Courtesy Ryan Miera
Second That Emotion
Legendary Second City comedy troupe comes to town with a Santa Fe guy in tow
Take it from a local guy who is living the dream: Comedy troupe The Second City doesn’t stop much in Santa Fe, so when it does, it’s a don’t-miss.
Saturday’s performance of The Second City Swipes Right: An Incomplete Guide to The Ultimate Date Night is special for a number of reasons. Not only will guests hear piano accompaniment from the show’s live music director and Santa Fe native Ryan Miera, but it’s also Miera’s final show after several years with the touring company. Starting in March, he’ll be back in Chicago full-time, playing in one of The Second City’s two permanent rooms—the place where comedians including Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Joan Rivers, Tina Fey and Stephen Colbert honed their crafts and launched into fame. Miera has come a long way from catching the touring act at The Paramount when he was a teen, then working his way up from usher and bartender after moving to the Windy City.
“I think I even remember asking one of the performers after the show, ‘What would one have to do if you wanted to get involved with this?’ and I think she was like, ‘Well, do you live in Chicago?...That’s a good start,’” he tells SFR. “But she was super cool and it definitely looked really fun. I do not perform theater/comedy anymore as an actor. I like being on the side now much, much more.”
In addition to playing any sung works in the show, the music director designs the sound for the performances and cues recordings and other auditory details. Swipes Right, he says, is typical of The Second City in that it features some pre-written skits and some planned audience improvisation with its six actors—Bill Letz, Jenelle Cheyne, Yazmin Ramos, Maureen Boughey, Preston Parker and Tina Arfaee. Perhaps obvious from its title, the show takes on themes of modern romance. Miera hopes for a packed house.
“It’s an unbelievably funny and talented cast who I am really, really going to miss because I’ve been touring with them for a while,” he says. “As many people as possible should watch them perform because they’re just next level funny.” (Julie Ann Grimm)
The Second City Swipes Right: An Incomplete Guide to The Ultimate Date Night: 7:30 pm, Saturday Feb. 25. $35-$55. Lensic Performing Arts Center, 211 W San Francisco St., (505) 988-1234
Courtesy North American Star System
Here Comes the Sun
You probably think jazz is this one thing when in reality, it’s often some other thing altogether. Take the inimitable Sun Ra, an artist and musician who not only slays the keys, but whom we can probably best describe as a weirdo in just the most creative ways. Ra’s 1974 film Space is the Place, for example, is a strange and complicated journey to say the least. But as a vehicle for his music and activism, it remains a poignant stunner. The broad strokes are that Ra himself plays some sort of cosmic creator/clown who lands his spacecraft in 1970s Oakland, whereupon he uses the power of assembly and music to make socio-political statements, play some absolutely killer jamz and, ultimately, leave the viewer with an altered or renewed perspective. Jazz fans should take note, sure, but the cinephiles and those who fancy themselves avant-garde should take the opportunity to check out this one-off screening from CCA’s Amplified series and add another lesser-known gem to their lexicons. (Alex De Vore)
Space is the Place: 6 pm Thursday, Feb. 23. $15. Center for Contemporary Arts, 1050 Old Pecos Trail, (505) 982-1338
Courtesy New Mexico Museum of Art
You Bet Your Glass
Anyone who has watched a skillful glass blower at work knows that glass is one of those mediums that still feels magical. And we love it here in Santa Fe—just look at the recent Clearly Indigenous show at the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture, or any of the glass-based shows at Blue Rain Gallery—which could be why the New Mexico Museum of Art is getting in the game with its new show, The Nature of Glass. In the new temporary show within the museum’s Goodwin Gallery, find examples of glass artistry you both know and don’t, myriad techniques across a variety of styles representing some of the institution’s best and lesser-seen works. Even if you think you’ve got a handle on what’s possible, we’re betting you’ll be surprised. If nothing else, something in there’s bound to blow your mind. (ADV)
Community Day For Nature of Glass: Noon-4 pm Saturday, Feb. 25. Free. New Mexico Museum of Art, 107 W Palace Ave., (505) 476-5072
Courtesy Facebook.com
The Atmosphere!
We’ve been to Tucson, Arizona, which is how we know it makes perfect sense for that city to have produced the atmospheric black metal act, Suicide Forest. It’s just, like, so hot there, but if that spawns bands like Suicide Forest, we’re down. Named for Japan’s Aokigahara forest, the band composes deeply unsettling and atmospherically dense numbers that settle someplace between hauntingly beautiful and downright evil. Songs are lush on 2021′s Reluctantly, for example, and unlike many bands of the black metal ilk, never outstay their welcome. Suicide Forest’s sound feels like a celebration of the reasons metalheads are drawn into the fold in the first place, an ethereal blend of dark ephemera, screeches and growls tailored to those in love with the darkness. Taos’ Terra Damnata and Albuquerque’s Voidskull open alongside Santa Fe one-man brutality machine, Ruiner. (ADV)
Suicide Forest: 7 pm Tuesday, Feb. 28. $10-$15. Tumbleroot Brewery & Distillery, 2791 Agua Fría St., (505) 303-3808
