Garden Party

by Wolf Schneider

Gathered under the portal

Santa Fe is said to be a Cancer city according to astro-cartography, and so a place where those born under the sign of Cancer or with significant Cancer influences in their charts feel immediately at home. Take my friend Amy Hoban, who just celebrated her Cancer birthday with a girls’ garden party given by her friend Judy Talbott. We gathered under Judy’s portal for a convivial afternoon and fabulous lunch of champagne, iced tea, chicken salad, cucumber salad, blueberry muffins, and lemon birthday cake – – all homemade by Judy! We welcomed fashionista Jane Smith (looking fabulous) back from Alabama, and helped Sheila Ellis plan a Napa trip. With many of us being sometimes Los Angelenos, we traded intelligence about Carmageddon. I brought a bunch of books that I’d recently read to pass along, and the most popular ones were Alan Arkin’s memoir and “Pie Town.” As for Amy’s gifts, everyone coveted the Tarte makeup set and Dry Bar certificates. There was also a good bit of oohing over Steven Tyler’s autobiography.

Summer is always Santa Fe’s most social time. The Pink Adobe patio has been filling up for lunch every Friday, what with the Origins fashion shows there and the $16 lobster salad (which costs double that at dinner). There’s Spanish Market in late July, Indian Market in late August, and the Canyon Road art shows every Friday night. It’s been a hot summer so far, and we’re all hoping the monsoons will get cranking soon with those big, booming evening thunderstorms that cool things down.

                          

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, consulting editor of Southwest Art, and also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Great Timing

by Wolf Schneider

Luminaria's red-chile biscotti and blue-corn muffin

We got a wonderful five-minute summer shower in Santa Fe this evening that made everything feel fresh again, just at the same time as Stevie Nicks and Javier Colon were performing that beautiful rendition of “Landslide” on “The Voice.” It was such great timing! For a few minutes, everything felt so right in the world.

Summer is Santa Fe’s high tourist season, so restaurants and hotels are bringing out their best now. Consider Luminaria at the Inn and Spa at Loretto, with a summer menu sporting a Blood Orange Mojito and house-made Sangria, flavorful blue-corn muffins and red chile-pumpkin seed biscotti, a light and tasty Green Goddess Caesar Salad, and a luscious yet not-too-caloric dessert of Seasonal Fresh Berries with Marsala Marscapone Chantilly Cream (http://www.innatloretto.com/new-mexico-dining/santa-fe-dining.php). Shrugging off the calorie issue entirely, I recently split a fabulous wood-oven, thin-crust pizza and Caesar salad dinner with a friend at Pizzeria da Lino on Guadalupe (http://www.pizzeriadalino.com/). It only cost us $15 each including a generous tip!

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, consulting editor of Southwest Art, and also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Santa Fe Season Starts

Summer starts June 21^st according to the calendar but the gallery summer season is in full swing.  Gallery openings occur every weekend with Canyon Road leading the pack.  Every Friday at 5pm when most galleries close down the fun is just beginning. For those who are not familiar with this yearly ritual, let me explain how it unfolds.  Canyon Road gallery art openings start at 5pm and end at 7pm, occasionally spilling over to nearly 9pm. 

If you’re a visitor you can start at either end and work your way up or down the road.  If you start at the bottom, park in the lot at 225 Canyon (visit canyonroadarts.com for maps) where you will find lots of good artwork from galleries like Manitou, Meyers and McClarry Fine Art.  If you start at the top and want to work your way down there is a public parking lot, which has plenty of room (you do have to pay).  There is also some limited parking on Canyon Road (my last choice) and its side streets Delgado or Camino Escondido. Most Friday nights you will find at least 40 openings and many of the galleries will have food and drinks and of course lots of great art.  A list of all the gallery openings can be found in the New Mexican’s Pasatiempo on Friday if you’re looking for a specific gallery or artist.

Francis Livingston, Kachina Harmony, Oil on Panel, 36" x 36"

You can expect to see hundreds of locals, artists and visitors alike walking up and down Canyon Road and live music as well. This routine continues all summer and in many galleries through the fall.

In July the Opera season opens which adds another dimension to the fun.  Medicine Man Gallery will be having 3 openings in July: Francis Livingston July 8^th, Veryl Goodnight July 23rd, and Dennis Ziemienski July 29^th.

Veryl Goodnight, Ready to Ride, Bronze Edition of 30, 24" x 9" x 9"

We start with Francis Livingston who will be bring a group of new paintings with his well known traditional Native American imagery and also this year his abstract and modern works including collages incorporating antique Navajo weaving remnants.  Veryl Goodnight, a well known sculptor who’s book “No Turning Back” just came out, will be having a show, exhibit and book signing. Finishing out the month will be acclaimed California artist Dennis Ziemeinski who will be doing a show dedicated to Route 66.  A well sought after illustrator, his imagery has been used for numerous magazine covers and I have included this one to tease you.

As August approaches I will give you another blog of the happenings around the City Different, till then…

Dennis Ziemienski, Fill'er Up?, Oil on Canvas 48" x 24"

Where There’s Smoke…

by Wolf Schneider

Tesuque horses endure fire-scented air

My plan for the day was to be outside walking early in Santa Fe’s cool morning air, but as soon as I woke up my eyes were tearing from the smoke. Arizona’s massive Wallow Fire is 200 miles away, yet it’s suffocating Santa Fe with gauzy skies of hazy smoke instead of our usual sapphire blue mountain skies. Cars are covered with ash, eyes sting, and we’re being advised to stay indoors. Afternoon highs are hovering around 90 as the drought persists here.

The giant Wallow Fire is said to be bigger than New York City and 0% contained right now. It is likely to spread into New Mexico. Our New Mexico fire fighters are on their way to help out at the inferno. So far, Monday night’s burning smell and smoky skies were the worst I’ve ever experienced in Santa Fe. Tonight my eyes still sting and a severe weather advisory is in effect for most of the state, with visibilities reduced to below three miles in Santa Fe, and less in other western and central swaths of New Mexico. The whole issue of fire control is a complicated one, with environmentalists, government, and communities often at odds about when and how to squelch a wildfire: for more on that, read Philip Connors’ excellent book “Fire Season,” which I wrote about in an April blog.

                     

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, consulting editor of Southwest Art, and also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

App Contest

by Wolf Schneider

Beverly Buchanan outside Santa Fe Complex

BACKSTORY Santa Fe, the app I co-created, just won the Santa Fe App Jam competition in the Freestyle-Crowdsourced category! It’s part of the Mobile Apps Development Challenge going until July from the city of Santa Fe, MIX, and the NM Technology Council.

BACKSTORY Santa Fe had humble beginnings. Two weeks ago, I lunched at New York Deli with a unit publicist friend. What to do until we get onto our next movies? Could we leverage our knowledge about movie and TV production, publishing, popular culture, and Santa Fe into an app? Would others want to know that they lowered the Rio Grande for “All the Pretty Horses” and where that biker bar was in “Wild Hogs”? Did anybody else wonder how mystery novelist Stuart Woods got so well acquainted with Santa Fe Airport?

When we arrived at the App Jam at Santa Fe Complex (a cool hub for techno-entrepreneurs), we hoped we were not destined to be like the twins in “The Social Network” – – the ones who had the initial idea for what became Facebook and found themselves eating Mark Zuckerberg’s dust. Our competitors ranged from 12 to sixtysomething. We got some quick cred when keynote speaker Andrew Stone joked not to rule out the movie publicists. I identified four guys as the primo programmers. Darn, the Gang of Four formed a team together. I tried to interest them in BACKSTORY, but they declined, proffering a frappuccino as they huddled over their laptops. My team (myself, Louise Spencer, Beverly Buchanan, Brooks Walch) took a chattier tact. We brainstormed revenue sources, added an audio component, and our IA mapped out hardwire specs for our pop culture-themed tourism app.

Six teams made it to the end for final presentations to the judges (who included Eric Renz-Whitmore of NM Technology Council and Zane Fischer of MIX), and while nobody cried like Meatloaf, it was pretty intense fielding their questions about populating, user interface, and Layar. BACKSTORY won! Next step: finding a coder.

Santa Fe-based Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art. She also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com. 

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Dinner to Remember

by Wolf Schneider

Chef Sara Mouton at Luminaria last nite

How lucky are we that chef extraordinaire Joseph Wrede – – who built his reputation at Joseph’s Table in Taos – – is coming to Santa Fe to relaunch the Palace Restaurant? At last night’s fabulous Sara Moulton and The Chefs of Santa Fe Wine Dinner at Luminaria, Wrede’s Crispy Crab and Fresh Spring Herbs course wasn’t the fanciest dish, but it was the most wonderful. Soft-shell crab season began May 1st on the East Coast, and Wrede had his soft-shell crabs flown in from Virginia the day they were caught. They had all the sweetness of a super-fresh ocean fish and were served with dandelion greens and a tangy aioli. Luminaria chef Matt Ostrander made an exotic mozzarella cheese of coconut milk that he served with purple and green asparagus, micro greens, and an 18-year-old balsamic reduction, making for a delectable and delicate salad. There was also a Beet Salad and a Braised Rabbit. To top it off, vivacious chef Johnny Vee whipped up a potent mocha mint tiramisu with rum and vermouth, served with a Yalumba dessert wine.

The dinner, which cost $95 for six courses paired with wines, sold out in 24 hours, said Inn at Loretto’s sociable marketing/sales director Dana Ortega. It was a night to remember, with 70 of Santa Fe’s gourmands at the gathering, including press like Zane Fischer, film folks like Steve Perry of Masque Entertainment Group, politicos, and of course Sara Moulton herself, promoting her new cookbook. Driving home afterwards, a sliver of a hangnail moon hung overhead in a jet-black night sky.

                   

Santa Fe-based Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art. She also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com. 

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Winds of Change

by Wolf Schneider

Cobb Salad at Luminaria

 

The aspens just began budding in Santa Fe, along with all the fruit trees. The wind is blowing relentlessly like it does every spring, whipping branches around. Wind can spur thought and action. There are some countries where judges are more understanding if crimes are committed during strong winds because positive ion conditions like dry winds can exacerbate violence. In Greek mythology, Zephyrus was the god of the west wind and of springtime, who mated with the goddess of greenery. Wind feels like an instigator of change.

Change is certainly afoot here in Santa Fe. In the art world, The Edge has closed and Altermann Galleries shut down its longtime Canyon Road location, concentrating its presence up on Camino del Monte Sol for its art auctions. Affable gallery director Kent Whipple is gone from Meyer East Gallery. The vigorous new Canyon Road Merchants Association has swelled to 86 members, and is mobilizing to mount a billboard on I-25 North.

In city news, CVB director Keith Toler resigned. And on the restaurant scene, Ristra is reportedly opening up a second restaurant in the old A La Mesa location, and there’s talk that super-talented Taos chef Joseph Wrede (late of the famed Joseph’s Table) may be coming to Santa Fe. I just had an excellent Cobb Salad for lunch at Inn at Loretto’s Luminaria, which will be opening its patio with a new spring menu shortly—when the winds let up.

                       

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, consulting editor of Southwest Art, and also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Fruit Trees & Lilacs

by Wolf Schneider

Fruit tree in bloom in Santa Fe

We’re having a warmer than usual spring in Santa Fe. Temps have already hit 80. The forsythia, crocuses, and daffodils are in full bloom, trees are freshly greening, and now the fruit trees are blossoming pink and white all over town. Today, I saw the first lilacs emerging from a small tree on Botulph Road. Lilacs don’t usually bloom in Santa Fe until early May!

We are low on rain though, and have already had a fire just south of town. I’m hooked on the just-released “Fire Season” by Philip Connors, about being a wilderness lookout in the Gila. Connors writes in the great tradition of such other outstanding lit writer/wilderness lookouts as Jack Kerouac, Norman Maclean, Gary Snyder, and Edward Abbey.

Spring is when Santa Fe gets geared up for its busy summer season. Currently at the Santa Fe Playhouse is a show I intend to catch--“Callback,” a two-person dramedy about the aging relationship between an actress and director who she auditions for repeatedly over the decades, hoping for a break. I get the “hoping for a break” part. Also sounding promising is Brian Knox’s soon-to-launch Shake Foundation at 631 Cerrillos Road. Knox is the chef/owner of the pricey and delicious Aqua Santa, and with Shake Foundation (www.shakefoundation.com) he’s got plans for affordable gourmet green-chile cheeseburgers made from grass-fed beef, Portobello burgers, shakes, sundaes, and Velarde peach custard. When Knox and I used to board our horses at the same barn, I remember once seeing him on horseback conducting a cell-phone conversation with one hand, while using his other hand to steer his horse around the ring at a canter! He can ride!

Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art. She also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Left Coast Crime

by Wolf Schneider

The Left Coast Crime convention (www.leftcoastcrime.org) for mystery writers just took place in Santa Fe at La Fonda on the Plaza, drawing a hefty crowd of 450. I saw a lot of nametags from California, plus ones from Minnesota, Wyoming, and Colorado. Some of my favorite mystery writers were there, like Sandi Ault (www.sandiault.com), sporting some sumptuous Southwest jewelry; Craig Johnson (www.craigallenjohnson.com), having a beer in the lobby in his cowboy hat with his always-cool-looking wife Judy; and the elegant Margaret Coel (www.margaretcoel.com). You had to love Parnell Hall for dredging up Abbie Hoffman’s name in reference to an act of rebellion, and Bill Fitzhugh for asking the other authors to sum up their life philosophy in 20 words or less, to which Ault cleverly responded, “Love life. Be free. Go wild.”

Wolf Schneider and Sandi Ault at LCC

Not much business gets discussed at LCC—it’s more about the convivial schmoozing—but one author did reveal on a panel that she makes almost $4 dollars for each hardcover book that’s sold at an independent bookstore, while she profits just 11 cents per each e-book sold. At the gala awards dinner, toastmaster Steve Brewer confided he’s writing a mystery set in Santa Fe. Craig Johnson nabbed The Watson award for mystery novel with best sidekick and Margaret Coel took the Hillerman Sky Award for mystery that best captures the Southwest landscape. “Beat” writer Stephen Jay Schwartz lent a Hollywood aura to our table.

For a writers’ conference that’s focused on the craft and business of writing, I’m looking forward to the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference (www.wordharvest.com), upcoming Nov. 10-12 in Santa Fe. That one includes cash prizes for best unpublished mystery novel and short story!

Santa Fe-based Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art. She also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva

Back in Santa Fe

by Wolf Schneider

They call Montana “Big Sky Country” and Wyoming “The Big Empty,” but Santa Fe’s huge cornflower-blue sky and wide-open spaces were what struck me the other morning. Travel makes us see things with a fresh view. Just back in Santa Fe from a trip east, on my walk I hightailed it along in sweats with no jacket. I tuned in to the many birdcalls—cheerful high tweets from the smaller birds and low caws from crows--and the calming color palette of creamy adobe homes silhouetted against blue skies. Santa Fe is Southwest Spartan compared with the varied oaks, draping Spanish moss, and wildflowers I was walking among on my trip, but it seems like we can breathe deeper in the quiet tranquility here. We can find our own individuality easier in the peace.

A house off Acequia Madre InWinter

In March it still looks like winter without much blooming in Santa Fe. Our landscape is all browns, greens, and blues. But it feels like spring is sneaking in. March and April are the two most pervasive juniper allergy months; it helps to take Allertonic from Herbs Etc. (http://www.herbsetc.com/). Soon the rare bunches of forsythias and crocuses will emerge. Having fewer blossoms in our surroundings makes us value them even more. Our ever-shifting crystalline light works wonders on a landscape turned barer and more architectural at this time of year. The other night at sunset the sky was swirling with grape and orange as I drove through town, wondering where my future was going to be.

Santa Fe-based Wolf Schneider has been editor in chief of the Santa Fean, editor of Living West, and consulting editor of Southwest Art. She also blogs at www.wolfschneiderusa.com.

Photographer: David Alfaya, Taken in Artist Studio: Gregory Lomayesva