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Festivals

[click "Play" to hear Pamela Zoline's interview with Clifford Saron]

 

by Pamela Zoline

 Saron_c_headshot

Among the frontiers on which we, smart chimps or bruised angels, find ourselves, perhaps the most intriguing, dangerous and profound is right here and now as we peer into the galaxies within our brainpans and begin to understand. Dr. Clifford Saron, Assistant Research Scientist at the Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California at Davis, is at the helm of the starship. His research style, rather than swashbuckling, is exquisite, patient, impeccable, respectful, and has to do with the most powerful experiment design, and the most sensitive investigation of psychological and physiological processes. This is basic and rigorous research into how meditation affects the mind. It takes the exploration beyond religion and even beyond first-person accounts into the realm of what can be tested and measured.

29 June, 2011 /

By J James McTigue

I love geeks; therefore I love Telluride Wine Fest. This year’s 30th festival was full of wine geeks and Pouring foodies, all intent on enthusiastically sharing the intricate technicalities and personal stories behind their artfully crafted creations.

It’s hard not to listen to a geek, because their passion carries their stories. Before you know it, you’re fully engaged, tasting their, let’s say… mezcals…noting hints of smoke in one and earthy minerals in the other.

This past weekend’s Wine Festival was nothing short of a geek-fest, celebrating some of the best food and wine in the country, and possibly the world. Keeping true to the spirit of Telluride, it was an anything goes affair, colored by educational seminars, blowout tastings and intimate meals carefully paired with specialty wines in chosen venues.

28 June, 2011 /
[click"Play" to hear Erik Dalton's description of River Festival]

 

RwayRiverFest11.jpg. Ridgway, Colorado, is so much more than a bedroom community for Telluride. The town is famous – or infamous – as the location for several movies, including "How the West Was Won," and one of actor John Wayne's latest and greatest, "True Grit," (1969), in which Wayne stars as Rooster Cogburn. Ridgway's True Grit Cafe is filled with John Wayne memorabilia, but as far as we know, no drunken, one-eyed federal marshals. And the Uncompaghre is a great source for trout fishing and the focus of Ridgway's fourth annual River Festival.

 

25 June, 2011 /
[click "Play", Chef Erich Owen talks with Susan]

 

Erich-owen-pensive Since 2008, Erich Owen has worked as the Executive Chef of The Chop House at Telluride's historic New Sheridan Hotel. His New American cuisine emphasizes quality fresh ingredients impeccably prepared with a light, deft touch in the French tradition for a simple but always elegant presentation. If you are a patron of the 30th annual Telluride Wine Festival, the proof of Erich's skills will be in the pudding – or whatever it is he prepares for the kick-off luncheon. Chef Erich Owen co-hosts the Telluride Wine Festival opening feast, Thursday, June 23, 11:30 a.m – 1:30 p.m. And that's big news. Here's why.

In the art world, there is a reflex known as The Cultural Cringe, an assumption that whatever anyone does in the arts – and we include the food arts here – is not validated until judged by those in the know from outside your world. We cry "foul."

23 June, 2011 /

By Jon Lovekin

A Tom Boy Ride
A Tom Boy Ride

Preparing for a festival as grand as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival takes time. For many Festivarians, the week to 10 day experience is their one vacation of the year. The excitement in the weeks before the Summer Solstice reaches a fever pitch the weekend before the music starts. In the early years, an entire festival was spent flopped in a tent in Town Park listening to the music from there, too sick from altitude, sun, and fun to be able to move.

As the festival caught on, pitching a tent in an empty lot or sleeping in a car late in the week ceased being possible. Prior planning became necessary and arrival in the campground early in the week morphed to getting there the weekend before. Town passes on the Landcruiser faded to no longer trying to leave town at all. We started working at the ticket booths, renting bikes, and moving in for the week.

23 June, 2011 /
[click "Play" to  hear Steve Swenson's conversation with Susan]

 

Wine poster "I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food," W.C. Fields

One of the longest running wine festivals Colorado, the Telluride Wine Festival, celebrates its 30th anniversary over a long weekend, beginning Wednesday, June 22, 5 – 7 p.m. The event starts with an opening reception at La Piazza in Mountain Village, where patrons get to mingle with guest speakers, guest chefs, homeowners, and members of the Telluride Ski & Golf Club.

Mountainfilm in Telluride and Telluride Bluegrass are festivals for folks. Both have reputations for a welcome-to-the-neighborhood feel. But Wine Fest? Is it all about a sleek, well-heeled fraternity? Them, not us?

21 June, 2011 /

Maria, Jon, Josh Year after year, they hit it out of the ballpark. We are talking about key players of the Telluride Musicfest, now entering its 9th season, June 22 – July 3.

Musicfest's artistic director Maria Bachmann and her Trio Solisti colleague, Jon Klibonoff received raves from a Fanfare critic for their premiere performance of Philip Glass's "First Violin Sonata," on their latest CD, Glass Heart.

20 June, 2011 /

[click "Play" to  listen to Beryl's interview with Susan]

 

Beryl Beryl Bender Birch is among the presenters at Aubrey Hackman's 4th annual Telluride Yoga Festival, July 14 – July 17.

Beryl's history is the history of Yoga in America, a story of assimilation and diversification and recently, big business. This spiritual teacher, yoga therapist, and author ("Power Yoga,""Boomer Yoga,""Beyond Power Yoga") was an early adaptor and pioneer: in the early 70s, the tie-dyed days of drugs, sex and rock 'n roll, Beryl, a former student of philosophy and comparative religion, became an avid student of yoga and the study of consciousness.

20 June, 2011 /

 Were you "in the running" on Day 1 of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival? Were you somewhere near the front of the line to get your position on the Town Park grounds to hear your musical heroes? If so, check out the video, you may be...

18 June, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Emily Shoff's conversation with Abigail Washburn]  

Abby_002 I first met Abigail Washburn in a basement studio in Packard Hall at Colorado College. We were hosting tryouts for our female a cappella group, Ellement. She showed up and needless to say, tryouts were done for the day. Her voice was so beautiful that we actually started rehearsing with her that same afternoon. We’d found the final member of our group.

Since college, Washburn’s career has taken off. She returns to the Bluegrass Stage for her 7th time at the 38th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, June 16-June 19th 2011. With her powerful juxtaposition of Appalachian folk songs and far-flung sounds, Washburn inspires and invigorates her audiences.
16 June, 2011 /