Every year, Thanksgiving Day,
While we digest our turkey
The family puts up its display;
You can see it from Albuquerque.
Papa says their electric bill
Must reach up to the sky!
But Mama says the joy it brings
Is more than money can buy.
— Judy Pancoast
from The House on Christmas Street
As novelty songs go, Judy Pancoast’s The House on Christmas Street went nowhere — at least on radio — for more than a decade after its release in 1998.
Then an Internet subculture of holiday-light fanatics discovered the song and gave it a life of its own, synchronizing their displays with the song’s rhythm and lyrics. This time of year, Pancoast, a children’s musician and composer who lives in Goffstown, N.H., syncs her life with the lights, too, traveling around North America and occasionally overseas, to sing in front of holiday displays.
The only person who gets more mileage out of Christmas might be Santa Claus himself.
“My van has 577,000 miles on it,” Pancoast said of her 2004 Toyota Sienna last week, during a telephone conversation. “I’ve had one decorator fly me to England twice to sing there, and I’ve been across the country several times. These are the people who put my song on the map.”
On Saturday night, Pancoast only needs to drive to Claremont to sing her gratitude to Brian Mitchell, the decorator who jump-started her yuletide travels in 2010.
“We actually met online in one of the Christmas-decorator forums I’m in, PlanetChristmas.com, I think,” Mitchell wrote during an exchange of emails last week. “I was using House on Christmas Street in my display in 2009 when I found out she was quite local.”
Pancoast, who has performed at Mitchell’s 45,000-light show twice since, needed no prompting to return this weekend on behalf of David’s House, the Lebanon hostel for families of children undergoing long-term care at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center.
“David’s House is really special to me,” Pancoast said. “I hope people will come out and be generous.”
Pancoast describes herself as “a child of the ’70s” who “grew up in Maine listening to Top 40 tunes with memorable melodies and catchy hooks.” She has lived in New Hampshire for more than 25 years. While raising her two daughters, she spent most of those years writing and recording her children’s music, and touring the country on behalf of a variety of charities, including an orphanage in Kenya.
Not long before embarking on the light-display tours, Pancoast wrote and recorded Weird Things Are Everywhere!, which the Recording Academy nominated for a Grammy Award for best children’s album for 2010.
“I’d been a member of the academy since 2004, and I’d gone to the Grammys as a member three times before,” Pancoast recalled. “On every trip, I said, ‘Someday I’m going to go as a nominee.’”
When her time came in 2011, she received a bronze medal from Tiffany’s for the nomination, but left without a statue.
“I lost to Pete Seeger, which I love,” Pancoast said of the folk legend’s Tomorrow’s Children. “If you’re going to lose to someone, you can’t ask for better.”
Ever since, the House on Christmas Street has been giving Pancoast all the validation she could ask for, from light-show spectators telling her they grew up listening to the song to the guy whom she granted permission to record a karaoke version.
“You get a lot of love, you leave and you move on to the next place, where you get some more,” Pancoast said. “I never imagined this happening. My dream always was to have one song that made an impact.
“It’s been a real highlight of my career.”
Judy Pancoast sings a mix of her own songs, highlighted by
Best Bets
Singer-guitarist Harvey Reid and fiddler Joyce Andersen perform their annual holiday concert at the Flying Goose Brewpub and Grille in New London at 8 tonight. Reservations are strongly advised. To order tickets ($25), visit flyinggoose.com or call 603-526-6899.
■The ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret celebrates the season on Saturday night, starting at 6 with a parade of carolers from ArtisTree Gallery to the Grange Theatre. At 6:30, ArtisTree hosts a variety show by Woodstock-area performers at the Grange. Admission is $10 for revelers who come for the entertainment and free for those who buy art from the closing reception of the Small Works exhibit at the gallery between 5 and 6. To learn more, visit artistreevt.org.
■During his annual holiday swing back through the Upper Valley from his current home base of Nashville, Enfield-native singer-songwriter Brooks Hubbard performs on Saturday night at 7 at Salt hill Pub in Hanover and next Thursday night at 8 at Salt hill’s Lebanon pub.
■Norwich-native singer-songwriter Celia Woodsmith leads her Americana quintet Say Darling into The Skinny Pancake in Hanover on Saturday night at 9. Admission to the band’s Holiday Jamboree is $12 in advance and $15 at the door.
■The Conniption Fits rock the annual Ugly Sweater Party at West Lebanon’s Salt hill Pub on Saturday night at 9.
Looking Ahead
The Seven Stars Arts Center in Sharon has rescheduled to May 3 the concert that folk singer-songwriter Bill Staines had to cancel last weekend. To reserve tickets ($10 to $20) to the 7 p.m. performance, proceeds from which benefit Seven Stars’ programs, mail a check made out to the center to SSAC, P.O. Box 216, Sharon, Vt. 05065, with “Bill Staines” in the memo line. Admission at the door is $12 to $25. To learn more, call 802-763-2334.
■Calliope will set the New England-folksy rhythm and Nils Fredland will call the steps for Muskeg Music’s New Year’s Eve contra dance at Tracy Hall in Norwich, on Dec. 31 from 8 to midnight. 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.
■Woodstock’s St. James Episcopal Church will stage performances of the opera Amahl and the Night Visitors on Jan. 5 at 7 p.m. and on Jan. 6 at 4 p.m. Church organist and choirmaster James Lorenz will direct 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.
Theater/Performance Art
Northern Stage presents Matilda the Musical through Jan. 1 at the Barrette Center for the Arts in White River Junction. The coming week’s performances includes a Christmas Eve matinee on Monday afternoon at 2, and shows at 2 and 7:30 on Wednesday, the day after Christmas. To reserve tickets and learn more, visit northernstage.org or call 802-296-7000.
■Shaker Bridge Theatre lowers the curtain on its production of the dysfunctional-family comedy Over the Tavern this weekend, with performances at 7:30 tonight, Friday night and Saturday nights and at 2 on Sunday afternoon. For tickets ($16 to $28 plus $2 for online purchases) and more information, visit shakerbridgetheatre.org or call 603-448-3750.
Music
Pianist Henry Danaher, cellist Margaret Gilmore and flutist Leslie Stroud accompany soprano Chiho Kaneko through a concert of French chamber music on Friday night at 7, at the First Congregational Church of Lebanon. The quartet of Upper Valley musicians tackles works of Maurice Ravel, Louise Farrenc and Philippe Gaubert. Admission is $15.
■Alto saxophonist Greg Abate plays jazz at the Center at Eastman in Grantham on Sunday afternoon at 4. Admission is $18 to $20. To reserve tickets and to learn more about the Jazz on a Sunday Afternoon series of concerts visit josajazz.com or call 603-763-8732.
Holiday Hollers
Singer-songwriter Kathy Lowe performs her annual Christmas show at the Sunapee Community CoffeeHouse on Friday night at 7. While admission is free, donations are welcome.
■The Mascoma Valley Guitar Orchestra plays a free holiday concert at the LaSalette Shrine in Enfield on Friday evening at 5:30. Anyone interested in joining the ensemble, which rehearses on Sunday nights at 6:30 in the meeting room at the Enfield Public Works building, is welcome to call 603-252-7180 or to email alaview@sover.net.
■The 25-member Full Circle choir sings holiday concerts on Friday night at 7:30 at Bradford’s Congregational United Church of Christ, and on Saturday night at 7:30 at the Lyme Congregational Church. Admission to both concerts is by donation.
■In advance of its annual Christmas Eve service on Monday evening, the Lyme Congregational Church is holding rehearsals on Saturday night at 6:30 and on Sunday afternoon at 1:30. Rehearsals and the service are open to singers and instrumentalists of all ages and abilities. The Monday service, starts at 5, with the Christmas Community Choir singing And the Glory of the Lord. The service concludes with Handel’s Hallelujiah Chorus, during which the audience is welcome to sing along. To join the rehearsals and learn more, email music director Alison Cheroff at acheroffpiano@gmail.com or call 802-436-6572.
Bar and Club Circuit
The Repeat Offenders pull into Windsor Station tonight at 7 to play a set of rock and pop classics. The weekend lineup features Maiden Voyage on Friday night at 10 and The Gully Boys on Saturday night at 9:30.
■Carlos Ocasio and Tres Amigos play Latin and soul rhythms on Friday night at 9 at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
■ Soulfix appears at Crossroads Bar and Grill in South Royalton on Friday from 9 to midnight.
■ Toby Moore rocks, acoustically, at Salt hill Pub in downtown Lebanon on Friday night at 9.
■Singer-songwriter Amanda McCarthy plays Newport’s Salt hill Pub on Friday night at 9 and Salt hill in downtown Lebanon on Saturday night at 9.
■Plush Foot shares its mix of funky rock at Salt hill Pub in West Lebanon on Friday night at 9.
■Doug Lantz plays the ukulele between stories at Salt hill Pub in Hanover on Friday night at 9.
■Turner Round front man Chad Gibbs performs a set of acoustic rock at Salt hill Pub in Newport on Saturday night at 9.
■Sonny Saul plays jazz at the On the River Inn in Woodstock on Saturday and Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9.
Open Mics
Woodstock musician Jim Yeager hosts open mics tonight at 7 at ArtisTree Community Arts Center in South Pomfret, and on Wednesday night at 8 at Skunk Hollow Tavern in Hartland Four Corners.
■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.
■ Fiddler Jakob Breitbach is taking a holiday break, the next two Tuesdays, from his weekly acoustic jam session of bluegrass, Americana and old-timey music at the Filling Station Bar and Grill in White River Junction. The sessions resume on Jan. 8.
■Tom Masterson hosts an open mic at Colatina Exit in Bradford, on Tuesday nights at 8, after taking a hiatus over Christmas and New Year’s.
David Corriveau can be reached at dcorriveau@vnews.com and at 603-727-3304. Entertainment news also can be sent to highlights@vnews.com.