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.

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      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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BLACKOUT       Some Internet sites were down yesterday. January 18 was "the Day the Web Went on Strike."       The widespread, grassroots action protested Congress' plans for the onerous Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Those bills will establish a system to take down any website the Justice Department decides infringes on someone's copyright. SOPA will allow the DoJ to demand that all search engines, all social networking sites, and all domain name services block access to any site they target. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a penalty of up to five years in prison.       Yesterday's showdown occurred because SOPA completely eliminates due process from those site takedown orders all in the name of stopping "offshore piracy websites" from ruining our movie and record industry.       "This may pinch a little."       Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales called yesterday's extraordinary strike a necessary action because, "We simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world."       Some sites seized under earlier rules have been down for more a year with neither explanation nor recourse.       Imagine if federal agents had raided the St. Albans Messenger building on Thanksgiving Day of 2010, seized Mr. Lynn's printing presses, printed a special edition with a banner headline that New England's oldest afternoon daily newspaper was a vast criminal enterprise, and locked the doors. Now imagine that every Messenger employee was out of work for a year. That you cannot read this column. That the seizure was done under seal so Mr. Lynn never even knew what the charges were.       Now imagine that federal agents abruptly took the locks off the doors a year later, on Thanksgiving Day, 2011. "Oops. Never mind," they said.       Couldn't happen? ICE abruptly seized the dajaz1.com website under seal in a widespread Thanksgiving weekend action in 2010. They returned that site with no explanation a year later. Site owner and hip-hop fan "Splash" of Queens, NY, lost his livelihood for a year.       And you thought Oops was a word only political candidates used.       Major sites that went black in yesterday's strike included the English version of Wikipedia, plus reddit, Boing Boing, and AllArtsCouncil.org. Major sites that remained active included all .GOV resources.       Wikipedia blacked out its results for 24 hours. Other organizations opposing SOPA include the American Civil Liberties Union, American Library Association, Bloomberg, Brookings Institution, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, Consumers Union, Creative Commons, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Facebook, Go Daddy, Google, Human Rights Watch, Twitter, Writers Guild of America, Yahoo, and Zynga.       Copyright infringement hurts everyone. Although musicians with major label contracts receive only pennies in sales from music sales, local folks such as Carol Ann Jones, Will Patton, and Nobby Reed who produce their own albums lose real money with every song you rip from youtube.       No one on the list thinks theft is a good idea, whether it is a kid stuffing a CD down his pants at the Flying Disc in Enosburg or an organized ring selling pirated copies of a bestseller. Everyone on the list thinks government actions like SOPA are a fate worse than theft.

Resources for Further Reading Business News Daily Dajaz1 Seizure Google's Protest Grammy winning American singer/songwriter Janis Ian's Alternative View to the Internet Debacle from 2002. LA Times coverage Open Congress

ART ON THE WALLS

ST ALBANS--The Northwestern Medical Center Gallery hosts photographer Leslie Beyor this month. Mr. Beyor owns 4-Vermont Game Calls in Highgate Center.
      The show continues through the end of January.

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ON STAGE LIVE

ESSEX JUNCTION--On Tap at the Lincoln Inn offers the Starline Rhythm Boys tomorrow evening at 9:30 p.m.
      Call 802.878.3309 or email for more info.

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WILLISTON--The fourth annual Brick Church Music Series in Williston features the String Fingers Band with After the Rodeo tomorrow at 7 p.m. This month's fine art exhibit spotlights artist Lyna Lou Nordstrom, a member of the Artist In Residence Co-op.
      The String Fingers Band from Fairfield County, Connecticut, plays American roots music -- bluegrass, folk, and blues. Waterbury, Vermont's, After the Rodeo is an Americana act with D Davis, guitar; Matt Schrag, mandolin and guitar; and Pat Melvin, bass.
      Admission is $10 at door or $8 in advance ($8/$6 for seniors and children). click here for more info.

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ST. ALBANS--Chow Bella features Dayve Huckett live on guitar on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Call 802.524.1405, email, or click here for more info.

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FAIRFAX--Country Pantry presents Carol Ann Jones with Will Patton and Gary Spaulding on Saturday at 6 p.m.
      Call 802.849.0599 for reservations or click here for more info.

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JANUARY-FEBRUARY ART DEADLINES

INDIE FILMS (January 20)--Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation seeks the best new independent American films to tour through its On Screen/In Person program. Film submissions should include animation, documentaries, experimental, and narrative work. Selected films will be screened in communities across the mid-Atlantic region accompanied by their respective film makers. The Foundation will pay the selected film makers a stipend for each site visit, cover all travel and accommodation expenses, and provide a per diem. (The extended deadline is January 27, and the late is February 3.) Email Ann Turiano for more info or click here to submit a work.

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12th INTERNATIONAL MULTI-DISCIPLINARY RESIDENCY (January 30)--I-Park Foundation in Plantsville, Connecticut offers self-directed artists' residencies from May through November in the Visual Arts, Music Composition, Creative Writing, Moving Image, and Landscape/Garden Design. Each residency includes a $750 grant, housing, studios, and meals. Application fee. Call 860.873.2468, email, or click here for more info.

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INTERNATIONAL REALIST PAINTING COMPETITION (February 1)--Art Renewal Center offers $50,000 in cash awards including $10,000 for Best in Show in six categories: Figurative, Landscape, Animals, Still life, Sculpture, and Drawing. The site has introduced five new awards this year: Most Creative, Best Social Commentary, Best Portrait, Most Ambitious Work, and Best Trompe L'oeil. Click here for a prospectus and more info.

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14th NATIONAL JURIED ART EXHIBITION (February 3)--Baker Arts Center in Liberal, Kansas, has $7500 in cash awards for 2- and 3-dimensional Fine Art and Photography completed within the past two years. Entry fee. Call 620.624.2810, email, or click here for more info for a prospectus or more info.

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FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF

ST. ALBANS--The St. Albans Free Library Mornings, Muffins & Mysteries program features Hell's Kitchen Homicide by Charles Kipps this morning at 10:30 a.m. The Library's Writers' Medley, "for those interested in writing," meets this afternoon at 2 p.m.
      Call Wanda (802.524.1507) for more info.

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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!

All Arts Council of Franklin County

Dick Harper, Chair
P.O. Box 1
Highgate Springs, VT 05460
email us