Christmas Show at Capitol Center for the Arts - featuring local guitar legend Myron Kibbee

       
   
   

      Rocking Horse Studio in Pittsfield, NH put on a Christmas show at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord, NH recently.  First off, I want to apologize for any of the performers that I don't mention here.  I forgot to bring my little notebook to jot down what I saw, so I am doing this from memory.  Some of you may have seen a version of this show on WMUR's "Chronicle" show last year.  The show was nominated for an Emmy.  It was rebroadcast this year.  This Rocking Horse Studio has quite a stable of talented musicians (see how I linked horse and stable? can't teach that).
 

Myron playing at my friend's wedding

   
     I first heard of this place from the super cool and super talented guitarist, Myron Kibbee.  He plays on a lot of the recordings that take place there.  He also was onstage most of this night providing fantastic guitar work on a variety of songs.  On a side note, I am nearly related to Mr. Kibbee.  He is my good friend's brother in law.

     Some of the performers that I saw were Dusty Gray Band, Rachel Vogelzang, Pat and the Hats, Chris Peters, Delanie Pickering, The Connection, Steve Blunt, The Four Legged Faithful, Seth Wonkka, Gina Alibrio, Mike Dunbar and Hannah Michaud.

     I am not a huge Christmas music fan, but I enjoyed nearly every song I heard this night.  The arrangements and talent of the performers seemed to bring new life into most of these traditional Holiday tunes.
 
     Next, I will mention some of the songs that have stuck in my murky memory banks.  "Merry Christmas Baby" performed by Delanie Pickering, featured some soulful vocals and bluesy guitar work.  "Christmas Wrapping" by the Waitresses was performed by Michelle Coombes and Brittany Laine (the female singer from Pat and Hats) on vocals and backed by Pat and the Hats and other folks.  Pat and the Hats stayed on stage to perform a a sizzling version of "Father Christmas" by the Kinks.

     Chris Peters did a beautiful original song entitled "Christmas Angels" which hit me right in my single-guy heart.  I happened to meet him after the show and he gave me a couple of things that I am told you can download this song with.  He also gave me a copy of his latest full-length CD.  Chris was very kind and generous and a great representative of what the night was all about.

     One last song I would like to mention was the playful version of "Baby It's Cold Outside" performed by Mike Dunbar and Hannah Michaud.  I have included a video of this song and you can see the fun they had performing this classic.  Hannah also had the nicest Christmas sweater at the show.

             
     Special mention should go to Brian Coombes, who apparently is the head honcho at Rocking Horse and without him this great night would not have happened. If this show comes around again next year, you should buy your tickets fast. The event sold out this year.  Bring your family, a loved one, a friend, or just bring me.  whatever, just go.  Happy Holidays!
       

             

A Musical Weekend (Part One - Friday)

          I had the pleasure of seeing two of my favorite local bands in the same weekend, a few weeks ago. On the Friday night, I saw Erin Harpe and the Delta Swingers in Lowell, MA and on the Saturday night ,I saw Pat and the Hats in Warner, NH.  Both bands have been featured in this world famous blog previously, so I am not going to rehash all of praise I have already tossed on them. Instead, I am going to try and share the fun you can have with the local music scene within sixty miles of Nashua, NH.

The Friday night show took place at the Back Page in Lowell, MA.  I have a limited knowledge of traveling around Lowell, but my traveling partner, Abbi, allegedly had a GPS-type feature on her fancy phone. This alleviated any fears I had of getting lost in Lowell and not getting good seats for the show and quite a number of other catastrophes I envisioned.  The only trouble with this GPS thing was that any time we reached a part of the trip where we needed to make a decision on which way to turn, Abbi or the phone would lose contact with our GPS instruction deliverer. I heard the word "recalculating" quite often.
This GPS service raised some concerns right from the start, as the woman's voice guiding us, sounded like it came from someone with the flu. I seriously felt like I was going to catch something from her. Anyhow, we overcame that somehow and arrived at our destination on time. I would never be able to retrace the route we took to get there however.
After parking the car, we walked by a group of youths that all must have been battling glaucoma, as they seemed to be sharing their medicinal marijuana to combat their affliction.
Next, we walked by a finely dressed middle-aged couple sharing a bottle of wine in a bag near a dumpster outside a sushi palace. This already had the makings of a good night.

     The bar opened at 7pm and we arrived at roughly 7:03pm.  We walked in and the place was empty, except for a bartender who was setting up her cash register for the night. The bartender asked what we were doing there so early. I told her we were there to see the band and she responded with "you know the music doesn't start until 9pm."  I told her I was aware of that, but wanted to be sure that we got good seats. She said "it doesn't get crowded here until 10:30pm."  None of what she said helped me with my friend Abbi, who skipped dinner to fit into my strict time constraints. I scanned the empty bar and picked the perfect seats and settled in for a fun-filled evening.

They had a nice selection of beers and fancy martinis to help us kill a couple of hours.  As far as food goes, they have what would best be described as a "limited" menu. The only other negative that I found was that no matter what I tried I could not lock the men's room door. It was a one man at a time setup, but there was no way for me to prevent the door from being flung open when I was in there.  I was quite jittery during my visits there. I am not sure if the other male patrons had the same problem, but I really had no idea who to ask and if I even should ask.

     Eventually, the band came on and we enjoyed their music and the celebration of their their new CD release, entitled "Love Whip Blues."

A local radio station also broadcast the show. Our bartender wasn't lying either, there was a good crowd there by 10:30pm     The entire night would have went off without a hitch, if I did not make a colossal social gaffe when saying goodbye to the one and only, Erin Harpe.
I gave her a hello hug like a normal human would.  We talked about the new CD and that the band sounded great, and the crowd was good, and then I ran out of things to say. So... I hugged her again.  It was way too soon since the initial hug and was awkward for both of us. I am afraid in the future, I will have to enjoy the band from a distance. It is a shame because I think we were on our way to becoming friends. I think I was just starstruck from the excitement of the radio broadcast and the CD release party. I was done in by the double-hug. Embarrassing.