Tag: 200730

Signs of Life 20/07/30

All quotes are from The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance, by Tom Brady, born Aug. 3, 1977.

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22) What are your goals? How do you define success in your life? Only you can answer that! Yay!

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22) The game never stops evolving, so why should I? You shouldn’t.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22) … just because you’re standing at a buffet, that doesn’t mean you’re supposed to eat everything. You should eat just enough so that you feel full, and no more. Sports training is no different. Binge watching may not be the best way to go, either.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21) Many gym trainers tell athletes to target their upper bodies on Mondays and Wednesdays and their lower bodies on Tuesdays and Thursdays. At TB12, we advise athletes to do upper body, core, and lower body in the same workout. A comprehensive approach is best.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21) … the ones I remember best are the closely fought games in which, no matter what the scoreboard says, our team put in our best effort. Ah, those are good times.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19) Strong athletes like to work on strength, and fast athletes like to work on speed. But that doesn’t create balance. To create balance, we need to work on our deficiencies as well. You know what you need to do.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18) After the seventh push-up, your chest is straining and you feel fatigued. … But your brain says, ‘Keep going! Fight hard!’ It asks other muscles to step in to help you finish. It could be your lats, your triceps, or your butt — your brain calls on any muscle that will help you achieve your goal and finish what you set out to do. But to me, form first means engaging only the muscles you should be engaging for the movement you are attempting to do. That’s how you keep the proper balance. Start easy and work your way up.

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20) If you do daily squats with a four-hundred-pound load on your back, the only thing you’ll get better at is squatting with a four-hundred-pound load on your back. Which could come in handy sometime!

Aries (March 21 – April 19) Make sure you maintain the right biomechanically correct form — knees over feet, hips over knees, and your core engaged — before you start, and stop performing an exercise the moment your form starts to break down. One good push-up is better than 10 bad ones.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20) Sometimes I think I’m the most hydrated person in the world. It’s not a competition.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20) Sometimes we see older people working out with bands, or doing water aerobics or tai chi. It turns out that they know something the rest of us don’t. Ask them what they know.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22) If we’ve lost but I’ve learned something, the game turns into a positive experiment. Sometimes in the moment it doesn’t feel that way, because the emotions are running so high — but you try to learn and move on. Lesson No. 1: Don’t send Lenny from Accounting for coffee.

The Music Roundup 20/07/30

• Stepping up: After a long pandemic-caused hiatus, Thirsty Thursday jam sessions return to Auburn Pitts. In a tradition for years now hosted by Oak Hill Music, singers are asked to bring a microphone, and masks are still required. Hats off to the first person who whips out a rendition of “Safety Dance” or “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” for the socially distanced, Purell-soaked fans. Thursday, July 30, 6:30 p.m., Auburn Pitts, 167 Rockingham Road, Auburn, facebook.com/auburnpitts.

• Healing laughter: A residency that began last week and runs through mid-August has Comedy at a Distance, with Juston McKinney & Friends keeping the mood light in dark times. The mechanics of standup makes doing shows challenging, but people want to laugh and the consensus is it’s working in the New Normal — events are selling out and comics are happy. Friday, July 31, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester. Tickets are $29 and can be purchased by calling 668-5588.

• Plucky pair: Though it sounds like a bird, the moniker of rootsy acoustic folk duo Green Heron is actually a play on the last names of Scott Heron and Betsy Green, both members of modern bluegrass combo The Opined Few and the band Mama Ain’t Dead. They play guitar, fiddle and banjo and harmonize. Their afternoon show is free and open to the public. Sunday, Aug. 2,, 4 p.m., Blueberry Express Park, 16 School St., Allenstown. See facebook.com/greenheronmusic.

• Guitar man: With a resume stretching from ’90s rockers Wild Horses to backing Godsmack’s Sully Erna on his solo records and playing Faux Walsh in Dark Desert Eagles, Chris Lester has earned a reputation for talent and versatility as guitarist, singer and producer. Most recently, his band Ghosts of Vinyl released a pair of songs, “Amnesia” and “Zero Gravity.” Wednesday, Aug. 5, 5 p.m., Stumble Inn, 20 Rockingham Road, Londonderry. See chrislester.com.

• Jerry day: On what would have been Jerry Garcia’s 78th birthday, musicians like Brett Wilson are playing in tribute to the guitarist known as Captain Trips and beloved by Deadheads. Wilson’s band Roots of Creation was inspired enough to make Grateful Dub a couple of years back, a reggae collection of Dead favorites like “Friend of the Devil” that ended with a minute of silence for Jerry. Saturday, Aug. 1, 6 p.m., Surfside Burger Bar, 41 NH Route 25, Meredith. See rootsofcreation.com.

Saturday in the park

Concord concert series spotlights local music

With big-name shows canceled throughout the state, local music is enjoying a welcome moment in the spotlight. In Concord, Capitol Center for the Arts and its smaller sister venue Bank of NH Stage are dark until close to Labor Day, but they’re keeping on by helping out with a series of concerts highlighting regional music, in nearby Fletcher-Murphy Park.

Upcoming are JamAntics cofounder Lucas Gallo (Aug. 1), modern country artist April Cushman (Aug. 8), percussive guitarist Senie Hunt (Aug. 15) and fiddle wizard Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki with Matt Jensen (Aug. 22). Music in the Park is a collaborative effort between Capitol Center for the Arts, Concord Community Music School and the Concord Parks & Recreation Department, with sponsorship by Concord Pediatric Dentistry.

Gallo, a tireless booster of the Concord scene for years as a musician and promoter, fits in perfectly with the series’ spirit. His show will celebrate the release of a new album, From the Attic. The all-acoustic CD was largely completed during the pandemic lockdown; many performers used the period of no gigs to focus on original projects.

Gallo was spurred to pull out material he’d kept in storage for years and “open it up,” as he sings in the title song.

“This album is all about taking those songs that have been kicking around for a while down from the attic,” he said in a recent phone interview. “Clear the dust, rejuvenate this older material in order to keep moving forward.”

The oldest song, “Drown,” dates back 18 years —‌ almost half a lifetime for Gallo, 37. The instrumental “Glude” and “It’s You,” a romantic shuffle with echoes of Jack Johnson written for Gallo’s wife, are the most recent tracks.

“They’re maybe a year old,” he said. “The others range over the last 10 years; some are songs that I played live a bunch but don’t have on record.”

Darlingside singer and guitarist Don Mitchell served as engineer, mixing and mastering the new record.

“I have a pretty long history with Darlingside here in Concord,” Gallo said. “It was super cool to have him be in that position on the album.”

Along with working on his own stuff, Gallo used the quarantine to check out friends in the music community, what he called a “silver lining” of lockdown for the father of three.

“We don’t get out all that often at nighttime, being parents,” he said. “So it was really cool to all of a sudden see everybody doing livestreams. … Nobody really took a break; they just found a different way to do it.”

Gallo also recognizes that Covid-19 offered an opportunity to performers like him.

“It’s a little bit ironic that it’s a big win for the local musicians when all these huge shows can’t happen,” he said. “All the local shows happen in smaller venues or bars, and it’s just really cool that local music is the one that’s able to keep it going.”

Music in the Park will happen rain or shine; if there’s inclement weather the show will be moved into Bank of NH Stage.

“There’s only 50 tickets being sold,” Gallo said, “so there will be plenty of room to social distance within the venue.”

All tickets include a copy of the new disc, a fact that may be most exciting to Gallo.

“I wanted an incentive to come,” he said. “To me it’s just like holding a book —‌ I want to hold a CD in my hand.”

Gallo offered high praise for the Capitol Center team that spearheaded the show.

“They’re smart people who are always looking for ways to pull in local music,” Gallo said. “It’s funny — I found out about Music in the Park because I’d emailed [marketing manager Sheree Owens] thinking that it would be so cool if they could do something out front, or close down part of Pleasant Street. Then she mentioned that they had this idea.”

Lucas Gallo
When: Saturday, Aug. 1, 6 p.m.
Where: Fletcher-Murphy Park, 28 Fayette St., Concord
Tickets: $10 at banknhstage.com

First Cow (PG-13)

Film Reviews by Amy Diaz

An enterprising duo finds money in baked goods in First Cow.

Otis Figowitz (John Magaro) is, as his nickname “Cookie” suggests, the cook for a hunting expedition in the Pacific Northwest in the 1800s (Wikipedia says 1820). While searching for mushrooms and other edible fare to add to the provisions for the hangry trappers, he meets King-Lu (Orion Lee), originally from China. When they first meet, King-Lu is naked and hiding from a party of Russian trappers. Cookie gives King-Lu some food and takes care of him for a day or so while he recuperates from days on the run.

Later, after Cookie has been paid for the hunting expedition, he meets King-Lu in the small town (a bar, some houses, a thoroughfare where people sell all manner of things). King-Lu takes Cookie to the small shack where he’s set up a home. They hang out for a while, talking about future plans (maybe a farm for King-Lu, maybe a hotel and bakery for Cookie) and eventually about food. A cow has recently been brought to the area by the local rich guy, Chief Factor (Toby Jones), and Cookie has seen it hanging out in the meadow. What’s the harm in borrowing a little milk late at night?

Cookie makes a kind of fried biscuit with the first batch of stolen-milk-enhanced batter. King-Lu sees opportunity in these non-hardtack foodstuffs. Cookie makes a sweeter batch of what he calls oily cakes, which have kind of a doughnut-y appearance, and quickly sells out of them in the town’s thoroughfare, with King-Lu even helping along a bidding war for the last cake. They sneak in for another nighttime milking of the cow and the next day produce even more oily cakes (cooked on the spot), leading to a line of eager customers and cake-embellishments like a shaving of cinnamon.

The cakes are, I guess, the talk of the town and Chief Factor shows up to try one, leading Cookie to worry that he will eventually guess at the ingredients. Factor asks for Cookie to make an even more elaborate dessert for an upcoming tea party and King-Lu and Cookie find themselves trying to judge exactly how far they can take their criminal baking endeavor: they want to sock away enough money to chase their dreams but get out before they are caught.

There is a watchfulness about this movie — watching Cookie look for mushrooms or fry up oily cakes, watching other people in the town sell their goods, watching people go about their day. The movie takes the time to look around at the world this story is set in and what it maybe loses in momentum it gains in texture. There isn’t a lot to this movie in terms of events but there is a lot of richness, a lot of giving us the feeling of what a thing is like — a dirty bar, a spot in the woods or even the friendship between these two men, which is a truly lovely element of this story. This movie is the ultimate show-not-tell and it is able to immerse you in its world and in its characters without romanticizing the harsh realities of its time. A

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, according to the MPA on filmratings.com. Directed by Kelly Reichardt with a screenplay by Jon Raymond and Kelly Reichardt (based on the novel The Half-Life by Jon Raymond), First Cow is two hours and two minutes long and distributed by A24. The movie is available for rent or purchase.

Album Reviews 20/07/30

Boris, NO (self-released)

Already charter members of the cool kids club, the Japanese experimental bliss-metal trio are completely indie as of a year or so ago; this LP was released through the direct artist-to-consumer service Bandcamp. Not to get too inside-baseball with it, but that tells me they weren’t deliriously happy with Jack White’s Third Man Records imprint, but regardless, the band’s 27th album is up. As always a self-indulgent joint, NO’s obligato forked-finger-salute song-intro comes at the Motorhead-like speed-punk tune “Anti-Gone,” a welcome departure from album-opener “Genesis,” which treads a middle ground between Sunn(((O))) ringout-drone and singer-less Pelican riffing that had me wondering why I was bothering with the record. Don’t get me wrong, bandleader Wata still reigns as Japan’s answer to Iggy, but I was far more entranced by the absolutely spastic “Temple of Hatred,” the slow-mo black-metal dooming of “Zerkalo” and the Misfits-nicking “Fundamental Erorr” than that sad excuse for a leadoff track. Oh whatever, fine, it’s awesome, don’t mind me. A+

The Clientele, It’s Art Dad (Merge Records)

To hear Pitchfork tell it, this Monkees-twee band should have called it quits 10 years ago; it was a bit odd reading the ravings of the nerd who got assigned 2017’s Music for the Age of Miracles, who actually complained about that’s album’s overabundance of complacent cheeriness (I was like, now I’ve heard everything, literally). Forgive that segue, as there’s really not much to complain about here, particularly if your tastes run to Columbia House Record Club fodder from the 1960s, or if you ever wanted a more melodically astute Field Mice, but then again, this is composed of old tunes from the first half of the 1990s, which may mean that the band took such criticism to heart, one never knows. The crew does have, as alleged by critics, a dream-pop/shoegaze aspect, mostly due to the Alasdair MacLean’s Spacemen 3-level fetish for drowning his voice in reverb (sometimes he even plugs his microphone into a guitar amp for a modicum of extra weirdness), but other than that, it’s antique radio Britpop mellowness with quite a few hooks. A

Retro Playlist

Eric W. Saeger recommends a few of albums worth a second look.

At this point, it doesn’t feel like we’ll ever see another blockbuster movie in an actual movie theater. And that stinks, at least for me; the wife and I have accumulated around $200 worth of free movie passes at last count, once-valuable swag that feels like worthless Monopoly money now. It’s unfair. The loss of big-screen escapism isn’t only felt by “cinema” nerds; music fans feel the void as well. After all, soundtrack albums have been a big sell for many decades, starting with the very first one, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1938. And deservedly so —‌ soundtrack albums allow us to relive awesome cinematic and theatrical experiences.

I’ve only bought two, ever. The first one was the soundtrack to the 1987 vampire film The Lost Boys. Around 75 percent of the songs are still awesome: Lou Gramm’s “Lost In The Shadows” (in which the guys bomb around trails on motorcycles), saxophone hack Tim Cappello’s “I Still Believe” (the bit with the beach concert), the two Jimmy Barnes tunes, even Roger Daltry’s cover of Elton John’s “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me” (if you can make it to the end, you’ll be treated to a solo guitar playing the riff to “Saturday Night’s Alright For Fighting,” which is so cool it makes me sweat just thinking of it).

The other one was a film score. I’m not big into scores, although The Hunt For Red October and The Usual Suspects had some great moments. My software-tech friends were all into The Lion King soundtrack in the early ’90s, which really made me worry for humanity. But yeah, I did buy one, the soundtrack CD to Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Yeah, yeah, I know, “hurr durr, Jar Jar sucks,” but the version of the main theme on that album was and is the best one ever, loud, unabashed and relentless, a reckoning. The battle droid war theme is cool; the music to the “there’s always a bigger fish” scene is awesome, and so are several other pieces.

Now, as for “Duel Of The Fates” (the “Darth Maul vs. the two Jedi dudes” battle), I didn’t really like it. Too contrived. Like, why not just have the choir singing “Look! It’s the Devil!”

(I’m anticipating hate mail for that last part, but don’t do it: You’ll only become more like me if you allow the Dark Side to grow in you.)

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 [email protected] for fastest response.

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• The next traditional CD release day is July 31, when, among several others, the new album from Creeper, called Sex Death & The Infinite Void, wings its way into the stores and Soundclouds. I wasn’t aware of the Southampton, England-based band, but I’d heard of AFI and Alkaline Trio, two bands they are usually compared to, which means we are dealing with some sort of emo concoction here. But — and here’s where you really need to stop paying attention — the boys of Creeper consider themselves a “horror punk” band, which means that they are not only emo but scary emo, which is actually an oxymoron, because there’s nothing scary about emo except when your little brother is playing it cranked to 11 and your mom won’t let you throw him and his stupid emo CD out the window. Oh, let’s just get this over with, because I’m still trying to find something decent on Netflix and have already wasted at least two hours by selecting a movie that looks cool but then, after I start it, I find out it has subtitles, because it was made in Turkey or Zanzibar, don’t you totally hate that? This new Creeper album has a single called “Annabelle,” and it isn’t “horror punk” or anything of the sort, it’s more like My Chemical Romance, in other words “listenable emo that isn’t completely awful.” Actually it’s more like old Cheap Trick than regular stupid emo, so maybe these guys are actually OK, but to be honest, my stomach is feeling really fragile from my last 10-hour binge of stuffing my face with random food as a way to cope with coronavirus boredom, like there’s no way my body could deal with a “decent emo” record while also trying to figure out what to do with some Saku takeout and Ruffles cheddar and sour cream chips and Stonewall Kitchen blackberry jam on Ezekiel sprouted grain bread, which can only be bought, apparently, at Whole Foods. Yes, I’m fragile right now, sorry.

• The band Land of Talk is an indie band from Montreal, so I automatically hate them, but they have a girl singer, so maybe they aren’t awful, I just don’t know yet. The band’s new LP, Indistinct Conversations, has an annoying title, but other than that, I don’t know if the music itself is annoying, because for that, I will need to visit YouTube and see what the song “Compelled” is about. So the first two parts of the song are mellow, ’90s-ish and not terribly annoying, but there is of course, haha, nothing hooky, and then it goes into some messy chillout part that made me run for the bathroom. (Really man, does every indie band in Montreal suck this badly? Serious question for the floor. My God, my God.)

• Steve Howe, the guitarist from arena-prog band Yes, may be 73, but he still makes albums, because he just must, you know? His 21st album, Love Is, contains a song called “The Headlands.” It starts off like some awful old Motels tune, but then he plugs in his guitar gizmos and it suddenly becomes rather awesome, and he does some solos, but after three minutes there’s no singing, so I gave up on it.

• Our last target-bot this week is the new Fontaines DC LP, A Hero’s Death! The video for the title track stars tertiary Game of Thrones mandarin-dude Aidan Gillen as Conan O’Brien, while the singer babbles some stream-of-consciousness nonsense in a Cockney accent over art-punk guitars. It is OK. — Eric W. Saeger

Local bands seeking album or EP reviews can message me on Twitter (@esaeger) or Facebook (eric.saeger.9).

The Weekly Dish 20/07/30

• Jewish food festival goes virtual: The New Hampshire Jewish Food Festival, normally held in July at Temple B’nai Israel in Laconia, has transitioned this year into a takeout event only, according to a press release. Now through Aug. 10, orders can be placed online and picked up curbside by appointment at the temple at 210 Court St. in Laconia. A drive-through system will be used and masks are required for all customers. The online takeout menu features many of the popular items that have been staples at past festivals, including blintzes (lightly fried crepes filled with cheese), matzo ball soup, homemade traditional brisket with gravy, New York-style knishes filled with ground beef brisket or seasoned potatoes, challah (hand-braided honey-sweetened egg bread) and more. All items are sold frozen and include instructions for heating. Place your order now at tbinh.org.

• On the Cooking Channel: Mr. Mac’s Macaroni & Cheese was one of several restaurants across the country that was featured on a July 22 episode of the Cooking Channel’s popular series Food Paradise, according to a press release. Content for the episode, titled “Seafood — Eat Food!” was shot in November at the Mr. Mac’s location in Tyngsboro, Mass. According to the release, the restaurant was transformed into that of a movie set for a day of shooting, featuring Mr. Mac’s VP of Corporate Operations Mark Murphy and Tyngsboro store franchisee Harry Cheema. Visit cookingchanneltv.com for details on future air dates.

• The Foundry burglarized: The Foundry Restaurant in Manchester is open for business again after having to close for several days last week due to damages from a burglary on July 21. According to a press release from the Manchester police, the restaurant sustained around $250,000 in damage during the burglary including multiple broken windows and broken items, including liquor bottles, inside the restaurant. Police arrested Michael Grove of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, who police say they found inside the restaurant when they responded to the report of a burglary in progress, and charged him with burglary, reckless conduct, criminal mischief and resisting arrest, the press release said. According to the Foundry’s Facebook page, the restaurant reopened for dinner service on Friday, July 24.

• Messy Mike’s trailer on the way: The Derry-based Messy Mike’s Barbecue & Catering Co. is launching a 30-foot mobile food trailer in the coming weeks. Owner Michael “Messy Mike” Massiglia said you’ll soon be able to find his trailer at least every Thursday through Sunday in the parking lot of Rockingham Acres Greenhouse (159 Rockingham Road, Derry). The menu will include various meats sold by the pound, sandwiches and sides, including cornbread provided by Cheryl Holbert of Nomad Bakery in Derry. A former master electrician by trade, Massiglia quit his day job to pursue his barbecuing dream full-time in 2014. Since then he’s catered for all kinds of events across New England, like birthday parties, cookouts, weddings, golf tournaments and corporate gatherings, offering a menu heavy on smoked meats and fresh sides. He also makes his own bottled hot and regular barbecue sauces, which are available for sale online. Visit messymikesbarbecue.com or follow him on Facebook @messymikesbbq for updates on the trailer

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