Author: Telluwriter TIO

By Jon Lovekin

A Tom Boy Ride
A Tom Boy Ride

Preparing for a festival as grand as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival takes time. For many Festivarians, the week to 10 day experience is their one vacation of the year. The excitement in the weeks before the Summer Solstice reaches a fever pitch the weekend before the music starts. In the early years, an entire festival was spent flopped in a tent in Town Park listening to the music from there, too sick from altitude, sun, and fun to be able to move.

As the festival caught on, pitching a tent in an empty lot or sleeping in a car late in the week ceased being possible. Prior planning became necessary and arrival in the campground early in the week morphed to getting there the weekend before. Town passes on the Landcruiser faded to no longer trying to leave town at all. We started working at the ticket booths, renting bikes, and moving in for the week.

Silent auction and more added to the fourth Annual Touch-A-Truck Fundraiser Saturday, June 25.

Mountain Munchkins Child Care and Preschool, operated by the Town of Mountain Village, hosts the fourth annual Touch-A-Truck Fundraiser in support of the childcare center’s infant, toddler, and preschool programs. The event takes place Saturday, June 25, 2011, 10 a.m.– to 1 p.m. in the Telluride Middle/High School parking lot. Admission is $5 per adult and/or child.

“My favorite thing about Touch-A-Truck is driving the school bus,” said three-year-old Gia Neyens.

by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer   ed. note: Maybe it's my age- though I think of myself as a very positive person, living pretty much in the now, and though I love the light on the longest day of the year, it brings with it the...

By David Feela

ed. note: The Summer Solstice occurs on June 21, 2011, at 11:16 am, MDT. David Feela gives us a bittersweet memory of that moment in time we begin to contemplate that at first imperceptible slide toward the shortest day of the year. Enjoy.

David Feela On the longest day of the year when sunlight puddles at the horizon, it’s officially summer.  Every year from such a precipice we call the solstice, the long ascent and the long decline are equally visible.  Maybe that’s why there’s so much light, and so much extra time to see.

Give me a beautiful sunset and a warm evening to conjure my red 1965 Mustang convertible. Just the thought of it makes me close my eyes. Like light from a burned-out star, all that flashy chrome still shines from somewhere inside me. All those layers of wax I buffed clean through the hood still make the sweat on my forehead bead up. The top folded back, the radio blaring, a full summer moon rolling like a hubcap across the sky.

Ted_m_small_1-1 The Telluride Science Reasearch Center Tuesday Town talks are back! The season kicks off with a scientist-explorer Dr. Ted Maksym of the British Antarctic Survey. His presentation, “In the Footsteps of Shackleton: A natural history of Antarctic sea ice” will be held from 6:00 to 7:15 pm, Tuesday, June 21, 2011, in the Palm Theatre in the Telluride Middle School/High School. 

Maksym is an expert in Antarctic sea ice, which covers 8.5% of the world’s oceans in the winter. Maksym's current research measures the thickness of Antarctic sea ice to understand more about the influence of climate change. Surface area can be imaged by satellite, but scientists need information on the thickness of sea ice to understand more precisely if it’s growing, melting, or moving.

[click "Play" to listen to Jesse's interview with Alicia Stark]

 

By J James McTigue

Alicia Stark, RN-BSN, began her career as a labor and delivery nurse in a high-risk hospital in Virginia.  
She gained incredible medical experience, but realized she hadn’t learned anything about birth. This education came when she worked literally worlds away -- on the Navajo Reservation in Tuba City, Arizona.

Inspired by her experiences on the Reservation, she added certified Hypno-Birthing practitioner to her Bg-1 list of credentials.  She is excited to share the methods of hypno-birthing and what she refers to as birthing “tools” to pregnant women in and around Telluride. She will be teaching a two-day, Hypno-Birthing class, from noon to 6 p.m. on June 25th and 26th at Shantihi Yoga Studio in Ridgway. 

By Rosemerry Wahtola Trommmer (ed. note: I love it when Rosemerry sends us some of her writing. Fathers' Day was the excuse for these two poems. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.) Inheriting PatienceHear how the galaxy’s engine runs...

Prudence

By Tracy Shaffer

Sunday afternoons at the Mercury Café are always an eclectic mix with swing dance, poetry slams and tarot readings on the calendar. But last week the place levitated to a place even the Tibetan meditation class would envy. The occasion was a concert by the brilliant jazz band, Zuri, featuring the angelic voice of Prudence Mabhena, to benefit the Cunningham Foundation.

Hosted by Zuri cellist James Bailey, the event opened with some “world-inspired, improvisational, high-energy jazz”, as vibes playing percussionist Greg Tanner Harris describes the Zuri sound (I’d have gone with “jaw-dropping, eye-popping” myself), while artist Laurie Maves painted the scene on canvas for auction. Soon Prudence rolled in gracefully; the most grounded human being I’ve ever seen, with a soul that emanates from her brown/black eyes. She is pure spirit and a set of pipes that will make you believe in God.

by Jim Bedford

Thehangoverpart2_smallteaser The Nugget Theatre in beautiful downtown Telluride shows movies all year long and screens a hot new film this coming week. Bluegrass Festival is in town and the weather's beautiful, but find time for a little movie fun.

Friday through Thursday, June 17-22, the Nugget heads to Thailand for some pre-wedding hijinks with the HANGOVER II crowd. Our old pals from last year, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, Zach Galifianakis and Justin Bartha are careful not to make the same mistakes twice, so they make a bunch of hilarious new ones. Along the way they meet up with Paul Giamatti and of course, Mike Tyson again.

See the Nugget website for trailers and reviews, and below for movie times.

kicker: First of 12 market days on June 15, 2011

Advertisement Farmers and Artists Market Opening After years of toying with the idea of having an outdoor market in Mountain Village Center – a perfect locale with its pedestrian-friendly plazas, gondola connection, and unrivaled panorama – the town decided to put words into action. The first Mountain Village Farmers and Artists Market will take place Wednesday, June 15, 2011, from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Heritage Plaza. The atmosphere will be causal, social and fun; the open air commerce enticing; the foods fresh and the art one-of-kind.