The Teller Returns

Local author, storyteller Joe Hayes recounts tales in new event series

After reigning as Santa Fe’s favorite storyteller for more than 40 years, Joe Hayes continues to mesmerize audiences with his performative tall tales.

Known for flavoring his wide-ranging repertoire of local legends and folklore with a splash of wit, Hayes began his full-time storytelling career in the ‘80s after teaching high school English in Los Alamos. And he’s a bit of an icon. Hayes has traveled far to fetch his stories and melds the multicultural medley of Hispanic, Indigenous and European traditions together with the American proclivity to stretch the truth here and there. Nobody does it quite like him.

This summer marks two years since the end of Hayes’ near and dear presence at the Wheelwright Museum of the American Indian, where he’d told stories since 1982—but that didn’t equal an end to his beloved listenership. Last year, Hayes told stories at the Museum of Spanish Colonial Art that lured in a multigenerational crowd of eager listeners to hear the author of The Day It Snowed Tortillas spin his yarns. Many first-timers were accompanied by parents or grandparents who wanted to share with them the childhood delight of hearing a good old-fashioned Hayes story.

“It’s a special feeling when people tell me this is the first time they’ve heard me [tell stories],” says Hayes. “It makes me feel glad I stuck with it.”

And stick with it he has, including recent weeks wherein Hayes has been making his storytime rounds yet again, now in collaboration with local nonprofit farm Reunity Resources. He’s already hosted two shows this month which have attracted hundreds of listeners, he tells SFR, but you can still bring a blanket or chair to the farm either this Sunday or the next to get the scoop on Coyote, La Llorona and other Hayes versions of classic tales from New Mexico. (Noah Hale)

Joe Hayes: 7 pm, Sunday, July 23, 30. Free. Reunity Resources Farm, 1829 San Ysidro Crossing, (505) 393-1196; reunityresources.com

Writing the World

Once upon a time, the internet appeared poised to foster egalitarianism and diversity. Flash forward 30-plus years past the world’s first website and that vision still remains elusive. International nonprofit Art + Feminism aims to close information gaps related to gender, feminism and the arts—beginning with Wikipedia. The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum has teamed up with Art + Feminism for a free Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon during which attendees will learn Wikipedia editing basics, and create and verify article content. “Wikipedia is one of the most visited sites in the world,” Morgan Moseley, O’Keeffe’s Wikipedian-in-Residence intern says, and its content “is a reflection of what we see as important as a society.” (Julia Goldberg)

Art + Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon: 2-4 pm, Thursday, July 20. Free; registration requested. Georgia O’Keeffe Research Library, 135 Grant Ave., (505) 946-1000; okeeffemuseum.org/events/art-feminism-wikipedia-edit-a-thon/

Between Rock and a Hot Place

Let’s take a second to talk about desert blues (also known variously as tishoumaren, assouf and Saharan rock). Melding traditional Tuareg instrumentation and vocal styles with unmistakably Woodstock-influenced electric guitar, it’s a nomadic genre that to New Mexican ears will feel simultaneously refreshing and nostalgic. After all, artists such as both the touring Algerian group Imarhan and their Albuquerque-based opener for Friday’s Railyard show—psychedelic jammers Orb Rider—come from borderland musical milieus where distinct aural traditions are brought together by a shared desert. Think about the German accordions in our Norteño music as you hear Imarhan’s Hendrix-heavy riffs and bask in the arid kinship. (Siena Sofia Bergt)

Imarhan: 7 pm Friday, July 21. Free. Santa Fe Railyard Plaza, 1612 Alcaldesa St., lensic360.org.

Reggaele Us

Yes, 1978′s Rockers is a reggae movie. But before all those who run from the genre write off the flick, there are a few things you need to know: First, the film was narratively and stylistically ahead of its time and employs direct address that would be at home in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing alongside a plot that brings Bicycle Thieves to Jamaica’s music scene. Arguably more importantly, though, Rockers offers a bizarre blend of fiction and doc filmmaking with real-world musicians Burning Spear, Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace and more playing themselves in a project that started as nonfiction before birthing a full-on Robin Hood narrative. Deliciously unclassifiable stuff. (SSB)

Rockers: 6 pm Tuesday, July 25. $13. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338