SO MUCH GOOD STUFF, UPPER VALLEY!
Friday, July 24
New York Theater Workshop “Artists’ Salon” at the Hop. The NYTW is in residence, and is inviting theater creators to come talk about the works they’re creating. This Friday, a new music-theatre work in development, Mystical Tether; and a new musical inspired by a 1742 comedy, The Dispute. 5 pm starting at the Morris Recital Hall, no charge but you’ll need reservations.
Moos & Brews at Billings Farm. An adults-only evening of cows, gardening-wandering, horse-drawn wagon rides, and food, brews, cocktails, and mocktails from local producers. 5:30-8 pm.
Opening reception for “Amazing Animals” at Artistree in S. Pomfret. “This exhibit features work by local artists, who have created depictions of their favorite (non-human) Animals, inspired by pets, livestock, wildlife, or their imaginations.” 5:30 pm.
Ryan Montbleau at Pentangle Arts’ Music by the River in Woodstock. The singer and songwriter’s latest album draws from folk, rock, funk, soul, hip-hop, and reggae, “all with a preternatural ease that belies the intensely focused craftsmanship behind it.” 6 pm in East End Park.
Friday night music at Silo Distillery in Windsor with Dr. Tom’s Band. “Rock and roll band with a jazzy side,” playing everything from Miles Davis to R&B and country. “The vibes, setting, tunes, food, and drinks make for probably the most groovy laid-back night you can spend around the UV,” writes bandleader Tom Lord. 6-8 pm.
Enfield kicks off its Old Home Days. Concerts Friday night and Saturday afternoon, a doggie Olympics, an ice cream social, lectures, karaoke, hiking, kayaking, and much more. Things get going Friday at 7 pm with Cardigan Mountain Tradition and go through Sunday afternoon, various locations. Schedule on p. 4 at the link.
Parish Players presents a one-night staged reading of Sophocles’ Elektra. “By lone deceit and stealthy craft / Must blood be shed and victory won,” the Oracle at Delphi tells Orestes, before he and his sister Elektra set out to avenge the murder of their father, Agamemnon, years before, by their mother and her lover. 7 pm at the Eklipse Grange on Thetford Hill.
Jeremiah and Annemieke McLane with “Summertime and the living is..." in Strafford. The well-known accordionist and equally well-known pianist play a concert of new arrangements of music by Rameau, Albeniz, Dvorak, Piazzolla, and McLane for accordion and piano. It’s “filled with pieces that make you feel like dancing in a meadow or anywhere; or admiring the calmness of water lilies or a single bell-flower on a mountain top,” Annemieke writes. 7 pm, United Church of Strafford, no link.
Hop Film screens Blade Runner. The final cut of Ridley Scott’s hugely influential 1982 film, with Harrison Ford hunting down rogue androids in a scabrous, always drenched Los Angeles. “It covers notions of sentience, empathy and human rights, with iconic supporting performances, unmatched production design and a dreamy synth score,” the Hop writes. 7 pm in Spaulding.
Saturday, July 25
Discussion on climate innovation at Dartmouth. It’s a “Back to Class” free event open to the general public with Dartmouth Climate Collaborative Co-Directors Rosi Kerr and Professor Meredith Kelly offering a look at innovative sustainability initiatives and groundbreaking climate research happening across campus. 11:00 am in Steele Hall Room 006 (39 College St, Hanover).
Thetford Hill Fair. Live bluegrass music at 11:30 am. With a rummage sale, books and plants for sale, food tent, bake sale, The Diabolo Tamer” (Liam Gundlach) will perform some time in the afternoon and “Vermont’s #1 Hoolahoop Jester” will entertain at Latham Library at 11. The Tea Garden is from 1 to 3.
7th Annual WRJ Gay Pride Parade and Festival. Capping off a couple weeks of Pride events (more at the link): Parade steps off at noon, festival in Lyman Point Park with music organized by What Doth Rumble!
Bill Cole and Jamaaladeen Tacuma play the front porch. Cole, whose Front Porch Music Series enters another summer, specializes in jazz with non-Western wind instruments. Saturday, jazz funk bassist Tacuma joins him on the porch at 1590 Tucker Hill Road in Thetford Center at 1 pm.
Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at West Newbury Hall. The workshop performance mixes professional actors and Brown University students past and present, with new music composed by The Rough and Tumble and presented by the Honey Badgers as well as local musicians. 6 pm show is sold out, but email [email protected] to check on reservations for the 11 am performance.
The Etna Library hosts “The Wild Side of Fairy Tales”. Naturalist Susie Spikol tells and talks about fairy tales from around the world. 1 pm at the Etna Library.
Court Street Arts hosts a solo piano concert by Dan Kennedy. With his own recent classical compositions, as well as “abstracted impressions which will rework themes of Chopin, Beethoven, and JS Bach.” At Alumni Hall in Haverhill, 3 pm.
At the Hop, New York Theatre Workshop with Moonie. Stefani Kuo’s solo show about Moonie, who the year she turns 30 decides to go on dates with 100 men. “Today, she is going on her 88th.” 4 pm in the Bentley Theater.
Pizza Night at Crossmolina Farm in W. Corinth. With music by the Bradford VT band Sled Wrenches. Food at 5, music at 6, you’ll need reservations.
Seven Stars Arts hosts Soggy Po Boys at Star Mountain. Music of New Orleans, plus traditional Caribbean tunes and what they label “Meters funk, soul, and brass band / street beat music.” 6 pm, 139 Star Mountain Rd. in Sharon, in the barn if it rains.
Village Harmony at Woodstock’s North Chapel. The teens who learn and sing world folk music at Village Harmony’s summer camp are on tour, and pull into Woodstock at 7 pm Saturday. Admission by donation at the door. 7 Church Street, Woodstock.
At the Hop, the New York Theatre Workshop’s Nightbirds: The Story of Labelle. A rock-opera in development by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage and Nona Hendryx, about the Afrofuturist trio formed by Hendryx, Patti LaBelle, and Sarah Dash in 1971. 7:30 pm in the Daryl Roth Studio Theater, no charge but ticket required.
Contra dance at the E. Thetford Pavilion. With David Millstone calling and music by Calico (Jesse Ball, Eric Boodman, Casey Murray). 7:30 pm, with walk-through for beginners at 7:10 pm.
Sunday, July 26
Braintree Bluegrass Brunch with the Ben Kogan Band and Red Skies. As always, things start off with a bike ride leaving from the Braintree VT meeting house (2756 Braintree Hill Rd). Music starts up at noon with the Ben Kogan Band (with Kogan on vocals, upright bass, and guitar; Marc Edwards on guitar and vocals; and Jen Friese on fiddle and vocals); and then Red Skies, the ace bluegrass quartet of Joe K. Walsh (mandolin), BB Bowness (banjo), Alex Rubin (guitar), and Steve Roy (bass).
Hop Film screens Her. Spike Jonze’s 2013 film stars Joaquin Phoenix as a writer who falls in love with his computer’s then-futuristic operating system, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. “I can understand how the limited perspective can look to the non-artificial mind,” she tells him. No comment needed. 4 pm in Spaulding.
The Impossible Possible Band makes its public debut. It’s an outdoor concert that caps a week-long residency bringing together eight musicians from West Africa and the Upper Valley. Balafon masters Mamadou Diabate, from Burkina Faso, and Balla Kouyate, from Mali, are joined by six others starting at 4 pm at 1011 US Route 5 North in Norwich. Space is limited: To reserve tickets, email [email protected].
Burger Night at Flying Dog Farm in Tunbridge. Burgers from the farm, beer from Brocklebank, ice cream from Kiss the Cow, and music from Footworks, Jon Brillhart on pennywhistle, son Jake on fiddle, and daughter Tory on rhythm guitar and vocals with a focus on tunes from Cape Breton. 4-7 pm.
Summer Sunday Soirée at Loch Lyme Lodge. With Classical Folk—Joseph Stallsmith on uke and guitar, Phyllis Shea on cello, and Dewitt Mallary with flute and pennywhistle—bringing a new approach to the great American songbook. Fresco Catering brings the food. 5:30-7 pm, reservations required.
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