Festivals

[click "Play" to hear Jesse's interview with Jake Norton and Wende Valentine]

 

 

by J James McTigue

Jake Norton Jake Norton is an Eddie Bauer First Ascent athlete and world-renowned climber, photographer and guide. He has a list of accolades as tall as Everest, a mountain he has attempted six times and summitted three. His career has taken him to the top of the world’s highest mountains and on explorations across the globe. His newest endeavor is Challenge 21, a campaign to climb 21 peaks, raise 2.1 million dollars and get 2.1 million people involved in clean water initiatives around the world. 

He will be a guest judge for the Charlie Fowler Award at this year’s Mountainfilm in Telluride and a presenter at the Saturday morning coffee talks to discuss climbing the second highest peak in the world, K2. Norton speaks passionately of mountains, but more so of the impact they have had on him.

Wade, mountains Wade Davis is a fixture at Mountainfilm in Telluride and that's a good thing.

Telluride Inside... and Out interviewed Davis in 1997 on his first ever visit to Mountainfilm in Telluride, the town he took by storm. His subject at the time was his then latest book, One River, a tribute to the life and work of one of his mentors, the legendary explorer/botanist Richard Evan Schultes, about the discoveries Davis and protege Tim Plowman made on their odyssey through the Amazonian jungle in the mid-1970s. Since then, there have been many other books and many miles traveled. With Davis, the sky's the limit. Well, maybe not. The man is unstoppable.

[click "Play" to hear Ian Cheney's conversation with Susan]

 

Ian Cheney Wicked Delicate is one helluva compliment paid to a good blueberry pie in the state of Maine, one of the two addresses (the other is Massachusetts)  where Ian Cheney grew up. It is also the name of the documentary film advocacy project founded in 2006 by Ian and Curt Ellis.

Under the auspices of Wicked Delicate, Ian and Curt, fellow graduates of Yale, co-created, co-produced and co-starred in the feature documentary "King Corn," granted a George Foster Peabody Award in 2009. "King Corn" follows Ian and Curt as they discover where America's food comes from when they plant a single acre of corn and follow it from seed to dinner plate.

Andrea, Tunnel to Towers Mud season in Telluride ends with Memorial Weekend, May 27 – May 30, with the coming together of the tribe for the celebration that opens the summer festival season: Mountainfilm in Telluride. What began as a homespun gathering of outdoor enthusiasts...

[click "Play", Susan speaks with Andrea Garbarini and Beth Gage]

 

Andrea in Rwanda
Andrea Garbarini in Rwanda

The events of 9/11 marked a turning point in the history of our country: America lost its innocence. Even in Telluride we no longer lived in splendid isolation from the violence that  impacts lives across the globe every single day. Suddenly, violently, our corner of the Big Blue Marble acquired a discernible crack. We became vulnerable. 

For the families who lost loved ones, the implications of the tragedy of 9/11 go way beyond the geopolitical to profoundly personal. And the recent execution of Osama Bin Laden does not change much. Terrorism with a capital "T" has entered our vocabulary and there is still no turning back.

A new documentary by Telluride locals George & Beth Gage, "From the Ground Up," is a tribute to those people, telling the story of five widows of  FDNY firefighters, men who lost their lives trying to save others. In just a half hour, the film gives depth and breadth to Mountainfilm's motto: "Celebrating Indomitable Spirit."

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Hilton Kelley]

 

Hilton Kelley Hilton Kelley speaks at Awareness in Action Symposium

Hilton Kelley, The Sierra Club's 2011 Goldman Environmental Prize winner for North America, is in town for Mountainfilm in Telluride, May 27 – May 30. He is scheduled to speak Friday, May 27, at the Moving Mountains Symposium in one of three afternoon breakout sessions,1:30 – 3:30 p.m., The Nugget Theatre.

Traditionally Mountainfilm's Moving Mountains Symposium has focused on a single issue or place: reintroduction of wolves into the West, Mongolia, energy, water, food, extinction, etc. But this year, with hot spots all over the world and our own country in hot water, festival director David Holbrooke concluded that talking about issues was simply not enough. He decided his event would model "Awareness Into Action."

[click "Play" to hear Steve Gumble's conversation with Susan]

 

 

Front Stage Shot, Blues & Brews He's on the road again –  and headed our way. Turns out Steve Gumble has booked the iconic Willie Nelson, who first appeared at Telluride Bluegrass in 1982 –  as the headliner for his 18th annual Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, September 16 – September 18, 2011. Joining Willie on the Main Stage are The Flaming Lips, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Dweezil Zappa, Mavis Staples, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, to name of the few of the acts, which make a lot more sense in context.
 
Steve, now owner and CEO of SBG Productions Inc. opened Telluride Blues & Blues for business in 1994. Like Telluride Film Festival, Mountainfilm in Telluride, and Telluride Bluegrass, Steve's festival evolved into an event with a global reputation, helping to brand Telluride as a cultural mecca.

BERKELEY, CA, April 15, 2011 – Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5, 2011), presented by National Film Preserve, Ltd. announces its Call for Entries in all categories including student, short and feature length films. Submission period begins April 15, 2011. Telluride Film Festival 2011 Film Entry Form...

New Director Brings Years of Experience and Event Expertise

Bill Kight April 12, 2011 (Telluride, CO.) – The Telluride Blues and Brew Festival team proudly announced the addition of Bill Kight as Director of Marketing and Public Relations this week. Bill brings over 8 years of advertising, sales, event management and production, marketing, and PR experience to the iconic festival’s table.

“The addition of Bill to our team comes at a great time for the festival,” said Steve Gumble, founder of Blues and Brews. “We are really looking forward to working with Bill, and improving the festival’s image and exposure through his marketing and public relations knowledge and capabilities.”

[click "Play" to listen to Paul Machado's rap on TJC 2011]

 

 

Toshiko Akiyoshi
Toshiko Akiyoshi, 2010

The aural elixir that is the Telluride Jazz Celebration announces its lineup for the 35th anniversary year.

Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado is no purist: in the context of Telluride Jazz, "jazz" rhymes with "good." "Very good." The 2011 program features some of the best of the best in classic, mainstream, and progressive jazz, but also blues, cajun, pop, funk, and soul, all performed by artists as wide-ranging as Tower Of Power, Allen Toussaint with Rita Coolidge for the first time ever, and "American Idol" winner (2006),Taylor Hicks.

The 2011 Guest of Honor is Paquito D'Rivera, whose long career is a tribute to his diverse talent: he performs Latin, jazz, classical, funk with equal panache. As Guest of Honor, Paquito gets to jam with other festival artists, among them, Edmar Castaneda. Paquito also plays a special Jazz-After-Dark show with the Alex Brown Quartet.