Being Green Fashion & Style Food & Wine Shopping: Being Green Fashion & Style Food & Wine Shopping
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More Online Shopping Recommendations
Beautiful and Edible Treats for the Doggies
The heck with ordering from Amazon or Lands’ End, why not be more original and shop from a quaint online boutique? I’m thrilled to see that mom-and-pop Internet businesses continue to open daily, so let’s patronize them as much as possible. These little shops and shopping offers—whether online or on your street corner—make up the soul of America.
For pampered pups, order some freshly-baked dog treats from My Dog’s Bakery, a business recently located to Ridgway, Colorado. I can’t say they’re delicious, however, they are yummy-looking and surely lovingly made.
Perfect Popcorn
Have a food snob on your list? If it’s one that has a penchant for popcorn, you absolutely must send him or her a selection of nibblies from 479degrees popcorn. Their slick packaging impresses the most discriminating connoisseurs as much as their gourmet flavors such as Black Truffle & White Cheddar, Fleur de Sel Caramel, Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt and more. As for the 479 degree part, that’s apparently the best temperature for popping the corn!
Super Soft Base Layers from Cinnamon Wear
Practical is a good way to go for gift giving, too. Practical, stylish, breathable and sustainable are even better. Check out the base layers and more from Cinnamon Wear, a Telluride, Colorado-based business. Many of the pieces are so well-cut that they can be worn on their own. Think sexy après-ski.
Have a fashionista on your list? How about Yves Saint Laurent: the Retrospective Gift? It comes with two VIP tickets to the YSL exhibition opening at the Denver Art Museum in March, the lavishly illustrated catalog from the original exhibition in Paris and a chance to win tickets to the exclusive YSL opening gala. Of course all this arrives exquisitely wrapped in a pink and black box.
Check out Sustainable Futures for lots of eco-friendly gift ideas—I love the shopping here! The Women’s Bean Project, based in Denver, also provides different options for socially-conscious gift giving. They have a Giada DeLaurentis Lentil soup mix that’s perfect for the New Year. Lentils are considered a food that brings fortune, so they are often consumed at New Year’s, especially by the Italians.
Have to run now, but check back tomorrow since I should have a few more recommendations. It looks like UPS is late today.
Being Green Colorado Food & Wine Podcasts The Rockies: Being Green Colorado Food & Wine Podcasts The Rockies
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Seasonal and Savory: A Delightful Blog Chockfull of Recipes for All Seasons
Saffron and Honey Rolls
I began following Angela Cooks on Facebook a couple of months ago and found myself constantly clicking through her FB links to posts on her Seasonal and Savory blog. I haven’t made a single recipe but I have enjoyed many heartwarming culinary moments through her sharing.
I came to discover that Angela Cooks is actually Angela Buchanan, a professor at CU Boulder where she teaches rhetoric. I didn’t even know that was a course. “It’s a Communications Class,” Angela explains to me in the below Travel Fun interview. And yes, there is a connection with food, this enthusiastic cook’s passion both in and out of the classroom. In the first part of our chat, she talks about a Food & Culture class that she teaches in which students must do a food memoir. Tune in to hear what she says. Aren’t some of our best memories, especially travel-related ones, associated with the memory of certain foods?
As the name of her year-old blog suggests, Angela focuses on developing seasonal recipes as much as possible, many vegetarian- or vegan-based. Right now you can delight in all kinds of pumpkin and winter squash posts including Chestnut and Pumpkin Soup, Beef and Pumpkin Chili and Pumpkin Crêpe Cake with White Chocolate Ganache. Yum.
Pasta with Cajun-Spiced Sweet Potatoes and Creamy Greens
In terms of tips for the holidays and always, here’s some of what Angela suggests:
-Invest in a good spice cabinet.
-Do as much in advance as possible.
-Use puffed pastry for ease, presentation and taste.
Click on the play button below to hear my fifteen-minute interview with Angela.
Angela (on the rt.) at a NYC Good Housekeeping Cooking Event with Her Husband, Harrison, and Sara Moulton
Being Green Podcasts Travel: Being Green Podcasts Travel
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Wallace “J.” Nichols: Marine Biologist Extraordinaire
Dr. Wallace "J." Nichols
If you love our world, click on the play button below and listen to my interview with Dr. Wallace “J.” Nichols, one of the world’s biggest defenders of the big blue. Inspired by Jacques Cousteau at an early age, J. is an effective communicator about what’s going on with our planet from an ocean perspective.
“Our ocean is in trouble,” J. tells me in this Travel Funinterview. “We’re putting too much into it, taking too much out of it and destroying the edge,” he continues. Tune in to learn about his three calls to action.
Three Ridley Hatchlings
In this season of water, sand, sea and surf, many of us have gotten in touch with how wonderful our oceans are to us and to so many other living creatures on this planet. “We are an ocean planet,” J. emphasizes. “Oceans dictate our weather and climate. They help us to relax and remove stress.” And, of course, they do so much more, but did you know that our oceans and coastal areas need our attention more than ever?
This self-described “turtle freak” has also partnered with other concerned people to promote conservation tourism. With Brad Nahill, J. is in involved with SeeTurtles.org. Listen to hear what J. has to say about a great Baja trip where you can work side by side with people that are now professional turtle protectors. (Most of these folks were once turtle hunters, however, See Turtles has helped them to turn their focus around 180 degrees.) Check out SeetheWild.org, another organization that J. works with, to find out about all kinds of conservation tourism travel you can do around the world. These trips give you the opportunity to see the animals you love while helping them and the native people that inhabit these destinations.
In the below interview, J. also talks about his recent travels to Singapore, Indonesia and Central America. He’s an articulate and passionate activist, so once again, please click on the below button to listen to our interview.
Three things you can do to help our oceans, marine life and coastal areas:
-reduce your plastic imprint
-choose the fish and seafood you consume wisely
-do your research when planning a trip to the sea, especially a cruise
“You can love the ocean from anywhere and do your part from anywhere,” J. says. He recommends Coloradans check out the Colorado Ocean Coalition on facebook.
Being Green Mountain Living Telluride: Being Green Mountain Living Telluride Telluride Festivals
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Welcoming Summer and Contemplating Climate Change
Telluride House Band Including Jerry, Tim, Sam and Béla at Bluegrass
Some 12,000 people ushered in summer over the weekend at the thirty-eighth annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival here in my pristine mountain town. That’s about four times the year-round population of Telluride, a town that has remained picture-perfect partly due to its remote location. Just over 4,000 of these folks were campers, many of whom came from all over the country to attend this world famous four-day happening of sun and song, free spirited-ness and fun. If you look around T-ride today, you’d hardly guess that the town of Telluride and Planet Bluegrass had put on such a party just a couple days ago. Even throughout the festival, there’s scant evidence of un-managed festival waste and even fossil-fuel burning vehicles are kept at a minimum. (Lots of bicycles and enthusiastic walkers though.) Indeed, the organizers of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival know that our majestic mountains and verdant valleys are as much a prized part of this great summer solstice gathering as the picking and strumming of festival regulars Sam Bush, Tim O’Brien, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan and Béla Fleck. Festival organizers have imparted this love and will for preserving the environment to their devoted festivarians and best of all, facilitate people’s ability to reduce waste at every turn.
Indeed, Telluride and Telluride Bluegrass Festival serve as an inspiring model for how to take the best care of a good thing. But as I was reminded in a post, entitled State of the Ocean: Shocking Report Warns of Mass Extinction from Current Rate of Marine Distress, from today’s Huffington Post, not everyone is on the same page. Many people are talking about the direction in which the world is headed, but it seems as though not enough people are doing enough about it. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman ponders in his recent piece, The Earth is Full, we’re apt to look back at the first decade of the twenty-first century in a few years and wonder why we didn’t panic when the evidence was so obvious that we’d crossed some growth/climate/natural resource/population red lines all at once.
In this time of soaking up the great outdoors, I challenge everyone to begin today to take even better care of the world around us. It all begins with awareness. And then more awareness. And more. And more. And then you start to fine tune your habits. I did just that when I saw “Bag It,” a film about plastic and its effects on our bodies and our world, at last year’s Mountainfilm. In case you missed it, read Brand New Me, Brand New Me: Surveying My Potions, Lotions and Other Pampering Paraphernalia and “Bag It” and Green Travel. I’m still working to reduce my use of plastic and my carbon footprint overall and there’s lots of room for improvement. My amount of recyclables far surpasses my trash, however, and I choose glass over plastic at every opportunity. (I’m almost compulsively collecting plastic bottle caps under my sink, so if anyone knows for sure what to do with them, please tell me.)
Utah Landscape (Hopefully) Forever Preserved by Environmental Activist Tim DeChristopher
More Utah Wildlands Thanks to Tim
Thank goodness we have people driven enough to go beyond their own personal responsibility of picking up after themselves. Tim DeChristopher, and his act of peaceful civil disobedience in this time of global climate crisis, is one such person. Yeah, he’s the guy that upended the auction of prime wilderness in Utah that would have otherwise been slated for oil and gas drilling. We’re talking about land very much like Arches National Park and Canyonlands. Just look at the above images. That’s the place, folks. Images that weren’t even allowed as evidence in Tim DeChristopher’s trial. I had no idea that Tim was such an intelligent and strongly committed environmentalist until I saw the Bidder 70 presentation at this year’s Mountainfilm. Documentary filmmakers and part-time residents of Telluride, Beth and George Gage tell Tim’s story in “Bidder 70,” a moving and inspiring film that will likely be finished after Tim’s upcoming sentencing. Tim’s sentencing was supposed to take place this Thursday, but that has been postponed until July, likely to divert attention from the Climate Action Protest planned around this event. The protest is still set to occur and I encourage you to find out how you can express your opposition to global warming and more at Peaceful Uprising. If nothing else, please think twice about driving your SUV to the corner store.
Florida Coast in The City Dark
Also at Mountainfilm, I saw “The City Dark,” a film that chronicles the disappearance of darkness. Yes, those twinkling city lights can be enchanting but the impact they’re having on the environment is shocking. The lack of a dark, night sky is effecting all kinds of species and habitats, including hatching sea turtles, for example, that are finding themselves more drawn to coastal lights than to the ocean where they must go to survive. As you look up into the night’s sky this summer, just imagine how many more stars and planets you could see without such luminary interference by man.
Telluride's Truck Farm at Mountainfilm
By the same filmmaker Ian Cheney and also at Mountainfilm, I loved Truck Farm, a whimsical and inspiring movie about how you can take green roof technology, heirloom seeds and an old pickup truck and create a mobile garden that delights both the belly and eye. Ian Cheney takes sustainable living to a new level, one that everyone is sure to enjoy, especially city dwellers that may long for their own patch of land. Buy the DVD for the favorite gardener in your life!
I love animals and movies and T.V. shows that help us to better understand our relationship with our four-legged friends. “Buck,” a documentary I also saw at Mountainfilm, opened last week in New York. I hope it will make it to other movie theaters around the country this summer for it’s a touching film about life’s challenges and how you can turn even a bad situation around to your advantage. Based on the story of Buck Brannaman, the inspiration behind the novel and movie “The Horse Whisperer,” “Buck” enlightened me about how to more effectively communicate with animals and people. There’s a lot to be said about a firm, yet gentle approach. Read the review in last week’s New York Times.
Baby Lion from The Last Lions
I was also recently very moved by The Last Lions, a National Geographic movie about the battle for survival that’s being waged in Africa by the world’s big cats. Did you know that fifty years ago there were about 450,000 lions in Africa and now, due to the encroachment of man, they’re down to as little as 20,000? Watch the trailer and Nat Geo will contribute $.10 to lion and big cat conservation in Botswana. The cinematography is, of course, magnificent. For more information on National Geographic’s conservation efforts all over the globe, go to Cause an Uproar.
Children in India from the Happy Movie, Many Considered to Be Happier than American Children
Even with all the challenges the world is facing, we have an infinite number of reasons to be happy. If you have any doubts at all, find a way to see Happy, the movie, by Academy Award nominated director Roko Belic. Or just click here to see the trailer. And then encourage your favorite local theater to screen it. You’ll want to spread this kind of happy. It’s a movie. It’s a movement. It’s a way of life. If you adopt this kind of happy, you’ll likely stay home more and spend more time with the ones you love. You’ll realize you don’t have to be doing and buying as much to make yourself happy. That in turn will make the world a happier place.
And then that will end up circling back to you. You’ll be able to see more stars in the sky and more animals roaming in the bush. There will be more fish in the sea and cleaner surf. Our fruits and vegetables will taste better. Our unspoiled lands will remain forever wild and scenic. We’ll begin to be more in balance.
Happy summer everyone!
Dr. Wallace “J.” Nichols, marine biologist extraordinaire, will be my guest on my next Travel Fun that airs Tuesday, June 28 at 6:30 p.m. mountain time. As we plunge into this big season of sand and surf, J. will share his knowledge of and experiences in the big blue and how we can better take care of our oceans. As I saw in the most photogenic short “Chasing Water,” by Pete McBride, also at Mountainfilm, the Colorado River dries up long before it hits the sea. Never doubt the connection between the mountains and our oceans. We’re all connected in fact.
Here’s a new festival to hit Telluride: the Compassion Festival. This three-day event will bring together cutting-edge neuroscientists, Tibetan Buddhist practitioners and teachers of Native American wisdom traditions together for panel discussions, conversations, ceremonies, movies and more in an effort to take a more encompassing look at our world in crisis. Presented by the Telluride Institute July 8-10.
Thank you to Benko Photographics, Beverly Joubert and lots of other kind folks for the use of the above images.
Being Green Podcasts Telluride Travel: Being Green Podcasts Telluride Travel
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Bag It and Green Travel
Suzan and the Bag Monster
In honor of Earth Day, next Friday, April 22, I wanted to once again draw your attention to “Bag It,” the award-winning documentary produced and directed by Telluride local Suzan Beraza. April is also an important month for this informative and highly entertaining film since this is when PBS has chosen to make it available to their viewers.
I sat down with Suzan last fall and interviewed her for Travel Fun, my talk radio show on travel. I highly encourage you to click on the link below to listen to what Suzan says about “Bag It” and why we should all pay more attention to our consumption and use of plastic. There’s no lecturing in this movie—or in the interview for that matter—but Suzan and her work (as well as my chat with her!) politely reveal that plastic doesn’t just go away. Where is away anyway? In honor of Earth Day, which I try to celebrate every day of the year, please listen to our interview by clicking on the below link.
Click to play the Suzan Beraza interview
If you tuned in to the interview, you should now be on your way to realizing that buying water in a plastic bottle is a silly concept. Suzan started “Bag It” by making a short film about the plastic bag challenge between Aspen and Telluride a few years ago. Her project grew in scope as she discovered to what extent plastic impacts our environment. “Bag It” began with plastic bags and then expanded to reveal how single-use items such as plastic forks wreak havoc in our world. It follows one man’s journey, played byTelluride local, Jeb Berrier, as he learns more about plastic, how it’s unhealthy for us and the environment.
Cutting down on our consumption of plastic and being green overall can sometimes be challenging. The task often becomes an even taller order while traveling. But in all cases, the reward is great and isn’t it our duty to at least try to be better stewards of our environment? In our interview, Suzan chats about her experiences traveling the world, promoting “Bag It.” Be sure to tune in to hear some of her observations about how other countries are faring in their efforts to be green. We also share how all of us can become more eco-friendly travelers.
Green Travel Tips
Take the train whenever possible.
Consider visiting a city or region by bike or foot.
Rent an eco-friendly car.
Use environmentally-responsible services and products such as green hotels and other businesses.
Cut down on (or eliminate) your consumption of hotel amenities such as mini shampoo bottles. Consider buying bar shampoos and using crystals for deodorants. (Sounds so new-age-y, doesn’t it? They’re actually better for you.)
Always bring your own stainless steel water bottle, commuter (or to-go) mug and bags wherever you go, even abroad.
“It’s important to question packaging,” Suzan says. If someone is going to give you a sandwich on Styrofoam, ask for a napkin instead. That will also get them thinking. We have the power to bring about change.
I’d also add that you can consider carpooling, even for long-distance travels. KOTO, our radio station here in T-ride, provides a wonderful service to their listeners: a ride board, where it’s announced on air that so-and-so is looking for a ride/or willing to provide a ride to all kinds of destinations. I tested this recently when I wanted a one-way ride to Beaver Creek, a four-hour drive from Telluride. I didn’t find one on the ride board but I was able to locate a lift through contacts on the mountain. I shared expenses with my driver and we ended up having a fantastic time together. Also, I know my ride solicitations got a lot of people thinking. And as Suzan points out in our interview, it’s that sort of thinking that helps to turn things around. That’s how we become more conscious.
Go to Find a Screening on the “Bag It” site and scroll down to both community screenings and broadcast screenings to find out where “Bag It” might be playing in your area and/or on your local PBS affiliate station. Check “Bag It’s” homepage for information on how to tune in to a national webcast event for Earth Week on Thursday, April 21.
You may also enjoy reading my other stories about “Bag It” including Brand New Me and Brand New Me: Surveying My Potions, Lotions and Other Pampering Paraphernalia.
Online Boutique Recommendations: Holidays 2010
Marmot Skier from Alpen Schatz
Are you overwhelmed yet? You know, about all the holiday hoopla. I try to keep it as simple as possible and still, I sometimes feel myself stressing about the handful of items scratched onto my holiday to-do list. This year poses even more of a challenge—for me and other Americans—since many of us are more cost conscious and environmentally aware than ever before.
I’ve always been an advocate of buying quality, not quantity. Call it the French way, if you want. It’s also very European to be green and it’s great to see Americans implementing that approach into their lifestyle—especially their shopping habits—more and more. We all know about bringing our own bags with us when we shop, but what approach should we use for online shopping? And is online shopping even green?
I’m not sure how to answer that last question since I’m a huge proponent of shopping local. But let’s face it, you can’t buy everything locally, especially when you live in a remote mountain town like Telluride, Colorado. Plus it’s fun to source speciality items on the Internet from time to time. And what about Aunt Harriet, brother Mike and all the other assorted friends and family members on your gift-giving list—you know, the folks that live a bazillion miles away? I think it’s much easier to turn the packaging and mailing chore over to an online boutique.
And here’s how you can make your online shopping more green: Speak up and ask for less plastic to be used in the packaging. Yeah, that’s right. It works every time for me. Plus people are using less plastic these days anyway.
But let me get right to my recommendations. Today is December 15th and time is of the essence. You’re still O.K. though. Most of the below purveyors can deliver by Christmas within the U.S.—by USPS, UPS or FedEx ground—if you get your order in this week. Devotees of my annual Online Boutique Recommendations will recognize that this year’s lineup includes my perennial favorites along with a few newcomers. Most of these choice purveyors are small, artisanal businesses, passionate about the products they sell and the clients that find their way to their boutique. Best of all: I’ve negotiated a special discount for BonjourColorado.com readers with some of them, so be sure to mention Bonjour Colorado or just Bonjour where indicated below.
Telluride Vodka
I’m first going to take you to main street Telluride. Can you picture it? Do you remember the Budweiser commercial with the Clydesdale horses strutting down a picture-perfect old-fashioned mountain town, back-dropped by majestic, snowy peaks? Well, that’s our little downtown. Two of my all-time favorite shops, Alpen Schatz and Telluride Truffle also boast a fantastic online business. Here you’ll find superior quality gift ideas galore at a wide range of prices. Alpen Schatz imports alpine treasures from Europe including Swiss dog collars and belts, Italian silk scarves and scarf ornaments and an avalanche of other finely-made goods fresh out of a Christkindlmarkt. Their marmots, jolly little stuffed animals from Austria, are a must. They sing, they dance, they play the accordion—they make you smile. If you really want to create a beguiling effect, order a dozen that you can line up on your coffee table or mantle to spread some giggly holiday cheer. Telluride Truffle serves up a more homegrown version of mountain love. What would Christmas be without chocolate, hot chocolate, chocolate sauce? You name it. ‘Tis the season for rich and yummy chocolate. Type in Bonjour upon check out for both to receive a 10% discount (on online orders only).
Just over a year ago Telluride Vodka came on the scene as one of the hottest holiday must-haves. Now this stunning bottle filled with superlative Vodka, made from the pristine waters of Telluride, graces fine bars and restaurants on both sides of the Divide. And there’s good news for you: The price of Telluride Vodka has come down considerably since its original launch and you can receive an additional 10% discount by mentioning Bonjour Colorado when ordering by e-mail.
Ruth's Toffee
Just outside of Telluride, there’s a little lady that makes the most out-of-this-world toffee. Her name is Ruth and her business is called Ruth’s Toffee, tout simplement. Ruth is also extending a 10% discount to Bonjour Colorado shoppers. Don’t miss out on this wondrous holiday treat!
Holiday Ribbon's from Hammond's Candies
Christmas and candy go together like hot chocolate and marshmallows. Hammond’s Candies, a Denver institution since 1920, allows you to focus on the fluff instead of the warm, milky drink. Their over-sized marshmallows, dipped in chocolate and caramel and referred to as all natural Mitchell Sweets, are yummy enough to enjoy alone. But if you really want to create a stir, plop them into a strong cup of cocoa and watch everyone’s eyes light up. Here, too, you’ll find handmade ribbon candy along with gorgeous candy canes in our favorite holiday flavors including wintergreen, peppermint, clove and cinnamon–all almost too beautiful to eat!
Too many sweets might leave you craving salt. In that case, order up a bunch of Ricky’s Lucky Nuts. This Durango, Colorado purveyor offers an exciting snack alternative for nut lovers, whether you like them sweet or savory, or even a little of both. They take all natural peanuts, dry roast and then coat them in a glaze of spice blends such as Bombay Curry Coconut and Spicy Chile Chipolte. They’re so tasty, you’ll want to order all five flavors.
Alpenglow Lanterns from Evergreen Candleworks
Now for the ambiance. It’s important to set the right mood, especially during the darkest time of the year. How about green organic soy candles from Evergreen Candleworks in Evergreen, Colorado? Yes, that’s right. Linda is the environmentally-aware force behind this family-owned business nestled in the foothills of the Rockies. And her products are lovely, all as pure and clean smelling as our mountain air. For the special lady on your list, order the Silky Soy Pampering Package which includes a silky soy candle and its hot oil treatment with a warmer.
Tapenades Gift Box from Quel Objet
My shopping recommendations would not be complete without me highlighting a delightful boutique whereyou can find a suitcase full of French gift itemsspecially imported by Susan Sears, a woman of impeccable taste. Quel Objet has been a favorite of mine for many years and it’s the first online boutique I think of (and often recommend!) for a quintessential French Shopping experience. From food items to home and table accessories, books and bibelots, there’s something for every budget at this colorful online boutique.
Midnight Honey Bath & Beauty Oil from Farmaesthethics
If you want to spread the word about living a greener, less plastic life, order the “Bag It” DVD for your friends and family. Produced in Telluride, this award-winning film has earned accolades throughout the world. It has changed my life since I first saw it at our Mountain Film Festival in May. You can read about its impact on me at Brand New Me.
In “Bag It” you learn that beauty products in plastic containers are not such a good idea. Thank goodness for brands such as Farmaesthetics, a natural skincare company that packages their fine herbal potions, lotions and creams in glass. Farmaesthetics truly understands the importance of fine quality products that offer a spa experience in a jar. Hmmmmm. I just love their scents. They offer many great gift ideas for the holidays as well including Quiet Canyon, a five-piece chamomile collection, and Holiday Travel Set.
O.K., that wraps it up for me this year. At least for now. I’ll be posting my best wine recommendation of the season here shortly—you may be surprised.
I wish you a happy, healthy and fun-filled holiday season!
Art & Culture Being Green Four Corners Hotels Telluride: Art & Culture Being Green Four Corners Hotels Photography Telluride Telluride Festivals
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Colorful Colorado
Telluride's Valley Floor
Wow. Wow. Wow. What an extraordinary end of summer/fall it has been. We’ve had nearly three weeks of breathtakingly-beautiful weather here in the Rockies and the forecast promises more sun and warmth for the upcoming week. The colors have popped. It looks like the leaves in the San Juan Mountains, the range located in the southwestern corner of Colorado, will be peaking this weekend. Usually when that happens, a snowstorm blows in, but this year we’re to be blessed with more fine leaf-peeping days throughout a good part of October. Scenery like this makes me wonder why people battle the crowds and traffic jams of New England for their annual fall foliage tour. I recommend you sign up for the wide, open spaces and shimmering aspens of the Rockies next year!
The festivals continue here in Telluride. This week marked the culmination of the first annual Telluride Photo Festival, an event that drew world-class photographers from near and far. Mother Nature cooperated generously, making it a kick off to remember. Conservation and fine arts photographer Robert Glenn Ketchum was among the distinguished experts giving workshops and presentations. Neil Hastings, Sales & Marketing Director of Mountain Lodge Telluride, became so impressed with Mr. Ketchum’s emphasis on the importance and responsibility of bringing nature conservation into your work, that he ventured out to take the above picture of Telluride’s Valley Floor. “I wanted to honor his (Robert Glenn Ketchum) work and bring attention to the Valley Floor, a land that will remain forever wild,” Neil says. “Let the elk and bear roam free,” he adds. Well Neil, with pictures like this you might just have to quit your day job! In any event, keep up the inspiring work and thank you for sharing this image with me.
Oh yes, I mentioned the continuation of festivals here in T-ride. The Telluride Horror Show, a three-day horror film festival, will be making its creepy debut mid-October. The old, dry leaves should be swirling and rustling about our Victorian mining town by then and although always stunning, our scenery might appear more foreboding by the time the ghouls sweep into town.
Thank you again to Neil Hastings for the above image. Be sure to click on it to enlarge it to take in its full splendor.
Art & Culture Being Green Music & Dance Telluride: Art & Culture Being Green Music & Dance Telluride Telluride Festivals
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Phish in Telluride: The Day After the Day After
Phish Phans Philing into Telluride Town Park
Well, we did it. Our little mountain town has survived—very well in fact—the invasion of some 10,000 Phish fans. Aside from a smattering of arrests (mostly drug-related), an excess of garbage (which has already been expediently cleaned up) and a few trampled flower beds, most appears pretty much back to normal.
Sure, here in T-ride we’re accustomed to putting on big festivals, big doings that see the population of our town nearly quadruple in less than forty-eight hours. But this was Phish, the widely popular jam band that enjoys a spectacular following everywhere they go. Even Phish fans have to obtain concert tickets through a carefully orchestrated lottery; their shows consistently sell out in record time and those that make it to the event are die-hards, devoted followers that think nothing about crisscrossing the country to take in a show. Especially if it’s in a venue as stunning as Telluride’s Town Park, a setting as celebrated as the numerous artists that have played there.
Psyched to See the Show
My first glimpse of dedicated Phish fans en masse occurred late Sunday afternoon, the last day of the Telluride Jazz Festival. The crowd more than doubled, shifting from mountain casual to urban hippie as Phish fans poured into this mellow gathering in Telluride Town Park. I knew already that despite an abundance of tie dye and weed, these folks came from every ilk, every socioeconomic background, every corner of the U.S. Already I suspected many of them to be closet hippies, the kind of people that wore suits and serious expressions most days to work yet their real drug of choice was attending a Phish concert, an enviable outlet that leaves even the most seasoned concert goer in awe.
That’s just how I felt Tuesday night, the second night of Phish’s two-day stint in T-ride. (I had skipped Monday’s show and, in fact, decided only Tuesday morning to attend the second when my boyfriend, Steve, threw a ticket my way. The whole town was buzzing about the event, so how could I stay home?)
It was a gorgeous evening, one of the prettiest of the summer, perfect for baring skin and parading about in all manner of costume-y outfits. And of those there were many. From sequins to tinsel, feathers to beads, face paintings to piercings and tattoos, the entire scene provided some of the best people watching of any concert I’ve attended.
And as the puffy clouds stretched across orangey-pink bands in the faded blue jean sky, the sun set out far beyond our cathedral canyon. My hunny and I remarked about the number of people turning to this gorgeous vision, gazing skyward in amazement, snapping pictures on cell phones and cameras, craning their necks to take in the full glory of this Kodachrome moment.
Our Cathedral Canyon
“I think they’re trying to figure out how much of what they see is real or a hallucination,” my hunny quipped.
Indeed I had never seen so many trip-y looking people. A thick cloud of smoke clung to the air and the smell of pot, tobacco and clove cigarettes permeated the entire park as people swayed and bobbed to the pulsating beat of the music. The crowd roared from the minute Phish took to the stage, mouthed almost every word of every song and communed with one and other as though they were at a massive neighborhood block party (albeit a pretty out-there one). And although the vibe felt relatively mellow, the enthusiasm exhibited among these hardcore fans reverberates through the mob as fast as a rumor spreads that this iconic jam band is coming to town.
“I can’t believe this is all legal,” I commented to my hunny.
“Most of it isn’t,” he replied.
Lighting Up
Really, in all the concerts I’ve ever attended—from my first biggies in Saratoga Springs (SPAC) which included Fleetwood Mac to Grateful Dead in Boston during my college years to the Rolling Stones and Police in Paris to the countless in Telluride including Dylan—never had I taken in such a scene. Still though, everyone seemed to be in possession of themselves. This must have been what Woodstock was like, I thought to myself. I didn’t know a single song but I had fun, I felt glad to take in such a display.
The mood became more uproarious after the set break when the band broke out with Party Time, a riotous song which prompted fans to toss massive quantities of glow sticks and rings into the audience. Although this jolly show of neon further enhanced the sensational lighting effects of the show, I couldn’t get past how awful it was to mindlessly throw all these toxic, plastic vials about. Clearly a lot of Phish fans lack some real environmental awareness. I had never seen this happen anywhere before, especially not in T-ride. (And if they ever come back here, I doubt they’ll repeat this offense again.)
I actually learned yesterday on the local news that cleaning up from these shows entailed the biggest effort ever. Fortunately we have crews that know how to restore our park to one of the most pristine public places in the country. They combed the last blades of grass for the pesky debris that remained including cherry pits, cigarette butts and bottle caps. Phish fans have a lot to learn from our festivarians, especially from the Telluride Bluegrass devotees, a crowd that’s well versed in protecting the environment. But hey, they’ve been coming to our beautiful mountain town for nearly four decades.
All things considered, you did good Phish. Just next time, tell your Phans to leave the glow sticks at home and to better pick up after themselves. Oh, and maybe you could turn the music down a little. That was the loudest concert I ever attended and it feels like my ears are still ringing. Liked the improv though. And, of course, the super-friendly, groovy, free-spirited people.
Phish Jamming on Telluride Town Park Stage
Thank you to Merrick Chase, from Telluride Photography, for the above images. To view the entire two days of Phish in Telluride (and more!), visit the Telluride Photography Web site and blog.
For more on Telluride festivals, read Summer in Telluride: A Sea of Festivals and More.
