GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Decreasing clouds, gusty. But hey, it won't be raining! That's because our slow-moving cold front is now off to the east and blocking out a coastal low. The air is a bit cooler than it's been—but still warmer than normal, with temps today getting into the 40s and down into the upper 20s tonight. We'll start out cloudy, but should be seeing sun by afternoon, along with gusts into the 30 mph+ range. Mostly sunny and calm over the weekend.That Worm Moon. It was pretty great, wasn't it?
Here's moonset from Woodstock early Monday morning, caught on video in all its peaceful majesty by Leslie Leslie.
And here's moonglow on a still-frozen Lake Memphremagog just after midnight later that night, from Mary Alcott Ferger.
Worthy Burger co-founder to open new WRJ restaurant in former Trail Break space. The concept for REDCAN, write Jason Merrill and his wife, Leslie, in announcing the move, is for a "comfortable and exquisite Prohibition Era ‘speakeasy’ style restaurant" with a bar, an oyster/raw bar, and table dining. Their aim, Jason says in an interview, is to create a spot that lends itself to “sharing and enjoying meals with friends." In the Daybreak article at the link, he says he'll continue to hold down his role in the Worthy empire and describes what's on tap at REDCAN—as well as how it got its name.For the Herald, last year "was a punch in the gut." These have been brutal times for small print newspapers, and in a blunt note to readers, Tim Calabro, the publisher of the venerable Randolph-based weekly, writes that 2023 was "the worst year on record" for the business side of the paper, and 2024 hasn't been any better. "The Herald is in a more precarious position than it has ever been," he writes, "and if things don’t improve the newspaper will cease to exist." He lays out the details of how it got there, as well as steps he and his small staff are taking—including how you can help through contributions.Tennis great Roger Federer is coming to town. Well, to Hanover, anyway, where on June 9 he'll be Dartmouth's commencement speaker. “Roger Federer is undeniably one the greatest athletes of all time, but it’s the evident joy that he always found on the court that stays with me, and that I think will resonate most with the Class of 2024,” President Sian Beilock says in the announcement. The college will release the names of honorary degree recipients "soon," it adds. Though it did release a lighthearted video with Beilock, Federer, Jake Tapper, and actor Gordon Clapp in an uncredited groundskeeper role.SPONSORED: It’s boisterous, it’s brilliant, it’s bawdy... and that’s just the opening number! Come see the exceptional local talent in We the People Theatre’s production of Something Rotten!, opening April 5 at the Briggs Opera House. With a cast of 24 local actors and singers, the show is a hilarious mash-up of 16th century Shakespeare and 21st century Broadway. It’s an homage to the musical theatre canon and is guaranteed to leave you laughing. Tickets at the burgundy link or here. Sponsored by We the People Theatre.The times we're in: Barnard establishes committee to tackle roads' "new norm". It used to be, town administrator Rob Ramrath tells Aaron Rubin in the Standard, that mud season was "nicely self-contained... People gritted their teeth and lived with it." Now, mud season's spilling its banks—and some roads are so horrendous, resident Dan Leavitt told the selectboard last week, that residents "face the hard decision to either stay home and miss work, or go to work and wreck their cars." So the town's creating a committee to figure out how to create "a better level of resilience in our roads," as Ramrath puts it. Claremont City Council ignores state law, refuses to put citizen-backed charter change on ballot. The proposed charter amendment, writes Patrick O'Grady in the Valley News, would let citizens propose ordinances for the council to consider—and send them to a referendum if not adopted. It collected enough signatures to go to the ballot and got signoffs from the Secy of State's and AG's offices, but Wednesday night, a majority of the city council rejected a motion to put it to the voters. Despite a state law saying they were required to. In a Thursday email, the DOJ says it expects the city "to correct this matter."SPONSORED: Work at a nationally recognized bank, right here in the Upper Valley. At Bar Harbor Bank & Trust we have built a unique culture where employees bring heart and passion to life every day to earn customers’ trust. Our people are our most important differentiator. In 2023 and 2024 we were recognized by Newsweek and Forbes as a top bank, a testament to our incredible team. If you’re looking to jumpstart your career in the Upper Valley, consider joining Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. Learn more about open positions and our awards here. Sponsored by Bar Harbor Bank & Trust. Member FDIC.Canaan deer rescue. You know how deer always seem to be able to sail effortlessly over obstacles in the woods? In Canaan, one seems to have overrated its spring: On Wednesday, the town police department posted a brief body cam video from the night before of Officer Cameron Hill and a bystander freeing a deer caught in a cemetery fence. The deer was unharmed. Except for maybe a bruised ego."Keeping ensemble music alive in central Vermont is no small feat." So writes Caoimhe Markey in her Valley News profile of a woman who's managed to do just that: Braintree fiddler Beth Telford. Telford, who once worked at VINS as a peregrine falcon biologist, is a fiddle teacher, a regular at Randolph's New World Festival, and for over two decades the host of twice-yearly Celtic fiddle camps at her home. She first started them up with legendary Cape Breton fiddler Jerry Holland, whom she still describes as her best friend and mentor, and kept them going after his death. Markey writes about how it all came about."I do so love a rehearsal." As you may have noticed above, We the People Theatre's production of Something Rotten opens a week from today, and Susan Apel got a chance to sit in on a run-through at the Richmond School in Hanover (the show itself will be at the Briggs Opera House in WRJ). It was, she reports, "a spirited and talent-filled performance, and very funny." The musical, nominated for 8 Tonys, is a fanciful look at a pair of theatrical brothers in Shakespearean London desperately trying to get something on stage. Susan reports in on what she saw and her conversation with one cast member.Hiking Close to Home: the Stowe Recreation Path. The Upper Valley Trails Alliance checks in with this paved greenway stretching from Stowe Village to Top Notch Resort. The path crisscrosses the Little River with mountain views and access to businesses in Stowe. During the winter, GMTA provides a free shuttle along the mountain road for one-way trips. The path is open to bikers, pedestrians, and skiers as well as leashed pets, and it connects to other trails, including the Mayo Farm Quiet path for hiking, the Adams Camp Trails for biking, and the Catamount Trail for skiing.So... Think you know what's been going on in the Upper Valley? Because Daybreak's News Quiz has some questions for you. Like... Where's the Upper Valley's newest sugarhouse? And can you figure out which of three venues JAG Underground won't be using for a production this spring? Those questions and more at the link.And how closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to knowif you know: "A retired Burlington doctor built a sundial that only works when?"
And NHPR's got a whole set of questionsabout doings around the Granite State—like, which breed of dogs are NH lawmakers considering restricting?
NH House passes bill to add mental health records to gun checks. That's because, as Annmarie Timmins writes in NH Bulletin, "Gun rights advocates who are usually unified on gun legislation" split when the measure came to a vote last night, with 25 Republicans joining Democrats in support, giving the bill a 204 to 149 victory. The measure, drafted in the wake of last November's killing of a security guard at New Hampshire Hospital, was sponsored by a longtime gun rights advocate in tandem with a longtime firearms safety backer. It would apply only to people involuntarily admitted to treatment on a non-emergency basis, after a court hearing. Timmins details the many ins and outs.In VT, education secretary pick drawing scrutiny in the state Senate. Usually, write Ethan Weinstein, Sarah Mearhoff, and Shaun Robinson in VTDigger, the governor's nominees get Senate approval with little fuss. But with years as a VP at Charter Schools USA, a for-profit education management company, Florida's Zoie Saunders—whom Gov. Phil Scott nominated last Friday—is drawing opposition from politicians and residents concerned, as one state senator puts it, "that a decision has been made to move further towards a private [school] system.” Scott yesterday blasted critics' "false accusations."What it means to be "just getting by". That's the title of filmmaker Bess O'Brien's latest documentary—and the latest in a series of deep-cutting social issues she's tackled in Vermont. For his Vermont Conversation, David Goodman talks to O'Brien about how she got to the subject—it started with looking at food insecurity, which led to housing—and what she found among the working people she filmed. "These people are extremely innovative, creative, resilient," O'Brien says, "because they are dealing with not enough money and they somehow make it work. Barely."“I decided to ban myself for life.” Derek Brouwer remembers being addicted to Xbox as a teenager, so when Seven Days offered him $100 to try on sportsbook apps (and write about it), he hesitated. VT made online sports gambling legal in January; in the first two months, $41 million was wagered. Brouwer writes about his experience and the emotional and financial effect of an industry that “combines the sophistication of big data with ubiquitous marketing, gambling psychology and the addictive tug of cellphones." Ultimately, he put himself on a no-gambling registry.Friends coming for the eclipse? Send them this helpful intro to VT. Eva Sollberger has been filming her “Stuck in Vermont” series since 2007 and couple of months ago, Seven Days ran a compilation of episodes that you might find helpful right about now, as visitors prep to arrive en masse to experience the state in its darkest one-twentieth of an hour. The IPA Highway, four—four—creemee stands, a preview of the Made in Vermont Marketplace in S. Burlington, and, despite the name of the series, how not to get stuck in Vermont during mud season. Your guests may never leave.And while we're talking celestial doings, here's one a bit farther away. 27,000 light years, in fact, at the galactic center. The international team behind the Event Horizon Telescope, which links radio telescopes across the globe to study black holes, has just released the first image using polarized light to take a look at the magnetic field structure around Sagittarius A*, the black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The science behind how they got it is fascinating. The image itself: Unreal.Ear flap. Or maybe that should be "flapping ears". Sometimes, all you need to lift your mood is to watch a dog—or even better, two dogs—running at the beach. Especially when Mabel's got a cam on board and you can see Olive and Andrew Cotter and the sand and the breakers—and her ears—from her back's perspective. Though Cotter throws in some footage from his perspective, too.The Friday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak. If you're new to Vordle, you should know that fresh ones appear on weekends, using words from the Friday Daybreak. You can get a reminder email each morning Daybreak doesn't publish: Just sign up here.
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There's lots to see on the Daybreak swag page created by Strong Rabbit Designs, including a Daybreak jigsaw puzzle, fleece, hats, mugs, and tees. And hey, just so you know, Strong Rabbit is celebrating the eclipse by offering locally designed eclipse merchandise through April 8th.
In case you didn't make it to the Rumney Sessions last night, today at noon, Upper Valley Music Center's "A Little Lunch Music" series presents Jeremiah McLane (accordion, piano) and Eric Boodman (fiddle, foot percussion) with traditional songs and tunes from North America and the British isles as well as their own compositions. At Upper Valley Music Center in Lebanon, no charge.
This evening at 6, a new venture gets underway in the social room of the First Congregational Church (aka the “Brick Church”) in Hartland: a monthly existentialism discussion group. It begins with Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling—Kierkegaard, writes co-organizer Don Kreis, was "the weird and reclusive Danish theologian of the 19th Century who is generally considered to have been the first existentialist philosopher"—and will be led by Chris Drain, a philosopher and a lecturer at Dartmouth's Institute for Writing and Rhetoric. No prior exposure to existentialism needed, and curious philosophy shoppers are welcome. No link, but email [email protected] with any questions.
This evening at 7, the Chandler in Randolph hosts a Mud Season Variety Show. Dancing, music, singing, poetry... there's no guessing who you'll see up on stage. And they're not saying.
Also at 7, Hop Film screens The Teachers' Lounge, an Oscar nominee for Best International Feature. Surely there can't be many films that earn the label of "Gripping Classroom-Ethics Thriller", as Variety put it. The premise of İlker Çatak's film, set in a German high school: a new teacher in the school, Carla Nowak, goes to bat for a Turkish student accused in a series of thefts. Things unravel from there in what Jessica Kiang calls a "highly effective, slow-cooker drama."
At 8 tonight, the Hop brings in Putney's Sandglass Theater for a three-performance run of its puppetry, dance, and spoken narrative piece When I Put On Your Glove. It's created and performed by Shoshana Bass, who took over the group—known for exploring contemporary issues through puppetry, theater, and music—from her parents a few years back; the piece explores what it means for a daughter "to slip into her father's art—and not just the form, but the actual pieces." At the Theater on Currier, with performances at 2 pm and 8 pm tomorrow as well (limited tickets remaining for tonight's show).
And at 9 tonight, Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover hosts Slim Volume. The Manchester, NH-based indie folk-rockers launched a bit over a year ago, growing out of a years-long collaboration by singer-songwriters Trent Larrabee and Jake DeSchuiteneer, then adding guitarist Mike Morgan and percussionist Jonny Lawrence.
Saturday
At 10 tomorrow morning, the Lebanon Opera House hosts a free, sensory-friendly screening of Shrek. Shrek, Donkey, Lord Farquaad, Princess Fiona—and, of course, Dragon, Gingerbread Man, and more. Lights in the theater will be turned slightly up and the sound turned slightly down to make it comfortable for everyone. Audience members are free to get up and dance, walk, shout, or sing.
Tomorrow at 2 pm, the Norwich Bookstore hosts NH writer Maggie Thrash and VT cartoonist Tillie Walden for a conversation about Thrash's new novel, Rainbow Black. Set in New Hampshire, it covers two decades that begin when the Satanic panic of the '90s ensnares Lacey Bond's parents, and moves to her adulthood as a law clerk trying to live a normal life with her girlfriend until "a tiny misstep spirals into an uncontrolled legal disaster [and] the hysteria threatens to begin all over again."
From 6 to 9 tomorrow evening, Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover will host vocalist Grace Wallace and pianist Jason Pettus for a dinnertime jazz show. No cover for the very fine music while you eat.
At 7 tomorrow evening, the Star Radio Hour swings back onto the Seven Stars Arts stage in Sharon. Written and directed by Chris Rua and Carol Langstaff, the night takes as its theme "River of Dreams" and celebrates nature's gift of rivers with songs, stories and skits—with local greats like host Jim Rooney, Ted Mortimer, Jakob Breitbach, Glendon Ingalls, Bob Merrill, Chris Rua, Becky Bailey, Danae Carlson, Jim Schley, Neal Meglathery and Rich Holschuh from the Abenaki Nation. There'll be a swing dance party afterward.
Also at 7 pm tomorrow, Hop Film screens Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé. It's part concert film, a record of her global "Renaissance" tour, but also about the process of making that tour: rehearsals, downtime, the sheer logistics. "As she probes and pushes about the specifics of camera lenses and lighting cues," wrote Christy Lemire last year for RogerEbert.com "she declares matter-of-factly, 'Eventually, they realize: This bitch will not give up,' and the fellow Virgo in me felt seen." At the Loew, and the Hop notes "Due to the unique nature of this event, we are unable to offer our standard discounts."
And hey, it's Friday!
Time for Grace Potter.
, recorded in the Sonic Forest playground/sound studio she and her husband created in their Vermont barn.
Ready? Set? See you Monday for CoffeeBreak.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt Poetry editor: Michael Lipson Associate Editor: Jonea Gurwitt About Rob About Michael
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