Category: Bennington Banner


Feature: Anita Doron

19th March

Published in Berkshires Week on March 19, 2013
Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_25374279/filmmaker-reveals-places-margins

BENNINGTON — Anita Doron’s film-making career has taken her across the globe to Mexico, Hungary, Afghanistan, Canada’s North west Terri tories and other far-off destinations. Now, thanks to Susie Ibarra’s Cities Arts Forum, her next stop is Bennington College.

The director of feature films like 2012’s “The Lesser Blessed,” an adaptation of a novel by Richard Van Camp starring Benjamin Bratt, Doran has been artistically motivated since her childhood in Ukraine and Israel.

“From a very early age, I was very interested in creating emotions in people and making people feel things,” she said. “When I connected poetry and film making, I was gone. There was nothing else I wanted to do.

I was completely intoxicated by it.”
Over the course of her career, Doron has committed herself to exploring and advancing the art of storytelling, …



Feature: Northshire Brewery

13th March

Published in Berkshires Week on March 13, 2013
Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshiresweek/ci_25327430/benningtons-northshire-brewery-expands

BENNINGTON — Using the basic ingredients of water, grains, hops and yeast — along with imagination and hard work — Vermont’s brewers have earned a reputation for creating some of the country’s most inventive and delicious craft beers.

While some of the most recognizable brands come from the central and northern parts of the state, like Magic Hat in Burlington or The Alchemist (brewers of the infamous Heady Topper double IPA) in Waterbury, Bennington’s beer lovers know there are great ales and lagers brewing in town at the Northshire Brewery.

After years of experimenting with their own home brews, Chris Mayne and Earl McGoff started Northshire in 2010 — buying equipment at a brewer’s conference in Boston and finding a space to set up their tanks on County Street, across from the Holden-Leonard Mill.

For …



Preview: “Revolutionary Wizard, Ben Franklin” at Oldcastle

11th March

Published in Berkshires Week on March 11, 2013
Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshiresweek/ci_25320460/oldcastle-theatre-play-shows-ben-franklin-rsquo-s

 

BENNINGTON — He may be one of our nation’s most iconic figures, but most Americans may know little about Benjamin Franklin.

“He was just an eccentric,” said Eric Peterson of the Oldcastle Theatre, who wrote the one-man play “Revolutionary Wizard, Ben Franklin,” which opens tonight. “He had a thing about ‘air baths,’ where he thought it was really healthy to sit nude in front of a window and let the air hit you for an hour or so.”

Peterson, who also serves as Oldcastle’s producing artistic director, discovered this quirk in one of the many books and biographies that he used for research. In fact, he says there’s far too much interesting information about Franklin to cover in a play of reasonable length — from his diplomacy to his scientific discoveries to his freewheeling …



Feature: Bennington Farmer’s Market

4th March

Published in Berkshires Week on March 4, 2013
Original article: http://www.benningtonbanner.com/berkshiresweek/ci_25275923/winter-market-helps-farmers-cold 

BENNINGTON — Even when the days are short and their farms are covered with snow, local farmers have embraced new techniques to keep the Bennington Farmers Market stocked with fresh produce all winter long.

One of the few New England farmers markets that continue running through the winter, the Bennington Farmers Market (formerly known as the Walloomsac Farmers Market) has grown so popular that last year they upgraded the monthly off-season market to run twice each month. During the summer, the market takes place every Saturday and Tuesday at the riverside park on Depot Street in Bennington, and during the winter they move indoors to the First Baptist Church at 600 Main St.

Leslie Kielson, president of the market’s board of directors and a vendor herself, said the market’s off-season expansion has been a …



Feature: Discovering architect George Guernsey

27th February

Published in Berkshires Week on Feb. 27, 2013
Original article: http://www.benningtonbanner.com/berkshiresweek/ci_25231916/architect-guernsey-shaped-bennington

 

BENNINGTON — If you live in Vermont, your town may look the way it does because of George H. Guernsey.

Over the course of his 32-year career as an architect, Guernsey designed churches, town halls, schools, libraries, estates and private homes in at least 23 different cities and towns around the state, helping to define Vermont’s architectural style during its formative years. However, until recently nobody really knew who George H. Guernsey was.

About 10 years ago the town of Bethel, Vt., started working to renovate its town hall and quickly discovered town records that named Guernsey as the building’s designer. Intrigued, the Bethel Historical Society started gathering information on Guernsey and his other buildings around the state. After years of detective work, they have now compiled their findings into a new 124-page book, …



Feature: Poet Lucie Brock-Broido

27th February

Published in Berkshires Week on Feb. 27, 2013
Original article: http://www.benningtonbanner.com/berkshiresweek/ci_25231906/poet-opens-series-at-bennington-college

BENNINGTON — “On the road blue thistles, barely / visible by night, and, by these, you may yet find your way home,” Lucie Brock-Broido writes in “Stay, Illusion,” her acclaimed new collection of poetry.

With Bennington College back in session for its spring term, the campus has woken up from its winter break, the students are back and the calendar is full of illuminating talks, readings and performances — many free and open to the public, like the Poetry at Bennington series.

Organized by literature faculty member Mark Wunderlich, Poetry at Bennington attracts some of the country’s greatest active poets to campus, starting next week with a visit from Brock-Broido, Columbia University’s poetry director.

On her visit to Bennington, where she briefly taught in the early ‘90s, Brock-Broido will give a reading from “Stay, Illusion” at …



Live Preview: Morning Breadth at the VAE

30th January

Published in Berkshires Week on Jan. 30, 2013
Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshiresweek/ci_25021745/band-has-prescription-cabin-fever

BENNINGTON — At some point, everybody fantasizes about becoming a rock star. For four Bennington musicians, including three doctors at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center, that dream will come true this weekend at the Vermont Arts Exchange.

For its second concert of the year, the VAE Basement Music Series will present Morning Breadth, a four-piece rock band that brings together local property manager Michael Saccio (aka “Satch”) on guitar, SVMC general surgeon Graham Moore on keyboard, OB-Gyn Malcolm Paine on bass, and cardiologist Steven Anisman keeping the band’s heartbeat on drums.

With a wealth of musical experience in the genres that sparked the birth of rock, like British folk music and American blues, the band describes their sound as “music for 40-year-old teenagers,” reflecting their energy and enthusiasm as a group. Anisman, the drummer, explained …



Q&A: Tim Walsh of The Stepkids

23rd January

Published in Berkshires Week on Jan. 23, 2013
Original article: http://www.benningtonbanner.com/berkshiresweek/ci_24970523/stepkids-drummer-moca-is-good-fit

NORTH ADAMS — After years of establishing themselves in the music industry with musicians and groups like pop/soul star Alicia Keys and the beach-rock college band Zox, guitarist Jeff Gitelman, bass player Dan Edinberg and drummer Tim Walsh returned to their Connecticut roots to form The Stepkids, an adventurous new trio with a psychedelic outlook on classic soul, jazz, funk and rock conventions. In September they released their second album, “Troubadour,” following up their 2011 self-titled debut with a more polished, progressive sound.

On Saturday, The Stepkids will perform at Mass MoCA’s Club B10. Looking forward to the concert, Berkshires Week/ Shires of Vermont talked with drummer Tim Walsh about modern art, old buildings and the evolution of The Stepkids.

Jack McManus: How did the band come together?

Tim Walsh: Well basically, Connecticut is a …



Feature: Jazz Sundays at the South Street Cafe

23rd January

Published in Berkshires Week on Jan. 23, 2013
Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshiresweek/ci_24970330/south-street-cafe-serves-coffee-side-jazz

BENNINGTON — South Street Cafe sounds different on Sundays.

Above the usual whirring and grinding of coffee beans, the bright, cozy room fills up with the spacious, loose jazz melodies of its regular Sunday trio: Gary Miller on the vibraphone, Darryl Kniffen on keyboard and Bennington’s own Dave Banulis on electric bass.

“Welcome to our laboratory,” says Miller from behind his instrument, as the combo gets ready to begin playing.

This feeling of freedom and experimentation guides the players during their standing gig, which starts most Sunday mornings at 11 and lasts until about 1 p.m.

“It’s really low-key, so we can try new, innovative ideas and be as creative as we want.” Kniffen explained. “We can do whatever we want.”

One of these interesting innovations is the absence of drums in the group, especially since Miller …


Live Review: Something with Strings at Oldcastle Theatre

16th January

BENNINGTON — Barely a day after The Lost rocked the Oldcastle Theatre on Friday night, Jan. 10, the venue re-opened for another night of music, switching to acoustic mode for a concert with Something with Strings, a contemporary bluegrass-inspired country/folk quintet from the Burlington area.

Since Something with Strings formed over six years ago they’ve been through a series of lineup changes, including some that have vastly altered their sound like eliminating drums from the band and adding harmonica player Collin Cope last summer, who adds some blues elements to their sound with his bold, raspy vocals.

Alongside Cope’s harmonica, the band includes the classic lineup of bluegrass string instruments with Adam Howard on guitar, Luke Fox on upright bass, Pete Kraus on 5-string, open-back banjo and Matt Francis on mandolin.

Currently based in Burlington and Winooski, many of the band’s members came …




Preview: The Cherry Orchard at Park McCullough

Published in Berkshires Week on August 5, 2014 Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshiresweek/ci_26158584/wheels-within-wheels

NORTH BENNINGTON — With many of his best-loved writings, especially his plays, set on country estates...

Preview: Norman Rockwell Models Reunion

Published in Berkshires Week on July 30, 2014 Original article: http://www.benningtonbanner.com/berkshiresweek/ci_26243670/models-remember-norman-rockwell

ARLINGTON — Decades after he painted their young faces into lasting symbols of blissful innocence and...

Preview: Bennington gears up for Arts Weekend

Published in Berkshires Week on July 30, 2014 Original article: http://www.berkshireeagle.com/berkshiresweek/ci_26243671/bennington-gears-up-arts-weekend

BENNINGTON — The Southern Vermont Art and Craft Festival returns this weekend for its second year...