KNME Blog

New on KNME.org (March 9): Strictly New Mexico - Hispano-Comanche Dancers

2009-03-09T12:00:00.001-06:00

New this week on KNME.org, the first in an occasional series of short films about aspects of our state that are unique...could be cultural events, locations, people...just so long as they are singularly New Mexican.

Called Strictly New Mexico, our first episode, from KNME filmmaker Kelly Kowalski, takes us to Taos on New Years day to meet the Hispano-Comanche dancers. Enjoy!

New on KNME.org (March 2)

2009-03-03T09:01:00.003-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, our latest Artisode featuring Barrett Martin. Once a drummer from the 80s and 90s grunge scene playing with bands like Skin Yard, The Screaming Trees, Mad Season, Tuatara and REM, Barrett moved on to ethnomusicology, studying music with indigenous peoples from all over the world. Barrett is also an ordained Zen priest in the Soto tradition and founder of the world music label, Fast Horse Recording. Spend a spontaneous, rhythmic moment with Barrett in this latest artisode.

New on KNME.org (February 23, 2009)

2009-02-23T13:49:00.002-07:00

New this week at KNME.org, take a trip down to Alamogordo, New Mexico, and the Save The Chimps sanctuary. After rescuing hundreds of Chimpanzee's that were once used by the Air Force Space program and a notorious medical testing facility, Save The Chimps is giving these animals a second chance for a new happy, healthy life at their renovated facility and a new home in Florida.

New on KNME.org (February 16, 2009): Belly Dance in the Duke City

2009-02-16T12:00:00.001-07:00

New on KNME.org this week...Belly Dance! Meet Susan Goeke, a belly dancer for 20 years who now has fun practicing her art at Pars Cuisine in Albuquerque, NM. Susan talks about what got her into dance, what type of woman is a belly dancer, and why belly dance is sensual but not lewd.

New on KNME.org (February 9, 2009): Love in the Land of Enchantment

2009-02-09T13:16:00.000-07:00

This week on KNME.org, indie filmmaker Lillian Kelly gives us the third film in our occasional series, Love in the Land of Enchantment. This time she profiles Peter and Lesley Fay, owners of Graham's Grille, in Taos, N.M. They met more than 20 years ago, and have been together ever since. In this piece, we meet the couple and their "Director of Marketing," their dog, Arthur.

They attribute their business success to their relationship, playing to each other's strengths by splitting the responsibilities -- Lesley covers the kitchen while Peter takes care of the books and the customers. (Arthur makes sure everything else runs smoothly.)

Peter and Lesley Fay: Love in the Land of Enchantment 3:

New on KNME.org (February 2, 2009): Artisode 1.7: Rajim AlHaj

2009-02-02T11:32:00.002-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, Artisode 1.7. In this month's Artisode, independent filmmaker Deborah Wakshull offers us this profile of Rahim AlHaj, a world renowned Iraqi Oud player living in Albuquerque. Rahim shares insights on his compositions, his life and what it is to be a musician.

New on KNME.org (January 26): Stewart Udall - Advocate for the Earth

2009-01-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, independent filmmakers Joe Day and Grant Taylor offer us this brief piece about (now) Santa Fean Stewart Udall and his work creating Canyonlands National Park.

New on KNME.org (January 19): Figueroa (Part 3)

2009-01-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, the final piece in our performance trilogy featuring Guillermo Figueroa playing at Casa Rodena here in Albuquerque.

And here are the first two, for your viewing enjoyment...

Web Worth Watching: Video from Pre-War Gaza...

2009-01-14T20:41:00.002-07:00

Nothing says Happy New Year like a humanitarian crisis (and I mean that apolitically, starving kids = crisis...not a complicated equation). I've been looking for some different perspectives on the issues there and here are a couple of videos from Zouheir Allnajar at CurrentTV that will hopefully add some understanding on what was going on there prior to the conflict that began last month.

New on KNME.org (January 12): Prairie Chix

2009-01-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, indie filmmaker Deborah Wakshull's short film on the Prairie Chicken in New Mexico.

New on KNME.org (January 5): Figueroa Performance (Part 2)

2009-01-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, the second of three performances by Guillermo Figueroa at Casa Rodena Winery here in Albuquerque.

And if you'd like to see the first performance in the series again...we've got it right here.

New on KNME.org (December 29)

2008-12-29T12:00:00.001-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, KNME filmmaker Kelly Kowalski's Artisode 1.6, profiling artist Patrick Nagatani.

Happy New Year from all of us at KNME!

Web Worth Watching: Opium des Volkes?

2008-12-24T06:00:00.002-07:00

Over the summer I ran across an inspiring talk by Karen Armstrong about the state of western religion (monotheism anyway) and how is can be a force for compassion and harmony. I decided then that it would be WWW's first Christmas post. Raised with no personal religious beliefs, as an adult I've had a fascination with religion...both our need for what it gives us and the rituals that we execute in pursuit of those satisfactions. Armstrong's work is always thought-provoking and I think you'll find this talk of particular interest.

Then, for an alternate (perhaps contrarian) perspective, here is a talk by Christopher Hitchens, discussing the ideas behind his book, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.

New on KNME.org (December 22): House of Rock

2008-12-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, Santa Fe filmmaker, Lexi Shabel's film about folks who literally carve their homes out of the red rock country of the Four Corners region. This is one of those films you've got to see to believe.

Web Worth Watching: Darwinian Inspiration and Perspective

2008-12-17T06:00:00.001-07:00

I set out to pen a WWW post this week that was focused on food, hoping to create a sequel to my post from last August. After all, it is the holiday season and we Americans never met a holiday we didn't celebrate with a overflowing plate. So I started by seeing what was out there featuring Michael Pollan, whose books-on-cd are on the playlist for my annual cross-country holiday drive. And while I did find a great talk that Pollan gave about food, it was really more about a Darwinian view of the world.

And that reminded me of a similar, two-person talk I had seen featuring artist/musician Brian Eno, discussing his Darwinian perspective on creating art, along with videogame designer, Will Wright, the mind behind SimCity, The Sims and, most recently, Spore. So enjoy all three perspectives over a big plate of food at your favorite internet cafe.

New on KNME.org (December 15): Opera Tailgaters

2008-12-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org is independent filmmaker Lillian Kelly's profile of folks who tailgate at the Santa Fe Opera. Will all the winter weather descending on New Mexico this week, have a taste of late summer, good food and great opera.

Opera Tailgaters

Web Worth Watching: A Tour Through Smell

2008-12-10T06:00:00.001-07:00

Just one video this week, but that's because one video is all I think you'll need after this one. Here is a fascinating half-hour with Chandler Burr, perfume critic for the New York Times and author of the book, The Emperor of Scent. The economics of patchouli farming alone will dazzle your fellow holiday party-goers for at least a couple round of drinks.

Okay, okay, so maybe you want to go really deep into the science of smell. I can go ahead and hook you up too. Here's a long (90 minute) University of California lecture by Charles Zucker on the neurobiology of taste, smell and vision.

Grey Matters - Perception: Taste, Smell and Vision

New on KNME.org (December 8): Figueroa Performance (1 of 3)

2008-12-08T06:00:00.001-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, the first of three performances featuring the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra's Guillermo Figueroa. Back in 2007, Emmy Award Winning Director of Photography, John Britt, shot these performances at the Casa Rodena Winery here in Albuquerque. The other two performances will debut out some time in then next couple of months here on KNME.org.

KNME at the Santa Fe Film Festival

2008-12-05T14:34:00.008-07:00

Save The Film, Save The World

Come join in the fun, as KNME talks with who's who at the 9th Annual Santa Fe Film Festival, running from December 3 - 7, 2008.

Check out our blog at: Save the World, Save the Film and meet some of the film festival attendees. Already posted are locals Janet Davidson and Justin Hunt, and out-of-towners Josh Tickell and Rebbecca Harrell who are here presenting their documentary film FUEL.

Evy Todd
KNME Publicist/New Media

Web Worth Watching: Self-reflexivity...

2008-12-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

When media turns its attention on itself the results can often be pretentious. Hopefully we're going to avoid that this week. I've found a couple of interesting pieces about the Web 2.0 phenomenon on also about video the web. I'm hoping this will be of interest to you as well...since you're here watching some video on the web.

The first is a talk that Al Gore gave in the days following the election at the 2008 Web 2.0 summit.

The second video is a lecture given by Silicon Valley exec Peter Hirschberg, who looks at how the Internet is naturally supplanting TV as the medium of the masses.

Peter Hirschberg: The Web and TV, A Sibling Rivalry

New on KNME.org (December 1): Rio Grande Valley Farmers Guild

2008-12-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, independent filmmaker Lillian Kelly's final (for now) piece on social entrepreneurs in New Mexico. This week she's covering the Rio Grande Valley Farmers Guild. The guild is designed to give farmers in Albuquerque's South Valley access to land, water, equipment, education and support.

Although in its infant stages, the guild has already initiated a number of projects: purchasing equipment for members' use, growing organic grains, growing hops for local beer, creating an herb co-op, community orchard, and a mentoring program.

New on KNME.org (November 24)

2008-11-24T13:54:00.002-07:00

New on KNME.org this week, indie filmmaker Lillian Kelly's latest profile of local social entrepreneurs in New Mexico. This week she focuses on Southwest Creations Collaborative, a non-profit that strives to help Spanish-speaking and immigrant women overcome their unique challenges by providing with work sewing, packaging and tiling. Not only do these employees earn a living wage, but they have access to on-site child care, on-site English as a Second Language classes, on-site computer classes, health care support and other programs.

New on KNME.org (November 17): Tierra Wools

2008-11-17T13:32:00.004-07:00

New on KNME.org this week, independent filmmaker Lillian Kelly's profile of Tierra Wools.

Los Ojos is a small community in rural northern New Mexico. It has little economic opportunity for the folks who live there -- save Tierra Wools, a limited liability company that began more than 25 years ago to offer jobs for local women and a market for local wool-growers. Not only has Tierra Wools offered traditional housewives a way to make money outside the home, it's also provided a sense of community. It's given the women -- Sophia De Yapp, Olivia Valdez, Lupe Valdez and Angie Serrano -- a place to be and become. By creating rugs with the wool of local Churro sheep, the women of Tierra Wools are also preserving Rio Grande Weaving, a tradition brought to the area by the Spanish several centuries ago.

Tierra Wools

Meet Polly Anderson, KNME's New General Manager/CEO

2008-11-13T06:00:00.002-07:00

Friends and Fans of KNME,

I had an amazing experience the other day when I took my first ever balloon ride. Other than the (literally) uplifting experience of floating hundreds of feet above the pre-dawn earth, it was wonderful to see and feel New Mexico from such a different perspective. That thirst for a new perspective and a new take on the place I live is what has inspired my career and is what has brought me to New Mexico as the new General Manager and CEO of KNME.

We all know that New Mexico has rich cultural institutions to reflect its rich culture. And when you think of those institutions I’m sure you, like me, think of organizations like the Santa Fe Opera, Acoma Pueblo, the New Mexico Symphony, Site Santa Fe, Explora!, the National Hispanic Cultural Center, and the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science (to name but a few).

I want you to think of KNME in the same light. Recently we won three Emmy awards, two for our filmic exploration of the Sandia mountains, The Sandias, and one for a brief, artistic profile of local, world-renowned architect Antoine Predock. And this past week we’ve logged well over 1000 man-hours documenting the Balloon Fiesta for a world-premiere documentary next year. Those are just three of KNME’s many production projects. But the amazing leap forward in internet-based technology now allows us to not only cover larger than life subjects, but also the small and equally mighty stories that shape our culture in more subtle ways. Whether it’s a profile of a young native artist in Santa Fe, a Rio Rancho man who turned his back yard into a successful “enchilada garden,” an exploration of what makes the Rail-Runner run or a visit to Chaco Canyon during the summer solstice, KNME’s website, (and our YouTube channel) features a new local vignette each week that’s designed to bring you closer to the world right outside your door.

Part of our commitment as a cultural institution is education, and we have a talented and dedicated outreach department that is in our community daily helping to support teachers, parents and children with workshops, community discussions and online communities like Science Central. KNME’s commitment to education runs through all we do, whether it’s helping to make sure you’re informed about the upcoming switch to digital-only broadcast (make sure you’re TV is ready!), helping you prepare a delicious dinner with one of our Saturday afternoon cooking shows, or bring sense (and sensibility) to the political world around us.

And in this most interesting of political times, we’re offering coverage of news and current events that you won’t see anywhere else. From coverage of local candidate conversations for all the stations congressional races, to live streaming on our New Mexico In Focus site of political rallies and local visits by national thought leaders, to the enfranchisement of fresh new voices via our “By the People, For the People” Citizen Journalist project. KNME is setting out to cover your world in new ways as interesting as the times in which we live.

Add to that amazing artistic, dramatic and documentary programming from PBS, and I hope you’ll agree that KNME is squarely in the center of institutions that not only reflect but also shape the rich and diverse culture of New Mexico. I look forward to bringing you exciting news and happenings at KNME in the future. When you visit our website, check in for my posts here in The KNME Blog. And never hesitate to drop me an email and let me know how we’re doing and what you think of KNME. My email is panderson@knme.org and I look forward to hearing from you.

More soon,

Polly Anderson
General Manager and CEO
KNME

New on KNME.org (November 10): Pueblos Under Los Ranchos

2008-11-10T12:57:00.003-07:00

New this week on KNME.org, independent filmmaker Lillian Kelly's look at the native culture buried beneath one B&B in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque.

Pueblos Under Los Ranchos