Taos Night of Nights: July 24: Nichols on Stage
Tentative Schedule for Lit Fest Below (incomplete)
In what promises to be a new standard for stand-up comedians and scribblers et al at large, John Nichols has released the title of his talk for Friday July 24, 7 pm at the Mural Room in the Historic County Courthouse: “60 years of typing and they put you on the day shift: five decades of B.S. and counting: my life writing novels, memoirs, screenplays, and embarrassing polemical jeremiads.” John is expected to reveal the secrets of the trade and trade anecdotes for laughter.
Admission, a “suggested” donation of $10 will go to pay for the lights and sound system so that performers can be “seen and heard” at the Community’s favorite cultural site on the Plaza. Sponsors of the event include Taos County, Taos County Art and Artifacts Review Committee, Taos Council of the Arts, SOMOS, Wink Visual Arts, and Taos Friction.
Hey, if you’re a Taos reader or writer and you have a book based on the Taos experience or a work in progress that you want to read or sell, get in touch with Bill Whaley <bwhaley@newmex.com> or phone 575-776-4115. Or just show up on Sat. or Sun. July 25 and July 26. As Sally Howell said about precinct politics, “don’t belly ache if you don’t participate.” Well, if you don’t show up, based on a friction rumor and a noisy horse fly, don’t complain: You’re invited. Or send your books as representatives.
“Tentative Schedule (subject to change)”
On Saturday July 25
From 10 to 12, the book-sales forces will assemble in the Mural Room and pile up their tomes on tables. Readings will begin at 1:30 pm with Elizabeth Cunningham, scholar and author. Gadfly Robert Silver, the fly in HCH’s ointment, will follow Cunningham. Then Cindy Brown and Steve Tapia will guide listeners into the outdoors with tales of hiking among the flora and fauna of the Taos outback, desert, and mountains. Others TBA, include Jonathan WarmDay Coming and Kika Vargas. Kika will read at 4:30 pm on Saturday. Publications that include rare glimpses into the community by Hispanic natives including local historians like Paul Martinez, Bertha Quintana, Julian Romero, and Bob Romero, etc. will also be available.
At Five pm, the dramatic evening series will kick off lightly with a cathartic New Mexico tale by Steve Fox, followed up by John Farr, whose famed El Emigrante columns have turned into fodder for e-books. Richard Trujillo will read from the Tio Zuco tales about inmate activities in the famed Courthouse Jail and John Suazo will correct the historic literary record when he reads from “The Man Who Really Killed the Deer.”
Famed fly fisher Taylor Streit and the inimitable Jim Wagner, the only artist properly punished by society for crimes against community will read and answer questions. Photographer Paul O’Connor will discuss the genesis and exemplary “Taos Portraits.” Bill Whaley promises to read a reminiscence and tribute from “Gringo Lessons” to the Muse of La Cocina, “Ruthie Moya,” aka “the world’s greatest cocktail waitress.” When we were broke and in our cups, Ruthie always smiled and said, “what’ll you have hon?”
On Sunday July 26
From 12 noon onwards, the emphasis will be on WPA (Works in Progress) and on poetry. Sign up or show up. A panel of the “self-sustaining authors, designers, and copy editors” will offer tips on the trials and tribulations of “self-publishing,” a trend today that emulates the action of the visual arts. Depending on time, Mr. Whaley may briefly summarize his favorite ten or fifteen “academic” books about Taos, the ones taught in his upper division UNM classes on local culture.
At 5 pm, the official readings being with a Brigid Meier reading of Airborne Fred Fair’s tales of terror and triumphs over gravity, gangsters, and the federales, RCM, and FBI, FAA, etc. Phaedra Greenwood will read from her Hondo book about coming to terms with community and Sylvia Rodriguez will discuss her academic work on water issues and land grants or even respond to questions about the broken wheel myth and the Anglo ascendancy from an indigenous perspective. Rodriguez has published numerous academic journal articles as well as the far-reaching “Acequia: Water Sharing, Sanctity, and Place” on local traditions.
Hey, this is a rare opportunity to hear El Mitote in action, the B.S. and the forbidden tales i.e. that, which “can’t be said” (in public).