By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning, the heat will have tamped down a bit with a big shift coming on Monday. Part of the daily routine is a walk, but I waited until Saturday afternoon just before the rains to head out. A slight breeze always helps and it just so happened that there was one.
A few people had stepped outside, and one was walking. A neighbor sitting on his front porch reveled a bit in the break in the heat but admitted that inside it was stifling still. The night before when the big thunderstorms hit, a self-confessed fan of thunderstorms, he was out on his porch, and so was I. How the sky can darken in a moment’s notice is always alluring.
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A good week despite the heat. This past Saturday the Bristol Farmers Market open at its new location in the parking lot at 10 Main St.
Later on Sunday, a “Rock the House” concert to benefit the Bristol nonprofit Agape House will be held at the VFW Post 19791115 on Wolcott Rd., Wolcott, from 2 to 8 p.m.
The benefit concert is being organized by Eric Smith, a four-time Emmy winning producer and owner of Rock Steady Events, and Larry Beaudoin of Beaudoin Design Company and band LB4.
All proceeds from the concert will support the Agape House, which serves the homeless and people in need in the Bristol community and surrounding areas.
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The coming Tuesday, June 25, marks the first of this summer’s Rockin’ Out at Rockwell concert series. The free weekly concerts, held on Tuesday nights from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Amphitheater at Rockwell Park, are family friendly events and run from June 25 to Aug. 13.
Here is the lineup for the series:
June 25 – Cajun Ray and The Steamers (Variety, Rock)
July 2 – River of Dreams (Billy Joel Cover, Soft Rock/Pop Rock)
July 9 – Gideon King & City Blog (Funk/Soul/Jam)
July 16 – Larry Stevens Band (Rock n’ Roll, Adult Contemporary)
July 23 – Soul Sound Revue (Motown)
July 30 – The Speakers (Danceable Funk-Rock)
August 6 – Spirit Shaker (Hard Rock, 70’s 80’s 90’s)
August 13 – Latanya Farrell (Soul/R&B)
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Candidates for the upcoming election will be hitting doors this week. The election for the District 3 city council seat left open after the resignation of council member Andrew Howe will be held Tuesday, July 30. Democrats have selected Mark Dickau, who ran in the last municipal election, and Republicans have selected Sal Mazzarella, a newcomer to Bristol politics.
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For listening, this week there is world renowned economist Luigi Zingales and Vanity Fair contributing editor Bethany McLean with the “Capitalisn’t” podcast, “Joseph Stiglitz’s Vision of a New Progressive Capitalism.”
Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner and chair of the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton, has just published a new book, “The Road to Freedom: Economics and the Good Society” (W.W. Norton, 2024).
McLean calls it a “full frontal attack on neoliberalism,” in the episode summary, while laying out a roadmap for a more progressive (healthy, my spin) from of capitalism. The podcast aims to critique capitalism to make it work for people rather than the other way around. Click here.
For reading, I have fallen behind. There is Frantz Fanon’s “Black Faces, White Masks” and “The Wretch of the Earth” and several others by Arendt, including “The Life of the Mind — Volume One: Thinking” and “Thinking Without a Bannister.”
I did finish Arendt’s “On Violence,” which struck me as a work that has held up well, considering it was written in the late sixties. For background on Arendt, click here. For information about Fanon, click here.
And a reminder, for those interested in the library’s summer reading program, click here for information.
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City meetings this week include the following:
On Monday, June 24
- Planning Commission, 6 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
On Tuesday, June 25
- Real Estate Committee Special Meeting, 5 p.m., Meeting Room 1-1, city hall.
- Board of Finance, 5:30 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
- Diversity Council, canceled.
- Special Meeting Joint Board of the City Council and Board of Finance, 6:30 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
- Special Meeting City Council, 7 p.m., council chambers, city hall.
On Wednesday, June 26
- Historic District Commission, canceled.
- Conservation Commission/Inland Wetlands & Watercourses Agency On-Site Inspection, 5:30 p.m., intersection of Minor Street and Hill Street.
- Fire Station 3 Building Committee, 6 p.m, city hall — no published agenda as of Saturday, June 22.
- Fair Rent Commission, 6 p.m., city hall — no published agenda as of Saturday, June 22.
On Thursday, June 27
- Board of Fire Commissioners, 6 p.m., city hall–no published agenda as of Saturday, June 22.
On Friday, June 28
- No meeting scheduled.
TBE will do our best to update meeting times and locations, but it’s a good idea to check the agendas ahead of time for cancellations. Click here for specific meetings and times.
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It doesn’t take much imagination to see that local newspapers of any quality are few and far between. Here at TBE, working under our nonprofit Central Connecticut Online Journalism Project, aim to make Bristol a community with a vibrant and engaged local community newspaper.
You can help. Consider becoming a member by signing up for monthly recurring donations of $6, $12, or $24 or making a one-time donation of $60 or even better donating more. It might seem outrageous, but 5,000 members paying $6 a month would allow us to hire editors and reporters who would do a great job covering Bristol.
Click on the membership tab for more information about being a member.
If you are writing a check for a donation, write the check out to Central Connecticut Online Journalism Project, our official 501(c)(3) designation. The same name will appear on any digital receipts.
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As part of our citizen journalism initiative, TBE is seeking 12 people with Bristol stories that they would like to share in the form of long-form journalism. This project involves identifying 12 people with a uniquely Bristol story, something that happened here in Bristol that says something about who we are as a community–during a specific time in our history. Please email editor@bristoledition.org if interested. Type Bristol Stories candidate in the subject line.
We will work with each person to develop a well-written long-form piece of storytelling for publication in TBE and possibly in other forms. More on this in the future.
In addition, we are seeking reporters to cover sports and city meetings, neighborhood news, people and entertainment–book reviewers and movie/tv streaming reviewers–take note. Contact editor@bristoledition.org to for next steps.
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Happy day!
All TBE readers, supporters and donors
The Bristol Edition will be limiting the number of stories non-members and free readers may access each week. This decision is based on our financial projections and, most certainly, to remind people that TBE is serious about providing accurate, timely and thorough reporting for Bristol. To do this we have devised a financial support structure that makes unlimited access extremely affordable, beginning with a $6 monthly donation.
- Non-members will be able to access four (4) articles per week.
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- Donors and financial supporters will have unlimited access as long as they log in.
Note: Donors may have to contact TBE if they find they are being limited, since we will need to set up a membership account for you. Email editor@bristoledition.org for instructions. Sorry for any inconvenience. People with financial difficulties may write editor@bristoledition.org to be considered for free access.