Culture

[click "Play", Steve Gumble talks to Susan about the Taos Mountain Music Festival]

 

Taos Music poster Steve Gumble (and his SBG productions) is the force behind the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, now in its 18th year and a sold-out success annually. So what's a nice guy like that doing in a place like Taos? The short answer: Making a good thing better.

Friends and producers of the Taos event were not in the Festival producing business like Steve. Their day job was running the mountain. So, they approached their friend Steve to grow a musical event with loads of promise.

The third annual Taos Mountain Music Festival takes place this year on Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21. Northern New Mexico's music event of the summer features headliners Matisyahu, Railroad Earth, Ozomatli, and Leftover Salmon. Additional festival performances include Donna the Buffalo, Jackie Greene Duo, Afroman, Orgone, Dangermuffin, Langhorne Slim, Shannon McNally and Hot Sauce, Ryan McGarvey and Mariachi Luz de Luna.

[click "Play", Susan talks with Rev. Pat Bailey]

 

Contemplation Garden Once upon a lifetime ago, Telluride Inside…and Out visited the Ryoan-Ji Zen Garden in Kyoto, Japan. The mystical place consists of raked gravel and 15 moss-covered boulders, arranged so that when viewed from any angle other than above, just 14 of the boulders are visible at one time. The big idea: only when we achieve enlightenment can we see all 15 at once.

Now let's take that idea home to Telluride, where Reverend Pat Bailey and Christ Church have created a variation on the theme of Ryoan-Ji. In the church's brand new contemplation garden, grass replaces gravel and stones are for sitting as we look up at our "boulders," the giant peaks that surround our box canyon. A Celtic cross, a Buddha and a cairn are set among the flowers, inviting everyone into the spiritual world of his choice.

By Jane Minarovic

 

If you have been fortunate enough to have attended a Mudd Butts Mystery Theatre Troupe production in the past 21 years, you have seen how the imagery of prop master Mike Stasiuk makes the narrative come alive. When he is not backstage creating fantastical masks and props out of cardboard boxes, newspaper, and paint, Mike creates whimsical sculptures from a variety found objects from his studio in Portsmouth, NH. He has had sculpture in private and corporate collections and is also published in books such as Found Object Art 1 and 2. He is represented by the Clark Gallery in Lincoln, MA and the George Marshall Store Gallery in York, ME.

Many of the Mike's magical props will be auctioned off after Sundays production.

See below for the Mudd Butts' cast list:

by Jim Bedford

Captain-america-retro-movie-poster Jamie+Foxx+Horrible+Bosses The Nugget Theatre in beautiful downtown Telluride shows movies all year long and screens two new films this coming week.

Friday through Thursday, Aug 12-18, in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER (PG13), during World War II, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.

Also all week, in HORRIBLE BOSSES (R), three friends (Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis) conspire to murder their awful bosses (including Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Aniston), something we've all wanted to do sometime. Yes, it's a comedy.

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

by  Jane Minarovic   Over the years, the Mudd Butts Mystery Theatre Troupe has grown from a small, all-girl cast at the Nugget Theatre, to a cast of 28 boys and girls who perform at the  state-of-the-art Michael D. Palm Theatre for the Performing Arts. ...

[click "Play", Susan speaks with Roy Malan]

 

Chamber Music poster The Telluride Chamber Music Festival opens this week for the 38th year in a row, joining Telluride Bluegrass and the Telluride Film Festival on the list of oldies but goodies on our town's summer cultural calendar.

The fun begins Thursday night, August 11, 5 p.m. with a FREE concert n Town Park. (Bring your own picnic.) Regular Telluride Chamber Music programming starts Friday, August 12. The two Sunday concerts, August 14 and August 21 are 2:30 matinees. Friday, August 19, is a double bill, including an 11 a.m. FREE concert for kiddos. All evening concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. The series takes place at the historic Sheridan Opera House. Tickets are $25.

[click "Play", Susan talks with Eric Brace]

 

Thoughtfull Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House welcomes singer/songwriters Eric Brace and Peter Cooper, with Phil Lee and Tom Mason. The concert, billed as Americana/folk sounds, takes place Saturday, August 13, 8 p.m.

What's Americana? A hybrid of country, folk, bluegrass and swing. Who are Eric and Peter? Two of Nashville's hottest musicians, but Telluride virgins. (We promise to be gentle.)

For his band, Last Train Home, and for his duo with Peter Cooper, singer/songwriter Eric Brace is one of the most acclaimed artists in the Americana world. One critic described Eric's warm tenor voice this way:

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Sally and Kim]

 

MBposter2011 About one month ago, certain very lucky kids in Telluride got to do what other lucky kids have done for 25 silvery years: slide down muddy Coronet Creek into the experience of a lifetime. It's time for the Mudd Butts Mystery Theater Troupe's annual performance. Yes, you read me correctly. The Mudd Butts just turned 25.

Come help the Mudd Butts celebrate by attending this year's production, August 12 – August 14. "A Day When Nothing Was Supposed to Happen" is a Telluride story that begins with the Nothing Festival 2012 and find its way down to the center of earth and back through a prairie dog hole.

[click "Play" to hear Paul Machado's overview of TJC, 2011]

 

 

Paul, with Larry Coryell, 2010 The word "jazz," originally "jass" was slang for love-making, what you did when you went to brothels at the turn of the 20th century. Then it became the kind of music played in brothels to accompany such activities. For Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado, "jazz" means a certain kind of spontaneous interaction on stage and off, when the chemistry created by music, the mountains, the food and wine, and the people kicks in as it inevitably does every year over the Telluride Jazz Celebration weekend. The 35th annual musical happening featuring classical, mainstream, blues Brazilian, African, Latin and more, takes place this year Friday, August 5 – Sunday, August 7.