| VOLUME 28 | * * All Arts News On the Web * * | February 29, 2024 |
ArtBits always features a calendar of the goings on of Franklin County artists. Check out these events around Franklin County. Each issue includes the entire text of our weekly newspaper column. STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS
Franklin County's arts and music gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and occasional workshops. There are also booked and acoustic Open Mic Nights that feature music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.
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AROUND FRANKLIN COUNTY--Town Meeting will be held in most of our Towns this Tuesday at 10 a.m. Voters will decide on a number of arts items including concerts and other programming, their Library budgets, and more. These programs are fundamental to our vibrant communities--strengthening us socially, educationally, and economically. The festivals, public art programs, museums, and libraries and community centers we all enjoy employ local people, purchase local goods and services, and are a major tourism driver. TOWN MEETING
Bent Northrop Memorial Library Director Sarah Allerton paraphrased a famous quote: "if knowledge is power, libraries are the fuel."
MORRISVILLE--River Arts hosts the art of Bob Titterton and John Sargent in Realism and Waterways with an Opening Reception with an artists' talk and light refreshments this evening at 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. ART ON THE WALLS
The exhibit explores two versions of oil painting both in subject and application. Upstairs, Folley Hall has Mr. Titterton's detailed oil paintings featuring the glazing process. Downstairs, Copley Hall has a collection of Mr. Sargent's landscape oil paintings with subtle visual narratives, both real and imagined. Click here for more info.
SWANTON--The Vermont Abenaki Artists Association features certified fine, decorative, and performing artists officially labeled as "American Indian" under Federal law. Circle of Courage is an after-school initiative drawing on the writings of Larry Brendtro. Using model of traditional dance and other customs, children master skills in Native dance and crafts, work together as youth leaders, complete artistic projects, and perform community service. Click here for their story and a look at their work.
ST. ALBANS--14th Star Brewing Company holds the weekly Maker's Market in the Taproom on Sunday from 1 - 3 p.m. The pop-up booths host local crafters and makers every Sunday afternoon. Find them on Facebook for more info. ART FOR SALE
MORRISVILLE--River Arts hosts the in-person, March "Sip n' Slurry: Pocket Wall Hangings" with Chiara Keeling as the pottery twist on a Paint n' Sip on Friday at 6 p.m. Craft a simple design for a creative, textured wall hanging. ART YOU CREATE
The cost is $55. Click here to enroll and for more info.
KEY COLONY BEACH, FL--The 67th annual KCB Day is a weekend festival this year. FESTIVALS
The KCB Beautification Committee hosts Dogs in the Hut with the Caribbean steel drum music of Van Bertie at the Coconut Path and Tiki on Saturday from 2 - 5 p.m. There will be a 50/50 raffle, free hot dogs and beer, and much more. Find them on Facebook for more info.
KCB Day takes over the 7th Street Park with live music plus exhibits and sales by Keys artists on Sunday from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. There will be the pooch promenade at 9:30 a.m., live music from 10-4, and the street parade at 11:00. Also look for the Barracuda Races, a silent auction, multiple 50/50 drawings, food trucks, vendors, and beer and wine. Find them on Facebook for more info.
ONLINE--Telling Stories Frame by Frame is a Vermont State University Student Film and Video Showcase opening tomorrow and running through April 30. The exhibit includes a video essay about Spanish cinema after the death of dictator Francisco Franco, a short film about an isolated young man with diabetes finding connection, experimental shorts about nostalgia, anxiety, and memory, and more. FILM
Featured films include 3.20.2000 by Lily Doton, A Dark Place by Norm Murphy, Be Not Afraid by Luke McGee, Diabadass by Jacob "Gonzo" Gonzalez, Distant Memories by Brandon Burmeister, Freshman Funk by Lily Modica, Gender Euphoria by Wes Simard, I Deserve to Take Up Space by Ruben Somda, Into the Forest by Maegon Courville, Cody Despins, and Madilyn Mogen, I'm Fine by Carissa Challinor, La Movida Madrileña y Pedro Almodóvar by Molly Marcy, Metaverse by Jake Before and Cody Despins, Nostalgia by Emma Ezzo, "passion" project by Jacob Ruben, Release of Shadows by Ellen Tierney, The Hack by Wm Smith, Uno by Audrey Tembreull, and Welcome to the Library by Ariana Hausmann. There will be an artist talk online on Friday, March 8, at 5-6 p.m.
Click here for more info and to register for the event.
ST. ALBANS--Osher Lifelong Learning Institute continues the Fall weekly program series with St. Albans Director of Planning & Development Chip Sawyer will discuss the Next Steps in City Revitalization in the Greg Brown Lodge at Hard'ack on Wednesday at 11 a.m. The challenges the city faces include water quality, multimodal transportation, and infrastructure needs. All that goes into the effort to develop the 2025 City Plan. HUMANITIES
OLLI no longer takes payments at the door. They "strongly recommend that all attendees/members pre-register prior to the start of the program." Click here for more info.
ONLINE--The Vermont Humanities Council presents Josh Jackson with The Chance of Ten Lifetimes--Restoring Notre Dame de Paris on the Vermont Digital Channel and live at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Carpenters Without Borders rebuilt the roof above the Nave and invited a number of American and English carpenters to join them. A Mechanical Engineer, Mr. Jackson co-founded TimberHomes Vermont and was able to join them. Click here for more info and to register.
MILTON--Social Sundays continue at the Milton Artists' Guild Art Center with free weekly art classes for families at MAG on Sunday at 1 p.m. Each week offers a different project. Stay for 30 minutes or the whole two hours. Click here for more info. WORKSHOPS & CLASSES
SWANTON--The Swanton Arts Council will hold a Board Meeting and Updates in person at the Swanton Free Public Library on Wednesday at 6 p.m. Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month. Find the SAC on Facebook for the agenda and more info. IN THE SAC
COVID-19 is still here. Hospitalizations statewide were down to 28 for the week ending February 14, down ten from the week before, as the holiday spike has subsided. 10, or more than one-third of those hospitalizations were in Franklin County. Deaths have held steady. There were six more COVID-related deaths reported statewide in the week ending February 10 for a pandemic total of 1,124 in Vermont. COVID NEWS
Vaccines are available for COVID, the Flu, and RSV, the three main viruses that cause people to end up in a hospital in the Winter respiratory virus season. According to the state COVID-19 and Flu Vaccination Dashboard just 17% of Franklin County residents have received the new COVID vaccine, trailed only by Essex County. That compares to about 24% of Vermonters statewide who have had the latest COVID-19 vaccine and 36% of Vermonters who have gotten a flu shot. Vermonters have not moved those numbers much in the past three weeks.
COVID vaccines are 100% free to everyone 6 months and older living in the United States, regardless of immigration or insurance status. The free shots are available via health insurance, Medicare, and through federally qualified health centers, pharmacies participating in the federal Bridge Program, or district health department offices. Free N95 masks are also available at many of the same locations. Pharmacies in Vermont may now give COVID-19 shots to kids ages 3 and older. Click here for more info.
Every U.S. household may order four free COVID-19 rapid tests delivered directly to home. The state and many municipalities also still have home antigen tests, available in libraries and town halls or food pantries. Click here for more info.
Some health plans will also offer partial coverage of COVID-19 treatments such as Paxlovid but that will be plan dependent. As always, check with your insurer for specific information on your plan.
The Health Department still recommends following best practices. Call 855.722.7878 or visit healthvermont.gov for more info about the first or second dose and for booster shots of the vaccine.
My own plan remains unchanged, especially since our precautions have waned and the new COVID variant dodges our current immunity. I got the COVID and Flu shots, and the boosters, and I still take precautions because neither vaccine nor "natural immunity" is 100% foolproof. I wash my hands. I double mask with a genuine N95 mask (not a bandana and not a "chin strap") plus a surgical mask where ever I can't control the airflow. It isn't much of a burden and it mostly protects me from all the people without masks I see in stores and concerts.
Thursday, February 29 ON STAGE LIVE
SOUTH HERO--The Blue Paddle Bistro hosts Cooper, Bob Recupero, with guitar and vocals for Acoustic Thursday this evening at 5 - 7 p.m. Click here for more info.
NORTH HERO--The North Hero House hosts Karaoke Night in the Event Barn this evening at 6 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
Thursday-Saturday, February 29-March 2
ESSEX JUNCTION--On Tap starts another weekend of music with the John Lackard Blues Duo tonight at 6 p.m. two shows Friday night as Chris & Erica at 5 p.m., and then Nighthawk returns for late night music starting at 9 p.m., plus Staircase 24 live on Saturday night at 9 p.m. Call 802.878.3309 or email for more info. Click here to reserve a table.
Friday, March 1
COLCHESTER--Dan Parks with Mark Steffenhagen kick off March with songs from every rock & roll era in the live and free Friday Music Night at the Spanked Puppy on Friday at 6 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
ST. ALBANS--14th Star presents Chris & Erica for a night of acoustic rock, country, and pop live in The Room on Friday at 6 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
ST. ALBANS--Off The Rails at One Federal often has live performances in the lounge on Friday at 6:30 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
SHELDON--The Abbey Friday Night Music Series often has live performances on Friday about 6:30 p.m. Reservations are suggested. Find them on Facebook for more info.
Friday-Sunday, March 1-3
ST. ALBANS--It's Debut Weekend at the Taphouse at Mill River. Laura Fedele-Rasco taps all your favorite songs for the first time on Friday at 5:30 p.m. then get Jerborned as he taps his maiden voyage there on Saturday at 6 p.m. Find them on Facebook for more info.
ST. ALBANS--Twiggs kicks off March with great music on Friday and Saturday nights. This week Sister Speak returns with \alternative, folk, blues-rock, and world music on Friday and Ethan Sawyer and Martin Fredrick return in the duo Blue Heron live on Saturday night. Music starts about 6:30 p.m. Call 802.524.1405 or find them on Facebook for more info. Click here to book a reservation or to visit the art on the walls.
Sunday, March 3
KEY COLONY BEACH, FL--KCB Day takes over the 7th Street Park with live music plus exhibits and sales by Keys artists on Sunday from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Wednesday, March 6
BURLINGTON--Young Tradition Vermont hosts Fam Jam! at Fletcher Free Library on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The group provides a space to try out playing tunes and singing songs together. There will be a session leader to facilitate and to guide to newcomers to jams. Adults and youth of all ages and skill levels are welcome to bring instruments and join in the fun. This event is free and open to anyone. Click here for more info.
Plan Ahead, Part III
EAST FAIRFIELD--The two-show opener for the 2024 season of Meeting House Music, "the jazz-hyped blues and country and western music" of Michael Hurley in April, has SOLD OUT. Nance Shaw notes that they have "TONS more great music scheduled for summer 2024!" Click here to see all 11 shows of the summer line up.
Virtual music and events continue this week. ALMOST LIVE ON STAGE
Andre Maquera of 8084 is the first guest on The Most Interesting Person I Know, the new series with Loudon Granger on Northwest Access TV. The first episode drops today at 4 p.m. on YouTube.
The National Youth Orchestra of the United States performs Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, conducted by David Robertson in the orchestra's Carnegie Hall debut on YouTube. The suite is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and painter Viktor Hartmann put on at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. This arrangement is Maurice Ravel's 1922 adaptation for orchestra. Marisa Kono of Shelburne is Apprentice Orchestra Manager.
Summer Sounds favorite Mark Shelton sang songs from the golden era of rock & roll with hits of Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Buddy Holly and more on live in front of a studio audience and on Facebook on Tuesday. Follow him on Facebook for a link to this week's offerings.
ArtBits features a quick weekly peek at library events in and around Franklin County. That popular feature has a page of its own at the Franklin County Bookshelf here on the AAC site at AllArtsCouncil.org/books. We also take an occasional peek at the bookshelf or night stand of the folks you know in and around Franklin County. Those reviews can be found on the ArtBits Bookshelf. ON THE BOOKSHELF
Good News!There are so many events around the region that we miss some of them.Be sure to check these calendars for what's happening near you ... |
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Music!Links to the Summer Music series in Franklin County |
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Dick Harper, Chair
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Highgate Springs, VT 05460
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