Aspen Public Radio | Your News. Your Music. Your Station.

Old-Time Contra Dances Build New Sense Of Community

When you walk into a room full of people you don’t know, you may pull out your phone and avoid eye contact. If you’re at a contra dance, you might as well smile, because the odds are good that you’ll have do-see-doed with most of the room by the night’s end. Contra is a traditional community dance. It's social, done with both big groups and partners. Its modern followers in the Roaring Fork Valley see it as an antidote for an increasingly isolated world.

Matthew McConaughey, Getting Serious Again

By editor • Apr 23, 2013

Matthew McConaughey earned early attention as a sensitive actor with his turn in the 1996 legal drama A Time to Kill -- but since then he has mostly made a career with leading-man roles in romantic comedies like How to Lose a Guy In 10 Days, Failure to Launch and The Wedding Planner.

He calls these "tomorrow roles," and he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that he appreciates them for what they are: parts he could land one day and walk on set to film the next day.

Next: Bleached

By David Dye • Apr 22, 2013

You could hear it in their first singles in 2011: Sisters Jessica and Jennifer Clavin and their band Bleached are onto something. Now comes their debut full-length, Ride Your Heart, and it fills in the story: Beachy harmonies combine with punk attitude to take what you loved about Best Coast to a grittier place. It's fun and it's heartfelt — what could be better?

Ben Harper And Charlie Musselwhite On World Cafe

By editor • Apr 22, 2013

Grammy-winning blues-rock singer Ben Harper has made 10 studio albums over the course of his career. For his latest project, he teamed up with harmonica legend Charlie Musselwhite to release a collaborative album titled Get Up! Musselwhite, one of the few white musicians to gain exposure in the blues scene during the 1960s, has released 26 records and was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 2010.

Aspen Citizens Recruited to Track Changes in Environment

By Marci Krivonen • Apr 22, 2013

Last month the Obama Administration laid out a plan to help plants and animals deal with the impacts of climate change. Already, polar bears are losing sea ice and waterfowl are flying south weeks later than decades before. The plan lays out strategies on how to help animals survive these changes.

In Aspen, a group of citizen scientists hope to do the same thing. They’re getting trained on how to recognize and record changes to the environment. The Aspen Center for Environmental Studies is behind the effort. The group hopes to make it easier to track changes.

MIT Officer Died Protecting His Community, In Job He Loved

By Jim Zarroli • Apr 20, 2013

The grisly week that began at the Boston Marathon Monday left one police officer dead.

As police closed in on the bombing suspects Thursday night, law enforcement officials say two officers were shot. One, transit police officer Richard Donohue, is in critical condition at Mount Auburn Hospital.

The other, Sean Collier of the MIT campus police, was pronounced dead Thursday night.

MIT says Collier had gone to respond to a report of an altercation on campus Thursday evening. Soon, word came over the police radio that he had been shot.

U.S.-Russia Relations Highlighted In Bombing Aftermath

By editor • Apr 20, 2013

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Forget NCAA Titles, This School Dominates Spoken Word

By Jonathan Ahl • Apr 20, 2013

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Witness To A Manhunt In Your Own Backyard

By editor • Apr 20, 2013

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Week Of Hardship Strains City Of Boston

By editor • Apr 20, 2013

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

In Boston, Lockdown Became Time To Spend With Friends

By Chris Arnold • Apr 20, 2013

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Special Event

ARTS & CULTURE

Week In The Arts: Oct. 15 - 21

By Christin Kay • 4 hours ago

Welcome to the beginning of another week in the Roaring Fork Valley! This is Week in the Arts, a curated list of upcoming exhibitions and events.

Old-Time Contra Dances Build New Sense Of Community

By Christin Kay • Oct 11, 2018

Local Author Renee Linnell Finds Strength After Leaving 'The Burn Zone'

By Christin Kay • Oct 8, 2018

Snowmass resident Renee Linnell’s new memoir, "The Burn Zone," explores why a worldly, well-educated person would join a cult.

Environment

Eagle County Voters Asked To Continue Open Space Tax

By Elizabeth Stewart-Severy • 4 hours ago

www.pitkincounty.com/1103/Glassier-Open-Space

Eagle County’s open space program is asking for continued support this election. The program is funded through 2025; ballot measure 1A asks voters to extend the property tax through 2040.

PitCo Open Space Board Agrees To Funding Wildlife Studies

By Elizabeth Stewart-Severy • Oct 9, 2018

Elizabeth Stewart-Severy / Aspen Public Radio

Pitkin County has committed to using science to protect wildlife and habitat on the 5,000 acres of open space property it owns, and last week, the Open Space and Trails Board recommended spending more than $200,000 studying area wildlife.

Indy Pass Cleanup Is Regional Mule Team's Swan Song

By Elizabeth Stewart-Severy • Oct 8, 2018

Up high in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, there’s an abandoned metal snow fence — well, there used to be. A diverse group of volunteers joined a team of mules and horses to haul tons of rebar out of the backcountry last month. Pack strings are one of the few ways to get heavy work done in protected wilderness areas, but their future is uncertain.