For all you trivia buffs, here's one. Or two. Thomas Edison once invented an electric golf ball to enable night play. And, Richard Nixon played golf alone every Wednesday at 10 a.m. wearing a business suit and tie. That image in itself is rib tickler, but...
It's unlikely you know the name of the songwriter (it's Felix Bernard) or the lyricist (he was Richard B. Smith), but their 1934 joint venture produced a song that became a holiday evergreen: "Winter Wonderland." In Bernard and Smith's fictive landscape, sleigh bells rang, snow...
The first "Local Libations" program, a collaboration between The New Community Coalition and Telluride's Steaming Bean, takes place December 15, 2011 at 5:30 PM at the Bean. The "semi-regular" series will provide opportunities to gather, learn and discuss topics of the day. This first event...
The title of their movie: "When Barry Met Sasha." The offspring of their propitious union: an original new musical, "Barry." "Barry" features the songs of the famed children's entertainer and the words of Sasha Cucciniello, artistic director of the newly formed (from SquidShow and The REP)...
In October, superstar author/illustrator Brian Selznick visited Telluride. The event, a joint venture among the five-star Wilkinson Public Library, the Ah Haa School for the Arts, and Between the Covers Bookstore included readings of Selznick's latest book, "Wonderstruck," and a show of works by Selznick and...
This legend has legs. And they are usually in tights. The Sheridan Arts Foundation's Young People's Theater follows the 1973 film, the 2006 TV series, the 2010 film and countless other re-creations of the tale of Robin Hood with it own adaptation, but the broad strokes...
by Tracy Shaffer
If you are interested in an evening of brilliant satire in the hot Latin mode, American Night: The Ballad of Juan Jose is just your ticket. Written by playwright Richard Montoya and developed by L.A.’s famed Latino/Chicano comedy group, Culture Clash, this ain’t your high school civics class!
The ballad begins with David DeSantos as Juan Jose, walking through the rugged Sonoran Desert with a song in his heart, a back-up band of mariachis, and a head full of American dreams. Fast forward to our hero the night before he takes his citizenship test, cramming the truths, the lies and the absurd realities that make up our American history in a hallucinogenic, satirical, spinning nightmare. A cast of nine actors play eighty roles that range from wildly comedic to high-octane outrageous. To call it irreverent would be reducing its heat to pico de gallo; this is hotter than a habanero. Nothing is sacred, no one is spared in this delicious, fast-paced, insightful and yes, heartwarming tale of two cultures, one country.
The Norwood Writers Guild has teamed up with ACE of Norwood and the Wilkinson Library to host Long Beach poets RD “Raindog” Armstrong and G. Murray Thomas for readings in Norwood, Monday, Oct. 24th at the Livery beginning at 7 p.m. and in Telluride, Tuesday, Oct. 25th at the Wilkinson Library beginning at 6 p.m.
These two events will be the start of a three state tour of Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona for the two writers, who are promoting their new books: Armstrong’s E/OR – Living Amongst the Mangled (Lummox Press, 2010) and Thomas’s My Kidney Just Arrived (Tebot Bach, 2011). Armstrong, publisher of Lummox Press, will also be showcasing Working the Wreckage of the American Poem (Lummox Press, 2011).
Anders Osborne must like performing in Telluride big time. The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/guitarist was in town in mid-September for his third appearance at Telluride Blues & Brews, where, according to KOTO's Janice Zink, he – once again – "Killed it."
On our recent visit to New York, Telluride Inside… and Out was privileged to attend a performance by Bill Bowers. Poignant self-observation, biting social satire and screwball comedy meet in his latest one-man show, "Beyond Words." The sound of silence is symphonic when this uniquely gifted mime is charged with playing all the instruments. The big small production continues through October 31 at Frances Hill Barlow's Urban Stages, 259 West 30 (between 7th and 8th Avenues).
Bowers is not your typical mime in the tradition of Marcel Marceau, Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton to whom he is often favorably and justifiably compared. For one thing, he talks. Like a chatter box on uppers. However, as was the case with his illustrious antecedents, Bowers is capable of delivering universal themes like candy, not cod's liver oil. "Beyond Words", a collection of mime, music and monologues, may be one of the funniest plays you've ever seen and a pleasure to watch for its spare elegance. (Here I am talking about Bowers' performance as well as the production values – sets, lighting,costumes, sound – orchestrated by the talented young director Scott Illingworth, a faculty member at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Acting Program.)
