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Culture

by Emily Brendler Shoff

 

The Telluride Blues and Brews Festival always falls at the time of year when anything can happen weather-wise. It can be sunny and 70, or it can be snowing. This weekend was both. Soaking up the sun after the snow

Saturday, it rained and snowed so hard that even long-time locals were questioning why they call Telluride home. At the beer tasting, people were dressed in every imaginable combination they could think of to stay warm. Those who’d thought to bring rain jackets and rain paints were the happiest but equally happy were those in trash bags, snap-up Carhartt suits, and polypro onesies. I even saw one guy wearing his ski clothes, including ski boots.

The weather didn’t seem to dampen people’s appreciation for the beer or the music. If anything, it just added another layer of appreciation. People discussed others’ outfits as much as they discussed the beer.

My rubber xtra-tuf rain boots from my Alaska NOLS trip in 1994 got the same amount of praise as I imagine the latest handbags do in New York.

20 September, 2011 /

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Matisse, "Large Reclining Nude"

Picture Telluride without Levi's and denim. There would be lots of locals running around half-naked. And naked walls instead of walls filled with art in the apartments of the Cone sisters of Baltimore. Their massive collection – about 3,000 pieces including some 500 Matisses – was in large part built on the back of denim. The family business, The Cone Mills Corporation, produced cloth for work clothes and, during WW1, for military uniforms. But the company was also the largest supplier of denim to Levi Strauss. Their brothers' support of their two spinster sisters enabled (Dr.) Claribel and Etta (likely a former lover of Gertrude Stein, a major mentor) to devote their lives to collecting masterpieces of modern art.

"Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore" is the featured show (through September 25) at The Jewish Museum in Manhattan on the corner of 92nd Street and Fifth Avenue, once the Warburg mansion. The exhibition, meant to reinforce the idea the two sisters were very important collectors of cutting-edge art, not mere "shoppers"  as dismissed by their detractors, showcases about 50 of their finest gems.

17 September, 2011 /

 

RA- MBposterbio Marcia Ball hit the jackpot with her name. It defines the lady and her talent, as in Marcia Ball is:

“More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Spicy, Texas-Louisiana blues, rock 'n’ roll and boogie-woogie...awesome piano,” National Public Radio

Translation: The lady is, well, a ball. And those around have – you guessed it - a ball.

Singer/pianist Marcia Ball joins Willie Nelson, Mavis Staple, The Robert Cray Band, Dweezil Zappa, BIg Head Todd and the Monsters on long list of talent performing this weekend at Steve Gumble's rocking, rollicking 18th annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival.

15 September, 2011 /

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by Lauren Metzger
Marketing Director
Ah Haa School for the Arts

Well, the leaves are turning and this is our last big weekend before town is quiet. But just because town is slowing down, doesn't mean the Ah Haa School is. Our new fall/winter catalog is online and at the printer. The catalog has a great line up of workshops and events for adults and kids and showcases the beautiful work of local artist, Judy Haas on the cover.

Don't forget that next month is The Art of Being A Woman Month where the Ah Haa School celebrates the female spirit in the arts. The school will once again host Lunafest, the national touring women’s short film festival, a handful of workshops and last year's every popular BRAvo Auction. Be a part of BRAvo this year and decorate a bra to help raise awareness about breast cancer. Bras will be available at the school starting next Friday the 23rd. Partial proceeds will benefit the San Miguel Resource Center.

13 September, 2011 /

Thoughts on 9/11 by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Rob Schultheis and David Feela

Empire State When I question why Susan and I continue to toil away on Telluride Inside... and Out, along comes something like this: three of our favorite poets/writers gave us three very different, but all beautiful, poems to honor memory of the events of September 11, 2001.

9/11/2001 holds a special place in our personal memories. Though we did not lose loved ones in the tragedy, there was an almost dime-novel aspect in the way we and ours experienced the horrors of that day.

10 September, 2011 /

  The Telluride Blues and Brews Festival, #18 if you're counting, hits town on the weekend of September 16-18, 2011. Blues & Brews is the last big event of the Summer in Telluride. The argument could be made it is also one of the first...

10 September, 2011 /

 

Telluride Inside ... and Out was pleased to be in the audience for the first screening of Alexander Payne's "The Descendants" on Friday afternoon of the Telluride Film Festival.  Scheduling dictated waiting until Sunday morning to enjoy the George Clooney tribute.

Check out the video for a sense of Todd McCarthy's interview with George, director Alexander Payne and actress Shailene Woodley after the showing of the movie.

07 September, 2011 /

(Ed. note: This is a bit late but here is the film schedule for after the Festival) Telluride Film Festival AfterFest at the Palm Tuesday 7:15 - KID WITH A BIKE – 87 min 9:15 - FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD -109m-------------Wednesday 7:00 – LE HAVRE- 103m    9:15 – WE NEED...

06 September, 2011 /

Show For the second year in a row, a King George dominated the Telluride Film Festival. Last year, it was King George VI, whose life and stutter were immortalized in director Tom Hooper's golden "The King's Speech." This year was all about a second King George, a man who rose from a humble background, the son of a former Army dj, to rule Telluride – at least for the long Labor Day weekend. I am talking of course about actor George Clooney, a tributee at the 38th annual celluloid celebration of the art of filmmaking. (He threatened to wear the metal medallion he received at his tribute through airport security.) Virtually every other superstar in town – and there were plenty – walked in Clooney's shadow.

06 September, 2011 /

[click "Play" to listen to Mickey Raphael's conversation with Clint]

 

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Willie (Danny Clinch photo)

Willie Nelson and Family are the Sunday night closer for the 18th Telluride Blues and Brews Festival (September 16-18, 2011). "Willie Nelson?" you ask. "At Blues and Brews?" Well, yes. Because Willie can do it all. Case in point: Have you listened to  Willie's "Stardust" album? I rest my case. And a key part of the Willie Nelson sound is the harmonica of Mickey Raphael.

Raphael has been part of Willie's band for some three decades, and unless you have paid attention you might not have noticed: he is the consumate side man. But take that harp out of the mix and guaranteed you would miss it.

06 September, 2011 /