The Summer Preview Issue 2016
Five Unique Ways to Tour Vermont; Rs and Ds Vie for Convention Seats; A Bowie Tribute Unlike Any Other
Vermont Restaurant Week Donates $20,000 to the Vermont Foodbank
A total of $20,000 was donated to the Vermont Foodbank as a result of Seven Days’ 7th annual Vermont Restaurant Week. This popular event was presented by the Vermont Federal Credit Union and organized by Seven Days, publisher of 7 Nights, the statewide guide to Vermont’s restaurants and bars. “From everyone at the Foodbank and…
Middlebury’s Sweet Crush on Otter Creek Bakery
Ask nearly anyone who has spent time in Middlebury about their favorite Otter Creek Bakery treat, and watch them get instantly dreamy-eyed. “Oh, my God, the olive twists,” raves Melody Trump, who lives in East Middlebury. “So salty and affordable!” she says of the $2.25 snack. “When I was pregnant with my second kid, I…
Free Will Astrology (5/18/16)
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): The short attention span is now enshrined as the default mode of awareness. “We skim rather than absorb,” says author James Lough. “We read Sappho or Shakespeare the same way we glance over a tweet or a text message, scanning for the gist, impatient to move on.” There’s a problem with…
A Trailside Bar Comes to Lyndonville
After a long day spent bumping over single-track trails at high speeds, many mountain bikers enjoy resting their muscles over a cold beer. In East Burke, Mike’s Tiki Bar has become an après-bike mainstay since it opened at the base of Kingdom Trails three summers ago. “[The Tiki Bar] is, like, the greatest thing to…
Money Monster
Jodie Foster’s latest directorial effort is a festival of tonal and thematic confusion. (It requires nearly as much effort to sit through as her last one, the 2011 Mel Gibson-talks-to-the-hand embarrassment, The Beaver) She evidently forgot that the 2008 financial meltdown had already provided film fodder for more than a dozen features — from Charles…
Chef Contos, Agricola Farm Revisit Pop-Up Meals; Henry Marckres Inducted in Maple Hall of Fame
Saturday, May 21, marks the return of chef Courtney Contos’ pop-up dinners, a series of monthly feasts served at the large farmhouse table at Chef Contos Kitchen & Store in Shelburne. Though her main focus is cooking instruction, Contos says she relishes the creative catharsis of the pop-up series. “It’s fun to get these ideas…
Green Room
Just how many rounds does that gun have left? What spoken command will make the attack dog attack? How long do you have to choke a very large bouncer before he passes out? Modern action films don’t generally address these kinds of nuts-and-bolts questions, because they take place in a heightened reality where events rarely…
Art School: A Sculpture Tour of the Middlebury Campus
Summer is the time for being outdoors, relaxing and letting your body and mind be playful. To give you a nudge in that direction, we present a walking tour that highlights one of our favorite outdoor art destinations — it’s the first in a series for summer 2016. So haul out your sensible shoes and…
Richmond Revival Back on Track After ‘Senior Moment’
Two years from now, new buildings will line Richmond’s small downtown. Families will stroll by shops filled with retail goods, and residents of 45 new apartments and condos will commute on foot to ultra-energy-efficient offices next door. Hot new restaurants will attract crowds from Burlington, maybe even Montpelier. That’s the vision for a “village infill”…
Seeking the Snakes of Vermont
This past winter wasn’t particularly frigid, but it was cold enough to encourage many Vermonters to curl up and wait patiently for balmier days. The warm May sunlight has finally coaxed these hibernators out of their nooks to soak up the rays. No, not sunbathers; we’re talking about snakes. Despite its long winters, Vermont is…
Conventional Wisdom: Would-Be Delegates Seek Front-Row Seat to History
Brian Pine has never been to the Democratic National Convention. Then again, the politician he most reveres, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has never been a presidential candidate. Pine is angling for a coveted delegate spot at the late-July convention in Philadelphia. “My entire adult political life has been inspired by Bernie,” said Pine, who came…
The Crucible
“I bet I’m the only sober person taking a cab this time of the night, or should I say morning?” said my customer as he settled into the backseat. Looking at his reflected image in the rearview mirror, I saw a clean-shaven, bright-eyed young man smiling back at me. And he was correct: Of those…
Chris Flockton’s Inventive Podcast Amy’s Horse
When somebody tells you, “Nobody is doing it the way we’re doing it,” you probably think, Well, this fellow has a healthy ego, or, Maybe this guy should google before he speaks. But when Chris Flockton says that, it’s an entirely different matter. The 49-year-old Hartford transplant is not boasting or stretching the truth; he’s…
Following the Trail of Vermont’s African American Heritage
If you think about black history in America, Vermont is probably not the first place that comes to mind. The state has one of the lowest rates of racial diversity in the U.S. Nearly 95 percent of its residents identify as Caucasian, according to 2014 census data. Yet Vermonters — particularly in the greater Burlington…
After Burlington College’s Collapse, More Questions Than Answers
Two days after it handed out diplomas to 55 smiling graduates, Burlington College announced that it would close permanently at the end of the month because of “crushing debt,” lack of cash and the impending loss of accreditation. Observers have wondered for years how the tiny liberal arts school could work its way out a…
Pedaling the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail
Just before 10:30 a.m., I mounted my bike in Oxbow Park in Morrisville and headed toward the newest section of the Lamoille Valley Rail Trail. Virtually all my previous visits to this small Lamoille County town have been rest stops en route to somewhere else. But the recent completion of a beautiful, 17-mile rail trail,…
Legal Aid: Campaigning for AG, Donovan Rakes in the Cash
Last Thursday night in a Boston hotel ballroom, Attorney General Bill Sorrell introduced his onetime nemesis, Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan, to a few old friends. The two were in town for the spring meeting of the Democratic Attorneys General Association, an electoral outfit that raises big bucks from major corporations and law firms…
Seven Green Mountain Fixes for Adrenaline Junkies
Hiking is one way to see Vermont on a glorious summer day. But for some, it’s a bit ho-hum. Why meander through the Green Mountains when you can gun it — jacking your heart rate and getting bugs stuck in your teeth and mud in your eyes as you hammer down Killington’s trails, soar above…
A Cultural Concert Benefits Syrian Refugees
Michael Arnowitt has been thinking big again. In 1999, the Montpelier pianist organized a large-scale concert to benefit refugees of the Balkan wars that netted $10,000 in donations. Now he’s about to hold another concert, with 30 participating artists, to benefit refugees of the Syrian civil war. Donations will be split between the residents of…
Kerry Monahan Goes to Bat for Bats
Name: Kerry Monahan Town: Rutland Job: technician, Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department In mid-April, wildlife technician Kerry Monahan, 37, and a reporter hiked up to the Northeast’s biggest hibernacula, or winter bat shelter, to observe the creatures’ spring emergence. Inside, the cave resounded with the plopping of water droplets; outside, the sun was setting behind…
Dealer.com Gets National Kudos for Community Art Initiatives
When it comes to merging business and community arts, Burlington-based Dealer.com has shown itself to be ahead of the pack. From cabin doors at a camp for kids with cancer, paint jobs on recycling dumpsters, Mary Lacy’s silo murals at the company’s headquarters, to a number of initiatives for the King Street Center, Vermonters have…
Soundbites: Ground Control
Before we begin this week’s column, I’d ask you to check out the interview I did with Rubblebucket’s Alex Toth and New Zealand-born indie-pop songwriter Kimbra. I’ll wait… Pretty cool, right? For those of you who didn’t bother to follow my very simple request, in that piece Toth and Kimbra discuss the ins and outs…
Old Sky, I Miss the Blue
(Self-released, CD, digital download) Andrew Stearns and Shay Gestal seem to have a thing for color. The primary architects of the local Americana outfit Old Sky released their debut recording in 2015, Green on Fire. That EP presented a sparse take on (mostly) acoustic twang, shaded by themes of love and loss and set to…
Burlington College’s Future Depends on a Big, Bold Redevelopment Plan
Originally published June 19, 2013. “Grow or die” would be too stark a way to describe the options facing Burlington College, according to president Christine Plunkett. But “we do need to grow,” she conceded in an interview last week. To achieve that goal, one of the country’s smallest higher-education institutions plans to triple its enrollment…
Jane Boxall, Field Notes
(Self-released, cassette, CD, digital download) In a recent email to Seven Days, Burlington expat and percussionist Jane Boxall writes that her latest album, Field Notes, is a “springtime album.” Indeed, it was recorded in May 2015 and released in May this year. But it’s more than merely a seasonal coincidence. “Forget about January 1,” writes…
Summer Preview
Vermonters can’t wait to get outside when warm weather shows up — heck, as soon as it’s above freezing. Lakes and swimming holes beckon, berries beg to be picked, and a festival of some sort pops up every weekend. But in this issue we suggest other ways to enjoy the great outdoors — and maybe…
Rubblebucket’s Alex Toth and Kimbra Reimagine Bowie
Since David Bowie’s death in January, countless tributes have been made to the Thin White Duke — the man, myth and legend. Entire encyclopedias could be filled with the amount of copy that has eulogized David Robert Jones, analyzing every fantastical nook and cranny of his music, acting and personal life. And there have been…
Letters to the Editor (5/18/16)
A Little More Private With respect to “Pass/Fail: The 2016 Legislative Session’s Final Tally” [May 11], I wanted to provide a little additional background on law enforcement’s use of automated license plate readers. ALPRs capture images of license plates in Vermont and record their GPS locations. Testimony from law enforcement indicated that they use the data to…
I Found Out My Boyfriend Has a Secret
Dear Athena, I have been going out with my boyfriend for more than two years. We are very serious. He has a friend that I really like, and they have been friends for, like, 20 years. The friend is bi. I just found out that, when they were both younger, they slept together when they…
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Summer Preview [SIV443]
5/12/16: This week is the Summer Preview issue of Seven Days. Eva hit up the Burlington Waterfront on a sunny evening to ask people about their favorite Vermont summer activities. What would you add to the list? Music: Madaila, “The Dance” & “I Don’t Want to Rest” Drone footage courtesy of: BTV Drones and VTDrone.com…
Art Review: Cal Lane, BCA Center
Cal Lane’s art is all about dichotomy — in fact, multiple dichotomies. She invites the contemplation of opposites, even what it means to oppose. An exhibition of Lane’s work in plasma-cut steel and mixed media leaves the mind reeling, as most visitors to her current show at the BCA Center would attest. Recently departed curator…
Slow Food Vermont Considers Creatures of the Sea
As the sun set last Thursday evening, a crowd gathered at Bleu Northeast Seafood in Burlington. Upon arrival, guests received a flute of bone-dry, apple-scented Vermont bubbly, fermented in Newport by Eden Specialty Ciders. Near the door, John Brawley, a tan-faced, brawny shellfish farmer, shucked oysters. His thick fingers moved in a deft pop-pry-swipe movement,…
Morrisville Co-op Breaks Ground
On an otherwise quiet Monday morning in Morrisville, heavy machinery began ripping up concrete in front of 46 Pleasant Street, where the new Morrisville Food Co-op — already known as MoCo — will open this fall. At a ceremonial groundbreaking on May 11, several dozen people gathered to support the long-awaited project, including MoCo board…
