Sep 26 – Oct 2, 2018
As Fewer Vermonters Hunt, Deer Population Grows; Above the Radar Fest Drops Dynamic Graffiti in Burlington; Where to Sing Your Karaoke Heart Out All Week
Cover Story
Up to Here in Deer: As Fewer Vermonters Hunt, the Growing Herd Is Becoming a Problem
Sunlight filtered through the canopy of leaves, illuminating the Hinesburg Town Forest in a soft green glow. The branches of the birch and maple trees stirred in the breeze. Only the occasional warble of a bird broke the stillness. Chittenden County forester Ethan Tapper surveyed the scene with dismay. The woodland was “a little ecological…
Calories Don’t Count During Seven Days Burger Week
Seven Days, Vermont’s free and independent weekly newspaper, is excited to announce all the juicy details of its inaugural Burger Week! For seven days, November 2-8, more than 30 participating restaurants will be serving up burger specials that diners will flip for. Think breakfast burgers, triple-deckers, veggie burgers and, of course, good old-fashioned beef patties.…
Seriously: The Karaoke Special
In this special report, we meet two of Vermont’s most prolific karaoke performers. Featuring Ricky Baker as “Norm Peoples” and Brian De La Bruere as “Kirby Sandbags.” CREDITS Written by: Ricky Baker, Brian De La Bruere and Bryan Parmelee Filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee Artwork/photography courtesy of: Matthew Thorsen, Luke Eastman, AP Photo/Andrew Harnik,…
Obituary: Richard Chase, 1932-2018
Burlington Richard Xavier Chase, a resident of Burlington, Vt., passed away peacefully at the age of 86 on Monday, September 24, 2018, at the University of Vermont Medical Center. He is remembered by his loving wife, Patricia (“Patsy”) Jamieson; his son, Christopher Daniel Chase; his daughter, Melissa Noel Grabau; and his stepson, Matthew Ross Jamieson.…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Growers Report Several Weed and Hemp Thefts
We’re headed toward harvest for Vermont’s outdoor growing season, and thieves have victimized several cannabis and hemp farmers. Over the past week, the list has grown longer by the day. On Monday, Heady Vermont published a story with the headline “Thefts Put Damper on Vermont Hemp Harvest.” The article recounted two growers who separately reported thefts,…
WTF: Why Are Vermont’s Vital Records on Ancestry.com?
Recently, a Westford woman emailed us to express her surprise upon discovering that many of her family’s vital records issued by the State of Vermont, including marriage licenses and her children and grandchildren’s birth certificates, are available online through Ancestry.com, a for-profit service for researching genealogies. The woman, who asked that she not be named…
Above the Radar Fest Brings Dynamic Graffiti to Burlington
If you haven’t been on a Burlington ferry recently, or hung out at the Spot on the Dock, you may not realize that some of the most dynamic art in the city — arguably in Vermont — is within view of the Burlington-Port Kent ferry dock on King Street. That art is the showcase of…
Orphanage Controversy Puts Bishop in a Familiar Setting — the Spotlight
As churchgoers filed out of St. Joseph Cathedral after Sunday mass on September 9, Bishop Christopher Coyne approached a gaggle of reporters. He was about to make his first remarks to the news media following the publication of a BuzzFeed investigation that recounted, in devastating detail, physical and sexual abuse at the former St. Joseph’s…
Soundbites: Ivamae and Clay Mohrman Collaboration; Flynn on Fire
Behind the Music I’m tired. I mean, as an adult in my thirties, I’m always at least a little bit tired. But I’m especially drained today because I just spent the last seven nights in a row singing karaoke. Why do such a crazy thing, you wonder? Um, because I’m a song-singin’ badass that can’t…
Up in Smoke: What Turner and Zuckerman’s Pot Plan Says About the Lt. Gov. Candidates
Vermont House Minority Leader Don Turner (R-Milton) and Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman, a Progressive and Democrat, don’t agree on much. During a recent radio debate, Zuckerman voiced support for lefty policies such as a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave and new funding for clean water. Turner, offering himself as a conservative alternative, opposed each…
Free Will Astrology (9/26/18)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Biologists are constantly unearthing new species, although not new in the sense of having just appeared on our planet. In fact, they are animals and plants that have existed for millennia. But they’ve never before been noticed and identified by science. Among recent additions to our ever-growing knowledge are an orchid…
Strange Bedfellows: Leahy’s Senate Relationships Get Results — Sometimes
The U.S. Senate has begun passing spending bills in a bipartisan manner, overcoming years of gridlock that repeatedly brought the government to the brink of a shutdown. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, claims this turnaround is due to his seniority and his decades-long friendships with Senate Republicans. Leahy…
Scarlett Letters: My Boyfriend Is Overly Friendly With His Ex
Dear Scarlett, My boyfriend is very friendly with his ex-girlfriend and her family. I’ve spoken to him about how she makes me uncomfortable because she has been rude to me on several occasions. He told me that’s just how she is. Her family told him I wasn’t allowed inside their house. One time when we…
At Shelburne Vineyard, Iapetus Captures Vermont Terroir
Shelburne Vineyard winegrower Ethan Joseph stood at the back of the winery at the end of a long harvest day. Wearing green Carhartts, rubber boots and a less-than-clean button-down shirt, the bushy-bearded redhead twisted a corkscrew into a bottle of wine, popped the cork and poured three glasses. Pale salmon in color and a little…
David Patrick Adams Gets Personal With ‘Portrait Interviews’
When David Patrick Adams listens to people’s life stories, their journeys can resemble the flights of glider pilots. In cross-country races, explained Adams, who is a licensed pilot, competitors sometimes fly in a different direction from their intended target to catch the thermals that will carry them to their destination. The 19th-century philosopher Ralph Waldo…
‘For Freedoms’ Activist Art Initiative Comes to Vermont
In 1943, during World War II, the Saturday Evening Post ran a series of four illustrations by its star artist, the Arlington, Vt.-based Americana illustrator extraordinaire Norman Rockwell. Expanding on president Franklin Roosevelt’s 1941 speech of the same name, “The Four Freedoms” (from want, from fear, of worship, of speech) were used to drum up…
Album Review: The Rear Defrosters, ‘Gentleman Farmer’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) “Cold beer and eggs, breakfast strength, if you can’t get up / It’s the only medicine for men who aren’t in love,” sings the Rear Defrosters’ Michael Roberts on the opening line of “Beer and Eggs,” the lead cut from that band’s debut EP, Gentleman Farmer. He continues, “Fried or scrambled,…
Revelry Theater Opens in Burlington for Very Intimate Shows
Tucked into a small suite in Burlington’s South End Arts District, Revelry Theater has something of a living-room vibe. From her front-row seat prior to last weekend’s Saturday Night Showdown improv comedy show, Burlington’s Kerri-Ann Jennings took particular note of that ambience. “That’s our living room rug,” she said, pointing to the stage floor of…
T-Shirt Boutique Solid Threads Finds a Home in Vermont
Maglianero Café may be well known to workers and residents in the Burlington waterfront hood, but something less familiar is just past the coffee counter, up a ramp and beyond the bike parking: a tiny T-shirt store without even a sign over the doorway. Racks of colorful tees line the walls. The vintage-inspired designs run…
Baker Martin Philip Wins Vermont Book Award for ‘Breaking Bread’
Martin Philip, head baker at King Arthur Flour in Norwich, won the fourth annual Vermont Book Award for Breaking Bread: A Baker’s Journey Home in 75 Recipes (Harper Wave, 2017). The award was presented Saturday night in Montpelier at the Vermont College of Fine Arts, which founded the literary honor. The judges called Philip’s memoir…
Album Review: Roan Yellowthorn, ‘Indigo’
(Blue Élan Records, CD, digital) Roan Yellowthorn, the duo of Jackie McLean and Shawn Strack, are one of the newest bands to set up shop in Plattsburgh, N.Y. The couple first met at Bard College and have been playing music together for several years. Recently, boutique LA label Blue Élan Records added Roan Yellowthorn to…
Eat This Week, September 26 to October 2, 2018: Catch a Fire
Switchback Brewing celebrates the launch of its new smoked beer series with a day of smoke and fire. Local craftspeople and vendors hawk their wares at a pop-up artists market while visitors snack on smoked meats from Bluebird Barbecue and Vermont Salumi and sip barrel-aged brews. As evening descends, revelers will shimmy and shake to…
Theater Review: ‘Oslo,’ Northern Stage
In the engrossing Oslo, playwright J.T. Rogers dramatizes the secret back-channel negotiations that led to the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords of 1993. He makes diplomacy riveting by focusing on people, not politics. The adversaries arrive with a desire for peace but no trust in each other. Only seeing their counterparts as individuals keeps them trying, even…
Letters to the Editor (9/26/18)
Plane Logic The article [“Thunderhill: Low-Flying Mystery Planes Rattle Small Vermont Town,” September 5] has finally answered the “mystery” which occurred this past spring at my home in Bethel. The plane as shown in the article seemed to be flying straight toward me as I sat at my computer. I recognized the plane as a…
Art Review: Gail Salzman at Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery
Gail Salzman’s paintings might all be categorized as abstract, but they are not similar. Each is a unique exploration of color, texture, time and composition that has little to do with the others. That aspect of this deeply experienced artist’s work — Salzman has been painting for 54 years — is apparent at her current…
Movie Review: ‘The House With a Clock in Its Walls’ Has Gothic Chills for Kids and Retro Fun for Adults
Childhood may be an innocent time, but it’s also a scary one, as classic kid-lit authors such as Roald Dahl and John Bellairs knew well. This new adaptation of Bellairs’ The House With a Clock in Its Walls (1973), the opener to a 12-book gothic series set in the midcentury Midwest, was directed by Eli…
Maple Corner Community Members Hunt for a Missing Septic Tank
A community that once bonded over a calendar featuring naked men has again come together — this time in search of a missing septic tank. Jamie Moorby called on the residents of Maple Corner, a village in the 1,600-person town of Calais, to help her unearth the missing turd tomb. Moorby is the operations manager…
Movie Review: ‘Fahrenheit 11/9’ Offers a Cogent Distillation of Michael Moore’s Life of Muckraking
It’s all Gwen Stefani’s fault. Well, most of the country’s current mess, anyway. Leave it to Michael Moore to connect such improbable dots. But he does. Apparently, he just doesn’t connect with moviegoers anymore. If you missed the memo on Stefani, here’s what happened: On September 5, the Hollywood Reporter ran an interview with Moore,…
As Controversies Swirl, What’s Next for Burlington Schools’ Beleaguered Superintendent?
The Burlington School Board recited a greeting that offered peace, friendship and love before the public comment period began at its regular meeting on September 13. The message failed to pacify the audience. Instead, a crowd of parents, residents and students drubbed the board and Superintendent Yaw Obeng for their handling of complaints against Burlington…
Where to Do Karaoke Every Night of the Week
Love it or hate it, karaoke is fully embedded in our entertainment culture, and isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, it’s possible to sing karaoke every night of the week and not rock the same mic twice. How do we know? We did it. Seven Days recently combed the state looking for lively karaoke…
TV Chef Sara Moulton Shares Kitchen Know-How at the Essex
The Essex Resort & Spa couldn’t have found a better guest chef to kick off its new teaching series. On a beautiful mid-September afternoon, 30 fans of television chef and cookbook author Sara Moulton chose to spend several hours with her in a basement kitchen in Essex. The Washington Post once dubbed Moulton “America’s sweetheart…
Bove’s Launches Monthly Pop-Up Dinners in Milton
Burlington locals shed more than a few tears when Bove’s restaurant served its final whorls of pasta on December 23, 2015. Now, those saddened by the Pearl Street café’s closure can tuck into a bowl of red-sauce nostalgia on Friday, October 5, at the first of a monthly dinner series at the Bove’s of Vermont…
