Taos On The Cheap

Planning to ride the New Mexico Rail Runner Express between Santa Fe and Albuquerque soon? Time your trip for one of the Saturday trains to enjoy free performances of Shakespeare during the journey.

On every Saturday through June, July, and August 2010, the University of New Mexico Department of Theatre Education and Outreach stages scenes from Shakespeare on board the train:

• June = romance scenes
• July = comedic scenes
• August = scenes of deceit and treachery.

The Bard’s performances are free, but you’ll need to buy a rail ticket as usual.

The shows are on two Saturday trains only, on these sections of the route:

• #509 Southbound – between Santa Fe Depot (leaving at 4:32 pm) and Los Ranchos/The Journal Center.
• #506 Northbound – between Downtown ABQ station (leaving at 2:38 pm) and Santa Fe Depot.

The performances take place in the first railcar behind the locomotive, in the bottom floor.

Find New Mexico Rail Runner Express train schedule and ticket information.

Enjoy a free night at the opera with these June 2010 performances of The Taos Opera Institute’s Cantos de Taos Quartet.

• Saturday June 19 from 7:30 to 9 pm at the Taos Community Auditorium, where you can also find out about The Met Live in HD series coming in fall to the TCA.
• Sunday June 27 at 6pm at the El Monte Sagrado Ballroom – there’s a cash bar during this free gala event.

Other Taos Opera Institute performances around Taos from June 18 to June 25 are at venues including The Stakeout, Rhoda’s in Taos Ski Valley, and Kit Carson Park. Check out the full roster at the link for details.

And did we mention that this opportunity to hear wonderful opera right in our own backyard is totally FREE?

Word is that the Taos Express is offering free shuttle rides between Taos and Santa Fe during the month of June 2010, in celebration of the one year anniversary of Taos Express.

Yes, we wish it would run more often. The shuttle between the City Different and the Town Even Differenter is currently limited to Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. But we have to start from where we are before we envision even greater things.

So we’ll be grateful for one step at a time, and this is a great travel promotion to save $10 on the round-trip fare. And of course you’ll also be saving your carbon footprint. And you can READ on a shuttle. Can’t do that while you’re driving…  although you might suspect otherwise from the way SOME people drive around here 😉

You must make reservations in advance with Taos Express, and the freebie is only good through June 2010.

Remember – Children aged 10 and under ALWAYS ride the Taos Express free!

Robert Mirabal is just one of the perfomers in this summer’s Taos Plaza Live season, a series of free live music shows playing in the historic Taos Plaza from 6 -8 pm on Thursday nights, now through September 9, 2010. Performers include:

Robert Mirabal ( the two-time Grammy winner performs on June 24), Unstrung Heros, Boris McCutcheon & The Saltlicks, The Brent Berry Band, Jenny Bird,  Kim & the Caballeros, Bone Orchard, Michael Hearne, Jimmy Stadler, and many more local favorites. 

Scope out the full live music schedule of talent and turn up in your dancing shoes at Taos Plaza between 6 and 8 pm on Thursday nights knowing you’re promised good tunes and a good time. Best of all, it’s free, which is enough to make anybody’s toes tap.

Early Bird tickets to the Taos Mountain Music Festival are currently on sale but numbers are limited and it looks like they’ll only be available for another couple of days.  Early Bird tickets to the all-day festival on September 5, 2010 cost $35.  After they’re gone, advance sale tickets are $42, and if you wait to buy on the door you’ll pay $48.

Children have free admission, aged 10 or under, as long as they’re accompanied by an adult. (Erm… who sends their 10-year-old to  a music festival on their own? Answers on a postcard please….)

Performers include:

• Gov’t Mule
• Shemekia Copeland
• Mia Borders

More bands will be added to the line-up (we’ll keep you posted) and the Taos Mountain Music Festival takes place rain or shine in Taos Ski Valley, about 18 miles north of Taos, New Mexico.

If you’re traveling to the festival from out of town, check out the Taos Mountain Music Festival Lodging Packages with many Taos Ski Valley accommodations offering rooms including festival tickets, including Alpine Village Suites, The Bavarian Lodge, Kandahar Condominiums, Edelweiss Lodge and Spa, and Taos Mountain Lodge.

If you’re a Twilight fan, you can read Stephenie Meyer’s new novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner for free until July 5, 2010. Meyer’s new book spins off the Twilight series to tell the story of Bree Tanner, a character first introduced in Eclipse, and explores what it’s like to be a newborn vampire. (A question I’ve often pondered myself.) Stephenie Meyer describes The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner here.

You can read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner free online from noon on Monday June 7 until July 5, 2010. (I doubt that the noon they are referring to is New Mexico time. Probably Eastern Time zone.) If you support your local bookstores and buy the hard copy book, released last Saturday, one dollar from each book is donated to the American Red Cross.

Fangs a lot, Stephenie!