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Author: Susan Viebrock

Scrooge. Tiny Tim. Bah -- humbug! The words from Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol hang in the frosty holiday air like our chilled breath. More than a century and a half after its publication in 1843, the story of the miser-turned-humanitarian remains a fixture in the tinsel-strewn landscape of the season.

Peter Ackroyd is the foremost living biographer of Dickens and chief literary critic of The Times of London. He also wrote the Foreword to the most recent Christmas gift book put out by Red Rock Press, A Christmas Dinner. Ackroyd weighs in on the enduring popularity of Dickens tale and its grizzled protagonist.

17 December, 2008 /

[Click the play button to hear]

Jeb Berrier is Robin Williams on skis: a deranged lunatic with exhibitionist leanings and talent to burn.

During the Christmas season, the actor/director likes to hang with a few of his close friends, fellow actors, and put on a holiday play at the historic Sheridan Opera House. In general, we are talking tour de farce.

Case in point, this years romp: Bob's Holiday Office Party.

Office Party is a lewd, crude alternative to standard holiday treacle such as Frank Capra's It's A Wonderful Life.

Showtime is 8 p.m., December 18-22, at the Opera House.

In this irreverent, crude, fast-paced, ferociously funny production an insurance ace Bob Finhead (Jeb) prepares to host yet another annual holiday boozefest. His guests are his neighbors, the genetically challenged denizens of Neuterberg, Iowa, a paean to small-town America, where life happens. And all is not well.

17 December, 2008 /

I grew up in and around New York, a place known for ethnic diversity, where a handle like "Smith" is as rare as a street with no traffic or trash. The name smacks of white bread and white linen.

OD 2 Susannah is anything but. She is a kaleidoscope of colors. However this true introvert does not announce her many gifts. She unwraps them slowly or obliquely in conversations over time, casually tossing over her shoulder (like discarded peanut shells) the fact she is a practicing clinical psychologist, executive coach, systems consultant, author, composer, soprano, and one-time pilot.

Susannah does not take herself too seriously: she is who she is.
We on the other hand are honored to call her friend and confidante.

Dr. Smith has agreed to join "Telluride Inside…and Out's" team of writers. She will be contributing a weekly advice column, beginning now with her first "Shrink Rap."

15 December, 2008 /

ChristmasDinner “Telluride Inside…and Out” is all about what makes Telluride sing, which comes down to the soaring, quirky, original voices of locals such as Ilene and Richard Barth, pedigreed authors in their own right, and also founders/owners of the New York-based boutique gift book publishing company, Red Rock Press.

Red Rock Press’s new holiday book is “A Christmas Dinner” by Charles Dickens, with a series of original paintings for illustrations, and holiday recipes, many taken and adapted from Dickens’ family papers.

Red Rock Press founder and part-time local Ilene Barth explains how her publishing company and this book came about, with detours to reflect on Telluride’s past and present literary riches. Let Ilene tell the story:

15 December, 2008 /

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David Lingle

Around the world no holiday is more closely associated with music than Christmas. Locally it would not be Christmas without the Telluride Choral Society’s annual WinterSing. Along with Noel Nite and the Dance Academy’s “The Nutcracker,” the concert series signals tinsel time in toy town.

WinterSing continues this weekend on Friday, December 12, and next Tuesday, December 16, 7 p.m. at Christ Church.

There are songs that constitute the soundtrack of the season, evoking images of Jack Frost nipping our noses and kids listening to sleigh bells in the snow. Artistic director Dr. David Lingle chose not to include the all-time classic, Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” on his play list, but audiences will get to hear other seasonal chestnuts: “Sleigh Ride,”  “Joy to the World,” sung by local teen a cappella group Emanon, and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” by Camilla Gardner.

Lingle describes this seasonal sampler as an “eclectic mix of holiday favorites – and then some.”

11 December, 2008 /

In the face of the undeniable fact that year after year, town after town around the world thrills to the spectacle of a twinkling Christmas tree on growth hormones and a flurry of snow at the end of Act I that would cause Telluriders to call in sick in the morning, it is hard to believe “The Nutcracker” first opened under a cloud in 1892 at St. Petersburg Maryinsky Theatre.

11 December, 2008 /

CCL_reindeer-sleighpull1 Add comedy to the list of unsolved mysteries right after the Big Bang and black holes.

In the Woody Allen movie “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” one character describes what tickles our funny bones and wrinkles our noses as “tragedy plus time.”

Steve Martin famously described comedy as “what makes you laugh, but not puke.” He also said: “Comedy is not pretty.”

Check out the faces on the Opera House poster promoting the upcoming appearance of Chicago City Limits. The members of the comedy troupe are not pretty either. But they are widely regarded as very funny.

09 December, 2008 /