Entertainment

For stories about entertainment

The Selectboard Show

by cgrotke | Entertainment

2021, for me, marks 20 years of watching the Brattleboro Selectboard. 

I first turned the show on when we moved to Brattleboro in 2001. At first, it was to learn about Brattleboro and what was going on here, but soon the experience evolved more into watching something akin to a soap opera.

The show has the regular cast of characters: Town Manager, department heads, and support staff. They stay on the show season after season with few changes, though major roles get recast from time to time. New roles have been introduced, too: the Assistant Town Manager, the Human Services Director, and the Sustainability Coordinator are examples.

Stay Home With WVEW on New Year’s Eve!

by Wendy M. Levy | Entertainment

What’s the safest party in town? The one on the radio!

On Thursday, December 31, please join 107.7fm Brattleboro Community Radio WVEW.org, for an all-day, most-of-the-night party to bid farewell to 2020…please!…and welcome in 2021.

We’re suspending (most of) our regular programming to play festive dance tunes provided by eleven of your favorite WVEW DJs. And it’s all commercial-free and local!

A COVID Christmas Anti-Viral Holiday Special

by cgrotke | Entertainment
covid christmas special

I promised you a new holiday treat for this year, and here it is: A COVID Christmas Anti-Viral Holiday Special.     It is a super cute animated Christmas story made especially for a special year, featuring a masked snowman, masked singers, socially-distanced Santa, toy shopping, Mom, and a decorated tree by a fire. And lots of mask jokes.

I didn’t set out to make a new holiday special. I was working on some Christmas card ideas and Lise saw what I was doing and suggested they might make for some nice animation. That got me thinking, and before long I was able to string together a series of card ideas into a parody of a couple of my favorite holiday films.

The iBrattleboro Animated History Advent Calendar

by cgrotke | Entertainment
xmas calendar 2020

It’s back. The annual tradition has not yet ended, though the most recent computers and browsers might have trouble as Flash really is coming to an end. That makes this a special gift for people who don’t upgrade!

The iBrattleboro Christmas Calendar  is a daily animated look at downtown Brattleboro, with new bits of local history thrown in every day. Follow along as the scene builds up, and keep a special eye out on the 24th.

Sherlock Holmes Comes to the Latchis Theatre

by James Gelter | Entertainment

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.”

What’s On Tonight?

by Lise | Entertainment

Back in the days of real television — the kind that was broadcast through the air to TVs outfitted with antennas — our choices about what to watch were limited to what the networks opted to show that night. Today, our choices are nothing short of staggering. There is so much on at any given moment that we couldn’t begin to watch it all. The advent of unlimited, on demand, streaming media has given us the gift of choice, but how to choose?

Video on Demand from the Sandglass Theater Archives

by SandglassTheater | Entertainment

Sandglass Theater has created twenty-five productions since their founding in 1982. Most of these were video recorded for archival purposes, Some of these recordings are better then others, although none is even close to the quality of a good High Density, multi-camera shoot that would be used for broadcast today. Nevertheless, these recordings offer a window into Sandglass’ past for those who want to learn more about their history and how their work has developed over the decades.

“We have decided to make a few of these available for online viewing. They are not meant to equal a live performance; rather they offer insight into where we have been and where we are going.” -Eric Bass

Vermont Jazz Center Presents: LIVE STREAM 4th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival

by vtjazz | Entertainment

The Vermont Jazz Center is proud to present its 4th Annual Solo Jazz Piano Festival the weekend of April 24-25th in live streaming format. Each of the artists will be performing from the comfort of their own home or a close-by piano studio using digital streaming technology to present their sets live, directly on the Vermont Jazz Center’s webpage. The Festival will be run using the same format as past years: Friday and Saturday evening feature concerts, Saturday daytime classes and emerging artist concerts, and a late afternoon panel discussion amongst all the artists. The performers will be NEA Jazz Master Toshiko Akiyoshi, Manuel Valera, Orrin Evans, and Shamie Royston as headliners as well as emerging artists Franz Robert, Maya Keren and Matt Twaddle. Helen Sung will moderate Saturday afternoon’s panel discussion.

The event will be free and open to the public, donations are encouraged and can be made on line via the VJC’s website.

Friday Night Videos – COVID-19 Edition

by cgrotke | Entertainment

Here are a few videos you might find useful. One is a good demonstration of washing hands. Paint is substituted for soap so you can watch how to best get it in all the right spots. Another is on exponential growth, which uses the virus as a jumping off point for a short math lesson. Our third video is a short visual explanation of how social distancing works to keep the number of cases down low enough so that hospitals don’t overflow. Our final video helps you determine the day of the week.

Plethoras & Myriads

by MarkTwain© | Entertainment

For the duration of the current crisis, Mark Twain© would like to ask challenging questions, requesting your answers. Here are 2 questions for today.

How are the meanings of these two words similar, how are they different?
When would you use “plethora?” when, “myriad?”

I Spy Butterfly by Faye Dupras at Sandglass Theater

by SandglassTheater | Entertainment

Putney- Sandglass Theater’s Winter Sunshine Series continues its 13th season of puppet shows for young audiences with I spy Butterfly by Faye Dupras on Saturday, March 14th at 11am and 2pm. How does a nature-loving explorer become a bug’s best friend? Find out in this delightful eco-story about the ways we all grow and change.  When Trudy’s friend Harold the caterpillar suddenly transforms into a chrysalis, she’s determined to do the same. Just when she is about to give up hope, she learns that her tiny friend needs her now more than ever. Live music, colorful critters, and oodles of audience interaction make this show a fun ecological romp in the wild!

VFW Corned Beef Dinner/Dance with music from the 50’s and 60’s by CJ the DJ March 14th. Public Welcome!

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Mark your calendars for our Brattleboro VFW Post #1034 Corned Beef Dinner/Dance Saturday March 14th. Find your saddle shoes and poodle skirts at the back of the closet because CJ the DJ will be playing tunes from the 50’s and 60’s from 7pm-11pm. Doors open at 5 pm, and the corned beef meal is served at 6 pm.

Youth Services Last Call for Dancers to Perform in Signature Fundraiser April 2

by Nanci Leitch | Entertainment

 Are you interested in joining the 2020 cast of Can Windham County Dance? Have you ever imagined yourself dancing in the spotlight? Would you enjoy performing in front of a live audience? Are you looking for a way to positively influence the lives of young people and families in Windham County? If you answered yes to the above questions, Youth Services wants you!

Youth Services is organizing Can Windham County Dance?, its third annual gala with a goal of $20,000 raised to strengthen the safety net for area young people and families. This spring, Can Windham County Dance? gala will take place on Saturday, April 25 at the Hilltop Montessori campus in Brattleboro. Four dancing numbers are confirmed but the organization is looking for 2-3 more.

Can Cops Cook? at the Brattleboro VFW Saturday Feb. 29th 5pm-7pm

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Can Cops Cook is a family-friendly cooking competition hosted by Safe Place Child Advocacy Center. This year, in addition to our usual Law Enforcement participants, we have also invited members from the Brattleboro Fire Department, Probation and Parole, Rescue Inc, DCF, and the Windham County State’s Attorney’s Office. It will be an event with some stiff competition!

BCTV Schedules Week of 1/20/2020

by BCTVProg | Entertainment

BCTV Channel 8 schedule for the week of 1/20/20

Monday, January 20, 2020

5:30 am The News Project – Essentials of Investing Part 4 of 5
6:00 am Community Conversations on Compassion – Part 4 – Compassion, Fear and Safety in Brattleboro
7:45 am New England Cooks – Gerry Nooney – Chocolate Mousse
8:00 am Democracy Now! – Daily Episode
9:00 am Couch Potatoe Productions – Back Road Stories 11/1/19

Winter Corn Hole Tournament to Benefit Brattleboro Professional Firefighter’s Local 4439

by Not Signed In | Entertainment

Saturday Feb. 22nd the Brattleboro Firefighter’s will be hosting an indoor corn hole tournament at the Brattleboro VFW located at 40 Black Mountain Road from 12pm – 6 pm. Tickets are $25 per team, with a maximum of 32 teams allowed. There will be a cash bar, and food for sale by the VFW. (No outside food or drinks allowed) 1st place $50, 2nd and 3rd place $25.