park

* 1-10 p.m. Saturday, May 18

* Balloon Fiesta Park

* 5000 Balloon Fiesta Parkway, Albuquerque

* $99 for general admission, $199 for VIP

* bootsinthepark.com

CrawDaddy Blues Fest

* Noon Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19

* Mine Shaft Tavern

* 2846 NM 14, Madrid

* $30 in advance, $35 at the door

* themineshafttavern.com

Boots in the Park — the country music festival series that tours all over the western United States — will play at Albuquerque's Balloon Fiesta Park on Saturday, and Madrid's Mine Shaft Tavern will host the 18th annual CrawDaddy Blues Fest on Saturday and Sunday.

Thomas Rhett, who has been named Male Artist of the Year by the Academy of Country Music Awards on three separate occasions, will headline Boots in the Park. Rhett, a native of Valdosta, Georgia, released a song titled "Country Again" that was nominated for Best Country Song at the 2022 Grammy Awards.

Chris Young, Chris Janson, Kameron Marlowe, Dylan Schneider, and Leaving Austin will be the supporting acts at the one-day country music festival, which will also have iterations in Arizona and California later this spring and summer.

Line dancing, cornhole games, and art installations will also be part of the Boots in the Park experience, which will run from 1 to 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, about 50 miles up the road, the CrawDaddy Blues Fest will have multiple stages of bands playing on both Saturday and Sunday. And while the music is one thing, the main attraction may well be on your plate.

The Mine Shaft Tavern will be serving fresh boiled crawfish and Cajun specialties like crawfish boudin, Gulf shrimp, and sausage gumbo. The last musical act hits the stage at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and 7 p.m. on Sunday. — S.F.

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POD PATROL

Let's Talk About Sects

I recently heard on a podcast ... that the Troubled Teen Industry (TTI) borrows many of its practices from cults. Author Emma Lehman tells host Sarah Steel that the industry preys on families that send their "troubled" children to camps or facilities ostensibly designed to improve their behavior. In some cases, the parents arrange for representatives of such operations to come retrieve their children at times when the children don't expect it — usually late at night. Such places, like for-profit prisons, have a built-in motive to keep the children they're "treating" as long as possible. Parents receive positive updates about their children's behavioral progress, only to hear right before the child's scheduled release, "Actually, Geraldine had a slip, and we're going to need to keep her longer. Here's your new bill."

The industry traces its roots to 1958, with the founding of a new religious movement called Tender Loving Care that later changed its name to Synanon. An earlier episode of Let's Talk About Sects, called "Synanon," was released September 19, 2018.

Lehman hosts a different podcast, called Gooned, about the industry and the harm it creates. Let's Talk About Sects has a cheeky name — a play on the 1990 song "Let's Talk about Sex" by Salt-N-Pepa — but a serious journalistic mission. Steel often features guests who grew up in cults and describe the painful and controlling behavior they became accustomed to, as well as their adjustments to the outside world. Another good entry point for the podcast is "The Move," released November 13, 2019. It's about a group of the same name that built isolated communities meant to help them survive the coming apocalypse. Group leader Sam Fife told cult members that if he ever died, it would be proof that he was a false prophet. Spoiler alert: He did die, in 1979. — B.S.

Listen up: "Interview Episode: The Troubled Teen Industry with Emma Lehman" (release date: February 22, 2024). Let's Talk About Sects episodes are available on XFM podcasts and most other platforms. Find more at ltaspod.com.

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LISTEN UP

Songs and dance

Mina Fajardo estimates that she has performed in more than 5,000 flamenco shows and concerts over the past 35 years, so nerves probably won't be a problem before her upcoming Teatro Paraguas concert appearances.

Fajardo, whose full name is Minako Fajardo Shibata-Valle, is set to perform four shows called Guitar and Tree with Compañía Chuscales, aka her husband, guitarist Jose Valle Fajardo. Mina Fajardo describes flamenco as being like a tree, with many branches and styles.

"Recently, we have had so many wildfires worldwide," Chuscales writes on his website. "We want to emphasize through my guitar and Mina's choreography how important trees are for all of us."

Mina Fajardo teaches flamenco dance classes at Santa Fe Community College, Northern New Mexico University, Casablanca Studio, and Moving Arts Española, according to her website. — B.S.

* 7 p.m. Thursday, May 23, and May 25; 2 p.m. May 25 and 26; Teatro Paraguas, 3205 Calle Marie; $25-$28; 505-424-1601; teatroparaguasnm.org

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FOR THE EARS

Hers-only hits

In 1960, The Shirelles became the first African-American all-women group to score a No. 1 hit song in the United States with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow."

The answer apparently was "yes." The band's 1961 follow-up hit, "Mama Said (There'll be Days Like This)," is memorable enough 63 years later to be the namesake for The Zia Singers' upcoming tribute to "girl groups" across decades, from the 1940s to the 21st century.

The Santa Fe women's chorus offers spot performances at locations such as retirement homes and fundraisers. "Mama Said" is the final show for departing artistic director Aaron Howe, and the group is looking for his replacement. For more information, visit theziasingers.com. — B.S.

* 3 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and Sunday, May 19; St. Francis Auditorium, 107 W. Palace Avenue; $10-$35

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EXHIBITIONISM

When I'm (19)64

Not to make anyone feel elderly, but the 1960s are now more than 60 years old.

That startling fact leaps to the fore when one considers Monroe Gallery of Photography's newest exhibit, simply titled 1964. The gallery calls it the year the 1960s truly began, complete with inflection points such as the musical British Invasion, Muhammad Ali becoming the world heavyweight boxing champion, and the slayings of three civil rights workers in Mississippi.

details

* Through June 23

* Monroe Gallery of Photography

* 112 Don Gaspar Avenue

* 505-992-0800; monroegallery.com

Several images show fans in states of euphoria over seeing — or preparing to see — The Beatles. In Bill Eppridge's The Beatles With Ed Sullivan, about a dozen men hold cameras to document the band's every move. It's not unlike fans in 2024 using cellphones for the same purpose. In Bob Gomel's Black Muslim leader Malcolm X Photographing Cassius Clay, Ali hams it up, while the usually stoic civil rights figure grins behind the camera. In Eppridge's Kent Courtney, National Chair of the Conservative Society of America, Courtney tightens his tie, cutting a powerful image of buttoned-up status quo conformity.

The gallery will host a talk with Amalie R. Rothschild, a filmmaker and photographer who has created documentaries about social issues, at 5 p.m. June 7. — B.S.