When the Aspen Music Festival and School opened for its 60th season just a few weeks ago, an odd thing happened: many of the opening events, including the first Sunday's Aspen Festival Orchestra concert, sold out. For one performance in Harris Concert Hall, organizers even had to put an additional 96 seats on the stage to accommodate the crowds.

The nine-week annual festival, known locally as one of the highlights of summer and nationally (and internationally) as one of the premier classical music events, made the decision last fall not to cut any of its programming amidst a growing recession. And the decision, so far, has been a good one.

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A near-capacity Doerr Hosier Center crowd played host to renowned painter, photographer and Galerie Maximillian favorite Chuck Close last Wednesday. The one-hour interview was much more than a standard q-and-a session, as author, theatrical performer and host Anne Deavere Smith got Close to offer the audience a closer look into the mind behind the artist.

Learning disabled from a young age and severely handicapped later in life, Close has seen his fair share of obstacles to overcome - as both a human and as an artist. He told the audience that he never learned the multiplication table, and couldn't even add or subtract unless he was allowed to use the visual aide of a dominoes set. But, he said, it was those setbacks that allowed him to realize his potential as an artist - something he also attributes to encouragement by his parents. 

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I learned to moonwalk when I was 12. It would be a better story for me to say I learned the move from studying videos of Michael Jackson gliding backwards across the stage on MTV, but the truth is my friend Rag Doll's older brother Spanky taught me on the slick linoleum of his parents' kitchen. Spanky danced pretty well, and I guess I did too - well enough that we started a breakdancing crew that was halfway successful around town. The best part of most of our choreographed routines was when the four members of the crew would moonwalk simultaneously. Any audience we somehow mustered up would usually break into applause at that point and it was all because we were ripping off the biggest entertainer on the face of the planet.

I guess its human nature to remember where you were when an icon in some form - pop, political, religious - passes away. I'm too young to remember where I was when I heard that Elvis had finally wolfed down his last peanut butter-and-banana sandwich, but I do recall seeing the photo of him in an open casket a few days later. It's easy for me to remember where I was when I heard John Lennon had been assassinated: I was watching a rerun of "The Brady Bunch" in my parents' living room when it was interrupted by breaking news. The former Beatle had been shot in front of a hotel in New York. I ran and told my mom, and she cried so hard I felt like I had done something wrong.

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Independence Day Celebrations

America turns 233 this Saturday, and there is no shortage of events up and down the valley to commemorate the birth of a nation. Events in Aspen include: a parade down Main Street with a U.S. Air Force jet fly-by at noon; an Aspen Art Museum community picnic with free Hickory House barbecue and Flying Dog beer at 1:30 p.m., an outdoor concert by Broadband at 8 p.m. at Wagner Park, and fireworks over Aspen Mountain starting at 9 p.m. Carbondale, Glenwood Springs and even Redstone are also hosting celebrations all day. To see the details, check out the calendar on page 18.