Dropping a line

Rob Azevedo makes poetry debut

Local radio host, columnist, author and filmmaker Rob Azevedo adds poetry to his list of activities with his debut collection, Turning on the Wasp, recently released by Spartan Press.

The new venture, which he started in April 2020, came as a surprise even to himself, Azevedo said.

“For some reason, I just started getting these poetic lines in my head … and when I get something in my head, it doesn’t leave my head until I do something about it,” he said, “so I just started writing them down.”

While Azevedo has done some creative writing in the past, including the screenplays for six short films featured at the SNOB Film Festival in Concord, and a memoir, Notes From The Last Breath Farm: A Music Junkie’s Quest to be Heard, released by Plaidswede Publishing in 2019, poetry is a literary art form he hadn’t explored since his college days, he said.

“I went from having written maybe 10 or so poems in my whole life to writing 50 poems over the course of four or five months,” he said, adding that his poems now total more than 250.

With modest expectations, Azevedo submitted a few of his poems to the Spartan Press, hoping to get one featured on its website, he said, but the publisher had bigger plans for Azevedo’s poems.

“He loved them and said, ‘What do you think about putting out a book of your poetry?’” Azevedo said. “That [scenario] is unheard of when it comes to publishing — normally, getting something published is a grind … and could take years, so I really hit the jackpot.”

Turning on the Wasp features 80 free verse poems, “perfect for flash poetry,” Azevedo said, at around 100 to 150 words each. They explore a wide range of subject matter, such as love, lust, rock ’n’ roll and social issues, with a tone that Azevedo described as “darkly comic.”

“They could be prompted by a line in a song, something I’m watching on TV, a work of art or something that happened in my own life,” he said. “Whatever [causes] that rush of poetry in my head, I just go with it and dive right into it.”

In the title poem, for example, Azevedo reflects on a near-death experience that he had two years ago, when he was stung by a wasp. He went into shock and stopped breathing.

“It’s all about me getting back at that wasp that almost took me out,” he said.

Azevedo continues to write poetry every morning, he said, and has no plans of stopping.

“I can’t seem to get away from it; I’m hooked,” he said. “It has consumed me to the point where I’m barely writing anything else.”

He has already assembled a collection of poems for another book, which he intends to pitch to his publisher at the end of the summer and, if approved, release in the winter.

“I’m just going to keep writing more and more poetry until this phase of my creative life is over and I move on to a new one.”

Turning on the Wasp by Rob Azevedo
The book is available through Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord. Find Azevedo on Twitter (@robazza33) or email him at onemanmanch@gmail.com.

Play Ball!

Baseball returns as the NH Fisher Cats take the field

Panoramic view of Northeast Delta Dental Stadium in Manchester, home of the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. Courtesy photo.

It has been more than 600 days since the New Hampshire Fisher Cats last played a home game at Manchester’s Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, in August 2019. On Tuesday, May 11, the minor-league Double A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays will hold its season opener for the 2021 season, ending the nearly two-year professional baseball drought in the Granite State.

“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to welcome fans back to the ballpark,” team president Mike Ramshaw said. “I’m sure it’s going to be an emotional day for a lot of people.”

The Fisher Cats’ front office team has been closely following guidance from the State and from Major League Baseball, implementing a number of safety measures ahead of this season. Here’s a look at what you can expect when you come to the ballpark, plus some other events and happenings the front office has in store for this season.

Safety first

Northeast Delta Dental Stadium will be operating at 50 percent capacity, meaning it will be capped at just around 3,000 fans per game. In an effort to maintain social distancing, tickets will only be sold in “pods,” limited to two, four, six, eight or 10 people, with at least six feet between pods. At least 12 feet also separates the first row of seats from each dugout and bullpen.

“We’re really encouraging digital ticketing this year, just to try to limit the interaction between our staff and the fans,” Ramshaw said. “We’ll have ticketing that can be emailed or texted to you, and then [our staff] can just scan it and you’ll be good to go.”

Fans will not be allowed to congregate during any pregame happenings such as team batting practice, nor will there be autograph signings this year. During game play, Ramshaw said, masks or face-coverings are required for everyone over 2 years old, even when seated, except for when actively eating or drinking. Seats not in use during games will be Velcro-secured.

The types and sizes of bags that fans are allowed to bring into the park will be limited, also in an effort to limit staff interaction. Only necessary items such as medical bags, diaper bags and small clutch purses of about four-and-a-half by six-and-a-half inches will be allowed.

All of the concessions on the concourse, which include everything from hot dogs and hamburgers to french fries, peanuts, popcorn and domestic beers, will be open during games. Team officials are encouraging credit and debit card use whenever possible.

Both team stores will also be open, but at limited capacity. Ramshaw said there will be continuous sanitation throughout the park, especially on the concourse and in other high-traffic areas. In the event of rain delays, fans will be encouraged to return to their cars for the duration of the storm to avoid large gatherings. The Planet Fitness children’s play area will be open, but the bounce house has been removed in favor of other games that can be easily sanitized, like a giant inflatable tic-tac-toe game with basketballs that will be set up.

Coming out swinging

Despite the new precautions in place, the Fisher Cats will still be holding many of its usual special events throughout the season, including fireworks and giveaways.

“It will be a little different experience from what the fan is used to … and we just ask for our fans’ understanding and patience as we go through Covid,” Ramshaw said. “Minor league baseball is always about the player and fan interaction … [and] we want to still be able to bring as much as possible during a pandemic.”

Both the first home game of the season on May 11 and the game on Saturday, May 22, against the Portland Sea Dogs, for example, will wrap up with a fireworks show courtesy of Atlas Fireworks. Several giveaways are also planned, like for a magnet schedule on May 11 and May 12, and for a youth shirsey from former Fisher Cats player (and current Blue Jays major leaguer) Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on May 16.

The Fisher Cats will honor local essential workers and first responders, during the games on May 13 and May 14, respectively. Saturday, May 15, is Game Show Night, when fans will be challenged with trivia questions, puzzles and more in styles of popular game shows like Family Feud, Jeopardy! and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? More upcoming promotions will be announced on a monthly basis as the season goes on.

Nashua Silver Knights
Where
: Holman Stadium, 67 Amherst St., Nashua
When: Home opener is Thursday, May 27, at 6 p.m., against the Worcester Bravehearts (this game will also include a championship ring ceremony)
Cost: Single game tickets start at $8 (limited to groups of 10 people); concessions are priced per item. Season ticket rates are also available.
Visit: nashuasilverknights.com

Following a championship-winning 2020 season, the Nashua Silver Knights will aim to defend their title in 2021, holding their home opener on Thursday, May 27. They will face off against the Worcester Bravehearts at Holman Stadium in the Gate City.
The Silver Knights are one of eight teams of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League, a summer league gathering college baseball players from throughout the New England area. Although the start of the team’s 2020 season was delayed by about a month, front office general manager Cam Cook said the Silver Knights were able to play a shortened season that began on July 2.
For much of the 2020 season Holman Stadium was only filled at 25 percent capacity, or around 750 fans. This year, Cook said, it will likely be raised to 50 percent, pending final City approval. The home opener will feature a championship ring ceremony, while other promotions will include several fireworks nights on game days throughout June and July.

Schedule and league changes

In ways similar to those of Major League Baseball teams in 2020, the pandemic has impacted the Fisher Cats’ schedule as the team tries to limit the amount of out-of-state travel among players.

The team will host the Portland Sea Dogs, Double A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, 18 times in 2021 — a record since the Fisher Cats’ first season in New Hampshire in 2004.

“I know many of our fans always enjoy seeing the future Red Sox play here, so that’s going to be a big perk,” Fisher Cats broadcasting and media relations manager Tyler Murray said. “[The Sea Dogs] are coming three different times, each for a six-game series.”

In fact, adjustments to the Minor League Baseball schedule have the Fisher Cats either at home or on the road for six-game series matchups throughout the entire season, from Tuesday through Sunday with Mondays always designated off days. Half of the team’s 120-game season will be played within New England, with the exception of a few trips to New York and Pennsylvania, and one trip to Bowie, Maryland, at the end of June.

Due to a reorganization of certain team classifications that begins in 2021, the Fisher Cats will be playing a new rival during their opening homestand — the Somerset Patriots, who were announced as the new Double A affiliate of the New York Yankees late last year.

Under Minor League Baseball’s new scheduling format, there will be no All Star Game or playoffs this year. The Fisher Cats will close out their 2021 season with a series at home against the Harrisburg Senators, Double A affiliate of the Washington Nationals, from Sept. 14 to Sept. 19.

Field of opportunity

Even though the Fisher Cats didn’t play a single game in 2020, the team’s front office stayed busy throughout the year, hosting all kinds of socially distanced events on the field.

“The staff … worked so hard to try to find ways that we could stay engaged in the community and still pull off some of the events that we could do in the absence of baseball,” Ramshaw said. “We didn’t actually find out that the baseball season was going to be canceled until closer to July. … So for us, we were just trying to figure out how we could do other things in the interim.”

Immediately turning out to be a success, he said, was hosting local high school and college graduation ceremonies on the field. As the summer and fall went on, the Fisher Cats office hosted everything from a food truck festival and “Dinner on the Diamond” events to socially distanced movie nights and an outdoor concert series in partnership with the Palace Theatre, as well as a cornhole tournament, a fashion show, and even a Shakespeare-esque performance from members of the Cue Zero Theatre Co.

“We’ve always thought about a lot of the things that we were able to do last year, but never really had the bandwidth or time to do them,” Ramshaw said. “I think people and companies are realizing that we’re not just a ballpark but we’re a venue … [and] when you spread everybody out socially distanced, the park looks empty with 1,000 people.”

In 2021, Ramshaw said, events are already being booked for dates when the team is on the road, including graduation ceremonies. There have also been conversations to bring back the outdoor concert series in the summer months.

“Hopefully as things start to change throughout the duration of the summer, we can try to get some more fans out to the ballpark,” he said. “I think the ultimate goal would be that we’re able to be at 100 percent capacity by the end of the year.”

Upcoming NH Fisher Cats team promotions
Tuesday, May 11: Atlas Fireworks show
Wednesday, May 12: Magnet schedule giveaway
Thursday, May 13: Essential Workers Night
Friday, May 14: First Responders Night
Saturday, May 15: Game Show Night
Sunday, May 16: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. youth shirsey giveaway

News & Notes 21/05/06

Covid-19 updateAs of April 26As of May 3
Total cases statewide93,93595,506
Total current infections statewide2,7171,979
Total deaths statewide1,21,28601,305
New cases2,152 (April 20 to April 26)1,571(April 27 to May 3)
Current infections: Hillsborough County806558
Current infections: Merrimack County225168
Current infections: Rockingham County477386
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

During the state’s weekly public health update on April 29, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan reported that New Hampshire has averaged between 250 and 300 new infections per day over the previous week, numbers that continue to trend down. He later added that, as of April 29, New Hampshire has seen a total of 88 confirmed “breakthrough” infections of Covid-19, meaning those that occurred despite individuals being fully vaccinated. “The majority of these are not variants of concern,” Dr. Chan said, adding that only seven of the 88 infections were with the B.1.1.7. variant. “Whether it’s a variant of concern or not, we know that breakthrough infections can and do occur, but the vaccine continues to be important for limiting the burden of disease, preventing hospitalizations, preventing deaths and preventing asymptomatic infection.”

Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, also provided an update on vaccine distributions in the state. As of April 29, roughly 50 percent of New Hampshire’s population (about 687,000 people) has received at least one shot, while a third of the population (about 446,000 people) is now fully vaccinated. An additional 4,500 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which was recently recommended by the CDC and the FDA to resume administration, were allocated across three fixed sites in Concord, Nashua and Newington on May 2.

Later during the press conference, Gov. Chris Sununu announced that the “universal best practices” guidance documents for state businesses would be released that day, with the guidance itself going into effect May 7. “What we’re really trying to do is keep it truly universal,” he said. “We’re just kind of re-emphasizing the most important parts of the guidance and mandates that we previously had in place. … This is a bit of a reminder going into the long-term.” Separate “overnight congregate settings for children” guidance documents have also been released, for businesses like overnight summer camps. Both sets of documents can be viewed online at covidguidance.nh.gov.

Housing markets

New Hampshire has two of the top 10 emerging housing markets in the country, according to a study released last week by the Wall Street Journal and realtor.com. Concord and Manchester-Nashua ranked 8th and 9th, respectively. The new Emerging Housing Markets Index used housing market, economic vitality and quality of life metrics to determine its rankings for 300 of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S., according to realtor.com. “Out of the top emerging 10 housing markets in the country, New Hampshire was the only state in the nation with two markets in the top 10,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a statement following the study’s release. “With a superior quality of life, thousands of high-paying jobs, and no income or sales tax, it’s no surprise people are looking to move to New Hampshire.” According to realtor.com, the top 10 housing markets have strong demand and somewhat limited supply, and home prices are expected to continue rising; they’ve seen an appreciation of about 27 percent, on average, in the last year, compared to 14 percent across all markets.

Job fairs

The State of New Hampshire is hosting 10 virtual job fairs between the first week in May and the first week that the work search requirement resumes, on May 23. Those collecting unemployment will need to show proof that they are searching for work while collecting benefits. “This return to our traditional, more normalized system is a sign that we are getting back to normal,” Gov. Chris Sununu said in a press release. The virtual job fairs are:

May 6 veteran virtual job fair in partnership with NH DMAVS

May 11 student virtual job fair in partnership with Pinkerton Academy

May 11 student and adult education virtual job fair in partnership with Pinkerton Academy

May 13 construction industry virtual job fair in partnership with ABC NH/VT

May 18 Great North Woods region & Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee region

May 19 Seacoast region

May 20 White Mountains region

May 25 Lakes region

May 26 Monadnock region

May 27 Capital & Southern region

Employers looking to register their company and job seekers looking for work can register for one of the job fairs by going to virtualjobfairs.nh.gov. All New Hampshire Works Jobs Centers across the state will be open to the public by May 10, the release said.

The New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton recently recognized 29 employees with 460 years of combined service to the State of New Hampshire, according to a press release. The employees who were honored have been working at the home for at least 10 years, and the longest-serving employee has been there for 35 years, according to the release.

Sarah Lenau of Manchester has been named a 2021 Camp Champion by Camp Casco, a nonprofit organization offering free camps and socials for childhood cancer patients, survivors and siblings in New England, according to a press release. She will soon join a crew of athletes to take on the Presidential Traverse to raise awareness and funds for childhood cancer survivors.

Bedford residents are invited to a virtual public information meeting Thursday, May 6, at 6:30 p.m., when the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services will provide updates on the status of PFAS in the community. According to a press release, the meeting will include information on the current status of PFAS in Bedford, what it means to residents, actions to help mitigate exposure, a question-and-answer session and more. Pre-registration is recommended; visit bedfordnh.org for the link.

Exeter High School graduate Hunter Long has joined the Miami Dolphins, according to an April 30 report from WMUR. Long, who helped earn Exeter a state title in 2015 before playing for Boston College, was the 81st pick in the third round of the NFL draft and is seen as one of the best tight ends in the nation, according to the report.

Behind the masks

My father passed away last summer during the midst of the pandemic in Illinois. I am so grateful I was able to be with him for much of the summer despite the challenges of Covid-19. He was extremely hard of hearing, and he had been for several years. He was dead set against getting hearing aids. Any time this was discussed, he would politely inform us that he could hear everything he wanted to hear just fine. When I was sitting with him in the hospital, he kept telling me to take my mask off. “I can’t hear you,” he would say, even though I was doing my best to speak loudly and articulate clearly. I realized then how much he had been relying on lip reading for clues as to what we were saying.

I have always prided myself on having good communication skills and being able to read people’s emotions well. Throw a pandemic in the mix where the world wears masks in public, and that changed relatively quickly. While I didn’t need to read lips, I soon realized how much I relied on facial clues to gain a sense of what somebody was thinking. The smile, the frown, the clenched jaw, the pause, the “but I am about to interrupt you” look. All these things are a piece of a puzzle that is now hidden.

I have retrained myself to look in the eyes for clues. I can see the pain in my mother’s eyes since my dad passed, and I am sure many days it is still evident in mine. I can see beautiful smiles in my grandchildren’s eyes above their little masks when I see them. And on any given day I can see joy, frustration, amusement, annoyance and a whole variety of emotions in my 16-year-old son’s eyes. I see anger in eyes now, and I see compassion. I see hurt, and I see understanding.

My mother says I have my dad’s “snappy brown eyes,” and she can always tell when I am mad. I didn’t realize that, but I am so grateful that I do. While I can’t wait for a time when it is safe to live our lives without masks, I will still be looking in people’s eyes for a piece of the puzzle. I highly recommend you give it a try. Only then do you really get the full picture.

Mortal Kombat (R)

Mortal Kombat (R)

A rag-tag group of would-be champions must come together to protect Earth in Mortal Kombat, a movie based on the video game franchise.

My Mortal Kombat experience is limited to occasional exposure to whatever version was floating around for home consoles and in arcades in the early to mid 1990s, but I think I was still able to roughly get the gist: There’s our world (Earthrealm) and a more magic-y place (Outworld), and Outworld is poised to conquer Earthrealm if it wins the next Mortal Kombat tournament. Earthrealm is protected by superpowers-having wise-elder-type Raiden (Tadanobu Asano); Outworld is ruled by Shang Tsung (Chin Han). Shang Tsung has a bunch of experienced fighters who are well-schooled in all the Mortal Kombat lore; Earth’s champions are all at varying degrees of knowing-about/believing-in this stuff and have an identifying dragon mark.

Which is where regular-seeming human Cole Young (Lewis Tan) comes in. He has the dragon mark but just thinks of it as a birthmark. Luckily, while he may not start out as an Earth-protecting champion with superpowers, he is an MMA fighter, so he isn’t completely defenseless when bad-guy warrior Sub Zero (Joe Taslim) appears to “finish him” as part of Shang Tsung’s plan to kill all of Earth’s champions before the tournament.

Eventually we get the Earth-gang together: Cole, Jax (Mehcad Brooks), Sonya Blade (Jessica McNamee), Liu Kang (Ludi Lin), Kung Lao (Max Huang) and, because this kind of movie always needs quips and lugheaded aggression, Kano (Josh Lawson). There’s fighting, there’s superpower-acquiring, there are some rules to the whole realm balance-of-power situation that I never really understood, and there is a centuries-old hatred between Sub Zero, who used to be called Bi-Han, and Hanzo Hasashi (Hiroyuki Sanada), who is an ancestor of Cole’s.

Hanzo Hasashi’s story is one of many details (like the whole Mortal Kombat tournament itself) that feel like half-baked bits of lore included here to do some of the world-building that you need if your movie is the first in a franchise, which is what it feels like this movie is supposed to be. I feel like slicing the movie down to its core elements — Earth warriors learning to fight Outworld warriors — would have made for a more enjoyable lightweight fantasy-tinged martial arts-based action movie. (Lightweight but gory; this movie is very 1990s-video-game in its gore.)

I am not the audience for Mortal Kombat but I did basically want to like it, the way I want to like any movie that looks like it could offer fun action silliness. While it had its moments, it just doesn’t live up to even that standard of Godzilla vs. Kong-esque popcorn entertainment. C

Rated R for strong bloody violence and language throughout, and some crude references, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Simon McQuoid with a screenplay by Greg Russo and Dave Callaham, Mortal Kombat is an hour and 50 minutes long and distributed by New Line Cinema. It is available on HBO Max through May 23 and in theaters.

Featured photo: Mortal Kombat

Brews and beyond

New craft beer shop opens in Hudson

Cousins Jay Parajuli and Bik Basnet love trying new kinds of craft beers and had often talked about how to turn that hobby into a business. Then one weekend last fall, Parajuli said, he was en route to another cousin’s home in Hudson when he noticed construction of the town’s new Flagstone Crossing retail plaza.

“We saw the ‘for lease’ sign … and literally jumped into it right there,” he said. “I was working at a family business, a convenience store down in Massachusetts, and with Covid and everything it was tough to stay afloat. The overheads were high to maintain employees. … So we got out of that business and just kind of said this was the right time to get into something we like doing.”

Hudson Brews, which opened on April 16, is New Hampshire’s newest spot to get local and regional craft beers, ciders and hard seltzers, with a constantly rotating selection, Parajuli said, based on both seasonal supply and customer demand.

The shop’s interior is custom-built, featuring two sets of coolers near the front that are dedicated just to single-serve cans and bottles. Beer lovers who want to try single selections of more than one type of craft brew can also create their own custom four-pack carrier at a discount.

“I’m a buyer myself, and I will go to a store and try a four-pack if they don’t have singles … [but] I don’t want to end up spending $20 on something that I didn’t like,” Parajuli said. “So that was the concept. We put out singles of every possible thing that we have … so that people can try it, and if they like it, then they’ll go for the four-pack.”

Past the single selections are dozens of additional offerings in an aisle running near the back of the shop. Most of the coolers are labeled by their state of origin — beers from New Hampshire and Massachusetts make up several of them, including ones from popular local breweries like Concord Craft Brewing, Henniker Brewing Co. and 603 Brewery in Londonderry, as well as harder-to-find selections like from Coos Brewing Co. in Colebrook. Beers from other New England states are available, and there are coolers designated for regional and international options, and craft ciders and seltzers. In addition to its many beers, Hudson Brews sells a limited selection of glassware, canned cocktails and energy drinks, as well as cigars and CBD products.

Parajuli said he’s already had conversations with customers about what types of beers they want to see at the shop.

“We want to talk to people, [and] we want to get involved in the community,” he said. “It’s fantastic when you see people are happy that you have a product they are looking for.”

Hudson Brews
Where
: 6 Flagstone Drive, Unit C, Hudson
Hours: Daily, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
More info: Find them on Facebook and Instagram @hudsonbrews, or call 417-5528

Featured photo: Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

Tastes of the trucks

Food truck festival to roll into Hampstead

After a lost festival year for local food truckers in 2020, a new event will bring more than half a dozen of them to Hampstead this weekend. The inaugural “Hampstead Eats” food truck festival will be held outside Hampstead Congregational Church on Main Street on Saturday, May 1, also featuring a full afternoon schedule of live music and a food drive to support the New Hampshire Food Bank.

Event coordinator Roxanne McGaffigan said attendees ages 5 and up pay an admission fee to gain entry to the event, with food selections then priced per item. The festival is being held in part as a fundraiser for the renovation and upkeep of the town’s Congregational Church.

“People can bring their own blanket or bring a chair … and hang out and listen to music, or go back to their car,” McGaffigan said. “We are following all of the CDC’s guidelines, so we are asking people to wear a mask or a face-covering when they’re not eating … [and] we’ll also have hand sanitizer stations.”

The trucks, McGaffigan said, will be diverse in their menu offerings. Each will be parked on the driveway just to the left of the church, with lots of open grass nearby for blankets and chairs.

For Christy and Nick Ortins of The Hungry Caterpillar, this will be their first food truck festival since launching their plant-based comfort concept last June. The couple’s original plan had been to secure bookings at festivals, but the pandemic caused them to pivot to contacting nearby business owners about potential parking spots. Their most prevalent location happens to be just a few miles away from the church, in the parking lot of Hampstead Health & Fitness.

Menu items from The Hungry Caterpillar, Christy Ortins said, will likely include Buffalo cauliflower bites, hand-cut french fries, and a sandwich known as the “Patty Mayonnaise,” which features homemade breaded seitan with lettuce, tomato and a plant-based mayo.

“This is very new for us and very exciting,” she said of the festival. “We’ve done a few busy events, but we haven’t had a chance to do a festival yet where we’re with other food trucks.”

Another local vendor that will appear at the festival, Chef Koz’s Crescent City Kitchen, offers scratch-made Cajun, Creole and Caribbean-inspired items. Owner and longtime chef Chris “Koz” Kozlowski, who will likely serve options like fish tacos and chicken jambalaya, only just pulled the 22-foot mobile trailer out of its winter hibernation last week.

“I took my first summer off in 31 years of cooking last year,” Kozlowski said. “Then we got a call for an event on Labor Day weekend, and so we decided we can’t be bogged down forever.”

Kozlowski would go on to generate more sales in three months from September to November than almost two-thirds of the year in 2019. With the help of his wife, he also ran Koz’s Haute Box, a second smaller food trailer serving New England regional comfort foods, in the winter.

This season, he said, he expects the food truck to continue to be mostly a family affair.

“It’s going to be a different structure,” he said. “Most of the gigs we have booked right now are days my wife has off, and I’ve got two kids that help out too.”

Kona Ice, which offers multiple flavors of tropical-themed shaved ice, will be providing free cup upgrades for festival-goers who bring an item to donate to the New Hampshire Food Bank. McGaffigan said the Food Bank will be accepting donations of nonperishable items.

Featured live performances throughout the afternoon will include Let’s Play Music from noon to 2 p.m., followed by The Sons of the Solstice from 2:15 to 3:15 p.m., and Michael Wingate and Chris Cyrus of the band Slack Tide from 3:30 to 5 p.m. McGaffigan said church members and volunteers will also be selling flowers ahead of Mother’s Day.

“Hampstead Eats” food truck festival
When:
Saturday, May 1, noon to 5 p.m.
Where: Hampstead Congregational Church, 61 Main St., Hampstead
Hours: $5 admission fee for ages 5 and up (cash or check only); foods are priced per item
More info: Search “Hampstead Eats” on Facebook, or call the church office at 329-6985
Event is rain or shine. CDC social distancing guidelines will be observed.

Participating vendors
Boogalows Island BBQ (boogalowsbbq.com)
Chef Koz’s Crescent City Kitchen (find them on Facebook @crescentcitykitchennh)
Chubb’s Fries & Dough (find them on Facebook @eddiemencis)
The Hungry Caterpillar (find them on Facebook @thehungrycaterpillarnh)
Kona Ice (kona-ice.com)
The Traveling Foodie Cart (jrmcateringllc.com)
The Whoo(pie) Wagon (thewhoopiewagon.com)

Feautred photo: The “Patty Mayonnaise” sandwich, featuring homemade breaded seitan with lettuce, tomato and plant-based mayo, from The Hungry Caterpillar plant-based food truck. Photo by Matt Ingersoll.

On The Job – Felix Alvarado, Jr.

Felix Alvarado, Jr.

Founder/director, Straight “A” Academy

Felix Alvarado Jr., better known on the job as Mr. “A,” is a professional educator and director of Straight “A” Academy, a college preparation education service in southern New Hampshire.

Explain your job and what it entails.

January through April, my job is all about working directly with students, helping them improve their SAT and ACT prep scores. … Then there’s a period of time where I’m able to focus more on business and professional development, staying on top of the latest trends and what’s new with the testing and college admissions process. … Late summer through October is another big testing season, so I’m back to primarily working with students.

How long have you had this job?

I’ve been a professional educator for 35 years, but I started focusing on test prep and college admissions and launched Straight “A” Academy in 2008.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I started out in pre-med. … After a couple of years at [college], I was doing a lot of soul-searching, and I took one of those skills tests, and it told me, ‘teacher.’ I looked at it and said, ‘That resonates. … That’s what I’ve known all along.’ … I transitioned out of pre-med into education. … I had been a classroom teacher for 20-some years when I decided to launch a tutoring center in Bedford. I … started specializing in SAT and ACT test preparation, because there was a strong demand. … I ended up getting enough business after that first year that I had to leave the classroom.

What kind of training did you need?

In terms of being a test prep or college admissions coach, there’s not a specific certification out there. The training that I found was most important to me as a test prep coach was … my professional training in education in college, but beyond that, just experience [teaching] … and learning how to … read my students to find the best way to help them understand.

What is your typical at-work attire?

Business-casual to casual. I try not to be too formal with my students because one of my objectives is to make them feel comfortable.

How has your job changed over the last year?

Believe it or not, all the Covid [changes] have been seamless for me. I’ve been using platforms like Zoom to work with students around the world … for many years. The biggest change for me is that I had to totally close down my physical office in Merrimack last year, and now all my work is done in cyberspace. … I’m waiting to find the right time and place to reopen a physical office, but honestly, I don’t know that I really need to, because … I’m as effective in my Zoom room as I am in my office.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I wish I had known about all of the opportunities in education other than just [being a] classroom teacher. … I would have specialized [in college prep coaching] sooner.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

I think some people have this feeling that tutors are [educators who] weren’t good enough to be a classroom teacher, and that’s obviously not fair or true. I wish people knew that tutoring is, in many ways, much more challenging. You have to be very skilled to do it well … and you feel more pressure to help your student succeed when it’s just you [one-on-one with] your student.

What was the first job you ever had?

The summer after seventh grade, I worked in a restaurant, busing tables, cleaning bathrooms and sometimes helping in the kitchen.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

Specialize in one thing, and be the best you can be at that one thing

Five favorites
Favorite book: The Bible and A Tale of Two Cities.
Favorite movie: The Man Who Knew Too Little.
Favorite music: Handel’s Water Music and, being Latino, I have to give a nod to salsa, merengue and bachata.
Favorite food: Mexican food.
Favorite thing about NH: The proximity to a wide array of activities.

Featured photo: Felix Alvarado, Jr.

Keeping NH in the picture

From the 1981 classic On Golden Pond to parts of this year’s Oscar-winning Sound of Metal, New Hampshire has been a filming location for a number of movies. Since 1998, the New Hampshire Film Bureau has assisted filmmakers eyeing the Granite State for their films, serving as the connection between them and the state government and communities. But if the latest state budget proposal is approved, that resource may not be around for much longer. People from the New Hampshire film industry discussed what’s at stake if the Film Bureau is dissolved, and why New Hampshire is a film destination worth fighting for.

The reel deal

Gov. Chris Sununu’s proposed state budget for 2022-2023 includes the defunding and elimination of the New Hampshire Film Bureau, currently allocated a $123,000 annual budget.

The budget proposal has been passed by the House and now heads to the Senate, which is scheduled to meet on June 4. If it’s approved, New Hampshire will become one of only five states without an official state film office.

Matt Newton, the New Hampshire Film Bureau’s director and only employee, declined to comment on the office’s future and directed media inquiries to the Division of Travel and Tourism Development, which emailed a statement on behalf of Business and Economic Affairs Commissioner Taylor Caswell:

“While the workload of the Bureau of Film and Digital Media has declined for the past several years, the Governor’s budget proposal ensures that the Division of Travel and Tourism Development will retain sufficient resources to meet the needs of New Hampshire’s film industry,” the statement said. “Further, this consolidation of services ensures a more comprehensive approach, spearheaded by the Department of Business and Economic Affairs, to promote the development of New Hampshire’s travel and tourism industry.”

Jack Northcott, a Hollis resident and senior director of sales at Avid Technology, a media production software company in Burlington, Mass., said he is skeptical that the Division of Travel and Tourism Development will continue the Film Bureau’s work.

“That claim … is very disingenuous, because they aren’t articulating whether or not the Film Bureau will remain in name and the Film Bureau website will still be supported,” he said. “Will there be somebody there who actually cares?”

When the Hippo pressed the Division of Travel and Tourism Development for confirmation that the “consolidation of services” would mean the elimination of the “New Hampshire Film office” in name and as a direct point of contact for filmmakers, Division of Travel and Tourism Development communications manager Kris Neilsen replied via email, “Correct, [filmmakers] will reach out to the NH Travel and Tourism office.”

Tim Messina of Studio Lab, a video production studio in Derry, also expressed concern about the Department’s ability to take over the Film Bureau’s role.

“[How is] someone from the Travel and Tourism department, who doesn’t have any experience in our industry … going to [answer] very industry-specific questions that come up?” he said.

Trigger House commercial shoot for Hisense using volume from Studio Lab in Derry. Photo courtesy of Studio Lab.

The benefits of having a film office

Tim Messina of Studio Lab said he utilized the Film Bureau a few weeks ago when a filmmaker friend of his asked him where to get permits for shooting at Mount Washington.

“The Film office … told me exactly where to go and who to talk to,” he said. “It was a less-than-five-minute conversation.”

Tyler York, senior producer at Big Brick Productions in Manchester, works on commercial and brand video content and short form documentary-style videos for regional, national and international clients, such as New Hampshire Lottery, iRobot, Hasbro Gaming, Red Bull, ESPN, Fox Sports, Chobani and more. He said state film offices are “crucial” to his job as they provide a connection between the film industry and state legislators, municipalities, police forces and town and city officials.

“We do productions all over, and when we’re shooting [in another state], we traditionally reach out to that state’s film office for help with sourcing location permits and things like that.”

Chris Stinson, a producer and line producer at the Portsmouth-based film production company Live Free or Die Films, said he also has depended on the services provided by state film offices for his work. Stinson worked as the line producer for the 2020 film Sound of Metal, which includes a driving scene shot on New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway. The film was nominated for six Oscars and won two — one for Film Editing and one for Sound — at the April 25 awards ceremony.

Stinson recalled a time when representatives from the Massachusetts Film Office joined him at a meeting where he pitched Massachusetts as a shooting location for the 2019 film Knives Out.

“[The filmmakers] were considering shooting it in London, but we convinced them to come to Massachusetts,” he said. “If the Massachusetts Film Office hadn’t helped, that movie definitely would have gone to London.”

In the 2018 Hippo story “Going professional: How to take your creative hobby to the next level,” Newton explained how the Film Bureau assisted and advised filmmakers in hiring a crew, securing a shooting location, and marketing and distributing their films. The Bureau also maintains an online directory of local hireable film crew and film services, including camera operators, directors, editors, casting and talent resources, hair and makeup and wardrobe professionals, sound specialists, stunt people, production managers and assistants, payroll and production accountants, public relations and more.

The Bureau’s primary job is acting as the official liaison between filmmakers and New Hampshire communities and state government, to help filmmakers find shooting locations and acquire permits necessary for road closures and access to public spaces.

“If you have a small film, closing a road might sound like a big deal,” Newton said in the 2018 story, “but working with [the Film Bureau] lends more credibility to your project. We can open doors that you might not be able to open by yourself.”

Losing a NH booster

Northcott said the state has offered little explanation about the reasoning behind the proposal to eliminate the Film Bureau.

“We just haven’t been able to get a lot of feedback or dialogue from them,” he said.

Having worked with more than 30 state film offices over the course of his career, Stinson said he sees no reason New Hampshire wouldn’t be able to maintain its film office.

“A lot of these other states’ film offices don’t have a big budget either; a lot of them are one-person offices, too,” he said, “but they’re still incredibly enthusiastic about bringing productions to their state. New Hampshire doesn’t even offer that.”

Ian Messina, director of virtual production at Studio Lab (and Tim Messina’s nephew), said he, too, is at a loss.

“New Hampshire has so many different pockets of small businesses, and filmmaking is one of them, so why shouldn’t it have the same resources that other businesses have?”

York said he believes a lack of awareness is to blame.

“Many people, [including] legislators, don’t know that there’s a film industry happening here and that there’s potential and opportunity for the film industry to grow here,” he said.

Losing the Film Bureau would be detrimental to the state’s film industry in a big way, Tim Messina said.

“Without [a film office], we just lose our sense of direction as a state in the film world,” he said. “We can make it work [independently] to an extent, but the state is still a big part of it.”

A fear being echoed by many people in the New Hampshire film industry is losing credibility that comes with having an official state film office.

“It’s so much cleaner when you can say, ‘I’m calling from the New Hampshire Film office,’ as opposed to, ‘Hey, I’m Joe Schmo off the street, and we have a production coming to town,’” York said.

Eliminating the Film Bureau may also disadvantage young and aspiring filmmakers looking to stay in New Hampshire, Northcott said, or prompt them to move to another state that has more opportunities and a more prominent support system for filmmakers. As a member of the advisory committee for a Nashua-based film education program for high school students, Northcott said he’s seeing it happen already.

“You have all these students who are just dying to get into television and film production, but there’s no outlet for them locally, or they’re very limited in what they can do,” he said. “WMUR can only hire so many people.”

Location, location

While New Hampshire remains largely untouched by out-of-state filmmakers, its southern neighbor boasts one of the most active and fastest growing film landscapes in the country.

“There are four or five movies and TV shows filming in Massachusetts as we speak,” Stinson said. “It just seems crazy to me that New Hampshire gets zero of that action.”

One of Massachusetts’ biggest selling points as a film destination — and the reason New Hampshire is often overlooked — is the 25 percent tax credit it awards filmmakers, Stinson said. New Hampshire, though it offers no tax incentives, has other perks that filmmakers would value just as much as, if not more than, Massachusetts’ tax credit, he said, but most filmmakers never take the time to research New Hampshire or never even consider New Hampshire as an option in the first place.

“They see ‘25 percent tax credit’ and that’s all they’re focused on,” Stinson said.

While filming Knives Out in Massachusetts, Stinson said, the crew stayed in a mansion for three weeks, costing them $500,000. If they had been filming in New Hampshire, he said, he is “absolutely sure” they could have found a comparable mansion for between $50,000 and $100,000.

“By going to a cheaper location you’ve saved 50 percent more money than [you would have saved] with the 25 percent tax credit in Massachusetts,” Stinson said, adding that lodging in New Hampshire usually costs 30 to 50 percent less than in Massachusetts.

Crews would also save money on permitting fees and on parking, which could cost up to $3,000 or $4,000 in Massachusetts, compared to between $500 and $1,000 in New Hampshire.

Massachusetts’ robust film office is also a major contributor to the success of its film industry, York said — and New Hampshire should take notes.

“With Massachusetts performing at the caliber that they are, it’s disappointing and, in my opinion, shortsighted,” York said, “for New Hampshire to forego a film office at this point.”

Shooting on the moon with virtual production volume at Studio Lab in Derry. Photo courtesy of Studio Lab.

Banding together

According to Tim Messina, more than 100 people who work or have an interest in New Hampshire’s film industry have signed on to a grassroots effort to preserve the state film office in some capacity, including acclaimed documentary filmmaker and New Hampshire resident Ken Burns.

“If it does have to [merge with] another department, one of the best solutions would be to create a board of directors — people who are in the industry and understand it — that can help administrate what that [merge] would look like and how it’s going to function,” Tim Messina said.

Some members of the group have been volunteering their time and resources to improve the Film Bureau since before it was at risk of being eliminated.

Stinson, for example, has spent more than a year independently creating a visual database of filming locations in New Hampshire — a project normally shouldered by a state film office, he said.

“When a filmmaker is considering shooting in a state, they go to that state’s film office website to look at film location pictures, so having a location database is huge,” he said, “and if I have to do it on my own, I’m willing to do that.”

Northcott said the group has even gone so far as to offer to fund the film office themselves.

“There are a lot of people who are interested [in] and supportive of the Film Bureau,” he said. “I know we could raise the private funding easily.”

The Division of Travel and Tourism Development “gave no response and had no interest” in the proposition, Northcott said. (Reached shortly before press time, a spokesperson for the Division said they would need time to formulate a comment and couldn’t do so by press time.)

Tim Messina is also seeking the general public’s support in preserving the Film Bureau. On the Studio Labs website (studiolab.community/post/helpsavenhfilm), he outlined a four-point strategy that includes reaching out and advocating to the governor, the Senate Finance Committee, local senators and film and media organizations in the state. He urged advocates to explain how the issue affects them and include financial data about the film industry’s contribution to the state’s creative economy.

New Hampshire film highlights
Here’s a look at some of the most notable movies that were filmed or partially filmed in New Hampshire, according to IMDB and Wikipedia.

The Thomas Crown Affair, 1968, starring Steven McQueen and Faye Dunaway, scenes filmed in Salem
On Golden Pond, 1981, starring Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn and James Fonda, scenes filmed at Squam Lake in Holderness
The Good Son, 1993, starring Macaulay Culkin and Elijah Wood, scenes filmed at Mirror Lake in Jackson
Jumanji, 1995, starring Robin Williams and Kirsten Dunst, scenes filmed in Keene
The Skulls, 2000, starring Joshua Jackson and Paul Walker, scenes filmed at Dartmouth College in Hanover
The Brown Bunny, 2003, starring Vincent Gallo and Chloë Sevigny, scenes filmed in Keene
Live Free or Die, 2006, starring Aaron Stanford, Paul Schneider and Zooey Deschanel, shot in Claremont
Sound of Metal, 2020, starring Riz Ahmed and Olivia Cooke, scenes filmed on New Hampshire’s Kancamagus Highway. Chris Stinson of Portsmouth served as line producer for the film.

News & Notes 21/04/29

Covid-19 updateAs of April 19As of April 26
Total cases statewide91,78393,935
Total current infections statewide3,3292,717
Total deaths statewide1,2701,286
New cases2,554 (April 13 to April 19)2,152 (April 20 to April 26)
Current infections: Hillsborough County1,002806
Current infections: Merrimack County270225
Current infections: Rockingham County746477
Information from the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

Covid-19 news

During the state’s weekly public health update on April 22, state epidemiologist Dr. Benjamin Chan reported that New Hampshire has averaged about 350 new infections of Covid-19 per day, while the test-positivity rate was at 4.5 percent.

Over the last several weeks, the number of active infections in the state has hovered around either side of 3,000, while the total number of positive cases since the start of the pandemic last year is creeping toward 100,000.

According to Dr. Beth Daly, Chief of the Bureau of Infectious Disease Control of the New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services, roughly 47 percent of the state’s population (about 637,000 people) have received at least their first shot as of April 22, while 28 percent of the population (about 387,000 people) has been fully vaccinated. “We continue to receive around 50,000 first doses of vaccine each week, between the doses that are allocated to us at the state, as well as our pharmacy partners,” she said. “We still have thousands of open appointments available … at over 200 different locations where you can get vaccinated.”

Thousands more people received their shot at a mass vaccination site at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon on April 24. Unlike previous sites at the Speedway, this one was only held by appointment for people to receive their second shot.

Later during the press conference, Gov. Chris Sununu said that the state would likely resume administration of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine “in a matter of days.”

The following day, April 23, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food & Drug Administration issued a joint statement lifting the recommended pause of the vaccine, saying that its “known and potential benefits outweigh its known and potential risks in individuals 18 years of age and older.” Federal health officials had recommended a pause of states’ usage of the vaccine on April 13 following six reports of a rare blood clot disorder, a condition the CDC is now calling “thrombosis involving the cerebral venous sinuses, or CVST (large blood vessels in the brain).”

Re-election campaign

On April 27, Mayor Joyce Craig announced that she will be running for re-election for mayor of Manchester. She is currently serving in her second term and is the first woman to serve as mayor in the Queen City, according to a press release. “Manchester is a city on the rise. When the pandemic hit, our progress was interrupted, and we focused our efforts at City Hall on keeping our community safe while still providing essential services,” Craig said in the release. “I’m running for Mayor in 2021 to ensure our city fully recovers from this pandemic, builds upon our progress and comes out of this stronger than before.” This announcement comes after Victoria Sullivan announced her run for mayor last week. According to a press release, Sullivan is a former New Hampshire state representative and assistant majority leader who served two terms on the House Education Committee.

Unemployment

The work search requirement for people getting unemployment benefits will be reinstated starting May 23, Gov. Chris Sununu said in a press conference on April 22, so anyone receiving benefits after that date will have to show proof that they are looking for work. The requirement has been waived during the pandemic, but Sununu said that the state now has a 3 percent unemployment rate, one of the lowest in the country. “Our economy is very, very strong,” he said during the conference. “And it also unfortunately means that we’re, if anything, facing a workforce shortage. … There are tens of thousands of high-paying jobs across the state available today.” The state has hosted 15 virtual job fairs since last summer to help employers find employees, he said, but there haven’t been nearly as many potential employees attending these fairs as there are jobs. Several more job fairs are planned, including one on Thursday, May 6, aimed toward veterans, and one Monday, May 10, for students and recent graduates, as well as one on Thursday, May 13, for those in the construction industry. Sununu encouraged anyone seeking employment to get details about those and other upcoming job fairs at unemploymentbenefits.nh.gov. Meanwhile, he said, all NH Works Centers will be back open to the public by May 10.

Virtual urgent care

Instead of traveling to an emergency room or urgent care clinic, people who need non-emergency care can now connect with a provider by phone or by video on their laptops or mobile devices with the new D-HH Virtual Urgent Care. Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health’s Connected Care and Center for Telehealth has partnered with MDLIVE to launch the new service, which provides patients with 24/7 access to urgent care by fully licensed providers from Dartmouth-Hitchcock or MDLIVE-affiliated physicians who are board-certified, licensed, telehealth-trained and have an average of 15 years of experience, according to a press release. Once they sign on, patients can wait for an available provider — the wait time is usually less than 15 minutes — or schedule an appointment for later that day for common health concerns like cold, flu, and other upper respiratory illnesses, allergies, bug bites, rashes, gastrointestinal issues, urinary tract infection and more. They can get prescriptions sent to their pharmacy, if necessary, the release said. The cost is $59 per visit, and the service is currently available to those with private insurance or those who can self-pay. In accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA), patient and visit details are shared only with the patient’s primary care physician, the release said. Visit go.d-h.org/virtualurgentcare.

Stock your backyard ponds with rainbow and brook trout, available in 6- to 8-inch and 10- to 12-inch sizes from the Merrimack County Conservation District in Concord, according to a press release. The order deadline is Tuesday, May 11. Any trout sized 6 to 8 inches can be picked up on Sunday, May 16, from 1 to 1: 30 p.m. at 10 Ferry St. in Concord, while the larger trout will be directly delivered to your pond. Call 223-6023 or order at merrimackccd.org. Anyone from any county can participate.

The Manchester Board of School Committee has been named the 2021 School Board of the Year by the New Hampshire School Boards Association, according to a press release. “In addition to its response to the pandemic, the board has maintained its focus on implementing a long-term strategic plan,” the release said.

The Upper Room and the Marion Gerrish Community Center in Derry are relaunching the On My Own Series, a virtual way for teens to explore skills such as cooking, painting, drawing and yoga. According to a press release, the program will be offered Wednesdays from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., and all classes are free. Visit urteachers.org to register.

The Friends of the Plaistow Public Library are asking gardeners to consider splitting some of their perennial plants and donating them to the library’s upcoming plant sale, proceeds of which will benefit the Friends of the Library. Donations should be in pots and labeled with the plant name; they will be accepted beginning Monday, May 3.

Stay in the loop!

Get FREE weekly briefs on local food, music,

arts, and more across southern New Hampshire!