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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" to hear Dianne Reeves' conversation with Susan]

Media02sm Double the pleasure. Double the fun.

This year, Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario/ Festival director Paul Machado welcomes two great female jazz vocalists to the Toshiko Akiyoshi Town Park Stage. Jackie Ryan performs Saturday night at the Nugget Theatre and again on Sunday in Town Park. And Dianne Reeves is the closing act on opening day, Friday, August 5: a good choice because Reeves has the star power and hardware (four Grammys, including the soundtrack for George Clooney's "Good Night and Good Luck") to deliver a very grand finale.

31 July, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Jen Wineman's interview with Susan]

Poster Telluride's SquidShow Theatre is the living end. This time we mean that literally. Saturday July 31 – Tuesday, August 3, the Squids present "Cataclysm!: "The end is closer than you think. So is the beginning." The happening takes place nightly at 7 p.m. at The Deep Creek Mine, just seven miles outside of town.

"Cataclysm" was conceived by SquidShow Theatre founder Sasha Cucciniello and her long-time collaborator, New York City-based playwright, Sarah Gancher.

After working with the Deep Creek Artisan Guild, Sasha became determined to create a show specifically for this rustic location. For years, the idea of a site-specific theatrical piece at Deep Creek percolated, eventually took shape in "Cataclysm." Sasha tapped Sarah to come to Telluride to co-write this theatrical extravaganza, created from scratch through the rehearsal process under the leadership of director Jen Wineman and designer Melissa Trn.
29 July, 2010 /

[click "Play", Kristin Holbrook talks about Joie T-shirts] Kristin Holbrook of Telluride's popular Two Skirts is crying for joy over Joie's white T- shirt. Once upon a time, white t-shirts came in a three- or six-pack...

29 July, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Larry Coryell's conversation with Susan]

Coryell Six years ago guitar legend Larry Coryell was honored at the 28th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, where he performed with drummer Lenny White and bassist Mark Egan. Coryell returns to the 34th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, August 5 – August 8, to time to honor a friend, former Telluride Jazz Celebration board member Chris Bou, who died in May 2009.


To tribute Bou, Coryell returns with Egan, changing the recipe on his aural elixir just a little bit with two special guests, Paul Wertico replacing White on drums, and saxophonist Karl Denson. The quartet is scheduled to perform Sunday, August 8, 3:40 – 4:50 p.m. on the Toshiko Akiyoshi Town Park Stage.

"Larry has style, awesome technique, a sharp wit and big charisma," said Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado of his friend and supporter.

27 July, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Langhorne Slim's interview with Susan]

Slim Langhorne Slim is appearing in concert on Friday, July 30, 8:30 p.m. at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House. The buzz is you want to be there to shake your tail feathers – and say you knew him when.

It's a Dylan thing. Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman to a middle class family in Nowhere Special, Minnesota. Brooklyn-based Langhorne Slim was born Sean Scolnick in – and here's the punch line – Langhorne, Pennsylvania. But we all know the line from Shakespeare about a rose. Regardless of his name, the fame of this singer-songwriter-guitarist is being etched in stone. Rolling Stone. "Damn near perfect," said the magazine about Langhorne Slim's third album, Be Set Free, on Kemado Records.
27 July, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Eugene Wowk's conversation with Susan]

WDimage Integrated Design Workshop #3, "Practical Applications of Tools & Methods,” takes place Friday, July 30, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library Program Room, 100 W. Pacific Ave. The event is hosted by The New Community Coalition (TNCC), with support from the Governor’s Energy Office ENERGY STAR New Homes grant program. Guest presenters are James Pittman, a whole systems designer, consultant, and educator, and Eugene Wowk, architect and owner of Wowk Design, LLC.

"Practical Applications of Tools & Methods” targets anyone with a voice in the design phase of buildings, especially in high altitude (cold, dry climate) environments.  Previous training is not required and “newbies” are welcome to attend. Architects, engineers, designers, general contractors, owners, interior designers, tradesmen, and building & planning department staff are encouraged to participate. Attendance at previous talks is not a prerequisite.
26 July, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Susan's interview with Dan Hicks]

Panama_dan_sm Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado likes to push the jazz envelope, often inviting guests whose music, is not, strictly speaking "jazz." That is unless you define jazz as a labyrinth of styles, sounds and rhythms summed up in a one syllable word.

Check the schedule on the first full day of sounds, Friday, August 6. Machado features Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks in the 4 p.m. slot. The hodgepodge of genres Hicks melds into his own signature sound includes outlaw swing, folk, country, Django, blues, rock, and okay, jazz, a brew he himself has been known to describe as "folk jazz." Ok, the hipster is in by a nose.
25 July, 2010 /
[click "Play", Jackie talks to Susan]

[click "Play" to hear Jackie Ryan's "Doozy"]

JackieWhiteBlouse-Doozy2thm The sun will shine on the 34th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration – at least when vocalist Jackie Ryan steps onstage.

Jackie Ryan is widely regarded in inner circles of buffs and critics as one of the premier jazz singers out of North America, but one the general public is not well aware of. This despite reviews peppered with superlatives touting her "extravagant" range, both emotional and stylistic, her "sweeping vocal powers" laced with passion, her "savvy" vocalizing, her "magnetic" stage presence.
24 July, 2010 /
[click "Play", Rachel Loomis-Lee and Lauren Metzger speak to Susan]

Artopia_sponsors_web Taken from a book of that name written by Sir Thomas More in 1516, "Utopia" defines an ideal society. Like Shangri-La – or Telluride.

The theme of the Ah Haa School for the Arts' 18th annual auction is ARTopia, suggesting an ideal place, the school, within an ideal place, Telluride. Ah Haa is a place where dreams are born and personal epiphanies acquire weight and shape as people of all ages channel their inner Leonardo.

This annual fundraiser is a happening: the high voltage live and silent auctions feature over 200 items of original art, services and trips, all donated by the region’s artists, businesses and supporters of Ah Haa and local celebrities. Former Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kruetzmann put his psychedelic stamp on a pair of Wagner Skis. (Talk about gilding the lily.)

23 July, 2010 /