Step on Through

DIY event Santa Fe Portalfest hits year two with way more everything

At last year’s Santa Fe Portalfest, roughly 27 acts played on porches, portales and driveways throughout the neighborhood surrounding Alto Park while eight or nine arts vendors hocked their wares. This year’s fest, according to organizers Jules Hoffman and Sal Maxwell, ups the ante to 50 bands, performers and solo artists plus 42 art vendors across nine stages in the same neighborhood and at Casa Solana.

Hoffman and Maxwell kicked things off last year in the vein of similar nationwide events. Hoffman, also a musician, cut their teeth on similar fests in the Boston area, where Maxwell had also discovered the power of community organizing and porch-playin’. Together, they hatched the concept for a Santa Fe version that would not only create opportunities for local musicians and artists who might not have an easy route into Santa Fe’s admittedly scant venues, but that would come with a few bucks for those participating. Now, with a dream in their hearts, a combined $3,000 grant from the Santa Fe Community Fund and the Envision Fund and more than $5,000 from a GoFundMe campaign as of this writing, the second now-annual Santa Fe Portalfest steams ahead.

“It’s a day of music and community—it’s creating opportunities for musicians of all styles and experience levels,” Hoffman says, “to have a space to tell their stories.”

“I’m just excited to see all our friends play music,” Maxwell adds. “To be surrounded by the talent of our beautiful friends...”

She trails off, but it’s a wonderful thought. And this year’s Portalfest lineup is no joke. We’re talking performances from rock act Gold Tides, thrash-punks The Illegal Aliens, singer-songwriters Hannie Lyles and Lyra Muse and so many more. Additionally, attendees can expect to find vendors like Golda Blaise Jewelry & Accessories, Cosmic Cowboys Creative Studios, Chelsea Call Ceramics, Kokopelli Design Studio and many more; plus drag storytime, a community wellness area run by the Queer Community Care collective (with information about Narcan, safe -needle exchange, massage and more), plus food from the farm at Reunity Resources and other elements and surprises.

“There’s such a hunger for queer community spaces,” says Maxwell. “There are a lot of young queer people here...we’re creating DIY spaces where people can gather and support one another.”

To make things simpler, Hoffman and Maxwell suggest starting the day at the Aspen Community Magnet School and spiraling out from there. You can still donate at gofundme.com/santafeportalfest2023, too! (Alex De Vore)

Santa Fe Portalfest 2023: Noon-7 pm Saturday, Aug. 12. Free. Aspen Community Magnet School, 450 La Madera St., (505) 467-4500

Hip-Hoppy Birthday

Hip-hop trailblazers The Pharcyde might have come up in the same general late ‘80s-early ‘90s Los Angeles milieu that birthed N.W.A, Snoop Dogg (aka Snoop Doggy Dogg, of course) and much of the original Death Row Records crew. But Pharcyde’s jazz-drizzled sound is about as far from gangsta rap as you can get—falling more in line with sonic descendants such as Flying Lotus and Aesop Rock. The pioneering group heads to Santa Fe this week to perform at the free Raashan Ahmad-hosted 50th anniversary celebration of hip-hop through the Lensic360 nonprofit imprint. The event also promises a fashion show, live screenprinting and vendors—and with five full hours of beats and bars on the lineup, you don’t wanna let this one go passin’ you by. Stick around the Railyard following the show to find out where the afterparty’s going down, too (Spoiler: it’s at Opuntia). (Siena Sofia Bergt)

The Pharcyde: 5-11 pm Friday, Aug. 11. Free. Santa Fe Railyard Plaza, 1612 Alcaldesa St., Lensic360.org

Wander Woman

Calling to mind that old Tolkien saying about wanderers, Texas-based artist Leticia Herrera recreates the nigh-unexplainable allure of wandering in her upcoming Walkers exhibit at Canyon Road’s Thornwood Gallery. Herrera’s new series of oil paintings focuses on the movement of those in search of freedom and unity and was reportedly inspired by her own emigration to the US from Mexico City in 2007. In all of the paintings, Herrera puts families of impasto figures into motion, on their way to some vague destination and often emerging from some darkness and toward a mysterious source of light. It seems likely you’ll feel a little wanderlust of your own just looking at them. (Noah Hale)

Leticia Herrera: Walkers Opening: 3-6 pm, Friday, August 11. Free. Thornwood Gallery, 555 Canyon Road, (505) 428-0279

Tonight We’re Going to Party Like it’s 1990-Something

Though some folks of a certain age around the SFR offices are baffled by literally any romanticized notions of the ‘90s, it’s hard to deny the weird and brazen pop culture beats of the decade that birthed such bangers as the grunge movement, Saved by the Bell (keep your ‘80s-born Miss Bliss feelings to yourselves, SBTB purists!), Hypercolor and Pogs. So don your sweetest Body Glove tee, DC shoes and Jnco jeans for the ‘90s ONLY Music Video Dance Party at La Reina bar within the El Rey Court. We’re told this throwback jam should have plenty of Spice Girls, Selena and Shania on tap, and you just know someone’s gonna play “Black Hole Sun” or, like, “Heart Shaped Box” or something. Is it the decade we miss, or is it our very youth? Do not ask for whom the boy band tolls—it tolls for thee. (ADV)

‘90s ONLY Music Video Dance Party: 7:30 pm Monday, Aug. 14. Free. La Reina, 1862 Cerrillos Road, (505) 982-1931