Feb 11-17, 2015
The Men Who Would Be Mayor; What a Ball: 20 Years of Drag; King Street Center Gets Artsy New Digs
Cover Stories
The Queen City Mayor’s Race Is a Referendum on Development
At 2 p.m. on November 20, a cadre of politicians flanked Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger as he announced a $200 million redevelopment project in Vermont’s largest city. They lauded the public-private partnership that would remake the sorry, single-story downtown mall into an urban complex of much-needed housing, retail shops and a hotel. Roughly an hour…
Picturing 20 Years of Burlington’s Drag Ball
Trying to capture in words the fabulous and flamboyant history of Burlington’s Drag Ball is like trying to describe an orgasm on the slip of paper inside a fortune cookie: There’s just too much fun to cram into one tight space. Suffice it to say that, for the past 20 years, Vermont’s LGBT community and…
Obituary: Cornelia Bastiana Rottler, 1931-2015, Burlington
Cornelia Bastiana Rottler (nee Wagenaar) passed on into spirit on February 12, 2015 at the Starr Farm Nursing home in Burlington, Vermont after a long fight with Alzheimer’s disease. Her son Chris was at her bedside. Connie was born June 27, 1931 in Halsteren, The Netherlands to parents Johanna Leijnse and Hendrik Wagenaar. She was…
Obituary: Bernice West Atwood, 1927-2015, Woodstock
Bernice West Atwood, 87, a long-time resident of Woodstock, died January 30, 2015 at Mount Ascutney Hospital in Windsor, VT. She passed peacefully with family by her side after an illness of lung cancer. She was born October 21, 1927, in Rutland, VT, the daughter of Ruth Curtis and Lester West. Bernice was one of…
Obituary: Harry F. Ehret, 1945-2015, Essex
Harry F. Ehret, 69, passed away on Thursday February 12, 2015 at his home in Essex, VT surrounded by his loving family. Visiting hours will be held on Sunday February 15, 2015 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at A W Rich Funeral Home, 57 Main St. Essex Jct., VT 05452. A memorial service will be…
Should I Be Jealous That Another Man Kissed My Wife?
Dear Athena, For several summers my wife and I overlapped vacation time with another couple, since my wife and his wife worked together for many years. After an opposing world-view discussion the night before they left, the other hubby gave my wife a kiss on the lips that was a second too long before he…
City Arborist Warren Spinner
Many of Vermont’s trees stand dormant and barren-branched through the cold months, while the evergreens need nothing to enhance their seasonal picturesqueness. What’s an arborist to do come winter? And what does an arborist do, anyway? To both questions, the answer is “Quite a lot.” Warren Spinner, who’s been the Burlington city arborist for 34…
Art Review: ‘Staring Back,’ Fleming Museum
One of the 20th century’s most controversial and influential artworks is the centerpiece of a daring show at the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art. “Staring Back: The Creation and Legacy of Picasso’s Demoiselles d’Avignon” amounts to a bold experiment on the part of curator and museum director Janie Cohen — not least because…
For Many Temps in State Jobs, Health Insurance Is Not an Option
Dozens of people hired to enroll residents in health insurance plans through Vermont’s online exchange lacked a key benefit for much of last year: health care coverage. “It is a cruel irony,” said Vermont Workers’ Center executive director James Haslam. Even as the legislature wrestles with issues such as mandating sick pay for all workers…
Burlington Bus Station Strikes a Balance With Historic Landscape
Designed landscapes of architecture’s modern era — the half-century that ended in the late 1970s — are often neglected, demolished or developed beyond recognition. That hasn’t boded well for the works of the 20th century’s most influential landscape architect, Dan Kiley, a longtime Vermonter whose office was located in Charlotte for most of his career.…
![Penguin Plunge [SIV387]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/episode387.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Penguin Plunge [SIV387]
2/7/15: The 20th Anniversary of the Penguin Plunge took place Saturday at the Burlington Waterfront. Over 1,200 brave souls leapt into the frigid waters of Lake Champlain and helped raise about $400,000 for Special Olympics Vermont. This year Eva joined their ranks and took the plunge. Music Barbacoa, “Teen Beast” “Celtic Impulse,” “Achaidh Cheide,” composed…
Book Review: The Nourishing Homestead by Ben Hewitt
“The soil is your gardens’ heart, lungs, and nervous system,” writes Ben Hewitt in his new homesteading guide. Published by White River Junction’s Chelsea Green, The Nourishing Homestead: One Back-to-the-Land Family’s Plan for Cultivating Soil, Skills, and Spirit details many of the hands-on logistics of the lower-income-and-lovin’-it rural lifestyle that Hewitt described in his previous…
Burlington Film Society and RETN Present Old-School Movies
When television made major inroads into the American lifestyle in the 1950s, big Hollywood studios reacted with panic. The rabbit-eared box in the living room was sure to spell ruination for motion pictures as we knew them. Of course, that was before the studios realized that TV was the perfect way to spin their film…
Fifty Shades of Grey Bear Makes Hollywood Splash
A star is born. Or, more accurately, “handmade.” Vermont Teddy Bear Company has given new meaning to the words “sex toy” with a Valentine’s Day offering that’s getting serious love from major entertainment media outlets: the Fifty Shades of Grey bear — mask and mini handcuffs included. Think of him as the anti-Paddington. Baddington? The…
Still Alice
A mind is a terrible thing to watch waste away, and rarely has the horror of losing one’s inner self to Alzheimer’s disease been conveyed as precisely and powerfully as it is in Still Alice. Pictures such as Away From Her and Amour have covered some of the same thematic ground, but those films told…
WTF: A Wet T-Shirt Contest for Sick Kids and Stray Animals?
Over the years, the Humane Society of Chittenden County and the University of Vermont Children’s Hospital have reaped charitable donations from a variety of community fundraisers: walk-a-thons, golf tournaments, 5K runs, canine cocktail mixers. But recently Seven Days music editor Dan Bolles chanced on promotional material for a novel fundraiser that promised to benefit both.…
Mana Threads Brings Brazilian Heat to Vermont Workout Wear
The hottest new Brazilian trend to hit Burlington has nothing to do with waxing and everything to do with working out. And it’s nothing like you’ve seen on local bodies before. Think capris decorated with palm trees, tank tops with tigers, and spaghetti-strap bras in bold checks, swirls and stripes. Basic black and utilitarian gray?…
Taking the Bait: Irasburg Couple Charged in ‘Elaborate’ Poaching Case
Fifteen deer mounts decorated one side of Wayne Dion’s living room, arranged in three neat rows of five. On the opposite wall, two dozen rifles hung within arm’s reach. In the kitchen, a visitor found mounts of coyotes, a bear and fishers, along with yellowing pictures of Dion posed with various kills. At least 50…
Jupiter Ascending
Ever since siblings Andy and Lana Wachowski burst into the big time with The Matrix in 1999, fans have been waiting for them to concoct another science-fiction flick “visionary” enough to capture the public imagination. Jupiter Ascending is not that movie. Less stylistically out there than the duo’s Speed Racer, less philosophically ambitious than Cloud…
Four More Local Albums You (Probably) Haven’t Heard
So many records, so little time. Seven Days gets more album submissions than we know what to do with. And, given the ease of record making these days, it’s difficult to keep up. Still, we try to get to every local release that comes across the music desk, no matter how obscure or far out.…
Will Patton Ensemble, Time’s Arrow
(King’s Hill Music, CD, digital download) Embedded beneath the CD tray of Will Patton Ensemble’s latest album, Time’s Arrow, is a curious and revealing quote: “Our love is like our music / It’s here and then it’s gone.” Rolling Stones fans will likely recognize that line from the 1968 Jagger-Richards classic “No Expectations.” Still, what…
Letters to the Editor (2/11/15)
Rutland Reads! As the owners of the Bookmobile in downtown Rutland, we were quite surprised to find out — via Steve Costello’s statements — that there are no stores selling new books here [Live Culture: “Phoenix Books to Open New Store in Rutland,” January 19]. Although primarily a used bookstore, we sell new books, too. By…
Tsunamibots, Surfing Craze in the Robotic Age / Rise of the Robots
(Self-released, CD, digital download) For reasons that still remain unclear, surf music has experienced a mini-revival in Vermont in the past 18 months or so. The latest band to drop into that reverb-washed wave are Tsunamibots, who recently released a pair of debut EPs, Surfing Craze in the Robotic Age and Rise of the Robots.…
Seasoned Traveler: Dusit Thai Cuisine, Newport
The first time Bangkok natives Exzy Saengsiri and Jinney Thananusak came to Vermont, it was New Year’s week, 2014. Both in their late forties and partners in life and business, the two women were visiting friends who were working at Middlebury’s Sabai Sabai Thai Cuisine. The weather was cold, even by Vermont standards. The temperatures…
Soundbites: Death at the Flynn; Rockin’ for Valentine’s Day
Oh, Death This weekend marks a curious calendar convergence. This Friday, February 13, is, well, Friday the 13th, which is always good for some oddball shenanigans. The following day, Saturday, February 14, is Valentine’s Day. Frankly, I’m not sure which is more terrifying. (By the way, that sound you’re hearing is the collective “Oh, shit,”…
Armory Grille and Bar Open at Hilton Garden Inn
For years, the Burlington Armory at 101 Main Street was home to R.W. Hunt Mill & Mining Company — better known as Hunt’s, the legendary venue that booked hundreds of national touring acts in the 1970s and 1980s, and hosted many popular local bands. After that club closed, the space was occupied by ’50s-themed Sh-Na-Na’s,…
Vaccine-Nation: A Viral Debate Over the ‘Philosophical Exemption’
As a measles outbreak continued to spread from California to 16 other states last week, an outbreak of vaccination debate infected U.S. politics. Vermont was hardly immune. In an interview with Vermont Public Radio’s Alex Keefe last Tuesday, Vermont Department of Health Commissioner Harry Chen warned that measles is “only one plane ride or one…
Asian BBQ & Noodle Coming to St. Albans
A new Asian restaurant concept will soon debut in St. Albans. Manager James Chen says BBQ & Noodle is slated for an early March opening at 133 North Main Street, the former location of Yama Sushi House. Modeled on restaurants popular in the American South, the new eatery will focus on a wide range of…
Vermont Considers Redefining ‘Local’ Schools
Four days a week, Andrew Pond dons a sport coat and drives 30 miles from his home in Bolton to the Statehouse in Montpelier. Pond has been on strike from his job as a service representative at FairPoint Communications since last October. He spent time on the picket line, caught up on errands and then…
King Street Center’s Arty New Home
After a full year in temporary quarters, the kids returned quietly to King Street Center late last month — well, as quietly as children ever do. But they, along with the adults who care for them, will raise a joyful ruckus next Wednesday, February 18, when they celebrate their center’s grand opening. Make that reopening.…
Grilling the Chef: Ren Weiner, Miss Weinerz
Chef: Ren Weiner Age: 29 Restaurant: Miss Weinerz Location: “sprinkled around town” Company age: three months Cuisine type: sustainable baked goods, pickles and other reimagined convenience foods, sold through local restaurants and her website, missweinerz.com Training: “I’ve cooked in restaurants since I was 14 years old. I’ve done everything everywhere. I’ve worked on farms and…
Jeffersonville Welcomes a New French Bakery
The culinary landscape is blooming in Jeffersonville, thanks to new additions highlighting international and local flavors. In the former category, the French Way Bakery opened in the last days of 2014 on the second floor of 158 Main Street, above 158 Main Restaurant & Bakery. There, Niçois native Jean-Marie Rabot turns out breads and pastries…
