Kathleen Kanz had a great idea. The Montpelier comedian was prepping for a Labor Day weekend standup showcase at the Reynolds House, a Barre inn with an events hall large enough to accommodate a socially distanced crowd. The Kanz-produced show, “It’s Safe to Laugh,” also featured Vermont comic Tina Friml. It would be Kanz’s first…
Middlebury native loved photography, nature and working for a good cause
A lifelong educator is fondly remembered for his “sardonic, Oscar Wilde-grade humor”
Member of Professional Ski Instructors of America recently celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary
1. Behind the Music “Coast members explore the full spectrum of jazz and creative music, from early pioneers to today’s brightest voices,” reads the web page for Dartmouth College’s Coast Jazz Orchestra. The student ensemble highlights its eclectic musical choices on a new commemorative album called Lookin’ Forward…Coast Jazz Orchestra at Dartmouth 2017-2020. Director Taylor…
For weeks, social justice activists have occupied Burlington’s Battery Park and marched in the streets in an effort to reform the city’s police department. Though part of a national movement reinvigorated by the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officers, Burlington’s protests have had a hyper-local aim: the firing of three Queen City officers…
If you’ve heard more train whistles than usual blowing in Burlington in the last few months, you’re definitely not alone. At least four Seven Days readers emailed us this summer to ask why there seemed to be heavier-than-normal rail traffic on the waterfront. Though three of the people who wrote in were merely curious, one…
Shortly after receiving her federal stimulus check, a Rutland County woman fatally overdosed. Another woman, in Chittenden County, relapsed and died after more than a year of sobriety. In Orange County, prosecutors allege that two people sold fentanyl-laced heroin to a 29-year-old man who’d been battling addiction for many years. He, too, died. These are just…
Reflections of a Flatlander Moving to Vermont can certainly present challenges around acceptance. I know. I grew up in White Plains, N.Y., and moved here in 1974. I was actually one of those “back-to-the-land” people mentioned in [“The New Vermonters,” September 9]. To my neighbors then, the “locals,” we were and always would be “flatlanders.”…
An ambitious three-year effort to overhaul Act 250, Vermont’s signature land-use law, is petering out with little to show for it — leaving advocates, lawmakers and administration officials worried that they’ve missed a chance to modernize the 50-year-old law for the 21st century. Most recently, a Senate committee abandoned efforts to write a bill that…
“Game of Thrones” may have ended well over a year ago, but the TV show’s signature catchphrase, “Winter is coming,” has never felt more relevant. I haven’t yet taken my air conditioners out of my windows, just in case we get one more scorcher. But the warm season is pretty much over, and we’re looking…
(Self-released, digital, vinyl) Bluegrass fusion efforts can be super embarrassing. Take the Rednex techno remake of “Cotton Eye Joe” or the entire Pickin’ On series, which is basically instrumental KIDZ BOP for adults. I’m all about genre bending (I stan Lil Nas X), but when it comes to bluegrass, these amalgamations tend to skew tacky…
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): “At the necessary moment, going naked will be your most convincing disguise,” writes poet Dobby Gibson. As I apply his witty statement to your life, I’ll interpret it metaphorically. My sense is that you could really use the kind of “disguise” he’s talking about. What I mean is that you would…
A group of local women says it’s found a way to make philanthropy a social endeavor — even amid the pandemic. Barbara Keller created a Chittenden County chapter of 100+ Women Who Care in January. Described as a “charitable giving circle,” the group plans to gather four times a year, when its members will donate…
In 2017, Elizabeth Shackelford did what everyone has dreamed of doing at one time or another: She told her boss to take this job and shove it. As it happened, she worked for one of the most powerful men in America: then-U.S. secretary of state Rex Tillerson. So when the decorated diplomat quit, she caused…
As protests against police brutality and white supremacy swarm city streets across the country, Americans are relearning the vocabulary of resistance that led to the Civil Rights Act and the end of the Vietnam War — not to mention women’s suffrage and laws against children working in factories. Will widespread social gains be won from…
The free Architecture + Design Film Series in Burlington, now in its eighth year, might seem to have less to lose from social distancing than most arts events: All the films can be viewed online instead of at Burlington City Hall Auditorium. Yet the series’ pre-pandemic strength lay as much in bringing people together for…
As I rolled down Route 5 last week, hints of fall color were beginning to show on the trees. It was shoulder season, those few weeks caught between summer and fall, and the day was warm with a hazy sky. I wondered if I could spin the in-between timing of the trip into an extended…
This week, I reviewed a film you can’t see from your couch, because Warner Bros. and the big chains appear determined to use Tenet to entice people back into theaters. Even with reduced capacity and other precautions, I’m not ready for that, so I caught the latest mind-bending spectacular from Christopher Nolan (Inception) at the…
(Self-released, digital) I got my driver’s license just before the turn of the century, and my first car only had a radio in it. Luckily, FM pop reached a true peak at the time and in the years that followed. Producers like Darkchild, Rick Rock and Timbaland masterminded the sounds of countless artists churning out…
If you’ve received an unsolicited bit of verse in the mail within the past few months, consider yourself cosmically lucky. When Mary Ruefle became Vermont’s ninth poet laureate last fall, she decided to select 1,000 Vermonters at random from county phone books and send them a poem. In early spring, she began mailing poems from…
Dear Reverend, I had unprotected sex once with a friend, then I heard that he is HIV-positive. I am worried, but I’m also afraid of getting a test. Is it possible that I could be infected? Positively Petrified (male, 30) Dear Positively Petrified, I understand you’re in a scary situation, but you know what’s scarier?…
Halloween candy hit the shelves earlier than usual this year, and Vermont Nut Free Chocolates in Colchester was ready. The company’s first distributor order of orange-and-black-sprinkled dipped pretzels and solid chocolate witches, bats and ghosts shipped out at the end of July, about a month ahead of last year. “Stores are bringing it in early,…
Chef Aaron Josinsky Position: Chef/co-owner of Misery Loves Co. Location: Winooski Age: 42 Cuisine type: Creative American fare, from sandwiches to sea urchin Education: On-the-job learning Experience: Bluebird Tavern (now Bluebird Barbecue) in Burlington, the Inn at Shelburne Farms, Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantino, N.Y. What’s on the menu? Fried chicken, French fries,…
Summer 2020 got off to a rocky start for the Champlain Islands Farmers Market. In the spring, waiting for the state to issue guidelines, the market’s leadership didn’t know whether its two weekly markets would be able to operate at all. When guidance did arrive, the initial requirement of 12 feet between vendor tents allowed…
Jason Zuliani, owner of Dedalus Wine Shop, Market & Wine Bar, has confirmed that he will open a new location in Stowe at 1031 Mountain Road in the building formerly occupied by Harvest Market. Zuliani is targeting mid-October to open after some building renovations. Harvest Market owner Donna Carpenter announced in early June that she…
