VJC’s 45th Annual Summer Workshop Goes Virtual With Zoom Into Jazz!

The Vermont Jazz Center will celebrate its 45th season by offering an online version of its annual Summer Jazz Workshop from August 9-14, 2020. In the spirit of moving forward, the VJC has developed a structure to share the love of jazz and the wisdom of the faculty as a temporary replacement for its traditional summer jazz workshop in Putney, Vermont. This year’s program features an expanded faculty, a new take on masterclasses, plus two new features: “Hot Topics” and “Zoom Tunes,” as well as a composition course led by Helen Sung as part of our theory curriculum.

Called “Zoom Into Jazz,” 2020’s workshop welcomes a handful of new masterclass instructors on bass (Linda Oh, Genevieve Rose, David Picchi), drums (Clarence Penn, Corey Fonville), piano (Shamie Royston, Maya Keren, Miro Sprague), trumpet (Rachel Therrien, Ray Vega) and saxophone (Felipe Salas) to complement VJC’s stellar faculty (see below for a full list). The masterclasses will focus on different, daily topics – transcribing, comping, improvising, electric or acoustic instruments, note sets, etc. Each teacher will define the parameters of their own offerings.


Education Reimagined

The challenges to re-opening the public educational system are rivaling the challenges of providing health care during the pandemic.

This country has a historical commitment to provide public education through grade 12. It has struggled with budget constraints and political pressure to provide the best education possible for students, but the pandemic has forced the system to the breaking point.

Some politicians want to open the public school system by September, but their plans lack detail and they will put a lot of people’s lives at risk. Despite the threats from one of the most ignorant and intellectually challenged presidents this country has ever seen, governors know that they will be able to move more carefully because ninety percent of their funding comes from local and state budgets. That provides a bit of a financial safety valve but little comfort for a safer future for this country’s students.


BCTV Schedules – Week of July 13, 2020

BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 7/13/20

Monday, July 13, 2020

4:50 am Slow Living Summit – Ben and Jerry’s – Reducing our Carbon Footprint
6:00 am Montpelier Happy Hour – And the Legislature recesses… thanks, COVID-19
7:00 am Montpelier Happy Hour – Racial justice and political courage
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast
9:00 am Community Forum – With VT State Reps Tristan Toleno, Emilie Kornheiser, and Mollie Burke 6/20/20


BCTV Schedules – Week of July 6, 2020

BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 7/6/20

Monday, July 6, 2020

4:00 am Heartline Ministries – Jesus Came to Bring Peace
5:00 am Rotary Cares – Ep 27 – Passing the Gavel
5:20 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Scottish Harpist Rachel Clemente
5:25 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Akwaaba Ensemble – Traditional African Drum and Dance
5:30 am Brattleboro Rotary Club Speaker Series – Episode 6 – Josh Davis


Referendum Petition for Rescheduling the Windham South East School District 2021 Ballot

Registered Voters can deliver Petition signatures in an envelope addressed to the Municipal Clerk’s Office into the black box at that says, “For Tax Payments” at the parking lot entrance of the Municipal building. 483 signatures, which is 5% of the current voter checklist of 9,651, are required.

Whereas the Municipal Secretary Jan Anderson and Clerk Hilary Francis were contacted on June 30th, 2020 to resolve the concern on proper responsibility of the WSESD 2021 Ballot Public Warning Notice listed on the official Municipal Calendar


BCTV Schedules – Week of June 29, 2020

BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 6/29/20

Monday, June 29, 2020

4:00 am Heartline Ministries – Jesus Came to Bring Peace
5:00 am Rotary Cares – Ep 27 – Passing the Gavel
5:20 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Scottish Harpist Rachel Clemente
5:25 am The Quarantine Sessions from Next Stage Arts – Akwaaba Ensemble – Traditional African Drum and Dance
5:30 am Brattleboro Rotary Club Speaker Series – Episode 6 – Josh Davis


Sherlock Holmes Comes to the Latchis Theatre

BRATTLEBORO, VT – The Baker Street Readers are bringing their Sherlock Holmes podcast series to a new home, the Latchis Theatre. The Readers formed in 2018 and began reading one of Arthur Conan Doyles’s original Sherlock Holmes stories every month at the Hooker-Dunham Theatre in Brattleboro, VT. Each story featured James Gelter as Sherlock Holmes, Tony Grobe as Dr Watson, and a rotating cast of guest performers. Once COVID-19 forced theaters to close, the Readers began their own Patreon podcast, allowing their followers to listen to their stories at home

“We’ve been recording in the same space as we performed our live shows,” said Gelter, the founder of the Readers, “but this was proving to be very difficult. The space was so small that, in order to maintain a proper social distance, we could only have one performer in the space at a time. This meant that everyone had to be recorded separately and then I would edit all the parts together later. This was proving to be very time consuming and the final product lacked the energy that comes when actors are able to respond to and play off of each other.”


Next Stage Drive In Theater Concert – The Vermont Jazz Center Sextet on Friday, July 3

Next Stage Arts Project presents two Drive In theater concerts by the Vermont Jazz Center Sextet on Friday, July 3 at 5:30 and 7:30 pm in the Basketville parking lot in downtown Putney, VT. Cars will be socially distanced, leaving a vacant space between cars for lawn chair seating (bring your own chairs). Rain date for the concerts is Sunday, July 5.

The Vermont Jazz Center Sextet is the VJC’s community outreach ensemble. The group has developed programs which are performed in schools, assisted-living homes and libraries, bringing live jazz into settings outside of concert halls. Through these performances and clinics, people who might not attend concerts at the VJC are given the opportunity to hear and learn about the music of Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Art Blakey and others, with original music and arrangements often written by members of the ensemble.


Masks for Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Putney & Vernon Schools

Masks are needed for schools in Brattleboro, Dummerston, Guilford, Putney & Vernon

Cloth masks will be needed for students, teachers, school staff and bus drivers for the reopening of school in late August. 
Hundreds of masks are needed in all sizes, from kindergarten through adult. 
Can you sew masks for this need?
Can you donate tightly woven 100% cotton quilting fabric or ⅛-¼ in. woven elastic?
Can you make a monetary donation to help purchase needed materials?


BCTV Schedules – Week of 6/22/20

BCTV Channel 8 / 1075 schedule for the week of 6/22/20

Monday, June 22, 2020

4:05 am Brattleboro Literary Festival – Literary Cocktail Hour with Chard deNiord and Novelist, Vincent Panella
5:00 am Protest for the Life of George Floyd – Battery Park, Burlington 5/30/20
7:00 am Vermont Dairy Producers Alliance E-Meeting – Welch, Leahy, Sanders
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Democracy Now! Daily Broadcast
9:00 am Heartline Ministries – Jesus Came to Bring Peace


Celebrate Men’s Day

Celebrate Life: Viva La Vida by Namaya Art Rat Peace

To all the loving men in my life, who have inspired and nurtured me. Thank you all. Happy Men’s Day. #MensDay. from my book “Celebrate Life: Viva La Vida”

“Naches: The Pride One has in their Children”