Weekend Creativity Series – Formula

by cgrotke | Creative

Pop songs of all genres have formulas for success. Most radio hits are 3 minutes, have an intro, a verse, a chorus, a verse, a breakdown, and go out with the chorus. Most keep the lyrics simple, and geared toward basic emotions, or thought one might have on a dance floor.

This extends beyond pop rock to pop soul and pop country. This week, we take a look at the creative work of Sir Mashalot, who shows us just how similar the county pop hits of today really are.

He chops and re-arranges six songs — “Sure Be Cool If You Did” by Blake Shelton, “Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan, “Chillin’ It” by Cole Swindell, “Close Your Eyes” by Parmalee, “This is How We Roll” by Florida Georgia Line, and “Ready, Set, Roll” by Chase Rice — showing just how formulaic and similar they are.

Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda & Notes – February 16, 2016

by cgrotke | Town News

Brattleboro’s proposed skatepark may take a major step forward if the Selectboard approves a $230,000 grant application request from BASIC and the Recreation & Parks department. The grant application would be to the National Creative Placemaking Fund.

The board will approve special event permits, learn about the VY Decomissioning timeline for emergency management, and will hold a second reading and public hearing on proposed changes to ordinances regarding pets.

Attend in person to participate, watch on BCTV, and read about it here the day after.

Dinner and Hot Latin Jazz at Compass School – International Program Fundraiser

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Dinner and Hot Latin Jazz at Compass School Saturday Feb. 27th

On Saturday, Feb. 27th, Compass School will host a Latin American-inspired dinner and a musical performance by Eugene and Julian’s Latin Party Band featuring renowned musicians Eugene Uman and Julian Gerstin.
The evening begins at 6:00 p.m with a fabulous, multi-course dinner, and concurrently there will be a silent auction which will include gift certificates to area businesses, fine arts, furniture, clothing, and much more. All-inclusive tickets for dinner and music are just $18 adults and $12 students – a fun and very affordable night out.

Namie, Fukushima Japan 5 Years Later

by Safe and Green Campaign | Activism

One month from today, March 11, will mark 5 years since the Fukushima nuclear disasters began in Japan. The town of Namie, Japan is the same distance from the nuclear reactors in Fukushima as Brattleboro is from Vermont Yankee. 500 Namie citizens died in the tsunami, and Namie was evacuated. Five years later, it is still off-limits to its 15,000 residents. According to a World Health Organization (WHO) report May 2015, Namie residents received the highests doses of radiation from the Fukushima meltdowns: 10 to 50 miliseverts. The Telegraph posted photos of Namie yesterday:

The Safe and Green Campaign will hold a vigil in downtown Brattleboro on Saturday, March 12th. We will honor the 150,000 evacuees of the Fukushima meltdowns, and to educate ourselves on the continuing public health, environmental and political effects of this horrific accident.

Grim Tales

by spinoza | Politics

Trumpelstiltskin

Once a lovely maiden made the mistake of making a deal with a big bad banker who was about to pull the rug out from under her poor dad. The desperate old man offered his daughter up to the banker as stopgap collateral, believing in her earnest entreaties, that she could indeed spin her way out of his mess.

The deal she agreed to was to build a wall across the southern border of the country, overnight. Sure it was a nutty concept, but she’d do anything to save her father. Then, as if out of nowhere an imp or elf-like creature appeared and offered to help. He was very specific in the details of the deal, as was his wont. “I’ll build your wall, and if you make love to me, I will forgo your debt. Otherwise I will take your firstborn as my own. There is a single caveat here, listen carefully, if you guess my name, all will be even-steven, and you’ll be free and clear with me.”

Come Hear Readings on Mercy Friday, Feb 12, 2016 7:30 at the Blue Dot at the Hooker-Dunham

by Not Signed In | Creative

On Friday February 12, at 7:30, Write Action will be hosting a reading of poems and short prose on the topic of Mercy at the Blue Dot in the Hooker-Dunham Building in Brattleboro. In December, the non-profit organization, which supports writing and writers in the tri-state area, solicited the public for short pieces on this topic. Friday’s event will bring together some of the writers who responded to the call for written work on the theme of mercy.

This year’s invitation to write on one of the virtues is the second such writing prompt that Write Action has shepherded. Last year the organization solicited short stories of 500 words or less on the theme of hope. The group hopes to gather together a collection of writings on virtues, and to publish them in some form.

Brattleboro Presidents’ Day Closings

by Not Signed In | Town News

In observance of Presidents’ Day, all Town offices will be closed on Monday, February 15, 2016, with the exception of emergency services.

Parking is free at all metered spaces and in the pay-and-display lots on Sunday and Monday, February 14 and February 15. All other violations will be enforced.

Brattleboro Fire Department Shares Cold Weather Safety Tips

by BrattFireDept | Police & Fire

In a weather briefing from the National Weather Service the coldest air mass of the season is expected this weekend, with the coldest temperatures Saturday night into Sunday.

Very cold temperatures combined with strong gusty winds will allow for wind chill values to reach dangerous to potentially life threatening levels between Friday Night and Sunday night.  The lowest values will be on Saturday night and will occur across the higher elevations, where wind chill values may be as low as 30 to 50 below zero.  Valley areas will see wind chill values in the 20 to 30 below zero range.   Actual air temperatures will be below zero across the entire area on Saturday night as well.  

Stroll Presents Cabin Fever, a Food and Drink Tasting Event, with Grave Diggers Union Bluegrass/Country Band

by MartinLangeveld | Entertainment

On Friday night, Feb. 19 from 5 to 8 p.m., Strolling of the Heifers presents Cabin Fever — a festive food and drink tasting event to kick off weekend.

Taking place at the River Garden in downtown Brattleboro, Cabin Fever will offer a warm atmosphere where people ample specialty foods, fine spirits, wines, and craft brews.

Live music will be provided by Kevin Schnell and , a band from Northampton, MA, playing hard-driving bluegrass, old time country, classic rock, and more with hot licks and sweet harmonies!

The Stroll’s art gallery, Gallery at the Garden, will be open, featuring an exhibit of oil and watercolor paintings by Crystal Bartlett, and acrylics by Steven Meyer.

Recent Work by Judy Hawkins Debuts in West Brattleboro

by fomag | Arts

Brattleboro, Vt. – Painter Judy Hawkins, whose studio is a popular stop on the annual Putney Craft Tour in November, is showing recent work in gallery spaces at All Souls Church UU in West Brattleboro through the end of March. An artist’s reception is set for 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 13.

Judy knew she was an artist from the age of five or six and always seemed to have a view of her surroundings that was different from that of her friends. “When I paint,” she shares, “I have an internal ‘dialog’ with myself. I think this ‘conversation’ is hard-wired, but I’ve only recently recognized how important and integrated it is to how I see and interpret my sensory world, and how it takes form and color in my painting.”

Rediscovered Bolivian Baroque Music Premieres on Feb. 20

by fomag | Music

Guilford, Vt. – Friends of Music at Guilford, now in its 50th Anniversary Season, presents the second of three programs featuring Bolivian Baroque music from an archive of nearly 13,000 pages of recently collected manuscripts. The “Barroco Boliviano” concert begins at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 20, in the sanctuary of Guilford Community Church, just a mile south on Rt. 5 from Exit 1 off I-91 in Brattleboro.

This treasure trove of Baroque-era manuscripts was a sort of Holy Grail for musicologist Fr. Piotr Nawrot, a native of Poland who arrived in Bolivia in the early 1990s after spending a few years in Guatemala. He traveled the Bolivian countryside seeking out church elders with carefully hidden or, in some cases, unfortunately neglected materials first composed and performed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the Spaniards took over that area of the Inca Empire, and then forgotten when the Spanish colonial period ended in the early 19th century. Fr. Nawrot has spent many years preparing a significant amount of this music for publication and performance by a new generation of musicians, both in Bolivia and around the world.

Marijuana Legalization and the Transfer of Wealth From Local Communities

by Not Signed In | Op/Ed

Vermont Senators

With marijuana legalization being pushed through the legislature this year, what has been obscured is the impact this current bill would have on existing local economies.

The recent Rand Report estimated annual consumption of marijuana in Vermont at up to 55,000 pounds. The report fails to define where all that marijuana comes from. While it is certain some is imported from other states, it is also a given that a large percentage of the marijuana currently consumed in Vermont is grown locally.

Act 46 Study Committee Agenda and Minutes

by Not Signed In | Education

ACT 46 STUDY COMMITTEE

Representing the Brattleboro Town School District, Dummerston Town School District, Guilford Town School District, Putney Town School District, and the Vernon Town School District
http://www.wssu.k12.vt.us

NOTICE OF MEETING

The Act 46 Study Committee will meet at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at the Putney Central School.

Brattleboro Taxes and Utilities Due

by Not Signed In | Town News

The third installment of the 2015 Real Estate and Personal Property Taxes will be due on February 16th, 2016. Payments made after February 16th, 2016 will have an additional 1% interest added to the unpaid balance.

The utility billing is also due on February 16th, 2016. Payments made after February 16th, 2016 will have an additional 1% interest, as well as an 8% penalty added to the unpaid balance.

The Treasurer’s Office will be closed on February 15th, 2016 in observance of President’s Day.

The NH Primary – Kasich and Sanders Sweep Dixville Notch, Clinton Upset in Millsfield

by cgrotke | Politics

Primary Day is on in New Hampshire, and we have some winners. In Dixville Notch shortly after midnight, John Kasich got three votes, Donald Trump two votes, and Bernie Sanders got four.

Two other NH towns have midnight voting. Millsfield, gave it to Cruz (9 votes) and Clinton (2 votes, upsetting Sanders), and Hart’s Location chose Kasich and Sanders.

Which is to say, it is Tuesday now, it is snowy, and New Hampshire is going to the polls.

Brattleboro Time Trade Listings – Week of February 7

by Brattleboro Time Trade | Other

Brattleboro Time Trade:   Exchanging services, creating connections, strengthening communities, one hour at a time.  See below for more exciting Upcoming Events and learn what Time Trade can do for you!

How Time Trade Works: You do something for someone and earn time credits for your “bank,” which you can then put towards someone else doing something for you! It’s that simple – and amazing!

This week’s fabulous listings, brought to you from hopes of more snow:

Now anyone can see a listing of all our Offers and Requests: https://brattleboro.timebanks.org/ads?type=1

OFFERS (i.e. things people could do for you):

Flower and Herbs Seeds – Get Ready for your Next Garden!
Baked Goods Prepared for You
Editing
Snow Shoes Available
Pet Visits
Citizen’s Awareness Breakfast at the Senior Center

Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Steve Davis Sextet

by Not Signed In | Music

The VJC welcomes Steve Davis Sextet to perform on Saturday, February 13th in a concert celebrating the music of trombonist J. J. Johnson. Featured artists in Davis’s sextet include one of bebop’s foremost elder statesmen on the piano, Harold Mabern as well as the formidable tenor saxophonist, Scott Mullett. The other musicians who comprise this sextet include Josh Bruneau (trumpet), Harold Mabern (piano), Nat Reeves (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums).

This concert was originally scheduled to highlight saxophonist Eric Alexander who gracefully bowed out to accept an extended European tour. This turn of events has evolved into a wonderful opportunity for the Vermont Jazz Center whose audience will now experience the exciting repertoire and tight arrangements of J. J. Johnson, one of the greatest trombonists in the history of jazz, interpreted by an all-star band. Saturday Night Live trombonist Steve Turre put it succinctly when he stated:

BCTV Schedules For The Week Of 2/8/2016

by BCTVProg | Media

BCTV channel 8 schedule for the week of 2/8/16

Monday, February 8, 2016

12:00 am VWC: Eyes on the Prize for Universal Health Care

1:30 am Racial Profiling – A Community Response

3:30 am Not for an Age: Shakespear’s 400 Year Career

5:00 am Generator Big Maker: Paolo Pedercini – The Art of Games

6:30 am For the Animals: Hope and Dixie