Tag: 241107

Irish journey

Celtic Thunder returns to Capitol Center

By Michael Witthaus
[email protected]

At an upcoming show in downtown Concord, Celtic Thunder will feature several selections from Odyssey, an album they released last year along with a PBS special. The group’s lead singer, tenor Emmet Cahill, called the record a return to their roots in a recent phone interview.

“We have those traditional, very patriotic songs that tell the story of the foundation of the Irish state back in the early 1900s,” he said. “People are very passionate about that historical side to Ireland … it’s given us so much of our identity. We pay homage to the people who sacrificed everything for Irish independence, freedom and liberty.”

There are always fun moments, Cahill continued. One of his favorites on the new album is “The Wellerman,” a lively sea shanty that’s gone viral. “It’s about 30 million views now,” he said. “That song’s brought in a whole new audience for us, people who maybe wouldn’t have known about Celtic Thunder before and absolutely love that. It’s a bit of a hook; once it gets into your head, it’s there.”

One of the hallmarks of a Celtic Thunder concert is staying upbeat even if songs sometimes touch on somber topics; for example, “City of Chicago” is about the potato famine.

“There are serious moments, but it’s a fun experience,” he said. “There’s people singing along, and we’re keeping our old classics like ‘Caledonia,’ ‘Ireland’s Call’ and ‘Heartland.’ All the ones that fans from the very start will always expect to hear.”

The onstage banter between Cahill, Neil Byrne, Damian McGinty and Ronan Scolard is another perennial highlight.

“The nice thing about being in Celtic Thunder is that we go out and we’re just ourselves,” Cahill said. “We’re guys who grew up in Ireland telling these stories and we’re having fun doing it. I think that’s what people like, the realness of the show.”

Cahill spoke from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, where the group had just performed. They’d also sung the national anthem at the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Monday Night Football game. After shows in New Jersey and New York, the group would be heading to New England, and he was looking forward to it.

“New Hampshire, Massachusetts, the big Boston Irish communities, even when we go out to places like Maine, I think Irish people feel very at home there,” he said. “I always find in the Northeast that the humor is very similar to the Irish, dark and funny. I also like their straight talk … people just tell you what they’re thinking, or what they think of you.”

Celtic Thunder has performed multiple times at Concord’s Capitol Center, most recently in 2021. A Nov. 10 show there will be their last in the U.S., with five shows in Canada following to close out a tour that commenced in early September. Cahill won’t be slowing down, however. Two weeks later he’ll hit the road for Florida, Texas and California.

He’s made a couple of Christmas albums, and the season is always busy.

“I’ve carved a little bit of a niche out for myself in the faith communities in America, which has been great because it’s kind of where I came from,” he said. “My dad was a music minister in our church, and I was always singing that type of music as well as the Irish folk songs. They were the two genres that were ever present in our house in Ireland.”

With a majority of their shows happening stateside, Cahill recognizes the close Irish/American connection but believes there’s more to explain why fans regularly flock to see them.

“I think we’re pretty fun people to hang out with, we’re pretty lighthearted, we’re welcoming and embrace other cultures,” he said. “People want to be in on the act, which is what we get at our shows. It’s not predominantly Irish Americans who come … I think it’s the general American public who say, ‘Oh, this is just a really enjoyable night out.’”

Celtic Thunder Odyssey
When: Sunday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m.
Where: Capitol Center for the Arts, 44 S. Main St., Concord
Tickets: $60.75 and up at ccanh.com

Featured photo: Celtic Thunder. Courtesy photo.

The Music Roundup 24/11/7

Local music news & events

• Guitar hero: Along with playing and writing with Godsmack singer Sully Erna, Chris Lester is a fixture on the regional music scene. He’s remembered for his time in Mama Kicks and for the past several years as Joe Walsh’s doppelgänger in the tribute band Dark Desert Eagles. Earlier this year, Lester contributed to a track on Ace Frehley’s latest album, Cosmic Heart. He performs an early evening set. Thursday, Nov. 7, 8 p.m., The Local, 15 E. Main St., Warner. Visit chrislester.live.

• Local lights: A new record and a trip down memory lane combine when Addison Chase headlines a show in downtown Concord. Selections from Chase’s meditation on parenthood, love and personal growth Better Soon will be followed by a reunion performance of his old band Dressed for the Occasion. The evening kicks off with fellow local luminaries Lucas Gallo & the Guise doing an original set. Friday, Nov. 8, 7 p.m., BNH Stage, 16 S. Main St., Concord, $15 at ccanh.com.

• Petty theft: A tribute act that strives to capture look, feel and sound, Damn the Torpedoes began covering Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers a decade before Petty passed. Their headband-wearing, Rickenbacker-playing front man Rich Kubicz is quite convincing on songs like “Jammin’ Me” and “I Need to Know” while his cohorts deliver the chops needed to convey the legendary rockers. Saturday, Nov. 9, 7:30 p.m., Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, $35 at palacetheatre.org.

• Dead blue: Fresh off a run of festival appearances, Fireside Collective brings the Grateful Dead-themed Fireside on the Mountain show to a bucolic Granite State venue. Sunday, Nov. 10, 7 p.m., The Word Barn, 66 Newfields Road, Exeter, $25 at portsmouthticketsnh.com.

• Folk treasure: An evening of music and conversation spotlights Rachel Kilgour, who released the brilliant My Father Loved Me last year. The Rose Cousins-produced LP is a “journal of music” composed in the wake of a dementia diagnosis. “No one’s perfect but when you can find the spirit of a person through their deeds and words, that will make your peace,” one critic wrote of it. Wednesday, Nov. 13, 6 p.m., Hermit Woods Winery, 72 Main St., Meredith, $18 at eventbrite.com.

Counting Miracles, by Nicholas Sparks

Counting Miracles, by Nicholas Sparks (Random House, 368 pages)

I love a good Nicholas Sparks book, so much so that I’m on my library’s automatic waitlist for his new releases. I’ve read them all, and usually I know what I’m going to get: romance, a healthy dose of drama, and possibly a few tears. There is always love, and there is sometimes loss.

Sparks’ latest, Counting Miracles, explores love and loss to the extreme. There are two storylines, very loosely woven together at first and uniting in the end, as such stories do. They’re told in chapters that alternate from the points of view of Tanner, Kaitlyn and Jasper. Tanner and Kaitlyn’s storyline is one — that’s the romance — and Jasper’s is a story all his own.

The book starts with Tanner, a middle-aged veteran, stepping up to help a teenage girl, Casey, who appears to be in trouble with a boy. Moments later Tanner helps her again after she crashes into his car. He kindly drives her home, and his good deeds are rewarded as he meets Casey’s single mom, Kaitlyn, and instantly falls in strong like.

Tanner’s purpose for being in town is to potentially find his birth father after getting a cryptic clue from his grandmother when she was on her deathbed. He still works on that goal, though it’s somewhat put on the back burner for a while as he obsesses over Kaitlyn.

Then there’s Jasper, an older man with a host of health problems and a long history of tragedy. He’s connected to Kaitlyn because he is teaching woodcarving to her son Mitch. When he’s not doing that, he’s living alone in a cabin with his dog Arlo and no family or friends to speak of. When the town is abuzz with news that a rare white deer has been seen in the forest, Jasper makes it his new mission to save that deer from poachers.

The premise of Counting Miracles is finding hope in times of despair, of moving forward when there doesn’t seem to be anything to move toward. It’s uplifting in theory, but Counting Miracles is so heavy on despair that it was hard to push through to get to the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Yes, Sparks can obviously tell a good story if he’s making me feel all the feels, but I found myself skimming the darker chapters because they were uncomfortably depressing.

Plus, the darker chapters were the Jasper chapters, and I wasn’t all that interested in reading about his deer-saving adventures, especially since sitting in the woods for long periods of time led to a lot of reflection on the aforementioned tragic past.

Perhaps most off-putting for me in Jasper’s story is the heavy Bible influence. At one point Jasper recalls a tornado that took out his pear tree farm — his source of livelihood. In the present, he recalls staring at the toppled trees and thinking of the ninth verse in the fourth chapter of Job: “By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they come to an end.” But then he reminds himself that “the Lord works in mysterious ways and thought about 1 Corinthians 10:13, which promised that ‘God is faithful, and He will not let you be tested beyond your strength.’” He was losing sleep at that time due to financial worries and considered declaring bankruptcy but instead thought about Psalm 37:21, which says “the wicked borrows and does not pay back.”

All three of the above-quoted Bible passages occur in the space of one page. That’s a lot, and it continues throughout his story as he recalls experiencing, and seemingly continues to experience, the worst life has to offer.

Kaitlyn and Tanner, meanwhile, are going through the typical highs and lows of a potential new relationship. Tanner has never settled down and has plans to leave the country again soon; Kaitlyn knows that and tries not to get attached, and he does the same, but of course they just can’t ignore their infatuation.

You kind of have to suspend reality to fall for a Sparks love story, because his romances often happen quickly. Kaitlyn and Tanner can’t wait to spend time together; their first date is a day at the zoo that Kaitlyn had planned with Mitch, and she asks him to join them. As a single mom myself, I was a little surprised by this, and then annoyed because they didn’t pay much attention to Mitch and instead had deep conversations while following him around. But all Tanner has to do is throw the kid a frisbee later in the date and Mitch is as smitten as his mom.

Casey, on the other hand, is a great foil to their relationship. She’s very 16 and has the attitude to prove it, but ultimately she’s a good kid who wants her mom to be happy — even if she doesn’t always show it.

I was rooting for Kaitlyn and Tanner throughout their ups and downs because they’re likable characters. I wish we heard a little more of Kaitlyn’s backstory and a little less of Tanner’s, because he did a lot of the talking in their conversations, and I felt like I never fully got to know her.

And maybe that’s one of the reasons why I was always disappointed to leave Kaitlyn and Tanner behind at the end of a chapter to re-join Jasper. I wanted more of their story and less of his. But I know that’s a personal thing; I prefer light and romantic over sad and tragic. And I think a lot of people will enjoy the duality of this novel and how it comes together in the end. It wasn’t my favorite Sparks novel, but definitely worth the read. B —Meghan Siegler , and wilder than I had a right to ask for.” A

—Jennifer Graham

Album Reviews 24/11/7

CULT, DW-05 (Drum Workouts Records)

OK, this is actually great, an EP from an Irish DJ who’s part of a purported new wave of classically influenced producers. If you keep track of such things, he’s received love from X-Coast, DJ Stingray and IMOGEN, among others, which is as workaday as getting a review blurb from Stephen King for your new horror novel, but in this case I’m hopping on board, absolutely. In truth there’s really only a perfunctory modicum of “classical” in this stuff, so don’t be put off; mostly it’s a hybrid of drum ’n’ bass and deep house if that makes any sense (it certainly should, I’d imagine). Put more succinctly, the beats lope and (gently) stampede, chasing their layers around aural racetracks, while ’80s and ’90s hip-hop-centric vocal lines and assorted toasts keep pace. If it isn’t the current state of the velvet rope club in places like Ibiza I’d be surprised and a bit disappointed. A+ —Eric W. Saeger

Caleb Wheeler Curtis, The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Imani Records)

Hope you’re into Thelonious Monk if you’re thinking of indulging in this one, because this Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist sure loves him some of that; matter of fact the songs are, it’s suggested by this thing I’m reading here, explorations of Monk’s ideas, particularly on the second disc of this double LP, appropriately subtitled Raise Four: Monk the Minimalist. It sounds that way, too, lots of honking and wildly adventurous post-bop explorations, what I usually think of as high-test, dark-roast jazz if you will. Curtis switches back and forth between trumpet and three saxophone types, “stritch” (alto), sopranino and tenor, and he’s supported most ably on this double album by two rhythm sections, bassist Sean Conly and drummer Michael Sarin on the first disc and bassist Eric Revis and drummer Justin Faulkner on the second. Obviously, Monk is an acquired taste, not one I’ve ever developed with any seriousness, but this is surely a great workout for your noggin if you have the time and space to indulge in it. A+ —Eric W. Saeger

PLAYLIST

A seriously abridged compendium of recent and future CD releases

• Our next Friday-load of new albums is Nov. 8, or so this thing’s telling me, but this week we’re going to start with something decidedly not rock ’n’ roll at all, specifically super-old music played by 24-year-old Dutch recorder wunderkind Lucie Horsch! If you’re the type of listener who only knows about comedy albums and crunk singles, you’re probably wondering what a “recorder” is, so let’s dig into that before you lose interest completely! A recorder is a vaguely flute-like wind instrument, basically a glorified “flutophone” (an easy-to-play thingamajig we old people had to play in grade-school music class or we’d get yelled at). Lucie’s new album is The Frans Brüggen Project: Orchestra Of The Eighteenth Century, and it features her own wunderkind-centric renderings of music written by composers in the 1700s. The selections on this album were originally created by Haydn, Bach and all those guys in wigs, and the angle here is that she plays these wicked old tunes on antique recorders that were previously owned by this Frans Brüggen feller, who was sort of wunderkind-ish himself. Case in point: If you want awesomeness, on her recording of Marcello’s “Oboe Concerto in D Minor, S. Z799: II. Adagio (Performed on Recorder),” Lucie plays a recorder that was made in the year 1720, way before the first Hives album came out. Ha ha, look at this, Lucie caught flak on Facebook (where else) for calling her advance recording of the aforementioned concerto a “single,” like, some guy yelled at her for calling it a “single” instead of a “movement”; it was as if she’d asked the guy “would you please pass the jelly” when she’d actually wanted him to pass the Polaner All-Fruit, and it made him lose it completely! Anyhow, the Marcello single or Polaner Blueberry Snob Spread or whatever is very pretty and bucolic and whatnot; she’s supported by a string section, so it’s music that’s perfect for relaxing in a forest glade, nibbling on psychedelic skunk cabbage leaves or whatever people used to do for entertainment before there was My Cat From Hell and such.

• And now back to our regularly scheduled rundown of music from this abysmal century, starting with Scottish indie-rock band Primal Scream’s new album, Come Ahead! They have been around since 1982, spotlighting the bland vocals of former Jesus and Mary Chain drummer Bobby Gillespie, and he’s still here, bringin’ the LootCrate-level singing to these neo-psychedelic/garage tunes, like the new single from this album, “Deep Dark Waters,” a mid-tempo snoozer that sounds kind of off-key to me, but what would I know, I’ve only been a rock critic since Walter Mondale was president!

• Albany, New York,-based emo band State Champs is back, dumping another of their Dashboard Confessional-soundalike albums on my hopelessly messy desk, and surprise, this one’s self-titled, for no reason whatsoever! “Too Late To Say” is catchy, after a watered-down emo fashion. Do people still listen to this kind of stuff?

• Last but not least (unless I find that it actually is), it’s experimental metal duo The Body, with their new LP, The Crying Out Of Things! They are from Portland, Oregon, but they are nevertheless awesome, going by their new single, “End Of Line,” a deconstructionist’s dream that would have fit in fine with all the other fine products from Throbbing Gristle and all that stuff, back when planet Earth was still a smoldering ball of lava and the nepo babies hadn’t taken over. It is highly recommended! —Eric W. Saeger

Mango Cake with Mascarpone Frosting

Limes

You’ll need around 4 limes, altogether

Cake

2¼ cups (284 g) heavy cream – cool, but not cold

1½ cups (297 g) sugar

2 teaspoons kosher or coarse sea salt

4 eggs + 1 egg yolk

1 Tablespoon baking powder

3 cups (318 g) pastry or all-purpose flour

Frosting

4 cups (908 g) very cold heavy cream

An 8-ounce package of mascarpone cheese

¾ cup (86 g) powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla paste or extract

½ teaspoon salt

Mangoes

4 large, ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line two cake pans with parchment paper.

Zest and juice all four limes. Set them aside — they’re going in everything; if the mangos weren’t so dramatic, this would be the base for a very credible lime cake.

With a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer, combine 1 teaspoon or so of lime zest, 2 Tablespoons of lime juice, the smaller amount of heavy cream, sugar, and salt. Beat the mixture until it looks like whipped cream (which it mostly is). Mix in the eggs and yolk, one at a time, then the baking powder and flour, a few spoonfuls at a time. Beat everything until it is completely mixed; you might have to scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice.

Divide the cake batter between your two prepared cake pans, and smooth the tops out with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until they are golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from the oven, and set aside to cool.

When the cake has cooled, start making the frosting. (If you’ve always wondered what the difference is between icing and frosting: frosting is fluffier. This will be very fluffy.)

Combine another teaspoon or so — more, if you’re feeling daring — of lime zest, another two Tablespoons of lime juice, and the rest of the frosting ingredients together with your hand or stand mixer. Go slowly at first. As the mixture starts to thicken up, gradually boost the speed to medium-high. Beat the frosting until it is thick and fluffy.

Peel and chop your mangoes, then toss the chunks in lime juice to keep them from darkening. Set them aside.

If the cakes are cool, take them out of their pans, peel the parchment paper from their bottoms, and carefully cut them in half horizontally, giving yourself four thin layers.

Glop a generous amount of frosting onto the first layer of cake, and spread it out to cover the whole surface. An offset spatula is a very good tool for this. Alternatively, the back of a large spoon will work. Sprinkle ¼ of the mango chunks on top of the frosting, then top them with another layer of cake. Repeat the process, until you have four layers of cake stacked, a large handful of mango chunks left, and about half the frosting left in your bowl.

Use the rest of the frosting to generously cover the top and sides of the cake, then top it with the remaining mango pieces. Make peace with the fact that the plate the cake is on will be a mess. Don’t worry. When you’re done, wipe it down with a paper towel, and you’ll look like Martha Stewart.

When you’re ready to serve the cake, run a chef’s knife under hot water before each slice, to make the slices come out cleanly.

This is a real showstopper of a cake. It looks magnificent and tastes very classy. The frosting isn’t very sweet, so you get sophistication points, but the cake is, so things even out. The lime-cured mango gives off little pops of flavor in most bites. Given what an extravagant cake this is, you’ll get a surprising amount of credit for your restraint.

In the kitchen with Trafton Hanscom

Trafton Hanscom is the “Sleaze Wrangler” at Sleazy Vegan, 134 Main St., Pembroke, 233-5078, thesleazyvegan.com. Hanscom, 36, was born and raised in Washington, N.H. He moved to Manchester in 2020, and was working as a machinist when his partner, Kelley-Sue LeBlanc (KSL), launched The Sleazy Vegan Food Truck in 2022. That first summer season he helped on the weekends and at larger catering events. By March 2023 he took the leap and joined KSL full-time at the Sleazy Vegan.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A super-sharp knife. I’ve learned that cooking is much safer with a sharp well-cared-for blade than not … .

What is your favorite local eatery?

You mean besides Sleazy Vegan? I honestly don’t go out to eat too often. … Dragon Star, in Concord, if I had to name somewhere. It’s a place that has always represented good moments for me and they have great food.

Name a celebrity you would like to see eating in your restaurant.

Stephen Amell. I’ve always loved Arrow, and I think he would really enjoy our food.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

Our SVFT (Sleazy Vegan Food Truck) Burger. It’s meaty, juicy, and satisfying.

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

Eating at home. I think we saw a surge in eating out after Covid and now things are tightening up. Folks are staying in more.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

It’s not glamorous, but if I’m getting to cook for myself at home, I’m making rice. Plain rice with salt and pepper and non-dairy butter — comfort food.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home? Why?

It would have to be some sort of pasta. I have a couple of little boys. I make a butternut squash mac and cheese or American chop suey and those are always big hits.

Nala Bites
Ingredients: dates, shredded coconut, unsalted shelled almonds, vegan chocolate chips

Grab some dates. If you can get them pitted, great; if not, you just slice them down the middle and pull out the pit. In place of the pit, pop in an almond or two. Once your dates are prepared, grab a microwave-safe bowl and add vegan chocolate chips. I particularly like to combine the dark chocolate and semisweet Enjoy Life brand chips. You’ll just melt those down, and using a couple forks dip the almond-stuffed dates into the chocolate to cover them. Place them on a parchment-lined oven tray to set up. If you’re into coconut you can sprinkle some on top while the chocolate is still gooey.

You can really take these in any direction by changing what you stuff them with … Try it stuffed with peanut butter and topped with some sea salt or chopped pistachios.

Once you’ve settled on your definition of done, you can pop them in the fridge or the freezer. I really like them from the freezer. They are like a Riesen texture that way, only dairy-free. The chilled dates taste like caramel.

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