Issue #697
Straight from the heart
When reached by phone recently, award-winning singer/songwriter Antje Duvekot says she’s looking forward to playing at “one of [her] favorite venues ever.”
Next Stage Arts Project and Twilight Music present an evening of contemporary folk music with Duvekot on Saturday, Jan. 14, at 7:30 p.m., at Next Stage at 15 Kimball Hill.
The Sea The Sea’s music ‘gets to the truth’
‘Songs are lenses through which we see the world, the things we are thinking about and experiencing,’ says Mira Costa, who, with husband, Chuck, will perform at Next Stage
Chuck and Mira Costa (The Sea The Sea) will be performing on the double bill with Antje Duvekot (see interview with concert details, this issue). The Commons reached the indie folk-pop duo by phone recently, and they spoke about their upcoming concert, how they met Antje Duvekot, and how...
Milestones
Obituaries • Anne Elizabeth Andrus, 68, of Brattleboro. Died Dec. 31, 2022 at Hartford (Conn.) Hospital following a brief period of declining health. Anne was born in Bennington on July 29, 1954, the daughter of Leon M. and Marjorie C. (Ware) Andrus. She was raised and educated in Vernon...
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Sarasa Ensemble presents ‘Music of the Madonna’ at BMC
The Brattleboro Music Center’s Season Guest Concert Series celebrates the return of the Sarasa Ensemble with “Music of the Madonna” on Friday, Jan. 13. “No doubt the life of the Virgin Mary, the Madonna, has been a focal point of sacred music in Western classical music, especially in the Baroque era,” organizers say in a news release. This 7 p.m. concert at the BMC will feature two Marian Cantatas, as well as works for strings and continuo by Händel, Corelli,
Community members set priorities, seek volunteers ahead of final Our Future Putney meeting
Members of the Putney community came together Dec. 12 for the second step of the Our Future Putney community visit process and set three concrete and actionable priorities for the future of the town. All area residents are encouraged to sign up for these task forces online at bit.ly/FuturePutney. As part of the Community Visit process, community members discussed and voted on more than 20 action items that were identified in the first phase of the process on Nov. 14,
Phil Henry, Rust and Ruin visit Stage 33 Live
Singer-songwriter Phil Henry will perform a matinee concert on Sunday, Jan. 22, at 3 p.m. at Stage 33 Live at 33 Bridge Street. Henry “builds detailed worlds and characters with vivid lyrical imagery,” organizers say. His music “displays the skills of a craftsman and the authenticity of an artist, with strong melodies buoyed by rhythmic acoustic energy.” He’s earned contest wins at SolarFest and Susquehanna Music and Arts, and showcase slots at Falcon Ridge, Kerrville, and the NorthEast Regional Folk...
Lawmakers ignore the very apparent problems of relying more on electricity
As I write this on a Tuesday, thousands of homes in Vermont are still without power from a storm that started the previous Thursday evening. Pre-storm, Green Mountain Power notified customers that wet snow would be coming and they would be out in force to limit disruptions and fix downed lines. At one point, according to their website, 163 of Vermont’s 251 towns had outages. People were (and are, as I write this) without heat and water and dealing with...
Need to post land each year is onerous
Years ago, when I got discouraged trying to move to the country only to have the area gentrified, I realized that Vermont had just about everything I was looking for: enough land for horses, beautiful woods and trails, a sparse rural population, and enough culture and the arts to keep a city person satisfied. What I wanted more than anything was a place that offered safe haven for wildlife and native flora to flourish. I was surprised to find out...
2023 dog licenses available
Dog and wolf-hybrid licenses are available for the 2023 licensing period. Vermont dogs and wolf-hybrids 6 months and older must be licensed on or before April 1. New licenses and renewal licenses may be obtained in person at the Town Clerk’s office by using the drop box in the Municipal Center parking lot, through the mail, or online at brattleboro.org. Vaccination against rabies is required by Vermont statutes before licensing. If an animal has been spayed or neutered, the certificate...
Around the Towns
802 Credit Union donates $6,000 to Project Feed BARRE — On Dec. 22, 802 Credit Union Vice President of HR & Compliance Celina Ayers presented a $6,000 check to the 2022 Project Feed Campaign. Ayers also sits on the board of Project Feed the Thousands and presented the check to Kelli Corbeil of WTSA Radio and John Sciacca of Brattleboro Subaru, both board members as well. 802 Credit Union (previously known as River Valley Credit Union) has been a proud...
Brattleboro to consider ‘to be determined’ plan for EMS coverage
Nearly a year after dropping the town’s longtime emergency medical provider with little public notice or debate, local leaders plan to ask taxpayers to fund a “to be determined” budget line item for ambulance service. Town Meeting voters approved $285,600 last March they assumed was for Rescue Inc., which had covered the community for nearly 60 years. Instead, the Selectboard pulled the contract with scant explanation a month later in favor of having the fire department assume EMS duties. Local...
Rock Voices Brattleboro returns for Jan. 13 winter concert
Rock Voices Brattleboro and director Bob Thies invite everyone to join them for an evening of choral music at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street, on Friday, Jan. 13, at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Backed by a professional rock band, the choir will deliver the harmonies of songs by Stevie Wonder, Styx, Queen, ELO, Journey, Imagine Dragons, Harry Styles, and Lake Street Dive, among others. Rock Voices organizers say the choir “represents the best of southern Vermont...
Lawmakers from county named to leadership posts
The 2023-24 biennium of the Vermont Legislature convened on Jan. 4 with many new faces in both chambers. About a third of the members of the House and Senate are newcomers this biennium, filling the seats of members who retired or mounted campaigns for higher office. The turnover was most evident in the House, where Emily Long, D-Newfane, will serve as House majority leader and where nine new committee chairs have begun work in this the new session. House Speaker...
Guilford Country Store will reopen on Feb. 1
Ali West and Wayne Warwick, partners in Warwick & West, LLC, plan to reopen the Guilford Country Store on Feb. 1. “I’ve always loved the Guilford Country Store, and growing up in Guilford, it was a pretty big fixture in my life,” says West, of Vernon. She said that she and Warwick “have talked about other business opportunities, but none of them ever felt just right.” But when Marc and Suzanne Tessitore, who owned and operated the store for a...
Colonel girls stop Monadnock, 43-33
The Brattleboro Colonels girls’ basketball team ended a frustrating week with a 43-33 win over the Monadnock Huskies on Jan. 7 at the BUHS gym. It took a strong finish by the Colonels, who scored 24 points in the final quarter, to defeat the visitors from Swanzey, New Hampshire. Ninth-grade guard Reese Croutworst led Brattleboro with 11 points while junior forwards Mallory Newton and Montana Frehsee added eight points each. Bailee Soucia led Monadnock with a game-high 18 points. The...
Distance between regions, gap in opportunity
I am truly thankful for the opportunity to continue to serve as governor. And after a few long years, it is good to be back in the people’s house, where Vermonters have come together from across the state in our darkest times and finest hours to solve problems for their communities and help their neighbors. So today, I am especially grateful we are here, in this building, together. * * * In 1974, after 34 years in office, Sen. George...
Yes, we got to go home — twice
As I prepare to retire as Brattleboro Savings & Loan’s CEO, my mind drifts back to when I — along with my wife, Edie, a recovering banker herself — first arrived in Brattleboro, and what brought us here. Living in southwestern Connecticut, we made the decision to find a better quality of life; we didn’t need two-hour commutes (and that was only 17 miles), nor did we want to spend our lives in an area where it seemed that what...
State may extend pandemic-era Town Meeting options for 2023
The Vermont Legislature is considering whether to allow continued pandemic-era flexibility in how and when the state’s 247 cities and towns decide local leaders, spending, and special articles. Lawmakers passed several bills in the past two years letting communities make short-term, Covid-safe changes to Town Meeting — traditionally held on or around the first Tuesday in March — and to gather municipal governing boards solely online. “The citizens of Vermont should be able to protect their health, safety, and welfare,”
Grace Cottage emergency dept. expansion underway
Construction has started on a $650,000 expansion of the Grace Cottage Family Health & Hospital emergency area to enhance patient comfort and privacy and improve patient flow and security. “This is a very exciting and much-needed renovation, allowing us to efficiently see the increasing number of patients visiting our Emergency Department” says President and CEO Doug DiVello. “The technology available in our Emergency Department, especially with our recent link to Dartmouth Health’s TeleEd and TeleNeurology service, is, quite frankly, astonishing...
Honoring a love of music and community
The premier concert of the Ray Massucco Concert Series will feature Dar Williams, with opening act Crys Matthews, at the Bellows Falls Opera House on Saturday, Feb. 4. A small group of friends created the concert series in memory of Massucco, who died suddenly last September, with the first concert featuring Williams, one of his favorites. The local attorney had great enthusiasm for a lot of things, with music and his hometown of Bellows Falls ranking near the top. It...