Month: June 2020

A bit of good news

After three long months sports fans got good news last week when the NHL and NBA ok’d plans to open camps in July and begin playing in early August. Meanwhile the league that should be closest to returning put its season at risk by doing what baseball usually does with tone-deaf bickering over money between the owners and players at a time when 40 million just lost their jobs. The NFL meanwhile remains on track for the usual September start, though college football is still mostly up in the air.

It won’t be business as usual, however, as normal league schedules will be way out of whack and the return will require concessions to playing with effects of Covid-19. Not the least of these will be playing games with no fans, at least until football season, where social distancing plans are underway to have about 25,000 paying customers on hand at least. There’s also the threat of infections rising for people playing in such close proximity as they sweat, regularly bang into each other and are laying on top of each other after almost every play in football.

And most amazingly, the pandemic is just one of three national calamities that will impact sports in 2020. Depending on how long it lasts, immediate economic difficulties and a possible deep recession likely will restrict spending power for tickets, sponsorships and merchandise. That in turn should affect 2021 free agency, a big thing for the Patriots, who have many players on expiring contracts and up to an expected $100 million to spend next spring. Then there’s the civil unrest following the death of George Floyd while in custody of the police in Minneapolis. The Black Lives Matter protests it sparked throughout the country will likely impact the NFL in a most divisive way that puts fans, players and the less than shy president in constant conflict.

Finally, it’ll be interesting to see if any pandemic-related changes become permanent. Like a new NBA calendar with an early December start to be closer to its real opening day when all those big games are played on Christmas Day with the playoffs ending in August. That would not be great news for baseball, which already has declining attendance and perhaps now a missed season. If you were the NBA who would you rather go head to head with MLB or the NFL?

That’s the big picture. Now here are some more thoughts on the restart and stories related to it:

Interested to see if teams like the Bruins and Bucks who were rolling to their league’s best records restart in similar fashion or will that momentum be gone and it be more like starting a new season.

I’m all in on the Bruins, but “ice” hockey games in the heat of summer doesn’t seem like a good fit.

If baseball does get its act together, will the growing rage gathering steam during spring training stay focused on the cheating Astros? Or, since that seems like 50 years ago and with no fans in the stands did they luck out? Here’s my suggestion: have a special soundtrack for the Astros when crowd noise is piped into their TV/radio broadcasts that has boos, catcalls and hisses mixed in.

Quickly apologizing was a good move by Drew Brees after starting a major hoo-ha with his original thoughts on kneeling during the anthem. Beyond getting killed in the court of public opinion, I’m still wondering if defenders will line him up for a little extra shot if they don’t buy the apology. Hope not.

Buckle up on the kneeling protests, though. Because with his presidential campaign in peril (at the moment) expect DJT to inflame tensions to fire up his base as a likely nasty campaign rages through the NFL’s first 10 weeks. And with Adrian Peterson already saying “without a doubt” he’ll kneel I don’t see the players backing down. So the brass had better have a better plan than the last time.

I couldn’t be more sick of the unending series of stories on Jarrett Stidham and everything you-know-who does in Tampa Bay. I’d rather wait to see what happens on the field. But for the record, Stidham will be better than expectations, at 43 TB won’t meet his and thanks to a year off to get healthy and recharged Gronk has the best year of the three.

It’s just one guy’s opinion, but I like Jalen Rose’s reasoning for why he thinks the Celtics will beat Milwaukee if they meet in the playoffs. He said with the Bucks’ huge home court advantage lost, the games will be more like playing a pick-up game in the park. And if they were, Giannis is picked first for sure, but the next five guys taken would be all Celtics. Meaning the C’s have the overall talent edge and that could be deadly for the Bucks in a neutral site.

Vegas doesn’t buy that, however, as the C’s odds to make the finals have gone up from what they were in February.

Heard this from a caller on talk radio: to reward teams like Milwaukee losing their earned home court advantages, let the highest seed choose who they face in each playoff round from the lower seeds. That would add major bulletin board “I’ll show you” material into the mix, which I love.

I wonder if the NBA doing all play-by-play announcing remotely from home base studios with noise from Orlando mixed is the beginning of the end of road announcers being on site in the future.

No baseball season makes the Mookie Betts trade look even better, as the Sox keep the three prospects while L.A. gets no games from Mookie and still has to swallow David Price’s contract.

Finally, I’m fine with baseball not getting started because with all the problems going on around them, if they’re too clueless to work it out, so be it.

Forty years later…

Principal retires after decades in Manchester

After 40 years of service in the Manchester School District, Arthur Adamakos is retiring and will officially end his tenure as the principal of Manchester Memorial High School on June 30. Adamakos discussed the highlights of his career in education and what it’s like to be retiring during a pandemic.

Tell us about your career in education.

I was born and brought up in Nashua. I went to Boston University, and then to Rivier University for my master’s degree. … I started out as a substitute teacher in Nashua, just for a few months. Then, when I got certified, I was offered a position at Hillside [Middle School] in 1979. After a year and a half there, I got transferred to [Manchester] Memorial [High School], and I was a teacher there for six and a half years, from 1981 to 1988. Then, I became an assistant principal at [Manchester High School] West, and I was there for six and a half years. In 1994, I left West to be the principal at Hillside for a year and a half. In 1995, I came to Memorial, where I’ve been ever since, except for a two-year span when, in 2000, I was the assistant superintendent of schools for secondary ed in Manchester. … Then, I came back [to Memorial], where I’ve been for the last 18 years as a principal. So, [in total] I’ve been the principal at Memorial for 23 years. That’s a long time.

What was your biggest challenge this year as a high school principal?

This year, obviously, Covid-19 and remote learning has been a challenge. We had no prior training when all of this happened on March 16. We don’t train to become online teachers in our profession. We prefer to have our students in our classrooms, work with our students one-on-one and have positive day-to-day interactions with them. You can’t do that remotely.

How does it feel to be retiring after such an unconventional end to the school year?

I always get excited as the year progresses, because the nicest part of the year is all the ceremonies at the end of the year celebrating the students’ achievements. Those will not be taking place this year because of social distancing. It’s unfortunate for me that I’m going to miss out on that. … It’s certainly not the way I intended to go out of my career, but the priority is that the kids stay safe and healthy.

What will you miss most?

I’ll miss the people I work with. Kids come and go; they’re here for four years, and then they move along, but a lot of our faculty have been here for 10, 20, 30 years, so we’ve been together as a group for quite a while. I’ll miss seeing them on a regular basis.

How would you like to be remembered as a high school principal?

I want to be remembered as a firm but fair person who listened to the kids and sided with them more often than they thought, and made sure they had the best experience they could possibly have while they were in high school.

What have your students taught you over the years?

They’ve taught me to be young — to feel young, to stay current, to know pop culture. They’ve taught me that it’s important to constantly be changing my approach to things. Some people in my position don’t change a darn thing in the 30-odd years of their administration. The way I operate now is certainly not the way I did when I first started, back in the ’80s. My approach is much different. The way I look at things is much different, and the kids taught me that. They’ve taught me how to evolve.

Do you have any parting words for your students?

Education is a lifelong experience. It doesn’t end with high school. I’ve been out of college for 42 years now, and I’m still learning new things each and every day. I hope that [the students] never stop using their minds to learn new things, even as they get older.

What will you do now?

This September will be the first time in 50 years — from the time I entered first grade in 1962, all the way until now — that I won’t be going back to school and entering a school building every day. I’m kind of on pins and needles about that. I’m an adjunct faculty member at Southern New Hampshire University — I teach in the Education Leadership graduate program — so I’ll still be teaching, but it won’t be the same world that I’m in now. It will be nice to be able to relax and take some time off, though. I’ve been working nonstop for a long time. … I’m an avid golfer, but I’ve had to take it easy the last few years. I’m getting a shoulder replacement surgery next month, so hopefully next year I’ll be able to start playing again. That’s something I’m really looking forward to. Anything else that comes my way? I can’t predict that, so I’ll just take it as it comes.

2020 graduates

What they missed most, plus hopes for the future

It has been a strange end to the school year for all students, but especially seniors, many of whom missed out on fun celebrations and saying goodbye to all of their classmates. We talked to a few 2020 college and high school grads (and the mom of a kindergarten grad!) about what they missed most and what their hopes are for the future.

Alycia Ashby
Senior at Manchester School of Technology, which moved its graduation ceremony to June 20 at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. Alycia will attend Colby-Sawyer College in New London in the fall.

Ever since the fifth grade I have been working toward this moment. Walking across the stage. Grabbing my diploma. Shaking the hands of my admin and educators. Seven years later everything has changed. … I can’t help but marvel at the fact I may not walk across the stage. The Manchester School of Technology was my second home, my happy place, one that I had taken for granted. … I miss going to school. I miss my friends. I miss learning from a physical teacher teaching in the classroom. … I will never get the time back or the experience but one thing I know moving forward is I need balance. … Recent unfortunate events have allowed for many of us to find ourselves again. As we get back to our lives, I hope I can hold on to the me I have found and never take for granted my happy places.

Jessica Aviles
Jessica’s daughter, Evangeline, recently completed kindergarten at Jacques Memorial Elementary School in Milford. On May 29, Jacques hosted a special drive-through “sendoff” reverse parade to commemorate the conclusion of the school year.

Initially, our whole family was feeling uncertain about everything going on. My dad is a dialysis patient so we are used to self-quarantining when we get sick, but never expected it to be for this long. I reached out to fellow mom friends and was grateful for the constant communication from Jacques. … I expected remote learning to be like homeschooling. It was not at all! The most challenging part for Evangeline was being away from her teacher, Miss Casey, and her first set of classmates. For me, it was finding a balance of time and a schedule for her and her sister, Adalaide. [Evangeline] told me her favorite part was that I try to make learning fun, like Miss Casey. … For the fall, we plan to consider the advice of health officials along with Jacques and the state. I expect that Covid-19 will still be around, along with the usual concerns, and we will just have to take extra healthcare measures. We plan to learn and grow from this experience.

Katherine Buck
Communication and politics graduate of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, which has postponed its commencement ceremony. A livestreamed celebratory event for graduates was held on May 16.

Preparing for graduation this year has been a lot different than how I initially planned it at the beginning of the year. I remember talking with my parents trying to decide where we would want to go to celebrate after graduation and how we wanted to be with the families of my roommates one last time. … My roommates and I were looking forward to being able to take those celebratory pictures … with our diplomas in hand, like so many past. … My future plans were to enter into my career. Although this has not changed, it has become increasingly difficult during this time. I remain hopeful and vigilant in my job search and actively work to not be discouraged while looking for jobs.

Samantha Burns
Senior at Merrimack Valley High School, which will have its commencement ceremony on June 13 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. Students and their families will remain in their vehicles throughout the ceremony and will drive around the track, crossing the finish line to signify their official moment of graduation. Burns plans to attend New England College in the fall.

I have been preparing for graduation by making sure I have everything in line as far as [school] work goes, and picking out what I want to wear is a big part. Obviously, graduation is not going to go the same way I expected it to go. I am going to miss seeing the faces in the crowd as each of us walk down the aisle in our caps and gowns, but I believe that our graduation is going to be unique and one that we are all going to remember.

Julissa Castro
English graduate of Nashua Community College, which has moved its commencement to Sept. 26.

This semester was an adventure for me with online classes and working from home. I took six classes this semester so I could finish in time for graduation, which became more challenging when we switched online. … Thankfully, I have been able to manage my time and balance classes and work, and I was able to finish all of my classes with higher marks. … After graduation, I was going to spend my summer volunteering in Honduras, and then I was transferring to a four-year university to finish my bachelor’s degree. I’m attending John Cabot University in Rome. … Now, I have decided to defer for a semester so I could still be able to volunteer once the quarantine is over.

Hope Cataldo
Elementary education graduate of Rivier University in Nashua, which has postponed its commencement ceremony.

I sat down at my computer at the beginning of April and wrote my commencement speech without knowing if I’d ever give it. … I feel with every ounce of my being the desire to be back at my school, my home, with the people who mean the world to me. … At the start of the school, I was so ready to graduate. And now, all I want is to be back. … Before this pandemic began, my plans were the same as any college graduate. I was excited and ready to start my job search. I was going to live in Nashua, at Rivier, working with some of my favorite people. I was focusing my job search mainly in the Nashua area, as I have truly found a home here. Yet once the pandemic hit, that changed. … I conducted my job search in northern New Hampshire and Vermont, where I live. I accepted a job teaching fourth grade in Vermont, which I am so excited about. … I find myself upset when thinking about what could have been, so instead I focus on the positives. I am home, with a family that supports me unconditionally. We are all safe and well and doing our best to continue to be.

Shaun Collupy
Science in Business Management master’s program graduate of Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, which has postponed its commencement ceremonies, with a new date TBD.

At the beginning of the school year, I envisioned planning for graduation to consist of hugs and goodbyes to my friends, professors, and colleagues, spending last moments in my favorite places on campus, and celebration. Come April, preparation for graduation primarily consisted of ensuring my coursework items were completed on time and virtual goodbyes by way of phone calls and video conferences. What I was looking forward to most about graduating was having the opportunity to cheer on my friends and colleagues as they receive their diploma on Commencement Day. … My plans before the pandemic were, and still are, to begin my career with a Boston-based tech company. Although the initial plan was to start my journey [at the company’s headquarters], I am grateful to have committed to an employer who cares about their employees’ success and is providing me with the tools and resources I need to start my journey on time and remotely. I am excited for the physical office location to reopen and [to] have the opportunity to build relationships with my co-workers in person.

Cordell “CJ” Drabble
Senior at John Stark Regional High School in Weare, which will hold its commencement on June 13.

I had initially planned on all my immediate family coming to graduation to see myself and my close friends they’ve watched grow with me graduate. Now I am bringing just my parents. … [I] am just fortunate we are having a graduation, period. … My future plans haven’t changed. I am still going to be attending Army basic training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri this July, and returning home as a New Hampshire National Guard soldier.

Emily Gamache
Senior and class vice president of Campbell High School in Litchfield, which will hold its commencement on June 12. She plans to attend the University of Rhode Island in the fall.

There are many events that I have planned in the past and at the beginning of the school year which are much different from how we have to plan events now. At the start of the school year we could hold in-person meetings [and] talk to different teachers for help while in the building. … Now, everything needs to be thought out in a certain form. We need to make sure people are six feet apart, there is no interaction between different families and friends and there is a certain number of people on the field. … I have attended different graduations in the past and there has always been a powerful energy throughout them. There are so many emotions, hugs and pictures at every graduation. I never thought much about being able to hug my friends until it is now something I am no longer able to do.

Ridge Gonzales
Senior at The Derryfield School in Manchester, which will hold an on-campus commencement ceremony with social distancing guidelines on Aug. 1.

I am looking forward to an in-class graduation in August. It has been very different from beginning to plan to graduate at the beginning of this year. For starters, I think there’s less closure with the physical spaces that students correlate with school. For me, this means I can’t even remember what room my last class was in, [and] I never got to say goodbye, knowing this is the last time I’m going to sit down at this exact library table. I was definitely looking forward to the actual graduation ceremony where everyone is dressed up all nice and there’s a multitude of pictures with family and fellow students. To me, it’s pretty magical knowing that all those people have supported you all for this one last event. … My independent senior project was originally [to] visit different workspaces of people who work in business. However, this changed into Zoom and phone calls, which is still amazing, but not as immersive as I would’ve liked. Beyond high school, I was planning to find a good summer job, but some places are not hiring or even open yet. In regards to college, I’m just hoping I can be there in person for the fall.

Trey Haynes
Senior at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, which will hold a virtual graduation ceremony on June 14, streamed via Facebook live.

I was looking forward to [having] a last day with all my teachers and friends, but it was spent in front of a computer screen. … I also looked forward to hanging out with my friends and going on trips but those will have to be postponed. I still plan on going to college, although it might be online for the first semester, which isn’t what I expected to do. I plan to major in biology at NHTI.

Samantha Jette
Communication graduate of Saint Anselm College in Manchester, which has postponed its commencement ceremony. A livestreamed celebratory event was held May 16.

The last months of senior year [are] usually filled with traditions and activities to commemorate the ending of a great four years. When Saint Anselm closed in March, that meant that a lot of these traditions that my classmates and I have looked forward to would not happen. … While it was difficult to be home knowing I was missing time with my friends that I wouldn’t get back, I am lucky to have had such great experiences at St. A’s over the years. … The pandemic has definitely made my post-grad job search more challenging. At the beginning of the year, my hope was to have a job secured after graduation. Now that graduation has come and gone, I am realizing this may be more difficult than I expected.

Morgan Kidwell
Graduate of Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, which has postponed its commencement ceremonies, with a new date TBD.

I started my senior year off by making lists of what type of career I wanted to have, … where I wanted to relocate to, … and what types of companies I was interested in working for post-graduation. I also had a mindset [of making] every moment of my senior year count, which I definitely did! I was looking forward to … [an] entire day celebrating everything that my friends and I have overcome [and] accomplished over the last four years. We all sacrificed so much, pushed ourselves, and grew into amazing young adults throughout our time at SNHU. I did not have any set plans [for after graduation]. I was still searching for jobs, mostly in Colorado, Texas and Arizona. … I have been actively applying and using connections to inquire about [job] positions, [but] with the current situation in the world, most companies … have completely halted their hiring processes until as late as October. It’s tough, but I have faith I will find the perfect marketing position for me. I am currently doing part-time remote work for my internship … as a digital marketing intern as well as creating a website and curating social media posts for a construction company.

Jillian LaBrecque
Senior at John Stark Regional High School in Weare, which will hold its commencement on June 13. She’ll be attending the University of New Hampshire in the fall.

At the beginning of the year … I expected to be preparing for graduation by performing in my last school concert … and spending this last year with my friends that would soon be going to far away schools for military training. Instead, I am now working at a supermarket and spending several hours per week on Zoom calls. … For everything I lost in connection with concerts, performances and prom, I gained in humility and understanding. I finally understood for the first time what it means to have to sacrifice something important. We sacrificed our proms and large graduation ceremonies … for public safety. … I may never get to experience what I most looked forward to, but in reality what I experienced instead will be significantly more valuable to me in the future. So for that, I am very grateful.

Anna Lapadula
Senior at The Derryfield School in Manchester, which will hold an on-campus commencement ceremony with social distancing guidelines on Aug. 1. She will attend Boston University in the fall.

This past fall, I was focused on getting good grades, making it through the year, and being accepted into one of my top college choices. Graduation passed my mind once, maybe twice. … By the time graduation was actually within sight, I wasn’t allowed to be near people nor leave my house for anything other than essential errands. It wasn’t until a week before the original graduation date that it hit me: I don’t get to celebrate what was supposed to be one of the most momentous days of my personal and academic career, and I definitely won’t get to experience it alongside the people that I love the most and have gone through it all with. I wanted to be able to say that I did it. That I survived 15 years of hard work and dedication to my academics in order to create the future that I wanted for myself. I wanted to be able to look at my parents from the stage with my diploma in my hand and tell them that I didn’t let their unwavering support go to waste. I know that walking across a stage seems irrelevant in the light of a burning world, but I still wish I could’ve closed this chapter of my life in the way I had planned to for 15 years. My plan was to maintain my job through the summer, volunteer at local food banks and shelters, finish moving houses, go on a short road trip with my best friend (and fellow senior) as a “last hurrah” before college. … Now … my summer is shaping up to be a lot of solitary and indoor activities.

Emma Montenero
Senior at Campbell High School in Litchfield, which will hold its 2020 commencement on June 12. She plans to attend the University of New Hampshire in the fall.

Since most of my senior activities have been canceled, this part of the year hasn’t been as exciting as it would have been. My school has put together a different version of graduation for us this year, as we need to follow state orders regarding social distancing. … We don’t have to do rehearsals, there will be no speeches … and we can’t take pictures with classmates at our ceremony. These past couple of months have really made me think about what I’m most grateful for and how much I took certain activities for granted. … My class is only 100 students and we’ve all been together since first grade. I’m grateful that we can still graduate together … even though the rest of town isn’t allowed to come and watch.

Rebecca Oswald
Senior at Campbell High School in Litchfield, which will hold its 2020 commencement on June 12. She plans to attend Sacred Heart University in Connecticut in the fall.

Under the circumstances, planning for graduation this year has been different than what I expected it to be. … I am truly so grateful that as a class we do get a live graduation, and though we don’t have a Senior Week or any of the activities that come with the last month of senior year, we do get to spend that time together and cherish those moments. … After graduation, I was going to go abroad in Europe with my grandparents and truly enjoy my summer before I go off to college in the fall. Sadly, due to the pandemic, I have had the trip to Europe canceled.

Erica Royle
Public health graduate of Rivier University in Nashua, which has postponed its commencement ceremony.

Unfortunately, my time on campus came to an abrupt end when students had to move off campus due to Covid-19. I was devastated. I never thought this was how my senior year was going to end. … Although the seniors at my school were not able to celebrate together in person, my school did an amazing job making all the seniors feel loved with virtual ways to connect during these difficult times. … The thing I was looking forward to the most was getting to walk across the stage, receive my degree and getting to celebrate with my friends and family. … Of course, it would have been amazing to celebrate that accomplishment with a graduation, but I still achieved what I set out to achieve, and that makes me happy. … It was always my goal to secure a job immediately after finishing school, and with a lot of hard work, I was able to accomplish that goal. … On May 4, I started my new job as an intensive case manager at Eliot Community Human Services.

Josh Sargent
Art and human development graduate at Plymouth State University, which has postponed its commencement ceremony.

Graduation this year didn’t go as planned. There was no preparation once Covid-19 hit. … The number one thing I was looking forward to about graduating was seeing my mother’s reaction to me walking across the stage. She deserves that piece of paper for supporting me just as much as I earned it.

Rose Speigel
Senior at The Derryfield School in Manchester, which will hold an on-campus commencement ceremony with social distancing guidelines on Aug. 1. She hopes to attend the New England College Institute of Art and Design in the fall.

I had the idea in my head that I would wrap up my schooling, finish final assignments and then graduate among my peers. Now due to Covid-19, I am not sure what day I will graduate. My school has prepared three different dates throughout this coming fall and winter to hold our commencement ceremony, and there is no determining which date, if any, it will be. … I left school on a Thursday in March assuming I’d be there that Friday, but school was canceled and now it’s June. … It felt like all these years would lead up to those special senior moments, and now it’s been cut short. … As far as I know, NECIAD will have classes on campus in the fall. However, if these plans and courses become online only, I will not attend until they are on campus again … because my intent was to work in a studio with all of the art amenities it has to offer.

Victoria Williams
Senior at Manchester School of Technology, which has moved its graduation ceremony to June 20 at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

I started off the year as senior class president and looked forward to making this senior year the best one yet. I intended for graduation to be as heartwarming and memorable as possible but now it [seems] like that really isn’t even my decision anymore. … My original plans after graduation [were] leaving the state and going to college, but with all the colleges closing, I honestly doubt that I will actually be able to. I do still intend on doing what I can to get as close to my long-term goal as possible, but I feel like it is not going to be a cake walk.

Kayleigh Zervos
Graduate of New England College in Henniker, which has postponed its commencement ceremony until Oct. 4, during Alumni Weekend.

I took extra classes so I was able to finish a semester early, allowing me to walk this May, but finish my last semester in the fall. … One of the main reasons I wanted to walk early was the fact that all my best friends and boyfriend are older than me [and are] graduating this year. It was definitely disappointing working so hard by taking extra courses for graduation to be postponed. We always have a senior week the week of graduation … so it was really sad knowing that we’ll never get to experience that together. I was really looking forward to … all of us [being] together one last time before entering the big world. My future plans were to finish my student teaching in the fall and possibly get hired at that school to work until the end of the school year. Otherwise, I would just move to Washington … to live with my boyfriend. If schools don’t open in the fall, I’m not sure whether or not I’ll be able to do student teaching with remote learning or have to wait until the next semester.

Lauren Zervos
Senior at John Stark Regional High School in Weare, which will hold its 2020 commencement on June 13. She’ll be attending the Maine College of Art in the fall.

I initially thought leading up to graduation would be extremely stressful. … Instead, the year ended so quickly I feel like it’s not real. Yesterday was March 13 in my mind. Now it’s June. Preparing for graduation has been quite different because we’ve been saying goodbye over video chat instead of … in person. I still am [attending college] but it might be a little different because of the chance that we would have to begin remotely.

News & Notes 20/6/11

NH vigils and protests
As in cities across the nation, demonstrations and vigils related to the killing of George Floyd continued over the last week in southern New Hampshire, as well as in other parts of the state.
On June 2, hundreds of people attended a peaceful candlelight vigil at Stark Park in Manchester that was organized by Black Lives Matter.
Peaceful demonstrations were also held in both Concord and Nashua over the weekend. In Concord, almost 2,000 people attended a Black Lives Matter protest on June 6 that began at Memorial Field, and ended at the New Hampshire Statehouse, according to the New Hampshire program of the American Friends Service Committee, which organized the event along with student leaders of Concord High School.
About 1,200 people joined the Greater Nashua Area branch of the NAACP for a peaceful vigil in Greeley Park in Nashua, also on June 6, according to the Black Lives Matter Nashua Facebook page.
More Black Lives Matter demonstrations are scheduled later this week, including in both Londonderry and Merrimack on June 12. Visit facebook.com/blmnashua.
After the June 2 vigil in Manchester, the Manchester Police Department made 13 arrests (later arresting an additional three people) from a group of people gathered on South Willow Street, most of whom were charged with disorderly conduct and rioting, according to police press releases.
“It’s important for the public to understand the difference between both of last night’s events. The Stark Park event was very well organized and remained a peaceful candlelight vigil in memory of George Floyd,” Manchester Police Chief Carlo Capano said in a statement. “The acts of violence, rioting and disrupting our community in any way will not be tolerated and the two different events should not be confused.”
In a statement released the following day, Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig thanked the organizers of the vigil for a peaceful event and the chief for his department’s work.

Covid-19 updates
State health officials reported June 8 that the total number of Covid-19 cases in New Hampshire is 5,079. Three additional deaths attributed to the virus were reported on June 7, for a total number of 286, or roughly 6 percent of all cases. The overall percentage of people in New Hampshire who have recovered from the virus has risen to 67 percent, or 3,392 of all the confirmed cases, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. The percentage of hospitalizations, meanwhile, continues to decrease — as of June 8, just 10 percent, or 492 people, who have contracted the virus in the state have required hospitalization.

Governor’s updates
Gov. Chris Sununu made multiple announcements in the state’s ongoing response to Covid-19 in the past week.
In a June 3 press conference, Sununu gave a PowerPoint presentation on Covid-19 data trends in New Hampshire. The data included ongoing downward trends in both positive test results and hospital bed uses in the Granite State over the last several weeks. However, Sununu predicted the positive test rate will still hover around 2 to 6 percent for at least several more weeks, due to so many people being asymptomatic with the virus.
On June 5, Sununu signed Emergency Order 2020-10, extending the state of emergency in New Hampshire due to Covid-19 for another three weeks through at least June 26. It’s the fourth extension he has issued since originally declaring a state of emergency on March 13.
Also on June 5, Sununu announced the release of several phased reopening guidelines for more business sectors as part of his “Stay at Home 2.0” plan. As of June 5, Seacoast beaches are now open for sunbathing, lounging and other traditional stationary activities. Beachgoers must still remain at least six feet apart from other groups, and parking restrictions are in place to limit the number of people. Ocean Boulevard on Hampton Beach remains closed to vehicular traffic through Labor Day.
Golf courses are now open to non-New Hampshire residents as of June 5. Pro shops have reopened, and two golfers are now allowed in golf carts instead of one.
Several types of outdoor recreational attractions, such as batting cages, disc golf, ropes courses, zip lines, natural science centers, caves, petting zoos and balloon rides were also permitted to reopen on June 5. Attractions that involve larger groups in enclosed spaces, such as amusement parks, water parks, race tracks, tourist trains and indoor attractions, remain closed but will be considered for reopening in later phases, Sununu said.
Beginning June 15, restaurants across the Granite State will be permitted to reopen for indoor dining services. Restaurants in Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham and Strafford counties will be able to reopen at 50 percent capacity, while those in the rest of the state can reopen at 100 percent capacity, provided all tables are spaced six feet apart.
Also beginning June 15, wedding ceremonies in New Hampshire can resume at indoor venues at up to 50 percent capacity, with six-foot distanced tables.
Overnight summer camps in the state will be allowed to open June 28, with several restrictions in place. All campers must be tested for Covid-19 both before and after they report for camp. Campers staying longer than two weeks must get tested a third time. No visitors will be allowed.
Details of all of Sununu’s announcements and orders can be found at governor.nh.gov.

Granite Promise
On June 8, Senate Democrats announced the rollout of the Granite Promise Plan, a package of legislative reforms to help New Hampshire through the relief and recovery efforts amid the state’s ongoing response to Covid-19. The package consists of three legislative amendments, all of which have been or will be heard this week before the Senate Commerce, Health and Human Services and Election Law and Municipal Affairs committees. “The Granite Promise Plan addresses both the immediate needs of New Hampshire workers, families and communities, as well as the long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic,” Sen. Majority Leader Dan Feltes said in a statement. “The measures include permanent increases to New Hampshire’s weekly unemployment insurance benefits, funds to shore up our unemployment trust fund, advances worker safety, supports family businesses … and improves computer systems and protections for homeowners and renters.”

Voter guidance
On June 3, state officials released guidance focused on issues related to voter registration for the September primary and the November general election. Per the guidance, all voters are eligible to request an absentee ballot if they are unable to vote in person due to being sick from Covid-19 or fear they may be exposed to the virus. Voters can contact their town or city clerk or the Secretary of State’s office to request an absentee voter registration package. On June 4, the Senate Election Law and Municipal Affairs Committee passed an amendment to HB 1627-FN, titled the Coronavirus Election Protection Act of 2020. “Ensuring fair and accessible elections to every eligible New Hampshire voter is of critical importance,” Sen. Melanie Levesque, a sponsor of the amendment, said in a statement. “It is of everyone’s interest that we do everything in our power to protect public health, ensure free and fair elections, and work with our local election officials as New Hampshire continues to passionately participate in our democracy.”

Photo: A crowd gathered at the New Hampshire Statehouse in Concord June 6 after marching from Memorial Field. Photo by Forest Simon.

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has issued advisories that cyanobacteria blooms have been observed on Clough Pond in Loudon and Millville Pond in Salem. The department advises the public to avoid contact with water that has elevated cyanobacteria conditions, and to keep pets out of the water as well, as cyanobacteria can produce toxins that pose health risks to people and animals. The advisory was still in effect as of June 9 and will remain in effect until the risk has abated.

The New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton recently announced the appointment of Paul DeHart of Concord as chaplain. DeHart served in the Army as a German linguist and in the Air Force as an intelligence office and instructor, and he has also worked as a church pastor, high school teacher and hospice chaplain, according to a press release from the veterans home.

A donation collection to benefit Hero Pups will be hosted by the American Legion Post 90 Riders on Saturday, June 13, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Raymond. People are invited to bring gently used towels, blankets, leashes and crates to the event at 32 Harriman Hill Road. There will be hamburgers and hot dogs, a raffle and Hero Pups in training. Drive-up service will be available as well.

The University of New Hampshire at Manchester is launching a new Master of Science program in Biotechnology: Industrial and Biomedical Sciences, to promote workforce development in the growing field of biotechnology, according to a press release. The program, designed for working professionals and those with related academic backgrounds, will be available for part-time or full-time enrollment, according to the release, and graduates will gain the skills needed for jobs in biotechnology research and development, medical testing, pharmaceutical and biotech manufacturing, and more.

Virus, new and old

Just as a nation, battered by a global pandemic, prepares cautiously to reemerge from its sheltered and shuttered way of life, an older, even more deadly virus reemerges. The term “hot spots,” recently used to identify those places where outbreaks of Covid-19 were acute, now identifies those cities where protests and a painful reckoning are most acute. Fear has been replaced by outrage as our country witnesses yet another instance of brutality directed at a black man. The name of George Floyd has been added to the tragically long list of victims racism has marked for injustice.

The virus of racism has been in our national bloodstream from the very beginning, though the victims of the disease themselves have not been the carriers. Instead, the carriers have been others across our country — some with clear signs of infection such as white supremacy or outright bigotry, while others can bear the more subtle form of implicit bias.

While efforts have been made historically to fight the virus — the civil rights movement and subsequent legislation — this insidious disease persists, resistant to the most stringent efforts. As with the coronavirus, it is contagious, passed from one to another, quietly infecting until its impact is felt with life-shattering consequences.

And so we who are white shelter, each concerned that we not be blamed or harmed. In fact, however, we may be carriers ourselves of those more subtle forms of the virus: silence, inaction or disregard.

Understandable? Yes, but not excusable.

As media attention is focused on the virus that has taken its toll on a single black man, we all must face the tragic reality of its horrific impact in less headlines-grabbing ways on the daily lives of so many of our fellow Americans. Consider how brief a time it took for all of us to become knowledgeable about Covid-19 — what it is, how it is transmitted, how to deal with its deadly potential, and even how to possibly find a vaccine. What steps are needed now to address this even more pernicious evil? As before, so now it begins with clear-eyed recognition of what is happening. Not denial, no conspiracy theories, no seeking to blame others, no dodging responsibility. Awareness, resolve, care for one another as much as for ourselves, and action are our only options.

The signs posted in public places across the U.S. today that read “We are in this together” should be the rallying call for us even more urgently now. As we hope that through collective action we can overcome one virus, we must, at last, directly address this much older threat to our very society.

2020 Graduates

The Class of 2020 talks about their unexpected spring and their hopes for the future

High school and college grads didn’t get the senior year fun they expected, with most end-of-year events, including graduation ceremonies, canceled or postponed. We talked to students from the class of 2020 about what their final months of school looked like, what they missed most, and their hopes for the future.

Also on the cover, why dandelions and clovers can be part of a healthy, happy lawn, p. 14. A new food truck makes its debut in Loudon, p. 16. And country musician Nicole Knox Murphy plays live at local restaurants, p. 26.

2020 graduates
What they missed most, plus hopes for the future It has been a strange end to the school year for ...
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A bit of good news
After three long months sports fans got good news last week when the NHL and NBA ok’d plans to open ...
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Album Reviews 6/11/2020
Bird Friend, I Am the Hand (self-produced) Desolate but hopeful hipster-chill direct from Manchester, New Hampshire, here, mainly an unplugged-guitar ...
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Back on stage
Country singer Nicole Knox Murphy playing out again After 10 weeks of playing weekly sets from her home in Candia ...
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Be kind to clovers
How to have a better lawn Let’s face it: Most of us do not have a lawn that looks like ...
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Block by block
Young artist awarded for virtual replica of Kimball Jenkins Estate Eighteen-year-old Clark Todd was recently named the winner of the ...
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Book Review 6/11/2020
Breath, The New Science of a Lost Art, by James Nestor (Riverhead, 304 pages) The pandemic has forced publishers to ...
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Forty years later…
Principal retires after decades in Manchester After 40 years of service in the Manchester School District, Arthur Adamakos is retiring ...
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In the Kitchen with Carmel Shea
Carmel Shea of Londonderry is the owner of O’Shea’s Caife & Tae (44 Nashua Road, Londonderry, 540-2971, osheasnh.com), a health-focused ...
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Kiddie Pool 6/11/2020
Animal adventure Sneak in a little learning during your walks through nature. The New Hampshire Fish and Game department have ...
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Laughing again

Stand-up comedy comes out of quarantine

As live entertainment gradually returns, the challenges for comedians are twofold. First, there’s the practical aspect of how to present a show. This is, after all, a discipline that relies on an audience. While on lockdown, Juston McKinney played to his wife, two sons and dog on the couch of his Newmarket home, with his mother-in-law and dad watching on iPads, and posted it to his Facebook page. That’s the kind of performance withdrawal he experienced.

McKinney is accustomed to packed opera house shows, but said in a recent phone interview that he’ll be glad to hit open mic nights when they return. Such events have smaller audiences that are easier to socially distance. They’re also key to working up new material.

“I’m kind of jonesing because I was doing an open mic every week … a new seven to eight minutes,” he said. “I’ll tell you this: I never thought I would look forward to having four people in an audience so much in my life. I would kill for four people right now.”

As for the prospect of doing his still-scheduled fall shows at Blue Ocean Music Hall in Salisbury and Manchester’s Palace Theatre under the current safety rules, McKinney is concerned. He expects, though, that even working with a spaced out crowd will improve over webcasts in quarantine.

“Comedy is an art form that should be done in a controlled environment — sound, lights, crowd — and we’ve lost all control of that now,” he said. “My biggest fear is someone’s never seen me ever before and the only time they see me is on one of these Zoom things and they’re like, ‘I don’t know.’ You’ve gotta see me live, not in my home office.”

Fortunately, the clouds are slowly parting for stage-hungry standups like McKinney.

Live efforts have launched, beginning May 22 with a parking lot show at Tupelo Music Hall Drive-In in Derry. Tupelo owner Scott Hayward hopes to do them every Thursday in June and beyond. Kathleen’s Irish Pub in Bristol will hold Cottage Comedy Al Fresco with JJ Jones and four other comics on June 6 in its patio area. Curlie’s Comedy Club in Rochester offers a hybrid, with pay-per-view livestreams and tickets to watch through the window from their outside deck.

The second part is equally tricky: what’s funny in a post-pandemic world?

At Tupelo, host Mike Smith joked about home schooling and masks (“everyone looks like they’re going to rob a 7-Eleven”). He then handed off to opener Paul Landwehr, who complained about having to watch decades-old Celtics games on ESPN, then closed by proposing marriage to his longtime girlfriend from the stage (she said yes). That was a novel way to avoid the elephant in the parking lot.

Mike Koutrobis followed with a set not much different from what he’d been doing in February. “I’m a little rusty,” he texted just prior to the show. Boston comic Graig Murphy offered a mixture of pre- and post-pandemic humor, quipping about drive-by birthday parties and trying his best to do crowd work, while telling jokes that would be funny crisis or not.

The latter is a path urged by Nick Lavallee, who along with Dave Carter has booked weekly comedy at Shaskeen Pub in Manchester since 2013.

“The last thing people want to hear right now is untested content about the thing that they’re bombarded with day in and day out,” he said in a recent phone interview. “If a comic who hasn’t worked in three months goes up in front of a paying audience and tries riffing on material that hasn’t been done yet … they’re going to struggle.”

On the other hand, Lavallee continued, the hunger for live standup means comics could get some leeway as they return to form.

“You’re going to have to just throw some spaghetti on the wall, see what sticks, and it’s a good time to do it because you can also do things you might be embarrassed about, like, ‘I tried something during the pandemic and it didn’t work.’ You can own it. You can blame your bombs on this. We all have thick skin, we’ve been doing this for so freaking long.”

More than a few are poised to make comedy hay from the coronavirus. Curlie’s owner Joshua Guptel, who does comedy as Jay Grove, talked about it on stage recently: “This is not funny,” he said. “But there’s a lot of funny in it.”

Upcoming comedy shows
Where: Kathleen’s Irish Pub, 99 Lake St., Bristol
When: Saturday, June 6, 6 p.m.
Reservations: call 744-6336
Performing: JJ Jones, Al Christakis, Paul Landwehr, Randy Williams and Mona Forgione

Where: Curlie’s Comedy Club, 12 Union St., Rochester
When: Saturday, June 6, and Saturday, June 13
Tickets: $20 per table at Eventbrite.com
Performing: Steve Scarfo (June 6) and Amy Tee (June 13)

Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
When: Thursdays, 6 p.m. (tentative)
Tickets: $75 per car at tupelohall.com; $20 per person for restaurant seating (starts June 12)

The High Note

Film Reviews by Amy

A singer looking to keep her career going and her assistant looking to start her career as a producer get tangled up in each other’s ambitions in The High Note, a basically enjoyable movie that has a lot of good ideas.

Grace Davis (Tracee Ellis Ross, real-life daughter of Diana Ross, so she knows whereof she acts) is a music superstar; Maggie Sherwoode (Dakota Johnson) is her personal assistant. Grace has worked hard to reach her status in the industry; as she explains, it’s not the norm for a middle-aged female musician to still be selling out arenas and raking in money from album sales. But as her longtime manager Jack Robertson (Ice Cube) pushes her to do a Las Vegas residency (which would have her playing the same set of greatest hits night after night), Grace wants to stretch herself artistically, put out a new album, keep touring. Her record company is less than excited about this desire.

Maggie is harried but basically happy to spend her days buying Grace’s strange green smoothies and picking up her dry cleaning. After all, it puts her in proximity to recording studios and artists and the music that is her life. In her spare time, Maggie takes a stab at remixing one of Grace’s live songs, hoping to show her boss that she can do more than just run errands. When Grace finds out, she likes Maggie’s cut of the song but Grace is less keen on Maggie’s many unsolicited opinions. Jack gives her what feels like very good advice: instead of trying to start her career by mucking up his plans with his superstar artist, find her own musician to produce. Enter David Cliff (Kelvin Harrison Jr.), handsome dude singer with a great voice.

The High Note isn’t completely smooth, particularly in how the plot unfolds. I said it has a lot of good ideas, and it does, but it doesn’t seem to always know how to play out the ideas. The first two thirds of the movie is stronger than the last third, which contains a plot point that feels unnecessary. I wish the movie had found less conventional, more interesting ways to wrap up its various relationships.

For me, though, this bumpy ending didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the movie overall.

I like the way the movie seems to argue for taking big chances in your career and going for opportunities that seem beyond your reach but also sees value in experience and slogging it out in the trenches to earn a shot. Likewise, The High Note seems to take a very realistic view of Grace’s career — it’s not the “wrong” choice for her to do the residency or make the new album. The movie also has a nice mutual respect of and admiration for skills between these women. Grace is demanding and Maggie is overeager but there is no All About Eve-ing here, no The Devil Wears Prada-like judgment that somebody is doing life wrong.

Ross and Johnson probably get a lot of the credit for making these characters feel like believable women in their circumstances (they also get mostly good material to work with). I’ve always liked both of these actresses and their ability to balance comedy and deeper emotion.

And the movie has some solid supporting performances. There is the exact right amount of Ice Cube. Kelvin Harrison Jr. might be overshadowed by Johnson and Ross but he is very charming. Zoe Chao, who plays Maggie’s roommate, is delightful. She is a young surgeon primarily interested in getting sleep and, at a party Maggie brings her to, stuffing as much appetizer cheese as she can into her purse. She helps add moments of comedy that put this movie into, I guess, dramedy territory from a more straightforward drama. Or maybe the movie isn’t so much a drama as a romance but where the most interesting romances are between the characters and their careers and industry. B

Rated PG-13 for some strong language, and suggestive references, according to the MPA. Directed by Nisha Ganatra with a screenplay by Flora Greeson, The High Note is an hour and 53 minutes long and is distributed by Focus Features. Like a lot of recent Focus Features releases, The High Note is available for $19.99 for a 48-hour rental.

The Language of Butterflies

By Wendy Williams (Simon & Schuster, 240 pages)

The next time you think one of your relatives is weird, breathe deeply and think of Miriam Rothschild. Her father collected fleas.

“A flea lover since childhood,” he amassed more than 260,000 of them, writes Wendy Williams in The Language of Butterflies, explaining how Miriam Rothschild, a self-educated scientist and butterfly enthusiast, came naturally to the study of entomology.

Or consider Herman Strecker, a 19th-century stone carver who collected 50,000 butterflies. “He had a long face and a long neck and an even longer, out-of-control beard. He looked like Moses. He had deep-sunken grief-filled eyes. He lived the unkempt life of a zealot, going so far as to crawl in between his bedsheets with his pants and boots on,” Williams writes.

These unusual men, however, are peripheral characters in the story of butterflies, which Williams, a New England science writer, tells with aplomb. You may not care about butterflies. Don’t let that keep you from this book, which is more interesting than anything you will see on TV this week.

Even the most butterfly-illiterate people are vaguely aware of the monarch butterfly’s astonishing migration from Canada to Mexico, which Williams explains compellingly, having witnessed their arrival on a mountaintop, an experience that she calls “otherworldly.”

“The migration of the monarchs from points as far north as Canada all the way south to these particular mountaintops is a world phenomenon that belongs to everyone on the planet,” she writes. “It’s a source of global joy, like the migration of the wildebeest on the Serengeti Plain or the migration of gray whales off the west coast of North America.

“They are all following the sun, just as we would if we could.”

The monarch is the most famous of butterflies, and the most brutal — the males rape the females. You’d think they wouldn’t have the physiology for violence, but butterflies, Williams writes, are surprisingly sturdy. They look fragile yet have “robust” exoskeletons built for endurance.

But when it comes to interesting life stories, the monarchs have serious competition from a butterfly variety called Fender’s blue, which pupates underground, cared for by ants. When the butterfly emerges, the ants carry it to freedom above ground, as if the insect’s triumph is their own.

It’s an almost unbelievable story of a symbiotic relationship between creatures that we scarcely notice exist. The ants are motivated by the “invisible hand” described by 18th-century economist Adam Smith. Their reward is the sweet fluid that the caterpillar secretes, the ant equivalent of candy; in exchange for the treat, the ants provide protection from predators that the butterfly-to-be needs.

But it’s not the strange circumstances of butterfly existence that cause humans to be fascinated by them, Williams says. It’s their colors. “Your brain processes color information much, much more quickly than the information about movement. … What that means is that the color of an apple — or, in a spillover effect, the color of a butterfly — hits us fast and hard, in the gut.”

As flying insects with scales on their wings, moths and butterflies are cut from the same cloth, so to speak. Both belong to the second-largest category of insects, lepidoptera. But the drab moth repels us while the colorful butterfly entrances. Williams believes butterflies satisfy an innate craving for color in the human brain. In her 60s she set out to discover why the insect inspires biologists, hoarders and thieves — yes, there is a “international underground Lepidoptera market,” in case you were wondering.

The Language of Butterflies equally entrances, thanks to its author. This is not the Wendy Williams, radio host and lifestyle columnist, whose titles include Is the Bitch Dead or What? but the Wendy Williams who wrote a thoughtful history of the horse and is the co-author of 2007’s Cape Wind, a sympathetic examination of wind farming proposed off Cape Cod. Her voice is engaging and friendly; her enthusiasm for exploration, infectious. (This is a woman who keeps in her car a wide variety of footwear — hiking boots, riding boots, water shoes and so forth — just in case.)

Unlike wind farming, the subject of butterflies, approached deftly, can be apolitical. Williams worries about climate change and its effect on butterflies, wondering if one day their migration might be the stuff of lore, like the migration of passenger pigeons and North American bison. But she is neither a scold nor a Cassandra, and her tone is ebullient and hopeful. The only question she doesn’t answer adequately is what, exactly, one does with the corpses of 260,000 fleas. A

BOOK NOTES
Recent events in Minnesota and New York City’s Central Park invite a reflection on the experience of being black in America. For people who haven’t had that experience, there are books.
A fine place to start is A Particular Kind of Black Man, which we reviewed here last year. (Simon & Schuster hardcover, paperback coming in August.) It’s a novel, but Tope Folarin draws on his experiences as a Nigerian-American growing up in Utah to craft a deeply moving, and sometimes painful, story.
In the opening pages the protagonist remembers an experience from his childhood: An elderly woman would sometimes appear by his side while he walked to school, often patting his head affectionately. One day she said to him sweetly, “If you’re a good boy here on earth, you can serve me in heaven.”
The child was just 5 and saw the promise as generous and magical, not the punch in the gut that it is to the reader. Folarin has said this exchange happened to him. This wasn’t 100 years ago. Folarin is 38.
On Twitter, some readers are asking for advice on books that can help them better understand the American-American experience. One title that keeps coming up is The New Jim Crow, Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. Michelle Alexander’s book came out in 2010, but a 10th-anniversary paperback edition was released in January by The New Press.
Also new in paperback is Mitchell S. Jackson’s Survival Math, an acclaimed memoir of growing up black in predominantly white Oregon. The prologue is a poignant letter to the first of the family to come from Cape Verde to America, in the 1700s. “This ain’t our Eden,” it concludes.
Two years old but No. 1 on Amazon for a while last week is Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism (Beacon Press). “I have never met a white person without an opinion on racism,” she writes. “… And white people’s opinions on racism tend to be strong. Yet race relations are profoundly complex. We must be willing to consider that unless we have devoted intentional and ongoing study, our opinions are necessarily uninformed, even ignorant.”
Also suddenly a bestseller is 2019’s How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi, and another title co-written by Kendi, Stamped, Racism, Anti Racism, and You, co-author Jason Reynolds (Little, Brown).
To America’s credit, many of these titles are now on backorder. There will be more.

Album Reviews 6/4/2020

OTR, Lost at Midnight (Astralwerks Records)
Well wow, I got back into the Astralwerks system just in the nick of time, because I’ve found your go-to summer-drive-to-the-beach album, right here. OTR is the producer-nom of Ryan Chadwick, who was studying aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati, where, just as he was about to write his master’s thesis, the department sort of imploded, and he dumped the whole thing to sit and chill to the sounds of two-guy soundsystem Odesza. That led to his futzing around on his own answer to that style of beauty-dripping, trance-tinged techno, which eventually led to this absolutely hypnotic debut LP. We’ve seen the way-overdue rise of prog-house and trance being incorporated into pop, starting way back with Madonna’s “Ray of Light” and then on to Britney et al, but this is the closest thing you’ll find to Above & Beyond served as a pop venture. That means that it’s less caustic than Odesza can tend to get; it’s more like a mutant hybrid of Bon Iver and mellow-mode Tiesta. You will love this record. A+

Bitter Pill, Desperate Times on the New Hampshire State Line (self-released)
We talked about this New Hampshire-based band a few weeks ago, relative to the tire-kicker single from this full-length. Turns out they’re from Somersworth, or at least Billy, the dad, is. He’s the prime mover for this quintet, which also features his daughter Emily on ukulele and the Billie Holiday and Patsy Cline imitations that are found randomly shuffled into the tracklist here. These are old souls, these people; I don’t know if they’re ever tasted real poverty, but the raw, half-jokey tunes that Billy sings bespeak a life in which broken-mirror-level stretches of luck were probably commonplace, which means they’re pretty cool as far as I can tell. I suppose I’ll have to see for myself at one of their shows if the timing is right. Their trip ranges from punkabilly to Zappa-meets-Amy Winehouse at its most alluring; to give you an idea, I expected their “Land of the Lost” to be a chill cover of the kids’ show from the 1970s, but it’s actually like Patsy jamming with Hank Williams Sr. in a perfect storm of fearless bluegrass. They’ve got a studious banjo player in Michael McKay, who gets a solo turn at one point. Listen — no, don’t be cheap, buy the full-length at bitterpill.bandcamp.com/album/desperate-times-on-the-new-hampshire-state-line. A

Retro Playlist
Eric W. Saeger recommends a couple albums worth a second look.

Though live music is starting to reemerge in outdoor spaces, one of the many dreadful things about the coronavirus shutdown has been the absence of live music shows. They were replaced by remote “concerts” performed online, where band members, dutifully staying in place in their respective homes, jam together while streaming over Zoom or FaceTime or whatnot.

What I wondered about was some of the older bands, particularly the hair-metal bands, largely composed of guys whose careers had peaked way before the digital age. You may have noticed that once in a while I like to give them some love here in this space, especially the bands that have had recent albums put out by such record labels as Nuclear Blast (Accept, Agnostic Front and Anthrax, just to cover the ones beginning with the letter A) and of course SPV, which I often refer to lovingly as “SPV Mercy Hospital” or “The SPV Home For Retired Metal Acts.” Those record companies will put out basically anything as long as the band had some modicum of fame during the 1970s or 1980s. In April of last year we chatted about Suzi Quatro’s then-new album Mettavolution, and I realized then that I hadn’t heard her name in exactly 4,189 years. A bassist, she not only ran her own band but touched TV stardom, playing Fonzie’s tough-chick female-bro Pinky Tuscadero on Happy Days. Anyway, Mettavolution is full of your typical ’80s bar-rock dross, but she added a real brass section in the tunes “Strings,” which made the album interesting enough. Poor Suzi, I couldn’t find any streaming shows in her schedule, but she does have a few German shows in queue.

The other person I was worried about was former Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe, who recently revealed his softer but totally metal side in a streaming chat video by holding and smooching his horrifying but beloved hairless cat while speaking to fans in his native Finnish. We last left Monroe in 2015, when he had released his solo album Blackout States, which I pronounced “a rowdy but slightly corporatized amalgam of Lords of the New Church meets Dropkick Murphys throwbacking that gets plenty of style points.” If you like New York Dolls, and who couldn’t, you won’t hate this album, and he did demonstrate an ability to go with the flow of this awful new reality by streaming an acoustic show on April 23 through the Finnish music platform Ruutu.

You see, I worry about these people, I really do.

If you’re in a local band, now’s a great time to let me know about your EP, your single, whatever’s on your mind. Let me know how you’re holding yourself together without being able to play shows or jam with your homies. Send a recipe for keema matar. Email esaeger@cyberontix.com for fastest response.

PLAYLIST
A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Here comes the next general-release Friday, June 5, when your rock ’n’ roll dreams will come true and so on and so forth, with the help of new albums! The first new LP we’ll chat about is from Dion, whose new album, Blues with Friends, is on the way! I know, he’s super old, but come on, that’s what makes him awesome! All those old tunes your grandmother dances to at the hot dogs and beans supper, like “Runaround Sue” and “The Wanderer” and “Come Go With Me”? Yeah, that’s Dion DiMucci, and after he did those songs he did a cover of Hendrix’s “Purple Haze,” just to bum out all the straights who thought he was safe to be around, but then he got so disgusted with blotter-acid-hippies and whatnot that he started doing Christian rock, but he got sick of that, and now he has a new album, which would definitely get an automatic A+ grade in my award-winning review column if I had received the album from his PR guys. But whatever, I could probably just extrapolate and make up something, because as we’ve discussed, it’s titled Blues with Friends, which means it’s a bunch of blues songs with guest singers like the barking Bowser dog-man from Sha Na Na and whatnot, whoever’s still alive, let’s go see! Wait, whoa, this isn’t just a bunch of dead guys, Bruce Springsteen and his wife are guests on the song “Hymn to Him,” and look, guys, it’s loony bearded loon Billy Gibbons, from ZZ Top, on the song “Bam Bang Boom!” That song’s wicked cool, if you like old 12-bar blues, beards and hot chicks! This is AWESOME.

• The 10th album from Norwegian indie-folk dude Sondre Lerche is titled Patience. Mayhaps you know him from his quiet-loud-quiet Brooklyn-hipster song “Bad Law,” which was adamantly “eh,” but it’s a new year, and he’s no longer a tedious Brooklyn hipster; now he’s in Los Angeles, doing shots with all the sleazy L.A. promoters who laugh behind his back. The new single is “Why Would I Let You Go,” a sucky, pointless unplugged guitar tune that comes off like Bon Iver without the reverb cranked to 11. There’s no loud part, so I might use it to deal with my insomnia.

• LA Priest is the stage name of Samuel Eastgate, an Englishman who is in the band Late of the Pier, a ska/prog/dance-punk-style Strokes-wannabe band that managed to put out an entire one album in 12 years of existence. His new album, GENE, is in your pirate radio and includes the single “What Moves,” a mildly funky quirk-chill trip that’s a little bit Jamie Lidell and a little bit Gorillaz. You might like it if you’ve recently undergone a lobotomy, and stuff.

• Lastly, it’s Australian indie-rock band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, whose sound has been compared to fellow Australians The Go-Betweens. The new album, Sideways to New Italy, includes a song called “She’s There,” which sounds like Smashing Pumpkins trying to be a boyband. It’s OK for what it is, as far as meatless sports-bar-rock goes; at least it’s not Kaiser Chiefs.

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