A Bunch of Characters — The Hippo — 10/13/22

OctOber 13 - 19, 2022

News and culture weekly

serving Metro southern New Hampshire

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on the cover

10 In character As New Hamp

shire’s fall theater season continues, we chat with several local actors hitting the stage over the next month. Find out what it takes for them to get into character and what makes their upcoming shows — from Murder on the Orient Express and The Crucible to Shrek the Musical, The Wind in the Willows and more — a must-see.

also on the cover For the first time since 2019, the Taste of New Hampshire fundraising event is back in person (page 28). A new brewfest comes to Goffstown this weekend (page 29). It’s the return of the giant pumpkin boats during the annual Goffstown Pumpkin Weigh-off and Regatta (page 19).

Fall harvests!

Check out the annual Great New Hampshire Harvest Tour, featured on pages 24 and 25 of this week’s paper.

InsIde thIs

arts

InsIde/outsIde

goFFstoWn PuMPkIn WeIgh-oFF and regatta

gardenIng guy

Homeyer offers advice on your outdoors.

treasure hunt

gold in your attic.

oF neW haMPshIre Mount Uncanoonuc

and

coMedy

Fire prevention

The New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office, with the National Fire Protection Asso ciation, celebrates the 100th anniversary of Fire Preven tion Week, which is nationally observed Oct. 9 through Oct. 15.

According to a press release, more than 20 events have been planned throughout the state to educate the public on this year’s Fire Prevention Week cam paign, “Fire won’t wait. Plan your escape.” “It’s important for everyone to plan and prac tice a home fire escape,” Sean Toomey, New Hampshire State Fire Marshal, said in the release. “Everyone needs to be prepared in advance, so that they know what to do when the smoke alarm sounds. Given that every home is different, every home fire escape plan will also be different. Have a plan for everyone in the home.”

Check with your town or city fire department to see how they’re participating, and visit the Fire Prevention Week website, nfpa. org/fpw, for tools to help you create your household’s fire escape plan.

Community health grants

The Department of Health and Human Services will award more than $2.2 million in federal grants to improve access to communi ty health and support services in New Hampshire, including a $1 million grant awarded directly to One Sky Community Services, a statewide network that sup ports individuals diagnosed with developmental disabilities or acquired brain disorders. Accord ing to a press release, U.S. Sen.

Jeanne Shaheen, a senior mem ber of the Senate Appropriations Committee, secured the funding through a congressionally direct ed spending request through the fiscal year 2022 omnibus package passed earlier this year. Sen. Sha heen also requested and received approval for more than $5 mil lion in federal funding to assist New Hampshire law enforce ment. Those funds, which are allocated through the Department of Justice’s Community Orient ed Policing’s Technology and Equipment Program, will support the New Hampshire Department of Safety’s Division of State Police for Statewide Digital Law Enforcement Equipment and Technology Training and radio and communications infrastruc ture upgrades for the Merrimack Police Department, the Durham Department of Public Safety, the Cheshire County Sheriff’s Office and Strafford County, according to another release.

Help for kids

The New Hampshire Depart ment of Health and Human Services’ Division for Children, Youth and Families announced that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau’s Administra tion for Children and Families has approved its Family First Title IV-E Prevention Plan. The five-year plan focuses on fami ly strengthening and providing services to families whose chil dren may be at risk of entering foster care, according to a press release, and allows DCYF to secure federal reimbursement for the funding of those services. “Through Family First, we have

an incredible opportunity to get services to vulnerable families in their own homes and communi ties, making them more resilient and reducing the risk of abuse, neglect and separation of chil dren from their families,” DCYF Director Joseph E. Ribsam said in the release. “We are well on our way to implementing many of the new services designed to keep kids safe and keep families strong and together.”

Vax vans

Mobile vaccination clinics and the Homebased Vaccina tion Program have resumed in New Hampshire as part of the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ ini tiative to make Covid vaccines, including the updated booster doses, more accessible to all res idents. “As we move into the fall and winter, we want to make sure everyone has access to the updat ed Covid-19 booster doses that better protect against the most recently circulating Covid-19 variants,” Patricia Tilley, direc tor of Public Health Services, said in a press release. “We know there are barriers to vac cine access, and the homebased and mobile vaccination clinics, once again, will help to close that gap.” Three mobile vacci nation vans providing free Covid vaccines — both the primary series and the updated boost er dose — are available upon request to groups, organizations, workplaces and community events throughout the state. Vis it on-sitemedservices.com/van. Additionally, the Homebased Vaccination Program will visit and provide free Covid vaccines

The New Hampshire Insurance Department will host its annual hearing on health insurance premium rates and cost driving factors on Friday, Oct. 20, at UNH Law School in concord. An opening reception will begin at 8:30 a.m., followed by the program starting at 9 a.m. and concluding at 12:30 p.m. The event is open to the public and can also be watched online. To register to attend, in person or online, email andrew.e.demers@ins.nh.gov.

The Bow Business Expo is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Baker Free Library (509 South St., Bow). According to a press release, attendees will have an opportunity to connect with Bow small businesses and entrepreneurs in a casual setting and enjoy free samples and demonstrations. It’s free and open to the public. Visit bow bakerfreelibrary.org.

Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig joined city Director of Parks & Recreation Mark Gomez, representatives from the Board of Aldermen and members of the Shaw family at Brown & Mitchell Park (229 W. Mitchell St., Manchester) on Oct. 5 to rededicate the park in honor of Representative and Alderman Barbara Shaw. According to a press release, Shaw, who died in December 2021, was a teacher and education administrator who served on the Manchester Board of Mayor and Alderman for 11 years, from 2010 to 2021, and served in the House of Represen tatives for 11 terms.

and booster doses to residents throughout the state who have challenges leaving their home or have been advised by a med ical provider to remain in their home. Visit on-sitemedservices. com/vaccine. Both programs are federally funded through the American Rescue Plan and will run through March 2023, accord ing to the release.

NH National Guard

Two New Hampshire Army National Guard units have been

deployed to the southern bor der for one year, according to a press release from the governor’s office. One unit of approxi mately 44 soldiers will provide command and control over four subordinate units — approx imately 500 soldiers total — across around 250 miles of border extending to the Gulf of Mexico. The other unit of approximately 120 soldiers will serve at surveillance sites along the border, according to the release.

Updates on the mail

As part of Delivering for America, a 10-year plan for the United States Postal Service “to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence,” the USPS has installed 270 new package sorting machines across the country, including one in New Hamp shire at the USPS Processing and Distribution Center in Manchester. Plant manager Janie Beltran talked about the machine and other initiatives to improve and mod ernize the USPS.

What is this machine, and how does it work?

It’s an automat ed parcel sorter. … The mail handlers will place the mail on the conveyor belt. There’s a computer system that reads the bar code [on the package], and then the machine does its magic and sorts the packages by their zip codes. It can sort into 200 different destinations across the country. It’s very simple, but it does a lot. It currently runs 3,000 pieces an hour. I can’t run 3,000 pieces in an hour doing a manual operation. … We’re run ning it five days a week for now … and we’ve been processing first class mail — small packages, like something smaller than a shoebox — that originates here in New Hampshire, and we’re distributing to all 50 states.

How did Manchester USPS end up getting one of these machines?

The Postal Service is modernizing its operations to accommodate the growing customer demand for packages. When Covid hit, everybody was at home, and that’s when the packages really increased. It’s grown significantly over the sever al holiday seasons. So Delivering for America is a 10-year plan where they’re investing almost $40 billion, and that’s an investment in people, equipment and technology. They just deployed about 137 of these new package sorters across the country … which will give us the capacity across the country to process 60 million packages a day. … [Manchester USPS] had the space, the right location, the right mail mix, so we got one of them installed here in Manchester.

Is this machine replacing any of your workforce?

No — on the contrary. It has creat ed more need for employees to staff the machine.

How will this improve service? Will people notice a difference this holiday season?

During the holiday season, we get dou

ble to triple the amount that we normally do the other 10 months of the year. … This will ensure that we’re well-positioned to handle the peak volumes … and provide customers with effi cient, predictable, reliable service that they expect and deserve this holiday and beyond … and that’s even better than last year. … The goal is to run it for 15 to 18 hours a day during the holiday season. …

It’s going to help us run parcels to help Nashua [USPS] and give them some flexi bility to concentrate on priority packages.

… We envision that this machine can also run some priority packages, which are a little bigger, so during the peak volumes we’ll also be running some priority mail to alleviate the volumes that we anticipate Nashua is going to have, just to give them even more flexibility. … We’re ready for a successful holiday season.

What other improvements has USPS been working on?

We’ve converted some of our non-ca reer [employees] to career [status] to stabilize the workforce. We’ve rearranged the working floor to make it more effi cient, so that the mail can travel through our buildings into our trips so that they go on time. … Nashua has gotten other types of equipment to help them this holiday season and moving forward. … [Nation ally,] we’ve improved our performance. We’ve decreased our projected losses. It was forecasted that we were going to have a $116 billion loss over the next 10 years, but with all these improvements and investments, stabilizing the workforce and stabilizing our service, we’ve been able to reduce it to, I think, about $70 bil lion now. That’s a big accomplishment for the organization. … Another thing is, during Covid, the Postal Service pack aged and delivered about 60-plus million Covid test kits for America. … The gov ernment came to us and asked if we could do that, and we said, ‘Absolutely.’ That was pretty amazing for us to be able to help the American public in that way.

Baseball 2022 awards

Round 2 of the MLB playoffs is now underway.

First, boo to the new bestof-three format for the Wild Card round. I liked starting it all off with winner-takesall games to give it drama off the bat. Second, sorry, I just can’t call the Cleveland team the Guardians. I’m fine with the Buckeyes or Cleveland’s baseball team, but I don’t like “Guardians.” Third, I’m not sure giving up seven earned runs in his play off start is why Mets owner Steve Cohen gave Max Scherzer an astonishing $49 million per to be their ace.

With that out of the way, let’s recap notable moments and Longshots Awards for the 2022 regular baseball season.

Most notably, it was a year of historic achieve ments at Albert Pujols became just the fourth person to reach 700 homers, Miguel Cabrera became the newest member of the 500 hom ers and 3,000 hits club and Aaron Judge broke Roger Maris’s hallowed Yankees record (and, oh yeah, for the AL as well) for most homers hit in a season with 62.

Baseball 101: There are seven members of the 500/3,000 club. Name the six who did it before Cabrera.

Want to know how much the game has changed from the olden days? Once upon a time the 155 homers hit by the Red Sox was a respect able team total. The supposedly power-laden Big Red Machine that beat the Sox in the 1975 World Series hit just 124, and 141 when they beat the Yanks the next year. But today 155 ranked 20th overall as seven teams hit 200 or more.

In case you’re interested: No one reached 200 hits for the season. The Dodgers’ Freddy Free man led the majors with 199. He was also the leader in doubles with 47. J.D. Martinez was fourth with 43.

But what ever happened to the triple, as the most astonishing stat is not one player hit dou ble figures in triples? The leader was Cleveland shortstop Amed Rosario with 9. Not too long ago Curtis Granderson had a 20-20-20 year in doubles, triples and homers when he hit 38-2323 with Detroit back in 2007.

Talk the Balk Award: Miami Marlins hurl er Richard Bleier for balking three times in the same at-bat to become the first to do that since 1900. He did it while pitching to the Mets’ Pete Alonso to let NL batting champ Jeff McNeil come all the way around from first base to score without the benefit of a ball even being pitched! Weirdly, Bleier had never committed even one balk in his 303 MLB appearances prior to that. He avoided getting a fourth by being tossed for arguing after the third one, but only after retiring Alonso. The Marlins won 6-4 despite Bleier’s historic night.

Baseball 101 Answer: Cabrera joined Pujo is, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, A-Rod, Rafael Palmeiro and Eddie Murray in the 500/3,000 club.

If the Mets outbid the Yanks to sign Judge it will give them a batting with three of the Top RBI guys from 2022. Judge and Alonso led with 131 and Fancisco Lindor was fifth with 107.

It had to be more than just losing their 2021 ace. But the dominos began falling when Kevin Gausman signed with Toronto as they tumbled from 107 wins a year ago to 81. Actually it prob ably started with the retirement of Giants great Buster Posey. And it helped that everyone had a big stats slide (except young’n Logan Webb) from 2021 and there were injuries. It basically made them to the NL what the Sox were to the AL: the major disappointment.

There was an actual 20-game winner in Atlan ta’s Kyle Wright, who went 21-5 with a 3.17 ERA. He’s got my vote for the NL Cy Young award. But since wins don’t matter to the stat geeks, they’ll probably pick the WHIP leader.

Comeback Player: Guess Justin Verlander still has it. After coming back from almost two missed seasons due to Tommy John surgery, at 39 he amazingly went 18-4 in 28 starts with a 1.75 ERA. He should get the Cy Young (his third) in the AL.

In case you’re wondering: It was 35 homers, 82 RBI and .269 for Mookie Betts in L.A. while trademate Alex Verdugo went for 11-74-.280.

Yankees announcer Michael Kay’s call of Judge’s 62nd homer goes into the Top 5 Worst Calls of a Giant Sports Moment of all-time. Zero drama in the voice like an astonished Howard Cosell bellowing DOWN GOES FRAZIER, DOWN GOES FRAZIER after George Fore man shockingly dropped Joe Frazier with a thunderous right 2 minutes into Round 1 of their 1973 title fight. And worse, he talked all through Judge’s trip around the bases. The car dinal rule is make the call, then shut up to let the crowd and team reactions carry the moment. Like Joe Buck’s dad Jack saying after a bare ly able to walk Kirk Gibson’s pinch hit walkoff homer off Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, “I DON’T BELIEVE WHAT I JUST SAW!” Then just crowd noise. Which is what Joe did when the Sox ended the curse in Game 4 of the 2004 series.

Speaking of which, the enduring argument for 2022 will be, given the suspicion from the era, is the real homer record the 62 hit by Judge or the 73 of Barry Bonds hit in 2001?

Oddly it’s similar to 1961’s “Does the record belong to Roger Maris or the Babe?” as Nos. 60 and 61 came during the new 161-game schedule and after the old 154-game season Babe Ruth hit his 60 in. At that time Com missioner and Ruth binky Ford Frick gave it an asterisk to diminish what Maris did before it eventually disappeared to make Maris the King.

Finally, congrats to the retiring Eck after 50 years of excellence in baseball. He will be missed.

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qUaliT y OF liFE iNdEx

Phone scam

The Manchester Police Department is warning the public of a scam in which a person is calling citizens claiming to be a Man chester police officer and trying to solicit money. According to the notice, the caller leaves messages telling the recipient that they have warrants with the police and will face legal consequences if they do not pay a cash bail.

QOL Score: -2

Comment: Anyone who has received this call or another call that they suspect is a scam should contact the Manchester Police Depart ment at 668-8711.

Trail for everybody

New Hampshire Audubon celebrates the opening of its new All Persons Trail at its McLane Center (84 Silk Farm Road, Concord) on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 9 a.m. According to a press release, the trail, which features a com pacted gravel surface to accommodate people using assisted mobili ty devices, was designed to increase universally accessible trail opportu nities in the state and to increase awareness of the need for native plant and wildflower meadows in the state to support pol linators. “We are pleased to announce that, after many years of planning and learning from the communities we intend to serve, we have built Concord’s first All Persons Trail,” conservation director Marc Nutter said in a press release. “This effort … has opened up new wildlife viewing oppor tunities for all people.”

QOL Score: +1

Comment: The NH Audubon reached out to the NH Council on Developmental Disabilities to recruit some test riders, whose feed back helped them make the final adjustments to the trail, according to the release.

Was really enjoying the $3.30s

Gas prices in New Hampshire are back on the rise for the first time since early June. According to a GasBuddy price report, the average gasoline prices in New Hampshire increased by 9.2 cents per gallon in the last week, averaging $3.47 per gallon as of Oct. 10. The data is based on a survey of 875 gas stations across the state. Prices are still 23.6 cents per gallon lower than a month ago, but 35.9 cents per gallon higher than a year ago.

QOL Score: -1

Comment: The national average price of gasoline averaged $3.92, according to the report — up 22.5 cents per gallon from a month ago.

QOL score: 85

Net change: -2

QOL this week: 83

What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

This Week

Big EvEnts OctOBEr 13 and BEyOnd

Individual tickets cost $75; a table of eight costs $500. Reserve tick ets at aviationmuseumofnh.org.

Sunday, Oct. 16

and wine will be included for the showing. After the showing, local author Howard Mansfield will read from his book Chasing Eden Contact Rae Easter at reaster@ shakers.org to reserve tickets.

the Emmy-nominated series New England Legends and is a co-host on the New England Legends podcast. Tickets can be reserved through the Derry Public Library at derrypl.org.

Majestic Theatre is put ting on a limited production of Next to Normal starting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broad way, Derry) The show follows the life of a normal subur ban family as they deal with mental illness, loss and fam

Saturday, Oct. 15

The 25th anniversary of the Aviation Museum is today, with a celebratory fundraising gala from 5 to 9 p.m. at the Executive Court

ily trauma. Because of the adult themes in the show, the Majestic said that the show isn’t recommended for audi ence members younger than 17. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for seniors. Visit majestictheatre.net to purchase tickets.

Banquet Hall (1199 S. Mammoth Road, Manchester). The gala will have a gourmet dinner, the 18-piece Bedford Big Band, auc tion items, raffle prizes and more.

The New Hampshire Philhar monic Orchestra opens its 118th year with an orchestral show case, “Nature & Myth,” featuring music by Beethoven, Walker, Grieg and Sibelius, today at 2 p.m. at the Seifert Performing Arts Center (44 Geremonty Drive, Salem). The showcase will also run on Satur day, Oct. 22, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $25 for seniors and $8 for kids. Visit nhphil.org to purchase tickets.

Tuesday, Oct. 18

The Canterbury Village is hold ing a showing of the movie Holy Ground tonight at the Peterbor ough Community Theatre (6 School St.) at 7 p.m. The movie explores the history of the Shak ers, a religious group that spanned from Maine to Kentucky. Tickets for the event are free and popcorn

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Jeff Belanger is telling ghost stories from across New England at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway) tonight at 7 p.m. Belanger, an author known for writing about the paranor mal, UFOs, folklore, ledged and ghosts, is a host on

Save the d ate! Thursday, Nov. 3

The ninth annual Distiller’s Showcase is on Thursday, Nov. 3, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Double Tree by Hilton (700 Elm St, Manchester). The showcase will have dozens of distillers from across the country and around the world. It’s part of New Hampshire Distiller’s Week, which begins on Nov. 1. Tickets to the showcase start at $60. For more information about the Distiller’s Showcase and more events happening during Distiller’s Week, visit dis tillersshowcase.com.

Characters

New Hampshire is in the thick of fall theater season, with professional and community productions filling the schedule with musicals, dramas, com edies and productions with young performers. We talked to several local

Connor Weeks, as Mr. Toad

The Community Players of Concord presents The Wind in The Willows, a chil dren’s theater project featuring 24 young actors, at the Audi Concord (2 Prince St.). Showtimes are Friday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Oct. 15, at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15. Visit communityplayersof concord.org.

What is The Wind in the Willows about?

The Wind in the Willows is about a group of animals, specifically a toad, a badger, a mole and a rat, [who] go on a bunch of wild adven tures together.

Describe the character you’re playing.

I’m playing the role of Mr. Toad. He’s a very posh and very energetic toad who will spring for the new thing when it comes out. He’s a little self-centered but he doesn’t show it. He tries to pride himself on being Mr. Toad without sounding too cocky.

What attracted you to this show?

I [wanted] to be in this because I’ve done a ton of shows with the people who are working on [it] and they’re really nice. Also, my uncle had read the book and he said it was a really good show, so that’s why I’m doing the show.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

One of the challenging parts about being Mr. Toad is [that] I have to do an onstage cos tume change in a very short amount of time, and I haven’t really gotten the chance to prac tice that yet a lot, and that’s really kind of difficult.

What do you like most about playing this character?

What I like most about playing Mr. Toad is his enthusiasm, being around my friends and just being myself and singing.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I’m most looking forward to being around all my family and friends, and being on stage

and showing Mr. Toad off.

Why do you think this is a show that audi ences will enjoy now?

They should come to the show and they might enjoy it because it’s really fun. It has a lot of songs that are really fun to dance to, and all of us worked so hard, and I believe the final out come is going to be so much better than anyone had imagined.

izzy Bedy, as Edgar

The Peacock Players

(14 Court St., Nash ua) presents Disney’s The Aristocats Kids, performed by kids and teens in grades 2 through 12, from Fri day, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 16, and from Friday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct.

23. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday, and 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets range from $12 to $18. Visit peacock players.org.

What is The Aristocats Kids about?

It’s based on a Disney movie about a family of cats. They live with Madame, their owner, and Edgar the Butler, who is me, and Edgar is the bad guy. He wants to get rid of them so he takes them away and they have to try and find their way back to Paris.

Describe the character you’re playing.

[Edgar is] a Disney villain, so lots of the songs are … big songs about being evil, and he hates the aristocats. His goal in life is to get rid of them. Madame is his boss and he always tries to impress her. It’s a very fun role because you can be over the top and everything.

What attracted you to this show?

Well, I love theater. I’ve been doing it for five years. I was looking at the new shows, and I was in the age range for this one. I thought, ‘Oh, that might be fun. I think I have an audition song, so I might as well try out.’

What have you been doing to prepare?

Well, I’ve watched The Aristocats a couple times, like, clips from it, especially with Edgar

actors from some upcoming shows who will be hitting the stage over the next month about how they are getting into character and what makes their shows a must-see.

in them … and I’ve read the script over more times than I can count. … If you think about the goal, your character’s goal in life, or like, what your character is thinking or probably doing in the moment, then it can really help you … decide how you’re going to say your lines and how you’re going to show the audience what you mean with those lines and those lyrics. Facial expressions are also everything. So if you prac tice how you’re going to look at the audience or who you’re going to look at when you’re saying a certain line, it really helps show the character and the personality of the character.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

The most challenging part is probably because it’s a character that’s very different from me, or from most people you will meet in real life. Dis ney villains are these evil people and they’re very, very over the top and exaggerated in their emotions. It’s hard to find exactly who that per son would be in real life.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I really look forward to our finale and our prologue or opening scene. We have almost the entire cast in both of those numbers and we’ve worked on them for a long time. It was [one of] the first things we started working on, and I think they look really good and everyone is doing a great job of showing their character and their … vocal and acting skills.

Why do you think this is a show that audi ences will enjoy now?

Musicals are known for having these big over-the-top numbers and having these charac ters with very big personalities. There’s so much going on in a musical, and it’s a musical based on a Disney movie, so it’s [so] lively and energetic that it’s really hard to forget it.

Nancy Rosen, as ida Straus

The Manchester Community Theatre Players presents Titanic — performed by actors playing both historical figures and characters that were invented by the show’s writers — at the North End Montessori School (698 Beech St., Man chester) on Friday, Oct. 14, and Saturday, Oct. 15; and from Friday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 23. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets

are $20. Visit manchester communitytheatre.com.

What is Titanic about?

It’s a musical that was written around the time of the movie. … The subject matter is the Titanic, but it differs in that there’s no Rose and there’s no Jack. The musical is all about the music. … It’s a real musician’s musical. It’s all kind of classical sounding.

Describe the character you’re playing.

Her name is Ida Straus and she was born in the mid-19th century in Germany. She came over to America and married her husband, Isadore. He was a successful businessman. They were very much in love throughout their 40-plus years of marriage. They were traveling back from spend ing some time in the south of France. They were supposed to take separate ships coming home, but because of a coal strike, they ended up com ing home together. They never made it home, because the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. Isa dore, even though he was an older gentleman, said, ‘No, there are younger people that need to go [on the lifeboats], not me,’ and Ida just says, ‘I’m not going, either.’ Their relationship kind of became a symbol to many at the time of true love and total dedication.

What attracted you to this show?

I was asked if I would be interested and I said absolutely. I thought that this is a nice challenge … of a role.

What have you been doing to prepare?

I look at the lines and then I try to think, ‘How do I parallel this woman?’ My parallels are [that] I’m not married 40 years, I’m married 32, and I try to envision how I feel about my husband. … So it’s just total dedication. I just try to make it real. You have to find elements of ‘How do you connect to the person?.’

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

Because it’s not a huge role and there might be a line coming in and out, [it’s] the one-liners when you’re walking across [and] just getting the timing of lights and the chronology of cer tain things.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

Just running it from top to bottom, [and] just getting the flow going with the music. We’ve been in a rehearsal process where we can start and stop a lot. But when the show starts, when we start doing actual performances, it’ll be nice just having a flow going, anticipating what hap pens next. Just being able to live in the show will be nice.

Why do you think this is a show that audiences will enjoy now?

I think they’ll be swept up by the music and the story. Most people know the story and they know, of course, the inevitability. And the music is the emotion of this grandiose ship. People will be swept up in the whole preparation of the launching of the thing and how it was once in a lifetime. They’ll be swept up in the story of it.

Sam Rogers, as John Proctor

The Seacoast Rep ertory Theatre (125 Bow St., Portsmouth) presents The Cru cible, which runs various dates from Oct. 13 through Nov. 5. Tickets start at $27. Vis it seacoastrep.org.

What is The Cruci ble about?

It takes place in the Puritanical time. The girls are found in the woods at the beginning of the play and they’re doing some kind of dance so that they can talk to the dead. Mr. Paris, who is the minister of the church, catches them in the woods and then they start getting sick. So the girls are sick and everybody in the town is freaking out because they think it’s witchcraft. But the girls know the truth. They know that they were out in the woods and they were dancing naked around in the woods. So they say that it was because of witchcraft and that there were so many people in the town that were sending their spirits out on them and they’re just like these victimized girls. … Eventually things start going to court, and that’s when John and Elizabeth Proctor come in. Elizabeth’s name has been mentioned in court. John is livid. He fights in court as hard as he can, but the court there is just so bloodthirsty and they don’t want any sort of undermining to happen because they’ve sent so many people to death. … Eventually, John gets taken away even though he fights super hard.

Describe the character you’re playing.

I’m playing John Proctor. … He’s the kind of a character that I get really excited about as an actor because he has so many complexi ties. Something that I really like about him that makes him kind of easy for the actor is that he makes a very clear choice in the middle of the play, in terms of where his storyline is going to go. He has a very important choice to make and he makes it and then that fuels the rest of the play.

What have you been doing to prepare?

I think that something that really helps me pre pare for a role as an actor is thinking about the relationships that the character has to the other characters. I know that there’s a lot of things that people can do, but for me, understanding where John’s heart lies with the other characters, like who he trusts, who he doesn’t trust, and who he has faith in.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

In terms of physicality, like, a personal thing for me is that … I’m pretty naturally inclined to … make faster, quicker movements. Like, you know I’ll move across a room quickly or I’ll make … just, like, quicker jolty or movements with my body. And that’s not really what this character is like. … Also just the last scene where he sees Elizabeth again in the jail is really diffi cult to get to that place emotionally.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I just love to act. … I’ve been working on a bunch of musicals this whole year, which has been great … but obviously a musical is a differ ent beast than a play. … I really love completing a character’s journey. I really like being in a dif ferent place at the end of a play than I was at the beginning.

Why do you think this is a show that audienc es will enjoy now?

It is definitely a classic. Arthur Miller is a great writer, so people obviously just like it for that reason. However, it’s timeless because it kind of speaks on … our own history. I think that people like to see things that talk about what we’ve actu ally been through as a country and things that have happened for real. It’s like, you watch it and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t even believe that that happened.’

Sean Bushor, as lord Farquaad

The Epping Commu nity Theater presents Shrek the Musical at the Epping Playhouse (36 Ladd’s Lane) from Fri day, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 23; and from Friday, Oct. 28, through Sunday, Oct. 30. Showtimes are at 7 p.m. on both Fridays and on Saturday, Oct. 22; and 2 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 23, Saturday, Oct. 29, and Sunday, Oct. 30. Tickets range from $15 to $20. Visit eppingthe ater.org.

Describe the character you’re playing.

Lord Farquaad is a tiny tyrant who is an unscrupulous pragmatic opportunist, a charis matic bully who has gotten to the top with wit, charm and above all else, fear. He is ‘that’ boss who sweet-talks you into working the weekend of your child’s birthday, and angrily berates you for not being a team player, all while upper man

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agement or the home office hasn’t heard a peep of his antics. … On a deeper level, Lord Farquaad is that little voice inside all of us that keeps us from chasing our dreams, telling us that we are too little, too ugly to make it, that we should either conform to an impossible standard of perfection or wallow in an oozing mud pit in resignation.

What attracted you to this show?

Lord Farquaad is a funny little villain. If you look at all the great villains, most people will name one who is powerful, who is able to direct ly put the protagonist into mortal danger. Lord Farquaad’s power is completely illusory, a sham. Shrek goes along with Lord Farquaad’s demands because it is the path of least resistance, which I think is hilarious. … That’s the satire behind Lord Farquaad — we’re all pitted against each other to the benefit of tiny little men whose only power over us is itself a fairy tale. Therefore, the part needs to be played big and extra large to signify how Lord Farquaad is himself overcom pensating for his own self-imposed limitations.

What have you been doing to prepare?

I’ve been watching as many different interpre tations of Lord Farquaad as I can. I’ve always been a big fan of John Lithgow. … I also love Christopher Sieber’s performance on Shrek the Musical on Netflix. … I’ve pored through YouTube and watched a myriad of other inter pretations, both to see how they actually moved [and] what props they used, and what I thought did and didn’t work. I’ve used some open-source audio software to record my lines and add in the rehearsal tracks, and instead of my normal music, I’ve been just listening to my lines on repeat while I work.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

I spend most of the show on my knees. … There’s also a part where I am practically run ning while singing. However, these challenges are also really fun to do, and I think the audience will really get a kick out of it.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I have a few silly bits that I think the audience will love. It’s also super fun being in a show with my family. My kids are [playing the] fairy tale creatures, and my wife is working backstage. I have an older daughter who isn’t in the show, but I was in a different show [with her] before, so now I’ll have done a show with my whole fami ly, which I think is pretty cool.

Why do you think this is a show that audienc es will enjoy now?

There is this timeless aspect to Shrek that is hard to put a finger on. There are still memes being made about Shrek to this very day, for a movie that came out over 20 years ago in 2001! … Also, like an onion, Shrek the Musical has lay ers. We have simple slapstick comedy, which for me, never gets old. We have puns and dad jokes, and as a dad myself, that is also another genre that never gets old. There is comedy where we have to explain to the kids in the cast how to do

the joke because they don’t get it, but we adults think it’s funny. … Aside from the jokes being funny, there’s also the underlying themes of the show, which I think really gives it that time lessness aspect — that heroes can be found in unlikely places, [and] that you can find true love even if you look like an ogre. The importance of standing up for yourself and not just waiting for wishes to come true. There is strength in diver sity, unity, friendship, and in forgiveness. And sometimes, the people who speak out against fairy tale creatures the most are deeply in denial of being a fairy tale creature themselves.

Hadley Harris, as Janet Van de Graaff

The Riverbend Youth Company presents The Drowsy Chaperone at the Amato Center for the Performing Arts (56 Mont Vernon St., Milford) from Friday, Nov. 4, through Sun day, Nov. 6. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. on Fri day, 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. Tick et sales are TBA. Visit svbgc.org/amato-center.

Describe the character you’re playing.

Janet Van de Graaff is a glamorous showgirl giving up the stage for marriage. She is incredi bly dramatic and loves attention and praise. But Janet also has a soft, affectionate side and would do anything for love.

What attracted you to this show?

I’ve been participating in shows with the Riv erbend Youth Company for about five years now, this being my final season as a senior in high school. I knew I would be in the fall musical, but when I saw the directing team and title, I knew I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. The Drowsy Chaperone is such a fun title because it combines elements of old Broadway, but possesses the entertaining qualities of a modern musical. And, of course, MaryEllen [Stevenson], Meg [King] and Henry [Kopczynskie] are such incredible directors to work with.

What have you been doing to prepare?

I’ve been doing a lot of stretching and endur ance training. Before being cast as Janet, I didn’t know just how physically demanding the role would be. There is quite a bit of singing with high-energy dancing. Additionally, I’ve been researching 1920s fashion and performance to get a better sense of the show’s setting.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

While I’m similar to Janet in a lot of ways, we’re also quite different. I hope to have just half the confidence and presence she does. I also feel challenged by Janet’s fast-paced and upbeat numbers, which include lots of tricks and intense acting.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I can’t wait to see it all come together. Undoubtedly, the costumes and lighting will be spectacular. The Drowsy Chaperone is such a layered show, so it takes time to come togeth er. But, as with any production, once the pieces click, it’s like magic. The interactive set and fun direction — including roller skating, tap dancing, encores and a power outage — make this show so full of energy and joy.

Why do you think this is a show that audienc es will enjoy now?

I can’t wait for audiences to share in the joy that is The Drowsy Chaperone. I love the “show within a show” trope and think our audiences will find it very entertaining. Ben Erdody, play ing Man In Chair, is such a fantastic actor, and I think he is the piece of the puzzle that makes the story come alive. His skillful narration allows the audience to truly dive into the story with him. Altogether, this title builds such lovable charac ters that I’m ecstatic to share.

— Angie Sykeny

Hannah Shepherd, as The Chaperone

Describe the charac ter you’re playing.

The Drowsy Chap erone is an over-the-top performer. The world is her stage. The Chaper one is rough around the edges and does what she thinks is best.

What attracted you to this show?

I’ve been performing with the Riverbend Youth Company for many years. I was look ing forward to the fall season, but I wasn’t familiar with the title of the show and was inter ested in learning more about it. I listened to the soundtrack, and I loved the 1920s setting and feel. This past March, I was in a production of Chicago where I realized how much 1920s musi cals have to offer. Old shows are replete with grand dance numbers and musical ballads. These numbers make for fun choreography and impres sive vocal tracks.

What have you been doing to prepare?

The directing team has compared my charac ter of the Chaperone to many other characters in shows and other musicals. For example, Karen in Will and Grace. I’ve watched many clips of Megan Mullally as Karen to observe her acting style. When practicing my track, I’ll sing it to myself in the mirror, trying out different stanc es and facial expressions. Then, at rehearsals, I’ll try what I’ve worked on to see what feels the most natural.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

The most challenging part of playing The Chaperone is the fact that she pays no mind to the

other characters on stage. In other words, their problems aren’t her problems. The Chaperone is also a very monotone character. Naturally, I have a bubbly personality and feel emotions deeply, so I’ve learned that I have to put Hannah aside for the shows in order to step into the character.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I’m looking forward to seeing what we’ve rehearsed all put together. One of my favorite parts of any show is seeing what we’ve worked on for months finally together on stage. [With] this one especially, I feel each actor individually has put an immense amount of effort into making these characters come to life.

Why do you think this is a show that audienc es will enjoy now?

I think audiences will enjoy this show because of its clever comedic timing and fun choreogra phy. Meg, our choreographer, has worked hard to create amazing dances that challenge us as actors and entertain the audience.

Sean damboise and Zakariah Tber, as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern

Lend Me a Theatre presents Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead at the Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road, Concord) from Friday, Nov. 4, through Sunday, Nov. 6; Fri day, Nov. 11, through Sunday, Nov. 13; and Friday, Nov. 18, through Sunday, Nov. 20. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets range from $16 to $22. Visit hatboxnh.com.

What is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead about?

Damboise: Rosen crantz and Guildenstern are two … kind of small characters in Hamlet. Basically their role is just to kind of spy on Hamlet for the king and queen. Halfway into the show they have to take him to England. The original letter to the English king says, ‘OK, here’s Hamlet, you get to take his head off.’ Unfortunately, Hamlet got the let ter twisted around so that when they show up in England, it says, ‘We’re supposed to cut your heads off.’ And Rosencrantz and Guildenstern die. … It’s basically Hamlet from their per spective. And at the same time, they’re kind of floating around going, ‘Something doesn’t seem right here. … We’re being pushed around and asked to be doing weird things,’ and they’re basi cally just trying to puzzle their way through it.

What attracted you to this show?

Tber: I like that both characters are constantly pondering their situation in the storyline and it’s almost weirdly metaphorical. They’re trying to talk about what’s the meaning of a person, what is existence.

Damboise: These guys are just sorting their way through trying to say, ‘OK, why were we chosen to die? Why can’t we actually change our destiny? Why is it that we have to die?’ But they’re still stuck.

What have you been doing to prepare?

Tber: I watched the movie. I took a look at certain scenes. This show is so heavy on lines, and this show is so heavy on [the question of] what is the true meaning of what they’re trying to say. Every rehearsal, I figure out why I’m say ing certain things. Sometimes I don’t know why I’m saying certain things in this show because the language is different.

Damboise: And it does shift from modern speech to actually reciting lines from Hamlet. So now they’re jumping from, ‘Hey, what’s going on here,” to iambic pentameter, and then back again to the regular speech. The constant shifting is a little difficult.

What is the most challenging thing about playing these characters?

Tber: Unless I’m flowing, unless I start the scene and then I move from a motion to a motion seamlessly, I can’t start back up again. So, if I pause and then we give it a director’s note or if I pause and then we resituate something, I’m going to lose it and then I’m going to have to come back.

Damboise: The hardest part for me is [not that it’s] difficult to … flow through the emotions so much as actually trying to pull them out. Going from frustration to happiness, and there are a couple of scenes where he has to shift. It’s very difficult to try and make such a dramatic shift so quickly.

Why do you think this is a show that audi ences will enjoy now?

Tber: There is a director’s note that says there’s only two times this show has failed. And it was when they decided to make it serious. Yes, it’s supposed to be a comedy.

Damboise: Yeah, it’s a comedy at heart. If you go deep, you’re not going to have a decent show because it’s way too much. These char acters are not deep. They’re just incidentals in Hamlet’s. And now they’ve got a little bit of depth and background and they’re trying to fig ure themselves out. But if you try to go too deep, you’re just going to lose the point, which is fol lowing these two schlubs through Hamlet.

John Jenks Seymour, as Claudius

John Jenks Seymour, playing Claudius, will also perform in Lend Me a Theatre’s production of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.

Describe the character you’re playing. The character I’m playing is Claudius. He’s

the king. He’s not a real ly nice guy. Just kind of a person who’s out for his own interests.

What have you been doing to prepare?

My training was as a method actor. I try to find some feelings that I’ve had, that I can recall. That’s a lot of fun when doing a character who’s a really nasty, rot ten guy.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

I haven’t really been in the rehearsal process that long, so honestly it’s really just kind of fun.

Why do you think this is a show that audi ences will enjoy now?

It’s a very, very funny play, and it’s a lot of just crazy humor, but it’s also very intelligent humor. You can take things at a couple levels. There’s some stuff that’s just silly and kind of slapstick, but there’s also some very deep humor.

TreVor Nantel, as Spike

Bedford Off Broad way presents Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at the Old Town Hall (3 Meetinghouse Road) from Friday, Nov. 4, through Sunday, Nov. 6; and from Friday, Nov. 11, through Sunday, Nov. 13. Showtimes are at 8 p.m. on Fridays and Sat urdays, and at 2 p.m. on Sundays (doors open one hour before curtain). Tickets are $15 general admission, and $12 for children, students and seniors. Purchase them at the door or at brownpapertickets.com.

What is Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike about?

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is about three adopted siblings in their 50s, two of which — Vanya and Sonia — live a miserable life together, while their other sibling, Masha, is a very … renowned, famous actress. … Enter Spike, and he is a 29-year-old stud that Masha has picked up across the way, and she introduc es Spike to already regretful siblings. The family goes through some hardships and they learn to live and love each other along the way.

What attracted you to this show?

This is my first ever play, but I consider myself to be a natural actor. … My dad, Rick Nantel, has performed [in] many shows here [throughout] the years. He read this script hoping to get Van ya, and suggested that I audition, as he thought I fit this role perfectly. I decided to give it a shot on the last night of auditions. … What attracted me to do the show was the kind of character Spike is. I feel like he is a very fun role.

What have you been doing to prepare?

I had some fun nights out with a friend and my girlfriend, and we would read lines and I’d con stantly get scrutinized for getting them wrong, yet they were very supportive. … It came down to my girlfriend reading lines with me, and me sitting in my work van during the day and con stantly reciting them in customers’ yards. … I was hoping they wouldn’t look out the win dow and see me talking to myself in a dramatic manner.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

The most challenging part of playing Spike is the expectation of fulfilling who he really is in the playwright’s eyes, but I’m having fun and the cast has been amazing.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

To be able to impress the audience, while making my friends, family and girlfriend proud.

Why do you think this is a show that audi ences will enjoy now?

I think the audience will enjoy the show for the raw comedy, and the fact that they will be able to relate to a lot of the content.

Greer danzey, as Curly

The Kids Coop Theatre presents Okla homa! at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway). Showtimes are Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7 p.m., and a matinee on Sunday, Nov. 20, at 1 p.m. Tickets are $15. Visit kidscooptheatre. ludus.com.

What is Oklahoma! about?

Oklahoma! is a musical that was made [in the] late 1940s through 1950s by Rodgers and Ham merstein. It is about a cowboy during 1906 who is in love with [a] farm girl named Laurey Wil liams, and [he] wants to get her to marry him. [Laurey is] described as [being] the most beau tiful girl in town, [and] she doesn’t know much about him. [The town is] very small, [and] every body knows each other. With her being known by everybody, many people are after her in a romantic way. She has a love triangle with the lead, Curly McLain … and her farmhand named Jud Fry. Now, this farmer and the cowboy do not get along very well and it’s made very apparent throughout the whole show that they are roman tic rivals. On the other side of the story you have a … different cowboy [named] Will Parker, [who’s] in a love triangle as well with this girl named Ado Annie … and a peddler [named] Ali Hakim. The story is a romantic comedy drama [about] these two love triangles happening in early America. It’s very interesting, [and] some parts are darker than others. Overall it’s quite an experience.

Describe the character you’re playing.

Curly is a curly-headed cowboy [with] a big ego. He’s very energetic, [and is] always try ing to pitch in on a conversation. He likes to be engaged, [and is] very prideful. His biggest strength is also his biggest weakness [because] it’s what gets [him] in trouble, but it’s what people love about him. Not everybody always agrees with what he does [because] he’s very sporadic, but that energy is what makes him lov able, yet annoying.

What attracted you to this show?

I had seen Oklahoma! once before and I enjoyed the show. I saw the movie version [and] I thought the characters were really fun. The lead cowboy, Curly McLain, was very funny because he has a very big ego, and my friends always made fun of me for having a big ego, so I [decid ed I’d] go try for it. When I was researching, I started [to get] more into the show, I learned more about it, and I started to feel more connect ed to it.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

He has a more serious tone to him and when it’s used it’s hard to separate that from his ener getic side. You only see it a few times, but when you do it’s like you’re seeing a whole other person. It almost feels like you’re playing two different characters [and] it’s hard to understand that he’s the same guy that everybody loves, but he has this much darker, serious tone to him. Then there’s also the accent that goes with it. They have a silly Southern accent that makes it sound ridiculous so it’s hard to portray a seri ous tone when you’re talking like you just got scared.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

I’d probably say I’m [most looking] for ward to having stage interactions with a lot of my friends. [My friends and I] have been this lit tle group who have been doing shows [together] for a while. [We] always audition for the same shows and always get characters that … inter act with each other, and it’s always been really fun. Having that chemistry with each other and getting to put it on stage is always so much fun. We’ll talk to each other about who’s going to get this role, who’s going to get that role, and then if our predictions come out right everything just works out because in our rehearsal process we’ll just feel comfortable with each other and we know that in the end our stage production will feel very true to all of us.

Why do you think this is a show that audiences will enjoy now?

It’s funny [because] it’s very different from today. It seems like a lifetime ago which, real ly, it was. It takes place over a century ago, but the story itself has been adapted [into] so many other ways that it seems very relatable. Oklaho ma! is very similar to the plot of West Side Story, which is another very popular musical. It’s simi lar to Grease, which is another great show. It has that classic spin to it that a lot of audience mem

would feel

catch

just be able

Jim Gocha, as Hercule Poirot

The Communi ty Players of Concord present Agatha Chris tie’s Murder on the Orient Express at the Audi Concord (2 Prince St.). Showtimes are Friday, Nov. 18, and Saturday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 20, at 2 p.m. Tick ets are $20 for adults and $18 for kids and seniors. Visit community playersofconcord.org

What is Murder on the Orient Express about?

It’s a murder mystery. … It’s a story about a murder that takes place on a train. One charac ter, a man named Sam Ratchett, is stabbed in the middle of the night multiple times … and then it becomes a matter of who did it.

Describe the character you’re playing.

I am playing Hercule Poirot, the main char acter [and] the very famous detective. [The investigation] turns to me, and so I’ve got to try to figure out what the heck happened.

What attracted you to this show?

Oh my gosh — who would not want to per form as Hercule Poirot? I mean, he’s one of the most famous detectives in all of literature. I couldn’t pass that up. … He’s such a great char acter, so iconic, and it’s just a matter of putting your own little twist on playing him. So I jumped at the chance, and I was actually surprised that I got it. … I went to school for theater for a while, but … eventually I switched to teaching English. That’s my main job now, but I’ve been doing the ater again for probably a good 10 to 12 years now.

What have you been doing to prepare?

I did some background [research] on Poirot, not only from the original text written by Agatha Christie, but also looking at other versions of the character. There’s a famous film with Albert Fin ney playing him and, more recently, Kenneth Branagh, and also David Suchet on television.

More stage productions

Here are some of the other plays hitting area stages in the coming weeks. Know of a show not listed here? Let us know at arts@hippopress.com.

• Phylloxera Productions’ Government Inspector continues, Fridays through Sundays, through Oct. 23) at the Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road in Concord; 715-2315, hatboxnh.com).

• Majestic Theatre (880 Page St. in Manches ter; majestictheatre.net, 669-7469) is presenting Next to Normal Oct. 14 through Oct. 16 at the Derry Opera House and the comedy Seasonal Allergies Nov. 11 through Nov. 13 in Manches ter. The Majestic’s Academy Youth & Teens will present Wonderland Oct. 21 through Oct. 23 in

… So I looked at all the different versions that they did and how they put their own little twist on a character that is so iconic. … I also read some other information about him from the oth er Agatha Christie books, just to get an idea of who he is, and how he functions and how he is, not only physically but also just his background.

He’s actually from Belgium, not France. … A lot of people make that mistake because he speaks French. But he’s from Belgium, and that actually becomes a joke throughout the show.

What is the most challenging thing about playing this character?

The most challenging thing for me is get ting everything right about him. … For example, he has a limp and he walks with a cane. So it’s making use of that physical attri bute, along with making sure that I get the accent right. … I’m a stickler for accents, and if you’re going to do an accent, you’d better do it right. … I’ve actually been working on that quite a bit, just looking up videos on how people speak with a French accent and, in par ticular, how Poirot would speak with a French accent, since he is Belgian.

What are you most looking forward to about being in this show?

As with any show, I look forward to the group that we work with. We’ve got such a really fantastic group of actors, and [I love] the cama raderie that takes place when you’re putting a show together that is such an ensemble piece. …

Yes, Poirot is … supposed to be the main [char acter], but it doesn’t matter what I do if I don’t have these other people to rely on. … So that’s the part I look forward to the most, is interacting with the other folks on the stage.

Why do you think this is a show that audienc es will enjoy now?

I think this show in particular is one that peo ple would enjoy anytime, partly because it is such a well-known show. … I mean, Hercule Poirot and the story itself … are so well-known that it’s almost like visiting an old friend. … I think people will have a good time seeing that, remembering and comparing our show to some body else’s but also [seeing] the twist that we’re going to add. It’s written by Ken Ludwig, and he added a few twists here and there. … So people [will] enjoy the little changes that he has made to the story.

Manchester.

• The Palace Theatre’s (80 Hanover St. in Man chester; palacetheatre.org, 668-8855) next big show in its St. Mary’s Bank 2022-2023 Perform ing Arts Series is Grease, which will run Oct. 21 through Saturday, Nov. 12.

• Actorsingers’ Sweeney Todd will run at the Keefe Auditorium (117 Elm St. in Nashua; actorsingers. org) Friday, Nov. 4 through Sunday, Nov. 6.

• The Anselmian Abbey Players will present The Diviners at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester; tickets.anselm.edu, 641-7700) Friday, Nov. 18, through Sunday, Nov. 20.

SCENIC CHAIR LIFT RIDES

S

Get into the groove

Let’s hear it for the ’80s band

We may not have time machines to bring us back to the past, but we have music that allows us to relive those moments. This is what the audience will experience at the Back to the Eighties Show with New York City-based band Jessie’s Girl at the Palace Theatre in Manchester on Friday, Oct. 14.

Jessie’s Girl vocalist Mark Rinzel, who is originally from outside the Washing ton, D.C., area, moved to New York after college. He recalls walking the streets of Manhattan visiting his brother in the early ’90s and knowing that he, too, wanted to be there. Rinzel got involved with music when he was 5 or 6 years old. He started picking up instruments like the piano and the bass, and participated in musical theater.

Once in New York, Rinzel joined his brother’s band and auditioned for musicals.

Back to the Eighties with Jessie’s Girl

When: Friday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester

Cost: Tickets range from $35 to $42.50

He started producing and performing with independent rock bands, became a profes sional thespian touring with Jesus Christ Superstar and, around 15 to 16 years ago, started performing in tribute bands.

Meanwhile, Jessie’s Girl had been doing an ’80s show at the now-closed Canal Room on West Broadway.

“It ended up being one of the most suc cessful nights that the bar had. Once a week, hundreds of people would come, so clearly there was an audience for it,” Rinzel said.

Their lives collided when the members of Jessie’s Girl saw Rinzel performing in a Police tribute band.

“The guys from the ’80s show saw me doing this about a little over 10 years ago and they were looking to add new singers to the mix,” Rinzel said. “So they saw me sing ing all this Sting stuff and they were like, ‘Hey, do you want to join our ’80s band,’ and I said ‘That sounds fun.’”

Since then Jessie’s Girl has performed with some of the biggest names in ’80s music, like Colin Hay, Howard Jones and Berlin. They have also been a part of a pop ular weeklong ’80s-themed cruise, in which they are typically one of the favorite acts.

thing you see every day.

“You can go … all over the country … even up and down the eastern seaboard, and you can find ’80s bands in every town. … [I always joke] we’re about 10 times better than we even need to be. I think that’s what people respond to,” Rinzel said. “Almost all of [the band members] are sort of veterans from the Lower East Side.”

The level of talent in conjunction with the high energy makes for a show that’s in a league of its own.

“It’s a mixture of … [a] high-caliber per formance but also just a lot of spontaneity and fun, and I think people respond to that.” Rinzel said.

In 2020 the nights of performing came to a halt due to the pandemic.

“We had to put it away for a year and that was very painful for a lot of us, for every one,” Rinzel said. “And of course there was so much suffering everywhere, and if the worst you can say is I didn’t get to sing in my ’80s band for a year, you did alright.”

more meaningful post-Covid. … When peo ple started to come back to the shows, you kind of realize how much you missed some thing,” Rinzel said.

According to Rinzel, ’80s bands are not hard to come by, but coming across one that is on the level of Jessie’s Girl isn’t some

For him, the opportunity to be on stage and make others happy has always been one of the things he’s loved the most about per forming. But it’s the early post-Covid shows that rank high as his favorite part of his his tory with Jessie’s Girl.

More info: Visit palacetheatre.org or call the box office at 668-5588 to purchase tickets art Opening

“The show has become for me … just a lot

With the pandemic on a downward curve and safety precautions in place, the Back to the Eighties Show with Jessie’s Girl returns to New Hampshire for another ecstatic per formance. “It’s not just bringing them back to the ’80s. It’s also just getting them out of their seats and having a lot of fun with it,” Rinzel said. “We play with hits. We give people what they want to hear.”

• “FROM THE HIPPIE TRAIL

Halloween magic

Master illusionist David Caserta will present Haunted Illusions on Friday, Oct. 14, at the Dana Center for the Humanities at Saint Anselm College (100 Saint Anselm Drive in Manchester; tickets. anselm.edu). The show features feats of levitation, disappearance and reappearance and more, with dramatic lighting and pyro smoke, according to the website. Tickets for the general public cost $45.

• “THE WOODS WRAP AROUND YOU” Creative Ventures Gallery (411 Nashua St., Milford, creativeventuresfineart.com) will have an exhibition, “The Woods Wrap Around You,” on display during October, featuring hand-col ored monoprints by Loretta CR Hubley. A reception will be held on Friday, Oct. 14, with wine and hors d’oeuvres at 5:30 p.m., followed by a presentation by the artist and a live piano performance inspired by the exhibition.

TO THE SILK ROAD” exhibit from Two Villages Art Society will run at the Bates Building (846 Main St., Contoocook) Oct. 21 through Nov. 12. This is an exhibition by Kathleen Dustin that includes her original artwork, inspired by and jux taposed with jewelry and textiles from around the world that Dustin has col lected during her travels. The opening reception will take place on Saturday, Oct. 22, from noon to 2 p.m. Gallery hours are Thursday through Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. Visit twovillage sart.org or call 413-210-4372.

Exhibits

• “MY YEAR OF TOYS: AN ART JOURNAL” at Gallery 6, the art gallery at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire (6 Washington St., Dover, childrens-museum.org), on view now through Oct. 16. For this exhibition, author and illustrator Sandy Steen Bartholomew created a drawing of one toy from her large toy collection every day for a year. Gallery 6 is free and open to the pub lic; paid museum admission is not required to enter. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m. and

Canterbury

Guided Tour Hours:

Store & Exhibit Hours:

prices:

• Tell me more, tell me more: Tickets are on sale now for the Palace Theatre’s produc tion of the musical Grease, which will be on stage at the Palace (80 Hanover St. in Man chester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org) from Friday, Oct. 21, through Saturday, Nov. 12. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and most Saturdays throughout the run, 2 p.m. on Satur days and Sundays. Tickets start at $25.

• What big ears you have: In the mean time, inspire your next generation of stage performers when the Palace Youth Theatre takes the stage to present Red Riding Hood Tuesday, Oct. 18, and Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre (23 Amherst St. in Manchester; 668-5588, palacetheatre.org). Tickets start at $12 for this show featuring stu dents in grades 2 through 12.

• A new view: Your favorite work at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; currier.org, 669-6144) may be presented in a new context. Many of the muse um’s galleries, including the entire second floor, have recently gotten some new addi tions, according to the website. The museum is open Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admis sion costs $15, $13 for 65+, $10 for students, $5 for 13 to 17 and free for kids 12 and under. Admission is also free to all on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m during Art After Work. This week’s (Thursday, Oct. 13) live entertainment is “Doctor Gasp’s Halloween Special” featur

Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon.

• “STORIED IN CLAY” The New Hampshire Potters Guild presents its biennial exhibition “Storied in Clay” at the exhibi tion gallery at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen headquar

ing Halloween-themed folk and ragtime songs (see the story on page 38). The tours at 5:15 and 6:30 p.m. are “Myths at the Museum.”

• Fashion, art, music, comedy: Support NAMI NH at Live Life Loud, an event featur ing Doublesolid Apparel that will showcase new designs as well as music, art and comedy on Sunday, Oct. 16, at Angel City Music Hall (179 Elm St., Unit B, in Manchester), accord ing to a press release. Proceeds from the event will be donated to NAMI NH (National Alli ance on Mental Illness), the release said. Doors open at 6 p.m.; general admission tick ets cost $20; VIP tickets (which include a T-shirt, swag bag, preferred seating and more) cost $100 (plus fees for all tickets). Showtime is at 7 p.m. and the event will feature Drag Queen Diva Amanda Playwith as the emcee. For tickets, go to angelcitymusichall.com.

• Classic Phantom: Before there was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera there was Lon Chaney’s take on the classic horror character. Chaney starred in the 1925 silent big screen adaptation of The Phan tom of the Opera, which will screen Friday, Oct. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 West Broadway in Derry) featuring live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. The event is free and open to the public.

ters (49 S. Main St., Concord) through Oct. 27. Visit nhpotters guild.org.

• “STILL: THE ART OF STILL LIFE,” a contemporary art exhibit at Twiggs Gallery (254 King St. in Boscawen; twiggsgallery.word

press.com, 975-0015), will fea ture work by artists Caleb Brown, Shela Cunningham, Bess French, Marcia Wood Mertinooke, Bar bara Morse, Shawne Randlett and Marlene Zychowski and will run through Saturday, Oct. 29.

Giant pumpkins will take over the Piscata quog River in Goffstown on Sunday, Oct. 16. The day before, the pumpkins will be weighed, hollowed out and decorated for the race.

The event, which started as a way for local giant pumpkin growers to see who had the best crops, has become a national — and international phenomenon.

“We were contacted by a television com pany in Japan to see if they can get involved somehow,” said Tina Lawton, president of Goffstown Main Street Program. “It’s known far outside New Hampshire. Peo ple come from all over to come and see it.”

Back in 2000, when James Beauche min started the pumpkin weigh-off, he said that there was nowhere in New Hampshire

Goffstown Pumpkin Weigh-off and Regatta

Where: Main Street,

for giant pumpkin growers to show off the squashes they had spent weeks growing and caring for. He and a few of his friends created the New Hampshire Giant Pumpkin Growers Association and decided that they could hold their own showcase.

Beauchemin wanted something special to happen with the pumpkins after they had been weighed. He said he had heard of a group in Canada that did a pumpkin boat race, where growers hollowed out their giant pumpkins and used kayak paddles to see who could get to the finish the quickest.

“There was one giant pumpkin club in Nova Scotia that did pumpkin races. … They may even still do it,” Beauchemin said. “But I brought it to America.”

The biggest difference between the boat race in New Hampshire and the one in Can ada is that Goffstown’s regatta has motors fitted to the boats, giving the pumpkin ves sels a little more speed and the captains a greater chance for competition.

While the growers were the first to com pete in the makeshift boats, the regatta has become less something for regular people to race in, and more something for pub lic figures in Goffstown and southern New

Hampshire in general, Lawton said.

In addition to a few popular teachers rac ing the boats, WMUR anchor Erin Fehlau will be captaining one of the boats. In the past, Hippo has even sponsored a boat.

While the regatta is the star of the show, Lawton said, there are other events that people can check out throughout the weekend.

Saturday will be the day that all the pumpkins are weighed and, when that’s ended, they’ll be moved closer to the river, Lawton said. The captains will begin the process of hollowing out and decorating their boats in line with this year’s theme, “There’s no place like home.”

“The theme for this year’s decoration is Wizard of Oz,” Beauchemin said. “I was told someone is going to build a tiny house on top of a pumpkin with legs of the Wick ed Witch of the East sticking out.”

Sunday will start with a 10K race, and right before the regatta there will be the ever-popular pumpkin drop. Beauchemin said the pumpkin this year will be more than 2,000 pounds, and it’ll be dropped from approximately 75 feet.

In addition to the pumpkin-related

events, there will be a slew of local ven dors selling handmade crafts, different food options to choose from, a dog cos tume contest, an art show, a pie eating contest and live entertainment.

Every year, the event seems to grow in popularity, said Lawton.

“We get emails and calls from people all over the states asking when it’ll be,” Law ton said. “Lots of residents have families schedule their visits around this event.”

Putting the garden to bed

Don’t let the bed bugs bite

Frost has already lightly brushed my garden, and hard frost is not far behind. Even in warmer spots it is good to start getting ready for winter. Let’s look at some of the key activities for all of us.

First, remember to visit and support your local garden center. They want to unload as many plants now as they can — perennials, shrubs and trees. So they are discounting plants, often 25 percent or more. I recently got some big burr oaks at a 50 percent discount, a considerable sav ing. And it is not too late to plant.

I have read that woody plants store up food all summer when the sun is bright, and use some of it now to extend their roots out away from the main stem. So I like to plant trees in the fall especial ly since it is cooler and more rain is falling now than in mid-summer. If you plant a tree, be sure to spread 2 inches of mulch around the tree to keep the roots warm as late into the fall as possible.

You may have already done so, but let me remind you anyhow to bring in your houseplants that have summered outside. Do it now, not after frost even for plants like rosemary that can sus tain a temperature down to 25 degrees or so.

Aphids are the biggest pest on houseplants. Outdoors they are eaten up by other insects or washed off by heavy rains, but indoors a plant that is already sulking is ripe for an infestation. Use your hose to wash not only the tops of leaves, but the underside as well. And wash the surface of soil in the pot — do this by laying the plant on its side. This will help you to get rid of eggs and adult aphids, though a few elude me every year. Watch for aphids or their sticky droppings on leaves. If you see some, spray with Safer Soap to dehydrate the aphids and knock them dead.

Your least favorite fall activity may be weed ing and plant cleanup, though I kind of enjoy it. It is very important to remove rotten fruit, stems and leaves of tomatoes, potatoes, and vine crops as they often have mildew or fungus by now. Be sure to get them out of the garden ASAP. And if you have had bugs on any plants, put them in the household trash or on a burn pile. You don’t want them wintering over in the garden or the compost pile. You don’t have to wash tomato cages; their diseases won’t winter over on them.

Getting rid of weeds now is important, but so is covering the soil with leaves or mulch so those seeds blowing in the wind don’t land on bare earth and settle in, ready to grow in early spring even before you have thought about planting next year’s veggies.

Fallen leaves are the best mulch available, and free. You can compact them and make them eas ier to move to the garden by running them over with the lawnmower. They will settle in and not blow around if you do this just before a nice rain. But you can use grass clippings now, before

leaves have all fallen. And if you use a mowing service, ask them to leave the leaves and grass clippings for you to use. But do that only if they do not use any chemicals on the lawn. You don’t want any chemicals in your garden.

Cutting back the flower gardens is hard work and time-consuming if you have extensive flower beds as I do. Many gardeners use their hand prun ers and clip away, stem by stem. Not me. That is very hard on your paws. I like to use a curved ser rated knife or small “harvest sickle” to do so. I grab a handful of stems with my left hand, then slice them off with my right. One motion, and no work for my fingers the way pruners would do.

You might also consider using a string trim mer to cut back big beds. I’ve done it, but don’t usually do so. It’s fast but less precise. And I like to leave some flower stalks standing, things with seed for winter birds like chickadees and finches. I leave black-eyed susans, purple coneflowers, sunflowers and anything else that looks tasty from a bird’s eye view.

The most radical way of cutting back flower beds is to use a lawnmower. In late fall I used to put the blade of my riding lawnmower up as high as possible and ride over it, mowing it all down. Now I no longer have a riding mower, and I doubt my battery mower would chomp through it. I will have to use the string trimmer, I guess. It’s about 75 feet by 10 feet, so a motorized tool helps.

If you have dahlias and other tropicals grow ing in the ground and want to save the tubers for next year, only dig them up after a frost or two. Bring them into the basement or barn after you have shaken off most of the soil.

I store my dahlia tubers in a cold basement that doesn’t freeze. I put them in a box or tub with some sphagnum moss that is lightly moistened, and spray some moisture on in February. You can also store them in a plastic bag with holes punched in it and some bedding sold for gerbils in it, lightly moistened.

I love winter, but I’m always sad the morn ing after the first hard frost. Most of my annuals will have fallen, like wounded soldiers. But I also know that at my age, a season of rest from the garden will be good, too.

Henry gardens in Cornish Flat, NH. His email is henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

Family fun for whenever

Festivals and expos

• Gather up the troop and head over to Bedford for the Girl Scout expo on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 10 a.m. at the New Hampshire Sportsplex (68 Tech nology Drive). Registration for the event closes on Oct. 13. The expo will have events includ ing giveaways for the girls, live performances, hands-on exhibits and more. The program is appropriate for girls in kindergarten through grade 12 and adults, and they do not need to be members of the Girl Scouts to participate. Tick ets for everyone cost $5 and can be purchased at mygs.girlscouts.org.

• The fourth annual Hudson Harvest Festival is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Dr. H.O. Smith Elementary School (33 School St., Hudson). In addition to a costume parade for all ages with prizes to be awarded, the festival will feature games, music, vendors, craft tables and a pumpkin carving contest. See “New England Vendor Events” on Facebook for details.

• The Town of Windham is planning a harvest fest at Griffin Park (111 Range Road, Windham) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from noon to 4 p.m., fea turing food trucks, family-friendly activities and more. At 3 p.m., kids can go trick-or-treating around the park. Visit windhamnh.gov for more information.

• One Church Manchester (1308 Wellington Road) will hold a fall festival on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 3 to 6 p.m., with food, games and pump kin decorating. Volunteers can come and decorate the outpost on Friday, Oct. 14, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free to attend. Visit church.one/ events/fallfestivalmanch for more information.

• The Londonderry Fall Fest is going to be on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the Londonderry Town Common (Mammoth Road). There will be more than 50 local vendors on hand

iNSidE/OUTSidE TREASURE HUNT

Dear Donna,

Can you tell me if this small pot is old? As you can see, it says Nashua on it and a small home. It measures 1½ inches by 1 inch. Very sweet little piece of pottery.

Thank you.

Tammi

Dear Tammi,

It is a nice miniature crock. Although it’s not too old, it does have an interest ing history. It was done by Sid and Eileen Vernon from Virginia.

Your little crock was created by Sid and then decorated by his wife. Eileen. They created much more as well, lots of miniature pieces made with love. After the loss of her husband, Eileen contin ued making and decorating pieces herself.

Even though your crock was made in the past 30 years, it’s made and slip decorated (the cobalt

to showcase their products, as well as various options from food trucks offering different tasty treats. Admission is free. See the Eventbrite page for more details.

Museum fun

• “My Year of Toys: An Art Journal,” the art exhibit at the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire’s Gallery 6 (6 Washington St. in Dover), will run through Sunday, Oct. 16. The exhibit displays works by author and illustra tor Sandy Steen Bartholomew, who created a drawing of one toy from her large toy collec tion every day for a year. Gallery 6 is free; paid museum admission (which is $12.50 per per son age 1 and up; $10.50 for seniors) is not required for entrance to the gallery only. Muse um hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 4 p.m., and Sunday from 9 a.m. to noon. See childrens-museum.org.

Outdoor activities

• A brand new all persons trail is opening at the NH Audubon McClane Center in Concord (84 Silk Farm Road, 224-9909) on Saturday, Oct. 15. The grand opening ceremony will start at 9 a.m. and will be followed by a “birding for all” session. The trail, designed to help people with mobility challenges, was completed in Septem ber; it follows the nature trail and goes through the pollinator meadow. For more information on the trail, or to reserve a spot for the grand opening and birding outing, visit nhaudubon.org/event/ all-persons-trail-grand-opening-october-15.

• The Nashua Duck Derby is going to take over Renaissance Park (23 Water St.) on Sat urday, Oct. 15. In addition to the 10,000 duck drop goal, there will be a beer tent, food trucks, a scavenger hunt, games and kids’ activities. Live music by the Joe Mack Band will start at 11:30 a.m. and the duck drop will be at 2 p.m. Admis sion is free; to participate in the duck drop event, one duck costs $5, six cost $25, a dozen is $50, and 25 is $100. The first, second and third place ducks will win cash prizes of up to $2,500. Visit duckrace.com/Nashua for more information and to purchase ducks.

painting) to represent an older one.

It’s a wonderful piece of miniature pottery and if you have time, Tam mi, do research on the artist who made yours and many more.

Values run between $20 and $40 as long as there’s no damage. Thanks for sharing and I enjoyed the personal story of the artist.

Donna Welch has spent more than 30 years in the antiques and collectibles field, appraising and instructing, and recently closed the physical location of From Out Of The Woods Antique Center (fromoutofthewoodsantiques.com) but is still doing some buying and selling. She is a member of The New Hampshire Antiques Deal er Association. If you have questions about an antique or collectible send a clear photo and infor mation to Donna at footwdw@aol.com, or call her at 391-6550 or 624-8668.

Swollen lug nuts are no laughing matter

Dear Car Talk:

My wife’s car is a very well maintained 2015 Lincoln MKZ. It has only 34,000 miles on it. After a routine oil change and tire rotation last week, the dealer service writer said that it was difficult for them to rotate the tires because we have a situation with “swollen lug nuts.”

You’ve come to the wrong columnist, if you want me to condemn you for giggling over swollen lug nuts.

In the wintertime, I regularly have to break the news to a customer that his nuts are frozen. Try doing that with a straight face, John.

Dear Car Talk:

I recently bought a used 2017 Toyota High lander, mainly because of its size. I need it to haul kayaks to a launch point.

So, what about the kayaks? I’m going to sug gest a trailer. There are trailers made just for bulky but lightweight items like kayaks.

He strongly recommended that we have them swapped out, at a cost of nearly $100. A quick Internet inquiry verified that this is indeed a real issue in recent years with Ford and other manufacturers.

As a 66-year-old who is still a teenager at heart, I admit that I had to initially sup press a giggle at the “swollen lug nuts” diagnosis.

But, I quickly realized that this could be a dangerous and/or expensive thing. What if we were to get a flat tire far away from home, and I was unable to remove the wheel?

Shouldn’t Ford have issued a factory recall on this? I guess purchasing new lug nuts is the way to go, but how do I make sure to get the right size, and that the new ones will not be susceptible to swelling, too?

Any suggestions? — John

Anyway, yes, it’s a real thing. And you should address it. The dealer will have the right size replacements for you. The prob lem is that the lug nuts themselves are steel, but they’re covered on your car in a thin chrome veneer because I guess some people prefer shiny nuts.

Over time, water gets trapped in between the steel and the chrome cover, and the steel starts to rust (especially if you live in a place where they use a lot of road salt). That rust pushes up against the chrome cover and enlarges it, and all of a sudden, you can’t get your lug wrench over it.

Now, if you’re at a repair shop, they can just use a socket the next size up, and it’s not a big deal. But, if you run over a petrified armadillo in rural Texas and get a flat tire, you’ll only have one wrench with you. And, it’s not going to fit.

So, yes, it’s unfortunate that this happens. But my advice is to just spend the $100 and try to balance that out with a good laugh, John.

I’m too old to lift the kayaks onto the roof, so I bungee them into the car with the seats down. But, in order to fit them in, I have to leave the rear door ajar. The “Door Open” buzzer is driving me crazy for the 30-40 minutes it takes to get to the launch point.

Is there a way to turn this off/fool it into thinking the door is closed? — Roger

Next time you buy a car just to fit kayaks in, Roger, you should probably make sure kayaks actually fit in it.

I’m opposed to defeating the buzzer. The buzzer is designed to annoy you, because it’s really not safe to drive the car with a door ajar.

The problem is that exhaust fumes and car bon monoxide poisoning aside the doors are part of the safety structure of the car. So, if you get into an accident with a door open, the car could fold in ways it’s not supposed to. Crash tests assume that all doors are securely closed.

So, I’m taking the buzzer’s side in this argu ment, Roger. Rather than defeat the safety system, I think you should find a way to drive with the doors closed. I mean, if you were going two blocks, OK. But, 30-40 minutes? I don’t think so.

You want what’s called a “low bed” kayak trailer, which is exactly what it sounds like. If you search online, you’ll find plenty of reviews and suggestions. You might choose something like the Yakima Rack and Roll 66. It’s a light weight aluminum trailer weighing about 150 pounds that holds two kayaks. And, I think the load height is even lower than the rear deck of your Highlander.

If you want to, you can attach a carry han dle to it, so that when you get to the launch point, you can unhook it from your car and roll it down to the water with the kayaks still on it.

Being able to wheel it around by hand also means you won’t have to deal with backing up and parking with the trailer thereby avoiding the ridicule of the other kayakers.

If your Highlander doesn’t have a tow hitch, that’s something you can have installed by a dealer, a body shop or a U-Haul store.

I think that’s a safer solution than driving along with a door open, Roger. That means you’ll have to find some other way to endan ger your life. But, given that you’re going out on open water, I’m sure you can think of some thing. Happy paddling.

Visit Cartalk.com.

chelsey goss

Portable restroom rental provider

Chelsey Goss and her husband, Zach, own and operate Powerhouse Portable Restrooms, a portable restroom rental service based in Hudson.

Explain your job and what it entails.

At Powerhouse Portable Restrooms, we rent portable toilets for a variety of occasions such as construction sites, weddings, festivals and town parks. On a typical day, I spend my time in the truck com pleting a service route, which includes pumping out portable restrooms, restocking the toilet paper, sanitizer and deodorizers, and sanitizing all surfaces inside and outside of the unit. I also take care of all of our scheduling of new and existing customers. This includes taking customer info, site locations, billing infor mation, creating our serviced routes and providing quotes.

How long have you had this job?

We opened April 1, 2022, so about six months.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

My husband was affiliated with anoth er company within this field, so I worked for them while I was finishing up a second degree. I became very passionate about this field and enjoyed working alongside my hus band every day. We decided to go on our own and open Powerhouse Portable Restrooms.

What kind of education or training did you need?

No education was required. A driver’s license, a great work ethic and hands-on expe

rience was all that I needed.

My husband has taught me everything about this field of work, which I am very grateful for.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

We don’t wear anything in particular. We have com pany shirts with our logo and slogan that we typical ly wear daily, and a good pair of work jeans and muck boots to keep my feet dry while spraying the units down.

What was it like starting a business during the pandemic?

Starting a business during the pandemic was definitely scary. However, coming from within this field, we knew that the demand was there and still at an all-time high. So far, it remains high. People are taking more units for job sites, and private outdoor events are happening more often as the pandemic push es people to get outside.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I had known about this field from a business standpoint sooner because I would have started right out of high school.

What do you wish oth er people knew about your job?

That portable toilets are not gross. There are defi nitely larger companies that push volume over quali ty, however, there are more small family-owned compa nies like us that take pride in what we do and offer top-ofthe-line portable restrooms.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked at Walgreens for a summer.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

To always stay humble, keep my head down and always give 110 percent every day. As long as I do that, the tough days will iron themselves out.

Five favorites

Favorite book: I’m not a big reader.

Favorite movie: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Favorite music: Country

Favorite food: Mexican

Favorite thing about NH: There is natural beauty throughout the entire state, and the unpredictable weather allows us to experi ence a little bit of each part of the country right here in one state.

News from the local food scene

• Diner days: Join the Red Arrow Diner for a special 100th anniversary celebration event at its Manchester location (61 Lowell St.) on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The block party-style event is free and open to the public, featuring an afternoon of raffle prizes, games, music, family-friendly activities and an onsite radio broadcast with DJs Nazzy and Marissa of Frank FM, along with samples of a variety of the diner’s most iconic dishes available to ticket holders for a small fee. All year long, to celebrate its 100th year in business, the Red Arrow has also been featuring monthly “Diner Dish of the Decade” promotions at each of its four locations, offer ing special discounts that have corresponded to various menu items that were or became popular during different decades. Visit redar rowdiner.com to learn more, or check out our coverage of the Red Arrow’s historic mile stone in the Sept. 29 issue of the Hippo — the story starts on page 10. Visit issuu.com/hip popress to read the e-edition for free.

• Grapes and meatballs: Don’t miss the Hollis Grape & Italian Festival, set to return to the Hollis Town Common (Monu ment Square) on Sunday, Oct. 16, from 2 to 7 p.m. Presented by Fulchino Vineyard, the annual festival raises money for the Hol lis Agricultural Scholarship, the Hollis Police Benevolent Association and the Hol lis Fire Explorers. This year’s features will include grape stomping, cornhole games and local vendors, as well as a few food trucks and — new this year — a meatball contest. Admission is free, but there is a $5 fee to sample the meatballs entered into the contest. Visit fulchinovineyard.com.

• Get in the spirit: Tickets are on sale now for A Taste of Ireland: Exploring Premium Irish Spirits, a special seminar-style tast ing event happening on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Manchester Country Club (180 S. Riv er Road, Bedford) as part of New Hampshire Distiller’s Week. Leading Irish spirit experts and distillers will be on hand to present a series of products from their premium brands, from Clonakilty, Coole Swan and Drumshan bo to Five Farms, Green Spot, West Cork and more. The event will also include a reception with various hors d’oeuvres and sampling of some signature cocktails. Tickets are $60 per person and, at the end of the event, attend ees will be able to purchase products with a 15 percent discount on every bottle. While you’re at it, save the date for the annual Dis tiller’s Showcase of Premium Spirits, due to return to the DoubleTree by Hilton Manches ter Downtown (700 Elm St.) on Thursday, Nov. 3. Visit distillersshowcase.com.

FOOd Granite grazing

Taste of New Hampshire returns (in person!)

Experience the best of what several local eateries have to offer during the 17th annual Taste of New Hampshire — for the first time post-pandemic, the event is due to return in person to the Grappone Conference Center in Concord on Tuesday, Oct. 18, featuring opportunities to meet with chefs, discover new restaurants and breweries and bid on all kinds of silent auction items.

Formerly known as the Taste of Concord, the event — a chief fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire — began welcoming restaurants in other neighboring cities and towns in 2017. The last two years, Covid regulations caused it to go virtual in the form of discounted restau rant gift card promotions. Although the Boys & Girls Club was able to raise more than $160,000 for local restaurants over those two years, development manager and event coor dinator Tanya Frost said she’s “thrilled” to be able to have it back in person once again.

“The gift card portion was such a huge hit that we’ve had people reach out about it, and

Participating local businesses

• 110 Grill (110grill.com)

• Alan’s of Boscawen (alan sofboscawen.com)

• The Barley House Restaurant & Tavern (Concord, thebarleyhouse.com)

• Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire (Concord, nhyouth.org)

• C.C. Tomatoes Restaurant (Concord, cctomatoes.com)

• Chuck’s BARbershop (Concord, find them on Face book @chucksbarbershopnh)

• The Common Man (Con cord, thecman.com)

• Constantly Pizza (Con cord, constantlypizza.net)

• The Crust & Crumb Baking Co. (Concord, the crustandcrumb.com)

• Downtown Cheers Grille &

we’re actually working with the restaurants now to see who would like to participate in that,” Frost said of this year’s event. “So we will also be selling gift cards to some of those restaurants in attendance as well, and that will be at a discounted rate, so the consumer is still getting that deal. … For $20 you get a $25 card and then for $40 you get a $50 card. We will be reaching out to those who purchase them after the fact, just like we’ve done in past years.”

Frost added that the event, normally held on a Thursday, has been moved up to a Tuesday to accommodate the participating restaurants, many of which continue to expe rience staff shortages.

“We’re just trying to be respectful of the restaurants as well [with] every step that we’re taking,” she said. “Even before we started planning, we surveyed the restaurants and ended up moving the event to Tuesday to try and help them and so that we could also get more people.”

Attendees will have free rein to graze their way through the venue, sampling sweet and savory options from more than two doz en vendors this year. The Red Arrow Diner, for instance, will serve American chop suey

Bar (Concord, cheersnh.com)

• El Rodeo Mexican Restaurant (Concord, el-ro deo-nh.com)

• Flannel Tavern (Chiches ter, flanneltavern.com)

• Granite State Candy Shoppe (Concord, granites tatecandyshoppe.com)

• Grappone Confer ence Center/Catering by Design (Concord, catering bydesignnh.com)

• Hermanos Cocina Mexicana (Concord, her manosmexican.com)

• Horizon Beverage Group (Concord, horizonbeverage.com)

• Lakehouse Tavern (Hop kinton, lakehousetavern.com)

• New England’s Tap House Grille (Hooksett, taphou

senh.com)

• O Steaks & Seafood (Con cord, osteaksconcord.com)

• Pats Peak Banquet Center (Henniker, patspeak.com)

• The Red Arrow Diner (Concord, redarrowdiner.com)

• The Red Blazer Restau rant & Pub (Concord, theredblazer.com)

• Reed’s North (Warner, reedsnorth.com)

• Smokeshow Barbeque (Con cord, smokeshowbbq.com)

• Sunshine Baking (sun shineshortbread.com)

• Twelve 31 Events (Til ton and Concord, twelve31. events)

• The Wine’ing Butcher (Pembroke, wineingbutch er.com)

with garlic toast, onions and peppers, while O Steaks & Seafood will offer its homemade macaroni and cheese. Some vendors, like the Banquet Center at Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker, are bringing a whole smorgasbord of items for you to try — they’ll have baconwrapped shrimp drizzled in a honey garlic sauce, along with fried chicken and mini waffles served with maple syrup, and teriya ki beef kabobs with onions and peppers.

New Taste of New Hampshire participants include the 110 Grill, which is due to open a location in Concord next year. Reed’s North of Warner and the Flannel Tavern of Chich ester — both owned and operated by local chef Carrie Williams, a friend of Frost’s — are also newcomers.

For dessert, there will be items like a flour less chocolate torte from The Crust & Crumb Baking Co.; pumpkin cheesecake and choco late cake shots from The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub; and chocolate-covered cream candies from Granite State Candy Shoppe. The Boys & Girls Club will even be serving its own pump kin whoopie pies throughout the evening. As for drinks, New Hampshire Distributors and Horizon Beverage Group will be providing some wines and a wide variety of craft beers to sample, including several Oktoberfests, pump kin brews, IPAs and more.

Silent auction items are available for all event attendees to bid on — in the past, items have included everything from restau rant gift certificates and assorted gift baskets to VIP brewery tours and some other special experience gifts. All proceeds from the Taste of New Hampshire benefit various programs of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire, which has expanded to more than 20 service sites across the state.

17th annual Taste of New Hampshire

When: Tuesday, Oct. 18, 5:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Where: Grappone Conference Center, 70 Constitution Ave., Concord Cost: $40 per person, or $350 per 10 peo ple; tickets are available in advance or at the door, with all proceeds benefiting the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central New Hampshire

Visit: tasteofnh.com

Brews for vets

A new event coming to Goffstown this weekend will feature more than a dozen beer options from area breweries — along with local food vendors and live music — all to raise money for local disabled veterans in need. The inaugural Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest is happening on Saturday, Oct. 15, from 1 to 5 p.m. in the parking lot of the town’s former Shaw’s supermarket.

The event is being presented by the Worker Bee Fund, its beneficiary nonprofit organization, in conjunction with Mountain Base Brewery. Plans to hold a brewfest were conceived shortly after the brewery’s open ing late last year, according to Worker Bee Fund founder Brian Hansen, following some conversations he had with co-owner Carrie Currier and her daughter, event coordinator Candice Pendagast.

To date, the Worker Bee Fund has com pleted around 30 home projects to date benefiting disabled veterans within an hour’s drive of Manchester.

“In a nutshell, what we do is fix up hous es for people in really low income brackets,” Hansen said. “The idea is to help them age in place, and what that basically means is that when folks get older, it’s really nice that they can stay in their homes as long as possible. … As a result, we may go in and fix up their kitchen so that it’s wheelchair-accessible, or we’ll do like a full kitchen model or bath room model or something like that. And we raise all of the funds ourselves.”

Set to take place rain or shine, the brew fest will take place in a cordoned off area in the south end of the parking lot, Hansen said, with plenty of tents and bar-height cafe tables for attendees. He expects around 14 breweries — nearly all from southern New Hampshire — to be represented, either via their beers being donated for the festival or the brewers pouring the beer themselves. Four-ounce samples of each featured beer will be available to ticket holders, encom passing several styles.

In addition to the beers, the brewfest will feature food options from a few local purveyors, including those that have host ed pop-ups at Mountain Base Brewery in the past. Squaloo’s BBQ of Manchester, for instance, which held its first pop-up at the brewery back in late July, will be there — chef Ira Street is known for traditional Midwestern barbecue staples and smoked meats. Other vendors at the brewfest will include Granite State Whoopie Pies, which will have fresh baked cookies, and The Bakeshop on Kelley Street, with its soft baked pretzels. Live music will be featured by the Robyn V Group, a young rock cover band based in Nashua.

At the conclusion of the brewfest, attend ees can cross the parking lot and visit Mountain Base Brewery, which will be open that day and evening. The brewery recently debuted the release of its Grand Pumpkin, a vanilla pumpkin porter.

A three-barrel commercial nanobrew ery, Mountain Base originally began as a homebrewing passion project for the Cur riers — longtime residents of Goffstown — in their basement more than a decade ago. The brewery opened in the site of a for mer RadioShack inside the Shaw’s Plaza in mid-December 2021, across the parking lot from where the brewfest will take place. Currier said Mountain Base features any where from six to 12 rotating brews on a regular basis.

“[We keep] four or five [beers] on pretty consistently, just because we’ve … estab lished some regulars at this point who drink specific ones,” she said.

Mount Uncanoonuc Brewfest

When: Saturday, Oct. 15, 1 to 5 p.m.

Where: 553 Mast Road, Goffstown (at the southern end of the parking lot) Cost: $25 in advance or $30 at the door; admission is free for designated drivers Visit: workerbeefund.org/events/brewfest Event is rain or shine and 21+ only. All proceeds benefit the Worker Bee Fund.

The

Kitchen

WiTH KrysTal HudON

Krystal Hudon and her husband, Chris, of Nashua are the co-owners of Comfort Spice Co. (comfortspiceco.com, and on Facebook), now offering nearly two dozen home made premium spice blends and several fruit jams since their launch two years ago. The couple started their com pany with an authentic Mexican spice blend that Krystal Hudon, who grew up in southern California, learned how to make from her neighbors at the time. Since then, their product lineup has grown to include everything from a roasted chicken rub, a steak and beef rub, a lamb seasoning and a pork seasoning to a house curry blend, a pumpkin pie spice and an apple pie spice. Comfort Spice Co.’s blends can be found at Trombly Gardens (150 N. River Road, Milford) and at Gigi’s Country Store (10 Main St., Wilton), as well as at Creative Vibes, inside the Pheasant Lane Mall (310 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua) — four-ounce bottles are available inside each of the stores, or you can contact them directly via email or Facebook Messenger to inquire about eight- or 12-ounce bottles. As for the jams, those come in eightounce jars and are available at Creative Vibes only.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Normally, I would say a sturdy stirring spoon or a type of wooden paddle. … But no matter what you use in the kitchen tool-wise, nothing is going to come out well unless you have good, quality ingredients.

What would you have for your last meal?

For me, it’s cheesecake. I don’t even care what kind. … For [my husband] Chris, he said tacos and tequila.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

We love the Copper Door. It’s a scratch kitch en. They source most of their ingredients locally … and the food is always excellent.

What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your spice blends?

We picked Jason Mraz, for an interesting rea son. … He has a farm in California where he grows all of his own vegetables, and his wife is also a chef. … I would have to talk to him and find out what he likes, because our spice blends are all very, very different.

Homemade Lancashire hotpot

From the kitchen of Krystal Hudon of Com fort Spice Co. in Nashua

2 pounds shoulder roast, diced, or stewed beef, cut into slightly smaller chunks

1 ½ large onions, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

4 carrots, chopped into ¾-inch pieces

1 cup frozen peas

½ cup Marsala

¼ cup Worcestershire sauce

4 cups beef stock

4 to 5 potatoes, sliced into ¼-inch thick slices

2½ Tablespoons Comfort Spice Co. steak and beef rub

¼ cup melted butter

1 Tablespoon canola oil

1 to 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

Massage the steak and beef rub into your beef.

What is your favorite spice blend that you make?

Chris says his favorite is the Cajun blacken ing mix, and he likes to put it on everything. … Mine is the roasted chicken rub. I think my favor ite thing to use that on is pan-seared chicken legs and thighs with roasted vegetables and a nice pan gravy.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hamp shire right now?

A lot of people seem to be into … locally sourced [foods], but it definitely should not be a trend.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Any comfort food or anything that feels cozy. Things like beef stew and chicken soup. … I love making a Lancashire hotpot, which is so good. … It has fall-apart beef on the bottom, [with] car rots, peas and onions, all roasted, and then you layer potatoes on top that are sliced in discs and you bake it.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, then add onions and garlic and saute on medium heat until soft. Turn the heat up and add the beef. Brown the beef, stirring often so that the onions and garlic don’t burn. Cook until most of the liquid is gone, then add the Marsala and the Worcestershire sauce — this will loosen any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook for about three minutes. Add the beef stock. Simmer, covered on low, for about an hour and stir occasionally. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix your cornstarch with equal parts cold water and pour into your beef, stirring until thickened. Turn off the heat. Add the frozen peas and the chopped carrots and mix well. Lay er your potatoes on top and brush them evenly with the melted butter. Sprinkle a little more of the steak and beef rub evenly on top. Bake cov ered for 30 minutes. Uncover, turn up the heat to 400 degrees and continue to cook for 30 more minutes to brown the potatoes. Remove from the oven, let it cool for five minutes and enjoy.

Try This aT home

Cheesy sausage balls

The chill of fall is official ly here! Last week’s salad may be my last hurrah into cold main dishes for a while. This week it’s all about food served piping hot.

Meatballs are one of my favorite appetizers because they are easily made ahead of time, can be served with just a toothpick, and have the ability to deliv er many flavors. This week’s recipe starts with hot turkey sausage, which already has a substantial amount of flavor and keeps this recipe a pinch healthier. However, this recipe is in no way a healthy dish — three-fourths of a pound of cheese is in these. They’re well worth the indulgence.

The first time I made these sausage balls, I served them with pasta sauce for dipping. Since then I have tried pairing them with buf falo sauce and tzatziki. Both worked well. In fact, I’m sure there are many more options. Of course, you also can eat them as they are, but

Cheesy sausage balls

Makes 24

20 ounces hot turkey sausage

¼ cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon dried thyme

½ teaspoon dried oregano

3 cups shredded cheddar, mild or sharp

1 large egg

Salt & pepper

Food & drink local farmers markets

• Bedford Farmers Market is Tuesdays, from 3 to 6 p.m., in the parking lot of Murphy’s Taproom & Carriage House (393 Route 101, Bedford). The final date of the sea son is Oct. 18. Visit bedfordnhfarm ersmarket.org.

doesn’t dipping make a snack

As for the recipe itself, it is about as straightforward as a recipe can be. Yes, you could use regular sausage instead of turkey sausage, but they might be a bit on the greasy side. (You have been warned.) I pre fer sharp cheddar in this dish to give more of a bite, but mild cheddar works fine also. In fact, you could use mozzarella as well. It definitely will add some gooeyness to the sausage balls, but you will also lose some flavor. It’s your call.

Make a shopping list according to your pref erences. Then let the appetizer making begin!

Michele Pesula Kuegler has been think ing about food her entire life. Since 2007 the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Remove sausage from casing, if needed.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl; mix by hand to thoroughly combine.

Form mixture into 2-inch balls.

Place sausage balls on lined baking sheet, leaving space between them.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Serve with dipping sauce of your choice.

• Concord Farmers Market is Sat urdays, from 8:30 a.m. to noon, on Capitol Street in Concord, adjacent to the State House lawn, through Oct. 29. Visit concordfarmersmar ket.com.

• Contoocook Farmers Market is Saturdays, from 9 a.m. to noon, behind the Contoocook Train Depot

(896 Main St., Contoocook) through October. Find them on Facebook @ contoocookfarmersmarket.

• Pelham Farmers Market is Sat urdays, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the First Congregational Church of Pelham (3 Main St.), now through Oct. 22. Find them on Facebook @ pelhamnhfarmersmarket.

Own Apples

Drinks wiTh John

Negroni

I’ve got a firm rule for buying old pho tographs at flea markets; I’ll definitely buy one, if the price is right, but there has to be some sort of identification on it, so I can do some research and find out who the subjects are. I want to know more about them. Where did they live? How were they related to each other? What happened to them? Were there any shocking skeletons in their closets?

One look at this family, though, convinced me that they almost had to have a minimum of three literal skeletons. In the time it took me to get $5 out of my pocket, I construct ed a backstory for each of these (technically unknown-to-me) people. I named the daugh ter Hortense.

From the quality of the photograph and the style of their clothes, I suspect that the picture was taken in the very early 1900s, perhaps 1904 or 1905. In very old photo graphs, from the mid-1800s, subjects did not smile, for fear of blurring the image in the several minutes that the film was exposed, but by the beginning of the 20th century the exposure time was down to a few seconds, so this somewhat forbidding-seeming family did not have to look this way. I get the feel ing that it was just their default expression.

I don’t know about you, but I feel like drinking something bitter.

Negroni – Two Ways

Perhaps the best-known bitter cocktail is the Negroni, a mixture of gin, Campari, sweet vermouth and a splash of soda water. If you are a fan of bitter-sweet flavors, it’s a lovely break from the sweet/sour/boozy rut a lot of us find ourselves in from time to time.

One of the reasons you’ve heard of Negronis but rarely see anyone drinking one is the Campari. I like Campari enormously and use it for background bitterness in many drinks, but there are some cocktail fans, per haps with less enlightened palates, who are not strictly fans of the red liqueur.

So here are recipes for two variations on the Negroni theme:

Mostly Traditional Negroni

1 ounce Campari

1 ounce botanical gin – I’ve been enjoy ing Uncle Van’s

1 ounce sweet vermouth – I’ve been using Dolin Rouge

3 to 4 ounces plain seltzer

1 very large ice cube

Pour the Campari, gin and vermouth over a large ice cube in a rocks or highball glass.

Pour the seltzer over the other ingredients, and stir gently to combine.

Drink while looking at a photo of Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday

As advertised, this version of the Negroni is both bitter and sweet. The addition of so much soda is somewhat controversial, but I feel that the cocktail benefits from the dilu tion and carbonization. It is a complex, adult drink.

But pink.

an alternate Negroni

1 ounce Campari

1 ounce gin

1 ounce sweet vermouth

1 ounce Amaro Lucano

½ ounce plain seltzer

Another very large ice cube

This version is made in the same way as a traditional Negroni except that it replaces the Campari with another bitter Italian liqueur, Amaro Lucano, which uses different herbs and is less flamboyantly colored. The result ing cocktail is less frivolous-looking and doesn’t need the extra soda.

Is it bitter? Yes. Is it delicious? Yes. Is it pink? Not even a little. Would the mother from the antique photograph drink one out of a teacup? Probably.

John Fladd is a veteran Hippo writer, a father, writer and cocktail enthusiast, living in New Hampshire.

POP CU lTURE

Gogol Bordello, solidaritine (Cooking Vinyl records)

I swear, one of the few remaining genres I can still consistently stomach is European-folk-rooted punk. Have you ever been disappointed by Kor piklaani or any of those bands? Never mind, I already know you haven’t, like, who could? It’s drunk en noise that’s so sweaty and smelly you can’t help holding your nose and bobbing your head up and down to it, and that brings

us to this New York City-based outfit that’s been putting out albums since 1999’s Voi-La Intruder . By all rights Solidaritine should be their supernova, given that most if not all of them are Ukrainian, but yes, this band’s putting out a political punk album right now is definitely good business. Typical Ramones/Bad Brains rattle-bang hardcore here for the most part, Slayer meets Borat , you know the routine. A — Eric W. Saeger

laufey, The reykjavík sessions (awal recordings)

From Ukrainian folk-punk to Icelandic wombat-jazz, we’ve got all the bases covered today, my friends. I dunno, Fad er loved this record, and I’m fine with it in the main I guess; her sold-out tour, which took her to Boston’s 500-seat Sinclair in Sep tember, compels me to take her a little more seriously than I might, and I’m in a lousy mood right now, so when I say she sounds a bit hacky, you might not want to take it to heart; I’m simply referring to her rather uneventful, unadventurous voice. She’s a good songwriter, though, specializing in a weirdly edgy but quite palatable style that makes the songs sound like they’d been written during mid-century romantic periods; she dabbles in things like bossa nova and cow boy-saloon player piano at odd but fitting moments. She plays piano and cello here at turns, exhibiting some serious musicianship, not that the songs really call for it. Music to drink coffee by, sure. A — Eric W. Saeger

PlaylisT

• We’re up against Friday, Oct. 14, gang, a whole bunch of new albums coming at us in a burst of crazy, hoping for your holiday gift-buying dol lar (what, your Halloween skeletons are wearing Santa suits, come on!) and we’ll probably have to start with the ’90s band I like the least, Red Hot Chili Peppers, with their new LP, Return Of The Dream Canteen ! No need to belabor the point again; as I’ve said before, I think when histori ans close the book on ’90s rock, it’ll be Pearl Jam that’s considered the Band Of The Decade. I mean, lots of people love the Chili Peppers, with their perfect blend of jangly, watered-down Sublime-ska and basic quirky bar-rock, but come on, Pearl Jam, you know? Everyone can stomach at least one Pearl Jam tune, don’t kid around with me. Anyway, that, so let’s move it along here and check in with the Peps, and whatever they’ve done this time. When last we left them it was April of this very year, when they released their previous album, Unlimited Love , which saw the return of Rick Rubin as their producer, but wait a minute, it wasn’t that great, and that’s not according to me, it’s what fans have told me: They didn’t like it. So I guess I was right when I uttered such sweetness as “[on and on] the tune drags, with Anthony making stupid rapper hand movements even though he doesn’t rap, and then there’s some psychedelic ’70s vibe that’s just annoying and then some Austin Powers 1960s-pop vibe that also just made me depressed.” So shout out to you Pep fans who agreed that it was an awful album: you like me, guys, don’t you, you really, really like me! Sorry, could you repeat the question? Well no, I think the dude from Prim us is a million times better a bass player than Flea, but let’s proceed to the part where I force myself to listen to whatever these overrated little rascals have done to destroy rock ’n’ roll this time. Rick Rubin is on board for this one, rakin’ in the mad bank, just cold helpin’ make boring songs famous, but hold on folks, let’s see what the dilly is with the first single, “Tippa My Tongue,” whatcha think of them apples? Oh, look at this video, this is so cool, guys, it’s like random colorful Austin Powers psychedelic just, you know, weirdness , right, and then they start their little joke song, and it’s sort of a mixture of Eminem and parts from the only two songs people know from this super-hilarious joke band, and look at the guys in their fun ny music video for this idiotic song, all dressed up in 1970s disco clothes, trying to look like they should be in one of those awful Will Ferrell “com edies.” It’s working, folks, any minute I’m expecting to see John C. Reilly or Chris Kattan pop out of nowhere and make funny jokes, those freakin’ hams , ha ha.

•

The 1975 is one of those bands that has no idea what the ’70s were really like, yet everyone thinks their ’80s music is ’70s music. Their new album, Being Funny In A Foreign Language , is out on Oct. 14 and features the single “I’m In Love With You,” a tune that’s catchy but unexciting, like if the Cure and Guster had a boring baby.

• Todd Rundgren used to be famous, but nowadays he begs for nickels from Zoomers who have been taught that music is supposed to be awful. The title track from his new LP, Space Force , steals the hook from Toad The Wet Sprocket’s “All I Want,” apparently to remind us that “All I Want” was an OK song 40 years ago.

• Finally, it’s annoying quirk-chill band Wild Pink’s ILYSM , the single from which, “Hold My Hand,” sounds like Bon Iver on animal tranquiliz ers. I do not like it, nope. — Eric W. Saeger

In the opening to Sacred Nature, Karen Armstrong tells a story of visiting a Brit ish library to look at original manuscripts of the poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge and John Keats. She was deeply moved by the visit, which she described as “a kind of communion.”

“I was looking at the moment that these poems, which were now part of myself, had come into being. I did not want to analyze the manuscripts. I simply wanted to be in their presence.”

Today, she is troubled by the people who walk through museums seeming more interested in taking photos and selfies than allowing themselves to become absorbed in the extraordinary things stored there. This tendency is also reflected in our relation ship to the natural world, which Armstrong says has become an irrelevant backdrop in our busy lives. She quotes Wordsworth to describe this: “light and glory die away / and fade into the light of common day.”

It’s not all because of social media. In fact, the disconnect between humans and nature can’t be fully explained without also explaining the ways in which West ern culture dissociated from nature when it embraced monotheistic religions.

The ancient Egyptians believed the annual flooding of the Nile was a “divine event,” as was the rising and setting of the sun; as such, it was near impossible to ignore Mother Nature, who could, at any moment, be ready to unleash divine wrath. As science and the ology ran down separate paths that grew further apart, the thought of nature being somehow divine, or even vaguely important, was swept aside as dusty myth.

Armstrong wants to change that, by glean ing wisdom from the myths and practices of the Axial Age, 900 to 200 BCE, a time she says was “pivotal to the spiritual and intel lectual development of our species.”

The religions of that time, including Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism and Bud dhism, had practices that can profoundly

Books author events

• JOSH MALERMAN, a hor ror novelist, will be at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Con cord, 224-0562, gibsonsbook store.com) to present Daphne on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 6:30 p.m.

• MELODY RUSSELL will sign and discuss her book Noni and Me: Caregiving, Memory Loss, Love at Toadstool Bookshop (12 Depot Square in Peterborough, toadbooks.com, 924-3543) on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 11 a.m.

• RICHARD LEDERER will discuss and sign his books about language at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord, 2240562, gibsonsbookstore.com) on

required in many faiths. St. Paul, Armstrong notes, used the language when he wrote that Christ had “emptied himself” on the cross.

Although Armstrong makes clear the ways that Christianity dissuaded people from seeing nature as sacred, there have been exceptions. A disciple of St. Paul called Denys saw the natural world as revelatory of God, believing “We can only intuit God’s presence through the veils of natural objects, which conceal as much as they reveal. If we could see God clearly, it would not be God. But if we learn to contemplate nature cor rectly, we find that the tiniest particle of soil can yield a glimpse of the ineffable divine.”

benefit us today if we can look beyond our modern view of a myth as being a fabrica tion, a “charming story,” and instead look at the meaning of the myth and allow it to be a guide. Yes, that is Oprah-level malarky, but hear her out. “A myth is true because it is effective,” she writes.

Armstrong begins by exploring the Con fucian belief in “qi,” the energy that links all life, animal or plant, human or divine. Interestingly, Chinese religions are unlike others because they have no creation sto ry, no God-creator, but the opposing forces of yin and yang. (They also were among the first to articulate what is known in Christian ity as the Golden Rule.)

Early Buddhism, too, taught that enlight enment could be achieved in not just human beings but was “inherent in plants, rocks, trees and blades of grass.”

Armstrong walks through practices of oth er ancient modern religions, including the respectful rituals of animal sacrifice (many of the ancients who practiced it would be horrified by our mass slaughter of animals today, she says) and the practice of keno sis, or “anatta,” the “emptying” of the self

Monday, Oct. 17, at noon.

• JOHN IRVING The Historic Music Hall Theater (28 Chest nut St., Portsmouth, 436-2400, themusichall.org) will host novel ist and Exeter native John Irving to present The Last Chairlift, at the Music Hall on Tuesday, Oct. 18. Tickets are $49 and include a book voucher.

History, stories & lectures

• BRET BAIER, the Fox News Chief Political Anchor and author of several books, will discuss his career in media and news journalism, followed by a book sale and signing, on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 7:30

p.m. at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org). Tickets start at $59.

Poetry

• GAIL DiMAGGIO and KAY MORGAN hosted by the Poetry Society of NH at Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord, 224-0562, gibsonsbookstore.com) on Wednesday, Oct. 19, from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

Writer events

• THREE-MINUTE FIC TION SLAM Monadnock Writers’ Group is hosting its regional Three-Minute Fiction

At the end of each chapter, Armstrong offers what she sees as “the way forward.” Her recommended practices include alter ing our perception of “God” to be not a male dwelling apart from the Earth, but a “dynamic inner presence that flows through all things”; embracing not only stillness and silence, but images of suffering in order to develop compassion; developing our own “Five Great Sacrifices” similar to Hindu practice; the ritual practice of grati tude for the natural world that sustains us; and adopting the Indian rule of “ahimsa” or harmlessness that holds every creature deserves to live, or at least not to suffer. (The Jains took this to the extreme, believing that even stones were capable of pain.)

Regrettably, there is an overarching prea chiness in Sacred Nature with regard to deepening “our spiritual commitment to the environment” that will repel some readers.

“Recycling and political commitments are not enough,” Armstrong says, later adding, “We must re-form our attitude to nature and that will entail sacrifice. We can no longer board airplanes, drive our cars or burn coal with our former insouciance.”

You can agree with her completely but still wish for a book that is more poetry, less ser mon. Although it is an interesting compilation of major religious traditions’ teachings on the natural world, Sacred Nature will appeal most ly to those who already share Armstrong’s views. B- — Jennifer Graham

Slam on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 9:45 a.m. at the Peter borough Town Library, 2 Con cord St., Peter borough. Prizes will be awarded to the top three winners. The first-place win ner will advance to the statewide finals and a chance to win $250. Every one is invited to take part in the free competition by either participating or observing the fun. The competition challeng es writers to perform original pieces of fiction in three min

utes or less before an audience and a panel of judges. The regional event is part of an annual competition spon sored by the New Hampshire Writ ers’ Project. See monadnockwrit ers.org.

• TENACITY

PLYS and JULES PER

LARSKI host a craft class on nonlinear storytelling for all at the Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester, 836-6600, book erymht.com) on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 4 p.m.

Amsterdam (R)

John david Washington, Margot robbie and Christian Bale are americans who enjoy liberation in post-WWi Europe but find themselves tangled up in intrigue in pre-WWii New york in amsterdam, a movie written and directed by david O. russell that backs into a piece of history called the “Business Plot.”

Spoiler alert if you decide to dive down the Wikipedia rabbit hole of the nutty incident that is the Business Plot before seeing this movie.

In World War I, medical doctor Burt Ber endsen (Bale) joins a mostly African-American Army regiment that has suffered from dangerous ly hostile and disrespectful leadership by white officers. Aspiring lawyer Harold Woodman (Washington) makes a deal with Burt that if Burt actually works to help the troops and keep them alive Woodman will try to keep Burt alive. When most of the regiment, Burt and Harold includ ed, end up in a French hospital with injuries, the friendship deepens and grows to include Valerie (Robbie), an American working as a nurse.

Valerie takes the men with her to Amsterdam, where two “businessmen”— Henry Norcross (Michael Shannon), in US Naval intelligence as a chyron tells us, and Paul Canterbury (Mike Myers), really MI6 — offer to help the men receive medical treatment for their wounds and in Burt’s case an unlimited supply of glass eyes to replace the eye he lost. In exchange, Norcross and Canterbury might one day need some kind of favor from Burt and Harold, maybe a favor similar to the kind of information-passing favors Valerie did during the war. In Amsterdam the men get a rest — not just from war but from all of the constraints they suffer from at home, such as the antisemitism lobbed at Burt (including from his tony in-laws) and the deadly racism that plagues Harold and would make his romance with Valerie impossible.

Eventually Burt returns home to his wife Beatrice (Andrea Risenborough). He’s kicked out of his fancy Park Avenue medical practice because he brings veterans in for treatment — all veterans regardless of race. Eventually, Burt and Harold join forces to help veterans try to get the care and the benefits they deserve.

Which brings us to the now of the mov ie: 1933. Burt and Harold agree to perform an autopsy of their beloved former general when his daughter (Taylor Swift) suspects that he’s been murdered. But then she is murdered, pushed into the street by a man who points the

Film Movie screenings, movie-themed happenings and virtual events

Venues

Park Theatre

19 Main St., Jaffrey theparktheatre.org

Red River Theatres

11 S. Main St., Concord 224-4600, redrivertheatres.org

rises, Lyle can’t make a sound, and Hector loses his house. He goes on the road to earn cash and leaves Lyle, telling him to pretend he’s stuffed if anybody visits his attic home.

When the Prim family — mom (Con stance Wu), dad (Scoot McNairy) and lonely eighth-grader Josh (Winslow Fegley) — moves in, they have no idea that anyone lives in the building other than themselves and the down stairs apartment dweller, Mr. Grumps (Brett Gelman). Then Josh pokes around the attic and discovers Lyle. The two become friends and Josh learns that Lyle can sing. Later Josh’s parents each discover Lyle and, after some screaming, realize the crocodile is not just friendly and tune ful but has the ability to help them work through their various adult existential stuff.

finger at Burt and Harold. They must find out who killed the general and his daughter in order to clear their name.

A story of interwar hopefulness and romance is folded into a crime caper and it all comes together in a tale of the international political storm of the 1930s. And it’s long. And feels it.

Amsterdam meanders around, spending some time being a comedy about the buddyship of Burt and Harold, with characters played by Chris Rock and Zoe Saldana, then spending some time in a whirl of crime and early spycraft, in storylines filled with shady people with shady motives. The movie doesn’t have time to set tle into any one groove. I have liked John David Washington in everything I’ve seen him in but here, like most of the people in this movie, he’s so busy ferrying the story from this moment to the next that he doesn’t really get to do much with his character. Bale goes big with his charac ter and Robbie is, I dunno, fine, but with the vast list of movie chores for everybody to tick off it almost doesn’t even matter who we think they really are. Everybody gets a few nice moments but nobody really gets to build layers.

I appreciate the goodness that this movie seems to want to advocate for — one of its mes sages is “you know what’s better than war? Love and mutual respect,” which is, you know, accu rate and laudable and even kind of sweet in its earnestness. But the buffet of styles and tones and everything made it too easy for whatever was the point of all this to get lost along with any really standout work from the actors. Amster dam needed to get where it was going quicker, with more bounce and with a lot less of every thing else. C+

Rated R for brief violence and bloody images, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Writ

The Strand 20 Third St., Dover 343-1899, thestranddover.com

• Creature Double Feature Festival

The Strand in Dover Creature Double Feature Festival, horror and Hallow een-themed double features through Saturday, Oct. 15.

• Don’t Worry Darling (R, 2022) will screen at Red River Theatres in Con cord on Thursday, Oct. 13, 4 p.m.

• Moonage Daydream (PG-13, 2022) will screen at Red River Theatres in

Concord on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 6:45 p.m.

• See How They Run (PG-13, 2022) will screen at Red River Theatres in Concord on Thursday, Oct. 13, at 4:30 and 7:15 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 16, at 1:45, 4:30 & 7:15 p.m.

• The Woman King (PG-13, 2022) will screen at Red River Theatres in Concord on Friday, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 16, at 1, 4 & 7 p.m.; Thursday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m.

• The Good House (R, 2022) will

ten and directed by David O. Russell, Amsterdam is two hours and 14 minutes long and is distrib uted in theaters by 20th Century Studios.

Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile (PG)

a family moves to New york City and finds a singing crocodile living in their brownstone in lyle, lyle, Crocodile, a live-action musical whose songwriters include The Greatest showman’s Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

I mention this because the songs here had the same unremarkable-to-me feel that the Greatest Showman songs did. But now every kid who has ever dipped a toe in a theater class can bust out “This Is Me,” so my personal tastes don’t nec essarily serve as a gauge of wider success. I still wouldn’t listen to that movie’s album but I do own it thanks to my kids — the same kids whom I can see wanting the album of original songs for this movie. The songs, sung by Shawn Mendes, who is Lyle’s singing voice, were half of what my kids seemed to enjoy most about the movie.

The other half was the action scenes, and with a series of people unexpectedly discovering a crocodile, there’s plenty of the wacky, chase-y, adults-screeching action that seems to resonate with kid audiences.

When we first meet Lyle, he is a gecko-sized crocodile living — and singing — in a cage in the back of a pet store. Not-so-great showman Hector P. Valenti (Javier Bardem), desperate for a new act, takes Lyle home and teaches him the movie’s first original song in hopes that they can take the performance on the road. By the time Lyle is a preschooler-sized crocodile, Hector thinks he’s ready and sets up a show, backing the expenses with the inherited brownstone he and Lyle have been living in. But when the curtain

screen at Park Theatre in Jaffrey on Friday, Oct. 14, through Sunday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. and Tuesday Oct. 18, through Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.

• Fathom Events (Fathomevents. com) In the Heat of the Night (1967) celebrates its 55th anniver sary with screenings on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 4 p.m., and Wednes day, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. (Cinemark Rockingham Park and Regal Fox Run).

• Alien (R, 1979) will screen at Red River Theatres in Concord on

That stuff includes the father’s difficulties with his new class of chatty private-school kids and the mom’s sadness about Josh growing up plus a whole lotta baggage about her marrying Josh’s dad after the death of Josh’s mom and her, I guess, continued uneasiness with her step mother status? Whatever the exact source of her troubles, it’s something that required just enough talking between adults that kids — mine and oth ers in the theater where I saw the movie — were moving around, chatting, going to the bathroom, all the standard behaviors of a young audience that has lost interest in a movie. The movie comes in at around an hour and 45 minutes and I feel like the adult chatty parts could have been tightened to the “fireworks factory” faster, which in this case is a great escape from the city zoo. The hijinks of that did seem to reel younger audi ence members back in and leave my kids with an overall positive opinion of the movie.

And “overall positive” would probably be my judgment as well. It’s fine, with a few cute lines and some campy business from Bardem, who is not Hugh Grant in Paddington 2 but seems to be enjoying himself. The physicality of the animated Lyle in an otherwise real world is good enough; a scene of him dancing with Con stance Wu is cute and well-executed. The movie doesn’t dazzle but nor does the animation get in the way. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is a serviceable, pleasant-enough family viewing experience. BRated PG for mild peril and thematic elements, according to the MPA on filmrat ings.com. Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck with a screenplay by Will Davies (based on the book by Bernard Warber), Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile is an hour and 46 min utes long and is distributed in theaters by Columbia Pictures.

Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 6 p.m. A discussion follows the film.

• Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (PG-13, 2018) will screen at Red River Theatres in Concord on Wednesday, Oct. 19, at 6:30 p.m.

• Triangle of Sadness (R, 2022) will screen at River Road Theatres in Concord on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 7 p.m.

• The Rocky Horror Picture Show (R, 1975) a screening with props allowed on Friday, Oct. 21, at 9 p.m. at Chunky’s in Manchester,

• Jersey boys: After Pat DiNizio’s pass ing in 2017, The Smithereens split lead singing duties between Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms and Marshall Crenshaw, who will front them in Derry. Powered by hits like “Blood and Roses,” Behind the Wall of Sleek” and “A Girl Like You,” the group was all over MTV and rock radio back in the day. Thursday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m., Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry, $45 at tupelohall.com.

• Axe channeler: Grateful Dead and the Jerry Garcia Band hit full throttle with Mar cus Rezak’s Shred is Dead, just one of the tribute efforts helmed by the high-velocity guitarist. For this local show, he’s joined by the drumming duo of Vinnie Amico (moe.) and Russ Lawton (Trey Anastasio, Soul Monde). Alex North & the Rangers open. Friday, Oct. 14, 8 p.m., Bank of New Hamp shire Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $18 at ccanh.com.

• Music flight: The latest turn in sing er-songwriter Susan Werner’s widely varied career, The Birds of Florida was made during the pandemic. With moments of reggae rhythm, bolero ballad and Bakers field twang, the EP is a happy accident, she told American Songwriter, of trying “to get through a really long winter.” The EP fol lows Flyover Country, a concept album rooted in Werner’s love of heartland music. Saturday, Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $25 at palacet heatre.org.

• Opening up: With her first-love vid eo “Something Real,” Kimayo continues the themes started on her 2021 coming out song “Becoming Untamed,” which chron icled a journey of “re-wilding … shedding expectations and old belief systems to awak en intuition, curiosity, and self-love.” The songstress says music is her “confidante, dance partner, comforter … mood lifter.” Sunday, Oct. 16, 1 p.m., Contoocook Cider Co., 656 Gould Hill Road, Contoocook. See facebook.com/KimayoMusic.

• Bubbling back: Celebrating 15 years since her debut song, “Bubbly,” went viral, Colbie Caillat stops by Portsmouth for an evening of music. The singer broke through when MySpace was still a thing and YouTube was fairly new; the 2011 hit “Brighter Than The Sun” solidified her pop music reputation. She took a country turn with 2019’s Gone West, and her show promises new songs written over the past two years. Wednesday, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m., The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Ports mouth, $47 to $84 at themusichall.org.

NiTE Halloween man Currier hosts Doctor Gasp & the Eeks

In October 2001, inspired by being a moaning cowboy ghost in a haunted house, Dan Blakeslee wrote his own Halloween song and performed it a few nights later at the Press Room in Portsmouth. The moment he finished, Blakeslee apologized and prom ised the crowd he’d never attempt anything like it again.

The audience, however, had other ideas.

“I wrote one song, and I didn’t like it, but everyone there said, ‘man, you gotta do more of this stuff,’” Blakeslee recalled in a recent phone interview. The next year, he began a tradition that’s lasted for two decades, appearing as his spooky alter ego Doc tor Gasp, with his band The Eeks — Mike Effenberger on keys, bassist Nick Phaneuf and drummer Jim Rudolf.

Blakeslee even managed to perform 10 frosty shows outdoors during the pandem ic year.

“I love doing this stuff so much, it real ly feeds my soul,” he said. “It’s my favorite holiday, since I was a kid.”

Eighteen dates are booked for the 20th anniversary, including the first in Manches ter since an early 2010s appearance at Jewell & the Beanstalk, a now-shuttered restaurant.

The free show on Oct. 13 at the Curri er Museum is part of the weekly Art After Work series. It will feature selections from the two Doctor Gasp & The Eeks albums,

doctor Gasp’s 20th annual Halloween Special

When: Thursday, Oct. 13, 5:30 p.m.

Where: Currier Museum of Art, 150 Ash St., Manchester

More: doctorgasp.com and currier.org

2003’s Vampire Fish and 2013’s Vampire Fish For Two

Setlists always include Blakeslee’s bang-up version of Bobby Boris Pickett’s “Monster Mash” and “Witchtrot Road,” the song that started it all in 2001. Always a highlight, “Teeth of Candycorn” should be a seasonal standard. It’s a hurdy gurdy howler with a haunting and addictive chorus, based on a real person.

“I wrote that about a friend of mine who I call the King of Halloween,” Blakeslee said. “Go into his place, and it’s literally Hal loween year-round in there. It’s crazy, it’s awesome. Early on, when we were first start ing to get to know each other, he told me he was born with teeth of candy corn. I’m like, ‘OK, I have got to write a song about this.’”

In 2012 the band mapped out a tour itiner ary in the shape of a pumpkin, an effort that found him playing in a few strange places simply to connect the dots. This time around, “it looks more like a scribble” accord ing to Blakeslee. But he did do something special for the two-decade landmark, illus trating a novella written by friend and fellow musician Brian Serven called Lore of the Jack-O’-Lantern

Blakeslee’s reputation as an artist almost overshadows his music. He’s drawn post ers for Newport Folk Festival, the iconic Hearts For Boston riff on Zakim Bridge, cre ated in response to the Marathon Bombing in 2013, and Alchemist Brewing’s Heady Top per label, voted the industry’s best in a craft beer poll.

His pen and ink talents were a natural for the task, but it took a while to happen.

“Brian asked me if I would illustrate the book, and at the time things were just too hectic,” he recalled. “I was going on my first cross-country tour and there was a lot of

cOMeDY tHIS WeeK anD beYOnD

Venues

Capitol Center for the Arts — Chubb Theatre 44 S. Main St., Concord 225-1111, ccanh.com

Chunky’s 707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys. com

Fulchino Vineyard 187 Pine Hill Road, Hollis 438-5984, fulchinovineyard.com

Hampton Beach Casino Ball room 169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton Beach 929-4100, casinoballroom.com

Headliners Comedy Club

DoubleTree By Hilton, 700 Elm St., Manchester headlinerscomedyclub.com

McCue’s Comedy Club at the Roundabout Diner 580 Portsmouth Traffic Circle, Portsmouth mccuescomedyclub.com

Rex Theatre 23 Amherst St., Manchester 668-5588, palacetheatre.org

Ruby Room Comedy 909 Elm St., Manchester 491-0720, rubyroomcomedy.com

Saddle Up Saloon 92 Route 125, Kingston 347-1313, saddleupsaloonnh.com

SNHU Arena 555 Elm St., Manchester 644-5000, snhuarena.com

Tupelo Music Hall 10 A St., Derry, 437-5100, tupelomusichall.com

Events

• Frank Santos Jr. Rex, Friday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m.

• Charles Ross: One-Man Star Wars Trilogy Chubb Theatre, Friday, Oct. 14, 8 p.m.

• April Macie Chunky’s Man chester, Friday, Oct. 14, 8:30 p.m.

• Rodney Norman McCue’s, Saturday, Oct. 15, 8 p.m.

• Joe Yannetty Headliners, Sat urday, Oct. 15, 8:30 p.m.

• April Macie Chunky’s Manches ter, Saturday, Oct. 15, 8:30 p.m.

activity that year, so he kind of put the book on the back burner. In 2021, he asked again if I could do it, so I carved out a good chunk of this year to make it happen, and I’m so glad I did. The book is so beautifully writ ten, it’s super intriguing and it’s a great read for all ages.”

A first printing sold out at a Sept. 30 book release show, but Blakeslee held out hope that there may be a few copies at his Currier appearance. Barring that, the singer always has plenty of his own works of art on the merch table — lithographs, posters and oth er collectibles.

The tour will again end on Halloween night at the Press Room, where Blakeslee will share the stage with Soggy Po’ Boys front man Stu Dias’s band Cirque Desolate. As winter approaches, the Doctor Gasp per sona will give way to Christmas — Blakeslee released an album in 2020 to honor his sec ond-favorite holiday.

He’d like to blend both into a single show one day, sometime during the sweet spot between pumpkin spice latte and mistletoe seasons. “I did that during the pandemic, set up my kitchen with Halloween décor and then turned the camera to my living room, which is decorated completely for Christ mas. We changed costumes and everything; it was pretty wild.”

• Dave Russo and Jim Col litan (Hollis Grape & Italian Festival) Fulchino Vineyard, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2 p.m.

• Jay Whittaker Shaskeen Pub, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 8 p.m.

• Corey Rodrigues Rex, Fri day, Oct. 21, 7:30 p.m.

• Steve Sweeney Tupelo, Fri day, Oct. 21, 8 p.m.

• Jim McCue/Alex Giampa

pa Saddle Up Saloon, Friday, Oct. 21, 8 p.m.

• Juston McKinney: Paren tally Challenged Rex, Satur day, Oct. 22, 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

• Fortune Feimster Casino Ballroom, Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.

• Adam Sandler SNHU Arena,

April Macie.

Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.

• Janelle Draper McCue’s, Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m.

• Jody Sloane Headliners, Saturday, Oct. 22, 8:30 p.m.

• Geoffrey Asmus Shaskeen Pub, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 8 p.m.

• Robert Dubac Rex, Friday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m.

alton

Foster’s Tavern

403 Main St. 875-1234

alton Bay

Dockside Restaurant

6 East Side Drive 855-2222

amherst

LaBelle Winery

345 Route 101 672-9898

auburn

Auburn Pitts

167 Rockingham Road 622-6564

Bedford Copper Door

15 Leavy Dr. 488-2677

Murphy’s Taproom & Carriage House

393 Route 101 488-5875

Bow Chen Yang Li 520 S. Bow St.

Thursday, Oct. 13 auburn

228-8508

Brookline

The Alamo Texas Barbecue & Tequila Bar

99 Route 13 721-5000

Concord

Area 23 State Street 881-9060

Concord Craft Brewing

117 Storrs St. 856-7625

Hermanos

Cocina Mexicana 11 Hills Ave. 224-5669

Penuche’s Ale House

16 Bicentennial Square 228-9833

Tandy’s Pub & Grille 1 Eagle Square 856-7614

Uno Pizzeria 15 Fort Eddy Road 226-8667

Contoocook

Contoocook Farmers Market

896 Main St. 746-3018

Gould Hill Farm & Contoocook Cider Co. 656 Gould Hill Road 746-3811

deerfield

The Lazy Lion 4 North Road 463-7374

derry

Fody’s Tavern 187 Rockingham Road, 404-6946

Halcyon

11 Central St. 432-9704

J&F Farms 124 Chester Road 437-0535

dover

Cara Irish Pub 11 Fourth St. 343-4390

Epping

Telly’s 235 Calef Hwy. 679-8225

Epsom

Hill Top Pizzeria 1724 Dover Road 736-0027

Exeter

Sawbelly Brewing 156 Epping Road 583-5080

Sea Dog Brewing Co. 5 Water St. 793-5116

Gilford

Patrick’s 18 Weirs Road 293-0841

Goffstown

Village Trestle 25 Main St. 497-8230

Hampton Bernie’s Beach Bar 73 Ocean Blvd. 926-5050

Bogie’s 32 Depot Square 601-2319

CR’s The Restaurant 287 Exeter Road 929-7972

The Goat 20 L St. 601-6928

L Street Tavern 603 17 L St. 967-4777

Shane’s Texas Pit 61 High St. 601-7091

Smuttynose Brewing

105 Towle Farm Road

Wally’s Pub 144 Ashworth Ave. 926-6954

Whym Craft Pub & Brewery 853 Lafayette Road 601-2801

Hudson

The Bar

2B Burnham Road

Lynn’s 102 Tavern 76 Derry Road 943-7832

Jaffrey

Park Theatre 19 Main St. 532-9300

Kingston

Saddle Up Saloon 92 Route 125 369-6962

laconia

Belknap Mill

25 Beacon St. E., No. 1 524-8813

Fratello’s 799 Union Ave. 528-2022

Tower Hill Tavern 264 Lakeside Ave. 366-9100

londonderry

Coach Stop Restaurant & Tavern 176 Mammoth Road 437-2022

Stumble Inn 20 Rockingham Road 432-3210

Manchester Angel City Music Hall 179 Elm St. 931-3654

Backyard Brewery 1211 S. Mammoth Road 623-3545

CJ’s 782 S. Willow St. 627-8600

City Hall Pub 8 Hanover St. 232-3751

Currier Museum of Art 150 Ash St. 669-6144

Derryfield Country Club

625 Mammoth Road 623-2880

Elm House of Pizza 102 Elm St. 232-5522

The Foundry

50 Commercial St. 836-1925

Fratello’s 155 Dow St. 624-2022

The Goat

50 Old Granite St.

Great North Aleworks 1050 Holt Ave. 858-5789

The Hill Bar & Grille

McIntyre Ski Area 50 Chalet Ct. 622-6159

Whym: music bingo, 6 p.m.

Auburn Pitts: live music, 7 p.m.

Bedford Copper Door: Jodee Frawlee, 7 p.m.

Concord

Area 23: Gardner Berry, 7 p.m.

Hermanos: Mike Morris, 6:30 p.m.

derry

Fody’s: music bingo, 8 p.m.

Epping

Telly’s: Tim Theriault, 7 p.m.

Exeter

Sea Dog: Tim Parent, 6 p.m.

Gilford

Patrick’s: Sev and Company, 6 p.m.

Goffstown

Village Trestle: Brother Seamus, 6 p.m.

Hampton

Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.

CR’s: Just the Two Of Us, 6 p.m.

Smuttynose: Zac New Bound Duo, 6:30 p.m.

Hudson Lynn’s 102: karaoke w/ George Bis son, 8 p.m.

Kingston

Saddle Up Saloon: karaoke with DJ Jason, 7 p.m.

laconia

Fratello’s: Eric Grant, 7 p.m.

Tower Hill: karaoke w/ Luke Sky rocker, 8 p.m.

londonderry

Stumble Inn: D-Comp Trio, 7 p.m.

Manchester

Angel City: open mic, 8 p.m.

City Hall Pub: John Chouinard, 7 p.m.

Currier: Doctor Gasp’s Halloween Spookshow, 5 p.m.

Elm HOP: Ralph Allen, 6 p.m.

Foundry: Justin Cohn, 6 p.m.

Fratello’s: Justin Jordan, 5:30 p.m.

Murphy’s: live music, 5:30 p.m.

Strange Brew: Faith Ann, 8 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Jess Olson, 5:30 p.m.

Music, live and in person

These

Jewel Music Venue 61 Canal St. 819-9336

KC’s Rib Shack 837 Second St. 627-RIBS

Murphy’s Taproom 494 Elm St. 644-3535

Penuche’s Music Hall 1087 Elm St. 932-2868

Pizza 9-1-1 401 S. Willow St. 782-5443

Salona Bar & Grill 128 Maple St. 624-4020

Shaskeen Pub 909 Elm St. 625-0246

South Side Tavern 1279 S. Willow St. 935-9947

Stark Brewing Co. 500 Commercial St. 625-4444

Strange Brew 88 Market St. 666-4292

Tomahawk: Chad Lamarsh, 6:30 p.m.

Nashua

Fody’s: DJ Rich karaoke, 9:30 p.m.

San Francisco Kitchen: Sam Ham merman, 6:30 p.m.

Newmarket

Stone Church: Sneaky Miles, Kate Possi, Watson Park & Liza, 8 p.m.

Portsmouth

Press Room: Armchair Boogie, 8 p.m.

salem

Copper Door: Clint Lapointe, 7 p.m.

strafford

Independence Inn: Chris Lester, 6 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 14

Concord

Penuche’s: Lucas Gallo & Friends, 7 p.m.

Epping

Telly’s: Pete Peterson Duo, 8 p.m.

Exeter

Sea Dog: Chad Verbeck, 6 p.m.

Goffstown

Village Trestle: Jordan Quinn, 6 p.m.

Hampton

Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.

CR’s: Gerry Beaudoin, 6 p.m.

The Goat: Alex Anthony, 8 p.m. Wally’s: Woodland Protocol, 9 p.m. Whym: Justin Jordan, 6:30 p.m.

Hudson

Manchester

Angel City: The Frank White Expe rience, 9 p.m.

Backyard Brewery: Ryan William son, 6 p.m.

Derryfield: Two for The Road, 8 p.m. Fratello’s: Chris Taylor, 6 p.m.

The Foundry: Chris Lester, 6 p.m.

The Hill: Sean Coleman, 5:30 p.m. Murphy’s: live music, 5:30 p.m.

Shaskeen: Scissorfight, Drunk Off Diesel, Humanoids, 7 p.m.

South Side Tavern: Cox Karaoke, 9 p.m.

Strange Brew: The Econoclasts, 9 p.m.

To Share Brewing Co.: Songs With Molly, 6:30 p.m.

Meredith

Giuseppe’s: The Sweetbloods, 6 p.m.

Twin Barns: Mikey G, 6 p.m.

New Boston

Molly’s: live music, 7 p.m.

Northfield

Boonedoxz: karaoke night, 7 p.m.

Penacook

American Legion Post 31: JMitch Karaoke, 7 p.m.

Portsmouth

Gas Light: Sum X 4, 7 p.m.; Pete Massa, 9:30 p.m.

Mojo’s West End Tavern: David Corson, 8 p.m.

Thirsty Moose: Vibrant, 9 p.m.

rochester

Governor’s Inn: Feverslip, 7 p.m.

salem

alton

Foster’s Tavern: Kimayo, 6 p.m.

auburn

Auburn Pitts: live music, 7 p.m.

Brookline

Alamo: Austin McCarthy, 5 p.m.

Concord

Area 23: Rev Todd Seely, 8 p.m.

deerfield

Lazy Lion: live music, 6 p.m.

derry

J&F Farms: Nicole Knox Murphy, 4 p.m.

Lynn’s 102: karaoke w/ George Bis son, 8 p.m.

Jaffrey

Park Theatre: John Brickley, 5:30 p.m.

Kingston

Saddle Up: Cory Malm, 8 p.m.

laconia

Fratello’s: Paul Warnick, 6 p.m. Tower Hill: karaoke night, 8:30 p.m.

londonderry

Coach Stop: Joe McDonald, 6 p.m. Stumble Inn: Mt. Pleasant, 8 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Marc Apostolides, 6 p.m.

Milford

Pasta Loft: The Eric Grant Band, 8:30 p.m.

Stonecutters Pub: DJ Dave O with karaoke, 9 p.m.

Nashua

Peddler’s Daughter: GoodFoot, 9:30 p.m.

Newfields

Fire and Spice Bistro: Chris O’Neill, 5:30 p.m.

Luna Bistro: Chad Lamarsh, 6 p.m. Smuttynose: music bingo, 6 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 15

alton

Foster’s: Amanda Adams, 7 p.m.

alton Bay

Dockside: Matt-n-Steve Wooden Nickels, 8 p.m.

Brookline

Alamo: Matt Borrello, 5 p.m.

Bow

Chen Yang Li: The Lone Wolf Proj ect, 7 p.m.

Legal Notice

THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE Judicial Branch

NH CIRCUIT COURT

Family Division - Derry 10 Courthouse Lane, Derry, NH 03038

CITATION BY PUBLICATIONTermination of Parental Rights TO: ALEXANDRA MCOSKER

Derry, NH formerly of and now parts unknown Case Number: 622-2022-TR-00004 622-2022-TR-00005

Preliminary Hearing: A petition to terminate parental rights over your minor child(ren) has been filed in this Court. You are hearby cited to appear at a Court to show cause why the same should not be granted.

Date: November 28, 2022 Time:11:00 AM Time Allotted: 30 Minutes 10 Courthouse lane Derry NH 03038

A written appearance must be filed with this Court on or before the date of the hearing, or the respondent may personally appear on the date of hearing or be defaulted.

CAUTION: You should respond immediately to this notice to prepare for trial and because important hearings will take place prior to trial. If you fail to appear personally or in writing, you will waive your right to a hearing and your parental rights may be terminated at the above hearing.

IMPORTANT RIGHTS OF PARENTS: THIS PETITION IS TO DETERMINE WHETHER OR NOT YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS OVER YOUR CHILD(REN) SHALL BE TERMINATED. TERMINATION OF THE PARENT/CHILD RELATIONSHIP MEANS THE TERMINATION SHALL DIVEST YOU OF ALL LEGAL RIGHTS, PRIVILEGES, DUTIES AND OBLIGATIONS, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE LOSS OF ALL RIGHTS TO CUSTODY, VISITATION AND COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR CHILD(REN). IF TERMINATION IS GRANTED, YOU WILL RECEIVE NO NOTICE OF FUTURE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS CONCERNING YOUR CHILD(REN).

You are hereby notified that you have a right to be represented by an attorney. You also have the right to oppose the proceedings, to attend the hearing and to present evidence. If you desire an attorney, you may notify this Court within ten (10) days of receiving this notice and upon a finding of indigency, the Court will appoint an attorney without cost to you. If you enter an appearance, notice of any future hearings regarding this child(ren) will be by first class mail to you, your attorney and all other interested parties not less than ten (10) days prior to any scheduled hearing. Additional information may be obtained from the Family Division Court identified in the heading of this Order of Notice.

If you will need an interpreter or other accommodations for this hearing, please contact the court immediately. Please be advised (and/or advise clients, witnesses, and others) that it is a Class B felony to carry a firearm or other deadly weapon as defined in RSA 625:11, V in a courtroom or area used by a court.

NiTE MUSIC THIS WEEK

To Share Brewing

720 Union St. 836-6947

Wild Rover

21 Kosciuszko St. 669-7722

Meredith

Giuseppe’s

312 Daniel Webster Hwy. 279-3313

Twin Barns Brewing

194 Daniel Webster Hwy. 279-0876

Merrimack

Homestead

641 Daniel Webster Hwy. 429-2022

Tomahawk Tavern 454 Daniel Webster Hwy. 365-4960

Milford

The Pasta Loft 241 Union Square 672-2270

Riley’s Place

29 Mont Vernon St. 380-3480

Stonecutters Pub 63 Union Square

Concord

213-5979

Nashua

Fody’s Tavern 9 Clinton St. 577-9015

Liquid Therapy 14 Court St. 402-9391

Peddler’s Daughter 48 Main St. 821-7535

Raga

138 Main St. 459-8566

San Francisco Kitchen 133 Main St. 886-8833

Stella Blu 70 E. Pearl St. 578-5557

New Boston

Molly’s Tavern & Restaurant 35 Mont Vernon Road 487-1362

Newfields

Fire and Spice Bistro 70 Route 108 418-7121

Newmarket

Stone Church 5 Granite St. 659-7700

Northfield

Boonedoxz Pub

95 Park St. 717-8267

Penacook

American Legion Post

31 11 Charles St. 753-9372

Portsmouth

The Gas Light 64 Market St. 430-9122

The Goat 142 Congress St. 590-4628

Mojo’s West End Tavern 95 Brewery Lane 436-6656

Press Room 77 Daniel St. 431-5186

Thirsty Moose Taphouse 21 Congress St. 427-8645

rochester

Governor’s Inn

78 Wakefield St. 332-0107

Porter’s Pub 19 Hanson St. 330-1964 salem

Copper Door 41 S. Broadway 458-2033

Luna Bistro 254 N. Broadway 458-2162

Smuttynose 11 Via Toscana

seabrook

Backyard Burgers & Wings 5 Provident Way 760-2581

Red’s Kitchen + Tavern 530 Lafayette Road 760-0030

strafford Independence Inn 6 Drake Hill Road 718-3334

September 27, 2022

Area 23: John Farese Acoustic Jam 2 p.m.; Downtown Dave and the Deep Pockets, 8 p.m. Hermanos: John Franzosa, 6:30 p.m. Penuche’s: ODB Project, 7 p.m.

Contoocook

Contoocook Cider Co.: Colin Hart, 1 p.m. Contoocook Farmers Market: Scott Solsky, 1 p.m.

deerfield

Lazy Lion: live music, 7 p.m.

Epping

Telly’s: Brian Johnson, 8 p.m.

Epsom

Hill Top Pizza: JMitch Karaoke, 7 p.m.

Exeter

Sawbelly: live music, 1 p.m.

Sea Dog: Laura Lee, 6 p.m.

Goffstown

Pumpkin Regatta: Jennifer Mitch ell, 1 p.m.

Village Trestle: Jennifer Mitchell, 6 p.m.

Hampton Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.

L Street: Up-Beat w/J-Dubz, 9 p.m.

Smuttynose: Lewis Goodwin, 1 p.m.; Fox and Flamingos, 6 p.m.

Wally’s: The Far, 9 p.m.

Whym: Lou Antonucci, 6 p.m.

Hudson

The Bar: live music, 8:30 p.m.

Lynn’s 102: Off the Record, 8 p.m.

Jaffrey

Park Theatre: Bernie & Louise Wat son, 5:30 p.m.; Heartless, 7:30 p.m.

Kingston Saddle Up: Down Cellah, 8 p.m.

laconia

Tower Hill: line dancing, 7 p.m.; karaoke, 9 p.m.

londonderry

Coach Stop: Paul Lussier, 6 p.m. Stumble Inn: Bite the Bullet, 8 p.m.

Manchester

Angel City: Diezel, 9 p.m. Backyard Brewery: Tyler Levs, 6 p.m.

Derryfield: Emily Garage, 8 p.m. Elks Club 290: Jennifer Mitchell, 7 p.m.

Fratello’s: Clint Lapointe, 6 p.m.

one-man STaR waRS

Charles Ross brings the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy to the Chubb Theatre (44 S. Main St., Concord; 225-1111; ccanh.com) on Friday, Oct. 14, at 7:30 p.m. Over a feature-length running time, the actor/comedian/scruffy-looking nerf herder reenacts the entire Star Wars trilogy as a solo show. Tickets range from $21.75 to $30.75, plus fees.

NiTE MUSIC THIS WEEK

Foundry: Mikey G, 6 p.m.

The Goat: Fighting Friday, 9 p.m.

Great North Aleworks: Kevin Horan, 4 p.m.

The Hill: Dani Sven, 5:30 p.m.

Murphy’s: live music, 9:30 p.m.

Shaskeen: Scissorfight, Paul Jarvis Wizzardess, 7 p.m.

Strange Brew: Racky Thomas, 9 p.m.

To Share Brewing: Liam Spain, 4 p.m.

Wild Rover: George Barber, 5 p.m.

Meredith

Twin Barns: Matt The Sax, 3 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Marc Apostolides, 6 p.m.

Milford

Pasta Loft: Fatha Groove, 8:30 p.m.

Riley’s Place: Jae Mannion, 8 p.m.

Nashua

Fody’s: PairaDice, 10 p.m.

Liquid Therapy: Ze Ivan, 6 p.m.

Peddler’s Daughter: Pop Farmers, 9:30 p.m.

New Boston

Molly’s: live music, 7 p.m.

Newmarket

Stone Church: The Frank White Experience, 9 p.m.

Northfield

Boonedoxz Pub: live music, 7 p.m.

Portsmouth

Gas Light: Paul Warnick, 2 p.m.;

Dancing Madly Backwards, 7 p.m.; Chris Lester, 9:30 p.m.

The Goat: Mike Forgette, 9 p.m.

Thirsty Moose: Jamsterdam, 9 p.m.

rochester

Governor’s Inn: Garage Club Band, 7 p.m.

salem

Luna Bistro: Doug Thompson, 6 p.m.

strafford

Independence Inn: Joey Clark & The Big Hearts, 6 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 16

alton Bay

Dockside: Sunshine Street, 4 p.m.

Bedford

Copper Door: Marc Apostolides, 11 a.m.

Brookline

Alamo: Ralph Allen, 4 p.m.

Concord

Concord Craft Brewing: Colin Hart, 2 p.m.

Contoocook

Contoocook Cider Co.: Kimayo, 1 p.m.

Hampton

Bogie’s: live music, 7 p.m.

CR’s: Don Severance, 11 a.m.

L Street: Up-Beat w/J-Dubz, 9 p.m.

Smuttynose: 21st & 1st, 2 p.m.

Wally’s: Ray Fulcher, 8 p.m.

Hudson

The Bar: live music, 2 p.m.

Lynn’s 102: Carter on Guitar, 4 p.m.

laconia

Belknap Mill: open mic, 2 p.m.

Tower Hill: karaoke w/ DJ Tim, 8 p.m.

Manchester

Foundry: Brad Myrick, 10 a.m.

The Goat: Mike Forgette, 10 a.m.

Murphy’s: Justin Jordan, 5:30 p.m.

Strange Brew: One Big Soul Jam, 7 p.m.

Nashua

Stella Blu: The Incidentals, 3 p.m.

Newmarket

The Stone Church: Marble Eyes, 5 p.m.

Northfield

Boonedoxz Pub: open mic, 4 p.m.

Portsmouth

Gas Light: Austin McCarthy, 2 p.m.

salem

Copper Door: Rob Dumais, 11 a.m.

Monday, Oct. 17

Bedford Murphy’s: live music, 5:30 p.m.

Contoocook

Contoocook Cider Co.: Chad Ver beck, 1 p.m.

dover

Cara Irish Pub: open mic, 8 p.m.

Gilford

Patrick’s Pub: open mic w/ Paul Luff, 6 p.m.

Hudson

The Bar: karaoke with Phil

londonderry

Stumble Inn: Lisa Guyer, 7 p.m.

Manchester

Fratello’s: Phil Jacques, 5:30 p.m.

The Goat: David Campbell, 8 p.m.

Murphy’s: live music, 5:30 p.m.

Salona: music bingo with Jennifer Mitchell, 6 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Austin McCarthy, 5:30 p.m.

Nashua

Fody’s: karaoke night, 9:30 p.m.

seabrook

Red’s: music bingo, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 18

Concord

Hermanos: Kid Pinky, 6:30 p.m.

Tandy’s: open mic, 8 p.m.

Hampton

Shane’s: music bingo, 7 p.m.

Wally’s: musical bingo, 7 p.m.

Kingston

Saddle Up: line dancing, 7 p.m.

Manchester

Fratello’s: John Chouinard, 5:30 p.m.

The Goat: Rob Pagnano, 8 p.m. KC’s Rib Shack: Paul & Nate open mic, 7 p.m.

Murphy’s: D-Comp, 5:30 p.m. Strange Brew: David Rousseau, 8 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Chris Taylor, 5:30 p.m.

Nashua

Fody’s: musical bingo, 8 p.m. Raga: karaoke, 7:30 p.m.

Portsmouth

Gas Light: Jodee Frawlee Duo, 6:30 p.m.

seabrook

Backyard Burgers & Wings: music bingo with Jennifer Mitchell, 7 p.m. Red’s: country night, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 19

Brookline

Alamo: Chris Powers, 5 p.m.

laUgHS anD moRe

Comedian and voice actor Joe Yannetty returns to Headliners (DoubleTree By Hilton, 700 Elm St., Manchester; headlinerscomedyclub.com) on Saturday, Oct. 15, at 8:30 p.m. Tickets cost $20 plus fees.

NiTE MUSIC THIS WEEK

Concord

Area 23: Open mic, 6:30 p.m.

Hermanos: Kid Pinky, 6:30 p.m.

Tandy’s: karaoke, 8 p.m.

Uno Pizzeria: Kimayo, 6 p.m.

derry

Fody’s: karaoke, 7 p.m.

Hudson

Lynn’s 102: Papa Deux, 4 p.m.

londonderry

Stumble Inn: Austin McCarthy, 5 p.m.

Manchester

Derryfield: Justin Jordan, 6 p.m

Fratello’s: Dave Clark, 5:30 p.m.

The Goat: April Cushman, 7 p.m.; Mike Forgette, 9 p.m.

Murphy’s: live music, 5:30 p.m.

Stark Brewing: Cox karaoke, 8 p.m.

Strange Brew: Howard & Mike’s

Acoustic Jam, 8 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Jodee Frawlee, 5:30 p.m.

Milford

Stonecutters Pub: open mic, 8 p.m.

Newmarket

Stone Church: Love Canal w/ Light

Concerts Venues

Bank of NH Stage

16 S. Main St., Concord 225-1111, banknhstage.com

Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club

135 Congress St., Portsmouth 888-603-JAZZ, jimmysoncon gress.com

Palace Theatre

80 Hanover St., Manchester 668-5588, palacetheatre.org

Park Theatre

19 Main St., Jaffrey 532-9300, theparktheatre.org

Press Room

77 Daniel St., Portsmouth 431-5186, pressroomnh.com

Stone Church

5 Granite St., Newmarket 659-7700, stonechurchrocks.com

Tupelo Music Hall

10 A St., Derry 437-5100, tupelomusichall.com

weight and Crooked Cask, 7 p.m.

rochester

Porter’s: karaoke night, 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 20

auburn

Auburn Pitts: live music, 7 p.m.

Bedford Copper Door: Dave Z, 7 p.m.

Concord

Area 23: NHMC Artist Showcase, 7 p.m.

Hermanos: Craig Fahey, 6:30 p.m.

derry

Fody’s: music bingo, 8 p.m.

Epping

Telly’s: Lewis Goodwin, 7 p.m..

Gilford

Patrick’s Pub: live music, 6 p.m.

Goffstown

Village Trestle: Jennifer Mitchell, 6 p.m.

Hudson Lynn’s 102: karaoke w/ George Bis son, 8 p.m.

The Word Barn

66 Newfields Road, Exeter 244-0202, thewordbarn.com

shows

• Steven Chagnon & Kate West Thursday, Oct. 13, 7 p.m., Bank of NH Stage, Concord

• Jozay & Patti Thursday, Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m., Palace

• The Smithereens Thursday, Oct. 13, 8 p.m., Tupelo

• John Brickley Friday, Oct. 14, 5:30 p.m., Park Theatre

• Peter Asher Friday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m., Jimmy’s

• The Boy Band Project Sat urday, Oct. 15, 6:30 p.m. and 9 p.m., Bank of NH Stage

• Heartless (Heart tribute) Sat urday, Oct. 15, 7:30 p.m., Park Theatre

• Joe Nichols Saturday, Oct. 15, 8 p.m., Tupelo

• The Four Horsemen (Metallica tribute) Saturday, Oct. 15, 8 p.m., Tupelo

• Brickman Across America Sunday, Oct. 16, 2 p.m., Palace Theatre

londonderry

Stumble Inn: 603 Duo, 7 p.m.

Manchester

Angel City: Open Mic, 8 p.m.

City Hall Pub: Steve Prisby, 7 p.m.

Currier: Kemp Harris and Adam O., 5 p.m.

Elm HOP: Jodee Frawlee, 6 p.m.

Foundry: Paul Driscoll, 6 p.m.

Fratello’s: Doug Thompson, 5:30 p.m.

Murphy’s: live music, 5:30 p.m.

Meredith

Giuseppe’s: Joel Cage, 6 p.m.

Merrimack

Homestead: Justin Jordan, 5:30 p.m.

Milford

Pasta Loft: Dueling Pianos, 8 p.m.

Nashua

Fody’s: DJ Rich Karaoke, 9:30 p.m. San Francisco Kitchen: live music, 6:30 p.m.

salem

Copper Door: Chad Lamarsh, 7 p.m.

strafford

Independence Inn: Ryan William son, 6 p.m.

• Yesterday Once More (Carpen ters tribute) Sunday, Oct. 16, 2 p.m., Rex Theatre

• George Winston Sunday, Oct. 16, 7 p.m., Tupelo Ghost Light Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., Bank of NH Stage

• Batushka/Hate/Hideous Divin ity Thursday, Oct. 20, 7 p.m., Jewel

• Dropkick Murphys/Jaime Wyatt/Jesse Ahern Thursday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., Chubb Theatre

• Michael Schenker Thursday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., Flying Monkey

• Altan Thursday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre

ST-gRUnge alT meTal

If you’re feeling nostalgia for the 2000s, don’t miss Puddle of Mudd, who topped the Billboard charts with “She Hates Me” and “Blurry” in 2001.

They play at the Granite State Music Hall (546 Main St., Laconia; granitestatemusichall.com) on Friday, Oct. 14, at 6 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $200, plus fees.

Short piece of video

XTC ‘__ Of Simpleton’

What old rocker looks

Civet ‘Hell __ No Fury’

J Geils ‘Looking For __ __’

Egotistical Keith Urban song

Wouldn’t Wanna __ __’ (2,2)

Rock star’s heavenly glow,

Led Zep ‘Out On The __’

Classic keyman Russell

Van Morrison album w/Chief tains (5,9)

Big & Rich ‘Save A Horse (__ __ Cowboy)’ (4,1)

Brian Eno w/ Jon Hopkins & Leo Abrahams ‘Small Craft On A Milk __’

80s R&B singer Peeples

Happenings ‘__ You In September’

‘__: The Ballad Of Todd Rundgren’

Aussie band that breathes fire?

Dennis DeYoung ‘___ Moon’

Extend recording time

Slade ‘___ Crazee Now’ (4,4,3)

Jonas Bros ‘Love __ __ It’s Way’ (2,2)

How some pop stars dress

Chris Farley’s ‘Flashdance’

in Tommy Boy

Against Me! song that’s dead in its tracks?

Bruce ‘Murder, __’ (abbr)

‘Anthology’ Alien __ Farm

‘I Can’t Drive 55’ album

The Red Rocker

Heart debut (9,5)

Johnny Cash ‘__ __ Named Sue’ (1,3)

needs a hand to

song

Steely Dan

period of one’s life

band accountant better be

Milli Vanilli was (1,3)

__ __ Tengo (2,2)

and Garfunkel song played

things end?

five

Goes w/Prince’s ‘Willing’

Sugar hit (3,5)

Lisa ‘Lost In ___’

Springsteen song ‘Lion’s __’

of women for

‘Gay __’

Danced’

Frehley

Brian

star

girl in ‘By The Way’

perhaps

fronted by 53 Across

dances on the sand

Asia album with ‘Don’t Cry’

Rogue Traders “__ __ believ

little kids

Blake song about

“Taking directions” — they know where they’re headed.

a pleasure!”

to lend

up

after 11

area

Like old castle halls at night

Israeli airline

east

Cage

mouth wide

sap-based ingredient

to board

conjunction

of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

as a building

bowl

Booker T’s backup band

with proto

recently on “Celebrity

of Fortune”

title role for Hilary

Be next to

Rubella spot

Actor Elgort

American restaurant name

wasn’t named after anyone in particular

Parrots or ferrets, maybe

Airborne pest

Othello’s evil advisor

Knock out

Viking whose comic President

has framed in his office

“Dallas” family name

“Hamilton” character Burr

One with a high-grade vision?

Eye doctor Shinobu who lent his name to a color perception test

“Come Back, Little Sheba” playwright William

“Rondo ___ Turca” (Mozart

piece)

Color changer

2012 Ben Affleck drama

Top floor

Former South African president

whom a gold coin is named

Awake into the wee hours

Des Moines residents

Goes off-book

“Money talks,” for one

Long heroic story

Sgt. and cpl., e.g.

Outdoor game that’s a cross between cosplay and an RPG

Graphic start

Game that often has to clarifiy how Draw Two cards work

Abbr. before “Dew” on drink labels

Matt Jones

SIGNS OF LIFE

All quotes are from I M: A Memoir , by Isaac Mizrahi, born Oct. 14, 1961.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22) I was able to think of myself not as a subject but as an arbiter: someone who could stand on the sidelines in basic black and give an honest opinion with absolutely no axe to grind. It’s good to have someone like that.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) F rom the day I started working professionally in the fashion business, I developed a strong aversion to fashion magazines. There was no way for me to look at them without feeling either defeated, or overlooked, or competitive, or self-congratulatory. I pre ferred to ignore magazines and instead I relied on what I saw on the streets, cou pled with information provided by my staff and these supergirls with their incredible senses of style. Ignore the fash ion magazines.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21) Sigourney Weaver presented me with my second CDFA award wearing an Armani dress, claiming my dress didn’t fit, but I knew it was because she didn’t like the one I sent. It happens.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 –Jan. 19) In the fashion business, being too early is just as bad as being too late. Timing is everything. The faster you move, the slower time goes.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 –Feb. 18) Looking at early prototypes of shoes one could never tell if the cor rections would be made satisfactorily, so you’d order twenty times as many shoes as was need ed for the average fashion show…. There’s got to be a better way.

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20) When skirts are long I want them short, and vice versa. And this is not lim ited to clothes. … I like surprise much better than fashion. Surprise!

Aries (March 21 – April 19) It was a mag ical sensation to wear that fringed shirt, something that one short hour before had been a mere figment of my imagination. Magical!

Taurus (April 20 –May 20) At that time I was surprised to encounter a certain shallowness in my own personal character. Whereas Perry Ellis was smack in the center of the glaring fashion limelight,

Jeffrey Banks was not, and I missed it ter ribly…. You’ll find new things to enjoy.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20) I backed into the role of family stylist without knowing I wanted the job, but I embraced all the power that came with it. Might as well.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22) Things were topsy-turvy those first few months at Performing Arts high school. … Just like in the movie Fame , every day at lunch there was a deejay who played disco music in the cafeteria, and every one danced with everyone else. Dance, dance, dance.

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22) I told myself I’d be happy with any nearness to show business at all, even if it meant making costumes or dresses…. Just get in the vicinity of where you want to be.

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22) More than any other performing endeavor, dance requires a real editing of excess when it comes to costumes. Don’t trip over your own embellishments.

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Overstimulated

A British artist known as Mr. Doodle (real name: Sam Cox) has doodled through out his entire mansion in Tenterden, Kent, United Press International reported on Oct. 4. Everything is covered: walls, furniture, kitchen appliances, textiles, floors, ceil ings. Cox shared The Doodle House with the world on a YouTube video, taking view ers through the process from stark white to completely doodled. It took him two years, 240 gallons of white paint, 401 cans of black spray paint and almost 2,300 black pens to complete the project. His wife, Alena, is all in with the doodle decor. — United Press International, Oct. 4

The american tourist

On Oct. 5, an American man who appeared to be about 50 years old asked to see Pope Francis at the Vatican in Rome, CNN report ed. When he was told that would not be possible, he hurled a Roman bust to the floor in the Museo Chiaramonti, then upset a second one as he rushed out. The man was detained by Vatican police and turned over to Italian authorities. Both statues were around 2,000 years old. Press office director Matteo Alessandrini said the busts were “affixed to the shelves with a nail, but if you pull them down with force they will come off.” He said restoration work had already begun. — CNN, Oct. 5

The other border

KTUU-TV reported that on Oct. 4, a small boat carrying two men landed near the commu nity of Gambell on northern St. Lawrence Island, Alaska. According to town clerk Curtis Silook, the men told villagers they had sailed over 300 miles from Egvekinot in northeastern Russia and were trying to escape the Russian military draft.

Sen. Dan Sullivan conferred with the Department of Homeland Security, and Gov. Mike Dun leavy said they were transported to Anchorage, where federal authorities were sorting out their status. “We don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals or a flotilla,” Dunleavy said. — KTUU-TV, Oct. 4

inexplicable

• Tyler Monk, 34, an exterminator in Kinder, Louisiana, is ... changing. That is, his skin is dark ening from white to black, apparently because he briefly tried Prozac in January 2021 to help with anxiety, the New York Post reported. “The fact is, [doctors] don’t know why I’m changing colors,” Monk said. After two months, Monk’s arms and face took on a grayish tone that con tinued to darken even after he stopped the drug.

“First they thought it was photosensitivity ... but I’ve been covering up and I’m still getting dark er,” he said. He has seen eight specialists, and more appointments are on his calendar. His fam ily is supportive: “We really don’t mind the color change, as long as he’s healthy and OK with it,” said his wife, Emily. — New York Post, Sept. 27

• Time to decorate the man cave? Three men were arrested on Sept. 24 in Hernando County, Florida, after an off-duty detective spied them using saws to cut traffic lights off the poles, WFTV reported. By the time deputies arrived at the scene, the men had put three lights into their van. Aaron Wood, James Donnelly and Oleksiy Naumenko were arrested for theft and admitted to stealing the lights. Each is valued at $5,000. — WFTV, Sept. 24

least competent criminal

An unnamed 32-year-old woman didn’t get far in the Mini Cooper she stole in Lakewood, Wash ington, on Sept. 19, Fox News reported. The driver, who had her 4-year-old son in the back seat and a bottle of whiskey in her hand, steered the car right into a section of wet cement that had just been poured by city crews. When she emerged from the car, she threw a television and an Instant Pot out of the car before trying to walk away. All items were stolen from the suspect’s mother’s home. After her arrest, crews went back to work on the pavement. — Fox News, Sept. 19

Oops

The Bay County (Florida) Sheriff’s Depart ment has declared it’s “officially out of the bonfire business” after an incident at A. Craw ford Mosley High School in Lynn Haven on Oct. 5, the Panama City News Herald reported. Although the agency has assisted with bonfires for many years, the 2022 homecoming event

blew up when the bonfire literally exploded. No one was injured, and firefighters were already on hand as a precaution. Sheriff Tommy Ford said it was unclear what had caused the explosion, but his agency would take responsibility for the inci dent. The district also announced that they would no longer host bonfire events. — Panama City News Herald, Oct. 5

Wait, what?

Two men were arrested in Palm Coast, Florida, on Oct. 6 for a heist of goods val ued at $5,000, Fox35-TV reported. Rui Gen Lin, 48, and Rong Chen, 41, were caught by a deputy making a security check at Woody’s Bar-B-Que; the two men wore headlamps as they transferred a substance from a vat behind the restaurant into a box truck with large storage containers inside, according to the sheriff’s office. Here’s the weird: They were stealing used cooking oil, about 7,000 pounds of it. Lin owned L&L Recycling, a company that buys and recycles cooking oil. “But in this case, they tried to increase their profits by stealing the oil,” said Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly. Who knew used cooking oil was so useful? It can be recycled for use in diesel fuel and other substances, Staly noted. — Fox35-TV, Oct. 6

Sources according to uexpress.com. From the editors at Andrews McMeel Syndication. See uexpress.com/contact