Category: Nightlife

Surviving and thriving

Six decades on, Jim Messina still playing great

By Michael Witthaus

mwitthaus@hippopress.com

Don’t do drugs. Jim Messina can provide plenty of reasons why.

Probably the most compelling one is the clarity of Messina’s singing voice, at a time when many classic rockers sound like their throats have been sandpapered. On his latest live album, Here There and Everywhere, Messina is in pristine form, his vocals identical to those that helped launch hits like “Angry Eyes” and “Your Mama Don’t Dance.”

The singer, songwriter and guitarist briefly delayed the start of a recent early morning interview to wait for a pot of coffee to brew. It’s probably the strongest substance he uses. From his days in Buffalo Springfield, country-rock pioneers Poco or top-selling duo Loggins & Messina and beyond, he’s steered clear of the hard stuff.

“The only bumps I got in the ’70s,” he joked, “came from falling off a horse.”

One turning point came when a fan overdosed on acid and was medevac’d in Poco’s limousine as they played the 1970 Atlanta Pop Festival.

“I thought, ‘Oh, my God, that’s a terrible thing to go through,’” he recalled. Then, at age 27, Messina had his tonsils removed. That’s daunting enough for a vocalist, but what came next was worse.

“I developed the most severe case of allergies,” he said. “My nose was all caked up, it was bleeding, I couldn’t breathe, I was wheezing. My tech, David Cieslak, had been a medic in the Vietnam War. I had to have these shots, so we’re carrying shots around to shows.”

Seven months later, cocaine was in the midst of its rise as rock’s drug of choice. At one show, Messina was offered some from another band’s crew and was appalled to learn they snorted it. “Get that stuff away from me,” he told them. “I don’t want to put nothing in my nose after what I’ve gone through in the last year.”

By abstaining, Messina was able to feed other habits. “The truth is that I took all my drug money and I invested it in real estate, precious metals, guitars and amps,” he said. “To this day I still have the very first Telecaster that I played back in Poco, and my Stratocaster. I just was so fortunate not to go there.”

The ultimate payoff has been health-wise, he continued. Ahead of a Loggins & Messina reunion show at the Hollywood Bowl in 2022, he saw an ear, nose and throat specialist who worked exclusively with professional singers — he’d caught Covid twice during the pandemic and wanted to be sure nothing was damaged.

“He almost pulled my tongue out, and he shoved this camera down my throat. He’s going, ‘Oh, wow,’ and I’m going, ‘oh crap.’ When it was over, he goes, ‘I gotta tell you, I handled most of the vocalists in the world, and your vocal cords look like you’re 25 years old … you have really taken care of them.’”

While he doesn’t need to tour to pay the bills, Messina has no plans to retire; he’s even making new music. A new version of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Draggin’ the Line” is one song he’s finished.

“I love what I do and I’ve been doing it since I was 13,” he said. “I still have that same inspiration … to do better.”

Messina and his band The Road Runners have two upcoming New Hampshire shows, one in Plymouth on Nov. 20, and another Nov. 23 at the Nashua Center for the Performing Arts. He put together the group a couple of years ago, after he’d moved to Nashville, and found his old band was too far-flung.

“I have to rehearse, I have to be able to call people in and say, ‘Let’s do this arrangement,’ and it was getting to the point where that was going to be impossible financially,” he said. “My agent said, ‘Look, there are plenty of musicians here in town,’ and he said, ‘You know, they’re not all country.’”

First to join was keyboard player James Frazier. “He sings the parts now that Kenny would normally sing,” Messina said. Bassist Ben King, who also has a high vocal range, was next, followed by sax player/percussionist Steve Nieves, who was part of a couple of Loggins & Messina reunion tours and played in solo bands for both stars.

Drummer Jack Bruno has played with Elton John, Tina Turner and Joe Cocker, and when Messina found him on YouTube he was in Delbert McClinton’s band. Then McClinton retired. Messina loves working with the group. “They care enough about the music to perform the charts the way they were originally written and honor the musicians who originally did it.”

Jim Messina and the Road Runners
When: Sunday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m.
Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $43 and up at etix.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Moving on

With new special out, Jay Chanoine readies the next

Six years ago comedian Jay Chanoine released a special and immediately got to work on his next one. It’s a comic’s creed that committing an act to tape is both the way to bury old jokes and incentive to craft new ones. Then the pandemic came, and Chanoine had to start again from scratch when things reopened in late 2021 — in more ways than one.

“Not only was some of that material no longer usable; I had to remember how to do stand-up again,” he said in a recent phone interview. “I ended up building up this body of work.” Chanoinigans, released as an audio album in mid-October and on YouTube on Halloween, is the result.

When Chanoine walked on stage at the Empire Theatre in Portland, Maine, in August 2024, the curveballs were still coming. First, his grandmother died a day before the show, which spurred “a whole new batch of emotions I was not prepared to have.” Beyond that, he’d written a new opening focused on a recent series of hospital visits.

“You’re seeing me at an interesting time in my life,” he told the crowd. “A little over a month ago, I went to see an autism doctor to begin the testing process. And that sentence can only go one of two ways. It’s either I feel like I’ve wasted a ton of money, or that my entire life has been a sham. Good news, guys. I don’t feel like I’ve wasted any money.”

Chanoine began reading DSM-V, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and had a series of eureka moments that made him feel he was cracking a code to his own mystery.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is me I’m reading about,’” he said, adding he quickly discerned a connection between the diagnosis and his comedy.

“You could draw lines from almost every one of those bits that I was about to record,” he said. “‘This is why you have a joke about how you did a bad job growing up and how people think you hate them. How you still love Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers and you come off as abrasive….’ I was like, oh, my God, this is a special about finding out I’m autistic!”

He used the experience as fuel for that night up north.

“I think a lot of times, at least for me, when you have that much emotional abrasiveness kind of swimming around inside your head, you can channel it and just turn it into, ‘This is the thing I need to focus on right now,’” Chanoine said. “Divert that anxious energy into this performance.”

Since making the special, he’s spent a lot of time at the weekly Laugh Attic open mic at Strange Brew Tavern, each time doing five fresh minutes, slowly building a follow-up to Chanoinigans. “I try out new material in this safe environment where people already think they like me,” he said.

He’s looking forward to an extended set at Strange Brew on Nov. 21.

“We’re doing a Friday show, and I get to kind of do all the stuff that they saw me do for the very first time when it was fresh and unpolished and a little clumsy,” he said. “And I get to see it again after it’s been through a little bit of a rock tumbler and shined up.”

Fans can check out the new special on YouTube; Chanoinigans is his best yet. He talks about “coming aut” and having a realization about his New England school days; he may have misheard what sounded like praise for being artistic. “I love to draw, and I had no idea what my teachers were actually saying every time they went, ‘I think you are wicked autistic.’”

So the youngster took the kind words in stride; now, he’s reassessing.

“I’d just be standing there like, ‘Yeah, I guess that drawing is pretty good. It only took me 4,266 pencil strokes to complete it.’ That’s what happens when you start looking back on your life through autism-tinted lenses.”

Jay Chanoine w/ Troy Burdett, Arianna Magee & Ramses Rafael
When: Friday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m.
Where: Strange Brew Tavern, 88 Market St., Manchester
Tickets: $20 at eventbrite.com – 18+

Featured photo: Jay Chanoine. Courtesy photo.

Horse sense

Ian Galipeau celebrates new LP at Penuche’s

Once, when Ian Galipeau was performing at Great North Aleworks in Manchester, someone in the crowd asked if he knew any Nirvana or James Taylor, saying they felt he could do either one justice. “One of my favorite compliments I’ve ever received in my life as a musician,” Galipeau recalled recently. “It just made me smile and it still does.”

On his new album Something About a Horse Galipeau proves worthy of that praise. It opens with “Queen of the Canyon,” a loping, lovely duet with Jocelyn Bailey (Joanne the Band) that recalls John Prine and Iris Dement, then shifts to a swamp groove on “Fool of Me,” followed by the car-top-down country rocker “Ain’t Ready Yet.”

The next song is “Say Goodbye,” a heartbreaking ballad drawn from Galipeau’s earliest memories.

“It’s about growing up and making sense of my mom leaving, being in a broken family,” he said. “Now … I’ve got a wonderful relationship with my mother, and it was all for the best. But that’s very hard to come to terms with at 4, 5, 6 years old.”

The tune came from a month-long “write a song a day” exercise Galipeau did two years ago, which led to five of the disc’s 11 tracks. The first one was the country-flavored “A Father’s Love.” It also dealt with abandonment and loss but was fictional. Writing it helped prepare him for crafting more difficult autobiographical lyrics.

Working on a deadline and beginning with simple ideas like creating a three-chord song about owning a house (which produced the rollicking and funny “Call It Home”) helped.

“I’m really grateful that I did that exercise because that was such a heavy topic,” he said. “Having to finish it in a day meant I couldn’t wait around and try to make it perfect.”

Galipeau can definitely write from a happier place. His 2024 single “The Little Things” is a gorgeous meditation on life as a husband and dad to two daughters. One, he writes, has “eyes like summer twilight,” the other possesses “fire in her spirit and stained glass in her heart.” It ends with a touching echo of Jason Isbell’s “If We Were Vampires.”

The new LP’s title is a nod to Galipeau’s first-ever music purchase, Bringing Down the Horse by The Wallflowers.

“I bought that cassette along with Third Eye Blind’s self-titled album and Hanson’s Middle of Nowhere,” he said. “To this day, I still love two out of three of those … you can guess which ones.”

He was also thinking of Ben Kweller’s Changing Horses, which is fitting; Galipeau likes to mix things up as a musician. His last album, Faded Pictures, released early this year, was a solo piano effort, a new direction for a mostly guitarist (he also plays bass in the band Modern Fools). The Randy Newman-esque “One Way Ticket” is a standout track.

The New Hampshire native, who now lives in Keene, speaks reverently of his craft.

“The puzzle of songwriting … it’s just absolutely fascinating to me. I love studying other songwriters and I love working out the intricacies of a single idea inside a song within that limited real estate … it’s a beautiful, cathartic puzzle.”

An album release show, part of a multi-date mini-tour, happens Nov. 7 at Penuche’s Ale House in Concord. Galipeau’s band will include guitarist Jonathan Braught, who soloed on a pair of Something About A Horse’s tracks, Jeff Costello on drums and Ethan McBrien, a primary creative force behind psychedelic folk band Party of the Sun.

Slim Volume, whose singer-guitarist Trent Larrabee contributed to the new album, and Concord band Hometown Eulogy, will open. Galipeau is excited for the show, and what comes after. “Every time I release an album, I’m like, oh, I’ve got to start working on the next,” he said. “But this has given me a little more fire and time with the songs … it’s been fun.”

Ian Galipeau w/ Slim Volume, Hometown Eulogy
When: Friday, Nov. 7, at 8 p.m.
Where: Penuche’s Ale House, Bicentennial Square, Concord
More: iangalipeaumusic.com
Also Sunday, Nov. 9, at 3 p.m. at Auspicious Brew, 1 Washington St., Dover, w/ Yoni Gordon

Featured photo: Ian Galipeau. Courtesy photo.

Blues rock, with a bit of soul

Joanne Shaw Taylor brings her guitar chops to Nashua

Growing up in the English Midlands, Joanne Shaw Taylor was a fan of guitarist Albert Collins and Stevie Ray Vaughan, who made her love the blues, then Jonny Lang and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, who were young enough for her to believe she could become a professional blues guitarist. Even as a woman — the guitar is a gender-neutral instrument, she told herself.

That belief found clarity the first time she heard Susan Tedeschi.

“All of a sudden, there are these kids who look kind of like me … but again, they were boys, then Susan came out with Rock Me Right,” she said by phone recently. “Once you’ve been given an example of someone else who’s done it, you feel like you don’t have to break through.”

Up to then, the female musicians she looked to emulate came from the rock and pop charts — Sheryl Crow, Fleetwood Mac and Dusty Springfield were early favorites.

“I was learning pre-internet,” she said, “Just going to the local CD shop, asking, ‘Who can you get me in that’s a female that plays guitar?’ And they’d be like, ‘Ani DiFranco?’” She pressed on.

Taylor was gigging as a teenager. When she was 16, Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame saw her at a charity show and invited her on his European tour with D.U.P., a supergroup that included Jimmy Cliff, Mud Bone Cooper and Candy Dulfer. Stewart also signed her to a record deal, but the company had financial problems and she never went into the studio.

She made her first album on indie label Ruf Records, 2009’s White Sugar. It received a British Blues Awards nomination for Best New Artist Debut. During that year Taylor headed ’cross the pond, moving to Detroit, a strategic decision to be near the U.S. blues scene. In 2022 she moved again, to Nashville, where she’s lived since.

“All my influences were American,” Taylor said when asked why she moved. Upon arriving, she learned a lot of history that wasn’t taught in U.K. schools. “Segregation and slavery was something new to me, and the idea that this magical genre of music was born out of it was crazy to me.”

Though she loves the blues and records for Joe Bonomassa’s Keeping The Blues Alive label, Taylor suggests that fans new to the genre should begin with B.B. King or Muddy Waters before buying her records.

“I think I’m a blues guitarist that is a soul singer, that likes writing pop rock songs,” she told podcaster Alan Paul last year.

This eclectic aesthetic is well-rounded on Taylor’s latest LP, Black & Gold. The countrified growler “Hold of My Heart” features Sav Madigan of the Accidentals playing fiddle. “Summer Love” is a driving-with-the-top-down rocker that would be at home on a Bob Seger setlist, while “I Gotta Stop Letting You Let Me Down” is solid blues rock.

The buoyant title track was a British hit in 2008 for Sam Sparro that Taylor found “driving up and down the motorway to gigs in the U.K., when my first album was about to come out. It was always on the radio, and I loved the heaviness of the lyrics…. I don’t actually know what it’s about, I just know what I think it’s about and how I view it.”

“Love Lives Here,” a Faces deep cut from 1972, is another great cover on the new album. “There’s two male vocalists I’ve always felt like I have a bit of them in me … Paul Rodgers and Rod Stewart,” Taylor said. “I loved them so much growing up; I’ve taken on a couple of little inflections. I got to open for Rod a couple of years ago and it was absolutely fantastic.”

Taylor made Black & Gold at Nashville’s Studio A, where artists from Elvis to My Morning Jacket have recorded. “It’s kind of like a church,” she said. “I’m not a religious person. I’m not sure where I stand on faith, to be honest, about what comes next. But, you know, you go into a thousand-year-old church in Spain and you feel something. RCA is like that.”

It’s the second time Taylor has worked in the iconic facility; she also made 2024’s Heavy Soul there. Bonamassa also lives in Nashville, which helps her find top talent to work with and great places to make music. She’s also contributed to a pair of LPs by Dion, an early signing to Bonamassa’s label.

The two met in 2008, backstage at a festival in Norway. Later they spent hours talking about their shared experience as blues prodigies, and she felt seen.

“To have a conversation with Joe and go, ‘Oh, you were 13 as well, and your mum and dad were driving and flying you around so you could open up for B.B. King.’ I’d never met anyone like that.”

It wasn’t like either of them was Macaulay Culkin, she continued.

“We weren’t massive child stars, but it was still a bit unusual to say, ‘I’m leaving school for a week to go play with Jimmy Cliff.’ That was just a massive connection, and he’s been a massive champion of me ever since. And a big brother, to be honest, because his career was far ahead of mine at that time.”

Featured photo: Joanne Shaw Taylor. Courtesy photo.

Frightful fun

A weekend’s worth of adult Halloween choices

Without a doubt Halloween is the greatest deal in history. Dress up, knock on doors and demand candy — what could be better? Alas, youth is wasted on the young, but adults can still have fun on Halloween. This year there are a bevy of bashes, most on the official day. Here’s a day-by-day rundown of area gatherings.

Thursday, Oct. 30

Ash Cigar Lounge (92A Route 125, Kingston, 285-5174) 6 p.m. Smoke & Shadows: Halloween costume party, costumes encouraged, cocktails flowing, and cigars smoldering.

Bridgewater Inn (367 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater, 744-3518) 8 p.m. Karaoke with Christine and cash prizes for best male and female costume.

LaBelle Winery ( 345 Route 101, Amherst, 672-9898) 7:15 p.m. Halloween disco party with Booty Vortex Band. Disco attire is encouraged. $40 at labellewinery.com.

The Word Barn (66 Newfields Road, Exeter, 244-0202) 7 p.m. All Hallow’s Eve: Spooky Tunes, Songs and Tales From Scotland. $25 at thewordbarn.com.

Friday, Oct. 31

Arts Alley (20 S. Main St., Concord, artsalleyconcordnh.com) 7 p.m. Alley After Dark party with DJ music, specialty cocktails, costume contest and giveaways, $30.

Auburn Pitts (167 Rockingham Road, Auburn, 622-6564) 6 p.m. DJ Chris hosts karaoke, with a bonfire and costume contest; gift cards first $100, second $50 and third $25.

Auspicious Brew (1 Washington St., Dover, 953-7240) 8 p.m. 5th anniversary weekend includes Halloween house party with a drag show from Raya Sunshine + friends at 8 p.m., two DJ sets w/ DJ MAM and DJ XO from 9 p.m. to midnight, face and hair glam by Tease Salon, a costume contest and more, $17 advance, $20 day of.

Beanie’s Bar & Grill (58 Route 129, Loudon, 961-0372) 8 p.m. Wacko Magnet, an area trio, performs at this Halloween party.

Big House (322 Lakeside Ave., Laconia, 366-9100) 9 p.m. 7th annual Big Stage karaoke Halloween party with host DJ Tim.

Bogie’s (32 Depot Square, Hampton, 601-2319) 7 p.m. Michael Troy performs with drink specials and prize for best dressed costume.

Bonfire Country Bar (950 Elm St., Manchester, 2017-5600) 7 p.m. Halloween costume party with Lexi James performing.

BrickHouse Restaurant & Brewery (241 Union Square, Milford, 672-2270) 8 p.m. Hell On Heels plays rock covers.

Bridgewater Inn (367 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater, 744-3518) 8 p.m. Halloween party with Stray Dog playing covers and cash prizes for best male and female costume.

Cercle National Club (550 Rockland Ave., Manchester, 623-8243) 7:30 p.m. Dancing Madly Backwards plays rock covers and originals at this social club’s party. Costume contest, with first-, second- and third-place winners.

Chop Shop (920 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, 760-7706) 8:30 p.m. 16th Birthday Halloween Bash with Casual Gravity and prizes for most original, couple, sexiest and king & queen. $20.

Crotched Mountain (534 Mountain Road, Francestown, 808-0174) 5 p.m. Blue Bear Halloween Party with buffet 5-7 p.m., costume contest and DJ music, $30 adults, $12 kids under 12.

Exeter Brewing (156 Epping Road, Exeter, 686-7253) 8 p.m. 21+ Halloween social with costumes, prizes and DJ dancing.

Flannel Tavern (345 Suncook Valley Road, Chichester, 406-1196) 6 p.m. Dave Graham plays music at this party.

Forum Pub (15 Village St., Concord, 565-3100) 8 p.m. Rabbit Foot plays at 7:30 p.m. at a party featuring a costume contest and hosted by Maizy Rae that concludes with an open jam session.

Front Four Cellars (13 Railroad Ave., Wolfeboro, 633-5433) 6 p.m. Dakota Smart plays music from 6 to 9 p.m. at this Monster Mash & Merlot Halloween costume party.

Fury’s Publick House (1 Washington St., Dover, 617-3633) 9 p.m. Jam stalwarts Superfrog perform at a party including Frenzie and Roots, Rhythm & Dub along with a costume contest.

Haluwa Restaurant (44 Gusabel Ave., Nashua, 864-8348) 8 p.m. Bush League rocks at this Chinese stalwart.

Henry J. Sweeney Post (251 Maple St., Manchester, 623-9145) 7:30 p.m. Mugshot Monday performs with a costume contest, prizes for scariest, funniest and sexiest.

Hop Knot (1000 Elm St., Manchester, 232-3731) 7 p.m. DJ Ctrl F spins at this party hosted by Cabana Love. No cover, costume contest and great pretzels.

Lafayette Club (34 High St., Nashua, 889-9860) 8 p.m. Mighty Colors perform, $8 in advance (available at the bar) or $10 at the door.

Lost Cowboy Brewing (546 Amherst St., Nashua, 600-6800) 7:30 p.m. Justin Federico plays country songs.

Lower Level Lounge (North End, Nashua, facebook.com) 6 p.m. Spooky Speakeasy, cocktails & bites, and costumes are encouraged.

Luk’s Bar & Grill (142 Lowell Road, Hudson, 889-9900) 7 p.m. Johnny Roberts plays acoustic music.

Makris Lobster & Steak House (3544 Sheep David Road, Concord, 225-7665) 8 p.m. Stray Dog Band returns to Makris Seafood for a highly anticipated local show and Halloween party.

Music Hall (28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth, themusichall.org) 8 p.m. Space Oddity, the Quintessential David Bowie Tribute Experience. Costumes encouraged. $30 and up at themusichall.org.

New Nan King (222 Central St., Hudson, 882-1911) 7 p.m. Maestro’s Music Karaoke and a costume party.

Newfound Lake Inn (1030 Mayhew Turnpike, Bridgewater, 744-0911) 6 p.m. BOOOOOs Fest featuring DJ music and “horror d’oeuvres” along with specialty cocktails. Costume contest. $25 at eventbrite.com.

Par 28 (23 South Broadway, Salem, 458-7078) 8 p.m. DJ Styles spins with a costume contest and specialty cocktails.

Peddler’s Daughter (48 Main St., Nashua, 821-7535) 9:30 p.m. Magnificent Bastards play high-energy rock covers at this event promising ghosts, ghouls and questionable costumes.

Pembroke City Limits (134 Main St., Pembroke, 210-2409) 7 p.m. Haunted by Humans performs with a costume contest.

Polish American Club (15 School St., Nashua, 889-9819) 8 p.m. Karaoke with Kelly, private club, guests need to be signed in.

Porkbarrel Productions (107 Moose Mountain Road, Brookfield, eventbrite.com) 6 p.m. Backyard Boulderdash with The Boneheads. Costume ball and contest with cash prizes, 15 and under free admission, $20.

Portsmouth Gas Light (64 Market St., Portsmouth, 430-9122) 8 p.m. Halloween party in the third-floor nightclub with costume contest, prizes and music from DJ Koko P, and a Day of the Dead party the following night.

Press Room (77 Daniel St., Portsmouth, 431-5186) 9 p.m. Dan Blakeslee’s alter ego Doctor Gasp performs with his band the Eeks, the 23rd Annual Halloween Special begins directly after the Portsmouth Halloween parade.

Red’s Kitchen & Tavern (530 Lafayette Road, Seabrook, 760-0030) 6 p.m. Ignite Band rocks at this party, with a $500 gift card for the costume contest winner.

Reed’s North (2 E. Main St., Warner, 456-2143) 7 p.m. Spooky Halloween Party with music by Randy Hawkes. Costumes encouraged but not required. Ghoulish cocktails and pub menu.

Rooftop at The Artisan (19 Via Toscana, No. 550, Salem, 458-3028) 7 p.m. Boos & Brews at The Rooftop offers DJ dancing, spooky sips and more, $15

Saddle Up Saloon (92 Route 125, Kingston, 347-1313) 8 p.m. Bite the Bullet plays rock covers, with costume contests and specials.

Salona (128 Maple St., Manchester, 624-4020) 7 p.m. DJ, karaoke, raffles, and a prize for best costume.

Salt hill Pub Lebanon (2 W. Park St., Lebanon, 448-4532) 8 p.m. Local rockers the Conniption Fits provide the music for this party, with prizes for best costumes.

San Francisco Kitchen (133 Main St., Nashua, 885-8833) 8 p.m. DJ Triana spins with a costume contest, $100 cash for first place, $50 gift card for second, two complimentary drinks for third place.

Shaskeen (909 Elm St., Manchester, 625-0246) 9 p.m. Annual bash with DJ Myth spinning, costume contest and Guinness promo.

Spice Restaurant & Bar (300 Main St., Nashua, 417-7972) 8 p.m. DJ Daryl spins with a costume contest, $100 cash for first place, $50 gift card for second, $25 gift card for third place. Drink specials and giveaways.

Stark Brewing Company (500 Commercial St., Manchester, 625-4444) 9 p.m. The Cats — Andre LeClair and Jimmy Croons — perform at this party.

Stone Church (5 Granite St., Newmarket, 659-7700) 7 p.m. Two-day Grateful Dead party with Stone Dead, a collaboration of New England musicians with roots and associations going back to the Stone Church scene of the ’80s and ’90s, from acts such as Percy Hill, Groove Child, Thanks to Gravity, Trade and others. $25 advance, $30 day of show, $45 two-day pass.

Strange Brew (88 Market St., Manchester, 666-4292) 6:30 p.m. Lisa Marie offers blues rock and boogie.

Sun Bar & Grill (586 Nashua St., Milford, 633-6012) 8 p.m. DJ John spins with a costume contest, $100 cash for first place, $50 gift card for second, $25 gift card for third place. Drink specials and giveaways.

Village Trestle (25 Main St., Goffstown, 497-8230) 8 p.m. Halloween costume party with Bob Pratte.

Wally’s Pub (144 Ashworth Ave., Hampton, 926-6954) 6 p.m. Prospect Hill 16th annual Halloween party with Above Snakes and Major Moment. 21+, tickets $25 at ticketmaster.com.

Wolfeboro Inn (90 N. Main St., Wolfeboro, 569-3016) 6 p.m. Drinks, games and music in Wolfe’s Tavern to benefit the Justin Hartford Scholarship Fund, $15 advance, $20 door.

Zorvino Vineyards (226 Main St., Sandown, 887-8463) 6 p.m. Hallowine with themed trivia 6-8 p.m., all-day costume contest on the final patio dining night of the season.

Saturday, Nov. 1

Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com) 11 a.m. Mr. Aaron’s Halloween Bash, a kid-centric show.

Hare of the Dawg (3 E. Broadway, Derry, 552-3883) 7:30 p.m. DJ Dave the Rave provides the music, with prizes for most creative, funniest, worst and group costumes.

Loaded Question Brewing (909 Islington St., Suite 12, Portsmouth, 852-1396) 8 p.m. Halloweeen Party happens a day late, but it’s still the weekend.

Paddy’s American Grille (27 International Drive, Portsmouth, 430-9450) 8 p.m. Bad Breath Microphone performs with prizes for best costume.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Rebirth

Six years later, Bungalow returns with live music

By Michael Witthaus
mwitthaus@hippopress.com

Manchester’s independent music scene lost an important resource when Bungalow Bar & Grill closed in 2019. The Valley Street venue was an anchor for the heavier end of the spectrum, welcoming a lot of bands with the word “core” in their genre description. On the final weekend there, metal stalwarts Regime and Kaonashi co-headlined.

Many of the shows at Bungalow were booked by NH Booking, a company begun in 2004 by Richie Downs. He continued doing shows at Jewel Music Venue following the closing, but felt the loss, nonetheless. Six years later, he’s bringing back Bungalow, beginning with a six-band show on Oct. 25.

“It’s really, really important that the Bungalow exists,” he said recently, citing a primary reason. “Right now, pretty much nobody is putting on all-ages shows … and I think you’re missing out on one of the most important parts of the local music community by not having that.”

Downs found refuge in attending shows while he was a teenager and trying to cope with a family tragedy.

“Music in a live environment honestly saved my life,” he said. “Being up front, screaming every word of all these lyrics that mean so much to me and being a part of that energy, it was the closest thing you can get to being a spiritual experience.”

A show in Worcester that included future national stars Coheed & Cambria and Taking Back Sunday was a turning point for the young fan.

“It was just the best feeling in the world coming away from that show,” he said. “I was like, ‘I need to make this happen as much as I possibly can for the rest of my life.’”

It was around this time that Downs began doing shows in a Sandown church basement that informally became known as The Crossing, inspired by that night.

“I got into booking,” he explained, “trying to create opportunities for other bands to create those moments and those experiences with fans themselves.”

The bill at the “grand re-opening” Bungalow show is topped by a pair of bands celebrating new releases.

“Whenever a band has a special show like an album release, we typically collaborate with that band to choose the rest of the lineup,” Downs said.

Iron Gate is a Manchester death metal group that formed in 2022 when singer Jeff Higgins placed an online ad: “Who plays an instrument and wants to play heavy, ignorant music?” he asked, according to a 2023 story by Ryan O’Connor at NoEcho.net. The quartet cites bands like Traitors, Bodysnatcher and The Acacia Strain as influences, the story said. Their new EP is called Crushing Weight of Existence.

Hailing from Bristol, Connecticut, Burying Point is a deathcore band that boasts on its Facebook page to exist “with one purpose … violence.” Released last month, their latest EP is called In the Absence of…. The six-track effort leads off with “Deicide,” a three-minute assault of staccato machine gun drums and bullhorn vocals, and gets more intense from there.

The undercard for this decidedly un-subtle evening begins with Rose Lane, followed by Pure Bliss, Edict and Frog Mallet. The next show at Bungalow will offer a change of musical mood with Millington, a six-piece Albany, N.Y., band that calls its ska/punk sound brass emo. That show happens Nov. 9 and is a co-production with Rhode Island-based Rambudikon.

Downs hopes there will be more collaborations at the venue.

“I’m going to put out a blanket statement right now,” he said. “If you are a promoter that is putting on shows and you’re respected by the community, you’re not taking advantage of bands [or] fans, doing it just to make a buck, you’re respected by the community that you are putting shows on in, I want you to be a part of what’s happening at Bungalow.”

Iron Gate, Burying Point, Frog Mallet, Edict, Pure Bliss & Rose Lane

When: Saturday, Oct. 25, 5 p.m.
Where: Bungalow, 333 Valley St., Manchester
Tickets: $15 in advance at dice.fm, $20 at the door

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

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