Girls learn sales and leadership skills while selling Samoas and Thin Mints
Girl Scout cookie season is underway, combining tasty treats with the opportunity to support local youth initiatives. Ginger Kozlowski, communications and public relations manager for Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains, and Sheila Morris, a troop leader in Concord, talked about this year’s sales, including how to buy cookies, the impact of New Hampshire’s Cookie Weekend, troop goals and ways to support without buying cookies.
What are the different ways people can purchase Girl Scout cookies across New Hampshire this season?
Kozlowski: It’s great to interact with a Girl Scout at her cookie booth. You will help her see that people support Girl Scouts and she will be happy to tell you all about the cookies and her goals. Booths are all over the place, but only until March 17. You can find a cookie booth near you by visiting girlscoutcookies.com and entering your zip code.
Tell us about the governor’s proclamation of Cookie Weekend and how you anticipate that impacting cookie sales.
Kozlowski: We are happy that Gov. Sununu proclaimed Feb. 16 through Feb. 18 Girl Scout Cookie Weekend in New Hampshire. We hope it will help us celebrate by supporting the Girl Scout Cookie program, which funds so much of our activities. Did you know that all the proceeds stay local?
Morris: Our troop has set a goal to sell 7,000 boxes of cookies so we can take one last big trip in 2025.
What are some of the goals or activities that local Girl Scouts are aiming to fund with the proceeds from this year’s cookie sales?
Kozlowski: Many Girl Scouts put their cookie proceeds toward summer camp, membership, community action projects, and fund cool experiences. On Facebook, Girl Scouts have posted goals like going to Space Camp and helping a women’s shelter food pantry. Many are looking forward to field trips.
Morris: We are known as the ‘travel troop.’ Our main focus has been travel and community service. We’re looking forward to kayaking and hiking in August in the Lakes Region and taking one last big trip in 2025. These trips have been amazing. They have given girls new adventures and bonding. Some of these girls might never travel without this troop. To see a girl overcome her anxiety to do something is priceless. To see them enjoy new experiences is delightful. The trips have also given them travel skills in budgeting, exploring places to go, getting around and safety. We also have tried to do a service project on our trips when it is possible. For example, we spent a day at a local school doing crafts and teaching them games and songs when we went to St. Lucia last spring. This is such a rewarding experience.
Can you explain the ‘Unbox the Future’ theme and how cookie sales help Girl Scouts achieve this vision?
Kozlowski: Unbox the Future simply refers to how you support the growth and future of girls by buying Girl Scout cookies. Girl Scouting is all about giving girls the opportunity to explore the world and follow their dreams in a supportive environment. Our mission is to create young women of courage, confidence and character, who make the world a better place.
Morris: And I see that in all my Girl Scouts. I have seen them come out of their shell and become a confident leader. I have seen them mentor younger girls. I have seen them learn to discuss and decide as a group, while being respectful of different opinions. It’s amazing to see them tackle community issues or plan an overseas trip.
What are some key skills that Girl Scouts are learning through cookie sales?
Kozlowski: Oh, that’s easy. Girl Scouts is the largest girl-led entrepreneurial program in the world, so we have five specific skills we find essential to leadership, success and life in general: goal-setting, decision-making, money management, people skills and business ethics.
Morris: I have seen these girls flourish in all aspects when dealing with the public at booths and become more confident as the years have gone by. I have personally seen my Girl Scouts grow in all these areas. And isn’t that what every parent wants for their child?
For those looking to support local Girl Scouts but who may not want cookies themselves, what options do they have for contributing to the troops?
Kozlowski: The Council’s Gift of Caring program is perfect for this. Every Girl Scout has the ability to take donations at their cookie booth to put toward this program, which provides cookies to the military and hometown heroes. And if you don’t run across a cookie booth by March 17 when sales end, you can still donate at the council’s website at girlscoutsgwm.org.
Morris: If you do that at our cookie booth, you will also directly help our Girl Scouts.
Cookies! Here are this year’s cookie flavors, according to girlscoutsgwm.org. Cookies cost $6 per box.
Adventurefuls — “brownie-inspired cookies topped with caramel flavored creme” Do-Si-Dos — “oatmeal sandwich cookies with a peanut butter filling” Girl Scout S’mores — “graham sandwich cookies with chocolatey and marshmallowy flavored filling” Lemon-Ups — “crispy lemon cookies” Samoas — “crisp cookies with caramel, coconut and chocolatey stripes” Tagalongs — “crispy cookies layered with peanut butter and covered with a chocolatey coating” Thin Mints — “chocolatey cookies made with natural oils of peppermint” Toffee-Tastic — gluten-free buttery cookies with toffee bits Trefoils — “shortbread cookies”
Among the most well-regarded of Gustav Mahler’s nine symphonies is his second. Commonly called the Resurrection Symphony, it’s a daunting work. For Mark Latham, conductor and musical director of The Phil — the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra — scale is a big reason he’s drawn to it.
“It’s not very often done because it’s just so large and it’s a challenge to get all the forces in place,” Latham said by phone recently. “But I think it’s actually the dream of probably all conductors — the challenge of this incredible masterpiece.”
Latham promised an “immersive” experience when The Phil performs Mahler’s Second Symphony in C Minor at two afternoon shows, on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25.
“There are gigantic forces involved,” he said. “A huge orchestra, gigantic percussion, an off-stage band, a chorus of about 80 or 90, and two soloists. I think the audience can’t help but get immersed.”
The upcoming performance will feature two guest solo vocalists. Alto Hannah Murray is a Plymouth State University faculty member, and soprano Dr. Evangelia Leontis is from Keene State University. As the combined choirs from both schools are also performing, “it seemed appropriate and sensible to use their own faculty,” Latham said. “I have worked with both of them; they both have fabulous voices.”
The Keene State Concert Choir, directed by Dr. Sandra Howard, is non-auditioned and open to all students regardless of major. Plymouth State’s includes both students and community members in its non-auditioned University Chorale. Conversely, the Chamber Singers are an auditioned ensemble that tours nationally and internationally. Both are directed by Harmony Markey.
Despite its name, the Resurrection Symphony isn’t a Christian work; most biographers say the Jewish born composer was agnostic, though it does explore life, death, and death’s transcendence. Mahler, who was born in the mid-19th century and had siblings who died in infancy, was captivated by the topic of death.
“One of the games that he and his brothers and sisters would play would be to reenact funeral marches — a natural thing as kids, right?” Latham said, adding that Mahler wrote a piece called Polka and Funeral March before he was 10. “Even from a very young age, he was concerned with dying … how we can better live through understanding what death means, and what happens after death.”
Finishing the symphony was difficult for Mahler, who got stuck on choosing a text for the choral section in the final movement (stirringly recreated in the Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro). Before that, he’d shared the first section with renowned conductor Hans von Bülow, who didn’t like it; he covered his ears. “This sent Mahler into a big funk,” Latham said. “He didn’t compose for quite a while after that.”
When Bülow died, though, a reading of Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock’s poem “Die Auferstehung (The Resurrection)” at his funeral finally gave Mahler clarity. “That was the a-ha moment for him,” Latham said. “He raced back and began finishing the final movement.”
For Latham, the Resurrection Symphony “is an incredible journey … an exploration of the big themes of our lives.” He offered his thoughts on its five stages.
“The first movement is as long as a Beethoven symphony; its original name is Funeral Rites, and in a way, it’s the funeral of the hero that he presented in his first symphony,” he said. “Then it just goes from there, there’s a lovely, gentle, what’s called a Ländler, a German dance, in the second movement, then Saint Anthony and the Fish in the third movement,” which includes a song from a set of Mahler poems.
“Philosophically, it’s expressing in a way what seems to be the senselessness of human existence,” Latham said. “Saint Anthony goes to preach and the church in Padua is empty; then he goes and preaches to the fishes. They’re swimming about, and don’t pay much attention either. The actual song is hilarious.”
The fourth movement, Primordial Light, “is really pure and angelic,” and includes Murray’s alto solo. An apocalyptic vision commences the first half of the fifth movement, “followed by looking at what resurrection might mean — even if you’re not Christian, in fact. It’s just a gigantic voice, and you get swept up. Before you know it, it’s almost over. It’s fantastic.”
Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony When: Saturday, Feb. 24, and Sunday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m. Location: Seifert Performing Arts Center, 44 Geremonty Dr., Salem Tickets: $5 to $35 at nhpo.booktix.com
Winter farmers markets offer a taste of sunnier seasons
Farmers markets aren’t just for the warmer months; some continue to operate through the winter, featuring a variety of vendors selling everything from fresh produce to artisanal crafts.
Via email, organizers and vendors discussed how these markets adapt to the colder season and what unique offerings they bring to the community.
Concord Farmers Market
Brenda White, with input from her fellow organizers for the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market, discussed how this season is going.
How has this year’s winter farmers market differed from previous years in terms of vendor participation and customer attendance?
This year, our fledgling market has grown in visibility through our social media advertising and new signs that are more visually appealing and draw the attention of passersby. We worked with a local Concord artist, RS Creative, who designed our fresh, new logo. Attendance is up from an average of 275 customers to roughly 425 customers. We have gained some wonderful vendors to add to a diverse offering. The produce and products that you can find range from fish, meats and eggs to fresh microgreens, root veggies, fresh baked treats and bread. We have vendors who make wonderful soaps, lotions, candles and dog treats. We even have a vendor with fresh cut winter flowers … and microbrews and wine. There is such a wide variety of local goodness.
What unique challenges does operating a farmers market in the winter present, and how have you and the vendors adapted to these conditions?
Finding a location that works for all patrons and gives us enough space to set up. We are grateful for the generosity that Stephen Duprey has gifted this market in its early years by giving us a location to have a market to provide easy access for customers to obtain amazing local products. 7 Eagle Square is a bright, beautiful open space with two levels of shopping. It is a great location for folks who are either choosing to walk around downtown or park close by for quick easy in and out.
Can you share some success stories or particularly popular initiatives from this year’s winter market?
Manus Basket: Every Saturday we have a basket set up to gather donations to support families in need of food. So we have partnered with The Boys & Girls Club of Central and Northern New Hampshire. How it works is that each market Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market purchases food from vendors at the market to place in the cooler or basket for the Boys & Girls Club. We have budgeted a certain amount a week to spend. In addition to that, customers and vendors purchase or donate items to add to the basket and cooler as well while they shop. This supports the vendors as well as helping our local community.
We were excited to host a sing-along with Santa in December this year. It was well-received and fun for the customers’ children and families. … As always, the Merrimack County Conservation District has continued to offer its Granite State Market Match and Veteran Value Bucks programs. Through the Granite State Market Match, SNAP/EBT recipients can double the amount they are spending on food items offered at the market. For example, if $20 is charged to a SNAP card, the recipient will receive $40 in vouchers to spend on food items. The Veteran Value Bucks program provides $20 to veterans and active service members once a month to shop for any items at the market. These programs allow more customers to visit our market, while also keeping more dollars local. It’s a win for everyone.
How important are winter farmers markets for the vendors’ businesses, and what role do they play in the local community during the colder months?
There are very few markets in the winter months, and it is not easy for vendors to get their products out to consumers on their own during the winter months without this farmers market community. The market provides a central location with easy access for the public to get all their needs in one location. We have a variety of meats including traditional beef, pork, lamb, chicken, fish and now a new vendor who provides ostrich. We have cheeses, yogurt, beer, soaps, bread, pastries, gluten-free pastries and bread, vegetables, syrup, honey, jams, eggs, beef chips, mushrooms, coffee, microgreens, dog food, popcorn, nuts, soft pretzels, rolls and flowers. These amazing vendors are local and love to support and help their communities and provide fresh locally grown/made products.
What measures have you implemented to encourage community engagement and ensure a safe, enjoyable experience for visitors during the winter season?
We are fortunate that we can use the Storr Street parking garage’s top level to park and use the ramp to bring products down to 7 Eagle Square easily for setup. Customers can use the garage’s top level as well during business hours of the market. The building has an elevator so that patrons can access both floors of the market easily if they prefer not to use the stairs. Walkways and the courtyard are maintained well to be sure that the area is free of ice and snow so customers have easy and safe access to the building. We also have local musicians who are scheduled by NH Music Collective to entertain at the market to add another family-friendly feel to the experience.
Looking forward, are there any new plans or ideas you’re excited to introduce to the winter farmers market in future seasons?
We hope to have a new permanent location in the future that will give us more space and make it even more convenient for customers to join us.
Joyberry Farms
Amy Joyce and Brad Ikenberry of Joyberry Farms, based in Mason, joyberryfarms.com. Find them at the winter Salem NH Farmers Market.
Joyberry Farms. Courtesy photo.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you offer at the winter farmers market?
We are the owners of Joyberry Farms, a small family-owned and -operated farm in Mason. We cultivate fresh mushrooms and create unique mushroom products. At the markets you can find a variety of fresh mushrooms each week, as well as a variety of dried products like mushroom coffee, teas, dried mushroom soups and risotto. We also make wellness mushroom powders.
How has this year’s market been for your business in terms of customer attendance and sales trends?
The sales in the winter tend to drop a little bit, due to attendance and weather. However, each year, as we grow, we also see a rise in our sales trends from repeat and new customers that love our products.
What unique challenges and opportunities does the winter market present for you?
The cold weather definitely makes farming a lot harder, but it also gives us time to slow down and be more creative.
How do you adapt your offerings or business strategy for the winter season?
Mushrooms, like vegetables, grow differently in each season. We offer different ‘cold weather’ mushrooms in the winter than in the summer, but some varieties grow all year-round.
What are the main benefits of participating in the winter market for your business?
Although our summer season is packed with farmers markets, we do attend a few winter markets which helps keep our business running year-round.
What is a popular item or service that draws customers to your stall at the winter market?
Our fresh mushrooms remain our top seller; however, in the winter we get an influx of sales from our soups, risotto, coffee and teas.
Blakeney’s Bakery
Brenda White, Blakeney’s Bakery, based in Contoocook, blakeneysbakery.com. Find them at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you offer at the winter farmers market?
Blakeney’s Bakery has a large variety of breads, scones, cookies, soft pretzels, whoopie pies, lemon bars and cookies.
How has this year’s market been for your business in terms of customer attendance and sales trends?
Each year has grown in customers and sales.
What unique challenges and opportunities does the winter market present for you?
Weather can be a challenge, especially if it keeps customers from coming out.
How do you adapt your offerings or business strategy for the winter season?
Really don’t have to do much. We make seasonal products and create new flavors of bread sometimes just from customer suggestions. We don’t make as many products during the winter market as the customer base is significantly smaller due to summer guests and residents who leave for the winter.
What are the main benefits of participating in the winter market for your business?
Being able to provide a great product for our customers and to … work with other vendors to support them by pairing their products with ours when possible.
What is a popular item or service that draws customers to your stall at the winter market?
Our variety of bread flavors and scones. We strive to have savory, sweet and salty options to meet a variety of needs that our customers have.
HorseFeathers Ostrich Farm
Monte and Alison Cossette. HorseFeathers Ostrich Farm, based in Webster, horsefeathersostrichfarm.com. Find them every other Saturday (next date March 2) at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you offer at the winter farmers market?
My husband and I started our ostrich farm several years ago. We’ve been growing our farm, breeding stock, and now are excited to be able to offer USDA ostrich meat for the first time both locally and through online sales. This is our first season participating in farmers market and we have been thrilled with this market.
What unique challenges and opportunities does the winter market present for you?
Since we are offering a product that not as many people are familiar with, the amount of customers going through the market is very important for us. The more people we can show and teach about ostrich meat, the more sales and repeat customers we can have.
How do you adapt your offerings or business strategy for the winter season?
Currently we are bringing a small amount of meat and only a few types of meat cuts; we are hoping to be part of the summer market and have more offerings.
What are the main benefits of participating in the winter market for your business?
As a new business it is amazing to have people to talk to about our product. All organizers of the group have been amazingly helpful as we get started with our farmers markets and our business.
What is a popular item or service that draws customers to your stall at the winter market?
In our booth we have a display of ostrich egg shells with a fake ostrich head. That seems to really pique interest for people and get them over to the booth. The egg shells can be used for decorations and arts, but the display is a great starting point to bring people to the table and start talking about the meat.
Arándano Farm and Gluten Free or Die Bakery
Arándano Farm and Gluten Free or Die Bakery. Courtesy photo.
Paul Gareau and Angela Letelier, Arándano Farm and Gluten Free or Die Bakery, Belmont, arandano.farm, gfordie.com. Find them at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you offer at the winter farmers market?
It’s our first year as vendors in Concord; generally we attend other markets in Belknap County and we’ll be running three new markets in 2024. Our farm offers organic-fed chicken, grass-fed pork, eggs, vegetables and microgreens. The bakery offers celiac-safe gluten-free baked goods.
What unique challenges and opportunities does the winter market present for you?
Our area mostly offers summer markets, so the winter market helps us sell our products throughout the winter.
How do you adapt your offerings or business strategy for the winter season?
Less emphasis on grilling, more on meal prep.
What are the main benefits of participating in the winter market for your business?
Income throughout winter months and expanded customer base.
What is a popular item or service that draws customers to your stall at the winter market?
Our main attraction is no-compromised gluten-free baked goods, and we have a following for our chicken and pork as well.
Pastry Dream
Ann and Roger Baril of Pastry Dream are based in Derry. Find them at the Downtown Concord Winter Farmers Market and the winter Salem NH Farmers Market.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you offer at the winter farmers market?
We sell individually sized pastries called Dreams. Some call them small pies. Our flavor selection ranges from lemon curd and raspberry to chocolate/peanut butter to our brand new Key lime. We presently offer nine flavors — something for everyone.
How has this year’s market been for your business in terms of customer attendance and sales trends?
We have already seen an increase over last year.
What unique challenges and opportunities does the winter market present for you?
A challenge we experience each year is New Year’s resolutions and the fact that everyone eats too much over the holiday season and cuts back for a time especially in January. Our opportunity is that farmers markets allow us the opportunity to present our products to those who may not have tasted them before.
How do you adapt your offerings or business strategy for the winter season?
For the winter season we offer a pecan pie Dream and a ginger/spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting along with all of our other items.
What are the main benefits of participating in the winter market for your business?
Feedback from customers is a huge benefit of being at the farmers markets. We have a lemon curd and a raspberry and many customers suggested that we put the two flavors together. We did, and the lemon/raspberry is one of our best sellers. We’ve also been asked to create a Key lime dream, which we are now offering and is a great success.
What is a popular item or service that draws customers to your stall at the winter market?
We offer samples, which give new customers the opportunity to taste our flavors before buying. This makes a big difference, because once you taste the filling flavors you have to have more.
KYS Food for Dogs
Sonia Javier Obinger of KYS Food for Dogs, based in Sandown. Find them at the Downtown Concord Farmers Market and the winter Salem NH Farmers Market.
Can you tell us about yourself and what you offer at the winter farmers market?
I started preparing whole-food recipes because of my interest in providing the best nutrition for my three pugs and a Boston terrier. I began researching, taking classes and using my experience to develop whole-food recipes for them. There would even be times when my friends would come over and ask what was cooking because it smelled so good. I said it was my dog’s dinner. So fast forward 16-plus years of testing, making mistakes, re-testing and friends’ support, I started KYS Whole Food for Dogs. Our recipes are created in small batches, bone broth braised with organic ingredients sourced from local farms sold fresh/frozen in compostable packages at farmers markets, online and retail. Recipes offer seasonally harvested organic vegetables with pasture-raised chicken or grass-fed beef, organ meat, seaweed, hempseed or flaxseed, providing dogs with a nutritious, complete meal. KYS ingredients are sourced from local farms like Vernon Family in Newfields. They provide the chicken for Tilly’s Pastured Chicken recipe. The organic vegetables in this recipe are grown and harvested by Heron Pond in Hampton, Two Farmers Farm in Scarborough, Maine, and Brandmoore Farm in Rollinsford.
How has this year’s market been for your business in terms of customer attendance and sales trends?
This is my first season with Downtown Concord Farmers Market, so I am still working on brand awareness. With the Salem NH Farmers Market this is my third winter market and this market has grown, especially at its new location at LaBelle Winery.
What unique challenges and opportunities does the winter market present for you?
I think the opportunities are that they are indoors, thus providing customers access to a great variety of vendors. I think the biggest challenge is New England weather, which this year has been relatively calm.
How do you adapt your offerings or business strategy for the winter season?
Since my recipes are based on harvest availability, root vegetables — carrots, winter squash, cranberries, for example — are used in the winter. Once the spring/summer season starts we have more greens, summer squash, blueberries, etc. So all year my customers have a diverse nutritional diet.
What are the main benefits of participating in the winter market for your business?
The benefits are that we still have access to our summer customers as well as meeting new ones. Plus it is warmer than being outside.
What is a popular item or service that draws customers to your stall at the winter market?
I think both Jake’s Grass fed Beef and Tilly’s Pastured Chicken recipes are equally popular. I have recently been testing with some of my customers’ liver truffles, which are another whole food product for those who want to provide a healthy treat for the dog.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health Services, is advising consumers not to eat foods included in a recall of products containing Rizo-Lopez dairy products including Bright Farms Inc. Southwest Chipotle salad kits (sold at Hannaford and Price Chopper), Dole Fresh Vegetables Avocado Ranch Dole Chopped Kit (sold at Shaw’s), Ready Meals and store-made taco kits sold at Shaw’s and Southwest Chicken Wrap sold at Costco, according to a press release from Feb. 14. “A national outbreak of Listeria infections has been linked to cheese made by this company,” the release said. See the FDA website, fda.gov/food (click on “Outbreaks of Foodborne Illness”), for a full list of products related to this recall. “At this time, no illnesses related to this Listeria outbreak have been identified in New Hampshire,” the release said.
The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services also sent out a press release on Feb, 14 “advising residents not to consume ready-to-eat meat charcuterie products containing Coppa, a type of dry-cured pork, produced by Fratelli Beretta USA Inc.” “The meat has been recalled because it may have been under processed and could be contaminated with foodborne pathogens,” the release said. The recalled products were distributed nationwide to stores including New Hampshire stores Walmart, Costco, Market Basket and Hannaford, the release said. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in collaboration with local and state partners, are investigating an ongoing outbreak of Salmonellainfections potentially linked to RTE Coppa products. To date, there has been one illness associated with the Salmonella outbreak in New Hampshire,” the release said. See fsis.usda.gov/recalls for all the products in the recall. Call DHHS Division of Public Health Services at 271-4496 with questions about either recall.
Democracy, knitting
New Hampshire Humanities is presenting a series of events that look at different aspects of elections and voting called “Knit Together Democracy,” according to a newsletter. Materials will be provided and knitters of all skill levels as well as non-knitters are welcome, the newsletter said. The series leads up to a “Knit Democracy Together” exhibit, which will open Thursday, June 13, at 1 p.m. at the New Hampshire State Library (20 Park St. in Concord) featuring a collaborative sculpture of the New Hampshire Statehouse crafted by citizen crafters and Knit Democracy Together founder Eve Jacobs-Carnahan, the newsletter said. See nhhumanities.org/Knit-Democracy-Together for a list of upcoming events and to register.
Special screening
The Friends of NH Drug Courts and the Hillsborough County (South) Drug Court present at screening of the film The 50, a documentary about 50 men who became certified substance abuse counselors while incarcerated, on Monday, April 29, at 6 p.m. at the Nashua Center for the Arts (201 Main St.; nashuacenterforthearts.com), according to a press release. The event will feature a post-screening panel moderated by Judge Tina Nadeau and feature three of the film’s cast members, the release said. Tickets cost $25 and proceeds go to Friends of NH Drug Courts, the release said. See the50film.com for the movie’s trailer and to learn more.
Walk against hunger
Families in Transition will hold its 34th annual Walk Against Hunger on Sunday, March 19, at noon in Veterans Park in Manchester, according to a press release. The event costs $15 to register, $25 to get a T-shirt, the release said. Register by March 31 at 11:59 p.m. to be eligible to win a Yeti cooler, the release said. This year’s event includes a new walk route and an after-party in Veterans Park, according to the release. See fitnh.org.
20th season of Fisher Cats
The New Hampshire Fisher Cats will take the field at Delta Dental Stadium in downtown Manchester for their 20th anniversary season on Tuesday, April 9, at 6:35 p.m. The Toronto Blue Jays, for whom the Cats are a Double A affiliate, recently announced in a press release the Fisher Cats 2024 coaching staff: Cesar Martin will manage the team for the fourth consecutive season; Jake McGuiggan will serve as bench coach; Mitch Huckabay returns for a second season to serve as hitting coach; Joel Bonnett will serve as pitching coach; George Carroll and Delta Cleary Jr. will serve as position coaches; Eric Yardley will be bullpen coach; Roelvis Vargas and Dalton Holemo are trainers; Casey Callison and Zach Kollar will be strength and conditioning coaches; Stephanie Xavier is team nutritionist; Geoffrey Soriano serves as team chef; Branden Gonzalez is technology & coaching assistant and Raul Pimentel continues his time in New Hampshire as mental performance coach. Tickets for the upcoming season are on sale at milb.com/new-hampshire including for specialty packages, such as a two-ticket purchase to the Marvel’s Defenders of the Diamond game on Friday, June 14, which comes with a Defender of the Diamond cap, and a two-ticket package to the game when the team plays as the New Hampshire Primaries on Friday, Aug. 23, which also includes a special hat.
PILLAR Gallery & Projects in Concord is currently showcasing its third exhibition, “Excavations,” through March 22. The show “presents themes of geological time and forms…. Artists include Jonathan Mess, Julie Hamel, Shino Takeda, Debra Claffey, Cody Tamaian, Anne Kinne, Victoria Elbroch and Al Jaeger,” according to a press release. The gallery is open Sunday, Tuesdays and Fridays 3 to 7 p.m.; see pillargalleryprojects.com.
Flag Hill Distillery & Winery in Lee will hold a County Line Derby snowshoe race and derby party on Saturday, Feb. 24. The event is described as “a mashup of the elegance and big hats of the Kentucky Derby with the chaos and excitement of a snowshoe race, snow or not,” according to a press release. The event starts at 9:30 a.m.; see countylinederby2024.eventbrite.com for tickets.
To Share Brewing Co. in Manchester is holding a Bonsai Bar night on Thursday, Feb. 22, from 6 to 8 p.m. Learn about the art of crafting and caring for a bonsai using a Dwarf Jade tree, according to a post on the brewery’s Facebook page.
Wednesday, Feb. 28, is Teen Anime Day at Nashua Public Library (2 Court St.) Anime fans in grades 6 through 12 are invited to hang out, watch anime, draw and more, according to nashualibrary.org.
Kathy Griffin’s ‘My Life on the PTSD List’ hits Portsmouth
Every comic has their story about a joke that didn’t land, and the heckler or projectile that resulted. For Kathy Griffin, an ill-considered attempt to riff on Donald Trump’s “blood coming out of her whatever” comment about debate moderator Megyn Kelly was more consequential. She lost jobs, lost friends and, worse, unleashed a federal investigation — all because of a photo of her holding a ketchup-soaked mask.
It turned out that was just one of many setbacks for Griffin. Along with repeatedly being detained by Interpol during a world tour documented in the film Hell of a Story, she lost her sister to cancer, her mother and longtime foil died at the start of the Covid pandemic, and Griffin herself battled both a pill addiction and lung cancer.
Beyond all that turmoil, she found a way to laugh, even at being the target of a weaponized government.
“I make fun of all of it,” Griffin said by phone from her home in Malibu. “After this long and storied career, to think that I was under investigation by the DOJ and then diagnosed with PTSD, like I’m a combat veteran or something? You have to laugh at it. There’s too much comedy there.”
For example, her cancer, which resulted in the removal of half a lung. “I’m cancer-free, and I’m a proud member of the one-and-a-half lungs community, which needs a face for the brand,” Griffin said. “I’m doing it for free, gratis and happily, and I don’t appreciate you flaunting your two lungs in my face.”
There is, however, one topic she’s trying to steer clear of. “I will say — shocker — as of this moment, I don’t mention Trump at this new show. It’s not like I’m afraid of him or anything because he can’t really do anything worse than he already has.” She polls the audience at most shows to gauge whether they’re interested in the political or personal and goes from there.
On Feb. 2, she opened in Des Moines, Iowa, to a decent-sized crowd, but not every market is as welcoming. With conservative celebrities like Laura Loomer working to re-ignite the outrage that derailed Griffin’s career in 2017, ticket sales are lagging for shows in red states like Texas, Kentucky and Indiana. However, less than 100 or so seats remain for her “My Life on the PTSD List” tour stop in New Hampshire.
Many likened the backlash she received to The Dixie Chicks in the aughts — even that band’s singer Natalie Maines reached out to Griffin to offer support. “That was so cool,” she said. “We were going to get together, then something happened, and we couldn’t. But I want to find her number again and say, remember me? Let’s do it.”
Still, the band now called The Chicks was able to go on tour and make an album with Rick Rubin. Griffin lost much more, for a longer time. Comparisons to Lenny Bruce’s obscenity battles in the 1960s also miss the point, she continued. “He had cops arrest him, not the feds. I even called Kelly Carlin, George’s daughter, and she said the same thing … ‘My dad never had the feds.’ This was a full investigation, testifying under oath, and the no-fly list.”
The comedian famous for never meeting a line she wouldn’t cross eventually learned to lean into the firestorm she’d created.
“I don’t care if you’re a stay-at-home mom or you have an office job, but to then not be doing that which you do for six long years, and to have it come at the behest of the f-ing president, that was the awful part,” she said. “The phone not ringing, the people turning on me, the networks telling me, ‘We love you; we think you’re funny, but you’re too toxic for Middle America’ is of course something I took as a challenge.”
Ironically, Griffin’s number is on a special kind of speed dial list.
“I’m the patron saint of celebrities who’ve gotten canceled for screwed up reasons, and so I will get called,” she said. “Bette Midler called me one time during the Trump’s administration … he was mad at her about a tweet, and she got a call from the Secret Service. She wanted to know what to do and I’m like, do this, this and this, and you say this, and don’t say this.”
On the other hand, “Don’t talk to me about the people who deserve to get canceled,” she continued. “The ones who pissed off the previous administration, I know how to handle those calls. Like, Rudy Giuliani’s daughter … she contacted me and she’s like, ‘I’m so embarrassed about my dad, what do I do?’ I said, ‘You’re stuck with him, honey, just smile and stay gay.’ She’s like, ‘I love you!’ So, I never know about what kind of calls I’m going to get.”
Did any positives come out of her ordeal? “Honestly, I don’t have a lot of good news to report except that it gave me clarity,” she said. “Most of the people that turned on me are still turned against me … it’s particularly people in my industry. I’m just going to call it out, and of course I’ll get in trouble for this as usual, but it was old white guys who identify with Trump far more than they identify with me.”
Griffin is excited to be back in front of audiences. Much of her new cadre of material sticks to the celebrity-dragging and barbs that helped feed her success.
“I’ve always been a magnet for crazy, that’s a gift that I’ve accepted and no longer fight, so, I go into certain situations sometimes, and I just know they’re going to be comedy gold,” she said. “I have a whole new half hour about going to Paris Hilton’s Christmas party that I cannot wait to talk about in Portsmouth. Because it was like a time capsule. First of all, she looks exactly the same, she still wears the pink sparkly dresses and such. It was like going back to 2003. Nothing has changed. I went with Rosie O’Donnell, so it was like the Rosie O’Donnell show was still on daytime, My Life on the D List was still on TV, it was hilarious…. I also like that Paris didn’t let us in the house, which is my favorite thing about when rich people have parties, they have police caution tape, like don’t even think about it. I don’t blame her; she’s been through hell herself.”
She’ll also riff on a certain pop singer but may go a bit gentler on her.
“We can’t not talk about Britney!” she said. “I feel very maternal toward her, I certainly went in hard on her in the ’90s and 2000s, because at that time I was making fun of a young lady that was a multi-multi-multi-millionaire as a teenager and was behaving in ways that sometimes were unique, but no, I’m not making fun of her mental illness. But am I gonna talk about her Instagram? Yes, I am. Can I look away from it? No, I can’t.”
The gloves are off for her former Hamptons neighbor Kanye West, now remarried and causing international incidents with his new wife. “Getting kicked out of Italy, I’ve never heard of that,” Griffin wondered. “I can see getting kicked out of an Italian restaurant but getting kicked out of the entire country because you’re walking around with a pillow and plastic heels? I’ve got to get to the bottom of it.”
Griffin also thinks Kanye is missing his former wife, Kim Kardashian. “A couple of days ago, his pants fell down, and you could see his butt crack. Doesn’t he have a team of people to tell him, pull your pants up, get it together? That’s what I feel Kim did. She would do a little bit of Cher in Moonstruck — ‘snap out of it!’ Because he was a little bit functional then; now he’s just off the rails. I know he has a mental illness, but I don’t care. I’m going right for the misogyny.”
Whatever awaits her as she embarks on her first big domestic tour since her world came crashing down, Kathy Griffin remains defiant. “I have cemented my place in history,” she said. “Actually, as I’m getting older, I’m getting a little proud of it. The fact that I’m still out there, going to work within the same 10-day period of E. Jean Carroll getting her $83 million judgment, I’m starting to have a bit of optimism about this little divided country of ours.”
An Evening with Kathy Griffin When: Saturday, Feb. 17, 8 p.m. Where: The Music Hall, 28 Chestnut St., Portsmouth Tickets: $57.50 and up at themusichall.org
A 1980s teen, like, totally grieving for her deceased mother while everybody, even her father, has moved on, finds a friend in a long dead, suddenly reanimated floopy-haired boy who looks good in a Violent Femmes shirt in Lisa Frankenstein, a movie written by Diablo Cody and directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of Robin).
Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) is the new kid in school, in this her senior year, because she and her dad (Joe Chrest) have moved in with his new wife Janet (Carla Gugino) and her teen daughter Taffy (Liza Soberano). Lisa was already deeply traumatized by her mother’s death — at the hands of a serial killer while Lisa hid in a nearby closet, according to Taffy — and seems further traumatized by her father’s remarrying within months and then moving them to a new town. Lisa barely speaks and doesn’t socialize much despite popular Taffy’s genuine and basically good-hearted attempts to pull her out into high school society.
Lisa does allow herself to be dragged to a party where she sees Michael Trent (Henry Eikenberry), head of the high school’s literary magazine, who she is crushing on. Attempts to flirt with him get sidetracked by Tamara (Joey Bree Harris), a gothy girl clearly also crushing on Mike. Tamara sarcastically offers Lisa her drink and Lisa, to prove she’s not the quiet shut-in everyone thinks she is, takes a big swig of it. Unfortunately, it’s a weird high school “wine punch”-or-something drink and she immediately finds herself drunk or high or maybe both. After some puking and dodging a boy who tries to get nonconsensual, Lisa runs out of the party and into a nearby overgrown graveyard.
Luckily, Lisa is familiar with Bachelor Grove Graveyard — she often hangs out there taking rubbings of the headstones and doing other sad-girl things. She even has a favorite headstone, the headstone of a man (the only part of his name we can see is the “ein” end of his last name) whose monument includes a bust with his sad pale face.
As we learned in the movie’s opening shadow-puppet credits, this man was an old-timey unmarried guy who played piano and fell in love with a woman who left him for what I think was a mandolin player. He mopes around and is later killed by a lightning strike.
In the present (late 1980s) day, as Lisa is stumbling around the graveyard, she finds his grave. She had given him her mother’s rosary and as she contemplates her crappy night she makes a wish that she could be with him. Meaning, as she later explains, that she wishes she could be six feet under. But the universe and a mysterious green lightning strike takes it the other way and sends the somewhat decomposed and missing-some-parts man, listed in IMDb as The Creature (Cole Sprouse), back above ground.
The next evening, as Lisa watches a scary movie, the Creature comes stumbling and moaning into her house. She is at first all screaming and running and throwing horrible Janet’s horrible Precious Moments figurines at him. But then she figures out who he is — thanks to a grave rubbing and some pointing (a tongue is one of the parts the Creature is missing). She gets him to take a shower and to keep the crying to a minimum — his tears smell like a hot carnival toilet, she says — and change clothes, eventually finding the kind of blazer-and-band-shirt combo you could picture on a John Cusack character of the same vintage. The Creature becomes someone she can talk to about her feelings and her crush on Michael. He is so nice that when he semi-accidentally kills Janet, Lisa helps him bury Janet’s body and sew Janet’s ear on to the spot where one of his ears has gone missing. At first it doesn’t fully become a part of him but then Lisa remembers Taffy’s malfunctioning tanning bed that electrocutes everybody who uses it.
As the Creature continues to replace his missing parts, he also helps Lisa improve her fashion sense, going from “clothes that make you invisible” to “late 1980s Winona Ryder character at the prom.” He also gets hotter every time he electrocutes himself, going from “obviously undead” to “lightly made-up goth boy.”
There’s a lot here in this emo rom-com with a Heathers throwback vibe that reaches the level of “cute” or even “sorta funny” and there is a genuine human relationship between Lisa and Taffy that you could really build something on. The movie sets a tone that had me willing to go along with whatever silliness it wanted to give me. But, unlike the Creature, this thing never quite zapped to life for me, the nostalgic setting and classic horror movie allusions and extreme examples of crimped hair just didn’t pull together into something that was more than what you get just by hearing the phrase “Diablo Cody writes an ’80s set horror comedy love teen story.” There is a sharpness missing in the comedy or in the romance or somewhere in the mix of this movie that would elevate it from just a throwback curio.
Even though I’d place this movie at around a C+ I’m ultimately not sorry I watched it and, when it is inevitably available for streaming at home, I suspect it will feel like a passable B-.
Rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, sexual material, language, sexual assault, teen drinking and drug content, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Zelda Williams with a screenplay by Diablo Cody, Lisa Frankenstein is an hour and 41 minutes long and distributed in theaters by Focus Features.
