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Performing Arts

[click "Play" to hear Susan's rap with Suzan Beraza and Dylan Brooks]

 

 

Rep Cast, The Telluride Repertory Theatre celebrates its 20+ anniversary in style. The non-profit is throwing with a gala dinner party on Saturday, March 12, 7 – 10 p.m., at the Ah Haa School for the Arts. The event includes a champagne reception, a four-course dinner prepared by Mountain Top Catering and a wine pairing featuring the Durango Wine Experience. The entertainment, "The Best of the REP Musical Revue," includes performances by former REP stars, among them, REP co-founders Suzan Beraza and Angela Watkins.

The history of the Telluride Repertory Theatre Company dates back to when co-founder Suzan Beraza,  now of "Bag It" fame, found a brochure about a ski resort in a box canyon with a little theater. The ambitious young actress with a yen to ski sent a resume and an 8 X 10 glossy, waited and heard nothing. Suzan was none too concerned about the dead silence: life is oh so hectic on the boards. It was not until she arrived in town that Suzan discovered the dirty little secret behind Telluride's "theatre": The Nugget was a film house. Bummer. Acting was all Suzan knew how to do.

08 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Stu Sundell-Norman of "Joint Point"]

 

 

Joint Point, Mardi Gras In Telluride, we save the parades and picnics for the Fourth of July. Locally Mardi Gras, March 8, is all about the music. Music and the traditional baubles and beads. (We love bling.) 

The music is thanks to the historic Sheridan Opera House, where local jam band, Joint Point, performs at a special Mardi Gras concert starting at 9 p.m.

06 March, 2011 /
[click "Play", Amanda and Katy talk to Susan about the Fashion Show]

 

 

Runway, 2010 TAB The Telluride Student Fashion Show, co-directed by Charlotte Delpit and Devin McCarthy, was a tour de force of directing and choreography, setting the bar pretty darn high for TAB's sold-out gala fashion show on Saturday, March 5. (Get on the waiting list and live in hope.)

Just how high? According to Telluride AIDS Benefit board member Sandy McLaughlin: "We just got our latest totals: we raised $8020 so far from show last night! Highest amount ever!"

Bravo ladies.

Now on to the Main Event.

04 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Charlie Hunter talk about his music with Susan]

 

 

CharlieHunterPressPhoto2010 Any time guitar phenom Charlie Hunter shows up in Telluride, the producers have to shoehorn his fans into the room.

The Telluride Jazz Celebration welcomes Charlie Hunter back to town for two encore concerts, Friday, March 4 and Saturday, March 5, at The Llama, where he performs with his trio: Eric Kalb (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings and John Scofield) on drums and John Ellis on sax, bass clarinet, and Wurlitzer. The concert will be streamed live, part of the Telluride Jazz Celebration's Live from the Llama webcasts to give music lovers from around the world a chance to enjoy concerts emanating from one of Telluride’s premier live music venues.

01 March, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Ben Schatz]

 

 

Kinsey Sicks Don we now our gay apparel. It's Gay Ski Week in Telluride, when the town pulls out all the stops as the week builds toward the Telluride AIDS Benefit art auction and gala fashion show, Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 5. En route, there's a nonstop line-up of what to do, starting with something really b-a-a-a-d.

And Telluride likes it like that: here, really good is really b-a-a-a-d. We are talking about America's favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet, "The Kinsey Sicks," scheduled for scandal at the historic Sheridan Opera House, Wednesday, March 2, 7:30 p.m. The event is co-production between telluride.arts and Gay Ski Week.

28 February, 2011 /

 Thursday, February 25, starting 6 p.m., Telluride's one and only KOTO community radio, heads uptown to the Mountain Village Ballroom (formerly the Telluride Conference Center), to host an evening of music to beat the band – featuring bands that can't be beat. "Elephant Revival" is on hand to warm up the crowd. The headliner is "Leftover Salmon."

"Leftover Salmon" was formed by a lucky accident in 1989, arising from the flatirons and granite of the Front Range. A local band, the Salmon Heads, asked members of the Left Hand String Band to fill in some blanks in its lineup for a New Year's Eve show at the Eldorado Cafe in Crested Butte. The end result of the mashup was a quintet that went on to pioneer its own genre: "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass," a fluid, loose-limbed blend of bluegrass, Cajun, funk, Southern rock, boogie, Caribbean, Latin and jazz influences that is at once rootsy and daring.

23 February, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Elephant Revival's Dango, Bonnie and Bridget]

 

 

Elephantrevival_annestavely_2-199x300 The now legendary Leftover Salmon is the main event at Friday's fundraiser for Telluride's KOTO Community Radio. However, Elephant Revival, the opening act, is described by Suzanne Cheavens, KOTO musical director, as very "buzzy."

It is the elephant in the room.

Elephant Revival is a Nederland, Colorado-based neo-acoustic quintet. The band plays a unique blend of an emerging new musical genre which marries –  somewhat improbably –  the core ideas of Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walt Whitman about spiritual transcendence through intuition to original folk tunes, Scottish/Celtic fiddle tunes, traditional ballads, psychedelic country, indie rock, reggae, 40s/50s jazz standards, even hip hop. Friends and fans around Boulder/Ned describe Elephant Revival's sound "Transcendental Folk," shorthand for a rainbow of sonic colors. Peers and critics drop that idea and simply call it good:

22 February, 2011 /

Kinsey Sicks Wednesday, March 2, 7:30 p.m., telluride.arts (Telluride Councils for the Arts & Humanities) presents "The Kinsey Sicks: Americas Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet". The event, in collaboration with Gay Ski Week, takes place at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House.

The Kinsey Sicks began in 1993 as a group of friends who attended a Bette Midler concert in San Francisco dressed as the Andrews Sisters. Assuming they'd be among many drag queens, they found themselves to be the only ones – other than Bette, of course. The group were approached that very night to perform at an upcoming event. Their reply, "We don't sing," was quickly debunked when everyone realized they all had musical backgrounds. The group began singing and harmonizing that night, and the seed for the Kinsey Sicks was planted.

21 February, 2011 /

Poster Fired. Dumped. Homeless. And – worse – without ski passes. Things don't look good for two longtime Telluride ski bums when they first meet a mysterious figure from the future who sends them on an epic adventure.

"Dude & Bro's Epic Adventure," a bromantic comedy, is the latest production  from Telluride's SquidShow Theatre. Performances are at the Sheridan Opera House, February 24 - 26. Doors open at 8 p.m.

The Squids' founder, Sasha Cucciniello conceived of "Dude & Bro's Epic Adventure" after scouring theatrical archives for a fast-paced winter adventure. The eureka moment came when Sasha realized "Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure" was as much about ski bums as surfer dudes.

20 February, 2011 /