Backtalk: Larry McCrorey, Champ 101 ad, Tones Burlington, R.I.P. Century Plaza

COLOR WORKS: No sign of Ira Allen at the new multicultural gallery at the University of Vermont. Even Guy Bailey and David Willard Howe look out of place next to “Dahomey,” “Bebop Kuba” and other wild works on display in the biggest study lounge on campus. “So many of the images here are of white men,” library director Rebecca Martin says. ‘We wanted to do something different.” The college also wanted to honor doctor-activist-musician Larry McCrorey — one of the first faculty members to make an issue of cultural diversity in lily-white Vermont. “He was thinking more along the lines of a memorial many many years from now,” Martin says. “Then we came up with this” — a permanent and collection of art in the main reading room of the library “that would expose students to these images in their regular daily lives.” Art in your face, in other words. Seventeen pieces have already been purchased for the gallery with $65,000 — of $100,000 — raised for the project. She and McCrorey did the buying, with acquisitions advice from art prof Stephen Carter, local importer Lydia Clemmons and Fleming curator Janie Cohen. ‘We were looking for work dealing with racism and social justice from artists of color in New England,” Martin explains. Too bad none hails from Vermont.

CHAMP DOWN: Must be a ratings period for local radio. How else to explain the surprise Champ attack on the Wizard in the Burlington Free Press last week. Champ 101 dissed the rocker with a print ad that “bagged” its morning drive team. The station went to great pains to find three stand-ins for Steve Cormier, Lana Wilder and Coach Brennan, then photographed them with grocery bags over their heads. Paper, not plastic. The image is certainly stronger than the tag line: “Too bad everyone listening to Imus in the Morning can’t admit it.” Huh? “Its the first time I have placed an ad where people call in saying, ‘That is great,”‘ says Champ General Manager Ken Barlow. Definitely marks a new spirit of competition on the air waves. “We’re just radio guys having a little fun,” Barlow assures. “It’s not brain surgery.”

NO TONE: After a year on Church Street, Tones Burlington is tuning out. Owner Jeff Angione, who owns a sister store in Johnson and is a faithful purveyor of local and obscure music, will close down the independent record shop by the end of the month. Angione says he is selling just as well in the boonies for a fraction of the cost. “Given the time and energy spent on that store, it’s not worth it,” Angione says. It may be, however, to soon-to-be-former-manager Brad Searles, who is determined to keep it going with Paul Jaffe. With his drive, and business management degree, Searles may actually pull it off. The plan is to lease inventory from Angione through the Christmas season, then start fresh after the first of the year. Tones clones? No way. Searles wants to call the new store Nowhere Records, he says, “so when your mom asks you where you are going, you can tell her ‘nowhere.'”

MOVING PICTURES: Looks like Century Plaza is not going to see the next one. Owner Peter Judge recently got permission from the South Burlington Planning Commission to raze the sweetest cinema in town — to make room for a new 37,000-square-foot multi- story Barnes and Noble. The folks at Hoyts were in on the decision. Apparently, there is a direct correlation between screens and viewers, and Burlington was overstretched. Or, as Hoyts President Roger Eaton put it, “there was opportunity to rationalize.” As for the funky films —what he calls “art house, up-market and intellectual product” — they will be heading for the Nickelodeon. Too bad there are no state regulations for preserving leg room.