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Vermont Jazz Center Presents its Annual Big Band Gala- A Tribute to Ella Fitzgerald f. vocalist Wanda Houston

by Not Signed In | Music

Vermont Jazz Center Big Band Gala with guest vocalist Wanda Houston Celebrates the Music of Ella Fitzgerald and Raises Money for Scholarship Fund

The Vermont Jazz Center will present its annual big band swing gala on Friday, December 2nd at 8:00 PM paying tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, one of the greatest jazz singers in history. The performance will celebrate Fitzgerald’s centennial birthday anniversary by featuring arrangements she performed with Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others. All proceeds will support the VJC’s Scholarship Program. The VJC Big Band is comprised of area professionals, is led by music director Rob Freeberg and administrated by band manager Sherm Fox. Acclaimed vocalist Wanda Houston will front the band for this gala performance, an annual concert that has evolved into one of the VJC’s most popular events.

VFW Lunch Specials Nov. 28th – Dec. 2nd

by Not Signed In | Food

The Brattleboro VFW at 40 Black Mountain Road is open to the public for lunch. Lunch is served Mon – Fri from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm. Specials are only $5.50 a plate. Burgers, fries, onions rings, chicken wings, soups and sandwiches are also available.

Mon – liver & onions w/ mashed potato & veg.
Tues – mushroom swiss burger w/ French fries
Wed – cheese tortellini w/ sausage & garlic bread
Thur – stuffed cabbage rolls w/ mashed potato
Fri – salmon burgers w/ onion rings

If you have more than 4 people in your group, please call ahead of time at 257-0438. Take out orders are available, and some specials sell out fast.

BAJC’s Annual Chanukah Party

by BAJC Shir HeHarim | Spiritual

Oy Chanukah, Oy Chanukah!

Please join us for the annual BAJC Chanukah Party on Friday December 23. We will start at 5:00 pm with an hour of story and study; we’ll look at how the story of Chanukah is told in the Books of the Maccabees and after, and what it means to us now in this era of zealotry and intolerance. Then at 6:00 pm we’ll light Shabbat candles – it’s the day before Chanukah really begins, so (sadly) we won’t be lighting our Chanukiot (menorahs) this year.

We’ll sing Shabbat blessings and a Chanukah song. Then we’ll feast on latkes (potato pancakes), applesauce and sour cream, with veggies side dishes and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) and chocolate gelt for dessert. After our latke feast we’ll hear and share stories of the season.

I-91 Brattleboro Bridge Replacement Project Update: Week of November 28th

by Not Signed In | Town Plan

I-91

Northbound I-91 traffic has been relocated onto the southbound bridge. Traffic will remain reduced to one lane in each direction on I-91 until completion of the new bridge. The new bridge will be 104’ wide and is designed to carry all four lanes of traffic –two northbound and two southbound.

To reduce congestion on I-91, both Exit 3 on ramps will be closed on Sunday, November 27th (Sunday after Thanksgiving) from 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM (I-91 will remain open). Traffic conditions on both I-91 and through the town will be monitored closely throughout the day. Should traffic congestion become an issue, the ramps may be re-opened until traffic conditions improve. This will be managed actively throughout the day until peak traffic volumes have passed.

Brattleboro Selectboard Special Meeting – FY18 Budget Discussion of Police and Fire Departments

by cgrotke | Town News

The Brattleboro Selectboard, sans John Allen, held a special meeting regarding the FY18 budget, focusing on the numbers for the Police and Fire departments.

With no preliminary announcements, the meeting got right down to business.

Public Participation

Rich Holschuh returned to the Selectboard with a petition signed by 540 voters, over 5% of the registered voters in town. The petition asks to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day in Brattleboro, and for the question to be placed on the 2016 Representative Town Meeting warning for a vote.

My Recipe in Progress – Crazy, Easy Grain Free, Flour Free Cookies

by Dfk-b | Food

Throw 2c of cooked & well drained black beans, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, 1 capful of flavor extract of your choice, 1/4 c shredded coconut, 1/4 to 1/2 cup low glycemic sweetener of your choice, such as coconut nectar, into a food processor. Blend until mixture forms a ball. Form into cookies. Bake at 380 degrees for 12-15 mins.

Marvel at the versatility of black beans.

WKVT Hosts “A Call To Action” Forum on Internet Safety, Dec. 1

by ChrisLenois | Media

WKVT Radio will present a live broadcast of a public forum on the topic of Internet Safety from 11:00am to 1:00pm on Thursday, December 1 in the Selectboard Meeting Room at the Brattleboro Municipal Center. 

Panelists will include Karen Bates, Information Specialist for the Vermont Department of Public Safety, Detective Erik Johnson of the Brattleboro Police Department and officials from area banks and schools. 

Members of the audience will have the opportunity to ask questions or share information during the broadcast, which will be moderated by WKVT hosts Peter “Fish” Case and Chris Lenois.  

Indigenous Peoples’ Day: Closing the Circle in Brattleboro

by richholschuh | Town News

Tonight we will be presenting to the Brattleboro Selectboard, at their 5:30 meeting, a full complement of signed petitions to place an article on the 2016 RTM Warning for a permanent changein the Town from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples’ Day. Following the action at the Board’s Oct. 4th meeting, at which they (through a failed motion) declined to take direct action themselves on such an initiative, the remaining course of action was a petition drive. Five percent of the registered voter list is required, currently at about 8,760, thus 438 signatures are needed. While procedurally the signatures will be proofed by the Town Clerk, we are taking the step of formally notifying the Selectboard that we have reached the threshold and followed through on the original intention.

Citizen Media in the Trump Years

by cgrotke | iBrattleboro

President Trump seems to be presenting a unique opportunity for citizen journalists. Yes, I’m digging up that dusty term to remind you that you have the power of the pen.

The unique opportunity appears to be that he plans to bypass traditional media and go direct to the people via Twitter and YouTube.

When he announced his first 100 day plan, it came as an upload to YouTube, not a press conference. Professional reporters were forced to write stories about an online video.

Brattleboro Thanksgiving Closures

by Not Signed In | Town News

In observance of the Thanksgiving holiday, all Brattleboro Town offices will be closed on Thursday and Friday, November 24 and 25, 2016, with the exception of emergency services.

Brooks Memorial Library will close at 6:00pm on Wednesday, November 23, and will be closed on Thursday, November 24. It will be open for regular hours on Friday and Saturday, November 25 and 26.

Brattleboro Union High School Finance Committee Meeting

by Not Signed In | Education

Brattleboro Union High School
Finance Committee Meeting – Monday November 28, 2016
8:00 am James E. Kane Conference Room

Robert Woodworth, Ruth Barton, Shaun Murphy, Michael Collier, Frank Rucker, Steve Perrin, Ron Stahley, Marisa Duncan-Holley, Shelly Wilson

Agenda

1. FY18 Budget Development: Special Education Programs and Revenue Assumptions

2. Other

Free and Live – Three Days of Music at the Cotton Mill

by Flo Nestor | Music

Three days of extraordinary music are scheduled during the 18th Annual Cotton Mill Open Studio and Holiday Sale Friday–Sunday, December 2-4, 74 Cotton Mill Hill, Brattleboro, VT.

Daniel Ehrenberg is providing a venue for five top-notch musicians at his Aegis Art Work Studio on the 3rd floor of the mill. The line-up of performers is so outstanding that you just might want to return each day for continued musical enjoyment. The performances in Ehrenberg’s studio are free and space is limited, so plan your time.

46th Messiah Sing on Dec. 3 to Benefit the Homeless

by fomag | Music

Brattleboro, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford invites singers and music lovers in the Tri-State region to start their holiday season at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 3, with the 46th annual Community Messiah Sing, a benefit for the homeless. Centre Congregational Church, at 193 Main Street in Brattleboro, has been home for the Sing since 1982 and for a few prior seasons as well.

Anthony Speranza, a resident of Vernon, led the Sing from 1989 through 2001 and again in 2010. His interest in conducting began as a 6-year member of the St. Kilian Boychoir and School in New York State (from age 7 to 13); he later earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in conducting, and was vocal music teacher for the town of Brattleboro for many years. William McKim, who has played the organ at this event for twenty-eight past seasons, and officially “retired” twice from doing so, now has his sights on continuing in this role as long as he can. Joyana Damon, in her eighteenth year as instrumental and classroom music teacher at Vernon Elementary School, and a performer with a number of Tri-State groups, will be featured on trumpet this season.

Exciter Function

by spinoza | Activism

About twenty five years ago I went to see a showing of the Holocaust film, Shoah. For those who aren’t familiar, this is a ten hour documentary, normally shown in two parts consecutively, with a small meal break. The film is notably devastating in effect for its lack of gore, absent of explicit rendering of atrocity. All that unfolds hits the viewer as reverberation. The mind, and heart can and must fill in the blanks. What’s shown is verbatim testimony of the everyday execution of the tasks set before the hard working members of the newly ascendant Nazi party. Schedules, Daily Rounds, Routines of Construction and Mainenence. 

I became a student of this subject early in my adult life, and have filled too many hours with contemplation of this grave facet of history.  On one side of my lineage, all but my great-grandfather were exterminated in Poland. Those relatives never reached the camps, they were shot in front of their house, as far we know. Hard to believe that may be considered a lucky break of sorts, but so it goes.  What I’m going to relate now, in the light of this is so trivial, so minuscule, so remote as to almost be ridiculous. But for some reason it sticks in my mind as we see the daily unfolding of our incoming regime change.

BCTV Schedules For Week of 11/21/16

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 11/21/16

Monday, November 21, 2016

12:05 am How Professionals Think: Circus Smirkus’ Rob Mermin

1:50 am Norwich Bookstore: Archer Mayor 10/19/16

2:40 am VTRANS Bd Public Forum on Passenger & Freight Trains 11/19/16

4:30 am Vote for VT: Visiting Nurses Association

Brattleboro Mention In Oberlin Alumni Magazine

by cgrotke | Media

The Fall 2016 issue of the Oberlin alumni magazine has a feature that begins by talking about former students meeting in Brattleboro to discuss their craft. What is their craft? Circus arts!

Terry Crane, Erica Rubenstein, and Sam Payne are all mentioned in conjunction with contempoprary circus performing at the New England Center for Circus Arts. Payne lives in the area, and the others toured through with their circus arts show.