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December 2010

December 9 to 16, 2010
Visible Planets: Morning: Venus and Saturn  Evening: Mercury and Jupiter

Ecliptic Windows and the Warriors of Spirit

4Women Here we are, on planet Earth, humans – men and women, boys and girls – walking the earthwalk, talking the earthtalk and living in harmony and disharmony – together. No matter how we cut the cake or divvy up the pie, statistically the male and female species is pretty much in gender balance, numerically equal. But is that the only actual, factual equality between the sexes?

I recently finished reading a powerfully awakening book entitled Infidel, written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, an African woman who after years of political, cultural and religious oppression, suppression and repression flees to asylum in the Netherlands, where she is able to attend college, work and eventually be elected a member of the Dutch Parliament. It is here she fights for the rights of Muslim women and the reform of Islam, awakening the West to the brutal Islamic customs of female sexual mutilation, beatings, forced marriage and honor killings. Born in Somalia into a Third World hotbed of political and social unrest, violence and civil wars, her family migrated from Mogadishu to Saudi Arabia, Kenya and Ethiopia. As a result, Ali was forced to adapt and adjust, learn a variety of foreign languages – including English – all the while observing and experiencing the abject inequality of men and women in the Muslim world – including that of her own family. Her story is riveting, brave, startling, disturbing and ultimately triumphant - an inspirational, courageous journey of heart. And what does all this have to do with astrology?

09 December, 2010 /
[click "Play", Susan Carrolan talks with Susan about her hats]

 

Loden bow hat Hats for winter? In Telluride, that's a giant DUH. 

But we are not talking the knitted or shearling numbers that help you retain body heat for winter warmth. This is Fashion Friday and the subject is millinery by Susan Carrolan.

Carrolan's hats crown the heads of the crowned heads of society and the word of entertainment: in her last Vegas revu, Bette Midler wore a hat Carrolan built with a team, and the swells at the Kentucky Derby and Ascot wear original Carrolans. In other words, a Carrolan is a top hat. We mean that in the best of the best sense, not the magician's variety. Though Susan Carrolan is something of a millinery magician.

09 December, 2010 /

Polar kicker: Theatrical dance event features exclusive guest appearance by Ted Keegan of Broadway's "Phantom of the Opera."

Yes, you read the headline correctly. The Telluride Dance Academy is not serving up the usual Christmas diet of sugarplums. I am saying Telluride is not succumbing to the tweeness that afflicts the rest of America and mounting yet another production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker."

What's more, there is no longer a Telluride Dance Academy.

Next thing you know, I'll be saying there is no Santa Claus.

Which is what the little boy in another Christmas classic, Chris Van Allsburg's "The Polar Express" was starting to believe.

This coming weekend, Friday – Sunday, December 10 – December 12, at Telluride's Palm Theatre, the brand new Ames Conservatory presents its inaugural holiday production: "The Polar Express."

08 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear TIO's interview with Nichole Zangara and Jim Riley]

 

Santa It was on your mark. Get set. GO! 

Last week, on December 1, Telluride celebrated Noel Nite, which annually marks the start of the holiday shopping marathon. This week, the action shifts "uptown" to Telluride's sister city, Mountain Village.

On Friday, December 10, the Town of Mountain Village and the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association host Jingle Jam, an all-day event offering family-focused fun in Mountain Village Center (the "Core").

08 December, 2010 /

Thenextthreedays_smallteaser Burlesque_smallposter Telluride's Nugget Theatre has three feature films on tap for the week of December 10-16. In addition, there is the opportunity to see Ben Clark's "Ski the Himalayas" and support a worthy not-for-profit organization, the Horizon Program on Saturday, December 11 at 8:00 pm.

The week starts with "Burlesque" (rated PG-13) with the never-aging Cher; and Russell Crowe whose task is to spring from prison his wife who maybe didn't kill anyone in "The Next Three Days" (rated PG-13).

Legendoftheguardians_smallposter Ski_The_Himalayas_LARGEIMAGE All the programs on Wednesday and Thursday are showing "Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga'Hoole" (PG), an animated feature about good owls and bad ones.

See below for movietimes, and the Nugget website for trailers and reviews.

 

08 December, 2010 /

[click "Play" to hear Lance Waring's conversation with Susan]

 

Ski_The_Himalayas_LARGEIMAGE Telluride Inside... and Out recently announced the availability of an adventure documentary by local filmmaker/mountaineer Ben Clark on Dish Network Pay Per View.

The 90-minute "Ski the Himalayas" chronicles three climbers' attempts at climbing and skiing 23,390' Baruntse. Local mountaineers Ben Clark, Josh Butson, and Jon Miller spent 750 days attempting to climb one mountain in a way that had never been done before just to ski one run. A twist of fate sent the adventure into overdrive as the explorers met scenarios that forced them to ask; What is it really worth? They pushed forward anyway...

The catch: you need a dish and a Dish subscription to view "Ski the Himalayas." At least you did until now. On Saturday, December 11, 8 p.m., The Nugget Theater sponsors a special screening of Clark's film. The event is a fundraiser for Telluride's Horizon Program.

07 December, 2010 /

[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Rhonda Muckerman]

 

Darkness-to-Light The thought of it makes some people quake in anticipation and others shiver with angst and cold. Whichever your camp, in Telluride, all over America, you own it. In this country, Christmas belongs to everyone, not just Christians who celebrate the birth stories about Christ, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, even atheists.

The secular holiday is Chipmunks and Charlie Brown, Grinches and Scrooges. It is Rudolph and giant conifers, baked ham and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and one too many tipples of eggnog. The holiday season is classic movies such as “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” But most of all, Christmas is music. Perhaps no other holiday in the world is more closely associated with music than Christmas. Locally, Christmas music means the Telluride Choral Society's WinterSing, one of the premier opening events of the holiday season.

The Telluride Choral Society is under the able direction of Rhonda Muckerman.

07 December, 2010 /

Come on, you know you wanna! Don’t you want to be able to make coffee mugs, ice cream bowls? They make great gifts and trust me, people LOVE them. Well, our very own Goedele Vanhille will be teaching Beginning Wheel Throwing next weekend...

07 December, 2010 /

[click "Play" to hear R.J. Rubadeau's conversation with Susan]

 

Gatsby_CVRdj_front_300 Telluride local Bob Rubadeau is familiar with launches. He is, after all, a major league ocean sailor, a Cape Horn veteran. But Rubadeau is also an author of both fiction and non-fiction works of contemporary literature. This time we are talking books – or book – not boats.

On Tuesday, December 7,  6 p.m., in the Program Room of the five-star Wilkinson Public Library, Bob finally shows his hand, revealing the final chapters in his protagonist Wit Thorpe's trials to find the real killer in his latest novel: Gatsby's Last Resort: A Telluride Murder Mystery. Seems Wit, a Telluride native and the local Peeping Tom for hire, has been charged with 1st degree murder of a quick succession of victims, all linked as major shareholders in an attempt to acquire the Valley Floor. And despite what the local Sheriff may think – he describes Wit as "our own Ted Bundy" –  Wit admits that he "probably didn't do it."

Rubadeau's readers across the country have tracked Wit closely over a nine-month publishing odyssey in part on Telluride Inside... and Out, a key partner in the author's premier Community Publishing 101 project. Other partners include the Wilkinson Library, Between the Covers Bookstore, The Telluride Writers Guild, and Beacon Hill Publishers. The latest addition to this stellar lineup is artist Roger Mason, who donated the cover art.

06 December, 2010 /

by Tracy Shaffer

Riva Opening
Tracy, Riva, "Heaven & Earth"

Cool morning, bright day. I sit down for tea with artist, Riva Sweetrocket, in her gorgeous Ballpark Neighborhood loft. She meets me at the door and takes me into her studio, a clean and spare space which reflects the clarity of her thought and vision. A 44 x 38 inch paper is affixed to a Plexiglas wall; the striking image of a crimson cushion with an oversized, gold satin bow hovering above it is in progress. There is nothing else in the room but light, a small cart holding art supplies and a larger blank sheet of paper on another wall, awaiting inspiration.

The precision of Sweetrocket’s work is extraordinary. Many times I’ve stood before her works at Denver’s Plus+ Gallery, mesmerized and wondering “How does she do that?”  It was my privilege to find out. We spoke of images, what strikes the eye and how these fascinations reach the gallery wall. “I keep a file of photographs, things I see and the colors and textures I find appealing. Most of the time I photograph them myself, but others come from memory. When I get an idea about what I want to put together, it all comes alive in Photoshop” says she. I get a sense that there is a lot of silence and rumination in this woman’s daily life, and a fair amount of chalk dust. Riva’s works are created in soft pastel on paper and have a luxuriant quality that is radiantly defiant of the medium. “Once I’m happy with the image, I begin the work on paper and that is when it starts to really come alive” she continues. 

06 December, 2010 /