Highlights: What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve?

Among the many public observances of New Year’s Eve in the Upper Valley involving music and dance, David Indenbaum didn’t need to think twice about which one he’d revel in if he weren’t playing his upright bass with The Shugarmakers at the monthly Shindig in Tunbridge.

“Go to the Shindigs!” the retired emergency-room physician said. “If we’re not playing it, we’re probably attending it. It’s always great, because generally people are in a good mood. It’s more of a celebration.”

With occasional variations in the lineup, The Shugarmakers, a collection of Americana devotees who got together in 2000, have played the Shindigs, a monthly community dance featur​​​​​​​ing local bands, several times over the last decade. Joining Indenbaum to close-out 2018 are lead singer Connie Button, of East Randolph; guitarist-mandolinist Normand Labrecque, of Enfield; lead guitarist Corey Unger, of Chelsea; and percussionist Bill Koes, of Strafford.

“For musicians in general, playing New Year’s Eve is the thing to do if someone asks us,” Indenbaum said. “It’s the most fun, a good way to ring in the New Year, playing music with your friends.”

They also enjoy playing, when their schedules permit, at least one of the regular monthly Shindigs at Tunbridge Town Hall between November and April, “because it’s pretty much a hometown crowd.”

Playing for neighbors and friends with a variety of bands provided a therapeutic role-reversal during the 28 years Indenbaum treated patients in the emergency room of Central Vermont Medical Center in Barre.

“It’s a good way to get out there in the community and do something fun,” he said. “It balances life out.

“It’s almost like robbery, getting paid to play music.”

The Shugarmakers play the final Shindig of 2018 on Monday night starting at 9. Admission is $15. Dancers are encouraged to bring snacks for the potluck held during the break.

What Are You DoingNew Year’s Eve?

Among the shake-it-up alternatives for bidding 2018 farewell, or good riddance, Court Street Arts in Haverhill is inviting revelers to Alumni Hall for a Knight of Queens, where the performers in the drag cabaret include Manchester’s Monique Toosoon and her posse, as well as emerging White River Junction queen Tiffany Tucker.

“I don’t think a drag show has happened in this part of the Upper Valley before,” Court Street executive director Keisha Luce said recently. “We wanted an event that would be memorable and different, plus a way for people to laugh and interact.”

The festivities, which start at 8, also include dancing, tapas plates, desserts, celebratory cocktails and what Luce describes as “an array of Vegas-style games with a surprise twist.”

For tickets ($15 for the show alone, $30 for attendees eating dinner) and more information about the Knight of Queens at Alumni Hall, visit courtstreetarts.org or call 603-989-5500.

Additional New Year’s Eve entertainment options for adults, by venue, follow:

Fireside Inn, West Lebanon — For their annual celebration of the changing of the calendar, The Conniption Fits report that they’ll be playing on the theme of “Roaring Twenties Speakeasy.” The doors open at 7; admission is $85 for the show plus dinner (which starts at 8) and $294 per couple staying overnight at the inn. To reserve tickets (limited to 300) and learn more, call 603-298-5900.

Quechee Inn at Marshland Farm — Starting at 8:30, Soulfix provides the soundtrack to the inn’s celebratory dinner. For reservations, and information about packages for dinner and for staying overnight, call 802-295-3133.

Salt hill Pubs — Starting at 9, the performers ushering 2018 out the door are The Party Crashers in downtown Lebanon and FLEW-Z in Newport. Admission is $10 in advance and $20 at the door.

The Skinny Pancake, Hanover — Zach Nugent leads members of the Jerry Garcia Band and the Trey Anastasio Band into town at 9, to perform a “Fire on the Mountain” tribute to the late Garcia. Advance tickets cost $17 and admission at the door is $20. To reserve seats and to learn more, visit skinnypancake.com.

Main Street Museum, White River Junction — DJ Suavé Sweat Stain spins the tunes for the “Throw Your Year Out All-Vinyl Dance Party,” starting at 9. Admission is $10. This is a BYOB gathering.

Windsor Station — The Tricksters count down to 2019, starting at 10.

Family Friendly

The Engine Room, White River Junction — Before heading back to his professional home base in Nashville, Enfield native Brooks Hubbard and his band play an early-bird concert from 4 to 7. Tickets cost $25 in advance and $30 at the door. Adults with valid identification can bring their alcohol of choice, and pay $5. To reserve seats and learn more, visit brownpapertickets.com.

Claremont First Night 2019 — The Upper Valley’s most varied and G-rated celebration starts at 6 with bowling, a live DJ and a photo booth at Meyer Maple Lanes, and finishes at 10 with a fireworks display at Arrowhead Ski Area.

Live performances in between include magician Dylan Tenney showing off his sleight-of-hand at the CSB Community Center at 6:15 and again at 8:45; interactive circus clinics and demonstrations at the community center between 6 and 10; demonstrations of Jedi Training exercises by the World Under Wonder theater troupe at 6, 7 and 9, on the stage of the Claremont Opera House; and skits by the Off Broad Street Players, between 7:30 and 8:30 at the community center.

Admission to all Claremont First Night 2019 activities is $1, with the purchase of buttons at participating venues. Parking is available at Arrowhead Lodge, the community center and Claremont Savings Bank.

Tracy Hall, Norwich — Calliope sets the rhythm and Revels North artistic director Nils Fredland calls the steps for Muskeg Music’s year-ending contra dance on Monday night at 8. A walk-through for newcomers and rusty dancers starts at 7:45. All dancers are asked to bring clean, soft-soled shoes as well as snacks for the potluck during the break. Admission is $10 to $15. To learn more about this dance and the 2019 schedule, visit uvdm.org or the Norwich Community Dances page on Facebook.

Best Bets

Stockbridge, Vt., Americana singer-songwriter Bow Thayer kicks off his winter series of weekly concerts at the Wobbly Barn in Killington, Vt., tonight at 8. This week’s guest performer is part-time Woodstock resident Val McCallum, who’s on holiday break between tours with Jackson Browne, playing guitar.

■Pariah Beat bridges Christmas and New Year’s by hosting a kid-friendly holiday variety show at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction on Saturday evening at 5. In addition to playing their own favorite songs of the season, the members of the Windsor-based Americana band will emcee appearances by an assortment of entertaining guests, including Santa Claus. Admission is $10.

■Thinking of seeing the documentary Pick of the Litter at the Billings Farm and Museum in Woodstock on Saturday afternoon, at either 3 or 5:30? In the next few minutes, maybe even before you read the rest of this column, you might want to call ahead to 802-457-2355, or to visit billingsfarm.org/filmfest to reserve your tickets ($9 to $11). Seats tend to fill up quickly for whatever the Woodstock Vermont Film Series screens in the museum’s cozy theater. Pick of the Litter follows a quintet of Labrador retriever puppies through training to become service dogs. Woof!

■Woodstock’s St. James Episcopal Church stages the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors on Saturday night at 7 and on Sunday afternoon at 4. Church organist and choirmaster James Lorenz directs the singers and a small orchestra through composer Gian Carlo Menotti’s story of a lame shepherd boy who encounters the Three Wise Men during their search for Christ’s birthplace. Admission is by donation. To learn more, visit stjameswoodstock.org or call 802-457-1727.

Looking Ahead

Stand-up artist Dan Boulder headlines next Thursday night’s Comedy Club gathering at The Engine Room in downtown White River Junction. Doors open at 7 for the monthly showcase of rising comedians, which starts at 8. Admission is $5 to $10.

■Dartmouth College’s Paddock Music Library in Hanover will host the first in a series of three weekly sing-ins on Jan. 4 at 5 p.m. The gatherings are open to vocalists (and listeners) of all ages and abilities with an interest in the history of music sung by American workers. The first sing-in, with a focus on migrant workers and pre-Civil War slaves, includes Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land and Pastures of Plenty, Leadbelly’s Pick a Bale of Cotton, Harry Belafonte’s Day-O/Star-O and James Carter and the Prisoners’ Po’ Lazarus. Admission is free.

■Pianist Annemieke McLane plays on the theme of “Schubert in Snow” on Jan. 4 at 7 p.m. at the United Church of Strafford. Admission is by donation, 20 percent of which goes to the Manheim Fund for upkeep of the church steeple.

■The Thetford-based roots quartet Out on a Limb plays the monthly Coffeehouse Cabaret at North Common Arts in Chelsea on Jan. 12 at 7. Admission is $10.

■ Gwendolyn Quezaire-Presutti will portray abolitionist Harriet Tubman in her one-woman play, I Can’t Die But Once, on Jan. 13 at New London’s Whipple Hall. To reserve tickets ($7 to $17) for the 2 p.m. performance, visit centerfortheartsnh.org.

Film

Pentangle Arts plans to screen the new animated feature, Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse, over the weekend, in place of the originally-scheduled Creed II. Starting times are 7:30 on Friday and Saturday nights and 3 on Sunday afternoon. To learn more, visit pentanglearts.org or call 802-457-3981.

Theater/Performance Art

Northern Stage wraps its production of Matilda the Musical with seven performances at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction between this afternoon and New Year’s Day. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.

Bar and Club Circuit

Singer-songwriter Will Gardner plays Peyton Place restaurant in Orford tonight from 6 to 9. Roots musicians Gary Hubbard and Dan Freihofer perform there as The Dinosaurs next Thursday night at 6.

■Guitarist Ted Mortimer sits in with the Jason Cann Band tonight at 6, at Harpoon Brewery in Windsor, then joins saxophonist Katie Runde and accordionist Steve Pixley at The Public House in Quechee on Friday night starting at 7.

■In a tune-up for his New Year’s Eve show (see above), Enfield-native singer-songwriter Brooks Hubbard performs tonight at 8 at Salt hill Pub in downtown Lebanon. Plush Foot plays a mix of funky rock on Friday night at 9, and The Conniption Fits appear on Saturday night at 9.

■John Lackard plays the blues at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Friday night at 9, and Turner Round frontman Chad Gibbs performs a set of acoustic rock there on Saturday night at 9.

■Chris Powers rocks Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon on Friday night at 9, and Flew-Z frontman Alec Currier performs there on Saturday night at 8.

■Joe Mitchell leads GrooveSum into Newport’s Salt hill Pub on Friday night at 9, and Arthur James sings and plays the blues there on Saturday night at 9.

■The Meriden-based Americana trio Tom, Kit & Doc performs at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners on Friday night at 9.

■Saxophonist Michael Parker and guitarist Norm Wolfe jazz up the Quechee at Marshland Farm on Wednesday night from 6 to 9.

■Sonny Saul plays jazz at On the River Inn in Woodstock on Saturday and Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9.

■River Frog hops across the spectrum of Americana music during its gig at Windsor Station on Saturday night at 9:30.

Open Mics

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.

■Joe Stallsmith leads his weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass on Monday night at 6 at Salt hill Pub in Hanover.

■Woodstock musician Jim Yeager hosts an open mic on Wednesday night at 8 at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.

David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Entertainment news also can be sent to highlights@vnews.com.