Meet Big Joe Burrell…
Big Joe was a much loved Burlington jazz/blues saxophonist/singer who passed away in 2005. Big Joe Burrell played in both B.B King’s and Count Basie’s band and moved to Burlington, Vermont in the mid-70s. Here he’s playing his sax forever on Church Street in downtown Burlington.
Ken and I spent a happy afternoon there after we left Montreal. The city elders have very wisely closed off the streets, creating an open air mall lined with shops, bistros, and… cows.
Plus, there is an assortment of street artists, one of whom is the very talented Leanna Therese Inzalaco. We loved watching her perform on her beautiful red and brown accordion.
Isn’t she amazing? Even the dogs agreed!
We loved it that Church Street is named Church Street for the elegant and historic Unitarian Universalist church at the top of the street. Happy 200th birthday! That’s 200, people!
And okay, my last video from my stay in Vermont is too good to not share, even though I didn’t catch the entire song, and the filming is shaky because I was laughing so hard, but here he is, the one and only, the inimitable and daring, M.T. Anderson, singing his rendition of the Delaware State Song in the Chapel at Vermont College of Fine Arts.
You can find out a lot more about Delaware by visiting The Tourist’s Guide to Deepest Delaware. And also by reading the book, Jasper Dash and The Flame Pits of Delaware.
So there you go…
Calloo, callay, my brothers and sisters!
