Get TIO in your Inbox!

Events

by Dan Collins

Drew Ludwig photo ATLAS of the San Miguel, an exhibition celebrating the San Miguel River Watershed, is kicking off next Saturday, July 30th at the Ah Haa School for the Arts (300 S. Townsend) from 6:30 - 10:30. 

In addition to an art exhibition, the public will experience a great band from Nashville called “Swing Shift”  (those of you who went to Baerbel’s birthday party at the Sheridan Opera House will remember them well), a silent art auction (a week in Florence, anyone? A raft trip down the San Miguel?  Dinner for two?), delicious food and drink, a photo competition, and informational tables featuring the full range of work that the Telluride Institute does in not only our watershed, but globally (check out Elisabeth Gick’s work supporting a Tibetan orphanage, for example).  This is TI’s annual fund raiser.

23 July, 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.

22 July, 2011 /

Pat the Beastie "I like the idea that books have a life of their own after they're published, making their way into people's lives and weaving connections between myself and the readers."

Who imagines a world in which a pudge triumphs and keeping up with the Joneses proves to be a deadly game? Or drawings in an unfinished book come to life and attack their creator, a young boy? Which inventor fashioned a "perpetual emotion machine?" Welcome to the amusing and edgy world of Henrik Drescher.

21 July, 2011 /

SquidShow Poster You will find the best of the worst in SquidShow Theatre's latest greatest production, "Con," in which founder/director Sasha Cucciniello spills the beans about her grifter dad and his kind.

"Con," a play about liars, opens Thursday July 28 and runs through Monday, August 1, 8:30 p.m., at Telluride's Nugget Theatre.

"Con" was conceived by Sasha and her long time collaborator, New York City-based playwright, Sarah Gancher. Six years ago the two wrote the first draft of a play about Sasha’s infamous dad. After moving to Telluride, the work got left on the shelf. Fast forward to now: Sasha along with her Squid collaborators decided to take themes from that play to create a new production. She tapped Sarah once again, asking her to come to Telluride to write the new and improved version of "Con," created from scratch throughout the rehearsal process under the leadership of director Jen Wineman and designer Melissa Trn.

21 July, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Eileen's interview with Lo Snyder]

 

By Eileen Burns

Rope, Boots and Hat Grab your cowboy hat and boots folks, The San Miguel Basin Fair and Rodeo is in town and promises to be jam packed full of events and competitions for everyone in the family.  From the adrenaline rush of a pro cowboy taking a wild and thrashing 8 second bull ride around the arena, to little Johnny next door, hanging on with sheer guts, as he tumbles through his first mutton busting competition, Norwood Colorado is the place to be this weekend.  The fair grounds are located just 40 minutes from downtown Telluride, on Wrights Mesa.  The CPRA Rodeos will take place both Friday and Saturday evenings starting at 7:00 pm.  Entry fee to Rodeo is only $9.00.  There will be plenty of vendor stands with food, pop and beer, including the kids' favorites: sno-cones and cotton candy.

20 July, 2011 /
[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.)

20 July, 2011 /
[click "Play", Susan talks about the auction with Rachel Loomis Lee]

 

Ahhaa_7-20 Here's a pop quiz: What does Telluride's Ah Haa School for the Arts have in common with James Bond?

If you answered that the theme of the upcoming auction revolves around the iconic spy you would be partly right. Ah Haa's 2011 "007" art auction takes place Thursday, July 21, 5 – 7 (for an intimate evening at the school, including a mini-auction), with the main event Friday, July 22, starting at 5 p.m.

The other answer is less obvious, but no less true: Bond is unshakeable and so is Ah Haa. The school is a rock of our community, a hub where individuals get to discover their inner Picasso –  or last year, Gypsy Rose Lee!

19 July, 2011 /
[click "Play" to hear Susan's conversation with Steven Lee]

 

Talks are Wednesday in Norwood & Thursday in Mountain Village

Fireside Chats poster Noticed the weather lately? The Telluride Historical Museum is not taking any chances this year. (Last year, of the six Fireside Chats in the series, only one was able to take place around the Mountain Village fire pit in Heritage Plaza.)

The 7th season of the Museum's ever popular (and FREE) Fireside Chats opens this week – indoors– starting Wednesday, July 20, at Aces of Norwood, (in the Livery Building) and continuing Thursday, July 21, at the fire place in the Great Room at The Peaks Resort & Spa. Both opening programs begin at 5:30 p.m. and feature actor Steven Lee as "Otto Mears, Pathfinder of the San Juans."

Steven Lee is a professional story teller from Denver. His depiction of the man who brought the Rio Grande Southern to the San Juans routinely gets rave reviews such as this one from Tom "Dr. Colorado" Noel, Prof. of History & Director of Public History, Preservation & Colorado Studies, University of Colorado at Denver:

19 July, 2011 /