Nov 14-20, 2018
Winter Preview: Big Firms Gobble Up Ski Resorts; Are Jay and Burke on the Menu?; Previewing the Women’s World Cup at Killington; Don’t Be SAD, Try Cognitive Therapy; Cookbook Author Andrea Chesman Says Animal Fat Is Back
Seriously: The Seasonal Affective Episode
In this episode, Bryan explores a new treatment for seasonal affective disorder with wellness expert Divinity Shakrah. To learn more about Dr. Kelly Rohan’s SAD study, visit: uvm.edu/~sadstudy CREDITS: Written, filmed and edited by: Bryan Parmelee “Vitamin D for my Soul” written and performed by: Divinity Shakrah Artwork/photography by: Rob Donnelly, Luke Eastman, UVM/Andy Duback,…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Numbers Game
After months of uncertainty, the task force examining a potential taxed-and-regulated marijuana market for Vermont has released its most important number to date: 26. That’s the sales tax percentage Vermont consumers can expect to pay if the legislature legalizes sales and adopts the figure recommended by the Governor’s Marijuana Advisory Commission. By comparison, buyers in…
Obituary: Leslie Pray, 1964-2018
Claremont, Calif. Leslie A. Pray, 54, formerly of Burlington, was tragically killed on November 3, 2018, while cycling toward the San Gabriel Mountains near her home in Claremont, Calif. Leslie received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986 and her graduate degrees from the University of Vermont (master’s degree in 1994…
Cutting Out the Middle Man: Moderates Ousted From Vermont Statehouse
For 16 years, Rep. Kurt Wright (R-Burlington) was a rarity. The affable moderate maintained support in his deep-blue city — something no other Republican has been able to do — by working across the aisle in the Vermont House and, at key moments, breaking with his party. Last week, Wright’s winning formula failed him. Despite…
Scarlett Letters: What Sexual Positions Won’t Hurt My Back?
Dear Scarlett, I have a pinched nerve in the lower part of my back and need some advice for sexual positions that won’t hurt it. Signed, Back in the Sack (female, 44) Dear Back in the Sack, Many people suffer from back pain, especially in their lower backs. For some, chronic pain leads to depression…
From Piazzolla to Puccini, Diverse Classical Options for the Weekend
Any given weekend in Vermont offers a slew of classical music performances, no matter how carefully the musicians try to schedule around one another. This weekend’s are particularly diverse — especially if you like singing. They range from an intimate soprano-and-guitar concert in a yoga studio to a 70-person choir singing one of Leonard Bernstein’s…
How Psychotherapy Can Treat Seasonal Affective Disorder
Lauren Bartlett was 14 or 15 when she first noticed what would become an annual affliction: the winter blues. Generally, it hits her starting in September, when the weather gets colder and the days get shorter. Bartlett grew up in Warren and recalled that her half-mile walk to and from her school bus stop helped…
Album Review: Nick Grandchamp and the People Watchers, ‘Time-Out’
(Self-released, CD, cassette, digital) If you know Vermont punk, chances are you’re familiar with Nick Grandchamp. The Rutland guitar player and singer made his mark as part of the now-defunct hardcore band Get a Grip and the melodic punk trio Sink or Swim. In September, he released Time-Out, the first album from his solo project,…
Page 32: Short Takes on Five Vermont Books
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a parliament of great horned owls. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize…
Cookbook Author Andrea Chesman: Bring Back the Fat!
When cookbook author Andrea Chesman was very young, her grandmother Esther Lewin lived with the family in Troy, N.Y. Lewin often cooked with poultry fat, known as schmaltz in Yiddish. After she’d rendered the schmaltz from chicken skin, tantalizing crisp nuggets remained, Chesman explained. These “gribenes,” as they were called, cooled on a plate on…
Cartoonist Edward Koren Releases New Book, ‘Koren. In the Wild’
His cartoons are instantly recognizable: scratchy lines; fuzzy, long-nosed characters; and wry captions that could be comments overheard at a Vermont farmers market or a tony Manhattan restaurant. And they often were, noted Ed Koren in a recent phone interview. The native New Yorker, longtime Brookfield resident and former Vermont cartoonist laureate has just released…
Snow Go: Short Winters, Warm Temperatures Bedevil Vermont’s Nordic Ski Areas
The rental ski boots are still lined up neatly on a shelf, next to a clutter of skis. But after 17 years in operation, the cross-country ski center at Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks in Montpelier won’t open this winter. It’s not for lack of customers. Plenty of skiers want to glide along the center’s 14-kilometer…
Supermajority Rules: The Challenges of Legislative Dominance
The November 6 elections gave Democrats and Progressives a supermajority in the Vermont House to go with their continued dominance of the Senate. That’s a significant shift in the power balance with Republican Gov. Phil Scott. But it doesn’t mean the beginning of a liberal golden age with bill after bill flying past a helpless…
Weed for Warriors: Veterans Day Event Features Free Cannabis
In honor of Veterans Day on Sunday, Heady Vermont staffers opened their Burlington office — and a sizable stash of cannabis — to those who have served in the military. “We literally can’t smoke all this weed,” said Eli Harrington, cofounder and managing editor of the cannabis news, events and advocacy organization. He expertly rolled…
Soundbites: The Vermont Comedy Awards, Julia Caesar Return
Funny Fête Vermont’s comedy scene is one of the state’s biggest and most supportive arts communities. Its close-knit nature is understandable, given how vulnerable you have to make yourself to do standup, improv and/or sketch comedy. Think about it: Improvisers get onstage with nothing planned. Sure, they rehearse and hone their craft just like any…
Hogback Snacks Brings Year-Round Snack Bar to Johnson
It’s always sad when Vermont’s summer snack bars close for the season. In Johnson, Hogback Snacks co-owner Carrie Ferguson hopes her new roadside eatery will help soften that annual autumnal blow. The spot opened on the outskirts of town, at 1015 Route 15, in late October. Inside the building that was once home to the…
Chill Out at the WinterWonderGrass Music Festival
Vermont’s chilly climate mandates that most music festivals take place between late spring and mid-fall. Obviously, summertime is the busiest. You could spend practically every June, July and August weekend frolicking through grassy festival grounds as talented bands pluck, strum and croon the days away. But there’s no real reason we can’t enjoy some festival…
World Cup Skier Resi Stiegler on Comebacks, Control and Chocolate
All Resi Stiegler wants for her birthday is a few good finishes. The World Cup alpine skier turned 33 on Wednesday, November 14. Barring any unforeseen catastrophes, she plans to crush the slalom in the women’s alpine competition at the Audi FIS Ski World Cup at Killington Resort next weekend, November 23 through 25. The…
Movie Review: A Genre Mash-Up Doesn’t Make for Fun in J. J. Abrams’ ‘Overlord’
J.J. Abrams may be the closest thing to Andy Warhol Hollywood has known. At his peak, you’ll recall, the pop artist often didn’t personally execute his ideas. He jobbed that out to minions, which is why his Manhattan studio was called the Factory. Abrams’ name has similarly become a brand and, increasingly, his medium of…
Eat This Week, November 14 to 21, 2018: Beaver Dinner
For the 63rd edition of its annual wild-game throwdown, Bradford’s United Church of Christ invites visitors from near and far to sit elbow to elbow in the church mess for a forest-foraged feast. On the buffet line, local volunteers dole out portions of venison steak, bear-meat chili, pheasant with rice, rabbit pot pie, pulled wild…
As Big Firms Gobble Up Ski Resorts, Are Burke and Jay on the Menu?
Vermont has become the latest hunting ground in a competition between two giant Colorado companies that are buying up ski resorts and upending the industry’s economics. Vail Resorts, a publicly traded company valued at $11 billion, and its privately held rival, Alterra Mountain, have been stockpiling resorts across North America in what seems to be…
Letters to the Editor (11/14/18)
Say What? I have a large family, and we really like to eat out. I wear hearing aids, and I find the noise level in many of restaurants distracting — sometimes even painful. I have only one thing to add to [“Sound Man,” October 17]. Many hearing aids, for reasons I don’t fully understand, magnify…
Comedian Nicole Byer on ‘Nailed It!’ and Why No One Will Date Her
On the hit Netflix series “Nailed It!” amateur — read: lousy — bakers attempt to re-create fantastically ornate cakes made by professional cake artists. Challenges from the recently completed second season include a gigantic model of the solar system, a majestic unicorn and an enormous coiled snake. Constructing what are essentially edible sculptures out of…
Album Review: Milton Busker & the Grim Work, ‘Milton Busker & the Grim Work’
(Self-released, CD, digital) Milton Busker specializes in what he calls “suit folk.” But in practice, that’s more of a dress code than a subgenre for the dapper Vermont songwriter. Most of the songs on his latest album, Milton Busker & the Grim Work, would have been radio rock 10 years ago, out on the dial…
Movie Review: ‘Border’ and ‘Beautiful Boy’ Both Explore Dark Landscapes
We’ve reached the time of year when award contenders start flitting into art houses, many of them quickly flitting out again. This week I’m covering two noteworthy films that might be easy to miss, given that each opened in a sole theater in our area. Border, Sweden’s official Oscar submission, attracted a crowd at the…
In Pictures: Monday Night Hockey at Gordon H. Paquette Ice Arena
For the past 43 years, every Monday from just after Labor Day to the end of March, Steve Gleason has hit the ice with 20 to 25 of his closest friends. The 62-year-old is the founder of Monday Night Hockey at Gordon H. Paquette Ice Arena in Burlington’s Leddy Park, believed to be among the…
Theater Review: ‘Tartuffe,” UVM Department of Theatre
It’s not just love affairs that begin with the perfect pair. In Molière’s Tartuffe, a fool finds his knave and they demonstrate how mightily a bamboozled man will resist the truth, and how easily a con man can pick the right mark’s pocket. In the University of Vermont Department of Theatre production, the 1664 play…
Free Will Astrology (11/14/18)
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): The U.S. is the world’s top exporter of food. In second place is the Netherlands, which has 0.4 percent as much land as the U.S. How do Dutch farmers accomplish this miraculous feat? In part because of their massive greenhouses, which occupy vast areas of non-urbanized space. Another key factor is…
Art Review: ‘Gerald Auten: Graphite Insomnia,’ White River Gallery
Graphite usually suggests pencil drawings made up of strokes and lines, but in “Gerald Auten: Graphite Insomnia,” currently on view at the White River Gallery in South Royalton, the artist uses powdered graphite or graphite pencil to build images very differently. Using his fingers and tools, and wearing a respirator mask, Auten creates drawings that…
Hackie: Cabbie Marathon
It was early morning, the start of what was shaping up as my busiest workday in years. Joaquin Acosta sat next to me, a striking presence with his Jheri curls and black eye patch. Didn’t Jheri curls come and go with the disco era? I thought. But what did I know? I had just picked…
Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner in Stowe Village
It’s hard to top a mochaccino frappé, but if I had to pick a drink to surpass this frothy concoction, it would probably be a spiked version: a salted-caramel milkshake dosed with bourbon and mixed with cold-brew. The frappé is on the menu at the Depot Street Malt Shop in Stowe, where it’s served in…
BFA Fairfax Grads Return to Open Stone’s Throw Pizza
Two graduates of Bellows Free Academy, Fairfax have returned to their hometown to open a pizza place, Stone’s Throw, which launched on November 13 at 1123 Main Street, site of the former Foothills Bakery. Silas Pollitt, 33, and Tyler Stratton, 32, are childhood friends who have both been away from Fairfax for several years: Stratton…
Jr’s Original to Open in Winooski
A second restaurant will open at 348 Main Street in Winooski on November 19 when Jr’s Original joins Pho Dang Vietnamese Café in the building north of downtown. Co-owner Bogdan Andreescu, who grew up in Winooski, is bringing to his hometown an Italian restaurant that will resemble Junior’s Italian, where he started working as a…
