By Jane Minarovic As the Mom of a first year Mudd Butt, I was surprised to discover that the kids were not given a full script until two weeks into the session. Instead, they used props and improvisation to work on different aspects of the...
About one month ago, certain very lucky kids in Telluride got to do what other lucky kids have done for 25 silvery years: slide down muddy Coronet Creek into the experience of a lifetime. It's time for the Mudd Butts Mystery Theater Troupe's annual performance. Yes, you read me correctly. The Mudd Butts just turned 25.
Come help the Mudd Butts celebrate by attending this year's production, August 12 – August 14. "A Day When Nothing Was Supposed to Happen" is a Telluride story that begins with the Nothing Festival 2012 and find its way down to the center of earth and back through a prairie dog hole.
The word "jazz," originally "jass" was slang for love-making, what you did when you went to brothels at the turn of the 20th century. Then it became the kind of music played in brothels to accompany such activities. For Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado, "jazz" means a certain kind of spontaneous interaction on stage and off, when the chemistry created by music, the mountains, the food and wine, and the people kicks in as it inevitably does every year over the Telluride Jazz Celebration weekend. The 35th annual musical happening featuring classical, mainstream, blues Brazilian, African, Latin and more, takes place this year Friday, August 5 – Sunday, August 7.
by Cicily Janus
Susan Gatschet-Reese
Clint Viebrock photo
Editor's note: Susan Gatschet-Reese is a dear friend, recently been let go by KUVO. We met at the Telluride Jazz Celebration, – coming up this weekend in Telluride – where we vowed to deepen our friendship by heading out for evenings of music together in Denver, Telluride Inside... and Out's second home. When we walked into Dazzle, perhaps the premiere jazz venue in the city, with Susan the waters parted. Clint and I were treated like royalty because we were part of Susan's crowd. The respect for her in the jazz world was always palpable. We met Cicily Janus and Jim Bailey, two of Susan's friends and advocates, through TIO. Cicily has agreed to contribute to Telluride Inside.... and Out, beginning with this story in support of our friend and a friend of jazz.
For close to 35 years, thousands have gathered in the middle of the mountainous paradise known as Telluride to hear the very best of the best in the jazz community perform at the Telluride Jazz Celebration. For many of those years, the Denver-based radio station KUVO has been a mainstay sponsor and event MC. But this year, KUVO , instead of leaving a mark on the stage, will only be leaving a hole: their most notable on-air voice, Susan Gatschet-Reese, who has MC'd Telluride for the previous 16 years, was recently "let go" from the station. Although her absence at the Festival this year is not entirely due to her release at KUVO, this is a loss the jazz community should take note of.
Telluride in the 1970s was dirt poor and tie dyed. The Idarado Mines were closing and derelicts were crashing at the historic Sheridan Opera House. In the larger world, some of the currents of the 1960s had become mainstream, women's lib and youth with a voice for two. Polyester became as ubiquitous as avocado and gold for in home decor. Yuck. "Taxi Driver" was one of the standout movies of the decade. And Tower of Power came on the scene. Amen.
Tower of Power appears in all its horny glory (and I mean that in the good sense) at the 35th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, August 5 – August 7, 2011, a not-to-be-missed weekend of jazz, funk, blues, wine, even yoga, which features other enduring legends in addition to Tower of Power, among them, Guest of Honor Paquito d'Rivera, Rita Coolidge and Allen Toussaint.
by David FeelaA compressor would be the quickest,though the scaffolding requiredto touch the ceilingmight make the Tower of Babellook like a stairwell.Give me one politicianwith the vision of Michelangeloand I will lie on my backthrough the next election depicting a brilliant fresco of the future.Or...
[click "Play", Susan talks with Sasha and Sarah]
Is there any doubt Telluride local Sasha Cucciniello enjoys an occasional walk on on the wild side?
In December, the company she founded, SquidShow Theatre, produced a play that conjured Telluride's wild and wooly past, at the turn of the 20th century when men were miners and women were, well, let's just say they liked to flaunt it. Squid's "Burlesque" was a smash hit, playing to a sold out houses at the historic Sheridan Opera House in December. (Yes, Sasha plans an encore performance this year.)
With "CON," the Squid's upcoming production, Sasha gets naked again – but in a different way. In "CON," a play about liars, Sasha bares her soul: the play was inspired by her father, an infamous grifter. Performances begin Thursday, July 28, and run through Monday, August 1, 8:30 p.m. at The Nugget Theatre (once upon a time a vaudeville house).
When Will Thompson's Telluride Gallery of Fine Art opens its blockbuster show, "From Beasts to Barbar," featuring the work of 10 of the top children's book illustrators in the world, the work of Peter McCarty is featured.
McCarty was originally to be in town for the opening July 28. As it turns, he plans an August trip to Telluride instead. However, had things worked out as scheduled, being spokesperson for the group would have forced McCarty out of his head, which is a good thing because McCarty has been living and working in his "attic" since the tender age of three. The place is now littered with ideas. The guy needs some fresh air. And maybe a cocktail.
Local Teddy Errico's Telluride Cajun Festival is a little bit like the phoenix of mythology – or Harry Potter fame. Too much spice (music and food) burns it up, but the event inevitably returns better and stronger.
After a two-year break, The 2011 Telluride Cajun Festival and its partner, Oak, (the new Fat Alley), announce a South Oak Social with headliner Mia Borders performing on a program with the Great Funktier and Lily Von Shtupp. The main event takes place rain or shine Friday, July 29, at The Gondola Plaza at the base of Chair 8. Gates at 4 p.m. (Mia is scheduled to perform at 6 p.m.) Tickets are just $10 in advance and $15 day of show. Saturday, July 30, is a free night of music featuring Von Schtupp. Show time is 6 p.m.
His all caps bona fides set the bar high for his peers: more than 80 books, translations in 14 languages and millions of copies sold worldwide. No wonder Etienne Delessert is considered a father of modern children's picture books. And Etienne Delessert is coming to Telluride. At least his work is: Etienne is featured in a show, "From Beasts to Barbar," of other bold-faced children's book illustrators opening at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art on July 28 and running through the Telluride Film Festival in early September.
(Also at the top of the list of illustrators in Will Thompson's groundbreaking show is the iconic Maurice Sendak, whom Etienne describes as a "friend and one of the reasons I came to New York in 1965." )
