Oct 12-18, 2016
Patrick Leahy, 42 Years a Senator; Electronic Music Pioneer Tod Machover in Burlington; Rowan Jacobsen’s Oyster Love
Cover Story
Forty-Two Years a Senator: Has Leahy Served Long Enough?
After decades in office, the dean of the United States Senate wasn’t saying whether he would seek another term. But an ambitious Vermont politician wouldn’t wait to find out. On a January 1974 trip to Brattleboro, the 33-year-old Chittenden County state’s attorney, Patrick Leahy, told southern Vermont Democrats that he would seek the office “no…
Obituary: Dave “Big D” Fayette, 1945-2016
Our dearly beloved Dave Fayette, 70, left us on Thursday, September 29, 2016. He was born on October 22, 1945, to Ellen and Frederick J. Fayette Sr. — sixth child in a loving family of 11. Dave was a graduate of Rice Memorial High and the University of Vermont, which he followed with service in…
The Parmelee Post: Joe Biden’s Vermont Itinerary Revealed
This intense election season has been nonconsensually grabbing the attention of otherwise self-respecting voters across our great state. So it came as a welcome surprise to learn that America’s favorite veep and chill uncle Joe Biden will visit the Queen City next Friday. Batman’s second-string butler Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) invited the Vice President to…
Obituary: Jill Marie (Mortimer) Hartman, 1958-2016
St. Albans – Jill Marie (Mortimer) Hartman loved, lived, nursed and nurtured with an energy that drew out the best in others. She was born in Bellows Falls, VT on October 8th, 1958 to Wendell Gilson Mortimer and Evelyn Mae (Clark) Mortimer of Putney, VT. She spent her childhood between Westfield, MA and the family…
Dug Nap Draws From Life in ‘Artsy Fartsy’
The term “artsy-fartsy” is a fun, flatulence-inflected dismissal of the pretentiousness that can attend the art world. As such, it’s an excellent choice of title for the debut book by Burlington artist dug Nap. For nearly three decades, he’s been forging his own distinct, witticism-strewn path through a maze of collectors, gallerists, publishers and general…
Ditching Donald: Will Trump Doom Vermont Republicans?
Last April, Republican Senate candidate Scott Milne slammed his party’s future presidential nominee, Donald Trump, for “cozying up to the [Ku Klux] Klan.” But, he added, “I’m not ruling him out.” In June, Milne called Trump’s denigration of a federal judge whose parents were born in Mexico “distressing.” But, the Senate candidate said, “I’m still…
Damon Ferrante Guitar Composition, Inspired by Calder
Vermont composer Damon Ferrante often finds inspiration for his music in instances of visual movement: the interplay of rhythms between his windshield wipers and a blinking red traffic light, or the serially flashing letters of a pretzel-cart sign in New York City. So, when he came upon a room of gently moving, dramatically lit Alexander…
Theater Review: Macbeth, Northern Stage
Disorientation may be the ideal way to liberate an audience. In his bold vision of Macbeth, director Stephen Brown-Fried uses surprise to help viewers see the play anew. Northern Stage’s production is not merely a modern-dress spin on a classic but a novel way to experience its emotional depth. Shakespeare’s story of a man shedding…
The Birth of a Nation
Never before have the fortunes of a filmmaker and his debut creation soared to such prerelease heights, only to come crashing and burning back to Earth just in time for opening weekend. The story of Nate Parker and The Birth of a Nation is fraught, racially charged and open to countless interpretations. More than anything,…
Electronic Music Pioneer Tod Machover Plays Burlington
Electronic music was born of experiments with radio equipment after the Second World War. The advent of the synthesizer brought that technology to compositions as diverse as Switched-On Bach and the works of the Beatles. Now every kid with a laptop can use readily available software to achieve things unheard of even 10 years ago.…
The Girl on the Train
Rachel is a train wreck. A public drunk. A stalker. She’s the kind of woman who visits her ex’s house and sinisterly cuddles the baby he had with his new wife. In your classic domestic thriller, Rachel would be the antagonist threatening the happy home, but author Paula Hawkins had the smart idea to make…
The New Siberians, Black Blue + White
(Self-released, digital download, vinyl) If you’re going to go almost a decade between album releases, you might as well turn out a double album, right? Perhaps that was the thinking behind the New Siberians’ long-awaited second LP, Black Blue + White. Packed with 19 songs, featuring 16 musicians and recorded at three different studios over…
Fable Farm Fermentory Experiments With Apples
Long shadows were all that remained of an October afternoon. Sapling fruit trees, arranged in meandering berms, lined the drive to a regal timber-frame barn that looked new and old at once. Beneath three arched carriage bays, cider presses kept company with burlap bags, presently stuffed with wild apples. Tarps, hand tools and farm implements…
Whitney’s Julien Ehrlich Has Nothing to Hide
Chicago’s Whitney have spent the past year putting themselves out there — way out there. To wit, the septet’s inaugural Instagram posts were essentially a bunch of nude pinups, with strategically placed items covering their junk. The band is flipping the bird, among other things, to the worn-out model of building buzz through secrecy and…
Kin & Quality, The Uninvited
(Self-released, digital download) Burlington rapper Kin has grown up on record. He first bum-rushed the stage, metaphorically speaking, in 2013 as one half of UnKommon through a project called Real Hip Hop. Since then, his skills have grown considerably through constant collaborations. His latest, The Uninvited, comes after an intense year marked by the tragic…
Wild Hart Distillery Plans Tasting Room
Naomi Clemmons and Craig Stevens, founders of Wild Hart Distillery, view each sip of a craft-distilled spirit as a collection of stories. And they plan to share those stories with visitors to the distillery and tasting room they’ll soon begin building at 26 Sage Court in Shelburne. Wild Hart’s story starts with grains garnered through…
Shumlin’s Unlikely Legacy: A Judiciary of His Appointees
In assessing Gov. Peter Shumlin’s legacy after six years in office, observers are likely to note the obvious highs and lows: his fight against opiate addiction, the failed single-payer health care plan, shutting down the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant and his administration’s ties to the EB-5 investment scandal in the Northeast Kingdom. But in…
Soundbites: On Jim Breuer, Pete RG and the Return of Funkwagon
This is a local music column, so it only makes sense to begin this week with a nationally renowned standup comedian, right? OK, fine, that makes no sense at all. But here we are. And believe it or not, there actually is a small music angle, to boot. This weekend the one and only Jim…
Tea Talks in Middlebury; a New Market for Winooski
At last: Winooski grocery shoppers will soon have a new option. Owner Michael Hughes says the third location of Commodities Natural Market, located in Keen’s Crossing, should be open in early December. The store was originally slated to open in the summer, but a permitting holdup led to delays in construction. CNM originated in New…
How Can I Tell Women About My Foot Fetish?
Dear Athena, I have a confession: I have a foot fetish. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had an infatuation with women’s bare feet. I love giving girls foot rubs and kissing and sucking on their (clean!) toes, and a foot job turns me on more than a hand job. However, this fetish…
Hunting Foes Want to Snare Seats on Vermont’s Fish & Wildlife Board
As sunlight filtered through an overgrown apple orchard in Lincoln, Patrick Berry lifted his shotgun and fired. A loud boom echoed through the tangle of woods, and a bird dropped from just above the trees. Within minutes, Berry’s dog had found the woodcock on the ground. It was not quite dead. Berry took the needle-billed…
Letters to Editor (10/12/16)
Best of Bennett [Re “Wizard of Awe,” September 28]: Yep, “magic” is right! And I had the honor of having gotten a bit of it when Russ Bennett handed me the keys to my beautiful house in Sugarbush. Raquel Kastner Pompano Beach, FL Bad Judgment [Re Fair Game: “Top Whoppers,” October 5]: I find it…
SecurShade Aims to Shield Schoolchildren
For 30 years, Gordon Clements has manufactured and sold window shades, curtains and blinds out of a Williston business he founded in his basement: Gordon’s Window Décor. Three years ago, he came out of retirement to develop a new window treatment unlike any he’d made before. When asked why, he chokes up before answering. A…
Who Built the Otter Creek Dugway, and Why?
When reader Karl Riemer of Underhill emailed recently to ask, “Who dug the Dugway between Otter Creek and Fields Bay, when and why?” my initial response was “WTF is the Dugway?” I’ve been to Otter Creek, but I’ve never explored the seven-mile stretch of river that runs between Vergennes and Lake Champlain. There, according to…
At Off Center, Burlington’s Fringe Fest Is Back
The Burlington Fringe Festival at Off Center for the Dramatic Arts, which bills itself as “the fourth annual,” began five years ago. No, that’s not a trick or a math error. The ostensibly yearly event, which started in 2012, took a hiatus last year. Now it’s back in force: Thursday through Sunday, October 13 through…
Art Review: ‘Of Land and Local: Watershed,’ BCA Center and Shelburne Farms Coach Barn
Two venues. Three cocurators. More than a dozen artists. Many mediums. It’s the fourth edition of the ambitious annual art show jointly organized by Burlington City Arts and Shelburne Farms under the heading “Of Land & Local.” Like the three previous exhibits, this year’s consists entirely of works made by Vermont artists that address aspects…
Theater Review: Smokey Joe’s Café, Girls Nite Out
For its fall production, Burlington’s Girls Nite Out Productions brings Smokey Joe’s Café: The Songs of Leiber and Stoller to Main Street Landing Black Box Theater. Even before the show began on opening night, an enthusiastic crowd stirred up Broadway-esque fervor. Only a curmudgeon without a sense of nostalgia could attend this show without cracking…
Free Will Astrology (10/12/16)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Most of us can’t tickle ourselves. Since we have conscious control of our fingers, we know we can stop any time. Without the element of uncertainty, our squirm reflex doesn’t kick in. But I’m wondering if you might get a temporary exemption from this rule in the coming weeks. I say…
Free College? Minter Proposes; Scott Skeptical
Two Castleton University students were among those asking questions at a gubernatorial debate last month in Rutland, so the conversation naturally turned to higher education. “What do you see as the primary factor contributing to the large gap between high school graduation and college attendance rates in Vermont?” asked Vanessa Robertson, a senior political science…
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Queen City Ghostwalk [SIV462]
10/8/16: On a windy evening in downtown Burlington, paranormal historian Thea Lewis led a brave group through back alleyways as part of her Queen City Ghostwalk. Since 2002, Thea has been telling tall tales about the restless spirits which haunt our Queen City. Eva joined the Darkness Falls Tour and lived to tell the tale.…
Piecemeal Pies Sets Up in White River Junction
White River Junction has seen no shortage of new developments in recent years. And this Tuesday, October 11, the town gained a new restaurant when Piecemeal Pies opened in the old J.J. Newberry department store at 5 South Main Street. The shop offers savory pies and salads built on meats and produce from local farms.…
Author Rowan Jacobsen Talks Oyster Love
Most of the time, Calais resident Rowan Jacobsen describes oysters as if he were recalling lovers, his words like fingertips brushing across skin. Of the Olympia variety, he writes: “I think this is the most gorgeous oyster in the world. Unearthly blacks and blues seem to flicker before your eyes, changing every time you glance…
