By his own admission, Colin McCaffrey can be blunt to a fault. The Vermont musician and recording engineer concedes that his directness occasionally irritates people, including clients at his East Montpelier recording studio, the Greenroom. “I’ve learned how to temper that to some degree,” says McCaffrey, who has spent the last 20 or so years…
When Michelle Childs walked into the Cochran’s Ski Area lodge in Richmond for the first time this winter, she knew something was very different. At first, she thought maybe the interior had been painted, but then she realized it was the windows. She could actually see out of them. That was new. In previous years,…
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On January 30, the state’s child care shortage was the subject of Vermont Public Radio’s midday call-in program “Vermont Edition.” The occasion? State lawmakers are considering major new investments to address a long-discussed lack of affordable, high-quality child care. Host Jane Lindholm moderated a 36-minute conversation between a panel of experts and a series of…
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On Tuesday, the Vermont legislature will reconvene after a weeklong break. Immediately before the interlude, the Senate approved a bill that would legalize cannabis sales by April 2021. That was expected, as the chamber has traditionally been receptive to such legislation. All eyes are now on the House, where Rep. Sam Young (D-Glover) has already…
Thaddius Jon Launderville, 49, of Pleasant Street in Williamstown passed away surrounded by his loving family on Monday, March 4, 2019, at the Central Vermont Medical Center in Berlin. Born August 31, 1969, in Trenton, N.J., he was the son of Russell and Kathleen (Bashaw) Launderville. Thad attended Cabot Elementary and High School and graduated…
The yellow Beansie’s Bus half buried in snow outside the Burlington Police Department. Kitchen staff prepping meals at the Integrated Arts Academy. Stickers plastered across the front door of the Olde Northender Pub. Laughing African women in bright floral dresses. A hand-painted sign that reads, “Art saves lives.” What do these images have in common?…
Maker Alm@ Pérez’s small robotic creations are neither emotionless RoboCops nor indomitable Terminator-like cyborgs. When confronted with the physical presence of a human, they stop suddenly and retreat, as if in fear, and then recite poetry in English and Spanish about their angst. The insect-like creatures, whose limbs are made of birch plywood but whose…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Who was the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic painting Mona Lisa? Many scholars think it was Italian noblewoman Lisa del Giocondo. Leonardo wanted her to feel comfortable during the long hours she sat for him, so he hired musicians to play for her and people with mellifluous voices to read…
Hooked on Seven Days! There is a reason Seven Days is a thriving, surviving and award-winning newspaper — you deserve it. Kate O’Neill’s debut article is outstanding [“Hooked,” February 20]. You saw an opportunity to dig into an issue deeply affecting our community, state and nation, and you fully supported it. Kudos to you, and…
Dear Scarlett, My sister is two years older than me and has a 3-year-old son with a guy she’s been married to for 10 years. She feels stuck and fights with her husband all the time. I am 100 percent sure he is cheating. They make just enough money to make ends meet and just…
Slippery Slopes One of the most unusual local concerts of the year — maybe of the decade — is happening this weekend at Sugarbush Resort in Warren. On Saturday, March 9, the fourth annual Rock the Bush concert takes over the Reks, a small pub located within the Sugarbush Village. The headliner? Slick Rick the…
Just when you figured Michael Jackson’s saga couldn’t possibly get more bizarre, things got way crazier. This was a dude, remember, who had an amusement park in his backyard, showed up for court in his jammies, and looked as if he’d bleached his skin and replaced his nose with the nub of an elf. Now…
It’s rare you’ll encounter someone with as much gusto as Storm Large. The Massachusetts-born, Portland, Ore.-based maven currently performs with her band, Le Bonheur. They present a grand deconstructionist survey of the Great American Songbook. Hopping from standards such as Rodgers and Hart’s “The Lady Is a Tramp” to rock classics like Lou Reed’s “Satellite…
Neil Jordan’s glossy thriller Greta has some unintentionally funny moments, and some intentional ones. One of the latter happens when a spoiled trust-fund kid named Erica (Maika Monroe) examines photos of her that were snapped by a mysterious stalker named Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert). Pausing to give props to the unhinged woman’s photography skills, she…
Martina Anderson pronounces the word “vulva” differently from most Vermonters. A native of Austria, she gives the first syllable a rounder, fuller sound. Her “vul” rhymes with “wool.” Voolvah. Anderson, a former chocolatier and current marketer at Vermont confectioner Nutty Steph’s, said the word many times during a conversation with Seven Days. She set in…
The Town of Montgomery has no local police force, and until five months ago “staties” were as rare as lynxes in the northern Vermont community near Jay Peak Resort. Last October, that changed. Vermont State Police cruisers from the St. Albans barracks 30 miles to the west began to patrol in Montgomery almost daily, often…
New location, still no gluten. After 10 years of turning out gluten-free sweets and pizza dough near Five Corners in Essex Junction, West Meadow Farm Bakery is moving across town to 4 Carmichael Street. With its ample parking and customer-friendly location near the Essex outlets and cinema, the new space — most recently home to…
(Third Eye Industries/Meat Wave Music, CD, digital download) Maybe there should be a sort of musical tourism program. Towns could kick some dough to local bands and artists to score the soundtracks for their home cities, that sort of thing. Marco Polio’s Matt Hall already released an album devoted to living in Syracuse, N.Y., and…
When my customer, Suki Slattery, told me that she spent the first 35 years of her life on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I recalled a cross-country trip in the late ’80s that took me through the region. “We camped at least one night on the UP within a short walk to Lake Superior,” I shared. “I…
Keith Porter had a feeling his Burlington apartment was colder than it should be. So he started measuring the temperature of his bathroom floor. The results confirmed why his toes were numb: It was 45 degrees on three different December days. He got a “heating” bill soon after for nearly $150. Porter said he expected…
Based on the oral histories that author Studs Terkel collected from working people, the musical Working is a collection of first-person portraits of people reflecting on their jobs. The show mixes monologues and choreographed musical numbers, unfolding more as a revue than a character-based book musical. A waitress, ironworker, teacher, publicist, millworker, cleaning woman and…
Gov. Phil Scott’s plan to provide $1.5 million to help Vermonters buy electric cars didn’t make many headlines when it was announced in January. After all, the federal government has offered electric vehicle purchase incentives of up to $7,500 for a decade. Local utilities, including Green Mountain Power, the Burlington Electric Department and the Washington…
Jonathan Tolins starts his 2013 play Buyer & Cellar by rattling the fourth wall. The only actor we’ll see or hear — though not the only character, as he brings several others to life — gives us some essential ground rules. “This is a work of fiction. You know that, right? What I’m about to…
(Self-released, digital) For his sophomore EP, Noah Schneidman wanted to “make pop bangers.” By “searching for sounds that [he] thought others would enjoy,” the Burlington-based singer-songwriter, who records and performs under the moniker Full Walrus, ended up with a product he felt wasn’t really for him. “It was for everyone else,” he explains on his…
Tastemakers from Burlington’s South End food and arts community host a party with music from Mal Maiz. Tour the businesses in the renovated building, with stops at Alice & the Magician for aromatic tipples with Barr Hill Gin and at CO Cellars for sparkling natural wines and ciders. Peruse the baubles at Rackk & Ruin…
Is Vermont ready for another crack at ranked-choice voting? A coalition of lawmakers is hoping so. They’ll have to overcome bad memories among many Burlingtonians, who tried a similar system in the 2000s but abandoned it after five years. House bill 444 would implement ranked-choice voting in some Vermont elections. So far, most of its…
“Like mementos, [miniatures] can be carried out of a burning house or by immigrants to the new world,” writes essayist Lia Purpura in her 2011 reflection “On Miniatures.” “They can be held under the tongue like contraband.” The underestimated vitalness of the miniature, and the potential for subversion that comes with altered scale, form the…
Anyone who wears a bow tie is making a statement. It can be “I’m conservative,” “I’m in the wedding party,” “I’ll be your server this evening,” or “I’m intelligent and dexterous enough to knot my own bow tie.” Regardless of the message, bow ties get noticed, as do the people who sport them. Not everyone…
No offense to the late Stan Lee, but saving the world isn’t just for superheroes anymore. In fact, some of today’s most prolific do-gooders could be couch potatoes. Roughly 19 globally minded citizens proved that point at Open Data Day on Saturday in Burlington City Hall Auditorium. The event was cohosted by the University of…
In May 2015, the Polka Dot Restaurant closed its doors after serving eggs and flapjacks for more than a half century in White River Junction. Just across the river in Lebanon, N.H., a young Cambodian couple was working to incubate the new food business that would, nearly four years later, replace the long-standing diner at…
A farm market will open in Middlesex this spring at the site of the town’s old general store, bringing local produce to the Washington County town year-round. Bear Roots Farm, a diversified organic vegetable farm in Barre, will launch Roots Farm Market at 903 Route 2 in May, co-owner Jon Wagner said. Just as rural…
