Harried Potter

Parenting is filled with so many funny moments that it's hard to remember them after they've passed by. Here's one that sticks out, and I just had to share it. My two girls (ages 8 and 3) went to the Brattleboro Home & Health Show on Saturday and each came home with a pink balloon.

On Sunday morning, the youngest, Margot, was sitting on her balloon when it popped. Instant tears. Losing a balloon is sudden sorrow like no other for a kid. Moved by her sister's tears, my oldest girl, Marielle, gave her balloon to Margot. Not to be outdone, Margot offered the limp, wrinkled pieces of her busted balloon in return. I mean fair is fair after all.

To her credit, Marielle accepted the busted balloon in the spirit in which it was given, and she shared a warm, knowing smile with her mom and dad. Who knew a burst, empty balloon could hold so much?

New Orleans, the Big Easy, is in the local arts spotlight this week in a couple of different ways mixing fun and fundraising, food and food for thought.

One is the New Orleans Benefit Dinner and Dance on Saturday at the Putney Inn, featuring a five-entree New Orleans-inspired buffet, followed by music performed by jazz and blues vocalist Samirah Evans, backed by local favorites Eugene Uman, George Kaye, Tim Gilmore and Barry Ries. For those of you who haven't heard Evans, she's a powerhouse. A New Orleans native who left in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and moved to this area because her husband grew up here. She's a great singer with a warm personality, and the event should be fun. It's also a benefit for two causes — Putney Family Services and the New Orleans Habitat Musicians Village. Tickets are $35. To reserve them, call 802-387-5517.

The other Big Easy-related happening is John O'Neal's appearance at Sandglass Theater's Voices of Community Series. A longtime activist for civil rights and a pioneer in the arts as activism, O'Neal is based in New Orleans. He has been dismayed at the ongoing troubles his city is suffering, but his optimism remains, tested but intact. "New Orleans will be all right," he told me in an interview he gave via cell phone as he walking down the streets of the city. His eloquence and congeniality made me feel as though I were walking down the streets with him, and that seemed to connect me to New Orleans in a personal way. I had been there once and began picture what I had seen there in my head as we talked together.

His program at Sandglass is not about New Orleans, per se, but about larger issues of community, connections between people, civil rights, justice. He will perform in Putney on Friday and Saturday night and will hold story circle workshops at the Putney Public Library Tuesday night at 7 p.m., and at the Rockingham Free Public Library in Bellows Falls on Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. For more information about O'Neal's visit and performances, call Sandglass at 802-387-4051.

In what has to be one of the most unusual and unfortunate reasons to cancel a show ever, Richard Thompson has had to scrub his April tour — which included an April 20 stop at the Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro — because of a scorpion sting he sustained on his right hand while on vacation last week in Mexico.

Hilltown Music is hoping to reschedule the concert for sometime between Oct. 9-29, but for fans of this under-appreciated brilliant musician, the news must be a blow.

Hilltown Music is asking if people would consider holding onto their tickets until a new date is scheduled. If you know you'll be unable to attend in October, tickets purchased via credit card will be refunded through www.brattleborotix.com. In the meantime, check www.hilltownfolk.com for details on when the concert might be rescheduled. In the meantime, don't pet any scorpions.

It didn't take me long to get really into this "Music for Trains" thing which is happening in Brattleboro and Bellows Falls and points in between. It's a multi-faceted project involving the brilliant young percussionists from So Percussion and other artists and organizations, brought together by the Vermont Performance Lab.

There are a lot of moving pieces to the event, but the grand finale, on Aug. 8-9, will be an event that celebrates the rail link Brattleboro and Bellows Falls. So Percussion will perform and then board the train in Brattleboro with patrons, who will be given an mp3 composed by So Percussion to listen to as they ride the rails up to Bellows Falls. There, in Bellows Falls, So will give a live concert, and then everyone will wend their way back to Brattleboro for another performance and multi-media happening.

It's all very hard to describe, and there are many other facets, including workshops, recording sessions and residencies this summer. What got me hooked already is the sheer boundless enthusiasm and charismatic commitment to the project from So Percussion's members, two of whom were in Brattleboro this weekend for a demonstration and workshop at the Brattleboro Music Center.

Their irrepressible spirit, and the sheer funkiness of the project has me excited. There'll be more on this later, but you might as welll get on board as soon as you can.

Walking down Main Street in Brattleboro is like running a wonderful gauntlet. You don't make it too far before you invariably run into someone you know, and a wonderful conversation ensues.

It happened to me in spades on Monday when I bumped into, simultaneously, Dede Cummings, Myles Danaher and Zeke Hecker.

Dede always something up her sleeve, and we promised to meet for coffee to discuss her latest ventures, which include emceeing a poetry reading on Thursday night at the Catherine Dianich Gallery. The reading is just one of many in our area which have taken place during National Poetry Month, which most people know as April. Hey, it could be verse.

Myles has a lovely show of artwork at the Dianich Gallery. I'd met him once, but we'd never chatted until Monday. We found ourselves walking in same direction on Main Street, so we chatted, and he extolled the virtues of life in Brattleboro, a favorite topic of Brattleboreans, who I think feel unceasing delight in having found such a funky, wonderful place to live and work.

Myles said he grew up in Burlington, and Brattleboro reminds him of the Burlington of his youth. Let's hope it stays that way.

Moving on to Zeke, it's been a good year for him. In January, the Windham Orchestra premiered his second symphony, and next weekend, the Vermont Theatre Company premieres his musical play, "The Lift."

Zeke said rehearsals are going well for it - his baby is in good hands. He proudly displayed the poster for the it, which he had just had framed. It's a beaut.

That was the extent of my encounters on Main Street, but it's not bad, considering how brief my jaunt on Main Street was. Five minutes running the most interesting gauntlet I know.