Issue #693
‘Keep trying, don’t give up, don’t cheat, and one day you will win’
Eve Nyrhinen describes her complicated father, Ray McNeill, as “warm-hearted, deeply loving, and fun,” but also “an exacting perfectionist and perhaps the most stubborn person I've ever known.”
“This fueled his relentless drive toward his dream: to brew the world's best beers,” Nyrhinen said of McNeill, who died Dec. 2 in a fire that consumed his namesake brewery and pub on Elliot Street.
Baker Street Readers present ‘A Christmas Carol’
The Baker Street Readers will stage a dramatic reading of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol at the Hooker-Dunham Theater on Friday, Dec. 9, and Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. While most everyone is familiar with A Christmas Carol, due to its many popular film, TV, and stage adaptations,
Stage 33 Live hosts Tom Pirozzoli with Corey Wrinn on Dec. 11
Pirozzoli kept a 200-gigs-a-year schedule for decades, but these days, he performs only a couple dozen times annually as he focuses on his successful fine art career. Stage 33 Live, 33 Bridge Street, says they are fortunate to host him on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 6 p.m. Tom Pirozzoli's...
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Around the Towns
Local lawmakers host Town Hall meeting at Brooks Library BRATTLEBORO - With the 2023–24 legislative session set to start in Montpelier on Wednesday, Jan. 4, legislators from Brattleboro and Windham County will be holding a Town Hall meeting at Brooks Memorial Library on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 10:30 a.m. State Reps. Tristan Toleno (D-Windham 2–3), Emily Kornheiser (D-Windham 2–1), and Mollie Burke (P/D-Windham 2–2) of Brattleboro, along with Windham County Senators-elect Wendy Harrison and Nader Hashim, invite citizens to meet...
TubaChristmas returns to Brattleboro on Dec. 11
A unique holiday tradition, TubaChristmas, brings together players of valved, low-brass instruments, including the tuba and (1)euphonium to rehearse and perform Christmas carols arranged in four parts especially for a tuba choir. TubaChristmas events take place in over 300 cities throughout the United States and in several other countries. The Brattleboro event will be held on Sunday, Dec. 11, at the First Congregational Church of West Brattleboro, 880 Western Avenue. Brattleboro Union High School Band Director Steve Rice serves as...
Milestones
Obituaries • Nancy Elizabeth (Chickering) Cherrier, 85, formerly of West Chesterfield, New Hampshire and Bradford, Vermont. Died peacefully on Nov. 27, 2022 at her residence in Simpsonville, South Carolina. She was born May 5, 1937 in Nashua, New Hampshire, the daughter of Richard Goodell Chickering and Mary Virginia (Flather) Chickering. She grew up on her parents' farm in West Chesterfield and graduated from Brattleboro Union High School in 1955. In 1958, she received her R.N. degree from Mary Hitchcock School...
‘Open with caution’
I would happily make a sandwich, with mayo, on the floor of most breweries these days. They're as clean, if not cleaner, than hospitals, for the simple reason that a lack of sanitation is the quickest way to produce bad beer. Bad in terms of flavor, and badly behaved, too - beers that gush out of bottles like a garden hose run amok. Ray McNeill did things a little differently, in brewing as in life. For a while, he had...
It was the perfect bar
In the early 1990s, during and after my time at Marlboro College, I spent countless hours at McNeill's Brewery in Brattleboro. Some months I spent more on beer than rent, probably - neither were very expensive. My favorites were the Extra Special Bitter, the Oatmeal Stout, and the legendary Dead Horse IPA (“you can't beat a Dead Horse”). I think every one of us who loved McNeill's could write a memoir. The darts, the sound of Jenga crashing, Holiday's chicken...
Brattleboro Camerata presents Renaissance music of Latin America on Dec. 11
The Brattleboro Camerata presents “Ensalada: Renaissance Music of Latin America” Sunday, Dec. 11, at the Brattleboro Music Center. The Brattleboro Camerata, with Music Director Jonathan Harvey, is a vocal ensemble devoted to exploring the beauty and power of Renaissance-era and Renaissance-inspired music. As Harvey explains about the Dec. 11 concert, “our exploration of Renaissance-era music in Latin America will include pieces by colonial composers who worked in modern-day Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, and pieces in Latin, Spanish, and the Indigenous...
Our special place, our special time
I met Ray McNeill in my early 20s. We had mutual friends and we often found our selves sitting at one of the long tables at McNeill's Brewery talking about music, history, literature, or one of the many other topics we enjoyed. For years, I only knew him as Ray, the guy who was always at the bar. It wasn't until one day during a casual conversation that I realized that Ray was the owner of the brewery and pub...
Let’s consider legislation that appeals to a broader political spectrum
With the election over and the Democratic Party in control of Vermont government, I suggest that efforts be made to support government that helps all without offending those of us who are more right of center politically than the left-of-center Democrats. With that in mind, let me mention an evening get-together where strong, liberal, part-time Vermonter, and Democratic Party member John Kenneth Galbraith came up to me and said, “Bud, I know you are right of center politically, but you...
Use public funds for people’s basic needs, not rent-a-cops
Nancy Braus recommends that the town of Brattleboro hire “private security” to patrol the streets of downtown. This is a predictable trajectory. Downtown Brattleboro already has a fountain, a sketchy parking garage, shops selling items I can't afford, and an ugly glassed-in food court. I guess the only thing missing to complete its transformation into an upscale mall is a posse of rent-a-cops. But can't we get gaggles of goth teenagers, a Cinnabon, and some escalators first? All Gen-X snark...
Panel on cartooning as journalism features Danziger, Veitch, and Barlow
The public is invited to attend an online panel discussion, “The Power of Cartoons,” sponsored by Vermont Independent Media's Media Mentoring Project (MMP) on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 7 p.m. Cartoons are a unique form of journalism that have been entertaining, educating, and influencing public opinion in the United States since the 19th century. Sequential art - and the cartoonists who create it - has played a powerful role in shaping the way we view ourselves and the world around...
Murray: Thanks to voters
Please allow me this moment to thank the good people of the town of Westminster who took the time to cast a ballot for my candidacy for justice of the peace in this past November's election. If we encounter each other while out and about, please make yourself known so that I may thank you personally.
Power, action, unity, and peace
Next Stage Arts, 15 Kimball Hill, presents an evening with American roots jazz band The Afro-Semitic Experience, on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. The Afro-Semitic Experience is a group of Jewish-American and African-American musicians who have been performing, recording, and teaching together for more than 20 years. Their friendship ignites their passion and purpose: Together, as a band, they merge their musical roots, Jewish and Afro-diasporic melodies and grooves, combining the core concepts of ase and shalom - power,
BMAC presents artist talk, sweater-mending workshop
The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) presents two events in connection with “(de)composed,” an exhibit of realistic sculptures by Judith Klausner depicting what are labeled “ruined” items, like moldy bread, a sprouted potato, and a blob of jam surrounded by ants. On Friday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at the museum, Klausner will discuss the exhibit with its curator, BMAC Director of Exhibitions Sarah Freeman. On Saturday, Dec. 10, beginning at 2 p.m., Klausner will present a workshop on...
A longtime legal practice ends in Bellows Falls
In mid-January, the closing of the Massucco & Stern law firm will bring an end to one chapter of a half century of legal service in southern Vermont. Following the unexpected death of his law partner, Ray Massucco, on Sept. 27, Attorney Josh Stern had some decisions to make about proceeding. “I am in the process of closing down my current firm, Massucco & Stern, P.C.,” Stern sent to the firm's clients last week, “and following closure will be practicing...
Fire claims life of pub owner and brewer, destroys historic building
A local legend and iconic landmark are gone following a Dec. 2 fire at 90 Elliot St. that destroyed McNeill's Brewery and took the life of its owner, C. Reagin “Ray” McNeill. The shock in the community, where the local institution was home away from home to many for more than three decades has been palpable as folks grappled to understand the tragedy. At the scene, confusion reigned among onlookers as they watched the fire with growing concern that firefighters...
Democratic caucus re-elects Long as House majority leader
With the return of Rep. Emily Long of Newfane as House majority leader, Windham County will again be represented in the leadership of the Vermont House of Representatives for the coming 2023–24 biennium. Democratic members of the House selected their leadership slate during a public caucus held on Dec. 3 at the State House in Montpelier. Rep. Jill Krowinski of Burlington was elected by the 104-member caucus to return for her second term as Speaker of the House. Krowinski's nomination...
Remembering a Renaissance man
Since the fire that destroyed McNeill's Brewery and took Ray McNeill's life, scores of people who knew the man, his pub, and his product have stopped to talk about him and remember. An award-winning brewer, McNeill was dubbed “the Bohemian Brewer of Brattleboro” in Microbrews magazine, where the author wrote, “His brews are not quite heavenly, but close enough to it that you might hear a harp playing in the background when you sip one of his brews.” But this...
Winter high school sports begin this week
Vermont's student-athletes began their preseason practices on Nov. 28 in preparation for the 2022-23 high school winter sports season which will get underway this weekend. • Girls' basketball begins on Dec. 9 with the first round of the Leland & Gray Tournament in Townshend. Arlington will take on Leland & Gray at 7 p.m., while Brattleboro will play Burr & Burton at 5:30 p.m. The tourney's consolation and championship games will be played on Dec. 10. Twin Valley opens its...
‘I didn’t want the painting to be polished, because Ray wasn’t polished’
Here's the image of a painting I did of Ray McNeill in November of 2000. I asked Ray to sit for me, and he was a little surprised that I didn't want to portray him in the bar, but playing the cello instead. I thought it would be more interesting to portray this guy - who could be a little rough around the edges and who was well known for making and drinking beer - as playing classical music. I...
‘No one wanted my father to die’
I'm Ray McNeill's daughter. I'd like to share some details and dispel some rumors about his death. Ray was told in June that due to the structural instability of the building, the fire department would not be able to send a crew in there safely if a fire were to break out. There hadn't been a fire in his 30-some years there, and he had an extensive sprinkler system, so he chose to stay. Anyone who loved him knew that...