With the lifting of restrictions, the 34th Annual New Mexico Music Awards is set for this Sunday, July 25th at the Uptown Funk Piano Bar inside Revel Entertainment. Owner Daniel Chavez and his staff, Danielle, Julian and Trevor have been most welcoming. You might remember that last year they hosted our online awards presentation.

Chavez was one of the first venue owners in New Mexico to re-hire live acts after restrictions were lifted. We look forward to a long relationship with Revel.

This year we are back to a live show with audio, video and lighting once again produced by our good friends Gary Mathews and Kurt Jaeckel and the team at Quickbeam Systems. Our backline will be provided once again by Sergio and the folks at Guitar Center of Albuquerque with additional Support from the Candyman Strings & Things in Santa Fe, Jason’s Music Publishing, listen!NM, Two Pups Boutique and Moonlight Talent Management.

Although this is a live show at an indoor venue, precautions are being taken to keep our guests safe. All of our staff have been vaccinated and we will forego the dinner portion of our event. There will be food available to purchase from our vendors; Revel Burger, Perico’s Mexican Kitchen, Pizza 9, Rude Boy Cookies and Hungry Hands Coffee Bar. Speaking of bars, there will be full bar service at this event.

We do understand if some of you are hesitant to attend and we leave the decision up to the individual.

Performances, ticket sales and more to be announced soon. Keep up with us here and on Facebook.

Sponsored by the New Mexico Music Commission and the Lea County Center for the Arts

Friday, June 21st 2021 5:00 PM

Lea County Center for the Arts

122 West Broadway, Hobbs NM 88240

Register for the workshop online at www.lccanm.org

The New Mexico Music Commission as part of its Rural Outreach Program and the Lea County Center for the Arts is presenting a free Copyright and Publishing Workshop. It’s your opportunity to learn how to make money with your music, book, screenplay or other intellectual property.

Presented by author, publisher, songwriter and New Mexico Music Awards producer Jose Antonio Ponce the workshop will explain the basics of copyright, publishing and licensed marketing agreements. In one 90 minute workshop you will learn:

• What copyright protects and why it is important
• How to copyright your work
• What constitutes a published work
• How to publish your work for zero $$$$

As a bonus, Jason’s Music Publishing will be available for consultation at no cost for one year after the workshop.

This workshop is sponsored by the New Mexico Music Commission and is part of the commission’s Rural Outreach Project with additional support from Jason’s Music Publishing, the New Mexico Music Awards, listen!NM, ASCAP and BMI.

Techniques in Reharmonization Instructor: Michael Anthony On-line 6 Weeks: June 7-July 12 Mondays, 6:00-7:30 PM (MT)Members/$80; General/$95 Alternate harmonies and reharmonization perk up and energize a melody. In this course, we will study the basic principles and tools of this aspect of music and present practical examples every week so that students can add this fun and interesting device to ‘their’ music. Click here for more information and to register!

Blues Singing —only 3 spots left! Instructor: Zenobia Conkerite On-line 6 Weeks: June 9-July 14 Wednesdays, 6:00-8:00 PM (MT)Members/$110; General/$130 This class will touch on what it means to sing the blues. While working on your favorite blues standards, students will explore how personal experiences and emotions can be integrated into singing that comes from the soul. Vocal technique not required. Click here for more information and to register!

Intro to Jazz Guitar Instructor: John Maestas On-line 6 Weeks: June 10-July 15 Thursdays, 6:00-7:30 PM (MT) Members/$80; General/$95 One of the most fulfilling experiences for a musician is the act of creating something new and spontaneous in the moment. For many people, the idea of playing a “solo” or improvising something out of thin air is not only a mystery but also intimidating. This guitar course is designed to give you the musical and mental tools that are central to making quick decisions and help to demystify the improvisational process. The material in this course will be geared towards guitarists who have little or no experience playing Jazz or improvisation. Specifically we will touch on chord/scale relationships, arpeggios, transcribing music by ear, weekly featured guitarist playlists, rhythm & exercises to build steady internal time, and tools on how to quickly decode harmony in motion. Click here for more information and to register!

Jazz Camp 2021 starts June 7! Do you know a young person, grades 7 to 12, who is interested in playing jazz? Tell them about Jazz Camp!!This two-week program will be held on-line starting June 7. It’s a great way to keep music skills up during the summer and have some fun, too! Our fabulous instructors, Cesar Bauvallet and Artha Meadors, will be back for another great year of camp! Click here for more information and to register

We want to, first of all, thank our veterans for their service to our country and to welcome them home.

We also want to remind everyone that some veterans are still dealing with the after effects of battle and that not all wounds are visible. Healing takes time. Please be understanding of our heroes.

Finally, let us honor these brave men and women with some of the music that has come from our veteran’s workshops.

The New Mexico Music Awards in cooperation with listen!nm will begin presenting Therapeutic Songwriting Workshops for veterans around the state this summer and fall. Veterans and songwriters work together to write music that expresses the veteran’s experiences in the military. It can be painful, heartbreaking and sometimes even funny, but always rewarding. Here are a few song that our vets have produced over the past few years.

Just click on the title for a link to a video or audio file.

Put My Mind At Ease

These Are Not My Stars

I’m Afraid I Can’t

I Brought The War With Me

Thousands of nominations for Santa Fe Reporter readers’ favorite restaurants, businesses, people and places have been tallied. The top three vote getters will be honored as the Best of Santa Fe 2021.

Vote for your favorite band, bar, DJ or Art Collective. Click here to cast your vote. We can’t get involved, being Swiss and all, but we can encourage you to honor your favorites.

Final voting ends May 31st, 2021.

The New Mexico Music Awards hope to have a venue booked very soon for the 2021 show. Organizers are trying to locate a venue that meets COVID guidelines. There is also the question of availability.

Part of the problem is that even though New Mexico counties are at very low COVID levels, there are still restrictions in place for venues. The other problem is that many venues have not re-opened or are already booked.

The previously advertised location, Sandia Resort & Casino, will not re-open until late September and may still have attendance restrictions in place for indoor/outdoor events. The Santa Fe Opera is also on hold until September as are many other suitable venues.

Organizers would like to hold the event as soon as possible without having to go virtual as the program did last year. Organizers believe that the participants deserve a show.

For more information and update, go to http://www.newmexicomusicawards.com/ or follow them on Facebook.

Under Green Level Restrictions, large entertainment venues are restricted to 25% of maximum capacity for any indoor/enclosed space on premises and 50% of any outdoor space on premises.

Under Turquoise Level Restrictions large entertainment venues are limited to 33% of maximum capacity for any indoor/enclosed space on premises; 75% of any outdoor space on premises.

Ryan Montano’s new song Gemini hit the airwaves across the United States and the world on May 3rd.

Produced by Montano and co-written with guitarist Claudio Toulouse, the cut features Vandell Andrew on Alto and Tenor sax, Me Brown on bass, Arnaldo Acosta on drums, and Steve Figueroa on Fender Rhodes.

Montano has had success around the world on jazz and smooth jazz formats. This is the follow up to his top twenty hit “The Tough Get Going.”

The full version of #Gemini is available here:https://youtu.be/vKuNzI1ziHQ