Calypso Rose and her band, musicians from Guadeloupe, Trinidad, Ireland and Nigeria, are scheduled to perform at the historic Sheridan Opera House on Thursday, September 22. Showtime for this seats-out concert is 8 p.m.In her genre, raunchy, ribald and rife with socio-political and sexual...
by Emily Brendler Shoff
The Telluride Blues and Brews Festival always falls at the time of year when anything can happen weather-wise. It can be sunny and 70, or it can be snowing. This weekend was both. 
Saturday, it rained and snowed so hard that even long-time locals were questioning why they call Telluride home. At the beer tasting, people were dressed in every imaginable combination they could think of to stay warm. Those who’d thought to bring rain jackets and rain paints were the happiest but equally happy were those in trash bags, snap-up Carhartt suits, and polypro onesies. I even saw one guy wearing his ski clothes, including ski boots.
The weather didn’t seem to dampen people’s appreciation for the beer or the music. If anything, it just added another layer of appreciation. People discussed others’ outfits as much as they discussed the beer.
My rubber xtra-tuf rain boots from my Alaska NOLS trip in 1994 got the same amount of praise as I imagine the latest handbags do in New York.
Marcia Ball hit the jackpot with her name. It defines the lady and her talent, as in Marcia Ball is:
“More fun than a barrel of funky monkeys. Spicy, Texas-Louisiana blues, rock 'n’ roll and boogie-woogie...awesome piano,” National Public Radio
Translation: The lady is, well, a ball. And those around have – you guessed it - a ball.
Singer/pianist Marcia Ball joins Willie Nelson, Mavis Staple, The Robert Cray Band, Dweezil Zappa, BIg Head Todd and the Monsters on long list of talent performing this weekend at Steve Gumble's rocking, rollicking 18th annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival.
Thoughts on 9/11 by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Rob Schultheis and David Feela
When I question why Susan and I continue to toil away on Telluride Inside... and Out, along comes something like this: three of our favorite poets/writers gave us three very different, but all beautiful, poems to honor memory of the events of September 11, 2001.
9/11/2001 holds a special place in our personal memories. Though we did not lose loved ones in the tragedy, there was an almost dime-novel aspect in the way we and ours experienced the horrors of that day.
The Telluride Blues and Brews Festival, #18 if you're counting, hits town on the weekend of September 16-18, 2011. Blues & Brews is the last big event of the Summer in Telluride. The argument could be made it is also one of the first...
[click "Play" to listen to Mickey Raphael's conversation with Clint]
Willie (Danny Clinch photo)
Willie Nelson and Family are the Sunday night closer for the 18th Telluride Blues and Brews Festival (September 16-18, 2011). "Willie Nelson?" you ask. "At Blues and Brews?" Well, yes. Because Willie can do it all. Case in point: Have you listened to Willie's "Stardust" album? I rest my case. And a key part of the Willie Nelson sound is the harmonica of Mickey Raphael.
Raphael has been part of Willie's band for some three decades, and unless you have paid attention you might not have noticed: he is the consumate side man. But take that harp out of the mix and guaranteed you would miss it.
by David Feela Twenty-four years is a long stretchto stay out of sight -- that’s four timessix years deep. A lot of timeon your head. All the while we speculatedhow it happened in the end, the moband the union bosses being so hard to tell...
Mark Stevens
Labor Day weekend, the action is mostly on the silver screen. Labor Day weekend, September 2 – September 5 is all about the Telluride Film Festival. However, one Telluride Film Festival regular, documentary director extraordinaire Ken Burns, always finds time on Monday, the last day of the epic film happening, to meet his public. For the third year in a row, Ken will take his traditional post at Telluride's popular book emporium, Between the Covers Bookstore, on September 5, 10:30 – 1 p.m. (ish) or just before he feels he needs to leave for the Closing Picnic.
This year Ken Burns signs copies of "The National Parks: America's Best Idea," "Jazz," "Baseball," and "The Civil War." Joining Ken at Between the Covers is a newcomer to Telluride, author Mark Stevens, in town to to sign copies of his latest work, "Buried by the Roan," an Allison Coil Mystery and the sequel to Stevens' best-seller, "Antler Dust."
by Emily Brendler Shoff
It’s easy to come up with reasons not to go to Shakespeare in the Telluride Town Park. You’re broke. You’re afraid of Town Park after dark. You’re afraid of Shakespeare.
But here are a few reasons why you should dig more deeply into your wallet and soul and go see this year’s Repertory production of As You Like It.
For starters…. Hockey talent in the summer. It’s not often that you see many killer hockey players that can also act. It’s rarer still to see killer hockey players perform Shakespeare. This year, the Rep has two such stars, and they’re as successful on the stage as they are on the ice. Buff Hooper is a surly and charming Jacques, one whose melancholy energizes the stage. Emily Koren is a playful and puckish Touchstone, a fool who reminds us at once to reflect and to laugh.
Steve Gumble (and his SBG productions) is the force behind the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, now in its 18th year and a sold-out success annually. So what's a nice guy like that doing in a place like Taos? The short answer: Making a good thing better.
Friends and producers of the Taos event were not in the Festival producing business like Steve. Their day job was running the mountain. So, they approached their friend Steve to grow a musical event with loads of promise.
The third annual Taos Mountain Music Festival takes place this year on Saturday, August 20 and Sunday, August 21. Northern New Mexico's music event of the summer features headliners Matisyahu, Railroad Earth, Ozomatli, and Leftover Salmon. Additional festival performances include Donna the Buffalo, Jackie Greene Duo, Afroman, Orgone, Dangermuffin, Langhorne Slim, Shannon McNally and Hot Sauce, Ryan McGarvey and Mariachi Luz de Luna.
