Flashback to May 2011. Brian Eyster, marketing director, Planet Bluegrass, urged Telluride Inside…. and Out to interview a newbie in the line-up of the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival. Apparently his boss, festival director Craig Ferguson, was over the moon about a young singer/songwriter. And...
When Grammy Award-winning solo pianist George Winston first came to town in 1998, the idea was not simply to entertain in his grand style, but also to help Angel Baskets Food Bank. A lucky 13 years later, it's more of the same: Winston's upcoming concert...
Westword's "Best Bluegrass" band in Colorado 2010 & 2011 Planet Bluegrass outdid itself this year. With a megawatt line-up that included Mumford & Sons, Punch Brothers, Robert Plant, Bela Fleck, and Joe Pug, plus Darrell Scott & Friends for a glorious Gospel set, the 38th annual...
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.
