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Performing Arts





STREET DANCE 10 The things these two Telluride bands share are really big ones. I am talking about amps.

The cross-dressing Ralph Dinosaur and his Fabulous Volcanoes headline Telluride KOTO radio's end-of-season FREE street dance/costume contest, tomorrow, Friday, April 2, 3 – 8 p.m.

"There is nothing in the world like a Telluride party," said KOTO's special event queen jumpin' jan (zink), quoting  Ralph from his original "Telluride Stomp."

And now for something completely different. This year, at this party, for the very first time, Telluride's favorite dragster shares the stage with a sizzling hot opening act, performers who might be coaxed into dresses for high school reunions, weddings, and funerals: the town's favorite all-women rock 'n roll band, The 525s.
02 April, 2010 /
[click "Play" for an uplifting message from Bunzy Bunworth]

IMG_2273 Just when you thought it was safe to go back into Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House...


On April Fool's Day, 7:30 p.m., watch sacred cows getting pounded into Whoppers, when the town's favorite actor, Jeb Berrier, along with friends – Buff Hooper, Doug Jones, Jen Julia, Leo McNamara and Bunzy Bunworth (yes, Bunzy, back in town from Down Under) – get together to perform  "Nothing is Sacred II: The Resurrection." The show is billed as a raucous blend of original sketches and live music by Sorbitol: broader than Broadway, more wild(e) than Oscar. Expect an evening that goes straight to The Dogs.
31 March, 2010 /

(editor's note: The Melodians were originally scheduled to perform at the Opera House on January 2, 2010. That concert was canceled because of weather. Lucky us: The Melodians will now play Telluride Wednesday, March 31, 8:00 pm)It's strictly ballroom at Telluride's historic Sheridan...

30 March, 2010 /
[click "Play", Sasha tells us why to support the Squids]

No joke. But lots of fun.


AprilFoolsPoster Remember Jerry Lewis? In an over-the-top, no-holds-barred attempt to win the Telluride Foundation's Text-to-Give contest by a landslide, Telluride's SquidShow Theatre troupe hosts a "Squidstravanganza,"  a variety show/telethon modeled on the meastro's kitschey fundraising marathons.

Highlights of the evening include "Best of the "Squids": song, dance, burlesque, comedy. The event, hosted by Squid founder Sasha Cuciniello and partner in crime Colin Sullivan (who moonlights as the Ah Haa School for the Arts curriculum development director), takes place April Fool's Day, 9:30 p.m., at Telluride's The Llama (corner of Colorado & Pine).
30 March, 2010 /

Mrs R 6
Tracy Shaffer as Mrs. Robinson

by Tracy Shaffer

After a prolonged "heartbreak hiatus," I really felt no need to step back onto the stage. The slow slide of a dramatic divorce, sudden shock of single motherhood, and a stairway fall that took my brother’s life were enough to send me to my room. Though life in general was good, I was not ready to step that far out on a ledge, so to speak, and act again.

Long before the sideways years, I’d fallen out of love… or so I thought: 25 years in the spotlight had left its mark. I was tired of having to be given "permission" by the casting process in order to create. I loved the times when I was "first" but exhausted by the times being "second." “Lift yourself up, dust yourself off, and start all over again” sounded like heavy lifting where acting was concerned. I chose instead to let this deeply defining part of me go.

28 March, 2010 /

Tom White The prodigal son returns in triumph to Telluride.

The Telluride Council for Arts and Humanities and The Chamber Music Festival are proud to present pianist Tom White, performing live at the Michael D. Palm Theater Sunday, March 28, 4:30 p.m.

Former Telluride local, Tom has spent the past two years completing a masters degree in piano performance at the University of Northern Colorado. He is excited to return to his former stomping ground to perform some of his favorite piano music. The program includes works by Brahms, Debussy, Scarlatti, and Beethoven.

27 March, 2010 /
[click "Play" for Brian J's conversation with Susan]


Jay Ryan says it all on their Facebook page: "Get your pimp on." Telluride's The Llama (corner of Colorado & Pine) presents Pimps of Joytime Friday, March 26, starting at 10:30 p.m. for two very jazzy, jammy, funky sets. (And throw in a Latin twist, some rap, reggae, and blues for good measure.)


Mixing samples and dance beats with spicy musicianship and sweet vocal harmonies, The Pimps of Joytime have evolved since 2005 into the a five-piece groove machine that gets crowds at festivals and clubs from London to San Francisco shaking their tail-feathers.
25 March, 2010 /
[click "Play" to listen to Travis Book speaking with Susan]


The progressive acoustic group known as The Infamous Stringdusters first performed in town at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. That was three years ago, in 2007, with the release of their now acclaimed first album, "Fork in the Road," on Sugar Hill. The collection earned The Infamous Stringdusters, three top awards from the International Bluegrass Music Association: Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Emerging Artist of the Year. Not bad in an industry that generally forces anyone wet behind the ears to pay big dues before commanding the limelight.


The Infamous Stringdusters' long anticipated return happens this Friday, March 26, 9 p.m., at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House. (Doors/box office at 8:30 p.m.)
24 March, 2010 /
Telluride's Palm Theatre presents the Vienna Boys Choir in a live concert Saturday, March 27, 7 p.m.

Vienna 11x17 More than half a millennium ago, in 1498, Emperor Maximilian I moved his court – and his court musicians – from Innsbruck to Vienna, giving specific instructions there were to be six boys among the musicians. For want of a foundation charter, historians have settled on 1498 as the official foundation date of the Vienna Hofmusikkapelle and - in consequence - the Vienna Boys' Choir. Until 1918, the choir sang exclusively for the court, at mass, at private concerts and functions and on state occasions.

Musicians such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Caldara, Antonio Salieri and Anton Bruckner worked with the choir. Composers Jacobus Gallus, Franz Schubert, and conductors Hans Richter, Felix Mottl and Clemens Krauss were themselves choristers. Brothers Joseph and Michael Haydn were members of the choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral, and sang frequently with the imperial boys' choir.

 
23 March, 2010 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan' interview with Walter Strauss]


The American Library Association awarded Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library a five-star rating for the second year in a row. The celebration continues with a FREE concert at the historic Sheridan Opera House, 7 p.m. (Doors at 6:30 p.m.) featuring string diplomacy, a unique cross-cultural collaboration between American guitar wizard Walter Strauss and Malian kamal'ngoni (hunter's harp) master Mamadou Sidibe. The unique combination of finger-style guitar and West African hunter's harp, interweaving melodic grooves, lively improvisation and songs in two distinct languages, feels altogether soulful and at once ancient and modern.

Strauss has pushed the borders of the Big Open, Rawlins, Wyoming, where he was born. Working with musicians from West Africa to Australia and Finland, he has successfully woven together world beat, Americana, and jazz into layers of highly articulated melodies and harmonies, rhythms and counter-rhythms, a genre uniquely his own.
22 March, 2010 /