GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
Well, here we are again. Only it's probably going to be wetter and louder. That's because of a slow-moving front coming our way, bringing with it the potential for thunderstorms, hail, microbursts, and heavy rainfall (onto already saturated ground) through the weekend. Actual temps will get into the upper 80s, but the humidity, of course, will make it feel warmer. Fog to start, then a chance of rain and thunder starting up this afternoon. As of yesterday, the weather service was saying, "Those with outdoor plans Friday afternoon and evening are likely to find them interrupted"—so keep an eye out.Red fox on the alert. On Erin Donahue's trail cam in E. Thetford. Writes Ted Levin: "Although their eyes are beautifully marbled and vertically slit and their noses read the day's news, red foxes rely on hearing to find prey. Long, mobile ears independently swivel 150 degrees. The right clockwise. The left counterclockwise. Tuned to the sound of food, a red fox is most sensitive at 3.5 kHz, the sound of rustling mice and baby birds. A fox hears a vole squeak across a football field, a watch tick at 40 yards ... and East Thetford fireworks blooming on a muggy July 4th."Three young skunks—also on the alert. Melissa Herman was walking home from work along Route 10 in Hanover on Wednesday evening when she spotted them—and they spotted her. "They were just curious, I think, but I kept backing up because I wasn’t interested in getting bitten or sprayed," she writes. "Even babies can make a pretty bit stink." Hard to decide who was braver, here.“I don’t understand how anybody would want to be there, but he does.” "There" is living on the streets, and that's where Danny Reiboldt, who grew up in the Randolph area, prefers to be. Which worries his sister, Casey, a lot. “Is somebody going to offer him something laced with fentanyl, or could he get beaten up so bad he doesn’t recover?” she says to the Herald's Darren Marcy. In the second of his series on homelessness in the White River Valley—Danny returns to Randolph occasionally—Marcy talks to Casey about the role mental health issues and alcoholism can play, and how families struggle as a result.In Woodstock, legal battles over farm-to-table restaurant get more contentious. That's in no small part because Peace Field Farm owner John Holland is losing patience with the very long, drawn-out effort to get state officials to move forward on his bid to create an on-farm restaurant—an idea backed by the town but opposed by some neighbors. In the VT Standard, Tom Ayres brings events up to date, tracking a series of emails Holland has sent out that, among other things, accuse the local Environmental Commission coordinator of treating his requests for an Act 250 exemption unfairly.Orange County sheriff suspended temporarily for missing training hours. In particular, VT Police Academy head Heather Simons noted in a suspension letter last Friday, Sheriff George Contois hadn't completed two of four hours of use-of-force training, creating a "safety risk, to yourself and the public." Contois put in the missing two hours yesterday, after a meeting of the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, which Simons also heads. Contois tells VTDigger's Hannah Cho that he'd received a warning several weeks ago, but didn't expect things to move so fast “because everything in state government is snail mail.”SPONSORED: Osher lecture series focuses on China. This morning at 9 am, Professor David Shambaugh will address the question, “U.S. Competition With China: How Should We Think About It?” This is the first session of the six-session Osher Summer Lecture Series, “China and the United States: Can Competitive Coexistence Be Maintained?”, running Fridays from July 7-August 11. Presented with the Dickey Center, the series is open to the public, both livestreamed and in-person at LOH. Sponsored by Osher at Dartmouth.Hiking Close to Home: Georgiana Falls, Lincoln, NH. This is a lovely out-and-back hike from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance, with two choices. One is less than a mile to Georgiana Falls, where you'll see a 30' waterfall and multiple cascades. For an extra challenge and a view of one of the best waterfalls in the Whites, travel past Georgiana on the steep path toward Harvard Falls. The extra climb will make this a rewarding but challenging 2.4-mile round trip. Park in the small pull-off at the end of Georgiana Falls Road, then follow the gravel road and a snowmobile trail under I-93 to where the trail enters the woods.“It’s like a roller coaster ride on your mountain bike down the hill." That's Erik Schutz, president of the Ascutney Trails Association, talking about Kickstands Up!, a new mountain biking flow trail down Mt. Ascutney. It should be open by the end of July, he tells Aaron Rubin in the Standard—just in time for the Flow State Vermont Mountain Bike Festival there. Rubin takes a look at what Ascutney's got in store this summer, including the two-year-old but mostly undiscovered Norcross Trail; the Flow State Festival (July 28-30); the Vermont Overland at the end of August; and this weekend's Gnar Weasels Race.Been paying attention to Daybreak? It was a short Daybreak week, but not so short that the Upper Valley News Quiz can't have some questions for you. Like, why was the sticky false asphodel in the news this week? And what was it that stopped that guy trying to flee a police traffic stop in Lebanon? And could it actually be that a trucker ignored people trying to wave him down as he was headed for Smugglers Notch? Those and other questions at the link.But wait! How closely were you following VT and NH?
Because Seven Days wants to know if you know why nearly every school district in Vermont is suing chemical giant Monsanto.
And NHPR's got a whole set of questions about doings around the Granite State—like, what kind of care are Medicaid patients having trouble getting, despite a recent expansion of benefits?
With state historical marker for Elizabeth Gurley Flynn in mothballs, Concord residents take it to their front lawns. You remember the brouhaha, right? After Republicans on the Exec Council lambasted the decision to allow an official marker noting the 20th century labor organizer's ties to Concord, the state quickly removed it at Gov. Chris Sununu's behest. Now, reports Jamie L. Costa in the Monitor, replicas are showing up as yard signs around the city. “I’m just trying to spread the word now that the historical marker has been removed,” Liza Poinier, who printed and distributed 75 signs, tells Costa.Judge orders arrest of Slate Ridge owner Daniel Banyai. In a decision issued yesterday, environmental court Judge Thomas Durkin found the gun training camp owner in contempt of a 2021 court order requiring him to remove buildings on his property that had been put up without a permit. Durkin directed "any sheriff or constable in this state" to jail Banyai until he or the town of Pawlet brings the property into compliance—which, in practice, means the Rutland County sheriff's office, reports VTDigger's Emma Cotton. "Please stand with me," Banyai posted on FB yesterday. "This needs to be protested civilly.” After two decades of getting up at 4 am, VT Public's Mitch Wertlieb opts for a saner schedule. The longtime Morning Edition host will do his last 6-9 am stint in that role three weeks from today, he announced yesterday morning, then hand the mic over to Jenn Jarecki, who currently hosts All Things Considered. Wertlieb will move over to VT Public's daily podcast, The Frequency. "I can't stress enough how difficult, even agonizing, this decision was for me," he reflected yesterday, praising listeners for having "a unique understanding of the communal spirit inherent in the live radio experience.""What if 'culture' is just whatever the people in your town want it to be, and the main point is to give everyone in town excuses to get together?" That was the idea behind Developed to Death, a murder-mystery dinner theater written by, about, and for people in and around Hardwick, VT—and set at a development review board meeting. A really boring one. With that premise, podcaster Erica Heilman launches her latest Rumble Strip episode, tracing the dinner show's ins and outs—and mapping how one small effort to bring a community together can do exactly that. It's an hour; sit back and savor it.And speaking of Erica Heilman... To mark the 20th birthday of podcasting, one of its pioneers, former NYT reporter and NPR talk show host Christopher Lydon, devotes his newest Radio Open Source episode to an incredibly wide-ranging conversation with Heilman: about her work, his work, the making of her Peabody award-winning episode "Finn and the Bell"—"It still rocks me that I’ll never get to meet him," she says—community culture, and Heilman's dream that each town could someday have its own podcast, with "people working hard to make great stories in small places about unimportant things."The big question: How do you capture playfulness? In glass? You remember Glasstastic, the yearly exhibition at the Brattleboro Museum in which kids provide drawings of fantastical creatures and glass artists bring them to life—or at least 3D? In Seven Days, writer Jennifer Sutton and cartoonist Ezra Veitch bring Glasstastic to life—the kids, the artists, the craft, the creatures... The hardest thing, says a glass artist? Eyeballs and appendages.Not-so-easy riders. In his Snack Stack newsletter, Doug Mack digs for the truth about Van Halen’s 1980s contract requiring venues to provide M&Ms stripped of the brown ones. Was this early example of rock-star foot-stamping just a “we have enormous egos and don’t you forget it” situation, or was the band actually testing the venues’ attention to detail? Maybe neither, writes Mack. Starting with a 1974 CSNY contract specifying the brand of wine (chilled) and limo count, Mack runs through the contract riders—and the reasons for them—of some of that era’s biggest rock personalities. Van Halen, he concludes, may have been savvier about marketing than we knew."It seemed like the sky exploded." That would be the aurora that appeared over the Goðafoss waterfall in northern Iceland one night back in February—and which photographer Cari Letelier captured over 34 exposures and turned into a single composite photo. It was NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day a few days ago. You've gotta figure that picking the pic each day has to be one of the coolest jobs on the planet. If not in the solar system.The Friday Vordle. If you're new to Vordle, you should know that fresh ones appear on weekends using words from the Friday Daybreak, and you can get a reminder email each weekend morning. If you'd like that, sign up here.
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mug from DB Johnson for you? Or maybe a Vordle t-shirt? Or, of course, Daybreak tees, long-sleeve tees, and mugs. Check out what's available and wear it (or drink from it) proudly! Email me ([email protected]) if you've got questions.
Today at 3 pm, the Oak Hill Music Festival offers a glimpse of what's in store at its concerts next week with an open rehearsal at the Howe Library in Hanover. Keiko Tokunaga and Niv Ashkenazi on violin, Daniel Orsen on viola, and Ana Kim on cello will play from the Borodin String Quartet No. 2 in the new books area. No charge, open to the public.
So, yep, it's First Friday, and you know what that means. There'll be music, food, art, and general carrying on around town, including: An "intergalactic block party" starting at 6 and starring The Western Terrestrials on the porch of Upper Valley Storage (136 S. Main); a multi-artist show, "Bold Botanicals", opening at Long River Gallery starting at 5, with music by Meadowlark; an opening reception starting at 5 at Kishka Gallery for the paintings of Paige Beeber, which draw their inspiration from "the meticulous artistry" of weaving and needlepoint; plus lots more all around.
At 5 this afternoon, Vershire Rec presents Jennings & McComber—the folk duo of Andy and Kara Lake (the band's named for their maternal grandmothers). Guitar, banjo, accordion, uke, and other instruments that let them explore a full range of acoustic folk, most of it original. At the Vershire Town Center.
At 6 this evening, Pentangle Arts kicks off its 2023 Summer by the River series in Woodstock with Prydein and their highly eclectic brand of Celtic—oh heck, let's just call it what it is: Bagpipe Rock. In East End Park, or Town Hall Theater in case of rain.
Opera North opens its 2023 Summerfest season this evening at 7 at Blow-Me-Down Farm in Cornish with Cavalcade, the company's signature mashup of opera and circus. Acrobats, aerialists, and a wide-ranging cast of singers from as far as South Africa and South Korea. Runs through Sunday, then it's on to Carmen, Carousel, and Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon in August. In the VN, Alex Hanson offers a look at the opera company and its place in a growing opera world.
Also at 7, Hop Film screens Polite Society, Nida Mansoor's debut feature that's part action comedy, part Little Women, part Jane Austen. It follows two Pakistani sisters in London, one of whom is determined to become a stuntwoman—and to break up the impending marriage of her older sister to a wealthy doctor. The result is a giddily action-packed exploration of culture that the NYT just listed as one of the best films of 2023 so far.
At 7:30 this evening, Court Street Arts in Haverhill brings in Dirty Cello, the SF-based four-piece ensemble led by cross-over cellist Rebecca Roundman that dives into blues, rock, bluegrass, and Americana, all of it stretching far beyond their classical roots. As usual, dinner available at the Bailiff's Café.
Saturday
From 10 am to noon tomorrow as part of Newbury NH's Old Home Day, there'll be an energy expo featuring a range of equipment and devices to check out, including a solar tracker from Solaflect, electric lawn equipment, weatherizing info from Yankee Thermal Imaging, residential solar from SR Solar, heat pumps, and maybe an EV from Key Auto. Folks will be on hand to talk about it all, as well as about Community Power in NH. No link.
And from 10 am to 5 pm tomorrow, VINS in Quechee is throwing an Incredible Insect Festival, with talks about beekeeping and dragonflies, a class on drawing from nature, a caterpillar lab, and more.
Tomorrow at 5:30 pm, Billings Farm hosts the Farm to Ballet Project—which in this case is more like the Ballet to Farm Project. They'll be presenting an original ballet about a farm through the seasons, complete with dancing vegetables, dancing farm animals, and even the seasons themselves. Ice cream and a bar tended by Barr Hill Gin.
And at 6 pm, a drive away—but hey, where else are you going to see this?—Next Stage Arts and the New England Center for Circus Arts in Brattleboro are hosting the Boston-based tap dance company Subject:Matter, bringing jazz standards from their show "Songbook," funk tunes from their show "Blowout," and new music from upcoming premieres this fall.
At 7 pm, Hop Film hosts filmmaker Ken Burns and writer Dayton Duncan talking about—and showing—their latest, The American Buffalo. It may be sold out, but it's always worth a call for last-minute tix:603.646.2422.
At 7:30 tomorrow evening, the Enfield Shaker Museum brings in the Grace Wallace Quartet—jazz vocalist Grace Wallace, bass player Peter Concilio, drummer Tim Gilmore, and pianist Bob Merrill—for an evening of herb-infused cocktails and mocktails and soft jazz, "All Jazzed Up with Sophisticated Sips." Food and drink at 7:30, music starts at 8, reservations required.
At 8 pm tomorrow, WRJ's Main Street Museum joins forces with Windsor's What Doth Life collective to host three bands from around the region: Claremont's Chodus, Windsor's McAsh, and Montpelier's Magic User. "It'll be weird," they promise.
And taking us into the weekend...
We'll keep it simple: Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Greg Philliganes, Nathan East, and others at the Royal Albert Hall in 1991, part of Clapton's record-breaking run of 24 consecutive nights at the venue he first hit with the Yardbirds in 1964.
Here's guessing there was no brown M&M rider in
their
contract.
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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