Month: September 2021
Community motion
Yoga studio hosts music and art
As 2020 dawned, Wyn Doran was feeling the glow of her moving debut EP, Thick of It, and working on new music. Like the rest of the world, by March she was locked down and satiating her creative impulses with intimate livestreams, always thinking of bigger things.
In November she hit upon an idea that would lead to a nomination in the New England Music Awards’ new digital performance category, along with a nod for New Hampshire’s Best in State prize.
Doran released “Starry Eyes” in 2020, a duet with Justin Wiggins augmented by the Pennichuck Middle School Chorus singing via Zoom, each member on a tiny retro television. For self-described “choir nerd” Doran, the collaboration, which also included songwriters from the U.K. and Brooklyn, was a dream come true.
“To put it quite simply, it’s a really huge part of my connection to music, and for the first time, I had a song where I could actually hear a choir behind it,” she said in a recent phone interview, adding that the logistics weren’t easy. “I wasn’t really sure how to pull it off, but the choir director was really excited, because that was also a class. My heart goes out to all the students going through the BS of learning online. … For choir, there was no way to sing in a room.”
For Doran, who had a creative breakthrough working with singer-songwriter Ben Folds a few years back, working with other writers in the pandemic was an unexpected benefit in an otherwise stifling time.
“I have different collaborators from all over the globe,” she said, “which I couldn’t have done without the … pandemic.”
Being alone with her thoughts for months on end sparked a desire to dig into her local surroundings. This led to Doran’s latest endeavor, with Vibe Yoga in Nashua — a curated musical showcase preceded by an art display by the studio’s owner, Melissa Coppola. The two met and bonded over their shared experiences leaving the corporate world, and a desire to do more for their hometown.
“It was always in her vision to not just provide yoga to the Nashua community but also bring art and music into it,” Doran said. “We were talking about what can we do? We thought about our ideal shows outside of the city, and how they foster an environment of true listening and appreciation.”
The first show in a hoped-for series — “We’re going to hold our breath a little bit into September about lining up October,” Doran said — happens Thursday, Sept 9, and includes Doran, Aaron Emmanuel and Elizabeth Wyld.
Wyld and Doran met while both were touring in 2018, and the two will share a bill in Allston, Mass., two days before the Nashua show. The indie singer-songwriter released her debut album, Quiet Year, last May.
“I’m hoping to bring artists that I met and loved when I was on the road to my city,” Doran said. “That’s how Elizabeth came along. Aaron Emmanuel is an awesome voice from Boston that I’ve seen perform in Somerville. He felt like a great person to round out our first bill.”
The connection to Coppola’s yoga studio is rewarding for more than the community activism it’s inspired. Doran has dealt with chronic pain for over a decade, and the fitness regimen Vibe offered her was a tonic.
“Pursuing the artist lifestyle and actually writing the darn songs that have been festering in my soul, plus yoga, have been two things that have really made a difference in my life,” she said. “That’s definitely a huge piece of me being so excited to tap into the Nashua community. Ten years ago I’d never even tried it. Now I’m definitely a believer.”
Live at Vibe w/ Wyn Doran, Elizabeth Wyld & Aaron Emmanuel
When: Thursday, Sept. 9, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Vibe Yoga, 182 Main St., Nashua
Tickets: $12 — proof of vaccine required; more at VibeYoga603.com
Featured photo: Wyn Doran, Elizabeth Wyld and Aaron Emmanuel. Courtesy photo.
The Music Roundup 21/09/09
Local music news & events
• Twofer: With their unique blend of country and Latin music, Kat & Alex impressed American Idol audiences last year and are currently on tour opening for Scotty McCreery, a singer who took top Idol honors in 2011. Last fall the pair put out the single “How Many Times” in both English and Spanish, and earlier this year they released their first all-Spanish song, “Gira De Desamor,” continuing their genre-bending rise. Thursday, Sept. 9, 8 p.m., Casino Ballroom, 169 Ocean Blvd., Hampton, tickets $15 to $55 at tickemaster.com.
• Departure: A one-man band with loops and foot percussion, ODB Project is Michael Dion, former guitarist and lead singer of progressive bluegrass stalwarts Hot Day At The Zoo and lately the leader of roots rock band Daemon Chili. Dion builds a big sound around favorites like Grateful Dead’s “New Speedway Boogie” and turns the ’60s protest song “For What It’s Worth” into a loping blues romp, complete with lap slide. Friday, Sept. 10, 9 p.m., Penuche’s Ale House, 16 Bicentennial Square, Concord, $5 at the door, 21+.
• Funkified: Closing in on 20 years together, Lettuce is an eminently danceable band dedicated to the notion that “funk lives, grows, breathes, and blossoms; like any living thing, it needs to be fed in order to flourish.” The Grammy-nominated group currently includes Adam Smirnoff on guitar, a rhythm section of drummer Adam Deitch and bassist Erick Coomes, horn players Ryan Zoidis and Eric Bloom and Nigel Hall on keys. Saturday, Sept. 11, 6 p.m., Marty’s Driving Range, 96 Old Turnpike Road, Mason, $40 at etix.com.
• Fusion: Enjoy an outdoor show from Cold Chocolate, a Boston trio blending elements of roots rock, funk and bluegrass into a singular sound. The band began when singer-guitarist Ethan Robbins, then studying music at Oberlin College, met upright bassist Kirsten Lamb and the two started looking for ways to stretch the boundaries of bluegrass. Ariel Bernstein joined later on percussion, and sometimes a banjo or fiddle makes it a quartet. Sunday, Sept. 12, 2 p.m., Fletcher-Murphy Park, 28 Fayette St., Concord, $12 at ccanh.com.
• Transition: Manchester’s top spot for indie comedy is in new hands, as Ruby Room Comedy presents Andy Haynes on Sept. 8, followed a week later by Tookey Kavanaugh, Kathleen DeMarle and Mike Gray. Nick Lavallee and Dave Carter grew the effort from its beginnings in 2013 as a launching pad for up and coming local talent, to a showcase for standups from across the country, and the midweek tradition promises to continue. Wednesday, Sept. 15, 8 p.m., Shaskeen Pub, 909 Elm St, Manchester, facebook.com/RubyRoomComedy.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (PG-13)
A complicated father-son relationship, a fantastical otherworldly realm and Awkwafina come together in the lively Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, a martial arts-heavy adventure-filled entry into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Having people (rather than big robots or something) fighting each other brings an energy to the choreography of many of this movie’s fight scenes that makes them enjoyable to watch apart from just the “who beats who” element.
Shang-Chi, called Shaun when we first meet him (Simu Liu), lives in San Francisco, making a living valet parking cars with his best friend Katy (Awkwafina) and dodging questions from friends about why they don’t buckle down and find jobs that reflect their talents. But then Shaun gets in a fight on a bus — not just any fight, but a prolonged martial arts fight against multiple skilled fighters, including a guy whose arm is a large knife and who IMDb tells me is called Razor Fist (Florian Munteanu). In the process, the men steal an amulet given to Shaun by his late mother (Fala Chen) and Katy learns that her longtime friend has some very supercharged fighting skills. Shaun tells her about his past, which includes the story of his father, Wenwu (Tony Leung), a basically immortal warrior who owes his long life and his extraordinary fighting powers to the 10 rings he wears on his arms. Shaun ran away from home (home being a sort of mountain fortress where Wenwu trains his fighting forces) and his father as a teenager and realizes that the bus fight is a sign his father is coming after him. He is also afraid that his father will send his men after his younger sister, Xialing (Meng’er Zhang). Though they haven’t spoken in years, Shaun is determined to protect Xialing and heads to Macau, where he thinks she lives, with Katy, determined to protect Shaun, in tow.
The movie eventually leads to an Asgard-like other realm — reached not by Bifrost but through a constantly moving maze in a bamboo-like forest — called Ta Lo, which is a green countryside with a bucolic-seeming village and animals like a white fox-ish creature with multiple tails and giant lions. Here, the group meets Nan (Michelle Yeoh), the siblings’ mother’s sister, who, like everybody in this movie, is also a bad-ass (but elegant) fighter.
Ta Lo is very pretty and, much like with the Thor movies and Asgard, the movie is maybe at its best when it’s set in these non-modern-day locations (I would include in that Wenwu’s compound, which has more of an out-of-time castle feel). Especially during the climactic battle (is it a spoiler to say an MCU movie has a climactic battle? I don’t feel like it is), it’s so much easier to forget about trying to make the physics of the battle make sense in our world and just sort of go with this alternate realm situation. These sections help to give the movie a more adventure-y, fantasy feel than some of the more grounded-in-our-world comic book movies.
The clunkier parts of the movie, for me at least, were when it tried to fit this movie into the wider MCU but then it’s been a while since we’ve started a new story with characters not previously teased in a familiar property before they get their own movie (like Tom Hollander’s Spider-Man or Black Panther, both appearing in Captain America: Civil War before their characters’ own movies). So, while it’s clunky, it’s not, to me, fatal or even damaging to Shang-Chi overall.
The performances here are solid. Awkwafina might have been brought in for comic relief but she also offers the viewer entry into this world and she brings a little meatiness to the parts of the story that are about Shaun (and Katy) trying to figure out what their place in the world is. Yeoh is great and brings those Anthony Hopkins-like Serious Actor chops to the movie. Simu Liu is a likeable leading man and, in the grand Marvel tradition of having antagonists who are more charismatic than the movie’s lead, Tony Leung turns in an even more compelling performance that gives Wenwu some layers and human motivation (you can go down a whole internet rabbit hole with that character, though I won’t get into it too much because here be spoilers).
Is it true that even a “yeah sure it’s fine” Marvel movie would feel like a good time at the movies given, you know, all the everything? Sure, yes, that’s fair. (It was delightful to see and hear the Marvel Studios title card in a theater.) But Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings truly is a good time at the theater, with characters that are enjoyable to be around, and, though I also enjoyed this summer’s Black Widow, Shang-Chi brings a nice burst of freshness in the MCU. B+
Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and action and language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton with a screenplay by Dave Callaham & Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Lanham, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is two hours and 12 minutes long (with two post-credits scenes, which, like, might as well stay) and is distributed by Walt Disney Motion Pictures. It is currently only in theaters though it is reported (Wikipedia and elsewhere) that it will go to Disney+ after the 45-day theatrical window, meaning mid-October-ish.
Cinderella (PG)
The wish Camila Cabello’s heart makes is to be a great dress designer in Cinderella, a live-action jukebox musical version of the classic fairy tale.
I stress the live-action part because in some ways this movie feels like a cartoon — a solid, above average cartoon whose central mission is being bright and fun. The movie also has those classic “TV special” vibes, with a certain family-musical stageyness and some fun stunt casting. I think the “PG” rating is also a significant aspect of this movie. It’s clearly aimed at kids, maybe in the 7 or 8 to teen age range, and that was the level on which I found myself judging the movie as I watched.
Ella (Cabello) ticks the standard Cinderella boxes: lives in the basement of her family home in a once-upon-a-time-ish land, is friends with mice (voiced by James Corden, Romesh Ranganathan and James Acaster) and is forced to serve her stepmother Vivian (Idina Menzel) and stepsisters, Malvolia (Maddie Baillio, who gives the character a fun evil-but-weird energy) and Narissa (Charlotte Spencer), whom the narrator describes as “cray.” That narrator, and in the pivotal scene the Fabulous Godmother, is Billy Porter, who is great, and beautifully costumed as a haute couture take on a monarch-y butterfly.
Instead of dreaming of True Love, Ella dreams of overcoming the prejudice against female business owners and starting her own dress line. Entertainingly, her song of longing is sung to her future self, with a storefront and a customer base.
Meanwhile, King Rowan (Pierce Brosnan) is trying to convince Prince Robert (Nicholas Galitzine) to marry, perhaps Princess Laura (Mary Higgins) from the neighboring kingdom, who will help the united royal families rule all the lands from here to the sea monster, as she points out on a map. But Robert is having none of this; he wants to be in True Love when he marries. Queen Beatrice (Minnie Driver), bored with her life of standing next to the king and waving, isn’t in any hurry to push her son into a loveless marriage and meanwhile Robert’s sister Princess Gwen (Tallulah Greive) is just trying to get someone to listen to her ideas about wind energy, anti-poverty programs and the catapult-industrial complex. When Robert sees plucky Ella at a royal ceremony — she climbs a statue of the king to get a better look at the goings on and then suggests King Rowan consider some bleachers when he yells at her for being on his statue — he is smitten and slums it to mix amongst the common folk and find the girl who won his heart with sass-talk.
When peasantly attired Robert finds her, he tries to convince Ella to go to the upcoming ball for his princely self, meant to give him a chance to meet Miss Right. Ella is uninterested until he says that he knows some fancy people and can help her find potential clients for her dressmaking enterprise. Thus does she start designing the dress, which is ruined by the disapproving stepmother and so on, hitting the standard Cinderella beats with a plucky modern twist.
Watching modern, say the last 25 years or so, filmmakers deal with Cinderella as a character is always entertaining. The 1950 Disney character is kinda drippy by modern standards (at least, as I remember her; though I liked the movie in my youth it isn’t one I’m eager to revisit with my kids), and in their more recent uses of her, such as in the live-action 2015 Cinderella, they’ve seemed to look for ways to highlight her non-waiting-for-a-prince character traits. In that movie, they made her intelligently kind. In 1998’s Ever After: A Cinderella Story (which is rated PG-13), Drew Barrymore’s take on the character is also a more can-do girl, who can wield a sword and does her best to look after her friends. (Both of those movies, along with the TV movie Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella from 1997 with Brandy as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, are on Disney+, should you want to make it a multi-feature Cinderella movie night.)
Here, Cinderella (and many of the movie’s supporting female characters) has ambitions in a world that doesn’t usually allow women to have non-marriage-related ambitions, and the movie gives its prince longings that are more emotion-driven. Which, yay! — good for letting everybody live their truth, even if it is unsubtly conveyed. I feel like if you view this as a bit of family entertainment geared to kids, it makes sense and feels appropriate for the movie’s messaging to be fairly blunt. As a parent, I’ll take blunt messaging that leans in the direction of kindness, being who you are and standing up for yourself over a more nuanced telling where a girl appears to be finding her happiness because she found her prince.
The show itself is also rather bluntly staged, with its townsfolk singing “Rhythm Nation” in the square and the stepmother explaining the facts of life with “Material Girl.” It’s loud and colorful and fun — almost cartoony but in a way that works for gather-round-the-TV family entertainment.
The movie’s performances are all somewhere on the scale of completely acceptable to “this actor is having a good time.” Galitzine is perfectly suitable and the movie has fun with Brosnan but it is, of course, the women’s show: Cabello is charming and can sell the comedy as well as the singing. Menzel is exactly what you’d expect from “Idina Menzel as the stepmother” and the movie has to work at times to make her not the star of this show. Minnie Driver also seems to be having a fun time, and throughout there are some solid supporting characters and cast who all have the right “welcome to our theatrical production; hey ma, look at me!” vibe. B
Rated PG for suggestive material and language. Written and directed by Kay Cannon, Cinderella is an hour and 53 all-singing, all-dancing minutes long and distributed by Columbia Pictures, who sold this to Amazon and thus it is on Amazon Prime.
FILM
Venues
AMC Londonderry
16 Orchard View Drive, Londonderry
amctheatres.com
Bank of NH Stage in Concord
16 S. Main St., Concord
225-1111, banknhstage.com
Capitol Center for the Arts
44 S. Main St., Concord
225-1111, ccanh.com
Cinemark Rockingham Park 12
15 Mall Road, Salem
Chunky’s Cinema Pub
707 Huse Road, Manchester; 151 Coliseum Ave., Nashua; 150 Bridge St., Pelham, chunkys.com
Dana Center
Saint Anselm College
100 Saint Anselm Drive, Manchester
anselm.edu/dana-center-humanities
The Flying Monkey
39 Main St., Plymouth
536-2551, flyingmonkeynh.com
LaBelle Winery
345 Route 101, Amherst
672-9898, labellewinery.com
The Music Hall
28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth
436-2400, themusichall.org
O’neil Cinemas at Brickyard Square
24 Calef Hwy., Epping
679-3529, oneilcinemas.com
Red River Theatres
11 S. Main St., Concord
224-4600, redrivertheatres.org
Regal Fox Run Stadium 15
45 Gosling Road, Newington
regmovies.com
Rex Theatre
23 Amherst St., Manchester
668-5588, palacetheatre.org
The Strand
20 Third St., Dover
343-1899, thestranddover.com
Wilton Town Hall Theatre
40 Main St., Wilton
wiltontownhalltheatre.com, 654-3456
Shows
• 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.
• Time Is Up (NR, 2021) starring Bella Thorne and Benjamin Mascolo, will screen Thursday, Sept. 9, at 7 p.m. at Cinemark in Salem and Regal Fox Run in Newington.
• The Card Counter (R, 2021) will screen at Red River Theatres in Concord on Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, at 12:45 p.m., 3:45 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.
• The Alpinist (PG-13, 2021) will screen at Red River Theatres in Concord on Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, at 1:15 p.m., 4:15 p.m. and 7:15 p.m.
• David Byrne’s American Utopia (NR) will screen at O’neil Cinemas in Epping on Wednesday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m.
• 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.
• The Phantom of the Opera (1925) a silent film starring Lon Chaney with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis on Thursday, Oct. 21, at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth. Tickets start at $10.
• Nosferatu (1922), a silent film directed by F.W. Murnau, on Thursday, Oct. 28, at 7:30 p.m. at the Rex in Manchester, featuring live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis. Admission costs $10.
• The Big Parade (1925), a silent film with live musical accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, on Thursday, Nov. 10, at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey in Plymouth. Tickets start at $10.
• National Theatre Live No Man’s Land a broadcast of a play from London’s National Theatre, screening at the Bank of NH Stage in Concord on Sunday, Nov. 21, at 12:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 ($12 for students).
• National Theatre Live The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time a broadcast of a play from London’s National Theatre, screening at the Bank of NH Stage in Concord on Sunday, Dec. 5, at 12:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 ($12 for students).
Featured photo: Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. Courtesy photo.
The Secret History of Food, by Matt Siegel
The Secret History of Food, by Matt Siegel (Ecco, 194 pages)
Matt Siegel is obsessed with food — not with eating it, but with learning about it. Siegel’s first book, The Secret History of Food, was born of his pastime of reading about the origins of the things we eat, going down the rabbit holes of history via Google searches and library books.
This means that many of the stories the former English professor tells here have already been told by someone else in formats less engaging. Siegel (not to be confused with the longtime Boston DJ) lives in Richmond and is a hunter-gatherer of the quirky detail, the sort of information that sticks to the brain, and he writes in the folksy style of beer-fueled conversation. His is a voice that sometimes seems too conversational; a grimmer editor might have cut a number of weak jokes. But too much editing and this would be a lengthy magazine article instead of a book.
Siegel begins by arguing that it’s not just eating food but cooking it that changed the earliest humans into modern man, because the process of cooking food changed us into more social creatures, with “larger brains, larger gatherings, more free time, and more collaboration.” In a way, cooking domesticated humans much like humans domesticated wolves, as did the gradual development of table manners. People in Asia and Europe, for example, replaced bladed utensils with chopsticks and rounded dinner knives, for example, to cut down on mealtime stabbings, Siegel writes.
From there, he leads a global tour of foodstuff, to include corn, cereal, vanilla, ice cream and pie, the latter of which was a primary means of fattening the early colonists in New England.
New Englanders didn’t invent pie, but we perfected it, having wrenched it from the hands of the English, who primarily stuffed it with “birds and nightmarish sea creatures.” Back then, Siegel writes, a pie crust wasn’t something to be enjoyed; it had a practically indigestible coating that was seen as a disposable container — “the inedible Tupperware of the Dark Ages.”
“Far from being a delicacy or dessert, it was merely a convenient way of congealing various bits of bird and beast into something portable and relatively stable,” Siegel writes. The name derived from the word magpie, the bird, which should have been our first warning. And the colloquialism “eating humble pie” appears to come from the unsavory pies that household servants used to make for themselves with animal guts unused by their employers.
New Englanders, before they turned the pie crust into a container for fruit, spices and custard, also indulged in meat pies, to the point where a pie of some kind was a staple at every meal, regardless of time, causing one 19th-century physician to write that the “brave men who made up the Boston Tea Party … were pie-biters from Boston.” The physician added, “the Yankee pie is a mighty stimulator of energy … conducive to vigilance, aggressiveness and longevity.” Not everyone agreed; someone in England once criticized Ralph Waldo Emerson’s custom of having pie for breakfast, prompting The New York Times to publish a defense of Emerson’s eating habits, which led to a years-long cross-Atlantic debate.
While Siegel’s pie report is the most New England-centric of the book’s content, his other stories are no less compelling, to include the chapter called “Honey Laundering,” which covers every aspect of the one food that that never goes bad (it can crystallize or turn cloudy, but even then is fine to eat). Among the most interested honey facts: Beehives have historically been weaponized, lobbed at enemy ships; beekeeping was a craft kept alive by the Christian church because beeswax was needed for candles; and you definitely want to buy local honey, even though there are few laws that guarantee its safety and source. (The cheap honey in grocery stores may contain chemicals and pesticides, and some counterfeit honey consists of corn syrup and yellow food coloring.)
Vanilla, Siegel writes, is the victim of slander, because despite its reputation for blandness it is the second most expensive spice to grow (behind saffron). Vanilla beans are the product of a type of orchid, and the pods take years to mature. “So you could probably have a kid and put them through kindergarten in the same time, and for less aggravation, than it would take to seed and harvest your own vanilla crop.”
Also, you probably don’t know what vanilla really tastes like, Siegel says, because up to 99 percent of “vanilla” flavoring in food comes, horrifyingly, from “things such as wood pulp, tree bark, rice bran, chloroform, or castoreum,” a secretion extracted from the nether regions of North American beavers.
From there, Siegel segues into a cornucopia of facts about ice cream, which include Thomas Jefferson’s recipe for ice cream (just a guess, but the cheapest brand at your supermarket is probably better) and how ice cream came to be classified as “essential foodstuffs” during World War I, which may be the best thing Herbert Hoover ever did.
And on he goes. Like his own reading journey that led to this book, Siegel coaxes the reader through turn after turn in a rabbit hole of information, marrying easy prose with weird facts, such as the Aztecs’ obsession with chili peppers (used for medicine, face washing and torture) and how common foods such as tomatoes and potatoes were once considered poisonous and satanic. The best chapter, however, is on the strange origins of boxed breakfast cereal, and let’s just say if John Kellogg were alive today he would be canceled and no one would eat corn flakes or Grape-Nuts (the recipe for which is said to have been stolen from a sanitarium safe).
There’s little original material in this book, but the selection and presentation are fresh, and Siegel is an able and entertaining curator of the information. Also, he named his dog Waffle, so bonus points for that. B+
Book Notes
Another football season, another book about Tom Brady and Bill Belichick — oh, wait.
TB12’s defection to the South disrupted a cottage industry, dissecting the 20-year partnership between the New England Patriots coach and his star quarterback.
One of the most prolific writers on the subject was Michael Holley, a former Boston Globe sports writer turned NBC broadcaster whose books include 2016’s Belichick and Brady (Hachette, 394 pages), 2011’s War Room (It Books, 352 pages) and 2004’s Patriot Reign (It Books, 256 pages). So inquiring minds might wonder what Holley is writing about now.
Turns out he, too, has defected to another camp: shockingly, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Holley collaborated with former Steelers coach Bill Cowher to produce Cowher’s memoir, Heart and Steel, published in June (Atria, 288 pages). For those with short memories, Cowher coached the Steelers for 15 seasons before Mike Tomlin took over in 2007. The book is not just about his football career but also about the challenges of suddenly becoming a single father of three daughters after losing his wife and father within a period of three months. Highly recommended for the bye week for anyone who possesses a Steelers’ terrible towel.
But fear not, Patriots fans. The cottage industry continues with Seth Wickersham’s It’s Better to Be Feared: The New England Patriots’ Dynasty and the Pursuit of Greatness (Liveright, 528 pages). You just have to wait a few weeks. Set for release Oct. 12, Wickersham’s book will test whether the public will still buy books with both Brady and Belichick on the cover. The publisher promises a “full, behind-the-scenes story of the Patriots” by the ESPN senior writer, with insight on Belichick’s “tactical ingenuity” and Brady’s “unique mentality.”
For those who’d rather look ahead than look back, check out Lars Anderson’s Chasing the Bear, How Bear Bryant and Nick Saban Made Alabama the Greatest College Football Program of All Time (Grand Central Publishing, 304 pages). The Pats’ new quarterback, Mac Jones, hails from Alabama.
Finally, for those of you who’d rather have a root canal than watch football, there’s ammunition for your case in Against Football (Melville House paperback, 208 pages), Steve Almond’s 2014 “reluctant manifesto” against the sport. Almond is a Massachusetts writer who not only hates football but hates the Patriots, just so you know. He’s most famous lately for a New York Times podcast, “Dear Sugars,” hosted with Wild author Cheryl Strayed.
Book Events
Author events
• KERRI ARSENAULT Author and journalist presents her investigative memoir Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains. Thurs., Sept. 9, 6 p.m. The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth. Tickets start at $60 for a small table with two copies of the book included Visit themusichall.org.
• R.W.W. GREENE Author presents Twenty Five to Life. Bookery Manchester (844 Elm St., Manchester, bookerymht.com), Fri., Sept. 10, 5:30 to 7 p.m.
• MARGARET PORTER Author presents The Limits of Limelight. Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 S. Main St., Concord. Tues., Sept. 14, 6 p.m. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com or call 224-0562.
• AMY TIMBERLAKE Newbery Honor winning author presents her second Skunk and Badger book, Egg Marks the Spot. Virtual event via Zoom, hosted by Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. Tues., Sept. 21, 7 p.m. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com or call 224-0562.
• JEFF BENEDICT Author presents The Dynasty. Gibson’s Bookstore, 45 S. Main St., Concord. Wed., Sept. 22, 6 p.m. Visit gibsonsbookstore.com or call 224-0562.
• DAVID SEDARIS Humor writer presents. Capitol Center for the Arts (44 S. Main St., Concord, ccanh.com), Sun., Sept. 26, 7 p.m. Tickets start at $49.
Book sales
• MULTI-BOOK AUTHOR SIGNING AND SALE A Freethinker’s Corner(652 A Central Ave., Dover, 343-2437, freethinkerscorner.com), Sat., Sept. 18, noon to 4 p.m.
• MULTI-BOOK CHILDREN’S AUTHOR SIGNING AND SALE A Freethinker’s Corner(652 A Central Ave., Dover, 343-2437, freethinkerscorner.com), Sat., Sept. 25, noon to 4 p.m.
• FRIENDS OF BROOKLINE PUBLIC LIBRARY TWO-DAY BOOK SALE Featuring hardbound and paperback books of all fiction and nonfiction genres, plus CDs, DVDs and audio books, for sale. 4 Main St., Brookline. Saturday, Sept. 25, and Sunday, Sept. 26, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Visit brooklinenh.us/brookline-public-library/pages/friends-of-the-brookline-public-library.
Poetry
• DOWN CELLAR POETRY SALON Poetry event series presented by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire. Monthly. First Sunday. Visit poetrysocietynh.wordpress.com.
• SLAM FREE OR DIE Series of open mic nights for poets and spoken-word artists. Stark Tavern, 500 N. Commercial St., Manchester. Weekly. Thursday, doors open and sign-ups beginning at 7 p.m., open mic at 8 p.m. The series also features several poetry slams every month. Events are open to all ages. Cover charge of $3 to $5 at the door, which can be paid with cash or by Venmo. Visit facebook.com/slamfreeordie, e-mail slamfreeordie@gmail.com or call 858-3286.
Featured photo: The Secret History of Food.
Album Reviews 21/09/09
Josie Cotton, Pussycat Babylon (Kitten Robot Records)
Well look at this, post-punk royalty in the house. Cotton made her big splash in 1982 with the single “Johnny Are You Queer,” a tune that had originally been done by the Go-Go’s, and Cotton’s version became part of the whole ’80s punk canon, later appearing as background vibe on the soundtracks to Jackass Number Two and Valley Girl. Since then her Kitten Robot record label has released stuff from such diverse bands as CrowJane and Dark Mark vs. Skeleton Joe. But enough LinkedIn-style fluff, the business at hand concerns this full-length, which is basically Son Of Johnny, if you’re just trying to mark this as read and move on to Amy’s movie reviews. Cutesy girl-pop with only the mildest of edge, all retrofitted with noteworthy samples and beat-age, this is stuff that’d work fine at your ’80s throwback pajama party. “Recipe For Disaster” is a darker shade of the aforementioned vibe, slightly goth in fact; “Hi, I Like You” is the punker, something that might come out of KT Tunstall’s suddenly becoming obsessed with Lake Of Dracula. A
Inglorious, Heroine (Frontier Records)
Hey man, I think I’ve been pretty cool about not overloading this space with hard rock releases from ’80s-hard-rock bands, considering that I used to be in one of those crews in the olden days. I know, hard rock is basically dead, but ― and we’ve been over this before, of course ― I consider myself duty-bound to check in with what’s “going on” with the bands that still cling to the genre, which ― and you should know this ― still sells plenty of records basically everywhere in the world except for America and the twin prison colonies of Australia and New Zealand. There are still old-school arena-metal bands in the U.K., like this five-man operation, who’ve tabled here a collection of cover songs, most of which were originally done by famous divas like Whitney Houston (“Queen Of The Night”), Christina Aguilera (“Fighter”) and Alanis Morissette (“Uninvited”). But this is a dude singing, and he sounds like David Coverdale from Whitesnake. Can you picture Whitesnake doing a hilariously annoying cover of Joan Jett’s “I Hate Myself for Loving You?” Good, then we’re done here. B-
PLAYLIST
• The next date for most album releases is this Friday, Sept. 10, meaning we are definitely done with summer, just kiss it goodbye. I hate everything about that, but I shall soldier on, as the air begins to have a slight nip, and my summer non-grumpiness slowly gives way to general impatience with basically everything. I usually write this section two weeks in advance, so for all I know we are back in lockdown or have been invaded by aliens, so anything you see here does in fact hinge on society functioning normally. OK, I can’t keep a straight face about that last bit, nothing’s been “normal” in this culture since 1946 or so, but let’s pretend, for the sake of getting this column finished and into my out box, and since there are Santas in the malls already, let’s start with a band called Sleigh Bells, from Brooklyn, New York! But wait, they are not a band of holiday elves who love working at building toys, they are a boy/girl noise-pop duo, which means that I should automatically like them, unless they suck. Their new album, Texis, is their fifth full-length and their first since 2016’s Jessica Rabbit. Singer Alexis Krauss used to be a schoolteacher, and her side thing is activism, specifically toward the aim of making people aware of ingredients that are used in personal care products. Would you want to know what ingredients are used in your wintergreen-plum hand soap, or are you more like me, not caring which smelly, weird and unnecessary chemical finally puts me in the hospital for good? All right, the first single, “Locust Laced,” sounds a lot like Birthday Massacre, and since no one but me has ever heard Birthday Massacre, I’ll explain: think of ’80s-pop band Missing Persons, unless you’re not old, in which case I can’t help you with a handy reference, because all your music is basically unlistenable dreck. No, I’m kidding, think of all the songs you hear on that TV show Stranger Things, except it’s a lot better and there’s a dude playing a Metallica guitar now and then. Something like that. Make sense? No? OK, then we can continue.
• This is embarrassing, I actually didn’t know 1960s-girl-group mega-queen Diana Ross was even still alive, but sure enough, there she is, with a new album, called Thank You! Hmph, thank you indeed, even the slightest thought of Diana Ross sets off an earwom in my brain, so now all I’ll be thinking about for the next week is the line from whatever stupid song, “My world is empty without you, babe,” with that stupid skronky saxophone, thanks for nothing. Whatever, the album’s title track is a shapeless, formless blob of Foxwoods glitz-pop, nothing too strenuous, but what do you expect from someone who’s 78 years old. If she had William Shatner sing a duet, I would buy it.
• Speaking of wicked old people, Dark Matters is the 18th studio album from British pub-punk band The Stranglers. Did I mention that they’re old? Because they used to be punky and yelly, but the jangly new single “And If You Should See Dave” sounds like the theme song to some 1960s B-movie about a guy who turns into a turkey every full moon. You know, something like that. I can’t relate to this tune at all.
• Yikes, we’re done with this week’s rundown, except for one last thing, another pub-rock band, except this one isn’t as old. Yes, it’s Australian dumb-bunnies Amyl and the Sniffers, with Comfort To Me, their new album! The single, “Guided By Angels,” is like Courtney Love but more punk, like a drunk X-Ray Spex, but with a lot of rhythm. Anyone with ears would love this song, I mean literally anyone.
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. Message me on Twitter (@esaeger) or Facebook (eric.saeger.9).
Beers that aren’t pumpkin
Because some of us just aren’t ready
It was mid-August when I saw my first pumpkin beer in a local beer store.
Dismayed, I experienced my usual round of indignation and disappointment, followed by a little tantrum: “Stop trying to steal summer with your pumpkin spice!”
But OK, I took a deep breath, tried to collect myself, took a long look in the mirror and just generally tried to get over myself.
Yes, true, I have little interest in pumpkin-anything in August, but it was time I faced facts. Clearly, many people are, in fact, in the mood for pumpkin-this and pumpkin-that, because it is everywhere. And breweries and retailers wouldn’t be selling it if people weren’t buying it.
It’s clearly time for me to get over it and accept that pumpkin is here to stay in late summer.
But that doesn’t mean I have to buy it. I still need a little more crispness in the air. Sorry for the big-twist ending.
Here are four entirely random non-pumpkin beers that I’ve enjoyed recently and that I think you will too.
Sapphire Unicorn American Double IPA by Lone Pine Brewing Co. (Portland, Maine)
Hard to deny a beer with a ridiculous name like this and I’m glad I went for it. Actually, my brother-in-law went for it and I’m glad he did. This is surprisingly smooth with an almost creamy consistency — not exactly what you expect in an IPA. In addition to the interesting consistency, this complex brew is just bursting with sweet tropical flavors and aromas, including maybe a little coconut. This is an impressive brew that begs for sip after sip. Even non-IPA lovers will appreciate this brew.
Suborbital New England Pale Ale by Bent Water Brewing Co. (Lynn, Mass.)
This is another brewery that continues to impress me time after time and the Suborbital was the latest example of that. This supremely drinkable and sessionable pale ale combines the haze and citrus burst you expect from a New England IPA in a much lighter package that won’t leave you bogged down — but that also didn’t leave me feeling like flavor was sacrificed. I had more than one of these on a vacation evening on the beach in front of the fire. I see myself drinking this beer all year round.
American Porter by Stoneface Brewing Co. (Newington)
Speaking of beers you can enjoy by the fire, this porter is just plain delicious and extremely drinkable. Yes, it has big robust flavors of roasted chocolate and coffee, but this is smooth and dry. I love this beer any time, but by the fire pit on a cool evening — absolute perfection. And, did I mention it’s just 5.5 percent? You can have more than one.
Mango Wheat by Blue Moon Brewery (Denver)
OK, don’t throw anything at me. I fell out of love with the wheat beer style a long time ago so it was with much trepidation that I took a sip of my wife’s beer, a mango-flavored wheat beer, but wow, what a pleasantly refreshing surprise. The beer is what it is, but to me, on a screaming hot day, the mango flavor is present but not overpowering. This isn’t too sweet. I found it crisp, bright and refreshing with just the right amount of fruitiness. I didn’t see this one coming. After a long afternoon of yard work, I grabbed this one all on my own.
What’s in my fridge?
Santilli American IPA by Night Shift Brewing (Everett, Mass)
It feels like I’ve been drinking this beer forever, but it’s really only been around for six years or so as Night Shift’s flagship IPA. I had more of these than I’d care to admit during a vacation last month. Also, I want to note I was thrilled to see this in 12-ounce cans. I have no problem with the more prevalent 16-ounce cans that tend to dominate shelves these days, but there’s something that just feels right about holding a 12-ouncer. Also, 12-ounce cans seem to fit in beer fridges better. Cheers!
Featured photo: Suborbital New England Pale Ale by Bent Water Brewing is incredibly drinkable. Courtesy photo.
Healthy spinach dip
When you think about snacking, “healthy” may not be the first word that comes to mind. I understand that 100 percent. Quite often while I’m planning a menu of snacks for a Sunday afternoon I lean toward indulgence: appetizers that are full of calories and deliciousness. However, I also like to keep some balance in my eating, and that is where the healthy appetizer joins the menu.
One of the key mantras in my cooking is that healthy can be just as delicious as indulgent. It’s not always the fat and sugar that makes a dish taste great. You need to maximize flavors from your ingredients and cooking methods.
This spinach dip utilizes ingredients and cooking methods to provide a healthy and delicious snack. Rather than mayonnaise or sour cream, Greek yogurt is the base. It provides all the creaminess you want with a lot fewer calories and fat. If you want to be really healthy, use nonfat yogurt. It’s my go-to and makes for a creamy, thick dip.
To utilize cooking techniques to impart flavor, the garlic is roasted. Roasting garlic mellows the astringent bite of raw garlic while also providing a smooth garlic kick. Sure, you need to allow some time for the roasting and cooling, but it’s worth it when you taste the dip.
“Healthy” may not be the word of your snack menu dreams yet, but this recipe may convince you that it should be.
Michele Pesula Kuegler has been thinking about food her entire life. Since 2007, the New Hampshire native has been sharing these food thoughts and recipes at her blog, Think Tasty. Visit thinktasty.com to find more of her recipes.
Healthy spinach dip
Serves 4-6
1 head garlic
1 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt (whole, lowfat or nonfat)
1 cup frozen spinach, thawed & drained
salt & pepper
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place garlic on an 8”x8” piece of aluminum foil.
Drizzle garlic with olive oil and wrap securely with foil.
Roast wrapped garlic for 45 to 50 minutes.
Remove from the oven and allow garlic to cool.
When cool, squeeze individual cloves to remove garlic from skins. (Discard skins.)
Combine yogurt, spinach and roasted garlic cloves in a small bowl, stirring well.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and chill for at least an hour before serving.
Serve with crackers, pita chips, carrots or celery.
Photo: Healthy spinach dip. Photo by Michele Pesula Kuegler.
In the kitchen with Jordyn Hotchkiss
Jordyn Hotchkiss of Weare is the owner of The Cat’s Pajamas (catspajamasnh@gmail.com, and on Facebook and Instagram @catspajamasnh), a homestead business she runs with the help of her mother, April, offering freshly baked cookies, brownies and whoopie pies in multiple flavors. Her lineup of baked goods includes chocolate chip and sugar cookies, fudge brownies, classic or peanut butter whoopie pies and peanut butter fudge, all of which are available for sale at the Weare Real Food Farmers Market (65 N. Stark Hwy., Weare). Hotchkiss, who also occasionally takes on special orders, said The Cat’s Pajamas gets its name from her love of both 1920s culture and cat cafes, or cafes in which visitors can also play with cats that may be up for adoption. She hopes to expand her offerings to seasonal items this fall, like pumpkin whoopie pies.
What is your must-have kitchen item?
A KitchenAid mixer. I cannot function without my KitchenAid.
What would you have for your last meal?
For a full meal, probably steak with mashed potatoes, and a grasshopper pie ice cream sundae for dessert.
What is your favorite local restaurant?
I don’t go out to eat a whole lot, but one of my favorites is Putnam’s [Waterview Restaurant] in Goffstown. I’ll either get a chicken Caesar salad, or their steak and cheese. Their chicken tenders are good too.
What celebrity would you like to see trying one of your baked goods?
It makes me nervous, but I would love to have [Food Network’s] Duff Goldman. I would want to know what he would say.
What is your favorite product that you offer?
Either the whoopie pies or the brownies, because I like the way they come out. I have a special brownie pan that I use, so they all come out the same size.
What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?
In the bakery world, I feel like cake pops are a really big thing. I’ve noticed them come up more frequently in different bakeries.
What is your favorite thing to cook or bake at home?
Chocolate chip cookies. We always have some cookies somewhere in the house for us, just as a family.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies
From the kitchen of Jordyn Hotchkiss of The Cat’s Pajamas in Weare
½ Crisco stick (½ cup)
1 stick salted butter (½ cup)
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the Crisco and butter until creamy. Add in the brown sugar and white sugar. Mix until well-incorporated. Add vanilla and eggs, then gradually add in the flour until well-mixed. Mix in baking soda. Add chocolate chips. Scoop onto a cookie sheet and bake for approximately 12 minutes (baking time may vary depending on the oven and type of cookie sheet). Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or two. Cool on a cooling rack and enjoy.
Featured photo: Jordyn Hotchkiss. Courtesy photo.
Fresh catch
Hampton Beach Seafood Festival returns
A year after its first cancellation in three decades, the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival returns to Ocean Boulevard Friday, Sept. 10, through Sunday, Sept. 12, with dozens of local restaurants and specialty food vendors offering an array of seafood options, from lobster rolls and fried clams to homemade chowders, bisques and more. The festival will also feature local crafters, live entertainment and a fireworks display.
“When we made the decision that we were going to move forward with the festival, we wanted to make sure that it would provide a lot of fun for people, but also make it very safe,” said John Nyhan, president of the Hampton Area Chamber of Commerce. “So the first thing we did was we redesigned the layout, primarily on the street, and we reduced the sizes of the tents to make more open space. … We also eliminated one of the major tents on the street, which was one of our two beer tents. So we’ve created a layout now where there is a lot more open space and people don’t feel like they’re crammed into these large tents walking side by side.”
More than 35 food vendors are expected to attend, including many returning favorites as well as a few newcomers. The Old Salt Restaurant at Lamie’s Inn in Hampton, which hasn’t missed a single festival since its inaugural year in 1989, according to Nyhan, is back once again. Brown’s Lobster Pound of Seabrook, Petey’s Summertime Seafood and Bar of Rye, and the Boardwalk Cafe & Pub of Hampton are a few other past participants.
New faces to the festival include Swell Oyster Co., which has been harvesting fresh Atlantic oysters in Hampton Harbor since 2017. Last year, owners Russ Hilliard and Conor Walsh opened the Swell Oyster Shack, their first retail space, on the Hampton State Pier.
Many of the vendors will compete for titles in several categories, like Best Chowder, Best Lobster Roll, Best Fried Seafood and others, as determined by a panel of judges — the tasting contest begins at 2 p.m. on Friday, and winners are announced on the Main Stage that evening.
“We’ll hand out the ribbons for these food vendors, and then they can put them on their tents showing that they won the best prize in that category,” Nyhan said.
There are plenty of options for non-seafood-eaters too, like french fries, chicken fingers, hot dogs and barbecue items, plus specialty desserts. Always a draw during the festival, members of the North Hampton Fire Department serve breakfast sandwiches first thing on Saturday morning.
Throughout the weekend is a full schedule of live musicians, performing on one of two stages. More than 75 local crafters selling their wares are also participating.
A new feature of the festival, the Pine Hospitality Group of Hampton is sponsoring an art show, featuring local artists that will be painting murals all day Friday at the Beach Cabana Bar. Each artist will have the opportunity to win a People’s Choice award for their work.
Culinary demonstrations from NESN’s Wicked Bites are scheduled between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s special events will also include two cornhole tournaments, the second of which will have signup opportunities that day. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three winners.
At 3 p.m. on Saturday, local organizations will gather on the Main Stage for a tribute to the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. The New Hampshire Police Association Pipes and Drums, as well as six local school color guards, will be in attendance.
Saturday’s festivities will conclude with a fireworks display on the beach at 8:30 p.m. Sunday will kick off with a 5K road race that morning, held along Ocean Boulevard and ending at the Beach Cabana Bar. As the festival winds down, a lobster roll eating contest will take place at 2 p.m. on the Main Stage, with Gov. Chris Sununu as the honorary master of ceremonies.
5th annual NH Bacon & Beer Festival
When: Friday, Sept. 10, 1 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 11, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday, Sept. 12, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Where: Ocean Boulevard, Hampton Beach
Cost: $10 each day for adults and free for children ages 12 and under; all foods and drinks are priced per item
Visit: seafoodfestivalnh.com
No pets are allowed. Free shuttle services are provided in a variety of parking areas nearby, including at the Hampton Park & Ride (Timber Swamp Road) and at the Municipal Parking Lot (High Street) — see website for details. Masks are required while on board the shuttle buses.
Schedule of events
Friday, Sept. 10
• 1 p.m. Festival begins; all craft, food and beer tents will be open
• 1 to 9 p.m. Live music and entertainment on both stages
• 2 p.m. Food judging contest begins; vendors will compete for titles in a variety of categories, including Best Fried Seafood, Best Chowder and Best Lobster Roll
• 6:15 p.m. Contest winners will be announced on the Main Stage
Saturday, Sept. 11
• 10 a.m. All craft, food and beer tents reopen for the day, and live entertainment resumes
• 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Culinary demonstrations with NESN’s Wicked Bites
• Noon to 4 p.m. Cornhole competitions in the Beach Cabana Bar
• 3 p.m. Sept. 11 20th anniversary tribute on the Main Stage
• 8:30 p.m. Fireworks display on the beach, presented by the Hampton Beach Village District
Sunday, Sept. 12
• 7:30 a.m. 5K road race begins, taking place along Ocean Boulevard and ending at the Beach Cabana Bar
• 9 a.m. All craft, food and beer tents reopen for the day, and live entertainment resumes
• 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Culinary demonstrations with NESN’s Wicked Bites
• 2 p.m. Lobster roll eating contest on the Main Stage
Featured photo: Lobster roll from Rye Harbor Lobster Pound. Courtesy photo.