As the snow starts to fall, like clockwork, Warren Miller Entertainment tantalizes us with their latest film of extreme skiers and snowboarders, traveling the globe in the search for the ultimate mountain experience.  This year is no exception.  The Playground plays at the Boulder Theater for 6 straight days, to ensure all Boulderites are fully charged for this upcoming, epic season in Colorado. Presented in stunning high definition, PLAYGROUND chronicles extraordinary action and breathtaking cinematography from Sweden, Japan, Dubai, Alaska and more.  The Playground is jam-packed with footage of all our favorite athletes, bringing the sport to new levels of insanity.  Like world record cliff-jumper Jamie Pierre and Olympian rabble-rouser, Bode Miller .  Also Starring Jon Olsson, and Chris Davenport, Sage Cattabriga-Alosa, Julien Carr, Mads Jonsson, and Colorado local, Chris Anthony and many more.

Photo-Adam Clark Rider-Sage Cattabriga-Alosa

As always, the meager price for the show includes free tickets to Steamboat, Copper, and Winter Park/Mary Jane plus discounts at BoulderPM’s favorite ski and snowboard shop, Boulder Ski Deals. Even if you only use one of the free ski tickets, it more than covers the cost of the movie.  The show plays every day, from November 6th to the 11th, with multiple showings each day.  Check the Boulder Theater's site for the complete schedule.

Photo-Will Wiesman Rider-Julian Carr

Bioneers (www.bioneers.org) is the preeminent international gathering of leading scientific innovators and environmental visionaries who offer practical solutions to the most pressing environmental and social issues of our time. Bioneers, in its 18th year, uniquely and authentically connects the dots between environment, health, social justice and spirit. Bioneers offers virtual conferences to educational institutions and community centers around North America. There is great potential for community networking and local organizing in Beaming Bioneers. The community-based nature of the satellite conferences facilitates a vibrant exchange among participants and allows for experiential activities and workshops. The program is designed to support individuals and organizations in learning about their own ecosystems, including urban environments, and how they can take action locally.

In its fifth year, the Colorado Bioneers companion event creates community opportunities for sharing, learning and action, and brings together the region's progressive ideas, people and organizations. This is a uniquely affordable community event that brings together people from all walks of life working for social change. The 5th annual Colorado Bioneers features a live satellite feed of the main Bioneers plenaries, and is locally enriched with the Green Living Marketplace; film, music and arts; networking; children's eco-activities; service projects, and sessions and workshops on regional issues and community solutions.

Bioneers in Colorado is produced by University of Colorado Environmental Center in collaboration with numerous partner organizations.

The Boulder, Colorado event features:

Live video simulcast of Bioneers plenaries on Friday, Saturday and Sunday: John Abrams - Paul Anastas - Judy Baca - Carol Bebelle - Charlotte Brody - Majora Carter - Eve Ensler - Jay Harman - Van Jones - Winona LaDuke - Wallace J. Nichols - Evon Peter - Katharine Redford - Edward Tick - Ka Hsaw Wa - Judy Wicks

 For full event schedule, click here .

 The 11th Hour, a Leonardo DiCaprio film, describes the last moment when change is possible. The film explores how humanity has arrived at this moment – how we live, how we impact the earth’s ecosystems, and what we can do to change our course.

The first thing you notice about Jans when you hear his voice, is the contrasting, pale complexion.  Voices like his were normally blessed upon singers of the darker persuasion, but with influences like Stevie Wonder,  Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and D'angelo, Jans breaths soul just as well as our African brothers.  Or Maybe it is the fact that his style was influenced by his many travels around the globe, immersing himself in the many cultures that are the roots of most of the music we listen to today.   His passion to delve deep into the roots of his influences led him to Senegal, Mali, Guinee and Burkina Faso, where he travelled for six months studying with some of the most accomplished drummers and dancers of the region.  Percussionists Scott Messersmith and Jans with drummer Dave Watts, spent some time in Havana, Cuba where they studied the religious and social forms of Cuban music.

Here is what the 8-String guitar freak, Charlie Hunter had to say about Jans  : “Jans Ingber is a musical force to be reckoned with. His affinity for deep Soul Music, whether it be Donny Hathaway or Los Munequitos de Matanzas, is evident in everything he does. His long years of study and practice, in what some may think of as disparate aesthetics, have created a unique and soulful musical voice.”

We live in a world that accepts American hip-hop as authentic but American reggae as flaccid. Sort of like looking for french fries in Chinatown--sure you can find it, but it's not the best, so why bother? American reggae has had a hard time finding an international audience that deem their music as authentic and as real as Marley, Tosh, or Beenie Man. There are subtle yet reinforced reminders that only real reggae comes from Jamaica, and no other place has the ability to produce talent that competes with the homegrown originals of Jamaican music. The charts, DJs and journalists constantly remind us of whose riddim and whose song is #1 in Jamaica. The award shows always hone in on strictly Jamaican reggae artists and therefore omit a great market and talent that is out there, pumping out great reggae music just the same. The time has come, for the many who thought only good authentic reggae comes from Jamaica-- to bite their tongues.

"Time is not counted from daylight, but from Midnite"

As an avid listener of reggae music, I am certain and definite when I hear true reggae that is thought provoking, heartfelt, and just damn good. It has been said that not everyone can play reggae, and I truly agree with that--it takes a certain vibration and sensibility to get the rhythms and timing right. Many times American bands lack the complete formula to provide consistent and full music and this can leave audiences limp. After all, many average bands have to avert to Marley tunes in between their own to keep the momentum. There is a need to keep covers on their playlists or their albums. For once I have come across a band who uses no filler, no derivatives and no covers to create an original sound of their own, and the st.Croix-based Midnite is that band.