pixabay.com / Alan Taylor
No Take-Backs
Candyman music shop owner wants you to meet your next great piece of music gear
As any local musician will tell you, The Candyman Strings & Things music shop has survived so long—55 years, in fact—by leaning hard into the tenets of community. Owners Rand and Cindy Cook have built relationships to last. To wit, the -area’s hands-down best music gear shop conducts Swap O’ Rama this weekend, an annual affair that finds music-lovers, gearheads and collectors taking over the parking lot to sell, swap and otherwise move around their cool music stuff. With well over 20 slots now filled, and sometimes multiple sellers per slot, there’s no telling what folks might find.
“The word ‘community’ is definitely the best word that can be applied to this specific event,” owner Rand says. “We’re saying, y’all got a bunch of gear you’ve been collecting, you’re not using it, let’s do this one day a year where we can swap stories and BS and have fun together and hoot and holler.”
Cook further explains that while buyers will surely find plenty of familiar items from familiar brands, there’s no telling what unexpected musical gear might make its way to the swap. In short, if you need a guitar, a bass, some weird drum, a keyboard—whatever—you’ll likely find something at the swap.
“It’s really inspired by…do you remember the old flea markets, where they were people in a parking lot with the backs of their trucks down? The thrill of paying a nickel for a Hot Wheels car?” Cook says. “And it’s not about money making, but about building relationships in the musical community. We want to be known as that space, and yeah, there’s an element we have to produce—which is funding the space by selling gear, doing repairs, hosting workshops—but the core philosophy is that if we take care of the community, the rest falls into place.”
Also of note, Cook will serve up his famous Frito pies with meat, vegetarian and gluten-free options on the menu, all free for swap attendees.
“And they come right in the Frito bag,” he says with a laugh. “If it’s on a plate, it’s not a real Frito pie.” (Alex De Vore)
The Candyman 5th Annual Swap O’ Rama: Noon-5 pm Sunday, Sept. 29. Free. The Candyman Strings & Things, 851 St. Michael’s Drive, (505) 983-5906
Anson Stevens-Bollen
Stanzas Akimbo!
We here at SFR love the work of former poet laureate Darryl Lorenzo Wellington so much that we’ve even unleashed him on our pages from time to time, so of course we’re going to recommend that anyone interested in writing their own poetry check out his upcoming workshop at the Santa Fe Public Library’s La Farge branch. Wellington is a deft wordsmith who has not only worked in poetry, but short story, journalism, criticism and graphic novel formats. In short, if you’re looking to take your poetry practice to the next level or even just get started from scratch, this is a great place to start. Tell Darryl we said hello, too, and note that you must register through the library site. (ADV)
Poetry Workshop with Darryl Lorenzo Wellington: 6 pm Thursday, Sept. 26. Free w/registration. Santa Fe Public Library (La Farge), 1730 Llano St., (505) 955-4862
Courtesy Criterion
Glass Tacks
Some names are so synonymous with cinema that we can scarcely imagine a world without them—Ingmar Bergman is one such name. This week, Bergman’s 1961 film Through a Glass Darkly comes to Santa Fe’s anti-profit theater No Name Cinema in 16mm format—gorgeous! A tale of familial drama that plays out during an island retreat, Glass not only kicked off Bergman’s stunning trilogy examining faith and loss (see Winter Light and The Silence when you get the chance), it won the Oscar for best foreign-language film in 1962. Fantastiskt! Consider this one required viewing should you be on a quest to see the best movies of all time. (ADV)
Through a Glass Darkly Screening: 7:30 pm Friday, Sept. 27. $5-$15 suggested donation. No Name Cinema, 2013 Pinon St., nonamecinema.org
Courtesy Eventbrite
A+
One could hardly think of a better venue for the musical stylings of Portland, Oregon-based composer Ann Annie than the San Miguel Chapel. Something about the acoustics of a churchy environment lending themselves so brilliantly to borderline experimental and ambient synth sounds feels so right, and Ann Annie’s gorgeous compositions are certainly heart-forward enough to warrant a place within a house of worship. That’s not to say that the music is religious in any way, though the experience of hearing its soaring strings, keys and synths could practically be called devotional if that devotion was to the gods of stirring sounds. Singer-songwriter Amos Heart joins in on the fun. (ADV)
Ann Annie with Chamber Trio and Amos Heart: 6:30 pm Tuesday, Oct. 1. $15. San Miguel Chapel, 401 Old Santa Fe Trail, (505) 983-3974
