Return of the Boom-Bap

Local hip-hop crew Outstanding Citizens Collective releases old new music and lends a helping hand for the holidays

It was time. That’s why the Outstanding Citizens Collective recently decided to release a ton of music recorded between 2015 and 2019, local MC Dylan Delgado, aka Wolfman Jack, tells SFR.

Delgado says the unveiling comes after “kind of a combination of things” including “ins and outs with the crew, new members like Prismatic Soul and Anthonius Monk; [original member]Fluid moving from Santa Fe, and we just had these songs sitting. It just felt like time.”

Part of the reason they’ve never been released? Original OCC member Benito “Benzo” Martinez’s 2021 death put a cloud over the troupe, but it’s time to move forward, Delgado says.

“We need to do this before we can put out anything new,” he explains. “It’s an era with Ben that needs to be released.”

In order to make it happen right, the OCC is set to join forces with fellow MCs like Doer and Hieroglyphics’ Equipto for Hip-Hop for the Holidays, a combination record release, last-minute Christmas market and food/clothes drive for the Interfaith Community Shelter and the Esperanza Shelter. Yes, you can donate warm clothes and non-perishable food on top of your $10 cover—you’ll still come out ahead, trust us.

“There are some others, too,” Delgado hints of the lineup.

Well, now we’ve gotta go just so we can find out who they are. (Alex De Vore)

Hip-Hop for the Holidays: 6 pm Friday, Dec. 22. $10. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

Elf Esteem

Should you still be searching for ways to embrace the Christmas-ness of it all, look no further than the Santa Fe Playhouse’s The Night Before Christmas, an adults-only affair that brings humor and good cheer to the idea of a holiday-themes B&E. In Christmas, an intruding elf appears within a maybe-not-entirely-legal warehouse just before the big day and sets about reminding the men inside what’s what. Meanwhile, a hard-up shopper pops by looking for the season’s hottest toy (a Power Ranger if you’re curious). Hilarity ensues. Much Christmas media leans into heartwarming, so it’s kind of nice to have one embrace the slightly naughtier side in us all. (ADV)

The Night Before Christmas: 7:30 pm Thursday, Dec. 21-Saturday, Dec. 23; 2 pm Saturday, Dec. 23. $5-$75. Santa Fe Playhouse, 142 E De Vargas St., (505) 988-4262

Wilder and Wilder

Did we just feature a Gene Wilder documentary on our Picks page recently? Yes, we did, but that was then and now it’s Christmas and we’re speaking specifically to the folks who don’t celebrate: If you don’t do Christmas, but you do do movies, the Center for Contemporary Arts has teamed once again with the Santa Fe Jewish Film Festival for Flix and ChopStix, an all-day series of Gene Wilder movies like Young Frankenstein and the Producers, and then you get a nice dinner from ChopStix at Temple Beth Shalom after, y’know, if you feel like it. Sold! (ADV)

Flix and ChopStix: Starts at 2 pm, dinner after, Monday, Dec. 25. $8-$38. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338

Digital Overground

Curator Jaime Herrell kicks off her first show at Thoma Foundation’s Art Vault

If you’re going to be a billionaire with an insane art collection ranging from the 17th century through today, you can at least be like Carl and Marilyn Thoma and create both a foundation and a space through which you let everyone else come see your stuff for free. That’s the ethos of Art Vault in the Santa Fe Railyard. Well, that and a particular focus on new media.

“It’s wildly daunting and still is,” says curator and Gallery Program Director Jaime Herrell, whose upcoming Beyond the Interface kind of serves as a greatest hits from the Thoma collection. “Look at this new media; digital; AR; VR, AI—how can we create a narrative where these pieces are speaking with one another beyond ‘look at our digital art!’?”

Herrell says she believes she’s hit that goal nicely with Beyond the Interface, a show that gives each piece space of its own to breathe and invite a viewer in for protracted viewing without distraction. You’ll find pieces like rapidly changing LEDs that represent the cosmos by light artist Leo Villareal (whose work you might have also noticed at the new Vladem Contemporary in its inaugural Shadow and Light) and reality-bending photo collage by Sohei Nishino; achievements in looping animation, generative imagery, film and more. Like most Art Vault shows thus far, it’s a packed but uncluttered experience; some pieces change as you view them, others practically or literally pull you into the art itself.

“I’ve dedicated myself to advancing the ever-changing field of new media art,” Herrell adds. “It’s ridiculously amazing, and I take pride in curating exhibits that offer unique perspectives.” (ADV)

Beyond the Interface Opening: 5-7 pm Friday, Dec. 29. Free. Art Vault, 540 S Guadalupe St., (505) 428-0681

Do You Feel It?

If you’re like us, you’re probably wondering, “Dang, it’s basically New Year’s Eve around here, isn’t that DJ Raashan Ahmad gonna do something?” You better believe he is—it’s Love & Happiness time, baby! As has become tradition when big ol’ happenings go down in our little ol’ city, Ahmad will joing with a local DJ—this time it’s the inimitable Garonteed—for a night of funk, soul, R&B, hip-hop and dance tunes. At times, these events are raucous; other times, they’re healing; sometimes they’re both. We know every year can be hard, but we all deserve to let go a little as this one phases out. Fingers crossed for better times in 2024. (ADV)

Love & Happiness: 9 pm Sunday, Dec. 31. $12-$15. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808

Obviously There Was Always Going to Be a Meow Wolf NYE Pick

Assuming we have readers who still go out to things late at night, we wanted to remind you that Meow Wolf might still be the undisputed major holiday place to be, at least if you love DJs. This bill is out of control, too, with performances from Ana M, Badcat, Bacon, Callie Jones, Galaxy b2b, Wyatt Lawson, Girl Wunder, Justin Cristofer, Red Flag, Ruby Rhodd (nice Fifth Element nod there), Spooloius, Xbltyssid and Albuquerque drag troupe Saint’s Ball. It’s gonna get nutty and we hear you can roam the environs ringing in the new year. In your face, old man embodiment of 2023! (ADV)

Meow Wolf New Year’s Eve Carousel: 9 pm Sunday, Dec. 31. $55. Meow Wolf, 1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369