Category: Nightlife

Amanda McCarthy duos for hometown show

On a Thursday afternoon in late October, Amanda McCarthy played a set at Bobby’s Idle Hour, a no-nonsense bar nestled at the edge of Nashville’s Music Row. The busy performer had another gig scheduled later that evening, but this one was special, marking the release of “Lifeline,” a song that takes a healthy look back at a long-gone relationship.

“When I finished that song in the writing session, I was like, ‘Well that’s all I have to say,’” McCarthy recalled in a recent phone interview. “I think there’s something really cool about that feeling.” Begun a few years ago and completed with the help of her fiancé, Tom Shubsda, and Martin Butter, its finality shares common ground with Taylor Swift’s “All Too Well.”

At her side that day was Sam Ferrara, a singer-songwriter she’d worked with a lot since leaving New Hampshire just over two years ago, lately singing backup on Ferrara’s own ex-boyfriend burn, “Get Out of My Town.” The two will be making a trip North in early December, with dates at NYC’s Cutting Room and Over The Moon Farmstead in the Granite State.

“I played in New York City before, but she’s from there, so it’ll be really cool to meet her people and be with her in her home environment,” McCarthy said. “Then I’ll get to bring her to New Hampshire.”

The bond with Ferrara is one of many McCarthy has formed since her 2020 leap of faith to Music City. She’s been a part of several songs that have been recorded, co-writing Benn Park’s “Mountain Steep” and penning “Unwrite Every Song” with Emily Myers. “That was a special one,” McCarthy said. “She’s also one of my best friends.”

Though written years ago, “The Long Haul” recently helped April Cushman win a New England Music Award for Best Country Act. McCarthy still hews to the song’s message of tenacity in the face of challenge. “I’ve kept my expectations low but my work ethic high,” she said. “I’ve always been kind of an underdog in a way, and I have no problem working harder day by day, trying to figure it out.”

Her biggest success isn’t one song or even the award she received from Young Entertainment Professionals Nashville for being its most active member. “Being able to quit my job was certainly validating because it let me say I’m stable enough, I’m getting enough work that I can do this,” she said.

She’s aware it’s a crucible that’s not for everyone. “I was always a full-time musician up north and the big question was can I do this in Nashville,” she said. “I was able to, and that really gave me a confidence boost and let me know I’m on the right path, no matter where it’s going. Every time someone records a song I’ve helped write is validating, because it shows me that other people see the value in what I write, not just me.”

The move also helped her growth as an artist. “I’ve learned so much about songwriting from being here, and it hasn’t even been from anyone telling me that I was doing anything wrong. I think just being around so much of it, you absorb a lot, you get inspired by a lot. I’ve kind of become in tune with knowing how to really pull out my inner voice. But I can also become other people’s voices, which is a very cool way to switch things up — and my voice has gotten stronger.”

McCarthy looks forward to seeing friends and family and doing some tax-free Christmas shopping during her brief visit, which also includes a solo show at The Bar in Hudson on Dec. 4. Beyond that, performing at Moonlight Meadery’s home base is about more than music for her.

“The owners, Michael and Bernice, are my best friend’s father and stepmother, and she’s my maid of honor,” McCarthy said, noting that the bridal shower for her wedding next spring happened at the facility. “So not only are they part of an amazing music venue, but I have a very personal connection with them…. I’ve known them since I was a kid, so it’s very cool to be playing there.”

Amanda McCarthy & Sam Ferrara
When: Saturday, Dec. 3, 2 p.m.
Where: Over The Moon Farmstead, 1253 Upper City Road, Pittsfield
More: amandamccarthy.com

Featured photo: Amanda McCarthy. Photo Credit Nash Bash Collective.

Step out for a musical December

From big stages to small, national touring acts and regional heroes will fill the nights with mirth and melodies throughout December.

Here’s a taste of what’s coming.

• Bookend the month, and then some, with Recycled Percussion. The junk rockers close out their latest, Redonkulous, at their personal performance venue, The CAKE, with 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. shows (tickets $35 to $110) on two Saturdays, Nov. 26 and Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 4, at 2 p.m. On Wednesday, Dec. 28, they’ll invade Manchester’s Palace Theatre ($35 and up) for a 13-show run that concludes on Jan. 7.

• Over at the Palace’s sister room The Rex Theatre, get festive and international with a week of holiday-themed events. On Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m. Boston-based jazz singer Rich DiMare serves up A Sinatra Christmas($29 and up), followed Sunday, Dec. 11, at 4 p.m. by the Celtic fiddle mastery of A Joyful Christmas with Eileen Ivers ($39). On Wednesday, Dec. 14, Italy takes a jazzy bow with Anthony Nunziata: My Italian Broadway Christmas; the next day, it’s Eric Mintel’s Charlie Brown Jazz Christmas. The Spain Brothers offer a blend of holiday-themed Irish and American folk on Saturday, Dec. 17 (all shows 7 p.m., $29).

• At the state’s largest venue,the SNHU Arena, the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra returns for the 21st time since their Manchester debut in 2001, on Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7:30 p.m., as Keith Lockhart conducts the 2022 Holidays Pops Tour. Tickets are $55 and up at ticketmaster.com.

• At Concord’s Bank of NH Stage on Friday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m., Portland, Maine-based Spencer and the Walrus recreate The Beatles’ studio recordings with astounding accuracy, joined by a six-piece horn section ($38). The theme continues with well-regarded Talking Heads tribute act Start Making Sense on Saturday, Dec. 3. at 8 p.m. ($15 and $30). Tim Reynolds, who rose to fame through his collaboration with Dave Matthews, plays with his TR3 band on Friday, Dec. 16, at 8 p.m. ($36).

• The Capitol Center for the Arts hosts a trio of seasonal shows starting with The Seamus Egan Project’s Celtic Christmas on Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. ($32 and up). The Capital Jazz Orchestra does its Holiday Pops show on Sunday, Dec. 11, at 4 p.m. ($27.50 and up) and the annual Morning Buzz Christmas Ball happens Thursday, Dec. 15, at 7 p. m. ($45, recommended age 18+)

• Tupelo Music Hall is packed from Day 1, as bluesman Popa Chubby stops by, with local favorite Brooks Young as an opener, on Thursday, Dec. 1, at 8 p.m. ($30). Guitar shredder Gary Hoey, whose Ho! Ho! Hoey! holiday show is synonymous with the season, plays Sunday, Dec. 4, at 7 p.m. ($35 and up). Musicians’ musician Martin Sexton hits Tupelo Friday, Dec. 9, at 8 p.m. ($40 and up), and folk chanteuse Judy Collins offers hits and holiday songs Sunday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. ($55 and up).

• At Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club, guitarist and legendary side man Larry Carlton digs into Steely Dan’s catalog — that’s him wailing on 1976’s “Kid Charlemagne” — and plays other hits Saturday, Dec. 3, at 7 and 9:30 p.m. ($35 to $115). Singer-songwriter Dar Williams serves up erudite folk songs Thursday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. ($10 to $60), while British Blues Hall of Fame guitarist Matt Schofield plays Saturday, Dec. 17, at 7:30 p.m. ($15 to $55).

• At the nearby newly renovated Music Hall Lounge, the utterly charming Antje Duvekot appears Thursday, Dec. 8, at 7:30 p.m. ($37 and up), and Thanks to Gravity, a band key to the early ’90s Seacoast scene chronicled in the 2012 documentary In Danger of Being Discovered, plays two shows, Saturday, Dec. 10, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11, at 8 p.m. ($28 and up).

• 3S Artspace has a few live music events, including free ones like Mission of Burma’s Roger Clark Miller playing from his boundary-stretching album, Eight Dream Interpretations for Solo Electric Guitar Ensemble, on Friday, Dec. 2, at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Small Pond tops a Saturday, Dec. 3, 7 p.m. show with Hello Shark and Sneaky Miles ($15). The headliners began in Portsmouth doing DIY shows, later opening for national acts like The Ballroom Thieves and Haley Heynderickx. Their sound is described as “swingy, laid-back indie rock with big hooks and undeniably catchy lyrics.” Boston emo stalwarts Piebald plays a 3S date on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 8 p.m. ($25).

Venues
Bank of NH Stage 16 S. Main St., Concord; ccanh.com
The CAKE Theatre 12 Veterans Square, Laconia; thecaketheatre.com
Chubb Theatre (Capitol Center for the Arts) 44 S. Main St., Concord; ccanh.com
Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club 135 Congress St., Portsmouth; jimmysoncongress.com
Music Hall Lounge 131 Congress St., Portsmouth; themusichall.org
Palace Theatre 80 Hanover St., Manchester; palacetheatre.org
Rex Theatre 23 Amherst St., Manchester; palacetheatre.org
SNHU Arena 555 Elm St., Manchester; snhuarena.com
3S Artspace 319 Vaughan St, Portsmouth; 3sarts.org

Featured photo: Recycled Percussion. Courtesy photo.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s big show returns

Few acts usher in the holiday season quite like Trans-Siberian Orchestra, with its Christmas cocktail of classic rock, classical music and theatrical flourish topped with lasers and smoke bombs. Fans set their calendars by them, gathering families to take in a show that gets bigger and better each year.

For their stop in Manchester on the day after Thanksgiving, TSO will reprise the rock opera that put them on the map, The Ghosts of Christmas Eve. Originally a 1999 television special, it offers traditional songs such as “O Come All Ye Faithful” and originals including “Music Box Blues” and “Christmas Eve (Sarajevo 12/24),” the latter the template for the massive band that’s captivated audiences for over 25 years.

Recent times have been challenging. In 2017, visionary founder Paul O’Neill died, but at the behest of his widow Desi and other family members TSO carried on. Three years later, the pandemic sidelined them from playing live; instead they did a virtual pay per view show that was a far cry from their epic arena firepower.

“It was as strange for the band members as it was for the fans,” drummer Jeff Plate said of the lost year in a recent phone interview. Returning to the stage in 2021, he had “a whole new appreciation for wow, we are so lucky to do what we do. But we were also in the bubble; we were anxious, there was this anxiety … I was so relieved when we got done.”

Breathing easier this time around, the group is focused on keeping O’Neill’s vision going, a task that in the days after his death seemed overwhelming.

“When we lost Paul, I’ll be honest with you,” Plate recalled, “there was a moment when I sat down on the couch with my wife and said, ‘maybe that’s it’ … none of us were really sure what was going to happen.”

However, it soon became clear that continuing was “exactly what Paul would want us to do … he had said many times, ‘It’s going to outlive us all, we’re going to pass this on from generation to generation.’ The reality is, TSO has become a tradition. That’s a pretty heavy statement, but it’s true…. Some people can’t even function until they see TSO to get their holidays going.”

Moving forward was also helped by the fact that TSO is a well-oiled touring machine, with separate East and West Coast runs. Each has its own cast, crew and semi-truck fleet.

“We’ve been operating like that since the year 2000,” Plate said. “Losing Paul was huge, but everybody knew the job at hand and just how much more focused we needed to be…. There’s no way to make these tours as good as they are, and as successful as they are, without that kind of commitment.”

Plate first worked with O’Neill in Savatage, the band that spawned TSO, on their 1995 album Dead Winter Dead. “It was a really interesting time, because the band had changed so much and Paul’s gears were turning all the time,” Plate recalled. At first, no one knew what to make of the “Carol of the Bells” meets Emerson, Lake & Palmer track “Sarajevo,” which would reappear on the first TSO album, Christmas Eve and Other Stories.

“We were all questioning, what was Paul thinking, putting this song on this record, but there was no denying how great the final version was,” Plate said. “To see that song take off in a completely different direction and all of a sudden become this huge hit, it was like, you know, Paul could see down the road further than the rest of us.”

Once again, the upcoming show will be divided into two acts, starting with Ghosts of Christmas Eve stitched together with narration, followed by a greatest hits segment. “This is a fan favorite, and it’s a band favorite too,” Plate said, “one of my favorite shows to play. It’s high energy, with a really good vibe to the whole thing.”

As the interview ended, Plate made sure to make a note of another TSO tradition: donating a dollar from every ticket sold to a local charity. It came with another nod to their founder’s family. “Over $16 million we’ve donated across the country all these years,” he said. “It could have easily gone away when we lost Paul, but his wife and daughter really stepped up. … We can’t thank Paul enough for everything that he’s done, but his family has also been very, very critical to all that too.”

Trans-Siberian Orchestra – The Ghosts of Christmas Eve
When: Friday, Nov. 25, 3 and 7:30 p.m.
Where: SNHU Arena, 555 Elm St., Manchester
More: $52.50 to $102.50 at snhuarena.com

Featured photo: Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Courtesy photo.

Eclectic band Annie In The Water hits Manchester

The music of Annie In The Water is a contagious hybrid of rock, funk and rhythm infused with a feel-good reggae groove. It’s the kind of sound that’s kept Michael Franti bouncing around the globe for decades, done with capability and verve.

For many years the band was a duo; singer-guitarists Michael Lashomb and Bradley Hester met while attending college in upstate New York in 2006. When a female friend fell into a lake trying to tie up her boat, they found a name, and gigged steadily in the region.

Ten years later, Lashomb and Hester began assembling what would grow into a six-piece band. One of their recruits was drummer Josh West, then at a crossroads when his longtime band decided to forego touring for local shows. West stuck around for a couple of years, departing to work on his own record; the collection of songs, completed during the pandemic, will drop next spring.

West returned to the group last summer. In an interesting twist, he replaced the original drummer of Lucid, the band he’d been in before joining the first time. Along with Hester, Lashomb and West, members now include bassist Chris Meier, Matt Richards on keyboards, and percussionist Brock Kuca.

It’s a big sound, West agreed in a recent phone interview.

“We’re really taking the time to explore what it means to play in a band with that many people and all these layers, and make sure that we’re not overplaying,” he said. He’s known Richards since his days in Formula Five and Meier from his earlier band Space Carnival. “We hadn’t really done much playing together; but we’re friends… we’ve respected each other’s musical abilities.”

Influences for the group come from a myriad of sources. West is a big fan of drummer Bernard Purdy, who played with Steely Dan and others, along with Carlton Barrett of the Wailers. He also names Snarky Puppy and Ghost Notes as favorite bands. Others in the group cite festival mainstays like Grateful Dead and Phish, along with ’90s alt rock.

A recent Halloween show was indicative of the group’s wide-ranging oeuvre. “We’re playing everything from Prince to Blink-182 to Red Hot Chili Peppers to Radiohead, to Daft Punk,” West said. “A big eclectic kind of influence there, but I think all these songs really speak lyrically and are kind of timeless pieces.”

When it first came together, the band was mainly a vehicle for the original duo’s material. A debut album, Time To Play, “was pretty much all songs that Brad and Mike had written 10 years ago,” West said. The second studio effort was more collaborative; though he wasn’t on the sessions for this year’s The Sun At Dawn, West called it evolutionary. “Since I’ve been back, that kind of energy has carried over.”

West recalled a recent songwriting session at a hunting camp in northern Vermont, where the band is now based. “We each brought a song to the table, and on top of that, we all have little parts,” he said. “It’s really a very democratic process, [with] open and equal energy… which is very inspiring.”

The newest lineup is already poised to follow up Sun At Dawn.

“We’ve got pretty much a new record of songs that we’ve written in the last three months,” West said. “We’re getting ready to hit the studio for this winter.”

That energy has translated to the stage. “The camaraderie in the band between members is at an all-time high; we’re firing on all cylinders right now,” West continued. “Pretty much every show we’ve been playing lately, the energy is tangible in the room; it’s just something you gotta come check out.”

Jordan Paul’s JigsMusic agency booked the band’s Veterans Day show at Shaskeen Pub in Manchester.

“I’m so excited to bring Annie in the Water back to the Granite State,” Paul said in a recent text message. “We haven’t seen them since before the pandemic. I know they’ve been picking up a lot of steam with their new lineup and I’m very excited to see this new chemistry everyone’s been talking about.”

Annie In The Water w/ DJ SP1
When: Friday, Nov. 1, 9 p.m.
Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $10 at the door
More: See facebook.com/annieinthewater

Featured photo: Annie In The Water. Courtesy photo.

Zero hits New Hampshire with new (old) album

The hallmark of a good jam band is how well it plays with others, and Zero is a standout example. In fact, it may hold the record in the number of guests brought to the stage over many years and over 1,300 shows. A friend of the band once did a family tree that included hundreds of musicians who’d joined them at one time or another.

Zero was formed in the early 1980s by guitarist Steve Kimock and drummer Greg Anton, after the two played in Keith and Donna Godchaux’s Heart of Gold Band; guitarist John Cipollina was a member until his death in 1989. In a recent phone interview, Anton described the band’s music as created with collaboration in mind.

“We have a lot of dynamics and wide-open space when we play,” he said. “What happens often is … somebody will come and sit in, and they’ll go, ‘Wow, it’s a good thing I showed up tonight or these guys would have big holes in their music — it’s a good thing I showed up to fill them in.’ It’s actually intentional, but some guys just figure it out and just fit right in.”

Zero just released a double album, Naught Again, that was recorded in 1992 during a three-night run at Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. It features many great guests, including late piano legend Nicky Hopkins, Vince Welnick from the Tubes and Grateful Dead, and longtime Jerry Garcia mate John Kahn.

Songs from the shows were on 1994’s Chance In A Million. A few months before the pandemic, recording engineer Brian Reasoner suggested to Anton that they remaster that disc using newer technology. He also asked him to find a bonus track or two for the project.

“I went back and listened to the outtakes, and Naught Again is a whole other record; none of that stuff has been previously released,” Anton said. “I was pleasantly surprised that I went back to look for one song and found a double record of songs that I thought were really up to snuff to put out.”

The group was all instrumental until Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter chatted up Anton at a Bay Area party. “He said, ‘You know, that band Zero is really good, but most of your audience is made up of other musicians — if you want to spread out a little bit, you might want to think about getting some songs,’” Anton recalled him saying. “I said, ‘You got any?’ and he said, ‘Yeah. You got any?’ So, I gave him some of our instrumental stuff, and he put words to it.”

Ultimately, the two wrote 25 songs together. Hunter, who died in 2019, introduces the band on Naught Again with a trippy spoken-word bit and closes out the set with another space age rap. The music is sublime, as is the newfound clarity of the show, recorded by Grateful Dead sound man Dan Healy.

It also includes some of Hopkins’ best piano work.

“I’ve never heard him stretch out like that. His playing is just kind of superhuman,” Anton said of Hopkins, who recorded and toured with the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane and was a member of Quicksilver Messenger Service. “He invented that style of rock ’n’ roll piano-playing; I mean, there was a lot of history before him, but he took it to another level.”

To celebrate the new collection, Zero is out on a short jaunt stopping at Plymouth’s Flying Monkey on Nov. 5. Along with two founders, it now includes Pete Sears on bass, trumpet player Haidi Al-Saadoon and Spencer Burrows on keyboards.

They kicked off the current tour with a vinyl release show for Naught Again at the Fillmore in San Francisco. “We had a great time; it’s special music, I think,” Anton said. Their upcoming Granite State show will feature covers included on the new record, done with a unique twist, such as The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” without Moog synthesizer, and David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” a song suggested by Welnick.

As always, an improvisational mood will prevail for a band that plays when time and mood allow.

“Every Zero show is different, I don’t think anybody’s going to say, ‘Oh, that band’s just like Zero,’” he said. “It’s rock and jazz, we have horns, keyboards, and the world’s greatest guitar player. We have a lot of stuff going for us, and we’re looking forward to being able to do it.”

Zero
When: Saturday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Flying Monkey, 39 S. Main St., Plymouth
More: $39 and up at flyingmonkeynh.com

Featured photo: Zero. Courtesy photo.

Robert Dubac tries to make sense in Book of Moron

The idea of aliens landing and attempting to understand human nature has been around a while. In his one-man show The Book of Moron, Robert Dubac gets more down to earth, playing an amnesiac desperately in need of people to explain the current state of a world where the loudest voices are frequently the dumbest.

Dubac begins by being bewildered at what makes some people angry. “Isn’t same-sex marriage all marriages? You marry one person and have the same sex forever,” he says at one point.

All the other characters in Book of Moron are voices in Dubac’s head trying to fill his brain’s blank slate with their version of the truth.

“It expounds on Freud’s id, ego and superego,” he said by phone recently. “You’ve got the inner child, inner moron, the voice of reason, common sense and your inner a-hole, who obviously is the one who says things that you don’t want to say out loud, but they’re swirling around in the back of your head.”

The premise for the show came to Dubac as he was doing his previous one-man show, The Male Intellect – An Oxymoron? for a crowd in Amish country. “Even though this group of people have chosen not to interact, they still have kind of a higher moral standard,” he recalled. “I said, ‘Wouldn’t it be interesting if you woke up like that and you had no idea?’ There’s a good and bad side — you could be in the Amish community, or you could wake up in a camp run by Taliban.”

Though its “Idiocracy is a documentary” subject matter is up to the minute in a culture peppered with alternative facts and ignorant bluster, Dubac began developing the show over a decade ago. He had the help of his good friend, the late comic and television star Garry Shandling. Experience taught them both to spot the writing on the wall.

“If you’re really pushing comedy, you’re doing it before the rest of the world piles on if you’re doing it right,” Dubac said. “We could see the insanity starting to foment… everybody lives in their own little bubbles, and the public doesn’t really realize what’s going on outside as much as a traveling artist.”

Dubac began doing comedy in the late 1970s, first as a magician opening rock concerts, followed by standup in a West Coast scene that included pioneers like Dana Carvey, Bob Saget and Robin Williams. During that time, he came up with the idea of a stupidity tax — five bucks assessed for transgressions like pushing an already-lit elevator button.

Now, the bit is back.

“I resurrected that, and it’s in The Book of Moron, because it’s just timeless,” he said. “When I came up with it, it was just a surface joke, but now, coupled with this whole meaning of the change of culture and the dumbing down of America, it resonates more graphically.”

He’s quick to point out that the show isn’t about left versus right, but smart and stupid, noting, “the thing about stupidity … is stupid people won’t admit they’re stupid because it was intelligently designed that way, so all they do is double down.” Even if one side is more guilty, the comedy needs to stay balanced. “It can’t just be full tilt against stupidity and right-wing idiots, because then you’re going to lose the crowd. There’s a lot of stuff I’ve put aside, because it’s just too much.”

Instead, he keeps things level, though it can be difficult. “It’s done from a point of view of let’s start from scratch; let’s take some points from the left and the right, and solve some problems,” he said. “It’s also a way to get some great one-liners.”

In mid-2000s, the Mensa organization challenged its members to take a word from the dictionary and add or subtract one letter to give it a new meaning. One wag came up with “bozone,” defined as “the substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.” 

Reminded of that, Dubac observed, “We’re living in a time where irony doesn’t mean anything anymore; people can’t even grasp the concept.” Asked if there’s something that gives him hope in spite of this, he answered quickly.

“Humor! I mean, funny is the only emotion that brings everybody together, in truth.”

Robert Dubac’s The Book of Moron
When: Friday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester
More: $39 at palacetheatre.org

Featured photo: Robert Dubac. Courtesy photo.