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[Click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Jimmy Herring]

Telluride Jazz, May 5-7. Sideman out front: Jimmy Herring

L_e6755d8529ba3cd6cb3ad15886d5e16f He has been the legend behind the legends, a musician's musician, but the 33rd annual Telluride Jazz Celebration, June 5 - June 7, will set the record straight. After three decades as a sideman, guitarist Jimmy Herring is finally getting exactly what he deserves: center stage.

Fusion guitarists that claim the middle ground generally skew one way or the other: former Telluride Jazz Celebration headliner John Scofield, for example, has deep roots in jazz,  and Carlos Santana is a rocker at heart. Jimmy is a rarity: he stakes his claim where jazz harmonies and rhythmic concepts and the edgy power of classic rock come together, improvising with an intensity that underlines his roots.

Jimmy's formidable chops have been used to great advantage by outfits ranging from Widespread Panic to the Dead, Phil Lesh and Friends (a Dead offshoot), Project Z, the Allman Brothers, Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, Jazz is Dead and others.

31 May, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Valerie Madonia] Sunday, May 31, 3 p.m., at the Michael D. Palm Theatre, the Telluride Dance Academy holds its annual dance recital showcasing the talent of tots (age 3+) to...

30 May, 2009 /

Memorial Day in Telluride was wet and windy. There were movie surprises early in the day: "The Cove" was an unheralded entry and grabbed one of the "TBA" slots. Audience reaction was wild, including a long standing ovation at the conclusion. "Cove" tells of the...

28 May, 2009 /

IMGP0408 IMGP0411 Red letter days under blue skies. Our life in Telluride.

The morning of May 27 started out with a hike out our back door, crack of 7:30 am, our dog Gina running ahead, breaking through the crust of frost. You heard me.

We divided to conquer the middle of the day: Clint rafting on the Uncompaghre with TASP and me holding down the fort, posting and podcasting, which has nothing to do with fishing.

In the evening we joined locals at the Ah Haa School Depot Building, where the winners of the Telluride Writers Guild's annual Write Here Contest were on the boards, strutting their stuff. Writers Guild director Amy Cannon beamed as she introduced the winners.

28 May, 2009 /

Thursday evening, 7 p.m., Telluride's Wilkinson Public Library, enjoy a recap of the Mudd Butts' April trip to Wondo Genet, Ethiopia.  Local trip participants and staffers Wendy Brooks and Luke Brown host a narrated slide show of the trip, and play excerpts from the...

27 May, 2009 /

Violinist Maria Bachmann of the incomparable Trio Solisti is also the artistic director of the Telluride Musicfest. Now in its seventh year, the event takes place  in town June 24 – July 5. This year, the world famous artist Philip Glass is Composer-in-Residence.   On...

27 May, 2009 /

IMGP0406 Sunday late afternoon, Telluride: A double rainbow appeared in the sky at the end of town, a colorful postscript to a hailstorm and soggy Memorial weekend. Perhaps the light show was also an auspicious sign. Perhaps we will succeed in facing down some of the many global challenges we are faced with today –  Mountainfilm's hope and its reason for being.

Mountainfilm is not just about mountains or films. The opening shot of Telluride's busy summer festival season has evolved into a hydra beast, its multiple heads looking back at its roots in mountains and mountaineering, at fixed points in the present – endangered cultures, eco-systems, species, and ideas – and into the future at the positive change the nonprofit exists to effect through lectures, breakfast talks, gallery walks, Mountainfilm on Tour, and yes, films.

Mountainfilm's directors, David Holbrooke and Peter Kenworthy, say their event is not just about talking. It is about doing. And not just doing, doing to effect positive change. In its maturity – Mountainfilm just turned 31 – they  focus a little less on adrenaline, and a little more on activism. The writing was on the wall from Day One: Speaker after speaker, film after film reminded us that the real work is out there in the field.

26 May, 2009 /

by Kris Holstrom

The New Community Coalition worked hand in hand with Telluride Mountainfilm staff to brainstorm composting, recycling and trash reduction this year. The opening event, on May 21, was the dinner for the filmmakers and guests at a beautiful spot high up in the Preserve.

The evening was damp and delightful and included delicious food by Lucas Price and an amazing mix of interesting people. Even better, from the waste side of things, it was a total success.

 Zero is not always a good thing. It's an insult when used to describe a person. Describing waste is a whole other story, but in that context, zero is so difficult to achieve, it is often stated as a goal, rather than as something truly possible. Thursday night raised the bar: Mountainfilm got about as close as you can get.

26 May, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Steve Winter talking with Susan, and click the YouTube box below to see a slideshow of Winter's photgraphy ]

Tell imovie49 Two years ago, a group of "fellows" from the International League of Conservation Photographers came to Telluride, including James Balog Wade Davis, and Chris Rainier, all three long-time Mountainfilm supporters and popular featured guests. Joining them this year is another member of the ILCP, Steve Winter, since 1995, also a major contributor to National Geographic, and Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008, for his haunting images of the elusive snow leopard.

Photography is a democratic medium: most people don’t paint or draw, but almost everyone owns a camera. It would be delusional, however, to describe snapshots of family get-togethers and beach outings, even the images shot by eco-tourists on their adventures in the Alaskan wilderness or African savannah, as art. In no way can drugstore prints be compared to the work of Ansel Adams, Eugene Atget, Alfred Stieglitz, Annie Leibovitz, Balog, Rainier, or Nan Goldin, all acknowledged masters. That would be like comparing Elvis to Mozart.

22 May, 2009 /

[click "Play" button to hear Susan's conversation with Roko Belic]

30 45 In 1999, former Telluride Mountainfilm director Rick Silverman shared his film favorites. High on the list was "Genghis Blues." The heart-warmng film by brothers Adrian and Roko Belic tells the story of a Tuvan throat-singer Kongar-ol-Ondar and a blind San Franciscan bluesman, Paul Pena, who taught himself to throat sing, a popular form of entertainment in southern Siberia. Ten years later, Festival program director David Holbrooke has asked the brothers and the "Elvis of Tuva" to return to town for a program encore.

Following their score at the 21st annual Mountainfilm, Roko partnered with Italian explorer and author Folco Terzani to make another film, "Twilight Men, the true story of a Westerner and an Indian holy man who go into the Himalayas in search of an enlightened master.

22 May, 2009 /