May 29 – Jun 4, 2013
Gretchen Parlato Is Redefining the Role of Vocals in Jazz; A Tech-Savvy Monk With a Mission; Civic Hacking Day in VT; Kathryn Flagg on the Poultry Craze; Bobby McFerrin Gets ‘spirityouall’
Cover Story
Finding Her Voice: Gretchen Parlato
If you read up on jazz singer Gretchen Parlato, you’ll inevitably encounter some variation of the phrase, “She uses her voice like an instrument.” That may be the ultimate compliment in a genre that historically has placed a premium on musicality over flash, and has tended to view vocalists more as entertainers than serious musicians.…
Obituary: Charlene F. Young
Charlene F. Young, age 60, a resident of the Machia Road died Tuesday morning June 4, 2013, at the Northwestern Medical Center with loving family at her side. Born in St. Albans on November 26, 1952, she was the daughter of Pauline (Santor) Bruley and the late Harold Santor. She was raised and attended schools…
Obituary: Albert S. Nadeau
Albert S. Nadeau, 97, died peacefully, surrounded by his loving family at Copley Hospital on Sunday, May 26, 2013. He was born on February 6, 1916 in Chicopee, MA, the son of Alfred and Elmire Nadeau, who shortly thereafter moved their young family to a farmstead in Johnson. He married Anita Fournier of Johnson on…
Obituary: Susan Marie Rusnak
Susan Marie Rusnak, age 44 years, a native of Swanton and more recently of S. Burlington died very unexpectedly Sunday May 19, 2013, while returning to Vermont from vacationing in California. Born in St. Albans on February 16, 1969, she was the daughter of George and Mary (Cota) Rusnak. She graduated from Missisquoi Valley Union…
Do Your Civic (Hacking) Duty This Weekend in Burlington
Attention developers, designers and hackers: Have you ever complained about the lack of tech savvy in local government and civic institutions? Well, here’s your chance to help. A new group called Code for BTV — the local arm of Code for America — is launching an effort to bridge the gap between tech enthusiasts and…
Obituary: Merrill Joseph Corbiere
Merrill Joseph Corbiere, age 73 years, a lifelong Swanton resident died Monday evening May 27, 2013, at the Fletcher Allen Health Care Facility with loving family at his side. Born in Swanton on February 23, 1940, he was the son of the late Archie and Dorcus (Duprey) Corbiere. He attended St. Anne’s Academy and on…
News Quirks
Curses, Foiled Again Looking to steal copper wiring to sell as scrap, Dalton Newhouse and Charles Raymond Norris, both 22, used rifles to shoot down high-tension power lines in West Virginia’s Beury Mountain Wildlife Management Area. Newhouse was electrocuted when he touched a live cable on the ground, according to Fayette County deputies and National…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Back in the 1920s, the governor of Texas was determined to forbid the teaching of foreign languages in public schools. To bolster her case, she called on the Bible. “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ,” she said, “it’s good enough for us.” She was dead serious. I suspect you…
National Day of Civic Hacking Comes to Vermont
This weekend, even the White House will encourage American citizens to start hacking. But don’t go changing the password to your email and Facebook accounts. The government isn’t endorsing the kind of hacking that wreaks havoc; it’s promoting “civic hacking,” a new kind of collaborative coding that aims to produce technology to improve communities. “Civic…
Obituary: Isabel May Petersen
Isabel May Petersen, age 86 years, a native of Noyan, Quebec and for the past 15 years a resident of S. Burlington, VT died Tuesday morning May 28, 2013, in the Franklin County Rehab Center in St. Albans. Born in Noyan, Quebec Canada on May 15, 1927 she was the daughter of the late Clifford…
Seven Questions for Bobby McFerrin
On his new record, spirityouall, vocalist Bobby McFerrin reimagines American traditional music. The 10-time Grammy Award winner puts his unique stamp on beloved classics such as “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “I Shall Be Released” and “Whole World,” many of which were staples in the repertoire of his father, Robert McFerrin, an operatic baritone who was…
Exploring Quebec’s Wine Country With the Experts
Standing in the sun outside Vignoble de l’Orpailleur in Dunham, Québec, Caroline Décoste looked a little nervous when she was handed a metal saber and a bottle of sparkling wine. With one swift move, she ran the weapon along the bottle’s seamed edge until its top cracked off and the wine frothed on the grass.…
A Tech-Savvy Monk Is Taking Mindfulness to the Masses
Stretched out on an exam table in the neurology wing of Fletcher Allen Health Care, 26-year-old Anna King flinches when her physician, Dr. James Boyd, inserts a long, thin needle filled with a Botox injection in the sole of her foot. That’s when Soryu Forall chimes in, his voice low and throaty. The 36-year-old Zen…
Inside the Backyard Poultry Craze
I was bumping down a dirt road in Springfield, worried I’d made a wrong turn, when I came upon what was clearly my destination: the monthly poultry swap and meeting of the Vermont Bird Fancier’s Club. This was tailgating with tail feathers — birds arranged in truck beds, in cages under tents, in homemade, tow-behind…
Sydney Lea Book Reviews
When you review books in Vermont, you receive a lot of volumes with “northern,” “north country,” “life” and “seasons” in their titles. You read a lot of essay collections in which authors in their seventh or eighth decades contemplate the shifting natural world in tandem with human change, aging and loss. Sometimes, to be honest,…
Gallery Profile: Outerlands
Cat Cutillo and Ross Sheehan have a thing for transforming old spaces. Their Vergennes home used to be a shed, and their new gallery, just a few blocks away, was a carriage house long ago. The little yellow bungalow on Green Street opened earlier this month as Outerlands Gallery. When photographer Cutillo and sculptor Sheehan…
![Vermont Minibike Club [311]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/episode311.webp?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1)
Vermont Minibike Club [311]
5/9/13: Founded in 2011, the Vermont Minibike Club is a group of gearheads who enjoy fixing up and riding vintage miniature motorcycles. Eva joined the club one night in Burlington and unleashed her inner drag racer. Music: Barbacoa, “Medieval Knievel” This episode of Stuck in Vermont was brought to you by Cabot Creamery Cooperative.
Theater Review: The Performer
New York City residents are no strangers to the lives of the homeless, many of whom sleep on subway stairs and platforms and in the doorways of apartment buildings. The people are generally harmless, but it’s not a pretty scene. Just such a scene is what Marshfield playwright Tom Blachly employs in his new work,…
Letters to the Editor
Sweater Savvy [Re “What the Frack? Middlebury College at Odds Over Addison County Pipeline Project,” May 15; “For a North Country Paper Mill, Natural Gas Could be a Lifesaver,” March 20]: Reporting on the issues surrounding natural gas and pipelines misses the simplest and most cost-effective way of saving money that would otherwise go up…
