The seasons are changing, but that doesn’t mean we’ve got nothing to look forward to but the slow decaying of fall and the skeletal barrens of winter. No! Seasonal change is a time of fresh starts and new ideas, annual revisitations of things you’d forgotten you love. This week features some fantastic yearly appearances including the New Mexico Jazz Festival (running all throughout September), the indie-minded Mindfield Film Festival (at Guild Cinema) and a nostalgic kickoff to Blackout Theatre Company’s 20th season with Blackout 2Nite 4Ever. (Root through the calendar to find other perennials like TEDxABQ, the In Rhythm Festival at NHCC, Tractor Nob Hill’s beer-fueled 15th anniversary celebration and the even more beer-fueled Marblefest 2026.)
20th Annual New Mexico Jazz Festival
Closing out the 35th Anniversary Music Under the Stars series and kicking off the 20th anniversary of the New Mexico Jazz Festival, is a concert featuring the ever-popular Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Celebrating their 25th year in the biz, the three-time Grammy Award-winning salsa and Latin jazz band returns to New Mexico to deliver some New York-style, hardcore salsa. The band starts out the month-long Jazz Festival in fine form on Friday, Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m. at the Albuquerque Museum (2000 Mountain Rd. NW). Tickets (available in advance at tickets.holdmyticket.com/tickets/462385) run $17.13 to $43.75 for this event. And be sure to head over to the Outpost website (outpostspace.org) to see all the other concerts, films and more happening at venues around town (Outpost Performance Space, Guild Cinema and others) between now and Sept. 29.
9th Annual Mindfield Film Festival
Mindfield is a bi-monthly online film competition that screens features, shorts and music videos from around the world. The best films are assembled and, once a year, organizers stage the in-person Mindfield Film Festival at Guild Cinema (3405 Central Ave. NE). Screening blocks run Friday and Saturday, Aug. 28 and 29 at 1, 3:30, 6 and 8:30 p.m. each day. Sunday closes out the festival starting at 2 p.m. with a string of panel discussions, filmmaker Q&As, a live costume fashion show and the closing awards ceremony. Tickets run $5 per screening block, $17 for a full-day pass or $25 for an all-weekend pass. To see a full schedule or to purchase tickets in advance, go to mindfieldff.com.
Blackout 2Nite 4Ever
Blackout Theatre Company presents the latest installment of its long-running Blackout Tonight series – now celebrating nearly two decades of sketch comedy and improv! The kickoff of the theater’s 20th season, Blackout 2Nite 4Ever, is a live comedy show featuring a mix of brand-new sketches and old classics, brought to you by a hilarious cast of current and former Blackout members. The show runs Friday, Aug. 28 and Saturday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 30 at 2 p.m. at the Coal Avenue Theatre on CNM’s main campus. All performance tickets are Pay-What-You-Will, with a suggested price of $10.
The River
West End Productions launches its latest Anglophilic stage play, Jez Butterworth’s lyrical psychodrama The River. The play focuses on an unnamed man who brings his latest girlfriend (or is it his last girlfriend?) to a secluded family cabin to explore “the thin veil between love, grief and longing.” The production runs Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. between Friday, Aug. 28 and Sunday, Sept. 13. Tickets run between $22 and $26. You can nab them on the cheaper end by purchasing in advance (at westendproductions.org).