Category: Featured Content

News & Notes 23/08/17

Funds for schools

The Manchester School District has received a $7.6 million federal grant to enhance its Multi-Tiered System of Support for Behavioral Health and Wellness (MTSS-B) model across all 21 schools, according to a press release. This framework is designed to provide students with social, emotional and behavioral support, thereby promoting wellness and boosting learning engagement. Over five years, the funding will enable the district to not only implement the MTSS-B framework but also set specific goals, such as bolstering student behavioral health, minimizing school violence and disciplinary exclusions and increasing the high school graduation rate. The initiative also aims to reduce stigmas tied to mental health treatment, elevate access to services and cut down on vaping among students. Community partners, including the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester, will play a role in achieving these goals. The grant, part of Project AWARE, positions Manchester School District among 21 entities nationwide to benefit from this funding opportunity.

Home upgrades

The City of Manchester, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is offering residents the opportunity to apply for $1.9 million in funds for housing-related health and safety improvements, according to a press release. This is due to Manchester receiving the Healthy Homes Production Grant from HUD, which is aimed at addressing housing needs for low-income families. Manchester plans to utilize these funds to address health and safety issues in approximately 100 housing units over the next 45 months. The interventions range from electrical system upgrades to mold remediation and ADA upgrades for better accessibility. Each of the 100 units can receive up to $11,000, with a mandatory 10 percent match from property owners. The funding is provided as a three-year zero-percent-interest forgivable loan. If property owners comply with conditions for three years post-project, the loan will be forgiven. Additionally, the grant will fund RRP Certification scholarships for 50 individuals, aiming to increase the number of RRP certified professionals in Manchester. To be eligible, property owners must have a residential structure in Manchester that houses individuals 62 years or older, persons with disabilities, or children younger than 6 years old. Income restrictions also apply. Application details are at leadsafemanchester.com.

Helping out

St. Mary’s Bank Charitable Foundation has granted $5,338 to Stepping Stones, Greater Nashua’s sole center for homeless youth under 25. According to a press release, the funds will support two youths for six months, providing essentials like food, clothing, showers and laundry. Stepping Stones, since 2020, has aided over 130 young individuals, offering resources and recently introduced transitional housing. To find out more about Stepping Stones, visit steppingstonesnh.org.

Want a bridge?

The State of New Hampshire’s Department of Transportation is announcing the opportunity for interested parties to submit proposals for the removal and adaptive reuse of the historic General Sullivan Bridge, which connects the Town of Newington and City of Dover, according to a press release. This initiative falls under the 23 USC 144(g) Historic Bridges provision. For your proposal to be considered, ensure it is electronically sent by Aug. 29, to Bureau16@dot.nh.gov with the subject line “Proposal for Adaptive Reuse of General Sullivan Bridge.” Comprehensive details about the bridge, such as location maps, bridge plans, inspection reports and historical covenants, can be found at nh.gov/dot/org/projectdevelopment/bridgedesign.

New doc

Patients in southern New Hampshire can now benefit from the expertise of fellowship-trained breast surgeon Kimberly G. Ellis, M.D., at Dartmouth Hitchcock Clinics Manchester. According to a press release, Ellis specializes in breast surgery and oncoplastic surgery, aiming to reduce cosmetic damage from cancer-related procedures. Notably, Dr. Ellis introduces Magtrace technology to New Hampshire, a non-radioactive liquid tracer used to trace the possible spread of cancer within the lymphatic system, learned during her fellowship at the University of California San Francisco. Ellis highlights that residents now have access to state-of-the-art cancer care without needing to travel to major cities. For appointments, call 695-2840.

Federal grant

The New Hampshire congressional delegation, comprising U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan and U.S. Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas, announced a federal grant of $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the Lakes Region Mental Health Center (LRMHC). According to a press release, this grant aims to enhance mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) outreach services for the homeless. Specifically, it will fund a dedicated staff role at LRMHC to help homeless individuals with mental health and SUD issues find treatment.

The New Hampshire Department of Transportation announced in a press release that, starting Aug. 21, they will close the bridge on Oak Street in Rollinsford for 11 days for maintenance over the CSX railroad. A detour will be available via Broadway, Saint James Street, Chapel Street and Route 4. Local traffic can access Oak Street on either side of the bridge. For real-time updates, visit newengland511.org.

Fifteen interns from MyTurn and Kimball Jenkins Summer Placemaking internship will present “Colors of Change: West High Mural Unveiling” on Thursday, Aug. 17, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Manchester West High School (9 Notre Dame in Manchester). The project’s goal is to have more than 2,000 square feet of mural segments at West, according to a press release. The event will feature live music from a local string trio starring Nicholas So and food for sale by Don Quijotes, the release said. Find Kimball Jenkins on Facebook for more.

The Nashua Region Solid Waste Management District is hosting a Household Hazardous Waste collection on Saturday, Aug. 26, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Pelham Highway Department, 33 Newcomb Field Parkway. Residents of Pelham and 10 other local communities can dispose of specific hazardous household products for a $15 fee per vehicle, covering up to 10 gallons or 20 pounds of waste. Accepted items include oil-based paints, solvents, and various household chemicals. Businesses interested in participating must register in advance. The collection will not accept latex paint, electronics or medications. For a comprehensive list of items and further details, visit www.nashuarpc.org/hhw or call 417-6570.

Triple treat

Gov’t Mule plays Pink Floyd; Led Zeppelin opens

In terms of bang for buck, it’s hard to beat the upcoming Gov’t Mule show at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. It includes guitarist Warren Haynes leading his band through an opening set including familiar tracks and up to half a dozen songs from Peace… Like a River, their just released gem of an album. Without a break, they’ll morph into Pink Floyd, reviving Dark Side of the Mule with enough lasers and lights to transform the audience back to the 1970s.

Gov’t Mule is bringing back the show, first performed at Boston’s Orpheum Theatre on Halloween 2008, to mark Dark Side of the Moon’s 50th anniversary. They aren’t playing the classic 1973 album from start to finish, though they’ll touch on a lot of it. Rather, they’ll draw from the entirety of Floyd’s catalog, from Meddle to The Wall.

On “Have a Cigar” drummer Matt Abts changes one lyric to, “Oh, by the way, which one’s the Mule?” In other words, this is a tribute, but stamped clearly by the band performing it.

“It’s a tough line to draw because we want to be very reverent and respectful of the original versions,” Warren Haynes said by phone recently. “At the same time, there’s no point in just copying it…. If we can’t do it our own way, then there’s really no reason to do it.”

Halloween cover shows are a Mule tradition. “We do some crazy theme and give ourselves permission to play somebody else’s music,” Haynes explained. But when fans began clamoring for a release of the Boston Floyd set, it surprised them a bit. “In the past, we’ve only done it once and never looked back.”

On this tour, Mule — Haynes, Abts, David Louis on keys and new bassist Kevin Scott — is joined by Jackie Greene on guitar and vocals and saxophone player Joe Holloway. Machan Taylor and Sophia Ramos on backing vocals add an authentic stamp. “Machan toured with Pink Floyd, and she was on the original live recording … that started this whole thing,” Haynes said.

As expected, the set list changes from night to night, though not as much as Gov’t Mule switches things up, with nuggets and familiar tracks.

“You’ll dig it if you’re not a hardcore Floyd fan, but if you are, you’ll dig it as well,” Haynes said. We’re trying to cover a lot of ground, especially the stuff that we connect with, that we feel we can capture and make our own thing.”

Led Zeppelin, in the form of Jason Bonham’s tribute to his father’s classic rock band, opens the packed night. For Haynes, the combined Zep/Floyd punch is a lot of fun. “His band is great, let’s start with that,” he said. “They came to Island Exodus, the Jamaica destination event that we do every January. Jason and I, and Jason and Gov’t Mule, have played together in the past. When it got brought up, everybody seemed to think that from a fan perspective it would be fantastic.”

Tucked between the classic rock songs is some of the band’s best work in years. During the pandemic Haynes experienced a creative tsunami that produced two albums, the Grammy-nominated Heavy Load Blues and Peace… Like A River. Both were done at the same time in late 2021 at Power Station New England. A big room was set up for the new songs, and a smaller studio was equipped with vintage gear for making blues.

“We didn’t wear headphones; I was just singing through a small monitor like we [were] in a little club or something,” Haynes said of the setting for Heavy Load. “We would go in around noon and work on Peace… Like A River till about 9 p.m., then take a dinner break and then move next door and play blues the rest of the night.”

Songs like “Made My Peace,” “Same As It Ever Was” and “Peace I Need” are reflective, brimming with the sense that it was a crossroads moment of sorts for Haynes. On the other hand, there’s hope on the gospel-tinged “Just Across the River,” which has Celisse guesting, and “Dreaming Out Loud,” with co-lead vocals from Haynes, Ruthie Foster and Ivan Neville. The latter includes samples John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other inspirational leaders.

“I love the way that turned out,” Haynes said. “It made sense to have different voices singing these different quotes.”

He added that lyrically there’s a balance leaning toward better days. “I didn’t want to go into some dark place that I’d be uncomfortable confronting years down the line. I wanted to think of it more like an awakening … moving forward, getting past the challenges,” Haynes said. “A lot of the songs are written about the search for inner peace and awakenings and reckonings within yourself. Some of it is very universal and a lot of it even has a positive message. But it’s more about coming to terms with how to move forward when things are a bit dire, you know?”

Gov’t Mule w/ Jason Bonham’s Led Zeppelin Evening
When: Thursday, Aug. 17, 7 p.m.
Where: Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford
Tickets: $25 and up at livenation.com

Featured photo: Gov’t Mule. Photo by David Simchock.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (PG)

The pizza-loving turtles dream of a Ferris Bueller-like high school experience and hope heroics that go viral will help them get it in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, a delightful animated movie.

Delightful movie and delightfully animated — Mutant Mayhem has a sketchbook visual style that can give us the individual scribbles coloring in a moon and can give the turtles the kind of heft that at times almost looks claylike. It’s a nice nod to the characters and their (Dover, N.H.!) comic book beginnings and it makes for a visual experience with a real stickers-on-a-boom-box, skateboard-art energy that fits with the urban setting of the story. And it’s nice that this elevated approach to animation is part of a very kid-friendly tale.

If you’ve seen any TMNT property before, you know the basics: Ooze from a lab made it into the sewers and turned 20-something rat Splinter (voice of Jackie Chan) and baby turtles Leonardo (voice of Nicolas Cantu), Donatello (voice of Micah Abbey), Michelangelo (voice of Shamon Brown Jr.) and Raphael (voice of Brady Noon) into mutants that eventually grow big, can talk and, when Splinter decides they need to learn to defend themselves, learn martial arts. Now teenagers, the turtles live with Splinter, their dad, in the sewer, where he says they must stay to be safe from humanity. But the turtles take lots of side trips on their shopping runs for toilet paper and Cool Ranch Doritos, gazing longingly at a movie-in-the-park screening of Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and wishing they too could go to high school.

When an errant, turtle-thrown ninja star hits the helmet of human teen April O’Neil (voice of Ayo Edebiri), the turtles find themselves going after her scooter, which was stolen while she was distracted with yelling at them. April finally gets a good look at the turtles and, after a bit of screaming, the gang chats over pepperoni pizza. The turtles are shocked that a human accepts them; April points out that she’s probably more inclined to see beyond their exterior weirdness because they helped her get her scooter back. Thus begins a plan: April is trying to track down the villain Superfly (voice of Ice Cube), whose series of crimes have led to a curfew and a canceling of her school’s prom. If the turtles help her take down this criminal and she records it, they will all become heroes and the turtles will find the danke schoen of their dreams — at least, this is the plan.

Turns out Superfly is a literal fly — a mutant housefly at the head of a gang of mutants (bat, frog, rhino, cockroach, Seth Rogen-voiced warthog, etc.) from the same lab that made the turtles’ ooze. This makes the turtles’ job to defeat the bad guys and go viral saving the day a lot more complicated than they’d planned.

Superfly and Splinter both have a deep distrust of humanity and a desire to keep their found families safe — this element adds just enough depth to the overall story to give older audience members something to hang on to (in addition to the previously mentioned truly delightful animation). But overall this movie feels very kid-accessible, in the best way. April O’Neil isn’t a polished newsperson — she’s a writer for her high school paper with a sole unfortunate stint on her school’s TV network that she’s trying to live down. She has her own insecurities and awkwardness but she can also execute a good “eye roll, teenage boys” when the turtles are getting a little too high on their own supposed crime-fighting awesomeness. And the turtles do have a very young teenagerness to them, all full of bravado, big if vague dreams, emotions they don’t quite have a handle on and general kid-like goofiness. Yes, their adventures do eventually take them to a superhero-standard “save the city” place but a lot of their goals involve basic acceptance — Michaelangelo’s desire to join the high school comedy improv club, for example.

Some of the mutant-on-mutant violence might be scary for some of the youngest kids — as might some of the human-on-mutant violence (there is a secondary team of villains who are humans and led by a character voiced by Maya Rudolph). But my mid-elementary-school-age-and-up kids seemed to get into this movie’s bouncy humor and action, lots of big laughs from them and plenty of laughs from the adults in the audience. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem has an overall enjoyable scrappy sensibility. B+

Rated PG for sequences of violence and action, language and impolite material, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Jeff Rowe and Kyler Spears with a screenplay by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg & Jeff Rowe and Dan Hernandez & Benji Samit, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is an hour and 39 minutes long and is distributed in theaters by Paramount Pictures.

Featured photo: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

Gyro to go

Assumption holds its Greekfest Express

By Grace Clark
food@hippopress.com

On Saturday, Aug. 26, Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Manchester will serve up pastichio, lamb kebab meals and more during Greekfest Express.

A twist on the church’s Greekfest event, Greekfest Express is a pandemic innovation, giving those hungry for Greekfest eats a chance to order the food in advance via the church’s website and then pick up via a drive-thru on the last Saturday in August between 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. — with a more specific window agreed on when the order is placed.

“Unfortunately, during the Covid period, we weren’t able to do our traditional Greekfest event, which we would typically do with an outdoor venue,” said Costas Georgopoulos, Parish Council President and Greekfest Chairperson. “Hopefully next year we will go back to our traditional Greekfest event.”

The express format is also an adaptation to having fewer volunteers for the festival.

“The hardest thing for us is volunteers,” Georgopoulos said.

Every dish is made fresh and the food is prepared by the Ladies of the Philoptochos (the official philanthropic organization of the Greek Orthodox Church), according to Georgopoulos. The Ladies of the Philoptochos have also created the recipes for the Popular Greek Recipes cookbook that is available to order on the church website along with Greekfest eats.

Some of the most popular dishes at Greekfest include barbecue lamb (the lamb kebab dinner is served over rice with Greek-style green beans and bread), gyros (served with French fries), Greek lasagna (the pastichio dinner is also served with rice, Greek-style green beans and bread), spanakopita, baklava, and loukoumades (the fried dough balls served with a honey syrup and sprinkled with cinnamon). Pastry offerings also include kourambiedes (Greek butter cookies with powdered sugar), finikia (honey walnut cookies), koulourakia (braided butter cookies) and a pastry sampler featuring a few of four different pastries. There is also a Greek rice pudding on the menu.

Other savory options include a chicken kebab dinner, a meatballs and rice dinner, a vegetarian combo dinner (with spanakopita, rice, Greek-style green beans and bread), a Greek salad with gyro or grilled chicken and a feta cheese peta.

This year’s Greekfest will also feature a 50/50 raffle, which customers can enter online. The winner is announced at the Greekfest festival and half of the proceeds go to the church.

Ordering is open now through Sunday, Aug. 20.

In addition to celebrating Greek food and culture, the event celebrates the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, which is the Feast Day of the parish.

“We celebrate our culture, and people are able to experience Greek food that you may not be able to get at a restaurant, so they are able to experience that and our specialty dishes,”Georgopoulos said. “You also get to look at our church, and so forth, and experience Greek culture.”

Assumption Greekfest Express
Pickup day: Saturday, Aug. 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Pickup location: 111 Island Pond Road in Manchester
Order by: Sunday, Aug. 20
Menu: foodfest.assumptionnh.org
Pickup day: Saturday, Aug. 26, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Featured photo: Courtesy photos.

Three days of film

The Manchester International Film Festival returns

The second Manchester International Film Festival will feature short films by independent and award-winning filmmakers at the Rex Theatre and Palace Theatre in Manchester from Thursday, Aug. 10, through Saturday, Aug. 12.

“Ever since the Rex Theatre opened we wanted to celebrate the history of the theater as a movie theater by showing films,” said festival director Warren O’Reilly “[The festival] came about because people love films and love to be able to go out and see films … together, so the idea was to do a film festival that would be able to combine the efforts of all the other amazing film festivals in the state and be a smaller celebration of the both the city of Manchester and a celebration of film. … It’s continuing the legacy of bringing movies back to the heart of Manchester.”

Each day of the festival will showcase a different type of film. Due to the popularity of animation at last year’s event, animation will kick things off with a night of its own on Thursday. Friday will feature New England short film and comedy, with a film and post-screening Q&A with director Roger Kabler. Saturday will close with documentaries, LGBTQ+ short films, international short film, television pilot and feature film scripts as well as audience choice. There will also be a career retrospective with actor Kevin Pollak, who will be in attendance.

“Having Kevin Pollak come has been a huge honor for us because he’s been involved in some really incredible movies,” O’Reilly said. “He’s been really supportive of our film festival … and having him involved has been really important.”

Among the featured animated films is Under the Endless Sky by award-winning Ukrainian illustrator and animator Alexandra Dzhiganskaya, who currently lives in Austria. Her film tells the story of her memories of growing up in Ukraine. Although she started working on this film, originally a short comic, before the war broke out, she says the memories captured in this film have since taken on a new level of meaning.

“With the medium of animation, I tried to show the fluidity of memory and that it can be fragmented, it can be very sharp … and our memories also change with time, so these were the kinds of thoughts that I put into the animation,” Dzhiganskaya said. “I also wanted to dedicate it to place where I grew up where my best memories came from, and when the full-scale invasion in Ukraine came it kind of became a new level for me because I think [that] all people have these places or people that they kind of go back to, but somehow it hurts especially when these places and people literally don’t exist anymore.”

The film is meant to encapsulate summer and childhood carelessness in Ukraine, something she says kids nowadays won’t likely experience in the same way she did. She hopes that people can relate to her story and think back on their own memories, maybe even unearthing ones long forgotten.

“We want it to be a fun weekend full of movies for everybody,” O’Reilly said. “Getting to work with New Hampshire filmmakers has been such a treat and we look forward to working closely with New Hampshire filmmakers in future years to come because at the end of the day we’re here to celebrate film and animation in New England.”

Manchester International Film Festival
When: Thursday, Aug. 10, 7 p.m.; Friday, Aug. 11, 7 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 12, noon to 10 p.m.
Where: The Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester. The event will close on Saturday, Aug. 12, at the Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, starting at 7 p.m.
Cost: Tickets are $10 or $25 for all three days and can be purchased at palacetheatre.org or at the box office at the Palace Theatre or the Rex Theatre.

Celebrating local artistry

Manchester Arts & Crafts Fair returns for a second year

Back for its second year is the Manchester Arts & Crafts fair at Veterans Memorial Park on Saturday, Aug. 12, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with vendors, food trucks, children’s programming and more.

“This year’s arts and craft fair has three times more vendors as we did last year … featuring all kinds of fine art, painting, drawing, pottery, fabric art, woodworking, crocheting, all sorts of wonderful stuff,” said Kathy Daneman, organizer of the fair.

Among the 60 vendors is Melissa Goodman, an oil painter and illustrator. Growing up, Goodman enjoyed art in school. She went to university with the intention of studying science but quickly realized that something was missing.

“I couldn’t not be doing art,” She said. “Life just felt so much less colorful because art wasn’t involved in it. I would get jealous when I’d see kids walking on campus with their art portfolios and so I ended up taking a few art classes and realized this was what I really needed to do.”

While studying and exploring art, she developed preferences for some media over others. Now one of her media of choice is oil painting, which she originally hated.

This changed after she took a workshop taught by still life painter Jeff Legg years later.

“I took it and I ended up being like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so much better. This is everything,’” Goodman said. “I had taken oil painting classes before and just disliked it so much, but when I took it from him it was like something clicked.”

During her time in college, she also discovered that she loved working with ink and became fascinated with still lifes.

“I really loved the idea of making objects that to most people feel really ordinary feel so extraordinary. I feel that’s what life is; a lot of ordinary moments, but to us those moments feel so extraordinary,” Goodman said. “The world is such a beautiful place and I’ll see something beautiful and I’ll just know … what I need to paint, even if it’s completely unrelated. Everything around me is inspirational.”

Fiber artist Emily Reilly will have a booth at the arts and crafts fair. A graduate student at the University of New Hampshire, she found that crocheting is a great way to cope with stress.

“About a year [or] year and a half ago I kept seeing all these videos pop up [of] these girls making the cutest crochet tops and I was like, ‘I would love to do that,” Reilly said. “I fell in love with it and I found that it was just a good outlet for me. I really like doing it when I’m stressed and it’s just really satisfying to see the finished project.”

The Manchester Arts & Crafts fair will be the first Reilly has participated in. People encouraged her to sell her work and despite being hesitant she applied for a spot, where she hopes to inspire others to pick up a craft one day. She says she couldn’t have done this without the help of her sister.

“My twin sister, Hannah, has been a huge help,” Reilly said. “I’ve been doing the crocheting but she has handled everything else.”

According to Daneman, other new additions to this year’s event include face painting, the Manchester City Library Bookmobile and a children’s art wall with Unchartered Tutoring.

“We really wanted to make sure that it was something that everybody could enjoy,” Daneman said. “It’s fun to get together in the summer and see our neighbors and celebrate the art they make and the thoughts they’re expressing through their work.”

Manchester Arts & Crafts Fair
When: Saturday, Aug. 12, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Veterans Memorial Park, 773 Elm St., Manchester
Cost: Free

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