SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
Welcome to the new weekend Heads Up email. This will go out each Thursday at around 4 pm, helping you plan ahead a little—and helping the Friday-morning Daybreak avoid taking until lunchtime to read. So let’s get going!
Friday
Upper Valley Music Center hosts a Carolan Workshop and Jam Mini-Fest. It’s a celebration of music by Turlough O’Carolan (1670-1738), the Irish harper and composer. The workshop will be led by by UVMC instructor Rachel Clemente (who’s got another gig later in the evening, below); then a slow jam led by Amy Cann and George Fowler, with tunes by O’Carolan and others. Workshop at 5, jam at 6.
It’s the second and final weekend of Parish Players’ Ten-Minute Play Festival. The fall version of the ever-popular festival features seven plays—written by Samantha Davidson Green, Risa Lewak, Alex Rushton, and others—each one ten minutes (-ish) long. 7 pm Friday and Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. At the Eclipse Grange Theater on Thetford Hill.
The Anonymous Coffeehouse is back. Things kick off at 7:30 pm with first-timer Lilly Golden, whose new album “explores coming of age and navigating relationships in the Green Mountains”; at 8 pm, it’s If You Must Know, the sublime local duo of celtic harpist Rachel Clemente and piper/multi-instrumentalist Dan Houghton; and at 9 pm, brothers Andrew and Noah VanNorstrand, with their mix of bluegrass, old-timey, celtic and jazz influences, take the stage. First Congregational Church of Lebanon.
The Rough & Tumble at Court Street Arts. Mallory Graham and Scott Tyler live in Haverhill but they travel a bunch, so this is kind of a homecoming. “The Pennsylvania-born Graham and Central California's Tyler have a knack for weaving together elements of joy, sorrow, comedy, and drama in their music, leaving audiences on the edge of their seats,” CSA writes. 7:30 pm in Alumni Hall.
Down in Putney, The Clements Brothers and The Early Risers. Next Stage Arts hosts George and Charles Clements, who started out with the Lonely Heartstrings Band, and the close harmonies of the VT-based folk duo of Ashley Storrow and Putnam Smith—who’ll be joined by Sarah Carlisle on upright bass and Lissa Schneckenburger on fiddle. 7:30 pm.
In Woodstock, The Fur Ball with The American Vinyl All Star Band. You may not know the band, but you’ve sure heard some of its members: Jeff “Skunk” Baxter of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers; Barry Goudreau, former Boston member; Leroy Romans of The Wailers and Third World; Tim Archibald of Peter Wolf; Robert “Mousey” Thompson of The James Brown Band; and Danny Beissel of Fosterchild. With guest the Uptown Horns. It’s a benefit for the Lucy Mackenzie Humane Society, 8 pm at the Woodstock Town Hall Theater.
Moondogs at Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover. The trio started as a solo act by Will Sturcke as a UVM student, but he quickly added two compatriots (David Battit on bass and Jimmy Martucci on drums). Psych-rock, funk, alternative, jam, and progressive rock. Starts up at 9 pm.
Saturday
Hoofin’ It for High Horses. It’s a trail-ride fundraiser for the therapeutic riding program’s scholarship fund, at Outlook Farm at 96 Hogback Rd. in Norwich starting at 10 am. They’ll have walking and riding trails available for participants of all abilities. Plus lunch and awards. There’s also a virtual alternative through the end of the month.
The Vermont Food and Music Festival at the Ascutney Outdoor Center in Brownsville. It’s a full-on festival, 11:30 am to 7 pm, headlined by big-time country star Brent Cobb and Zach Nugent’s Dead Set. Along the way: Sklarkestra, Tuck’s Rock Dojo, Jay Nash, All She Wrote, and Red River North. Plus food from Brownsville Butcher + Pantry and the Spicy Spoke, and ice cream from the Lazy Cow.
Harpoon Fall Festival in Windsor. The brewery’s gathering runs both Saturday and Sunday, noon-6, with live music, local vendors, plenty of food, and… right: beer.
Gesine Bullock-Prado in Woodstock. The local bestselling author has a new cookbook out, My Harvest Kitchen: 100+ Recipes to Savor the Seasons. She’ll be talking about it—and about gardening, cooking, writing, teaching, and more—with Mary Anna King. At the Norman Williams Public Library at 1 pm, co-sponsored by Yankee Bookshop, which will have copies on hand. No charge, but first-come, first-seated.
At Sawtooth Kitchen in Hanover, the Boom Chick Trio. We’ll just let the trio of Rob Flax, Slava Tolstoy, and Noah Harrington introduce themselves: “Rooted in equal parts hot swing, snarky songwriting, and lyrical storytelling, this energetic trio of virtuoso violin, guitar, and bass plus three-part harmony vocals will transport you to a speakeasy somewhere in the back of a bar.” Pretty much right on target for Sawtooth! 6 pm.
At Billings Farm, the Reed Foehl Band along with Putnam Murdock. Foehl’s a New England-bred Americana-folk musician, Murdock a singer-songwriter (and frequent collaborator with Foehl). 7 pm.
Tracy Hall contra dance. With veteran western Mass. dance caller Liz Nelson and music from Boston-area fiddler Molly Tucker and The Second Floor (Abe Joyner-Meyers on guitar, Steven Bluestein on woodwinds, and Cecily Mills on cello). Intro/refresher session at 7:15, dancing starts up at 7:30.
In Claremont, The Corvettes-Doo Wop Revue. The quintet’s dedicated to “the greatest music ever made—the music of the 1950’s Doo Wop era,” which they celebrate both on their own and on tours with the modern-day incarnations of groups like The Platters and The Marvelettes. At the Claremont Opera House, 7:30 pm.
Down in Brattleboro, Slavic Soul Party! The exclamation point’s part of their name, and it’s warranted: they don’t call themselves NYC’s official #1 brass band for BalkanSoul GypsyFunk for nothing. “With razor-sharp precision, juggernaut force, and a healthy dose of playfulness, these guys start out in overdrive and never let up...” At Brattleboro’s Stone Church, 8 pm.
Sunday
The Corinth Fall Festival. Food, crafts, games, face-painting, wagon rides, music, local vendors, crafters, and artisans. 10 am to 3 pm, 301 Fairground Road in East Corinth.
Cedar Circle Farm pumpkin festival. It’s the 20th annual fall celebration, with pumpkin picking, cider pressing, a hay bale climb, music from Whipple Hillbillies and the Well-Kept Men, food from Moon & Stars, Fresco Catering, Juel Modern Apothecary (back as a pop-up and hoping to do more), and Cedar Circle’s own kitchen. 10 am to 3 pm.
That’s it for now. See you bright and early tomorrow morning!
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