Sep 7 – Sep 13, 2016
Burlington Gears Up for South End Art Hop; Ill Winds Blow Over Proposed Turbine Project; Otis Mountain Get Down: A Vermont Music Fest … in New York
Cover Story
How the South End Art Hop Makes It Work
The 24th annual South End Art Hop kicks off this Friday, September 9, in Burlington. To those who’ve never attended, it can be hard to explain what all the fuss is about. It’s not enough to say that more than 500 artists will show and sell their work in open studios and businesses from Main…
Obituary: Ruth Ellen (Barber) Toner
Ruth Ellen (Barber) Toner, formerly of Chazy, NY and Swanton, and most recently of South Burlington, passed away Monday morning, December 12, 2016, at the UVM Medical Center after a short illness. Ruth was born in Bronx, NY, March 3, 1926, the daughter of Arthur William and Mary Agnes (Farmer) Barber. The family split time…
Obituary: Virginia M. Loiselle
Mrs. Virginia M. Loiselle, age 66, passed away at her home in Richford, December 13, 2016, after a lengthy illness. She was born in Goffstown, NH, January 21, 1950, daughter of the late Noel and Frances (Hardy) Stratton. July 31, 2008, she married Roland Loiselle. She was a homemaker in her own home, and enjoyed…
Obituary: Basil A. LaFleur, Jr
Basil A. LaFleur, Jr. a former resident of this area passed away early Sunday, December 11th, 2016, at the Springfield Healthcare & Rehabilitation Center with loving family at his side. Born in St. Albans on December 9th, 1947, he was the son of the late Basil A. and Lillian (Thibault) LaFleur. Basil was 69 years…
Obituary: Eileen G. Mercier
Eileen G. Mercier, age 98 years, died late Thursday morning, December 8, 2016, at The Holiday House in St. Albans Town. Born in Swanton on, January 16, 1918, she was the daughter of the late William and Etta (Champagne) Mercier. She graduated in 1936 from the former St. Anne’s Academy and spent the rest of…
Obituary: John Richard Thibault
John Richard Thibault, (PopPop) age 71 years, died Monday morning, December 5, 2016, at The University of Vermont Medical Center with loving family at his side. Born in St. Albans on, November 7, 1945, he was the son of the late Edgar and Lilliane (Montagne) Thibault. He graduated from the former St. Anne’s Academy and…
Obituary: John W. Cooper
John W. Cooper, age 67 years, died Sunday evening, December 4, 2016, at his Jones Court home with his wife Evelyn and other loving family at his side. Born in Greensville, S. Carolina on, March 4, 1949, he was the son of the late Edward Cooper. He resided in Fernley, Nevada where he met online,…
Obituary: Selina H. Dumont
Selina H. Dumont, age 84 years, went to her eternal reward on Sunday evening, December 4, 2016, at The University of Vermont Medical Center with loving family at her side. A longtime resident of Swanton Selina resided for the past seven years at the Helen Porter Health and Rehabilitation Center in Middlebury. Born in Clark,…
Obituary: Shirley Jean Turner
Shirley Jean Turner, age 77 years, died Wednesday morning, November 30, 2016, at her Carter Hill residence in Highgate Springs. Shirley lived most of her life in Fairfield and more recently in Highgate Springs. Born in Bakersfield, Vermont on, December 13, 1938, she was the daughter of the late Arthur and Myrtle (White) Hughes. She…
Obituary: Ethel Messier
Ethel Messier, 89, passed away Wednesday November 30th, 2016, at the St. Albans Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center with her loving family by her side. Ethel was born in Fairfax, VT at her family farm on February 22, 1927, the daughter of the late Oliver and Josephine (Thibault) Cross. She was the youngest of 9 children…
Obituary: Richard Jason Gidney
Mr. Richard Jason Gidney, age 76, passed away Tuesday evening, November 29, 2016 at the Bel Aire Nursing Facility in Newport. He was born in Montpelier March 16, 1940, son of the late Robert John and Europa L. (Herring) Gidney. Richard served in the U.S. Army for 6 ½ years in the Panama Canal Zone.…
J Bengoy, All the Songs I Never Wrote You
(Self-released, digital download) All the Songs I Never Wrote You, the debut six-track EP from Burlington rockers J Bengoy, plays like a half-hour sitcom. The scenario is familiar: Guy and girl with an undefined romantic past bump into each other on the street, awkwardness ensues and they proceed to grab coffee. Bookended by dialogue tracks,…
Everything’s Amazing With My Wife, But the Sex Has Stopped
Hi Athena, I have been with my wife for almost 17 years. Everything is amazing except one thing: The sex has stopped. I get it about two times a month if I’m lucky. So pissed off right now. What can I do? I tried taking her out for dinner, nice gifts … Nothing is working.…
For This Montréal Food Group, Three Brings a Crowd
Each week, five or six pigs, slaughtered and split in half at one of Québec’s certified abattoirs, arrive at Boucherie Lawrence in Montréal’s artsy Mile End district. “We carry them off the truck on our shoulders,” said the butchery’s co-owner, Sefi Amir. “We put them on the table and do all of the processing immediately.…
Independent Schools Warn: New Rules Could Cost Them Students
On the first full day of school at Sharon Academy last Friday, September sunshine washed over the hilltop campus and dozens of students tromped inside, passing the yurts out front that serve as overflow classrooms. Fundraising is under way for an addition to the private school, where about 85 percent of students pay with public…
Morgan
Every now and then in Hollywood, an apple falls far from the tree. Really far. Like, different planet far. Such is the case of Luke Scott, son of Ridley, who’s made his directorial debut with a film that highlights his ineptitude by boringly touching on themes that his father long ago touched on brilliantly. Blade…
Farnham Lager & Ale Opens Tasting Room
In 2015, when Farnham Ale & Lager moved into the South Burlington warehouse where Infinity Brewing once stood, the plan wasn’t to stay small. The owners of Québec-based Farnham intended to use the defunct brewery’s compact space — and licensing, which was part of the sale — as a temporary, ready-made way to enter the American market.…
Cohost of ‘A Way With Words’ Brings Her Own to Burlington
“A Way With Words,” the hourlong public radio show cohosted by Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett, is something of a triple-fudge sundae for amateur etymologists and Scrabble fanatics. The two answer questions from callers about the origins of odd words, regionalisms and those funny expressions Grandma used to use. Sometimes they even field inquiries on…
Free Will Astrology (9/7/16)
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Is “Big Bang” the best term we can come up with to reference the beginning of the universe? It sounds violent and messy — like a random, accidental splatter. I would much prefer a term that suggests sublime elegance and playful power — language that would capture the awe and reverence…
Hell or High Water
In 1971, a very young Jeff Bridges starred in The Last Picture Show, a bleak portrait of small-town life in the land once associated with cowboy swagger and manifest destiny. Now a more seasoned Bridges stars in Hell or High Water — also set in Texas and also a story of the heartland’s decline. The…
Work: Chelsea Lindner, owner, Artists’ Mediums
Name: Chelsea Lindner Town: Williston Job: owner, Artists’ Mediums After two decades in the business, Chelsea Lindner is finished with art supplies — selling them, anyway. Lindner, 52, is the owner of Artists’ Mediums in Williston. For 20 years, she’s been an independent local retailer of art supplies — oils, canvases, pencils, sketchpads, pastels —…
![Big Heavy World at the Demolition Derby [SIV458]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/episode458-scaled.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Big Heavy World at the Demolition Derby [SIV458]
9/1/16: Crashing cars, the smell of petrol and a local nonprofit music organization entering its first derby: Thanks to a team effort that was years in the making, the Big Heavy World derby car entered the ring Thursday night at the Champlain Valley Fair’s Demolition Derby in Essex Junction, and James Lockridge saw his dreams realized. For…
Soundbites: Rockin’ at Art Hop
For years, the opening night of the South End Art Hop has been one of my favorite times of the year to be in Burlington (the others: Halloween, the opening night of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and that glorious night in May when the college kids go home). But I have to confess that,…
Unlocking the Queen City’s Latest Craze: Escape
My palms are sweating. My pits are sticky, and my heart is racing. I’m in a Burlington basement holding a black light. There are ropes and rings, locks and keys, and riddles wrapped in mysteries. I strip off my gray sweater, anxiously eyeing a timer on the wall. The color of my cardigan aside, this…
All Keyed Up for the Boston Typewriter Orchestra
The trailer for a new documentary called California Typewriter quickly reveals that Tom Hanks is the star. Billed as “a meditation on creativity and technology,” the film also features cameos from rocker John Mayer and playwright-actor Sam Shepard, fellow aficionados of predigital typing. But who are those nerds in white buttoned-up shirts and ties, banging…
Spectacle and Nostalgia: Fair Reflections
The county fair may be one of the most bizarre, even surreal, examples of American visual culture. This year’s Champlain Valley Fair in Essex Junction was certainly no exception. Steeped in elements of thrilling seediness and spectacle (stuffed poop emojis, anyone?), as well as in visual references to a glorified past, this modern-day fair did…
Cinema Casualties’ B-Movie Fright Fests
These days, Kerry Noonan teaches Champlain College students about folklore and mythology. But horror fans might just recognize the professor for her role in a cinematic myth. Back in 1986, Noonan played one of Jason Voorhees’ victims in Jason Lives: Friday the 13th Part VI. That film celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, and Noonan…
Rutland First: Vermont’s Homegrown Opposition to Syrian Resettlement
Matt Howland is tired of the name-calling. Since late last April, when Rutland Mayor Chris Louras announced that his city would seek to resettle 100 Syrian refugees within its borders, Howland and a few dozen others have publicly — and pointedly — questioned the mayor’s plan. Their neighbors, in turn, have questioned the motivations of the…
Letters to Editor (9/7/16)
Whither Winooski? Over the past year, Seven Days has produced several excellent articles surrounding the subject of historic preservation efforts in Burlington, drawing needed attention to efforts of tireless individuals and organizations working to maintain and improve the city’s character [“A Farmhouse Reborn,” May 11; “Will South End Revival Alter Burlington’s Lakeside Neighborhood?” April 27;…
Winds of November: Windham, Grafton to Weigh In on Turbine Project
Frank Seawright picked his way through the woods beside his home, showing off a view unspoiled by humans: beech trees where bears dine, a beaver pond and surrounding wetlands. Just beyond them, he pointed out the forested ridge where a 28-turbine wind project is proposed. Iberdrola, a Spanish renewable-energy developer, plans to build 20 turbines…
Sibs Onstage: Carole Vasta Folley’s ‘The Seymour Sisters’
This weekend, Carole Vasta Folley brings her new play, The Seymour Sisters, to the Main Street Landing Performing Arts Center in Burlington. It’s the final stop of a summer tour that has taken the work to four other towns around Vermont. The playwright’s previous works were comedies with elaborate sets and larger casts — such…
Not-So-Rapid Intervention: Plan to Help Addicted Defendants Falls Short
Gov. Peter Shumlin’s 2014 State of the State address about Vermont’s opiate “crisis” got plenty of national media attention. The legislature followed up with Act 195, a 21-page law that includes initiatives designed to fight drug addiction. It established tougher penalties for out-of-state heroin dealers, expanded and reorganized the state’s drug-treatment system for inmates, and…
Ring Me, Noreen
“Noreen Johnson?” I was speaking to the receptionist at the emergency department of the University of Vermont Medical Center. To my left was the waiting room, occupied by about a dozen people in various degrees of physical distress. The thought passed through my mind that, presumably, they’d seen the triage nurse and awaited their turn…
The Otis Mountain Get Down is a Quintessential Vermont Music Festival … in New York
In Vermont, local music festivals have some enduring and endearing qualities. One such foundational tenet is, obviously, a strong slate of homegrown music. While many fests might draw attention with a big-name national headliner or two, more often than not the musical menus have a distinct locavore flavor. So do the food menus. Your little…
Landmark Adds New STEM Building to Historic Campus
Colleges regularly add to their architectural footprints, creating campuses that can span a couple hundred years or more. But the placement, forms and uses of such additions inevitably court controversy, especially when they’re inserted among buildings of historical importance. Witness the brouhaha over Tod Williams and Billie Tsien’s proposed expansion of Charles Moore’s 1985 Hood…
Luminous Crush, Lumina
(Lonely Hiway Records, CD, digital download) A wonderful thing occurs in the isolation of small-town Vermont, perhaps especially in those rural communities fed by nearby liberal-arts colleges. It isn’t uncommon to discover, say, a farmer who uses recording software in his or her spare time. Lumina, the debut studio album from southern Vermont’s Luminous Crush,…
August Burns Selected to Paint Shumlin Portrait
Every Vermont governor has to leave office eventually, whether voted out or deciding not to seek reelection. Either way, one perk awaits them: an official portrait that will hang in the Vermont Statehouse forever. Gov. Peter Shumlin, of course, chose the second exit strategy earlier this year, and his term of office will end in…
Taste Test: Soup’s On at Gaku Ramen
Dear college kids of Burlington: There’s a new Japanese restaurant in town, and it wants to be your friend. It’s named Gaku Ramen, and, right now, it’s settling into its new home on the southern end of the Church Street Marketplace. Visit it and you’ll find ramen — far better than the noodles you make…
Halyard Brewing Crafts Ginger Beer With a Kick
Nowadays, most ginger beer is more akin to soda than to a hoppy brew. It’s the finishing touch on a Moscow mule or a dark ‘n’ stormy, or it’s used like its cousin, ginger ale, to tame upset tummies. Pre-Prohibition, however, ginger beer was an alcoholic brew, heady on the spice and wildly popular across…
