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 the AAC CoffeeHouses at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month. These gatherings bring new opportunities, gossip, "show-and-tell" and workshops. We come together on the second Wednesday for a booked musical performance and an art exhibit at Simple Pleasures in St Albans. On the fourth Wednesday come to the Kept Writer in St Albans for acoustic Open Mike Night featuring music, readings, and more from the best new artists in Vermont.

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FREE MUSIC!

      The biggest, baddest, freest, longest concert of the Millennium will happen in the Collins-Perley Sports Center in St Albans on Saturday.
      That may be a little over the top, but the All Arts Council, the City and Town of St Albans, radio stations WWSR/WLFE, several other community groups, and Cyndi Boucher of St Albans present at least 16 bands and solo artists in a full day of continuous country, bluesy, jazzy music. The doors open at 11:30 for a concert that begins at noon. The 911 Benefit Concert of Franklin County offers the community a gathering to hold hands, enjoy the best music of Vermont, New York, and Canada, and to collect donations for the national September 11th Fund. The Franklin-Grand Isle United Way will send the proceeds to the national fundraising effort.
      Parking is an issue for an event this size, so the Northwest Vermont Public Transit Network will operate free shuttle bus service from the SATEC parking lot and the Church of the Rock parking lot to the Collins-Perley. The free shuttle will run all day. Please plan to car pool to ease the congestion.
      A family day of music and commemoration, the 911 Benefit Concert schedule includes an invocation, a remembrance celebration, a silent auction, and plenty of opportunity to donate. The bands, the tech people, the Collins-Perley Sports Center, and the organizers are all volunteering their time and services.
      After an opening ceremony that features Claire Hungerford singing the Star Spangled Banner, we will present a Franklin County Musical Medley with a BFA Jazz Combo, the Enosburg Falls Community Chorus, and award-winning soloists Lindsay Larivee and Candace Myers.
      Headliner Nobby Reed brings his exceptional blues guitar to the stage for a one-hour show at 4 p.m. The "Project" features Nobby on lead guitar and vocals, Scott Dubois, B-3, keys, and harp, Tim Comings, bass, and Eric Belrose, drums, in the free concert. His CDs, "Guitar on My Back," "It's All about the Blues" and the new "Cure for the Blues" will be available all day.
      Obediah (formerly the Upper Room) is a Christian rock quintet. Ray Burton, vocals and rhythm guitar and Peggy Town, vocals, Dan Chamberlain, bass, Mark Washburn, drums, Larry Beaudry, lead guitar, will start the show with a Bachman Turner twist, God is Takin' Care of Business. Larry and Mark are famous for jamming with Lynryd Skynryd. Obediah, the smallest book in the Bible, means "Servant of God."
      The 30 member strong Citizens Band will perform a rousing selection of patriotic songs and marches.
      The Canadian trio Borderline plays a mix of classic country music and 50s-60s rock music. Kevin Bockus, bass, Stanley Ring, drums, and Howard Ring on guitar show off strong lead and harmony vocals in their regular Friday night gig at the Old Mill in Stanbridge East.
      St Albans personality, guitar, percussion and Hurdy Gurdy player, and one of the organizers of this concert, Corey Cranston leads the new age jazz/rock string trio Excessive Behaviour. With Bruce Tambs, cello, cellitar, bass, balalaika, guitars, piano and kazoo and Jon Schuleit drums, XB will perform some of their 100 original songs.
      Stunning Elmore vocalist Gayle Steele will pick us up and soothe us with a sextet that includes Tommy Steele's vibrant sax and Will Patton's string wizardry.
      Don't Panic, we even have a classic country and 50s-60s rock and roll quintet. Mag Fladyk, vocals, Jack Mulvey drum, Winfield Thomas, guitar, Joe Patrisi, bass, and Dave Tisdeo, are Hitchhiker fans and Mag sings a Billie Holiday version of God Bless the Child.
      There will be an international medley featuring Miss Vermont Amy Marie Johnson, Carole Vee, Val Chagnon, and more.
      The concert will close with a multi-denominational service.
      Tammy, Brenda, Bobbie Jo, and Crissie Therrien and Chelsea and Natalie Taft are making ribbons for every donor. The girls range in age from 8-14. The St Albans Recreation Department has children's activities planned. Franklin County businesses have donated goods and services from free oil changes at Handy Chevrolet-Olds to pizzas to fine art for a silent action.
      "We will have a food court," organizer Cyndi Boucher said, "with delicious food for the entire family."
      The 911 Benefit Concert of Franklin County begins at 12 noon sharp. The Sports Center doors open at 11:30. Admission is free, but your donation will raise money for people affected by the September 11 attack.

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MADE IN VERMONT, VSO HERE ONE WEEK FROM TONIGHT

      The Vermont Symphony Orchestra will bring its eighth annual Made in Vermont Music Festival to the BFA-St Albans Auditorium next Thursday, October 4. The orchestra program includes Vivaldi's Concerto Grosso in D Minor for Two Violins and Cello (Jaime Laredo, violin; Joanna Kurkowicz, violin; John Dunlop, cello), Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, (Jaime Laredo, violin), Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, and the world premiere of Lake Spirit Journey, a commissioned work by Brattleboro composer and St Albans native Laura Koplewitz. VSO Music Director Jaime Laredo will conduct and perform.
      The AAC has a special deal for the St Albans concert. Although general admission concert tickets are $17/adults, $15/seniors, $10/college students and $8/students under 18, mention the All Arts Council to buy one get one free. Tickets are available at Better Planet Books in St Albans and through the VSO ticket hotline at 1-800-VSO-9293, ext. 12.
      The St. Albans Made in Vermont concert is sponsored by A. N. Deringer, the 251 Club, and the Northwestern Medical Center.

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GAIL SALZMAN EXHIBITS NEW WORK

      The Furchgott-Sourdiffe Gallery begins a new showing of New Oils & Monotypes by artist Gail Salzman of Fairfax with a public reception for the artist tomorrow evening
      New Oils & Monotypes is the result of a year's work underwritten by the Vermont Arts Endowment Fund. In this series, Gail explores the relationship between painting in oil and making monotype prints. Monotype printing creates a one-of-a-kind print unlike traditional engravure or offset because it is made on a press using the intaglio process.
      Her monotype collage in this exhibit are works on paper. "Most of the pieces are layers on layers, collaged on top of each other," Gail said. The monotype process "is a fertile ground for new ideas." She uses traditional printer's ink rather than paint for the monotypes.
      All of the semi-abstract works incorporate the feel of landscape, water, and the power of nature. Other pieces are opulent oils on wood panels with color and the movement of the brush, the rag, the palette knife and her fingers which show in the paintings. Rather than using representational figures, Gail layers her abstract forms to express her own language of the natural world.
      Gail has received a National Endowment of the Arts award and several regional arts grants. She instructs art at Community College of Vermont, VSA Arts of Vermont, and Burlington City Arts. Her oil paintings are popular at East Coast exhibits including the AAC ArtTrain Festival and the Flynn Centerıs Amy Tarrant Gallery and are represented in several permanent collections.
      The reception is from 6­8pm at the gallery, 86 Falls Road in Shelburne. The show runs through October 30, Monday­Friday 9:30­5:30 and Saturday 10­4 Call Joan Furchgott (985-3848) for more info.

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CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK

      Any last minute information about the Free 911 Benefit Concert can be found at here The site also has a page to volunteer.

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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
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