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Author: Susan Viebrock

Light one candle poster In Telluride, around the world, certain songs make-up the soundtrack of December, evoking images of Jack Frost nipping at your nose. The chestnut about the reindeer  named Rudolph with the red nose is on the Telluride Choral Society's  WinterSing program, which also includes "Tambourine Carol," "Go Tell It On the Mountain," Vivaldi's "Laudamus Te" from the "Gloria," and an original composition by singer/songwriter Peter Yarrow, "Light One Candle," the theme of this year's concerts.

"This year marks my 10th WinterSing in Telluride," said longtime Choral Society member Eileen Burns. "I love getting together with close friends to rehearse every Wednesday at Christ Church.  For such a small community, Telluride is loaded with talent and I am thrilled to be a part of the magic."

14 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Senior Mahoney's conversation withSusan]

"We Skied It" premier at Sheridan Opera House, December 17, 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM

Poster final In the 1970s, Telluride was just finding its ski legs, a baby ski resort beginning to pulse thanks very much to a chap from Beverly Hills called Joe Zoline. At the time, half of Main Street was still boarded up and lots of folks were beating a path out of town muttering darkly because Idarado had just closed for business. The historic Sheridan Opera House, now nearly restored to its full Victorian splendor, was a wreck, a camping ground for derelicts with broken glass and upturned mattresses everywhere. But what of life before Zoline, See Forever, Spiral Stairs, and Milk Run helped put Telluride on the map?


About a year and a half ago, longtime local Larry Hopkins re-discovered gold in Telluride – celluloid gold – in the form of Senior Mahoney's 16MM home movies. Hopkins did not pass Go. He headed straight for the Telluride Historical Museum with his new-found treasure, where museum director Lauren Bloemsma and her team picked up the gauntlet.
14 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to listen to host David Oyster on the films]

TFF12-14 The fourth and final program of the film noir series presented by the Telluride Film Festival and The Wilkinson Public LIbrary, part of the film club TFF Cinematheque, includes two classics of the genre: "Out of the Past" (1947, 97 minutes) and "Double Indemnity" (1944, 106 minutes). This double bill starts at 6:00 pm, Monday, December 14, at the Wilkinson Library in Telluride.


13 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Mark Galbo's take on learning]

Triton F09 Telluride's Rock and Roll Academy holds its 6th annual Winter Rock Concert at the Sheridan Opera House on Saturday, December 12, 2009. The extravaganza showcases nine bands featuring 43 student musicians ages 7 – 18, including 13 girls, from the public school, the Mountain School, Norwood and Ophir.


Innovative music educator Mark Galbo founded the Rock and Roll Academy is 2004 on the strongly held conviction music is "instant community."  The goal of his School within the School at the Mountain School and his after-school initiatives are the same: deliver an experiential music program that promotes team building, self-expression, personal transformation, and social responsibility. In a nutshell, Galbo's Rock and Roll Academy has little to do with priapic strutting and lots more to do with teaching kids how to make positive choices in their lives. They are taught fearlessness, finding mystery and fun.
12 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Katy and Alex]

"Nutcracker" at Telluride's Palm Theatre, December 12 & 13

Nutcracker poster red Scrooge may complain of a whopper of a toothache from all that sugar, but for the rest of us sentimental saps, "The Nutcracker" remains as much a part of Christmas as evergreens and eggnog. The ballet's enduring appeal stems from the fact this coming-of-age story speaks to the child in us all.

Prima ballerina Valerie Madonia choreographs the Telluride Dance Academy's extravaganza which stars Ebba Green and Emma Spaulding, alternating as Clara, the girl on the edge of woman, Ashley Boling as Drosselmeier, the embodiment of the ballet's magic, Katy Bowlby as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Alex Kramer as her Cavalier. Dancer and teacher Shirley Fortenberry is the Snow Queen.

12 December, 2009 /



The Telluride Dance Academy presents the unkillable ballet, the one that features a young girl on the verge, her handsome prince, a cornucopia of dancing delicacies, mad mice, determined toy soldiers, and a tree on growth hormones. The second annual production of "The Nutcracker" takes place this coming weekend, Saturday, December 12, 7 p.m. and Sunday, December 13, 3 p.m. at the Michael D. Palm Theatre.

The pure magic of "The Nutcracker" is etched into the evening almost as soon as the curtain goes up, when the magician, Herr Drosselmeier, godfather to Clara, makes a grand entrance at a Christmas party and gives little heroine Clara a Nutcracker doll.
10 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan talking with Bertrand Marchal]

Bertrand Longtime Telluride locals referred to them as  les deux Bertrands, the two Bertrands: Bertrand Lepel-Cointet, now deceased, worked the front of the house. Bertrand Marchal was the chef. Together, the two owners turned La Marmotte Restaurant into a local institution.

Bertrand Marchal spent his youth studying under some of the best chefs in France, at Michelin-rated restaurants such as Le Crocodile in Strasbourg and Boyer in Reims. Today, he operates his own catering company, Bertrand's Catering.
09 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Beth Roberts and Sasha Cuciniello]

DSCN1381 In the early 1870s, miners first came to the Telluride region in search of silver and gold,  but the settlement wasn't called "Telluride." It was named Columbia. But Columbia's post office application was turned down on the grounds a town in California with the same name beat the settlers to the punch. The U.S. Postmaster General resolved the problem in 1880: we got our post office, but it came with a new name:"Telluride."

"Telluride"might have been derived from "tellurium," an element often associated with gold seams. Was the moniker just a crass marketing ploy to lure prospectors to the region? Some subscribe to the idea "Telluride" was code among outlaws. Was the name simple contraction of the phrase "to hell you ride," because way back when Telluride was wild and wooly.

08 December, 2009 /
[click to listen to Sally Strand on her art]

Strand_Awake200808_CC_LG Sally Strand is one of a number of high profile pastel artists in the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art's stable, which also includes Bruce Gomez, Doug Dawson, Carole Katchen, Deborah Bays, Albert Handell, and Ramon Kelly.


Brandishing her colored sticks, Strand teases the magic out of everyday objects and ordinary places/situations – train stations, restaurants, pears, a bowl of flowers, eggs, an unmade bed. The quotidian then becomes a placeholder for Strand's real subject: catching the light as it changes from moment to moment. Although her work is representational, Strand is anything but a strict realist. Look closely at her color choices: her palette is there to create a mood rather than depict what is actually in front of our eyes. In a very real sense, Strand helps her viewer see rather than simply look. Strand once told Telluride Inside...and Out: "Success to me is when you can take an ordinary head of lettuce and cause someone to give it a second glance.”
08 December, 2009 /