Jul 17-23, 2019
A Rutland Landlord Partners With Artists to Spur Creative Economy; Burlington Grapples With Regulating Airbnbs; Funny Business: Vermont Comedy Club Debuts Sketch Revue
Cover Story
A Rutland Landlord Partners With Artists to Spur Creative Economy
In a glass-walled studio high above Rutland’s Merchants Row, a Ukrainian-born artist swirled marble-like patterns onto paper. Across the hall, a painter from Texas worked on a floor-to-ceiling collage of doodles collected from Dallas museumgoers. Nearby, a Massachusetts multimedia artist pored over hundreds of photos she’d taken of Rutland. In all, one morning last month,…
Obituary: Norma Sassorossi, 1925-2019
Norma Troup Sassorossi, 94, passed away peacefully on July 21, 2019, at the McClure Miller Respite House in Colchester, Vt. Born on June 24, 1925, in Barre, Vt., she was the daughter of William Pratt and Margaret (Galli) Troup. Barre became her geographical anchor throughout her life. Norma graduated from Spaulding High School (SHS) in…
Birth Announcement: Elise Olivia Richards
On July 19, 2019, at Porter Medical Center, Emily Yahr Richards and Ryan Richards welcomed a girl, Elise Olivia Richards.
Obituary: Matthew de Wolf, 1929-2019
Matthew J. de Wolf of Colchester, Vt., passed away on July 3 at the age of 89 of a brief illness, surrounded by his closest friends. He was born October 8, 1929, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to Elizabeth (Dietz) de Wolf and Peter de Wolf. He spent his youth living in Nazi-occupied territory and often…
The Cannabis Catch-Up: Really Powerful Weed
Vermont’s Statehouse, small and mighty, topped with a golden dome, earned another descriptor last week — cannabis plantation. That’s right: The Capitol Police Department has found and removed nearly 40 weed or hemp plants from the Montpelier government building’s flower beds since the first one was discovered on July 8. “A visitor to the Statehouse…
The Parmelee Post: Viral App Reveals What CityPlace Will Look Like in 40 Years
CityPlace Burlington project officials say they are absolutely stunned by the remarkable accuracy of a smartphone app that has taken the internet by storm. Using artificial intelligence, FaceApp transforms photos to offer users a glimpse into the future. “We thought, Why not upload a picture of the new face of Burlington and see what it’ll…
Birth Announcement: Dahlia Rue Agnes Clear
On July 16, 2019, at Porter Medical Center, Katherine Clear and Rolf Humburg welcomed a girl, Dahlia Rue Agnes Clear.
The Grackles, ‘Marshlands’
(Self-released, CD, digital) Ariel Zevon and Duffy Gardner, both rural Vermonters, released a joint effort in February under the name the Grackles. A farmer and stonemason, respectively, the pair touted the record, Marshlands, as a folk-rock opera. However, no discernable story or through line emerges amid the album’s 12 tracks. Rather, the tunes barely make…
Letters to the Editor (7/17/19)
‘Disarming the Maniacs’ As Paul Heintz ably points out in his article [“Stickin’ to His Guns,” June 26], Sen. Bernie Sanders has not been entirely consistent in his positions on gun control. What the article also shows, if only between the lines, is where Sanders has been consistent: namely, in his desire for a more…
Art Review: ‘Composing Form,’ Helen Day Art Center
Human beings tend to be clumsy; art and craft allow us to work toward amending those shortcomings. Featuring seven contemporary artists working in ceramics, “Composing Form” at the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe presents a family of intricate objects that collectively ruminate on the human body and human history — and the drive to…
Spreading Concern: Vermont Officials Are Checking More Sites for Toxins
When Vermont Air National Guard officials asked John Belter in the summer of 2017 if they could test the well on his South Burlington dairy farm, he agreed without hesitation. Regular tests of the 150-foot-deep well just northeast of the air guard base had for years shown the water was clean and safe for his…
The Lemon Flyers, ‘Find a Way’
(Self-released, digital) The Lemon Flyers are a straightforward rock-and-roll four-piece from Burlington. They are also an almost literal band of brothers whose lineup spans, as their bio puts it, “three brothers and one other guy.” That’d be Matt and Sawyer Kavanagh sharing guitar and lead vocal duties, Alex Kavanagh on drums, and Pat Buono holding…
Sanders’ 1999 Drug Run to Canada Wrote a New Rx for Political Advocacy
Twenty years ago last week, Kathleen Keenan boarded a van bound for Canada in search of cheaper prescription drugs. The 59-year-old emergency room nurse and Vermont state representative from St. Albans had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was struggling to afford her daily dose of tamoxifen. “I had been paying about $113 a month…
Theater Review: ‘Cabaret,’ Lost Nation Theater
The human impulse to seek shelter from a storm can kick in just as strongly when the gathering clouds are political, not literal. Artists and entertainers — reliable purveyors of escape from the daily grind — created legendary safe havens, in fact and in fiction, from the horrors of 20th-century war. The dadaists had their…
Burlington Rockers Sad Turtle Come Out of Their Shell
A few days before the release show for their new album This Day in Age, Sad Turtle found themselves in sudden distress. Halfway through an interview with Seven Days about the sophomore release, a carefully crafted plan went awry. As the four musicians lounged on the porch of drummer Jeremy Gartner’s Burlington home, a prop…
A Craftsbury Senior Care Facility Puts Out a Plea for Donated Power
A senior care facility in the Northeast Kingdom is looking to cut costs by asking the community to pitch in some power. Not people power but electric power, preferably generated by the sun or wind turbines; think crowdfunding for the renewable set. The initiative could help the nonprofit Craftsbury Community Care Center save on its…
River Arts Hires Joseph Pensak as Executive Director
A minister walks into an art gallery. Then another gallery. Then a concert hall. Did we mention he’s a musician? Joseph Pensak already wears plenty of hats, but that’s not stopping the Redeemer Burlington pastor and New City Galerie director and head curator from adding another to his collection. Pensak, 42, is the new executive…
Kumail Nanjiani Is Wasted in the Stultifying ‘Stuber’
August came early this year. Hollywood traditionally reserves the month as a dumping ground for its duds and disappointments. Yet here we are, barely into mid-July, and the only new arrivals at the multiplex are Crawl, which wasn’t screened for critics, and Stuber, whose star bailed on “Conan” with just minutes to airtime the night…
Mikey’s Market Grill Serves Gourmet Burgers on Church Street
Mikey’s Market Grill is now open for business on Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace. The food cart, parked in front of the TD Bank ATM at the corner of Church and Bank streets, made its first appearance last Friday. It’s owned and operated by Michael DiMaggio, whose menu includes five varieties of gourmet burger, three different…
Book Review: ‘The Ghost Clause’ by Howard Norman
In an interview earlier this month, Howard Norman told Jane Lindholm of Vermont Public Radio that The Ghost Clause will be his final novel. Even those who lack that knowledge might find his atypical ghost story a bittersweet read. Narrated by a dead man, it’s permeated with a profound sense of what he calls “ongoingness,”…
Mad Taco Moves, Expands in New Essex Space
The Mad Taco in the Essex Experience (formerly Essex Shoppes & Cinemas) is moving, a year after opening, to another spot in the same shopping center. The taco-and-beer joint will close its current Essex storefront on Monday, July 22, and open anew in Suite 213 at 21 Essex Way — which previously housed Berda’s —…
The Family That Kills Gators Together Stays Together in the Uninspiring ‘Crawl’
Why should sharks have all the summer fun? That seems to be the brainstorm behind Crawl, a movie directed by Alexandre Aja (Piranha 3D) in which a plucky college student, her plucky dad and their plucky dog battle not just a passel of free-ranging alligators but a Category 5 hurricane. Part disaster movie, part survival…
Eat This Week, July 16 to 22, 2019: Green Eating
Camp Meade in Middlesex, a onetime Civilian Conservation Corps encampment, is the site of the weekly Eat Up and Get Down! The Sunday event on the green behind Red Hen Baking and Nutty Steph’s brings people together for food, beer, wine and music. The July 21 menu will feature Taiwanese food from Gingerfield Noodles, Caribbean…
WTF: Why Do the Trees Planted by VTRANS Keep Dying?
Drivers who regularly travel Route 7 through southern Chittenden County may have noticed a proliferation of dead and dying trees and bushes along a newly widened stretch of the highway. Two readers contacted Seven Days in the last few months to ask why many of the trees and shrubs, which were planted in the past…
Quick Lit Book Review: ‘Before Houdini’ by Jeremy Holt
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Season 3 of the Netflix science-fiction horror drama “Stranger Things” broke the record for the online streaming service’s largest viewership for an original release in its first days. In just 96 hours, more than 40 million member accounts viewed the program about a ragtag group of midwestern kids fighting…
Vermont Comedy Club Presents First Sketch Revue
A brief flash of panic hit me as the lights went down for the inaugural performance of Vermont Comedy Club’s sketch revue. After all, a well-known show composed of comedy sketches is “Saturday Night Live.” And I had somehow forgotten, until that very moment, that I really don’t like “Saturday Night Live.” I’m relieved to…
Soundbites: Celebrating the Life of Seven Days Staff Photographer Matt Thorsen
Never-Ending Story I’m starting this week’s music news on a somber, bittersweet note. You may or may not know that, on New Year’s Day 2019, longtime Seven Days staff photographer Matthew Thorsen died after a long struggle with cancer. Though it wasn’t sudden, his death left a pretty big hole in the collective Seven Days…
What Can I Do to Reignite Our Boring Sex Life?
Dear Reverend, After being in my current relationship for almost a year, I find myself becoming bored with my and my partner’s sex life. It was hot in the beginning, but now it’s like we only do the same limited moves over and over again. We have talked openly about changing positions and doing different…
Former Ed Secretary Holcombe Faces Learning Curve in Bid for Governor
The 2020 campaign got under way Tuesday morning as Rebecca Holcombe announced her Democratic candidacy for governor. Holcombe became education secretary in 2014 under Democratic governor Peter Shumlin and continued to serve under Republican Gov. Phil Scott until April 2018, when she resigned with little notice and no public explanation. So now the question is,…
Hold the Phone: Sync! Offers Screen-Free Fun for Adults
Smartphones have become nearly essential tools for managing professional and personal lives, as well as providing infinite sources of entertainment. The devices can also function as a social safety bubble. Whether they’re buried in New York Times headlines, a never-ending stream of Instagram eye candy or political vitriol on Twitter, users frequently shut out the…
Work: Hypnotist Karen Gray Makes Suggestions
Name: Karen Gray Town: White River Junction Job: Hypnotist and director of Green Mountain Hypnosis A tip to all dentists out there: Next time you’re about to drill into a patient’s pearly whites, don’t warn them that it’s going to hurt. That just burrows the expectation of pain into the patient’s subconscious, according to hypnotist…
Beds & Burlington: The City Grapples With Regulating Airbnbs
When Linda Provost first posted her Burlington home on Airbnb eight years ago, it was one of about a dozen local listings. “Now,” she said last week, “there are hundreds.” Indeed, the short-term-rental website listed 720 Queen City options as of June 1 — up from 430 listings in January 2017. The rise in rentals…
Authors of ‘Burlington Brewing’ Explore the Beer Scene Past and Present
This weekend’s Vermont Brewers Festival has some suggested reading, but don’t worry; it’s way more fun than your high school summer reading list. Burlington Brewing: A History of Craft Beer in the Queen City, coauthored by Reverend Col. Jeff S. Baker II and Adam Krakowski, is a comprehensive look at Burlington’s beer scene, both historically…
Local Partners Help Feed Kids When School Is Out
The smell of summer wafted from a barbecue grill set up on a grassy corner between the Community Sailing Center and the Andy A_Dog Williams Skatepark near the Burlington waterfront. It was 11:40 on a Wednesday morning, and Julie Davis was grilling local beef burgers, bean burgers and turkey hot dogs. Her colleague, Mitzy Foy,…
Somali Restaurant Kismayo Kitchen Opens in Burlington
Kismayo Kitchen, a restaurant that specializes in Somali food and also serves American fare, opened in late June at 505 Riverside Avenue in Burlington’s Old North End. The restaurant, in the building previously occupied by the Little Red Kitchen, is owned and operated by Ahmed Omar, 32, of Burlington. His restaurant experience includes consulting and…
