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Author: Susan Viebrock

 Think Telluride is a special place nowadays? Imagine just how good it looked through the bottom of a shot glass filled with hooch. That was then.

Back in the wild and woolly days at the turn of the 20th century, a gentleman could barely doff his hat to a lady without hitting the front door of a watering hole: there were 37 bars in Telluride during the first 10 years of the last century. Throughout Prohibition, drinks were available just about everywhere, including the Courthouse. When hospitals and banks were closing down in the 1960s, and only 600 stalwart locals remained, saloons stood their ground. In the 1970s, when Telluride became a ski resort, ski bums and hippies replaced cowboys and miners on bar stools, ushering in a new era of liquid history.

20 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to listen to Erika Gordon's conversation with Susan]

 

Food.inc poster-flyer “Eating can be one dangerous business. Don’t take another bite till you see Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc.,” wrote Peter Travers of Rolling Stone, “If the way to an audience’s heart is through its stomach, ‘Food, Inc.’ is a movie you’re going to love.”

The film being shown this Sunday, March 20, 4 p.m., as part of the Telluride Film Festival's 2011 Sunday at the Palm series received a an average rating 8 on a scale of 10 on Rotten Tomatoes, pure poetry since this movie is all about food, the good, the bad, mostly rotten.

 

19 March, 2011 /

 The Infamous Stringdusters return to town to perform at the historic Sheridan Opera House, the lead act on a double bill for the Spring Fever Weekend. (Elephant Revival "opened" for them Saturday night.) The concert takes place Sunday, March 20, 8 p.m.

The progressive acoustic group first performed in town at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. That was four years ago, in 2007, with the release of their now acclaimed first album, Fork in the Road, on Sugar Hill. The collection earned the newbies three top awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association for 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.

18 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Tony Forrest]

 

 

Family Nordic Skiing Mountain Village is home base for the Telluride Ski Resort. The Town of Mountain Village maintains miles of Nordic and snowshoe trails and an ice skating rink. (Also a tennis court open year 'round, but that's another story.)

To drive the point about a winter wonderland home, this weekend, Mountain Village hosts a community bash. The event takes place Saturday, March 19, starting at 11 a.m. on the Wilson Loop Trail (at the entrance to town on Adams Ranch Road). What's in store is a variety of relay races, an obstacle course, games and more for the whole family to enjoy FREE. All ages and abilities welcome. Or just come as a spectator. 

17 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Sasha Cucciniello talk about the program]

 

kicker: Program follows course at Ah Haa

Sugar Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts promoted the class this way:

"Join artistic director Sasha Cucciniello of SquidShow Theatre and Melissa Sumpter of Durango’s Salt Fire Circus, as they take you on a three-week journey into the world of burlesque dancing and performance. At the close of the class, students will be given the opportunity to show off their skills during a live variety show on the stage of the Sheridan Opera House!"

Their time is now. On March 25, 8 p.m., at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House, Sasha and SquidShow Theatre present an evening of burlesque, which includes "boylesque," boys doing burlesque. Sasha promises an evening that is at once "daring, sexy and scandalous." And Sasha always delivers the goods.

16 March, 2011 /

On Thursday, March 17, 5 – 8 p/m/. Telluride's Lustre Gallery hosts a reception for a trunk show featuring bling with a pedigree: historic art nouveau jewels, handcrafted in Barcelona from original molds and enameling technique created by artist Lluis Masriera. Representatives from Masriera...

15 March, 2011 /
[click "Play", John Wontrobski talks with Susan about the event and his background as a chef]

 

Rico Hotel Publication It's tough to connect the dots: a Telluride Deputy Marshal, a nonprofit dedicated to ending interpersonal violence in the greater Telluride community, St. Patrick's Day, and, well, Shepherd's Pie, but here's the story.

On March 17, 5 – 9 p.m., John Wontrobski, Telluride Marshal and board member of the San Miguel Resource Center, is Guest Chef at the Argentine Grille in Rico. The special menu John put together for that night includes Lamb Shepherd's Pie served either with oysters on the half shell –  or a salad and vegetable (greens for St. Patrick's Day) and Irish soda bread (also in honor of the holiday). The entree is priced at $25 and half the proceeds from the meal go to – and here's the punch line – the San Miguel Resource Center.

15 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to listen to Susan's conversation with Jennie Franks]

 

 

FJL_Final The Telluride Playwrights Festival spilled out of the pen of Telluride local Jennie Franks, founder of Sparky Productions. While writing one of her own plays, Jennie realized playwrights like herself need to hear their words spoken out loud during the evolving process of refining a script. The Telluride Playwrights Festival has little to do with splashy productions and everything to do with theatre basics: speaking words that tell a story. The event is, in effect, a laboratory setting for actors, playwrights and directors and a vehicle for exploring ideas, issues and our own humanity through theatre. Plays germinated at the Telluride Playwrights Festival are now blossoming all over the country in major markets with full productions.

Now in its fifth year, the Playwrights Festival continues to expand upon its collaborative mission, bringing a full production of a new dark comedy by William Missouri Downs. "Forgiving John Lennon" is part of the University of Wyoming’s Summer Theatre Program. This timely, shattering comedy explores a clash of cultures in a world where, as Lennon says “nothing to kill or die for” might not be so easily imagined. As with all Telluride Playwright Festival productions, feedback from the audience after the performance is a valued next step towards a polished finished project.

14 March, 2011 /