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Author: Susan Viebrock

[click "Play" for Ashley Deppen's idea of what to wear]

DSC00434 For sure, not some cliched Christmas sweater, with reindeer dancing across your chest. Especially not in Telluride, where cliches go to die.

And fagettabout the low cut red velvet number trimmed in faux fuh. There already is a Mrs. Santa.

Some je ne suis quoi in red and green? Nope, your holiday tree has that color combo cornered.

23 December, 2010 /

[click "Play" to hear Wade Davis' conversation with Susan]

 

100_2229 In Telluride, simply saying "Wade Davis" is like incanting "Open Sesame," the name unlocking doors of the mind. Mountainfilm in Telluride executive director Peter Kenworthy described Davis as a "Renaissance man," a defensive move, because the actual list of accolades and credits that adhere to the man could fill the Manhattan telephone book.

20091004-20091004-3919121-02 At Mountainfilm's annual fundraiser, Davis anchors a program that highlights five projects recently awarded $5,000 each. One of the projects is Sacred Headwaters, Sacred Journey, a photographic exposition by Paul Colangelo of the shared birthplace of three of British Columbia’s great salmon-bearing rivers, the Stikine, Skeena and Nass. The Stikine Valley, sacred to the First Nations, is one of the largest predator-prey ecosystems in North America. This area is now threatened by resource development. Colangelo's project is especially near and dear to Davis, a native of British Columbia and frequent visitor to the region that has been called “The Serengeti of the North.”

22 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to the second in the series of interviews with Rev. Pat Bailey]

 

Kids, CC In his first post/interview Reverend Pat Bailey of Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church talked about the myth and magic of Christmas. In the second of his three-part series parsing the holiday, the focus is on the "war" on Christmas, which has a lot to do with the different perceptions Bailey addressed in his first interview.

The news last week was chockablock with scary, seemingly insurmountable challenges to our country, one of which hit Tulsa hard: Could its Christmas parade be saved despite protests against the disappearance of the word "Christmas" from its title. (The name had been changed to The Holiday of Lights parade, which outraged the righteous state senator, James Imhofe for one.) The good news: the parade would go on, albeit without Imhofe on his high horse – at least not the carrot-chomping version.

22 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear the first of Rev. Bailey's interviews]

 

DSC_3681
Rev. Pat Bailey

Since Thanksgiving, Christmas has been top of mind, top of media, injecting mistletoe (and for some, holiday misgivings) into the bubble we call Telluride.

Turn on any TV and holiday chestnuts such as "It's a Wonderful Life" light up the screen. (And give the cynics in the crowd a seasonal toothache.) The glossies are packed with gift ideas, recipes for the holidays, what to wear, some intrepid souls even tackling what to believe about Christmas. Several years ago, both Newsweek and Time featured cover stories about the First Noel, articles that raised controversial questions about the Nativity: Who were the Wise Men? What about the star? Is it possible Jesus was born in Nazareth? Who exactly were the two Marys?

Christmas is surely a good deal more than buy, cry, fry, wonder what and why.

Telluride Inside... and Out has asked local religious leader, Reverend Pat Bailey, of Telluride's Christ Presbyterian Church, to shed some light on the subject of Christmas, it's meaning and real magic.

21 December, 2010 /

[click "Play", Erik Dalton talks about "Promo Weeks."]

 

 

IMG_0988 Erik Dalton of Telluride's Jagged Edge is among the tough ones who got going in response to economic doldrums, exercising a well-deserved reputation for being an innovative retailer, an asset any day of the week, but especially now. Case in point: "Promo Weeks."

Erik hatched the idea for "Promo Weeks" initially as a way to motivate Jagged Edge employees, each of whom is responsible for several brands. Having his staff work directly and closely with the companies whose labels the store sells deepens their knowledge of every product on Jagged Edge's shelves/racks. That knowledge then gets passed along to customers, with the added bonus of discount programs organized by those Jagged Edge employees for these special "Promo Weeks."

21 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Lauren Metzger's conversation with Susan]

 

 

Blue mountain The date's a given: December 31, 2010. New Year's Eve. The featured artist for the 2010 Ah Haa auction is a given too: Susan X. Billings. Very few artists are as well known, well respected and widely collected in the greater Telluride community as Susie Billings.

Few have as long a history with the town's community arts center, the Ah Haa School for the Arts, where she has served on the board and been a long time and very popular teacher. Her work has been represented for years by the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art, now celebrating its 26th anniversary. Susie's latest images literally and figuratively lend color and vibrancy to Ah Haa's gala, an evening of fine art, wine, food, entertainment – SquidShow and Mike Pale Trio – and friends. The dinner party takes place from 6:30 – 10 p.m. One of Susie's new works, "Wilson Range in Blue Diptych" is to be auctioned off live mid-evening.

21 December, 2010 /

Telluride3
Roger Mason painting

In the beginning there was Telluride's The New Sheridan Hotel. At least for us.

Twenty-five years ago, Clint Viebrock rode into Telluride on his metal horse, a Yamaha, on his way to no place in particular. One night at The New Sheridan Bar and The Sheridan Hotel was all the convincing he needed: Clint had found home.

Friday night, December 17, Telluride Inside... and Out returned to a vastly different New Sheridan under vastly different circumstances. We were there as a couple at the invitation of general manager Ray Farnsworth to experience the hotel in all the glory of its latest incarnation following the 2008 renovation, which cost about $7 million – and Ray, who lovingly shepherded the process, more gray hairs.

A date night at The New Sheridan? Twist my arm.

20 December, 2010 /
[click to hear Susan's conversation with Hillaree & Brian O'Neill]

 

CRussell-4384 Telluride has lots of great people around town, but some, sadly are addicts. A number of them are addicted to a white substance. Its name is POW. I am talking, of course, about powder, as in snow. If you are one of them, listen up.

On December 23, Travis Julia Productions announces a showing of Warren Miller's 61st film, "Winterventions." The two screenings, sponsored by Jagged Edge and Bootdoctors, take place at the Sheridan Opera House @ 6 p.m. and @ 9 p.m.

19 December, 2010 /