Jul 22-28, 2020
Can Anybody Defeat Gov. Phil Scott?; Lite-Gov and Chittenden Senate Races Heat Up; Rachel Moore Brings the Power of Art to Civic Engagement at Helen Day Art Center; A Takeout Cocktail Crawl Around the Winooski Circle
Cover Story
Running in Circles: Can Anybody Defeat Gov. Phil Scott?
For a moment this spring, Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman considered dropping out of Vermont’s gubernatorial race. “The thought has to cross your mind,” he recalled. As the coronavirus outbreak tested the state’s health care system and ravaged its economy, Gov. Phil Scott was emerging as an early hero of pandemic politics. The second-term Republican had…
Obituary: Robert A. Cioffi, 1931-2020
St. Albans native helped shape his community through work in real estate, banking and politics
Greaseface, ‘Disposable’
(Self-released, digital) You can’t go wrong with Urian Hackney producing your album. In fact, it’s a privilege to employ his talents. The Rough Francis drummer has proven to be one of Vermont’s top authorities on how to make music sound good. And he made the new Greaseface EP, Disposable, sound really, really good. It’s clear…
Kingporgie, ‘Mitochondriac’
(Self-released, digital) The video for Ian Morris Greenman’s song “Churchy” shows the Burlington musician in a bedazzled cowboy hat, shirt open, growling out the track while surrounded by trippy, kaleidoscopic images. If this video were my first exposure to Greenman’s music, I’d have expected the rest of the songs on his debut solo project, Mitochondriac,…
Will Oldham, Box of Chocolates and the Vermont Ties to Reissued Indie-Rock Gem ‘Fearful Symmetry’
A piano emporium called Absolute Piano sits at 140 Plymouth in Brooklyn. Such boutiques are typical of gentrified, chic districts such as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass). But 30-plus years ago, when the zone had no fancy acronym and was more or less just the clump of streets that spanned the Manhattan and…
Vermonting: Slippers, Tubing and Beer in the Mad River Valley
Every time I bop down from Burlington to the Mad River Valley for a visit I want to move there, so a daylong dose of the place was bound to leave me wanting more. Heading home one evening last week after spending a day there, I turned around on Route 100 for one more taste.…
Letters to the Editor (7/22/20)
Composting Isn’t Funny I am writing in response to Tim Newcomb’s editorial cartoon in the July 8 issue, which inaccurately buys into the misconception that composting is inconvenient and hard to do. There are many options for animal-proof composting — one need do just a little research — and keeping food waste out of landfills…
Why Do So Many Apple Trees Grow Along Vermont’s Back Roads?
Drive or bike Vermont’s back roads, especially in farm country, and you’re likely to spot an abundance of apple trees growing along untended roadsides and abandoned hedgerows. Bob Gagne of Westford noticed as much and asked if we could explain how those fruit trees got there. “I have asked many people all over the state…
Art Review: ‘Mending Fences: New Works by Carol MacDonald,’ Rokeby Museum
If ever the country needed mending — of its political rifts, racial divisions and coronavirus woes — now is the time. Carol MacDonald’s new work, on exhibit at the Rokeby Museum, plumbs that need with uncanny timing. The Colchester artist didn’t have this moment in mind when she conceived of “Mending Fences” in September 2019.…
I Love My Child’s Mother but Don’t Think We Can Live Together
Dear Reverend, About a year ago, I moved out of the house I was living in with the mother of my child. We were having some issues, and I just couldn’t live with her anymore. I rented a place nearby so I could still be close to them. Recently we have rekindled the old spark,…
At Helen Day Art Center, Rachel Moore Brings Power of Art to Civic Engagement
As a venue, the Helen Day Art Center in Stowe is easy to overlook. It consists of four rooms above the town library that connect to the elementary school. Yet, over the past decade, the center’s community focus and important exhibitions — often integrating the work of Vermonters with art-world stars such as Louise Bourgeois,…
Page 32: Five Newish Books by Vermonters
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 leash of foxes. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book…
Bottom Line: Best in VT Tours & Charter Idles for 2020
Each year, Tinotenda “Tino” Charles Rutanhira challenges himself to take on a new project that pushes him outside of his comfort zone. In 2016, he launched a podcast series called “On the Shoulders of Giants,” in which he interviewed Vermont luminaries; that series ran for nearly four years. In 2018, Rutanhira, who hadn’t acted in…
Senate Scramble: Incumbents Face Crush of Challengers in Chittenden District
It’s been 20 years since a state senator lost a bid for reelection in Chittenden County. This year, challengers argue that the turmoil of a global pandemic and the sweeping racial justice movement may break that streak by attracting new, energized voters to the Democratic primary. Among the signs that have given the insurgents hope:…
Democratic Lieutenant Governor Candidates Differ on Criminal Justice
Vermont leaders have spent years debating how best to reform the state’s law enforcement and prison systems. Calls for action only increased this spring after the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, by a Minneapolis police officer. Now, criminal justice issues have followed Vermont politicians onto the campaign trail, where they are a point…
False Insecurity: State Tries to Sort Out Manchester COVID-19 Testing Snafu
The “wave,” as Dr. Janel Kittredge called it, started with a child’s stomachache. That’s not a typical sign of COVID-19, but the patient also had a fever, so Kittredge ordered a test. Unlike most doctors in Vermont, Kittredge didn’t have to wait days for an answer. Her urgent care clinic in Manchester was able to…
Free Will Astrology (7/22/20)
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): “How can I communicate to wild bunnies that I am their ally?” asked a Twitter blogger named Ghost Girl. That question is a good place to start my oracle for you. In the coming weeks, I think you’ll be wise to meditate on how to enhance your relationship with all kinds…
Obituary: Gordon Stone, 1950-2020
Emmy Award-winning instrumentalist had deep ties to Vermont music community
