JAMIE IS IRREPRESSIBLY STOKED about the upcoming concerts he’s presenting, especially the moonshot: Ghost Ranch’s Ladder to the Moon concert with headliner Patti Smith.
He is at home in the world of music promotion, a land full of last-moment arbitrages: bands, the audience, pricing, venues, acts of God. This job requires the skills of a platoon commander, an EMT, and a riverboat gambler.
When I asked why he loves what he does, he fell silent. He then recounted an epiphany he had early on, when he ducked out of the gritty behind-the-stage reality and joined the audience. He heard the music, felt the moment, the voices, the place, the people. They were our brothers and sisters, he realized. While the music plays, perhaps what separates us is less important than what we experience together.
How did you start the free Railyard concert series?
When I moved here, the Railyard was an abandoned wasteland. The Railyard Corporation and the city had the foresight to build it into what it is today. But it was an arduously long process. Then, one day, I was driving down Cerrillos Road – I looked out my car window, and for the first time, I grokked it. I saw what it was becoming, and it all made sense to me. So I called up the Railyard Corporation and said we should do a grand opening event. I was there when the fences came down for the first time. We had bands playing. There was a stage by the water tower. We showed the first movie in the park: The Wizard of Oz. It felt like this fresh, new element that wasn’t taking anything away from Santa Fe but augmenting what the town already was.
So that’s kind of where I got the idea of what Santa Fe could grow into – the idea of this version 2.0, where we maintain the identity of Santa Fe but embrace moving forward culturally, artistically, and in business.
What made you think you could pull this off?
I was already a concert promoter in town. When I moved here in ’91, I had been a roadie for the Steve Miller Band for two years. Then I got into producing shows.
I actually had a very profound moment in my life when I was way over-tired, working 20-hour days leading up to a Bruce Hornsby concert I was doing.
I was backstage, where it was utter chaos. But I went out into the audience, and there were 20,000 people singing along with Bruce Hornsby, having a great time. I actually cried in the audience at that moment; it’s going to make me cry again. That’s what it’s about for me – seeing people come together. It’s what I love.
How did you wind up in Santa Fe?
We were heading to San Francisco, Portland, or Seattle. Up the West Coast. My ex and I were driving across the country, and we knew we wanted to stop in Santa Fe. We got here in October 1991, and it was one of those just astonishingly beautiful fall days where the sky is that incredible blue.
That was it. I was one of those people who came here and thought, Oh, this is just different. Santa Fe, New Mexico – the land of entrapment.
And you started working with the Lensic?
Santa Fe did not have a performing arts center. What the Lensic brought was a year-round, downtown performing arts center with state-of-the-art production. And the genius of it was that it was in town. They took the old movie theater and renovated it. I produced the first show at the Lensic, Sweet Honey in the Rock. It sold out.
I had invited the editor of Pasatiempo to the show, and the next day, I ran into her at the supermarket. She said, Jamie Lenfestey, I understand you now. You’re not a promoter, you’re a presenter.
It’s a subtle distinction, but a promoter’s kind of a scumbag. You know, a thick-necked tough guy. I’m not cut from that cloth. I’m much more of a presenter, a community event organizer. That moment with her kind of changed my perception and gave me a great deal more confidence. I’m pretty fucking good at what I do, but it took me a really long time to be able to say that about myself. My first 10 years doing this, I was really insecure about it.
The Ladder to the Moon concert at Ghost Ranch Concert is coming up…
It’s gonna be an extraordinary event. A few years ago, a woman reached out to me about doing concerts in Abiquiu, and my mind immediately went to Ghost Ranch. Holy shit. We should totally do a show at Ghost Ranch. Why hasn’t that happened?
Place seems to be really important to you. The Railyard, the Lensic, Ghost Ranch. You conjure your ideas by falling in love with a place.
Place is really important. Your whole role is to know your community, know the venues, and know where to put things. And Ghost Ranch is one of the most special places in New Mexico.
Georgia O’Keeffe came out here and fell in love. It spoke to her on a soul level. There’s that quote where she says, The air is different, the light is different. It’s different here. And I feel kinship to that. It did that to me and to tens of thousands of people.
The Ladder to the Moon idea I took from an old Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival poster that had the Ladder to the Moon O’Keeffe painting on it. My sister had it in her room, and I stole it from her when I went to college. That poster hung on my wall through four years of college, and now I’m here producing a concert at Ghost Ranch using a name inspired by the poster that I was inspired to steal from my sister 30 years ago.
You mentioned Santa Fe 2.0. What does that look like?
Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the country. But the arc of Santa Fe was really racing from the ’60s to the ’80s, when so many artists came to town.
Now there’s a fresh, younger take on Santa Fe. For the longest time, the median age was 52. I used to walk into restaurants and be like, I’m a fucking hip young dude in this town. I got this. It’s actually gone down to 47, maybe a little under that now. While that makes me feel old, it also makes me happy that my town is growing in that direction. You don’t want to be the town of retirees.
There’s a huge opportunity for a new Santa Fe that not only honors its past for the core values of beauty and culture, but also takes that and makes it into something new. We like to live in a place with a bright and shiny future.
Photo SFM
