Festivals

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Terry Adams]

 

TFA2011_eBlast It is the ultimate pairing. The Telluride Festival of the Arts is an annual weekend-long celebration of both the visual and culinary arts. The unique event, produced by the Cherry Creek Arts Festival and sponsored by The Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association, welcomes over 5,000 locals visitors to Mountain Village Friday, August 12 (starts a noon) –  Sunday, August 14, 2011 (ends at 3 p.m)

The signature event of The Telluride Festival of the Arts is the Grand Tasting, a wine and food event offering a unique opportunity to taste regional and national culinary delights from 15 different culinary partners and wineries and several breweries. The events, which takes place Saturday, August 13, 5:30 – 8 p.m., fills the plazas of Telluride's Mountain Village.

 

The annual celebration of visual and culinary arts known as the Telluride Festival of the Arts returns to Mountain Village this coming weekend, Friday, August 12 – Sunday, August 14.

Vetted art shows in the Telluride region take place twice a year in summer. For eight years running, over July 4th weekend, the Sheridan Arts Foundation hosts Telluride Plein Air, a outdoor exhibition featuring the work of about 30 of the top American Impressionist painters. In August, the action moves "uptown" to Mountain Village and the Festival of the Arts. Its juried art show features work in 13 different media categories including ceramics, digital art, drawing, fiber, glass, graphics and printmaking, jewelry, metal works, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture and wood.

[click "Play" to hear Paul Machado's overview of TJC, 2011]

 

 

Paul, with Larry Coryell, 2010 The word "jazz," originally "jass" was slang for love-making, what you did when you went to brothels at the turn of the 20th century. Then it became the kind of music played in brothels to accompany such activities. For Telluride Jazz Celebration impresario Paul Machado, "jazz" means a certain kind of spontaneous interaction on stage and off, when the chemistry created by music, the mountains, the food and wine, and the people kicks in as it inevitably does every year over the Telluride Jazz Celebration weekend. The 35th annual musical happening featuring classical, mainstream, blues Brazilian, African, Latin and more, takes place this year Friday, August 5 – Sunday, August 7.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Emilio Castillo and Larry Braggs]

 

A_group_shot Telluride in the 1970s was dirt poor and tie dyed. The Idarado Mines were closing and derelicts were crashing at the historic Sheridan Opera House. In the larger world, some of the currents of the 1960s had become mainstream, women's lib and youth with a voice for two. Polyester became as ubiquitous as avocado and gold for in home decor. Yuck. "Taxi Driver" was one of the standout movies of the decade. And Tower of Power came on the scene. Amen.

Tower of Power appears in all its horny glory (and I mean that in the good sense) at the 35th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, August 5 – August 7, 2011, a not-to-be-missed weekend of jazz, funk, blues, wine, even yoga, which features other enduring legends in addition to Tower of Power, among them, Guest of Honor Paquito d'Rivera, Rita Coolidge and Allen Toussaint.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Mia Borders]

 

SOS POSTER Local Teddy Errico's Telluride Cajun Festival is a little bit like the phoenix of mythology – or Harry Potter fame. Too much spice (music and food) burns it up, but the event inevitably returns better and stronger.

After a two-year break, The 2011 Telluride Cajun Festival and its partner, Oak, (the new Fat Alley), announce a South Oak Social with headliner Mia Borders performing on a program with the Great Funktier and Lily Von Shtupp. The main event takes place rain or shine Friday, July 29, at The Gondola Plaza at the base of Chair 8. Gates at 4 p.m. (Mia is scheduled to perform at 6 p.m.) Tickets are just $10 in advance and $15 day of show. Saturday, July 30, is a free night of music featuring Von Schtupp. Show time is 6 p.m.

[click "Play", Art Goodtimes talks about Mushroom Fest]

 

Mushroomfilm The Telluride Mushroom Festival, Thursday, August 18  – Sunday, August 21 bills itself as the nation's "oldest mycological conference exploring all things fungal." Which is saying a tasty mouthful since fungi have been around for a very long time. A lot longer than people, perhaps 500 million years. (The earliest known picture of a mushroom was found on a wall painting in the ruins of Pompeii.)

Fungi come in a wondrous variety of shapes, sizes and colors, from tiny cup fungi to puffballs the size of basketballs. Today, the sorts of wild shrooms sold at retail or served in your local restaurants are generally above suspicion. The main health hazard are fungi we collect ourselves.

[click "Play", Eddie Roberts talks with Susan]

 

1107-walterdeitchroberts2 Funk grows horns when jam band sensation Walter, Roberts & Deitch takes to the Main Stage of the at the 35th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, August 4 – August 7.

Soul jazz organist Robert Walter is one of America's heaviest jazz-funk crossover musicians. Walter earned international acclaim for his work with The Greyboy Allstars, a group credited with bringing 60s/70s soul jazz sounds to a modern jam band audience. For the past 15 years, Walter has toured extensively in the U.S. and Europe with the Allstars and his own ensembles: 20th Congress, Robert Walter Trio, Super Heavy Organ.

Passholders w:o W2s BERKELEY, CA – Telluride Film Festival (September 2-5, 2011), presented by National Film Preserve LTD., will, for the first time, present the best moments from the 37th Telluride Film Festival on its inaugural TFF 37 DVD two-disc set. Proceeds of each purchase directly benefit the National Film Preserve, LTD.
 
TFF 37 DVD set features highlights of filmmakers and Festival guests as they share their insights and anecdotes about the films that made the 2010 Telluride Film Festival such a success. The two-disc set contains recordings of all the Noon Seminars, Conversations Series, and interviews from the Tributees. With nearly six hours of footage, viewers can relive their favorite moments of the Festival, or see them for the first time, with plenty to keep them busy until the upcoming 38th TFF, September 2-5, 2011.

Tour and Educational Programs Poised to Expand

After the rain, Mountainfilm 2009
After the Rain
2009 Mountainfilm

Telluride, Colorado (July 20, 2011) – Mountainfilm on Tour has been operating for more than 12 years and takes films from the annual Memorial Day festival in Telluride to several dozen venues worldwide each year. Making Movies that Matter, Mountainfilm’s educational initiative, which started three years ago, takes festival films into classrooms where students not only learn about critical contemporary issues but also how to use video editing software.

Both programs, equally critical to Mountainfilm’s mission to educate and inspire audiences, are set to take big steps ahead with the hire this week of two new directors. For the tour,
successful local entrepreneur Henry Lystad will fill the shoes of Justin Clifton who is departing to take on responsibility as executive director of the 5 Point Film Festival. Tracy Biga MacLean, most recently the head of media studies at the Claremont Colleges in California, will take on the role of scaling the educational initiative to a national level. She will work with Ellen Shelton who created the program and piloted it through its start-up years.

[click "Play", Susan speaks with Allen Toussaint]

 

Allen Toussaint
Photo credit: Michael Wilson

Treme, the neighborhood in New Orleans, and Telluride, a box canyon mountain town, do not, on the surface, have much in common, except "Treme," the latest knock-out series from HBO, keeps coming up in Telluride.

Steve Earle mentioned "Treme" during his performance at the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival in June. He appears as himself in the series. And now Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, Allen Toussaint, another series regular (as himself), is headed our way for a momentous event: Toussaint performs on the Town Park Main Stage for the first time ever with none other than Delta Lady, Rita Coolidge. The event takes place Sunday night, August 7, at the 35th annual Telluride Jazz Celebration.

(Follow this link for a related post on Coolidge.)