The music, the food, the decorations, folks dressed to the nines, the chance to socialize ... all make Pops Night at Music in the Mountains one of the most special events of the year, and this year was no exception.
On Wednesday night, guests had a crackin’ good time in the Festival Tent at Durango Mountain Resort.
Jimmy Nicholson of durangourmet once again prepared a delicious meal to keep everyone fueled for the festivities. After appetizers of duck empanadas, grilled eggplant dip and green lip mussels, guests enjoyed a salad with local greens, sprouts and James Ranch cheese with a garlicky dressing; Southwest tip steak with root beer barbecue sauce, grilled salmon with a mango-roasted red pepper salsa, fingerling potatoes with rosemary and garlic and a green bean salad; and for dessert, Barbara Mills’ Mexican wedding cookies and Grasshopper Creek mint truffles donated by Carley Felton of Animas Chocolate Co.
The event is one of the major benefits for the music festival, so it started with a blow-your-socks-off silent auction headed by event Co-chairwoman Georgeann Reitz. It included jewelry to drool over, art to covet, fine wine and cigars, golf, skiing, spa visits and other luxury items; practical items such as propane, gym memberships, Zumba lessons and chiropractor sessions; handknit goods and gift certificates to area businesses; and talented performers such as Scott Hagler, Linda Mack Berven, Gemma Kavanagh and Alison Dance for performances in people’s homes.
Add to that seven very special live auction items, including an eight to 10 course authentic Chinese dinner prepared by event committee member Lucia Jenney (she ended up donating two, selling one to the second-highest bidder), a condo in Paris for a week donated by Jean-Pierre and Rebecca Bléger; a cooking lesson/dinner with Justice Tower; a 1965-era Navajo rug; and a trip on the General Palmer Coach on the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
You’re saying, “Ann, that’s only five items,” and I congratulate you on both paying attention and good arithmetic skills. Two items – the artwork featured on all the 2013 Music in the Mountain materials and the conductor’s baton for one song during the evening – are always the traditional finish to the auction. This year’s art was “Don’t Fence Me In” by Elizabeth Kinahan, who was selected from a dozen artists who painted violins, primarily on musical themes, in competition for the honor. And the baton went to Ken Marshall, who seemed determined to win it.
Pat and Calvin Story once again generously donated their auctioneering talents, and Music in the Mountains President John Anderson served as master of ceremonies.
The bottom line for the evening was about $58,000, about $4,000 more than the goal. That is thanks in large part to a very dedicated committee, many of whom have worked on Pops Night for years.
Nancy Fisher was co-chairwoman of a group that also included Jerry and Sandy Baumann, Carol Burnham, Melanie Cruise, Pamela Hasterok, Becky Leonard, Susan Ostendorp, Anna Passalaqua, Myriam Palmer, Nancy Peake, Maria Pradissitto, Annie Simonson, Marilyn Swanson, Jill Ward, Nancy Weger and Maggie Whyte.
Special kudos go to Music in the Mountains staff members Executive Director Angie Beach, Julie Brown, Amber Newman and Cory Jameson, all of whom have been hopping since long before the festival started and still have a week to go.
Thanks also have to go to the stalwart husbands and significant others who toted and hauled.
Diane Welle, as has become her wont, designed the decorations and cute little bowler hat fascinators for committee members to wear as identifiers. (As well as my own glamorous duds.)
Of course, at Music in the Mountains, there has to be music. The festival invited Tom Demer, who played viola in the Festival Orchestra for 20 years, to come back and wear his other hat as a fiddler. Demer said he had to thank John Travolta’s “Urban Cowboy” and the line-dancing craze it inspired for helping him pay for his education.
The evening became the Demer & Son show, as his son, Paul Demer, who festival goers saw grow up, now writes his own songs and plays the guitar. While Demer the younger looked a little overwhelmed by playing with a full orchestra backing him – he said he’s used to playing in restaurants and bars where no one listens – he acquitted himself with aplomb, and several people were in line to buy a CD afterward.
The Festival Orchestra, who all came dressed on the fiddlin’ theme with lots of bandannas and cowboy hats, really got into the spirit of the evening. Being backed by a symphony took the entire tone of the playing up from fun to majestic on many songs, which ranged from traditional fiddle songs to Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys from a clever “Orange Blossom Special” to an utterly lovely “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Ungar, the haunting melody from Ken Burns’ “The Civil War.” Tom Demer’s nod to his classical background with “Cotton-eyed Johan (Sebastian Bach)” got a few laughs of its own.
Marshall’s shot of conducting came with the tune “Turkey in the Straw.” Music Director Guillermo Figueroa gave him some sage advice.
“Start waving the baton around when the music starts, and stop waving it when the music stops,” he said, “then turn around and bow.”
Everyone involved in the evening should take Figueroa’s advice and “turn around and bow.”
HHH
Trying not to get washed away for their birthdays are Ken Fusco, Lora Woods, Holly Newby, Gay Robson, Carleen Utterback, Haley Benjamin, Roger King, Lois Bartig-Small, Greta Cahill, Joan Forry, Lauren Rardin, Kathy Burns, Bill Donelan and Tom Compton.
HHH
Tuesday night was a different kind of evening at Music in the Mountains, with a laid back Musicians’ Barbecue. More than 250 musicians, their families and longtime festival supporters filled the Festival Tent at Durango Mountain Resort for a barbecue dinner with all the fixin’s courtesy of DMR.
This year, for a new twist, the musicians got to enjoy someone playing for them – local favorite Tim Sullivan kept a country vibe going.
Music in the Mountains does everything with a bit of a flair, and in this case, that meant red gingham-patterned tablecloths with centerpieces of yellow bandannas and sunflowers.
There was much baby admiring, catching up and just catching their breath after a hectic first week of the festival.
One of the great pleasures of this column is getting to know the folks behind the scenes at events, and what I’ve learned about the Music in the Mountains musicians is not only how talented they are, but how generous and fun they are, too.
You can add kind to the list. On my way home, my car started making a funny noise – it’s damaged from a recent fender-bender – so I pulled over to check it out.
I was barely out of the car before violinist Oleg Sulyga was stopping to see if everything was OK. (It was.) But even though it was chilly, it was dark, and he had to be back up at DMR the next morning for the Pops Night rehearsal, he still made sure I made it down the mountain.
Thanks, Oleg.
HHH
The skies are putting on a lightning show for the anniversaries of Glenn and Lucy Bultmann, John and Cherie Hughes, Jeff and Jill Layne, Jim and Nancy Ottman and Ron and Nancy Holligan.
HHH
neighbors@durangoherald.com
