The Andres Institute of Art (106 Route 13, Brookline) sits on the site of a former ski lodge and granite quarry and consists of 140 acres, 12 miles of trail, and countless opportunities to encounter the sublime on a hike through art and nature. It’s “a beautiful setting, it’s gorgeous,” said Kristi St. Laurent, President of the Institute.
Andres was founded in 1998 by engineer philanthropist Paul Andres and Master Sculptor John Weidman. In 1999 they held the first International Annual Bridges and Connections Sculpture Symposium, which is where typically around three sculptors from all over the world are invited to Brookline for a few weeks to create magnificent sculpture.
Andres Institute of Art also hosts an art gallery and performance space for a myriad styles of music, from bluegrass to jazz to classical, a decision made to reflect the wide array of artistic styles represented here.
“The former ski lodge is now our welcome center,” St. Laurent said.
One hundred sculptures are on permanent display, made by artists hailing from 50 different countries. The trails where the sculptures are placed are open for free to the public any day of the year.
“You can just park your car and walk the trails,” St. Laurent said. “You don’t have to come here planning on doing 12 miles. There really is too much to see in one day, definitely.” On the Institutes’s website is a link to the app and website Trailforks, which contains a detailed map of the trails. Maps can be downloaded, or can be picked up on location.
The studio is set up for metal and stone work.
“It’s just John that’s working in the studio except for during the symposium; then the visiting artists are there,” St. Laurent said. In 2023, Weidman received the New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Distinguished Leadership.
Weidman has lately been building a cupola, a furnace that can melt iron, for the 2024 Spring Iron Melt, set to take place on Saturday, June 1. Another Melt takes place in the fall.
For the Melt, essentially, participants purchase a mold, which is a 12- by 12-inch “brick” that has a 6- by 6-inch square inset that designs can be carved into with a “nail” provided by the Institute or with their own tools. On the day of the pour, each mold is coated in graphite to ease the eventual iron release, “which is like spraying a cooking pan … so that your brownies come out of the pan,” St. Laurent said. Once the iron is poured, what’s left is a half-inch-thick, 6-inch by 6-inch iron tile. “It has their design cast into it…. Some people bought them as Christmas presents.”
Details on how to sign up for future Iron Melts are on the Andres website.
The trails at Andres transform with the arrival of spring and summer.
“The change in the park in just the last week with all the leaves coming out and the flowers, it’s so beautiful,” St. Laurent said. “Even when the parking lot is full you still might not run into anybody. … It’s nice and quiet and peaceful. It’s a great place to take kids.”
More field trips are heading to Andres as well.
“I ask the kids, ‘What are the normal rules at a museum?’ and they’re like, ‘No running, we have to be quiet, don’t touch anything.’ and I said, ‘All those rules are out the window!’ and they love it. You can run, you can be loud, you can touch the art, you can take a selfie with it, you can climb on it, it’s great,” St. Laurent said. This rule applies no matter which direction or trail is taken, and apart from the art, the world around it can be considered an installation piece.
“The money view is up at the summit with the sculpture called the Phoenix, and that was from the very first symposium…. You can look out and see Mt. Monadnock and some of the other mountains in the distance and it’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said. Dogs on-leash are welcome to sniff and zoom with their owners here too.
St. Laurent’s favorite sculpture sits on the quarry trail near the quarry pond: “A human figure made out of rebar and other types of metal. I just love that one. That one’s called ‘Monument [II].’ It’s actually by a woman artist, Alexandra Limpert from New York…. Although there are many, many close runner-ups.”
In an artist statement about that piece, Limbert said she aimed to “translate the human form into metal lines, grids and compartments. This random vocabulary defines the entity beneath the façade. The exposed construction of each piece also reveals my process. Much like architecture under construction, my sculptures are anonymous monuments in states of transition.”
Encountering all the beauty, man-made and from nature, is what the Andres Institute of Art wants for their visitors.
“Part of the mission of the Andres is to get people in contact with art,” St. Laurent said. “That’s what we’re trying to do on a daily basis: art and nature.”
Spring Iron Melt 2024 Where: 106 Route 13, Brookline When: Saturday, June 1, approximately from noon to 1 p.m. More: andresinstitute.org, 673-7441
Gen X didn’t see it coming, despite the harbingers: internet reminders that the first Lollapalooza Festival was closer in years to the Kennedy assassination than to today, or Pearl Jam getting into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. As they were reeling from reeling in the years, the arrival of ’90s tribute bands was to many of them a hard (blue) pill to swallow.
Some of the acts that formed weren’t surprising. With Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley and Scott Weiland all dead and gone, Priceless Advice and Sick Season, devoted to Nirvana and Alice In Chains respectively, and Stone Temple Posers hella made sense. And Oasis likely won’t reunite anytime soon, so it’s not trippin’ to cover “Wonderwall” in the interim.
But what of those still performing, like Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, Radiohead and the aforementioned Pearl Jam, each of which boasts one or more doppelgangers? Even Smashing Pumpkins; a band called Recent History does them. Apparently, all these objects of affection take it in stride and are unbothered about losing any business.
Collective Soul is on the road with Hootie & the Blowfish, with a tour stopping at Fenway Park and Bank of NH Pavilion before the summer ends. In an interview to advance the upcoming shows, their front man Ed Roland was surprised to hear about the existence of Reflective Soul, based in Dallas, Texas — but grateful.
“You can’t help but love it. I’m so honored,” Roland said. “Just being here 30 years and on top of that somebody thinks enough of you to go, all right, we’ll play some of their catalog. It boosts the ego up when you walk in a bar, and somebody is playing one of your songs. You’re like, ‘Wow, I really did have a hit.’”
It’s a hot topic in New England that’s spawned organizations like Covering New England, a tribute-centric company with a growing roster of acts like Crush, a Dave Matthews Band tribute, and White Belts, who play emo songs by Taking Back Sunday, Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World, among others.
Covering New England’s Tristan Law thinks the decade is having a moment for a couple of reasons.
“First, a lot of those really seminal albums are having their 25th and 30th anniversaries, so they’re in the news, and you have a lot of people like me — late 30s, early 40s — who came up in that decade and have a special nostalgia for that time,” he said. “How many people’s first CD was Dookie?’”
Law added that while a lot of ’90s stars are still touring, with tickets now costing hundreds of dollars fans are more selective about going to giant concerts.
“Now, you can go see a really good Dave Matthews Band tribute for twenty bucks and still have a great time. That, and the ’90s f-in ruled; why wouldn’t you want to go back then for a few hours?”
At TributePalooza, an all-day show in Warren on July 6, many ’90s acts will perform, including Jagged Little Thrill doing Alanis Morissette, Social Destruction playing the music of Social Distortion, and Stone Temple Posers, along with two other tribute acts that Gen X is a bit more chillax with doing Lynyrd Skynyrd and AC/DC covers.
Here are thoughts from six bands bringing back the decade that witnessed the internet’s rise and the decline of the music business, along with a lot of great and varied music.
Tributepalooza happens Saturday, July 6, at Melody Mountain Farm, 161 Lake Tarleton Road, Warren, $35 at melodymountainfarm.com
Giving 110 percent – Neon 90s
Neon 90s
When it formed, the North Shore-based band Neon 90s wore flannel shirts and leaned into grunge. Later they switched to jean jackets and shades upon realizing there was more to mining the ’90s than Nirvana’s “Lithium.” They became an all-purpose tribute act, determined to hit every high point, from Soundgarden to Garth Brooks.
“We figured let’s take on the entire decade, and smash as many songs as we can into a set,” said John Goodhue, who sings and plays lead guitar with the band, which includes Michael Parsons on bass, drummer Steve Russo and Guy Cloutman on lead guitar.
On any given night the quartet moves from Foo Fighters’ “Learn To Fly” to Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5” and tosses in “Semi-Charmed Life” from Third Eye Blind for spice. Their showstopper is a gender-bending version of Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like A Woman.” They even do Meredith Brooks’ “Bitch” and “Wannabe” from the Spice Girls.
Setlists reflect Goodhue’s own tastes.
“All my favorite songs, mostly, are from the ’90s,” he said. “The Top 40 was spread so far off the different genres, you had major pop songs, country songs, grunge came into the mix, even hip-hop. It was a decade where you saw so many different kinds of music really hit the spot.”
Like a lot of similar bands, members of Neon 90s have additional musical projects. Russo plays in Mile 21, a North Shore reggae and ska group, as well as a Top 40 band called Mystery Meat. “Our guitar player Gary has been in several cover bands and original bands, as well as Mike and me,” Goodhue, who also spent a few years on the West Coast playing in different bands, said.
When Neon 90s hits the stage, one of their favorites is “Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies. “It’s a really fun song to play, and it’s kind of challenging, too,” Goodhue said. They’ll also take a shot at audience suggestions, or at least try.
“Sometimes we get requests that aren’t ’90s, like people missed the memo,” he said. “My favorite song was actually requested for us to learn for a wedding, ‘What’s Up’ by 4 Non Blondes. We’ve kept it in our set because it always goes over well, and everyone sings along.”
Neon 90s appear in Hampton Beach on Saturday, July 6 at Wally’s Pub and on Sunday, July 14 at Bernie’s Beach Bar
Worldwide Californication – Red NOT Chili Peppers
Red NOT Chili Peppers
One of the longest-running ’90s tribute acts is also among the most successful. Red NOT Chili Peppers formed in 2009 in Southern California, where the Red Hot Chili Peppers rose to fame. The lineup has changed several times over the years, but the present band — Paul Moffat on bass, guitarist Greg Loman, Pete Koopmans on drums and singer David Vives — has been steady for a while. Vives is the newest member; he joined in 2021.
Red NOT Chili Peppers are unique for being a nationally touring act. Actually, they’ve performed in such far-flung places as Dubai. Much of this success is due to the quality of their act.
“The biggest undertaking with the Chili Peppers is having players who not only can learn the songs,” Loman said in a sit-down band interview prior to a show in Portsmouth. “They have to recreate the tones, the energy, the look, and the vibe.”
Beyond that, the group found its way to Providence Music Group, a Rhode Island-based agency focused on tribute bands, everything from Sublime to Johnny Cash, along with Elton John, Guns N’ Roses, and Linkin Park. When Moffat joined in the mid-2010s, he’d also taken over as manager. Koopmans, who was in the band before Moffat, became their booking agent.
Together, they realized their group didn’t fit a conventional niche, and it was impacting their ability to get gigs.
“Paul and I took a really hard look at the business, and I basically took the band to several different agencies, as our agent then had retired and we were unhappy with him anyway,” Koopmans said. Their agency at the time was “probably 90 percent original bands and 10 percent tributes, and I never felt like they quite understood what to do with us. They would just wait for offers to come in.”
Since making the change, bookings have doubled, “and we’ve watched attendance grow at shows too,” Koopmans said. “I don’t think that’s all attributed to the booking agent in general. I think a lot of that is just us finding the right places to play. But the product is getting a lot better.”
“And the name getting out there, man,” Moffat added. “It’s a good name, and people remember it.”
It’s almost too good — that’s why Moffat and Loman, who helps with the band’s graphic design, modified the logo so the word “NOT” is uppercase. “We were getting ourselves into some trouble,” Koopmans said. “Not by the real band, but by people buying tickets and being pissed all the time that they’d been duped.”
Once, when the band played New York City’s Highline Ballroom, ticket presales exploded, recalled Moffat, probably due to a hopeful case of mistaken identity. “We played the show, and the room was half full,” he said. “In all likelihood, some scalpers scooped up all the tickets when they saw it, because they didn’t look carefully enough. We thought it was a great way to get back at scalpers.”
Fans that come to see them run the gamut.
“Some want to hear Freaky Stylie, others want stuff from Stadium Arcadium,” Loman said. “You watch them all kind of light up, with whatever era or song that you’re playing. It’s just so interesting to then talk to them after and they’ll be like, ‘Oh man, when I was growing up, the most important album of my life, that blew my mind, was Blood Sugar Sex Magic.’ Then another one’s like, ‘Dude, Californication was my favorite’ and another one’s Stadium Arcadium. It goes through the generations in such a wonderful way.”
Singer Vives echoed Loman. “My favorite thing is how passionate fans of Red Hot Chili Peppers are,” he said. “It’s so easy to connect with them about the shared joy of living this music together. They’re showing up, and we all have the same goal. There’s no need convincing them to have a good time.”
Moffat is happiest when a wary fan takes a chance. “It’s like, ‘I had no expectations. It was 20 bucks, it’s a band that I love, I thought you guys were going to suck, and I came in and I was blown away,’” he said. “That’s all I really want, you know. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
Red NOT Chili Peppers will appear on Friday, Aug. 9, at Wally’s Pub in Hampton Beach.
Double duty – Yellow LedVedder/Your Honor
Yellow LedVedder
Few bands challenge aspiring tribute acts like Pearl Jam. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famers are not only still performing, but the Seattle grunge heroes also released a new album this year. The record, Dark Matter, caused one critic to exclaim, “the faithful will rejoice, and the PJ fall stadium tour is completely sold out.
The latter fact is a principal reason that a band like Yellow LedVedder is even viable. In fact, one of their biggest gigs happened in a bar across the street from Fenway Park, where Pearl Jam was playing that night.
“It was one of the most amazing experiences,” Ben Kilcollins, the band’s lead vocalist, said in a recent phone interview. “We had a lot of people saying, ‘Oh, we couldn’t get tickets, so we figured we’d just come down and kind of listen outside of Fenway, then we saw that you guys were here.”
Ever the fans, Kilcollins and his bandmates had one eye on the door all night. “The whole time we’re hoping, Pearl Jam’s around here, maybe they’ll come in, but it never happened,” he recalled. “The best dream come true in the world is just to get an affirmation of, ‘Hey, guys, we see what you’re doing, keep up the good work.’ Even if it was a cease and desist, it’d just be good to hear from the band that they know you exist.”
Playing songs by a band that’s still here is a feature, not a bug.
“A lot of the other bands are paying tribute to guys who weren’t around for very long, but I think it helps that Pearl Jam is still on tour,” Kilcollins said. “Instead of guessing, like Nirvana, what would they be doing now, we already have an answer. It’s what they were playing yesterday.”
Kilcollins continued that miming Vedder, who’s near 60 and still “running around on stage, jumping on people’s shoulders and doing the exact same thing he was doing 30 years ago” also motivates his band, which includes bassist Andy Aikens, Joel Amsden and Pete Risano on guitars and drummer Jason Young. “Eddie’s leaving kids in the dust, he’s still running around the entire band,” he said. “I try to bring to our shows that aspect of their high energy.”
Lending weight to that assertion is the band’s latest endeavor.
“The day Taylor Hawkins died, we decided to put on a Foo Fighters tribute,” Kilcollins said. It was planned as a one-off, but they’ve done four or five shows in the past two years. “We try to pick and choose where we do it, because we don’t want to oversaturate…. We’ll play a full set of Pearl Jam stuff, take a break, and then do a full set of Foo Fighters, kind of opening for ourselves.”
Yellow LedVedder’s summer schedule is under construction. See @yellowledvedderband on Instagram for more.
Originalists – Crush, a Dave Matthews Tribute Band
Crush
Though the Dave Matthews Band is still out on tour, with two sold out Meadowbrook shows happening this summer, it’s not the same group that set the world on fire in 1994 with its debut album Under the Table and Dreaming. When violin player Boyd Tinsley departed in 2018, he wasn’t replaced, and DMB took on a different sound.
That’s made Crush, a DMB tribute band based in Boston, a vital link to the past. It includes a Tinsley doppelganger, sans any scandalous baggage, in the form of fiddler Abe Dewing, which keeps songs like “Ants Marching” and “What Would You Say” true to their origins. That’s just the beginning of what makes Crush a solid draw in New England. They also achieve a look and feel that sets it apart from other efforts
“I think some tribute bands will play note for note, and do exactly what the actual bands do, even on the recordings,” Matt Salito, who plays guitar in Crush, said recently. “There’s certainly a skill to that, but I think part of the fun of being in our band is we take some of those songs and we add our own style to it. We change it just enough where you know it’s Crush playing the song.”
They’re careful not to book too close to any DMB appearances, partly because there’s a decent chance they’ll be buying tickets, but also, they’re realistic. “We realize they’re going to be more of a draw than a tribute band,” he said. Besides, they wouldn’t want to miss a tailgate party. “We meet other people at those shows, and we’re like, ‘Hey, we play a lot in the late summer, in the fall, even in the winter when Dave’s not really doing his thing anymore. So come check us out.”
Salito started Crush as an acoustic duo with Brett Huntley after the two were introduced through a mutual friend in 2011.
“We met at his apartment in South Boston at the time and played a few songs, exchanged information and tried to make arrangements to play again,” Salito recalled. “Along the way, we started seeing a couple other tribute bands to Dave. We really liked what they were doing, and we [thought] we can try to give this a shot ourselves too and see how it plays out.”
After playing a high school graduation party for a family friend, the idea of a full band gained momentum. Crush played its first show in October 2011. There’s been a few lineup shuffles, but Crush has stayed the same in recent years. That’s allowed them to become a more cohesive unit, Salito continued.
“We’ve developed a little family within the band, and I think you can see that vibe on stage,” he said. “We’re really feeling like we’re in a good place as to the songs we’re choosing and the parts we’re playing, and how we’re meshing as a unit. And really being a part of the audience in a sense; even as the performers, that’s important. I think that’s part of our draw too.”
Crush, A Dave Matthews Tribute Band appears Friday, July 26, at Cisco Brewers in Portsmouth.
All in the family – Stone Temple Posers
Stone Temple Posers
Olaf Westphalen was a modern country music fan when his 12-year-old stepson John convinced him to listen to a few Soundgarden and Nirvana songs. The stepdad enjoyed it, and really locked into Stone Temple Pilots upon hearing them the first time. By the early 2000s, Olaf and John were playing in cover bands together, including Wretched Von Krank, The Nerve, and Cold Comfort.
Most satisfying, though, is Stone Temple Posers, a tribute to you guessed it, which played its first show in 2015 and has been a solid area draw since, with stepfather and stepson a bass/drums rhythm section, guitarist Paul Ouellette, and lead singer Hal White rounding out the group. Prior to the Posers, Olaf and Ouellette were briefly in STP tribute act Crown of Apathy; Westphalen was in Stone Temple Aviators and SiN after that.
John Westphalen began playing music when his stepdad gave him a Ludwig drum kit that belonged to his uncle, who also played in a band. “I always liked the drums, and Dave Grohl; I was a big Nirvana guy,” he said by phone recently. Though his new kit was a bit beat up, he didn’t mind. “Don’t get much more grunge than a rusty drum set.”
He stuck with it, and after his parents bought him a brand-new Tama kit, “I’ve been playing ever since.”
Before Weiland died, John Westphalen had a couple of chances to see him live with STP. “I saw them at Casino Ballroom, and it was one of the best shows,” he said. “Of course, he was an hour late, but he was engaged with the crowd, and they sounded awesome. He looked like he was enjoying himself. Then I saw him again in Gilford. He wasn’t nearly as engaged and seemed like he didn’t want to be there. I think they broke up for the final time like three months after that show.”
In addition to being a lot of fun, Stone Temple Posers is the young Westphalen’s longest-running band still boasting every member. It’s also the only one he’s in at this point.
“It used to be me, Olaf and Paul, and then we’d have a hard time finding a singer that would just show up, do the shows,” he said. “Hal, he’s been perfect, very easy-going. If we have a show coming up, we’ll practice the Monday before and just make sure we tighten up a little bit, and then we’ll play. Bang. No messing around.”
Their common bond is love for a big sound from a great decade.
“We’re a bunch of guys that really just enjoy that era in music,” he said. “We know other people do too, and we really try to give it justice by sounding like Stone Temple Pilots but also having our own little sound to it, too. So it’s not just a complete knockoff.”
Stone Temple Posers appear Wednesday, June 26, at Plaistow Town Common in Plaistow.
Straddling the Decade – White Belts
White Belts
If Lollapalooza signaled the start of the ’90s, the Vans Warped Tour helped usher it out. White Belts, a band that hosts Emo Night at the Press Room in Portsmouth and plays throughout New England, aims to keep that spirit alive by reliving as much of that moment as it can.
“We consider ourselves an emo tribute band,” drummer Matt Wishnack said during a phone interview that included White Belts bass player Tom Sargent. “Emo encapsulates the rise of Hot Topic, Newbury Comics and alternative music, which kind of molded itself in that time period.”
As to the bands they cover, “you get a lot of Jimmy Eat World, Under Oath, Dashboard Confessional, New Found Glory, and we get some pop punk stuff like Blink-182,” Sargent said. “Taking Back Sunday is a main staple, as is My Chemical Romance. I think we’d all be shocked if we didn’t play one song from them in our shows.”
Wishnack added Fall Out Boy to this list of “tentpole bands.”
Audiences tend to be in their mid-20s to early 30s; a little early to start reliving their youth, but nostalgia has an odd pull that White Belts tries to honor.
“We want people to have a similar reaction to seeing us as they would actually seeing Taking Back Sunday,” Wishnack said. “Which obviously is impossible, but you can see the difference when people are reacting to you that way and when they’re just reacting to a cover band.”
When they play Emo Night at the Press Room, they’ll bring along a like-minded band, like Mall Cops or Summer Cult, who played at last year’s Boston Calling. At the next scheduled event on July 6, the Boston-based band We Demand Parachutes will appear.
White Belts includes, along with Wishnack and Sargent, lead singer Derek Bunker and guitarists Nick Grieco and Kyle Kowalsky. All true believers, which, Wishnack stressed, is what makes them unique.
“What separates us from some other bands is we feel like we really represent the music and the bands that we’re covering well. If you’re going to create a block to make you feel like you’re at Warped Tour for two hours without actually going, this is as close as you can get.”
Added Sargent, “and you won’t need sunscreen.”
White Belts hosts Emo Night with We Demand Parachutes on Saturday, July 6, at The Press Room in Portsmouth.
The curtain rises tonight at 7:30 p.m. on 42nd Street at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St., Manchester, palacetheatre.org, 668-5588). The musical runs through Sunday, June 23, with shows Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., and Sundays at 2 p.m. and Thursday, June 20, at 7:30 p.m. The play celebrates Broadway and the magic of showbiz with wit, humor and pizzazz and takes place at the height of the Great Depression, following aspiring chorus girl Peggy Sawyer to the big city as she lands her first big job in the ensemble of a glitzy new Broadway show. The score is chock-full of Broadway standards, including “We’re In the Money,” “Lullaby of Broadway” and “Forty-Second Street,” according to the press release. Tickets cost $28 to $49.
Saturday, June 1
St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church (7 N. Mast Road, Goffstown, 497-2003, stmattsepiscopal.org) will hold its annual Spring Yard Sale today from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Church.
Saturday, June 1
In honor of Black Birders Week, NH Audubon (nhaudubon.org/event) and the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire (blackheritagetrailnh.org) are partnering for a guided tour in Portsmouth, at 222 Court St. in Portsmouth, today from 9 to 10:30 a.m. Learn about the rich and often forgotten African-American history of New Hampshire while keeping an eye out for birds and other local wildlife. Participants should arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of the trail tour. Free parking is available at the Parrott Ave. Parking Lot and along streets nearby. All ages are welcome. Tickets are $20; space is limited and registration is required.
Saturday, June 1
See the results of the three artists participating in this year’s Nashua International Sculpture Symposium at 1 p.m. as the pieces, which will become part of Nashua’s townwide exhibit of sculptures, will be unveiled in their installation locations. This will involve participants driving from Picker Studios over to where the pieces are to be installed, according to nashuasculpturesymposium.org.
Saturday, June 1
The Goffstown Rotary Club’s (Parsons Drive) Car Show is returning for its 11th year today from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will include goodie bags for the first 50 registrants, along with food trucks, raffles and trophies given in 16 classes. Admission is free, and the cost to participate as a registrant is $20 per car, with all proceeds benefiting local charities. Visit goffstownrotary.org.
Saturday, June 1
Milford’s third annual Pride Festival will take place today from noon to 4 p.m. at Keyes Park (45 Elm St., Milford) and will feature live music, food and more. “See Milford NH PRIDE” on Facebook.
Save the Date!Tuesday, June 11 Red River Theaters (11 S. Main St., Concord, 224-4600, redrivertheatres.org) will host the first annual Creative Guts Short Film Festival on Tuesday, June 11, from 6 to 9 p.m. The Festival will present short films by independent filmmakers from New Hampshire and beyond. The spirit of this festival is to celebrate the creativity, voice and collaboration of filmmakers. These films are not rated. Some films contain adult themes, language and violence, and may not be suitable for children. All films will be open captioned. Tickets are $12 and available through Red River’s website.
Featured photo: 42nd Street at the Palace Theater.
In a recent study by WalletHub (wallethub.com), an online financial services website, New Hampshire home-owners were the least likely in the United States to be delinquent (a month or more behind) on their mortgage payments. New Hampshire residents ranked 50th out of 50 states in delinquency; just 5.21 percent of home loans in the state had late payments.
QOL score: +1
Comment:Neighboring state Vermont, on the other hand, the nation’s delinquency leader, has a delinquency rate of 7.1 percent.
Falcons with accessories
Last Thursday, Whit and Thor, the peregrine falcon chick residents of a nestbox at the top of the Brady Sullivan Building in downtown Manchester, were banded. According to the Center for Conservation Biology (ccbbirds.org), raptors like peregrines are fitted with metal leg bands “to provide researchers with data on peregrine survival rates, dispersal distances, and population growth rates.” The chicks got bands on each leg. Typically, one band has a unique nine-digit code to identify the falcon in the future. The second band, on the opposite leg, is a two-color band that is easily read from a distance.
QOL score: +1
Comment:To watch the adorably grumpy chicks being banded, visit YouTube and search for 2024 Peregrine Falcon Banding.
Put the phone down
Data from the State Police show an increase in dangerous driving on New Hampshire’s highways over the past year. According to an online article by WMUR on May 22, state troopers have given out an alarming number of tickets over the past 12 months. According to WMUR’s report, cell phones continue to be one of the largest contributing factors to inattentive driving. Between May 2023 and April 2024, for example, 272 tickets were given out in Bedford alone for hands-free, distracted driving. “State troopers are seeing more egregious violations on the road, especially speeding,” the article said. “Within the past year, state police have issued about 1,600 tickets for driving 25 mph or more over the 65 mph limit, including to one person who was caught going 128 mph.”
QOL score: -2
Comment: In a separate online article last month, WMUR reported that 129 people were killed in car crashes on New Hampshire roads in 2023.
Last week’s QOL score: 69
Net change: 0
QOL this week: 69
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire?
The Big Story – Celts Hold Serve: All we can tell you at our Memorial Day-induced (very) early deadline is the Celtics did what they were supposed to do in the first two games of their series with the Pacers: maintain home court advantage to go up two games. The first was a completely lucky Game 1 OT escape after blowing double-digit leads twice, and the second a methodical 16-point beat led by the series star so far JaylenBrown.
It could be over by the time you’ll actually see this or tied 2-2. But there’s not much I can do about that with my Friday deadline.
Sports 101:JaysonTatum just became the seventh Celtic to be named first All-NBA for a third time. Name the other three-time first teamers.
News Item – Real Baseball Season Begins: Once Memorial Day has come and gone, the real baseball season begins. Though the prospects of the Red Sox making a run to win it all are getting dimmer by the day there are still some stories of interest to follow, like whether the stellar work of the starting pitching can continue and how young players like CeddanneRafaela and WilyerAbreu progress, whether KenleyJansen or TylerO’Neill will still be Red Sox come Aug. 1 and whether any of their promising minor-leaguers make it to Boston by year’s end.
The Numbers:
35 – all it took in seconds into Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals for the NBA refs to blow an obvious class in calling a goal tend on AlHorford while taking away the fast break attempt in the process.
40 – career playoff high for JaylenBrown in the Celtics’ 126-110 Game 2 win over Indiana.
… Of the Week Award:
How Old Do I Feel Moment of the Week: Thanks to ABC analyst JJReddick, pretty old after he admitted during Game 2 he didn’t know who Cheers main character SamMalone was. Then he made it worse by guessing he was just a “bartender” on that famous Boston TV show.
Baseball’s A Strange Game Stats of the Week: It’s seeing Red Sox starters TannerHouck and KutterCrawford putting up stellar earned run averages of 1.97 and 2.17 over 20 starts in the season’s first two months and their collective record being under .500 at 6-7. Granted their 68 and 58 innings pitched do not put them on an Iron Man McGinnity pace, but it does beg the question what does a guy need to do to get a win?
In Case You’re Wondering Award – Joe “Iron Man” McGinnity: The New York Giants hurler was 35-4 in 1904 with 38 complete games, five saves and a 1.67 ERA in 51 starts for the 107-win Giants while pitching an astonishing 406 innings.
Thumbs Up – Raffy Devers: For his team record-setting streak of homering in six straight games when he knocked in nine runs.
Random Thoughts:
Anyone besides me notice that the team in Philly that was put together by the guy JohnHenry fired two GM’s ago — DaveDombrowski — had the best record in baseball by far at 37-14 after going deep in the playoffs the last two years?
There was JohnHavlicek’s 90 mph line drive banker to take the lead in the second OT vs. Phoenix in triple-OT thriller Game 5 in 1975, but the only buzzer-beating shot I can come up with that was a better/bigger major clutch shot in Celtics history with a higher degree of difficulty than the corner 3 Brown stuck with PascalSiakam draped all over him is Sam Jones’ runner over WiltChamberlain to win Game 4 (89-88) and send the C’s back to Boston tied 2-2 with L.A. instead of down 1-3.
Sports 101 Answer: Joining Tatum as members of First Team All NBA three times or more are Bob Cousy with a most-ever 10 followed by LarryBird (9), Havlicek, BillSharman and Easy Ed Macauley with four each and BillRussell just three times.
Final Thought –A Little History – The Memorial Day Massacre: The ultimate lesson that no matter what the score is in a playoff blowout it’s just one game, nothing more. Wipe the slate clean and move on to the next game.
The one in question here happened on Memorial Day 39 years ago in 1985 when the Celtics annihilated the Lakers 148-114 in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Which got a lot of so-called experts saying the series was over. Especially if the migraine that rendered KareemAbdulJabbar useless persisted.
But guess what? L.A. wasn’t dead and neither was Kareem, who went for 30-17-7 in leading L.A. to a 109-102 Game 2 win in Boston and 24-14-7 in L.A.’s Game 3 blowout. Boston regrouped to win Game 4 behind 28, 27 and 26 points from Kevin McHale, DJ and LarryBird. But the Lakers took the next two with the rejuvenated Jabbar being named MVP after passing his debilitating migraine on to the fellas in green.
The 47th Northern New England Book Fair will be held at the Everett Arena in Concord on Sunday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Collections of books include fantasy and science fiction, classic fiction, modern novels, historical books, leather-bound books and ephemera from the 1600s to the 21st century. Organizer Richard Mori discusses the fair. See moribooks.com.
What led you to believe that young people are still into books?
Kids are 60 percent of my business today. Under 30, 60 percent of my business. I’m constantly being told by old people, which I’m one of, that kids don’t read anymore, kids don’t like books, and I’ve always said that that’s not true. Young people are into books…. Not so much a discovery, it’s an observation. I do 40 shows a year around the country. …Kids are buying books. When I say kids, I mean under 30.
Where do you find all of your books?
My general answer to that is I find books wherever I go. I’ve been buying books since I was 12. The obvious places are library sales, at bookstores, flea markets. They’re everyplace. Certainly you’ll find books at thrift stores, yard sales. I’ve found books in restaurants, to be honest. There are restaurants with book themes or library themes. Every once in a while in those kinds of places you can find a good book that’s accidentally been put in the collection. But I don’t buy just any book. I’m looking for books of interest, books that people want for their collection.
What makes a book technically an antique?
In general, an antique is something that’s 100 years old. In the book world, it’s not so much about age as subject matter and collectability. To give you the very obvious example: Harry Potter. Harry Potter was first published in 1997 or 1998, so that’s a fairly recent phenomenon. I would love to find the very first printing of the London edition of the first book because there are only 500 copies and that book today is worth over $50,000.
What is the oldest book you have to sell?
I have books from the 1600s. Generally those tend to be religious in nature. But actually there are many books published in the 1600s that were not religious in nature. The earliest books often are religious in nature and I have probably one or two of those sitting around. It’s very common to find books from the 1700s, 1800s, early 1800s. I bought in Akron, Ohio, Thomas Jefferson’s book published in 1813 … Parliamentary Procedure for the United States Senate. … I bought it in Akron in April and just sold it in May.
Why do older books get that special, unique smell that only older books have?
It’s the paper. What most people don’t understand, early paper, and that’s where people have this love for the odor of books, is handmade. Paper before 1830, for the most part, is made from old rag, actually. Rag was pulverized and liquified and then made into paper. That, I think, is where that odor comes from.
Is there a book that you’ve been looking for that you have not come across yet?
Actually, there is. I’ve been a collector of Boy Scout history, specifically books, since I was 12 years old. I actually sold my Boy Scout handbook collection to a gentleman in California and I was missing one key element to that collection which was called the ‘fortnightlies.’ Those are the original six-part pamphlets that were … by Baden-Powell in England back in 1907. Two years after I sold that collection, I found the ‘fortnightlies,’ the originals, but I had only found five. So I’m still looking for the sixth issue, or one of the six issues … to complete that collection. It’s not so rare that I’ll never find it, but they were published in England so very few of them came to the United States, so they’re very very hard to find here in this country.
What drives you to hold all these different book fairs and events?
Part of it is the love of books. Two, is to continue the opportunity for the public and people to find the books they’re looking for. The nice thing about a book show is that booksellers from all over come together to show what they have and to offer it for sale to the public. In the book community, we have this wonderful social activity. Books bring people together from all different walks of life. — Zachary Lewis
