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1 week ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
File under "Alas, we hardly knew you." The District VT, the Burlington restaurant and venue formerly known as ArtsRiot, announced via social media on Wednesday that it was closing. The news caps a turbulent period for the business, which had rebranded as the District VT just weeks earlier.
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1 week ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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(Self released, digital) French composer Claude Debussy famously said "Music is the space between the notes." And in those dark spaces linger so many things: resonance, echo, reverb. Rather than just an aggregation of notes, music is a tome, a collection of traits, of color, key and space that combine to form what the listener hears.
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1 week ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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One of my favorite sensations in this life is the anthropological joy I get from stumbling upon old stuff I completely forgot that I owned. Just a few weeks ago, while doing some very overdue housecleaning, I discovered that at some point I'd purchased the vinyl of the "Moonlighting" soundtrack.
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1 week ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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It's been grim reading lately for the Vermont music scene, as venues close and festivals come to an end. It's not all dire news, though — there are people working hard behind the scenes to pick up the flag and press forward. One such individual is Seth Soloway, executive director of Spruce Peak Arts in Stowe.
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2 weeks ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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Gaze into the future of Vermont's music scene — no crystal ball needed — this Friday, May 23, at Higher Ground in South Burlington. Sonic Futures: Youth Music Collective highlights the winners of the annual Harwood Union High School Battle of the Bands competition by putting four bands onstage — but not before giving the kids some critical music-industry tips.
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2 weeks ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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Vermont in the summer is treasure trove of outdoor live music. This year, the Ben & Jerry's Concerts on the Green series at Shelburne Museum features the likes of Lucy Dacus, Waxahatchee and Lyle Lovett. Big shows at the Champlain Valley Exposition in Essex Junction include Vampire Weekend, Flo Rida, Primus and a Mumford & Sons hootenanny.
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2 weeks ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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(Self-released, CD, digital) The Charlotte duo of Julia Beerworth and Anna Pepin started playing music together almost 15 years ago. The two — who are sisters in the legal sense, as Pepin is married to Beerworth's brother — began performing at holiday parties and soon moved on to gigging around the Burlington area.
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2 weeks ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Cathy Resmer |Chris Farnsworth
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Outdoor concerts abound in Vermont during the summertime. They check several boxes for parents: They're fun for both children and adults; with family rates or free entry for kids, they're often an economical way to encourage music appreciation among the next generation; and seeing musicians perform can awaken an interest in learning to play the instruments that kids see onstage.
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3 weeks ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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As I climbed that old familiar staircase, darkened save for the afternoon sunlight that filtered through the rock club's open front door, I studied the posters on the wall. Decades' worth of shows lined the ascending curve like photos of kids and family reunions in a deceased relative's house. The place felt haunted, making me feel as if I were on my way to view a body lying in state.
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3 weeks ago | 
sevendaysvt.com | Chris Farnsworth
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Statistically, people interact the most with music during their adolescence. For many, the music of their youth becomes the soundtrack of their lives, according to Australian Catholic University professor Timothy McKenry in a 2023 essay on the Conversation.
