Author: Michael Witthaus

Fools duo play intimate Manchester show

November is a time of year when Mike Girard is usually getting ready to star in the annual Christmas Buzz Ball or doing shows with either his longtime band The Fools or the oversized side project, Mike Girard’s Big Swinging Things. Since the pandemic put the kibosh on most live music last March, however, he’s done exactly one gig: an early August drive-in Fools show at a Manchester by the Sea fitness club parking lot.
Girard’s performance output will double when he and Fools guitarist Rich Bartlett play an intimate show at the Rex Theatre in Manchester on Nov. 28. They’ve done the duo act once before at a house concert, “and we really had a terrific time,” Girard said in a recent phone interview. “The songs were stripped down, with lots of stories in between. We called it the Naked and Afraid Tour; this is a continuation of that.”
The setlist will include favorites like “Life Sucks, Then You Die” and “It’s A Night For Beautiful Girls,” reworked for the spare performance.
“I guess the words are going to be a lot more audible, for good or ill,” Girard said. “If you don’t like it, you’ll know why. There’s [one] song in particular, a slow one called ‘Just Give Up’ — it’s kind of an inspirational song about just quitting.”
A natural raconteur, Girard is more than ready to perform, despite the time off. He’ll share tales of his band’s beginnings in the late 1970s, when hits “She Looks Alright In The Dark” and “Psycho Chicken” were all over Boston radio, and talk about international tours opening for Van Halen and The Knack.
Fans will also gain insight into his songwriting process, Girard promised.
“For instance, ‘Night Out’ occurred to me in a dream — it really did,” he said. “In the dream, we were playing in a small club, doing this song. I woke up and wrote the verse and chorus. I knew where it was going and I went back to bed.”
In the morning, Girard finished the song.
“I called up Richie and said, ‘I had this dream we’re playing this song in a club; I wrote it down and I want to play it for the band.’ He said, ‘How many people were in the club?’ I said, ‘Not too many.’ He said, ‘Call me back when there’s more people in the club.’”
For his part, Bartlett is always ready to hit the stage, Girard said.
“I could show up at his place pretty much any hour of the day and he’ll be sitting on the couch playing guitar into his headphones while watching one TV show or another,” he said. “I tell him, ‘Your life hasn’t really changed at all; we’re all [not used to] staying at home, but that’s just what you do.’”
The upcoming stripped-down show will be The Fools’ second at the Rex; they were there last Feb. 22, a few months after Girard published a new book, A Fool In Time. Like 2010’s Psycho Chicken & Other Foolish Tales, he admits that it’s loosely a memoir, quoting Bartlett’s response to Psycho Chicken in the preface: “The story is pretty much true, even if the details aren’t.”
The Fools have a long history in Manchester, dating back to the raucous mid-’80s days of The Casbah Club, when they and performers such as GG Allin, Jim Carroll and The Ramones would frequently visit.
Girard is looking forward to playing at the city’s newest venue again.
“We’re going to add to the foolish population of that town,” he said with a laugh. “I love the Rex, the place is great. It’s got that feeling of history about it, being an old theater. Nice high ceilings, lots of space.” And it’s ideal for a safe, socially distanced evening.
“We won’t be selling merch, or hanging out with the audience after or whatever, all the things that we would normally do,” Girard said. “We’ll have our own separate entrance, everyone will wear a mask when they’re out of their seat, you know? But once we start, it’s going to be fun — that’s the whole point of every show.”

An Intimate Evening With A Couple of Fools
When: Saturday, Nov. 28, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester
Tickets: $29 in advance at palacetheatre.org, $39 at the door

Featured photo: Mike Girard and Rich Bartlett. Courtesy photo.

Fogelberg tribute is a gem

A careful return to concerts at the Franklin Opera House includes a hybrid live and livestream show on Nov. 14, with Maine singer-songwriter Don Campbell playing the music of Dan Fogelberg. Employing a voice that closely resembles the soothing tenor that propelled hits such as “Leader of the Band,” “Same Old Lang Syne” and “Go Down Easy,” Campbell will perform both solo on piano and guitar, and with an expanded band.
For Campbell, hearing Fogelberg’s Souvenirs album as a teenager in the early 1970s was a transformative experience.
“It made me want to become a songwriter,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It felt like he was singing directly to me. A common thread with fans that I meet is it’s almost like you knew him through his music.”
Campbell has had a lot of success with his chosen craft. He’s a six-time winner of the Maine’s Best Singer-Songwriter poll and took top honors at a Grand Ole Opry competition of original artists that earned him $50,000 and a Gibson Les Paul custom guitar. He’s made 14 CDs of original music, including a pair of Christmas albums. His most recent release is 2014’s The Dust Never Settles.
It’s Campbell’s tribute act that’s getting the most notice in recent years, however.
When prostate cancer claimed Fogelberg in 2007, Campbell began recording his favorites to memorialize him, ultimately releasing a double album in 2012, Kites To Fly – The Music of Dan Fogelberg. Its title is a metaphor, not a lyric reference.
“His songs are like beautiful kites that you take down from the wall and outside to fly a little bit,” Campbell said. “That’s the only way I can describe them for someone who doesn’t know Dan’s music.”
The tribute was noticed by the Fogelberg Association of Peoria, Illinois (the singer’s hometown). The family trust invited Campbell to perform at their annual Celebration Weekend in 2013 and endorsed his act on its website.
“I got to speak to his mother through the foundation president, who put me on the phone with her,” Campbell said. “It was really quite an honor.”
The upcoming Franklin show will be Campbell’s first livestream, and he said he’s relieved to be performing for an in-person crowd at the same time.
“We like to play for people, not at people, where you can talk to the audience,” he said. “So I love opera houses. They always sound great, and they were built for carrying sound. We’re not a loud band; we’re more about playing the parts.”
He’ll bring a seven-piece band that includes fiddle and mandolin players for the evening. It will span Fogelberg’s career, from his gentle, semi-confessional early work to mid- ‘70s jazz rock and the 1985 bluegrass classic High Country Snows, a record Campbell names as one of his most beloved in the catalog.
“It was a special project,” he said.
Over the summer, Campbell and his band did a few outdoor, socially distanced shows. One memorably happened in the parking lot of The Clambake, a favorite seafood restaurant in his hometown of Scarborough, Maine; he and his band played atop a flatbed truck.
“People got lobster rolls and sat in lawn chairs between each car or in the back of a pickup truck,” he said. “We put on a three-hour concert and it was really great. I’ve always said, ‘Evolve or dissolve.’ Everybody’s had to evolve in 2020 to keep things going.”
Asked what he’ll remember most about this challenging year, Campbell answered quickly.
“Playing in close proximity to people,” he said. “Being able to play in venues where there are dancers right in front of you, it’s hard to replace that.”

The Music of Dan Fogelberg – Don Campbell Band
When: Saturday, Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Franklin Opera House, 316 Central St., Franklin
Tickets: $18 & $20 ($17/livestream) at franklinoperahouse.org

Featured photo: Don Campbell. Courtesy photo.

Country rockers play Hudson, host song circle

The initials in EXP Band stand for “experienced players” — front man Rob Randlett, bassist Erik Thomas, lead guitarist John Andrews and drummer Curtis Marzerka are all veteran musicians. Their modern country sound, however, arrived a bit late in their careers.

Randlett spent his early years rocking hard, but in 2014 he got some advice from Hillsboro producer Ted Hutchinson that sent him in a southern direction.

“He told me, ‘I know you like doing the rock thing,’” Randlett said recently by phone, “‘but country’s where you need to be, and that’s where your voice suits you. If you do that, you’ll see things will change.’”

Hutchinson had good ears; Randlett guested with Jodi Cunningham’s band a few times, and soon her fans were asking when his band would be coming to town. So piece by piece he put one together and started playing out.

“Everything was modern country,” he said. “Fresh, because it was right on the radio.”

Since then, the group has gigged all over New England, playing NASCAR and Bike Week, while Randlett himself won New Hampshire Country Music Association and national honors — best male vocalist in 2018 and best modern country male and band the following year.

With Covid-19, their schedule has constricted, but EXP is still doing shows. The next one is Friday, Nov. 6, at The Bar in Hudson, a favorite spot for them, Randlett said.

“It’s just a very homey, feel-good type of a place … a small venue, and it’s very relaxing,” he said.

A Nov. 7 date at Concord’s Area 23 has been moved to December, but they will be at the Manchester VFW the following week, on Friday the 13^th.

Along with playing Jason Aldean, Kenny Chesney and Chase Rice covers, Randlett is an original artist. The Army vet’s latest endeavor is a Bluebird Café styled song circle, fittingly happening Nov. 11 at Tower Hill Tavern in Laconia. He hopes this Songwriters Night event will be the first of many.

“We’re just starting out,” he said. “The music industry is tough right now, along with everything else. Because of Covid, they’re not really allowing full bands inside, but there are solo artists some places, depending on the ownership.”

Tower Hill regularly books Randlett and jumped at the chance to host the event.

“As soon as I posted asking, if I did a songwriters night, would anybody want to do that, he was like, ‘I wanna do it here; we have to do it here,’” Randlett said.

All musicians are welcome.

“It’s kind of like a Nashville thing, but it doesn’t have to be all country,” Randlett said. “It could be blues, rock, whatever you want it to be. If there’s some 16-year-old kid that’s a great songwriter, you know, and his mom and dad want to bring him down to show off his talent, that’s cool. It’s all about bringing musicians together again.”

He looks forward to hosting Songwriters Night on Veterans Day, noting that he hopes to draw attention to a holiday that’s often misunderstood by the general public.

“I thought it was a cool day because military is a big part of my heart and my music. To be able to share this on Veterans Day means a lot to me,” he said.

EXP will appear as a full band on Nov. 6, at The Bar. Randlett is optimistic that it’s a harbinger.

“I think things are moving in a positive direction,” he said. “People are now becoming accustomed to what the outlook is when they go out in public [and] I feel as long as you follow the rules and work with the bar owners, music can continue. When things get out of control and people don’t abide by the rules and do the wrong thing, that’s when problems happen.”

EXP Band
When: Friday, Nov. 6, 8 p.m.
Where: The Bar, 2B Burnham Road, Hudson

Songwriters Night
When: Wednesday, Nov. 11, 6 p.m.
Where: Tower Hill Tavern, 264 Lakeside Ave., Laconia
More: Facebook.com/EXPBandNH

Featured photo: EXP Band. Courtesy photo.