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by Mike Sheahan
T opping all the fun and excitement of
last week will be nearly impossible this week. The nighttime roster
was full of great options all seven days, Phil Mickelson won his
first major golf tournament in what was one of the most exciting
Sunday finishes ever, and a couple of local dish divers in a
restaurant basement provided us with punch lines to jokes all week.
Yeah, last week had it all: tragedy, tension, comedy, great music,
the whole kit and caboodle. I don't know about you, but I could
take a time machine back to last Thursday, relive the whole thing
and have just as much fun.
If, after last week, the
Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College doesn't soon announce
a weekend double bill featuring '70s soft rockers STYX and
Supertramp, we may all be left feeling a bit deflated. That said,
and before you book your one-way ticket to Austin or Las Vegas,
there is enough happening this week to keep even the least
self-entertainable of us happy.
For starters, the 10th
annual Durango
Bluegrass Meltdown takes place this weekend, April 16
-18. This yearly event features more bluegrass than you can shake a
banjo at in three different venues, the Abbey Theatre, the Diamond
Circle and the Durango Arts Center, and there is a little something
for everyone. Whether you're into the traditional or progressive
sides of bluegrass or even the music's Celtic influence, you'll
find something that suits you.
The reasonably priced,
all-weekend advance ticket price easily makes the Meltdown the most
affordable of any of the festivals that happen in our area and gets
you exclusive entrance to the kick-off party Friday. As a huge
bonus, the whole thing happens in town so you can just go home at
the end of the night rather than having to worry about camping
around a bunch of smelly jerks or buying ridiculously overpriced
festival food. Enticing, no? Visit www.durangomeltdown.com for
further enticement.
If getting out of bed at
10 in the morning to go check out bluegrass isn't in the cards for
you, there is nothing to worry about. Most of your favorite
late-night haunts will feature bluegrass or a close approximation
of said style. The Abbey, for example will host local fave
Bruce Hayes on Friday night. The Summit will,
in what has become a Meltdown tradition, feature the Front
Range-based Fret
Knot , and at
Storyville, 2002 Rockygrass and 2003 Telluride band winner,
Hit and Run , will take the stage. So, if
like me, you refuse to leave the house before the sun goes down,
there is still plenty of action to keep you going.
The weekend fun actually
gets under way tonight, Thursday, April 15, at the Durango Arts
Center for the third annual KDUR Furniture as Art Auction
. The items up for auction
will mostly consist of cast aside pieces of furniture that have
spent the last few weeks or months in the hands of some of
Durango's most creative artists. The result is always interesting
and sometimes very funny.
The event will feature
music by Grammy award-winning Tom MacKlusky, catered food and a
cash bar with wine and beer. All of this makes the night well worth
the door charge, and you just may just wind up with a new
conversation piece for your family, rec or dorm room. All proceeds
benefit KDUR so we should all attend for the sake of principle
alone.
Not a huge fan of the circus, I had no idea that there are
actually two kinds. First there is the circus with lion tamers,
elephants and happy clowns. The second kind of circus has mysterious
music, smoke and sad, French clowns. This is the kind of  circus
that we in Durango have become used to. However, this Friday,
April 16, the first kind of circus comes to town. The Carson
and Barnes Circus boast five rings of juggling, tigers that
jump through rings of fire and, so I hear, a baby elephant that
can play a tambourine and harmonica. Now that's what I call
a circus. Sure the animals may not look happy, but I guarantee
that anybody given room and board to wear a fez and ride around
on a moped has no choice but to be ecstatic. The big top fun
happens twice Friday, once at 4:30 p.m., and again at 7:30 p.m.
Website of the Week: The web is truly an amazing place.
Just when you think you've seen the most inane thing the internet
has to offer, your friend Bryant goes and sends you a link to a
site called www.ratemyvomit.com. At first you find yourself
wondering what kind of freak show has the time or inclination to
collect hundreds of pictures of strangers tossing their cookies,
create a rating system and then post it all on the web. After a
while, though, you find yourself saying "OK, just one more picture
then back to work." This site is not recommended for those of weak
intestinal fortitude, it's really icky. If you do go, just be aware
that your visit only contributes to the general moral
desensitization of modern society.
Album of the Week:
Retisonic is a three-piece band made up of
veterans of the indie rock world. Led by Jason Farrell of the D.C.
band Blue Tip, Retisonic recently released its full length debut,
"Return to Me." It's an album full of sharp, angular, nearly
math-rock like edgy, pop-punk songs. If that description confuses
you, don't feel bad. I wrote it and don't fully get it. Just know
this about Retisonic's "Return to Me": It is an album that combines
the pace of Husker Du's "Flip Your Wig" with the stuttering guitars
of Fugazi's "Thirteen Songs" without sounding dated in today's
alt-rock landscape. Still confused? It's OK, just buy it, and
you'll know what I know, that it's a superb, timeless rock
record.
No felines were harmed
in the writing of this column.
mpsheahan@yahoo.com
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