Aug 3-9, 2016
Why Voting for Governor in the Primary Matters; Announcer Peter Graves Goes to the Games; Beyond the Burger: A Vermont Snack Bar Survey. Also: the 2016 Daysies Winners!
Cover Story
Seven Reasons Why Vermont’s Next Governor Matters
Rep. Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) was making phone calls to voters last month when one of them, asked about the Vermont lieutenant governor’s race, proudly responded: “I already know who I’m voting for. I’m voting for Hillary,” meaning Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Candidates up and down the ballot for state offices in Vermont say…
Obituary: Albert Perrelli
Albert Joseph Perrelli of South Burlington, passed away peacefully at Vermont Respite House on July 29th at the age of 97, ten months almost to the day after his beloved wife, Dorothy. Al was the youngest child born to Calabrian immigrant Dominic Luigi Perrelli, and Mary Padula of Cicero, Illinois. He served in the Pacific…
Nerve
“The computer stuff will interest anyone into such things.” So observed Roger Ebert upon the release of The Net, almost 20 years to the day before that of the social media thriller Nerve. What a difference a couple of decades makes. The late critic possessed a formidable intelligence, but, every now and then, he could…
Captain Fantastic
In the indie drama Captain Fantastic, countercultural guru Ben Cash (Viggo Mortensen) orders his six kids never to use the word “interesting.” It’s weak and undescriptive, he points out — rightly. But perhaps “interesting” is the best word for this film that waffles between giving the audience a feel-good experience and doing justice to its…
Soundbites: On Envy, Otter Creek’s 25th and Jerryfest
Before we dig into the news of the week, I’d like to begin with a flashback. Actually, a flashback to a flashback. If you’re a regular reader, or if we’re friends in real life or on social media, you’re probably aware of just how giddy I was about the Envy reunion that took place at…
Presenting the 2016 Seven Dandelions
The 2016 Daysies award winners have been announced this week — see the magazine inserted in this issue. Once again, Seven Days readers have let their voices be heard regarding just who is the best of the best in local food, services, arts and entertainment, and more. As always, the results were a mix of…
Hanging With the Robots at Rutland Maker Faire
Drones were flying and bots were battling on Merchants Row when my family and I arrived in Rutland last weekend. We’d come for the Mini Maker Faire, a show-and-tell exhibition of DIY inventors and homegrown creations. This wasn’t my first such event. I’ve attended the Champlain Mini Maker Faire, which since 2012 has filled Shelburne…
Barre’s Morse Block Deli Gets a Makeover
When Dustin Smith opened the Morse Block Deli in Barre two years ago, he hoped to capitalize on the extensive building improvements and new Vermont state office complex that many believed would lift the Granite City’s downtown economy. But then Smith got busy with other projects, and he decided to sell the business. Two weeks…
Walking Wounded With Vigilant Guard Disaster Drill
Last week I found myself sprawled beside a wrecked gasoline tanker, my arms and head covered in third-degree burns, blood dripping down my nose and glass shrapnel buried in my back. Meanwhile, a pregnant teenager across the road was going into labor. And then the lightning started. My adventure had begun at 7:45 a.m. last…
Blowing in the Wind: A Dunne Debacle Over Renewable Siting
No more than two hours after Gov. Peter Shumlin announced in June 2015 that he would not seek reelection, Bill McKibben sent me an unsolicited email saying he hoped former senator Matt Dunne would run. “I thought he was the right guy last time,” the Ripton environmentalist wrote, referring to Dunne’s unsuccessful 2010 bid. “And…
Mike Bald’s Mission to Eradicate Invasive Plants
Mike Bald tries not to use war terminology to describe his work of invasive plant removal. It’s a resolution made difficult by the sheer magnitude of the task he faces. Royalton-based Bald spends his days crisscrossing the state digging, chopping and pulling myriad nonnative species: Japanese knotweed, chervil, giant hogweed, Japanese barberry and, for now,…
Opera Preview: ‘The Diaries of Adam and Eve’
How would the first two human beings have understood the world? In Extracts From Adam’s Diary (1904) and Eve’s Diary (1906), Mark Twain imagined an Eve who looks up at her second night sky and is distressed to find that the moon has “got loose” and slid away. “It should have been fastened better,” she…
Why Is There a House in the Middle of the Winooski River?
Regular visitors to Wrightsville Reservoir in Montpelier may have spotted a long-abandoned house situated in a most precarious location: on a tiny island in the North Branch of the Winooski River. The small white structure, with its corrugated metal roof and missing windows and doors, sits about a half mile downstream of Wrightsville Dam and…
Artists Tap Into the Importance of Water
Water: You drink it, but have you tasted it? You touch it, but have you felt it? You look at it, but have you really seen it? These are questions posed by Vermont artists Sean Clute and Al Larsen in anticipation of their “Water Bar” event this Friday, August 5, at Burlington’s Pine Street Studios.…
Theater Review: The Way of the World, Dorset Theatre Festival
Plays can succeed on the strength of a single element, such as one actor’s sparkling performance, or on the merits of the text. Dorset Theatre Festival’s world premiere of Theresa Rebeck’s The Way of the World hits a veritable stage jackpot. This is theater at its finest and funniest. Eight talented actors, a smart and…
Free Will Astrology (8/3/16)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): You’re not doing a baby chick a favor by helping it hatch. For the sake of its well-being, the bird needs to peck its way out of the egg. It’s got to exert all of its vigor and willpower in starting its new life. That’s a good metaphor for you to…
Theater Review: Julius Caesar, Vermont Shakespeare Festival
A political leader is both a person and a symbol. Observers will fill that vessel with meaning, often projecting their own highest hopes or greatest fears on a ruler. In Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare looks at the private sides of public men, examining their motives for seizing political power and the fragility of government itself.…
How Do I Get This Guy to Back Off?
Hey Athena, I recently went on a trip with many of my friends to Washington, D.C. My boyfriend couldn’t come with me, unfortunately. One of my friends, a guy I had formerly been enemies with, approached me at the Jefferson Memorial and confessed that he really liked me. I told him that I wasn’t interested…
Art Review: ‘Exposed,’ Helen Day Art Center
Sixteen artists and one poet contribute to this year’s “Exposed” exhibit, presented by the Helen Day Art Center and patrons/collectors Petra and Stephen Levin. As the outdoor sculpture show has done for the previous 24 years, this one displays works along Main Street/Route 100 in Stowe Village and for a short distance along its recreation…
Letters to the Editor (8/3/16)
Time Out? [Re Fair Game: “Cashing In,” July 20]: Perhaps a step in the direction of fairer elections would be term limits at all levels of politics. We have it for the presidency; why not the U.S. Senate and House as well as our state legislatures? In my opinion, publicly financed elections are the ultimate…
Jinxbox, Unmuttered
(Self-released, digital download) Unmuttered, the debut from Middlebury’s Jinxbox, captures a spirited, out-of-the-box quality. The indie trio’s first record displays subtle lyricism, deftly arranged synthesizers and piano, and an inventive vocal experiment in the use of octaves that suggests a great deal of musical curiosity. The album is a culmination of work over the past…
![Festival of Fools [SIV453]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/episode453.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Festival of Fools [SIV453]
7/29/16: The Ninth Annual Festival of Fools transformed downtown Burlington last weekend. Jugglers, musicians, comedians, buskers and circus artists brought their performances to Church Street, City Hall Park and various venues. The festival is produced by Burlington City Arts and draws international performers and big crowds to the Queen City. Eva put on her mustache…
Maiden Vermont, The January Project
(Self-released, digital download) Sibling duo Maiden Vermont cover familiar territory for fans of indie folk on their debut EP, The January Project. It’s hard to move a foot in Vermont without tripping over an indie band, but Ethan and Jacob Tischler’s combination of intriguing harmonies, jazz-influenced orchestration and stripped-down, reedy vocals will win over those…
Vermont Cops Target ‘Facilitators’ Who Let Dealers Use Their Homes
Just three blocks from the hip bars and restaurants in Winooski’s resurgent downtown, a neighborhood displays signs of poverty and neglect. Many homes northeast of the traffic circle have peeling paint, slumping stairwells, and small overgrown lawns littered with plastic toys and other discarded junk. Police shone a bright light on the area two weeks…
Could a New Deadline Bring Down the Moran Plant?
A man walking on the bike path called out to a gaggle of camera-toting reporters waiting outside the Moran Plant. “Are they tearing it down?” he asked the media types gathered there on July 21. He wasn’t the only one wondering where things stand with Burlington’s dormant coal-fired electric plant, which is supposed to be…
Opiate-Addiction Implant Offers an Option to Those in Recovery
Dr. Ed Haak gripped his surgical instruments and pushed four tiny rods into the flesh of his “patient” — a hunk of raw pork. The tenderloin substituted for a human arm at a training last Friday in Burlington, where the physician and three other doctors learned to implant Probuphine, a new tool in the battle…
Home Plate Brings Comfort Food to Waitsfield
Ashley and Matt Woods and Don Wenner didn’t choose the name Home Plate for their Waitsfield restaurant because they’re baseball fans, although all three of them are. The trio wanted to let people know that their eatery — which opened earlier this summer in the old Phantom space in the Mad River Green Shops —…
Ten Bends Beer Opens Brewery and Tasting Room
Ten Bends Beer, a one-barrel microbrewery from Mike Scarlata and Jason Powell, debuted with 2,500 poured samples this weekend at the Stowe Brewers Festival. For those who missed a sip of the duo’s small-batch ales, Ten Bends will open a brick-and-mortar brewery and tasting room on Saturday, August 6, at 590 East Main Street in…
Beyond the Burger: Surveying Vermont’s Summer Snack Bars
Every culture has its fried-food tradition. In the American South, families gather for buttermilk fried chicken, fish fry and crisped okra; in Japan, street stands and bars offer crackling tempura fish and vegetables. Meanwhile, the English sup on fish and chips, and the French tête-à-tête over frites. Here in Vermont, we have snack bars. Mimicking…
