THE LACONIA DAILY SUN, Friday, January 18, 2013— Page 13
Pitman’s Freight Room finding its way as a live entertainment venue By Michael Kitch
LACONIA — Among the antiques and mementos arrayed around Pitman’s Freight Room is a black-and-white photograph of the Drolet Family of Entertainers of Short Falls, New Hampshire taken in 1935. “That’s my mom and dad,” said Dick Mitchell, the owner of the venue, pointing to a handsome woman cradling a fiddle and a tall man behind a bass drum. “They’re here,” he remarked softly, “and they like what’s happening.” Although no longer home to the New Hampshire Jazz Center, which last summer moved out to the Margate Resort on Paugus Bay, the rustic one-story building along New Salem Street still fills with music, laughter and fellowship as bands and comedians take the stage on weekends and weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and other occasions are celebrated at their appointed times. “We’re just going forward,” Mitchell said. “it’s going to morph into whatever it is without having to push in any direction, but just taking the path of least resistance.” Built in 1890 by the Pitman Hosiery Company as a freight depot, the building has enjoyed nearly as many lives as a cat, the last two in the 25 years since Mitchell and his wife Connie purchased the property in 1988. Until 2009, it housed an antique business, remnants of which grace its most recent incarnation as an entertainment venue and function hall. The pie-shaped building provides 3,800 squarefeet of open space, including a 750 square-foot
pentagonal dance floor, served by three restrooms and a residential kitchen. Open to various configurations, the space, which is defined by vintage barn and roof boards and the original posts and beams, offers seating to as many as 250 people. Above all, Mitchell, a devotee of live music — especially jazz and blues — stressed the acoustics. “This is a listeners’ venue,” he said. “Every seat is within 30 feet of the stage and there are no TV screens or waitresses. Bands like to play here,” he continued. “They’re not playing background music at a bar or restaurant. Once they’ve been here, they all Rosemary’s Blues Band played Pitman’s Freight Room in downtown Laconia a week ago. (Laconia want to come back.” Daily Sun photo/Karen Bobotas) Last year N.H. Magazine named Pitman’s Freight Room the “Best the two venues have shared bookings and promoUnlikely Jazz Venue” in the state. tions to form something of a jazz and blues circuit Mitchell said that he is booking jazz combos, between the Capitol and Lakes Regions. mostly on Thursdays, and blues bands, mostly on “It’s a hidden gem,” Mitchell said of the space he Friday, as well as comedy acts once a month. He said created with the sole aim of sharing its charm with that since the opening of the Purple Pit in Concord others.
from preceding page stepped when asked which would inflict the most harm on the economy — implementation of acrossthe-board cuts, a partial government shutdown or a default. “The worst thing for the economy is for this Congress and this administration to do nothing to get our debt and deficits under control,” said the party’s 2012 vice presidential candidate, back in Congress now as House Budget Committee chairman. “We think the worst thing for the economy is to move past these events that are occurring without any progress.” Passage of a shorter-term increase in the debt limit would essentially shuffle the order of the looming deadlines. Rather than flirt with a first-ever default to get their way on spending cuts — a strategy unlikely to win favor on Wall Street — Republicans might threaten a partial government shutdown or allow across-the-board cuts to remain in effect.
GUN CONTROL from page one they’re entering my home, I’d like as many bullets as I could to protect my children, and if I only have three, then the ability for me to protect my family is greatly diminished,” Bryant said. “And what we’re doing now is saying, ‘We’re standing against the federal government taking away our civil liberties.’” Tennessee Republican state Rep. Joe Carr wants to make it a state crime for federal agents to enforce any ban on firearms or ammunition. Carr instead called for more armed guards at schools. “We’re tired of political antics, cheap props of using children as bait to gin up emotional attachment for an issue that quite honestly doesn’t solve the problem,” Carr said. Legislative proposals to pre-empt new federal gun restrictions also have arisen in Wyoming, Utah and Alaska. A Wyoming bill specifies that any federal limita-
THE LACONIA DAILY SUN
O U R F A M I LY T R E E R ESTAURANT
tion on guns would be unenforceable. It also would make it a state felony for federal agents to try to enforce restrictions. “I think there are a lot of people who would want to take all of our guns if they could,” said co-sponsor Rep. Kendell Kroeker, a Republican. “And they’re only restrained by the opposition of the people, and other lawmakers who are concerned about our rights.” Republican state Sen. Larry Hicks credited Wyoming’s high rate of gun ownership for a low rate of gun violence. “Our kids grow up around firearms, and they also grow up hunting, and they know what the consequences are of taking a life,” Hicks said. “We’re not insulated from the real world in Wyoming.” In Utah, some Republicans are preparing legislation to exempt the state from federal gun laws — and fine any federal agents who try to seize guns. see next page 251 DANIEL WEBSTER HIGHWAY MEREDITH, NH 03253 WWW.LOVERINGMEREDITH.COM
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