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Jam-band favorites Leon Trout coming to Electric Haze
Robert Duguay
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Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
For anyone who enjoys scintillating guitar riffs and improvised progressions, then Boston’s Leon Trout is exactly the new band you've been looking for. Lead vocalist and guitarist Aaron Cram, guitarist and backing vocalist Jimmy Geikie, bassist Sam Slotnick and drummer Roger Dumaine have been ripping up the jam scene in New England and beyond for the past few years, but they’re not your typical jam band. They have a wide range of influences — from metal to funk to reggae — that they incorporate into an original sound. On July 23, folks will get to see what these guys are all about when they take the stage at Electric Haze located on 23 Millbury St. in Worcester. Northboro rock 'n' roll act Way Up South will be opening things up at 8 p.m.
“It started back in college when I was going to Keene State in Keene, New Hampshire,” Dumaine says on the origins of the band. “We started playing house parties on the weekends and Sam and I are kind of the only original members of the band. We’ve had multiple changes throughout the past seven years or so, and Sam and I have known each other since back in college when he was going to Franklin Pierce in Rindge, New Hampshire. After we graduated we said to ourselves, ‘Hey, let's keep doing this’ and we moved down to Boston back in 2015 in pursuit of playing music. We went through multiple different guitarists, and Aaron is good friends with Sam from going to Franklin Pierce together so that’s how we got him into the band, and through friends of friends we met Jimmy a couple of years ago and fit perfectly for what we were looking for in our sound.”
The band’s most recent album is a live record titled, "Trout Tapes Vol. 1," that came out last April and was recorded at The Acoustic in Bridgeport, Connecticut. They plan on having it be the first installment of a live album series that’ll be recorded at different venues.
“Before we started playing a show at The Acoustic, the sound guy down there told us that he could get a recording of us through his board and do some mixing to get it to be album quality, and we were totally down for it,” Dumaine says of the making of the live album. “That’s when we came up with the name ‘Trout Tapes’ so we can continue putting out live albums and more volumes. It’s not a generic name but it’s easy to remember and we don’t have to worry about what we’re going to name every live album we put out. It’s kind of inspired by 'Dick’s Picks Volume 1' from the Grateful Dead, in the sense that it’s easily expandable and we’re able to continue it.”
After the show at Electric Haze, Leon Trout will be hosting its own music festival called TroutStock. It’ll be happening at the Magic Forest Farm in the New York hamlet of Coeymans Hollow on Aug. 7 and 8 with acts such as Bella’s Bartok, The Stupid Robots, The Cosmic Factory, The Quins and The Trichomes taking part, among others.
“We’ve been in the festival circuit for four or five years now and we’ve always kind jokingly said that we should throw our own festival and organize it,” Dumaine said. “This year we figured, with everyone coming back from the COVID-19 pandemic, that people are just craving for live music and they need it in their lives so we decided to do it. Things started coming together really quickly in an unbelievable way. We had a couple ups and downs when it came to establishing a location but the Magic Forest Farm is a bigger upgrade than what we originally had. It’s a larger stage and it’s a beautiful venue located at a private organic farm on top of a mountain near the Hudson River Valley. The stage overlooks the valley and the sun sets directly in the dis-
The band Leon Trout will perform at Electric Haze. PROMOTIONAL IMAGE
tance, we’re going to have vendors of all different sorts ranging from jewelry, clothing and all that type of stuff.”
“We’ll also have food vendors,” he adds. “It’s going to be a full festival set up with music all day on Saturday and half the day on Sunday. We figured that we’d start small and then work our way up from there. We want to keep it a small, local festival vibe, we don’t want to blow it up as a huge festival. But next year we’ll have more days, more bands and more music. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
To pre-order tickets or for more information, visit Electric Haze’s website at thehaze.com/ electric. For more info on Leon Trout and TroutStock, visit leontroutmusic.com.
Local theaters, music venues move into action as live performances return
Richard Duckett
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
For the first time since February 2020, Vanilla Box Productions is back on stage at its longtime performance space at the Burke Performing Arts Center, St. Paul Diocesan Junior-Senior High School, 144 Granite St. Worcester.
Vanilla Box Productions led the way locally with online shows through much of the pandemic but now is putting on live-in person theater again with two plays this summer: “Alice in Wonderland, Down the Rabbit Hole” July 23 and 24, and “Cannibals of the Heart/Or Louisa Adams Writes a Play” Aug. 6 and 7.
“It’s amazing and wonderful and scary. It’s like starting all over again. It’s about getting back into a rhythm, a routine. But it’s exciting at the same time,” said Christine C. Seger, who with husband Joel D. Seger are the co-founders and coowners of Vanilla Box Productions.
“It’s great, but I found myself sweating through my shirt by the end of the night,” said Joel Seger about conducting the first rehearsal back. He’s directing both shows with Christine as the assistant director. “We’re having a blast. It’s nice to talk to people in person,” Joel Seger said.
At the time of the interview, however, there had been something to sweat about. The early July-lost-to-rain weather had led to a water leak. Water had been “pouring into the back of the stage,” Christine Seger said. “They shut down electricity in that corner of the building.” Run through sessions of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Cannibals of the Heart” had to be canceled for the day.
Christine Seger was taking it in good stride.
“So there’s always a little monkey wrench in live theater,” she said.
But welcome back to live inperson performances, as concert and theater venues and theater and other performing groups start to open doors and put on shows and concerts again after well over a year of lockdown. The shows not only must go on, they will go on with all the attendant trials and tribulations and triumphs.
While the common denominator among presenting and performing groups is that they are indeed very happy to back, each has their own unique liveperformance concerns. Some are normal, some are part of the new normal — whether it’s rain leaking through, deep cleaning, or keeping an eye on ticket sales to see if audiences share their enthusiasm about returning together in-person.
For several weeks, after being closed for a number of months, The Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, 2 Southbridge St., Worcester, has been hosting smaller shows such as dance recitals and productions from its youth programs. There was also Miss Massachusetts last week, and July 25 will see gospel singers Trey McLaughlin & The Sounds of Zamar presented by Music Worcester. “I’m excited about that one,” said Troy Siebels, president and CEO of The Hanover Theatre.
That show has social distancing voluntarily accommodated by The Hanover Theatre in cooperation with Music Worcester. Masks have also been required to be worn by the audience at shows at The Hanover Theatre.
Earlier, indoor venues had to deal with state regulations and severe capacity restrictions imposed because of the pandemic that seemed ever changing.
Now there are no state restrictions, Siebels said. Starting with Ricky Duran’s long-awaited show on Sept. 18, The Hanover Theatre will have no seating limitations, with the venue able to be at full capacity (2,300 seats). Also, only people not fully vaccinated will be required to wear masks.
Upcoming is a diverse lineup of shows. The Hanover Theatre’s popular Broadway Series begins its 2021-2022 season with “Escape to Margaritaville” Oct. 21-24. Other shows this fall include “An Evening with David Sedaris,” Sept. 27; Masters of Illusion, Oct. 3; Gordon Lightfoot, Oct. 19; Get the Led Out, Nov. 6; Brian Regan, Nov. 17; Sarah Brightman, Dec. 1; and Boston Pops, Dec. 3. For more information, visit www.thehanovertheatre.org.
“It’s such a breath of air,” Siebels said. “This past year has been so challenging. Being closed this past year been heartbreaking. To have everybody back now it feels great. I’m just happy to have light at the end of the tunnel.”
At Mechanics Hall, 321 Main St., Worcester, the first live performance with an audience since March 2020 is coming up shortly.
Mechanics Hall executive director Kathleen M. Gagne has 7:30 p.m. Aug. 5 as the date for a free concert titled “Carusiana” commemorating the centenary of the death of Enrico Caruso, whom many still consider to be the most famous operatic tenor of all time. The performers will be pianist Leonard Ciampa (recently named the first Mechanics Hall composer in residence) and Neopolitan tenor Giovanni Formisano. At the time of writing this story, however, there was the possibility of a slightly earlier concert, but details were still being sorted out.
“It’s a gradual reopening,” Gagne said. “Right now I’m playing it by ear and bit by bit. We have a lot of exciting things in the works. I hesitate to announce until we’re 100 percent certain when we can move forward,” she said.
“Our fall schedule looks very healthy. It won’t be as full as other seasons, but I’m very happy how healthy it looks.”
Calliope Productions in Boylston distributed an audience survey in March to identify and
Christine C. Seger, who with husband Joel D. Seger are the co-founders and co-owners of Vanilla
Box Productions. PHOTO BY TAJONN NICKELSON
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clarify “our audience members’ needs and concerns about returning to live theater performances,” said Dave Ludt, artistic director.
The survey was also distributed by several other local theater companies to a total of 1,000 local theater-goers. They survey found that until herd immunity from COVID-19 is reached, certain conditions are required before the majority of respondents will return to indoor live performances.
As a result, Calliope Productions has implemented a number of measures, Ludt said:
Calliope’s facilities are being thoroughly cleaned and also sanitized with an electrostatic sprayer before every rehearsal and performance. Air purifiers with HEPA filters have been placed in the restrooms, and MERV13 filters have been installed in the building’s air circulation systems. Hand sanitizers have been placed throughout the building — including backstage and in dressing rooms. Face masks are required for all performers, staff and audience members who have not been fully vaccinated.
July and October productions will have no intermissions, and patrons will not be allowed to congregate in the lobby before or after performances. Audience seating will be in reserved seats, with tickets purchased through TicketStage.com in order to eliminate physical handling of money/credit cards and to facilitate contact tracing.
Seating in the theater has been reconfigured to allow for better ventilation, and the seating capacity has been reduced from 155 to 125 people. Calliope is currently refurbishing and upgrading its ventilation and air circulation systems to meet CDC recommendations of four air exchanges per hour for live theater facilities. The expected completion of this project is early September.
“Our hope is that these changes and improvements will be welcomed and appreciated by our audiences,” Ludt said.
After having canceled all operations during the pandemic shutdown, Calliope restarted its annual Summer Youth Theatre program in June and was scheduled to present a teen production of “Beauty and the Beast, Jr.” July 13-17, and a pre-teen production of “Willy Wonka, Jr.” July 27-30.
At the time of writing, in the days before the July 13 opening, Ludt said tickets seemed to be tracking at about 60% of what they were for the 2019 teen show. For more information about Calliope Productions, visit www.calliopeproductions.org.
Mechanics Hall has been quite busy notwithstanding no live-person concerts in front of audiences in the world-famous 1857 concert hall.
Gagne said a scene for a movie was being shot there (reportedly “Spirited,” a musical reimagining of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol” starring Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell).
The Great Hall is known for its great acoustics, as well as its iconic visual interiors. “We had an amazing year of recordings … We’ve booked recording sessions well into next year,” Gagne said.
Concerts were also livestreamed from Mechanics Hall last season, and the Boston Ballet filmed a newly choreographed piece there titled “Awakening” set to Richard Wagner’s “Siegfried Idyll.”
“My gosh it was beautiful. They (Boston Ballet) are hoping to do more work with us in the future,” Gagne said.
However, the cost of losing in-person events has been big.
“We still have some staff on furlough,” Gagne said.
The federal Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program has helped Mechanics Hall, she said. Siebels has also praised the program.
Among events to be announced at Mechanics Hall could be a concert series in its smaller Washburn Hall.
Meanwhile, “The Music Worcester schedule is still not confirmed. We also have other performances on hold. It’s just a matter of time.”
“Carusiana” (reservations encouraged at www.mechanicshall.org) will have cabaret seating on the main floor but not social distancing, Gagne said. The only caution is that people not vaccinated are advised to wear a mask. Still, “if people want to seat at a distance there will be opportunities for that,” she said.
And while there are now no state restrictions, Mechanics Hall could implement some of its own. “We have taken a hard look at our capacity and may be making some changes in that regard,” Gagne said.
Siebels said that touring shows at The Hanover Theatre have to be unrestricted in terms of seating limits “to make it work financially.”
Touring shows also require lead time to get on the road again, which is why the schedule won’t really be finalized until the fall.
That allows people time to get used to the new arrangements, Siebels said.
“It’s been interesting to feel the evolving attitude of the audience,” he noted. The Hanover Theatre has been requiring masks. “Now we get some push back: ‘Why do we have to wear masks?’”
Still, asking non-vaccinated patrons to wear masks in the fall will be following the science, Siebels said.
“If you follow the science, the risk (of not wearing a mask) is to the non-vaccinated folks.”
The goal of The Hanover Theatre is to keep everybody safe, Siebels said. “All our staff and volunteers are vaccinated.”
Another lesson from the pandemic is the importance of deep cleaning, he said.
That doesn’t mean The Hanover Theatre wasn’t keeping the theater clean before the pandemic, but fighting COVID included “making sure spaces are disinfected and cleaned regularly,” something that will con-
Lasha Khozashvili and Ekaterine Chubinidze appear in “Awakenings,” filmed at Mechanics Hall. Mechanics Hall has had no live in-person performances since March 2020, and the onset of the pandemic, but its facilities have been used for livestream events and recordings.
ERNESTO GALEN/COURTESY OF BOSTON BALLET
Tenor Giovanni Formisano is set to perform at Mechanics Hall.
PROMOTIONAL PHOTO
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tinue, Siebels said.
“Deep cleaning, wipe down all the seats, keeping air circulating in the building,” Christine Seger said of the behind-thescenes work of putting on shows at the Burke Performing Arts Center.
It feels just like home.
Vanilla Box Productions is in its 15th season. The theater at the Buke Performing Arts Center has been the company’s home base for shows since 2013, but it also has a deep personal connection for the Segers. Christine Seger is a graduate of Holy Name High School (the name of the school prior to becoming St. Paul Diocesan High School), and she and her husband were both in the cast in a 1992 Holy Name Summer Theater production of “The Sound of Music.” Holy Name Summer Theater and later Booth Productions was run by Richard A. Booth Sr. at Holy Name for many years, and the Segers were regularly involved with shows there.
“It’s home. It’s definitely home. When we’re there it’s just who we are, we grew up on that stage,” Christine Seger said.
“Alice in Wonderland, Down the Rabbit Hole” is a contemporary adaptation by Mark Landon Smith that will run 7:30 p.m. July 23 and 2 and 7:30 p.m. July 24.
“Cannibals of the Heart/OR Louisa Adams Writes a Play” at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 6 and 7 sees Vanilla Box Productions working on the development phase of a new play by Mark Dunn (”Belles”) by putting it on a stage for the first time.
As the alternative title suggests, Dunn imagines Adams writing a play about her life and acast in rehearsal for it in 1837. “Cannibals of the Heart” will also be live-streamed Aug. 6 and 7. Face mask requirements for the audience were still to be determined pending consulting with the school and its regulations on the matter. For tickets and more information, visit www.vanillaboxproductions.org.
For “Alice in Wonderland, Down the Rabbit Hole,” “We have a great cast of youngsters for the show,” Christine Seger said. Among the adults, Regina Stillings plays the Queen of Hearts and Peter Russo is the King of Hearts. “They’re just so funny,” Christine Seger said of Stillings and Russo. “And a pleasure to work with.”
The show also has a lot of new faces, she said. That is true of “Cannibals of the Heart” as well. “More than half the cast is new to us and they’re so very talented.” The cast includes Heather Crabbe, Libbey Stearns, Jim Douglas, Rosie Joubert, Christian Flannery, Mitchell Kiliulis, Robin Shropshire and John Leslie.
Last year online, Vanilla Box Productions put on Dunn’s “Belles” and “Belles, the Reunion,” about an eccentric clan of sisters.
Dunn had evidently been impressed and gave the theater company quite a compliment..
“He said, ‘Would you like a shot at it (’Cannibals of the Heart’)?’” Christine Seger said.
Louisa Adams was the London-born wife of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president of the United States.
“It’s historical fiction,” Joel Seger said of “Cannibals of the Heart.” In real life, Louisa Adams was apparently depressed and unhappy as first lady and wrote poetry and what has been described as “a series of bitter, sardonic plays, often skewering her husband.”
In “Cannibals of the Heart,” Adams’ play is going to be unflinchingly autobiographical. Dunn has the play unfolding during a rehearsal of actors at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C.
“I think overall it’s a very light-hearted story, but it does touch on some events in Louisa Adams’ life that were not so nice,” Joel Seger said.
“Joel has been giving it blocking and costumes and a vision for him (Dunn). It’s a beautiful story. It comes with nothing. It’s just a script. He (Dunn) handed it to us. Joel wanted to show what it could possibly look like. It’s a blank canvass he gets to create from,” Christine Seger said.
The Burke Center theater can seat 500 people, but with social distancing in place, the shows per the school the maximum would likely be around 300 people. For Vanilla Box Productions, half of that, 150, would be good, Joel Seger said. “We’ll sell every other row and a buffer seat between each group.”
Vanilla Box Productions is best known for its presentations of musicals. “Alice in Wonderland” and “Cannibals of the Heart” are plays.
“Our audience is accustomed to musicals. For this summer we decided we were just not ready,” Christine Seger said.
The plays chosen also involve limited cast contact for a sort of social distancing on stage with no hugging or kissing. “‘Alice in Wonderland’ isn’t a love story. ‘Cannibals of the Heart’ is people rehearsing,” Christine Seger said.
Exactly what ticket sales would be like was something up in the air as the couple were being interviewed.
“We will see. It’s definitely a concern,” Joel Seger said. “Hopefully people will come back and see a play.”
“It’s tough, but we’re just so thankful, grateful, that we’ll be able to do something and that people can come out and support these shows,” Christine Seger said.
Ricky Duran is set to perform at the Hanover Theatre for the
Performing Arts. ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
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Jafet Muzic offers hip-hop, life lessons at Worcester school
Veer Mudambi
Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK
On the heels of his new album, “The Art of Embracing Damage,” local artist Jafet Muzic just released another single, this time for a very special audience. Over the last three weeks, the hip-hop singer-songwriter has been going back to school — as a teacher. The new song is a gift to his students.
From July 7 to 21, Muzic was teaching a community outreach course as part of a summer program at The Nativity School of Worcester, an allboys Jesuit school. For the classes of fifth- to seventhgrade boys, Muzic drew on his experience in life and music — to not only teach kids how to rap or make hip-hip but also teach them bigger life lessons that encourage them to stick to their guns and be true to themselves.
“I want to help kids ground themselves,” said Muzic, “Build yourself up to be who you want to become and don’t let outside forces deter you from that journey.”
It’s that same message he works to convey in his music, which is an aspect of the genre that he feels has been lost with increased commercialization. The mainstream perception of hip-hop and rap that supposedly glorifies drugs, sex and violence is only one aspect of it, and does not provide a full picture of the wider community, which has been pushed largely underground and out of the public eye. Originally, hip-hop was a way for marginalized communities of the inner city to make themselves heard, giving them a voice on social issues. “I was fortunate enough to be a student of hip-hop in the ‘90s, when socially conscious hip-hop was still on the radio,” he explained. It’s from here that Muzic draws his inspiration, and what he hopes to bring back.
Megan Ross, a visiting assistant professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross, shares a similar goal — but specifically dealing with hip-hop’s relationship with the city of Worcester.
“I want to help create a stronger narrative of hip-hop’s contribution to the culture of Worcester,” said Ross. “Artists have been actively contributing to the positive culture, and more emphasis needs to be put on that.”
A core theme of hip-hop is authenticity, or “about keeping it real,” something that Ross saw embodied in Muzic. The two of them had worked together before, when Ross was a visiting professor at Clark University, and had him come speak to students in her HipHop and Social Identity course. It was a perfect fit, seeing as Muzic’s work has a strong focus on retaining one’s self-identity in the face of outside pressure. “I was really excited for students to learn about him as an artist and a person,” said Ross. While Muzic had to adjust a few things for elementary and middle school students, the core message stayed the same — “self love, to care about yourself and hold yourself accountable.”
Muzic’s artistic direction is a direct result of his life experience, growing up in the housing projects in Great Brook Valley.
“Coming from that environment as a child, you’re blinded to [social issues] and just part of the environment,” he said. As he grew older, he said, he began to grow more conscious of his surroundings, and see what he wanted to change.
Hip-hop had always been important to him, but it wasn’t until he was 18 that he started recording his own music, and
Jafet Muzik, pictured with Professor Megan Ross, is teaching a community outreach class this summer at Nativity School to 5th and
7th graders. ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
Megan Ross
Visiting assistant professor of music at the College of the Holy Cross
ASHLEY GREEN/TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
“I want to help kids ground themselves. Build yourself up to be who you want to become and don’t let outside forces deter you from that journey.” Jafet Muzic
Hip-hop
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began using that as an avenue of social change.
“The music and culture dictated the lifestyle people would live,” he said.
He wanted to challenge that thought process with his own work, “to see if I could play devil’s advocate to my people.” It’s more than a hypothetical argument, his goal is to inspire people to take their own journey of growth.
The Worcester Hip-Hop Congress, a coalition of teachers such as Ross, artists, and community leaders, formed earlier this year, is looking for people just like Muzic. “We want to bring about positive social change through hip-hop,” said Ross. One way to do this is through programming at the local schools such as Nativity, which she calls communitybased learning projects.
Muzic’s new single is his part of an end-of-term project.
“I wanted to give something to the students that would challenge them,” he said, and tasked them with using what they’d learned of self expression with him, to express their feelings about their time in the program. The assignment could take the form of music, writing or visual expression and the broad scope was part of the challenge.
Of course, fair’s fair, and Muzic explained that he didn’t feel right giving them an assignment without giving one to himself. So he wrote a song dedicated to the students and the whole experience — he turned it in at the end of the program to the students in exchange for their work.
Muzic is keenly aware that the students he will be influencing have had innumerable hard knocks. “Coming where I’m coming from, so many outside forces wanting to knock you off your square” so it is critically important to him that they believe in themselves.
“Been rapping since I was seven years old,” said Muzic. He recalled discovering the genre at an age that was a turning point in his own life, vividly illustrating the power of music. When his sister died, at the age of 9, he heard a song that deeply resonated with him.
“I fell in love with hip-hop at that time. It opened up a whole new way of life for me.”
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