Posted By Jordan Adams on Tue, Aug 31, 2021 at 6:02 PM

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Courtesy of Vermont College of Fine Arts

Martin Philip accepting the 2018 Vermont Book Award

The Vermont Book Award, which has been presented by Vermont College of Fine Arts since 2015, is changing. The 2022 prize will be awarded by a new coalition consisting of VCFA, the Vermont Department of Libraries and the Vermont Humanities Council.

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Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Thu, Aug 26, 2021 at 1:21 PM

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courtesy of Daniel Bernard Roumain

DBR

On Wednesday, the Flynn announced that composer, violinist and activist Daniel Bernard Roumain has been officially installed as its new creative chair. The acclaimed musician, who has played with everyone from Philip Glass to Lady Gaga, and whom the New York Times described as "omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets," aims to shepherd the Burlington performing arts organization toward a bold new future.

Tags: The Flynn , Daniel Bernard Roumain , Philip Glass , Lady Gaga , Dwight & Nicole , Angelique Kidjo , The New York Times , Web Only , Image

Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 5:28 PM

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Courtesy of Senayit

Senayit

The Summer Street Music Series in Bradford returns this Thursday, August 26, but with a new look. Titled "Black Musicians Matter," the celebration features performers who are Black, Indigenous and other people of color. The show starts at 5 p.m. at the Denny Park gazebo.

Local neo-soul artist Senayit headlines the event, along with singer-songwriter and Madagascar native Mikahely and Boston-based performance artist Kali & Ancestors in Training.

Tags: Black Musicians Matter , Bradford , Senayit , Mikahely , Kali & Ancestors in Training , Bright Sun Kitchen , Web Only , Image

Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Sat, Aug 21, 2021 at 2:55 PM

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Luke Awtry ©️ Seven Days

Ivamae

Ivamae released her debut LP, Tender Meat, on June 25. When the Burlington-based singer-songwriter spoke with Seven Days at the time, she confided that she wanted to do something a little special to celebrate the album.

Tags: Ivamae , Waking Windows , Lily Seabird , Water Works Park , Tender Meat , Tom Pearo , Dan Bishop , Web Only , Image

Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Fri, Aug 13, 2021 at 3:01 PM

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Chris Farnsworth ©️ Seven Days

Higher Ground

South Burlington music venue Higher Ground announced Friday it will require for proof of vaccination for all indoor shows.

"We will be requiring all patrons to show proof of full vaccination against COVID-19, or a negative test from the past 72 hours, along with a matching photo ID," wrote Higher Ground marketing director Amy Wild in an email to Seven Days.

Tags: Higher Ground , Three Needs , Radio Bean , The Residents , Richard Thompson , COVID , vaccination , 405 Backside series , Ben and Jerry's , Shelburne Museum , Web Only , Image

Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Thu, Aug 12, 2021 at 11:58 AM

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Bloom Machine Photography

Radio Bean community photo in 2016

Radio Bean is the latest Burlington establishment — and first music venue — to require proof of vaccination for admittance into the club. As COVID-19 numbers in Chittenden County increase and the Delta variant of the coronavirus  spreads in Vermont and across the country, Radio Bean owner Lee Anderson made the call.

Tags: Radio Bean , COVID-19 , Lee Anderson , Three Needs , Higher Ground , Burlington , Miro Weinberger , Brian Nagle , vaccination , coronavirus , Web Only , Image

Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Tue, Aug 10, 2021 at 5:39 PM

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Courtesy of Robert M. Ring ©️ Seven Days

Alice Howe

Alice Howe's family has been coming to Stowe for a century. A great-great-uncle of the singer-songwriter built a cabin in the popular resort town for the family to gather in over the generations. Howe, a native of Boston, describes the home as "truly magical, and one of my favorite places on Earth."

For the first time in her career, the folksinger will play rather than vacation in the area she so cherishes, when she stops through Stowe and Waterbury this week.

"I have such a connection with Stowe," Howe tells Seven Days over the phone. "It's really cool to bring this side of my life to a place I love. It was time."

Tags: Alice Howe , Freebo , Stowe , Zenbarn , Linda Rondstadt , Bonnie Raitt , Jackson Browne , Tracy Chapman , Crosby Stills & Nash , FAME Studios , Aretha Franklin , Helen Day Art Center , Web Only , Image

Posted By Sally Pollak on Mon, Aug 2, 2021 at 1:23 PM

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Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

Elka and Peter Schumann

Elka Schumann, whose personal and artistic partnership with her husband, Peter, was a guiding force of Bread and Puppet Theater for almost 60 years, died on Sunday. She was 85.

Her death, at North Country Hospital in Newport, was confirmed by  Michael Romanyshyn, a family friend and longtime puppeteer.  Elka was "everything" to Bread and Puppet, Romanyshyn said. "She was the heart and soul."

Elka was born in Russia in August 1935 to a Russian mother and an American father. Her family left that country, bound for the United States, when she was a young girl.

Elka met Peter, an artist and puppeteer, in his native Germany while she was a college student studying abroad.  The Schumanns were married in 1959 and lived in New York City, where Peter founded Bread and Puppet on the Lower East side of Manhattan in 1963. The couple moved with their five children to Plainfield in 1970, before settling at the Bread and Puppet farm in Glover in 1974.

She was the "bedrock" for both the family and the theater, said her son, Max Schumann.

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Glenn Russell

Peter and Elka Schumann

This summer, Bread and Puppet is celebrating the 50th anniversary of  its  Domestic Resurrection Circus. Elka, dressed in white, walked arm in arm with Peter across the natural amphitheater on July 11 at an opening performance of the season  to take her seat on the grassy stage. She played recorder during the show. She also participated  in last Saturday’s performance, Romanyshyn said.

In recent years, Elka became interested in gatherings to remember and mourn the dead in the pine woods at Bread and Puppet, where a memorial village of sculptures, paintings and installations pay tribute to deceased puppeteers, artists, friends and family. One little house honors Elka's parents, John and Masha Dikareva Scott.

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Sally Pollak ©️ Seven Days

Peter and Elka Schumann

Walking through the memorial village two summers ago, Elka stopped at a site in the grove of trees and listened to Peter as he talked about people dear to them whose names he had carved on a board to mark their deaths.

When he got to the last name, where space had run out on the carving, Elka said: "Peter, you really should make another board."

Tags: Bread and Puppet Theater , Elka Schumann , Peter Schumann , Glover , puppet , artist , Vermont , Web Only , Image

Posted By Chris Farnsworth on Sun, Aug 1, 2021 at 4:19 PM

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Courtesy of Lou Barlow

Lou Barlow

Every now and then, a show is announced that warrants a double take. One could be forgiven for blinking and refreshing the browser upon seeing that Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Folk Implosion) is playing a show at — of all places — the Burlington Record Plant.  The news is real, people: On Monday, August 2, Barlow will indeed perform at the BRP.

"Nick Mavodones from Waking Windows, Bobby Hackney and I were trying to get someone a little bigger, from out of town, to come in and play an acoustic set," says BRP owner Justin Crowther. "Then we heard that Lou Barlow was looking to play some more off-the-beat kind of places on his tour. So Nick reached out, and it came together pretty quickly."

Barlow helped pioneer the early 90's low-fi indie-rock sound and has rightfully earned his place among the legends of that generation of rockers. He's even in the midst of a late-career resurgence with Dinosaur Jr., who have returned to releasing albums and touring regularly.

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