Entertainment

Here is Bo Burnham in his one-person show, called “what.”

I stumbled upon him just today, after reading a positive shout-out from Ten Rose, who proclaimed Burnham a possible 21st century George Carlin. As such, I’ve only seen a few minutes of his performance, but it was enough to give him the spotlight this week.

Bo seems to immerse himself in a mix of theater, music, and humor. Did I mention music?

The University Of Brattleboro ( www.universityofbrattleboro.com ) is holding the first Annual North American Neighborhood Pea Shooting Championship on Aug 15, at 1 PM at the Neighborhood Schoolhouse, which is located at 231 Western Ave in Brattleboro, up behind Solar Hill.

There is a $100 prize for first place. There will be clay targets, including Cthulhu. Other prizes for best costume. All ages are welcome.

There is a registration fee of $10. Plastic straw pea shooters will be provided for free. Feel free to bring your own pea shooter if you prefer. Brass tubes from Brown and Roberts work great. If you want to practice in advance with one of these, make sure to get one that is the right diameter, one that works well with dried soybeans sized objects.

This is David Cross in his HBO special, The Pride is Back. Perhaps you know him from Mr. Show, or Arrested Development. Or Waiting for Guffman, or Space Ghost. He gets around.

He was a first investor in Kickstarter. Went to Emerson College in Boston, too.

The Brattleboro Film Festival and the Southern Vermont Young Professionals will join forces to mount Brattleboro’s first “Summer Cinema Slam” on August 8, 2015 from 5:30 to 11:30 pm for an outdoor/indoor mini-festival featuring film and filmmakers, music, food and brew at 118 Elliot, 118 Elliot Street in Downtown Brattleboro Vermont.

All Vermont artists! 4 short films, 1 feature film, and an intermission with live music, food, and drinks!

Local food trucks (Taste of Thai, Ro’s Petite Fete, and Dosa Kitchen), Vermont Gelato, wine and Hermit Thrush beer will be available for purchase.

5:30pm Event opens (pre drinks / mingle)

6:30pm Shorts Program (including Q&As with filmmakers)
Intermission: Outdoor food trucks & beer w/ music from Lowell Thompson

Not in newspapers, Berkeley Breathed quit those over censorship, but Donald Trump entering the presidential race was just too rich to pass up, so he’s been releasing them on Facebook.  Anyone else happy to have something to make you spray your coffee in the morning?

It’s time for Comedy Christmas in July, featuring Maria Bamford’s “One-Hour Homemade Christmas Stand-up Special.”

This is hard to describe, and probably isn’t for everyone, but for those who enjoy twisty journeys through the brain, excursions into the uncomfortable, and explorations of the surreal, you may like this quite a bit.

You may know Aziz. He played Tom on “Parks & Recreation,” a kind of manic 20-something impressed by gadgets, technology and always looking to make it big.

Here he is in 2011 or so in Washington D.C. doing a show called “Dangerously Delicious,” featuring his observational style of humor.

This comedy special starts with Norm’s parents convincing him to stop being a doctor and become a comedian.

This Canadian comic is seen here in HBO’s One Night Stand, at a performance in Chicago. Some say Norm is not funny (such as his boss at NBC), but I beg to differ. He is good at making uncomfortable jokes, and jokes that can make you wince, and some find this approach a bit harsh.

“A common, simple savior of America’s destiny.” So begins this documentary, performance piece, political satire, and campaign.

Pat Paulson was a very droll comedian, often seen giving editorials on the Smothers Brothers’ tv series. At some point, he decided to definitely not run for the presidency, and this film shows his non-efforts along his lack of a campaign trail as he doesn’t work his way toward the White House.

MONDAY MORNING MOVIES at BRATTLEBORO SENIOR CENTER

MOVIES FOR JULY

WE CAN LEARN

Movies starring:

Robin Williams, Christopher Walken, Laura Linney, Lawrance Fisburne, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Andre Braugher, Sissy Spacek, Miriam Thompson, Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah & Antonio Vilaraigosa.

Everyone knows Groucho Marx, right? He and his Marx brothers made vaudeville and movie history, he hosted a popular game show as television got started, and here, appeared on the Dick Cavett show in September of 1969.

Groucho has spawned imitators. Alan Alda paid tribute to him on an almost weekly basis during the years M.A.S.H. was on the air. Locally, we’ve had stage performances of Marx Bros. movies.

I know little about this Brian Regan fellow. This was recommended to me by someone just yesterday as stand-up comedy in the “good, clean” genre, without reliance on swearing to make people laugh. Count me in!

Regan does this by talking about food labels, flying first class, and refrigerators, among other things.

Here is Sandra Bernhard performing at the Lhasa Club, in Studio City/Hollywood, CA, in 1984. I did not know that this existed until today.

In 1984, Bernhard was mixing performance art with stand-up, and was attracting attention. The film appears to be one of her one-woman shows, post- King of Comedy but prior to working on her stage production and film “Without You, I’m Nothing.” This has bits from “Without You…” in early forms.

June 11th at 3 pm, join cinefile, journalist, Tom Bedell, for a Thursday afternoon at the movies, to watch a film starring Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker and Adolphe Menjou. 

The second Thursday of the month, continuing through Thursday, October 8. Movies begin at 3 PM. For film titles and information, contact Brooks Library by phone at 802-254-5290 ext 0, by email at info@brookslibraryvt.org, or on the web at brookslibraryvt.orgBrooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301.

The event is free and open to the public. Location Library Meeting Room 2nd floor.

Brattleboro Area Jewish Community’s own
mini-version of “The Antiques Roadshow” will appear live on Sunday
afternoon, June 28th from 1:00 to 4:00 at their synagogue located at 151
Greenleaf Street in West Brattleboro. 

BAJC is hosting an appraisal day with
four experienced appraisers present to evaluate and assess antiques,
collectibles and memorabilia, including books, documents, sterling silver,
glass and art glass, china and pottery, fine art and signed prints, musical
instruments, records and entertainment memorabilia, jewelry, paper documents
and ephemera, small furniture, tchotchkes, and much more – but please,  no firearms, knives, ammunition, or other
weaponry are allowed, and no large and bulky furniture. 

Richard Pryor, live in concert from 1979 at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California.

Remember Richard Pryor? He grew up in a brothel, was expelled from school, worked the comedy clubs, and ended up one of the most successful comedy writers and stars of the 70’s and 80’s. Go figure.

There are so many good Monty Python clips, bits, movies and discussions that it was hard to decide what to feature here this week. Given the confusion, I decided to take us back to the beginning, the very first episode of their TV show for the BBC.

So, imagine it is October of 1969, and you’ve tuned into the BBC for a bit of news, or perhaps a look at gardening in Wales. All is peaceful and orderly, until this program begins.

Brattleboro Community Radio is hosting a concert on June 6 starting at 5pm at the Stone Church, 3 Grove St/210 Main St, to benefit the station. Local Vermont based reggae band, Heirloom Seeds will headline the show other acts include: WVEW DJ Selector D, The River Bandits (funk, soul, fusion, etc.), Tara Dente (folk, singer song-writer), The Ditrani Brothers (old tyme Americana) and Sara Wallis.(folk-singer songwriter)

Heirloom Seeds is a band that lives for tradition and culture from the organic heirloom food that they grow to the Roots Reggae music they’ve learned straight from the elders in Brooklyn, Jamaica, and West Afrika. The Spirit that is ‘Reggae’ or ‘Regal’ music is an education of agricultural and nutritional self-sustainability, rural independence, multicultural unity, art, and mysticism.

Free MONDAY MORNING MOVIES at Brattleboro Senior Center. Gibson Aiken Center

Movies staring:

Dorothy McGuire, Joan Blondell,  Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Cuba Gooding Jr. & Kimberly Elise

Please stay after the movie and have lunch at Brattleboro Senior Meals. All are welcome.

Big Woods Voices is the union of four veteran area singers celebrating their common passion for a cappella harmony.

The Voices are, from soprano to bass: Liz Rogers, an internationally-touring singer-songwriter who started out with the Metropolitan Opera’s child chorus; Becky Graber, leader of the Brattleboro Women’s Chorus, music director at The Putney School and New England Youth Theater, and lifelong teacher; Will Danforth, an award-winning, multi-instrumental solo acoustic artist; and Alan Blood, longtime member of countless area groups such as the Blanche Moyse Chorale, the Brattleboro Concert Choir, and House Blend.