For the second year, ArtWeek Nashua is going to be a mainly virtual event, but organizers are doing everything they can to foster the connection between artists and the public, with professionally filmed TV segments, live Facebook feeds and an in-person mural painting to kick it all off.
“Last year, in 2020, there were so many performers, musicians and actors and actresses, all types of performers who got off their game. A lot of people ended up learning a lot about how to use [virtual media] … and create content that would be engaging for people even if it’s not in person,” event coordinator Asia Scudder of City Arts Nashua said.
ArtWeek begins Saturday, Oct. 16, and runs through Sunday, Oct. 24, coinciding once again with KidsWeek Nashua.
KidsWeek Nashua
The scavenger hunt returns, with 50 mini art kits filled with painting, sewing or sculpture projects will be hidden at various public sculpture locations throughout the city. With a little help from Access Nashua Community Television and Nashua-based photographer Sid Ceaser, Woz Watts and Sid the puppet are going undercover as superheroes, hiding the art kits, five of which will have an exclusive “creativity stone” that will give its finder unlimited creative power. “The art kits are the size of like an Altoid box, but they’re really cute,” Scudder said. Hints will be revealed through City Arts Nashua social media, and maps of sculpture site locations will be available at The Picker Artists Studios, at 3 Pine St, Nashua.
Eric Escobar will help get things started, painting a graffiti-style mural on cellophane at 30 Temple St. beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and the public is encouraged to come down and watch him at work. It’s the only in-person event of the week; the rest will be on TV and online.
The video segments were filmed by Access Nashua Community Television, and Scudder said the ones she’d seen so far looked great. She watched one with Damien Rigden, a multimedia artist who writes children’s books and poetry.
“The interview process was just so interesting, to see him really come alive [as he talked about] the process of his creativity,” Scudder said.
She also saw a video of a mother-daughter duo who are from India and just moved to Nashua. Mom Sumeet does food photography and has photos of food from Nepal and India, as well as from Nashua restaurants, and her 8-year-old daughter, Gracelynn, wrote about the importance of food and culture to accompany the photos. Scudder said that during a normal ArtWeek, those photos would be on display in restaurants, but the video allows viewers to get to know the story behind the art, and the artists.
“My hope is that we really encourage people to support artists who have been isolated, alone, not sure about their careers, just show support for these creative individuals,” Scudder said.
Scudder also hopes that the public will interact with artists using social media, even if it’s simply liking a Facebook post.
“The most exciting thing for me is the interaction and hoping that we can inspire people to give a thumbs up to an artist or a shout out,” Scudder said. “It’s difficult having to do this virtually again … but it’s good in terms of keeping momentum going [for the artists].”
Engage in ArtWeek
Each day on Access Nashua Community Television (Comcast Channel 96), City Arts Nashua’s website (accessnashua.org/stream.php) and social media there will be profiles of artists and their works, and posts about each artist will be displayed on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, along with Twitter and LinkedIn.
In-person events
Artist Eric Escobar will hold a live artmaking performance to help kick off ArtWeek and create our ArtWeek installation piece at 30 Temple St. on Saturday, Oct. 16, starting at 10 a.m.
Take a self-guided public sculpture tour of the works of the Nashua International Sculpture Symposium. Maps are available at Picker Artists Studios at 3 Pine St. or using the free Distrx app, which will also be available at cityartsnashua.org.
View artwork on display in the windows of downtown Nashua business locations, with QR codes accompanying the pieces for viewers to see and learn more about the artists:
• Bar Harbor Bank will display the works of artists Janice Donnelly, Madeleine LaRose, Carol Lake, Nona Angelini and Joseph Bryant at 188 Main St., on the East Pearl Street side of the building
• DesignWares will show work by Brenda McDougald at their 206 Main St. location
• The Nashua Area Chamber of Commerce will be showing art from Gate City Charter School for the Arts students in their windows at their 60 Main St. location
ArtWeek artists and performers
• Eric Escobar, live artmaking performance
• Tim Foley, paintings and drawings
• Positive Street Art
• Damien Rigden, interdisciplinary artist
• Robert Lembree, fine art photographer
• Nancy Goodwin/UpbeatNH Youth Orchestra
• Carol Lake, live special events painter
• Ruth Boland, League of NH Craftsmen basketmaker
• Sumeet and Gracelynn Mehta/myllyynnis, food photography
• Teresa Moler, watercolor artist and puppeteer
• Madeleine LaRose, local landscapes in pastels and acrylics
• Bonnie Guercio, mixed-media collages
• Lisa Culpa, landscape photographer
• Karina Mitchell/Membit, interactive artist
• Nona Angelini, painting, mixed media figure drawing
• Nashua Community Music School
• Leslie Pasternack/Lemon Punch Theatre Lab
• Ricardo Cortez, dark abstract to soft whimsical photography
• Douglas Huntley, abstract mixed media artist
• Janice Donnelly, bright, colorful and happy landscapes
• Olivia Powell, imaginative writing
• Loretta Hubley, etching and painting
• Quint-Essential Winds, musicians performing works by American composers
• Brenda McDougald, landscape photography
• Bitter Pill, rhythm and bluegrass band from New Hampshire
Arcades, bowling alleys and game shops to level up your game night
High scores
Classic video gaming at New Hampshire’s arcades
by Matt Ingersoll
Portsmouth native Sean Greenlaw grew up playing retro video games, thanks in part to his father’s managing the former Dream Machine arcade at the Fox Run Mall. So when he learned that Manchester’s Electric Avenue Arcade was up for sale, he saw a unique opportunity.
“I was definitely here pretty regularly. This was a place that I loved to come to and remembered having an amazing community to participate with,” Greenlaw said. “I’ve wanted to start my own business, and this pandemic really taught me that there were opportunities out there for me and that I needed to take chances. … So I threw my hat into the ring to purchase the arcade.”
Last month Electric Avenue fully reopened under Greenlaw’s ownership after an extended absence. All of the arcade’s more than two dozen games are available to play once again, from timeless classics like Pac-Man and Galaga to Donkey Kong, Space Invaders and many others, plus multiple pinball machines and a few Skee-Ball lanes. Greenlaw is looking into adding a few more games on the floor too, including one he acquired that used to be at the Dream Machine.
Arcades were products of their time, before the age of the internet and smartphones, when gamers would gather around hunched over a machine and attempt to surpass the high score. It’s all part of that nostalgic factor Greenlaw hopes to carry on at Electric Avenue.
“You can play a game on your computer or your phone, and that’s a very solitary experience,” he said, “but when you come into an arcade you hear the classic sounds that you grew up with. You’re able to meet up and challenge other folks face to face, which is something that has kind of been lost. … So I really appreciate the feeling of the arcade bringing everyone together. That’s the vibe I’m going for here, is that you feel like you’re walking into your friend’s basement.”
Block Party Social in Hooksett. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.
Indeed, when Greenlaw reopened the doors, many of the arcade’s faithful regulars returned.
“There were people who hadn’t seen each other since the pandemic began who were able to meet up again, and for me that was the best part,” he said. “It’s a testament to [former owners] Chuck and Sara [Vorias], and that’s something that I want to continue.”
In the spirit of starting fresh, Greenlaw is resetting the high scores of each of the machines and is also working toward adding a token dispenser. The bar side of the arcade, meanwhile, will continue to feature a rotating selection of local brews and light food options.
At Block Party Social in Hooksett, formerly the Space Entertainment Center, there are dozens of new arcade games to play in its recently renovated space. Each game operates using preloaded funds on a game card, which you can also use to accumulate points and win prizes.
While there are several iconic games that are represented, many have their own modernized twist. If you love to play Pac-Man or Galaga, for example, you can experience them on a giant LED video billboard. Space Invaders Frenzy combines the classic gameplay of the original Space Invaders with ray gun-like controllers in place of traditional joysticks and buttons. There are also multiple interactive arcade experiences, such as Jurassic Park and Halo.
“The games all kind of have that physical experience to them. It makes for more of an immersive environment,” Block Party Social marketing director Ron Weinberg said. “In a certain sense it is a throwback to maybe when you used to go to the arcade at the beach and play Skee-Ball, but this is almost like a little more high-tech version of it.”
Weinberg said the new games were all part of a complete rebranding of the business that took place last year. Other attractions, like indoor ropes courses, zip lines and an axe-throwing lounge with multiple games to choose from using superimposed screens, have all been added.
In Concord, Wow Fried Chicken & Subs owner Maher Abbas recently turned the adjacent vacant building space on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets into Wow Chicken Arcade, which officially opened to the public on Oct. 1.
Wow Chicken Arcade in Concord. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.
Abbas said kids of all ages enjoying the few games he has inside in his restaurant made him realize that there wasn’t any central arcade in town for them to go to. Unlike at Electric Avenue, which currently utilizes special tokens to play the games that are sold in bagged quantities at the counter, machines at Wow Chicken Arcade are quarter-operated.
Games include many of the classics, as well as a few pinball machines, racing simulators, ice hockey tables and basketball shooting machines. Abbas is making the downstairs space available to rent as a function room for family-friendly private parties and gatherings and has plans to offer entertainment outings like open mic or karaoke nights in the near future.
Visit an arcade
From Pac-Man to Space Invaders and dozens of other classics in between, here’s a list of some spots in southern New Hampshire where you can get your retro video gaming on.
Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to midnight
Formerly the Space Entertainment Center, Block Party Social features a newly renovated arcade space with more than 100 types of video games to enjoy, in addition to an in-house restaurant, a revamped 5,000-square-foot laser tag arena, ropes courses, and an axe-throwing lounge with a variety of game formats.
Dave & Buster’s
1500 S. Willow St., Manchester, 506-3100, daveandbusters.com
Hours: Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.; Tuesday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Granite State’s first Dave & Buster’s location, which arrived in the Mall of New Hampshire plaza in August 2020, features a large arcade with chances to win prizes, plus a sports bar and virtual reality gaming.
Hours: Thursday, 6 to 11 p.m.; Friday, 6 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, noon to midnight, and Sunday, noon to 7 p.m. (may be subject to change)
Reopened last month under new ownership, Electric Avenue is back with all of the same arcade games as before, including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Paper Boy, Galaga, Q*Bert and more, plus a rotating offering of local brews and a light food menu.
Funspot
579 Endicott St. N., Laconia, 366-4377, funspotnh.com
Hours: Monday through Friday, noon to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Billing itself as the “largest arcade in the world,” Funspot features several hundred classic arcade games, as well as other activities like indoor mini-golf, bowling and cash Bingo.
FunWorld
200 Daniel Webster Hwy., Nashua, 888-8735, funworldnh.com
Hours: Friday, 3 to 8 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 8 p.m. (hours are temporarily reduced due to the pandemic and may be subject to change)
This Nashua center features more than 250 video games for all ages, plus a three-story playground and three indoor amusement rides.
Hours: Monday through Thursday, noon to 8 p.m.; Friday, noon to 9 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Arcade games are just one of the attractions at Hilltop Fun Center, which also features mini-golf, laser tag, batting cages and more.
Mel’s Funway Park
454 Charles Bancroft Hwy., Litchfield, 424-2292, melsfunwaypark.com
Hours: Friday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Saturday, noon to midnight, and Sunday, noon to 7 p.m.
One of several attractions to enjoy at Mel’s Funway Park, the indoor arcade is expected to remain open through the end of Spooky World’s annual run this Halloween season, according to co-owner Mike Accomando.
Tokens Taproom
284 Central Ave., Dover, 343-2879, tokenstaproom.com
Hours: Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to midnight; Friday, 4 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday, 4 to 11 p.m.
Known as a “barcade,” a combination arcade and bar, Tokens Taproom has classic arcade games and pinball machines that have been collected over the years by owner Josh Hynes. It’s open to visitors ages 21 and up, but minors are allowed in on Saturdays, from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with accompanying adults.
Wow Chicken Arcade
2 N. Main St., Concord, find them on Facebook @wowchickennn
Hours: Monday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m., and Friday through Sunday, noon to midnight (may be subject to change)
New to the local arcade scene, Wow Chicken Arcade opened Oct. 1 on the corner of Main and Pleasant streets in downtown Concord. Games include pinball, ice hockey, simulated racers, Skee-Ball and more, while a function space is available to rent.
Right up your alley
Bowling still fun for all ages
By Meghan Siegler
The game of bowling hasn’t changed much in the past few decades. You lace up your well-worn rental shoes, grab a ball — a big one with finger holes if you’re playing 10-pin, a much smaller one with no holes if you’re playing candlepin — and send it down the lane, aiming for the pins at the end and hoping the ball stays out of the gutters. But not everything has stayed the same.
“What has come a long way is the technology,” said Kelly Cross, manager of Yankee Lanes in Manchester.
There are two basic kinds of bowling centers, Cross said: traditional league houses that are focused on league bowlers and tournaments, and the centers that are geared more toward family entertainment. She said Yankee Lanes falls somewhere in the middle, with league-based play during the weekdays and non-competitive players coming in on nights and weekends.
Photo courtesy of Kelly Cross of Yankee Lanes.
“After 9 it’s really geared more toward the casual bowlers,” Cross said. “We crank up the music and turn on the glow-in-the-dark lights.”
Cross has been working at Yankee for 20 years, so she’s watched the scene evolve in that time.
“The swing toward a more casual bowler has been the most dramatic change,” she said.
There are also two main kinds of bowling: candlepin and big-ball, the former of which is really only a thing in New England, Cross said.
“It’s a pretty niche market,” she said.
With candlepin, you’re using a smaller ball and aiming for skinnier “candlesticks,” so named because the pins are tapered and resemble candlesticks. The lane conditions are different too; there’s a protective coat of oil that goes on big-ball lanes that’s not used on candlepin lanes.
With its smaller balls, candlepin might seem like a better choice for kids and families, but most bowling centers that have 10-pin offer lighter-weight balls for kids. They also have ramps for really young kids, and bumpers help minimize the frustration of gutter balls.
“There are no benchwarmers in bowling,” Cross said. “Everyone can participate. … We have bowlers who are 2 or 3, all the way up to 90.”
Go bowling
Candlepin
Boutwell’s Bowling Center
152 N. State St., Concord, 224-0941, boutwellsbowl.com
Hours: Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Hours: Sunday noon to 9 p.m., Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Tuesday 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Thursday 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Saturday noon to 10 p.m.
Hours: Closed Monday, open Tuesday through Saturday noon to 9 p.m., Sunday noon to 6 p.m.
Ten-pin
Merrimack Ten Pin
698 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 429-0989, merrimacktenpin.com
Hours: Sunday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Strikers East Bowling Center & Function Room
4 Essex Dr., Raymond, 895-9501, strikerseast.net
Hours: Sunday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday 5 to 10 p.m., Tuesday 5 to 9 p.m., Wednesday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday 5 to 10 p.m., Friday 2 to 11 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Yankee Lanes
216 Maple St., Manchester, 625-9656, yankeelanesentertainment.com
Hours: Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to midnight, Saturday noon to midnight, Sunday noon to 11 p.m.
Really Retro
King Bowling Lanes in Manchester has been around since 1939, according to its website. When it first opened, there were “pinboys” who would set the pins because there were no automatic pinsetters — those weren’t added until 1954. In 1989 King Bowling upgraded to automatic scoring, which is now the norm at most bowling centers.
Well-played
Local game shops host tabletop games, old and new
by Angie Sykeny
Tabletop games are alive and well, from the ones you played as a kid to new ones being released all the time. Many local game and comic book stores double as venues where people can gather for open-play gaming and organized gaming events.
The fantasy tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, or D&D, has been a household name in the game world since the 1980s, but some local game shop staff said it’s starting to break into the mainstream.
“D&D has really come out of the basement and into the spotlight in the last few years, with shows like The Big Bang Theory,and shows that stream D&D games, like Critical Role, where you see Hollywood voice actors playing the game,” said Jay Ribak, owner of Relentless Dragon, a game store in Nashua. “I think the demographic [of players] is growing.”
Megan Kilar, who works at Collectibles Unlimited, a game store in Concord, said the pandemic was also responsible for a “Dungeons & Dragons renaissance.”
“There are a lot of board games that you can really only play in person, but D&D is one that you can play together online, so for many people, playing D&D was a way to connect with their friends during Covid,” she said.
Relentless Dragon hosts organized D&D games three nights a week that are open to anyone with any level of interest in the game.
“People are welcome to drop in and sit in on a session to observe, or to join,” Ribak said. “You don’t really need anything except a willingness to try things out. … We’ll help you get an introduction to the game.”
Tabletop gaming at Game Knight in Manchester. Courtesy photo.
Another game that has stood the test of time and continues to attract new players is Magic: The Gathering, a fantasy trading card game that came out in the early 1990s.
“Magic is great, because the rules haven’t changed,” Kilar said. “If you knew how to play Magic 10 or 15 years ago, you still know how to play Magic, and if you don’t, it’s easy enough to pick up.”
You can find weekly Magic games at both Collectibles Unlimited and Relentless Dragon as well as other local game shops.
If you like games involving strategy and games that allow you to be creative, Warhammer, a medieval-fantasy war game played with custom miniatures, has the best of both worlds, Kiler said. Around since the 1980s, Warhammer has maintained a following and is, according to Kiler, the most popular game at Collectibles Unlimited.
“There’s a lot to it,” she said. “You paint your miniatures on your own however you want to, and then you have to think about how you’re going to use your army and what each of your units is going to do.”
Your tabletop game options don’t end with the classics; Matt Summers, owner of Game Knight, a BYOB game shop and gaming lounge in Manchester, said there’s “a pretty decent market” for tabletop games, and that it’s growing all the time.
“A lot of people think board games have gone by the wayside, but they’ve actually been evolving,” Summers said. “There’s brand new games — all kinds of crazy games — coming out almost every month.”
Modern games have expanded into many different themes and genres beyond fantasy, Summers said, such as cyberpunk, outer space, crowd games and games based on anime series like Cowboy Bebop and My Hero Academia.
Every Saturday, Game Knight opens a game that’s new to the store and teaches people how to play it.
“We don’t want to be a niche-type store,” Summers said. “The sky’s the limit in [the game] world — if you can think of it, there’s probably a game for it — and we want to do it all so that anyone can come and game the way they want.”
If your post-pandemic social life could use a boost, Riback said, playing games at your local game store is a great way to get out of the house and engage with other people in a relaxed atmosphere.
“It’s really important, especially now, to be able to step away from our screens for a bit and get some face time with our fellow humans,” he said. “[The store] provides a place where people can do that, and everyone is welcome.”
Play tabletop games
Here are some local game shops and gaming lounges where you can play tabletop games.
• Awesome Cards, Collectibles, & Games (123 Nashua Road, Unit 14, Londonderry, 404-6996, awesomeccg.com)
• Boards and Brews Board Game Cafe (941 Elm St., Manchester, 232-5184, boardsandbrewsnh.com)
• Collectibles Unlimited (25 South St., Concord, 228-3712, collectiblesunlimited.biz)
Yu-Gi-Oh – Wednesday, 7 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m.
Magic: The Gathering (Commander) – Thursday, 7 p.m., and Saturday, 3 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering (draft) – Friday, 7 p.m.
Flesh & Blood TCG – Friday, 7 p.m.
Cardfight Vanguard – Saturday, 3 p.m.
Weekly events at Concord location:
Flesh & Blood TCG – Sunday, 1 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering (Commander) – Thursday, 7 p.m., and Saturday, noon
Magic: The Gathering (draft) – Friday, 7 p.m.
• Game Knight (North End Shops at Livingston Park, 545 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 232-4813, gameknightnh.wixsite.com)
Weekly events:
Dungeons & Dragons – Wednesdays, 6 to 10 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering (Commander) – Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering (Draft) – Friday, 7 p.m.
Ultimate Day of Gaming (the shop introduces a new game)
• The Relentless Dragon Game Store (483 Amherst St., Nashua, 204-5275, relentlessdragon.com)
Weekly events:
Dungeons & Dragons – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering – Friday, 5 to 11 p.m.
• Merrymac Games and Comics (550 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 420-8161, merrymacgc.com)
Weekly events:
Magic: The Gathering (Draft) – Wednesday, 6 to 10 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering (Commander) – Thursday, 6 to 9 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering (Modern) – Friday, 6:30 to 10 p.m.
• Midgard Comics and Games (55 Crystal Ave., No. 21, Derry, 260-6180, midgardcomicsandgames.com)
Weekly events:
Digimon – Thursday, 6:30 to 10 p.m.
Magic: The Gathering – Friday, 6:30 to 10 p.m.
• Tactical Tabletop Gaming (940 Suncook Valley, Epsom, 736-0411, tacticaltabletopgaming.com)
Free RPG Day
Free RPG Day, an annual worldwide promotional event for role-playing tabletop games, will take place on Saturday, Oct. 16. Participating game, comic book and hobby retailers partner with participating game publishers to provide free content for RPGs, including booklets with exclusive adventures, campaigns, guides, character profiles and previews, as well as RPG accessories and swag, like special-edition dice. This year’s featured RPGs will include Twilight Imperium, Talisman Adventures, Fabula Ultima, Warhammer, Victoriana, Achtung! Cthulhu, Pathfinder, Zombicide, Blue Rose, Vast Grimm, Humblewood, Epic Encounter, Iron Kingdoms and Dungeons & Dragons. More may be announced. For more information and updates about Free RPG Day, visit freerpgday.com or find them on social media @freerpgday.
Here are the local retailers officially registered as Free RPG Day participants. Other retailers may be hosting unofficial celebrations with special activities and promotions of their own.
• Awesome Cards, Collectibles, & Games (123 Nashua Road, Unit 14, Londonderry, 404-6996, awesomeccg.com) • Game Knight (North End Shops at Livingston Park, 545 Hooksett Road, Manchester, 232-4813, gameknightnh.wixsite.com) • Jetpack Comics (37 N. Main St., Rochester, 330-9636, jetpackcomics.com) • Pop Culture Cards, Comics, Collectibles, and Gaming (66 Route 27, Raymond, 244-1850, popculturenh.com) • The Relentless Dragon Game Store (483 Amherst St., Nashua, 204-5275, relentlessdragon.com)
Featured photo: Electric Avenue Arcade in Manchester.Courtesy photo.
It’s a big weekend for local theater with two plays on the schedule up in Concord. Catch the Community Players of Concord’s presentation of Barefoot in the Park, the play by Neil Simon, at the Concord City Auditorium (2 Prince St). The shows are tonight and tomorrow, Oct. 16, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $18 for youth and seniors; see communityplayersofconcord.org. And beginning a two-weekend run at the Hatbox Theatre (270 Loudon Road in Concord; hatboxnh.com, 715-2315) is American Son, a play by Christopher Demos-Brown. Tonight’s show is at 7:30 p.m., as are shows on Oct. 16, Oct. 22 and Oct. 23. Sunday shows (Oct. 17 and Oct. 24) are at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $22, $19 for students and seniors.
Friday, Oct. 15
Today is also the kickoff of a multi-week run of Mamma Mia!, the ABBA musical, at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588). Tonight’s show is at 7:30 p.m. The play runs through Nov. 14 with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays, 2 and 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays and noon and 5 p.m. on Sundays (most weeks). There will also be Thursday shows on Oct. 28 and Nov. 11. Tickets cost $25 to $46. And if you can’t get enough ABBA, head to the Capitol Center for the Arts (16 S. Main St. in Concord; ccanh.com, 225-1111) on Wednesday, Oct. 20, for ABBA the Concert, a tribute concert to the Swedish pop group, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $29.50 to $49.50 (plus fees).
Saturday, Oct. 16
The New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra will begin its new season with a show “From Darkness to Hope” presented tonight at 7:30 p.m. and tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 17, at 2 p.m. at Seifert Performing Arts Center at Salem High School (44 Geremonty Dr. in Salem). The concerts will include performances of music by Beethoven, Samuel Barber and Tchaikovsky and will be conducted by Mark Latham. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, $8 for students and $5 for Salem K-12 students. A livestream pass for $15 is also available for Sunday’s show.
Saturday, Oct. 16
Giant pumpkins! Seaworthy pumpkins! Falling pumpkins! The Goffstown Giant Pumpkin Weigh Off and Regatta has all sorts of pumpkin entertainment planned for this weekend, starting today and continuing through tomorrow, Sunday, Oct. 17, when the actual regatta of pumpkin watercraft will hit the Piscataquog River at 3 p.m. See the weigh-off of the giant gourds today at 10:30 a.m. at the Common in Goffstown. The day will also include vendors and demonstrations, a doggie costume contest (at 10 a.m.) and fireworks (at dusk). Find out more in Angie Sykeny’s story on page 12 in last week’s (Oct. 7) issue of the Hippo; find the e-edition at hippopress.com.
Save the Date! For wine in November
The Lakes Region Uncorked will be held at Church Landing at Mill Falls (281 Daniel Webster Hwy. in Meredith) on Thursday, Nov. 4, at 5 p.m. and feature tastings from more than a dozen area craft breweries and wineries as well as food, a silent auction, music and more. General admission costs $50; a premier ticket (which includes a celebrity chef cooking demonstration) costs $90. See lakesregionuncorked.com. The Chase Home’s 7th Annual Wine & Chocolate Tasting fundraiser will be held Wednesday, Nov. 10, at Jimmy’s Jazz & Blues Club (135 Congress St. in Portsmouth). The event will run from 6 to 9 p.m. and feature food, a live and silent auction and more. Tickets cost $75; see chasehome.org.
Featured photo: Giant Pumpkin Regatta. Courtesy photo.
That boom you heard Sunday might have been a meteor, scientists are saying. According to a report from WMUR on Oct. 11, the loud boom followed by a slight rumble that Granite Staters reported hearing and feeling around 11:30 a.m. on Oct. 10 was not an earthquake or military activity; the U.S. Geological Survey said there were no earthquakes in New England on Sunday, and the Federal Aviation Administration said there was no military plane activity over the state, either. People from more than 40 cities and towns in southern and central New Hampshire, and from northern Massachusetts and eastern Maine, reported hearing the noise, which scientists told WMUR was likely a sonic boom caused by a meteor that entered the atmosphere at supersonic speed and then quickly burned up.
Score: -1 (because, according to WMUR, the cloudy weather Sunday meant it’s likely nobody actually saw it and the mystery might not definitively be solved)
Comment:“The Earth is always passing through this sort of dust of sporadic meteoroids,” Ryan Volz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said in the WMUR report. “And mostly, they’re very small, dust-sized particles, and they’re creating meteor events that no one notices. … But sometimes, you get these bigger meteoroids, and they create something that everybody notices.”
Too many bullies
New Hampshire ranks 8th in the nation for 2021’s States with the Biggest Bullying Problems, according to a recent report from personal-finance website WalletHub, which compared 47 states and the District of Columbia in areas like “bullying-incident rate” and “percentage of high school students bullied online.” For the latter, the Granite State came in at No. 1 — not a top slot to be proud of. The state ranked 9th for bullying prevalence and 8th for anti-bullying laws (meaning we don’t have nearly as many as most other states).
Score: -2
Comment:On the bright side, New Hampshire placed 40th for bullying impact and treatment, meaning we’re not doing so bad in terms of how bullying is negatively affecting kids and in the way we’re helping victims, through things like school counselor-to-student ratios.
Skateboarding, knitting and more for mental health
More than 1,000 participants on 123 teams participated in NAMIWalks NH, the Granite State’s largest mental health awareness and suicide prevention event, on Oct. 9. According to a press release, the virtual event had participants kayaking, hiking, horseback riding, skateboarding, knitting, drawing and more to raise awareness and inspire hope. More than $180,000 has been raised for NAMIWalks NH Your Way 2021, and fundraising remains open through Nov. 30 at NAMIWalksNH.org.
Score: +1
Comment:You can see what local participants did to raise awareness for mental health during this event on NAMI New Hampshire’s Facebook page.
Trick or treat?
With outdoor trick-or-treating being encouraged by Dr. Anthony Fauci, health experts are saying that this year’s Halloween activities should look more normal, according to a report from WMUR. Yet while cases in New Hampshire have started to come down from their mid-September high, the numbers were much lower last year (685 active cases compared to nearly 4,000 as of Oct. 11, according to the NH Department of Health and Human Services).
Score: 0 (+1 for an OK to trick-or-treating but -1 because of those persistent high numbers)
Comment:QOL hopes to see more trick-or-treaters this year but will still be following Covid safety precautions when handing out candy; that increase in active cases compared to last year is scary!
QOL score: 80
Net change: -2
QOL this week: 78
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at [email protected].
The baseball playoffs are underway, having gotten started nicely when the Sox croaked the Yanks 6-2 in the play-in game. More interesting, at least to me, is what we can learn about team-building from watching Tampa Bay, even if I don’t care for what their robotic stat geek approach is doing to the game. They have athletic talent and pitching depth used in a different relay-race way than the olden days, and they have figured out how to win cost-effectively. I’d say maybe there’s something there for the Sox brass to learn from, but that’s why they hired TB alum Chaim Bloom in the first place.
Now for some more thoughts.
I don’t know if TB stumbled on it just trying to save money, but they show that the most cost-effective way per out is to load up on six or seven hard-throwing relievers whom they usually turn the game over to after five innings. That’s because if those guys pitch four innings per game every game and are even making $3 million per (which they’re not) that’s 648 innings for a paltry $21 million. As opposed to the Yanks getting 181 innings from Gerrit Cole for $32 million per year. That’s $10,802 per out for TB vs. $60K for NY and since most of those D-Rays are under 3.00 in ERA they’re competitive to Cole’s 3.23. So tell me which way is better. So the trick is to draft and develop guys to be one-inning power pitchers who are interchangeable and not married to a specific role, including closer. Since the Red Sox have not developed a starter to win 10 games or more since Clay Buchholz came up in 2007 they should try that instead of what they’ve been so unsuccessfully doing for 20 years.
One final note on Cole: When he refused to talk about the Astros moments after he and they won the 2017 World Series because he was now a free agent and didn’t work for them any longer, he went on my sports hate list instantaneously. So it was great to see him spit the bit (as the Boss used to say) in the big moments. Well-spent $324 million I’d say.
In case you’re wondering, the 106 games won by the 2021 Dodgers are the most ever by a team finishing in second place. Even more amazing is that even though the 107-win Giants seemingly clinched a playoff spot in July they didn’t clinch the NL West until the final day of the regular season.
Incidentally, a big payoff could be coming for those who bet on them to win the World Series before the year in Vegas, where they were a 100-1 shot.
Since no one was in the stands to do it last year during the playoffs, expect the booing of the Astros for their cheating scandal to continue until their final playoff out.
I count 11 ex-Red Sox in the playoffs, including Jackie Bradley, who hit a microscopic .163 for Milwaukee this year; TB’s Manuel Margot, who was traded for White Sox reliever Craig Kimbrel (5.09 in 24 appearances after being traded to Chi in late July) when Kimbrel came to Boston from San Diego; Chicago’s Michael Kopech (44 games in relief with a 3.50) and Yoan Moncada, who were the big chips in the Chris Sale trade; Marwin Gonzalez, who hooked on with Houston on the Jamie Collins plan after being DFA by the Sox in August to hit below the Mendozza line for both teams; Pablo Sandoval, still somehow in the majors with Atlanta, and Yaz’s grandson Mike, a key player for SF.
Then there’s the L.A. contingent managed by 2004 Game 4 hero Dave Roberts. Injury-riddled Mookie Betts didn’t have one of his better years while hitting .258 with 23 homers and 58 RBI. Meanwhile only 11 of David Price’s 39 appearances were starts when he pitched just 74 innings and had an ERA of 4.04, and 2018 postseason stalwart Joe Kelly was 2-0 and 2.85 in 44 games.
Between the injured Clayton Kershaw and suspended Trevor Bauer L.A. has $71 million in starting pitching sitting not available in the playoffs. That’s more than the D-Rays’ entire payroll.
The Giants did what they did with their leading homer guy Brandon Belt (29) and the only guy who could hit for TB in the early days, Evan Longoria, only playing 97 and 81 games respectively
Thanks to a .306 lifetime batting average and winning two batting titles while mostly playing the game’s most physically demanding position, many see ex-Twins catcher Joe Mauer as a likely Hall of Famer. If that’s the case, does the same go for Giants catcher Buster Posey? He’s a .302 lifetime hitter, with one batting title and more homers already than Mauer, while being the linchpin of three World Series winners to none by Joe. And No. 4 could be in progress as we speak.
The evening Massachusetts daily lotto numbers on the day before the Yankees-Red Sox playoff game on Tuesday were 1-9-7-8. That was the year of the last one-game playoff between the Sox and Yanks, otherwise known as the Bucky bleeping Dent game won by NY.
The omen didn’t work this time. Though I must say, good strategy by Alex Cora to pull the in-total-control Nathan Eovaldi after just 5.1 innings so they could lure Aaron Judge into barely being thrown out at the plate after a difficult double relay by bringing in Ryan Brasier so Giancarlo Stanton could hit another one of the wall to start the play in motion. Worked perfect. What a strategist.
Finally, Giancarlo, are you kidding me? Posing on a ball you think is going out instead of hustling to first in a winner-take-all playoff game? Really? Where do they find clueless meatballs like that?
Jonathan Weinberg, a Concord resident and student at Southern New Hampshire University, will be presented with the Civic Leader of the Year award at the 2021 Rising Stars Awards on Thursday, Oct. 21, at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. The awards, an initiative of New Hampshire Public Radio and Stay Work Play, recognize New Hampshire young people who are working to make a positive impact in their communities. The ceremony starts at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in person with a limited capacity and broadcast live online; visit 2021rsa.eventbrite.
What does the Civic Leader of the Year award recognize?
It recognizes any type of political involvement or civic engagement [that is] helping to better one’s community or trying to get more people civically engaged, whether that’s in an elected position, or working with advocacy committees or groups that are trying to promote positive changes in the community.
What kinds of civic engagement have you been involved in?
Last year I decided to run for the school board in the Concord area. … I was involved with the gun violence prevention movement, helping to organize various marches. I helped with some Black Lives Matter protests. … I also have experience working in environmental advocacy, immigration, child care and affordable wages.
Are there any causes you’d like to get more involved in?
I’d love to expand my horizons. Mental health advocacy is something that’s been a growing passion of mine. As we saw during the past year, there were not enough beds available [at mental health facilities] for people who were waiting in the emergency room. … I’d love to get more involved in that, working to bring further investment to an underfunded system. … I’d also like to be more involved in reproductive rights advocacy.
Are any of these issues personal for you?
Immigration has some personal [significance] for me. As a Jewish person I’ve experienced anti-semitism. I’ve seen the kind of iniquitous, abhorrent behavior that people can show toward someone just because they’re from somewhere else, or because they look different. It motivates me to make sure that other people don’t have to feel the way that I have felt when I’ve [experienced] anti-semitic slurs. That’s also why I’ve been involved in advocating with equity and helping to promote Black Lives Matter protests. … I also have a personal connection with mental health. I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression for years but haven’t been very vocal about it. I want to make sure that we’re destigmatizing and raising awareness of mental health [issues] so that people feel safe in their communities to express what they’re going through.
How do you take care of yourself?
I use a lot of coping mechanisms. I try to run. I play piano. I try to do things that help me [maintain] a sense of equilibrium. When you’re dealing with all of these really challenging issues and something doesn’t go the way you hoped, you have to remind yourself that at least you’re doing something about it; don’t give up.
What is the biggest change you’d like to see in New Hampshire?
I think we need more investment in social programs, whether it’s [addressing] the opioid epidemic, homelessness, the mental health crisis, child care or the minimum wage. If we tackle one of those issues, it can help with the other issues as well, because they’re very interconnected. We also need to create programming that is more accessible, that [doesn’t require] filling out so much paperwork or going out of your way in order to receive [assistance].
What do you want to do after graduating from college?
I’ve thought about attending law school. I’d love to work … representing individuals who cannot afford representation or don’t have representation that’s adequate … and also work on immigration reformation.
What advice would you give to other young people looking to get more involved in their communities?
Sometimes, people are afraid to get involved because they don’t know what they’re going to do [to help], or they don’t feel like they have the right experience to speak on the matter. But there’s something powerful about getting involved in something just because you have that gut feeling that you should. Don’t let a lack of experience or a fear that you don’t know enough stop you from getting involved. Once you take that leap, you can learn more about it, and sometimes being new to something [allows you to] build a better foundation, which can be the most powerful agent of change in action.
Featured photo: Jonathan Weinberg. Courtesy photo.
