Green weekend

St. Patrick’s Day nightlife options

For those looking to put on their Irish, however briefly, there are a variety of ways to approach St. Patrick’s Day 2024. Start with a pub crawl; there’s one in Manchester and another originating in downtown Nashua (see pubpioneers.com). There’s a traditional Irish music concert from the Spain Brothers at Manchester’s Rex Theatre on Friday the 15th, and a few places are celebrating on Saturday night.

Of course the best way is to lock in a favorite Irish public house, the kind with a St. Patrick’s Day countdown clock on the wall running 365 days a year. There are many of those on the list below, along with casual entrants who need a reason to add corned beef to the menu or dye their Bud green. They’re usually less crowded, but whatever the choice, Sláinte!

Friday, March 15

Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org) An evening of Irish songs and stories from Manchester’s own The Spain Brothers.

Saturday, March 16

Cara (11 Fourth St., Dover, 343-4390) Cara/Chameleon Club St. Patrick Eve Blowout Party, $10 at eventbrite.com.

Hillsboro Moose Lodge (15 School St., Hillsborough, 464-6024) St. Paddy’s Day dinner and dance for members and bonafide guests. Dinner from 5 to 7 p.m, dance is 7 to 11 p.m. $15 dinner only, $20 dinner and dance.

Pipe Dream Brewing (40 Harvey Road, Londonderry, 404-0751) Young Folk provide the music; raise a pint and sing along to the great tunes of old Ireland, and a bit of the new as well.

Stark Brewing Co. (500 Commercial St., Manchester, 625-4444) The Bar Hoppers perform, with a bagpiper visit promised.

Sunday, March 17

Alpine Grove (19 S. Depot Road, Hollis, 882-9051) Mike’d Up Comedy show follows Irish dinner at 6 p.m., $55 at eventbrite.com.

Artisan Hotel (17 Via Toscana, Salem, tuscanbrands.com) Celtic Celebration $75: live music from The Rebel Collective, creative whiskey cocktails with a menu including pretzel bites, beer cheese, shepherd’s pie, croquettes, potato skins and a buffet with Guinness beef stew, corned beef, bangers & mash and more.

Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, 371-2296) Gather in a private igloo for a four-course St. Patrick’s Day themed Mystery Dinner with wine pairing. Seating starts at 6:30 p.m. $299 (four people, additional guests $59 each) at exploretock.com.

Barley House (132 N. Main St., Concord, 228-6363) All things Irish: music, dancing, beer, corned beef.

bluAqua Restrobar (930 Elm St., Manchester, 836-3970) Acoustic BS debuts, offering a blue/green approach to the day.

Casey Magee’s (8 Temple St., Nashua, 484-7400) Kieran Mcnally plays noon to 3 p.m., Acoustic Tandem 4 to 7 p.m., with Secondhand Band closing out at 8 p.m. Limited menu includes corned beef dinner, fish & chips, burgers, Reubens, Caesar salad, brownie sundae and select sides. Guinness and Bud Light promotions in the afternoon, $5 cover charge after 4 p.m.

Copper Door (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677) Brunch at 11 a.m. with violinist Lilly Innella and a menu including potato leek soup, warm Reuben dip, corned beef hash and Guinness-braised corned beef.

Copper Door (42 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033) Brunch at 11 a.m. with pianist Steve Aubert and a menu including potato leek soup, warm Reuben dip, corned beef hash and Guinness braised corned beef.

CrowBar Hardware Store (38 Opera House Square, Claremont, 504-6085) Moonlighter Burlesque presents St. Patrick With Love Late(r) Show, $35.

Derryfield (625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-2880) D-Comp starts the music at 4 p.m.

The Farm (1181 Elm St., Manchester, 641-3276) Traditional corned beef dinner, Guinness ice cream floats, and Irish step dancers at 1 p.m.

Flannel Tavern (345 Suncook Valley Road, Chichester, 406-1196) Food and drink specials and live music all day. “Mr. Party” Brian Booth plays 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., local favorite Joe Pero is on 4 to 7.

Foundation Kitchen + Bar (32 W. Broadway, Derry, 216-5590) Scott from Whiskey Business plays Irish sing-alongs and drinking songs starting at noon, with traditional Irish fare from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Pipe and Drum Corps makes an appearance in the afternoon.

Frogg Brewing (580 Sawyers Crossing Road, Swanzey, 547-7639) NH Music Collective presents Paul Driscoll, with refreshments from Voodoo Box Food Truck, Wine by Cabana Falls Winery, Sweets by Kupcakes & Kindness and Happy Girls Bakery, and a crazy hat contest.

Fury’s Publick House (1 Washington St., Dover, 617-3633) Open at noon and there are specials all day, with Erin’s Guild playing traditional Irish music at 6 p.m.

Harlow’s Pub (3 School St., Peterborough, 924-6365) Boiled Dinner and Guinness Beef Stew noon to 4 p.m.

Hen House (85 S. Main St., Newton, 382-1705) Second Take provides the shamrock ’n’ roll.

Holy Grail (64 Main St., Epping, 679-9559) Rasmyth Duo plays from noon to 3 p.m., Karen Grenier 4 to 7 p.m. and Kitchen Party 8 to 11 p.m., with Jameson drink specials, giveaways, raffles, contests and more.

Kathleen’s Irish Pub (91 Lake Street, Bristol, 744-6336) All weekend long: toga party on the 15th, and the big day opens with a toast and sing-along of “Ireland’s Call” followed by food, fun, friends and music, including a set from O’Brien Clan.

Kelley’s Row (417 Route 108, Somersworth, 692-2200) Music from Bradigan and Maggie’s Ramblers, along with Irish dancers and bagpipers, $15 cover charge. Three seatings for dining: 10 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m., with the usual traditional fare, along with Kelley’s Prime Rib and Guinness-braised short ribs. Reservations required.

Makris (354 Sheep Davis Road, Concord, 225-7665) Taylor Hughes plays from 2 to 5 p.m. on Sunday, and there are St. Paddy’s day specials all weekend. Saturday’s party starts at 7 p.m. with Lichen. Throughout, there will be raffles and giveaways, a visit from the Easterseals Scarf Lady, Slap Me I’m Irish shots, and a jig dance contest.

Mama McDonough’s (80 Airport Road, Keene, 338-0105) Young Folk hit the stage at 2 p.m. with craic, great Irish music and a few originals — quaff a pint or three and sing along.

Marker 21 (33 Dockside St., Wolfeboro, 569-8668) DJ Dan Hayman spins on Saturday, with live music and food specials like Irish Cuban sandwich and loaded crisps on the big day.

Merrill’s Tavern (85 Country Club Drive, Atkinson, 382-8700) Hoppy Duo offering Irish music from 1 to 5 p.m. Food includes cod cakes & beans, corned beef boiled dinner, bangers & mash and shepherd’s pie, along with special beverages like a Chase the Rainbow cocktail — crème de menthe, white chocolate liqueur and vodka.

Murphy’s Taproom (494 Elm St., Manchester, 644-3535) Dancing Madly Backwards hits the stage at 7 p.m., after all-day celebrating.

Newfound Lake Inn (1030 Mahew Turnpike, Bridgewater, 744-9111) St. Patrick’s Day dinner on March 16 featuring an Irish-themed menu and live music by WhiteSteer Duo. Open from 3 to 9 p.m. St. Patrick’s Day brunch from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with an Irish twist. Bottomless mimosas and live music by Dan Fallon.

Northwoods Brewing (1334 First NH Turnpike, Northwood, 942-6400) A twofer, with St. Patrick’s Day trivia and karaoke hosted by Liquid Knowledge.

Old Salt (409 Lafayette Road, Hampton, 926-8322) Open at 11 a.m. with live entertainment all day, along with corned beef and cabbage and green beer.

Olde Kilkenny Pub (30 Middle St., Milford, 283-6632) At mid-day, a dollar from every Irish pint sold (Guinness, Harp, Smithwick’s, Guinness 0.0) will be donated to The Memo Fund.

Patrick’s (18 Weirs Road, Gilford, 293-0841) Music from the Quincy Brothers at noon, Bagpipers at 3 p.m. and DJ Eric Grant from 4 to 8 p.m., with traditional dishes, seven Irish whiskies to choose from, and a lot more.

Peddler’s Daughter (48 Main St., Nashua, 821-7535) This real deal Irish pub opens at 8 in the morning with a kegs & eggs Irish Breakfast, corned beef and other Irish favorites, with music from the Rambin’ Rogues Band starting at 10 a.m. The Jim Coyle & Joe Kessler Band follows, from 3 to 7 p.m.

Press Room (77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 431-5186) Bangers and Mash-Ups with DJ Chad Banks at 8 p.m.

Saddle Up Saloon (92 Route 125, Kingston, 369-6962) Live music performed by Half Price Whiskey starts at 1 p.m. Corned beef & cabbage special plus green beer.

Salt hill Pub Lebanon (2 W. Park St., Lebanon, 448-4532) This true Irish “local” begins with a ceremonial first pint at 9 a.m. and offers a full Irish breakfast, traditional menu, music from Rebel Collective (9 a.m.), Atlantic Crossing (1 p.m.), High Drive (5 p.m.) and O’Hanleigh (8:30 p.m.), Irish dancing, photo booth, the drive-by-bagpiper, Guinness Girls, cash and other prizes at each ShP, with an Ireland trip-for-two grand prize awarded pub-wide.

Salt hill Pub Newport (58 Main St., Newport, 863-7774) Same deal as the flagship Lebanon location, with the following musical schedule: O’hAnleigh at 9 a.m., Rebel Collective at 2 p.m.

Salt hill Pub Sunapee (1407 Route 103, Newbury, 763-2667) At the “Shanty” — named after the Sunapee pub formerly in the same location owned by ShP founders Josh and Joe Tuohy’s parents — it’s the same deal as the flagship Lebanon location, with the following musical schedule: Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki Trio at 9:30 a.m.; O’hAnleigh at 2 p.m.; Atlantic Crossing at 8 p.m.

Shaskeen (909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246) Kicking off at 5:30 a.m. with breakfast served through 11 a.m. and first pints at 6 a.m. Live music starts with Rockspring at 1 p.m. with The Rebel Collective playing from 8 p.m. to close.

Stoned Wall Bar & Grill (37 Manchester St., Manchester, 698-2049) St. Patrick’s Day Drag Show starts at 4.

Strange Brew (88 Market St., Manchester, 666-4292) At 9 a.m. it’s Andy Happel, at 1 p.m. it’s Jake Pardee, at 3 p.m. Thanks to Gravity performs, and at 7:30 p.m. NHPA Pipes & Drums stops by, then Jake Pardee & Friends take it to the finish line starting at 8:30 p.m.

Throwback Brewery (7 Hobbs Road, North Hampton, 379-2317) St. Patrick’s Day brunch and fiddler’s jam as Melissa Caron & Ellen Carlson join forces from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Listen and jam with them while enjoying farm-to-table food and drinks, including menu and cocktail specials aligned with the occasion.

Toll Booth Tavern (740 Second NH Tpke N., Francestown, 588-1800) Sheepdip playing classic shamrock ’n’ roll favorites sprinkled with some traditional Irish favorites starting at 3 p.m.

Tupelo Music Hall (10 A St., Derry, 437-5100) St. Patrick’s Day with the Glengarry Bhoys; show starts at 8 p.m. Tickets $39 at tupelohall.com.

Village Trestle (25 Main St., Goffstown, 497-8230) Corned beef cabbage dinner and Reubens all day with live music from D-Comp at 11 a.m. and Bob & Amberly at 3 p.m. Giveaways and Irish drink menu, special desserts with Amberly’s Guinness Stew too.

Wild Rover (21 Kosciuszko St., Manchester, 669-7722) Recently completed renovations should boost the already venerable pub’s St. Paddy’s Day celebration.

New addition

The Rebel Collective welcomes fiddler

Soon after they formed a few years ago, The Rebel Collective became an in-demand band on St. Patrick’s Day. Their mix of traditional Irish music and Celtic rock rivals the Pogues or Dropkick Murphys; they’re a great fit for the annual revelry. In fact, an ex-member is currently the Dropkicks’ full-time piper.

Thus, they have multiple gigs on the big day, and a pair of lead-in dates to boot. Most were booked a year in advance.

Beyond that, the group recently welcomed a new member, fiddler Audrey Budington. A Berklee graduate with a resume that includes solo recordings and multiple collaborations, she’s injected them with new energy. This extends to sessions for a new album in the works, their guitar and mandolin player reported in a recent phone interview.

“Truthfully, she’s way too good for our band,” Ross Ketchum said, “but she wants to be a part of a group that’s playing constantly. She takes our sound to a whole new level … [and] she’s so intuitive on where to chop, where to pull out and where to really hit a good lead. It’s been unreal working with her.”

Ketchum got a tip about her from Andrew Richardson, who runs the New Hampshire Highland Games.

“He called me up on a random Thursday night saying, ‘You’ve got to get to Penuche’s in Concord, there’s a fiddle player here who is unbelievable.’ I tossed out a bunch of names and sent some pictures. He said, ‘No, it’s a completely different person.’ I was like, ‘OK, I’ll take your word.’ I live right down the street, so I walked over. Immediately, I was like, ‘Holy crap, this girl is unbelievable.’”

Budington recently performed with Senie Hunt’s band at Bank of NH Stage in Concord. One of the reasons she was keen to join Rebel Collective is she’s aiming to become a musical ambassador.

“She’s trying to get her international musician’s visa, which allows her to work in any country that accepts it,” Ketchum said. “She needs to show a panel of people who she’s playing with, her past repertoire recordings, all that stuff. This will definitely help her out.”

The band had been looking for a new fiddler since last August. At last year’s Highland Games, “we ended up flying in our cousin Brian who used to be in the band on accordion to kind of fill in the sound,” Ketchum said. “We kind of had given up hope to find someone.”

With the busy St. Patricks’ Day schedule approaching, the new arrival was timely. This year kicks off in an unlikely place, the Artisan Hotel, in Salem’s not-quite-Irish Tuscan Village. The venue’s new events coordinator had hired them for a couple of release parties when she worked at Flag Hill Winery, Ketchum explained.

They’ll perform for a dinner crowd at the event, dubbed A Celtic Celebration, which includes an Irish whiskey tasting.

“A predominantly Italian place throwing an Irish event … it’s a pretty big deal,” he said. “They’re giving the whole ballroom in the new hotel to the band to throw the dinner.”

It happens Friday, March 15. The next night they’re in more familiar confines, at Salt hill Pub’s Sunapee location, The Shanty. On the big day it’s Salt hill’s Lebanon location in the morning, then on to their Newport pub for a midday set. After that, they’ll pack up and head to Manchester, where they’ll close out the night at Shaskeen Pub.

When all that is complete, they return to work on their next album, with Budington helping to reshape their sound.

“She’s already started writing her own parts for some of the songs that we previously released,” Ketchum said, “and she’s written a bunch of new stuff. After our St. Patrick’s Day run, we’re going to get her back down into the studio and get her ripping on some of this stuff so we can get some tracks coming out.”

The Rebel Collective
When: Friday, March 15, 8 p.m.
Where: The ArtisanHotel, 17 Via Toscana, Salem
Tickets: $75 at tuscanvillage.com
Also playing Saturday, March 16, at 8 p.m. at Salt hill Shanty in Newbury, and Sunday, March 17, at Salt hill Lebanon (9 a.m.), Salt hill Newport (2 p.m.) and Shaskeen Pub in Manchester (9 p.m.).

Featured photo: The Rebel Collective. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 24/03/14

Local music news & events

Kilting it: Start the upcoming Green Weekend early at the 4th Annual Celtic Night. Enjoy St. Patrick’s Day food and drink specials along with music from Warren Smith, playing what some tongue-in-cheekily call one of the four instruments of the apocalypse, the bagpipes (the others are banjo, accordion and bongo drums). Anyone showing up in a kilt will receive a dinner discount. Thursday, March 14, 5 p.m., Flannel Tavern, 350 Suncook Valley Hwy., Chichester, facebook.com/flanneltavern.

Gospel guys: With accolades including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Blind Boys of Alabama have cemented their place as legends in the gospel music world. Last year’s Echoes of the South album looks at facing hard times and echoes the band’s credo: “As long as everybody gives all that they have to give and we sing songs that touch the heart, we’ll live on forever.” Friday, March 15, 7:30 p.m., The Flying Monkey, 39 Main St., Plymouth, $45 and up at flyingmonkeynh.com.

Dead set: With only five shows booked this year, Lichen doesn’t often perform these days, but the venerable band keeps the fire burning. Loosely formed in 1981 after friends John Zevos and Charlie Windhausen bonded over their first Grateful Dead concert, the group mixes tasty originals and classics from the Dead, Allmans, Springsteen and Little Feat, with an occasional guest joining in. Saturday, March 16, 6 pm., Makris Lobster & Steak House, 354 Sheep Davis Road, Concord, facebook.com/eatalobster.

Blues power: As a kid in Texas with a concert promoter/radio DJ dad, Kenny Wayne Shepherd was inspired to play guitar by watching Stevie Ray Vaughan from backstage while sitting atop the blues legend’s amp; since, he’s carved a solid niche of his own. His latest, Dirt On My Diamonds, was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Fellow Lone Star Stater Ally Venable opens. Sunday, March 17, 7 p.m., Chubb Theatre at CCA, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $48.25 and up at ccanh.com.

Local lights: The Tony Mack Band is known for a solid mix of deep tracks, classic rock and rhythm & blues. Among their set highlights are a raved-up version of “Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out” complete with horn refrain. Monday, March 18, 7 p.m., Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club, 135 Congress St., Portsmouth, $15 at jimmysoncongress.com.

Mayluna, by Kelley McNeil

Mayluna, by Kelley McNeil (Lake Union Publishing, 399 pages)

It’s tempting to compare Kelley McNeil’s excellent second novel to Daisy Jones and the Six, but Mayluna is more than rock history. Its story revolves around a fictional chart-topping rock group but is more focused on the emotional lives of two main characters: Carter Wills, the eponymous band’s creative force, and Evie Waters, a music journalist who becomes Carter’s lover and muse.

One key Daisy Jones divergence is that Mayluna the band doesn’t easily hew to any other group of the era; they could be Coldplay as easily as Radiohead. Also, and more importantly, it’s a tautly written and engaging story, full of highs, lows, passion and agony, not emotion-flattening oral history.

Carter meets Evie, who writes using a gender-neutral pseudonym, when she attempts to do a backstage interview at Jones Beach Amphitheater. McNeil’s past career in the music industry lends authenticity to Evie’s interactions with the press-averse band’s leader, and to their late ’90s pre-Napster milieu.

Their banter includes business advice from Evie to lean into the band’s mystery, make their reticence a marketing tool. There’s also plenty that could be cut and pasted into the movie version of the novel, which one hopes will come. Their connection is well-crafted by McNeil, but this love won’t last — Mayluna is a look back at what might have been.

In a clever narrative device, Evie tells her story in the present day to her married daughter, who’s returned home for her father’s funeral; he died after a bout with cancer. She stumbles onto a trove of memorabilia in a closet, and in a magazine story about Mayluna spots a bracelet on the arm of someone who looks a lot like her mom.

Evie, who wrote the article as Cameron Leigh, decides it’s time to raise the curtain on her past life.

At the same time, the members of Mayluna are on a private jet, winging to a South America stadium gig, and sharing “the whole story” with another journalist. There’s a sense that their 25-year Rock & Roll Hall of Fame eligibility date is near, and it’s time to come clean. Carter alludes to but never identifies Evie, while the rest of the group drop clues to who she is and what she meant to him — and them.

Carter and Evie’s entanglement is presented as destiny — “There are signs everywhere, Ev,” he tells her. “You just have to pay attention” — and as children they both witnessed the strange celestial phenomena referenced in one of his songs, of a star twinkling through a crescent moon. Evie saw it from her home in Pennsylvania, Carter from the English shore.

So when the relationship abruptly ends a third of the way through the novel, one wonders what will carry the story to its conclusion. McNeil handles it perfectly, giving clarity to the decisions made by Evie while watching Mayluna from a distance, until an unwitting friend’s invitation to see the band at a local football stadium, and a surprise seat upgrade, put Carter and Evie back on a collision course.

The rest of the novel revolves around reconciling, in Evie’s words, having “been gifted with the mating of souls with one man and a lifetime of loving companionship with another,” and eventually realizing that “the one we love most in life may not be the one we love the best.” Mayluna’s greatest strength is the balancing act it achieves between being about a band bound for glory and being about two star-crossed lovers.

It’s to McNeil’s credit that Carter and Evie’s meet-again-cute development doesn’t turn the novel down an easy path; rather, it never stops exploring the hard choices, and often heartbreak, that face both artists and those in their orbit. The drive to create is summarized brilliantly during their initial backstage conversation.

Evie shares with Carter her hope to “write something that isn’t terrible so that I can get the chance to do more interviews with more bands and write even more words and do more films and somehow eke out enough of a living to not worry so much about paying my rent and hope that somewhere along the way, someone will think that the stories I tell matter.”

“So we’re the same, then,” an impressed Carter answers, “That’s us. That’s our band. And our future, all in one sentence.” A-

Michael Witthaus

Behind the scenes

Bedford Off Broadway presents Blame It On Beckett

In the theater, a dramaturg is a person tasked with combing through stacks of plays in search of any that might be worth doing. Bedford Off Broadway’s Blame It On Beckett, running through March 17, explores what happens when an aspirant to that role collides with the cynical incumbent dramaturg of a nonprofit theater company.

Heidi Bishop, played by Abby Lefebvre, is the wide-eyed newly minted MFA disrupting the scattered coffee cup office world of Jim Foley, a role inhabited by Larry Watson. Jim brushes off Abby’s entry as “a meeting with Mary Poppins,” but when smitten company president Mike Braschi (Jeff Robinson) hires her as an intern, Jim’s life begins to change.

The play’s title is reference to the author of Waiting for Godot, and a dig at innocents like Abby who view theater as life’s highest calling while mistaking him as an exemplar.

“You’re too young to like Beckett,” Jim tells her early on, adding that she only thinks she does because a college professor filled her head with silly ideas.

Further, Jim has decided, via years of reading mediocre works, that there are no worthy new playwrights. Anything worth doing will come from a recognized name or someone with connections. “This office is where great theater goes to die,” he believes, and the dramaturg’s only job is to reject submissions as quickly as possible.

This is advice that Abby decidedly doesn’t heed. From there, the play rollicks forward.

The final character in the play’s quartet of actors is Tina Fike, played by Karyn Russell Merriman. Tina is the company’s star, a veteran playwright whose presence leaves Heidi tongue-tied. Tina and Jim’s connection is seemingly the reason he enjoys his job, as the two thrust and parry while completing her latest work — its success will be critical to all concerned.

Written by John Morogiello and directed by Joe Pelonzi and Declan Lynch, Blame It On Beckett is filled with funny lines. Many are Jim’s; Watson stands out as the play’s star. Nonprofit theater only exists, he complains at one point, to make do-gooders feel better about wasting their money, adding he’d like to see a play written by the NRA.

Jim’s back-and-forth with Abby is hilarious. Asked if her degree intimidates him, he replies, “The only thing that threatens me is that sweater.” However, Abby’s blend of guilelessness and ambition will complicate things for Jim and cause some serious moments in Act Two.

As it’s a play about an obscure job in a niche part of the theater world, some of Blame it On Beckett’s best touches are meta and self-referential. For example, one of the rejected scripts mentioned in the play was written by Morogiello. Another funny moment has Jim telling Abby that no one would ever consider turning their office discussion into a play (like the one they are currently acting in).

Another wonderful element is the many subtle references to Godot, like the company’s “big-name bait” Literary Manager who never comes to the office, the many cigarettes Jim futilely tries to light, the director of Tina’s play, and the employee who’s on maternity leave whom Abby hopes to replace. Like the invisible character in Beckett’s play, none arrive (or ignite). Of course, there’s also the mountain of scripts on Jim’s desk with no hope of seeing a spotlight.

It all adds up to a sophisticated romp that’s snarky, sharp and at times touching. However, the show is aimed at mature audiences, something Director Pelonzi stressed in a recent phone interview.

“There are definitely adult themes,” he said. “To be honest, though, we did clean up some of the language, because there are certain things that we can’t say on stage here. But it’s still pretty edgy. It’s definitely a lot edgier than the normal shows we do in Bedford.”

Blame It On Beckett
When: Friday, March 15, and Saturday, March 16, 8 p.m., and Sunday, March 17, 2 p.m.
Location: Bedford Old Town Hall, 3 Meeting House Road, Bedford
Tickets: $15 ($12 seniors/students) at brownpapertickets.com
Note: Not appropriate for children

Featured photo: Larry Watson and Abby Lefebvre in Blame It On Beckett. Courtesy photo.

Takeoff time

Birds, In Theory celebrate debut album

Legend has it that Michael Clarke joined The Byrds because he looked like Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, not due to his drumming skills. The similarly named Birds, In Theory, a local band celebrating their debut album at The Shaskeen on March 9, has a close but slightly different story.

Its drummer, Nick Matsis, admits that he had more enthusiasm than talent when he joined high school pals Tim Dacey and Shawn Murray to form the pop punk band Eagle Jesus. The name changed, to a riff on the conspiratorial belief that birds are fake creatures created by NASA, when Dave Maloof came on as drummer post-pandemic and Matsis moved to bass.

The band’s sound coalesced with a seasoned new member behind the kit, offering a sonic fury favorable to fans of Green Day, Blink-182 and Bowling for Soup. It was a change that delighted Matsis.

“I can’t drum to save my life and that guy is a machine,” Matsis said self-deprecatingly by phone recently. “I taught myself drums playing Rock Band on the Xbox.”

A song from the forthcoming record Aviary jokes about this, along with the dichotomy between the band’s more and less polished musicians. “Guys, Where Are We?” includes a few moves that Maloof and lead guitarist Dacey handle with ease; rhythm guitar player Murray and bassist Matsis, not so much.

“That’s the only song we really changed time signatures in,” Matsis said. “We would get lost playing it at first because me and Shawn aren’t great at changing time signatures, and Tim and Dave are classically trained. So they’re like, ‘Guys, what are we doing? Where are we?’”

Other standout tracks include the slow-burning breakup song “Cover Story” and “Tourniquet,” which builds into a rager and showcases Dacey’s shredding blended with Matsis’ chugging rhythm guitar, and Maloof and Murray locked in on rhythm. This new freedom enhanced the making of Aviary.

As a trio, “we just couldn’t get as fancy as we wanted in the writing process,” Matsis said. “Dave, he’s a big Travis Barker fan; he can get in there and play anything as fast or complicated as he wants. Having that in the recording room was amazing, because he was getting that stuff done in one or two takes…. It made it so much easier.”

Birds, In Theory cites a variety of influences. Matsis is a big fan of Balance and Composure, particularly the Pennsylvania band’s 2011 LP Separation. “Shawn’s more into pop punk and indie, Tim used to be in a death metal band,” he said. “Dave’s into anything from Blink-182 to instrumental prog metal. It’s definitely a range.”

Their lyrical mood is informed by bands like The Wonder Years and Car Seat Headrest. “‘Tourniquet’ is about watching someone you thought you knew kind of change over time, and ‘Reflections’ deals with not wanting to take your emotions out on the people around you and just trying to communicate that it’s not them,” he explained. “A lot of our songs are more down, emotionally charged. Maybe not in the most positive way, but we like to make them fun.”

With a new record to celebrate, they’ll top the bill at The Shaskeen, but they’re also part of many multi-band events in the area.

“We’re lucky that we’ve been close-knit with a lot of people over the last few years and we played so many shows,” Matsis said, “That’s fun for us because we like playing with our friends and seeing our friends play.”

Beyond that, “My only hope is more new bands come around,” he continued. “This is actually our first time playing with Promise Game, so that’s exciting … I just hope the kids keep coming out and making music because there’s only so many 31-year-olds like us that can still get out there.”

Birds, In Theory w/ Promise Game, Cozy Throne and Oziem
When: Saturday, March 9, 8 p.m.
Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $10 at the door, 21+

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Art in Nature

NH Audubon in Concord showcases artist Jackie Hanson

Starting Tuesday, March 12, the artwork of New Hampshire native Jackie Hanson will be on display at the Susan N. McLane Audubon Center at 84 Silk Road.

“It is a really nice space,” Hanson said, describing the venue. “Great natural light, plenty of wall space — I feel like I need to make a few more pieces before I hang the show.”

Hanson, a 2022 Bachelor of Fine Arts graduate from New England College (after the New Hampshire Art Institute merged with the school) was thrilled to be asked by the New Hampshire Audubon to exhibit her collection titled “Human/Nature.”

“I do a lot of landscapes and other nature-based things,” Hanson said. This will be her third showing since September.

“I had my art hang at two different public libraries last year,” she said. “The first one was Nashua Public Library. That was in September and October. Then my work went to Amherst Town Library in December.”

The NH Audubon describes this collection on their website as “immersive landscapes that feature both well-known and overlooked vantages.”

Hanson likes to pick and choose how to express an image.

“This show will all be in soft pastel,” Hanson said, “which is kind of like a chalk. That’s what that series of work is, but apart from that I also like to use watercolors, acrylic, wash … I like to jump around in different mediums. I find that if I do switch now and then, then I am better at all of them when I switch again.”

The collection for this show is solid. “I believe I have around 15 or 20 pieces. The biggest one that I have is called ‘Annie C Maguire Shipwrecked Here 1886.’” The painting measures 30 by 62 inches installed.“It is a four-panel, I guess quadriptych, of a panoramic view at Portland headlight in Maine. I named it that because there is a rock that you can see that they have to repaint it every few months because of the tide, but it says the name of a shipwreck that happened there.”

Hanson, as the NH Audubon points out, enjoys the vantage points less traveled.

“I have done a few pieces in this way, where I went to an iconic landscape in New England and I kind of turned away from the classic view, which in this case would be the lighthouse,” Hanson said. “I had it behind me and I was taking a view of the little cove next to it instead. And you can actually see the place that most people stand to take their photo of the lighthouse in my painting.”

Hanson grew up in an artistic family; her mother is an artist and has “always been doing artwork,” she said. “My family and my mom have shaped my idea of what’s beautiful in the world. So I like to promote that with other people, to look for beauty in everyday moments. ”

“I have a full-time job and it can be tricky,” she said; Hanson makes the most of her time, though, “painting at night and on the weekends. As we get into the warmer months, I do a lot of art and craft fairs on the weekends. You can find me all around the state and sometimes into Maine or Massachusetts, bringing my art and prints and cards and stickers of my art to different places. I like to do pop-ups, making it accessible to everyday people to have artwork in their homes. That’s a lot of how I get my art income. I do have my work at a store in Contoocook called Maple Street Mercantile as well.” The majority of her pieces will be for sale at the McLane Center.

Be on the lookout for future shows from Hanson.

“I just finished up an unrelated series that’s in mostly acrylic but some mixed media that’s botanicals, mostly house plants. I wanted to make sure that they had a distinctly feminine aesthetic.” As she sees it, “a lot of the high art world and some of the academic art world doesn’t think that things considered feminine are necessarily worthy…. So, a lot of pink, a lot of vibrant colors. I was thinking: art by a woman for women.”

Human/Nature
Where: McLane Audubon Center, 84 Silk Farm Road, Concord
When: March 12 through May 17; the gallery is open Tuesdays through Fridays 11 a.m to 5 p.m.
An artist reception will be held Saturday, March 23, from 2 to 4 p.m.

More info: “Looking Back: Owl’s Head” by Jackie Hansonart. Courtesy Photo.

Flight into flyover country

Palace performs The Prom

A quartet of Broadway actors in need of a reputation reboot and a gay high school student looking to disrupt the status quo in her small town are at the center of The Prom, a musical that’s at turns heartwarming and hilarious. The latest production from the Palace Theatre, it will run Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through March 24.

Creative Director Carl Rajotte decided to do the show after watching a Netflix adaptation of it with Palace staff during the pandemic.

“We just all loved it,” he said in a recent phone interview. “People cried, we all laughed; we thought this should be something that we put in our season once we reopened.”

The story begins as diva actors Dee Dee Allen and Barry Glickman are finishing opening night of Eleanor: The Eleanor Roosevelt Story. The musical is immediately panned by the critics for missing the point. Both actors are slammed for being narcissistic and out of touch. Dee Dee is played by Michelle Rajotte, seen most recently in Dancing Queens. Jay Falzone plays Barry; it’s the ninth production for the Palace veteran.

Crestfallen, the two decide to combine altruism and public relations and look for a cause. With help from Trent Oliver, an underemployed Juilliard graduate (Richard Gomez), and Angie Dickinson, an actress who wants to move beyond 20 years in the Chicago chorus line (Katie Harvey), they learn about Emma (played by Palace newcomer Juliana Chimenti), whose attempt to take her girlfriend to the prom caused the whole thing to be canceled.

To the soundtrack of the un-self-aware anthem “Changing Lives,” the four hatch a plan to love-bomb the prom back into existence. Hopping on the bus with Trent, who’s in a non-union touring company of Godspell, they head to Indiana and an incredulous reception. The object of their crusade (mixing in Godspell is a lovely touch) is among the most bewildered.

Of course, the well-meaning bunch is undeterred. Like four bedazzled bulls in a China shop, they push their Big Apple agenda, as it were (“I’m a liberal from New York who’s come to save you!” Trent shouts at one point), on a cornfield community. Gratefully, life lessons outnumber caricatures, and The Prom’s heart shines through in the end.

The Prom’s greatest strength is taking a serious topic and leavening it with outsized humor, while weaving in compelling subplots to move the action along. The Broadway-loving (and Emma ally) high school principal who has a lifelong crush on Dee Dee, and Barry vicariously living his dashed high school prom hopes through Emma, are among the entanglements that carry things forward — along with great songs.

Ultimately, it succeeds because of what’s stumbled upon in an errant pursuit of redemption.

“It’s a comedy but it has so much heart too, it’s so charming,” Rajotte said. “Elites from the big city come thinking that they’ll bowl over the small town and they begin to learn where the soul of this place is, and they learn about themselves as well in the process.”

In preparing for the show, Rajotte was surprised to learn that playwright Jack Viertel got the idea for The Prom from a real event. “In Mississippi in 2010, a girl went to her school and asked to bring her girlfriend, and she wanted to wear a tux and they ended up canceling the whole prom,” he said. “That kind of hit me hard; that’s why this show is just so important.”

A few years back, Rajotte helped with a prom for teenagers in the Palace’s Youth Theatre program; it opened his eyes. “I thought … we’ll put some music up, dance a little bit,” he said. “But then I talked to the kids; one came to me, and this hit me like a brick wall. He said, ‘thank you so much for doing this…. I love it here more than school because I’m able to dance and be myself, and no one will make fun of me.’”

The moment reminded him why the show’s message matters. “Being inclusive and taking a moment to step in someone else’s shoes for a second before you judge … see it from another point of view and see how much someone can be hurt because of that,” he said. With The Prom, “we’re trying to get that message across, of course, with a ton of humor.”

The Prom
When: Fridays, March 8, March 15 and March 22, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, March 9, March 16 and March 23, at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, March 10, March 17 and March 24, at 2 p.m.
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester
Tickets: $28 and up at palactheatre.org

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Making the pieces fit

Slim Volume on the rise

Blending elements of alt country and harmony-rich classic rock, Slim Volume is a breath of fresh air on the local music scene. At the core of the four-piece band is the songwriting team of Trent Larrabee and Jake DeSchuiteneer, who met as coworkers at SNHU’s Manchester campus, bonded over a shared love of ’60s bands, and found their mojo at Strange Brew Tavern’s open mic night.

With the addition of Mike Morgan on guitar and, soon after, drummer Jonny Lawrence, they picked a name and began playing whatever bar, basement or party would have them, polishing their sound while writing a growing list of original songs. Their sound isn’t easily pinned down — the Jake-written “It’s Been Sweet” echoes “Take It to the Limit” from the Eagles, while Trent’s composition “Talk it Over” is a lovely slice of dream pop wrapped in Tom Petty jangle.

Ever present, however, is the pair’s lush harmonizing. This comes through in the covers they choose. A mid-February listening room show at The Livery in Sunapee included no fewer than four Beatles tunes — “The first song we learned together was ‘This Boy,’” Trent said from the stage — and “Dream” from the Everly Brothers.

Other influences include Wilco and Pavement, along with contemporaries.

“A lot of local bands inspired me the most,” Trent said in a recent phone interview. He specifically cited Evan Benoit and his band Badfellows, now called Happy Just to See You, and Great White Tourist. “Just the whole Manchester music scene from 2015 to 2017 was super influential on me because I was still living in a Beatles/Bob Dylan paradigm that I had not really broken out of yet.”

The duo’s vocal connection began with Trent teaching himself Ricky Skaggs’ “You’ve Got a Lover” and Jake deciding to come in on top of the vocal. “I remember we noticed that it worked, and Trent being like, ‘You should do more of that type of thing,’” Jake recalled. “My voice does things Jake can’t and he does things mine doesn’t really do,” Trent agreed. “They definitely complement each other in that way.”

Trent had played in a few other bands before meeting Jake, who was just starting to explore taking his interest in music to another level. Working together on Trent’s 2021 solo album Billions of Musics helped Jake’s songwriting to grow. It’s led to a collaborative process that usually starts with one or the other writing a nearly complete song and then taking it to the band for fine tuning.

“I was inspired by the fact that Trent seemed to be finishing songs [that] had something to say and were interesting from start to finish,” Jake said. “That kind of helped me to see my way toward doing more, because a lot of what I’d done at the time was just writing stuff on my own, with really no intention of any audience hearing it.”

They’ve released one EP, Staring at the Sun, and a handful of singles. They have two more finished EPs, set to drop later this year. Each represents a different side of the group, Trent said. “One is more indie rock, and the other is our indie soul folk kind of sound. So that’s going to be a great display of, I don’t want to say the polarities of our music, but the range and spectrum of what we do.”

They’re also at work on their first full-length album with, noted Trent, an embarrassment of riches facing them.

“We have so much material, it’s really become a problem,” he said. “We can keep doing singles and EPs forever, but putting 10 or 12 songs together is really more important. It’s helped us focus [and] filter songs through the lens of what’s going to be good on an album, what’s going to fit together sonically, and what’s going to be the most accessible to an audience.”

Jake agreed. “I think we’re really starting to circle the target on what our sound, Slim Volume original music sounds like,” he said. “It’s a little bit indie rock, a little bit folk rock, sometimes it’s a little pop, sometimes it’s soulful. I think the album is gonna really show in a cohesive way what that range is.”

Slim Volume
When: Saturday, March 2, 5 p.m.
Where: Twin Barns Brewing, 194 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith
More: slimvolumeband.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 24/02/29

Local music news & events

Broadway bash: Four actors who’ve all starred in Phantom of the Opera gather for The Four Phantoms In Concert. The show, soon to be a PBS special, has both solo and group numbers from Brent Barrett, John Cudia, Franc D’Ambrosio and Ciarán Sheehan. It includes an appearance by Kaley Ann Voorhees, who played Christine in Phantom’s Broadway production. Thursday, Feb. 29, 7 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $48.75 and up at ccanh.com.

Hammer time: He’s popular enough to fill hockey rinks, but Tom Segura’s dark humor isn’t for everyone. He told mLive.com in October his current tour is “bigger and blacker than anything I’ve ever done, but that name has already been used; Come Together gets the point across. Let us all come together for a night. ” Friday, March 1, 8 p.m., SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester, $35.50 and up at snhuarena.com.

Mixed media: Standup comedy preceded by jazz music is on tap at a show topped by Kenny Rogerson, billed as “the funniest man you’ve never heard of,” along with Steve Scarfo and Jayson Martin. Rogerson is well-known to regional fans; he’s appeared in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, and has made appearances on Letterman, Conan O’Brien and Comics Come Home. Saturday, March 2, 7 pm., Rockingham Ballroom, 22 Ash Swamp Road, Newmarket, $25 at eventbrite.com.

New Englander: No soundtrack of 1970s Boston is complete without Jonathan Richman, who yearned to “drive past the Stop n’ Shop with the radio on at night” on “Roadrunner” and wrote a love song to Government Center. These days, he’s a crooner who eschews his oldies for an ever-changing setlist of music that “works well in quiet places,” backed by Tommy Larkins. Sunday, March 3, 7 p.m., Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua, $39 and up at etix.com.

Rap deconstructed: For anyone interested in the songwriting process of hip-hop, Cody Pope and Brian G will break it down during an Inside the Music presentation. Sure to come up in the discussion is the duo’s work in progress, a follow-up to 2021’s Meet Me In Gate City, and thoughts on their creative influences, which include Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth, Gang Starr and Kool G Rap. Monday, March 4, 7 p.m., Nashua Public Library, 2 Court St., Nashua, nashualibrary.org.

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