The Fly Fishing Film Tour is a national event organized by AEG Media featuring independent films on the subject, as well as trailers for its own releases. If you think the tagline “Pure fly fishing entertainment” is almost comical, you’re not alone. Imagine Brad Pitt’s character in A River Runs Through It cutting loose and setting up his own niche in the outdoor film industry.... Read more

Eric Engler handed me the gun. “Careful,” he said. “The trigger’s sensitive.”

I slowly squeezed the . . . pop-pop-pop!

“Well,” I said, “I guess it is.”

I regrouped and recalled the advice I had just heard an overbearing father relay to his school-aged son: “Sight. Breathe. Squeeze.” I repeated that cycle six times before I hit my target — a glowing, incandescent light bulb perched inside an Oscar the Grouch-esque garbage can.... Read more

Kaytee Manchester’s arms rose and fell in undulating waves, hips swaying in a classic “Ghawazee Shimmy,” feet gliding across the stage to the rhythms of a tribal Saptak song. It was an encouraging reminder that Middle Eastern culture — the one that brought us the burka and moral police — can also celebrate the grace and sensuality of the female body.... Read more

Heads up, recreational skaters — roller derby has come full circle. The all-women contact sport originated as a tough-girl activity decades ago, but since 2000, roller derby has undergone a grassroots revival. Something about in-your-face females unafraid of blood and bruises strikes a popular chord among fans and players alike, and independent, self-managed teams now number more than 50 nationwide. The Green Mountain Derby Dames have brought Burlington into the boisterous fold.... Read more

Just before itinerant “Dino Pastor” and creationist Paul Veit took the podium at the North Avenue Alliance Church, nine children trooped to the foot of the sanctuary’s raised platform and, prompted by a choirmaster, sang a hymn.“... Read more

If OK Go were a hip-hop group, they might have chosen this morning’s scene as the backdrop for another indie-viral music video à la “Here It Goes Again.” Instead of fancy treadmills, the vibrantly carpeted ballroom held nearly a hundred young women spread over a temporary dance floor. But everyone was super-enthusiastic and the energy was infectious. When I walked in, the intermediate-level session was just finishing. A gaggle of dancers crowded around the teacher for autographs, and the rest scattered to grab sips of water before the next lesson.... Read more

Colchester’s new Unwinders bar, perched right on the edge of St. Michael’s College campus, is the perfect cocktail of bar clichés, fusing a “hole-in-the-wall” atmosphere with 1970s-style furnishings. This former American Legion jaunt features a popular Big Buck Hunter Pro arcade machine, Pleather-lined tables and two beers on tap — one for the less discerning (Bud Light) and one for the more discriminating palate (Switchback). Unwinders’ Super Bowl Party was a hoot, with its cross-section of two worlds: the local “been there, done that” crowd and the hard-partying St.... Read more

Last Saturday night, some 80 people packed the back room at Chow! Bella restaurant to hear intuitive counselor and medium Nan O’Brien draw spiritual energy from the cosmos and give it voice. The seventh of 10 stops on a tour marking the one-year anniversary of her first appearance on Star 92.9’s “Lana and Nolan in the Morning” show, the $35-a-head event sold out in a matter of days.... Read more

Last weekend was a bonanza for those whose sights were trained on acquiring the newest guns, ammo, bows, arrows and camo gear, and yet another reason for critters in the North Country to indulge their anxiety disorders. The area was host to both the Green Mountain Gun & Knife Show at the South Burlington Holiday Inn and the Yankee Sportsman’s Classic at the Expo. The former was a more basic ogle-and-handle adventure in firearm display. I chose the latter, a more diverse and esoteric journey into the culture of animal dispatching.... Read more

My middle-aged mind was playing tricks on me. The 65 singers of the Yale Glee Club looked impossibly young, despite sleek black dresses for the women and natty white-tie-and-tails for the men. Had 12-year-olds invaded the Ivy League?... Read more