Jun 22-28, 2016
From Vermont to Off-Broadway: Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown; What Went Wrong in McAllister Sexual Assault Case; Montpelier’s Langdon Street Gets Arty Makeover
Cover Story
The Making of Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown
500-ISH BC It started as a boy-meets-girl story, as so many do. Once upon a time in Greece, Orpheus met, fell in love with and married Eurydice, a beautiful wood nymph. He was such a gifted musician, it is said, he could charm all living beings, not to mention gods and even stones. On their…
Obituary: Rickey James Test, 1962-2016, Burlington
Rickey James Test passed away at Respite House after a long illness. He worked for many years in the flooring industry. He was very skilled and in demand. He worked for numerous companies including Cunningham Flooring. Rick leaves behind a beautiful daughter, Madison Test, his wife, Kelly Test and his two sisters Sheila and Cindy.…
Obituary: Gen. Leo Abair, 1918-2016
Leo Abair, devoted family man, decorated World War II veteran, and career officer in the Vermont National Guard, passed away peacefully on June 21st at his Broadlake home. Born on February 16, 1918 in Winooski, Leo was the youngest of the eight children of Edouard and Eva (Langlois) Hebert. Growing up he worked in his…
Meet the Vermonters in Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown
A decade ago, Vermont songwriter Anaïs Mitchell created Hadestown. The folk opera premiered in Barre in 2006 and is a creative reimagining of the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. After years of touring with the show in concert format and a successful studio album, Hadestown opened off-Broadway this summer at the New York Theatre Workshop in…
![The Year of Shaina Taub [SIV448]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/episode448.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
The Year of Shaina Taub [SIV448]
6/18/16: According to New York Times Theater reporter Michael Paulson, this is the year of Vermonter Shaina Taub. And Tony Award-winning composer Jeanine Tesori agrees. A performer and songwriter, Shaina hails from Waitsfield and now calls Brooklyn home. She is currently performing as one of the Fates in Hadestown, an off-Broadway musical created by Vermonter…
Art Review: ‘Director’s Choice,’ BigTown Gallery
Sometimes exhibitions are so radiant that you want to soak them up like the sun. “Director’s Choice,” currently at the BigTown Gallery in Rochester, is one of those. Curated by director Anni Mackay, this exuberant group exhibition features the work of seven artists, each with a clear voice and mature practice: Varujan Boghosian, Pat dipaula…
Upcycled Bike Art Competition Comes to the NEK
Last weekend, 1,900 mountain bikers descended on tiny East Burke for NEMBAfest, the New England Mountain Bike Association’s annual bike-and-camp at Kingdom Trails. The event’s attendees can pitch their tents on the gorgeous grounds of the Wildflower Inn in Lyndonville, and a maze of industry vendors — craft brewers included, of course — form a…
Finding Dory
As a culture stuffed to the brim with information, we’re haunted by the possibility of memory loss. Many of us live in fear of sinking into a gray existential twilight where every face is a stranger, and no place is a home. The latest Pixar animation contains a scene that embodies that possibility as chillingly…
Filmmaker Nora Jacobson Wins 2016 Lockwood Prize
The biggest art award in Vermont is the $10,000 Herb Lockwood Prize, created and presented annually by the late artist’s brother, Todd R. Lockwood, and his family. The third recipient, announced yesterday at the BCA Center in Burlington, is Nora Jacobson. The award-winning Norwich filmmaker may be best known for recently guiding a collaborative team…
VAC Reports Good News for the Arts
The Vermont Arts Council is bullish on the state’s state of the arts. Not that the organization isn’t always a cheerleader for arts of all kinds, but a recent report has made its administrators even more optimistic. On Monday, June 13, members of the council were presented with the results of a study developed and…
Shy Guy Gelato Opens Burlington Shop
Gelato is not just “Italian ice cream.” A scoop clings to the cone with a consistency approaching soft-serve; the temperature is slightly warmer, the body thicker. And many stateside versions of this edible export don’t fit the bill. Shy Guy Gelato, a new, small-batch gelato business from Tim Elliott and Paul Sansone, is dedicated to getting…
Kim Fountain Leads Vermont’s LGBTQ Community Through Tragedy
On June 13, a middle-aged woman wearing a tie tucked under a blue sweater stood on the steps of Burlington’s city hall addressing a large crowd. She was less recognizable than some of the other people onstage — including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mayor Miro Weinberger. But she was possibly the most qualified to…
Hender’s Bake Shop Coming to Waterbury
Jessica Wright’s forthcoming Waterbury bakery, Hender’s Bake Shop & Café, is named after her golden retriever, Henderson. The dog is named for Henderson, Nev., where Wright lived while working front of house at celebrity chef Charlie Palmer’s fine-dining spot, Aureole, and studying hospitality management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Wright is no stranger…
After Years of Building on the Edge, Burlington Braces Itself
David Goode remembers when he and his neighbors first noticed cracks in the parking lot behind their condominiums, which are perched high above Burlington’s Intervale. They assumed the problem was minor — but they were wrong. The parking lot of the Manhattan Drive complex at the intersection of Oak Street is slowly sinking, and so…
Stonecutter Spirits Releases New Whiskey
Stonecutter Spirits cofounders Sas Stewart and Sivan Cotel like to say their creations are “sleeping” in barrels. This week, their Heritage Cask Whiskey is waking up. Based on a blend of corn, rye and barley, it’s distilled in Kentucky and arrives in the Green Mountains ready for “bedtime.” Stonecutter’s road map for this whiskey aggregates…
Letters to the Editor (6/22/16)
Anti-Semitic Cartoon? Members of my congregation brought to my attention Tim Newcomb’s “Lisman Campaign Goes Negative” cartoon, published in your paper [June 8]. This cartoon is highly objectionable. It depicts Bruce Lisman wallowing in a pigsty, calling his opponent Phil Scott a “schlemiel.” It is highly offensive, not only to Mr. Lisman, but to the entire…
Montpelier’s Langdon Street Celebrates With Art
A trio of primates has been turning heads and creating quite a scene on Langdon Street in Montpelier. Two chimpanzees and an orangutan swing on a painted vine that appears to stretch from a building to an electrical pole. The stenciled creatures are the work of DJ Barry, the first graffiti stylist approved by city…
Courting Disaster: An Erosion of Press Protections in Vermont
Last October, Vermont State Police Detective Sgt. Benjamin Katz showed up unannounced at Seven Days’ Burlington headquarters. He had spent the previous six months investigating allegations that Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) had sexually assaulted two women and attempted to trade rent for sex with a third. Seven Days had covered the story closely — interviewing…
Matteo Palmer, Embers
(Self-released, CD, digital download) In 2014, guitarist Matteo Palmer established himself as one of Vermont’s most promising young artists with his debut album, Out of Nothing. In addition to nearly peerless technical chops, Palmer showcased sublime sensibilities and a musical sensitivity well beyond his then-17 years. The kid wasn’t simply a prodigious player — though…
Trial and Error: What Went Wrong in the McAllister Case
Hours after state prosecutors dropped the felony sexual assault charges against him, Sen. Norm McAllister (R-Franklin) was back on his farm in Highgate. He’d changed out of his courtroom blazer and tie into a T-shirt and shorts. But there was no backyard victory party attended by high-fiving friends. Neither side was celebrating after the high-profile…
Derek and the Demons, Rite of Passage
(What Doth Life, CD, digital download) Derek and the Demons, an unrepentantly raw rock trio hailing from Windsor, have been quite busy since their inception in 2010. In addition to two EP releases, Rite of Passage is the band’s third full-length album. The album also marks a whopping 61 releases for What Doth Life, a…
UVM Summit Considers What Makes Food Good
Many Vermonters see labeling GMO foods as essential to building a sustainable food system. But food values researcher Rachel Ankeny doesn’t buy it. “Labeling everything is not an answer,” said the professor from Australia’s University of Adelaide, addressing hundreds of local food advocates at the University of Vermont’s Food Systems Summit last Wednesday, June 15.…
Theater Review: Table Manners, Dorset Theatre Festival
Dorset Theatre Festival’s production of Table Manners is one delicious excuse to laugh. Six characters, hilariously unaware of their own flaws, represent two marriages grown stale and one courtship that can’t get off the ground. It’s 1973 and love is all around, but seduction — let alone romance — isn’t easy. Using the same actors…
Central Intelligence
Be honest: Back in the days of The Scorpion King (2002), did you ever in your wildest dreams imagine the time would come when the Rock would star in the funniest action comedy in the country? That he’d costar with one of the world’s top comics and not be the straight man? Or that he’d…
Cofounders of Parenting Site Razed Talk Back
On June 6, 2015, in Burlington, Swale guitarist/website developer Eric Olsen and writer/creative director Kimberly Harrington gave virtual birth to a bundle of joy named Razed. One year later, their baby — a website “focused on conceptual humor related to parenting” — is growing like a weed. In the tradition of Timothy McSweeney’s Internet Tendency,…
What Goes On at the Phoenix Feed Mill?
I’ve lived half my life in agricultural states and driven past more grain silos and fertilizer plants than I care to remember. Still, I’ve always wondered about the facility at the intersection of routes 7 and 17 in New Haven Junction. Its conical silver silos tower above the landscape like a giant Erector set. Yet…
Soundbites: My God, More Festivals!
The Frendly Gathering in Windham rests atop the local music marquee this week. And you can turn here for more on that chummy three-day shindig. But in news that should surprise exactly no one, Frendly ain’t the only cool music fest happing in the Green Mountains this weekend. Because music festivals are happening in Vermont…
Free Will Astrology (6/22/16)
CANCER (June 21-July 22): My meditations have generated six metaphorical scenarios that will symbolize the contours of your life story during the next 15 months: 1. a claustrophobic tunnel that leads to a sparkling spa; 2. a 19th-century Victorian vase filled with 13 fresh wild orchids; 3. an immigrant who, after tenacious effort, receives a…
Frends With Benefits: The Story of the Frendly Gathering
Most Vermont music festivals tout some sort of theme or progressive mission beyond simply presenting good tunes. The Manifestivus in Cabot, for example, bills itself as “a local festival with a global vibe,” referencing not just an affinity for worldly sounds but an outward worldview. SolarFest in Manchester shines a light on sustainable energy along…
I Think My Boyfriend Is Cheating on Me
Dear Athena, I think my boyfriend is cheating on me. When we first got together, he cheated and I found out. When I did, he ended it with the other guy right away. Lately he is really distant and busy and seems not that interested in me. He is working a lot, and I think…
After Arson, Burlington Church Gets a New Steeple
Burlington may not have much of a skyline, but a few of its taller architectural elements do command attention and admiration. One of those — the steeple of the College Street Congregational Church — soon will be restored to its position of prominence in the cityscape after a nearly three-year absence. The 60-foot octagonal spire…
Hell Bent
Originally published November 28, 2007. Set in a postapocalyptic “company town” and laced with striking thematic elements that evoke the darkest days of the Depression, Hadestown is an ambitious and imaginative retelling of the Greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice. It opens this Thursday at the Barre Opera House, the first of a seven-date tour.…
Pork & Pickles BBQ Opens in Essex Junction
When Pork & Pickles BBQ opens at 34 Park Street in Essex Junction this Wednesday, June 22, plenty of small plates will embody the restaurant’s name. Vinegar veggies will come plain or fried. Their brine will give punch to a plate of smoked wings, says chef-owner Chris Simard. Simard, of food truck the Lazy Farmer,…
One Dish: Goat ‘Wellington,’ Black Krim Tavern
I had already eaten a potato-and-bacon cake topped with sour cream and dotted with chive blossoms; crabmeat perched on sushi rice with toasted nori and avocado; and a few bites of tender pork tostada with smoked-tomato sauce, corn and black beans. I was under the impression that I was full. A plate of goat “Wellington”…
