VIVA Christmas

Guadalajara soprano Dolores Moreno will headline the Christmas Concert for VIVA la Musica! on Thursday, December 1 at Auditorio de la Ribera del Lago.

Caroling

Don’t kid yourselves. Christmas is fast approaching and the Lakeside Carolers have set December 16 as the date for making the rounds. Belva McIrvin de Velazquez and  Kay Borkowski are putting it all together.

Re-opening

Galeria de Arte Axixic, owned by local artist Jesus Lopez Vega, will re-open after a remodeling on Saturday, November 12, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. Besides his own mystical Mexican paintings, Lopez will offer an exhibition of works by Kathy Seaboyer, Linda Richards, Gloria Palazzo, Cha Chazano, Gabriel Mariscal, Judy Dykstra-Brown, Isidro Xilonxochilt, DePaul Durham, Pat Apt and Antonio Lopez.

Dark comedy

“Abundance,” a play by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Beth Henley, comes to the Auditorio de la Ribera del Lago in La Floresta this weekend, playing Friday and Saturday, October 28 and 29, 7:30 p.m.

VIVA!

Next week VIVA la Musica! presents another fall season concert featuring Guadalajara-based husband and wife team Rosalinda Preciaso and Guillermo Salvador, who use their four hands at the same piano.

The program includes sonatas by Mozart and Diabelli, as waell as a brilliant “Sonata for Right Hands” by Franco Margola and the Mother Goose Suite by Ravel. The grand finale will be “Fugue and Mystery” by Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla.

The concert is scheduled Thursday, October 27, 7:30 p.m. at Auditorio de la Ribera del Lago in Ajijic.  Tickets are 250 pesos for VIVA members and 300 pesos for non-members. They are on sale now at the Lake Chapala Society, Diane Pearl’s Colecciones, Charter Club Tours and the Auditorium.

New space

Beautician Jim Coolidge officially opens his luxury salon, “Gloriosa,” on Saturday, October 24, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., along with a new art space.

The first exhibitor in the space will be contemporary sculptor Rainer Gocksch. For more information call 766-3372 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Rainer’s exhibition runs until November 15. Gloriosa is located at Libramiento Plaza Interlago.

Ultimate guitar

Virtuoso Mexican guitarist Paco Renteria and his band “Free Play” entertain at the Auditorio de la Ribera del Lago in La Floresta on Wednesday, October 12, 7:30 p.m., as part of Pro-Auditorio Autumn Arts Festival. Tickets are 150 to 250 pesos and are on sale at the Lake Chapala Society, Charter Club Tours, Diane Pearl’s Colecciones and the Auditorium. Proceeds from this performance will go toward the renovation of the auditorium that will begin in April 2012.

Scholarships

VIVA la Musica has authorized scholarships of 10,000 pesos each to five outstanding Mexican music students.

They include Ajijic’s Emmanuel Medeles, the conductor and teacher of the CREM orchestra, who will be able to continue his studies at the University of Guadalajara.

Other University of Guadalajara recipients are Areli Medeles of Ajijic and Ivan Morales of Guadalajara, who study the cello and piano respectively.  Awards have also gone to Eduardo Garcia of San Antonio Tlayacapan towards the purchase of a professional cello and Francisco Bedoy of Autlan to continue voice performance studies at the University of Kentucky. (Bedoy will perform at the VIVA la Musica! membership party in December.)

VIVA la Musica! also donates 18,000 pesos annually to CREM to support the teaching faculty.

Southside

Congratulations to Arturo Aceves, owner and operator of Los Crotos Posada in the village of San Luis Soyotlan on the south side of Lake Chapala. The recent art exhibition held there (the first ever in that village) was spectacular and so was the crowd. Hopefully Aceves will see his way clear in the near future for another such event. Featured artists at the event were Cornelio Garcia, Antonio Lopez Vega, Jesus Lopez Vega, Isidro Xilonxochitl, Pat Apt, DePaul Durham and Kathy Seaboyer.

Get dressed up

A new community project, “Facharte,” is hoping to turn Ajijic into an internationally known “living museum.”

Jaime Barbiery invites residents of Ajijic to participate by having their house facades, doors, doorways, garage doors, rocks, nearby utility poles or even trees painted or decorated, so that when folks are here for the Pan Am Games – or just to visit our town – and are meandering through village streets, they’ll be impressed by its beauty.

Artists from the community will be on hand to help bring your ideas to fruition – or you can come up with your own simple or extravagant designs.

Naughty but nice

Billed as the “first ever official exhibition of erotic art in Ajijic,” the work of local artist Luz Preciado is set to adorn the walls of the Ajijic Cultural Center later this month.

“Sin Tabues” (Without Taboos) opens with a cocktail reception on Saturday, September 24.

Twenty-two multi-media pop-art style works will range from the mildly titillating to the blush producing.

Also showing is Ajijic jewelry designer Jose Melendrez, who will be erecting an installation entitled “Art in the Public Bathroom.”

The exhibition has been approved by municipal authorities and remains in place until October 10. Be sure to take it in – if you dare.

Really big show

The Really Big Lip Sync Show is finally here!

Performances are scheduled Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10 at 6 p.m. and on Sunday, September 11 at 3 p.m. at Club Exotica on the Ajijic Plaza. General admission tickets are 150 pesos and 250 pesos for the balcony leather couch seats and a drink voucher.

The mime show features Pat Carroll as Ed Sullivan, Jayme Littlejohn as Lady Gaga, Collette as Cristina Aguilera, Allan McGill as Judy Garland and Kathleen Morris as Bette Midler. These are just a few of the 24 amazing acts!

The show benefits Pro-Auditorio – the project to raise funds for the improvement of the auditorium (Auditorio de la Ribera del Lago) in La Floresta.  Tickets are on sale now at the Lake Chapala Society from 10 a.m. to noon, Charter Club Tours and Diane Pearl’s.

ASA

The Ajijic Society of the Arts (ASA) will meet Monday, September 5, 10 a.m. at La Nueva Posada (Donato Guerra 9, Ajijic). Coffee’s on at 9:30 a.m.  ASA is a gathering of artists in many fields of the plastic arts, who meet to exchange information and promote art in the Lakeside area. All are welcome.

Getting naked

The Naked Stage, Ajijic’s minimalist play-reading group, presents  “Death Trap” by Ira Levin on Friday, August 26; Saturday, August 27 and Sunday, August  28, 4 p.m. on each day, at Plaza de la Ribera (Formerly Sol y Luna), located on Calle Rio Bravo in west Ajijic.

Directed by Russell Mack, this Tony-nominated comedy-thriller takes a look at all the murder, thriller and horror stories to be found, then twists and rearranges the plots again and again. It’s mind-blowing but fun and funny at the same time.

In the cast are Ken Yakiwchuk, Jayme Littlejohn, Arlene Pace, Fred Koesling and Roger Larson.

Reservations are a must. Call Ann Pinkerton at 766-5986 for reservations or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . The donation is 80 pesos. The play is not appropriate for children.