Recyclables across the region poured out into the streets Thursday to protest what they say are reckless containment practices. What began as “just another windy recycling day,” quickly erupted into one of the largest assemblies of discarded containers, cardboard and paper in Vermont history. “In an area known for its unpredictable and often extreme weather,…
Secret Garden In case you missed it amid last weekend’s Magic Hat Mardi Gras chaos, Orlando’s Bar & Lounge had its grand opening on Saturday. Over the past few months, the new downtown Burlington music venue has rolled out its arrival with a series of hush-hush soft openings. But now it’s fully open and ready…
Meet the governor — of the fleet. Phil Scott — no, not that one — and his wife, Tricia, are bringing a boat-sharing service to Lake Champlain. Beginning this summer, members of the Champlain Fleet Club can reserve and use four different powerboats that’ll be docked in Malletts Bay in Colchester. Scott, who is not…
(Self-released, digital download) Big Homie Wes is a rapper, producer and radio personality from Lamoille County’s emerging hip-hop scene. He’s blessed with a calm, cool baritone and a real gift for making minimalist beats sound huge and lush. In the past few years, Wes has emerged as a sort of one-man cultural hub, a constant…
Everything’s relative. Truth, I’d posit, is sort of a great lazy Susan of realities. What you think about any given thing is likely determined by which dish lands in front of you. For example, take the controversial case of Harmony Korine, just 19 when he scripted Kids (1995). Since then, he’s written and directed some…
Several days a week, James Valastro runs a machine at Keurig Dr Pepper. For 25 years, he’s also freelanced as a videographer, director, editor and location scout. While scouting all over Vermont for companies such as L.L.Bean or Mercedes-Benz, the South Burlington resident has taken thousands of photos, and, he says, “I get to meet…
Shit Happens Regarding the article “Milking It” [March 13] and its subsequent amusing letters to the editor [Feedback: “How Now, Cow?” March 27]: Once I finally waded through the combination of “boo-hoo” and “who gives a shit” letters — and the one from an apparent vegetarian sun and wind worshipper — I came away with…
To paraphrase an old chestnut, nothing is certain in life except death and that doing your taxes will be a pain in the ass. That’s doubly true this year, with numerous revisions to the federal and state tax codes in 2018. Thousands of Vermonters are scrambling to make sense of their finances before April 15,…
Carol Perry was smitten. A year after her husband died, the 73-year-old Vermonter met Chris Maxwell on the online dating site Plenty of Fish. Maxwell said he was born in Greece but lived in New York City. He promised to come meet Perry in person at her senior living facility in Vernon. “Can you just…
(Self-released, cassette, CD, digital download) Night Protocol are a four-piece party machine devoted to “synthwave,” a subgenre that pays tribute to ’80s electro-trash pop classics. Few pockets of pop culture are not steeped in winking irony, but synthwave is dead earnest. The band’s debut album, Tears in the Rain, is a glittering monument and an…
Many adults remember Disney’s Dumbo (1941) mainly for its misery. Like Bambi, the story expertly channels childhood nightmares: First the baby circus elephant is publicly ridiculed, then separated from his protective mom, then forced to perform for jeering spectators. But Dumbo has a secret weapon: He can fly. The tale may not be subtle in…
If you happened to be in the market for an altered lap steel guitar last week or felt like writing a song with the guitarist from Mission of Burma, you were in luck. Roger Clark Miller, a composer, multi-instrumentalist and conceptual artist, was wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign for his art installation “Transmuting the Prosaic.”…
By all rights, Thursday should be a day of high drama in the Vermont Statehouse. The Senate is scheduled to debate a state constitutional amendment that would “ensure that every Vermonter is afforded personal reproductive liberty” and states that reproductive rights “shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest…” But…
In the first act of Semele, George Frideric Handel’s 1743 opera in English, Semele leaves her betrothed at the altar for Juno’s husband, Jupiter, and Semele’s sister hooks up with the abandoned fiancé. That’s just a taste of the racy plot. The opera’s music, composed at the height of Handel’s powers, shares the same can’t-look-away…
When I’m channel surfing, I stick with Groundhog Day every time I catch it — which is often, as it’s a cable TV warhorse. To me, it’s just about the perfect movie, simultaneously hilariously funny and profoundly meaningful — Bill Murray at his quintessential best. In a favorite scene (which is repeated numerous times, since…
On a recent afternoon at Patchen Music Studios in South Burlington, four young female opera singers work out the finishing touches of a scene from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s The Magic Flute. They are so young, in fact — high school sophomores, a junior and a senior — that their voice ranges haven’t solidified. But they…
Dear Reverend, My best friend, Katy, and her pug, Roscoe, are inseparable. Which is fine, and Roscoe is adorable, but there’s just one problem: The little guy farts a lot and is reeeealllly stinky. Like, you-want-to-pass-out stinky. And Katy doesn’t even seem to notice! When she and Roscoe come over, I discreetly crack a window,…
For 25 years, La Brioche Bakery & Café has been a coffee-and-sweets mainstay in the heart of Montpelier. The bakery-café at 89 Main Street, owned and operated by the New England Culinary Institute, serves student-made pastries, croissants, brownies, cookies and cakes to customers in the Capital City. In addition, the kitchen prepares a daily rotation…
When rich Vermonters die, their kids aren’t the only ones who get a windfall. The state is a beneficiary, too, taking a 16 percent cut of the value of estates over $2.75 million. Vermont is one of just 12 states that still have an estate tax — or, as critics call it, a death tax.…
In February 2008, Dana Walrath’s mother, Alice, was kicked out of her New York City apartment for the second time in six months. The reason: behaviors driven by her Alzheimer’s disease. Unable to find her mother another place to live, Walrath moved Alice to Vermont to live in her family’s Underhill farmhouse. But after three…
For its 18th annual regional tasting event, Vital Communities gathers dozens of Upper Valley farmers and food artisans in the Hartford High School gymnasium. Wake up with java from Upper Valley Coffee Roasters (with or without fresh local cream!), then sample cheeses from Spring Brook Farm, goat’s milk gelato from Sweet Doe Dairy and yogurt…
The call came several minutes early. Patricia Happy, a Burlington paralegal, had been anticipating it would be late. Courts rarely run on time, especially for hearings like this one, which are often scheduled in blocks. “Oh, this is it!” she anxiously exclaimed. On the other end of the line was the Sarasota, Fla., courtroom of…
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A mushroom shaped like a horse’s hoof grows on birch trees in parts of Europe and the U.S. If you strip off its outer layer, you get amadou, spongy stuff that’s great for igniting fires. It’s not used much anymore, but it was a crucial resource for some of our ancestors.…
Jason Pugliese was looking for answers. He was a few years out of college and running a startup concession business in Colorado. But something was lacking in his life, and he knew it. So he traveled the country, simultaneously running his nascent business from the road and committing himself to studying many of the world’s…
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 barred owls. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each…
Three years into their hops-growing business, Karen and Kevin Broderick realized they needed to buy their own harvester, rather than rent one from a friend. The timing of hops harvesting is so precise that they could no longer rely on the availability of someone else’s machine to meet the demands of their brewery customers. But…
Chef Sarah Natvig Position: Owner and chef, Black Krim Tavern Location: Randolph Age: 40 Restaurant age: 8 years old Cuisine type: New American, farm-to-table Culinary Training: BA in culinary management, New England Culinary Institute, 2004 What’s on the menu? Changes weekly; jerk salmon with ginger rice cake, pork sausage tamales, risotto cakes, steamed mussels with…
Burlington’s the Fobs kind of look like a cult. Clad in gleaming white jumpsuits, the 11-piece punk group emanates a manic energy not unlike certain fanatical 1970s religious groups often seen jubilating at airports. In concert, the band’s members ecstatically move their bodies in beautiful, messy fits as if filled with a divine spirit. But…
Is money really the root of all evil? That’s a bigger question than we’re able to answer in this annual issue. Though, as Dharma Pugliese, financial guru of the Holistic School of Business, asserts: “Money is energy.” The residents of Living Well Group might agree with that Zen-like take — they’re energized by the retirement…
As part of a senior project at the University of Vermont, Abby Roleau pitched her plan for a diversified maple, pastured-meat and egg farm to a panel of loan officers. “Seven out of the eight laughed at me,” she recalled. “They said it was not realistic: too much work for us and not enough money…
People hungry for food options in Waterbury Center have a new lunch spot to look forward to. The Woodstock Farmers’ Market has taken over the Pete’s Greens Farm Market at 2802 Waterbury Stowe Road. The site is closed for renovations, but when it reopens in mid-May, visitors can expect an expanded food-service program, Woodstock Farmers’…
