Jan 13-19, 2016
From the Himalayas to Vermont: Black Carbon and Climate Change; Trump Stirs Up Burlington, in Photos; How One Woman’s Brain Injury Inspired a New Career
Obituary: Vernon L. Shea, 1924-2016
Vernon L Shea, 91, passed away at his home on January 12, 2016 surrounded by members of his beloved family. He was born May 8, 1924 in Burlington, VT to Francis and Irene (Lovejoy) Shea. He was a lifelong parishioner of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington and was an usher for many…
Obituary: Angie L. McSweeney, 1949-2016
Angie L. McSweeney, (Annie) 66, passed away on January 13, 2016 after a long courageous battle with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma surrounded by her family and holding the hands of her son and daughter in-law Michelle. Annie was born on December 16, 1949 to Chester and Francis (LaBelle) Brothers in Burlington, Vermont. Annie married the love of…
Obituary: Marilyn “Bunny” (Moody) Conger, 1944-2016, Winooski
Marilyn “Bunny” (Moody) Conger, age 71, passed away on Tuesday, January 12, 2016 in the University of Vermont Medical Center, with family by her side, after several years of declining health. Born in Burlington, Vermont on March 16, 1944 to James and Rose (Vezina) Moody, she was educated by the Burlington School District. Bunny worked…
Obituary: Oscar “Ozzie” George LaMothe, 1924-2016, Winooski
A tribute to our Dad, a son of Winooski and member of the greatest generation. Oscar “Ozzie” George LaMothe passed away with grace and dignity on January 9, 2016 at UVM Medical Center. Ozzie was born at home in Winooski, Vermont on April 14, 1924 to the late Honora and Laura (Hemond) LaMothe. He spent…
Obituary: Claire A. Gratton, Winooski
Claire A. Gratton, 74, a longtime Winooski resident, passed away peacefully on January 7, 2016. Claire attended St. Francis Xavier Church for many years. She loved animals and enjoyed collecting teddy bears, salt and pepper shakers, and cookie cutters. Claire was predeceased by her parents, Arthur and Eleanor Gratton, and five siblings, Armand Gratton, Irene…
Obituary: Peter L. Lesage, 1947-2016, Colchester
Peter L. Lesage, 68, died suddenly on January 7, 2016. Peter was born June 7, 1947 in Colchester, VT son of Ernest and Albertine (Quenneville) Lesage. Peter enjoyed boating, sailing and long Miata rides with his wife Stephanie. Being mechanically inclined Peter could always be found in his workshop working on new projects, tinkering with…
Obituary: Lorraine Merchant Gabbeitt, Winooski
Lorraine Merchant Gabbeitt age 80 of Winooski, Vermont passed away after a long battle with cancer on Thursday, January 14, 2016 surrounded by her loving family at the University of Vermont Medical Center. Lorraine graduated from Winooski High School in 1952. She went on to work for New England Telephone, and retired after many years…
New VSO Director Thinks Outside the Box
Ben Cadwallader, the new executive director of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra, is 31 years old and has been on the job less than two months. But he arrives riding a West Coast wave of change. Cadwallader is fresh from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, where he was education programs manager under the also-young star music director…
A Fatal Drug Raid Raises Questions About ‘No-Knock’ Warrants
Authorities have been tight-lipped in the three weeks since members of a Drug Enforcement Administration task force fatally shot a suspected heroin dealer in Burlington’s Old North End. Two separate investigations are under way to determine whether officers were legally justified in opening fire on Kenneth Stephens after forcibly entering his apartment and if they…
Gina, Claudia & Sophia
In this fantasy, I’d offer myself up to Olivia as her boy toy and we’d travel the world together. Olivia Acquafredda. Such was the striking name of the woman I was summoned to fetch at the Courtyard Marriott and transport to the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe. She’s got to be Italian, I thought, steering…
Catherine Hall’s New Artworks Leave a Paper Trail
Japanese unryu paper, acid-burned velvet, “found” book pages, silk and part of a kitchen appliance — those are among the materials that Burlington artist Catherine Hall uses to create the works on view in “Paper Pieces & Works on Paper.” As its title suggests, this latest show at the SEABA Center on Pine Street focuses…
![Trumpnado Hits Burlington [SIV427]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/episode427-3-4-e1755138817204.webp?resize=640%2C360&ssl=1)
Trumpnado Hits Burlington [SIV427]
1/7/16: Donald Trump held a rally Thursday evening at the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Burlington. About 2,000 people lined up outside to get into the 1,400 seat theater. Outside in City Hall Park, around 700 protesters held up signs and chanted, many of them voicing support for hometown hero and Presidential…
Opinion: The Real Reason the Senate Booted Norm McAllister
It’s no accident that the first and only time the Vermont legislature has suspended a member is when that member was charged with sex crimes. The member, of course, is Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin), who has pled not guilty to three counts of felony sexual assault and three misdemeanor charges of prohibited acts involving three…
Citizen Sweet: A Cider With Sparkle, No Alcohol
Just after Christmas, Citizen Cider delivered its first canned shipment of a nonalcoholic sparkling cider to a handful of Chittenden County retailers. Called Citizen Sweet, the new cider is pressed from the same multi-apple blend as most of the Burlington cidery’s other offerings. While Citizen Sweet has been on draft at the cidery’s Pine Street…
Timothy James, Hifidelic Lounge
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Is it me, or has it seemed cloudier than usual in Vermont over the past eight or so years? I’ve got no empirical evidence to back that up. But for the sake of argument — and this review — let’s just agree that it has been. Eight years is also the…
Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys, 18
(Rootstock Recordings, CD, digital download) Banjo Dan and the Mid-nite Plowboys might be gone, but they are certainly not forgotten. In part, that’s because since the legendary Vermont bluegrass band called it quits in 2012, founders and brothers Dan and Willy Lindner have gone to great — and welcome — lengths to remind us just…
The Big Short
For a film on a subject already covered from every conceivable angle, The Big Short is impressively full of surprises. The first is that somebody came up with a new angle on the financial collapse of 2008. The second is that the “somebody” was writer-director Adam McKay. The universe of this movie feels light-years from…
Free Will Astrology (1/13/16)
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “It’s a terrible thing to wait until you’re ready,” proclaims actor Hugh Laurie. He goes even further: “No one is ever ready to do anything. There is almost no such thing as ready.” His counsel is too extreme for my tastes. I believe that proper preparation is often essential. We’ve got…
My Girlfriend Wants to Do a Foursome and I’m Nervous
Dear Athena, I’m a lesbian living with my girlfriend. We’ve been together for a few years, and things are good. Over the holidays, one of her closest friends visited us with her wife. They just got married last summer. We are all close. One night during their visit, they asked us if we could all…
How Enterprising: A Million-Dollar Handout to GlobalFoundries
In one of the few surprises of his final State of the State address last Thursday, Gov. Peter Shumlin revealed the name of a Canadian company establishing a beachhead in St. Johnsbury. Thanks, in part, to a $200,000 award from the Vermont Enterprise Fund, he said, Composites BHS would create 75 new manufacturing jobs in…
Book Review: Ecology or Catastrophe: The Life of Murray Bookchin
When a biographer sets out to depict her subject as a great but underappreciated thinker, it might be hard for her to be objective. Even more so when the author was the subject’s lover, editor, intellectual collaborator and deathbed caregiver. Such were the circumstances Janet Biehl brought to her seven years of labor on Ecology…
A Not-So-Serious Look at the VT Music Scene in 2016
Just as the end of a year inspires us to reflect on the previous 12 months, the start of a new one is a natural time to look ahead and make projections. Also, it’s a really easy way for media types to eat up editorial real estate during traditionally slow news cycles. Ahem. So, as…
Letters to the Editor (1/13/16)
What We Missed I was waiting for some notice of the killing of Kenneth Stephens to appear in your pages, but I have not seen any mention at all. I was hoping to comment — did I miss it? I have been in Mexico and so have not seen your print edition, but I have scanned…
Got That Swing?
Juliana Dixon has big plans for Vermont’s swing scene. The internationally seasoned instructor and dancer, who left Vermont for her native California 13 years ago, returned to Burlington last May with her longtime dance partner, Brad Thompson. This year, they aim to revitalize Vermont’s East Coast swing scene, starting with classes at North End Studios…
The Hateful Eight
Certain films vying this year for top industry honors offer an object lesson in the importance of editing and the value of brevity. Namely, because they drag on. Beautifully shot as it is, The Revenant runs out of story long before 156 minutes have elapsed. The shorter Joy still buries a fascinating life in minutiae.…
Fire and Ice: Jonathan Mingle’s Parable for Humanity
Jonathan Mingle writes in the prologue to his book Fire and Ice: Soot, Solidarity, and Survival on the Roof of the World that “The story of fire is the story of humanity.” For our ancestors, burning wood meant heat, sustenance and often community. The hearth, Mingle reminds us, is where people have told stories from…
Sandra Bernhard Talks Bowie, Trump and ‘Roseanne’
Sandra Bernhard is a modern-day Renaissance woman. She’s the author of three well-received books. She’s a talented singer who has released a trio of acclaimed albums and shared the stage with the likes of Cyndi Lauper, Scissor Sisters and the Pretenders. She’s a busy actor whose Internet Movie Database page runs the gamut from Scorsese…
The Adviser
Dick Mazza isn’t a cigar-chomping political party boss. And, while he does have a “back room,” it isn’t smoke filled. The 71-year-old state senator holds court in the rear of his general store in Colchester, in a modest office plastered with photographs and campaign memorabilia spanning his three decades in Vermont politics. Guests are welcomed…
New YA Book Examines Leningrad Symphony
Many composers’ music provides uncomplicated listening enjoyment, but the work of Dmitri Shostakovich seems to require that we weigh its intent. The Russian began composing when Lenin was in power and lived through Stalin’s murderous regime. He could have been shot for writing a piece that displeased the authorities — the fate of many less…
Mushrooming Medicaid Costs Create a State Budget Crisis
Medicaid, a 50-year-old government health insurance program for the poor and disabled, is in the crosshairs of some state policy makers because of its skyrocketing cost. In the past five years, total spending for all the services tucked under Vermont’s Medicaid umbrella rose $366 million. The state and federal governments share the annual cost, which…
After a Fatal Accident, a Burmese Family Faces the Future
Four calendars hang on the living room walls of Maung Mae’s house in the Old North End in Burlington. Two are from the school district, alongside his younger siblings’ achievement certificates and class photos from the Integrated Arts Academy at H.O. Wheeler. The other two calendars, published by the Islamic Center of Myanmar, are outdated.…
Black Carbon in the Green Mountains?
Jonathan Mingle writes chillingly about how black carbon is causing health problems and melting glaciers in the Himalayas. He also notes that the little-known pollutant — a component of soot that results from incomplete combustion — isn’t exclusively a faraway problem. Wildfires in the western United States, for instance, produce black carbon that hastens glacial…
Ann Zuccardy Turns a Brain Injury Into a New Career
Ann Zuccardy won’t go so far as to say her traumatic brain injury (TBI) was the best thing that ever happened to her. That would be the birth of her daughter in 1994. But Zuccardy, 53, contends that a serious blow to the head, which she suffered four years ago, actually made her smarter. Now…
Soundbites: 2016 Predictions
If you turn to page 64 of this very paper, you’ll find a piece offering some very tongue-in-cheek predictions for the local music scene in 2016. For the past eight years I’ve run some version of that piece, which, to repeat, is a joke. I stress the satirical nature of those predictions only because every…
Three Vermont Comics Roast the Movies
In the world of standup comedy, is there a creature more reviled than the heckler? Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David expressed their disdain repeatedly throughout the nine seasons of their immortal series. (Remember when Jerry paid a visit to one such loudmouth to heckle her at her workplace?) Middlebury funnyman Pierre Vachon, 38, has done…
Despite Mandate, Traffic-Stop Race Data Remain Elusive in Vermont
When they stop motorists in Vermont, cops don’t just collect licenses and registrations. As of September 1, 2014, all police officers in the state must record the race of every driver they pull over. The new mandate for “roadside stop” data collection is just one step in a national movement to halt discriminatory law enforcement.…
Archie’s Grill Reopens in New Shelburne Location
Shelburne-area residents can rejoice: Now under new ownership, Archie’s Grill has opened its doors and is serving up burgers once again. Unless you’re in the mood for a doughnut appetizer at the Dunkin’ Donuts that now occupies its old spot, though, you’ll want to hop across the street to 4066 Shelburne Road. In its new…
Pho and Mo’ at New Viet Thai in Essex Junction
Two years ago, Hiep Pham closed the doors of his Essex Junction eatery, Vietnam Restaurant. Between rent and other costs, he just wasn’t breaking even, he says. Last Friday night, neighbors and old customers gathered at Pham’s new restaurant, Viet Thai, to eat his cooking once again. Viet Thai is located at 118 Pearl Street…
New Steve’s Pizza Brings Pies to Bradford
This Monday, January 11, Steve’s Pizza quietly opened at 134 Main Street in Bradford. The opening menu features the crisped, crusty pies and sandwiches typical of a casual village pizza shop, says co-owner Nathan Porter. He hopes to begin offering pastas, entrées and delivery service in the weeks to come, but says he plans to…
Going to Pot: Seven Slow-Cooker Recipes
Winter is pantry and cellar season. As Green Mountain gardens sleep through the seasonal freeze, we find roughage in long-keeping crops such as potatoes and turnips, sunchokes and cabbages. Few of these are friendly to flash-in-the-pan cooking but instead reveal fine layers of flavor when heated for long hours, showered in seasonings. And while the…
Slideshow: Scenes From Donald Trump’s Visit to Burlington
Love him or hate him, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump draws a crowd, even in Sen. Bernie Sanders-loving Burlington. Hours before his Flynn Center show last Thursday, an estimated 3,000 fans and foes gathered on either side of police-patrolled Main Street. For one night only, the Queen City’s main artery was a political DMZ. On…
