My Life as a B Movie

These photos of Jonanna, Sonya, Jen, Donnan, Kai and I, taken last Friday at Swig, are very B Movie. B German Movie. It's like some catastrophe is sure to befall these seedy looking folks, possibly involving a bag full of money and a car chase. In reality, all that happened is we traipsed across the street to Senor Lucky's (depicted here from its lantern-festooned porch) and ran into a bunch of Artists Gone Wild (Zane Fischer, Frankie Kong and David Cohen, to be specific) at yet another Blocabuster event. I'm on a Less Cocktails More Pictures (or LECMOP) routine, for no particular reason except I'd rather look at photos rather than my own bloodshot eyes in the morning. Saturday night, as I mentioned, I went to Lucio Silla at The Opera. Peter and I had a parking lot picnic, which took the form of a picnic on a comforter in between cars (which attracted some mocking from passerby I'm afraid; but I don't own any folding chairs and, frankly, this was just as comfortable.) It's always very pleasant to go to the Opera. The surroundings are beautiful, their press office is unbelievably helpful, and it's one of the few places I can wear my Pashmina and not feel like a dope. I'm looking forward to reading SFR Opera Critic John Stege's review of the show. I personally found it to be rather silly. The libretto could be summarized as: "Despair! Hope! True Love! Conquering One's Heart! Rome Triumphs!" and the sets, while beautiful, were a bit modern art for Mozart, IMO. Bleeding chairs, furniture-clothes (can't explain; just go see it). Again, beautifully rendered, but maybe slightly heavy-handed, if my interpretation is correct (Julia's interpretation: Exteriors hide interiors and often bind people from doing what is in their heart; but sometimes what is in their heart needs to be ignored in order to SAVE ROME). Clearly, despite a few years of music theory, I am no opera critic. I am, however, a RECOVERED ACADEMIC (we meet weekly and discuss our chronic need to analyze character motivation and symbolic imagery), so I had a good time deconstructing the show. And the highway improvements to The Opera are immeasurable. It's no longer a GO TO THE OPERA, RISK DEATH situation.
Oh dear God, deadlines beckon. Before I go, the folks in these pics are all Santa Feans, except Sonya, who is a native Albuquerquean and my best friend in the world. She did a driveby (three days at my house) en route to CA and then Alaska, where she will be clerking for a state Supreme Court judge (she's a lawyer but I love her anyway). She came to NM via Switzerland, where she was working on a Holocaust repatriation case. Before that she was in Amsterdam. She is quiet on the outside but an adventuress to the 10th degree on the inside. If she had been in the Mozart Opera, she would have been wearing a super big Couch Dress.