Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Ongoing Upcoming

Film Festival screens American Splendor'
A glimpse of the Edo and Meiji eras
Brazilian jazz plays Concert Hall

Submit items for On the Town to: 534 Main Ave., Durango, CO, 81301; fax: ( 970) 259-0448; e-mail: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com ; or fill out this form

Fort Lewis College music students perform a free recital at 12:20 p.m. in Roshong Recital Hall in the Sage Hall building.

The FLC Life-Long Learning Series continues with a discussion co-sponsored by the League of Women Voters at 7 p.m. in 130 Noble Hall. Panelists include Sally Bellerue, president of the League of Women Voters; County Commissioner Sheryl Ayers; Jim Garofalo, La Plata County Democratic chairman; and FLC professor Reece Kelly. 247-7400 for details.

Pongas, 121 E. Eighth St., hosts a singles, 8-ball pool tournament at 7 p.m. 382-8554 for details.

Beer Bingo takes place at Lady Falconburgh's, 640 Main Ave., at 9 p.m. 382-9664 for details.

The Abbey Theatre, 128 E. College presents Club Night with disco and hip hop spun by DJs Tim and Jonny.Doors open at 9:30 p.m. 385-1711 for details.

Local jazz combo 3DP plays Scoot n Blues, 800 Main Ave., from 6:30-9:30 p.m. DJs Erik James and Rem-E spin music downstairs for Femme Fatale at 10 p.m. 259-1400 for details.

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The City of Durango and LEAD sponsor a meeting on ways to enhance the vitality of the Central Business District at 8:30 a.m. at the Durango Recreation Center, 2700 Main Ave.

Durango Nature Studies presents a Full Moon Snowshoe Hike from 6-8 p.m. at Haviland Lake. A naturalist will teach participants about winter ecology, constellations and nighttime senses. 382-9244to register.

Dubbed the "new bluegrass queen" by the Wall Street Journal, singer Rhonda Vincent performs at 7 p.m. at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College. 247-7657 for details.

The Hot Buttered Rum String Band plays jamgrass grounded in tradition at the Summit, 600 Main Ave., at 9:30 p.m. 247-2324 for details.

The Frank Trio , a local jazz band, gives its debut performance at the Abbey Theatre, 128 E. College, at 10:30 p.m. A DJ will spin until the band starts. 385-1711 for details.

A fund-raiser for The Thirteens' drummer Tex takes place at Storyville, 1150 Main Ave., at 9:30 p.m. The evening features music from Amazing Larry, Burial and Jean Jacket. 259-1475 for details.

Movin' On brings its country and rock to the Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. Second Ave. 375-2568 for details.

Studio 3 plays classic rock at Scoot n Blues, 800 Main Ave., at 8 p.m. DJ Silk spins dance music downstairs at 9 p.m. 259-1400 for details.

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The Special Olympics Winter Games take place at Durango Mountain Resort, including ski and snowshoe races in the Columbine Area, and cross-country races at the Nordic Center. Competitors from all over Colorado and New Mexico will be on hand. 884-5005 for details.

Durango Mountain Resort hosts Expression Sessions-Big Air beginning at 10:30 a.m. at the Paradise Terrain Park. Skiers and boarders will compete on a tabletop complex with three levels of jump difficulty. At the base area, the Arrowhead Winterfest takes place with tunes pumping out of the central tent complete with a games arena, big prize raffle, demos, games and giveaways. 385-2149 for details.

Silverton Mountain hosts its third annual Hard Core Mountain Challenge at 11 a.m. The uphill-downhill ski and snowboard race covers 3,800 feet of vertical. At noon, the Beacon Olympics begin and continue throughout the day. To register send an emailinfo@silvertonmountain.com.

The Durango High School Key Club holds a spaghetti dinner fund-raiser from 5 to 7:30 p.m. in the DHS cafeteria. A silent auction will be held during the spaghetti dinner, which will be provided by Mama's Boy Restaurant. 259-1630, ext. 214 for details.

The monthly Contra Dance takes place at the Veterans of Foreign Wars dance hall, 1550 Main Ave. Beginner instruction is at 7 p.m. and dancing runs from 7:30-10:30 p.m. The Adobe Brothers from Albuquerque play the show and Merri Rudd fromNew Mexico calls the dance. 259-6820 for details.

Spencer , "the world's fastest hypnotist," returns to Durango with a 7 p.m. show at the Durango Arts Center, 802 E. Second Ave. 259-2606 for details.

Flash Monkey plays "ultra-sexual funk" at the Summit, 600 Main Ave., at 9:30 p.m. 247-2324 for details.

The Abbey Theatre, 128 E. College, hosts Metal Mania Nite featuring music from Dying Tribe, Satyrica and Prima Facia. 385-1711 for details.

Steamworks, 801 E. Second Ave., hosts Hip-House featuring four DJs spinning music for Ladies Night at 10 p.m. 259-9200 for details.

Storyville, 1150 Main Ave., hosts a Hip Hop double bill with music from Listen and Dialogue at 9:30 p.m. 259-1475 for details.

Movin' On plays a second night of country and rock at the Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. Second Ave. 375-2568 for details.

Studio 3 plays a second show at Scoot n Blues, 800 Main Ave., at 8 p.m. 259-1400 for details.

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Durango Mountain Resort presents a second day of the Arrowhead Winterfest at the base area's central tent. The all-day event features tunes, a games arena, big prize raffle, demos, games and giveaways. 385-2149. 4

The San Juan Mountains Association offers guided ski naturalist tours and snowshoe treks at Durango Mountain Resort from 9:45-11:30 a.m. 247-900 ext. 147 for details.

Pongas hosts free pool after 6 p.m. at 121 W. 8th St. 382-8554 for details.

The Blue Moon Ramblers play bluegrass at the Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave., from 7-10 p.m. 375-7150 for details.

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The Friends of the Animas Valley sponsors a demonstration of the CommunityViz program ,a GIS-based interactive visual tool that envisions the alternatives and potential impacts of proposed developments. The presentation takes place at 7 p.m. at 130 Noble Hall at Fort Lewis College. 247-0719 for details.

Scoot n Blues, 900 Main Ave., hosts a Keg Party at 8 p.m. downstairs at Liquid with guest DJs Matthew and Sluke. 259-1400 for details.

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The Southwest Wetlands Focus Area Committee hosts a meeting for landowners from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the FLC College Union Building Ballroom. The meeting will provide information to landowners on a variety of tools that can be used to protect their land. 247-7393.

The Children's Museum of Durango, 802 E. Second Ave., offers a " Circus on Mars Diorama " workshop from 3:30-5 p.m. The workshop is for ages 6 and up. 259-9234 for details.

The Durango Area Association of Realtors, 125 E. 32nd St., hosts this month's Business Women's Network at 5:30 p.m. Executive Officer Tina Pernosky will discuss the association and its efforts to promote home ownership.385-4208 for details.

A panel discussion on interreligious dialogue in the post-9/11 world takes place at 7 p.m. in 130 Noble Hall at Fort Lewis College. This event features numerous FLC faculty members, and discussion topics include various religious traditions, different models for viewing religions and the challenge facing dialogue between the Muslim world and Western society. 247-7613 for details.

Tuesday Trivia takes place at Lady Falconburgh's, 640 Main Ave., at 8 p.m. 382-9664 for details.

Scoot n Blues, 900 Main Ave., presents king karaoke with Steve Kahler beginning at 8 p.m. 259-1400 for details.

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The Green Business Roundtable meets at noon at the Diamond Circle Theatre, 699 Main Ave., and features guest speaker Dick White, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at Smith College and member of the Green House Network speaker's bureau. Smith will discuss global warming, regional impacts and possible responses. 259-3583.

The Children's Museum of Durango, 802 E. Second Ave., offers a " Mars Pathfinder Paper Model " workshop from 3:30-4:30 p.m. The workshop is for ages 8 and up. 259-9234 for details.

The Women's Resource Center Reading Circle meets to discuss Kate Remembered by A. Scott Berg at 5:30 p.m. at the Rochester Hotel, 726 E. SecondAve. Anyone interested in discussing the book is invited.259-9442.

Oakhaven Permaculture Center and the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center are co-hosting a workshop on "Elements of Practical Home Design" at 6:30 p.m. in Noble Hall room 125. The event features overviews of the design and building process, how to get financing, a pattern language and the advantages of different building methods. 259-5445 for details.

The Durango Film Festival hosts a volunteer orientation and sign-up at Durango Office Suites, 1053 Main Ave., at 6:30 p.m. Volunteers are needed in all capacities for this year's festival which begins March 6. 259-2291.

The Wild Horse Saloon, 601 E. Second Ave., hosts karaoke with allstar entertainment at 7 p.m. 375-2568.

Scoot n Blues, 900 Main Ave., hosts the "Show Us What You Got Talent Extravaganza" at 8 p.m. 259-1400 for details.

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The Durango High School Thespian Troupe 1096 will perform Shelagh Stephenson's "An Experiment With an Air Pump " on Feb. 6, 7, 12, 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m. each night. The darkly humorous play looks at the past and future of science and society.Looking at the eves of two millennia in 1799 and 1999, the play juxtaposes the lives of two families in societies on the brink of major change. 259-1630, ext. 141 for details.

The Durango Arts Center, 802 E. Second Ave., opens a new exhibit entitled: "Contemporary Fiber: Quilts and Beyond." The exhibit features the work of 12 Colorado fiber artists and includes everything from whimsical dolls to needlepoint "paintings." An exhibit opening will be held on Friday, Feb. 6 from 5-7 p.m. DAC is also presenting "From the Collection of Will and Victoria Coe" in the Garner/Vega Conference Room, featuring paintings, drawings, prints and sculpture by nationally and regionally known artists, through Feb 28. 259-2606 for details.

The Abbey Theatre, 128 E. College, screens "The Weather Underground" nightly at 6 & 8 p.m. The film is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and focuses on the radical political activist group The Weathermen, who protested the Vietnam War in the 1960s. 385-1711 for details.

The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College hosts two new exhibits, "Stitches & Stories: Quilts in La Plata County" and "Monumental Beauty: A Pictorial View of Vermillion Cliffs National Monument," a photography exhibit of the Arizona locale. The shows run through April 17 in the Exhibit Gallery and are part of the center's 40th anniversary celebration. 247-7456 for details.

The Fort Lewis College AISES chapter hosts its 15th annual AISES Conference & Shadow Day on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 5-6, in the College Union Building and science and engineering labs. This conference exposes Native American students to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. 247-7569 for details.

The Children's Museum of Durango, 802 E. Second Ave., hosts "Destination Mars," a 600-square-foot national traveling exhibition, through May. Exhibit highlights include an actual piece of Mars, a scale model of NASA's new Mars Exploration Rover, a computer station providing MER mission updates, the Mars Weather Station and more. 259-9234 for details.

The Open Shutter Gallery brings the faces, landscapes and architecture of Italy to Durango in an exhibit by local photographer Paul Boyer titled "Italia." Boyer completed a PhD program in Italian and comparative literature in 1974 and, in spite of choosing a career in photography, still has a strong love for all things Italian. The exhibit runs through Feb. 14. 382-8355 for details.

Backcountry Experience, 1205 Camino del Rio, hosts an exhibit entitled, "The Southwest Landscape Photography of Eric Severn" through the end of February. Severn is a guide at Southwest Adventures, and his photos examine the beauty of the backcountry. 247-5830.

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The Southwest Silverados Drill Team hosts an informational meeting Feb. 12 at the County Fairgrounds for female equestrians between 12 and 20. 759-4597.

The Town of Silverton hosts its "Dog Days of Winter" Snowscape Winter Carnival from Feb. 12-15 featuring snowshoe races, the Yukigassen Snow Battle, Nordic races, parties and more.

Eve Ensler's award-winning play "The Vagina Monologues" returns to Durango on Feb. 13.

The Durango Recreation Center hosts the 1st annual Valentine's Day 5K run on Feb. 14.

The Children's Museum of Durango offers workshops for grade school kids on "No School Day," Feb. 16. 259-9234 to register.

The Abbey Theatre hosts a Durango Nature Studies fund-raiser, a slide show and talk bymountaineer Peter Jamieson on his Mount Everest climb, on Feb. 18.

The Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College will feature Robert Trentham's "In Thinking of America: Songs of the Civil War" on Feb. 21.

The renowned jamgrass wizards of Leftover Salmon play the Abbey Theatre on Feb. 23.

The DSCPA presents bluegrass virtuoso Tim O'Brien on Feb. 24 at the Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.

The Adaptive Sports Association encourages locals to start forming teams for the sixth annual Dave Spencer Ski Classic which is scheduled for Feb. 27-28. 259-0374 for details.

Film Festival screens American Splendor' What: A special screening of the acclaimed feature film Where: The Gaslight Theater, 102 E. Fifth St. When: Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 3:30, 5:45 and 8 p.m. Next Wednesday, the Durango Film Festival brings one of 2003's highly regarded films to Durango. On Feb. 11, "American Splendor" will hit the Gaslight Theater's screen at 3:30, 5:45 and 8 p.m. Oscillating between live-action film, video and animation, "American Splendor" tells the story of Harvey Pekar, a Cleveland file clerk who rose to a sort of skewed stardom based on the underground comic of the same name. Pekar writes his comics about the sad monotony of everyday life, based on his own life as a clerk who spends his time reading books and listening to jazz. Pekar serves as the film's narrator and appears as himself occasionally as the directors blend interviews, file footage and re-enacted scenes to form a strong docudrama. The unusual film has received widespread praise. Bob Longino of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution call it, "an inventive, resonating biopic that's part feature film, part documentary, part comic book and entirely mesmerizing." James Berardinelli of Reelviews said "American Splendor" is "one of the most inventive motion pictures of the year." In addition, "American Splendor" won the International Film Critics Association Award at the Cannes Film Festival, the Grand Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. For more information on the special screening or the film festival which begins March 6, call 259-2291.

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A glimpse of the Edo and Meiji eras What: An exhibit of Japanese paintings, prints, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and folk art Where: The Fort Lewis College Art Gallery When: Feb. 9-March 4 The Edo and Meiji eras of Japanese history are making a monthlong stopover in Durango. The collection of Japanese art will be on display at the Fort Lewis College Art Gallery from Feb. 9-March 4. The exhibition features religious artifacts, paintings, woodblock prints, sculpture, textiles, ceramics and folk art from the Edo (1600-1868) and Meiji (1868-1912) periods in Japanese art history. Several contemporary pieces also will be featured. According to exhibition curator Scott Miller, the art in this collection was created during extraordinary times in Japanese history. "In the late 1630s, the outside world was cut off through official prohibition of foreigners. In Japan's self-imposed isolation, traditions of the past were revived and refined by the artisans and merchants," he said. Miller added that art from the Meiji period represents a time when Westernization and modernization were gripping Japan. "After 1867 the country's new leaders began to pursue a policy of Westernization and modernization. At the same time, steps were taken to preserve and nurture Japan's art and craft traditions, inspiring the creation of works whose aesthetic quality and technical accomplishment can never be surpassed." Miller is a visiting instructor in the Academic Success Program at Fort Lewis College. The exhibit is taken from his private collection. The gallery is located on campus southwest of the Community Concert Hall and gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information call 247-7167.

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Brazilian jazz plays Concert Hall What: A show by vocalist Claudia Villela & guitarist Ricardo Peixoto Where: The Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College When: Saturday, Feb. 7, at 7:30 p.m. Brazilian jazz artists Claudia Villela and Ricardo Peixoto will play the Community Concert Hall stage for a special "Jazz on the Hill" show this Saturday. The event takes place at 7:30 p.m. and is a remembrance of active volunteer and jazz aficionado Russ Serzen. Since 1995, Villela's voice and Peixoto's guitar have been drawing huge audiences. Known for surpassing traditional musical boundaries, the duo offers improvisation-laced concerts.Villela and Peixoto grew up in the same neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro but didn't meet until Villela moved to the San Francisco Bay Area where Peixoto was already entrenched in the jazz scene.Their artistic partnership developed and has resulted in music that is inspired by the vast musical soul of Brazil.Their compositions also intermingle indigenous African and European references with the sensibility of jazz, resulting in an expressive approach that is both nostalgic and modern. After a sold-out concert in New York, The Village Voice exclaimed, "Claudia Villela transported us to Brazil." Peixoto, a highly regarded guitarist, studied jazz with Pat Metheny and classical music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The pair's recent CD, "Inverse Universe," has been described by Latin Beat Magazine as "New Millennium Brazilian music. Brilliant." For more information or tickets, call 247-7657 or log onto www.durangoconcerts.com.

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