Author: Michael Witthaus

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

New art for the Gate City

Work begins at the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

The Nashua International Sculpture Symposium was started in 2008 and is now on its 17th consecutive year of inviting world-class artists to come to the city to make unique public art to be placed on public property for everyone to enjoy. It is funded by private donations.

It’s a common practice across cities and towns around the globe but Nashua is the only city in the U.S. that does this kind of symposium for sculptors.

“When they come here, we’re the only ones. It’s pretty cool,” said Gail Moriarty, President of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium.

The sculptors live in the city for the length of the symposium. Donations pay for their food and lodging, and each sculpture costs around $10,000 to $15,000. There are varying levels of donations and residents can even donate their own lodging or in lieu of monetary support can bring in a meal. T-shirts are available to raise funds and a sponsorship is $4,000 and can be split between multiple people. More information can be found on their website.

The Symposium runs from Monday, May 13, to Saturday, June 1, at 3 Pine St. in Nashua. Residents are invited to come see the sculptors work their artistic magic on three huge hunks of white marble this year and transform them into any number of creations. The material can change year to year and is based on the sculptors’ preference.

“These forms emerge and these designs emerge and people get really excited and the kids get really excited and they come to the closing and they can’t believe what we’ve created in the city,” she said. Spectators can come every day if they are so inclined. “We’re so proud of that.”

The sculptors are selected by the Symposium’s Artistic Director, Jim Larson, who has held the role since 2018, along with the approval of their board of directors. The International Sculpture Symposium was created 17 years ago with the help of John Weidman, Director of the Andres Institute of Art in Brookline and was originally inspired by the late Meri Goyette, an art lover and key supporter of those arts and who happened to live in Nashua.

“It’s very much a public engagement event,” Moriarty said. “It’s sponsored by the general public. The general public is the reason why we can do this. … It is a community-driven event, and that’s the best part about it. It brings communities together.”

A closing ceremony will be held on June 1. It will start with a brief talk and then everyone will drive to the spots that have been selected for the new white marble sculptures.

2024’s sculptors

Anna Korver

Anna Korver is a New Zealand / Benenise artist working nationally and internationally and has been a full-time professional sculptor since completing a BFA in sculpture from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, in 2003, according to the symposium website and her art has been selected for the Wallace awards, Brick Bay sculpture trail, and Tai Tapu sculpture garden and received first prize at the second Tuwaiq International symposium in Saudi Arabia.

Evan Morse

Evan Morse was born in Boston and received an M.F.A. from Boston University and a B.A. from Wheaton College in Massachusetts; he studied traditional sculpture techniques, including stone-carving in Florence and Carrara, Italy, according to the website. He worked on marble monuments at The Carving Studio in West Rutland, Vermont, as part of Rutland’s Sculpture Trail, according to the same website.

KōV, aka Kevin Percevault

KōV, aka Kevin Percevault, was born in France and learned a lot from his grandfather, a stonemason; at 14 he began his apprenticeship with stonecutter masters via Les Compagnons du Devoir, a French organization of craftsmen and artisans dating back to the Middle Ages, according to the symposium website. He traveled throughout France and Switzerland to hone his craft and six years ago left Switzerland for the U.K., where he has been working on elite projects (such as “floating” stone staircases) developing new techniques in stone masonry, according to the website.

Nashua International Sculpture Symposium
Where: The Picker Artists, 3 Pine St., Nashua
When: Monday, May 13, through Saturday, June 1, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Closing ceremony: See the works on Saturday, June 1, at 1 p.m. starting at the Picker Artists Studios and traveling to the new sites of the sculptures, the website said.
More info: nashuasculpturesymposium.org

Joni’s spark

Tribute show recalls landmark album

There’s a line in Joni Mitchell’s song “For the Roses” about a moment when “the lights go down and it’s just you up there, getting them to feel like that.” That’s the challenge for anyone bold enough to launch a tribute act to her. It’s better to try and convey the singular singer-songwriter’s essence. Replication is a fool’s errand; there’s only one Joni.

Further, she’s a moving target. From the spare acoustic era of “Both Sides Now” and “Circle Game” to the ethereal jazz in Hejira and Mingus, Joni Mitchell was and is always moving forward. Yet Big Yellow Taxi, a six-piece group led by singer Teresa Lorenço as Mitchell, accomplishes the not-small miracle of capturing her.

For a show in Dover on May 10, they’ll perform Mitchell’s breakthrough Court and Spark from start to finish. The 1973 album has many moods but contains a common thread, Lorenço said by phone recently: “There’s real, profound honesty and vulnerability to whatever she’s doing …. Hooking into that is what helped me make the whole thing cohesive.”

Lorenço never planned on dedicating herself to performing Mitchell’s music; she arrived by acclimation.

“I’d been singing a little bit of her songs in a duo that I was in, and people kept saying, wow, you can really do her,” she recalled. “I thought, OK, then let’s do it.”

The first iteration of Big Yellow Taxi formed in late 2019 but dissipated as the pandemic took hold. When it got safer to book shows again, she sought out new musicians and hit the jackpot. The current band convincingly channels Tom Scott & the LA Express, who Mitchell worked with on Miles of Aisles, considered by many her best live album, as well as her ethereal late ’70s band featuring Pat Metheny on guitar and bassist Jaco Pastorius.

Guitarist John Cabán has played with many musicians, from Bo Diddley to Gloria Gaynor; Robert Sherwood’s keyboard credits include beloved mid-2000s band Ware River Club. On drums is Joe Fitzpatrick, a veteran of many stage musicals, and backing singer Annie Patterson conveys the multi-tracked vocals on Mitchell’s studio albums. Finally, there’s electric bass player Rich Cahillane, who also accompanies Lorenço on acoustic songs.

Cahillane, who was also at the interview, noted a split between audience members who lean toward early Mitchell albums like Ladies of the Canyon and Blue (a favorite of Lorenço’s) versus later songs.

“Folky fans want to hear Teresa and I play acoustic guitar or dulcimer,” he said. “Then we get those wanting to hear Jaco and the jazz…. It’s hard to satisfy all her fans.”

However, accomplishing that “definitely is our goal,” Lorenço interjected. “We want to have this ability to showcase any of her stuff from any time that she was writing. We don’t really want to focus on one style or the other. It keeps it fresh for us even, because we’re consistently looking at new things.”

One of the most difficult numbers from Court and Spark is “Down To You,” she continued. “We had to make up our own way to do this fully orchestrated part in the middle, and we definitely thought of some new swear words during that time,” she said, adding with a laugh, “If Joni ever calls and needs a backup band, we want to be prepared. Only about a hundred songs more to go.”

Taking on the catalog of an icon, Lorenço understands her primary task.

“Everyone really gets the emotionality of the music, and I think that’s the most important piece, that is what I focus on,” she said. “I’m no trained musician compared to these incredible people that bless me by working with me. They talk about music theory, and I sit there with static in my mind. All I know for sure is the way she’s expressing her emotions in song. That’s what I get; that’s what I feel in me.

Big Yellow Taxi – The Music of Joni Mitchell
When: Friday, May 10, 8 p.m.
Where: The Strand, 20 Third St., Dover
Tickets: $22 and up at eventbrite.com

Featured photo: Big Yellow Taxi. Courtesy photo.

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