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“As a visual artist in my day job, playing funk in front of a Maxfield Parrish stage set blows my mind,” Runde, who lives in Bethel, said last week. “Plus the mood around the event has always been extremely warm. So many times you play clubs and play bars, and it’s hard for musicians to dig in. The feeling here is substantially different. People are there with good intention.”
The good intentions, and vibrations continue on Saturday night in Plainfield, with the sixth annual benefit dance and silent auction. Since it started in 2013, dance attendees have contributed more than $25,000 to Hand to Heart’s program of free, in-home massage and compassionate touch for cancer patients, including $7,000 last April alone.
The Party Crashers return for the fourth straight year.
“They’re a really great band,” massage therapist and Hand to Heart founder Steve Gordon, a longtime resident of Cornish, said on Tuesday. “They’re a lot of fun. While we always do well with the auction, a lot of people are there just for the dance, because of the band. It’s a chance to shake off the mud and bust loose a little bit after a long winter.”
Party Crashers guitarist Ted Mortimer started the tradition, leading his now-dormant band Dr. Burma to the Plainfield dance in 2013 and 2014, and kept it going by bringing the Crashers from 2015 on.
“Everyone comes ready to dance,” Mortimer wrote during an exchange of emails this week. “It’s a great dance party for a great cause, and the Plainfield Town Hall is a lovely venue. It’s the perfect way to kick off spring.”
The Hand to Heart organizers make the occasion feel like more than just another gig for Runde, Mortimer, bassist Kristin Higgins, lead singer Hillary Leicher and drummer Tom Jellison.
“They take good care of us, make sure to feed us and keep us happy,” Runde said. “We all need some love during mud season. It works all the drudgery out of your system: Dance the blues away.”
The Party Crashers serenade the Hand to Heart Project’s annual dance at Plainfield Town Hall on Saturday night at 7:30. In addition to donations (suggested at $10 or more) for admission at the door, proceeds from the annual silent auction go toward the project. To learn more about auction items and about the project, visit handtoheartproject.org.
Best Bets
The Los Lorcas Trio of guitarist Nat Williams and poets Partridge Boswell and Peter Money mash up verse and music at ArtisTree Community Art Center in South Pomfret on Friday night at 7:30. Admission is free to the performance, which blends Andalusian ballads, blues, rock, folk, Americana and jazz in the spirit of the cante jondo (deep song) championed by musician/poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. To learn more, visit artistreevt.org.
Opera North celebrates the centenary of the birth of Leonard Bernstein with a recital of his best-known works on Saturday night at 7:30 at the Roth Center for Jewish Life in Hanover. For tickets ($25) and more information, visit operanorth.org or call 603-448-4141.
The Woodstock Vermont Film Series concludes on Saturday afternoon, with free screenings at 3 and 5:30 of Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing at the Billings Farm and Museum theater. The documentary was written and directed by Dartmouth College graduates Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg. While admission is free, it’s wise to call 802-457-2355 to reserve a seat.
Bassist Peter Concilio leads his Speakeasy Prohibition Jazz Band of keyboardist Bob Merrill, trumpeter Dave Ellis and drummer Tim Gilmore through music of the 1920s and 1930s at Windsor Station on Saturday night at 8.
On a theme of “Dark Horses,” The Stellaria Trio of violinist Letitia Quante, pianist Claire Black and cellist John Dunlop performs Beethoven’s Piano Trio No. 6 in E-flat major and Dvorak’s Piano Trio No. 3 in F minor on Sunday afternoon, in Dartmouth College’s Rollins Chapel.
De Temps Antan performs Quebecois music at Alumni Hall in Haverhill on Sunday night at 7:30. To reserve tickets ($20 to $22) and learn more, visit courtstreetarts.org or call 603-989-5500.
In advance of her trio’s concert at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center next Thursday, Afro-Cuban diva Dayme Arocena talks about her work and influences on Wednesday afternoon at 5 at the Hop’s Faulkner Recital Hall. To reserve tickets ($17 to $30) for next Thursday’s show in Spaulding Auditorium, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Northern Stage kicks off its interpretation of the Michael Frayn play-within-a-play farce Noises Off, with preview performances at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction starting Wednesday night, ahead of opening night on April 14. For tickets ($15 to $34 to the previews, $21.25 on April 17 and $15 to $59 on all other dates), visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
Looking Ahead
Parish Players will stage William Luce’s The Last Flapper at the Eclipse Grange Theater on Thetford Hill for two weekends, starting next Thursday night at 7:30. For tickets ($10 to $15) and more information about the play, based on the letters of author Zelda Fitzgerald, visit parishplayers.org or call 802-785-4344.
Theater/Performance Art
Boston-based comedian Nick Chambers headlines the monthly stand-up show at the Engine Room in White River Junction tonight. Admission is $5 to $10. Doors open at 6 and the show starts at 8.
Patrick Garner performs the one-man play Benjamin Franklin: American’s First Citizen, at Claremont Opera House on Friday morning at 10. To reserve tickets ($5) and learn more, call 603-542-0064.
The 1776 Project performs the musical 1776 at the Briggs Opera House in White River Junction on Friday and Saturday nights at 7:30 and on Sunday afternoon at 3. The musical runs through April 14. To reserve tickets ($22 to $25, plus service fee) and learn more, visit the1776project.org.
Auditions
The Old Church Theater in Bradford holds auditions this weekend for the next two productions at its temporary home on Waits River Road.
Tryouts are scheduled for Friday and Saturday nights at 6 for the July production of Stepmothers, director Melissa Mann’s musical adaptation of the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm through the eyes of the less-than-adored guardians of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel and Snow White. In addition to 10 roles for adults, there are openings for children ages 10 and younger. To set up an audition and learn more, email mann7276@hotmail.com.
Auditions start at 2 on Saturday and Sunday afternoons for the five roles in the June staging of Pride @ Prejudice, a re-imagining of the Jane Austen novel through blogs and web sites. To make an appointment and learn more, call Gloria Heidenreich at 802-439-6199.
World Under Wonder holds auditions for its summer production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible on Wednesday and next Thursday and Friday, at the company’s new playhouse in Weathersfield. The drama, set in colonial Massachusetts during the witch scares as reference to McCarthy-era persecution will be performed on June 29 and 30 and on July 6 and 8. To learn more, email worldunderwonder@gmail.com.
Music
Pianist-singer Bill Wightman, singer-guitarist Cliff Clegg and drummer Jody Bregler play jazz, pop and rock at the Flying Goose Brewpub & Grille in New London tonight at 8. Next Thursday night at 8. For tickets ($25) and more information, visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
Musical choices on First Friday in downtown White River Junction include a set by Sensible Shoes at the Lampscapes store between 5:30 and 7:30. Additional shows around town include Steve Cornell leading off an open mic at Big Fatty’s BBQ at 6; Peter Neri playing the entryway of the Tip Top building from 6 to 8; Kerry Rose leading the Magic Music Circle in the atrium of the Tip Top from 6 to 8; Rob Oxford performing at Long River Art Gallery from 6 to 8; Meadowlark playing at Piecemeal Pies from 6 to 8; and Citizen Pine appearing at The Filling Station from 8 to 10.
The Acacia Chamber Music ensemble of clarinetist Meghan Davis, flutist Leslie Stroud and pianist Matthew Odell plays a concert benefiting the addiction-recovery agency Headrest, on Saturday night at 7 at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. Admission is $20.
Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes sing and play the blues with a New Jersey accent at the Lebanon Opera House on Saturday night at 7:30. For tickets ($39.50 to $49.50) and more information, visit lebanonoperahouse.org or call 603-448-0400.
Hartland soprano Chiho Kaneko sings Bach’s Cantata #51 during the Upper Valley Chamber Orchestra’s spring concert on Sunday afternoon at 3, at Hanover’s Richmond Middle School. The orchestra also tackles Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Rissolty Rossolty, Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia and movements 2 to 5 of Robert Schumann’s Symphony No. 3. Admission is $10.
Singer-trumpeter Christine Fawson performs the season’s final Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon concert at 4, in the Center at Eastman in Grantham. To reserve tickets ($18 to $20) and learn more, visit josajazz.com, call 603-763-8732 or 603-381-1662 or email bill.wightman@comcast.net.
Dartmouth College pianist-in-residence Sally Pinkas performs works of composers from Syria, the Philippines and Great Britain on Tuesday night at 7, at Spaulding Auditorium in Hanover. For tickets ($17 to $27) and more information, visit hop.dartmouth.edu or call 603-646-2422.
Dance
The Dave Keller Band rocks the monthly Shindigs gathering at Tunbridge Town Hall on Saturday night at 7:30. Admission is $10.
Bar and Club Circuit
The Eugene Tyler Band pulls into Windsor Station tonight at 7, to play a set of Americana music.
Saxophonist Mike Parker accompanies singer Iva Wich at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in White River Junction on Friday night at 7, and pairs with singer-guitarist Alison “AliT” Turner on Tuesday night at 6 at Crossroads Bar and Grille in South Royalton.
The father-daughter duo of singer Sarah Amos and guitarist Bob Amos perform across the spectrum of Americana music at the Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse on Friday night at 7, at the Methodist church in Sunapee Harbor. Admission is by donation.
Bassist Peter Concilio, guitarist John Stowell, trumpeter Dave Ellis, saxophonist Tom Robinson and drummer Tim Gilmore play jazz at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners on Friday night at 8.
The Party Crashers turn up the volume at the Engine Room in White River Junction on Friday night at 8.
The Conniption Fits open a busy weekend with a gig at the Sumner House in Charlestown on Friday night at 8, then rock Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Saturday night starting at 9.
Pianist Sonny Saul performs jazz at the On the River Inn in Woodstock on Saturday and Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9.
Singer-songwriter Brian Cook and bandmates Chris Trimble and Katie Bucci play the Public House in Quechee on Saturday night from 7 to 10.
Soulfix appears at the Crossroads Bar and Grill in South Royalton on Saturday night at 9.
Open Mics
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.
Joe Stallsmith leads his weekly hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass on Monday night at 6 at Salt hill Pub in Hanover.
Jim Yeager hosts open mics on the following nights over the coming week: at Bentley’s Restaurant in Woodstock on Monday night at 7:30; at the Public House in Quechee on Tuesday night at 6; on Wednesday from 8 to midnight at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners; and next Thursday night at 7 at the ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret.
Fiddler Jakob Breitbach leads a weekly acoustic jam session of bluegrass, Americana and old-timey music on Tuesday nights at 7 at The Filling Station Bar and Grill in White River Junction.
Tom Masterson hosts the weekly open mic at Bradford’s Colatina Exit on Tuesday nights at 8.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304.
Correction
Information about the Cornish-based Hand to Heart Project is available at handtoheartproject.org. The project’s website was listed incorrectly in an earlier version of this story.