SFR Picks—Week of Oct. 13

Operatic

New lecture looks at opera in film

When it comes to the opera, folks tend to fall in one of three camps. There are those who love the stuff, who never miss a season, who tell their friends things about Puccini they never wanted to know. There are those who don’t so much begrudge the existence of the art form, even if they’re not planning out their year around when a season runs and even if they don’t know Carmen from The Pearl Fishers. Then there are the people who genuinely hate opera. It’s fine. It’s cool. Everyone need not like the same things.

Wherever you fall, though, you can probably agree that the cinema world has a long and tempestuous relationship with the opera. It’s used as a setting. A plot device. A yardstick by which a character’s level of culture is measured. It is, in fact, one of the few places that all three types of people can come together and completely agree—opera in media can be a widely varied media crossover.

Lecturer Mark Tiarks knows this all to well and thus hosts a lecture on the very phenomena dubbed The Silver Scream: Portrayals of Opera in Cinema. Tiarks takes attendees through the wheres and hows and whys of opera in film, offering a nuanced and very funny primer to the reasoning behind it becoming such an enduring cinema staple. Will Tiarks get into the Marx Brothers’ A Night at the Opera? Oh, almost assuredly, but there are so many other operatic moments in film (extra points for any Final Fantasy VI fans out there who know what’s up) that there’s plenty more for folks to learn.

In other words, attend this lecture wherever you fall on the opera spectrum and be delighted. You might even leave with a deeper appreciation for opera itself—like that time I got dragged to see Tosca against my will and actually had a swell time. At least after this you’ll be able to keep up in conversations about culture (or RBG). (Alex De Vore)

The Silver Scream: Portrayals of Opera in Cinema: 3 pm Thursday, Oct. 14. $10 (free for Opera Guild members). Online, https://conta.cc/3mCgG0I

The Silver Screen

If you flip to page 30, you’ll find numerous reviews of films playing at this year’s Santa Fe Independent Film Fest—now in its 13th year (plus a piece on local filmmaker Erik Sanchez)—and that’s before you flip over to page 22 for a brief interview with longtime SFIFF collaborator and Reservation Dogs star Gary Farmer. Yeah, it’s gonna be a film-heavy week around town, what with all the features and shorts and panels and parties and Oliver Stone picking up a lifetime achievement award. In-person activities are also something we desperately need at this point in human history. We’re talking connection, no matter how brief or quiet, with real-life people who also love the movies as much as we do. Don’t forget to get your passes and don’t forget to go nuts on all the goodness. (ADV)

13th Annual Santa Fe Independent Film Festival: Various times Wednesday, Oct. 13-Sunday, Oct. 17. $10-$325. Various locations, santafeindependentfilmfestival.com

So Bright

Ummmm, yes. Yes to a singer-songwriter/indie-rock/kinda-punk kind of creator like Jenna McGrath forming a full band with notable locals like violinist Jospeh Buffaloe, bassist Vincent Copia and drummer Dave Darby and kicking off shows at Skate School—a literal school for skateboarding. Yes to in-person events that work for music fans, skaters, stoners and everyone else. Yes to McGrath’s upcoming fourth studio album with all those people. Yes for safe mask protocols at shows during which we can maybe regain a little bit of humanity. Yes to more bands that don’t just do country and classic rock covers and yes to video projection from TimeSpecific, aka Isolde Kille. Just yes, y’know? (ADV)

Luminatrix: 8 pm Friday, Oct. 15. $8. Skate School, 825 Early St., skateboardsafety.com

Bill’s Back

We know we’ve seemed a little Bill Hearne-obsessed over the years, but, in our defense—have you heard the man sing? Folks don’t become flat-pickin’ honky-tonk legends for nuthin’, and Hearne’s earnest and gravelly delivery is the kind of emotive vocal work that really works for folks trying to feel feelings. Like so many others, Hearne took a bit of a hiatus from his regular gigs during the pandemic, but he’ll return to his old stomping grounds at the Hotel La Fonda’s La Fiesta Lounge this weekend for some solo folky/rootsy goodness. Oh, and in case you’re worried, he’ll probably play his most popular jam, “New Mexico Rain.” Just know that. (ADV)

Bill Hearne: 7:30 pm Sunday, Oct. 17. Free. La Fiesta Lounge, 100 E San Francisco St., (505) 982-5511