Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
Covid-19 news
State health officials reported 76 new cases of Covid-19 on March 28. The state averaged 126 new cases per day over the most recent seven-day period, a 5 percent increase compared to the week before. As of March 28 there were 1,020 active infections and just 26 hospitalizations.
State of Manchester
On March 23, Mayor Joyce Craig gave her State of the City speech, during which she announced the launch of The Manchester Promise Program, which would enable some Manchester public school students — those who have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity — to attend college debt-free. According to a press release, the program will start in the coming weeks as the city partners with Southern New Hampshire University, Manchester Community College and Duet.
Other speech highlights, the release said, included:
The formation of an exploratory committee to bring hockey back to Manchester.
In the past two years, the city has exceeded its goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent, with current reductions at 58.4 percent, in large part because of the city’s solar array.
The Manchester Police Department is focused on reducing gun crimes and has formed a community-focused gun crime problem-solving team and has deployed additional walking patrols to increase police presence and community engagement in neighborhoods, according to the release, and in 2021 the department seized 81 illegal guns off the streets.
Manchester was named a finalist for the Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge Phase 1 and submitted its Phase 2 application March 15; if awarded, the grant would provide more than $100 million in federal dollars to accelerate job creation in tissue engineering and advanced aerial mobility — potentially creating more than 20,000 jobs — and fund a pedestrian bridge over the Merrimack River connecting the Millyard to the West Side.
The Manchester Transit Authority is in the process of piloting a program for an on-demand bus service that it hopes to launch in FY23.
Manchester allocated $8 million in federal funds to develop new affordable housing and established the Manchester Housing Commission to assist in that process. Proposals for 450+ new mixed-income apartments to be built on underutilized city-owned parking lot are currently being finalized. The city has also hired its first Director of Homeless Initiatives, is working with outreach teams to address the needs of the chronically homeless, and is establishing new relationships with recovery service providers to help people enter treatment.
Redistricting
Gov. Chris Sununu has submitted a draft Congressional redistricting map that he said in his letter to legislative leaders he would sign if it reaches his desk. Sununu has said he will veto the redistricting map put forth by Republicans in the New Hampshire House and Senate, according to a report form WMUR, and his own map “includes adjustments to the current districts that would likely create a more competitive first district and a second district that still leans Democratic.” Sununu wrote in his letter that his proposed map “keeps our districts competitive, passes the smell test, and holds our incumbents accountable so that no one elected official is immune from challengers or constituent services.”
LNA training
The New Hampshire Veterans Home is accepting applications for its new Licensed Nursing Assistant course that will allow students to earn hourly wages while learning in the expense-paid course. According to a press release, the salary includes a 15-percent enhancement of the base pay available for all Veterans Home nursing positions. Students who commit to providing care at the Veterans Home will receive education in a classroom setting and through clinical hours. Successful completion of the course prepares students for the Board of Nursing license exam, the release said, and after completing training and passing the exam, students will apply for full- or part-time positions at the home. The 10-week LNA Course begins April 19 at the New Hampshire Veterans Home campus, 139 Winter St. in Tilton. Applications are due by April 7 and are available at nh.gov; click on “careers,” then “NH State Government Job Opportunities,” then type “Tilton” in the location box when searching for jobs.
The N.H. Division of Historical Resources’ State Conservation and Rescue Archaeology Program is accepting applications for its field school at Bear Brook State Park in Allenstown. According to a press release, participants will continue the excavation of a pre-contact archaeological deposit that was identified last year and will focus on additional areas that might contain pre-contact deposits. Sessions are June 6 to June 17 and June 20 to July 1. The program is open to ages 16 and up (16- and 17-year-olds must participate with a parent or guardian), and registration closes April 30. Visit nh.gov/nhdhr/SCRAP.htm or contact the NHDHR at 271-6433.
New England College in Henniker has announced that Gov. Chris Sununu will be the Commencement Speaker at its 2022 graduation ceremony in May. According to a press release, Sununu will also be awarded an honorary doctorate in recognition of his years of public service to New Hampshire.
Schools across the Manchester School District were recipients of picnic tables built by Hillside Middle School students and donated by Girls at Work. According to a press release, more than 100 middle school girls participated in the Team Build Program, building 10 picnic tables that were then painted by students in the art department. The tables were donated to Manchester schools as well as local businesses, the release said.
So often in our society, I hear how we crave opportunities for our children to explore, to tinker, and to figure out who they are in this world. We are all for our youth getting outside or into the kitchen or workshop to help make sense of what the world offers them.
What is often missing from this narrative is giving space for our kids to explore who they are and what they offer to the world. In fact, we can often find this downright threatening especially when it comes to exploring one’s race, sexual orientation, sex, gender and culture.
I see the fear of these types of examinations rippling throughout our entire public education system here in New Hampshire and our country as a whole. There are laws and policies being passed that dictate what a teacher can instruct on race, or what name a child can (or cannot) go by, and limit discussions around family structures. There are demands that parents must be notified of all that is being discussed in our K-12 schools with threats of lawsuits being made if those requirements are not met.
In Manchester, there is a lawsuit filed over chosen name practices within that district. We have HB2 in place, which white lawmakers adopted to limit discussions around race in our classrooms. In Mississippi, an administrator was terminated for reading a book titled “I Need a New Butt” to second-graders, and we cannot forget the recent legislation passed in Texas and Florida with really damaging practices put in place to further oppress LGBTQIA+ youth.
These are all motivated by fear but I’m not sure what the fear is about. Do we truly not believe our children are capable of learning more about themselves? To better understand the complexities and possibilities each of our identities hold? Is it that there is a belief that if they learned this information then they would be able to have better agency over their own bodies, their own lives, in a way that threatens the “norm”?
Our kids are beautiful and resilient humans. All trauma specialists talk about the need to build healthy resilience, which comes through conversation, connection and self-responsibility. Avoidance, unfortunately, does not get us there and stunts us against reaching our true potential.
I hope we can embrace and find the same level of fulfillment from self-exploration as we do exploration of the outside world. We can understand a lot from our children, and I believe they will be our greatest teachers in redeveloping our curiosity.
Musicians who keep coming back to the scene that gave them their start
On every highway, from I-95 to Route 66, there’s a car towing a trailer full of dreams, a van packed with guitars, amps, an electric keyboard and a suitcase stuffed with notebooks. Every musician with a shred of ambition hears the call to Mecca.
Not all have the gumption to take flight. Those who do usually find a way to hold on to their hometown. More often than not, a round trip is a necessity. Landing in a new place means finding gigs, not always an easy task.
“This city ain’t your throne, like it was back home,” singer-songwriter Amanda McCarthy wrote about the challenge. She considers herself fortunate to quit a day job after less than a year in Nashville to play music full time, but her calendar still includes several months in New Hampshire, working at her old haunts.
Tom Dixon’s country music dream eventually wore him down to just a handful of hometown shows a year, but he’s proof that though the grind may get old, the pull remains.
“The reason I come back? One answer is the fans, really,” he said. “As long as I can do it, and as long as they want me to do it, I will.”
In 2002, guitarist Brad Myrick left his home in Hopkinton on a whim to try his luck in Los Angeles. There, a chat with a fellow music school student launched him on a journey to Italy, where he met Italian musician Nicola Cipriani and began a collaboration that led him around the world.
A decade later, however, he’d returned to his foundation in the Granite State, even as he continued to travel to Europe to tour. Myrick currently runs Lakes Region recording studio The Greenhouse, and leads NH Music Collective, which fosters talent and books shows throughout the region.
“It’s beautiful when I can incorporate what I’ve learned in other music scenes into the great scene we have here,” Myrick said in 2014. Eight years later, he feels validated. The need to go through a crucible like L.A. isn’t hard to understand, but there’s no reason it can’t also be done here.
“We have the technology to make New Hampshire the next Seattle,” he said. “The people with something to say are going to find a way, and most take off for that reason. I just want that opportunity to be bigger here, and that’s a big part of why I stick around.”
Amanda McCarthy: The Long Haul
Amanda McCarthy. Courtesy photo.
For Amanda McCarthy, leaving New Hampshire was always the dream. The singer-songwriter began looking at Nashville apartments when she was 20 years old, stopping only when she learned she was pregnant.
“That changed everything,” she said. “I won’t say that set me back; I mean, everything happens for a reason. I love my daughter, but it definitely made my approach very different.”
McCarthy has been a working musician since her high school days, playing throughout her home state. Her biggest local moment came when she performed at Salt Hill Shanty in Sunapee. Steven Tyler, a personal hero of hers, was there that day, so she boldly decided to cover an Aerosmith song. He reacted favorably, leading to a weeks-long media splash.
Soon after, she made the move to Music City with a singular goal in mind.
“I really wanted to explore the world of writing music for other people,” she said. “Writing songs that might not necessarily be my style, but knowing they still have a life somewhere else.” A good example of this is “The Long Haul,” a song McCarthy wrote in the early 2010s that became the title track of fellow New Hampshire singer April Cushman’s debut album.
There are only a few places left to follow such a dream, and Nashville tops the list. That said, it’s a crowded and often daunting place to stake a claim, but the young and hopeful artist managed to find her way.
“I was a little nervous that it would be hard to break in, that people might be mean, because it’s a big city, but people are genuinely nice, accepting and welcoming,” McCarthy said. “By the time Year 1 wrapped up, I’d pretty much found who I consider to be my circle, my tribe of people who I collaborate and play shows with.”
Helping her crack the code was a realization that hosting song pulls — events where writers share their work with audiences and each other — was a great way to network.
“I got the opportunity to book some shows, and rather than billing it under Amanda McCarthy … I chose to bill it under a company that I started called Nashville Writers Collective,” she said. “I think that’s attracted a lot of people because it sounded more like an entity and an experience rather than just another songwriter.”
Currently, McCarthy has been readying a new album, Don’t Stop Me, due for release soon. All the while, she’s kept one foot in New England, traveling back to play gigs. Her next hometown appearance will be at Exeter’s Sawbelly Brewing on April 29. Initially she did it to survive; now it gives her a way to check in with home that’s not an economic necessity.
“When I got here … I didn’t have a professional network, and I didn’t really have a way to make money, whereas now I kind of figured that out,” she said. “It’s less of a crutch for me and more enjoyable… I can treat it more like a working vacation.”
Tom Dixon: Gone to the Dogs
Tom Dixon. Courtesy photo.
For Tom Dixon, the road out of New England led to some great memories, but not enough to sustain a career in music.
Dixon hit Nashville in 2013 after establishing himself as a solid draw in his home state fronting an eponymous band, but had no illusions about taking the town by storm.
“My expectations were low, but my hopes were high,” he said. “If you go into something like this expecting to be a star, you’re a fool; you hope that you will, and get as far as you can.”
Undeterred, Dixon worked to break into the scene there, beginning with his aptly titled album, Kick Start This Party, made with producer Kent Wells.
“We got that out and hit the road with it as soon as possible,” Dixon said. “Of course, my first trip was back to New England — I knew I could play there.”
Soon, he was booking tours that led from Nashville to New England, playing bars, barbecue joints, and anywhere else he could. It was lucrative, and when he arrived in New Hampshire he’d play for a large chunk of the summer. All the while, he was checking off items from his professional bucket list.
“I played all over the country,” Dixon said. “I didn’t play in all 50 states, but I played in a lot. I was able to do some big things, play some big stages, play on national television, get on radio … I wanted to do everything.” His biggest moment came after he was inspired to write a song for a veterans organization called Coalition For The American Heroes.
Eventually, though, it got old.
“I began to feel like a truck driver who stops in different towns to play music,” Dixon said. “All I do is drive and then I stop, put on a show and drive again. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve driven 10 hours, played a show, slept in a hotel for four hours, got up and drove 10 hours back. I ended up having some issues. My career kind of slowed down, it’s not on fire like it used to be. I’m in pain literally and I’m tired of not being home and it just wasn’t fun anymore.”
Despite that, Dixon travels home each summer to play a handful of shows for his still dedicated local fan base. He’ll be back in April at Manchester’s Bonfire and Stumble Inn in Londonderry, a New England run he’s dubbed The Good Times and Bad Decisions Tour.
Before he decided to play music full-time, Dixon had seriously considered a profession centered on his love for dogs. He’d trained his own, helped friends with theirs, and claimed it was a coin flip that led him to music. He decided to contact the Animal Behavior College to learn his options and was stunned by what the person on the other end of the phone told him.
“He said, ‘Funny story, you’re in my system already, in New Hampshire… you and I talked 10 years ago,” Dixon said. “It was a real thing that long ago, when I hadn’t started playing music full-time. The weird thing is that I’m still following a dream, but now I can follow two dreams. My career’s gone to the dogs.”
MB Padfield: California Dreaming
MB Padfield. Photo by Kristen McFarren.
When MB Padfield moved to Southern California, she didn’t receive a golden reception.
“I got broken into, and all of my songwriting notebooks were stolen,” the New Hampshire native recalled recently. “On impact, that was brutal; but since then things have been really great.”
Driven to perform from an early age — she enrolled at Berklee at 16 — Padfield traveled between coasts a lot before packing a U-Haul in early 2018. At home she gigged constantly, but playing covers wore on her.
Padfield’s songs were getting played on the radio when she was 16. Her first single, “Silly Boy,” featured Greg Hawkes of the Cars on ukulele. Her anti-bullying original “You Can’t Break Me Down” showed a maturity beyond her years. A next stop at the world’s entertainment hub was a natural choice.
“New England has really amazing players as far as musicians, and the talent there is top-notch, but there’s a mindset in Los Angeles that you want to push yourself to do more,” she said. “I don’t think moving away is for everybody, but I do think if you feel a call of an artistic vision that you don’t seem to be surrounded by currently, then it might be an option.”
For Padfield, the level of talent in L.A. is the opposite of intimidating.
“There are people that exude creativity; it’s so inspiring and motivating to be around. … That’s honestly my favorite part,” she said. “I’m not looking to be a big fish in a little pond. I want to be able to play shows and make music … representative of the person I am, [and not] a different mindset of, ‘Oh, I gotta be the best in the room.’ If you’re the best in the room, you aren’t in the right room.”
She’s currently at work on a new EP called Surface and has launched a Kickstarter campaign to cover distribution costs.
“It’s sonically very modern; I guess you would call it in the indie pop genre,” she said. “I wrote all the songs myself, and I’ve been working with an amazing team out here that’s kind of helping me bring those songs to life.”
Padfield heads back to New England in the summer and around the winter holidays to play shows but doesn’t plan on being bicoastal forever.
“Three or four months out of the year until I’m able to be full-time in Los Angeles,” she said, adding that returning to SoCal can be jarring. “There is a switch that has to be flipped, and it’s so hard sometimes.”
For Padfield’s long-term goals, her new home is an ideal fit.
“New England has such an amazing strong backbone, of cover gigs and working-class musicians,” she said, “but in Los Angeles there’s something to be said for creativity and innovation, and propelling culture. It just feels like you’re part of something bigger.”
Senie Hunt: Dividing the Time
Senie Hunt. Courtesy photo.
Senie Hunt first left his New Hampshire home for another Tennessee music mecca, Memphis. After a few months there he returned, following a breakup with his girlfriend. Heading south was always part of his long-term plan, and Hunt made the move to Nashville in April of last year.
“I wanted to be in a place that was more diverse both in terms of music and in terms of culture and race,” Hunt, who is Black, said in a recent phone interview. His new home offered the bonus of being “the least furthest away, so I’m still able to visit with my family and friends, and also stay down here.”
Hunt is an acoustic guitarist with a unique percussive sound produced by tapping the body of his instrument as he plays it. The urge to move was spurred by a need for both “a change of scenery” and a change from what had become a limiting gig schedule.
“I didn’t want to end up playing the same places to the same people all the time; I wanted to branch off,” he said. Nashville had “hundreds of places either doing live shows or open mics, showcases, recording, all of that … built into one city block. At almost every show I played, I’d meet an entirely new audience.”
Another factor that helped was having a musical style that diverged from the sound the city was primarily known for.
“Despite Nashville being a very heavy country scene, it’s starting to evolve because a younger generation is coming in,” he said. “Right now is the perfect time if you stand out in a different style. … People just create music here.”
Along with success that finds him able to book shows months in advance in his new home, Hunt stays connected to his old digs, regularly returning for area gigs. Camaraderie with the local scene was vital when his car caught fire on a recent tour, resulting in a total loss of Hunt’s vehicle and much of his equipment.
Area musicians quickly organized a benefit for him at Area 23 in Concord, a place Hunt played frequently when he lived there.
“A lot of my friends decided they wanted to pitch in and help me kind of get back on my feet and get back on tour regularly,” he said. At the show, Hunt played a Zoom set for the crowd there. “It was nice, even just briefly, to share a few songs with the folks up north.”
Resupplied with assistance from his pals, Hunt is headed back at the end of the month to play some shows; he’ll be around until the end of May. Fans can see a new side of him on April 23 in Concord, with the debut of the plugged-in Senie Hunt Project at Bank of NH Stage.
“I have always loved blues and electric, and since it is very different from my normal stuff I decided to make a new band to not throw too many people off,” he said, noting he’d begun on electric guitar in grade school. “I really only switched back to acoustic when I transferred colleges and needed to find a solo alternative, which then brought me back to my percussive guitar playing, which filled the void of not having a band around.”
Gracie Curran: Point of Departure
Gracie Curran. Courtesy photo.
In 2014, Gracie Curran moved to Memphis after experiencing the city during the International Blues Competition. She found it welcoming, both for the music and for its central location, which made touring a big chunk of the country easier.
“After the awards, we were starting to get calls to play in Omaha, in Chicago,” Curran said in February. “Mapping from Boston was a scary thought, but I realized we could reach 70 percent of our markets within an eight-hour drive from Memphis. … It was a good jumping-off point for us to put our feet in the waters and start touring.”
Soon after, Gracie Curran & the High Falutin’ Band scored a residency at a Beale Street nightclub called Rum Boogie. The singer shared cramped quarters in a city apartment, but it didn’t bother her.
“It was worth living with four other band leaders,” she said. “I was with such talented musicians that put so much work and effort into their craft.”
Another reason Curran settled in Memphis was that the band she’d formed in 2010 with bass player Geoff Murfitt was at a crossroads. Murfitt had a family, which didn’t fit well with spending time on the road, while guitarist Tommy Carroll had grown tired of touring.
“So I came down to Memphis initially to kind of start and grow the band,” Curran said, something she found easier said than done. “There are a lot of amazing musicians here in Memphis, but all the great ones are usually on the road.”
She recruited veteran Boston guitar player Chris Hersch and coaxed Murfitt back into the band with an offer to fly them from New England to wherever their dates are, while ending the Rum Boogie residency. The band is rounded out by keyboard player Scott Coulter, who’s also in Hersch’s band Say Darling, and drummer Terrell Reed.
“That’s what we’ve been doing ever since,” Curran said. “It’s been great to be able to play with them. Memphis was really everything I expected it to be; it’s truly a great musical family here, a really supportive, welcoming community … and not only that, musician supporters.”
Curran’s connection to her old home is unwavering; she returns whenever she can, and always on her birthday. She’ll be at The Bull Run in Shirley, Mass., on May 16 for an ensemble show that includes Toni Lynn Washington, Diane Blue, Gina Coleman and Erin Harpe.
“I really feel like I have the best of both worlds right now,” she said. “I have a great community here… but also in Boston. I was very spoiled in that when I first started testing the waters, we had Ronnie Earl, Mike Welch and Roomful of Blues, Toni Lynn Washington and all these amazing musicians. To have both those perspectives from musicians that played with all the greats, to be able to pass on stories and tips … these are valuable things that I am so grateful for.”
Brooks Hubbard: Back Home Again
From the moment he left New England, Brooks Hubbard knew he’d be back. In fact, that was his goal.
In early 2015 Hubbard set out for Los Angeles to grow his music career, but a stop to visit a friend in Nashville changed his mind.
“It offers the same opportunities and cuts out all the Hollywood stuff that I don’t need,” Hubbard said in early March. “Nashville welcomes you with open arms, whereas L.A. or New York seem to be closed off. … You have to work the networks to get on stage.”
Hubbard managed to leverage the West Coast connections he did have. A drummer he knew who had played with Robert Cray had introduced him to Jackson Browne’s guitarist Val McCallum during a visit there the previous year. In summer 2015, the two played together in White River Junction, Vermont, at a release party for Hubbard’s album Start of Me.
McCallum agreed to do the show via text, based on a misunderstanding that turned out well.
“He thought it was a bar gig, but it was actually a ticketed show, and I was playing all original music,” Hubbard said. “He didn’t know any of my songs, but he’s one of those players that can play anything — he has a great ear.”
After the show, McCallum was insistent that they should “do something together,” Hubbard said. “That was where the seed was planted to make a record, which we eventually got to do in 2017.”
As Hubbard had made the move right after earning his bachelor’s, he approached his new home as a learning experience.
“The first couple of years I was there was just an extension of school,” he said. “This is what I really want to do, and this is where I need to learn what people do in this industry do to make a living.”
He found that opportunity did not equate to success.
“I always say it’s the home of the greatest and the worst musicians in the world,” he said. “If you want to be one of those great artists or performers, you gotta put in the work. It’s really tough to make a buck in town there, because there’s just so many people that are doing the same thing.”
Hubbard uses the past tense because he recently re-settled in Etna, the New Hampshire town where he grew up and began playing music, inspired by his father, also a musician. He’s now married to the girlfriend he decamped with to Music City seven years ago; they’ll welcome their first child in April.
The move back came a bit sooner than expected, but the timing turned out for the best.
“It was something that my wife and I had always talked about eventually doing, but the pandemic for sure sped up that plan,” Hubbard said. “Doing livestreaming and even co-writing through Zoom made me realize that you don’t have to physically be in some of those places. If you go there and make the corrections and then keep those connections, it doesn’t really matter where you base yourself.”
See the musicians
Amanda McCarthy just released “Don’t Stop Me” co-written with fellow expat Ty Openshaw; the track will appeal to fans of Marren Morris and Kacey Musgraves. She’ll be home in late April for a round of New England shows, though her only Granite State gig is Friday, April 29, at Sawbelly Brewing (156 Epping Road, Exeter). Visit amandamccarthy.com.
Tom Dixon made his final single, “The Weekend,” in 2020, a raucous call to party that will please fans of Luke Bryan and Rascal Flatts. Though he officially retired from the music business, Dixon heads home occasionally to play for his hardcore fans. He’ll do a full band show at Bonfire (950 Elm St, Manchester) on Friday, April 23, at 8 p.m.
MB Padfield has a four-song EP called Surfaces due later in the year. Fans of Holly Humberstone will enjoy 2020’s brooding love song “Trxst” — it’s on her YouTube page. Padfield is currently booking New England dates for summer. She’ll be at Bernie’s Beach Bar (73 Ocean Blvd., Hampton) every Saturday afternoon from mid-June until Labor Day.
Senie Hunt continues to play acoustic music in his singular percussive guitar style, but will showcase an electric side during his Saturday, April 23, appearance at Bank of NH Stage ($18 at ccanh.com). For a taste of that sound check out “Lovers on the Run,” available on Tidal and other platforms. It’s a growling blues rocker reminiscent of Gary Clark Jr.
Gracie Curran & the High Falutin’ Band is a rip-roaring combo fronted by a namesake singer who channels Janis Joplin and Brittany Howard. Their next area date is a blues showcase Saturday, April 16, at Bull Run (215 Great Road, Shirley, Mass., $30 at bullrunrestaurant.com) with Curran, Toni Lynn Washington, Diane Blue, Gina Coleman and Erin Harpe.
Brooks Hubbard is a singer-songwriter in the vein of Jackson Browne, Jack Johnson and Jason Isbell. He’s putting the finishing touches on Father & Son, a collection of songs celebrating parenthood — his first child is due in April. See him Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. at The Goat (50 Old Granite St., Manchester).
Featured photo: Brooks Hubbard. Photo by Brett Berwager Photography.
Close the book on 2021 at the movies with Sunday’s awards show
Get excited about the Oscars!
Yes, I’m talking to you, person interested in movies enough to be lingering in the film section. But I’m also talking to me, an official Oscars Fan who proclaimed her love for the Oscars last year and yet can’t quite seem to get as jazzed about this year’s ceremony the way I did about 2018 (Ladybird! Get Out!) or 2019 (Black Panther! The Favourite! A Star Is Born and everything to do with Lady Gaga!) or even last year’s weird train station Oscars (Minari! Regina King! The song “Husavik” from Eurovision Song Contest!).
But even if, like me, you haven’t seen all of the Best Picture nominees (I’ll get to the three-hour Drive My Car, I promise) there is still a lot to get even casual movie fans enthused about this year — in terms of the movies, the ceremony and Oscar season. Pop your popcorn, open the prosecco you’re going to pretend is Champagne and don that vintage Old Navy and let’s get excited about Oscar Sunday (March 27 at 8 p.m., on ABC) together. Time to get excited about…
• The Best Picture nominees: Kenneth Branagh’s Northern Ireland-set Belfast has six nominations (available for rent or purchase). CODA, about the hearing teen daughter of deaf parents, has three nominations (Apple TV+). Adam McKay’s apocalypse, I don’t know, comedy I guess, Don’t Look Up (Netflix) has four nominations. The Japanese drama Drive My Car (HBO Max and rent or purchase) has four nominations including best international feature film. Beautiful, slow-moving Dune(HBO Max or for purchase) has 10 nominations and while I didn’t love the movie I feel like it’s a strong and worthy competitor for the sound and visual categories. The Will Smith-starring biopic of Serena and Venus Williams’ dad, King Richard, has six nominees (in theaters and returning to HBO Max on March 24, and available for rent or purchase). Paul Thomas Anderson’s nostalgia trip to 1970s L.A., Licorice Pizza (available for rent or purchase), has three nominations. The Guillermo del Toro-directed beautiful-looking but meh Nightmare Alley (HBO Max and for purchase) has four nominations. Jane Campion’s menace-filled Western The Power of the Dog (Netflix) has 11 nominations including Campion for director. Steven Spielberg’s surprisingly joyful (I mean, bleak if you think about it but joyful to watch) West Side Story (HBO Max, Disney+ and for rent or purchase) has seven nominations including what I would consider maybe the surest-thing nomination of Ariana DeBose for Anita.
• The ceremony: This year’s Oscar ceremony has the potential to be an entertaining grab bag of winners with Thoughts About This Moment We’re In globally, Academy members angry about the move of some categories off the broadcast proper and a whole bunch of people low-level freaked out about the state of their industry. For the first time in a while, domestic U.S. politics is probably, like, fourth or fifth on the list of issues that will be part of the mood of the night. I feel like last year’s Oscars missed an opportunity to get people revved up for either the nominated films specifically or the theatrical experience in general (Google “Marvel Studios Celebrates the Movies” for a look at how to do that). With movie-going still not fully Back, it would be great if the ceremony helped sell us on the concept again and helped to actually introduce people to some of the lesser-known films on the nominees list.
And crazy stuff will likely happen because crazy stuff always happens and I hope that includes, as was speculated by the folks at Vanity Fair’s Little Gold Men podcast, some actor winner pulling up the Makeup and Hairstyling winner or a Directing winner shouting out Production Design or Editing winner. Those are some of the eight categories that, as has been widely reported, have been pushed to a pre-broadcast first hour largely at the behest of ABC to make the broadcast ceremony shorter, which will somehow translate into more viewers. What will be part of the broadcast, though, is some kind of recognition of the “fan favorite film” of the year that was voted on largely via Twitter, so you know that will be weird. Anyway, tune in at 8 p.m. for the ceremony; a preshow starts at 6:30 p.m., according to Indiewire.
• The other award-granting organizations: Between this year’s Oscar season being a month longer than the pre-pandemic awards season schedule and the collapse of the Golden Globes (which were announced via Twitter a million years ago back in early January), I feel like some of the precursor awards got less attention, particularly if you’re not someone who goes seeking that info. So let’s go seeking, shall we? As with the Oscars, other awards nominee lists offer a great place to turn when you’re trying to figure out what to watch tonight.
Even though We Don’t Talk About the Golden Globes (no no no…), it is a place where the list of nominees includes Mahershala Ali in Swan Song(Apple TV+), Marion Cotillard in the musical Annette (Amazon Prime), Ruth Negga in the lovely-looking melodrama Passing (Netflix) and the score for Wes Andreson’s latest, The French Dispatch (currently on HBO Max).
The Indie Spirit Awards, which usually happen the Saturday evening before the Oscars, took place in early March this year. On that list, non-Oscar nominees include the sweet family dramedy C’mon C’mon (available for rent or purchase), the excellent Nicholas Cage drama Pig (Hulu) and the claustrophobically funny Shiva Baby (HBO Max).
The Critics Choice Awards, handed out a few weeks ago, included nominations for the delightful Western, starring Regina King and Idris Elba, The Harder They Fall (Netflix) as well as, thanks to its comedy category my favorite movie of last year, Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar (Hulu, rent or purchase).
• The night of capital F Fashion: After two years of stretchy pants, I’m not necessarily in a hurry to dress fancy myself but I do enjoy watching others do it.
• The nominees I’m rooting for: Of the nine Best Picture nominees I’ve seen, my favorite is CODA, probably followed by West Side Story and a tie between Belfast and Licorice Pizza. In other categories, I’d pick Denzel Washington to win for his titular role in The Tragedy of Macbeth (Apple TV+).
I’d be happy with any of the nominees for best actress taking the win: Jessica Chastain, who went the extra mile in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (HBO Max, rent or purchase); Penélope Cruz in Pedro Almodovar’s Parallel Mothers (available for rent), also nominated for score; Olivia Coleman, always great, in the Maggie Gyllenhaal-directed The Lost Daughter (Netflix), also nominated in supporting actress for Jessie Buckley and for adapted screenplay; Kristen Stewart, who is maybe the frontrunner for playing Princess Diana in Spencer, and depending on the day I might even agree to Nicole Kidman, a decent Lucille Ball in Aaron Sorkin’s Being the Ricardos (Amazon Prime).
The other “I’d be happy with any win” category is animated feature film: Find Encanto (the favorite to win, I think?), Luca and Raya and the Last Dragon, all beautiful and solid films, on Disney+; Flee, which is also nominated in the documentary and international categories and is a compelling tale of one man’s flight from Afghanistan, is available on Hulu and for rent or purchase, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines, a fun tale of family and technology, is on Netflix. While I agree that there are like two or even three better songs in Encanto, I am also rooting for it to win the original song category for “Dos Oruguitas.”
In what could be called the “movies people actually saw” category (visual effects), Spider-Man: No Way Home (available for purchase), the No. 1 2021 movie at the box office, faces off against the No. 2 movie, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (Disney+, rent or purchase); the last Daniel Craig James Bond and the year’s No. 7 movie, No Time to Die (rent or purchase), and the 10th biggest box office of 2021, the Ryan Reynolds-starring Free Guy (HBO Max, Disney+, rent or purchase), as well as Dune. It’s a solid list — and my vote might actually go to Dune.
• Saying a final goodbye to 2021: And as at any good New Year’s Eve party, enjoy a glass of bubbly and some time to reflect (House of Gucci — that was really something, wasn’t it?) and make your resolutions: more in-theater movies, more searching for the cool weird stuff on streaming, more embracing what we get instead of wishing everything was John Wick. And, of course, a whole new year of award contenders.
Woodman’s Artisan Bakery to open storefront in Nashua
Bill Woodman gained a following across the local farmers market scene for his European-style artisan breads, first selling in Salem in 2018 before branching out to six markets by the following summer. Nearly four years later, Woodman is expanding his startup bread business into a storefront, giving him his own permanent spot to bake as well as an opportunity to serve coffees, teas, sandwiches and grab-and-go pastries.
Woodman’s Artisan Bakery is due to open in the coming weeks on the corner of Amherst and Sunapee streets in North Nashua — it’s in the former spot of Great Harvest Bread Co., which has sat vacant since December 2019. Upon coming into the space, Woodman connected with former Great Harvest owner Jeremy St. Hilaire, who welcomed him to the neighborhood, shared his own experiences, and helped go over the basics of its unique multiton 48-pan oven.
Photo courtesy of Woodman’s Artisan Bakery.
Woodman’s breads are 100 percent scratch-baked and range from various country ryes and sourdoughs to flavored options like a cranberry walnut and an Italian focaccia with Parmesan and rosemary. His product line also includes traditional French butter croissants and pain au chocolat pastries, as well as soft blueberry scones and lightly salted German-style pretzels.
A Manchester native, Woodman attended Springfield College in Massachusetts before transferring to Southern New Hampshire University to study culinary arts. From there, he would hold multiple kitchen jobs over the years, and it was while as a cook at the RiverMead, a retirement home in Peterborough, that he got the opportunity to attend bread baking intensive courses at King Arthur Flour in Vermont, thanks to an educational reimbursement program.
“I had always had an interest in breads, but no one ever knew much to teach me about them,” he said. “I did the program at King Arthur, came back to the retirement home and then was doing fresh bread for them every day. … People were going crazy about it to the point where we ended up setting up a sale with three or four different types of bread. So that went over very, very well.”
In May 2018, Woodman applied to become a vendor at the Salem Farmers Market. Dave Hippert, a longtime friend of his who owns Sal’s Pizza in Hooksett, agreed to let him use his oven after hours, where he currently bakes his breads and pastries.
“He closes down at the end of his day, so 9 or 10 o’clock at night, and then I go in, mix up my doughs and bake throughout the night into the mornings. Then from the morning to the afternoon I go out to the markets and sell my bread off,” he said. “So without him, none of this would’ve been possible, especially just with the volume that I’m able to pull out of there.”
As a result, nearly all of his items at the market have only just been out of the oven hours earlier.
“That’s one of those things that makes a big, big difference is that quality and freshness,” he said.
Photo courtesy of Woodman’s Artisan Bakery.
Once his Nashua storefront opens, Woodman will leave the kitchen at Sal’s, but he still plans to attend a few farmers markets per week. Currently he’s in Concord on Saturdays and Salem on Sundays, and he’ll pick up a third market in Bedford on Tuesdays when it resumes in June.
In addition to Great Harvest’s oven, Woodman has an electric Bongard deck oven from Germany he purchased a few years ago through a mutual connection with a Portsmouth chef.
“It’s kind of like your Lamborghini of ovens, so to speak,” he said. “Anything that’s got a real nice crust and a chewy crumb is going to come out of there, because you get that steam injection. … You get a little bit of water, which keeps the dough pliable enough so that it grows and expands properly, but then when it starts evaporating off, you start basically caramelizing the sugars on the surface of that dough, and it gives you that color and crispiness that you want.”
Woodman plans to get into baking ciabattas and baguettes, breads he said he hasn’t regularly done in a few years. He’ll also be able to produce all of his other artisan breads on an even larger scale than before, thanks to his newfound 24/7 access. One of his flagship products is called the “Yukon Dave” sourdough — it’s named after a farmers market customer who gifted him a sourdough starter that originated in Alaska sometime in the 1960s.
On the retail side, Woodman will have a display case featuring grab-and-go pastries as well as drip coffee sourced from A&E, a USDA-certified organic roaster. Eventually, he said, he’d like to add cappuccinos and lattes and plans to offer pizzas, sandwiches and other lunch items.
Woodman’s Artisan Bakery An opening date is expected in the coming weeks for the bakery’s storefront. In the meantime, find owner and bread maker Bill Woodman at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market (7 Eagle Square, Concord) on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon, and at the Salem Farmers Market (LaBelle Winery Derry, 14 Route 111, Derry) on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Where: 4 Sunapee St., Nashua Hours: TBA More info: Visit woodmansartisanbakery.com, or find them on Facebook @woodmansartisanbakery and Instagram @woodmans.artisan.bakery
Featured photo: Photos courtesy of Woodman’s Artisan Bakery.
NH Jewish Film Fest offers in-theater & virtual screenings
This year’s New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival is combining the benefits of virtual screenings — reaching more people in more places, for example — and hosting in-person screenings too, to bring back that festival vibe that’s been missing for the past two years.
“It’s been a journey, that is for sure,” festival co-chair Pat Kalik said of holding the event during the pandemic. “We did get some benefits from going virtual, but we missed, of course, the community feeling of seeing a movie in the theater and then having the discussion after.”
This year’s festival, which runs March 31 to April 10, will feature five in-theater screenings, two of which will have post-screening discussions. Virtual attendees will have a 48-hour window to watch each movie any time during the festival, and there will be virtual screenings of four of the in-theater films as well after the festival ends.
The festival features independent and foreign films from 12 countries. Kalik said they start screening films in July and view about 50 before picking their final lineup. She said they try to pick different kinds of films, from dramas to documentaries, to appeal to all tastes.
“Our goal is to bring these films to the community, films that would not come to the independent theaters in New Hampshire,” Kalik said. “Some of the films are subtitled — some people won’t go to subtitled films, but we try to get a mix. … My hope is that everyone will give these types of films a try.”
One of her favorites is the documentary that’s going to open the festival at Rex Theatre.
“I thought The Automat was a fascinating film, and that’s going to be our opening night at the Rex in Manchester,” Kalik said. “[At Automat restaurants] you would put money into a wall of windows, and behind each window was the food you wanted to buy. This is a film about the history of the Automat.”
The closing film is Cabaret at Red River Theatres in Concord. Typically the festival features newer films; in this case, it’s celebrating Cabaret’s 50th anniversary. The screening will be followed by a discussion with film buff Zachary Camenker of Concord.
“The film kind of broke the glass ceiling 50 years ago in ways that people weren’t expecting,” Camenker said.
Cabaret, which is about Berlin nightlife during the Nazi rise to power, won eight Academy Awards. Camenker said it’s the winningest film that did not win best picture in Oscar history; it lost that award to The Godfather.
Still, “It’s one of those musicals that has stood the test of time,” he said. “It’s a good reminder of where things were a century ago as opposed to where they are now.”
Another film that looks back at a difficult time in history is “Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin.” The documentary explores the life of the Israeli prime minister.
Director Jonathan Gruber of Black Eye Productions in New York said he didn’t know much about Begin before he started working on this project.
“I didn’t realize how instrumental he was in Israel’s becoming a state,” Gruber said. “I was just impressed with him as a leader. He never enriched himself through his position.”
Begin was a controversial leader, though, which Gruber saw firsthand in his interviews. He said he heard some criticism that the film is slanted favorably toward Begin, while others have thought the opposite.
“Begin does not get a free pass in the film,” Gruber said. “We annoy everybody.”
Gruber, who was born in Israel, was able to get all of his interviews done in person overseas just before the pandemic started. He used a third-camera angle for some of the film.
“The content is so powerful but I also visually wanted to make it arresting,” he said.
Gruber will discuss the documentary via Zoom on Tuesday, April 5, at 7 p.m.
With the exception of Cabaret, Zoom will be used for all film discussions.
“I think we’ve learned a lot because of [the pandemic], and we’re going to take advantage of it in the future, but it’s not going to replace the traditional film festival where you can go to the theater and bond and eat and drink,” Kalik said.
New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival When: March 31 through April 10 Where: Various locations in the state and online Cost: $12 per in-theater ticket or per virtual household ticket More info: For festival pass information, movie trailers and more, visit nhjewishfilmfestival.com.
Here are the films according to festival descriptions.
In-theater screenings
The Automat
Thursday, March 31, 7 p.m. at The Rex, Manchester
Documentary, 2021, U.S., English. Before fast food, one American restaurant empire was unstoppable. Experience the untold story of the Automat with this documentary film starring Mel Brooks about the popular 1950s restaurant chain that served its meals in vending machines.
Following the screening, director Lisa Hurwitz will discuss her film via Zoom, and Automat collector Steve Stollman will join the conversation.
Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen
Sunday, April 3, 1 p.m. at 3S Art Space (Portsmouth), The Rex (Manchester) and Showroom (Keene)
Documentary, 2022, U.S., English. Narrated by Jeff Goldblum, Fiddler’s Journey to the Big Screen captures the humor and drama of film director Norman Jewison’s quest to recreate the lost world of Jewish life in tsarist Russia and re-envision the beloved stage hit as a wide-screen epic.
The Un-Word
Thursday, April 7, 7 p.m., Red River Theatres, Concord
Narrative, 2020, Germany, German with English subtitles. In this German satire, tempers flare after a Jewish student is goaded by Muslim classmates into a schoolyard brawl, injuring an Iranian and a Palestinian student. A hopelessly naive teacher arranges a summit with the fuming parents and spineless principal. But her do-gooder attempts at peacemaking, complete with Palestinian and Israeli flags decorating the snacks, expose her own misguided beliefs.
Tiger Within
Sunday, April 10, 1 p.m., Red River Theatres, Concord
Drama, 2020, USA, English. Multiple Academy-Award-winner Ed Asner, in one of his last performances, stars in this tender story of the unlikely friendship between Samuel, a Holocaust survivor, and Casey, a skinhead teen runaway. Despite their respective traumas and initial mistrust of one another, they form a powerful bond that yields a sense of family and mutual support.
Cabaret
Celebrating Cabaret’s 50th Anniversary!
Sunday, April 10, 3:30 p.m., Red River Theatres, Concord
Musical/Romance, 1972, U.S., English
Starring Liza Minelli, the musical about Berlin nightlife during the Nazi rise to power won eight Academy Awards.
Following the screening, New Hampshire educator and film enthusiast Zachary Camenker will lead a discussion about the history and impact of the film a half century later. (This screening is in-person only and does not have a virtual option.)
Virtual-only screenings
200 Meters
Drama, 2020, Palestine, Jordan, Qatar, Italy, Sweden (Arabic, Hebrew, English with subtitles). Mustafa and his wife live 200 meters apart in villages separated by the Israeli border wall. One day he gets a call every parent dreads: His son has been injured in an accident. Rushing to cross the Israeli checkpoint, Mustafa is denied on a technicality. But a father’s love won’t give up, and he will do anything to reach his son.
Apples and Oranges
Documentary, 2021, Israel (Hebrew, English with subtitles). A wave of foreign volunteers came to Israel in the 1960s through 1980s to work on a kibbutz, a communal village centered around agriculture. During the ’80s, the war in Lebanon and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict forced volunteers to decide whether supporting the kibbutz meant supporting the state of Israel.
On Monday, April 4, at 7 p.m., Director Yoav Brill will discuss his film and reflect on the changing nature of the volunteers as Israel’s geopolitical situation evolved.
Greener Pastures
Drama, 2020, Israel (Hebrew, English with subtitles). Dov, a widower, is forced by his family to move to a nursing home. He’s broke since he lost his pension, and he blames the state. When Dov notices that all his fellow residents smoke legal medical cannabis, he realizes that weed can be his salvation — selling it, not smoking it.
Neighbors
Drama, 2021, Switzerland, France (Kurdish with English subtitles). In a little village on the Syrian-Turkish border in the early ’80s, a 6-year-old Kurdish boy experiences his first year in an Arab school and sees how his little world is radically changed by absurd nationalism.
Persian Lessons
Narrative Feature, 2020, Russia, Germany, Belarus (German, French, Italian, English and Persian with English subtitles). Occupied France, 1942. Gilles is arrested by Nazi SS soldiers alongside other Jews and sent to a camp in Germany. He avoids execution by swearing to the guards that he is not Jewish, but Persian. This lie temporarily saves him, but Gilles gets assigned a life-or-death mission: to teach the Farsi language to Koch, the head of camp, who dreams of opening a restaurant in Iran once the war is over.
Upheaval: The Journey of Menachem Begin
Documentary, 2020, USA (English) Prime Minister Menachem Begin was a tireless fighter for the Jewish people. He was, at the same time, a controversial leader.
On Tuesday, April 5, at 7 p.m. Director Jonathan Gruber will discuss his documentary on the life of Menachem Begin.
Short films (virtual only)
Beefies
Comedy Short, 2021, U.S. (10 minutes, English). Josh wants to find his late mother’s “beefies” recipe for Passover but must reconnect with his estranged brother to do so.
Ganef
Short, 2020, U.K. (14 minutes, English with Yiddish phrases), London, 1962. 6-year-old Ruthie discovers Lynn, the cleaner, is a thief.
Masel Tov Cocktail
Short, 2020, Germany (30 minutes, German, Russian with English subtitles). A Russian-Jewish teen in Germany offers a comic take on modern Jewish life.
The Shabbos Goy
Comedy Short, 2019, U.S. (7 minutes, English). God literally forbids Chana to turn off her vibrator gone rogue.
The Tattooed Torah
Animated Short, 2021, U.S. (21 minutes, English, Hebrew). True story of the rescue and restoration of a Torah from Czechoslovakia.
