Jun 1-7, 2016
Jazz Fest Headliner Randy Newman Talks Songs, Films and Putin; After Burlington College Closure, Students Scramble; Consultant Tripp Murray Helps Cannabis Companies Grow
Cover Story
Randy Newman Talks Songwriting, Film Work and Vladimir Putin
In the intro to a February 2016 profile of Randy Newman for Vanity Fair, writer David Kamp poses a fascinating question: What if rock music hadn’t won? That is, what if the orchestrated stylings of Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, George M. Cohan, et al., had thrived and evolved over time, instead of being…
Obituary: Ulysses McLean
Ulysses Mirko Roman McLean died unexpectedly on May 26, 2016 in Montpelier. He was 44 years old. Mr. McLean was born in Plainfield and raised in Plainfield and East Calais. He was the son of the late Elizabeth Roman of Williamstown, to whom he was deeply devoted, and the late Taylor McLean of Jersey City,…
Obituary: Philip Edward Luman
St. Albans – Philip Edward Luman passed away peacefully, Friday, May 27, 2016, surrounded by loved ones following a lengthy battle with cancer. Philip was born in Leominster, Massachusetts on August 9, 1960. Philip was the son of Shirley (Pelkey) Luman and the late Herman “Tinker” Luman. He was 55 years old. Philip was a…
Obituary: Earl R Benway, 1937-2016
Earl R Benway died peacefully in Burlington at his residence on May 15th, 2016 at the age of 79. Earl is survived by his son and daughter-in-law Earl and Lori Benway (Macdonough) of Underhill, grandchildren Cameron Benway of Lake Mary, FL and Keagan Benway of Underhill. He is preceded in death by his wife Diane…
Obituary: Bay Van Nguyen
Burlington—Bay Van Nguyen, 89, passed away on Monday, May 30, 2016 a UVM Medical Center. He was born in Saigon, Vietman on May 10, 1927 to Nhon Huu Nguyen and Cua Thi Huynh. He came to the U.S. with his wife, Tam Thi Dang, who predeceased him on December 28,2015. He leaves his children: Thien…
Crash and Burn: Reconstructing an Accident Scene
On the gray morning of December 1, 2015, Beth Howe tuned out the noise of passing cars and trucks as she walked to work along the narrow shoulder of busy Route 7 in Winooski. Most days, Howe drives from her Burlington home to her job on Water Tower Hill, overlooking Interstate 89’s Exit 16. But…
A Guide to Free Shows at Burlington Discover Jazz Festival (Part 1)
This just in: The Burlington Discover Jazz Festival rules. Even if you’re one of those prickly purists who bristle every year at the ratio of jazz to, um, not-jazz music (found at jazz fests the world over), you have to admit these 10 days in June are an annual highlight of the year. And why…
Lemon Fair Sculpture Park Rises in Shoreham
Route 74 in Cornwall is about as pastoral as it gets in Addison County: Dilapidated barns and dairy cows dot the expansive fields rolling toward Lake Champlain. But recently, motorists have been noticing something less rustic cropping up in the pastures as they cross into Shoreham. An enormous silver ring gleams on a far-off knoll.…
SnakeFoot & Steph Heaghney, All Gifted/Trouble EP
(Self-released, digital download, vinyl) SnakeFoot, aka Ross Travis, is a Burlington-based experimental beatmaker who weaves an unusual tapestry of atmospheric and textural sounds. His 2014 album, Gold Collection, was an instrumental amalgam of traditional jazz arrangements, found soundscapes, twitchy hip-hop and ambient electro. Recently, SnakeFoot released a two-track EP with Steph Heaghney, front woman for…
A Burlington Consultant Helps Cannabis Companies Grow
Long before Tripp Murray ever set foot inside a legal cannabis cultivation facility, he knew what it took to grow a small startup company into a thriving business: seed money. For 17 years, the New York native worked in the traditional world of investment banking, eventually becoming director of the U.S. equity capital markets for…
Villanelles, Blue Heart Attack
(Self-released, digital download) Villanelles are a Burlington rock band that emerged from Champlain College and have always seemed destined for greatness. Their self-titled 2010 debut album netted them a Best New Vermont Band Daysies award, and their quality has only improved since, blessing us with two punchy EP releases that demonstrated some serious growth. Blue…
Book Review: Aliceheimers: Alzheimer’s Through the Looking Glass, Dana Walrath
“Aliceheimer’s found me, not the other way around.” So begins Dana Walrath’s “graphic medicine memoir,” in which she uses text and drawings to chronicle the magical thinking and images of a trip down Alzheimer’s memory-stealing lane. The Alice of the title, and the one taking that trip, is her mother. Anyone caring for a loved…
Education, Interrupted: Burlington College Students Pick Up the Pieces
Athena Pepe, a Burlington College junior, had just returned from a semester abroad in Cuba when she found out that her school would no longer exist come next fall. In panicked-but-proactive mode, the 22-year-old international relations major began making plans. With help from her adviser, she decided to transfer to Goddard College — one of…
Oral History
“You see, my mother-in-law is a judge, so she’s used to issuing orders.” Sitting next to me, my customer, Linh Dinh, chuckled at her own words. She was a pretty, diminutive woman in her thirties, with a plucky, forthright way about her. The afternoon sky was clear and sunny as we motored north on Route…
They Love a Parade: A Long March to Election Day
As marching bands and fire departments took their places Monday morning in the Vergennes Union High School parking lot, Lt. Gov. Phil Scott taped “Thank a Vet Today” placards to the sides of a campaign vehicle — a black Ford pickup truck. Wearing jeans and a T-shirt, Vermont’s sole statewide elected Republican took a break to…
Opinion: Over and Out
This week, after 11 years, Poli Psy says farewell and wanders off to join hot type, daily newspapers, living wages, correct grammar and other geezers of journalism past. So, herewith, a few valedictory insights from the archives. For those who never got the column’s name, Poli Psy — sounds like “poli sci” — is shorthand…
Letters to the Editor (6/1/16)
Wildlife for All Re [“Going for Gobblers,” May 11]: Louis Porter, commissioner of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, claims that his department adheres to the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. He calls this approach to management “a very democratic idea” in which “wildlife belongs to all people” and says that “regulated hunting, fishing…
Tennis Legend Jake Agna Takes Kids to Cuba
Few sounds say “summer” more than the thwack! of a tennis ball and the shuffle of sneaker-clad feet on a clay court. Unless you count a seagull’s cry overhead — which was the soundtrack for a recent interview with Jake Agna at the Edge Sports & Fitness in South Burlington. If you don’t know Agna,…
A Bigger Splash
Is it an oversimplification to say that Europeans make sexy films where Americans make dirty-minded ones? I can’t think of a better argument for the case than Dakota Johnson. Naughtiness has never been more commodified and less erotic than in Fifty Shades of Grey (2015). The same year she starred in that film, the actress…
Director John Stomberg Oversees Hood Museum Expansion
John Stomberg, director of Dartmouth College’s Hood Museum of Art, pointed to a small brass plaque at the front of his desk. It had belonged to Harvey Hood, president of the Hood Dairy, he explained to Seven Days. Hood was the principal donor for the campus museum’s present structure, which opened in 1985. “Other museum…
The Nice Guys
Los Angeles, 1977. A tween sneaks downstairs to read his dad’s porno mag, featuring a centerfold of screen star Misty Mountains. Outside, headlights flicker as a car veers off the road. Several seconds and many crashes and bangs later, the kid has gotten an absurdist lesson in “Be careful what you wish for.” Most of…
Pine Island Community Farm Diversifies
At Pine Island Community Farm in Colchester on a Sunday afternoon, three figures in white, baggy suits and yellow gloves stood out against the green grass and blue sky. They looked like astronauts, but they were actually beekeepers. And they were about to undertake a major mission: transferring some 20,000 bees to two hive bodies.…
Sax Appeal
Originally published February 11, 2004. The college-aged and the middle-aged, black and white, come to hear Big Joe Burrell at Halvorson’s, or wherever he performs. But some of these fans may not entirely grasp just what it is they revere about him. Yes, the voice, the sax, the avuncular kindness with other players. But guitarist…
Rug Hookers Reimagine the Tarot
Tarot cards and their iconography have been enjoying renewed popularity lately. One incarnation is the release of artist Ariel Hart’s free digital Lisa Frank Tarot Deck, which, as the Huffington Post puts it, turned “the Internet into one giant, amorphous, screaming tween girl.” The centuries-old images, though, don’t appear to be in danger of being…
Abstract Art in the Lobby and Onstage at Lost Nation Theater
In John Logan’s play Red, a bio-drama about the abstract painter Mark Rothko (1903-70), the very first line is, “What do you see?” The artist, staring at his painting, is speaking to his assistant, the only other character in this Tony Award-winning work. The Broadway version six years ago starred Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne,…
![Greek Games [SIV445]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/episode445.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Greek Games [SIV445]
5/27/16: About 75 students from six Waldorf Schools brought ancient Greece to life at the Field House in Shelburne Friday for the Fifth Grade Pentathlon. Students became Olympians competing in javelin, discus throwing and the long jump – all while wearing togas. Hosted by the Lake Champlain Waldorf School, this event has been bringing together…
Art Review: “Looking Back,” Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery
A quarter century is an age in the world of Vermont’s commercial art galleries. The fact that Furchgott Sourdiffe Gallery in Shelburne has persevered that long — the longest of any such gallery in Chittenden County — certainly warrants the three celebratory shows planned for this year by married owners Joan Furchgott and Brad Sourdiffe.…
I’m Afraid of Sharing My Grief With Someone New
Dear Athena, My last partner died tragically six months ago, and I am beginning to date again. I am finding it really difficult to figure out the best way to disclose the circumstances under which my last relationship ended; losing my first significant relationship in that way is no doubt a chip on my shoulder.…
House of Fermentology Debuts First Brew
Burlington’s House of Fermentology made its draft debut last weekend at Foam Brewers, which opened a month ago on Burlington’s waterfront. HOF’s first release — a rust-orange wild American ale called Orange Dot — is a blended ferment, aged eight months in French oak barrels with wildflower honey and cara cara oranges. Even at a formidable…
Free Will Astrology (6/1/16)
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): I foresee fertile chaos in your immediate future, Gemini. I predict lucky accidents and smoldering lucidity and disciplined spontaneity. Do you catch the spirit of what I’m suggesting? Your experiences will not be describable by tidy theories. Your intentions will not fit into neat categories. You will be a vivid embodiment…
Mina’s Ginger Beer Makes It Snappy
A traditional drink takes a hit of heat with Mina’s Ginger Beer, a new business from Kelly Keen that can be found at the Middlebury and Winooski farmers markets and the Burlington Truck Stop. Keen, who grew up in Shelburne, studied nutrition and biomedical sciences at Colorado State University and says she’s “always loved working…
The Lake Placid Film Forum Looks Beyond Blockbusters
To the average American, Lake Placid, N.Y., is probably most recognizable as the location of the 1980 Winter Olympics and the famous “Miracle on Ice,” when a scrappy U.S. hockey team sent a heavily favored Soviet squad back to the USSR with their tails between their legs. But for film buffs, the vacation oasis on…
A New Book Chronicles Prohibition in Vermont
Local author Adam Krakowski often writes about beer for Yankee Brew News and other publications, but the journalist spent much of the last year researching a seemingly incompatible topic: prohibition. Earlier this month, his new book, Vermont Prohibition: Teetotalers, Bootleggers & Corruption (History Press) hit the shelves of local bookstores. Before nationwide Prohibition (1920-1933), Vermonters…
School Board Seeks Remedy for Teachers’ Costly Sick-Time Payouts
When Terry Buehner retired last year after teaching for 45 years in the Burlington School District, she collected a $26,751 payout for unused sick time on top of her annual salary. The history teacher wasn’t alone; she and 23 other retiring or resigning teachers cashed out a total of $457,301 in accumulated sick-leave benefits. It’s…
Soundbites: Pickin’ in the Pasture; A-Dog Skatepark
Once upon a time, during jazz fest I used to declare this column a “jazz-free zone.” It was a place in the music section reserved for covering events that didn’t fall under the ever-expanding umbrella of the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival. I didn’t do that because I was a smart-ass who liked to provoke jazz…
Ruth Reichl Talks Up Food Writing
Ruth Reichl has written about food for almost five decades. She has produced critically acclaimed works across genres: one novel, two cookbooks and four memoirs. Reichl has more than 20 years’ experience as a restaurant critic, notably for the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times, and spent 10 years as editor in chief…
Common Man Team Launches Dinner Series
There are some things the chef of a 100-seat restaurant simply can’t do. For instance, meander through the woods and harvest enough ramps to put a few on each diner’s plate. Or take a midafternoon drive down to a buddy’s farm and pick up the pork chops while chewing the fat. Chef Adam Longworth of…
