SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
Friday
Barbershop in the library. The vocal kind of barbershop, that is. Blue Streak, the Barbershop Harmony Society of Hanover's quartet featuring Archie Apigo, Bill Corson, Dan Falcone, Mark Roux, will be in the Howe Library’s New Books Area at 3:30 pm Friday. No charge.
Pizza and The Never-Ending Story at Woodstock’s Town Hall Theatre. Pentangle Arts kicks off spring break for area families with pizza from Positive Pie and then the film, plus a chance to tell them “what you want to see on your local big screen.” Pizza and chat at 6 pm, film at 7.
VSO Jukebox at Artistree with “Porch Songs: Americana Roots”. The Vermont Symphony Orchestra’s series of casual string-quartet concerts pulls into Artistree’s Hayloft, with Pulitzer Prize-winner Jennifer Higdon’s Southern Harmony, the Appalachian-infused music of fiddler and composer Mark O’Connor, new arrangements by bluegrass legend Matt Flinner, music from Chickasaw composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate, and more. 7 pm. Here’s Amy Lilly’s write-up about the Jukebox series and what drives it in Seven Days.
Hop Film screens Sinners. Michael B. Jordan stars twice as twin brothers returning home to the deep South in Ryan Coogler’s blues-drenched 1930s supernatural thriller, with the brothers navigating “a web of deception and danger, their bond [being] tested as they grapple with their own inner demons and the external threats that seek to tear them apart.” 7 pm in Spaulding, followed on Saturday by a big-time “Celebration of Sinners” (see below).
Karaoke Bandstand at WRJ’s Main Street Museum. Jakob Breitbach and his crew back you up live, 7-9 pm.
The Bob & Sarah Amos Band at Seven Stars Arts. Guitarist/banjoist/vocalist Bob Amos and his vocalist daughter Sarah, backed by guitarist Andy Greene, bassist Kirk Lord, and mandolinist Taylor Armerding bring an array of bluegrass, folk and Americana sounds. 7 pm.
Moondogs at Sawtooth Kitchen. The Burlington psych-rock band returns with Will Sturcke on lead vocals and guitar, David Battit on bass, and Jimmy Martucci on drums. 9 pm.
Saturday
Checking out salamanders in the Hartford Town Forest. The Hartford Conservation Commission is sponsoring this “April Family Forest Frolic” and a search for salamander species, green frogs, and other amphibians. Led by nature educator Skylar Claud and open to families from any town. 10 am to noon, meet at the Town Forest trailhead parking area on Reservoir Road. Reservations required.
HopStop with Lindsay and her Puppet Pals. Performer Lindsay Aucella will introduce you to her larger-than-life, hand-crafted puppets—maybe “a goofy moose, a heroic tiger or a lovable bear, [o]r a dancing robot or flamingo, an adorable mouse, a stubborn goat, a shy dragon, or a singing dinosaur.” Find out at 11 am in the Hop’s Daryl Roth Studio Theater, best for kids 3-8 and their families.
Billings Farm’s sheep and goats get sheared. It’s time! “Watch expert shearers Philo and Craig Marcotte in action as they perform their shearing magic while showcasing the evolution of shearing tools and share insights into the shearing process.” 11 am to 1 pm.
Upper Valley Music Center presents “Fiddle & Flour” with fiddler Bruce Molsky and baker and author Martin Philip. They’re teaming up for an afternoon of bread and fiddling workshops, conversation, and then an old-time jam session (all instruments welcome) led by the two of them along with Annie McDougall on fiddle and banjo. Workshops at 1 pm, conversation at 2:30, jam at 3:30, all at UVMC. You’ll need to register for the workshops.
A Celebration of Sinners at the Hop. Hosted by the Institute for Black Intellectual & Cultural Life, it’s a three-hour event marking the film’s anniversary. Wunmi Mosaku, nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, will join profs Iyabo Kwayana and Michael Boyce Gillespie to talk about the film and her role in it; and there’ll be performances by Mississippi blues musician Steven Johnson (grandson of the Robert Johnson) and the Eden Brooklyn Dance Theater. 5 pm in Spaulding. No tix needed.
Improv jam in West Lebanon. Valley Improv is hosting its first jam of the year at the West Lebanon Congregational Church, with an improv class followed by improv games. No experience necessary. 6 pm.
Laurel Canyon: The Ultimate Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young Tribute Band at the Chandler in Randolph. The band features Grammy-winning writer/producer Mark Hudson, Hall of Fame songwriter Gary Burr, and veteran session musician and songwriter Mark Mirando. CSN; CSN&Y; C, S, N, and Y… 7 pm.
Veronica Robles and Mariachi! at Barnard Town Hall. Robles, BarnArts writes, “learned mariachi from her grandmother as they sold flower arrangements in Mexico City’s Plaza Garibaldi, the home of mariachi.” She eventually moved to Boston, becoming well-known cultural figure in the Latin American community there. She’s been a BarnArts resident artist the past week, and will take the stage with her son Willy López (guitar), Maygel Navarro (bass), Zarah Roszler (violin), and Betsy Pabon (violin). 7 pm.
Harmony Night with “Songs for These Times”. The four-part Upper Valley community chorus, led by Mark Nelson, sings a program that includes everything from spirituals to Steven Stills to Sara Bareilles. 7 pm Saturday at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon, Sunday at 3 pm at Lyme Congregational Church.
Jake Shimabukuro at Lebanon Opera House. Amazingly, there are still tickets for the surpassingly great ukulelist “whose groundbreaking artistry has redefined the instrument for the 21st century,” as LOH puts it. The world-renowned recording artist and magnetic performer “continues to prove that the ukulele is an instrument of infinite possibilities that speaks a universal language of joy, connection, and hope.” 7:30 pm.
Tinsley Ellis at Court Street Arts. The Atlanta-based electric blues-rock guitarist came out with his first acoustic album in 2024, and has taken his acoustic act on the road. No Depression writes, “Even though it’s just Ellis and his acoustic guitars, there’s plenty of hell-raisin’ blues going on. With the ghost of Elmore James looking over his shoulder and Wolf leaning in…Ellis proves he’s an icon.” 7:30 pm in Haverhill’s Alumni Hall.
Sunday
The Upper Valley Earth Week Open House starts up this coming week with tours of the Lebanon Coop and Willing Hands on Monday—and you need to sign up by Sunday to get the PDF of tour sites and times, along with instructions. On Friday it’s Advance Transit, and then next Saturday and Sunday, more tours of homes, farms, businesses, nonprofits, and more. They’ll be showing off solar power, battery backup, sustainable gardening and farming, and lots more.
John Moody of the Winter Center for Indigenous Traditions and Abenaki basket maker Emily Boles at Chelsea Town Hall. They’ll be giving a talk on Abenaki and other Indigenous history of Chelsea and the First Branch of the Upper White River Watershed. 2 pm, sponsored by the Chelsea Public Library.
Hop Film screens Sirât. Oliver Laxe's 2025 desert thriller won the Jury Prize at Cannes for its story about a father and son searching desperately for their daughter/sister at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco, which leads them to another rave where the “natural hazards of the unforgiving (but cinematically majestic) wasteland run in counterpoint with man-made dangers as something like World War III unfolds in the background.” 4 pm in the Loew Auditorium.
The Tyshawn Sorey Trio at the Hop. The Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, percussionist and multi-instrumentalist is joined by Aaron Diehl on the piano and Harish Raghavan on bass for two concerts, at 4 pm and 7:30 pm in the Morris Recital Hall.
A house concert with Seán Gavin and Caoimhín Ó Fearghail. Gavin, a master uilleann piper and flute player, is a hugely well-regarded Irish musician—and the first and only musician born outside Ireland to win the prestigious Seán Ó Riada Gold Medal. Ó Fearghail plays uilleann pipes, flute, guitar, and bouzouki. Together, they’ll be at Beth Telford’s in Braintree, VT at 6:30 pm Sunday: tix are $20 advance/ $25 day of show, which is at 1060 Bent Hill Rd. Email Beth at [email protected] for more information. No link.
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