SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
FRIDAY
Alison Bechdel and Tillie Walden: Two VT cartoonist laureates in a livestreamed conversation. In the cartooning world, you can’t get much headier than this. Bechdel (Fun Home and Are You My Mother?) and Walden (Spinning and On a Sunbeam) sit down together to talk art, place, and Vermont. It’s all part of the Center for Cartoon Studies’ 20th anniversary celebration. 3 pm, no charge for the livestream.
Veteran hiker Sandi Pierson talks about her “1300 miles on the Long Trail”. Sponsored by the Grafton Historical Society, she’ll give a photographic tour of her five hikes along its length (with her sisters, twice with her son, and twice solo). 6 pm at the East Grafton Christian Church, 80 Turnpike Road.
The Sharon Academy’s Bye Bye Birdie at the Chandler in Randolph. Each fall, TSA’s entire high school spends two weeks creating every part of the show, from sets, lighting, sound, and costumes to marketing, performance, and stage management. This year’s is a “heartfelt tribute to small-town America and the rock 'n' roll era.” As TSA asks, “Will true love prevail?” Only one way to find out… Friday and Saturday at 7 pm.
Shawn Camp at Seven Stars Arts. The country and bluegrass singer and instrumentalist is also no mean songwriter, working with the likes of Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, and Merle Haggard. He’ll be sharing the stage with longtime colleague and Nashville legend Jim Rooney, and they’ll be joined by Colin McCaffrey for the second set. 7 pm.
Hunger Benefit Cabaret at Parish Players. Everything you’d expect from a cabaret: music, skits, laughs, song and dance. With 20-ish talented Upper Valley performers (Perry Allison, Amy Fortier, Ham Gillett, Barry Wenig, and plenty more). Proceeds go to the Vermont Foodbank and LISTEN. At the Grange Theater, Friday and Saturday 7 pm.
Artistree kicks off a weekend of staged readings. It’s a celebration of “new voices in theater.” Friday at 7 pm in Daniel Patterson’s The Vastness Within, investigators try to figure out how someone not from Earth wound up dead on the moon’s surface. Saturday at 3 pm, Peter Rousmaniere’s Discord in Concord brings Ralph Waldo Emerson and Margaret Fuller face to face over the threat of tyranny. And Saturday at 7 pm, Kyle Mumford’s Shrimp Pudding, in which an indecisive bride at her wedding finds her ex there, working for the caterer. Here’s Marion Umpleby’s writeup in the Valley News on the three readings.
Triton in Epsom. The very fine trad trio of Jeremiah McLane (accordion and piano), Tim Cummings (pipes and whistles), and Alex Kehler (låtmandola, nyckelharpa, violin) will be at the Blasty Bough Brewing Company, starting at 7 pm.
The Anonymous Coffeehouse at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. Things kick off at 7:30 pm with WRJ’s Arlo Phillip, who’s been honing his indie folk chops at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He’s followed at 8 by folk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and stride pianist Heather Pierson, with bassist Shawn Nadeau; and at 9 pm by jug band Better Late Than Never (Rich Fedorchak, Bill McGowan, and Pete Agnoli).
At the New London Barn Playhouse, the Eric Mintel Quartet with “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. The quartet, which has performed at the White House (twice), the UN, and elsewhere, features pianist and composer Eric Mintel, Nelson Hill on sax and flute, Jack Hegyi on bass, and Dave Mohn on drums. 7:30 pm Friday, 2 pm Saturday.
The Drop Offs at the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre. The band that first got together for after-school-drop-off practice sessions features serious Upper Valley musical talent: Ben Kogan (Ben Kogan Band), Mike Calabrese (Lake Street Dive), Avi Salloway (Bombino and Billy Wylder), Michael Zsoldos (Paquito D’Rivera), Elizabeth Frascoia (St. Vincent, Michael Bolton), and Alex Beram (John Brown's Body). 7:30 pm.
Live Band Karaoke at the Main Street Museum in WRJ. First, as always, there’s Piano Night at the museum. Then, at 8 pm Friday, Jakob Breitbach and his band will back pretty much anything you want to front. There’s a requests button at the link to give them a heads up.
SATURDAY
Crossroad Farm reopens its Norwich farmstand for a weekend pre-Thanksgiving pop-up. It’ll feature local veggies, apples, dairy products, poultry, bread, cookies, pie crusts, wreaths, and more. Open Saturday and Sunday from 9am-3pm. Full list of what they’ll have on hand is at the link.
At the Hop, the Met Opera in HD’s production of Richard Strauss’s Arabella. “Legendary director Otto Schenk conjures the glamour and enchantment of 19th-century Vienna in this sumptuous production that ‘is as beautiful as one could hope (The New York Times).” Stars soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen in the title role. 1 pm in Spaulding (with, you should note, a 4-hour, 12-minute runtime).
Winter’s coming, time to learn to curl! The Upper Valley Curling Club’s “Learn to Curl” sessions “teach you everything you need to know -- how to sweep, how to deliver a stone, and why it's called curling’ in the first place.” No experience necessary, and they provide all the equipment. You’ll need to sign up, and there are just a few spots left. 6-8:30 pm Saturday at the Wendell Barwood Arena in WRJ.
Jason Cann & Wherehouse benefit concert and dance at Plainfield Village Town Hall. Singer-songwriter and Hartland native Cann is reuniting with Scott Stone and Shane Walton to bring back the band he fronted from 2001-17 for a concert to benefit restoration efforts for Plainfield’s Maxfield Parrish Stage Set. With food from the Rustic Barn Food Truck. 7 to 10 pm.
The Raqs Salaam Dance Theater presents “Love May Come And Go … But Belly Dance is FOREVER”. This is the 21st annual showcase by Gina Capossela’s troupe, with dances from Egyptian, Tunisian, and Andalusian traditions, as well as American belly dance, “all seen through stories of romantic love.” 7:30 pm at the community auditorium in Mascoma Valley High.
At Next Stage Arts in Putney, AfterTalk: A Play by Chard deNiord. Written by the former VT poet laureate, it reimagines a 4,000-year-old Sumerian poem and dialogue between Inanna, the Goddess of Fertility, and Dumuzi, God of Agriculture and date palms. Features Adrienne Major and David Zucker, collaborating with cellist Eugene Friesen, artist Eric Aho, choreographer Alison Mott, and others. 7:30 pm.
The Party Crashers at Sawtooth Kitchen. The six-piece Motown-to-modern-pop party/dance band works hard to keep you on the dance floor. 8 pm.
The Main Street Museum hosts three What Doth Life bands. There’s Claremont’s Chodus, bringing their just-released new album Car Crash Compilation; Pilgrims—a “perennial favorite of the Museum”; and Magic User—”synth driven punk music from a magical faerie forest in Vermont, or Montpelier, depending on who you ask.” 8 pm.
SUNDAY
The Upper Valley Symphony Orchestra at Lebanon Opera House. With Mark Nelson conducting, the community orchestra’s program includes Mourned by the Wind, a viola concerto by Georgian composer Giya Kancheli; a three-movement suite by early 20th-century composer William Grant Still, featuring his works Grand Teton, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and Song of the Rivermen; Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune'; and a piece by Nelson himself. 3 pm.
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Written and published by Rob Gurwitt
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