Latest news with #Millette
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Vermont musician's concert, podcast worlds come together with live event in Stowe
To be a full-time professional musician in Vermont means having to string together a lot of part-time gigs. Troy Millette does just that. The Fairfax native plays shows regularly, either solo or with his band the Fire Below. He works days in music therapy. He takes on occasional duties such as hosting the recent singer-songwriter competition at the Venetian Cocktail and Soda Lounge in Burlington. Millette's most high-profile work of the past few months might be the podcast 'Load-In Through the Back' that he hosts with help from friend and producer Pauly Varricchione. For the podcast, Millette has talked with local musicians as well as a host of nationally-known acts ranging from Five for Fighting, Arrested Development and Soul Asylum to Kevin Cronin of '80s hitmakers REO Speedwagon. Millette's gig life and podcast life come together May 2 in Stowe. Millette hosts a live 'Load-In Through the Back' podcast with 2000s rockers Wheatus, known for the song 'Teenage Dirtbag,' as well as songwriter and Americana musician Steve Poltz. Wheatus leader Brendan B. Brown, Poltz and Millette and his band will all play, as will the Washington, D.C. group Brian K. & the Parkway, in a pre-show busker-style performance. 'You gotta keep as many plates spinning as you can' to make it as a musician in Vermont, said Millette, who lives in Williston. 'I just want to be involved with as much as possible.' The podcast began last August with the goal of revealing stories about musicians that their fans might not have heard before. Cronin told Millette about the time he was trying to promote a show with the band Train by taking a photo on railroad tracks when he almost got run over by a train. Soul Asylum referenced the podcast's title by discussing one of the '90s band's most memorable concert load-ins, when they brought their gear into a venue past a crematorium during a flood. Millette and Varricchione usually play a pre-recorded song by the featured artist. Brown said he wanted to play a live acoustic set, so the idea for a podcast/concert was born. Millette expects the live discussion to be in more of a freewheeling, round-table mode than those recorded in a studio setting. 'Steve and Brendan B. Brown are such positive energies but in very different ways,' according to Millette. He said Brown is fairly laid-back while Poltz, who co-wrote Jewel's 1995 hit 'You Were Meant for Me,' is typically 'bouncing off the walls.' Millette acknowledges he sometimes feels overwhelmed with all of his musical duties, especially when he misses his life partner while spending so much time on the road. 'I don't know how many more 200-gigs-a-year-in-my-SUV I have in me,' said Millette, who turns 31 in May and played 189 shows in 2024. He said, though, that it's hard to resist the lure of a gig where he gets to have fun and hang out with friends, even if he only gets paid $50 and has to drive 50 miles to do it. WHAT: 'Load-In Through the Back' podcast and concert with Wheatus, Steve Poltz, Troy Millette & the Fire Below and Brian K. & the Parkway WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday, May 2 WHERE: Spruce Peak Performing Arts Center, Stowe INFORMATION: $45-$55. Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@ This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Vermont musician offers concert and podcast with Wheatus, Steve Poltz
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
Man walks out of Lowe's with stolen air compressor after faking return
Police are asking the public to help identify a man who stole an air compressor from Lowe's after attempting to return it at the service desk. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Beavercreek Police made a post on social media Thursday that they are searching for a man who stole a DeWalt air compressor from Lowe's on May 7. The man entered the hardware store at 2850 Centre Drive around 5:45 p.m., according to the Facebook post. TRENDING STORIES: State lawmaker pushes to ban noon football kickoffs for state universities Suspected serial killer from Miami Valley once eyed for possible link to the OJ Simpson case to be executed today Man in custody after brief police chase; arrested in connection with Dayton stabbing The suspect picked up a DeWalt air compressor and attempted to return it at the service desk. The return was declined. The suspect then left the store with the merchandise and didn't pay for it, according to the social media post. The suspect left in a black SUV. Beavercreek Police posted photos of the man and the vehicle he drove off in from the store's security cameras. Police ask that anyone who has information about the suspect calls Officer Millette at (937) 426-1225, ext. 144, or sends an email to millettej@ [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
The Guardian
08-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘Players want a different path': why John Amaechi backs change in British basketball
Having played professional basketball in five countries, including spells at three NBA franchises, John Amaechi would appear better qualified than most to comment on the current state of the sport in this country. So when he describes the nine Super League Basketball clubs as a 'cartel' who churn out 'sewage', any interested parties are likely to listen – including the sports minister, Stephanie Peacock, who last week received a letter which included similar sentiments from Amaechi. Peacock has become involved, as what is essentially a battle for control of British basketball has escalated to civil war. All nine SLB clubs have begun legal proceedings against the sport's governing body, the British Basketball Federation, which last week signed a 15-year agreement with an American consortium called GBBL to operate a new men's professional league from next year. As a result, the proposed new league has no clubs or venues, and the problems do not end there. As the Guardian reported last week UK Sport, the government body responsible for elite funding, has been asked to investigate whether the £4.75m currently given to basketball is secure given the allegations about the BBF's tender process made by the clubs. In another extraordinary development, SLB referees are on strike after the Sheffield Sharks owner, Vaughn Millette, accused the experienced match official Eduard Udyanskyy of racism after his side lost against the Surrey 89ers last month. 'There has been an ongoing issue of racism towards my coach [Atiba Lyons] from a certain referee for years now,' Millette wrote on X. An SLB game between Bristol Flyers and Caledonian Gladiators was postponed later that week as referees refused to officiate in an act of solidarity with Udyanskyy, and the SLB's head of officiating, Richard Stokes, resigned in protest. A fortnight later referees are being flown in from Canada to make sure the SLB can continue. And in a final twist Millette, who as interim SLB chair was leading the clubs' rebellion against the federation, has been forced to stand down despite a public apology and deleting his posts. Given this mess it is hardly surprising that Amaechi is scathing, and pins the blame firmly at the clubs. The 55-year-old is not involved in the league, but does have a good relationship with the BBF chair, Chris Grant, one of the driving forces behind it. 'I feel the same way about the SLB clubs as I do about the water companies,' he told the Guardian. 'The natural resources are plentiful – there are so many talented youngsters in this country – but we end up with sewage. 'The players want a different path, and the leadership needs to change. In the corporate world, the market wouldn't tolerate this level of failure. With the new proposal there's potential for substantial investment in the sport. 'It's time for a change. I'm 55, and I've seen three generations of kids with more talent than me see it squandered through lack of opportunity and poor management. It would be nice if, before I die, one more kid from Manchester gets a chance to walk the parquet floors.' Amaechi is a longstanding critic of the SLB and its predecessor the BBL, which collapsed last year after the implosion of its financial backers, the one-time Everton buyers 777 Partners. Although not shy of giving an opinion, as a psychologist, professor of leadership at the University of Exeter and owner of a business transformation consultancy, he prefers to deal in forensic analysis. In a detailed study last month which cited 10 previous research papers, Amaechi highlighted: short-term thinking and inconsistent leadership; chronic financial instability and poor commercial planning, weak brand positioning and ineffective marketing; neglect of grassroots development pathways; inadequate media presence and broadcasting strategy; lack of strategic government engagement; insufficient community-building and inclusion initiatives; failure to capitalise on cultural relevance. 'The clubs are a cartel,' Amaechi said. 'They are not a professional league. Most of the British players don't get paid properly, their salaries are topped up by coaching. Spending hours each day coaching kids is not what a professional career should look like. 'I've had BBL players live my house, as when they get knocked out of the competition they have nowhere to live. The number of BBL players I've bought food for because their contract doesn't pay them enough. 'It's a real shame that a cottage industry that has failed, could stop the development of the game. In some quarters there's the same level of nostalgia for the BBL as there is for Woolworths, and it's completely unearned.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion The clubs have high-profile supporters of their own however, including the former sports minister Richard Caborn, who was instrumental in the development of the Olympic Legacy Park in Sheffield, which is home to the Sharks, Sheffield United Women and Sheffield Eagles rugby league club. Without getting into claims of illegality, Caborn questions the decision of the BBF to put the franchise to operate a new league out to tender in the first place, particularly as the SLB was given a three-year licence to run it last summer. 'The BBF have sold a franchise without and clubs, facilities or players,' Caborn said. 'They are selling a commodity that doesn't exist. It would be like the FA telling the Premier League that they've sold the franchise to private investors, without the agreement of the clubs. How would that go down? 'I don't know why they're selling the franchise in the first place. The BBF gave the league a three-year licence last summer. They should be sitting down with the clubs to discuss how they can make this work. We could end up with two different leagues, which would be ludicrous.' Several sources have told the Guardian, however, that the SLB licence contains a 12-month break clause which it was always the intention to activate this summer, and that the three-year contract was only ever meant as an insurance policy in case the tender failed to attract credible bidders. Caborn also criticises elements of the BBF's governance structure, with no club or SLB representation on its board. 'British basketball is the only sport I can think of where the league and the biggest clubs aren't represented on the governing body,' Caborn said. 'It's madness.' BBF sources conceded that this situation is suboptimal and will be addressed when the current standoff regarding the new league is finally resolved, although the SLB also has governance issues. By retaining Millette as chair beyond 31 January – he stood down following the racism row at the end of March – the SLB was in breach of its licence which states that it requires independent leadership. As a result it could face a sanction from the BBF, although given the fires raging elsewhere that is the least of both side's problems.
