Art & Culture French Life Hotels Music & Dance Paris Podcasts Restaurants: Art & Culture French Life Hotels Music & Dance Paris Podcasts Restaurants
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Terrance Galenter from Paris Through Expatriate Eyes: An American Bon Vivant
Terrance (Seated in Blue Sweater) and His Cohorts at the Famous Café de Flore
Ahhhhh. April in Paris. It truly is a delightful time for visiting the City of Light. And as Terrance Galenter, emphasizes in my below Travel Fun interview, the month of May is even better.
Terrance, an American that started Paris through Expatriate Eyes ten years ago in California, has been operating from the French capital for the past fours years. He’s your point person in Paree for everything from tours to lodging, restaurant and reading recommendations. “It’s a very small town for a big town,” Terrance says about Paris. And if you make contact with him before or during your Paris stay, he’s sure to make this fabulous city a smaller, more comfortable place for you.
Art & Culture Colorado Denver Hotels Music & Dance Restaurants: Art & Culture Colorado Denver Hotels Music & Dance Restaurants
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DCPA, The Lion King, Kevin Taylor and Other Roars About Denver’s Downtown and LoDo
The Lion King
With Halloween behind us, we can focus more on the real holiday season, the nearly two-month period that begins right about now. (You all must know that it has been moved up!) For me, one of the nicest things to do during this festive period is to go out on the town for dinner and a show, a not-too-easy feat from Telluride but certainly closer than New York.
The Denver Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA) makes such a night out worth the effort since they consistently offer a tremendous lineup of shows and performances, all concentrated within a twelve-acre, four-block complex in the heart of downtown Denver. Did you know that DCPA is the second largest arts complex in the country? Their ten performance spaces beautifully accommodate Broadway touring productions, a major symphony and opera, dance and ballet, chorales and a variety of theater groups. They can seat 10,000 people within their theaters, splendid showplaces of varying sizes connected by an eighty-foot-tall glass roof.
And tonight “The Lion King” opens at The Buell Theatre for a five-week run! This dazzling production enjoyed sell-out shows during their 2002 and 2006 engagements in Denver. Tickets are still available for this stint but as expected, they’re going fast. I hope I can take it in since I love great stories, spectacular shows and cats of all kinds.
The Bar at Kevin Taylor's at The Opera House
Wondering where to have dinner near the DCPA? Let me suggest Kevin Taylor’s at The Opera House, just steps away from any of the performances. The sophisticated, dramatic decor here makes you feel as though you’re sitting upon a stage, one in which la mise en place and mise en scène of everything—from the costumes on the wall to the food on your plates—are clearly of the utmost importance. Yes, here you can easily applaud all the visual and gustatory effects that open your evening like a red velvet curtain parting before you. Probably the best news of this performance, however, is that they serve fine food and drink in near-record time. Accustomed to catering to people in a rush, the waitstaff at Kevin Taylor’s at The Opera House always makes sure you’re served in plenty of time for your show.
Colorado native Kevin Taylor stands out as one of Denver’s top restaurateurs, boasting five dining establishments in Denver and one in Central City, Colorado. Also at the DCPA, Kevin’s Limelight Supper Club & Lounge headlines fresh and casual cuisine for the pre and post theatre crowds.
If you’re able to carve out more time, Prima Ristorante, one of KT’s other establishments, is just a short walk away in Denver’s Lower Downtown, or LoDo, one of my favorite neighborhoods of the mile-high city. Situated within the lovely Hotel Teatro, Prima features light Italian fare in an open and airy, Euro-inspired setting. They serve breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, so maybe you can make a meal here work with your matinée or evening performance schedule. Restaurant Kevin Taylor, also located within Hotel Teatro, commands that you spend more time à table. Haute cuisine cannot be rushed, n’est-ce pas?
Succulent Beef: The Main Act at Kevin Taylor's
The Dining Room at Kevin Taylor's at The Opera House
When at the Teatro, be sure to look around to admire their many glorious costumes on display from past theater productions at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. This boutique hotel reminds me of an Italian villa, a real gem. Even better, book a room here.
Leo, My Lion King, Roaring or Perhaps Yawning
You can also stay at The Curtis, another one of my favorites, located right across the street from DCPA. Light-hearted types—or perhaps those most in need of a good chuckle—will love it!
Aren’t the holidays supposed to be about fun and merry-making? We have enough Greek tragedies in our lives these days in any event.
Check out Hysterical in Denver, Viva Italia, Viva Italian Americans, Viva la Dolce Vita in Denver and Holiday Time in Denver for more stories on DCPA. Read Fun this Summer and Year-Round at The Curtis for another mention of DCPA in my write up on one of Denver’s hippest hotels.
Read More LoDo Love, Viva Italia, Viva Italian Americans, Viva la Dolce Vita in Denver and Night Out in Denver for more on Hotel Teatro, Prima Ristorante and LoDo.
Thank you to DCPA, Joan Marcus @ Disney and Kevin Taylor for the images in this post.
Colorado Music & Dance Telluride: Colorado Music & Dance Telluride
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Halloween in Telluride: Tricks & Treats
Old Time-y Aviators: Huck Yeager and Amelia Airhead
Happy Halloween everyone! I’m celebrating by eating a Butterfinger and a Reese’s cup and washing it down with a Coke. Sometimes it’s really fun (and necessary!) to get a little crazy.
Actually I got very crazy Saturday night at the KOTO Halloween Party here in Telluride. (Ssssshh, don’t tell anyone.) The radio station’s party has to be one of the best in the country! It’s worth the trip to T-ride just to take it in. There are so many creative people in our little mountain town that the costumes astound and the whole evening becomes one big, psychedelic show. And whatever the band might be, the music never disappoints either. Mark your calendars now for next year’s bash. Most of the hotels have killer rates at that time of year, so it wouldn’t be a high-dollar stay. You can also take advantage of some pre ski season shopping while you’re here.
Have a fun and spooky rest of the day.
Art & Culture DC Music & Dance Restaurants Travel: Art & Cultrue DC Music & Dance Restaurants Travel
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MLK, DC’s Black Heritage, Chuck Brown, Frankie and Me
Martin Luther KIng Memorial
With all the press lately about the official opening of the Martin Luther King Memorial, I thought I’d share with you a spirited night in Washington, DC spent with my oldest brother, Frank. He’s a real doer and whether it’s work or personal, he knows how to select and orchestrate all the right elements to achieve maximum results. In this case, it was about showing his younger sister a good time.
He had reserved a late Sunday afternoon and evening for us in August. Chuck Brown, the Godfather of Go-Go, a style of music that incorporates jazz, funk, R & B, hip-hop and dancehall, was to be the main attraction. Frankie had secured the tickets at DC’s renowned 9:30 Club as soon as he knew I was headed his way, about a month before the show. I hadn’t heard anything about Chuck Brown, but trusted that my brother was lining up a fun night out. He’s a big planner—much like me—and that quality along with a nice dose of serendipity laid out an evening that bobbed along beautifully on a helluva cross cultural theme.
Without any discussion whatsoever, the car pointed in the direction of the freshly-opened MLK Memorial. It was the Sunday after Hurricane Irene blew through our nation’s capitol (along with most of the eastern seaboard), so the Memorial’s official opening—slated for that weekend—had been postponed. Frank and I thought we’d check it out anyway since although not properly christened, it was open. No luck. We drove along the Potomac on the roadway bordering the monument, creeping along with the hope that we’d find a car that would pull out and leave its parking space for us. No way. You couldn’t even shoehorn a moped in between the lineup of vehicles. Not surprisingly, most of the visitors headed to or from the MLK Memorial were African-American or at least of some kind of Negro heritage. They had waited long enough for the tribute to their esteemed leader—it was time to take a look. Frank and I gave up searching for a spot. I felt somewhat disappointed but bowed out gracefully with the sentiments that it would be best for us to leave any free parking to the people for whom Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech meant the most.
Frank zoomed off to the Greater U Street district where we’d later be taking in the concert. We parked and began to explore. Here I discovered a culturally diverse neighborhood, peppered with all kinds of people from varying social classes. It took me a total of two minutes to notice a lot of buff and stylish gay men, always a good sign, indicating that a neighborhood has been gentrified enough to possess a worthwhile dining and shopping scene.
“Ever eat Ethiopian?” Frank asked. I admitted I hadn’t but always wanted to try. “Well you know you’re going to have to eat with your hand,” he quipped, almost like a dare. Suddenly images of his travel tales in Africa where you eat with the right hand and take care of the “necessary” with the left flashed into my head. He must have noticed my hesitation, since in perhaps an effort to assuage my confusion, he informed me that at these Ethiopian restaurants you scoop the food up with bread.
“Well, then that’s O.K.,” I piped up, almost defensively. My brother knows me as one to be enchanted with fine restaurants and hotels, so I was determined to show him a more adventuresome side of myself. I had been referred to as “fussy Aunt Bessie” one too many times in my life anyway.
Sitting out in the sidewalk seating area of Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant watching the colorful parade of people pass by with my bro was great fun. I found the food tasty but couldn’t get past the spongey, amoeba-like bread served with it. I felt too proud to eat the spicy and savory mélange of meat and vegetable dishes solely with a fork and instead nearly gagged downing the gelatinous substance referred to as bread. The restaurant was packed, so I figured it was more of a mental block for me. I guess I won’t be going to Ethiopia anytime soon.
Ben's Chili Bowl
It was a delicious summer evening and after dinner, Frank and I strolled through the neighborhood, checking out the scene from end to end. I was delighted to discover that Greater U Street is considered the historic heart of DC’s African-American community. I stopped in front of a plaque indicating Lincoln Theater, now restored to its 1922 grandeur. Cab Calloway, Pearl Bailey, Sarah Vaughan and Louis Armstrong all performed there. I imagined the elegance of the folks that attended these great events during an era when every man had to wear a tie. (And you can bet the ladies were dressed to the nines, too!)
We stopped at Ben’s Chili Bowl, a National Landmark, one of the oldest, continuously running black-owned and operated businesses in the country. Founded in 1958, Ben’s has witnessed a lot of happenings during its history including the riots of 1968 following the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King. I checked out their brightly-lighted interior and perused their menus. The restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner and I suspected they were packed during most of their hours of operation. As much as I enjoyed sitting on a patio with Frank, I couldn’t help thinking that bellying up to the counter together would have been a real hoot.
Ben's Chili Scene
We read more plaques on our way to the 9:30 Club and peeked into a few more restaurants. The place was hopping and Frank confirmed that Greater U Street, DC’s historic Black Broadway, was experiencing a resurgence of nightlife today.
Chuck Brown: The Godfather of Go-Go
The 9:30 Club stands out as one of the hottest places to listen to music in all of DC. By the time we arrived, it was already raging. Frank and I made it to the upstairs balcony and claimed a sliver of space where we remained for the rest of the show. The immense, dark cavernous space was packed and as I looked around, noticed mostly with people of color. Wow, I thought to myself, we have a very vibrant music scene in Telluride with world-class performers such as David Byrne, B.B. King, Mumford and Sons and more that headline our big music festivals, but our audiences are almost entirely white-bread even though people come from near and far. What a fabulous destination I had found myself in!
My brother grinned ear-to-ear and we both began to groove and gyrate to Chuck’s runaway beat. I felt the floor shake beneath me. I brushed off an Oh God moment, but still made note of the exits in case of emergency or some other need for mass exodus. Wind me up Chuck was setting the house ‘a fire and my brother and I were fanning his flames. I raised my hands and clapped to the beat. People exploded all around us. But as I scanned this large venue, I noticed that everyone was punching their fist—mostly their right one—into the air. I tried that, but it felt strange, so I kept reverting to raising my hands and clapping them together à la Telluride. More Black power. Then more fist pumping. The floor swagged and swayed. Frankie smiled. And then finally I punched my right fist up into the air and screamed. Ya-hoo! Gotta love Go-Go.
Frank and I could barely drag ourselves out of bed the next morning. Thank goodness he’s a go-getter, since he has to work to preserve our country’s Social Security. I’m just a freelance writer out for a good time.
I can’t wait for another outing with my bro in DC. Somehow I think next time it might very well include an actual trip to the MLK Memorial. Maybe I’ll make him swing by Ben’s Chili Bowl for a chili dog afterward. Their famous chili is known to make a hot dog bark. Or a white girl pump her fist.
MLK Memorial
The African-American Heritage Trail in DC boasts some two hundred historic sites around the city, about one hundred of them featuring plaques. You can find sites and plaques in almost every neighborhood of the city. Visit Cultural Tourism DC to find out more.
9:30 Club, 815 V Street NW, 202-265-0930 or 877-435-9849 for tickets.
Dukem Ethiopian Restaurant, 1114-1118 U Street NW, 202-667-8735.
Ben’s Chili Bowl, 1114-1118 U Street NW, 202-667-0909.
A Couple of Other Restaurants I Scouted Out within the Greater U Street Neighborhood
Coppi’s Organic Restaurant, 1414 U Street NW, 202-319-7773; a Zagat-rated restaurant.
American Ice Company, 917 V Street NW, 202-758-3562, a hip bar and restaurant near the 9:30 Club.
Note also that the scene at the 9:30 Club changes according to the performer. My brother is slated to see my guy Willie Nelson there in November!
Thank you to the Washington, DC Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Gediyon Kifle, Chuck Brown and Ben’s Chili Bowl for the use of the images in this post.
Art & Culture Fashion & Style Mountain Living Music & Dance Telluride The Rockies Travel: Art & Culture Fashion & Style Mountain Living Music & Dance Telluride The Rockies Travel
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Ferraris, Blues, Brews and the Rocky Mountains
Ferraris Flanked by the Rocky Mountains
Ferrari epitomizes design and style. The Rockies furnish some of the most dramatic and outstanding views in the world. Put the two together and you’ve got one helluva good-looking scene. Add a little blues, brews, and bountiful helpings of food and wine and you’ve got a number one formula for a spectacularly good time. That’s just what you’ll get throughout most of southwestern Colorado this weekend, especially in Telluride when the Ferrari Club of America Rocky Mountain Region is due to cruise into town on Saturday, one of the peak days of the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival. Yes, over thirty of these beauties will be lined up on the center lane of Telluride’s main street for all to admire.
“We’ll be there rain or shine,” says Fred Bishel, club member and tour coordinator. “Only a blizzard will stop us,” he adds. From a near-vintage 1988 model to a brand-new 2011, in a regalia of black, silver, yellow and the iconic Ferrari red, this cavalcade of some of the world’s most magnificent cars will be traveling through southwestern Colorado as part of their fall foliage tour. Their journey begins Friday on the Skyline Drive outside of Canon City where they’ve obtained special permission to drive in the opposite direction on this stunning route. From there, they go to Gunnison for lunch and then Grand Junction in the evening. It’s no surprise they’re making Gateway Canyons, home of the Gateway Auto Museum, showcase of the private collection of Discovery Channel’s founder John Hendricks. It’s a key stop at 9 a.m. Saturday before heading to Telluride for lunch. By Saturday evening, these fine Italian specimens (I’m talking about the cars not the drivers although I haven’t met any of them yet!) will be claiming forty parking spaces on Durango’s main drag—what a sight! Sunday they’re off to Pagosa Springs, then over Wolf Creek pass to end with a fundraiser in Saguache. Members of the club will be chatting with admirers and handing out schwag at every stop.
If you love beauty, don’t miss this happening. It’s rare to see so many Ferraris assembled together. The last time I saw such a showing of these magnificent works of art was over two decades ago at an exhibition entitled Hommage à Ferrari at the Fondation Cartier, located outside of Paris in Jouy-en-Josas at the time. Leave it to a world-renowned jeweler to recognize the splendor of this celebrated brand.
Yet to see these sparkling gems set within the stunning vistas of our majestic Rocky Mountains, it looks like we’ll likely out shine them.
The Official Ferrari Tour License Plate
Read Always on My Mind: Telluride Blues & Brews Festival and Willie Nelson to read my take on this year’s lineup. Check out Gateway Canyons: One Big Discovery to learn more about this gorgeous resort.
Art & Culture French Life Music & Dance Telluride: Art & Culture French Life Music & Dance Telluride Telluride Festivals
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Silence is Golden on Telluride Film Festival’s Silver Screens
Buster Keaton in "The General," a 1920s American Silent Comedy
Who said silent films are a thing of the past? “The Artist,” an ebullient silent film depicting Hollywood during the roaring Twenties, generated quite the buzz this year at both the Cannes and Telluride Film Festivals. I missed it since I was away for most of this year’s festival in T-ride but hope to catch it after its November 23 release in movie theaters (likely art houses) across America. Directed by Michel Hazanavicius and starring Cannes Best Actor winner Jean Dujardin, leave it to the French to create and produce a silent film in the year 2011.
I was, however, able to catch “From Morning to Midnight,” a German silent film from the Twenties the last night of this year’s Telluride Film Festival, a showing made memorable by the accompaniment of the Alloy Orchestra. The film itself was rather macabre (dare I say very German?). But I was highly entertained nonetheless by watching and listening to the Alloy Orchestra, a Telluride Film Festival favorite that has been gracing this world-renowned festival with their presence for about two decades. This three-man musical ensemble has played the world, bringing silent films magically to life in such distinguished cultural centers as The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and more. If you ever have a chance to see them, seize it! This year was my first in the eight years I’ve been attending the Telluride Film Festival and I’ve become a huge fan.
The Alloy Band
Why are they so great? I guess it’s their unusual combination of found percussion instruments and state-of-the-art electronics. (Hence the name Alloy.) Part Blue Man Group, part Stomp, part Philadelphia Philharmonic, these three guys know when to hit the right notes at just the right times. Clearly they have humor, too. (They do after all refer to themselves as an orchestra.) I met band leader Ken Winokur over a glass of wine in the park before the show and said a quick hello to Roger Miller and Terry Donahue afterward. Look forward to seeing you guys again!
Never has silence been so golden…and such an amalgam of metals.
Read Hiding Up in Telluride, Silver Mined on Screens, a piece in this week’s New York Times for more on this year’s Telluride Film Festival and the movies to look for in the coming months. You may also enjoy Telluride Film Festival: A Moviegoer’s Lovefest, my own take on this fantastic event.
Have to go—I’m off to see a friend that acted as George Clooney’s bodyguard here all last weekend. She’s tall, blond, athletic and I’m sure tight-lipped about any inside scoop on this year’s real talk of the festival. Maybe she’ll give me a tidbit after I ply her with a couple of wines. This is when silence is fire-engine red!
Art & Culture Four Corners Hotels Music & Dance Restaurants The Rockies: Art & Culture Four Corners Hotels Music & Dance Restaurants The Rockies
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Strater Hotel: the Grande Dame of Durango, Colorado
Strater Hotel in Durango Backdropped by a Quintessential Colorado Blue Sky
If you’ve read some of my posts on my blog and/or if you’re familiar with my books on France, you likely know by now that I love hotels. Historic hotels in particular move me. I’m a big fan of experiencing these bastions of history and tradition during one’s travels, whether it’s to pop in for a drink or to stay a few nights. No matter how you choose to discover these landmark properties, a visit to them allows you to soak up the spirit of the place for either a brief moment or a more luxurious stay. The world is peppered with such places of lodging, steeped in history, that folks have been enjoying in many cases for more than a century. I encourage my readers to seek them out at every turn because it’s often within their splendiferous interiors that we gain the true essence of the place we’re visiting; it’s here we’re able to peer into the past while embracing the present.
In most cases, these fine establishments serve as the cornerstones of the cities and towns we love to visit. Many were built during the golden era of that destination in an effort to express to the world all that the town had achieved, all that the community was becoming. Erecting a notable place of lodging for business and leisure travelers alike was a sure-bet way of putting a destination on the map in addition to providing the right conditions for welcoming visitors in a more dignified and glorious manner.
Nearly every town and city in Colorado boasts a fine hotel, most of which were built during the boomtown era of the mining days toward the latter part of the nineteenth century. It was one of the most significant ways of saying “we’ve arrived.” Finally an old cow town could receive its potential investors and other movers and shakers of the day in a proper manner. The Strater Hotel in Durango, Colorado stands out as one of the finest examples of this necessity to build a handsome place of lodging in emerging towns throughout the West.
Strater Elegance
As Durango’s future hung in the balance between a mining camp and a metropolis, a very young Cleveland pharmacist named Henry Strater had the vision of exactly what this southwestern Colorado town needed: a grand hotel. He fibbed about his age, borrowed money and forged forward. Toward the end of the 1800s, the Strater Hotel opened and its 376,000 native red bricks and hand-carved sandstone cornices and sills are as resplendent today as at its beginning.
In more recent years, the Barker family restored this Victorian gem to its original glory while updating it with today’s amenities. Staying in one of the hotel’s guest rooms, each handsomely decorated with hand-carved woodwork, beautiful Bradbury and Bradbury wallpapers and fine antiques, makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time. The hotel’s collection of American Victorian-era walnut furniture is, in fact, one of the largest in the world. Renowned western author Louis L’amour loved the Strater so much that he would hole himself up in room 222, just above the hotel’s Diamond Belle Saloon to write his western-inspired novels. The honky tonk music from the Diamond Belle apparently helped set the mood for his writings about the Old West.
The Diamond Belle Posse
Still going strong today, no trip to Durango is complete without entering the Diamond Belle Saloon, a gilded scene straight out of the Far West. There’s always great entertainment to be enjoyed filled with exuberant piano playing and old time-y tunes. If you’re looking to pass a more reserved moment at the Strater, have a drink at The Office Spiritorium, a handsome bar/lounge where you can enjoy drinks, appetizers and fine music. New American cuisine is served nightly in the Mahogany Grille, also within The Strater.
For a real step back in time, check out the Durango Melodrama & Vaudeville at The Henry Strater Theater, a tradition that has marked Durango summers for forty-eight years. Good news: This year the shows are running through September 24th, a real testament to the increasing popularity of this event since they previously ended in August. Here’s Webster’s definition of melodrama: a work (as in a movie or play) characterized by extravagant theatricality and by the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization. I’ll also add that you should expect lots of audience participation, so it’s best not to arrive late or you’ll miss the necessary cues. Here, too, the tickling of the ivories doesn’t get much better.
As you can perhaps tell from all the offerings, the Strater represents the hub and the heart of Durango, one of the best darn towns in the West. Today you can still rub elbows with ‘ole cowboys and ranchers (especially on weekend nights) along with outdoorsy types of every ilk. Durango and the Strater seem to be more happening than ever. Isn’t it lovely how they’ve moved forward while honoring their past? Even if you only have a moment, take a little walk around the lobby at The Strater Hotel and admire the Victorian elegance and western charm of this iconic establishment. And even if it’s just for a fleeting moment, here I promise you’ll breathe in a good whiff of the West’s prominent past.
Strater Hotel, 699 Main Avenue, Durango, Colorado, 800-247-4431, www.Strater.com
Visit Durango Area Tourism Office for more information on this fun town.
Music & Dance Telluride: Music & Dance Telluride Telluride Festivals
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Always on My Mind: Telluride Blues & Brews Festival and Willie Nelson
My Guy Willie
O.K., maybe not always on my mind, but at least quite often. I’m crazy about Willie Nelson and I can’t imagine a better place on earth to see him for the first time but right here in my beautiful backyard of Telluride, Colorado. For the eighteenth year in a row, Telluride Blues & Brews is gracing our most golden season—late summer—with a festival that combines world-class music and tasty brews in an unparalleled setting. And this year, Willie is one of the headliners.
View from the Stage at the Telluride Blues & Brews Festival
This three-day celebration goes off all over town by day and night in Telluride’s strikingly scenic Town Park as well as in indoor and outdoor venues in town. By day, you can enjoy live blues, rock, funk, gospel and soul and then at night you take it to the juke joints and after-hours jams all around town. The whole festival experience is one big glorious goodbye to summer, hello autumnal glory. This year Telluride Blues & Brews takes place September 16th, 17th and 18th and although lodging sells out fast for this peak weekend, there’s still plenty to choose from for planning a memorable trip to Telluride.
Plenty of Brewskies During this Perfect Season for Drinking Beer
I’m already imagining the heartfelt twang of Willie reverberating throughout our beautiful box canyon. Punctuated by soaring peaks, changing aspens, towering pines and outcroppings of red and slate-colored rocks, the scene doesn’t get much better. But seeing Willie on the park’s humble wooden stage in this majestic setting will surely add a lot. I’m also looking forward to unforgettable performances by other artists from this year’s lineup including Robert Cray, Marcia Ball, The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band, The Sugar Thieves and, of course, Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band. And that’s just to mention a few! For me, my favorite part of the festival is the Sunday morning gospel hour, this year featuring Mavis Staples. Now, that’s what I call going to church.
Saturday’s Grand Tasting showcases more than 150 beers from over fifty microbreweries, an event that always provides a marvelous feast for the eyes as well as the taste buds. Sipping suds in the sun makes poking around the festival booths—filled with an eclectic array of clothing, gift ideas and food—all the more fun. This family-friendly celebration is also great for kids, especially on Sunday afternoon when their own creative spirit takes center stage during the Kid’s Parade through the park.
Ah, yes. Just like many of T-ride’s other famed festivals, Telluride Blues & Brews must be experienced at least once in your life. I’ve seen many memorable acts here including B.B. King, John Mayer and Bonnie Raitt.
But this year with Willie is sure to be the show that will remain always on my mind.
The Kid's Parade: Another Sunday Highlight
