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Ps & Qs: Death and Vanity Fair

What really matters at the end of this life; is it fame? Fortune? The one with the most magazine subscriptions wins? In the end, I think it’s the memories. It comes down to how you make others feel because only through the living does our legacy endure. I like the idea that we’re all in this together and at the end we reconnect in stardust. This thought brings me an easy-going, off-the-hook, peace of mind. Like one of my favorite quotes by Ogden Nash- “There is not a shred of evidence that life is serious.” So, I might as well do what makes me feel accomplished and have a little fun along the way.

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Good spirits up and down Main Street

Carbondale’s historic Main Street district has long been the home of a changing roster of bars and restaurants, but these days things are looking a little different as the drinking scene takes on a more social vibe, according to two entrepreneurs working on those changes.
With the advent nearly two years ago of the Marble Distilling Company, 150 Main St., and now the pending inauguration of the Roaring Fork Beer Co.’s new tasting room at 358 Main, reportedly to be known as “Batch,” it would appear that the changing nature of Main Street drinking establishments is on the upswing.

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Dharma Center offers a way of compassion

The Roaring Fork Valley’s Buddhist practitioners now have a place they can call “home,” sort of, at the Way of Compassion Dharma Center in Carbondale. Located in the Third Street Center, it the first such center to open up in the valley, according to its Spiritual Director, John Bruna (who also goes by a traditional Buddhist name, Jangchub Chophel). In addition, according to the center’s web site (www.wocdc.org), there now is an “app” that practitioners can use “to help us stay connected to the Dharma,” a reference to the teachings of Buddha, known as Dharma.

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Development plan would be new City Market’s neighbor

According to Carbondale officials at Town Hall and a private land-use planner working on the Carbondale Marketplace project near the intersection of West Main Street and Highway 133, a proposed new and enlarged City Market store and its related commercial entities still are expected to be built.
In addition, according to a consultant involved with the City Market project, the owner of the lot just south of the City Market site along West Main Street has arranged for an open house on June 6 at the Carbondale Town Hall to gather public input about a new development idea in the same part of town.

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Nicki and Rita, gatekeepers of CMS

If you’ve been to Carbondale Middle School, chances are you’ve met Nicki and Rita. The school secretaries have been manning the main office for a combined 50 years, and in the process they’ve become almost inseparable. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for folks to mix them up or even combine their names, so we’ll stick with a first name basis here to avoid even more confusion.

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Pages of the Past: Basalt mayor resigns over radar gun controversy

June 2, 1977: Basalt Town Hall was in turmoil after the mayor and two town staffers resigned, and most bar owners were upset that the town council had banned minors inside bars for any reason. One bar owner asked whether it would still be okay for her four-year-old daughter to take naps in the bar area. The mayor of three years (plus six as a town council member) cited “personality conflicts” with the other members for resigning.

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Free park concerts kick off June 11

Another summer in Carbondale, another monthly series of free concerts in Sopris Park. Starting Sunday, June 11 — and continuing every second Sunday of each month until the program’s Sept. 10 finale — locals and visitors can count on late afternoons of free concerts from 4-7 p.m. “This is an amenity for everyone,” said Marty Silverstein, co-event coordinator with Steve Standiford of Steve’s Guitars fame. Each show features two acts that includes a usually local opener followed by a touring headliner, according to Standiford.

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Do not forsake me, oh my darlin’

This isn’t my paper; it’s yours.
For five months now, I’ve served as the sole full-time employee of Carbondale’s community newspaper, which could have left me feeling a bit like Will Kane in “High Noon.” If you haven’t seen the classic 1952 western film — and I strongly recommend that you do — it’s about a town marshal who, on the day of his wedding and retirement, finds himself without the support of his community when he needs it the most. That has not been my experience.