Author: Michael Witthaus

Ebony and ivory legends

Piano Men (and women) opens at Palace

By Michael Witthaus
[email protected]

An upcoming Palace Theatre production is more a musical canvas than a show, and it’s one that Director Carl Rajotte has painted before. Piano Men was first presented as The Four Piano Men in 2011. Conceived, written and choreographed by Rajotte, it featured songs from Elton John, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Queen, via frontman Freddie Mercury.
Since then it’s changed and evolved, with Ray Charles and Phil Collins among the ivory tinklers tributed in the show, last done in 2023. Act 1 in this year’s production spotlights old-time rock ’n’ rollers Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, then pivots to Barry Manilow. Subsequent acts focus on the original four and two women, Carole King and Lady Gaga.
The female roles will be played by the director’s sister, Michelle Rajotte, a Palace regular.
“It’s funny too, because I did a Gaga section a long time ago, maybe 2012, in a show called Royalty of Rock and Pop,” Carl Rajotte said by phone during a break from rehearsals. “She did Gaga and just fell in love with her back then.”
The actor and musician playing the Billy Joel role has a lot of experience. John Abrams performed as Joel in the national tour of the jukebox musical Movin’ Out. Abrams will also cover the Elton John material. Another Palace veteran, GE Enrique, is playing both the Stevie Wonder and Freddie Mercury roles, along with serving as the show’s Music Director.
This will be the sixth time that the Palace has done Piano Men in some form; Enrique has worked on three.
What keeps Rajotte returning to the show? “I’ve fallen in love with all these artists that we have on stage because they’re good at telling a story,” he said, “which lends itself to theater. There are lots of times in the show when it’s just the piano and the band, but we have seven talented dancers, and they tell a story through dance throughout the whole night.”
The dance ensemble includes three men and four women. Andy Kastrati was in the Palace’s recent production of Dancing Queens, as was Savannah Enoch. Julia Grubbs, who danced in Piano Men in 2020, is a CPA by day — “she can shimmy and do your taxes,” quipped Rajotte — and Rachel Muhleisen is featured on Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely.” Peter Murphy and Annie Wogisch round out the hoofers.
With women having a moment in the musical world — Taylor Swift, Chappell Roan, Beyonce and others are dominating — Rajotte is pleased that the show is now piano men and women. “I’m really excited to bring the new stuff to the audience, the Carole King and the Gaga,” he said. “We were just finishing up Carole King’s section today. It’s just so fun to just go back to the ’60s, find that retro feel and put it on our video wall.”
He’s also happy with the current season, which will continue with Jimmy Buffett’s Escape to Margaritaville on Feb. 28 followed by Jesus Christ Superstar in late April. 2024/25’s final production, A Chorus Line, runs from May 30 to June 22.
“It’s about halfway done, and I feel like I just started,” Rajotte exclaimed in disbelief.
Perennial favorite A Christmas Carol was extended to the end of the month, a successful experiment that will probably be repeated next year. Rajotte ran the lighting board for that final weekend so his stage manager could be home for the holiday. At the end of the show Palace CEO Peter Ramsey reminded him that the season was at a midpoint.
“That hit me like a brick wall,” he said, “But, yeah, I feel like it’s been a really good season so far. Oliver was a wonderful artistic piece that we were able to bring to the stage, and Jersey Boys was a crowd-pleaser, with great music. A Christmas Carol is our tradition that everyone loves, and it was attended really great the whole run.”

Piano Men
When: Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2
& 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through
Feb. 9, and Thursday, Feb. 6, at 7:30 p.m.
Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St.,
Manchester
Tickets: $35 and up at palacetheatre.org

Featured photo: Piano Men. Photo by Jeff Shaw.

Savoir Faire makes jazzy pop

Debut album coming soon

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

The slinky, jazz-influenced pop of Savoir Faire sounds like it was beamed in from another dimension. Songwriter and guitarist Sarah Fard wraps her reedy, soft-spoken vocals around angular melodies. With her debut album, Hopeless Romantic, due for release in a few weeks, Fard recently answered some questions by email about her early years as a musician and her hopes for her future work.

What have you been working on lately?

I’ve been working on an album on and off for about three years … I am a full-time teacher and part-time adjunct professor on top of being a performing musician, so it’s been a challenge to fit it all in. … I didn’t want to force it, and some songs took longer than others because of how they came together.

You grew up in New Hampshire and graduated from UNH with a concentration in jazz guitar. What was the music scene like in New Hampshire when you were coming of age, and how has it changed now that you’re a professional musician?

Oh gosh, I don’t even know if I can give an accurate description of what the music scene was like when I was coming of age. … When I started out I was mostly doing jazz standards. I kind of stuck out at open mics and stuff, because they were more geared toward singer-songwriter types. That’s not to say that the people at these events weren’t welcoming and supportive, though. Artists like Regina Spektor and Ingrid Michaelson were becoming popular. They weren’t doing jazz, but the stuff they were putting out was a bit more quirky, and I think that did help a bit in regard to getting cafe gigs. …

Now, I think perhaps the biggest difference in any music scene is the way people consume music and how artists are assessed, regardless of the community. Do they have enough likes or streams to warrant our attention? When I was coming of age, it felt like it was more about playing open mics, getting to know the venues through that, and building a following that way. With that said, those communities still exist and are still thriving and positive ways for new musicians to build relationships and listeners.

Where did the name ‘Savoir Faire’ come from and why did you choose it?

For a long time I was gigging with my name, and I wanted something else, to separate my performing self from my teaching self. The nice thing about a stage name is that it also can convey a bit about the music. I don’t remember who suggested it, but after going back and forth with names, someone suggested ‘Savoir Faire.’ I liked it because it is the same initials as my name, and it [implies] that the music has a bit of … je ne sais quois. Ha! There are a few different definitions that I have come across for the term, but overall I believe the term is meant to describe a certain sophistication, the ability to know what to do in certain situations. Now, I don’t think that is me necessarily, but I like to think the persona of Savoir Faire is a bit sophisticated! …

I love that your work draws from a lot of different eras. Musically, your guitar playing has a very midcentury sound to it, you’ve alluded to 1990s musicians in the lyrics for ‘Hopeless Nostalgic,’ and the video for ‘Machine With a Dream’ was influenced by Twin Peaks and Blade Runner. What draws you to different eras of music and art?

… I find comfort in things from the past, perhaps because the pop culture (music, fashion, etc.) is where I found a safety net. That’s definitely true of the ’90s. But I have always been drawn to things of the past. I was obsessed with the ’50s when I was in elementary school. I saw the movie Andre the Seal and then I was all in on the decade. I was probably the only kid in third grade with saddle shoes, listening to ‘Johnny Angel’ on repeat. Why? I don’t know. It just always feels more appealing than the present, things of the past. Maybe it’s a form of escapism. …

The New Hampshire-based trio Wyn and the White Light are opening for you. How did you meet them? What does their music mean to you?

I knew [Wyn Doran] from the music scene in Boston first … It is often difficult for me to find other acts that are making music in the same realm as mine. …Wyn and the White Light are harnessing some dark themes for their music, and though their music isn’t necessarily retro, it’s a mix of melancholy and rage. It’s important to me to work with other artists, especially to try and foster lineups for women in music, where the messages and aesthetics are similar…

With your album Hopeless Nostalgic completed, what are you working on next?

Well, I’ll be doing my best to promote the album and any shows I have. I also will be focused on getting the vinyl press of the album, which I decided to separate from the digital release. … And then, inevitably, more songs will come to my brain. In fact, there were a few that didn’t make this album. It’s a never-ending story, writing music. As much as I want to stop sometimes … you can’t turn that off.

Savoir Faire with Wyn & The White Light
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, at 8 p.m.
Where: Music Hall Lounge, 131 Congress St.in Portsmouth
Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 on the day, $30 for premium tickets; see themusichall.org

Featured Image: Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 25/01/09

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

• Glowing music: Enjoy classical music in an ethereal setting as Candlelight offers Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Concerto in G Minor, along with selections from a few more composers. A string quartet provides the music on a stage filled with gently glowing candles. Thursday, Jan. 9, 6 p.m., Rex Theatre, 21 Amherst St., Manchester, $43 and up at palacetheatre.org.

• American Zep: Amongst a crowded and still growing field, Philadelphia-based tribute act Get the Led Out is praised for its rendering of classic rock’s most bombastic group. Their shows go beyond Zep’s often shambolic live performances, with the group using studio overdubs that never made it into their concerts, including an acoustic set sure to please fans of their third album. Friday, Jan. 10, 8 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $44 and up at ccanh.com.

• Friendly gesture: A weekly afternoon gathering extends into the evening with Acoustic Dead Jam, a benefit for an area musician facing a wide range of medical challenges. According to his family, Andy Laliotis has spent the past 18 months in and out of hospital, and he continues to fight an uphill battle. The show is a way to celebrate his favorite band and help him out in a time of need. Saturday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m., Forum Pub, 15 Village St., Penacook, more at yourforumpub.com.

• Good folk: Singer, songwriter, guitarist and painter Tom Pirozzoli celebrates the release of his latest album, 21, with a house concert of sorts in a bucolic country inn. Recorded live in the studio, the new disc features Pirozzoli fingerpicking deftly, and lyrics ranging from the playful “Jesus on the Grille” to the poignant, compassionate “What Folks Called Poor.” Brad Myrick opens. Saturday, Jan. 11, 7:30 p.m., Follansbee Inn, 2 Keyser St., North Sutton, $25 at follansbeeinn.com.

• Guitar man: With football season mercifully over for regional fans, Sundays are free again. Scott Solsky is a talented guitarist who’s long been a fixture in the Concord music scene, both as a solo artist and with bands like Trade and J3ST, a trio including Hammond organist Tom Robinson and Jared Steer on drums. Solsky’s most recent disc is 2021’s Home, an instrumental gem. Sunday, Jan. 12, 2 p.m., Pembroke City Limits, 134 Main St., Pembroke, pembrokecitylimits.com.

Creatively connecting

Women of Soul celebrates depth of talent

By Michael Witthaus

[email protected]

An upcoming showcase will bring together three female performers of varying backgrounds for an evening of community and camaraderie. Each artist will perform for 45 minutes, but the goal of the evening goes beyond music. The event is the first of an envisioned series aiming to celebrate the quality of women’s talent in the region.

Organizers Audrey Drake and Pam McCann hope that Women of Soul will foster a wide range of connections between the musicians and their audience. Drake called the Jan. 11 concert at Pembroke City Limits a “soft launch” in a recent phone interview, adding that the envisioned the series will incorporate storytelling, insights and more along with songs.

“It will include what we’re writing, what we’re working on, possibly collaborations and passion projects,” Drake said. “We want to give a broader perspective of what each person is offering, and what we bring to our music.” Sophie Markey will kick things off, followed by Katie Dobbins. Then Drake, with McCann playing drums, will close the evening.

Drake and McCann conceived the series almost a year ago and revisited the idea many times over the past months.

“I’d say to Pam, ‘When and how is it going to happen? Do we have to have a big plan?’ Then a couple weeks ago I was like, we’re just doing it.” PCL owner Rob Azevedo was on board, having seen Drake and Dobbins perform together there in December. “He’s amazing, he does so much good work in the community, and for all musicians, so let’s jump in.”

Azevedo opened the listening room and tavern, which offers food from Sleazy Vegan, last summer. The Women of Soul event is consistent with his vision for the venue, he said by text recently. “We have such a swath of super talented female performers in our camp,” he wrote. “That is one of the things I am so proud of since we started.”

McCann is both a singing drummer and a visual artist. She’s worked professionally since age 16, including touring with Jonathan Edwards and opening for The Band, and released a solo album, Kinder Enemies. In an email she described her involvement in Women of Soul and praised her musical partner.

“This project is near and dear to me especially as it is in alliance with the multi-talented Audrey Drake,” she wrote. “The idea behind this gathering of curated female artists is to embrace women who are not only musicians but multi-disciplined artists, healers and messengers. A melting pot of soulful offerings.”

An information table at the PCL show will offer artist merchandise and information on wellness services for women, and each performer will be able to engage with audience members individually, Drake said. “There’s music, but what else can we talk about and connect with people on, to really showcase the creative force of women in all aspects of what we do in our lives?”

Drake is involved with a few other efforts, including a Sacred Song event on Jan. 18 at the Gathering Place in Keene. “It’s a combination of singing and what’s being called sound bath,” she said of the singalong gathering. “In some traditions it’s called kirtan; how I do it is a little different. There are more songs that people might be more familiar with.”\

Beyond that, Drake is working on a follow-up to her 2020 album, The Next Best Thing. Her musical influences include Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna, and similar singer-songwriters. “Because their music is so beautiful and it’s so simple and it’s so authentic,” she said. “It’s written from their hearts, and it’s received in people’s hearts.”

Admission to the first Women of Soul event is free. Drake and McCann hope to do five more in 2025, and build their spark into a fire of unity and common purpose.

“You can tell this is kind of playing out in my head at the moment,” she said. “It’s definitely in its infancy, but I’m looking forward to this year.”

Women of Soul – Audrey Drake, Katie Dobbins and Sophie Markey
When: Saturday, Jan. 11, 7 p.m.
Where: Pembroke City Limits, 134 Main St., Pembroke
More: facebook.com/audreyjdrake

Featured Image: Audrey Drake. Courtesy photo.

The art is right here

The inner world of Outer Space

By Zachary Lewis
[email protected]

Outer Space Arts in Concord will be showing the work of Emma cc Cook and Em Kettner in a show titled “Caterpillar” until Saturday, Jan. 18. The gallery is open on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Roger Buttles opened Outer Space Arts in 2023 and has an MFA in painting and drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago. He has worked in the gallery world in San Francisco, Chicago and New York City.

“I just wanted something a little more intimate and quiet. People can sit and enjoy the work,” Buttles said. He has his own art studio in a room across the hall from the gallery. The building itself was built in 1854 and was once the residence of Col. Benjamin Grover. Buttles likes to spark conversation with the art he chooses.

“I’m always pairing two artists together to create a dialogue between their work…,” he said.
“These two artists, they didn’t know each other before, but they knew each other’s work, and they both loved it. Emma’s a Los Angeles-based artist. She does all the paintings. And then Em is a sculptor who’s in San Francisco. I actually went to grad school with Em. That’s what feels good to me, the most exciting thing about the gallery is promoting work that I love. I’ve collected both of these artists. A lot of the work that I show are artists who I’ve either collected or really do want to collect. I never feel like I’m pushing things that I don’t fully believe in,” he said.

The gallery is a labor of love that gained inspiration from a former teacher.

“The original idea of opening Outer Space is actually based on one of my mentors from grad school, Michelle Grabner. She was the chair of the painting department at the Art Institute in Chicago when I was there. She lived in the suburbs of Chicago with her husband and three kids, and she converted her tool shed and little garage into an exhibition space.”

His mentor untangled an art knot for Buttles. “I’d never seen anything like that before, and it struck a chord with me. It’s been really interesting that art can be presented anywhere, in any space. She became very known for her curating, and she ended up curating a Whitney Biennial based on what she was doing in her tool shed and that is so inspiring.” The Whitney Biennial is an exhibition held at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

But someone should not need to be in New York to experience art.

“I don’t think that art and galleries should be an elitist exclusive thing,” Buttles said. “It should be inclusionary. I love at the openings when people bring their kids and they’re running around. I bring my daughters and my son, and ours are all young, obviously. I want them to be at the openings, because that’s something I was never exposed to as a kid, I wasn’t exposed to any art, so I want that exposure and education for them,” he said.

Many of the artists who exhibit at Outer Space show in those big city galleries as well.

“Em, she’s in a show at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts right now. She has a similar sculpture as this one in the show…. There’s like a gentleness and a specificity to her work that I love and you can see that in some of the ceramics on the wall. They’re very specific scenes.”

As with most things in life, it is better in person, especially with Cook’s work.
Outer Space holds about four exhibits a year; the next one will be in February or March.

Emma cc Cook & Em Kettner: ‘Caterpillar’
When: Saturdays through Jan. 18 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Outer Space Arts, 35 Pleasant St., Concord
More: outerspacearts.xyz

Featured photo: “Caterpillar” installation. Photo by Morgan Karanasios.

Not fine but fun

Relax and create at Art Escape

Here’s an idea for a first date: Break some glass. Then gather it up and fuse it into a work of art. It’s a great way to loosen up and find a creative impulse. That’s the idea at Art Escape, a Laconia walk-in studio offering everything from shattered glass and glass-blowing classes to working a pottery wheel, clay sculpture, ceramics and splatter painting.

Inviting your Bumble match to spin a clay bowl or paint and fire a ceramic fish not only has happened at Art Escape, but one such meetup led to an in-studio marriage proposal, owner Jean Cox recalled recently. Not only that; the couple later returned to celebrate their anniversary.

“This was his date’s favorite place to go,” she said. “He set it up with us ahead of time, so when she was in a paint class he walked in and said, ‘Will you marry me?’ We got it on video, it was very cool. Then they came back a year later to say, ‘Hey, we’re still married here.’”

Making art and memories is Art Escape’s mission. Cox and her husband, both Air Force veterans, opened a location near Laconia High School in 2007, and moved to Union Avenue 10 years later. The couple wanted a family-friendly studio for artistic creation, as existing spaces catered primarily to adults.

It’s become an intergenerational bridge, much to Cox’s delight.

“I’ve got a grandmother painting with her two grandkids right now,” she said. “It’s a way not only to spend time with the family, but one of the kids has a little ceramic axolotl she’s painting. Ten years from now they’ll look at it and remember doing it with their grandmother.”

Another popular attraction at Art Escape is the Splatter Room, where customers put on ponchos and shoe covers, then get their colors and a paint blaster with cups of paint. They stick the blaster in the cup, suck it up and spray it, not always aiming at a canvas. Jackson Pollock would likely be shocked, but it’s a great place to let off steam.

“You’re painting either a canvas or a shirt,” Cox said. “You literally throw paint at each other, or you throw paint at the canvas. It’s almost like family therapy if you come in with your kids … I mean, who doesn’t want to throw paint at their parents?”

When it debuted, Cox brought her two young sons in to test it out. “My son took a whole bottle of paint and threw it at me, and I was like, oh, this is how it’s going to go. We’re in there for I don’t know how long, and next thing you know, he’s like, ‘Gosh, mom, we never decorated our canvas.’ I’m like, ‘Well, let’s throw some paint on that.’”

It’s also a fun place for adults to unwind. Customers are allowed to bring food and beverages.

“Sometimes it’s a group of girls that just needs time off, since they work all week long. They just come in and hang out and bring wine. I had a group of them the other day. They brought a little charcuterie board, and wine, and stuff like that,” Cox said.

One thing it isn’t is a place for serious artists to work toward having a gallery someday.

“It’s not like fine art, it’s fun art, it’s a place to come with your grandkids or your girlfriends,” Cox said, while stressing that some of the higher-level classes that may seem daunting are surprisingly accessible.

“Everybody walks in thinking, I can’t do this, my project’s not going to look like hers, and when they leave, half the time, they’re better than mine,” she said. “They can customize them, and the projects come out so amazing. It’s nice that they’re going home with something that they can be proud of.”n front of a piece of artwork and whether you love it, or you don’t get it, or you hate it, you still have an opinion about it. It’s really interesting to me that people can get together and celebrate each other, discuss artwork, see where those ideas would come from. Part of my fun and part of my joy is making a space that’s really approachable and that is very welcoming…. So as much as it’s an experiment to showcase the artist, I also want to make sure that the patrons feel really supported and want to come in and check out and see what’s going on at See Saw,” Regan said.

Art Escape
Where: 636 Union Ave., Laconia
More: artescape.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

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