Last Saturday, July 11, Kimberly and John Kirkendoll hosted a party to support Sparky Productions' Telluride Playwrights' Festival. Jennie Franks' event is in its third year, and the quality of the theatre is getting better with each year. There is one more evening to...
Travel writer Maribeth Clemente will be doing an event Tuesday, July 14th, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Between the Covers Bookstore. July 14th is Bastille Day, the French equivalent of our 4th of July, and Maribeth, our resident French expert, feels it’s a...
The play's the thing....
Jennie Franks and Sparky Productions brings the 3rd annual Telluride Playwrights' Festival to town this week. The idea is to get playwrights and actors working together to develop new plays. The general public is encouraged to attend workshops and readings to give the playwrights the feedback they need to refine their scripts.
Last week was the preview. The Telluride Playwrights' Festival opened with a reading at the historic Sheridan Opera House. Written by Jennie Franks, the one-act black comedy, "Dr. Freeman & Hilda," is ostensibly about the famous lobotomist Dr. Walter Freeman. Jennie, however, is a keen, sometimes harsh chronicler of society's foibles, and she generally paints with a much broader brush.
Yes, Telluride funksters and funksterettes, the godfather of Funk himself, George Clinton will headline the 13th annual KOTO Doo Dah today, in Town Park, with opening act Rusted Root. The legendary architect of P-Funk has also been called one of the most important innovators of funk music, next to James Brown and Sly Stone. Clinton came from a background in R and B and went on to create a new genre of music. His leap from doo wap to psychodelic space rock was influenced by many artists, including James Brown, Jimi Hendrix. According to his bio, "Parliament and Funkadelic dominated and revolutionized the music scene in the latter half of the Seventies—particularly in 1978 and 1979, when they racked up four #1 R&B hits: “Flash Light,” “One Nation Under a Groove,” Aqua Boogie” and “(Not Just) Knee Deep.” Clinton’s main collaborators during Parliament-Funkadelic’s heyday included keyboardists Bernie Worrell and Walter “Junie” Morrison and bassist William “Bootsy” Collins." George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on May 6, 1997. Clinton recently released a solo album titled George Clinton and His Gangsters of Love, which is largely a cover with many great songs such as Fever, Gipsy Woman and Let the Good Times Roll. Gangsters features guest appearances from many artists including Sly Stone, Santana and Red Hot Chilly Peppers and gospel great Kim Burrel.
by Eileen Burns
There may be another tarp run in Telluride Town Park on Saturday, July 11th. Rusted Root rolls into town kicking off an evening of invigorating and energetic music that promises to leave townies dancing all night long. Gates opening at 3 P.M. with the ultimate jam band, Rusted Root, taking the stage at six followed by the Godfather of Funk, George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.
Rusted Root’s bluegrass/rock sound has always been heavily influenced by world music such as African, Native American and Latin America, and their long awaited new release Stereo Rodeo is climbing the charts.
The Nugget Theatre in Telluride for the week of July 10-16, is showing "UP", an animation from Disney/Pixar (rated PG for some peril and action), and "Year One", (rated PG-13, for language, crude sexual situations).
"UP" is the story of an old man (even older than I am) who has never had any adventure in his life, and now is coerced into adventure by a young boy.
"Year One" has two hunter-gatherers off to see the world. Much of the movie is set in ancient Sodom. Perhaps you can guess some of the rest.
For reviews and trailers, see the Nugget website. Also, note the addition of a Saturday matinee for "UP".
As much spectacle as fundraiser, the theme of the 2009 Ah Haa auction encourages everyone around Telluride to embrace their love of art and discover their inner artist: "Celebrate Art ! Be The Artist You Want To Be!"
Now in it’s 17th year, Ah Haa’s annual fundraiser is not to be missed. The event includes a live and silent auction, featuring over 100 pieces of original art, services, and excursions, donated by the regional artists, locals businesses and Ah Haa. The monies raised in this single evening support scholarships, supplies,
teachers, the Visiting Artist series, and keeping the spirit of Ah Haa going for another year.
In years past, local celebrities such as General Norman Schwarzkopf have contributed art work they created in conjunction with Ah Haa teachers in support of the school. (Joanne Corzine bought Stormin' Norman's first effort for $17,000.)
There is nothing minimalist about Philip Glass when it comes to loving.Last year, the iconic musical wizard came to town for the Telluride Musicfest just to watch his ladylove, bravura cellist Wendy Sutter, perform. Caught up in the electrifying energy of the world-class chamber music event, he wound up giving an impromptu performance in the Mais' living room at the old Skyline Guest Ranch, home base for the concert series. At the end of the season, Glass asked artistic director, virtuoso violinist Maria Bachmann, if he could return as the 2009 Composer-in-Residence. Who would turn down the man described by renowned New Yorker critic Alex Ross as "Without a doubt, America's most famous living composer of classical music?"
Telluride has artist Keith Wicks to thank for helping everyone see the light. Wicks is a founding member of the Sonoma Plein Air Foundation. On a visit to Sonoma County and Napa Valley in Fall 2003, Sheridan Arts Foundation board chair Mark Dalton and his wife Susan happened upon an outdoor show of paintings in the Impressionist tradition in the Sonoma town square. Impressed, as it were, by the quality of the work on display, the couple met with the show’s organizer:Wicks.
Seeing an opportunity for a great addition to Telluride's summer cultural calendar and a new and interesting way to raise funds for SAF’s family programming, Mark Dalton retained Wicks to mount the first local Telluride Plein Air event.
Telluride is experiencing an art attack.
Since Monday, 30 top plein air artists have been in the region for the Telluride Plein Air event, painting the town fuzzed up, fluid, atmospheric, and tonal in the style of the Impressionists, reducing subjects to dots, dashes, blobs, and swaths of scintillating color to reflect our changing light.
On Thursday, July 2, the Sheridan Opera House hosts an Artists' Choice Gala Premiere/Silent Auction/Wine Reception, showcasing the work produced during the week. The event is an exclusive chance to bid on the paintings and meet the artists. At 8 p.m., Imagine, A Beatles Tribute Band performs.
July 2 is also the first Thursday Art Walk of the summer season, a daylong showcase of Telluride's fine art scene, including galleries and studios, which stay open late until 8 p.m. The Telluride Council for the Arts & Humanities conceived of the event as a way to deepen ties between the town's business and cultural economies, exposing locals and guests to emerging and established artists and the town's retail scene. Almost all participating venues are located in and around Colorado Avenue, within walking distance of one another, and many hold opening receptions, 5 – 8 p.m.
