March 2010

Copout_smallposter Shutterisland_smallposter2 "Lightning Thief" returns for two more nights at Telluride's Nugget Theatre, along with "Shutter Island" and "Cop Out" as the movies for the week of March 26-April Fools Day.

In "Lightning Thief" (rated PG) a kid who just happens to be the son of Zeus and a mortal woman of today, is accused of stealing Zeus' lightning bolt. Sounds like an adventure.

Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ben Kingsley, Max von Sydow, Film Noir: these may be all you need to know to convince you to go see "Shutter Island" (rated R). A child murderer is missing from the fortress-like prison for the criminally insane. Are you intrigued yet?

"Cop Out" (rated R) is a cop buddy movie with Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan. The plot concerns the theft of a valuable baseball trading card. Your guess is as good as mine.

Check the Nugget website for trailers and review. Read below for showtimes.

[click "Play" to listen to Travis Book speaking with Susan]


The progressive acoustic group known as The Infamous Stringdusters first performed in town at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. That was three years ago, in 2007, with the release of their now acclaimed first album, "Fork in the Road," on Sugar Hill. The collection earned The Infamous Stringdusters, three top awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Emerging Artist of the Year. Not bad in an industry that generally forces anyone wet behind the ears to pay big dues before commanding the limelight.


The Infamous Stringdusters' long anticipated return happens this Friday, March 26, 9 p.m., at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House. (Doors/box office at 8:30 p.m.)


On Sunday, March 21,the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art was the setting for Telluride's celebration of winning the Governor's Arts Award. The event was an opportunity for the Telluride community to pat itself on the back for its support for the arts. TGFA's Will Thompson was the genial host.

Telluride had previously been a runner-up for this award, and by all accounts, was surprised to have been selected co-winner with Creede, CO this year. Telluride Mayor, Stu Fraser unveiled the prize, a mixed-media artwork by Gayle Gerson, Grand Junction artist.

[click "Play" for Rhonda's DOERS conversation with Susan]

08 May concert Rh and Ellen
Rhonda and daughter Ellen

An inspired musician and teacher named John Yankee was the driving force behind, and first director of the Telluride Choral Society in 1995. Yankee created a community within a community for both kids and adults, and developed the ever popular "Sings." When Yankee left in 2002, Dr. David Lingle stepped into those large boots, leaving his distinct imprint on Telluride's sonic landscape: Masterworks, musicals with the Telluride Repertory Theatre, collaborations with the Telluride Dance Academy. Now Lingle has left town, heading for red dirt country and another chorus to lead. Taking up his baton, the Telluride Choral Society's first woman director, Doer #366: Rhonda Muckerman.


Rhonda was on a Grail quest to find her spiritual family, when she moved to Telluride – a place she saw in a dream, but had never heard of – right around the time Yankee & Friends founded the Telluride Choral Society. She pulled into town one balmy July day. Lots of people were milling around Main Street and a film by Almodovar was playing at The Nugget. A foreign film in a pea-sized town? Promising. A meeting with Telluride Choral Society member/ music teacher Ulli Sir Jesse sealed the deal. After a brief trip back to Seattle where she had been teaching music, Rhonda returned in August and had 25 students within a month. In short order, she also met her husband-to-be, Peter Muckerman, at a meditation class, an event two psychics in San Diego predicted would happen: "There's a man and a little boy waiting for you." (Muckerman has a son Elliot.) Kismet in 3-D.
Telluride's Palm Theatre presents the Vienna Boys Choir in a live concert Saturday, March 27, 7 p.m.

Vienna 11x17 More than half a millennium ago, in 1498, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court – and his court musicians – from Innsbruck to Vienna, giving specific instructions there were to be six boys among the musicians. For want of a foundation charter, historians have settled on 1498 as the official foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and - in consequence - the Vienna Boys' Choir. Until 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the court, at mass, at private concerts and functions and on state occasions.

Musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner worked with the choir. Composers Jacobus Gallus, Franz Schubert, and conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss were themselves choristers. Brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral, and sang frequently with the imperial boys' choir.

 
[click "Play" to hear Susan' interview with Walter Strauss]


The American Library Association awarded Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library a five-star rating for the second year in a row. The celebration continues with a FREE concert at the historic Sheridan Opera House, 7 p.m. (Doors at 6:30 p.m.) featuring string diplomacy, a unique cross-cultural collaboration between American guitar wizard Walter Strauss and Malian kamal'ngoni (hunter's harp) master Mamadou Sidibe. The unique combination of finger-style guitar and West African hunter's harp, interweaving melodic grooves, lively improvisation and songs in two distinct languages, feels altogether soulful and at once ancient and modern.

Strauss has pushed the borders of the Big Open, Rawlins, Wyoming, where he was born. Working with musicians from West Africa to Australia and Finland, he has successfully woven together world beat, Americana, and jazz into layers of highly articulated melodies and harmonies, rhythms and counter-rhythms, a genre uniquely his own.
[click "Play" to hear Lauren Metzger speak about the Ah Haa programs]


Rediscover_clay Rediscover "True art is characterized by an irresistible urge in the creative artist," said Einstein in "The Human Side."


Got the urge? Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts dedicated the month of March to rediscovering your inner Picasso. Rediscover Art Month began with "Put Your Hands in It: Clay with Jacey DePriest." Next up was "Copper & Steel Forging with Jon Hubbard," for those who opted to channel their inner Rosie (or Ross) the Riveter.
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's conversation with Barb Brattin]

4443549983_b7e8185973 Telluride is not just any town, and the town's Wilkinson Public Library is not just any library. Proof positive is the fact our Library just won a five-star rating for the second year in a row, placing it in the top one percent of public libraries in the entire country. And to think,the present-day 20,000-square-foot Library located at the corner of Pine & Pacific nearly wasn’t built. After a recount, the referendum to green-light the project passed by a margin of only two votes. The new building opened August 2000.

Five-star restaurants. Five-star hotels. We have seen them in the guide books, maybe been lucky enough to enjoy the luxury of a visit to such a place. But a five-star library. What's that all about? 

Snapshot 2010-03-20 17-25-39
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.

Photo
Anna Klein

When we at Telluride Inside... and Out write about skiing, we're usually writing close to home here in Telluride. Last weekend the whole family of daughter, Kjerstin Klein (Kjerstin and sister Kimm Viebrock double as TIO's back office magicians) were on the mountain at Seven Springs in western Pennsylvania for a local race series.

Mom and Dad (Greg Klein) brought home trophies in their races, brother Dylan Klein (age 11) spent the day in the rain as a gatekeeper, and 7-year old Anna managed a third place finish in the GS, and an amazing First in bumps.