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
Stop in for live music and more at the Fairfax Music Sessions at the Foothills Bakery in Fairfax most Saturday afternoons at 1 p.m., at ChowBella or at the Overtime Saloon in St Albans 8-10 p.m. most Wednesday evenings, at the Bayside in St Albans Town most Sunday afternoons, and the Cambridge CoffeeHouses at 7 p.m. on the first and third Wednesday of every month.
These gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and occasional workshops. The booked performances and acoustic Open Mike Nights feature music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.
GYPSY COMES HOME
Mr. Patton and I talked about Philosophy, Metaphysics, Geography, and Jazz. On the subject of the globe he reminded me that, while the Earth is more or less round, "it
is a spatulate ovoid." The full Quintet consists of Will Patton, mandolin/octave mandolin; David Gusakov, violin; Steve Blair, guitar; Steve Wienert, drums; and Clyde Stats, string bass.
Mandolinist and all around string player Will Patton is a popular jazz bass player and session mandolinist strongly influence by jazz, Gypsy, and Brazilian music. He teaches jazz mandolin at Jay Ungar and Molly Mason's Ashokan Camp and the Django in June Festival at Smith College. He has performed with Mose Allison and his bands have opened for such acts as Ray Charles, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morrison, and more. He is currently doing some duo work with guitarist Don Schavner of Morrisville.
Steve Blair has toured extensively through the United States, Canada, Mexico and Russia. He received a Masters of Music from the University of Massachusetts and is now Assistant Professor and head of the jazz program at Johnson State College. He performs, records, and composes in a broad spectrum of musical styles.
Baltimore native Steve Wienert studied in New York City with Roy Burns and with Henry Adler in his renowned mid-town studio. He has toured with jazz singer Sheila Jordan, and is a first call drummer all over the Northeast.
David Gusakov's lifetime career spans most genres. He has been a member of the Vermont Symphony Orchestra since 1973. He played hard driving bluegrass with Pine Island and Banjo Dan and The Midnight Plowboys. He has performed with Vassar Clemens, Emmylou Harris, Peter Rowan and John Denver. He has traveled the world on a fiddle and teaches music in his Bristol studio.
A professional bassist for over 30 years, Clyde Stats began his career in Chicago performing blues with Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Otis Rush. He has performed rhythm and blues, funk, bluegrass, and jazz, studied with jazz bassists George Mraz and Santi Debriano, and has accompanied Mose Allison, Bobby Watson, Joshua Redman, and James Carter. He holds an M.A. in Jazz Studies from Norwich and teaches jazz and popular music at Johnson State College, Trinity College, and UVM.
"It's lovely [to play at home] especially since we just got off the road," Mr. Patton said. They played at The Loft in Brattleboro, the Pioneer Art Center in East Hampton, Massachusetts, "and points south this weekend. It's nice to leave the house and be at the gig in 15 minutes."
It was a sunny day in Brattleboro. They might have gotten a tan.
The whole band is busy with other projects. "We steal away when we can and are trying to set up these little weekend tours." The Ensemble is also playing Leunigs next Tuesday.
General admission is $12 for adults or $10 for seniors and students and $5 for children under 12. Tickets are available at Enosburg Pharmacy and Merchant's Bank in Enosburg Falls and at Better Planet in St. Albans. Call 802-933-6171 or e-mail to order tickets. Email and phone orders reservations will be cancelled if they are not picked up by 7 p.m. on show night. Click here for band info.
BIG ART
The project began last spring when the "airport architect conceived a design to which the students could add their own ideas and images," Melissa Haberman said. Art teachers Kathi Brown, Tony Galle, and Ms. Haberman installed the mural in Burlington on October 19.
HOLIDAY CRAFTS AND FINE ART
The traditional weekend-before-Thanksgiving event will feature the work of over 180 juried Vermont artists and artisans including Franklin County artists the Vermont Bag Lady, Nancy Adriance of Richford, makes bags, totes, and purses; ornamental iron and wrought iron furniture by Mike Bishop's Dawn Till Dusk Welding in Swanton; Artist Ann Bissonnette of Fairfax brings watercolor paintings and prints; the Victorian Touch Dried flowers of Elizabeth Boudreau of East Berkshire; my neighbor Jan Brosky is Knit to be Tied in Highgate Springs with unique hand knit scarves; stoneware pottery by Marcia Hagwood Chasworth of St. Albans; handweaver Carol Crawford of Bakersfield with Fine Handwoven Goods; hand tinted photography by Gene Garron of Richford; Maddalena Michetti's Circle of Stones fused and flame-work glass in St. Albans; Say Woof! Kate Stevens of Fairfield, with photography and mixed media; Artist Meta Strick of Get Away With Art in Sheldon will have dolls, assemblage pieces and fine art; Jewelwood of Vermont, Wooden Jewelry & Barrettes by Cynthia Humiston Weed of Enosburg Falls;
Call Cynthia Humiston Weed (800-373-5429), e-mail or click here for more info. VHC is Vermont’s oldest and largest juried crafts organization.
ON STAGE LIVE
ESSEX JUNCTION--The Lincoln Inn presents the original tunes and classic roots-soul sound of the Jim Branca Band plays on Saturday at 8 p.m.
Mr. Branca reports that sales are up for his current Live CD
as a result of recent praise from the Blues Revue. E-mail or
click here for
more info.
CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK
