Originally published in Taos News
The second Taos Live 11:11 MAX show will take place on December 8th at 6 pm at Taos Mesa Brewing. This is a free event, open to all ages. But if you can’t be there, said director James Cederlof, you can still watch it live at taoslive.net.
“The live streaming is one of the show’s most distinctive features,” said Dan Irion, a co-owner of Taos Mesa Brewing who handles music and events booking. “Though some of the performances will be about Taos and things that happen in the area, the fact that the show is webcast over the Internet opens it to reaching a worldwide audience. We are also planning to have live interaction with our Internet audience along the way.”
“To date, we have had over 14,500 hits on our website since publishing it in September,” said Cederlof.
Cederlof created Taos Live to be a platform for showcasing local and regional performing artists.
“I conceive it as a unique monthly variety show featuring a wide range of genres and styles such as comedy, drama, music, performance art, dance, circus, and poetry,” he said.
The name came from his original concept—each performance is expected to be 11 minutes, 11 seconds long.
“But we do take creative licenses with the format,” Cederlof said. “It’s fluid so it can be tailored to the unique talents of our participating artists”.
The still growing group of artists comes from Taos and beyond, and they all share traditional and untraditional forms of creative expressions, said Cederlof.
Actor and comic Ken McNamara will be the emcee on the December 8th show.
“He will be introducing the artists and in between their acts, we plan to do different things like tell jokes or have a conversation with the audience,” said Irion. “The idea is that people get to know not only the performers, but also each other. We have the chance to try new artistic concepts and engage everyone as participants.”
The show will start off with Jason Alexander, aka Meek Sol, who will sing a cappella.
“He may also do poetry,” said Irion. “Jay is a very talented artist and we are proud to introduce him to the community.”
The Roaring 20’s dancers will be performing a flapper-style show from the 20’s. The group’s members are all instructors at Taos Youth Ballet led by Amber Vazquez. A great opportunity to see the performance, if you miss it the first time it was presented, during the celebration of the Harwood Museum of Art’s 90th anniversary.
Then Melanie Hamlett will take the stage.
“And you never know what she will do,” said Irion. “But you can be sure that it will be funny. She sometimes uses slides to accompany her presentations, which makes them even more entertaining.”
A comedian, storyteller and writer, as well as a three time Moth Storyslam winner in New York City, Hamlett has lived in New York, South America, New Mexico and “on the road somewhere in my truck,” she said. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love has endorsed Hamlett’s book (a work-in-progress she plans to finish here in Taos) by saying “Melanie Hamlett is smart and funny and sick and wrong and dark and playful and smart as hell… and I love her.”
Hamlett will come back to Taos Mesa Brewing on Tuesday December10th for Storytelling Yarn, with master storyteller Cisco Guevara opening for her.
“My personal life provides me with great storytelling material,” said Hamlett, adding that relationships, often failed relationships, are often a rich source of inspiration.
Finally, Brent Berry and his former band Honest Abe will be reunited on stage, the first time they will be performing together in several years. The band, known for its Afro-coastal Americana-grass music, will play several songs, some from their popular record Monsoon, released in 2005.
“Brent and Honest Abe’s fans will have a great time enjoying both the music and this reunion,” said Irion.
Berry said he would also perform a few songs in Spanish.
“It’s going to be very good,” he said. “Fantastico!”
An archive of each Taos Live 11:11 MAX show will be posted on the Taoslive.net website and its YouTube Channel, jc TymelyPro.
Starting in January, the show will be presented on the last Saturday of each month, from 6 to 8 pm.
“Our shows and webcasts are free and open to all ages, with the support of our growing sponsorship program,” said Cederlof.
Taos Mesa Brewing is located at 20 ABC Mesa Rd, Taos, NM 87571
(575) 758-1900
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