A full slate of 20 shows on the fall-winter-spring schedule. We're excited about all of them.
Here's some stuff that you can print for your 'fridge or transcribe to your social calendar. Click 'em to biggerize:
New this season: Comfy chairs! Waaay better cameras! Slightly improved stage lighting! A 30-cup percolator that we're gonna perk with Working Joe from Rockingham Roasters! A tweaked logo! (We didn't order stickers yet... it's hard to throw bucks at something like that. Yes, it's kind of an investment, but it's sort of hard to think about investing when there's still mission-critical things that want money thrown at them. Way fewer of them than there used to be though, yay!)There's more, it seems like there's definitely more, that isn't springing to mind. Probably.
Ah, thought of another. Back when everyone thought COVID-19 would run its course in a couple months, we got our mitts on a pair of antique cameras (they record to minicassettes!)
for supersupercheap from a public access channel over in New York that got a boatload of money and upgraded all their stuff to magic pixie dust. ("Supersupercheap" means "less than the cost of the stickers that we haven't ordered yet.")
We figured they'd be OK as part of a streaming setup... but the grants we applied for to be able to get the rest of a decent situation up and running were declined, so we set them aside.
Then a couple weeks ago we got a hankering about them, and hunted down the necessaries required to fire them up standalone... they're fun! And not terrible! We need to pop for a dongle to transfer the cassettes to usable files, but dang it, pretty sure we're gonna use these to get artsy handheld cutaways. Maybe someday we'll be able to use them for the purpose intended. Or not. Delicious lemonade anyway.
Abbreviated promo for what's on the schedule through the end of 2021 follows below, ostensibly for your convenience... but first we gotta address the elephant in the room. The COVID-19 thing. And are we ever frustrated that it's still a thing.
If you aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19, we request that you wear a mask and maintain a six-foot social distance at our events. Vaccinated people are also welcome to wear masks and maintain social distancing. Our chairs are movable and configurable – if you need or wish to make a social-distanced seating pod for your party, arrive early and we’ll help you do it. Note that the three front rows aren’t available as pod space, and people who have already arrived and have chosen their seats will not be expected to move. GUIDANCE MAY CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. Some shows may have tighter restrictions by the performer’s request; any additional per-show guidance will be found on the individual show pages on the stage33live.com website.
The policy may change without warning... we'll adapt it when and if guidelines and requirements are issued by recognized authorities and / or the 33 Bridge Street building owners and tenants.
Like last year, we won't cancel shows unless it's mandated by governing bodies, which in our case includes the building's owners and tenants. If performers choose to postpone, we'll be 100% supportive. This has already happened for the upcoming season.
We want to be crystal clear that no, we’re not “living in fear” or “sheeple” or “hysterical” or “suckered by the mainstream media.” While it's never our intention to be confrontational dicks, if anyone thinks we're screeching 'fraidycats because of our concern for the health and wellbeing of our community and the performers, we cordially invite them to exercise their freedom to not come to our shows.
Vermont is in great shape and it doesn’t seem terribly likely that COVID-19 will come back and bite us too hard… but respiratory virus transmission season is just around the corner. If flare-ups start happening in neighboring states, there may be another border ban and that would nix the touring folks. If that happens, and it isn't coupled with another gathering ban, we’ll put out a call for local subs.
At this point everything is speculation, but we have to consider it and be ready for it.
The Stage 33 Live crew is vaxxed, by the way.
Here's what's on the schedule from the end of August through the end of the year:
There isn’t a better way for Stage 33 Live to emerge from the pandemic than host a local songwriter’s circle led by Jenna Sawin Rice. Her poetic songs celebrate ordinary people and the highs and the lows of being alive with honest, haunting vocals and down-to-earth guitar. Greg Goedewaagen brings homegrown folk, rock, blues, and bluegrass. Libby Kirkpatrick is a confluence of storytelling, poetry, and surprising vocal range. Carl Goulet is a top-shelf songwriter and a Stage 33 Live favorite.
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Suggested $5+ donation at the door for the musicians.
Songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Addison Rice and Jahnavi Newsom are the husband-wife mojo folk orchestra The Love Sprockets, drawing from the wells of high-octane punk-grass and growling blues-rock topped with intricate vocal harmonies – songs and stories of bold joy, wide-ranging curiosity, and vagabond soul. This is a special
.
Suggested $5+ donation at the door for
Addison and Jahnavi
, but no one will be turned away for lack of money.
A songwriter’s circle preceded by four 10-minute short sets. Pat Daddona’s songs aren’t afraid to both laugh and cry, finding glimmering shoots of happiness in unexpected places or working out why they don’t seem to be there. Kala Farnham is a multi-instrumentalist who draws from a classical and theatrical background to inspire through the power of musical storytelling that embraces the imperfect beauty of the human condition. Jan Sheehy, half of the regional folk duo The Milkhouse Heaters, is a big-voiced former rocker from the Boston punk scene and one of the most compassionate people around. The circle will be preceded by 10-minute acoustic sets from local performers Ezra Holloway, Will Stahl, Kyla Rose, and Bill Brink. Artist Felicity Haselton will be exhibiting her bold and optimistic, celebratory and colorful work starting an hour before the show begins, and will be on hand during the break and after the show; prints will be available.
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Suggested $5+ donation at the door for the circling songwriters.
Innovative guitarist and composer Hiroya Tsukamoto leads concerts internationally, including multiple appearances at the Blue Note in New York City and on Japanese National Television. Eclectic and immersive, Tsukamoto takes audiences on an earthy, organic odyssey. Born and raised in Japan, Tsukamoto was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music. In Boston, he formed the group Interoceanico with musicians from different continents, including Latin Grammy-winning Marta Gomez; that ensemble released three acclaimed records. Hiroya has also released four highly regarded solo albums. “The fingerpicking is delicate, fluid, and beautifully detailed.” — Acoustic Guitar Magazine. “Chops, passion and warmth. Zealously recommended.” — Jazz Review. This is a special
;
there will be no opening act, so plan a timely arrival. Tickets are $15 in advance through stage33live.com, or $20 at the door.
David Rogers fuses classical, jazz, and world music into virtuosic performances. Termed “a prominent guitarist” by the New York Times and praised by The Washington Post for his “astonishingly florid” improvisations, he has been called a “modern master of the classical guitar” by 20th Century Guitar. Classics Today commended his “first rate instrumental artistry,” and the Lute Society of America Quarterly called his technique “formidable.” Featured in major musicians’ magazines including Fingerstyle Guitar in the United States and Akustic Gitarre in Germany, his performances have also been broadcast nationally on American National Public Radio and Munich-based Bayrische Rundfunk. This highly pedigreed musician will perform an intimate listening event on
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Advance tickets are just $10 ($15 at the door). Josh Hall, a classically trained guitarist and music educator whose style owes as much to Barrios and Tarréga as Mustaine and Monk will open with original material in the spirit of Dylan, Cockburn, and Taylor.
Ninja Monkey is the southern Vermont champ of original rootsy rock and funky blues, blending quality musicianship and high-spirited fun in a balancing act of tight and loose for more than a decade. Local heroes Ezra Veitch, Josh Maiocco, Michael Lenox, Garth Tichy, and Handsome Johnny Janiszyn are bringing it back to our room. This won’t be a listening room event – it will be a loud all-ages good-time Southern Vermont rock and roll for dancing and sometimes swaying show. The floor will be open, with edge seating. Suggested $5+ donation at the door for the band.
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They’ll play until they’re done. There’s likely to be a sloppy after-party at PK’s Pub.
Dylan Patrick Ward and Nate Goyette are emerging singer-songwriters pinging radars with their writing chops. This is a ground-floor opportunity to catch them on the rise. Dylan Patrick Ward is from Vermont’s dirty south. His highly specific portraits of loveable losers are as empathetic as they are darkly comical. Influenced by his upbringing in a small, working class town with its fair share of strange characters, Dylan presents life in all of its sad, ugly, hilarious, and hopeful glory. Nate Goyette’s music doesn’t like to sit still for too long – sometimes raucous and bombastic, other time introspective and subdued, steeped in dead-end jobs, dead-end friends, and those moments you have to grow up (or at least know you’re supposed to). This is a special
. Suggested $5+ donation at the door for Dylan and Nate.
We're pleased to welcome Jenna back for a solo show. Singer-songwriter Jenna Sawin Rice grew up in the Connecticut River Valley of Vermont. After building a guitar as a woodworking project, she taught herself to play and started writing. Her poetic songs celebrate the stories of ordinary people, and the highs and the lows of being alive, delivered with honest, often haunting vocals and down-to-earth guitar playing. This is a chance to catch her while she’s still in the ascendancy of her arc.
. Suggested $5 donation at the door for Jenna.
He was a 200-gigs-a-year guy for a long time, but these days Tom Pirozzoli is increasingly focused on his successful fine art career and has throttled down to about three dozen music shows annually. We're lucky to be one of them. His recordings have had national and international success, and several of them are in the Smithsonian Folkways Collection. His album “Travels” spent 13 weeks on the Top 40 AAA charts. He’s worked with artists like Greg Brown, Jesse Winchester, Doc Watson, and Willy Porter. His experiences and encounters with people, cultures, and ideas while traveling Europe and South America, India and Southeast Asia, China and Tibet, continue to enrich and deepen his music, lyrical content, and art. Sophisticated guitar work forms a rich backdrop for his warm tenor. His relaxed stage presence is endearing, funny, and insightful.
. This intimate show on the weekend after Thanksgiving could easily command north of $25, but at Tom’s suggestion is just $5 in advance ($10 at the door). Be sure to thank him. Good sound, man!” – Taj Mahal. “You can’t write like he does without leaning into each line.” – Willy Porter. “Hypnotic soothing vocals and rich guitar textures… well crafted.” – Sing Out. “Pirozzoli’s poetic lyrics make his songs worth reading as well as hearing.” – Boston Sunday Globe. “I like the Buddhist philosophy that says ‘if you create good it leaves less room for evil.’ I want to create positive energy in the world.” – Tom Pirozzoli.
London-born, Oxford-educated Rupert Wates brings his thoroughly American acoustic folk with tinges of jazz, vaudeville, and cabaret back to our room on
. With eleven internationally acclaimed solo albums and dozens of songwriting awards, and his work covered by artists in the UK, Canada, and the US, including two tribute albums to his material, the doors to large venues and big festivals are open to him… but he prefers the intimate, up-close audiences of small listening rooms where the emphasis is on the music. He recognizes that it’s regular people – people like us – who make the world extraordinary... and that reflects in his sophisticated songwriting which brings his characters, real and imagined, to vivid life with memorable melodies and intricate lyrics, well-honed guitar, and a smooth, expressive voice. He’s been said to embody the lyricism of Gordon Lightfoot and the attention to craft of Richard Thompson. Local favorite Josh Maiocco opens. Local artist Felicity Haselton will exhibit and be on hand before, between, and after the performances with prints for sale. Advance tickets are $15; it's $20 at the door. “A prime figure in American music.” — Folk And Acoustic Music Exchange. “As the former manager of the late Harry Chapin, I’ve heard my share of story songs. Rupert’s are right up there with the best.” — Bob Hinkle. “Gripping lyrics with great themes and troubling, witty messages.” — Leith Radio, Scotland. “Astonishing fingerpicking chops.” — Monterey County Weekly.
