It turns out that our biggest month is October and that makes a whole lot of sense because temps start to drop and it feels ok and guilt free to go inside at night. Our windows and doors stay open during shows so everyone in Littleton can get a taste for the particular flavor of music is happening that night. Starting off the first week of October we have three different things happening; Stand Up Comedy Open Mic on Tuesday, Stelth Ulvang on Wednesday and then a brand new local super group, Sweet Jay on Friday on top of all that its our first ever Latin Beats & Eats collaboration with the Community Builders Hub and Little Grille. Run on sentences aside, this will be a week to take notice of what we got going on and get yourself out to see a show & event. Become a member, it really helps us a lot… Like a lot, a lot!
You’ve probably seen all the posters going up around the North Country, now that things are starting to slow down we like to ramp up to fill that void. We are working behind the scenes on a super cool Halloween poster for our show this year with local artist Jason Cozzens and will be a big 11x17 riso print courtesy of our pals at Directangle Press in Bethlehem. For anyone curious about what a Risograph printer is have a look at this video. Here’s a look at some initial inspiration.
Halloween with Haunting Titans, Darsombra and Wave Generators is happening on Saturday October 26 at 8pm, Littleton’s Gathering of the Jack-o-Lanterns is happening on the same night so it’s going to be hopping in lil ol Littleton. Darsombra is so perfect for our halloween show, they are a Baltimore psych rock duo, very performative and trippy, Arty projections and movies overtake their live show. Haunting Titans are local favorites, they sit comfortably inbetween jam bands and hard rock mixed with unexpected live performance antics. The costume theme for our Halloween show are ALIENS. Feel free to get creative or don your favorite costume from the ol archives.
Halloween poster inspiration.
Welcome to our newest yearly sponsor, Thayer’s Inn!
Ever since coming out of the pandemic Thayer’s Inn has been a steadfast hospitality partner with The Loading Dock. Many of our artists and musicians stay at Thayer’s Inn when they are playing in Littleton. They love the cozy and unique vibe of the place and proximity to all that Littleton has to offer as well as being within walking distance of our venue. So often we see photos of bands on tour and they are taking pictures at Thayer’s Inn and around town on our various bridges over the Mighty Ammonoosuc and other cool spots in town. Thayer’s has been offering artist discounts on rooms for years now and they recently reached out about becoming an annual sponsor of The Loading Dock, we are really excited to partner with them in forging some new directions and fostering the Arts in the North Country. When you are in town, stop by and say hi to Brittney, we think she rocks!
Year end annual report is out, its kind of weird that our year ends in September, still getting used to this…
Today marks one year of Stand Up Comedy Open Mic. This was an idea that came to us from a local individual that then went on to host the first 9 months of this open mic event. Its been a lot of fun developing a community around stand up comedy. There is a core group of home grown comics up here that show up regularly and they are usually pretty funny. This is a 21+ event because we really wanted to provide a space where people could explore a wide range of topics and not feel hindered because younger folks were in the audience. Just like our long running Under 21 Open Mic is for folks under 21, we wanted to create something that was for the 21+ crowd looking for something to do. We experimented with other forms of open mic, most notably EMOM (electronic music open mic) as well as Open Jam. Both of those will likely resurface on our schedule as we head into cabin fever season. Overall this year saw a lot of growth in our little organization. We had a lot of foundational work that needed to happen, getting on a more solid footing financially etc. Our executive director (thats me, Jason!) is now getting paid for running the LD. We went after a lot of grants and were awarded some and not others. We found some very generous people that believe in what we are doing and were willing to donate. There’s a lot more work we need to do on the fundraising front, getting more sponsorships and boosting our memberships.
As always you can support what we are doing with tax-deductible donations, becoming a member and sponsorship. We are always looking for volunteers too!
We would like to welcome our newest yearly sponsor; Thayer's Inn!