Author: Michael Witthaus

Not your mother’s family portrait

Manchester artist creates dream-like synthesis of photos

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Self-taught photographer Karen Jerzyk invites families of all shapes and sizes to head over to her studio space at Morgan Self Storage (400 Bedford St. in Manchester) to partake in an alternative to the generic family portrait. Jerzyk is a true artist and her work has appeared on the Tonight show with Jimmy Fallon, but this is just icing on the surreal and fantastical cake that is her style.

“People come, they have fun, they get their pictures,” Jerzyk said.

She mentioned that one family in particular told her, “We’ve been looking for something like this to do … family photos are strange, we feel uncomfortable having a picture of us on the wall not portraying our personalities. We feel better putting this kind of stuff on the wall.”

One family consisting of a mother, father, son and daughter are taking part. “The son, he did green, the girl did pink” and the parents are going to do different colors, Jerzyk said.

People can dress up and even bring their pets.

“I have a lot of accordions over there … people can use props…. I have like 10 tons of wardrobe,” she said.

Jerzyk had “wanted to do another monochromatic color series,” so she thought, “I’ll do it again and invite the public to come and get their portrait taken. Which is a kind of win-win because it also helps me pay for the materials to actually do this stuff for my portfolio.”

Jerzyk just did the color green, is now focusing on pink and will move into blue later in May. Those who sign up can expect to spend a half hour of their time and $40 plus a small eventbrite fee to receive a movie-quality portrait that captures their essence.

“I get a lot of inspiration from movies,” Jerzyk said. “I grew up in the ’80s. … I like the sci-fi, like, that vaporwave, neon-y, just the vibe of the ’80s I’ve always loved.” One aspect of that time period was the practical and analog effects needed to create a realistic version of unreality.

“It’s always important to me that when I do this … that it’s real, that I don’t Photoshop anything.” With the growth of artificial intelligence in image creation and the charlatans who wield it for profit, Jerzyk wants to assure clients of her authenticity. “They’re getting what I say is going to happen.”

She does use Lightroom software for some color-correcting and shoots with a Canon R5C, usually with some type of wide-angle lens. “I’ve always loved using Canon.”

Jerzyk buys tons of paint for her monochromatic color series too, as the saturation of color is crucial to the design. “It’s very strange when things are painted all the same color. It’s very surreal,” she said.

“For pink, I kind of wanted to not go the typical what people would think pink would be, so I had two skeletons in here — and it killed me to paint those ’cause they’re kinda expensive, they’re poseable skeletons. I just like building stuff that is just surreal, that people wouldn’t necessarily get a chance to insert themselves into or experience or get their photo taken in.”

Apart from the color series, her studio has a collection of permanent sets that range from a prototypical grandparents’ home from the early ’80s to a retro-futuristic diner complete with a bar and barstools, a jukebox, and a neon breakfast sign.

Before getting into portraiture, Jerzyk did around 10 years of music photography. She enjoyed album covers and art, and started by sneaking disposable cameras into concerts, so when she graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2003 her parents gifted her a digital camera. But the music scene was not where Jerzyk was destined to stay.

“I started getting bored with it because I think deep down I was just missing a creative outlet … it was definitely awesome getting a photo pass, especially for bands I really like,” Jerzyk said, but she was looking for something more. “If I can’t say or show people what’s in my head, it’s not something I can keep doing.”

“I expressed [this] to a friend around 2008 and he was like, ‘How come you never shoot portraits of people?’ I was like, I don’t know, I’m kind of awkward and introverted … meeting up with a stranger and directing them, back then it seemed like a nightmare to me.”

It was a long but necessary road to take to get where she is today. “I think it’s important for people to know that when I started doing this stuff it was not good. I think that self-realization is good, though, because then you know you can be better…. It took a while to get, I guess I’d call it an aesthetic voice or just an aesthetic in general,” Jerzyk said.

Jerzyk’s vision is solid and at the same time fluid, abstract yet concrete, and a pleasure to experience. “Now when people see my work they know it’s mine,” she said, “but it took a couple years to get that.”

Karen Jerzyk photography
karenjerzykphoto.zenfolio.com
$40 for a 30-minute portrait session.
Tickets are available at Eventbrite:
eventbrite.com/e/karen-jerzyk-presents-tickets-870680748557.

Featured Photo: Photo by Karen Jerzyk

Making the show

New twist to NH Gay Men’s Chorus concerts

Every year since 1998 the New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus has performed a series of concerts. This year they invite the audience to go behind the scenes and see how the program is chosen, in an evening of music laced with theater called Putting It All Together. Luc Andre Roberge, NHGMC’s Artistic Director, said in a recent Zoom interview that the chorus will portray the path from brainstorming songs to turning them into a show.

“Let’s get the audience to experience what it’s like to put this whole thing together,” he said. This year they will again perform four shows, one each in Concord, Manchester, Nashua and Stratham, along with several outreach shows across the state at assisted living facilities and other places.

Selections in the upcoming concerts include Ike & Tina Turner’s version of “Proud Mary,” with the slow-groove first part performed in the program’s early set and the rocked-up “nice and rough” section in the second half. The program also has “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman, a medley from Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen, and a song most will recognize from The Big Bang Theory, Barenaked Ladies’ “The History of Everything.”

The show closes with “Why We Sing,” a song that NHGMC President John McGeehan called “very meaningful” during the same interview. “Even when you don’t understand someone’s language, you can still get the emotion and the feeling and the expression through their music,” he said. “There are few things out there that are like that. I think that’s a really powerful statement to leave our audience with.”

Though it’s a musical entity, NHGMC has higher aims.

“Part of our mission statement is to share the joy of music with the residents of New Hampshire, but also to be representatives of the LGBT community, give it a positive image,” McGeehan said. “I think that’s really important, especially now.”

Roberge noted that at the chorus’s first performance, some members asked that their names not be listed in the program, while others wore dark glasses or hats to obscure their identities.

“It was a very different world in 1998 than the one we live in now,” he said. “People didn’t go about telling people that they were gay. One didn’t really even come out, certainly not in the state of New Hampshire.”

Thankfully, that’s changed. The Granite State legalized same-sex marriage in 2010. In 2018 Gov. Sununu and Rep. Chris Pappas joined to celebrate NHGMC’s 20th anniversary. Last year Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig signed a proclamation declaring New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus Day in the city. And one recent fact in particular stands out for Roberge. “Less than half of all our concert attendees identify as gay,” he said. “That says there’s a lot of acceptance in the state.”

Roberge was a charter member of NHGMC and became Artistic Director in 2000. He co-leads the chorus with Principal Accompanist Gary Finger. Among Roberge’s memories of his tenure, the one that stands out as his favorite isn’t musical. While in his 30s, he came out to his parents, urged by fellow chorus members who thought they should see him sing a solo rendition of “Old Man River” at an upcoming concert.

Though he had a good relationship with them that included strong support for his music, Roberge worried that telling them his truth would damage it. His mother cried upon hearing the news, but not for reasons he’d feared.

“‘How many concerts did I miss?’ was her question to me,” he said. “She was so upset that she’d missed all that time — five years with the chorus at that point.”

Immediately, she and her father left the house for a series of face-to-face visits, ultimately inviting 30 friends to the concert. “And all of them came,” Roberge said. “It truly meant it was a non-issue. It was a very moving and touching experience. Not just for myself, but for the chorus, and anyone that attended that concert.”

The wonderful affirmation still makes him smile.

“I ended up, living in the state of New Hampshire, having an excellent coming out story, with an organization that believes we need to show that we are just average people,” he said. “That’s a very positive experience that I had with the chorus.”

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
When: Fridays, 7:30 p.m., Saturdays, 2 & 7:30 p.m., Sundays, 2 p.m. through May 12
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester
Tickets: $28 and up at palacetheatre.org

Featured Photo: Austin Mirsoltani and Rachel Gubow in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

Celebrate

Johnny A. revisits guitar icon Jeff Beck

There’s history between guitarists Jeff Beck and Johnny A.

The two jammed together multiple times, beginning a few years back in Portland, Maine, when Beck invited Johnny A onstage after his band opened for him. Later, the Massachusetts-born axeman toured with the re-formed Yardbirds, Beck’s (and Jimmy Page’s) first band, playing all the guitar parts. Heady stuff for a guy who’d said if he could jam with anyone in the world, it wouldn’t be Jimi Hendrix or his idol John Lennon; it’d be Jeff Beck.

However, when asked in the weeks after Beck died last year to put together a band to remember him, Johnny A declined — firmly.

“I said, I’m not really into doing tribute things, first of all, and b, the guy is not really copyable,” he recalled in a recent phone interview. “He [the promoter] called me again and I turned him down. Then he called me again.”

By then, he’d thought more about his time playing songs like “For Your Love” and “Shapes of Things,” and conceded the tireless promoter might have a point. “He said, ‘Hey, listen, you played in the Yardbirds for three years. The reviews I’ve seen of you capturing that era of music with those guitar players were always very, very positive.’”

He agreed to consider putting a band together but made clear it would not be a tribute.

“I’d approach it like I approached the Yardbirds … pay respect to the artist, don’t really try to copy, try to conjure the spirit of the music, and keep my own personality injected in there somehow,” he said.

The result is Beck-Ola, a band named after the guitarist’s second solo album. It includes the rhythm section from his trio, drummer Marty Richards and bassist Dean Cassell, singer Mike Gill (Beyond Purple) and keyboard player Steve Baker. The latter is a great fit for Beck’s jazz fusion era, having played with Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham and Allan Holdsworth.

The two-week tour, which will include a Saturday, April 27, show at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth and a Sunday, April 28, show at the Nashua Center for the Arts will focus exclusively on Beck’s solo career.

“We’re doing 21 songs from different albums that go all the way back to Truth; nothing really from the Yardbirds,” he said. “I’m calling it ‘A Celebration of the Music of Jeff Beck,’ because we’re trying to capture the spirits of different eras.”

He plans to follow the guitar legend’s unique approach to his material.

“He never really played melodies the same way twice, they were always interpreted like a singer would sing a song, differently every time,” he said. “Even though it’s really the same melody, the inflections and the nuances and the phrasing are altered.”

It’s an approach he’s had since taking up guitar in the mid-1960s.

“I’m influenced by a lot of people but it’s more about what makes them tick,” he said. “If you can conjure up that little spark … maybe re-imagine that energy and bring it to your own playing. Maybe it echoes the personality that you’re trying to, I wouldn’t say emulate, but pay tribute to.”

The final two nights of the brief tour will be special, as Beck-Ola co-headlines with Journeyman, an Eric Clapton tribute led by young phenom Shaun Hague.

“Fans of British blues rock guitar will get their fill,” he said, adding, “I think people will like it, if they come out and have an open mind and they like the music of Jeff Beck, and they miss it.”

Songs will span from the days when Rod Stewart sang lead on “Morning Dew” and “Ain’t Superstitious” to the revelatory instrumental albums Wired and Blow by Blow, and beyond. But Johnny A. re-affirmed that costume changes won’t be part of the show.

“I’m not getting a shag haircut and I’m not wearing metal arm bands,” he said. “It’s going to be a band that’s paying homage, hopefully respectfully, to a great artist and iconic guitarist.”

British Guitar Blowout – Beck-Ola and Journeyman
When: Sunday, April 28, 7 p.m.
Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $29 and up at etix.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 24/04/25

Local music news & events

Country: Boston-based singer-songwriter Louie Bello celebrates his new single at an area show. Bello’s upbeat modern country song “Yippy Ki Yay” was well-received on streaming services, receiving more than a million views. His latest release, “Grown Man Cry,” is a tender ballad about love and loss. Thursday, April 25, 8 p.m., The Goat, 50 Old Granite St., Manchester. See louiebello.com.

• Rustic: Singer-guitarist Michael Glabicki pairs with instrumentalist Dirk Miller for a show dubbed Uprooted. In a game of musical word association, Glabicki’s band Rusted Root invariably leads to “Send Me On My Way.” From TV ads to kids’ movies, the mid-’90s hit became ubiquitous, and through multiple decades of constant touring and several albums, the percolating left field smash continues to permeate. Friday, April 26, 8 p.m., Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $38.75 at ccanh.com.

• Underground: No-nonsense Manchester rock trio The Graniteers are joined by Boston bands the Lipstick Boys and Already Dead at a new venue in Nashua. The 21+ BYOB event is among many efforts offered by the Midnight Creatives Collective, a new group that aims to help independent musicians gather and provide resources to assist in navigating the vagaries of the music business. Saturday, April 27, 9 p.m., Terminus, 134 Haines St. (2nd floor), Nashua, $15/door, see facebook.com/midnightcreativescollective.

• Eclectic: Drawing from a wide-ranging palette, the music of Dirty Cello is, in the words of one critic, “funky, carnival, romantic, sexy, tangled, electric, fiercely rhythmic and textured.” Band leader Rebecca Roudman is a classically trained cellist who ditched the straight-laced world to rock out. They play everything from “These Boots Are Made For Walking” to “Wayfaring Stranger,” and originals. Sunday, April 28, 6 p.m., Andres Institute of Art, 106 Route 13, Brookline, $25 at andresinstitute.org.

• Brassy: A fundraiser for the Central and Hillside jazz programs is hosted by Freese Brothers Big Band, giving young musicians an opportunity to shine in the spotlight. Since 1986, the big band has awarded scholarships worth nearly $100K to youth music programs in communities across New Hampshire,. Tuesday, April 30, 6:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester; tickets are $20 at palacetheatre.org.

Weaving a tapestry

Palace brings Carole King story to stage

For anyone who ever wondered where songs come from, the Palace Theatre’s splendid production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical provides a perfect primer. It’s to director Carl Rajotte’s credit that the music, performed by a talented ensemble cast, is accompanied by photos of original artists like the Drifters, Shirelles and Righteous Brothers, as well as the principal artists played by feature actors.

Rachel Gubow shines in the title role, her first at the Palace, both as a singer and actress. She reveals how King, along with songwriting partner Gerry Goffin, helped shape the soundtrack of a generation. Austin Mirsoltani, also making his Palace debut, does an admirable job as Goffin, as he illustrates the inspiration for songs like “Up on the Roof” and “Will You Love Me Tomorrow?” along with the challenges of working in a highly competitive creative environment.

That milieu is fleshed out by Donnie Kirschner, who ran Aldon Music in 1960s Times Square, played by Ken Quiricone, along with fellow songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. In the latter roles, Evan Ross Brody and Lauren Echausse are hilarious, earning more than a few laugh-out-loud moments on opening night.

Brody is reprising a role he recently played in a Florida production of Beautiful. In an interview following the initial performance, Director Rajotte called the pair’s contribution essential. “Evan sent us his reel, and I just thought he was hysterical,” he said. “This show needs that, Cynthia and Barry, to lighten it up.”

He continued that Gubow seemed destined to portray the artist who, as a composer, helped shape the mid-20th-century’s Great American Songbook and later joined contemporaries like James Taylor and Joni Mitchell for a singer-songwriter movement that included her 1971 solo album Tapestry.

When the show opened on Broadway, Gubow was just out of school and auditioned for the lead role, urged by her agent. “That was her first Broadway callback, and even though she knew at the time it was a dream, ever since then she’s been studying Carole King,” Rajotte said. Later, Gubow was an understudy in a Beverly, Mass., production, serving one time as lead. “She came in knowing the show really well, which is great, because Carole’s on stage all the time.”

There’s much more to King’s story than music. Beautiful spans a turbulent decade, and Mirsoltani is convincing as a man who feels constrained by suburbia, even as he’s writing the words to songs like “Pleasant Valley Sunday” for the Monkees sitcom. Goffin and King’s marital breakdown brought a visceral response from the opening night crowd; their acting is that convincing.

As written by Douglas McGrath, the musical’s book is a historical mashup. For example, Act 1 ends in a Vermont ski lodge in 1964, and the second begins with King working on an arrangement of “Chains” — which was actually a hit for the Cookies two years earlier. Also, and perhaps less critical, King’s transition from Goffin’s partner to solo performer omits a messy path that included both a failed trio called The City, and a pre-Tapestry solo record.

Such artistic license is allowable in the service of vividly depicting a moment that likely won’t come again, as a gaggle of creatives barely out of their teens followed their instincts into immortality. Nuanced performances from the core five cast members show the movement from musicians performing other people’s songs to writing their own, the cultural upheaval of the hippie movement, and creating in a place where, to use a Cynthia Weil line, there was “always magic in the air.”

There are many reasons to see this more than excellent production before it closes on May 12. All of them are good ones, but director Rajotte’s rationale is perhaps the best.

“I know everyone is coming to hear Carole King’s music,” he said, “but what I really want is that they hear her life story … where the music came from is just so important.”

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
When: Fridays, 7:30 p.m., Saturdays, 2 & 7:30 p.m., Sundays, 2 p.m. through May 12
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester
Tickets: $28 and up at palacetheatre.org

Featured Photo: Austin Mirsoltani and Rachel Gubow in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

The Music Roundup 24/04/18

Local music news & events

• Double: Fully recovered from a career- and life-threatening spinal cord injury, Patty Larkin shares the stage with Robbie Fulks for an evening of singer-songwriter music. Larkin was triumphant in last year’s On A Winter’s Night tour, and her guitar-playing is strong as ever. Fulks is also a gem; his song “That’s Where I’m From” is one of the finest summations of country living extant. Thursday, April 18, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $29 at palacetheatre.org.

• Rhythm: A trio of regional shows and Senie Hunt will head back to Nashville, though the percussive guitarist will be returning in June for another listening-room show in downtown Concord. . Friday, April 19, 9 p.m., Penuche’s Ale House, Bicentennial Square, Concord; see seniehunt.com.

• Tribute: Gen X is feeling its age with the advent of tribute acts like Crush, a Boston-based combo that channels the Dave Matthews Band. The group primarily sticks to DMB’s first three CDs, Under the Table and Dreaming, Crash and Before These Crowded Streets, though some post-millennium hits do show up in their set. Yeah, H.O.R.D.E really is 30 years old; sorry if you’re buggin’. Saturday, April 20, 8 p.m., LaBelle Winery, 14 Route 111, Derry, $40 at labellewinery.com.

• Reggae: Following a quick Southern tour sharing the stage with Mighty Mystic, Adriya Joy plays a downtown watering hole. Joy and Mystic paired for last year’s happy single “Hazel-Eyed Sunflower” and she frequently hits the road with the reggae performer; this show, however, will be with her nine-piece band. She cites influences from Rebelution and H.E.R. to Amy Winehouse and SOJA. Sunday, April 21, 7 p.m., The Goat, 50 Old Granite St., Manchester. See adriyajoy.com.

• Planet: Celebrate Earth Day in a bucolic setting with gospel-limned folk from MaMuse, the duo of Sarah Nutting and Karisha Longaker. The two multi-instrumentalists offer rich harmonies and inspired lyricism. Opening acts are singer and activist Nate Jones and HannaH’s Field, whose music is labeled “acoustic reggae wrapped in Mother Earth roots,” fitting given the occasion. Monday, April 22, 4:30 p.m., The Hive Farm, 62 Patten Hill Road, Candia, $44 at thehivefarm.org.

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