Ghosts and glamor

A paranormal investigator with a twist

– Renee Merchant

Monique Toosoon of Goffstown is a paranormal investigator with a twist — she conducts her investigations in full drag. Monique talked about her interest in paranormal investigation, her YouTube series and her upcoming involvement with the New Hampshire Pagans Faire.

Tell us about what you do and what happens at your events.
I am the only ghost-hunting drag queen and I’m pretty sure I’m the only one in the whole world. … I’ve been an investigator for 20 years now and I also have been doing drag for about 20 years. Then, during Covid I decided, ‘Why the heck am I not doing these things together?’ So I started doing the combination of the two. … Drag is the highest form of energy, so it feeds every location we go to. … When I do a ghost-hunting tour, essentially I host the tour … and then we ghost-hunt as a group first … and we teach everyone how to use the tools. … and then we usually sleep in these locations and then … we wake up and discuss the night before, it’s kind of like an adult slumber party — with the addition of the ghosts. I think the biggest difference between doing it with a normal investigation crew and doing it with a drag queen is the entertainment value.

What interests you about paranormal investigation?
It’s always interested me to connect with the other side and hear the stories of the people who are trying to talk to us … and I’ve always had this interest in horror and from a young age I realized that … I have a tiny bit of a sensitivity to me. … Then as an adult … I started going to [haunted] locations and I realized that I could see things and experience things a little differently. … Since I was in my thirties I’ve tried to reconnect with this gift and grow it and use it more.

What inspired you to get into drag?
I grew up watching Elvira and I was really obsessed. I think Elvira is really the reason I became a drag queen. … It was really hard being a gay person in New Hampshire, to be honest. I grew up in … a very small town and I was bullied a lot. … I think when I started doing drag at 18, that’s when I really found my place. I made friends, I had people looking up to me and I think that’s really where the change came from. … I was finally no longer this person that was always getting beat up or made fun of and I was someone that people were accepting.

What inspired you to bring together drag and paranormal investigation?
I’ve been doing drag for like 20 years. … I used to be the hostess at the 313 [club] for probably like 15 years. I was there every single weekend hosting shows, and then when Covid came it just blasted all that away. All of us performers really lost our identities and we were only able to perform online. … so I was like, ‘You know what, why don’t we go ghost-hunting in drag? I don’t have to worry about Covid, I’m going into buildings [alone]’ … and then I did it and I was so insanely impressed by the results that now I won’t stop doing it.

Tell us about your YouTube series Check Out My Equipment.
I’m the ghost-hunting drag queen, but I’m also a nerd for electronics … so I’ve always been in love with the equipment side of paranormal investigation. … One thing I realized about equipment in the ghost-hunting field is it’s not very user-friendly. … So I was like, ‘I need to do an equipment series because I’ve got more personality than a lot of investigators out there.’

Tell us about what you’ll be doing at the New Hampshire Pagans Faire.
I will be doing a lecture and talking about my experiences in the paranormal field. I’m also going to be doing a live Check Out My Equipment class featuring a couple of my favorite pieces of equipment … and a live demonstration on how each piece works.

What’s next for you?
I’ll finally have a new standup special out this fall on Netflix. My plan is for it to be the first in a trilogy — three standard specials that also go together as a larger story. The show I’m touring with now will be part 2. … Then, in the spring, I’m hoping to do my first art show. That’ll be in L.A. It’ll be fine art — paintings — but they’ll all be jokes, like, each canvas is a one-liner without words.

More about Monique
See Monique at the New Hampshire Pagans Faire on Saturday, Sept. 23, at the Belknap County Fairgrounds (174 Mile Hill Road, Belmont). Visit facebook.com/NHPFAE for more info.
Monique will be featured on an episode of Dark Echoes on Amazon Prime later this year.
Find her on Instagram @moniquetoosoon and on YouTube @moniquetoosoon8472 and search “Monique Toosoon” on Facebook.

Featured photo: Monique Toosoon. Courtesy photo.

News & Notes 23/09/21

Help for survivors

On the 29th anniversary of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the allocation of nearly $193 million in grants to support services and justice responses for survivors of domestic and gender-based violence. According to a press release, New Hampshire is set to receive $1,170,616 from this funding. This allocation is in conjunction with VAWA’s STOP (Services, Training, Officers, and Prosecutors) Program, aiming for a unified response from law enforcement, legal professionals, victim services and community resources. U.S. Attorney Jane E. Young emphasized that this funding would bolster New Hampshire’s capacity to provide critical resources for survivors, and she underscored the importance of ongoing collaboration between law enforcement and community stakeholders. The DOJ’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), established in 1995, extends financial and technical support to communities, focusing on fostering policies and programs to confront domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. Visit justice.gov/ovw.

Climate advocate

Climate and peace advocates gathered in Concord on Sept. 15 to bring attention to the connections between climate change, militarism and fossil fuel consumption, according to a press release. They asserted the importance of transitioning away from fossil fuels, pointing to recent extreme weather events in New Hampshire and rising global climate-induced migrations. The rally, organized by environmental and peace-focused entities including New Hampshire Peace Action, NH Sierra Club, 350 New Hampshire, NHUCC Peace with Justice Advocates, Granite State Organizing Project and Climate Action NH, was also a precursor to the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York on Sept. 17 and echoed the UN Climate Ambition Summit’s worldwide appeal to reduce fossil fuel reliance.

Trees for Manchester

U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, along with Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas, have unveiled a $2.5 million federal grant through the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry Program for Manchester and Lebanon, stemming from the Inflation Reduction Act. The grant prioritizes environmental conservation with a spotlight on tree planting and maintenance to address climate change and intense heat. Manchester, partnering with Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) and The Nature Conservancy in New Hampshire (TNC), will benefit from $2.2 million toward its Urban Forest Equity Planning and Implementation project. This project emphasizes equitable tree planting, particularly in underserved neighborhoods, urban forest resilience, workforce expansion in urban forestry, community participation in forestry decisions, and methods to alleviate severe urban heat. Concurrently, Lebanon’s Green Streets Initiative will be granted $244,275.

PragerU

The New Hampshire State Board of Education’s recent endorsement of PragerU Kids’ “Cash Course Certificate” program in its “Learn Everywhere” initiative has stirred debate across the state. The program, designed to address the state’s financial literacy graduation requirements, is seen by supporters as an innovative way to offer students a flexible learning opportunity outside traditional classroom settings. In a press release, Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut champions the addition, emphasizing its potential in equipping students with essential financial management skills. However, critics, led by House Democratic Leader Matt Wilhelm, who submitted a letter of opposition to the State Board of Education on Sept. 12 regarding the PragerU contract, raise alarms over PragerU’s alleged right-wing political bias and caution that such affiliations could compromise the state’s educational neutrality and standards. This decision aligns New Hampshire with Florida, the only other state currently permitting PragerU’s operations within public education.

Tech conference

The NH Tech Alliance has revealed the agenda for the 2023 Innovation Summit, which is set to take place on Oct. 17 at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord, according to a press release. Attracting more than 200 industry professionals, the event will concentrate on “disruption and leading through change,” delving into topics like AI, startups and New Hampshire’s innovation challenges. Keynote speaker Kedar Gupta, a co-founder of GT Equipment and other enterprises, will share his entrepreneurial journey. Global AI experts including Valentine Goddard will discuss the transformation of businesses through AI. A series of panels will highlight the impact of AI on businesses and the challenges they face. The summit will spotlight startups, with discussions from New Hampshire entrepreneurs addressing the challenges and temptations of innovating within the state. The event will conclude with the annual Startup Showcase, spotlighting five early-stage startups. Tickets for the summit are available for purchase online. Visit nhtechalliance.org/innovation-summit.

Robie’s Country Store in Hooksett celebrated its grand reopening beside the Merrimack River and train tracks. The storied store, now operated by long-lost cousins of the original owner, has been leased to Robie Farm in Piermont, according to the Union Leader. The new management aims to feature their milk, cheese, meats and other local products.

The Beaver Brook Association (117 Ridge Road, Hollis, 465-7787, beaverbrook.org) hosts its annual Fall Festival and Art Show on Saturday, Sept. 23, and Sunday, Sept. 24. The event features photography, prints, paintings and mixed media inspired by New England’s natural settings and wildlife.

The Nashua Regional Planning Commission will hold a household hazardous waste collection on Saturday, Oct. 7, from 8 a.m. to noon at the Nashua City Park & Ride, 25 Crown St., according to a press release. The collection is open to residents of Nashua, Amherst, Brookline, Hollis, Hudson, Litchfield, Merrimack, Milford, Mont Vernon, Pelham and Windham. Businesses must pre-register. There’s a $15 fee per vehicle, covering up to 10 gallons of liquids or 20 pounds of solids. Payments in cash or check are accepted. The collection will not accept latex paint, electronics or medications. Visit nashuarpc.org/hhw.

Revolutionary

Shinedown returns with concept album

With the title track from 2022’s Planet Zero album, Shinedown brought its record-breaking total of No. 1 Billboard Modern Rock hits to 19. Later they topped the pop charts for a second time with the power ballad “A Symptom of Being Human.”

Their current tour stops at Gilford’s BankNH Pavilion on Sept. 19. Fans can expect favorites like “45,” “Enemies” and “Second Chance” mixed in with selections from their latest disc, a dystopian concept album narrated by a Big Brother-sounding robot. Drummer and founding member Barry Kerch discussed a variety of topics in a recent phone interview. You’re heading out on the road with Papa Roach and Spirit Box.

What are you looking forward to about it?

Any time we get to tour with our friends in Papa Roach it’s a great thing. We’ve done many tours over the years, and I consider them brothers of ours. It makes us work hard for our money because they put on such a high-energy show as well, and it becomes that friendly competition.

Planet Zero is a concept album … how are you bringing that to the stage?

It’s a very intensive visual show with lots of pyro and fire and video to give the fans what they paid for; it costs a lot of money to go to a show, so we want to give fans a hell of a show…. We also know that fans are there to hear our catalog of songs. We have a lot to choose from and to make a cool set list that satisfies all those out there.

What catalog songs do you enjoy playing the most, and what gets the crowd excited?

That’s a funny question. After 20 years of doing this in Shinedown and 19 No. 1 singles, it’s always hard to pick those songs. I think for me personally it goes audience to audience, night by night. Some nights you play ‘45’ and you connect with that one person in the crowd … you can hear him when the guitar comes in. That’s the song for that night.

Do you guys still get excited when you go into the studio to make a new album?

The excitement now is having a little bit of wisdom under your belt. You’ve learned from being in the studio many different times [how] to be more effective and as a musician maybe try different things, and you understand how things work better…. It’s easier now to go, ‘I know what this song means,’ and to play for the song instead of the ego. Planet Zero is about the anxiety of a world gone wrong through a particular set of eyes.

Who do you expect would be most reached and impacted by its message?

I would hope the masses that are angry at the bitter divisiveness in our culture right now. It’s sad; it saddens us. It was [written] at the height of that, but it hasn’t gone away, and it’s kind of a warning, a 1984-esque type of thing. If we keep going this way, we’re just gonna fall apart. We’ve got to accept each other with our differences and not always get along but to at least be able to find our humanity again, which I see being lost, especially through social media.

Slave to the algorithm.

Right…. I hate it. Having a 12-year-old daughter makes it even harder.

I know Brent Smith wrote it, but can you comment on ‘America Burning’ from Planet Zero? He says ‘hope’ is not a four-letter word in one song but ‘woke’ definitely is in that one. Are you concerned about how some fans might react?

We talk about these things. When ‘America Burning’ was sent to me in demo form and I heard those lyrics come out for the first time, we immediately had a band phone call. Like, ‘are we doing this?’ Because if we are, we gotta go full bore and support it, but it’s pretty on the nose…. It was a difficult thing, but now it’s probably one of my favorite songs on the record, because it is so just in your face and forceful.

Did you have any idea when it all began that you’d be here today?

I hoped and I didn’t know. To still be here and relevant and still making creative music — I pinch myself daily. And to still enjoy it and still get along with the guys, we still all ride the same bus together, we still eat dinners together, we still laugh together. I really do cherish it even on those days when it is a grind. We don’t rest on our laurels; we don’t look back or congratulate ourselves. If we’re lucky enough to get 20 No. 1’s or we get an award for something we go, ‘Oh, that’s cool. What’s next?’

What was your life like when you started this thing in 2001?

I had almost given up…. My brother lives here in Jacksonville, he’s a radio guy [and he helped me find] a job cleaning lakes for the state of Florida, spraying them to kill the feral weeds without killing the wildlife. It paid a teacher’s salary, if that, but I got it because I had a little bit of a chemistry background from my degree, [which] was enough…. I moved up here and that was it…. I was going to get married. I’d played in a bunch of bands in Orlando, did small tours, but nothing ever happened. My brother, being a radio guy, said, ‘Hey, I got this demo of this kid, he’s here in Jacksonville looking for a drummer. You should go try out.’ That was Brent, before Shinedown. So I went, and the ‘45’ on the first record was actually my audition recording.

Shinedown w/ Papa Roach and Spiritbox
When: Tuesday, Sept. 19, 6:30 p.m.
Where: BankNH Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford
Tickets: $25 and up at livenation.com

Featured photo: Shinedown. Photo by Sanjay Parikh.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

Nia Vardalos and her My Big Fat Greek Wedding players travel to Greece for a vacation wherein they occasionally shoot some scenes for a movie in My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 — at least that’s what seems to be happening here.

Toula Portokalos (Vardalos) and her husband Ian Miller (Jon Corbett) are both dealing with the recent deaths of their respective fathers and their first year of empty-nesterdom with daughter Paris (Elena Kampouris) in her first year of college. Toula’s mother, Maria (Lainie Kazan), also seems to be dealing with memory loss, putting a further strain on the wider family, which is seeing its older generation fade away.

To fulfill a promise to her father and perhaps to recapture some of that family togetherness, Toula decides to go to Greece to find her father’s boyhood friends. She is joined by Ian and Paris as well as Toula’s brother Nick (Louis Mandylor), Aunt Voula (Andrea Martin), Aunt Frieda (Maria Vacratsis) and Aristotle (Elias Kacavas), the young man Frieda and Voula are trying to push Paris together with. They meet Victory (Melina Kotselou), the young mayor of Toula’s father’s island village, who has arranged a village reunion to bring residents back to the basically empty town. One of the village’s few residents is Alexandra (Anthi Andreopoulou), an old woman who knew Toula’s father back in the day and who has quasi-adopted Qamar (Stephanie Nur), a Syrian refugee who is secretly dating Christos (Giannis Vasilottos). Their relationship is secret because Christos’s father, Peter (Alexis Georgoulis), insists that Christos only marry a Greek woman.

(Side note: Stephanie Nur, who doesn’t get a whole lot to do here, is also solid in the goofy but low-effort watchable Paramount+ show Special Operations: Lioness. I hope the visibility of these two “meh” endeavors helps to push her into bigger, meatier roles.)

Every scene here has the kind of loose, first-attempt feeling of something that the actors have just discussed. It’s like “in this scene, everybody in the family is asleep and then a goat wanders into the house. Now — action!” The 2002 original My Big Fat Greek Wedding definitely had a “little indie that could” feel to go with its winning charm but this feels rougher, somehow. Vardalos is credited as both the writer and director here but there is much more of a “wacky setup, wacky reaction” almost improv feel to each scene than I remember from the first movie.

And yet.

Somehow, genuine emotion works itself into all the loosely stitched together scenes in this movie. Real stuff about parents getting older and kids finding their life and how family changes over time manages to add sweetness — occasionally, bittersweetness — to this story and these characters we’ve seen age from the baby-faced people we are reminded of in the opening credits to the middle-aged and older people we see in this movie. The movie doesn’t have the same fresh and lived-experience feel that the original does but this quality does give it charm.

And, of course, there’s Andrea Martin — always fun and always leaving you wanting more. C+

Rated PG-13 for suggestive material and some nudity, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Written and directed by Nia Vardalos, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 is an hour and 31 minutes and is distributed by Focus Features in theaters.

Featured photo: My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3

Celebrate Egyptian culture

Nashua church holds sixth Egyptian Food Festival

From Friday, Sept. 15, through Sunday, Sept. 17, the Egyption Food Festival will return to St. Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Orthodox Church in Nashua.

“It’s an outreach to the community to tell them who we are,” said Kyrillos Gobran, the church’s priest. “The church is a historic place that lots of people in the neighborhood have some kind of relationship with, so it’s good to come and have a tour inside the church … [while] fundraising … and supporting the church … at the same time.”

According to Gobran, the church building itself, which he says is one of the tallest buildings in Nashua, dates back about 140 years, the congregation having taken it on in 2008. The food festival, which includes music, a bazaar and activities for kids, has become a popular event, with about 1,500 to 2,000 people attending each year.

“We have people that have been with us from the [beginning] and they come every single year [to] have a good time as a family and enjoy the food,” he said.

On the menu are various Egyptian meals, sandwiches, sides and desserts. Options include shish kabob platters with a skewer of either beef or chicken marinated with salt, pepper and Mediterranean spices and grilled with onions and green peppers. There is also a kofta platter, which includes one skewer of ground beef seasoned with parsley, chopped onions, salt, pepper and Mediterranean spices. Each meal comes with rice pilaf, salad, tabbouleh and hummus. Skewers can also be ordered by themselves.

“We have vegetarian food as well with lentils … and pasta with sauce on top,” Gobran said.

Desserts include baklava, fried dough and kataif, which is a pancake-like batter filled with raisins, coconut flakes and walnuts and covered in a light syrup.

Egyptian music will be played by a DJ throughout the festival and there will be a kids’ corner with a balloon station, face painting, ice cream, popcorn and cotton candy in addition to the market.

“If you’re looking for something expensive [and] handmade or something a little bit cheaper, you’ll find a different variety there,” Gobran said.

Items for sale include jewelry, T-shirts, Egyptian gowns and pharaonic souvenirs.

“We’re looking forward to welcoming everybody,” he said, “It’s good to see old friends and we welcome people that haven’t been, [or haven’t] tried Egyptian food before or see the Egyptian culture, to come out and enjoy.”

Egyptian Food Festival
When: Friday, Sept. 15, 4 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, Sept. 16, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Sunday, Sept. 17, noon to 6 p.m.
Where: St. Mary and Archangel Michael Coptic Church, 39 Chandler St., Nashua
Admission: Free

Featured photo: Courtesy photo.

Gardening better as we age

Make room for raised beds and homemade cookies

As a Certified Senior Citizen I sometimes wonder if I am too ambitious in my garden. I have about an acre of gardens with 200 or more kinds of flowers and a good-size vegetable garden. These gardens please me greatly, and I visit them daily all year, even in winter. In gardening season I spend considerable time weeding, pruning, mulching and admiring our gardens. I am blessed with a wife who loves to garden and even loves weeding and edging!

Still, I know that my body will not always be able to work as hard as I ask it to now. So what can we do as we get older to make our work easier? First, we can stop buying new plants and creating new garden beds when our current beds are full. That is a hard choice to make, but I do my best to follow that rule.
We can also diminish the size of our gardens. For years I have grown 35 to 50 tomato plants each year. But I will try to drop down to 25 next year, and fewer each year after that. I do love the tomatoes and freeze and dehydrate many each summer for year-round use. But we do have plenty of farm stands growing great veggies, and I could use them more.

Raised beds make gardening easier on us, too. I have one nice deep cedar gardening “trug” that is 6 feet by 2 1/2 feet in size and stands 30 inches tall. I got it from Gardener’s Supply several years ago and it has held up well. I grow mostly kitchen herbs in it, along with a little lettuce and a few hot peppers. It is just steps from the house, while the vegetable garden is downhill and a few hundred steps away. I might get another, or build one.

I recently visited my friend Fred Sullivan, a retired dairy farmer, who lives nearby. His wife of many decades, Shirley, passed away last year; she did most of the vegetable gardening but Fred has taken it on. Some years ago he made Shirley four nice raised beds using landscape timbers. Each is 4 feet by 8 feet and about 20 inches tall. He grows tomatoes, cucumbers, summer squash and some Swiss chard.

I asked Fred about his gardening efforts. He told me that the doctor said he needed to stay active if he wanted to stay healthy. Gardening is a good form of gentle exercise for someone in their 80s, and you get “free” food, too! His best advice: “Be good to your soil, and it will be good to you.”

The raised beds make it easier to work. If you want raised beds, many companies are producing easy-to-assemble beds that are reasonably priced. Although most require quite a bit of soil mix, you can reuse the soil from year to year. I add fresh compost and some slow-release fertilizer each spring to my raised beds.

I recently called my friend Sydney Eddison at her home in Connecticut to talk about gardening as we get older. She is the author of many gardening books and a few nice small books of poetry in recent years. Her book Gardening for a Lifetime: How to Garden Wiser as You Grow Older (Timber Press, 2010) is full of good ideas.

Sydney told me, “Cultivate imperfection.” She said that as we get older we have to accept that our gardens can never be perfect. But she emphasized choosing plants that are reliable under any conditions, and that are low-maintenance plants. I agree.

Daylilies are easy to grow and require little work. Photo by Henry Homeyer.
Daylilies are easy to grow and require little work. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

Delphinium and peonies, for example, are wonderful plants but most need to be staked and looked after to keep them from flopping or breaking in a heavy rain. I can’t imagine ever getting rid of my peonies, but maybe I don’t need quite so many — I could share a few with younger friends.


A plant that Sydney loves is a sedum called Autumn Joy. She has a dozen or so mature plants, each clump 30 inches wide, and they look good even in winter wearing what she calls “snowy hats.” Daylilies are also wonderful — and a mainstay in her garden. She pointed out that they can bloom for nearly two months if you pick early, mid-season and late-season varieties.

Shrubs are less work to maintain than perennials or annual flowers. Plant them, or have someone plant them, and they will require little — so long as they are not varieties that grow inordinately fast. There are plenty that can go several years without pruning.

One of my favorites is called fothergilla (Fothergilla major). It has nice white bottle-brush blossoms in May and spectacular fall foliage. Mine, after 20 years and very little pruning, is only 5 or 6 feet tall and wide. It’s hardy to Zone 4.
And of course, the easiest plant to grow is lawn grass. Once established it really only requires a weekly mowing. There are plenty of people who are willing to do the mowing for a reasonable fee — and there is little they can do to damage it.
Sydney Eddison gave me good advice: If someone offers to help in the garden, accept! And if no one does offer, try to hire a younger person to help. Offer to teach them about gardening. At the end of the day sit in the garden and drink tea and eat homemade cookies. Both of you will be happy.

Henry is a lifetime organic gardener living in Cornish, N.H. He presents at garden clubs and libraries around the region, and is the author of four gardening books. Reach him at henry.homeyer@comcast.net.

Featured photo by Henry Homeyer.

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