Bill Laswell performing under his incarnation as Axiom Sound System, live in Chicago, with Material, Praxis, Pharoah Sanders, and Bootsy Collins in 2006.
Laswell was a producer /musician during the dawn of compact discs, and his name guaranteed that whatever was on his new disc would be musically interesting. He frequently threw together combinations of great musicians for specialty projects. Very unique.
Town clerical and administrative employees have decided to unionize, and Brattleboro will be reviewing and potentially accepting a collective bargaining agreement at their next Tuesday evening.
The Brattleboro Selectboard will also start down the path toward hiring a new Chief of Police, will adjust committees and grants, approve a loan for the Brattleboro Area Farmers Market, appoint David Schoales to an action team, and more.
You can attend in person at the Municipal Center on Main Street, and bring up items not otherwise on the agenda during public participation. You ca also watch on BCTV, or follow the coverage here the day after.
Time again for one of our round-ups of observations of changes in the Brattleboro scene. Here are a few things I’ve noticed over the last few days, weeks, and months. What can you add?
Have we featured the Rolling Stones for a weekend concert series before? If not, shame on us. They are a band to study and emulate if one wants to perform on the big stage one day.
I can’t say much that hasn’t already been said about them, but can say that this show comes from one of my favorite periods of their career. I really like the Rolling Stones music of the Sticky Fingers – Exile on Main Street era. Bluesy, rough, under the influence, rocking, bad-boy, stadium-packing music that stands the test of (rock) time.
I got to see them for the Tattoo You tour (“the last time they may tour!”) in 1981. Not a great album, but a good enough excuse to go see them.
Recently, I spent some time combining two things I enjoy – pets and typography. I know people like learning how things are made, so I thought I’d walk you through the process of creating a Cat Alphabet. Maybe you can help me profit from it. : )
The project started without much thought. I like drawing and having been using my cats as models for some time now. They are willing and able, and the bone structure of humans and other animals match up quite nicely. We all have ankles, knees, elbows, etc. You just have to get the proportions right for the animal you are drawing.
I decided to see how cats would fit into the various letters of the alphabet. I’ve been a fan of the alphabet since an early age, and started my life in graphic arts with hand-lettered posters in college.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t remind you of today’s efforts to increase privacy and security on the internet.
It’s an interesting campaign, with many ways to participate. The basic goal is to plug up holes that have been exploited by the NSA and nefarious types to illegally access your personal information.
So, check out. You’ll see ways to spread the word, but also be given tools and instructions (a “privacy pack”) for increasing your personal privacy and security. There are freebies to encrypt email, chats, and browsing. They have hints for encrypting your personal computer. They have tips for professionals and suggestions of where to lend coding skills.
A group battling Walmart has done some research into the chaitable giving of the Walton family.
“Key Findings:
There was almost no mention of the FY15 budget during Tuesday’s meeting, giving the board a slight break from their spreadsheet to tackle other important issues, such as what on earth will the town do about the need for Police and Fire facility improvements. There wasn’t agreement, but some small steps forward were proposed.
The board also handled some feisty event prevention, made sure that the annual Independence Day parade would occur annually, discussed bridge work, and bought some equipment and software for the Police to crack open your cell phone’s lock codes and passwords, if necessary.
We’ll be doing a live blog here of the special Representative Town Meeting, in which the revised FY15 budget is presented for reconsideration. With the fiscal year looming, it is likely to pass, but how it passes may be another matter. Occasional updates coming throughout the meeting…
This week is all about old-fashioned country music, featuring Buck Owens and the Buckaroos.
Like many, I got to know Buck Owens from the TV show Hee Haw. But he also had his own long-running show, the Buck Owens show.
Below we feature a 1990 concert, and episode two of the Buck Owens Show from 1966.
The Brattleboro Selectboard plans a regular Tuesday meeting free of FY15 budget discussions for the first time in quite a while, filled instead with the more ordinary business of parade and liquor permits, new bridges, grants, and dog warrants. The outcome of Monday’s special Representative Town Meeting could come up for discussion, and a conversation of what to do with the Police and Fire Facilities project might veer in the direction of the budget, but otherwise the agenda is refreshingly nonbudgemental at first glance.
You can bring up items not otherwise on the agenda during Public Participation if you attend in person. You can also watch on BCTV, and read the full report here the day after.
The Phoenix, May 27, 1904
“A proselyte is the most obnoxious type of an enthusiast and new purchasers of automobiles seem to suffer in a similar direction. A few arrests for fast driving by automobiles would have a salutary effect and might prevent some serious accidents. Several automobiles constantly run their machines, both in and outside of the village, at excessive speed.
They frequently come tearing down Putney road at a 20 mile an hour clip and pay little attention to the rights of people with horses. Several men who have fast horses which are not afraid of the cars have had the animals so badly frightened by the sudden approach of automobiles that they are now very difficult to control whenever an automobile appears.”
Ella Fitzgerald joined the Tommy Flanagan Trio June 22, 1969 at the Montreux Jazz Festival for a night of singing, and here we have a collection of clips reassembled to recreate that show.
This was at a point in her career where she was bouncing between labels, and slowly finding her way back from pop excursions and Christmas records to her specialty of jazz interpretations of great American songs
The revised FY15 budget was adopted by the Selectboard, clearing the way for Representative Town Meeting members to weigh in next on June 2. Whether to take funds out of the reserve to further reduce municipal taxes was the only issue the board discussed in any great additional detail, and the decision was a happy surprise for John Allen.
Brattleboro is nearing the selection of a new Town Manager, with a candidate to be selected within the next two or three weeks if all goes as planned, new electric vehicle charging stations will be installed, a PAYT committee was initiated, liquor licenses were approved, and more.
In 1881, Brattleboro taxes, bonds, and debts were an issue. Read on for a letter to the editor on the subject by Levi Fuller, a noted member of the Estey Organ Company and governor of Vermont.…
Taxation in Brattleboro
“What shall the tax of Brattleboro be this year?” is a question asked by many. The completion of the grand list furnishes the necessary information. An examination of the town auditor’s report (page 21) shows the expenses, outside of the reduction of debt or extraordinary repairs upon highways, to be estimated at $8,773, and for this sum the auditors report sufficient resources already provided.
Here’s a project to keep an eye on – .
The inventors say the idea came from thinking about the black boxes used by airlines:
BCTV Ch.8 Schedule for the week of 5/19/14
Monday May 19
12:00 am Common Good VT: Leadership Vermont
12:55 am Jennie’s Joint Ep.2 – Guitarists
2:00 am FSTV Overnight
4:00 am Book Talk Ep.6: Richard Duvall
4:35 am Kurn Hattin 2014 Spring Jazz Festival
This week’s concert series is a double header, and a gift to Lise.
First up is Stereolab, live in Danbury, Connecticut on September 21 1994. It’s the full band performing at the Tuxedo Junction just after they released Mars Audiac Quintet.
If you’ve never heard them, it’s worth a listen. It’s rather hypnotic and musical, foreign and familiar, electronic and dancer. I think I may have played a different show by them a long while back, but this is good.
The Brattleboro Selectboard hopes to vote on a final and revised $15,881,866 FY15 budget Tuesday night in preparation for the special June 2 Representative Town Meeting.
They will also take up the issue of a Pay As You Throw committee, liquor permits, grants, and a monthly financial report. If there’s something you’d like to bring up that isn’t on the agenda, you can do so doing Public participation.
The meeting is at the Municipal Center on Main Street, and you can watch it on BCTV and read about it here the next day.
You will enjoy this. The Phoenix of May 16, 1890 featured a story about a meeting held to discuss what is needed in Brattleboro. The following list was published as a record of the event. It isn’t often we get such a clear statement of desires from those who came before us.
Read on to see what they wanted. Some things came to pass, others faded away, and some are things we still talk about wanting today.
