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Food: Berry Delicious
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Berry Delicious
Strawberry Festival Returns to Hollis
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Fifty quarts of whipping cream, 39 gallons of ice cream and 370 quarts of strawberries will be used at this year’s Hollis Strawberry Festival, happening at the Town Commons on Sunday, June 25.
The festival is hosted by the Hollis Woman’s Club and the Hollis Town Band. It started 71 years ago as a day of relaxation, when Hollis farmers could socialize with one another and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Now, it’s a chance for the whole town to come together, pay tribute to Hollis farms past and show support for the farms still running.
“It’s always been a celebration of Hollis’ agricultural history,” festival co-chair Lori Dwyer said. “Everywhere you go in Hollis in the summertime, there is something growing, whether it’s corn, tomatoes and other vegetables, raspberries, apples or, of course, strawberries. It’s just neat and a privilege to live in a town that still has these working farms.”
Upon arrival, attendees will receive an order form on which they can fill out what kind of treat they want: traditional strawberry shortcake with or without whipped cream and with or without vanilla ice cream, a strawberry sundae, just a bowl of strawberries with or without sugar, or just an ice cream in a cup or a cone.
“The shortcakes are … made from flour, heavy cream and sugar, so it’s a very moist and rich-tasting shortcake,” Dwyer said.
Once people fill out their forms, they’ll pay the cashier and take the forms up to the “shortcake factory” where volunteers will be assembling the treats.
David Orde, owner of Lull Farm, which supplies the berries along with Brookdale Fruit Farm, said there will be no lack of strawberries for the festival this year.
“It’s the perfect year for strawberries. We have a beautiful crop this year, extremely bountiful,” he said. “We started picking about a week ago, and the bulk is still to come. Depending on the weather, we’ll probably go through mid-July.”
Dwyer said she’s expecting as many as 1,000 attendees this year.
“It’s a very basic and simple festival, but it’s a long-running tradition. A lot of people come out to it,” she said. “It’s just a good day for everyone.”
Planning and publicity for the festival began in January. The week of the festival, the strawberries are picked at Brookdale and Lull farms and brought to Hardy Hall for a “hulling party,” where volunteers will spend the day cleaning, hulling, slicing and sugaring them.
Once the strawberries are prepared, they’re taken back to Brookdale Fruit Farm, where they’re refrigerated until the day of the festival. Meanwhile, bakers are making the shortcakes, and the vanilla ice cream is ordered from Doc Davis Ice Cream.
“It’s very involved, but somehow, it all comes together,” Dwyer said.
Additionally, there will be live music performed by the Hollis Town Band, a raffle, 10 local vendors selling homemade items, and face painting and games for kids.
Proceeds from the festival will benefit the scholarships and charities supported by the Hollis Woman’s Club.
71st Annual Hollis Strawberry Festival
Where: Hollis Town Common, 7 Monument Square, Hollis; rain site is Hollis Brookline Middle School, 25 Main St., Hollis
When: Sunday, June 25, from 2 to 4 p.m.
Cost: Free admission; strawberry treats priced individually
Visit: holliswomansclub.org
News: Snakes in a Den
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Snakes in a Den
How Timber Rattlesnakes Can Help Stop Lyme Disease
Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
New Hampshire’s timber rattlesnakes are endangered, but that’s not a good thing, biologists say. Despite the venomous snakes’ stigma, they’re more likely to help people than harm them, by interfering with the process through which Lyme disease is spread.
Why They’re Endangered
Here in the northern edge of the much-maligned timber rattlesnake’s range, the creature is slow and docile and spends eight months of the year hibernating, according to New Hampshire Fish and Game biologist Mike Marchand.
“Most of the rattlesnake bites involve either people intentionally trying to kill them or really messing with them,” Marchand said.
But they are venomous. So for hundreds of years the Crotalus horridus has been unwelcome in the domain of man. Marchand said snakes are generally already one of America’s’ top fears, but rattlesnakes are even scarier to most people.
Marchand was hesitant to downplay the dangers of a timber rattlesnake bite, but he did say modern medicine can generally prevent death given the chance to intervene in time.
“There’s thousands of snake bites in the United States every year of all venomous species and typically, less than five end up being fatalities, and those don’t generally involve timber rattlesnakes,” Marchand said.
Still, Marchand said, people have historically targeted the rattlesnakes for persecution.They were easy to kill because timber rattlesnakes gather to hibernate collectively at particular den sites. In the past, humans have been known to target those sites and smoke the snakes out or stab them individually while they rest.
“Rattlesnakes have been declining for a long time in the Northeast and especially in New England,” Marchand said.
After years of persecution and development around their habitat, there is now only one known population of timber rattlesnakes left in the state. Its location is a closely kept secret to protect the animals from further persecution, though Marchand says it’s south of the White Mountains.
Timber rattlesnakes were extirpated from Maine and Rhode Island; there are a few populations in Massachusetts, and Vermont has two populations, Marchand said.
But these snakes already have a hard time making a living without humans getting in the way. Marchand said they don’t begin reproducing until the females are between 6 and 8 years old, and then they only reproduce about every three years because of the time it takes to recover.
“If you have a population of 30 animals then you may only have two or three or four females who are giving birth, or zero, within a given year,” Marchand said.
They’re so slow moving that crossing a busy road is almost certain to be fatal, and since the state only has one population left, it’s more vulnerable to diseases due to a lack of genetic variability.
A study in the early 2000s found that heavy rainfall during a critical time usually used by the snakes to bask and recover body heat after hibernating caused a condition called snake fungal disease. Those snakes who couldn’t shed their fungal lesions before re-entering hibernation didn’t survive.
Why We Want Them Around
Marchand said snakes are useful at eating all manner of garden pests and small rodents and don’t carry diseases themselves. But a critical way these snakes can help humans is by eating one of the key species in the blacklegged tick lifecycle — white-footed mice.
“That’s been a pretty popular selling point that I’ve seen thrown out there in the last six months or so,” Marchand said.
A recent university study found that timber rattlesnakes released on a population of white-footed mice resulted in the elimination of 2,500 to 4,500 ticks.
Ticks feed on the mice during their nymphal stage and the mice are known to carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease and other pathogens harmful to humans.
Marchand said other animals are helpful at eating mice too, but the more snakes we have, the better.
“Rattlesnakes are part of that puzzle picture. They’re also helping to keep those rodent numbers down,” Marchand said.
Arts: Play On
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Play On
Pianos Arrive in Downtown Manchester
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Every morning at 7 a.m. last summer, passersby at Victory Park were treated to music, courtesy of the painted piano that Intown Manchester placed there in June.
“There was a gentleman who went and played pretty religiously,” said Intown Executive Director Sara Beaudry, who at the time received many calls commenting on the tunes, from park maintenance workers to Victory Parking Garage employees. “It was really nice.”
Before the Victory Park installation, Beaudry had been keeping her eye on the downtown piano trend; in New Hampshire, Nashua and Littleton had incorporated street pianos to their local landscape, a huge success for both cities, providing beauty through their paint jobs and their music. Beaudry’s a big fan of public art and what it can do for a downtown, and she felt street pianos could cover more bases than, for example, murals.
“The more public art you have, the more it will enhance that city,” Beaudry said via phone. “I think [installing downtown pianos] is a way to add a little culture and creativity to our streets first-hand. Anybody can participate. It’s not like [visual art], where you get to look but you don’t get to participate. You can actually play on these pianos.”
Beaudry learned Piano Movers Inc. of Nashua had some spares in storage late spring of 2016. It was too late to initiate a big project that season, but Beaudry was able to quickly snag a sponsor and local artist to paint a single piano and place it in Victory Park. It would be a test run; if people played, Intown could move forward with more the next summer.
Play they did — and so, this spring, Beaudry collected three more pianos from the company and partnered with New Hampshire Institute of Art staff and students to decorate the instruments.
BFA Illustration Chair Ryan O’Rourke led the charge with his community studio class, which focuses on pairing students with local organizations and businesses; past collaborations were with Easterseals New Hampshire, Old Sol Music Hall, Opera New Hampshire, New Hampshire Magazine, Red River Theatres. Students also regularly design Intown Manchester’s street banners.
“For me, the hardest thing coming out of school was getting that first job. The whole idea behind these civic projects is, if we can get that taken care of before you graduate, then you already have a client list you’re building. Clients are more willing to work with you if they see you’ve already been working,” O’Rourke said during an interview at the school as he and two students — illustration majors and recent grads Kaitlyn Dine and Max Gagnon — placed final coats on the three pianos. “Every project has some kind of payment for whoever was chosen to go forward with it.”
Students created six designs, from which Intown chose three to move forward with. Painting began in April, and the artists have been working hard ever since trying to get them ready for the big reveal at the Manchester Farmers Market June 15.
One piano is rich with references to stories, including The Wizard of Oz, The Little Mermaid, The Borrowers, Aladdin and Where the Wild Things Are. Covering the keys is a yellow brick road, and painted on the sides are stacks of books flying into the air. Another instrument is studded with the kinds of things you might find in a garden: flowers, butterflies, ladybugs, bumblebees, bunnies and gnomes. The last, inspired by Japanese woodblock prints, depicts a crimson fire-breathing dragon.
Intown provided an artist stipend, and Beaudry estimates the instruments will be downtown — by City Hall, Cafe la Reine and the Palace Theatre — until August. Awnings will help protect the paint jobs, as will tarps that will get thrown over them during rain storms. The hope is to add more each year.
“I think it brings a new character to the city,” Dine said. “And it’s great exposure, not just for us — it shows our engagement with the community as well.”
Music: Summer Rocks *
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Summer Rocks
23 Festivals for Fans of all Kinds of Music
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy & Stock Photos
From songs of the sea to the jams of Jerry Garcia, New Hampshire music festivals offer something for every kind of music lover.
There are about two dozen of those music-centric fests happening between now and September in the mountains, in forests and on farms, on city streets and by the sea. Some feature a variety of music while others target a specific genre; folk, bluegrass, rock, country, blues, reggae, jazz and classical all have festivals of their own.
The smaller festivals provide opportunities to discover talented local and up-and-coming artists that you may not have otherwise heard of. At the larger festivals, like New England Country Music Festival in Portsmouth and the Christian contemporary music festival Soulfest in Gilford, you can see big-name acts in what is often a more relaxed atmosphere than the artists’ regular concerts.
“To have these artists in our own backyard where you can get up close and personal is something special,” Amanda Morneault, New England Country Music Festival organizer, said. “There’s a more intimate vibe. The artists can interact more with their fans than they can at the bigger venues.”
Luke Bonner, co-founder of the Rock On Fest in Concord, said that having notable artists on the ticket generates more interest, particularly among young adults, and helps to put New Hampshire on the map as a destination for music festivals. It’s just a matter of getting out-of-state artists to give it a chance.
“We’ve been trying to get more bands to come who haven’t thought of us as a touring destination,” he said. “I think people here have a great appreciation and a level of respect for bands, and they like to discover new bands. We just need to expose more artists to the state and show them that it’s a great place for musicians.”
The relaxed and intimate nature of music festivals also lends itself to a more family-friendly environment than the typical concert does. The majority of New Hampshire’s music festivals describe themselves as family-friendly, and some have activities and even music just for kids.
“We really encourage families to come,” Bruce MacIntyre, board president for the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, said. “Kids love it. They get it. They want to be part of the music. And what you’ll see is this great community where all the generations can get together.”
A sense of community is one of the things that attracts many people to music festivals in the first place. In this age of social media, MacIntyre said, it’s rejuvenating for people to experience that kind of face-to-face interaction and to share with each other the joy that the music brings.
“Once they walk into a place full of people singing together, they can feel that community. There’s a spirit to it,” he said. “There’s a connection that’s stronger than what they can experience in the electronic world, and they feel moved.”
7 Summer Fests
For festival newbies and avid music fans alike, here are some shows that offer a range of musical genres and festival experiences.
You Rock Festival
This is the first year for the new You Rock Festival, hosted by Molly’s Restaurant and Tavern in New Boston. Of course, it wouldn’t be much of a festival without attendees, which is why the organizers decided on the You Rock title.
“We wanted it to be about you,” said Justin Jordan, a festival organizer and a member of the local band enCircle, which will perform at the event. “We want the people to feel a part of this day as much as the ones who built it, so You Rock made sense.”
The festival features seven bands that Jordan said are very active in the local music scene and “probably plays more shows than some of the national bands out there today.” The music spans a wide range of genres, from folk to ’80s tributes. Aside from its fundraising mission, which is to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the primary goal of the festival was to create a strong, well-curated lineup, and
Jordan believes he and the other organizers have done just that.
“The lineup of bands we have on tap for the day is probably one of the best lineups I’ve seen in the New Hampshire area in quite some time,” he said. “I believe that with this bill of bands, we have crafted a listening experience for all types of music lovers.”
Where: New Boston Fair Grounds, 15 Hilldale Lane, New Boston
When: Saturday, July 1, from noon to 10:30 p.m.
Cost: $20. Free for kids 12 and under.
Website: See facebook
Festival lineup: Peter Fogarty (12:30 p.m.), Plan B (1:15 p.m.), Heartbeat City (2:45 p.m.), RumbleFish (4:15 p.m.), The Razzles (6:30 p.m.), Ballou Brothers Band (8 p.m.), enCircle (9:30 p.m.)
Two To Lou Music Festival
When Karen Jortberg lost fiance Lou Festo, also a local musician, to cancer in 2012, she and Festo’s friends wanted to create an event in his memory
“He was a lead guitar player in bands all his life, so after he passed away, we decided we would hold a music festival and do it as a fundraiser for a scholarship fund,” Jortberg said.
This year’s fest features four headliners, including Festo’s band Preciphist, and eight other local acts playing original rock and covers of classic rock songs.
Now in its fourth year, the festival has been growing through word of mouth to attract attendees beyond those who knew Festo.
“It’s in Sandown, so it is a little off the beaten path, but the word is getting out there,” Jortberg said. “Everyone who comes has a good time, and they return the next year.”
In addition to the music, the festival features food, arts and crafts, a beer tent and hot air balloon rides. Jortberg said people come for the social aspect as much as the live music.
“Everyone comes and enjoys checking out the bands, playing some cornhole, partying and dancing together,” she said.
Where: Sandlot Sports & Entertainment, 56 North Road, Sandown
When: Saturday, July 15, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Cost: $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the show
Website: twotolou.com/music-festival
Festival lineup: The Jon Butcher Axis, Preciphist, Leaving Eden, Blindspot, Adams Needle, Ruben Kincade Project, Tom Towler Band, Max the Dog, Breanne Mullen, Casey Clark, David Amato, The Experiment
Soulfest
“Music, Love and Action” — that’s the message behind Soulfest, a three-day Christian contemporary music festival held each year at Gunstock Mountain Resort in Gilford.
The festival features five stages and a lineup of 25 performers, both local acts as well as big names in the genre, such as TobyMac, For King & Country, Jars of Clay, Matthew West, Tenth Avenue North and more. A variety of musical styles are represented in the Christian contemporary genre, including rock, folk, singer-songwriter, hip-hop and rap.
“There are a lot of local bands,” Soulfest co-founder Dan Russell said. “If you’re a recording artist and you’re serious about it, we want to give you an opportunity to get out there in front of people and play.” Russell said the music as well as the various speaker events and activities are focused not just on Christianity but also on community, social justice and taking action to help those in need.
“All the artists have a faith background, and the lyrics are Christian-oriented, but it’s all under the umbrella of becoming active and engaged,” he said. “Our goal isn’t to get everyone to believe like us. It’s to activate our attendees to become more involved in their communities and to encourage them to live from the inside out.”
Now in its 20th year, the festival continues to grow, attracting 12,000 to 13,000 people per day, 65 percent of whom are returning attendees. For many, Russell said, Soulfest has become a yearly tradition and a place to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones.
“It’s a time for everyone to come back together,” he said. “There’s a lot of positive energy, good vibes.”
Where: Gunstock Mountain Resort, 719 Cherry Valley Road, Gilford
When: Thursday, Aug. 3, through Saturday, Aug. 5
Cost: Festival passes are $140.75 in June, $145.75 in July and $155.75 in August. Single-day passes are $55.75 through July and $60.75 in August. Free for ages 10 and under.
Website: thesoulfest.com
Festival lineup (headliners only; see website for full lineup)
Thursday, Aug. 3
Juniper (1:15 p.m.), Ryan Stevenson (2:20 and 7 p.m.), Tedashi (3:25 p.m.), Moriah Peters (4:35 and 7:55 p.m.), Christopher Williams (5:35 p.m.), Jars of Clay (6:05 p.m.), Tenth Avenue North (7:35 p.m.), For King & Country (9:30 p.m.)
Friday, Aug. 4
Damien (12:30 p.m.), Propaganda (1:40 and 7:40 p.m.), Mari (2:45 p.m.), The Satellite Heart (3:50 p.m.), Juniper (4:20 p.m.), Peter Furler Band (4:55 p.m.), Randy Stonehill (5:45 and 7:55 p.m.), Matt Maher (6 p.m.), Rend Collective (7:35 p.m.), Matthew West (9:20 p.m.)
Saturday, Aug. 5
Peter Furler Band (11 a.m. and 7:20 p.m.), Randy Stonehill (11 a.m.), Aaron Cole (1:05 p.m.), Derek Minor (2:05 p.m.), Paul Coleman (3:10 p.m.), Jordan Feliz (4:20 p.m.), Sidewalk Prophets (5:40 p.m.), Mari (2 and 5:50 p.m.), Crowder (7:15 p.m.), TobyMac (9:20 p.m.)
Barnful of Blues Festival
Now in its 15th year, the Barnful of Blues Festival in New Boston is about giving new life to blues music and restoring interest in the genre, particularly from the younger crowd.
“Blues kind of comes and goes, but since the ’90s it’s been less popular and not as mainstream,” said Roxanne Mann, vice president of the Granite State Blues Society, which hosts the event. “We’d like to keep the blues alive here in New England and are hoping for another big star to bring it back.”
The festival has had some notable acts, such as Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson & The Magic Rockers, and Sugar Ray & The Bluetones, but is focused primarily on giving regional acts a chance to take the stage. All kinds of blues subgenres will be represented.
“Like any genre, blues has different blends. There’s rock-blues, traditional blues, Chicago blues, Zydeco blues, many kinds,” Mann said. “We like to mix it up and pick a wide variety each year.”
The festival is a family-oriented event, and people are encouraged bring their lawn chairs, blankets, coolers or even pop-up tents and stay for the whole day. There is a certain quality about blues music, Mann said, that makes it appealing to people of all ages.
“It’s infectious and familiar,” she said. “Even though the music is about sorrow, it makes you feel good when you listen to it. It makes you want to get up and dance.”
Where: 4-H Youth Center, Route 13, New Boston
When: Saturday, Aug. 5, from noon to 7:30 p.m.
Cost: $25
Website: granitestateblues.org
Festival lineup
Roomful of Blues, The Delta Generators with Brian Templeton, Erin Harpe & The Delta Swingers, Chris Fitz, Michael Vincent Band, Skip Philbrick, Arthur James, Veronica Lewis
New England Country Music Festival
Each year the New England Country Music Festival brings thousands of people to Redhook Brewery in Portsmouth for a full day of live country music, ranging from the modern to the classic styles.
“It’s a little of everything,” said Amanda Morneault, owner and event manager for The Harbor Agency, which co-hosts the festival with New England Country Music. “We like to keep it diverse, and we like to be able to cater to everybody, with all country genres.”
The festival features national recording artists like Frankie Ballard, Michael Ray and William Michael Morgan, who have collectively had six No. 1 hits on the country charts, as well as well-known regional artists. Now in its third year, the scope of the festival continues to expand as it attracts attendees from all over New England.
“It’s only going to get bigger,” Morneault said. “It’s definitely an event that’s on people’s radar now.”
The atmosphere of the festival is “very chill, relaxed and low-key,” Morneault said, and people are encouraged to come with their families, bring lawn chairs or blankets and stay for the day. Even if you aren’t a fan of country music, she said, give it a chance, and you may be surprised at how much fun it can be.
“There’s something special about country music,” she said. “The musicians are so down to earth and likeable, and you really get a sense of how much they enjoy what they do and appreciate their fans.”
Where: Redhook Brewery and Pub, 1 Redhook Way, Pease Tradeport, Portsmouth
When: Sunday, Aug. 6, from 12:45 to 9:30 p.m.
Cost: $35 for general admission, $40 for pit admission and $85 for VIP admission
Website: necmharbor.com
Festival lineup: Frankie Ballard, Michael Ray, William Michael Morgan, Casey Derhak, Timmy Brown, Jimmy Connor, Paige Davis
Rock On Fest
When brothers Luke and Matt Bonner started the Rock On Fest several years ago, they wanted it to be an event that would get New Hampshirites excited about the state’s live music scene.
“That was the biggest thing throughout all this — bringing a community together and inspiring people,” Luke Bonner said. “We hoped that it would become a source of pride for the state and generate some excitement in the area and beyond.”
The festival features what Bonner calls “emerging” music genres such as alternative, indie and electro pop, which he believes will resonate with a younger audience. Considering the issue of New Hampshire’s aging population, he said, his goal for the festival is to help cultivate a music and arts culture that will aid in drawing a younger population to the state.
Another goal of the festival is to encourage the discovery of new bands and artists. The bands featured will be unknown to most people, Bonner said, but he’s confident that people won’t be disappointed.
“With some concerts, it seems like you have to already know the music to appreciate it,” he said. “With the lineup of bands that we’ve selected, if you’ve never heard of them before, they’ll knock your socks off at the first listen.”
Where: New Hampshire Statehouse lawn, 107 N. Main St., Concord
When: Friday, Aug. 11, and Saturday, Aug. 12, starting at noon
Cost: Free
Website: rockonfoundation.org
Festival lineup: Mr. Aaron, Laura Stevenson, Holly Miranda, Photocomfort, Tough Guy
Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival
If sea shanty sing-alongs and nautical tales set to music sound appealing to you, the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival is the festival to go to.
Held every September in Portsmouth, the festival celebrates a subgenre of folk music called maritime or sea music.
“It can be anything related to water,” Bruce MacIntyre, festival board president, said. “A lot of it is work songs, the shanties, that were sung for the purpose of organizing labor on ships. A lot of it is songs the seamen sang in their quarters, ballads of love and lore. It even includes music sung on the rivers and lakes of the U.S., so it comes from a lot of different cultures.”
The festival attracts not only local and amateur musicians, but also professional musicians from all over the country.
“It’s not unusual [for people to travel],” he said. “This is a very niche market, so what happens is, the aficionados go looking for the real festivals and find ours.”
Performances take place downtown on the streets, in pubs and in other locations. The audience often largely consists of curious passersby who didn’t plan on going to the festival or didn’t even know that it was happening. But for many people, MacIntyre said, once they hear maritime music for the first time and experience the sense of community that it generates, they’re hooked.
“This music is about people who struggled in the world and did hard labor and yet, there’s humor and dignity and pride in it,” he said. “People today can understand that and tap into that. It’s infectious.”
Where: Various locations in downtown Portsmouth
When: Saturday, Sept. 23, and Sunday, Sept. 24
Cost: Free
Website: pmffest.org
Festival lineup TBA
More Must See Music
Here are some more festivals filling the summer calendar. If your favorite festival isn’t mentioned here, let us know at music@hippopress.com and keep an eye on all our music coverage in the Nite section.
Halcyon Music Festival
The Halcyon Music Festival is a two-week series of chamber music performances on the Seacoast, led by Artistic Director Heng-Jin Park. It features 20 international musicians, including viola, cello, clarinet, violin, piano and double bass players.
Where: Bratton Recital Hall in Paul Creative Arts Center at the University of New Hampshire, 30 Academic Way, Durham; St. John’s Episcopal Church, 101 Chapel St., Portsmouth
When: Thursday, June 22, through Saturday, June 24, and Wednesday, June 28, through Saturday, July 1
Cost: $25 suggested donation per concert. Package deals include three concerts for $65, four for $88, five for $100, six for $130 and all seven for $150.
Website: halcyonmusicfestival.org
Festival schedule:
“Delights of the Danube” featuring the music of Zoltán Kodály, Ernő Dohnányi and Béla Bartók — Thursday, June 22, at 7:30 p.m., at Bratton Recital Hall.
“Mature Masterworks” featuring the music of W.A. Mozart, César Franck and Felix Mendelssohn — Friday, June 23, at 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“Vienna by the Sea” featuring the music of Ludwig van Beethoven, W.A. Mozart and Johannes Brahms — Saturday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“In the Name of Art” featuring the music of W.A. Mozart, Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák — Wednesday, June 28, at 7:30 p.m., at Bratton Recital Hall.
“Water Music” featuring the music of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Franz Schubert — Thursday, June 29, at 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“From Russia with Love” featuring the music of Alexander Borodin, Dmitri Shostakovich and Mikhail Glinka — Friday, June 30, at 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
“Northern Lights” featuring the music of Edvard Grieg, Arvo Pärt, Jean Sibelius and Edvard Grieg — Saturday, July 1, at 7:30 p.m., at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
Harmonium Music Fest
Harmonium Music Fest takes place in a shaded maple grove at the foot of Blue Job Mountain and features a wide range of musical acts on two stages. The festival coincides with filming for the traveling road show documentary A Day in This Life.
Where: Rock Maple Woods, 664 First Crown Point Road, Strafford
When: Saturday, July 1, from noon to 9:30 p.m.
Cost: $40 donation
Website: harmoniumfest.com
Festival lineup: A Day in This Life band, Colbis the Creature, Builder of the House, The Freestones, The Reconstructed, GoldenOak, Haunt the House, Last Reach, Buddy Hutchins, Square Circles
New Hampshire Music Festival
New Hampshire Music Festival is a five-week classical music series held in Wolfeboro and Plymouth. Now in its 65th year, the festival features symphonic, choral and chamber music performed by world-class musicians.
Where: Smith Recital Hall at Silver Center for the Arts, 114 Main St., Plymouth; Kingswood Regional Performing Arts Center, 21 McManus Road, Wolfeboro; Anderson Hall at Brewster Academy, 205 S. Main St., Wolfeboro
When: Various dates from Wednesday, July 5, through Saturday, Aug. 5
Cost: Tickets for individual shows range from $13 to $75. Series passes range from $80 to $300.
Website: nhmf.org
Festival schedule:
Opening Night: Natural Beauty featuring the music of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Max Bruch and Ludwig van Beethoven — Thursday, July 6, at 7:30 p.m., at Silver Center for the Arts; and Saturday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m., at Kingswood Regional Performing Arts Center.
Chamber Concerts Wednesday, July 5, and Tuesdays, July 11, July 18, July 25 and Aug. 1, at 7:30 p.m., at Silver Center for the Arts.
Mozart and Mahler Thursday, July 13, at 7:30 p.m., at Silver Center for the Arts.
Wolfeboro Chamber Concerts Saturdays, July 15, July 29 and Aug. 5, at 7:30 p.m., at Kingswood Regional Performing Arts Center.
Copland in Mexico Thursday, July 20, at 7:30 p.m., at Silver Center for the Arts.
Composer Portrait: Huang Ruo & Haydn; Lord Nelson Mass Thursday, July 27, at 7:30 p.m., at Silver Center for the Arts.
Season Finale featuring the music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev and Sergei Rachmaninoff — Thursday, Aug. 3, at 7:30 p.m., at Silver Center for the Arts.
Rochester Main Street RiverFest
Formerly known as the Rochester Blues Festival, RiverFest features a full lineup of performers as well as food, art and various vendors. Bring your own lawn chairs or blankets for this free outdoor festival.
Where: North Main Street and Cocheco Riverwalk, Rochester
When: Saturday, July 15, from 2 to 7:30 p.m.
Cost: Free
Website: rochestermainstreet.org/riverfest.html
Festival lineup: TBA
Toad Hill Music Festival
Now in its second year, Toad Hill Music Festival is an intimate festival held in a forest location and features a variety of New England-based performers.
Where: Toad Hill Road, Chatham
When: Saturday, July 15, starting at 2 p.m.
Cost: $25
Website: facebook.com/toadhillmusicfestival
Festival lineup: Junco, Blue Bus Semimobile Orchestra, Candie Tremblay, Monty’s Lobster, Sounds Clever & the Valley Horns
Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival
The Tommy Gallant Jazz Festival is part of the Prescott Park Arts Festival and features authentic jazz musicians from the seacoast and greater Boston area.
Where: Prescott Park, 105 Marcy St., Portsmouth
When: Sunday, July 16, from noon to 6 p.m.
Cost: $8 to $10 suggested donation
Website: prescottpark.org
Festival lineup: The Wolverines Jazz Band (noon), Donna Byrne with the Tim Ray Trio (1:30 p.m.), The Press Room Trio with Tucker Antell and Jason Palmer (3 p.m.), Seacoast Big Band (4:30 p.m.)
Jerry Jam
Jerry Jam is a three-day outdoor music festival celebrating the legacy of Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead. It features more than 40 bands representing a wide range of musical styles, performing on three stages. This year’s fest will be the fifth to feature headliner JGB, which is currently fronted by longtime Jerry Garcia Band member Melvin Seals.
Where: Klay Knoll Farm, 471 Pettyboro Road, Bath
When: Friday, July 21, through Sunday, July 23
Cost: Festival passes are $135
Website: jerryjam.com
Festival lineup: JGB with Melvin Seals, Dead Set All Stars, Grateful Dub, DEAD Undercover, Max Creek, John Kadlecik Band, Assembly Of Dust, Pink Talking Fish, Kung Fu, Cabinet, The Giving Tree Band, Peacheaters, Van Burens, Hayley Jane & The Primates, Otis Grove, Fennario, Barnyard Pimps, Hurricane, Los Huevos, Puddin’head, Cole Robbie Band, Strawberry Farm Band, Jack Alexander, Parker Hill Road, Not Your Mother, Swimmer, Great Blue, Goose, Eggy, Revibe, Java Jukebox, Drunk And In The Woods, Jelani Sei, Sly Richard, High Voltage, Monty’s Lobster, Not Fade Away Band, Hear, The Barnyard Incident, N8, Not Quite Dead, more performers TBA
Uplift Music Festival
Uplift Music Festival is a family-friendly, community-driven festival featuring musicians and artists from the Monadnock region. It features music on two outdoor stages, plus a variety of other activities.
Where: Oak Park, 791 Forest Road, Greenfield
When: Saturday, July 29, noon
Cost: Tickets are $25
Website: upliftmusicfest.org
Festival lineup: TBA
Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival
The Pemi Valley Bluegrass Festival will feature 17 bluegrass bands from across the country, including headliners The Del McCoury Band and Rhonda Vincent and The Rage. New at the festival this year, there will also be a band competition in which local and regional working bluegrass bands will perform on the main stage. The winning band will receive an additional 30-minute set and consideration for next year’s official lineup.
Where: Sugar Shack Campground, Route 175, North Thornton
When: Wednesday, Aug. 2, through Saturday, Aug. 5. Festival hours are Wednesday from 5 to 10 p.m., Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Cost: Festival passes are $120 at the gate. Single-day tickets at the gate are $20 on Wednesday, $40 on Thursday and Friday and $50 on Saturday.
Website: pemivalleybluegrass.com
Festival lineup:
Wednesday, Aug. 2: Band Contestants (5 to 9 p.m.), Skip Gorman and The Waddie Pals (9 p.m.)
Thursday, Aug. 3: Michelle Canning Band (11 a.m. and 3 p.m.), Karl Shiflett and Big Country Show (noon and 6 p.m.), Danny Paisley and Southern Grass (1 and 7 p.m.), The Special Consensus (2 and 8 p.m.), Rhonda Vincent and The Rage (4 and 9 p.m.)
Friday, Aug. 4: Merrimack Valley Bluegrass (11 a.m.), Monadnock (noon), Amy Gallatin and Stillwaters (1 and 5:30 p.m.), Skip Gorman and The Waddie Pals (2 p.m.). Rhonda Vincent and The Rage (3 and 6:30 p.m.), The Boxcars (4 and 7:30 p.m.), Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver (8:30 p.m.)
Saturday, Aug. 5: Robinson Gospel Jam (9 a.m.), Band Contest Winner (10 a.m.), NewFound Grass (11 a.m.), Southern Rail (noon and 5:30 p.m.), Merrimack Valley Bluegrass (1 p.m.) The Lonely Heartstring Band (2 and 6:30 p.m.), The Gibson Brothers (3 and 7:30 p.m.), Pemi Kids’ Academy (5 p.m.), The Del McCoury Band (8:30 p.m.)
Rochester Reggae & Craft Brew Fest
The Rochester Reggae Fest is a family-friendly outdoor music festival featuring internationally known reggae acts on two stages.
Where: The Governor’s Inn and Garage Gardens, 76 Wakefield St., Rochester
When: Saturday, Aug. 5, noon to midnight
Cost: Tickets cost $20 in June, $25 in July and $30 in August.
Website: governorsinn.com/reggaefestival.cfm
Festival lineup: Skatalites, The Duppy Conqueros, The Alchemystics, Taj Weekes & Adowa, DreadRocks
Wild Woods Music & Arts Festival
Wild Woods Music & Arts Festival is a three-day outdoor festival with a focus on environmental sustainability. It’s set on 70 acres of farmland and forest in the Sunapee mountain range and features more than 30 musical acts on three stages, spanning a wide range of musical genres.
Where: Page Farm, 46 Sand Hill Road, Croydon
When: Friday, Aug. 11, through Sunday, Aug. 13
Cost: Festival passes are $140 before Aug. 10, $160 at the box office. Single-day passes are $60.
Website: wildwoodsfest.com
Festival lineup: Papadosio, Emancipator, Kung Fu, Cabinet, Mr. Bill Live, Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Roots of Creation, Govinda, lespecial, Supersillyus Lifeband, Strange Machines, Esseks, Jade Cicada, Living Light, Hayley Jane and the Primates, Of the Trees, Broccoli Samurai, Ed Mann & Friends, Tim Palmieri Acoustic, Cosmal, Brightside, Harsh Armadillo, Digital Vagabond, Tsimba, Zoo Logic, Eelko, Radioactive Sandwich, The Kenny Brother’s Band, The Edd, Snooze, Gongs with Ed Mann – Ambient Sound Experience, Malakai, smalltalker, Amulus, Moses, Revibe, Stop Tito, Collective, Apel Beats, The Tercet, Yung Abner, Woke, Reoscillate
MainStreet Warner Bluegrass & Folk Fest
The MainStreet Warner Bluegrass & Folk Fest is a free outdoor festival showcasing New Hampshire bluegrass and folk artists.
Where: MainStreet Warner Stage at Jim Mitchell Community Park, 16 E. Main St., Warner
When: Saturday, Aug. 12, from 2:30 to 10 p.m.
Cost: Free and open to the public
Website: mainstreetbookends.com/event/park-mainstreet-warner-bluegrass-folk-fest
Festival lineup: Will Hatch, Loopholes of Love, The DoBros, Doc Rogers, more performers TBA
White Mountain Boogie N’ Blues Festival
Now in its 21st year, the White Mountain Boogie N’ Blues Festival is the largest outdoor blues festival in the state. The scenic festival grounds is set on a 72-acre pasture in the Pemigewasset River Valley, located between Waterville Valley and Loon Mountain. The lineup features award-winning blues artists from the U.S. and Canada; headlining this year’s fest is Grammy Award winner Jonny Lang.
Where: Sugar Shack Campground, Route 175, North Thornton
When: Friday, Aug. 18, through Sunday, Aug. 20. Gates open at 2 p.m. on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Cost: Single-day tickets are $40 at the gate on Friday and Sunday and $70 at the gate on Saturday. Saturday tickets are also available for purchase online in advance. Weekend passes are available for purchase online in advance for $70.
Website: nhblues.com
Festival lineup:
Friday, Aug. 18: Southern Avenue (5 p.m.), Ghost Town Blues Band (6:40 p.m.), New Orleans Suspects (8:20 p.m.)
Saturday, Aug. 19: Quinn Sullivan (11 a.m.), Frank Bang & the Cook County Kings (12:50 p.m.), Honey Island Swamp Band (2:40 p.m.), Paul Deslauriers Band (4:40 p.m.), Dawn Tyler Watson (6:40 p.m.), Jonny Lang (8:30 p.m.)
Sunday, Aug. 20: Blackburn Brothers (11 a.m.), Chris O’Leary (12:50 p.m.), Angel Forrest (2:40 p.m.), Mannish Boys All Stars (4 p.m.)
Folksoul Music Festival
Held on a rustic stage in a meadow near the woods, the Folksoul Music Festival features a wide range of acoustic music by local and regional performers.
Where: 8 Driscoll Road, Greenfield
When: Sunday, Aug. 20, 10:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.
Cost: $10 donation at the door, $5 for students and seniors, and free for kids under 12
Website: folksoul.com/folksoul-music-festival
Festival lineup: The Folksoul Ensemble, Martin and Susanne, Aaron Brown, The Kingsnakes, Low Lily, The Folksoul Band
Keene Music Festival
After taking a year off in 2016, the Keene Music Festival will return Labor Day weekend with more than 60 musical acts spread across eight stages in the downtown area. Musicians perform original material and represent a variety of genres.
Where: Downtown Keene
When: Saturday, Sept. 2, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Cost: Free
Website: keenemusicfestival.org
Festival lineup: TBA
Hilltop City Bluegrass Festival
Now in it’s fourth year, the Hilltop City Bluegrass Festival features bluegrass performers from around New England. Bring your own lawn chairs or blankets for this outdoor festival.
Where: Somersworth High School, 11 Memorial Drive, Somersworth
When: Saturday, Sept. 16, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., gates open at 9 a.m.
Cost: Tickets are $15 before Aug. 15, $20 in advance after Aug. 15, and $25 at the gate. Admission is free for children under age 12.
Website: hilltopcitybluegrass.com
Festival lineup: Zink & Company, Dreamcatcher, The Zolla Boys, Borderline
Film: Spreading Art
FEATURED FILM
Spreading Art
Rochester Kicks off Busy Summer with Inaugural Film Fest
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy/Stock Photo
“Art is for Everyone” is the slogan for the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, and it plays out in everything the organization does — including its inaugural Rochester Independent Film Festival, with screenings at the Rochester Opera House Saturday, June 24, and Sunday, June 25.
The RMFA is co-organizing the festival with the Rochester Public Library, which owns InstantFlix, the service the flicks will stream from. The program includes award-winning indie films from around the world.
Matt Wyatt, co-founder and president of the RMFA, said via phone that one of the festival’s goals is to highlight this service available to all Rochester library card-holders. Another is simply to light up the the opera house with acclaimed, lesser-known pieces all weekend long.
The idea for the film festival began with Rochester Public Library Director Brian Sylvester, who mentioned to RMFA members that the library had the capability of streaming movies off-site via InstantFlix.
That meant it would save time for organizers, who wouldn’t have to race around trying to obtain permission from filmmakers to screen their flicks.
The program includes In the Heat of the Night (an African-American detective investigates a murder in a racially hostile southern town), Raid of the Rainbow Lounge (recounting the 2009 police raid of a Texas gay bar), The Third Man (a novelist finds himself investigating the death of his old friend in postwar Vienna), The Messenger (about the men sent to deliver casualty notifications to soldiers’ families), Gold (an estranged father returns home to reconnect with his daughter and ex-wife), Broke. (documenting the friendship between a cynic pawnbroker and a psychopath), Seamonsters (two teenage boys are torn apart by a girl), Road North (a father absent for 30 years returns home to bond with his son on a road trip), This Way of Life (a couple raise their six kids in the mountains of New Zealand) and T-Rex (about female boxer Claressa “T-Rex” Shields), plus a surprise classic horror movie Saturday at midnight.
For the most part, the film selection was a matter of taste from the committee; the program spans all genres, all subjects, all periods. The only one chosen with a theme in mind was Raid of the Rainbow
Lounge in honor of Pride Month, which the RMFA celebrates more fully Aug. 26 during the Rochester Gay Pride Parade.
“We do all kinds of events downtown but gay pride was very special for me. It’s overwhelming for me as a gay person to see my hometown light up like that,” Wyatt said. “It’s easy to do these things in Boston and New York, but in small cities like Rochester is where the LGBT community needs it the most because there are so few of us.”
Rochester’s arts and cultural life is bustling in general; soon it will also be home to the Rochester Performance & Arts Center, with construction underway in the former Carney Medical Supply building and an opening slated for this summer. It will be home to studio and workshop spaces and a small theater with 100 seats, allowing for more intimate events than the opera house, which holds 700.
“Our downtown district is really turning into an arts district,” Wyatt said.
The RMFA is more a concept than a physical place, running three gallery spaces (at City Hall, the opera house and the library), which together display a 150-piece permanent collection of donated and loaned pieces (paintings, sculptures, photography, etc.).
“There are a lack of venues for working artists,” Wyatt said. “Not everybody’s getting into the fancy galleries or museums. … We wanted to give artists a place to show their work … and make it free for people to come in and see any time they want to.”
The organization also regularly presents film screenings, plus monthly-rotating art shows with work by contemporary artists.
“We don’t think anybody should have to travel to see fine art. It should be in every community, and that’s kind of the mission of the [Rochester] Museum of Fine Arts: to bring art to the people,” Wyatt said.
“We do have a small curatorial committee built of artists, community members and leaders who want to make art accessible. And not just, ‘Oh, my neighbor is an artist.’ We try to get the best art we can get our hands on to bring to Rochester.”
Rochester Independent Film Festival
Pop: World Voices
FEATURED POP
World Voices
Dozens of Nations Represented at Multicultural Festival
Written By Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
New Hampshire’s Capital City will once again celebrate its ethnic diversity at the Concord Multicultural Festival, with live performances and international foods, plus, new this year, a flag parade and “Artisan Alley.”
The 11th annual event will be held on Saturday, June 24, from 2 to 6:30 p.m. on the Statehouse Lawn. This is the second year the festival has partnered with Intown Concord’s annual Market Days Festival, held just down the road on Main Street.
Multicultural Festival Director Jessica Livingston said more than 30 different cultures will be represented at the event.
“It’s always a fun thing to showcase everybody’s culture and for the community to gather and get to know one another, and things like food and music are universal,” she said.
The idea to have an outdoor festival stemmed from a 2004 community discussion presented by the Greater Concord Area Task Force Against Racism and Intolerance (now called We Are Concord) as a way to welcome new residents from other countries.
Participating local organizations include New American Africans, the Bhutanese Community of New Hampshire, Latinos Unidos de New Hampshire, the Greater Concord Interfaith Council and many others.
Live music and dance performances will be held throughout the duration of the festival on the Statehouse plaza, Livingston said, and include contra dancing with fiddler Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki, Native
American drumming by the Black Thunder Singers, Highland dancing by the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts, West African drumming by Sayon Camara, Colombian salsa dancing by Concord resident Sindy Chown and a performance by Nepali singer Berain Rasaily.
Visit the Statehouse lawn during the festival for “Artisan Alley,” a new feature presented by the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts.
There will be hands-on activities like Chinese calligraphy and paper-cutting, Abenaki basket making, Russian wooden nesting dolls and more.
Also on the lawn will be karate demonstrations by the Penacook School of Martial Arts, Native American storytelling and games with the Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner and more.
For food, enjoy traditionally made cuisines from dozens of different world cultures. Go Food Basket in Concord will serve a Korean barbecue with meat dumplings, Jahp-che, Bibimbap and Bulgogi. Aissa Sweets, owned by Syrian baker Ahmad Aissa, will serve baklava, phyllo wraps and date- and raspberry-filled cookies. Other individual vendors will be serving an African cassava beef stew, Rwandan rice, beef and sweet potatoes, and Turkish lentil balls, potato salad and pastries.
New to this year’s festival is an International Flag Parade, which will kick off at 1:45 p.m. at the intersection of Pleasant and Main streets before traveling to the Statehouse.
“We’ll have 37 flags that people will carry representing each of the nations that you will see featured in the festival through the food or performances,” Livingston said. “Obviously Market Days is going to be going on down on Main Street, so we’re hoping this will be another added celebration.”
She said volunteers will continue to be welcomed through the day of the festival to help out with vendor setups and breakdowns, food preparation and other duties.
“There’s always stuff to do, and we’re looking for ways for the community to participate,” she said. “That’s really what [the festival] is all about, is building your community.”
11th Annual Concord Multicultural Festival
When: Saturday, June 24, 2 to 6:30 p.m.
Where: New Hampshire State House, 107 N. Main St., Concord
Cost: Free
Visit: concordnhmulticulturalfestival.org
MORE HEADLINES
Deactivating Drugs
Deactivating Drugs
New Product Allows for Safe Disposal of Prescriptions
Written By Ryan Lessard (news@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
Four out of five people who end up using heroin or fentanyl got their start with prescription opioids, some of which were prescribed to friends and family, according to Travis Harker, the chief medical officer at Granite Health.
“Most of the time, people put them in their medicine cabinet for a rainy day and we know that that’s where a lot of people get their start,” Harker said. That’s why surgery patients at five hospitals in the Granite Health partnership will receive a Deterra deactivation pouch, which renders 99 percent of any leftover drugs useless.
How it Works
John Mulcahy is the vice president of sales at Verde Technologies, the company that developed the Deterra deactivation pouch. He said it’s only been on the market for a few years, but it’s unique.
The company developed a special patented form of activated carbon that has just the right size pores to ensure it bonds chemically with any organic compounds in prescription medications. The process, called adsorption, essentially turns the drugs into carbon and short-circuits any potency the drug once had.
“Once that bond is made that drug will not induce any kind of reaction,” Mulcahy said.
Using the pouch is simple. You simply place unused pills, patches or liquids into the pouch, fill it up halfway with warm water, seal it and gently shake the bag before throwing it in the regular trash.
The Zero Left Campaign
The current effort to introduce the pouches in New Hampshire has been championed by Jim and Jeanne Moser of East Kingston. They founded the Zero Left Campaign after their son Adam died of a fentanyl overdose in 2015.
“He was engaging, intelligent, kind, thoughtful, funny,” Jim Moser said.
Moser said Adam kept his addiction a secret but it seems clear it started with pills. Moser, a surgical technician who has had several surgeries himself, said they never gave leftover opioids the fear and respect they deserved.
“We kept them in the kitchen spin-around … just right next to the vitamins and Tylenol and cake-decorating supplies,” Moser said.
In retrospect, he wonders how he could be so careless, but there was a lack of education on the risks of prescription opioids, even among medical providers.
Moser learned about Deterra pouches from a news article and began his quest to get the pouches to New Hampshire by working with Dr. Thomas McGovern at Exeter Hospital, who was already distributing the pouches to his own patients. Over the course of two months, McGovern recorded 1,150 pills disposed of through these bags. And that’s just what patients self-reported.
Moser points out that opioids are a necessary painkiller for many post-surgical rehab scenarios; two weeks after his son died, Moser had to get a knee replacement, which required opioids to manage the pain.
“It’s just that when they do go home, they need to go home with respect, regard and a way to dispose of them safely,” he said.
Pilot Program
Recently, Granite Health received a $75,000 grant from Tufts Health Freedom Plan and Northeast Delta Dental that will be used for three initiatives. Granite Health will offer provider education on the new prescribing rules in the state and the difference between chronic pain and acute pain. Three of the member hospitals — Catholic Medical Center in Manchester, LRGHealthcare in Laconia and Wentworth-Douglass in Dover — will install drug take-back boxes. And all five member facilities, which will include Exeter Health Resources and Southern New Hampshire Health, will distribute 15,000 deactivation pouches to surgery patients who get an opioid prescription.
Harker said the plan was to essentially scale up the model spearheaded by McGovern at Exeter Hospital. He said the focus on surgery patients is because everyone responds differently to the same operation or the same drug. Some require a lot of pills, others only a few. It’s that variability that often leads to a significant amount of leftovers.
Part of the challenge will be to gather more information so providers can size their prescriptions more appropriately. Another goal is to make sure providers are educating their patients on the risks of prescription opioids.
Harker said the pouches serve as a helpful educational prop.
“It’s more than just giving them a packet or a pouch to put their medications in; it’s a way to facilitate a conversation about the risks of keeping unused opioids in your home. ...
That is kind of the magic in this,” he said.
Introducing One Light Theatre
Introducing One Light Theatre
New Company in Tilton kicks off this Weekend
Written By Kelly Sennott (ksennott@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Bristol resident Jason Roy wants to create a sanctuary for kids with his new company, One Light Theatre.
“The first place I felt 100 percent welcome to be myself was in the world of the performing arts,” said Roy, co-executive director and artistic director of the company. “It’s important to me I’m able to provide youth with that same feeling, that same security, that I was lucky enough to have.”
The aim of the Tilton-based theater is to provide family-style and cutting-edge productions to the Lakes Region, starting with a musical revue Saturday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m., at Tilton School’s Hamilton Hall. Visitors can meet the cast and creative team, win door prizes and check out solo and group performances by the inaugural summer company, made up of professional artists and community members.
After that, One Light Theatre kicks into high gear with a full season of shows, including Big Fish (June 30-July 2), The 39 Steps (July 7-16), Moon Over Buffalo (July 21 to July 30) and Next to Normal (Aug. 5 to Aug. 7). In addition, it hosts a summer camp that culminates with Schoolhouse Rock! (July 14).
Roy met his partner, co-executive director and program manager David Sheehy, while working on Winnisquam Regional High School’s spring 2016 production, Into the Woods.
They were a good team, and through their discussions, they realized they both love theater that tackles tough subjects.
“We realized there aren’t a lot of theater companies in our area doing that,” said Roy, who also felt moved by the Winnisquam kids. “The students inspired me in a way I haven’t been inspired before, and I could see there were many who could benefit from the same kind of guidance and support I was granted as a child. My goal is to be able to provide that to them.”
To gauge local interest in the prospective company, the pair produced a community production of Beauty and the Beast last summer, drawing more than 100 participants, followed by The Wizard of Oz in the fall. Even though both work full-time jobs — Sheehy as a math teacher, Roy for a local nursing home — they saw there was enough passion between them and eagerness for community theater in the Lakes Region to make One Light Theatre work.
“People were definitely intrigued, and once we started announcing the shows of the season, there was a lot of excitement, especially when we announced … Next to Normal, which is not often done … around here. It’s a beautiful piece and won the Pulitzer Prize for drama,” said Ashley Hanson, One Light Theatre’s marketing director, who will also direct Next to Normal. “People are excited to see faces they recognize on stage as well as professionals they might not be familiar with.”
Auditions for six professional resident artist slots happened this spring and were filled by New Hampshire natives Owen Thomas, Olivia Martinson, Kay Foster, Jack Harding,
Heather Hunt and Matthew McGinnis. These paid positions involve performances in most all this season’s shows, sometimes alongside community members depending on the play’s size. Everything — rehearsals, camps, performances — happens at the Tilton School, which seats 200.
“We knew we wanted to do summer stock theater, and that in order to do that successfully, we’d have to have some sort of a theater and have full access to actors,” Roy said. “We designed a business plan and budget for the summer and set out to meet with five local theaters.”
Tilton School offered not only space, but the opportunity to use school resources and build partnerships in terms of educational programming. After the last production in August, the plan is to apply for a 501(c)(3) and prep for two more community theater shows this fall and winter.
For all involved, Roy especially, it’s a passion project; some weeks this season will involve 16-hour days, but he’s seeing equal devotion from the Tilton area, with support from volunteers, local donors and businesses.
Other Summer Productions
Shows are at the Tilton School, and tickets are $22, except for the Schoolhouse Rock (which costs $10)
Big Fish Friday, July 30, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 1, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 2, at 2 p.m.
The 39 Steps Friday, July 7, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 8, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 9, at 2 p.m.; Saturday July 15, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 16, at 2 p.m.
Schoolhouse Rock! Friday, July 14, at 6:30 p.m.
Moon Over Buffalo Friday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 23, at 2 p.m.; Friday, July 28, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 29, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 30, at 2 p.m.
Next to Normal Friday, Aug. 4, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 5, at 7:30 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 6, at 2 p.m.
One Light Theatre Revue
Where: Tilton School’s Hamilton Hall, 30 School St., Tilton
When: Saturday, June 24, at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $15
Contact: onelighttheatre.org, 848-7979
Market Madness
Market Madness
Intown Concord presents Market Days Festival
Written By Matt Ingersol (listings@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
New Hampshire’s largest free community event is returning for a 43rd year — and it’s bigger than ever.
With Concord’s Main Street Project reaching completion in November, the annual Market Days Festival will take advantage of the new street arrangements with even more attractions than before.
This year’s festival will be held rain or shine Thursday, June 22, through Saturday, June 24. During these dates, Main Street in Concord will be closed off from Centre Street to
Pleasant Street just in front the Concord Food Co-Op, giving way to hundreds of local vendors, demonstrations, live music, children’s and family activities.
“Concord definitely takes great pride in the festival … and it’s really great to see because all of the people involved think of ways to be more creative and engaged with the visitors,” said Kate Fleming, events and outreach coordinator for Intown Concord, which organizes the festival every year. “Plus, because of the new Main Street, the sidewalks are so much wider, so there won’t be as much of an overcrowded feeling at the festival.”
The festival will focus on its southern section this year, according to Fleming.
“We learned that South Main Street hadn’t really been an area where many people congregated for the festival in the past, so we’ve been doing a lot more promotion down there,” she said. “So we’ll have live performances there on the park stage, we’ll have outdoor movies shown by Red River Theatres, and this year we’re also going to have an old Concord Coach out on display courtesy of the Abbot-Downing Historical Society.”
In all, nearly 200 vendors will set up shop all within the enclosed area of the festival, Fleming said, offering products, demonstrations and much more.
“What’s neat about it is that we have a lot of vendors who have been here for years, and we also have some that are brand new not only to the festival, but to the city as well,” she said, “so it’s become such a draw.”
New vendors include Gems First, a custom jewelry design shop offering consultations, and Live Free and Smile, who offer photo booth services. Title Boxing will have a booth and demonstrations on Storrs Street, and members of the Marine Corps will also be there with a dunk tank on Saturday.
For food, enjoy local favorites like Holly’s Fried Dough, Puppy Love Hot Dogs, Arnie’s Place, The Barley House, Constantly Pizza, Wild Bill’s Soda and more.
Along with the returning Touch-a-Truck exhibit, this year there will be an experimental airplane from the Concord Municipal Airport and a helicopter from the Pembroke-based JBI Helicopter Services. There will be opportunities to sit inside the airplane and helicopter and talk with the pilots.
Special one-day events include a demonstration by the Granite State Roller Derby on Thursday at 7 p.m., a classic car show presented by the Lone Wolf Cruisers Car Club on Friday from 6:30 to 9 p.m., and the return of the Strong Man Competition on Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m.
The Runner’s Alley Capital City Classic 10K, happening for its second year, will take place during the festival for the first time, Fleming said. The race will kick off on Saturday at 8 a.m. and travel down Park Street by the Statehouse before going south on Main Street past the vendors.
Also returning to the Statehouse lawn for this year’s festival will be a family fun area from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. all three days with crafts, a bouncy house, a miniature golf course and a children’s play zone.
43rd Annual Market Days Festival
When: Thursday, June 22, through Saturday, June 24, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Where: Main Street and Statehouse lawn, Concord
Cost: Free admission; $5 wristband for all day access to miniature golf and children’s play area on Statehouse lawn. Some food and activities may require an additional fee.
Visit: intownconcord.org
Schedule of Events
• Kids’ play area and miniature golf on the Statehouse lawn: Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Evo Rock climbing wall: Thursday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Touch-a-Truck: Thursday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m.
• Granite State Roller Derby presentation: Thursday, 7 p.m.
• Title Boxing demonstration: Friday, 2:30 p.m.
• Companion dog training demonstration: Friday, 4 p.m.
• Pound Zumba demonstration: Friday, 5 p.m.
• Lone Wolf Cruisers Car Club car show: Friday, 6:30 to 9 p.m.
• Runner’s Alley Capital City Classic 10K: Saturday, 8 a.m.
• YMCA obstacle course: Saturday, 10 a.m. to noon
• Strong Man competition: Saturday, 3 to 6 p.m.
All Mixed Up
All Mixed Up
Local Bartenders Face Off in Cocktail Competition
Written By Angie Sykeny (asykeny@hippopress.com)
Images: Stock Photo
Four New Hampshire bartenders will have a chance to showcase their prowess when the Hippo and West Cork Distillers present the Mixology Shakedown cocktail party and competition on Monday, June 26, at O Steaks & Seafood in Concord.
Guests can enjoy passed hors d’oeuvres, an open bar, a special West Cork cocktail and cocktail samples while the bartenders mix up their best original cocktail recipes and compete for the title of Mixology Shakedown Champion.
“These are extremely talented mixologists from really high-end bars and restaurants in our state,” event coordinator Jill Raven said. “There are going to be some really tasty drinks.”
Competing in the Shakedown will be Andrew Johnson of 815 in Manchester, Jennifer Chipman of La Vista in Lincoln, Elias Kassner of Green Elephant in Portsmouth, and Rachael Jackson of MT’s Local Kitchen & Wine Bar in Nashua.
The featured bartenders were among 35 bartenders who competed in a preliminary regional competition last month. One winner was selected in each of the four New Hampshire regions: seacoast, central, southern, and northern and lakes.
At the Shakedown, each bartender will create an original cocktail made with West Cork Bourbon Cask Irish Whiskey and additional spirits, mixers and garnishes of their choice.
They will prepare their cocktails in large batches for 150 guests to sample, and individually for a panel of judges consisting of notable people in the local restaurant industry.
“Judges will judge each cocktail based on four aspects: originality and creativity, taste and flavor profile, visual appeal and presentation, and creative name,” Raven said.
Bartenders will also have the opportunity to make their cocktails in front of the guests and talk about the restaurants at which they work, the inspiration behind their cocktail recipes and how their cocktails are made. Guests will then vote to determine which bartender is named the People’s Choice winner.
“It’s a way for there to be involvement from the crowd, too,” Raven said. “Not only can people try the cocktails from each of the finalists, but they’ll be able to vote for their favorite.”
The winner chosen by the judges will receive a $1,000 Amex gift card and an ad in the Hippo featuring his or her cocktail recipe, a note about the inspiration behind it and information on where people can find it.
Mixology Shakedown
Where: O Steaks & Seafood, 11 S. Main St., Concord
When: Monday, June 26, 6 to 9 p.m.
Cost: $30. Tickets are limited.
Visit: mixologyshakedown.com
Pioneering
Pioneering
Carter Rounds out Americana Summit
Written By Michael Witthaus (music@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Carlene Carter’s musical lineage is with her everywhere she goes.
“It’s the first paragraph of every story, all the people I’m related to — which somehow is supposed to qualify me,” she says with a hearty laugh that punctuates much of the phone interview. “See? Look at all these people she grew up with!”
What’s set Carter apart as an artist, however, is frequently pushing beyond her heritage. In the late 1970s, she left Nashville for London, to make records with Rockpile, Graham Parker’s band The Rumour and Clover — when the latter band wasn’t backing Elvis Costello in the studio.
Carter’s rebellious activity, marked by her touchstone album Musical Shapes, helped pave the way later for a generation of female performers.
“The so-called ‘New Country’ boom of the early ’90s,” wrote roots blog No Depression in 2007, “owes a great debt to Carter’s inability to conform.”
“It was so freeing musically because of the fact that there was no genre, there was no big segregation,” Carter said. “On any day, I could rock like hell if I wanted to, dress however I wanted. ... That whole time of my life was so much about creativity.”
“The First Family of Country Music” — started by A.P., Sara and Maybelle Carter in the 1920s and carried on by June Carter Cash with her sisters — always stayed a beacon for
Carlene Carter, daughter of June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash.
When her career ebbed mid 1980s, “I wormed my way back into the band with Mama, Helen and Anita and that felt like home,” she said. “All my life, when I haven’t known what I wanted to do next musically, I go back to my roots, where my family and my ancestors come from. I draw on that for strength and foundation.”
In 2014, she made Carter Girl in tribute to that heritage, recording 11 Carter Family songs and remaking her original, “Me and the Wildwood Rose,” a tribute to her sister and frequent singing partner, Rosey Nix Adams.
“I inherited a huge treasure chest of material,” she said of the selection process that involved winnowing through close to 1,000 songs. “I came across a few that I had never heard or might have heard maybe once. I really tried to find ones that applied to me in some way, that when I sang them, I wish I had written them.”
She received support on the record from Vince Gill, Willie Nelson and Elizabeth Cook, and other country stars close to the Carter legacy. The most remarkable backing vocals, however, are heard on “I Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow,” as June, Helen and Anita Carter and Johnny Cash join in via technological magic.
“I pretty much cried tears of joy every day in the studio,” Carter said. “I really felt my family around me in spirit, and singing with them after the fact, after them being passed on, is such a wild thing. ... It really felt like they were there.”
Carter is currently touring with John Mellencamp in support of his newly released Sad Clowns and Hillbillies. The disc is officially a record by Mellencamp “featuring Carlene Carter” — a unique credit reflecting the close musical bond that’s formed between the two since they first worked together on the soundtrack of Meg Ryan’s 2015 film Ithaca.
“John gets a little confused when he tells the story,” Carter said. “I corrected him; he doesn’t normally take correction very well, but he did laugh it off pretty good. But that was the first time we connected. ... I flew out to Indiana on very short notice and went in the studio and recorded it. Then we talked all afternoon — that was the beginning of our working relationship.”
By the end of this tour, “we’ll have done over 175 dates together; that’s a lot of work, shows, towns and miles. It’s a wonderful gift in my life.”
Carter will open with a half hour set and then sing with the headliner on hits like “Pink Houses” and new cuts like “What Kind of Man Am I?” and “Indigo Sunset” — the latter written and sung by Carter.
The new project began as a gospel album, an idea raised by Mellencamp.
“Really old religious hymns put to music and make them more current,” Carter recalled him telling her.
The project became something different, while loosely holding to his directive.
“There are a lot of songs that explore the spirit, that we are just a speck of dust flying through the universe on the tail of an ass,” Carter said.
The current tour is Carter’s first with Emmylou Harris, a performer she points to as responsible for starting her career. Carter and Susanna Clark co-wrote “Easy From Now On,” the de facto title track for Harris’s 1978 album Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town.
“The next thing I know, I’m sitting in front of Emmylou playing it to her. ... Emmy proceeded to talk about me to her manager, Eddie Tickner, who decided he wanted to be my manager,” Carter said.
In short order, she was signed to Harris’s label.
“I really love that Emmy saw something there, and at that time, they listened to her opinion,” she said.
John Mellencamp, Emmylou Harris and Carlene Carter
When: Friday, June 30, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Bank of NH Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford
Tickets: $39.25 and up at banknhpavilion.com
Weekly Review: Erasure & More
Weekly Review
Erasure & More
Written By Eric Saeger (news@hippopress.com)
Images: Album Artwork
Erasure, World Be Gone (Mute Records)
For Gen-Xers who want to feel old, it’s been 29 years since this British synthpop band released their biggest, most upbeat, most yawn-inducing commercial single, “Chains of Love,” a song that, when it played over dancehall loudspeakers, was probably dismissed as a Wham B-side. After all, it had the same rich falsetto hook, prototypical 1980s keyboard sound and all that stuff, and Wham (not to mention Simple Minds and all those guys) were eating these guys’ lunch, but at least it was an effort. WBG, the band’s 17th album, puts its best foot forward, with the irresistible “Love You to the Sky,” boasting a no-brainer hook that I bet they wished they’d written a lot earlier in their career. The title track is a Corey Hart-style pseudo-ballad that’s of course better than anything Corey Hart could have ever come up with, and speaking of that, singer Andy Bell sounds a lot like Hart these days, which is unfortunate. “Take Me Out of Myself” nicks Peabo Bryson, at which point it’s safe to write this whole effort off as dated throwbackism exclusively geared toward fans, although “Oh What a World” dredges up an image of Boyz II Men.
Grade: B
Dion Lunadon, Dion Lunadon (Agitated Records)
First solo record from the New Zealand bassist, who’s most recognizable from his time with New Yawk-based noise-rockers A Place to Bury Strangers, a band that recalls Bauhaus mixing things up with a buzzed-out doppelganger of DZ Deathrays on its best days, which is mighty cool. Matter of fact, for this release, I’d have been plenty happy with Lunadon taking his best shot at trying to outdo his APTBS bandmates, but (and this looked to be even better) his aim here was a more raw punk thing, purportedly more along the lines of Toy Love and The Gun Club, which translates to Richard Hell and stuff if you’re older. But that description doesn’t give this record anywhere near enough credit — this thing is sick, like Johnny Thunders with an occasional shot of Gravity Kills, meaning hard-ass Velvet Underground with an on-the-phone vocal effect-box stolen from the Horrors when they were awesome. Indiscriminate wreckage that’ll fix your head for sure.
Grade: A
Cars 3
Film Review
Cars 3
Written By Amy Diaz (adiaz@hippopress.com)
Images: Courtesy Photo
Lightning McQueen contemplates aging and career transition — as kids do — in Cars 3, the third in the Pixar animated movie series.
Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) still loves racing and being cheered on, especially by friends Mater (voice of Larry the Cable Guy), Sally (voice of Bonnie Hunt), Ramone (voice of Cheech Marin), Mack (voice of John Ratzenberger), Guido (voice of Guido Quaroni) and Luigi (voice of Tony Shalhoub). But suddenly, new race cars are getting the glory. Designed and trained with scientific precision, these faster rookies are led by Jackson Storm (voice of Armie Hammer), who goes the extra mile to make McQueen feel like a has-been.
After a crash, McQueen falls into a slump, returning to Radiator Springs to sulk and watch old movies of his old mentor Doc Hudson (voice of the late Paul Newman courtesy of unused audio recorded for the 2006 Cars, according to a story from Entertainment Weekly). When McQueen does return to racing, he finds he has a new sponsor, Sterling (voice of Nathan Fillion), who may be more interested in McQueen’s brand power than his racing career. He also gets some new training tech and a trainer, Cruz Ramirez (voice of Cristela Alonzo), who treats McQueen like a geriatric. She won’t even let him on the simulator, while McQueen is eager to get back on a real track.
As training leaves McQueen feeling discouraged, he sets off to find Smokey (voice of Chris Cooper), the car who mentored Doc.
The fact that animated cars are the characters having various crises of confidence in Cars 3 doesn’t mitigate the fact that those cars are talking about adult-relatable themes such as life regret, growing older, losing mentors and facing a change in one’s identity. At the screening where I saw this movie, I heard a lot of general fidgetiness that to me signified that the youngest members of the audience were bored with the many talky scenes. Heck, I was bored.
I revisited my reviews of the previous Cars movies and many of the same factors at play in those movies are true here as well. As with the previous two movies, there is some really magnificent animation here. When Lightning goes to the run-down racetrack of Hudson’s youth, the detail work is beautiful — paint curling on old signs, a photo-realistic chain link fence. The way voice and car come together when Lightning talks to the old-timers — particularly cars voiced by Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Margo Martindale — is spot on. I wished I could hang out in these moments, get a better look around and hear Martindale talk about her lady race car exploits.
But then there’s the endless discussion about Lightning’s race career and the jibber-jabber about confidence that is so superficial for most of the movie that it doesn’t really resonate. There is a harshness about the way characters get mad at each other in this movie. It feels like a streak of meanness that isn’t needed and sours the overall experience. (For an example of how mean behavior can be shown as wrong while having context and still allowing a character to have an emotional arc, see Lou, a short film that runs before this movie. The items in a lost and found box take it upon themselves to be returned and to teach a lesson in empathy.)
And the movie is full of what feels like a lot of unearned sentimentality. We hear the posthumous voices of Tom Magliozzi and Paul Newman and someone approximating George Carlin’s voice (Lloyd Sherr, who took over the hippie VW Bus character Fillmore). Yes, it was sweet to hear, probably for the last time, a “don’t drive like my brother, don’t drive like my brother” exchange between Dusty (Ray Magliozzi) and Rusty (the late Tom Magliozzi). And, yes, Doc Hudson flashbacks are also poignant. But these things really have more to do with the feelings I have about these real-world people and maybe to a lesser degree the characters they played in previous movies, not so much what’s happening in this movie.
In large part, I watched Cars 3 with this question in mind: is this movie (one of the few G-rated movies to hit theaters) a movie I want to take my young kids to? I think they would like the final 20-or-so minutes, when the movie really does finally come together to offer a blend of fun visuals, characters doing adventurous and cartoony things and emotional pay-off. But the road to that point feels like it would be a dull slog.