DANCE - FINE ARTS - MUSIC - THEATER - WRITING

ARTBITS by Richard B. Harper


VOLUME 14 * * All Arts News On the Web * * May 12, 2011

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 live music and more at the Fairfax Music Sessions at the Foothills Bakery in Fairfax most Saturday afternoons at 1 p.m., at various restaurants around Franklin County throughout the week, 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.

      Find links to these events and more in our Spotlight!

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ART ON THE WALLS

NEW ORLEANS--The Louisiana Watercolor Society includes a painting by artist Harald Aksdal of Fairfax in the juried 41st Annual International Watercolor Exhibition. His painting, September, was one of 75 watercolors chosen for the exhibit.
      The Watercolor Exhibition opened on Saturday and runs through May 27 at the Place St. Charles. The Society will hold an opening reception on May 14.
      September was inspired by Franklin County landscapes. It will enter a private collection after the Louisiana show. Mr. Aksdal's work is available through the Village Frame Shoppe in St. Albans, Artist in Residence in Enosburg, and the Gruppe Gallery in Jericho. His studio in Fairfax is open for visitors by appointment.


ON STAGE LIVE

BURLINGTON--The 7th Young Tradition Weekend will feature young singers, players and dancers performing in folk and traditional styles during the weekend of beginning tomorrow and continuing all day Saturday.
      Musicians then in their teens and twenties wrote and recorded much of the most influential traditional and folk music of the 20th Century. Familiar names like Creole musician Amede Ardoin, the Carter Family, Irish-American fiddler Michael Coleman, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, American blues singer Robert Leroy Johnson, Denis McGee, one of the earliest recorded Cajun Musicians, the Skillet Lickers who recorded 88 sides for Columbia Records in the Roaring 20s, Pete Seeger, Muddy Waters, and Hank Williams defined and refined our traditional and folk music. One of the first songs recorded by Mr. Ardoin is a two-step available at .
      The Young Tradition program assures opportunities for young players, singers and dancers to learn and perform and develop and experiment in this living tradition passed down from Amede Ardoin and Michael Coleman.
      The schedule includes the Friday family dance at Edmunds School at 6:30 p.m. followed by a contra dance at about 8 p.m.
      The Saturday showcase contest will fill Battery Park at 11 a.m. and continue until 3 p.m.
      The Awards Reception at Union Station begins at 4 p.m. with performances and comments from contest winners. The Bosnian Lilies, Mediha Jusufagic (2011 mentor award winner), Rehana Pothiawala (2008 and 2009 contest winner), Greg Sharrow of the Vermont Folklife Center, Pete Sutherland, the Windborne Trio (1st place winners in 2010), and others will perform. Audience favorites from the Showcase Contest will receive cash prizes of $1000 for 1st place, $500 for 2nd, $250 for 3rd, and $125 for 4th. Additional cash awards will be given to best lead instrumentalist, best accompanist, and best singer. Other awards include scholarships to the Northeast Heritage Music Camp and Salsalina, a trophy and cash award from the Northeast Fiddlers Association, and showcase and opening set performances at Higher Ground, the Dance Flurry, the Champlain Valley Folk Festival, Festival Memoire et Racines, First Night! Burlington, the Quechee Balloon Festival, the Champlain Valley Exposition, and other concert venues, festivals, and coffeehouses throughout the Northeast and Quebec.
      Young Tradition Weekend is a presentation of Young Tradition Vermont and Burlington Parks and Recreation with support from the Tom Sustic Scholarship Fund.
      Click here for more info.


SHELBURNE--The Shelburne Museum hosts Lilac Sunday with Fiddleheads on Sunday, beginning at 10 a.m. It is opening day for a new season and family day at the Museum with the grounds in full fragrant bloom with live music and over 400 lilacs in 90 varieties.


BURLINGTON--The UVM Old Time Music Club hosts a Shape Note Sing in Ira Allen Chapel at UVM every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Mason Gohl holds pitching/leading/sight-reading lessons before the Sing at 6 p.m. Check for occasional changes in time, date and location. Email for more info.


MORRISVILLE--River Arts holds a Farmers and Artisans Market at the River Arts Center every Wednesday from 3 - 7 p.m. Click here for more info.


SHELBURNE--Shelburne Steakhouse presents Carol Ann Jones in a regular gig on Wednesdays from 7 - 9 p.m. Call 802.985.5009 or click here for more info.


ST. ALBANS--Chow Bella offers Music to Dine By with the jazz and improv of Vern Colburn on the Piano every other Friday at 5:30. Call 802.524.1405 or click here for more info.


CALL FOR THESPIANS

     Auditions for the Fairfax Community Theater Company Anniversary Gala begin at the Westford Brick Meeting House this evening at 7 p.m. The auditions continue tomorrow 7 - 9 p.m. and conclude on Sunday, 3 - 5 p.m. Bring a song to sing with sheet music for the accompanist, or plan to sight read the available songs.
      FCTC celebrates its 20th season this year. The show is a celebration of all the works with songs from each musical they have presented. FCTC needs a full chorus for production numbers, plus a women's chorus and a men's chorus as well as more soloists for songs from many of the shows.
      The gala will be take place in July at BFA-Fairfax.
      Call 802.363.1336, email, or click here for more info.


LIBRARY NEWS

ST. ALBANS--Tonight is Classic Movie Night as the St. Albans Free Library presents Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, a movie that is now 47 years old, at 6 p.m. The show includes a newsreel, a preview of the Beatles in A Hard Day's Night, and a cartoon, all on the 4' x 6' big screen.
      Admission is free, along with popcorn and a beverage.


CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK

     Brattleboro writer Suzanne Kingsbury's bio includes two novels published by Scribners, the Oxford Town Fiction Prize, and a Fulbright Scholarship in Sri Lanka. Her site includes her biography, blog, books, teaching and editing, and contact info.


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 © 2011 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.