May 10-16, 2017
Female Tattoo Artists Make Their Mark in Vermont; Is There a Pharm-Free Way to Fight Opiates?; Waking Windows Killed It: A Wrap-up
Cover Story
Vermont’s Female Tattoo Artists Are Making a Mark
Not so long ago, tattoos were primarily the provenance of the rough-and-tumble crowd — think convicts and sailors and punks. But, increasingly, indelible ink is as likely to be found on the forearms, ankles or lower backs of lawyers and accountants as on your average biker, basketball player or barfly. A 2015 Harris Poll found…
Obituary: Eren Dubé, 1988-2017
A memorial mass will be held on May 24th, 2017 to celebrate the life of Eren Dylan Dubé who passed away on February 23rd, 2017. Eren was born in Berlin, Vermont on May 24th, 1988. He was the son of Elden Dubé of Montpelier, Vermont and Rebecca Johnston of Essex Jct., Vermont. The memorial mass…
The Parmelee Post: Proposal for Teachers to Receive Primary Care From School Nurses Could Save State Millions
As the 2017 legislative session heads into overtime next week, one state lawmaker believes he has found a viable alternative approach to reducing teacher health care costs. He hopes the measure might finally appease Gov. Phil Scott and avert a potential veto. In a late night meeting at the Econo Lodge Montpelier on Friday, Sen.…
![Singing ‘Stuck in Vermont’ at Waking Windows [SIV489]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/episode489.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Singing ‘Stuck in Vermont’ at Waking Windows [SIV489]
5/6/17: Last weekend music, art & hordes of people transformed downtown Winooski for the annual Waking Windows festival. Eva spent Saturday afternoon at the Memorial Club asking people to sing the chorus of the Stuck in Vermont song in a pop up recording booth courtesy of Tank Recording Studio. An eclectic mix of people took…
Summoning Shakespeare in Vermont Summer Theater
The enduring legacy of William Shakespeare plays out in Vermont this summer with theater news times two. First, Bard lovers may have noticed that the Vermont Shakespeare Festival is not staging a multi-week, multi-venue production this summer, as it has in previous years. In fact, the company’s website states cryptically that VSF “is expanding to…
Album Review: Another Sexless Weekend, ‘Uniable Thwange’
(Self-released, CD, digital download) In music, nostalgia can be a double-edge sword. Sure, you want to honor the stuff that made you pick up a guitar or start to sing. But if you show too much slavish devotion, you can undo your own work, turning a well-intentioned band into glorified cover act. Burlington’s Another Sexless…
What Is That White Dome on a Hill Overlooking St. Albans?
Travelers who drive north on Interstate 89 heading into St. Albans may notice a large white sphere peeking through the trees atop a hill just east of the highway. The geodesic dome is too large to be a cellphone tower and about 1,400 miles too far north to have any connection to Disney’s Epcot. Longtime…
As UVM’s President Hits Five Years, Trustees Ask If He’s Made the Grade
Scholars in neuroscience and the Spanish Golden Age were among those recognized May 1 at a University of Vermont dinner for retiring faculty. They sipped cabernet and nibbled artichoke appetizers in the restored Burlington mansion that serves as the school’s Alumni House. A pianist plonked out the jazz standard “All of Me.” The happy occasion…
Rick Winston Film Talk: When Movies Go to the Theater
Three time zones and nearly 3,000 miles separate Hollywood and Broadway, but the worlds of the cinema and theater share a close artistic kinship. Numerous plays have been adapted for film, and actors themselves often shuttle between stage and screen. Though less common, some theater directors have made successful transitions to the movies. So, when…
Craftsbury Chamber Players Showcase Lost Soviet-Era Composers
The title of an upcoming concert, “Tyranny and Hope: Russia’s Lost Voices of the Future,” may bring to mind the current U.S. president and the mass demonstrations against him. In fact, as the Craftsbury Chamber Players will convey in two concerts this weekend, actual tyranny is much worse. CCP musicians will play a series of…
Soundbites: Waking Windows Recap
I have a confession to make: This year’s Waking Windows was my first. I know, I know. It’s surprising. Allow me to explain. I was living in California for the first four years of the festival, so I’m off the hook for those. I was back in Vermont for year five, but I was still…
Family-Friendly Wooden Nickel Opens in St. Albans
When Melissa Montagne and her husband, John — a professional hoof trimmer — decided to start a restaurant in St. Albans, they wanted to make sure it was affordable for families. “We have six children,” Melissa said. “There aren’t a lot of restaurants we can go to if we don’t want to pay $200 [for…
Vermont Women Compete in National Pool Tournament
Terah Williams didn’t come right out and say she gains extra satisfaction from beating her male opponents in pool. But she didn’t exactly deny it, either. “When I first started playing in bars, I was usually the only woman. So, yeah, I thought it was cool to kick the guys off the table,” she conceded…
Local Startups Prepare for the Pitch at LaunchVT
Theater actor Dominic Spillane has a confession. He finds public speaking terrifying. While acting allows him to hide behind a character, “When you’re public speaking, it’s you. You’re open to insecurities and assumptions,” Spillane pointed out. But when the actor stood in front of an audience of aspiring and veteran entrepreneurs last Thursday at the…
Album Review: Ebn Ezra, ‘Pax Romana’
(Cadent Records, digital download) The Pax Romana, or “Roman peace,” was an extended period of relative civility in the otherwise violent and unceasing expansion of the Roman Empire. With that in mind, Ebn Ezra’s debut album, Pax Romana, creates a similar respite. (Is this because we’re at the end of our own Pax Americana? Was…
Movie Review: ‘The Dinner’ Makes for a Filling Cinematic Meal
Oren Moverman was born in the second half of the ’60s in Tel Aviv and has written two of Hollywood’s farthest-out films about pop geniuses from that period. One is I’m Not There (2007), in which a gaggle of actors — including an 11-year-old black boy and a female award winner — play Bob Dylan at…
Movie Review: ‘Personal Shopper’ Offers Great Style, Less Substance
Trust a French director to find sly ways to poke fun at the surreality of Hollywood. While Americans know Kristen Stewart as someone famous, writer-director Olivier Assayas has twice cast her as a humble assistant to someone famous — first in Clouds of Sils Maria (2014) and now in Personal Shopper. In the former film,…
Free Will Astrology (5/10/17)
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): “Kiss the flame, and it is yours,” teased the poet Thomas Lux. What do you think he was hinting at? It’s a metaphorical statement, of course. You wouldn’t want to literally thrust your lips and tongue into a fire. But, according to my reading of the astrological omens, you might benefit…
Dear Diary: Real-Time Thoughts from Waking Windows
If you’re like me, you’re probably still coming down from the sonic high that was Waking Windows, the multiday music and arts festival in downtown Winooski last weekend. I spent three straight days rocketing around the Onion City rotary, consuming as much music as I possibly could. What follows is a running diary of my…
Ask Athena: I Want to Ask My Friend’s Mother Out
It’s a two-for-one “Family Matters” special this week! Dear Athena, My friend’s mother is recently single, and I saw her on Tinder. I want to ask her out. I know it’s weird, ’cause I’ve known my friend for so long, and she’s, like, 25 years older, and she might not be interested. But I think…
Vermont Fights Opiates With More Opiates. Is There a Better Way?
Colchester native Lauryn Crutchfield said it started with a few prescription pills at a party before she left home for college. As a first-year student at the University of New Hampshire in 2006, she was soon abusing heroin. She stole from the campus bookstore to support her habit, got thrown out of school and spent…
Art Review: ‘Ready. Fire! Aim.,’ BCA Center
The current exhibition at the BCA Center, “Ready. Fire! Aim.,” is thoroughly engaging; every one of the half-dozen artists included contributes in an utterly distinct way to the curatorial theme. That is to say nothing of the parallel collection of works at the Hall Art Foundation in Reading, which this reviewer has not yet seen.…
In the Vermont House, Freshman Dems Become a Moderating Force
Most Thursday nights since January, a group of freshman Democrats in the Vermont House has dined together at Montpelier’s NECI on Main restaurant. As they got to know one another, the first-term legislators came to realize they shared more than a lack of seniority. “There might be more freshman Democrats than people realize that are…
Letters to the Editor (5/10/17)
Criminal Mind? What could possibly motivate a Republican who is shitty on pretty much every issue to support a progressive cause like criminal justice reform [“Convict-Turned-Lawmaker Pushes Criminal Justice Reform in Vermont,” April 19]? Only being a white-collar criminal himself who defrauded investors. Not to say that this cause is bad; it is something that…
That $26 Million Thing: The Issue That Ate Vermont’s Legislative Session
When you stop and think about it, the 2017 session of the Vermont legislature has reached an unusual end point. A topic that wasn’t even on the agenda until less than three weeks ago has completely captured the narrative, both inside and outside the Statehouse. The entire session is likely to be remembered — and…
Eat This Week, May 10 to 16, 2017: Meat the Makers
Vermont Granite Museum gets a head start on the summer season with an afternoon bocce tournament, meat fest and maker gathering. Dig into plates of slow-smoked pork shoulder, ribs, wings and brisket — with all the fixings — from Back Road BBQ, Mo’s Backyard BBQ and Morse Block Deli. Then check out handmade wares by local…
Seven Foodie Reasons to Visit St. Albans
Does St. Albans have a global claim to fame? In 1994, Vermont’s Committee on Agriculture submitted a joint resolution suggesting as much: “The general assembly salutes the bounty of Vermont pure maple products … and resolved that all Vermonters be alert to and encouraged to attend the … Vermont Maple Festival … in St. Albans,…
In Montpelier, McGillicuddy’s Out, Langdon Street Tavern In
On Saturday, April 29, McGillicuddy’s Irish Pub poured its final pint at 14 Langdon Street in Montpelier. This past Friday, May 5, David Thomas, Brad Lamell and Dave Magne reopened the place as Langdon Street Tavern. Thomas and Lamell both worked at McGillicuddy’s for years; Magne kept a regular stool at the bar. All three…
