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[click "Play" to hear Jeb's serious (?) conversation with Susan]

 

Jeb & friend
Jeb & friend, KOTO LipSync

Even in a town as non-traditional as Telluride, there are still some sacred cows, rather hams. And turkeys. We are talking about Christmas dinner, with sides of cranberry sauce and mince meat pies. Except in Tuna, Texas, where tuna is "the feast of choice."

Sunday, December 19 – Wednesday, December 22, Jeb Berrier and his Second Stage Productions – Berrier, Buff Hooper, Bubba Lee Schill, Kelsey Patterson – host an evening of holiday fun at the Sheridan Opera House with their adaptation of "A Tuna Christmas."

"A Tuna Christmas" is the second in a series of satires on Southern life and attitudes set in the fictional town of Tuna, Texas, "the third smallest town" in the state.

14 December, 2010 /
[click "Play", David Oyster talks about the program]

 

 

kicker: Scorsese series ends with satire

12-13 TFF Stalkers are unfunny. But a film about stalking? You decide.

The Telluride Film Festival and the five-star Wilkinson Public Library host the final installment in the four-part Martin Scorsese retrospective, brilliantly programmed to show the sweeping range of the pioneer filmmaker by Telluride Film Festival co-director Gary Meyer. The FREE Cinematheque film club is a vehicle for the cinephiles in the greater Telluride community to watch and discuss great film, not just during Festival weekend, but year-round.  Food and beverages with every screening. Popular Telluride Film Festival Ringmaster, producer/director/film professor David Oyster leads the discussion. The featured film is Scorsese's dark yuck, "King of Comedy," (1982, 109 minutes, Rated PG). The event takes place Monday, December 13, 5:30 p.m. for pre-SHOW get-together. (The first screening is @ 6 p.m.)

Robert de Niro stars as Rupert Pupin, a stage-door autograph hound and aspiring stand-up comedic of Herculean ambitions. It is arguably one of the most flamboyant performances of de Niro's career. Jerry Lewis plays Jerry Langford, the star Rupert stalks, a late night talk show host who craves privacy. Rupert pursues Jerry with the mono-manical focus of a true psychotic. There's a kidnapping. And more laughs.
But the laughter could turn in a blink into terror. How will it all work out?

12 December, 2010 /

Trailblazers+Sam, 2010
Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers,
plus Sam Bush, TBF 2010

It's always exciting to see the preliminary lineup for the coming year's Telluride Bluegrass Festival. As we go through the list we look for favorites returning, and performers we don't know so well making the list, maybe for the first time.

This year's early release is no different. Brian Eyster of Planet Bluegrass cautions that there will be additions to the list, but this is the TBF lineup as we know it now. Got your tickets yet?

11 December, 2010 /

[click "Play", Nancy Landau talks about Friends of the Library and Funday Sunday]

 

12-12 Dinner Why does Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library need Friends?

The Wilkinson is a five-star book mecca in part because it attracts a steady stream of traffic. Locals and guests love the place and use it as a regular hang-out, a kind of safe haven. The kids' section is always alive with activity. And Scott Doser's programs attract regular weekly crowds.

December 12 is Funday Sunday at Telluride's five-star Wilkinson Public Library. The all-day event begins with a brief annual meeting of the Friends of the Library, 1 p.m., to explain the role of the Friends.

The meeting is followed by a High Def/Blu-Ray screening of "The Wizard of Oz." (The High Definition Blu-Ray format projector was gifted to the Library by the Friends.)

10 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Paul DiStefano's conversation with Susan

 

 

kicker: Ames Conservatory's big production takes place this weekend, 12/10 – 12/12

Polar Homeboy Paul DiStefano is a Telluride success story:  He grew up in Telluride, became a street magician and is now poised to become a dancer on the world stage.

In September 2009, Paul showed up at the Telluride Dance Academy, now the Ames Conservatory. His idea was take classes with former prima ballerina and artistic director Valerie Madonia. Within six months of intense study, pedal to the metal (or toes to the boards), Madonia felt confident enough in Paul's emerging talent to recommend him for an audition at the Joffrey School of New York, where Valerie regularly taught.

10 December, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Mark Galbo's conversation with Susan]

 

What Now?!? Telluride local Mark Galbo is an innovative educator and a leading voice in contemporary music education. His unconventionally relaxed and spontaneous approach to teaching has endeared him to thousands of students across the country. But especially in the Telluride region.

See on why Saturday night, December 11, when nine all-kid bands, 45 kids aged 7 – 18,  take the stage of the Sheridan Opera House to perform material from Green Day to Taio Cruz, from the Beatles to Bad Company. The event also features a collaboration between the Rock and Roll Academy and the Telluride Karate Studio in a first of its kind choreographed rock and roll martial arts demonstration.

09 December, 2010 /

Polar kicker: Theatrical dance event features exclusive guest appearance by Ted Keegan of Broadway's "Phantom of the Opera."

Yes, you read the headline correctly. The Telluride Dance Academy is not serving up the usual Christmas diet of sugarplums. I am saying Telluride is not succumbing to the tweeness that afflicts the rest of America and mounting yet another production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker."

What's more, there is no longer a Telluride Dance Academy.

Next thing you know, I'll be saying there is no Santa Claus.

Which is what the little boy in another Christmas classic, Chris Van Allsburg's "The Polar Express" was starting to believe.

This coming weekend, Friday – Sunday, December 10 – December 12, at Telluride's Palm Theatre, the brand new Ames Conservatory presents its inaugural holiday production: "The Polar Express."

08 December, 2010 /

Thenextthreedays_smallteaser Burlesque_smallposter Telluride's Nugget Theatre has three feature films on tap for the week of December 10-16. In addition, there is the opportunity to see Ben Clark's "Ski the Himalayas" and support a worthy not-for-profit organization, the Horizon Program on Saturday, December 11 at 8:00 pm.

The week starts with "Burlesque" (rated PG-13) with the never-aging Cher; and Russell Crowe whose task is to spring from prison his wife who maybe didn't kill anyone in "The Next Three Days" (rated PG-13).

Legendoftheguardians_smallposter Ski_The_Himalayas_LARGEIMAGE All the programs on Wednesday and Thursday are showing "Legend of the Guardians: the Owls of Ga'Hoole" (PG), an animated feature about good owls and bad ones.

See below for movietimes, and the Nugget website for trailers and reviews.

 

08 December, 2010 /

[click "Play" to hear Lance Waring's conversation with Susan]

 

Ski_The_Himalayas_LARGEIMAGE Telluride Inside... and Out recently announced the availability of an adventure documentary by local filmmaker/mountaineer Ben Clark on Dish Network Pay Per View.

The 90-minute "Ski the Himalayas" chronicles three climbers' attempts at climbing and skiing 23,390' Baruntse. Local mountaineers Ben Clark, Josh Butson, and Jon Miller spent 750 days attempting to climb one mountain in a way that had never been done before just to ski one run. A twist of fate sent the adventure into overdrive as the explorers met scenarios that forced them to ask; What is it really worth? They pushed forward anyway...

The catch: you need a dish and a Dish subscription to view "Ski the Himalayas." At least you did until now. On Saturday, December 11, 8 p.m., The Nugget Theater sponsors a special screening of Clark's film. The event is a fundraiser for Telluride's Horizon Program.

07 December, 2010 /

[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Rhonda Muckerman]

 

Darkness-to-Light The thought of it makes some people quake in anticipation and others shiver with angst and cold. Whichever your camp, in Telluride, all over America, you own it. In this country, Christmas belongs to everyone, not just Christians who celebrate the birth stories about Christ, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, even atheists.

The secular holiday is Chipmunks and Charlie Brown, Grinches and Scrooges. It is Rudolph and giant conifers, baked ham and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and one too many tipples of eggnog. The holiday season is classic movies such as “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” But most of all, Christmas is music. Perhaps no other holiday in the world is more closely associated with music than Christmas. Locally, Christmas music means the Telluride Choral Society's WinterSing, one of the premier opening events of the holiday season.

The Telluride Choral Society is under the able direction of Rhonda Muckerman.

07 December, 2010 /