Telluride’s 5-star Wilkinson Public Library: FREE events all week

21 Mar Telluride’s 5-star Wilkinson Public Library: FREE events all week

Renee Wilson

The Library Journal's five-star award to Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library means the world to director Barb Brattin and her hardworking staff of 30 – and FREE events all week to the members of the extended Telluride community. Two of those events involve the abundantly talented (and extraordinarily beautiful) Renee Wilson, one of the stars of the Oscar-winning movie "Ray" about the life of Ray Charles. Wilson is a multi-talented entertainer-turned-filmmaker.

Monday, March 22, 6 p.m.: A screening of Renee Wilson's "Crepe Covered Sidewalks," with the filmmaker in attendance.

The documentary tells the larger story of post-Katrina New Orleans through the window of Wilson's family, chronicling the powerful forces shaping the city’s altered landscape. In the end, "Crepe Covered Sidewalks" is an intimate, moving story of love, loss, and rebirth as told by an insider.

Crepe Covered Sidewalks (CCS)Film: www.crepecoveredsidewalks.com.

Tuesday, March 23, 7 p.m.: Walter Strauss and Mamadou Sidibe in concert at the Sheridan Opera House. Renee Wilson opens.

Walter Strauss spent 15 years performing as an ensemble musician throughout the US, Canada, England, and Ireland. Now the spotlight is on Walter as a solo artist.

Of late, Walter has been performing solo and with The Walter Strauss Trio: bassist Sam Bevan (David Grisman, Joe Craven) and percussionist Kendrick Freeman (Alison Brown, Rob Ickes).

Over the last several years, Strauss has also engaged in unique crosscultural collaborations, touring periodically in a duo with Malian kora master and 2005 Grammy nominee Mamadou Diabate, and in a duo with Malian kamal'ngoni (hunter's harp) player Mamadou Sidibe.
 
Maverick Magazine (UK) credits Strauss' distinctive multi-layered guitar style with "an enormous sonic and musical and ethnic palette… world music on guitar."

Sidibe is from the Wassoulou Region of Mali, West Africa. Twenty-five years ago Sidibe played a groundbreaking role in transforming the music of his region from its origins in hunters' sacred melodies–played on six string donso ngoni (hunter's harps) to the music of philosophical observations, politics, and daily life.

Sidibe was one of the first musicians in his genre to expand his instrument's range, adding two extra strings, creating the popular kamale ngoni. He has recently enhanced the kamale ngoni even more, creating 10- and 12-string versions.  

The Wilson, Strauss, Sidibe concert is being recorded live at the Opera House and will be released as a album.

Wednesday, March 24, 6 p.m.: Live recording techniques using Protools (and more) with seven-time Grammy-nominated John Jacob

Seven-time Grammy nominated recording engineer John Jacob will be conducting a workshop on live recording techniques using digital recording platforms including Protools. Jacob has worked with such notable recording artists as Maria Muldaur, Bonnie Raitt, Taz Mahal, Roy Rogers, Calaveras, Bob Brosnan, and more.

Thursday, March 25, starting 5 p.m, The Program Room.: Kids vs. Global Warming, founder Alec Loorz and "Fela Kuti," a free film from The Telluride Music Lover’s Club 

When Alec was 12, he started Kids vs. Global Warming.  Now 16, Alec has grown into an accomplished public speaker.  Alec will be in Telluride next week working on a mentorship program with area students.  Don’t miss this public opportunity to hear Alec’s story and message.  In the Program room at the WPL.

Filmed in Lagos, Nigeria in 1982, this 53-minute documentary "Fela Kuti" mixes footage of Fela Anikulapo Kuti performing at his Shrine nightclub, interviews with the controversial musician, glimpses of life at his not-so-palatial Kalakuta Republic compound, and scenes of Lagos street life. Voice-over narration gives viewers basic information about Kuti's musical career and Nigerian politics, but for the most part, the images speak for themselves. Well shot in color, "Fela Kuti" is an important historical document capturing Kuti in stage and home environments most crucial to his life and work. Highlights include the scenes at the Shrine, where Kuti and his band perform "ITT," "Army Arrangement," "Power Show," and "Authority Stealing," with the lithe front man decked out in various colorful suits – or, sometimes wearing nothing but briefs and, at other times, tricked out in gaudy face paint. Interview segments cover his resistance to the Nigerian regime, his controversial polygamous lifestyle, and his arrests and beatings.

“The best band I’ve ever seen Live, …When Fela eventually began to play, after a long and crazy build up, I just couldn’t stop weeping with joy, it was a very moving experience,”  Paul McCartney

Friday, March 25, Integrated Design Workshop #2: "Systems Thinking of Building Design"

Speakers: James Pittman, Eugene Wowk
For: Anyone who should have a voice in the design phase of buildings

When: Friday, March 26. 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM

Where: Wilkinson Public Library Program Room, 100 W. Pacific Ave, Telluride.

RSVP: Call 728-5208 or email energy.tncc@gmail.com