Courtesy Betty Benedeadly
Kiss Me, Benedeadly
Betty Benedeadly brings the proto-punk to her boot-stomping psych-folk explosion
When Santa Fe-based musician Betty Benedeadly was growing up, her grandfather’s basement was a veritable treasure trove of vinyl that came straight from the source: labels and musicians who reached out personally with sweet releases to try and get airplay from the man, a longtime DJ. That, mixed with a healthy dose of punk rock upbringing and a side of sideshow antics and live music flair, led Benedeadly to her true calling—that of a guitar-slingin’ singer-songwriter with a love of Ennio Morricone soundtracks and the banjitar, a hybrid guitar/banjo with roots that predate the Civil War, she says. And Benedeadly will bring all that to The Mystic this week for a bit of the ol’ live show action.
“I usually describe it as ‘psychedelic Spaghetti Western music,’ but I’m never quite sure how to describe it, either,” Benedeadly tells SFR of her tunes. “It’s somewhere between Link Wray, Dick Dale and Morricone.”
Not bad for someone who didn’t pick up a guitar until she was nearly 30, but since Benedeadly came to music with a long list of influences and a dedication that is perhaps not entirely common with younger musicians, she earned a spot with Albuquerque label Desert Records That, coupled with a mid-pandemic move from Austin, Texas, to the Taos area to be nearer to her sister, paved the way for her to become a full-time Santa Fean.
These days, her sound comes with a bit of toe-tapping rhythm mixed with elements of early punk and a dash of surf. The sounds are familiar enough, but Benedeadly shapes them into her own twangy sound that should suit the country folks and the punk-lovers lovers alike.
“From my whole teens through my 20s, I would have called myself a card-carrying member of punk rock,” she explains. “I think about this pretty often—about how much residue from that mindset sticks with me, even if I’ve shed the safety pins and ripped, black jeans; anybody who has been touched by the punk rock angel…there’s a certain fearlessness in being rough and crude and experimental. There’s a lot of permission to be playful.”
As such, Benedeadly adds, she doesn’t prescribe to a need for perfection so much as she swore an oath to experimentalism at some point, and she still carries that ethos with her. Oh, and it rocks, too. (Alex De Vore)
Betty Benedeadly: 7:30 pm Friday, Dec. 5. Free. The Mystic, 2810 Cerrillos Road, (505) 471-1066
Plant-Based
Courtesy Kay Contemporary
The works of Santa Fe’s Sienna Van Slooten strike a delicate balance between the worlds of scientific nature illustration and fine art; it is often less literal than traditional scientific illustration—more fluid and dynamic, while still displaying impressive knowledge of anatomy and habitat. However, Van Slooten is a bit more restrained than some artists of a similar ilk, with her work just barely teetering on the verge of the absurd and fantastic. Her Beauty and Nature exhibit, hosted at Kay Contemporary Art, seeks to explore the quieter moments within the lives of smaller animals, as well as the cycles of life and death that keep delicate ecosystems alive. Van Slooten details her work further at the opening of the exhibit this week. (Callie Elkins)
Sienna Van Slooten: Beauty in Nature (Opening): 4-6pm, Dec. 5. Free. Kay Contemporary Art, 600 Canyon Road, kaycontemporaryart.com
L’essentiel Est Invisible
Courtesy Collected Works Bookstore
It is undeniable that, in our often overstimulating world, reading is a difficult thing to get kids and teens into. It is rarely seen (or even taught) as something that can be fun, which makes it a difficult subject for both parents and their kids to approach. If you’re struggling with getting your kids to read, Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeehouse’s ‘Once Upon a Fun Day! A Children’s & YA Book-Palooza’ event might be the way to go. The event has live music and live readings for younger children, while also being a great way to expose pre-teens and teens to the world of reading through young-adult books, all of which will be 10% off. I don’t really have anything else to say, I just think kids should read more. (CE)
Once Upon a Fun Day! A Children’s & YA Book-Palooza: 9am-5pm, Dec. 6. Free. Collected Works Bookstore and Coffeehouse, 202 Galisteo St., (505) 988-4226
Welcome, Christmas Monsters
Courtesy Santa Fe Library
As much as those who celebrate Christmas seem to be OK with the Coca-Cola-fied version of Santa that permeates most everything this time of year, there’s also a subsect of people who have a fondness for Krampus, that Germanic yuletide beast who trades in a jelly-like belly for the cautionary kidnappings of kids who misbehave. As horrifying as that sounds, there is something inherently fun about bringing ancient creep-out material to the Christmastime season, and the Santa Fe Public Library is getting in the game with its Kids Nature Party event, during which kids can learn about the folklore surrounding Krampus while making their own nature-inspired mask celebrating the horned abomination. If that doesn’t scream holiday cheer, we don’t know what to tell you. (ADV)
Kids Nature Party: Krampus Masks: 4:30-6 pm Tuesday, Dec. 9. Free. Santa Fe Public Library (La Farge) 1730 Llano St., (505) 955-4862
