Events

[click "Play" for Susan's conversation with Leo Nocentelli]


Telluride's Sheridan Arts Foundation continues its bad ass holiday concert series at the Opera House,  December 28, 8:00 pm, with a performance by The Meters Experience with Leo Nocentelli, a legend discovered by a legend.


In 1957, Fats Domino went looking for a young musician to join his band, someone with a big reputation on the streets of New Orleans. What he found was a child prodigy, a boy of 11 who had already hit his stride. At age 14, Leo Nocentelli became a session guitarist for Allen Toussaint.
[click "Play" to listen to Sheryl Rydmark]

Telluride (2) On December 29, the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art opens a show of new work by jeweler Cheryl Rydmark. The jeweler is renowned locally for her now famous asymmetrical arrangement of sterling silver beads, gold, leaf-like charms, and small diamonds, worn by a trend-setting group of Telluride ladies like a sorority necklace.


A classically-trained-painter-turned-metal-artist, Rydmark's creation are as elegant and harmonious as Einstein's theory of relativity, the architecture of Renzo Piano, Brancusi's sculpture, Rothko's paintings, and ancient Etruscan jewelry, works that convey the idea that, in the hands of a master, complex concepts can be successfully conveyed very simply. After 35 years on the job, Rydmark is a true master, often described as a "jeweler's jeweler" for her uncompromising quality and sensitive handling of the materials.


Her latest release, "Shawn Colvin Live,"  was nominated for a Grammy for best Contemporary Folk Album. Shawn Colvin appears live at Telluride's historic Sheridan Opera House on Sunday, December 27, 8 p.m.

Colvin was born in Vermillion, South Dakota, a small college town just south of Sioux Falls. At age 10, she picked up her brother's Harmony four-string guitar and bought the plain vanilla Mel Bay chord books. At 13, she confiscated a classical gut instrument her father meant to give her mother. Colvin's first recording session occurred in high school, when she was also singing the role of Anna in "The King and I." She made her first public appearance on campus at the University of Illinois at age 15.

Mike Hess (r) and friend In October, the Telluride region's Peaks Resort & Spa was honored with two not insignificant awards: Parents Magazine Top 10 Best Winter Resorts and SpaFinder Top Spa. Locals, however, met the news with the usual ho-hum. When...

by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer(editor's note: Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer will be reading her poetry Saturday, December 19 from 5:00-7:00 pm, at Between the Covers in Telluride. Rob Story will also be reading. By the way, take the time to check out Rosemerry's website. Don't miss "Finn...

[click "Play" to hear Susan speak with Suzanne Cheavens]

525_v1 Used to be women who sought membership in this men's club had better be butch. No more. Thanks to Mark Galbo of the Telluride Rock and Roll Academy, the girls in the band are preening, strutting rock stars.


 On Saturday night, December 19, 8 p.m., The 525s – Suzanne Cheavens, Suz Remec, Barbel Hacke, Cindy Carver, and Molly Papier – plan to rock out - wait a minute, in the Program Room at The Wilkinson Public Library. Yep, the Library, the perfect place to make noise.
[click "Play" to hear Jeb Berrier speak about playing Shakespeare]

Jeb_shakes Friday, December 18 – Tuesday, December 22, 8 p.m., Telluride Second Stage presents "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged." at the Sheridan Opera House. The production is directed by Jeb Berrier and stars the unholy trinity of the Telluride stage: Berrier, Ashley Boling and Buff Hooper. Fair warning: Hooper will be wearing tights.

Why do we keep returning to Shakespeare? Short answer: no other writer holds up a truer mirror to human nature. The Bard manages to slice and dice, distill and dramatize emotions that don't date, and without an agenda: rather than trying to save mankind with his pen, Shakespeare cuts to the quick with his poetry, which acts like dime store magnifiers that allow us to see what is actually described in the small print.
[click "Play" to listen to Susan Sales speak about her work]

Susan A show of new work by painter Susan Sales goes on display at the Telluride Gallery of Fine Art on Thursday, December 17. The opening artist's reception is 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.


Susan Sales built her considerable reputation on color field paintings. Eliminating figure and ground in favor of color and form, she forced a focus on paint, color, surface, texture, and gesture, creating near landscapes that "feature" the viewer in the mirror created by glossy, lacquer-like veneers that both contain and protect the raw emotions she paints on to her canvasses. That was then. This is now.