In the 1970s, when François Clemmons was playing Sportin’ Life in the Cleveland Symphony production of Porgy and Bess — the role that earned him a Grammy in 1973 — he asked musical director Lorin Maazel if he could ditch his tuxedo and wear a shimmering, multicolored silk smoking jacket instead.... Read more

Dear Mistress,... Read more

Have you bought your Waking Windows III buttons yet? If not, what gives? They’re $20 and get you into every show of the indie-rock hootenanny this weekend in Winooski. That’s like, 50 cents a band. You can’t afford not to buy one, really. (Note to WWIII organizers: You can make checks payable to Dan Bolles, that’s b-o-l-l-e-s.) ... Read more

(Self-released, CD, digital download)

Of all the many splendored offshoots of punk rock, pop punk and its moody cousin, emo, are typically its most confessional. In the case of the latter particularly, it’s practically the entire point of the genre — as if heartache, injustice and pain came into existence only when some disillusioned teenagers started fucking around with power chords in between bouts of drying their mascara-clad eyes with Hot Topic T-shirts. But I digress.... Read more

(Self-released, CD, digital download)

“Biography,” the first song on her new EP, Meaty Hooks, tells you everything you need to know about Burlington’s Nuda Veritas. Almost. “Let me tell you ’bout me / I’m a fan of originality,” she sings in the first stanza, backed by a chorus of bright, a cappella chirps and mouth clicks. She continues, cooing, “Avant-garde is my thing. / Fuckin’ weird is my specialty.”... Read more

When Bill deVos gets a call about a dying or damaged tree, he doesn’t gear up for an execution; he packs his bag for a full-on forensic evaluation. The owner of Montpelier-based TreeWorks has an arsenal of tools to diagnose a tree’s weaknesses, and he’ll do anything he can to save one in trouble.... Read more

When you think of a spit-roasted lamb, you may think of Greece, but you probably won’t think “sparklers” — unless you are Greek. So it’s good there was a Greek girl among the diners at Hen of the Wood at the Grist Mill on April 21.... Read more

Just 20 minutes into our second meal at nika, the table suggested a medieval-style feast. When our server arrived with a plate of grilled octopus, the table was so full that he paused and stammered, “I’ll just put them … um ….” My friend and I stopped eating to rearrange plates and glasses — grilled escarole salad, braised artichokes, curls of prosciutto, a rosé and a cucumber-lychee-mint spritzer — and make room.... Read more

They go by many names — man cave, man-space, mantuary, bro hole. In days of yore, they were known simply as dad’s rec room, workshop, smoking lounge or deer camp. Call ’em what you will, they all have about the same function. They’re spaces we fellas carve out from the rest of our abodes to tap into our inner boy — assuming that boy is allowed to drink beer, shoot pool, play cards, watch sports or play with his toys at any hour of the day or night. ... Read more

Everyone gravitates to the kitchen. And why wouldn’t they? That’s where the food is and where the party is. But it’s also where clutter builds up. And where home cooks and hosts need things to actually function.

When things don’t, it may be time for a radical kitchen renovation.

Erica Ell, co-owner of Richmond’s HAVEN Design + Building, has remodeled a lot of kitchens. She says the key to a good renovation is “bringing in good lighting and daylight and opening up the kitchen into other living spaces.” ... Read more