Sharing the Words Brings Peformers to UNM-Valencia

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Recording artist Keith Sanchez

LOS LUNAS, NM (10/12/2012)(readMedia)-- Sharing the words (and the music) of New Mexico will be celebrated on the UNM-Valencia Campus Wednesday, Oct. 24th.

Several poets and authors, along with recording artists Keith Sanchez and Nathan Dean, will perform at the campus' Student-Community Center starting at 1:30 p.m.

The event is sponsored by the UNM-Valencia English Department and is part of the campus Fall 2012 Cultural Enrichment Series. The event is free and open to the public.

Authors scheduled to perform include: Jazz (Jasmine Cuffee), nationally known slam poet, CNM- UNM student featured in the award-winning film about NM poetry, Committing Poetry (available on Hulu and Netflix); Maria Gallegos, Albuquerque poet, historical re-enactor and college educator (The Labor College); Patricia Gillikin, poet and UNM-Valencia English faculty member; Maria Leyba, Barelas poet and community leader in Albuquerque; Nate Maxon, poet and UNM student; Rudy Serna, novelist and UNM-Valencia English faculty member; and Don McIver, poet and published author from Albuquerque.

Each author will perform for a few minutes. That group of authors will be followed by Sanchez and Dean. Sanchez and Dean will perform their original songs and discuss the art and craft of songwriting and professional performance in a question and answer session with the audience.

Sanchez is an internationally famed songwriter, performer and recording artist and a UNM-Valencia/UNM Main Campus alumnus. A native of Belen, NM, Sanchez spent his formative young adult years in the "crucible" of war torn El Salvador, where he travelled with his family on a US AID construction mission in which his father was engaged. Keith honed his song writing and performance skills in war time conditions under the tutelage of famed Salvadoran artist Fernando Llort.

After several years in El Salvador, Sanchez returned to New Mexico to attend UNM. With fellow Belen natives guitarist Glenn Buddha Benevidez, his brother bassist Todd Sanchez and Chile-born drummer Matias Pizarro, Keith formed the hugely popular bilingual rock band Stoic Frame, which recorded a string of albums, performed on MTV and contributed songs to the soundtrack of the television series "The Shield," while touring North America.

He moved to California to work with Stoic Frame in the highly competitive music and film/TV industries, and he was then invited to join the professional entertainment business headed by international super star Carlos Santana. Sanchez jammed and worked with Santana, Steve Miller and other rock legends while also conducting music workshops for youth in the San Francisco Bay area for which he received public service awards.

Sanchez returned two years ago to New Mexico with his family, and he has established his reputation here as a much-in-demand solo performer and leader of the band Keith Sanchez and the Moon Thieves. He also teaches song writing and music for Albuquerque Public Schools and teaches a very successful workshop series for youth in Albuquerque.

Sanchez has an international reputation for his unique, poetic song writing achievements in both English and Spanish languages and for his distinctively New Mexican vocal and guitar styles.

Nathan Dean is the Illinois-born Country Western Rock songwriter, recording artist and bandleader who has been building a devoted fan base and a growing reputation for dynamic live shows at The Dirty Bourbon club in Albuquerque and at other venues throughout the Western USA.

With two strong albums under his belt, Dean's down-to-earth lyrics, romantic sensibility and proud working person's ethic immediately strike listeners as no-nonsense, top-shelf American songwriting, in the tradition of Willie Nelson, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Tom Russell, Merle Haggard and – dare we say it?-Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. A proud supporter of American military veterans, Dean is respected and loved by audiences throughout rural America. And he knows how to rock-n-roll with the toughest and the best!

The Student-Community Center is located on the south side of the UNM-Valencia Campus near the south parking lot.