Culture

[click "Play" for Langhorne Slim's interview with Susan]

Slim Langhorne Slim is appearing in concert on Friday, July 30, 8:30 p.m. at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House. The buzz is you want to be there to shake your tail feathers – and say you knew him when.

It's a Dylan thing. Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman to a middle class family in Nowhere Special, Minnesota. Brooklyn-based Langhorne Slim was born Sean Scolnick in – and here's the punch line – Langhorne, Pennsylvania. But we all know the line from Shakespeare about a rose. Regardless of his name, the fame of this singer-songwriter-guitarist is being etched in stone. Rolling Stone. "Damn near perfect," said the magazine about Langhorne Slim's third album, Be Set Free, on Kemado Records.
[click "Play" for Susan's interview with Dan Hicks]

Panama_dan_sm Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado likes to push the jazz envelope, often inviting guests whose music, is not, strictly speaking "jazz." That is unless you define jazz as a labyrinth of styles, sounds and rhythms summed up in a one syllable word.

Check the schedule on the first full day of sounds, Friday, August 6. Machado features Dan Hicks & the Hot Licks in the 4 p.m. slot. The hodgepodge of genres Hicks melds into his own signature sound includes outlaw swing, folk, country, Django, blues, rock, and okay, jazz, a brew he himself has been known to describe as "folk jazz." Ok, the hipster is in by a nose.
[click "Play", Jackie talks to Susan]

[click "Play" to hear Jackie Ryan's "Doozy"]

JackieWhiteBlouse-Doozy2thm The sun will shine on the 34th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration – at least when vocalist Jackie Ryan steps onstage.

Jackie Ryan is widely regarded in inner circles of buffs and critics as one of the premier jazz singers out of North America, but one the general public is not well aware of. This despite reviews peppered with superlatives touting her "extravagant" range, both emotional and stylistic, her "sweeping vocal powers" laced with passion, her "savvy" vocalizing, her "magnetic" stage presence.

Ride the Divide Logo-3 Thetwilightsagaeclipse_smallposter If you missed "Toy Story 3" or "Knight and Day" at Telluride's Nugget Theatre last week, you have another chance. See last week's post.

New at the Nugget this week is "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse", rated PG13. Set in Seattle, this third film in a  series pits a 109-year-old vampire against a werewolf for the affections of a young woman. Lots of vampires around the past few seasons, and some werewolves to add a little heat to the chill of the undead probably is a good idea.

On Thursday, July 29,  Paragon/Bootdoctors presents "Ride the Divide", a feature length documentary about the longest mountain bike race.

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

[click "Play" to listen to Toshiko Akiyoshi's conversation with Susan]

Akiyoshi The 34th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration welcomes Guest of Honor, award-winnning (Downbeat polls, Grammy nominations, etc.) arranger-pianist-bandleader Toshiko Akiyoshi.

Manchurian born Akiyoshi began her piano training at  the age of seven. Her career as a jazz pianist was launched in Japan in 1946. Be-bop pianist Akiyoshi made her first U.S. appearance over 50 years ago: in 1956 she appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival before touring top jazz clubs across the country.


When Telluride Inside... and Out first heard the term "Americana" attached to "music," the words were used to describe Grammy-winner and Telluride Bluegrass Festival regular Tim O'Brien's hybrid of country, folk, bluegrass and swing. Americana is music with a comfortable back-porch feel.

Co-producers (Barbed Wire Productions/Sheridan Arts Foundation) of the Telluride Americana mini-Fest, July 21-24 sum up their event this way: "Americana, roots, blues, folk with a kick, and country with a rock ‘n roll heart."

By Jennie Franks, founder/artistic director
 
IMG_4495 While our small band of Telluride Playwrights Festival participants were busy talking, plotting, acting and reading, the Telluride Rep has been quietly rehearsing the third play of the Festival – This Isn’t What It Looks Like, Philip Gerson's zany, political comedy that anyone who lives in today's America can relate to.
 
This year I knew I wanted to do something bold and different for the Telluride Playwrights Festival, and Philip’s play immediately caught my eye. The vitality of This Isn’t What It Looks Like  jumped off the page.