Jul 31 – Aug 6, 2024
Flooding Hits the NEK; Take a Day Trip to Manchester; New Seafood Spot Scores Big; A Concert at Springfield Prison
Visiting White River Junction, Vermont? What to See, Do and Eat on Your Trip
Explore the historic rail town, now home to a thriving artistic community, restaurants, boutiques and galleries.
Free Will Astrology (7/31/24)
LEO (Jul. 23-Aug. 22): Astrologer Chris Zydel says every sign has superpowers. In honor of your birthday season, I’ll tell you about those she attributes to you Leos. When you are at your best, you are a beacon of “joyful magnetism” who naturally exudes “irrepressible charisma.” You “shine like a thousand suns” and “strut your…
Vermont’s PCB Testing Program Continues to Cause Logistical Problems — and Angst — for Schools
North Country Union High School was built when Lyndon B. Johnson was president. Its 55-year-old windows and doors need to be replaced, according to a facilities assessment completed last year. The heating and electrical systems are due for an overhaul. Classrooms are small and outdated. “It’s just not suitable for 21st-century education,” principal Chris Young…
Three to Six Hours in Manchester, Southern Vermont’s Tourist Haven
Manchester, nestled between the Green Mountain and Taconic Mountain ranges in southwest Vermont, has long been a popular getaway for New Yorkers seeking respite from city life. A destination for second-home owners, it has a year-round population of about 4,500 that swells to as many as 12,000 people in the summer, according to John Burnham,…
Flooding Destroyed Private Roads, and Homeowners May Be Stuck With the Tab
Kevin Sweeney stood outside his Moretown home on July 10 and watched the unnamed creek that typically trickles alongside his private road. As the remnants of Hurricane Beryl dumped record amounts of rain across central Vermont, the waterway exploded into a torrent. The muddy floodwaters raged down the center of Edge Drive, washing away the…
Letters to the Editor (7/31/24)
Not in the Movie… “The Hills Are Alive” [June 19] about the von Trapp family, contains sadly common misinformation as far as the prewar history of the von Trapps is concerned. For reasons of space, let me just point out that it would be difficult to square the claim that the von Trapps “repeatedly refused…
Six Quick-Hit Reviews of Local Albums
Vermont musicians have been busier than ever, inundating music editor Chris Farnsworth with submissions. With albums coming in hot and fast, sometimes it takes a full six-pack of reviews to keep the queue moving. Why not make it seven, you ask? Because sometimes we get tired of listing things in increments of seven, all right?…
Escape to ‘Lake Valley’ at Burlington’s BCA Center
The experience of Rachel Rose’s “Lake Valley” begins with taking off one’s shoes and walking across a plush carpet in a darkened room. Visitors to the video installation at Burlington’s BCA Center sit on ottomans or the floor, quiet and ready for story time. They are soon immersed in a colorful and comforting yet unsettling…
On the Beat: Robber Robber Break Out
Big shout-out to Burlington rockers Robber Robber, who merited the Pitchfork treatment this week when their new album, Wild Guess, got a pretty positive review from the website’s oft-hard-to-please critics. It’s another moment in what feels like a steady upward trajectory for the indie-rock group. Over the weekend, I headed to Foam Brewers after the…
Movie Review: ‘Twisters’
A movie about wild weather that never mentions climate change? Twisters, the stand-alone sequel to Twister (1996), directed by Lee Isaac Chung, broke box office records for a disaster movie this month. According to a July 28 New York Times story, the film reflects a new Hollywood trend of catering to conservative red-state audiences —…
Soundbites: Previewing the Stowe Jazz Fest
To George Petit, jazz is “a language and a lexicon that is shared all over the world.” While its players have a common vocabulary, how they employ it can vary widely. And, the Stowe guitarist explained, dialects and accents within that language help form a rich and diverse musical tradition that has the capacity to…
Now Playing in Theaters: July 31-August 6
new in theaters THE FIRING SQUAD: Three Australian drug traffickers face execution in Indonesia in this faith-based film directed by Timothy A. Chey. Kevin Sorbo and Cuba Gooding Jr. star. (93 min, PG-13. Essex) HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON: This “sequel” to the beloved picture book imagines the adult life of a boy who can…
Will Painting My House Fun Colors Affect the Resale Value?
Dear Reverend, I recently purchased my first house. After renting forever and being afraid to put nail holes in walls, I’m excited to paint and really make it my own. I wouldn’t have been able to afford the house without help from my parents. They say I shouldn’t go crazy with color so that it…
An Upper Valley Vocal Sextet Brings Meditative Songs to the Men’s Prison in Springfield
A solitary fan hummed as 25 inmates filed into the un-air-conditioned visitation room at Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield on a steamy July afternoon. Dressed in prison-issued navy blues, some with T-shirts reading “work crew” or “kitchen,” the men sat in folding chairs under fluorescent lights while an Upper Valley vocal sextet, Non Prophets,…
From the Publisher: ‘Superlative State’
Every year is an “election year” at Seven Days. I’m referring, of course, to our annual Daysies competition in which readers nominate and vote for their favorite local businesses, artists and experiences. The contest involves months of planning; the nomination round happened in April, followed by voting on the finalists in late May to early…
Theater Review: ‘Pippin,’ Weston Theater Company
Whatever Pippin’s professors told him at the University of Padua must have made quite an impact because, when the title character of the popular musical returns home after completing his studies, he’s determined to live a life of meaning and consequence. It’s a familiar goal of recent grads high on commencement-speech hype. But where to…
A Middlebury Filmmaker Wants a Record-Breaking Number of Dogs to Come See His Movie
Emmy Award-winning director Andy Mitchell is preparing to launch his latest film, Inside the Mind of a Dog, on Netflix next month. And he wants the subjects of the movie — lots of them — to show up to a special screening in Middlebury. Mitchell is hoping at least 220 canines will attend the August…
Q&A: Plainfield Residents Recover After a Devastating Flood
On July 10 and 11, exactly one year after Vermont’s last catastrophic flood, the remnants of Hurricane Beryl caused significant damage to our state once again. The village of Plainfield was battered by the raging Great Brook, which took down trees and washed out roads, bridges and houses. It also demolished two-thirds of a historic…
Ordinary Becomes Irreverent in Ed Ruscha’s Works on Paper at the Hall Art Foundation
When New York City’s Museum of Modern Art mounted its first retrospective of works by Los Angeles artist Ed Ruscha last year, critics loved it. They admired the 86-year-old’s “deadpan” and “poker-faced” (the New York Times) use of text as a subject of art, with its “complete absence of snark” (New York Review of Books).…
The Water’s Fine at Original Skiff Fish + Oysters in Burlington
Some sage culinary advice from Jimmy Buffett is inscribed above the oyster bar at the new Original Skiff Fish + Oysters in the Hilton’s relaunched Hotel Champlain Burlington, near the lakefront. “Give me oysters and beer for dinner every day of the year,” Buffett sang in 1974 on “Tin Cup Chalice.” The next line of…
Catching the Buzz at Randy Sightler’s Backyard Burlington Apiary
If you’re driving a little too fast down North Winooski Avenue in Burlington, you might miss the sign: a little wooden board hanging over a residential porch adorned with flowerpots. Double-sided with illustrations of bees and hives, it reads, “Honey for Sale.” Beyond that, no telltale signs of an apiary are visible from the street.…
Hong’s Chinese Dumplings Owner to Retire, Sell Burlington Business
After nearly 25 years of serving handmade dumplings, crispy scallion pancakes, cold sesame noodles and hot chile oil to Burlington customers, Hong Yu plans to retire. Her business, Hong’s Chinese Dumplings, is for sale. Yu, 65, started selling dumplings from a food cart on the Church Street Marketplace in 2000 and moved to a year-round…
The Magnificent 7: Must See, Must Do, July 31-August 6
Fool Me Once Friday 2-Sunday 4 Burlington not only suffers fools but welcomes them during the annual Festival of Fools. Acrobats and aerial artists, magicians and musicians rotate among four outdoor stages. Even dogs get to show off new tricks at “Mutts Gone Nuts.” A parade launches the festivities from city hall. Willkommen, Bienvenue Through…
