Year: 2024

C’s up 2-0 on Mavs

The Big Story – NBA Finals: The Celtics held serve by taking Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals in Boston. While Game 1 was a 107-89 blowout, Game 2 was more impressive because they shot poorly (especially Jayson Tatum) and still won 105-98 by grinding it out, which is the kind of games in years past they would lose.

No surprise Jrue Holiday was the star with 26 points and, as important, holding Kyrie Irving to his second straight no-impact-scoring game at 16 points. But the real key was the team D, which made the amazing Luka Doncic work for all of his 62 combined points as Dallas was held under 100 twice.

Now on to Dallas for Games 3 and 4 on Wednesday and Friday.

Sports 101: With 59, Larry Bird is the Celtics’ all-time triple double leader. Round out the Top 5 by naming the players who had the following numbers of triple D’s: 33, 32, 21 and 17.

News Item – Here Come The Yankees: After splitting four with moribund Chicago over the weekend, the Red Sox start the week in third place at 33-33. But a big test arrives this week as they face the best two teams in baseball. It starts with three against Dave Dombrowski’s Phillies and then it’s the high-flying Yanks making their first visit to Fenway Park this weekend.

News Item – Tanner Houck: It was supposed to be Brayan Bello. But as we hit mid-June the Red Sox ace is Houck after becoming what many thought he might become a few years back. It included shutting out Washington over five innings as the Sox clinched a 2021 playoff berth on the final day of the season.

While it’s not quite reflected in his 6-5 record thanks to a shaky bullpen and lack of offensive punch, his 1.91 ERA and .200 batting average against are among the league leaders, with the latest impressive effort coming in Thursday’s 14- 2 win over the White Sox when he allowed two runs and struck out nine over seven innings.

News Item – Homers United: The Boston Globe ran a piece on predictions made by hometown media members who cover the Celtics and Mavs. To no one’s surprise, all but one guy from Dallas — Sean McFarland — picked the Mavs and it was the same for Boston where only one, naturally Dan Shaughnessy, didn’t have the locals winning. Celtics fans can take heart, as the track record on predictions by Shaughnessy says he’s almost always wrong, so the Celtics are probably a lock.

The Numbers:

12 – consecutive losses to his former team by Kyrie after his 12-point, 6 of 19, and 16-point submissions in Game 1 and 2.

17 – NBA Finals record for biggest lead after the first quarter set by the Celtics when they led in Game 1 37-20.

96 – he may be hitting just .215 as he’s finding his footing, but after the 4-5, 4-RBI day vs. Chicago last week, it’s the number of RBI Sox rookie CF/SS Ceddanne Rafaela is on track to knock in from the ninth spot in the order.

… Of the Week Awards

Thumbs Up – Celtics Warm-Up Shirts: Love those Celtics warm up shirts with WALTON written across the front in tie-dye colors to honor the late great Bill Walton.

Mexico Will Pay For The Wall Award – Dallas Mavs: The Mavs’ announcement that Doncic was questionable for Game 2 (when he had a 31-11-11 triple double) was less believable than the claim made in the 2016 presidential race.

A Little History – Down Goes Rambis: Yup, it was (gulp) 40 years ago last week when Kevin McHale horse collared bespectacled Laker Kurt Rambis in Game 4 of the 1984 NBA Finals to prevent a breakaway lay-up as the C’s were getting run out by L.A. for the second straight game. It radically changed the momentum after that as the Celtics improbably rallied to even the series at 2-2.

That play and Gerald Henderson’s steal and score in OT of Game 1 were the plays that saved the series the C’s eventually won in seven.

Sports 101 Answer: No. 2 on the C’s triple D list is Bob Cousy with 33, followed by John Havlicek (32), Rajon Rondo (21) and Bill Russell (17). If you’re wondering, Tatum and Jaylen Brown have just two and three respectively.

Final Thought – Thumbs Down – John Henry: It’s ironic the Red Sox owner whined to the Financial Times of London that fans are too unrealistic in thinking you can win it all every year, just as the GM he fired to send the Sox crashing to the basement shows up at Fenway with his Phillies. Who immediately became contenders after he arrived thanks to moves like signing Kyle Schwarber (93 homers in two years) after the Sox let him walk.

True, you can’t win every year. But Dombo shows big-market teams can contend almost every year if they have the will Henry once had.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Master of contraptions

Inspiring future engineers with Zach Umperovitch

Zach Umperovitch is the national contest director at the Rube Goldberg Institute for Innovation & Creativity. A New Hampshire native, Zach is a three-time Guinness World Record holder, a national Rube Goldberg contest champion and an on-screen expert, judge and engineering producer for Contraption Masters on the Discovery Channel. He is also well-known for his work for Domino Masters, Google, Red Bull, Disney, ESPN and Sonic the Hedgehog 2. From Saturday, June 22, through Friday, June 28, you can find him at the fourth annual “Kickoff to Summer” with Zach’s Contraptions at the SEE Science Center in Manchester. Visit @ZachsContraptions on YouTube, @zachscontraptions on Instagram and rubegoldbergmachineexpert.com.

What is a Rube Goldberg machine?

A Rube Goldberg machine is a contraption or invention that takes a very simple task such as watering a plant or zipping a zipper and makes it incredibly complicated in a funny way using everyday objects.

How did you get interested in them?

I got involved with Rube Goldberg machines when I was 3 years old, before I even knew what they were. I was playing around with different parts around my house and my parents have a lovely photo of me building one up a staircase….

What was one of the first Rube Goldberg machines you ever invented?

One of the first ones I remember was, I wanted to knock something down the stairs, it was actually feeding a cat. It was a marble that went through my hamster’s tubing, which, fun fact, that hamster’s still missing. Then the marble slid out into a box, slid down the stairs, knocked over some dominoes and it knocked over a bowl of cat food and it just spilled all the cat food all over the place. But it effectively did feed our cat at the time.

Why do you think Rube Goldberg machines are so fascinating?

I think they’re really fascinating because there’s this child-like wonder and it’s bringing your imagination to life. I think all of us as kids, we played around with toys and sort of built these contraptions on our own. But seeing them in a bigger media space, and when I do them with things like shipping containers and yoga balls and giant fans and bicycles and seeing these crazy contraptions that we all built as kids in a larger setting, there’s such a sense of wonder and it brings us back. I’ve been to art galleries with very posh people and they look at these machines and they go, ‘Wow, this is amazing!’ And I built these machines for fishermen for the Seattle Boat Show and you’re thinking, big hearty fisherman guys, what are they going to think of a Rube Goldberg machine?, and they have the same response as some of the third-graders I teach. It really is just something that appeals to everyone’s childlike nature.

What will you be doing at the SEE Science Center?

I’m going to be building a life-size Rube Goldberg machine, roughly around 30 feet by 20 feet, so a really good size where I’m going to take exhibits, I’m going to take different items that are lying around the museum, I’m going to build a giant Rube Goldberg machine designed to help kick off summer. They always have their, it’s called the ‘Kickoff to Summer’ event, and quite literally, we’re going to kick off Summer with this machine. What does that mean? You actually have to go there to find out…. It’s going to be a liveexhibit, meaning that it’s going to be in one of the spaces that people can just visit through. Because they are anticipating larger crowds to come and see this, and only a select number of people can show up at a time to the museum … reservations aren’t necessary but recommended…. I’m going to have one of my smaller, portable Rube Goldberg machines … that’s going to be demonstrated. People will be able to play my Rube Golberg video game, Rube Works, there’s activities…. There may be TV monitors around that might be showing my show Contraption Masters or stuff from my YouTube Channel, Zach’s Contraptions.

With the television show and Sonic the Hedgehog 2, what was it like foraying into that realm?

It was a pretty incredible transition going from building these machines for collegiate events to actually going to the production scale. Sonic the Hedgehog was really nice because that was a 3D digital contraption, so a lot less mess, but really really cool in that millions of people have now seen that. My production company Zyyn Labs is the one behind OK Go [“This Too Shall Pass” music video] and we still get all the accolades from that. Working with Discovery and for my show Contraption Masters, it’s just such an incredible experience. I had the idea for 10 years and for it to be brought to life, the whole cast and crew just being so supportive and so behind the idea of it…. It’s so wonderful to have such passionate people and it’s only continued even from the competitions through the production side of things, people just really put their heart and soul into these things.

Can you talk about your book coming out on Nov. 12, 2024, with Rube Goldberg’s granddaughter called ‘Rube Goldberg’s Big Book of Building: Make 25 Machines That Really Work!’?

This book is going to be the guide to students building their own Rube Goldberg machines. It’s a wonderful manual that includes the basics behind Rube Goldberg but also how students, parents, home-school students, whoever, they’re able to take everyday objects that are already lying around and be able to build these contraptions using nothing more than scissors, string and duct tape. There’s 25 contraptions that I’ve personally built and we give step-by-step instructions, very much in a Lego style with these beautifully illustrated pictures. It’s such a wonderful book that we’re trying to get into every STEM classroom because it really is going to be such a helpful manual for students to begin thinking outside the box and begin their journey building Rube Goldberg machines.

What would you say to someone who’s interested in Rube Goldberg machines or building in general?

For anyone interested in building, inventing, possibly even the world of Rube Goldberg, it’s all about learning how to fail and learning from those failures. I might sound successful but in reality if 10 to 15 percent of what I make actually works, I’m thrilled, truly…. It’s understanding that there’s a lot of trial and error and you have to have the patience to persevere. If you do have that patience, the doors just open for you. It’s an incredible field to be in, but understanding how to fail and how to learn from failure is critical to success.

Kickoff to Summer with Zach’s Contraptions
Where: SEE Science Center, 200 Bedford St., Manchester
When: Saturday, June 22, through Friday, June 28
Info: see-sciencecenter.org, 669-0400

—Zachary Lewis

Featured image: Zach Umperovitch. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 24/06/13

White pine needles

According to a recent press release, the New Hampshire Forest Health Bureau said that due to the amount of rain that occurred during late spring and summer last year, white pine trees in New Hampshire have been dropping needles, which is part of a larger trend over the past 15 years where pine forests across the Northeast have been affected by several fungi that attack pine needles, causing them to discolor and to drop from the trees prematurely in what is referred to as “needlecast disease.”

The recurring disease currently affecting white pines has been named “white pine needle disease” by pathologists, according to the same release.

In a statement, Kyle Lombard, administrator of the New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands’ Forest Health Bureau, said that “the fungi that cause white pine needle disease depend on above-normal precipitation during the spring and summer of the previous year, and we certainly had that in 2023, which is why WPND seems epic this year.”

Fortunately, WPND is highly unlikely to kill white pines and is only a minor setback in the trees’ annual growth cycle, usually affecting only the most recent year’s needles, according to the same release.

Lombard also stated that “folks shouldn’t panic if they see white pines with orange or brown needles, or even if there are so many needles dropped that you can rake them up. Once the affected needles have cast off, new needles will start growing in their place, fully elongate in July and the trees will be green again in August.”

For more information about white pine needle damage, visit nhbugs.org or learn more about New Hampshire Forests at nhdfl.dncr.nh.gov.

Bridge for sale

According to a recent press release, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) is currently accepting proposals for the purchase, relocation and preservation of the historic Smith’s Crossing Bridge (No. 240/104) that continues Jackson Pond Road over the state-owned Concord-to-Lincoln railroad in the town of New Hampton.

According to the release, in order to be considered, a proposal needs to be submitted electronically to [email protected] and the subject line of the email must read: “PROPOSAL FOR THE ADAPTIVE REUSE OF THE SMITH’S CROSSING BRIDGE.” The submission deadline is Tuesday, Aug. 6, at noon.

The Smith’s Crossing Bridge was constructed in 1934 and is a timber bridge, with no major rehabilitations. Jackson Pond Road is currently an unmaintained Class VI town road that is overgrown, deteriorated and not used for vehicular traffic, according to the same release.

The Request for Proposals and details are available on the Department’s Disposition of Historic Bridges (Bridge Sales) webpage at dot.nh.gov/historic-bridge-dispositions-bridges-sale, according to the release.

Other questions or requests for additional information should be addressed to Mr. Kevin Nyhan, Administrator, Bureau of Environment at [email protected], and requests for additional information must be received by 3 p.m. on Friday, July 5.

Citizen science in action

According to to a press release from the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, the New Hampshire Silver Jackets, a state-federal interagency flood risk management team, which includes the NHDES, recently collaborated with the Town of Pelham to install a CrowdHydrology staff gauge below the Willow Street Bridge on Beaver Brook that will enhance local flood forecasting and response capabilities while presenting an opportunity for community engagement in citizen science.

According to the release, the staff gauge is conveniently located in the landing area below the bridge where volunteers can participate by simply reading the water level on the gauge and texting the station number, along with the reading, to the phone number provided on site.

Submissions are incorporated into a long-term database hosted on crowdhydrology.com that is accessible free of charge to schools, resource management agencies, watershed organizations and anyone interested in utilizing hydrologic data, according to the release.

CrowdHydrology originated in the Northeast in 2010 and has expanded across North America to address data gaps in streams, rivers or lakes that may lack resources for more advanced measurement tools. This marks the second installation of a CrowdHydrology stream gauge in New Hampshire, according to the release.

In a statement, Brian Hauschild, Geoscience Program Specialist with the New Hampshire Geological Survey at NHDES and member of the New Hampshire Silver Jackets, said that “the installation of the stream gauge in Pelham continues to offer opportunities for public contribution to scientific data collection. These efforts are invaluable for providing real-time data that informs flood trends and ultimately enhances public safety.”

According to the release, water level measurements at the new site have been recorded weekly since the gauge was installed and community members are encouraged to visit the site at the Willow Street Bridge in Pelham. Contact Brian Hauschild (NHDES) at [email protected] or 271-7332, or Dena Hoffman (Town of Pelham) at [email protected] or 508-3000, ext. 3101.

On Thursday, June 13, Family Promise of Greater Concord holds its second annual summer jazz concert featuring Tall Granite Big Band at the Wesley United Methodist Church in Concord (79 Clinton St.) from 7 to 9 p.m. Family Promise works to end family homelessness. Tickets are $30 or two for $50 at familypromisegcnh.org.

The nonprofit Corey’s Closet thrift store has moved into its new, larger location at 1271 Hooksett Road in Hooksett (in the Kmart plaza) as of Thursday, June 6. “The mission of Corey’s Closet is to create meaningful work experiences for those with developmental disabilities,” according to the shop’s website (coreyscloset.org), which says the shop sells donated clothing, books and home furnishings.

The Manchester City Library (405 Pine St., 624-6550) hosts a talk on the history and current events of the Middle East on Tuesday, June 18, at 6 p.m. in the auditorium and on Zoom, according to their website. The talk is presented by Brandon Gauthier, Adjunct Professor of History for Fordham University and the Director of Global Education at The Derryfield School, who will examine the history of U.S.-Iranian relations since the 1950s and the effects of the Israeli-Hamas conflict on the Middle East in the present. A Q&A session will follow. Visit manchesterlibrary.org.

Late Night With the Devil (R)

A 1970s late night talk show host really monkey-paws his prayer for ratings on Late Night with the Devil, a fun shaggy horror movie.

We’re told that the movie we’re watching is a combination of the show as it was aired and behind-the-scenes footage for the presumably final episode of Night Owls with Jack Delroy, a nighttime show in the 1970s that could never quite knock Johnny Carson off his perch as the king of late night. Host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) earned his best ratings on the night his wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig) came on the show shortly before she died of cancer. Since then, he’s been in personal and professional turmoil. We also get some “the 1970s, man, they were wild” footage of riots and upheaval, mixed in with some “news” footage about a satanic cult.

All of which brings us to Halloween night in 1977, which also happens to be the start of sweeps week — which, fond sigh, kids, ask your grandpappies about the stunts and special guest stars TV shows broke out for those ratings-significant periods in the TV year. For Jack’s desperate ratings grab, he’s planned a Halloween show all about the hot topic that is the occult, featuring psychic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), magician-turned-skeptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss), parapsychologist June Ross-Mitchen (Laura Gordon), her patient Lilly (Ingrid Torelli) and a singer that we’re all pretty sure is going to be bumped for time. June’s book, Conversations with the Devil, is about Lilly, the sole survivor of the satanic cult mentioned in the intro footage, who June claims is possessed by a demon.

The show starts with the kind of borderline corny comedy one associates with this particular time in TV — Jack offers a mostly “meh” comedy monologue, he does some banter with/light ribbing of Ed McMahon-ish sidekick Gus McConnell (Rhys Auteri), a band juices up the jokes with musical moments, and it all happens in front of an appropriate stripes-and-mustard-tones set.

Christou is the first guest, offering some clumsy cold reads with messages from people who have crossed over. Right before his time ends, though, he is struck by what is perhaps a “real” supernatural moment — he drops his vaguely Spanish magic-y person accent, he grabs his head in pain and his eyes roll back. The audience seems shocked, Jack isn’t quite sure what’s going on and producer Leo Fiske (Josh Quong Tart) is delighted that this moment of spookiness might attract viewers and attention.

I am here for this vibes-based horror. Rubber bats and goofy costumes in the audience mix with behind-the-scenes sweaty desperation and “it’s all an act” jadedness that help make the setting as regular and “nothing to see here” as it gets — until maybe it isn’t. What if Dick Cavett but sweatier and maybe possessed — it’s sort of a weird concept but it works and is mostly a fun-ride take. (The ending is abrupt and has a “we’ve only got the set for one more day, just go with what we have” not-quite feeling that, honestly, fits with the movie’s mood even if it doesn’t quite satisfy storywise.)

David Dastmalchian is exactly perfect in the lead role. He’s both sorta famous — he’s a real “he’s literally in everything” guy (his IMDb includes Marvel, DC, TV, Oppenheimer) — and not so well-known that he can’t sink into the sad, desperate mess that is Jack Delroy. B

Rated R for violent content, some gore, and language including a sexual reference, according to the MPA at filmratings.com. Written and directed by Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes, Late Night with the Devil is an hour and 26 minutes long and distributed by IFC Films. It is available on AMC+ and for rent or purchase.

The First Omen (R)

The “all” in “it’s all for you” is a long ramp-up prequel to the action of the original The Omen in The First Omen, a movie that is a baroque operatic shriek but isn’t quite as fun as that implies.

I found myself thinking a lot about Evil during this movie, the series that just started its fourth and final season. It is airing on Paramount+ and it is a Robert and Michelle King joint (they of the The Good Wife television universe). Evil is a chocolate fudge sundae with extra cherries for a certain kind of dogma-fascinated lapsed Sunday school kid, thoroughly gleeful in its dark goofiness. It is a kick and a half and if you haven’t checked it out, run, don’t walk. This season’s endgame seems to be Antichrist-focused, not unlike this movie — is that a spoiler? If you aren’t aware that demon-children is the territory this movie is playing in, I’m not sure why you would watch it. It’s not a traditional horror in the sense of The Nun movies. It feels to me very much like Evil, very much Catholic school kids misbehaving with apocryphal church lore, but louder and without the sense of humor. (Evil has Andrea Martin in the supporting role of a demon-fighting nun, if you need another reason to check it out.)

Here, we’re following Margaret (Nell Tiger Free, best-known probably as the second Myrcella Baratheon from Game of Thrones), a young American novitiate showing up in early 1970s Rome to work at a Catholic convent/girls’ orphanage and school and take her vows and become a fully fledged nun. She’s been brought over by Cardinal Lawrence (Bill Nighy), a mentor since she was a child growing up in her very own nun-run girls’ school/orphanage institution. She was a “bad kid” back then, but Cardinal Lawrence helped put her on the right path, Cardinal Lawrence is the best — I’m sure the movie will prove this to be true!

She is sharing a room with fellow novitiate Luz (Maria Caballero), who has decided to spend her last days pre-veil trying out decolletage and disco. She gets Margaret to join her for a night on the town, and though Margaret is fuzzy the next morning, Luz assures her that nothing too untoward happened.

Margaret is rather fuzzy at her new job too, where she can’t understand why all the other nuns are so mean to Carlita (Nicole Sorace), an admittedly odd child made all the odder by her regular isolation from other kids. Margaret feels protective toward Carlita, and when Father Brennan (Ralph Ineson) shows up telling her that Carlita is part of a larger conspiracy, she might not immediately believe him — but she doesn’t completely discount him either.

This movie revs up slowly before barrelling toward a bonkers conclusion, all wheels flying off and motor on fire. Like a wild roller coaster you ride after waiting in a two-hour line, the finale helps you to forget a bit how much the beginning of this endeavor seemed to crawl. Well, the very beginning firmly plants us in the realm of “The Devil,” but then we slow-walk it through a novitiate’s quiet yet unsettling adventures in Rome to get back to that point.

That said, the bulk of the movie is not a lunacy drought. The movie is filled with devil imagery and so much gore, much of it centered around childbirth. The movie even brushes up close to Saying Something about female power, both in the church and in the wider world, which would have been a bit of clever fun in this kind of horror movie (and very Evil).

The movie does have a lot going for it and a lot of that — how the story comes together, how the movie walks the tightrope between terror and ridiculousness — is due to the skill of Free. She is very good at hitting the exact right notes with Margaret, who goes from sincere to scared to worried about her own mental state to determined.

The First Omen doesn’t exactly hit a bull’s-eye for me in either the genuinely scary or delightfully unhinged targets, but it is enough of a near miss for both that I had a decent time. Also, seriously, watch Evil. B- (for The First Omen; the TV show Evil is an A+ with a chef’s kiss).

Rated R for violent content, grisly/disturbing images, and brief graphic nudity, according to the MPA on filmratings.com, and some real House of the Dragon birthing-body horror stuff that you can not unsee, according to me. Directed by Arkasha Stevenson with a screenplay by Tim Smith & Arkasha Stevenson and Keith Thomas, The First Omen is two hours long and distributed by 20th Century Studios. The movie is now available for rent or purchase and is streaming on Hulu.

At The SOFAPLEX

The Last Stop in Yuma County (R)

Bank robbers, locals and folks passing through unfortunately intersect at a dusty diner in 1970s-ish Arizona in The Last Stop in Yuma County, a decently fun movie whose whole vibe is “tension plus heat and dirt.”

Charlotte (Jocelin Donahue) is the only one working behind the counter at the diner on the day that the air conditioning goes out and the fuel truck is late to fill up the empty pumps at the gas station across the road where owner Vernon (Faizon Love) has to tell people that they can wait in the diner for the truck or try to make it 100 miles to the next station.

A kitchen knife salesman (Jim Cummings) decides to wait it out, as do an older couple on a road trip (Gene Jones, Robin Bartlett). Charlotte and the knife salesmen are trying to act normal in the stuffy diner because that’s what fellow patrons Beau (Robert Brake) and Travis (Nicholas Logan) have told them to do. The knife salesman had absolutely no chill when he got a glimpse of Beau and Travis’ car and realized it and they fit the description of bank robbers who got away from a robbery earlier that morning. Soon Beau is holding them at gunpoint — as well as everybody else who happens through the diner, whether they know it or not — and waiting for the fuel truck and an escape route to show up. Will that happen before Charlotte’s husband, Charlie (Michael Abbott Jr.), the local sheriff, figures out that things are squirrelly at his wife’s diner?

“Waiting for the other shoe to drop” is basically what the movie is all about, especially as other people enter the picture, such as Charlie’s hapless deputy and a young couple eager to either emulate or steal from the robbers. There is maybe too much waiting and too little shoe, with a climax that is only momentarily exciting. This movie is fine if you happen by it but nothing I’d go out of my way to seek out. C+ Available for rent or purchase.

The Beekeeper (R)

Jason Statham is a beekeeper in the dumb and awesome The Beekeeper.

Adam Clay (Statham) is a beekeeper who protects the hive (a thing he says eleventy billion times here) in both the literal sense and the “government agency with dumb name” sense. Literally, he keeps bees on the property of Eloise Parker (Phylicia Rashad), a nice lady who was nice to him. In the other sense he’s recently retired from The Beekeepers, an outside the normal order of things group of government assassins. So when Eloise takes her own life after being scammed out of every penny she has, Adam and his particular set of skills killer-robot marches through every level of the organization of scammers, blowing stuff up and demolishing every henchman put in front of him. Working a parallel investigation into what happened to Eloise is her daughter, FBI agent Verona Parker (Emmy Raver-Lampman), who is also awesome and if somebody wants to do an equally dumb spinoff movie about her, I promise to buy tickets.

I didn’t actually see this movie in a theater; I saw it at home on a day I specifically was looking for something fun and stupid to watch, and this movie super fit the bill. It is exactly, 100 percent, completely what you think you will get based on the phrase “Jason Statham in The Beekeeper,” said in that “in a world” voice. It’s all punching, all ka-booming, all threats and violent comebacks to dumb taunts. It is, when you need this sort of thing, perfect. B+ Available for rent or purchase.

Featured photo: Late Night with the Devil

On a roll

Bike Run party with James Montgomery Band

By Michael Witthaus
[email protected]

The yearly Laconia Motorcycle Week is returning, which means drivers should check their rear-view mirrors twice for the next 10 days while heading to the Lakes Region. It also signals the return of the Peter Makris Memorial Run, on June 8. Now in its 18th year, the charity ride attracts hundreds of motorcyclists and benefits area first responders

Motorcycles assemble at Naswa resort and are escorted to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for a few laps, followed by a ride around the lake that ends back at Naswa. Now part of this tradition is James Montgomery, who began playing the bike run’s afterparty in the mid-2010s. The blues harmonica stalwart is back again with his band for an afternoon set.

He’ll also help kick things off.

“I play ‘Amazing Grace’ at the beginning of the bike run,” Montgomery said by phone recently. “Last year we must have done at least 500 bikes, something like that. It’s a pretty big run, and raises money, and then we have a party afterward — and, you know, nobody gets hurt.”

Montgomery has been a fixture on the New England blues circuit since coming here in the early 1970s. He attended BU with plans to be a teacher, but instead fell into a music scene that included the J. Geils Band, Bonnie Raitt and Duke & the Drivers. He was signed to the Allman Brothers’ label Capricorn Records, where he worked with studio legend Tom Dowd on his second album.

Montgomery discovered the blues in his hometown of Detroit, seeing legends like Muddy Waters, Junior Wells and John Lee Hooker perform and learning his harmonica and singing style from James Cotton and Paul Butterfield. His reverence for the genre’s progenitors spawned a career in film. He’s participated in documentaries on Butterfield and fabled Boston radio station WBCN.

He also co-produced Bonny Blue, a documentary about Cotton, who he had a father/son relationship with prior to his death in 2017. The film’s centerpiece is a five-camera shoot done at Boston’s House of Blues while Cotton was still alive, with Huey Lewis and the late Jay Geils also in the harp legend’s band.

Montgomery beams while discussing the film, which debuted last year on the festival circuit and will see a general release later this summer.

“We were one of five finalists for the Library of Congress Ken Burns Prize,” he said. “It’s one of the highest awards you can get.”

His current movie project is non-musical, and close to home for Montgomery. America, You Kill Me is a documentary about his late brother Jeffrey, a pioneering gay rights activist in Detroit. His advocacy began when his partner was shot outside a Detroit gay bar in 1984, and he learned that local police were not aggressively investigating it or other LGBT-related murders. It’s played in a few movie houses, and Montgomery is working on a national release.

Musically, his most recent album was a duet effort: 2020’s Cadillac Walk, recorded with guitarist and singer Jay Willie. The title comes from a Mink DeVille song that’s one of several covers on the disc, like the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” and “Give Me One Reason” by Tracy Chapman.

Each one is given its own spin on the original.

“Jay Willie’s like me — don’t just cover something; he really wants to make an additional statement,” Montgomery said, adding, “I had a ball making that record…. They gave me a bottle of wine and 20 bucks, and I went, ‘OK, I’ll do it for that.’ The wine cost more than what they paid me, but anyway, we had a great time.”

His signature kung fu kick is still operational, though the 71-year-old harmonica player jokes that a hip replacement may change that someday.

“The generation that grew up playing in rock ’n’ roll bands in the late ’60s and ’70s always thought we were going to be young forever … none of us have this mentality that we’re old,” he said. “I say I’m on the ‘too stupid to stop’ tour, because if you don’t stop, you don’t even notice how long you’ve been playing.”

James Montgomery Band
When: Saturday, June 8, 1 p.m. (following Peter Makris Bike Run)
Where: Naswa Resort, 1086 Weirs Beach, Laconia
Info: naswa.com

Featured photo: James Montgomery. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 24/06/06

Local music news & events

• Island country: Get ready for Kenny Chesney’s three-night stand at Gillette Stadium with No Shoes Nation, a tribute band from Seabrook that recreates the tropical troubadour’s sound and energy. Thursday, June 6, 8 p.m., LaBelle Winery, 345 Route 101, Amherst, $40 at labellewinery.com.

• Phish stew: An inventive mashup of the Vermont jam band and the likes of Miles Davis, Jazz Is Phsh is an instrumental supergroup led by Adam Chase that can take “Sample in a Jar” and fold in a bit of John Coltrane along with some Herbie Hancock and finish it all with original grooves for a funky, soulful and classy new take on a genre that’s already built on improvisation. Friday, June 7, 9 p.m., Stone Church, 5 Granite St., Newmarket, 21+, $20 at portsmouthnhtickets.com.

• Rockabilly roll: A high-octane gumbo of country, surf music and punk rock, Reverend Horton Heat is not a person but a band, fronted by singer, songwriter and guitar player Jim Heath. The group became a staple in the 1990s with songs like “Bales of Cocaine” and “Psychobilly Freakout.” They’re currently on a spring-long tour with the similar-minded band The Surfajettes. Saturday, June 8, 9 pm., The Goat, 50 Old Granite St., Manchester, 21+, $29.50 at ticketmaster.com.

• Banjo afternoon: Though she began her musical career in bluegrass — Alison Brown was for a brief moment in the late ’80s a member of Alison Krauss & Union Station — she’s taken the banjo to another place in recent years. Her eponymous quintet performs an area show, weaving jazz, Celtic and other influences into “a sonic tapestry” that’s earned comparisons to fellow banjoist Bela Fleck. Sunday, June 9, 2 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $29 at palacetheatre.org.

• Living link: Evocative as both a singer and a guitarist, Keb’ Mo’ performs in Nashua. The five-time Grammy winner’s shows are soulful and compelling affairs; in 2022 he released Good To Be, with an infectious title track. One of those Grammys was won under his given name Kevin Moore, for co-writing “Git Fiddler,” from Jefferson Starship’s Red Octopus. Tuesday, June 11, 7:30 p.m., Nashua Center for the Arts, 201 Main St., Nashua, $49 and up at etix.com.

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