Old Events

[click "Play" to hear Clarice Schmid talk about her life on Wilson Mesa]

Nov 2010 clarice Saturday, December 11, 1 – 5 p.m,  the Telluride Historical Museum and the Schmid Ranch co-host "An Old-Fashioned Christmas Celebration," featuring sleigh rides, wreaths, tree cutting from Clarice Schmid's tree farm, cowboy coffee, Santa Claus, and more.

The same family has owned and operated the Schmid Ranch on Wilson Mesa since it was homesteaded in 1882. Five generations of Wellses, Camplins, and Schmids have worked the land through the Telluride mining boom and bust, the Great Depression, and a century of droughts and storms from the time James Wells migrated from Kansas in a covered wagon.

Polar kicker: Theatrical dance event features exclusive guest appearance by Ted Keegan of Broadway's "Phantom of the Opera."

Yes, you read the headline correctly. The Telluride Dance Academy is not serving up the usual Christmas diet of sugarplums. I am saying Telluride is not succumbing to the tweeness that afflicts the rest of America and mounting yet another production of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker."

What's more, there is no longer a Telluride Dance Academy.

Next thing you know, I'll be saying there is no Santa Claus.

Which is what the little boy in another Christmas classic, Chris Van Allsburg's "The Polar Express" was starting to believe.

This coming weekend, Friday – Sunday, December 10 – December 12, at Telluride's Palm Theatre, the brand new Ames Conservatory presents its inaugural holiday production: "The Polar Express."

[click "Play" to hear TIO's interview with Nichole Zangara and Jim Riley]

 

Santa It was on your mark. Get set. GO! 

Last week, on December 1, Telluride celebrated Noel Nite, which annually marks the start of the holiday shopping marathon. This week, the action shifts "uptown" to Telluride's sister city, Mountain Village.

On Friday, December 10, the Town of Mountain Village and the Telluride Mountain Village Owners Association host Jingle Jam, an all-day event offering family-focused fun in Mountain Village Center (the "Core").

[click "Play" to hear Lance Waring's conversation with Susan]

 

Ski_The_Himalayas_LARGEIMAGE Telluride Inside... and Out recently announced the availability of an adventure documentary by local filmmaker/mountaineer Ben Clark on Dish Network Pay Per View.

The 90-minute "Ski the Himalayas" chronicles three climbers' attempts at climbing and skiing 23,390' Baruntse. Local mountaineers Ben Clark, Josh Butson, and Jon Miller spent 750 days attempting to climb one mountain in a way that had never been done before just to ski one run. A twist of fate sent the adventure into overdrive as the explorers met scenarios that forced them to ask; What is it really worth? They pushed forward anyway...

The catch: you need a dish and a Dish subscription to view "Ski the Himalayas." At least you did until now. On Saturday, December 11, 8 p.m., The Nugget Theater sponsors a special screening of Clark's film. The event is a fundraiser for Telluride's Horizon Program.

[click "Play" to hear Susan's interview with Rhonda Muckerman]

 

Darkness-to-Light The thought of it makes some people quake in anticipation and others shiver with angst and cold. Whichever your camp, in Telluride, all over America, you own it. In this country, Christmas belongs to everyone, not just Christians who celebrate the birth stories about Christ, but also Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, even atheists.

The secular holiday is Chipmunks and Charlie Brown, Grinches and Scrooges. It is Rudolph and giant conifers, baked ham and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and one too many tipples of eggnog. The holiday season is classic movies such as “It’s A Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street.” But most of all, Christmas is music. Perhaps no other holiday in the world is more closely associated with music than Christmas. Locally, Christmas music means the Telluride Choral Society's WinterSing, one of the premier opening events of the holiday season.

The Telluride Choral Society is under the able direction of Rhonda Muckerman.

Come on, you know you wanna! Don’t you want to be able to make coffee mugs, ice cream bowls? They make great gifts and trust me, people LOVE them. Well, our very own Goedele Vanhille will be teaching Beginning Wheel Throwing next weekend...

[click "Play" to hear R.J. Rubadeau's conversation with Susan]

 

Gatsby_CVRdj_front_300 Telluride local Bob Rubadeau is familiar with launches. He is, after all, a major league ocean sailor, a Cape Horn veteran. But Rubadeau is also an author of both fiction and non-fiction works of contemporary literature. This time we are talking books – or book – not boats.

On Tuesday, December 7,  6 p.m., in the Program Room of the five-star Wilkinson Public Library, Bob finally shows his hand, revealing the final chapters in his protagonist Wit Thorpe's trials to find the real killer in his latest novel: Gatsby's Last Resort: A Telluride Murder Mystery. Seems Wit, a Telluride native and the local Peeping Tom for hire, has been charged with 1st degree murder of a quick succession of victims, all linked as major shareholders in an attempt to acquire the Valley Floor. And despite what the local Sheriff may think – he describes Wit as "our own Ted Bundy" –  Wit admits that he "probably didn't do it."

Rubadeau's readers across the country have tracked Wit closely over a nine-month publishing odyssey in part on Telluride Inside... and Out, a key partner in the author's premier Community Publishing 101 project. Other partners include the Wilkinson Library, Between the Covers Bookstore, The Telluride Writers Guild, and Beacon Hill Publishers. The latest addition to this stellar lineup is artist Roger Mason, who donated the cover art.

by Tracy Shaffer

Riva Opening
Tracy, Riva, "Heaven & Earth"

Cool morning, bright day. I sit down for tea with artist, Riva Sweetrocket, in her gorgeous Ballpark Neighborhood loft. She meets me at the door and takes me into her studio, a clean and spare space which reflects the clarity of her thought and vision. A 44 x 38 inch paper is affixed to a Plexiglas wall; the striking image of a crimson cushion with an oversized, gold satin bow hovering above it is in progress. There is nothing else in the room but light, a small cart holding art supplies and a larger blank sheet of paper on another wall, awaiting inspiration.

The precision of Sweetrocket’s work is extraordinary. Many times I’ve stood before her works at Denver’s Plus+ Gallery, mesmerized and wondering “How does she do that?”  It was my privilege to find out. We spoke of images, what strikes the eye and how these fascinations reach the gallery wall. “I keep a file of photographs, things I see and the colors and textures I find appealing. Most of the time I photograph them myself, but others come from memory. When I get an idea about what I want to put together, it all comes alive in Photoshop” says she. I get a sense that there is a lot of silence and rumination in this woman’s daily life, and a fair amount of chalk dust. Riva’s works are created in soft pastel on paper and have a luxuriant quality that is radiantly defiant of the medium. “Once I’m happy with the image, I begin the work on paper and that is when it starts to really come alive” she continues. 

VR-display-blog The Velvet Ribbon exchange is an original fundraising idea, a chance to give to the Sheridan Arts Foundation, at the same time receive something fabulous for yourself in return. Quid pro quo in action.

Throughout the month of December, the lobby of the Opera House doubles for the inside of a gift store, white gift boxes tied with red velvet ribbons throughout. The boxes, numbered 1 – 50, are all on sale for $250, but the individual contents are a secret until the donor opens the box associated with the number he picks.

Prizes range in value from $100 – $8,000+, but the majority of items are valued over $100. In addition to his prize, each purchaser receives a $150 tax deduction letter for the donation made to the Sheridan Arts Foundation, a 501(C)(3) nonprofit.

[click "Play" to hear vintage Roger Mason on painting and book covers]

 

Gatsby_CVRdj_front_300 If you live in the R-1 school district, you know the name "Rubadeau." But I am not talking about her. I am talking about him. After a nine month publishing odyssey tracked closely by Telluride Inside... and Out, author Bob Rubadeau just completed his latest mystery, Gatsby’s Last Resort: A Telluride Murder Mystery. And the author picked the work of another Telluride celebrity, Roger Mason, for the cover art.

On Tuesday, December 7, 6 p.m. in the Program Room of the Wilkinson Public Library the final chapters in Wit Thorpe’s trials to find the real killer will be unveiled - along with Mason's deliciously dark image.