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As announced on SolidState on Monday — and cleverly reported here by Lauren Ober yesterday — Scumlords of the Universe, GWAR, judged Burton's 14th annual "Howl-O-Ween Doggie Costume yesterday afternoon in the lobby of the Burton factory. And let me tell you, it was just about as awesome as it sounds.
What follows is a video I compiled documenting the afternoon's proceedings. No dogs were harmed in the production of this film. Except one, maybe …
OK, admit it — you've always wanted to smash a squash, gouge a gourd, zing a zucchini.
Well, this past Sunday in Cambridge, in a field behind Boyden Farms, there was all that and more. The farm was home to what promises to be an annual event: The Vermont Pumpkin Chuckin' Festival.
I won't bore you with the details of how this fest came to be, and I don't really care all that much. I'm sure as heck glad it happened.
Watching five pound pumpkins hurled more than a hundred feet only to splatter into a mix of rind and guts is a glory to behold (see carnage pic below).
About a dozen teams were able to construct a trebuchet for the competition — which was literally pulled together in a month.
The winning team, a group of three guys from Central Vermont, ended up winning in the heavyweight division by hurling a pumpkin nearly 140 feet.
They later tossed cabbage, lettuce, cauliflower, pineapples and more for fun and let as many kids as wanted help load the trebuchet and take turns pulling the release cord.
Here's a photo of our makeshift Maypole. Not exactly regulation, but it's the best we could do with what we had layin' around the office.
Have a safe and happy May Day... or, if you're in Hawaii, Lei Day.
Sadly, I did not get to attend last night's "This American Life, Live!" show at the Palace 9.
Look what I missed! Fun with Ira Glass glasses.
Click here to make your own IG glasses.
Kara, our intern, did go to the show, and said it was great. I think she's planning a blog post for later. She said I should get tickets to the May 7 show.
I once interviewed Ira Glass and got him to sing the 1st verse of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer musical song "Going Through the Motions." It was good times. I still have it on mini-disc somewhere...
UPDATE: Cathy Resmer says: I stupidly posted this as Seven Days rather than as myself. Can't believe I missed the opportunity to take credit for my interview with Ira.
Pillow fight organizer Darin Cassler is officially off the hook.
The Burlington Police Department does not plan to press disorderly conduct charges against Cassler, the 21-year-old who Facebook-organized last Friday's Church Street pillow fight. That's according to a department press release sent a few minutes ago. Department chief Michael Schirling confirms in a phone interview that BPD will not request a search warrant for Cassler's cell phone, which an officer confiscated after Friday's fluff fest.
According to the Burlington Free Press, Cassler was arrested on Friday after the pillow fight attracted a crowd of about 50 people. (To see the fight, check out Eva Sollberger's 7DTV dispatch.) The Free Press reports that such charges could fetch up to 60 days in jail and fines of $500.
When I spoke with Cassler this afternoon (after his phone was returned), he told me not having a cell phone all weekend was a pain. Fortunately, the social-networking site Facebook is his "communicative snorkel to the universe," so he was able to keep friends apprised of his legal hassles. What happened to his pillow? Cassler said a friend picked up his "A" pillow at Friday's protest and is holding it for safekeeping. He reports that a temporary substitute -— a white number with a green border, stuffed with "Egyptian" cotton — is working out well enough.
Cassler said he has received several calls from area residents who are disappointed by the BPD's handling of Friday's pillow fight. Some of them, he notes, have discussed showing up to a City Council meeting at Contois Auditorium and "filling up the room with pillows." It remains to be seen whether the action would prompt the municipal officials to nod off.
The after work crowd flooding the Church St Marketplace Friday were treated to an unexpected show when a pillow fight erupted in front of the mall. A whistle signaled the start of the Burlington Pillow Fight Flash-Mob which was over as suddenly as it began.
Police arrested organizer Darin Cassler who was released later that day. Who knew pillows could cause so much trouble? In case you missed it, here is the video.
And if you care to see it from another angle, Geoff Golder posted this video.
The Facebook page promoting this event listed the rules as follows:
Bring a pillow and a container in which to conceal it. Assemble on the
street as if you were loitering, do not acknowledge anyone else
participating. Our host will shout 'pillow fight' and we will all
spontaneously break into a big miasma of feathers and pillows.
+ Soft pillows only!
+ Swing lightly, many people will be swinging at once.
+ Do not swing at people without pillows or with cameras.
+ Remove glasses beforehand!
+ The event is free and appropriate for all ages.
+ Wait until the signal to begin.
+ This event is more fun with feathers!
"We got to work this morning and heard this huge, screeching crash and looked out the window, and right outside the shop an alien had apparently just landed!" So went Steve Conant's story when I called him about the female "alien" clinging to the side of his building. I saw her when I walked to work this morning, but it turned out I'd missed all the "action." Which was a "hazmat" crew — conveniently located inside the Conant Metal & Light building — suppressing the "fire" from the alien's body-sized space ship. After their work was done, the crew set up a caution tape around the crash site, a job that reportedly met with the approval of Burlington Public Works.
Speaking of bodies, Ms. Alien was about six feet tall and, according to Conant, "fully articulated and anatomically incorrect." He's not sure what will happen with the figure after she's removed at the end of the day. Me, I'd like to see her continue to climb the walls.
Oh, and happy April Fool's Day!
More than 1200 people attended this year's Winter is a Drag Ball hosted
by the House of LeMay.
Check out the official Seven Days slideshow of photos submitted by area photographers.
My story in this week's food section profiles a 21-year-old Burlington goatherder, and his struggle to raise farm animals in accordance with the city's convoluted zoning regs. It's a follow-up, of sorts, to a story I wrote in March about Queen City residents who raise chickens.
Thanks to one astute Seven Days reader, I just learned about urbanchickens.org., a New Mexico-based advocacy site for folks who are passionate about backyard cluckers. On the site's international Google map of chicken farmers, the nearest coop to Vermont appears to be in Sandwich, Mass. A search feature on "chicken groups and chicken ordinances" assures that Vermont ordinances are "Coming Soon!"
Godspeed, digital poultry-teers: It may be awhile before your data comes home to roost.
Check out this Sarah Palin ode by two recent Middlebury College grads. Full disclosure: one of the guys, Lucas Kavner, was my former college roommate.
Last month, this was the #1 most viewed YouTube video in Russia.
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