Weekly Report from Boulder
I'm finally sitting down to write up reports after Jill Weindorf brought John Scofield in to visit. He's a very nice guy and did a nice job covering Ray Charles on this new CD, helped along by some great guests like Dr. John and Mavis Staples. Jill and I had a fun chat, haven't caught up with her in a while! But hey, the Boulder convention isn't too far away I suppose.

I stupidly sat home on Friday night rather than head to Denver for Sleepytime Gorilla Museum. One day I've got to catch them and see that different side of Carla Kihlstedt.

Part of why I didn't go Friday was I made plans with my friend Jon to go to Denver on Saturday. He had a full day of running around so I took the bus down and we caught up at an art gallery where local printmakers had a display on fish. Knowing my penchant for fish and interesting art Jon wanted me to see that and we also got to see some printers at work. A woman there was using a classic style of de-inking her plate by hand, rather than with cloth or paper. She had an intricate and politically charged piece of fish with oil derricks where the big fish was taking over the little fish. Not all the material made statements like that. I noticed one of my DJs had a piece that was much simpler, a woman in a tub with a rubber ducky. Jon's piece was an interesting technique involving some photographic principles to create more depth to the background than some printmaking allows. But one of my favorite pieces involved neon colored transparent inks that allowed one to see that it was printed on an old map.

Thankfully I got out for a ride on Saturday morning as Sunday every time I tried to head out it was raining. Finally it cleared up but I'd already made plans with friends to go see the movie Crash. Far better than the average Hollywood film of late, I liked the way the characters, who seemed so clear cut in the beginning, went on to show shades of gray. That felt important to me, a movie about race not just exploring the black and the white, as really, none of us are so clear-cut in our identity, be it race or more internal. Don Cheadle put in a strong performance as a great follow up to his turn in Hotel Rwanda. I hope he continues to make such powerful films.

Elaine C. Erb. KGNU Music Director. <º))))><
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