Goodbye, Fright Night. Hello, Fright Nights.
As even a short Upper Valley tour of residential Halloween displays reveals, our culture loves to celebrate the haunted holiday well before and even after Oct. 31. The phenomenon applies as well to live — and, up to a point, undead — entertainment hereabouts.
And this season, the Windsor-based soul, R&B and blues ensemble Jack in the Pulpit is going on a mini Halloween tour: On Saturday, guitarist Ethan Lawrence, drummer Kira Kelley, keyboard player Alex Kelley, trumpeter and bassist Mike Conerty and lead singer Raven Ocasio perform at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction. They’ll start playing around 6, take a break during the Gory Daze parade through downtown White River Junction, then play for dancers in earnest from 9 to 11.
On Halloween itself, next Thursday night, the band serenades the holiday celebration at The Public House Pub in Quechee and, on Nov. 1, the Day of the Dead, they complete their expedition with a performance at the Wagon Wheel in Chelsea.
And at each stop, they’ll flaunt a look and vibe they’ve developed in their two years together.
“We’re pretty different from a lot of other groups,” band co-founder Ethan Lawrence said this week. “We really like to be weird and to be zany. We don’t save it for Halloween.”
Expect them to particularly let it all hang out on Saturday night, when “I’m going to be doing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Carlos Santana, and Kira is going to do David Bowie,” Lawrence said.
“It’s going to be really fun. We love the Main Street Museum. It’s a great community of people who come around there, a really great venue.”
Jack in the Pulpit performs on Saturday night at the Main Street Museum in White River Junction; next Thursday night at 7, at the Public House Pub in Quechee; and on Nov. 1 at 8:30 p.m. at The Wagon Wheel Bar and Grill in Chelsea.
The Salt hill Pubs start exercising/exorcizing the holiday spirit on Friday night at 9, with Tirade rocking the Newport venue’s Halloween Bash.
The Wheelers play the Lebanon pub’s Halloween Party from Hell on Saturday night at 9.
Next come “Scary-oke” Halloween parties on Tuesday night at 9 at the Hanover pub, and on Halloween itself next Thursday at 9, at the West Lebanon branch.
Royalton singer-songwriter Alison “AliT” Turner, who would rock the role of Morticia in a reboot of The Addams Family, revs up the Halloween Bash at Trout River Brewery in Springfield, VT., from 6 to 8 p.m.
■The Main Street Museum kicks off its Music, Magic & Madness celebration at 6 p.m., with a bonfire, refreshments and tarot readings by psychics Paul and Kelly Hyson. The annual Gory Daze Parade through downtown will start at Hartford Town Hall at 6:45, and conclude at the museum around 8, with a spooky-costume contest. Admission to the Jack in the Pulpit concert, at 9, is $5. All other activities are free.
■Rusted Chrome plays classic rock for the Halloween party at Claremont’s American Legion Post 29, from 7 to 11 p.m. Admission $5 in advance (call 603-542-9222), $7 at the door.
CATV and Hop Film unveil the top submissions in the eighth annual Halloween-o-Thon, starting Monday night at 7:30 at Dartmouth College’s Loew Auditorium with short horror movies and thrillers by filmmakers from area middle and high schools. And on Tuesday night at the same hour and location, the cream of the spooky crop by adults are shown before awards are announced. Admission is free.
Hartford-native roots musician Jes Raymond leads what she describes as a “spooky” version of her String-Band Karaoke session from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Skinny Pancake in Hanover.
■The Vermont Folklife Center screens Vermont-made horror movies from the 1970s at 7, at Woodstock Town Hall Theatre. Steve Bissette, from the Center for Cartoon Studies in White River Junction, will introduce and answer questions about the 75-minute feature The Animal and the 10-minute short Transformations. Admission by donation.
The Hopkins Center screens the scream-filled, Oscar-winning The Silence of the Lambs at 7:30 p.m., at Loew Auditorium in Hanover. Admission $5 to $8.
■Last Kid Picked sets the rhythm for the Halloween Masquerade Dance, 8 p.m. at Newport Opera House. For ages 21 and older. Admission $20 in advance, $25 at the door.
Catman, aka Matthew Oldershaw, and his cat Gabby perform feline-oriented folk music from 6 to 8, during the Midnight Madness celebration at Star Cat Books in Bradford, Vt. Free.
No costume is too outlandish, nor any singing voice too loud or off-key, for the interactive screening of The Rocky Horror Picture Show that Amplified Arts hosts at 10 p.m., in its second-floor theater at 31 Pleasant St. in downtown Claremont. Doors open at 9:30. To reserve tickets ($30) and learn more, visit amplifiedartsnh.org.
Guy Davis sings and plays folk and blues on Thursday night at 8 at the Flying Goose Brew Pub and Grille in New London. To reserve tickets ($25), call 603-526-6899.
■The Heliand Consort performs the New England premiere of Vermont-native composer Nico Muhly’s new work, Reliable Sources, during a wide-ranging concert at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph on Friday night at 7. Bassoonist Rachael Elliott co-commissioned the Muhly piece, on which she plays with 29 other orchestral wind-instrumentalists. The program also features works of contemporary composers Padma Newsome, Belinda Reynolds, Tammie Olson and Valerie Coleman. For tickets ($10 to $20) and more information, visit chandler-arts.org or call 802-728-6464.
Jordan, performances Thursday afternoon through Nov. 3 at Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction. Tickets $17.75 to $57.75.
Esai’s Table, shows Thursday night through Sunday at Briggs Opera House in White River Junction. For tickets ($35) and more information, visit jagproductionsvt.come/esaistable.
Forever Plaid, Thursday night through Sunday at Grange Theatre in South Pomfret. Tickets $28 to $32.
Guitarist Ken Bonfield, Friday night at 7 at Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse. Admission by donation.
■Anonymous Coffeehouse, Friday night at First Congregational Church of Lebanon. Celtic duo of string player Scott Lemire and bagpiper Anthony Santoro leads off at 7:30, followed by singer-pianist Karen Liot Hill at 8:15 and the roots quartet Out on a Limb at 9. Admission by donation.
■Panhandlers Steel Band, Saturday night at 6:30, during dinner and gaming at Charlestown Senior Center. To reserve tickets, call 603-826-5987.
■Dartmouth College Gospel Choir, music on theme of “Will We Be OK?”, Saturday night at 7:30 in Hopkins Center’s Spaulding Auditorium. Admission $15.
■ U.S. Air Force Clarinet Quartet, Sunday afternoon at 4 at ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret. Free.
■Heart Swing, jazz, Sunday afternoon at 4:30 p.m., at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Upper Valley in Norwich. Admission $15 in advance (visit uucuv.org/uucuv-coffeehouseperformances), $20 at door.
■Pianists Sally Pinkas and Evan Hirsch, classical dance works of Samuel Barber, Darius Milhaud and others, Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Dartmouth College’s Spaulding Auditorium.
■Violinist Rolf Schulte and pianist James Winn, classical works by Beethoven and of Ferruccio Busoni, Saturday afternoon at 3 at Alumni Hall in Haverhill. Admission $20 to $22.
Cuckoo’s Nest, roots/Americana band, and caller Luke Donforth, lead contra dance at Tracy Hall in Norwich, Saturday night at 8. Admission $8 to $12.
Mad Hazard Band, jazz, bossa nova and blues, Thursday night at 5:30 at the Quechee Club’s Davidson’s Restaurant.
■Gabby Martin, folk rock, Thursday night at 6 at Peyton Place restaurant in Orford.
■John Lackard Blues Duo, Friday night at 6 at Big Fatty’s BBQ in White River Junction.
■Sunny Lowdown and the Ice Cream Men, roots/Americana, Friday night at 8 at Skunk Hollow Tavern.
■Doug Lantz and Scott Stone, roots-rock, Friday night at 8 at Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon; Chris Powers, rock, Saturday afternoon at 4.
■Chad Gibbs, acoustic rock, Friday night at 9 at Salt hill Pub in Hanover.
■Alec Currier, acoustic rock, Friday night at 9 at Salt hill Pub in Lebanon.
■Blue Fox & The Rockin’ Daddies, Saturday night at 7 at The Public House Pub in Quechee.
■Sensible Shoes, danceable rock and pop, Sunday afternoon from 2 to 6 at SILO Distillery in Windsor.
■ Jes Raymond and Jakob Breitbach, folk/roots, Sunday night at 5 at Harpoon Brewery in Windsor.
■Singer-songwriter Jim Yeager, Monday nights at 6:30 at 506 on the River in Woodstock.
■Singer-songwriter Alison “AliT” Turner, Tuesday night at 6 at Upper Pass Brewing Co. in South Royalton.
Fiddler Jakob Breitbach hosts jams at two White River Junction venues over the coming week: jazz on Thursday night at 6 at Cafe Renee, in Hotel Coolidge; roots on Tuesday night at 7 at Filling Station Bar and Grill.
■Alec Currier’s open-mic at Salt hill Pub in Lebanon, Thursday nights at 8.
■Joseph Stallsmith’s hootenanny of Americana, folk and bluegrass, Monday nights at 6 at Salt hill Pub in Hanover.
■Jim Yeager, open-mic sessions Thursday night at 7 at ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret, and Tuesday night at 6 at The Public House Pub in Quechee.
■Tom Masterson’s open mic, Tuesday nights at 7 at Colatina Exit.
■Peter Meijer’s open mic, Wednesday nights at 8 at Skunk Hollow Tavern.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Send entertainment news to highlights@vnews.com.