TOP PICKS FOR THE WEEK CORNERSTONES: READ/WRITE/FILM:
Entertainment tends to enter a post-holiday lull in January, but that’s no excuse to stay home. There’s still plenty to keep us busy, particularly in the City Different. And what better way to head off into 2017 than with some laughs and some wonder? Magician Ben Seidman promises to offer both.
“Ben’s signature style is a creative mixture of psychological magic, stand-up comedy, pick pocketing, and sleight-of-hand,” according to his website, which shows photos of a lot of people guffawing.
The magician, who regularly entertains audiences in Las Vegas (the glitzy one, not the New Mexico one), is coming to the Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., with three shows: 7 p.m. today, and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $10-$20 and available at the door or through jeancocteaucinema.com.
RURAL MEMORIES:
Folklorist and author Nasario García will being the latest iteration of his stories of growing up along the Río Puerco to Collected Works Bookstore, 202 Galisteo St., at 6 p.m. Thursday. The free event will include trailers and clips from a new documentary that director Shebana Coelho is developing based on García’s memoirs, and García himself will be there to tell stories and answer questions.
Coelho first connected with García when he appeared at a book talk and signing at Collected Works, and she was inspired to write and direct a play, “The Stars Trembled in Río Puerco,” that was performed in 2014 at Teatro Paraguas in Santa Fe and the National Hispanic Cultural Center in Albuquerque.
Other memories of the past of a different sort will be featured in an exhibit of photographs by Jim Gautier that feature historic churches that have been restored through the Cornerstones Community Partnerships. The opening is 5-7 p.m. tonight at El Zaguán, 545 Canyon Road, Suite 2, and the exhibit continues on display through Jan. 31.
The Winter Readers Gathering at the Institute for American Indian Arts, 83 Avan Ne Po Road, launches 6 p.m. Saturday with Melissa Febos, James Thomas Stevens and Ramona Ausubel. The event, which includes filmmakers in the programs, continues at 6 p.m. through Jan. 14. All readings, free and open to the public, will take place in the auditorium of the Library and Technology Center.