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June 2011

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Tony Trischka]

 

Tony Trischka Not all of the action at the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival takes place on the Fred Shellman Main Stage. Legendary banjo innovator Tony Trischka is in town for the launch of the new ArtistWorks Academy of Bluegrass via a workshop in Elks Park, Friday, June 18, 1:30 p.m. and an appearance at  around 4:30 p.m. on the Main Stage.

For more than 35 years, Tony Trishchka's stylings have inspired a whole generation of bluegrass and acoustic musicians. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential banjo players of the latter part of the 20th century (and counting), largely in terms of his influence on succeeding generations of players such as virtuosic Bela Fleck, back in town for the Festival for the 30th year in a row, this time reunited with the original Flecktones – and his teacher. When he was just a senior in high school, Bela made trips to Bronx, New York to study with Tony, who he once described to me as his "hero."

"... the godfather of what's sometimes called new acoustic music," said The New York Times.

12 June, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Ben Kaufmann and Adam Aijala]

 

Yonder Mountain Telluride has its festivals. Nederland has Frozen Dead Guy Days. No kidding, celebrated annually from Friday – Sunday the first full weekend of March. A centerpiece of Frozen Guys Days is a screening of  the film "Grandpa's in the Tuff Shed," a magnum opus which premiered at Mountainfilm in Telluride in 1998. A centerpiece of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival is another Nederland import:  Yonder Mountain String Band.

Yonder  – banjoist Dave Johnston, mandolinist Jeff Austin, bassist Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala – is back again for the 38th annual event, June 16 – June 19, 2011, kicking off the long weekend with a Nightgrass set at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village and appearing again on the Main Stage on Saturday.

11 June, 2011 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's conversation wih Jin Zidell]

 

JinZidell-closeup Mountainfilm in Telluride's theme, "Awareness into Action," comes to life in this story about Blue Planet Network.

December 10, 2001, just one year after the death of his wife from cancer, part-time Telluride local Jin Zidell took a walk around a lake near his home in Marin County, CA. When two runners passed by, Jin had an epiphany:

 “Around the world for safe drinking water flashed in my mind."

11 June, 2011 /

Town of Mountain Village reserves Bluegrass Festival parking spaces for its residents and businesses

June 8, 2011 (Mountain Village, Colo.) – As the Town of Mountain Village becomes inundated with parked vehicles during the 38th Annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, the town has set aside specific parking spaces for its residents and businesses from Wednesday, June 15 through Sunday, June 19.

Mountain Village residents who have procured a parking permit may park in the Town Hall Plaza Parking lot, the same lot as The Market at Mountain Village. The 26 spaces designated for permit holders are those located along the rock wall. These parking spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and overnight parking is not allowed. Any resident with a parking permit may also park in the North Village Center pay-to-park surface lot for free. Again, overnight parking is not allowed.

11 June, 2011 /

[click "Play", Michael Cleveland speaks with Susan, but notes the date of his performance is the 16th, not the 17th)

 

Michael There is a nice, alliterative quality to "fire" and "fiddle," two words that become one great big idea in the skilled hands of Michael Cleveland. Move over Nero. When Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper play the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival Thursday, June 16, guaranteed Telluride Town Park burns.

The blind Henryville, Indiana native quickly became renowned as one of the hottest attractions in bluegrass for his blistering and unconventional fiddle style. By his early teens, Michael Cleveland had appeared on the Grand Ole Opry (as a guest ofTelluride Bluegrass regular Allison Krauss), A Prairie Home Companion, and before the United States Congress.

10 June, 2011 /

by Jon Lovekin

Slide chutes Often, the best way to the mountain top is where fierce energy has blown down a path to the bottom. Snow avalanches do this. Where they load and run, decade to decade, is a clear path to the top, avoiding the tree fall and other debris in the deep dark woods that densely cover the hills.

Today was one of those days. I got a late start after checking the gear and carefully arranging the pack. The hike, work at the mine, and walk back out would take me into the early hours of nightfall even on this June day. The climb always cleared the pipes and the mind and today was no different. A cool breeze pulsed up the hillside chilling the sweat drenched clothes. As I topped out, light headed at the ridge I suddenly started as I heard voices. Looking all about there was no-one to be seen. Snatches of a far away conversation brought to me in pieces in the abrupt and now mysterious winds coming up from the valley. I was now well primed for the ghosts from yesterday that haunt these old mine sites.

10 June, 2011 /

June 9 to 16, 2011
Visible Planets: Morning: Venus, Mars and Jupiter  Evening: Saturn

Of course, after all...it's Gemini magic in the window!

Sisters I’ve written quite a bit lately about eclipses and “eclipse windows.” Of course, I’m totally into observing and experiencing what comes along during these very portentous times. Sometimes it’s big and blasting – events make the message clear – and at other times, not so. Subtleties and nuances can be all I get. Just like life, it’s in retrospect that vision is 20/20.

For me, the June eclipses carry plenty of pertinent “Gemini” information. There’s the classic gossip – Weinergate – and the perennial scholastic and graduation themes. Games of sport for entertainment – baseball’s boys of summer and the NBA finals, transportation, travel and commerce – gas prices! - unemployment and our struggling economy, along with cartoonish politicos Sarah Palin (and her vaudeville tour bus), Newt Gingrich (announcing his Presidential run on Twitter) and Donald Trump (firing himself as a candidate) going on with his pomp and pompadour. I’m not sure if there’s any prophetic message in all this hoopla – except that we’ve been playing the game too long! - but I do find it humorous, after all. And that’s 100% Gemini.

10 June, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Kristin Holbrook's conversation with Susan]

 

Daisy Dukes Who wears short shorts? For Telluride Bluegrass, Two Skirts is talking fashion with a southern twang. Kristin Holbrook is all about "Daisy Dukes."

"Daisy Dukes" are extremely short, form-fitting, denim cut-off shorts worn by young women, originally in the American South. For the boomer generation, these shorts are "hot pants" revisited. Very hot pants, named after the character, Daisy Duke (for trivia buffs, portrayed by Catherine Bach) in the TV series from the early 1980s, "The Dukes of Hazzard."

09 June, 2011 /
[click "Play", Susan talks with Colin Sullivan}

 

Heritage Fest poster Telluride's Heritage Festival takes a look hard long over its shoulder at Telluride's colorful past, back to the days when Butch Cassidy robbed the bank, and cowboys and prospectors with gold fever bellied up to our (numerous) bars. (Believe there were about 37 in Telluride's heyday.)

The following is the schedule of events:

Friday, June 10: Kick off Heritage Fest Friday night with wine, cheese and a selection of the Telluride Historical Museum's most popular and interesting images on display at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, 5-6 p.m.

09 June, 2011 /