1 Celebrate Burque’s birthday
For 316, Albuquerque, you’re lookin’ good. Celebrate the Duke City’s founding in 1706 Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. in Old Town with live music by Mariachi Tenampa (noon), ballet folklorico by Baile! Baile! (1 p.m.), and Caribbean tunes by Frank Leto & PANdemonium (2 p.m.). Food popups near the Plaza Gazebo will offer tacos from Gobble This, slices from Old Town Pizza, and corn on the cob from CCR Roasting. Scale a 25-foot climbing wall and get your face painted while you’re at it.
2 Get down on the farm.
See artworks by members of the New Mexico Watercolor Society in Seasons of Enchantment: Painting the New Mexico Farm and Ranch, a new exhibit opening on Saturday from noon to 2 p.m. at the Farm & Ranch Heritage Museum in Las Cruces. Twenty-eight artists, including Penny Thomas Simpson, Junko Nakao, John Glass, Laurel Weathersbee, and Tina Little pay homage to daily life on the farm with images of work boots, produce, colorful chickens, and orchards.
3 Party for the planet.
The Pajarito Environmental Education Center celebrates the planet and eco-efforts at its Earth Day Festival at the Los Alamos Nature Center on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Enjoy snacks from Pig & Fig Café and Muy Salsas, hear live music by Recycle Man (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) and the Hill Stompers (noon), see planetarium shows, participate in nature-themed crafts, and visit booths featuring information from local businesses, parks, and other organizations. “We can’t wait to see everyone again, and to celebrate spring, nature, and our shared love of the outdoors,” says Beth Cortright, operations manager at the festival.
4 Hear two music legends.
Legendary jazz musicians Dave Grusin and Lee Ritenour have recorded more than a dozen albums together. As solo artists, each one has built a remarkable career, but together they’re a dynamic force.
Grusin, a 12-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, has scored more than 75 films, including classics like The Graduate and Tootsie. Los Angeles guitarist Ritenour, who has 17 Grammy nominations, has played with music legends like the Mamas & the Papas, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne, Aretha Franklin, Barbara Streisand and Pink Floyd.
The duo has only performed in New Mexico together one other time. See this special performance, presented by the New Mexico Jazz Festival, Saturday evening at the Lensic Performing Arts Center, in Santa Fe. Want more? The documentary film Dave Grusin: Not Enough Time, produced by Santa Fe musicians Barbara Bentree and John Rangel, screens at the Outpost Performance Space in Albuquerque, Sunday at 3 p.m.
5 Take a sacred journey.
Grammy Award-winning musician Robert Mirabal (Taos Pueblo) and Festival Ballet Albuquerque’s artistic director Patricia Dickinson Wells collaborated to create Sacred Journeys III, which premieres this weekend with three performances at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Sacred Journeys features New York City Ballet dancer Jock Soto, a Gallup native who is of Navajo and Puerto Rican descent, and choreography by Dickinson Wells, Dominic Guerra, and Vladimir Conde-Reche.