Line-up for the 10th Annual PHP (I Gotta) Rock Show for unveiled

Cutline: Former Portsmouth Halloween Parade Grand Marshal Peter Duchesne, pictured here with Coat of Arms Pub assistant general manager and parade volunteer Mark Adams, will be one of five grand marshals performing at the 10th Annual (I Gotta) Rock Show at The Coat of Arms on Monday, Oct. 6. (Courtesy photo.)

The grand marshals of the Portsmouth Halloween Parade are the stuff legends are made of. Going where no other community organization goes to single out those who honor rugged individualism, creativity and community spirit, Portsmouth Halloween Parade organizers bestow the title of Grand Marshal on only a select few. Several in this illustrious group are musicians and this year the 10th annual (I Gotta) Rock Show fundraiser for the parade carves a new niche in local rock history by showcasing five of them in one place on one night.

This means a veritable smorgasbord of rock featuring John Prendergast and Carol Woodman with The Jumbo Circus Peanuts, Tom Colletta fronting Jupiter 2, Dan Blakeslee as Doctor Gasp, and Peter Duchesne’s latest project, Consumption Ham Lincoln. It all takes place at The Coat of Arms Pub on Monday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. and the festivities will be emceed by the parade’s very first grand marshal, the venerable Bruce Pingree, general manager of The Press Room and a UNH radio legend for his 40-plus years there as a deejay.

“The music will range from garage/punk, to New Orleans style funk, to countrified hard rock, to ghoulish folk,” says former PHP Grand Marshal and(I Gotta) Rock Show coordinator Denise Wheeler. “Where else can you get that diverse a menu of music? And on a Monday night no less.”

A $5 donation will be requested at the door as New Hampshire’s biggest Halloween parade is brought to you by the people, for the people. The parade is not a city-sponsored event. It is staged by volunteers and funded solely by the community, primarily through grassroots events. The Rock Show rises again this year thanks to the generous support of its sponsors Jumpin’ Jays Fish Café and Moxy.

The Coat of Arms is located at 174 Fleet St. in Portsmouth. For more information go to spookyportsmouth.com, or friend the Portsmouth Halloween Parade on Facebook.

About the Portsmouth Halloween Parade

Marching into its 20th year, the Portsmouth Halloween Parade is a grassroots, all-inclusive Seacoast celebration of community, creativity, resourcefulness and free expression, which walks, stalks, dances, trumpets and drums its way through downtown Portsmouth each year on October 31 at 7 p.m. Everyone is invited to dress up, gather at Peirce Island by Prescott Park, and march. Hundreds march in costume, thousands cheer from the sidelines, it’s a spectacle from either side of the curb. What are you gonna be?