SFR Picks—Week of June 21

It’s Giving Life

Santa Fe Pride is about so much more than celebration

After 30 years of the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance’s annual LGBTQIA+ festivities, it’s easy to forget our town’s queer celebration—appropriately for the City Different—has distinct roots from nationwide understandings of Pride.

The larger movement around what used to be called Christopher Street Liberation Day honors the June 28, 1969 Stonewall Inn uprising led by queer and trans Black folks in New York City, an event which centered queer quality of life in its defense of a safe space for sharing un-closeted joy. Santa Fe’s HRA, on the other hand, was formed in 1993 with two primary goals: HIV activism and suicide prevention. It was, in other words, about protecting the very existence of queer life, in no small part through events like Pride to remind us that continuing to simply live our queer lives is worth the associated risks, pain and potential bodily harm.

Both are crucial missions and address different facets of queer experience. But as local Pride celebrations mark this 30th anniversary in the midst of rising homophobic and transphobic violence nationwide, it seems a particularly powerful time to remember that LGBTQIA+ communal pleasure is, quite literally, a matter of life and death. And this week offers an abundance of opportunities to collectively paint the town rainbow.

There’s Saturday’s headlining Pride on the Plaza, of course, which, in addition to the 10:30 am parade and a set from famed songstress/DJ/’90s queen Ultra Naté, features a drag story time with beloved queen Brandi (take that, “Pride should be family-friendly” people!). But there’s also a free bowling night for queer teens and their families to bond over The Alley’s lanes on Thursday, a drag king revue at the Jean Cocteau on Saturday night, a Raashan Ahmad-DJed afterparty at Tumbleroot on Sunday and a whole slew of other lavender affairs discussed more extensively in this week’s culture calendar. So go forth gayly—doing so is both life-giving and life-saving. (Siena Sofia Bergt)

Queer Teen and Family Bowling Night: 6-9 pm Thursday, June 22. Free. The Alley, 153 Paseo De Peralta, (505) 557-6789

Santa Fe Pride: 10 am-4 pm Saturday, June 24. Free. Santa Fe Plaza, 100 Old Santa Fe Trail, hrasantafe.org.

KINGdom Santa Fe Drag King Show: 7 pm Saturday, June 24. $30-$70. Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 466-5528

After Burn: PRIDE30 Closing T-Dance: 1-5 pm Sunday, June 25. $15-$20. Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery, 2791 Agua Fria St., (505) 303-3808

Everybody Say Yeah

It would have been enough to know the legendary Cyndi Lauper was behind the music of 2013 musical Kinky Boots, but throw multi-talented Harvey Fierstein into the mix as playwright, and, well...theater nerds are pretty into this one. In Santa Fe, the increasingly noteworthy Tri-M Productions tackles Kinky Boots this week with its cadre of local performers and musicians for a show early audiences are calling one of the company’s best. In short, Boots tells the tale of a young man thrust into his family’s on-the-skids shoe biz, and how a young woman’s search for hot boots teaches everyone a little something about life and love. Known for its choreography and absolute banger jams, it’s what we might call a mainstay. Sometimes theater is just plain fun. (Alex De Vore)

Kinky Boots: 7 pm Thursday, June 22-Saturday, June 24; 3 pm Sunday, June 25. $30-$40. Santa Fe High School, 2100 Yucca St., trimsantafe.org

Alalalalalalalala!

Though the character of Xena (Lucy Lawless) was originally meant to appear only briefly in a 1995 three-episode arc on the Kevin Sorbo (ugh) show Hercules—and then die—producers were so thrilled with Lawless’ flawless performance that they took an already-planned Hercules spinoff and transformed it into a straight-up Xena thing. Xena: Warrior Princess was such a bizarre and enjoyable show that it garnered fans around the globe, catapulting Lawless to super-stardom. Beastly Books knows this well, and thus devotes a whole day to Xena, her sidekick Gabrielle and the power of beating mythological ass. Oh, sure, Femme Fatale Fridays focus on a number of badass ladies in popular media and will include Buffy and other treats, but for our money, this should just be called Xena Day. We’ll be waiting by the mailbox for our Xena Day cards, too. (ADV)

Femme Fatale Fridays: 11 am-7 pm Friday, June 23. Free. Beastly Books, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 395-2628

Tits!

Albuquerque artist Amanda Banker’s forthcoming Kouri+Corrao Gallery show Tits rides a glorious wavelength propelled by classic animation and classic painting techniques, only she’s kind of giving both a run for their money. According to Banker, the combination of methods at work—including those culled from her freelance storyboarding days, and, maybe, a bit of love for animation companies like Fleischer—combine at the intersection of abstraction and realism. Dark humor has a role to play as well, and who doesn’t love a tongue-in-cheek element to beautifully produced imagery? If you need broader strokes, think topless Olive Oyl, but look deeper for masterful works that would be at home anyplace from the pages of Juxtapoz to the walls of the finest museums. God, it’s thrilling when artists deconstruct the narrative that stuffy=good. (ADV)

Amanda Banker: Tits: Noon-5 pm Wednesday, June 21-Saturday, June 24 and Tuesday, June 27; by appt. Sunday, June 25 and Monday, June 26. Free. Kouri+Carrao Gallery, 3213 Calle Marie, (505) 820-1888