DANCE - FINE ARTS - MUSIC - THEATER - WRITING

ARTBITS by Richard B. Harper


VOLUME 13 * * All Arts News On the Web * * June 25, 2009

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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COMING SOON!

      The All Arts Council Summer Sounds series will begin next Sunday, July 5, at Bay Day with Mr. French playing into the fireworks. The lineup includes Flood in the Fizzy Factory, Jenni Johnson, Nobby Reed, the Stockwell Brothers, Yankee Chank, a Young Traditions concert and more. The entire schedule is online at here.
      The Cap Cancer Blues Festival will take place as part of Summer Sounds on July 19. I will lose my hair and hope you (and you and you) will, too. See capcancer.dickharper.com for details
      Besides the music, food is a big part of the fun of an outdoor concert. Local community groups will host each event with special activities, family fun, bake sales, grilled hot dogs, and even ice cream socials to make every Sunday a great family holiday in the park. This year, the AAC, Foster Grandparents, Highgate Historical Society, Highgate Library, and Highgate Youth Group host the concerts.
      There will be no Summer Sounds concerts in St. Albans City in 2009.
      "Free" concerts are expensive to stage. The host towns, local business sponsors, and the All Arts Council hire the bands, create the publicity, and set up shows every summer weekend. Summer Sounds welcomes our sponsors of this popular series: Chevalier Drilling, Desorcie's Market, O. C. McCuin & Sons, Ray's Extrusion Dies, and Scotty's Taxi. These businesses need your support to continue. Please remember to thank the hosts and patronize the sponsors.


ON STAGE LIVE

SHELDON--Summer Music at Grace continues the summer season with Pete and Karen Sutherland at Grace Church tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.
      Champlain Valley born-and-raised, the Sutherlands have performed folk music on the New England and national stage for more than 50 (combined) years. They bring performance joy broad experience in traditional music, and renowned songwriting talents to the stage.
      Pete and Karen have performed in practically every nook and cranny of the Vermont landscape, including guest performances at the Farewell Reunion concerts at Grace.
      Admission is $10 for adults and $5 for kids and students. The Summer Music concert is held in Grace Church, 215 Pleasant Street, Sheldon Creek. Call 802.933.4083 or click here for directions and info.


BURLINGTON--The Flynn presents Envoye a Maison: A Franco American Homecoming with Genticorum and Michele Choiniere and Fabio Choiniere at FlynnSpace on Saturday at 7 p.m.
      The popular traditional Quebecois musical trio from Montreal, Genticorum plays a Celtic-Francophone music rooted in their own histories of modern jazz, funk-latin-jazz, and big-band classical and jazz. St. Albans singer-songwriter Michele Choiniere performs traditional folk songs, original compositions, jazz standards, and covers.
      The Flynn is holding a day-long series of film, master classes, the concert, and a soiree dedicated to the memory of singer/activist Martha Pellerin.
      The Vermont Folklife Center in partnership with Michele Choiniere will also host a Soiree--a sharing of favorite songs, tunes, and stories in French and English--with Ms. Choiniere, dance caller Mark Sustic, emcee Robert Resnik, and others at about 9:30 p.m. following the concert. Call Bob Hooker (802.388.4964) or email for more info.
      Admission is $22 adults, $18 students. Call 86-FLYNN (802.863.5966) or click here for tickets. Click here for info about the day long-program of events
      Envoye a Maison is an official Vermont Quadricentennial Event.


SWANTON--The Citizens Concert Band performs in Swanton at the South end of the park on Wednesday, July 1, at 7:30 p.m. The rain site is Church of the Nativity.
      The Citizens Concert Band is a community band that plays a popular series of summer concerts in Taylor Park in St. Albans, St. Albans Town Bay Park, and Swanton on the Village Green. "We don't call ourselves by any town name," director Kevin Loomis said, because they do not have an exclusive arrangement with any single town. Town Bands are military-style bands perfectly-suited for this program of patriotic and popular pieces. This band has the full complement of brass, percussion, and woodwinds.
      Edric Loomis founded the band in 1949 to continue a Town Band tradition of "concerts under the stars" in St. Albans that began in the 1880s. His son, Kevin Loomis, is the current director. All concerts are held rain or shine on Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m. Click here for the schedule of concerts and rain sites.


BURLINGTON--The Green Mountain Chew Chew Food and Music Festival is billed as "Vermont's Favorite Family-Oriented Feeding Frenzy." The 24th annual festival begins tomorrow and continues through Sunday on the Burlington Waterfront. It brings together Vermont music with some of the best samples of the specialty foods of Vermont.
      Friday features the Coconut Grove Steel Drum Band and Summer Sounds favorite Mango Jam. On Saturday, the stages offer Rick & The Rambers Western Swing Band, the Slant Six Swing Band, and the Coconut Grove Steel Drum Band. Sunday closes the weekend with the Jim Atkinson Blues Band and the Blue Gardenias.
      No dogs, no bottles, no grouches.
      Click here for more info.


WILLISTON--Groovin' on the Green at Maple Tree Place presents the original blues rock of the Nobby Reed Project tonight at 6 p.m.
      The series offers live music in front of the Roxy movie theater on the green at 6 p.m. every Thursday evening through August 20.


TUNBRIDGE--Civil War News will sponsor the Constitution Brass Quintet and drummer Brad Stouffer in concert at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds Gazebo on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The concert will include the lively and stirring music of the town bands that marched off to join the Civil War.
      The Constitution Brass provides song sheets and encourages audience participation. The quintet is Chris Rivers, trumpet, Jo Anne Edwards, trumpet, Tom Whitney, French Horn, John Mead, trombone, and Bill Keck, tuba.
      The concert is free and open to the public. Donations will benefit the Tunbridge Cemetery Commission perpetual care fund for the graves of Civil War soldiers.


QUADRICENTENNIAL

     The Vermont Symphony Orchestra kicks off the ten-event TD Banknorth Summer Festival Tour tonight at Middlebury College. This year's tour celebrates the Lake Champlain Quadricentennial.
      The "Lake Effect" tour is a salute to Uncle Sam, Samuel de Champlain with a Gallic and aquatic program that includes Gershwin’s An American in Paris plus a Berlioz overture, selections from Les Miserables, Sousa’s Hands Across the Sea March, Handel’s Water Music, and show tunes from South Pacific.
      Admission is $29-32 for adults and free-$16 for children. I like free. Click here for tickets.


JUNE-JULY ART DEADLINES

FIGURES & FACES (July 1)--A juried Pacific Art League exhibition in Palo Alto calls for all media except film, video, and installation with jpgs submitable for screening. Small prizes. Entry fee. 40% commission on sales. Email or click here for more info.


SUMMER SOLO SHOW (July 2)--This is a nationwide open call for "the next great artist," with dynamic, inventive and provocative work of all mediums - sculpture, photography, painting, printmaking, illustration, installation, graphic design, video, and more. 3rd Ward is a member-based design center for creative professionals in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Click here for more info.


FAIR HAVEN (July 10)--The Fair Haven Farmer's Market and The Fair Haven Historical Society want Arts & Crafts exhibitors for a festival on Sunday July 19. The event will include regional history by area historical societies. Space fee is $20. Call Sherry Smith (518-282-9781) or email for more info.


CLICK HERE: ART SITE OF THE WEEK

     Painter and fabric artist Cynthia Emerlye of South Pomfret makes one of a kind wearable art using polarfleece and creates detailed and elaborate narrative paintings and illustrations. Her site includes her bio, recent work, contact info, and more.


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 © 2009 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.