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Festivals

[click "Play' to hear Mark English interview]

English_farm_to_market_road_sm Mark English is in Telluride this weekend – at least in spirit. The newest paintings of this great artist/illustrator are now on display Telluride Gallery of Fine Art. The foggy foggy dew image that became the poster for the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival is also his.

What is the syntax that unifies Mark English's magical, mystical paintings? Are there any governing principles that unite them? If you guessed that images of Native Americans, a ghost rider, a toy town, and farmscape suggest a rural Western past filtered through memory onto a canvas, you would be right.

Mark English was born in 1933 and raised in the rear view mirror town of Hubbard,Texas, which lies northeast of Waco. This no-count address once called Slap-out is a patchwork of farms, cotton fields, and snaking creeks and country roads, just exactly what is pictured in his "Farm to Market Road."

24 June, 2009 /
[click"Play" to hear Doug Frost on the Wine Fest]

Studio His handle is "wine dog" and he is always learning new tricks.

The Telluride Wine Fest is pleased to welcome back film critic Doug Frost. No, we have not conflated our festivals. Yes, we know the 28th annual gathering of poets of pinot is this coming weekend, June 25 - 28,  and that the Telluride Film Festival is not until early September. We are, however, just stating the facts of Doug's robust life.

Doug's bio begins modesty: "Doug Frost is a Kansas City author who writes and lectures about wine, beer and spirits." That is a bit like saying Leonardo was a guy who drew nice lines and invented war machines. All true, but that's just scratching the surface. Doug was only 15 when he had his Archimedes-in-the-bathtub moment upon tasting his first glass of Louis Martini 1968 Special Select Pinot Noir: Eureka! The rest is now part of the history of wine in the making.

24 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Eliza Gavin's interview]
Eliza_book-2
Warning: do not read further if you are on a diet (again) or it's been a few hours since you ate your last meal. The mouthwatering menu at Eliza Gavin's Telluride eatery, "221 South Oak," is an eclectic blend of flavors and styles.

The mix at Eliza's table reflects the chef's southern heritage. She was raised in Richmond, Virginia and ran her first kitchen while attending college at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her extensive travels –   Europe, the Caribbean, New Zealand, Australia, and all over the United States,  Seattle, Boston, Nantucket, the Chesapeake Bay, the Deep South and California – are likewise reflected on the plate, as is her rigorous training.

24 June, 2009 /

The Telluride Bluegrass Festivarian and bride-to-be was hanging on to the gate, shaking a shoe and frantically waving a cardboard sign which read "Play My Wedding," at the band on stage. Kay Vollmayer was not disappointed.Greensky Bluegrass, former band contest winners and new Festival...

23 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Chef Richard Chen on the Telluride Wine Festival]

Chef Richard Chen - Wing Lei photo by Barbara Kraft

Forget what you remember about the Chinese food from your childhood when superstar chef Richard Chen comes to town for the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival. We are not talking about Moo goo gai anything. We are talking strictly uptown: "Reverse fusion." Chef Chen's food is French-influenced Shanghai, a mix of Shanghai, Cantonese, and Szechwan cuisines. His restaurant, Wing Lei at The Wynn, Las Vegas, is the only Chinese eatery in North America to have earned a Michelin star and the AAA Four Diamond award, also in 2008.

Cooking is in Chef Chen's  DNA. He began his career at the age of seven, working in his parents’ restaurant in his native Taiwan, and continued to work in their kitchen after the family established a restaurant in suburban Chicago.

23 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Maria Bachman on the concert series]

Telluride 2009 5
The seven year itch may ring true for marriages, but fans of the Telluride Musicfest have grown more ardent over the years – and with good reason. The heavy breathing always begins when the Hungarian beauty picks up her 18th century instrument, a Niccolo Gagliano violin, and starts fiddling: The ensuing pyrotechnics mesmerize.

She is Maria Bachman, artistic director of the Telluride Musicfest and a member of the Trio Solisti, recently described by The New Yorker as "the most exciting piano trio in America." The musical materiality between her and her colleagues,  Alexis Pia Gerlach on cello and Jon Klibonoff on piano, is the reason: their complicity is perfect and other-worldly. They play as one.

23 June, 2009 /
[click "Play" to hear Bouqion interview]

Bertrand New 1-07dCopy You may hear unfamiliar murmurings on the streets of Telluride this weekend. The conversation won't be about dogs on sacred tracts of land or the local economy.
The talk may be about "terroir" versus technology. This weekend is all about drinking wine, consuming copious amounts of fabulous food. It is the 28th annual Telluride Wine Festival.

The French word “terroir,” from a Latin root meaning “earth,” describes the relationship between a given wine and the place that wine comes from. The ongoing debate in the wine world about “terroir” versus technology asks the question: Is wine about some place or about the expertise of someone, aided by technology? At its heart, however, the debate is all about the Old World, meaning primarily France, telling the New World, meaning places like Napa, it’s all about the land stupid: We have had it for centuries. You are upstarts.

22 June, 2009 /

Thursday night's closer for Telluride Bluegrass was David Byrne. OK, skeptics, maybe David Byrne doesn't represent bluegrass for you, but what a show! Everyone was dressed in white- David, the band, the three very energetic dancers, and at the end of the evening the crowd,...

20 June, 2009 /

The 2009 Telluride Bluegrass Festival kicked off Thursday morning with a great set by two artists who really need no introduction to Telluride audiences. Tim O'Brien has performed at TBF for over 25 years, and the 36th running is Jerry Douglas' 25th appearance. Gentlemen, it...

19 June, 2009 /