Mar 18-24, 2015
Threats, Lawsuits and Dead Animals in Victory; You Don’t Have Mail? Here’s Why; Eighteenth Green Mountain Film Fest; Madaila’s Mark Daly on the Record
Cover Story
An Ongoing Feud in Victory Illustrates the Dark Side of Small-Town Life
Norman Rockwell’s iconic painting “Freedom of Speech” captures the civility of small-town democracy. The painter said he was inspired by a Vermont town meeting — specifically a man who stood up to speak out in dissent while his neighbors looked on respectfully. That’s not how town meetings have been going down in the Northeast Kingdom town…
Obituary: Sally Shane, 1936-2015, Shelburne
Sarah “Sally” Ide Shane passed away on March 11, 2015 at Wake Robin in Shelburne, Vermont, where she made her home for the past 10 years. Born in Wilkes-Barre, Sally attended Wyoming Seminary, the Northfield Mount Hermon School and Elmira College. Her lifelong friends from these schools remember their wonderful times together with great fondness,…
Obituary: Rita Pauline Dupont, 1922-2015, Swanton
Rita Pauline Dupont, 93, passed away on March 17, 2015 in Swanton surrounded by her loving family. She was born March 9, 1922 in Winooski to Narcisse and Marie (Gaboriault) Soutiere. She married the love of her life the late Romeo Dupont on June 14, 1941. Left to cherish her memory are her children and…
Local Art Enlivens Hilton Garden Inn Burlington
Pedestrians who pass by the old armory building on Burlington’s Main Street frequently peer into the tall windows and make comments along the lines of “When will it be done?” Seeing nothing through the glass but construction equipment and piles of building materials, they might assume the much-anticipated hotel at 101 Main isn’t finished. They…
Lucrative Lesson: Vermont Schools Look to Recruit More International Students
Natavan Dudkina learned about the University of Vermont at a college fair she attended more than 5,500 miles away from Burlington — in Baku, Azerbaijan. The 18-year-old pre-med student with thick, dark hair and a gentle smile was hooked after hearing about UVM’s “public Ivy League” reputation, strong life-sciences courses and clean air. Lake Champlain…
Art Review: Richard Whitten
Richard Whitten’s odd artworks will amaze, amuse and possibly confuse visitors to his show at Stowe’s Helen Day Art Center, aptly titled “Experiments.” A master of trompe l’oeil, the Rhode Island College painting professor meticulously renders imaginary architectural spaces in the style, and with the painting methods, of the Renaissance. The 50 or so assemblages…
Letters to the Editor (3/18/15)
Better BCA Thanks to Ken Picard for writing about James Lockridge’s campaign to create a Burlington arts commission [“Big Heavy World Director Challenges Burlington City Arts,” March 11]. I am in full support of his efforts to make the allocation of Burlington tax dollars to the arts more democratic and more transparent. Doreen Kraft has…
Blindness No Deterrent to Running Courthouse Café
Heidi Viens’ mac and cheese has a piquant pairing of Cabot Seriously Sharp cheddar and mustard with a buttery crouton topping. But if customers at Burlington’s Courthouse Café want a portion of that popular dish, they’ll need to reserve it. The taste of home is at a premium among diners seeking refuge from their business…
My Relationship Is Dead and I Want Someone I Can’t Have
Dear Athena, I am in a basically dead relationship with my boyfriend. I am also totally completely smitten with someone I absolutely cannot have. I can’t tell anyone. My boyfriend knows something is wrong and is getting mad at me for not sharing. I’m trying to keep my mind off my crush, but I’m driven…
The 18th Annual Green Mountain Film Festival Preview
The 61 films in the 2015 Green Mountain Film Festival, which starts this week in Montpelier, suffice to rank it as the second-largest film festival in Vermont. And those 61 films represent only about 2 percent of those submitted to the GMFF this year: Filmmakers from 92 countries sent in more than 2,400 entries. “It’s…
Free Will Astrology (3/18/15)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): You’re entering a time and space known as the Adlib Zone. In this territory, fertile chaos and inspirational uncertainty are freely available. Improvised formulas will generate stronger mojo than timeworn maxims. Creativity is de rigueur, and street smarts count for more than book learning. May I offer some mottoes to live…
Book Review: Girls I Never Married by Daniel Lusk
Most authors you “know” only through the inevitable blurb on their book jackets. Sometimes, though, you get to meet a writer at a reading or other literary event and find out how the description matches up with the flesh-and-blood person. Burlington poet Daniel Lusk published a memoir in 2014 (I’m a little late getting to…
A Taxing Session: Shap Smith’s $113 Million Problem
The day after one House committee voted last Thursday to increase health insurance subsidies for low-income Vermonters, the chair of another proposed slashing them to balance the budget. As one committee voted to create a new, two-cents-per-ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, a more powerful panel lined up against it. And as a popular bill to…
![Poetry Out Loud [SIV391]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/episode391.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Poetry Out Loud [SIV391]
3/11/15: The 10th Annual Poetry Out Loud Semifinals were held at the Barre Opera House last Wednesday. More than 5,000 Vermont students from 43 high schools participated in this national competition (35 schools were represented at the semifinals) and 10 students moved on to the finals which will be held March 19th at Vermont PBS.…
Run All Night
There’s good news and bad news about Oscar-nominated thespian-turned-geriatric action star Liam Neeson. The good news: He’s announced that the curtain will soon come down on the segment of his career that began in 2008 with Taken and improbably spawned an entire subgenre. The bad news: Neeson plans to cash a couple of years’ worth…
‘The Singer’s Art’ Series Returns to St. Mike’s
“Music is a lot of men in a lot of tails with a lot of chairs, and a lot of airs, and a lot of furs and diamonds!” So Colorado soprano Jennifer Bird-Arvidsson will sing next Wednesday evening at a Saint Michael’s College recital, accompanied by Shelburne pianist Paul Orgel. The lyrics are part of…
Cinderella
Retold thousands of ways in folk literature, invoked by dozens of dating reality shows, revised and parodied everywhere from Pretty Woman to “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” the Cinderella tale endures. The story of a human doormat who undergoes magic-assisted metamorphosis and social elevation is just too good to resist. In fact, it’s such a good story…
Vermont Cartoonist Laureate Ed Koren Has a ‘New Yorker’ Show
Edward Koren’s two worlds — Vermont and New York City — are alternating settings for a dozen of the drawings included in a sampling of his work currently on display at a Manhattan gallery. The rest of the 25 pieces in “Wet Ink” and “Bikes and Beasts” are situated in an imagined realm where hairy…
News Quirks (3/18/15)
Curses, Foiled Again Rocco Tumbarello, 41, stole stuff from a home in West Boynton, Fla., authorities there said, but he didn’t get far. He lives across the street. The victim came home to find his 42-inch TV and his mother’s laptop gone, the sheriff’s report said, and spotted his neighbor “running across the street with…
State of the Unions: Shumlin Strikes Out With Organized Labor
Six years ago, the president pro tempore of the Vermont Senate stood on the steps of the Statehouse and decried state employee layoffs proposed by the governor. The senate president, Democrat Peter Shumlin, thanked Vermont State Employees’ Association members for offering other budget-cutting ideas to counter Republican governor Jim Douglas’ proposed layoffs. “What we will…
The Transformation of Madaila’s Mark Daly
Mark Daly’s shirt is a little disappointing. There’s nothing wrong with it, exactly. The muted gray cotton Henley is stylish enough, with blue sleeves pushed up to reveal a modest forearm tattoo. It’s just kind of drab, is all, at least compared to the getup you might expect from the flamboyant and often garishly attired…
Theater Review: Slowgirl, Vermont Stage Company
It takes courage and craft to bring a character to life onstage and draw the audience inside her hopes and fears. To see a high school senior do this is especially riveting, and that is what awaits you at Vermont Stage Company’s production of Slowgirl, written by Shelburne native Greg Pierce. The intriguing 90-minute play,…
Theater Review: Orwell in America
It’s rare for a Vermont theater company to produce a world premiere by a major American playwright, but Northern Stage defies the odds. The company’s aspirations to find and develop new work come full circle in Orwell in America by Joe Sutton. Part of Northern Stage’s first “New Works Now” play-reading festival in 2014, it’s…
Pheasants and Peasants
“Is it always this busy in Burlington?” the woman inquired from the backseat of my taxi. It was Saturday night of the Mardi Gras weekend. “It was hard to get a hotel room.” This woman and her partner were down from Montréal, visiting town on a ski vacation. While Burlington is not, strictly speaking, a…
Soundbites: Back to the Future
Back to the Future In case you couldn’t tell from the story leading off this week’s music section, I’m pretty excited about Madaila and that band’s new record, The Dance. But there’s an important aspect of Madaila’s story that I was only able to touch on — word counts are a bitch, my friends. So…
Timely Mail, Sunday Packages: Can Burlington’s Acting Postmaster Deliver?
Heather Hogan was irked. The Burlington resident wanted to know why the U.S. Postal Service suspended her mail delivery on South Winooski Avenue for several days in late February. She said her husband promptly shoveled their front steps after a letter carrier complained they were too icy, but no mail arrived for three days and…
Hana Zara, The North
(Self-released, CD, digital download) On “Tatterhood,” the closing track of her 2013 album of the same name, Burlington songwriter Hana Zara presents an alternate take on the classic fairy tale. Based on a children’s story, also called “Tatterhood,” that her father read to her as a girl, the folk tale centers on a heroine who…
Queen of the City? Jane Knodell Poised to Become Burlington City Council Prez
“She was no rubber stamp.” That’s how Peter Clavelle recently described working with Jane Knodell, who led the Burlington City Council for three years while he served as mayor. Although they’re cut from the same political cloth — both are pro-development Progressives — Clavelle distinctly recalled that Knodell “twisted my arm on occasion.” More than…
The Cop Outs, The Cop Outs
(Self-released, CD) If you’ve still got a swollen head from St. Patrick’s Day, you may want to dim the lights and pop an ibuprofen or three before pressing play on the self-titled debut EP from Morrisville’s the Cop Outs. In the tradition of the Pogues, Flogging Molly and, most recently, the Dropkick Murphys, the quintet…
Obituary: Celebrate the Life of Larry Piano, 1954 – 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 1:00 – 4:30 p.m. Tribute starting at 1:30 ArtsRiot Gallery 400 Pine Street, Burlington, Vermont Light refreshments provided Please share with anyone who might like to attend A full obituary will appear at a later date. This Celebration is hosted by Larry’s closest friends in Vermont, and we will welcome Larry’s…
Taverna Khione Brings Greek to Shelburne
The space that housed French restaurant Café Shelburne from 1969 to the final night of 2014 now bears little resemblance to its former self. The carpets have been replaced with wood floors. Lamps from Conant Metal & Light illuminate the ocean-blue walls. When Taverna Khione opens in early April, refurbished wood tables will give the…
Frost Beer Works Opens to Public in Hinesburg
Beer has been flowing at Frost Beer Works at 171 Commerce Street in Hinesburg for a few weeks now. Last weekend, owner Garin Frost held a hush-hush pint night for friends, family and brewery drop-ins, but this Saturday, he says, he’ll invite the public in for a taste. Frost has been homebrewing for years on…
Taste Test: Junior’s Rustico
The day had been long, cloudy and cold and involved too much driving. As I exited the highway onto Shelburne Road in Burlington, a gray dusk fell over the salt-sodden road and filthy snowbanks. All I could think about was a belly-warming bowl of spaghetti and meatballs. Conveniently, Junior’s Rustico was on the way home;…
