Stroll Weekend 2014 Entertainers

See schedule on our Weekend Entertainment schedule page. Here are some details about our 2014 performers:

Alan Greenleaf and the Doctor

Singer-songwriter Alan Greenleaf is one of Vermont’s most prolific and beloved songwriters. Robert Resnik considers Alan “the best songwriter in Vermont” He is a self taught finger picking guitar player whose songs and lyrics reflect the people and country around him. The stories he tells are greatly inspired by his years as a farmer in Northern Vermont . His music draws from many American traditions, including country, Appalachian, Blues and Jazz. And of course, he wrote the official song for the Strolling of the Heifers. Alan has been playing with “Doc” for a dozen years. Jonathan Kaplan is a classically trained pianist who fell for the blues and old time traditional American music, and his keyboard work provides an inspired backdrop for Alan’s stories. Together, they bring a wide variety of original ballads, rhythm and blues and moving melodies that is “Americana” music at its best.

Alotta Hoopla

Shenandoah Sluter’s Alotta Hoopla provides a revolutionary experience of fun movement, creative exercise and inspiring interaction. So come get your Hoop On!

Our mission is to inspire healthy happy presence through rhythmic revolving movements with these toys, tools and instruments for the bodies, minds and spirit of our world. Alotta Hoopla is created by spreading joy, health and consciousness through the playful, present movements of hooping. In spinning around the world, Alotta Hoopla offers an experience of the spiraling rhythm revolving and evolving around and within us. When we are exposed to a pure expression of beauty we can experience the beauty within ourselves to explore, nurture and share. To master an art or simply witness it, is to recognize the creative force within all of us. Alotta Hoopla offers each hoop as a gift of divine possibilities. 

Amelia Struthers

Amelia Struthers, performance artist also known as the “Dairy Godmother,” has been with the Stroll since the first heifers took to the streets of Brattleboro in 2001. Amelia is a veteran entertainer, performing throughout New England as an actress, storyteller, comedian, children’s musician, and emcee, on stage, television and radio. Since moving to Brattleboro in 2000, she has regularly performed comedy improv, and won silver and gold medals, as well as a People’s Choice Award at the 2002 International Clown Convention for best sketch comedy act. Her latest project, a CD called “All About the Heart,” highlights her musical side; Amelia and her singing/songwriting partner perform as Vermont Timbre. Amelia is an educator who lives with her daughter, Maia, also known as the Dairy Fairy and a veteran comedian herself.

Bhangra

Let’s get the party started. Come dance the Bhangra on Main Street, CircusYoga Style! Love to dance? Got two left feet? Either way, this is the dance for you! You may have stumbled onto this Bollywood-style dancing event at previous Heifer Strolls. As with any CircusYoga experience, its easy to learn, has a good dose of hilarity and you and your friends will be “intoxicated with joy” (the very definition of Bhangra). CircusYoga is a Brattleboro based organization that offers joyful, creativity and relationship building opportunities through kids’ summer camps, in-school residencies, teacher trainings and more. Find out more at www.circusyoga.com.

Ben Carr and the Ukeleles

The Southern Vermont ‘Ukulele Society is group which meets the second Sunday of every month, from 12 – 2 PM, with a mission to create and foster a comfortable environment for exploring the sounds and playing techniques of the ‘ukulele. The group is open to all ages and the focus is on having fun! Check out our Facebook page!

The Bondville Boys

The Bondville Boys, so named because “some of us are from Bondville, and some of us are boys,” consists of Jake Geppert (banjo, guitar and vocals), Tom Morris (guitar and banjo), Laura Molinelli (guitar and vocals), Dennis Fink (bass and vocals) and Ben Campbell (guitars, mandolin and vocals). Popular throughout western New England since 1990, the Bondville Boys have shared stages with Del McCoury, the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Buddy Cage, and the Gibson Brothers, among others. The group currently has two live records with a new studio album coming out in the spring. The Bondville Boys play a huge assortment of music, including a ton of original tunes and everything from Flatt and Scruggs to Blondie.

Brattleboro School of Dance

Short dance pieces performed by students from Brattleboro School of Dance showcase work developed in Creative Dance Classes for 5-6 year olds, and Children’s Hip Hop and Children’s Jazz classes for 7-10 year olds, under the leadership of Jennifer Moyse.

Butterfly Swing Band

Hot classic swing grooves from the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, with Joe LoMonaco, percussion, Andrew Lohse upright bass, Scott Sizer trumpet, harmonica and vocals, Mark Anagnostopulos guitar and vocals, Walter Slowinski clarinet, sax. We sing and play swing music from the great American songbook, with a bit a blues and bebop mixed in. Though we specialize in tunes from an earlier era, we are definitely not just a “retro” band cranking out “cover” versions of the great swing tunes. There is a high degree of spontaneity, with back and forth trading between the players. Riffs arise and metamorphosize into new themes. Our vocals include two and three-part harmonies. We have a unique and hard-swinging sound that always gets people moving and grooving on. Our brand of swing is more Count Basie than Bennie Goodman.

Circus Minimus

Circus Minimus, the one-man circus in-a-suitcase, gives everyone an opportunity to participate in an enthralling, whimsical celebration of the imagination. This show has been performed over 500 times around the globe, for family theater audiences and school assemblies alike. From Kevin O’Keefe’s suitcase an entire circus emerges: tent, band, lights, the boisterous ringmaster Steve Fitzpatrick, the officious Mervin Merkle, the incredible Bumbilini Family, the Magician to the Stars Clyde Zerbini, and Keefer–an innocent trying to runaway and join the circus. However, the most important performers emerge from the audience. Each performance becomes a dialogue between the characters and the audience–a light-hearted collaboration.

Ed the Wizard Magic Show

Follow Ed the Wizard throughout the day as he conjures up some mystical magical mayhem with his unique style of walk around magic and prestidigitation. Be prepared to volunteer and have fun as he makes the impossible possible right before your eyes. Ed’s website: www.edthewizard.com.

Franz Robert Band

The Franz Robert Trio consists of Franz Robert on synthesizer and Fender Rhodes, Eli Heath on standup and electric fretless bass, and Jacob Gartenstein on drums and percussion. We bring you a wide variety of jazz and original rock fusion compositions by local musicians.

Inisheer

Inisheer is made up of students from the Brattleboro Music Center’s Celtic Music program, playing fiddles, flutes, recorder, mandolin and guitar. Their repertoire includes jigs, reels and aires from Scotland and Ireland and includes French Canadian and Scandinavian tunes. They perform at festivals and farmers markets and have an upcoming performance on Brattleboro’s community radio.

Interplay with Judith Reischsman

In this InterPlay performance, we will ask the audience for words around the theme,  “The Unbelievable Beauty of the Strolling of the Slow Living Heifers” (or We Love Slow Cows, for short).  The performers then take the words given by the audience and create stories, dances and songs (and mixtures of all three).

Maya Apfelbaum, Eco-Artist and Stilt Dancer

Maya Apfelbaum is a Greenfield, Mass.-based artist/performer/director who creates eco-theatre and spoken word pieces, masks, giant puppets, painting and photos. Maya has worked extensively with elephants, rivers, snow, prayers, dreams, stories, and goddess archetypes — as well as with eco-village development — via theatre, dance, rituals, exhibits and parades. She earned an interdisciplinary MA in the Arts, Ecology and Community Building and shares her “Sacred Elephant Dance” in workshops and performances throughout New England and overseas. The daughter of WWII German Jewish refugees, her work inspires and reflects a deep joy in life – and an enduring effort to address prejudice, injustice and violence and transform them into a deepening reverence for ourselves, others and life itself. Maya’s on Facebook!

New England Center for Circus Arts

New England Center for Circus Arts will be performing all afternoon at the Expo on the retreat grounds. NECCA is a not-for-profit circus based school in Brattleboro. We welcome them back to entertain us in the air and on the ground with their annual performance that never fails too excite crowds of all ages.

 

New Orleans Brass Band Project

The New Orleans Brass Band Project was founded in early 2009 by New Orleans native Pete Simoneaux, as a means of developing a community of musicians, interested in performing traditional and contemporary New Orleans style Brass Band music. This is the music of jazz funerals and street parades in New Orleans, the style that gave birth to the careers of Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and whose lineage continues to this day in the funky, driving street rhythms of groups like the Dirty Dozen, the Rebirth, New Birth & Treme Brass Bands. The musicians of the N.O.B.B.P.  have become familiar to Brattleboro area audiences through their performances at numerous Gallery Walks, the Strolling of the Heifers, 4th of July parades, and a host of other local community events. For the 2013 edition of  the Strolling of the Heifers, the Celebration Brass Band will feature Tim Ellis on sousaphone, Ben James on bass drum, Stephen Voorhees on snare drum, Scott Sizer on trumpet, Dan DeWalt on trombone,  Jim Kurty on clarinet, Walter Slowinski, Frank Sansone & Jon Mack on tenor, baritone & alto saxes, with Pete & Linda Simoneaux serving as parade marshalls.

Meters for Demeter

Rolf Parker-Houghton, Paula Melton, Ben Mitchell, and others will give powerful performances of powerful poetry celebrating, and considering food, flora, and fauna. Poems by A. E. Housman, Don Marquis, Frank O’Hara,Elizabeth Bishop, Larry Levis, and other great writers will be performed.

Sandglass Puppets and Stilt Walking

Sandglass will present Kasper and the Cow! Sit by our big sun umbrella and step into a funny adventure with Kasper, beloved hand puppet hero of Germany. He wears a stocking cap and likes to have a good time with his audience. Kasper packs to go on a journey, but before he can leave, a cow steals his suitcase. With the help of his best friend, the charming giant Augustin, Kasper has to go on a rollicking chase to capture the cow and his suitcase. This show was created by Ines Zeller Bass and has enraptured children and their families for 35 years. It is now proudly performed by Ines’ daughter Jana Zeller.

Shoulder Narrows

Shoulder Narrows was started in 2004 by male students at Brattleboro Union High School who wanted to sing a cappella in an independent group away from the school. They made up their own arrangements of some popular songs, and they all played with the music that they made. The nine original members have all graduated, and many moved on to sing a cappella at the college level. Today, the group sings a mix of indie rock, pop, jazz, and a little bit of everything else in between.

The Snaz

The Snaz started two years ago with Dharma Ramirez and Mavis Eaton. We soon discovered Zack James on the drums and Sally Fletcher as a bass player. Ever since, we have been writing originals, playing concerts and recording. Along the way we met a great producer, Peter Solley,  who helped develop our indie rock tunes for recording at Guilford Sound (our prize for winning the battle of the bands). At the moment we are trying to get our recordings out and about and play as many shows as we can get our hands on.

Spiralia

Spiralia is the longest running all-female student-led a cappella group from BUHS. They love to add their own creative twists to funky, upbeat tunes. The group was founded in 2007 to provide young women with a fun, musically challenging, and supportive environment in which to take charge of their own musical experiences, and it’s been grooving and rocking a cappella music ever since.

Vermont Jazz Center Youth Jazz Ensemble

This group of young jazz musicians came together in November, 2013 under the direction of former Brattleboro Town Schools Elementary School band leader of 40 years, Jim Kurty with the assistance of VJC artistic director, Eugene Uman. The ensemble strives to educate youths in improvisation, jazz history and classics of jazz and the blues. Musicians are also instructed in improving their playing skills on their instrument. The group meets on Mondays after school from 3:30-4:45PM at the VT Jazz Center in the Cotton Mill Hill Complex. New members are always welcome.

Westrio

Westrio is the folk band consisting of Nick Walker, Jacob Ellis, and James Sullivan. All three members are in the class of 2016 at Bowdoin College. The group officially formed in January of 2013 and has been jammin’ and havin’ a good time ever since!

Xpressivo

We are a co-ed group, who founded last year. We all go to Brattleboro Union High School, and love music. We sing a variety or music, from several different genres, as each of us have our own unique taste. We have a lot of energy, and are all very close friends.