‘Adventure-folk’ duo The Baker’s Basement to play The Parlor Room
Cleveland-based “adventure-folk” duo The Baker’s Basement will bring their eclectic sound to The Parlor Room in Northampton on March 8 at 7:30 p.m.
Featuring vocalist/drummer Kate Dedinsky on a signature homemade bucket-drum kit and vocalist/guitarist Adam Grindler, the band is known for a “spoken word” performance style where the two volley playful, rhythmic lyrics across the stage. The performance is part of their “Worry Now” tour, supporting their upcoming single of the same name — a “heart-wrenching, slow-burning” track set for release on April 23.
For more information about tickets, visit ironhorse.org/parlorroomshows.
Sacred Harp Singing Convention returns
The Western Mass Sacred Harp Community will host its biggest annual event, the Western Massachusetts Sacred Harp Singing Convention, at Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity in Northampton on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Sacred Harp is a genre of social singing music based around a songbook, “The Sacred Harp,” first published in 1844, whose name refers to the human voice. Most of its songs are Protestant hymns.
Unlike typical choral music, the genre uses a “shape note” form of notation, and, often (but not always), only four notes: “fa” is a triangle, “sol” is an oval, “la” is a rectangle, and “mi” is a diamond. Rather than representing an exact pitch, like G flat or C sharp, each note is relative — a whole step or half step above or below another. When a Sacred Harp group sings a song together, they do so by singing the names of the notes first to get the melody and the pitch, then singing the actual verses.
Admission is free and open to the public — no prior experience with music is required — and there will be a free mid-day dinner at the event on both days.
Valley Classical Concerts presents cello and piano concert
Valley Classical Concerts will present a show by French cello and piano duo Camille Thomas and Julien Brocal at Smith College’s Sage Hall on Saturday, March 7 at 3 p.m, preceded by a conversation with the artists and NEPM host John Montanari at 2 p.m.
The concert program will include sonatas by Johann Sebastian Bach and Edvard Grieg as well as shorter works by Eric Satie, Camille Saint-Saëns, Brocal and Thomas, and Radiohead.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $10 for college students (but not Smith students) at the door or at valleyclassicalconcerts.org; Smith students, Smith staff, and Card to Culture ticketholders get in free.
Steve Forbert set to take the stage in Northampton
Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Steve Forbert will perform at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on March 8 at 7 p.m.
A “songwriter’s songwriter” whose hits have been covered by the likes of Rosanne Cash and Keith Urban, Forbert first burst onto the New York City “new folk” scene in 1976. The evening will showcase his decades-long career — from his 1979 Billboard hit “Romeo’s Tune” to his 21st and latest studio album, Daylight Savings Time. The performance follows the recent 10th-anniversary re-release of his acclaimed 2015 album, Compromised.
For more information, visit ironhorse.org.
UMass Jazz Showcase celebrates Miles Davis
UMass Amherst will present its 45th annual Jazz Showcase on Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m. The festival will feature performances by more than 100 student and faculty musicians in ensembles and will celebrate what would have been renowned trumpeter Miles Davis’s 100th birthday.
“The Showcase is a great way to enjoy all our JAAMS program has to offer, while also highlighting some of the many facets of musical collaborations Miles Davis was involved in that contributed so significantly to the many paths of jazz, African American music, and American music in general,” said Jeffrey W. Holmes, director of the school’s Jazz and African American Music Studies (JAAMS) program, in a press release.
Tickets are $17 for adults and $7 for children 17 and under and seniors age 65 and older via purchase.arts.umass.edu. UMass students are free with ID.
In conjunction with the Showcase, UMass music faculty will perform the 1949 album “Birth of the Cool” at Bezanson Hall that morning at 11 a.m. Admission to that performance is free.
Ron Maggio’s ‘ROMANUM’ opens at Gallery A3
Gallery A3 in Amherst will host the exhibit “ROMANUM” from Thursday, March 5 through Saturday, March 28, with an opening reception on Friday, March 6, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The exhibit features works by Ron Maggio that were inspired by the wall paintings on houses and villas in Rome, Pompeii, Herculaneum and Boscoreale during the second century B.C. and the first century A.D.
According to a press release, a Roman “domus,” or house, “allowed its owner to project intangible aspects of mind and heart onto its walls. Roman painting of this time not only imitated images perceived by the human eye but also those that dwell in the imagination. Ron expands upon that to re-envision the domus as a ‘Theatre of Imagination’ in his artwork.”
Admission is free. The gallery is open Thursday to Sunday from 2 to 7 p.m.
‘Scooby-Doo’-inspired queer mystery play comes to UMass
The UMass Department of Theater will present “The Interrobangers,” a queer mystery play inspired by the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, at the school’s Fine Arts Center at various times from Saturday, March 7 through Friday, March 13. The show on Friday, March 6, is sold out.
The show, written by M Sloth Levine and directed by Cordelia Dwyer, is about a gang of teenagers who solve supernatural mysteries in the spooky town of Foggy Bluffs. The show, according to the event listing, is about “friendship, identity and how to heal from the hurts of the past.”
Tickets (including fees) are $19 for adults and $7 for seniors 65 and up, students, anyone age 17 and under, and Card to Culture patrons via arts.umass.edu/box-office/theater-department/events.
Disclaimer: this show contains depictions of substance abuse swearing, and brief references to child abuse, abduction and trauma and is recommended for audiences age 13 and up.
Comedy night to benefit Friends of Children
Get ready for a night of laughs with a purpose. On Thursday, March 12, the Northampton-based nonprofit Friends of Children will host “Foster Laughter, Foster Hope,” a special comedy fundraiser at the Northampton Elks Lodge, located at 17 Spring St. The evening will be hosted by Tim Lovett, and feature comedians Mike Murray and Kim DeShields.
All proceeds support Friends of Children’s mission to empower and advocate for children impacted by the child welfare system. Doors open at 6 p.m., with the show running from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets are $25. Tickets are available at friendsofchildreninc.org/events/