Bowl for Kids’ Sake Seeks Teams

by Not Signed In | Recreation & Sports

Brattleboro, VT–Families, friends and teams from work are invited to celebrate the 33rd Annual Bowl for Kids’ Sake to benefit Youth Services’ Big Brothers Big Sisters program on Saturday, April 5. The fundraising event will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with teams signing up for a one-hour time slot at Brattleboro Bowl on Putney Road.

The 4-5 p.m. time is reserved for teams of teens and “Bigs and Littles” and will have a special “Cosmic Bowling” atmosphere. The financial goal of the event is to raise $65,000 in pledge money and business sponsorship to help cover the cost of running the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

Brattleboro Time Trade — Week of March 29th

by Brattleboro Time Trade | Activism

This week’s listings, arranged from Lion to Lamb:

RECENT REQUESTS:
Need Help Flyering
Typewriter  
Piano Lessons
Help Us Plans our Garden/Landscape
Prep Work for Driveway
Landscaping Help
Assistance with Transportation
Gallery Greeter at BMAC
Hebrew Tutor for Bar Mitzvah

Weekend Concert Series: Kraftwerk

by cgrotke | Entertainment

To contrast with our outer space visionary of last week, Sun Ra, I thought we might tilt ourselves in the other direction, toward our future robot overlords. (Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.)

Here is Kraftwerk in San Paolo, from March 2009. The German electronic music group formed in 1970, but I first heard them in the 1980’s, on dance floors and urban radio stations with crossover hits like ‘Tour de France,’ ‘Trans World Express,’ and ‘Numbers.’ They brought a futuristic, computery vocoded sound to music, and the rap and R&B world ate it up for a while, with much imitation as a form of compliment. Afrika Bambaataa’s ‘Planet Rock” is an homage, as are songs by Warp 9, and the Jonzun Crew.

Brattleboro Selectboard Agenda and Notes – April 1, 2014

by cgrotke | Town News

The “new” Brattleboro Selectboard will have their first regular Tuesday meeting of the year on April 1.

There are some atypical items on the agenda awaiting them, too. There will be a Representative Town Meeting follow-up discussion, and an issuance of a Health Order against Susan Rockwell, owner of 19 Elm Street.

Also on the agenda, a new cell tower for Meadowbrook Road, an update from the Skatepark Site Selection Committee, a request for additional solar energy use, and more.

You can watch on BCTV or attend in person. If you go, you may bring up additional items not on the agenda during Public Participation.

Late March – Out Like a What?

by cgrotke | Nature

The old rule of “March – in like a lion, out like a lamb” seems to have gone haywire this year. It’s more of an “out like a ice-breathing water dragon,” or maybe a “cold toad.”

Have the seasons shifted?  Perhaps April will now be in like a lion and out like a lamb. But that might lead to May showers bringing June flowers. (Which will lead to the loss of a quality joke for 6 year olds. What do May flowers bring? Pilgrims! It doesn’t work with Juneflowers.)

Stroll Seeks Parade Units, Heifers, Entertainers, Volunteers, Vendors

by MartinLangeveld | Entertainment

Strolling of the Heifers is seeking heifers, strollers, marchers, and floats for its upcoming Parade, as well as entertainers, volunteers and vendors for various Stroll Weekend events.

Strolling of Heifers Weekend takes place June 6-8, with the agriculturally-themed parade scheduled for Sat., June 7 at 10 a.m. in downtown Brattleboro.

Registration or application forms for all events and functions, as well as guidelines for each, may be found at via , or via the pull-down registration menu at the top of any page on the website. For parade units, parade director Richard Chapin announced that the deadline for applications is May 1. He is seeking parade units of all kinds, including musical units, marching units, animals, clowns, acrobats and dancers.

Benefit for Morningside Shelter: Storytellers on a Mission April 19, Hosted by Peter Sagal

by Not Signed In | Arts

Southern Vermont-based The Hatch presents its third Storytellers on a Mission event featuring nationally renowned storytellers who will tell hilarious stories to raise money for a great cause. The event’s recipient is the Morningside Shelter in Brattleboro, Vermont, which is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. The event will be held on Saturday, April 19 pm at 7:30 p.m. at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro.

The evening’s storytellers will be hosted by Peter Sagal, Host of NPR’s Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! and will feature Cindy Pierce, Elna Baker, Peter Aguero and Ian Chillag, with additional special guests. All performers have performed on critically acclaimed stages that include The Moth, National Public Radio (NPR) shows, Comedy Central programming and much more.

Vermont Official Warns U.S. Senate Panel: Don’t Let Transportation Funding Run Out

by Not Signed In | State News

WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27 – Testifying at the invitation of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Vermont Agency of Transportation Deputy Secretary Sue Minter warned a Senate panel today that a looming shortfall in federal transportation funding could put people out of work in Vermont and “tip the balance of our fragile economic recovery.”

Projects slated for this construction season could be cancelled unless Congress acts soon to shore up the federal Highway Trust Fund, which is projected to be depleted by July.

“Reducing or eliminating transportation projects translates into job losses in the construction industry,” Minter told the Senate public works committee. “In a small state like ours, this can tip the balance on our fragile economic recovery.”

The Vermont Jazz Center Presents: Emerging Artist Series – Carolina Calvache

by Not Signed In | Music

Innovative, original jazz, influenced by Colombian rhythms. Featuring saxophonist, Jaleel Shaw

The Vermont Jazz Center will present Colombian pianist, Carolina Calvache, performing as part of our Emerging Artist series. This young artist has all the qualifications that the VJC is celebrating in this series: she is launching her first CD with a major jazz label (Sunnyside), she is a creative composer, she is highly accomplished on her instrument. She is a rising star in the eyes of both critics and peers and she is traveling with her own band. Her musicians have studied and performed her complex material and are able to transcend its technical demands and add to the beauty of her vision. These musicians are Jaleel Shaw on saxophone, Yasushi Nakamura on acoustic bass and Rodrigo Recabarren on drums.

Phone Etiquette in Vermont

by Holland Mills | Op/Ed

Ever since I’ve moved to this town, I’ve noticed that virtually all except those I’ve conveyed the following sentiment to who call me on the phone employ the most miserable phone etiquette I’ve encountered in the many states and provinces I’ved lived in.

When I was a child, I lived on the Upper West Side in a communal situation that had three women (including my mother) under 30.  It being NYC and Ma Bell being the only game in town, it was standard practice for women to only give their first initial and last name when listed in the phone book.

Welch Highlights Climate Change Impact on VT Maple Industry

by Not Signed In | Politics

Climate change is having a real impact on Vermont.  For example, Rep. Welch regularly hears from Vermont’s maple producers about how changes in temperature and shifting seasons are affecting their businesses.  He  last week with Dave Marvin, owner of Butternut Mountain Farm, and Tim Perkins, Director of Proctor Maple Research Institute at the University of Vermont, about the impact of climate change on Vermont’s maple industry.  Rep. Welch will be bringing the voices of Vermonters like Dave and Tim’s to Washington to demonstrate why urgent action on climate change is needed.

Winter Sunshine Series at Sandglass Theater Continues This Weekend With Vermont’s Own Crabgrass Puppet Theatre

by SandglassTheater | Entertainment

Crabgrass Puppet Theatre
The Pirate, the Princess, and the Pea
March 29, 1pm and 3pm
$8

Reserve tickets at info@sandglasstheater.org
or (802) 387-4051

Spring is here but the 2014 Winter Sunshine Series of Family Performances at Sandglass Theater in Putney continues! On Saturday, March 29th, Winter Sunshine curators Bonny Hall and Jamie Keithline of Vermont’s own Crabgrass Puppet Theatre present The Pirate, the Princess, and the Pea.

Love & Blackmail at Brooks Library

by Brooks Memorial Library | Entertainment

Escape the dreary weather and join us for a FREE MOVIE! Today, Wednesday, Mar 26, at 2 PM, the Classic Matinee Film Noir Series at Brooks Memorial Library continues with a story of a tangled web of blackmail and love with surprise twists.

For title information please contact the Brooks Library. What is film noir? Literally it means “black film” and it is a Hollywood genre of crime movie of the 1940’s and 50’s that developed mostly out of the Great Depression crime fiction.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: A Reading and Discussion Series –Final Discussion

by Brooks Memorial Library | Books

Join Vermont Humanities scholar Richard Wizansky for this reading and discussion series which features the shorter works by the great Russian writer, dissident, and former Cavendish, Vermont resident and includes his most read and highly regarded novella as well as several of his famous speeches. 

The final reading for the series is the 1970 Nobel Lecture; and the 1978 Harvard Class Day Address. Wednesday 26 March 2014, 4:30pm – 6:00pm. 

A Local Gas Tax?

by AHubbard | Town Plan

Brattleboro is in a very tough spot. The town has suffered three severe economic blows in the past 5 years, in cascading order from national to state to local: The Mortgage Crisis, Tropical Storm Irene and the Brooks House Fire. Each event had a multiplying effect on the Town as revenue and equity evaporated from the region.

The mortgage crisis sapped equity from our homes and crippled real estate values which, in turn, crimped the tax revenue and town budgets. Tropical Storm Irene washed untold millions of equity downstream and cost millions more in repairs and rebuilding. And when the central block of your downtown lies vacant for three years, the economic scars seem fairly tangible.

Live Free or … Bernie?

by tomaidh | Politics

Editorial from the Concord Monitor:

As it turns out, Scott Brown isn’t the only politician from next-door New Hampshire voters should be watching.

In an interview with The Nation magazine this month, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders says he’s thinking about launching a campaign for president in 2016.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/25-1

Sanders Statement on NSA Surveillance

by Not Signed In | Politics

WASHINGTON, March 25 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) issued the following statement today on reports that President Barack Obama intends to seek another 90-day extension of the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records before asking Congress to make private phone companies store the records:

“As someone who voted against the Patriot Act and opposed its reauthorization, I have long been concerned about out-of-control intelligence agencies.