Telluride citizen Rosie Cusack is equal parts raconteur/real-estate broker/home decorator/party-giver nonpareil. On that last front, her two hot-ticket parties – one in March, another on or around Labor Day, when she celebrates her birthday as well as the comings and goings of friends who set their annual calendars, like she does, by the Telluride Film Festival – feature barbecued Omaha Steaks. “I’m friends with one of the owners,” she explains, “for going on 16 years.” As a matter of fact: “I brought Omaha Steaks to the Telluride Film Festival,” another hot-ticket Labor Day tradition, which features them at its closing picnic every year.
Question: Corn seemed to play a big role at your party.
Answer: The party was in the fall, so it was Olathe sweet corn, of course. I always have it in the fall, but the actual date of the party does vary according to who is coming in when, and who is going to be in town. It’s not consistent.
Q: Your music set-up looks deceptively simple.
A: Well, Frank Marshall, who most film people know (he and his wife, Kathleen Kennedy, are movie producers) was the DJ. He DJs for friends, as DJ Master Frank.
Q: Does he scratch?
A: No. He doesn’t scratch.
Q: What did he play?
A: It was a mixture – he took requests. Anything you asked for, he was able to play it. He is able to play thousands and thousands of songs.
Q: With things like your “Bless the Irish” gardening stake and your red molded plastic chairs alongside that old metal chair with a crisp white pillow – the things in your yard don’t look like they came straight out of a decorator’s showroom.
A: Not at all. I have a very eclectic shabby-chic design taste. Those red chairs came from Design Within Reach. I love to design. I just finished redoing a condo in town here – it was not in great condition and I refurbished it on a very small budget, practically no budget. I love recycled items. I love to combine old with new. I love antique and secondhand stores.
Q: You also seem to love fire pits and candles.
A: I love the fire-pit ambiance. And my Pope candles. He’s no longer the Pope; he died, so I got them for 50 cents apiece. It’s important to have the Pope around….
Q: I guess you need him if he’s going to “Bless the Irish.”
A: That picture is so hilarious. They’re tchotchkes. They’re what we Irish call “shanty Irish.” If you were in my yard these days, it would look a little bit different – I added a new chalkboard to the back of the house.
Q: Why?
A: Because it’s so fun to play Pictionary there. We have had some very successful Pictionary games.
Q: I noticed several other real estate brokers in these party pictures – Matthew Hintermeister, Scott Kelly. Kind of shoots down the notion that brokers don’t get along – it’s more like they play well with others.
A: Well, yes, Matt and Scott are at almost all of my parties.
Q: Almost?
A: Well, yes, I have a lot of parties, and they certainly can’t attend all of them!
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