Wednesday, January 24, 2018
The comedy show on Tuesday spoofed the state's recent decision to legalize marijuana with a satirical Vermont tourism ad. The two-minute clip touts legal weed, and encourages visitors to explore the outdoors in the Green Mountain State — "or just stay inside on the couch, laughing with your friends!"
"Ski Stowe Mountain," the narrator intones, "or spend hours staring at your hands, thinking about things!"
This ad, though, is not state-sanctioned. Are any of those stock images or shots actually from Vermont? Not the mountain scene at "Stowe." And it's full of tired clichés about weed smokers, including a Grateful Dead reference and a description of getting high and thinking about the size of the universe (and food). But hey, it's worth a watch.
Check out the full video, titled "Like Pot? Visit Vermont!" here:
Tags: Cannabeat , Stephen Colbert , Image , Web Only , Video
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Ex-NBA great Shaquille O'Neal is expected to perform a stunt for a reality TV show filming an episode next week on Lake Champlain.
A producer for the NBC show "Running Wild With Bear Grylls" visited the Coast Guard station on the Burlington waterfront Thursday to ask them to participate in the event, said Jason Balmer, a petty officer first class who met with the producer.
The producer said the 7-foot-1 legend, who will be inducted this year into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, would likely be a guest on an episode to be shot Friday or Saturday on the New York side of the lake, according to Balmer. It would be filmed near the town of Willsboro, about 30 miles south of Plattsburgh. The episode will involve an aquatic derring-do, maybe involving a helicopter and a drone.
Tags: Shaquille O'Neal , Burlington , Coast Guard , Lake Champlain , Running Wild With Bear Grylls , Image , Web Only
Monday, June 13, 2016
An unofficial website describes the Rainbow Family as the "largest non-organization of non-members in the world." Since 1972, the loose-knit, peace-loving group has descended on different national forests for annual gatherings that occur around July 4 and are open to all.
The group promotes intentional communities and nonviolence but its large get-togethers haven't always been conflict-free. There have been violent incidents and controversies over the environmental impact on the parkland where members camp.
This year, according to the U.S. Forest Service, the Rainbow Family has chosen the tiny Rutland County town of Mount Tabor.
Tags: Rainbow Family of Living Light , Mount Tabor , U.S. Forest Service , Green Mountain National Forest , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, June 1, 2016
At noon that day, Burlington’s new waterfront skate park is being named in honor of the late Andy “A-Dog” Williams. A skateboarding competition is taking place as part of the ceremony.
Weinberger has so far declined to confirm or deny whether he’ll participate. But he told Seven Days, “Well, I think you might want to show up and find out.”
It appears that in between drafting next year’s budget, overseeing the massive redevelopment of the Burlington Town Center and taking care of other city business, the mayor has been squeezing in early morning training sessions.
Tags: Burlington Skate Park , Miro Weinberger , Image , Web Only
Wednesday, January 6, 2016
Precisely on schedule, Vermont’s liberal social media sites went into warp drive. As their apoplexy subsided, local progressives began brainstorming suitable responses to the billionaire blowhard, including a petition drive calling on the Flynn to cancel the event. Thankfully, the petition was yanked long before its self-evident hypocrisy sparked an embarrassing lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont.
Since then, other lefty calls to public action have appeared, most of which have sounded about as moving as a laxative ad. To paraphrase a few:
Get a free ticket to the Trump rally, then refuse to show up — gasp! — thereby leaving the theater half empty. Because nothing cows unbridled tyranny like a row of vacant seats and short lines for the toilets.
Tags: Donald Trump , Flynn Center for the Performing Arts , Image , Web Only
Monday, November 23, 2015
More than 40 contestants had called our hotline and recorded an imitation of Brooklyn-born Sanders' speaking (and shouting) voice. They touched on crucial themes — underwear, billionaires and damn emails — from the Vermont senator's bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Many were quite impressive. Others weren't, but we respect the effort. Our panel selected five finalists, and we posted their audio takes online for you to vote.
The winner is Sam Pelletier of Maine, who delivered with his bit on ordering cheesy bread for Sanders volunteers. Congratulations, Sam, and we hope you can make it to Burlington to use your prize: tickets to see Bernie imitator and comedian James Adomian at the Vermont Comedy Club!
In second place: a rant on global warming and underwear by Tony O'Rourke of Williston, who noted in his message that he's "one of those dirty Republicans."
In third place is Joel Levin of New York City, who railed against the Republicans who are double-dipping and triple-dipping their chips. (You'll notice there's a food theme to many of these imitations.)
The fourth-place winner, David Houston, had this suggestion for Ben & Jerry's:
Fifth place went to Joel Najman, whose voice you may recognize from his show on Vermont Public Radio.
And although this one didn't make the final round, it made us laugh.
Thanks to everyone who entered. And now, do we need to have a talk about how much time you've been spending in front of your bathroom mirror perfecting your Bernie impression?
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Audio , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
At 9 a.m. Sunday — one year before Election Day 2016 — Shutesbury, Mass., resident Peter Corbett will set out from Burlington on his unicycle and start pedaling toward the White House, 550 miles away, in hope of raising money for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign, he says. "1 Wheel, 1 Nation, Government 4 All," he's dubbed the effort.
Corbett, 57, a Burlington native, plans to cover 25 miles a day and arrive in D.C. during the first weekend in December. He's hoping to raise money from curious passersby and internet fans, and be joined on the road by people using cars, motorcycles, unicycles, "fast pogo sticks" and whatever else they can use to keep up.
For each $100 he raises, Corbett says, he will put a ping-pong ball into his backpack, which, he hopes, will eventually swell into a ... wait for it ... super pack! Get it? (The Federal Election Commission did not comment on Corbett's plan, probably because we felt too self conscious to call and ask about it.)
Tags: Senator , Bernie Beat , Bernie Sanders , fundraising , Presidential Campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Video , Web Only
Friday, July 3, 2015
As I travel around and around this great nation of ours, I’ve met too many Americans going down the road feelin’ bad. Whether it’s here in Chicago or down in New Orleans, they don't need a Washington politician to tell them that the American middle class is going to hell in a bucket.
Oh, baby, it ain’t no lie: This country faces more serious problems today than at any time since the Great Depression. The Wall Street billionaire class has become a friend of the devil and turned our great nation, this American beauty, into a brokedown palace.
Today, we have more income and wealth inequality than any other major country on Earth, where the gap between the very rich and everyone else is wider than at any time since the 1920s. A handful of billionaires, their super PACs and their lobbyists have flooded our democracy with a black muddy river of corporate campaign donations. Meanwhile, the rich man in his summer home is singing, “Just leave well enough alone.” But his pants are down, his cover’s blown.
Tags: Senator , whimsy , Bernie Sanders , Grateful Dead , Presidential Campaign , Image , Recommended Reading , Web Only
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
Inside and outside the Beltway, musical and political connoisseurs have enjoyed listening to him croon such favorites as "This Land Is Your Land." Now Vermont's junior senator is making a run for the Democratic presidential nomination — and drawing big crowds on the campaign trail.
A related feast for the senses has surfaced on a YouTube video discovered Wednesday by BuzzFeed. It captures Sanders and company recording "Freedom" in 1987. Seven Days founder and co-owner Pamela Polston is among the backup singers lending her pipes to the effort. (Skip ahead to 1:10 and check her out on the right.)
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Presidential Campaign , Pamela Polston , "Freedom" , Image , Recommended Reading , Video , Web Only
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
OK, that's not true.
He'll almost certainly deliver the same speech he's given since he first ran for Senate in 1972. (It didn't work so well that year. He won just 2.2 percent of the vote.)
If you've heard it all before, consider spicing it up a bit. Bring a road soda to the shore of Lake Champlain and play the Bernie Sanders Drinking Game — brought to you by none other than Seven Days. If you miss the speech and find yourself bored at home, play the game to Sanders' 8.5-hour faux-libuster or our Bernie Beat archive of historical Sanders coverage.
What are the rules? It's simple. Drink every time Sanders:
Tags: Senator , Bernie Sanders , Drinking Game , Presidential Campaign , government reform , Recommended Reading , Image , Web Only