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Author: Susan Viebrock

The Town of Mountain Village, Telluride's sister city, does more than pay lip service to the notion of democracy. It puts words into action, money where its mouth is, in an annual survey. The results of  the 2010 survey, once tabulated, go straight to the bottom line: the findings are applied to the 2011 budget process, including general business and marketing decisions, and used to improve day-to-day operations.

Surveys, about 1,400 in all, were mailed on March 16. Questions were designed to probe the community’s perceptions and attitudes regarding a number of Town-related topics such as quality of life, town services, planning and economic development, and expenditure patterns.

29 March, 2010 /

A storm hit the San Juan Mountains Friday, bringing an incredible 22 inches of snow to the Telluride Ski area in the last 24 hours. Snow fell at a rate of 2-4 inches/hour throughout the region Friday night.Today, Saturday was mostly sunny and on...

28 March, 2010 /

Tom White The prodigal son returns in triumph to Telluride.

The Telluride Council for Arts and Humanities and The Chamber Music Festival are proud to present pianist Tom White, performing live at the Michael D. Palm Theater Sunday, March 28, 4:30 p.m.

Former Telluride local, Tom has spent the past two years completing a masters degree in piano performance at the University of Northern Colorado. He is excited to return to his former stomping ground to perform some of his favorite piano music. The program includes works by Brahms, Debussy, Scarlatti, and Beethoven.

27 March, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Susan's interview with James Pittman]

JRPpic(small)
James Pittman

In line with its mission to spearhead green initiatives in the Telluride region, The New Community Coalition hosts the second in a series of integrated design workshops with a sustainable building focus."Systems Thinking of Building Design" takes place Friday, March 26, 2010, 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the award-winning Wilkinson Public Library, 100 West Pacific Avenue.


Systems thinking, integrated design, dynamic modeling, sustainable building design, Building Information Modeling (BIM)... What do these terms mean? How would you apply them to your professional role in building design? How would interested non-professionals integrate these concepts into their lives?
25 March, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Brian J's conversation with Susan]


Jay Ryan says it all on their Facebook page: "Get your pimp on." Telluride's The Llama (corner of Colorado & Pine) presents Pimps of Joytime Friday, March 26, starting at 10:30 p.m. for two very jazzy, jammy, funky sets. (And throw in a Latin twist, some rap, reggae, and blues for good measure.)


Mixing samples and dance beats with spicy musicianship and sweet vocal harmonies, The Pimps of Joytime have evolved since 2005 into the a five-piece groove machine that gets crowds at festivals and clubs from London to San Francisco shaking their tail-feathers.
25 March, 2010 /
[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.)
24 March, 2010 /
[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.
23 March, 2010 /
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.

 
23 March, 2010 /
[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.
22 March, 2010 /
[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.
22 March, 2010 /