Category: Nightlife

Bike Run party with James Montgomery Band

By Michael Witthaus
[email protected]

The yearly Laconia Motorcycle Week is returning, which means drivers should check their rear-view mirrors twice for the next 10 days while heading to the Lakes Region. It also signals the return of the Peter Makris Memorial Run, on June 8. Now in its 18th year, the charity ride attracts hundreds of motorcyclists and benefits area first responders

Motorcycles assemble at Naswa resort and are escorted to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for a few laps, followed by a ride around the lake that ends back at Naswa. Now part of this tradition is James Montgomery, who began playing the bike run’s afterparty in the mid-2010s. The blues harmonica stalwart is back again with his band for an afternoon set.

He’ll also help kick things off.

“I play ‘Amazing Grace’ at the beginning of the bike run,” Montgomery said by phone recently. “Last year we must have done at least 500 bikes, something like that. It’s a pretty big run, and raises money, and then we have a party afterward — and, you know, nobody gets hurt.”

Montgomery has been a fixture on the New England blues circuit since coming here in the early 1970s. He attended BU with plans to be a teacher, but instead fell into a music scene that included the J. Geils Band, Bonnie Raitt and Duke & the Drivers. He was signed to the Allman Brothers’ label Capricorn Records, where he worked with studio legend Tom Dowd on his second album.

Montgomery discovered the blues in his hometown of Detroit, seeing legends like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and John Lee Hooker perform and learning his harmonica and singing style from James Cotton and Paul Butterfield. His reverence for the genre’s progenitors spawned a career in film. He’s participated in documentaries on Butterfield and fabled Boston radio station WBCN.

He also co-produced Bonny Blue, a documentary about Cotton, who he had a father/son relationship with prior to his death in 2017. The film’s centerpiece is a five-camera shoot done at Boston’s House of Blues while Cotton was still alive, with Huey Lewis and the late Jay Geils also in the harp legend’s band.

Montgomery beams while discussing the film, which debuted last year on the festival circuit and will see a general release later this summer.

“We were one of five finalists for the Library of Congress Ken Burns Prize,” he said. “It’s one of the highest awards you can get.”

His current movie project is non-musical, and close to home for Montgomery. America, You Kill Me is a documentary about his late brother Jeffrey, a pioneering gay rights activist in Detroit. His advocacy began when his partner was shot outside a Detroit gay bar in 1984, and he learned that local police were not aggressively investigating it or other LGBT-related murders. It’s played in a few movie houses, and Montgomery is working on a national release.

Musically, his most recent album was a duet effort: 2020’s Cadillac Walk, recorded with guitarist and singer Jay Willie. The title comes from a Mink DeVille song that’s one of several covers on the disc, like the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman.

Each one is given its own spin on the original.

“Jay Willie’s like me — don’t just cover something; he really wants to make an additional statement,” Montgomery said, adding, “I had a ball making that record…. They gave me a bottle of wine and 20 bucks, and I went, ‘OK, I’ll do it for that.’ The wine cost more than what they paid me, but anyway, we had a great time.”

His signature kung fu kick is still operational, though the 71-year-old harmonica player jokes that a hip replacement may change that someday.

“The generation that grew up playing in rock ’n’ roll bands in the late ’60s and ’70s always thought we were going to be young forever … none of us have this mentality that we’re old,” he said. “I say I’m on the ‘too stupid to stop’ tour, because if you don’t stop, you don’t even notice how long you’ve been playing.”

James Montgomery Band
When: Saturday, June 8, 1 p.m. (following Peter Makris Bike Run)
Where: Naswa Resort, 1086 Weirs Beach, Laconia
Info: naswa.com

Featured photo: James Montgomery. Courtesy photo.

Dueling piano bar new in Manchester

Sonya Gelinas embodies the spirit of an entrepreneur. She and her husband, Josh Philbrick, run The Smoothie Bus, a mobile business that now has brick-and-mortar locations. Gelinas is also CEO of CARE Counseling Services, with offices in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and she’s one of the company’s therapists.

So when Gelinas strolled past the former Black Brimmer in downtown Manchester a few years back and imagined turning it into a dueling pianos bar, it was inevitable that she’d see the idea through to fruition. When Penuche’s shuttered, she and Josh began to make a move.

On May 2, Keys Piano Bar & Grill had its soft opening; a bigger celebration will happen later. For now, every Friday and Saturday has a pair of pianists playing audience requests, bantering and leading sing-alongs to favorites like “Friends In Low Places.” There’s also a spinning wheel containing several NSFW stunts.

Gelinas became a fan of dueling pianos while she was attending college in Tampa, Florida, where she regularly went to Howl at the Moon, a chain of bars. “I had so much fun, so those memories are embedded in my mind forever,” she said during an interview in Keys’ downstairs sports bar.

She’s looking to recreate that feeling at Keys.

“We want to be in line with what Howl at the Moon has created. We want a very interactive experience,” she said. “We want to have a place where people can go out and sing along and have fun and interact with the pianist…. That’s our goal, really, just a lot of audience participation.”

When she first began dreaming about opening Keys, Gelinas wanted a franchised version of the place she fell in love with in Tampa. “I said, I’m going to turn that into a Howl at the Moon one of these days. But Howl at the Moon doesn’t franchise, so we couldn’t do that. We had to build our own,” she said.

A Manchester native — she graduated from Central High in 2001 — Gelinas has a sentimental streak for the energy at the old “Brimmer” and hopes to bring it back.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories,” she said. “We had one couple come in, and they’re like, do you know we met here? Twenty years ago, we met here at the Brimmer. That’s really cool … it is kind of a hallowed space.”

Keys has launched a Caribbean-themed menu with jerk chicken, a Cubano sandwich and Island Fusion Tacos among the dishes. Also, they offer an adult take on the couple’s daytime business.

“We have eight different frozen boozy smoothies, which will be nice on a hot summer day,” Gelinas said.

Shows are free, but the only way to guarantee a seat at the bar is by signing up on the Keys website. Every performance is preceded by a party. “People can come in and eat during that time or have a couple drinks,” Gelinas said. “That way when the show’s on they’re just ready to have fun.”

A rotating cast of performers is provided by Shake, Rattle and Roll Pianos, a New York City agency.

“Every weekend we can expect a different combination, which makes it really exciting, but these aren’t just pianists, they’re entertainers,” she said. “That’s what makes them special. I’ve been to enough dueling piano shows to know that the personality of the guy behind the keys is way more important than whether or not they can play or sing.”

Keys Piano Bar & Grill has a lot in common with the couple’s other ventures.

“We build businesses based [on] passion,” Gelinas said. “My husband and I were really fond of helping people live happier lives, which is perfectly in line with the smoothie shop…. I know when I drink a smoothie every day I feel good. My health care business is about making people better. Now we have this venue, which is all about bringing people together, in happiness and fun.”

Dueling Pianos
When: Fridays and Saturdays (pre-party 6:30 p.m., show 7:30 p.m.)
Where: Keys Piano Bar & Grill, 1087 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: keysmanch.com

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

BoDeans play Nashua Center

In the middle of the 1980s, a contingent of bands emerged from a swamp of big hair and overproduction that were hell bent on rocking out, like Boston’s Del Fuegos, Georgia Satellites and the Plimsouls. Among those championing the no-nonsense, garage rock sound was BoDeans, whose first single, “Fadeaway,” was all over MTV in 1986.

Nearly four decades on, the Milwaukee quartet is still touring and making albums; their latest is 4 the Last Time, released in 2022. A 10-day run includes two New Hampshire shows; a near sold out night at Jimmy’s in Portsmouth on Thursday, May 23, and an appearance the following evening at the Nashua Center for the Arts.

In a recent phone interview, BoDeans front man Kurt Neumann described his band’s setlists as spanning six decades of music, because they include a cover of “Drift Away,” a Dobie Gray hit from the ’70s that’s there for its sing-along quality, and because it represents a bygone, enchanting time for Neumann.

“It really pulls a lot together as far as where I came from as a songwriter,” he said of the song, and recalled being glued to the radio as a kid. “It was my escape from the world, and songs like ‘Drift Away’ really took me there. I’m bringing it back to that place for the audience and remembering how much music has played a part in our lives.”

Sets stretch to two and a half hours and draw from each of the band’s 14 albums, infectious songs like “You Don’t Get Much,” “Good Things” and “Closer To Free,” which became the theme song for Party of Five. It wasn’t their only foray into television; he wrote music for the Netflix series The Ranch, which ran from 2016 to 2020. Neumann was recruited for the show, which starred Ashton Kutcher, Debra Winger and Sam Elliot, and was set in rural Colorado.

“Both of the producers were big fans of BoDeans music, and they wanted to make music a good part of the show, so I was constantly writing stuff,” Neumann said. The showrunners would tell him what they wanted, like a song with a small-town theme, and he’d write a few versions. “It was the first time anyone was really giving me cues … before, it was always like, what should I write about today?”

Neumann also contributed instrumental pieces. “It was nice to work with a bunch of different people like that on a show,” he continued. “To experience the process of what they’re doing, and then adding to that musically … I really enjoyed it.”

Asked how he feels about touring as the BoDeans near a 40th anniversary, Neumann replied, “we keep evolving, even with the old material, we try to reinvent it in an interesting way. Then we always have the crowd making everything fresh and new. They’re looking forward to hearing the songs and singing with you. It all works together to keep you interested in moving forward with the music.”

Though the new album’s title hinted at a potential end to new BoDeans music, Neumann is still writing songs and feeling a creative spark.

“It has kind of a double meaning — one of the songs on the record is called ‘For the Last Time’ and it’s about ending a relationship,” he said. “But as you get older, putting these records out, it’s changed so much. You never know what I was trying to imply with the title. You never know how many records you’re going to get to make. I will say that I have about 20 new songs recorded and ready to come out. So there will be one more at least.”

BoDeans w/ Chris Trapper
When: Friday, May 24, 8 p.m.
Where: Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $29 to $49 at etix.com

Featured photo: BoDeans. Photo by Lucia J. Bilotti.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy hits Tupelo

Southern California in the 1980s was a melting pot of musical genres. Co-billed shows with punk bands, barrio rockers Los Lobos and twang master Dwight Yoakam were common. Big Bad Voodoo Daddy drummer Kurt Sodergren recalls seeing X and the Blasters at the country-centric Palomino Club in North Hollywood.

“It was really an exciting time and I felt like everyone was included,” he said by phone recently ahead of a May 18 show at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry. “To me, it had kind of that punk rock energy … if you want to do it, go on, let’s do it.”

This milieu was perfect for Sodergren and his friend Scotty Morris to explore a passion for swing music. With an upright bass player, they formed an unconventional trio late in the decade. Musical differences led to Dirk Shumaker taking over on bass, which led to the evolution of the band that made hits like “You & Me & the Bottle Makes 3 Tonight (Baby).”

Wearing vintage suits, with Sodergren sporting bleached hair and Doc Martens boots, they served up a brand of swing that fit the cultural democracy well. “Not to knock Glenn Miller, but it wasn’t Glenn Miller, it wasn’t sleepy,” Sodergren said. “We did this one cover of ‘Sing, Sing, Sing!’ that was nothing like Benny Goodman’s version. It had all those elements, but it also had a really loud Fender Strat right by my drum set…. It was loud and exciting.”

In 1993 the band self-released an eponymous album, which led to a residency at L.A.’s famous Brown Derby. They broke out when their songs were included in the 1996 movie Swingers, signing with a major label and touring nationally. The peak of this heady time was an appearance in the 1999 Super Bowl halftime show. Writer Michael Weinreb called them “the last niche act” to grace that big stage.

The lineup included Gloria Estefan and Stevie Wonder, who drove a car onto the field. What stands out in his memory is bumping into Kiss, who’d played a pregame set. In full makeup, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers were standing near the field when Sodergren and his bandmates walked by.

“My first show was Kiss and Cheap Trick. I was a big fan, and they recognized us!” he recalled, adding that he and Peter Criss chatted for close to 15 minutes. Criss admired his drum set, a new Slingo Buddy Rich reissue. “I couldn’t believe it. If I was 12 again and said, ‘I’m going to meet Peter Criss,’ people would have laughed at me.”

Two factors fed Sodergren’s love for retro music. One, wanting to be the opposite of his older brother, a fan of bands like Foreigner and REO Speedwagon, and two, his dad’s big record collection. “He had Benny Goodman Live at Carnegie Hall,” he said. “I heard Gene Krupa’s drumming on it and just was blown away. I would play them all the time.”

He shifted into high gear at the urging of his teacher, who “really had a lot of jazz on his mind and told me, ‘You’ve got to know this music,’” and upon learning that his grandfather once played saxophone professionally. “He’d perform in a town for like two months and stay in an apartment above the venue and travel with my grandma. When they had my dad, he had to settle down; he got a job at Montgomery Ward. He still played in the local big band, but not for a living.”

Currently in the midst of a multi-week East Coast run, the band is a big favorite in New Hampshire. Sodergren said he’s excited to be back at Tupelo Music Hall. “It’s super intimate,” he said. “You can see people’s faces, the energy is great. I don’t feel like we have to hold back. Those kinds of venues are my favorite.”

After celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1993 debut album last year, Sodergren is keen to work on new music, but expects the Tupelo show will be a retrospective of past material.

“We’ll probably rehearse some songs at soundcheck, but [it’s] really more celebration of the 30th. We’ll try and play something from every single record,” he said.

Unique in that their original lineup is mostly intact, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy have no plans to slow down.

“We really love what we do, and we bring a really great energy to it,” Sodergren said. “We don’t just get up there and open a book and start playing a song and then politely wait for applause. People get happy in my band, and it’s pretty great.”

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy
When: Saturday, May 18, 8 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
Tickets: $45 at tupelohall.com

Featured photo: Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Courtesy photo.

Tribute show recalls landmark album

There’s a line in Joni Mitchell’s song “For the Roses” about a moment when “the lights go down and it’s just you up there, getting them to feel like that.” That’s the challenge for anyone bold enough to launch a tribute act to her. It’s better to try and convey the singular singer-songwriter’s essence. Replication is a fool’s errand; there’s only one Joni.

Further, she’s a moving target. From the spare acoustic era of “Both Sides Now” and “Circle Game” to the ethereal jazz in Hejira and Mingus, Joni Mitchell was and is always moving forward. Yet Big Yellow Taxi, a six-piece group led by singer Teresa Lorenço as Mitchell, accomplishes the not-small miracle of capturing her.

For a show in Dover on May 10, they’ll perform Mitchell’s breakthrough Court and Spark from start to finish. The 1973 album has many moods but contains a common thread, Lorenço said by phone recently: “There’s real, profound honesty and vulnerability to whatever she’s doing …. Hooking into that is what helped me make the whole thing cohesive.”

Lorenço never planned on dedicating herself to performing Mitchell’s music; she arrived by acclimation.

“I’d been singing a little bit of her songs in a duo that I was in, and people kept saying, wow, you can really do her,” she recalled. “I thought, OK, then let’s do it.”

The first iteration of Big Yellow Taxi formed in late 2019 but dissipated as the pandemic took hold. When it got safer to book shows again, she sought out new musicians and hit the jackpot. The current band convincingly channels Tom Scott & the LA Express, who Mitchell worked with on Miles of Aisles, considered by many her best live album, as well as her ethereal late ’70s band featuring Pat Metheny on guitar and bassist Jaco Pastorius.

Guitarist John Cabán has played with many musicians, from Bo Diddley to Gloria Gaynor; Robert Sherwood’s keyboard credits include beloved mid-2000s band Ware River Club. On drums is Joe Fitzpatrick, a veteran of many stage musicals, and backing singer Annie Patterson conveys the multi-tracked vocals on Mitchell’s studio albums. Finally, there’s electric bass player Rich Cahillane, who also accompanies Lorenço on acoustic songs.

Cahillane, who was also at the interview, noted a split between audience members who lean toward early Mitchell albums like Ladies of the Canyon and Blue (a favorite of Lorenço’s) versus later songs.

“Folky fans want to hear Teresa and I play acoustic guitar or dulcimer,” he said. “Then we get those wanting to hear Jaco and the jazz…. It’s hard to satisfy all her fans.”

However, accomplishing that “definitely is our goal,” Lorenço interjected. “We want to have this ability to showcase any of her stuff from any time that she was writing. We don’t really want to focus on one style or the other. It keeps it fresh for us even, because we’re consistently looking at new things.”

One of the most difficult numbers from Court and Spark is “Down To You,” she continued. “We had to make up our own way to do this fully orchestrated part in the middle, and we definitely thought of some new swear words during that time,” she said, adding with a laugh, “If Joni ever calls and needs a backup band, we want to be prepared. Only about a hundred songs more to go.”

Taking on the catalog of an icon, Lorenço understands her primary task.

“Everyone really gets the emotionality of the music, and I think that’s the most important piece, that is what I focus on,” she said. “I’m no trained musician compared to these incredible people that bless me by working with me. They talk about music theory, and I sit there with static in my mind. All I know for sure is the way she’s expressing her emotions in song. That’s what I get; that’s what I feel in me.

Big Yellow Taxi – The Music of Joni Mitchell
When: Friday, May 10, 8 p.m.
Where: The Strand, 20 Third St., Dover
Tickets: $22 and up at eventbrite.com

Featured photo: Big Yellow Taxi. Courtesy photo.

Donaher back with new song, local show

In October, internet ‘zine The Hard Times called Donaher “massively underrated” and the best pop-punk band in New Hampshire, part of a nationwide survey that also included Green Day and the Ataris. It’s well-deserved praise; the Manchester quartet — lead singer and guitarist Nick Lavallee, Tristan Omand on guitar and backing vocals, bassist Adam Wood and drummer Nick Lee — plays buoyant, infectious music.

Since forming in 2017, the group has amassed a solid fan base, via its recorded output — two albums and an EP — and high-energy live shows. They’re a solid draw at local spots, on the Seacoast and down into Boston. With a sensibility harkening back to the days of Weezer and the Replacements, they acquire new adherents every time they walk on stage or leap out of a car speaker.

Their latest single, “Stay Up,” continues the trend, though unlike 2022’s sometimes dour LP Gravity and the Stars Above, this ode to wholesome lust is brimming with good vibes. There’s love in the air when Lavallee sings of wanting only to be “kissing on my couch” with his intended, presumably as a rented copy of Can’t Hardly Wait plays on the VCR. ’90s nostalgia is brimming on the song, right down to its floppy disc packaging.

Apart from time in the studio working on a new album, Donaher took the winter off, but now it’s back with a few local shows. This includes one at The Shaskeen on May 4, where, uncharacteristically, the hometown favorites are the opening band. In a recent phone interview, Lavallee said the move reflected his mood of late, as well as Donaher’s many Gen X fans.

“Let the bands in their 20s stay up late,” he said. “Their friends, and the people that come to see them, are going to be juiced up whether it’s 9 or 11:30. It doesn’t matter.”

Not that Lavallee isn’t busy; far from it. The pop culture polymath runs Wicked Joyful, a company that began by making bespoke action figures, a wildly successful effort. Most recently, comedian Jim Gaffigan commissioned one to mark a run of shows at Boston’s Wilbur Theatre. Later this year the company will open a physical store in Queen City Center, when work on the Canal Street entertainment center is completed.

He also created a campaign to recognize Manchester as the birthplace of the chicken tender. Wicked Joyful now sells Tender Town clothing that includes a T-shirt at this year’s Taco Tour in downtown Manchester on Thursday, May 2, from 4 to 8 p.m. (see tacotourmanchester.com for more information on that event). The company is both hosting a pop-up merch tent and curating a Shaskeen afterparty at the foodie event. A free 21+ show starting at 9 p.m. has the Carissa Johnson Band, indie rockers Cozy Throne and god.damn.chan playing hip-hop, trip-hop and trap.

“It’s an eclectic mix of live music to extend your Taco Tour experience,” Lavallee said.

Lavallee is an unabashed booster of his hometown.

“I love Manchester and I’m tired of hearing that Manchester has potential,” he said. “Actually, Manchester’s pretty awesome, it’s just that no one’s figured out how to elevate the awesomeness of Manchester. That’s what I’ve been trying to do the past few years, if not the past decade. It’s not about potential, it’s here.”

Of his initiative to enshrine the crispy treat invented at The Puritan restaurant, Lavallee noted, “One person said to me, ‘Oh, that just seems like low-hanging fruit.’ I was like, ‘low-hanging fruit? No one’s done it! What are you talking about?’ It’s been there for 40 to 50 years, and no one thought, ‘Hey, let’s associate a brand identity for Manchester with a food that nearly everybody loves that was created here.”

Beyond that, while linking the word “tender” to a scrappy recovered mill town seems counterintuitive to some, it makes complete sense to Lavallee. “It is this kind of rugged industrial place,” he said. “But Manchester is like a chicken tender…. It’s salty and sweet. That’s who we’re like, that’s the Manchester I know. We’re resilient, we’re a different shade of New England.”

Donaher opening for Keep Flying, Waiver & everway
When: Saturday, May 4, 8 p.m.
Where: Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St., Manchester
Tickets: $10 at the door. See linktr.ee/donaher.

Featured photo: Donaher. Photo By Cat Confrancisco.