The Adirondack Issue 2014
The Adirondack Issue: A New York Prison Closes; A Spirited Plattsburgh Tour; A ADK HoJo Hangs On
Obituary: Donald J. Gregoire, 1948-2014, Williston
Donald J. Gregoire, 65, of 121 Whitney Hill Road, passed away during the early afternoon hours on Tuesday, July 15, 2014. Don was born on August 31, 1948 in Barre City to Roland and Beverly Parker Gregoire, joining his older brother, Roland Jr., to become the dynamic duo. Even though Don was small in stature, he…
Oh, Boies! Shumlin’s Campaign War Chest Dwarfs Milne’s
Gov. Peter Shumlin outraised Republican rival Scott Milne three and a half to one over the past three months, according to reports filed Tuesday with the secretary of state. But the Democratic incumbent’s advantage in cash on hand is far more striking: Shumlin has more than a million dollars available to spend before Election Day…
News Quirks (7/16/14)
Curses, Foiled Again After a 17-year-old babysitter reported a home invasion and robbery, police in Ferndale, Wash., wound up arresting the sitter, her 16-year-old boyfriend and another male suspect because the child being watched contradicted the sitter’s story. The sitter said two armed black men broke in, but 4-year-old Abby Dean declared the robbers were…
Snowpiercer
Can you see Snowpiercer right now on your TV, laptop or phone? Yes, you can. But don’t. Anyone who feels nostalgic for the days of beautiful, bizarre science fiction should catch director Bong Joon-ho’s film on the biggest screen possible. Stylistically, Snowpiercer is the steampunk heir to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, full of grime, grit and…
Letters to the Editor (7/16/14)
Chicken’s Not a Game [Re “Coming Home to Roost: Burlington Updates Its Ag and Livestock Rules,” June 25]. Don’t be deceived by the hype. Raising backyard chickens sounds like a humane option, but what people don’t realize isthat chicks usually come from inhumane conditions. They’re mass-produced in places where profit trumps humane treatment. For every…
I’m in Love With One of My Best Friend’s Brothers
Dear Athena I’m in love with one of my best friend’s older brothers. I have known the family for years and have always thought he was cute. He is currently separated from his wife, and I also just became single. I’ve been seeing him out a lot more often. We hooked up once after a…
WTF: With Both Private and “Forever Wild” Land, How Does the Adirondack State Park Work?
How do “forever wild” land, private landowners and municipalities all share the Adirondack Park? About 130,000 New Yorkers live year-round in 100 towns and villages within its boundaries. It’s the seasonal home of another 200,000 people. Luxury resorts cater to affluent vacationers who browse its boutiques and savor its terroir at elegant restaurants. And about…
![Circus Smirkus’ Clown Alley [SIV361]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/episode361.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Circus Smirkus’ Clown Alley [SIV361]
7/9/14: Circus Smirkus’ 27th Annual Big Top Tour is underway as 30 troupers aged 10-18 travel across New England bringing the circus to towns big and small. 9 of those performers wear red noses and are particular favorites with the young crowds. Eva caught up with Clown Alley at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex…
Touring “Haunted” Plattsburgh With a Costumed Guide
Back in 1814, Matt Boire’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather fought in the Battle of Plattsburgh, a decisive repulsion of British forces toward the end of the War of 1812. Boire himself has lived in Plattsburgh all his life, part of the eighth generation of his family to do so. His roots there are deep. As the founder, sole…
8 Cuerdas Injects Summer Music Series with Latin Flavor
Burlington-born soprano Sarah Cullins and her classical-guitarist husband from Colombia, Daniel Gaviria, formed the Latin American duo 8 Cuerdas after moving to Burlington last year. The couple left behind successful careers in Bogotà as soloists and chamber musicians for what they expected to be a comparatively limited classical music scene in Vermont. Instead, they couldn’t…
A Massive Tupper Lake Development Gets the Green Light
For 11 years, residents of Tupper Lake, N.Y., have wondered whether their once-bustling lumber town would play host to the largest development ever proposed within the Blue Line boundary of the Adirondack Park. “I think there’s been a lot of people on hold, waiting for it,” says Tupper Lake Mayor Paul Maroun. “It was dragging…
The Slate Museum Honors Past and Present Mining
South of Lake Champlain, the New York-Vermont border blurs, with numerous roads looping through the two states. Cultural and economic distinctions also become less sharp as separations give way to connections. And cross-border physical unity is nowhere more obvious than in the Slate Valley, which straddles the state line as it runs 24 miles from…
North Country Loses a Major Employer — a Prison
Nearly a quarter of the residents of Chateaugay, N.Y., came to a rally at the local park. Schoolchildren drew up posters warning that donations to their soccer leagues would plummet. And local bigwigs rented a bus and drove 200 miles south to plead their case in Albany. Last year’s effort to save the Chateaugay Correctional…
A Vermonter Brings Eco-Conscious Clothing to the Adirondacks
Ben Chamberlain was born and raised in Addison County with the Green Mountains in his backyard, but what he could view from his front door really captured his imagination. “As a child, my view was of the Adirondacks,” says Chamberlain, who eventually left for art school at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute and a seven-year stint in…
The Karate Kid’s Dad Fights for a Mountaintop Zip Line
Ralph Macchio Sr., whose son starred in The Karate Kid, shares a mountain in Lake George, N.Y., with David King, the longtime owner of an RV park. For the last three years, the two men have been locked in a battle over a proposed zip line: One sees the mountaintop diversion as an opportunity to…
Opinion: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby: Are Women Free?
In 1979, Ellen Willis wrote two columns in the Village Voice, together entitled “Abortion: Is a Woman a Person?” Thirty-five years later, Andy Borowitz blogged in the New Yorker on the Hobby Lobby case: “Supreme Court Majority Calls Case a Dispute Between Women and People.” Make that “Between Women and Corporations, Which Are People.” In…
In Plattsburgh, a Celluloid Fan Screens a Lost Art Form
The existence of Champ, the plesiosaur-like beast that allegedly dwells in the depths of Lake Champlain, has never been scientifically verified. But the legend of Champ was an amply sufficient “hook” for the latest film screening by Andy MacDougall, a true-blue cinephile and devotee of celluloid. He seized on the putative resemblance of Champ to…
Summer Whitewater Adventures in the Adirondacks
What have I gotten myself into? I wondered last Saturday morning. My friend Meghan and I sat aboard a school bus that was topped with four inflated whitewater rafts and was creaking its way through the Adirondack cedars near Warrensburg, N.Y. My chin was already chafed from the strap of my yellow plastic helmet, and,…
Renovations of Strand Center for the Arts in Home Stretch
The lobby emits new-paint smell as Jessica Dulle, executive director of the recently rechristened Strand Center for the Arts, pushes open the theater’s front doors. After more than 10 years and about $3.2 million, renovations on the 1924 Greek Revival performance hall in Plattsburgh are finally nearing completion. Though work remains to be done, the…
Taste Test: Blue Collar Bistro
The amuse bouche was both unexpected and strange — a dollop of creamy pimento cheese and a couple of Ritz crackers. But the cheese, steeped in American Southern tradition, calmed and comforted, as if to say, “You’re across the lake now. Welcome to vacation.” So began a recent dinner at Blue Collar Bistro, a new…
Students Practice Playing, and Advocacy, at the GMCMF
Every summer, about 150 violin, viola, cello and piano students descend on the University of Vermont to participate in the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival. For four weeks, they live in the dorms and practice alone for four hours each morning in their rooms. They spend much of the rest of their time rehearsing in…
Gallery Profile: ROTA Gallery & Studios, Plattsburgh
In a brick-and-stucco building on Bridge Street in Plattsburgh, one vacant lot away from the banks of the Saranac River, an arts-and-music collective is in the throes of establishing a permanent base. Passersby may well wander right past the ROTA Gallery and Studios, which is marked only by a multicolored, sculptural sign behind the glass…
Let’s Whisper, As Close as We Are
(WeePOP!, 10-inch vinyl, limited run of 300 copies) Let’s Whisper’s second full-length album is also the last release from WeePOP! Records in London, where the band previously recorded two EPs and its first full-length album. Let’s Whisper, formed by Burlingtonians Colin Clary and Dana Kaplan in 2003, added Brad Searles on drums in 2011 and…
Lake Placid’s HoJo’s Is Still Sizzling
The clams haven’t changed. They’re just as tender and sweet as when Greek immigrant Thomas Soffron began manufacturing them for Howard Johnson in the 1940s. For nearly three-quarters of a century, those crisp, lightly nutty-tasting bivalves have been served with tartar sauce under the descriptive trademark Tendersweet Fried Clams. Many Northeasterners recall the crispy little…
Pours, Pours
(Section Sign Records, digital download, vinyl) In 2011, Burlington’s Bryan Parmelee released an excellent EP with his then-duo Parmaga, the aptly titled Ghost Pops. That recording’s four tracks, while rooted in indie-rock archetypes, were defined by a spectral haze, both man-made and, perhaps, supernatural. The titular ghost pops were the result of a mysterious glitch…
Junior’s Rustico Is Coming to Burlington
In September, few traces will remain of the Shelburne Road KFC. The fast-food counter and plastic tables where the ghost of Colonel Sanders once flitted will be replaced by a brick interior and 25-foot maple bar. Fountain drinks will give way to 15 local microbrews on tap, plus Vermont liquors and wines. The man behind…
Checking In On the Tribute Trend in Burlington
In Burlington, fans and critics applaud new and original music of just about every type. And yet audiences have been turning out en masse for something old: canonized rock albums played live in their entirety. Though bands have done this occasionally for years — think Phish’s New Year’s Eve album-oriented sets — the current local…
New Restaurants Replace Old Favorites in Williston and Essex
Three Tomatoes Trattoria occupied the prime location next door to Williston’s Majestic 10 Cinemas for a decade. Now burgers will replace pizza in the Maple Tree Place spot. Grazers is slated to open in late September or early October. The restaurant is a collaboration of two restaurant groups: Sam, Peter and Paul Handy, the brothers…
Soundbites: One Crazy Night With Ryan Adams; Do Good Fest; Spit Jack Calls It Quits
Star Struck A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned I had a story about a crazy evening I once spent in the company of Ryan Adams. Since he’ll be performing on the Flynn MainStage on Wednesday, July 23, I figure it’s a good time to pass along the abridged version. So here goes. Once upon…
Clover Mead Café & Farm Store Reopens
Vermonters seeking an easy-access Adirondack farm-to-table destination now have a farmstand café within biking distance. In early June, the folks at North Country Creamery in Keeseville, N.Y., reopened the Clover Mead Café & Farm Store at 933 Mace Chasm Road, just two miles from the Port Kent ferry dock. Now serving breakfast and lunch Friday…
Discovering John Brown’s Adirondack Legacy
I arrived at John Brown’s farm with an admittedly limited knowledge of the man who, as the old song goes, “lies a-mouldering in the grave.” That grave, not far from where visitors to Brown’s North Elba, N.Y., home now park their cars, lies in the shadow of the imposing ski-jump tower built for the 1980…
Free Will Astrology (7/16/14)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): “I have complete faith in the continued absurdity of whatever’s going on,” says satirical news commentator Jon Stewart. That’s a healthy attitude. To do his work, he needs a never-ending supply of stories about people doing crazy, corrupt and hypocritical things. I’m sure this subject matter makes him sad and angry.…
Third Person (no stars)
Watching writer-director Paul Haggis fail to resurrect the done-to-death hyperlink trope he used in Crash a decade ago, one can’t help but think about something else — anything else. I kept thinking that the timing of Third Person’s release couldn’t possibly be better, even if its every cinematic element couldn’t possibly be more dreadful.Why? Because…
