What the world needed now or at least last weekend was more cowbell. About 1,600 people came together on Saturday in Burlington to break the world’s record for the biggest cowbell clutch ever. The event, organized by the jam band Phish and inspired by the Christopher Walken Saturday Night Live skit, was held to raise money for Tropical Storm Irene victims.
In case you missed it, our intrepid reporter and videographer, Greg Guma, caught it on video.
Audio of Saturday Yankee protests
According to the Associated Press, more than 1,000 protesters converged on the Brattleboro town green for a second mass protest of Entergy’s continued operation of Vermont Yankee, a 40-year-old plant on the banks of the Connecticut River that was originally slated to be shut down on March 21. The plant remains open because of a dispute over a license extension. Entergy Corp. obtained an extension from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and it is waiting to hear whether the Vermont Public Service Board will also approve the relicensure for a 20-year period. Meanwhile, Entergy has sued the state (the governor is named as a defendant) over a legislative decision to block continued operation of the plant.
On Saturday, Massachusetts State Sen. Paul Mark, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Vermont Attorney General Bill Sorrell and Gov. Peter Shumlin joined the protest and called for the shutdown of the plant.
Here’s what they had to say (many thanks to Northampton Media for the professional audio recordings):