NBA now in season

With the Celtics starting out 3-0 local optimism continues to be very high. And while it’s just three games, I will say they have done the most important thing they needed to do to show they will be picking up where they were when last season ended: attacking the basket over firing lazy threes. So the season started out as hoped.

Now some thoughts on the opening of the NBA season.

Six Biggest Stories To Start The Year: (1) LeBron James will pass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the all-time NBA scoring leader sometime after the new year. (2)How long before it implodes in Brooklyn? (3) Zion is (finally) back and the Pels have him. (4)Drama, drama, drama in Laker-land.(5) When will the Draymond Green departure happen at Golden State? After the sucker punch heard round the Chase Center, the Warriors signaled the end is coming by investing big money in young guys Andrew Wiggins and punch-ee Jordan Poole instead of saving some for when the tiresome Draymond’s deal is up at the end of the year. (6) After giving away its future, will pairing bigs Rudy Gobert and KAT work in Minnesota?

For the record, if passed, Kareem will have held that record for 37 years after surpassing previous leader Wilt Chamberlain’s 31,413 in 1985-86.

NBA 101: Who has committed the most personal fouls in NBA history?

Risers: Following a terrific year as a surprise young team last year until big injuries took their toll, Cleveland can’t be called a dark horse. Especially after adding a 25-point-per-game scorer in Donovan Mitchell to their rising young core led by Darius Garland and soon to be star Evan Mobley in a big trade over the summer. But they’ll be a riser to be reckoned with.

Overrated: 76ers: The Big 3 of Joel Embiid, James Harden and the underrated Tyrese Maxey will do damage in the regular season, but unless more is added to the roster at the deadline I don’t see it in the playoffs for them. Having said that, give Harden credit as he looks like he’s lost the many extra pounds he was hauling around last year. Combine that with taking less to stay in Philly than going for every extra penny in free agency. It says he wants to be part of the solution. Now if he actually starts trying on defense he’ll earn a tip of the cap from skeptics. Which as regular readers know includes me.

L.A. Lakers Saga: What they do depends on two things: (1) The health of ever fragile Anthony Davis. (2) Last year’s disaster wasn’t all his fault, though he did get blamed for all of it. But until Russell Westbrook gets a clue that he is not (and never has been) an actual point guard things won’t get better for him or likely the team either. It’s LBJ’s ball, so learn to incorporate what you do well into playing off the ball over dominating it.

Dark Horses: The East — Toronto. Ever whiny Nick (Good Night) Nurse gets a lot out of his players and basketball chief Masai Ujiri is good at finding unheralded talent. The West — New Orleans. Solid Big 3 and Brandon Ingram is better than almost everyone knows. All they need is luck in the health department.

Sorry, Scal, Jayson Tatum is not quite in the Top 5 players in the league just yet. And while it’s subject to change based on performance, here’s my Top 5 in top-to-bottom order: Giannis Antetokounmpo, Steph Curry, Nikola Jokic, LeBron James and Kevin Durant. I didn’t want to put Jokic here until his team does something. But consecutive MVPs said to do it. Tatum, Luka Doncic and Ja Morant will be the next three to crash the party as Ja really came into his own last year as a dynamic force. Going for 49 on opening night backs that up

NBA 101 Answer: Since he played 20 years in the NBA, it makes sense Kareem has the most fouls ever with 4,657. By contrast, Wilt, who never fouled out of even one game, incredibly is not even in the Top 250 players of fouls committed. This is even more incredible given that he almost never came out of the game. Overall he had just 2,075. His rival Bill Russell committed 2,593, which ranks 181st. LeBron is 210th with 2,531, and second all-time is Karl Malone with 4,578.

What a way to start a career for Jalen Williams. The 12th overall pick out of Santa Clara’s NBA debut for Oklahoma City lasted all of six minutes before he took one in the head leading to surgery on his orbital bone around his right eye that’ll have him out for the foreseeable future.

Former UMass-Lowell coach and current TNT announcer Stan Van Gundy is not the only (semi) local playing a role in the NBA this year. There’s the guy we called “Little” Stevie Clifford because he looked about 14 when he was a fledgling assistant on Bob Brown’s and Keith Dickson’s staff at Saint Anselm in the ’80s, who’s back in Charlotte as HC again there. And on the bench for the bad guys when Boston played Miami Friday night was one-time Plymouth State hoopster Dan Craig.

Incidentally, if Tatum wants to be the best player in the league he can get there if he learns to channel his emotions and frustrations into mental toughness to play (and lead) through adversity. Step 1: Stop being a crybaby when you don’t agree with calls and just play.

OK, one more, I love Bill Russell as much as anyone and like the idea of the year-long tribute. But the song by the rapper in the Riddler getup (see Batman’s adversaries) on opening night was overkill. A great player and dignified man, but come on, he wasn’t Gandhi.

Email Dave Long at [email protected].

Ensuring you’re insured

Meet the navigators of NH’s Health Market Connect

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently renewed the Covid public health emergency for another 90 days. For those currently enrolled in Medicaid, the extension secures uninterrupted health care coverage through at least Jan. 11. When the emergency declaration ends, however, some may discover that they no longer meet the eligibility requirements for Medicaid. Health Market Connect is a community-based organization that oversees a federally funded program created to provide no-cost health insurance assistance to New Hampshire residents. HMC president Keith Ballingal talked about how HMC is working to ensure that residents are prepared for how their health care coverage may change once Covid emergency waivers and flexibilities are no longer in effect.

What is Health Market Connect?

We’re a solely New Hampshire-based organization that helps citizens of the state enroll in the Marketplace and Medicaid insurances. We’re funded by a grant from the federal government. We have 11 people on the team — we’re known as Navigators — and our goal is to do outreach and to do those enrollments. The team is situated in the unique areas of the state of New Hampshire — so, like, North Country and Monadnock and Seacoast regions — to make sure they understand the unique pieces of those communities.

What does the health insurance assistance that HMC provides look like?

We get an understanding of who they are. If they qualify [for Medicaid or Marketplace], we’ll help them to apply … and to understand the insurance companies they’ll be placed with and how they work. Sometimes there’s also [a need for a] follow-up when the system can’t quite confirm a person’s income — maybe there was a change in the household — and anytime there’s follow-up documentation, we can help the consumer with that as well, for both Medicaid and Marketplace.

Why is it important that HMC is community-based?

In one sense, my team does what healthcare.gov does over the computer or over the phone — we put somebody into insurance — but the team is also community-focused, which means they’ll be in a library or in a local store; they’ll be in those places so that, if somebody really wants to have that face-to-face interaction, they can have that. It’s also our job to know how different places here in New Hampshire work together.

How will the end of the public health emergency affect health coverage, and who will be affected?

A good majority of people on Medicaid. Because of the public health emergency, no one can lose Medicaid, so [people haven’t made] as much of an effort to make sure their information is up to date with Medicaid. … The state has sent out what they call “pink letters” — pink letters in the mail to get the attention of everybody who needs to make sure their information is up to date. … [Qualifying for] Medicaid and Marketplace depends on the number of people in the household and the income. [Consumers with] lower incomes will [qualify for] Medicaid. … Anybody who truly should have Medicaid, who qualifies, needs to make sure their information is up to date so they don’t lose it.

What concerns or confusion have people expressed about that?

The concern from a number of people is that, because they got the pink letter, maybe they’re going to lose their coverage very soon. We need to alleviate that [concern] and say, ‘Listen, we’ll help you get your information in, but because the public health emergency is continuing, you are not, under any circumstances, going to lose coverage yet.’ … I also want to make sure it’s known that there’s an insurance program for everybody. A lot of times, we have people say, ‘Oh, I won’t qualify for [Medicaid or the Marketplace],’ but the reality is there’s an answer for everyone. If somebody gets stuck, it’s just a matter of reaching out, and we’ll be glad to give [their case] a second look to make sure they understand that if they didn’t qualify for one thing, that just means there’s a different solution for them.

Will changes in health coverage brought about by the end of the public health emergency result in people having to change doctors or medications?

Potentially. If there’s a household that’s making a little more income [and wouldn’t] qualify for Medicaid, they’re going to go from Medicaid into the Marketplace. Medicaid has three particular insurance companies, and the Marketplace has three different insurance companies, so in those cases, we want to make sure that as they make that change … they’ll be placed for coverage that will work for them depending on the doctors they need to see … and that the medications they need to take are still covered, hopefully at a reasonable cost.

Are we any closer to knowing when the public health emergency will end?

We always know when it’s going to end — until they move [the end date] again. … We’ve been getting ready in earnest since the summer … to try to make sure we’re ready for those people who have Medicaid but no longer qualify for it.

Featured photo: Keith Ballingal. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 22/10/27

Marketplace open enrollment

The open enrollment period for the Healthcare.gov Marketplace, during which New Hampshire residents can purchase or change their Affordable Care Act individual health coverage for 2023, begins on Nov. 1 and will run through Jan. 15, 2023. The Marketplace provides affordable health insurance options to residents who don’t have access to health insurance through a job, Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program or another qualifying form of health coverage. Applications can be submitted online, over the phone, on paper, through a certified enrollment partner website or through an agent or broker. Coverage can start as soon as Jan. 1 for those who enroll by Dec. 15. Visit healthcare.gov/quick-guide/one-page-guide-to-the-marketplace to learn more about how to enroll and to download a checklist of information to have ready for the application process.

Tracking relief funds

The New Hampshire Department of Education has launched a new dashboard web page allowing the public to see how Covid relief funds are being spent on education in New Hampshire. According to a press release, New Hampshire has received about $650 million in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary Relief Fund to support education during the pandemic. The transparent, interactive dashboard, called iGrant, includes data on how those funds are used, including allocations, spending details, paid reimbursements by school districts and top activities where dollars are being spent by schools. “Covid relief funds have been instrumental in helping New Hampshire and other states with their educational needs as they look ahead,” Jessica Lescarbeau, NHED’s administrator of Covid education programs, said in the release. “This new web page is a tremendous resource for the public to be able to explore how schools are allocating these funds to jumpstart and strengthen recovery efforts.” Visit education.nh.gov for a link to the iGrant dashboard.

Drug Take Back Day

The DEA’s bi-annual National Drug Take Back Day takes place on Saturday, Oct. 29. New Hampshire town and city police departments will host collection sites throughout the state from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where citizens are encouraged to bring their unwanted, unused or expired prescription medications to be safely discarded. Visit dea.gov/takebackday for a collection site locator to find a collection site near you.

Supporting folklife and traditional arts

The New Hampshire State Council for the Arts has announced the recipients of its 2023 Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants and Folklife and Traditional Arts project grants, totaling more than $60,000 in funding. According to a press release, the Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grants were awarded to eight master traditional artists in the state to host one-on-one apprenticeships with qualified apprentices. The Folklife and Traditional Arts project grants, which support new and ongoing projects in the state focused on folklife and traditional arts, were awarded to the American Independence Museum in Exeter, the Franco-American Centre in Manchester, the Hopkinton Historical Society, Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner and the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter. Visit nh.gov/nharts.

Academic performance data

The New Hampshire Department of Education has released comprehensive statewide assessment data for the 2021-2022 school year. According to a press release, the data shows that New Hampshire students’ academic performance levels have improved for the first time since the pandemic started, but remain slightly lower than they were pre-pandemic in 2019. To view academic performance data for a particular school district, academic subject, grade level or student demographic, use NHED’s iPlatform portal at education.nh.gov/who-we-are/division-of-educator-and-analytic-resources/iplatform.

Seven to save

The New Hampshire Preservation Alliance announced its 2022 Seven to Save list during an event at the historic Belknap Mill in Laconia on Oct. 18. According to a press release, the list highlights vulnerable historic resources, landmarks and properties in the state that are in need of new or revived uses and transformative investments before they can become viable community assets again. One local property that made the list is the historic Bean Tavern in Raymond. The tavern started hosting Raymond town meetings in 1764 and is believed to have been abandoned in the years following the Civil War. The building’s immediate needs include a new roof and tree removal. Other listees include the Flying Yankee, a 1935 stainless steel train currently homed in Lincoln; St. John’s Methodist Church in Jefferson, which dates back to 1868; Hill Center Church, an 1800 meetinghouse in Hill; Stone School, a school in Newington opened in 1920 and vacant since 2003; the Old Carroll County Courthouse in Ossipee, built in 1839. The seventh listee is New Hampshire’s preservation trades workforce. “Our state’s timber frames, slate roofs, wood windows, and stone walls cannot fix themselves and there’s a real shortage of skilled craftspeople who can do this level of specialized work. “Our state’s timber frames, slate roofs, wood windows, and stone walls cannot fix themselves and there’s a real shortage of skilled craftspeople who can do this level of specialized work,” the 2022 Seven to Save flyer states. Visit nhpreservation.org/seven-to-save to learn more about the listees and how you can support historic preservation efforts in New Hampshire.

The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire has announced the appointment of a new state director. According to a press release, Rachel Rouillard will lead the state’s The Nature Conservancy team, headquartered in Concord, which includes 29 staff members and 20 trustees. Rouillard previously served as the director of conservation strategy for the organization, a role in which she worked to advance conservation, restoration and climate adaptation priorities to protect land and water for people in the state.

New Hampshire Humanities hosts a free public program, “Stop Scrolling! Journalism, Objectivity, and the Future of News,” on Wednesday, Nov. 2, at the Rex Theatre in Manchester (23 Amherst St.). According to a press release, speakers will include former Concord Monitor editor Mike Pride and New Hampshire Public Radio senior news editor Daniela Allee, with discussion moderated by Dr. Kimberly Lauffer of Keene State College. The program will explore the future of journalism and how readers can navigate news content and use information responsibly. Register to attend in person or sign up to access the livestream at nhhumanities.org.

Nashua High School South (36 Riverside St., Nashua) welcomes high school juniors and seniors from southern New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts to the annual Nashua Regional College Fair on Monday, Nov. 7, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. According to a press release, representatives from more than 100 colleges and universities will be set up in the school’s gymnasium to talk with prospective students and parents. Visit nashua.edu for the list of participating institutions.

Scary Fun — 10/20/22

Time for costumes, snack-sized chocolate bars and screenings of Rocky Horror Picture Show. We’ve got all the Halloween events, from the trunk-or-treats for the kids to the parties and costume contests for adults. Plus, reporter Katelyn Sahagian tries her hand at dishing out scares at a haunted attraction. Find two weekends of Halloween events in our guide to the spookiest season.

Also on the cover: We are also at the start of craft fair season. In the Arts section this week, find the details about this weekend’s Great New England Fall Fine Craft and Artisan Show (on page 20) as well as a quick rundown of other area craft fairs (on page 21). Taste the competing chilis at the Great Bowls of Fire Chili Cook-Off in Goffstown on Saturday (page 32). And if you’re looking for some music, we can help you plan your weekend with the Music This Week listing, which starts on page 43.

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The Music Roundup 22/10/20

Local music news & events

Channeling Woody: For their first acoustic album and tour, Dropkick Murphys take on the music of Woody Guthrie. This Machine Still Kills Fascists (a nod to the slogan Guthrie wrote on his guitar) contains 10 songs that still resonate almost 80 years later. “He went against the grain, he fought the good fight,” Dropkicks founder Ken Casey said of the folk singer. “One man and a guitar — it’s powerful stuff.” Thursday, Oct. 20, 7:15 p.m., Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord, $48.25 to $90.25 at ccanh.com.
• Fauxhemian rhapsody: The month-long Rocktober Festival continues with Kings of Queen, a SoCal-based tribute act featuring Emo Alaeddin in the role of Freddie Mercury. Along with doppelgangers — the final weekend has Kiss-alikes Rock & Roll Over — the Halloween ScrEEEmfest has the uber-bizarre Twisted Sideshow, full of stunts with chainsaws, drills, anvils and swords. Friday, Oct. 21, through Sunday, Oct. 23, various times, Canobie Lake Park, 85 N. Policy St., Salem, passes $48 to $59 (online only) at canobie.com.
• Rootsy revue: Acoustic musical excellence is in the spotlight at the New Hampshire Folk & Fiddle Festival, including Manchester natives The Spain Brothers doing original, traditional and contemporary songs. Boston-based Hanneke Cassel Band draws from Scotland, Cape Breton and Americana. Rounding out the bill is Green Heron, the region’s own Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and married couple Scott and Betsy Heron. Saturday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $29 at palacetheatre.org.
• Women power: Founded by singer-guitarist Celia Woodsmith and fiddler Kimber Ludiker, Della Mae quickly rose to prominence for its powerful musicianship, rounded out by Avril Smith on guitar, bass player Vickie Vaughn and Maddie Witler on mandolin. In 2014 the group won a Grammy for their second album, This World Oft Can Be, and they continue to make advocacy and mentorship a focus of their work. Sunday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m., Colonial Theatre, 609 Main St., Laconia, $24 to $35 at coloniallaconia.com.
• Rock reunion: Fitting for Halloween, horror punk stalwarts Blitzkid will finally reunite for a month-long farewell run originally slated for 2020; the Escape The Grave tour kicks off in Manchester. Led by singer Argyle Goolsby and the equally aptly named TB Monstrosity on guitar and vocals, they’re a staple of the haunted season; HuffPo’s Zachary Ehren wrote of “the continuous terror they bring to mothers.” Wednesday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m., Jewel Music Venue, 61 Canal St., Manchester, $17 and up at eventbrite.com.

Master of ceremonies

Chris Trapper has his own show to do

From late spring to summer’s end, Chris Trapper was on the road, supporting headliners. He opened for a tour starring Sammy Hagar and George Thorogood, did a run with Pat Benatar and her husband guitarist, Neil Giraldo, and played some dates with John Hiatt. Each night was an introduction of sorts, though Trapper has been making music going back to his days with Boston buzz band The Push Stars in the 1990s.
“I just described myself as the appetizer for a very rocking main meal,” Trapper said in a recent phone interview, noting he did but four songs to precede Hagar and Thorogood. He’ll have more room to stretch out when he does an evening solo at the Music Hall Lounge in Portsmouth, on Oct. 22. “It’s going to feel great to play a full set again.”
Not that Trapper minds his role as a palate cleanser. Delivered in a husky sweet voice, his songs have an easy familiarity. He’s wry with the raucous “Keg on My Coffin,” and emotive on “Under Blue Stars,” which leads off Cold Water Waltz, his most recent album. Perhaps his best-known song, the soaring “This Time” was sung by Jonathan Rhys Meyers in the 2007 film August Rush.
He spent much of 2019 opening for Rob Thomas, who co-wrote a song on the new album. “The one thing Rob said about me repeatedly was ‘You’re a very good master of ceremonies’ … I have some ability to get the crowd’s attention; even if they don’t know me, I can always try a few things.”
A mid-summer house concert in upstate New York, during a break in shed touring, put it in perspective for Trapper.
“Songwriting at its core has always been about finding commonality among us,” he said. Playing on a backyard stage, he watched an approaching storm. “There was lightning in the distance, kind of coming closer, but it wasn’t raining yet. I had a literal lightning bolt moment — that it was my job to make people feel less alone.”
Trapper is aware of the thin line between art and selling. “You can start to feel a little bit stuck in the vanity of it all,” he said. “But I started to feel like there is a sense of purpose to this [and] that process makes me feel less alone also. When you’re writing or singing a song, you’re trying to find those things that connect us. It doesn’t have to be too complicated. I think I’ve become a decent support act because even people who don’t know me will walk away feeling that they do.”
For the past few years, Trapper has booked space on a cruise ship, “trying to build a little culture around my music and community…. I do a few concerts, a Q&A session, a meet-and-greet, we have dinner every night, and also there’s a lot of after-hours disco dancing — my dance moves definitely look problematic,” he said. “A lot of people on the cruise were the base of my favorite people who I see on tour, so it ended up being a total lovefest.”
Though he wouldn’t mind a big hit or two, Trapper is content.
“I have always wanted to have kind of a John Prine career, where you have to play a couple of songs that people need to hear, then basically play whatever you felt like playing,” he said. “People would love it because the quality of material was always good. That’s been my goal. … I always have a few things that I definitely have to play, and the rest of the stuff is pretty variable.”
For his upcoming show, “I basically do everything, early Push Stars, some of my solo stuff and some off the new album,” he continued. Last year saw a Push Stars holiday record with all but two originals, When Christmas Comes Home. Trapper enjoyed the effort. “I stretched my songwriting muscles for that. Writing original Christmas songs is not the easiest thing to do … there’s only about five or six themes you can latch onto, and they’ve all been done a billion times.”
On Cold Water Waltz’s tongue-in-cheek “Out of the Limelight,” he hints at the promise of his early Push Stars days as he sings about an Austin band on their comeback tour.
“With my band it was funny, because we had some of the struggles that I joke about in that song, like the lead singer being a mess,” he said. “I of course I was in certain ways, but I stayed stable enough to stay in the business.”
Next February Trapper will be back in the area, opening for ex-Great Big Sea singer Allen Doyle in Concord. “I actually wrote about seven Great Big Sea songs, so Alan sings some of my stuff on his tour, and we always get up and collaborate for a couple of songs,” he said. “We’re old friends at this point.”

Chris Trapper
When: Saturday, Oct. 22, 8 p.m.
Where: The Music Hall Lounge, 131 Congress St., Portsmouth
More: $22 and $32 at themusichall.org

Featured photo: Chris Trapper. Courtesy photo.

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