Music
• The Wiyos come to Putney: Twilight Music presents vaudevillian ragtime-jugband-blues-hillbilly-swing trio The Wiyos with roots singer/songwriter Russell Kaback at The United Church of Putney on Saturday, October 9 at 7:30 pm.
Back from a coast to coast, 24-state tour with Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp, the internationally acclaimed, Brooklyn-based Wiyos feature Michael Farkas, Teddy Weber and Sauerkraut Seth Travins on vocals, washboard, harmonica, kazoo, steel and acoustic guitars, banjo, ukulele and upright bass. Drawing from a vast spectrum of traditional American rural and urban roots music, The Wiyos transport listeners back to the days when acoustic, handmade music could be heard on live radio and at community dances, juke joints and house parties.
The United Church is located at 15 Kimball Hill in downtown Putney. Tickets for the show are $16 General/$14 Students and Seniors. For ticket reservations and information, call 802-254-9276. For more information, visit www.thewiyos.com and www.twilightmusic.org.
• Dave Liebman Quartet at VJC: The Vermont Jazz Center presents Dave Liebman, who will perform with his quartet on Saturday, Oct. 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 for general admission; $15 for students with valid ID. Call 802-254-9088 for reservations or more information.
Three of the four members (Liebman, Vic Juris on Guitar, Tony Marino on bass) of the quartet have performed as a unit for 19 years, and the fourth, drummer Marko Marcinko joined in eight years ago.
Liebman is considered a renaissance man in contemporary music with a career stretching over 40 years. He has played with many of the masters, including Miles Davis, Elvin Jones, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, McCoy Tyner and others. He has authored books and instructional DVDs, which are acknowledged as classics in the jazz field, and recorded as a leader in styles ranging from classical to rock to free jazz. He is a recipient of the NEA Masters of Jazz award.
• Rhonda Larson and Tim Ray in Bellows Falls: Grammy Award-winning flutist Rhonda Larson, a former member of the Paul Winter Consort, and Tim Ray, best known as a pianist for Lyle Lovett, Jane Siberry, and Eugene Friesen, will be appearing at the Immanuel Episcopal Church, 20 Church St., Bellows Falls, on Sunday, October 10, at 4 p.m.
Larson and Ray will present an intimate duo performance that will be a journey around the world through music. Tickets are available at local bookstores or online at www.brattleborotix.com.
• A night of words and music: The Book Cellar presents acclaimed novelist and Vermonter Jon Clinch and cellist Adam Hurst on Wednesday, Oct. 13, at 7 p.m. Clinch will read from his newest novel Kings of the Earth, a powerful and haunting story of life, death and family in rural America. Hurst will play selections from his seventh album Elegy and other pieces. Both Clinch's novel and Hurst albums will be for sale at the event.
Kings of the Earth is Clinch's follow up to Finn, his much-heralded and prize-winning debut whose voice evoked “the mythic styles of his literary predecessors . . . William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, Cormac McCarthy and Edward P. Jones” Told in a chorus of voices that span a generation, Kings of the Earth examines the bonds of family and blood, faith and suspicion.
Hurst has performed throughout the United States and in Europe and has been commissioned to compose and perform original work for ballet, belly dance, and contemporary dance. His recordings have been used in independent films, documentaries and art films.
The Book Cellar is located at 120 Main St. in downtown Brattleboro. For more information about this and other events contact the store at 802-254-6810 or www.bookcellarvt.com.
• WOOL announces on-air Karaoke competition: Pioneering community radio station WOOL, 100.1FM, announced today their upcoming karaoke competition. Beginning on Oct. 23, at 8 p.m., Black Sheep Radio will bring the community together in a contest of singing talent called RADIOKE.
The station is offering cash prizes, donated by the public for this purpose: $350 for first prize, $100 for second prize and $50 for third prize. The contest will take place live on the air, every other Saturday, from 9 to 10 p.m. Competition will take place in front of a studio audience. Judges for this competition are Sharon Boccelli, Jayson Munn and Dickie Colo. Tickets for are $4 per person, whether singing or not, and all proceeds benefit the nonprofit, member-owned radio station.
The first night's contestants will gather at Black Sheep Radio headquarters at 33 Bridge St. in Bellows Falls at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 23, and register for the competition by submitting song selections from the contest repertoire. There will be no advance screening of the available songs until that time. Competition will take place over five nights: Oct. 23, Nov. 6, Nov. 20, and Dec. 4 and 18. Ten finalists, culled from the previous rounds of the contest, will compete for the $500 in prizes on Dec. 18.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m., with karaoke just for fun until 9 p.m., at which time the broadcast of the contest will begin. There will be a cash bar and snacks. Competition is open to all ages include soloists and duets. Full rules for this contest, directions, and info about WOOL are available at the station website at www.wool.fm.
Books
• Upcoming events at Moore Free Library: The monthly Good Books Discussions continues at the Moore Free Library, 23 West St., in Newfane. The next discussion will be on Friday, Oct. 15, at noon.
Bring a bag lunch and be prepared to talk about Wild Swans: The Real Life Saga of a Chinese Family Over Three Generations by Jung Chang. Copies are available for free loan at the library. All who enjoy reading are welcome.
Oct. 27 is the next edition of Local Authors Read What They Write. Area writers are invited to read and/or listen to unpublished works. Sign up at 6:45 p.m. Reading begins at 7 p.m. and usually ends around 8. Elizabeth Macalaster ([email protected]) will facilitate the group. The group will meet again on Dec. 1 to share work and to set the dates for spring meetings.
Paul Madelinski, well-known Brookline artist, is exhibiting his paintings at the Crowell Gallery of the library during the month of October. An opening reception is planned for Saturday, Oct. 9, from 1-3 p.m. The show will run through Oct. 30 during library hours: Tuesdays-Fridays, 1-5 p.m. and Saturdays, 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
The library will be offering its annual “Design-A Plate” workshop during the week of November 9-13 during library hours. Children and the young at heart are invited to drop in to produce a design to be transferred onto a melamine plate or bowl that will be delivered in time for holiday giving. The cost per item is $6.
For more information on any of these events, call Librarian Meris Morrison at 802-365-7948.
Theater
• The Crucible at NEYT: New England Youth Theatre presents The Crucible, directed by Peter Gould, on Oct. 15-24 – Friday and Saturday evenings at 7, and Saturday and Sunday afternoons at 2.
Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a haunting story of witch hunts that occurred around Salem, Mass., in the early days of colonial America. In our current time of growing political polarization and intolerance, Gould is bringing back this passionate piece of cautionary art created during the tense era of McCarthyism.
The story begins as a teenage Abigail attempts to resurrect her lost love affair with the married, and much older John Proctor. When words and pleas are not enough, Abigail condemns Proctor's wife Elizabeth by accusing her of the capital felony of witchcraft. Abigail convinces a gaggle of young girls to play along with her. The girls are then manipulated by adults hungry for fame, power, land, and revenge.
Spurred on by a community consumed with suspicion and mistrust, Abigail and her friends condemn dozens of innocent people to imprisonment and death. The community of Salem goes “witch crazy” – and those who mete out justice enable and encourage them. In reality, the colony of Massachusetts imprisoned 150 people and killed 15 women and five men.
This play addresses mature themes, such as adultery, oppression, and mass hysteria. It is not appropriate for young children. Purchase advance tickets online at www.neyt.org, or at the NEYT box office on Wednesdays from noon-5 p.m. For more information about their programs, call 802-246-6398.
• Halloween Parade open call: If you are a designer, costume maker, musician, street performer, dancer, percussionist, circus artist, stilt walker or any other artistic or creative maven, you are invited to participate in the second annual Brattleboro Halloween Parade on Sunday, Oct. 31.
The theme for Halloween 2010 is XS RED. The parade begins at the corner Grove and Main streets at 7:30 p.m. Afterwards, there will be the grand costume party and competition at the Stone Church. Bring your excess, bring your red and most of all, bring yourself, your friends and family.
The first festival last year featured a truly spectacular costume party and prizes were awarded by many of the businesses in town. This year, organizers anticipate a bigger parade, with more revelers and more cohesive parade music. For more information, contact Richie Richardson at 347-995-1819.
Visual arts
• New Exposures arts program: This fall, area youth will have the opportunity to create and exchange artistic projects with their peers in communities across the country. Through The In-Sight Photography Project's Exposures Cross-Cultural Youth Arts Program, Brattleboro participants will be able to share their photographs and perspectives of their lives and local community with youth in Chicago and on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Beginning this month, youth participating in the Exposures Exchange Program will meet for 10 weekly classes at The In-Sight Photography Project. They will learn to use digital photography, Photoshop, writing and other creative skills to develop and collaborate on projects exploring their sense of identity, place, community, and culture.
Students from Shannon County Virtual High School and Little Wound High School and Middle School on the Pine Ridge Reservation, and participants at Street-Level Youth Media in Chicago are excited to exchange images and connect with Vermont youth in this fall's interactive, web-based Exchange Program, which will give youth from the three locations an opportunity to work with local facilitators, learn to use creative tools to look more deeply into their own experiences and cultures, and use the Web to share their work with participants from other sites.
The local Exposures Exchange group will meet Thursdays from 6-8 p.m. at the In-Sight Photography Project beginning Oct. 14. Spaces are currently available. Visit www.insight-photography.org or call 802-251-9960 to register.