August 2021

What’re We Drinking?

Local bartenders talk about how their jobs have changed since the pandemic started, plus trends in what, and how, people are drinking.

Also on the cover, Bedrock Gardens is worth the visit, p. 12. There’s a new wave of IPAs, p.26. And head to Holman Stadium in Nashua on Aug. 27 for a day of music, p. 32.

Primary care

Some of us may remember Marcus Welby, M.D., the TV show that highlighted the general practitioner who made house calls ...

News & Notes 21/08/26

A graphic the shape of the state of New Hampshire, filled in with the New Hampshire flag made up of the crest of New Hampshire on a blue field.

Covid-19 update As of August 16 As of August 23Total cases statewide 103,462 105,302Total current infections statewide 1,704 2,324Total deaths ...

To be continued

studio portrait of young man wearing glasses, dark blue shirt and tie

What to know about the Delta variant Dr. Jose Mercado, associate hospital epidemiologist at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, answered questions about ...

Why can’t you play two QB’s?

Photo of assorted sports equipment for football, soccer, tennis, golf, baseball, and basketball

So the “Should it be Cam or Mac?” media soap opera raged on again all last week. It got a ...

Quality of Life 21/08/26

Police beats Fire, CHaD kids win First responders played a back-and-forth game of baseball on Aug. 20 during the 10th ...

This Week 21/08/26

man in t-shirt and jeans, holding microphone, standing on stage in front of dark cutrain

Big Events August 26, 2021, and beyond Thursday, Aug. 26 New Hampshire Fisher Cats continue their run of home games ...

As the world ends

GNew novel by Manchester author explores life in 2090 A year and a half after the release of his debut ...

The Art Roundup 21/08/26

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities • Manchester maps: Catch the Currier Museum of Art’s (150 Ash ...

Worth the visit

Delightful surprises at public garden I recently visited Bedrock Garden in Lee and came away feeling refreshed and enlightened. This ...

Treasure Hunt 21/08/26

tall wooden cabinet with doors on bottom and shelves displaying pottery on top

Dear Donna, I have an old cupboard with one door on the bottom. It seemed to have two doors on ...

Kiddie Pool 21/08/26

Family fun for the weekend Family fun day Field of Dreams Community Park (48 Geremonty Drive in Salem; fieldofdreamsnh.org) will ...

On The Job – Ardith Kirchberger

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Ardith Kirchberger Speech language pathologist Ardith Kirchberger is the owner of Speak Easy Speech Therapy, a private practice in Nashua ...

The Weekly Dish 21/08/26

News from the local food scene • A taste of Brazil: Head to Greeley Park (100 Concord St., Nashua) for ...

What’re we drinking?

smiling older woman standing behind bar and holding up martinis

Bartenders talk about serving cocktails in 2021, plus what trends are in the mix Dan Haggerty and Jeremy Hart weren’t ...

In the kitchen with Gabe Alpuerto

man and woman in restaurant kitchen, standing beside metal workstation

Inspired by made-to-order tableside guacamole at his favorite Mexican restaurants, Gabriel “Gabe” Alpuerto of Londonderry started creating his own at ...

Snickerdoodle muffins

single muffin on white plate, in front of bowl of muffins

Isn’t it every child’s dream to be able to eat cookies for breakfast? Actually, don’t a lot of adults have ...

Everyday IPAs

can of beer on wooden railing in front of blurry backyard

Some IPAs now are borderline crushable IPAs are king. But they’re also super confusing. You’ve got American IPAs, New England ...

Album Reviews 21/08/26

Sophie Du Palais, Endurance Of Pain Is The Power Of Being (Abstrakce Records) There’s always room at this desk for ...

We Want What We Want, by Alix Ohlin

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We Want What We Want, by Alix Ohlin (Knopf, 256 pages) The short-story collection We Want What We Want by ...

Reminiscence

Reminiscence (PG-13) There are millions of stories in the drowned city and Hugh Jackman is privy to many of them ...

At the Sofaplex 21/08/26

The Ice Road (PG-13) Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne. This movie is so exactly-as-advertised that sometimes it almost feels too simple: ...

Stadium rock

Cracker headlines Nashua mini-festival Though he started two bands that found international renown and still tour decades later, David Lowery ...

The Music Roundup 21/08/26

Local music news & events • High energy: An outdoor summer concert series continues with Cold Engines performing an early ...

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What’re We Drinking – 08/26/2021

View entire selection throughout the years here

• High energy: An outdoor summer concert series continues with Cold Engines performing an early evening set for the beach chair and blanket crowd. A gathering of solid regional players, the band was founded by Dave Drouin (The Brew) and Aaron Zaroulis in 2015. They’ve made five well-received albums — the latest is Couyon, released in June —and won multiple awards, including a NEMA for Rock Band of the Year. Thursday, Aug. 26, 6 p.m., Swasey Park, Swasey Parkway, Exeter. See coldengines.com.

• Cool cat: Veteran singer-guitarist Pete Massa draws from a decades-spanning selection of covers, including classic rock, blue-eyed soul, reggae, rhythm and blues. When he’s not doing the solo acoustic thing, Massa fronts a raucous band with rockabilly inclinations that features him on a big Gretsch Electromatic guitar, with drums, an upright bass, and a pair of horn players, offering a festive throwback party vibe. Friday, Aug. 27, 5 p.m., Big Kahuna’s Smokehouse, 1158 Hooksett Road. Hooksett. See petemassa.com.

• First finale: Eight hard rock bands appear at the Last Call Till Fall Festival, an all-ages event that includes food, games and prizes, with guests 12 and younger gaining free admission. Kings Petition, a Manchester band that released a three-song EP a year ago, tops the bill, which includes Thirteen 13All, Adherence, Paul Jarvis, Drunk Off Diesel, SkunkHunt, Black Headress and Witch Trot, for a metallic afternoon. Saturday, Aug. 28, 12:30 p.m., Auburn Pitts, 167 Rockingham Road, Auburn, $20 with barbecue included.

• Laugh it up: Quintessential New England comic Juston McKinney holds forth for four shows in downtown Concord. The standup’s secret sauce is an ever-changing set of always funny material, a keen observer’s eye for regional foibles and a knack for humorous self-deprecation, along with a skill for illuminating life’s absurdities with smiling kindness. Friday, Aug. 27, 8 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 28, 5:30 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Aug. 29, 7 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, tickets $29.50 at ccanh.com.

• Dead in the water: Billed as a long, strange trip on the water, Grateful Dead tribute act Not Fade Away Band set sail on the vintage Winnipesaukee Belle paddleboat for a cruise that also offers craft beer from Fore River Brewing Co., including a Strata Magnolia IPA. Named after a Buddy Holly song famously covered by the Dead, the group is considered one of the area’s best at recreating their sound. Tuesday, Aug. 31, 6:30 p.m., Wolfeboro Town Dock, 84 S. Main St., Wolfeboro, $18, pay at boarding, 21+.

Stadium rock

Cracker headlines Nashua mini-festival

Though he started two bands that found international renown and still tour decades later, David Lowery is an atypical rock star. He’s a trained mathematician who wrote code in Silicon Valley during its command line days, and he’s now a senior lecturer on business at the University of Georgia.

Lowery is also an erudite defender of artists’ rights who successfully spearheaded a class action suit against Spotify, and went before Congress to slam the federal government’s arcane Copyright Royalty Board, which sets streaming payments. In his view, the agency is captive to the industry it’s supposed to regulate.

“They’re saying, ‘we’re able to give music cheaply to consumers,’ but it’s literally starving the music ecosystem,” Lowery said in a recent phone interview. “Either the board that sets the rate needs to be completely overhauled, with new rules set for it, or the whole thing just needs to be abolished, because it’s what people would call crony capitalism at its worst.”

Musicians at his level, playing for 1,000 fans or less most nights, exemplify the gig economy, Lowery told the Radikaal podcast in June, cobbling together multiple jobs in the industry. His first foray as a performer was anything but ambitious; Lowery joked about Camper van Beethoven’s unexpected breakthrough in “Mom I’m Living the Life, 1981,” from his new album In the Shadow of the Bull.

“I had a band / it was a joke,” he sings, “then it was not / we got some real gigs / in San Francisco.”

Offbeat songs like “Take the Skinheads Bowling” and “ZZ Top Goes To Egypt” earned CVB a cult following that carried them away from their Northern California punk rock beginnings. It dissolved in 1990; he formed Cracker with Johnny Hickman, the name a nod to Lowery’s Georgia roots, and released a slew of country-leaning alt-rock hits led by “Low” and “Get Off This.”

Cracker tops a bill with the percussive Entrain and rootsy Muddy Ruckus at the upcoming Gate City Music Fest on Aug. 27 at Nashua’s Holman Stadium. The current touring band includes Hickman and a pair of players from their 2014 album Berkeley to Bakersfield. Lowery said recent set lists reflect a musical dichotomy.

“We are doing this tour with kind of the band that did the country disc, but they’re actually pretty much rock players,” he said. “So it goes from rock to sort of our pseudo soul or pseudo blues rock and then to the country stuff. It’s all over the place.”

The snarky definition of Cracker’s non-genre reflects “our unique stamp,” Lowery said. “We’re not trying to do exactly soul, or exactly blues rock, or any of these things. We’re borrowing parts, and bringing it into our format.”

Lately, they’ve twanged up a few songs from their nascent Bay Area days.

“Some of them fit really nicely into what we’re doing; adding the pedal steel to it, the songs are a little different,” Lowery said, adding that a reworked version of “Skinheads” will probably be ready for the Nashua show.

“The early straight-ahead simple Camper van Beethoven songs ended up being pretty interesting,” he said. “We try to play a good cross-section of stuff from across our catalog. We don’t leave out the hits.”

He’s keen to hit the road after the pandemic stopped the world for over a year, even more so because his wife is a promoter who books Atlanta’s 40 Watt nightclub and other venues.

“Here’s a lesson I told my kids — never marry someone in the same business you’re in,” Lowery said. “If things go wrong, everybody’s screwed. It was pretty crazy for us, because there were no concerts. She’s only really going back on salary Sept. 1, basically 18 months with no work. … We really had to get clever.”

Gate City Music Fest
When: Friday, Aug. 27, 3 p.m.
Where: Holman Stadium, 67 Amherst St., Nashua
Tickets: $25/reserved seat, $150/six-person pod at gatecitybrewfestnh.com

Featured photo: Cracker. Courtesy photo.

At the Sofaplex 21/08/26

The Ice Road (PG-13)

Liam Neeson, Laurence Fishburne.

This movie is so exactly-as-advertised that sometimes it almost feels too simple: Mike (Neeson) is part of a group of people driving three trucks with heavy equipment across an ice road in Manitoba. At least one of the trucks needs to make it to a collapsed mine within some 30 hours to save the lives of 26 miners stuck inside. The roads have technically been closed because it is now early spring, so the first challenge the truckers face is the potential for the ice to crack and send them and their trucks very quickly into the freezing waters. As you’d expect, more challenges develop along the way.

The team includes Mike’s brother Gurty (Marcus Thomas), a veteran who requires Mike’s constant care due to PTSD and aphasia that jumbles his words; Goldenrod (Fishburne), the man who put together the team; Tantoo (Amber Midthunder), a young trucker who has worked with Goldenrod in the past, and Varnay (Benjamin Walker), the insurance guy connected to the mine.

Trucks drive on ice, complications arise — that’s pretty much the movie. And that’s fine! For all that not every performance or line of dialogue feels particularly Oscar-winning, it’s a movie that holds your attention and provides a solid mix of action, suspense and “huh, ice roads, cool.” This isn’t Neeson’s best “late-career action Neeson” performance but he knows this territory well and turns in a perfectly workable performance. B- Available on Netflix.

The Last Letter from Your Lover (TV-MA)

Shailene Woodley, Felicity Jones.

Also Nabhaan Rizwan and Callum Turner (who I couldn’t place until I looked him up on IMDb; you may know him as Frank Churchill from 2020’s Emma.).

Present-day newspaper writer Ellie (Jones) finds letters from the 1960s between J, whom we learn is Jennifer Stirling (Woodley), and Boot, her pet name for Anthony O’Hare (Turner), a then-newspaper reporter. They meeton the Riviera, where Jennifer and her wet-blanket husband Lawrence (Joe Alwyn) are sort of vacationing. Mostly, he runs off to deal with work things and she’s left alone, which is how Anthony finds things when he shows up at their house to interview Lawrence for a profile. J and Boot, as they start to call each other, end up spending time together, forming a friendship that, when they return to London, turns into an affair.

We see this story play out in flashback as Ellie, who thinks maybe there’s a good feature in this story, finds letters in the newspaper’s archives with the help of archivist Rory (Rizwan). Naturally, reading all these love letters together causes these modern people to start to feel some feelings.

If you generally like romances (particularly with this kind of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society events in the past/events in the present structure) and enjoy period wardrobe (I could fill up an online shopping cart with Woodley’s dresses and accessories) and need something on in the background while you fold a bunch of towels or pay bills, The Last Letter from Your Lover is fine. I feel like some very good naps could be generated by the scenes of well-dressed people drinking cocktails and listening to period music. If you need something more, like heat generated between any of the couples or really compelling characters or interesting dialogue, you probably need to look elsewhere. C+ Available on Netflix.

Reminiscence

Reminiscence (PG-13)

There are millions of stories in the drowned city and Hugh Jackman is privy to many of them via his special memory machine in Reminiscence, a stylish and boring film noir.

Nick Bannister (Jackman) is like a PI of your mind. With the help of his coworker/longtime friend Watts (Thandiwe Newton), he hooks his clients up to a mind-visualization-thingy to help them go back to a memory — the memory of a person who is no longer around, the memory of where they last saw something they lost, the memory of happier times. (While they remember, Nick can also see the memory.) And the past seems like the place where people find more happiness than in the present (which is sometime in the nonspecific future), where rising seas have half-submerged the city of Miami and people seem to be forever sloshing through water. Some sunken buildings have become a kind of Venice-y city of water taxis; some places are behind dams but still constantly damp. There was a war, troubles at the border and now people seem to live in a kind of haunted state.

When Mae (Rebecca Ferguson), styled as sort of a live-action Jessica Rabbit, comes into Nick’s business, she isn’t looking to dwell in some dry and sunny past — she just wants to go back a day or two to figure out where her lost keys are. But something about her captivates Nick and he finds himself hanging out in her memory, watching her sing an American songbook classic “Where or When,” a song that takes him back to happier days. He quickly falls in love (or lust or plot contrivance) with Mae, only to find himself bereft when she suddenly vanishes. Where did she go? Why hasn’t she contacted him? Who was she really? These are the questions that drive Nick back through his own memories even though there is a danger in always lingering in the past.

Reminiscence is very pretty to look at with its watery city, where daytime heat is so hot that people now sleep during the day and live their lives at night. It is the perfect setting for this kind of tale — all grizzled detective-type, mysterious lady, shady and desperate people in a fallen world. Unfortunately, this particular tale just never clicked together for me. I found myself way more interested in all the peripherals — the wars, the soggy state of the world, the public transportation that is suddenly everywhere, the nighttime existence, the state of the justice system, Thandiwe Newton’s character — than I ever was in Jackman’s and Ferguson’s characters, who have very superficial “hot people in a perfume commercial” chemistry but very little person-to-person chemistry. The stylized setting, all 1930s gumshoe grit, is also fun but requires a lot of mental effort to tamp down all the “but why” and “but what about” questions it gins up — a state of things that I feel wouldn’t be so pronounced if the central plot and its core relationship was more interesting.

Reminiscence has potential but it quickly turns into a slow and tedious soggy slog. C

Rated PG-13 for strong violence, drug material throughout, sexual content and some strong language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Lisa Joy, Reminiscence is an hour and 56 minutes long and distributed by Warner Bros. in theaters and on HBO Max.

Paw Patrol: The Movie (G)

Human boy Ryder and his team of talking pups head to the metropolis of Adventure City to put an end to Mayor Humdinger’s tomfoolery in Paw Patrol: The Movie, a more fancily animated, feature-length adventure of the Nick Jr. series’ characters.

This movie is roughly three-Paw Patrol-episodes in length — “one Paw Patrol” being a standardized unit of time measurement in my house as it likely is in many houses for whom Paw Patrol is on regular TV-watching rotation. As several special episodes of the show have, this movie introduces a new pup character in a kind of extended universe location. Most episodes of the show take place in Adventure Bay, a vaguely northern California-ish town on the ocean (where there are sometimes pirates) and that is within driving distance of a snowy mountain range and a jungle and sometimes they fly to a London-like city-state called Barkingburg that has a monarchy. Also there’s a dinosaur land, I think? I’m not always watching super closely; I am not the intended audience.

This movie is the first time, as far as I can remember, that the Paw Patrol (as the six core pups and the human, elementary-school-ish aged boy Ryder are known) has ventured to Adventure City. Ryder (voice of Will Brisbin) is the leader of this rescue-team of pups: police dog Chase (voice of Iain Armitage), fire dog Marshall (voice of Kingsley Marshall), bulldozer-driving dog Rubble (voice of Keegan Hedley), recycling/fix-it dog Rocky (voice of Callum Shoniker), water rescue dog Zuma (voice of Shayle Simons) and pilot dog Skye (voice of Lilly Bartlam), who was the only girl pup for a while. Even if you’ve never seen the show, you’ve probably still seen the pups — as the movie itself jokes, pretty much any kid item (lunch boxes, band-aids, T-shirts and, of course, so many toys) has a licensed Paw Patrol version. Each pup has their own special vehicle and their own colors — so that whatever your toddler-through-elementary-schooler’s interest/favorite color, there is a pup (and accompanying merchandise) for them.

Mayor Humdinger (voice of Ron Pardo, who also does the Cap’n Turbot voice) is the series’ most frequent baddie — though like all the “villains” of Paw Patrol he is not so much bad as inept, inconsiderate and vain. Here, he and his band of self-absorbed cats have apparently relocated from Foggy Bottom (the town he’s usually referred to as the mayor of) to Adventure City, where he has become the mayor sort of by accident. Now, this dog-disliking buffoon is poised to cause all sorts of mayhem in the city, from locking up every dog his henchmen (voiced by Randall Park and Dax Shepard) can find to trying to make the subway more adventurous by adding a shoddily constructed roller coaster loop-the-loop. This is why Liberty (voice of Marsai Martin), a friendly neighborhood helper-pup who lives in Adventure City, calls on the Paw Patrol to come and save the day.

Some of the TV show’s episodes will have a particular pup as the focus; here, that’s Chase, who is given a backstory of being found and adopted by Ryder when he was a young, scared pup wandering Adventure City. Returning to the city brings up all sorts of anxieties and the movie has a subplot about Chase learning to face his fear. This isn’t Sesame Street-level “learning to deal with emotions” stuff. When my kids first started venturing beyond PBS Kids’ programming to watch Paw Patrol I found the show loud and shallow when it came to messaging. But it’s fine, the pups are nice and nice to each other, and consideration for friends and the greater public is a much-lauded quality in the show. And it’s 30 minutes of entertainment/distraction, which is always appreciated.

This movie hits all those similar points to me, which is to say, this movie didn’t wow me (which, I suspect, who cares if it wows anybody over the age of 8 or 9) but is totally fine. The “dealing with fear” stuff is unobjectionable, if very thinly drawn. Humdinger is goofy rather than evil. Liberty is a solid additional Paw Patrol member/licensable character. She is a spunky, can-do pup (they’re all spunky, can-do pups), and she gets a spiffy motorcycle (and, yes, both a toy and a Halloween costume for her character are already available for purchase). My kids watched the movie with interest throughout. While I (a person seeing this movie for work) stayed awake through the whole movie, you (a parent who just needs a break) could definitely sleep while your kids watched it (either in one of those big reclining theater chairs or in the comfort of your own couch, as it has been released simultaneously in theaters and on Paramount+). Or read a magazine, or catch up on dishes — just as you probably do while your kids watch the Paw Patrol TV show.

Paw Patrol: The Movie “basically the show, but three times as long” is probably the best review, heck the only review, it needs. B

Rated G. Directed by Andrew Hickson and Cal Brunker with a screenplay by Billy Frolick and Cal Brunker & Bob Barlen, Paw Patrol: The Movie is an hour and 28 minutes long and is distributed by Paramount Pictures in theaters and on Paramount+.

FILM

Venues

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

The Flying Monkey
39 Main St., Plymouth,
536-2551, flyingmonkeynh.com

O’neil Cinemas
24 Calef Highway, Epping,
679-3529, oneilcinemas.com

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

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

Wilton Town Hall Theatre
40 Main St., Wilton
wiltontownhalltheatre.com, 654-3456

Shows

• Gremlins (PG, 1984) at Rex Theatre on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 7 p.m.with a portion of the proceeds going to Motley Mutts Rescue. Tickets $12.

• Back to the Future (PG, 1985) screening at Chunky’s in Manchester, Nashua and Pelham on Wednesday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $4.99.

• 21+ Screening of Back to the Future (PG, 1985) at Chunky’s in Manchester, Nashua and Pelham on Thursday, Aug. 26, at 7 p.m. Tickets cost $4.99 and a Back to the Future themed cocktail will be for sale.

• Together (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres in Concord Friday, Aug. 27, through Sunday, Aug. 29, at 1, 4:15 & 7:30 p.m.

• Stillwater (R, 2021) screening at Red River Theatres in Concord Friday, Aug. 27, through Sunday, Aug. 29, at 12:30, 3:45 & 7 p.m.

• Womanhandled(1925) andGo West (1925) silent film Westerns with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, on Sunday, Aug. 29, 2 p.m. at Wilton Town Hall Theatres. Screenings are free but a $10 donation per person is suggested.

• Theater Candy Bingo on Sunday, Aug. 29, at 6:30 p.m. at Chunky’s in Pelham. Admission costs $4.99 plus a box of candy.

• The Shakedown (1929), a silent film with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, on Thursday, Sept. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth. Tickets start at $10.

• Clifford the Big Red Dog (PG, 2021) sensory-friendly screening, with sound lowered and lights up, on Saturday, Sept. 18, 10 a.m. at O’neil Cinema in Epping.

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch (R, 2001) at Rex Theatre on Tuesday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. with a portion of the proceeds going to Motley Mutts Rescue. Tickets cost $12.

• National Theatre Live Follies,a broadcast of a play from London’s National Theatre, screening at the Bank of NH Stage in Concord on Sunday, Oct. 3, at 12:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 ($12 for students).

• National Theatre Live Cyrano de Bergerac, a broadcast of a play from London’s National Theatre, screening at the Bank of NH Stage in Concord on Sunday, Oct. 17, at 12:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 ($12 for students).

• Frankenweenie (PG, 2012) at the Rex Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 17, 7 p.m. with a portion of the proceeds going to Motley Mutts Rescue. Tickets cost $12.

• The Nightmare Before Christmas (PG, 1993) at the Rex Theatre on Monday, Oct. 18, 7 p.m. with a portion of the proceeds going to Motley Mutts Rescue. Tickets cost $12.

Featured photo: Reminiscence. Courtesy photo.

Month: August 2021

What’re We Drinking?

What’re We Drinking – 08/26/2021

The Music Roundup 21/08/26

Stadium rock

At the Sofaplex 21/08/26

Reminiscence

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