The opening concert of the Vermont Mozart Festival did not play out according to the well-marketed image of picnickers mixing Brahms and Beaujolais on the grounds of Shelburne Farms. On a dark and glowering Sunday afternoon, it was inevitable that the festivities would be moved to the considerably less glam premises of Memorial Auditorium in downtown Burlington.... Read more

The American flag has always been a proud symbol of Yankee independence, whether waving in the dawn's early light or plastered across the ass of a draft-dodging hippie. Today's headlines suggest Old Glory is still roiling passions. The Pledge of Alle-giance --or at least a part of it --is being challenged in the courts; the latest versions of the Flag Protection Amendment are making their way through the two houses of Congress. And proponents and protesters of the war in Iraq are hoisting the Stars and Stripes to prove their patriotism.... Read more

I spent last week navigating the dream life of the 20th century -- or at least that part of it represented by two unusual Vermont auto shows about 90 miles apart. One exhibition was devoted to the rise and fall of the pedal car, a staple of American childhood for three generations; the other was dedicated to a fabled European marque, available only to very rich adults. Despite differences between the two exhibits -- in subject matter, scope and presentation --both have a lot to say about how subtly and seductively the automobile plaited itself into the imaginative life of the last century.... Read more