Jul 23-29, 2014
Vermont’s “Grain-to-Glass” Craft Distilling Movement Comes of Age; Farm Fresh Foods for Patients; Bugging Out at the BIoblitz; Prepping for the Apocalypse; A Gastropub with Games
Cover Story
Vermont’s Craft Distilling Movement Comes of Age
Ryan Christiansen stands on a stainless-steel platform beside a tall, silver column and explains how it’s used for raising spirits — not from the dead but from living, fermented grain mash. Christiansen, head distiller at Caledonia Spirits in Hardwick, has personally modified and fine-tuned this column still, which he uses exclusively for the second pass…
Obituary: Gary F. Belrose
Gary F. Belrose, age 73 years, died Sunday afternoon July 27, 2014, in the Northwestern Medical Center. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer on October, 1, 2013. Gary was born January 21, 1941, at home in Swanton, the son of the late Louis Charles and Margaret (Longe) Belrose. Where he has been a lifetime resident.…
Obituary: W. Donald Horrigan, M.D.
W. Donald Horrigan, M.D. Isle La Motte, VT, formerly of Princeton, NJ, passed away on July 24, 2014 in Burlington, VT. He was born on January 3, 1931 in Waterbury, CT. He was predeceased by his parents, Thomas H. and Kathryn S. Horrigan, and his brother, Thomas H. Horrigan, M.D. Don graduated from Crosby High…
Fun and Farm-to-Table Food at Tilt Arcade
Ever since the legendary Barcade opened its original location in Brooklyn in 2004, many members of Generation X have dreamed of owning their own adult arcades. But 36-year-old neuroradiologist Joshua Nickerson is far from typical. Traveling the country, he often found himself at adult arcades such as Ground Kontrol Classic Arcade in Portland, Ore., and…
Theater Review: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
At last Thursday’s preview performance, Weston Playhouse audience members signaled their delight in Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike with loud, long laughter and a few spontaneous outbursts of applause. There’s no question this play can tap an audience’s craving for comedy. Vanya won the 2013 Tony Award for best play, which…
Begin Again
For Irish writer-director John Carney, Once was the charm. The 2006 musical drama had the lowest concept possible: Two struggling singer-songwriters meet in Dublin and fall in love. Yet the film’s rawness, combined with the intensity and convincing chemistry of stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, earned it Grammy and Oscar nods and a passionate…
From the Rockies to the Greens
“My goodness, it is nice to be getting back to Rutland.” The source of my customer’s happiness was no mystery. Renee Bishop had just been discharged from a week at the hospital in Burlington. (I was going to say “Fletcher Allen,” but I’ve heard they’re changing the name of the place yet again — at…
Granite State of Mind: Scott Milne’s Ode to New Hampshire
Is Scott Milne running for governor of Vermont or New Hampshire? To hear the Pomfret Republican discuss his decade-long quest to build a $30 million development in the border town of Hartford, one could be forgiven for assuming the latter. Since 2004, when Milne and business partner David Boies III purchased a 135-acre farm just…
Free Will Astrology (7/23/14)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): A report in the prestigious British medical journal BMJ says that almost 1 percent of young pregnant women in the U.S. claim to be virgins. They testify that they have conceived a fetus without the benefit of sex. That’s impossible, right? Technically, yes. But if there could ever be a loophole…
Life Itself
Mysteries of the ages: How were the pyramids engineered? What became of Amelia Earhart? Did Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel really hate each other? Among the many reasons to celebrate that Steve James (Hoop Dreams) adapted Ebert’s 2011 memoir as he did and precisely when he did — the film critic passed away last year…
News Quirks (7/23/14)
Curses, Foiled Again After a camera was found secretly recording in the women’s locker room at a fitness gym in Seekonk, Mass., police examined the video and named a club member as their suspect because it shows the man setting up the hidden camera. (Associated Press) A burglar who stole two cash registers and three…
Crazyhearse, Tornadic Beige
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Every now and then, even the savviest local music fans run into a band they probably should have caught years ago and, when they finally do, can’t believe they’ve missed for so long. For this reviewer, such is the case with Middlebury’s Crazyhearse. Over the years I’ve noticed the name around…
Black Rabbit, Lipstick and Dynamite
(Self-released, CD, digital download) On their 2013 self-titled debut EP, Burlington punk trio Black Rabbit offered a glimpse of the band they might become. Though a tad derivative in moments, the brisk, five-song recording suggested a budding promise within the minds of husband-and-wife duo Marc and Darlene Scarano. On their latest effort, the recently released…
Seasoned Traveler: Ping Wang’s Green Mountain Chinese
In October 2009, Ping Wang worked at the zoo restaurant in Chongqing, China, at the edge of Szechuan Province. John Braun was in town on holiday from his teaching gig elsewhere in the country, playing mah-jongg with a group that included Wang’s sister. The sister thought Wang and Braun would make a good match. “She…
Catching Up With the Nth Power’s Nikki Glaspie
The Nth Power has Vermont roots in guitarist/vocalist Nick Cassarino, and might not exist were it not for another Vermont expat, Jennifer Hartswick. But the band arose in New Orleans and its mastermind is acclaimed drummer Nikki Glaspie, who also plays in Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk. Glaspie had come off a five-year run as Beyoncé’s drummer…
Book Review: The Hundred-Year House
Yaddo. MacDowell. Loci of longing and feverish endeavor, reservoirs of growth and doubt and wild energies. The names of these artists’ colonies evoke exclusivity and at the same time a presumably egalitarian, takes-all-types welcome. Where convention is razed, a sort of clearing appears, and in that clearing individuals adopt the mantle of artist. Whatever comes…
Soundbites: Pitchfork (farm) Music Fest Debuts
Stick a Fork In It The big to-do on the schedule this weekend is the Manifestivus music festival in Cabot, Vt. More on that in a bit. (Though for a sneak peek, check out K.C. Whiteley’s profile of Nikki Glaspie and her band, the Nth Power — which includes VT expat Nick Cassarino — on…
A Charlotte “Prepper” Braces for the Worst
I can’t tell you his name, or where he lives — to do so, the Prepper told me, would compromise “OPSEC.” If, like me, you don’t know what OPSEC means, the Prepper will enlighten you: “operational security.” At first I thought he was joking. Then, after two meetings, the Prepper took me into the basement…
New Law Allows Restaurants Tasting-Size Beer Portions
Last week, Gov. Peter Shumlin stopped by Burlington’s Farmhouse Tap & Grill to sign Vermont Senate Bill S.299 into law. It allows Vermont restaurants to pour “flights” of beer, wine and spirits — sample-size portions, poured several at a time, that give patrons the opportunity to taste beers side by side for comparison purposes. Previously,…
Bookstock Lines Up Laureates and Best-Sellers
Call it a sign of the times that Bookstock, the annual literary festival in tiny Woodstock, regularly attracts 1,000 people while last March its coordinator had to close the independent bookstore he owned in town. Ron Miller believes he lost too many Shiretown Books customers to e-readers. But readers themselves aren’t going away, and their…
Vermont Hospitals Prescribe Farm-Fresh Food
What if, instead of meds, doctors prescribed peas and carrots? That’s the idea behind a growing partnership between the Vermont Youth Conservation Corps and two Vermont hospitals. Volunteers, doctors and nurses are giving hefty doses of fresh, local vegetables to patients from Fletcher Allen Health Care and Central Vermont Medical Center. Part community-supported agriculture, part…
Thai Dishes Opens in Burlington
Six weeks after its target opening, Claire and Art Jilandharn’s new restaurant, Thai Dishes, opened its doors in the old Pacific Rim space in Burlington this week. The 80-seat space at 161 Church Street has been entirely rearranged and renovated; bathrooms have been moved, and everything’s been glazed with a fresh coat of bright paint.…
Sean Prentiss Explores Creative Writing’s ‘Fourth Genre’
A telltale sign of a Vermonter is his or her wearing of multiple hats. We all know folks like the landlord/state legislator who does carpentry and serves on the board of the electric co-op, or the librarian/live-music-venue owner who moonlights as a puppeteer. So it makes perfect sense that Norwich University assistant professor of English…
Letters to the Editor (7/23/14)
The Price of Politics Lt. Gov. Phil Scott is quoted in Paul Heintz’s Off Message post [“Corren Calls for Expanding Public Election Financing,” July 10] as saying that he “would rather solicit money from those who are willing to give to my campaign and believe in what I’m doing, rather than take it from taxpayers…
Burlington’s Renegade Writers Go Out With a Bang
When July ends, so will the year-old Renegade Writers’ Collective, the Burlington-based group that has offered all manner of literary services to writers. Cofounders and co-owners Angela Palm and Jessica Hendry Nelson are proud of what RWC has accomplished, they say, but decided that the time had come to focus their literary energies in different…
Film News: All-Ages Animations, Vermont on PBS, Plattsburgh Film Fest
Short Takes on Film: All-Ages Animations, VT Shorts on PBS.org, Plattsburgh Film Fest It’s never too early to show your kids there’s a world of cool film animation beyond Planes or even Pixar. This Thursday, the Burlington Film Society and Vermont International Film Foundation assist in that endeavor by presenting a special program of all-ages…
Art Review: Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition
The Green Mountain Watercolor Exhibition, on view this month at the capacious Big Red Barn at Lareau Farm in Waitsfield, includes nearly 90 paintings by 66 artists. Each work passed the muster of a pair of jurors — master watercolorists Annelein Beukenkamp of Burlington and Lisa Forster Beach of Stowe — as well as a…
A Boutique Hotel Proposed for Winooski’s Roundabout
Winooski officials say they hope to approve a recently unveiled plan for a boutique hotel on the downtown roundabout, but parking and pedestrian-safety issues could delay the deal. City councilors and Mayor Michael O’Brien are cautiously supporting the proposal from Colorado-based developer Adam Dubroff. His Alpha Inn Management firm wants to build a four-story, 70-…
Things Are Fizzling in the Bedroom and I’m About to Snap
Dear Athena I love my boyfriend of more than seven years; he’s caring, sweet and extremely loyal. But things in the bedroom have been fizzling for a while, and I’m about to snap. I’m a bit younger than he is and feel like I should be enjoying my youth while it lasts. Sex with him…
Vermont Sex Offender Registry’s Problems Persist
In May 2007, a Windham County teenager was convicted of having sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl when he was 17. He pleaded guilty. At his sentencing, a judge explicitly said the law called for him to be kept off the Vermont sex-offender registry because of his age at the time of the offense. Nonetheless,…
![Co-op Gardening with Bonnie [SIV362]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/episode362.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Co-op Gardening with Bonnie [SIV362]
7/18/14: For the past 21 years, artist Bonnie Acker has tended the lush gardens at Burlington’s City Market, Onion River Co-op – first at their former North Winooski Avenue location and now at their downtown location on South Winooski Ave. Eva stopped by on a busy Friday morning to watch Bonnie in action watering the…
GameShowVT Puts the Play in Team-Building
Business etiquette these days dictates that employees shut down their smartphones at most meetings, or at least look at them discreetly on their laps. But at 5 p.m. on a recent Tuesday at Burlington’s Dealer.com headquarters, smartphones are not only allowed, they’re de rigueur for a most unusual meeting that is about to unfold. “Does…
BioBlitz Turns Citizens Into Scientists
The Vermont Butterfly Survey, an ambitious cataloguing of every single such insect that flutters within the state’s boundaries, was a huge project stretching from 2002 to 2007. Though naturalists at Norwich’s Vermont Center for Ecostudies led the endeavor, the bulk of its lepidopteran research was accomplished by volunteer “citizen scientists”: everyday people with an interest…
Burlington-Rutland Passenger Rail Line Coming
The train’s late getting to Burlington — by about 60 years. Railroad riders have been waiting since 1953 for long-distance passenger service to return to Union Station. In the mid-1990s, developers Melinda Moulton and Lisa Steele renovated the station at the foot of Main Street in hopes of enticing Amtrak to the Queen City. Union…
New Dining Concept Unveiled at the Essex
Last week, the Essex Culinary Resort & Spa began a soft opening of its latest restaurant, Junction, which will celebrate its grand opening on August 1. The new restaurant replaces Amuse, which quietly closed early this year. According to director of culinary operations Shawn Calley, the previous restaurant was more formal than he — and…
