DANCE - FINE ARTS - MUSIC - THEATER - WRITING

ARTBITS by Richard B. Harper


VOLUME 18 * * All Arts News On the Web * * August 21, 2014

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.


     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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BIG MUSIC WEEKS

      The Big Music Weeks of Summer conclude with live music and more in and around Franklin County. This week, Tammy Fletcher returns to Highgate, the Champlain Valley Fair opens, Cabaret takes the stage, and there are events in East Fairfield, Jericho, Milton, St. Albans, and Swanton. Not to mention a magician, books, movies, and art on the walls.


THE DIVA RETURNS

      The 2014 Highgate summer concludes as Desorcie's Market presents Vermont legend Tammy Fletcher in the Summer Sounds concert in Highgate Municipal Park on Sunday evening.
      Tammy Fletcher is best-known as Vermont's Soul Queen but she has enthralled audiences from the Apollo Theater in Harlem to the Gaiety Theater in Dublin because she sings. My, oh my does she sing. She has sung in Reykjavik and Highgate. She has sold out the Flynn while fronting the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and played an impromptu set there with Phish. She sang the National Anthem at Fenway. Deeply rooted in our American traditions, Ms. Fletcher sings gospel and rock, opera and country, and the blues. Tone rules whenever she does.
      The Band includes Ms. Fletcher on vocals; son Dakota Foley, mandolin and guitar; Rich Callahan, drums; Dave Carlson, bass; Jim Pitman, pedal steel and dobro; and Bob Hill who co-founded Ms. Fletcher's well known band The Disciples, guitar.
      "We'll dig back into the Disciples catalogue for this show," Ms. Fletcher said of the Summer Sounds event.
      Just before the concert, stop by for Dessert in the Park at the St.  Paul's social starting at 6:30 p.m. The social hour is a chance to visit with friends, and to eat finger foods and sweet delights.
      The Summer Sounds concerts are sponsored by the Town of Highgate and the All Arts Council, and underwritten by Chevalier Drilling, Desorcie's Market, Drummac Septic Service, Mylan Technologies, O. C. McCuin and Sons, and Ray's Extrusion Dies and Tubing.
      The community based All Arts Council brings the performing arts to northwestern Vermont. The concerts are always on Sunday evenings, always at 7 p.m., always in Highgate Municipal Park, and always free. Bring a blanket or a lawn chair for the outdoor family music and festivities. The rain site is the Highgate United Methodist Church.


ART ON THE WALLS

ESSEX JUNCTION--Champlain Valley Fair has chosen Shanley Triggs of Milton, as the 2014 CV Fair Featured Artist.
      Ms. Triggs will exhibit scenes of her Vermont, images of favorite flowers, plus paintings featuring her mother's china tea cups. She was one of twelve "On the Grounds Artists" at the Shelburne Museum and received a VCA Artist Development grant the following year. She is a member of the Vermont Watercolor Society, the Vermont Handcrafters, and the Milton Artists Guild, and was a juried artist at the Burlington City Artists Market for five years. A native Vermonter, Ms. Triggs grew up on a dairy farm, studied English at Trinity College, and became a school teacher. She studied art with Vermont painter Barbara Smail.
      New exhibits also include photographs from the Vermont Historical Society featuring the first organic farmers of Vermont.


CABARET

ENOSBURG FALLS--The Enosburg Opera House presents a community theater production of Cabaret Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m.
      This story of American writer Cliff Bradshaw, his romance with Sally Bowles, and his experiences in Berlin leading up to the Third Reich features Holly Sherrer as Sally Bowles, Chris Hango as Cliff Bradshaw, and Sam Caswell as the Emcee. Patience Willey and Pat Evans play the older lovebirds; Zoe Dubilier and Robert Willey are the antagonists. The Kit Kat Club girls are Tonya Caswell, Jennifer Corbiere, Maureen Houston, Wendy Maquera, Megan Rose, and Heather Wilson. Shaun Bennett, Steve Comeau, Kathleen Hoffman, and Josh Hull complete the ensemble cast. The story is from the book by Joe Masteroff with lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander.
      There will be a live band, cash bar, and light refreshments.
      Admission is $15 for reserved table seating or $12 for general admission. Tickets may be purchased in advance at the Opera House box office (802.933.6171). Click here for general admission tickets only.


ON STAGE LIVE

ST. ALBANS--The Traveled Cup welcomes singer/songwriters Troy Millette and Bethany Conner as they play the final show of the Close to Home Mini-Tour this evening at 6 p.m.
      The show is free. Click here for more info.


EAST FAIRFIELD--The Community Center presents Sergio Torres at the Pizza and Music night on Friday at 5 p.m.
      Admission is $7 per person or $20 per family. This series of three events brings exceptional music and pizza cooked in the outdoor oven together to benefit the Food Shelf.


ST. ALBANS--Local Fare celebrates a grand opening with foods and music on Main Street on Friday. John Stork will perform in front at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m.
      The first contestant of Who Wants to be a Superhero, Mr. Stork is well known as a Marketplace street performer. He works with swords, knives, fire, and dizzying heights.
      The new year-round local tasting market brings Vermont manufactured, created, grown or produced products to downtown St. Albans. They will have baked goods, meats, cheeses, spirits, wines, and more.
      The opening is free although there may be a charge for some samples.


ST. ALBANS--The Downtown Summer Concert Series concludes with the Keeghan Nolan Band in concert in the E.A. Loomis Bandshell in Taylor Park on Friday at 6 p.m. Jeff's will have food and beverage service in the park from 5-8 p.m.
      Admission is free.


JERICHO--The Jericho Cafe and Tavern in the Village presents Carol Ann Jones and Will Patton tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m.
      The Cafe focuses on local food and sustainable agriculture. Call 802.899.2223 for more info.


MILTON--Arrowhead Country Club hosts the Nobby Reed Project in a Benefit for Milton Family Community Center on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Vermont's best known blues trio includes Eric Belrose, percussion, Ray Bushey, bass, and Mr. Reed on lead guitar and vocals.


SWANTON--Justice plans to blow the roof off HD Campbell's Barn in Bash 2014 at Niles Landing on Saturday at 8 p.m. Justice keeps their rock on with Scott Belisle on bass and backup vocals; Todd Dunn, lead and rhythm guitar; Gary Greeno, lead vocals; Mike Stella, drums; and Scott Guptill, rhythm guitar and backup vocals.


ESSEX JUNCTION--Advertising itself as the "Ten Best Days of Summer," the Champlain Valley Fair opens on Saturday and continues through Labor Day. The Fair hosts Vermont's Music Showcase on the Koffee Kup Stage in the Adsit Building every day.
      The Bond Auto Parts Demolition Derby has music sensation, Keeghan Nolan in front of the Coca-Cola Grandstand on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. She will perform the national anthem plus an opening set and will stay on stage for more music between rounds.
      Dozens of other performers are on stage or strolling the grounds every day including hypnotist Steve Bayner, the strolling Dixieland musicians and more.


FRANKLIN COUNTY BOOKSHELF

FAIRFAX--The Fairfax Community Library Summer Reading Program comes to its Finale with master magician Tom Joyce today at 10a.m. The show will be followed by snacks and prize drawings and the eagerly anticipated answer to Who will win the bikes?


ST. ALBANS--Today is Mornings, Muffins & Mysteries day at 10:30 a.m. at the St. Albans Free Library with The Lincoln Lawyer, a bestselling legal thriller about a defense attorney who operates out of his Town Car, for bikers, con artists, drunks, and drug dealers by Michael Connelly.
      The Writers' Medley takes over the conference room today at 2 p.m. The Medley is a time of fun and sharing for writers and those interested in writing.
      This evening is also Classic Movie Night with Tension at 6 p.m. John Berry directed the 1949 film noire about a meek pharmacist who creates an alternate identity to murder the bullying liquor salesman who has become his wife's lover. With Richard Basehart, Cyd Charisse, and William Conrad as Det-Lt. Edgar Gonsales.
      The library shows a newsreel, cartoon, and trailer of coming attractions before each weekly movie. All films are shown on the 4' by 6' screen in the upstairs conference room "cinema." Admission is free, along with popcorn and a beverage. Call 802.524.1507 for details.


MOVIES UNDER THE STARS

ST. ALBANS and SHELDON--Northwest Access Television (Channel 15-16) concludes its two weeks of family movies in local parks with two rain dates as NWA-TV presents Princess Bride in Houghton Park on Tuesday (rain location is City Hall) and Kung Fu Panda at the Sheldon Casino-Abbey Pavilion on Wednesday. Both shows start at 8 p.m.
      Admission is free and so is the popcorn; just bring blankets, chairs and bug spray.


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.


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      This article was originally published in the St Albans Messenger and other traditional print media. It is Copyright © 2014 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.