The Durango Telegraph, July 29, 2021

Making your hair stand on end since 2002

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FREE July 29, 2021

Vol. XX, No. 30 durangotelegraph.com

inside

T H E

O R I G I N A L

I N D I E

W E E K L Y

L I N E

O N

D U R A N G O

&

B E Y O N D

Upstream battle

Durango does Tokyo

Getting freako at Tico

The use-it-or-lose-it mindset may no longer hold water p7

Behind the scenes with two hometown Olympians p10

One man’s dream for an (almost) anything goes river resort p12

2 n July 29, 2021

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lineup

7

4 La Vida Local

Watered down Why the use-it-or-lose-it mentality no longer holds water in the West

by Jonathan Thompson

4 Thumbin’ It 5 Word on the Street 6 Soapbox 7 Land Desk

10

9 State News

Digging deep

10 Local News

Two Durangoans represent on world stage at Summer Games

by John Livingston

11 The Yocal 12 Four Corners Fun Times 14 Top Shelf

12

15 Flash in the Pan

Man with a plan A visit with the visionary responsible for Tico Time River Resort

16-17 Stuff to Do 17 Ask Rachel

by Jonathan Romeo

19 Free Will Astrology 19 Classifieds

14

19 Haiku Movie Review

Mo-town

On the cover: Lightning blazes across the skies over Mesa Verde recently as the monsoons make a triumphant return to the Southwest. / Photo by Alex Krebs

Local favorites Motet return for KSUT’s Party in the Park

by Chris Aaland

boilerplate

EDITORIALISTA: Missy Votel missy@durangotelegraph.com ADVERTISING: telegraph@durangotelegraph.com STILL THE NEW GUY Jonathan Romeo jonathan@durangotelegraph.com

T

he Durango Telegraph publishes every Thursday, come hell, high water, beckoning singletrack or monster powder days. We are wholly owned and operated independently by the Durango Telegraph LLC and

STAR-STUDDED CAST: Lainie Maxson, Clint Reid, Jesse Anderson, Luke Mehall, Ari LeVaux, Chris Aaland, John Livingston and Jonathan Thompson

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We’re only human. If, by chance, we defame someone’s good name or that of their family, neighbor, best

friend or dog, we will accept full responsibility in a public flogging in the following week’s issue.

Although “free but not easy,” we can be plied with schwag, booze and flattery.

telegraph

Ear to the ground: “You’re leaving the Telegraph? Did you finally marry money?”

– Client’s inquiry into Lainie Maxson’s departure from the paper

Greener pastures

thepole

RegularOccurrences

The year was 2004. George W. was president, Janet Jackson malfunctioned on TV, Lance Armstrong won his sixth Tour, Thomas the Tank rolled onto American screens and “Friends” called it a night. And FLC grad Lainie Maxson bravely stepped up to sell ads at a fledgling alt weekly, The Durango Telegraph.

Of course the rest is Durango herstory. In the 17 years that followed, Lainie survived a myriad ups and downs, including two recessions, three printers, five office spaces, six photographers and a revolving cast of sidekicks that cycled through like “Spinal Tap” drummers. Throw in a couple big wildfires, floods, droughts, an orange reality TV star as president, a pandemic and a few scandals including the infamous “Moe’s Martini Gate,” and there was never a dull moment.

And through it all, Lainie managed to keep her pleasant demeanor, sharp wit, keen fashion sense (no one can rock a hat like Lainie, the Queen Mum not withstanding) and fierce faith in the paper.

Perhaps most memorable, when things got really bad, and I threatened to jump from my office window, Lainie was there with the simple reminder to breathe (and that jumping from the ground floor would only be futile.)

Aside from her ad sales prowess, Lainie is a talented wordsmith, who brought us her brilliant weekly “Haiku Movie Review,” as well as many of the more memorable Page 1 toppers and “Ear to the Grounds.” (Keep ’em coming!) In addition, she has been a faithful delivery girl, “Word on the Street” wrangler and curator of the vaunted wall of “Man Meat.” All while keeping a spotless desk and having the best office Spotify playlist.

In other words, she did a lot – despite never getting to truly experience a Monday holiday, because while the news may snooze, it never sleeps.

Well, lucky for her (and unlucky for us) that is about to change. This is the last issue of the Telegraph with Lainie aboard – she has accepted a new job as KDUR development director at her alma mater. While we will miss her smiling face and styley hatlery, we wish her luck, which she will need working with Liggett and Lynch (#jk).

We take solace in the fact that we will at least be able to hear her voice during her weekly radio show, in which she has pinkie sworn to never, ever play a bluegrass cover of Prince.

So, if you see Lainie, congratulate her on her new adventure as well as a job well done and buy her a drink (hint: prosecco). And if you happen to see her cavorting about, footloose and fancy free on Labor Day, tell her we said “hi.”

(PS: While we can never replace Lainie, we are in the process of trying to fill her ad sales position at the Tele. If you have some sales chops, a sweet hat collection and don’t mind a little sarcasm, give us a shout at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com)

July 29, 2021 n

3

opinion

LaVidaLocal My kind of (climbing) town As I contemplated what to write for my column this week, there are many voices in my head competing for attention. Or rather there are so many things to write about it’s difficult to know where to start. If I’ve learned anything in my 20-plus years of writing, sometimes you just have to get the pen a moving; then it can take off and fly.

I’m fresh off my first real road trip since before COVID. I took a journey up to Lander, Wyo., for the International Climbers Festival. It’s my favorite “work” trip of the year – all week long myself and friends promote The Climbing Zine – and I also get to connect with old friends, while making some new ones. It’s my version of adult Climbers cleaning summer camp. up graffiti at I drove up solo and met two friends – Sailing Hawks.

Keith and Olly – who flew in from Ecuador.

I needed the solo driving time to clear my head. Like many people, this last year and a half has been one of the hardest times in my life. A long-term relationship ended, and like many times before, I’m starting anew. Add the grief of friends lost, and I think I’ve cried more in this last year than ever before. There’s a time and place for everything; the seasons of the heart that we must endure.

The open road felt good yet somehow foreign again. I like how quiet Wyoming is.

Lander has world class climbing all around it, and every time I’m there I wish I had more time there.

Part of what I love so much about this climbing festival is what I can return home with. The climbing community there is very engaged. It’s a climbing town, perhaps the best climbing town in the United States.

While Durango is a great place to be a climber, you’ll have to drive 2½ hours to be in a world class climbing area, like Indian Creek. In short, we are not necessarily a climbing town, but we have a lot of climbers here. I’m constantly amazed by how many new climbers I meet. And though our crags and boulders are not necessarily destination worthy, to me they are endlessly challenging and interesting.

I knew when I moved here, I wanted to play a role in the climbing community, but first I had to get my finger on the pulse of the community. I’d lived in Gunnison for a decade prior, and there were many similarities between Gunny climbers and Durango climbers. Both have a sense of rugged individualism embedded within them.

One thing I noticed, though, is that there was more bickering about ethics here between climbers – almost exclusively males – and most of it took place via online forums. One day my buddy Tony said, “You know what we need is a night where

climbers can all gather face to face.”

Out of that statement Climber Beer Night was born. We’ve hosted every single one at Carvers, and over the years, in addition to getting climbers together face to face, we’ve raised several thousand dollars for climbing and environmental nonprofits. Though we don’t have a date on the books yet, we are hoping to bring this event back sometime in the fall.

A few years ago, my friend Mitch, who was involved with our local American Alpine Club chapter, asked me if I knew of any climbing related projects that he could take on. One thing I thought of is the danger of unaware tourists throwing rocks off into Cascade Canyon. Since there’s no signage there for them to understand that people might be below, I thought it would be a good idea to perhaps place a couple signs that read “no rock throwing, climbers and hikers below.”

Mitch contacted the Forest Service, which informed him that much of Cascade Canyon is actually located on private property. The entrance and parking are on Forest Service land, but the main features like the waterfall, are all on private property. This led to a much bigger goal than simple signage: acquiring this property to allow the public to use it.

Once we found out about this, we created a group called the Durango Climbers Coalition. The group remained somewhat stagnant for a few years, but in the last few months, we’ve had some nice momentum, due in part to recent graffiti tags at Sailing Hawks and X-Rock.

The graffiti is very unfortunate – you kids should climb rocks not tag them – but it has led to a banding together of climbers. We’ve learned the best techniques to remove graffiti, which involves pressure washers and a material called Elephant Snot. In the process we’ve been building relationships with the land managers from the BLM, the City of Durango, and La Plata County. Next weekend we’ll tackle the extensive graffiti that occurred at X-Rock with the help of Keeping Colorado Beautiful, a Colorado Springs-based group that focuses on graffiti removal. (If you’re interested in helping feel free to shoot me an email.)

We’re just now getting the Durango Climbers Coalition off the ground, but we are aiming to help keep our local climbing areas open, and clean. And of course build community. I’m also very excited that Durango has a new climbing gym on the way, the Gravity Lab, that two dear friends, Laura and Sebastiaan are opening. I think that’s going to be a great community builder, and a great outlet for kids and adults alike.

I’ll see y’all out there on the trail and the rocks!

SignoftheDownfall:

Thumbin’It A new altered strand of DNA that can cause malaria-spreading mosquitos to self-destruct saving the lives of more than 400,000 people every year, many of them children

A rise in COVID-19 cases, mostly among the unvaccinated, leading the CDC to re-issue mask recommendations for indoor public spaces in counties with high infection rates

Construction slated to finally start this week on the much-anticipated and oft-delayed 32nd Street underpass

At least three people dying and one still missing in Northern Colorado mud slides and flash floods, which were linked to the Cameron Fire burn scar

San Juan Basin Health holding a walk-up COVID vaccine clinic six days a week on Main Avenue, by the Old Main Post Office, offering convenient shots for locals and visitors alike

4 n July 29, 2021

– Luke Mehall

Outspoken voices on the right bashing on U.S. gymnast Simone Biles as being “unAmerican” for dropping out of some of her Olympic competitions for mental health reasons

telegraph

The Ol’ Ball and Chain The internet almost broke last week when pics from an interracial couple’s slavery-themed engagement photoshoot ended up on Twitter. The caption read, “1842. Days passed and everything changed, our love got stronger and stronger, he was no longer a slave, he was part of the family,” but instead of praise, people responded with questions like, “how is this possible on Beyonce’s internet?” and, “what in the antebellum is going on here?” Well, nobody knows, but it’s obvious that these two will live ignorantly ever after.

WordontheStreet With the annual explanation about why the Animas turns colors after a storm, the Telegraph asked, “What do you think really happened to the river?”

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Roe

“The gods are making bloody Mary’s up in the mountains.”

Otto

“I think someone spilled their tomato juice.”

Peter

“There are too many tourists in town, and the river is angry.”

Allison

“There has been a red algae bloom.”

telegraph

July 29, 2021 n 5

ToonedUp Welcome, cartoonist Rob Pudim The Durango Telegraph this week welcomes new cartoonist Rob Pudim, whose quirky and clever caricature cartoons have appeared in the newspapers and entertained readers of mountain towns in the West for decades.

And we’re pretty pumped to have him. Although he lives in Longmont, Pudim has built a reputation for having the pulse on communities he works for, getting to know the low down and dirty issues. News aficionados in the region may be familiar with Pudim’s work in Silverton, Lake City and Ouray. When approached by the Telegraph earlier this month to become the paper’s regular cartoonist, he responded within hours: “No problem. Send me some back issues so I can get an idea of what is happening around town.”

Pudim says, growing up, he always had a talent for drawing, but he never considered it as a way to make a living. He was raised in a Pennsylvania coal town, with a strict and not exactly encouraging father.

“I thought being an artist was a kind of unfortunate thing and doing art for me was sort of like masturbating. It is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but I did it in private and washed my hands afterwards. Oh, and I knew I was going to do it again.”

While attending the University of Colorado, he started paying his tuition by drawing editorial cartoons for the student newspaper. After college, pursuing a career in the medical field, old school friends now working in journalism would call him up, asking if he’d whip up those cutting yet comical cartoons he was known for. “I never went out and pitched or promoted myself to newspapers,” he told the Lake City Silver World in 2018. “It just grew from word of mouth. One day I realized that I was making more money from my drawing than I was at my real job.”

Over the years, he’s contributed to untold numbers of newspapers in the West, and now actively draws for about 50 papers. He is known for his single-frame, satirical style. And he’s also a self-described “rabid tree-hugger” and staunch supporter of local news. “I just let my prejudices hang out, stick my tongue out and hope people will be amused. I have no control over how the reader will react to it and I don’t care. Feel free to come by my house and throw rocks at me.”

Well, now we welcome Pudim into the fold of Durango and all our craziness.

“I hope my work relieves tension and somehow allows one to distance oneself from a bad situation and see it in a broader perspective. Humor helps you roll

with life’s punches rather than be knocked down by them. You may not be able to change what goes on around you, but you

can control how you react to it. In an uncertain world, there’s a certain comfort in being able to laugh at it.”

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telegraph

LandDesk

Photo by Stephen Eginoire

Upstream battle How the use-it-or-lose-it mentality leads to water inequality in the West

by Jonathan Thompson

I

wrote the essay below – about my parents’ farm’s ditch in the North Fork Valley of Western Colorado – in 2018, which was one of the region’s driest years on record. The essay is every bit as pertinent today, an equally dry time for most of the Western Slope, even if some details have changed: My sister owns the farm now—along with the robust water rights—and my parents moved into town. And recent rains have kept most of the ditches flowing in the valley, at least for now.

But the water inequality persists. Just look at the drought map of Colorado: Everywhere east of the Continental Divide is drought-free, while the entire Western Slope is in some stage of drought, much of it in the dried-blood “exceptional” stage, the driest it gets. As the West gets drier, the water inequality will only get worse.

My parents have a small garlic farm in Western Colorado in the valley of the North Fork of the Gunnison River. They bought the place just over a decade ago, along with a couple of shares of water from the ditch which runs through their property. It’s a nice little plot of rural Colorado with good dirt and nice views, but it wasn’t until this terribly dry summer that they realized how valuable

the land is. The Farmers Ditch, diverted from the North Fork near Paonia, has some of the most senior rights in the valley. They are water-rich in an arid world.

Since white settlement began here back in the late 1800s, the communities of the North Fork have revolved around coal and agriculture. Three underground coal mines churned away for decades, their bounty loaded upon mile-long trains headed for power plants in the Midwest and beyond. Paonia and the surrounding mesas have long been renowned for fruit, vegetables, and, for a time, marijuana.

After surging to a peak just over a decade ago, coal began its hasty, nationwide decline, and now only one of three mines in the North Fork is still operating.

Meanwhile, small-scale agriculture has taken over as one of the main economic pillars of this idyllic valley: Cherries, peaches, hops, and hemp. Agricultural interests also are a strong political force rising up in resistance to proposed oil and gas drilling because of its detrimental effect on the water, which is becoming more and more precious in a warming world.

Thanks to the dramatically sere appear-

ance of the natural landscape, the North Fork Valley provides a stark visual reminder of the importance of large-scale irrigation in these parts. A ditch along a hillside becomes a sharp divide between the dry, sparse, dusty dobie-land above the ditch; and green, grassy, cottonwoodand cattail-strewn land below it. This is true even where no active irrigation is taking place; the ditches are generally so leaky that they create artificial wetlands in areas that are distant from fields or crops or lawns.

Most of the irrigation water comes from the North Fork, which begins at the confluence of Muddy Creek and Anthracite Creek. Paonia Reservoir sits just above the confluence, on Muddy Creek.

Typically the reservoir fills up during the spring and early summer, during which the natural flow in Anthracite Creek is adequate to fill all of the downstream ditches. When Anthracite starts to wane, water is released from the reservoir to keep the ditches flowing, usually into August and sometimes even until late October. In late June or early July the river’s total flow reaches equilibrium with the volume diverted from it, causing the river through Paonia to dry to a tiny, warm4

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July 29, 2021 n 7

LandDesk from p. 7 trickle that is good for sustaining only crawdads and mosquito larvae.

Even more shocking than the annual desiccation of the riverbed is the way in which so many water rights holders continue to pull their maximum share from the ditch, even if it’s not needed, even if they have no crops or even lawn to irrigate. “Use it or lose it,” the saying goes. Meanwhile, only a handful of the small-scale farmers have bothered to install more efficient irrigating systems, and most of the ditches continue to leak like sieves.

That may be fine in a time of abundance, but these are times of increasing scarcity.

Paonia Reservoir — which gets its water from aptly named Muddy Creek — is filling up with mud. When constructed in 1962, the reservoir had 21,000 acre feet of capacity; today only 14,000 acre feet of capacity remain. So the amount of water available to irrigators is diminishing, even during wet years. But this year was one of the driest on record, which prompted downstream, senior water rights holders to put a “call” on the river in mid-June, at least a month earlier than usual, forcing junior, upstream holders to stop diverting water. By the time August rolled around, all but a few ditches in the North Fork had been shut down or had their flows drastically curtailed. Farmers Ditch, meanwhile, kept running right up to the brim.

The farmers of the North Fork Valley make up a fairly tight-knit community. They share seedlings and knowledge, hay balers and tillers, trade garlic for meat. So one would expect them to respond to a water crisis in much the same way, with the haves on Farmers Ditch sharing their bounty with the have-nots whose ditches ran dry. At the very least, you’d expect the haves to cut down on their own water use, even if just out of respect for their less fortunate neighbors.

8 n July 29, 2021

But that’s not how it works in the arcane world of Western water. This summer most of the folks on Farmers Ditch carried on like they would any other year, using up their entire share of water and letting whatever they didn’t use run off across the mesa tops to evaporate and seep into the earth while their dry-ditch neighbors looked on helplessly. I watched one landowner wastefully dump a steady stream of irrigation water on his dusty horse pasture, turning it into a nasty mud bog where only a few thistles grew, while a mile away crops wilted. Wealth-inequality may be the scourge of our nation, but it’s water inequality that will increasingly plague the arid West.

The ostentatiously water wealthy are not entirely to blame. I’m confident that most of them would have been happy share their bounty if they could. But there’s no simple mechanism for this kind of cooperation. My parents can’t just turn a valve and send their water across the valley to their fellow farmer. The system wasn’t designed that way. It is the system that needs changing.

“The solution is, in a sense, straightforward,” writes John Fleck in his book Water is for Fighting Over, and Other Myths About Water in the West. “Everyone in the Colorado River Basin has to use less water. But no one will voluntarily take such a step without changes in the rules governing basin water use as a whole to ensure that everyone else shares the reductions as well—that any pain is truly shared. We need new rules. Absent that, we simply end up with a tragedy of the commons.”

Fleck’s referring to the macro of the Colorado River Basin here, but it also applies to the micro of irrigation districts everywhere. New rules, new systems, new ways of operating are needed that would incentivize efficiency and that would allow the Farmers Ditches of the world to share with the others in the community who aren’t so fortunate.

When it comes to water, though, we Westerners tend to get entrenched in the use-it-or-lose-it culture, which is anathema to cooperation and to efficiency. Still, this is not unsurmountable. When pushed up against the wall,

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Westerners have become more limber in their approach to water. Take Las Vegas, which has managed to cut per capita water use enough so that it’s been able to grow its population without robbing Great Basin farmers of their groundwater — at least so far.

And then there’s another, smaller instance of cooperation that bears mentioning. After the Sunnyside Mine upstream from Silverton, Colorado, shut down in 1991, the owners put a boxcar-sized plug, or bulkhead, into the mine’s main tunnel to keep the 1,600 gallons-per-minute of acid mine drainage from going into the Animas River watershed.

Not long afterward, the region suffered through what at the time seemed like a horrible drought, prompting a downstream ditch company to make a call on the Animas River.

That’s when Silverton discovered that the founding fathers had failed to file for water rights back in the early days of the town, leaving the town with some of the most junior rights on the entire river. They faced the very real prospect of having to shut down their municipal water intakes. Instead, the Sunnyside Mine stepped up and opened the valve on the giant plug, releasing enough water (and treating it) to satisfy the downstream call, and buying Silverton time during which it could seek out a long-term fix. (Then the mine shut the valve down again and water backed up in the mine to disastrous effect, but then, that’s another story.)

It’s this sort of out-of-the-box, pragmatic, cooperative thinking that the West is known for, and that has helped many a community transition successfully away from extraction-based economies. Now the warming, drying region is faced with a much bigger, tougher transition, with even higher stakes.

The Land Desk is a thrice-weekly newsletter from Jonathan P. Thompson, longtime journalist and author of River of Lost Souls, Behind the Slickrock Curtain, and the forthcoming Sagebrush Empire. To subscribe, go to www.landdesk.org. n

StateNews

Don’t toss those masks just yet New CDC indoor mask recommendation applies to many Colorado counties

by John Daley Colorado Public Radio

T

he Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a new recommendation Tuesday that even vaccinated people in counties with high or substantial community transmission of COVID-19 should wear masks while inside public spaces.

The guidance would cover 38 of Colorado’s 64 counties where transmission rates are at the red “high” level, above 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in a week. Currently, La Plata County is in the “moderate” yellow zone and Montezuma County is in the orange “substantial” category.

However, Archuleta County falls into the red “high” zone.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, which along with Gov. Jared Polis, created a statewide mask mandate last year that led to protests and conflicts in some of counties, offered a muted response.

“We are reviewing this new guidance from the CDC,” a CDC spokeswoman said via email. “Vaccination is the best protection against COVID-19. Colorado has made the vaccine readily available, and it is free. We encourage all eligible Coloradans to get vaccinated without delay.”

Polis has been criticized by some county health officials during the pandemic for being slow to issue or reissue restrictions when case numbers climb. In a statement, Polis spokesman Conor Cahill said the governor's office was reviewing the CDC recommendation but also reminded counties that they have authority to take action on their own if they consider the rise in transmission a local health emergency.

"Local public health departments are not subsidiaries of CDPHE and each has the ability to enact such measures on its own," Cahill said.

Based on current transmission rates – which can fluctuate greatly week by week – the CDC recommendation applies to counties as populated as 700,000-person El Paso and as small as Cheyenne, with a population of about 2,000. That wide fluctuation can make Colorado’s map look scarier than it is.

Cheyenne, for example, is included in the CDC recommendation because they had two active cases of COVID-19 last week. That’s enough to put the county at 50 per 100,000 residents. Add to that a test positivity rate that rose to 4.35 by the CDC’s count, and Cheyenne qualifies as a hotspot.

Dr. Kurt Papenfus is an emergency room physician who serves as the Public Health Officer for Cheyenne County.

"We're watching closely for the Delta variant popping

The CDC’s new indoor mask recommendation applies to many Colorado counties in the “red” or high zone for transmission rate.

The state has not said whether or not if will follow suit, instead urging people to jsut get vaccinated. Currently, La Plata County is in the yellow, or moderate, zone. / Photo by Hart Van Denburg up here; would need that to re-encourage masking indoor with crowds," Papenfus said via text. "Watching Delta working its way west from Missouri along I-70. Otherwise, no one wears masks anymore anyway … around here we really don't have crowded indoor places."

In El Paso, where 53.1 percent of eligible residents are vaccinated, according to the state health department, the number of cases in a week has grown from 59.2 per 100,000 at the end of June to 100.2 per 100,000 residents as of Monday – a substantial change indicating significant community spread among the unvaccinated.

A spokeswoman for El Paso County's health department said it had no plans to institute a mask mandate, but it is concerned about rising cases and hoping more residents will decide to get vaccinated.

"While we do not intend to issue any local mask mandates at this time, we strongly encourage our community to take prevention actions and stay informed," wrote Michelle Hewitt. "We want to take this opportunity to re-

telegraph

mind our community that vaccination is the most powerful tool to protect yourself and your family, increase community-level protection, and end this pandemic."

Just more than five people per day are being admitted to El Paso County hospitals with COVID-19, a number that has remained fairly steady through July.

More than 94 percent of those hospitalized in the state since April 1 had not been fully vaccinated for at least 14 days when they became ill.

The mask recommendation does not, for now, cover Denver, Arapahoe, Jefferson or Boulder among other Front Range counties, but does include other populous counties like Weld, Larimer, Pueblo and Mesa.

Dr. John Douglas Jr., executive director of Tri-County Health Department, which covers Adams, Arapahoe and Douglas counties, said he thought a mask mandate was unlikely.

For more from Colorado Public Radio, go to www.cpr.org n

July 29, 2021 n

9

Going4Gold

Durango does Tokyo Two local athletes talk about what it was like to compete in the Summer Games

by John Livingston

S

et to compete more than 5,750 miles from their hometown, a pair of athletes carried the support of Durango to the Olympics.

Only five days into the Summer Games in Tokyo, which were postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Durango’s Christopher Blevins and Zachary “Bug” Lokken wrapped up their debut Olympic appearances.

Blevins would place 14th out of 38 riders in the men’s cross-country mountain bike race Monday. Lokken reached the finals of the men’s canoe slalom and finished seventh.

While laser focused on the goals in front of them, both could feel love pouring in from the town in which they grew up.

“Hearing from everyone back home, its been the most special part of being an Olympian,” Blevins said. “It’s truly amazing to hear the massive support and love from Durango. Even though we were over here experiencing the unique feeling of being an Olympic athlete, it’s what’s coming from home that makes me realize how fortunate it is to be here.”

Bug Lokken Lokken’s first paddle at the Kasai Canoe Slalom Center came in the first of two qualifying heats. Fifteen athletes would make the semifinals and 10 would reach the finals.

The man-made river featured 25 gates that couldn’t be missed without a massive time penalty, and contact with a gate resulted in a two-second infraction.

Lokken, a 2012 graduate of Durango High School, was third after his first heat and fourth after the second to reach the semifinals with ease. A two-second penalty in the semifinals didn’t cost him a chance at the ultimate goal of reaching the final, and he went in seeded seventh.

“I think my nerves showed in that final run because I had a lot of mistakes,” Lokken said. “I was leaning on my edges and tripping on my paddle. I wanted so badly to make the final and to get a chance at the podium. After qualifying, I really had to calm my nerves.”

His final run saw him finish in 106.08 seconds, as he incurred a late two-second penalty for hitting a gate. He finished 2.38 seconds away from earning a medal, which would have been the first American medal in one-man canoe slalom since Jamie McEwan at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.

The gold medal went to Slovenia’s Benjamin Savšek with a time of 98.25 seconds. He was 3.71 seconds in front of Lukas Rohan of the Czech Republic.

“My final run, it was an excellent run. I was happy with everything,” Lokken said. “The last upstream gate, I came into it weird and did something wrong and hit the gate and lost a lot of time on the exit. That cost me the podium.

“But I am really happy with my paddling and proud of myself at what I did at these Olympic Games. There were a lot of emotions of being happy with what I did, but knowing what I could’ve done a little better. But I can leave happy with what I achieved.”

Christopher Blevins For the sixth consecutive Summer Olympics, a Durango man represented the U.S. in mountain biking. Blevins added to a legacy that includes Travis Brown in 2000, Todd Wells in 2004, 2008 and 2012 and Howard Grotts in 2016.

The 23-year-old who graduated Durango High School in 2016 was able to move up from 32nd at the start of Monday’s race to a 14th-place finish. It was the second-best result in Olympic history for a U.S. men’s rider, only four spots behind Wells’ finish in 2012 in London.

10 n July 29, 2021

Top: Durango's Zachary "Bug" Lokken showed mastery on the Olympic canoe slalom course in Tokyo. He would finish seventh./ Courtesy of USA Canoe & Kayak. Below: Christopher Blevins soared from 32nd at the start of the race to 14th on Monday at the Olympic men's cross-country mountain bike race in Japan, the second-best finish in American men's mountain biking history./ Courtesy of USA Cycling “It was truly so fun, quite an experience,” Blevins said. “Someone slipped early in the race on the single-track, and we were all running with our bikes. You hate to have it happen so early in a race, but I kept my calm and didn’t lose that much time even though I was caught in that traffic. It helped me pace myself well and finish strong. I had the sixth-fastest last lap, so that strategy worked well for me.”

Blevins would finish the seven-lap event 2 minutes, 59 seconds behind the winning time of Great Britain’s Thomas Pidcock, who won in 1:25:14. Pidcock was 20 seconds in front of Switzerland’s Mathias Flückiger.

Blevins crashed during a practice ride the day before the race. But he was able to get good sleep and ice his back to be ready for race day and could leave happy with his performance.

“I expected all these different emotions out there for the race, but having done this so many times since I was a kid racing all over the world, I was able to stay in the moment and not focus on the magnitude of what it meant to be at Olympic competition,” he said. “Now for me looking ahead three years, I understand firsthand what I can do to be three minutes faster out there to end up with a medal.”

Full Olympic experience While Blevins was hours away from Tokyo and not able to attend the opening ceremonies, Lokken took part in the festivities and was eager to meet star athletes from around the world, including NBA superstar Kevin Durant.

telegraph

“One of my goals was to meet other elite athletes and be around them and see what their passion was like for their sports,” Lokken said. “Being around those athletes who have all worked so hard to be here, it was cool to share that and know we were all here for the same reasons.”

Like Blevins, Lokken knows he has what it takes to become a two-time Olympian in Paris in 2024.

“I want to get the full experience and come home with a medal,” Lokken said. “I know what I can do is good enough, and I really am going to hunker down the next three years to give it another go and get on that podium. I know I can do it.” n

yocal

Harvest Dinner Returns!

A mix of old and new, new, this year ’s Eat Local Month returns to for form with dinner,, along with a month long local food food campaign! an in-person dinner

L

ocal First is pleased to announce that the beloved fall feast, the Harvest Dinner, Dinner, will return in-person this September 2021. Community members are invited to join our hard-working restaurant and agricultural businesses for a delicious feast made from V> Þ Ã ÕÀVi` }Ài` i Ìð À > Ì Ãi Ü ÃÃi` Ì i Li>ÕÌ vÕ y ÜiÀÃ] à iÀ } glasses, and chatter of 150 local foodies gathered together under twinkling lights, this is the perfect opportunity to reconnect with friends new and old while enjoying Durango’ss local food. The Harvest Dinner will take place on Saturday day,, the best of Durango’ 5GRVGODGT VJ QP VJG 5OKNG[ .CYP “Local First’s First’s Harvest Dinner has always been a beautiful opportunity to showcase locally grown food through the eyes of a chef,” says Regan Briggs, Culinary Director and Chef at the Ore House. “We see the full circle of purchasing and supporting local farms and how it creates important economic opportunities, provides immense i> Ì Li iwÌÃ] > ` i «Ã Ài`ÕVi Ì i i Û À i Ì> «>VÌ] > Ü i LÀ } } Ì i community together around the table to create lasting memories.”

In addition to Harvest Dinner, Dinner, Local First will be using the month of September to spotlight local restaurants who are supporting the region’ egion’ss agricultural producers.

Each week, there will be a select number of “spotlight specials” from restaurants in Durango. Patrons will have the opportunity to share that they ordered the spotlight special and will be entered to win a free ticket to the Harvest Dinner Dinner..

This year’s year’s event is brought to you by our gracious friends at Alpine Bank, the Smiley Dispensary.

Building, In the Weeds, City of Durango, and Santé Dispensary.

Tickets are on sale now! Quantities are limited and will sell fast, so event hopefuls CTG GPEQWTCIGF VQ RWTEJCUG VKEMGVU GCTN[ QPNKPG CV NQECN ƂTUV QTI GCVNQECNOQPVJ

Come check out the new

Classes! Camps! Outdoor Fall Festival!

Shopping! Live Theater! Art Demos!

Ceramic Painting Saturdays!

food trucks joining 11th Street Station!

We have over 350 seats with many seating and dining options depending on your choice, with live music throughout the week, featuring a variety of tap cocktails and a rotating draft beer selection.

Celebrating 30 years as a locally owned business, women run/women owned! Check out unique hand-

Yourself.

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Located at 140 E. 12th St. Stop by today Ì Ã«i> Ì ÕÀ iÝ«iÀ i Vi` ÃÌ>vv > ` w ` > «> À v } >ÃÃiÃ Ì wÌ Þ ÕÀ ii`à E ÃÌÞ it

EYE.D. www.EyeDDurango.com

Coming Up: Youth shows of All Shook Up and Willy Wonka • 27th Annual Durango Autumn Arts Festival Sep Ten-Minute en-Minute Play Festival October 18-19th • 11th Annual T 15-17th • Rocky Horror Show on Halloween Weekend with • Improv Comedy • Silent Film Sundays wit h Adam

NOW. Saturday Saturday August 28, 1-5pm

Join our team and become a Kennel 6GEJPKEKCP QT CP #PKOCN 2TQVGEVKQP 1HƂEGT

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telegraph

SAN JUAN BREWFEST www.SanJuanBrewfest.com

July 29, 2021 n 11

TopStory

Tico Time River Resort, located between Durango and Farmington along the banks of the Animas River, offers a variety of camping, outdoor adventures and live music. Long-term owner Robert Holmes hopes the resort becomes one of the premier attractions in the Four Corners./Photo by Jonathan Romeo

Getting freako at Tico One man’s dream for an (almost) anything goes river resort

by Jonathan Romeo

Y

ou may have seen the brochures hyping high-adrenaline adventures. Or maybe you have seen the ads for concerts and music festivals galore. And you, like many people around town, may be asking, “What is Tico Time River Resort?”

But perhaps the more fitting question is: what isn’t Tico Time River Resort?

Nestled about halfway between Durango and Farmington, just on the New Mexico side of the border off U.S. Highway 550, Tico Time is a topsy-turvy mix of adventure park, campground, live music venue, basecamp for the outdoors and lounge chair mecca – a sort of free-for-all summer camp for adults and kids alike.

In sum, pretty much anything owner Robert Holmes, 39, wants it to be.

“Already there’s nowhere like it in the world,” Holmes said. “And we’re just getting started.”

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Holmes and his wife, Jenny, started buying the property along the Animas River destined to become Tico Time around 2018. Almost immediately, the resort began taking on a life of its own.

The COVID-19 pandemic, however, hamstrung live music and events in 2020. So this year, Tico Time is busting out of the gates, hosting a blitz of concerts and music festivals, magic shows and fireworks displays, hoping to become one of the go-to destinations in the Four Corners.

“Tico Time is a Costa Rican cruise ship landed in the desert along the Animas River,” said longtime Durango local Rasta Stevie, who helps book shows. “We have one of the most amazing event centers anywhere in the world that’s pure freedom, and it’s the chance of a lifetime.”

Well, that got out of hand The original idea for Tico Time, Holmes said, was a modest RV park and campground, with room for long-term tiny homes, equidistant between the San Juan Mountains to the north and the deserts of New Mexico to the south.

Having moved with his parents from San Diego to Durango in 1994 when he was 12 years old, Holmes (who also runs a local traffic control company) knew the advantages of Tico Time’s location. He and his wife started to accumulate properties on both sides of the Animas River and now own nearly 100 acres.

But not long after the first RV sites and a sand volleyball court were built, Holmes had the idea to install a zip line and 60-foot adventure tower. And thus forever changed the direction of Tico Time. Admittedly, Holmes said once he starts a project, it’s not uncommon for it to snowball into something larger than first intended.

“This was supposed to be a side project,” Holmes joked.

“But then it turned into this overwhelming venture. I’m super ambitious but then get in over my head.”

Ready, set, action “You guys want to see a flip?” Holmes asked an excitable group of kids waiting in line for Tico Time’s water slide last week. Looking more like a retired lifeguard – shirtless, red4

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trunks, sun hat – than a revolutionary resort owner, Holmes plunged down the slide, delivered and forever became a god in these kids’ eyes.

After, he took The Durango Telegraph for a tour of the resort, now in its second year.

For starters, Holmes said the name “Tico Time” is the Costa Rican term for relaxed island living. Holmes and his wife frequently travel to Costa Rica and wanted the resort to feel like a beach vacation in the mountains. “It’s the way time doesn’t matter,” Holmes said.

But time has seemingly sped up for the resort, already with 110 RV campsites and room for hundreds of tent campers. And the attractions keep coming: a 130-foot glorified slip-and-slide; a zip line course across the Animas River; a 40-foot sky swing; a 60-foot mini bungee jump; ponds for swimming and stand-up paddles boarding; and a full 18-hole disc golf course.

“We built it extremely quickly,” he said. “And there’s no way we could have done this in La Plata County.” (For what it’s worth, Tico Time is in good standing with San Juan County as well as the Army Corps of Engineers.)

Holmes and his hometown crew built all the thrill rides.

And while to the untrained eye it may give off shades of the infamous “Class Action Park” in New Jersey, Holmes said all his contraptions have been certified by a professional engineer.

Regardless, this fact was likely unbeknownst to one hesitant lady making the 60-foot bungee drop, knees buckling before the leap of faith. “It was fun and not that bad,” Erin Garcia, whose family was visiting from Albuquerque, said after it was all said and done.

Night moves Just as essential to the Tico Time experience are the late night happenings.

The scribbling on the white board Friday offered a magic show at 7 p.m., DJ at 8 p.m., fire dancers at 9 p.m. And Saturday night didn’t slow down, with local favorites the Crags taking center stage, followed by a fireworks show.

But this is just the tip of the iceberg, Holmes said. In-

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creasingly, Tico Time is booking bigger acts and large-scale, multi-day festivals. After not being able to get a portable stage across the river to the concert grounds, Holmes just decided to build a professional stage. Several music festivals this fall are expected to bring in about 2,000 - 3,000 people.

But years down the line, Holmes said Tico Time will be able to accommodate an estimated 5,000 - 10,000 attendees.

Rasta Stevie, festival producer for Tico Time, said seven festivals are planned to close out the rest of the year. For the Four Corners Reggae Fest over Labor Day weekend, headliners Stephen Marley and Collie Buds will take center stage. And even if you’re not a fan of reggae, booking the musicians is at least a sign of the resort’s potential to bring in bigger names.

“It gives the festival the firepower of international recognition we’re looking for for Tico Time,” Rasta Stevie said.

Ta-da, Tico Time As night approached Friday, The Mysto Magic Show came on stage to entertain the kids and their parents.

Warming the crowd up, magician Mysto the Magi asked the crowd, “Who here is from Colorado!?” One woman raised her hand, yelling “Farmington!” The magician had to inform her Farmington is in New Mexico. Not magic, just geography. Kids were enthralled by Mysto’s tricks, however.

Color-changing scarves, ropes with dissolving knots, balloons that by all accounts, should have popped when hit with a pin.

Mysto declined to reveal his mysteries after the show, or even his name.

After, DJ CodeStar kept the party going while the Secret Circus Society lit up the night with a fire dance show. At the end of the night, as this reporter was leaving, a man we can only assume had a few drinks could be heard languidly singing a karaoke country music song off in the distance, his friends politely trying to tell him his song was up.

Though time doesn’t matter in this rogue enclave south of Durango, it’s only the beginning for this resort’s potential, both for locals and tourists. Rasta Stevie said it takes at least five years, but more like 10, for a music festival to

Tico Time owner Robert Holmes said the original idea for the resort was a modest RV Park and campground.

But quickly the project grew into an all-out adventure park and concert venue./ Photo by Jonathan Romeo

bcome profitable and draw in the big names, and Tico Time is in for the long haul.

Over the next few years, more things are in store for Tico Time – improved landscaping and tent camping, and of course, more adventure thrills. It’s been hard, so far, to get people to come down, Holmes said, but eventually he hopes to become one of the centerpieces of entertainment in the area. “Once they come once, they absolutely love it,” he said. n

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July 29, 2021 n 13

TopShelf

Back in the groove

by Chris Aaland

F

or 16 straight years, KSUT brought the noise with a midsummer music event that celebrated the danceable fringe of its Music Blend, which, for the most part, is rooted in Americana (the catch-all category for acoustic-based folk) and AAA (the softer side of adult contemporary music). KSUT’s annual Party in the Park favored bands that played world, R&B or New Orleans styles over singer-songwriters. The event’s alumni include the Iguanas, Shinyribs, Crash Test Dummies, Subdudes, the Greencards, New Orleans Suspects, Todo Mundo, The Big Takeover, Baracutanga, the Stooges Brass Band, Jarabe Mexicano and others.

COVID-19 snapped KSUT’s streak last summer, as it did nearly every music festival or annual concert highlight. Thankfully, vaccines rolled out midwinter, and, as the population started getting vaccinated, concerts came back. While our little niche of Southwest Colorado has fared better than most in terms of percentage of the population who has received the shot – 67% in La Plata County, 58% in Archuleta and 51% in Montezuma – The Motet the Delta variant is here. COVID became the pandemic of the unvaccinated and may once again shutter venue doors and festival gates if it isn’t controlled.

The politically driven resistance to halting a deadly virus is why we can’t have nice things anymore. One side values its socalled freedumbs over the common good. They wear their pandemic denial like a badge of honor; the rest of us see it as ignorance and arrogance. Until everyone gets vaccinated, we’ll find ourselves in a never-ending cycle of ebbs and flows in the pandemic. People will continue to get sick and die. Industries like live music will continue to suffer.

For now, we can dance. Those who have received full vaccination can groove with a little more confidence. And for those you haven’t gotten their shots, San Juan Basin Public Health will have two tents at each Party in the Park – one for education and the other for vaccine administration. The free vaccinations will begin at 5 p.m. and continue through at least 7 each night.

Instead of holding just one of its signature Parties in the Park in 2021, KSUT will hold two such events this week – on Friday in Buckley Park and another on Saturday in Pagosa Springs Town Park. Music starts at 5:30 each afternoon, ending by 9. Both concerts will feature The Motet and Afrobeatniks – the same two groups that drew more than 1,000 people to Buckley in 2019.

“People can celebrate public radio and our diverse blend of music at each of these events,” KSUT Executive Director Tami Graham said. “It’s our way of giving back to the Four Corners and thanking our listeners and members for being part of the KSUT family, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic when we were unable to present live music.

The Parties in the Park will also include food vendors, and beer, cider and wine booths. Ska Brewing, Fenceline Cider and wine will be sold in Durango. Riff Raff Brewing and Fenceline Cider will be sold in Pagosa Springs.

The Motet is a Denver-based band that has blended funk, soul, jazz and world music influences ever since drummer and bandleader Dave Watts founded the group in 1998. The Four Corners was one of the first regions outside the Front Range to embrace them, and they rewarded fans by returning to the region every few months during those early years.

14 n July 29, 2021

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The group is a collective with a rotating cast of musicians – hence the name “Motet” as opposed to quartet, quintet, sextet and so on. The current incarnation of the band includes Watts, guitarist Ryan Jalbert, bassist Garrett Sayers, keyboardist Joey Porter and saxophonist Drew Sayers.

The lineup has been pared down from the Motet’s last several appearances in Durango. “As the world, and specifically the music world, continues to fundamentally change in the wake of COVID-19, we have also gone through our own changes,” the group noted on its website. “The history of The Motet has always been about change. It’s the one constant.”

The new sound is evident in a recent digital single, “False Prophets,” recorded during the live music shutdown. The Motet has released nine albums in its career, most of which have become favorites on stations at the lower end of the dial – like KSUT, KDUR and KSJD. Afrobeatniks is a world music group with members based in Mancos and Durango.

They draw their inspiration from popular, folkloric and spiritual music of West Africa, with Brazilian, AfroCuban, Latin, jazz, reggae, funk and rock influences adding to the musical roux. In particular, the music of Nigerian Afro-pop in the style of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen and the traditional rhythm structures of Guinea are evident in both original music and spirited covers.

Afrobeatniks will be joined by a couple of special guests this weekend. Pagosa Springs-based musician and educator Bobby Hemenger will join them on saxophone. Hemenger has performed regionally with the likes of Victor Wooten, Darrell Scott, Peter Rowan, Tony Furtado and others. He’s also the host of KSUT’s “Close Enough for Jazz” program, which airs from 7-9 each Sunday night.

Percussionist Fred Simpson will also be joining Afrobeatniks. A performer and music instructor from Santa Fe, Simpson is one of the founding members of Los Primos Melódicos de Santa Fe. Los Melódicos are known for recreating the musical tapestry of Latin America, Cuba and Puerto Rico, as well as jazz, R&B and pop.

Simpson performs on such African and Latin instruments as djembe, congas, bongo, cajón and hand percussion.

“In Guinea, West Africa, where some of our rhythmic structures come from, there is a saying that captures the essence of being together in the moment and feeling the joy of music together – ‘Wontanara,’” said Afrobeatniks founder Bradley Hoessle. “I think it’s particularly fitting for this current time as we come together for KSUT’s Parties in the Park.”

Afrobeatniks released their debut album, “Wontanara,” in the summer of 2019, a few weeks before their inaugural Party in the Park performance. The recording attracted radio airplay and the attention of concert and festival promoters outside the region – just in time, of course, for the groove to drift away in the breeze when live music shut down.

Like many bands, Afrobeatniks were forced to take a hiatus due to the pandemic. They held their first concert in nearly 16 months in mid-June at Fenceline Cider in Mancos to celebrate the summer solstice. A week later, they played a Ska-B-Q. “It’s so great to see the multigenerational crowds coming back out, and we can feel the positive energy flowing from everyone.

During the initial rehearsals, our music and inspiration came right back to us,” Hoessler said.

We can slide to the middle? Email me at chris@ksut.org. n

FlashinthePan

Morel superiority

by Ari LeVaux

A

t farmers markets of the mountain west, it’s common to find morel mushrooms. They look gnomish, with honeycomb-like caps atop stubby stalks, each with a slightly different shape and posture.

Wild to the core, the morel has refused all efforts at domestication and only grows where it chooses. This means every morel you’ll ever see was hunted and harvested by hand, in the wild. Morels offer mysterious woodland flavors, usually with a hint of smoke, as the vast majority are plucked from the charred ashy landscapes left behind by forest fires. From such rough and tumble upbringings, you can be sure the morels have stories.

Morels are so sumptuous and easy to prepare, and keep so perfectly when dehydrated, they are easily my top choice for wild mushroom status. I’ve hunted those freaky fungal fruits, combing the burned mountainsides of Montana, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia and Alaska in search of clusters. When you go after morels, you pick up a few stories of your own.

Once I got chased by a punky moose, a scrawny juvenile delinquent testing his limits. I turned the tables with some hurled rocks and sticks and sent the bully running.

And then, like some cartoon, he turned around and chased me again. I’ve gotten lost, run out of water, and had to drink from swamps to keep going through the eerie silence of a burnt forest. And when you eat the mushrooms collected during those grueling, day-long games of hide and seek, you relive those sweaty moments, the particles and the memories of the days where all that matters are the mushrooms.

Nobody is sure how or why morels appear after a fire.

There hasn’t been much research. Most of the knowledge of morel ecology is known to the pickers, who are less inclined to share what they know than the average scientist.

If you know your way around a campfire, you might be able to learn something at picker camp, spots in the forest where rival harvesters form uneasy communities out of necessity. In these sometimes-rowdy places, mushroom buyers set up tables outside their vehicles and compete for the

harvesters and their bounty. The price changes frequently, sometimes hourly. Some buyers are known to be untrustworthy, while the pickers, who can be cagey, gruff, even hostile, are the ones who will haul you out if they find you in the woods with a broken ankle. Back at camp, cabin fever can creep in. I’ll never forget the time Lady Jess leapt over a rather large fire when some fool wouldn’t pass the bottle of Yukon Jack. That was a few days before I woke to the sound of gunshots in the 2 a.m. arctic dawn. A mushroom buyer shot up a raft that had capsized and dumped thousands of dollars worth of fresh fungus into the West Fork of Fortymile Creek.

I was in it for the mushrooms and not the money.

Every time I sold my haul, I felt like I was selling my children. Each one of those magical phoenixes rising from the ashes was a little treasure. To the chagrin of the buyer at Camp Happy Mosquito, I quit selling. Instead, I turned my Subaru into a mushroom dehydrator and brought

home bags of dried morels and ate them for years.

Right about now, next year’s morel habitat is being created by this year’s fires, while last year’s fires have left a bumper crop that is being harvested as we speak. Fresh morels might not be for sale in your farmers markets, but you can find them in your local fancy produce section, picked wild from the ashes of some burned forest. The following recipe for morels in sherry cream sauce is an easy starting point into the world of morel cookery.

Morel picking is challenging, and success is hardly guaranteed. After a few tries, simply buying them starts to look like a better and better deal. When you support an industry that relies on wilderness, you are supporting wilderness itself. Whether you went to the trouble and adventure of picking the morels, or forked over your hard-earned cash, the expense and adversity will melt away when the flavor shepherds your mouth to a burnt forest, the exact location of which only the morels know.

And they’re not telling.

The ingredients are measured per ½ pound of fresh morels, sliced lengthwise. You can also add thinly-sliced button mushrooms to stretch out the morels without diluting the flavor. For each half-pound of button mushrooms, add the ingredients below as well. So if you were to use a half-pound each of fresh morels and buttons, double the quantities below.

Morels in Sherry Cream Sauce 2 tablespoons butter ½ medium yellow onion, minced ¼-½ cup dry sherry Zest and juice of one quarter lemon Pinch of nutmeg ½ cup heavy cream Salt and pepper to taste Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom pan. Add onion and mushrooms. Cook together until onions are translucent and the morels give up their moisture – about 10 minutes. Add sherry and let it cook off. Add nutmeg, lime zest and juice. Stir it around and cook a moment, then add the cream. Cook five more minutes, season with salt and pepper, and serve. n

New Location!

1239 Main Ave. Come see us!

Hours: mon - Fri 11-6 & Sat 11-5: www.jimmysmusic.supply 1239 Main Ave • 970-764-4577 telegraph

July 29, 2021 n

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StufftoDo

Thursday29 Purgatory Nature Hikes, 9:25 a.m.-noon. More info. at 970-715-1092.

Cafe au Play free outdoor baby group, 10 a.m.12 p.m., 495 Florida Road (behind Christ the King church). 970-749-9607 for info.

Durango Green Drinks, 5 p.m., 11th Street Station.

SkaBQ, 5 p.m., Ska Brewing headquarters, 225 Girard St. Bill Edwards plays, 5:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Jose Villareal plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Black Velvet Duo plays, 6 p.m., Dandelion Café, 725 E. 2nd Ave. Live music, 6-8:30 p.m. every Thursday, James Ranch, HWY 550, Hermosa.

Trivia night 6:30-8:30 p.m., The Powerhouse, 1333 Camino Del Rio. Zak Webb plays, 7 p.m., 11th Street Station.

Deadline for “Stuff to Do” submissions is Monday at noon. To submit an item, email: calendar@durangotelegraph.com

Beam Me Up Starlight Trivia, weekly 7:30-9:30 p.m., Starlight Lounge, 937 Main Ave. Geeks Who Drink Trivia, 8-10 p.m., The Roost, 128 E. College Dr.

Friday30 Gary Walker plays, 10 a.m., Jean-Pierre Bakery & Restaurant, 601 Main Ave. Rockfest music festival, July 30-Aug. 1, Tico Time River Resort, 1 mile south of the stateline.

Carve Wars, July 30-Aug. 1, Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresortcom Smelter Mountain Boys, 5 p.m., Gazpacho Restaurant, 431 E 2nd Ave. The Motet plays KSUT’s Party in the Park, 5 p.m., Buckley Park. For info or tickets, go to: www.ksut.org.

Silverton Mountain Jam, 5-9:30 p.m., iAM Music Fest, Silverton.

The Ben Gibson Band plays, 5 p.m., The Nugget Mountain Bar, 48721 N. Highway 550.

Bill Edwards plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Dustin Burley plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., The Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Disco Night, 6-9 p.m., Chapman Hill Roller Rink.

Lacey Black plays, 6-9 p.m., Fox Fire Farms, 5513 CR 321, Ignacio.

Improv Show, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E. 2nd Ave. Music in the Mountains Orchestra Concert, 7 p.m., Community Concert Hall, Fort Lewis College.

Musicinthemountains.com

Saturday31 Durango Farmers Market, 8 a.m.-12 p.m., TBK Parking Lot, 259 W. 9th St. Live music from Patrick Crossing.

Meditation and Dharma Talk, 5:30-6:15 p.m.

Online at www.durangodharmacenter.org Meet author Karen Lovelien, 5:30 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. Aikido, 6 p.m., 121 W 32nd St. #B, www.durangoaikido.com

Tuesday03 Purgatory Nature Hikes, 9:25 a.m.-noon. More info. at 970-715-1092.

Pollinator Workshop, 10 a.m.-12 p.m., south of Bayfield. More info. at lposc.org

Twin Buttes Farm Stand, 3-6 p.m., Tuesdays thru October, 165 Tipple Ave., www.twinbuttesfarm.com

Kids Program: Ducky Races, 11a.m.-3 p.m., Pine River Library, Bayfield.

Bingo night, 5 p.m. every Tuesday, Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Lacey Black plays, 5 p.m., Lone Spur Café, 619 Main Ave.

Bayfield Marshals Office BBQ, 5 p.m., Eagle Park, 1189 Bayfield Parkway.

Rodney Rice plays, 5 p.m., The Nugget Mountain Bar, 48721 N. Highway 550.

Bitcoin Study Group, 5:30-7 p.m. Tuesdays, Zia North patio. Meet people and learn about Bitcoin. For info., call 970-426-2464 or email bitcoinstudygroup@protonmail.com

Silverton Mountain Jam, 5-9:30 p.m., iAM Music Fest, Silverton.

Bill Edwards plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Matt Rupnow plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave. Gary Walker plays, 6 p.m., Dandelion Café, 725 E Second Ave. Disco Night, 6-9 p.m., Chapman Hill Roller Rink.

Sunday01 Durango Art Market, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 11th Street Station. www.durangocreativedistrict.org.

Trail Party Enduro Race, Purgatory Resort. www.purgatoryresort.com Open Mic, 1 p.m., Mancos Brewery.

Open Mic night, 4 p.m. every Sunday, Fenceline Cider, Mancos.

Meet author Kristi Wilkinson, 4 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. Burt Baldwin book signing for The Amazing Adventures of Gander Anthem, 5:30 p.m., Maria’s Bookshop, 960 Main Ave. Adam Swanson plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Diamond Belle Saloon, 699 Main Ave. Jose Willareal plays, 5:30-8:30 p.m., Office Spiritorium, 699 Main Ave.

Proudly serving Fahrenheit Coffee Roasters - Come by and grab a bag!

1099 Main Ave., under the big clock Mon.- Thurs., 7:30am-3pm and Fri., 7:30am-1pm

16 n July 29, 2021

Monday02

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Rotary Club of Durango, city code enforcement officer Steve Barkley speaks, 6 p.m., Strater Hotel, 699 Main Ave. Acoustic Music Jam, 6-8 p.m. Tuesdays, Rotary Park, all instruments and singers welcome. For info: 970-2593408.

Live music, 6-8:30 p.m. every Tuesday, James Ranch, HWY 550, Hermosa.

MarchFourth Band plays, 7:30 p.m., Animas City Theatre, 128 E. College Dr.

Wednesday04 La La Bones plays, 5 p.m., Community Concerts in the Secret Garden, Rochester Hotel, 726 E. 2nd Ave. Trivia night, 6 p.m., every Wednesday, Mancos Brewery.

The Jeff Solon Jazz Duo plays, 6-8 p.m. Wednesdays thru Sept. 8, Dandelion Café, 725 E. 2nd Ave.

Ongoing “Tracing Lines,” by Hannah Green, art exhibit runs through July, Recess Gallery at Studio &, 1017 Main Ave. “Summer Color,” paintings by Patrice DeLorenzo, Animas Chocolate & Coffee Co., 920 Main Ave. Exhibit runs thru July 31.

Summer reading program at Durango Public Library, Tuesdays thru July 31. Programs and events for babies, kids, teens and adults. For info, stop by or call 970-375-3380.4

AskRachel Oh sheet, the tipping point and all in-tents and purposes Interesting fact: When it comes to the Great Sheet Debate, the Martha Stewart website says you should ask the hosts their preference. What kind of adults does she think we are?

Dear Rachel, We are having a civil disagreement in our home, and you are the arbiter. Let us presume, hypothetically, that you are staying overnight at a friend’s home. That friend puts you up in a guest room. When it comes time to leave, do you: A. strip the sheets off the bed, B. put the sheets in the laundry, C. leave the sheets on the bed and make the bed, or D. leave the bed unmade so your friend can do whatever they prefer?

- Strange Bedfellows Dear Valued Guests, There are too many levels of friendship for me to answer this question definitively. All I can do is answer for the hypothetical friends who I would hypothetically let stay in my hypothetical guest room. Definitely A, with C as an alternate acceptable choice. Your friend probably has a preferred way of doing laundry, so definitely not B. And what kind of animal chooses D? I won’t even do this in an Airbnb. I wouldn’t even do this in a brothel.

Hypothetically, of course.

- Lie in it, Rachel Dear Rachel, I’m a server at one of our fine local establishments, and as you well know, more and more people are coming out more and more often.

This is good for business, but bad for servers.

Well, half bad. Some people are exuberant to be back in the world and tipping better than ever.

But more people seem to have forgotten everything and are tipping miserly. Like, “Keep the change” of $1.34 from a $50. Am I also allowed to say, “Oh, I forgot my manners during the pandemic” when these people come back in?

- Fly in the Soup Dear Hair in the Meatloaf, I don’t have a lot of rules in life, but one of them is to be incredibly kind to people who have the power to spit in my food. Public shaming might work better for you than bad manners. I once went to lunch with a “friend” who tried to leave the tip line blank on the check. The server actually came back and said, “Excuse me, but we’re not allowed to have you leave this line blank. You know, for your safety.” She blanched and scribbled in a hearty tip, and I never went into public with her again.

- Gratuity included, Rachel Dear Rachel, Why do people feel the need to “get away from it all” in forty-foot RVs with generators that run all night so they can binge-watch Hulu? That’s what RV parks are for, or those campsites without trees where the park attendants have built astroturf lawns outside their campers. I don’t pretend that my visits to Forest Service campgrounds are truly “roughing it,” but I do hope to hear the sounds of the creek

Family Magic Show with Mysto the Magi, 7 p.m.

Fridays thru the summer, Tico Time Resort, 1 mile south of the stateline.

Sitting & Talking (play reading from Durango PlayFestst), Aug. 7, 3 p.m., Smiley Building, 1309 E 3rd Ave. www.durangoplayfest.org.

Music in the Mountains, classical music festival, July 11-Aug. 1, www.musicinthemountains.com

“Ghost Story” play reading for Durango PlayFest, Aug. 7, 7:30 p.m., Smiley Building, 1309 E 3rd Ave. www.durangoplayfest.org.

Mamma Mia! thru Aug. 1, Lions Wilderness Amphitheatre, Farmington. Info at: www.fmtn.org/shows.

Upcoming

“The Family Line” play reading from Durango PlayFest, Aug. 8, 11 a.m., Smiley Building, 1309 E 3rd Ave. www.durangoplayfest.org.

“Golden Gate” play reading from Durango PlayFest, Aug. 5, 7 p.m., Durango Arts Center, 802 E 2nd Ave. www.durangoplayfest.org.

Live Music on the Range: Dustin Burley, Aug. 8, 2-5 p.m., Hillcrest Golf Club.

The Noms play Concert Hall at the Park, 5:30 p.m., Aug. 5, Buckley Park.

“Fire Extinguishers: When and How to Use Them,” Wed., Aug. 11, 5-6:30 p.m., Durango Rec Center. To sign up, contact Tosh Black with Durango Fire Protection District at tosh.black@durangfire.org 970-382-6014.

Four Corners Jam Festival, Aug. 5-8, Tico Time River Resort, 1 mile south of the stateline.

Reeder and Spencer play, Aug. 6, 5-9 p.m., Fur Trappers Steakhouse, 701 E. 2nd Ave. “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” free Movie in the Park, Aug. 6, Buckley Park, seating starts at 7:45 p.m., movie starts 15 minutes after sunset.

J-Calvin plays, Aug. 11, 5 p.m., Community Concerts in the Secret Garden at the Rochester Hotel, 726 E. 2nd Ave. The Sticky plays Concert Hall at the Park, 5:30 p.m., Aug. 12, Buckley Park Reeder and Spencer play, Aug 13, 5-9 p.m., Fox Fire Farms, Ignacio.

Email Rachel at telegraph@durangotelegraph.com and the breeze while I sleep. Not some constant RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. - Gotta Get Away Dear Survivalist, The big question is, if these people bother you so much, why don’t you learn how to tough it for real?

Carry everything you need on your back. Hike for three days into the wilderness, the last two off trail. Find out what you’re really made of. And when you’re done out there, please put your sheets in the wash.

- Haven’t showered in a week, Free Legal Clinic, Aug. 13, 4 p.m., Ignacio Public Library, 970-563-9287.

Friends of the Library book sale, Aug. 13, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., Durango Public Library.

“Fun-Raiser” Dance, Aug. 14, 1-3 p.m., Durango-La Plata Senior Center, 2424 Main Ave. All proceeds go to fight Alzheimer’s disease.

Farmington Hill plays, Aug. 14, 5 p.m., Mancos Brewery.

Party at the Powerhouse, benefiting Housing Solutions for The Southwest, 4-7 p.m., Powerhouse Science Center.

Deadline for “On the Town” submissions is Monday at noon.

To submit an item email: calendar@durango telegraph.com

REAL radio, REAL people DURANGO COMMUNITY RADIO AT FORT LEWIS COLLEGE

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91.9 93.9

KDUR.ORG

July 29, 2021n 17

FreeWillAstrology

by Rob Brezsny ARIES (March 21-April 19): What does it mean to feel real? Some people have a hard time doing that. They have such false ideas about who they are that they rarely feel real. Others are so distracted by trivial longings that they never have the luxury of settling into the exquisite at-home-ness of feeling real.

For those fortunate enough to regularly experience this treasured blessing, feeling real isn’t a vague concept. It’s a vivid sensation of being conscious in one’s body.

When we feel real, we respond spontaneously, enjoy playing, and exult in the privilege of being alive. After studying your astrological potentials, Aries, I suspect that you now have an enhanced capacity to feel real.

!!!

#

!

"

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): When she was a child, author Valerie Andrews visited her secret sanctuary at sunset every day for seven years. She lay on the ground among birch trees and aromatic privet plants, feeling “the steady rhythmic heartbeat of the earth” as she basked in the fading light. I’d love for you to enjoy the revitalizing power of such a shrine. The decisions you have to make will become clear as you commune with what Andrews calls “a root-like umbilicus to the dark core of the land.” Do you know of such a place? If not, I suggest you find or create one.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I suspect that your immediate future will be a patchwork of evocative fragments. You may be both annoyed and entertained by a series of flashing attractions, or an array of pretty baubles, or a hubbub of tasks that all seem at least mildly worth doing. Chances are good that they will ultimately knit together into a crazy-quilt unity; they will weave into a pattern that makes unexpected sense. In the spirit of the spicy variety, I offer three quotes that may not seem useful to you yet, but will soon. 1. “Isn’t it possible that to desire a thing, to truly desire it, is a form of having it?” — Galway Kinnell 2. “It is not half so important to know as to feel.” — Rachel Carson 3. “Like all explorers, we are drawn to discover what’s out there without knowing yet if we have the courage to face it.” — Pema Chödrön CANCER (June 21-July 22): A Tumblr blogger named Cece writes, “The fact that you can soak bread in sugar, eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla, then butter a pan and fry said bread to make a meal is really liberating.” I agree. And I share this with you in the hope of encouraging you to indulge in other commonplace actions that will make you feel spacious and uninhibited. You’re in a phase of your astrological cycle when you’ll thrive on doing day-to-day details

18 n July 29, 2021

that excite your lust for life. Enjoying the little things to the utmost will be an excellent strategy for success.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Leo poet Renée Ashley articulates a perspective I recommend you adopt. She writes, “I’m drawn to what flutters nebulously at the edges, at the corner of my eye—just outside my certain sight. I want to share in what I am routinely denied, or only suspect exists. I long for a glimpse of what is beginning to occur.”

With her thoughts as inspiration, I advise you to be hungry for what you don’t know and haven’t perceived. Expand your curiosity so that it becomes wildly insatiable in its quest to uncover budding questions and raw truths at the peripheries of your awareness.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “There are many things in your heart you can never tell to another person,” declared Virgo actor Greta Garbo (1905–1990). “It is not right that you should tell them,” she concluded. “You cheapen yourself, the inside of yourself, when you tell them.” I presume Greta was being melodramatic. My attitude is the opposite of hers. If you find allies who listen well and who respect your vulnerability, you should relish telling them the secrets of your heart. To do so enriches you, deepens you, and adds soulful new meanings to your primary mysteries. The coming weeks will be a favorable time to seek this wise pleasure in abundance.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Now is a fantastic time to seek out effervescent socializing and convivial gatherings and festive celebrations. If you surround yourself with lively people, you’ll absorb the exact influences you need. May I suggest you host a fun event? If you do, you could send out invitations that include the following allures: “At my get-together, the featured flavors will be strawberry chocolate and impossibly delicious. There’ll be magic vibrations and mysterious mood-enhancers.

Liberating conversations will be strongly encouraged. Unpredictable revelations will be honored. If possible, please unload your fears and anxieties in a random parking lot before arriving.”

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Scorpio author Andrew Sean Greer writes, “As the Japanese will tell you, one can train a rose to grow through anything, to grow through a nautilus even, but it must be done with tenderness.” I think that’s a vivid metaphor for one of your chief tasks in the coming weeks, Scorpio: how to carefully nurture delicate, beautiful things as you coax them to ripen in ways that will bring out their sturdiness and resilience. I believe you now have an extra capacity for wielding love to help things bloom.

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SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22Dec. 21): Suggested experiments to try soon: 1.

Remember a past moment when you were touched with the sudden realization that you and a person you’d recently met were destined to fall in love. 2. Remember a past moment when you kissed someone for the first time. 3. Remember a past moment when someone told you they loved you for the first time or when you told someone you loved them for the first time. 4. Allow the feelings from the first three experiments to permeate your life for five days. See through the eyes of the person you were during those previous breakthroughs.

Treat the whole world as expansively and expectantly as you did during those times.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Capricorn poet Kenneth Rexroth was shirtless as he strolled along a rural road. To his delightful amazement, a fritillary butterfly landed on his shoulder, fluttered away, landed again, fluttered away—performed this dance numerous times. Nothing like this had ever happened to him. Later he wrote, “I feel my flesh / Has suddenly become sweet / With a metamorphosis / Kept secret even from myself.”

In the coming days, I’m expecting at least one comparable experience for you. Here’s your homework: What sweet metamorphoses may be underway within you—perhaps not yet having reached your conscious awareness?

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “Each time we don’t say what we want to say, we’re dying.” Aquarian artist and singer Yoko Ono said that. I will add a further nuance: Each time we’re not aware of the feeling or experience or situation we want, we’re dying. And these will be key themes now that you’ve entered the “I KNOW WHAT I WANT AND I KNOW HOW TO ASK FOR IT” phase of your cycle. The most healing and vivifying thing you can do during the next six weeks is to be precise about your desires.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): In 1829, Piscean author Victor Hugo began work on his novel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He had other projects, though, and by September 1830, he had made scant progress on Hunchback. Growing impatient, his publisher demanded that he finish the manuscript by February 1831.

In response, Hugo virtually barricaded himself in his room to compel himself to meet the deadline. He even locked his clothes in a closet to prevent himself from going out.

For the next five months, he wore only a gray shawl as he toiled nonstop. His stratagem worked! I recommend you consider trying a somewhat less rigorous trick to enforce your self-discipline in the coming weeks. There’s no need to barricade yourself in your fortress. But I hope you will have fun taking stringent measures.

classifieds

Deadline for Telegraph classified ads is Tuesday at noon. Ads are a bargain at 10 cents a character with a $5 minimum.

Even better, ads can now be placed online: durangotelegraph.com.

Prepayment is required via cash, credit card or check.

(Sorry, no refunds.)

Ads can be submitted via: n classifieds@durango telegraph.com n 970-259-0133 n 679 E. 2nd Ave., #E2 Approximate office hours: Mon: 9ish - 5ish Tues: 9ish - 5ish Wed: 9ish - 3ish Thurs: Out on delivery Fri: Gone fishing

Strong command of English language, broad knowledge of pop culture and darkish sense of humor a plus. Good hygiene and local knowledge also required. Great pay and fun times! 30-40/hrs a week. Commission + base pay. Send resume to: tele graph@durangotelegraph.com

Lost/Found

Guitar Bass Voice Lessons Fun, student-centered learning for students of all ages, abilities and styles. Call Pete Giuliani 385-6713 or email info@pete giuliani.com

Caregivers $20/hr Disabled man needs help with care. Call Johnny, 970-749-2692.

Friendly Carpentry and Painting Stucco repair, 707-806-3456.

Lost Silver Cannon Camera At Santa Rita Park. $100 reward. 559361-0007.

RSE Handyman Service Home repair - yard work - odd jobs, 970903-0449.

Classes/Workshops Summer Spanish Class Now accepting students for beginner thru advanced Spanish. Finally, in-person learning is back! Call 970-309-5966 or visit www.espanolahora.net

HelpWanted In Search of Sales Clerk At Crystal Boutique. Bring resume to 1053 Main Ave. Part time, at least 2 days/week. Pay dep. on exp.

Shuttle Driver Part-time shuttle driver needed for mountain bikers and backpackers on San Juan National Forest. Flexible schedule $25 per hour. Clean driving record. Email us at info@hermosatours.net.

Laundry Customer Service 1-2 very responsible, reliable, friendly, multi-tasking, self-directed team players with strong customer service skills are needed! Responsibilities include doing laundry, helping customers, cleaning, etc. ~20-40 hrs/wk. Training is provided. $12.50+/hr DOQ (plus wash/dry/fold commissions of roughly $1-$2+ per hour, tips and free personal laundry)! Nice facility, customers, co-workers, and owners! Please apply in person at the College Plaza Laundry, 509 E. 8th Ave. We’re Screwed!

After 17 years, the Telegraph’s esteemed advertising sales aficionado is moving on.

If you’re interested in filling these sassy, gogetter shoes, we want to hear from you.

ForSale Want Loose Stones For your unique one-of-a-kind jewelry creation? Lanka Blue Jewelry has large inventory, at 701 Main Ave.

HaikuMovieReview ‘Good on Paper’ Or on a plane where this captive audience was easily amused – Lainie Maxson

Services

Dietz Market is Hiring full-time, part-time and shipping! Come join our team. Stop in or email resume to: info@dietzmarket.com

Announcements Want Loose Stones For your unique one-of-a-kind jewelry creation? Lanka Blue Jewelry has large inventory, at 701 Main Ave.

Cash for Vehicles, Copper, Alum, Etc. at RJ Metal Recycle. Also free appliance and other metal drop off. 970-259-3494.

with discounts available. RJ Mini Storage.

970-259-3494.

BodyWork Lotus Path Healing Arts Now accepting new clients. Offering a unique, intuitive fusion of Esalen massage, deep tissue & Acutonics, 24 years of experience. To schedule call Kathryn, 970-2013373.

Massage by Meg Bush LMT, 30, 60 & 90 min., 970-759-0199.

Harmony Cleaning and Organizing Residential, offices, commercial and vacation rentals, 970-403-6192.

Lowest Prices on Storage!

Inside/outside storage near Durango and Bayfield. 10-x-20, $130. Outside spots: $65,

massageintervention.life Voted best massage in Durango 18/19/20. Couples, cupping, local CBD. Reviews on FB + Yelp. 970-903-2984

NewspaperOrigami

Reruns Home Furnishings Great selection of yard furniture, yard art and garden pots. Mid-century cabinet. Tall bar-style dining table, vintage desk, nightstands, lamps and side tables. Vintage Lane dresser, very cool vintage iron patio set with love seat and table. Come in today. 572 E. 6th Ave. Open Mon.-Sat. 385-7336.

Wanted Rental House in Durango Wanted Retired couple seeks home for rent. Ideal property has two bedrooms, two baths and a one car garage. One older, well-behaved cat. Please email lovnflyfishing922@ gmail.com with available home info.

Want to sell your home to a hardworking local? Longtime Durango Telegraph writer Luke Mehall is looking to buy a modest condo/small home in Durango. Please contact Luke at luke@ climbingzine.com or 970-376-3116.

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