Ripton-based singer-songwriter Sarah King is gearing up to release her first full-length LP, When It All Goes Down, in 2024. Made with the help of a Creation Grant from the Vermont Arts Council, King recorded the album with producer David Baron (Noah Kahan, the Lumineers) in Nashville. The 2021 New England Music Awards Songwriter of the Year, King toured hard in 2023, logging 20,000 miles and winning the Great River Folk Festival singer-songwriter competition in Wisconsin.
Along with the new album announcement came an advance single, a song called “The Longest Night.” It fittingly debuts on December 20, the day before the winter solstice, aka the actual longest night of the year. Head over to sarahkingsings.com to check it out.
Also releasing new music are Burlington jazz/hip-hop combo Juicebox. The band, which features area jazz stalwarts pianist Sam Atallah and drummer Julian Lathrop as well as rappers Zesty and rivan, among others, is gearing up to drop its debut LP in the New Year, titled Ollies in the Hallway. After releasing the single “Bad Karma” in November, Juicebox followed up with the explosive “I’m Just a Boy.” A pulsing, head-nod-inducing jam with big horns and Zesty and rivan trading verses, the track is a promising early look at one of the most exciting bands of the New Year. Check it out at juiceboxvt.bandcamp.com.
Canadian composer and Burlington resident Philip David Stern has a new release ready-made for the holidays. Humbug, the Scrooge Musical comes out on Friday, December 22, and features some of Broadway’s biggest talents, including Noah J. Ricketts (Frozen), Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde) and Tamar Greene (Hamilton) voicing Charles Dickens’ famous characters from A Christmas Carol. The score, recorded with a 16-piece orchestra at the Power Station in New York City, blends choral, musical theater, jazz and classical influences to bring the quintessential Christmas tale to life.
It’s Stern’s first release since his 2021 album Stone Crossed and will come out on his own independent label, NYSO Records. Check out philipdavidstern.com for more details and to preorder the record.
Every year, it feels like there’s a debate over what is and isn’t a Christmas film. I’m done debating Die Hard’s merits as a holiday film and will note that thus far this year, the only holiday film I’ve watched is Batman Returns (the best). But there’s still time, as Scrooge famously shouted while running around in his underwear.
One of my absolutely favorite Christmas-themed films of all time, the 1984 classic Joe Dante horror comedy Gremlins, is getting some much-deserved love from the folks down at Brattleboro’s Epsilon Spires. They’ll screen the film on Friday, December 22, complete with an ugly holiday sweater contest, an opening set from Synthesizer Santa (it’s exactly what it sounds like), and seasonal treats such as mulled cider and eggnog.
Sounds like a perfect Christmas tradition to me. One word of warning to younger parents who maybe don’t remember Gremlins that well: In the ’80s, a PG rating was very different than it is today. So while Gremlins is rated PG, there are a few things that might spook the kids. Like a gremlin in a blender or Phoebe Cates’ dad ruining Christmas by, uh, dying in the chimney one year. I don’t know, the ’80s were wild.
Anyway, go to epsilonspires.org to get the lowdown on what should absolutely become a holiday tradition.
Listening In
Spotify playlist of Vermont jams
Doomsbury
By Chris Farnsworth and Ethan Slayton
This article appears in The Reading Issue 2023.
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