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“I’m from Maine, and I like these small places that bring people out from the woods to share an experience,” Curtis said last week, during a telephone interview from her home near Boston. “I love that feeling of putting on a show in the middle of nowhere.”
Next Thursday night is your last chance to catch one of her shows at the Flying Goose, or pretty much anywhere else. After a farewell tour that will hit four more venues in New England before ending in May, Curtis will focus on other pursuits: Teaching songwriting at creativity retreats, officiating at weddings and keeping a closer watch on the two daughters, now 14 and 12, whom she and her former wife adopted as babies.
“I’ve been making a living on the road for 25 years,” the 51-year-old Curtis said. “I feel a very strong pull, a gut instinct, toward finding a way to be creative from my own town, with very limited traveling. … I’ve packed too many suitcases. Over the last several years, I’d been scaling back from as many as 180 dates a year to more like 50 a year. And I’ve discovered that it’s just as hard to go out 50 days a year, because of the interruptions to family life.
“Considering the stage my kids are at, it’s a really good time for me to do this.”
While next week’s performance is a benefit for one of her favorite causes — separation of church and state — Curtis promises to resist preaching to the choir for more than a few minutes.
“I’m like a lot of people: in a state of shock about what’s happening in the country these days,” Curtis said of the opening weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency. “But I don’t do a lot of song-of-the-day songs. Most of the show will not be about politics or anything. I write songs mostly about relationships, seeking and searching.
“There’s always a couple of moments in my shows where I share something the entire audience will be feeling, but right now, the purpose of my concerts is to provide a kind of safe space and community for people to be together, to think about real-life stuff. … Ultimately, the issues I care about have more to do with compassion and relating to one another. I think that positive change comes from having compassion for oneself and for others. There’s a lot of positive relationship material in here, along with some songs that are a little more on the melancholy side of relationships, of losing friends and making new relationships.”
And while she’s here, Curtis will bid her Upper Valley and New Hampshire fans adieu, with no regrets.
“I love going out on such a strong tour,” she said. “I love the idea of going out with a smile on my face.”
Catie Curtis performs at the Flying Goose Brew Pub and Grille in New London next Thursday night at 8. To reserve tickets ($25) and learn more, visit flyinggoose.com/music or call 603-526-6899.
Best Bets
The Parish Players kick off their 11th annual Ten-Minute Play Festival tonight at the Eclipse Grange on Thetford Hill. Performances these next two weekends are scheduled for 7:30 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and at 3 on Sunday afternoons. To order tickets ($10 to $15) and learn more, visit parishplayers.org or call 603-785-4344. For tonight’s show, tickets will be sold on a buy-one, get-one-free basis.
Jazz veterans Joe Bowie on trombone, Steven Bernstein on trumpet, Bahnamous Bowie on keyboards and JT Lewis on drums are the guest performers with Dartmouth College’s Barbary Coast Jazz Ensemble on Friday night at 8, during the 41st annual Winter Carnival concert at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover. For tickets ($9 to $10), visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
The Vermont Fiddle Orchestra and the Young Tradition Touring Group fill Randolph’s Chandler Music Hall with the folk-music and -dance rhythms of Ireland, the British Isles, Canada, New England, Sweden and Appalachia, on Friday night at 7:30. The extravaganza begins at 7:30. To reserve tickets ($15) and learn more, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Zach Nugent leads Dead Set into the Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Friday night at 9, to perform the repertoire of songs that the Grateful Dead played during its concert at Dartmouth College in 1978. To reserve tickets ($10) and learn more, visit skinnypancake.com or call 603-277-9115.
Roots musician Brendan Taaffe shares stories through songs and puppetry during a free performance at Dartmouth College’s Alumni Hall in Hanover on Saturday morning at 11. The appearance is part of the college’s series of Hopstop Family Shows.
Comedians from Valley Improv perform Saturday night at Damon Hall in Hartland in a benefit for the youth-mentoring programs of Windsor County Partners. The gathering includes a dinner that starts at 6, followed at 7 by the performances. The dinner costs $5 to $10, while admission to the show is by donation. To learn more, visit facebook.com/wcpartners or call 802-674-5101 or email windsorcm@outlook.com
The PAN Project ensemble plays music grounded in the Korean music-narrative tradition of p’ansori at Rollins Chapel in Hanover on Wednesday night at 7. Admission is $17 to $25. To learn more, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Looking Ahead
Bassist Peter Concilio, keyboardist Bruce Sklar and drummer Pete Michelinie will play jazz at Silo Distillery in Windsor on Feb. 17 at 5:30 p.m.
Theatre/Performance Art
Northern Stage unveils its production of the Neil Simon comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers next week, with previews at 7:30 on Wednesday night and next Thursday night. The play runs through March 5. For tickets ($14 to $54) and more information, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
Wednesday is the deadline to submit ideas for stories, on the theme of “Protest,” to tell during the AVA Gallery’s next session of The Mudroom on March 9. To learn more, visit avagallery.org or AVA’s Facebook page.
Music
Sonny Saul hosts an evening of jazz at his shop, Pleasant Street Books, in Woodstock on Friday at 7:30, playing piano alongside bassist Peter Concilio, drummer Pete Michelinie and singer Rebecca Bailey. While admission is free, donations are welcome.
Upper Valley Music Center cello teacher Ben Kulp plays works of works of Gyorgy Ligeti and Gaspar Cassado on Saturday afternoon at 3 at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Hanover. While admission is free, donations to the Lebanon-based music center’s scholarship fund are welcome. To learn more, visit uvmusic.org or call 603-448-1642 or email info@uvmusic.org.
Wellesley College-based saxophonist Cercie Miller and singer Dominique Eade, from the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, collaborate on the next session of Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon this weekend at the Center at Eastman in Grantham. To reserve tickets ($16 to $18) and learn more about this concert, which starts at 4, and about and the current series, visit josajazz.com or call 603-381-1662 or email bill.wightman@comcast.net.
Pianist Piotr Anderszewski performs works of Bach, Chopin and Mozart at Dartmouth College’s Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover on Tuesday night at 7.
Dance
Blind Squirrel sets the rhythm and Lausanne Allen calls the steps for the Second Saturday contradance at Norwich’s Tracy Hall. A run-through for beginners starts at 7:45, and the dancing begins in earnest at 8. All dancers should bring clean, soft-soled shoes for dancing and snacks for the potluck refreshments table. Admission costs $6 to $9.
The Newport Opera House Association hosts a 1980s prom-style semiformal dance for ages 21 and older on Sunday night at 7. To reserve seats ($25 per individual and $40 for couples) at tables for four or for eight, and to learn more, visit newportoperahouse.com or call 603-863-2412 on Friday, Monday or Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Film
Animator Bona Bones screens an array of short animated films at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction on tonight at 7. Proceeds from the suggested donation of at least $5 will go toward production of her new film, The 3rd of July, inspired by her father’s boyhood experiences in the San Francisco Bay area. To learn more about the project or to make a donation online, visit kickstarter.com/projects/bonadona/the-3rd-of-july.
The Upper Valley Jewish Community screens the 2006 film Black Book on Wednesday night at 7 in room 13 of Dartmouth College’s Carpenter Hall in Hanover. The movie follows Jewish fugitives working with the resistance to the Nazis in occupied Netherlands during World War II. Admission is free. To learn more about the community’s series, which runs through Feb. 22, visit uvjc.org.
Bar and Club Circuit
Soulfix performs at the tavern of the Lyme Inn tonight starting at 6 and at the Farmer’s Table in Grantham on Saturday night from 7 to 10.
Pianist Bob Lucier plays jazz at the Canoe Club tonight from 6:30 to 9:30. Following him to the microphone with 6:30 to 9:30 shows over the coming week are pianist William Ogmundson on Friday, acoustic chameleon Joseph Stallsmith on Saturday, pianist Jonathan Kaplan on Sunday, pianist Sonny Saul and singer Becky Bailey with a Valentine’s Day show starting at 6 on Tuesday and the roots duo of Dana and Susan Robinson on Wednesday evening, Feb. 15, from 6:30 to 9:30. Guitarist Ed Eastridge and fiddler Jakob Breitbach will play the same venue on the evening of Feb. 25.
guitarist Ed Eastridge and fiddler Jakob Breitbach on Wednesday.
Singer-songwriter Jim Hollis appears at the Taverne on the Square in Claremont tonight starting at 7, followed by singer-guitarist Andrew Merzi on Friday night at 7.
Bluesman John Lackard pulls into Windsor Station tonight at 7:30, followed by sets of rock from The Pilgrims on Friday night at 9:30 and from Twisted Knickers on Saturday night at 9:30, and by Enfield-native singer-songwriter Hannah Hoffman on Tuesday night at 6.
Royalton singer-songwriter Alison “AliT” Turner performs at the Inn at Weathersfield in Perkinsville on Friday night at 7.
The Strangled Darlings kick off the weekend of music at the Salt hill Pub in Lebanon with a set of folk and Americana on Friday night at 8. On Saturday night at 8, the Dusty Gray Band fills the venue with country/western rhythms.
Brick Drop fuses funk, rock and jazz at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Friday night at 8, followed at the same hour on Saturday night by Riddim Vigil with a set of reggae.
Flew-Z rocks the 10th-anniversary party of Newport’s Salt hill Pub on Friday night at 8, and the Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki Duo commands the stage on Saturday night at 8.
The Conniption Fits rock the Meadow Sports Bar in Canaan on Friday night starting at 8:30.
Sensible Shoes sets the rhythm for dancing at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corner on Friday night starting at 9, and on Sunday from noon to 2 at SILO Distillery in Windsor.
The Meadowlark folk duo of Bonnie Waters and Howard Roscoe perform at the Stone Arch Bakery in Lebanon on Saturday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The roots ensemble Out on a Limb plays at Brocklebank Brewery in Tunbridge on Saturday afternoon from 2 to 5. To learn more, visit brocklebankvt.com.
Singer-songwriter James Mee serenades Valentine’s Day diners at Bentley’s in Woodstock on Tuesday night starting at 5:30.
Bow Thayer plays his weekly set of Americana at the Skinny Pancake on Wednesday night at 7:30.
Open Mics
Ramunto’s Brick & Brew Pizza in Bridgewater hosts an open mic 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, 6:30 to 10.
Joe Stallsmith leads a weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Monday nights at 6.
Bradford’s Colatina Exit holds an open mic, Tuesday nights at 8.
Jim Yeager hosts an open mic at Hartland’s Skunk Hollow Tavern, at 8:30 on Wednesday night, and yet another session next Thursday night at 7 at ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.
Corrections
Sensible Shoes performs at the SILO Distillery in Windsor on Sunday from noon to 2. An earlier version of these listings gave an incorrect date for the Windsor show.
The roots duo of Dana and Susan Robinson performs at the Canoe Club in Hanover on Wednesday evening, Feb. 15, from 6:30 to 9:30. Guitarist Ed Eastridge and fiddler Jakob Breitbach will play the same venue on the evening of Feb. 25. The Canoe Club updated booking dates it had previously sent the Entertainment Highlights column.