Weekend Concert Series: Midnight Star in LA in 1983

This week’s concert takes us to Los Angeles in 1983 for a performance by Midnight Star.

This show has everything you need to get your funk on. Shiny suits, bright colors, Jheri curls, sunglasses, robot voices, and nightclub floor-fillers. If you listen to the Chocolate City show on WVEW Saturdays, these songs should sound familiar.

They got started at Kentucky State University in 1976, had a few under-the-radar albums, then broke out big with No Parking On The Dance Floor. The music video featured a classic dancing in the streets scene. with both Prince and Michael Jackson impersonators and dancing police, cowgirls, and construction workers. If they are at this LA show, however, they are watching from the audience.


Free Parenting Teens Wisely Class March 3rd

Got Teens?

Do you want to learn how to problem-solve with your teen, encourage cooperation, how to listen and be heard, and to develop fair and effective discipline skills? On Monday, March 3rd from 6 to 9 PM a FREE Parenting Teens Wisely class will be offered by the Brattleboro Area Prevention Coalition at the Marlboro College Graduate Center in Brattleboro.

This free 3 hour workshop teaches parents skills and techniques to help them better understand and deal with their children ages 10 to 19.


Video Calendar and Full Live Broadcast for 5:45 Live on BCTV

It’s been a busy week for the Brattleboro area… and it looks to be a busy weekend as well. Get caught up on all the latest from this past week with tonight’s broadcast of 5:45 Live, set to air on BCTV Comcast Channel 8 tonight (at 5:45 PM no less). Plus, get a look ahead to this weekend’s events with BCTV’s interactive video calendar, also set to air tonight on Channel 8, and available online right now:


Letter To The Editor: Erosion of Respect For Teachers In Brattleboro Public Schools

To the Editor:
 
Sometime last spring before school ended, a letter was written to the Reformer regarding the lack of respect for teachers, the lack of appreciation for long years of service and teachers’ fear of speaking up in some schools. With the new school year, the disrespect is continuing. Some teachers are being asked to perform certain tasks while others are not. Some teachers are favored over others. Comments about one teacher are being shared with others. Ideas by staff members are ignored if they even dare to express them. This is not how a collaborative learning environment is fostered.
 


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 COMMITTEE MEETINGS

The BUHS Teacher Curriculum Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 21 in the Cusick Conference Room.

The BUHS #6 Finance Committee will meet at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday, October 23, 2013 in the WSESU Central Office Conference Room, 53 Green Street.


Get Your Organization’s Name On A New Latchis Seat

Hello All,

Latchis Arts is very excited to welcome the community back to the main theatre at our grand re-opening on October 19 at 7:30. We hope 750 of you will join us that night to enjoy the new seats and admire the surroundings. The restored zodiac ceiling is dreamy and the new lighting on the murals is stunning. I am truly grateful for the community-wide love and care for this theatre, built by my family 75 years ago.

Last night the Latchis Arts board of directors held a work bee, tapping in the inscribed brass plates on the arms of the chairs that donors had purchased. Reading the names and phrases of our friends and neighbors gave us a real appreciation for your level of participation. Fully $142,500 is represented by those brass plates scattered throughout the orchestra and balcony. Give yourselves a round of applause!


What’s For Lunch?

I had seen a 10 minute play which starts with a character complaining that when he tried to purchase a bottle of aspirin at a drug store, the clerk told him: “We don’t have that.”

It reminded me of a strange experience I had on Staten Island more than 30 years ago.

We were in Stapleton, a few miles from our home in St. George. It looked like an ordinary luncheonette — big CocaCola sign — soda fountain counter with a row of round stools that you can spin on, and booths along the wall.

The place was empty, but it was not lunch hour. Carol and I sat down with Grace and Eve at one of the booths.


Works for Guitar & Soprano: Richard Ullman with Kristen Carmichael-Bowers

On Sunday, October 20 at 3 pm, the Brattleboro Music Center presents a recital with faculty members Richard Ullman, guitar, and guest Kristen Carmichael-Bowers, voice, at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, VT.

For this recital, Ullman revisits some of his favorite pieces from Spanish composer Andrés Segovia’s repertoire.  Segovia is considered the father of modern classical guitar and, although his works have fallen out of fashion in recent decades, is credited with popularizing classical guitar music. Segovia was a catalytic figure in granting respectability to the guitar as a serious concert instrument capable of evocativeness and depth of interpretation.


Film Screening: World Circus

Vermont Premiere of “World Circus” Film 
Saturday, November 2nd @ 7:30pm 

NECCA – New England Center for Circus Arts, 74 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT 
63min Documentary – Suggested donation @ door 

The “World Circus” feature documentary follows five top circus acts from around the world to the Monte Carlo Circus Festival, and with interviews from the founder of the Big Apple Circus, owner of Ringling Bros., and artistic director at Cirque du Soleil, it reveals the behind the scenes life, history, and culture of circus on an international scale. 


150 Years Ago (1863 10/14)

Camp Austine, Oct. 14th, 1863

Dear wife –

I now seat myself to write you. Since Saturday I have been hard at work. I had a gun to clean and more brass to fix up than I wish to see again. Sunday was cold and unpleasant. I got a pass and went over to see Susan. Found them all well. Mary Ann commences her school next Monday. She teaches 13 weeks at $3. per week and boards herself. She is going to board with Susan. I enjoyed the visit much. We had a grand good dinner of boiled victuals, and Susan filled my haversack with apples. The battery M boys have left Monday. There were a lot of prisoners sent off yesterday, the Captain of Company A, a corporal and four men with them as guard. There are a few left in the guard house.


BCTV Channel 8 & 10 Schedules for the Week of 10/14/13

BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 10/14/13

                   Monday October 14                  

12:00 am      For the Animals: Ep. 126

12:30 am      The Outfitting of Revolutionary Armies in the Champlain Valley

2:00 am       FSTV Overnight

4:00 am       Spotlight On Vermont Issues: Ep. 5 – John Odum

4:30 am       Montpelier Movement Collective at the Phantom Theater 7/12/13

5:40 am       Library Lecture: Goodnight Irene – Craig Brandon


Weekend Concert Series: B-52’s in Atlanta 1978

This weekend’s concert takes us to Atlanta, Georgia in May of 1978 for a club show with a new band you might like called the B-52’s.

This is a grainy black and white video that captures the weirdness and wonderfulness of an early B-52’s performance. I started listening to them around 1980 or so, and was able to see them at a show in Tampa for their Mesopotamia tour.

The show was at a Jai Alai facility, which was a bit weird, but we had traveled almost 3 hours to get there and didn’t care. I was in high school and got to hear Ring My Bell by Anita Ward played loudly over the sound system before the show – a formative experience for a rock lover in learning to like funk.


150 Years Ago (1863 10/10, probably received a few days later)

Slaughter Mountain, Va.

Oct. 10th, 1863

Mr. Charles Blake,

Dear Sir,

Your favor of Sept. 26th was duly received, and in accordance with your directions I forwarded $5.15 to your wife – the amount of my own and Charles Smith’s indebtedness to you as soon as we were paid off, directing her to write to my brother acknowledging its receipt, as I did not know where I should be at that time. I had some hesitation about sending it by mail, but the sum was so small that I did no think it was worth while to send it by express.


Here Is a Letter I Read To The Brattleboro Town School Board

September 4, 2013

To The Brattleboro Town School Board:

I write today to express my dismay at what I have witnessed in the Brattleboro Town Schools lately, particularly in the last three years.

Our town, and the district as a whole, has chosen a path that I believe is stifling the desires of both teachers and students to analyze, reflect, create and explore. Adopting commercial programs (at no small expense) in an attempt to make learning “systematic” not only narrows the curriculum for students but also discourages thinking amongst teachers. The over-emphasis on “data points” from the recently-adopted ongoing assessment system has trumped existing classroom assessment systems that actually give deeper and more comprehensive information about individual students.


Watching Angels Public Art Show – Slideshow

Here is a slide show that Meg Donahue created about the interactive public art show she produced here in Brattleboro during the month of September called “Watching Angels.”

With a very small crew, she installed and maintained two big chalkboards (one on Flat Street and one in Harmony Parking Lot) that asked “What Are You Grateful For?…” And there were over 100 artist created angels scattered around the downtown with uplifting messages on placards next to them.


150 Years Ago (1863 10/10)

Brattleboro, Vt. Oct. 10th, 1863

Dear wife –

I have delayed writing until the present moment, that I might tell you where I was to remain. I suppose that my place is Company B, Capt Brannon. I have been trotting from Company A to Company B and from Company B to Company A without a musket or clothing. This morning I have come to Company B and expect to remain.


BCTV’s Annual Meeting is Wednesday, October 9 – Preview Board Candidate Statements

BCTV’s Annual Meeting is tomorrow night at 6 PM at the Brattleboro Municipal Center, in BCTV’s 3rd Floor Studio. Public is welcome. Red carpet awards night, food, fun video clips, and member business. Plus, you get to check out our new studio. See you there!

Board elections: . There are four 3-year board seats up for election. Four candidates have submitted statements of interest. Polls will open at 6 PM and close around 6:45 PM. Please arrive in time to vote. To vote or be eligible as a write-in candidate, you must be at least 18 years old and have been a member of BCTV for 30 days prior to the annual meeting. 


Already A Winner – Kurn Hattin’s Lisa Bianconi, Transforming Children’s Lives through Music

Recently, Kurn Hattin Homes Music Program Director, Lisa Bianconi received an exceptional phone call from the Grammy Foundation in Los Angeles. Lisa had been waiting for news since last May when she was notified that she was one of 217 quarterfinalists (from 30,000 nominations) for the Grammy Music Educator Award.

For the semifinals, she submitted a 500-word essay describing her educational philosophy, along with a video of testimonials from colleagues, volunteers, and others close to Lisa and the Kurn Hattin music program.

The phone call Lisa had been waiting for for several months was to notify her that after reviewing her materials, the judges had selected her as one of only 25 semifinalists for the award.