SFR Picks

SFR Picks—Week of June 29

DJ events, museum openings, free music and more

Sundays Are For Sol

Finding wellness through DJ culture has never been easier

It’s a big weekend for DJs in Santa Fe thanks to 13pieces and Joolz—AKA real life married couple Justin Ray and Julie Grace. Together, they’re the driving force behind Sol Sunday: Get Free 2022, a party at which the Railyard Plaza hosts a multitude of DJ sets throughout the afternoon with the intention of promoting a new kind of mindfulness. It’s like self-care, but with sick beats.

“We really wanted to provide a non-drinking, family-friendly environment,” Ray tells SFR. “Wellness as a whole is everything in the creation of our story. This is an opportunity to show younger people adult guides in the music world. Making money is one thing, but running a business is also providing something to your community.”

Sol Sundays evolved out of Ray’s REMIX Audio Bar and Grace’s Sol Wellness business. Both have been involved in the music scene for decades, with Ray operating as a DJ for nearly 30 years while Grace worked in the promotional world. Both know of the darker underbelly these scenes foster in 21+ clubs—but they also know how music culture can be a tool for self-empowerment. That’s a big reason REMIX Audio Bar exists in the first place, and it’s why Grace and Ray have taken on mentorship opportunities with young local artists. The next generation of local DJs and digital artists are on the up-and-up, Ray says, and both he and Grace see how music and art can bring the town together outside of typical venues.

LA-based DJ Peanut Butter Wolf headlines the show alongside numerous other acts, and Sol Sunday comes with plenty of workshops, too: Get a LoFi yoga session in, watch and learn insane breakdancing, have your tarot cards read and see stilt-walkers towering over everyone. Check out the collection of community wellness booths, too, ranging from acupuncture to mushroom elixirs. Plus, Sol Sunday is partnering with Artwalk this year to bring in other local vendors.

While the event is free, any and all donations go to the New Mexico Dream Center, which brings resources to homeless and trafficked youths throughout the state. Donate to the cause at the fest or through solsundays.org. It’s an easy choice, really: Hear great music and get yourself feeling well as hell. Don’t forget to wear sunscreen. (Riley Gardner)

Sol Sundays: Get Free 2022: Noon-6 pm Sunday, July 3. Free (but donate). Railyard Plaza, 1612 Alcaldesa St. (505) 982-3373, solsundays.org

Love Is The Message

Big-time DJ comes to Santa Fe to spin unrelenting optimism

“I think some people are afraid of electronic music, and it doesn’t have to be that way,” event producer Lief Darling tells SFR. “If we can create a scene, it’ll be self-sustaining—a constant communication of ideas.”

There’s a whole lot of history behind the electronic music scene, and Darling wants you to know that as he brings San Francisco-based DJ Sunshine Jones to the Center for Progress and Justice for a first-of-its-kind show. For those unaware, Jones is a big deal in the world of electronic music. The legendary deck master has been vibing hard since ‘88, building his sets not just with digital software and beat matching programs, but with live percussion, vocals and other impovisational elements. Jones’ entire sound is old-school cool, brimming with bright energy and sweet beats interspersed with saxophone and ringing choruses. It’s disco, gospel and dance blended into one musical smoothie—major-key bliss with one big message reverberating through the boom-bap: Love is the end-all here...nothing more, nothing less.

“This is a live production using music and emotions to convey joy,” Darling continues. “Jones is writing as he’s performing. Electronic music is a safe space for people to dance, even more than just vibing with lyrics, and I think Jones really brings that to people.”

As Pride month wraps up and the world goes to hell (see: SCOTUS), it’s important to remember how the history of -electronic music is connected with queer inner-city culture. Jones himself is an example of these art movements spawned when Black, queer and counterculture souls created a space for themselves in an otherwise hostile world. Springboarding off the disco movement of the 1970s, electronic dance jams gained traction in minority communities because they spawned, as Darling says, safe and loving spaces that grew into a wider audience until becoming almost mainstream. An entire set with Sunshine Jones doubles as an education—he’s more than happy to explain the history behind every beat and musical movement.

Darling, meanwhile, says the show will stick to electronic music’s community-oriented roots. Plus, the effort to bring Jones to town isn’t just for the sake of fun (though obviously that’s a big part of it). For Darling, this is an opportunity to build optimism and social closeness in an often ugly world, the type of event where dancing wordlessly is welcome. Dance the night away, electro-heads. Feel the love. (RG)

Sunshine Jones: 8 pm-3 am, Sunday, July 3. $12. Center for Progress and Justice, 1420 Cerrillos Road. tinyurl.com/4fsydn8y

Open it Up

We have been to the mountaintop (by which we mean Museum Hill) to catch the glory of Here, Now and Always, the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture’s newly-revamped and sprawling exhibit of Indigenous American art spanning tribes, genres, timelines and mediums. It’s easily one of the most inspiring and excellent shows of Native arts we’ve ever seen in Santa Fe (which is really saying something), and it encompasses so many artists, styles and generations that one hardly believes they put it all together. It’s been a long time coming, too, as the pandemic pushed the process back, but you’ll finally have the chance to see it for yourself. And believe us when we say it’s worth it. (Alex De Vore)

Here, Now and Always Opening Weekend: All Day Friday, July 1-Sunday, July 3. By admission. Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, 710 Camino Lejo, (505) 476-1279

The Low-Down

The Santa Fe Bandstand live music series continues this week with a stop-in from New Mexico act, The So Lows. Made up of musical power duo Molly Miller and Ronnie Rael, the fearsome twosome takes the tenets of country, folk and Americana and puts them through the emotional ringer for moody songs which, in the best way we can mean this, are just kind of weird. Vocal harmonies come together in a powerful convergence above pedal steel, finger picking riffs and heart-forward lyricism. “I’d wrap my arms around you if I could,” the pair wails on “Let Go, My Atlas,” from their recent release Times Not So Weathered. Yo, So Lows? We feel you. (ADV)

Santa Fe Bandstand: The So Lows: 6 pm Thursday, June 30. Free. Santa Fe Plaza, 100 Old Santa Fe Trail, ampconcerts.org

Three of a Kind

Listen, jazz is a romantic genre, whether you’re by yourself or with another (or with a whole group, but that’s your business). You need more love in your life, and The Robert Fox Trio is a great opportunity to sip cocktails and pretend you’re in 1928, basking in that music love. These musicians aren’t just nobodies, either. Hell, pianist Bob Fox played with such jazz heavyweights as Ira Sullivan and Eddie Daniels. Plus, this performance includes local legends John Trentacosta on the drums and Cyrus Campbell on bass. As an improvisational art form, every week offers a different program. If you’ve attended before, expect a different show the following weekend and so on. Even cooler, they welcome traveling performers, ranging from saxophonists to tap dancers. (RG)

Bob Fox Trio: 6-9 pm Friday and Saturday, July 1 and 2. Free (no cover). La Casa Sena, 125 E Palace Ave., (505) 988-9232

Jam-a-lam-a-ding-dong

OK, so no one is saying the new LeBron James-led Space Jam movie is good, but I am saying it’s OK to love a total garbage movie for free in the park, especially if you have kids. It’s the tale of an NBA champion who winds up in, ummm, space or something because...uhh, just because he does. Once there, he teams up with iconic cartoon characters from Looney Tunes to fully get above the rim and stuff, which somehow means they defeat aliens. I think so, anyway. Didn’t see it. And though we might point out that Who Framed Roger Rabbit readily exists and is an excellent live-action-person-does-cartoon-stuff movie, this is the one you’re getting and, as my grandma would say, watching it is better than a sharp stick in the eye. Bring a blanket and snacks, but know there will be free Coca-Cola. (ADV)

Santa Fe Summer Movie Series: Space Jam: A New Legacy: 5:30 pm Friday, July 1. Free. SWAN Park, Jaguar Drive and Hwy. 599. ampconcerts.org

Dance Is Life

Earthseed Black Arts Alliance teams up with prog museum SITE Santa Fe for a weekend-long fest celebrating Black culture. A few of the local names participating you might’ve heard of: Nikesha Breeze, Tigre Mashaal-Lively, Soul Nubian, Chelsea Stewart, Raashan Ahmad and Miles Tokunow. Black dance serves as the event’s centerpiece, but you’ll also find classes and film screenings that celebrate the art form. You can also attend panel discussions focusing on Black and Indigenous dancers, check out a community altar and attend a curated poetry slam. Certain activities are free, while others have an entry fee, but any and all proceeds go to supporting Black arts in New Mexico. (RG)

Free to Move: 8:30 am-9 pm Saturday July 2, 9 am-9 pm Sunday, July 3. Free-$135. SITE Santa Fe, 1606 Paseo De Peralta. (505) 989-1199, eventbrite.com

The Wine Up

So everybody knows how hard we love wine in New Mexico, right? Right. We’re one of those states that seems to feature wine fest after wine fest, plus some of the best restaurant lists in the country, and when folks are in the mood for the most fermented of grapes, only a festival will do. Enter El Rancho de las Golondrinas and its annual gathering for all things vino. “It celebrates the oldest wine growing region in the country, and all wines are made in New Mexico,” says Museum Director Daniel Goodman, “and wine pairs well with adobe architecture.” Yeah, it’s a living history museum, too, which we can only imagine is extra fascinating once you’ve downed a pinot or two. (ADV)

Santa Fe Wine Festival: Noon-5 pm Saturday, July 2. $18. El Rancho de las Golondrinas, 334 Los Pinos Road, (505) 471-2261

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