A picnic in the park was just what the doctor ordered Thursday as music lovers gathered in Viles Park to tailgate before the Music in the Mountains Transcendence concert at St. Columba Catholic Church.
Three tables won tickets to next year’s concerts, including Chris Serwe and Christine Kitts, who won for best formal theme. Taking a page from the concert’s title, they centered their table on a painting by Kitts that she created for a friend who is getting married, a friend who is a trapeze artist. (That may be the first time in more than 16 years I have written the phrase “trapeze artist.”) Titled “Hepp,” because that’s what a trapeze artist’s partner says when it’s time to grab the trapeze to swing to the next location, it’s also a metaphor for marriage, Serwe said.
“To reach transcendence, sometimes you have to jump,” she said.
Their table also included ribbons, balloons and an entryway of lanterns filled with roses. They served goodies from The Yellow Carrot to their guests.
The Durango Botanical Society turned out in force to win the fun theme, although how they decide which four of them get the tickets next year is anybody’s guess. What put them over the top was their hats, tiny fedoras for most of the women and colorful baseball caps for everybody else.
While I’m on the subject of Music in the Mountains, Sunday’s concert will feature the Durango Choral Society singing a splendid piece of music, Bach’s “Magnificat.”
DCS Music Director Linda Mack Berven, Executive Director Dawn Spaeder and Telluride Choral Society board member Dalen Stevens, who wrote the award-winning orchestration/adaptation of the late David Lingle’s “Requiem for Eagles,” traveled to Cincinnati to pick up the Alice Parker Award in June. The award recognized the DCS for the requiem, which expanded the mission of the chorus and challenged us – that would be the audience – in new ways.
The work blends the traditional requiem format with Southwestern influences, overlaying ancient texts with indigenous chant, rhythm and orchestration.
Coolest part of the trip? Alice Parker herself presented the award.
While it wasn’t on the original schedule, Mack will present one of her pre-concert lectures Sunday in the Center of Southwest Studies at 4:30 p.m. before the concert begins at 5:30 p.m. in the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. Tickets are available at www.musicinthemountains.com or by calling 385-6820.
Enjoying the last of the Cancer and the first Leo birthdays are Ken Fusco, Lora Woods, Holly Newby, Gay Robson, Carleen Utterback, Haley Benjamin, Roger King, Lois Bartig-Small, Greta Cahill, Anne Chase, John Peel, Nancy Welch, Barbara Morris, Jean Robinett, Nellie Boyd, Jim Trump, John Hening, Bill Donelan, Tom Compton, Marian Hamlen, Brenda TeBrink, Emily Bogle, Joan Forry, Lauren Rardin and Sue Magyar.
Anyone who doesn’t know that housing prices present a significant challenge to our community has been living in a cave – and probably paying top dollar for it.
Rachel Taylor-Saghie, the executive director of Habitat for Humanity of La Plata County, tells me 56.5 percent of wage earners in La Plata County fall within the income level to qualify for a Habitat home. And despite common misconceptions, Habitat homeowners put in significant sweat equity hours to purchase their modest homes and pay a mortgage just like other homeowners do.
Habitat is able to make its homes affordable through raising money through its Re-Store, hundreds of hours donated by volunteers to build the homes, donations by individuals and businesses and fundraisers, including Hammers and High Heels, which will be held from 7 to 10 p.m. Saturday at Ska Brewing Co., 225 Girard St.
Tickets are available at the Re-Store, Ska and First National Bank of Durango, 259 W. 9th St.
This event generally attracts a lot of the people working to meet our increasing need for housing, the people on the front lines, so to speak, who need a place to relax.
“Contractors need more qualified labor to meet the demand,” Taylor-Saghie said, “and laborers need affordable housing to work here. It’s a vicious cycle.”
If you haven’t made it over to the Durango Arts Center for its production of the Broadway musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” the show continues Thursdays through Saturdays through the end of the month, with the finale a matinee July 31.
Who doesn’t love Charlie Brown? And with a message about the importance of friends, the spirit of perseverance and the value of the little moments in life, it’s a great respite from the unsettled nature of public life these days. (That was the nicest way I could think of to say that.)
What you may not know is that the arts center is always working to provide more access to the arts. While we need to make sure everyone has enough to eat, a safe place to live and clean water to drink, it’s the arts that nourish our souls, and, quite frankly, make life worth living.
The center provides scholarships for children to attend visual and performing arts classes, Creative Minds, an arts outreach program for clients of Community Connections, and now, Experience It Live Theatre. (You wondered what this had to do with “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” didn’t you?)
Working with the Boys and Girls Club of La Plata County, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado, the La Plata Family Center Coalition, the Boys and Girls Club serving the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Volunteers of America Durango Community Shelter and Southwest Safehouse, the arts center is providing tickets for more than 175 children and their parent or guardian chaperones to attend the musical. Most of them have never seen live theater before, and have been overwhelmed by the joy of theater and the gratitude for living in a community that makes it possible.
To pull this off, the center raised more than $5,500 in ticket underwriting, from a number of businesses and individuals. To complete their experience, Alpine Bank is providing popcorn and a drink for each participating child.
One donor has already committed to providing some funding for kids living in one of the VOA shelters to attend the holiday production of “Elf Jr. The Musical,” and the arts center is looking into ticket underwriting for seniors who otherwise could not afford to attend the holiday show.
To learn more about the underwriters and the program, call Kathrene Frautschy at 259-2606.
These folks may need an umbrella built for two as the monsoons return for their anniversaries – Tom and Missy Carter, Bruce Harris and Leigh Nielsen, Melinda Riter and Dan Martin, Joan and Mike Fauteaux, Mike and Marie Davidson and Dan and Kristi Sage.
Here’s how to reach me: neighbors@durangoherald.com; phone 375-4584; mail items to the Herald; or drop them off at the front desk.
