Arts Colorado

Whether parading about on the ski slopes in winter or strolling on the mall in search of pricey art in the summer, the elite of Aspen are constantly--and happily--on public view here. Thus, it was an odd sight to watch 500 glittering Aspenites grudgingly descend 40 feet underground for the final cultural wingding of the summer Friday night.

Whether parading about on the ski slopes in winter or strolling on the mall in search of pricey art in the summer, the elite of Aspen are constantly--and happily--on public view here. Thus, it was an odd sight to watch 500 glittering Aspenites grudgingly descend 40 feet underground for the final cultural wingding of the summer Friday night.

Cosmologic Where: Open Gate Theatre, Center for the Arts, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock When: 7 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $10 Information: (626) 795-4989, http://www.centerartseaglerock.org

Ted Leo When: 8 p.m. Saturday Where: Skybar at the Mondrian, 8440 Sunset Blvd. Price: Free (with rsvp) Info: http://www.mondrianhotel.com When: 8 p.m. Sunday Where: Eagle Rock Center for the Arts, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock Price: $10 Info: http://www.fyffest.com

More than 100 LA artists will converge on the Center for the Arts, Eagle Rock, for a monstrous live drawing and fundraising festival. Patrons will witness five hours of live drawings and have the opportunity to purchase the drawings, with proceeds going to the nonprofit organization Outpost for Contemporary Art. There will also be silk screenings, live DJ sets, food vendors and more. Center for the Arts, 2225 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock. Noon-6 p.m. $10. http://www.centerartseaglerock.

When musicians went to the state Capitol building to strike up the band this week it was not a happy tune they were playing, but a sad song that Colorado was about to eliminate arts funding. Colorado, like many other U.S. states, faces a budget deficit because of economic hard times. Lawmakers have chopped about $800 million from the next fiscal year's $13.8-billion budget and one of the items that got the ax was the arts.

How much does it cost to see a live performance in Los Angeles? Increasingly, the answer is "it depends. " Under Center Theater Group's new dynamic pricing, the best seats were priced at $120 when it was first announced that the Ahmanson Theatre's staging of the dark comedy "God of Carnage" would feature the original Broadway cast. But those who waited wound up paying as much as $200 for the same seat locations as Jeff Daniels, Marcia Gay Harden, James Gandolfini and Hope Davis reprised their roles.

Think puppet and most people think Muppet -- Kermit the Frog, Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, Ernie or Bert. Fluffy, fun, soft and lovable, these "Sesame Street" characters have entertained children on television for years. But during a new puppetry workshop at Eagle Rock's Center for the Arts, kids ages 9 and older can create their own mop-topped, Muppet-style puppets during an eight-week class taught by Emmy Award-winning puppeteer Michael Earl.

Deirdre Hamilton is no fan of snow or cold. She doesn't like heights either. Yet every winter she vacations at a ski resort. "My kids and my husband ski," said Hamilton, who lives in Northern California. "I gave it a try--I even took lessons--but I just don't like skiing. It's too cold." That's not to say that Hamilton twiddles her thumbs, getting bored and grumpy in a crowded ski lodge. She doesn't. She stays busy gambling near Lake Tahoe or getting a massage at Snowbird in Utah.

There's an unmistakable old-time twang in Triple Chicken Foot's rapid-fire fiddle and banjo-picking style, the sort of knee-slapping, square dance-friendly music that has drawn veteran mountain music fans to the annual Topanga Banjo Fiddle Contest & Folk Festival for more than 50 years. Only this isn't Topanga. It's around the Lincoln Heights bend and down by the Los Angeles River. Nor will you find a single petticoat among the tattoo-covered crowd gathered on a recent Saturday night behind HM 157, a Victorian house turned alternative art and performance space.

Since its creation in the mid-20th century, the electric guitar has faced misconceptions among composers and audiences alike. It's been deemed suitable only for rock 'n' roll, country, jazz or blues. The musicians who take it up have been pegged as reading-challenged, prone to playing too loudly and incapable of getting along with "disciplined" acoustic players.