Seven Days, September 10, 1997 by Seven Days

ODD, STRANGE, CURIOUS AND WEIRD BUI TRUE NEWS ITEMS FROM EVERY CORNER OF THE GLOBE Bad Seed After Frankie and Carolyn Ash stopped at a convenience store near their home in Northport, Alabama, Frankie was leaving the store when the couple's 21-year-old son David rushed in past him. The father thought the son was hurrying to go to the bathroom, but then the mother looked in and saw him brandishing a knife behind the counter. Next, he ran out, got into his truck and drove off. The couple waited • for police to arrive and told diem what had happened. \ Sgt, Kevin Leib said it ^ was uncertain whether the man realized his parents were at the store, explaining, "He was apparendy so concentrated on what he was doing that he didn't notice them." Meanwhile, David Ash's getaway car broke down. He called his parents for help, but they told him what they had seen and urged him to surrender to police. Wedding-Day Blues Pakistan announced a ban on lavish wedding feasts. Explaining such celebrations cause financial hardships for the poor and middle classes,

lawmakers voted in May to restrict families to a wedding meal at home for relatives and house guests. Larger gatherings can take place at hotels and clubs outside the home, but no food may be served — only hot and cold non-alcoholic drinks. • Officials in Venice this spring stopped renting out city-owned halls to out-of-town couples hoping for a romantic wedding, The cash"'

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strapped city made the halls available two years ago to coupies from elsewhere in Italy and abroad, but so many people booked them that Venetians were having to wait months to marry in their own city. Good Timing When Edmond James Ramos was charged with firstdegree burglary in Los Angeles for breaking into an occupied dwelling, his lawyer appealed. He argued that because the only occupant had died of nat-

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urai causes mere minutes before Ramos broke in, legally the residence was unoccupied. An appeals court agreed and threw out the charge. Capitalizing CTl Cuter Space When former Mir commander Vasily Tsibliyev wasn't patching up the Russian space station, he found time to star in a commercial for Israeli milk. The ad, filmed by flight engine^ Alexander Lazutkin, ^ ^ shows Tsibliyev swallowing a floating globule of long-life milk that he squeezed out of a Hebrew-lettered carton. The milk, which needs no refrigeration, underwent microbiological examination at the Mireontrol station laboratory to ensure it was bacteria-free before being rocketed into space, according to Gitam/BBDO, the advertising agency that produced the commercial forTnuva, Israel's biggest food manufacturer. The company budgeted $450,000 for the 90-second commercial and paid a fee to the Russian space agency. At the Mir control station, the commercials Israeli directors radioed instruc-

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tions to Lazutkiti on a two-way satellite link. Some 150 Russian extras were brought to mission command for the ad. It marked Russia's second foray into commercials in space. Last May, two Mir cosmonauts on a space walk were filmed deploying a large replica of Pepsi's new blue can, • Dennis Hope, a Rio Vista, California, resident, who proclaimed himself Master of the Solar System, told the Los Angeles Times that he dears up J J to $4000 profit each month selling what he describes as "the least expensive real estate in the universe": 1777 acres of lunar land for $15.99, plus tax and shipping. "Whenever someone hears of this, their first response is, 'You can't do that,'" Hope said. "Well, we've sold ov^r 10,000 parcels of property, so evidently 1 can do that." Hope also began selling plots on Mars in June in anticipation of NASA's Pathfinder space probe landing on the planet in July, advising buyers to send trespassing bills to the space agency. • Indeed, after the Pathfinder landed, two Yemeni men filed a lawsuit in their country, charging the U.S. space agency with trespassing on Mars. Insisting

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the planet was bequeathed to them by ancestors who lived on the planet 3000 years ago, Mustafa Khalil and Abdullah al-Amri presented documents they said proved their ownership to the countrys prosecutor general, but withdrew their claim after he threatened them with arrest. "The two men are abnormal," the prosecutor general told the weekly newspaper al-Thawra. "They were only seeking fame and publicity." Can't Help Mytelj Following his arrest for graffiti vandalism in Fremont, California, Jason Christopher Zepeda, 19, was put in a holding cell. Sheriff's deputies monitoring the cell with a security camera added to the charges against Zepeda after they observed him writing his name all over the cell walls, • When a district court in Kobe, Japan, indicted Hiromichi Katsuki, 50, after he was caught taking a bento — Japans boxed lunches of rice, vegetables and meat or fish — from an unlocked parked car, Katsuki admitted stealing two boxed meals a day for a total of 80 meals, all homemade, a newspaper reported, "because I'm fussy about flavor." Q>

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RIPPLE EFFECTS I would like to respond to Peter Freynes latest journalistic submergence. As a personal friend of the Hill family, I feel I ought to remind Freyne of the wide-reaching ripple effects of his Inquirer-esque series of articles. I do not condone Mr. Hill's past actions in any way, shape or form, yet I see no reason why his family ought to suffer through the publicity, harassing phone calls and general fear and anxiety once again. This issue was dealt with more than 10 years ago. Freynes pieces are not what I would call newsworthy. I used to enjoy reading this paper. Most of the articles are well-written, and of a higher literary quality than any other local papers. Freynes articles have left a bitter taste in my mouth. I no longer impatiently wait for the next issue to be delivered to my place of work. I thought that this publication had higher ethical and moral standards. — Lindsey Cain Burlington

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SUPPLY AND DEMAND In your 9/3 issue you ran a ^^ ^ piece called, "What's Eating Church Street?" — the gist of which was the reaction of local restaurateurs to competition from the New England Culinary Institute (NECI). Every restaurant in the greater Burlington area suffers from one common problem and it is not NECI, it is stupidity. Let me provide some background. There is something I called elasticity of demand, which is the relationship between a products price and its demand. Perfect elasticity means doubling the price will halve the demand and vice versa. Some products have little or no elasticity, such as salt; no matter how low the price is reduced, demand will be stable. Beverages, especially alcoholic beverages, have an elasticity of demand. Let us now get to restaurant stupidity. When a restaurateur buys Chateau Plonk at $5 a gallon and then divides it into five carafes, calls it a house wine and charges patrons $ 15 or more for a dollar's worth of wine, it is stupid for the following reasons : 1. If the carafe was priced at $9, more than twice as much would be sold.

2. The experienced but frugal diner will be turned off by such blatant over-pricing. 3. Many people will assume that overpricing the wine means everything is overpriced. My advice to the wise restaurateur is: sell your house wine at under $ 10 for a 3/4-liter carafe and the world will beat a path to your door. — Raymond E. Leary Shelburne TRASH AND SLANDER Like all bullies, Peter Freyne is big on dishing it out but hates to have anyone respond to his trash. His latest volley (Inside Track, September 3) about the [Burlington] Women's Council is so full of misinformation that the worst part of his column is, he dares to use the word "facts." There are no facts in his column, only gossip. He makes no pretense of being a journalist, which is good since he's not. He has taken a side on the Council struggle without full information and only talks to one side of the dispute so he can continue to grind his ax against outspoken feminists, like myself and the Progressive party. As for poison-pen letters, Freyne puts out a public one every week trashing whoever he doesn't care for and slandering reputations with no factual information. I feel the need to address the lies in his column, though no doubt doing so will earn me another trashing by Mr. Freyne. He accuses me of viciousness and of name-calling and bringing up women's past histories. I have not done that. He has gone over my record of 12 years ago twice now in his column, with the aid of Maureen Dyer. One need only compare my letter to Seven Days with Jennifer Matthews' letter of July 30 in which she refers to dissenters at the Council as vultures, hyenas, outside agents, guttersnipes and a few more epithets. Let's give Dyer the benefit of the doubt — perhaps her story of lying to deceive me about Matthews' hiring is true. It doesn't change the fact that I was aware of her sexual orientation and chose her over at least one lesbian candidate, a fact which a number of people I spoke to at the time can attest to. Freyne tries to associate me with the poison-pen letter, of which I have no A knowledge. He, of course, couldn't bother to report on the hate mail glued to my front porch last Saturday. Freyne has twisted the facts to suit his view, as usual. I guess outspoken women are just too scary for Peter. He and Dyer are engaging in a lot of projection, accusing me of exactly what they do in his column: bringing up the past, calling me names and being as vicious as possible. They join misogynists like Ed Moore and Mr. Happy in relishing the new direction of the BWC. — Peggy Luhrs Burlington

Letlerj Polity: SEVEN DAYS wants your rants and raves, in 250 words or less. Letters should respond to content in Seven Days. Include your full name and a daytime phone number and send to: SEVEN DAYS, RO. Box 1164, Burlington, VT 05402-1164. tax: 865-1015 e-mail: sevenday@together.net Photographer], want to show off your stuff? Contribute a portfolio shot to "Exposure." Send it to the address above or tall for more info.

VERMONT'S PHINEST COMPOSER

Take it from Trey. He owes it all to Ernie Stires By Ruth H o r o w i t z

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TELLTALE TANAKA A new work by Japanese choreographer Min Tanaka is powerful- and puzzling By K e v i n J . K e l l e y page 11

WRITER ON THE STORM

Book review: When the Wind Bears Go Dancing, by Phoebe Stone By Ruth H o r o w i t z page 13

THE STUFF OF URBAN LEGENDS What do microwaved cats, toothbrushes and The Lion King have in common? By Thony P e r e g r i n page 15

OUTDOORS; RHYTHMS ON THE RUN When exercise and music go together By D a v i d H e a l y

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A LOT OF NERVE Art review: The Nerve Ending Show By Marc Awodey

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W E B W I S E : HOT OFF THE NET! By M a r g a r e t L e v i n e & J o r d a n Young

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CO-PUBHSHERS/HMTORS Pamela Polston, Paula Routly ART DIRECTORS Samantha Hunt, Michael Barrett PRODUCTION MANAGER Samantha Hunt PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Charity Clark WWW GUY James Lockridge CIRCULATION MANAGER/CLASSIFIEDS/PERSONALS Glenn Severance SALES MANAGER Rick Woods ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Michelle Brown, Eve Jarosinski, Nancy Payne, Rick Woods CALENDAR WRITER Clove Tsindle CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marc Awodey, Nancy Stearns Bercaw, Marialisa Calta, Rachel Esch, Peter Freyne, Anne Galloway, David Healy, Ruth Horowitz, Samantha Hunt, Kevin J. Kelley, Rick Kisonak, Peter Kurth, Lola, R Finn McManamy, Tom Paine, Bryan Pfeiffer, Ron Powers, Gail Rosenberg, Amy Rubin, Barry Snyder, Molly Stevens PHOTOGRAPHER Matthew Thorsen ILLUSTRATORS Paul Antonson, Michael Barrett, Gary Causer, Sarah Ryan

SEVEN DAYS

is published by Da Capo Publishing, Inc. every Wednesday. It is distributed free of charge in greater Burlington, Middlebury, Montpelier, Stowe, the Mad River Valley, Rutland, St. Albans and Plattsburgh. Circulation: 17,000. Six-month First Class subscriptions are available for $30. O n e - y e a r First Class subscriptions are available for $60. S i x - m o n t h T h i r d Class subscriptions are available for $15. O n e - y e a r T h i r d Class subscriptions are available for $30. Please call 802.864.5684 with your VISA or Mastercard, or mail your check or money order to "Subscriptions" at the address below. For Classifieds/Personals or display advertising please call the number below. K TJ A VERIFIED K IDT TG ION Vft M U AD UT ICIRN rtCU CL XA N

S E V E N D A Y S is printed at B.D. Press in Georgia. Vermont. SEVEN DAYS, P.O. Box 1164, 255 S. Champlain St., Burlington, VT 05402-1164 Tel: 802.864.5684 Fax: 802.865.1015. e-mail: sevenday^ogether.net W W W : http://www.bigheavyworld.com/seven.di.y - / ©1997 Da Capo Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. SEVEN DAYS. A rock opera. COVER BY SAMANTHA HUNT.

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From hard rock and pop to jazz and blues, Burlington, Vermont, supports a thriving music scene. Clubs such as Metronome, Toast and Nectar's are regarded as some of the Northeast's premier venues, introducing the freshest local talent and presenting the very best regional and national acts! The BURLINGTON MUSIC CONFERENCE offers musicians and the industry a look at the non-traditional side of making music, getting signed and blasting off into the industry at large. Conference components include panels and discussion groups with national and local talent, workshops and master classes, a weekend-long tradeshow featuring a mix of industry names, local and genrespecific indie labels and a club circuit featuring a monster line-up of showcase perofrmances that will keep you up all night long - in a good way!

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Thursday - Sunday, September 11-14, 1997 Registration required. Call for info. Over 100 bands, including: The Jazz Mandolin Project, Belizbeha, Strangefolk, ViperHouse, Motel Brown, The Pants, Chin Ho!, The Gordon Stone Trio, 5 Seconds Expired, Barbacoa, Katherine Quinn, and many, many more!

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One hears several theories on how fans do their deadly work: ed!y high humidity, a lan would just be blowing warm air around. However, various daredevils who have tried this and lived report that your face and (2) The flow of air over the face somehow produces a vacuum or other anomalous condition in front of the mouth and you suffocate. Gimme a break! (3) Carbon dioxide builds up in the sealed room and, being denser than the other gases in air, sinks to floor level and suffocates you. Also unlikely — few rooms are totally sealed, and the fan would tend to keep CC>2 and other gases well mixed. (4) Heat stroke (fan irrelevant). Maybe, but the temperature was only in the 30s Celsius (more than 86 degrees Fahrenheit). Also, heat stroke typically affects older people with existing health problems, not teenage girls. Told that "fan deaths" are unknown outside Korea, some locals claim Koreans are uniquely vulnerable due to a peculiarity either of their own physiology or of Korean fans. Hard to argue with. If somebody tried to fob this story off on me as fact, I'd definitely think he was peculiar. So what do fan-death cases really die from? We got this from Lieutenant Colonel Dave Hause, a deputy medical examiner with the U.S. Army Medical Corps. (Colonel Hause speaks for himself, by the way, not the Defense Department.) He writes: "If I had a 16-year-old die in a room at 86 degrees Fahrenheit in the pres' ' c n c t ^ S ' ^ e o r i c fan, I'd S i n g l y suggest an elcctrical c h « k on die fan [possible electrocution]. Then I would f % ® c o l o g y studio were thorliiilllli^ ough [to check for poisons and drugsJ. th^tXhsul extensive miCfoscopic^ g^ examination [to check for disease], that the heart and brain were further studies had been done.

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"If all these came out negative, I'd ask the investigative service to go I through the history again, on the assumption that the suffocation' was a if the well enough and die Ian drew enoi power, I suppose it could heat the rc om n g

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| If the state parole board had known 16 | months ago that paroled child molester Alfred „ "Fred" Hill had been caught viewing kiddie i porn in his office at Vermont Public Radio, | there definitely would have been a hearing on | revoking his parole. That's according to Linda I Shambo, the director of the parole board. But the fact is, the parole S board did not know, because the j Department of Corrections, | which supervises parolees, did not inform the board. Corrections i considered the incident at VPR | studios in Colchester to be a | "treatment issue" rather than a I parole violation. ® Now, 16 months later, the 1 evidence trail has gotten cold, so | there will be no hearing. | Instead, the parole board has decided to recommend new 1 conditions be applied to Mr. | Hill. First, the board wants Hill | returned to a higher level of I supervision. Second, the board ^ wants it spelled out in writing 1 that Hill cannot associate with | any child under the age of 16 I unless expressly approved by his J* supervising parole officer. And 1 third, the board wants it further | spelled out that Hill shall not | "possess, use or view in any „ form or manner pornography of * any kind." | The prohibition on porn was | not spelled out specifically in Hills I "treatment conditions," said Shambo. "I can't J imagine viewing pornography of any kind would 1 be acceptable," she told Inside Track "Clearly its a | risk factor if you're a child molester or an adult sex I offender." Hill, a successful Randolph-based advertisi ing executive, was arrested in 1986 and charged | with multiple sex crimes involving local underjage boys. "Buggery," as they call it in the land I of Princess Di. There was no trial. Hill cut a * deal and pled guilty to two felony counts of 1 sexual assault. He served over two years in | prison and completed the sex offender program. I Released on parole in 1989, he joined the man' agement team at Vermont Public Radio, where the is the station's director of marketing and | development. He remains on parole until 2005. VPR's vice-president, Cynthia Shuman, told I Inside Track that Hill had been caught viewing J child pornography on his computer screen in 1 his office. But VPR president Mark Vogelzang j declined to say what kind of pornography Hill | had been viewing. Both say he was disciplined for the incident. Shambo told Inside Track that Corrections | Commissioner John Gorczyk indicated to her it | was not child pornography. "He said it appeared to be nude figures," said Shambo. I However, she said Hill's parole officer at the i time "asked if it should be brought to the | parole board's attention and was told 'no' by the | treatment people." Shambo said Gorczyk never answered her question about whether correc1 tions officials asked VPR about the incident, or | were merely relying on Hill's word. | Gorczyk likewise declined to answer that I question for Inside Track. The commissioner * did say that "from our perspective, when all this 1 popped, [Hill] was very forthright and did all of jthe right things." According to Gorczyk, "everyI thing's gone well from the point where this J matter came to light." The parole board, which is composed of cit| izens appointed by the governor and the correc| tions department, have been at odds for some * time. Corrections officials consider themselves * to be the experts, the professionals, while the § parole board is viewed as "the great unwashed" September

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— average citizens who have no business telling! the experts how to do their job. "It's fairly clear," said Gorczyk, "responsibility | for parole is the parole board's, and the responsi- g bility for supervision rests with corrections." As it stands now, Mr. Hill continues his "treatment" under the watchful eyes of the Department of Corrections, and continues his » job at VPR where pornography in the workplace is not a firing offense. As has been the "unofficial" policy at VPR, any- | one who has a problem working g with or for a convicted child molester should apply to anoth- i er radio station. Stop the Presses! — Whoa! g Did all you political junkies catch the lead story on I WGOP.. .sorry.. .WCAX-TV | last Wednesday? Vermont's only | anti-prophylactic news station reported Jack Long has switched parties, from Democrat to Republican. News? You read it here in May. Jack Longshot got 9 percent of the vote in the '96 congressional race. Guess when someELISHA MORGAN one with that much statewide SENIOR GEMOLOGIST support joins the GOP ranks JOHN ANTHONY DESIGNER Highest Prices Paid 1 ^ ^ these days it's seen in some 130 Church St. • Burlington, VT Large Diamonds (802) 660-9086 ^ ^ quarters as pretty big news. But Recognized by The Platinum Guild International - USA Fine Estate Jewelry www.vtevent.com Howard Dean's former enviVintage & Fine Watches • M ronmental commissioner got mm some different ink in Sunday's 802-651-0811 ^^ Rutland Herald. Pollution 131 Main St., Burlington, VT Woodstock, VT I ^ ^ Solutions Inc. of Williston may be in a little hot water again with the state and the feds. As the firm's lawyer, Jack Long gave the Herald the appropriate "no comment." Accredited Gemologists Assn. Nice switcheroo. From state environmental watchdog to legal counsel for a hazardous waste hauler. The Gov's got an ethics code in place for i high-level cabinet officials like Jack that they all | ellini's jQestaurant sign. Says you won't "be an advocate" before "any public body or before the state legislature" on behalf of your new employer within one year of leaving office. Ex-Commissioner Long said he left his state We're closed Sundays for our post in December 1994. He was a Pollution Solutions "consultant'' for seven months in mental health and open 1995 and didn't become the company's lawyer until "sometime in 1996." Cool. Monday through Saturday for yours! Saved by Ho-Ho! —The place: the annual Bellini's — nourishing body soul. meeting of the Vermont State Employees Association (VSEA) at the Ramada Inn. The time: around 5 p.m on Saturday. Bob Hooper, Lunch: Mon-Fri 1 1 : 3 0 - 2 • Dinner Mon-Sat 5 - 9 : 3 0 the president of the prestigious state workers union, had just informed yours truly the press 38 Elm Street • Montpelier • 229-1945 wasn't allowed into their annual meeting. "I'm asking you to leave," he said. No joke. But in the | very next breath, the ballroom door opened and in walked our governor, Howard B. Dean. Saved! m Yours truly was there to catch his remarks to the 100-plus union folks. It was, after all, one of the few events listed on his weekly public I V E S 7*4 Ki T appearance schedule. (The fundraiser in New Hampshire with Ai Gore the night before didn't PIZZA * CALZONES * SALADS * PASTA * GRINDERS make the schedule despite making C-Span.) EAT-IN * TAKE-OUT * DELIVERY * RESERVATIONS "We even have our own paparazzi here," MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT 388-3164 quipped Dean in his opening, drawing a few boos from the audience. Noting the state's $35 OPEN DAILY 10:30AM TIL MIDNIGHT million rainy-day fund, Ho-Ho told the state workers, "We obviously still need to keep a tight hand on the wallet because times aren't always going to be terrific." This week, Ho-Ho's not around. It's not on I one! his public schedule either, but he's carrying the I Come see our new look. Democratic Governors Association banner (and initially Featuring* his own) to Illinois, Alabama and Iowa. Iowa? I •Vera Bradley Handbags "Gonna meet with all the precinct capI I luisite Frames tains," joked Ho-Ho. I irsonaJized Stationery & * SPECIALTY CARDS As for Gore's campaign financing difficulWedding Invitations ties, Dean said Big Al will come out just fine. I * UNIQUE GIFTS So far, the guy CNN recently put in third place I Just * FINE STATIONERY say it on Al Gore's veep wish list noted, "There's no i wittua smoking gun." 1 1 6 Church Street (c<3f ner of v Fch I Good answer. ® 8 6 3 - 3 4 5

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Orchestra is turning in her baton — for a broom. Calling it a "serious : j » f r o m h e r m u s j c director duties, Kate < Tamarkin has agreed to play i iviay production or i ne wizara oj wz. /uuiuugn m i c uiu> picmy < stage experience, Tamarkin will face a few new challenges in the role. The audience, for one — she gets mostly dorsal exposure in her current job. Acting, for another. And flying. The conductor is scheduled for lift off in the tornado scene. Terrorizing Toto will also be a stretch. "I am afraid of heights and I love dogs," Tamarkin says. But she does a mean Margaret Hamilton imitation. Several other celebrities, like Barbara Snelling, are being recruited by Lyric Theater for the musical fundraiser for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. Tamarkin says conspiratorially, "You won t believe who is in the Lollypop Guild." REELITY

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Sals CHECK: For years, the Vermont International Film

Festival operated with the not-so-catchy slogan "Issues and Images for Social Change" — a clear signal to the Dumb and Dumber crowd to put away the popcorn. But not all serious cinema is doom-and-gloom documentaries. The new festival slogan, "Get Reel," indicates a change in attitude. Or in positioning, anyway. "The films will carry the same weight, but we are having more fun marketing them," says Nancy Steams Bercaw, who has recruited high-profile cinephiles for a citywide bus campaign designed to attract a "broader audience." Get ready to pull up behind drag queen Cherie Tartt, Governor Howard Dean, Phish bassist Mike Gordon and Congressman Bernie Sanders —- even newly arrived University of Vermont president Judith Raxnaley is lending her mug to the movies. "It doesn't have to be so austere," Bercaw says of a festival of films dedicated to subjects like war, predjudice and environmental degradation. "Those things can be fun to see and talk about."

Nason Prizes — a Bread Loaf-based literary award that not only praises writers, but publishes and distributes them. Katherine Hester won the fiction prize last year for her collection of short stories, Eggs for Young America. After a number of positive notices in Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews and Library Journal, the book made the short list at Barnes and Noble. Hester is one of 18 other "great new writers" featured in the bookstore's fall brochure. Awards in fiction and poetry this year went to Joyce Hinnefeld and Michael Loncar, respectively. Siisiii i ^ ^ ^ a i i i l ' r 6 >< t lit a home run this summer with his inspired recitation of "Casey at the Bat" —• part of a Vermont Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Steven Reineke of the Cincinnati Pops. But the senator struck out on the recording deal, which Reineke offered instead to James Earl Jones. "They needed a star," McCormack says. They also needed the original version of the poem, which McCormack keeps on hand. "People are often surprised I would be in love with such a junky piece of poetry," he explains, comparing its charm to a "sausage and onion sandwich at the Tunbridge Fair." . . . If the huge crowd around our food table was any indication, the South End Art Hop was everything organizers hoped for. But a lot more went down at the party than Magic Hat and spring rolls. The Fleming Museum may be $50,000 closer to a new entrance on Colchester Avenue thanks to a chance meeting between curator Janie Cohen and Orleans County Senator Vince Illuzzi. The chair of the Senate Institutions Committee summed up the proposed project as "clearly one we could justify." By Monday morning, he had already drafted a hearing request. Illuzzi, who is the son of a granite sculptor, is partial to cultural institutions. On Friday he and Governor Dean will announce detailed plans for a new state-funded granite museum in Barre. The old socialist labor hall is also getting some cash. . . nru. ... . . . „ i o a d Gf Burlington cartoonist .The S'I transformed his Wo Dug Nap. wonderful one due east. Of lar, at least on < is he still an hears him speaks in the wrong: ' <D

M M

VERM. P H I

Take it f r o m Trey. He owes it a l l to Ernie S t i r e s By

Ruth

Horowitz

alf way through "Geulah Papyrus," a straight-ahead Phish song about a spider and a fly, the music breaks into a short theme and variation in which counterpoint melodies weave in and out like silk strands in a web. The piece, "The Asse Festival," was written by lead guitarist Trey Anastasio and dedicated to his friend and mentor, Cornwall composer Ernie Stires. By the end of this year, Anastasio hopes to release a CD of Stires' all too rarely heard work. While most people associate modern classical compositions with minimalist monotony or conceptual cacophony, Stires serves up his

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decidedly 20th-century dishes with enough boogie-woogie rhythms and beautiful, mindbending harmonies to satisfy body and soul. "It amazed me that more and more people were hearing my music, and no one was hearing his," Anastasio says. "It's amazing music." tires and his wife Judith share a rambling, addon farmhouse outside Middlebury. The composer is a friendly, opinionated, slightly disheveled 71-year-old whose Virginia roots can still be heard in the mellow lilt of his voice. "My muse is a combination of Tallulah Bankhead and Bette Davis," he drawls. "She smokes and she drinks and she's sore because she has me." Stires' pedigree includes Grandpa Sidney Homer, a com-

poser; Grandma Louise Homer, a leading contralto with the Metropolitan Opera from 1900 until 1931; and Cousin Samuel Barber, one of the major American composers of the 20th century. Cousin Sam's complex tonalities and unabashed lyricism were major influences in Stires' aesthetic development. Stires' mother also sang opera, but her career ended when she married his father, an Episcopal minister. (In those days, he explains, it was considered unseemly for a man of the cloth to be married to a woman who appeared on the stage.) With so much music in the family, it was only natural that young Ernie be given piano lessons. But they didn't work out. "I was a rattle-brained kid," he claims. "But I could

i i U I'-giii

play hot piano licks by ear." Freed from the constraints of formal training, he continued to soak up sounds on his own, especially big band jazz. "I loved the artistry, elegance and genius of swing," he says. To demonstrate, he cranks up an old gramophone (a gift from Phish), and pops on the B side of a 78: the Benny Goodman Quartet tearing through "I'm a Ding Dong Daddy." Stires does a little hip-shake, getting into the rhythm. "This came out when I was 10 years old and I can't get rid of it! It ruins you for life," he declares, grinning mischievously. "Compare that with Bobby Dylan!" It took Stires a while to move from listening to writing his own music. First he joined the Navy, then he married his first wife, had three children,

and worked at various jobs in media sales. By the late '50s, he says, he got "fed up" and moved to Boston, where he met Judith and gave himself over to his music. At age 32, he tells me, "I decided to grab hold of my socalled talent." Stires' composition teachers included Nicholas Slonimsky, an absurdist composer and tonal explorer. (Slonimsky later appeared in concert with Frank Zappa, who introduced him as "our national treasure.") The Stires have lived in Vermont since the early 1970s. While Judith works as vice president of a Burlington investment counseling firm, Ernie composes jazz-infused numbers for solo voice, chorus, solo instruments, chamber H ensembles, symphony orchestra and theater. He works at a Steinway grand with an ashtray the size of a fruit bowl perched beside the manuscript-littered music stand. Besides examples of his beloved swing, LPs and cassettes of Barber, Bach, Nelson Riddle, David Rakson movie scores, 1950s a cappella pop, and other favorite recordings are close at hand. The composer eagerly shares his eclectic archive, as well as his own inventions, with the dozens of hopeful musicians who have been finding their way to his door for the past 15 years. Stires isn't formally associated with any music program, and he doesn't teach for the money. He says "kids" like Anastasio and Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project get his name "on the street" and work out individual payment arrangements. One student painted the hull of Stires' vintage power boat in exchange for his counsel. he style of Stires' counsel harkens back to his early experience as an incorrigible piano student. Composition can't be taught, he believes. Instead, he tries to help his students acquire the necessary tools and to open their ears to new sounds, then help them find their own voice. He begins by telling a student, "Write me some music. Then we'll go over it." For Anastasio, who met Stires as a University of Vermont student feeling stifled by the school's traditional music courses, this unorthodox approach was an inspiration. "He believed in me," the guitarist says. But Stires balances his faith in his students with an equal measure of rigor. Anastasio recalls the time he knocked himself out writing a two-part composition with a big-band arrangement. Then he proudly brought the piece to his teacher, only to be told, "You've stuck

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is the arrival of the Burlington Music Conference, chock full of educational panels/workshops, a trade show at Mem Odd, and about a bazillion bands playing every night, Thursday through Sunday, all over town. Indeed, it seems that half the town will be onstage. City Arts and auxiliary helpers have been busting their butts the last few weeks to pull this together. Thanks to all the individuals and businesses who've donated time, money, food, brain cells and sweat (did I leave anything out?) to make this happen. Rather than le-describe everything in the conference, check out the program — along with a freakin huge band guide — handily provided in the center of this paper, and 4/4 The Vermont Music Quarterly. Go forth and make beautiful music Dana Shepard of The Cossacks. I had it on good word — well, bad, as it turned out — that he'd moved to Florida. But to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of Shepard's departure were premature. Turns out he was only on vacation. And he still apparently prefers the Green Mountains to DisneyWodd As I also reported here last week, Dave Jarvis had left the band. That, at least, was accurate. Whew.

BASSES UNCOVERED Speaking of leaving Nato is trading his bass spot with Dave Keller Hues Band for the scarier but presumably more satisfying solo singer-with-acoustic-guitar route. That makes at least four bands I've heard of lately in

need of bass players — the other three being the above-stated Cossacks, Bloozotomy and Buck & the Black Cats. The Cats prefer a stand-up for that retro sound, says bandleader Buck Maynaid, but will consider an electric player if they have to. The band's been happy with fill-in Kirk Lond, but the fellow's other job — 12-hour shifts at IBM — doesn't allow him to make the full-time commitment Too bad, this is a hep gig.

SINGLE TRACKS Burlingtonsrelativelynew indie faves My Own Sweet have jumped onto the CMJ charts — debuting at #126 — with their first Sudden Shame CD, New Strings. That's based on playlists from the top 200 college radio stations in the U.S. The band also showcased at CMJ s recent conference/MusicFest in NYC. Sweet... Back in Burlington, MOS joins Chin Ho! and Zola Turn in their first corponicely sponsored gig: Airwalk's back-to-school bash at Buzz Homebrew night, Monday at Metronome. Check out the footgear... Sorry to note the abrupt doing of Rio's, the restaurant/club that seemed likely to put Winooski back on the entertainment map with a regular menu of mostly jazz. Their ads always invited us to "Ask Ed" (that would be former manager Ed Maier), so I will: What happened?... On a final note: Elton John's reworking of "Candle in the Wind," originally about Marilyn Monroe, for a paean to Princess Di made world news (according to Internet sources, the song will soon bereleasedas a sure-to-be-best-selling recording). But did anyone happen to catch the poem that Dianas sister, Lady Jane Fellowes, read at the funeral?: It was the lyrics to a rockiri It's a Beautiful Day song, "Time Is," recorded by the '60s San Francisco band alongside the more famous "White Bird." Aroyalfootnote inrockhistory. ©

Got something to tell Rhythm & News? Call Pamela at (802) 864.5684. Or mail your tip to P.O. Box 1164, Burlington, V T 05402, or e-mail to sevenday#together.net.

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WEDNESDAY

LOST N A T I O N VALLEY BOYS (bluegrass), Cactus Cafe, 8 p.m. NC. SAUDADE (Latin jazz), 135 Pearl, 9:30 p.m. $4. STRANGEFOLK, CONSTRUCT I O N JOE (jam folk-rock, altbilly), Club Toast, 9:30 p.m. $10. BLUE M O U N T A I N . RAY MASON BAND (Southern country-rock, roots rock), Club Metronome, 9 p.m. $3. MIGHTY FAB KINGTONES (rock), Nectar's, 9:30 p.m. NC. KARAOKE, J.P.'s Pub, 9:30 p.m. NC. KARAOKE (DJ Norm Blanchard), Cheers, 7 p.m. NC. R I CK GUEST (rock), Patches Pub, Holiday Inn, 9 p.m. NC. DJ N I G H T (rock), Gallaghers, Waitsfield, 9 p-na^NC.

THURSDAY

BURLINGTON MUSIC CONFERENCE L I N D Y P E A R , BARBACOA (rock/pop, surf noir), Memorial Auditorium Annex, 6 p.m. NC. RYAN 0 B E R , LARA & GREG NOBLE, SHELLEY SNOW (acoustic), Lilydale Bakery, 7 p.m. NC. TUNG N - GR00V E (poetry/improv acoustic) Rhombus Gallery, 9 p.m. $2-6. SALT L I C K S (alt-folk), Halvorsons, 9 p.m. $3. 5 SECONDS E X P I R E D , JAMES K0CHALKA SUPERSTAR, THE E M I L Y ROCK GROUP (alt/indie; CD release party), 242 Main, 8 p.m. $4-6. ELLEN POWELL & JERRY LAV ENE (jazz), Leunig's, 9:30 p.m. NC. OPEN M I K E N I G H T W/MARK GALBO (jazz-blues), Cactus Cafe, 9 p.m. NC. MARG0T D A Y , DJ J U N O ,

• * 4 v. n : i

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DAYS

CRAIG M I T C H E L L , L I T T L E MARTIN, G L I T C H (dance/trance, + DJs), 135 Pearl, 9 p.m. $4/5. S T R A N G E F O L K , S M 0 K I N ' GRASS (jam folk-rock, jamgrass), Club Toast, 9:30 p.m. $10. J A Z Z MANDOLIN P R O J E C T / S K L A R - G R I P P O S E X T E T , GORDON STONE T R I O , JAMES HARVEY (jazz), Club Metronome, 8 p.m. $5. THE X - R A Y S (rock), Nectar's, 9:30 p.m. NC. JOHN L I L J A QUARTET (jazz), Muddy Waters, 8 p.m. NC. S E N S I B L E SHOES (r&b), Sweetwaters, 10 p.m. $5. PUSHERS, MAGIS (rock, pop), Manhattan Pizza, 10 p.m. NC. SHANDY (Celtic), Vermont Pub & Brewery, 10 p.m. NC. R I C K GUEST (rock), Patches Pub, Holiday Inn, 9 p.m. NC. DANCE PARTY (DJ Norm Blanchard), Cheers, 9 p.m. NC. L E A V I T T , BAKER & DELBACK (acoustic), Trackside, 9:30 p.m. NC. TNT (karaoke), Thirsty Turtle, Waterbury, 9 p.m. NC. OPEN MI KE, Gallagher's, Waitsfield, 8:30 p.m. NC. JAM W / B L U E FOX (blues/rock), Charlie-o's, Montpelier, 9 p.m. NC. ART E D E L S T E I N (acoustic), Bellini's Restaurant, 7 p.m. NC.

FRIDAY

B U R L I N G T O N MUSIC CONFERENCE LAR DUGGAN & F R I ENDS (jazz), Windjammer, 5 p.m. NC. PERRY NUNN (acoustic), Ruben James, 5 p.m. NC. R I K P A L I E R I . D I A N E HORSTMYER, NATO (acoustic), Lilydale Bakery-Cafe, 7 p.m. NC. September

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Buffalo S a m m i e s BOOTLESS & UNHORSED (Irish), Last Chance, 7:30 p.m. NC. BROOKE CHABOT (contemporary acoustic), Cactus Cafe, 8 p.m. NC. MATT VACHON & SCOTT EVANS (acoustic rock/blues), Cosmos Diner, 8:30 p.m. NC. G E N I U S MAGNETS, P I C TURE T H I S . J E N N I JOHNSON & E L L E N POWELL (jazz), Club Contois, 9 p.m. $7. D I D J E R I D O O SUMMIT (w/Rik Palieri), Rhombus Gallery, 7 p.m. $2-6. JAMES HARVEY (jazz), Leunigs, 9:30 p.m. NC. LAST ONES S T A N D I N G , B L I N D E D BY RAGE. DROWN INGMAN (hardcore), 242 Main, 8 p.m. $4-6. D E R R I C K SEMLER (blues), Halvorson's, 10 p.m. $4. LAMBSBREAD (reggae), Sweetwaters, 10 p.m. $5. STEPH PAPPAS E X P E R I E N C E (bohemian rock), 135 Pearl, 9 p.m. $4/5. THE P A N T S . WIDE W A I L . WALT M I N K , S P I L L (modern rock, pop), Club Toast, 9:30p.m. $5. CONSTRUCTION J O E , I N V I S I BLE J E T . C H I N H O ! . THE FOUR COLOR MANUAL. MY OWN SWEET. S T U P I D CLUB (alt, indie rock), Club Metronome, 8 p.m. $5. THE X-RAYS (rock), Nectar's, 9:30 p.m. NC. B I L L I N G S (blues), Manhattan Pizza, 10 p.m. NC. DEAD M A N ' S HAND (g roove rock), J.P.'s, 9:30 p.m. NC. BREAKAWAY (bluegrass), Vermont Pub & Brewery, 10 p.m. NC. T R I A L BY F I R E (rock), Alley Cats, 9:30 p.m. NC. COMEDY ZONE (standup), Radisson Hotel, 8 & 10 p.m. $7. HARD LUCK (rock), Franny Os, 9:30 p.m. NC. DANCE PARTY (DJ Norm Blanchard), Cheers, 9 p.m. NC. THE ADAMS (rock), Patches Pub, Holiday Inn, 9 p.m. NC. SAM ARMSTRONG (jazz favorites), Tuckaway's, Sheraton Hotel, 9 p.m. NC. M R . FRENCH (rock), Trackside, Winooski, 9:30 p.m. $2. JOHN VOORHEES (singer-songwriter), Greatful Bread, Essex Jet., 8 p.m. $5. D A N C I N ' DEAN (country dance & instruction), Cobbweb, Milton, 7:30 p.m. $5. D I A MOND J I M J A Z Z BAND, Diamond Jim's Grille, St. Albans, 8 p.m. NC. THE C L I Q U E (dance band), Rusty Nail, Stowe, 9 p.m. $4. REBECCA PADULA (contemporary folk), Three Mountain Lodge, Jeffersonville, 6 p.m. NC. J A M I E LEE & THE RATT L E RS (country), Thirsty Turtle, Waterbury, 9 p.m. $2. L I V E MUSIC (rock), Gallagher's, Waitsfield, 9:30 p.m. $3. ROCKIN ' DADDYS (rock), Charlie-o's, Montpelier, 10 p.m. NC. J I M M Y T & THE COBRAS (rock), Swany's, Vergennes, 9 p.m. NC.

SATURDAY

BURLINGTON MUSIC CONFERENCE BOOTLESS & UNHORSED (Irish), Last Chance, 7:30 p.m. NC. R I K P A L I E R I . AARON F L I N N , GREG DOUGLASS. TOM W I L L I A M S . DAVE B A L L . KATE B A R C L A Y . DOUBLE V I S I O N . M I MI KAT ES (acoustic), Burlington Coffeehouse at Club Contois, 9 p.m. $5. NON COMPOS M E N T I S , CHAINSAWS & C H I L D R E N . I N H A R M ' S WAY (hardcore), 242 Main, 8 p.m. $4-6. KAREN L A R SON. KATE B A R C L A Y . K A T H E R I N E Q U I N N (acoustic), Lilydale, 7 p.m. NC. CM NOW (rock), Cactus Cafe, 8 p.m. NC. NO WALLS (jazz), Rhombus Gallery, 9 p.m. $3-6. DAVE D O N ' T SING (rock), Nectars, 9:30 p.m. NC. Y O L A N D A ' S WORLD (wild & funky), 135 Pearl, 9 p.m. $4/5. V I P E R H O U S E . AUGUSTA BROWN. SAUDADE (acid, rock, Latin jazz), Club Toast, 9:30 p.m. $5. ORANGE FACTORY. JUSAGROOVE. D Y S FUNKSHUN (funk, disco, funk/hip-hop), Club Metronome, 8 p.m. $5. GROOVE MERCHANT (pop rock), Manhattan Pizza, 10 p.m. NC. DAVE

KELLER BLUES BAND, Vermont Pub & Brewery, 10 p.m. NC. HIGHLAND WEAVERS (Irish), Finnigans, 5:30 p.m. NC. T R I A L BY F I R E (rock), Alley Cats, 9:30 p.m. NC. COMEDY ZONE (stand-up), Radisson Hotel, 8 & 10 p.m. $7. KARAOKE, Franny O's, 9:30 p.m. NC. THE ADAMS (rock), Patches Pub, Holiday Inn, 9 p.m. NC. WALT ELMORE & A L L THAT J A Z Z , Tuckaway's, Sheraton Hotel, 9 p.m. NC. M R. FRENCH (rock), Trackside, Winooski, 9:30 p.m. $2. FLESH AND BLUES, Peat Bog, Essex Jet., 9 p.m. NC. F U L L CIRCLE (rock), Sh-Booms, St. Albans, 8 p.m. $5. DANCE PARTY (DJ Norm Blanchard), Cheers, 9 p . m . NC. JIMMY T & THE COBRAS (rock), Swany's, Vergennes, 9 p.m. NC. D J N I GHT, Thirsty Turtle, Waterbury, 9 p.m. $2. L I V E MUSIC (rock), Gallagher's, Waitsfield, 9:30 p.m. $3. THE CLIQUE (dance band), Rusty Nail, Stowe, 9 p.m. $4. DERRICK SEMLER (blues), Charlie -o's, Montpelier, 9 p.m. NC.

SUNDAY

BURLINGTON MUSIC CONFERENCE ELLEN POWELL & JERRY LAVENE (jazz brunch), Windjammer, 11 a.m. NC. B E L I Z B E H A , ( S I C ) , SOMAH, ZOLA T U R N , CURRENTLY NAMELESS (acid jazz, alternafunk, alt, groove), City Hall Park, noon-6 p.m. NC. LAU RA S I M O N . L I N D A B A S S I C K , C H A R L I E MESSING (acoustic), Lilydale, 7 p.m. NC. MAGIC PEBBLE (jam rock), Vermont Pub & Brewery, 6 p.m. NC, followed by JOHN LACKARD BLUES BAND, 9 p.m. and D. J A R V I S BAND (alt-rock), 11 p.m. SANDRA WRIGHT BAND (blues), Nectar's, 9:30 p.m. NC. D A ' A T H (industrial/techno), Rhombus Gallery, 9 p.m. $2-6. M I C H A E L ROSE (from Black Uhuru; reggae), Club Metronome, 10 p.m. $12. TOKYO STORM WARNING. CHAD. U P S I D E DOWN FROWN. BE THAT WAY. SALAD DAYS (alt, jam, rock), Club Toast, 9:30 p.m. NC. SALTY SNACKS (alt dance), 135 Pearl, 9 p.m. $4/5. TNT (karaoke & DJ), Thirsty Turtle, 8 p.m. NC. JASON KOORNICK & DOUG PERKINS (acoustic), LaBrioche Cafe, Montpelier, 11 a.m. NC. L I V E MUSIC (acoustic), Main Street Bar & Grill, 11 a.m. N C

MONDAY

SOMAH (groove rock), Nectar's, 9:30 p.m. NC. STATE OF C O N V I C T I O N . HATE BREED. SHEER TERROR (hardcore), Club Toast, 9:30 p.m. $5. BUZZ HOMEBREW NIGHT W / C H I N H O ! . ZOLA TURN. MY OWN SWEET (alt-rock), Club Metronome, 9 p.m. $3. ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC (DJs), 135 Pearl, 10 p.m. $4. A L L E Y CAT JAM W/JOHN LACKARD (blues), Alley Cats, 9 p.m. NC. ^ ^

All clubs in Burlington unless otherwise noted. NC = No cover. Also look for "Sound Advice" at http://www.bigheavyworld.com/seven.days/

.. .FINGERSTYUN' Traditional acoustic blues is not quite the popular genre in its country of origin that it is in Europe, but that might change soon. Uermonters, at least, can sample some of the top players in the worid at t h e ' 9 7 Harvest Acoustic Blues Benefit this Saturday at Vermont College in Montpelier. The star-studded line-up indudes W . C Handy Award winners "Bowling Green" John Cephas & Phil Wiggins (pictured) and Ah/in Young blood Hart, West Coast guitar queen Del Ray, and \feimonft o w n Mark Galbo. What's more, all that strummin' and piddn' benefits the Vermont Food Bank and the Onion River Arts Counal. Check i t

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JUSAGROOVE (disco), Nectar's, 9:30 p.m. NC. F L A S H B A C K : H I T S OF THE ' 8 0 S (DJ), Club Toast, 10 p.m. No cover/$5 under 21. L I T T L E M A R T I N & C R A I G M I T C H E L L (house/soul DJs), Club Metronome, 9p.m. N C . B U Z Z N I G H T (DJ), Rasputin's, 10 p.m. NC/$5. RUSS & CO. (rock), J.P.'s Pub, 9:30 p.m. NC. SWING N I G H T (instruction/dance/DJ), Cheers, 7 p.m. NC. R I C K COLE (contemporary folk), Three Mountain Lodge, Jeffersonville, 6 p.m. NC.

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ing^ imaginaiy language of a child and something Native American. In fact, Snow first experienced this epiphany of language — or non-language — while visiting some Anasazi Indian ruins. Eight of these 10 songs are sung thusly (of the other two, one's in Latin), and come across as part Gregorian chant, part Celtic ballad, and part Enya without the overbearing synthesizer, Snow's production, with Robert Coxon at Studio Fast Forward in Montreal, is more delicate andfeaturesrealinstruments, including Snows ownflute.The onlyflawis that Snow's pretty soprano gets a little thin on the highest notes. Otherwise, Shamaneya is a New-Agey, spiritual outpouring that seeks, and inspires, understanding at a deep level. Snow appeals this Thursday at Lilydale in Burlington, and September 19 at St. Paul's Cathedral

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sounddieck. The goofily anthemicridetrack is one of many new songs, while afewold ones, like "Bad Astronaut," "Keg Party" and the ever-popular "Ballbuster" intermingle. One of the rockingest— "Hockey Monkey" — is, not surprisingly, with Kochalkas hockey-obsessed pals, The Zambonis. One of the funniest is "Show Respect to Michael Jackson" — remember when the whole world loved him? As usual, Kochalkas sense of humor overrides his inability, or perverserefusal,to sing in tune. Even so, there's more crooning on this disc than in previous efforts; infeet,thettsmoie musicality altogether, however mischievously inspired — thanks to a cast of musiciansfromBurlington friends like Jason Cooley and Tom Lawson, The Zambonis and producer Peter Katis. "President Kochalka," while an alarming thought, is straight outta pop. JKS s gift—if it can be called that — is twisting rock traditions like a wet towel and then snapping your butt with them. Fer instance, do I not hear a smartass tribute to The Who in his "Ocean of Girls?" And how about lyrics like, "Thou shall not covet thy neighbor's wife, but you sure have beautiful Christmas lights." Nothing is off-limits in a Kochalka song: peanut-butrer-and-jdlyfish, Ronald Reagan, his own penis. Genius or moron? You decide. JKS performs at 242 Main, with 5 Seconds Expired and The Emily Rock Group, this Thursday.

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Likening it to a Gothic seaborne version of Our Town, Elizabeth Zimmer described the By K e v i n J . K e l l e v piece in detail for the Village Voice after its late August preon't go to Min Tanaka's The miere at Jacob's Pillow: The cast Poe Project expecting to be "captures a gallery of characters soothed by the slow, elegant ostensibly from Poe who could movements characteristic of be archetypal 19th-century Japanese dance. And despite its eccentrics, most of them title, viewers also should not hunched over, gnarled up, staganticipate a choreographed gering, shuffling, violent, withwork recognizably based on the drawn," she writes. "Part of the tales of Edgar Allen Poe. Even time the choreographer, wearSusan Sontag's role in the piece ing a coat and a is not what it battered felt hat, might seem. The The Poe P r o j e c t , sits in a chair in New York writer is by M1n T a n a k a . the front row of billed as the libretFlynn Theatre, the audience, his tist, but The Poe BurlIngton. hands in the air, as Project is entirely September 11, if he were observwordless â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 8 p.m. ing a troubling though not withspectacle." out human sounds. The piece is, apparently, difIn recent articles, dance critficult to decipher. The Globe ics for The New York Times, critic summed it up as an Village Voice and Boston Globe "incoherent jumble." More genhave praised the arresting tly, the Times said that The Poe imagery created by Tanaka and Project "asks a great deal of its his eight-member troupe of audience." American dancers. The conIt is, apparently, the cluding tableau, by all accounts, is particularly stunning. Continued on next page

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WATERS CHAIR EVENTS 1997-1998 H

The Through Diversity We're All in the Same Gang EDWARD J A M E S OLMOS, Actor Wednesday, October 1, 8 p.m., Mann Hall Auditorium

Edward James Olmos has been referred to as America's most visible spokesman for the Hispanic community, and his community work is approached with the same dedication and discipline as his acting. He is perhaps best known as Lt. Castillo on Miami Vice, as Jamie Escalante from Stand and Deliver and most recently in his role as the father to Selena Quintanilla Perez, theTejano singer whose 1995 murder captured the attention of thousands. He grew up in the East Los Angeles barrio, and barely escaped the violent, vicious cycle of gang life. He acted and made his directorial debut in American Me, a story that takes a stark look at the life of a Hispanic American family in East Los Angeles. Mr. Olmos dreamed for 18 years of making American Me-a story that is especially relevant to today's world of gangs, guns, drugs and riots.

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"Why Can't You Be More Universal?" A Portrait

of Differing

Unities

from Margin

to Center

LEWIS R. GORDON, Philosopher Thursday, November 6, 8 p.m., Mann Hall Auditorium Lewis R. Gordon, Ph.D., teaches Africana philosophy and contemporary religious thought at Brown University, in Providence, RI. He is also an affiliate of the department of modern culture and media, a member of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America and a Presidential Faculty Fellow of the Pembroke Center for the Study and Teaching of Women. Dr. Gordon is the sole author of three books: Bad Faith and Antiblack Racism (1995), Fanon and the Crisis of European Man: An Essay on Philosophy and the Human Sciences (1995), and Her Majesty's Other Children: Sketches of Racism from a Neocolonial Age (1997). In these books and in over 50 anthologies, book chapters and articles in scholarly periodicals he explores our human quest to understand reality in its many dimensions. His research is heavily influenced by Frantz Fanon, William R. Jones, Seren Kierkegaard, Karl Marx, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean-Paul Sartre and Alfred Schutz. Dr. Gordon earned his Ph.D., M.Phil., and M.A. in philosophy from Yale University and his M.A. in aesthetics from Columbia University.

Ancient Flutes in the New World MICHAEL G R A H A M A L L E N Flute Maker & Recording Artist Saturday, December 6, Flute-making Workshop, 11:30 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. Saturday, December 6, Lecture and Performance, 8 p.m., Mann Hall Auditorium Michael Graham Allen has been researching and building flutes since 1972 and has constructed well over 20,000 instruments for beginners and professionals, including all the flutes used on his Coyote Oldman recordings. His evening event at Trinity will include a rich discussion of his music and instruments. This discussion will meld with his music performed on instruments modeled on 150-year-old Lakota Native American flutes, Incan panpipes, thousand-year-old clay flutes of Central America, new experimental wooden flutes, and drums, bells and rattles from throughout the world. About his CD, Tear of the Moon, he says, "We are not here to romanticize the past or to idealize a particular culture. In reaching back into the past, we are reintroducing ancient American flutes which are of great value to us all. [In this CD] we stretch the most advanced recording technologies to talk about something which is timeless in all people, all cultures." â&#x20AC;˘ Mr. Allen will lead a free flute-making workshop for 25 people with a light lunch included. Individuals over the age of 12 are invited to pre-register by calling Bonnie Trombly in the Humanities Department office, at 658-0337, ext. 425.

Bur tionm cles iii; Euro Buto nearly by ; work sta 199I cachet has enhanced ^tkiuch I Serra. >t o n tour, 1 over a o S o ] f a r m outside Tokyo;f phiiip mer ^Visited h i m ^ tnc,

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Letter from the End of the 20th Century J O Y H A R J O , Poet Thursday, March 5, 8 p.m., Mann Hall Auditorium Joy Harjo, the acclaimed Creek poet and jazz saxophonist, speaks of the historic and current injustices in our society as a Native American, as a human being, and, in this Women's History Month, as a woman. Her lyrical and sometimes dark poetic voice reaches from modern taxicabs and high-rise city apartments to a mythical dawn of creation for the meaning and hope her work embodies. She says, "I think my poetry and music are all about making a community. I think we can make connections, even to people that hate us...What I want to do in my poetry is to form alliances." Ms. Harjo, who has received many awards for her writing, is the author of five books of poetry, including She Had Some Horses, and the critically acclaimed The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. She is a visiting professor at UCLA and resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

tradition arose m J a p a n f o l l o w i n g World War II, in part as a protect against militarism, T h o u g h unmistakably m o d ernist in its methods, Butoh does m a t e references to more traditional Japanese dance. T h e whitened faces of some of Tanaka's performers m a y remind viewers of Kabuki, while Butoh's achingly deliberate movements a n d gestures are said to be inspired by J a p a n s ' N o " cheater.

World Music Performance LIBANA Friday, March 20, 8 p.m., Mann Hall Auditorium Recognized nationally since 1979 for their unique perspective on world music, Libana's exquisite harmonies, mesmerizing dance and captivating rhythms take audiences on a musical journey that circles the globe. From Argentinean love songs to an Egyptian ritual dance, from a Bulgarian harvest song to a graceful Hawaiian hula, Libana's performances illuminate the passions, powers and celebrations of the world's women. Susan Robbins is the group's artistic director and one of its seven ensemble members. She founded the group in 1979 with the idea of exploring and performing pieces that reflect women's often undocumented musical heritage. With poet Joy Harjo (above), Libana helps Trinity celebrate Women's History Month.

A l l e v e n i n g presentations a n d the receptions that often f o l l o w are f r e e a n d o p e n to the p u b l i c . Tickets a r e required, Call 8 0 2 / 6 5 8 - 0 3 3 7 , ext. 527.

page

Power through Knowledge Strength in Community Ethics in Action

TRINITY COLLEGE OF VERMONT

SEVEN DAYS

September

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bears. But you'd better stay home, she goes on to warn. The Wind Bears are "too fuzzy and frisky for such a Horowitz BX Ruth small child." Naturally, this maternal urning in for the admonishment becomes a night can be hard challenge to the child's imagifor a kid. Stormy nation. Even as weather Mommy speaks, can When the Mind her brown-eyed sound Bears Go daughter is happily scary. Dancing, by welcoming five And then Phoebe S t o n e . wooly, grey bears there's Little, Brown into her room and that & Company, accepting their inevitable 32 p p . $ 1 5 . 9 5 invitation. They explosion of pillowpunching energy that makes settling down nearly impossible. In her new picture book, When the Wind Bears Go Dancing, Middlebury artist Phoebe Stone rolls these two common childhood events into one blustering bedtime fantasy. Stone's story opens with her tousle-haired heroine sitting up in bed, nervously listening to the storm outside her window. Offscreen, as it were, her mother assures her throw on their purple coats, that the rumbling hop into an orange convertthunder and the lightible, and spend the next 16 ning's "razzle and dazpages romping through a zle" are really dancing

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brilliant, Chagall-inspired nightscape. Hats fly, fish flip, tigers laugh, a radiantly maned lion bows a tiny green violin, and the gauzy bedroom curtains, tagging along for the ride, twist and curl across the sky. Even the text comes loose from its moorings. The effect is magical and handsome. Having kicked up a storm, the party piles back into the car and races over rooftops while happy children watch from the safety of their windows below. True to the

trees and fall asleep, the trees ground,/Drumming up thunpull up their roots and float der and crashing around." away, and the spunky heroine But too often the scansion returns to her room, removes just misses, as in the line that her flowered hat, and falls follows the previous couplet: asleep listening to the wind. "A bear tickles a tiger, who There's a lot to like about laughs as he flies—/His this story. The premise is laughter's the lightning that clever and appealing, and the zigzags the skies." Say the text's extended metaphor four lines out loud, as they're works. Best of all are the meant to be heard. "A bear book's vivid and ebullient tickles a tiger" stops you illustrations. Stone, a twoshort, like a splinter sticking time Vermont Council on the out of a glossy wood floor. Arts Fellow and the illustrator The mother's attitude is of Sandy Eisenberg Sasso's In also a problem. Why does she God's Name, has found in this warn the girl to stay home? Is story the she trying to make her more perfect frightened? Does she actually vehicle believe her daughter will go for her out into the storm? Or is she dancing, playing along with the girl's dreamfantasy? A story this short like and simple, and aimed at such a young audience, doesimages. n't have room for that kind of With ambiguity. a book this beauDespite these quibbles, tifully Bears is a treat for the eyes conceived and the imagination. Like a and progood pillow fight, it will keep duced, the kids coming back for the occamore. © sional flaw is all Stone will autograph copies the more of her book on September 13 at jarring. Barnes & Noble in South Stone Burlington, and on September tells her tale in rhyming 20 at Book King in Rutland, verse, most of which works: both at 1 p. m. "Tigers with tambourines jump on the

time-honored bedtime story tradition, Stone's frolic ends in quiet, contented exhaustion. The bears curl up in the

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What do microwaved cats, toothbrushes and The Lion King have in common? By Thonv

Peregrin

ou've heard the story about the woman who gave her cat a bath and then proceeded to dry it in the microwave, only to have it explode into bloody, furry fragments? You remember hearing the stories about rock star Ozzy Ozbourne, who during his live concerts would bite the head off a live bat and then eat its head? How about the "flying monkey" who accidentally hung himself from a tree during the filming of The Wizard of Ozt And have you heard that if you color the back of any CD with a green magic marker it will improve the sound quality because of the way your stereo's laser reacts to the color green? These are examples of some of the highly entertaining tales that have been told and retold so many times in so many ways and by so many people, they have surpassed the designation of mere gossip or rumor and have achieved the status of what has come to be known as "urban legend." According to Peter van der Linden and Terry Chan of the Web site alt.folklore.urban FAQ, an urban legend: a) appears mysteriously and spreads spontaneously in varying forms; b) contains elements of humor and/or horror; c) does not have to be false, although most of them are — usually they are based on a factual event, but it is the process by which the story changes during the re-telling of the event that gives it its urban-legend status.

The urban legends (UL) recounted above, by the way, are all untrue. According to information compiled at another UL Web site, www.urbanlegends.com, there has never been a documented case of someone blowing up their pet in the microwave. Ozzy Ozbourne did, on one occasion, bite the head off a live bat. It seems that an audience member threw the bat up onstage, and Ozzy, thinking it was fake and realizing the theatrical value of biting its

~11

aI I I I IT V

for coloring your CDs with green marker for better sound, well, if you believe that one, I have a few bridges I can sell you for next to nothing. The most fascinating aspect of ULs isn't, of course, whether they are true. It is the phenomena behind the transmission of these tales that is so extraordinary. In researching this piece, I decided to take an informal survey of friends and co-workers, asking them about these and other ULs. My respondents included a wide spectrum of ages, social and ethnic backgrounds. Despite these differences, more than half the people I talked to swore that at least one of these patently false legends was true. A few even stated that they knew someone — however distantly — who was directly connected with the events of the legend. Legends and folktales, of course, are not new phenomena. Long before the advent of television and radio, people sat around campfires telling tall tales about their famous ancestors. Oral folklore and urban legends are popular for several reasons. Obviously, they have a high entertainment value, but many of the ULs I came across in my research also contained hidden messages that served the function of cautionary tales. According to Jan Harold Brunvand's book, The Baby Train & Other Lusty Urban Legends, "The Toothbrush Story" is just such a tale. The story goes that a young newlywed couple honeymooning in the Bahamas come back to their hotel after a day of sight-seeing to find their room ransacked and everything of value stolen. Curiously enough, the only two items left in the room were their camera and toothbrushes. Since hotel insurance would cover

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were so easily dismissame as the exploding pet or Ozzy S fetish for bjat H.eads,1t]ieifascinatipn with them would haye Jizzlea out long before, anype Knew what a n n t t p was.

head off, did exactly that. When he realized it was real, he went offstage, threw up and made a trip to the hospital to have a tetanus shot. As for the man seen "hanging" in the The Wizard of Oz, it is in fact merely a film crew member who got caught in the shot and quickly ran off the set. As fill *

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