This coming Tuesday 11/28 is Giving Tuesday. It’s a chance for you to take a moment and give to nonprofits that you want to support. We hope that you consider a donation to The Loading Dock on this Giving Tuesday. We are excited because this will be the first time that we can participate in Giving Tuesday, as we are a brand new nonprofit based in Littleton NH.
While Darsombra was setting up for soundcheck we got a chance to catch up. They mentioned how in all of the traveling they have done, The Loading Dock is a special and unique place in the north east. We talked about how their experiences playing shows in other countries is more like the experience of playing in Littleton. With all of the struggles that the Arts and LGBTQ community is going through in the town of Littleton, its important to know that the Arts are alive and thriving and creating an impact.
Photo: Zach Ulibarri
Just this past Friday, we are just coming down from another big three band night with TheWorst and Lake Over Fire from Portland ME and Psych Ward Disco from all around northern NH. Amazing photo captures by Daryl Averill
Our Halloween show with The Van Burens and Way of the Headband is coming up this Saturday. It will be a good time, expect a costume dance party and you can also come as you are. There may be some spooky stuff in and around The Loading Dock and PolyArt galleries.
Tickets are going quickly and we do have limited capacity. Purchase your tickets online at Eventbrite, most likely we will be at capacity when the doors open.
Recently we were introduced to someone at a show that ended up becoming a generous donation through one of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation donor-advised funds. The funds will be used to upgrade our audio equipment and stage lighting. We are very excited to install the new gear.
While we are at it, supporting other Arts organizations in Littleton is crucial right now. Theatre Up is doing a super fun production of La Cage aux Folles. Don’t pass up this opportunity to see amazing community theater right around the corner in the beautiful Littleton Opera House.
Last month was such a blast, the return of Under 21 Open Mic night was on point with lots of returning artists as well as some new faces. We added collaborative wall painting to the mix and folks seemed to really enjoy that creative outlet, will post images on social, the wall is looking cool. Needs more! We got a date for the next open mic, will be 10/27, the day before our halloween show.
We are now a nonprofit and can join in the fun at the Littleton Coop Partner of the Month. Seriously, being able to participate in this with so many other amazing orgs out there is super fun and exciting. Please vote for us for partner of the month so we can keep doing awesome stuff.
This is our first summer as a non profit, we are working with a great group of people on our board. There is a lot of foundational type stuff happening that has been on the back burner since we started this all in 2014. We’ve spent a lot of time applying for grants and being awarded some which is awesome! We got funding to support a year of Under 21 Open Mic events as well as a series of All ages Open Mics. More on our plans for this in the coming weeks.
Pictured here, a fixture at the LD since 2014, Sarah Brooks’ baby grand piano. Folks may be finding a home for the instrument that we’ve been looking after for the past 8 or 9 years. We can use the extra space and the piano is not being used as much as it should be. Recycle and reuse everything!
In between all that we were planning on presenting some music at Jerry Jam and sadly our host town, Cabot VT, was badly flooded and the whole event has been postponed. That left us with a bit more time to do more groundwork for future things and also enjoy our all-too-short summer months up here in the north country. Donate to Help on the Way.
Friday, July 21
Come celebrate 10 years of NH punk fusion outfit SCREEN, with special guests Doug., Socially Problematic Children and Run Don't Walk!
Sunday, August 6
Alternative, americana, indie, strings, harmonies, and Rock & Roll. All ages, doors open at 7:30, music at 8. BYOB w/21+ID
Sunday, August 20
P-Funk meets Zappa meets Sun Ra. Guitar, bass, drums and vocal trio. All ages, doors open at 7:30, music at 8. BYOB w/21+ID
We are always looking for people of all ages from our community to get involved and help out with events and the day to day logistics of running The Loading Dock. When you volunteer you will be greatly appreciated by The Loading Dock folks and you get into an additional event for free!
NH Panthers doing a live screen printing demo
Everyone Belongs sign out proud!
Front page in the local papers!
Jason here from The Loading Dock. It feels so good to be headed into the future as a nonprofit with an amazing board, dedicated volunteers and a supportive arts community! Your donations are now tax deductible! https://www.theloadingdocknh.com/donate
The Loading Dock is dedicated to presenting original Art from emerging and established artists, we foster a safe space for the community to connect around a shared appreciation of the Arts.
We envision a connected and vibrant north country arts community through meaningful live events. Fostering a scene of local artists of all ages and backgrounds that can take chances and realize their full potential; educating area youth through Arts programming, technical skill sharing, and hands on experience.
We thought we would try something different with the review. Both Kerri and I have been texting back and forth every time we are listening to this album, both of us have been heavily moved by the recent release from Oceanator, Things I Never Said. Here are a collection of impressions from Kerri and I about this amazing new music.
As Ruckzuck releases their 5th album the band is continuing to recombine in surprising directions. The epic proportions of tunes like Keystoned State give a window into the anthemic nature of this band as they weave out songs that evoke the arms of the cosmos. Each of the tunes on this record are mini expanding universes where the parallel dimensions snuggle in warm vibrations.
This album was recorded over 41 years ago during the summer of 1978 in Ithaca, NY by Drew Schlesinger and David Torn and recently rediscovered and finally released via Drew on Bandcamp. Summer Synthesis 1978 sounds super fresh right now especially with all the renewed interest in early synth technology and sounds. There is a pragmatism to all of the playing on this record. Yes, there is lots of experimentation but not at the cost of creating incredible music.
On April 12th, deep in quarantine, I reached out to Miah Brooks - inquiring after some information about the local North Country music past. I met Miah while I was volunteering at the Loading Dock. Miah was, of course, mixing for the show and I approached him behind his ostentatious sound board, asking if I could watch what he was doing. We ended up talking about music, how to work in the arts, the politics of the past and current world, and the history of the North County Music Scene. As the virus hit in March and local art organizations, including the Loading Dock, started to cancel events and close down - I began to contemplate the history that got us here in the first place, the North Country music roots, and I knew who to talk to for more information.
What follows is…
By Emma Aldrich Jordan
Emma
Hey Miah, I’ve been thinking a lot about local music lately and it reminded me that you said there used to be a more extensive music scene up here - I was wondering if there were any bands from here with music that I could find somewhere? I’d like to listen to it and check it out.
Miah
Well, now...you probably came to the right place.
However; a lot of the history precedes digital and therefore recordings are scarce. The first band I was hired to run sound for was The Regular Einsteins. Do you know Pam McCann or Morris Manning? Pam and Morris basically started the Einsteins. Pam now runs Dog Mountain and plays mostly in Vermont. Morris is a perennial local favorite.The most kickass band ever around here was Swazey Lane/Alley Rose, that was my mom's band back when she was 20-something.
Then there was Mudfoot. I'm kind of biased on this one; but although we recorded nearly every show we ever played, most disappeared/got lent/lost. After that, in the wake of the Einsteins, came Crunchy Western Boys. Also: the thing to consider is that in the late 70's, there were literally 8 venues between Franconia/Bethlehem/Littleton that would have music on any given night. That lasted through the late 80's; by the 90's (when we were coming up) it had dwindled to like four. This also coincided with the rise of hiphop/deejays in the area. By 2000, the full-band gigs had mostly dried up and venues wanted to hire dj's/duos. It's really only since about 2010 that real live performances have started returning, and still nowhere near the prevalence that existed before. Which is super long explanation for this:you can pitch it as a local resurgence.
Would you say the djs have a hand in drying out the live band scene?
Absolutely, in a financial sense DJ/duo will undercut a full band on money every time.not to mention needed space/volume level.
There were only a few "club" owners who were dedicated enough to the scene to keep hiring bands. The restaurant trade went almost entirely DJ/duo.
Is that still going on in the area?
Yes, although the pendulum is starting to swing back. Put it this way; you can get a duo for $150-200 if you hardass them. A band can't even make gas/food on that most times.
Where did the live bands of the past come from? Do you know what the scene was like in a social/collaborative sense?
Yep. It mostly stemmed from the influx of arts around Franconia College. Franconia was already a liberal/moneyed pocket in an otherwise rather undereducated factory landscape. That was when the paper/shoe mills dominated. Then it turned into "Goddard lite with more acid"
the Union Leader went after them with articles about "wanton sex/drugs/communists" and eventually the Staties did a campus-wide surprise bust/invasion. A fair proportion of the "old people'' around here are leftover from that influx/migration, more than you might think.
Woah did that invasion like shut the college down?
It started a political process that eventually cost them funding and led to the end. The Chicago Review showed up and did a story on it... I was the naked 4yo child running with a black lab on the lawn for the cover shot.
So was the music scene made up of musicians who stayed?
Not just musicians; carpenters, architects, gardeners, herbalists, writers. I grew up in it; and it took me until my mid 20's to understand that not everywhere around here was like this. The mill towns still existed. Those were the places that the hair metal was big. Here's the truth: somewhere beneath all that, was GG Allin, who very quickly fled the area.
Were there hair bands that played in the area as well?
Yep. They only did covers though. Fox was the biggest/longest hair band. Twenty years I think? Maybe it was Foxx. Then there was 8084; giant light show, fog machines, semi to haul it, etc. That was the 70's into the 80's. By the 90's, it was Third Degree out of Berlin and then Box.
Who is GG Allin? I’ve heard the name before but only since moving up here.
He's the reason there are sooooo many "punk" bands right here right now. They had to actually dig him up and move his grave to hide him so people would stop shitting on it. Apparently it was a popular pastime and the rest of the people using the cemetery didn't appreciate it. Could probably be considered the father figure of shockrock/performance art. I wouldn't really call it music.
Wait so did people dislike him?
Nope. He was a total anarchist...WANTED people to do that. So it turned into a ritual with people driving hours to do it. Kinda like Morrison's grave on a very micro scale. And yes; here in Littleton. Like I said, it didn't go over well with anyone else. Let's just say his performances made Ozzy biting a bat's head off look tame. But again; mostly about violence/anarchy, and not about music. Most music people would say that punk was the counter reaction to the excess of the late 70's progressive rock. However that was mostly British; didn't really happen here on the local scene and here's why I can't chalk the current situation up to a political resurgence against bourgeois "studio musicians"... there *aren't any around here* invariably, all the best musicians (other than a handful born here) have left. I guess my takeaway from all of it is that if you look at what happened here before, and other places like Austin/Asheville...it comes down to maintaining a critical mass. if you drop below that, stuff starts declining at a slow/steady/exponential rate.
A critical mass of musicians? Audience?
Both. "Scene", if you will. There's something that is very hard to quantify, but to me it amounts to an energy exchange. In the right situation, the band is giving it out, the audience is giving it back. It becomes (again) exponentially multiplicative and I'm the guy with the fingers on the throttles; I get a % of all of that as it happens/goes by. "Tapping into the electricity" or whatever you want to call it. It’s highly addictive. Final piece: if I do my job right, it becomes even another multiplier.
Do you think the north country has the ability to get back to that?
Yes. It was already here, the foundations are laid...just have to clear off some moss/dig a little to find them. I believe that the loss of the arts around here was due to people thinking it was "wasteful spending". However, if there is one thing that this current episode proves...
where would we be as a society without music/books/movies/photos/paintings/art in general?
This record opens up with pure grit guitar and bombastic drums. Pravin and his band sets the stage early on with the release of A Thoughtful Collapse.
A totally unwarranted review of an amazing record from Stimmerman.
