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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Amy Boebel]

PB293770 The holiday season in Telluride comes with all the traditional trimmings: chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose, folks around town dressed up like Eskimos, twinkling lights, eggnog, office parties, ho-ho-hoing. At the center of all the action is the Christmas tree, which takes over our living rooms like good old Uncle Joe and Aunt Sadie, likewise decorated.


Several years ago, some Long Islander had the bright idea to sell faux upside-down trees, which made a real wrinkle in the holiday's novelty sweepstakes that year. The idea: a person could put more presents under an upside down tree. Topsy-turvey trees take up less room, and more of your prized ornaments would be at eye level. That one, however, went out with Beanie Babies and Pet Rocks. But the idea of pre-decorated trees still has legs.
01 December, 2009 /
[click "Play" to listen to Dr. Mark Varien speak about Crow Canyon]

Painted bowl 1 The Telluride Historical Museum, 201 West Gregory Avenue, has arranged an early holiday treat for the community. "Telluride Unearthed" is a series of lectures about way back when, when cultures lived sustainably without benefit of Al Gore, solar panels, or The New Community Coalition because, well,  that was the way it was. There were no movies thousands of  millennia ago either, so no popcorn with butter. But there was corn and lots of it, which is part of what archaeologist Mark Varien will talk about, when the vice president of programs at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center, opens "Telluride Unearthed" with insights about "Life is Movement: Pueblo Indians of the Mesa Verde Region."


In his two-hour talk, Tuesday, December 1, 6 – 8 p.m., Mark Varien plans to trace the Pueblo culture over a period of four millennia, beginning with the introduction of corn about 2,000 BC. He ends at the end of the 13th century with the mass exodus of the Mesa Verde Pueblo people.
30 November, 2009 /


[click "Play" to hear Alex Ebert's conversation with Susan]   

Noel Nite in Telluride, December 2,  is the official launch of the holiday season in town. The idea: Shop til you drop, but put some in storage. Following the feeding frenzy, guaranteed you'll be shaking what your mommy and daddy gave you and then some, when Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros performs at the historic Sheridan Opera House.

30 November, 2009 /

You've heard it before. Telluride is a global sandbox, a place supernovas gather to play. Now in its ninth season, Telluride Musicfest occurs over several weeks in June, mostly chamber music style, in the living room of two of its producers. Telluride Musicfest's artist-in-residence...

29 November, 2009 /
12-1-B&C Enough food from the Thanksgiving table to last, well, until the next holiday banquet. But how about some food for thought? Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library announces its programming for the upcoming week.

Monday, November 30, 6 p.m.: The Metaphysical Cycles and Seasons of the Family Tree

 The lineage of the family tree, exactly mirrors the times of the day, seasons of years, and the mysterious stages of our spiritual evolution. Nature invites us to join and participate in the harmony that surrounds us. The featured speaker is Denny Ray Johnson (www.rayid.com).

29 November, 2009 /

(Telluride Inside... and Out restating the point about Telluride being at the epicenter of the world map because the examples are so robust.)

Christo & Jean-Claude In May 2007, the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art held a show of the work of the world's first wrapper, the artist Christo, and his wife and partner-in-crime Jean-Claude, just two years after the couple famously created the Central Park installation known as ''The Gates." That project  involving thousands of saffron drapes was credited with injecting about $254 million into New York's economy. (Christo, how would you feel about wrapping Ajax today?)

Sadly, Jean-Claude died Wednesday, November 18, from complications of a brain aneurysm. For details, go to www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/11/19/us/AP-US-Obit-Jeanne-Claude.html.

27 November, 2009 /

Tomten greenhouse w dbl rainbow The holiday season is upon us in Telluride, with loads of opportunities for spreading a little cheer. The New Community Coalition's Kris Holstrom, owner of Tomten Farm (you buy their produce every year at the Telluride Farmer's Market) has  two greenhouses in need of a little TLC.

The ‘old standby’ greenhouse needs some clean up and organization. The ‘new growing dome’ needs its water tank put together, reflectix stapled up and a bit more. Saturday, November 28, 11 – 2 p.m.(ish), is an opportunity to check out this amazing structure as Tomten starts to get it ready for production.

26 November, 2009 /

Noel_nite Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts is decking its halls for the holiday season with themed classes for the young and young at heart.

 On Noel Night, December 2, 5 – 7 p.m., the official launch of the holiday season in Telluride, Secret Santa elves hold a workshop for kids, where they get to make stockings, create their own signature wrapping paper and more crafty Xmas goodies. Get into the holiday spirit by letting your children create holiday art from the heart while you are out shopping.

25 November, 2009 /

Help the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art kick off the holiday season with the 2009 Locals Show, featuring artist/author, Michelle Curry Wright. The event takes place Tuesday, November 24th, 5:30 – 7:30 pm, including wine tasting thanks to the Sutcliffe Vineyards in Cortez. Nepotism?...

24 November, 2009 /
[click "Play" to listen to Erika Gordon's remarks about "Ponyo"]

Ponyo.11x17 The Telluride Film Festival's Sunday at the Palm series continues Thanksgiving weekend, Sunday, November 29 4 p.m., with a rare treat for the holidays: magic and joy. Unbridled joy that sweeps up like a giant tsunami into ecstatic reverie in the newest award-winning film from animator extraordinaire Hayao Miyazaki, who won an Oscar for "Spirited Away." The film "Ponyo," (2008, 100 minutes) a sorta goldfish – actually some half-human, half-fish daughter of a powerful wizard (Miyazaki's persona?) –  desperately wants to become a little girl after she meets a little boy who loves her.


"Ponyo" takes some inspiration from "The Little Mermaid," by Hans Christian Anderson, but there is nothing macabre about Miyazaki's tale, no one dies and only a few tears are shed.

24 November, 2009 /