THE ENVELOPE PLEASE
Forget record sales and stadium tours, the music biz is about awards right? Well, maybe not. But a little recognition is still nice and Santa Fe's musicians are getting their fair share. More than a dozen of the many musicians nominated for New Mexico Music Awards hail from the City Different.
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Larry Mitchell, who is nominated for nine awards this year, has taken home a few in the past and this year won a Grammy for his work on Robert Mirabal's
Totemic Flute Chants
. Mitchell tells SFR that newbies to the awards shouldn't worry. "I've felt less competition at the award show than just playing at bars" he says. "There are no negative vibes at all, it's a very supportive community."
That doesn't keep Racecar's David Alyassin from being "
almost
a little nervous." Alyassin has been playing in Santa Fe for more than 25 years, but this is the first year the New Mexico Music Awards has acknowledged his work, with five nominations. "I'd love to win in at least one of the categories," he says. "But I'm most excited to be around all the other musicians."
Alyassin, Mitchell, Busy McCarrol and Kito Peters have each picked up five or more noms, while Coco O'Connor, Lisa Carman, Rumaldo Ortiz and Randy Rane are close behind. There are some notable noms from outside the county limits too, but this is about home
town
pride. Go Santa Fe! Show those other guys what we've got.
TUNE IN
And speaking of local music, there's a new online music station dedicated to New Mexico tunes.
has only been streaming for a few weeks but, as of press time, had received more than 8,000 hits.
NMradio.net founder Donald Shainin began by contacting local musicians via MySpace and Craigslist and has already recruited acts from around the ***image2***Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas. Shainin tells SFR that he has 150 songs streaming through the site but is continually building the catalog.
The station, which streams through iTunes, Winamp or Windows Media player, has only one channel, but Shainin says as soon as submissions increase he plans to expand. For now though, the grab bag of country, hip-hop, electronica, soul and blues is a treat for music lovers with broad tastes. You just never know when the experimental rap group Cryptik Tonsils will be followed by country crooner Susan Clark or soul singer Clay Lowder.
Wanna submit a song or five? E-mail all the pertinent info (song title, band name, Web site and contact info) plus an mp3 of the tune to
.
GROCERY GOODNESS
Whole Foods Market has just announced its search for local musicians to rock the carrots during the lunch hour on Saturdays and holidays. Think you've got what it takes? E-mail Mariann Lovato
(
) for more info. Just remember, those shoppers are armed with tomatoes-thank goodness they're organic! The tunes (and a celebratory BBQ) begin on Memorial Day weekend. Stay tuned for more info on who plays when.
CLIP 'N' SAVE SUMMER PREVIEW!
It's still spring, but with colleges letting out in just a few weeks, summer is close at hand. There's a great season coming up that is not to be missed. Highlights include:
Santa Fe Brewing Company
35 Fire Place, 424-3333
The always-popular Santa Fe Brewing Company Spring Kickoff Barbecue starts things off. The patio opens with country rock from Cross Canadian Ragweed (4 pm Sunday, May 10. $18-$22). Then skank the night away with punk/ska act The Warsaw Poland Brothers (8 pm Saturday, May 18. $5). June at the Brew Co. is going to be awesome when Beirut comes home (6:30 pm Monday, June 2. $20-$25) and X with special guests the Detroit Cobras tear it up that same week (7:30 pm Friday, June 6. $23-$28).
The Ore House
50 Lincoln Ave., 983-8687
Check out the tunes on the Plaza before the tourists arrive in full swing. In May the HooDoo's make it happen from 8-11 pm every Thursday (no cover).
High Mayhem Studios
1703-B Lena St., 501-3333
The studio and art space goes less rock 'n' roll and more sit down and take a listen with back-to-back shows from Rrake and Sun Spits Cherries (8 pm Friday, May 16. $5-$15) and Henry Grimes with Oluyemi Thomas (8 pm Saturday, May 17. $5-$15.) And, of course, don't forget the annual fundraiser, a benefit concert and art show that features music from Ray Charles Ives (two-thirds of D Numbers, in case you didn't' know) and DJ Ultraviolet
(7 pm Saturday, May 24. $10-$50).
Santa Fe Reporter