Author: Michael Witthaus

Midwest rockers

BoDeans play Nashua Center

In the middle of the 1980s, a contingent of bands emerged from a swamp of big hair and overproduction that were hell bent on rocking out, like Boston’s Del Fuegos, Georgia Satellites and the Plimsouls. Among those championing the no-nonsense, garage rock sound was BoDeans, whose first single, “Fadeaway,” was all over MTV in 1986.

Nearly four decades on, the Milwaukee quartet is still touring and making albums; their latest is 4 the Last Time, released in 2022. A 10-day run includes two New Hampshire shows; a near sold out night at Jimmy’s in Portsmouth on Thursday, May 23, and an appearance the following evening at the Nashua Center for the Arts.

In a recent phone interview, BoDeans front man Kurt Neumann described his band’s setlists as spanning six decades of music, because they include a cover of “Drift Away,” a Dobie Gray hit from the ’70s that’s there for its sing-along quality, and because it represents a bygone, enchanting time for Neumann.

“It really pulls a lot together as far as where I came from as a songwriter,” he said of the song, and recalled being glued to the radio as a kid. “It was my escape from the world, and songs like ‘Drift Away’ really took me there. I’m bringing it back to that place for the audience and remembering how much music has played a part in our lives.”

Sets stretch to two and a half hours and draw from each of the band’s 14 albums, infectious songs like “You Don’t Get Much,” “Good Things” and “Closer To Free,” which became the theme song for Party of Five. It wasn’t their only foray into television; he wrote music for the Netflix series The Ranch, which ran from 2016 to 2020. Neumann was recruited for the show, which starred Ashton Kutcher, Debra Winger and Sam Elliot, and was set in rural Colorado.

“Both of the producers were big fans of BoDeans music, and they wanted to make music a good part of the show, so I was constantly writing stuff,” Neumann said. The showrunners would tell him what they wanted, like a song with a small-town theme, and he’d write a few versions. “It was the first time anyone was really giving me cues … before, it was always like, what should I write about today?”

Neumann also contributed instrumental pieces. “It was nice to work with a bunch of different people like that on a show,” he continued. “To experience the process of what they’re doing, and then adding to that musically … I really enjoyed it.”

Asked how he feels about touring as the BoDeans near a 40th anniversary, Neumann replied, “we keep evolving, even with the old material, we try to reinvent it in an interesting way. Then we always have the crowd making everything fresh and new. They’re looking forward to hearing the songs and singing with you. It all works together to keep you interested in moving forward with the music.”

Though the new album’s title hinted at a potential end to new BoDeans music, Neumann is still writing songs and feeling a creative spark.

“It has kind of a double meaning — one of the songs on the record is called ‘For the Last Time’ and it’s about ending a relationship,” he said. “But as you get older, putting these records out, it’s changed so much. You never know what I was trying to imply with the title. You never know how many records you’re going to get to make. I will say that I have about 20 new songs recorded and ready to come out. So there will be one more at least.”

BoDeans w/ Chris Trapper
When: Friday, May 24, 8 p.m.
Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $29 to $49 at etix.com

Featured photo: BoDeans. Photo by Lucia J. Bilotti.

The Music Roundup 24/05/23

Local music news & events

• All inclusive: Million Dollar Quartet star and piano prodigy Nat Zegree’s The History of Rock ’n’ Roll is a Cliffs Notes version of Andrew Hickey’s 500 Songs podcast, charting the early days of the genre before it had a name. Follow the rise of Bill Haley & the Comets, Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly, as well as Jerry Lee Lewis, who Zegree portrayed in the musical. Thursday, May 23, 7:30 p.m., The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, $42 and up at themusichall.org.

• Ocean Stater: Though he calls Rhode Island home these days, J. Michael Graham is originally from New Hampshire and is pleased to be returning to perform at a favorite watering hole. The singer, songwriter and guitarist has released a pair of well-received original albums, and performed with a wide range of artists, from James Montgomery to Deer Tick and the Dresden Dolls. Friday, May 24, 8 p.m., Village Trestle, 25 Main St., Goffstown. More at jmgrahammusic.com.

• Horror show: The EDM pop culture soiree Halloween Stories is set in fictitious Grimoire Village, where the spooky night never ends. Come dressed as a werewolf, witch, zombie or demon and experience house, drums n’ bass, dubstep and other beat-heavy sounds by Snaggletooth, Too Hard to Spell, and DJ LAWR. Advance purchase is required for the 21+ event. Saturday, May 24, 9 pm., Jewel Music Venue, 61 Canal St., Manchester, $19.99 at grimoireacademy.com.

• Boston laughs: Though his admiration of Bill Murray made him want to be an actor early on, Will Noonan has made his name as a comic, winning accolades from the now-defunct Improper Bostonian as the city’s best, and he recently appeared in the broadcast booth at Fenway Park alongside Sox legend Jim Rice. His relatable standup makes him a regular favorite in New Hampshire. Saturday, May 25, 8:30 p.m., Chunky’s Cinema, 707 Huse Road, Manchester, $20 at chunkys.com.

• First nights: Outdoor concerts in the Lakes Region kick off for the summer. The Beach Boys headline the weekend-closing show, with Mike Love now the last of the band’s old guard, along with Bruce Johnston, who joined in 1965. Also on the bill is Dave Mason and Traffic Jam, reviving the group he co-founded; he wrote their early hit “Feelin’ Alright.” Sunday, May 26, 7:30 p.m., Bank of NH Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford, $41 and up at livenation.com.

Scene of the crime

Clue comes to life in Concord

Who killed Mr. Boddy, with what weapon, and where? Was it Miss Peacock wielding a lead pipe in the library, or maybe Colonel Mustard with a dagger in the dining room? To anyone who’s ever played an iconic board game, this is a familiar question. It’s also the basis for a unique experience hosted by the Capitol Center for the Arts.

CLUE: A Walking Mystery invites participants, grouped into six five-person teams, to solve the now-cold case of Boddy’s demise. The quest begins at the historic Kimball House in downtown Concord, as two “butlers” who were there long ago when the crime was committed provide instructions to the sleuths-for-a-day.

The house was sold after the murder, they’re told, with all the furniture auctioned off. The butlers believe that in some hutch, dresser or desk is the key to identifying the criminal. Each item is now in a local business, like Teatotaller Café, Gibson’s Bookstore or the Barley House. Everyone is then handed an auction catalog.

The detectives go forth on a walk through the city, questing for answers, solving puzzles as they go.

“It’s like an escape room, but it’s broken up into nine different pieces around the city,” Kevin Hammonds, one of the game’s creators, said by phone recently. Hammonds added that it’s ideal for folks who find escape rooms claustrophobic.

“This is the opposite of being locked in a room,” he said. “You’re walking around, you’re getting a lot of great exercise and experiencing the best of Concord. It’s a great thing to do as a family, a group outing or for team-building. The puzzles are really original and creative and tricky.”

The immersive experience began during the pandemic as a way for L.A.-based touring company Right Angle Entertainment to keep employees busy. Initially it involved engaging suspects along the way, but that proved unwieldy. SoCal puzzle designers The Wild Optimists came up with a new vision. The retooled CLUE debuted in Chicago and ran for six months.

Hammonds scouted Concord as a potential location and loved what he found.

“The thing about Chicago is that it visits all these iconic places but it’s spread out,” he said. “We tried to keep it under a mile, but it still takes some time and walking. Concord is a compact digestible version. It’s not quite as sprawled out, but it’s still incredibly satisfying.”

Choosing where to put furniture “was literally me walking up and down the streets of Concord,” he said. “You have to find a place that has the same hours as the game, will fit a piece of furniture, and also accommodate 30 people every 20 minutes to come in and play the game. … It also has to kind of fit the Clue vibe and aesthetic.”

The cast members “all love improv,” he continued. “Most of them are drama college students, but we have a college professor who loves murder mysteries and Clue, and he also acts part-time. I have another butler that’s a great improv actor that does a lot of work on Saturday Night Live.”

Similarly, participants are encouraged to follow a penchant for cosplay at the event.

“When the butlers greet them, they inform them that they are descendants of the OG suspects, like Miss Scarlet, or Colonel Mustard,” Hammonds said. “In Chicago we had a lot of people come dressed up as those characters or in those colors.”

Unlike the board game, there are no winners.

“It’s not a contest,” Hammonds said. “You’re not hunting for where you go next. It tells you go to Gibson’s Bookstore; this is the address; this is a picture of the bookcase. We also say, while you’re at Teatotaller Café looking for the kitchen hutch, enjoy 10 percent off, or have lunch at the Barley House…. We encourage people to stop and enjoy whatever each business has to offer.”

CLUE: A Walking Mystery
When: Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through June 16, multiple time slots
Where: Kimball House, 16 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets: $34 at ccanh.com

Swing revivalists

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy hits Tupelo

Southern California in the 1980s was a melting pot of musical genres. Co-billed shows with punk bands, barrio rockers Los Lobos and twang master Dwight Yoakam were common. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy drummer Kurt Sodergren recalls seeing X and the Blasters at the country-centric Palomino Club in North Hollywood.

“It was really an exciting time and I felt like everyone was included,” he said by phone recently ahead of a May 18 show at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry. “To me, it had kind of that punk rock energy … if you want to do it, go on, let’s do it.”

This milieu was perfect for Sodergren and his friend Scotty Morris to explore a passion for swing music. With an upright bass player, they formed an unconventional trio late in the decade. Musical differences led to Dirk Shumaker taking over on bass, which led to the evolution of the band that made hits like “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby).”

Wearing vintage suits, with Sodergren sporting bleached hair and Doc Martens boots, they served up a brand of swing that fit the cultural democracy well. “Not to knock Glenn Miller, but it wasn’t Glenn Miller, it wasn’t sleepy,” Sodergren said. “We did this one cover of ‘Sing, Sing, Sing!’ that was nothing like Benny Goodman’s version. It had all those elements, but it also had a really loud Fender Strat right by my drum set…. It was loud and exciting.”

In 1993 the band self-released an eponymous album, which led to a residency at L.A.’s famous Brown Derby. They broke out when their songs were included in the 1996 movie Swingers, signing with a major label and touring nationally. The peak of this heady time was an appearance in the 1999 Super Bowl halftime show. Writer Michael Weinreb called them “the last niche act” to grace that big stage.

The lineup included Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder, who drove a car onto the field. What stands out in his memory is bumping into Kiss, who’d played a pregame set. In full makeup, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers were standing near the field when Sodergren and his bandmates walked by.

“My first show was Kiss and Cheap Trick. I was a big fan, and they recognized us!” he recalled, adding that he and Peter Criss chatted for close to 15 minutes. Criss admired his drum set, a new Slingo Buddy Rich reissue. “I couldn’t believe it. If I was 12 again and said, ‘I’m going to meet Peter Criss,’ people would have laughed at me.”

Two factors fed Sodergren’s love for retro music. One, wanting to be the opposite of his older brother, a fan of bands like Foreigner and REO Speedwagon, and two, his dad’s big record collection. “He had Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall,” he said. “I heard Gene Krupa’s drumming on it and just was blown away. I would play them all the time.”

He shifted into high gear at the urging of his teacher, who “really had a lot of jazz on his mind and told me, ‘You’ve got to know this music,’” and upon learning that his grandfather once played saxophone professionally. “He’d perform in a town for like two months and stay in an apartment above the venue and travel with my grandma. When they had my dad, he had to settle down; he got a job at Montgomery Ward. He still played in the local big band, but not for a living.”

Currently in the midst of a multi-week East Coast run, the band is a big favorite in New Hampshire. Sodergren said he’s excited to be back at Tupelo Music Hall. “It’s super intimate,” he said. “You can see people’s faces, the energy is great. I don’t feel like we have to hold back. Those kinds of venues are my favorite.”

After celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1993 debut album last year, Sodergren is keen to work on new music, but expects the Tupelo show will be a retrospective of past material.

“We’ll probably rehearse some songs at soundcheck, but [it’s] really more celebration of the 30th. We’ll try and play something from every single record,” he said.

Unique in that their original lineup is mostly intact, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have no plans to slow down.

“We really love what we do, and we bring a really great energy to it,” Sodergren said. “We don’t just get up there and open a book and start playing a song and then politely wait for applause. People get happy in my band, and it’s pretty great.”

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
When: Saturday, May 18, 8 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
Tickets: $45 at tupelohall.com

Featured photo: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 24/05/16

Local music news & events

• Scotsman: Punk rock fans will delight in a multi-act downtown show headlined by Billy Liar. The Scotland native’s latest album, Crisis Actor, is a post-pandemic gem, with a guest appearance from Frank Turner and a batch of songs that rage, scream and snarl. Rounding out the bill are Oh The Humanity, regional favorites Jonee Earthquake Band and The Doldrums. Thursday, May 16, 7:30 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester, $5 at the door, 21+. See billyliarmusic.com.

• Guitar man: Three decades after breaking through with his surf-shredding Endless Summer, Gary Hoey has been in a blues mood for the past few albums; his most recent is 2019’s Neon Highway Blues. More than a few polls list him among the top 100 guitarists in the world, and Hoey has performed with everyone from Johnny Winter to Jeff Beck and Queen’s Brian May. Friday, May 17, 8 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $40 at tupelohall.com.

• Crowd work: When veteran standup comic Cory Gee bounds onstage, he’s almost immediately mixing with the crowd; learning who’s married, which couples are dating for the first time, and who might be celebrating a birthday. The rapid-fire back and forth helps him size up the audience, but it’s not a call for a longer conversation. He’s setting up jokes. Saturday, May 18, 8:30 pm., Headliners Comedy Club, 700 Elm St., Manchester, $23 at headlinersnh.com.

• Blues contest: The road to Memphis 2025 begins at the Granite State Blues Challenge, where bands, solo and duo performers and youth acts compete for tops in the state. The event is presented by Granite State Blues Society, which is dedicated to preserving the blues while raising money for children’s charities. Winners will perform at the International Blues Competition next year. Sunday, May 19, 1 p.m., Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $15 at ccanh.com.

• Trumpeter: Legendary horn player, composer and producer Herb Albert and singer Lani Hall perform. With Tijuana Brass, the album cover of his Whipped Cream & Other Delights was the ’60s version of clickbait; interestingly Alpert was also the co-owner of the label that released it, A&M Records. A decade later, Alpert hit with the dance floor classic Rise. Monday, May 20, 8 p.m., Nashua Center for the Arts, 33 Main St., Nashua, $49 at nashuacenterforthearts.com.

Toasting the arts

Celebrating creativity in Sunapee

Wine and chocolate will flow amidst paintings, photography and piano music at an upcoming event in New London to showcase the Lake Sunapee Region Center for the Arts. The Raise a Glass to the Arts! reception will serve as a reminder of the Center’s many efforts to support expression throughout the area, which include micro-galleries in local businesses, festivals, seminars, concerts and youth programs.

“We wanted to create a wonderful evening to celebrate with our donors and members, our artists and our community, what the arts are all about when it comes to the Center,” CFA Executive Director Dina Stahlheber said by phone recently. “It’s a moment to step back and think about the wonderful talent here, and all the different things that are able to come together.”

The Center’s mission encompasses visual, performing and literary arts, Stahlheber said.

“They’re very closely intertwined, yet each one of themselves are quite vast,” she said. “Many of our painters are poets and many of our poets are performers or musicians. We have singer-songwriters that dip their toes into both writing and music. We have quite a variety here.”

She envisions the event, happening at Colby-Sawyer College’s Wheeler Hall, as a way to “celebrate these three different key aspects of what the organization does, as well as its love and focus on youth. We also offer some great scholarships, school grant programs, and activities for our youth and families.” To underscore this cross-pollination, ticket holders will be entered to win a pair of seats to the New London Barn Playhouse’s June production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

Stahlheber added that a past scholarship winner will perform at the gathering, along with veteran pianist and composer Will Ogmundson. This and other CFA endeavors serve to highlight the importance of human expression, something that’s particularly critical in an age that sees it threatened by machine learning.

The latter is a topic that Stahlheber spoke eloquently about in a press release last March.

“In a landscape increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and algorithms, the essence of human experience embedded within artistic expression becomes ever more poignant,” she said. “While technology can assemble stories and generate visually stunning images, it cannot convey the personal journey behind the creation of art.”

During the interview, Stahlheber was quick to point out that she’s no Luddite.

“I appreciate technology,” she said. “I just want to be sure that we don’t forget or lose sight of the fact that artificial intelligence still cannot communicate the human essence of the arts as humans can.”

She continued, “AI can replicate stories and even make them very moving, but at the end of the day, there’s something about someone having lived … when they share their story, the pain and glory of overcoming a situation, that is what’s authentic, powerful and meaningful.”

Stahlheber took over the reins at CFA just over a year ago and has focused many of her efforts on messaging. “I wanted to be more intentional about what we’re doing, why are we doing it, and how it fits into our mission,” she explained. “Not everyone in the community realizes how much we’ve done and the large role it plays, the many places and connections the Center for the Arts has in this region.”

To that end, an event later this summer will shine a light not only on the CFA’s work but also on the region it serves.

“I am so excited for our July Arts Week in Sunapee Harbor,” Stahlheber said. “It has been a year-long planning session with a group of wonderful organizations, [and] we have been trying to put together a really special weekend. But also, to promote Sunapee Harbor. It is super-beloved, but not everyone, even in the surrounding area, remembers it’s here.”

Raise a Glass to the Arts!
When: Saturday, May 18, 7 p.m.
Where: Wheeler Hall, 541 Main St., New London
Tickets: $55 members, $65 non-members at centerfortheartsnh.org

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!