SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
Friday
Nomfusi at the Chandler. The South African singer is “likened by critics to a young Miriam Makeba with a twist of Tina Turner,” blending Africa with Motown and soul. 7 pm.
Artistree hosts “And Still, We Love… An intimate evening with Myra Flynn”. The singer-songwriter and radio host “explores love in all its forms—the joyful, the complicated, and everything in between.” 7 pm in the Town Hall Theater, Woodstock.
Hop film screens Sentimental Value. If you missed it at Telluride @ Dartmouth, here’s your chance. Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, and Elle Fanning play multi-layered characters in Joachim Trier’s engaging family drama, grand prize winner at Cannes. 7 pm in the Loew.
Dartmouth College Wind Ensemble at the Hop. Danzón No. 3 "The Lone Pine" by long-time Hop collaborator Nubia Jaime Donjuan; Flor Violeta, Concertino for Harp and Wind Ensemble by Omar Arellano Osorio; new work by Rodrigo Martínes Torres performed by the Concord-Carlisle High School Chamber players; and Holst’s “The Planets”. 7:30 pm in Spaulding.
The Anonymous Coffeehouse at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. Things kick off at 7:30 pm with cowboy singer, fiddler, and mandolinist Skip Gorman and country and blues musician Mark Burds; at 8 pm it’s rapper Kuf Knotz and harpist Christine Gallagher; and at 9, Never Too Late, with Bethany Nafziger, Eric Bronstein, and Anonymous organizer and emcee Adam Sorscher.
Saturday
HopStop Family Celebration: Lunar New Year Dragon Dance. “Experience crafting, dance and tai chi and then join the parade with our 12-person puppet dragon around the Hop and the Dartmouth Green. Traditional gifts, candies and decorations.” Starts up at the Top of the Hop at 11 am.
Lunar New Year celebration at the Hood. It’s the Year of the Horse, so “enjoy artmaking activities and a curated reading nook or join a spotlight talk featuring horses in the exhibition Nurturing Nationhood: Artistic Constructions of America, 1790–1940.” Free, drop-in program for all ages and visitors, 1-3 pm.
“Beauty Is In the Eye of the Beholder” at Matt Brown Fine Art in Lyme. The first of three “Gatherings at the Gallery” led by owner and printmaker Matt Brown, aimed at stoking conversation about art and, in this case, addressing “ideas of point of view, how we find beauty in our world, in our experience, and in our art.” 1 pm.
Hop Film screens The History of Sound. Director Oliver Hermanus and writer Ben Shattuck adapt Shattuck’s collection of short stories, charting the relationship of two men, played by Paul Mescal and Josh O'Connor, who meet at the New England Conservatory of Music, are separated by WWI, then travel together in rural New England recording folk songs during the winter of 1920. 2 pm in the Loew.
Billings Farm’s Woodstock Film Series screens Gaucho, Gaucho. Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s 2024 documentary focuses on the close-knit community of gauchos in Argentina: “shot and composed with fastidious beauty…but marked with just enough witty, peculiar character portraiture to ward off the lulling sense of a National Geographic spread,” Variety wrote when it debuted. 3 pm both Saturday and Sunday.
Tiki Torch Trek and “Noticing Nature” at Hartland Winter Trails. The tiki trek runs from 3:30 to 8:30 pm, along 1.5 km of groomed nordic trails lit by tiki torches, with a community bonfire, kids games, music, and an Olympic celebration. This year, the Upper Valley Land Trust is leading two treks to explore the biodiversity of the Pohl Conservation Area: an xc ski trek from 3-3:45 pm and a snowshoe trek from 4-4:45 pm, observing birds and wildlife. Register at the links for each.
Selected Shorts: Entanglements at the Hop. The hit public-radio series has been going strong for decades, featuring “great short stories performed by great actors. Each Selected Shorts is a completely original and unique evening of literature brought to life.” This one features Peter Francis James, Ato Blankson-Wood and Molly Bernard, and includes a story by Dartmouth junior Lauren Mills. 4 pm and 7 pm in the Morris Recital Hall.
Junction Dance Festival and “Midwinter Motion” at the Briggs Opera House in WRJ. Breakdancers (Rhythm Riderz), modern dance (Bosse DeBelina Dance), and improvisational wash-basin music all in one show. “It’s a fundraiser to keep dance accessible in our region,” they write, “but mostly it's just a great reason to be in downtown WRJ on a Saturday night.” Here’s Marion Umpleby’s look ahead in the VN. Starts up at 7 pm.
Tracy Hall contra dance. With legendary caller and local traditional dance luminary David Millstone at the mic, and Blind Squirrel—Erin Smith and Steve Hoffman (fiddles), Suzanne Long (fiddle and cello), and Eric Faro (guitar)—making you move your feet. Intro/refresher at 7:15 pm, dance starts at 7:30.
Mike McDonald’s Comedy Extravaganza at the Lebanon Opera House. With McDonald; Danny Gill; Orlando Baxter—fresh off his popular Dry Bar Comedy special; storyteller Mike Speirs, who’s got a steady gig on Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora; and Artie Januario, “America’s funniest pharmacist.” 7:30 pm.
And out of hourly order, and also out of the Upper Valley, two events you might want to know about in case you’re in the mood to travel for winter sports:
From 9 am to 3:30 pm, it’s the famed Harris Hill Ski Jump in Brattleboro (and on Sunday, the Fred Harris Memorial Tournament): Top jumpers and junior jumpers from around the world who don’t happen to be in Italy at the moment will probably be there, competing on New England’s only Olympic-size 90-meter hill. Gate opens at 9, competition Saturday at noon, Sunday at 12:30.
And in case that sledding video earlier this week whetted your appetite, starting at 8:30 am in Montville, ME (a mere four hours from here), it’s the 19th annual New England Runner Sled Association’s “Fastest Runner Sledder In All the Land” competition, which the Bangor Daily News calls “the wildest sled race you’ll ever see.” Plus, new this year, an antique sled parade featuring competitors over 60 using sleds made prior to 1970. (Thanks, LH!)
Sunday
Upper Valley Land Trust’s annual Bear Pond Snowshoe. The Bear Pond Natural Area in Canaan has significant frontage along the Mascoma River and “contains tremendous ecological diversity, including a quaking bog celebrated as one of New Hampshire’s best,” UVLT writes. This tour, with members of the Canaan Conservation Commission, will explore the frozen (let’s hope) bog. 9 am, meet at the Switch Road trailhead.
English country dance at Tracy Hall. Carol Compton on piano, recorders, and accordion and Thal Aylward on violin, with David Millstone teaching “a blend of old favorites (some going back to the 17th century) and more recent compositions.” 1 pm.
Buster Keaton’s The General at the Hop. Maybe the master silent film star’s most famous movie, with Keaton’s gobsmacking stunt work and Civil War scenes as he plays Johnnie Gray, a train engineer whose train is stolen with the love of his life aboard. With live accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton. 2 pm in Spaulding.
"An Afternoon with The VTones and Friends”. The vocal octet joins forces with special guest vocalists and musicians for an afternoon of a cappella plus solos, duets, and trios accompanied by piano, guitar, and more. From classical to jazz, Broadway to rock. 2 pm in Thetford Hill’s Eclipse Grange.
Sweet Hearts Dance at the Randolph Playhouse. It’s the next installment of Alia Quart Khan’s “Hollywood VT” series, with a screening of the 1988 Vermont-set romantic comedy-drama with Don Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Daniels, Elizabeth Perkins, and then-Burlington Mayor Bernie Sanders (in a cameo). Afterward, screenwriter Ernest Thompson will join via Zoom for “a relaxed conversation reflecting on his experience writing Sweet Hearts Dance, memories from the set, and the process of telling stories rooted in rural communities.” 6 pm.
And finally, if you just want to stay home on a Sunday evening: online Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra watch party. In December, the DSO, led by director Filippo Ciabatti, joined leading student musicians in Tuscany to perform in concert halls throughout the region. This one’s in Siena with the joint orchestras of the DSO and the Orchestra Toscana dei Conservatori performing works by Mahler. It’ll be on the Hop’s YouTube channel at 7:30 pm.
Daybreak doesn't get to exist without your support. Help it stick around by hitting the maroon button:
And always, if you’re not a subscriber yet:
Written and published by Rob Gurwitt
And if you think one or more of your friends would like Daybreak, too, please forward this newsletter and tell them to visit daybreak.news to sign up.
Thank you!
