Category: Featured Content

The Woman King (R)

The Woman King (R)

Viola Davis makes a serious play for a second Oscar win in the action-drama The Woman King, which is set in early 1800s West Africa and based on the real Dahomey army of female warriors called the Agojie.

Nanisca (Viola Davis) is the general of the Agojie and a member of Dahomey King Ghezo’s (John Boyega) council. Ghezo being a relatively new king, Nanisca seems hopeful that he can be persuaded to end the country’s participation in the slave trade with the Europeans. She is also helping the king to fight a war with the Oyo empire, which has demanded tribute from Dahomey for many years. She becomes particularly intent on bringing down the Oyo when she sees that their new general is Oba Ade (Jimmy Odukoya), one of the men who had captured and raped Nanisca decades earlier.

Meanwhile, young woman Nawi (Thuso Mbedu) does not want to wind up in the abusive marriage her father arranges for her. Always somewhat in awe of the passing Agojie, Nawi is dumped at Ghezo’s palace by her father and the Agojie take her in to join a class of new recruits. The recruits are from a mix of backgrounds, including some who were taken prisoner during a recent raid to free Dahomey people held by Oyo and their allies Mahi. If you make it through the training, mentor types like the bad-ass Izogie (Lashana Lynch) and Nanisca’s second in command Amenza (Sheila Atim) reinforce to the recruits, your background won’t matter and you’ll be Agojie. Nawi isn’t exactly a “fall in line” type but she badly wants to be part of this powerful group of women.

One could argue that some of the twists of the personal stories of Nanisca, trying to navigate court politics, and Nawi, who meets and has a sort of flirtation with half-Dahomey Brazilian Malik (Jordan Bolger), can border on the soapy. And one might feel tempted to get all “well, actually” about some of the historical elements and the gratifying but wish-fullfill-y turns the story takes. But I am not that one. To borrow one of critic Joe Reid’s oft-used terms of affection, this movie is rad: Davis with her blend of weariness and determination is rad, Mbedu is rad, all the ladies of the Agojie are rad but particularly Lynch and Atim (Lynch is having a rad career that includes playing Carol Danvers’ friend and colleague Maria Rambeau in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Nomi, a 007, in No Time to Die). This world isn’t some made-up utopia; the women here all deal with various patriarchal restraints. But the Agojie also get to be confident and self-assured, and not in some girl-boss-y way but like the battlefield tested warriors they are. Instead of male gaze of these strong women, the movie (directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood) shows them in a kind of sisterly appreciation light and we get to be dazzled by their relationship with each other and their Wonder Woman-likeathleticism (there are some real Themyscira moves in their fighting style, which, along with Black Panther’s whole Dora Milaje, suggests that comic books owe a lot to this slice of history). I know I should scrape together some kind of intellectual read on this movie but where I’m at: The Woman King is rad and you should see it. For my part, I can’t wait to see it again. A

Rated PG-13 for sequences of strong violence, some disturbing material, thematic content, brief language and partial nudity, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood with a screenplay by Dana Stevens and Maria Bello, The Woman King is two hours and 15 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Tristar.

Confess, Fletch (R)

The frequently barefoot, occasionally overconfident but basically capable detective-ish Fletch investigates the theft of paintings and gets himself tangled in a murder in Confess, Fletch.

Irwin M. Fletcher— Fletch (Jon Hamm) to his friends, enemies and frenemies — has been hired by an Italian count, the father of Angela (Lorenza Izzo), to find some paintings (Picassos and the like) stolen from him. As Fletch meets with Angela to give her an update on his progress, he learns that the Count has also been kidnapped, with his kidnappers demanding the Picasso for his safe return. Angela fears that her father is already dead and tells Fletch that her stepmother, the Countess (Marcia Gay Harden), is probably behind it. Fletch has information that two of the stolen paintings have already been sold and travels to Boston to follow up. But when he arrives at the posh apartment Angela has rented for them, he finds a woman dead in the living room and himself the most obvious suspect. Though police detectives Monroe (Roy Wood Jr.) and Griz (Ayden Mayeri) try to dissuade him, Fletch investigates the murder and the art theft, which he comes to believe are related.

“Goofy Bond” is how something I read described this movie — which I took as a selling point — but for me the goofiness frequently felt off. Or maybe it was a specific temperature of goofiness that I just had a hard time acclimating to. Hamm is good at goofy comedy and good at straight-faced comedy (which is what I choose to believe he’s doing in Top Gun: Maverick) but Fletch is an oddball mix of the two that I didn’t really warm to until about halfway through the movie. It’s fine, but not strikingly silly or delightfully weird. There are bits of comedy business where I thought “ha, nice” but didn’t actually laugh out loud. I like many of this film’s characters — Wood and Mayeri have nice comedy-crime-solver chemistry with each other and with Hamm; John Slattery shows up at Hamm’s one-time newspaper editor and adds a note of tartness — but even with solid actors doing solid work this movie never heats up past a simmer.

I don’t know that “Confess, Fletch: You’ll grow to appreciate its slightly-better-than-average-ness!” is the review you’ll see on any movie posters, but here we are. B-

Rated R for language, some sexual content and drug use, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Greg Mottola with a screenplay by Zev Borrow and Greg Mottola, Confess, Fletch is an hour and 38 minutes long and distributed by Paramount Pictures in theaters and via VOD.

Featured photo: The Woman King.

On the vine

A look at this season’s grape harvest at New Hampshire wineries

Extreme heat and unusually dry weather this summer have caused New Hampshire winemakers, in at least a few cases, to harvest their grapes earlier than normal. As of Sept. 15 more than 91 percent of the Granite State was experiencing “abnormally dry” conditions, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor, with 48 percent under a moderate, severe or extreme drought.

Despite the drought, this year’s crop is looking to be a bountiful one at Black Bear Vineyard in Salisbury. Owner Ted Jarvis said the largest grape harvest he ever had was back in 2016, also a drought year.

Black Bear Vineyard is getting ready for its third annual Harvest Fest, happening the weekend of Saturday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 25, when visitors will be able to watch the fruit getting destemmed and crushed before tasting samples of the juice used to create the wines. Each day will also feature on site food trucks, local vendors and live music acts.

“High and dry is the way the vines like it,” Jarvis said. “Everything is looking fantastic on the vineyard this year. We’re super-excited about our production that we’re going to end up with.”

In Amherst, LaBelle Winery held its annual grape harvest on Sept. 18, which is about 10 days ahead of schedule, according to co-owner and winemaker Amy LaBelle. With the help of Vineyard Club members, family and friends — and this year, the public — winery staff spent the morning gathering seven varieties of fresh grapes, each used to produce wines on site.

“We haven’t had much rainfall, and so that means our grapes are smaller and the skin’s a little bit thicker and tighter than it would normally be,” LaBelle said of this year’s crop impact.

Tracking acid and sugar levels in grape samples helps to determine their targeted harvest date. The weather patterns of the last few weeks leading up to harvest are always the most crucial, LaBelle said — in a perfect world, this means cooler nights in the high 40s to 50 degrees.

“For us, we like to leave them just a little extra [longer] to when the nights begin to dip into lower temperatures,” she said. “When the temperatures drop enough, the grape begins to convert its malic acid into more palate-friendly acids … and that gives us a much more pleasant-tasting wine. It would be the perfect season if we could end with just a few cool nights.”

Visit a local vineyard
• Appolo Vineyards (49 Lawrence Road, Derry, 421-4675, appolovineyards.com)
• Averill House Vineyard (21 Averill Road, Brookline, 244-3165, averillhousevineyard.com)
• Birch Wood Vineyards (199 Rockingham Road, Derry, 965-4359, birchwoodvineyards.com)
• Black Bear Vineyard (289 New Road, Salisbury, 648-2811, blackbearvineyard.com)
• Flag Hill Distillery & Winery (297 N. River Road, Lee, 659-2949, flaghill.com)
• Fulchino Vineyard (187 Pine Hill Road, Hollis, 438-5984, fulchinovineyard.com)
• LaBelle Winery (345 Route 101, Amherst; 14 Route 111, Derry, 672-9898; labellewinery.com)
• Shara Vineyards (82 Currier Road, Concord, 836-9077, sharavineyards.com)
• Sweet Baby Vineyard (260 Stage Road, Hampstead, 347-1738, sweetbabyvineyard.com)
• Zorvino Vineyards (226 Main St., Sandown, 887-8463, zorvino.com)

On Saturday, Oct. 2, at 11 a.m., LaBelle Winery will host the fourth and final session of its Walks in the Vineyard series in Amherst. Vineyard manager Josh Boisvert and wine educator Marie King will lead attendees on an educational walk through the property that will focus on the vines’ overall life cycles. You’ll also get to taste four different types of wines during your visit.

For some other local vineyards, the grape harvest season is already underway — Appolo Vineyards in Derry kicked off its harvest on Sept. 3 and will hold a ticketed harvest and stomp festival on Saturday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 25, while for Fulchino Vineyard in Hollis, the season began “in spurts” over the course of several days dating back to late August. Owner and winemaker Al Fulchino said he’s also planning to bring back the Hollis Grape Festival for a sixth year on an upcoming date, likely in October.

Grape harvest and winery events

• Saturday, Sept. 24: The outdoor wine garden at Shara Vineyards will be open for its only day of the month for tastings and tours, from 2 to 5 p.m. Tours are $10 per person.
• Saturday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 25: Black Bear Vineyard celebrates its grape harvest season with its third annual Harvest Fest, beginning at 11 a.m. both days. Guests will have the chance to learn how wine is produced from grapes grown right on the vineyard, and each day will feature live music and food trucks on site. Tickets are $15 per person and can be purchased through Eventbrite.
• Saturday, Sept. 24, and Sunday, Sept. 25: Appolo Vineyards holds a harvest and stomp festival, from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. both days. In addition to grape harvesting opportunities, there will be winemaking tours starting at 10 a.m., grape foot stomping and more. Tickets are $50 per person and include a catered lunch and other amenities.
• Sunday, Sept. 25: Averill House Vineyard holds its next Taste, Tour and Bottle Experience, an ongoing series of events held most Sundays, at noon and 2 p.m. Attendees get a guided tour of the winery and vineyard and will learn directly from staff all about the winemaking process. The cost is $59 per person and includes your own bottled wine to take home.
• Sunday, Oct. 2: LaBelle Winery hosts the fourth and final session of its Walks in the Vineyard series at 11 a.m. in Amherst, featuring an educational walk and up to four wine tastings. Admission is $32.55 per person and includes tax.
• Wednesday, Oct. 19: LaBelle Winery Derry holds a blindfolded wine tasting at 6 p.m. Attendees will try five wines while blindfolded during each session, relying on their senses of smell and taste to guess which is which. Admission is $43.40 per person and includes tax.

Featured photo: Photos courtesy of Black Bear Vineyard in Salisbury.

Pickleball is everywhere

A look at the popular sport where community is key

By Katelyn Sahagian

ksahagian@hippopress.com

After getting a quick set of stretches in, friends Jessee Tardif and Meghan Richard write their names in separate squares of the free play boxes.

The two women are among the youngest of the pickleball players who gathered at Fields Grove in Nashua, but that fact doesn’t faze them in the slightest.

“I learned how to play a few years ago from a next-door neighbor, but I just started playing more regularly,” Richard said. “This is my third time back this week.”

This group meets every day at 9 a.m. and plays until noon. Instead of arriving with a doubles partner, players arrive with friends but play with whomever is present, often choosing different courts. This system of setting up games is called open play.

Pickleball, a sport invented less than a century ago, has taken southern New Hampshire by storm, with courts popping up all over the state’s public parks, tennis clubs and town recreation centers. It’s played on a court made from the same material as a tennis court — the players all have paddles that are reminiscent of ping-pong paddles, but much larger, while the ball itself is a plastic wiffle ball that is much slower than a traditional tennis ball.

While the game can be played in singles, it’s most often played in doubles. Each half of the court has three sections, a left and right zone and the no-volley zone, colloquially called the kitchen.

Pickleball versus tennis: the key differences
While pickleball was partially based on tennis, the rules differ in a few ways, according to the USA Pickleball Association. A full list of rules can be found at usapickleball.org.
• Points are scored only by the team serving
• The way a game is won is the team gets at least 11 points total, but must win by a difference of two points
• There is a “no-volley zone” called the kitchen, where players cannot stand when hitting the ball
• One server serves until they make a mistake that results in the stop of play, called a fault
• The second member of the team will serve until their team causes a fault
• All serves must be underhand
• There is a two-bounce rule, meaning the serve must result in a bounce to the receiver and the receiver must bounce the ball back to the serving team before points can be scored

Bob Hanek, one of the original members of the Nashua Pickleball Club, said that the game is meant to be social in nature. To demonstrate his point, he gestures to players hanging around the picnic benches next to the courts. Players mingle and chat, sipping water and eating light snacks, while watching friends they’ve made from the sport play.

“That makes it very, very positive because not only are you getting out, you’re doing some exercise, you’re developing a skill, but there’s people all around you to talk to,” Hanek said.

Players who are more serious about the sport tend to gravitate toward certain parks, Hanek said. He added that, in his opinion, the game was invented to be a way for people to have fun and get to make new friends.

West Coast origins

Pickleball was originally created in 1965 by three fathers from Washington state who were looking for a summer activity to entertain their active kids, according to information online from the USA Pickleball Association, the national governing body of the sport. The game has since taken off, gaining professional leagues across America — in March of this year, it was even declared the official state sport of Washington by Gov. Jay Inslee.

The sport had been played in every U.S. state by 1990, but its popularity didn’t start spiking until the mid-2010s, Hanek said. While he wasn’t a founding member, he joined the Nashua Pickleball Club before it even had a regular court to play at.

a white haired and bearded man serves the ball on a pickleball court
Larry Goodwin gets his serve swinging for a round of pickleball. Photo by Katelyn Sahagian.

The public club in Nashua was started in 2013 by Doug Price and about 30 of his close friends. Price approached the city’s Parks and Recreation department, asking if they could use beat up and unused tennis courts for pickleball. Price and his friends fixed, cleaned and painted the old tennis courts, transforming them into pickleball courts.

“There’s an old park down in Fields Grove with a tennis court that nobody ever uses,” Price remembers his contact at the Parks and Recreation department saying. “Over the course of two or three years, [he] helped us get to where we are today.”

Price, a snowbird who spends half the year in Sarasota, Florida, started the group to continue playing his favorite sport in the summer months. Nearly a decade later, the group is now at more than 450 members.

Price said he never imagined that so many people would want to join and pick up a game. He has been so influential to the sport in Nashua that the city’s Parks and Recreation department named the courts at Field Grove after him.

“And so unbeknownst to me, they present me with that,” Price said as he pointed to the sign that hangs on the court’s chain link fencing. “This is our first home and everybody loves it here.”

Public parks with pickleball courts
• Barnard Park, South Mast Street, Goffstown
• Beaver Meadow Park, 42 Sewalls Falls Road, Concord
• Bedford Parks and Recreation, Nashua Road, Bedford
• Fields Grove, Fields Street, Nashua
• Foss Field, 88 Lehner St., Wolfeboro
• Hudson Community Center, 12 Lions Ave., Hudson
• Hudson Outdoor Pickleball Courts, 8 Melendy Road, Hudson
• Laconia Community Center (indoor venue), 306 Union Ave., Laconia
• Prout Park, 284 Young St., Manchester
• South Mill Pond Playground, Junkins Avenue, Portsmouth
• Stevens Park, 68 Bunker Hill Ave., Stratham

How pickleball got so popular

Denise Cascio Bolduc had first heard of pickleball at a professional women’s tennis event in 2019. She said that she and some of her friends tried the game and, from then on, she became hooked.

“It’s one of those activities that doesn’t feel like you’re getting exercise,” Bolduc said. “This just feels like fun. The fact that you’re getting exercise and burning calories is a huge bonus.”

She was surprised that there weren’t many places to play in the Manchester area, so she decided to change that. This led her to helping set up Rock On Pickleball. Bolduc became the founding president of the club, which now practices at Rock Rimmon Park in Manchester.

While she has since parted ways with the group, Bolduc still plays the sport. She just won two gold medals in Wolfeboro for the Pickleball All Stars tournament earlier this month.

Today, she continues to run a much more informal group at Prout Park in Manchester, and is the contact person for the courts at the park.

Bolduc isn’t the only tennis player to switch over to pickleball. Hanek said that many pickleball players have played other racquet sports in the past, and experience with tennis and badminton makes pickleball easier to pick up.

Hanek said he likes pickleball because the style of play isn’t as aggressive as tennis. He said that it’s a game of placement, not a game that requires players to plow through their opponent. In many ways, he said, the rules require some collaboration between the opposite sides. Things like the two-bounce rule and being responsible for calling one’s own fouls keep players responsible.

“I think that’s the magic [of] this,” Hanek said. “It’s social enough and it’s collaborative enough so that you don’t really feel bad being punished for your mistakes.”

Part of what makes pickleball special to Hanek is the camaraderie that forms. He said there is a focus on socialization that is lacking in other sports. Pickleball, especially open-play, means that there’s a limited number of courts, and an unlimited number of payers.

It’s a simple game to play, Hanek said — but to him, that isn’t why it’s so popular.

“It’s a multigenerational game,” he said. “Everyone of different abilities can play.”

Hanek said that he has shared the court with a three-generation family of players: a grandfather, son and 12-year-old grandson.

Hannah Turtle contributed to this cover story.

Where to play organized pickleball

There are groups and free-play options across southern New Hampshire. Visit places2play.org to find additional locations.

Bow Brook Club
Where: 144 Warren St., Concord
Membership: Full membership costs range from $650 to $720 annually, and associate membership costs range from $350 to $400 annually (members must be 21 years of age or older)
Visit: bowbrook.club

Executive Health & Sports Center
Where: 1 Highlander Way, Manchester
When: Half of the basketball court is available for open pickleball play on Sundays, from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., and on Mondays, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Call 668-4753 to book court time outside of open pickleball hours.
Visit: ehsc.com/pickleball

Exeter Recreation Park Pickleball Pickup Program
Where: 4 Hampton Road, Exeter (games take place on the tennis courts)
When: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 7 to 10 a.m., and Wednesdays, from 6 p.m. to dusk
Cost: $5 per person per session
Visit: exeternh.gov/recreation/adult-18-pickleball-pick

Health Club of Concord
Where: 10 Garvins Falls Road, Concord
Hours: Monday through Friday, 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Visit: healthclubofconcord.com

New England Pickleball Club
Where: 6 Airfield Drive, Rye
Hours: Weekdays, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and weekends, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Cost: $12 per hour
Visit: nepclub.com

Rock Rimmon Park Pickleball Courts
Where: Rock Rimmon Park, 264 Mason St., Manchester
When: The Rock On Pickleball Club plays every day at 8 a.m.
Contact: Nicole Mendola, 714-8394

YMCA of Downtown Manchester
Where: 30 Mechanic St., Manchester
When: Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m., and Saturday 8 to 10 a.m.; also offered from 1 to 3 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Visit: graniteymca.org

Featured photo: Apple Hill Farm in Concord. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 22/09/22

New Hampshire 2022 primary election results

The results of the New Hampshire 2022 primary election on Sept. 13 are as follows, according to the New Hampshire Secretary of State:

Republican

  • U.S. House District 1: Karoline Leavitt (34.81%)
  • U.S. House District 2: Robert Burns (32.95%)
  • U.S. Senate: Donald Bolduc (37.12%)
  • Governor: Chris Sununu (78.70%)

Democrat

  • U.S. House District 1: Chris Pappas (unopposed)
  • U.S. House District 2: Annie Kuster (unopposed)
  • U.S. Senate: Maggie Hassan (94.31%)
  • Governor: Tom Sherman (unopposed)

The New Hampshire 2022 general election will take place on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Visit the New Hampshire Secretary of State website, sos.nh.gov, for information about voting and elections.

Right to Covid vaccine privacy

New Hampshire residents now have the option to withdraw their Covid vaccination information from the New Hampshire Immunization Information System in accordance with New Hampshire House Bill 1608. “The state of New Hampshire obtained information about your Covid-19 vaccination status without offering you a chance to opt out of the state immunization registry,” the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Public Health Services stated in a press release. “Our New Hampshire constitution honors your right to privacy, including your medical information, and you have the right to withdraw your information from the immunization registry.” Residents who want to withdraw their Covid vaccine information from the state’s registry must complete a Withdraw and Remove Information from the NH Immunization/Vaccination Registry form, available on the NH DHHS website, dhhs.nh.gov, and obtain a health care provider’s or notary’s signature, then fax the form to the DHHS Immunization Program at 603-271-3850.

First child monkeypox case

The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services and the City of Manchester Health Department have confirmed the state’s first pediatric monkeypox infection. According to a press release, the Manchester child became infected after exposure to a household contact infected with the virus. The child is experiencing mild symptoms and is currently isolating at home. The departments are working with the child’s school to identify any individuals who may have had close or prolonged contact with the child while they were contagious. State Epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan stated in the release that “the risk to the general school population and others in the community is very low.” The CDC has reported at least 27 cases of monkeypox in youth under the age of 16 in the U.S. Visit dhhs.nh.gov/programs-services/disease-prevention for information and resources on monkeypox in New Hampshire.

Energy costs assistance

With rising fuel and electric costs expected this winter, House Bill HB2023 has been passed allowing the New Hampshire Department of Energy to provide up to $35 million in relief on energy costs to qualifying New Hampshire families via an emergency fuel assistance program and supplemental electric benefit. “New Hampshire just delivered the largest energy relief package this state has ever seen, helping families in need this winter — using our state surplus funds,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a press release. “Thanks to strong fiscal management, New Hampshire is able to invest state-surplus funds to help families get through this winter.” The one-time emergency relief package will be available to households that earn between 60 and 75 percent of the state’s median income; an additional $7 million is allocated to support existing assistance programs for households making 60 percent or less than the state’s median income.

Aviation Museum volunteering

The Aviation Museum of New Hampshire (27 Navigator Road, Londonderry) is having a volunteer open house on Tuesday, Sept. 27, from 7 to 8:30 p.m., where the public is invited to meet current volunteers and learn about the volunteering opportunities available at the museum. According to a press release, the Aviation Museum is a nonprofit organization “dedicated to celebrating New Hampshire’s role in aviation history and inspiring tomorrow’s pioneers, innovators and aerospace professionals.” Volunteering opportunities may include greeting guests at the front desk, leading tours and staffing the gift shop; working with young people through the education outreach program and student plane-building program; evaluating donations and cataloging items in the historical archive and assisting researchers; administrative tasks related to memberships, fundraising, communications and building maintenance; managing tech systems; and helping with special events. If you plan to attend the open house, call 669-4877 and leave a message with your name, or send an email to ldearborn@nhahs.org.

The New Hampshire Food Bank and the Concord Police Department will host two Stuff-A-Cruiser food drives in Concord this month — one on Friday, Sept. 23, from 9 a.m to 1 p.m., at Shaw’s Supermarket (20 Fort Eddy Road), with donations to support the Salvation Army, and the other on Saturday, Sept. 24, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Hannaford Supermarket (73 Fort Eddy Road), with donations to support Friends of Forgotten Children. According to a press release, the goal of the drive is to fill a police cruiser with non-glass, non-perishable food donations in support of Hunger Action Month, a nationwide awareness campaign to fight hunger. Visit nhfoodbank.com to learn more.

Ryan Cashin, Deputy Chief for the Manchester Fire Department, has been nominated for the position of Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director for the City of Manchester. According to a press release, the nomination went before the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Sept. 6 and is on a one-month layover until the next meeting on Oct. 4. “Deputy Chief Cashin has been a dedicated member of the Fire Department for 23 years,” Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig said in the release. “He is a strong leader and problem solver, who has worked hard to earn the respect of the men and women of the department and the city as a whole.”

A top prize-winning ticket for the Lucky for Life lottery game was drawn at Nouria on the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn on Friday, Sept. 16, WMUR reported. The prize before taxes is the winner’s choice of $1,000 a day — $365,000 a year — or a one-time payout of $5.75 million. Friday’s ticket is the third top prize winner to be drawn in the Granite State since it started offering the game in 2012. The first two were drawn in August 2013 and March 2016. The game is currently played in 23 states, plus the District of Columbia, with drawings held seven days a week.

Let the conversation about our kids begin!

The first time I worked on redoing the Minimum Standards for Public School Approval was 1992. I was a brand new member of the State Board of Education, which was embroiled in a huge controversy (Concord Monitor’s sixth biggest story of the year) over its seemingly heavy-handed approach to revising the document that governs how New Hampshire runs K-12 education. It was trial by fire as my first assignment involved 300 angry education supporters in Exeter. The next week it was 600 in Salem. So I asked for authorization from then state board chair Judith Thayer to conduct a meeting aimed at bringing the constituents together to review their concerns. We met for a half day at the Legislative Office Building and came up with solutions that seemed to satisfy the parties. They passed unanimously. Overall, It was a great lesson for me. I learned how not to approach changing the minimum standards. Inclusiveness and transparency is the lesson!

The second time I took on this task was in 2003 when the new governor, Craig Benson, asked me to chair the State Board and charged me with redesigning public education, a charge most would have run screaming away from. But it was exactly the charge that I wanted.

Both Benson and I were not good students. I’ve often said “school taught me that I wasn’t very bright and life taught me that school was wrong.” We wanted a system that would work for every student! What the State Board came up with is called competency-based learning. We were the first in the nation to put it into our regulations and started a national movement.

But don’t take it that success was easy, because it was not. Change scares lots of folks. Especially when it involves kids. That state board set out to create what former Executive Director of the New Hampshire School Boards Association Ted Comstock (RIP) said was “the most inclusive process in state history.” Sounds like we succeeded.

We’re about to do it again. The nonprofit that I lead, the National Center for Competency-Based Learning, has been tasked by the New Hampshire Department of Education to update the minimum standards. We have an All-Star Team of New Hampshire public school professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to put together a draft to begin this important discussion. So, let’s bring the conversation all over the state to get input from educators, parents, kids and the entire New Hampshire community. I can’t wait!

Fred Bramante is a past chairman and member of the New Hampshire State Board of Education. He speaks and consults on education redesign to regional, state and national organizations.

Career in review

Marshall Crenshaw rocks The Rex

By Michael Witthaus

mwitthaus@hippopress.com

Calling his latest tour “40 Years In Showbiz,” Marshall Crenshaw is celebrating the anniversary of his 1982 debut album. However, he started in the business a few years before that, performing on Broadway and releasing his first single on the venerable Shake Records label.

In fact, the song that arguably launched his eponymous first platter, “Someday, Someway,” was born while Crenshaw was playing John Lennon in Beatlemania, during its run in Boston.

When the show hit the city in early 1980, Crenshaw had given notice he was leaving. The cast stayed at the Copley Plaza Hotel, and he’d walk there from the Shubert Theatre every night. “Along the way I would get ideas and energy,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It was my first time in Boston, and I loved it… it was winter, but I loved that too. I just had this great sense of possibility about my future.”

Crenshaw’s affinity didn’t end then. “I kept going back to that hotel every couple of years,” he said. “I wrote part of the songs on Field Day [his second record] there. Because it’s a lucky hotel.”

Among the many projects Crenshaw is currently working on is the reissue of those first two albums, with outtakes, bonus tracks and other rarities. The first will drop in November, on Black Friday, with Field Day due in early 2023. They will be released independently; surprisingly, it cost him nothing to secure the rights from his old label, Warner Brothers.

“God bless America,” he said. “The copyright laws allow the author of a work to reclaim that work after 35 years, if you do it in a timely manner, which I did. I claimed the U.S. rights to the sound recordings and the publishing also. That was a pretty heady day.”

So fans will hear the original versions of “Someday, Someway,” “(You’re My) Favorite Waste of Time,” “Cynical Girl” and other songs for the first time on streaming platforms. “They’re going to be amazing — not to be hyping my own stuff,” Crenshaw said, adding a plug for the physical product. “We worked really hard on going into depth with the packaging, to let your mind step inside the world of those records.”

The sophomore effort remains his favorite. “That one really is golden for me … a really vivid moment in my life, “ he said. “There was bad and good stuff going on. It was the culmination of everything, including my failed relationship with Warner Brothers.”

Late last year he released The Wild Exciting Sounds of Marshall Crenshaw: Live In The 20th and 21st Century. Gathered from 1980s radio broadcasts like King Biscuit Flower Hour and more recent shows, the two-disc set gives fans a good idea of what to expect when Crenshaw plays The Rex Theatre in Manchester on Sept. 22. For the show, he’ll be joined by Fernando Perdomo on guitar, bass player Derrick Anderson and Mark Ortmann on drums.

“We do a cross-section of stuff from over the 40 years, and some old rock ’n’ roll songs just for kicks,” said Crenshaw, who played Buddy Holly in the 1987 biopic La Bamba. “It’s just a good evening. Fernando is a great guitar player, the two of us play together really well. If you like my stuff, or if you’re interested or curious about it, I’m pretty sure you’ll come away satisfied.”

On the non-music front, Crenshaw is close to finishing a documentary film on the life of Tom Wilson. A Black producer, Wilson helmed Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone” session and was crucial to the careers of Simon & Garfunkel, Frank Zappa and Velvet Underground, accomplishments that came after he’d run the influential Transition jazz label.

“It was a shock for me when I suddenly realized I was going to do it,” Crenshaw said of the project. “It just hit me like a bolt of inspiration…. I looked at the bullet points of his artistic legacy, and I saw a commonality between Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, free jazz, avant-garde and then with electric Dylan and Sounds of Silence. To me those things all fit together; what made them fit together was this one person’s vision.”

That a Black producer was so vital to white performers was secondary to Wilson’s art, he continued. “At that time, the recording session world was integrated, at least in New York,” Crenshaw said. “People are mystified by it now, but that just says more about people now than it says about people then.”

Marshall Crenshaw
When: Thursday, Sept. 22, 7:30 p.m.
Where: The Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester
Tickets: $39 to$49 at palacetheatre.org

Featured photo: Marshall Crenshaw. Courtesy photo.

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