No doubt you've heard that Winter Solstice is astronomically unique this year due to a full Moon total lunar eclipse that will be taking place in the late evening and early morning hours of Dec. 20th - 21st. Yes, it's true! All of North...
Dateline Telluride, Colorado, December 19, 2010 The Giant Slalom gates have been pulled down, Lower Misty Maiden has been regroomed, things are returning to normal on the ski mountain in Telluride. The circus has left town. But it...
On December 7, Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library hosted a reading of local author Bob Rubadeau's latest mystery: Gatsby's Last Resort: A Telluride Murder Mystery, released on December 1. Over the past week, the book has captured headlines and attention, with our town's avid readers trying to guess who the local prototypes for the colorful characters really are.
Rubadeau’s award winning non-fiction book about his life as a world-class ocean racer and sailor was released on November 1 to raves. And in most places outside Telluride, Bound for Rocque Island: Sailing Maine and the World, is matching his novel's sales book for book.
kicker: Chubby Checker & The Wild Cats are featured guests
Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House kills two birds with one big event, celebrating New Year Eve and the 50th anniversary of the Twist. The December 31st gala features the one and only Chubby Checker, in person with the Wild Cats. Doors open @ 9 p.m. Chubby Checker performs @ 10:30 p.m.
In July 1960, a 19-year-old Chubby Checker (born Ernest Evans in Spring Gulley, South Carolina) revolutionized pop dancing when he stepped on to the stage of New York's Rainbow Room and put his spin on '"The Twist," a song written and originally recorded by Hank Ballard just two years earlier that had never gotten traction.
[click "Play", Josephine Fallenius talks with Susan about Ah Haa]
Ring out the old, support the new.
On Friday, December 31,Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts hosts its second annual New Year's Eve dinner, 6:30 – 10 p.m., an evening of fine food and wine, fine art, entertainment and friends. Proceeds from the event mean the nonprofit is one step closer towards covering operating expenses (which are not covered by tuition) and eliminating the remaining debt on the roof over its head, the historic train depot, and thereby deepening its undisputed position as the community's cultural center.
After 17 years in an old brothel in Popcorn Alley, Ah Haa took a bold step in 2007 when it acquired the century-old depot, which once housed Harmon's restaurant and the San Juan Brewing Company. The move allowed the school to expand its programming with stunning results.
One can only wonder about Telluride local Mike Hess. Is the guy channeling Cecil De DemiIle?
When Mike throws a party, it's an extravaganza, and he's at it again. This time it's an intimate affair for about 900+ of his nearest and dearest, including 300 athletes from around the word and their fans. The Visa Snowboardcross World Cup Telluride kickoff party takes place Tuesday, December 14, 2010, at The Peaks Resort & Spa, in all its new glory, 6 - 9 p.m.
kicker: Scorsese series ends with satire
Stalkers are unfunny. But a film about stalking? You decide.
The Telluride Film Festival and the five-star Wilkinson Public Library host the final installment in the four-part Martin Scorsese retrospective, brilliantly programmed to show the sweeping range of the pioneer filmmaker by Telluride Film Festival co-director Gary Meyer. The FREE Cinematheque film club is a vehicle for the cinephiles in the greater Telluride community to watch and discuss great film, not just during Festival weekend, but year-round. Food and beverages with every screening. Popular Telluride Film Festival Ringmaster, producer/director/film professor David Oyster leads the discussion. The featured film is Scorsese's dark yuck, "King of Comedy," (1982, 109 minutes, Rated PG). The event takes place Monday, December 13, 5:30 p.m. for pre-SHOW get-together. (The first screening is @ 6 p.m.)
Robert de Niro stars as Rupert Pupin, a stage-door autograph hound and aspiring stand-up comedic of Herculean ambitions. It is arguably one of the most flamboyant performances of de Niro's career. Jerry Lewis plays Jerry Langford, the star Rupert stalks, a late night talk show host who craves privacy. Rupert pursues Jerry with the mono-manical focus of a true psychotic. There's a kidnapping. And more laughs.
But the laughter could turn in a blink into terror. How will it all work out?
Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers,
plus Sam Bush, TBF 2010
It's always exciting to see the preliminary lineup for the coming year's Telluride Bluegrass Festival. As we go through the list we look for favorites returning, and performers we don't know so well making the list, maybe for the first time.
This year's early release is no different. Brian Eyster of Planet Bluegrass cautions that there will be additions to the list, but this is the TBF lineup as we know it now. Got your tickets yet?
kicker: Ames Conservatory's big production takes place this weekend, 12/10 – 12/12
Homeboy Paul DiStefano is a Telluride success story: He grew up in Telluride, became a street magician and is now poised to become a dancer on the world stage.
In September 2009, Paul showed up at the Telluride Dance Academy, now the Ames Conservatory. His idea was take classes with former prima ballerina and artistic director Valerie Madonia. Within six months of intense study, pedal to the metal (or toes to the boards), Madonia felt confident enough in Paul's emerging talent to recommend him for an audition at the Joffrey School of New York, where Valerie regularly taught.
Telluride local Mark Galbo is an innovative educator and a leading voice in contemporary music education. His unconventionally relaxed and spontaneous approach to teaching has endeared him to thousands of students across the country. But especially in the Telluride region.
See on why Saturday night, December 11, when nine all-kid bands, 45 kids aged 7 – 18, take the stage of the Sheridan Opera House to perform material from Green Day to Taio Cruz, from the Beatles to Bad Company. The event also features a collaboration between the Rock and Roll Academy and the Telluride Karate Studio in a first of its kind choreographed rock and roll martial arts demonstration.
