Album Reviews 20/07/23

John Carpenter, “Skeleton”/”Unclean Spirit” (Sacred Bones Records)

It’s funny how things work out, isn’t it? I would have loved to hear the put-downs of Carpenter during the 1980s, mumbled during power-lunches with Hollywood executives, when they’d mercilessly tool on the musically untrained Carpenter’s insistence on soundtracking his movies (Halloween, The Thing, They Live, etc.). Of course, they probably ate all those words when he won a Saturn award for soundtracking his 1998 film Vampires, or maybe, more likely, they didn’t, but in any case, his musical style — bouncy, redundant Nintendo-techno — is pretty huge these days. This advance two-song single offers his signature vibe, which of course has seen a rebirth of late (think the theme music to the Netflix show Stranger Things), and voila, music critics have to pretend to be paying attention. “Skeleton” is a rather upbeat offing, entry-level ’80s krautrock with a good amount of heart, whereas the much darker “Unclean Spirit” conjures a cross between “Dies Irae” (the Gregorian chant that opens the movie The Shining) and, oh, something with the usual looping and piano-bonking, let’s say the theme to Halloween. Hey, if he’s happy, it’s fine with me. B+

Peel Dream Magazine, Moral Panics EP (Slumberland Records)

I wrote off this New York crew as the latest tuneless pile of emperor’s new clothes way back, upon hearing a few tunes from their 2018 debut LP Modern Metaphysics. Singer Joe Stevens is so bad that he single-handedly set back the entire hipster-pop movement a gorillion years (the only vocal comparison I can make is Lantern Waste, whose deliriously awful song “200 Miles to York” is often played as a joke by Toucher and Rich on their local 98.5 Sports Hub radio show in Boston). But whatever, here we go again, thankfully just an EP this time. It starts out survivably enough with “New Culture,” a droning stab at borderline no-wave remindful of Superdrag’s “Destination Ursa Major,” in other words amateurishly rendered Foo Fighters. Stevens doesn’t suck as bad as he usually does there, which had me well, “salivating for more” wouldn’t be it; more like “not retching.” Of course, that attempt at normal music is immediately ruined by the pointless crayon-drawn doofus exercise “Verfremdungseffekt.” These folks have a gift for bad music, I’ll give ’em that. D

Retro Playlist
Eric W. Saeger recommends a couple of albums worth a second look.

As you (hopefully) just read, one signature feature of the pandemic is album release dates being canceled, changed or otherwise messed with. I’ve about given up the delusion that a release announcement consists of reliable information, but the show must go on here.

Another bizarre thing we’ve witnessed is the freezing of trends. In the area of music, after several years of the 1990s being laughed off as the worst decade for music ever (which always happens just before something blows big from the same arena), sure enough, bands were starting to fess up to listening to ’90s bands as a guilty pleasure. It was becoming cool for bands to cite grunge, riot grrl, commercial ska-pop, etc. influences when BS-ing rookie rock writers from Nylon and such. It looked unstoppable.

And then came Covid 19. Like I said somewhere above, at this point people are more occupied with virtue-signaling and fighting on social media and fretting about the apocalypse than reading some hipster dummy’s thoughts on Gwen Stefani’s “edgy” years. It’s as if every artistic rebirth and micro-renaissance that was in queue is in stasis, frozen like Ripley on Alien, waiting for the coast to be clear.

There were good things about the ’90s, at least in my view. Nirvana of course, Rage Against The Machine, Cypress Hill, Moby, Limp Bizkit, Korn, a bunch of other stuff, including many you’ve probably never heard of, bands that helped usher in the ’90s-rock era by releasing albums that were clear warnings of things to come. Transvision Vamp may have been doomed to obscurity from birth, but they were different in a lot of good ways, a sort of commercialized riot grrl thing that presaged sexy android-pop bands of the Aughts like Asteroids Galaxy Tour. In fact, Transvision Vamp peaked and declined at the decade’s turn, unfairly so, because their 1991 full-length Little Magnets Versus the Bubble of Babble was no less sexy and vampy and kickass than their 1988 Pop Art debut. Another one you may have missed was Gaye Bykers on Acid, which, along with a few other bands, almost squashed the grunge movement in favor of the “grebo” scene, which mashed influences from punk rock, EDM, hip-hop and psychedelia. We’d all be so much better off if their 1992 self-titled album hadn’t been lost in a sea of grunge (their 1987 freak-fringe niche-hit “WW7 Blues” is still monstrously cool).

Yeah, a ’90s revival wouldn’t be the worst thing.

If you’re in a local band, now’s a great time to let me know about your EP, your single, whatever’s on your mind. Let me know how you’re holding yourself together without being able to play shows or jam with your homies. Send a recipe for keema matar. Email esaeger@cyberontix.com for fastest response.

PLAYLIST
A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Friday, July 24, is ahead, and with it will come albums, some good, some bad, some why-would-anyone-bother-recording-this. To be honest, the list is pretty thin at this writing, which may be due to the fact that all the bands have figured out that people aren’t interested in music anymore, because it’s much more fun and self-fulfilling to argue with people on the internet, just to take the edge off the stir-craziness the coronavirus has wrought. Matter of fact, my usual source of hot new music nonsense, Metacritic, only has two upcoming new records listed, so I’m going by the list on Pause And Play. This means I am out of my comfort zone once again, having to deal with some stupid new website that wants me to fork over my email address and then drop a cookie into my Cookies folder, just so that Pause and Play can send me spam and slow down my “browsing experience” while the cookie tracks every moronic thing I look for on the internet. Does anyone not just click the little “X-close” button when presented with that kind of junk, or should I really just spend an entire afternoon searching Google for “best free spamblocker”? (I won’t do that. I spend a lot of time on the internet, yes, but going to such trouble seems a little obsessive.) Where was I? Right, albums. Most of these look kind of dumb and boring, like the only one I’m actually drawn to is Goons Be Gone, the new album from Los Angeles-based duo No Age! They make noise-rock, which you all know makes me smile, and… oh, come on, the release date changed to last week, according to Amazon! See why I hate using new systems? See why I didn’t want to use Pause and Play? Whatever, I’m listening to the single “Sandalwood” anyway, because the whole rollout here is a hot mess, and maybe it’s coming out on the 24th. Whatever, the tune is cool, noisy and messy, like Mick Jagger jamming with Half Japanese, and that brings us to some actual usable news, the first new album in 27 years from ancient punk band X, called Alphabetland! Ha ha, look how old they are now, like Exene looks like some random Birkenstock Karen who haggles with gift shop owners for price breaks on stinky incense. The title track is like early Ramones except with Exene singing half-heartedly. It’s eh.

Neck Deep is a power-pop band from Wales, in the U.K. Their fourth album, All Distortions Are Intentional, is on the way as we speak, led by the single “Lowlife,” which is OK but sounds like the last nine billion songs you’ve heard that involve ripping off Weezer in Nirvana mode. So, unless anyone has questions — yes, you, in the back. No, I will never willingly listen to this song again. That it? Good, let’s proceed to the next thingie.

• Country-Americana-folkie Lori McKenna is from Stoughton, Mass., where there are no cowboys. She once received a country Grammy nomination. Her new album, The Balladeer, includes the single “Good Fight,” a strummy folk-pop song that you might like if you dig ’70s radio-pop.

• Time for one more, and I choose Irish singer Ronan Keating’s new album, Twenty Twenty! Did I choose wisely? No, unless you like shuffle-y chill-out Ed Sheeran-ish boy-band pop that would be a perfect fit on the Ellen show. I do not.

The Weekly Dish 20/07/23

Mobile scoops: The Loudon Firefighters Association (8 Cooper St.) will host a drive-thru ice cream social on Saturday, July 25, from 4 to 8 p.m. Participants can place their order on the South Village Road side of the firehouse before picking up and exiting on the Cooper Street side. Ice cream flavors will include vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, with all kinds of optional toppings, like whipped cream, chocolate syrup, rainbow and chocolate sprinkles and a maraschino cherry. The cost is $5 per dish. See “LFD Drive-Thru Ice Cream Social” on Facebook for more details.

Keeping it local: The New Hampshire Liquor Commission has launched a “Keep it Local” campaign to support wineries and distilleries in the state, it announced in a press release. From now until Aug. 30, all of the state’s Liquor & Wine Outlet stores are offering 20-percent discounts on purchases of three or more bottles of wines and spirits made, grown or produced in New Hampshire, all sizes, with the ability to mix and match them. “Covid-19 has impacted all industries, and our local wineries and distillers have been hit particularly hard,” NHLC Chairman Joseph Mollica said in a statement. “[This] … initiative helps generate sales, encourages responsible visitation and supports our local partners.” Visit liquorandwineoutlets.com/keepitlocal.

Quick bites: You can now find pasta salads, homemade whoopie pies, Italian desserts and other quick bites from Angela’s Pasta & Cheese Shop for sale inside the cafe of the Bookery (844 Elm St., Manchester), which has new in-store hours Tuesday through Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The downtown bookshop also recently introduced additional outdoor seating. Visit bookerymht.com or call 836-6600.

Farewell to The Foothills: The Foothills of Warner, a longtime staple in town known for its baked goods, including its nearly five-pound cinnamon rolls, has announced its closure as of July 19. “Many factors went into this difficult decision. We want to thank all of our loyal customers for their support over the last 15 years,” read a July 16 post on the restaurant’s Facebook page. “We have made many wonderful friends and we will miss you all very much.” The building has operated as a restaurant for nearly 30 years but was originally housing, dating back to the early 1800s, owner Deb Moore told the Hippo last fall. It has also been a bank and a town post office during its lifetime.

Carpe diem

Something new in sparkling wines

Carpe diem — seize the day! Embark on something new! Even John Keating, played by Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, famously says, “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.” Well, broadening your experiences with wine is rewarding. Borrowing from that quote, an “extraordinary” array of wine produced from seemingly unlimited manners of blending of grape varieties produces a vastly diverse tasting spectrum and sensations.

Gruet Cuvée 89 Brut (originally priced at $29.99 and on sale at the NH Liquor and Wine Outlets at $14.99) is designed to be savored. The wine has a light straw color to it and to the nose there is a slight yeast note along with a little slate-like minerality. To the mouth, green apples along with citrus rind round the tongue. The label states, “Gruet specializes in Méthode Champenoise wines. The Cuvée 89 by Gruet is a brut style sparkling wine which boasts notes of green apple and ripe pear and finishes with round crisp acidity.” This wine is slightly “sweet” to some. That is not to be confused with an effervescent moscato, as it is not that sweet. This is a wine that can be enjoyed alongside some cheese and fruit; it is equally refreshing alone, sipped on a long summer’s afternoon.

What makes this sparkling wine so amazing is that it is from New Mexico, but its origins lie in France. Gilbert Gruet, the founder of Gruet Winery, was born to a poor family in the village of Bethon, in the Champagne region of France. He created a co-op in his village to market still wines, Champagnes and brandy. The family traveled to the American Southwest in search of soils and climate in which to farm and planted their first American vineyards in Engle, New Mexico, in 1984 on land with elevations of 4,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level. The sandy soils and dry climate with cool nights proved to be ideal. In 1989 their first releases developed a following, ultimately realizing awards in the early 2000s and in 2011 a No. 43 spot on Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of the World list for its Non-Vintage Blanc de Noirs. Gilbert’s children Laurent and Nathalie now run the business.

Veuve du Vernay Ice Sparkling Demi Sec Rosé (originally priced at $16.99 and on sale at the NH Liquor and Wine Outlets at $11.99) has been created especially to be enjoyed on ice in a large glass. Defined as a “vin mousseux,” a sparkling wine with an alcoholic content at 11 percent, it is perfect as an aperitif or for dessert. Its color is the slightest of a pale pink and its nose is very slight with raspberries and some citrus. To the mouth it has fruit notes of raspberries with a very slight edge of acidity. A blend of non-vintage syrah, cinsault and brenache, it is bright and refreshing, and with its low alcoholic content it is perfect for a warm, sunny afternoon. Like prosecco, the wine is created using the Charmat process — that is, its secondary fermentation takes place in pressurized stainless steel tanks. When complete, it is filtered and bottled under pressure. This is distinct from the Méthode Champenoise noted above wherein the secondary fermentation takes place in the bottle.

This wine is one of several sparkling wines owned by the house of Patriarche, a Beaune, Burgundy-based wine company that in turn is owned by the conglomerate Group Castel, a multinational beverage company producing wine, beer and soft drinks from estates around the world. These wines are produced in Bordeaux and exported to more than 40 countries. The wine is classified as a Vin de France, a new national appellation from France. This new classification releases the wine from the strict, confining, traditional classifications France has used since the start of the 19th century and allows the public to better understand French wine; a Burgundy becomes a pinot noir, named for the grape from which it is produced.

So break away from the traditional chardonnay or pinot grigio, or even prosecco, and explore these sparkling wines on a sunny weekend afternoon! You will be happy with your discovery!

In the kitchen with Jon Buatti

In December 2019, Jon Buatti of Auburn took over ownership of Michelle’s Gourmet Pastries & Deli in Manchester, bringing with him a culinary education and a specialization in custom cake decorating. With the business now known as the Bearded Baking Co. (819 Union St., Manchester, 647-7150, beardedbaking.com), Buatti has built upon the longtime success of the popular Queen City bakeshop and deli, offering custom cakes with many of his own sponge and buttercream recipes. The bakery and deli also features a selection of breakfast and lunch sandwiches and smaller treats like cookies, cupcakes, cheesecakes, bread pudding, chocolate-covered pretzels and more. A Salem native, Buatti got his start in the industry as a busboy at La Bec Rouge in Hampton Beach before volunteering to work a shift making plated desserts. He graduated from Salem High School’s culinary program, followed by Southern New Hampshire University’s associate’s program in baking and culinary arts and its bachelor’s program in culinary management.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

Either an offset spatula or a bench scraper.

What would you have for your last meal?

Anything with barbecue. Ribs, maybe, or barbecue chicken.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

My fiancée and I love The Crown Tavern [in Manchester]. I get the Pep N’ Honey pizza, and their wings are outrageous.

What celebrity would you like to see ordering from your bakery?

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

What is your personal favorite thing that you have ever baked?

As far as a specific cake that I’ve done, it’s a two-way tie with both of the wedding cakes I did for my two older sisters. Those were fun because being part of the wedding, I worked on it for a week straight for both of them, with a revolving door of friends and family coming in the kitchen to catch up and see how the cake was going.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

Anything dietary, so gluten-free, vegan and sugar-free. We definitely do a lot more custom orders for those types of desserts.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Our favorite dish to make at home together is zuppa toscana. It’s a kale cream soup with tons of veggies.

Homemade scones
From the kitchen of Jon Buatti of the Bearded Baking Co. in Manchester

4½ cups flour
½ tablespoon + ½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cubed
1½ cups heavy cream
¾ cup corn syrup

Combine all dry ingredients into a bowl. Cut cold butter into dry ingredients. Create a well with dry ingredients and fold in corn syrup. Add in fillings of choice and form into even disks (makes about 10).

Kiddie Pool 20/07/23

A show for the littles
The 2020 Bank of New Hampshire Children’s Summer Series continues at the Palace Theatre (80 Hanover St. in Manchester; palacetheatre.org, 668-5588) with The Little Mermaid on Thursday, July 23, and Aladdin, Tuesday, July 28, through Thursday, July 30. The kid-friendly shows are at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and are about 45 minutes long. Tickets cost $10 and are only being sold over the phone.

A show for the bigs
Catch The Goonies (PG, 1985) Friday, July 24, at 8:45-ish p.m. at Fieldhouse Sports drive-in (12 Tallwood Drive in Bow; fieldhousesports.com, 266-4646). Like many 1980s PG movies, this may feel more modern-day PG-13; Common Sense Media pegs it at 10+. Admission costs $25 per vehicle (for up to four people, $5 for each additional person).

Treasure Hunt 20/07/23

Dear Donna,
I’m trying to figure this watch out; it’s working, but other than that I know nothing. I bought it at a flea market a couple years ago and just recently dug it out of a drawer.
Bev

Dear Bev,
I am chuckling after your explanation of buying it and putting it away. So now it’s like buying it all over again and liking it once more.

What you have is a car clock that looks like a pocket watch. They were in automobiles in the early 1900s. They aren’t seen too often, and they usually don’t work. They were in the dashboards of automobiles and because they were so similar to pocket watches they were stolen frequently.

Yours is an Elgin, but other watch companies made them as well. They usually run in the $75 range when working. I can see why you would like it; it’s a fun piece of automobile history.

A mid-summer garden dream

How to make your flowers happy

It is mid-summer now, and my garden is full of gorgeous flowers, some finishing up their display, others just beginning. Here are some I love, and what I do to make them happy.

The first flowers I see when I walk out my front door are annual poppies. I didn’t plant most of them, or not this year. Each year I let them bloom and drop seeds after they’re done. They reward me with dozens of blossoms the following year. Sometimes I pick the pods and save them to sprinkle seeds on the snow, an easy way to plant them in the dead of winter.

My poppies are in full sun and soil that is not particularly rich. I like these poppies because they ask nothing of me and each year the palette is a little different as they hybridize, offering some new colors and sizes. I have a nice deep red double annual poppy that blooms every year in one row of my vegetable garden. This year it is with the tomatoes.

Another favorite of mine is pink mallow. This is a big, often floppy perennial with lots of pink blossoms that resemble those of a hollyhock. In my garden it pops up anywhere and everywhere. I have to treat it a bit like a weed to keep it in control. It does best in full sun and rich soil that stays lightly moist.

Pink mallow has a tap root and does not transplant easily, unless you do so when small. I often stake mine to keep them upright — it can grow to be 2 to 5 feet tall. It’s not often seen in garden centers, so get a seedling from a fellow gardener, and let it go to seed so you’ll get more plants.

Another flower that moves around the garden, appearing by whim, is feverfew. Feverfew has white daisy-like flowers with a yellow center, blossoms just three-quarters of an inch across but appearing in vast numbers. It is a short-lived perennial that sows seeds freely, so if you don’t want more plants cut off the flowers before the seeds are dropped.

Feverfew will grow in average soil but prefers moist, rich soil. It’s blooming for me now and will continue for the rest of the summer, or nearly. The flowers do well in a vase.

My bee balm is just coming into full bloom now and is deliciously fragrant. It is in the mint family, with a square stem that is relatively fragile. But they make great cut flowers, in part because of their fragrance. Bees love them (hence the name), but hummingbirds do too. Mine grow to 5 feet tall.

Many books claim bee balm is a full-sun plant, but I disagree. It does best in morning sun or partial shade in rich, moist soil. It goes by quickly in hot, dry areas. The best blossom colors are red and purple, though cultivars in white and bluish are sold. Recently short varieties have appeared in the marketplace, but I have not found that they are very hardy. Bee balm spreads by root but pulls easily if it gets too rambunctious.

Daylilies are in bloom now, too. The common orange daylily is the friend of anyone who thinks they can’t grow flowers. You cannot kill a common orange daylily. I have dug them out, placed them on the lawn without any soil preparation, and they have thrived where placed.

Each blossom of a daylily blooms for just one day, but each scape, or flower stalk, has several buds that bloom in succession. The buds will open in a vase, too, so don’t be afraid to use them in flower arrangements. Unlike true lilies these beauties are not eaten by lily-leaf beetles. They come in many colors from deep red to light yellow. I have tiny daylilies, and one variety that blooms on scapes as tall as me.

Great masterwort is an awkward name, so I prefer the scientific epithet, Astrantia major. This is a medium-height flower in the carrot family, along with Queen Anne’s lace, a wildflower or weed I love too. The flowers range from white to purple-white and bloom in great profusion. It is a good cut flower, too. Each blossom is just an inch across and resembles scabiosa.

Astrantia does well in part shade but will grow in full sun if adequate moisture is present. The foliage is attractive even when the plant is not in bloom, and it is very well-behaved — it stays as a nice clump and does not take over the garden.

I love knautia both for the smallish (3/4-inch) purple-red domed blossoms and for its willingness to keep on blooming from now until fall. Most perennials have much shorter bloom periods, but knautia is a real trooper.

It has thin stems and delicate leaves, so is hard to display in a vase, but it is worth mixing with daisies or something else that will hold the blossoms up in a vase. I grow it in full sun with average soil, and it does well and will occasionally provide volunteers from seed.

Each garden has its own winners and losers. Good gardeners try a lot of plants to find those that do best for them. So go buy some or trade with a friend.

Featured Photo: Feverfew. Photo by Henry Homeyer.

The Art Roundup 20/07/23

Author discusses women’s suffrage: The Tory Hill Author Series will feature feminist historian and biographer Susan Ware on Saturday, July 25, at 7 p.m. on the video conferencing platform Zoom. Ware will discuss her book Why They Marched: Untold Stories of the Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote (2019), which looks at some of the lesser-known icons of the women’s suffrage movement. Ware is currently the Honorary Women’s Suffrage Centennial Historian at Harvard University’s Schlesinger Library and is the general editor of American National Biography. The Library of America will publish her edited volume American Women’s Suffrage: The Long Struggle for the Vote, 1776–1965 this summer. Tickets cost $25 and can be purchased online. Every year the Tory Hill Author Series, presented by the Warner Historical Society, features local and nationally known authors who read from and discuss their books and personal experiences. Other authors being featured will include biology writer Bernd Heinrich on Saturday, Aug. 8, and storyteller Rebecca Rule and middle-grade and young adult novelist Adi Rule on Saturday, Aug. 22. Visit toryhillauthorsseries.com.

Forest inspiration: Twiggs Gallery (254 King St., Boscawen) presents a new art exhibit, “Tree & Twig,” from July 25 through Aug. 23, with an opening reception on Saturday, July 25, from 1 to 3 p.m. It features 10 local artists Debra Claffey, Richard Gombar, Susan Lirakis, Laura Morrison, Katy O’Gorman, Adele Sanborn, Jean Stimmell, Pam Tarbell, Dave Therrien and Arielle Van De Water whose work focuses on their deep and personal connections to New Hampshire forests. There will be paintings, photography, sculptures and other media. Gallery hours are Thursday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Call 975-0015 or visit twiggsgallery.wordpress.com.

Reopening pushed back: Cinemagic Stadium Theaters in New Hampshire (1226 Hooksett Road, Hooksett, 644-4629; 11 Executive Park Drive, Merrimack, 423-0240; 2454 Lafayette Road, Portsmouth, 319-8788; cinemagicmovies.com) has pushed its reopening date back to July 31 because of changes to theatrical release dates, according to a press release. All locations will feature classic movies for $5, as well the premiere of Unhinged (R), starring Russel Crowe. Moviegoers are required to wear face masks while moving around the facility but can remove them while seated in the auditorium, observing social distance at all times. Contactless ticket and concession purchases are encouraged and can be made via the Cinemagic app. A limited-time buy-one-get-one-free popcorn special will be available, and beer, wine and specialty drinks can now be purchased at the concessions stands, according to the release.

Jewish Film Fest continues virtually: In place of its traditional festival, which was canceled due to Covid-19, the New Hampshire Jewish Film Festival is presenting a virtual summer film series featuring international films that would have made their New Hampshire premieres. The next film is My Name is Sara, a U.S. drama, on Thursday, July 23, followed by Futures Past, a U.S. documentary, on Thursday, Aug. 6; Shooting Life, an Israeli drama, on Thursday, Aug. 20; and Paris Song, a Latvian historical drama, on Thursday, Aug. 27. My Name is Sara, Futures Past and Paris Song screenings will include a post-movie discussion with the filmmakers on the following Sunday at 7 p.m. All screenings are free, with a suggested donation of $18 to support the festival and future programming. Advance registration is required. Visit nhjewishfilmfestival.com/2020-virtual.

Featured photo: Art by Pam Tarbell featured in “Tree & Twig” at Twiggs Gallery.

Physical theater

Copenhagen opens as live shows return to the Hatbox Theatre

The Hatbox Theatre will reopen on July 24 with Phylloxera Productions’s staging of Copenhagen, the first show at the small Concord theater since it closed its doors in the spring.

Friends and physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg were the world’s leading experts in nuclear fission during World War II. With their countries at war — Bohr was from Germany and Heisenberg was from Denmark — and Germany racing to develop atomic weapons, meeting would be a dangerous endeavor. Copenhagen, written by Michael Frayn,is a speculative look at what happened during the secret meeting between the two men that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1941.

The playpremiered at the National Theatre in London in 1998 and opened on Broadway in 2000. It won numerous prestigious awards, including the Drama Desk Award for Best New Play, the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Best Play and the Tony Award for Best Play.

Director and producer Gary Locke first read the script for Copenhagen 12 years ago after he had seen several actors perform monologues from the play as part of their auditions for his productions.

“They were such rich, complex and wonderful monologues, and that made me curious about [the play],” Locke said. “I started reading it, thinking I’d be reading a story about World War II, but what I got was insight into the way the world works philosophically, emotionally — from every standpoint. It’s been on my radar [to produce] ever since.”

The three-person cast depicts Heisenberg, Bohr and Bohr’s wife Margrethe.

“It’s a wonderful play for actors,” said Jim Sears, the actor playing Niels Bohr. “There isn’t a lot of fanfare to it. It’s just three people and their interactions, with nothing else in the way. It’s one of those plays where you [as an actor] discover who you are during rehearsals.”

Though Copenhagen is chock full of science-related dialogue, audience members do not need to be fluent in the scientific concepts to enjoy the play, Locke said.

“I don’t want to convey the idea that it’s dense, not interesting and not fun,” he said. “It’s really a fascinating slice of history and character study of these three people.”

The play was originally scheduled to open in late April. The actors started learning their lines last fall and rehearsing in January, but in March, Covid-19 brought their in-person rehearsals to a halt. Still, they continued running their lines together over the video conferencing platform Zoom.

“We had to have a way to keep interacting and repeating the words while looking at each other,” Sears said. “It’s an incredibly pale [way of rehearsing] relative to being on stage with the other actors, but it was all we could do, and it was necessary.”

Locke said that because the play only has three cast members he “never had any doubt that it could still go forward in the era of Covid,” and he had always planned on bringing it to the stage as soon as theaters were allowed to reopen.

“This is a massive work of memorization for these actors, so they had already put a big commitment into it at that point, and I owed it to them not to cancel,” he said, adding that, even though the actors will be paid less than expected due to the limit on ticket sales, “I never heard a single complaint or doubt from any of them.”

Copenhagen
Where:
Hatbox Theatre, Steeplegate Mall, 270 Loudon Road, Concord
When: Friday, July 24, through Sunday, Aug. 9, with performances on Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.
Tickets: $18 for adults; $15 for theater members, seniors and students; and $12 for senior theater members.
Covid-19 guidelines: Audience members will be required to social distance and wear face masks during the performance.
Contact: 715-2315, hatboxnh.com

Quality of Life 20/07/23

No fall sports for UNH players and fans
The University of New Hampshire Department of Athletics announced July 17 that its fall sports teams — cross-country, soccer, football, field hockey, and women’s volleyball — will not compete in intercollegiate athletics this year. “For months, we have worked … to establish safe protocols and practices that would protect our student-athletes, coaches, staff and the greater community,” UNH Director of Athletics Marty Scarano said in the announcement, which was posted on the UNH Athletics Department website. “As of the last few weeks it has become obvious that … the virus is not under control and continues to present a significant risk.” The announcement noted that all athletic scholarships and eligibility will be honored for this year.
Score: -2
Comment: According to the announcement, the possibility of moving fall sports to the spring is being considered, and decisions regarding winter sports will take place in early fall.

Record-breaking spring turkey hunt
New Hampshire hunters set a record during this year’s spring turkey hunt, harvesting 5,719 turkeys, which is 643 more turkeys than last year, according to a news release on the New Hampshire Fish & Game website. The youth hunt weekend also saw an increase, with a harvest of 500 turkeys (8.7 percent of the season’s total), compared to 424 last year. There were plenty of heavy birds this spring, with the largest weighing between 24 and 29 pounds. The top five towns for number of turkeys harvested were Weare (84), Concord (77), Gilmanton and Claremont (75 each), and Belmont (73), according to the news release.
Score: +1
Comment: New Hampshire Fish and Game is asking the public to provide turkey brood observations through Aug. 31 for its annual turkey brood survey. Visit wildnh.com/surveys/turkeybrood.html to participate.

Backpack Drive is on
The New Hampshire Department of Education announced in a press release that it is now accepting donations of new backpacks for its fifth annual Backpack Drive. Backpacks are needed for students of all ages and will be accepted through Aug. 19 at the Department of Education, 101 Pleasant St. in Concord. The backpacks will be distributed statewide to school nurses, law enforcement and PPE stations, which will make them available to students in need. “New Hampshire families sometimes struggle with the out-of-pocket expenses of sending their kids back to school, and this is one way people can lend a hand,” Diana Fenton, who first created the Backpack Drive for the department in 2016, said in the release. Last year, more than 600 backpacks were collected.
Score: +1
Comment: QOL is welcoming all signs of normal “back to school” happenings this year.

We suck at driving
New Hampshire ranks No. 5 in the nation when it comes to the number of at-fault car accidents, according to a study from Insurify, an auto insurance quotes comparison site that analyzed the driving records of 2 million car insurance applicants across the country. Their data found the following in New Hampshire: percentage of drivers with a prior at-fault accident, 15.71; percentage of drivers with a prior speeding violation, 12.78; percentage of drivers with a prior DUI, 2.13; and number of drivers with a prior reckless driving incident, 30 out of 10,000. “Based on New Hampshire’s high volume of reckless driving incidents … a possible determinant of this state’s accident rates could be a lack of common discretion on these less congested, open roads, leading to an abundance of carelessness and an increase in driving errors,” the report reads.
Score: -1
Comment: At least we ranked higher than our neighbors, Massachusetts and Maine, which came in at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

QOL score: 52
Net change: -1
QOL this week: 51
What’s affecting your Quality of Life here in New Hampshire? Let us know at news@hippopress.com.

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