Upcoming stuff

* On Saturday, February 14, Stutzmans' Cafe in Sangerville, Maine, will be open for a special Valentine's Day dinner, featuring music by my band, the Doughty Hill Trio. Doors open at 6 p.m. Cost is $12 a person--a nice cheap date on this obligatory day of dates. Even my own date says that he plans to attend, and this is the man who forgets Valentine's Day every year.

* On Wednesday, March 4, I'll be reading at the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Hoot (why is it called this? I do not know), at Cafe Espresso in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The reading starts at 7 p.m., with two featured poets (I'm one of them; Hope Jordan is the other), and is followed by an open mic. (I don't know about you, but I always want to spell this as "open mike" because to me "open mic" looks like it should be pronounced as "open mick" which sounds like a rude thing to say to an Irish person.)

* On Friday, March 13, I will be a judge at the state finals of New Jersey's Poetry Out Loud competition, held at Princeton University. I have judged many Maine iterations of this contest, and it will be interesting to see how the NJ version varies. Last year's winner was a finalist at the nationals, so I'm looking forward to an outstanding program. Afterward I'll be spending a night or two in NYC, wishing I could go see "Hamilton" at the Public, but there are no tickets available and who can afford those prices anyway?

* And on Saturday, March 21, the Doughty Hill Trio will be playing at Pat's Pizza in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, 7-10 p.m. This is a place where you can drink beer and watch TV and talk loudly to your friends and listen to music, all at the same time, even if you're in the band.