Transcriber: Xinyi心怡 Li李 Reviewer: Anna Sobota
I remember when I was a child,
waking up at 6:30 Saturday morning,
grabbing my blanket and a bowl of cereal,
prepared to settle in for five hours of Saturday morning cartoons.
(Applause)
Knowing that kids around the world were doing the exact same thing.
Have you ever felt that?
We learned about quality in those cartoons.
We discovered classical music, like the “Rabbit of Seville”
when Bugs Bunny would messages his feed on Elmer Fudd’s head.
He would use his feet to do it.
Or “What’s Opera Doc”
when Bugs Bunny would wear the Viking helmet with the blonde braids.
We would get so excited every time we heard the phrase,
“I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque.”
(Laugher)
I wanted to feel that same sense of joy,
camaraderie and connection from my childhood,
and rekindle it in my adulthood.
So my production company created an event called “Morning Tunes”,
Saturday morning cartoons on the big screen.
You even get cereal.
(Laugher)
I knew that I would find others that felt that same sense of joy I did
as a kid watching Saturday morning cartoons.
In the first year we had a great response.
We would show 70s and 80s commercials
and those PSAs in between commercial cartoon breaks,
and people would applaud.
And I thought to myself, “I want to do this every day.”
I sense this need for connection in our community.
COVID severed that connection
and we’ve been trying desperately to get it back.
So that’s what I’m trying to do
in New Mexico,
at least striving to,
is provide quality events and entertainment,
bringing people together through common interests
to get them talking, feeling and connecting again.
Now there are some event producers
that do not, unfortunately, have this same goal.
We recently had an event
where they snatched up money from ticket buyers
only to cancel days before it happened.
Now, in today’s environment, cancellations are not a phenomenon.
But this event never booked the venue,
never booked the headliner but continued to sell tickets.
This is a disappointing trend
that is happening too often and, sadly, expected
because of the state we live in.
Now, I love New Mexico.
I've lived here since I was two.
But there is a certain sentiment
in this state.
When something is mediocre, we find ourselves saying,
“Well, that’s just New Mexico.”
It hurts.
It hurts to think,
is this what we aspired for our state to become?
Why do we not expect more of ourselves?
If we want to be more and do more, we have to be part of the solution.
We need to take the initiative to be known for more
than that city that made that meth show.
And as with so much beauty and culture that this state possesses,
we’ve come down to “Bugs Bunny” and “Breaking Bad”.
We need to demand more of our creators.
We need to create more communal opportunities for our citizens,
more safe space opportunities for our youth.
We need to demand quality in every project.
(Applause)
We wooed “Netflix” and “NBC Universal” to our states so clearly.
Large companies realize the amazing assets we have.
So, if we can expect that same quality from our local event entertainment
that’s just the first step leading to expecting excellence in other avenues.
So, taking that first step today -
here are three things you can do
when you walk out of this wonderful theater.
One, reach out to a local event you enjoy attending
and see how you can help.
It takes a village to build an event.
Two, if you see or hear of any creator or producer
consistently putting New Mexico in a negative light,
take a stand and spend your money elsewhere.
Three, reach out to community leaders
and let them know what you would like to see
in terms of event venues and entertainment that benefits.
You would be amazed how many are waiting to hear that input.
With some initiative, we can start speaking up more.
Breaking that mindset that New Mexico is less than.
We can have nice things.
If we take the initiative to expect more quality with our events and entertainment,
just imagine where else it will lead to in other areas.
Politics?
Education?
Safety issues?
That’s just that first little step that leads to the next step
to start getting the state on the map for positive effects
and to keep people from regretting taking that left turn at Albuquerque.
(Applause)