DANCE - FINE ARTS - MUSIC - THEATER - WRITING

ARTBITS by Richard B. Harper


VOLUME 6 * * All Arts News On the Web * * October 17, 2002

STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS

      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.


      Stop in for the AAC CoffeeHouses at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. These gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and workshops. We come together on the second Wednesday for a booked musical performance and an art exhibit at Simple Pleasures in St Albans. On the fourth Wednesday come to the Kept Writer in St Albans for acoustic Open Mike Night featuring music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.


TALENT WILL OUT

      The Opera House at Enosburg Falls presents the Tenth Annual Talent Search at the Opera House Saturday evening. The cornerstone of the Opera House Emerging Talents Series, this event showcases and rewards young talent from northern and central Vermont.
      "Winners from the past decade will join us to kick off the future in inspiring style," said Jon Scott.
      The annual show is an evening of entertainment, celebration, and the arts with the most talented performers in the area.
      The evening will also include special anniversary performances by 1995 winners Sarah Jo Willey (Miss Vermont 2002) and her brother, Jared. The Half Steps (formerly known as the Sticky Wicket) Joel Pastor, Samuel Chapple-Sokel, Andrew Carlisle, and William Thompson (2001 senior winners), and Lindsey Larivee (2001 junior division winner) will co-host.
      The performers this year include a number of excellent vocalists, a tap dancer, and a violin soloist. There will also be a special community service award presented to a community member.
      "We're still looking for contestants," Harry Benoit said. "We will accept applications at the Opera House through tomorrow morning."
      The Opera House Art Gallery will also host the first All Arts competition and exhibit for two-dimensional art created in 2002 by area students in grades 9-12.
      Admission is $12 for adults and $10 for seniors and students. Children under 12 are free. Advance sale tickets save two dollars off regular prices and are available from Steve Comeau at the Enosburg Pharmacy, the Merchant's Bank in Enosburg Falls, Swanton Rexall, and Better Planet and the Kept Writer in St. Albans. Call 802-933-6171 or click here for more info.


BENEFIT DINNER DANCE & CONCERT

      The Richelle Paradee Wellness Fund presents Silverback in a Cystic Fibrosis benefit concert and dance on Saturday evening at Stonebrook in Enosburg Falls.
      Silverback plays a mix of their original, funky tunes and popular rock hits. "We're working on some more of our own stuff," Michael Stebbins said. Silverback is Ben Weed, lead guitar, Dan Marcotte, bass, Michael Stebbins, vocals and trombone, Vanessa Coburn, vocals, and Ezra Oakland, drums, bring gutsy vocals, blaring trombone, and jammin' guitar riffs to the music of Rolling Stones and Tracy Chapman and Phish. Ms. Coburn and Mr. Oakland are new to the group.
      "Our first goal is to reach $17,000 for a therapeutic vest," said Sara Bessette. The Vest Circular Airway System is used three times daily to loosen mucus that fosters the bacterial infections that are deadly to CF patients. It is not covered by insurance.
      The Richelle Paradee Benefit Concert will be held Saturday evening at 8 p.m. at Stonebrook at the Dairy Center. The evening includes door prizes and hors d'oeuvres. Tickets cost $30/couple and are available at the door. The organizers anticipate it will be an annual event. Call Amy Larivee (933-9022) for info.


STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS

ST ALBANS--The Kept Writer presents the original contemporary folk pop songs of Christina Abbott from Connecticut on Friday evening.

SUCCESS BY SIX--Fairfax Success by Six offers a Music and Movement class at 2:15 today in the BFA-Fairfax multipurpose room. Call Carol Lizotte (849-6795) for info. Montgomery Success by Six hosts Claudia Mahoney giving a storytime in German tomorrow at 10 a.m. in the Montgomery Town Library. Call Maria Hill Barnes, coordinator and liaison to Montgomery Success by Six (326-4825), for info.


BOARD NOTES

      The All Arts Council met last Thursday and elected Peter Ford of Swanton to the AAC Board of Directors. Mr. Ford has extensive experience as a board member of the Ulster County Council of the Arts and the Women's Studio Workshop.
      The AAC Board also created committees to handle the details of our shows, concerts, exhibits, and other activities. Dr. Deo Esguerra will chair the Art Exhibit group and plans a major event in November. Jon Scott and Joy Mashtare formed a committee to search for a permanent home for the "homeless" arts council. Peter Ford has taken over Membership. Kate Kinney will chair Operations and has launched a search for an Executive Director. I will continue to handle Performance and Entertainment. We need board members knowledgeable in finance and marketing for those efforts. Email the All Arts Council if you would like to help with these activities.
      The next monthly meeting will be November 14.


CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK

      "ArtsEdge supports the place of arts education at the center of the curriculum through the creative and appropriate uses of technology." ArtsEdge delivers Internet content to the K-12 classroom to help teachers teach.
      The site was etablished by a partnership between the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts (with additional support from the U.S. Department of Education). It offers teaching materials, professional resources, a community center, and more.


FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF: AUTHORS IN AUTUMN

      The St Albans Free Library begins a series celebrating the art of writing next Tuesday, October 22, at 7 p.m. with a focus on women writers from Vermont.
      Novelist Shelby Hearon will read from her latest novel, Ella in Bloom, and will discuss the nature of fiction, the process of crafting a novel, and where Ella came from. She began her first novel Armadillo in the Grass in 1962 and submitted it to Knopf in 1967.
      Ms. Hearon lectures, teaches writing, and writes nonfiction for national magazines. She has written more than a dozen novels and has received an Ingram Merrill grant, a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship, the Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship for Fiction, and has been a five-time recipient of the NEA/PEN syndication Short Story Prize. Her books also include The Second Dune, Group Therapy, and Hug Dancing.


FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF

      ArtBits features a quick weekly peek at the bookshelf or night stand of the folks you know in and around Franklin County. That popular feature has a page of its own at the Franklin County Bookshelf here on the AAC site.


SUPPORT LIVE ARTS IN YOUR TOWN!


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      This article was originally published in the St Albans Messenger and other traditional print media. It is Copyright © 2002 by Richard B. Harper. All rights reserved. Archival material is provided as-is. Links are not necessarily maintained (if a link in this article fails, try Google.com or your favorite search engine).
      Thanks to recent misuse of copyright material on the Internet by individuals and archival firms alike, we emphasize that your rights to this article are limited to viewing it and printing it for personal use only. You must receive explicit permission from the All Arts Council and the author before reprinting or redistributing this article in any medium.