TalkAbout Jazz from western Colorado
Space requires us to limit attendance to the first 56.  RSVP to jlivingston@wreawildblue.org or call 970-319-0098, if you can attend. We will add your name to the roster and email you directions.

August 3, 2013, TalkAbout Jazz, you will:

  • Hear demonstrations of a variety of forms of jazz
  • Listen and be invited to play along with Walt Smith's jazz group.

If you like, bring your favorite instrument and help us create a “TalkAdo Jazz” afternoon.

Topic Enhancers:

Don Voltmer "The Jazzman"

Jazz from Aspen

Don loves to research music and has created a program to help us understand jazz. He will demonstrate with a variety of recordings such as : Take the 'A' Train, Satin Doll, Cute, Georgia on my Mind, It Don't Mean a Thing, Something's Wonderful, Sweet Georgia Brown, Ain't Misbehavin', Basin Street Blues, and Time After Time.

1)  St. Louis Blues (to demonstrate early blues music)

2)  Ain't She Sweet (to demonstrate stride piano style as played by Judy Carmichael)

3)  Honeysuckle Rose (to demonstrate stride piano style as played by Ralph Sutton)

4)  The Entertainer (to demonstrate ragtime as played by Billy Taylor and George Shearing)

5)  I Got Rhythm (to demonstrate and early swing as played by the Benny Goodman Quartet)

6)  Body and Soul (to demonstrate chord progressions by Billy Taylor and to play the most popular jazz standard song as performed by Billie Holiday, Coleman Hawkins and the Manhattan Transfer [vocal version].

7)  Nice Work If You Can Get It (to demonstrate improvisation by Billy Taylor)

TalkAbout Jazz from western ColoradoWalt Smith and his music, a legend from Denver to Grand Junction.

He has played at many events, private jazz parties, weddings, outdoor concerts and jazz festivals. He is a classically trained pianist and started playing at the age of eight.  Walt turned to Jazz and Swing in his college days, and found it could earn him a living while going to school, and he never stopped playing!

Video -Walt & his trio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ59AJ_qoLM

Walt Composed:  The musical score for Leon Uris' Broadway production of "Ari" (the Exodus story); the themes for the PBS television special "The Duke in Bronze" - the story of the creation of the John Wayne statue by Harry Jackson.

Walt Played:  The Hotel Jerome - Aspen, Red Onion - Aspen, Aspen Highlands, The Tipple Room at the Copper Kettle - Aspen, Ritz Carlton - Aspen, The Hotel Colorado - Glenwood Springs, The Hilton - Grand Junction, Private Jazz Parties with such notables as Art Van Damme, Carl Fontana, Phil Urso, Harry Allen, & Plas Johnson.

Jazz Festivals and Guests Appearances

The Telluride Jazz Festival

TalkAbout Jazz from western Colorado
TalkAbout The Future from western Colorado
TalkAbout The Future
August 10, 2013

  • Explore the ideas and innovations that are reshaping our society and the world.
  • Think about your ideas
  • Smile!

  • TalkAbout The Future

    Please join us August 10th, for our 2013 White River TalkAbout The Future.

    TalkAbout The Future from western Colorado Discuss developments in technology and science. Speculate on the impacts on our social structure, economics, and educational systems.
    Ref:  http://www.bbc.com/future/columns/world-changing-ideas

    Some Ideas

    • Chips that mimic the brain in real time More Information
    • Travel faster-than-light? The New York Times At the Johnson Space Center a team is trying to determine whether faster-than-light travel — warp drive — might someday be possible. Dr. White said “Nature can do it. So the question is, can we do it?
    • Make It Yourself with 3D Printers is personal manufacturing is about to enter the consumer mainstream in a big way?
    • The line between human and machine: What will happen to our society when robots will be a big part of it?
      (Paraphrased) "My name is Noga, I’m a 16-year-old girl from Tel-Aviv, Israel.  In my school, we have a course called “Human Rights.” For my paper I chose the subject of “human and robot rights in the future.”
      • What about copyrights? If a robot writes a song, will it be his song, or his owner’s?
      • What about machines making machines?  Will robots even have owners?
      • What about the right to raise a child (adopt)?
      • The right to vote?  Or basic rights — privacy, safety, freedom, etc.
      My first thought was that humans will not give robots rights unless they’ll demand it, because humans created them (unlike animals).   What will happen if the machines will ask for rights?" - Noga

    Topic Enhancement by:

    Mort (retired) - Degrees in Mathematics and Physics, 30+ year career in the US Air Force - reporter for Time and author of "Where We Are".

    Rob -  B.A. in Political Science from Valparaiso University, his Juris Doctorate, Certificate in Environmental Law, from Pace University School of Law and is a member of the Colorado Bar.

    Jim - New York City and Meeker Colorado.  Amherst College, Harvard Business School.  Security Analyst 1967 to the present: (electronics, semiconductors, computers) with Needham & Co LLC (a Wall Street investment banking firm) and Capital Counsel LLC (an investment manager).

    • Guests arrive 1:30 – 2:00 pm
    • Discussion Starts 2:00 pm
    • Potluck dinner around 5:00 pm.
    • Please bring a homemade veggie, salad or dessert, and something to drink.
    • Bringing your smile, it’s essential!
    • Bring a lawn chair to sit on.

    Space requires us to limit attendance to the first 56.  RSVP to jlivingston@wreawildblue.org or call 970-319-0098, if you can attend. We will add your name to the roster and email you

    TalkAbout The Future from western Colorado
    TalkAbout The Future
    August 10, 2013

  • Explore the ideas and innovations that are reshaping our society and the world.
  • Think about your ideas
  • Smile!

  • TalkAbout The Future

    Please join us August 10th, for our 2013 White River TalkAbout The Future.

    TalkAbout The Future from western Colorado Discuss developments in technology and science. Speculate on the impacts on our social structure, economics, and educational systems.
    Ref:  http://www.bbc.com/future/columns/world-changing-ideas

    Some Ideas

    • Chips that mimic the brain in real time More Information
    • Travel faster-than-light? The New York Times At the Johnson Space Center a team is trying to determine whether faster-than-light travel — warp drive — might someday be possible. Dr. White said “Nature can do it. So the question is, can we do it?
    • The line between human and machine: What will happen to our society when robots will be a big part of it?
      (Paraphrased) "My name is Noga, I’m a 16-year-old girl from Tel-Aviv, Israel.  In my school, we have a course called “Human Rights.” For my paper I chose the subject of “human and robot rights in the future.”
      • What about copyrights? If a robot writes a song, will it be his song, or his owner’s?
      • What about machines making machines?  Will robots even have owners?
      • What about the right to raise a child (adopt)?
      • The right to vote?  Or basic rights — privacy, safety, freedom, etc.
      My first thought was that humans will not give robots rights unless they’ll demand it, because humans created them (unlike animals).   What will happen if the machines will ask for rights?" - Noga

    Topic Enhancement by:

    Mort (retired) - Degrees in Mathematics and Physics, 30+ year career in the US Air Force - reporter for Time and author of "Where We Are".

    Rob -  B.A. in Political Science from Valparaiso University, his Juris Doctorate, Certificate in Environmental Law, from Pace University School of Law and is a member of the Colorado Bar.

    Jim - New York City and Meeker Colorado.  Amherst College, Harvard Business School.  Security Analyst 1967 to the present: (electronics, semiconductors, computers) with Needham & Co LLC (a Wall Street investment banking firm) and Capital Counsel LLC (an investment manager).

    • Guests arrive 1:30 – 2:00 pm
    • Discussion Starts 2:00 pm
    • Potluck dinner around 5:00 pm.
    • Please bring a homemade veggie, salad or dessert, and something to drink.
    • Bringing your smile, it’s essential!
    • Bring a lawn chair to sit on.

    Space requires us to limit attendance to the first 56.  RSVP to jlivingston@wreawildblue.org or call 970-319-0098, if you can attend. We will add your name to the roster and email you directions.

    • Guests arrive 1:30 – 2:00 pm
    • Discussion Starts 2:00 pm
    • Potluck dinner around 5:00 pm.
    • Please bring a homemade veggie, salad or dessert, and something to drink.
    • Bringing your smile, it’s essential!
    • Bring a lawn chair to sit on.

    Signs of Change!

    Go to www.Coursera.com and you can take your pick of thousands of courses..........for free. Stanford, Duke, Princeton and John Hopkins are among the 16 universities sponsoring this approach to Internet learning. As many as 50,000 have signed up for a single course.

    Since on-campus tuition rates have gone up 559%, in the last ten years, Sebastian Thrun, a Stanford professor, predicts that there will only be 10 higher education institutions left in fifty years.



    TalkAbout Forums Stay current, Ask questions, Learn more, Keep smiling!




    History

    “White River TalkAbouts” bringing new and old friends together to visit and exchange ideas on a variety of topics.

    Previous White River TalkAbouts include:

    • Historic Trails along the White River and Beyond
    • The Big Beaver Lamb Cook Off
    • Instruction and Demonstrations in Portrait Painting
    • A Visit with Jim Fay,
    • Controlling Noxious Weeds,
    • book discussions and photo exhibits.

    Participants have attended from throughout Colorado and from as far away as New York and Australia.

    Attendees- Individuals from diverse backgrounds, invited based on a common interest in the topic an interest in learning and having fun. Venue- Diverse, stimulating conversation on cultural, artistic and social topics. Purpose- to produce an afternoon of good fun, good food, stimulating conversation and thought provoking ideas. 

    We Believe: Learning is like living, best if practiced every day, in every way and pursued with passion.

    Orchestrators* are chosen based on their ability to stimulate interesting conversations and provide creative, knowledgeable insight into the topic.

    *Orchestrators  to arrange or manipulate, esp. by clever means or thorough planning or maneuvering.

    *Instigator to urge, provoke, or incite to some action or course: Synonyms 1. arouse, provoke. 2. induce, stimulate, encourage, push; initiate, start.

    Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2006.



    Women Who Homesteaded the West

    July 16, 2011 2 p.m.

    • Could women own land in 1900’s USA?
    • How to “make do” with nothing.
    • The best of times and the worst of times in the early West!

    Setting the Stage: Dr. Dave Steinman 1880s … cultural shock. Go west young woman, go west.

    Orchestrator: Julie Jones-Eddy presently lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado. She retired in 2002 from Colorado College. A native of Craig, Colorado and an oral historian, in 1992 Julie produced a video, Women of Northwestern Colorado, 1890-1940: glimpses of our lives and published her book.

    Homesteading Women: An Oral History of Colorado 1890-1950

    Homesteading Women: An
    Oral History of Colorado,
    1890-1950
    is a compilation of Julie's interviews with 47 women between the ages of 55 - 95 …some married, some mothers, some employed, but
    all survivors of the rigors of homesteading in demanding and, at times, hostile
    environment. The interviewers vividly recall frontier attitudes toward childhood, marriage, pregnancy and birth, work health care, daily life, and death.

    Orchestrator: Marcia Meredith Hensley lives near Rock Springs, Wyoming and teaches writing, western literature and western American studies at Western Wyoming Community College. Marcia’s book tells the stories of remarkable pioneer women who seized the opportunity to own land at a time when it was nearly unheard of for women to do so.

    Staking Her Claim – Women Homesteading the West
    Instead of talking about women’s rights, these frontier women grabbed the opportunity to become landowners by homesteading in the still wild west of the early 1900s. They tell their stories in their own words – through letters and articles of the times. Marcia Hensley

    Women who Homesteaded the West

    Community Involvement–Clean Energy

    August 13, 2011 2 p.m.

    2:00pm  Opening - Welcome and Questions    Joe & Barbara Livingston

    2011 Community Involvement - Clean Energy TalkAbout

    Goal - A discussion:  Community Development  - Clean Energy.   "Renewable energy has passed a milestone as domestic production is now greater than that of nuclear power and is closing in on oil." Monthly Energy Review The U.S. Energy Information Administration(EIA),

    Setting the stage - Ruth and Ted Edmonds - The Optimist & The Pragmatist

    Orchestrator (aka facilitator) - Betty Harris coordinates the discussion and makes sure presenters have a chance to introduce their area of interest (3 - 5 minutes).

    Instrumentalists (aka presenters) - individuals and companies who want to share information and ideas with the group. Each instrumentalists is provided 3 to 5 minutes to inform attendees of their interests and products.

    Solar Panel Instillation

    2:33pm  Discussion The Orchestrator demonstrates her skill, making sure everyone has a chance to express ideas and ask questions.

    Providing some of the color
    • Ruth and Ted Edmonds - The Optimist & The Pragmatist
    • Keith Lambert - Mayor of Rifle, Colorado - Home of the Nations Largest Solar Garden
    • Betty Harris – Consumer of Clean Energy – What we have done
    • Gregg Eellis & Jim Pequette – KALA – - We're in the grow your own fuel business.
    • Ian Jones & Caryn Magid – Citizens of Ny, NY - What’s happening in New York
    • Jon Prater – Colorado Mountain College - Biomass Test Facility -video
    • Susan Sanborne - Consumer of Clean Energy - Living Off the Grid
    • Sam Anderson – iCAST - "I built a biodiesel plant on a farm last year in Stratton, Colorado."
    • Travis Day – Geo-Thermal
    • Pat Sturgen – A SheepCamp Off the Grid – It works!
    • Seth Livingston – What’s happening in California
    • Jim Magid - Financial Analyst - New York, NY
    White River TalkAbouts

    Summer 2011

    Women who Homesteaded the West


    • Wild Flowers vs. Toxic - Noxious Weeds - June 25, 2011

    • Women Who Homesteaded the West - July 16, 2011

    • Community Involvement–Clean Energy August 13, 2011

    Everyone brings a homemade dish and a smile. No homemade dish, give us a call we’ll help out. No smile ...think about coming another day.

    We provide the main courses - ice tea, coffee and water. Bring a camp chair or blanket to sit on, a jacket, sun screen, walking shoes and eating utensils. We provide paper plates and cups.

    Attendees- individuals from diverse backgrounds, invited based on a common interest in the topic, an interest in learning and having fun.

    Venue- diverse, stimulating conversation on cultural, artistic and social topics.

    Purpose- to produce an afternoon of good fun, good food, stimulating conversation and thought provoking ideas.

    To Join In: If you would like to attend, email: jlivingston@wreawildblue.org. Seating is limited.

    We believe: Learning is like living, best if practiced every day, in every way and pursued with passion.

    Community-Owned Solar in Eagle County

    Eagle, CO. On Tuesday, November 16, 2010, the Eagle County Board of County Commissioners approved a modification to the ECO-Build Rebate program allowing community owned or "off-site" solar customers to apply for the same incentives as rooftop or "on-site" customers. The ECO-Build regulations were adopted to promote energy efficient building design and construction practices. However, when the guidelines were drafted off-site or community-owned solar was not a possibility.

    In a program that's the first of its kind in the nation, the Clean Energy Collective (CEC) created a model that allows Holy Cross Energy customers to collectively buy into a community-based solar garden and reap the benefits without having to build a system of their own. Members leverage their collective purchasing power to buy as much clean energy as they choose at reduced prices, and are directly credited on their HCE electric bills. It also offers members the same tax credits and rebates as those who put solar panels on their homes or businesses. The County decision will now allow Eagle County residents who purchased solar in CEC's recently built Mid-Valley Community Solar Array in El Jebel to apply for the additional rebate under the 2010 program, which will mean a rebate of $2/watt up to 2kW, or a total of $4000, for each member. "This is a big step forward for community owned solar owners being treated the same as customers with rooftop systems," said CEC founder Paul Spencer. Eagle County Environmental Policy Planner Adam Palmer commented "We're fine supporting this and think it's a great model." Eagle County commissions also approved lowering the rebate amount in 2011 to $1/watt, up to $2,000, for every applicant in the program, including community solar customers. Prices for solar PV have come down dramatically in the past year and the County felt that it was appropriate to serve as many customers as possible with the program.

    The CEC just received final approval for a utility-scale solar array located on a 5-acre parcel at the Garfield County Airport in Rifle, Colorado. This array will be the second community-owned clean energy facility in the CEC's portfolio, and the largest private array in Colorado. The $1 Eagle County rebate will reduce the cost of up to a 2 kW system to a record low of $2.45/Watt through the CEC. With the first array selling out in a few weeks, the CEC expects this to generate strong demand in the Garfield facility. "I love the fact that we can own solar power that will be maintained, up to date, and hassle free. This program allows us to pay attention to the environment and use green energy with the experts supporting us along the way," said CEC customer Katie Ertl.

    About the Clean Energy Collective. The Clean Energy Collective is a member-owned cooperative venture that is revolutionizing the way consumers and utilities embrace and utilize renewable energy by building, operating and maintaining community-based clean energy facilities. Based in Carbondale, Colorado, the CEC is pioneering the model of delivering clean power-generation through large-scale facilities that are collectively owned by participating utility customers. The CEC's proprietary RemoteMeter™ system automatically calculates monthly credits for members and integrates with existing utility billing systems to make this model a reality. The CEC is working to leverage its model with regional partners nationwide. www.easycleanenergy.com


    White River TalkAbout – Healthy Eating
    August 11, 2012
    Time: Arrive: 1:30 PM Discussions: Start 2:00 PM
    Pot Luck 4:30 PM


    Program Facilitator: Julie Walpole
    Location: Big Beaver Ranch, 1460 County Road 62, Meeker, CO DIRECTIONS ATTACHED

    Topic Enhancers:

    Maria Anderson, MD, FACC Western Colorado Cardiologists

    • Medical School: Tufts University, Boston, MA
    • Internship: David Grant Medical Center, Travis AFB, CA
    • Residency: David Grant Medical Center, Travis AFB, CA
    • Fellowship: Brown University, Providence, RI


    Board Certification:
    • American Board of Internal Medicine – Internal Medicine
    • American Board of Internal Medicine – Cardiovascular Disease
    • American Board of Internal Medicine – Cardiac Electrophysiology


    In addition to her busy medical practice, Dr. Anderson finds time to teach courses in nutrition. She has studied extensively the relationship between nutrition and cardiovascular problems.

    Dave Ruedlinger Whole Foods Markets, Rocky Mountain Regional Meat Coordinator: New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Kansas

    We define quality by evaluating the ingredients, freshness, safety, taste, nutritive value and appearance of all of the products we carry. We appreciate and celebrate the difference natural and organic products can make in the quality of one's life.

    Discuss with Dave how Whole Foods selects and purchases natural meats for their markets.

    He will also demonstrate how to make a nutritional smoothie.

    Andrew Kester Natural Grocers-Vitamin Cottage, Nutritional Health Coach

    Andrew teaches nutrition classes and provides free individualized nutritional counseling.

    Vitamin Cottage – Natural Grocers is celebrating more than 50 years of bringing high quality natural health foods and nutritional supplements at affordable everyday prices.

    Breanna
    “Wraps on Main”

    Breanna and her business partner own, Wraps on Main 150 W. Main Street Grand Junction, Colorado specializing in organic & natural wraps and other great items.

    Learn how to make a healthy, nutritious sandwich that is lower in fat and carbohydrates.

    You will have the opportunity to make your own wraps for the main course.

    Barbara & Joe will provide ingredients for the main course. Bring your smile and a homemade side dish for the potluck. You are welcome to bring friends and family for a wonderful day overlooking Lake Avery.