Ear to the ground

“Oddly enough, the local Durango hippie rag, theTelegraph, has a major piece on this in this week’s edition … They have to have had an inside contact to be able to put the piece together.”

-An entry in an internet 4X4 forum on last week’s story on enhanced off-road vehicle usage of Missionary Ridge

The musical forecast

As all good, local hippie rags should, the Durango Telegraph will now offer its readers a glimpse of the coming season on Durango’s biggest stage. As always, the Community Concert Hall has lined up an eclectic sampling of events for its winter/spring 2007 season. Some of the highlights follow.

He’s been called the Hendrix of the pedal steel guitar, and Jamieson “Junior” Brown is paying Durango a visit on Jan. 11. In 1996, Brown won the CMA Country Music Video of the Year award for his comedic video, “My Wife Thinks You’re Dead.”

For the real local hippies out there, the Community Concert Hall has a real treat lined up on Jan. 26 with Paramount’s Original LaserSpectacular featuring The Music of Pink Floyd. Old favorites including “Dark Side of the Moon” and “The Wall” come to life with multi-screen video projections and state-of-the-art laser technology. Pyschadelics are optional.  

He’s been called the Hendrix of the banjo, and Béla Fleck and his band, The Flecktones, are playing a Feb. 7 show at the concert hall. In case you’ve been asleep at the wheel, Fleck is the man and has been nominated in more different categories than anyone in Grammy history.

If the LaserSpectacular wasn’t enough for you, “Circus Nexus: Rites and Rituals” is on tap for Feb. 20. The nouveau circus comes complete with “phantasmagorical décor” and appeals to young and old hippies alike.

The Capitol Steps, the group satirizing the goings-on of Capitol Hill, pays Durango a return visit on Feb. 27. And over-the-hill, famous hippies round out the season – the David Grisman Quintet plays on March 6; singer/pianist Marcia Ball brings NOLA to the concert hall on March 17; jazz guitarist Pat Metheny plays on March 19; former Bob Dylan sideman, David Bromberg, takes the stage on March 23; and none other than Arlo Guthrie plays back-to-back shows on May 5 & 6.