Category: Featured Content

Reimagining art

How the Currier used the pandemic pause to revamp its galleries and make art more accessible

With a new focus on global art and a stronger emphasis on immersive experiences and community outreach, the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester has spent the past couple years revamping its galleries, enhancing its programming and planning for the future.

“Our new goal is to make sure that people know we have more than just art on the wall,” Currier Director Alan Chong said. “We have two Frank Lloyd Wright houses which are worth visiting, we have art classes … [along with] the permanent collections and exhibitions.”

The museum was able to continue running in some capacity even in the beginning of the pandemic, Chong said, and has continued to add back old programs and start new ones since then.

“We’ve had very strong support from the community,” Chong said. “The government has kept us going [with funding]. … We really depend on a whole network of support.”

PPE funds meant the Currier staff could keep working, and other grants helped support online programming and expanded museum offerings.

“Our audience has responded well,” Chong said. “Our numbers are pretty much recovered. We’ve been close to full capacity for a couple of months.”

Here’s a look at the Currier’s new mission, latest exhibitions and current efforts to make art more accessible to the entire community.

Going global

Though the Currier Museum of Art had to shut down during the pandemic, museum staff solved the immediate problem of accessing the community with online programming. The museum’s curators, in the meantime, saw their scope of work change a bit — instead of traveling the globe to acquire work, they looked inward at what they already had.

“In some ways when we were closed it gave us a lot of time to focus on the collection and reimagine [what it could look like],” Senior Curator of Collections Kurt Sundstrom said. “We all sat around on a Zoom call and talked about how we could use this opportunity.”

The Currier’s mission, he said, is to become more global, to visually show the connections between America and Asia, Europe and other parts of the world. For the Currier, that meant shifting around some of its collections. The second floor of the museum was reinstalled and looks completely different, Sundstrom said, with works from around the world paired together.

“We broke down those walls,” he said. “You can come to the museum now and see American art in the European gallery. … You look at things differently depending on where they’re hanging.”

For example, a Dutch painting that features a rug now hangs with Persian rugs from the museum’s collection, allowing for a new perspective.

“It was interesting to reinterpret how the collection could [work together],” Sundstrom said.

The Currier is also acquiring new pieces and planning exhibitions that will help it tell more of a story of global art, Sundstrom said, like an Islamic rug show, and the current exhibition that features the work of Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi.

“When I first came here 25 years ago, there wasn’t any work here from African American artists, and there was very little from women,” Sundstrom said. “I think audiences, when they come in now, they’ll see themselves represented. You’ll have Asian art and Mexican art and works by women and everything that you would expect in a multicultural community.”

mixed media artwork by Argahavan Khosravi.
The Uncertainty, by Arghavan Khosravi (2020, acrylic on found textile and cotton canvas over wood panel, leather cord) Courtesy of the artist, © Arghavan Khosravi, 2022, photo by Julia Featheringill.

You can visit a museum many times and still never see the extent of its collection. Sundstrom said that museums typically have 2 to 7 percent of their collections on view at any given time. Paintings and sculptures can stay out longer, but photographs and watercolors will deteriorate over time when exposed to light. Because of this, a visit to the museum one year could be an entirely different experience than a visit the next. And with the pandemic giving the Currier time to make more significant changes, the overall vibe is different too.

“I think it’s much more fun,” Sundstrom said. “It’s not so static anymore. It’s not what you would expect — it’s not stuffy.”

Community connections

Programming at the Currier made strides during the pandemic too, with strong efforts to make art more accessible to the community — something it had been doing in recent years anyway.

“We do a lot more online,” Chong said. “We were already moving in that direction. … We had designed a new website in late 2019, so we were ready to launch a more user-friendly experience.”

Chong said that government grants were key in helping the Currier stay connected to the community and provide an online museum experience when it had shut down, and even after, when its hours and programs were limited.

The Currier already had its entire collection online — most museums had been looking at the digital world very intently, Chong said — but a National Endowment for the Humanities grant allowed the museum to put its two Frank Lloyd Wright homes online, including photo galleries, drawings and plans, 3D tours and historic documents.

Donyale Luna in a film still from an Andy Warhol screen test.
Screen Test: Donyale Luna [ST 195], by Andy Warhol (1965, 16mm film, black-and-white, silent, 4.5 minutes at 16 frames per second) © The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved.

Grants also allowed the museum to pass out kits to do art projects and enhance some of its supportive arts programs.

“Our curators and educators really worked hard on how we can respond to [the pandemic] and the racial tension,” Chong said. “[For example], a lot of people were feeling that hybrid learning wasn’t a very good way of going to school, so we formed a teen anxiety group.”

Sundstrom runs that group, using art to initiate conversations, like looking at a painting made after World War II, another difficult time in history.

“We talked about how to get through those anxious moments,” Sundstrom said.

Those groups started back in person last semester, which Sundstrom said has been an even better experience.

Chong said the museum was also able to hire an art therapist.

“I think we’ve been able to develop core strengths to support the community,” he said, noting that the Currier was the first museum in the country to offer an art therapy group for families of people suffering from opioid use disorder.

The Currier also launched a new veterans program during the pandemic, expanding what had been a small program with war photography to supportive art groups in new classrooms.

Diverse exhibitions

The Currier’s newest exhibition, Arghavan Khosravi, opened April 15 and will be on view through Sept. 5. The show features more than 20 works from Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi, whose techniques range from using printed textiles from Iran as a canvas to creating three-dimensional components on painted surfaces, with a focus on depth and texture.

“We’re really committed to showing global contemporary artists, artwork that is innovative and interesting and sparks conversations,” said Samantha Cataldo, senior curator of contemporary art. “Her work is surrealism. … There’s almost always a woman at the center of the work and then the images themselves kind of capture memories or dreams. … She paints in a way that when you’re looking at it you can’t really tell if something is real.”

The images explore themes like exile, suppression and empowerment, which Cataldo said is drawn from the duality that Khosravi has experienced in her life, having lived in both Iran and the United States.

“The culture where she grew up, you were allowed to be a little more free with your family, but in public [you were] more restricted,” Cataldo said. “A lot of the themes [in the exhibition] are a form of restriction, [like] people being boxed in or existing on two different planes of reality. … The works don’t have a specific narrative, but there’s a symbolism and there’s clues and ideas. … [They] are really approachable and acceptable.”

A duality also exists between the works’ first impressions and their more closely scrutinized images.

“At first glance, things are colorful [and] and really inviting because they feel warm and happy,” Cataldo said. “But [what’s happening] in the scene is not so bright and cheery.”

She said the exhibition so far has been well-received, both in its themes and in its visual appeal.

“[The paintings] are exquisitely made,” she said. “They’re also quite poetic in terms of how they look and how they’re composed.”

Also on view now (through July 3) is Warhol Screen Tests, which features 20 of Andy Warhol’s black-and-white short films that he made in the mid-’60s of his friends — some famous, like Bob Dylan and Salvador Dali, and others who came to his studio in New York City.

“He filmed essentially a moving portrait,” Cataldo said. “A single subject would sit in a chair and he would run the camera on them until the film ran out, [about] 4 minutes. … You have people who are extremely aware of the camera, some who try to be totally still, some [who act] playful.”

The films are unscripted and played in a loop in slow motion, and they’re projected large-scale, which Cataldo said can be a bit unsettling.

“It feels too close to a Zoom meeting,” she said,” watching people feel like they have to present themselves in a certain way.”

Warhol’s prediction that “everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” seems to have come to fruition to some degree, with regular people becoming TikTok or YouTube famous. And his repetitive screen prints that feature the same face over and over are reminiscent of today’s selfies.

“Everything he was doing was so far ahead of his time, so the idea of a selfie wasn’t a thing,” Cataldo said. “But the exhaustion of looking at a screen and looking at yourself — people can [now understand] that scrutiny.”

Looking ahead

While the Currier is mostly back to its pre-pandemic level of offerings, Chong said they’re proceeding with caution.

The first floor of the Chandler house. Photo courtesy of Currier Director Alan Chong.

“We feel a responsibility to the public, so we’re cautious,” he said. “History has taught us that it’s not over. We need to be flexible; we’re not going to pretend it doesn’t exist. There’s been a recent surge, so we follow all that.”

One of the upcoming projects that Chong is looking forward to is the renovation of a “new” old building.

“We took over the Chandler House during the pandemic,” he said. “It was a historic house … and it has the most beautiful interior in Manchester.”

Chong said the Currier had been looking to buy the building from the Catholic Diocese for years but hadn’t been able to make a deal because it was too expensive.

“I suspect that the pandemic pushed along that whole process,” he said.

Now the Currier will be working on finding funding to turn the building into a community center that will include offices for museum staff as well as classrooms for public programming, with the hopes of having it open by the fall of 2023.

In the more immediate future, the museum is planning to bring back its annual block party on a to-be-determined Saturday in July after a two-year absence. Chong called the day of free fun the museum’s signature event.

ARTSY OPPORTUNITIES

The Currier offers all kinds of classes and programs, both in person and online. Here are some of the offerings, according to currier.org. Visit the website for more details and the latest classes and events.

Ongoing programs

Making Art Accessible

This program is for teens and adults with developmental disabilities. The multimedia studio art class allows students to make works of art inspired by the Currier’s collections, and to visit the Currier’s galleries. The Currier regularly holds Making Art Accessible classes, and it is open to the public. Email CLyford@currier.org for more information.

Creative Connections for Teens

This program supports students suffering with anxieties related to the pandemic and related stressors. Each session provides students opportunities to connect through art-viewing, art-making and social time, and they’re led by Currier educators and curators with the support of a school counselor.

The Art of Awareness

Strangers from different backgrounds gather for a 30-minute awareness exercise and discussion to build connections with each other and art. Each week features one piece of art, chosen based on a theme. General admission is free on Thursdays from 5 to 8 p.m., and this program starts at 6:30 p.m. Upcoming classes are May 5, with the discussion centered on Arghavan Khosravi’s “The Black Pool,” and May 19, featuring John Marin’s “Movement in Red.” Register online.

Art of Hope

An in-person support group for loved ones whose family members suffer from substance use disorder. It takes place on Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m., with the next groups meeting May 9, May 16, May 23, June 20 and July 18.

Art for Vets

This art-focused program offers free opportunities for veterans, active service members and their families to enjoy the Currier. Veteran Creative Cohorts allows veterans to connect through art-viewing, activities and guided conversations, with an emphasis on personal development, respite and mindfulness. Studio Art Tutorials has professional teaching artists launching online or in person art tutorials for veterans and active service members, including drawing, watercolor painting and bookmaking. The classes are for all skill levels and focus on the therapeutic nature of art. Art for Vets Family Days are offered on the third Saturday of the month, with free access to the galleries, art activities and a complimentary lunch. Veterans, active service members and their families get free admission every day, and the Currier also offers all of its art classes and vacation camps free of charge.

Immigrant and refugee programs

The Currier provides after-school art instruction for children of immigrant and refugee families during the school year and extends their learning into vacation weeks by offering free enrollment in art camps. During camps, children are given 30 hours of instruction each week and are provided free breakfast and lunch each day.

Looking Together

Explore one work of art in detail for 15 minutes with a Currier docent. Sessions are informal, interactive and focused on a different object each day. It’s offered every Saturday and Sunday at 11 a.m. and noon.

Art After Work Tours

Every Thursday, enjoy free admission, live music and drink specials in the Winter Garden Café (open until 8 p.m.). The 30-minute adult tour is free of charge. Participants meet in the lobby.

Art Conversations from Home

Join the Currier Museum of Art’s education team for a live facilitated conversation over Zoom about the Currier’s collection and exhibitions. Sessions are informal, interactive and focused on a different work each week. Open to all, these free 30-minute adult programs run every Wednesday at 1 p.m. Register online.

Frank Lloyd Wright house tours

The Currier is the only art museum in the world with two Frank Lloyd Wright homes, and the only Wright buildings open to the public in New England. The Usonian Automatic and the Zimmerman House were both built in the 1950s. The two-bedroom Zimmerman House showcases Wright’s Usonian architectural concepts, with a compact design that contrasts narrow passages with dramatic, open spaces. It includes its original furniture and garden, both designed by Wright. The Kalil House, which was acquired by the Currier in 2019, is one of only seven Usonian Automatics constructed, dubbed “automatics” by Wright because they were easily and quickly built. Public tours of the Wright houses last two hours and are offered Thursdays through Sundays at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., as well as an evening tour on Thursdays at 6 p.m. (spring and summer only). To schedule a private tour, email tours@currier.org or call 603-518-4956.

Classes

The Currier regularly offers art classes for all ages and abilities. Here are some of the museum’s upcoming offerings.

Drawing from Presence with Norma Hendrix (Adult)

Online five-week class, Tuesdays, May 10 through June 7, 1 to 3 p.m.

Painting with Pastels: Finding Beauty in the Urban World with Janet Schwartz (Adult)

Online five-week class, Fridays, May 13, through June 10, 2 to 4 p.m.

Learn to Draw: Structure and Volume with Shading with Martin Geiger (Adult)

Online five-week class, Thursdays, May 26 through June 23, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Earn and Learn Teen Program

Teen volunteers will be involved in classroom assistance, art-making activities, mentoring younger students, facilitating museum visits and other organizational tasks, and they will receive tuition remission for classes at the Currier. Admission to the program is based on a review process. Each applicant must be willing to commit to two weeks minimum of summer camp. Camps run Monday through Friday from 8:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Apply by May 14; for more information, email Lauren Steele at lsteele@currier.org.

Vacation camps

The Currier offers camps throughout the summer: Art Camp for ages 6 to 10 and Art Ventures for ages 11 to 14. The camps include classes in drawing, painting, collage, printmaking and sculpture. Every Wednesday, an inspirational tour of the museum is conducted to discover the works of art in the galleries. Weekly full-day programs run Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. All art-making materials are provided. Camps have a maximum capacity of eight to 10 students, and students, instructors and camp assistants are required to wear masks. The schedule is as follows; see currier.org for prices, updates and other information.

June 27 to July 1

Art Camp: Down the Rabbit Hole (ages 6 to 10)

Art Ventures: Fun with Fibers (ages 11 to 14)

July 11 to July 15

Art Camp: Music Makers (ages 6 to 10)

Art Ventures: Drawing Outside the Box (ages 11 to 14)

July 25 to July 29

Art Camp: The Moody Currier School of Magic (ages 6 to 10)

Art Ventures: Drawing and Painting exploration (ages 11 to 14)

Aug. 8 to Aug. 12

Art Camp: Space is the Place (ages 6 to 10)

Art Ventures: Mixed Media Painting & Printmaking (ages 11 to 14)

Aug. 15 to Aug. 19

Creatures Large and Small (ages 6 to 10)

Art Ventures: The Moving Picture (ages 11 to 14)

Events

Gregory Pierce, curator of the Warhol Museum, will be at the Currier for an ARTalk to complement the “Warhol Screen Tests” exhibition. He will discuss the impetus for Screen Tests and how they’re relevant almost 60 years later and take a deeper dive into Warhol’s creative process. The talk will be held Sunday, May 8, from 2 to 2:45 p.m. in the auditorium. The cost is $20 and includes museum admission.

Featured photo: Arghavan Khosravi. Photo by Andrew T. White

News & Notes 22/05/05

Covid-19 update As of April 25 As of May 2
Total cases statewide 308,446 311,144
Total current infections statewide 2,444 2,989
Total deaths statewide 2,475 2,481
New cases 2,253 (April 19 to April 25) 2,698 (April 26 to May 2)
Current infections: Hillsborough County 709 873
Current infections: Merrimack County 157 202
Current infections: Rockingham County 435 601
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.

Covid-19 news

State health officials reported 270 new cases of Covid-19 on May 2. The state averaged 393 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, a 15 percent increase compared to the week before. As of May 2 there were 2,989 active infections and 18 hospitalizations statewide.

Foster funding

Former foster youth are being urged to apply for time-limited federal funding under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and use it for rent, utilities, groceries, education expenses and other necessities. According to a press release from the state Department of Health and Human Services Division for Children, Youth and Families, more than 300 youth and young adults up to age 22 who spent time in foster care after the age of 16 have already accessed this federal funding. “We streamlined the application process to break down barriers, providing better, faster outcomes for our former foster youth,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in the release. To provide this simplified online application process, DCYF is using its existing partnership with Waypoint, which works with former foster youth to connect them with available community resources, so people can apply through Waypoint’s online portal. “The Covid-19 pandemic heavily impacted our older youth in care and former foster youth, who are either in the process of transitioning to adulthood or are new to this phase of their lives,” DCYF Director Joseph E. Ribsam said in the release. “Through this additional funding, we have an opportunity to impact their future success.” Funding is provided on a first come, first served basis, and amounts depend on age and exit status from DCYF, the release said.

Pot legislation

Though the New Hampshire House passed a bill to legalize recreational cannabis in the state earlier this year, that bill failed in the State Senate last week. According to a report from NHPR, opponents argued that recreational cannabis legalization could lead to higher rates of use by minors, as well as more impaired drivers on the road. The bill would have allowed adults 21 and older to possess up to three-quarters of an ounce of cannabis, as well as cannabis-infused edibles and tinctures. According to the report, the Senate has never passed a cannabis legalization bill. The bill failed on a 15-9 vote, with three Democrats, Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, Sen. Donna Soucy, and Sen. Kevin Cavanaugh, all from Manchester, joining all but two Republicans to kill the measure. GOP Sens. Harold French of Franklin and John Reagan of Deerfield voted in favor of the bill. Supporters said the bill was an important step toward racial equity, as studies show that Black people are more likely to be arrested for marijuana use, despite both white and Black people using the drug at similar rates, the report said. “New Hampshire has become an island in New England, with our overly burdensome regulations of cannabis that are out of sync with what the scientific, health and social data says,” Sen. Becky Whitley, a Democrat from Contoocook, said during the debate, according to NHPR. Adults in New Hampshire can legally purchase cannabis in Massachusetts and Maine, and later this year in Vermont, but there is a $100 fine in New Hampshire for adults caught with small amounts of marijuana, the report said.

Voter confidence

Last week New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan hosted a press conference to introduce the newly formed Commission on Voter Confidence, a nonpartisan effort to discuss, educate and mitigate concerns about the apparent decline in voter confidence due to misinformation and political rhetoric, according to a press release. “Our goal is to reeducate the voting population, with the help of local election officials, on our voting procedures and help voters understand there aren’t any secrets in the election process,” Scanlan said during the press conference. Members are Richard Swett (Co-chair), Bradford E. Cook (Co-chair), Andrew Georgevits, Ken Eyring, Amanda Merrill, Jim Splaine, Douglass Teschner and Olivia Zink. “We want to hear from the people and understand what their concerns are because what they think is true is often just as important as what is not,” Cook said at the conference. The commission then met for the first time on Monday, May 2, to discuss its meeting schedule for the coming months. According to a report from WMUR, the commission will begin a statewide listening tour next week. “I am fearful that some of the partisan rhetoric and some of the anger that exists around elections will come out in the commission,” Zink said at the meeting, according to WMUR.

Boscawen Academy and the “Much-I-Do” Hose House were recently named to the New Hampshire State Register of Historic Places. According to a press release, the Academy was built in the Late Federal style in 1827-28, and the clapboarded Hose House was built in 1893 to shelter the town’s fire-fighting equipment. Also recently added to the State Register are the 1720s John Gregg House in Derry — one of the oldest houses in town and the only one remaining of the original 20 Scotch Irish families that settled in what was then called Nutfield — and the circa-1912 gambrel-roofed Houston Barn in Hopkinton that was part of a 115-acre farm that originally had chickens, sheep and Angus beef but focused on dairy production in the mid-20th century, the release said.

A commencement ceremony for the first-ever graduating class of the New Hampshire Career Academy Program will be held May 5 at the New Hampshire Department of Education’s office in Concord. According to a press release, the Career Academy provides students with a pathway leading to a high school diploma, an associate’s degree, an industry credential and a job interview with a New Hampshire employer over a two-year period at no tuition cost to students or their families.

The loose change that Derry Garden Club members have been putting into a “Penny Pines” canning jar during meetings has added up — so far it has paid for the reforestation of 3 acres of trees that suffered irreparable damage. According to a press release, the national project raises funds to plant seeds in the areas of the country most in need, and it only takes $68 of loose change to plant one acre. The canning jar will be out for donations at the club’s plant sale on June 4 at the Robert Frost Farm.

When nonprofits fail

Just like New England running on Dunkin’, New Hampshire runs on nonprofits. According to the New Hampshire Center for Nonprofits, nonprofits generate $11 billion in revenue for New Hampshire and employ 15 percent of our workforce. In our “live free or die” state, nonprofits fill critical needs in lieu of the government and their sizes range from large and complex to quite small. When one of these nonprofits fails, it has a ripple effect throughout the community and state. Such was the case when Lakes Region General Hospital filed for bankruptcy in 2020.

The Attorney General and New Hampshire Charitable Trusts Unit recently released their report of their review to determine whether LRGH’s board had breached its fiduciary duties and whether any insights could be gained from the experience. As is the case with nonprofits in general, the LRGH board of trustees owed fiduciary duties to the hospital considering its purpose. This includes the duty of care, i.e. a duty to be adequately informed when making important decisions for the charity. Breaches of duty of care include lack of attention in overseeing the affairs of the organization, poor decision-making, and waste of assets. The report did not find fault with LRGH’s attention in oversight. However, it did find that in making major decisions the board deferred too much to the recommendations of long-term executives and failed to properly challenge the executives.

The report further notes that nonprofits, like for-profit businesses, sometimes fail. In this case, long-term executives pushed through a capital expansion plan with the board despite warning signs in the local market and national health care trends. While the board was composed of many business leaders and experts in various areas, they deferred to their trusted CEO and CFO. The report concludes with solid advice for trustees of all nonprofit boards including continual training and education, respectfully questioning the CEO and holding the CEO accountable, making sure decisions are consistent with the mission, and consulting with outside experts before making major decisions.

Serving on a nonprofit board can be a rewarding experience, particularly when it fulfills a mission one is passionate about. However, with that service comes responsibility to the nonprofit and the community it serves. Nonprofits are, in fact, businesses in that they must be able to meet their financial obligations. The best decisions are made when input is received from many different perspectives, and this is a hallmark of effective boards. When trustees are not prepared or engaged, and defer to senior management, they fail in their service to that nonprofit.

Caring community

Friends and fans gather to help injured Tupelo employee

Just before dawn on April 8, Mark Shamaly was struck by a hit-and-run driver on the Everett Turnpike in Merrimack. He sustained multiple injuries, including head trauma, a fractured pelvis and ribs, and chest cavity damage. He’d stopped to help a motorist who’d been in an accident, something that surprised no one who knew Shamaly.

The director of security at Tupelo Music Hall in Derry, Shamaly is a familiar friendly figure to patrons of the venue. Owner Scott Hayward and his crew, along with Mike Smith, who books comedy there, quickly came up with a plan to help — a benefit show to raise enough money for him to have at least six months without worrying about his bills.

“It’s one of those situations where you could see how an employee has affected everybody around them,” Hayward said by phone on April 20. He noted that most of the $50 tickets have been sold, and a GoFundMe page launched by Shamaly’s wife had raised nearly $30,000. “Everybody was just really struck by this, so there’s been a huge wave of support.”

Smith was hosting a Tupelo show when he got the news, and immediately wanted to do something for him.

“Mark is such a great guy,” he said. “He loves the comedy shows and loves the comedians.”

The comics love him as well; Hayward said Smith placed eight quick phone calls and received affirmative responses from everyone.

The Laugh-A-Palooza benefit will be held on Sunday, May 1. Comics performing include Francis Birch, Jason Merrill, Matt Barry, Kyle Crawford, Kennedy Richard, Joe Yannetty, Chris Pennie and Steve Bjork.

“You’ll never see this many comedians on one show,” Hayward wrote, adding that a few special guests may also stop by.

Many of the comics got on board out of fondness for the Tupelo community, even if they weren’t close with Shamaly. Steven Bjork has worked there since its days in Londonderry.

“I jumped at the chance,” he said by phone. “Though I didn’t necessarily know all the circumstances, I knew somebody at the Tupelo needed some help.”

Matt Barry was effusive in his praise.

“Tupelo is one of my favorite places to perform, [and] in comedy you don’t always know what you’re walking into,” he said in a text exchange. “To be on a stage that’s so high-tech, with all the lights and the curtains, is a real trip. It makes me feel like Axl Rose (in a good way).”

The Manchester comic was also grateful to Tupelo for being one of the first venues in the country to do outdoor shows when the pandemic hit.

“They were looking out for performers in a time when not a lot of places were … when a venue that’s taken such good care of me over the years asked for a favor, ‘Yes’ was the obvious answer,” Barry wrote.

Birch said via text, “It feels good to make people laugh supporting an amazing cause. Tupelo and Mark have always been good to me, set me up for success. This feels like an appropriate way to do my part.”

Photographer Jerry LoFaro said of Shamaly in a post on the Tupelo Music Hall Community Facebook page, “I know when I walk in the door he’ll greet me with a big hug and a smile. We always convene and pal around a few times throughout a show, and he’s usually my photographer when I get the chance to pose with a visiting artist. It’s no surprise that he would put himself in harm’s way to help someone in need, but what a cruel price to pay.”

The Laugh-A-Palooza event will be livestreamed to Shamaly in his hospital room. For those unable to attend, or if tickets sell out, donations can be made via a special $25 ticket link on the Tupelo Music Hall page.

Laugh-A-Palooza – A Benefit for Mark Shamaly
When: Sunday, May 1, 6 p.m.
Where: Tupelo Music Hall, 10 A St., Derry
Tickets: $50 at tuplelohall.com
Donations can be made at gofundme.com/f/pefyfw-hit-and-run-please-help.

Featured photo: Mark Shamaly. Courtesy photo.

The Northman (R)

The Northman (R)

Alexander Skarsgård is Viking Hamlet (as many a commentator has called him) in The Northman, directed and co-written by Robert Eggers of The Lighthouse and The Witch fame.

Recall those English class fun facts, bookworms: Amleth, the lead of this story, and his tale are the source material on which Shakespeare is said to have based Hamlet. Also, enjoy the passage of time, Gen X-ers, as you recall that Ethan Hawke once played Hamlet (in a 2000 modern-day-set adaptation that I mostly remember for the “to be or not to be” scene set in a Blockbuster). Here, 22 years later, he is grizzled old King Aurvandil, father to young Prince Amleth (Oscar Novak).

When scrappy little tween Amleth sees Aurvandil murdered by his uncle Fjölnir (Claes Bang), Aurvandil’s half-brother, and is then hunted by Fjölnir’s men, Amleth takes off vowing in Ayra-Stark-style kill-mantra that “I will avenge you father, I will rescue you mother, I will kill you Fjölnir.” In leaving behind his father’s kingdom, Amleth leaves behind his beloved mother Queen Gundrún (Nicole Kidman), whom he sees Fjölnir carry off.

Years later, big Skarsgård Amleth is a berserker Viking warrior, raiding villages in Eastern Europe for assorted plunder, including captives to be sent as slaves all over Europe. When he hears that one group is bound for Iceland, where Fjölnir now lives, he follows the advice of a blind seer (Bjork, of course) to seek Fjölnir out and fulfill his promise of vengeance. He cuts his hair and disguises himself as one of the conquered men being sent to Fjölnir. Along the way, he befriends Olga (Anya Taylor-Joy), a fellow captive who is immediately wise to his con and has some unspecified abilities of her own.

The Northman is a very visceral movie, in the sense that everything, from the often beautiful-but-bleak landscapes to the score and the character performances, is rich with vivid rage all the way down. Not just Amleth but everyone here seems to be harboring some deep hurt from some deep loss and is never peacefully existing, just biding their time until they can unleash.

This is also a visceral movie in the sense that there is a whole lot of viscera. Especially once Amleth, with help from Olga, begins his plan to terrorize Fjölnir’s household, we get not just blood but gushing gaping wounds and innards pulled out. As with The Lighthouse, Robert Eggers seems to love scenes set in a moving tableau style, with images that are as lush as they are disturbing and sometimes outright horrifying. It’s a heightened approach to a movie’s visual style that pulls the viewer out of the real world and into the magic-y, evil-everywhere world the story inhabits.

The Northman is every bit the “yanked into a wintery dark fairy tale” that the trailer promised. A

Rated R for strong bloody violence (like so strong and so bloody and so very violent), some sexual content and nudity, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Robert Eggers with a screenplay by Sjón and Robert Eggers, The Northman is two hours and 16 minutes long and distributed by Focus Features.

Everything Everywhere All At Once (R)

Michelle Yeoh is a woman struggling with her laundromat’s financial issues and her family’s communication issues and she might also be the only person who can save the multiverse from total destruction in Everything Everywhere All At Once, an action-packed, sci-fi-ish comedy-sorta about love, relationships and the nihilism of an everything bagel.

This description is only slightly more than I knew going in to this movie. If you think you’d rather know very little about this movie too and just want know if it’s worth seeing or not let’s just skip to the part where I tell you to go see this movie. Like, definitely go, even if you’re thinking “multiverses? Two-hour-plus runtime? Meh?” because it doesn’t feel like two-plus hours (fittingly, the movie both feels like it’s three hours of story and like it’s 90 minutes of well-paced storytelling) and “multiverses exist” is really all you have to really retain, in terms of universe rules, to go along with the ride.

Michelle Yeoh is excellent as a middle-aged lady who is kind of a mess but also a recognizably grown human and I heartily agree with everybody who is saying crazy things about remembering this performance during award season. Also great is Ke Huy Quan, whom most of us still probably know from his childhood performances in The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. If I say something like “he makes his character a well-rounded person while believably selling the idea that kindness, empathy and patience are the ultimate superpowers” you might think “barf, pass” so forget I mentioned it. Know that I am going to give this movie an A and strongly suggest you find your outside clothes and make a trip to the actual theater to hang out in this world created by writers/directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known as the Daniels (they directed the “Turn Down for What” video and when you watch it after seeing this movie you’ll think “yeah, that tracks”).

But if you do want a little more …

Laundromat co-owner Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) is being audited in part for folding a lot of hobby expenses into her business, though she thinks auditor Deidre (Jamie Lee Curtis) is just a mean lady who has it in for her. (Side note: I guess I didn’t catch it during the movie so it’s just now that I learned Deidre’s last name. It’s perfect and makes me love the movie even more.)

Evelyn’s husband Waymond (Quan) is anxious to talk to her about his serious concerns about their relationship but, as he later tells her, they only seem to talk when they are in some kind of emergency, which the day is turning in to, what with the audit, a party they’re holding at the laundromat, the recent arrival of Evelyn’s difficult father, known as Gong Gong (James Hong), and Evelyn’s ongoing prickly relationship with her grown-ish daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). Joy wants to introduce Gong Gong to her girlfriend, Becky (Tallie Medel), but Evelyn is still a nervous girl seeking her father’s approval around Gong Gong. Joy sees this lack of backbone and her mother’s criticism, both direct and implied, as part of their intense, fraught battle of wills but it feels to me like a real “gah mothers-and-daughters” situation.

Suddenly, in the middle of this, Waymond tells Evelyn that he is not her Waymond but Alpha Waymond, a Waymond from the Alphaverse, one of the many universes that is now imperiled because of an all-powerful, universe-hopping entity that Evelyn alone can defeat. An understandable “what?” is Evelyn’s reaction until she, too, starts to move among the universes, experiencing the lives of different Evelyns who made different choices (and, helpfully, bringing back with her their abilities, such as kung fu skills and superior lung capacity).

This movie is so much more surprising and goofy and heartfelt than that description can convey. I feel like every laugh hit me with unexpected delight (there is an extended bit about Ratatouille that is just … so awesomely weird) and I was equally surprised about what would suddenly catch me by the heart (a rock with googly eyes, for example). Though I tried to avoid a lot of extended coverage of this movie — no easy feat since it’s been pretty universally praised — I feel like a lot of what will hit you and stay with you has at least as much to do with you and your current life situation as the movie itself. “That is so specifically me” is a thing I can imagine lots of different people in different stages of life, thinking about this movie and one (or more) of its characters. I was struck by how the movie talked about relationships, particularly the mother-child relationship, and about how it painted them as being all about holding on and letting go — and doing both at the same time. The movie gives you this in a specific and rightly enormous way, putting the relationships on the same level as an inter-dimensional catastrophe.

And then, as you’re sitting there, awash in the big emotions of all that, maybe crying or laughing or thinking about the people in your life, a raccoon shows up as a completely absurd and not insignificant plot point.

Again, A.

Rated R for some violence, sexual material and language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, who also co-wrote the screenplay, Everything Everywhere All At Once is two hours and 19 minutes long and is distributed in theaters by A24.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (R)

Nicolas Cage is Nicolas Cage in the delightfully Cage-ian blend of action, comedy and absurdity that is The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Nicolas Cage, or at least a Nicolas Cage, is an actor, beloved for The Rock and Con Air and what have you, but now looking for his way back to movie stardom, not that he ever went anywhere (as he’s always quick to clarify). His struggles between wanting Serious Actor Roles and wanting to be a Freakin’ Movie Star, as personified by Nicky, a smooth-of-skin, smooth-of-brain younger Cage-ier version of himself that older Nick sometimes talks to, have him all twisted up in existential angst knots. Also, the extremely large hotel bill he’s accumulated since his separation from wife Olivia (Sharon Horgan) makes the need to keep working not just an artistic one but a serious financial one.

When he doesn’t get a much-longed-for part, he unravels, embarrassing his teenage daughter Addy (Lily Sheen) at her birthday party and finding himself locked out of his hotel room. Reluctantly, he agrees to do the job brought to him by his agent Richard (Neil Patrick Harris), to be essentially birthday party entertainment for rich Spanish guy Javi (Pedro Pascal) at his mansion in Mallorca.

Javi is a Nick Cage superfan — and, Cage is relieved to learn, Javi’s secret isn’t that he wants Cage to do anything weird but that he wants him to read (and maybe star in?) the screenplay Javi wrote. Cage finds himself having fun hanging out with Javi — but then the visit takes a very Nicholas Cage movie turn.

Javi had been under surveillance by some U.S. government intelligence agents looking to bring down not just Javi but also a secretive high-level mob figure. When it’s Cage and not the mafioso who comes out of Javi’s private plane, CIA agents Vivian (Tiffany Haddish) and Martin (Ike Barinholtz) decide to follow Cage and eventually ask him to help them spy on Javi. They believe that Javi is actually an international criminal himself and is behind the recent kidnapping of a Catalonian politician’s daughter. Thus begins the, like, triple meta swirl of Nicolas Cage’s Nicolas Cage performance performance as the movie’s Cage is trying to figure out his career, his family and what to make of this odd new friendship with Javi while he also engages in spycraft.

I don’t know if Nicolas Cage here is actually the most game actor ever but he is super game in how inside the whole Nicolas Cage late-career icon status thing he is willing to go. It’s delightful to see someone have so much goofy fun with his own persona. At several points, “Nicolas Cage” and Javi are basically playing Nicolas Cage movie, the way kids back in the day might “play Star Wars,” and both actors are able to do this with an earnest wholeheartedness without winking at the screen. It’s giddy without being too silly, it’s fun without making fun.

The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent both is the unapologetic actor vehicle that it appears to be and is so much more charming and joyful than that. A-

Rated R for language throughout, some sexual references, drug use and violence, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Tom Gormican and written by Tom Gormican and Kevin Etten, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent is an hour and 47 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Lionsgate.

The Bad Guys (PG)

An Ocean’s 11-like team of animals with reputations for trouble consider leaving behind their lives of crime in The Bad Guys, a cute if chatty animated heist movie based on the children’s books.

Wolf (voice of Sam Rockwell) and Snake (voice of Marc Maron) are very much the George Clooney and Brad Pitt of this crew; we first meet them relaxedly exchanging patter in a diner — where scared patrons are plastered against the wall — before heading out to rob a nearby bank. They’re joined by their crew — Shark (voice of Craig Robinson), Tarantula (voice of Awkwafina) and Piranha (voice of Anthony Ramos) — and execute a pretty good getaway. But later, the fox governor Diane Foxington (voice of Zazie Beetz) pooh-poohs the crew’s abilities and hypes the upcoming Good Samaritan Golden Dolphin award.

Wolf takes this as a personal challenge and decides the crew should steal the Golden Dolphin, which they do — almost. They’re caught and on their way to jail when Professor Marmalade (voice of Richard Ayoade), a guinea pig who is the winner of the Good Samaritan award, offers to make it his mission to rehabilitate the animals. Wolf decides that “turning good” makes the perfect cover for a future con, and Snake, who is particularly partial to guinea pig as a cuisine, and the crew go along. But Wolf also finds himself occasionally feeling good when he’s told that he has done good. If he and his crew of scary animals really do walk the straight and narrow, will they be able to get others to see beyond the stereotype?

The movie has a bouncy Ocean’s-for-kids vibe, with jokiness that, at least for kids who can appreciate talkier humor, keeps the story feeling upbeat even when characters are in conflict. Sure, if you’re looking for some “good for you” elements, the movie lightly touches on the idea of caring for others and not judging people by their appearance, but to me these elements all felt thinner than the movie seemed to think they were. B

Rated PG for action and rude humor, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Pierre Perifel with a screenplay by Etan Cohen (based on the books by Aaron Blabey), The Bad Guys is an hour and 40 minutes long and distributed by Universal Studios.

Featured photo: The Northman.

Taco ’bout a comeback

Find tacos savory and sweet in downtown Manchester

After being shelved in both 2020 and 2021, Taco Tour is back — the Greater Manchester Chamber is reviving the event, which will return on Thursday, May 5.

Initial talks to bring Taco Tour back in 2022 took place relatively quickly, according to Cole Riel, member engagement coordinator for the Chamber. Since around early February of this year, the Chamber has been working closely on the logistics of the event with the City of Manchester’s Economic Development Department, as well as with Mayor Joyce Craig’s office.

“Since last year, we’ve been asked about Taco Tour … and I think there’s been a little community murmur happening almost daily,” Riel said. “We actually had some past sponsors of the event reach out early on, and without that, I really don’t think it would’ve been possible, just to have that early support of saying, ‘OK, if it happens, we’ll be in.’ So it’s really exciting to see and to be able to have that, because it’s not an easy or cheap event to pull off.”

Hippo founded the event and ran it for its first eight years before handing over the reins to the now-dissolved Intown Manchester in 2019. Previous turnouts had reported upward of 30,000 attendees, but Taco Tour, like just about every other large-scale event, has fallen victim to pandemic-era cancellations ever since then.

But despite its three-year hiatus, support for and anticipation of the event have not gone away. This year’s Taco Tour has more than 60 participants, among the largest roster of taco vendors yet. They’ll be set up all along Elm Street, which will be closed to vehicular traffic between Bridge and Granite streets likely starting an hour before and for the duration of the event.

No price of admission is required — just come down to Elm Street any time during the event’s four-hour period and get as many tacos as you can eat for $3 apiece. Hanover Street and some other neighboring side streets will also be closed, and a few food trucks join in the fun as well — they’ll be stationed just outside Veterans Memorial Park nearby, Riel said.

Since the event hasn’t taken place in three years, there is a large number of Taco Tour newcomers, and part of the fun is that there are all kinds of non-traditional creations to discover.

Presto Craft Kitchen will be set up in front of Gentle Dental with a meatball Parm taco, featuring a garlic bread tortilla with hand-rolled beef meatballs, a whipped ricotta crema and a pesto Parm crunch. Industry East Bar on Hanover Street is planning to serve a loaded twice-baked potato taco, and Osaka Japanese Restaurant, which just opened its doors in December, will have a spicy crab sushi roll with cucumber and avocado, wrapped in nori seaweed.

“There are some people who haven’t come back downtown since Covid … and they may not even know which restaurants are still here that were here before,” Riel said. “So we’re inviting them back downtown … and they’re going to discover things that are new here too. That’s been really exciting for us, to be able to put the spotlight on some of those businesses.”

There will be a fair share of vegan and vegetarian options, too. The Sleazy Vegan, for instance, is a new plant-based ghost kitchen that’s planning to serve jackfruit tacos with a mango-jalapeño salsa. They’ll be set up at To Share Brewing Co. on Union Street.

The tacos aren’t just savory, either. Much like during previous years, you’ll encounter all kinds of “dessert tacos” and other sweeter items as well. Wild Orchid Bakery will be serving a drunken pineapple upside-down taco, The Smoothie Bus will have fruit tacos on a sugar cookie topped with chocolate sauce and whipped cream, and Granite State Candy Shoppe has a horchata ice cream option, featuring creamy frozen rice pudding with a hint of cinnamon.

A map of all of the participating businesses, which will also include details on their respective tacos, will be available to download at the event’s website. Outside of Elm Street and the surrounding streets, the Currier Museum of Art and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats will have taco celebrations of their own. Taco lovers can also go to the website to vote for their favorite option — the business that receives the most votes will get $1,000 to give to a nonprofit of their choice, as well as a special “taco trophy” designed by Manchester Makerspace.

“It’s going to be something hopefully that folks can put behind a bar and then all year long people can walk into that establishment, see the trophy back there, and be like ‘What the heck is that?’ Riel said. “This is a destination for a lot of people, and we really want [Taco Tour] to serve as that invitation to come back downtown and see what Manchester has going on.”

Taco Tour Manchester
When: Thursday, May 5, 4 to 8 p.m.
Where: Participating businesses stationed on Elm Street, various side streets in downtown Manchester and at the Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St.) and Northeast Delta Dental Stadium (1 Line Drive)
Cost: $3 per taco (cash only)
Visit: tacotourmanchester.com
Event is rain or shine. Elm Street will be shut down to vehicular traffic from Bridge to Granite streets for the duration of the event, as well as on a few side streets.

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

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