Spring Limericks

They say it is Spring, this I know.
Yet when I awoke there was snow.
I can’t take much more,
But need things at the store,
So off to shovel I go.


BCTV Video Calendar: 3/20/14 – Windham Orchestra/Bratt Senior Meals, Bratt Town Mtg, More!

Get the scoop on the Windham Orchestra’s food and music fundraiser for Brattleboro Senior Meals straight from Maestro Hugh Keelan himself, on an edition that includes details on Brattleboro Representative Town Meeting, Chris Smither and Next Stage Arts in Putney, Scott Ainslie at Brooks Memorial Library, and a Tag Sale fundraiser at the Dummerston Community Center.


3/26 Spaghetti Supper to Benefit Guilford School Music Program

Guilford, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford has been providing the Guilford Central School with a Music Enrichment Program residency for the past six seasons, with partial funding from the Max Y. Seaton Trust. The balance of the budget is raised by a public concert in Brattleboro featuring the program’s residency artists and also, for the past three seasons, by a Spaghetti Supper held at the school.

This year’s pasta supper is set for Wednesday, March 26, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., and is followed by a School Music Night concert; the school is at 374 School Rd. in Guilford Center. The menu includes pasta with a gluten-free option, a vegetarian sauce made from scratch, homemade meatballs for carnivores, green salad, artisan bread with plain or garlic butter, beverages, desserts and a sundae bar.


Host An International Exchange Student

It is that time of year !!! Planning your summer? Got an idea for you. Host
an exchange student from Spain in July…just 3+ weeks. Bring an international dimension to your life and share Vermont with an eager teen. For more info contact Ann, 802-257-4710, exchangevt@gmail.com. Host families also needed for the coming school year for kids from around the globe.


Wooly Mar and Home Body At Future Collective Show

We arrived fashionably late for the Future Collective show Friday night and missed Wooly Mar’s opening. We regret that but we had the bill upside down.

Wooly Mar is Maria Pugnetti, an “intermedia artist” living in Northampton, MA, who has done various musical things through the years, usually described as some kind of folk music. Currently, she’s doing her own thing with a fluctuating group of musical collaborators, of whom we heard one, a bass player named Kurt. Armed with a compact array of keyboard, drum machine, effects units, and other gear, she coupled sounds and effects with her own sinuous voice in a way that was frankly mesmerizing and slightly levitational. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that this woman was luminous, or as one girl shouted out, “pure magic.”


Community Radio Station WOOL Completes Historic Upgrade

In 2006, Great Falls Community Broadcasting Company submitted an application for a new radio license. WOOL-LP, the community radio station started by the organization had only been broadcasting a short while when the opportunity arose to increase their broadcast power. Today, after more than eight years of finagling, strategizing, fundraising, and borrowing, WOOL finalized the process and is now operating on a new frequency with a more powerful transmitter and is heard in many towns where its first station had been silent. The station has stopped broadcasting on 100.1FM. Its new frequency is 91.5FM.


Cabin Fever – Two More Performances!

The Snack Theatre’s production of Cabin Fever, a benefit for Strolling of the Heifers, continues on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. at the River Garden. The one-act play, dubbed a “comedy of menace” features (from left to right) Bill Hickok, Beth Kiendl and William Stearns discussing what cabin fever is really all about.

Admission is $15, more if you are so inclined, and includes yummy home-baked goodies. For reservations, phone the Stroll office at 802-246-0982.


150 Years Ago (1864 3/16-18)

Brattleboro, Mar. 16, 1864

Dearest wife,

I seat myself this pleasant morning to write. Shall I say that I am homesick? The weather has been of the
finest kind for several days. It is just the weather to make a man that has been accustomed to out door life feel a little gloomy. We are not shut up, but the barracks and camp generally look gloomy enough, you can imagine how much so as well as I can write.


BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 3/17/14

BCTV CH.8 Schedule for the week of 3/17/14

                   Monday March 17            

12:10 am      The VT Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing – O

1:00 am       The Shires of Vermont Byway: VT Rt.7 and Historic Rt.7A

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       For the Animals: Amy Emerson

4:30 am       VIT Presents: Public Service Board Hearing on Telecommunication


Linking In To Metadata

Not being a mobile phone user, I haven’t felt particularly tied into the metadata flap, although I understand why that data is so useful to the powers that be.  This morning, however, I had a particularly graphic moment with the concept that gave me pause.  It all started when I received an invitation to “connect” with someone on LinkedIn.  


The Land Where the Blues Began: Images and Music of the Mississippi Delta with Scott Ainslie

Join blues guitarist & historian Scott Ainslie on Friday March 21, 2014, 7:30 pm, in Library’s Main Room for a visually and musically entertaining exploration of the region that was ground zero for the development of the Blues. Tickets are $20.00/ $15.00 for Friends of Library members, and may be purchased at Brattleboro Tix or at the library’s circulation desks, and at the door. To benefit the Friends of BML.


Brooks Library New Book Alerts

Be the first to know what new titles are coming into the Brooks Library collection. It’s easy and it’s free. Click here for the current online edition of Brooks Memorial Library New Book Alerts. Click here to sign up for New Book Alerts. Happy reading! For more information contact the Brooks Memorial Library at brookslibraryvt.org


Weekend Concert Series – The Beatles, Rooftop Concert

A handful of concerts are “legendary” shows, and the Beatles playing their last live performance on the roof of Apple in London is certainly near the top of the list.

I’ve always liked this footage from Let It Be. The rooftop is an interesting and unusual space to play, and the shots of people in the streets realizing what’s going on are classic. The band seems to be having a lot of fun. A little bit of rule-breaking reminds Londoners they are alive, at least for a short while, until the police shut things down. Imagine if they had let it go for even a few more minutes.


Brattleboro Union High School Board Meeting Agenda

BRATTLEBORO UNION HIGH SCHOOL BOARD
53 Green Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301
www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF MEETING

The BUHS #6 Board of Directors will meet at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, March 17 in the WRCC Cusick Conference Room.

AGENDA

It is important that newly elected Board members have completed the taking of the oath of office prior to participation in this meting.


Pikes Falls Chamber Music Festival Returns

Chamber Music in the Foothills of the Green Mountains

Events are during the days of July 31- August 9, with the opening concert on the night of July 31st, at 7 PM. Events include concerts, family/ community events, and appearances from many talented guest artists and composers, all taking place in the Jamaica Town Hall on Main Street. Admission is free of charge, but donations are welcome. A portion of the donations will be contributed to the Stratton Foundation to benefit Hurricane Irene relief efforts.


Muslim Journey: Literary Reflections on Islam

Please join Marlboro scholar and Professor of Religious Studies, Amer Latif, in a journey through the literature of Islam. The evening reading and discussion series will focus on five books.

The Arabian Nights (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy; The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi; Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely;  Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi; and Minaret by Leila Aboulela. Islam has long provided a source of inspiration through which Muslims experience, understand, and guide their everyday lives.


Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro – Part 2: The Reaction and Repeal

This is Part II of the story of Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro. You can read Part I: Origins and Adoption here. Representative Town Meeting passed, but not everyone approved of the outcome. One of its critics was Edgar Lawton. Although we don’t hear much about Edgar Lawton today, his name is ever-present in the minutes and agendas of Selectboard and Town Meeting reports throughout the 1950s and 1960s.


March Music Madness

BRATTLEBORO MUSIC CENTER

Who else but the BMC would pack so much wonderful music in to one month?  

We have you covered from Brattleboro to Chester to Wilmington!  With a lunchtime concert, featured local composers, world class musicians, a special children’s performance, and two concerts to support the hungry in our community  —  there is something for everyone.  Come join us and enjoy!


Representative Town Meeting in Brattleboro – Part 1: Its Origins and Adoption

Why does Brattleboro have Representative Town Meeting? Why not a regular, open Town Meeting like the rest of Vermont? These questions led me on a search through old newspapers and town records to look at Brattleboro’s town meetings in the 1950’s to see if there was some obvious answer. It turns out, there was no single reason that led to the “representative form of government” in Brattleboro. There were many factors, personalities, and coincidences unique to Brattleboro that contributed to its adoption.

Arguments made in favor of representative town meeting were sometimes specific to Brattleboro, such as outgrowing the public meeting hall. Other times they were more lofty, arguing that representative government would be more fair and better able to deal with complex issues, while giving voters a greater say in how the town operates.


5:45 Live: 3/7/14

   

5:45 Live goes in depth on the Santa’s Land investigation, 2014 Town Meeting Day shockers, 1% option tax-tastic voter approval margin, Putney Park & Ride construction, and much much more.