Month: March 2021

Have an Oscar movie night

Where to see the 2021 nominees

We finally have the Oscar nominees for 2020 films.

Announced March 15, it’s a pretty solid list for such a weird year (films from first two months of 2021 were also eligible; the Oscar ceremony is scheduled for April 25). Most of the early-2020 hopefuls (Elisabeth Moss for The Invisible Man, anything for First Cow or Never Rarely Sometimes Always or The Forty-Year-Old Version) didn’t make an appearance on the list but late-season favorites like Minari, Promising Young Woman, Judas and the Black Messiah and Nomadland have heavy award presence.

And now the fun really starts: seeing all the nominees. Many of this year’s big nominees had their “opening weekends” on streaming services so most are relatively easy to find. Here’s how to see the films in the big feature film categories:

Best picture

• The Father — This movie is in theaters (as close as the AMC Methuen, according to Fandango) now and will be available via video on demand on Friday, March 26. The movie also received nominations for lead actor (Anthony Hopkins), supporting actress (Olivia Coleman), film editing and production design.

• Judas and the Black Messiah — This Fred Hampton biopic was on HBO Max for a month when it was first released and is now in theaters. It also received two supporting actor nominations (for Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield) and nominations for cinematography, original song and original screenplay.

• Mank — This Citizen-Kane-behind-the-scenes tale of old Hollywood is available on Netflix and also received nominations for lead actor (Gary Oldman), supporting actress (Amanda Seyfried), cinematography, costume design, directing (by David Fincher), makeup and hairstyling, original score, production design and sound.

• Minari — This beautiful story of a Korean American family is in theaters (in the Boston area) and available for rent via VOD. It also received nominations for lead actor (Stephen Yeun), supporting actress (Yuh-Jung Youn), directing (Lee Isaac Chung), original score and original screenplay.

• Nomadland— This tale of a woman dealing with her losses while living as a nomad (she travels from job to job living in her van) is in theaters (including in Keene Cinemas) and on Hulu. It also received nominations for lead actress (Frances McDormand), cinematography, directing (Chloé Zhao), film editing and adapted screenplay.

• Promising Young Woman — This searing (but at times bleakly humorous) tale of grief and vengeance is in theaters (in the Boston area) and available for rent via VOD. It also received nominations for lead actress (Carey Mulligan), directing (Emerald Fennell — and yes you read that right, two female director nods this year!), film editing and original screenplay.

• Sound of Metal — This movie about a musician who loses his hearing is available via Amazon Prime and was also nominated for lead actor (Riz Ahmed), film editing, sound and original screenplay.

• The Trial of the Chicago 7 — Aaron Sorkin’s very Sorkin-y movie about the 1968 Democratic Convention protests is available on Netflix and is also nominated for supporting actor (Sacha Baron Cohen), cinematography, film editing, original song and original screenplay.

Other movies with acting nominations

• Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom — This Netflix release based on an August Wilson play garnered nominations for lead actress (Viola Davis) and is the last chance to honor Chadwick Boseman, who was nominated for lead actor. The movie also received a nomination for costume design and production design.

• One Night in Miami… — This Amazon Prime movie based on a Kemp Powers play got Leslie Odom Jr. a supporting actor nominatinon as well as an original song nomination and an adapted screenplay nomination.

• The United States vs. Billie Holiday — This biopic of Holiday is a bit of a mess but Andra Day’s performance as the singer makes it worth watching; it’s available now on Hulu.

• Pieces of a Woman — Vanessa Kirby is excellent in this Netflix release about grief (at least she is in the hour and 40-ish minutes of the movie I watched; I guess now I need to make myself watch the harrowing first 30 minutes of the movie).

• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm — I think, years from now, this movie, available on Amazon Prime, is going to be a time capsule of weirdness, with all the Trump and Covid and political conspiracy stuff crammed into this “hidden” camera comedy. Maria Bakalova, who plays Borat’s “teenage” daughter, is nominated for supporting actress, and the movie also received a nomination for adapted screenplay.

• Hillbilly Elegy — Glenn Close gets her eight Oscar nomination (no wins yet) for her role in this mess of wigs and accents and arm’s-length storytelling. I think we all agree she deserves an award for a movie. See Hillbilly Elegy if you want, I guess, like if you’re an Oscar completist, on Netflix.

Animated feature films

• Onward — This movie opened right before Everything but quickly made its way to Disney+ early in the pandemic, which is probably why I had completely forgotten about this Pixar movie about suburban-y magical creatures (elves, centaurs, cyclopses, etc.) and two teens brothers on a quest to have their late father back for one day.

• Over the Moon — It’s another movie about a kid dealing with the loss of a parent. For reasons I can’t remember, I only made it about halfway through this movie during my one attempt to watch it (though I do remember some very pretty visuals). The movie is available on Netflix.

• A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon — This might be my favorite of the category. This G-rated movie is beautiful to look at, fun for adults (sci-fi pop culture jokes) and kids (burps!) and manages to be extremely clever and sweet while also not really having any dialogue. The mischievous but kind Shaun the Sheep meets a lost alien in this Netflix release that felt pretty all-ages friendly (a rarity even among kid fare).

• Soul — This late-2020 Pixar release, available on Disney+, looks and sounds absolutely beautiful and while it’s probably OK for most kids, scary-stuff-wise (there are some creatures that might freak out some of the youngest movie viewers) my middle-elementary-school-aged kid did get bored with some of the parts where the main character agonizes about his career and what constitutes a life’s purpose.

• Wolfwalkers — This Apple TV+ movie is definitely not for the littlest kids — the wolves can be scary, the British officials ruling Ireland are scarier. But for middle-elementary and up this movie with picture-book-like illustrations and feisty girl central characters (one is an English girl who has come to Ireland with her wolf-hunting father; one is an Irish girl who can also turn into a wolf) is beautiful and thoroughly engrossing.

Featured photo: Minari

Yes Day (PG) | Cherry (R)

Yes Day (PG)

Jennifer Garner stars in Yes Day, a delightful family comedy about wacky hijinks on a day when kids pick the fun.

Or put another way, Jennifer Garner plays a mom in a waking nightmare of a horror story about a lady going through some stuff personally and professionally who is bullied by her family into participating in some internet nonsense to prove she can still loosen up and have fun — you know what would be fun how about someone else do the laundry for a change, dishes don’t wash themselves, don’t want to see Mom erupt in a rage volcano when she steps on a Lego how about you PICK UP THE LEGOS.

It is possible this movie touched a nerve.

When the Torres children — young teen Katie (Jenna Ortega), tween Nando (Julian Lerner) and young Ellie (Everly Carganilla) — complain that their mom, Allison (Garner), always says “no” to everything they want to do, she makes a deal with them. If they approach their kid duties (chores, homework) with more gusto, they will earn a Yes Day, a 24-hour period where the parents won’t say no to any of their plans or desires, within legal, geographical and financial limits. (Their “mom says no” complaints are documented both in a haiku Katie writes for school and a movie Nando makes calling his mom a dictator for, among other things, losing her cool when she steps on Legos.) And even though that sounds exhausting, Allison approaches the day with excitement because it means spending non-nagging time with her family, most significantly with independence-seeking Katie and with work-absorbed husband Carlos (Edgar Ramírez). Allison, a former sky-dive and backpack-the-world type, is also under some stress outside the home as her attempts to reenter the workforce have not been successful.

A lot of cute giant ice cream sundae-eating and paintball-ish game-playing ensues. The actors here have good family chemistry, with Ortega believably walking that teen line between having fun with siblings and parents while still wanting to do mature things with her friends, and the other kids turning in cute but not cloying performances. Ramírez turns in a completely fine “likeable dad” performance, even if his character gets the least to do of the bunch. Perhaps because of movies like Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and her Capital One ads, I’ve come to think of Garner more as a mom character than as her Alias action hero but here she reminds you can she can pull off physical comedy and action-y moments as well as more sitcom-y moments of humor.

Even with a side plot involving Katie and her plans to go to a music festival with some friend’s cousin and some older-dude friends, the movie is basically focused on wholesome goofiness. Wholesome goofiness and carpet-destroying foam — but I don’t think everybody who watches this is going to spend quite as much time thinking “how are they going to get that out of the car upholstery” and “does homeowners insurance cover that” as I did. But then maybe that’s a sign that I need a Yes Day. (No.) B

Rated PG for some rude and suggestive material, and brief language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Miguel Arteta with a screenplay by Justin Malen (based on the book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld), Yes Day is an hour and 26 minutes long and is available on Netflix.

Cherry (R)

Tom Holland plays a young man who falls into addiction in Cherry, a movie directed by Russo brothers Anthony and Joe of Marvel movies fame.

Specifically, they directed the Captain Americas Winter Soldier and Civil War and two Avengers — Infinity War and Endgame.I mention this because it’s hard not to watch this movie as “Anthony and Joe Russo show they can do something not Marvel” or maybe as “Anthony Russo and Joe Russo bring popcorn movie flash to a downbeat story.”

We first see Holland, whose character isn’t called by name in the movie, as he prepares to rob a bank, explaining his actions to us in narration that is weaved through the movie. The bank robbery serves as bookends to his short (in years) life story, starting when he is aimlessly attending college and meets Emily (Ciara Bravo), the girlfriend who quickly becomes his wife, through a stint in the Army and into his post-Army years of PTSD, heroin addiction and crime.

The bare bones of Cherry are a thoroughly depressing story that the movie manages to add humor (dark humor) to and that is warmed up by Holland, who I think does an above average job as a kid who seems a little bit like he’s blown by the wind through his life.

Bravo, whose Emily feels more like Holland’s character’s projection of her than she does like a fully formed person, feels sort of sleepy throughout. Their relationship is one of the cores of this movie but her wispiness prevents us from ever really understanding why she stays with Holland or why the relationship is so important to him.

I wasn’t bothered by the movie’s general storytelling showiness, all strange comic/tragic asides, stylized shots and fourth-wall-breaking narration. Perhaps at a runtime shorter (significantly shorter) than two hours and 22 minutes the style of the movie and the general solid-ness of Holland’s performance would be enough to keep things moving and to make the movie’s points (assuming the elements about the military, the war, careless opioid prescription and the socioeconomics of a gray-looking Cleveland are points the movie’s trying to make and not just, like, story-telling accessories). But you feel this movie’s lengthy runtime and it doesn’t always provide you with a good reason why you are lingering in this or that moment. As a result, a lot of the more stylish elements end up feeling like padding.

Cherry isn’t a bad movie but the result of all this moviemaking style put on a relatively thin story is that you feel like you’re getting about four inches of elaborate frosting on one inch of cake. C+

Rated R for graphic drug abuse, disturbing and violent images, pervasive language and sexual content, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo with a screenplay by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg (from the novel Cherry by Nico Walker), Cherry is two hours and 22 minutes long and is available on Apple TV+.

Featured photo: Yes Day

No One Is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood

No One Is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood (208 pages, Riverhead)

Two-thirds through her first novel, Patricia Lockwood slyly skewers the Granite State, saying that the author of a certain book “made New Hampshire sound like a place you wanted to go.”

Worse, the book in question was a sex diary.

Don’t hold it against her. Lockwood skewers everybody and everything in No One Is Talking About This, which is a scathing indictment of online life — or as she calls it, life in “the portal” — combined with a tender story of love and loss.

Lockwood has published two books of poetry as well as a widely acclaimed memoir, 2017’s Priestdaddy. She has a poet’s voice and a hawk’s eye, able to pinpoint contemporary absurdities from fish pedicures to paleo diets, from fatbergs to men who expose themselves online to (yes, this is a thing) snail face cream.

“Modern womanhood was more about rubbing snail mucus on your face than she had thought it would be,” Lockwood writes of her protagonist, a social-media star who inexplicably vaulted to stardom by posting a random question, “Can a dog be twins?”

“This,” Lockwood writes, “had raised her to a certain airy prominence.” Like so many vapid celebrities, the woman becomes famous for being famous and is invited to speak at events with people known more by their user names than their actual names, people whose lives revolve around interacting with strangers and commenting on everything that happens in the world. (Because then they have some say in what happens. “She had to have some say in what happened, even if it was only WHAT? Even if it was only HEY!”)

Written in a third-person stream of consciousness, with characters who are not identified by name, the style is a bit jarring at first but grows on you, and is fitting for the attention-challenged citizens of the portal, which would be us. While there are traditional chapter breaks, many of the paragraphs act as chapters, as Lockwood blazes from one topic to another: baby Hitlers on the internet, gods of foreigners, jetlag, a dictator who might as well have been identified as Donald Trump.

Her commentary is rich in politics, as when Lockwood writes, “White people, who had the political education of potatoes — lumpy, unseasoned and biased toward the Irish — were suddenly feeling compelled to speak out about injustice. This happened once every forty years on average, usually after a period when folk music became popular again.”

Even if the reader would normally be inclined to rage at whatever opinion Lockwood expresses, her shocking arrangements of words knocks all the fight out of you. The New York Times has called her a “word witch” with good reason.

I would have been happy to read 300 pages of Lockwood’s poke-the-world zingers, but she inserts a baby into the story, the protagonist’s niece, diagnosed in utero with a terrible disease. The woman leaves her life in the portal to be with family, becoming the sort of person that she had previously avoided on the internet, “the ones in mad grief, whose mouths were open like caves with ancient paintings inside.”

Ultimately, some of the questions the protagonist screams are the existential problems of life, the same ones that would have been posed by Plato and Aquinas, had they had computers.

“What did we have a right to expect from this life? What were the terms of the contract? What had the politician promised us? The Realtor, walking us through being’s beautiful house? Could we sue? We would sue! Could we blow it all open? We would blow it all open! Could we … could we post about it?”

For all its quirkiness, No One Is Talking About This is a deeply moving novel, one that seems to accomplish something the protagonist says isn’t being done: writing about what’s happening out there, what’s happening in there, what’s happening to us. We gather the things in the portal, Lockwood writes, “as God’s own flowers,” not questioning whether they are poisonous.

Not that real life isn’t enough to slay us. But novels like this alleviate the sting, make dull the poison. A — Jennifer Graham

BOOK NOTES
This may be inspiring or soul-slaying for aspiring writers, but Steven Pressfield wrote for 17 years before he got paid for his craft.

His first hit, however, was out of the park.

It was a novel, The Legend of Bagger Vance (Avon, 272 pages), which eventually became a movie. Since then, Pressfield has worked steadily as an author and screenwriter, along the way becoming a respected coach for other artists in his inspirational books The War of Art (Black Irish Entertainment, 190 pages) and Do the Work (Black Irish Entertainment, 112 pages), among others.

Though not as well-known as these titles, other Pressfield books explore the ancient world, usually its military. Gates of Fire (Bantam, 400 pages), for example, is about Spartan soldiers and the battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC, and it’s required reading for all officers in the U.S. Marine Corps, Pressfield says.

His new novel is A Man at Arms (W.W. Norton, 336 pages), and it’s set in the Roman Empire in the aftermath of the crucifixion of Jesus. The protagonist is a character from previous books, Telamon of Arcadia, who has been hired by the Romans to apprehend a courier delivering a letter to insurrectionists in Corinth. It is, according to the publisher, “a gripping saga of conquest and rebellion, bloodshed and faith.” It also sounds like it might be good reading around Easter.

There is, of course, plenty to choose from when it comes to historical novels about the Roman Empire. It’s a subgenre in itself, fueled by readers that Reddit has dubbed “Legionerds.” (A legion was the largest unit in the Roman army.) My favorite of the genre is, appropriately enough, called Legion, by William Altimari (Imperium, 296 pages).

For a deeper dive, check out the three-part series by British author Robert Harris, who specializes in historical fiction. Harris’s most recent book, V2 (Knopf, 320 pages), is set in World War II, but his three-part series on Cicero and Rome was well-regarded. They are Imperium, Lustrum and Dictator, and while published separately in hardcover, they are available in a paperback set from Arrow.

Or, you can skip the fiction and go straight to the history in Mike Duncan’s The Storm Before The Storm, The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic (PublicAffairs, 352 pages). — Jennifer Graham

Books

Author events

AMY MACDONALD Monadnock Writers’ Group welcomes children’s book author. Virtual, via Zoom. Sat., March 20, 9:45 a.m. Email monadnockwriters@gmail.com.

• PAULA MUNIER Author presents The Hiding Place. Hosted by Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. Virtual, via Zoom. Tues., March 30, 7 p.m. Registration required. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com or call 224-0562.

• THERESA CAPUTO the star of TLC’s Long Island Medium will present “Theresa Caputo: The Experience Live” at the Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St. Concord, ccanh.com) on Wed., April 7, 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $39.75 (with option for a VIP Photo Op for an additional $49.95).

• MICHAEL TOUGIAS Author of The Waters Between Us presents. Virtual, via Zoom. Part of Concord’s Walker Lecture Series. Wed., April 7, 7:30 p.m. Free. Call 333-0035 or visit walkerlecture.org.

Book Clubs

• BOOKERY Online. Monthly. Third Thursday, 6 p.m. Bookstore based in Manchester. Visit bookerymht.com/online-book-club or call 836-6600.

• GIBSON’S BOOKSTORE Online, via Zoom. Monthly. First Monday, 5:30 p.m. Bookstore based in Concord. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com/gibsons-book-club-2020-2021 or call 224-0562.

• TO SHARE BREWING CO. 720 Union St., Manchester. Monthly. Second Thursday, 6 p.m. RSVP required. Visit tosharebrewing.com or call 836-6947.

• GOFFSTOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY 2 High St., Goffstown. Monthly. Third Wednesday, 1:30 p.m. Call 497-2102, email elizabethw@goffstownlibrary.com or visit goffstownlibrary.com

• NASHUA PUBLIC LIBRARY Online. Monthly. Second Friday, 3 p.m. Call 589-4611 or visit nashualibrary.org.

Poetry

• TEEN POETS LAUREATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE READING Teen Poets Laureate will be reading, screen sharing and discussing their work. An open mic will be open to any teens who are interested in applying for next year’s Teen Poet Laureate New Hampshire program. Part of the Poetry Society of New Hampshire’s Reading Series. Virtual, via Zoom. Tues., March 30, 7 p.m. Visit poetrysocietynh.wordpress.com.

Featured photo: No One Is Talking About This,

Album Reviews 21/03/18

Kristian Montgomery and the Winterkill Band, Prince of Poverty (self-released)

Catching up with a couple of local-ish releases, things that have sat in my Facebook messages for a while, mostly because there’s always a hassle dealing with local guys. Take note, bands, just send direct links, OK, because I hate Dropbox, and now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at this (very good) album from Montgomery, a Danish alt-country-hippie who’s now based in Boston, working as a fisherman in Brewster, Mass. Although the biographical materials claim the album’s a genre-goulash, I didn’t find that to be true, more like something between ’70s country-pop and Hank Williams III, i.e. there’s a discernible punk influence afoot. Lots of throwback southern rock going on here, too: The LP starts out with “American Fire,” which will immediately have you thinking of The Outlaws, a sound, when done well, that’s always welcome at this desk. And so on and so forth, some things that evoke Amos Lee, Rascal Flatts in afterparty mode, stuff like that, all of it memorable and never annoying. A+

Amber Dust, Nothing Is Lost (self-released)

Another local release, this time a sort-of-compilation album (actually an audiophile’s take on the movie Boyhood, in many ways) from Sandown-based Jesse Nickerson, whom we’ve talked about before. Nickerson’s obviously a gentle soul, and his nicely lived life is documented here in the form of a sequence of alt-Americana tunes that were written for friends and family and such. For the most part, the record Krazy-Glues your basic Sufjan Stevens patter to Steve Winwood-level notions of songwriting, which means you’ll hear billowy melodies spiced with Wilco-ish experiments that are guaranteed not to get on your nerves. The music itself was salvaged from a personal collection of cassettes, spanning from 1985 to 2000; it all had to be digitally rescued, and thus it’s hilariously casual overall, with songs often introduced by background chatter from various bystanders and cohorts. I particularly liked “Tethered,” wherein a ’70s stun-guitar line matches up nicely with a trashcan-bashing drum line during one segue. A

Retro Playlist

In this space 10 years ago today, I wrote about America’s favorite Honey Boo Boo singing lady Britney Spears and her then-new album, Femme Fatale. Back then, it was de rigueur for pop divas to use trance techno in their beats. Remember those days? It was like the three hacks who write all the lousy, interchangeable pop songs for America’s smarmy, Nerds-gobbling tweens were listening to nothing but Tiesto, and life wasn’t all that bad. I’m sure you’ve forgotten by now, but “Till the World Ends” was the single, and it was pretty decent, except for this one stupid “hiccuping” Auto-Tune effect that was added to her voice, an unsurprising move by the corporate Borgs who’ve ruined everything else in music to date.

Ho ho ho, know what else was released that week? The soundtrack to the famous TV show NCIS, delivered in the form of a CD titled NCIS: The Official TV Score. My Stupid-O-Meter had to be put in the shop for a week after that one, but before the poor device fritzed out I was able to get off a quick “it’s such cheesy horrible music that I automatically went to the kitchen to make a horrible cheese sandwich when I heard it just now.”

It was a tough week, that week. I had to pretend to give a fair examination to The King Of Limbs, the album Radiohead had just put out. I have no problem admitting that I absolutely detest Radiohead, probably just as much as does fellow music snarkician Dr. David Thorpe, former editor of the “Your Band Sucks” page on the Something Awful site. Thorpe once commented that, oh-so-fittingly, Radiohead’s singer, Thom Yorke, has two superfluous letters in his name. And so on, hate hate hate. My take on the album was that along with a couple of Aphex Twin-style moves, most of the sounds “came from the same old pit of eye-rollingly mournful slowbie-slug nonsense in which they traditionally wallow.”

The other album on the slab that week was Grails’ Deep Politics, a band that’s essentially a work in progress, given that they have no singer. Nonetheless, I submitted, “If you’re into penny stocks, there’s actual potential here.” (I may have been lying, though, just to keep the PR person from getting too bummed out.)

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Blessed be, y’all, blessed be, because guess what, new albums are coming out this Friday, March 19! I love seeing what’s in the weekly list, guys. It’s a surprise every week, like going into a haunted house at the circus, except the ghosts and goblins and mummies who used to play bass for REO Speedwagon and assorted talentless hipster phonies are real, and they’ll totally get me if I don’t have my trusty snark-hammer at the ready, and I am fully prepared to smite them! Now take my hand, random person who’s reading my genius at the diner, yes, take my hand, strap yourself in for safety, and let’s see what’s goin’ on, in the crazy haunted house world of rock ’n’ roll and whatever! Yikes, looky there, folks, the first creature to pop out from behind the spooky gnarled trees is ancient cowboy-hat sorceress Loretta Lynn, whose new album, Still Woman Enough, is on the way! This is her 50th album, and no, I’m not kidding, she’s made 50 albums, not even including her duet albums with Conway Twitty. How does she do it? I don’t know! But I’ll bet she’s got to be playing thrash metal by now, so let’s see what the dilly is with the new single — wait, stop the ride, there’s no single! There’s just a “trailer” that’s 20 seconds long. If there’s anything on earth I detest to the core, it’s album trailers! But there’s banjo being plucked slowly, and she rap-sings about being a coal miner’s daughter, so it’s safe to say she still sounds like Reba McEntire. OK, that’s it, the first stop is always a fail in these cheap haunted houses, so keep your arms and legs safely inside as we press onward!

• Hope you took your heart medication, guys, because look, the next stop in our ride through the poorly maintained ghost house is a Canadian act, some indie-rock imbecile named Chad VanGaalen! Look out, it’s a moose with a knife, ha ha, so scary! The new album is World’s Most Stressed Out Gardener, and maybe you’ve already heard the single, “Samurai Sword.” If so, I’ll bet you wish you hadn’t; I mean, I sure didn’t need to hear this numbskull sing really bad harmony with some edge-lady girl he probably met on TikTok through some “Really Bad Music” search. They literally sound like they’re drunk, or just really stupid, and the beat is a rickety messy joke, like something the Rolling Stones recorded just to troll their manager into thinking they’d lost their minds. OK, next stop, gang, choo choo!

• Here we are at the spooky graveyard part of the ride, guys, with an album from Bell Orchestre, called House Music! The horror angle here is that this is a six-piece “avant-garde” band from Montreal, and there are fiddles and other trappings used by hayloft bands that have never been inside an actual hayloft. These guys opened for Arcade Fire early on, and the first single here is called “V: Movement.” It is, of course, awful, sort of Eno-style ambient, with some disparate layers, like belled trumpet, cheap synth, and bad singing. Moving on.

• Last stop, kids, with the big showstopping gorilla monster, Sting, and his new album, Duets, which, I’ll bet you anything, doesn’t include a duet with anyone who doesn’t own a few Ferraris. Italian singer dude Zucchero adds his voice to a clunker song called “September.” It’s almost OK, but then it turns into a song you swear you’ve heard before on every lousy Sting album. OK, out, everybody out, single file, let’s go.

Meet Martin Reyes

The winemaker for Peter Paul Wines

Meet Martin Reyes, a Master of Wine and the first American of Mexican descent to achieve that honor. Reyes is a wine maker and chief wine officer for Peter Paul Wines in Napa Valley, California, and an importer for the Pennsylvania market. The recipient of many wine accolades, Reyes said in a recent phone interview that he stumbled into the wine industry. A graduate of Stanford in 2000, he set out to become a recruiter for high-tech companies, up until the bottom fell out of the tech economy immediately thereafter. Without a job, he tended bar and became interested in the business of wine, winemaking and viticulture. He stocked shelves and then landed a job with Fred Beringer at the St. Helena Wine Center (re-named The Bottle Shop last year). In this well-established tasting room, Martin learned how to appreciate extraordinary wines, his favorite of which is Champagne. He credits his accomplishments to the support of the Beringers.

The Institute of Masters of Wine is the home of exceptional expertise in the wine world. Started more than 65 years ago as an exam for the U.K. wine trade, it is now a globally recognized title held by just over 400 individuals worldwide and 50 in the United States. The exam tests the breadth and depth of a candidate’s theoretical knowledge and tasting skills in the art, science, and business of wine. One must prepare a theory paper and in-depth research project. Martin’s MW dissertation, “Crowdsourced Ratings for Wine: Exploring the Rise of the Consumer Critic and Its Impact on Purchasing Behavior in a U.S.A. Environment,” was recently published (read it at reyeswinegroup.com).

Peter Paul Wines is owned by Peter T. Paul, CEO of Headlands Asset Management, and an alumnus and benefactor of the University of New Hampshire. Shortly after forming the winery, Peter Paul brought on Martin to develop a portfolio of wines. Martin set out to source grapes from some of the best vineyards in Napa and Sonoma and is now producing extraordinary wines, the “Live Free or Die” wines being exclusive to the state of New Hampshire. A portion of the sale of these wines also goes back toward supporting local New Hampshire organizations.

Peter Paul “LIVE FREE OR DIE” 2017 Sonoma Coast Chardonnay (originally $24.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet and reduced to $21.99) has a beautiful straw color and floral aromas of apple and peach along with some yeast. It is full to the mouth with melon and minerality, along with a touch of citrus. Vanilla is also present in the long finish on the palate, a perfect pairing to shellfish. The grapes of this wine come from the Bacigalupi Vineyard, in the Russian River Valley. The Bacigalupi Vineyard is famous for having produced the fruit that went into the Napa Valley Chardonnay from Château Montelena, which triumphed over acclaimed French wines in the 1973 Paris tasting.

Peter Paul “LIVE FREE OR DIE” 2018 Sonoma Coast Pinot Noir (also originally $24.99 at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet, and reduced to $21.99) is a pedigree from another outstanding vineyard in Sonoma, Terra de Promissio vineyard in the Petaluma Gap. Terra de Promissio (Land of Promise) grapes go into some of the finest wineries’ blends, including Castello di Amerosa, Hanzell Vineyards, Kosta Browne and Williams-Selyem. Planted in 2002 by Charles and Diana Karren, a converted 53-acre ranch with rolling hills and a southwestern exposure, it is one of the most sought-after producers of pinot noir grapes. This wine has a beautiful red garnet color. It has a light bouquet of cherry, along with some earthiness, a departure from many pinot noirs and more akin to Burgundian pinot noirs. The nose carries through to the palate with a bright and lush texture and acidity to a long finish.

Peter Paul 2016 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon (available at the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlet at $39.99) is a blend of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, petit verdot, merlot and malbec grapes, sourced throughout Napa Valley from Rutherford, to Mount Veeder, to St. Helena. This is a low production line of only 400 to 500 cases. The nose is of cassis, plum and vanilla. On the tongue, the wine is full of black cherry fruit and light, velvety tannins. The finish is long, which makes this a perfect pairing for a fine, rare rib-eye steak. This wine was awarded “One of the U.S.’s Best Napa Cabernets” by Wine & Spirits magazine.

Working alongside Trevor Smith, a former cellar master at Screaming Eagle who offers his technical expertise, Martin has created wines that are not only great tasting but appealing because of their price points, one of the hallmarks of Martin’s goals to popularize wine.

Featured photo: Peter Paul wines. Courtesy photo. Martin Reyes. Courtesy photo.

Mister Handsome

I pulled into the parking lot to get my first Covid vaccine.

It was a bit science-fictiony/disaster-movie-y. Everything was being administered by the National Guard, all of whom were masked and wearing a disconcerting amount of mysterious equipment. As I pulled up to the second place in line, a guardsman had me roll down my window and told me, “OK, move up and talk to the Sergeant.” He emphasized the word sergeant, just the slightest bit, to let me know that this was somebody important, and that I’d better be on my best behavior. I was grateful for the warning.

I pulled up one slot, to where the Sergeant was waiting for me with a computer tablet.

He asked to see my identification, then pulled up my file.

Then he paused.

And gave me a Look. A very serious look. He was masked, of course, so I could only see his eyes, but even so, I knew I was under serious appraisal.

The issue, as it turned out, was my paperwork. Clearly, I had been in a goofy mood the previous night when I had filled out my medical forms. Under the category of Ongoing Conditions, I had written, “Chronic Handsomeness.”

After another moment, the Sergeant said, “I share your condition. I know the burden it can put on a man. Let’s get you out of here…,” and waved me into Parking Spot No. 1. It was a tiny moment of bonding.

I got my shot, and the sun came out, and birds and woodland creatures did a little musical number, etc.

But this got me thinking about the quality of handsomeness.

As it turns out, there is a drink dedicated to handsomeness — the Captain Handsome. I would not call it a classic cocktail, but it is not weirdly niche, and obscure, either. It is a fairly complex drink, with a surprising number of ingredients, but pretty simple to actually make.

So I made one. And it was good — one of those drinks that you aren’t really sure about with the first sip, but becoming more and more agreeable with each subsequent taste. It is made with crème de violette, which gives it a really lovely lavender color. It is crisp and floral, and washing the glass with absinthe gives it a strangely alluring hint of — something.

Here’s the issue, though. The Captain Handsome has five or six ingredients (depending on whether you count seltzer as an ingredient) and at least one of them — the crème de violette — requires a trip out of state to get. Absinthe is a bit pricey, and I’m reluctant to ask someone to lay out 30 bucks for the 1/8 of an ounce or so that it would take to rinse a martini glass with it.

So, here’s my thinking: Do any of us need the superhero level of handsomeness implied by the name Captain Handsome? I, for one, would be happy with a Mister Handsome level of alcohol-induced handsomeness.

Mister Handsome

A tiny amount of bourbon – Given the tiny amount you’ll be using, and the number of competing flavors in this cocktail, probably not your best bourbon.

2 ounces gin – I’ve been enjoying Death’s Door, lately.

½ ounce blue curacao – This will not give you the same handsome color as in the original drink, but rest assured it will be handsome.

½ ounce Campari – this will turn the color of the drink from a whimsical, tropical blue to a steely violet. It will also add a slight bitterness to balance out the sweetness from the curacao.

½ ounce fresh squeezed lime juice

5 drops of rose water – Rose water can be tricky stuff. You’re always risking adding one drop too many and making a drink taste grandmothery. In this case, though, be of stout heart. You will need the floweriness to replicate the floral note of the missing crème de violette.

1 to 2 ounces plain seltzer – I like Topo Chico for its intense bubbliness.

(1) Rinse a chilled cocktail glass with bourbon. Swirl it around to coat the inside of the glass, then pour off the excess.

(2) Add the gin, blue curacao, Campari, lime juice and rose water to a shaker, half-filled with ice. Shake thoroughly. If you shatter some of the ice, so much the better. Tiny ice shards really add to the drinkability of this cocktail.

(3) Strain into the prepared cocktail glass, then top with seltzer. (Don’t skip this step. The bubbles add a bracing mouth-feel to this drink, which raises it from a Mister Attractive-Enough-I-Suppose to a full-on Mister Handsome.)

The original Captain Handsome is garnished with a brandied cherry. This version doesn’t need it. Its steely grey color would contrast too much with the whimsy of the cherry.

This reimagined cocktail retains a lot of the mystery and allure of the original. It still has that “do-I-like-it?” quality at the first sip, then a growing amount of pleasure and affection as you work your way down the glass. (Or it works its way down you. Either/or.) The gin gives it an astringent air of authority. There is the barest hint of bourbon in the background, making you feel more like a grown-up as you drink it. There is the slightest kiss of sweetness from the blue curacao, but not enough to even hint that this is some sort of hipster, gimmick drink.

This drink lends itself well to small gatherings — even intimate ones. A sip or two will give you the confidence to make direct eye contact with a guest as you serve them one of their own. “Yes,” your gaze will say, “I know. But I am strong enough to be responsible with this amount of handsomeness. You are in good hands.”

Featured photo: Mister Handsome cocktail. Photo by John Fladd.

Jeff LeDuc

Jeff LeDuc of Epping is the owner and founder of the Dawg Shed (find them on Facebook @dawgshed), a food stand he runs with family friend Shannon Knox that offers hot dogs, cold subs, salads, soups and other items made fresh daily, including chili dogs as specials on Fridays and Saturdays. LeDuc, who also owns a shed building and delivery company called JD’s Sheds and More, had been running a hot dog cart on the side at local venues for about three years. He started the Dawg Shed last December — you can find it next to Floral Expressions Boutique (252 Calef Hwy., Epping) every Tuesday through Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. and usually until the mid- to late afternoon, depending on the day.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Definitely a knife. That’s the most important.

What would you have for your last meal?

Something Italian, probably chicken Parm.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

I have three that I visit very frequently that are all right here in town. Telly’s across the street, the Holy Grail Pub and then also DeBernardo’s.

What celebrity would you like to see visiting your food stand?

I’d love to see anyone from the [Boston] Bruins team from the ‘70s or ‘80s, [like] Bobby Orr, Terry O’Reilly or Brad Park. All of them are very supportive of the local hockey teams and are just great professional athletes.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

A sauerkraut dog with spiced mustard.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

I think the trend is what we’re offering, which is fresh foods like homemade soups and sandwiches made right in front of you. … I think more people now feel the need to support local businesses in their community.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

I love doing omelets in the morning, usually bacon and cheese. In the evening, there’s nothing better than a nice T-bone steak cooked on the grill.

Cranberry walnut chicken salad
From the kitchen of Jeff LeDuc and Shannon Knox of the Dawg Shed in Epping (combine the following ingredients)
Oven roasted chicken breast (quantity depending on preference)
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup chopped walnuts
2 to 3 cups mayonnaise
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons mixed Italian herbs

Featured photo: Jeff LeDuc of the Dawg Shed in Epping

Neighborhood pies

Elm House of Pizza opens in Manchester

Back in the 1970s, Elm House of Pizza was a downtown favorite among Manchester locals for its grinders, spaghetti dinners and dozens of pizza pie varieties. Decades later, a new Queen City eatery is channeling that nostalgic neighborhood vibe while offering its own spin on a traditional house of pizza.

The latest iteration of Elm House of Pizza, which opened March 15 in the old Theo’s restaurant, is the project of business partners Tim Baines of Mint Bistro and Bob Scribner of The Wild Rover Pub. Last summer the pair took over the 102 Elm St. space, which had most recently been Frida’s Tacos & Tequila but was Theo’s for more than 30 years before that.

Baines said the name was chosen as an homage to its 1970s predecessor — he recently shared a screenshot of its grand opening flyer from December 1973 on social media. The original Elm House of Pizza was a mile up the road at 866 Elm St. While there aren’t the same ingredients or recipes as from years past, what you will find in the new spot is what he calls a modern twist on a traditional house of pizza, featuring everything from house pies and appetizers to fresh seafood dinners, pastas, burgers and more.

“We were taking a look at what we thought might be missing in Manchester, and we really felt that the south end neighborhoods are underserved in the pizza category,” Baines said. “This is kind of an iconic space. Theo’s had a great run here … and we just thought it was a great location away from the hustle and bustle of Elm Street.”

Pizzas come in two sizes, with vegan cheese and gluten-free cauliflower crusts available as substitutes and individual slices likely offered every Monday through Friday until 5 p.m.

There’s a build-your-own option with dozens of toppings to choose from, in addition to several specialty pizzas — the House Pie, for instance, features tomato sauce, Italian sausage, ricotta cheese, a hot honey drizzle, and “cup-and-char” pepperoni, or smaller pepperoni pieces that form into cup shapes to trap the pizza’s natural juices.

“We’re definitely excited about how the House Pie is received. The flavors really come together in a magical way,” Baines said. “The cup-and-char pepperoni is different. … I think you’re starting to see it become more popular.”

But there’s also more to look forward to than the pizzas. Fresh haddock and scallops are served daily, as well as house entrees like spaghetti and meatballs, chicken or eggplant Parmesan, chicken and broccoli alfredo, marinated steak tip dinners or shrimp scampi. Gluten-free zucchini noodles can also be swapped for cavatappi on any of the pasta options.

Sandwiches are served with either hand cut fries, coleslaw, potato salad or a vegetable of the day, and include steak and cheese subs, meatball subs, lobster rolls and several types of burgers. The appetizers menu has unique options of its own, like house pepper jack cheese sticks with marinara sauce, loaded potato skins, bacon-wrapped scallops and garlic Parmesan cheese curds.

Most of the restaurant’s renovations took place in its bar area, which has been expanded. The drinks menu features an assortment of domestic and local craft beers, in addition to a few red and white wines and a selection of house mixed cocktails.

“Even though we’re not a sports bar, I certainly envision it being a great place to come watch a game, [or] maybe grabbing pizzas for the family and having a couple of beers while you’re waiting,” Baines said. “Most pizza places wouldn’t focus as much on the bar, but we want that to be a significant part of what we’re doing here.”

An outdoor patio at the rear of the restaurant seats about 40 people, and Baines said there are talks to extend the outdoor dining capacity in the parking lot during the summer. Online ordering and delivery are also expected in the coming weeks following the eatery’s initial opening week.

Elm House of Pizza
Where: 102 Elm St., Manchester
Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
More info: Visit elmhop.com, find them on Facebook and Instagram, or call 232-5522 to place a takeout order

Feautred photo: Meat Lover’s Pizza. Courtesy of Elm House of Pizza.

Flavors of India

Destination India opens in Derry

Mango Lassi. Photo courtesy of Destination India.

A new eatery has brought Indian cuisine to downtown Derry, offering authentic meals from several regions across the country. Aptly named Destination India, the restaurant and bar held a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony on March 12 following a brief soft launch period.

Co-owner and chef Navanath “Navi” Avhad comes from Mumbai and has cooked Indian cuisine all over the United States. Connections with restaurant owners and friends eventually led Avhad to New England — he worked at Tulsi Indian Restaurant in Kittery, Maine, for a time before opening Destination India with three business partners: Ram Bodke, Megha Bodke and Pranav Ambekar.

Avhad, who currently lives in Manchester, said the four ultimately chose Derry both because of its large population and the lack of an authentic Indian restaurant downtown.

“I always drive on this road, and I see all the cuisines, like Italian, Mexican [and] Chinese,” he said, “but something was missing, and that was Indian.”

Avhad said the menu has some familiar dishes like vegetable samosas filled with potatoes, green peas and spices; chicken tikka masala, which is boneless chicken breast marinated in yogurt and spices and simmered in a tomato and cashew sauce; and multiple curries, with proteins like lamb, goat, chicken thighs or coconut shrimp. You’ll also find some lesser-known items, like chicken vindaloo, or chicken marinated in a vinegar mixture, cooked with potatoes in a hot gravy. According to Avhad, vindaloo is an especially popular dish in Goa, a state on the southwestern coast of India that was once colonized by Portugal. Many Goan dishes were in fact influenced by Portuguese cuisine due to the country’s centuries-long rule of the state — another option on the menu with Goan origins, he said, is shrimp balchao, or sauteed shrimp in a tangy, spicy sauce. It can be ordered as an appetizer or a main course.

Chicken Chettinad, or chicken cubed and cooked in fresh ground pepper, curry leaves, cilantro and spices, is also a traditional Southern Indian dish you’ll see on the menu. Other items are representative of northern Indian states, like paneer butter masala, or sauteed cheese that’s simmered in a tomato cashew cream curry sauce.

“We have the option of mild, medium and hot … for the spice level for our dishes, and people like that,” Avhad said. “We also have many vegetarian options for people.” One such dish is navratan korma, which literally translates to “nine-gem curry.” The different fruits, vegetables and nuts are the “gems” that make up the curry.

Some available items are cooked in a tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven that can reach temperatures of up to 900 degrees. In addition to tandoori chicken, shrimp and salmon, fresh flatbread called naan is baked fresh to order — you can get plain, butter or garlic naan, or a peshawari naan, which is filled with assorted nuts, coconut and dried fruits.

For desserts, Avhad makes his own kulfi, or Indian ice cream, in flavors like mango, pistachio and malai, a type of fresh cream. There’s also rice kheer (Indian rice pudding), gulab jamun (deep fried dumplings cooked in a cardamom syrup) and mango lassi, a smoothie-like blended drink of yogurt, water and spices.

Even though Destination India was open for takeout and delivery only during its initial soft launch, Avhad said his staff were busier than they ever could have expected — they even had to stop taking orders that first Saturday night to get caught up. The eatery is now open for full in-house dining, in addition to takeout and delivery through DoorDash, and is looking into adding more tables outside when steadier warm weather returns.

Garlic, butter and onion naan. Photo courtesy of Destination India.

Destination India Restaurant & Bar
Where: 14A E. Broadway, Derry
Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
More info: Visit destinationindianh.com, find them on Facebook @destinationindianh or call 552-3469

Feautred photo: Navratan Korma (nine-gem curry.) Photo courtesy of Destination India.

The Weekly Dish 21/03/18

News from the local food scene

• Greek pastries to go: Join Assumption Greek Orthodox Church (111 Island Pond Road, Manchester) for a drive-thru bake fest on Saturday, March 27, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. An assortment of homemade baked goods and desserts prepared by volunteers and members of the church’s Philoptochos Ladies Society are available to order, like tsoureki (soft round sweet bread), baklava with walnuts and honey syrup, rizogalo (Greek rice pudding), kourambiedes (butter cookies rolled in powdered sugar), finikia (soft cookies flavored with orange zest and topped with crushed walnuts), galaktoboureko (creamy custard with honey lemon syrup) and koulourakia (crisp braided butter cookies), as well as spinach and cheese petas, and pastry sampler platters. Orders are online only and must be placed by March 24. The event is pickup only (no walk-ins) — similar drive-thru fests featuring more Greek meals are also planned for April and May. Visit foodfest.assumptionnh.org.

• King Kone to reopen: Soft-serve ice cream stand King Kone (336 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack) will reopen for its 49th season on Saturday, March 20, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., owner George Soffron confirmed. King Kone features around 30 flavors of soft-serve ice cream, more than a half dozen of which are available at a given time. Soffron told the Hippo that the stand will be offering blackberry, coffee and orange flavors of soft-serve during its opening weekend, in addition to the usual chocolate, vanilla and twist — flavors are often rotated out each week on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. This will be the first season that King Kone will be accepting charge cards as a form of payment. The stand will be open Monday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, from noon to 9 p.m., but Soffron said those hours may extend to around 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays during the summer. Visit kingkonenh.com or find them on Facebook @kingkonemerrimack.

• Plant-based palates: The Derry Public Library will hold a virtual presentation on Wednesday, March 24, at 6 p.m., all about plant-based diets. Hannaford dietitian Heidi Tissot will talk about the emerging plant-based eating movement and the foods that fit into this pattern with moderation. She’ll also showcase specific plant-based proteins and other vegan and vegetarian options that you can easily implement in your diet. Visit derry.org to register — a Zoom link will be sent to all participants prior to the program.

• Cocktails and craft brews: Get your tickets now for one of two spring craft beer cocktail dinners at each of the Copper Door Restaurant locations (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford; 41 S. Broadway, Salem), the next installment of the eatery’s “Forks & Corks” dinner series. Happening on Tuesday, April 6, in Salem, and on Wednesday, April 7, in Bedford, each dinner will begin with a reception at 6 p.m., followed by a multi-course meal of items paired with a different cocktail using a local or regional brew as an ingredient. Courses will include frisee salad, roast lamb, blackened halibut tostada, steak frites and an espresso mousse for dessert, while the breweries represented in the cocktail pairings will be 603 Brewery in Londonderry, Stoneface Brewing Co. in Newington, Jack’s Abby in Framingham, Mass., SoMe Brewing Co. in York, Maine, and Woodland Farms Brewery in Kittery, Maine. Tickets are $75 per person and must be purchased online in advance. Visit copperdoor.com.

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