2021 – Page 146

Meals with mom

Brunches, special menus and more for Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is fast approaching — check out this list of brunches, dinners and special menus at local restaurants and function centers. Most dine-in events are planned for Mother’s Day (Sunday, May 9) unless otherwise specified, while a few local businesses are planning takeout specials. Do you know of an eatery offering Mother’s Day specials that’s not on this list? Let us know at food@hippopress.com.

• 110 Grill (875 Elm St., Manchester, 836-1150; 27 Trafalgar Square, 943-7443; 136 Marketplace Blvd., Rochester, 948-1270; 2 Portwalk Place, Portsmouth, 373-8312; 19 Portsmouth Ave., Stratham, 777-5110; 250 N. Plainfield Road, W. Lebanon, 790-8228; 110grill.com) is taking reservations for a Mother’s Day brunch at all of its locations, including those in New Hampshire. In addition to its full menu, several specials will be available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., like breakfast tacos, chicken and waffles, steak and egg Benedict, apple cider doughnut French toast, and brunch cocktails like bloody marys, double espresso martinis and adult mocha iced coffees.

• 603 Charcuterie (Derry, 603charcuterie.com) is taking orders for several Mother’s Day charcuterie board specials, including those with specialty meats and cheeses, but also some dessert options like macarons, chocolate-covered strawberries and more. Pickups will be at Creative Chef Kitchens (35 Manchester Road, Derry) on Friday, May 7, from 3 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, May 8, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.; and Sunday, May 9, from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., depending on which charcuterie option you choose.

• Alan’s of Boscawen (133 N. Main St., Boscawen, 753-6631, alansofboscawen.com) will serve a Mother’s Day brunch buffet from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring items like fresh fruit, assorted cheeses and crackers, pastries, scrambled eggs, homefries, bacon and sausage; plus lunch options like roast turkey with stuffing, crabmeat stuffed haddock, and a carving station with roast leg of lamb, prime rib and Virginia baked ham. Call for reservations.

• Atkinson Resort & Country Club (85 Country Club Drive, Atkinson, 362-8700, atkinsonresort.com) will serve a Mother’s Day brunch buffet from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., featuring a waffle station and made-to-order omelet station; a carving station with items like prime rib, ham and apple-cured turkey; breakfast items, like pastries, bacon, sausage and homefries; lunch entrees, like sweet and spicy chicken, baked haddock, and smoked Gouda and white cheddar macaroni and cheese; and desserts, like chocolate mousse, tiramisu, cheesecake lollipops and assorted cookies and brownies. Reservations are required.

• Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, 244-3165, averillhousevineyard.com) will serve a high tea Mother’s Day brunch from 10 a.m. to noon, featuring a pre-set four-course brunch, a cup of tea, a tasting flight of four wines per guest (must be 21+) and a souvenir glass.

• The Bakeshop on Kelley Street (171 Kelley St., Manchester, 624-3500, thebakeshoponkelleystreet.com) will be open on Mother’s Day from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Place any pickup orders by May 6.

• Bedford Village Inn (2 Olde Bedford Way, Bedford, 472-2001, bedfordvillageinn.com) will serve a Mother’s Day brunch in its Great Hall featuring a grand buffet from 9:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., followed by a special three-course prix fixe dinner menu served in its dining room from 2 to 7 p.m. The brunch buffet will have chef-attended Belgian waffle and omelet stations, plus a charcuterie and cheese display, hand-carved meats to order like North Country Smokehouse ham and herb-crusted slow-roasted beef, and assorted soups, salads and breakfast options. The three-course dinner will include your choice of an appetizer (roasted poblano pepper and corn chowder, potato and leek bisque, Dowie Farm pea shoots or panzanella); an entree (grilled tournedos of beef, Scottish salmon filet, milk-fed veal loin medallions, smoked Kurobuta pork loin, garlic and herb tri-colored quinoa with vegetables, or grilled swordfish loin); and a dessert (carrot cake, chocolate beet cake, vanilla bean creme brulee, or passionfruit cream pavlova). Reservations are required for both.

• Birch Wood Vineyards (199 Rockingham Road, Derry, 965-4359, birchwoodvineyards.com) will serve a Mother’s Day brunch with two available seatings, at 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Several plated meals are available to choose from, including a biscuit and gravy plate, a French toast plate, a broccoli and cheddar frittata plate, a chicken picatta plate, a haddock plate, a short rib plate and an eggplant Napoleon plate. All breakfast entrees are served with fruit salad and lunch entrees with mixed green salad and raspberry vinaigrette — all plates also come with a variety of fresh baked breads, either milk, juice or coffee, and a trio of desserts. Reservations are required.

• Buckley’s Great Steaks (438 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 424-0995, buckleysgreatsteaks.com) is taking reservations for Mother’s Day, from 1 to 6 p.m., serving its regular menu with specials. Call during business hours or make your reservation online.

• Clam Haven (94 Rockingham Road, Derry, 434-4679, clamhaven.com) has customizable options from its new catering menu, featuring items like shrimp or lobster tail cocktail, platters of seafood sliders, chicken fingers, hot dogs, burgers and fish tacos, and party-sized options of steam lobster or classic New England clambakes with several sides.

• The Coach Stop Restaurant & Tavern (176 Mammoth Road, Londonderry, 437-2022, coachstopnh.com) will serve a special Mother’s Day menu, with dine-in reservations accepted for 11:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. or 5:30 p.m., as well as pre-order takeout and free delivery. Selections include appetizers like crab cakes, spinach and artichoke dip, bacon-wrapped scallops and French onion soup, and entrees like baked haddock, roasted prime rib of beef, chicken Marsala, chicken and broccoli alfredo and seafood linguine alfredo.

• Colby Hill Inn (33 The Oaks, Henniker, 428-3281, colbyhillinn.com) will serve a special three-course prix fixe menu for Mother’s Day, with seatings at noon, 1 p.m., 2:30 p.m. and 4 p.m. Choose your own first course (English pea, spring leek and ham soup, creamy scallop and tomato bisque, market greens salad, organic spinach salad or spring tempura); main entree (Cornish hen au vin, San Francisco cioppino, house-made saffron tagliatelle pasta, petite leg of lamb, bison short rib Wellington, wiener schnitzel or pan-roasted monkfish and lobster); and a dessert (coconut lime tart, mimosa brulee, chocolate cake with mocha buttercream, profiterole trio or mignardises). Other a la carte extras include oysters on the half-shell, smoked salmon pierogi and farmer’s cheese and charcuterie boards.

• The Common Man (25 Water St., Concord, 228-3463; 304 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 429-3463; 88 Range Road, Windham, 898-0088; 10 Pollard Road, Lincoln, 745-3463; 21 Water St., Claremont, 542-6171; Foster’s Boiler Room, 231 Main St., Plymouth, 536-2764; 60 Main St., Ashland, 968-7030; Lago, 1 Route 25, Meredith, 279-2253; Italian Farmhouse, 337 Daniel Webster Hwy., Plymouth, 536-4536; Lakehouse Grille, 281 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith, 279-5221; Camp, 300 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith, 279-3003; Airport Diner, 2280 Brown Ave., Manchester, 623-5040; Tilt’n Diner, 61 Laconia Road, Tilton, 286-2204; Route 104 Diner, 752 Route 104, New Hampton, 744-0120; thecman.com) will be serving its dinner menus, with Mother’s Day specials. Hours vary depending on the location, and reservations are recommended. Each location is also offering a Mother’s Day meal for four to go, which includes an appetizer of spinach artichoke dip and crackers, braised beef short ribs with mashed potatoes and pesto green beans, house-baked rolls and blueberry breakfast bread, and strawberry shortcake. An optional a la carte side offering of the Common Man’s signature macaroni and cheese is also available. Order by May 3. Pickups will be on Saturday, May 8.

• Copper Door Restaurant (15 Leavy Drive, Bedford, 488-2677; 41 S. Broadway, Salem, 458-2033; copperdoor.com) will serve a special prix fixe menu for Mother’s Day, beginning at 4 p.m., with two-course, three-course and four-course menu options. Items to choose from include sirloin spring rolls, roasted poblano and corn chowder, slow-roasted prime rib, twin filet mignon, shrimp gnocchi, ginger haddock, limoncello cupcakes and strawberry cheesecake. Call to make a reservation.

• Cotton (75 Arms St., Manchester, 622-5488, cottonfood.com) will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Mother’s Day. Reservations are accepted online through OpenTable.

• CR’s The Restaurant (287 Exeter Road, Hampton, 929-7972, crstherestaurant.com) will be open from noon to 5 p.m. on Mother’s Day, serving specials along with some of its popular dinner entrees. Call to make a reservation.

• The Crown Tavern (99 Hanover St., Manchester, 218-3132, thecrownonhanover.com) is accepting Mother’s Day reservations for both indoor and outdoor dining, from noon to 3:30 p.m.

• The Crust & Crumb Baking Co. (126 N. Main St., Concord, 219-0763, thecrustandcrumb.com) will be open on Mother’s Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Place any pickup orders as soon as possible.

• Dahlia Restaurant (dahlianomadic.com) has a limited number of tickets left for a Mother’s Day brunch from noon to 3 p.m., in collaboration with Enna Chocolate (152 Front St., Exeter). Reservations are required and can be made online.

• The Derryfield Restaurant (625 Mammoth Road, Manchester, 623-2880, thederryfield.com) will serve a Mother’s Day brunch buffet, with seatings every half hour from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be an omelet station, a carving station with slow-roasted prime rib and oven-baked ham, assorted salads, baked goods and pastries, and a dessert station with a variety of mini pastries. The main buffet line will have breakfast options like bacon, sausage, corned beef hash, French toast, scrambled eggs and home fries. Call to make a reservation.

• Fratello’s Italian Grille (155 Dow St., Manchester, 624-2022, fratellos.com) will serve a variety of Mother’s Day specials at its Manchester location, like baked stuffed haddock, seafood fra diavolo, roasted vegetable salmon, chicken capri, chicken Parmesan, pan-seared duck breast, beef tenderloin, baked stuffed shells and more. Call to make a reservation.

• Georgia’s Northside (394 N. State St., Concord, 715-9189, georgiasnorthside.com) is taking orders for a surf and turf special for Mother’s Day, featuring chargrilled 8-ounce New York strip steak, a lobster roll, creamy macaroni and cheese and Brussels sprouts. Order online for pickup on Sunday, May 9, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

• Giorgio’s Ristorante & Bar (270 Granite St., Manchester, 232-3323; 524 Nashua St., Milford, 673-3939; 707 Milford Road, Merrimack; giorgios.com) will be serving brunch specials on Mother’s Day from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., in addition to its regular menus, at its Manchester and Milford locations.

• Greenleaf (54 Nashua St., Milford, 213-5447, greenleafmilford.com) is serving a special Mother’s Day brunch menu that will be available for both dine-in and takeout. Brunch plates will include eggs with bacon or sausage, home fries and English muffin toast; Culture’s honey wheat French toast with local maple syrup and whipped molasses honey butter; and buttermilk waffles with rhubarb compote, chantilly cream and local maple syrup. There will also be assorted appetizers, like local cheese boards, smoked pea and mint soup, and house made burrata. Dine-ins will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with reservations accepted online through OpenTable. If ordering takeout, orders must be placed by May 6.

• Hart’s Turkey Farm Restaurant (233 Daniel Webster Hwy., Meredith, 279-6212, hartsturkeyfarm.com) is taking orders for family-sized meals for Mother’s Day, with options like whole roasted turkey, slow roasted prime rib or baked ham. Each comes with whipped potatoes, butternut squash, green beans and dinner rolls. Dessert choices also include apple pie, blueberry pie and chocolate cream pie.

• The Homestead Restaurant & Tavern (641 Daniel Webster Hwy., Merrimack, 429-2022, homesteadnh.com) will serve a variety of specials for Mother’s Day, with seatings from noon to 6 p.m. Items will include roast prime rib of beef, broiled haddock, grilled swordfish, chicken cordon bleu, New York sirloin, chicken marsala and more. Call to make a reservation.

• LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst, 672-9898; 14 Route 111, Derry; labellewinerynh.com) will serve a special Mother’s Day brunch buffet at both locations, with reservations accepted through OpenTable. Options will include assorted pastries and fruit displays, chef-attended omelet stations and build-your-own berry shortcake stations, breakfast items like baked stuffed banana brioche French toast, applewood smoked bacon and pork sausage, and lunch items like herb-roasted filet of cod, garlic and rosemary chicken breast and orzo salad with red wine balsamic vinaigrette. LaBelle Winery’s Amherst location is also taking orders for heat-and-serve take-home meal packages, with options like whole wheat rolls with red wine honey butter, petite greens salad, brown sugar glazed ham with golden raisin chutney, roasted potatoes and lemon asparagus, and strawberry shortcake with chantilly cream for dessert.

• Mile Away Restaurant (52 Federal Hill Road, Milford, 673-3904, mileawayrestaurantnh.com) will serve special dinners for Mother’s Day that include your choice of an appetizer, salad, entree or dessert, available for dine-in or takeout. Appetizers include ham minestrone, Swedish meatballs and fresh fruit plates with sorbet, with the option to substitute those for shrimp cocktail, escargots or onion soup. Salads include Caesar or garden options, with blue cheese, house ranch, raspberry vinaigrette or balsamic dressing. Available entrees include sliced roast sirloin, pork Madagascar, chicken Florentine, piccata Milanese, baked stuffed jumbo shrimp, maple salmon, baked scrod, vegetarian baked eggplant Parmesan and wienerschnitzel. All entrees come with your choice of a baked potato, Swiss potato or rice pilaf, and your choice of green bean Provencal, maple-glazed carrots, pickled beets or applesauce. Available desserts include Snickers pie, tiramisu cake, sorbet, bread pudding, cheesecake, chocolate ganache cake, lemon mascarpone cake and chocolate mousse cake.

• MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar (212 Main St., Nashua, 595-9334, mtslocal.com) is taking reservations for Mother’s Day, from 1 to 6 p.m., serving its regular menu with specials. Call during business hours or make your reservation online. Outdoor dining will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

• New England’s Tap House Grille (1292 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 782-5137, taphousenh.com) will serve a special Mother’s Day brunch, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

• The Old Salt Restaurant at Lamie’s Inn (490 Lafayette Road, No. 9, Hampton, 926-8322, oldsaltnh.com) will be open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Mother’s Day, serving specialty items like roast prime rib dinners, artichoke and mascarpone agnolotti, baked stuffed haddock, boiled lobster dinners, and grilled salmon with lemon dill butter sauce, plus desserts like raspberry white chocolate cheesecake, Boston cream pie, carrot cake and strawberry shortcake.

• Presto Craft Kitchen (168 Amory St., Manchester, 606-1252, prestocraftkitchen.com) is taking orders for a variety of specialty sweets for Mother’s Day, including jumbo chocolate-covered strawberries, hand-filled cannolis (a dozen per order), cheesecake-filled chocolate hearts, and Oreo cheesecake cake-sicles (a half dozen per order). Order by May 2. Pickups will be on Friday, May 7, and Saturday, May 8.

• The Red Blazer Restaurant & Pub (72 Manchester St., Concord, 224-4101, theredblazer.com) will be open its normal Sunday hours on Mother’s Day, from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., serving its regular menu with a few specials like prime rib. Seating will be on a first-come, first-served basis and takeout will be available via online ordering only (no phone orders).

• The Republic of Campo (969 Elm St., Manchester, 666-3723, republiccafe.com; campoenoteca.com) is accepting Mother’s Day reservations beginning at 4 p.m., with full menus available from both restaurants in addition to locally sourced specials.

• Roundabout Diner & Lounge (580 U.S. Highway 1 Bypass, Portsmouth, 431-1440, roundaboutdiner.com) will serve an all-you-can-eat Mother’s Day brunch buffet, accepting reservations from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Featured items are built-your-own omelettes, Belgian waffles, bacon, sausage, cinnamon bun French toast, a seasoned prime rib carving station, baked haddock and more. Other house Mother’s Day specials available on the menu will include brie grilled cheese, pork belly Benedict, Italian sausage scramble and chocolate-covered cherry pancakes.

• SALT Kitchen & Bar (Wentworth by the Sea, 588 Wentworth Road, New Castle, 373-6566, saltkitchenandbar.com) will serve a special multi-course menu for Mother’s Day, featuring your choice of a first course (scallop escabeche, lobster bisque or spring lettuce); an entree (sous vide Atlantic salmon, sliced New York strip, chicken Marsala or English pea ravioli); and a dessert (chocolate tiramisu, lemon meringue cheesecake or strawberry rhubarb crostata. Call to make a reservation.

• Simply Delicious Baking Co. (176 Route 101, Bedford, 488-1988, simplydeliciousbakingco.com) is taking orders for hand-dipped chocolate-covered organic strawberries for Mother’s Day. Order by May 5. Pickups will be on Saturday, May 8, from 8 a.m. to noon.

• Surf Restaurant (207 Main St., Nashua, 595-9293; 99 Bow St., Suite 200W, Portsmouth, 334-9855; surfseafood.com) is taking reservations for Mother’s Day from 1 to 6 p.m., serving its regular menu with specials. Call during business hours or make your reservation online. The bar and outdoor dining will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

• The Village Trestle (25 Main St., Goffstown, 497-8230, villagetrestle.com) will be open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Mother’s Day, serving its full menu along with a special featuring a lobster roll, fries and coleslaw. Live acoustic music with Bob Pratte and Lisa Marie will be from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

• Wolfe’s Tavern (Wolfeboro Inn, 90 N. Main St., Wolfeboro, 569-3016, wolfestavern.com) will serve a special Mother’s Day menu from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., featuring items like croissant French toast, pan-bronzed chicken breast, grilled herb-marinated pork tenderloin, and caramelized onion and goat cheese deep dish quiche. Call or book your reservation online.

• Woodstock Inn Brewery (135 N. Main St., North Woodstock, 745-3951, woodstockinnbrewery.com) is offering a “Mother of all Brunches” package for Mother’s Day, including a weekend room special and a buffet from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. that will feature an omelet bar, a waffle bar, a carving station with ham and prime rib, and other items like eggs Benedict, salmon, vegetable lasagna and assorted desserts. Brunch reservations are accepted but not required.

• XO on Elm (827 Elm St., Manchester, 560-7998, xoonelm.com) will be open from 2 to 7 p.m. on Mother’s Day. Call or make your reservation online through OpenTable.

• Zachary’s Chop House (4 Cobbetts Pond Road, Windham, 890-5555, zacharyschophouse.com) will serve a Mother’s Day breakfast buffet from 8 to 11 a.m., followed by other Mother’s Day specials beginning 11 a.m. Call to make a reservation.

• Zorvino Vineyards (226 Main St., Sandown, 887-8463, zorvino.com) will serve a Mother’s Day brunch buffet with seatings at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. There will be assorted breakfast items, soups, salads, carving stations, desserts and more. Call or book your reservation online.

This story was possible with the generous financial support of Hippo readers. Hippo is very grateful to have the support of its readers. If you haven’t contributed yet, please consider a small contribution. Your contributions allow Hippo to write more stories and gets you access to additional stories and columns.

Keeping NH in the Picture

Keeping NH in the Picture

The New Hampshire Film Bureau, which has helped bring movies like 1981’s On Golden Pond and this year’s Sound of Metal to the state for filming, may be dissolved if the proposed state budget is approved. Professionals from the New Hampshire film industry explain what’s at stake if that happens and why the Granite State is a film destination worth fighting for.

Also on the cover, the Hampstead Eats food truck festival is rolling into town this weekend, p. 21. Hudson Brews is now open and offering craft beers, p. 22. And find all kinds of live music this weekend in Music This Week, starting on p. 32.

Staying the course

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News & Notes 21/04/29

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A draft blows through

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Quality of Life 21/04/29

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Keeping NH in the picture

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The Art Roundup 21/04/29

The latest from NH’s theater, arts and literary communities Studio 550 bowls. Courtesy photo. • Group art show: The New ...

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So Khaotic

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Kiddie Pool 21/04/29

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The winner is ‘Husavik’

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Grateful dad

New music and shows from Lucas Gallo

Over the past year, Concord singer-songwriter Lucas Gallo noticed a marked shift in how the diners that he played to responded to his craft.

“People’s appreciation … or the way they show it, has changed,” Gallo said in a recent phone interview. For example, “I usually don’t put out a tip jar, but people walk by and just throw a 10-dollar bill at me and say, ‘Good job, man.’ That was a rare occurrence, but now people are dropping money at my feet.”

Another bright spot of the pandemic was outdoor performing, which grew out of necessity but has become de rigueur at many venues. Gallo books music at Penuche’s Ale House in Bicentennial Square, which is known for its raucous basement, but they’re “trying to work a patio in,” and he expects that the soon-to-reopen True Brew Barista will likely use its outdoor space for live music at some point.

Gallo played at last year’s summer series hosted by Capitol Center for the Arts in nearby Fletcher-Murphy Park, which will reprise in early June, and he’ll be back again for a July 31 show. He’s also involved in the return of Market Days to downtown Concord in August, with an even sharper eye for area talent.

“They’re really focused on local offerings, not national or bigger chain vendors, which I think is cool,” he said.

Lately, he’s been playing at places like Area 23 and had effusive praise for the restaurant-tap room’s owner, Kirk McNeil, “who never let the live, local music stop no matter what.” He recently did a set at Main Street Bar & Grill in Pittsfield; it reminded him of The Green Martini, a mainstay Concord bar until it burned down in 2012.

“I lived there for a while, it was my go to, and maybe it was because some of that crew is there, but it had a super chill, fun, friendly hangout vibe,” he said.

An upcoming show at Concord Craft Brewery will showcase Lost & Found, a six-song EP released digitally in March. Their Safe Space IPA is not the only reason he enjoys going back to the brewery.

“It’s so supportive,” he said, adding their outdoor performing space is “one of the many cool places that have popped up everywhere. You get passers-by when you play their patio; it’s right on the road.”

There’s a lot of love and warmth on Gallo’s new record, a reflection of family nesting during the long quarantine. The title track is an easygoing love ballad; “Thrive” offers words of wisdom for his children. “I wanted to write a sort of advice-type song for them,” Gallo said, “ and that’s what came out.”

It succeeds sweetly, offering a checklist of instructions. “Don’t let the bumps and the bruises of the day change the way you’re moving through it,” he sings, “every pain heals itself in time … be the light.”

Such sentiments, and the choice of the album’s title, Gallo said, are a reminder that “in addition to the underlying theme of gratitude, there is the sense/motif of light and darkness, and a balance between the two that corresponds with being lost and found.”

While the music scene ground to halt for large parts of 2020, Gallo managed to get a lot done.

“Funny thing, there didn’t seem to be a huge amount of slow time,” he said. “Maybe it was all the livestreams people were doing … people just found ways to do more, but it’s nice to see them getting back into the restaurant and patio gigs.”

Along with his solo projects — another three-song record will arrive mid-summer — Gallo has plans to again reunite his old band JamAntics.

“We were going to do another show last year and everything was shutting down before we announced it,” he said, “We have some stuff in the works for later this year. I don’t want to say too much, but we’re crossing our fingers that everything continues the positive trend, so we can open later in the year.”

Lucas Gallo
When: Saturday, April 24, 4 p.m.
Where: Concord Craft Brewing, 117 Storrs St., Concord
More: facebook.com/ConcordCraftBrewing

Featured photo: Lucas Gallo. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 21/04/22

Local music news & events

• Hometown girl: Enjoy country songs with a local sparkle as Nicole Knox Murphy starts the weekend early at a rustic pub that has live acts three nights a week. Murphy’s paean to her home state “My 603” was honored by the New Hampshire Senate with a resolution in June 2020. Thursday, April 22, 6 p.m., Village Trestle, 25 Main St., Goffstown. See nkmsings4u.com.

• Showing respect: Fans of old-school hip-hop should check out DJ Shamblez paying tribute to legendary producer DJ Premier at a late afternoon session of spinning. In November 2019, he unearthed vocals from Guru, his late performing partner in Gang Starr, to create One Of The Best Yet, and he recently released a video of “Glowing Mic” from the follow-up instrumental LP, featuring Big Shug. Friday, April 23, 4 p.m., Lithermans Limited Brewery, 126B Hall St., Concord, lithermans.beer.

• Amateur hour: Aspiring standup comics should check out the return of Comedy Open Mic and see how their Zoom meeting snark lands on a live audience of non-coworkers. Here’s a sample joke posted on the restaurant/pub’s Facebook page for recruiting purposes: “The next time your wife gets angry, drape a towel over her shoulders (like a cape) and say, ‘Now you’re SUPER ANGRY!’” Saturday, April 24, 5:13 p.m., Area 23, 254 N. State St., Unit H (Smokestack Center), Concord, facebook.com/area23concord.

• Tuesday tunes: Massachusetts guitar ace Ryan Foley has a range of influences, from Hendrix to Alan Holdsworth and Doc Watson. He’ll pair his music with craft spirits and ales at a riverfront brewery, distillery, bar and restaurant. Foley is celebrating the recently released album, North Hadley Tobacco. Fans of Nickel Creek and Union Station will appreciate his fretwork. Tuesday, April 27, 6:30 p.m., Stark Brewing Co., 500 N. Commercial St., Manchester, facebook.com/RyanFoleyMusic.

Have a happy Oscars Sunday

Why the Oscars and the Oscar movies can be fun

I love the Oscars.

Sure, the awards ceremony is long, people thank their agents, not all of the Choices! made with montages or original song performances or “comedy” bits are successful. And, yes, the Oscars don’t always pick the best movies or the most deserving artists in a year to nominate or to reward with the big prizes.

But still — I am excited about the Sunday, April 25, Academy Awards ceremony (8 p.m. on ABC; at 6:30 p.m. something called Oscars: Into the Spotlight will air, according to media reports, and will feature pre-recorded performances of all the original song nominees and maybe this will be fun and maybe it will be lame but I’m totally going to watch it). And this year has the potential of being extra fun/extra weird (which can also be fun) because it’s going to be “like a movie” somehow, as all the reports about the Steven Soderbergh-produced pandemic-era (but allegedly Zoom-free) ceremony have stated.

Perhaps you don’t care about the Oscars (which is fine, we all pick our own things to geek out over). Perhaps you find yourself not caring this year because you haven’t heard of some of the movies (only 18 percent of “active film watchers” have heard of Mank, according to a New York Times article from April 18, the gist of which was the annual freak-out about whether people will watch the Oscars, heightened this year because award shows in general have seen ratings tank during the pandemic). During this year of limited in-theater movie releases and limited “let’s go see whatever random movie is playing” outings, it seems totally normal that people wouldn’t be aware of the movies unless finding out about movies is their Thing.

So, if you haven’t already bought your bubbly and blocked off Sunday evening on your calendar, why is the Oscars, in its 93rd year of fusty award giving and “Webster’s Dictionary defines story-telling”-ness, worth getting excited about? Here are the reasons why I, in spite of everything, love the Oscars:

• The clothes: “Pretty dresses” (and suits and their intersection, i.e. Billy Porter’s awesome 2019 gown) may sound like a shallow reason to be interested in something but capital F Fashion is not something I, a vintage Targeeé and Old Navy couture -type, get a lot of regular exposure to. Post-Oscars coverage can include things like discussion of a designer’s recent collection or side-by-side pictures of a dress on the runway and the same dress, often modified, as worn by an actress. It’s a real Devil Wears Prada “cerulean blue” glimpse at how high fashion connects with the business of styling celebrities. Also, you know, the dresses are pretty.

• The speeches: Corny as it is, it’s fun to see what everybody says to thank their spouses and parents. I also like the general messages of the joy of doing their work: Linda Holmes on NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast often cites Once’sGlen Hansard’s saying “make art, make art” in 2008. I also like when people are just tickled with their win, i.e. Julia Roberts in 2001 (in vintage Valentino, I learned). And then there are the “talk to the industry” speeches, like Frances McDormand in 2018. They can be funny and serious and sweet and they still have an element of “real person having an awesome moment” to them.

• The unexpected moments: Sometimes I seek out the clip of when Samuel L. Jackson calls Spike Lee’s name in 2019 and Spike Lee comes up to the stage and gives him a full body hug. Or when in 2017 Jordan Horowitz, La La Land producer, announced that Moonlight had actually won best picture (followed by Jimmy Kimmel’s excellent “Warren, what did you do?” to presenter Warren Beatty). Or in 2020 when the crowd reaction to an attempt to cut off the Parasite team after their best picture win got the camera to cut back to them. I don’t watch a lot of sports so this is one of my few annual reminders of what live TV looks like.

• Olivia Colman: For all of the above-stated reasons. Some people are just really good at being on awards shows. (She’s nominated this year for The Father, which is available for rent.)

• Arguing about what should have been nominated: I hoped Elisabeth Moss for The Invisible Man (currently on HBO Max or available for purchase) had a shot at a best actress nomination. I’d have added The Willoughbys (on Netflix) to best animation.

Beyonce’s Black Is King (Disney+) must not have been Oscar-eligible because it definitely should have grabbed Costume Design, Production Design, Cinematography, Makeup and Hairstyling and Original Song nominations (whatever, see it anyway).

My Original Song nominations would have included Jamie Dornan’s beach power ballad in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (available for rent but just purchase it because it is silly fun) and something from The Forty-Year-Old Version (Netflix), which also deserved other nominations.

I join other early pandemic-era movie watchers in wishing that First Cow (currently on Showtime and available for purchase) and the comedy Palm Springs (on Hulu) could have gotten some love.

I wanted Regina King to get a director’s nod for One Night in Miami… (on Amazon, the movie did get nominations elsewhere). Sofia Coppola’s On the Rocks (Apple TV+) also feels like it should have shown up somewhere. As my family could tell you, I can go on forever about who should have been nominated.

• Predicting the winners: Despite the existence of Gold Derby and other internet prediction sites which track nominees’ rise and fall in the prediction rankings, it’s still enjoyable to chew over whether Nomadland (on Hulu and available for purchase) will take the top prize (and the director Oscar for Chloé Zhao) as it’s predicted to, or if Zhao can get her win but Minari(available for rent) will pull off a surprise best picture victory, as is my hope.

My other predictions/preferences: Yuh-Jung Youn in Minari is the favorite and my favorite to win actress in a supporting role. Soul (Disney+) will probably take the animated feature prize but my pick would be the charming A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon (Netflix) or, as a very close second, the lovely Wolfwalkers (Apple TV+). I am all in for Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution (Netflix), which is heartwarming as well as a fascinating history lesson, in the documentary feature category but My Octopus Teacher (Netflix), surprisingly, seems to be what the internet predicts is leading. I want “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest (Netflix) to win original song but awardswatch.com predicts that either Leslie Odom Jr.’s “Speak Now” from One Night in Miami or 12-time nominee (zero wins) Diane Warren’s “Io Si (See)” from The Life Ahead (Netflix) will take the prize.

• The movies! The Oscar ballot is, more than anything else, a list of movies; this year, it’s a list of movies you can see right now from the comfort of your couch. In addition to the movies listed in this story, I laid out where to find all the nominees in stories in the March 18 (feature film and acting nominees), March 25 (other mainstream-y categories nominees), April 1 (visual effects category nominees), April 8 (documentaries) and April 15 (international feature films and shorts) issues of the Hippo (find them at hippopress.com).

This year’s nominations make for a pretty good list and the best picture nominees, while they may have dour-sounding one-line descriptions, are all actually quite lively and full of engaging performances. (I gave most of them an A in my reviews.) Minari, Nomadland and Sound of Metal (on Amazon Prime Video), while certainly not wall-to-wall zaniness, have moments of joy and humor and end at a place of optimism and hope. Other nominees do feature helpings of delight, such as Emma (on HBO Max and available for purchase), the short Burrow (Disney+), Love and Monsters (available for rent or purchase) and, for classic Hollywood nerds, Mank (Netflix), as well as the aforementioned Eurovision Song Contest, Farmageddon, Soul, Wolfwalkers and Crip Camp.

And the Oscars nominees aren’t the only list of movies going. Thanks to the podcast This Had Oscar Buzz, I’ve become a fan of the AARP Movies For Grownups awards (which were announced in March). The United States vs. Billie Holiday (Hulu) won their grand prize; see all the nominees and winners (there are categories like “Best Ensemble” and “Best Grownup Love Story”) at aarp.org/entertainment/movies-for-grownups. The British BAFTA awards, given out a few weeks ago, also offer some viewing options (some Oscar overlap, some stuff you won’t see listed elsewhere); see bafta.org.

And get in the Oscar spirit by checking out the Film Independent Spirit Awards (those winners will be announced Thursday, April 22, at 10 p.m. on IFC), which include some of those First Cow-y early 2020 films.

Featured photo: Minari

First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami

First Person Singular by Haruki Murakami (Knopf, 256 pages)

Type “Haruki Murakami” into the Google search engine, and one of the questions that comes up is “Why is Harukami Murakami so popular?,” which elicits a laugh. Sometimes, wading through his matter-of-fact, beige-to-gray prose, one does have to ask.

Murakami’s characters often seem aimless, their wanderings pointless, and in his longer works, such as 2017’s Killing Commendatore, so can his writing. One scornful critic has called him “the Forrest Gump of global literature.” But it’s not hyperbole to call the Japanese writer a sensation, so for people who would like to sample Murakami without a month-long commitment, there’s an opportunity in First Person Singular, a collection of eight stories that coalesce around love, death, aging and reality.

I think.

Murakami reminds me of the children’s book Nothing Ever Happens on My Block (by Ellen Raskin), in which a glum child sits on a stoop and complains about how boring his life is, while fire trucks zoom by and witches pop up in windows. Surely there’s more going on here than I’m seeing?

But then Murakami has one of his characters, a writer, say to an editor: “Theme? Can’t say there is one,” which seems like a sly confession befitting the owner of a jazz bar who famously decided he would become a novelist one day while watching a baseball game.

I digress, but so does he. That said, after a slow start, First Person Singular is a wonderfully quirky foray into the world of Murakami, the strongest stories being “Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova” and “Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey.”

In “Charlie Parker,” the narrator begins by recounting a story he wrote in college about the American jazz legend experimenting with bossa nova, a type of music that is an alchemy of jazz and samba. The thing is, Parker died before bossa nova was invented, so the narrator envisions a recording that is fantasy. But one day, browsing through a music store, he comes across a crudely produced recording called “Charlie Parker Plays Bossa Nova” that lists exactly the same tracks that he had invented. Instead of buying the album ($35 seems a bit much), he leaves the store, but then regrets the decision and returns to the store the next day. What happens next is equally fanciful but compelling, and as with much of Murakami’s work, instructive in music.

“Confessions” is a story that could come from the pen of Stephen King, had King grown up in Japan instead of Maine.

The narrator, yet another trademark Murakami wanderer, checks into a ramshackle inn, where everything is old and decrepit, to include the cat sleeping in the foyer. The inn does have one nice feature, two if you count the vending machine that dispenses beer. (Who knew that such things existed?) It has a glorious hot-springs bath, in which the narrator soaks blissfully for a while. This is where he meets the titular monkey, a grizzled creature that shows up and, in perfect English (actually Japanese, as this, like Murakami’s other work, is a translation), offers to scrub the narrator’s back. Naturally, the narrator wants to learn more, so he invites the monkey to come to his room later for conversation and beer.

There, he learns how the monkey came to learn to speak more eloquently than many human beings and to appreciate opera. He also learned that it’s hard being an educated monkey — one is not accepted by his own kind, nor by the humans that he more closely resembles. And one has a particularly hard time finding love.

So the monkey, over time, developed an oddly touching way of experiencing love without having physical contact with the human women he desired. The method did, however, take something from the women, making it unethical. And when the narrator later meets a woman that he suspects had encountered the monkey, he has his own ethical test, of whether to tell her what had transpired. If, of course, it transpired at all and wasn’t just the fevered imagination of a tired man soaking in a hot spring.

This story was published last year in The New Yorker,as was “With the Beatles,” a rambling recollection of a man remembering his first girlfriend and her older brother, whom he had only met once while he was dating the girl, but then encountered decades later by chance. He had broken up with the girl, who did not “ring my bell,” and both had married someone else, and he was unaware of the shocking turn her life had taken until running into the brother.

The repurposing of previously published stories into a book seems vaguely like cheating, although it is done frequently by authors of stature. So, pro tip: You can find some of these stories by searching the table of contents on Amazon and then searching for them online.

“Carnaval” is built around the composition by Robert Schumann and involves a music-centered relationship with the ugliest woman the narrator has ever known, “the result of a unique force that compressed unattractive elements of all shape and sizes and assembled them together in one place.”

“The Yakult Swallows Poetry Collection,” which appears to be pure memoir (but who knows?), is a man reflecting on his love for baseball, and how he scribbles poetry in a notebook in between action. (“Let’s face it — baseball is a sport done at a leisurely pace.”)

Reading Murakami is also best done at a leisurely pace, lest you feel out of touch with an author who is never in a hurry to get where he is going, and often seems not to know where he is going, which may be the truth. (Theme? What theme?) But it is a singular experience, which is sometimes rewarded with an unexpected jolt of humor, as when Murakami (or his narrator, hard to tell the difference), reflecting on his habits of dressing, says that when looking in his closet of unworn dress shirts, still in the dry-cleaner’s plastic, starts to feel apologetic toward the clothes and tries them on out of kindness. Or when a character flatly intones, “Loving someone is like having a mental illness that’s not covered by health insurance.”

Murakami could be one of the greatest writers of understatement the modern world has known or, equally plausible, an imaginative jazz bar owner who stumbled into literary acclaim. Either way, Murakami fans will thrill to this collection, even though they’ve likely already read much of it. Others will Google “Why is Haruki Murakami so popular?” B-

BOOK NOTES
The demise of physical books was supposed to be e-books; the end of physical bookstores, Amazon. But what if the extinction-level event turned out to be vending machines?

Probably not, but I did do a double take upon learning this week about a nonprofit called Short Edition, which has installed more than 300 “Short Story Dispensers” at locations around the world. Users can choose the length of what they want to read —one minute, three minutes or five — and the machine prints it out, looking scarily like a CVS receipt. (See a demonstration at short-edition.com.)

There don’t appear to be any in New Hampshire, but a map of locations shows a variety of locations, to include airports, universities, wineries and, somewhat disturbingly, libraries. There’s lots to unpack here, including the shrinking American attention span, but this could be an interesting way to expose people to new writers.

Meanwhile, for short reads that don’t come on a receipt, check out:

Spilt Milk by Courtney Zoffness, a two-time resident of Peterborough’s MacDowell Colony, (McSweeney’s, 211 pages) offers essays on motherhood, family connections and Judaism.

Of Color, by Jaswinder Bolina (McSweeney’s, 129 pages), poignant essays on race and identity from a poet who writes that he looks more like the 9/11 hijackers than the firefighters who responded that day.

Love Like That by Emma Duffy-Comparone (Henry Holt and Co., 224 pages). The publisher says these stories are about “brilliant, broken women that are just the right amount of wrong.”

The Glorious American Essay, edited by Phillip Lopate (Pantheon, 928 pages), collects 100 classic essays from colonial America to the present, including luminaries such as E.B. White, Rachel Carson, David Foster Wallace, Lewis Thomas and James Thurber.

Books

Author events

• ERIN BOWMAN Author presents Dustborn. Outside Gibson’s Bookstore (45 S. Main St., Concord). Sat., April 24, 1 to 2:30 p.m. Call 224-0562 or visit gibsonsbookstore.com.

• PADDY DONNELLY Author presents The Vanishing Lake. Presented by The Toadstool Bookshop of Nashua, Peterborough and Keene. Virtual, via Zoom. Sat., April 24, 1 p.m. Call 352-8815 or visit toadbooks.com

• LITERARY COCKTAIL HOUR Presented by Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. Featuring authors Kat Howard, Kelly Braffet, Cat Valente, and Freya Marskem in conversation with bookstore staff. Virtual, via Zoom. Sat., April 24, 5 p.m. Call 224-0562 or visit gibsonsbookstore.com.

• BILL BUFORD Author presents Dirt: Adventures in Lyon as a Chef in Training, Father, and Sleuth Looking for the Secret of French Cooking. Hosted by The Music Hall in Portsmouth. Virtual. Wed., April 28, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $5. Visit themusichall.org or call 436-2400.

• SUZANNE KOVEN Author presents Letter to a Young Female Physician, in conversation with author Andrew Solomon. Hosted by The Music Hall in Portsmouth. Tues., May 18, 7 p.m. Virtual. Tickets cost $5. Visit themusichall.org or call 436-2400.

Featured photo: First Person Singular

Year: 2021