Author: Michael Witthaus

Brit Pack spans multiple eras

Among a trove of tribute acts, the ’60s British Invasion is well represented. What sets The Brit Pack apart is that their target isn’t one band or decade but a wide breadth of music from across the pond. Sure, they’ll crank up “Satisfaction” or “Twist and Shout” with alacrity, but a typical set list will also include Led Zeppelin, Oasis or Adele.

Consisting of four Berklee grads, The Brit Pack reflects not just the first wave led by the Beatles and Rolling Stones, but a representation of artists that came in the ensuing years — the British Occupation, if you will.

“You get a whole journey through all of these bands,” guitarist Mark Johnson said recently. “That same energy a tribute act would give you, but with every single band you might know from the British Invasion through the modern days.”

Occasionally they veer away from strictly British, playing “Go Your Own Way” — though Fleetwood Mac’s makeup is similar to theirs. Johnson and drummer Will Haywood Smith are U.K.-born like Mick Fleetwood and the two McVies, while Matt Nakoa and Bryan Percival serve as the group’s Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks.

In a joint interview with Nakoa, Johnson offered some logic-bending to explain the inclusion of “Boys Are Back In Town” by Thin Lizzy.

“They’re a good Irish band,” he conceded, “but we figured they were close enough to the U.K. … there’s probably some English blood in that band.”

Since forming in 2011, they’ve gone where the audience takes them, even when that finds lead singer Nakoa channeling Johnny Rotten, as happened when they played one fan’s wedding. This led to a secret side project called The Sex Beatles.

“We deliver classics in the Sex Pistols manner,” Johnson said.

The bit was born in the days of playing late-night residencies in their New York City home base.

“Bleecker Street and the Village … there’d be beers flying over the drum kit and random people sleeping on the stage,” Johnson said. “These days it’s a raucous show, but you won’t get hit by a flying amp or anything.”

While covering well-known songs, the group tries to put itself in the mindset of bands like Led Zeppelin or The Who.

“We improvise and really capture the essence of the songs, but we’re not doing it exactly like the record, because they wouldn’t have done it exactly like the record,” Nakoa said. “We own the music as if it was our own; unfortunately, we don’t get compensated that way.”

When they first set out, “It was the usual suspects, ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Hard Day’s Night’ — but we were talking about doing Oasis and stuff,” Johnson said. “Through the years, people just keep requesting songs and we’re like, that’s a good idea, and there are times where we’re driving somewhere in the car and we hear a record and say, these guys are British — or at least somebody in the room when the record being made was British.”

“What’s so great is it’s a liberal interpretation,” Nakoa said. “We’re only going where the audience tells us we should be going. I mean, we go where the reaction is.”

Asked to name some favorite songs from their set, Johnson quickly answered, “anything Queen or Zeppelin, for the simple reason that it’s really fun to play.” He voiced gratitude for having a capable band of friends and singled out Nakoa, whom he also supports as a solo artist.

“When you’ve got a singer who can do this stuff as well as he does … as a performer, and as an audience member, it’s really a joy to be around,” he said. “It’s also very rare to get a chance where you can play it with a band this good. … I just enjoy playing with these guys, because they make it sound so cool.”

The Brit Pack
When: Sunday, March 6, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester
Tickets: $23 at palacetheatre.org

Featured photo: The Brit Pack.

Green Martini memories coming to Bank of NH Stage

It’s Best of Hippo time again, and don’t be surprised if there’s a vote or two for the Green Martini as top bar in Concord — even though a kitchen fire closed the downtown hub 10 years ago. Its denizens were a family of misfit toys bound by smoke-hazed windows, funky furniture and a no-nonsense vibe. To them, the place forever remains much more than a tavern.

Musicians held it in special esteem, and several of them will gather at Bank of NH Stage on March 3 to celebrate the Green Martini and its role in fostering the city’s music community. Steve Naylor, who hosted the open mic sessions there from the mid-2000s through its demise in February 2012, will reprise the format for an evening full of memories.

A handful of former regulars, including Hank Osborne and Rachel Burlock (whose last name was Vogelzang back then), approached fellow musician Lucas Gallo with an idea. “They wanted to pay homage (honor it 10 years later) to the Green Martini,” he wrote in a text message.

Gallo and Burlock put together a list including Gary Banker, Scott Fitzpatrick, Mary Fagan, Alan “Doc” Rogers, Addison Chase, Blake Patria, Dusty Gray, Noah Brochu and Shelby White, Andy Laliotis and Rob Farquar. When contacted about the show, former bar owners Paul and Paula Lord were immediately on board.

“They just won’t let it go,” Paula Lord said recently with a laugh. “Literally for the past 10 years, it’s like a nonstop thing. When Lucas messaged me and said, ‘Hey, we’re going to do this,’ I was like, ‘Oh, that would be so cool.’”

Along with a fond recollection of the music, Paula remembered the community fostered by her husband’s and her oasis. Patrons lining up outside every day prior to opening, Sunday Fun Day board game events and Halloween parties.

“We always had the best, with smoke machines and all kinds of crazy stuff,” she said.

Every night began with a family meal, and they regularly held holiday feasts for friends with nowhere else to go.

One customer, antique collector John Cook, wrote a book about the bar. Singer-guitarist Kenny Weiland immortalized it in a jazzy song containing the line, “cut loose and shake your monkey,” a nod to the large stuffed collection of creatures that hung from the ceiling pipes. Still a mystery is a series of abductions, each followed with a photo of a duct-taped monkey mouth accompanied by a demand of free PBR as ransom.

Furnishings — or lack of them — were one reason the place was special, Steve Naylor said in a recent phone interview.

“The Martini did not have a television or pool table, or any other distraction. … Everyone was pretty much focused on the music,” he said, adding that such undivided attention was unique and welcome. “I’ve done many open mics in just about all the bars in and outside of town. People are very sensitive to what’s going on around them when they’re trying to play their song, and I don’t think they need to hear a hockey game while they’re trying to play.”

Midweek open mic nights were acoustic affairs, though Friday and Saturday often got pretty raucous.

“It was like sort of an ‘around the campfire’ feeling,” Naylor said of the sessions he hosted. “That atmosphere had something to do with giving people an impression of how nice it was to be able to just be around.”

The Lords, along with former bartender Christopher Prescott, will have honorary seats for the show, where they’ll likely field requests to bring back their beloved funky watering hole.

“There are so many people that still say, ‘Would you guys open again?’” said Paula. “The neon sign is still sitting in my shed, but I’m not sure if the mice have gotten to the wires.”

Remembering the Green Martini – A Musical Celebration

When: Thursday, March 3, 7 p.m.
Where: Bank of NH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets:$15 at ccanh.com
Proceeds from the show will benefit the Concord Community Music School.

Featured photo: Rachel Bulock. Courtesy photo

Jim Norton talks comedy, cancel culture and more

After a pandemic-induced hiatus of over a year, Jim Norton returned to live comedy last autumn, then stopped performing in early October. He’s back on the road, with a brief Northeast jaunt kicking off at Laconia’s Colonial Theatre on Feb. 17. Norton spoke with the Hippo by phone recently, in an interview that touched on his edgy, no-holds-barred act, the state of comedy in an era of cancel culture, and how far he’s willing to go for his craft (spoiler alert — there are no limits).

Are you the same guy on and off stage, or do you turn it up when you perform?

You have to turn it up. There are times when I’m being 100 percent to-the-word honest, and there are times where I’m just being kind of honest, and there are times where I’m being just an a——. I don’t feel a need to be married to any one of those things if I’m having fun and I’m enjoying the jokes I’m doing. So, yeah, it is an exaggerated form of myself.

That a topic doesn’t have to be funny to be funny in a bit seems like kind of a guiding principle for you.

Throughout comic history things that aren’t funny are used to make people laugh. Go to something as benign as The Three Stooges. The way people literally look at comedy today, Moe would be canceled for slapping Larry and hitting Curly with a wrench. Those are physically violent things, but slapstick is never called out. … Most subjects on their own can be very sad or depressing or unsettling. I never need a subject to be funny to make fun of it.

You’ve observed that actors can play the worst people in the world without being criticized, but comedians are held to a different standard.

I think that’s because people are self-centered and they want their own personal comfort space with humor to be respected [and] they use your joke to springboard into the discussion. … People are too mentally lazy or stupid to start a conversation about the subject on their own. … I have zero respect for that, because I think the whole thing is a lie. … Lenny Bruce was technically a victim of it and Andrew Dice Clay in 1989 was the victim of it. So it’s not this … new soft generation; we’ve always been doing it.

One of your first big breaks was with Dice. What was the milieu like back then?

I expected it to be this wild sex fest on the road with all these hot girls. Meanwhile, after the show, all he wanted to do was hang out with his friends and lay in the hotel room and eat little chocolate treats…. But what an education as far as how to handle an aggressive audience … it made me a much stronger comic.

Is there a line that can’t be crossed?

No, no, no. … The problem is when people want something punitive to happen to the person who made the joke, that’s where it’s wrong. To have your own line is great, and we all have it. The problem is, we should never expect something to be done about it. Someone crossed the line; you didn’t like it. That’s the beginning and end of the conversation.

How about the Neil Young/Spotify controversy?

I would have respected Neil a lot more if he just left, but I also find some of what they’re doing to be a virtue signal. … Joe is a very close friend of mine for almost 30 years, but you know who I go to for medical advice? Doctors. I’m a grown man, and I listen to doctors that I know, so they may agree with Joe about some things, they may disagree with him, [but] I take responsibility for my own finding out of information. I don’t look to a podcaster or a comedian or a news pundit.

What other things are in the pipeline for you that fans should know about?

It’s more like just getting back to doing gigs. I would love to shoot another special but just getting back to gigs for me right now is the most important thing. I’m literally loving it. Like I’ve never taken a break before, and taking that year off was crazy. Going back on, I appreciate it like I haven’t appreciated it since I was in my first or second year, back in the early ’90s.

Jim Norton

When: Thursday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m.
Where: Colonial Theatre, 617 Main St., Laconia
Tickets: $32 to $62 at etix.com

Featured photo: Jim Norton. Courtesy photo.