DANCE - FINE ARTS - MUSIC - THEATER - WRITING

ARTBITS by Richard B. Harper


VOLUME 3 NUMBER 8 * * All Arts News On the Web * * AUGUST, 1999

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.


      There is no AAC Networking Meeting/Coffee House in June. These gatherings will resume in September with a new series of gossip, opportunities, and workshops.


A SUMMER EDITORIAL REPRISED

      It's summertime. Do you remember what your mama always said.?
      "Get away from that computer and go outside."
      There are concerts and art shows in town parks, baseball games, murals at the pool, and plenty of "better things to do" that to sit here reading this. Have fun out there. Don't forget the sunscreen for your kids.


A SUMMER OF MUSIC

      Summer Sounds '99 has 17 live free concerts lined up for every Sunday evening throughout the summer. Concerts always alternate between the Highgate Municipal Park and Taylor Park in St Albans. The popular series also alternates concerts in Enosburg Falls, Franklin, and Richford.
      Each summer concert is free. Settle in on your own blanket or lawn chair and enjoy outdoor family music. The lineup includes a medley of bluegrass, folk, country, pop, and classic rock-n-roll. Bring your own bug spray.
      Although the music begins at 7 p.m., you will want to arrive earlier because every outdoor concert this year features a festival or social. Local community groups will host each event with special activities, family fun, and enough food to make Sunday a great family holiday in the park. There will be a special flower fete, an art show, a pet day, and more. Check the calendar for your favorite acts.
      "Free" concerts are expensive. The five towns, the sponsors, and the All Arts Council hire the bands, create the publicity, and set up all 16 shows. They need your support to continue. Please remember to thank the hosts and patronize the sponsors.
      Summer Sounds concerts are always in a Town park, always on Sunday evenings at 7 p.m., and always free. The rain site is the Opera House at Enosburg Falls, The Methodist Church and/or the Highgate Arena, the Congregational Church in St Albans, and the Town Hall in Franklin. The rain sites will be announced in Richford.


FRANKLIN COUNTY FIELD DAYS

      Candace Lacombe 933-4698 is booking the acts
Mark Twang Friday 5-8 High Voltage, barbershop quartet, Sat 11 as well as on the grounds throughout the afternoon They did very well in the district concert Band in Vermont a 60s-70s rock band Sat 5-8 Southbound Sun 1-4 Magic with Marko on Sat and Sun Joey the Clown on Sat 11-2 on the grounds Frannie the Clown Face Painting Sat 11-2


I'VE MADE NEW PLANS FOR THE SUMMER

      The Opera House at Enosburg Falls and the All Arts Council present the Green Mountain Wind Ensemble on Wednesday August 14 in the Opera House. If you haven't been to the Opera House recently, this is your chance.
      "We are concentrating on expanding the group, not only with our members but with our concerts," said organizer Dan Wagner. "This concert will give us a boost for the school year." This select group of student musicians from Northwestern Vermont specializes in the major works of contemporary composers, classical overtures and transcriptions, and traditional marches. Dan is actively recruiting new members from the area high schools. The Green Mountain Wind Ensemble rehearses at BFA-St Albans under Director Eric Bushey and plans more concerts throughout the County.
      Frank Mehaffey is Guest Conductor for the Wednesday concert.
      The program begins with His Honor by American musical icon Henry Filmore. His Honor is one of 113 Filmore marches. All great bands have John Phillip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever in their repertoire. The Wind Ensemble will also play Semper Fidelis plus I've Made My Plans for the Summer by Sousa, the Folk Song Suite by Vaughn Williams, and Shepherd's Hey, by P. A. Grainger, The concert will conclude with Mozart's Overture to the Marriage of Figaro.
      Dan Wagner will conduct a brass choir playing Canzon Duodecimi Doni by Giovanni Gabrielli.
      Many of the 31 musicians in Wednesday's concert are current students at BFA-St Albans.
      The flutes are Nicole Rawding, Amelia Lanza, Johanna Kasoru, and Erin Walsh.
      The clarinets are Amelia Rainville, Kelly Wright, Nick Guertin, Lisa Thacker, Leah Greene, and Pam Stewart.
      The saxes are Brian Theoret, Angela Rock, Brad Jenkins, tenor, and Chris Manchester, bari.
      The horn player is Jason Miller.
      Trumpets are Audrey Leduc, Chris Jenette, Joss Remillard, Chad Jenkins (Alumnus), and Todd Dansereau (Alumnus).
      The trombones are Tom Koldys, Chris Comstock (Rice), Ethan Werner, and Mike Williams.
      The euphoniums are Dan Wagner and Gavin Grant.
      The tubas are Brendan McCarthy, Adam Dunsmore
      On percussion are Jen Berard, Zack Colgan and Brian Messier.
      The Green Mountain Wind Ensemble concert begins Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. in the Opera House at Enosburg Falls. Admission is free, although donations are welcome to help the ongoing Opera House restoration.


STUFF YOU SHOULDN'T MISS

ST ALBANS Jenni Johnson wowed us in Summer Sounds. She returns August 5 to present the jumping jazz of Billie Holiday, Nate King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Bessie Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, and Dinah Washington at Chow Bella. August 5 at 6:30-9 p.m.


BELVIDERE--Classic Country, Franklin County's traditional honky tonk band, performs Saturday August __ at the recreational field. Go for good country music and dancing 8:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.


ISLE LA MOTTE--The Summer Art Series in the Fisk Horse and Carriage Barn features St Albans painter Natalie M. LaRocque-Bouchard on Sunday. Natalie works in oil and acrylic on oversize canvases. Her work ranges from landscapes to animals and reflects the natural beauty of Vermont.
      The Fisk Farm Singers will also perform in conjunction with an English Tea on the lawn of the historic Fisk Farm overlooking Lake Champlain. The show goes on rain or shine every Sunday afternoon from 1-5 p.m. during July and August. Fisk Farm is 4 miles south of St. Anne's Shrine on the West Shore Road of Isle La Motte. Bicyclists and children are especially welcome. For info call 928-3364.


ENOSBURG FALLS--Magic by Marko appears August 26 at the Enosburg Public Library, 10 - 11 a.m.


ST ALBANS--The Green Actors Guild, a new theater troupe of Franklin County teens and adults, will perform the Green Actors Guild Follies, a review full of music theater numbers, dancing, and singing. The show includes numbers from All that Jazz, Chicago, and Gershwin's Shall We Dance (Fred & Ginger)
      The Green Actors Guild Follies runs August 13-15 at 7:30 p.m. in the BFA St Albans Theater. This project is partially underwritten by a generous grant from Franklin County Community Cares and other community groups.


ENSEMBLES AND SOLOS AT THE BRICK CHURCH--Sunday August 15, St John's Ministry of the Arts presents the Brass Choir under the direction of Dan Wagner.
      The monthly concerts occur at St John's Episcopal Church on the Green in Highgate Falls. Evensong is at 3 p.m. and the Sunday concerts begin at 3:30


CALL FOR ARTISTS

      After a great response for The Dining Room, Exit Stage Left is already working on a fall production. A Bad Year For Tomatoes by John Patrick concerns Myra Marlowe, a Hollywood actress in search of tranquility from the Hollywood rat race. She seeks the peace in Beaver Haven Vermont whose curious villagers won't leave her alone.
      Exit Stage Left will hold auditions tonight and again Monday, August 16, at 7:30 P.M. in St. Lukes Episcopal Church, St Albans.
      "We are also desperately in need of backstage help," said director Matt Peck. For info or to join the group, email Peter Murray.


MEMBERSHIP DRIVE

      The AAC needs members who want to assemble art exhibits, book bands, evoke events, and to paint or dance or sing or write. We began our annual membership drive last month.
      1999 members will receive a reproduction of a fine oil or watercolor painting donated by AAC artists. Member benefits also include networking with artists and other members, a member night celebration, regular news of local cultural happenings, priority seating or discount admission to AAC events, advance notice of events, educational and cultural opportunities, as well as other parties and discounts.
      Residents, businesses, and visitors can join at the saint, patron, donor, benefactor, sponsor, or general member Level. Student memberships are free; our student members complete community service projects to fulfill their membership. Check it out here.


CALL FOR ARTISTS

TRAVELING MURAL--This summer, the AAC and the Community Cares committees will begin a new mural project. Student artists from the area will work with Natalie LaRocque-Bouchard to create the traveling mural Scenes from Franklin County. This large exhibition piece will be painted in sections in each town, then will travel to shows, fairs, and barn raisings around our area.
      Check with your Caring Community volunteers or e-mail the All Arts Council .


MONTGOMERY--AAC member and part-time Montgomery resident Michael Domina will offer two Franklin County Watercolor Workshops starting in July and September. He shows how to capture impressionistic subjects on location and teaches design, value, color, and experimental technique. The three-day Visions of Vermont workshop begins July 22 and Early Foliage in Vermont in September in Montgomery at the Black Lantern Inn.
      Reservations for Foliage are required by July 30. Call (781-843-5799) or e-mail Mike for more info.


VISUAL ARTISTS--The Fisk Farm Horse and Carriage Barn Gallery on Isle La Motte is planning the 1999 summer showings in conjunction with the Sunday Afternoon Teas during July and August. E-mail Valerie Ugro for information.


WORKSHOPS--Are you planning to give lessons or run an art workshop in Franklin County this summer? Let me know the details. We will carry as much info in this column as readers send in.


ART SITES OF THE MONTH

      If you need summer arts and crafts for Kids, with activities, songs and more for Fourth of July, summer, ice cream, and more ChildFun is a good resource. The special summer themes and activities include vegetables, rainforests, rainy days, camping, gardens, and, of course, miscellaneous for the themes that didn't fit anywhere else, transportation, space travel and medieval times. Rainy Day Ideas include shape plants, a beauty/barber shop that require dolls with hair (the family dogs need not apply) office play and the phenomenal fat & skinny jar.
      Many of the ideas came from members of the ChildFun Moms & the ChildFun Themes List. The grew out daycare experience, newsgroups, mailing lists and other web pages. They add several new themes each month.


      The Millennium Project: The Heritage of Military Music 1700-2000, celebrates 300 years of military music. The site is jammed with articles and pictures and includes links to other resources. I found an encyclopedic reference to composer Henry Filmore as well as articles on the Sounds Of War, the Genius of Mozart, Different Drummers, and African-American Military Musicians. The Instruments of Military Music pages cover Serpents, Drummers, Fifes and Bagpipes and even the history of the Baritone and Euphonium.
      The site builders see the work as an evolutionary progression with a planned completion in May, 2000.


SEPCIAL ART SITES: COPYRIGHT COGITATIONS

      Artists, photographers, poets, and writers are often concerned about the having their work stolen when it is posted on the Internet. Others wonder about registering (or losing) copyright protection when submitting work to a publisher. That question also arose during our poetry readings for National Poetry Month.
      The United States and most other major nations are signatories to the Berne Copyright Convention. That means that everything you create privately after April 1, 1989, is copyrighted and protected whether or not you register it or display a copyright notice. You should also assume that other works are copyrighted and may not be copied without permission.
      The absolute source for the actual statutes is the U. S. Copyright Office which maintains an extensive website. This electronic introduction to the Copyright Office includes pages for Electronic Registration and Recordation, Copyright Basics, Information Circulars, Research in Copyright Office Files, and much much more.
      Another useful document is the Intellectual Property Law Primer for Multimedia Developers published by the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
      Brad Templeton has maintained the 10 Copyright Myths FAQ for several years. It's an excellent resource, as is the rest of his site.


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!

Dick Harper, Chair

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