Oct 3-9, 2018
New Temple Sinai Rabbi Balances Tradition and Innovation; Ben Cohen Campaigns for Congressional Candidates, With Ice Cream; Post-Nocturnals, Scott Tournet Brings New Band to Vermont
Cover Story
New Temple Sinai Rabbi David Edleson Embraces Tradition and Innovation
He’s a rabbi who loves music and includes folk songs, Yemenite tunes and psalms in his services — and who discerned a kind of music in sign language when he served a deaf congregation. He’s a gay man who fought for the ordination of gay and lesbian rabbis 30 years ago in New York City.…
The Parmelee Post: Red Maple Leaf Collapses Under Pressure to Bolster Vermont Economy
Investigators say a red maple leaf collapsed and fell gracefully to its death just outside Bingham Falls in Stowe on Sunday. The leaf had been working especially hard to “really pop this year” when it lost its grip on the branch it had been hanging onto for months, according to neighboring leaves. “It was the…
Find Jobs, Make Connections and Learn About Local Innovation at the Vermont Tech Jam
Vermonters will learn about drone swarms, corporate data breaches and new innovation spaces at Seven Days’ Vermont Tech Jam, a free event on Friday, October 19, at the Champlain Valley Expo in Essex Junction. The state’s top tech firms will be there, too: Dozens of Vermont’s fastest-growing companies are expected on the Expo floor, along…
Obituary: John Robert “Bob” Lefebvre, 1944-2018
John Robert “Bob” Lefebvre passed away peacefully at home in Santa Maria, Calif., on September 17, 2018, with his daughters by his side. Bob was born in Burlington, Vt., on July 9, 1944. In his younger years, he enjoyed playing sports, singing in the Cathedral Church choir and getting into mischief with his brother Jimmy.…
Album Review: Wren Kitz, ‘Lovebird’
(Self-released, cassette, digital) If Wren Kitz had his way, his latest album, Lovebird, wouldn’t be uploaded to the internet. Known for reel-to-reel wizardry, the experimental singer-songwriter recorded the new album to quarter-inch tape in his Burlington bedroom. He fantasized about an analog-only release, wanting to preserve the ineffable quality ferric oxide brings to the listening…
Churning Out the Vote: Ben Cohen Mixes Ice Cream Pints for Politics
Ben Cohen is not shy about making his political views known. The Ben & Jerry’s cofounder is adamant that left-leaning voters must help flip the U.S. House in November’s midterm elections “as a way of putting the brakes on a Trumpian assault on the values that we hold dear.” That’s a reference to President Donald…
Album Review: Kudu Stooge, ‘Looming Essence’
(Self-released, digital) Kudu Stooge are a five-piece rock band forged in the fires of the University of Vermont scene. While such origins tend to imply a certain sound, this crew is not a jam band. Its music does, however, evoke a typical night at Nectar’s. To be clear: That’s a compliment, not a complaint. This…
Post-Nocturnals, Scott Tournet Thrives in His New Band Elektric Voodoo
In 2015, Vermont’s Grace Potter & the Nocturnals went through a shake-up. For reasons both personal and professional, the globally touring rock band ceased to exist in its original form as Potter essentially went solo. Among the departing players was Nocturnals guitarist and cofounder Scott Tournet. When asked about the split in a 2016 interview…
Muslim Vermonters Maintain Halal Diet in New Environment
Hend Araimi is unlikely to eat tuna anytime soon. It was all the Danville resident ate for more than six months after moving to Vermont two years ago, because she couldn’t find halal meat. Her husband, an Ohio native, had warned her it’d be difficult to find halal meat in Vermont. “[But] I didn’t take…
Smugglers’ Notch Distillery Opens Bigger Facility, Tasting Room
On Thursday, October 4, Smugglers’ Notch Distillery will host a cocktail party and ribbon cutting to celebrate its new distillery and tasting room at the former North Woods Joinery building at 5087 Route 15 in Jeffersonville. The company will increase its capacity sevenfold in the 14,000-square-foot facility, just down the street from its current location…
Book Review: ‘Screwnomics’ by Rickey Gard Diamond
As a result of the #MeToo movement, Americans have learned that sexual harassment and assault are pervasive problems, generally rooted in the inequality of power between women and men. The stark contrast in reactions to that dynamic was on dramatic display during last week’s testimony from U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser,…
Movie Review: As a Comic Vehicle for Kevin Hart, ‘Night School’ Flunks
You don’t do this every week for 35 years without picking up on a movie truism or two. Along the way, for example, I’ve observed that Hollywood eats its young. The industry systematically processes promising independent filmmakers into highly paid mainstream hacks. Time and again, I’ve likewise bemoaned its counterintuitive neutering of comic talent, the…
Scarlett Letters: My Love Interest Has a Girlfriend I Didn’t Know About
Dear Scarlett, I have a love interest, but he has a girlfriend that I didn’t know about. What do I do? I really like him, but I’m not a home-wrecker. Should I try for what could be true love with him or step away because it could just be lust? Signed, Not a Home-Wrecker(female, 19)…
Movie Review: A Carnival of Scares Yields Few Genuine Shudders in the Slasher ‘Hell Fest’
Toward the beginning of this routine slasher flick from director Gregory Plotkin (Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension), there’s a genuinely disturbing scene. Our college-age protagonists are exploring a horror-themed carnival, making their way through a “haunted maze” full of blood-spattered actors, when they encounter a young girl screaming for help. A knife-toting masked man follows…
Vermonter Writes for Russian News Website With Shady Ties
Luis Lázaro Tijerina says he’s no Russian pawn, though the Burlington resident regularly writes for a Moscow-based website linked to the Kremlin. The self-described Marxist intellectual has had 16 stories published by USA Really, a website launched in May by the Federal News Agency, a media venture allegedly funded by an ally of Russian President…
Theater Review: ‘Two Trains Running,’ Weston Playhouse
Reading a play is a chance to respond to the words; watching a play is a chance to discover that words are actions. Dialogue spoken onstage shows the effect of words on people, and playwright August Wilson is a master at using everyday language to reveal the emotional depth of a story through characters who…
A Dog Wedding Brings Joy to a Burlington Assisted Living Home
The bride wore a lacy dress and veil but no shoes. The grinning groom sported a bow tie and, well, not much else. No one in attendance seemed to mind: It was a dog wedding, after all. The Saturday ceremony at the Ethan Allen Residence on North Avenue in Burlington brought together Flossie, a black…
Short Takes on Five Vermont Books
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, all the books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a skein of loudly honking geese. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to a handful of books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize…
Art Review: Valerie Hammond and Kiki Smith, Helen Day Art Center
Valerie Hammond and Kiki Smith both teach printmaking at New York and Columbia universities, have houses upstate about 10 miles apart, and have been friends for 20 years. The two artists have participated in duo shows a number of times, including in Atlanta, Ga., and Lacoste, France. Now their work has come to the Helen…
Eat This Week, October 3 to 9, 2018: Green State Stylings
Bakers and chefs from some of Vermont’s favorite restaurants gather at Waitsfield’s idyllic Bragg Farm for a conservation-minded harvest fête. Guests will graze on breads from Brotbakery and otherworldly confections from Monarch & the Milkweed, along with small bites from Honey Road, the Great Northern, Worthy Burger, Canteen Creemee, Juniper and American Flatbread. The brewers…
Hackie: Nonna
From the moment I met her at the airport, I knew Christy Lee Spencer was my kind of woman: Long Island through and through and more than ready to chew the fat with a cabdriver she just met. Think one part Edie Falco, one part Rosie O’Donnell, and with a dollop of Alec Baldwin for…
Shelburne Museum Launches ‘New England Now’ Biennial
When one thinks of the Shelburne Museum, one may think first of its iconic red Round Barn, or quilts, or the prodigious gardens, or just the pleasure of stepping through time in its historic buildings. Straddling past and present, the museum is one of Vermont’s — and New England’s — foremost cultural destinations. The Pizzagalli…
Letters to the Editor (10/3/18)
Why I Post My Land [Re “Up to Here in Deer,” September 26]: Regarding your recent article concerning our growing deer herd and the increase in land that is posted: I was a hunter myself for many years. I grew up in Vermont, and my family hunted every deer season. But my wife and I…
Bess O’Brien Tours New Doc on Prisoner Reentry Program
For Bess O’Brien, one film often leads to the next. While the Barnet-based filmmaker was touring All of Me, her 2016 documentary about eating disorders, she was approached by Derek Miodownik, an executive with the Vermont Department of Corrections. Miodownik proposed that O’Brien make a movie about the state’s Circles of Support and Accountability program,…
Free Will Astrology (10/3/18)
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Libran astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson offers this observation: “When you look for things in life like love, meaning, motivation, it implies they are sitting behind a tree or under a rock. [But] the most successful people in life recognize that in life they create their own love, they manufacture their own…
‘A Complete Bonfire’: Kiah Morris Speaks Out on Racism
Former state representative Kiah Morris stunned the Vermont political community when she dropped her bid for reelection on August 24 and then abruptly resigned from the legislature on September 25. The Bennington Democrat is an outspoken advocate for racial justice in a nearly all-white state. She resigned, she said, after enduring years of racially motivated…
Mum on Money: Gubernatorial Candidates Sidestep Policy Specifics
State Sen. Anthony Pollina (P/D-Washington) is a liberal stalwart. Rob Roper is president of the conservative think tank Ethan Allen Institute. And they share a concern about Vermont’s 2018 race for governor. Republican incumbent Phil Scott and Democratic challenger Christine Hallquist have provided scant detail about what they plan to do — and how they…
Soundbites: Aziz Ansari Recap; Nick Cassarino and Co. Throw Down
Last week, actor/comedian Aziz Ansari performed two back-to-back sets at the Flynn MainStage in Burlington. Higher Ground Presents brought the “Master of None” star to the Queen City theater, as it often does with high-level comedians. What’s most notable about this particular show is that Ansari is one of many men accused of sexual misconduct…
Bitter Rivals Vie for Bennington County State’s Attorney Job
At their first debate in the Bennington County state’s attorney’s race, incumbent Erica Marthage and her former deputy, Christina Rainville, didn’t shake hands, exchange pleasantries or make eye contact. From opposite ends of a table, they spent 90 minutes trading insults — some veiled, others not. Toward the end of the debate, a middle-age man…
Talking Curds With Dedalus Cheesemonger John O’Brien
On a warm but overcast afternoon last week, John O’Brien had his eyes on the door at Dedalus Wine Shop, Market & Wine Bar in Burlington’s South End. The artisan foods manager was expecting a delivery, he said, of two wheels of Shakerag Blue from Tennessee’s Sequatchie Cove Creamery. “We are mere minutes — or…
Sage Restaurant Brings the Mediterranean to the Mad River Valley
Opening in time for ski season, a new restaurant in the Mad River Valley aims to use food and ambience to transport diners to the Mediterranean coast. Sage Restaurant is expected to open in early December at 8 Route 17 in Waitsfield, according Ana Dan, who owns the business with her husband, Paul Weber. The…
