Halloween cometh and there’s no rest for the wicked — nor for Royalton-based saxophonist Mike Parker and other Upper Valley musicians.
After lending some brass and wind to the rock trio Wherehouse’s gig at the 15th annual Halloween Party from Hell at Lebanon’s Salt hill Pub on Friday night, Parker will lead his Soulfix ensemble into The Farmer’s Table Cafe in Grantham on Saturday night for that venue’s Halloween Bash costume party, one of a long conga line of entertainment options between Friday and the actual fright night on Tuesday.
“Over the last 20 years, I’ve probably done 15 or 16 Halloween gigs,” Parker said this week. “We last did Farmer’s Table in 2015, I think. It was very fun. You get to see how clever people can be with their costumes.”
And you never know how you might see Soulfix members disguise themselves.
“One year, we all dressed up as characters in The Wizard of Oz,” Parker recalled. “We’ve also done the Village People, and characters from Winnie the Pooh.”
Where would Parker go if he wanted to listen and/or dance as a civilian instead of play?
“The few times I didn’t have a gig around Halloween,” he said, “I just stayed home, because I could.”
Saxophonists Mike Parker and Greg Baker team with Wherehouse at the Lebanon Salt hill Pub’s Halloween Bash from Hell on Friday night from 9 to 12:30. Parker and Soulfix serenade the costume party at The Farmer’s Table Cafe in Grantham on Saturday night from 7 to 10.
More Halloween Haunts
Among the many costume parties featuring Upper Valley bands, the best bet might be White River Junction’s Gory Daze celebration on Saturday night. The Rio Blanco Social Club’s 14th-anniverary extravaganza begins at 5 with music and revelry at The Main Street Museum on Bridge Street. At 8, the Celebration Brass Band leads a parade through downtown to the Briggs Opera House, where the Crystal Ball costume party begins at 9. To learn more, visit the Gory Daze Halloween Parade and Crystal Ball page on Facebook.
To keep your feet moving without begging for treats, consider Muskeg Music’s Almost-Halloween Contradance at Tracy Hall in Norwich on Saturday night. Atlantic Crossing sets the rhythm and Luke Donforth calls the steps, and dancers are encouraged to arrive in costume, as long as they also bring clean, soft-soled shoes and potluck snacks for the break. After a 7:45 p.m. walk-through for new dancers, the party begins at 8. Admission is $6 to $10. To learn more about this and other contradances, visit uvdm.org.
Then there are the screen screams: Silent-movie accompanist Jeff Rapsis plays piano in tandem with a screening of Nosferatu, H.W. Murnau’s less-than-authorized 1922 film adaptation of novelist Bram Stoker’s Dracula, on Friday night in the auditorium at Mascoma Valley Regional High School in West Canaan. Admission is free.
Meanwhile, Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center hosts two scary spectacles at Loew Auditorium in Hanover: On Sunday afternoon, CATV’s Halloween-o-Thon features five-minute horror movies by young filmmakers from around the Upper Valley. The films were chosen from a month-long contest; screenings by age group are at 1 p.m. for teams of middle-schoolers, 2:30 for high-school age groups and 4 p.m. for college students and young adults. Admission is free.
And on Monday night at 7, the Hop screens Alfred Hitchcock’s pioneering scream-fest, Psycho. For tickets ($5 to $8) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
For those who prefer the power of suggestion, Windsor-based author Joseph Citro hosts the Windsor Public Library’s fifth annual Halloween Read and Rant on Monday night starting at 7 at the Snapdragon Inn on Main Street. Citro, aka “Curator of the Curious,” shares scary and headscratching stories from around Vermont, answers questions and welcomes stories from the audience. Admission is free.
But wait, there’s more:
Friday
Toast plays danceable rock for the Halloween bash at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners, from 9 to midnight.
Saturday
Flew-Z and Last Kid Picked serenade the Newport Opera House Association’s annual Halloween masquerade party, 8 p.m. to midnight at the opera house. Open to ages 21 and older. For tickets ($25 per person and $40 per couple) and more information, call 603-863-2412 or visit newportoperahouse.com.
The Road Trash Band plays on the theme of “Magical, Mythical and Mysterious Creatures” during Windsor Station’s night-long Halloween costume party.
Tirade rocks the 11th annual Halloween Bash at the Salt hill Pub in Newport from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Ages 21 and older.
A best-costume contest will be held at the Public House in Quechee, along with dancing to disc-jockey music. 9 to midnight.
The rock quartet Night Cap turns up the volume the inaugural Zombie Prom and costume party at Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon, from 9 to midnight. Ages 21 and older.
Tuesday/Halloween Night
The Norman Williams Public Library in Woodstock hosts Halloween story time for kids from 4:30 to 6 in the afternoon, and a “wyrd sister” spins thrilling tales for more mature audiences in the Reading Room from 7 to 7:45.
The Conniption Fits rock the Halloween party at the Skinny Pancake in Hanover, starting at 7:30.
D.J. Brad spins the records during the eighth annual Scary-Oke party at Salt hill Pub in Hanover from 9 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Open to ages 21 and older.
For information about kid-friendly Halloween activities, visit vnews.com/Halloween-Events-in-the-Upper-Valley-13056072.
Best Bets
Norwich filmmaker Signe Taylor screens and talks about her award-winning documentary, It’s Criminal, tonight at 7:30 at Dartmouth College’s Loew Auditorium in Hanover. Joining the discussion will be Ivy Schweitzer, the Dartmouth professor whose students from her class, “Telling My Story,” are shown in the movie helping woman prisoners at the Sullivan County House of Corrections learn to share their experiences. Admission is $5 to $8.
Peter, Paul and Mary alumnus Noel Paul Stookey and his wife, the Rev. Betty Stookey, perform a multifaith program of songs and readings at the Church of Christ at Dartmouth College in Hanover on Saturday night at 7. Admission is free.
Guitarist Ed Eastridge and singer Lydia Gray play the monthly Corinth Coffeehouse on Saturday night at 7 at the Town Hall on Cookeville Road. Admission of $5 to $10 benefit the Sugar Maple Preschool in East Corinth.
The Cameo Baroque ensemble of flutist Leslie Stroud, singer/recorder player Beth Hilgartner, harpsichordist Ernie Drown and violist Laurie Rabut performs in the Church of Christ at Dartmouth in Hanover on Sunday afternoon at 4, as a benefit for relief efforts in Puerto Rico. Admission is by donation.
Looking Ahead
Trumpeter-composer-arranger Ray Vega will lead his Latin Jazz Sexteto into the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph on Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. Admission costs $22 in advance and $24 the day of the show. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Le Vent du Nord will play Quebecois music at Alumni Hall in Haverhill on Nov. 3 at 7:30 p.m. To reserve tickets ($20 for members of Court Street Arts, $22 for others) and learn more, visit courtstreetarts.org or call 603-989-5500.
The Newport Opera House will stage Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap on Nov. 3 and 4 at 7:30 p.m. and on Nov. 5 at 2 p.m. For tickets ($12) and more information, visit newportoperahouse.com or call 603-863-2412.
With visiting bassist Wes Brown, Dartmouth College’s Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble will play works of Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, Thelonius Monk, Sun Ra and other composers at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover, on Nov. 3 at 8 p.m. To reserve tickets ($9 to $10) and learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Theater/Performance Art
Comedians Lois Beaulieu, Bryan Muenzer, Bitsy Biron and Dan Boulger perform stand-up sets at the Flying Goose Brew Pub and Grille in New London tonight at 8. To reserve tickets ($25) and learn more, visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
The Old Church Theater in Bradford lowers the curtain on its production of Ethan Frome this weekend, with performances of Gary Blackwood’s adaptation of the Edith Wharton novel of rural inhibition and redemption on Friday and Saturday nights and on Sunday afternoon at 4. For tickets ($6 to $12) and more information, visit oldchurchtheater.org or call 802-222-3322.
Northern Stage completes its repertory run of A Doll’s House and Robert Frost: This Verse Business this weekend at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction. Stagings of the new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Doll’s House are scheduled for this afternoon at 2, tonight at 7:30 and Sunday afternoon at 5.
In addition to playing Doctor Rank in the Ibsen play, Emmy Award-winning actor and Norwich resident Gordon Clapp takes center stage as poet Robert Frost on Friday night at 7:30, on Saturday afternoon at 2 and on Saturday night at 7:30.
To reserve tickets ($13.75 to $57.75) and learn more about the 2017-2018 season, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
Pentangle Arts screens National Theatre Live’s HD recording of the current British production of Peter Pan, on Saturday afternoon at 2 at the Woodstock Town Hall Theatre. For tickets ($10 to $20) and more information, visit pentanglearts.org or call 802-457-3981.
Music
The Castlebay duo of guitarist Fred Gosbee and harpist Julia Lane sing and play Celtic music from both sides of the Atlantic during the Sunapee Community Coffeehouse on Friday night at 7, in the basement of the Methodist Church in Sunapee Harbor. While admission is free, donations are welcome. To learn more about this season’s series, visit sunapeecoffeehouse.org.
The central Vermont-based quintet Bull & Prairie plays its mix of Americana, folk and rock at the Tunbridge Town Hall on Friday night at 7. For tickets ($15) and more information about this second show of MountainFolk’s fall series, visit mtnfolk.org.
The chamber ensemble Wrensong performs an arrangement by Thomas Tallis on Saturday night at 6, during the weekly Evensong service of meditation and reflection at St. Barnabas Episcopal Church in Norwich. The public is welcome.
Italian flutist Luciano Tristaino joins the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover on Saturday night at 8, to perform three movements from Saverio Mercadante’s Flute Concerto in E minor. After intermission, the orchestra tackles Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, aka The Titan. Conductor Filippo Ciabatti will talk about both works and their composers at 7 at the Top of the Hopkins Center. For tickets ($10 to $20) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Bar and Club Circuit
Sensible Shoes pulls into Windsor Station tonight at 7:30, while The Medicine Tribe plays a set of roots music at the venue on Friday night at 9:30.
Singer-songwriters Jim Roberts and Doug Morse appear in the tavern at Jesse’s restaurant in Hanover on Friday night at 5.
The Gully Boys play an acoustic set at the Public House in Quechee on Friday night from 7 to 10.
Singer-songwriter Karyn Ann plays The Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Saturday night at 8.
Singer-songwriter Jim Hollis kicks off the weekend of music at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Friday night at 9. Singer-guitarist Wayne Canney performs at the venue on Saturday night at 9.
Mark and Deb Bond rock Salt hill Pub in Newport on Friday night at 9.
Rocker Toby Moore plays an acoustic show at Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon on Friday night at 9.
Better Days plays classic rock hits at Salt hill Pub in Lebanon on Saturday night starting at 9.
Jester Jigs performs at Crossroads Restaurant and Bar in South Royalton on Saturday night from 9 to 12.
Folk singer-songwriter David Wilcox performs at Flying Goose Brewpub and Grille in New London next Thursday night at 8. To reserve seats ($25) and learn more, visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
Open Mics
ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret holds its final open-mic of October tonight at 7.
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic starting at 7:30 on Thursday nights. Participants get a free large cheese pizza.
String players of all ages and abilities are welcome at the weekly acoustic jam session at South Royalton’s BALE Commons on Friday night from 6:30 to 10.
Al Carruth and EJ Tretter lead the monthly open mic in the basement of the Sunapee Methodist Church in Sunapee Harbor on Friday night at 7.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
Jim Yeager hosts the weekly open-mics on Monday night at 8 at Bentley’s in Woodstock, at the Public House in Quechee and at 8:30 Wednesday night in Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic on Tuesday nights at 8.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.